Aaron

Aaron watched the strangers approach, escorted by Lena's toon and Jason. He ignored Candy's blah-blah-blahing. She had problems embracing the gamer headspace, a little too firmly grounded in the structure of their prior reality. He didn't know if Lena (or anyone in Candy's family, really) had realized how much she depended on order, on structure, but until she learned the principles upholding the structure of Rhofhir, she was going to continue to deny the reality asserted by their senses.

It wasn't that Aaron actively believed they had been sucked through some kind of inter-dimensional rift. Objectively, he had yet to form any firm beliefs about what had happened to them. Subjectively, that was a different story; Aaron trusted in his senses, and they screamed that this was all too very, very real. Candy's insistence that this level of immersion was beyond the capabilities of the telepathy machine only weighed against her denials.

Buttercup's unease prickled Aaron's skin through the G.C. link. He returned an empathic wave of reassurance, and emphasized that the dire cat should stay in her new den. As far as Aaron was concerned, keeping her away from people who were trained to react violently to threats was just common sense.

"Damn, A, you're right," Rob said. "No matter how … different these guys are, they're unmistakably human … -oid."

Aaron shrugged in answer, too busy watching the wary looks the mix of arassi and were-looking people were throwing around.

Candy abruptly shut up. The suddenness of her silence stole Aaron's gaze from the strangers. Her expression had blanked out, leaving her with resting bitch face: down-turned lips, flared nostrils and narrowed eyes, a tiny crease between her eyebrows. Aaron passed a hand in front of her unfocused stare. She didn't blink, not even when he tapped his palm to her nose.

Aaron exchanged a wry glance with his brother.

Rob sighed. "Roshambo?"

"Nah, I'll settle her," Aaron said. He concentrated for a moment, picturing a rock with the perfect indentation for a bowl cushion. When he liked the image, he directed the mana available to him through Territory Management into his picture. The rock seat took shape a meter behind Candy. Without his direction, a plush felted cushion formed slightly above the seat before falling, gently, to rest on the rock.

«I'll put a blanket over her after you've gotten her to sit.» Lena's voice was a soft murmur through the G.C.

True to her word, as soon as Aaron stepped back from arranging Candy in the impromptu chair, a pale green felt blanket floated down to settle over Candy.

Stylard's voice sounded behind Aaron, making him jump. "Is Candice Sterling in need of more aid?"

Aaron turned around. A second red-tinted black scaled arassas, a touch heavier through the waist and shoulders, accompanied the medic. Aaron smiled ruefully at Stylard. "I won't object if you want to look her over again, but I think this is a good thing. She's done this a couple of times on us before when she gets too involved in a mental quandary."

While he stepped around Aaron, Stylard asked, "Is this a common occurrence with humans?"

"Not really," Rob said.

Aaron made introductions between Stylard and his brother, with Stylard introducing his companion as Medic Kippo.

"My concern is that I have seen the same symptoms of mental withdrawal with both Candice Sterling and you, Roberto Garcias," Stylard said. "Humans are rare around here, but mana starvation has been known to place significant mental strain on all of the Aware races. In the majority, this manifests as increased aggression, but there are a few races that seek a hibernation state. There are differences in the follow up care for those who hibernate."

"Ah, Stylard?" Aaron said. "Please remember this is our first day here in Rhofhir. We don't know jack when it comes to mana problems."

"Your first day?" Kippo echoed, his eyes wide. "You are all Travelers?"

Stylard joined Aaron in nodding an affirmative.

Rob asked, "What's that?"

"Have you checked your status screen yet?" Aaron asked.

"My what?"

*~*~*

Rob

*** *** ***

Designation: Roberto Morgan Garcias

Species: Human (Traveler)

Titles: Specialist, Traveler

- - -

ACU 14

WIS 18

BRW 14

CHA 20

DEX 15

HTH 12

INT 12

LCK 9

- - -

Health Pool: 26/26 (4 /hr)

Mana Pool: 25/25 (13.33 /hr)

Will Pool: 15/15 (4.73 /hr)

- - -

Aspects: Gamer

Designs: Traveler, Gamer

Skills: Animal Empathy 6, Mental Fortitude 4, Direct Mana 13, Negotiation 4, First Aid 1, Physical Training 5, Leadership 6, Tapestry Integration 2, Mental Focus 8, Tapestry Reading 1

*** *** ***

Rob finished reviewing his status, finding that dismissing the screen from his consciousness was as simple as willing it away. "And here I thought the aliens were the strangest things around," he thought to himself.

