melodiesoflife | Questions and Answers

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Questions and Answers

Who: Everyone
What: A big meeting of all the Heroes of Light to discuss what they have discovered so far
When: January 13th
Where: The Old Observatory
Notes: Feel free to post starts with questions and information, and all are free to threadjack other threads with questions and answers. The OOC/IC summary can be found here

[The tables and chairs are set. Dinner and dessert is laid out. There is no reason no one should be absent, Ales tells himself. A table is set aside with a large box beside it - the stage where Ales will announce the beginning of the meeting.

Once the room is full and everyone has sat down with their meal, he turns on his portable hacking computer, projecting a pale blue screen on the far wall. He flicks it off and on a few times.]

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, may I have your attention please!

[He jumps onto the box, then onto the table. He then faces the audience with his hands held up and suppressing the reflex to grin broadly.]

With the Calamity ever looming closer, there is not much time left for our Heroes to act! A dark, ancient presence has long loomed over this world, and it is up to us to decide whether we will let it do as it pleases, throwing the entire land into chaos, or to stand up to the destructive force that has plagued Crystallis for Eons? With the knowledge we have found and been given, will finally succeed where others have failed? Are we better than what others believe us to be?

[A pause. Even though he has long ago switched his role from guide to actual hero, he still can't help but start off a gathering as if it were a story.]

The Hero of Light Roundtable will now begin! Please, go ahead and bring up points of discussion.

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If I may... [Jade speaks up shortly after Ales is done with his opening speech.] My overview of the situation should be more or less up to date, though I welcome additions and corrections if needed. I suggest everyone -- especially our newcomers -- give it a look so we'll all be on the same page.

[All Heroes will get a copy of this report, which contains an IC summary of the plot to use as a reference.]

I'm open to questions, but in the meantime... I've been thinking about what we should do with the Soul Divider for a while now. If we intend to save Crystallis, we need to come up with an efficient way to cycle energy through the planet. One that doesn't require assimilating our homeworlds.

I might have an idea or two, but first... Who else besides me brought technology from their worlds while we were in the Rift?

Jack stands up. "While I did bring back some technology, what is needed for the Soul Divider was something far more valuable. Knowledge. The last knowledge of the Time Lords, a group of beings who were able to harness the energy of a Schism in spacetime. If you need to know the secrets of taking a lot of dimensional energy and turning it into something valuable, a few of the Heroes hold that secret. The Omega knowledge."

"It was psychically implanted into Chiaki, K'pandolu, Sparks Nevada, Duster, and Lydia Deetz. Any one or all of them can access it by speaking the code word. It would be...a little too much for their minds to handle otherwise. But they can help you. Specifically, it should be able to help the Soul Divider handle far more energy than it was originally designed to. For the Time Lords, Omega unlocked the power of time travel for them. But we've already seen that this universe's timestream is immutable." You know, so, don't try it.

[Duster rubs the edges of his plate with a thumb. He doesn't know much about the history of this world and he's more of the type to follow directions rather than investigate and make his own decisions, but he does have something he wants to ask about.]

So...Mograma says that he knows some of the magical songs that Kalki used, and he's willing to work with us now. Do you think we should bring him with us and ask for his help? If we have guards with us, we can make sure that everyone else feels safe.

So how do we stop the Calamity? I for one, haven't the faintest idea on the subject.

[It doesn't seem amenable to fighting or magically overpowering, and Tazendra assumes they have to both prevent it from consuming this world, and prevent Garland from using their own worlds to stave off Crystallis's destruction for another cycle. They can probably fight Garland -- she really hopes they can fight Garland, because she wants to fight someone -- but the Calamity may require other problems.]

Tazendra considered this. "Can that energy source be accessed here, as well as in your plane of origin?" It sounded like it could, but so much that Tazendra thought should extend to Crystallis... didn't.

"Sadly, what I could imagine being of use would be impossible to remove from my own world, or any I have visited, so I have nothing." That and recreating it requires materials that are all but impossible for humans to get a hold of, even if Tazendra had the sorcerous skills to, say, duplicate the Imperial Orb, or at least its abilities to serve as a conduit for energy.

Can he use the Bard job himself?

[Nanami remembers Kalki's tape, and her warning that she had developed the Melodies of Death song, and that no one with the Bard job equipped should play or sing it without wanting it to take effect. Encouraging a Bard to sing or play seemed like a dumb idea]

And can't he write music?

I assume that we have to get to its source. We got rid of that harp at the center of the world, so the crystallization is gone, but it likes in another plane. Whether it's in space on in another dimension, I'm not sure.

