Hermetesia 2/24

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Translating TAG...

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001A01: Excuse me! Excuse me! Where is this ship headed?

KP098I: To Lovrum!

001A01: Thank you!

Read as: "Please adopt me. I've been told messages are brief command-like paragraphs here, as expected of a place without free will. But please don't take this as me trying to mock you! I have seen firsthand what happens to those people... After eating something that somehow made me immortal, I started to become one of the monsters in the dungeon and killed myself as I did not trust these... freedom lovers. They said only by being "adopted into a city" I can escape this place. The people from Atlantis and Agartha have rejected me. Please, you're my only hope." --Ryvus

Read as: "First mistake: do not use your real name here. Second: DO NOT TALK ABOUT THE CITIES HERE. If you're conscious enough to write and sentient enough to want escape, then I trust that you are capable of walking out of the dungeon and hiding as a stowaway, if you didn't do that yet. True, you can go to another one of those cities or you can be turned back into a humanoid creature (if you aren't one yet). Go to the nearest pier you can and find a ship that's headed to Nievos Argia. Maybe you're already there. If you are, don't move for about five days or so. I'll find you." --UH237

001A01 : Excuse me, where is this ship headed?

KNS990: To Khanesis!

001A01: Do you if there are any ships here heading to Nievos Argia?

KNS990: A ship? Lady, you can just walk to Nievos Argia right now!

001A01: Eh? Am I already in Nievos Argia?

KNS990: Heh. Why don't you come with me to find out?

001A01: I uh....I shouldn't!

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that's weird i thought it was supposed to be longer i guess some recordings are like that meh anyway move on to the next one

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Translating 780...

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"Alright, what's the deal this time?" said the worker. There was a crate in the storage that smelled of something rotten. Prey, probably. He opens up the lid and sees a yellowish-brown liquid inside it. Thinking that it was probably a stowaway piss and feces, he closed it off immediately.
"What the fuck has been going on in this place?"

"Move for a bit, will you? Somebody needs to clear this space as soon as possible. Someone important is coming."

"Is that person going to be checking the cargo? Can we just throw away the cargo instead?"

"You dumbass! Why would we do that?! Do you want people to stop using our ship?!"
"Look at this!"

The other, higher-ranked worker moves close to the crate that reeked. Just one peek made him jump back in disgust and stare angrily at the other person in the area.

"Why the fuck is something like this over here?!"

"Is this human waste?"

"Hahahahaha, you'll think that way, wouldn't you?" he chuckles. "BUT NO. Human waste doesn't smell like this, it smells worse. At the fucking cargo bay too, of all places... alert the other workers. We should evacuate everything to the deck."

"What of the storm?"

"What storm? The winds have been peaceful the past few days," he said, making his way out of the place. "Put that crate in the corner. No one should touch it. "

"Will do."

They were getting close to Nievos Argia, a shitty nation full of treacherous and lecherous bastards. Nobody needed nor wanted to be here. It's a sin to be associated with the place. But every now and then someone needs to take one for the team, and this group of people are the ones who lost a drinking game a few days ago, and now they're the ones with the boxes and the VIPs.

In one of the VIP rooms is a boy named Ryvus and a tall man with a thick snow coat and a mask.
"I sense a disturbance." the man in the mask says.
"I think they saw what I put in the cargo bay," said Ryvus. "I'm done for."
"I think not. People have been less suspicious of bombs ever since they left the vaults. They won't know it."
"You sure?"
"Of course. I put a special precaution in the cargo bay for this, as well."

A sip of coffee.
"So, why Nievos Argia?" Ryvus asked.

"You can't trust anyone from that godforsaken country. The truth is best hidden in a forest of lies, don't you think?"

"Can I really go to Carcosa from there? What if they don't adopt me into the city?"

"Foolish young one, nobody gets adopted in Carcosa. They come to the city and they choose to stay there for eternity. What you are and what you used to be doesn't matter." he said. "All you need to do is to follow."

"Oh, okay..."

From the fixed closed window, lightning strikes the horizon. Fortunately, the first-class cabins are protected from the thunder that came after. These two men continued on with what they were talking about without care for the waves that would soon attempt to capsize the ship.

