Summary:Koa heads into the Void in Peru to recover the Silent Ones secret Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Wherever, and whenever, the void is, it is cold and dark. Not so dark that things cannot be seen though. They're underground, somewhere. The shapes of the rocks around them can barely be made out but there IS some source of ambient light. It's not immediately clear what that is, but it IS there.
On arrival Koa flicks his light on and peers around but his flashlight makes almost no dent in the darkness. "Hrm. Well. Whatever this place is, it's not earth…" He sniffs the air.
"Musty. No one's been here in a bit."
It's a good thing that Keiko bought her backpack with her, in it she has all manner of supplies - not the least of which is a couple of flashlights. She's also got snacks - MRE's they might be called - and a first aid kid. After the last adventure, she's even better prepared.
Carrying her flashlight and quarterstaff, Keiko is careful as she looks around. "The last time I *know* someone came here was just before I ran. That would be ten years ago… no, it's only three really." Damn Limbo, it's playing havoc with the womans sense of Earth time.
"It's possible time isn't one to one in this place either." So it could have been a long time here and not a long time on earth. Koa kneels down to examine things. "No water on the floor but it's damp in the air. No plants. No bones. No insects…"
Where are they?
Koa starts to move forward in the dim light. There's a rush of air moving through the cavern in the direction they're headed.
"Tell me more about the ritual. What was it expected that you would do?"
"I don't know but no life …" Keiko looks to Koa as she examines the walls. "… Could it be connected to the Lifeless Realms?" She has no idea, until recently she'd thought that Plokta had been her God. That's been turned on its ear and then some.
"Uh. I … We weren't told much but let me see. We were told we'd have to answer three questions that were put to us, each one required a physical test and if we completed that, we would undergo a trial of mind, body and spirit."
Keiko's thinking - it's all so vague and necessarily so. They couldn't have told the Nightfall too much.
"There's … a … marking we're supposed to identify to trigger the trials. I hadn't been given that information before I ran." But they should be able to find it, shouldn't they?
"Threes. Doing things in threes is often a magical trait but… not always. I wonder. Fae? It's not really clear to me how far the splinter lords reach is. Plokta had agents in Otherworld. I wonder where Siffror's reach extends and if this is in any way related."
The last bit of information from that image they need. Are the scrolls hidden here? And if so, what has prevented them from being brought back all this time?
"A marking hrm? So something artificial like…" His light passes over something that glows briefly. Koa pauses to swing it back. It's a florescent… ink, possibly. A symbol of the nightfall.
"Well, that seems like a good sign. Or maybe a bad one. I don't think that-" Something moves up ahead and Koa stops. He swings his light forward but there's nothing.
"Right. That's not at all creepy…"
"I don't know, Koa." Keiko doesn't say sorry where others might be inclined to. It's not in her training to do so. "Fae might make sense, given everything but we may never know where this is." Is it related? Probably.
Maybe it's been long time here because time flows differently. It might have only been weeks since the last candidate was sent here.
"There …" Keiko shines her light on the flourescing spot as well and starts to move there. "Somethings moving … We've only got the option to move forward."
"Something big whatever it…" Something moves off to their left and Koa's weapon and light move that direction. Then off to the right. As they move forward the light starts to inexplicably brighten and go from nearly pitch black to merely quite dim. And then they can see. There are large one eyed creatures that look like they're made of earth or rock moving around. None of them are paying either Koa or Keiko the least bit of attention.
"Oh hell. Mindless ones…"
Mindless ones are servants of Plokta. Wherever they are, this is connected to Plokta's realm.
"I told you we would be challenged." Keiko answers, putting her flashlight in her trouser pocket and readying her staff. She seems ready for a stoush but that shouldn't surprise Koa - Keiko always does, doesn't she?
"This makes no sense though. Why Mindless Ones here? Did Plokta discover Siffrors plan and set his minions here? Only the most high of his Magi could summon them."
It's so confusing to the peruvian. What had the Nightfall and Siffror wanted from Plokta?
They don't seem to be paying attention, Koa. Maybe we could sneak past?" She's advancing slowly, watching the minions response to her presence.
Koa readies his weapon but… they don't attack. After a moment the WAND agent lowers it again. "They're not paying any attention to us at all, are they? They don't seem to regard us as a threat. Or even very interesting."
