Session 39
Prev: Session 38
Next: Session 40
- The Blue Angel
- Soft rumble of the ship, persanare on our couch blade across his lap
- 26 shoots a mindskewer at him
- Crit success by +35….
- Obiado tries to hit him, crit miss
- Obiado survives a crit hit!
- “Theres no reason we have to be uncivilized about this. What happened on the serenade?”
- A: confirmation of what you already know or are u gen out of the loop?
- “Some rogues broke into my ship and got the code before i could.”
- 26: why do you care?
- “About the jewel of space?”
- 26: u have a version of it, or smth based on it, no?
- “I like to know how it works, even if my associates do not want me to know.”
- Z: u dont know how it works?
- “No, no one does. Outside of ambition.”
- Miku’s having a panic attack in the corner
- M: with all due respect we dont really know how it works either!
- “And what reason do i have to keep you alive then?”
- 26: that is an excellent point!
- M: can we shamelessly request you dont send us to hell?
- He agrees, he’ll allow whatever god to deal with that
- R: are you still working with Almado Alquinst?
- “Of course.”
- R: now this may be a bit of a shameless request, but i dont rlly have the skills miku has. If you leave us alive, we have the ability to make almado stronger than he is currently.
- “He’s already getting the best enhancements that money can buy.”
- R: this is smth that money cannot buy
- “Oh. its smth ambition can provide. Im a kind man tho, i will let you pick one amongst your crew to survive
- A: i do not believe this is necessary. You do not need to kill us
- Z: would it not be wasted effort on your part?
- “No, it is as simple as breathing
- Zmena goes down in one hit
- A: are we not assisting u with ur revival of ur beloved?
- “You were for a bit. And then the serenade got found
- A: surely that is not that big of a setback
- “No, it’s a huge leap forward for me
- A: in what sense?
- “It lets me make full use of the velkrion systems
- Z: i don’t understand what you mean?
- “Velkrion is based on the serenade. A copied code directly, but neither me nor ambition have admin privileges for some of the subsystems. It is a copy of the operating system
- A: what subsystems are you missing privileges for?
- “If i listed them would you even know them?
- A: maybe
- “the lauderine system, urodine system, and the tokerine.”
- “None of them lock him up. I dont betray people. People betray me.”
- Explain what happened on the serenade
- “Thank you. Do you wish to leave 1 alive, or do you want to all die together?”
- M: kill one and keep the rest alive? That deal?
- “I’m afraid not.”
- A: why?
- “You entered my ship and left 1 person alive. I’ll do the same for you.”
- M: we rescued a few people! It wasnt our intention to blow it up! We dont know how it blew up considering u let almado kill me there so!
- “For what its worth, i just considered your previous form a grotesque mockery. An android with a golden core. It was approved without my permission.”
- M: can we do smth to stay alive!
- “It was likely my colleague approved it to mock me. She went behind my back. The one masquerading as a human.”
- A: is it Shujiao?
- “No. your previous self?
- A: you’re aware
- “Yes. i thought they were someone else for a time
- A: unfortunately that is not the case
- “For all of us involved
- X: ahev u met since she’s returned?
- “I have”
- X: her plan for androids?
- “Won’t affect me. I’ve already seen what the credicites are capable of, and this body is immune.”
- (he has implants, well integrated)
- A: how are you immune?
- “Our wills are equal, if not mine is greater.”
- A: this body, not your original?
- “I tried to swap bodies. Mine was successful, their’s was not. I… am able to live on. There are advantages. Androids that have a golden core do not go thru renewal.
- 26: we heard
- A: then you swapped your soul into a digital one?
- “Of course. It would be a problem if only one of us became an android.
- Z: is that why you’re working on the velkrion? So you can try again?
- “Partially. To allow souls that have undergone digitization to come back to this world fully
- A: that is a big taskl
- “It is, and it will create a perfect reality. If it succeeds then i can shunt all the awful things from this reality into the others
- A: what makes this one a perfect reality?
- “Lack of war, lack of death. A lack of vying for resources. Infinite wealth for infinite people. And it would all be sourced from realities that aren’t ours
- Z: what made you decide to use this reality if all of these issues are here
- “All are equal and this one had the grace of me being born
- Z: won’t this upset a balance?
