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xp_logsFinally, a break. Daniel Drumm turns up unexpectedly with a large book and some answers to the questions that have been plaguing the mansion.
"I'm having deja-vu," Amanda announced as she and Marie-Ange entered the sitting room to which their guest had been shown, along with representatives of the other teams. "I hope you have good news this time."
"Good news, bad news, that's hard to say," Daniel Drumm said back, as droll as ever. He didn't look any more grim than the last time he'd seen some of the members of this group, though given Drumm's general air of amusement, it was perhaps hard to tell. "But you wouldn't pick up my calls," he said, with a smile small enough that it was tough to tell whether he was joking or wounded. "So here I am."
"Here you are, perhaps with fewer abandoned interdimensional foster children?" Marie-Ange asked. "Or have you and your.... colleagues come down from your octarine tower and heard the latest news about cursed hammers?"
"It's the hammers, but given the way things are going, I wouldn't rule anything out." The corners of Drumm's mouth lifted ever so slightly. "We conducted some research. It took a bit of time — we have an extensive collection, as you've probably surmised — but we found something." His mouth moved his hands moved, his lips mouthing silent words, and with a glow, a rather dusty-looking tome revealed itself. "An old text," he said, watching as it gently set itself down on the table in front of him. "Sealed shut with magic, but still relevant."
Topaz pushed herself off the wall she'd been holding up, getting a few steps closer. She'd been prepared to just let the more experienced people handle this, but... book. "It'd be too easy if we could just break the seal, of course." Her tone suggested she wouldn't mind trying.
"Well, at some time or the other we're owed a break," Scott observed wryly from his seat as he leaned forward to stare at the book, "The universe works like that right cause I feel we have a lot of karma building up now...so any chance you can open it?"
"This book holds the secrets to the Hammers? How do you have something like this?" Lorna asked the man with a raised eyebrow and looked around the room of the others. "I am all for any help with what is happening as we are getting our asses kicked, I am just wondering how this book exists. Did something like this happen before? Is history repeating itself?" Gently touching her shoulder as pain spiked, she had been resting in her room when she got the call for a emergency meet up.
Drumm paid no attention to Lorna, feeling it wholly unnecessary to answer a string of questions from a stranger whose presence he hadn't really asked for. Instead, he'd kept his eyes fixed on Topaz. "I could likely do it myself, but it'd take quite a bit of time. And I thought, perhaps, that a magical bibliiophile such as you might offer a man some help."
Topaz raised an eyebrow. "Sure. But if I need extra energy, you're the first one I'm drawing off." She didn't look around to see any reactions - she was confident enough this could slide just once.
Not that she'd ever done anything like this, but how hard could it be? She looked the book over for a moment before pressing her hand against it. It wasn't particularly the most pleasant feeling as the seal tried to fight back. Seals were always put in place with intention. The most obvious intention for sealing a book was to prevent it from being used for evil. She summoned up as much sincerity and honesty as she could, pouring it into the magic. We just want to help. We won't hurt anyone.
The seal broke with a small pop, and Topaz jerked back, flexing her fingers. "Who wants the honor of opening it?" she said as she stepped back, checking her fingertips. No damage, and the pain was already starting to fade.
"That'll be me." Amanda's tone brooked no interference, although her movements were cautious as she approached the tome. The spine creaked as she gently opened the front cover, and her eyebrows rose in surprise. "It's in Asgardian," she said. "But we figured that part already. The surprise part is this is the story of Cul Borson, who was the heir to the throne of Asgard. Usurped by his brother." Amanda looked at Marie-Ange. "Odin."
"Of course it is Odin." Marie-Ange said, scowling. "Raise your hand if you are surprised that he did not even come to his throne without ruining people's lives."
Scott couldn't help it, his hand rising into the air, "You mean an almost ageless god who made war on aliens and spent much of his time drinking has skeletons in his closet. Colour me surprised."
"How did Odin get rid of his brother the first time?" Lorna asked. "I am assuming Odin had his reasons for ousting his big brother."
