The World

"So what, it is still bound by some of the rules of the game?" Noct asked, "Or at least following some of its conventions?"

Monudon:<It may have to be summoned stating the phrase to an NPC. We said it a ton of times, and nothing happened before talking to the recorder.>

Zalera: I don't know enough about where these things come from to say. But what's interesting is that they both targeted Aroma.

Whisper Mode: Noctis:

Monudon:<If I may ask....who is Aroma?>

"She was a friend we met at the Church area," Noct said.

Whipser Mode: Zelara:

"Was there something special about this person which I am unaware of?" Hector asked. "Do you think you might know why she was targeted?"

"Should we tell them?" Mortal asked, looking between Euryale and Noct.

Euryale (to Mortal): I don't see why it matters, now that she's...you know.

Thiera (to Noctis): I don't think it's a good idea. It sounds kind of...crazy.

Noctis shrugged, "A lot of things that happened today are kind of crazy."

Mortal looked at the others and said, "Aroma was an AI within the game."

Monudon:<So wait...she wasn't a player? She was AI?>

"What was this AI like?" Hector asked, a little surprised. "I mean, did it have much of a personality or was it just... there?"

"She was our friend," Noctis repeated, "She was as much an individual as Euryale, or I."

"Very interesting," Hector said, before looking guilty.

*Monudon stares down at his feet*

<And we killed her......>

"Yes, you did," Noct said, crossing her arms.

OOC: AS HE SHOULD!

Zalera: Not that I'm advocating repeating stupid phrases to random NPCs, especially when it's well-known that there's something going wrong with this game, but we didn't say anything to summon the barbell monster. It is likely that Aroma was already being tracked, & the timing was simple coincidence. Or perhaps because these programs don't want to draw attention to themselves, & Aroma was as close to being alone as she was likely to get.

Thiera: You talk as though the monsters are conscious.

Zalera: That isn't exactly what I meant, but given the subject at hand, they very well might be.

Monudon<Hm, conscious AIs and monsters. I wonder...how would you create something like that? But more importantly, what are we going to do now?>

"So you're implying that the monsters are actually AIs?" Sab asked.

Zalera: I don't know, maybe. Most of this is theoretical. In fact, strictly speaking, it's only my opinion that Aroma was an AI. I have no way to actually prove that she wasn't just a very talented hacker playing a very sophisticated, elaborate prank.

"Lets try to keep this in the realm of 'moderately plausible'," Noct said.

Monudon<How did she act? Like a person or...?>

"Do I have to keep repeating myself?" Noct said, "She was a person. A bit naive, but a person."

Monudon<Well then, it could have been a hacker, although it seems very unlikely.>

Hector had nothing to add.

Zalera: If this were a crime in the real world, then we would check the murder scene.

Thiera: But this isn't the real world, it's a game. We even saw her body disappear. What would we possibly find?

Zalera: We won't know until we try.