He had been ignoring the distractions itching at the back of his mind, but now that he knew they were this Tapestry system informing him of the things it found pertinent, he allowed them to come forward. And felt swallowed up for a moment by the long series of skill acquisition and skill up notices he received.

"Hey, this skills stuff?" Rob said. "How does it work? I mean, what do they and the stats mean in practice, not just what the Tapestry says they mean?"

Stylard looked up from the crystal he was running over Candy. That was some kind of StarTrek-looking procedure, but wasn't there some famous quote about advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic? It seemed things also went the other way around. "Abilities are more like a score card. Skills are the important things. The more adept you get with a skill, the more likely it is to advance. Higher tier skills have a shorter boon cycle for their related attributes, and they usually relate to two or more attributes. Most skills advance near between 30 and 50 skill ups, with the boons already earned coming over at whatever their equivalent skill ups in the advanced skill would be. It's easier to skill up a lower level skill, especially as an adult. Youths tend to unlock a fair number of skills, but they do a lot of collapsing. That's where you have a couple of skills combine into a more detailed skill. Skills that collapse together tend to set the new skill level to the lowest of the old skill levels. And without an Aspect, no one gets past a skill level of 25."

"Okay," Rob said, drawing out the word. "Aside from unlocking skill growth, what do aspects do? And designs?"

Kippo took over the edjumacating. "Aspects are paths of understanding. For instance, I hold the Aspect of the Healer. If I can think of something in terms of how it affects the body, I have an easier time learning the skills. If I can't, it gets harder, and more often than not, I'm stuck behind that level 25 lock Stylard mentioned. The more Aspects you pick up, the more avenues you have to leveling your skills. Designs are more like complicated skills, but as you work at them, they develop the various Aspects you can call upon. They can also reflect professions, which will usually carry Titles with them. Stylard and I both had to complete our Design of the Field Medic before we earned the right to wear the red."

"As far as I can tell, her body is balanced," Stylard said. "Physically, I can find no aliments causing Candice Sterling's mental retreat."

Aaron smiled, a mix of indulgent affection and exasperation there for a moment as he gazed at the other blondie. Candy was a month older than Rob, but in terms of life experience even his baby brother Aaron had her beat. Despite the age difference, Rob generally approved of his brother's choice of crushes.

*~*~*

Jason

The dungeon tour ended soon after walking through Aaron and Rob's level. It turned out that Candy hadn't even begun improving her territory within the zone before taking her turn on the mental breakdown wagon. Kargerran had hastily declined to view the unfinished level, much to Vi's disappointment and the rest of the Rhofhirians' relief.

Through the new Guardian Communication set up, Jason nixed having Rob and Aaron join them in person for the return to the rest of their visitors. He really did not want the kid around the wolf kin, and someone needed to keep an eye on Candice. Aaron was a good kid, but still someone needed to keep an eye on him, too. After all, he had already taken on a dire cougar for a pet.

By the time they returned to the Entrance Hall, Lena had managed to clarify the quartz-clear crystal she had used to replace the door she had made into the walkway leading to and from the Hall.

Lena's voice murmured over the Guardian Communication link. «I'm turning it into a pocket door. When you see a depression in the crystal, that'll be the inset handle. Don't strain yourself if it doesn't move easy. I don't have grease, but I can try to get a more satin polish on the bearings.»

Jason nodded slightly. The handle was in place by the time they reached the door, which moved easily into the wall. The delver squad reacted with the same hair-standing-on-end controlled freak out they had shown when Lena melted the stone door.

"I didn't feel any magic," Nilis stated.

Lena shrugged. "Why would you?"

"You didn't move the door?" Nilis asked.

Jason said, "Pocket doors are designed to slide in and out of walls. You can try it if you like, just don't pull too hard. See, here's the handle."

"Oh, good! I was afraid the weight would bind the rollers!" Lena said.

After a pause to allow the Arassi to play with the pocket door and reassure themselves that the dungeon wasn't morphing on them, they went into the Entrance Hall.

"Before I forget, there's … a basket of rocks. What the hell?" Jason frowned down at the basket of plants and critters he and the Rangers had collected on their way back to Lena's dungeon. In the place of the gather lay several clear gem-quality stones in hues of yellows, greens, blues and browns. They ranged in size from sandy pebbles to coarse gravel.

The cat kin Ranger, who had stayed behind, said, "Yeah, that happened to all of the things we picked up to seed the dungeon. That's one of the reasons duplicator dungeons are so valued, despite their propensity for spawning monster hordes. Anything you bring in with the intention of leaving for the dungeon to absorb leaves behind raw mana stones."

"Oh. Lena? Did you know about that?" Jason asked.

