Check-In [Week 1]

[helborn]

All right, you know the deal. If you're yourself, psychically raise your hand.

Or, uh, if that doesn't make sense to you, just... let people know you're you. I'm myself, obviously, but I have no idea what the hell my archetype or role is. I was infiltrating last time as Ace -

- shit, I need to avoid him. Anyway! Yeah. Uh. ... Yeah...

[His psychic voice just trails off as the awkward overtakes him.]

Comments

[fearinahandfulof]

[After some time, Cassandra speaks up again.]

I tried to look for omens and portents now that we're here, but with Questing Country and Liminal Space joined, I'm not getting much from either. The Conductors' uniformity is a symbol of their togetherness and harmony - which is obvious - but the Bidents they wield are an omen of the underworld and capture. Their meaning here feels more related to music somehow, though.

I also sensed that there are three Hunts going on under the surface. One is the Arcana's hunt for the World.

The other two are harder for me to perceive; there's a hidden agenda, and people moving where they can't be seen. I can't make out more than that, though. I'm sorry.

[helborn]

... What kind of underworld?

[His voice is unusually serious.]

[fearinahandfulof]

The Greek one?

[Not that Cassandra has the best understanding of Greece in general or Greek mythology in particular.]

[helborn]

[There's a sudden and intense flare of anger and annoyance followed by a swift string of cursing in German, French, and some sort of other Scandinavian language.]

[... It takes him a minute to calm down.]

Fuck, sorry. I should have remembered that. One of my... so-called 'friends' from my world is the daughter of the guy who rules there. I can... ugh. I guess I'm good with both music and underworld stuff... if we need to go off and look for it, I can work with that.

[fearinahandfulof]

[Well, now she's worried.]

I... hope we don't.

[She really hadn't liked Hades when she'd been stuck there during the Achaia Jaunt.]

[helborn]

I mean, of course it'd be me, right? I'm your friendly neighborhood death-based demigod.

... Though I think poking around too deeply here might not be the greatest idea without backup.

[fearinahandfulof]

[She is... really not sure what he means by that first statement, so for now she doesn't comment.]

No, I don't think it would be wise to do that.

[desperate_times_right]

I talked to the Conductors after that monkey stole my phone, and one of them said something about Bidents and music... "I can't conduct without a baton" or something, differentiating it from regular combat somehow.

[helborn]

[Casper’s response is immediate and sounds deeply concerned.]

Shit. Okay, that’s worse than I thought. I’m about to drop some fairly privileged information from my world, so don’t abuse it.

It sounds like a Scion’s relics. We can’t use our more magical abilities without channeling power through them. Like if you stole Aiden’s pencil, she wouldn’t be able to fly.

If they’re all synced up with each other, and one of them basically has a break in the circuit, that’s a huge problem.

[desperate_times_right]

She also said - and this is a paraphrase because I only sort of know what it means - but it's like a staff in D&D in that you put some of your magic into it? And only you can access that? So this Adversary guy could stab Questing Country with it, but he couldn't conduct either.

[helborn]

Yeah, it’s bound to you. There’s probably certain ways to access someone else’s relic but I don’t know how.

Like you could take my baseball bat and smack someone, but you’re not freezing the local lake. It’s still probably hurt someone more than a regular bat, but I’ve never let anyone try.

[desperate_times_right]

I asked if they could make a new one and they didn't seem to know. Seems a bit short-sighted to make a weapon like that without a failsafe in case it gets pinned.

[helborn]

Relics are super fucking hard tif not impossible to make on your own. I can understand the need to get it back if the comparison is at all correct.

[desperate_times_right]

I would say be careful asking about it, because these guys are super fucking defensive about everything, but it might be good to look at it with that framework.

[fearinahandfulof]

Conduct?

[desperate_times_right]

I think she meant conduct like an orchestra.

When a whole bunch of people play instruments together, they usually have a conductor with a little wand-like baton who directs them and helps them stay cohesive and on-rhythm.

[fearinahandfulof]

So they're all... like an orchestra? With one person keeping them together?

[Cassandra is not sure she trusts that.]

[desperate_times_right]

I think the idea is that they're all co-coordinators. The fox kid said they have a psychic network like ours, and they share health somehow. Maybe like kything?

But now this Ace person can't participate fully because she doesn't have her weapon.

[fearinahandfulof]

...Which parts can't she participate in?

[And if it's the network, why would a weapon be necessary for that?]

[eldritchwheelies]

Underworld and capture.

That's.

Huh.

Okay, okay, that throws off some of my theories, which - trust me - are a good thing. That doesn't jive with my fears at all.

But it's an odd blend, and the similarities make the Conductors unsettling to me.

...We need a larger sample size.

[fearinahandfulof]

Of Conductors?

[eldritchwheelies]

Yeah. Leah's crew are absolutely all fantasy game themed - Allura the Paladin (no relation), Pez the Wizard, Ace the Barbarian, Meg the Cleric, and... Leah and Khora the odd ones out, Leah because she's Role-aspected and can shift party Roles, and Khora because I don't recognize hers.

This, of course, does not mean all Conductors are.

We need a larger sample size.



Also she up and told me all of this when asked. At least she had the good sense to say "yeah you probably don't want to be a Conductor" when she looked at me, like that was hard to tell.

[fearinahandfulof]

...I don't know what any of that means.

[Still.]

Does that mean she can read people enough to tell who would work as one and who wouldn't?

[eldritchwheelies]

I can show you the books I'm referencing in my room back on Yon Liminal Isles. It's pretty transparent.

She's Role-aspected and has a power she calls "Role Call." She can tell just by looking at someone through her Cool Kids Club Decoder Ring or whatever what Role someone has in the Dream, and also claims to be able to see in what direction someone is going.

Champion for Life, according to her, by the way. Guess Chariot is good at betting on horses too.

What gets me is that she very, very quickly tried to stop me from joining the Conductors, as if that would be hard.

Which doesn't jive with what the others are saying, unless she's one of the only ones that's not down with rolling up all of the Dreamers in a Conductor katamari.

[fearinahandfulof]

Oh. All right.

[She thinks?]

So part of it is her archetype, but... If she's trying to keep people who are unsuitable out, then how is she defining "unsuitable"?