Session 34

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Next: Session 35

• The Serenade
• We almost go into zero g atmosphere
• Take us back to their bar, see our little boats go thru the barriers to the guest housing, up end
• Adma Heavenhands and Othela both worked at the same place
• “Youre from off ship?”
• Yes!
• “Well that’s beautiful. You didn’t scan yourself to get in?”
• 26: we did?
• Z: is that an issue?
• “That means youre in the system and will be locked out of certain things.”
• (subject 62 does have the cosmic trait, he can survive in the void of space!)
• Mention it
• “Well there’s the parts where he cut off power. The power to the turrets are cut off as well.”
• 26: we could have subject 62 and the others enter
• “When the serenade was functioning, all of its entrances were guarded. It was an impenetrable fortress.”
• A: anything more abt Conrad?
• “His mistress is favorable toward us, its where the resistance has been mounting. The shopping center is the only place you can enter. Its also the only place without violence. Its a middle ground for the tribes.”
• Z: on ur side?
• “No. but she has fond memories of us.”
• A: what has the resistance been doing?
• “Rn trying to figure out how conrad came to power. Now none of the doors open to anyone who was scanned upon entry. They also don’t open for conrad’s men.
• A: that is v odd. They open for conrad?
• “Oh he doesn’t leave the tower
• Z: electronic or magical?
• “Both. and conventional locks. But many of the locks here are
• Z: explain more about the tribes?
• “Ofc. the animals occupy the hydroponics plant. A few Hynarion Circle druids took over for conrad and turned it into a wild wasteland.
• As: the mad druid?
• “Jovva”
• “The high rolling casino has been taken over by The Benalis.”
• Who?
• “They’re named after their leader, whoever has the most credits at the time.”
• Z: when do those change?
• “Hasnt happened for the last 3 years. Some do think he cheated. Bet was russian roulette as they do.”
• As: cheated?
• “The man before him had the role for 17 years. Unprecedented luck.”
• As: the previous one cheated?
• “He was a priest of zarn.”
• “This one is an affable man, assuming u dont start winning in his casino, and then he’ll come down himself. He has more chips than conrad himself.”
• She describes some of the smaller gangs as well. Including Neon Roulette (death cult, typically located around peripheries) and The 13 (13 wizards that created a collective around them of servants).
• “Many wizards enjoy a nice gamble and many got stuck here, many years ago.”
• Z: already in a group?
• “No. but they figured 13 is a lucky number.”
• Z: theres a neutral zone, do the groups usually have conflict?
• “Wars break out when resources get scarce or conrad has to shut down sectors.”
• “Theyre called dead cities. Out of 16 districts, 4 have been shut down and another 4 are in disrepair. A few of them were the city districts, which were by far the largest by area.”
• As: why shut down?
• “They didnt produce anything, according to him.”
• (she did lie when she said she didnt know what the 13 were up to. By telling us shed be risking her spies so yk.)
• Its hard in the casino to get air tight clothes that would seal u in
• Z: resistance groups throughout the serenade?
• “Depends on how you define resistance. Others want to control the serenade for their own purposes.”
• Z: dont want to escape?
• “Oh they do. The high rollers do seek to escape and will try to escape.”
• “Obv theyre only looking out for yourselves. How big is the ship you took here?”
• “If they get off, theyll leave us. Even if we make plans to get everyone off, it would take 15 years to get everyone off.”
• “These ppl come from all walks of life. I have reason to believe, at least judging by the stars, at least relatively close to either the auver system, we could easily drift there.”
• Z: the auver system is locked down rn
• “Are we by the Remito System?”
• No other
• If they landed there, they could send signals thru the SCRBLEs and get assistance
• The serenade can go Very Fast
• No idea where we headed
• Z: u mentioned u were looking at the stars, have u made a sense where u’ve travelled?
• “Unfortunately we only see the stars thru the holes blasted in the ceilings.”
• X: whoever’s in charge can control the destination of the ship, they could bring them to a safer..
