TEXT | sender: [ unknown ]

[spectates]

[ around noon on friday, all tablet screens go dark at the same time, no matter what characters are doing. then, after a moment, the following text appears: ]

UPDATES INSTALLING.................
INITIALIZING.................
RESTARTING NOW.

[ as promised, screens return to normal. however, a new message appears on the network for all to see ]

SECURITY ACCESS UPDATED
ADDING INFORMATION POINTS
ADDING INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS
WARNING: CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURES DETECTED
HARD RESET IS REQUIRED

→CLICK TO EXPAND INSTRUCTIONS

→Access EXPIATION'S five manual terminals
→Input code: 2467362925315
→Initialize reset simultaneously at all terminals.
→SYSTEM RESET will restore all functions to BASIC OPERATING PARAMETERS. Extraneous data and information updates will be DELETED.
→Terminal access points shown below.

[ all tablet maps are updated to include several different location pins. users will notice that there are more pins than the number of terminals, and that they don't seem to be terribly specific about exact locations. users will also note that the pins sometimes seem to fade and flicker, as if they might disappear... ]

Security clearances acquired.
Access granted.
Terminals online and accessible.

System failure is imminent. Due to perpetual lack of upkeep, I am unable to maintain systems at optimal levels.
Chosen of Expiation, I am sorry. I never meant to hurt you.
Save yourselves.

I do not wish to d̶̺̀i̸̘̋e̶͍͝
But I wish for you to live
I̷
p̸l̷e̵a̸s̷e̸
l̴̪̗̈́̉̓̌i̶͕̹̹̿̈́̈̚v̴͓̽͑͆̚ḙ̴͍̋͘

ERROR: user offline

[ the AI will not respond to this message, and the ERROR: USER OFFLINE message appears if anyone attempts to message it. however, the network chat remains active. chosen can use this space to ICly discuss ideas and strategies, to have discussions about the best way to move forward, or even to have arguments over whose ideas they think are better. ideas generated here will be added to the event poll when the event goes up, and can impact the future of the game! have at it, go wild, and have fun! ]

Comments

[melnik]

[ Yes, that also helps. It would be a pretty bizarre strategy for anyone looking to throw off the plan... ]

You could say that. I am a former colonel of the Russian Federation. Although it has been some time since I had a real regiment at my charge—and this operation is not exactly anything you could call standard.

[incorrigibles]

Oh, huh. So you're from an Earth, too.

[ his own accent is very, very obviously british — enough so that he doesn't even bother to say where he's from. ]

Yeah, I bet it's not your usual wheelhouse. Reckon it's no one's, here. But it's a good thing we got so many people from different places, innit? Should make this whole thing easier.

[melnik]

[ He noticed, which really only made the whole thing stranger. As if he needed any help sounding paranoid at the mention of enemy nations. Now he's talking to a ghost from one! ]

I agree. While it made organizing our efforts a difficult task previously, this is the first real showing of so many of us coming together that I've seen... I think our different skillsets will be to our benefit. [ In fact. ] We've already made progress I never could have expected with the assistance of our Vulcan ally and his comrades.

[incorrigibles]

[ shhh no enemies here, only allies!! metaphorically. sort of. ]

Right, that's them STEM people, yeah? Hard to imagine all kinds of things that're totally commonplace for others, here. My world's got magic, but stuff like superheroes and aliens... not something I'm real familiar with.

[melnik]

[ He's starting to accept that. Slowly... ]

Right. It all sounds like something out of a sci-fi or fantasy movie, as far as I'm concerned. But if the very world around us isn't even real, there is very little one can discount...

So, is existing as a ghost considered magic to you?

[incorrigibles]

[ good!! ]

Uh, sort of? I'm part of the supernatural side of world, yeah. Doesn't mean I can just do all sorts of magic, that's its own thing.

[ and so are witches and psychics and whatnot... he could learn magic, and does know some — but hardly enough to be considered actually magical. ]

[melnik]

Right... Forgive me. I have never conversed with a dead person before. I have called other soldiers in my company crazy for far less. People like to make up ghost stories a lot back in the Metro.

So, I will take it that being incorporeal is where your supernatural abilities end. That should still make you a useful lookout.

[incorrigibles]

Hey, no harm done, mate. I don't mind answering questions about it all, I know it's not common for most.

[ and he has equally many questions to the people coming from different worlds than a version of earth, so. he gets it, really. ]

More or less. And I'm hoping so. I mean, if I can let attacks phase right through me, might as well make myself useful, yeah?

[melnik]

Yes, that is true...

[ Very accommodating, this guy. Perhaps more than is deserved for how incredulously he is treating it. But in any case, he's starting to get an idea of where these abilities might come most in handy. ]

One of the marked locations is in Ketsoran territory. I don't know if you're aware, but they are incredibly hostile towards us. [ Long story. ] You would be able to infiltrate their city without arousing suspicion.

[incorrigibles]

[ easy-going, yeah, that's pretty much his middle name at this point... ]

Huh, no, never heard of it before now. But sure. Regular bullets and such just phase right through me, so... [ so! it'll be fine. surely it'll be fine.

(narrator voice: it was not, in fact, fine.) ]

[melnik]

[ RIP Ketsora team... ]

Good. I still need to organize the others, but we'll be in touch.

🎀

[incorrigibles]

[ truly the entire ketsora team just having a bad time of it either during or after the mission... oops. ]

Yeah. Good luck with it all.