Session Forty-Five
Mimesis

"Stories contain what our minds cannot confront." - Jennifer

The Inordinate Privateers help Jormun Goss to avoid Illithid patrols and fly the captured Illithid nautiloid to a place where the Architect, Estooa, can access an Interface Node. However, Estooa is surprised to find that the node has been activated and is running a Simulation. The only way to discover who did this and why, is through the story! The heroes bridge into a late-industrial noir world of gloomy cities, pollution and injustice. They navigate thugs on docks and torturers in warehouses and eventually encounter a man who calls himself "the Sailor" who claims to be a Glitch in the Spheres - an emergent element that the Architects did not plan, something like Sentar. Something that sowed disunity amongst the Architects. He explains that the Psulron have occupied numerous Interface Nodes in the Shattered Spheres, capturing Unaware Glitches, to what end he does not know. He asks the heroes to see through the story... and rescue an Unaware Glitch he calls the Diva: manifested as an Ylfe and singing for the simulation gangster boss at the Regent Room tonight! But beware, the simulation characters know too much and the Psulron have allied with a dangerous Glitch the sailor calls "the Thin Man"...

Way past your bedtime. The docks got a way with lullabies.

Fog breathes out, like cigarette smoke off the river. Crates stacked like tombstones. A monstrous metal cargo vessel creaks into its moorings and groans against the pier. Bootsteps echo on wet timber.

You half expect a lonely trumpet to start playing.

A pack of heavies fanned out across the dock in front of you. Heavy coats, heavier jaws. Gargoyles for the tombstones.

A shadow moves forward. Calm. Unhurried. A cigarette flares. The match disappears. For the smell of kerosone, the fact it don’t set the whole river aflame seems like your last bit of luck.

The man takes a long draw. Sizing you up. He blows smoke. Great curls of contempt. And he spits.

“Ratface Hazey, Shroktath the Hammer, a green little goily, and some Carpet Salesman — Strikebreakers, huh? Hired muscle with rented courage. Well, Tony Moretti don’t rent. He collects.”

He snaps his fingers. And the gargoyles come to life.

“Take back their safety deposit, boys.”

• eights thugs. Two with hand guns and six with truncheons.

• three of them are Moreau-folk. A muscular crocodilian in cargo pants, some sort of stalky rodent-man in a turtleneck and a black beanie, and a dog person

• Cigarette Man hangs back and watches. His non-smoking hand in his longcoat pocket. His face shadowed by his wide rimmed fedora. He walks away when the violence begins, and disappears behind a doorway into an office on the docks.

You’ve already had experiences with the Architects’ simulations, and you have the scars to show for it.
But before we can understand the rest of this story.
We have to share another one…

The Architect’s name is ESTOOA. They don’t really have names amongst themselves, you are learning, but they adopt them for these types of situations. “Estooa” sounds like a Dwarven word – a variation on “This One, or This Person”

When you entered the Interface Node, Estooa was surprised to find a simulation running. They call it a MIMESIS. An "imitation of life." 

• “We must follow the plot—the MYTHOS—to find its INITIATOR”.

• Estooa knew it was not one of their kind. Also, whoever it was left no evidence of having done so, suggesting that they knew what they were doing. 

Estooa told you that to bridge a simulation already underway would be complicated, especially for Khalid, who is flesh born of flesh, and all the more so for being made of Sentar, and for Shroktath, whose blood of the Gardeners came out of the Wilds. However, for Hazel and Fortuna, the Base Code binds. The Spheres bio-printed them out of Potentiality Code, similar to the Simulation Code used in the Interface Nodes.

Estooa explains that linking you to the Simulation will take some effort on your part…

As to how you got here, to tell that story,
We have to go a little further back, and tell you another one…

Jormun Goss offers to fly the Nautiloid. They are keyed to Illithid Spelljammer pilots and their doing so would allow you to avoid any blockades. Did you let them?

• IF YES: You avoid several patrols, but not the last one. 

SKILL CHALLENGE TO AVOID THE ILLITHID PATROL

And before that...