"Well, sure. You have siblings." Daniel Drumm said, an eyebrow raised just enough to suggest he thought little of Lorna's statement. He took the book from Amanda's hands, nodding in acknowledgment as their hands brushed against each other briefly in the transfer. He turned a few pages. "Let's see here. Cul Borson was sent to Midgard with an octet of followers. Some names familiar to those who watch Asgard, I suppose? Skadi, his daughter and General of his Worthy. Then there's Kuuth, the Breaker of Stones, and Nerkkod the Breaker of Oceans. You may get the pattern here: Skim breaks men, Mokk breaks faith, Greithoth wills, Angrir souls and Nul worlds. Quite ponderous, really."
He flipped another page. "Ah, here we are. Odin forged a weapon to destroy his brother, but apparently, it just sealed his soul away. And then it was shattered in the process."
"I'm guessing this story doesn't end with 'and they all lived happily ever after'." Topaz was back to being a wallflower, her arms crossed. She could guess the rest of the story from there, and it wasn't particularly pleasant. "I mean, since the hammers are here and all trying to break the universe." Really, people needed to stop doing that.
"Trapped isn't dead. And there's always some cult or other willing to free them in exchange for whatever delusional prize they're offering." Amanda sighed. "Cul's the God of Fear, according to this thing. Which means he has an overlap with the Dweller's followers, which is how they both got out. Team-up from hell." She nodded to Drumm. "Thanks for this. It helps. A lot. Just too bad there isn't another handy Odinsword around for us to actually do something about this."
"You are quite welcome," Daniel Drumm smiled. "Consider it a favor that I'm sure you'll have the occasion to repay at some point." Before Amanda could respond, he stood. "I trust you all will take it from here."
Scott nodded at the man as he stood, offering Drumm a hand before he left, "We'll keep you in the loop, well as much as we can." He had been at this game long enough to know that sometimes there were somethings that you couldn't share that easily. As the door swung shut behind the departing Drumm Scott turned back to the rest of the gathered teams and sighed, "So, we're dealing with some crazed ancient gods," a hand came up to rub at his temple, hoping to stave off the headache he could feel building. "One day can't we be attacked by a horde of puppies who want to defeat us with snuggles and licks, just once." Dark eyes flicked back up to the group, "So we know who our enemy is, but that's about it, so get in touch with your informants and sources, we need to know more before we figure out how to deal with them and get our friends back."
"I'm having deja-vu," Amanda announced as she and Marie-Ange entered the sitting room to which their guest had been shown, along with representatives of the other teams. "I hope you have good news this time."
"Good news, bad news, that's hard to say," Daniel Drumm said back, as droll as ever. He didn't look any more grim than the last time he'd seen some of the members of this group, though given Drumm's general air of amusement, it was perhaps hard to tell. "But you wouldn't pick up my calls," he said, with a smile small enough that it was tough to tell whether he was joking or wounded. "So here I am."
"Here you are, perhaps with fewer abandoned interdimensional foster children?" Marie-Ange asked. "Or have you and your.... colleagues come down from your octarine tower and heard the latest news about cursed hammers?"
"It's the hammers, but given the way things are going, I wouldn't rule anything out." The corners of Drumm's mouth lifted ever so slightly. "We conducted some research. It took a bit of time — we have an extensive collection, as you've probably surmised — but we found something." His mouth moved his hands moved, his lips mouthing silent words, and with a glow, a rather dusty-looking tome revealed itself. "An old text," he said, watching as it gently set itself down on the table in front of him. "Sealed shut with magic, but still relevant."
Topaz pushed herself off the wall she'd been holding up, getting a few steps closer. She'd been prepared to just let the more experienced people handle this, but... book. "It'd be too easy if we could just break the seal, of course." Her tone suggested she wouldn't mind trying.
"Well, at some time or the other we're owed a break," Scott observed wryly from his seat as he leaned forward to stare at the book, "The universe works like that right cause I feel we have a lot of karma building up now...so any chance you can open it?"
"This book holds the secrets to the Hammers? How do you have something like this?" Lorna asked the man with a raised eyebrow and looked around the room of the others. "I am all for any help with what is happening as we are getting our asses kicked, I am just wondering how this book exists. Did something like this happen before? Is history repeating itself?" Gently touching her shoulder as pain spiked, she had been resting in her room when she got the call for a emergency meet up.
