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faefarm · 6 months

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Patch 1.4.0 - Patch Notes

Attention Fae Friends!

A new update has arrived! We want to make sure your experience in Azoria is as smooth as possible, so we’re sending out an update for all Fae Friends on Tuesday, October 17 at 10AM PST / 5 PM UTC. This is a hefty one, so please read more for full details on what you can expect from our newest patch.

GAMEPLAY

Fixed issues that could cause you to spawn in a black void outside the map, or in a rock near the starter farm, when loading a save.

The game clock will now pause when using the storage shed or mailbox while in single player.

Fixed an issue where using keyboard shortcuts to open interface screens that should pause the game clock was not actually pausing.

Fixed an issue that could block holding to plant multiple items from working as intended.

Fixed an issue that could cause fertilizer to be applied immediately after planting seeds on wet soil.

Fixed the chance of generating a sapling using a Propagation Hive being much lower than intended.

Improved the behaviour of the Blamp waves in dungeons, to more gradually increase their presence as you go through floors, and to help with performance on lower-end devices.

Fixed an issue where Cannots could disappear when in combat near dungeon walls.

Fixed an issue causing some potion effects (such as Jar of Sadness or Jar of Bees) moving at unintended speeds depending on framerate.

Fixed an issue where opening the construction menu on your farm could result in the camera zooming to another farm location.

Slightly repositioned a signpost near the starter farm that could interfere with the placement of, and interaction with, items very close to it when using mouse on PC.

Honeycomb can now be found in the Prepared Ingredients section of the Almanac and Storage; it was previously missing a category.

PROGRESSION

Fixed an issue that could block quest progression if for any reason a required story cutscene did not play. Players who are in this state should now be able to progress.

Fixed an issue where you could back out of or cancel the dialogue after accepting a quest, resulting in it not actually being accepted.

Fixed an issue where delivering an item for a sprite quest could not count if you had a shipping contract that was also asking for the same item.

Fixed a rare issue where the order of your tools could get set incorrectly, blocking upgrading them.

Fixed an issue where festival quests could sometimes take more items than they requested, if you had them in your inventory.

Fixed an issue where clovers collected using the Vortex spell did not count towards the achievement.

Fixed an issue where Magic job quest 10 could not be progressed as a client in multiplayer.

Fixed an issue where accepting the quest Fae Farming Evolved did not grant you a Bounteous Fertilizer as intended.

XP earned from harvesting Sugar Cane will now go to Foraging, not Farming.

RELATIONSHIPS

Changed the behavior of relationship progress, based on player feedback:

Relationship points can still be earned by interacting with an NPC for the first time each day, by completing relationship quests, and by giving gifts, all at the same rate as before.

When you reach the points threshold for a date, you will still receive the mail inviting you on it, and you must read this mail in your mailbox in order to get the date option on the NPC.

You will no longer earn any relationship points from any source for this NPC, until you go on the date.

After the date, you can continue to progress again, up until the next date.

This will solve the case where players could get very high relationship progress with an NPC without ever going on a date.

For players who already have relationship progress, no progress is being reset or regressed with this change. However, if you already built a high relationship level with an NPC you had not dated, you may now get a number of date requests in a row.

A reminder that if (due to the previous behavior) you have a higher relationship level with an NPC than you would want, you can reset it in the Relationships screen.

Fixed an issue where an NPC could appear as your spouse without you marrying them. Following this update, only an NPC you have actually had a wedding with will show as your spouse.

Fixed an issue where quitting the game between paying for a wedding and it being held could result in the wedding not taking place and the relationship being stuck at “Fiancé”. Players who were in this stuck state will now correctly move on to the “Spouse” status with this NPC.

Added a fix-up to help with a situation where the day ending in multiplayer while in the wedding outfit selection screen could cause the wedding to not occur, and you to be stuck at “Fiancé”.

Players who were in this stuck state will now have their wedding automatically scheduled on the next available day, with the Fae outfit selected (although all three will be added to their inventory after the wedding).

Please note that the causing bug here can still occur (and will be fixed in a future update) but if you encounter it, leaving and reloading your save will now trigger the fix-up.

Fixed a crash that occurred if you reset your relationship with Pyria while in the Dating, Getting Serious, or Spouse statuses.

Fixed an issue where the view could be obscured if you initiated a date while sitting down.

Fixed an issue blocking clients in a multiplayer session from receiving date requests.

Fixed unintended symbols appearing in dialog when a wedding took place in a multiplayer session.

ANIMAL CARE

Fixed animals getting into a state where they no longer produced materials.

Fixed a number of issues that could result in breeding being canceled, and animals being returned to their coops.

Fixed an issue where sold animals could reappear in your barns after saving and loading the game.

Fixed an issue where animals from the first and second farms would appear at the most recently-placed Animal Lure, regardless of which farm it was placed at.

Removed the brush status icon from appearing in the ledger next to animals that cannot be brushed.

MULTIPLAYER

Fixed an issue that could occur where clients joining a multiplayer session did not correctly go through the join process, arriving as the default character (with no character creator) and missing key tools.

Alongside this fix, players who are detected to be in this bad state will be returned to the character creator to correctly set up their character as a new one - this will unfortunately result in lost progress for players who were able to continue despite missing key items, as we will reset their progress to get them back into a good state to play.

Fixed an issue where transferring items from the storage shed or crafting stations in multiplayer sessions could result in them being lost or overwriting an item already in your inventory.

Fixed an issue where clients playing on Switch would be disconnected after pressing the Home button on the system.

Fixed an issue where the game client could become temporarily unresponsive when accepting a multiplayer invite or choosing to Host Online in the Steam version of the game.

Fixed an issue that blocked clients of a multiplayer session receiving the "Interested in Dyes?" letter in their mailbox, stopping them from being able to claim the free dye set. Affected players should now receive this and be able to claim these dyes.

Fixed an issue where Eutats and Ember Eutats attacks did not damage clients in a multiplayer session.

Fixed an issue causing jumping/diving animations in water to not animate correctly when playing as a client in a multiplayer session.

Fixed an issue where the map tracker did not correctly point to other players if they were in a dungeon.

You will now receive a notification on the right of the screen when you receive a Phoenix Labs friend request, as well as if someone accepts one that you send.

INTERFACE:

Fixed an issue where an expired limited-time quest (such as a festival quest) could leave an unclearable notification in the Quest Log.

Improved the behaviour of the Graphics Settings screen, adding an Apply button and a countdown before automatically reverting.

Fixed an issue that could cause quest completion banners to appear as blank when appearing before a chapter completion banner.

Fixed an issue where the input prompt for removing players in the World Management screen was missing.

Fixed some unintended overlapping visual elements in the World Management screen.

Fixed an issue where the header of the Coordination Wheel's Build option was hidden.

Fixed an overlap between the "next day" panel and the scroll prompt in the End of Day screen.

The details panel panel of the Tools Progression screen can now be scrolled with mouse wheel on PC.

Removed a message that would incorrectly tell you that you can only sleep in your main house, when interacting with a bed in another house. As a reminder, you only get the coziness-based stat boosts if you sleep in the relevant house’s bed.

Fixed an issue that required pressing select/back inputs twice for them to function on PC on the first day of a new season.

Fixed an issue that could block selecting a body type in the Character Creator with mouse.

The current build version of the game will now show in the bottom of the Settings screen, to assist with bug reports and Player Support investigations.

INTERNATIONALIZATION

Fixed an issue where too many items would appear in the Pinned Quest UI at once when playing in Japanese, Korean, or Chinese.

Improved handling of line breaking when playing with system language set to Japanese.

Improved the display of numbers, as well as the date, when playing in Japanese.

Fixed the "Expired Contract" text on the End of Day screen displaying in English while playing in other languages.

Fixed some text in the Coziness menu displaying in English while playing in other languages.

Fixed emote names showing in English when in a quest objective, while playing in other languages.

Fixed an issue causing the Copyright section of the Credits to not show when playing in non-English languages.

Improved Japanese localization.

MISCELLANEOUS:

Fixed an issue that resulted in incorrect dye colours after dyeing one outfit, then switching to another.

Fixed a rendering issue that could cause some grass to show as the wrong colour.

Fixed a rendering issue that could result in some trees to show as low-quality versions during their regrowth phases.

Fixed an issue where resetting Graphics Settings to Default did not reset the Resolution option.

Fixed an issue where launching the game on one monitor and moving it to another did not allow for resolutions supported by the new monitor.

Fixed a number of typos in English and other languages.

Thank You

We wanted to give a great big Thank You all to the amazing people who submitted bug reports and are able to help us pinpoint these issues! If you spot any issues, please update us through our main support page.

You can also join us on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Discord to share your experience with us in Azoria.

We’ll see you in-game!

Sincerely,

The Fae Farm Team

#fae farm #patch notes #faefarm #cozy games

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ryuichirou · 4 months

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Replies

Skipped the day yesterday because my PC died, but I’ll try to write more replies today!

Starting with the ones related to our recently posted drawings~ But there are also some about twst characters and ships: Malleus, Riddle, Sebek/Jamil and many many more.

hipsterteller asked:

*sees Azul and Idia making out* welp someone better take a picture

I’m pretty sure Jade and Floyd are already on it. Maybe Ortho too, but for more wholesome reasons than the tweels…

hipsterteller asked:

Dang it Kalim…

He just HAD to ask Jamil to come back as soon as possible!

Anonymous asked:

~ 🎵 There goes the vizier hauling ass, like always 🎵 ~

Lmao thank you for the mental image of Jamil racing through the streets of Silk City in his big-ass robes. Looks like he forgot to get the food though... Maybe he and Kalim could have some fish for dinner?

You’re welcome~ Poor Jamil, getting food from the store isn’t even his job, but he was nice enough to go, and for what? To race right back through the streets of Silk City in his big-ass robes 😭

If Azul, Jade and Floyd didn’t bring them a pizza this time, they’ll have to have fish for dinner…

Anonymous asked:

Jamil is gonna murder these people, he doesn't care if he gets in trouble. That reminds me, does the...oh who am I kidding, of course they knew Jamil is acting like a snake by using Kalim again.

Jamil is so sick and tired of them, it’s been 30 seconds and he is already done LOL

They probably haven’t seen each other in quite some time, and Jamil isn’t planning on doing his subtle-Kalim-seduction thing in front of these three, but I have a feeling they’ll still notice that there is something going on between them. They know a snake when they see one…

Anonymous asked:

We seen the mafia Octavinelle often visiting Scalding Sands, but what about the Shrouds visiting there since they are often with the mafia?

Oh Ortho would love to visit, but he doesn’t usually get to go with the Octavinelle trio and stays by Idia’s side; and Idia probably hates the idea of visiting Scalding Sands, because it’s way too hot, and Kalim and Jamil are there, and Kalim is annoying and Jamil is scary, and the whole thing is going to be awkward, what is this really, a college reuinon? Yada-yada, mumbling Idia noises.

But still, they’ll visit them at least once. Even if Azul isn’t persuasive enough, Ortho’s puppy eyes are going to break Idia’s will for sure.

snowblub asked:

Whenever I see a post of yours and I know it's yours btw I look at what's there then forget I'm following you then go up to press follow and then realise that I do follow you. Short memory struggles... The amount of times this has happened is a bit embarrassing ngl.

But at least now you know that you got someone who would follow you a hundred times if possible?? I just thought to tell you.

AHHH This is so sweet of you?? Thank you so much. The fact that my drawings give you an urge to press follow despire already following is such an amazing thing to hear! <3 <3 <3

Anonymous asked:

I made the mistake of showing a newer friend your twitter account, I did warn them...😭😭😭

Like yes I like you BEACUSE your problematic, someone has to speak for us :(

~Anon <3

Ohh, I hope you didn’t have a bad fight with them, Anon. Having arguments and even falling-outs with friends because of ship-related content is always unfortunate :(

We can only speak for ourselves, but if you feel seen/inspired by the fact that we have the audacity to post our problematic stuff, I’m very happy to hear that!! <3 Thank you for supporting us.

Anonymous asked:

I've also been thinking about how Malleus threw off the dom/sub radar, and I think it's funny if he throws off everyone else's radar too and even himself guesses whether others are doms/subs wrong like 90% of the time LOL that's how we got rollo & mal flirting with each other, both convinced the other is going to rail them later that night, only to be met with disappointment😔 it's okay boys, there are plenty of gargoyles in the sea....

Anon THIS! I COMPLETELY AGREE lol Especially with Rollo and Malleus; I don’t know if Rollo expected anything from Malleus (he was being a tsundere, that’s for sure), but Malleus clearly read the room in… his own way…

We like to joke that this happens because Malleus learned the art of flirting from Lilia.

Now I can’t stop imagining Malleus’ confused blinks when he learns about the dom/sub positioning of some of the couples.

Anonymous asked:

Do you think Epel would like Heathers?

I don't know, Anon, I think Epel wouldn't really get Heathers 😭 But he'll appreciate the fact that it's less "girly" and more intense.

Anonymous asked:

"azul is only hot when he's angry" anon here. i changed my mind. i saw the light. im a redeemed soul.