[He looks around the room.]We might have to contact the Avatars if we aren't going to fight it.

One might argue that the only reasonable advantage we have that previous cycles did not is that of the Avatars. Remembering they're all linked back to the Calamity, and is arguably how it perceives us.

[Sephiroth doesn't linger too far in the back of many of these discussions, hoping for a thread to come around that he might be able to learn something out of. The Avatars are not discussed enough, in his opinion.]

To take on the Calamity itself, seems to me like it might be like a grain of sand trying to stem an ocean.

... I think we should accept his help. [ Voice quiet, Tear didn't try to look at anyone in the eye as she recalled the vision she had been bestowed at the end of the battle with Palitutu. Now that they could see for themselves that Mograma was seemingly their ally, it seemed foolish to turn him away.

But it was also foolish to trust him completely. Breathing in, the girl looked up with a determined look in her eyes. ] However, I also think it would be better if we were to split the songs he knows among different Bards, so no two have the exact same set or knowledge in the event something were to happen and it could be turned against us.

[ The memory of what had happened to her in Downapolis was still fresh in her mind all these months later, it seemed. ]

I did, however... I wouldn't trust what came from the minds that destroyed not just their own world, but countless others. Including my own.

[It's almost painful to admit it, but he continues.]

No, from what you said it looks like, we need a different song.

"Yes, but..." Oh, how to explain the sort-of problem with that idea? "The Time Lords pulled it off by accessing time, space, just pure Time Energy," he is waving with his hands to indicate a concept that is all around them. "But the Time Vortex itself isn't quite working right here. So I'm banking on the idea that it's similar enough that the same principles will work to funnel the dimensional energy of the broken worlds from out of the Rift and through the Soul Divider, but, sorry, pulling this off isn't going to make us all Rulers of Time."

Pause. "Anybody starts building a glass cathedral anyway, and I'm out."

The Avatars might have more information than we do currently. Judging from the reports I've read, it doesn't seem like we have too much information on them, however. Are we for certain that we can trust the Avatars? I have not had contact with them personally, so I'm a bit at a loss.

[ Mikleo speaks, putting a hand under his chin. Sephiroth was right about the taking on the Calamity. That might be too risky. ]

I think we can trust General Varaha, at the very least. Probably Kurma as well, if we can get in contact with him. His goals have usually aligned with ours. The Sage... [Jade gives a shrug.] I don't know about trust, but he's the most knowledgeable of them all and not actively against us. I suppose we should count him as an ally, if not a friend.

Kalki and the Cult leader are presumably dead and couldn't have been reasoned with in any case. Narasimha is held captive, as he should be. Mograma... I wonder.

[He glances at Sephiroth, who's probably in a better position to make a call on the rogue Moogle.]

That leaves Shakyamuni and two others we haven't confirmed.

"So in theory, the Omega knowledge could be used to funnel the Calamity's energy through the Soul Divider and revitalize the First Crystal that way?"

Jade pauses, deep in thought.

"That might be compatible with what I had in mind. A scientist in my world built a system called the Planet Storm to move memory particles -- more or less the same thing as spiritual energy -- out of the planet's core, circulate them around the planet through the atmosphere, then absorb them back into the core."

A simplified explanation, but he doubts anyone here wants a lecture on fonons right now.

"Back home, this was used as an infinitely renewable energy source. Here, we could use the same principle to limit the amount of spiritual energy going through the planet at any given time. The amount of energy from the Calamity would be too massive for Crystallis to handle, but by keeping part of the flow outside the planet rather than inside... It should lessen the strain on the Soul Divider."

Edited 2017-01-20 01:53 (UTC)

The think with Shakyamuni is that we have no clue how to contact her. She came to us rather than us coming to her. [As for the Sage, Ales trusts him to show the inner intentions of other Heroes. In a way, he was thankful for the vision of the bad future.] What about the globe in Palitutu's laboratory? Shall we take it with us to see how many Avatars are in the meeting room?

Jack nods eagerly when Jade catches his idea. But Jade has the exact same reservation that Jack does, and that Palitutu herself had pointed out: how do they do this without overloading and breaking the Soul Divider?

"Memory particles..." Spiritual energy, okay, but the idea is an appealing one, to Jack. Focus on the task at hand, Harkness. "That was the hope. Once the Calamity stops progressing, I'd assume we have as much time as we need to run it all through the Soul Divider. If you have to limit the load on the Soul Divider, but it slows down the total processing? We'd rather play this safe than fast."

