<GM to players:> Bruno is at the maintenance hatch, looking
down to Mindwave still on the ground. A minute or so goes by and
the whining noise of one of the air patrols begins to grow, then fade away
again as the ship goes by, oblivious to the party's presence. Silas
watches the patrol craft until it moves out of site around one of the massive
columns of storage tubes, then gives a signal to Bruno that it's all clear.
Mindwave thinks to Bruno, "Anytime you are ready, Doctor."
Bruno adjusts the People's monocle, and raises his eyebrow and then
aims the gadget at Mindwave. He thinks, ".o0(Ooops...wrong button...she'd
be really upset if I did that one...)." He aims the wand at
her and tries to lift her up on a current of Omega particles...
Mindwave rises quickly to the maintenance hatch, and easily makes it
through before the next patrol zooms by overhead.
Mindwave says, "Thank you for the lift, Doctor..."
Mindwave looks around...
The area is nothing more than a maintenance tunnel leading back into
the pillar. Moving in that direction, you quickly arrive back at
the small room. The little maintenance droid has moved on to a different
section now. The only noises you can hear are those of the machinery,
keeping the Tiraxians in the tubes alive.
Bruno scratches his head then fumbles around in his vest and pulls
out a small plastic package, carefully he sets it down on the floor and
aims the device at it, a steady, visible stream of light glowing off of
it. "Anyone for a Hot Pocket? And do you think you can read them
from here Mindwave or do we need to be closer?"
Mindwave reaches out with her mind, trying to decipher the data going
through this place.
Brenna checks the area around the room, searching the other maintenance
cooridors for other droids. A few minutes later, she returns, saying,
"We're still clear, as far as I can tell. It doesn't look like they
expect intruders inside these structures."
Mindwave is flooded with information as she reaches out telepathically.
There seems to be a lot going through this particular node, but then that's
what was expected.
Bruno finishes his lunch and nods to Brenna. "Hrrmmm, all the
same, we'd best keep an eye out..." He looks around for any blatently
obvious security measures, video cameras, infrared sensors, that sort of
thing...
<OOC> Empress says to Mindwave, "You catch glimpses of what appears to be some sort of virtual 'world.' Nothing specific, just 'scenes' of people and places."
Mindwave tries to filter out the minor stuff from the important things
being transmitted.
Mindwave says, "Interesting... Doctor, I'm seeing images... scenes,
places, and people..."
<OOC> Empress says, "Bruno, you don't see anything
obvious."
<OOC> Empress says, "Mindwave, roll your telepathy
dice"
Mindwave rolls 12 dice and gets: 5 2 1 3 3 2 6
5 4 5 3 6
Body: 13
Stun: 45
<OOC> Empress says to Mindwave, "Ok, here's the deal. The world you're viewing is computer generated, being fed into the minds of the humanoids in the tubes. Very similar to the Matrix. With a roll that good, you can sort of form a link between yourself, the virtual world, and at the same time, immerse Bruno in it as well.'.
Bruno scratches his chin in thought, a careless gesture. "Hmmm...
none of the places or persons look familar do they?"
Mindwave says, "Nothing familiar... it seems like this information
is being fed to the minds of the beings... almost like the movie, "The
Matrix.""
Mindwave says, "I can show you..."
Bruno nods, "These are just low level processors... but if we could
find a way to narrow it down... to observe through them some of the computers
more sensitive areas, that would be a real score for us."
Mindwave says, "I will try to find them..."
<OOC> Empress says, "You going to link both
you and Bruno in, Mindwave?"
<OOC> Mindwave says, "yes"
<OOC> Empress says, "OK, go ahead and roll
one more time, please"
Mindwave rolls 12 dice and gets: 6 4 1 4 6 4 1
2 3 5 2 5
Body: 12
Stun: 43
Images swirl around you... strange people, landscapes, and objects
all around you. Eventually, things begin to slow down, and
you both find yourselves standing in some sort of gateway in the middle
of nowhere. The sky is dark, yet there is light from no source in
particular. Looking around, there is a road leading off to a mountain
not too far in the distance, and multi-colored beams of light criss-cross
the sky.
Bruno nods, "I'd say the mountain is a more important "node" as it
were... perhaps, through your abilities, we can use these people to "hack"
into a more secure installation?"
Mindwave says, "hmmm, the mountain could be the main computer itself...
still, that seems the logical way to go."
Mindwave continues to scan telepathically.
<OOC> Empress says to Mindwave, "Your telepathy doesn't seem to be working in this virtual world."
