Brice's Journal: 1-10.5

1st Session

There seems to be another virus going around. It looks like just a proof of concept virus, all for show. It also targets a known and patched vurlnrability, which means it could be a virus writer in training, or someone wishing to highlight the need to stay current. Either way, my equipment is safe, but I should look into this later to find the source of the virus.

My arm fell asleep while reseaching this virus. Of course I didn’t know what the problem was at the time. I made an appointment go to the school’s clinic to check it out.

Before leaving I experienced a strange and powerful feeling of loss. I cound’t find any results at the time, but later I found out that the <insert name of colony> vanished or was destroyed. I don’t know any details other than the same feeling was reportedly felt by a group of survivors which just left the colony. I have no idea why I felt this, or if anyone else had. I’ll have to keep an eye on this.

I caught a cab to the clinic, but for some reason it dropped me off in back of the clinic. It didn’t want to take me to the front. I started to walk to the back door to knock on it, rather than find my way to the front. I made it to the stairs leading to the door, when it burst open and a young woman ran out. She was being chased by three andriod guards. They fired at her, and one should have hit, but she had an effect which deflected the shot around her. She also caused them to disappear, and reappear later falling to the ground. There was also a building noise behind me, but I didn’t look to see what it was.

Her effects seemed similar, but inverted from what I do. I tried chasing after her, but there was no way I could keep up. When I was chacing after her, I was hit with a sudden dizzying headache. I finished making my way accross the street to sit down for a minute.

While I was sitting there, this strange man came up to me and asked me if I knew who he was. I haven’t met him before. He seemed really confused. He thought that maybe he caused the guards to disappear up into the sky, but I thought it was the girl that caused the effect.

He helped me back into clinic through the back door. We met up with a doctor in the hall and he took me to my appointment. My usual doctor was out, but someone else checked me over quick. They didn’t find anything wrong with me.

(post)

I followed the girl on the satalite system. There’s another group of people following them as well, and the gentleman which helped me might be in the group as well. Also, while poking around the satalite system, I found another, more detailed, survailence system. I’ll definatly need to play with it some more.

The same taxi that took me to the back of the clinic came to take me to the forrest where the lady fled.

Questions:

  1. who wrote the virus and why?
  2. What happened to the colony.
  3. Why did I feel same feeling of loss that the colony survivors did?
  4. Who is the girl, and how did she learn to do the magic that she did?
  5. Who is the gentleman who helped me in, and why was he so confused?
  6. Who sent and controlled the taxi?
  7. Who was chacing after the girl, and why?
  8. What all can this survailence system do?

2nd Session

The taxi dropped me off by the arobreetum. I quickly found the group of people who had run out of the clinic. They were also looking for the girl (jasmine Devide). Apparently she was the one who kidnapped the professor. I reviewed the survailence records to see that she did in fact do it. I also found out there she had just ported into town the day before. We met up and got a small change to talk to her. She pulled the same teleporting trick with several of the party members as she did with the guards leaving the clinic. The ghost played like he was someone important, and Jasmine responded to that. We found out that she was doing the job for Strat-Co, and they were hoping to pin it on Magitek. She handed over a data crystal to us. I ‘messaged’ her and she reponded when she was leaving. She emailed me her contact info, and she left.

I traded her contact info for a chance to read the data crystal. The info on the data crystal could be used to allow everyone to be a mystic. I hope this is used to level playing field socially for everyone, and not used by one corporation to gain more power and become more oppressive.

We all go to Ariona Cassyon’s townhouse to regroup. Everyone seems to have their own converstaion. I mainly listen to the ghost. He doesn’t remember who he is, or how he got here. He was mumbling something about being drawn by a ball of darkness and a ball of light. He figures I was the ball of light, and Nikoli was the ball of darkness. I wonder if Jasmine ties into this somehow, as she was there when the ghost appeared as well.

It starts to get late, and I try to leave to get some sleep, but there is some resistance to this idea, mainly from the ghost. Thorp gets a call from his contact. We all decide to go, but I want to check out my room. I get a taxi to bring me, the ghost, and Nikali to my dorm so I can get Aibo (my k9 AI). Then we all go back to the arboretum to meed Thorp’s contact. For the trip, I erase us from the satalite images, so that we can’t be tracked that way.

