Nemnosti session 43

Summary

Session

Session date: March 29, 2026

Prologue

[Nemnosti-GM] Greetings, acolytes! I know you are all sore today, after your workout with Master Rubo. I hear your complaints - I was never much of a warrior, and I used to try to play sick on days like this, in the hopes that someone would spare me the challenge, and the weary muscles. But there is purpose to this, as in all things. It is so easy for us to be complacent, here in the Pardopasu, at the cusp of the high hills. To imagine that distance and winding uphill roads make us invulnerable, or at least invisible. But although the walls and towers of the ulajeta may seem aesthetic, it is vital not to forget that these are defenses, used many times to protect Her, and to protect all of us. And our stoneguards are not simply here to provide the appearance of security. They stand, until feet fail, in defense of the cloister and all of us who call it home. But defense is not merely the province of that handful who are called upon to serve in that way. As acolytes, we all take that duty upon ourselves, to defend not only ourselves, but if needed, all the rest who share our commitments to Nemnosti. So groan, if you must; I will not belittle your pain if the mood strikes you express it. But do not whine, for these vigours may one day be called upon, if the need arises. And look at it this way - for one day at least in Khurar, at least it wasn't raining!

Kuspir finds himself transported to a strange space while on guard, with Gunuremai, Jevai, and the greatsword Fracture

[Nemnosti-GM] Kuspir, you are on guard at the West Gate this evening. It has been a long shift, and you're sore. Still , no excuse for laziness, and so you're getting yourself out of your armor to clean and polish it before setting it away until tomorrow, then heading to pick up Irdomila and Rugu who are having dinner with Izu and Ifa along with the grandparents.
[Nemnosti-GM] You are just unbuckling when you hear a loud, sharp noise from out in the hall. It doesn't sound quite like anything that should be out there - perhaps like the sharp popping of a rock heated too long in a hearth.
* Kuspir will stop what he's doing and go out and take a look
[Nemnosti-GM] You open the door, and it looks normal at first. Then you step through to look either direction.
[Nemnosti-GM] You emerge through the doorway, and find yourself no longer in the West Gate, but in another space, somewhere you have never been before.
[Nemnosti-GM] You are falling, but it is as if you are falling upwards, rather than downwards. You reach out, as if to place your hand on the doorframe that was there a moment before, and find no purchase but shadows and tendrils, grey smoke through your fingers.
* Kuspir yells for help
[Nemnosti-GM] The sound around you is whispers and gasps.
[Nemnosti-GM] (give me a Dex check to try to get your balance)
[Kuspir] !roll 1d20+1
[Kuspir] (20)
[Nemnosti-GM] You manage to stabilize yourself for a few moments, but your feet can find no purchase. But you can see before you a great plain that stretches out in every direction, with rivers of grey and black smoke flowing around you.
[Kuspir] (am I able to control where I move or basically just drifting?)
[Nemnosti-GM] Then, as if yanked away as if chained around your waist, you are pulled aside. Even with your stoneguard's strength, you can manage to hold off only for a second, and you are ripped away.
[Nemnosti-GM] As if being tossed around as you used to toss around the children in play before bedtime, you are tipped upside down, and are falling in another direction ... downward? It doesn't feel downward.
[Nemnosti-GM] Finally you come to ... well, not rest, exactly. The world around you congeals, inky, indigo, indeterminate, made of substance and yet not quite so coherent as to bear the label 'reality'. You get your bearings, as best as you can. You have your feet under you, at last.
[Nemnosti-GM] You are standing at the edge of what looks like a pool of water, but the surface is slightly concave rather than flat, with ripples emerging constantly from the center and extending outward to the edge.
[Nemnosti-GM] Around its edge, perhaps a hundred feet way, stands the great statue that you encountered in Gil Pirtu. In its hands lie the greatsword Fracture. But whereas deep in the ruins, it held the blade as if to attack, here, the statue's arms are extended outward in front of it, with Fracture lying across its hands horizontally.
[Nemnosti-GM] And still further around the pool, you see the one hard edge in the landscape - a block of some kind of oblong stone, emergent from the pool, carved with strange incisions, too deep to be the craft of any ordinary artist.
[Nemnosti-GM] Atop it stands a figure wearing an all-too-familiar red and black oval mask. And next to the shaman Gunuremai, you see Jevai.
[Kuspir] (do I think where I am that I'm hidden from them, or not?)
[Kuspir] (i guess it's just flat here?)
[Nemnosti-GM] The landscape is otherwise featureless, and they can clearly see you, just as you can see them.
[Kuspir] Jevai?
[Jevai] Kuspir!
[Nemnosti-GM] Jevai, you see your friend appear as if thrust into this place, out of nothingness, apparently.
* Jevai sounds somewhat relieved, but mostly just so so confused
* NPC-1 is now known as Gunuremai
[Kuspir] What is this place?
[Gunuremai] Are you sure you want him to come over here and rescue you? It could be a trap, you know. Knowing me, it probably is, Jevai-who-is-Hestur-who-is-nothing.
* Jevai eyes her warily
[Jevai] It's the abyss.
* Kuspir will attempt to move over to where Jevai is
[Gunuremai] We call it the Deep, but Abyss will do.
[Jevai] Be very careful. I don't know what' happening.
[Nemnosti-GM] All right ,Kuspir, so you're walking aroudn the edge of the pool?
[Kuspir] (yes)
[Kuspir] (carefully)
[Kuspir] (maybe up as far as where the statue is?)
* Gunuremai smiles as she watches you tread sunwise around the liquid.
* Jevai will see what happens if she tries to step back away fom Gunuremai
[Nemnosti-GM] You reach the statue. You hear whispers in your head, but they are indeterminate.
[Nemnosti-GM] Jevai, you look down and see that there is an iron spike driven through your abdomen. It didn't hurt before - and really, even now, it doesn't hurt. But it as if you are affixed to the stone.
[Jevai] ..oh
[Nemnosti-GM] It is longer than the daggers that you had used to affix Unkindness in your world, but the resemblance is clear.
[Gunuremai] It's all right, it's necessary. See?
* Gunuremai reveals her abdomen to you, which also has an iron spike through it.
[Jevai] ...oh.
[Jevai] are we.... the doors?
* Jevai touches the end of the spike where it sticks out of her
[Gunuremai] An interesting insight. A tekrur way of thinking.
[Nemnosti-GM] All right, Kuspir, you're right at the statue with its sword. The whispers are definitely coming from that direction, you think. Not from the pool and not from Gunuremai.
[Kuspir] (how tall is this statue? could I reach the sword if I wanted to?)
[Nemnosti-GM] The statue is significantly taller than you, but you could definitely reach the sword, which is at its waist-height or a little higher.
[Kuspir] There are whispers coming from the statue, do you hear them?
* Kuspir asks Jevai
[Jevai] no...
[Jevai] what are they saying?
[Nemnosti-GM] Kuspir, I'll give you both a Perception and a Sense Motive check, at this point.
[Kuspir] (I assume I do not get my bonus for Nemnu stuff ;)
[Nemnosti-GM] (nope)
[Kuspir] (these are the same then, I'll roll Perception first)
[Kuspir] !roll 1d20+17
* Jevai rolls for Kuspir: [ 1d20+17 ] getting [ 13 ] which, after the modifier [ 17 ] totals [ 30 ].
[Kuspir] !roll 1d20+17
* Jevai rolls for Kuspir: [ 1d20+17 ] getting [ 20 ] which, after the modifier [ 17 ] totals [ 37 ].
[Nemnosti-GM] (oh boy!)