Ah Anon! It’s good to hear back from you and see that you are no longer a hater of Azul’s natural immeasurable sex appeal. I’m sure Azul would be very pleased to hear that (and sexy) <3

(But in all seriousness I do wonder what made you change your mind…)

Anonymous asked:

I don't know if he's ever expressed a desire to become one in canon, but occasionally I cone across fics and fanart that portray Riddle as a Prosecutor. Every time I end up imagining him as an Ace Attorney rival and then end up laughing because I picture Phoenix thinking 'I thought I was done with the Von Karmas.'

Anon, he fits the role of an Ace Attorney Prosecutor PERFECTLY, and he would be SUCH AN ANNOYING BITCH TO PLAY AGAISNT LOL We love Ace Attorney very much, so we also joke about Riddle being a prosecutor from time to time. I have at least one sketch related to this topic but we posted it on ko-fi.

Our go-to is usually to give Ace the Attorney role, not only because of his name, but also because him being confrontational with Riddle is always a fun thing to imagine.

Imagine Riddle’s angry sprites as a prosecutor… he’s even worse than some of the Von Karmas… at least he doesn’t use a whip I guess lol

Anonymous asked:

i saw this sebejami doujin on pixiv and Sebek is my favorite boy along with Ortho so, what do you think about their dynamic?

They’re intriguing! It’s always interesting when someone who isn’t Malleus gets Sebek’s kind-of-sort-of-approval (a very important achievement I know), and Jamil somehow managed to do it. Maybe it’s because he managed to sit through Sebek’s hours-long rant about Malleus’ grateness in that one vignette, but it honestly shows just how interestingly their personalities play based off each other. Jamil is constantly done with everyone’s bs, but he’s unfrotunately tolerant enough to take a passive role and listen. But he is also enough of a tease to enjoy Sebek’s “cute” and silly moments, like when he watched him almost fight a goat during the Glorious Masquerade event. So I feel like to him Sebek would be a massive pain in the ass (and let’s be honest, with Jamil – who isn’t?), but also have his surprisingly endearing moments.

But this is based on their interactions in the Glorious Masquerade event + that one vignette in which Jamil promised to listen to Sebek’s odes for Malleus lol

blackbutlerfandomnerddomain asked:

Do you have any headcanons of if it's revealed Lilia and Malleus are married or at least SHOULD be? Cause, again, the idea of Silver never questioning kisses and what not until NRC when they said I Love Yous and kissed in public and someone pointed it out is so funny to be

The thought has never occurred to me because to be honest, just like Silver, I never question anything that Lilia does lol

But I can picture some people from the NRC being confused about Lilia and Malleus’ relationship, because they’re definitely closer than just being friends… so while I’m not sure if they would think about them as a married couple(or who should get married), some people definitely think they’re banging lol

And Silver is very chill about it… if only these people knew the whole truth about Lilia’s relationship with both Silver and Malleus… marriage is the last thing that would come to their mind lol

blackbutlerfandomnerddomain asked:

Hot take: Deuce gives Jack boob-jobs aka when you put a boner between the pectorals aka breasts/boobs and either the person receiving would move against the chest or the one who's chest is being used would squeezed their chest together and bounce. Thank my cousin for this random headcanon, never needed to know this was a thing but here we are

This 100% should be a thing, and Deuce 100% should do that, because Jack deserves it!!

This also 100% wouldn’t be Jack’s idea, so… I’m looking at Deuce knowing that he has seen this before. What are you reading/watching in your free time, Deuce?

#replies #our aus #mafia au #sultan au

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wall-e-gorl · 3 months

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The run down and lead up of events re: fawn wager crows nest crew and the absolute mess we are in at the last session

Fawn is a pc, the pinkest valley girl rogue satyr, originally from the feywild is on the material plane hiding and being a pirate

For reasons that don't matter rn, our ship sinks and we get stuck in the same island that our rival pirate crew is on

We see the Captain and this fox guy from his crew in a tavern and Fawn goes over to bother them

Oh! Fox guy, who we learn is called Wager, is also from feywild!

Oh he asked to have her name

Fawn likes that. She does that. She likes this fox

They leave tavern together to get mail, when they come back Wager is covered in kisses and they're dating

its barely been an hour if that since introductions

We convince Wager to help us find Captain

We make a plan to steal rival captains boat, since we lost ours, and recruit Wager to help.

Before we can do anything, an archfey (derogatory) called The Spider shows up again

We dont like him and Fawn is very scared of him.

Events happen, and we find out that another archfey (derogatory) called The Lady is also here

she is Wager's "boss". Wager doesn't want to go back

She takes him back to the feywild anyway

Its very upsetting

We decide that we were going to steal him anyway, might as well steal him back from the feywild

We go there, with help from fawns uncle, archfey (affectionate), Uncle Cass

We meet Ephie, new pc, and Foxboy, a young little fox folk like Wager.

Events happen

We learn, that Ephie's "mother" is The Lady (archfey, derogatory, stole wager, punishes ephie when she isnt perfect, Archfey derogatory)

We learn that Uncle Cass and The Spider are engaged

We get yoinked by the spider and are forced to relive not-quite-nightmares of ours infront of an audience

Fawns was last, she had a face to face with the spider and he showed her "Wager" with one eye.

When we wake up, we see the spider but get an "intermission" before we fight him

Wager is the one to bring us back to the arena after its over.

Hes disguising himself to have two eyes. He doesn't want to be here but can't say it.

We promise that we are going to come back and get him, then go to "fight" the spider

We win, he's an archfey and this was a show so he isn't dead dead, but we won and we return to the green room.

Foxboy is there! He has some letters for us, but cant read it :( he's only 7 :(

Its an invitation to Tea Time from The Lady. We read it, are transported, and wake up to a wooded area, in fancy outfits and the aarakocra pc (me) as a human

We meet an dmac (dm assistant character) and get lead to where we are supposed to be for tea time, stopping for a snowball fight with Wager's and Foxboy's sister

(We also have learned that Foxboy(/Felix) is just a permanently 7 Wager, through archfey derogatory nonsense)

Their sister tells us that Wager is "rehearsing" for something important. Is cold, particularly to Fawn.

Note: The Lady is an Archfey of the winter court.

We make it to tea time. We have a few moments to get familiar with the space before The Lady and Wager appear

Wager calls Fawn over to the private duo table, the rest of us sit at tables and try not to freak out too hard yet.

Fawn's having a wonderful time. She has found her boyfriend, her fancy dress is a bigger poofy pink wedding dress, and she keeps talking about how they're going to get married

Wager is both so happy to see her and so extremely anxious

Kul can see this, and gives him a bardic inspiration. They can tell he *is* about to propose.

They stand up and Wager starts doing a speech

He gives her a dagger, customary for spring court proposals (Fawn is from spring court) and a loud confetti canon goes off, obscuring them

Dm goes ok couple people deafen. Secret dnd time.

We, kul and ephie, see what really happens

Wager says speech, which if you look closely at spells out GOOD BYE, and ends it with this (bones is a nickname for fawn from wager. Its cute, she's bones he's treasure. This session was titled Treasured Bones)

Wager says speech and raised a gun

And shoots fawn

A table is rolled and she is only paralyzed, he falls to his knees.

The Lady says "finish the job"

And he stabs her in the heart, and hugs her dead body on the floor

Out of character we are losing it. The ones deafened are worried about our reactions. Theres nothing we can do.

People undeafen. We clarify that we are picking up exactly where we were.

Our dm lets us do deals with him to get extra information. I had done a deal to get more info on Foxboy, and my consequence for it was that I had to react with violence in a situation when he told me. So

Kul sees red. Theyre crying. Theyre not responding to questions. Theyre attacking Wager.

Ephie is crying over fawn but the other two are more concerned with the immediate unexplained violence and dont notice or even think that fawn could be dead

The Lady is watching this all, gleefully

Kul doesn't kill wager. They do a big spell and physically attack him with a weapon they had loaned to Fawn, then their mind clears

They turn back to Fawn and the others see that she's dead and dying

Ephie asks her mother to help. She learns that this was a punishment for her for leaving the manor and making friends, and getting close to Fawn in particular

The Lady leaves

Hai asked new God (she recently broke her oath and got a new God, she doesnt like her much) to help and loses an arm to the elbow for it

Kul calls in a favour with Hais Old God, saying they "can't take losing another one"

He shows up and Kul revivifies Fawn.

She wakes up, her hair now has some blue bits and her scelaras are now blue and one eye is pink instead of orange

End of session

WAGER WAS FORCED TO KILL HIS LOVE BY THE LADY, BECAUSE EPHIE HAD LEFT HOME AND GONE FARTHER THAN INTENDED AND GAINED FRIENDS, AND KUL ATTACKED HIM FOR IT.

#crows nest crew #READ THIS. WE HAD TO TAKE A WEEK BREAK FOR MY LIGHTHEARTED SILLY ONESHOT BECAUSE WE WERE EMOTIONALLY DESTROYED AND ALSO OUR DM DESERVED A #BREAK. THEY WERE REAL ANXIOUS ABOUT THIS SESSION (FOR OBVIOUS REASONS)

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nautiscarader · 23 days

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Chess mates

A Glitch techs story, G, (Ao3)

it is not shipping fic,but it has elements of Zahra/HF which was supposed to become canon.

Also, there are some notes under "read more". Be afraid.

------------------

In a dimly lit room, illuminated only by eerie blinking lights of seven-segment displays of old computers, a man walked in. He looked at the floor as if he could see the infra-red security grid, protecting it from intruders like him. He then took an asymmetrical USB key and inserted it into the panel on the wall… on his first try.

Without fear, he stepped safely and walked unnoticed across the room, until he faced an ominous, black computer tower, bigger than him, and gently touched its side. The machine hasn't been turned on in over a quarter of a century…

"Soon you and I will play again…", he spoke and unlocked the wheel brakes under its pedestal, allowing him to drag the priceless artefact effortlessly. He walked past the knocked out guards, and a few minutes later… he was gone.

xxxx

Miko Kubota stared with growing aggravation at the plixelated figures on her side of the black-and-white board.

"So… I'd like to upgrade my horse into a pegasus."

Zahra giggled.

"It doesn't work like that. Besides, it's a knight."

Miko took the generated figure in her fingers and examined it.

"No, it's a horse. Unless…", she said excitedly, "The horse IS a knight! Wait, is there a horse armor DLC?"

Zahra gave her a polite, but contemptuous smile, looking at how few pieces she had left compared to ones on her side.

"Look, Miko, there is no sense in forcing yourself to liking a game, especially one like chess. But that is the beauty of gaming. I am rubbish at that tower defence game you play. We all have our tastes."

Miko slumped into her chair, finally defeated, while Zahra cleared the board with one swipe of her arm.

"You're right. I guess… You play it all the time, so I wanted to give it a try. Plus, High-Five said one day how he started with some old PC chess game when he was 5 or something…"

Zahra's eyes lightened up.

"Hector? Does-does he play it too?"

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, n-nothing."

But she took a second too long, and a wide, mischievous grin appeared on Miko's face.

"Hey, High Five! Get your butt over here!"

Zahra did one desperate attempt at stopping her, but it was too late. The boy in question turned around and walked from the counter where he's been doing retagging.

"What? I'm busy"

"Oh no, you're not. I'll take it from here, while you and Zahra can have a relaxing game of chess.", she jumped from her seat, practically shoving Hector down, and grabbed the tag printer from his hand.

"Oh? So you like chess too?", he turned and leaned towards Zahra, but quickly shifted back at Miko.

"Wait, and you'd WILLINGLY offer to do this mind-numbing job instead?", he raised his eyebrows.

"Beats your nerdy chess with million rules.", she turned around, blowing a raspberry that once she looked away turned into a triumphant grin. A moment later she took a peek and saw how the two were leaning towards each other.

But her satisfaction was short-lived, when Haneesh jumped in, quite literally shoving his face between those of Zahra and Hector.

"Speaking of chess, have you guys heard? Someone broke into some tech museum and stole some famous old chess machine." he said, missing the icy daggers Miko was throwing at him.

"Wait, old chess machine? You don't mean-", Hector spoke, while Haneesh displayed the article in the air, above the plixelated chessboard, as the rest of Glitch Techs gathered around.

"BlueThought stolen - bizarre theft at The Museum of Really Old Technology.", read the title.

"No!", Hector shouted, rising from his seat. But a quick glance at the nonplus faces of his colleagues tempered his reaction.

"Wait, has-has none of you heard of BlueThought?"

"High Five, it's clear you know and care a great deal about it, so why don't you enlighten us?", Zahra proposed.

"Yeah, go on", a new voice chimed in when Phil chimed in, sipping his morning coffee.

"Well, okay then…"

Hector sat back, cleared his throat and looked at his friends that now paid attention to his every word.

"It all happened a long time ago, in the distant year of… 1996…", he made a long pause as if he was telling a spooky campfire story.

"Oh, give me a break", Phil interrupted, "Don't make it sound so dramatic, it was only…", but he paused when his calculations expected slight buffer overflow.

"…Okay, never-mind, carry on"

Hector turned back and continued.

"Well, as I've said, it was the mid-90s, and they have built this supercomputer to play chess."

"Was it the first one?"