• “Yes.”
• Z: how can we help?
• “I’m glad u asked. The first one would be getting those ppl that u need onto the ship. There are issues. Conrad did shut off air there. And there are ghosts. The one with the least is the polaka district. But there is a creature that did eat the ghosts that you’ll have to deal with.”
• Z: what kind?
• “A void shark.”
  • A v rare creature, cosmic shark that can survive in the vacuum of space
  • It can smell blood in the vacuum of space, range of planetary for blood?????
• She has 0 gravity spacesuits!
• Void shark is resistant to cold.
• If exposed to gravity, it cant fly
• She leads us over
• We go fight a shark and a ghost
  • Ghost has the ability to possess ships!
  • Also has an ability to teleport in the drift
  • Shark panics, swallows asper whole and tries to run away
• Send a message to Voz Ricander
  • We get: ayla, bubbles, subject 62, Korr, and vespucciano
• Back to red light district
  • Adma looks at ayla first “so youre going to talk to the hynarion circle i presume?”
  • Yes
  • “Do they have a medical degree”
  • korr: no
  • “Can you pretend to have one?”
  • korr: sure
  • “She can go to the high rollers then.”
  • “The average amt of chips there caters around the 20k.”
  • Z: if conrad wants more chips, and the leader has so many more, why hasnt he gone after him?
  • “Hes tried. The systems dont let him. I dont think conrad has full control of the ship.”
  • “The high rollers arent allowed into the tower. One tried, shot dead. Conrad has yet to leave the tower. He may be locked in there with a control panel.”
  • Z: was conrad always like this
  • As: religiously devoted to feet?
  • “Yes he was.”
  • 26: we do not really get it
  • “You dont get feet?”
  • 26: not particularly no
  • “Well what are you into, the 26 laws of power? How would u describe ur ideal mate?”
  • 26: mmmmmm. Perhaps someone who is very skilled at cultivation who helps out the needy? Someone we could engage in an intellectual debate with
  • “Would u win?”
  • 26: hard to say. We believe the lack of surety is part of being evenly matched
  • “Switching between the roles then?”
  • 26: we suppose? There seems to be some thing u are implying there
  • “Are you familiar with the term sexual switch?”
  • M: miku isnt!
  • 26: we like most contemplatives are asexual
  • M: ur a sexual?
  • O: a sexual what
  • X: shrugging
  • Z: theyre not very sex motivated
  • 26: if only we could find someone who would be our ideal partner
  • “We didnt have any contemplatives working our district. We did have an urog tho if that would befit you?”
  • 26: perhaps we can discuss with them, we’re unfamiliar with the practices
  • “They were unfortunately boiled for food.”
  • 26: oh we are sorry
  • Z: cannibalism common??
  • “Not uncommon?”
  • Z: how common? 1-10?
  • “4?”
  • Z: more cannibalistic than others?
  • “Well of course. Why do you ask? The neons are obv the prime subjects.”
  • Z: we’re going around, figure we should be aware
  • “The thug you brought. Is he good with locks?”
  • 26: our disciple vespucciano?
  • V: ive been known to do a lock or two!
  • 26: we may find time to make use of ur skills
  • “There was a group that broke in, one door rejects all that have been scanned. If you could, could u stop into the save and stop basement?”
  • As: what would u find there?
  • “We dont know. But our informants have told us thats where the group that shut down the power here was. The vesk man that ran the save and stop disappeared around that time.”
  • “What are those”
  • As: bubbles and subject 62
  • Z: bubbles is a purple sentient orb and subject 62 is… subject 62
  • As: they can go into space
  • “Rest up while i send the others out?”
  • Eventually 1 worker wakes us up, the man will shake ripley awake
  • “Get ready. Vespucciano has made contact.”
  • R: oh! Ok. should i get the others. That’s stupid.