Kuspir takes Fracture, which is sentient and taunts him to act against Gunuremai and save Jevai, both of whom have iron spikes through their abdomens

[Nemnosti-GM] All right, at this point, you sense two things: the whispers are coming from the sword, and the sword actively wants you to pick it up. It is practically demanding it.
[Nemnosti-GM] You sense from it, more than the statue by far, a sense of will and a desire for Unfolding, characteristic of a Kind - or what your limited theology and cosmology understands of what Alai and Jevai have been trying to explain to you.
[Kuspir] oh, it's the sword, not the statue
* Kuspir says with a tone of realization
[Nemnosti-GM] (While I didn't say this before, you are not wearing your armor in here, and have no weapons with you)
* Kuspir will reach up and take the sword (or try to anyway)
[Nemnosti-GM] You grab the hilt and pull the sword to you.
[Fracture] About time.
[Kuspir] Do you hear that?
* Kuspir asks Jevai
[Nemnosti-GM] Jevai, you hear nothing.
* Jevai shakes her head
[Kuspir] The sword is speaking to me.
[Jevai] oh... what is it saying?
[Fracture] Aren't you going to help her?
[Kuspir] It's quite impatient.
[Fracture] Your greatest foe has captured your friend. And still you can't act.
* Kuspir will try thinking something at the sword, just in his head, and see if it can hear/respond to that. like "Is she in danger?"
[Fracture] You think you have time to debate whether she needs your help?
[Kuspir] [thinking] I have time to decide whether I can trust you.
[Fracture] I brought you here, I can send you back. Do you want that?
[Fracture] Whether she will be there when you return, though ...
[Kuspir] Jevai, can you come closer?
* Kuspir asks out loud
* Jevai touches the spike again
[Jevai] ...no _
[Nemnosti-GM] Jevai I'll let you make a Fortitude save
* Jevai rolls [ 1d20+6 ] getting [ 10 ] which, after the modifier [ 6 ] totals [ 16 ]
[Nemnosti-GM] Yeah, you're definitely not going anywhere.
[Nemnosti-GM] You grimace with effort, though not real pain, as you try and fail to extricate yourself.
[Kuspir] Do you want me to help you?
[Jevai] I don't know what this is, Kuspir, I don't know what's happening
[Jevai] (is there blood, with the spike?)
[Kuspir] Neither do I, but the sword seems to think you need help.
[Kuspir] However I don't make a habit of just trusting things that can talk in my head.
[Kuspir] So I figured I'd ask you first.
[Fracture] The sword thinks. The sword wants. What do you want?
[Jevai] I do, I just don't knnow... what
[Kuspir] (can I see this spike/thing?)
[Nemnosti-GM] Yes, you can see it from here. Both Gunuremai and Jevai have them.
[Nemnosti-GM] You do not.
[Kuspir] (and just so I'm clear on what it looks like, it goes through Jevai's abdomen and then into the ground?)
[Nemnosti-GM] (Yes, it appears to do so.)
[Nemnosti-GM] Well, into the stone carved block on which they're standing.

Kuspir, at Fracture’s urging, attacks the iron spike through Jevai and turns it to stone, but Gunuremai dominates Jevai; a fight ensues