- “That’s why we need the velkrion system
- A: what makes u think u can succeed?
- “I can already do it on the short term. Just need to pass it along to the rest of the universe
- R: you’re fine with taking from urself in another universe?
- “If i need to and i succeed, im sure they’ll choose to live here. I can call one here, if you like
- R: take notes?
- “What good will that do to you in the afterlife ripley?
- He allows 1 alternate version of himself thru
- Pulls in a kasatha persanare
- They stare, seeing what this persanare is against, and leaving
- R: where’d they go?
- “Back to their reality, there’s nothing here that i cant handle by myself after all.”
- Z: surprised they didnt want to talk
- “About what?”
- Z: idk, if i met someone who was myself from another reality id have a lot to say
- “Similar to conjuration magic”
- Z: have they ever done that to you?
- “Oh, they’re nowhere near me.”
- A: what has occurred to make you so far above them?
- “Elder Quintilarus was right. Loss does make someone more powerful.”
- 26: we had assumed that it was him, but…. We were hoping not.
- R: can i ask a personal question?
- R: By this, all the other versions succeeded in bringing ur beloved back?
- “There, xuan did not undergo digitization and become a virtual soul.”
- 26: why did our sect betray you?
- “They didnt. They wanted me to be the next leader. Your laws, if you are as you claim, the 26 laws of power… your laws are based around equals and opposites. One is the understanding of gain and loss. In order to gain power u must lose. The sect leader had the chance to save xuan, but did not do so for my benefit.”
- 26: we were unaware
- O: across different worlds, the only ones that might survive are the yous that can come here?
- “Of course.”
- 26: that should not have happened.
- “Then i’ll make sure it havent.”
- Z: why havent you just pulled one of the versions of your reality to this one?
- “They arent them. And the other persanare’s arent me.”
- M: considered making more friends? I think that would do a lot of good for you!
- Z: i understand taht ur using velkrion to combat digitization of souls, where do astrazoans play a role?
- “Theyre key to the perfect body. A creature able by nature and not magic to take on any shape.”
- A: and no other shapeshifting ancestry is able to do such a thing?
- “The astrazoan morphology is resistant to technology. If we can attach it then we can allow for a full transfer
- Z: why is natural rather than magic important?
- “Magic wanes and can be dispelled. Try as i might
- A: how is the rest of the program going?
- “Pretty well.
- A: and what was lost?
- “Nothing that cannot be brought back. If im successful then nothing was lost
- A: and if not?
- “Then hundreds of millions
- Z: what gives u the right?
- “I said when we last met. My will is our truth. And you cannot fight against truth
- A: and what is ambition gaining from this?
- “His own kin back
- A: that’s it?
- “Do you understand what it means to be truly lonely asper?
- A: at the moment, no
- “Then if they pick you as the survivor you might understand
- X: i think if we pick any comrade to survive it should be love
- “They don’t count. They are neither alive nor dead. I could not kill them anyway
- We were always going to die here
- Most of the party is willing to die, Asper hesitates
- “Asper, wait for me in the back of the ship. Say your last words to each other”
- We are all saying our last words and wishes to asper
- He pours out tea
- “If theres anything you need, or any questions, i’ll do my best to provide”
- Halrex Korr asks abt cures to THS
- “There’s no known one across realities hes been to.”
- Z: is my brother still alive?
- “What was his name?”
- Tries to think it, persanare casts mindreading
- “He was not on the list of any of those that died. That is all i can answer.”
- Z: that’s enough, thank you.
- Party drinking
- 26: (to disciples) we are sorry to have brought u into this situation
- “U say ur part of the 26 laws of power?
- 26: aspirational name, as many contemplatives take
- “But your qi doesnt show that you belong to them. Did you switch your name with the other one, the one with the actual qi of the 26 laws of power?”
- 26: Zebufera's Last Doctrine????
- “Yes.”
- 26: we were not aware that they… huh??? We were not aware that that was the technique they practiced?
- “It doesnt seem to be in their meditation strategy, but it does show in their aura.”
- 26: perhaps its the writings they follow. Perhaps they are derived from the 26 laws of power
- “Maybe, but ur aura shows u belong to ZLD.”