It's still somewhat concerning that there are so many but Koa finally relaxes a bit and walks forward. "What could prevent people from coming back here if not…"
They step into a new room and Koa's words fade away. It might be a bit hard to recall that he's there, even though he still is, because Keiko suddenly has a vision. A very personal vision in which she has… well… everything. Everything she ever wanted. A life free of the regrets she carries now. Perhaps she knew her parents. Perhaps she grew up without being in the Nightfall.
It's so very real. Like a waking dream but somehow more… present than that.
Keiko moves closer to the minions, eyeing them and careful not to get too close. "Why would they be her——"
To Koa, she just seems to stop where she is. Frozen in her steps as the vision takes her.
A little girl gardening with her mother.
Working in the fields with her six other siblings. Laughing happily but it's hard work for them all.
Sitting down to dinner with the family
Growing up. Becoming a young woman. Meeting a boy and getting married.
All of these are what she might have expected to do. A mundane life that was hard and free of many comforts but full of love. And she's experiencing all of this as if it's happening.
The images spin and turn, letting Keiko age as she would have if the Nightfall hadn't taken her. To the moment she has her own child in her arms.
"No …" Koa will hear that. Guttural and strangled as Keiko fights the vision.
"Keiko?" There's a heavy hand on her shoulder. So heavy she might momentarily think it's Piotr. It's not though. It's just Koa and his face looks strained. His interruption might be enough to draw her out of the vision but the vision doesn't simply go away. No it remains there. Intruding on her consciousness.
"I think we've just discovered why people didn't come back…" He points ahead. There are bones. Not scattered like they were eaten or attacked. Laying in repose. As if people got here and just… stayed here. Not eating. Not drinking. Until they died.
Or perhaps until something drained them of all the life within them.
"Piotr? Where's Elena…" Koa might guess where her thoughts had gone to. "Koa…. I was dreaming of growing up and … being normal." What had allowed her to fight, a little, was the memory of Elena. If anything, Keiko is fiercely protective and fond of her daughter. "Did it affect you too?"
She's sure it did judging by his face.
"So I see. Only the strongest would have got through." It makes horrible sense as to why Keiko is like she is. No attachments, her emotions so tightly controlled.
"Shall we keep moving? We don't know why they died - they might have just starved but this place feels off…"
"Piotr's not here." Koa says. His voice is a bit rough and at her question he nods. "Yeah. I had to throw up a ward. It should be a bit easier to push through it now but the effect is strong and I do not know how long I can keep us warded."
Yes, we do need to go through. Koa isn't sure that the strongest, the toughest, the least emotional would have got through though. People are emotional, social beings, fundamentally and the human psyche NEEDS hopes and dreams to function well. It's possible all that emotional deadening would have made them MORE vulnerable to something like this.
"They said there would be tests. But they wouldn't have wanted just anyone to find these last two scrolls…" So what kinds of tests would weed out people who were devoted to Plokta from those who revered Siffror?
"I know he's not …" Keiko mutters. That hadn't been pleasant actually - seeing that and it's left her feeling a little … strange. She really would like to get home to Elena.
"No they wouldn't have wanted just anyone. They'd have wanted the devout of Siffror to find them, right? What's an appropriate way to do that? Some way to command the power of the Lifeless Zone? Or is it the ability to command the Mindless Ones?"
Keiko sighs "I'm a soldier, Koa. I wasn't trusted with such knowledge. We're going to have to work this out by trial and error." Hopefully it doesn't kill them.
Koa nods and is silent as they go forward. Without knowing the intent of the people who designed this, it's hard to plan for what might be ahead. That's assuming it was designed at all, which it may not have been. Many is the magical site that was found and adapted by it's current residents than built from the ground up.
The tempting visions of a perfect life continue for both but Koa's ward keeps them at bay for now. Eventually the cavern starts to narrow again and they come to a door. Solid black metal with the sun-and-moon sigil of the Nightfall embossed on it. There's no visible hinge or handle. Koa pushes on it. It's cold, and quite solid.
"Hrm. A barrier." Koa considers. "Try your staff, Keiko. All Nightfall memebers would have had a gossamer weapon, yes?"
"Your ward is good." Keiko notes, finally managing to look at the Agent carefully. "Are you alright? You sound …" she gestures to her throat as they walk. It's really depressing here and the Mindless Ones that linger are just creepy. Keiko doesn't show it, but she's unnerved.
