Sal drove the van, having Mistral stow his rifle and estoc in her secret hideaway, to be summoned if needed. Of course, he wasn't sure if they could be summoned in the goblin market, so he kept his handgun and hidden throwing knives. "I shall be Rosario. A name I wouldn't miss if I accidentally sold it."

 They arrived at an underpass with beggars in cardboard boxes hawking wares from shopping carts, likely things scavenged from trashcans. Talion was nowhere to be found at first but then they turned around and there he was, as if he'd been there all along. This was the first time any of you had seen him without a suit and tie.

 Instead, he wore a pair of khakis, a plain button down shirt with the top 2 buttons undone, and a nice (inexpensive) pair of shoes. He seemed tired. "It has been a very long time since I've had to hide. I've forgotten how tiring it is. Here."

 Talion produced a strange looking object like a cross between a miniature loom and a large hypodermic needle. "You'll need this to restore the temporal severance of Hook and the children. To use it, you'll need to gather threads of fate from the land of the dead to load it with, then inject it at the end of their tailbone... but, be aware that the reason that they now sit outside of time is that their death was stolen. This will give them a death determined by the thread of fate. They will live, but only until the requirements for their death are met... much like your bane against Pan."

 Talion handed Mistral the object and produced Emily's contract. "I do. I am ready when you are."

 OOC: what are your active magics?

Noah rumbled contently at Mistral the whole way but he barely moved relaying his tension at the whole ordeal. "Mental surgery is unique but there are mental armor spells. From what I know he is like a worm and about as clever as I am when it comes to unraveling complex trees."

"When you are near him it's like he takes a photo of your mind. He gets curious about dark spots on the photograph. I only manage by not playing his game. He is a creature I fear more than Talion for all his power."

Noah sat down as he still had his armor on. He would keep up the act, even though he didn't have to, just to be sure no one got at him with a cellphone camera before it was time to reveal to the world. "So, to get there we have to go my market rules. A coin a head and clearly state the desired bargain for passage. Be detailed. That way if a boggin or something shows up I can handle it with authority."

Hole in the middle
mind link with Mistral
Prime barrier

"How is there not a market rule against uninvited mindreading? If a kindred were caught doing that during a negotiation, it would be a breach of the peace, and likely lead to bloodshed," said Sal.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:14, Sat 18 July 2020.

"There are rules opposed to mind reading. However, he stays in his realm. His realm means his rules. At that point, only the laws of contracts apply. At that point, it boils down to how well worded your contract is. I don't pretend to like the rules, but for what you can find on the market it is well worth the rules. Hell, there is a cure for vampirism on the market but no one wants to afford the cost."

"There is even a discount holy grail, a true blood stone, and the first kiss of a doomed love that you could buy. If you can think of it, they can likely sell a type of it to you."

"My vampirism hardly needs to be cured. I can feed without harming anyone, and thanks to our esteemed employer, I can enjoy the sun. The real problem is the tendency to frenzy. When heavily wounded or hungry, there is no guarantee I can control my actions."

Noah held up a single talon. "I did not say your fangs should be cured or need to be cured. Only that there is a cure. The point was to spark your imagination as to what you could get and how it values the rules therein. If you wanted a vial of Cain's blood, it's in there."

"I wouldn't know where to begin. More importantly, I wouldn't know when to stop," Sal said.

Mistral looked Talion up and down, hardly recognizing him looking so... average.  She replied with a smirk, "Pour moi it is quite the opposite.  It is only when well-hidden that I may relax.  À chacun son goût."


Mistral received the curious needle and loom device, which she examined with interest.  She remarked, "Intrigante.  Fate is not my realm of expertise, but I do hope we needn't return to Stygia to collect these threads.  I think we had best not bring such a rare device to le marché des gobelins.  I will safely stow it in the Fallen World but beyond reach.  Objections?"  If there were no objections Mistral would enfold the device within the fabric of spacetime, sequestering it away in the place-between-places.

After seeing the contract Mistral glanced to Noah and then to Sal, her lips moving as she finalized her spells.  Turning back to Talion she nodded, "Toujours prête.  I am always ready."

 Talion sighed. "You likely will. It is quite difficult to find Threads of Fate outside of Stygia… barring this market, of course. That said, the price markup is murder here."