We met William Moss hiding in a hidden room in the forest. Moss was inside along with a pale women waring black. He called her Angeleque. As we arrive, Moss dismisses her, and she disappears.

We learn that Moss has been involved in some sort of research since leaving Magitek. He thinks the professor has been warded against mystic divination. Zee mentions that he’s at Glacialis, but how he knows that is beyond me.

Moss tried to get Zee to stay with him, and said he place was safe just before getting hit with a dart in the neck. Whatever did it managed to get away. Remember never to mention some place being safe. He recovers, resets his doorway, and gets Zee to agree to stay with him.

While we were there, we discussed the kidnapping. The question of how many data crystals there were came up. I mentioned that she created two data crystals. I saw this from the city-wide survailence system. I wanted to add soemthing to the conversation to prove that I was useful. Ariana was bugging me about how I knew that, and said that there were no cameras in the lab. She had every reason to expect that this was true, but all I told her is I caught it on the survalence network.

Someone (me?) mentions the fate of the Percepi colony. I also mention the feeling of sadness that was reported shortly after. Moss is distressed at the news and we all leave (except for Zee).

6 days pass. This gives me time to look up additional data on Moss, Ron Davis, and the other party memebers. I create a new identity for Jasmine, and present it to her on our date on Tuesday. I also try to make more progress into StratCo’s netowrk.

Somehow, we’re trying to plan how to get the professor back from Glacialis. All I could do to help would be to gain information, and possibly access to their network. We’ll see how that goes.

We get called back my Moss. Moss holding a metal hand, an unconscious man, a creepy droid, but no Zee. The ghost stares at the unconscious man, yells, “You bastard!”

Misc notes on observations.

Jon’s character appeared out of nowhere in the lab. Jasmine created two data crystals. One is with us, the other I would guess is with Strat-Co. Room 101 in the basement in the clinic isn’t part of the survailence network, and doesn’t always seem to even be there. This is where Jasmine met Ron Davis(at least he ordered the kidnapping, I don’t know 100% that he was in room 101 at the time) from Strat-Co. She three guards that chanced her out of the clinic came from this room as well.

When the professor finished his research, before he was kidnapped, he called four people on his computer (video-phone). The first was Ariona Cassyon (Alex’s character). The second was Ron Davis from Strat-Co. The third was William Moss. The fourth was Devon Meridith (Meechum?)

The research showed that certain DNA sequences worked to prohibit someone developing mystic abilities. It had all of the specifics, but I’m not into all the details. Meechum was comparing everyone’s dna against the research. Meechum had about 100 strands preventing him from being a mystic. I allowed him to test my DNA, but the results were going to take days for me (minutes for most). I wonder what they’ll make of that.

Durring the week I had a date with Jasmine. How that went is yet to be determined. I created a new ID for her. I figure that Stract-co already tried to kill her once. She also kept a copy of the data. A new identity might help.

I started working my way into Stract-Co’s network. I found the main communications server. I couldn’t get access to Ron Davis’s account though. I’ll have to work on that more later.

Ron Davis is a ‘Mystic Consultant’, and lives in Germany.

Questions:

  1. What happened to Percepi?
  2. What happened to Mercury? It’s still physically there, but there’s no responce.
  3. Who is the ghost? Who is the man on the table, and how are they related?
  4. How are we going to get the professor back?
  5. Am I the ‘ball of light’ that drew the ghost hear? What does that mean? Does it have something to do with my magic?
  6. Who all knows about the research, and what will they do with it, specificly StratCo?
  7. What is the medal hand that Moss is holding, and who is the android?
  8. Why am I involved in any of this. I know how I got involved, and I can be useful, and it sure is more interesting that school at the moment, but is there some cosmic reason I ended up with this group. If my arm hadn’t fallen asleep, I would know about any of this.

3rd Session

Life is crazy. The reports say that something called the grey goo took over Mercury. It is apparently made up of nanites that self replicate out of any matter they find. The planet was sent into the sun to prevent it from spreading. The sun should easily burn them up, but the fact that such technology exists and could be accidently release is a little scary.

I had a date!!! I went to earth to visit jasmine. I think things went well but I’ll save any comments until later.

