FINAL TRIAL

[strangerpeople]

FINAL TRIAL

[The doors at the other end of the city do not open for the Titled. However, whatever is going on in there still brings forth bright lights from within, and ultimately, it is to the steps of the entrance that everyone is drawn to. It's not the most formal setting for figuring out the truth of the matter before them.

Eric's brought the snacks, at least.

The Dragonborn sits at the top of the stairs, looking down as everyone congregates.]

...Having this key...I am certain I can open the door with little difficulty. But before I do we must make certain we know and understand exactly what we will be facing. What we are facing. These people...they are doing something and we must ensure we can somehow stop it.


[The end is near. The objectives of this quest are simple:

Who is the Mastermind? What is going on in this world? And...of course...why did the Mastermind want to kill 15 strangers?

Good luck, Titled.]

Comments

[intercessing]

Arniel...oh, that...!

I know who the arch-mage was who helped him.

[carries_war]

Any idea which side of this they're gonna be on?

[intercessing]

...Well, I was hope I would be on your side, Jr.

[A little wry, but.]

[carries_war]

You mean...you're the arch-mage he meant? And this experiment is another thing you should know about but had ripped out of your memory?

[intercessing]

[A sigh.]

Yes, I became arch-mage due to the death of the previous one. I...still don't recall the particulars, though my memory is returning of things.

I don't remember the particulars of the experiment, either, but...I remember how it ended.

[carries_war]

I'm guessing from the abrupt end to the notes that it didn't go well, but...what happened?

[intercessing]

Simply? He disappeared, leaving only the remains of his experiment behind.

[carries_war]

Could've been a hell of a lot worse, then. I'm guessing whoever's behind this looked through his notes and tried again...only this time, they actually got something.

[intercessing]

But, you aren't Dwemer and the result from his recreation didn't yield anything other than disappearing. How?

[carries_war]

I dunno. Obviously they did something different. Not necessarily right, but different enough to bring us here instead of sending them...wherever the hell that Arniel guy ended up. I can't really hazard much of a guess what at this point, though. I only studied multiverse theory as one of the possible explanations for the origin of the Gnosis back home.

[intercessing]

'Multiverse'?

[...They are just asking for trouble aren't they]

[carries_war]

It's short for 'multiple universes'. Back home, there's a theory that there are multiple versions of the Real Numbers Domain, what you'd think of as the physical world. This is the first anyone's proven it, but all of us are from different universes. Different realities.

[Just be glad you asked him and not one of the Vector scientists.]

[thiscomicsucks]

Not exactly for me - the multiverse is an accepted fact in my universe. Mirror universe included.

Though it also begs the question as to what kind of universe this is that someone could just summon us all without us even realizing it or even leaving a trail of us getting here. Normally that kind of thing takes a lot of energy and it would leave something for others with sufficient technology to follow.

And, uh, no offense, Intercessor, but I doubt this world has the kind of technology that could mask something so momentous.

[carries_war]

Each world seems to have its own technology and problems. Back home, Imaginary Space and the Zohar were the big things people were studying.

But that's beside the point. It goes against my instincts as a scholar, but we've gotta keep in mind we're not just looking at technology here. It's possible they have magic that can reach into other universes and either obscure or block the path.

[thiscomicsucks]

Yeah, but even so, magic isn't exactly an infinite source for someone, either. At some point it has to run out or the person using it burns out.

[carries_war]

You sure? It might be different if they were sitting on top of an artifact of the gods that was meant to shape creation, don't you think?

[thiscomicsucks]

Not necessarily, especially if they couldn't handle it. It's as the Evil Overlord List put it: never consume an energy source bigger than your head, no matter how tempting unlimited power is.

[carries_war]

I was thinking less like consuming, more...siphoning. It's like the Zohar emulators: damn dangerous if handled carelessly, but if you know what you're doing, you've got a near limitless source of power. And the kinds of people who have to be reminded not to consume an energy source larger than their heads, are the kinds of people who aren't going to think about what if it goes wrong.

[thiscomicsucks]

Eh, true...though we prefer to call those people dumbasses.

I guess siphoning makes sense, but...I don't know, it just feels weird that you could do that and have it affect entirely different universes.

[carries_war]

We don't really know enough about how these Towers and Stones work...though a blockage in their tunnels could work from either end. Bringing us here in the first place, though...that's tough. Especially since just passing through Imaginary Space brings you into contact with U-DO, and there's no way something like him wouldn't also occupy the border of the universe.

[thiscomicsucks]

That's what I'm saying. Bringing us here without a trace is incredibly difficult, even for someone with access to god-like powers. There would be some energy residual that either a sufficiently advanced technology, or...if you're a magic world, a wizard or witch of sufficient power could sense.

I mean, hell, my Earth's tech is nothing to write home about and I'm a novice when it comes to magic, and even we could figure out when an Elder God from another reality was screwing with things!

[carries_war]

Ripples in space-time and anomalies in the UMN are easy to pick up, yeah. But for all we know, someone actually has found it, but they just can't get through. Just because you can find a distortion doesn't mean you can open it...hell, it took a localized Phase Transfer Cannon blast just to tear through the force field Albedo was using to hide the Song of Nephilim.