text 💎 un: Tohsaka Rin

[defenceless]

[shortly after the storm clears on may 11th and the network connection between both sides of the group is reestablished, the following post appears:]

We're fine, as far as I know. I don't think anyone's dead, at least.

The storm that separated us was brought about by a Dakal named Pomarr. Some of you may remember her as our feline friend who sold her soul to Ryba—or whatever it is she did—to continue to live on after death.

She swept us to an island that looked like it was raised from the seafloor. It wasn't a vacation, but there were definitely remnants of what those big cats must have called home.

Her plan is to revive her entire race, in the same way Ryba "revived" her. As if life-or-death deals with shady goddesses aren't concerning enough, she wants to grant Ryba the power to carry out this mass revival by having her suck Nalanni dry. Pomarr understandably doesn't care much for Nalanni after she drowned everyone she loved; in fact, she showed us this in morbid detail. She's taken Nalanni. Hence, all the Nalawi losing their Gifts and all of this inconvenience we have to deal with.

Pomarr knows where Nalanni is, but she's asking us not to interfere, and she wouldn't give us the opportunity to speak with Nalanni when I requested it. For some reason, she didn't expect that we would be suffering like the Nalawi are. She's promised to try to fix that.

What do we do now, ALASTAIR? I can share anything else you want to know about our meeting with Pomarr, or Yukimura Sanada-san or Mr. Keats can, but this is most of it. We have a situation where the balance of this whole world might be upended if we sit and twiddle our thumbs.

I don't think I need to remind anyone of the potential consequences of messing with either goddess. Or a litter of zombie cats roaming free.

(( ooc: infodump for rin, yukimura, and keats' conversation with a dakal npc, for one of the plot slots! feel free to handwave your character (in either the marooned group or the left behind group) learned this info by reading the post or talking with rin/yukimura/keats/another recruit. yukimura and keats may also be replying to tags! ))

Comments

[defenceless]

At the very least, Nalanni's magical power must be too tempting a treat to ignore. Pomarr seems to have so much faith in her, that she'll do the right thing.

[wardance]

Do you think she will not follow through with Pomarr's desire? She's giving her a whole shitton of souls and a goddess as tribute. Seems like Ryba has no reason to not give the even exchange.

[defenceless]

I'm saying Ryba's bargains are crooked. In all likelihood, she'll follow through. Even Satan will, if you sell him your soul.

But the way she makes good on the deal might not be anything we want to see.

[wardance]

Of course.

Not sure I really care about the end results of how that goes over, but something is still not making sense about this power reduction bullshit. What is she doing that is causing this? Nalanni is not connected to us so her method is ... crooked, somehow, for a lack of a better word. Maybe this cat doesn't even realize she's doing more than she anticipated because normally --without us here-- it would seem normal that the Nalawi be affected this way. If they're the only ones left on these islands, then there would normally be no way to tell the difference.

[defenceless]

You're correct. Pomarr didn't expect that we were suffering as we are, and it concerned her to the point of promising to address the issue herself. She cares nothing for the Nalawi, but she isn't terrible; she had no wish to harm us, if she was being genuine.

[of course, rin told her not to worry about fixing the recruits' concerns, but she'll conveniently leave that part out.]

It seems clear it's something with Nalanni and however she works as a god. We'd know more if we managed to reach her and talk with her.

[wardance]

I don't know if she would be willing to speak after all of this if we even did.

The Council said that during the war, the Dakal attacked Nalanni's volcano first in an attempt to destroy it and it enraged her they would do such a thing so she lashed out. That doesn't excuse killing off the whole race. But, it explains a couple things, if true. And I don't know how this world works well enough to know if the Dakal are more of a threat to so-called goddesses than is let on.

[defenceless]

An honest claim. Supposedly, Nalanni and Pomarr are now caught up in a ritual designed to feed Nalanni's strength to Ryba.

I was told the ritual couldn't be stopped for us to speak with her, and it's possible Nalanni's already too pissed off or indisposed that it's ill-advised.

[thank you for telling her the news about the volcano, masamune (though edna has filled her in, since). she agrees with him regarding the explanations the attack provides—not that nalanni's reaction was perfectly reasonable.]

It may be true that the Dakal represent a danger to Nalanni; from what we saw of their civilization, they were highly advanced above the Nalawi. Technology over gods, and all that. Though it just doesn't add up.

[wardance]

It doesn't. A god that has such power should not be able to be so easily provoked into a rage for their actions. Killing the ones involved in the attack? Okay. But the rest...?

[ he thinks a moment. ] someone else brought up a good point to me. The council said the Dakal worshipped no god as far as they knew, so what would have made them think to attack the god of their enemy? How do you find out about a weakness such as that without looking for it unless presented to you?

What I mean to say is, what if this has been a setup that spans back long enough that another god conveniently fed them the information? I can't imagine what the Dakal did they did lightly. It must have been something particularly threatening to her or something similar.

Isn't it convenient that Ryba has a follower so hellbent on revenge that she assists in Nalanni's capture and weakening to be handed to her in a platter?

Before this, Nalanni did not seem to bother the Dakal in any manner. In fact, nowhere did the Nalawi say a Dakal could not become a Nalawi if they wished.

[defenceless]

I prefer to think gods play by their own rules. You remember our hoity-toity friend Gilgamesh, right? Perhaps the magnitude of her anger is a representation of how important her role is to the world.

In that case, she wouldn't stop to be bothered by plucking out the specific offenders.

Masamune, there are no other gods aside from Ryba—unless you're suggesting Ryba prompted the attack. The Dakal have a strong motive in the powers Nalanni bestowed on the Nalawi. Lest we forget, their Gifts make the Nalawi a formidable force to deal with.

[wardance]

I'm wondering if that's exactly what Ryba did. There is a lot of convenience and benefits directed towards the sea witch for me to believe it just happens to be the way it goes.

...Nalanni is a really strange goddess, though, I'll say that much. To me Ryba and Nalanni are two different... things. They share nothing in common so far that makes it easy for me to say they are both goddesses. But, I don't know much about this sort of stuff.

[defenceless]

Apparently not...

[sorry, masa, she's not very kind at holding back her thoughts.]

They are both big and powerful, and they can both seriously impact the world. That's enough to be "goddess" figures. Furthermore, they are actively worshiped. One is responsible for the land, and the other is responsible for the sea.

[wardance]

Look, I don't believe in this kind of shit, what do you expect from me.

[defenceless]

[wha—? he doesn't believe in it.]

Better! I expect better from you!

[just when you thought you were free from the verbal assaults, masamune.]