Some of the members of our little group think that William Moss is Crazy. He wants us to break into magitek and retrieve Cain (The biblical Cain, of course) from B7, which doesn’t exist in the monitering system. Though I saw the head of magitek descend from B5. I hacked into their network to create an employee id for myself, and to allow myself to bring guests into the building. Once inside, getting down to b5 should be easy, but I’d be lost after that. I figure handling the 3 andriod guards should be simple enough.

Moss has been taking a powerful mystic ability enchancing drug to help him with his experiments. There is some thought that this could be behind his crazyness? All I know is that powerful drugs most likely have powerful side-effects.

We’re planning on contacting a group called Gaia’s order to confirm what Moss is telling us, that Cain is required for a great machine that the Caretaker is devising to save us from an upcoming catastraphy. Some strange things are going on, and something big could be on the horrizon, but I don’t see what Cain and machines and the Caretaker have to do with eachother. Maybe he is crazy. And I was looking forward to the Magitek breakin.

Stratco released some BS press release about the kidnapping being a publicity stunt. I would think that destroying the data on the way out is only one of many obvious ways in which it was not. We’ve shifted gears though and are working on the Moss problem at the moment.

We met a strange andriod that had a ship that will be taking us to Earth. Someone from the group offered to pay him, so he’s helping. Apparently he was also involved with retrieving the hand of Cain (now encased in unstable metal) for Moss. He had help from someone the Ghost claimed shot him in the back. I don’t know what the story is there. Though I have to admit that I don’t know how much I care.

Questions:

  1. What does the Caretaker really want and why does he want it?
  2. What is really going on inside Moss’s head?
  3. What can the hand of Cain do, or the whole body?
  4. Why does Magitek currently have it?
  5. How will thinkgs work out with Jasmine?

4th Session

We raided Magitek! We actually went through with it. It didn’t turn out as well as could be hoped, but well enough. But that’s getting ahead of myself.

As of my last entry, we were verifying the will of the caretaker. I got in contact with a Professor Almorad at a syberian university, who is also a member of the order of gaea. I arranged a meeting with him, but found him after one of his classes instead. Couldn’t wait until tomorrow.

We met with him and he introduced us to a guide who would take us to a village of the order. It was quite a long hike, but worth it. The village was quite something, being mostly natural in it’s make-up. Molded perhaps, but still amazing.

We had a little chat with their leaders about talking to the Caretaker. After some deliberation, they actually agreed to let us contact the caretaker.

We all huddled around a tree, touching it and holding hands. We were now in communication with the Caretaker. I can’t really describe the awe, or the expererince, but I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.

The caretaker explained that the same fate that befell Percepi could happen to other worlds. He wants to build a machine to infest Luna, creating another caretaker on the moon. Together they think they could overcome the approaching menace. But to do this he needs a machine, and needs cain (purified) to opporate it. Hence the reasearch.

Another thing that I was ‘told’ was that I had the most potential of anyone the Caretaker had ever seen, and to be careful of the choices I make. I really do need to take that to heart. I’ve been treating this whole situation like a game so far. It was just a kidnapping, some corporate games, etc, up to this point, but if the fate of worlds is going to hang in the balance, then I really should pay more attention.

After this we went back to the ship, back to Pax, and raided Magitek. We were provided with the ‘assistance’ of several vampires. They would be useful in carrying the chamber, but are probably more trouble than they’re worth. We also brough some mechanical exo-skeletons to help with the load. Unfortunatly I couldn’t get close enough to help carry it without feeling really ill.

So on to the break in. I managed to get into their network and remotely shut down any automated security. I was also able to open the doors on B7 to allow other people in. There was a lot of discussion, and a lot of activity, a captured girl, some barriors protecting Cain and one other body. Don’t know who that was. I was also involved with dropping the barriors, just to Cain though.

We ran into the head of Magitek on our way out. I guess we weren’t completely unnoticed. She agreed to let us go as long as we asked Moss to vacate the grove. She didn’t approve of his actions, and wanted him out. We agreed to ask him. I hope he abides by her wishes, I don’t want to get in the middle of that fight.

