[IC] Worlds of Fire

[KS Pathfinder]

His internal deliberation over with for the moment Mark-315 looks up again, glancing around the table at everyone in turn and makes his own introduction.

Mark-315 <Aloud>: “My name is Mark, and my designation is Mark-315 and I am a Sentinel-IV, part of the Sentinel Project to produce human super soldiers to combat terrorist and anti-Confederation rebel forces. However, that all changed when the Kreyt, humanities first encountered alien race began a war against humanity and started attacking and destroying our colonies. Already a career soldier I decided to volunteer for the Sentinel Project and underwent the arduous process of becoming a Sentinel-IV. I fought against the Kreyt for a number of years as a Sentinel-IV until on one mission I killed a Kreyt Commando team and obtained a piece of technology the Kreyt were using to bypass our defences. Unfortunately, subsequently cornered and surrounded behind enemy lines, I took the calculated risk of using the unknown technology and ended up transported to an alternate universe. I have been lost ever since, searching for a way home, travelling from universe to universe. And so, now here I am.”

Mark-315 pauses for a moment before adding, as if some unheard person is nagging at him over his shoulder. “My apologies, someone else wishes to make themselves known, and I guess now is as good a time as any.”

Mark-315 looks at the table for a moment, something obviously coming online in his visually concealed armour and unexpectedly a swirling column of purple/blue light appears, and out of it a human figure on a miniature scale appears, composed of said purple/blue light, with long straight hair, and obviously of the female gender and appearance.

Serena <Aloud>: “Greetings.”

[Talosian]

Seann leans forward, his attention fixed on the shimmering figure across the table. "AI? Fascinating. Volitional?" He seems to be speaking directly to the AI instead of to Mark.

[KS Pathfinder]

Originally Posted by Talosian

Seann leans forward, his attention fixed on the shimmering figure across the table. "AI? Fascinating. Volitional?" He seems to be speaking directly to the AI instead of to Mark.

Serena looks back at Mark-315, obviously pleased, and then looks back at Seann.

Serena <Aloud>: “You know Mark, it’s nice to meet someone else who doesn’t automatically refer to me as an ‘It’ or ‘soulless imitation of life’ for a change etc. So, in answer to your question, yes, I do indeed have free will and am completely self-aware, and my name is Serena. In the Sentinel Project my fellow AI’s and I are called Overwatch AI’s, and we function as partners to each Sentinel. Our primary function is intelligence/counter-intelligence based, handling the tasks of route-finding, electronic warfare, and keeping track of objectives etc.”

[Totem]

[I know we're still waiting for one introduction; I'm trying to keep things moving.]

[OOC: feel free to carry on the conversation. Explanations follow.]

"Okay, so now we've all been introduced, I owe all of you an explanation of what's going on to go with the meal," Ben declares. "Give me a chance to get the basic explanation out of the way, then you can begin the cross-examination...

"I've asked you to come here because something bad is happening. Something that needs dealing with and which I don't have the option of dealing with at the moment.

"There's a demon. It's called Chu'dam and it feeds on the power of its worshippers and right now it’s building up a cult in Longhampton. Sooner or later it’ll spread though, and I can’t be having that; the damned thing is a world-jumper like all of us, so it will eventually spread to other universes and set up there as well... I need you to stop it right now.

"Chu'dam has a couple of tricks, both of which are useful for cult-building. The first is that Chu'dam can trigger or heighten feelings of pleasure in people. That's the carrot, so to speak, because... Well, Chu'dam can make you feel absolutely wonderful any time he wants to. Normally he expects his followers to earn their reward somehow, but, he can hit people at random if he wants to.

"The stick... Or partly still the carrot actually... Anyway, Chu'dam can protect his followers from certain classes of diseases and infections, normally those transmitted by intimate physical contact. Given that we're dealing with a cult that is built on giving and receiving pleasure, that kind of stuff can spread quickly through them and in a low-tech culture that would have been the death of the cult within a few months. With Chu'dam's blessing though, the cultists can be protected from these problems.

"Or rather, the harmful effects of them. HIV is a favourite with them and a relatively easy example: if a cultist is HIV+ then they don't suffer for it and it won't show up on a blood test. But they still carry it in them, and can infect others. Which is cheap recruitment for the cult.