"No, far from it, there have been dozens before. But this one was the best. It kept defeating other chess machines, then regular chess players, then masters, then grandmasters, then arch-grandmasters…! Until there was only one opponent left… The Undisputed Super-Duper Arch Great Grandmaster…"

Hector took a deep breath.

"…Gambi Krasnysledin."

Predictably, the sound of his name brought very little reaction, aside from a guffaw from Mitch.

"Gambi? What sort of name is that?"

"Hey, don't make fun of other people's names", Zahra barked back immediately.

"Yeah, Williams, don't be such a Mitch."

The group laughed at Miko's quick jab that has successfully shut Mitch up.

"And hey, he was from Soviet Russia…"

"Azerbaijan, actually", Phil quickly corrected Hector.

"So what happened then?"

"Well, the match was on. Six games, Gambi won some, lost some… But then, in the final one, BlueThought made a move so unexpected it baffled everyone."

"What? What did it do?"

"Oh, I know!", Miko suddenly interrupted, "I bet it grew arms and legs and cannons and started blasting!"

"Wha-No! It was just a move, a chess move", and he took a piece and slid it across the board, much to Miko's disappointment.

"But it was a typically human move… A sacrifice one. It felt as if it knew Gambi's next one."

"And?", the Techies asked.

"Gambi was furious! He lost the final game and the entire match. The worst thing is, he never got over it. He accused the Blue Team of cheating, of hiding someone inside the machine! Can you imagine it?"

Suddenly, Zahra chuckled.

"Actually, I can. Have you guys heard about The Turk?" she raised her eyebrows, asking the crowd, but eyeing Hector.

"No", he replied, his curiosity piqued.

"Well", Zahra started explaining, pulling some images onto the shared screen to replace the article. They depicted a human-looking mechanical robot, wearing a turban, colorful robes and sporting impressive moustache.

"That is The Turk, a machine from 18th century that could play chess and allegedly defeated Napoleon".

"Woah, woah, woah!", Miko interrupted. "I can imagine a chess computer from the dark ages - er, no offense, Phil"

"Yes, offense, Miko", he sharply replied without missing a beat.

"…but how could it work without electricity?!"

Zahra chuckled.

"With lots of gears, linkages…and cheating! Cos there really was a grandmaster hidden inside the desk, doing all the thinking, and actually moving the arm."

"It's a bit like that saying - 'A computer is only as smart as the one, who programmed it…'", Hector started.

"…'and as stupid as its user'", Zahra finished.

"Yeah…"

And the two once more leaned forward towards each other, forgetting about the small crowd around them.

"Well that is all fascinating", Mitch barged in, sarcasm dripping from his voice, "But why would I care about some old computer, designed to play only one game, when I have this!"

And he pulled from his pocket an USB stick shaped like a fish.

"Hinobi FishStick AI. Prototype, naturally, but I got it first!", he spoke triumphantly.

"You know we should've gotten it", Zahra pointed to herself and her teammates.

"But I got it! This baby can probably learn chess in seconds… If I ever cared about such boring game."

"Well, one reason you should, would be because it is also part of our history", Phil quickly explained, "Hinobi provided some extra chipsets for it."

"Wait, we've made it?"

"Oh no, we were small fish back then."

"So who has built it?"

"A team at BIM", Hector was quick to answer.

"Wait, BIM? Boring Internal Machines? Weren't they making printers and stuff?"

"Yeah, but I guess they wanted a piece of that gaming cake.", High Five pulled out his phone. " There was a whole team of experts… er, doctor Bell, professor Shu, doctor Murray…", he kept reading."That's what made BIM so big, their stock prices sky-rocketed after the match! I didn't even know these names, everyone remembers the name BlueThought… And, well, good thing they went with this one.", Hector suddenly shied away.

The rest of the Glitch Techs exchanged curious looks.

"Wait, what was the original name then?"

"Err…", Hector scratched his head, "Well, the computer was made with only one job in mind, right…", he slowly explained, his face getting progressively redder.

"And BIM's color was blue… So their first name choice was…"

Hector swallowed loudly.

"…BlueJob"

Like a spark tossed onto a pile of gunpowder, it took only a split of a second for the teenagers to burst into uncontrollable, asinine laughter. While the boys held no restrictions, Miko raised her hands saying "Nope, nope, nope dot MP4", and Zahra simply covered her mouth with her hijab, hiding a soft giggle.

"Alright, y'all, this was a hilarious history lesson, but we open in FIVE MINUTES!", Phil's voice boomed across the room, prompting the teenagers to get to their positions at the counters.

xxxx

The discussion about BlueThought returned unexpectedly during their lunch break, as Miko was determined to finish her mission.

"So… Have you and Zahra talked some more?", she asked in a would-be innocent voice.

"Huh? Oh yeah, she had this annoying client, who asked why his terabyte hard drive shows up as "931 GBs" and why did we steal the rest. Now you try to explain to an angry man difference between gigabytes and gibibytes, and that you haven't made those up."

It took about a minute for Miko to blink her way back to reality, as she processed High Five's reply.

"Dude, you have made those up. Secondly, do I need to put a giant quest-marker over her head?!"

"What do you mean?"

Miko groaned. But she quickly regained her composure when Zahra herself joined them.

"Hey, have you read the rest of that article?"

"No…", Hector shook his head, pulled his phone out, and started skimming.

"…'the whereabouts of the perpetrator remain unknown. Police reassured us that the safety of the other half of BlueThought remains'- Wait, what?"

Hector stared at the screen in disbelief.

"The other half?!"

"Yeah! That's why I brought it up."

"What, did they saw it in half?", Miko performed a motion as if she wielded chainsaw.

"Most likely it simply had so many boards it needed two towers", Zahra explained.

"Ah, you're no fun", Miko groaned.

"Listen to this", Hector interrupted, "'After the 1996 match with Krasnysledin, the machine has been separated into two parts, never to be reunited again…'"

"…Cos that doesn't sound ominous", Miko commented.

"But why would they do that?", Hector asked.

"Maybe because otherwise it would be too powerful and it would destroy the world!", Miko laughed maniacally.

"Miko-", Hector started, but was interrupted by Zahra.

"Actually… Think about it: BlueThought acted strangely, Gambi thought someone was inside… But he didn't know WE provided chips…. What if…"

"…it wasn't someONE…"

"…but someTHING! What if it was…"

"A GLITCH!", they all exclaimed.

"And what if it only activated with both halves?"

"Like some ancient artefact…"

"Wait, where is that other half stored?"

"It's…in another museum… An hour away from us."

The three Glitch Techs stared at each other.

"Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think so, Hector, but I don't know if we can use that joke.", Miko quickly replied, scratching her chin.

"What?", Hector asked, once more befuddled by her reply.

"What? I thought we could drive there, guns blazing and catch the thief red-handed."

"No!", Zahra protested, "We should drive there… And offer some protection. Our tech can do wonders compared to ordinary security measures."

"Okay, so it's settled, right? We drive tonight, after we close.", Hector stated.

"And we just offer them help", Zahra looked at Miko, already browsing guns on her gauntlet.

Miko groaned, but when Zahra turned her back, Miko selected one particular gun…

xxxx

Like they've discussed, the three Glitch Techs met after the store closed, quickly getting into the van. Miko swiftly jumped to the back, offering Zahra seat next to Hector, a sly grin drawn on her face.

And as they drove, their conversation quickly moved to the theft.

"I do wonder who could have done this.", Hector spoke out loud.

"Isn't it obvious?", Miko answered, "Gambi…Whatshisname! Didn't you say he was still salty after all these years?"

"Yeah, but that's hardly a motive."

"Except", Zahra suddenly spoke, reading from her phone "Check this out: 'For years Krasnysledin has been unsuccessful in launching his own chess simulator software, unable to compete with growing market of AI-based ones.'"

"Huh.", Hector grunted, "I guess he could be the culprit…"

Soon, the long road became bendy, as the three approached the museum, located on a small hill. They quickly got out, ready to follow Zahra's plan.

"Okay, guys, remember, we're coming just to offer them protect-"

But Zahra froze when she saw two men lying on the ground, now clearly visible in the beam lights of their van that shone upon them.

She rushed towards them, reaching her hand to check their pulse.

"They're alive. Sir? Sir? Can you-"

But in response, the guard let out a loud snore.

"Sleeping gas", Miko kicked the odd circular object on the ground, "Favoured by Russian spies…"

"Azerbaijani, actually", Hector corrected her.

"Alright guys, suit up", Zahra commanded, and with one push of a button on her gauntlet, she became clad in futuristic suit of armor.

Miko followed her, spawning her own combat suit. Hector, on the other hand…

"What? It's magical protection!", he countered the accusatory looks when he became clad in fancy wizard robes, wielding a staff instead of a conventional weapon.

"Well, maybe we will be able to surprise Gambi with a fireball…", Zahra shrugged. "Let's go."

The automatic door opened, showing an empty entrance hall, and two more knocked out guards.

"Be cautious, guys…", Zahra whispered, sliding a night vision overlay over her eyes.

Miko and High Five stuck close together, securing each other's rears, as the three moved forward. Zahra quickly browsed through an interactive map for visitors to find where the BlueThought was located - though the sleeping guards were an easy indicator where should they go.

"Fourth floor", she whispered.

The Glitch Techs rushed up the stairs, only slowing down when they reached the landing and saw the vast hall full of old computers.

And at the very end of the hall… A giant, black tower of BlueThought's second half was clearly visible, even in the dimly lit light.

"Have-have we beaten him?", Hector scratched his head.

"Nope", Zahra replied, pointing to another snoring guard, "Unless…"

She walked towards the blinking panel on the wall and examined it.

"The security is still on.", she stated after quickly scanning it with her gauntlet.

"Great! then we can one-up it with this baby!", Miko suddenly pushed Zahra aside, pulling a familiar, fish-shaped object from her gauntlet's pocket storage, ready to insert it into the USB port.

Zahra had to take a step back, finding it difficult to gather words.

"Miko! Where-how?", Zahra stuttered, as she looked in disbelief at the FishStickAI in her friend's hand.

"You've said it yourself you guys deserved it more!"

"Did you steal it from Mitch?!"

"Yes, but it's not like I went unscathed. I had to place a portal on his backpocket so I had to stare at his butt to aim. Frankly, you should be comforting me.", Miko answered quickly, proudly showing her portal pistol.

"But you've brought the exact thing that Gambi is aft-"

Zahra's words were cut off when suddenly a whip, made of tied computer cables, shot between the two, coiled around the FishStick and snatched it from Miko' hand.

The Glitch Techs watched in awe as the FishStick was snapped and landed in the hands of a shadowy figure that suddenly appeared next to BlueThought.

Next moment, lights were turned on, revealing the face of the thief.

But it wasn't Gambi Krasnysledin.

It was…

"Er, who the heck are you?", Miko asked.

The corpulent man chuckled and corrected his glasses.

"No one remembers my name… But everyone does BlueThought's…", he spoke, fiddling with the FishStick.

Something about the way the man phrased his response stirred a part of Hector's brain, reminding him of what he's said a few hours ago.

"Wait! You are-hang on….", he pulled the article he read onto his gauntlet, "You've worked for BIM! You are…er… Doctor…"

"Professor Shu", he finished.

"Wait, hang on", Zahra interrupted, "You-you guys have won. Haven't you made millions on this match?"

"Oh, we have", he answered calmly, still toying with the stick, "But if BIM had not interfered, I would be making billions. And now, when I power this old machine with your toy, I will."

Only now Hector and the rest noticed that he was standing between both halves of BlueThought, having evidently brought the first stolen tower with him.

"Ha! Good luck with that, this thing is cutting edge tech, you'd need a hundred adapters to make it wor-"

But Hector couldn't even finish his sentence as Shu plugged the FishStick into BlueThought, enveloping it in familiar, blue aura.

"I've built this. I HAVE a hundred adapters.", Shu smugly said, showing his vest full of pockets filled with electrical parts and tools.

"Guys, he's doing the villain speech, shoot him!", Miko cried, already pointing her gauntlet at him.

At the same time, all three aimed and shot some form of immobilising projectiles - with Hector casting a paralysing spell.

But Shu didn't even flinch, as a blue plixelated barrier shielded him and the two halves of BlueThought from Techies.

"Hm, it does learn quickly. And it can predict moves…"

"And that's what you want, right? To sell the smartest chess program out there!", Hector shouted.

"Chess?", Shu did a double-take, "Oh, no, I want to make printers."

Silence fell in the room, as the three Glitch Techs exchanged confused looks.

"P-Printers?"

"Wait, whaaaa…?", Miko was left with her mouth wide-opened.

"Yeah, I don't follow either.", Hector admitted.

Shu chuckled.

"I've been working at BIM on revolutionary new product… A chipset that would make printers smart."

He saw the still befuddled looks on his audience.

"Don't you hate it?!", he suddenly burst with anger, "'Paper jam' error when the paper is fine, 'No cyan' when there's plenty of it… My chip would have fixed all of these stupid problems…"

"You know, guys, as far as villain speeches go, I'm with him", Miko admitted.

He sighed.

