Lucia couldn't help rubbing the bridge of her nose hearing not only the testimonies of those who couldn't log off, but also the plan to attack this creature. She... In truth couldn't wrap her head around what these people were thinking. It was 'difficult' for Lucia to understand why things had turned out this way, though whether or not that was because she was a bit of a nihilist, or because there was genuinely an issue with their plans she herself couldn't really understand. When @Roland Rutledge approached her, she flashed a bitter smile, she didn't mind not being given the time or place to speak in the proceedings, in truth, it was probably for the best that she wasn't given the chance with the way she felt now. Everything had just seemed like a chaotic hodgepodge of grandstanding and fear-mongering, she worried she might have hit someone else if she'd been close enough during the discussion. "This... Was not handled properly Roland. I feel like there wasn't much thought put into the arrangement of this discussion today." She couldn't help admitting when he approached her. Dropping her hand for a moment, she made a gentle gesture as she continued, feeling like there were some very clear things being missed here. "I can understand not wanting to break the immersion, I enjoy this game as much as the next person for it's immersive setting, but in the end we are all playing a game. Terrasphere is a game and the only thing in it's unregulated terms of service has been secrecy. Would such a game concerned about it's unregulated status and with such secretive distribution methods risk being discovered by letting one of us die in reality?" She asked flashing a bitter smile. She couldn't understand what these people were thinking, what the game developer was after but by keeping either of these two away from water for a certain amount of time would no doubt ruin their goals. After proposing that thought, Lucia folded her arms, still in thought as she continued, too many things just didn't add up. "Also there's this 'Lady Saya', if she can really slay this beast with such ease, what's preventing her from following through with this plan alone? Even if the beast could regenerate from it's injuries preventing her from hacking away at it over time, would our input really be more efficient then this figure's seemingly unending potential? Could she not simply kill her way through the tentacles and storm the creature's innards by herself? What purpose are we really serving here aside from fertilizer if they'd had this type of figure from the start?" Lucia went onto complain finding the very fact that they were needed from the start was also sketchy, if they'd already had a plan, already had a method, then the reasons for them following along didn't make sense, pulling a foreign power in for no reason made Lucia tempted to rub her temples once more. "As for the talk about a 'soul'... Roland, who could possibly know that better then me?" She asked flashing a gentle smile. While Lucia herself couldn't claim to be an expert on the soul, in truth her knowledge was 'barely anything at best' the soul simply wasn't her area of expertise, but when she identified herself it wasn't purely her as an individual, but rather the church and divinity she represented as a saintess. "Those that die are escorted by Synra to the afterlife, avoiding her gaze to persist in living out time on this world I admit, but wouldn't the higher ups of the local faiths be interested in this creature as well?" Lucia offered with a burdened sigh. It seemed as if the wrong people were getting involved in this task. She felt the need to reach out to the local clergy and see what they thought on the matter. "It would be best if we didn't tackle this alone, bringing the Aristocracy, the Lion's pride and the other guilds in as well would also be for the best I think. I'll try to connect with my own backers, hopefully we can bring more to this then simply ourselves and get swept up in the current of this battle plan." She commented with the reluctance still clear on her face, she did not want this to cause any kind of damage to what they had built thus far at least.
A flurry of conversation took place around Madison, a thousand details from a hundred stories threatening to pull her under and drown her. Maybe if she wasn't dumbstruck with how outlandish and cartoony half of everyone in the room was, she would've paid better attention. But there were several things she picked up on. The name Dissonance was thrown around an awful lot--with the hushed tones and venom of something that could've been referred to as a hated, feared "Big Bad" in another game franchise. Like Ganon. Or Kefka. Or companion pathing AI in a Bethesda game. Her mind wandered to that day in The Fade. How close had she come to falling before this... this thing? Its whispers like nails against a chalkboard, scraping away at her sanity and willpower as she threw spell after spell at the dark tentacle that attacked her, Portia, and Alric... She had been ready to give herself up and sacrifice the others that day, if it came down to it. And having heard the stories from those who weren't lucky enough to escape, she was kind of glad she didn't. Being unable to access in-game messages and her palm menu would've sucked, to be sure. But being locked into the game, unable to log out? That would've sucked. Even if Madison would have quietly been super okay with dying in the real world, she always fantasized about her last moments being quick and painless, or while she was asleep. While she was sure she wouldn't feel the effects of it while logged in, she wasn't cool with the idea of slowly wasting away, unable to eat or sleep or go to the bathroom. She'd waste away in a true vegetative state, and nobody would think to check up on her. Sure; her boss at the bookstore might leave a voicemail or two, firing her for no-call-no-showing for a week straight... but that's about it. But all things considered... would it really be that bad? Lucia brought up a good point in her conversation with another important-looking guy. Would the developers of the game, knowing how much they were risking keeping an unregulated piece of VR software like this up and running, risk blowing their cover by allowing players to die in the real world from being unable to log out? That made zero sense to the cursemage. The more she thought about it, the more none of this really added up. Something was terribly amiss here--Madison just couldn't put her finger on what it was yet. She cursed herself for not paying more attention when everyone was talking. It wouldn't have taken much effort to pick two of the most anime-looking motherfuckers talking in their crazy voices and listened to them. Maddy picked up a couple pieces of dialogue where one of these foreigners summoned to the manor battled and defeated this Titanius thing several times before--defeated, but not killed. So, it would be back again? Great. Just great. And here the players were, throwing their lot in with someone who was powerful enough to almost get the job done. They were screwed. To add more fuel to the fire, Madison overheard the necromancer suggest that Roland bring the Aristocracy into this. The plagueslinger's hand immediately shot out, coming to a sudden halt inches away from Lucia's arm before shrinking back slightly. "Hey, uh, Lucia?" Madison shot the woman a look, the worry etched in thin lines at the corners of her eyes. "Would it really be wise to bring the Aristocracy into this, all things considered?" She was, of course, thinking of the fact that most everyone who was present that night under the Bandit King's fortress, those who let Zeus walk back to his Pride a free and living man, were also at this meeting. Madison already had one run-in with an Aristocracy agent since then, but she had no clue if they were still hunting the others who betrayed their mission.
