STATIC 26: The Symposium & the Drift

General Summary

Wherein the Blinkertons compete academically and find themselves Altered in a strange environment

The Symposium

The first thing the Blinkertons needed to do to prepare to compete in The Symposium was to determine who is taking what leg of the race. Nero Rubicant decided to take the last leg--the sprint through the Scriptorium. Tridge decided that her experience in various Altered realms might be useful for the general scientific knowledge examination. It was determined since Kog has the most experience with this race, they should complete the equation. That left Osborn Moonspark and Fritz Himmelswander to compete in the tricycle race. Now all that remained was to do a little training to make sure the Rocksteadys will win this thing.
Before that could happen, however, a urgent message was received by our heroes. They were needed back at No Future post haste. Upon arrival, they discovered some monks from The Broken Knuckle Altar causing trouble. And it was trouble they found, as combat commenced. Scruzz, their majordomo/general manager, was pleased that the Blinkertons came out on top.
With that, our racers prepared themselves for the next day's events. Osborn studied old blueprints, hoping to gain an advantage. Fritz engaged in a little light poison-making. Tridge did a pretty intense study session and Nero made sure to get enough sleep, did some fantasy yoga, and visited the Stream Dream, a sauna, to make sure he was as loose and relaxed as possible.
All of that turned out to be good planning, as the Rocksteadys won The Symposium, but not without some spirited competition from the other "Science-Gangs" of The Reactor, especially Eni of the Acid Tongues and Zandot of the Silver Teeth.
After basking in the glory of victory, Kog delved into his research and discovered that the pink crystals they're describing only really appear in reference to a place roughly translated as The Ceaseless Drift. All the material contained on such a place seemed both mythological than anything else. So, if our heroes want to venture there, they are venturing into the unknown.

Getting Altered

And venture they did. Tridge made up a batch of Astral Brownies, concentrated on what she knows of The Ceaseless Drift, and used all her Altered powers to conjure up our heroes in this strange, ethereal plane.
There they met a strange old man called Verg, who appears to perhaps be some sort of articulation of Tridge's consciousness. Or perhaps just a friendly visitor. It is honestly a bit unclear to our heroes at the current moment.
What is clear, however, that in order to traverse The Ceaseless Drift, and get to Auggie Wyrdloom on the other side of it, they'll need to merge their own consciousness with "Driftmechs," as these are the only beings able to do so without suffering irreputable psychic harm. It isn't entirely certain if our Blinkertons chose a Driftmech, or if that Driftmech chose them, but Tridge ended up merging with a "punch-bot" named Kev-Kevin 9000. Nero found his own consciousness pulled into a Driftmech calling itself Grimblood, and who wields something called a "visceraspike." Osborn and Lichen, a mushroom mech, seemed pulled together while Fritz, perhaps owing to the influence of Tyrant, connected with Daddy Bones, a Driftmech made of, well, bones.
Verg explained that, in the merging process, some thoughts and personalities of each entity--the Blinkerton and the Driftmech--kind of "bleed" into each other, and that shards of that bleeding sometimes remain after traveling. So, in essence, our heroes are traveling with anyone who has ever merged with their Driftmech.
Anyways, have a good trip!

And That's Where We Left It

We'll see what mysteries The Ceaseless Drift holds for our heroes during our next session

Varied & Sundry Details

• In order to get his comrades back to No Future as soon as possible, Fritz turned into a horse. It was rad.
• Nero delivered an inspiring performance in the Symposium and was deemed to be the MVP of the race.
• New information was uncovered about an activity called "phandrel" and someone known as Sparklechug Kevin-Kevin, presumedly of the family Kevin-Kevin.

Character(s) interacted with

• Igneous Kog--leader of the Rocksteadys
• Eni--leader of the Acid Tongues; not here to make friends
• Zandot--leader of the Silver Teeth; honorable competitor
• Verg--a strange individual; possibly a figment of Tridge's imagination

Report Date

09 Jul 2023

Primary Location

New Carydam

Secondary Location

The Ceaseless Drift