Questions:

  1. What is this potential that the Caretaker was talking about?
  2. Is creating another caretaker on Luna a good thing. I know opinions about the caretaker on Earth were split, but I don’t know much about them.
  3. What really caused the collony to disappear.
  4. How do cain and the machine work? Maybe if I learn more about the Caretaker, I could figure it out.

5th session

I hate lightning. I also hate vampires. I’m not sure which I hate worse.

We made it out of Magitek with Cain. I wasn’t feeling all that well, so I kept my distance and ordered a van to take us to the grove. If I was really thinking I would have gotten my own car so I could have kept my distance, but I didn’t. Lesson learned for next time (if there will ever be a next time).

We made it near the grove. I was hanging back with Nikoli as neither of us wanted to be that close. Dee noticed someone hiding in the area. I patched into the observations through my gateway to see what was going on. We tried to direct the vampires at the intruder, but to no avail. Someone opened the door and she zipped right in. Apparently this was the great Everlilly Nix.

I hang back with Nikoli, while everyone else goes in to see moss. Now it seems obvious what happened inside, but that’s only in hindsight. Nix wanted to stop Moss, and insisted on staying through the procedure. Moss insisted on performing the procedure. They released Cain, and started the ritual. The vampires were encouranged by this and attacked moss. A brawl breaks out. I tried to interfere with one of the vampire’s computers. My intrusion was spotted by Dee. I really need to cover my tracks a little better.

Next thing I know there’s a loud crackling sound and I’m in a lot of pain. Nikoli is feeding me some OJ, which helps a little bit.

I’m not sure what happened in the mean time, but it doens’t look as if things went according to plan. Moss teleports all of us to Lunar City, where he agrees to stay with us. Dee was tracking Cain. Apparently he was shot off the moon and twords mars. Also, now that he’s more awake, Moss’s ritual won’t work. The only way to get it to work would be to try and knock cain out again, so that we can try again.

We do a little research to find that there’s one weapon that has taken many forms throughout history that can damange Cain. We need to track this down if we are to have any hope of putting the genie back in the bottle.

So the search begins…

6th Session

I really like instant space travel. I should look into it more. Granted it takes almost a day of calculation by our supercomputer of a ship, but still, being able to go anywhere nearly instantly is awesome.

Our quest for the legendary weapon took us from earth, to the outer reaches of known space, back to earth, back to the outer reaches of known space, and back to earth again.

We had two possible leads. The most probable was with a gnome named Xela. Our only possible contact with her was through the Ghost’s real life family. He had an appointment to meet with his father for the first time since he died in serveral days time. Since we had time to kill, we followed up on our other lead, a couple of ‘antique’ dealers on Canis. The Volokhov brothers.

The ‘trip’ to Canis was our first instant travel ride. It imparts a strange sensation, but only for a moment. Once we arrived I had to hack the flight management system to create an entry so that we could land. We were on shore leave from a long survey mission.

We road around town for a while just wasting time. We tried to talk to them, but they wouldn’t bother unless we had an item of value. We had several items from Magitek, primarily a lantern with 4 sides, and multipe color filters that could be installed. Nikoli played around with this on the ship, and even broke one of the filter panels. Even broken, this item was suitable for the audiance.

They didn’t have it, or any real leads either. They couldn’t fix the color filter for the lamp, but knew someone who might be able to help. We made an appointment for three days time and left.

We return to earth. The ghost visits his family and brings with him Harry Bryant. He was involved with bringing the hand of Cain to ‘Crazy Pete’ in the first place. He has had dealings with Xela, and helps us get straight to Midgard to see her.

I stay behind in Dee, watching, while the rest of the party goes to Midgard. Bryant suggests teleporting dirctly there, otherwise the elevator will take too long. The party arrives, gets accosted by dwarves, sees a strange blue creater, and meets this Xela. Initially she doesn’t want to help us, but after some convincing, she sees the benefit of both the trade, and in having us deal with Cain.

Xela commented the lantern was easily fixed, and tried to play with it. It shown some strange ligh, and several party members went momentarily crazy, but were easily subdude by the dwarven guards.

She calls to her husband Gerald (who is looking quite a bit younger than he did in Moss’s vid-screen.) He plants the sword in the ground, and dares us to take it. Several people try and fail, until Nikoli picks it up. It changes from a great sword to a rapier, something a little more appropriate for Nikoli.