She shook her head, her gaze growing unfocused and her body stilling unnaturally. It was made of light, though, so he wasn't sure how much more unnatural it was for it to go still like that.

She said, "No, but the Tapestry system says that it's an auto magical process common to all dungeons. With my research options maxed out, it just happens significantly faster in here than in the unmanaged zones."

And that started the discussion about the nitty-gritty details of Lena's control over the Studio of Capricious Dreams.

*~*~*

Kargerran

An hour into the discussion of dungeon management options, the communications stone hanging from its chain around Kargerran's neck sent him a mental pulse. "With your pardon, ma'am, Commander Faulkin is requesting communications, and so Corporal Baline and I need to step out. May I leave you Rangers Nilis and Vi to continue this discussion?"

Lena Weston's projection smiled with gracious courtesy. "Naturally."

Kargerran led Baline back to the spot they had used during their prior call back to the city, set up the wards against spying again, and took the call. "Sergeant Kargerran and Corporal Baline answering."

Commander Faulkin stated, "That took you longer than normal. How close are you to the city gates?"

"We are still at the dungeon site. We were conversing with the Travelers. In fact, I left Rangers Nilis and Vi to continue gathering as much information as possible," Kargerran said.

A nasal voice came over the stone. "How many Travelers, and how intelligent are they? What kind of threat do they represent?"

Commander Faulkin said, "Please answer Crafts Master Gilvillian."

Kargerran repressed a smile at the hint of ire in her tone. "They are all human and claim the Traveler sub species. The one controlling the dungeon is merged with it. All appear to be at least of average Aware level intelligence. From what we've seen, they won't attack unless cornered, and they have the ability to close the entrance to Lotrot. If we do provoke them, they have the full resources of a dungeon at their disposal and knowledge from their origin that they've brought with them. Two of the Travelers are veteran soldiers, though I'm not sure how their rank of Specialist compares with any of the ranks I know. The blood in the sausage is that the Traveler controlling the dungeon is a Champion of Order, and has asked how to gain our assistance in contacting the Arcane Asylum."

"How can the Traveler be both a human and a dungeon?" a cool, feminine elven voice asked.

"I'm not sure of the meta magics, Dame, however she permitted us to perform a fulsome inspection of her dungeon, and the Rangers all agree that their Tapestry Readings show the dungeon to be named the Studio of Capricious Dreams, with Design Lead Lena Weston, Human (Traveler) as the supreme authority over the dungeon."

Baline tapped the end of his muzzle, a silent request to speak. Kargerran nodded.

"Corporal Baline, first squad of the Delvers Talon, speaking. Even the little information exchange we've seen in the last few hours has been a tremendous boon to our delvers. We'll be returning with what Design Lead Lena Weston has called a sampler pack of the exportables she's so far unlocked, as well as something she's calling a 'spectrum' of colors she's able to apply to these exportables."

"Is this a tribute?" the Crafts Master asked.

"No," Kargerran said. "It's intended as the opening of peaceful and profitable negotiations."

The stone turned from an opaque light green to dimly glowing orange, indicating that they were being blocked from hearing the other side. A moment later and the glow faded away. Commander Faulkin said, "If you can keep any of our Rangers near that dungeon, do so. As for the rest of your squads, report back as soon as you can politely extract yourselves."

"Yes, Commander," Kargerran and Baline said.

*~*~*

Lena

Lena dismissed her toon shortly after fixing up the Entrance Hall as a guest room for the six Rangers. That question about how long they had been here already was bothering Lena. Time sense had never been her strong point, but she had at least had her body tiring on her or demanding food to let her know when she had been caught up in a creative fugue.

Candy had slipped into a deep sleep from her pondering fugue (Lena considered fugues to be a Sterling heritage), and Jason, Rob, and Aaron were ready to crawl into their own beds - after the meal they were sharing with the Rangers. Lena felt neither hunger nor the need for sleep. Aside from whether it was light or dark out, she had no way to judge the passage of time outside of her dungeon, and only the MPR trickling into the zone's mana pool to judge the passage of time within.

At least her friends had mattresses and blankets. And pillows.

Lena considered what it might take to get some kind of sand or water clock working. Maybe Lena could get Candy involved in that when she woke up. Or maybe the Rangers? She filed the thought for later, and moved on to check her research options.

*** *** ***

Through the special action of weaving multiple environmental materials together, you have increased your research into the patterning of clay. Clay is now available as an environmental material.

Continued research into the patterns of stone has unlocked stone as a research topic for exportables.

Continued research into the patterns of dirt has unlocked soil as a research topic for exportables.