"Anyway, there's the basics. Any questions?"

[ErhnamDJ]

Originally Posted by Totem

"Anyway, there's the basics. Any questions?"

"Yep," Douglas says. "Does this demon have any resistance to lead? And what are you paying me?"

[Totem]

Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ

"Yep," Douglas says. "Does this demon have any resistance to lead? And what are you paying me?"

"Chu'dam doesn't have a direct physical form; he can possess his followers, but that's all that I've ever seen. He's as subject to the laws regarding the existence of demons in the worlds he visits as you are to those regarding the existence of Humans though, so you may find that isn't the case here. I can't say for certain though; I've only been here a day or two myself."

"As for the payment," Ben continues. "Name your price. Whatever you, individually, feel is a suitable price for doing this, if it's within my power to grant and I think that you've earnt it, you can have."

He reaches down into his bag and pulled out an armoured gauntlet. It looks like it has come off a suit of medieval armour, but it also looks new and... Slightly wrong. "I asked some people to make this for me. I couldn't make it myself. It took me fifty years and I had to break laws, not just government or civil but physical and temporal ones as well, in order to pay their price. I can't say that I'll do the same for you, because... Well, I'm busy at the moment, and liable to be so for the next while and a bit. But I have resources.

"Additionally... I might be able to offer you some employment after this is over. I don't know whether you'd be interested or not, but there's a chance for you to settle down, learn some skills, that kind of thing. Deal with Chu'dam and I'll give you more details. My offer of payment stands regardless."

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by Totem

The man glances at Gabrielle, as if reminded of something. "Your abilities... I haven't gotten around to reading these files fully yet," he thumps the bag down by his feet with his foot, "but I noticed that they're not natural. Did you volunteer to have them?"

"That's an interesting ethical question. I'd say no, the people who did it would say yes. But my brain is still inside my skull and more or less works, which is a lot better than most of my fellow test subjects managed."

Originally Posted by Totem

"Anyway, there's the basics. Any questions?"

"Just one or two. How did you find us? And, with no disrespect intended, you're not doing a great job of selling Chu'dam as the bad guy here. It's easy to say 'demon', but I'm not cut out to be a mercenary, particularly not for someone I've never met before. Feelings of pleasure and resistance to disease... doesn't sound like a guy who Must Be Stopped. What makes you the good guy?"

[Dorin Thorha]

The last time Indigo Joe took a job with an employer who had ambiguous motives and who offered fabulous compensation for unusual services, it didn't go very well.

But he's not one to let experience hold him back...

"Where might this twistical being's followers be found?"

Name your price.

"Well, normally I'd do it for fun, but I do have some obligations... I daresay I could settle for $10,000 or equivalent sundries, plus expenses."

[ErhnamDJ]

Originally Posted by Dorin Thorha

"Well, normally I'd do it for fun, but I do have some obligations... I daresay I could settle for $10,000 or equivalent sundries, plus expenses."

"What's a... dollar?" Douglas asks.

"Anyway, I'll need supplies. There have to be some smiths," he stops speaking for a moment and looks out the window, then shrugs, "around here somewhere. If I can find sufficient ammunition, I'd like to do a cartridge conversion. And I'll need a new rifle. My old one... it... well, I'll be needing a new one."

[Totem]

Originally Posted by RogerBW

"That's an interesting ethical question. I'd say no, the people who did it would say yes. But my brain is still inside my skull and more or less works, which is a lot better than most of my fellow test subjects managed."

"Heh," Ben laughs without humour. "I can understand that; there was a 60% mortality rating in the project that made me... That was once they got over the 100% mortality rating in the original version..."

Originally Posted by RogerBW

"Just one or two. How did you find us? And, with no disrespect intended, you're not doing a great job of selling Chu'dam as the bad guy here. It's easy to say 'demon', but I'm not cut out to be a mercenary, particularly not for someone I've never met before. Feelings of pleasure and resistance to disease... doesn't sound like a guy who Must Be Stopped. What makes you the good guy?"

"Fair questions," Ben admits. "I didn't find you; some guys who... They thought that they owed me. I mean life debt type of owing here... I didn't agree with how much they thought that they owed me but I managed to convince them that finding some people to deal with this situation would cover them.