"We do … well most of us." the peruvian nods slowly, looking at the symbol on the door. "But not all of us have those discs. I kept one, when they were in New York the last time." It takes her a moment to root in the backpack and draw it forth. "See here … this indent and these markings?" Pressing the disk to the space on the embossed sigil, Keiko holds her breath.
Koa shakes his head. "Bit strained. I'll make it so long as we don't have to stay here too long." A bit strained because of the ward? Or because of what he saw? Or both?
Koa watches as Keiko inserts the disk. It's like a knob for a door and it starts to glimmer. First cold white but slowly warming to a soft gold. The glow spreads to her hand and begins to creep up her arm. She might feel that she's being weighted. Judged. Evaluated.
It's questioning her devotion to Plokta. But what is the right answer? Is Plokta her Lord? Or is that answer a trap? A death sentence for unbelievers in Siffror?
"Mmmhmm." Keiko gives Koa a patented flatlook. A bit strained on top of everything else he's experiencing. But it is what it is and they need to do this. He has no idea that she'll take what she can to spare him, either.
"It's warm …" the spirit caller breaths "It's … looking for something." It won't find devotion to Plokta to there - that's something Keiko can't hide. When Illyana claimed her, when she spent seven years in Limbo - that conditioning was broken. What it doesn't find either is a devotion to Siffror, but a deep abiding loyalty to … something.
Is it enough? Or will this kill her?
Whatever it is looking for that does seem to be enough. The door starts to fade and as it does it dispersies into motes of golden energy which flow into Keiko's staff. That staff itself turns golden. Or rather, it has a sort of tightly wrapped aura around it that is golden.
Behind the door there is a single round chamber with a chair. From the dust in here, no one has been in here for a long time. Possibly not since that chair was made. Unlike the other rooms there are… webs in this one. Not spider silk but some kind of rock like silicate that's strung around the walls in strands and bits.
"Yes…" Koa says, mostly to himself. "That's not obviously a trap in any way…"
In all honesty Keiko had forgotten she was holding her staff and she looks at it in wonder as the door fades. "Well that's different. I thought it might kill me." Which would leave Koa with a small problem to explain when he returned. If he returned.
"I don't believe Koa that no one has been in here. The Silent Ones have been doing this for years, sending initiates here … why wouldn't they have been in this room?"
Slowly she starts to move about the room, inspecting things visually - not touching until she reaches a patch of those strands that obscure her path to the chair. "What is this stuff?" she asks. "Is it gossamer? It's kind of how the stories on earth describe it." But that's not the gossamer the Fae use, is it?
Using her staff, Keiko hooks the strands and pushes to the side, trying to get closer to that chair to look.
"If they all failed…" Of course if they all failed then why is Siffror trying to start the Silence right now? Maybe someone succeeded? Or maybe he found another way.
"It isn't goassmer. It's not iron either. It…" He knocks on it a few times. "It feels like rock."
He frowns a little bit. He doesn't like doing things like this blind.
"Okay. One of us needs to get to that chair. I'm not sure what happens if we break this stuff but given how it's strung all over the room I'm not inclined to try. Can you fit through the gaps?"
Keiko is much. MUCH smaller than Koa is.
"I don't believe they did, Koa. Not all of them. We know there are Silent Ones amongst the Nightfall already. They have to come from somewhere." Keiko answers thoughtfully. Her staff doesn't budge as she hooks the rocky strands "Heh, interesting. I wonder what created them…"
A spider of sorts that secretes that rock webbing. That's a horrifying thought, isn't it?
"Of course I can fit through the gaps. You'll have to hold my pack though and I'm not going without my staff." Fortunately that collapses down and she can store on her person, it shouldn't get caught as she wiggles through the smaller places.
"Try to make sure I don't get eaten by whatever created this…" And … she's off.
"Yeah about that…" Koa takes the pack and sets it, and himself off to one side of the door. Then he projects so he can fly through the stands. Which he does, circling around behind Keiko as she clambers through the webbing. Jungle gym. Whatever it is.
"There's an opening at the top above the seat." That's sort of worrying. It's a big opening too. Keiko's making good progress and as she gets closer she can see there's a pool of some kind of liquid around the seat in a ring. Nothing she can't just step over but it's an odd liquid. Shimmering gold. Just like the aura around her staff.
