Yulia sighs "I feel for you, uncertainty is a difficult emotion to process. I already told you what I know when we started, there is a rare mana storm outside many awakened are reporting side effects, none of us is awakened so we are fine. Magic wise, the important spells are still working but all nonessential magic is suspended to preserve the strength of our mage. As for an attack - I don't know - I know that we had plenty of events of violence recently to the point where they deploy people like me with any armed unit to prevent further violence. What is your role in this project Y.T?"

"I'm a programmer. I'm supposed to keep the cave running in which the AI lives."
She exhales.
"All right, thank you. I believe you. I'll send for my chum."

bnc would then call Nova in, and leave the room.

Nova gives bnc a questioning look before heading inside. Some information about what to expect would have been nice.

"Hello!"

Dr. Julia Avrahamov explains Nova the situation. She seems a bit exhausted but is very alert.
"We are going to take a simple psychological test, not very different than the one you took before joining the project. If your answers remain within the norm, you are free to go, if they deviate a lot, then you may be compromised. People are looking to the source of it, I am just collecting field data and trying to keep everyone safe. So I do not know a lot more than what I am telling you."


Meanwhile, bnc is uncuffed by one of the guards that notify her, "Juli says you are good to go do whatever it is you were doing in the dark woods at the dead of winter. Just use protection or whatever, and no trying to murder people." He makes his helmet transparent to speak, exposing an unusually boyish face with a marine-style haircut and elongated elf ears.

"I don't know. You guys seem to know a whole lot more than I do about what is going on. One of the guards outside called me a traitor. That was pretty insulting, to say the least. He's lucky, that I have so much restraint. An apology would have been nice, but at least, he did explain some of it to me... so there is a group of people in here, that are, for the lack of a better word... terrorists. They kill and enslave as they see fit. And they seem to have pretty high-level hacking abilities. I guess, you do not know by now what their actual goal is? There is this weird storm outside. There are rumors, that it might be caused from within here. Do you know anything about that?"

"Either way, I can tell you that I am not part of this group. I have no desire to undermine what this project stands for, quite the opposite. I do not condone what they are doing here, and I think they must be found and stopped by any means."

"Anyways, you said you have some questions? A test?"

She hands you a standard psychological test to fill, taped with a stapler in the most basic manner. The absurdity is to remember that she avoids using a computer in a simulation, but perhaps they have some technical difficulties.

Julia says, "I do not know much more than you; I do know that many people suddenly started to act differently and that this difference can be captured with simple psychological tools as it impacts rational thinking. This is why I am giving you this test, prove that you are in your right mind, and I will let you go.

You being here in the middle of the night after multiple attacks on this facility is worrying, and I assume the poor guards are exhausted and would be happy to sign-off alive. Living so tightly with people that suddenly try to kill you - and knowing that you cannot go away, they are all right next door to you all evokes some very strong feelings. We were family until this attack, and when the fog clears, I doubt they'll be many people that have not lost a loved one. Some of us are more up-to-date than others because of our work.

I don't think they are part of a terrorist group; Please do not feel offended. I see this crisis as a virus or a contagious disease. People see things that are not there, hear voices receive instructions all from obscure sources that our logging system has no record of - and then, as they lose touch with reality, they become increasingly paranoid and violent and angry. Our efforts are concentrated on finding someone in an early enough stage so that we can better understand what happens and if we can stop the deterioration process."

"Sure."

Nova flips through the pages and fills it out, assuming there is nothing in there, that she does not want to answer or that could jeopardize their task.


"Voices that leave no trace? Sounds a lot like hacking to me, considering where we are."

"As I said, for the lack of a better word. But even if the violent people are just victims themselves, which I can definitely see, there must be someone or a group of people that is pulling the strings. The masterminds behind this whole thing. Whatever it is. And those I would definitely classify as terrorists. Those must be found and stopped. Because I don't see why they should simply stop what they are doing until they achieved whatever they are trying to accomplish. And if they manage to do that, everything might become a whole lot worse."

"And yeah, I can see that our presence here causes questions. But it's just... we want to get to the bottom of what is going on as well. We cannot just sit still and hope it all goes away. We are all in this together. We are capable people. Let us help!"

Julia says, "Hacking is nice and dandy, but it is not a long-term solution. Hacking a person is possible but that results in you getting booted from the simulation permanently. Enough to deter most people, so perhaps but there is something that does not add up.

I appreciate your need to help, but why do you think you can help? We would likely have contacted you if you had a relevant profession. What is it you do here again?"