"As for Chu'dam... A couple of points to consider: Chu'dam is a demon. It feeds on people's souls; sorry if I didn't mention that, I forget that some people don't have ten millenia of experience like I do... Remind me if I get ahead of myself like that again. It's also a world-jumper, as I mentioned. Now, obviously a world-jumper that can feed on souls will eventually get bored of ruling a single world and go looking for others. Sooner or later, Chu'dam would catch up with you, or your home, or people that you've met. I'm asking you to stop him whilst he's relatively powerless.

"Secondly, I need someone to stop Chu'dam because I can't be fighting a war on two fronts. Yes, I said war. I'm dealing with three major crisises right now, and a world-jumping demon is currently the least imperitive of them. Chu'dam will probably be stopped, if not by you then by the thing that I'm trying to deal with elsewhere. But if that happens it'll be because I've lost, which means that... Well, you probably won't survive either, no matter how far you run.

"As for me being the good guy..." He smiles. "I've given the last twenty years of my life to this war, trying to protect you all. You might not have known it, but there you are. All of us know how hard it can be to establish ourselves in a new world where our name carries no weight and all we have to build upon is our skills and our word; I'm asking you, as one to another who has gone through that, to give me a chance on this."

Originally Posted by Dorin Thorha

"Well, normally I'd do it for fun, but I do have some obligations... I daresay I could settle for $10,000 or equivalent sundries, plus expenses."

"Done." He pauses. "Sorry, were you expecting me to haggle? And should I mention that repairs, provisions and stuff are thrown in regardless? Honestly, I'm surprised that you asked for that little."

Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ

"What's a... dollar?" Douglas asks.

"Anyway, I'll need supplies. There have to be some smiths," he stops speaking for a moment and looks out the window, then shrugs, "around here somewhere. If I can find sufficient ammunition, I'd like to do a cartridge conversion. And I'll need a new rifle. My old one... it... well, I'll be needing a new one."

"Let me take a scan of the gun and tell me what you want doing with it. I have a rule that I try not to hand over tech that people aren't used to. It's not a repression thing, it is honestly that I have seen world-jumpers getting hold of things from more advanced societies and going absolutely mental with them. Plus I prefer giving people things that they can replace themselves when they need to.

"If you want some stuff like this before you begin then just tell me; it might take a couple of hours because we're limiting travel between here and the Western Harbour while Chu'dam is around, but I'll see what I can do."

[OOC: Anyone wanting kit upgraded (once you're sure you want to join in) just list it and it'll turn up within the next couple of game hours. The general rule is that stuff from a more advanced TL is out (so a black powder gun will still use black powder) but the material science can be anything to TL^ (so a black powder gun made from nano-steel or similar). Also, ammo, spare magazines, power packs, etc, can be replaced/ replenished/ added to in the same batch.]

Originally Posted by Dorin Thorha

The last time Indigo Joe took a job with an employer who had ambiguous motives and who offered fabulous compensation for unusual services, it didn't go very well.

But he's not one to let experience hold him back...

"Where might this twistical being's followers be found?"

"Good question. Honest answer: I don't know. There seem to be an unusual number of cultists amongst the students at the local college, but beyond that I'm stumped; like I said, I've only been here a day or two.

"Regarding that mercenary comment... I'm not actually asking you to fight. I wanted people who could protect themselves and were reasonably experienced, because this could be dangerous. But Chu'dam can't enhance his followers physically, and he hasn't been able to become physical himself when I've dealt with him before. I need you to follow up some leads, track down the cult, find out what needs doing to deal with it, and... If possible deal with it.

"The best advice I can give you at present is to track down how far the cult extends, what kind of history it has, and how to deal with Demons; it can vary depending on the universe you're in. For the last one... Father David Arad is the local priest. He has some interest in the occult, purely from a professional point of view. I haven't managed to speak to him yet, but he's probably you best bet unless the cult keeps some kind of library on demonology.

"For the others the college is a good bet. And as a starter on that... If you, without being obvious about it, take a look over at those students over there," he gestures vaguely in a manner that anyone not hearing the conversation would take to be random, "then you will see two important people." He glances at Gabrielle. "You might be able to help here; girl in the back corner trying not to be seen, and the guy sitting on the far left of that group closest to her. Can you get anything from either of them? Anyone see anything?"