The Well of Descension

[xinoehp512]

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Doesn't he need that right now?

 

[+Ark1002]

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Yes. I said steal not borrow.

 

[xinoehp512]

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Wouldn't that be rude? Oh well.

Rekaerb tapped his foot impatiently and sighed. Again.

Then a thought came to him.

"Hey, didn't one of you suggest sneaking a spider in?"

Edited November 3, 2018 by xinoehp512

[MetaTerminal]

“These are all good ideas. I, for one, would like to see what happens to Investiture.” Alum pulled out his last spheres, but they were dun. “Mahz? You should have some Stormlight. As for me, I might get just a little bit closer to the barrier, just to see what attacks me.” He began to walk towards the forcefield, slowly, waiting for whatever preliminary defences there were to trigger. And perhaps, once he got closer, he would be able to observe the Aons that made up the barrier more closely.

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@Voidus Hopefully you’ve put some nicer traps in front of the evil ones so I don’t get torn asunder as much.

 

[Voidus]

1 hour ago, MetaTerminal said:

“These are all good ideas. I, for one, would like to see what happens to Investiture.” Alum pulled out his last spheres, but they were dun. “Mahz? You should have some Stormlight. As for me, I might get just a little bit closer to the barrier, just to see what attacks me.” He began to walk towards the forcefield, slowly, waiting for whatever preliminary defences there were to trigger. And perhaps, once he got closer, he would be able to observe the Aons that made up the barrier more closely.

 

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If all you do is walk up to it then probably not much will happen. Traps are designed for anyone who interferes with it.

 

[MetaTerminal]

23 minutes ago, Voidus said:

If all you do is walk up to it then probably not much will happen. Traps are designed for anyone who interferes with it.

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So, theoretically, could I walk right up to it? Touch it? Poke it with a stick? Poke it with a magic stick? Alum is really just trying to see what sort of stuff the DA has put around it. What if he walks up to the barrier with the intent of manipulating it? Would that trigger anything? Or would you have to actually manipulate the barrier to get attacked? At what point do I get hemalurgic penguins and mistbeavers tearing me limb from limb?

(The questions-per-sentence ratio of this post is approximately too high.)

 

[Voidus]

Just now, MetaTerminal said:

 

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You could walk right up to it, if you start poking it then you'll have a few non-lethal traps. If you poke it with a magic stick then a few more serious things might happen.

 

[MetaTerminal]

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Excellent. I'll start poking away, then. Tell me if my description is wrong in any way. @Voidus

As he approached the barrier, one hand firmly closed around his long-range object manipulation device, Alum began feeling a distinct sense of malaise. As if something was... off, somehow. It was probably his mind's default reaction to being near an object so powerful, even if it couldn't affect him. But the deserted street, the long expanse of quiet empty alleyway leading up to the massive metal spike... it put him on edge.

But, surprisingly, nothing happened. No mistbeavers swarmed from beneath the cobblestones to tear Alum apart - no portals opened to transport him to an alien dimension. There was only the man, and the stick, and the street, and the spike.

He knew when he had reached the Aonic boundary. A shimmer extended up from the ground, ever so slightly curved. Not entirely transparent, but not entirely opaque, either. The massive metal object was visible through the barrier. But yet he could get a sense of the madness that this shield contained - for it blocked out the horrors, but looking from an outside perspective he understood that there were things missing. From Rashan's texts that he had read. Endless chaos, turning, mirroring, folding away...

Enough of that. Alum stared at the dessicated, mouldy object that had once been a pineapple, then at the stick. Don't look at the shield. For even though it blocked the chaos, it blocked too much, making the act of looking through from a close distance an altogether uncanny affair.

Pyrus had disappeared. Perhaps that was for the best. With part of him hoping against hope that nothing happened, he lifted his stick. And poked the barrier.

Edited November 3, 2018 by MetaTerminal

[xinoehp512]

Rekaerb yelped, then followed after Alum.

[Voidus]

As the stick collided with the barrier, it was met with a perfect opposing force, preventing it from pushing any further in. At the same moment, other nearby Aons began to glow brighter, drawing additional energy from the Dor as their programs kicked in.

Shao
Aon Shao brightened first, it shifted to the point of contact before flaring briefly. The stick itself now appeared to have a Glyphpair seared into it, seeming to retain some of the light of the Aon, the glyphpair glowed slightly.

Daa
An Aon Daa with extensive modifiers grew brighter before unleashing a concussive blast. The blast knocked the stick back from the barrier but wasn't powerful enough to cause any serious harm.

Ashe
Several nearby Aons began to glow steadily brighter. Aon Ashe lit the immediate vicinity with bright light, illuminating the two figures that stood before the barrier.

[xinoehp512]

Rekaerb spoke to Alum. "I think you might want to back away. I can handle it from here; it won't affect me as much if I get killed or injured."

[Kidpen]

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People who stayed behind and am doing something else, I have a plan for you. It's actually a lot more fleshed out than the one for the people at the barrier.

Mahz frowned. "I think that's enough of that, to be honest. We might've gotten off lucky that time, but I'd prefer not to lose anybody because we pushed the limit. If we still want to test the possible defenses it has, I'll Awaken something to go into it from a distance."

[xinoehp512]

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Rekaerb is fine with getting blown up. It's just a clone, after all. He will lose basically nothing.

 

[Voidus]

The barrier stood there. Challenging any others to approach it.

Particularly any others who might think they are here.

