video;

[bearshermark]

[A wide-eyed Elliott appears on video suddenly, hair tousled like he's been running his fingers through it a lot. His voice holds a note of urgency]

Guys.

I've been looking at my notes, and there's stuff about- about all this. Like I don't fully understand everything, but I just--

The stones are- the gods-

[He reaches back for something and reads off of it]

Even the altar. Like. They're all malachite?? Malachite is 'a gift from Nevedomost'. The priest's name is Neved?? 16 recesses. But there's only 8 stones listed.. Oh, he's- he's unbalanced.

Even- even the palace guard Uspor- Usporiadat? Zmat in the market. What kind of--

The King being sick or possessed after he went out there. Anthony could sense it- the deities battling in the hills?? Are there really?

[He glances around, possessed by a growing frenetic energy]

This is- I can't- I need to do.. something with all this.


Edit:

My notes. Add stuff if you want?

Elliott N. would like to share a document with you.

Comments

[bearshermark]

Yep. Great. Fine. Perfect. Thanks for asking.

[He's none of those things, but he's visibly trying to calm down]

Just uh, some stuff going on.

[howkickassiam]

Yeah, because that's what a person who's doing perfect would say.

What's prompted all this?

[bearshermark]

[He flashes a grin, a little sheepish]

Sorry. Just- Neved, I think. The altar, the malachite, the imbalance and the temple, his name.. I have suspicions.

[howkickassiam]

You know...that's good thinking, really. I haven't been investigating much of anything but the quality of the alcohol there.

[bearshermark]

[Elliott laughs shortly]

Fair enough. But yeah uh, there's some interesting stuff here so I decided to poke into it a bit.

[howkickassiam]

I'm glad you did. It turns out to be better that someone did, I think.

So...gods, huh?

[bearshermark]

Yeah, seems like! Wild, right? I'm still- like, They just look like ordinary people. It's a little hard to believe, but I'm on my way to totally convinced.

[howkickassiam]

What convinced you?

[bearshermark]

I've got the most evidence stacked up for Neved, but there are others, too. Vedom in the library, Uspor at the palace, Zmat at the market.. very uncannily themed in their positions as if they're meant to be there.

[howkickassiam]

And it doesn't seem like some kind of set-up? Like they want you to think that?

[bearshermark]

I guess.....?

[Highly skeptical, drawn out note there]

But someone else can look at that angle if they want. That entire way of thinking is exhausting and too cynical for me. If I'm proven wrong then okay, but until then, I'm going to follow this along and see where it goes.

[howkickassiam]

With the Bureau being involved with things it's too easy for that to be my first thought, that's all.

[bearshermark]

Yeah.

[A very deep sigh]

The Bureau sure does go out of their way to implant our memories, sneak into our rooms without being caught on camera to give us objects or tattoos or scars, and fabricate elaborate portals in a super high-tech VR social experiment for the heck of it.

[howkickassiam]

I don't know why they're doing it but it's made it so I don't trust them one little bit.

[bearshermark]

...Yeah, that's fair.

[howkickassiam]

Anyway. Let me know if anything develops.

[bearshermark]

Will do.