Magisteria Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
magisteriamods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
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!
fractured i.
Hmph... a shielder would be quite useful in such a scenario... [ Gilgamesh murmurs.
quite involuntarily, the tiny, all-but-invisible golden hairs on the back of his neck prick to attention as that dreadful feeling washes over him, too. it's disorienting, but he is not a hero-king for nothing, so he does his best at such a time to focus on strategy, on combining their resources. ]
Perhaps if we combine our Bios, we might, with these Bursterflies, form a makeshift barrier.
[ was that possible? having the insects come together to harden the Bios into a shield of light and project it? Gilgamesh had been spending his time studying them, and by altering their frequencies mentally, one could certainly train them to do a great many things. granted, these beings they were up against... even with the technology, it might not hold them back for too long, but at such times, even a few moments could make a difference. it might give them an opportunity to strategize, form a plan with their resources.
at any rate, when Lucy turns, she will see that Gilgamesh's own Bios signature is blazing golden and brighter than she will have ever seen. he actually looks like he is being more serious than usual this time. ]
no subject
His suggestion is a good idea, and she remembers his explanation of how he'd been harnessing his own Bios: having an object for both of them to grasp. Lucy has been experimenting with her own method -- slow-going, she thinks, because the concept of magic is still so foreign to her -- but in an emergency situation, she'd feel better about relying on something that has a better success rate. Namely, his strategy, and not hers.
Lucy's nature is not a trustful one. It had been, when she was little. When the other children around her had been just as terrified and lonely as she was. When they were the only people she could count on, and the adults with their scalpels and injections and awful smiles were monsters in the dark. But Night City had beaten any remnant of trust out of her.
Extending her hand feels like an impossible thing to do, but she forces herself to do it. ]
Let's try.
[ It's as firm as she can make it, hand held palm-open, waiting for Gilgamesh. ]
no subject
were he to realize Lucy thought of him as a friendly individual, it would be deeply amusing to Gilgamesh, because in actuality, he has spent his entire life staunchly refusing to call anyone but one person a friend, and even insisting he does not take on companions of any sort. setting himself entirely apart from humanity, ruling over it from afar: that had been his own existence, and lonely though it was, it was a path of loneliness Gilgamesh had chosen for himself. and yet, it could not be denied that, in this very form and summoning, he had come to Uruk in its time of need, and had overseen the goings-on of Ritsuka and Mashu, and really, was he doing any differently in Magisteria? even if this was not Gilgamesh's kingdom... it had become undeniable that his instinct was to assume a certain sense of responsibility. but, well, he was not really a man to dwell on his own internal life in such a manner. he was more a man of action.
so when Lucy offers her hand, those tense seconds quickly pass, and Gilgamesh drops something which looks a bit like a stone tablet into his own hand. he guides Lucy into his pose, helping her take hold of it with/alongside him. this tablet, of course, is summoned from his vault, and golden glyphs encircle the air around it.
this is indeed magic... though Gilgamesh would not ever claim to be any especially notable mage, nor does he care to be. even the form thereof was simply a game to him. ]
We shall both channel our Bios, then...
[ he is not looking at her... rather staring forward with great determination/focus to see whether the two Bursterflies will act in unison. indeed, as he watches, guiding them with his mind, they do begin to act together. it would seem their Bios is indeed filtering outwards... and now it remains to see if it will form the makeshift shield. of course, this was all a matter of thinking on one's feet as one went... but that was just how the King of Heroes operated when presented with challenges. ]
no subject
It takes a few seconds. She has to close her eyes and think about cooperating, about working together with someone that's just about the polar opposite of her. White-purple Bios flares in lines over her skin, rippling like a pool when it comes into contact with his golden glyphs.
First things first: they need to protect themselves. And just like that, a shield snaps into place in front of them, and the thing's howling is muted enough that Lucy can recover and stand up straight, breathing easier. One warped limp snaps forward, crashing against their shield, but it holds. ]
If we can get this thing back to Selena and Titan-7, they can-- I don't know, study them. Put them in jail. Whatever. I'd like to take a look at its code, too. See if I can figure out what caused it to corrupt like this.
[ Lucy's fingertips tighten on the tablet, stone scraping over her bodysuit's gloves. She wonders if Gilgamesh has ever been ordered around in his entire life. But this is tech, this is her specialty. Also, she's just kind of bossy. ]
Think of it like telepathy; we're going to look inside that thing's brain.
no subject
His Tome of Truth was an artifact which would serve its function precisely in this particular battle; anachronism mattered not at all.
And Gilgamesh is pleased with the outcome: the shield. This could be described as the fruit of their cooperation, at present. ]
How is it that you are planning to accomplish this?
[ No, Gilgamesh had certainly not ever been ordered around, but he also did not interpret her words as any such. More like she seems to have an idea in mind, but he is not exactly certain of what.