* Kuspir will approach with the sword and try to cut through the spike where it connects to the stone block.
[Nemnosti-GM] All right, make an attack roll.
[Nemnosti-GM] It's a +3 greatsword, with powers beyond that.
[Fracture] Finally, he acts!
[Kuspir] !roll 1d20+17
* Jevai rolls for Kuspir: [ 1d20+17 ] getting [ 1 ] which, after the modifier [ 17 ] totals [ 18 ].
[Nemnosti-GM] Kuspir, the blade rings off the spike and resonates in your hands. You barely manage to hold onto it.
[Gunuremai] Tut-tut, little one. Jevai, tell him to try harder.
[Kuspir] [thinking] wow, very helpful
[Nemnosti-GM] Jevai, make a Will save please. Mind-affecting.
* Jevai rolls [ 1d20+9 ] getting [ 1 ] which, after the modifier [ 9 ] totals [ 10 ]
[Jevai] (LOL)
[Nemnosti-GM] All right, Jevai, you are submissive towards Gunuremai. You still retain your general will and sense of self, but Gunuremai is your master, and you feel that you should obey her.
[Jevai] ....try harder.
* Kuspir will try again
[Nemnosti-GM] (all right, go ahead)
[Kuspir] !roll 1d20+17
* Jevai rolls for Kuspir: [ 1d20+17 ] getting [ 6 ] which, after the modifier [ 17 ] totals [ 23 ].
[Nemnosti-GM] The blade strikes the spike and immediately is transformed from iron into dark stone.
* Gunuremai holds her hand out and a pick appears in her hand, as if from nowhere. She strikes Jevai with it.
[Gunuremai] !roll 1d20+18
* Jevai rolls for Gunuremai: [ 1d20+18 ] getting [ 8 ] which, after the modifier [ 18 ] totals [ 26 ].
[Gunuremai] !roll 1d6+5
* Jevai rolls for Gunuremai: [ 1d6+5 ] getting [ 6 ] which, after the modifier [ 5 ] totals [ 11 ].
[Gunuremai] (Jevai you take 11 damage)
* Jevai cries out, hands to the wound
[Fracture] Mother!
* Kuspir will turn to try to strike Gunuremai
[Nemnosti-GM] (Jevai, you don't hear that, but Kuspir does)
[Nemnosti-GM] (all right, go ahead Kuspir)
[Kuspir] (just one attack as before or do I get my full attack?)
[Nemnosti-GM] (you can take a full attack, I think)
[Kuspir] !roll 1d20+17
* Jevai rolls for Kuspir: [ 1d20+17 ] getting [ 17 ] which, after the modifier [ 17 ] totals [ 34 ].
[Kuspir] !roll 1d20+12
* Jevai rolls for Kuspir: [ 1d20+12 ] getting [ 14 ] which, after the modifier [ 12 ] totals [ 26 ].
[Nemnosti-GM] (OK those both hit, roll for damage)
[Kuspir] (*as noted. I don't know what the damage is)
[Kuspir] !roll 1d10+8
* Jevai rolls for Kuspir: [ 1d10+8 ] getting [ 3 ] which, after the modifier [ 8 ] totals [ 11 ].
[Kuspir] !roll 1d10+8
* Jevai rolls for Kuspir: [ 1d10+8 ] getting [ 6 ] which, after the modifier [ 8 ] totals [ 14 ].
[Gunuremai] !roll 1d20+15
* Jevai rolls for Gunuremai: [ 1d20+15 ] getting [ 6 ] which, after the modifier [ 15 ] totals [ 21 ].
[Gunuremai] !roll 1d20+15
* Jevai rolls for Gunuremai: [ 1d20+15 ] getting [ 9 ] which, after the modifier [ 15 ] totals [ 24 ].
[Nemnosti-GM] As you strike her each time, you feel as if you are being knocked backwards by some force within the hilt of the sword.
[Nemnosti-GM] You would take 1 point of damage each time and be staggered. However, your training has enabled you to withstand such forces.
[Fracture] Good, good! That's it! Press your advantage!
[Gunuremai] Jevai, attack your friend. Cast something useful.
* Kuspir will attack Gunuremai again
* Gunuremai gives you a command, and then looks down at her wounds and touches them tentatively, and they close up around her.
[Jevai] ( I assume I don't hve anything lodged.... do I have fos? Do I *need* fos?)
[Nemnosti-GM] (all right, hold on for Jevai's action)
[Jevai] (I don't exactly have a slate to hand _)
[Nemnosti-GM] Jevai, you have a kind of vague awareness that the pool beside you is made of Source, somehow.
[Jevai] (Can I draw on it? reach it?)
[Nemnosti-GM] (you can)
[Jevai] (sorry now I have to pick a fuckin speell sorry -_-)
[Jevai] (argh fine I'll try Hold monster?)
[Nemnosti-GM] (all right, make your check)
* Jevai rolls [ 1d20+15 ] getting [ 18 ] which, after the modifier [ 15 ] totals [ 33 ]
[Nemnosti-GM] All right, Jevai, now please make a Will saving throw, before Kuspir does
* Jevai rolls [ 1d20+9 ] getting [ 1 ] which, after the modifier [ 9 ] totals [ 10 ]
[Jevai] (lol)
[Nemnosti-GM] Jevai, you feel the Source within you curdling, or sedimenting, inside you. The pool is definitely Source, but no Source you have tapped before. You have a momentary image of yourself, in bed at Nemnosti. And you feel behind your eyes a kind of strange pressure.
[Nemnosti-GM] Kuspir, you see Jevai's eyes turn inky-blue-black, to match your environs.
[Nemnosti-GM] Now, Kuspir, you can make your Will save against Jevai's spell
[Nemnosti-GM] (also Jevai, you take 1 strain)
[Kuspir] !roll 1d20+8
* Jevai rolls for Kuspir: [ 1d20+8 ] getting [ 1 ] which, after the modifier [ 8 ] totals [ 9 ].
* Gunuremai laughs, as you find yourself unable to move.
* Gunuremai stabs Jevai again with her pick
[Gunuremai] !roll 1d20+18
* Jevai rolls for Gunuremai: [ 1d20+18 ] getting [ 14 ] which, after the modifier [ 18 ] totals [ 32 ].
[Gunuremai] !roll 1d6+5
* Jevai rolls for Gunuremai: [ 1d6+5 ] getting [ 6 ] which, after the modifier [ 5 ] totals [ 11 ].
* Jevai looks. Unwell
[Nemnosti-GM] (11 more damage, Jevai, plus 2 bleed damage, from the previous hit)
[Nemnosti-GM] (Kuspir, you can take the hit if you wish)
[Kuspir] (I will do that)
[Nemnosti-GM] (ok, so you take 5, Jevai takes 6. The bleed can't be split)
[Jevai] (can he if he is held?)
[Kuspir] (it doesn't say I can't?)
[Nemnosti-GM] (I actually don't see anything that says he can't)
[Jevai] (cool)
[Kuspir] (does my damage reduction apply?)
[Nemnosti-GM] (nope, it does specify that DR doesn't apply to this power)
[Kuspir] (ok)
[Nemnosti-GM] Jevai, now that your iron spike has been turned to ... something else ... you get a sense that it is more fragile than before.
[Jevai] it's weaker... the spike
[Kuspir] (well I am held so for all the good that does me.)
[Jevai] (you'll at least get to save again -_-)
[Nemnosti-GM] Kuspir, you may give me another Will save.
[Kuspir] !roll 1d20+8
* Jevai rolls for Kuspir: [ 1d20+8 ] getting [ 19 ] which, after the modifier [ 8 ] totals [ 27 ].
[Nemnosti-GM] Kuspir, you free yourself from the effect of Jevai's spell. '
[Nemnosti-GM] (you can take no other action, it's a full-round to break it)
[Kuspir] (ok)
[Gunuremai] Jevai, it's time to eliminate him. He's of no more use to us. Do it.
[Nemnosti-GM] (all right Jevai, you can have another save to attempt to resist Gunuremai's dominate, because she has asked you to do something against your nature)
* Jevai rolls [ 1d20+9 ] getting [ 3 ] which, after the modifier [ 9 ] totals [ 12 ]
[Jevai] (cool, I cast Dismissal on Kuspir)
[Nemnosti-GM] All right, make your check for that
[Jevai] (yay, I wans't sure it was legal ].])
* Jevai rolls [ 1d20+15 ] getting [ 12 ] which, after the modifier [ 15 ] totals [ 27 ]
[Nemnosti-GM] Kuspir, Jevai casts a spell on you. Make a Will save.
[Kuspir] !roll 1d20+8
* Jevai rolls for Kuspir: [ 1d20+8 ] getting [ 6 ] which, after the modifier [ 8 ] totals [ 14 ].
[Nemnosti-GM] All right, you feel yourself being pulled away, spiralling, sucked down into the rippling pool of liquid beside you. And then you fall away, and are gone.