Bruno hmmms, "Can we actually get there from here?"
You look behind you, and the road extends in the other direction as
well, though there is nothing of interest in sight. It seems you
entered this world in the middle of this road.
Mindwave says, "I don't know... and my telepathic powers do not seem
to work in this place."
<OOC> Empress says, "You guys are able to move around 'normally'. You can walk, turn, move your arms and legs, etc."
Mindwave gestures towards the mountain, "Shall we go?"
Bruno tries experimenting with flight, or at least hovering, one never
knows what you can do in a virtual environment, "After you, madame."
<OOC> Empress says, "Flight doesn't seem to be working"
Mindwave nods and starts walking towards the mountain.
Mindwave steps through the gateway and is engulfed in a ball of red
light, then shoots off toward the mountain at incredible speed
Bruno follows behind and observes.
Bruno steps through the gateway and similarly is swallowed by light
and shot toward the mountain. There is no sense of motion, nor is there
any inertia pulling on you. Just the mountain in the distance growing steadily
closer... closer... then suddenly you stop, finding yourself in a 'gateway'
similar to the one you just left. Mindwave appears first, then Bruno
a few moments later.
Mindwave looks around her, "Well, that beats the Underground by a mile..."
Bruno nods,"Hmm, just for the sake of asking, we could get out
if we wanted to couldn't we?"
The two of you stand in an empty room. The gateway leading 'out'
is behind you, glowing a faint greenish-blue. There are other more
conventional exits from this room as well, apparently leading farther back
into the mountain structure
Mindwave says, "Hmmm, let's see where a regular exit leads to..."
Mindwave adds, "And yes, we can get out of here..."
Mindwave heads for one of the normal looking exits.
Bruno nods, "Well this is a dangerous place, and we have no idea what'a
going on... wanna split up?" He gives a goofy grin, because even
he isn't that crazy. "Care to pick our door or shall I choose?"
Mindwave says, "I think it would best if we stick together... and I'll
pick the exit."
You choose one of the exits from the room and proceed through it.
A short walk down a hallway that you might expect to find in a castle,
with stone walls, floor, and 'torches' every so often. You approach
another room and you see other people inside, sitting around a table.
<OOC> Mindwave says, "Tiraxans?"
<OOC> Empress says, "Apparently"
<OOC> Mindwave says, "do they notice us as
we approach?"
<OOC> Empress says, "How close are you getting
to them?"
<OOC> Mindwave says, "20 feet or so"
<OOC> Empress says, "Are you entering the
room?"
<OOC> Mindwave says, "nope, I peek inside
first, and listen"
Listening at the entrance to the room, you can hear the people at the
table talking, but it's muffled. There are several books on the table
they sit around, and other books on bookshelves around the room.
There are five people gathered around the table, none of them looks up
from what they're doing for the moment.
Mindwave looks back at Bruno...
Bruno nods and starts tiptoeing back the way we came.
You back off down the hall a short distance...
Mindwave whispers, "Let's check a different corridor..."
You go back to the exit room and then start down another cooridor.
This cooridor is the same as the other, being made of stone with torch
lights along its distance. It opens into a room after a short distance.
This room seems to be some sort of pantry. There is nobody in the
room.
Mindwave looks around to see if the room is empty, then walks in to
check the contents of the room.
Around the room, you see various foodstuffs. The entire place
has a sort of Medieval theme to it... apparently Omega-1 likes to keep
its people in a more primitive environment. You can touch and pick
up the food, though if you try to eat it, you find that you're not able
to.
A Tiraxian enters the room from a different direction and walks over
to a table that looks like it's been prepared for a banquet. He looks
at you for a moment, then takes a leg off some sort of cooked bird on the
table, eating it as he leaves the way he came.
Mindwave says, "None of this is real..."
Bruno says, "Or more to the point, WE are not real..."
Mindwave looks down to see if she is casting a shadow
Bruno says, "We are viewing these rooms via their security systems,
it would seem..."
<OOC> Empress says, "Mindwave, you are casting faint shadows from the torchlight around the room. The Tiraxian definitely looked right at you, and apparently just didn't think anything of your presence."
Mindwave says, "Maybe we should try talking to one of them..."
<OOC> Empress says, "Bruno, roll computer programming for me :)"
Bruno ummms, "Well, translation is on my gimmick, and I'm fairly certain that wouldn't work here... I can try, but..."