[+Sorana]

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What's the plan?

 

[Kidpen]

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For the people who stayed behind? This:

The Liebrarian watched as the last of the people in group A filed out. Waiting until they were quite far out, she looked over at group B and frowned. "We haven't been completely honest with you. What group A is doing really is a main priority of us, but we have something else for you....

There's been a series of murders. And we think it was one of the people in group A."

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This is definitely going to go well and not fall apart.

 

[Voidus]

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MURDER MYSTERY!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The barrier to the worldspike exploded out of plot convenience so that Voidus could also participate in this mystery.
 

Spoiler

This post is non-canonical

 

[MetaTerminal]

Alum stared at the Aons, storing them in a coppermind. He didn’t recognise them - unfortunately, Selish magic was a branch he was rather weak in. He took particular note of the Aon that appeared on the stick, an effect which he had not observed before.

“I wonder what happens if organic matter touches the barrier,” he mused. “I suspect the result will be rather different. Would you mind, Rekaerb?” He began backing away, not wanting to die, and stepped into the remains of the mouldy pineapple.

@xinoehp512

 

[xinoehp512]

Rekaerb waited for Alum to back away to a safe distance, took a deep breath and jabbed his arm into the barrier.

[Voidus]

As soon as the flesh made contact with the barrier the light from Aon Ashe seemed to change to a dull orange colour.

More Aons began to shine brightly on the barrier, surrounding the point of contact.

Shao
Aon Shao shone forth again,moving to the tip of the fist it flashed. Causing the same Glyphpair to appear on the hand.

Omi
Aon Omi brightened next, the complex pattern began to give off a soothing white light before shifting downwards. Pulling two other Aons with it.
Eto. Reo.
This Aonic chain pulled free of the barrier completely, seeming to wrap around the hand that made contact before tightening suddenly. Sinking into the flesh and twisting. The glow could still be seen as they sank deeper into the muscle tissue, twisting the flesh in opposing directions and pulling the entire arm free from the wall.

Sheo
Finally, an Aon Sheo shone brightly from the barrier. This one had no modifiers and didn't seem to create any obvious effect, but it's meaning would be clear to anyone who could read it.
Trespass further and only death will await.

[MetaTerminal]

Surprised at his continued existence, Alum stared at the barrier wall, memorising the symbols.

“Funny,” he said. “That last one seemed like an invitation to trespass further. Or maybe I’m reading it wrong. In any case, we’ve been shown the preliminary defences. No doubt there are greater difficulties lying in wait.”

One final experiment. He had changed his spikes before approaching the barrier - now, he extended a finger to draw an Aon on the surface. A simple Aon Tae, fueled by Craftsmen Hemalurgy. Open. Records reported that people had drawn Aons on the surface to gain access. Alum didn’t expect this to work, but learning how it failed would provide information.

[Voidus]

The Aon began sinking into the surface of the barrier, other Aons moving around to make room for it. For a moment it seemed to integrate completely into the barrier.

"Unauthorized usage." A polite male voice stated. "System is currently in complete lockdown, administrator access is required to override. Counteracting intrusion attempt"

A Fjordish symbol shone just above the Aon, moving closer to it until the two finally touched and then both vanished with a small popping sound.

"No nearby supervisors detected. Creating detainment unitt. Please remain still." The polite voice continued.

[MetaTerminal]

“Hmm. Administrator access. I wonder how we could get that. Or fake it.”

Then the last few words of the message filtered through. Whatever detainment unit was being created, Alum didn’t want to wait around for it. He looked at Rekaerb.

“You may want to run. It probably only wants me.” He held out a hand and summoned Pyrus. The blade took longer to form, and tugged at him, somehow. As if it didn’t want to follow. Not waiting for a response, Alum tried to Transport into the Cognitive Realm. At the very least, he needed to get the copperminds out of here. 

[Voidus]

A number of particularly small Aons in the barrier began to shift, they seemed to slowly alter in colour from pure white to a vibrant purple as they moved, all of them gathering together in the spot where the Aon Tae had first been drawn.

After all of them had gathered, that section of the barrier began to bulge out, a three dimensional humanoid form slowly taking shape, comprised entirely of Aons.

As he stepped free from the barrier completely, the form gained further definition, a short top hat appearing on its head, a cane extending from one of its arms, and what seemed to be a surcoat grew from its shoulders to cover its body.

The figure tipped the semi-transparent top hat in the direction of Rekaerb.

"Please evacuate the vicinity before any more warnings are issued." It advised in the same polite, masculine tone.

The figure vanished, also shifting into the cognitive realm to pursue its quarry.

"Excuse me." It began. "I believe I asked you to remain still?"

[MetaTerminal]

“I’m not sure. I might have missed that, as unfortunately I have become hard of hearing recently. It’s customary for me to switch between planes. My apologies. It’s an old habit. No matter, though. I will remain still as you request.” Alum bowed, hoping that his head would not be removed in the process. He wasn’t a practiced liar, so he could hopefully pull this off. “One could argue that I haven’t moved at all, if you would like to be philosophical.

“I am, of course, happy to follow any requests you have of me, so long as they do not hinder me too much. Bodily harm would be one of those. And I’d like to keep my Investiture. But beyond that, I am perfectly fine to leave the premises so long as I agree on the destination. I have a game of breakneck I would like to attend at a later date, if you don’t mind. Do you play such games yourself?” He cupped his ear. “Speak up, please, my ears aren’t what they used to be.”