Thus, the agreement is as follows: the party will “borrow” the Sword until Xela demands it back. Furthermore, until such time as the party delivers the Crown to her, she will hang on to the lantern. When they give her the Crown, she will return the lantern. She will also probably fix the lantern for Nikolai, and he’ll probably give her something cool in return.

“There is one more price on my assistance. You,” and she turns to Thorpe, “have meddled in my affairs for too long.” She points a finger at Thorpe, and a bolt of energy shoots from her fingertip. Thorpe disintegrates into a pile of ash on the floor, as the party looks on in horror.

Questions 1) Now that we have the sword, how are we going to deal with Cain. 2) Can I touch the sword? Does it have anything to do with my potential? 3) How are we going to get the Crown that we promised, and what happens if we can’t? 4) If we can ‘kill’ Cain and start over, how will that work? Should we do it? 5) How does Dee travel instantly, what calculations are involved. I’ll have to ask him about it. Maybe analize the program that does the calculations.

Seventh Session

As a group, we’ve been through a fair amount. We’ve talked to the Caretaker, we’v infultrated Magictek to retrieve the body of Cain. We met the former head of Magitek, and traveled to distant reaches of known space in an instant. I was almost killed by a ligntning bolt during the attempted ritual to clense Cain of his taint. So we’ve been through quite a bit.

The group is made up of quite a wide array of people, from various backgrounds. I can’t say I know too much about any one of them, but I still feel some kinship twords them. I’m not quite sure how to deal with Thorp’s demise. I guess this is the real world, and in the real world, people die and don’t come back. It’ not just a game, there are real stakes. I don’t know what caused Xela to disintigrate him. Apparently there was some past between them, and it finally caught up to him. I’ll need to be careful of any enemies I make along this path. I don’t think anyone hates me enough to kill me yet. Most of my adversaries are in VR, where the stakes aren’t quite so high (and most of them would have a hard time taking me down anyways).

I wish I could say something kind about Thorp, but I didn’t really know him well at all. He supplied mystic enhancing drugs to Moss. I guess without Thorp, we might not have met Moss, and who knows if we’d still be on this adventure.

Well Thorp, I hope it was worth it, and I hope you have better luck in whatever place you’re in now.

After getting the sword we quickly returned to Dee. Then we were off to get the crown. We had to deal with the Volokhovs. Ariona and Nikoli went to do the wheeling and dealing. I broke into their network to view their transaction records. After finding them I relayed them to Ariona to use in the transactions. I provided a visual feed for everyone else.

With Meechum’s help, we gathered the trade items from Bryant’s stash to take to the Volokhovs. Having a huge thing like Meechum is a good way to get people to leave even someone like me alone with a fair amount of treasure.

On the way there, Meechum explained that there were two personalities in the body, Meechum and Divin. Divin is the ‘Normal’ person, and Meechum is more primal or simple. They apparently switch every few minutes. Before Divin could exurt more control. I don’t know what caused this to change, maybe it’s the changes to his body, or maybe it’s being around some of us who seem to exude strange auras.

Transaction complete, there was more drama on the ship. Nyx began this journey as a statue. By the time we left the Volokhov’s, thanks to huge efforts from Moss, Nyx was partly flesh and blood. She could move and talk and cry. Unfortunatly, she got bit by Cain before being turned to stone. I know she’s going to end up being far more of a liability than anything else. We should have left her as a statue until Cain was delt with. Moss thought he could help her, but even he has his limits.

We were on our way back to Earth when we first heard about the trouble on Mars. By the time we made it to Mars, chaos was in full swing.

Dee starts coodrinating the resistance efford, but they face and ever growing army of undead. It seems that most (if not all) who fall end up joining the undead.

The rest of the party spends some time getting buffed by Moss. As we are about to leave, a dozen or so zombies appear on the ship. I turn my self invisable and leave the room. Monitoring it from a safe distance sounds like a much better plan. It looks like Ariona tried to use the circlet, but to no avail. Battle begings, but my attentions are drawn elsewhere.

Dee mentions that another ship just passed through the barrier. Not through a door, but the solid barrier. Dee is attempting to establish contact.