Ifa and Izu are having dinner with the family but Kuspir doesn’t show up at the end of his shift, leading them to investigate

[Nemnosti-GM] Ifa and Izu, you are having a lovely evening with your parents as well as Irdomila and Rugu. You even remembered this time to invite your grandmother Uklai to come up the road from Hertu.
[Nemnosti-GM] Although there hasn't been enough time for anything to grow this season to the point of harvest, there is as always lots of food at Nemnosti stored through the winter. You have a lovely dinner of jishinoshi (hazelnuts and celery root) eaten on warm flatbreads, and get a chance to catch up.
[Nemnosti-GM] Ifa, Kuspir promised you his shift was over two hours past sunset, which is still fairly early, this time in the spring. That time passes, and of course at first you think nothing of it - Kuspir sometimes can be a bit late.
[Nemnosti-GM] But an hour or more after his expected arrival at the house - well, that's quite unlike him.
* Naka glances over at Zaren uncertainly.
* Zaren shrugs.
[Zaren] He didn't say anything was out of the ordinary. And if there was an emergency, I'm sure the bells would have sounded.
[Naka] He didn't say anything to the two of you? Not that we mind looking after the children.
* Naka asks Ifa and Izu.
[Ifa] Not that I recall. It's definitely odd. Maybe someone should go check.
[Izu] No, I have not spoken to him since yesterday.
* Ifa will stand up from the table.
[Ifa] I'm sure it's nothing...
[Izu] I could go try to find him.
[Izu] I'm sure he just got caught with some matter
* Ifa nods.
[Ifa] We can walk together.
[Izu] Yes, it's a nice night for once.
[Izu] We'll return shortly, then.

Ifa and Izu discover the Kuspir is not at the West Gate, but his armor is lying haphazardly in the storeroom and Ifa can see tendrils of smoke

[Nemnosti-GM] All right, the two of you head out and walk over to the West Gate, which is where Kuspir was stationed today. You arrive there, well after sunset, and are greeted by Bem Pekai.
* Zaren is now known as Bem
[Bem] Ifa, Izu, are you heading out this late?
[Ifa] Hey Bem. No, we were just looking for Kuspir. He was going to have dinner with our family, but never showed. Have you seen him?
[Bem] Kuspir left. His shift ended quite a while ago.
[Izu] He left?
[Izu] How long ago?
[Bem] Uhh, an hour? Probably even more than that at this point.
* Izu looks at Ifa with a bit of concern.
[Izu] Was he headed somewhere?
[Bem] I didn't see him actually leave the tower. His shift ended, he was going to get out of his gear. I didn't ask where he was going after that.
[Ifa] Huh.
[Izu] We should check his rooms, then.
* Ifa nods.
[Ifa] Thanks, Bem. If you happen to see him, let him know folks were looking for him, please.
[Izu] Thank you, Bem. Have a peaceful watch.
[Bem] I will.
* Ifa will go with Izu to check Kuspir's place (or the armory? wasn't sure where his gear is stored).
[Izu] (We can check both, I presume)
[Nemnosti-GM] Kuspir would normally store his gear at the armory in the West Gate, which is where you are. Probably makes most sense to check there first before heading all the way across the ulajeta to his place.
* Ifa will do that then.
* Bem will accompany you, which is probably technically protocol, although the two of you are senior enough that you could ignore that if needed.
[Nemnosti-GM] You arrive at the room where Kuspir's gear would be stored. You push the door open and it scrapes against something on the floor.
* Ifa checks to see what it is.
[Nemnosti-GM] It appears to be Kuspir's armor, somewhat haphazardly laying across the floor.
[Izu] Kuspir?
[Izu] He was here, but...
* Ifa opens the door wide and goes in to look around.
[Ifa] Kuspir?!
* Izu bends down to examine the armor for clues.
[Nemnosti-GM] Ifa, give me a Perception check
[Nemnosti-GM] (just Ifa, not Izu)
[Ifa] !roll 1d20+15
[Izu] !roll 1d20+19
* Jevai rolls for Ifa: [ 1d20+15 ] getting [ 20 ] which, after the modifier [ 15 ] totals [ 35 ].
* Jevai rolls for Izu: [ 1d20+19 ] getting [ 20 ] which, after the modifier [ 19 ] totals [ 39 ].
[Izu] (Oh, sorry)
[Nemnosti-GM] Ifa, you see all around you, tendrils of smoke and shadow. You see those in your vision these days all the time, but they are concentrated here. Something has happened here. You find yourself, for a moment, drawn into the patterns, which turn from soft, curved forms into sharp, angular ones, dark and black, jagged.
[Ifa] Izu...something's going on.
[Izu] He wouldn't just abandon his armor like this. Is there... wait, what? What do you see?
* Ifa describes what she's seeing.
[Ifa] (Is Bem still with us?)
[Izu] That is... concerning.
* Bem frowns.
[Bem] When I spoke to him, he didn't indicate anything was wrong. That was just before he would have come up here.
[Ifa] Izu, you should go get Jevai. Bem, you should probably let Detevus know somethings going on.
[Izu] Right. I will see if I can find anyone else also.
[Bem] Right, makes sense.
[Izu] We should meet back here. Obviously something happened here.
* Ifa nods.
* Ifa will keep looking around.
[Ifa] Of all the times for Alai to be gone...
* Izu will attempt to do that
[Nemnosti-GM] Ifa, the wisps and tendrils are still all around. What are you looking for specifically?
[Ifa] (Anything, really. Any concentrations of them, or patterns. Any sign of Kuspir or anyone else, etc.)
[Nemnosti-GM] There are a lot of patterns and images, but they don't make much sense to you. You don't recognize them, at least. But you could certainly remember them / recognize them if you then saw them again in the future.
[Nemnosti-GM] They are apparent to your vision.
* Ifa will keep an eye on things and wait for Izu and Bem to come back.
[Nemnosti-GM] All right, Izu, you head over to Jevai's chambers. The door is closed.
* Izu will knock and call her name, and if there is no response after a minute he will try the handle.