"Reabsorb it all into the First Crystal so that it revitalizes itself. What happens to the rest? The energy we're talking about is the shattered remnants of these devoured timelines and dimensions. They're still lost in the equation?" Not a dealbreaker if they are, but leave it to Jack to be the one to ask.

Presumed, but not likely. [He sighs, not really wanting to say much on it in order to protect Mograma, but-] Unless there's an actual body, I wouldn't put it past Kalki to lay low until the last possible moment.

That said, it might be a good idea to bring the globe--if we can make sure not to lose it mid-transport.

Edited 2017-01-21 21:09 (UTC)

[Sephiroth doesn't make any attempt to hide the scowl as the Sage is mentioned.]

I wouldn't go so far, with regards to the Sage. He too has played with us similarly to how Narasimha has done. Just that he seems to be more knowledgeable, that he seems to have the answers does not necessarily mean that it's the case.

[Putting to one side the sticky fact about his stained glass window being the only one left at that Temple in Mysidia. The silver-haired hero has had a chip on his shoulder about the Sage ever since the vision that he wasn't involved in, yet featured for so many in all the same.]

Given Mograma's assistance to finally exorcise the spirit of his long-dead King, it would be easy now to consider him an ally. I think we still need to be cautious until it's made clear what his particular function as an Avatar really is. He's never indicated that he's even aware of his role as such, much like Varaha, as far as I recall.

Again, that doesn't mean that the opposite is not the case. If so, that might well indicate some change in how the Calamity wants to interact with us.

[He nods along his agreement to Ales and Ira's points as well, yet thinking to that particular globe they refer he's not sure that would be able to transport it so easily.]

Or just employ someone else to take a head count at that location, on said globe, while we're present at that meeting.

I'm not sure it would be such a good idea, to have whichever-Avatar's might be present suddenly aware within a meeting to plan the potential end-of-days. It might urge the Calamity itself to react in some way which might not be in our interests.

[At six feet three, to think that Sephiroth would need to use --and somehow not break-- said large box that Ales had used as a stage is just a ridiculous notion. At some point during the meeting the once elite-SOLDIER now longest-serving Colonel of Esdham within the Heroes makes his way to the front of the room.

He waits for something of a lull in the buzz of conversation before --louder than might be otherwise considered polite-- Sephiroth clears his throat before speaking.]

If you would...please-

[Hopefully this goes better, given how far along they are along now, than other times Sephiroth has tried to speak out publicly. Hopefully the din in the room goes quieter and allows him to speak up rather than getting louder.]

There is no doubt of the importance, considering circumstances now, that whatever conclusion is worked towards will determine the future of not only this universe, but every other.

But please allow me to draw attention to the forthcoming meeting that has been called for at the Castle of Aqures Ixen.

From my position within the military I know a little of the itinerary that is to be discussed but I must share the most crucial here, that we can be somehow prepared for the inevitable direction that Heroes of Light will be looked towards for guidance.

An advance back into Heran territory is certainly on the cards, with Pandemonium now un-crystallized and a battle Garland now clearly an inevitability should the perpetual cycle of chaos be brought to a halt once and for all; I feel that we should perhaps be putting some thought towards a plan to bring to the Castle later?

"Could they be reconstructed? Or even... we know that the soul of prior Heroes are reincarnated here. Could the remains in the Calamity be brought into another world." Tazendra had been... upset to think at least one copy of her own world had been destroyed by the calamity, with only two souls spared to be reborn, one outside her proper species. But it was perhaps better than dissolution. And if many copies of her own world existed, then surely one could take the remains of another.

How many bards are there?

[Nanami had the job herself, but rarely used it.]

[Tazendra considered this]

I do not suppose that Garland and the creatures that cover the Calamity's land, would permit us to fly an airship in to fight him. It is... strange to think we would send an army against one man, and have it be necessary.

[Even in her own world, a powerful wizard couldn't stand forever against an army. Tazendra isn't even sure if a god could. Which did bring another matter.]

Would the soldiers here even be able to fight effectively on the corrupted ground?

{Sure, it wouldn't trap everything in crystal, but it had changed the environment and the creatures living in it. Who knew what it would do to the people.]

Uh...thirteen, I think. That's what I heard at the lab. There's me, Johnny, Tear, Rialynn, Ace - I think... [He holds out a hand and counts on his fingers.] Jack and Chiaki. That's all I remember. There's definitely more, but how many of us use it all the time?

That is granting that the Calamity-fauna and Garland are somewhat bound towards the same end. I for one haven't hard any sign of Garland since we first lost the Heran lands to the Crystal which can only suggest, considering the widespread surge of refugees, that he likely had somehow been able to remain in Hera regardless of the state of the environment there.

