Zeitgeist Blue

Roberta Isley Gardens, Claremont Academy Bayview, Freedom City, New Jersey Thursday, January 31, 2019 12:01:49 PM "Reina Nightingale." The manila folder slid across the table to Reina's side. If she were to look inside she would see her school files printed on paper. Her application and acceptance into Claremont Academy, her previous school records, her entrance essay and various documents necessary for the proper documentation of a student. It was almost complete, save for any sensitive personal information that wouldn't be available to a student's cursory search. Across from Reina, Nicole stared blandly behind her spectacles as if she could assess the sophomore just like that. Nicole was sitting on her wheelchair and wrapped in winter clothing, a black and white scarf with floral patterns over a dark green sweater. Faded jeans and winter boots completed her outfit. Reina and Nicole were seated at one of the tables in the gardens. The sun shined merrily down on their heads, warming them even with the whole grounds frosted in snow, and with lunchbreak just started many students had moved outdoors with them. The benches and the tables and seats were swept clean of snow by the staff and so were summarily filled up in a short amount of time. Reina could see the students eating lunch or walking in twos or trios across the gardens or inside the nearby administration building. One or two adults who could only be teachers could also be seen. It was a fairly typical scene for a high school boarding school except the background was punctuated by the use of powers. Small uses of powers. She could see a student light a small fire on her hands to keep another girl close to her warm. Another, sitting on a bench by the Zen Gardens, stirred up snow into fractals and patterns as he read a textbook on mathematics. A student flew down from the roof of the library, too far to see who it was. "I've read your file," Nicole said, bringing Reina's attention back to her. "But I bet that doesn't tell me everything, so why don't you tell me more about yourself?" It was a student mentor program the two had entered into paired randomly or as Nicole had suspected, chosen by whoever was in charge of this thing. And this was their first meeting after a few days since the pairs were announced, the first time the two had talked to each other face-to-face instead of reading a name accompanied by a picture or seeing the other briefly in the hallways. "You just arrived this month, right? So let's start with that. Expectations from the school? From this? And why did you enter both?" She pushed up the frame of her glasses with a finger, allowing Reina to speak.

Edited - Durf Salvo Additions GM prompts for Complications 4PP to Bellios Device (+5DP). Accurate Attack, All-out Attack and Power Attack to Protocol Sy (3DP) Weapons Array System (1DP) AP: Close Quarters Combat Engine Removals All-out Attack and Power Attack feats from powers within Weapons Array System Drives Like A Rock and It Hungers for War Complications Changes Personality & Motivations and Power & Tactics Reshuffled Enhanced Saves in Protocol Sy

Initiative: 1d20+3 = 23 Fortitude Saving Throw: 1d20+10 = 23

@Fox, @Nick, @Thevshi Can you guys give me each a Reflex Saving Throw roll, and a Toughness if you fail? Non-lethal Damage 1 (Extras: Area). Basically just to avoid getting jostled and pushed around by uncaring machines of steel. Nothing too serious. Also, what will you guys do with the update up?

