[IC] Worlds of Fire

[KS Pathfinder]

Originally Posted by Totem

"Why is a defective Sentinel still in active service?" the Medicae wonders allowed. Before Mark or Serena can answer there's a hooting and clicking from one of the dolphins behind the transparent wall. It's not immediately intelligable, at least to any of your group, but the Medicae seems to have understood it. "A Sentinel four." It's clear that the Medicae would have preferred to put some emphasis on that "four", but isn't physically capable of doing so. "I do not possess the specifications for them."

Mark-315 can’t help but feel rather insulted by being referred to as ‘defective’ and he can’t help but show it on his face. “Has anyone ever told you that your bedside manner could use some work? And for your information I am not ‘defective.’”

Originally Posted by Totem

"Very interesting," the Medicae declares, looking over the display and then back at Mark. "I can perceive the reason for the upgrades to the Sentinel five, however there are obvious points of sophistication present in this design. Have you considered upgrading to Sentinel five status?"

Mark-315 sighs and explains again. “As I told Captain Mancini just prior to coming here, during the war with the Kreyt, and on my last mission, Serena and I managed to gain access to a device the Kreyt were using to bypass our lines and defences, unfortunately I was pursued and cornered before we could get back to friendly forces. We had no choice but to use the device, and we ended up jumping into a difference universe with no way of knowing how to get back, we’ve been lost and wandering the multiverse ever since, so it should come as no surprise that I have no knowledge of what has happened to the Sentinel project since our disappearance. I’m sure our MIA status should be on file somewhere, and as for upgrading, that does sound rather intriguing, especially if it can bring me up to date and keep me at operational status.”

Mark-315 lies back and then a pressing concern returns to him and he addresses the robot medic again, sounding more concerned but hopeful. “What about Serena? I’m aware that as a sentient AI she has a limited lifespan... Is there anything you can do for her?”

[Lamech]

Originally Posted by Totem

"Most interesting," the medic says thoughtfully. "Can I ask what kind of technique you used to cure her?"

A cure disease spell? With all the magic stuff you guys seems to have I would be surprised if you couldn't manage something similar. It works a lot better if you can get a bunch of details about the disease, but other than that you just cast it, and hopefully it takes out the diseases the person has. You only get one chance on each disease though... probably similar to anti-biotic resistances.

John thinks for a second.
I'm guessing that James probably wants me to try and cure him too?

[Totem]

Originally Posted by KS Pathfinder

“And for your information I am not ‘defective.’”

"You would not make such statements if you had seen the capabilities of a Sentinel Five in action," the Medicae intones.

Originally Posted by KS Pathfinder

“I’m sure our MIA status should be on file somewhere, and as for upgrading, that does sound rather intriguing, especially if it can bring me up to date and keep me at operational status.”

Mark-315 lies back and then a pressing concern returns to him and he addresses the robot medic again, sounding more concerned but hopeful. “What about Serena? I’m aware that as a sentient AI she has a limited lifespan... Is there anything you can do for her?”

"The original batch of Sentinel Five troops were upgraded from Sentinel Four status rather than being brought up to that level directly. If you go to the Western Harbour you will be able to be upgraded to that level as well.

"The same principles apply to your Overwatch AI: a means was developed to stop the decay of the AI routines which will allow her to survive longer. The eventual length of her survival will depend on how far the decay has already set in." The Medicae looks across at the status board for Serena. "She appears functional and her routines are secure at present. Her upgrade would be conducted concurrently with your own in order to ensure your joint compatability."

Originally Posted by Lamech

A cure disease spell? With all the magic stuff you guys seems to have I would be surprised if you couldn't manage something similar. It works a lot better if you can get a bunch of details about the disease, but other than that you just cast it, and hopefully it takes out the diseases the person has. You only get one chance on each disease though... probably similar to anti-biotic resistances.

"We're familiar with a number of magical means of healing people and curing diseases," the medic assures John. "If you have a name for the spell and can provide details about how it worked I'd appreciate having them so that I can compare it to our database. It helps us to know what we're looking for well; sometimes these things can be undone by a null-magic spell or wear out when the caster dies or, and this is one we really have trouble with, leaves the same universe. So if you came with us she might be in danger if it's the wrong kind of spell."

