[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #196

Her appearance is clearly not something Cynthia is paying much attention to right now "Not to alarm me? Huh, yeah, that might not have gone as planed then... This thing is huge!" Scowling for moment, she looks in the direction were the monster disappeared "It doesn't seem to be too afraid of light, and anyway with this rain, it won't be to clear in the morning. Even if it hasn't found us by time, it would be easy once I'm on my way to the pool. And if he finds us before that anyway... You wouldn't happen to have an Ares Alpha stashed somewhere no? With APDS and tracer ammo since we're asking for the impossible?"

Gene shakes his head. "Sorry, no. And even if I did have the latest guns and ammo out here, they would be useless. That sort of thing does not work here. But you are right about a couple of things; that creature is very big, and you do not want it to catch you on the way tomorrow. It does seem attracted to bright things and magic, so I can try to keep it diverted while you go your merry way."

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #197

Cynthia pauses, frozen in place. She coughs a bit, and asks disbelief clear in her voice "You mean like now? While the lights will have maximum effect? You didn't even tell me what I needed to know!"

"Heavens no, dear. That would be very bad of me and I hope I am a better guide than that. No, I was meaning in the morning. And speaking of morning, it is still a few hours off so I would recommend getting some dry clothes on and getting some rest."

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #198

"Oh. Ok." Cynthia is obviously relieved. "But before I go, promise me you'll wake me up if something happens, no more drek like that ok?" Once Gene has given is agreement, Cynhtia grumbles. She quickly removes all her clothes, underwear included, and toss them on some nearby rocks: she doesn't want them in her tent, but she won't just toss them in the dirt either. As soon as she has done just that, she jumps in her tent. There, she quickly slips a t-shirt and shorts and wraps herself up in the bedding, hopping to quickly recover some warmth.

Gene nods and promises to wake you if another ditch is needed. As you finish stripping you hear a sort of noise of a deep breath from his direction then you are inside your tent. The dry T-shirt and shorts feel amazing and the warmth of the bedding has you comfortably dry and warm in minutes. The beating of the rain against the tent acts as a sort of sleep aid and you quickly fall asleep. When you awaken, not much seems to have changed. There is very little light outside the tent and the rain is still pouring down. Cracking the tent flap and peering outside reveals that the trench seems to be taking the majority of any free water away from the tents. There is a light of some kind from the other tent and you see Gene moving about in silhouette.

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #199

Cynthia yawns, rubbing her eyes. She doesn't feel that rested, but since she awoke by herself, it would be useless to try and sleep some more. And maybe it really is morning and she should be on her way... For a second she looks at Gene's tent, and asks loudly enough to be heard despite the rain "Hey Gene, is it morning already?"

There is a laugh from the other tent. "I am sure it is morning somewhere, but there is little evidence of that here at the moment." The front flap of the other tent opens and Gene waves at you then tosses a package over. "Here, have some breakfast. It does not seem that a fire is likely this morning, but this is the latest in self-warming food packets. Quite tasty, actually, and the food is hot without burning your hands to hold it. Amazing things mortals can invent."

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #200

Cynthia catches the pack, and rummages through "Not that I'm complaining to have food, but how could you get this and not a nice weapon?" She looks around, and asks "Speaking of which, where is the thing?"

"Never really needed weapons. I find that relying on those things only leads to trouble. As for the.................whatever it was............I think it has left the area as I have not heard it for some time. I thought it might be a good idea to remain dry and warm and wait to see if the rain stops before just sending you out into it. We can go over some of the things I was going to tell you."

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #201

Cynthia grumbles "Maybe. Probably. But when trouble finds you first and without any other means... You may have noticed I'm pretty useless around here..." she shrugs. She gets the first packet, and opens it "But sure, fire away, I'm all ears."

Gene snorts loud enough to be heard above the rain. "Yeah useless. Useless enough to stay near a suffering old man out of friendship. Useless enough to learn in just a few tries how to identify and locate a hidden resonance stream. Useless enough to use a teacher's technique for plucking the strands long enough to develop her own. Useless enough to want to get out of a warm tent to help her friend dig a ditch in the rain. Yeah. Useless."


He smiles a bit then moves to take up a more comfortable position. "OK. I will tell you some of what you need to know and the rest you will have to just do on your own. When you leave here, you will follow the resonance strand to its source. If the weather were any clearer, you could stand on that rock over there and look across the prairie at it. The strand will lead you to a pool that looks remarkably like water but is nothing like water. The pool is pure resonance and will destroy you if you touch it unprepared. Without knowing more, how would you think you could protect yourself?"