Back in the hold, three zombies together make an announcement: “To the one in command of this vessel. I am currently in possession of the antimatter core from the ``Vesta’’. You will cease this bombardment, or I will expose it. We can easily continue this on the surface, and I would happily remove my minions from your ship.”

DEE considers this. “Can you understand me if I communicate with you?” “Yes, I can,” the three zombies reply, still in unison.” “The destruction of the city could be an acceptable loss if it would destroy you.” “I would not make this threat if it would.”

DEE points out that the city is likely to fall in either case, but “I would prefer to parlay if the terms are reasonable.” “Land outside the forest and we will discuss this more personally.” “I will not land the ship; I will land a shuttlecraft with representatives.”

DEE points out that the city is likely to fall in either case, but “I would prefer to parlay if the terms are reasonable.” “Land outside the forest and we will discuss this more personally.” “I will not land the ship; I will land a shuttlecraft with representatives.”

Cain threatens that at any evidence of treachery, he will expose the antimatter core, and given that the meeting site is in the arboretum, it would get the heart-trees . . . which would send the destruction to all other colonies with heart-trees.

DEE replies, “Cease combat operations and I will do the same.”

“Very well,” Cain replies. “It will be done.” The remaining (mostly intact) zombies disappear in a puff of smoke and brimstone, but the three half-destroyed zombies simply collapse.

So now we have to go talk to Cain, but before we can do that, we have another ship to deal with. We also have a missing Nyx. This will not be good.

The other ship is identified as the ``Perseverance,’’ and claims that they were sent by the Order of Gaia to stop Cain. DEE agrees to open communications, and informs his inhabitants of such. Malcolm, their techie, sends a quick crew manifest to DEE.

I infultrate their network to find information to send to Dee. After some discussion with the other ship, we find out the following:

Six individuals appear in DEE’s Cargo Bay Three, this time non-magically. They introduce themselves as Trenton Vernor, Laiden Rahu, Fey Arius, Dr. Andrew Peters, and Noun and Pronoun. On the other ship, Malcolm Biggs, Ridge, and Admiral Rossner remain on the bridge. They are able to hear and be heard by the others through the link between DEE and Sarah.

They hand me a data rod with an encrypted copy of the software update for Dee. I make a copy of the contents while holding onto the Rod for my own safe keeping. I encrypt them again using my own methods. I’m to hold onto this until Dee’s security hole has been dealt with. I’m planning on trying an arcane lock to see how well that works at sealing the whole.

Next, we need to come up with a plan. We have the sword, and the "circlet". As we dicuss things, there is some doubt from the new arrivals about the authenticity of the circlet. Given it’s strange effects, I wouldn’t entirely dobut it either.

We have the threat of the anti matter core affecting the Heart Tree on Mars, which could cascade to other colonies and adversly affect the mystic component of their ecosystems. We also have Cain and an undead army on Mars.

My biggest fear is that we will take the weapons to Cain, and then Cain will blow the Core, and survive. This would leave him in possession of the weapons.

The other ship will try to find the antimater core and destroy it with mystic magic. This would go along way to eliminating that threat.

A group of us is expected to go and parlay with Cain. The question is who, and how well armed.

Other work is being done to disconnect the Heart Tree on Mars from the network, so that any damage to it won’t carry over to other colonies.

Now, onto the exciting conclusion:

Eighth Session

After much discussion and confusion, several things are decided.

The parlay group lands and ‘Cain’ wishes to resume talks with person he was communicating with on the ship. Dee’s robot goes out to continue the talk. ‘Cain’ wants us to join him, while we want him to submit to the ritual and ‘gain the power of Luna’ Talks are interupted when the other ship finds the anitmatter. ‘Cain’ is instantly notified of the presents of the Earth Elementals that they used to guide them to the antimatter. They phase the antimatter onto their ship and start draining it.

‘Cain’ warns the group to return the anti-matter core imediately. It takes the group on Sera a few seconds, and during that time, combat breaks in the parlay group. While they have the core, I modify the software to keep the containment field from being able to be shut off. The core is returned, and order returns to the parlay. Soon the core is teleported by Cain out of the cave onto the field where the palay is taking place. Also Dee lands his ship on the field.

Nix was found with some other zombies around where the core was hiding.

