Dionysus Ton is preaching to a small group when you find him, quietly discussing the void with them. They all seem human

• Sue stands nearby and waits for a break in the sermon before interrupting.

Dionysus Ton stops at a natural stopping place, and bows to you, "Avatar! An honor to see you here!"

• Sue bows gently. "Ton. Who are your friends?"

Dionysus He introduces them by first names, giving a common occupation for each, "They are interested in learning of our culture and history. I try as best I can to enligthen them."

• Sue nods to them each in turn. "It is my pleasure to meet all of you." To Ton, "Have any of them shown aptitude or interest in the art?"

Dionysus "I have not tested them in the art, Avatar. We have started merely with... connecting, discussion."

Sue "Of course. If I may speak to you in private for a moment?"

Dionysus He nods and steps away with you

Sue When they're alone, Sue says, "I need a ... an emissary. From the planetary athaks. Someone who can navigate the planet and also travel through the void. You were my first choice, but if you are satisfied in teaching those not of void, then I would ask your recommendation."

Dionysus He pauses, "An emissary to where, Avatar?"

• Sue hesitates. "First, between Uur Sodzul and Maraddon."

Dionysus On voidscale, his features light up with awe, "I would be honored."

• Sue nods. "Then we begin at once. Tell me where you wish me to open your portal."

Dionysus He pauses, "I.. am not sure I understand, Avatar."

Sue Are we inside?

Dionysus Yes.

• Sue shows him the key. "With this, I can give you instantaneous passage to Uur Sodzul."
• Sue opens a gate to the Void.

Dionysus He stares at it a moment, then says, "I... I wouldn't know where to be sent. You tell me where you need me to go."

Dionysus He gapes in awe at the Void.

Sue "You will return here as your duties require. Therefore, I will provide you with a permanant gate."

Dionysus He nods.

Dionysus "Then perhaps we should make it at my quarters."

• Sue waits for him to dismiss the humans, goes with him to his quarters, and opens a gate there. Where are his quarters, btw?

Dionysus He leads you to the temple district, where he goes to a few squat houses near the void temple. He lives with an athak family there, renting a small room.

Sue "The Maraddonians will probably want us to move the gate to a more secure location as negotations proceed, but this will do for the time being. Your first task is to become an Uurian."

• Sue gates the two of us into the stronghold.

Dionysus "How... do I do that?"

Sue "I'm not sure. We'll have to ask them."

Dionysus He nods, "All right."

• Sue goes through the gates and finds someone to ask.

Dionysus They tell you that if you say he's Sodzulian, then he is.

Sue "Ah. That handles the legal component, I suppose, but he has to understand how to think like an Uurian, as well. He will require teachers - language, history, religion, politics, science, the arts."

Dionysus <As you will.> And they start to arrange that

Dionysus What now?

Sue "I'll return in time to check on your progress." Now I'll check on Uodzupuul.

Sue Has there been interest in the mail system?

Dionysus A little bit, but not much. Most of them aren't quite sure who to talk to yet, but it's getting off its feet.

Sue Any word from the pilgrims?

Dionysus A few have sent word back that they've had some interactions, mostly negative, but a few bright spots: cephalans and gnomes are often interested in void.

Sue Where are the cephalans concentrated?

Dionysus An archipelago in Kren'atan, where their main university is

Sue I'll make a note of where the pilgrims have passed through in Kren'atan and Gezfoil and return to Maraddon for dinner.

Dionysus Gotchya

Sue By the way, what happened to Mux?

Dionysus He was on the spaceship with you, and followed you into the palace. If you let him, he probably either followed you or went back tot he ship.

Sue Did he follow me on my errands?

Dionysus If you let him

Sue yeah i guess it's fine. i'm probably going to make him ambassador to the other moons or something eventually

Sue At some point, I realize Mux is just following me around and ask where he wants to go.

Dionysus "Err, with you, actually. I... wasn't part of everything to begin with, but... with all that happened with Katz, I... saw some of the world, and with you all. I was thinking I might help your band."

• Sue tilts his head. "How? Katzenheim isn't our problem anymore."

Dionysus He frowns, "No, I mean. I was thinking I could write for you. Songs. And perhaps help with... other things. As... perhaps as a support staff."

• Sue nods slowly. "Okay. Write a song for the band. Where do you want to do it?"

Dionysus "Where? Well, I don't know. With you?"

Sue I'll arrange a permanent room for him in the stronghold. "Meet me in the morning. Dionysus has something planned for us." Before bed, I'll also have a soldier with one of those sickness guns and a car with a driver prepared to come with us to the special forces compound.

---

Dionysus You are told of a labratory near the south pole, underground, run by athaks of all sorts.

Dionysus And told to go there in secrecy.

• Sue doesn't tell anyone about it, then, but goes as soon as possible.