Bruno rolls 3 dice and gets: 4 1 2
Body: 2
Stun: 7
Mindwave says, "The direct approach might work better..."
<OOC> Bruno says, "I have it at 15 or less."
<OOC> Empress says to Bruno, "This virtual
world seems to be more than just an 'environment' for these people to live
in. It seems to be some sort of 'operating system' for them."
<OOC> Empress says, "Bruno: Looking at the
Gimmick, you see that the computer portion of it still seems to be functioning."
<OOC> Bruno says, "SO these people exist WITHIN
the VR, and help run it?"
<OOC> Empress says, "Something like that,
yes. Just from what you've seen in this room, it's obvious that these
people still get hungry, even though they're really in their tubes.
They get hungry, they come and eat something, the system responds by injecting
nutrients into their real bodies... They want to look up some data, they
go to the library, where they can read files, or books in this world, and
converse with others, etc."
<OOC> Empress says, "You aren't able to eat
the food, because the computer doesn't know where to inject the nutrients
for you."
<OOC> Bruno nods, "It's all representative...
if we were try to hack the system, while their meat bodies were busily
computing how to fight us off we'd see VR representations of them coing
to attack us with axes or something, ne?"
Bruno nods, "Hmmm... interesting symbolism here..."
Mindwave says, "Well, that may prove to be handy... let's go back to
the room we were in before, and see if the people there want to talk.."
Bruno nods, "Sure... I don't think they can really harm us here, everything
is symbolic..."
Mindwave starts to head back to where they were before
Bruno follows along...
You arrive back at the library, the five people are still sitting around
the table.
Mindwave walks into the room, "Hello."
Bruno peeks in and gives what he hopes is a customary greeting...
Tiraxian, that is.
The five people around the table look up as you enter the room.
They all smile and greet you, though look strangely at you. One of them
speaks up, saying, "Greetings."
The man asks, "How are things in Gor?"
Bruno blinkblinks, "Ahhh... very well. Everything is processing
smoothly. And yourselves?"
The man nods and says, "It looks like we're going to have a good harvest
this year."
Mindwave smiles and says, "Excellent."
Bruno nods, and defers to Mindwave... he'd probably say something flippant
and stupid that'd tip them off.
Mindwave says, "What other news is there?"
The man says, "We were just discussing the feasibilty of growing different
crops. You wouldn't happen to know what they're planning on doing
in Gor, would you?" Then, in answer to Mindwave's question,
the man says, "Well, surely you've heard of the minor skirmishes in the
outlands?"
Mindwave says, "We heard there was a skirmish, but nothing more..."
The man nods and says, "Well, there are always skirmishes, of course.
Apparently some of our patrols were overtaken though. There's also
word of battles at sea, but if anyone really knows what's happening there,
they're not telling the rest of us."
Mindwave nods, "I see... who would know here?
The man shrugs, "You would have to find one of the army officers, probably.
They're usually pretty tight-lipped though, they don't like to talk about
what's going on... especially not with visitors from other lands."
Mindwave says, "I understand how the army can be... I thank you, I
must take my leave now."
The man smiles and nods, saying, "Very well. If you get some
free time and would like to help us with this problem, we're open to suggestions.
Good day."
Mindwave looks at Bruno, and leaves the room.
Bruno shrugs, actually he could stay and talk farming... but
naaah. He gives them a quick wink and follows after.
<OOC> Empress says, "Going back or proceeding
forward?"
<OOC> Mindwave says, "is there another way
out of the room other than the one we came in?"
<OOC> Empress says, "Yep, there are a couple
of different exits out of the library"
<OOC> Empress says, "Forward or back? :)"
Bruno shrugs and heads forward then...
You continue forward out of the library, through another hall.
There is another room down the hall a little bit, and in the next room
you hear what appears to be some sort of growling... like a dog or something.
Mindwave holds up for a second as she is walking, motioning for Bruno
to stop as well.
Mindwave listens, and smells.
Bruno comes to a halt. He whispers, "Remember, they can detect
us, but in this world they are unable to harm our meat bodies, unless those
have been found..."
There are no unusual smells in the hallway, but the growling sounds
continue, and the beast barks a bit
Mindwave looks quizzically at Bruno, "Meat bodies?"
Mindwave slowly continues forward...
Bruno nods, "Yes, your actual flesh and blood."
Mindwave says, "You mean, our physical bodies..."
Bruno says, "Like I said..."
<OOC> Empress says, "Are you going to enter
the room?"