Ouroboros It was magic, technically, but not the usual mystical arcane learnings that he had learned under Eldritch. No, right now he was a creature of the night, stalking and unseen through those beings with eyes or ears to sense the world. Even in this dimension within dimensions this fact remains and assisted by Masque's power lingering on him, Ouroboros flows seamlessly forward. Only the flickering blue hologram that the others huddle around provides a lifeline between them and the vampire. As Ouroboros ventures deeper, the corridors become moore twisted, going this way and that. The walls become more mirrors than solid material and their reflections different than they should be. Up becomes down and sideways flips, the right showing the left. Backwards goes forward and the reflections of drones move of their own accord, without input from the physical drones, as if the reflections had a mind of their own. A funhouse of mirrors and silent watchmen. Your own reflections almost seem to wander about but you clamp shut on that idea, deny it, and they stay with you, more or less. The drones themselves can't seem to decide which way is the ground and they stand wherever the surface may be. You see more than one type of drone as you move in deeper than just the spindly, humanoid ones nearer to the exit. Lumbering golems fill up the corridors with their bulk, huge limbs and and a rock-like head set on a barrel-chested torso. Drones with arms like rulers writ large, rectangular and the length of three of their brethren, sit with their arms extended. Tiny drones hover in the middle of the corridors in dozens, as if what passed for gravity in this dimension had no hold on them. A drone without arms but a beak for a head blinks out of existence as Ouroboros floats forward, only for the drone to again reappear in the middle of the cloud of mist, disrupting the cloud. Yet Ouroboros holds onto the form, paying no heed to the armless guardian as he continues ever onward. This whole scene is simple fare for one versed in the arcane and he is not disturbed nor disoriented in the slightest. In fact, he seems to be getting closer to his destination. The ambient heat becomes hotter, soon looming over him like the sun in the horizon or a mountain as he nears its peak. And he notices the pixels forming, more obvious now than they ever were. They line the corridors and buzz around the heads of the drones like flies. Then the corridors empty of drones. There is a demarcation where they stand and then simply... they do not fill the space. You float forward, favoring the dark places to hide in. And before you is a chamber where the walls are composed of panels of large mirrors, enough for one batch of Claremonters to stand on and dance around. The chamber is empty save for a pillar of steel similar to that of the drones. It reaches from on end of the chamber to the opposite end and it is set at a slanted angle, but you reorient yourself so that it stands vertically. In here, direction takes little meaning. By the mirror you see a pixelated 8-bit eye, like the one that had appeared on the dimension before this. A woman's muttering could be heard from it but you cannot hear what she is saying. Then you catch sight of something move in the mirror in the chamber opposite you, something that seemed larger than even the mirror itself. But it is gone a second later. Arcana, Masque, Veronica You wait, huddled around the hologram as Ouroboros traverses the corridors, keeping a close eye on the blinking blue dot. Minutes pass, perhaps half an hour. It is hard to keep track of time here, but as you watch the hologram, a drone without arms and a beak for a head, eyes set right on the point, appears on the wall beside you. It doesn't react to your presence, instead facing the closed doorway that separates the two dimensions. The drone pulls back its head and there is a sucking noise, like vacuum rushing out. Then after a few seconds of this it rocks its head forward and a continuous red beam shoots out of its eye towards the closed doorway. As you watch, the doorway opens and the red beam seems to keep it open. The armless drone stands there but its brethren do not. They activate as one, all around you. Red eyes turning baleful and facing the doorway. Again the screech of steel as joints move and clawed feet scratch against the floor. They stride forward as one, for the doorway and out. They part ranks as they move, spaces forming between each drone and Masque easily slides where they are not. A full body expression of the magician's sleight of hand. Veronica follows suit, using her amulet's properties to provide a boost in coordination. And where she does not avoid the advance of marching steel limbs, she weathers the blows. Arcana, meanwhile, chooses to stand her ground. A golden force field forms a barrier between her and a dozen and more drones, pushing them to the sides. An easy experience for the three girls all in all, and with the surrounding space cleared it leads into a more comfortable one. They could stretch their arms without touching another thing in sight, though they still have to be wary of the steady stream of drones exiting the doorway.

