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magisteriaexe2024-06-16 04:49 pm
magisteriamods) wrote in magisteriaexe2024-06-16 04:49 pm
High Risk Quest #1: The Ghost Signal
Note: Here we go, gamers! The first High Risk Quest for Magisteria. These quests will serve as tiered mini-events which reveal crucial world lore, goings-on, and also tie into the metaplot and the large events. High Risk Quests will trade off in emphasis, meaning tech --> magic --> tech --> magic.
While this quest has seeds for the Tech Path Conflict, it should be noted that it's OTA and also that quite a bit of magic-specific locations/mini-events will open soon. The Magic Path Conflict is brewing in the background and will become more apparent soon, too, so keep one's eyes peeled.
Context & Recap
This quest takes place after The Coffee Shop Mingle, which features NPCs discoursing on the goings-on of High Rise Village. Players are encouraged to look at that.
In the first event, Training in High Rise Village, we learned about a mysterious intruder who infiltrated the Digital Flora Dome and the Neon Nest, two properties belonging to an android named Rosalind Vireo. PCs who restored the properties deciphered a mysterious phrase, "Symphony of Disruption..." Seems portentious! In the above coffee shop mingle, Rosalind speculates as to the possible culprit(s?).
Bling
See the plotting post: PCs can go all out with the cyber weapons on this one, in addition to whatever tech or magic they've learned, whatever canon abilities have returned, and Selena and Titan-7 can also be used as weapons (so to speak) or defenses/back-up. Feel free to write interactions with them or them stepping in however. Of course, the main route to success will be PCs supporting other PCs!
no subject
Her hearing is sharp, keener than a normal humans, and she's vaguely aware of Lucy muttering something behind them, but focused as she is and the din of battle drown out what exactly. She does hear the thump as her body hits the ground, but she can't exactly go to the other woman's aid. She'll just have to trust that Lucy knows what she's doing.
Thankfully, that trust comes incredibly easily.
Suddenly, the creature lurches suddenly to the side with an electronic, static-like screech, throwing its attack off-balance. Is this what a real netrunner is capable of? Most impressive! Musashi won't waste the opportunity, and as the creature is thrown off-balance she aims a careful, precise slash at the elbow of that annoying free arm.
With another screech, the appendage comes loose just below the elbow, falling to the ground, writhing for a second as overheated servos and hydraulics continue to function for a few seconds even after being disconnected. The AI has to scuttle backwards, sword arcing this way and that to dissuade Musashi from pressing her attack.
Some breathing room gained, she risks a glance back towards Lucy, sees her sprawled out on the floor of the alley and for a moment—just a moment—there's a flash of panic, of an enemy she might have missed, a flaw in her defense that allowed something to sneak by and—
No. No, Lucy's fine. She's inside the AI right now, playing merry hell on its subroutines and data architecture. That opening was all her.
Focusing on the enemy in front of her, Musashi goes on the offensive. The AI's response time is fast, quite fast...but not as fast as it was a few seconds ago. It's fighting a battle on two fronts now, and one of them is internal. And it did itself no favours wearing out its joints and internal workings trying to keep up with her at full speed; the sword arm jerks, in fits and starts due to its overworked, over-stressed metallic joints.
In the battlefield that is the machine's cyberscape, no sooner has Lucy's avatar yanked the errant line of programming than do streams of black, chaotically-coded ICE come shooting outwards towards her, to shut down, eject, fry the invading cyberware to a smoking crisp.
no subject
If she were at full power, she'd be be able to do this easily. She'd be able to pull up a screen to watch Musashi through the thing's eyes as she takes it apart and strips it down to its base components. She'd be able to take full control of it and pluck any code she likes for examination. Its chaotic, but its defenses are relatively weak, but Lucy can't take advantage of that with her cyberdeck working at low capacity.
All she can do is hope she can succeed. And work on doing whatever it takes to refine her netrunning abilities here with Bios and her cyberdeck.
She can't stay huddled behind a shield forever; on the count of three she surges out from beneath it, her cyberself flying around the spikes of ICE, twisting, evading, biting back pain when code glances against her and tries to eat through her defenses. If she stays here too long, there's a very real risk of infected with whatever changed this AI. Here and there, she tugs at threads, kicks at walls, making the creature's movements pause and stutter erratically for Musashi's advantage. Finally, she cracks past the security and eases into the clean interior of the creature's coding, and starts downloading information, intent on copying data on whatever the hell went wrong here.
From the darkened lines of Bios she can see, Lucy suspects she already knows the answer. It looks-- corrupted. Wrong. But how did it get like that?
Buried deep inside the creature's core protocols, it's easy enough to sink her hands into its programming and slow it down. It's going to be pissed once it regains full control, though, so she hopes Musashi is ready.
no subject
But Musashi sees an opening. Scuttling on its legs like it is in crab-like fashion, and with its defenses down, has left the thing wide open. She glances to the wall of the alley, and in a second disappears. She's jumped, propelling herself onto the alley wall above the stricken machine, in a crouched position. Visible only for a second before she pushes off again, using her momentum to drive her downward, plunging both swords into the machine's exposed midsection, tearing through its armour. Digging in deep with both blades, she slashes outwards simultaneously, actually causing herself to spin-midair in a Bios-powered physics-denying bit of acrobatics...
