World Tree MUSH

    In our last outing, those who had been looking into this had found out the rough background. To recap: the Count was looking for an artifact, hiring adventurer-types to do so, and the Countess was speaking out against that. So, finding out more from the Countess had been decided!

    Considering she is the leader of what amounts to a rebellion, it was surprisingly easy to find the Countess! Perhaps her station and the wife of this great hero, and the fact that she had thus far not directed anyone to take up arms, has kept her from being hunted down. That said, she wasn't in a particularly glamorous place. A large barn, that's all... but that makes sense, seeing the animals cleared out and the various people going in and out. Tables have been set up, with charts and books and papers haphazardly stacked, but others were in neat piles. It's a bit of a bustle, but first thing anyone coming in is quickly checked over. Fortunately, everyone is clearly not a native, and while they should perhaps be more careful, for now that seems to be enough to gain entry and ask around.

    Hyouka doesn't exactly seem worried about being checked over; all her weaponry is internal, after all. Maybe her cellphone might be a problem? But she declares it up front, and it's not a weapon of any sort. Once she's in, the cyborg is spending a moment just kind of, looking around, trying to see if there's anyone who looks particularly countess-ish. It sure isn't what she expected as a rebellion headquarters, though. Sure, she was expecting somewhere ramshackle and easily-overlooked, but she was also expecting it to be more... urban. A house in the slums, a shady bar in the warehouse district, something like that. Somehow, a barn seems... almost mundane. And not very defensible.

    Emily Nyx has taken the form of a golden-haired catgirl wearing blue farmer's clothes which appear to be made out of the kind of silks you wouldn't want anywhere near a farm, especially if you could afford them; her eyes are glowing purple, but have feline vertical slits. Oh, and she also has four arms. None of the guards found any weapons on her, but she couldn't resist smiling knowingly as they searched her. (She can conjure up her own weapons, after all.)

    She's humming some sort of strident music as she comes in behind Hyouka, her lower hands on her hips and her upper hands folded behind her head. Without any visible speakers, there's also a backing drums playing. "H'lo, your grace," she says casually, the drums stopping as abruptly as if they were part of her vocalizations. She pauses. "Wait, hang on, is 'your grace' the proper mode of address for countesses? I really dunno any of that."

    Quests for artifacts were always interesting, at least passingly, but the aberrant behavior of the questor... well, Raylene wasn't here last time, but the girl had heard a bit. This was sort of right up the alley of the cases her acquaintances handled. So this whole situation had her vague interest, leaving her and her invisible companion to peek around with a distant, lazy expression. In fact she's scanning for magical wards and defenses with her Sight.

    "What a quaint little place," she remarks. "Busy but not particularly... hmm. Military?"

    "Huh. You'd think someone starting up a rebellion would be..." 9S starts to say.
    "Harder to find?" 2B finishes the Scanner's thought as the YoRHa androids make their way into the barn. Boy do they look out of place, offworlders in all black, with blindfolds on.
    They don't mind being checked over, leaving their blades with their PODs just outside the barn.
    YoRHa androids are weapons in and of themselves anyway. Especially Battle units like 2B.
    Not that they're expecting or intending to cause any problems though.
    "2B?"
    "Yes?"
    "It's a barn."
    "Yes."
    "... Shouldn't there be like animals and stuff?"

    Raylene doesn't even look toward 9S, still scanning the place. She just remarks, lazily, "Humans are animals, you know."

    The quick searches didn't seem particularly meant to strip everyone of weapons... probably more for BOMBS or something than simple weapons. However, Raylene's inspection finds a number of complex mystical wards around the entire area, especially the barn itself. They're all abjuration of some kind, but clearly they aren't meant to prevent entry from those with weapons.