Eventually Nikoli agrees to be bound, and is told to drink from a large zombie who just cut his hand. Nikoli was about to hand the sword over to Dee, but Moss yells ‘CUT HIM’, and so Nikoli take a swing at the zombie. Moss also lets out a huge wave of possitive energy that wipes out most of the undead. It also affects the ship and me (well I can tell it was there, but it didn’t do anything for me).

Dee lets me know that Meechum was badly hurt so I rush as fast as I can to where he is. He was lying there with many cuts. I poured some of the OJ on him, and it helped him out. Malcom shows up shortly and tries to remove the taint from Meechum, but it doesn’t seem to do the job.

Out on the battlefield, things went well. Moss performed the ritual on the real Cain, and brought all of Cain’s taint into himself.

Dee and crew bring Cains purified body back to the ship and we head off twords Earth. They take Moss away on the other ship.

So back to Earth we go.

Questions:

  1. We have the body, what next?

Ninth Session

Halflings, Point Sigularities, and Stasis Chanbers..

First things first: what to do about Cain? Admiral Rossner takes over the battle on Mars. He also suggests that we take Cain to a Military base in the asteroid belt. The base as the advantages of being well defended, and not having a source of mystic magic. The downside is that the defenses aren’t in our control.

Nikoli teleports himself to the Caretaker’s grove on Earth. He picks up mini-Vee and my dog after talking to the Caretaker. The gist of the conversation was we’ll need to keep Cain safe until they are ready for the ritual. This is expected to take a month or two. Also avoiding places with mystic energy or other strong forces is advisable.

So we go to the asteroid belt, but no where near the base. Nikoli collects a statis chanber from his parents. We use it to store Cain since we’re not sure what his disposition or abilities would be like were he to awaken. We still have the sword, but, we’d still rather avoid any more complications.

Dee freed himself from his lore chip. I temporarily rerouted most of his inputs to my dog. The only way to communicate with Dee was through a console with an archaic keyboard. God I’m glad we’re not stuck with those anymore. Anyways, while he was isolated, he fried his lore chip, but continued to function. He’s a little strange now, and the next of connections in place of the chip make no sense, but it works so.. I’ll have to look into it sometime.

The other insident of activity was the infiltration of the ship by a point sigularity. It’s name is Eddie, and he’s a ghostly looking halfling. He’s kind of a free roaming space tinkerer. They decided to allow him on the ship as long as he stayed out of certain areas. Vitto is his permanant escort. I’m not sure what to make of him, but it seems he can help keep the anti-matter core at a constant level instead of continously draining. Given that we were going to be pushing it soon, this is a welcome addition.

So the wait continues.

Tenth Session

Strange messages recieved by crew members:

Ariona – “Truth sometimes lies even in lunacy, and turmoil may lie beneath a calm ocean.” Brice – “The union of order and chaos yields tragedy . . . revolution . . . and catharsis.” Nikolai – “True understanding lies cloaked in shadow, known only to he who stands for nothing.”

"M: It’s worse than I thought – Bryant’s got his fingers in everything, and he’s even got people starting to believe his bullshit. We gotta talk him outta it. Tell B to meet us outside the restaurant in three hours. -V"

Dearest Ariona, You may remember me my name is Deblin Gaddelsmocks.. my career has been ruined by the Magitech/StratCo industrial complex, those bastards. Though I haven’t figured out how yet! Please, you were there, you know the Bernstein kidnapping wasn’t a "publicty stunt" and that they covered it up after the fact!! I am not guilty of evidence planting I am the only one who sees the truth here-why won’t anyone else listen to me?? My husband has been framed as well and now both of us cannot find work anywhere and he blames me for everything since he would never have been investigated if I wasn’t such a "lunatic". cry Well anyway I have to find out what is going on with StratCo/Magitech I think they got nervous that I was too close to the truth but there has got to be more going on too. Please if you know anything, help me. Deblin

Dear Dr. Merrideth,

My name is Erik Lensherr. I am the leader of an organization pursuing goals quite similar to your own. We of the Brotherhood have been altered genetically, many of us in ways society at large considers ‘undesirable.’ But we have realized the truth: that we represent the next step for humanity, and we have continued to investigate techniques to improve ourselves genetically and otherwise.