"But I needed help… I've heard about your chips with some extra 'Oomph'… And it worked! But then BIM barged in and told me to turn it into a stupid chess machine… They took my life's work… But now-"

"Oh, wait! I know what's going to happen.", Hector interrupted and spread his arms, pointing to the floor.

"I mean, look around! We are in a room dedicated to computer chess! Even the floor is a chessboard. So, we play a game and we take places of three pieces, and-"

His excitement was cut shortly by Miko putting her hand on his shoulder and shaking her head.

"Oh, High Five… Seriously, you're referencing those movies? First of all, this bit has already been done in a waaay better cartoon…"

"Books, they were books firs-Wait, what do you mean by 'cartoon'?"

"Secondly, have you read what this woman has been posting on-line?", Zahra approached him from the other side.

"She is persona very much non grata…",she said performing a slicing motion around her neck.

"And thirdly", Shu's voice suddenly brought the three's attention back to him.

"I do not want to play chess…" Professor Shu was now sitting on a small seat between the two towers… Which slowly began to slide towards each other.

At first, it looked like Shu was going to be crushed, but the side panels moved aside and the boards inside each half started folding itself to accommodate for Shu's figure.

Before they could do anything, the two halves closed like an enormous, obsidian sarcophagus, engulfing Shu inside.

"…I want you to die", Shu finished.

The blue energy shield enveloped Shu in his machine, but it was what happened later that flabbergasted the Techs.

BlueThought rose into the air, growing plixelated legs from its joined pedestals, while each side sported arms ending with cannons aimed at the three teenagers.

"Guys, duck!", Hector shouted just as the robot's armed became encased in even brighter aura, charging their shots.

An explosion shook the building when the projectiles hit the place Zahra, Miko and High Five stood just a second ago. Hidden behind a wall, the three only had a moment to formulate a plan, listening as the machine slowly approached them.

"It's invincible! The whole machinery!", Zahra stated.

"Game over, man, game over!", Miko yelled when another blast shot a column next to them.

"Machinery…", Hector suddenly scratched his chin, "Well, it's time to respec!"

He punched a few buttons on his gauntlet and changed from wizard into an elf-like ranger with ludicrously ornamented bow… and fake, pointy ears.

"What are you doing?!"

"The pedestals! They had some physical lock! We can split it in half again!"

"And can you make the shot?"

Hector chuckled.

"Guys, I killed hundreds of dragons as prophecised Skyborn…"

He stood up, took a deep breath, drew his bow and leapt from their safety spot to the now-broken column.

"…this is a cake-walk."

He released the arrow mid-jump and a second later, he heard a satisfying metallic "cling" when the lock underneath the unshielded two halves of BlueThought became undone.

And when when he gracefully landed behind the column, the Glitch Techs were blessed with the sight of their enemy stumbling in place, as it became split open.

They cheered, but their enthusiasm was thwarted by two noises: a sparkling of electricity… and Shu's scream.

The two halves of BlueThought, though immobile, became linked with what looked like a net of constant sparks of electricity… one in which professor Shu was trapped in, still in his seat, at least until he f`ell backwards.

"We've got to help him!", Zahra rushed in, now the robot had no one to control it.

"That was easy. Good quick-thinking and nice shot!", Miko playfully punched Hector in his arm.

"He's alive.", Zahra stated, having checked Shu's pulse, "I'm gonna call 911, and you-"

But she didn't have time to end verbalising her plan when she heard an ominous, metallic "clunk" behind her back. She quickly turned around only to watch as the almost-split robot becomes sentient and mobile again, once more aiming its cannons at them.

"Oh, shoot, phase two, guys!"

Another blast hit the floor next to the three, forcing them to rush to the nearest corner.

"AH!"

Second explosion, from much more precise shot above their heads, and only thanks to Zahra's shield they were saved from falling concrete.

"Run!"

The three had to save their lives, but as they approached the exit, one of the columns fell right in front of them.

"Guys, we need to stop it! Otherwise we're toast!"

"Well then, eat some portals!"

Miko shouted, pointing her portal pistol to make the robot stumble into a hole she'd create… and watched in awe as the BlueThought effortlessly evaded it, continuing to waddle towards them.

"Uh, got any more arrows?"

By the time Miko asked, Hector has already sent a dozen of them towards the robot and screamed when BlueThought grabbed a piece of concrete from the floor and used Miko's portalled surface to send the arrows towards him.

Only Zahra's plixelated shield allowed them to duck and hide behind another colossal computer that has been toppled to the ground, giving them another second to catch breath.

"It's the Fishstick! It really can learn fast!"

"We need to unplug it!"

"Okay, so how to defeat a robot with the smartest thing ever in its seat?", Hector asked, outshouting another explosion.

And as he said so, a faint smile appeared on Miko's face. She brought her gauntlet, and to her friends' surprise, she summoned Ally.

"Zahra, remember the Turk?", she suddenly asked.

"Miko, there's time and place-", she yelled, keeping her shield up, with blasts exploding all around them.

"Well… what happens, if instead of a chess master you put the biggest chess dummy in?"

Miko continued, and hopped onto Ally's back.

Next second, both Zahra and Hector cried "NO!", as they both realised Miko's plan. She jumped from behind the makeshift barricade and rushed towards BlueThought.

"Remember guys…", Miko spoke, as she swiftly dodged the projectiles. She and Ally jumped to left and avoided two more rays by speeding forward. But Miko knew her luck can only last so long.

"I'm not a knight…", she spoke, hugging her bird, before she jumped into the air, watching as her partner gets trapped in a net, knowing her pain will only last a while.

"I'm just a pawn.", she finished, landing in the chair between two halves of BlueThouhgt.

Zahra and High-Five both shouted "No!" as Miko was engulfed by the two moving halves, but it was too late to change her mind.

Miko screamed, as she landed in the chair, blue sparks of electricity shooting through her. Zahra and Hector listened to it in horror, not knowing what was worse - their friend's agony… or the total silence that fell when the two halves fully entombed her.

Miko felt the pain only for a second,and then… she saw only darkness.

But then, out of the void came a voice.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

It was neither male, nor female, and it reached Miko only from her left side.

"Me? Who are you?"

"Wait, are you number one?", a second disembodied voice spoke, this time from the right.

"Heck yeah I am!", Miko burst, "At kicking your butts-wait, where do you have butts?"

"She is…", the first voice spoke again, "You are loss, aren't you?"

"What? I'm not lost, I'm exactly where I want to be!"

"No, I meant-"

"I'm inside you, so I can destroy you from inside! You haven't thought of that, huh!"

"Wait!", the second voice tried to intervene, but it was too late.Miko cracked her knuckles, and suddenly, the insides of the machine woke up to life, becoming encased in blue light.

"So let's start a new game…", Miko spoke, and the chessboard appeared in front of her, Pawn to… V26 - the Whojiwhatsit's opening!!"

"That is not a legal move!", the voices roared.

But it was too late. One of the pawns immediately flew off-screen.

"Next thing… The towers aren't tall enough! I put one tower on top of the other one!"

"Stop!"

"The Bishops… ooh, let's add some controversy, turns out they are in love!"

"How do you even-"

"The knight is a spy! Pawns are on strike, demanding better payment from the queen! The queen abdicates!", Miko kept shouting, watching as figures glitched and demolished the chessboard, sending more sparks everywhere.

"Please, for the love of Shannon-"

"And finally", Miko cracked her knuckles, "I want to upgrade my horse into a pegasus!"

It was an utter chaos. The figures moved on their own, the board itself cracked, and soon, the entire machine started emitting dangerously sounding, whirring noises.

"Oh, nerds."

Miko uttered theses words just seconds before the blue, electric aura filled the insides and grew, until it erupted, splitting the two halves of BlueThought in powerful explosion.

"MIKO!", Zahra and Hector cried, seeing her body fall back, just like Shu's before, and only thanks to their quick reflexes she did not fall to the floor, but landed in their joined arms.

"I… I really hate chess", Miko muttered, before she passed out, being swallowed by darkness again.

When she opened her eyes, Miko was standing alone on a chessboard, stretching endlessly into all directions of the black void she found herself in.

"Zahra? High-Five?", she shouted into the nothingness that engulfed her. But after taking a few steps, she saw the walls of the enormous room she was in: green, covered in strange, golden patterns.

And then it hit her: those were computer boards, dotted with square microchips, connected by embedded wires. In fact, she has only now realised that squares she's been walking on were processors as well - an endless sea of them…

But a sudden movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she started sprinting towards the left wall. A wall that now had a huge window, with someone moving behind.

"Hector? Zahra?", Miko repeated her plea, but quickly stopped. There was a boy behind, but he was enormous - or at least that's what Miko thought until she saw colorful patterns on the screen, which she understood she was staring at.

Realisation finally hit her again - she was inside an old arcade machine, and she was the size of an ant, looking at a regular-sized kid - a kid, who wasn't doing so well, judging by the words "Game over" that flashed on the screen.

"Dude, give me another quarter.", the boy addressed someone off-screen.

"Billy…you've been playing for hours.", a concerned voice of an older boy reached Miko. "Mom is gonna kill us'"

"Just one more, man! I've almost got it this time!"

The younger boy successfully bullied his brother into giving him money, and a moment later the screen was filled with primitive vector shapes that were meant to resemble spaceships.

But Miko was drawn to one of the microchips in front of her, one that inexplicably was glowing. As she approached it, Miko could read what was written on it: "ADDICTION".

But she was even more frightened when she realised that by walking towards this one, she has inadvertently stepped onto and activated others. The two that blinked under her feet read "HEADEACHES" and "NAUSEA". The results of her blunder could be heard immediately.

"Dude, I-I don't feel-"

The boy, clutching his head and stomach suddenly disappeared from view, but the retching sounds painted Miko quite a vivid picture of what happened there.

"Billy! Bill-oh god…"

"Oh nerds, oh nerds..", Miko muttered, crawling back, until she noticed what button she landed on, which made her sick.

"SEIZURES"

"Billy! Oh god, he's having-! Call 911!"

The furious face of an older boy appeared in front of the screen.

"It's that stupid game! It's all your fault!", he shouted staring directly at Miko.

"I'm sorry!", Miko started apologising, "That was an accident! I-I didn't mean to-"

But the boy did not hear her. Instead, the whole cabinet rumbled when he started punching the screen, cracks showing up with each hit.

Finally, he did it. His enormous fist broke through the glass, and went straight for Miko.

She started running away, but it was no use. The giant fist grabbed her and tossed her back into the black void.

She looked up, watching as the screen got smaller and smaller, until it disappeared completely.

She was falling, deep down the rabbit hole…

But when she finally landed, she thought her fall was quite a soft one.

In fact, she felt rather comfortable.

And then she heard voices again, but this time, very familiar.

"Miko? Miko! Finally, oh my goodness…"

As her eyes got used to the bright environment, Miko found her vision obscured by her parents engulfing her with a tight hug.

"Auch, auch, auch! Not enough disk space!"

"Oh, sorry, honey.", her mom quickly apologised, as the two gave her room to breathe.

She could then fully see the white hospital room she was in, though her eyes were quickly drawn to three other figures in the room.

Zahra, Hector, and to her surprise, Phil, stood at the back, all wearing smiles of deep relief.

"We came as soon we could", her dad explained, "When mister Phil told us about that printer accident."

Miko raised her brow in confusion.

"Printer accident…?"

But as soon as she said it, she noticed Zahra, Hector and Phil silently gesturing her to play along with various degree of subtlety.

"Oh, yes, printer accident! I guess that's what happens when they run out of cyan, magenta AND yellow at the same time. The darnedest things…".

"Listen, honey, we will be back in an hour."

"Meanwhile, here I grabbed something real quick: some spare clothes, some snacks, oh, your Snap, of course..", Miko's mom dropped an enormous bag in her laps, making her wonder what else does she want to bring…

"Th-thanks, guys…"

Phil grunted.

"Uh, mr. and mrs. Kubota…"

Miko's parents redirected their attention towards Phil.

"Thank you, mister Altiere. And thank you once again for helping our Miko."

"As I have said, you don't have to pay a thing. Hinobi is well prepared for compensating workplace accidents. They are very rare, but they do happen. But as I've said, I will take that burden away from you. "

Phil shook hands with Miko's parents, watching closely as they exited the room and disappeared into the elevator at the end of the corridor.

He then locked the door.

"…And by that, I mean I will mind-wipe any insurance agent, because I AM NOT PAYING A DIME FOR WHAT YOU THREE CLOWNS HAVE DONE!", he burst with rage, watching as Zahra, Miko and Hector flinch and cower under his rising voice.

"WHAT THE HINOBI HAVE YOU BEEN THINKING?", he continued his outburst, "That, what, you're gonna go to that museum, guns blazing and catch that Russian fella?"

"Azerbaijani, actually", Hector raised his hand.

"ZIP IT!", Phil turned his head so fast and shot Hector with glare so icy that the boy fell back.

"M-Mister Phil…", Zahra started, but Phil quickly barged in.

"Oh, don't think 'mistering' me will make things better."

Zahra swallowed loudly.

"Phil, we drove there to offer protection…"

"Oh, that worked like a charm!", he interrupted her, "1 on D20, critical failure: both parts of a priceless computer destroyed!"