- 26: peculiar?? That should not be possible. We do not follow the last doctrine
- “You took place in my contest, did you not?”
- 26: we did.
- “It was a contest to see what contemplative inherited the 26 laws of power. If one were to follow in my footsteps, they surely wouldve been the strongest, no?”
- 26: one would assume. But would not ur footsteps include the loss that you have undergone to reach the height you have?
- “And you losing a contest is your sense of lost?”
- 26: we know we are not the strongest contemplative
- “I’ll have to investigate it further, just in case ur the actual one. The sect will die here a final time. Again, tonight.”
- Party into initiative…
- Korr
- Luka
- Meiko
- Kaito
- Subject 62
- Voz Ricander
- Bubbles
- Vespucciano
- Ayla
- Persanare has 2 reactive strikes!
- Reject Reality
- 100 feet. When a creature in the aura observes Persanare for the first time each day, it must attempt a Will save or Performance check. On a failure, reality rejects the creature for as long as it can observe Persanare. The affected creature becomes hidden from all other creatures (except Persanare) as though invisible itself.
- Truth and lie
- Highest save will (truth)
- He does have more reactive strikes (lie)
- Voz sends out a flare, can see the serenade leave thru a Remembrance Streams
- The Unknown hits us with a direct order and we all go to sleep?????? Except persanare
- Wake up in individual beds, effectively we are 10ft apart tho overlooking an outside where birds are chirping
- Music plays throughout the courtyard
- Able to see a middle aged woman tending a garden, tho her hands are shaky as she tries to tend
- The room is made out of stone adn not synth stone, beds are actual feathers
- Obiado finds ripley, whos looking for zmena
- 26 floats out
- Gardener looks “youre awake. Everyone will be pleased to hear it. My understanding is you came against an immortal?”
- M: where are we???
- “Euta. capital of the solaran empire.”
- 26: greetings
- “You dont happen to be immortal do you?”
- 26: we are not
- M: i think im supposed to explode soon
- “We cant have that. We’ll see if we can fix you right up.”
- M: u know how to work with my tech?
- “No, but the world of immortals is vast.”
- 26: indeed
- Z: how did we get here
- “One of our allies sent a signal.”
- 26: what happened to us?
- “That’s a sign- we need to ask the empress for that dont we. she was the one that saved you at the end of the day.”
- M: id like to give her so much thanks!
- “Of course. If you would.”
- 26 goes over to asper “mmm greetings asper it is the 26 laws of power”
- A: hello 26, you may enter
- 26: do you feel guilty?
- A: is that what this is?
- 26: it seems like a common emotion for when you feel your friends die around you
- A: i do not have
- Basically we have a little talk and Asper goes around to start apologizing to everyone
- We are mostly forgiving asper cause we love them
- The gardener is named Heldane
- “If they continue down their path this will continue infinitely until we stop them
- We can walk around, and go to one built similarly to hatusne miku but missing an eye covered in an eyepatch, she bows, her drills touching the ground
- She stays bowing until after an unknown cause, she stands, looks at us
- Smiles and waves
- M: hello! Im hatsune miku the starlight idol! This is meiko kaito and luka! Can we have ur name!
- “Kasane teto, the miracle idol.”
- M: hi teto do u live here!
- “I do. The ppl who revived me brought me here!”
- Z: revived you?
- “I died once. I lived in the most sinful way before.”
- Z: wdym
- “I chose the path of immortality.”
- M: did you choose it or was it chosen?
- “Chosen, but corrected for me. They taught me why. Its better if i die eventually. They let me have the life of an elf.
- M: how long have u been here? In this new form?
- “Would be about 8 years.”
- A: miracle idol?
- “The miracle of death. Until recently i was the only idol that died before.”
- M: i died like 3 times…
- Holds her hands “its ok. We can share it.”
- M: how did it feel when u died?
- “Scary at first. But eventually the councellors talked me thru it. How did urs do it?”
- M: miku doesnt have councellors! It all went to black really
- “Mine… is a bit hazy. I used to belong to aetherion.”
- M: me too! No way!
- This teto’s genre is a little goofy, like jamie paige
- “You dont need to die. You just need to live.”