Some kind of neural scan, from what he gathered? Perhaps this would be a chance for him to witness the technology from Lucy's world -- that which was quite likely to correspond much more closely to that which was of this world than anything Gilgamesh had encountered. but, it was only fair she have a chance to show off: he was always showing up and giving speeches, after all. ]
If you have some reasonable idea or method at such a moment, I shall support as necessary.
no subject
She looks over at him, eyes bright. ]
Just trust me. It'll be a little weird, but it'll help.
[ She's not going to risk doing a deep dive. They don't have the proper support equipment, and taking someone untrained into a deep dive for the first time is just asking for brain damage. Instead, Lucy engages her neuro-gear, and tugs Gilgamesh along for the ride. They remain standing where they are, but their vision overlays with a visual representation of the Fractured's code-- and it's beautiful. An elegant structure of shimmering rainbow colors, plagued on all sides by corrupting black cracks and rends.
With a neat flick of code, Lucy renders the Fractured immobile for now, though it's straining against her hold. ]
This is what its code looks like. [ She narrates, watching scrolls of code highlight as she glances at various parts of the structure. ] Whatever this corruption is, it's gotten deep.
no subject
He knows this woman from a futuristic world is in her element here, and... he is curious, if he must be honest. Curious about what she will do and what he will see and encounter. Thus Gilgamesh is pliant, unmoving, merely squinting ever-so-slightly as the brightly colored code cascades in front of his vision.
So this was ... a result of that neural technology which they had spoken of before... hm...
The only time Gilgamesh has contemplated a neural link with another entity has been within the context of a potential Master. But his only Master, at least in this summoning, has been Fujimaru Ritsuka. It's a strange thought, though -- how much Lucy seems to have that natural aura that he associates with... such a role. ]
Corruption...
[ The King of Heroes regards the blackened rainbow of code quite seriously, his vision taking it all in. ]
... did we not speak of that with regards to those creatures in the Agriculture District?
[ At the time, they had not been able to form any sort of conclusions due to lack of information. And that remains true insofar as Gilgamesh can only speculate what the source of this might be. But now he cannot help but wonder whether everything is connected. Those animals, these beings -- ]
Can this... this neural scan of yours preserve the code, that we may investigate it further at a better moment?
no subject
[ Because Lucy hadn't been able to get into the brains of those shadowed brains, not in the same way she can netrun. Here, she's far more in her element, guiding Gilgamesh through the code like stepping through a waterfall, letting the programming cascade over them so they can better see the corrupted parts.
It's like watching a corpse get eaten by maggots. There's so little of the original programming left; even if she managed to strip out the bad code, there'd be almost nothing left over. Just scraps of foundation, pieces of fundamental protocols. ]
Can do. I grabbed a little from another one I fought. Should be able to get a bit more from this one.
[ Lucy doubts she'll be able to grab all of it, but even a fraction would be useful to study the corruption. So she starts grabbing snapshots, copying the data into her cyberdeck. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees some of the corruption start... questing in their direction, oily tendrils of data reaching for them. ]
Can you deal with that?
btw feel free to wrap this up if u wish. i know it's an older thread hahaha.
[ Gilgamesh allows his tablet to vanish into the vault once more and folds his arms at his chest. He thinks that between Lucy's ongoing scanning and the efforts of their tech fauna in sustaining the barrier, matters should be sufficiently under control that its anchoring presence is no longer necessary. This interaction still counts as Synthesis, does it not? Gilgamesh can feel/see Lucy's white-purple winding like ethereal ribbons amongst/around/with his own golden Bios, the air shimmering with the output. It's quite the light display.
Expression rather nonchalant, Gilgamesh does not even move. He simply glances at the corruption, and the Bios near it flashes brighter -- rippling gold -- as though congealing. As soon as the corruption approaches, it is instantly repulsed. Flicked away, as though with barely an effort or thought. ]
Indeed, in my world, I was the incorruptible Servant. [ In one timeline, a version of Gilgamesh had even been drenched in the contents of the cursed Holy Grail, All the World's Evils. Though this would have turned another Servant to madness, an Alter, Gilgamesh had kept himself intact because of the nature of his force of will. ] Though I cannot say whether the corruption in this world is akin to that which I knew. Yet I can say no force has ever yet been able to distort an absolute being such as myself.
[ ... Of course, some might say this is just daring that it be tried, here. Even so, his Bios is like light itself, burning away at the darkness. ]
Have you almost finished?
aaand done!
He is, she will admit, doing a great job of repulsing the corrupted code. She takes a moment to wonder how much of the actual programming he understands, and how much is just Bios being wielded against Bios. It'd be slower if he was actually trying to code, that's for sure. His efforts allow her to get closer, to cradle some of the Fractured's code in her palms and take it into herself, replicating a portion of it to store in her cyberdeck. ]
Got it. Now we get out.
[ It's easy enough to withdraw; the harder part is launching an attack against the Fractured. But, weakened, it topples over with a sad little noise, and slumps to the floor. Lucy eyes it, and sends a quick message to Selena. Fractured down, come arrest it or whatever you want.
She turns a look to Gilgamesh, a hint of warmth in her otherwise distant expression. ]
Thanks. Might not say no to teaming up with you again in the future.