"Me? Oh, nothing fancy. I am not a computer person. I just do quality control. But that is not the point. From my perspective you are in way over your head. And you completely underestimate the potential harm that can be done, to this, to all of us, if these people are not found and stopped. And for some reason I highly doubt that the self-regulation will catch them. They have done so much crazy stuff already, and has it slowed them down? No. Things are getting worse. Have you seen what's going on outside? It is not even limited to the simulation anymore. You can use all the eyes and ears you can get. I don't know, maybe we can find some of those you are looking for? Point you into their direction? Wouldn't that make your work easier? Let's put it that way, we pretty much got nothing better to do right now, and we want things go back to where they were as much as you do."

"Me personally? I am just a little bolt in a big system. We all work for the Drake, well for the dragon but currently for the drake, and she is well... not very friendly, or patient, or nice to meta-humans. She is horrible seriously, but if you are so eager to help, you can visit her."

"Alright. Are we done here, then?"

"Most emotionally stable person I've seen all day." Fox enters after Nova, and they would exit after a short while (10~ minutes).

In case you are not planning on anything violent or unexpected until then you can open the spoiler tag. (I added it just to push things forward.

With Fox out of the picture for now, all they can do is communicate with him in the physical world, it seems.

Nova says to bnc: "Well, what should we do then? I asked Julia, if we can help somwhow, but she couldn't tell me anything useful. The Drake is coordinating everything here, and she suggested we go talk to her."

After listening to what Nova found out, bnc is thoughtful. She doesn't reply before they are way out of earshot. She boots her deck and searches the area for microphones before she answers:

"I don't think that the drake is going to trust us with anything useful. More likely, she'll just eat our heads for no reason at all. No, never deal with a dragon.

I suggest something else. Dr. Whatnotov said something about people hearing voices and receiving instructions. Maybe we can try and find those people, talk to them, find something out. We could still ask "Julia" but I don't think it's wise. She just confiscated Fox, indicating that she might not be that trustworthy. Let's find out ourselves what the fuck is going on here. Nobody's gonna tell us.
Let's also not lose sight of Fox. I still struggle with this plane shifting, oddly enough. You'd think I should be quick to adapt with switching between VR and AR and drones so intuitively, but apparently this is different. I can't quite deal with the concept that I'm kind of actually in two different places simultaneously. Can you talk to him? Find out what they are doing to him, and why."

"Yeah, I will check on him. Give me a moment."

Nova then concentrates on her physical self to see, if she can get something out of Fox at least, what this is all about. Or what they are supposed to do now.

bnc searches the matrix for Julia's commlink. She's bound to find some data there.

@Thannee Fox is sitting at the small kitchen table at your one-bedroom apartment, and when Nova stirs, he gives her a thumbs up. "They sent me to my happy place." he points to his bracelet. "I have a few tricks to get out of there, but the best time would be once you crawled your way to the control room. I feel like a liability doing covert-ops stuff with you anyhow."




bnc finds no problem discovering Julia's link; it is a high-quality link but nothing that she cannot handle.

"Alright. I will stay in touch and let you know once we are getting there. You don't think visiting the Drake is a good idea, I guess?"

Fox responds There is a risk there, Nyx represents the dragon, and you two should not be here. On the other hand, I'll be surprised if we are not on the same side in this.

"Maybe we should just fill her in about this? Right now we are as much working for those we are trying to help here, as we are working against them. This incident now made that clear enough. It could help to clear things up, but we do not know how the Drake will react."

"She is unlikely to turn us into frogs in this storm so we have this. Dou you want me to introduce you? " he replies

"If you think that helps. The whole thing is your plan, after all. So it might. Apparantly, there are other plans at work, too. And Nyx is in charge. Some coordination might not be the worst thing. We are all trying to achieve the same thing here, right? Hopefully, she is open to some outside help."

Let's say I'd contact her myself if I thought it was helpful, but since you gals are my last card to play in whatever it is. I would listen to your judgment... I am affected and all that. difficult to say if he is serious or sarcastic, but he did feel barely containing the stress since you have met him.

"Okay. Then get some rest. We will continue in the meantime. I will come back here and keep you updated. One thing, though, where would we go to find Nyx?"

Once Fox answers her, Nova shifts back and informs bnc. When she explained everything, she adds: "I think we should try our luck with the Drake."

She is in the room titled "Site manager."

"Oh, right. So we go look for Nyx in here. Didn't quite think of it that way. Thank you!"

You are welcome. Let me know if you need me.

bnc quickly rifles through the doctor's commlink in search for notes on patients who describe the paranormal sensations they experienced.








bnc sighs. "You really sure about that? She's a goddamn drake, for fuck's sake. What do you think how she'll react? 'Oh, they are two stray wannabes trying to help me. Yah, let's hold hands, sing kumbayah and work together in peace and harmony'? It's mroe gonna be like: 'Uh, is that extensive cyberware? Oh, that smells like a shitload of brainware. Looks like we caught two shadowrunners. Funny thing we are being assaulted by just that kind. Let's not take chances, for fuck's sake.' How fucking else could she react? If she's mentally instable, she'll geek us out of fun. If she's not, she'll geek us because it is the right thing to do in her position. Jesus, Nova, you really oughta quit watching trids."