Our people greatly respect your work, and we feel that you would be the ideal choice to head up our newly formed human genetic research team. If you are interested, I would like to meet with you as soon as is convenient to discuss the details, including your salary. As our goals closely coincide with yours, since we are both pursuing perfection, I certainly hope you will consider my offer.

Sincerely, Erik Lensherr Brotherhood of Homo Sapiens Superior

Now, onto the show.

I would think that a month floating in space, avoiding all contact with the outside world would provide a nice quiet environment, and allow me to get some good hard work/play in. I would be wrong.

First, several of us get cryptic single line messages. They have no headers, so no way to trace where they came from, not that they could have come from anywhere anyways. Best guess is that someone (probably Noun) caused them to appear. I checked my own, as well as Nikoli and Ariona’s messages. I talkedt o Ariona about them, but we couldn’t make much them at the time. Unfortunatly, they are starting to make more sense.

I tried to see if Dee had gotten a message as well, but I was unable to penetrate his system. Something was blocking my usual methods. I had no problem with the others, so I can only assume that this is a symptom of Dee’s self awareness. I’m going to have to look into other options.

I wrote a quick program for Nikoli’s little computer to pass and check messages for other crew mates. There were some interesting information there as well. Again, time will help make sense of them.

Xela sent a dwarf to look after her interests. I suppose we’re obligated to appease her, since we are borrowing a major artifact. Unfortunatly, the dwarf had some bad news. Bryant had retrieved the crown, though his loyalty and motives are now in question. No more details were forthcoming.

Vitto push for using Bryant’s stash to pay for upgrades to Dee. I’m not big on spending someone else’s money, even if it does aid a supposedly common cause. If we were given permission to do so, it wouldn’t be an issue. Maybe this is just how the mob works.

We did some tests with divination effects. No one on the ship could break into my mind to read a number, which is good. However that doesn’t preclude anyone else from doing so. It also seemed like it was blocked by Nikoli’s abilities while I was possessing his computer. These tests results were promising, but not conclusive, as other tests were not performed, such as testing against an unprotected digital system.

Vitto and Nikoli confer with the Caretaker to try and verify the dwarf’s information, and the Caretaker’s intentions. Apparently, everything is on the up and up with the dwarf. Vitto was taking about being the head of the Family, and there being more to Bryant’s betrayal. <shrug> I’ll just wait for him to figure that out. Can’t say that I care much.

In other news, the Lupis Canis war is still going strong. Lupis seems to be overtaking Canis. Can’t do much about this at the moment.

I went with Nikoli to check on Bryant. Vitto wanted to come along, and was scared of being left alone without either of us. I’m not willing to try to bring him to the digital realm. He has no digital persona, so I don’t know if/how he would be represented. I’m also scared of any corrupting effects he could have. NOT HAPPENING.

We go to check out Bryant. He wasn’t there the first day. He just ported out of his office earlier that day. We go back the next day to talk to him, and actually find him. I saw several colors glowing around him. Not quite sure what they were about. I’m assuming that they are some form of protective mystic affects.

Anyways, Nikoli talks to him, and on the surface, all of his answers are the right thing. However, even .01 inches below the surface, all of the answers had a sinister quality to them. Can’t say I trust the guy. He also seems to have absorbed the crown into him self, so we can’t just take it.

Nikoli smells sulfer on him on the way out. He thinks its residue from some demonic dealings or possession. Now the quesion is what to do. People are leaning twards Bryant out. The Caretaker doesn’t trust him, he has the crown, his answers were suspect, his smell was apparently suspect, and the things he could be up to could be very detrimental. On the other hand, keeping Cain safe should be our top priority. We’ll see what happens.

10.5 session

Hate to make this quick, but there’s a lot finally happening. The main item is that we decided to try to deal with Bryant, and that he’s no longer hanging out on Luna. Lupus is being attacked by a creature made out of nanites. This may or may not be Bryant, but I intend to find out.

Alona brought her parents on board, and while they can’t directly help, they cast a few buffs on us. I couldn’t resist their magic, wonder why?

We may be meeting a few other new people to handle the Bryant issue. Don’t know much about them yet.

Ned has a device to control nanites in him. I can’t seem to connect to either, but they can communicate (at least one way), though I don’t know how. Knowing would be worthwhile, though I don’t know how much time I have.