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #202

Cynthia shifts uncomfortably in the first half of the Gene's speach, but stills and becomes really attentive on the second half. When he asks her his question, she can't help but stay silent for a moment, then grunts "Humpf, what's this, a surprise quiz?"

Thinking aloud, she answers "I suppose clothes would be useless. Then I guess the only solution would be to make sure I somehow didn't directly touch the pool's resonance. I could try to wrap myself in the Resonance's strand. I don't see how I could do it, but since I don't see any other solution as it is... Oh wait."

She frowns "Maybe I could somehow 'mark' it, like I would a Host? Make it 'mine', to align it to me or something like that?"

"Clever, clever girl. A bit right in both ideas. You just need to refine them a bit and then combine them. Resonance is just that, resonance. By itself it is neither intelligent or dumb. It just exists. But toss in someone who can manipulate the resonance and it becomes something more. Toss in a lot of people that can manipulate it and it becomes something a great deal more. It takes on aspects of life, maybe it IS alive now. At least in some sort of fashion. So the humming you feel is like its blood moving through the strands, and the strands come from the pools every time someone crafts a sprite or uses the resonance to control the matrix. And every time someone does that, the resonance learns a bit more. The sprites become a bit more powerful. Oh, not so as you might notice, but indeed they are. Much like the spirits of the astral. The more they are used the more life is given to the pools and whatever is beyond them."

"Sounds crazy, eh? But you have not lived a long enough time to see the differences. But anyway, back to the problem at hand. We can get more philosophical later. You need to fool the pool into thinking that you are resonance. So yes, cloaking yourself in the resonance is a good idea. Marking it might alert the resonance that you are trying something. Can you think of a different way to do fool the resonance? Just imagine anything without worrying yet about how to do it. If the plan is sound, the how will come to you. Think away from your normal mortal self for a bit and tell me how you, as a mortal, will be able to enter the pool where no mortal can survive?"

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #203

Cynthia cocks an eyebrow "If I didn't have to worry about the how? Well, the best answer would be to become something else than a big dumb fat mortal, something better." She pauses and adds "Yeah I know, I'm neither big, nor dumb, not fat, its... Nevermind."

"Good. Once you realize that you are not big, dumb, or fat, you are halfway to seeing yourself as I see you. And bingo first time out. If you are the resonance, you can enter the pool as if you belong there, go to the other side, and learn something fantastic. The trick, of course, is that mortals cannot become resonance, can they? Or maybe they can................................what do you think?"

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #204

Cynthia grumbles about old men who don't know what is good for them. After a couple of seconds, she sighs "I think that maybe I could somehow trick the Resonance and make it 'believe' I'm Resonance too, while not really 'being' Resonance."

Gene nods his head vigorously. "Good. Good. Almost there. Tricking the resonance might work, but what if it became aware of the trick while you are in the pool? Bye bye clever girl. Of course, it might not ever tumble to the ruse until it is too late, but are you willing to accept that sort of maybe with your life on the line?

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #205

"Of course not. As if you had to ask. Especially not since there's a better solution. Hum." she pauses for a second, then continues "If I can't be Resonance, and I can't be mortal, the only other solution would be to become both, some kind of Hybrid. I guess..."

"Some kind of hybrid, yes. Part resonance and part human. Too much resonance and you join the pool forever, too much human and the resonance detects and kills you, taking your life force into the pool. So now we talk about how to do this and how to do it just enough and not too much. Exposure to the strand can change your biological structure to be resonance. The more contact, the more change. Your body will not like the change and will do what it can to resist it and over time will reverse the change, but the time it takes to reverse the process depends on how much you changed. At some point, your resonance body will take over and your mortal body will no longer be able to change back to what you were. So I do not want you to think this part is without risk, but I know of no other way. Are you willing to go this step and take a chance that you will never return?"

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #206

Cynthia frowns "That's quite involved..." she stays silent a moment, then asks "What will be the changes, in addition to me being able to happily swim in the pool? Will my skin become blue, my hair fall or stuff like that?"

Gene nods in agreement. "Yes, it is quite involved and quite dangerous. As for side effects, your skin will change a bit, yes, but your hair will not fall out, not your teeth, if that was your next question. I cannot accurately describe the changes because I can never do this part. I am completely a creature of magic and cannot make this change. It is completely up to you to find what the real effect will be. I have seen others try it and some succeed while others fail. It is, after all, your choice."