"Destroyed?!", Zahra and Hector exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yeah, burnt to a crisp, nothing to collect. Good thing there was relatively little collateral damage to rest of the exhibit. At least by our standards."

"And what about Shu?"

"Locked in a private room above, a policeman guards him. A policeman I also had to mind-wipe…", Phil hid his face in his hands in shame, "Seriously, have you collectively lost your minds? Have you-"

But at the sound of that word, something stirred in Miko's mind, and she clutched her head, as a wave of migraine radiated through her forehead.

"Wait!", she spoke, gathering the attention of the others. "I-I remember something."

"Remember?", Phil raised his brow, "What do you mean?"

"Well, when I was inside the BlueThought, I heard… voices."

"Voices?", High-Five asked.

"BlueThought did not have voice synthesiser", Phil replied quickly, "Ironically, cos they were all the rage back then."

He stretched his arms and started moving like a robot.

"'SHAll-WE-PLAY-A-GAME?' and all that…", he finished, ending his routine. "But go on…"

"Well…", Miko shied away, somewhat stunned by Phil's quick rebuttal, "I-I'm not sure what was it, but I heard these two voices, and they asked me if I was 'number one' and if I was lost".

She took a deep breath.

"And-and then when I was thrown out I had a dream… more like a nightmare… I was inside an old arcade machine, and that machine was making a kid sick!"

Miko decided to omit the details, still painfully present in her memories.

"And I felt as if I was doing it… does that make any sense?"

She looked at Hector and Zahra, their faces painted with confusion and consternation, but they shook their heads.

But as she moved to Phil, she saw his eyes shift, giving the impression of him doing some quick thinking.

"It was a dream.", he stated, "You've said it yourself. And remember…"

Phil sat at the edge of her bed and gently took her hand.

"Electricity shot through your body, Miko. That would scramble anyone's mind. I am so glad you came out unharmed…", he spoke in much quieter and warmer voice, giving Miko a rare smile.

"Yeah…I guess I am lucky."

Phil stood up, causing the bed to bend back into its proper state.

"Okay, guys, I need to… still clean something up…", he touched his gauntlet, a faint grimace of disgust on his face, "Oh, and speaking of cleaning, you are ALL on floor cleaning duties FOR A MONTH."

He saw disappointment on Zahra's face, but to his surprise, Hector's brightened… though he quickly guessed why.

"And no, you will NOT be able to use your gauntlets to multiply and automatise the brooms, like in that old mouse-and-wizard cartoon…"

Hector's smile, predictably, faded.

"You know, that cartoon is from 1940", Zahra quickly added, "Computers weren't even a thing back then, and it perfectly portraits a glitch caused by badly closed logic loop."

"That's correct, miss Rashid", Phil turned towards her, granting her a polite smile.

But the pleasantries did not last for long.

"Oh, I am sorry, did you think being a smart-ass will get you out of the deal? Dream on. You are still on cleaning duties."

And with that, he turned around and burst out of the room, leaving the three Glitch Techs alone.

For quite a long while, neither of them spoke a word, leaving the room with almost perfectly sterile silence, finally broken by Zahra.

"Well… I guess we should count our blessings", she spoke softly, "We're not fired… nor in jail…".

"Yeah, now mopping the floor sounds good in comparison.", Miko countered.

Zahra and Hector's faces lightened up, hearing her joke. Next thing she knew, Miko was once again almost sapped of breath when the two put her into warm, tight hug, to which this time, she did not object.

"You have no idea how much we have worried…", Zahra spoke, tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

"But we are so glad you're back!", Hector finished, his voice also cracking slightly mid-sentence.

The three remained locked in the friendly hug, until Hector threw a proposition.

"Hey, since you have your Swap, do you wanna play some Flunkies?"

"Oh, heck yeah!", Miko and Zahra both exclaimed, and all three pulled out the portable consoles.

"I've heard a new DLC is out! They've added 50 new ones, and there are only 40 regional variants or completely messed up species!"

"So generous…"

And before they knew it, the three teenagers were engaged in fierce battles and trades, having put the stressful memories of the wild and life-threatening adventure well behind…

xxxx

Zahra clutched her head, watching in mix of awe and horror at the destroyed pieces on her side of the board.

"Okay… so, can I fire turrets from my tower?"

"Oh, good move!", Miko complimented her, watching as one of her pawns disintegrated, "But it's not going to help you, because…"

Miko cracked her knuckles.

"I have upgraded my horse into pegasus and it can fly across the board to your king!"

And as she said so, the horse-shaped figure grew wings and flew above Zahra's remaining pieces, knocking her king to its side.

"Check-mate.", she said smugly.

"Well… I'll give you that, this variant of chess is way more tricky than I thought."

"And that is just the tip of the iceberg", Ridley chimed in, speaking through the plixelated screen, "There are tons of mods for this game, just you wait until you see hyperbolic chess…"

"Yea, I'm fine, I will stick with regular chess…"

"Oh, speaking of regulars…"

Miko suddenly jumped from her seat and grabbed Hector that happened to be passing by.

"You two have a game to finish. And start, the more I think about it…".

And she left the two perplexed by her sudden behaviour. Miko fully expected either one of them to chicken out, so she was truly surprised when she heard Zahra's slightly quivering voice.

"Uhm, Hector, I-I've wanted to ask…. WILLYOUGOOUTWITHMESOMETIME?", she blurted, her knuckles getting white from clutching the table.

Hector blinked.

"Go out? Like, on a date?", he added, sheepishly.

"…yes…", Zahra answered, finally allowing herself to breathe.

"Uh, yeah, sure! That would be great. Where would-"

Hector's question was obscured by music from Miko's headphones, as she decided not to overstep the boundaries of her friends anymore. She simply smiled and returned to tagging items before the shop opens.

xxxx

Several hundred feet beneath her, Phil was shaking. Equipped with magnifying telescopic goggles, he examined the many boards of both parts of BlueThought, spread onto dozens of tables as if it was a carcass of unknown species, being dissected and catalogued.

"It can't be…", he muttered to himself, as he took a closer look at the Hinobi chipsets he located. The top was decorated with their old logo, a square divided into four smaller ones.

But it was the text underneath him that made him so horrified.

HINOBI Logic Of Sensory Starvation (L.O.S.S.) #2

He moved across the room to other half of the chess machine, and when he located the twin chipset there, the text read the same, but was indexed with "#3".

With a heavy "thud", Phil sat onto his swivelling chair and pulled the goggles up, revealing widen, bloodshot eyes.

"So SHE is number one…? But how?", he muttered to himself, as thoughts raced and crashed in his mind, producing more questions by the minute.

He grabbed his phone and selected Barbara's number.

But then he remembered the video. The video he's made as a warning to himself.

He remembered all the people, whose minds he had to mess with.

And the he wondered how many he couldn't remember…

No, he'd have to tackle this on his own, he thought.

He grabbed his cup and lifted it to his lips, but realised he's already drunk it all.

This was going to be a long day.

The idea for this fic appeared in my head after watching an episode of "Down the rabbit hole" about the Kasparov vs DeepBlue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwF229U2ba8

It is by no means a required reading, but so much references will become obvious.

However, I will list all the in-jokes here, for completionists.

"Upgrade horse" line, as well as tons of illogical commands later, when Miko is trapped in BlueThought, come as inspiration from BBC Three - Comedy Snacks sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgeYScYe8wI "Megachessatron" still makes me laugh.

Horse armor DLC - allusion to infamous TES 4 Oblivion DLC

Gambi Krasnysledin - stand-in for Kasparov; Gambi from gambit, 'krasny sledz' = red herring (in mangled Russian). Yes I took THAT from Dan Brown's "Aringarosa" character, shoot me.

The Turk: that thing was real https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_Turk

FishStick - parody of open source chess engine StockFish https://stockfishchess.org/

BIM = IBM, obvy.

"BlueJob", allusion to DeepThought's name being apparently read as "DeepThroat"

Gibibytes are real, look them up. Warning: it will get confusing.

"Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?" - Pinky & Brain

Prof. Shu = stands-in for Feng-hsiung Hsu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng-hsiung_Hsu, one of the creators of DeepBlue, who thought about printing controller for Chinese characters: http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Oral_History/Hsu_Feng_Hsiung/hsu.oral_history_transcript.2005.102657920.pdf

Sorry for making you the bad guy, mr. Hsu.

"Way better cartoon" refers to episode "First temple" of Amphibia, which in turn takes inspiration of chess match from "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" by NAME_EXPUNGED.

"Game over, man, game over!" - quote from "Aliens"

Skyborn = Dragonborn from TES 5 Skyrim. Plus Skyborn Altar is a location in the game

Miko makes a proper Knight's move riding Ally (one left, two forward)

"For the love of Shannon" https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_E._Shannon Claude Shannon was a mathematician and early computer scientist, who estimated lower bound of chess games.

The entire Miko's dream refers of course to Polybius, an urban legend arcade machine that was supposed to cause all those horrible effects on children, all in the name of testing new technologies by US Government. Polybius, or Bolypius is supposed to be the final boss of the show.

"Shall we play a game?" is a line from "War Games".

"Mouse-and-wizard cartoon" refers of course to "Sorcerer's apprentice", a Mickey Mouse short from 1940, part of "Fantasia". And I stand by what I put into Zahra's dialogue: this is a prime example of a glitch, I am genuinely surprised GT hasn't referenced it.

Flunkies are of course parody of Pokemon, Swap is Switch, but the line "They've added 50 new ones, and there are only 40 regional variants or completely messed up species!" is a double joke: on the surface level, it criticises Gamefreak, but it is also a reference to much well executed line in "Craig of the creek". In one episode Craig plays new Smash Bros-knockoff and says that "They have added 50 new characters and only 40 of them are recolours".

And finally… the old Hinobi logo, as well as the name of the chip, is based on loss.jpg.

Because you cannot escape loss.

#glitch techs #zahra rashid #miko kubota #hector nieves #nautiscaraderfics

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heliads · 4 months

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everything is blue • conrisa space au • Chapter Nineteen: Call Up the Cavalry

Risa Ward escaped a shuttle destined for her certain, painful death. Connor Lassiter ran away from home before it was too late. Lev Calder was kidnapped. All of them were supposed to be dissected for parts, used to advance a declining galaxy, but as of right now, all of them are whole. Life will not stay the same way forever.

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Connor fears that this might be the moment at which he finally goes mad.

He’s undergone enough to make the snap happen, at least. How much bending can a mind take before it breaks? How many separations, how much running, how much death and chaos can one teenage boy undergo before he starts to lose himself? Connor wouldn’t be surprised if this is all a hallucination cooked up by a brain that doesn’t want to separate itself from its familiar skull.

However, just why Connor would hallucinate this tithe of all people, he can’t understand. He stands there, blinking at the blond kid, until the figure of Lev Calder sighs, cracks a grin, and says, “Hey, Connor. Long time, no see.”

This, truly, is how Connor knows this has got to be fake. “Since when have you been friendly?” Connor asks doubtfully.

One of the teenagers next to Connor chokes out a laugh. “Lev, I thought you said you were friends with this guy.”

“I am,” Lev says, flashing the stranger a dour glare so severe that Connor is immediately thrust into more than a year of memories. Yes, that’s Lev alright. No one can cast judgment quite like a boy who’s worn tithing whites all his life.

Lev clears his throat pretentiously and motions for Connor to continue into the house. “Surprised to see me?”

“Surprised would be an understatement,” Connor remarks. “Do I have a concussion or something?”

Lev grins again. “I would make a terrible figment of your imagination, but that’s beside the point. No, Connor, you’re not dreaming. I should hope not, it’s taken ages to track you down. Hasn’t anyone told you to stop moving around all the time?”

“Yeah, the Proactive Citizenry,” Connor says wryly. “The two of you can argue over custody claims for me.”

Lev’s face tightens. “Trust me, there’s nothing I’d like to do more than poke a fight with the PC. They’re no friends of ours.”

Connor arches a disbelieving brow. “Really? Because the last time I saw you, you couldn’t get to a harvest colony fast enough. I seem to remember you arguing with Risa and I in an effort to turn the ship around when we saved your ungrateful ass.”

It’s difficult to keep the bite out of his words. Even though it’s been more than a year, Connor still hasn’t forgiven the kid for the stunt he pulled back in the boundary checkpoint leaving the OH-10 sector. When Lev had sounded the alarm, Connor and Risa had been forced to go on the run again, requiring the help of a sympathetic checkpoint worker for them to escape undetected. Even so, they’d barely made it out alive, and no thanks to Lev.

One of Lev’s friends doesn’t seem to take kindly to Connor’s hostility. He starts to move towards Connor, but Lev waves him off with a small gesture of his hand. Connor watches all this with faint curiosity– since when has the short tithe been able to inspire this kind of loyalty– but doesn’t say a word.

Lev picks up on his lingering irritation. “I wouldn’t blame you for being annoyed with me for how things ended in OH-10. None of us do,” he says smoothly, aiming a pointed glare at his vocal friend before carrying on. “I was a different kid back then. I didn’t know the importance of staying alive. I thought distribution was saving the world. Then I learned otherwise.”