GM <I don't care about souls. Those who commit crimes must answer for them.> She growls out the words, facing away from you to glare at the trees. Her grip on her pistol tightens, the veins on the back of her hand visible in the dark before dawn. <Danillo, Kerbee, Katherine...> She looks as if she was about to say more but the names trail off into silence. Isa's whole body tenses and for a few seconds she holds it. Nothing but her breathing fills your ears. Then a small sigh escapes her lips and her whole body loosens. <You can give your testimony and your arguments, Archaeologist Cassandra. To speak in front of our village, you deserve that much.> Then without another word she pushes Neil forward and gestures for you to follow. And you do, leaving behind the bodies of Kayara and the Paruma to lay in the clearing. One, hair silver like the moon and skin a dark velvet, and the other, matted black fur and a snout like human bone. They are alone save for each other. Just as they have in milennia, they do so in death. Two opposites of the same coin. They are the first to feel the light as the sun rises from the east, dispelling the night and all that had transpired in the darkness. They are the first to hear the bird songs begin anew. The world turns. The moon sleeps. It is a new day. *** 15:26:04 November 27, 2018 London, The United Kingdoms It is a new month. In the city of London, the light rains wind blowing through the cobbled streets herald the coming storm soon to come. Lightning crackles in the distance, its light diffussed in the gray sky and you hear thunder moments later. Small and faraway, you suspect that you alone hear it. Luckily, you are safe from the coming storm as you enter the vaults of the British Museum. Cozy from the cold Autumn rains. Dry from the always gloomy London weather. Yet you feel a chill run through your spine, not of your own volition. It passes by quickly, but you couldn't help but make a second glance towards your colleague, Hornsby. A small man, an inch or two shorter than you, but dressed professionally in a dark grey suit and tie as he finishes the storage process. Two rings within a wooden box, small enough to fit in his palm. Made of mahogany and lined with steel, it is a solid container, fit for a king. Then that box is placed inside another container into a shelf, filled with dozens more specimens. There are a dozen rows of shelfs and several dozens more of shelves, just in that section alone. Then dozens of sections more. Hundreds of specimens and artifacts. The world of the past set in a basement where few eyes could look upon them, anonymous in their countless numbers and codes arranged in an order comprehensible to the caretakers of the basement. The storage process finished Hornsby walks away, not a care in his step. "And to think this could open a whole new pantheon to draw up. I do hope you don't dig yourself too deep into this, Miss Crow. I've heard your secretary's received over eleven requests for a joint expedition with the British Museum, seven of which requested for your personal involvement..." His chatter fills your walk back to the storage room's entrance but you can't help but feel you're missing something in the study of the Cuespac. Two jewelry pieces and a quick study of the village makes for little output. But there is a familiarity with their myths, with the priests and the temple, as if you had seen or experienced some of them before. Perhaps it is just the cultural shift within the South American sphere, something that all peoples that share close proximity have happened to them. Perhaps it is more than that. You don't know, but you have all the time in the world and the full resources and influence of the British Museum behind you and in time you are confident you could unearth the Amazon's mysteries. You and Hornsby leave by the way you came in and he shuts the lights, the storage vault darkening in nearing batches as power leaves the flourescent lights. Then the entrance is shut and locked. The storm comes soon. Rains heavy on the windows that span ceiling to floor. But you are cozy and dry where you stand. *** 00:02:36 January 24, 2019 London, The United Kingdoms It is a new year. You continue to work. Your job as curator taking up most of your waking time as a slew of new discoveries and items go through the museum's doors. Yet you still have just enough hours in the evening to ride then trudge to your nearby apartment in the city of London to sleep. On one of those evenings you had opened your front door to find a white letter envelope laying on the inside step. Naturally curious, you take it with you to your living room and spin it between your hands. There are no marks, no manner of address to tip you off as to who had sent it. So you tear it open and pull the letter from its case. Inside, is a handwritten note, the writing neat and round, in straight orderly rows. It reads, Crow, You would know me by my alias as Neil Kirkland, an explorer similar to your profession but one the Fates have looked at with less favour. It does not matter. My subsequent custody with the Peruvian officials had made that identity too unwieldy to handle. So I cast it aside just as I cast aside what had transpired between us on that hillside clearing in the Amazonian jungle. I am not a man who holds grudges. I do not believe in vengeance if it serves no other purpose. So know I hold no ill will against you or the Cuespac tribe. I only wish for survival. Everything I have done and will ever do is for survival. Right or otherwise. I know you do not see eye to eye with my methods and perhaps that is why I write this letter. You are the cause of my latest defeat and perhaps that alone intrigues me. You stood against me with your fists and your ideals. That deserves respect, at the very least. In my former line of work, set ideals are so hard to come by. They change and morph as the job demands. But perhaps it is easier for those of your type. Perhaps not. I've exhausted all that I needed to say. Live your life and I will live mine. I hope our paths never cross again. Yours truly The letter ends without any signature or name, fitting for a man who discards identities so easily. You sit there in your couch in the darkness at the height of the evening. The ghosts from those months ago haunt you at that late hour. But you can do nothing but to sit and to think, to ready yourself for the day tomorrow. For the world moves on, regardless of the ghosts of yesterday.

