Monday, February 1, 2010

Transcendence (Blog 4)

Celyne decided to go down the same hole that swallowed Devo. She connects with him as he is re-aquainting himself with Cypress' bracers by shooting the walls (which have little effect).in the small room he was deposited into. The two of them travel from one chamber to another, until they get to the room Valis should have been in, he is not found. Inside the chamber, the walls are made from some kind of metal, with a bluish luminescence emitting from the ceiling. There are no signs of life, and no signs of habitation.

Valis becomes conscious, the walls, ceiling and floor of the large room he is in seem to be made of solid blue light. He sends a text message to Devo, and sees it race off as a burst of energy through the walls. Having been in a Dreamscape before, he guesses that this is somewhat the same, and is not far off. He exerts his will upon the floor below him, transforming it into a map of the structure. A pyramid shape, made of light, surrounds him. With more concentration he locates Devo and Celyne, but not his own body. A presence comes into the room with him, a synthetic being, who introduces herself as Karyn. She explains little of the nature of Netscape, and that since his friends have no connection to the network (as Valis does), they will need his help. She is confused by him, finding it strange that he is still partly organic,and promises to meet with him later.

Valis' net-presence finds his companions who are making their way to the central chamber. Through a psychic connection, the three of them are able to converse without problems. The rest of the way is easier, with Valis opening the doors with thought, and they encounter no one until they reach the central chamber. Awaiting them are three individuals, two of them (including Karyn) in Netscape. They question them, asking about their reason for being upon this planet. Seemingly, their answers are correct and the they are taken to a meeting chamber.

They are call themselves Cyonics, a race of simulants living below Dahl Prime, with he majority of their population existing within the Netscape. They confiscate the party's IDs, informing them of the recording devices installed in each of them, pledging to return them when they have been made inert. After the IDs have been taken, the Cyonics inform them of the Dahl's history of enslavement. It seems that they use their knowledge of the Nexus Points to contact, invite, then enslave entire populations. The Cyonics learn of the party's mission to test these same Nexus Points and agree to take them to the nearest one. They travel out of the pyramid structure, into the underground caverns of the Cyonics. Since they are on the outskirts of their city, there are large tunnels connecting the outlining structures. Selecting one of the larger tunnels, they journey toward the city with Karyn as their guide.

Along their route they are attacked by entities that exist both in realspace as well as Netscape. These daemonic creatures launch a number of strikes meant to test the prowess of the party, than attack with force. All the tech-daemons die as the party tears into them. Although victorious, they are tired (and still drained from Devo's previous recuperation botch), so they take rest in a shrine to a mechanical god.

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