CONTACT | Call me, maybe

[intercalaryninja]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, HAZYREFLECTION FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 011.04.151.01 *** HAZYREFLECTION has joined 011.04.151.01 <HAZYREFLECTION> Only contact me if it is necessary. <HAZYREFLECTION> Report to me immediately if it's regarding Reira-dono. <HAZYREFLECTION> I will be checking this nightly when possible.

Comments

[intercalaryninja]

Yes, this is Tsukikage.

I assisted them in founding the Fellowship before they disappeared.

How may I be of service?

[justbeingknife]

Well, as far as I know, Marco's the one who's gotten the closest to bein' able to send anyone home. If there's anything you could tell me about potential options that don't involve stealin' a bunch of God power and making some overenthusiastic followers flip the fuck out, I'd love to hear about 'em.

I guess that's what I care most about, actually.

[ A pause. ]

That and if ya know if it'd be possible to take someone else with ya.

[intercalaryninja]

I wish I had as many options you are suggesting I have.

At the moment, I'm trying to see if we can harness the natural magic of Ryslig or the magic of dead gods, opposed to trying to leech off the Fog and Fourth.

...

I haven't had a reason to try bring people back to other worlds in a long time. But I'm trying.

It's hard. We only have four members now, including myself. Ryslig keeps sending them to the stars... making them disappear. Any progress we have is near-stopped.

[justbeingknife]

[ Four members...... ]

You only take people who ain't related to either god, right?

[intercalaryninja]

So far we have done so.

It may change even if I don't want it to. Our numbers are actually closer to 3 and a half. The fourth member isn't a sentient being.

[justbeingknife]

Well, that's... worryin'.

I owe Elias for what he's done for me, even if it wasn't outta the goodness of his heart -- so I ain't willing to just stab him in the back.

But I want to get out of here, too. More than just about anythin'. And before it hurts the people I care about more than it already has.

[intercalaryninja]

Which part? My membership restrictions? The lack of numbers? Or the fact the fourth member is just a magical construct?

That is fine. I understand. Frankly the only reason why we try not affiliate ourselves is because we don't want to be targeted by either faction. If we had too many 4ths, the Fogs would associate us with them and vice versa...

We are trying to find a way for everyone to go back if they want, regardless of affiliation, and I want to avoid a war with the gods if I can. So if you know of anything or have a tip for us to look into, I'd appreciate assistance, even if you're a Fourth Follower.

[justbeingknife]

I suppose the part where there's three point five of ya, and progress ain't looking too good.

Then I'll keep it in mind. It sounds like Marco's still working on improving his portal, I don't think anyone wants this shit to escalate. I suspect the biggest issue's findin' a power source that doesn't involve stealing a bunch of divine power.

[ Which, you know. Was bound to piss people off. ]

[intercalaryninja]

<font face="Courier New>Yes, that's what would be the case. Even dead god power doesn't seem to be safe It'll be hard to find anything to match that power...

[justbeingknife]

Wonder if there's any way to ask Mana for something with more juice.

Or... I dunno, god power has to come from somewhere, right? I really gotta wonder where. Prayers? Wishes?

[ There had been that whole giant snafu of wishes a couple of months ago... ]

[intercalaryninja]

Even Mana depends on god power, though it is neither fourth nor fog.

I've been trying to figure that out. It's definitely a resource that can be harvested. That's how the Fourth was made after all. Unfortunately, there's no trace of how Dr. Liewen created the Fourth.

[justbeingknife]

I heard Dr. Liewen was used to... power the network, somehow?

[ Still not clear on those details, but ]

Is there any way we could ask the guy?

[ Or maybe he was essentially like the potato in a potato clock: not particularly useful for answers. ]

[intercalaryninja]

He used his son to power the network and acquire the Fog's power.

...

Unfortunately, he is very much unavailable. If I recall, Elias took care of him. I'll have to double-check with Reira-dono.

[justbeingknife]

[ That part, at least, he'd heard. ]

Some family.

Reira was around when it happened? I asked Oliver about it, seein' as how he worked pretty closely with the network, but he didn't really know too many details.

[intercalaryninja]

Reira is a Priest of the Fourth God.

And the Fourth trusts her in... some aspects. He revealed to her he had a sister no one knew about before... asked her to bury said sister.

She knows a lot. I'm fortunate she has shared as much as she has with me, considering she knows my stance on gods.

[justbeingknife]

His sister died?

[ jfc, this place was the pits. ]

How the fuck did that happen? More god experiments?

[intercalaryninja]

Yes. Liewan performed several of them.

Back when I worked as a security guard at the labs, I searched everywhere for research notes or documents. Anything that could tell us how the Fourth was made and how the Fog's power could be stolen. Alas, it was fruitless

[justbeingknife]

You were a security guard at the labs?

Did ya ever see the guy? Did the other people workin' there have any idea what he was doing?

[ It was just kind of hard to imagine that Liewen had been able to keep it all under wraps, and yet it sounded like that was exactly what had happened. ]

[intercalaryninja]

He was already long gone before I started working there. Yagami Light was the acting director at the time.

Liewen disappeared a very long time ago. I don't know if anyone who's seen him is still here.

I couldn't find anyone who knew what was going on.

[justbeingknife]

Par for the course, huh?

I understand monsters've been showing up here for about... five years? Not all that long in the scheme of things, but it sounds like a lot's gone down.

[intercalaryninja]

A lot has happened in a short period of time

And things that happened before that... a lot of ancient history has disappeared. It's why finding info is so hard. Most people never even heard of Hafestal for example even though it was right under Vandare

[justbeingknife]

What the hell is Hafestal? For cryin' out loud.

[intercalaryninja]

It's a city that used to do rituals to speak to the Fog God. It was caved in by her a very long time ago. We uncovered it after doing some research.

It's not very well-known. Though it's where we first got the idea that there was a being stronger than the Day, Night and Fog at one point

[justbeingknife]

Suppose I'd wanna bury it if I were her, too. Along with anythin' else that might help someone figure her out.

Still, what's one got to do with the other? So they used to talk to the Fog God, how's that lead to something even bigger?

[intercalaryninja]

We found out she was angry about something they asked as well. We couldn't find out what it was.

While we were down there, we found some old relics. There was a tapestry that indicated something that ruled over the three old gods. Something more powerful. I've been calling it the Star god or the Void god. Since then, there have been... other things to indicate its existence. Static in the network with visions. The void opening in Ryslig and dumping bodies... little hints that there's something else out there.