Originally Posted by Lamech

John thinks for a second.I'm guessing that James probably wants me to try and cure him too?

"Oh, we can handle that ourselves. We've got plenty of tricks for curing things like that, and the captain said that anything like this we should deal with."




The examination is thorough (probably more so than any of you actually realised) but non-invasive and over relatively quickly. With a mostly satisfactory report (the largest complaint being minor cuts and bruises from the fights during the ritual and the escape and explosions afterwards), the two Sentinels conduct everyone to a conference room.

The room is quite spacious, with a large table down the middle of it, a couple of smaller tables bolted to the wall, and a variety of chairs around the main table. The chairs share the apparently normal (for this ship) style of variable geometry that will allow almost anything that has a Size Modifier between -1 and +1 to use them comfortably regardless of body plan. Though sufficiently padded to be comfortable, the solid parts of the chairs, not to mention all of the other furniture, is made of the same blue/ grey metal. The lighting has at least been tuned to counter this somewhat, presenting a feel of normal daylight rather than artificial lighting.

The long wall opposite the one with the tables bolted to it is partly taken up by a large transparent panel leading onto another water-filled section of the ship; it looks like these might be a regular feature on this ship, and by extension others of its kind. There's a dolphin on the other side of the panel who whistles in greeting when noticed.

The side tables have some food on them; there's nothing big there, and nothing particularly fancy, but snacks and drinks are available for all.

There are three people seated at the table already when you arrive and take your own seats. Mancini is at the head of the table, but seems inclined to leave most of the talking to the woman on his left.

She is tall, Humanoid, lithe, and has dark blue skin with a slick, reflective quality to it. She's also totally bald, with totally yellow eyes, and despite roughly Humanoid facial features they are unusual enough that between the unusual bits and her (human-style) good looks her appearance modifier comes out at +0. She's wearing a normal uniform, but it's fitted a bit more loosely than usual. Mancini introduces her as Esleith E'arn, who works in the intelligence division.

To Mancini's right is the tattooed man from the medical bay. He watches everyone closely, mostly keeping quiet and glaring a lot at whoever is speaking [Seann: HPA: IQ 14: 6+6+1 = 13 (by 1): Seann can tell that this person is doing more than just watching people; there is something going on that suggests he is reading people on some deeper level as well, but Seann can't tell what it is]. He is introduced as Marcz Scar-fel, the Prima Head-Hammer [Translation: post-apocalyptic gang-slang term for the chief bruiser/ enforcer/ interrogator] of the Decomensors of Detroit.

Mancini also introduces the dolphin as Aem'wyr; she is apparently their resident expert on various kinds of demons and so forth. When she is actually introduced a section of the window lights up with a display providing a translation of what she is saying; it is clear though that the others understand what she is saying without it though.

[OOC: At this point everyone gets asked for their version of events. If Seann does produce an audio log then that can go in as well. Feel free to agree with or contradict each other as appropriate. Otherwise the following questions get asked (more will follow):]

Esleith: Did you encounter any other demons while you were engaged in this business?

Marcz: How much of the cult did you leave intact? Do we need to clear out what's left of it?

Aem'wyr: Did anyone have physical contact with the demon or speak to it directly?

[Lamech]

Originally Posted by Totem

"We're familiar with a number of magical means of healing people and curing diseases," the medic assures John. "If you have a name for the spell and can provide details about how it worked I'd appreciate having them so that I can compare it to our database. It helps us to know what we're looking for well; sometimes these things can be undone by a null-magic spell or wear out when the caster dies or, and this is one we really have trouble with, leaves the same universe. So if you came with us she might be in danger if it's the wrong kind of spell."

Err... it was just called the "Spell for Curing Diseases", from an old book called Magic. It had a fairly wonderfully list of healing spells and how to cast them, in fact it even had a test for magery in the first few pages. But it lacked anything resembling theory, or an explanation of why they worked. I still can't figure out why necromancy was neeed for the Return to Life spell at the end. I'll write down all the details I can though..."
Whenever John gets a chance, he'll write down all the technical details of the spell.

"Oh, we can handle that ourselves. We've got plenty of tricks for curing things like that, and the captain said that anything like this we should deal with."

That’s good.

Esleith: Did you encounter any other demons while you were engaged in this business?

