synopsychic | Entries tagged with naoki konishi (au)

Some good news, for a change.

If you're up against a nightmare that's more location than something you can fight, and you know how to alter Liminal Space... it turns out you can alter Questing Country. I don't expect it to last long, but it'll last long enough.

[There's a quick livestream to demonstrate what Naoki's talking about. Under the matte-black glass of the Grid is a clear hodgepodge of Nova Venezia, Misericordia and the Bando, which should be enough for anyone who remembers that stretch of 'sure, let's end every jaunt by setting the city on fire, WHY NOT' to catch the common theme he's wiped out.]

Harbingers could probably do the same thing, but that should be a last resort, since their changes are more permanent.

truerevelation

Yo. So, been out in the Wakin' World - I figure the other guys out here are gonna have their own things to share, but got some stuff that ... Well, it ain't pretty. I mean, it's kinda pretty if you can see it but - ah, hell, you know what I mean.

Uploaded the raw data to the network if anyone can handle it. But lemme try and show-

[Kanji starts streaming a view of a computer display - showing what looks like a map of Snowflake picked out in strange colours and fine threads. A hand taps the screen briefly, cycling through different displays of interlocking fractals, but one thing stands out clearly: the patterns converge on the space elevator.]

Was expectin' to get some kinda ...tracking data when I went looking. Got this instead. It's ... it's crazy complex, but there's only three real frequency ranges bein' transmitted in there.

Turns out they're the same frequencies as your regular dreamin' person's brainwaves. And the Skyhook elevator's the antenna that's blastin' it all. It's everywhere...

helborn

[Casper sounds exhausted. This whole week has been A Lot.]

I had another dream.

It was black, the only noise a low, rattling static sound. Stars became visible in the darkness.

Then, suddenly, a burning red star, throwing solar flares off into the night, rushed towards me and over my shoulder. Past it was a... I don't even know what to call it. It was a weird irregular shape of metal with a serrated edge, matte and chrome. There were thrust nozzles and radio antennas and all kinds of emitters and barrels of weaponry.

I threw myself at it, screaming for blood at a pitch equalling the rapid-fire plasma cannon I was shooting. I got hit and coughed and pressure systems in me fluctuated. Another ship was beside me, a spiked globe of crystal whose spars were antennae, ion thrusters, and plasma resonators all at once. Somehow I knew the pilot took a century to make the ship. Beyond that was a weird arc of blunted ceramic with a bunch of guns and antennae protruding from one side. I knew there were other ships beyond. I could feel them with me.

And then I went in at the weird metal shape, cannons firing again... and then I woke up.

Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? The only other Jaunt with mechs I can think of is the one with the humans fighting the aliens with the weird viruses going around.

leftbehindagain

So I'm really not sure what to make of this, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't bode well.

The Conductor role is not a natural growth on the part of Questing Country, the way Adversaries were.

Being fair, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Synthetics, Diabolin and the baby Starmovers didn't show up naturally, either, and I think most people would agree that those new perspectives are worth having around. [You know. Now that the Starmovers aren't terrifying everyone because they don't know how to talk to toolstuff.]

But I'm definitely more concerned about the artificial imposition of an entire subclass of dreamers than I am about the new arrivals being deliberately introduced.

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.]

lightnovelexperiences

So Cassandra has apparently been getting Magical Mystery Tour beamed into her head as a hint when she did spooky things to the bus. It's a Beatles song, oldies to my parents, psychedelic hippie shit from the 60's.

There's one song in particular on it, 'I Am The Walrus,' that caught my eye BECAUSE we're heading for a space opera. The opening line is:

'I am he as you are he and you are me and we are all together...'

So hey, quick question about QC and known space! Do we know about any hive minded aliens from that 'verse? Cause if not, we might have ourselves an old fashioned bug hunt when we arrive. Or, knowing the Arcana, preventing one!

ETA:

Someone way smarter than me with the Oracle powers that clued us into the Katadors being sweet guys, really just used those powers to ask what we were probably up against.

Roughly:
3 in 10 chance it's the Starmovers trying to make a new Role.
2 in 10 chance it's the Arcana.
3 in 20 it's the Hecatites doing something hinky, same as my guess that there's a new species in town or that something like the Skittles is trying to make a new Role.
1 in 10 it's "who the hell knows," a new role arising naturally, or Backstage breaking from that time ROSE decided fracking a dreamscape for magic was a good idea.
1 in 40 chance it's one of the old powers getting Borgy with it.

The chances are about 1 in 10 to 1 in 5 that the Hecatites are taking advantage of whatever it is that's going on, depending on what tiger they're trying to ride.