• ESTOOA indicated to you the importance of finding an Interface Node where they can muster resources, and by which you could move great distances within the Sphere. Did you agree?

• JORMUN GOSS indicates where they and their fellow prisoners can be taken – an abandoned Compact of Steam & Steel Juggernaut, hidden in a hollow Volcanoid

Where did you go first?

• JORMUN GOSS OFFERS A CLUE TO FIND THE LOST GOBLINS

DO BOTH – DIPLOMACY SKILL CHALLENGE

To find the Interface Node...

As you left Manzessine to its shrieking, Chain-locked Doom, Estooa explained that, to keep the Illithids’ tortures and experiments from potentially giving them too much information and access, they permanently destroyed the part of their mind that gave them the ability to access the Base Code. To locate it and access it, they needed the Blood of the Gardener.

With great understatement, they tell you that, before they were trapped in the material Sphere by the illithid, they had never been subject to physical deprivation. Edifying though the experience was, it is not something they are ever eager to repeat. They now have reference for the ancestors' obsessions over matters of morality. 

And that’s how you ended up fighting on the docks of New Big City…

One of the goons begins to sputter blood out of his mouth. His cough turns into rueful chuckle.

“You’re too late. Tony brought someone in special to work over the Sailor. The Thin Man himself gave the orders. You’re in way over your heads.”

• You see a horseless chariot, marked with the same livery as two of the mooks were wearing – a fish and a squid arm in arm – (It’s not in any language you recognize, but somehow you can read it: Caruso’s Seafood Wholesale);

• The back smells of fish and inside the coach is a map with a warehouse 13, marked on Lonely Street on the others ide of the Big River.

• Two of the mooks are wearing overalls marked with a fish and squid, arm in arm

The faded paint of the Caruso’s Seafood Wholesale is outside the warehouse

The doors to “Warehouse 13” are open.

A flock of pigeons flaps off into one of the darkened corners as you enter. The light shining down from the windows near the very high ceiling. Much of the glass is yellowed and broke. 

There are four guards in the warehouse, outside the office.

Your minds boggle – the structure is like nothing any of you have ever seen. The building is made with metal beams and some sort of corrugated metal walls.

The shadows of some tables and work benches loom close to one of the centre beams holding up the ceiling, off to your left.

• It looks like there was some sort of assembly line here at some point (fireworks)

Beyond them, a light shines through the gloom, showing the outline of a door.

• As you approach the table you can hear muffled voices coming out of the room

• While standing there – there’s a buzzing sound, the lights hanging from the ceiling high above you flicker. Sparks fall from one of them and it goes dark. A man screams then vomits. Others chuckle humourlessly.

• Inside the Electrician and the Doctor are torturing the Sailor. 

A man with Khalid’s complexion, a beard and a moustache has been tortured terribly. He is unconscious. Bloody tools are arrayed on a tray next to him.

• His hands are tied behind him, and hangs from a hoist above a bucket of water.

• Blood drips from his hands - The tips of all his fingers have been removed

• “He’ll never let me live this down. I got caught up in a narrative.”

ON THE SAILOR & THE THIN MAN

• He explains that he is a “Glitch” in the Base Code. 

• “I’m the Sailor You can call me Ishmael” (laughs)

• Kind of like Shroktath, but not… because Shroktath was supposed to happen. The Sailor wasn’t. Like Sentar itself, the Sailor is an EMERGENT ELEMENT. He is not supposed to be here.

• There are self-aware Glitches and those that aren’t. I look for those that aren’t aware.

• The Thin Man is an old friend (he says in quotations marks). He is another Glitch. He toys with unaware Glitches – hunts them and devours them

• I got too close. I was following the Thin Man – that is our old game – when I realized he was working with the Psulron, it was already too late. I’d fallen into his trap. I didn’t know he was here. I don’t know why he’s working with the Psulron, but whatever it is, it can’t be good.

• These ethos - the characters - the Electrician and the Doctor had an idea about what they are. I've never seen anything like it. It's dangerous. They were questioning me about the OUTERWORLD. 

• They drained me of my ability to be of much use inside the Simulation with this body. I need to re-enter the Potentiality Code to recuperate properly.  