Ifa and Izu go to find Jevai, who awakens from sleep but can remember fragments of what happened, and feels injured

[Nemnosti-GM] Jevai, you awaken from sleep, drenched in sweat. You are in your chambers in Nemnosti - and yet you have the inescapable feeling like you were just somewhere else. It all slips away so quickly, as when Eng-dur fades into nothingness at the end of his monthly visitations.
[Nemnosti-GM] You hear Izu's voice from behind your door, calling your name.
[Jevai] what?
[Jevai] (I feel fine just sweaty and confused? Not stabbed at all?)
* Jevai will scramble out of bed and stumble over to the door
[Nemnosti-GM] Your heart is pounding. Kuspir! He was in your ... dream?
[Nemnosti-GM] (I'll let you check for your injuries in a moment once you've gotten your bearings)
[Izu] Jevai? Sorry to bother you. We are looking for Medimur. We cannot find him and his armor was abandoned in the armory on the floor.
[Izu] We're worried.
[Jevai] I just.... he was in my dream?
[Izu] In your dream?
[Jevai] Giev me a moment
* Jevai will pull on some pants
[Nemnosti-GM] You definitely do not have any major abdominal injuries - but you do feel a sense as if you, or a part of you, has been injured.
[Jevai] ugh.
[Jevai] (what do I remember form the dream?)
[Nemnosti-GM] (give me a Sense Motive check; you may use your Metaphysical Intuition here)
* Jevai rolls [ 1d20+12 ] getting [ 18 ] which, after the modifier [ 12 ] totals [ 30 ]
* Jevai rolls [ 1d20+12 ] getting [ 13 ] which, after the modifier [ 12 ] totals [ 25 ]
[Jevai] (I'll take the 30 :V)
* Jevai will open the door once she's more or less dressed, but is looking sweaty and bedraggled
* Jevai will grab some fos
[Nemnosti-GM] You definitely have a powerful intuition that you were, very recently, in the Abyss. Kuspir was there, trying to save you from Gunuremai, using that sword you found in Gil Pirtu.
[Jevai] the armory?
[Jevai] (do I remember what the fuck I did lol)
[Jevai] fuck
[Izu] Yes as if he just tossed it there.
[Jevai] where's the sword?
[Nemnosti-GM] The specifics are all very blurry, but you have the sense that "Gunuremai" used "you" against "Kuspir"
[Izu] His sword? It's with his armor. (I assume)
[Jevai] no. Fracture.
[Nemnosti-GM] There was no sword among the stuff on the floor, Izu, you're sure of that.
[Nemnosti-GM] Definitely not *that* sword.
[Izu] (Oh, then I would have said that, Izu thinks she's talking about his nromal sword)
[Izu] Fracture? What do you mean?
[Izu] Slow down and clear your mind.
[Jevai] the sword we from Gil Pirtu
[Izu] I assume it's at his house.
[Izu] What's going on?
[Jevai] I don't know
[Jevai] He was in my dream but... we were in the Abyss, with Gunuremai. we were really there...
* Jevai touches her chest
[Jevai] somethig happened
[Izu] Come with me, Ifa and Bem are at the armory trying to find him. We will need your help.
[Izu] If he is still there we must find a way to get him back.
[Jevai] he's not, something happened... I can't remember
[Jevai] I don't know, izu
* Jevai will go to the armory, anyway
[Izu] It's ok, we will figure this out.

They return to the armory where Jevai can see that something strange happened here, and she can recall much more of what happened in the Abyss