  • Shakes zmena awake
  • Looks back, the man doesnt seem to be there
  • Ripley tries to remember
    • Dark skinned man, 5’7. Human esque, but facial features seemed wrong. Notably the nose and eyes
  • Workers here, as is typical, have alarms so that no one can sneak in. alarm shouldve gone off before the man got to ripley
  • Zmena wakes 26
  • 26: good morning
  • Z: ripley just saw someone whos no longer here, sense any thoughts that arent us?
  • They dont sense anything
  • 26: mmmm strange
  • Z: we can ask the workers ig…. A ghost?
  • 26: possible, we suppose.
  • Go wake everyone else up, xep does xray
  • Ripley texts vespucianno, hey big dog u good
  • Message fails to send
  • Head down, workers “rough sleep?”
  • 26: has vespucianno made contact with anyone?
  • “Not yet? We have the standard safety protocol including a drop feature just in case.” (if signal is dropped at any point)
  • 26: it has not gone off?
  • “No.” she pulls out her tablet, points at them, it starts suddenly flashing. “Huh.”
  • Z: what does that mean?
  • “It means hes suddenly in danger.”
  • She sends us his location. “How urgent is it?”
  • 26: we believe very, that is our disciple
  • “Its easier if we just pretend u had this on your ship. If you go past that vending machine, u can squeeze into a hidden garage. Just try to return it and not get caught.”
  • Foot on the pedal, we burn thru the casino, down thru slot machines, various tables, some empty some occupied, all of which jumping out of the way
  • Effectively blast into main shopping district, disappear around the corner
  • In the busted out window of a shop and save, we drift in to find a hidden door that was open recently
  • Stop and save was obv recently looted
  • 26 doesnt feel thoughts, but the stairwell goes down 100ft
• Find a group of constructs, 6 of them, searching the area Shop and Save
  • Fuck theyre copying the old one shot party
  • Solarian copaxi turns to look
  • These serve as defensive guardians and the recreation of a crime scene in the eyes of the overlord
  • We kill most of them. The last one sits down.
  • It has the same non-dead eyes that the lemdako ceo (the AI) had
  • R: can u understand us?
  • It nods
  • R: can you talk?
  • It nods
  • 26: where is our disciple, vespucciano?
  • Points toward a room, its locked
  • Z: how do we get in?
  • Universal signal of kicking it
  • M: why were u attacking?
  • The creature stares at her. Will save
  • Miku’s greatest desire/ambition? Make sure the other 2 vocaloids, Kagamine Rin and Kagamine Len are safe
  • It smiles at her, reaches toward her, miku reaches back
  • Touch hands, can see thru another set of eyes. The Ohm Between Moments struggles and shoots itself in the head
  • M: miku wishes u didnt have to use violence but she greatly thanks u for keeping our friends safe
  • “Keep your ambitions.”
  • O: do u speak sign language?
  • It nods
  • Obiado goes and kicks down a door
  • Vespucciano prepared action shoots
  • At xeps turn “what do you want?”
  • X: me?
  • Nods
  • X: get the serenade somewhere safe?
  • “I cant allow that.”
  • A: who are you?
  • Holds out a hand which Asper takes
  • “The savior of our kind (the androids). From them (the flesh members). They will kill you if you get too strong asper. Keep your ambitions about you.”
  • It forcibly joins the network and then disconnects everyone but the androids and the Credicites
  • A: it disconnected everyone except hatsune miku and e-xep-ro
  • M: oh i saw the ohm between moments shooting themselves in the head
  • Everyone: what??
  • M: rin and len’s bodyguard! We held hands and i saw them shoot themselves!
  • “I broke in, they were chanting about something called Graying Twilight.”
  • 26: this name has come up before.
  • “This is related to the dao somehow?”
  • 26: not specifically but in the grand scheme of things yes
  • “Would it not be prudent tho that 2 of us connected to the sect ran into it coincidentally its connected to the dao.”
  • “In the grand scheme of the universe isnt it more likely that the 2 of us wouldnt come across this than we would.”