It's a good thing that Keiko is fit as she clambers through the rocky strands. Some of the openings are tight thought and she hisses as she's scratched a bit moving through. Some of them deep enough to draw a little blood, the coppery scent faint but enough to permeate the air.
it takes her a bit to get through and Keiko's very aware of where Koa's astral form is. "Uh. I can't climb over that - the gaps in the webbing is too big… I … could use my staff to test it…."
She's worried as she draws the staff again, extends it and lowers the end to touch liquid.
The liquid shimmers and begins to ripple in ways that it should not. Then it seems to sort of… stabilize. Like it's a sculpture. Like it's frozen rippling but it's still moving. It's just holding it's form.
"That's not at all freaky…" Koa mutters. "I can't tell what it is from here. Can you get into the chair? Or do you wnat me to toss you onto it?"
Because he can do that. He can actually maneuver her through the gaps here. Though it'll be a bit awkward for them both. There's a sense that they're both being watched though by what is not at all clear.
"Do you want to?" Throw her that is. Keiko watches that surface and ponders. "I …could step on that and get across. I'm not that heavy and I'm quick. It might be best if you threw me, I think."
She's so not sure about this but treading on that stuff seems iffy and there's that feeling of something observing them.
She keeps moving though, through this opening, pulling herself to the one up there, down a bit to the next one. Soon she's clear enough to step on the surface or have Koa toss her. Just don't tell the giant.
Koa swoops in behind her and gives her a little toss onto the chair. The moment she touches it there's an almighty clattering sound and something starts to descend from on high. It's a long thin column that sort of looks like a spinal cord. There's a convex cap at the end and the closer it gets the more it seems like it's roughly the size and shape of a human head.
It's not moving very quickly but it is quite clear that it's angled to descend right where the head of someone sitting in the chair would be…
"Keiko are you ok-"
Koa's voice fades again as something intrudes into her mind. Visions, again. But this time they're not the promise of a perfect life. No, she sees endless bleached white rolling plains, forests of faded trees, seas of dying grass. All rather ghostly. Forlornly autumnal.
"You have come far, initiate. Now all that remains is to complete your final quest. Master the throne and the secrets of the Eternal Shroud will be yours…"
"Koa …" Keiko lands none to gracefully on the chair and glances up at the cap as it descends. There's a sound of panic in her voice - not a lot but enough. She's worried. But not for long as the vision takes her.
Sitting still, positioned just so the cap descends and fits over her head, the spirit caller seeing only the desolate landscape that stretches before her. "Master the throne?" Koa will hear that but realise she's not talking to him. Whatever … she's going to do this. The woman is strong and stupidly stubborn and they need to know this, don't they.
"Master the throne." The voice repeats. The helmet comes down on her and there's searing, stabbing pain in her head. Then something connects.
The room fades away. The strands become filaments in a grand stellar tapestry. There's stars and gas and clouds all whirling around a central black vortex at the top of the room. There's a sense of, well, space that's far beyond anything Keiko has ever experienced. Slowly the stars begin to align in patterns that feel… off. Wrong. Like the things she saw in R'lyeh.
"Stare into the truth of the center of all things." A voice says. The last challenge. Can she face whatever this is and not go mad?
Koa can see the pain as it plays over Keiko's face, as her fingers curl on the arm of the chair. The swirling vortex is dizzying and not a little disconcerting - perhaps too is the dull burn of the brand on Keiko's torso. It's almost like that's responding to the patterns as well.
Or it is just responding to Keiko?
It's impossible not to stare into the void as the pattern aligns but it makes her head pound and causes her mind to whirl. Maybe she's already a bit mad - spending seven years in Limbo had to do something, didn't it? Keiko grits her teeth and grips the arm of the chair.
She can do this. She has to.
Where Koa is, what he's doing, is completely unclear right now. At the moment he might as well not exist. The vortex draws her inward. She can see the stars form patterns faster. Script. Letters that she cannot decipher, that belong to no Earthly language. Down and down her vision goes, down toward a dead world full of the bones of their inhabitants, driven mad by… well… it's not entirely clear what.
She finds herself walking alone on a desolate planet. Alone but not alone. A presence all around her asks one question over and over again.
