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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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ He had gone with the...the...well, he'll just say blonde on the night hunt. It's his element, all his powers recovered or not, he does his best work in the dark, damp, lonely, and fear inducing corners of any world.

This shows in the way he stepped into the darkness with no hesitation or fear, taking flamboyant, giddy steps whilst humming a tune to himself with an eager, honest-to-goodness, smile on his face. Maybe the katana at his side made him feel so confident, but it could also be something more primal in his veins. ]

Feels reassuring to know that even a place as clean as this has these sketchy side streets and questionable establishments. I wonder if they have rooms for rent?

[ It was in the middle of his fantasizing that the siren like creature appeared, along with the pull that felt familiar. A twisted smile appeared on his face. ]

Hooo? A siren, eh? Though, it's less fishy than what I'm familiar with. Oh well.

[ With a shrug, he started to approach the creature - one hand moving to the blade to have it at the ready. ]

[ Lucy almost smiles, because she knows exactly what he means. So far they'd been presented a vision of Magisteria as an almost perfect city; clean, harmonious, vivid. Lucy's used to a far dirtier version of urban living, and these back streets are almost comforting in their familiarity.

The siren, on the other hand, kind of ruins the image. Lucy holds one hand over an ear, dulling the noise coming from that awful sharp mouth, while Bishop approaches. He's armed, and so she's assuming he knows what to do with that katana.

Lucy's better from a distance, so she'll stay exactly where she is, fingers touching her temple as she gets a feel for this thing's programming. Her neural cyberdeck isn't working at full capacity yet, but she's still capable. The bodysuit she was gifted helps. ]

They're rogue AI, so-- I should be able to dismantle its code, or take out the parts that are making it dangerous. If you can distract it, I can get to work.

[ He gave her a subtle nod as he entered the creatures striking range and immediately shifted his posture, dodging its whiplike hair. He shifted again dodging its second strike with its claws.

He did the same with its third and fourth attacks, partially drawing the katana from its sheathe to parry the sixth before kicking it the center to push it back and then taking a stance and lunging forward.

His strikes are decisive, swift, but controlled like he's getting the creature's measure as they danced around each others attacks. Neither are able to land a clean blow and the match is for the most part even, but the grin on his face seems to suggest that he's still got some tricks up hus sleeve. ]

[ With the creature so distracted, it's focusing a whole lot less energy on its digital defenses. It's easy enough for Lucy to get a read on it -- a core of clean functional code surrounded by broken strings of protocols and what she can only interpret as Bios gone bad -- but her neuro-ware, her cyberdeck, isn't up to its full strength yet. Things that should have been easy hacks take significant effort, and things that should have been hard are outright impossible.

So she can poke and prod and examine this thing's shattered code, but ultimately, she's not going to get anything useful done unless she does a full deepdive. And she doesn't know if she's safe enough to do that with Bishop.

So. They'll just have to kill it. ]

I'll make some openings for you.

[ Fingertips digging deeper into her temple in concentration, Lucy pulls some strings. The creature seems to freeze momentarily, limbs stuttering to a halt, before it grinds back into action, but slower this time, moving jerkily. ]

[ Folded steel clashed with each motion, and while he couldn't push it back the monster was starting to get frustrated. 'Interesting' he thought to himself whilst in the thick of it, something about these creatures was off and he wasn't thinking of its appearance.

The instance it slowed he stepped in, one quick slice and he rendered one arm useless. It screeched and struck with its whiplike hair, aiming for Lucy - but he expected as much and stabbed it as the tentacle passed him, immobilizing the now screaming monster and shielding his impromptu partner. ]

Not sure what you're doing, but do you think you can kill this things mind? Or whatever counts as it.

[ Lucy digs in deeper, but with her cyberdeck not at full power, there's not a lot she can do. From what she can tell, she's not the only one suffering this problem: other Otherworlders with magic or tech are at low power, too. It's better than the nothing they had when they first arrived, but still.

It means that all she can do is scrabble at the outside of this thing's code, only barely managing to sink mental claws in. ]

No. I don't think I can.

[ Lucy sounds frustrated, gritting the words out, hunched over, shoulders curled. ]

But I can give you a clear shot to kill it.

[ It's not what Lucy wanted to do. She's got a mental snapshot of its code, so she'll be able to study it later, but she wanted to pull this thing's code apart and... take out the bad stuff, if she could. See if she could uncorrupt them. But if she forces this any harder she might give herself brain damage. Instead, what she can do is this: closing her eyes, and yanking on a thread of movement protocols. As a blood vessel in her nose bursts and drips over her lip, the Fractured monstrosity grinds to a halt, hair falling limply to the ground, one arm raised, frozen in the motion of going to strike Bishop. ]

Now!

High Risk Quest #1: The Ghost Signal

Context & Recap

Bling

fractured ii

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