Also, it's not fucking Cthulhu you piece of shit Travellers, so we can rest easy on that score.

leftbehindagain

Since it's likely been another of those jaunts, anyone who went up to the Mystic Spire should come by for a radiation antidote, just in case. I'm still not unconvinced the first apocalypse wasn't nuclear in nature.

If it's not necessary, it won't hurt you. But there's no point in taking a risk if we don't have to.

capital_asset

[A short time after his last address to the network, Raidou contacts them again. This time, his mental 'voice' is notably clipped. He's also trying very hard to keep this locked down to most Travelers, save for one he wishes he didn't have to exclude.]

Speaking of nightmares, remember when the Illuminants were 'making forays' into Liminal Space before the last Jaunt? It turns out that those weren't forays at all - they've established an actual connection to Liminal Space, one the Arcana don't know about.

I can probably find the thing, thanks to certain enhancements from Purgatory; however, they created it as a group and while the skill that allows me to detect such bonds also allows me to disrupt a bond, I could only disrupt one Illuminant's connection at a time, and there's a significant cooldown period. It would also alert them to the fact that they've been found out, which we may or may not want to do at this point, so it's not without its risks. Then again, the same could probably be said for anything we decide to do to it.

leftbehindagain

Can someone de-infiltrate Chie? I've already used mine, and Kleio asked to talk to her.

rosewater_path

[Everyone will recognize ROSE's voice on the Network, and will see her in their minds' eye, as though she was using Image Projection - but she's gone fully monochromatic, her voice is curiously autotuned, her hair is done up in coiled buns on either side of her head, and she's wearing a simple, pale blue dress or robe the same color as her skin and hair.]

Okay, hep cats and hoppin' kitties. You did it. Now for our end of the deal.

You and everyone we scooped out of Godzilla's Midnight Snacktime get a free ticket back to the Umbrian Vale, any Spire except Stricken Star, any time from fourteen minutes before we brought you out to fourteen days after.

Me and the Heavenly Choir have veto power, but we trust you and we owe you on this one - so we're listening.

If you need more time here to prep we can give you a little while - but the longer we wait here, the more our options on where to drop you off narrow. For every day here, shave two days off the times we can drop you off after; and two minutes off the times we can drop you off before.

I'll open a channel where you can talk to me; a channel where you can talk without me; and a channel where you can vote.

((OOC: voting will close at 11:59 PM CST on 1/9; a fresh Jaunt plotting post will go up immediately thereafter, and the Jaunt will resume sometime on the evening of 1/10.))

leftbehindagain

Magician said they can, in theory, drop us off anywhere on the Vale but Stricken-Star, because they don't have anchors there.

I can't figure out what she means by 'anchors.' Anyone else have any ideas?

lightnovelexperiences

Hey, while we're all here and all ourselves?

My... Patron God? Ruling Arcanum? Not sure what the right word here is... gave me a list of what all of the Arcana are like, according to them.

Penuel is a they, by the way. Definitely not a "she." I asked.

Anyway, I'm going to text you the document verbatim before properly archiving it in the Leonardo Memorial Library or whatever.

How accurate is this according to your own perceptions? They seem to have a particular hate-on for ROSE, because to hear them tell it she flagrantly cheats at everything for the lulz - but Judgement strikes me as super duper Lawful - try not to be shocked - while the stunt ROSE pulled for the Vale makes me inclined to think she's not Evil, just Chaotic.

...people have played D&D here, right? Or do I need to unpack that?

PS: If I ever meet the Priestess I'm calling her Io. It's probably a new name for her and I think she'd be delighted.

comebewe

Who knows how to Sift or Assist, from the Grid? I’ve got data from one of the Shadow Towers I want analysed.

desperate_times_right

[Chloe’s mental voice sounds weak and disoriented, as if she’s in shock]

Can someone come to the caves? I need help.

I think Hana’s dead.

capital_asset

I've been speaking with Claudia's overlay - she's called Hypatia here; she's the Calculator Council's Prime Factor - and she's hoping to take a group to the High Tables to see if they can find something that can help this world survive.

For those who aren't familiar, the High Tables are located on the plateaus that surround the Vale on three sides. They were the home of the Ancients, and the Mystics built towers there after the Ancients destroyed themselves and the world with fire. There are ancient ruins up there, and those are probably what she's interested in. However, the air on the High Tables isn't breathable and hasn't been since the time of the Mystics, and 'strange chemicals' would sometimes wash from the Tables during those times when rain was still possible, whether naturally or from the psychic efforts of the Umbrians. So that complicates matters. There were rare occasions when the Umbrian Protectors would send expeditions up to the Tables, and some of the people on those expeditions would survive, but it would never be very many people, and that was with the presence and assistance of the Overmind. Without it, other strategies will likely be necessary.