The man in the mask is quite familiar. He told Ryvus to go to Nievos Argia, in a plan to rendezvous with someone who can give both of them access to the city of Carcosa. He had just found out why Atlantis and Agartha turned this one down: only humans in humanoid bodies can enter their grandiose. But not dim, secretive Carcosa. That city engulfs all that stay for more than needed and is welcoming to souls cursed into various abominations for whatever reason. This kid, Ryvus is a pitiful one. How more pitiful would he be if he were to be devoured by the city?

"Can you tell me about this correspondent? How do we know who he is?"

"They possess their own ship, and they will appear solitary." the masked man answered. "They will recognize us immediately, and attract us to them without our own volition. Whoever can casually give away invitations to one of the cities is someone who feels different, after all."

"I'm kind of nervous."

"That is understandable. Perhaps it would help if you tell me more."

"Tell you more, uh, I don't really know how to do that," Ryvus says. "Maybe I'm just scared that the correspondent will make us do something ridiculous or impossible first, as payment for the access. There can't be anything without a price, right?"

"The tickets are free for some reason. They told me that." the masked man says. "Although, I didn't peg you for someone who would think that way. We are out of the vaults, after all. And no, I will not charge you for any sort of fee. Simply having you come with me to the city is enough, after all. Only the fanatics and the powerful would dare enter Carcosa alone."

"Carcosa sounds intimidating but I'm kind of excited," Ryvus said. "Is Carcosa the promised land, haha?"

"No." the masked man says, narrowing his eyes. "That's what people thought of Atlantis and Agartha once, but you'll see that no interdimensional city leads to paradise. At least, not what we see paradise as. Carcosa follows its own rules, and people abide by those rules. The people of that city are against those who say 'rules are made to be broken'. That's why it's safe."

"I see."

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Translating 780-800...

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• Two people arrived at Nievos Argia looking for ID 999000. They boarded this person's ship, which was barren except for an employed pilot-navigator. Tickets work through fire. The tickets were Level 3 access, which means 72 hours maximum before unwanted consequences occur.

• The masked man is still alive after the trip to Carcosa, although Ryvus has never been heard from again. A request was sent to Hermetisia to search for Ryvus in Carcosa by the masked man, fearing that the boy already belongs to the city. The ship departed for the bazaar immediately, hoping to find someone with a ticket to Carcosa. In the span of two days, Hermetisia was able to steal two tickets for itself in the bazaar, and at the same time became a fugitive, KO-ing the daughters of a famous merchant. These tickets were burned, and Hermetisia docked in the lost city.

• The crew of Hermetisia searched the city through guile and perception but found nobody named Ryvus. Their search led them to a banquet, where they found one of the nobles carrying a humanoid monster on a leash, which matched the description of Ryvus's non-human form. They talked to this noble and managed to strike a deal in exchange for the pet monster they were playing with. This led to one of the crew of Hermetisia to stay in the city for one more day while the other one had to go meet with the masked man.

• The member that left Carcosa couldn't pilot the ship, so he asked the masked man to meet him instead. The masked man was shocked when he saw Ryvus become a dog, entirely complacent to anyone who held his leash.

"Do you still worry about him? You asked us to find him, and now our job is done."

"This is disgusting."

"I don't care. Payment, now."

"Where is the guy who was with you?"

"In Carcosa; doesn't matter. Give me the money."

"You left your friend there? Alone? Are you mad!?"

"He can handle himself. Money, now."

The masked man reluctantly gave him a pouch. He counts it: 40 gold, equal to 4,000 coppers.
"Pleasure doing business with you, sir. Now, go along with your newfound dog."

The masked man returns to his own ship with a fuming brow. Angry at this rude man who doesn't show sympathy for those who lost their mind in Carcosa, caring only about money, and angry at himself, who allowed this to happen to that boy Ryvus. He and the boy didn't know each other well, connected only by their needs without monetary cost. Still, he worried. Ryvus now is his cautionary tale.