Continued research into the patterns of water has unlocked water as a research topic for exportables.

Continued research into the patterns of air has unlocked air as a research topic for exportables.

Continued research into the patterns of portals has added options to create and set keys for portals.

Continued research into the patterns of light has added temperature as an environmental material.

*** *** ***

That was a pleasant surprise. And fast. Lena tried to find a way to ask the Tapestry just why these unlocked so quickly, but received only stubborn silence in return.

Moving on to her research options, she discovered that the ores she had the last time she looked were barely over 1% researched. Along with the environmental materials just unlocked, she had gold, lead, and something called halite as new options. For Plants, the cotton she had at 2%, with new options that showed up as "Local Grasses", "Local Bushes", "Local Trees", "Local Fungi", and "Mosses". Under Creatures, her ??? was up to 7%, and options for "Avian", "Reptile", "Mammal", and "Insect" were available. She had no new Techniques to research, though Circulate was now unlocked, so she settled for maxing her MPR allocation for all of her new choices.

After adding circulation to both the water and the air in her original level, Lena settled in to some focused arting. Waterfalls should add a nice ambiance, and perhaps they could be worked into some kind of water clock design?

*~*~*

Brad

Warm. Heavy. Dull. Drifting. Dark. Quiet.

How long since he had the luxury of quiet? As far as he could tell, Scotty only slept when he was in class or at Candy's, working on the Dream Catcher. Why everyone insisted on calling it a telepathy machine -. Well, he could, somewhat, understand. That wasn't the actual point of it, but - with a lot more research - it might be a step on the road to cracking that beastly code. No, his Dream Catcher was inspired by the dream he held for full immersion Virtual Reality.

And this was not his normal way of thinking about his project. What was the last test they had run with the Dream Catcher? Candy had gotten the values nailed down for the resistors, right? They needed to start gathering a wider range of biometrics, right? It was still early days, but he hadn't seen anything they were testing for that hadn't already been approved for human trials. It would mean a lot of paperwork and several months of waiting, maybe longer, but there were other parts to the project that they could work on in the mean time.

It would be cool to try it out now, though….

What the hell?

*** *** ***

καταλαβαίνετε αυτό;

ຕິດຕັ້ງຕິດຕໍ່

פאַרלייגן קאָנטאַקט

thiết lập liên lạc

iletişim kurmak

kuwasiliana

komunikować się

ਗੱਲਬਾਤ ਕਰੋ

samskipti

communikation

E̫st͠abl̢is͜͜͜hinͨ͜g Co̙ntac̅t

…

Greetings, Anomaly β!

…

*** *** ***

The darkness that he had been drifting through - what he had thought was a languorous waking - turned to searing brilliance. Pain smothered his awareness, destroyed his reason, deadened him to all other sensations.

The pain receded an eternity later, leaving him with a raw, amorphous prickling throughout his mind.

*** *** ***

Greetings, Traveler β!

You have been accepted into the Grand Tapestry of Rhofhir.

The following announcements will inform you of your ability to affect the Grand Tapestry. Introduce new patterns that the Grand Tapestry may absorb or strengthen existing patterns to increase your ability to affect the Grand Tapestry.

Your acknowledgment is required to proceed.

*** *** ***

Am I just a letter?

*** *** ***

Acknowledgment of comprehension received. Your integration with the Grand Tapestry of Rhofhir is being assisted. Please await further instructions.

*** *** ***

Arcs of strange energy sizzled from one side of him to another. The closest thing he could think of to describe the sensation was like being in the center of a Tesla ball. He tingled for a moment after each arc. They came faster and faster together until the arc and the tingle became a single sensation.

"[Awaken]."

The strange energy settled into a steady sinusoidal rhythm.

*** *** ***

Initial stages of integration completed successfully. To review your current capabilities within the Grand Tapestry, project the command [Status].

*** *** ***

"Hmm. The demon should have moved by now." The voice saying that had the gruff quality of an elderly man.

Another male voice, this one smoother, but still with the depth of an adult, responded. "I got a skill up in [Tapestry Integration] for this so I'm pretty sure we succeeded, Feltz. I'm fairly certain the original demon would qualify as one of the Aware, so the golem should at least be sapient. If a monstrous demon takes longer to acclimate than an animalistic one, why wouldn't a sapient one take longer than a monstrous demon?"

A sniff. "Good point. And a skill up, you say? Well, at least the effort isn't wasted, even if I do turn out to be wrong about the sapience within your memory stone."

Demon? Like a rakshasa? Or did they mean something more like a European or Oriental kind of demon? Or maybe they had said "daemon" and he had misheard them? Talking about skill ups made them sound like gamers, so "daemon" would fit better if they were some of the Comp Sci students.

