DragonHeir

The storming shard ate my entire post this morning! Rebus teleported Beosta, Shoe, and presumably Cricket ( @TwinStorm) into vaguely liminal arenas - blurry walls seeming to slowly fade from existence - and gave them and Beosta this speech. “This room is made of nanomachines, and can’t really hurt you. Your test is to avoid dying as long as possible, though some phases will have other lose conditions. Begin.” Rebus was engulfed by the grey ground, and disappeared. Figures began forming from the ground, moving slowly closer. “I don’t know. Do you have one?” Rebus’s first project for him was a method for efficiently maintaining and growing the Chaotic Order reaction, with early prototypes looking like engine designs. He also gave Mr. Whitlock his notes on Nullite nanotech (supposedly magnets didn’t work right on them, which was why Heir thought the Eternal Mountain’s tech level was so weird) and Prismite isolation (he used this opportunity to tactfully state he was a Narrator). *comforting pat* Rose is above, by the way. Merely frustrated at being ignored - ironically in favor of myself. You haven’t felt real time, have you? That feeling may very well change your mind. But I am offering a willing test subject - me - if you let me be with Symbol. My baseline is what I can do, so there is truly no pressure. (I do not draw often, so I am not skilled) “Certainly - the attack hadn’t happened until after what I said was written. I’ve been wanting to examine a withergeist in detail - though you shouldn’t fear me attempting any sort of bond, given that I happen to live in the universe.” “I’m not sure you could.” Rebus didn’t care about the withergeists - Symbol and Sequence certainly had them handled. He moved forwards - breaking the sound barrier - and struck the man with the Chaotic Order torch. This is supposed to amplify the withergeist bond and corrupt the guy into a normal withergeist after a moment. He hasn’t tested it, though - generally the material amplifies the result of interactions between magic or people, causes emergent phenomena (abiogenesis, cancer, rainbows, problems), and facilitates combinations between things, including its own creation.

Yeah! Cole is really fun, though I'm taking him from the past since without powers and disembodied voices he basically had no characterization. @Hoid Slayer, here's an additional character (Cole is above). I'm not sure how receptive the premise is to multiple characters (especially if only one person has them), but I had several ideas and figured you may want to choose.

Wait, that's not Tam? There was a record scratch, and time rewound. "Yes?" Rebus asked. "Here, I'll teleport you two into arenas. You'll be close enough to think to each other, but it's far easier to test you two individually - though at some point I will see what you can do together." "I'm the piece in the box that has the music!" Rebus's Author still hadn't gotten around to writing how Rebus's experiments were going. That would change soon, hopefully. It's almost as though Heir and Haly were running a half-dozen plots at once! Rebus made this face at his Author: , but this did not make Heir change his mind about catching up in TLT, getting that Secret Wars character sheet up, and then going to bed. I've been experimenting, and there is always Chaotic Darkness. Or simply messing up every plotline you start until you are abandoned and forgotten. But I think this really was what Symbol wanted, even before - I would give up a copy of myself, to do with what you wish, if you would let me be with her. Yeah, if you don't have time or don't feel like you can (I know I certainly shut down everything I try writing at times), that's completely fine - basically do it if you think it'd be fun, otherwise don't. But the drawing is, as I said, really good.

The Render pivoted back and forth, looking at the speaker with its vague face. “I would be best served by light and sharp. Obsidian, I hear, is very good at cutting.” Sounds good to me, though I’m unsure how often I will have cause to use it. Rebus, wearing sleek armor (greyscale color blocks, with purple tron lines) walked up to Sequence. He was smiling, but not nicely. “Yup. I’ll be fine, but I need to spin to talk, and the machine needs winding up to spin.” That was good for Rebus - actually, he thought that he’d tangentially mentioned it already. He brought up a hologram and began typing, though he didn’t have to. Rebus caught one, and stood motionless looking at it for quite some time. Rebus was happy about that - he’d set up the test momentarily. I, subsequently, would do my very best to destroy you. If she’s gone for good, I’m not even sure what lengths I would go to. Wow! That’s really good - I should practice my own drawing. You don’t have to, but I could use a non-AI image of Rebus. “Well, you become more of a squirrel than I would, I expect.” Rebus walked forwards. “You are meddling in forces few understand, and fewer should be messing with. Unfortunately for you, so have I.” He put out his hand, and with a bang of displaced air summoned a torch - patches of light and darkness dancing across the “flame”. Yessss? Rebus thought sweetly.

Will sighed, since the scientist had just said he would have to use reactions if he wanted to change the temperature of something. Clearly they didn’t have much respect for consistency. But he still mixed together the potassium and iodine in an enclosed container, and began to heat it up.