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #207

"As long as I don't suddenly look like a freak..." Cynthia shrugs "Don't think I don't know that there are risks. But they seem relatively manageable, not complete suicide, and I already decided to go through this to the end." she grimaces a bit "Not sure I would have before last evening to be honest, but now..."

She pauses for a couple of second "So, how do I proceed to make this change?"

"It is a matter of interacting with the resonance in the proper degree. Being close to the strand will change you over time, but it would take a long time to get to the point you need to be at, so you will need to be closer to it. The closer you are, the more and faster you will change."

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #208

"But the more dangerous it is." she nods "Ok then." she looks in the direction of the pool, even if she can't see anything "Anything else?"

While she waits for Gene's answer, she rummages through the tent, looking for the best clothes and shoes she can find given the circumstances, and starts to get ready for her trek.

"Yes, there is one more thing. I think it best to wait out the rain before you go. I have a bad feeling about what is happening out there on the flat ground."

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #209

Cynthia seems doubtful, but nods. After a couple of seconds, realising that Gene won't be able to see the nod from his tent, she says "If you think that's best... Well, you're the guide."

She drops the shoe she was going to put on, then asks "But what will we do if it stays like that for days? Or if the thing there finally finds us?"

"We can wait out the rain. What I am worried about is a flash flood over part of the plain out there. You could not see it and so would have no warning and might be swept away. The creature, or whatever it was, is no longer here. It gave up trying to find us about an hour ago. I think that it went off for something easier to hunt."

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #210

"Ok then, wait we shall." for a moment, she looks at her bedroll with longing eyes "Say... Would you mind terribly if I finished my night while we wait for the rain to stop?"

"I absolutely do not mind. Get as much rest as possible. I personally find the sound of the rain on the tent to be rather soothing and could easily go back to sleep as well."

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #211

"Then good nap to us both." With a sigh of contentment, Cynthia strips down to her underwear and settles back into her bedroll, fast asleep.

You get a ton of much needed, dreamless rest. After all, you are already in a dream, right? When you wake up, you no longer hear the sound of the rain, but you do hear Gene softly singing one of his operatic arias.

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #212

With a yawn, Cynthia stretches lazily. She grabs some water and drinks a couple of mouthfuls "That's... Much better." She snorts "I didn't know I could get this tired in the dream of a dream..."

She sticks her head outside of the tent and looks around "So. Better I see. I suppose I may as well get ready."

Pulling back in the tent, she starts to put on clothes and shoes for the walk to the pool "Anything of note happened? No new strange beast or something?"

@Cynthia Your view of the area from the tent flap is nothing like it is when you emerge fully dressed. You are on an island amid a veritable ocean of water that stretches as far as you can see. Gene is standing a bout twenty feet out in the water and holing a long pole that he is poking into the water. He turns as you exit the tent and waves a hand. "Got some water to deal with, here. Your trip may be delayed until the water recedes. Unless you got an idea in that pretty head of yours?"


@Eva Looking over the edge, you see the man that had come up here now out in the street, facing down several armed men and an armored car of some kind. A second car is a bit ahead of this one and there seems to be a good bit of weapons firing going on. The second car is lit up by flames from what must be several Molotov cocktails, but does not appear to be incapacitated, as the ugly barrel of a machine gun is sticking out from the side and pouring fire on the hapless defenders. The man you have been looking for is standing near to the first car and seems to have damaged the gun barrel drooping rom the port near him. A young woman is standing in the street firing an assault rifle of some kind at several men who have taken cover near the front of the building. The illusion seems to have no real effect any longer and you drop it to throw off a bolt of energy at one of the men, catching him squarely in the chest and throwing him back several feet to lay unconscious in the street.


@Echo The gunfire does not abate around you, but the two boys scamper back to the building even as the girl continues to fire at the soldiers. Her mouth is open, so she must be yelling something, but you cannot hear anything. Your suppressive fire causes the men to pull back farther around the car but one makes a daring move to stand up, and almost immediately goes flying backwards as a blot of charge energy comes from the roof of the building behind you to strike him, sending him flying to land in a heap.

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #213

"Oh." Cynthia looks around for a while "I've never been on an island so small... Maybe I shouldn't have said I don't know how to swim..."

She frowns, then sighs "Well, if the pool isn't completely in the water, and if you can make me a boat, and oars... I suppose it's not too bad. Not optimal mind, but not too bad. However if you can't or if it isn't, then I think we're fragged. Unless I learn to swim real quick that is... I suppose I could, but trying to swim while perfectly controlling my position in the water in relation to the pool would be tricky so... Boat?" She looks at Gene, hope clear in her eyes.

