Red Dirt - system glitch and veteran info

[powersthatbe]

If you're not playing a system glitch or a veteran character who was around for Red Dirt the first time... strictly speaking you don't have to avoid this post, but there may be spoilers for the jaunt within, so read at your own risk.

How did the network function at the time of the first jaunt here?
Unless someone used Image Projection or Sensory Livestreaming to actually make their voice audible on the network, messages on the network carried very little emotional tone or nuance - network communication was more like text messaging than voiced conversation.

What tree skills are available for halfvestigators to use?
To help make this easier on you, we’ve compiled a list of the game’s earliest skills and associated pre-Moebius rediscoveries. Keep in mind that if your halfvestigator is not one of the Unlucky Dead, they probably haven’t had much time to start making headway on these lists - but you are, of course, welcome to build your character’s skill trees as normal.

Liminal skills: Dimensional Senses, Extraliminal Phase, Extraliminal Tap, Hammerspace I, Intra-Liminal Skills, Liminal Barometer, Liminal Bubble I, Liminal Buoyancy, Liminal Energy, Liminal Generator, Liminal Magnet, Liminal Manipulation I, Liminal Power, Liminal Shock, Liminal Slick, Liminal Static, Liminal Thermostat, Portal Creation (Remote and Stationary), Room Creation I, Teleportation I-III

Psychic skills: Filter Intrusion, Image Projection I, Instant Memory Sharing, Investigator Mind Reading, Memory Sharing, Mind Palace I, Network Archive Retrieval, Network Bookmarking, Psychic Deduction, Psychic Detection I, Psychic Download, Psychic Echo, Psychic Encryption, Psychic Healing I, Psychic Hypercognition, Psychic Hypocognition, Psychic Invisibility, Psychic Mirror, Psychic Protection I, Psychic Regression, Psychic Snapshot, Psychic Synesthesia, Psychic Upload, Sensory Eavesdropping, Sensory Livestreaming

Combo skills: Psychic Computer

Hybrid skills: Liminal Thematics (available only to the Unlucky Dead)

What happens if someone uses Memory Restoration on my character?
Double-infiltrators will be bumped to ‘halfvestigator’ status. Memory Restoration works as normal on halfvestigators.

I have another question!
Poke us in the comments and we'll get back to you!

Comments

[razorblade_empress]

Yukki is probably going to be spending the majority of the rest of the Jaunt trying to remember what happened the last time out. Is there anything in particular that might spring to mind during week 2?

[leftbehindagain]

There is a storm coming, and what Yukino can scrape together suggests it's going to be a doozy. If the rustlers aren't properly prepared and/or in the caverns by the time it hits, they stand to lose most of the cattle.

[razorblade_empress]

What might she remember about the original Jaunt this week?

[leftbehindagain]

Last time, it seems the leader of the heist was Remy, not Casper. And he chose to press on through the canals during the storm.

This went about as poorly as you might expect.

[razorblade_empress]

Based on this, I think she may want to try remembering who was who in general last time, or at least those Infitrators who seem important this time, and how their behavior might differ between the two Jaunt iterations, in addition to trying to remember what happened.

[thornsofmalkav]

OKAY. So. There are definitely people who were Infiltrators the first time that aren't those Infiltrators this time. Either they're Investigating this time (in handwave handwave we aren't hearing from most of the past Traveler Investigators because no one's playing them but they're still there land) or they're background Infiltrating as someone else.

Remy in Casper's role is one of those people. As you might have guessed, all the plot roles were filled by different people the first time around. Yukki might not be able to connect names to everyone who were those plot roles, because she might not have known them at the time of the memories she'll get back. She can for some of those people, however.

The Mayor of Ridge Rock wasn't Gil last time but a fellow named Outis (or was it Otis?) and his guile levels were off the charts.

The sheriff wasn't Melissa but another (very intimidating) woman, who was extremely relentless in tracking down lawbreakers and not much inclined to mercy (but was inclined to hitting things with a whip or maybe a crop or a switch.)

Taichi wasn't Shiro but a man named Kiriya and Taichi's brother Keith wasn't an Infiltrator at all last time. The guy Altair is now was a man named Roland last time. (She might remember that Kiriya turned into a motorcyle once somehow and that Roland had a horn that was very important to him, but that's not actually from the Jaunt. That's just random other information about Travelers in question.)

She also doesn't remember yet the names of the guys who were infiltrating as the people who Felih and Inigo are now, just that they're not this time. But the guy Uchii is now was a guy named Xavin last time.