Okay, so a recap's long overdue and here's a list of things you know, your goals, and your problems. Dimensions CPU - Intact Forcefield - Intact, Breaking, ? Pinions - Kinda intact, ? Electronic Defense Systems - Offline, Maze-like, filled with drones Pillars - Mostly Intact, ? Outer Shell a. - Breached, No ground, Blinding light Outer Shell b. - Breached, Floating islands, Electricity Summary of Events 1. Nicole drafted all of you to fix her problem and after the debriefing sent you all inside her armour. 2. There you met her Father and Ouroboros has an idea of the Core's layout from his initial magical sense roll. 3. You passed by two dimensions; the Outer Shells and the Pinions. The Outer Shells are breached and the Pinions hold doorways to the EDS and Forcefield dimension. 4. After opening the EDS doorway, you fought some drones. Then Masque disguised all of you to look like drones. 5. An 8-bit looking eye appeared and herded all the remaining drones and you among them back into the EDS doorway. That's when Abby came to after mentally short-circuiting for a bit. 6. And now you're inside the EDS dimension. Goals 1. Place the helmet that Veronica's carrying into the core in order to merge them. You should probably do this before the outside entities finish whatever they plan to do. The core is in the CPU dimension but you need to go through the Forcefield dimension to get to it. 2. You are currently trying to find the generator of the Electronic Defence System (EDS) dimension in order to use the drones or robots against whoever's messing with Nicole's armor (or at least keep it out of theit hands). Problems 1. There seems to be at least one malicious entity inside the armour. 2. You are now currently stuck in a maze-like dimension filled to the brim with drones that creates something like a Snare 10 (Steel [Toughness 10]) power. Note that the drones are not shut down. You can sense the pixelated magic working on them. 3. An 8-bit floating eye appeared from the Forcefield dimension at the end of your fight. Masque knows it isn't native to the suit and its magic is similar to the one holding the Forcefield dimension open and permeating within the drones. It seems to know how to power down the drones temporarily. Also talks with a woman's voice.

Power. Nicole could see it gather in ranks against the giant, flying above it, on the grounds, and on the dormitory roof, or scampering on it like mice on an elephant. She could see it as the giant was again and again assaulted by lightning from the dark sky or from a baseball bat out of all things, as it was buffeted by a tornado scorched in flames. She could see it as the giant retailated, freezing everything around it and out in a storm of ice. Frost crept up the windows of the dormitory as seconds later smaller creatures scaled the roof, ignoring her inside one of the dorm's hallways. Good. With a resounding ring her armour completed its sequence a moment and Salvo began to step forward. Thrusters on her back and her legs flared open, fire scorching the wood panels and rug around her. But she paid then no mind, turning her stride into a jog. Before she knew it, she was barreling down the hall, feet stomping. Then she leaped, crashing through the window and the frost into the open air outside. The air crackled with so many powers. Then with her naked eyes, she could see the surrounding sky covered in so many greens and reds, the snow-covered grounds reflecting the sickly kaleidoscope. Almost immediately after the plates of her armour touched open air, a thin layer of ice began to grow over her, the feedback from the giant's frozen blizzard. But a simultaneous activation of all her surface components was sufficient to break the ice and she was free to fly. Free to careen over the sky like a meteor with only one destination in mind. She knew power. It was her work and her passion. She created and modified it. She lived among power and studied them. So she knew what she was doing when she deactivated the first level failsafe, pushing a big red button that appeared beside her head. Then again as she spoke the twenty word deactivation code. Her voice was prompted and she gave it. A sequence of thoughts and memories and she played them one after the other. Deep deep deep within her armour, the core creaked open, immediately flash-frying the protective astral space surrounding it. Beads of sweat ran down her face somehow, inespicably. She didn't know how when her whole body and mind were shunted off to another dimension accessible only through certain channels but the heat reached her here. Then she arrived, just beside where Thunderbird was flying. He had the power to hurt this thing all on his own, enough to match what she was about to do, but Salvo knew he wasn't using his all and that pissed her off. "What are you waiting for!" She shouted, external speaker helping to carry her voice above the winds and sounds of fighting. "Hit it with all you got and don't stop until I tell you too!" She turned from the Sophomore and raised both her arms at the Krampus. Her whole armor was shaking and she bit back a curse as she saw Aja facing off against four of the creatures on the Krampus' shoulder. Fine. She adjusted her aim downward, into the giant's stomach and slowly released the panels on her wrist. The force blew her back careening through the sky. Only a sudden push from her thrusters arrested her flight mid-air and she righted herself. Fine. Try this again. She slammed her arms together, wrists side by side. She kicked the panels wide open, exposing her armor's core into physical reality, and the physical parted. THHHRRRRRRRUUMM A pillar of pure magic erupted from her arms. It drilled through the air, an almost solid beam that was every color at once and none at all (she personally saw flashing purple), connecting Salvo to Krampus. And where the pillar crashed against the giant's fur, it drilled further, past the skin and meat and bone, violently infusing its entire being with energy. Power. Waves of magic spilled from the pillar, burning the air and the snow and ground and whatever else it touched. Some travelled through the Krampus' body, reaching its shoulders and splashing against the White Lioness. The backlash threatened to send her careening backward but from her back her armor's full panoply of thrusters unfurled and they spat out great gouts of flame. Armor creaked with the pressure put upon it and fire licked at her plates but she was steady, surrounded by a corona of steel and flame. She was a star, blazing furiously against the red and green sky.