Dionysus Okay, for the record, this happens a few weeks in. We're playing hob with chronology right now.

Sue Understood.

Dionysus Presumably, you Key there?

Sue Yeah, over many iterations.

Dionysus The labratory is amazing.

Dionysus Far advanced beyond even Uur Sodzul

Dionysus Athaks and void creatures of all kinds are there

Dionysus And as you arrive, a void-voice says over an intercom, <Welcome, Avatar.>

• Sue looks around for the source of the voice. <Hello?>

Dionysus <Please, come in.> A door vanishes, allowing you to enter.

• Sue passes through it, still looking for the source of the voice.

Dionysus People bow to you as you walk down the halls

Dionysus Some are not naturally void beings, but are clearly void-workers, void-scientists, void-techs.

Dionysus They usher you to a vast mechanical hall with huge, immense voidscreens.

Dionysus A massive mecha sits in the middle of it, a bulbous, bristling weapon of void.

• Sue nods, waves, or greets them as he notices them. Has Sue ever seen a voidscreen?

Dionysus No

Dionysus It's basically a tv screen, of course, OOC

Sue I'm sure he hasn't seen a battlemech.

• Sue is a bit in awe at the technology.

Dionysus That reforms itself into a cloud of tiny void dots, and reforms into a different shape a moment later, around a small, black haired pseudohallfing with a rifle slung over her shoulder.

Dionysus She /is/ void.

• Sue pales slightly, then nods slowly. It all makes sense.

Sue Does she notice me?

Dionysus She is looking at you, <Welcome, Avatar. Do you know me?>

• Sue bows. <Of course, Void-Bearer.>

Dionysus She smiles, <The Void-Father has asked me to show you my stronghold. Betray its location to anyone, and your mind will be wiped. Understood?>

• Sue nods. <I understand.>

Dionysus She grins maliciously, <Like my toys?> She reforms her mecha into a jet.

• Sue takes a few steps forward, studying it. <Yes. How does it do that? What kind of material can do that?>

Dionysus "Nanotech. Tiny little voidmachines."

• Sue turns. "So tiny that it can't even be seen? Like germs? How do you put them together?" He makes a twisting motion with his fingertips.

Dionysus She laughs and begins explaining nanotechnology.

• Sue listens to her, fascinated.

Dionysus She uses servants as unwitting examples, often killing them to make a point or explain something.

• Sue is a little unnerved by that, but knows her reputation, so he doesn't say anything.

Dionysus <... So you can see how they're useful. Even formless ones can manipulate them.>

Sue Have I seen any of them here?

Dionysus You've noticed some in the air.

Sue <What are they made out of?>

Dionysus The machines?

Sue Yeah, sorry, the nanobots.

Dionysus <Particles and void.>

Sue <Do you have a void portal here?>

Dionysus <Dozens.>

Sue <Then ... you could manufacture these devices endlessly.>

Dionysus <I do. I have a Purpose. But that's not your business. Your business is this mission for the Void-Father.>

• Sue just says, <Yes, that's true.>

Dionysus <I need... some intel that you might be able to provide. If you can, I will... allow you access to my nanobots.>

Sue <Certainly, Void-Bearer. What do you wish to know?>

• Sue isn't sure where this is leading, and subscribes to a different school of thought than Nicolle, but isn't brave enough to cross her.

Dionysus <You defeated the Never, correct?>

Sue <I routed it, by nullifying its Avatar.>

Dionysus <It still has a Servant here on Shem. I merely want a description now, and something more later.>

• Sue frowns. <I once saw a humanoid that could nullify at will. Is that what you mean?>

Dionysus She nods, <Probably.>

Sue <Well, he looked like ...>

Dionysus She listens, delightfully typing it down into a massvie console.

Dionysus Then says, <Excellent. When next you see him, send some of the nanos you use back to me to let me know. The lab is yours, for now.>

• Sue is stunned for a moment. What is everyone in the lab doing?

Dionysus Playing with machines of one sort or another.

• Sue tentatively finds something to play with and inspects it.

Dionysus The void-cuisinart whirrs to life.

• Sue presses buttons until the horrible torture device turns off.

Dionysus It whirrs to a stop.

• Sue walks up behind someone who is doing something strange and unexplainable, and says, <What is this device for?>

Dionysus <Chopping up things.>

Sue <How does it work?>

Dionysus <You put something in it, cover it up, and press one of the buttons. The blades spin and cut things up. It's powered by void converted to act as electricity.>

• Sue pauses, digesting that. <So ... you can create a positive charge out of void?>

Dionysus <Me? No. But the Bearer can make void mimic anything.>

Sue <Anything? Even magic?>

Dionysus He scowls, <Magic is not an effect.>

Sue <Ah, I think I understand.> He goes over to where Nicolle was when she was manipulating the nanos and tries to figure out how she was doing it.