Gene laughs. "I did tell you to be careful what you say, remember? Well, it just so happens that you I happen to have an small inflatable raft folded up in my pack in the tent. Let me go get it." He wades through the water to get back to the island and motions for you to wait outside the tent. He disappears inside and you can hear a lot of rustling about before he emerges carrying a small packet in his hands. "Alright, step aside. It would not do good to have you knocked out when this opens." As you step back, he sets the packet on the ground and pulls a tab on the side of it. There is a loud pop and the small packet just about explodes as it inflates quickly into a smallish one-man boat. He pulls a collapsible oar from the side of the boat and extends it, before handing it to you. "Here you go. I hope that you don't get washed away. Are you ready to head out?"

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #214

Cynthia looks at the boat, quite doubtful, and at the oar in her hands. Then, she turns to Gene and says "I'll look so stupid in this thing. I'm glad no one is here to record that..."

A few more second pass. Then, Cynthia seems to gather the courage to do this, and her grip on the oar becomes more determined "Ok, let's do this."

Once in her small boat, she will spend a couple of minutes to familiarise herself with the handling of the boat. Only after that does she really leave the island in direction of the pool with a small wave to Gene. All along, she seems quite stressed however. Perfectly aware that it would be simplicity itself to overturn her little boat, which would lead to bad things...

While you are familiarizing yourself with the boat and oar, Gene disappears back into his tent, returning in a few seconds with a life preserver. He helps you put it on, saying, "Here, I would not want you to get knocked out of the boat. You will need to get the strand visible, of course. And, if it matters any, I happen to think that you look very brave in that boat, not stupid."

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Resonance Realms] #215

Cynthia smiles lightly "Hum. Thanks, I guess."

Once ready, Cynthia waves to Gene "Well, see you later." With that, she gets on her way to the pool.

Gene reaches over and plucks a strand of resonance into sight for you to follow and bids you farewell. You are blessed with mostly still water as you set out and are able to learn the intricacies of paddling the small craft and after some incidents that might have been embarrassing if others were watching, you begin to make good headway. Using the oar is harder than it looks and exercises different muscles than walking does and as a consequence, you tire faster and need more breaks. Fortunately, you have the strand to follow as everywhere else is a dead flat layer of water with no landmarks in sight. After what seems to be forever, your muscles just about give out and you hear a small "bing" from next to you. Looking down you see a small package at your side and the aroma of hot food wafts up to your nose. Opening the package, you find a nice meal and some fresh water inside, along with a note on a piece of paper. "Good job so far. Thought you might want some lunch. Toss the anchor overboard so you do not float off course while you rest. Good luck this afternoon." Not remembering seeing an anchor, you look around and sure enough there it is.

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Near a Resonance Pool] #216

After a hard morning of rowing, Cynthia is really pleased to notice the food package "Hum, Thanks Gene!" she tosses the anchor in the water and takes a few minutes to breathe. After that, she eats slowly enjoying each mouthful. And thinking that being a mage is awesome.
After maybe an hour, reasonably fresh - and a bit bored now - she plucks the strand anew and takes back the oars, starting to row again...And stops soon, grumbling. She grabs the anchor and gets it back in her magnificent boat. Weirdly, it works better now...

Raising the anchor does indeed assist in your forward progress. Again, you are glad that no one is near enough to have seen the incident. After the break, you feel immensely re-invigorated and push on with your rowing. At about the point where you are about to tire again you notice that the water is getting oddly shallower under the boat, even to the point that you can see the ground below you. Before long, the bottom of the boat is scraping the ground and you can see dry land ahead of you. A spot of color catches your eye just ahead and along the line of the resonance strand you are following.

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Near a Resonance Pool] #217

When she sees the spot of colour, Cynthia mutters "Well... This looks like it. Let's get this done"

She rows a bit more, until she can't go forward anymore. She then jumps in the shallow waters and, keeping an eye on the spot of colour, pulls the boat onto dry ground. She'd prefer to still have it when the time comes to go back when all is said and done.

You can pull the boat from the shallow water to ground that has apparently not been submerged in the water. The effort reminds you how truly sore your muscles are from the exertion of the day and your clothes are soaked to your skin as much from the water that you had splashed on yourself as you rowed here as much as from sweat. From this distance you can tell that the spot of color ahead of you is a bright green tent on slightly higher ground. As you approach it, you see a fire ring with a stack of dry wood next to it, several plastic jugs of water placed against one side of the tent, and a burbling spring giving off steam in the cooling evening air is about ten feet off to the right. A blinking light from inside the tent catches your eye.