GM He looks up at you then, beard tangled with sweat and dirt, blood leaking from his nostrils to color his auburn beard redder. Eyes droop as your poison continues to act on his nervous system and he pants heavily. It is a messy sight but he gives you a lopsided smile, teeth equally full of dirt from eating a faceful of soil. "Crow," he replies, facing you slowly. "I'm wounded that you'd think I need the help. This... this stealing and infiltration and-- and bartering between life and death, I can do in my sleep. I don't need anyone's help." Then he hawks and spits to the side and you see the red tinge in his saliva. He turns to look at the journal Isa holds in one hand. <The book is the old man's. Give it back to him if you want, doesn't mean anything to me now.> He turns back to you. "Whatever these people do to me, Crow. It wouldn't be half of what Talos' cronies could even think of. I'm not afraid, only upset you didn't take my deal." <Up.> With one word and a tug on the rope securing Neil's wrists, Isa urges her prisoner to stand. She pushes him forward using the butt of her pistol and he complies without complaint, trudging forward. <Archaeologist.> Isa acknowledges you with a small nod. <I believe I speak for my village when I say you're welcome anytime. Hopefully they're still camping where we left them and I could catch up. But I could wait for you at the foot of the hill if you plan to stay for a bit?> It was posed as a question, one eyebrow raised.

"Well I think your parlor tricks are very charming," Nicole said, humming contentedly as she smoothed the folds on Leroy's robe. "You joke but with what little I've seen you've got a lot of skill and power. It's something I wish I could do; to be able to push with your fingers, tell the world you want something done and have the world carry it out." She gave Leroy a smile. "Then you'd probably say I have my artifacts and inventions but it isn't the same as it being innately part of you, you know?" She leaned in, elbows comfortably set on the table. "Most of our schoolmates has that going for them, and few of them know just how lucky they are for that." She snorted and then fanned her face with her hand in exagerration. "Wow, it's been a while since anyone's called me a godess. But really, just like your sisters I devote my life to this. Ever since I was a kid it was 'Magic this' and 'Magic that' from my parents. Imagine your whole life subsumed by one thing, and when you find something outside of that and you latch to it. That was the Material for me and my work in Arcehetech developed that further." "Isn't it always like that? Nature and nurture? You talk about your sisters and I couldn't help but think they got their love for the Astral and Material somewhere." She rested her chin on the back of her hands and swirled her finger in the air, thinking. "If I were to gander a guess it'd be the same place where you learnt your skills? Your home? Where you have dragons and whalesquids and instant 5-star meals? It must be wonderful to have all that out so open for everyone to see unlike," and she gestured to the window and beyond. "Here. It's a different kind of wonder, I guess, but one which I'm accustomed to."