For what it's worth, my Questing Sense was what led me to Hypatia, so she's definitely important to the Jaunt.

leftbehindagain

Who's here and what happened? Other than the sandstorm. You've probably heard it first.

[A few minutes later:]

...right, sorry, this is going to be a weird one for half-infiltrating, I can already tell. The locals are limited to four sentences of no more than six words each, but you can get a lot into six words.

This is Naoki. Or... Longstory, if you ask the locals, because I guess someone was feeling literal-minded. I'm already in town.

We should probably keep this brief, in the event of native eavesdroppers.

fearinahandfulof

There's something wrong with the room with the door that isn't quite there. I get a very strong sense of foreboding from it, like it's a bad omen. It doesn't belong.

The Mood Ring game from the last Liminal was the same way.

razorblade_empress

[It's relatively late in the Liminal when Yukino contacts the network, although in fairness she's been a little busy being stuck in a dungeon for much of its duration. Still, though.]

A little while back, Judgement had this whole dungeon... thing... going on that a bunch of us got dragged into. One of the rooms was Belljar, and there was a closed-circuit TV showing a selection of images, one of which was a portal in a field of crystals that the Travelers of the time were evacuating into. So after we got back from this Jaunt, I tried to do some digging, and, well... I got this.

[This being a memory, which she is now sharing:]

The network was not full of happy chatter, during the visit to the place with the crystal fields. Granted, having to deal with ‘nation-eaters’ would likely put a damper on anyone’s mood, but on top of that, the Protectorate’s built-in psychic intrusions to enforce their idea of what’s best for everyone are Not Helping. The intrusions probably wouldn’t have helped in any round, but especially not with how freedom-minded the Travelers Fortune’s rig pulls in tend to be.

It’s quickly becoming apparent that there are two courses of action available to the Travelers: Back the Protectorate’s 'right-think' and keep the peace, or assist a violent coup so that the people can start fresh. If the coup works, and there’s no guarantee that even the Travelers can help convince enough people to defend their minds against their own government. There are two choices, but they both suck.

If it's a choice between this and the Champs being displeased, someone says on the network (it’s all text, of course, so discerning who might be difficult), I'll take my chances with our local True Fae.

After a pause, they add, Si se puede. Let's strike.

The strike itself isn’t that flashy, memory-wise; it consists largely of herding all the investigators into Liminal and camping out with whatever food they'd stashed or could manage to manipulate until the Jaunt's clock runs down. It's pretty clear when that happens: Liminal Space suddenly upends itself, with everyone falling endlessly away from a planet they'd know above them - since this is Yukino's memory, that planet is Earth - towards clouds they never reach, with swords falling along with them...

[The memory cuts off there.]

Next stop after that was Moebius.

bite_the_hand

If I ever end up as Yang Jie again, I need someone to pull me out. I can't let him mess things up like that again. And I really want to punch him. I don't care if it'd mean punching myself too. The bastard has it coming.

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Now: Questing Country: Harmonic Resonance
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Current Tag: !harmonic resonance

October 2020

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leftbehindagain - (no subject)
truerevelation - After Waking World mission, wk. 2
helborn - Dreams... [Week 2]
leftbehindagain - (no subject)
helborn - Check-In [Week 1]
lightnovelexperiences - A revelation!
leftbehindagain - (no subject)
capital_asset - [forward-dated to post-Jaunt] [filtered from Maria Ushiromiya] At the end of our tether
leftbehindagain - backdated to week 3
rosewater_path - (The evening after the Liminal Ball, post Sift results)
leftbehindagain - (no subject)
lightnovelexperiences - They said nothing about not sharing this info, so... [Post-Ball]
comebewe - (no subject)
desperate_times_right - [Week 2] Early morning day 320
capital_asset - [week 1] Empty Chairs at Empty Tables
leftbehindagain - ye olde check-in
fearinahandfulof - A warning
powersthatbe - (cue calliope noises)
razorblade_empress - [pre-Emodriver Liminal] We interrupt your Jaunt preparations for some metaplot
bite_the_hand - (no subject)

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The Synodiporia Psychic Network

Entries tagged with naoki konishi (au)

(no subject)

After Waking World mission, wk. 2

Dreams... [Week 2]

(no subject)

Check-In [Week 1]

A revelation!

(no subject)

[forward-dated to post-Jaunt] [filtered from Maria Ushiromiya] At the end of our tether

backdated to week 3

(The evening after the Liminal Ball, post Sift results)

(no subject)

They said nothing about not sharing this info, so... [Post-Ball]

(no subject)

[Week 2] Early morning day 320

[week 1] Empty Chairs at Empty Tables

ye olde check-in

A warning

(cue calliope noises)

[pre-Emodriver Liminal] We interrupt your Jaunt preparations for some metaplot

(no subject)

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