hadriel | 001 // voice;

[ The recording starts playing and there's dead silence, for a moment or two, some fidgeting in the background. A pause, sound that seems like someone thoughtfully tapping against the phone, once, twice, a voice; ]

Well, let's see here -- [ A flicker of static, back into silence. And a few moments later there's just noise, static and dead air, though it does sound like there might be a voice somewhere underneath it -- it's too distorted, far too lost in the noise to really make out. Unless, of course, one is familiar with one of the old encryption protocols that this very guy may have taught you, once upon a time.

ENCRYPTED;

[ A seperate recording, encoded within the noise; ]

-- Mayday, mayday. This is Agent York of Project Freelancer, designation Foxtrot-12. Mayday, requesting assistance. Location unknown, missing key equipment, and not all that happy about it, to be be honest. Mayday, mayday, anyone out there? [ A pause, stretching for a few seconds, and a brief sigh. ] Bit of a longshot, huh, D.

[ Another few moments of silence, and something that might be a soft chuckle. ]

Good to know you still remember what I taught you, rookie.

For everyone else, that lasts for a good ten seconds or so before the static flickers into some laughter. ] -- Uh oh. Testing, testing. We clear?

Sorry about that earful of static, folks. [ A sharp, sheepish laugh. ] This tech isn't what I'm used to. Hadriel, that's what I call you, right? Don't think we've been properly introduced?

The name's York. My likes include walks on the beach, an adequate supply of ammunition, and not bein' kidnapped against my will. I think I'm pretty good on walks on the beach, for now. Anyone out there got anything for me on the rest?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If you're looking for ammunition, there's the armory. I'm sure someone will let you know the second they find a way to handle the 'being kidnapped' part.

I've heard about this armory, I'll be headin' down.

Funny, I had a feeling no one would be able to help me out on that? It's kind of the more pressing issue, though.

The goddess Rage runs the place. You might see what she's willing to trade bullets for. Last I heard, she was trading clips for killing monsters, hopefully to keep the population in the caves under control. Don't bother asking her about the kidnapping part, though. It's Fear you'll want to talk to for that.

And I somehow doubt the guy named Fear is the the kind-hearted reasonable sort.

Just a feeling.

In all honesty, Hope doesn't inspire much of his namesake. Delight might have, up until she packed up the party and left a lot of people with a bad hangover.

A -- bad hangover?

Pretty sure that sounds like the opposite of delightful. Are the gods here all into post-modern irony, or something?

That might be true for some of them, but Hope takes everything at the most literal value. Irony is completely lost on him. Sarcasm, too.

What do these gods do around here, then, after pullin' in people to be their playthings?

Parties and hangovers just isn't really how I thought this'd go.

You'd be better off asking them. They're here on the network from time to time. As far as I've seen, then spend a lot of their time and energy trying to invoke certain emotions so we can power them up like some sort of batteries. The degree of success they've had depends on who you ask.

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