The Ghosts of Pascagoula
Michael
For the record, Morris was at -14 HP when he made his death save. Roger's successful First Aid roll will return 1d6 HP (I figure Roger would be using a Project first aid kit, TL7+1). So Bill, you can roll that anytime and I can therefore have Morris's current HP as the medevac gets him to Keesler.
Bill
>> 1d6 … 4
Michael
-10 HP puts him -1xHP territory, which is good.
He should be out of the woods.
Morris is taken care of by Air Force medics who rush to the scene from Keesler AFB. About five minutes after the military ambulance rushes back to the base, the SEAL team radios in, saying they have a confirmed kill of a Pisces in the deep water of the Pascagoula. The Point 1 forward base says their subduction EM readings are plummeting, and even Roger can feel instinctively the scene grow calmer, less eerie, less teetering on the edge of some other history. Still listening to Charley's tape loop in his ears, giving him sensitivity to the presence of the dead, the glowing embers of the dead still cluster around Roger, reaching out occasionally, but not urgently or agitatedly, in their Perfect Tongue. Roger listens for so long he begins to hear repeated phrases and recognize them, but he's not the one who can understand all the tongues spoken at Pentecost. That is only the province of le Maître.
In the great Bowl at the bottom of the Pascagoula River in the Inner Astral, Charley witnesses the "collector" which the dead souls of the Pascagoula were trapped in begin to shift, like a huge puzzle box. A single spiral crack emerges in the ancient stone, starting from the center of the Bowl and spiraling out to the edges. Charley can sense the emptiness of this Bowl now, and she feels like the rush of soul energy out of this soul trap seems to be causing it to shatter spontaneously under the strain. At its center, Charley senses where the trapped soul energy was focused. Mel, Hidden Lore (History B)-14 please.
(Should probably add that Joe was taken away by SANDMAN security for psychological evaluation at Keesler, he'll be isolated and checked for remaining Enemy influence.)
Mel
>> SUCCESS by 6
Michael
Charley is able to see more clearly, now that this apparatus has broken, what it was and what its purpose was. Of course, this is only its reflection as a thoughtform on the Astral; back on the other side of reality it wouldn't look like a giant stone bowl and spiral. But it was a soul trap, the souls were the form of power that allowed it to operate. There are other factors in its operation too, well outside the bowl itself; Charley gets a hunch here in the Inner Astral that there are celestial as well as terrestrial factors that contribute to how the bowl operates.
But most importantly and relevant to the current subduction zone, what Charley is seeing here is a metaphysical representation of what happens when the Kings use human deaths to power subduction events and reality temblors. And now that "machine" is breaking, irreparably and irretrievably.
The humans who die to fuel a subduction zone aren't burned up in the process as fuel. They're trapped in a spiral, forced to imagine a different history by the Red Kings, which is why subduction zones remain "soft" well after a subduction event has taken place. At the center point of the spiral, Charley can see a lens closing—for good—between Histories A and B. Not just the seed of a subduction zone but a portal, one which was opened centuries ago, but now will be closed for good.
Bill, do you want to get into Kalfu mode? Mel, do you want to do anything else here in the Inner Astral or start making your way back to your body?
Mel
If there are no wandering souls to speak to, she’ll go back.
Michael
The souls are all gone from the Anunnaki machine they were trapped within; as Charley makes her way back to the Outer Astral and eventually the material world, she'd likely look for traces of these spirits. And from the Inner Astral she'd be able to see dozens of red glowing orbs, clustered and gathered around Roger, who either is or is about to take on the mantle of Kalfu to try and speak with them.
As Charley passes through to the Outer Astral and eventually wakes up back in the material world, she sees evidence that SANDMAN security was recently brought in; a few remaining undercover Sandmen standing as security at the area near the riverbank to keep the curious away. Morris and Joe are both gone, and Roger is standing by the riverbank wearing the headphones that Charley designed to let him sense the presence of spirits and ghosts.