So! To sum up:

Currently Casper = Outlaw Leader = Formerly Remy
Currently Gil = Ridge Rock Mayor = Formerly Outis (Otis?)
Currently Melissa = Sheriff = Formerly Unnamed Woman (Very Scary)
Currently Shiro = Taichi*/Washed-Up Outlaw = Formerly Kiriya (who turned into a motorcycle once??? but not during the jaunt!!!)
*(Currently Keith = Taichi's Brother = FORMERLY NOT AN INFILTRATOR)
Currently Altair = Professional Outlaw Sneaky Dude = Roland (horn-guy)
Currently Felih = Amateur Outlaw = Formerly Unnamed Man
Currently Uchii = Ridge Rock Guy With Rich Relation = Formerly Xavin
Currently Inigo = Suit Out Of Water = Formerly Unnamed Man

The biggest behavior/what happened difference she can remember AS OF YET is how much scarier/more intimidating the other sheriff was. And also Remy!Outlaw Leader being an idiot about pressing on through the canals.

... because of which there were maybe twenty cows out of the original seventy IF THAT which survived the storms. And mostly not the bulls, because they prioritized keeping the cow cows alive because milk.

[razorblade_empress]

Is the Scary Unnamed Former Sheriff around as an Investigator, or is she Infiltrating as someone else?

[thornsofmalkav]

Infiltrating as someone else. No matter who she ends up being when we open up the cat box.

[razorblade_empress]

And there was no way of swaying her to look at Erebus's wrongdoings even if one could get past the intimidation factor? I'm assuming that's the case, but just to make sure.

[thornsofmalkav]

The first time around, the Travelers didn't have nearly as much knowledge of Erebus' wrongdoings! They didn't know anything about the money laundering because there was no one to use Insight on Erebus. Also, Nabiki never got de-infiltrated, because no one had Memory Restoration, and so the information about some of the cows not actually being Erebus' didn't reach Ridge Rock/the outlaws in time to prevent Something Going Wrong later in the Jaunt.

(Yukki doesn't have the memory of What Went Wrong back yet, though. We'll fill you in on that next week.)

Anyway, without anything to specifically pinpoint as Erebus doing illegal shit, trying to get the sheriff to look into Erebus on Just A Hunch that they were dirty did not work. She didn't have time to mess around to satisfy vague suspicions when there were cattle rustlers to catch!

[razorblade_empress]

When does the new mingle go up this week?

[thornsofmalkav]

August first!

[razorblade_empress]

Now that it's almost the first, What Went Wrong that she can remember?

[thornsofmalkav]

HOKAY SO. Some of this is going to be copied over from what we told Gail that Riddick would know. Also, since our last reply to you about the plot roles from the original version we've figured out a few more:

Currently Felih = Amateur Outlaw = Formerly Otoya (outside of Jaunt: flirted with everyone + always playing his violin)
Currently Inigo = Erebus Rep = Formerly Ted Forrester

The Sheriff is a Schrödinger's catbox that may have either Jadis or Franziska von Karma inside. We just asked Bookie which she prefers since Pearl is borrowing Franziska.

Anyway, What Went Wrong ended was most notably a big shoot-out in Ridge Rock that happened after the storm, where the Erebus Posse reached the outlaws as soon as the skies were cleared. There were some casualties, including two Familiar Faces: Tobi and Kai.

There was also one casualty due to friendly fire: Taichi aka the Washed-Up Outlaw (now Shiro/then Kiriya) was accidentally shot by his good friend the Professional Outlaw (now Altair/then Roland) and died in the arms of the Amateur Outlaw (now Felih/then Otoya.)

There was one other important casualty for the back half of the Jaunt. Since Kamen Rider wasn't there to kidnap her, Faith/Nabiki did not actually get clear of Jonestown before Erebus realized what she did. Her death was staged as an accident, but the Travelers would have heard the real story over the Network when Nabiki woke up as an Investigator... which was the first time any of the Investigators heard about the Charity Cows. Ooops.

In the aftermath of everything, Erebus took back what cows were left, which was less than a dozen.

tl;dr

There was a shoot-out. The weirdo who turned into a motorcycle died from friendly fire, oops. Also, Faith/Nabiki died so Erebus could shut her up about the Erebus Stole The Charity Cows scheme. Erebus got to take the ten remaining cows home, leaving the townsfolk/outlaws with none.

[razorblade_empress]

Did the Erebus Company Rep and the Fish Out of Water/apparent mole (assuming I'm reading the mingle right) leave last time?

[thornsofmalkav]

You are indeed reading the mingle right and no they did not. In fact, it was the Fish-Mole (as we have been calling them internally) and his contact the Erebus Rep who were the reason that the Erebus Posse found them RIGHT AWAY instead of taking until the third day. It probably came out somehow post-Jaunt.

We had them get the hell off Mars in this timeline since both players dropped.

[thornsofmalkav]

UPDATE!!! The Sheriff was definitely Franziska and the friendly fire death of Taichi was most definitely an accident, even if you don't have all the details on how it happened. I just realized that I hadn't specified that and in fact might have made it sound deliberate last night, since it was late when I did the thing.

[razorblade_empress]

Given how late in the proceedings it is, it seems unlikely to be anything useful, but is there anything Yukki might remember this week or have she and Riddick mostly caught it all?

[thornsofmalkav]

You've pretty much caught up.