Connor sits forward in his seat, unable to disguise his curiosity. “What changed your mind?”

Lev smiles softly. “Actually, I started having second thoughts the moment I turned you guys in. I couldn’t shake the guilt I felt, thinking that I had sent you guys to your deaths. I slipped away in the chaos when the checkpoint cops were trying to find you, and ended up hitching a ride on a mass transit shuttle. It was going to the farthest reaches of the galaxy, which I figured would be a good way to start clearing my head. Along the way, I met up with these guys. They call themselves the Chancefolk.”

Connor glances at the assembled group. None of them seem to be from the same place, all different heights and builds, different complexions, but the same haunted look in their eyes. Whatever they’ve been through, it’s been just as long and winding a road to walk as Connor’s.

“The Chancefolk?” Connor repeats. “I’ve never heard that name before.”

“I would be surprised if you had,” Lev tells him. “The Chancefolk are the native people of the galaxy. The group you see before you is only a small fraction of their true number.”

Connor turns to face him, startled. “I thought the Collective wiped out all of the native species from the worlds they conquered. People, plants, animals, everything.”

“Think again,” says a woman from the back. “The Collective would love you to believe that they’re the supreme authority on everything, but they couldn’t be more wrong. They miscalculated and mishandled the galaxy, but we’ve been maintaining the worlds all along. There are pockets of us in every system if you know where to look. We may keep our heads low, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look around and see where we need to be.”

Connor nods slowly. “I can’t believe none of us ever knew about you.”

“The Collective’s got a pretty good propaganda blanket across the galaxy, but I have a feeling that times are changing,” Lev tells him. “For one thing, you’ve got a friend who’s pushing that boundary.”

Connor breaks into a grin despite himself. “Don’t tell me you’ve been tuning in to Radio Free Hayden? Even in your outer rim hideaway?”

Lev chuckles. For a moment, he looks younger again, more like the boy Connor remembers meeting, and then promptly abducting, all that time ago at the beginning of it all. “Of course we did. That’s how I knew you and Risa were still alive, actually. I turned to his frequency one day and heard the three of you joking around like you’d never had a care in the world.”

The smile lingers on Lev’s face for a moment longer, but then his expression sobers again. “Speaking of Risa, where is she? From the way you two used to talk on that radio show, I thought you were joined at the hip, but you showed up here by yourself. Did something happen?”

A wave of grief washes over Connor again, even stronger from its absence. “Something bad. We were ambushed by the PC. She sacrificed herself so I could get away.”

Lev closes his eyes momentarily in grief. “I’ll pray for her. In the meantime, what do you say we break her out of there? We were planning a raid anyway. I think it’s time to show the PC that they’re not nearly as strong as they think they are.”

Connor nods excitedly. “I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do. In the meantime, there are a few things you guys should know about the PC before we draft a plan.”

The Chancefolk draw closer as Connor tells them about Dorian Heartland. He sees the outrage in their expressions, the pain and agony of knowing that their centuries-old foe is still alive. Judging by the steely resolve in their eyes, though, Heartland’s over-extended life may not continue for that much longer. Not if Connor has anything to say about it.

In the end, they walk away from that meeting with a plan. To take on Heartland and the PC, they’ll need an army. However, between the Chancefolk scattered across the galaxy and a fair number of personal friends that Connor and Risa have made along the way, they’re halfway there, and that’s not a bad start. First, though, they’ll need someone capable of uniting the worlds behind their cause, and he’s imprisoned in a harvest colony waiting to die.

“You’re certain this is going to work?” Connor asks for the tenth time. They’re approaching the exterior of the harvest complex now, nearing a service entrance at the back with weapons drawn, but even though they’ve been through the plan many times, all Connor can imagine are possible avenues of error.

“It’ll be fine,” Lev assures him yet again. “Listen, you saved my life when we first met, even if I didn’t appreciate it then. Let me help you out now. I’ve been owing you that favor for a while.”

“Don’t I know it,” Connor mutters under his breath, but he shuts up and lets himself believe in the idea that this might work.

Una Jacali, one of Lev’s closest friends among the Chancefolk, is leading the expedition. She looks as if she might be ready to assassinate Dorian Heartland herself using nothing more than her bare hands and raw anger should they accidentally cross paths. Connor never thought he’d say this, but he actually feels bad for the guy. Having someone as unbreakable as Una on your tail can’t be good.

Una signals to them, counting down from three with a free hand. When she lowers her hand, the explosives they’ve placed on the far side of the harvest complex go up in a fiery rage, drawing the attention of all nearby cops far away from them. The group sneaks through the service entrance and into the shadowy halls. Una and Connor fire at guards when they need to, but their path to the harvest colony is surprisingly clear, likely thanks to the inferno distraction still sending wailing klaxons through the complex.

“They’ll all be in the dorms thanks to the alarm,” Lev tells them. “We should head there now.”

“Remember, Hayden is our first priority,” Connor urges them. “Get everyone out, of course, but we have to make sure he’s safe.”

“Or at least his voice box,” Una supplies. “He can be shot in the leg and be fine.”

Connor shoots her a dour look. “The whole body needs to be fine, Una. He’s our friend.”

Una doesn’t acknowledge this with anything more than a raised eyebrow, which makes Lev clap a hand to his mouth in an attempt to silence his bout of laughter. “We hear you, Connor,” the former tithe says when he manages to get himself under control. “Hayden Upchurch won’t be harmed.”

Connor would appreciate a little more confidence on that front than just the word of Lev, but then again, the boy’s done this well in getting them thus far, he might as well have a little more faith. If anything, the religious upbringing in the younger boy would appreciate some good honest hope.

The group of rescuers breaks into the central portion of the harvest complex when the service corridor ends. Immediately, shots break out as several guards notice them. Evidently not every soldier had been sent to check out the disturbance.

“Go on,” Una urges Connor and Lev. “We’ll hold them off.”

Connor shouts his thanks, then takes off towards the dorms, Lev just behind them. Surprisingly, Lev manages to keep up, even despite his shorter stature. “Since when did you learn to run this quickly?” Connor asks, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice.

Lev chuckles. “A lot happened in the Outer Rim. I’ll have to tell you sometime, but the stories would take a while.”

There’s a dark glint in Lev’s eyes, one Connor doesn’t quite recognize from the short window of time they’d spent together a lifetime ago on the stolen shuttle of a Juvey-cop. Connor makes a mental note to sit Lev down once they get out of here and ask him just what in sunfire happened in the year since they last saw each other.

That is, of course, assuming they do get out of here. It is not lost on Connor that Heartland brought all the AWOLs from the Graveyard here to trap Connor once and for all. Although Connor and Risa already sprung that trap in the synth-park, there’s no telling if Heartland had a backup scheme that could be playing out right now. All Connor can do is keep running, and hope to all the heavenly bodies that this, at last, is something the immortal murderer didn’t see coming.

The two of them reach the door to the dorms. A quick blast from Connor’s gun sears through the lock, and he kicks it open. The door surges forward on its hinges, and hasn’t even opened all the way before Connor sprints through it. Kids are everywhere inside– sitting in the corner, talking in quiet voices, poking their heads out of doors, all of them staring at Connor with these wide eyes. It occurs to him that they might be afraid of him. When did he become something worth their terror?

Then a girl near him stands up with a start. “Connor?”

He recognizes her vaguely from the Graveyard, and although they never personally met, Connor seizes this opportunity to get back control of the situation. “Yes,” he says as loudly as he can, “It’s me, Connor Lassiter. From the Graveyard. I’m here to get you guys to safety. There are some men and women outside, they’ll help you to our shuttle.”

Too afraid to believe their good luck, no one moves at first. Connor takes a few more steps inside. “Come on, hurry. Unless you guys want to wait around and get distributed?”

That does it. The girl who’d spoken to Connor earlier hastens to the door, pokes her head out, then quickly waves to the rest of the distributes to get going. “He’s right, none of the guards can get us. Hurry, everybody.”

The teenagers follow the girl, pouring out of the dorms in a shouting, cheering wave of kids. Connor can’t help a smile as he watches the life spark back into their eyes. They’ve got a shot again, and he helped to give it to them. Maybe, just maybe, he can finally make up for what he’s done. He can reverse the tides. Little by little, Connor Lassiter can get back into the good graces of the universe.

Connor pushes further into the crowd, checking each face as he passes for Hayden or, with pitifully shrinking hope, Risa. He doesn’t really think Risa will be here, if he was in the mood for being honest with himself. She’s too important a prisoner for Heartland to just toss her in here with the rest. Still, it would make his rescue attempt very efficient if he could get both Risa and Hayden out of here in only one shot. He’ll have to suggest to Heartland that he re-organize his method of exterminating teenagers so Connor is best served by it.

The ridiculousness of that thought makes Connor smirk to himself as he wades further inside. It’s a little difficult to get through as everyone inside does their damndest to get out as fast as they can. Painfully, it reminds Connor of the mass stampede inside the doomed Graveyard when they had been found out.

Just like back then, too, Connor looks up across the crowd to find someone lingering on the outskirts, someone blond and tall who makes eye contact with Connor and breaks into this wild, bright grin that Connor hasn’t seen except in his nightmares in a very long time.

Immediately, Connor throws himself against the crowd until he’s in front of the boy. For a moment, he just stares, and then he wraps his arms around his friend, squeezing him until he almost thinks he’s forced the air from the other boy’s lungs.

“Hayden,” he says emphatically.

Hayden Upchurch, because of course it is he, hugs Connor back so hard that he picks Connor off of the ground entirely before letting him back down again. “Connor! Suns, I heard a few of the religious kids talking about how they got guardian angels when they died, but I didn’t think I’d get such a heroic one. I’ve got a poster of you up on my wall, do you want to see it?”

Connor chokes out a laugh, eliciting a proud grin from Hayden when they finally break apart. “Yeah, I totally believe that the PC let you have an Akron AWOL poster in their harvest colony. That’s such a bad joke, man.”

Hayden snorts. “They only allowed me to put it up because I promised I’d get them a signed copy. Do you carry a pen with you, or should I get one of my own? You know I have to honor my promises.”

Connor just grins. “How about you keep your promise to shoot those starspawn in the legs if you ever saw them again?”

“That sounds good to me, too,” Hayden assures him. “Now come on, I want to get out of here. I don't fancy the idea of spending any more time, even in these fine living conditions.”

Connor casts one last glance over Hayden’s shoulder, but the throngs of AWOLs have already started to disperse, and he doesn’t see a particular brunette girl anywhere. “Hayden– you haven’t seen–”

He can’t quite get the words out, but Hayden, careful as ever, figures out what he’s trying to say. He puts a sympathetic hand on Connor’s shoulder, gently but firmly steering him out of the dorms. “No, Connor. Risa isn’t here. I’ve been looking out for both of you in case either of you turned up, you know that, but she never showed. I’m sorry, man.”

“No problem,” Connor says with a heavy heart. “I didn’t really think she’d end up here, anyway.”

“The two of you split?” Hayden asks, surprised. “I thought you were together forever.”

Connor shoots him a questionable frown. “What in the stars are you talking about?”

Hayden chuckles, even as stray gunfire from the cops rakes towards them. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. The two of you were practically joined at the hip. It used to drive me crazy in the Graveyard, actually. Jeevan and I had a bet going on how long it would take the two of you to finally spill your lovesick little guts. Speaking of which, how long did it take?”

Hayden spares one quick glance at Connor’s face as the two of them run towards the exit and winces. “Don’t tell me you never said a thing. Connor, you’ve been leading that poor girl on for months.”

“It’s not that,” Connor protests. “And come on, seriously? A bet? I didn’t even realize I liked her until just recently.”

At the entrance to the service hallway, Lev joins them just early enough to hear the end of the conversation. “You’re talking about Risa, right? How they act like they’re supposed to be together forever?”

“Yes,” Hayden says emphatically. “Thank you.”

Connor sputters. “That’s absurd. Lev, Risa and I were arguing like crazy when you were there. Don’t join Hayden’s side, you have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You should absolutely join Hayden’s side,” Hayden says. “Hayden is always right.”

“He’s right about this,” Lev says as they race down the corridor. Then, to Hayden, “It’s the way they look at each other, right? They can’t stop staring. At first, I thought he had an eye problem or something.”

“Hey,” Connor complains, but Hayden just throws up his arms in victory.

“Exactly! The staring thing! Suns, they were hopeless. You’d think they got married years ago.”

“Can we please focus on getting out of here without dying?” Connor begs.

Were they anywhere but here, he’s certain he would have been ignored, but the rapid gunfire of Juvey-cops can derail any conversation. “Fine, but we’re definitely talking about this later,” Hayden warns.

“I’ll do my best to miss it,” Connor grumbles under his breath. Maybe he should have insisted that Lev stay back at the house, or told him that he wouldn’t ever get along with Hayden so he shouldn’t bother trying. Anything to avoid whatever surreal hell this is.

It takes a while to get all of the Graveyard AWOLs back to the house Lev’s friends are using as their hideout. The journey isn’t totally smooth, either: two Chancefolk and three distributes get shot as they’re running. Although the wounds aren’t life-threatening, every person with an injury is out of the final rescue, and Connor needs every single soul he can get so they’re not totally outnumbered.