    One of the men nearby looks up at what is being spoken about. "Oh, we aren't really an armed insurrection or anything, there's a lot of misinformation going on. It's true we oppose the direction of the Count's decisions, and sometimes we're arrested, but so far we've remained entirely legal and above board." He points to a woman in her mid-forties, who has aged well and has a scar down one side of her face, which looks decades old. Pleasant enough of figure but not an appearance that puts forth 'beauty' so much as a firm strength of personality, even if right now she is not dressed in particularly fine clothes. The man pointing lowers his voice, "The term of address for us would be 'My Lady' but for guests such as yourself, 'Your Ladyship' would be what you'd prefer. 'Your Grace' would be a few ranks above her."

    That advice given, it's now clear who everyone is looking for. She's looking over several maps, but does lift her eyes when pointed to, waiting for the approach and listening to what someone quickly summarizes. "Ah, offworld help...? Perhaps? Greetings, nevertheless." Though 'offworld' is a bit fuzzy here on a Branch.

    A young woman is kind enough to answer 9S briefly, "The animals for this farm were taken to various neighbors for the duration of this crisis."

    Oh dear. Proper forms of address. Hyouka had entirely forgotten about that. Emily's question reminds her and, thankfully, brings an answer at the same time. A problem solved as soon as it comes up is always nice. Raylene, however, gets an arched eyebrow and an amused, "Excuse you, I'm not an animal. I'm clearly a robot. I even used to work in an office."

    9S and 2B make the remarks she's already thinking, and they get an answer as well; which means all that's left is to address the countess herself. "I don't know if I can offer help yet, ah, your ladyship." It feels kind of awkward to say, but if it's correct, she'll roll with it. "But there were a lot of suspicious things about the capital's side of the story, not the least of which is 'why the one person we'd most expect to support him is the one standing opposed'. So we... mm, well, I suppose I can't speak for anyone else, but I wanted to hear your side of the story. Find out what they're not telling us."

    "Mn, interesting," Raylene comments. She keeps her voice low for her companions, though Emily is the only one she really knows. "It would appear there ARE some magical protections about us, though I don't have the time to study them at length and know what they are for." More loudly, she can now address the 'rebels' such as they are. "This may not be an armed military but it certainly looks like you are organizing something."

    Emily chortles at the byplay between Raylene and 9S (and files away Raylene's report about the wards for future reference). "Misinformation, huh," she says, ruffling Hyouka's hair. "Yeah, I'm kind of starting to figure out who the bad guys are here, so to speak."

    She shrugs grandiosely; with four arms, there's a lot more to shrug. "But in all seriousness, Your Ladyship --" She shoots a muttered "thanks, dude," at the man who'd answered her. "-- Kiyama here has the right of it. It's best to make decisions based on information, and the consensus among the people I've spoken to said there's something other than me in this Branch that's kiiiind of weird. And the comments I got from His Lordship's loyalists are leaving me with more questions than answers."

    "Well I mean- but- that's." Well sure humans are animals but 9S, socially inept as he is, stumbles on himself as he tries to articulate this to Raylene in that he meant the farm animals, making the Scanner unit huff thankfully when the other young lady explains where all the cows and sheep and goats and stuff went.
    Ahem. Moving on from the cows and the sheep and the goats.
    "Your husband is hiring anyone he can find, left and right, to find some Iridescent Tree." 2B points out point blank to the Countess. "Could you tell us why, Your Ladyship." She asks, completely professional and direct.

    The Countess sighs, rubbing her forehead. "Yes, you're right. There is something very off. And at first it might not seem so, but that's exactly the problem." Yes, that makes complete sense. Fortunately, she goes on to explain, "It's hard to say that my husband is wrong for seeking the Iridescent Tree. As you can see, we're all investigating it, among other things... and the legends are fairly clear that it brings prosperity, though the methods seem to differ. A common thread is that it allows a ruler to communicate with those who have sworn fealty to him or her across great distances, but it has other effects. Fertility of the land, health of those who live upon it, and long life and slowing the aging process. It would certainly be a boon to any nation that possessed it. But..."