Nope, just Chu'dam and the cultist he demonified.

Marcz: How much of the cult did you leave intact? Do we need to clear out what's left of it?

Not sure, they lost a lot of members on the bunker attack. But without Chu'dam I don't think they have any supernatural power, and at that point I usually let the non-magical cops handle it. Probably the most dangerous part about them now is all the diseases they carry.

Aem'wyr: Did anyone have physical contact with the demon or speak to it directly?

Yeah, he possessed someone and poked me, and then... I think he hit me with something similar to a pleasure spell, which left me out of commission for a few minutes.

[Totem]

Originally Posted by Lamech

[COLOR="Green"]Not sure, they lost a lot of members on the bunker attack. But without Chu'dam I don't think they have any supernatural power, and at that point I usually let the non-magical cops handle it. Probably the most dangerous part about them now is all the diseases they carry.

"A pity," Marcz says sourly.

Originally Posted by Lamech

Yeah, he possessed someone and poked me, and then... I think he hit me with something similar to a pleasure spell, which left me out of commission for a few minutes.

"The someone being me," James points out, shuddering a bit at the memory. A look passes between Esleith and Aem'wyr at this, but the Dolphin whistles something that the window neglects to translate. Esleith is apparently satisfied by this answer, whatever it is and moves the conversation onwards.

"Can you tell us anything about this... 'Angel' that you encountered? You've stated that you were in contact with it several times, but on the occasion that we were in orbit for we were unable to detect it. Can you describe it to us, or provide any information about its capabilities?"

[Reminder: the Angel doesn't appear in visual footage or memory (including Human memory) when it isn't actually present.]

[Totem]

[OOC: the entire forum seems to be moving slowly at present, not just this thread, but I'll move us along anyway.]

With the debriefing complete a general question is raised to everyone:

"We have a policy of recruiting those who are useful in situations like this," Mancini explains. "Those of you who were recruited directly to deal with Chu'dam," he indicates Seann, Douglas and Mark, "will be wanting to come to the Western Harbour anyway because that's where your payment is. You," he indicates Charles, "were on your way there anyway for other reasons so I presume that you'll be carrying on there as well. To the rest of you," he looks at John, Arad, James and Sara, "I've been asked to make an offer: we're fighting a war and we need help. It's more important than anything you've seen before, fairly dangerous, and very well paid, if you can call it payment.

"You can just refuse right now; we'll drop you down on the surface wherever you like and you can make your way from there. You could come with us to the Western Harbour for the full briefing; if you don't like what you hear then you can be brought back here afterwards."

"That's not an offer that many of us get," Marcz interupts. "You still have somewhere to go back to."

"Either way, once you're there you can hear what's actually going on. At that point you can stay or go as you please."


Arad thinks about this for a moment, and then smiles and shakes his head. "I find that I must refuse," he admits. "You tempt me with a greater calling than the one I have at the moment, and... My duty is to this world, and with the remains of the cult still around, particularly without the demon to drive them, there are more than enough people that need my help here."

James nods in agreement. "I think that the cult was enough weirdness for me. I'm staying." Sara agrees with this point of view.

[OOC: this just requires John's decision as to his intentions.]

[Lamech]

Originally Posted by Totem

<snip>
[OOC: this just requires John's decision as to his intentions.]

More important than Chu'dam and his bio-terrorists? Wonderful I couldn't really, just ignore that, so I can't ignore this either then... Yeah, I'll help if I can.

[Totem]

With those who are remaining behind dropped off again, the Bane of Asgard breaks orbit [OOC: Douglas may comment about when they are actually going to do this since he gets motion-sickness; this is almost certainly a few minutes after they've started moving. The ship's inertial dampeners are easily up to the task of countering physical motion-sickness (as already determined, Douglas' motion sickness is physical rather than psychological in origin)].

The journey is slated to take ten hours, giving everyone a chance to get some sleep. A few minutes into the journey the ship jumps into the Void, which nearly sets Douglas' motion sickness off with the shuddering, before they come out of the Void in another universe. Just under ten hours later you are all called to the ship's observation deck.

The chamber you are called to is of normal height for this ship, but decidedly more spacious feeling than the rest of it so far. Partly this is to do with the fact that one wall is a window showing outside the ship; the view is forward, letting you see what is ahead of the ship, which isn't much at this point to look at. This is the only window any of you have seen aboard so far.