 Talion reached into the pocket of his khakis and pulled out 5 goblin coins. "I contract you to bring us safely to the front door of the Collector's home and, once we have retrieved Emily, back to this world."

 With that said, Talion led the way past the hawking beggars and into the underpass. As they passed through the mounds of garbage and plastic strips, they found that the stalls became ever more strange looking and the wares more exotic, finally leading into the goblin market proper with creatures of all descriptions shouting out prices for all manner of goods.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:42, Tue 21 July 2020.

Noah collected the coins each rolled over his giant knuckles before he spirited them away in the fashion of a stage illusionist. "Sorry about this Talion, but if you didn't make a deal the whole market would come down on us if I so much as tell a vendor to buzz off from you."

"They love their rules." Noah did blink at the mention of murder being a price and he was caught between laughing and seeing about getting the prices on murders. "I mean... I am sure I can get ahold of a redcap or something. I do carry one of the black vendor cards."

Noah walked but kept that long tail curled around the group just to be sure a boggle or something doesn't harass the group. He would have to swing by the stall to get the Alice box and to give the vendors an update.

Noah's stall in the market was not unlike the others. A deep stall for holding goods and a small front for the presentation of a good to be bartered. There was a small sign giving pricing on various memories and experiences. A mark up for non-digital copies and a massive mark up for original memories. The shelves all looked bare as bones in the middle of death valley yet there was not even a hint of dust.

In the middle of the stall sat three men all playing a rousing game of Texas Hold'em. It seemed like no one was winning and they all held about the same amount of winnings. One of the men tapped the table and the one that was facing away from the front of the stall turned to address his customers.

"Greetings guests, I am afraid "The Ark's Rowboat" is currently experiancing a shortage in supplies. Please come back in a month or so and we should have our supply reestablished." The strangest thing is that the man at the counter was Noah, well Noah as a human dressed in dark pants and a near midevil tunic of all things.

One of the men at the table spoke up. "Sorry about this." And the man was also a human Noah dressed in the same manner. Even the last guy in the stall playing cards, at this moment looking at the first Noah's cards, he was also a human Noah.

Visiting the goblin market made Mistral uneasy, and when she was uneasy she became difficult to find.  She faded from awareness shortly after Talion paid their passage and stated the terms of their visit, but nobody could be sure when she'd gone.  One might begin to question whether she'd even come along at all.

Yet, when they arrived at the Ark's Rowboat some time later, Mistral was indistinctly at their side as if she'd been there all along.  She gazed curiously at the Noah triplets, then gave Noah the dragon a look, then returned to her silent observation.  At length she spoke, "<Hello, gentlemen.  A shame about the shortage of supplies.  Rumors tell that the proprietor has been rather preoccupied with other matters, of late.  Perhaps he will return sooner than you expect, however.>"  Oddly, listeners were aware that everything Mistral had just said was spoken entirely in French, yet even those who knew nothing of the language understood her with the perfect clarity of a native French-speaker.  They heard it as French and despite having gained no new fluency themselves, she was somehow understood nonetheless.

 Talion stopped at the front of the stall, glancing for a time at each of the synthetics and then back to dragon Noah. He held that glance for a moment before turning his attention to the pricing on memories.

 "It seems that much of your fortune was made on the sale of suffering."

 As he stepped aside, Mistral and Sal could see that many of the prices on display were for unpleasant memories. "Not that I have any room to criticize. For a very long time, I traded wishes for souls... war can force a person to make some very difficult choices."

Noah tilted his head. "Careful not to kick the dog who only survives by the scraps that fall from your table Talion. I did not become the best at dealing with trauma by mending synths who fall off ladders."

"They fixate on their abuse until they just dont have any quality of life at all. A small cut and a synth once an abused toy of a wicked man can go on and live a better life caring for children, donated after an anonymous call to the cops. A blood sport fighter becomes a guard at a hospital."

"Its not clean work. But I only ever claimed to be a thief and will worker." He smiled. "Let me know if you ever want to see the worst I pull them from. Some synths never recover and have to be entirely programmed ground up."

"Humanity as a whole, we have an amazing capacity to be cruel.  But there are a bright few shiny ones we can use to pull humanity from its psychic filth." he looked at Mistral and Sal. "A few that make it worth the effort."

"All the same, I'm a monster Talion. You've just made the outside look like the inside. I'm trying to be better, but I'm still a monster."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:34, Tue 21 July 2020.