    She gestures around the room, but in a more sweeping way. "Our land is already prosperous. The people happy and loyal. This Tree may improve our way of life, but is it needed? No. Yet my husband is heedless of the danger it may also present, both in deaths it may cause to even acquire, and... less pleasant consequences of finding it that he refuses to consider. It is his obsession that worries us all, not his desire for it."

    "That's the thing that confuses me," Hyouka says, point-pointing a finger. "-ah, your ladyship," she hastily adds. Ahem. "By all accounts your husband was also a very good head of state, beloved by and adoring of his people. So having him suddenly get so obsessive, and disregard his nation in the process..." She shakes her head. "That's the part that gets me. A change like can happen, but when it does, it's usually gradual. A lot of little things, over time. I had a boss like that once."

    The cyborg shrugs a little. "I guess what I'm asking, your ladyship... can you think of anything that might have triggered this? Anything that happened around the time he began his search?" It's here that DARGN chimes in, "Or perhaps any strange visitors? A sorceror of some sort causing havoc is not out of the question."

    "So you're thinking there could be an outside factor?" 9S asks when Hyouka and DARGN ask about the recent changes. And mysterious visitors. He pauses though. "What do sorcerors have to do with anything though?"
    9S is not up to speed on myths and lore, he's more of a techno lingua boy.
    "What exactly is so dangerous about the region where your husband is searching?" 2B does venture after a beat. "What could be the cause of death for people searching for this tree?"

    Emily nods as she listens. "Interesting," she says. "Yeah. If I didn't know better, I'd say His Lordship has sunk into a textbook case of the Sunk Cost Fallacy -- forging ahead in spite of the fact that it won't work because he's 'already spent so much effort'." She raises her eyebrows. "Unfortunately, as Kiyama would have it, I may in fact know better, your ladyship." She nods to Hyouka and 2B. "Those are good questions -- and I have an even scarier one."

    In a swirl of what appears to be silvery glitter, she transforms into the Countess, except with bright red hair, robotic-looking eyes, and cat-ears. "How do you know the one currently in the seat of power is really your husband?" she says; she also has the same voice she always had.

    She pauses. "... Though, I should add, I'm not saying it could be a Eudaemon," she says, reverting her transformation (she now has two arms, though). "We can't change our voices, your ladyship, and we were built with so many, ah, 'rules', which prevent us from impersonating people."

    Raylene knows less about the details than the others, so she has a different approach to the questions. "All valid questions, but what are the negatives, and does your husband know of them? How much have you discussed this."

    It isn't but a moment before Raylene realizes how this sounds. "Mind, I am not saying you never tried, but I do wonder if you had the chance to try, is what I am asking."

    The Countess is now paying more attention to the newcomers, putting aside her pen and walking around the table. If she is offended by the less than perfect use of her address, she doesn't show it, though the efforts Emily and Hyouka put into it get a small smile.

    The smile fades when she has to contend with this serious matter. "Nothing truly out of the ordinary. He sometimes lamented that he never went out on his own quests any longer, but that does happen about once every other year or so. He knows he has responsibilities here. He heard about the tree last year, but I had nearly forgotten about it until this last little episode. This time, he emerged from his trophy room and very nearly ran off to find it himself. I stopped him then, but the next night he brought it up again. And the next... that's when he sent a team, who vanished."

    Her face falls. "And after that... is how I also know he is still my husband. We... argued. He has always had a temper, and his voice raised, and I saw the anger in his eyes. The anger that drives him to violence. Yet he swore never to strike me in anger, and he kept his word. I think some part of him knows he is not fully himself, because he asked me to leave that night, and even requested that I do what I thought I must. He still cares for his people, but he is not... seeing things right."

    For the other questions, she answers Raylene briefly, "Not as such. Some of them, yes, but we've done much research since then. I did warn him of the most obvious... that such a valuable artifact would attract the jealousy of possible enemies. But there are other worries I have found since. As for the dangers..." She looks at one of the aides.