[Nemnosti-GM] All right, you return to the armory.
* Jevai will try and remember more
[Nemnosti-GM] All right, I'll give you another SM check (with Metaphysical Intuition)
* Jevai rolls [ 1d20+12 ] getting [ 13 ] which, after the modifier [ 12 ] totals [ 25 ]
* Jevai rolls [ 1d20+12 ] getting [ 18 ] which, after the modifier [ 12 ] totals [ 30 ]
[Jevai] (again, I'll take the 30
[Nemnosti-GM] So you definitely feel a pain in your abdomen, as if you have been pierced through at least once, if not more.
* Jevai winces and touches her abdomen
[Jevai] ugh
[Jevai] (do I still have strain?)
[Nemnosti-GM] In the armory, you can definitely see some of what Ifa saw, remnants of smoke and shadow around the area of where his armor lay (though presumably Bem or someone else has picked it up now and moved it aside)
[Nemnosti-GM] (yes you still have strain)
[Nemnosti-GM] The wisps are like what you experience when you encounter Eng-dur, but with sharper, harsher edges, angular rather than vague.
[Jevai] (is Bem still there?)
[Nemnosti-GM] (sure, let's say yes)
* Jevai looks aroudn, and then looks to Ifa, and then to Bem
[Jevai] okay.
[Jevai] Bem, maybe you shoudl go back on watch?
[Bem] What is going on here? If Meddy has gone missing, we need to alert the ulajeta and mount a search.
[Jevai] I don't know yet
[Jevai] I need to try some spells
[Bem] All right.
[Ifa] Are you seeing what I'm seeing? It looks...different than usual.
[Jevai] yes
[Ifa] Any idea what it means?
* Bem heads down to go on watch and pretend as if everything is normal.
* Jevai will drink some fos, but the first thing she will try is actually Remembrance on herself to see if she can recall the dream that way
[Jevai] We were in the Abyss. Gunuremai was there - she used me against him, somehow
[Jevai] but I dn't know what happened.
[Jevai] or *how* it happened
[Jevai] but he had Fracture
* Jevai rolls [ 1d20+15 ] getting [ 4 ] which, after the modifier [ 15 ] totals [ 19 ]
[Jevai] (fail by 1)
* Jevai rolls [ 1d2100 ] getting [ 9 ]
* Jevai rolls [ 1d100 ] getting [ 85 ]
[Jevai] (lol, "caster takes 1d10 points of damage " - appropriate!)
* Jevai rolls [ 1d10 ] getting [ 6 ]
[Nemnosti-GM] (definitely you feel that right in your abdomen)
* Jevai gasps and holds her stomach
[Jevai] (does the spell work though)
[Nemnosti-GM] (yes, the spell works)
[Jevai] (I mean it goes off but do I rremember)
[Nemnosti-GM] Jevai, you remember yourself in that blue-black inky place - Abyss, or as you remember Gunuremai calling it, the Deep.
[Nemnosti-GM] You recall it all, as if it happened to you - which, you suppose, must mean in some sense that it did happen to you.
[Ifa] Just now? How did you get there? How did *he* get there?
[Jevai] I was... dreaming. But not. I don't know.
* Jevai frowns.
[Nemnosti-GM] You do not remember how you got there, at all. The first thing you remember is when Kuspir arrived.
[Jevai] She told me to 'eliminate him'. I tried to send him out of that place
[Jevai] I thought it woudl send him back here...
[Jevai] hmm.
* Jevai will try casting Sending
[Jevai] (which takes ten minutes)
[Jevai] I'll see if I can contact him
* Jevai rolls [ 1d20+15 ] getting [ 10 ] which, after the modifier [ 15 ] totals [ 25 ]
[Nemnosti-GM] All right, while you do that, Ifa and Izu, are you just waiting? Doing anything else?
[Jevai] (that should go off fine)
[Nemnosti-GM] (even with your strain penalty, I think it's fine, though barely)
[Nemnosti-GM] (your DC should normally be 22 on that, +2 for strain)
[Jevai] (oh right strain)
[Nemnosti-GM] (although wait, you actually have 2 strain now ... cause of your failed Rememberance)
[Jevai] Oh but I failed the last one by 1-4 also so that is also a fail with success)
[Jevai] yerah
* Jevai rolls [ 1d100 ] getting [ 64 ]
[Jevai] (spell's duration is halved - irrelevant)
* Izu is trying to find anyone else who might be able to help, presumably including Marga so Hazel can be here
[Nemnosti-GM] (well ... the duration is about the length of the message, I think. So I will say that you can only send a message of up to 12 words)
[Nemnosti-GM] (also now you have 3 strain)
[Jevai] (goody)
[Ifa] (I think I am just waiting to see if Jevai get any info)
[Jevai] :Kuspir - where are you? be precise:
[Nemnosti-GM] All right, over to Kuspir, then.

Kuspir awakens, naked but still wielding fracture in a strange dark unfamiliar place, which is the Fingerprint with its strange new crack; he and Fracture talk about what happened

[Nemnosti-GM] Kuspir, you emerge in a place you have never been. You're in near-total darkness. By scent and touch, it is damp and dank. You extend a hand to touch a rough natural cave wall.
[Nemnosti-GM] Your eyes are definitely not adjusted to this place
[Nemnosti-GM] After a moment, you realize to your surprise that you are completely naked. And clasped within your hands is the greatsword Fracture.
* Kuspir will try to feel around. am I lying down? sitting? standing? is there room to stand if I'm not already standing?
[Fracture] Wake up, snoozy boy.
[Nemnosti-GM] You're in some sort of natural tunnel. Your eyes begin to adjust, and you see that there is a dim and diffuse light coming from one direction, not too distant.
* Kuspir will try to move in that direction
[Fracture] That's it, there we go. You did well, for your first time.
[Kuspir] Where am I?
[Nemnosti-GM] You feel disoriented, as if you don't know which direction your feet and head should be pointing. But you definitely have your feet planted firmly, unlike in that other place.
[Fracture] Home. Well, near your home, and near one of my homes.
[Nemnosti-GM] You emerge into a cave on which a great mural has been painted in soft blues and greens, and dimly lit by some unseen source. Next to it is a strange angular crack, perhaps as long as your arm, as if notched into the stone by some ungainly force.
[Nemnosti-GM] https://rocksfall.org/wiki/The_Fingerprint
[Nemnosti-GM] You have never seen or heard of this place, to my knowledge.
* Kuspir will continue to look around for a way out if I can see one
[Nemnosti-GM] Other than this strange mural, this is the only light source, so moving away from it, you'd be moving by feel alone through dark tunnels.
[Fracture] How did it feel, to use my power? It's been a long while.
[Kuspir] What is your power?
[Fracture] The power to change Kinds. When you struck the spike, and turned it to stone.
[Kuspir] Well, I didn't know I was doing it, and I was a little bit distracted under the circumstances. I'll try to pay more attention next time.
[Fracture] It takes a lot of strength to withstand it. You did well.
[Fracture] I knew I chose well.
[Kuspir] You chose?
[Fracture] I chose you for the task.
[Fracture] How else do you think you got there?
[Kuspir] You couldn't have brought me back with some pants, I suppose.
[Fracture] I didn't think of that.
[Fracture] You were wearing pants when you left, is that right?
[Kuspir] well, armor, and padding underneath it.
[Fracture] It wasn't all up to me. I don't do this kind of thing every day.
[Fracture] What you saw, it was real - or at least, real enough.
[Fracture] Not a fiction. A Fraction.
[Kuspir] hm.
* Fracture says the last part in your head, with emphasis.
[Kuspir] How do I get out of here?
[Fracture] That's a great question.
[Fracture] I don't have feet and have never had to go anywhere from here.
[Fracture] That's me there, on the wall, or another part of me, at least.
* Kuspir looks again at the wall
[Fracture] The one on the left, not the ugly spirals and animals.
[Kuspir] It doesn't look much like you.
[Fracture] Whether I am a sword, or a crack in a cave wall, or moving black stones, I am the same.
[Kuspir] okay...