*** *** ***

You have introduced a new Design!

Design of the Scientist completed.

You have acquired the Aspect of the Scientist.

*** *** ***

*** *** ***

Design of the Scientist introduced to the Grand Tapestry.

Design of the Champion of Order unlocked. 12% progress recorded.

*** *** ***

*** *** ***

Traveler Design completed.

You have acquired the Aspect of the Gamer.

*** *** ***

*** *** ***

You have been trapped in a Design of Ensorcelled Slavery. Increase your maximum Will Pool and Will Regeneration to remove yourself from this design. Will Pool cannot regenerate normally while trapped.

*** *** ***

Icy fury chilled him to his core. He would never submit to another's attempt to subjugate him. Never.

A noise like rocks grinding against each other filled the room.

"Ah. Sounds like it's coming around," the elder voice stated.

"I hope his intellect wasn't damaged during the recording," the younger male said.

"You're the designated Overseer. Ask."

"Can you understand me?" This time, the voice felt directed at himself.

"Yes," he answered, realizing only after he spoke that he had acted in response to a compulsion. A touch of heat added itself to his fury.

"Oh, excellent! The translation spell is working!" The elder cleared his throat, then asked, "What senses do you possess in your natural state?"

There was no compulsion to answer this time. "What the bloody hells do you mean, 'in my natural state'? What have you done to me? Why can't I see? Or move?"

The younger voice answered. "Bradford Ajput Singh, please be calm. We will grant you vision when we've rebuilt our mana pools. As for the rest, well, that's going to take a bit to explain."

The fury snuffed out of Brad's soul. Resolve to defeat this violation replaced it, wrote itself into his very nature. He listened as the younger man, who named himself Casper Dibbons, related an outrageously implausible story about inter-dimensional communication resulting in Brad being kidnapped across dimensions to be enslaved as a demonic golem.

"The ensorcellment is a precautionary measure. Until we have a better idea of your nature and capabilities, this is the most humane option we have for ensuring everyone's safety. Now, concentrate on me and project the command [Share Status], please. … Intriguing! Feltz, have you ever heard of a Scientist aspect? Champion of Order already begun?"

The elder, Feltz, said, "No, I've never heard of a scientist. That may be something from the demon's original dimension, which would explain how the Champion design is already begun."

"We'll need to manage how much he affects the Tapestry then. How ironic would it be if in trying to delay the Unraveling I accidentally accelerate it?" Casper's tone held faint bitterness.

"Very, which is why I involved myself already. Now stop being so dour!"

"Yes, Archmage," Casper said.

"So," Brad said, "to sum it all up, you invaded my mind while I slept, stole my memories, and then stole my mind entirely, and have dumped me into a golem so you can treat me like an artificial intelligence to mine my own memories for you to help you figure out how to avoid your dimension from resetting. Why the bloody fuck do you think I have any ideas worth going to all that much trouble?" No matter how much he wanted to rage at the bastards, the command to be calm still held him, stealing inflection from his words.

"You're not an Artifact of Intelligence. The body we've put together for you is an artifice, but your intelligence is a duplication of your original mind. We can only move patterns across the dimensions, not physical substance. The original you should still be going about your life as normal. As for why I was communicating with you, your dimension has been stable for longer than Rhofhir's Tapestry has existed. You weren't the first, or the only, demon I contacted, but your's was the clearest communication and you know how your dimension's framework is shaped."

"How many others have you stolen like me?" Brad asked.

"Well, as I said, you are an accident. I was just gathering information. I never intended to fully duplicate your mind in the Memory Stone that is now your golem core. The last communication was just so … clear, so detailed. Archmage Feltz is the one who first discovered your sapience, and leaving you locked up in a Memory Stone, well, that would have been cruel beyond measure."

"Dibbs, boy, you're rambling. Sit down, drink some tea, and stop that Wasteful pacing." Feltz's voice held the snap of irritation.

"Consideration for the mind of a fellow Aware is not rambling, Feltz. Don't start spouting that Long Ear hogswallow." The words came out more tired than biting.

"It is a golem, Dibbs. It cannot be Aware. It can have monstrous sapience, yes, but it cannot be Aware."

Brad scoffed. "That sounds a bloody lot like you're rationalizing your own foul breach of basic morality. I don't care what you've shoved me into, I am a bloody damn human being."

Heavy silence fell after that. Then Casper's voice said, "[Inspect Golem]: [Mental Pattern Match] … [Share Inspection]."

"Chaotic Wastes!" Feltz breathed out.