Twilight Mirage 36: Every Bad Idea

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Episode description[edit | edit source]

Newly unified as “The Notion,” the crew of The World Without End has arrived to Gift-3. While half of the group is busy working on their (semi-)official assignment, the team of Tender Sky, Fourteen Fifteen, Gig Kephart, and Grand Magnificent have their own work to attend to. At the request of Grand’s local contact, a small-time transporter named Alabaster Went whose niece, Winchester, has gone missing, the crew heads into the Mandati capital of Big Garage to investigate a case of runaway teens. Is it an NEH plot? Could some technological marvel (or monster) kidnapped them? Or is Quire itself interfering, yet again?

This week on Twilight Mirage: Every Bad Idea

That's a pretty fucking fast year flew by
That's a pretty long third gear in this car

Contents[edit | edit source]

Opening[edit | edit source]

“

Very quietly, over the last six months, teens have been disappearing across the major settlements of Gift-3. It has been easy to miss. Though around three hundred have gone missing, that's a small number in comparison to the planet's population of ten million.

They haven't vanished completely, though. Camera feeds record the occasional sight of a child long thought gone. Blips across comms networks reveal that many of those kids are still sending messages to their friends back home. Of the adults who've noticed their absence, some believe they are being led away by an evil force on the planet, technological or magical in nature, they're not sure. Others, more hopeful perhaps, think that these teens have gone off to search for the schematics of Gumption, eager to be heroes.

But some, like Alabaster Went, Grand Magnificent's contact in the Mandati capital of Big Garage, are less optimistic. Went runs a small shipping company out of an even smaller transport vessel. He believes that his niece, Winchester, has been abducted and brainwashed by the New Earth Hegemony. His evidence: a recording in liquid metal of Winchester, pale, awkward, freckled teen, lifted in the air by a massive red torch unit. Add to that reports of other torch units in the crashlands to the east and this is clearly some sort of NEH op, Went says. Whether you believe it or not, you can definitely tell that he does. And that is why you agreed to find his niece.

And that is why, silhouetted against a pink and blue sky, you four are currently climbing through a window into the 29th floor of Big Garage Coworking Tower Twelve, one of the blocky, asymmetrical spires that the floating capital can connect to for refueling resourcing and data exchange. Cameras spotted the torch unit head this way an hour ago, and you all mobilized as quickly as possible, charming and sneaking your way into the structure and picking up the trail of three suspicious figures. They might not have Winchester, but they could have the info you need to find her.

And there, behind a door labelled 'Auditories and Anechoics,' you briefly hear the sound of a muffled voice. And then, as if scrubbed from reality itself, the sound is gone.”

Plot[edit | edit source]

Grand is contacted by Alabaster Went, who runs a shipping company on Gift-3. Alabaster believes that his niece Winchester is the latest in a string of teenagers being abducted in a New Earth Hegemony plot. Grand, Tender, Fourteen, and Gig break into the 29th floor of an office building in the city of Big Garage. Using his eye drone, Gig sees a Torch Unit and several other humanoids inside a locked laboratory. He and Tender pick the lock, and the group enters an anechoic chamber. They sneak through the chamber and find more Torch Units. Inside, Orellia Ject argues in sign language with two Torch Units marked as Garlic and Yam about some type of procedure.

After some silent arguing, Grand and Fourteen decide to make their presence known and explain that they're not cops. Grand asks if Orellia likes Gig Kephart, and she goes on a tirade against him, which convinces Gig and Tender to stand up as well. They explain that they're a group of vigilantes.

Fourteen asks Orellia about Winchester and the kidnappings. Orellia tells them that Winchester is somewhere safe, but refuses to go into more detail. Fourteen promises that they're not going to attempt to take any of the missing teenagers away, but as Orellia prepares to tell them more, an alarm goes off. She tells the group that she has to install hardware that will allow Yam to talk, but that the alarms mean they'll likely be discovered in ten minutes. Gig convinces her to let him help.

Cast[edit | edit source]

Other Characters[edit | edit source]

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