Sounds about righy. I forgot to take Distracting into account.

GM They come off, easily, as if the rings were each fitted into your fingers. Without fanfare or the expected effects of the supernatural stirring, you hold them on the palm of your hand. They are twin rings, made of dark iron and each bejeweled by a blood red ruby. Then suddenly there is a feeling deep within your chest, a lifting of your spirits. You feel as if you could fly, as if the whole world was yours to look upon from above. Your palms, the stage of nature giving and taking, where you play the giving hand. It flutters then fades almost as suddenly as it had appeared. It was a good feeling. Then you look and, still, those two rings to do with as you please. *** Soon Isa ties up Neil's hands with a short length of rope from her equipment. You discover then that he had already regained consciousness and was fighting the poisons from your dart, but Isa's pistol shoved under his nose gets him to cooperate. He kneels under the watchful eye of Isa and the threat of her pistol. Smartly, he keeps his eyes down and mouth shut. Isa throws a sidelong glance at you. <Ready, Archaeologist? You have any plans for the bodies over there?> And with a shrug of her shoulder she motions at the Paruma and Kayara's bodies. The priestess lies peacefully, seemingly unaware of the fight after her death. Blood stains around the stab wound under her heart, but a smile graces her lips nonetheless. <Those aren't my concern but this,> and she digs her boot on Neil's side who doesn't do more than wince. <This is mine. We'll see how the village decides to deal with him.>

Nicole could only groan as they made their way down the Underbelly. Tight turns, small spaces, ambush points everywhere. Talk about disadvantageous environments and you'd get something like this ninety percent of the time. A hundred percent if you were a certain Salvo. She lumbered her way forward, thrusters shooting small jets of air and fire occassionally, micro-corrections to her movements. She could lean too far one way and be in danger of tipping over. Her shoulders and arms would scrape against the walls with a low screech of metal against rock, stirring up dust in the close confines. No way to fly, to keep her distance and use Bellios' firepower. It was a nightmare but it would be worse for Gauss and Forever Boy. They didn't have the benefits of Bellios protecting them from harm. "Stay close and behind me," she said, probably uneccessary considering all their experience but it made things clear. "Ugh, couldn't they have done this in he Athletic Field? Open space, bright lights." She checked the temperature reading, unbothered by the heat. "Cool air."

Oh, but I already used an Extra Effort this round. So I'll just wait until next to do something.

As per Discord, Salvo doesn't need to save yet as she's indoors. Then will be doing a Combined Attack with Ms. Thursday so here's Salvo's attack. Move Action: Gonna fly to around the area where Micah is. Standard Action: All-Out Attack + Power Attack (+5 DC / - 5 Defence) Fusion Autocannons (Lethal): 1d20+5 = 24. Crit. Threat. Hmm. If there's no problem with this level of disgusting, I'll be going all out then keep a lower profile after. DC Save: Base 35 + Crit 5 + Autofire (1-3 depending on Krampus' Defence) + Extra Effort 2 = Toughness Save 43-45 I don't think a Combined Attack is possible now, @Cubismo, sorry. Salvo's Defence is now -1. She has a -1 penalty on Attack. She is also Fatigued. I'd suggest Collateral Damage and/or This Magic of Mine as Complications for this as Salvo pushes her armour too far, too fast + shuts down the failsafes. The effects could also apply to Salvo herself, like a backlash.

Reminder for @angrydurf, @Fox, @Nick, and @Thevshi to post. And you've got to do sommething about being stuck, navigating the maze-like dimension, and getting to the center in a decent amount of time. Or, you know, just stay put and chill. Talk about feelings. That sort of stuff.

