[Audio / Pre-Event because I'm great at timing guys]

[purplexing]

Soooo.... Has anyone else bothered to try tapping into the creepy networks around here outside of the Convoy one? Then again I guess there's very little around here that isn't creepy.

Actually I wouldn't recommend it given it starts messing with things pretty bad. Not nearly enough to damage a computer system, thankfully, but I had to do a hard reset to clear out the screen. Kind of glad I didn't try it with my own computer- I mean, my firewalls and security are top-notch but I don't think what's coming through is...normal.

[One can practically picture the look of distaste as he says it. Ugh he hates this place.]

And those tiny screen talisman things are cute but I don't know if their dying message is something to be concerned about.

Comments

[soldiernoclass]

[ Zack understood like 1/3 of that, but that won't stop him from being curious. ]

What kind of stuff's coming through?

[purplexing]

It's... Well, I'm not sure it's a virus, exactly? But the screen starts getting really hard to read from the interference that comes up. Weird symbols that are not your typical computer code.

[soldiernoclass]

Woah. Maybe it's a good thing my PHS doesn't get any signal, after all...

I'd say maybe it's some kinda coded message or something, but it sort of seems like pretty much everything out here just wants to kill us, so - probably better not to mess with it.

[purplexing]

PHS?

Ugh, too true. Not that it'd be easy to decode when there's just so much of it coming up at once.

[soldiernoclass]

My phone? I had it in my pocket when I y'know, wound up here.

...And since we don't have any idea who would send it or what we'd have to use to crack a code they made. Doesn't seem like anybody left us any good clues as to what's going on. Just a buncha weird bits and pieces.

[purplexing]

Oh- does yours not pick up on networks? I have my phone too but I'm keeping it off the Convoy network. Was able to connect my computer though. At least that one doesn't seem haunted.

Yeah, that's the annoying part. Although I have to wonder just how much we really want to know. I mean. It'd be better to know what all's going on here so we can at least have some kind of idea as to what we've been pulled into but, you know...

Audio

[guidemyway]

...Darn. And here I was hoping we'd be able to get online and download some new games.

Better luck next time.

[purplexing]

I'm sure anything you tried to download from networks outside of this closed one will be haunted or something.

But if you want games, maybe I can rig something up from the ones I have on my phone.

[soldiernoclass]

I dunno. I've never really had to figure it out.

[ There was kind of just the one network, back home. And since he got the phone from the company that owned it and also employed him, well. Not really a problem that came up? ]

...Yeah. We don't want to make things worse.

[purplexing]

Well, if you wanted to try and weren't adverse to me fiddling with it, I could look into it.

[He sighs.]

I'd hate to see what worse can look like.

[soldiernoclass]

As long as you're sure it wouldn't mess anything up. I'd hate to lose all my mail.

[ A little worry creeps into his voice, at that, even if he still sounds game. Some of those people he's never going to get to talk to again. Actually, probably most of them. ]

You and me both.

[purplexing]

I will take absolute care. Of course, being that that is exactly the same reason I have not opted to connect my own phone- for potential risk of archives and data, maybe it's better to keep it separate after all.

[He isn't sure just how trustworthy even this network is, after all.]

[guidemyway]

You got games on your phone!?

And not going to lie- haunted games could be fun too.

[purplexing]

Of course! As well as music and a few movies. Of course some of the games are network-reliant so I may have to find a work around to get them to load. Not a big issue, just an extra step.

-and haunted games are only fun when they're not filling up your screen with inane nonsense and creepy cyborg monster-cleansing propaganda.

[soldiernoclass]

If you think it'll help, I'd be willing to give it a try. Maybe there's a way to connect it just enough to use it again?

[ Not everybody has a phone, out here, of course - but a few extra avenues of communication wouldn't be a bad thing. ]

[purplexing]

Maybe. I'll still have to look at it, but at least then I'll be able to have a better idea of how your phone works and network compatibility.

[undyingcrow]

[Well, isn't this a fascinating nugget of information?

Akechi hums, contemplative. His curiosity compels him to listen to some of the other discussions first.]

You mentioned strange symbols. Did you by chance transcribe them? I suspect Jayce-san would find them vital for his runic research.

Alternatively, I could try to take a photograph on my smartphone.

[refusefate]

You mean the bracelets on the raiders, right? [If there’s more they need to know.]

[purplexing]

I took pictures of them with my own phone. Hang on.

[He'll send a few over then. The screens are either static-filled or made completely illegible by the scattering of glyphs and symbols that might be more familiar to someone who's been studying such things as they'd come up.

And then there's a few of extremely fragmented data, what content that can be made out leaving no real doubt as to the origin given the content, creeds that align with the cyborg intent to purge the infections from the world.]

Fun stuff, right?

[purplexing]

Partially? I tried taking them apart to see how they worked and they spit out an "I still live" on the screen before it dies. Either some sort of failsafe or they're connected to a private network for crazy cyborg people and someone's trying to keep us on our toes, oooor it's like some kind of final statement pre-programmed in, in the case of tampering. Regardless, creepy.

But otherwise, I've been picking up other networks outside of the Convoy's, and they are simply no bueno for connecting to, if you have some means to do so.

[refusefate]

[There's silence for a moment.] Can you trace the networks back to their source? Or it is too jumbled?

A private network would explain how the raiders operated. It could be someone is controlling them. Or the creepier option. It could be the system is still running long after the makers are dead.

[purplexing]

Negative. Things get so scrambled and oversaturated with all the weird stuff that I can't even try to navigate anything for very long before I have to reset the thing, and that's only a temporary solution until I've disconnected from the network completely.

....unfortunately these are all possible things I have considered. There has to be a source somewhere. Maybe finding out more about what's going on with these guys will shed more light on our own situation and why they hate us so much.

[refusefate]

Agreed. So far it seems like they were ordered to purge anyone showing signs of monster shifts. They ignored me completely until I fought beside the rest of the convoy. And that 'purge through steel', business...

Working theory aside. If they're looking for Nirvana too. There might be an outpost along our route we can get more data from. Hate we're operating in the dark, but at this point. Knowing they're there at all is something.

[purplexing]

Lucky. But I guess I wasn't too surprised to be targeted even without any extra monster bits.

Definitely something to keep an eye out for. Maybe I can rig up a signal sensor for anything stronger.

[undyingcrow]

[Fascinating...

Some familiar symbols, to be sure, but those creeds... tch. Of course it'd come down to that.]

They're so ridiculously single-minded, yet they fail to see how they've become more monstrous than the beasts they wish to purge.

Still, this is informative, in its own peculiar way.