Rebus nodded, and teleported the two of them into large open space, the walls of which were grey, weirdly blurry, and slightly glowing. Yup. Ever tried to find cookies that were actually good but still gluten free? It’s hard. Rebus had been talking to Beosta, but that might have been ongoing from last night. He’d thought the baking product precipitation had been partially Shoe’s doing, which had been what he was talking about. Depends if the cookies can do things. If they don’t, you probably don’t need anything. It’s a funny background event, or maybe foreshadowing. If you want to interact with one of my characters, I think Sagerian is still around.

Ooh! This sounds really cool - I’ll pitch several characters, and you can decide which ones I should use. If you’re familiar with Rebus (I have a slightly out-of-date bio in my blogs), I’m thinking of sending one of his (weaker) clones here as well. I’ll make another character sheet tomorrow.

“Which is why I was saying I needed an endothermic reaction.” Will sighed, trying to remember how potassium iodine was supposed to be made. Fire was involved, perhaps?

“Case in point. Or point in case, maybe.” Rebus came up to Cricket. “Speaking of which, I’ve got a combat diagnostic for you to do. And the others, though Rose and Beosta are getting ready, and I believe Shoe is busy.” Some cookies ended up on Rebus’s moon, and his nanomachines ate them to self replicate. Some rabbits, weird mollusk-dragons, and invisible snakes were also very happy. The dreaded Eerf-netulg, on the other hand, was very much unhappy. It sulked in its mountain lair.

Rebus sighed. That made everything simpler for everybody; except for him. Though it did mean he didn’t have to worry about the Witherlord. Yup, certainly. If we want to really delete it, I can run a very brief plot in which someone have Onyx delete Muin from history using Lore. “Nope! After speaking for another ten minutes, or playing music for a little less, I’ll wind down, though. And the ridges probably need re-charging at some point.” Rebus nodded. He’d eventually need to explain the fact he was a Narrator who owned celestial bodies, but for now he’d done all he needed. “I hope you make it, and come out better, more than you were before. As for the party, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.” Both parts were true. Rebus didn’t really want the world - he wanted to be with his friend. “Combat, mostly. I’ll set up a simulation, and you’ll be challenged by different situations requiring different skills.” Rebus said this to both Rose and Beosta, though they were not in the same room. My worry is not for your experiment, but for my friend. At the moment, these are the same, but if you truly think a test subject cannot also be a person, I can separate them. “I’m pretty sure both of your swords are mind-altering parasites; in fact, many Plotblades seem to be.”

Chord giggled as well, improvising some more music. “Excellent. I’ll get you my notes and materials soon.” Rebus sighed. “I don’t know either.” Rebus nodded. “I can make a sort of armor layer - but we should do some tests to determine skills to be enhanced and vulnerabilities to be accounted for.” Rebus nodded. “I will write up some specs to propose while you do an baseline test.” Pretending is fundamental! Have you forgotten the realm in which we live? We are made from pretending - Symbol knows that, and having someone who understands is uncountable. She is one of two people who understands me and yet has not betrayed me. She’s also the only anchor I truly have - my successors are in place, and my legacy is ensured; I am not merely me, and if not for my friendship with her, I would not need to maintain this. Though I may “pretend”, I keep my promises - trust me, you do not want to go up against Rebus Honesty Clarke with nothing to lose. And Symbol is the last thing for me to lose. A bipedal thing formed of dirt and what seemed to be splintered bones walked up to whichever character you choose. “I am the Render. I have little purpose now - I require a superior material, and will perform tasks until my quarry returns.” “I suppose. I don’t really want to be a squirrel, though.”

Will nodded, looking for potassium. “You didn’t give me any temperature changing equipment, that’s all.”

“It’s a sword. Sure, it’s a sword that can teleport to your hand, but it’s still a sword. You, on the other hand, can stop time, or at least movement.” Heir did not know what that song was but Chord certainly did. “Yup!” “Excellent. I can likely find diamond mines, and of course money is no problem - I know of a few colleges, and they’d certainly be able to teach you things, though as I said outside the Eternal Mountains your ability to construct things with Nullite is unparalleled by any except possibly the Ennullers.” Rebus put his hand on her shoulder. “I will fix you if you need me to. I promise.” Rebus nodded. “I can do four different kinds of electric shocks, actually - contact, tesla coil, arc, and electrolaser.” He demonstrated each - contact required touching something, the tesla coil made lightning branch off of it, arc was one thing of lightning between two points, and an electrolaser was a line (because apparently you can use a laser as a wire). Meat bounded past in the distance - evidently returning home - and could be heard calling, “Me! Galileo Galileo…” before his voice receded again. “I can certainly do that. Not that it’s any more helpful than lasers in most circumstances, but it’s often more fun.” If you take her from me, there’s nothing stopping me from destroying you. Rebus was still talking in a mock-pleasant voice.

