synopsychic | You're having a bad day? But did you DIE?

[ Though he has the ability to broadcast his senses as well as his voice, he does not. Just plain psychic voice today, and a little quieter than usual. He's only talking because, damn it all, Travelers should know about what some of the older veterans couldn't remember. ]

Usually when an Infiltrator is killed, they return as an Investigator. Such is not the case in Liminal Space. The nature of death here is different, for both Infiltrators and Investigators. I do not know if the same... fate... awaits another world's native who might find themselves in Liminal Space, and I am in no hurry to find out.

Like Jaunt death, it is not permanent, therefore killing someone here will not accomplish much. It is... painful. Cruel. My...

[ No. Let's not go there. Travelers can read his simple notes and illustrations about being trapped in the floor in a sack-like cocoon with no light, in pain, only having Matthew to talk to, but he will not show the severity of a trauma that could be exploited by enemies. ]

Matthew and I were kept isolated in a different Liminal Space for about a week. The body heals, faster than it should, but slower than any of your instant healing spells.

I will repeat, to those for whom it is unclear [ thanks, Jules ], that Matthew was not himself. He was his Infiltrator, a man named Masshuu. I am not sure if Masshuu is dead or, like a Traveler, simply back in his own land. I have made notes. You can find them near the Jaunt records in Leonardo's Workshop.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

-=he doesn't respond right away, as he's trying to sort out what little he knows that he hadn't realized=-

I had not given her words much thought until now, but when I spoke to Lovers I believe she had insinuated that resurrecting the dead takes longer in liminal space because our bodies are are real. Which now leaves me to believe those we have on jaunts are not.

[All of that information leaves Drizzt feeling solemn, and he acknowledges the information shared by the tone in his voice, although not directly..]

It is good that you both have returned.

I had wondered this myself, especially with the Infiltrator 'possession' theory. That we have a... 'spare' while we Jaunt. There are notes on... [ here he pauses uncharacteristically, as any mention of Liminal cocoons now makes him uncomfortable, ] someone who accidentally got herself trapped in another Liminal Space, and found the resting bodies of a few people. They were the King and Queen of England, Newport's country. We know the Arcana were using them like an Investigator would.

I was prepared to put my own life at risk, but not Matthew's. Now we know things are different in Liminal Space.

All goodly warriors are prepared to risk their own lives, but never the lives of others. It is simply how we are made. Your lament would be mine had our roles been reversed.

[There's no doubt Altaïr is a warrior of some nature. It's simply the way he conducts himself.]

Now that we know, I will make sure that any new Travelers are aware of it.

[Because if he can prevent others from suffering in a similar fashion, then their deaths might have some small amount of meaning.]

[This comes later enough to give Altaïr a chance to recover without being nagged, but like most of the man's rare psychic posts, Beatrice feels obligated to contribute to the conversation.]

...I'll have to thank the veterans, even if they weren't able to give a clear reason for their warning.

It's good to know the process, and the consequences to this kind of accident. And this should dispel any idea that we are only being "simulated" here.

And if the infiltrator is killed during a Jaunt? What of the bodies of those being replaced? Are they murdered in response to our failures?

Infiltrators die as normal people in their world would. I know someone who, coming back as an Investigator, attended the funeral of his Infiltration.

As far as I know, after Investigators leave a Jaunt, the natives go on with their lives. It would certainly be a lot of trouble for the Arcana if swathes of people dropped dead after every Jaunt—The historic deaths in January were found to be due to plague through the questioning of an eyewitness ghost, according to Investigator notes about the Jaunt.

Their mysterious lack of memory did not serve us well. The most I ever heard was 'do not kill another Traveler' in general, not specifying that Liminal Space was disadvantageous. I merely thought it was advice to prevent infighting in such close quarters.

'Simulated'?

Not 'made.' [ His psychic voice is light. This is only semantics, after all. ] It is how I choose to be.

[ He allows Drizzt to assume he is a warrior. He carries his blades more often than not. He often allows people to assume things about him, to make his job easier. He was trained to take advantage of people seeing only what they wanted to see. ]

Wise to inform new [ he almost said "prisoners"] Travelers, as it is a harrowing experience, and pointless.

[ Well, unless someone decides to use it as a method of torture, but he prefers fear tactics and punching in an interrogation, not the cruelty of "The Floor." ]

There are a few people here of the belief that we're merely...information given form. Virtual copies of the people we believe we are, rather than those people themselves. Personally I think the difference is rather academic, but it does seem to bother the more typical humans here rather a lot. Regardless, if we were merely aware information, it would be a great deal easier to reconstitute us.

There's another, larger group with the same belief about the settings in which we find ourselves for Jaunts, but that's rather harder to disprove.

[Drizzt acquiescing to that truth. They all decide to be that way, after all. That's exactly how it is.] Yes, you are correct. It is our truth.

[And as far as Drizzt's world is, Altair would be. He's certainly a seasoned veteran of something by Drizzt's estimation, with the way he carries himself as well. Even if he hides it well, Drizzt is a drow, and there's just enough likeness to note something./I>]

Harrowing indeed. We can only hope what happened to you serves as a warning for all of us.

Why should we be any less real? I am sure if I drove my fist into someone's face, they would still be angry at me, real or not. Anyway, being... reconstituted... in the floor was quite real, between the flickering in and out of consciousness.

[ He'd say flickering in and out of death, but the Arcana aren't supposed to know he was eavesdropping on them. ]

Like I said, an academic distinction. In fact, I was dead before I arrived here, and by whatever means I was resurrected, the results are the same. They did not, however, leave me conscious of my body being rebuilt.

...I wonder if it would have been any faster or less unpleasant with a cleaner method of death?

I was in more pain than Matthew. I certainly exited the floor worse off. I'd had burns over most of my body. That said, the way I killed Masshuu was as clean and swift as death by the blade can be.

Perhaps you had not yet come to inhabit the body they built for you. It was also planned, unlike what happened with Matthew and I.

For all their apparent omnipotence within Liminal Space, they tend to miss some important things when they're reacting to the unexpected, don't they?

[Hm.]

It could also be that giving a spirit or an idea a body to inhabit is just a natural aspect of Liminal Space. Or the Arcana do it because that's what they are.

The Arcana seem to think they must be caretakers of our bodies in Liminal Space. I think they have more reach here than anywhere else, as they have to follow less rules of their 'game.' But as for when people arrive here, or even when we leave to go on Jaunts, I cannot say.

It's pretty clear that Liminal Space is where they have the most power. Likely because they require vessels that "fit" into the Jaunt worlds the same as we do, although I can't say that for certain. They certainly either can't or don't manipulate "real" worlds to the same extent they do the space between them.

You're having a bad day? But did you DIE?

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