• Meanwhile, back in Carcosa, the member of the Hermetisia who was left behind slept in Carcosa and wandered around the banquet, looking for his target. In exchange for the domesticated Ryvus, he had to get an invitation to the next banquet, soon to be held in Agartha. At first, he thought he could steal one from the participants, but not a single one of them had an invitation. The noble he made a deal with would notice if he slipped out of Carcosa, so either he makes a counterfeit invitation, or he goes to the highest building in the city to ask the autarch for an invitation within valid reason. The autarch would agree to an invitation for him, but not a noble.

• He still decides to go anyway but discovers that the throne was left empty. Knowing how much people will let him get away with his bullshit, he enters the golden doors to the autarch's study, not being stopped by either of the guards surrounding it. He decides to go for the riskiest path, despite knowing that the noble would be incarcerated if they ever find out. He himself creates a letter, vaguely describing the banquet and addressing to "whoever possesses this invitation", a line shady in itself. He stamps it with a poorly imitated stamp of the autarch of Agartha, further confirmed by the stamp of the autarch of Carcosa. What happens will happen. He exits the study. When he exits the front door, he is stopped by an unfamiliar woman.

"Are you capable of remembrance?

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going inside to ask for the capacity to remember. What was the monarch like? Is it a he or a she?"

"The throne is empty."

"Before or after you came?"

"After." he lied. "I don't think the autarch is going to come back anytime soon."

"You must've said something that made them upset. But sir, why do you call them 'autarch'?"

"Them who commands Carcosa is absolute," he says despondently. "Don't you agree?"

"I disagree! Carcosa is equal to Atlantis and Agartha, even the dishonorable Dys." she yells. "Ah, but I don't remember. I only know that a monarch stands here, and they have stood alongside the monarchs of other cities. I want to remember what those other cities looked like."

'If you talk like that, the autarch will never grant your wishes.' the man thought.

"What is that in your hand?" the woman says, noticing the sealed envelope.

"For the banquet."

"I see, the banquet." Clearly, she was referring to the current banquet in Carcosa. "Perhaps the monarch left to join the banquet as whatever you came for is connected to it. Perhaps I can plead to them there."

"Perhaps."

"Kind man, won't you accompany me to the banquet? I simply want to speak with the monarch, even if I am no noble."

"I will," he replies. "I will take you there, but after that, you are on your own."

"Yes, thank you very much."

• After that conversation, the two of them return to the banquet. The man tells the guards he just gave his invitation to her, as he would be departing Carcosa before the next hour strikes. The guards allow this, suspiciously, and then the two of them part ways. The man, the pilot of Hermetisia, shows the envelope to the noble. The noble is astonished, saying that what he really wanted was to find out whether there's actually a banquet in Agartha or not, as he only heard it through rumors. Now that he has this envelope with the invitation, he could truly say it is real. The pilot looks down and tries to tell the noble that the envelope is more or less forged. But it was too late, as the noble had already run away from him. He just has to create a banquet in Agartha himself.

• He returns to Hermetisia outside of Carcosa, and finds his crewmate playing solitaire in the deck, bored out of his mind.
  "You're back."

"I'm in trouble. Let's go to Agartha, quick."

"I presume we would have to beat someone to death for a ticket instead of just creating one ourselves, huh?"

"Yes. By the way, how did it go with the deal?"

"He gave me 40 gold."

"40? Good, I thought he'd give us lower because of what happened. Giving him the boy in that state is the same as giving him the boy's corpse. Perhaps he is traumatized now."

"He is not the one who was lost in Carcosa and was turned into a pet, so why would he be the traumatized one?"

"Because it still affects him, you fuckwit." the pilot says, heading down to the navigation room. "Go take some rest. Thanks for guarding the ship and talking to them."

"Wait, tell me how it went with the noble first. Why do we need to go to Agartha?"

"I forged a banquet invitation that might not even exist in the first place."

"If you yourself made that invitation, then it's not a forgery. It's valid."

"I used the seal of the other autarchs."

"Monarchs-- and you should start using your own stamp."

"Not while we're on Hermetisia."

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Translations complete. Sending info to the Pavilion.