"Who are you?"
Not her name. It wants to know her very essence. Who is Keiko Kurita?
Keiko might have forgotten about Koa as she experiences this. She might have forgotten about almost everything except the here and now. Used to being alone, this part isn't a problem. The dead world? That's freaky. The presence? Offputting and unsettling.
Who is she? That's a good question. One that she asks her often. "I am no one. A soldier. A mother. A partner. Everyone all at once but at the same time, no one at all." She finally answers.
As she speaks she keeps moving, over this dead world.
"I … am no one."
"And what does no one seek?" The voice presses. In the distance there is a cyclopean structure. A huge temple, perhaps. Stairs and columns all leading up to a central dais, or perhaps terrace. It was made for beings bigger than Keiko but she can scale it.
"Why does no one seek for secrets between the void when her heart holds depths she has yet to acknowledge?"
Oh this is so dangerous. What Keiko seeks is to know how to stop The Silence but saying that here is likely to get her killed.
"No one seeks to become the best she can and to serve her Master to the best of her ability." That should do it. It's not wrong and it's not a lie. She just hasn't said which Master she serves.
"Perhaps that is why is seek here." The peruvian murmurs, turning her steps towards that structure, to the stairs so she can climb them and make the dais.
"I don't know how to acknowledge those depths."
It takes effort, painful effort to pull herself up those stairs. And all along the way it seems that her limbs get heavier and heavier and heavier. Until even breathing requires concentration. Will the answers she seeks lie at the top of this climb? Why is she doing this at all?
"How can you best serve your master if you will not acknowledge what is in your heart? How can you know the secrets of the universe if you do not know yourself? Do you fear what lies beneath those depths, No one?"
Why indeed? It should be difficult to remember this, given the struggle and pain Keiko's experiencing. Her training with the Nightfall though, that helps immensely. They taught her how to endure despite hardship. She never forgets why she's doing this - New York, her family and friends depend on this.
It's a good question she's asked, the spirit caller is thoughtful "Does anyone really know themselves or do they know who they are in the moment? I am on a journey to discover those depths, to learn how to acknowledge them. That journey has bought me here."
She must be nearly to the top now, surely. This is an awful lot of steps.
"And what if you should look into those depths and find nothing at all?" What would terrify Keiko more? Discovering new ways that she is vulnerable? Or discovering that she has lost the ability to care, to love? What would that mean for her family? Her daughter?
At the top of the steps there is an altar with two scrolls. One white like bleached bone, gleaming in the sun with an aura of decay about it. The other black and living, but with an aura of rot and filth. The kind of life that survives on death most directly.
"Choose one, No one."
"Then I will be no one with nothing." Keiko answers carefully. She'd been numb when she'd returned from Limbo and knew the pain it caused Piotr but would it be so bad? She's really not sure. Does it terrify her? Strangely, no. Knowing her daughter was vulnerable - that's what scare her to action. "Why do you ask?"
It's possible that Keiko hadn't been the most popular of students amongst the Nightfall.
Spying the scrolls, the ex-cultist takes time to look them over, considering what both might represent. In the end, she reaches for the white on - her fingers nearly closing over it before she changes her mind and takes the black one. "Shall I open it?"
"Eat it." The voice responds. And the vision begins to dissolve around her. Eat it. Does the voice mean that literally? It's possible and as things begin to melt and crumble it seems like following that instruction might be her only way out. What happens if this… place goes to nothing while she is in it? Does she wake up? Or is she lost, just like the others who came here and never came back?
She starts to see other things now. Illyana. Piotr. Belasco. Fields full of 'Stelae'. New York, being slowly filled with them. Even visions of them popping up in Limbo.
"Consume it. And master the Shroud…"
Eat it. That has Keiko frowning. This scroll is … disgusting and injesting it can't be good. Eat it. And what the hell is the Shroud?
Consume it. She could read it. That's possible a good place to start. Eat, Consume - devour the information. That might work.
With shaking hands, Keiko unfurls the black scroll, ignoring the aura of filth and rot as best she can before letting her eyes roam over the contents.
As Keiko looks over the words the begin to fade away to smoke before her very eyes and somehow she understands them. A lot of the words are esoteric. The ideas arcane. But slowly a pattern emerges in her head. A pattern of gaps not in paper but in stone.