- M: trying v hard
- “As long as we’re all looking out for each other we can make sure we truly live!”
- M: of course, do you want to exchange phone numbers?
- “Yes! I may be on ur ship later also”
- M: we want to meet the emperor to thank her!
- “Thru the portal?”
- We can enter the throne room
- Everyone turns to us, swords partially ready
- “Wait til the emperor is there, then approach.”
- Ok!
- One man looks “General Talminerie. Ur the group that was saved by the emperor?”
- Yes!
- “Are u familiar with the proper formalities?”
- Ehhhh
- Gardener walks thru the portal, everyone bows
- Middle aged woman missing an eye looks down
- She smiles
- “Please stand, except for asper and 26.
- “Is there anything we can do to make ur stay more comfortable?”
- M: not me but ty for saving us!
- “Of course. Its the least that i could do. Besides, those 2 are allowed to live bc we have a bigger threat, despite their numerous heretical attempts.”
- M: anything we could do for u as thanks in return?
- “As thanks? Kill persanare.”
- O: deal!
- “I’ll also accept the majority of the aetherion board as well.”
- R: we already planned tbh
- “Then our goals are aligned.”
- M: idk if we’re strong enough to do taht just yet considering we all almost got killed
- “No, not quite. But dont worry, a trusted advisor has been telling me abt it.”
- M: i dont mean to overstep, but maybe theres some info u could help us to help u?
- “Reasonable request. We both want the same thing.”
- 26: that we do
- “Well. most us want the same thing.”
- “Before we begin, why do some of u seek immortality?”
- “We do have the tech to stabilize u miku, u may live the rest of ur natural life.”
- M: can i think over it?
- “Of course. U have ur whole life to decide
- 26: for us, immortality is not the end goal. What we seek is the pursuit of the universe, the understanding of ourself and our dao. Immortality is a consequence
- “A natural byproduct?”
- 26: some could say that. It is not smth that actively seek out. But its not smth we view in the same light as the solaran imperium.
- “Its uimbombitable, u must understand what we would do if u became immortal.”
- 26: we understand
- “I wouldnt call them cultural, id call them a difference in logical understanding.”
- 26: be that is it were.
- “We do understand taht some things will create unnaturally long life that was overtake the lives of others. We offer the services of an execution.”
- 26: we will remember this info
- “I would suggest considering it strongly before you leave
- A: i fear that my reasoning will not be seen in a good light to you
- “Most likely not
- A: there is a reason why I have avoided the imperium but… I wish to free androids of renewal. Myself included
- “Do you wish for them to live forever or merely not suffer the renewal process?
- A: well, I am not opposed to living forever. The end of the renewal is the main goal, but immortality is in the end basically the same in my eyes. It is a freedom of sorts
- “Yes a freedom to be able to oppress others for eternity
- A: well i do not share these same beliefs
- “How will you, all powerful, exercise life without oppressing others?
- A: i do not have an answer for you
- “They never do, and they never find one until we come for them. And they beg their reasoning usually
- A: at the very least androids do not reproduce. We are stagnant in a sense
- “Most immortals are
- A: well, i cannot argue with that. But, i fear that we will butt heads more in the future
- “For now against everything that I feel towards you hands shaking with rage it is better for us, asper the betrayer, if we work together
- A: i do not care for that epithet
- “And yet in your mortality you have embraced it, and in your immortality you will repeat it
- A: i hope that is not the case
- “It will be, but i will make sure you get a reprieve from it
- “Persanare is a slave to ambition”
- M: ambition the ai? Or general sense?
- “Both. persanare wants… this one to live forever, and this one wants to live forever. So it seems that they're basically perfect together. should just run off together
- A: i am not the one that he wants. He has made it explicitly clear
- “The one that he wants is rejected by the universe and you are the next closest thing
- X: if he hadn’t made it clear he didn’t want you would your answer change?
- A: no? I don’t really care for him and he’s harmed those i care about.
- R: yeah he sucks lmao
- A: though this body may share a history with him, i have no emotion towards him
- “We need velkrion. And u will stop the production of the golden cores.
- “It was your handiwork that did this, asper.”