The first human Noah at the counter blinked. "That is a delightful trick. Bout the only languages we speak is English and poor English." He blinked again and smiled At Mistral. "Hello there... It would be great if supply did show back up. We kinda promised the Kinder a PlayStation if they kept a lookout for hags." The Noah that cheated at cards spoke up as he sat back. "Nasty things that would take you, hex you, and eat you... Not always in that order."

The third in the back, "Still, if he comes back it would be nice. Near four months and not a word." He looked at Mistral and blinked before he smiled "You sure you are not a winter lady? Stunning." He shook his head and looked at Talion. "If you are looking for suffering that is three stalls down the next right turn. I think they got a fresh stock of liquid pain in yesterday. Though We've been told they also do fresh doses. Or you could check out the slave market if you care to do it yourself but please do not return here if you do."

And then the mention of selling souls. "I think there is a lich on the lower levels, never been. You could try them."

 Talion glanced sideways at Noah and smirked. "Says the man who is set to inherit the fate of an entire species. The merit of your work is what earned you that position. There would have been no one else in this world who could have restored Amy, so please do not insult me by calling yourself a dog in my presence. The merit of your work is not in question here. I'm simply curious about your motivation to sell memories."

 Talion placed a hand on the desk and tapped it once with his index finger. "Will you be selling memories of Amy's time with the Nephandi? How about Sabrina's treatment? Scar's immolation?"

 As the multiples of Noah begin to speak up, Talion removes his hand from the counter. "I believe strongly in the ends justifying the means and I have done many terrible things... so I will not criticize, but I will ask about your motive."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:15, Wed 22 July 2020.

Noah looked at the gesture Talion just made and then back up to Talion. He knew Talion just did something but he would have to figure it out later. Noah had watched the cloud of nanites the man breathed out at the boat. Able to turn the attackers into protein gel with a thought. "Mind the scale we are talking about Talion. I'm a spec on your scale, never mind the fact I can still throw a punch enough to get the attention of your enemies. The work with Amy and Sabrina is the apex of my work. It's still weak to the things you do."

"I've seen. And therapy sessions will be on Friday at three."

"And no, that is why I have sealed their memories rather than excised them. I only sell if I cut the memory out. Though at this rate I won't have to do it again once Braindance goes public. I'll have to close the shop."

 Talion paused for a moment. "For all your talk of scale, remember that I am a refugee. I'm just a man using what I know to improve the lives of as many people around me as I can. Scale only matters regarding how many lives you can touch at once... and it magnifies one's failures just as much as it magnifies one's successes.

 What truly matters is motive and motivation. What is your goal and are you putting in enough effort to achieve it?"

Noah sat down and sighed. "Twelve coins bought passage back to the land of the living and purchased an artifact to sever the connection of the demons contract with his mages. Another coin could buy a guard to keep the kids safe while Scar is on vacation in Dresden. That is what my motivation is then, to use horrid things to make a positive impact and to bridge the gap when I can't do enough."

"When I started it was to overcome your shadow. Now it's to give the synths freedom and mortal rights. I presume later it will be to raise up the supernaturals."

"Living in your shadow as a kid taught me that I have no limits worth a damn and the only way we are going to live, to beat things like that fish out there, is together. We can't do it alone, you can't do it alone, and if coins bought with bad memories motivate enough supernaturals to help turn the tide I am going to be there and swing for the fences."

"By any means that is my motivation now. To be a rock of which our house will be built to weather the storm to come. The coins and the memories are how I got started. Things will change soon. But there it is."

 Talion closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, he smiled genuinely for the first time in what has likely been months. "I knew entrusting Grey and the fate of the entire synthetic race to you was the right thing to do."

Noah tilted his head, "I hope you're right. It's entirely terrifying. I can survive your collateral but we both know the council is going to shit bricks here soon. Once Synths have rights most supernaturals can pass off as synths."

Each human Noah looked back and forth and the one in the back was the one to ask. "Who the hell are you people? and why is the golf dad questioning the E.D. unit?"

 Talion glanced at the synths in the shop and sighed. "My technician I.D. is 001... and this is the heir to Synthos Inc."

 Upon saying "this", he indicated Dragon Noah. Once he was done offering his explanation to the human Noahs, he turned to Dragon Noah. "So, why are we here?"

Gonna give the others a chance. We took off on a conversation that had been some time in waiting. X.X