GM "And will I be able to control this Beast?" Neil asked. Kayara did not immediately respond, turning her gaze towards the billowing smoke. Then, face still turned, she spoke. "Hakan dabbled in magic he did not understand, a narrative between the comforting light given to mortals and that which lurked beyond the fringes of that light. I have said this many times and perhaps this would be the last." She turns her gaze back, somehow managing to look down at Neil even if he stood a head higher than her. "The Beast is me and I am the Beast. Yet we are not one and the person." "Like two sides of the same coin, you mean." Neil interrupted her, looking down at his ring. This time, Kayara paused, considering his words. "Yes, a crude analogy but one that holds value. I hold a measure of control over the coin but the foul brute is its own being and the ring on your finger shows the side where the beast dominates, though a little bit of me is present just as the situation is reversed in your partner grave-robber's ring." She gestured at Neil's ring with a wave of her hand. "We control the rings for now for that band of iron is as much our bodies as your own limbs and beating heart are yours. So all those visions you and her had witnessed, I had willed you to see. It was my life, that temple and one I hoped would still be remembered after all these centuries." "But if you were to die? If it were to die..." Neil replied. "You cannot kill it. Just as mice cannot kill a jungle lion. It would rise up again and again to hunt its prey. But if the ceremony, my sacrifice to return to the greater whole of myself, is completed then the lines would be cut, the once-owners of the rings gone from this plane." "Only then could you begin to wrest control over their promises wrought in iron." There was a lull in the conversation as Neil pondered over Kayara's words. Then he looked up and grinned, the white of his teeth showing. "Alright, let's do this." At that Kayara gave Neil a smile that showed she had him in the palm of her hand.

So, welcome to the EDS dimension! And now you're all stuck.

GM With Masque's disguises working just as she had planned, Ouroboros had dismissed his fiery barrier. Yet the four students now found themselves herded along by the mass of remaining drones into the now opened dimensional doorway. If they spared a glance behind them before they entered the doorway, they would see that the mess of metallic bones and claws and heads Veronica's blast had created had dissappeared. The chamber floor gleamed, a burnished bronze, as if brand new and the runes seemed to flicker, laughing at the secret battle they and the chamber shared. The pixelized eye was unaware, the woman's voice muttering under her breathe all the time. And one after the other they stepped through the doorway to a corridor of droids and mirrors. It was the faces of drones that first greeted them. And beyond those faces those with senses enhanced to beyond could sense a dozen, a hundred, and thousands more waited. They were backlit in a cold blue light, reminiscent of frozen caves beneath the arctic snows that Veronica had visited one too many times with her family in search of long lost artifacts. The doorway behind the students provided a far greater source of light, shining down like a great source of flourescent. The ones nearest to the students stood, backs hunched slightly and heads turned down, humanoids all. They stood shoulder to shoulder, barely any space in between and not in neat arrays like in a parade, but disorganized as if the students found themselves in a crowded market. They squeezed together and the few drones trailing the students entered and pushed them from behind until the students too were squeezed similarly, shoulder to shoulder with hard, cool steel. Down the corridor, they could see some movement as well. A few drones easily shuffle between their brethren, often seemingly without a purpose. The coordination between the drone units are uncanny. Yet even with the occassional shuffling drone the whole corridor remains silent enough that the student's could hear their own breathing, if they even needed to breathe. The walls of corridors themselves, hexagonal and seemingly bearing inwards, were a kind of dark reflective surface which reflected the drones from all angles. From above, from below, and around them the students could also look and see themselves as they really are, naked of the disguise Masque has created. Though as the illussionist, Masque knows that this is only an illussion bypassing her illussion. She knows her mask's power still stands strong, if only because the drones are not attacking them anew. The witch's dark clothing, the magician's white cloak, the explorer's charms. In the blue light that seemed to come from the mirrors themselves, their outfits seemed to almost match those of the drones. Steel backlit in cold blue light. Multiple Abigails, multiple Elizabeths, multiple Jacks, and multiple Veronicas staring back at them. *** Ouroboros, as the one who had reached out to map the core, could more clearly see how this dimension was laid out. Corridors, like the one they were in, and more corridors, until it filled the whole dimension. Up and down and sideways like an anthill. But at the center of that maze, he could also sense the ambient heat from where the Electronic Defense System lies barely active. And another source of energy, similar to the doorways they had past encountered. You still need to bodily navigate the maze, but so guided by the Dhampir's magical senses, you are confident that you would at least know the general direction of where you must go. Yet there is a snag right at the beginning of the journey. Try as you might, the drones prove too packed together, the corridor too cramped for the four of you to make much headway. You jostle and you push but each drone weighs its own size in metal and there are thousands more in your way. Though Ouroboros can move push them aside with minimal effort, the rest struggle with the skeletal frames. Poor Abby, even using her full weight to push could not make the nearest drone to her budge even an inch. They remain stuck there, steel limbs and shoulders caging the students from all sides. Souless eyes stare at you from the standing drones, about as tall as Ouroboros, if thinner, and from below as the floor reflects everything almost perfectly. Then the doorway behind you shuts down, leaving only the cold blue light to see by.