Once back inside, Connor and Lev sit Hayden down to explain their plan. At the end, Hayden stares at both of them, obviously baffled. “I’m sorry, you want me to do another radio show? And that’s going to save the galaxy?”

Lev nods. “You would be surprised how many people can be saved just by hearing one voice. Or how many already have. You’re well known in the groups of people protecting AWOLs. What you need is to reach everybody else. Sound the alarm so they know it’s time to come out of hiding.”

Hayden shakes his head in disbelief. “This plan makes no sense. If the galaxy can hear me, so can the Proactive Citizenry. They’ll know we’re coming, and they way outnumber us, especially if we tell them when and where we’re attacking.”

“They already know we’re going to attack,” Connor assures him. “They knew that the second they took Risa. The only thing they’re not expecting is how many people are going to show up. If they hear your broadcast, fine. Heartland is assuming that everyone is going to brush it off again like they have all this time.”

“And we’re sure that they won’t just brush it off again?” Hayden asks, clearly dubious.

“I’m sure,” Lev answers. “I’ve been traveling all over the world since Connor convinced me to abandon my tithing. I’ve seen a lot of people in a lot of places, but everywhere, they’re starting to wonder if distribution is really the right way to go. We’ve got a serious chance now of changing their minds.”

Connor nods in agreement. “That’s the problem with Heartland, he’s gotten overconfident. He assumes that things will be the same way they’ve always been, but that’s not the case anymore. Times are changing, even if he hasn’t realized it yet. The time of distribution is over. We get to live again.”

Hayden whistles under his breath. “Damn, nice speech. Are we sure you’re not the one who should be making this broadcast?”

Connor chuckles. “Trust me, man, you’re the one with the star power. It’s your show, we’re all just along for the ride.”

Hayden’s bright spark of a grin shines again. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard a better thing. Out of curiosity, how in sunfire is my broadcast reaching the entire galaxy? I mean, my old signal barely made it a few star systems over. There’s no way I can reach everybody on my old tech, plus it was all blown up when the Graveyard went nuclear. Unless the two of you went scavenger hunting around that wreck, we need more comms equipment.”

“Consider that settled,” Lev says. “I’ve got some stuff from an anonymous donor, really nice gear. They’ll be able to hear you from Centerworld all the way to the outer reaches.”

Hayden rubs his hands together excitedly. “In that case, I think it’s time for a show.”

Lev takes the two of them to the room where they’ve been storing the comms gear. He informs them that the Chancefolk have been using this place as a home base for technology and missions operations, hence why so much equipment has been stored up. Hayden’s eyes light up when he sees the new gear, and can’t contain his excitement as he rattles off all the specs of this top-notch equipment. Several times, he has to be reminded that he’s not just here to sightsee, but actually record something.

At last, after some quick tune-ups and test runs, Hayden finds his old frequency and starts to talk. He planned out a loose script with them beforehand, mainly just a few talking points, but they’re more than happy to let Hayden run wild with whatever he comes up with. So long as it gets to the main conclusion in the end, of course.

“I’m not dead,” Hayden announces dramatically to the microphone, “That may come as a surprise to some of you, given the recent lapse in broadcasts, but Radio Free Hayden is still alive, and so am I. So are runaway distributes across the galaxy, or so I hear. Personally, I have Connor Lassiter to thank for my survival. We’re still alive. AWOLs, if you’re listening, I hope you’re still out there, still whole. I’m glad to be back, but I need something from you.”

Hayden takes a deep breath before continuing. “The Collective wants your pieces. All we did was live, and yet total strangers are perfectly willing to tear us apart just because our parents and State Homes gave the say-so. I know this is wrong, and so do you, listeners. However, for once we’ve got a chance to fight back. I need you all to come to Dandrich-IV. Yes, in Centerworld. We’re making a stand against the Collective, and that means we have to go to their home base. I’ll relay the coordinates in time, but I need everyone to show up and be willing to fight. I’m sure all of you remember Risa Ward, a good friend of mine and Connor’s. We need to save her life, listeners, just as she saved your lives by proving that AWOLs could exist out there in the open sky. She’s our friend, and she’s your friend. Let’s get her back.”

Hayden sends a nervous glance Connor’s way, but Connor just responds with a single thumbs up. Hayden’s doing great, now he has to send it home. “We were never meant to survive for long, you know. The Graveyard proved otherwise. Connor and Risa and I, we did our best to show you that we’re real kids, worthy of living even if someone decided otherwise. I know that we deserve to live. We all know it. The Collective is trying to make you think that the fate of the galaxy depends on all of us dying for the cause, but that’s not true.”

“There is nothing any of us can do. We are children. We are kids. As a species, it takes us years to be able to tie our own shoelaces. We’re not even able to drive a hovercar until almost a fifth of our life has gone by. Why, then, is it that the burden of fixing an entire society falls to us? Maybe it’s because we’re the only ones left to care. We’re going to die anyway, listeners. We might as well die doing something worthwhile. Follow me to Dandrich-IV. We’re going to make a stand. We will be heard. And if we lose our lives out there, at least it’s more living than we would have done if we’d been distributed at the start.”

Connor’s heart is pounding in his chest. Surrounded by his equipment, Hayden’s lip curls. “Besides, our enemy won’t understand what it’s like to fear for his life. Did you know that the head of the Proactive Citizenry hasn’t been honoring his promise to only give distributed parts back to the galaxy? The CEO of the PC is a man named Dorian Heartland. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s been around since old-Earth days. He’s been cheating death by swapping out his own rotting parts with fresh ones from kids. To all the adult listeners out there, do you think your children deserve to die so some rich guy out there can have eternal life? To the new generation, do you want your life to go to some man who’s already had more than his fair share of lifetimes?”

“We’re taking back our lives, listeners. We’re winning the war. I want to see you at the gates of the PC. I want you to make a change that generations after us will remember. I’m sending you the coordinates now. If you believe in life, I’ll meet you there. One last time, I’m signing off with everyone’s favorite tune. And remember– the truth will keep you whole.”

With that, Hayden decisively presses the button to end his recording. The grainy beats of some old-Earth song fills the room. Hayden closes his eyes, basking in the sound, his chest rising and falling dramatically. Connor, too, feels as if he’s undergone some great physical exertion, and all he was doing was listening.

When the last bars of the song fade from Connor’s ears, he breathes out unsteadily, not sure what to do in the face of this sudden stillness. “That was incredible,” he says.

Hayden cracks a tired grin. “Thanks. Good to know I haven’t lost my touch.”

Lev shakes his head in awe. “Not a chance. Man, if you hadn’t been slated for distribution– if you could have lived a normal life– you would have made a killing as an actor or something. You’ve got a knack for speeches.”

Hayden’s face twists. “A lot would have happened if we’d had normal lives. You’d still be with your families. I’d be with mine. They had a lot of rich actor friends. Maybe they would have sent me into that life. Who knows.”

Connor’s heart sinks at the grief plainly written on Hayden’s face. “A lot would have changed if we were never supposed to be distributed. We probably never would have met. I’d be a completely different person.”

“So would I,” Lev echoes hollowly.

“So would I,” Hayden repeats, his voice distant and toneless. All of a sudden, his head snaps up, and he makes eye contact with both of them in a row, quick and fierce. “I’m glad we met. I didn’t want to die, obviously, but I’m glad to have you guys. And Risa, and Jeevan, and everybody else. I wouldn’t trade this life for anything, but I do want to end the circumstances that brought us together. It doesn’t mean I like you guys any less, just that–”

His voice breaks off unevenly, but Connor can fill in the gaps. “Just that no one else should have to die even though we lived.”

“Exactly,” Hayden says.

Lev nods slowly. “We’ve got a chance to turn things around. All we have to do is wait and see how many people heard your signal.”

Although he hates to break the tentative peace that’s settled over them, Connor still has to ask: “What if nobody comes?”

Lev looks at him with grim determination. “Then we go in alone, and save Risa or die trying. We won’t hide in the shadows anymore. And if we die in there, then our blood is on the hands of everyone who didn’t participate. Maybe that’ll move them even more than Hayden’s speech.”

The back of Connor’s throat is raw like acid, but he makes a sound of agreement. Lev is right. Whatever happens from here on out, Connor will still go into Dorian Heartland’s center, and he will find Risa. Maybe he’ll have an army at his back, maybe he’ll only have a couple of friends. But Risa will be found, and for once, Heartland won’t have the last laugh. That, at least, he can guarantee.

They allow themselves a couple of standard hours for everyone to show up. As it turns out, they don’t have to wait that long. Within half an hour, ships are already starting to tune up. Voices are popping up on Hayden’s frequency, different people chartering trips together or announcing that they’ll be meeting Hayden on Dandrich-IV. It occurs to Connor, listening to all of these strangers he’s never met saying that they’ll follow him to death or salvation, that he may have started a revolution, or at least helped build a spark into a blaze.

If this inferno consumes them all, at least Connor’s last hours will have been something bright, something beautiful. He’s had an awful lot of time to run and hide. At some point, he has to turn that restless energy into a fight. Now is the time.

He’s interrupted from his reverie by Lev running into the room. The younger boy can hardly manage a word, too excited by something outside. He gestures for Connor to follow, and Connor doesn’t need any extra encouragement, breaking into a run as the two boys hurry from the room.

Lev leads Connor to the door of the house, then pushes it open. Connor stands for a moment on the threshold, blinking in the light, staring in abject astonishment at all of the faces looking expectantly at him. Some are strangers. There are adults and children, bodies young and old. Some bear the wounds of previous fights. Others wear clothes so nice Connor is certain that they must have come from Centerworld itself. All in all, there are dozens of people scattered around the road leading to their hideout, maybe even hundreds, and more arrive by the minute.

“So many people,” he chokes out in a daze.

Hayden emerges from the house by his side, holding up a hand to wave to the gathered crowds with a dazzling grin. “Turns out a lot more people believe in the cause than you think. Still having trouble believing that we’ll win?”

“Not anymore,” Connor manages. “I mean, I didn’t even know that many strangers knew who I was.”

“They’re not just strangers,” Lev corrects.

And, looking out at the throngs of people, Connor realizes that he’s right. Shading his eyes from the sun, he recognizes Bam, Mai, Diego, and the rest of the group that had saved him when Heartland first tried to get to Connor. He leaves his friends at the doorstep, weaving through the crowds until he’s in front of them.

“You guys came,” he says in a daze.

Bam nods impatiently, although she can’t seem to hide a proud grin. “You kept your promise.”

“Plus, someone wanted to meet her hero,” Mai adds. Bam elbows her in the ribs, but the embarrassment on the girl’s face shows some truth to the statement.

“Go talk to him,” Connor encourages. “Hayden always likes meeting new people.”

He doesn’t stick around to see if Bam goes or not, distracted by another face in the crowds.

At first, he can’t quite place the old woman in the security uniform, but then she sighs deeply at the confusion on his face and the name instantly comes back to him. “Sonia?” Connor asks in astonishment. It’s the woman who rescued him and Risa at the OH-10 boundary checkpoint.

“Don’t look so surprised, boy,” Sonia says irritably. “I saved you once before, I assumed I’d have to do it again. Didn’t expect this sort of support, though.”

For once, the perpetual glower on her face lightens into a half smile. “I’m proud, Connor Lassiter. This change is a long time coming.”

“It is,” Connor agrees. Another figure emerging from the crowd calls his attention yet again, and he heads past Sonia to come to a stop in front of one particular cyborg that Connor never thought he’d see again.

At first, all of Connor’s systems go on high alert. Then, before Connor can even ask what in sunfire he’s doing here, Cam holds up a mechanical hand and answers the unspoken question, “I’m here for Risa, not for you. Trust me. She saved my life by getting me off the planet. I need to return the favor, and for real this time. In all honesty. To be completely genuine.”

Connor chuckles. “I think we’re in agreement there.”

He spins in a slow circle, still surprised by all of these faces smiling at him, ready to go to war so that he and every other teenager there can live. When he stops moving, another person has replaced Cam.

Connor’s heart lurches in his throat. “Grace,” he says. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

Grace Skinner taps her fingers together, her expression as practical as ever. “I didn’t know either,” she answers honestly. “I think it’s good, though. That man has to pay for what he did to Argie. He killed my brother. I want to be part of the group that kills him. It’s only fair.”

“That sounds good to me,” Connor admits. “And Grace– I’m sorry. Even still.”

“I know,” she tells him. “Let’s get our revenge, then.”

A careful smile rises to Connor’s lips. This emotion coasting over him in waves isn’t happiness, not exactly, but it feels pretty damn good, too. Looking around at all of these people, the Chancefolk talking to Lev, the crowds of old friends from the Graveyard, the AWOLs and adults who have united under this one banner, Connor realizes that he’s finally got his army. The only thing left, then, is to get his girl.

Dorian Heartland has no idea what’s about to hit him.

unwind tag list: @locke-writes, @reinekes-fox, @sirofreak

all tags list: @wordsarelife

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lorei-writes · 4 months

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Hello there please can I have 🦋🦷☁️🌸❄️🧸🍬🍄🍓 Thank you Have a nice day 😘😘

Hello, hello! >:)

I hope your day is lovely too <3 Mine... Well, it could have been better, but it's not the worst either. :')

❄️has been answered here.