There has also been the suggestion, indeed, that he has in some ways been waiting for us to reach this point in the game.

[A small lift of his pointed nose towards Tazendra acknowledges her concern as well. Being responsible for so many soldiers is a burden he's all just adjusted to now. They all knew what was at stake.]

I imagine that the consensus will be for Heroes to push forwards alongside any soldiers in order to clear and maintain a path through to the capital which could then make crucial access possible upon Garland's...defeat.

[It makes it sound so easy. Sephiroth's expression drops into more of a frown as he recalls easily the words of warning Kalki had left about him.]

We all know it'll all be for nothing, should we fail to defeat him.

Yes. It is quite clear, he will insist on the cycle resuming as it has, regardless of how we confront the Calamity.

[Which made it a more tractable problem, in Tazendra's mind. Anything that could be solved by assembling one's forces and striking could be given to a strategist to figure out the best plan. The Calamity was more difficult, as it was not obvious that it could be fought, or should be.]

[Tazendra was competent enough at research, especially as it came to magic, but her heart was far more into solving problems with one big battle.]

So which is the priority, then?

We can't defeat the Calamity without eliminating the potential cycle-reset, and vice versa.

[It's enough to make anyone scowl, but the situation has never sat well on Sephiroth's conscience right from the beginning.]

... I can keep a close eye on the globe during the meeting.

[Looking towards Sephiroth, she nodded once.] I have Psychic available to me, and could easily send telepathic messages on any new developments.

[Yet it was obvious that there was something else on her mind, though she dare not speak it lest the hunch she felt was right. Thus, telepathically she informs Ales, Sephiroth:]

However, it may be hard to discern how many Avatars are in attendance with the majority of our own number attending as well. Not to mention how many remain in Crystal Stasis.

I can probably give a hand with that if you need another guard or rather Repede is good at tracking in general. He's a good guard dog if you need an extra pair of eyes. He's also quick to deliver messages of telepathic messages don't work.

[ Yuri spoke up after a while listening to the conversation. He can't say he trusts any of the Avatars but it is true that some have been more helpful than others. He can't discredit them. ]

So we split up. Some of us have the intellect to deal with delicate matters of magic and science, some are better at outright fight.

[His tone is unbothered. It's so simple. When there is a problem, Ales does not hesitate to find a way to deal with it. When he had attempted to overthrow Polokus, he had men devoted to stopping Rayman and men devoted to building his air fortress.]

I'm most certain that we'll be able to play with our strengths.

[If it wasn't so blunt and obvious, Sephiroth might have taken offense to Ales' interjection; he's hardly only a meathead even if it is true that he lacks much in terms of the experiences of other, in order to be able to apply any solid theories to the delicacies of saving the World in this instance.

It stings, to think he might consider himself to be somewhat less, as a result, but he swallows it. He knows it's never been about only him being the Hero but he's been made aware recently that really might be one of his desires.]

I'm starting to believe what someone else once suggested to me; that it's not necessarily going to boil down to a fight.

I was about to suggest the same thing. Dividing our forces, that is, not that it might not come down to a flight.

[She really hoped it did, but the fate of multiple worlds, including her own, meant that Tazendra would live with her disappointment.]

I don't know about the others, but we— [ 'We' referring to herself and Ace. ] —take turns with who has it equipped at any given time.

[ Not that she wants to take full responsibility for always having it equipped. ] I suppose now would also be a good time to share just which legendary melodies we each know...

Assign the people to the tasks they're best suited to, in other words. So we could, potentially, begin addressing both at the same time. I'd think we should start with keeping Garland busy, though.

So- in other words, you think we should… create a new one?

[Duster nods. Together, they might have access to all of the Melodies.]

I have the boss fight one, but the Melody of the Calamity is probably more useful. Other than that, I have the song for Limit Breaks, Hamsters, other Heroes, the Imperial March, Clash on the Big Bridge, the King Moggle Mog song, Mognet Central, and Theme of the Crystals.

[....He has a lot, but Duster has been practicing furiously ever since he arrived.]

[Cloud speaks up, having been quiet and listening all this time.]

I have Bard in my job set. But I've been mainly focusing on attack stuff. Still, if I can help in any way I'll try.

...I'm a musician. I know how to improvise. [Jazz and rock solos, of course. Creating magic out of nowhere is another thing entirely.] Bards can write their own spells. What's to say we can't do this?

That's true. All songs start somewhere… It should be something that brings hope, I'd think.

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Of Hera, Pandemonium, Garland and the upcoming NPC Meeting

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