Jevai casts Sending to communicate with Kuspir and, having identified where he is, she travels to retrieve him

[Nemnosti-GM] All right, Kuspir, as you converse with a sword in a dark cave while naked and damp and cold, you hear a voice in your head. It is Jevai. "Kuspir - where are you? be precise"
[Kuspir] Jevai? I'm in a cave with a mural and a big crack in the wall. I don't know where that is, though.
[Nemnosti-GM] All right, Jevai. Most of that will have gotten through, even with your messed up spell.
[Jevai] (presumably I only get up to 'big crack, but that's enough, whew')
* Jevai sags in relief. I know where he is - I can go get him
[Jevai] "I know where he is - I can go get him"
[Jevai] (how long will it take)
[Ifa] Where is he?
[Nemnosti-GM] If you're going up through the Viper's Cave and then through the illusionary cave wall part, not long at all. Obviously longer if you go out of the ulajeta and around through the Nadenigh iftibal, quite a bit longer.
[Jevai] In the caves
[Ifa] Okay, let's go get him.
[Jevai] I...
[Ifa] Hmm?
* Jevai looks to Izu for suoport here. "It's one of Her secrets. I shouldn't bring you..."
[Ifa] Oh.
* Ifa frowns.
[Ifa] But you know where he is and you're sure you can get to him?
* Izu looks a little awkward but puts a hand on Ifa's arm.
[Izu] Is he alright?
[Jevai] Yes.
[Ifa] All right.
[Ifa] We can...we can wait, then.
* Ifa doesn't look happy.
[Izu] Be careful.
[Ifa] Please.
[Ifa] For both your sakes.
[Jevai] I will. I can meet you at his home
* Ifa nods.
[Ifa] We'll go let people know what's going on. Or as much as we know, anyway.
[Jevai] thank you
[Izu] If you run into trouble, let us know immediately.
* Jevai nods
* Jevai will head off to the caves and cast light to navigate down to the fingerprint
* Jevai rolls [ 1d20+15 ] getting [ 15 ] which, after the modifier [ 15 ] totals [ 30 ]
[Nemnosti-GM] (I actually don't think you can cast that with 3 strain, you're tapped out and can't cast)
[Nemnosti-GM] (oh, you can slate it now, never mind)
[Jevai] (oh booo. well, regular degular torch it is)
[Jevai] (Oh yay that's what I thought, I wasn't ure how they interplayed)
[Nemnosti-GM] (you can't use fos, but you can , I think, slate a spell.. Or at least ... I'll say you can)
[Jevai] (keen. )
[Nemnosti-GM] All right, you go up through the caves and emerge out into the Fingerprint area. With your light spell, you come across a naked, sword-wielding Kuspir trying to figure out where he is or where to go.
[Kuspir] ahh!
[Jevai] ahh!
* Jevai sighs
[Kuspir] Jevai?!
[Jevai] yes.
[Jevai] are you alright?
* Kuspir is a little bit on edge
* Jevai asks, averting her eyes
[Kuspir] I'm... not hurt. but no, alright isn't the word I would use. For one thing I'm freezing.
[Jevai] sorry. it isn't far to get out.
[Fracture] Tell her 'Hello, Mother.'
[Kuspir] Thank you. And uh. The sword says hello, mother.
[Jevai] Hello.
[Jevai] Hello, Fracture
[Fracture] How much does she remember, I wonder.
[Kuspir] it wants to know how much you remember
[Jevai] everything that happened. Not how.
[Jevai] come on.
[Jevai] ifa is very worried
[Jevai] and Izu, and bem...
* Kuspir nods
[Jevai] This route is one of Her secrets. Don't speak of it, or try comign through here without me.
[Kuspir] I am not keen to return, I promise.
* Jevai will lead him out and maybe stash him in the inner caves so someone can bring you some pants, unless you really don't care ;p
* Kuspir will survive the embarrassment just to get out of here ;p
[Jevai] (valid)

The group congregates at Kuspir’s house, and they discuss what happened to Kuspir and its metaphysical implications

[Nemnosti-GM] All right, we can assume you get some pants, and can all reassemble wherever you care to, to discuss. And Ifa and Izu can have made sure the family knows he's fine, without sharing any more details.
[Ifa] (Back at Kuspir's then?)
[Jevai] (seems reasonable)
[Ifa] (To clarify, Kuspir is still naked then? I wasn't sure the verdict there. :P )
[Nemnosti-GM] (if you're at Kuspir's, he owns pants and can presumably put some on)
[Kuspir] (probably until I get back to my house, at which point I can find clothes, but if Ifa is there waiting then yes, naked when he arrives)
[Ifa] There they are! Kuspir, we were so worried about...
[Ifa] Um, where are your clothes?
[Kuspir] Not certain.
[Ifa] Luckily for their sake, the kids are still with our folks.
* Ifa smirks.
[Izu] Huh.
[Kuspir] I hope my armor isn't lost in the process too.
[Izu] No, we found that.
[Ifa] No, it was at the armory still.
[Jevai] its still at the west gate
[Kuspir] Oh, good.
[Ifa] I suppose we can wait to ask you questions after you've enclothed.
[Kuspir] That would be great. I'm freezing.
[Ifa] (To Jevai, while Kuspir gets dressed) So he was just in the Inner Caves?
[Jevai] no.
[Ifa] What do you mean?
[Ifa] I thought that's where you went to get him.
[Jevai] It was not.
[Ifa] Oh. All right. He was in...the secret place you mentioned?
[Jevai] yes
[Ifa] And had that sword? But no clothes...
[Jevai] yes.
[Jevai] I don't know either.
[Ifa] Hmm.
[Ifa] Does the secret place seem relevant to whatever happened?
[Jevai] oh, yes
[Izu] Do we need to talk to Her?
[Jevai] but not in a way thsat explains anything
[Jevai] probably, yes
* Kuspir comes back, now clothed and having done at least some basic washing given the naked in a cave part of his day so far
[Kuspir] That was.... a very strange event.
[Jevai] yes. I'm glad you're okay
[Kuspir] You as well.
[Ifa] What happened?
* Jevai nods, but touches her abdomen
[Jevai] I still don't know.
[Jevai] but the Abyss is not Coherent
* Kuspir will recount the experience as best as he can. Basically: heard a cracking/popping sound, went to see what it was, found himself in a void of nothingness, eventually found himself next to a pond (?) with Jevai and Gunuremai, as well as the statue and the sword.
[Ifa] And you're sure you're both okay?
[Izu] That is... worrying.
* Kuspir continues with how he heard the sword calling to him, took it up, tried to free Jevai, and also struck Gunuremai.
[Kuspir] It changed the .... the material of the spike, to stone. It says this is something it can do - change the Kind of things.
[Jevai] It speaks to you?
[Kuspir] Yes
[Kuspir] It says it chose me.
[Ifa] Stone isn't a Kind? Unless I'm missing something.
[Ifa] Chose you for what?
[Nemnosti-GM] (Kuspir, are you still wielding the sword at this point, or have you set it aside?)
[Kuspir] (I would have put it away, probably in my room or wherever is safest)
[Kuspir] To wield it, I suppose? To communicate with it? To draw me into this place?
[Nemnosti-GM] (ok)
* Jevai is thinking really hard about whether stone is a Kind vs it just has a completely wild concept of what a Kind is
[Ifa] I suppose it's not strange for a weapon to want to be wielded.
[Jevai] It's not just the sword....its connected to the crack - where Kuspir emerged.
[Jevai] it is, or is part of, the same consciousness
[Kuspir] I really don't understand a lot of what it said, maybe it should have chosen someone who is more intelligent.
[Ifa] That consciousness being...?
[Jevai] an excellent question, Ifa.
[Jevai] Something form the Abyss
[Jevai] or some part of the Abyss
[Jevai] or the Deep.
[Jevai] It's not coherent. It's not possible to comprehend it entirely.
[Ifa] Because it's necessarily antithetical to coherence?
[Jevai] maybe?
[Ifa] Can it talk to anyone, or just Kuspir?
[Jevai] I think the sword can only talk to Kuspir
[Jevai] but I don't know
[Ifa] Kuspir, do you know if it can understand us?
[Jevai] maybe anyone who wields it, who it choses, and who passes its tests...
[Kuspir] I think it can hear you but only talk to me? I'm not sure if it can talk to other people who touch it, though.
[Ifa] Do we think it's safe to try? Maybe ask it for permission?
[Kuspir] I think it's probably safe to try, I don't know if it will work though.