They aren't looking for two more scrolls. The information they want is discovered by lining up gaps in the artwork on the stone to the most sacred of texts in the Nightfall. Poking literal holes in the Nightfall's theology to reveal the gospel of another god.
Pain brings Keiko back. The 'helmet' is retracting. The room is back as it was. Koa is still there. It doesn't look like much time at all has passed.
Understanding is there but barely. Keiko gets enough that she'll be able to explain it to Koa and show him - he'll have to help her join the dots, so to speak. She's not stupid but education counts for some things.
"Oh …. Darkchilde." The spirit caller groans as the cap retracts. Her head hurts and it feels like she's been sitting there for hours, at least. "Koa? I know what to do …" she croaks, trying to move but failing for the moment.
"We … how long have I been here?"
"About three minutes." Koa says reaching down to give her a hand. He heard her swear to Illyana. Or by Illyana. That's… interesting. But it's not something he's going to address here. "The door shut behind us after you put that thing on but something opened up in the back of the chamber. See if you can get there. I'm going to go get my body and figure out how to follow you."
He might have to start breaking things but if it means getting out of here he's all good with that.
There's a clicking sound above them. And something that looks like an enormous orb spider made of silicate crystals starts to pull itself into the room.
"Oh hell. This seems like a really bad place to fight…" Beat. "Run."
"Is that all? It feels like longer. It was such a long walk …" Keiko answers, taking his hand to pull herself out of the chair. "Back of the chamber … OK. Give me a moment, I feel like I've been fighting demons."
The clicking sound has her looking. "Uh run. Sure." She hurts. This is not going to be easy. At least she still has her Quarterstaff. The spirit caller legs it towards to that chamber.
Koa zips back toward his form and begins to crawl under the lowest strands of webbing which is not a very quick way to move but is at least quicker than trying to clamber through it. The spider- thing begins to climb down in Keiko's direction. It is not moving very fast, but it is large and thus the distance is closing quickly.
She can see another void portal open but the door is already swinging shut again. And it will not remain open for long. She can get to it in time. Koa? That's a lot less certain.
"Hurry Koa, I'll try to hold the door open. If not, we're both going to be trapped here." There is *absolutely* no way she'll go through without him - he can yell at her all he likes if that happens.
It's a headlong dash she makes though, towards that portal - extending her staff to try and disrupt the closing. The disc worked, the staff might.
"Come on, Koa." She urges the agent, skidding to a halt at the door and turning to face the spider which she's sure is going to try and … eat them for dinner.
Koa doesn't really think they'd be trapped here for all that long. Long enough for Piotr to figure out Keiko hadn't come home and get Illyana to come looking for them. Whether or not they'd be ALIVE at that point is another question though Koa suspects that it'd be more trouble for them if there were not. He's under no illusions about the Darkchild knowing necromancy.
Her staff is strong but this door is heavy. And yet with that golden glow around it… it seems to hold. Whatever mechanism is closing the door grinds to a halt. But the noise gets the spider focused right on her and it begins moving a bit quicker. It looks like it's got diamonds for teeth. This is bad news.
And Koa has only made it two thirds of the way there.
"Hurry … up." Keiko growls at Koa, watching the Spider. It's slow but it's still closing the distance between her. "Diamonds. They make nice jewellery, right? Or we can sell them and put money in the bank." There's a glance at her staff which is wedged in the door and back to the spider.
When she does look back, her eyes are yellow and glowing leathery bat wings hang from her shoulders.
Koa's seen the armour as it creeps over Keiko's body. This time … it just appears. One moment, it's Keiko with wings and the next, a little demoness stands there. "Come on then, lets dance …" The woman sets her stance and encourages the spider to close on her, relying on the protection of the armour and her own hand to hand skills to buy them enough time.
And maybe she'll get one or two of those teeth as a souvenir.
"I don't think we should be thinking about padding your retirement right now, Keiko." Koa grunts as he finally makes it to a place where he can stand up. By the time he has done that though Keiko is already engaging a spider that is several times her size. The spider is much less agile than she but it's got a very simple battle plan.
Crush her against the stone webbing with it's bulk. Which it tries to do. Right now.
"I'm not planning on retiring…" It's a growl that emits for the little demoness as she tumbles under the legs of the Spider. She's small enough to do it, roll and come up in a crouch, pushing her shoulders up trying to put the creature off balance. "But if I can, why shouldn't I? I'll get one for you too…" She grunts.