"How else do you think we can proceed? We have seen that there are patrols out looking for anything out of the ordinary, and that pretty clearly applies to us. And those are not even our enemies here. If that Drake is smart, she will see us as assets and not as a problem. We should outright tell her the truth, that we are shadowrunners and hired to help stop the people who are destroying everything they are building here."

"Well then, why don't we split up? I investigate the voices, try to find out what's happening with my hacking abilities and my capacities in informatics and psychology, and meanwhile, you walk over to the drake, expose yourself and see whether she likes you or not. If I find things out and you're still alive, I'll give you all the intel I can gather. If you are accepted as an asset and can bring me in, I'll join. That way, we can't lose much if the other is wrong but we can win if the other isn't."

"Alright, then let's try it this way. I can stay nearby in here, since I will visit her in the facility, anyways. But I will be very distracted, so I should find a place, where I can just stay, I guess."

@bnc You slap a mark on Julia's link and find some personal files, pictures, videos, a directory named tests containing your test files, and five other tests. All from the last few days. You can find a few text messages, including a status report explaining that there is some sort of insurrection and that they are trying to get control.

"... All psychology personnel is recruited to assist, and you need to isolate anyone that behaves out of place from the sim. "

The most interesting text message is the one sending Julia to the facility from someone named Adam Ben " High alert for problems in the bunker. Go Julia and make sure nobody is hurt, try to escalate any violent conflict by all means necessary. The adversary seems especially interested in that location, and in violence in general. Be safe, AB."

All files are encrypted but only the personal test files contain a databomb.

bnc tries to find more information about the case in her messages, like:

• What "that location" the adversary is especially interested?
• Who they mean with "the adversary"?
• Where is this Adam Ben?

@Volker There are other communications with Adam Ben, but they are personal, speaking of parties and sharing some experiences. bnc can find pictures to identify the person as a good-looking baby-face elf, but there is no mention of where he lives. It appears that that part is obvious to both parties and that they are, to the very least good friends.

There are no significant communications from him aside from the order to go to the bunker. There are general updates discussing attacks that sort of match Yulia's story, and the name "The Adversary" appears in them. It seems to come directly from Nyx and refers to a master programmer whose skills are gradually exposed to be quite impressive hacking multiple locations at once quite extensively.

bnc checks the other five tests to see whether or not there are any relevant ones (that is, people who claim they heard voices or some such). If not, bnc reboots with a frustrated sigh.

"Uhm, I ripped apart Julia's commlink. As I feared, I couldn't gain much intel. I'll have to attack the bunker's host itself.
Guess I'm off then while you have your chitchat with a fucking drake."

bnc shares her findings with Nova before she leaves for the bunker.

"Good luck!"

Nova then focuses on the real world again, and after a moment, makes her way to the site manager room.

She sighs. This is going to be weird...

@Nova It is not difficult to see the site manager's room. People around seem peaceful and do not seem to mind Nova moving about.
@bnc Bunker host is very secure and would be very risky to reliably hack. (18 defense dice). An alternative approach like a direct connection would make intrusion more reliable, but you'll need to enter the bunker for that.

Hacking the host may not provide much information as it is a warehouse, but it can satisfy all your equipment needs without violence. If you can access the drones of the warehouse would simply pack all the equipment you order and ship it to you without raiding trucks or stealing stuff. Fox must have ignored that because it is out of reach for him, but perhaps bnc is that good.

Also notice that you cannot reboot, all the overwatch you accumulate stays with you for this entire story. You are always in the simulation.

Alright then...

Nova knocks on the door. She waits for a moment, and then opens it.

The room is relatively large, as well as the door. Making Nova suspects what lies inside. There is no response for knocking on the door, but the door is unlocked. Inside the room is a garden, likely a hologram of a garden or perhaps illusion magic. Soft music plays in the background at a volume that would be difficult to hear to an augmented human. A tall, dark-skinned elf woman is sitting on the floor and meditating. She is bald, and she wears a long dress with a fabric that resembles golden scales. The dress slightly glitters in the ambient lighting.

When Nova opens the door, the woman turns to look her up and down, shooting her a piercing look with eyes that are somewhere between brown and red. What is it mortal?

"Sorry for the interruption. I had the feeling that we need to talk. Nyx it is, right? I am Nova."