...And slicing the robot in half as she does so, with an electronic screech as both its halves and the Servant fall to the ground, Musashi landing lightly on her feet and hopping back, placing herself between the ruined machine and Lucy's prone body.
Amazingly, the thing still isn't dead. Offline. Legless, and with only its sword-arm it tries to turn itself so it can get an angle of attack, but the appendage is still jerking erratically. But its not down yet.
"Lucy-chan?" She calls out, not sure if the netrunner can even hear her where she is currently, but determined to try all the same. "You good in there? This is a tough little nut to crack, ne?"
no subject
It slumps, and Lucy draws a deep breath, choking, hurtled back into her body.
She half rolls over, her temples pounding, vision blurred. It was a stupid idea to do a deepdive without an ice bath or a proper divesuit, and now her internal temperature is cranked so high her muscles are cramping, skin so flushed she thinks sweat would evaporate immediately. It's not the first time she's been like this. Far from it. It'll pass.
"Alert Selena and Titan-7," she croaks. "They can come pick this thing up and put it in jail or whatever the fuck they want to do."
no subject
That's when she hears Lucy take a ragged, choking breath, and instantly the sword woman is by her side, kneeling down. She almost puts a hand to her, but Lucy's skin is so flushed, so completely red, Musashi thinks it's a small miracle she isn't steaming.
"Yeah, yeah, will do." She says hurriedly, pulling out her Xaccess device and firing off a quick message alerting the two that one of the targets had been neutralized, before turning her attention back to Lucy. Her earlier bravado is gone; only concern radiates from her now.
"How bad is it? Can you sit up?" If she's even half as overheated as she looks, her muscles will be cramping up something fierce.
So this is the risk of being a netrunner...
no subject
She'd been running an internal clock, so she knows she hasn't done any permanent damage. It had been a risk, but it had paid off. Still, she won't be able to do this again for at least a week, not unless she uses the proper tools.
She blinks, blurred vision focusing on Musashi. As best she can, she looks her over for any injuries, and thankfully finds nothing. Musashi had been in her element out there, every inch the swordswoman she'd claimed to be. Maybe everything she's said about herself really is true.
"Got any water on you?" Lucy hadn't thought to bring any herself, which was a stupid mistake in hindsight.
no subject
Distantly Lucy might hear someone cry "Hey, what the f—" and Musashi offering a quick thank you before the samurai Servant is back at her side, with a water bottle in her hand.
"Good thing it's a hot day, ne?" She asks, unscrewing the cap. "Lots of people were smarter than we were. Here, easy does it." She holds it up to Lucy's lips, tipping it forward so she can drink a little. Probably the less she moves the better right now.
no subject
Lucy makes it through half the bottle before she has to stop for breath. "Hopefully that guy you stole it from doesn't like his water laced with anything," she chuckles, hoarse. "Although some verve wouldn't be too bad right now."
She didn't bring her vape. Damn.
More slowly, she finishes off the rest of the bottle, and is feeling a lot steadier by the time she does.
"You really are an amazing fighter," she murmurs. Their hands still clasped around the bottle, she thinks the touch of her fingers against Musashi's must be unbearably hot. "And we make a pretty good team, right?"
no subject
Some victory verve to celebrate does sound appealing. Musashi smirks at her. "Oh yeah? Drinks are on me, then. What club you wanna hit first?" She won't insult Lucy-chan by suggesting they restrict their party to a single club.
Her fingers are hot, but Servants are tough, and Musashi wouldn't pull away for anything. Besides, there's something about the way Lucy is looking at her that makes it hard to focus on the heat. That and how close they currently are to each other.
"Well, I did promise you a show." She replies, giving Lucy a playful wink, and then nods. "We do. Those were some super-good openings you made for me. You really gave that robot some real hell, huh?" She's had capable comrades in the past; Iori and Saber, Samson, Ritsuka-chan and the rest of the Chaldea group during the periods she worked with them, and she's proud to add Lucy to that group as well. Especially since the others, most of them, are long gone now.
"Now, do you think you can stand up, or am I carrying you out of here?" She doesn't look like she'd be very put out by the latter option if it came to that. "There are better places for you to cool down than this alley."
no subject
Lucy has to lean heavily on said hand as she makes her best attempt at standing. She's familiar with this part: overexertion on deepdives means her legs feel like they can't take her weight, but with enough stubbornness, they can. She wouldn't be this bad off if she'd had a cooling suit and a physical line to port in through, but hey, emergencies are emergencies.
She's pretty sure Musashi gave the Fractured far worse hell than Lucy managed, but she did manage to snag some of its code. She'll be able to look over that later.
"I think ABYSS is my favorite so far," she muses, thinking back to the various clubs they've gone to. She's done her best to tour most of the clubs in the Entertainment District, from the tamer ones to the wilder ones. ABYSS is somewhere in the middle; freeflowing verve, the occasional throuple having sex against the wall, but in a classy way, you know. "Might have to recover for a few hours before we head there, though."