It's amazing how agile the peruvian is in the armour. How the wings fold back so she can move. With that move done, she tumbles again to behind the stone beast, wings flaring out and lifting her high over it.
Koa opens fire with his sidearm, empowered by his bracer. The force of the bolts gouge chunks out of the spider's hide before it is flipped over and Keiko goes soaring as high as the chamber will allow. The creature lifts its thorax, though and… sprays something. Something hot and molten. Like lava, but sticker.
Oh. That's how that webbing got made. It's mostly aimed at Keiko but globs of it come down around Koa, forcing him to roll and dodge out of the way as he tries to make his way to the gate.
They ARE trying to get out of here after all.
"Will you *stop* playing with it?" Keiko calls from her vantage point, dodging clumsily to avoid the spray. She's not practiced with the wings and that might something they need to do - except for, you know, the effects of calling the demon to her aren't great. "This stuff is awful."
As Koa rolls, Keiko dives in his direction, aiming to grab him by shirt and drag along.
"Move… faster…"
"Can we not talk about this right NAUGH!" Koa gets dragged in a most uncomfortable fashion to the door, which she slams him into side first before rolling him properly into the portal. The spider gets up and comes for them but it's already too far behind.
"I want you to know that I kind of hate you." Koa says as the void portal dumps them back out in Peru.
It takes a few minutes from there to return to the library and for Koa to glare at her while rubbing his probably bruised ribs.
"Alright. So what did you get out of all that mess? Don't tell me we went though that and still don't have the scrolls." Because he doesn't see a scroll on her.
"You can hate me all you like, but you're alive and free." Keiko points out, landing on the ground beside Koa ungracefully. "I need to practice with these wings, they're not as easy as they look." Oh no, the peruvian is not saying sorry. She *might* be but she's not going to say it.
It takes longer for her to send the armour and wings away, when she does her eyes are still yellow. "What?" Keiko blinks, not comprehending his question. "Scrolls? OH! No, I was given the knowledge and I can *tell* you…."
"I know exactly how to line up the 'gaps' with the Nightfall scrolls. You're going to need a knife …"
Koa flips open a knife that was on his belt. He does of course have one. Ceremonial knives are common in many rituals and while the WAND agent is not a ritualist you never know when a good blade is going to come in handy.
"Right. Well? Let's get this deciphered before Javier changes his mind and decides that filleting us would be more satisfying than letting us walk out the front door."
"Javier can try." As always when Keiko has channeled the demon, her mannerisms are just that little more … feral. Aggressive. "By the darkchilde though, I might just decide that filleting him is the thing to do." Her eyes still shine yellow as she gathers the scrolls and gives Koa the instructions she received.
"See, you make the cut here and here and line this scroll up like this … over the markings on the tablet." That's repeated over several of the sacred texts. An act that doesn't give Keiko pause when once it might have.
The holy texts soon become hole-y texts and they're lined up in short order on the stone. Fortunately no one is watching them or that might have gotten some protest. Koa copies down the symbols that are thus revealed and frowns as he looks over what's in his notebook.
"I'm going to need to run this by some of WAND's linguists. But if I am not very much mistaken these are right ascension and declination numbers. Somewhat poetically, but literally… our answers are in the stars. Which means I'm going to need a good view of them."
He frowns a little bit. "Which is hard to get in New York but I have a couple ideas. Alright. We have what we came for. We should leave."
Koa packs up the scrolls and puts them back. No sense advertising to anyone what they've found.
"By the way…" He says as they get ready to signal WAND's teleporters to bring them back. "When did you start swearing by Illyana?"
It's unlikely the Nightfall will be using those texts anytime soon, so their desecration won't be found for a while. "There's an observatory, somewhere near New York, isn't there? We could go there. You know that's what I missed most, in Limbo. Day and Night, the sun, moon and stars." Keiko murmurs, her eyes slowly returning to brown as they work.
Hoisting her pack on her back, that Koa had rescued in his mad dash through the room, Keiko looks at the Agent in confusion. "Do … what?"
"Nevermind." Koa says, shaking his head with a small smirk. He pulls out a small stone 'wafer' and breaks it between his fingers. Then there's a flash of light, and they're both gone.