Notice: 1d20+7 = 23. Salvo has Accurate Radar.

GM <Yes...> she says hesitantly. <I can tell this isn't normal. Your eyes are... but you don't seem anymore different than usual.> Then she shakes her head. <Aside from me escorting the two of you to Uncle Doji I haven't been tracking where he went. And I doubt Doji would care much for this man.> And she points dismissively at Neil's prone form. Back, to before the ceremony, but forward, after he arrives. You trace the images, visions blurry until you reach one where Neil's blurry figure holds something in its palm. The vision resolves itself, becomes clearer, and you see Neil grasp an iron ring, a red jewel like blood set into its frame. Then he wears it and looks up to say to Kayara, "Yes. This will do nicely. Thank you." Kayara gestures with a wave of her hand. "Of course, explorer, I do not keep tell falsehoods. But remember, what is essily given could be as easily taken back. Hakan's ring--" "Because there must always be a partner," Neil interrupts. But Kayara continues as if he had not said anything. "Has the potential to hold much of what the female explorer's ring holds. However it is tinged with his sins, tainting this work he had created, like all things he had touched after my death." "Beware the power of the Beast within."

Okay, sorry for the back and forth but for the last time I'll Delay Salvo to Ms. Thursday.

Actually, if you're not Delaying then how about we Combine Attack together instead? I haven't gotten a confirmation from Cubismo yet so to be on the safe side, I'll Delay to Thunderbird. Thunderbird has the higher Init, so he goes first.

GM You will your sense of hours past to come closer to the present, and it obeys you as easily moving your eyes from one object to another. Yet here you move through time. Neil turns into a blur, a silhouette with no distinguishable features. He stays there for some time, barely budging in his seat. Then he is joined by another figure and you see them square-off against each other, but they do not fight. They seem to converse and at the end come to an agreement, exchanging words into actions and objects. And then your vision clears and you see Neil, holding between his hands the knife you had found in the temple's catacombs a week ago. Its blade faces upward and his face is bent towards it, the tip of his nose almost touching the blade while he reads from the book he had taken from Doji. It is placed on the foot of the stone bed and he takes the book, moving to pace around the stone as he continues. Even though he mutters it, you hear the story he reads, the myth whose ending you had heard coming up to this clearing. He begins about the Moon, about how she was there in the creation of her children. On the flat stone lies Kayara, her hands clasped on her stomach, her hair silver in the moonlight, and graceful even lying down on stone. At first you think her asleep, but her eyes flutter open a little as Neil passes by. A bowl lies empty beside her head. He wears a ring on his finger. He completes a trip around the stone and continues. And then another time. And another. The smoke from the village only begins to disperse across the area. In the present, Isa looks at you quizzically from where she stands near the Paruma, but she does not approach you.

So a chance for some IC posts: reactions, hammering out a plan, or physically doing something. You can continue on or do something else, like just make a break for it in the Inner Forcefield dimension. Just tell me here or post it in IC in the OOC because, by default, I'll assume the former and the next GM post will be setting the scene for the Defense System dimension.