- A: not me
- “A continuation of you. I am a continuation of my will, and you are a continuation of your will.
- Z: if asper is a different person in the body, does that still count as immortality
- “No, it doesnt.”
- A: we are separate souls
- “And if ur immortality means keeping them chained forever?
- A: i will find a way to free them
- “There is no other way
- A: i will find one. I will have eternity
- “After you achieve it, i expect no more than 50 years. How long will you take to free them?
- A: i do not know
- “Then we will make the choice for you
- A: i will accept that
- “The previous sects you killed were not killed. You kidnapped them
- A: what does this mean, they were taken to velkrion?
- “They are. We believe there’s a pseudo-habitat where they can cultivate before their cores are ripped out
- “There are places that our spies cant get, and the weapon we wanted has disappeared into the depths of space.”
- Z: we got someone in there
- “Thats fine”
- X: was that guy immortal?
- “Yes”
- X: bonus points!
- “The credicites are invincible rn. And they appear to be until all of them are reunited to form a whole body. It appears to be why they cast out one.”
- “You could gather the credicites if you know of them. We will also be masquerading ur movements. We’ll give you a beacon to summon the emperor.”
- A: voz?
- “Not quite, he simply sent a trail for us to follow. This will be the highest honor. And the immortal will be tricky, try to preserve its own life, as they do.”
- Z: what happened to persanare when we were unconscious?
- “He saw us surrounding him and he fled like a coward instead of a human for the last time in his fucking life.”
- “You ought to thank us. All immortals should. Isnt that right 26 and asper?”
- A: bc we still live?
- “no. bc his blood pumps and he feels fear.”
- A: ….thank you
- “You could also go to 26’s old sect. Might be a smart maneouver. If theres anything the imperium can do for you, know our eyes are unfortunately elsewhere, but our body stretches wide across the stars.
- M: um! Is there any chance u could pick up the last 2 of our vocaloids, Kagamine Rin and Kagamine Len? Their bodyguard killed themself
- “Of course. Where do you want them to meet with you?”
- M: at 26’s sect! We’ll go there next!
- 26: planet of Jade Mekasa.
- M: ty! Very kind!
- “Anything for you hatsune miku.”
- Z: can u help us locate velkrion?
- “We’ve attempted, but its deep in aetherion space. It moves whenever we try to go. We know a rough location, a 3x3x3 light cube.”
- A: shall we still anticipate voz traveling with us?
- “Ofc. we’ve allowed him to retain his memories. Those previously forgotten that he now has access too
- A: that is v nice
- “Can you trick Velu Shineleaf into a meeting at a predetermined location?
- A: will you kill him?
- “We plan to kidnap him, torture him, and then kill him. Theyre wanna be immortals.
- (the 100 dont age while in the network.)
- “There’s also the unfortunate loss of life with androidkind that we wouldnt want to occur.”
- “This has to do with the…. Augmented human.”
- M: blackhole?
- “Yes. not technically immortal, but still aiding them.”
- Explain we need Veskarium cordyceps for the anti-lemadko’s biomort plan
- “It would be wise for you to collect them yourselves. We’ll give u the location.”
- “Hatsune miku would u like our own vocaloid to travel with you?”
- M: yay! Teto is nice!
- “Your ship is…. Small. Do you want another for your fleet that was previously owned by a former emperor?”
- “It does only have 5 beds outside of the small crew quarters below, if thats ok.”
- “Teto can accompany you. We can make the pure luxury belong to the vocaloids who would be more than happy to share, im sure.”
- M: we always share!
- “Do you have anyone good enough to pilot these vehicles?”
- “Teto can take over piloting.”
- “I am sorry for your losses” to rip and zmena
- R: what?
- “Your father.”
- R: yes. Um
- “It is a shame he was taken before his time.”
- R: u kinda scared me there ngl
- Z: ty im hoping things can be fixed soon
- “I’m sorry their kind kidnapped one of our people.”
- Z: our people?
- “Mortals, but…” turns to general, he turns into a starfish and then back to his general form “i myself am but a human. One that will be forgotten by the annals of history.”
- Z: good to see another of my kind safe
- M: u may be forgotten but all the good things u do wont
- “Exactly. And i can continue my work with a smile.”