We can just say he’s doing it offscreen - though Rebus had expected Cade to plant it on planets as Pyk and Asher traveled. The young man roasting marshmallows, who was presumably nearby since they were both talking to Bacon, and neither had walked away or teleported, noted, “a lot of people are scared of Authors, probably for good reason. Manipulation, godlike powers, and all that. Basically Narrators but worse. From what I’ve overheard, you indeed probably don’t want to mess with that thing - generally a savior complex is a problem.”

“You gave me the ingredients. I know how to combine them. I am physically capable of doing so. Hence, I can.” Will, despite the sarcasm, began the process of condescending the proper amount of iodine onto the salt. “I assume you want me to find an endothermic reaction to do this?”

Will then looked for salt, salt water, or sodium and chlorine - though that method for making salt was not very safe. “So then what’s the challenge?”

That was good - for Rebus, at least. Uh, honestly I would, but YouTube is probably more comprehensive and easier to access than I. Rebus kept waiting, for he knew his Author was about to eat dinner.

Will looked over the ingredients, searching for a purple gas. “From scratch, with seaweed, or is there iodine in here somewhere?” That wasn’t the experiments, of course - he’d read a book about recreating civilization from scratch far before this had happened.

“Finally. These are tedious,” Will said, though they were far better than some of the tests he’d been through, “what do you want me to make?”

Rebus was glad about the first part. Heir was worried about the second part - can I be of any help?

The scientist watched. Will kept solving puzzles - what else was he supposed to do? It wasn’t like they let him do science - or whatever passed for it here.

Rebus waved, and as soon as Cade blinked or looked away, he was gone. Rebus had thought he was still asleep, though the point was still valid.

Will looked down at the puzzles. They’d been repeating recently, but these were new. He sighed - that old block one had been quite fun. Then he moved pieces around, sketching out solutions in the air as he thought through the answers.

“I didn’t say it wouldn’t be. Oh - don’t break these things unless you want a pretty significant explosion; they’re powered by antimatter, though they are quite durable.” Actually, I’ve been pulling how Chord should work from a YouTube video someone showed me - they made a piano that could move its keys, and figured out how to make it talk. “Yup! Do you like any songs?” Rebus kept walking, looking around at the mountain(?). After a moment, he spoke again, “I understand if you wouldn’t want to be away from your family, so I created three different options - plus, of course, declining. Firstly, you could continue to live here, but work in my laboratory - the technology I have is advanced enough to provide nigh-instantaneously transportation. Secondly, you and your family could come live nearby to my laboratory - again, advanced technology means you could have basically whatever you needed. I’ve been trying to give it out and improve living standards, but people are reluctant for some reason. Thirdly, you could have most of my schematics and test materials here - there are some that I want to classify, of course - and send in any progress or prototype designs you can’t make here. As for payment, I can do a lot of things - advanced technology, once again. I doubt you’d actually have a use for a bunch of pure gold, or a diamond the size of a house, but occasionally people have asked me for them, and that is a thing I can make with little trouble. I’m not trying to bribe you or anything - honestly dealing in material goods stops making sense once you have space travel and cascade production - but I can probably deliver whatever you ask.” Rebus would have tears in his eyes, but as usual he didn’t do that automatically. “And I’ll be with you - and waiting for you here, protecting the two of us so we can do this.” Rebus chuckled. “What about ‘requires a layer of nanomachines a foot thick’ did I not articulate? I can do levitation and telekinesis via utility fog, ‘iron skin’ which will actually be far stronger via nanomachine armor, lightning via electro-lasers or tesla coils, energy blasts via normal lasers or an approximation via utility fog, acid spit via either manufacturing acid or self-replicating nanomachines, healing via nanomachines, enhanced physical abilities via nanomachines, barriers via utility fog, any kind of conjuration via molecular assembly… anyway, most of the powers you might want can be duplicated through utility fog, molecular assembly, and enhancement nanomachines - and I also have lasers, antigravity, teleporters, and any sort of normal technology.” Rebus wasn’t actually sure who he was talking to, so he decided that he explained similar information to both Beosta and Rose. No, actually. I’m not done being with Symbol. I’m sure you’re very altruistic and all, but I’m actually quite selfish, and don’t care too much if you’re saving the world. If you tell me what you’re doing to her, she might simply let you - and I’ll go with her. Otherwise, unless you’d like to be sent a mentally hazardous message, go away. Rebus sighed, since he’d literally just made an entire planet into potential sleeping locations. But he stayed awake through the entire night, though completely immobile in parade rest. Maybe Shoe would want to retroactively talk to him - Beosta could stay asleep. “Yes. A squirrel is a squirrel, and I am me. If I was a squirrel, I would still be me, unless I wasn’t me, in which case I would be a squirrel, but I wouldn’t be a squirrel. S’more?”

Yeah, pretty much. The GMs will, if needed, enforce it - usually they don’t have too, since the goal is less to win the games and more to have fun playing a character trying to win the games. If people were willing to cheat through out-of-game knowledge, they could also cheat by simply refusing to die.