As you crest the small rise to where the tent is, you can look across a flat plain to where the resonance strand you have been following disappears into a blotch of blue that looks very much like a lake. You estimate the distance from the tent to the lake to be two, maybe three miles.

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Near a Resonance Pool] #218

Cynthia blinks a few time. She didn't expect to find this here, but the pool instead. After maybe a minute, her lips form a slow smile, and she whispers a "Nice..."

Tossing her life jacket in the boat (and doubly making sure that short of a tempest, nothing will move the boat), she goes to the fire. She seems to be torn between looking at the blinking light, probably some message from Gene, getting warm and dry by the fire, and jumping into the hot spring. First, she removes her wet clothes and hangs them to dry near the fire, underwear included. Then she goes to look for the blinking light: it could be important. For example, it could warn her to not get too comfortable, and use all this once she's done. Probably not. She hopes not anyway. Especially since she'd really like to get some relief for her muscles in the hot water...

Entering the tent, you find a nice sleeping bag already unrolled on a thick air mattress just waiting for you to crawl inside. The blinking light is accompanied by a folded piece of paper and is attached to a largish package. Unfolding the paper, you see that is is, indeed, a note from Gene. Hey there. If you are reading this, you made it this far and only have a few miles to go. Big congratulations to you. I would recommend that you take the opportunity to rest, but what do I know. I have never been where you are, so it is up to you. You are at the limit of where I can project any sort of magic with out a great risk of it failing catastrophically, so I will not take the chance that something I do backfires and hurts someone I like very much. My understanding is that proceeding further will be quite difficult unless you are part resonance. My guess and my advice is to be just about fifty-one percent resonance and to do it slowly. Take your time making the change and get it right. Remember......too much change and you will not be able to come back. Good luck.

The package, once opened, contains some cooking equipment and food ready to be cooked, along with a recipe and cooking instructions. You find a pair of cooking mitts very similar to the ones Gene uses, as well as an apron and tall white hat.

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Near a Resonance Pool] #220

As she finds the apron and the white hat, Cynthia laughs lightly "Thanks Gene."

For the time being though, she will go soak in the spring. She's tired, her muscles sore and generally in no condition to go to the pool right now. She would probably make a mistake in her state. No, best take another day. It won't hurt - hopefully - but it will do her a lot of good.

Once she all but melt in the spring, she will go back to the fire, and dry while she reads the recipe, not bothered by her nakedness in the least. When she's ready, stomach grumbling, she will get dressed, don the apron, the hat and the mittens, and will try to follow the recipe to the best of her abilities.

The pool is amazing and the warmth soaks the ache from your muscles. By the time you emerge from the hot water, your clothes are dry. When you put the mitts, apron, and hat on, you tackle the cooking with a much greater feeling of confidence and soon have an excellent meal prepared. Gene would be proud if he were here. Afterwards, you walk the short distance to where the strand is still barely visible. Reaching out tentatively, you realize that you can feel a slight change in yourself if you let your hand remain in near contact to the pulsing strand. That revelation leads you to believe that a slow and controlled exposure might be possible.

[Cynthia Rawson - Monday June 10th, 2075 - Near a Resonance Pool] #221

Cynthia hesitates a bit, not sure on how to proceed. After a moment though, she decides she will first first get exposed for a while to the strand, but not too much. Just like someone would try the waters with a toe. Then, she will take her nap. The main goal is to proceed once she's in perfection condition, but maybe it can help too by having her body slowly get used to the first "infusion", and maybe accept the real dip more easily.

You can hear the hum as your hand nears the strand, then there is a slight tingle, very much like the sensation you get when your hand falls asleep after sleeping on it in a certain way.......like pins and needles. The feeling is uncomfortable for a few seconds then that feeling is replaced by something different. A bit closer and part of your lower arm takes on a slight blue glow and it almost feels like, well, like your arm is changing a bit. You are pretty sure that you have never quite felt this sensation before. After about twenty minutes of this, you realize that you are able to tell that your body has become just about one percent resonance. Maybe a bit more and perhaps a bit less, but close. Experimenting, you think that the closer you get, the quicker the change, so why wait too long? Why not just get a bit closer and get it up to the magic fifty-one percent?