<OOC> Mindwave says, "sure"
You enter the room and looking around, you see a couple of large, mastiff-type
creatures growling at you, and a pair of 'castle guards' in light armor
and carrying halberds. One steps forward and says, "Papers, please."
Mindwave sneaks a glance down at Bruno's widget, "Papers?"
The guard sighs and says, "Yes, I need to see your papers."
Bruno smirks, "Great, they never said anything about papers
when we left Gor..."
The guard looks you both over and says, "Yeah, I figured you were from
Gor. They're always on the cutting edge of fashion." He motions
you to follow, saying, "Come with me. We need to straighten this
out." He motions to the other guard, who in turn releases one of
the beasts. The beast begins sniffing the two of you, then starts
sniffing the ground
Bruno looks at Mindwave and shrugs.
The beast begins moving back the way you came, sniffing the ground
as he goes. The guard leads you through a heavy oak door into another
room that is filled with books.
Mindwave whews to herself and proceeds forward.
In the other room is a small man, stooped over from age and pouring
over journals. The guard says to him, "We need the citizen registry
for Gor, please." The little old man moves off without a word, and
returns a few moments later with a large book. He sets it on the
table, smiles toothlessly at you, and goes about his business. The
guard opens the book and says, "Names, please?"
Mindwave glances in the book...
Bruno figures this isn't a good time for the "Hey look over there!"
bit...
<OOC> Empress says to Mindwave, "You can't
really make out anything in the book. The Guard isn't holding it so you
can read it..."
<OOC> Bruno asks, "Will project illusions
work?"
<OOC> Empress says, "Think about where you
are... think about what that book really is."
Mindwave says, "Riah...my name is Riah."
The guard nods and says, "Very well, Riah... one moment please."
He turns a large section of pages in the book, presumably to the "R" section,
and begins looking for your name...
Mindwave looks around the room...
Around the room you see book shelf after book shelf. This appears to
be another library of some sort, but there aren't people conversing over
problems here. This seems to be more of a reference library.
Bruno nods and grins, "Hmmm..." He turns his back to the guard and
the old man and fumbles with the gadget furiously...
<OOC> Empress grins, "Ok, whatcha doing, Bruno?"
<OOC> Bruno says, "Furiously trying to hack
the citizen log for Gor. :)"
<OOC> Empress nods, "That's what I'm talking
about. Roll computer programming."
Bruno rolls 3 dice and gets: 2 2 6
Body: 4
Stun: 10
The Guard turns a page in the book, then says, "Ahh, here you are, Riah."
He turns to Bruno, "And your name, Sir?"
Bruno stops for a dramatic pause, letting the silence hang in the room.
"They call me...Torgo."
Mindwave winces ever so slightly
You can /almost/ hear the Torgo theme playing as the guard flips some
pages, then says, "Here you are, Mr. Torgo." The guard motions to
the old librarian, saying, "We need some papers drawn up for these two.
Here are their records." The old man takes the book and a few minutes
later, returns with papers for both of you.
Mindwave says, "Thank you."
The guard nods and says, "You are welcome. You may carry on."
Mindwave nods and looks around the room, "You must know every single
book in this library."
The guard shakes his head, motioning to the Librarian, "He does, I
just know that this is where the citizen registries are."
The old man continues about his business, not noticing the attention
that is turned toward him.
Mindwave says, "Then there are other books in here besides those?"
The guard nods and says, "Yes, there are, but I couldn't begin to tell
you what all is in here."
Mindwave motions to the Librarian, "What about him?"
The guard says, "Well, he knows a lot, but he doesn't talk much.
He'll get you whatever book you want, if it's in here, but that's about
it. He's a bit eccentric. Doesn't ever offer his own input."
Mindwave says, "Hmm, I'm interested in history... I would love to read
about this place's history."
The guard motions to the Librarian, saying, "I'm sure he can get you
something on that. If you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my
post."
Mindwave says to the guard, "By all means."
Mindwave turns to the Librarian, "Excuse me, could you please find
me a book on the history of this place?"
The Librarian nods and disappears into the racks of books, emerging
a few moments later with a large, leather-bound book. He places it on a
table for you, smiles with his toothless smile, and returns to his work.
Mindwave opens the book and starts to read it.
Cutaway: The large beast sniffs his way across the floor at the entrance room and makes its way to the gateway. It leaps through, and is hurled in a ball of light down the road, coming to a stop in the gateway where you entered the virtual world. It sniffs around a little bit, growling, then begins barking loudly... scene returns to the library.
To be Continued...