    Throat clearing, the young bespectacled man steps forward. "The area that we have tracked it to is a land where the lost artifacts of dead worlds often end up. It is treacherous, full of bandits and opportunistic treasure hunters at the edges, but toward the center where true treasures are to be found, the cold becomes bitter, and those who have returned report that even with wards against the cold, the land itself leeches your life away slowly. And some of the artifacts... well... rogue machines either with faulty programming, or perhaps even self-aware machines driven mad sometimes present themselves. Pockets of wild magic. Perhaps other threats."

    "Many are the stories of ill-intentioned wizards and witches whispering in the ear of a ruler," DARGN replies to 9S, "Either misleading them or outright enchanting them in a way that benefits the mage. It's always something worth considering in cases like this."

    The tale from the Countess leaves Hyouka with a troubled look. No unknown visitors, and it's still almost certainly the man himself and not a fake. And yet, he still had the change of heart almost literally overnight. But she's not sure what they can do to find out what changed. Getting ahold of the tree itself is probably the better option.

    "Well, you might be in luck, your ladyship," the faux elf says, crossing her arms and grinning. "We might just be the best crew to go get your tree. My mind is still human, but my body's artificial. Even if a place like that can drain life away, I've got a lot of extra to drain, and I'm pretty tough besides."

    Emily nods slowly. "So ... his 'infection', or whatever it is, is low enough that he's still himself, in the ways that matter," she murmurs. "But he's not 'in the driver's seat', as it were."

    She nods along with the description of the dangers until the bespectacled man gets to the part about the machines, and she frowns. "That ... sounds a lot like some parts of the halcyon remnant," she says uncomfortably. "My world is only mostly dead ... but ..." Her voice trails off. "Did any of them mention humanoid-looking people with red eyes and banners like this?" She gestures, and a hologram appears depicting a coldly-smirking red-haired woman, dressed in a black business dress and with blades for arms, eyes glowing with red rings and thrusting one of her sword-arms forward; there's a cylindrical marquee above her head like a halo, with the text "DANGER - GLITCH". 2B and 9S would recognize Erebus-model AA23, and 2B might even recognize the exact moment from the fight this is depicting, when she landed a stab on Emily.

    ... At the very least, Emily had the presence of mind to depict her pointed away from anyone in particular.

    Emily shrugs. "But, yeah," she says. "The degree to which I have life is best described as 'weird'. But I'm with Kiyama." Her smile returns -- and it's even an entirely believable smile, if you don't know her very well. "This sounds interesting."

    "Huhhhh." 9S muses as DARGN gives him the rundown on evil Merlins and the like. But the Countess' story has 2B frowning. So there's no chance the Count has been replaced in any way if that's what it sounds like.
    That and the place where this Tree is sounds pretty wild.
    2B's fingers curl a little tighter as Emily displays the Erebus Model Eudaemon but she says nothing for a beat.
    "A place like that sounds completely inimical to all life. I can see why the team sent in went missing." The Battle unit mutters.

    "If I can see the effect, I may be able to provide some means of protection, though such a wide-area effect means that the protection would likely be quite temporary," Raylene muses. "And if we could subdue him for study, I might be able to determine if he is ensorcelled. Both of these statements have a lot of 'maybes' in them though."

    The young girl sighs at the uncertainty of it all. "The question is... what happens if and when we DO find the Tree first? Will you give it to him? Destroy it? Study it?"

    "Yes, it is dangerous," the Countess agrees. "But they knew that when they left. Unwilling to send more of his own men to possibly die, that is why the Count hired adventurers like he himself once was. He knows they are better equipped for strange situations like that." She leans back on the table, sighing.

    "But... to answer your question, young lady, I am not sure myself. We've found tales of other dangers than the wars to possess it. Eventually, some calamity seems to befall all who use it. But... that does not mean the Tree causes it. In time something always happens, but is the Tree the cause, or is it merely that if some accident had not befallen the kingdom, the Tree would still be there? Yet wars will be fought and lives lost as long as it exists. Is it right to destroy an artifact that apparently only does good, because of the evil of others wanting it? I am more concerned with keeping it from my husband, but the question will need answered someday. I would certainly not object if you found it first. And if it brings my husband to sanity, I would even be in a position to reward you. But it cannot end up here."