Dionysus They seem to be swarming doing their own thing.

Dionysus What do you try?

• Sue remembers what Nicolle said to them, and extends a finger of void into the cloud.
• Sue remembers what Nicolle said to him about Formless Ones, rather.

Dionysus Explain to me what you're doing and what response you're looking for?

Sue Poking it with void, to see if they react in any way.

Dionysus They pause, then continue about their business.

• Sue expands the tip of the finger into a bubble, a sphere, and slowly increases the radius.

Dionysus Until such time as you extend the void with a purpose for them in mind, they merely pause to see what you want then continue about their business

• Sue tries to pull one of them to move away from the swarm.

Dionysus It does

• Sue tries to get it to replicate itself.

Dionysus It does.

• Sue tries to get them to make different sounds.

Dionysus In void-sound or real sound?

Sue Real sound first.

Dionysus It can vibrate a tiny bit, but it takes a lot of them to make any real noise doing so.

Dionysus They can beep on void-sound

• Sue focuses on void-sound, then, and starts improvising a symphony, replicating new nanos as he thinks of new parts for the composition.

Dionysus ...Cool

Dionysus Describe it as you make it happen?

• Sue tries to make a percussion section first, then realizes he'd need a lot of nanos to establish that much bass, and settles on a heartbeat for the rhythm. Then he creates a melody based on a Kearian folk song, using about a dozen nanos, assigning each a different note, and combining them in chords. It's robotic, but he likes it that way, it feels more like sheet music. Then he adds a harmony, softer than the melody.

Sue He notices that it's out of phase with the melody with a moment and starts to correct it, but then decides to leave them out of phase, just tweaking it a bit, enjoying the freedom and power. Finally he starts building a 'vocalist' out of a larger cluster of nanos. At first it just screams like a modem, but eventually he combines individual tones in various patterns, until he starts to approach something tha

Sue t could almost be, but doesn't quite achive, the sound of language.

Sue s/with a moment/after a moment/

Dionysus As soon as you finish, you slump over, drained. So much void used.

Dionysus And the entire lab applauds.

• Sue stares at the ceiling and wheezes, <Oh, you were all ... listening? I ... got so focused.>

Dionysus Someone brings you some liquid void drink

• Sue thanks him and drinks.

Dionysus It's refreshing, but doesn't fully restore you. Like water after a marathon

Sue <So, uh, do you guys have other musical instruments?>

Dionysus They look around, <Maybe? We can look.>

Dionysus They'll turn up a few odd ones, and an antivox.

• Sue brightens at the antivox. <There's another one! How old is it?> How is it shaped?

Dionysus Much like yours, but stylistically slightly different. <It's... Oh, I don't know, Era of Void, Age of Terror, First Shem?>

Sue <Oh, my. This might have been the one mine was based on. I found the vodestones in an old storage shed when I was just a boy, but I didn't know what they were until later in my studies. Is there anyone here who can play it?>

Dionysus A moment of inspection comes up with a <No one who plays it well.>

• Sue chuckles. <I suppose I won't find a master here, then.> He stands up. <Oh, you all might like this. Let's see, I need to get it here without being followed ... I'll be back in a moment.> He opens a portal to the Void unless he's stopped.

Dionysus No one stops you

• Sue wants to get the void organ. The plan is to close the gate to the polar lab, open the gate to the lunar lab, push the organ through, close the

gate to the lunar lab, then open a new gate to the polar lab, push the organ into the polar lab, and close the last gate behind him.

Sue If anyone asks, he says, <I have an idea, but I can't talk about it.>

Dionysus You need a bit of help, but you manage

• Sue gets help from the polar lab, then.

Dionysus You get the organ where you want it.

Sue <What do you think? Can we work with it?>

Dionysus They stare at it, <Yes.>

Dionysus <Impressive for such primitive technology.>

Sue <It's based on simple principles, but it does one impressive thing.> He puts in the key and turns it, then plays a few bars. <Getting that regulator was interesting.>

Dionysus It's very full and rich sound.

• Sue starts going over the mechanism and discussing where to take it.

Dionysus Where does he intend to take it?

Sue Um. Can we build all the major components of an audio production studio into it?

Dionysus Kinda.

Dionysus More or less.

Dionysus In a very voiding way

Sue Heh, so the soundproof walls are relatively easy?

Dionysus Might be the easiest part.

Sue I know what I want it to do, but I'm not sure what it will mean in terms of the performance system.

Dionysus Tell me the goal?

Sue Doing things to music that no one has ever seen before, outside of magic. Building and rearranging symphonies on the fly. Sampling and mixing. Creating arbitrary sounds at will.

Sue Changing the way other instruments sound.

Dionysus So basically, very much like an antivox meets a recording studio. Do you need to be able to define it through void, is your issue?

Sue I don't know what I'll roll to use it, or what effect it will have.