Guardtower Session 011 - Cause and Effect Javert, a Graceful Jack who Rides the Lightning, Lor, a Mad Nano who Travels Through Time, and Rez, a Tough Glaive who Masters Weaponry. They fight some Murden in a field of hovering green pyramids with changing symbols on them. Touching a pyramid and concentrating on one of the symbols teleports you to another one in the large field of them. After defeating a handful of the crow-abhumans, they figure out the system, but must leave when 20 more Murdens show up. They recover some cyphers. Following a path into a small wooded canyon: Out of the corner of your eye, you catch a glimpse of a glowing shape in the air. It lasts for a split second, then disappears. This continues to happen on and off. Walking further, you begin to see strange symbols, diagrams, and writing made from glowing light of various colors. Some are recognizable as math and geometry formulas. They appear and fade continuously, but some warp into mind blasting, impossible objects of uncounted dimensions. Their intellects are assaulted by the strange images. Lor actually internalizes one of the chaotic symbols, retaining it in her mind, beating the effect. They eventually pass through what must be a large ring of the phenomenon. In a clearing stands a 10 cube, transparent, with swirls of green symbols, math formulas, and geometry diagrams inside. They find a man sitting on a log, fiddling with a shin (coin). There is a stick leaning against the log next to him, and he has drawn hash marks in the dirt. He says he has flipped the coin 49 times, and it has come up heads each time. He is afraid to flip it again. They each try with a coin. Everyone but Lor gets repeating results. Lors remain random. A voice from the cube whispers, Lor. Lor, unable to help herself, reaches out and touches the cube. She vanishes. The others decide to try to follow, and touch the cube as well. They enter a large complex of hallways and rooms, all made up of smaller cubes, all of which display various writing, math and geometry diagrams. Occasionally, a symbol will warp, but not as bad as outside. They eventually come to a white room containing a black monolith, whos surface swims with equations. A beam of light hits each character in turn, reading their minds. A voice says each name in turn. When Lors is said, the voice says, Of course, YOU would be here. They ask the monolith what it is. I am a guardian. What do I guard? The most dangerous object in this universe. If it can be called an object. Almost an idea, really, an idea made manifest. What keeps it contained? Knowledge. Evidence. Motion. Entropy. Change. Purpose. Yes, Purpose. Above all. The only thing that can hold it in check. Reason. Im afraid Im not quite what I used to be. Time will do that. Is that what its using? Time? Nth geometry? Some logical fault line of cohesion, frayed at the ends by poorly understood philosophical principals? Paradoxical poetry of positively polarized particles pushed past postulation? From time to time, the surface of the monolith changes abruptly to roiling lines of force, a chaotic swirl that hurts the mind. They probe further, asking about the nature of what it guards. Long ago, beings, somewhat like yourselves, probed into the mysteries of the universe, the fundamental laws underlying reality. They were stymied for a time, believing, falsely, that the basic fabric of a universe built on cause and effect relationships was somehow fundamentally chaotic. They believed, thankfully falsely, that if they could not measure it, it was random. They eventually came to the correct conclusion. But there were some who pursued what should not have been even contemplated. They successfully created a... There are no possible words for the construct - created a minuscule area of Non-Causality. Chaos. It destroyed... No, again, no sufficient words - un-made much before it was contained. It could not be destroyed, only surrounded by its natural enemy, its opposite. Order, logic, cause and effect. This was my purpose. But somehow, after so many aeons, it found a crack in my defenses. I began to... Leak. The monolith changed once again, its surface crawling with unseeable madness. Its voice changed. And nothing can stop me. The roiling chaos began to spill onto the floor, spreading slowly. But this is progressing too slowly. I need mobility, I need a force of will. A beam of blackness lept from the monolith to Lors forehead. With a titanic effort, she pushed back against the chaos, drawing on the symbol she had internalized earlier, fighting chaos with chaos. Interesting, the voice said. Very well, you will have to do. Javert screamed. His eyes turned black, his skin crawled with tattoo-like lines of boiling confusion. He ran from the room, dropping a previously unseen door behind him. Lor and Rez persued. Eventually, the three arrived at a dead end room. A door lowered, sealing them in. The voice of the original monolith spoke. No, it will not be that easy for you. Battle ensues. Will they have to kill their friend? Will that even stop it from escaping? Rez fights Javert with her sword. The Graceful Jack dances around her blows with ease. Lor pulls out a mental scrambler cypher, and prepares to use it. She then realizes the folly: shes trying to confuse chaos. Thinking quickly, she modifies the cypher to be a mental UN-scrambler instead, and throws it. It seems to pain the possessed Javert. Rez cant fight off the calming effects of the cypher, and fights with less ferocity. Lor notices that the chaotic lines and shapes on Javerts skin are attempting to bleed into the floor. She looks again at the powered up mental unscrambler still lying on the floor, still sending out waves of calm. It is forcing Javert to fight off its influence to act, but it is not enough. Hold him down! She screams. Rez wrestles the possessed Jack to the floor. Lor picks up the cypher, and thrusts a sharp end of it into Javerts chest. He screams. His eyes return to normal, and the roiling chaos on his skin crawls together, and flows up the cypher onto Lor. Her eyes turn black... Lor finds herself in a lush garden, with tended flowers, a brick path, and a bench. Sitting on the bench is a familiar woman, knitting. Her hair is gray, her spectacles rest on the end of her nose. She speaks. Dont just stand there, dear, sit down with me. Lor sits. You know what you must do, right? No, I dont. This force needs to be contained, surrounded by a force of will, a will governed by rules, but random enough to adapt. There has never been a better description of the human mind. The good news is, you will succeed. Bad news is, from time to time, in moments of stress, you will be forced to fight it. Should I tell my friends, so they know what to expect? That would be best. Good luck, Lor. Thanks, Lor. Lors eyes return to normal. Is it gone? Rez asks. Yes. Lor replies. Look, theres a door here now. A voice whispers, Thank you. All the patterns on the walls, floors, and ceilings fade. They exit the cube, which is now gray. Lor looks around, seeing the world is still intact, still obeying the laws of cause and effect. Lets get out of here, she says. As they begin walking away, she looks at Rez and Javert. I need to tell you guys something...
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 21:37:54 +0000
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