genessia | Video; Immediately following the arrival of spirits creatures

[Video]

[David starts up the video feed. He certainly prepared for this eventuality.]

We have encountered these creatures before a few years back. I created shelters in each city for people to retreat to in the eventuality of another situation like this. There is both magical and technological shielding to help keep the creatures out. The magical shielding was applied by various magic users in their own styles, including former Everglade Guardian Fai. The Genessia City police force is being dispatched to help stem the creatures from getting into the Archways as well as helping Genessia City citizens get to shelters.

[He puts in their location in each city here.]

There is food and supplies and space to house the entire populace of each city.

[The shelters are really that big.]

I would like for anyone that is able to help get people to the shelters if they wish to go as well as stand guard near them to help protect anyone coming in. Fellow Guardians, if you can spare yourself or your people to help with that effort, I would be grateful. Doctors, EMT as well as others that can offer medical help should be going to the shelters as well.

I will be moving through each city and broadcasting this message out with my telepathy to let people know about them, so don't be alarmed if you hear my voice in your head.

[That said, on to information about the creatures.]

Don’t let the creatures touch you, as they drain emotions from you when doing so. It can cause you to turn on your closest friends. These creatures can be dispersed by strong normal means, but they will only return. After their first attack, I had weapons created to help deal with this. If they are dispersed by one of these weapons, they won't return. The ones with the..flowery thing in them are new. So be extra cautious of them.

These weapons have their own drawbacks, however. Creatures from the last time that they were here have been sealed inside of them to give them the ability to banish the creatures for good. We were able to seal some of the creatures inside of sealing stones last time, but getting over run by them is way too easy. I took the creatures sealed in those stones and had them transferred to the weapons.

The weapons, when removed from their sheathes and wielded, have the same affect that the creatures have if they touch you, however it is at a much slower rate. The weapons can be effectively used in combat without much detriment. Though I do advise to only use then for finishing blows.

They have been routinely maintained and stores, so there is no worry about their state. If you want to use one, respond here or contact me directly. These weapons are only being loaned out and will be collected once this is all over. I think it's a good idea not to have these things freely floating around.

I will be going to the Cloister of Trails to see if this can be fixed. The last time there was a breach like this, a handful of people gave up things precious to them to fix it. I doubt it's going to be so easy this time around, because this breach is far worse than that one.

[Karla]

I left a Katana for you in my office. I'd like you to help people looking for shelter to get to the safe house.

[Liv]

I left you a dagger at home. Try not to have a repeat of last time.

[Telepathy; All Cities]

Don’t freak out, you aren’t crazy, you are just hearing my voice. This is David Haller, Guardian of Genessia City. I am projecting my thoughts into your mind. I’m also not reading your mind either, I am just relaying information.

There at shelters for people to take refuge in from these creatures.

[He gives the location for whichever city he is sending this message to at the moment.]

The shelters have been designed to protect against these creatures. It's fully stocked with rations and beds to help wait out this crisis, should you want to go.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He doesn't relax even when the prob launches, he continues to hold the line as best as he can while watching what is being displayed. So that's what's out there? He can't say he is surprised, honestly. He'd be more surprised if there was a thriving world out there. There is no reason why they would be in this barrier otherwise if the world was inhabitable.

Okay. [He says and in a flash, David teleports himself, the cops, chaos and chaos' equipment out of the area. They appear in front of the police station, which is heavily fortified and already being defended, so they are all able to let their guard down for the moment.]

Double check to make sure everything saved and that we didn't forget anything. We can make a quick trip back if we did.

[Tapping a few more commands on his hard light keyboard, chaos takes a moment to respond to David. His frown doesn't go away, but it does lessen somewhat, as the data from the probe right up until it was destroyed is all intact.]

We didn't get everything I wanted, but I can at least confirm there is a whole planet out there, and that it has a survivable atmosphere and weather conditions. Not much in the way of life, though - it looks like we're in the middle of a giant wasteland.

So we can live outside of the barrier, but there is nothing out there. [That's a bit..unsettling. Just what happened to the life on the planet? Was it the creatures that they are fighting that did something.]

Anything else?

I won't know for sure until I can analyze all the data. I can tell you that there are a lot more of those shades out there than we thought, though. If I didn't know better... no.

[There's a look of dawning horror on his face as he puts two and two together and gets the inevitable four.]

In my world, we had a phenomenon similar to this. We called them Gnosis. They were born of people who rejected the natural order. Entire planets could be converted into Gnosis; they spread like a virus, like a self-perpetuating cancer. What if these shades... are the former residents of this world?

Depending on the amount that are out there, it could be possible that they are. I can't imagine what happened to them to make them into these..empty husks of humanity. Unless that is the form that they originally took and this place, Genessia, is something that an off worlder set up.

[They simply just didn't know enough about this place or the state that it was in before to say definitively what happened.]

For as many questions that have just been answered, so many more have arisen.

I wish I didn't know what could turn people into things like this, but unfortunately I'm intimately familiar with how it happened in my own universe.

[He looks around at the city around them, and shakes his head.] This wasn't done by an outsider. It would take too long and too much would be lost to the ravening spirits. Someone might have built on what was already here, though.

As far as we are aware, there are spirits in each city. Like, spirits that govern them. The Genessia Spirit, Everglade Spirit and Fayren Spirit have all revealed themselves to us before. The Everglade Spirit itself is the one that maintains the barrier. But they don't appear to be anything like the creatures outside of the barrier.

So if those creatures are the former inhabitants of this world, do you think the city spirits are too? And if so, why would they appear different?

I don't know. The city spirits aren't like anything I've encountered before. It's possible they might be this world's equivalent of Shining Wills, but that doesn't make a great deal of sense; in a population as large as the one suggested by the number of husks, there would have to be hundreds of those. Maybe thousands.

[He leans back against a wall, and starts rubbing his temples.] There are too many questions and not nearly enough data to answer them all. Still, we have more of both now than we did before.

Well, as we know it, there are likely only 5. I don't know how powerful each one is, but they are strong enough to pull people from different universes.

[He sighs and shakes his head a little, though.]

Always far more questions after we've received answers. One thing is for sure, we do need to figure out what happened out there. Because if this barrier ever fully comes down and we can't put it back up, we will have to endure that wasteland. And if there is something in the air that changed people, it will change us too.

So, it's the city spirits that bring people here? [That's news to chaos; he's been told and has been telling others that no one knew what brought them here.]

If it was something in the air, I think we'd have seen effects in here from the breach by now - but the probe transmitted air samples, so we'll know soon enough regardless. If it does turn out to be something airborne, Nova City has environmental suit technology that should be protection enough if we can establish a clean zone - say, by adding airlocks to your safehouses.

They are the only authority figures in this place. I can't imagine anyone else being in charge of who comes and goes other than them. So unless there is someone above them, then that is all we have to go on.

Airlocks should be easy to add on. I suppose I should ad some environmental suits to them as well in case the need arises.

[chaos nods, and finds someplace to sit down. It's been a very eventful day, and even his reserves are running low. His physical ones, anyway.]

Well, for better or for worse, there's not much more I can do without endangering large portions of the city. I'd rather avoid that.

I think that would be for the best. We just need to deal with this situation as best as we can for the moment.

I'm guessing you will want time to pour over all of the information that you got?

That can wait until I get it back to my office. I have an assistant who's much faster with raw data than I am. [Mostly because his assistant is an AI, or at least most of one.]

Until then, I'll join the defenders here. I can work as a medic or a fighter, and I don't need a weapon.

Video; Immediately following the arrival of spirits creatures

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