Jevai talks to Fracture about her Fraction, that part of her that is within the Abyss; it discusses its nature as composed of various Fractions of Unkindness throughout the world

* Ifa will touch the sword's hilt.
[Ifa] Can you hear me?
* Fracture doesn't respond.
* Jevai will touch the hilt as well
[Jevai] Fracture?
[Ifa] Oh, it has a name? Sorry, Fracture.
[Fracture] Mother.
[Jevai] (who can hear that? ].])
[Fracture] (just you)
[Jevai] What was that? Was it you?
[Fracture] It is always me.
[Jevai] Of course. Do you understand space and time better in this form?
[Fracture] Maybe. I am sorry, Mother.
[Jevai] sorry for what?
[Fracture] That I could not save your Fraction.
[Jevai] Oh. Well. I'll be grateful I don't know what happened to her, then.
[Jevai] can you only talk to me and Kuspir?
[Fracture] No. But only to those to whom I am attuned.
[Fracture] I hope I chose well, in choosing him.
[Fracture] He has the strength to endure my burdens, I deem.
[Jevai] He is very strong, in many ways. I think you chose well.
[Jevai] it can only speak to those to whom it is attuned
* Jevai explains for the benefit of everyone else
[Fracture] So what are you going to do about your Fraction?
[Jevai] is my Fraction the me in the dream?
[Jevai] ...that Kuspir tried to help?
[Fracture] Is that what you thought it was, a dream?
[Jevai] Hmm. At first, whe I woke.
[Jevai] But now its clear it was somethign else
[Fracture] I don't know what a dream is.
[Fracture] Not really.
[Jevai] Is there anything I can do about my fraction?
[Fracture] I don't know. Is there?
[Jevai] is she still there?
[Fracture] At the pool? Maybe not. Somewhere in the deep place? Maybe. Or in the shallow place.
[Jevai] the shallow place?
[Fracture] The grey place?
[Fracture] You know these places better than I do. You've been to them both.
[Jevai] oh, yes...
[Jevai] that's where Gunuremai sent me. I think. When we fought her
* Jevai explains for the others
[Jevai] I will have to think about that
* Jevai looks at the others
[Jevai] do you have moe questions?
[Kuspir] What does it mean about it being able to change Kinds?
[Jevai] Fracture?
[Jevai] what Kinds can yuo change?
[Fracture] I have the power to take the Kind of things, and transform it away - into stone. You have seen it do so already. I cannot change Kinds freely.
[Ifa] So, any Kind into stone?
[Fracture] Any Kind, yes - any of the human Kinds, and other Kinds as well. There may be Kinds I cannot change, but I have never met one with my blade.
[Jevai] have you met one with... orther parts of you?
[Fracture] I don't understand.
[Jevai] do you know what the Unkind Stones are?
[Fracture] Of course. I am all what you call Unkind.
[Fracture] It is all me, the crack, the stones, the sword, the vial, all of the parts are my parts.
[Fracture] My various Fractions.
[Jevai] the... vial?
[Fracture] Flask? Vessel? I do not care about the container.
[Jevai] oh, yes
[Ifa] So you can sense all of that while also being here, conversing with us?
* Jevai can translate if Fracture can't hear her
[Fracture] Yes ... in a way. It is not all integrated. Just as you and your Fraction are one and the same, but not integrated.
[Jevai] did you fracture me? or was I already fractured?
[Fracture] I didn't do it intentionally. But it was done through me. I think maybe Gunuremai did it? She is ... unfractured? coherent? integrated? But I do not understand that. I thought perhaps you knew.
[Jevai] I. Suspected.
[Jevai] thank you.
[Fracture] Are you going to keep me with Father? I don't know if he likes me much.
* Jevai gives Kuspir an apologetic look
[Kuspir] (can I hear that? or does Jevai relay it to me?)
[Jevai] You are still learning each other, but I think that is best.
[Jevai] (Oh I am relaying everythign)
[Fracture] Then I am satisfied.
[Kuspir] I don't know you yet. It was a bit of an abrupt introduction. Sorry if I wasn't at my best.
[Fracture] Then we'll have to get to know each other.
[Fracture] I haven't had a wielder in a long time, other than the statue, who is very boring.
[Kuspir] We'll work on it.
[Fracture] Agreed.
[Nemnosti-GM] Until next we gather by the firelight, young acolytes!

Nemnosti session 43

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