"Look, I will say it straight away. I do not belong here. I'm not a part of this project. I have been hired to get in here and solve a problem. The same problem that you and your subordinates are trying to fix. And it is not just limited to this simulation, it affects the outer world just as much, at least that is the assumption. I have managed to get into the simulation and ran into a psychologist there, who tested me, but was satisfied with my answers and behaviour. I suggested, that I can help her, but she said, that she cannot greenlight that, I have to talk to you."

"Now, why am I here and why am I telling you all this? I could just hide in here and continue. But I want to succeed. I want to stop the people who are doing this. And I believe, that you want that as well. We have the same goal, but I will continue to run into your subordinates, and it will just make things more difficult. It costs time, that we might not have. That is why I want to come to an arrangement with you directly. You are in charge here. Accept my help. Consider myself a black-ops asset. That is pretty much my skill set, too."

Nyx responds directly I know who you are and why you are here. What do you need from me?

That went better than I thought... so far... Nova thinks.

"If you already know, then you will also know that I am not alone and probably know who hired us, right?"

"I don't want to waste your time. You have your hands full, I suppose. What I want, and why I am here, is simple. I do not want to cross paths with you and those who believe in this project. To achieve that, coordination is required. I also want to fulfill my task here, but in order to do that, I figured that we need your approval."

Nyx sighs. "You see, on the one side, our adversary is a sophisticated AI with more computing capacity than most of us. On the other side, there are dragons and big money. When the time comes, I know you will make the right choice; you cannot make enemies of that magnitude in your profession. The AI would have seen that if he understood humans, but he does not."


She looks at Nova with a neutral expression and says soft "You get nothing from me, not approval, nor permission. If my people understand who you are, they will try to kill you. I would not lift a finger to help you because then the AI would not trust you, and you are useless if you are weak. If you are good, you would be successful without me.

So go on your quest, steal, rob, kill, and do whatever it takes to get to that control room. Once there, if you make the right decision you get to leave, and if you make the wrong decision, then you better know how to handle a drake."

"That works for me, and it is kind of an approval, if you think about it. I sure hope to know what the right decision will be. I'm certainly not planning on making enemies here, that's for sure. We are prepared not to kill, if possible. It would only be a last resort."

"I do have two questions, though, if you are willing. There was this being in the room where we made our transition into the simulation at first. It seemed curious, and even offered help. Was that this AI then? And lastly... this weird storm outside. Is this caused from here? So far, it is an assumption, but we are hardly sure."

She sighs, "I was too friendly, too much time with mortals. I will answer briefly, and then you will leave. "

The storm is natural, but the AI has activated a techno-magical artifact that harms the awakened. The device makes it very difficult to practice magic and places all of you at risk since you cannot be in the simulation without magic. If my spells fail, then you all risk brain damage and emotional trauma.

About AI, our AI has many subroutines that are autonomous to a degree. Think of him as a coalition of subroutines rather than a monolithic entity. Some subroutines may help you, while others try to get rid of you. Long story short, this is the safe way to make them and avoid the pitfalls of the past - but as you see, it is not safe enough.

Now with all due respect, I need my focus to keep you and the other mortals alive under extreme conditions. Please leave.

"Thank you. Already gone."

With that Nova leaves and gets back to her room, but making sure that she isn't followed. Taking a little detour, if necessary.

Nova can see nobody physically following her, but there are many cameras and sensors within the facility that she is certain her visiting Nyx has left a digital trace. She arrives without a hitch in the guest room.

Giving herself a moment to focus, Nova switches over to the simulation again and looks for bnc.

Once she finds her, she says: "That went surprisingly well. We cannot expect a whole lot of help from that direction, more like none whatsoever, but I did learn a few things."

Nova then explains to bnc what she learned, especially about their adversary being an A.I., or some part of it.

"Beats the shit out of getting eaten straight away. Still, it was also a dead end.

Now, where are we? Is the enemy AI the very same as our AI, or are we caught up in the middle of a battle between two AIs?

What we do have, however, is confirmation on Fox. Unless he got a fraggin' drake to back him, he's trustworthy. So that's something, at least for me. This also means, we really should try and find this control room.

[ Spoiler ]

At the moment, I'm quite confused where that control room is supposed to be. Apparently, it's neither in the main building nor in the bunker but we do not know of any other relevant structues. What am I missing?

I'm quite sure it would not be a great idea to try and get in without sufficient gear. So, I suggest we make a list of gear we need, and then try and find and/or create it before we move forward. What do you think?"

"Yeah, I am with you there. She has mentioned, that the A.I. has multiple parts, and it seens only some of them are to be considered adversary. I definitely got the impression, that she thinks we are doing the right thing here, even though she cannot officially support it. Yes, we have to find the control room, and we should try to gear up still. But short of robbing some of the patrols, I do not know where we can do that."