    One of the aides looks at Emily's picture, studying it. Then... he shakes his head. "No. Or at least, nothing we heard about. The first team never returned, but the adventurers who have been trying haven't run into anything like that which I've heard about."

    The countess frowns, "Glitch, like a computer glitch?" Despite the relatively fantasy-esque setting, she does seem well-traveled on the World Tree. "That does sound dangerous. If we do hear anything of the sort, we will tell you."

    "Mm..." Hyouka finds herself something to lean against, looking thoughtful. "...I'm not sure bringing it to your husband would bring him back. I'm not sure what to do with it once we find it, but my main thought is that we need to keep it out of his hands." Destroy it, move it to another world somehow, figure out some way to secure it where it is... whatever the case, her gut instinct is telling her this won't be solved by giving the Count the tree.

    Emily's train of thought is somewhat derailed by Raylene's comment about subduing the Count. "I like the way you think, you're hired," she says wryly. "Uh, anyway ... yeah, no kidding, Tubey. I mean, uh ... 2B."

    She nods to the countess. "Essentially, yes, your ladyship," she says. "Sometimes we Eudaemons ... lose ourselves, for whatever reason. Temporarily, or permanently." She shrugs uncomfortably; a glowing white flower appears in her hand -- it seems to be a real one. "It's happened to me twice," she says, regarding it pensively.

    She looks up at Hyouka, and nods. "Yeah, I have to say I agree," she says. "It ... might ... be a better idea to investigate his lordship before we look for the tree. It's something I'd also be useful for, I believe."

    2B sure does shoot Emily a foul look at the nickname.
    "Sounds cursed." the Battle unit says when she hears what befalls those who acquire the tree.
    "... 2B you don't strike me as the sort to believe in curses." 9S says shocked.
    "I don't."
    "Oh."

    "Hmm. If not destroy, some means of containment, yes. Personally I expect all of these sorts of things to have a downside, but that's simply the way my world works. Action and reaction," Raylene muses. "My magical power wasn't free. Isn't free. Nothing ever is and that seems almost universal. But finding it is the first task. I don't wish to approach the Count beforehand, any engagement with me would likely be lethal for one of us, I'd think."

    "You're a very canny young woman," DARGN observes towards Raylene; her tone is one of genuine interest - a rare enough mood for the AI that even Hyouka looks a little surprised.

    The Countess gives a sharp look at Raylene, then calms down. "Yes, I would prefer not to have to kill my husband, especially since at least the most important parts of him - his care for his people and friends - is still there. But if he's being influenced, how much longer will that last?" She heaves a deep sigh, a sound of fatigue and a hint of despair, like she's deflating and for an instant looks ten years older.

    Then her chin is up again. "Well. I'd rather not ask you to invade the castle, but if he leaves then there may be a chance to corner him. I'll keep you informed. And I'll be certain to look out for anything else with aberrant behavior. I used to be an adventurer like you, I'm not unaware of these things. I thank you for listening to me."

    Emily grimaces at 2B's look. "Sorry, sorry!" she says awkwardly.

    ... Yeah, she's starting to feel like her "2E" suspicions were probably off, as usual.

    Emily glances over at Raylene. "'Equivalent exchange', like Fullmetal said," she murmurs. "I ... am not sure how magic works in my world, but it's probably the same there, the pre-calamity world just had centuries of industry. Never did learn more than a bit of constructive sorcery ..."

    She nods to the Countess. "Arright, cool," she says. "We'll be in touch, Your Ladyship." This time, she's careful to pronounce the capital letters.

    This time, Raylene does get formal, doing a curtsy and murmuring, "It is a pleasure, Your Ladyship." Okay that's a lie, Raylene's morals and ethics are just as skewed as Emily's, if not more. But that is what she's expected to say, she knows this!