Bill
Keeping the headphones on, Roger heads over to the Chevette’s trunk and pulls out his supplies. He signals in ASL for the grunts to keep the shore clear of people, and walks over to dip his hand in the waters. He concentrates, pulls out Kalfu’s vever, and says to it: “Can’t tell if you planned all this, but the thing that must be done here is to move these spirits on, and somehow you’re the one needed to do it. Why you gotta keep going and getting me in trouble with the Gede, I don’t know.” He pulls out the whole bottle of rum, flicks off the stopper one handed, and takes a long draw from the bottle. “I stand between the sea and the shore, at the crossroads of river and ocean. Master, come.”
Michael
In a sudden puff of acrid gunpowder, the scent of which wrinkles Charley's nose, Kalfu arrives. With the sun descending over the west bank of the Pascagoula River here at the waterfront of Pascagoula, the long shadows of the ships, the gantries, and the supports of the highway bridge stretch off to the east. But of course the lean young Master of the Crossroads produces no such shadow. If he did, Charley would be standing square in it, and the thought makes Charley shiver a little bit.
With the headphones still on, Kalfu can sense the Pascagoula dead all around him, and smiles slyly. In a flash, the Master uses Roger's spirit empathy and his own connection with Roger to understand the situation, and sees the tenderness and implicit caution that the Pascagoula ghosts are taking with this mortal psychopomp. They don't seem to change their cautious approach of Roger now that he's Kalfu. They continue to whisper tentatively in their ancient language, which of course Kalfu can understand. Kalfu listens for a moment, remaining coy about consciously sharing the meaning of these words with Roger, but Kalfu seems to understand the situation perfectly, and Roger can sense Kalfu's insouciance and confidence somehow fill his own heart and belly. The Pascagoulas' future fate is in a heartbeat apparent to Kalfu, and thus he understands their pleadings.
The Maître's usual bailiwick is to protect the mortal world from spirits, from ghosts, but here he is being implicitly asked to communicate with them by his cheval. Kalfu ignores this implicit request for the moment, seeming more interested in talking with Charley than the Native dead. "You all are playing such a complicated game right now. And every time it seems to involve a deal with the dead, hein? The crossroads go in more than two different dimensions 'round here." Kalfu looks into the murky deep, his eyes much sharper than Roger's, able to see through the darkness of the waters below. "They wanna leave, of course—wouldn't you if you were trapped under the waters for many siècles—but you want something more out of them. Information? Or maybe... maybe it's that precious tongue in their rotting mouths?"
(Bill, a lot of what Kalfu has discovered with Devil's Tongue and his doomsaying will only become apparent once Kalfu has finished riding Roger, but I would like to tease this information out a little bit in scene as Kalfu, because Kalfu himself now has this information and is interested in... ruminating on it, playing with it, and with Charley. Mel, if you have a chance to respond to Kalfu, please do, otherwise I can get back to monologuing a little bit. )
Bill
(Tipping hat to let you play with Charley.)
Mel
Charley does not stay on point when she asks the first question that pops into her head. “Do you not cast a shadow because you are the shadow?”
Michael
Kalfu chuckles with genuine mirth; Charley swears she can see, behind Kalfu-Roger's smile, a flash of worry or embarrassment furrow the actual Roger's brow, but it passes very quickly. "Well look at you, solving riddles that weren't even asked! That is one way to look at it, bien sûr. The loa are shadows cast in your world from elsewhere. But who or what is the sun creating the shadow, hmm?" A mischievous smile lights up Kalfu's face.
Kalfu lets that question hang in the air for Charley to ponder, then says, "Your friends who died under the waters, they now wake up in a world they don't understand. Everything changed around them while they were trapped in the spiral down there. They most definitely want to move on; they understand nothing and are frightened and confused. But their language... ah yes, this is most interesting," Kalfu says, almost expressing a gourmand's delectation over having experienced their language in full. "They told me their neighbors killed them over it, led and fed them to the monsters of the deep, les sirènes, because their tongue offended them so. Some of the ghosts disagreed slightly, said that their neighbor-enemies were actually envious of this language. Now what do you make of that?"
Mel
Charley looks out across the water as she gathers her thoughts. Then she meets Kalfu's black eyes and says, "Their language must have a particular pattern of tone and rhythm that interferes with Anunnaki's control. And some of the settlers understood that. Meaning some of the pilgrims from the old world were influenced by the Red Kings and had nefarious reasons for crossing the Atlantic."