Drumm paid no attention to Lorna, feeling it wholly unnecessary to answer a string of questions from a stranger whose presence he hadn't really asked for. Instead, he'd kept his eyes fixed on Topaz. "I could likely do it myself, but it'd take quite a bit of time. And I thought, perhaps, that a magical bibliiophile such as you might offer a man some help."
Topaz raised an eyebrow. "Sure. But if I need extra energy, you're the first one I'm drawing off." She didn't look around to see any reactions - she was confident enough this could slide just once.
Not that she'd ever done anything like this, but how hard could it be? She looked the book over for a moment before pressing her hand against it. It wasn't particularly the most pleasant feeling as the seal tried to fight back. Seals were always put in place with intention. The most obvious intention for sealing a book was to prevent it from being used for evil. She summoned up as much sincerity and honesty as she could, pouring it into the magic. We just want to help. We won't hurt anyone.
The seal broke with a small pop, and Topaz jerked back, flexing her fingers. "Who wants the honor of opening it?" she said as she stepped back, checking her fingertips. No damage, and the pain was already starting to fade.
"That'll be me." Amanda's tone brooked no interference, although her movements were cautious as she approached the tome. The spine creaked as she gently opened the front cover, and her eyebrows rose in surprise. "It's in Asgardian," she said. "But we figured that part already. The surprise part is this is the story of Cul Borson, who was the heir to the throne of Asgard. Usurped by his brother." Amanda looked at Marie-Ange. "Odin."
"Of course it is Odin." Marie-Ange said, scowling. "Raise your hand if you are surprised that he did not even come to his throne without ruining people's lives."
Scott couldn't help it, his hand rising into the air, "You mean an almost ageless god who made war on aliens and spent much of his time drinking has skeletons in his closet. Colour me surprised."
"How did Odin get rid of his brother the first time?" Lorna asked. "I am assuming Odin had his reasons for ousting his big brother."
"Well, sure. You have siblings." Daniel Drumm said, an eyebrow raised just enough to suggest he thought little of Lorna's statement. He took the book from Amanda's hands, nodding in acknowledgment as their hands brushed against each other briefly in the transfer. He turned a few pages. "Let's see here. Cul Borson was sent to Midgard with an octet of followers. Some names familiar to those who watch Asgard, I suppose? Skadi, his daughter and General of his Worthy. Then there's Kuuth, the Breaker of Stones, and Nerkkod the Breaker of Oceans. You may get the pattern here: Skim breaks men, Mokk breaks faith, Greithoth wills, Angrir souls and Nul worlds. Quite ponderous, really."
He flipped another page. "Ah, here we are. Odin forged a weapon to destroy his brother, but apparently, it just sealed his soul away. And then it was shattered in the process."
"I'm guessing this story doesn't end with 'and they all lived happily ever after'." Topaz was back to being a wallflower, her arms crossed. She could guess the rest of the story from there, and it wasn't particularly pleasant. "I mean, since the hammers are here and all trying to break the universe." Really, people needed to stop doing that.
"Trapped isn't dead. And there's always some cult or other willing to free them in exchange for whatever delusional prize they're offering." Amanda sighed. "Cul's the God of Fear, according to this thing. Which means he has an overlap with the Dweller's followers, which is how they both got out. Team-up from hell." She nodded to Drumm. "Thanks for this. It helps. A lot. Just too bad there isn't another handy Odinsword around for us to actually do something about this."
"You are quite welcome," Daniel Drumm smiled. "Consider it a favor that I'm sure you'll have the occasion to repay at some point." Before Amanda could respond, he stood. "I trust you all will take it from here."
Scott nodded at the man as he stood, offering Drumm a hand before he left, "We'll keep you in the loop, well as much as we can." He had been at this game long enough to know that sometimes there were somethings that you couldn't share that easily. As the door swung shut behind the departing Drumm Scott turned back to the rest of the gathered teams and sighed, "So, we're dealing with some crazed ancient gods," a hand came up to rub at his temple, hoping to stave off the headache he could feel building. "One day can't we be attacked by a horde of puppies who want to defeat us with snuggles and licks, just once." Dark eyes flicked back up to the group, "So we know who our enemy is, but that's about it, so get in touch with your informants and sources, we need to know more before we figure out how to deal with them and get our friends back."