THE DIVA

• They’ve drawn out a Glitch that manifests as an Ylfe. At first I thought the Thin Man was just going to hunt her down and devour her… but I think the Psulron want her

• She doesn’t know what she is. At the end of her mythos – her storyline – once she finishes singing for Tony Moretti, something bad will happen to her.

  • Tony Moretti no ordinary ANTAGONIST – he should be a two-bit hood. But the Thin Man did something to the Simulation.  If I didn’t know better, I’d say he wats a piece of the action. He was here, and he was talking about the OTSIDE WORLD – beyond the Simulation.

• Get to the Regent Room (Huron & Misery). The Diva is performing – She’s a Glitch I’ve been looking for.

• Get her out of here. Find a place to hide her outside the Simulation Node. 

• If she dies without awareness, she dies.

ON THE ARCHITECT 

• You’ve met an Architect? Do you know what faction? Some can be trusted by mortals such as yourselves. Some cannot.

• Most factions – even those that embrace Sentar’s existence – don’t like Glitches. To them, we are a sign of decay, a sign of ascendance, or something else. Any which way, we’re not supposed to be here.  

ON THE INTERFACE NODE

• The Worms are running simulations in captured nodes all across the Shattered Sphere. I don’t know why. What I do know is that these simulations attract Glitches

• They were Gardeners once. In their own Sphere they have surpassed the Architects and mastered their technologies

• Unlike the Imperyion, they stopped there. The Ylfe have expanded – creating a material Empire. The Psulron want something else. It has something to do with the One.

• Plot (Mythos): The arrangement of incidents or the action of the story; it is the structure that defines the story's purpose.

• Character (Ethos): The people in the story, defined by their traits, needs, motivations, and emotions.

• Theme (Dianoia): The overarching idea, central message, or obstacle to be overcome.

• Dialogue (Lexis): The words spoken by characters, which reveal character, emotion, and advance the plot.

• Melody/Chorus (Melos): The emotional rhythm or music of the story, used to resonate with the audience.

• Décor (Opsis): The setting or physical environment where the action takes place.

• Spectacle (Specatculum): The visual elements and unexpected insights that surprise or enhance the story.

Walking along the dock at night, our well-dressed gangster posse was best by a group of thugs.  They wanted to tussle but after turning the fourth one of them into a greasy stain, they fled.  At that point the simulation was shaken and we met the Architect Estooa.  Estooa was surprised that the mimesis continued to run.  It was a simulation node and we were searching for the initiator.  We were unsure if that was an external agent or an emergent behavior.  As we developed our plan, we recalled the day before’s resolution of the Fate of Yorman Gos.

We had helped him escape using the Nautaloid.   Shroktath had begun by supporting the operation of the ship.  Amidst the chaos, Khalid found a way to slingshot the ship through a subspace anomaly and regain control.  Within the anomaly, we encountered a terrified and lost gump, our old friend Tumult.  Hazel communicated with him to assist his escape from this trap.  As Tumult moved away, Khalid and Shroktath piloted through the gump’s wake of krakoids that masked his escape.  As we cleared the flkock, Hazel organized the goblins to throw burning garbage off the ship – space chaff.  Then we got involved in the argument with the Architech while trying to support Yorman Gos’ illogical behavior once again encountering the Golden Rule of Wildspace:  “thou shall get sidetracked—every fracking time”.  Seeing the end of that story, we understood how we got to the New Big City dockyard.

After defeating the mooks, we learned that Tony brought in someone special to work over the Sailor on orders from the Thin Man.  We went to Carouso’s Seafood at Warehouse Building #13.  Using intimidation as the New Syndicate, we bypassed the guards and cut the power to the building.  Smashing into the torture room, we began the assault and rescue.  We quickly dispatched the Doctor and the Electrician to stop the torture.  We rescued Ishmael the Sailor; a glitched emergent.  Ishmael had been chasing the Thin Man when he got trapped in this simulation.  The Thin Man was allied with the sulran worm-folk.  The Thin Man’s purpose was to lure glitches in general but especially one resembling an Ylfe and named Katrina Angelina the Diva.