(IC) Lost In Dreams [Peter]

[the_matrix_walker]

"If you're going to be keeping an eye on us, I suppose we have ourselves an escort!"

Peter has them bring him to the local priests to see if he can find his way back to Tuvo Kyridas.

He keeps an eye out for a water source to make sure Goliath stays hydrated.

[ericthered]

The soldiers look at each other, and then decide that one will stay here and stay alert, maybe hook up with the "others", and the other will escort Peter back to Thuroma.

Guard: "So you came back from America, did you bring any food?"

Peter is able to find a puddle for Goliath to drink from.

The priest the guard drops Peter off with immediately recognizes the name immediately. "Tuvo didn't tell us to look out for you though. What's your game?"

[the_matrix_walker]

"Sorry, didn't stop for food, I was just passing through there on another errand. "


"No games, just trying to help. He's probably going to be surprised that I came back."

[ericthered]

Peter and Goliath are put into a locked room, and after five minutes or so, Tuvo Kyridas shows up.

"Hello, Peter. I thought I'd seen the last of you. Thank you for coming back."

He pauses for a bit, unsure of what to say next.

"Would you like some clothes that don't make you look a foreign hostile?"

And after another pause:

"I take it you have something to report?"

[the_matrix_walker]

"I could use some shoes at least, and food and water for me and Goliath.

So, what did my escort say? Was he freaked out when I was gone?

I have learned some stuff about your situation and why you are not talking to your gods. Way more than you needed for me to buy my freedom.

Don't get mad, but I didn't need to come back here, or even to make a deal in the first place... you couldn't have held me. Really I just didn't want to be separated from Goliath here.

I do want to help you, but I don't like the way you do business. So here's the deal: I'll tell you everything I learned, and I'll keep working for you for a few more weeks to try and learn more, but you have to let the Americans go and leave Earth alone... Or play nice and trade with them, you'd probably profit more."

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

"I could use some shoes at least, and food and water for me and Goliath.

"I'll get you some local clothes as well, You can keep what you have, but I don't want any of my 'Agents' walking around in American clothing."

So, what did my escort say? Was he freaked out when I was gone?

"He got into quite a bit of trouble. You could have saved him some pain if you had told him what you were going to do. How did you leave anyways?"

I have learned some stuff about your situation and why you are not talking to your gods. Way more than you needed for me to buy my freedom.

Don't get mad, but I didn't need to come back here, or even to make a deal in the first place... you couldn't have held me. Really I just didn't want to be separated from Goliath here.

I do want to help you, but I don't like the way you do business. So here's the deal: I'll tell you everything I learned, and I'll keep working for you for a few more weeks to try and learn more, but you have to let the Americans go and leave Earth alone... Or play nice and trade with them, you'd probably profit more."

"Lets see, what was our agreement: if you improve our communication with our Gods, or our understanding of where they have gone, then you have earned your freedom."


"Fulfill that agreement, and then I will happily negotiate for extras. In fact, my ability to fulfill the sort of request you just made will be greatly increased if you can satisfy the original agreement. I don't call the shots in this city, and the status of the priests has been quite reduced since the breaking. We're in a precarious enough situation as it is."

[the_matrix_walker]

"I left through my dream-walking power... I did tell you about it and that it wasn't entirely under my control. I wasn't about to explain it to every escort.

So I slept at the temple and started to dream and I found myself in the Divine realm at the temple of Arn-Oda the sky god, in this expanse of an endless night sky with no earth, except for the temples to the gods, floating like stars.

There were two identical lifeless bodies there that bore the sigil of Arn-Oda and there was a portal sucking in magic.

I went through to a place they called 'the Divine Village in the Pristine Realm' and met a woman who said she was a 'city-goddess' called An-Kona. An-Kona told me to tell her people that the separation is for their good, that she'll return, and to not do anything reckless or desperate.'

What I learned from her is that they are facing an enemy, and the gods are drawing power out of the divine realm and another realm to try and cut off the enemy's access to them somehow.

She introduced me to Tar-Billik, who I stayed with and helped with building some stuff for the Divine Village. He wanted his people to know the gods remember them, that absence makes the heart grow fonder and that they'd return. I met and got advice from a number of other gods... I asked to meet Ink-Thur, but I'm sorry, he was away looking for solutions to their problem.

I went to sleep in Tar-Billik's home and woke up on an Earth that wasn't mine with a portal to here not far away, which is how I got back here. That portal was sucking magical power from THIS world and spraying it out into THAT EARTH. "

[ericthered]

Kyridas listens carefully. His face visibly reacts when the bodies of Arn-Oda are described, and when Ink-Thur's absence is described.

"Did they say if Arn-Oda is dead? where did the other body come from?"

"Did they say where Ink-Thur went to?"

Kyridas considers for a moment and then says.

"Peter, I think I believe you. But you have nothing tangible that I can use to convince others. Which leaves your story a theory for the moment, and we unfortunately have too many of those. However... can you go there again? I'm sure some of our neighboring gods remember private moments with supplicants that could act as proof. I can get you a list... One more journey and returning with the correct answers, and I will consider your freedom earned. Of course, should you succeed, you will have become one of the most valuable people our world, a new messenger of the gods."

[the_matrix_walker]

"I checked the bodies, and they didn't have any signs of life. I don't know if gods can die or if they stay that way if they do... and they didn't say where Ink-Thur went.

I might be able to confirm some information, but I'll never be able to bring anything physical. Did my escort at the temple find my clothes? Unfortunately, I go naked when I go. I came back here to tell you where your gods are and why you can't talk to them of my own free will when I really didn't have to, so the idea that you still think I need to 'earn' my freedom is just kinda..." and Peter kind of raises his hands and shrugs in lieu of a complete sentence.

"I totally held up my end, and if you want me to get you more proof or keep helping you, we're going to have to talk about your interdimensional foreign relations practices and releasing some of these innocent people you have locked up. I'm a 'Good Guy', and I'm not going to work for the 'Bad Guys'..."

Peter ponders the situation and the messenger-of-the-gods talk and flashes his disarming smile.

"Don't you want to be one of the Good Guys? If you do, let's work together. You handle the politics of not plundering Earths and I will be your Emissary to the gods. Whaddayathink?"

[ericthered]

"The Gods are immortal, as far as I know. If you could ask one of them about Arn-Oda's status, that would be among the top priorities. Though its also one thing people will be reluctant to believe."


"Confirming information should suffice. My concern is proof. I believe you, but I will not be able to convince my superiors in the priesthood, nor the generals of Thuroma. So you have improved your own knowledge, and possibly mine, but not the knowledge of Thuroma."


"Now, you can leave again using your methods, of course, so you are right: you don't have to earn your freedom. But I am duty bound to not permit you to walk around this city until I have something to show to my superiors."


"By the same token, I cannot secure the end of raids and release of these people without convincing my superiors of your story. We are in a difficult place, and we are determined to move boldly and decisively. It is good to be kind, but kindness without power is useless. Right now, both you and I lack that power."


"If you show that you are a useful emissary to the Gods, I will assist you in secure the cessation of raids and the release of prisoners. But I do not think you will not be able to be paid in advance for such services."