Ehrahm is waiting for you in the room. "I greet you," he says somewhat formally. "I am being ask to showing you the Western Harbour."

He begins this process by bringing up two holograms in the centre of the room. One is a ship with a long central hull leading forward to a hammerhead arrangement at the front and back to three swept-back wings that are each surmounted with a nacelle that's carrying a number of weapons. It's a wireframe hologram so it doesn't give much about colour and the like. "This am the Bane of Asgard," Ehrahm explains.

The second hologram is just a sphere to begin with. Then some shading gets filled in on the surface and it becomes clear that this is a planet with a lot of clouds including a large swirling mass in one place. After a few more seconds moons begin to be added in along with a thin ring in amongst the orbit of the moons. "This am being Jovian," Ehrahm continues. "This ring being the Western Harbour."

A section of the ring expands rapidly to become a rectangular stretch, walled on the long sides, and with... Well, there's a lot going on there. There are signs of ships, a town or city, industry, the edge of an ocean is shown with a surprising amount of stuff going on under the water...

It's another ten minutes, even at the ship's reported speed of a quarter of the speed of light, before Jovian is properly visible. By this time the ship has slowed down to merely thousands of kilometres a second and is turning to head into orbit. It takes another twenty minutes to make the Western Harbour properly visible.

To give you an idea of what is going on here, Jovian is an approximate sphere with an equatorial radius of roughly 71,500 km, about 11 times that of the Earth. Coming in with a radius of 500,000 km is the Western Harbour. It is big: with a width of over five hundred kilometres, walls on either side standing fifty kilometres high, and a force-fielded roof covering it and providing an otherwise clear view of the stars, this is a massive piece of engineering work. As the ship approaches it, more and more of it comes into view, first a view of the inside as the Bane cruises in to give everyone a look at it, before the Bane dips down to dock at one of the walls. From here you can see the blank wall extending off into the distance, a slight curve giving it shape as it vanishes off into infinity.

This is mind-boggling to see. After all, a mountain is big, but that's meant to be big. Mountains are allowed to be that size. This is just... None of you have ever seen anything this big before. It's staggeringly big, speaking of frankly worrying levels of capability and power. Primitive people seeing this wouldn't be able to understand it as anything less than the work of gods to shape something that is bigger than a planet. But that's almost an advantage to them: advanced races who cannot see this as anything other than the work of mortal hands might feel that they had no choice but to cower in fear before that power.

[OOC: at this point everyone is required to make either an Awe, Fright, or Confusion roll depending on their character's personality. There is a modifier of +5 to -5 based on temperament and TL available; there is no bonus or penalty from combat related advantages or disadvantages. I'll make the rolls if necessary, but it'll be based on my assessment of character temperament, etc. Details about the Awe and Confusion rolls can be found in GURPS Powers.]

[KS Pathfinder]

Mark-315 ponders for a moment and nods in agreement to Captain Mancini. “Taking everything into account and with all due consideration, I believe Serena and I will accept your offer and join you. To be honest we’re curious about what this Western Harbour looks like and to be honest I doubt we’d be able to go back home anyway since so much has apparently changed.”

Mark-315 pauses for a moment and continues. “I’m a career soldier, a Sentinel-IV... My place is with other Sentinel’s, so if going to this Western Harbour and being upgraded to a Sentinel-V can help me achieve this, then I’m all for it, in particular if it means doing some actual good in this multiversal war you’re fighting at the moment.”

[KS Pathfinder]

[Mark-315: Awe Check: WILL 10, +3 Temperament & TL = 13: 2+6+3 = 11 (by 2)]

Mark-315 gazes at the Western Harbour, clearly in awe of it, but since coming from a universe of humanity being FTL capable and used to seeing space stations and large military vessels he isn’t so awed that it would impede him if he needed to act or do something quickly, but even he is impressed and awed by the even larger scale than what he’s used to seeing.

Mark-315 remarks to himself. “I will admit this now, that is definitely much bigger than the things I’m used to seeing, and that’s an understatement... Geez... Just how long did it take you to build that anyway? I dread to imagine the logistical resources needed to construct something that big, both in time, labour, and physical resources...”