Michael
Kalfu arches an eyebrow at Charley's startling conclusion, then laughs. "Out of the mouths of babes, eh? All that misery, all that death, les innocents lost under the waves... the Peste, the Horseman in White riding across the ocean, the infection escaping its cradle... covering the planet with their creaking ships, copper wires, fiery rockets, invisible waves... compelled to conquer the world by their God and their guns. Ask yourself next, then, who put that God in their heads, who invited Him and His Son to take the place of les Rois Rouges in the souls of men? Was the well poisoned from the moment Christ was invented to take the place of the šedu? Was all this," Kalfu gestures at the industrial waterfront all around them, "was all this Their plan all along?"
Never before has Charley considered that this is actually the real Devil speaking through Roger's mouth, but it seems so plausible and so true right now with his theory that the monotheistic god is a meme spilling out of the Ontoclysm that was placed there as a carrier wave for the Red Kings' return, that some of the Native Americans here had so little of that susceptibility in their languages and cultures and memeplexes that they had to be found, assimilated, or wiped out.
Mel
“I don’t think that’s exactly it. But Holy works are often misunderstood and misused.”
Michael
"Well, that's for sure. Put enough words into a book and anyone can find anything they need to justify themselves. Make the articles of faith into a riddle... and people will spend centuries using it to explain why they do the horrible things they do."
Kalfu pauses for a moment. "These people," Kalfu gestures to the area behind him, to the invisible spirits of the Pascagoula, "they couldn't stand up to Them. Even with the language. The Kings just used the other tribes to handle them instead. It just goes to show you that with all the power, the knowledge, a tribe bound together by fate, by resistance... other people will end up betraying you." Kalfu inhales, considering the stain of blood on the pavement left after Joe shot Morris.
"They don't want revenge, though, and it's killin' me that they don't. It means I can't do nothing for them, directly anyway."
"All they want is to move on, Charley." A little bit of Roger starts to creep into the mocking, rebellious tone in Kalfu's voice. "They need to, they deserve to move on. If not revenge, they deserve rest; we loa know that dream of justice well enough. But they know so much. And I see this doom on them, after talking to them... it's connected to the choices that got made the other day in that little room full of death and gunpowder, the deals that got cut. Those choices are going to lead us..." Kalfu/Roger quickly corrects himself, "They're going to lead you to do some terrible things."
"But deal's been done, huh?" Kalfu suddenly reasserts himself alone, pushing Roger down, smiling again. "It's a deal that's been long in the making, sealed in blood, and it puts you all in the catbird seat finally. These folks... wouldn't they be something to recruit, huh?" Kalfu gestures at the invisible Pascagoula again, smiling.
Hidden Lore (Spirit Lore)-14, Mel.
Mel
“Wow…” Charley whispers to herself bowled over by the idea of recruiting an army souls.
>> SUCCESS by 5
Michael
Charley can tell Roger has his own opinions on the souls of the dead. Kalfu is an opener of the ways, just like Papa Legba, but unlike Legba's more holy and numinous aura, Kalfu's province is the things of the night, of curses and hauntings and demons. The Gede, as Charley knows from talking with Roger and from her own research, are the rulers and protectors of the dead. It seems like Kalfu's omen-reading abilities have told him there are two options here: the Pascagoula either move on to the orchards of Baron Cimetière and receive rest and comfort as revered ancestors... or they remain tethered here, snatched from the Gede and hidden from their rightful peaceful repose, presumably by Kalfu, and somehow in the future become involved in what URIEL is planning. And this choice, this conflict, was important enough to provoke Roger to peek out from his being ridden for a just a moment. Given Roger's past business with the Gede, the deals Kalfu has signed through his cheval, Roger's own recent near-brush with death, the blood shed back at Huntsville and how El Diablo "volunteered" to help URIEL clean it all up... it all adds up to Kalfu having his hands in a lot of URIEL's affairs.
Mel
Coming back from the wild idea of wielding a massively powerful weapon of righteous spirit. Because although poetically alluring she understands the cost (at least with the souls of the Pascagoula Indians) would be too great. She redirects her thoughts to Kalfu’s implications of deals. “I didn’t make any deals so good luck with yours.”
“I may not seem it but between you and me, I’m a free agent.”
Michael
"You're too old and you've been around too long not to be." Kalfu winks, and leaves his cheval.