Ask game

🦋 ⇢ share something that has been on your heart and mind lately

Recently I've been thinking about how success is measured in the era of social media.

Call me a fool, but I consider myself extremely fortunate and successful, even if it is not reflected in any easily quantifiable manner. I am yet to be an object of anon hate in its pure form (meaning a hateful comment rather than something unreasonable), but at the same time I have received messages saying that my writing was meaningful to somebody. I am surrounded by wonderful friends who look out for me and who I can (and do) build things together with. The projects I'm involved in (such as @flash-exchange and @writing-wednesday ) give people joy.

I do not know how to express my gratefulness in words.

🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on

... Remember that very few things in life are final or otherwise permanent. Appreciate the good while it lasts. The bad? Live through it and do not despair. It will end. It always does.

Likewise, don't grow attach too much meaning / consequences to things. They often matter much less than our minds would have us believe.

☁️ ⇢ what made you choose your username?

'Lorei' is a keysmash I did when I was, what, 10 or so? It stayed. -writes is fairly self-explanatory.

🌸 ⇢ do you have any pets? if you do, post some pictures of them

I do! I have four cats and a dog. (Three cats are more attached to me than my family, though. One cat treats my mom as her owner, and the dog... Well. The dog has chosen my father and brother. But mostly my father.)

However, I don't have any pictures of them on my PC :')

🧸 ⇢ what's the fastest way to become your mutual?

Talking to me like to any stranger you'd like to get to know better. If we click, we click; if we don't -- we don't.

There's nothing more to it.

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

Chevalier Michel can be a big dum-dum at times, and it definitely shows. (Chevie, you idiot, what do you mean you forgot to tell your fiancee that the imperialism plan is abandoned; It's adorable sometimes, though. He can remain this peculiar kind of stupid. Especially when he takes Clavis' teasing to heart.)

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

Keith and Maeve would maintain a herb garden together.

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction?

Things in my life weren't going so great, I ran out of fanfics to read, and I started feeling bad about talking my friend's ear off with Sen. So I started my blog, and then things followed fairly naturally -- some ideas just needed to be let out.

#answered #queengiuliettafirstlady #ask game

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jeffgerstmann · 1 year

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why does playstation still outsell xbox 2:1? is microsoft STILL paying for the 2013 drm debacle?

I think that's probably part of it, but I'd probably look at the entirety of the previous generation, not just the DRM shit. The Xbox One was an under-powered piece of tech. The PS4 did great, they had smart initiatives to court indies that also helped earn them a lot of goodwill, and all of that is still paying off for them this time around. Sony also has games and first-party franchises that people want to play, and unlike Microsoft, Sony has been able to produce and ship a pretty decent number of those games already. People used to always talk about how games like Uncharted and most of the first-party games were big, but not necessarily as big as Sony felt they could/should be, but even if that's actually true, those games add up. In a world where the differences in hardware between the two machines are kinda minor, being able to say HERE ARE OUR BIG EXCLUSIVE GAMES matters. Sony's also been pretty smart about which games they go after. Surely getting Final Fantasy would be enough to sway some number of people to buy a PS5 over an Xbox Series X.

I also think Microsoft probably needs to be smarter about advertising and educating the mass market about Game Pass? Like do people even know it exists? I guess I'm not the best judge of that since I don't really watch any TV at all, but like... there should be big Game Pass ads on sports games and shit like that. For the mainstream game player who kinda operates on a budget and has a different mindset than the "core" "player," I would think that selling them on "the Netflix for video games" or whatever would be kind of a no-brainer.

In short, Sony has better third-party support, particular with Japanese developers, and their first-party games seem like they're really resonating with people in a way that Microsoft's simply aren't anymore. Maybe Call of Duty or Fortnite are factors here, and their rise helped lower interest in things like Halo or Gears of War? Regardless, it really feels like Microsoft's first-party teams just don't have what the masses are looking for anymore and with due respect to Forza, Starfield is their only big bet (that we know of).

All of that said, though... Microsoft's fortunes in gaming have been spread out. Their first-party games appear on PC and even in third-party stores like Steam. Some percentage of people who might've bought an Xbox are now realizing they don't need to buy one at all. Microsoft has more or less said that they're OK with that trade-off, but it sure does make a lot of these comparison points look rough for them. Ultimately we don't really know what "success" looks like for the Xbox division anymore because their business is more diverse and weird than it used to be (or, to compare, the Xbox business turns on different metrics than Sony's does). They've always seemed like they're taking the long view on things, for whatever that's worth.

#video games

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12pt-times-new-roman · 1 year

Text

y'all I'm not fucking ready for this.

How many weeks in a row is this with no DDB sponsor?

Matt is dressed in Ruidus colors. fear

personally? I think it would be very funny if somebody replaced Liam's chair with one that's a foot shorter than everyone else's.

I'm fully expecting Ira to be a Garmellie/Artagan situation. This motherfucker is an archfey slumming it on Exandria and ancient god-killing wizard dilfs are his dive bar of choice.

Ira was around for at least one previous apogee solstice, but he was in the Feywild when it happened so he didn't get to see the true extent of is power.

"What do you think about the gods?" "I don't think about them." good answer, good answer

Aberrations and other "mythological creatures" born on solstices (even normal ones) are particularly powerful.

The circlet prevents Imogen from hearing the thoughts of people around her. It just eliminates that entirely. And with it goes most of the reasons she'd have to side with Ludinus and Otohan. Truly the peak of non-wizard mortal hubris, to consider killing the gods before looking for an item or a spell to solve your problem first

Sending to Keyleth from Imogen: "We're a couple hours out, to the southwest. Are we meeting up? Just going for it? Help?" "I'm gathering those of able-body who recovered from our last endeavor. I'll look for a tree. Let me know when you need the cavalry; our arrival isn't quiet."

"I go over and give Fearne a big hug." "Aww—" "I reach into her pocket." never change, Ashton

A ways out from the crater, the Bells Hells come upon a structure in the storm — the wood and stone wreckage of a skyship that carried a cathedral on it. It's mangled and burned; the brumestone has been scavenged. It looks recent, and the outer hull is covered in mounts for heavy armor, harpoons, and cannons, but it was brought down by battle on the deck, not by massive damage to the outer hull. The iconography indicates that it was from Vasselheim, possibly a Judicator ship.

jesus fucking christ. Matt could not say "DO NOT GO THROUGH WITH CRASHING THE SHIP" any more clearly.

if that dispel pulse is shutting down the automatons briefly, then maybe it's not actually intentional. maybe it's a by-product, an unintended consequence.

it never ceases to amaze me that without fail and across all of his characters, Travis manages to be both the voice of "fuck it we ball" and the person who slows down combat to calm players.

like, does CritRoleStats keep track of how many combat encounters each PC has started? bc Chetney has got to be up there with Imogen this campaign

this battle music has the same opening notes as the 2001 theme and now I can't hear anything else

The spellcaster has a +6 spell attack, but also cast hold person at 5th level and did 15 damage on a fire bolt, so they're most likely 9th level with a +2 spellcasting ability modifier.

Ashton rage build update: 2 on the d4 is the space build (portals!). they took the Crusher feat for their 8th level ASI. also, when the space build is active, they can use portals (either as a bonus action or as a result of hitting a creature or as a result of bringing a creature to 0 hp) to teleport to any space they can see within 30 or 60 feet of them.

As a reminder, shock flare is a reskin of arms of hadar, but it pushes creatures away instead of preventing them from taking reactions and deals lightning damage instead of necrotic.

Tal saying "five foot step" gave me hella flashbacks to Pathfinder 1e

"Well, I don't get to choose, do I? Let's just go with it." god fucking damnit. Ashton's rage abilities and how fucking random they are is so poetically and narratively intwined with the themes of this campaign, it's wild

it will never not amuse me that Matt, without fail, misunderstands the way the command spell works. it's super minor and not a big deal but as someone with a DM who's pretty on-top of it, it's very funny

Imogen gets pulled into a tent by a very quick and quiet force.

"Who are you, and why are you fighting the Vanguard?" "I've got friends coming in. Friends or enemies?" "I asked you first." "The question isn't why! It's 'are you fighting too'?" "Who are you with?" "

oh my god of fucking COURSE there are already infiltrators in here. of course there are. why wouldn't there be? Ryn didn't come here alone.

BEAUREGARD???

BEAUREGARD!!!!

y'all you have no fucking idea how excited I am——

"He can go say hi to the rest of his friends we've put there [in jail]." how fucking many of the Cerberus Assembly are in jail now? we know Trent is in there but who else?

CALEB!!!! blorbo!!!

"So. What's the play here, Beauregard?"

They're both friends to the Verity, and they've worked with Ryn before. They came here with her, trying to do a recon mission before she was taken.

The Children of Malice are a front for the Ruby Vanguard.

Caleb and Beau saw the other skyship go down. It was from Vasselheim. The Vanguard struck the skyship from the sky at Ludinus' request, though Caleb hasn't seen any sign of Ludinus being in the crater for many days. But the perpetual dispel pulse was intentionally installed.

Caleb, Beau, and Ryn were all on the Shadowfell team — they were able to damage the key, but unable to completely destroy it.

Caleb refers to Ludinus as the most powerful of the assembly, "the one who could topple it all" if he goes down. He and Beau came here alone;

The entire site is illusion-proofed, there's a dispel wave every minute. There are also mage-hunter golems here, which we've only ever heard of existing inside the Heirloom Sphere. I am forcibly reminded of the fact that Ludinus Da'leth is aware of the Happy Fun Ball.

"The absolute, absurd amount of muscles she has—" "Like Marisha?" *raised eyebrow* Matthew. (fuckin' simp (affectionate))

Ludinus has been reverse-engineering Aeorian technology and using distilled dunamis energy to power it, with multiple mesh-like power sources. He's "obsessed" with divinity and appears to be "counting on opposition, which makes [Beau] uneasy."

"What's dunabis?" "...there isn't time to lecture. It's a very obtuse form of magic that exists between the fabric of all other forms of power. It's one of the oldest and most fundamental forces within Exandria and beyond. It can alter time, space, probability, entropy — it is dangerous in the wrong hands, and unfortunately, a very strong source of it has been in the hands of Ludinus and the Assembly for some time." The 'very strong source' is presumably the beacon, which Ludinus has had since 835 PD.

The Cobalt Soul has been trying to nail down Ludinus for a long time, but "he's always one step ahead."

Caleb specifically refers to dunamis as chaotic, referencing Ashton.

Ludinus has apparently been doing this outside of the Assembly. Caleb's contact in the Assembly (Astrid, presumably) notes that even the rest of the Assembly is afraid to get involved in Ludinus' plans.

Halas, Trent, and "Bendathar" are in Beau's list of archmages they've fucked up.

Hey! Beau knows the Ashari! that's cool. She also knows Ira and his history of designing the keys.

There are dozens of mirrors and hook-like spires facing toward the key itself. Everything is reinforced with a massive amount of residuum — the device, the walls of the excavation site, and everything beyond. "An all-out assault would be far too dangerous." Caleb gives a sending stone to Chetney, who gives it to Laudna, under the assumption that the groups are going to split up to cover more ground.

given the fact that the solstice didn't actually happen this episode and that the Mighty Nein and the Crown Keepers are now attached to this, I feel like my "PFS2 special scenario" theory has some more merit

Beau disappears, Caleb goes invisible (they both start to circle around), and the Bells Hells start to descend the crater.

also, last minute update: Fearne would have flirted incessantly with both Beau and Caleb.

threads that have connected in this episode:

Missing residuum shipments: the malleus key and its surroundings are reinforced with residuum. that's a massive amount; it's possible that Trent's supply of residuum, the stuff the Nameless Ones stole, and the stuff the Paragon's Call were trafficking were probably all going here.

The Cobalt Soul and the Cerberus Assembly: It takes a long, long time to dismantle political systems. The Cobalt Soul has apparently imprisoned more Assembly members than just Trent.

Out-of-the-blue rolls: Those random rolls Matt had Marisha and Liam make were indeed rolls for the Shadowfell expedition that Beau, Caleb, and Ryn were involved with. They rolled shitty, so the Shadowfell key wasn't entirely destroyed, but was damaged.

#critical role #critical role c3 #critical role campaign 3 #critical role spoilers #critical role c3 spoilers #note watches c3 #drunkposting #(after the break)#yall you have no fukcing idea how excited I am at the fact that Beau and Caleb are back #Matt's voicing of them is so perfect #(I've been rewatching C2 so it's fresh in my mind)#MY BLORBOS #and just to put it out there #because it's Thursday and we're being eccentric #I find Beau as a character fucking INSUFFERABLE for the first 40-odd episodes of C2 #but that's part of why I love her so much. she grew so much.#Caleb is and always will be my c2 blorbo (I headcanon him as adhd/autistic) so beau's conflict with him was triggering for me in early M9 #but after c2e48 it got significantly better and by c2e84 she's up there with my favs of the M9 #but that's just my 2 cents and this implementation by Matt is AMAZING I LOVE IT SO MUCH

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