IUENG Investigation - Quint Arrow
InvestigateXM
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(Note: Some details of this report may have been exaggerated in favor of a (hopefully) fun-to-read story)
REPORT No.IXM-20230720 Classified ||| Cleared for Agent Channels Report to IU (CB, GT, GQ) Report by Operative IXM
Hidden on the 3rd floor of an apartment building in Chuo City lies the Quint Arrow bar. Not far from Tokyo station it was opened over 25 years ago by now-agent @QuintArrow. After an incident (which the owner assured me was highly classified) the NIA got into contact with the bar and offered them a deal: In exchange for running XM experiments with a so called "Tecthulhu module" (highly unstable XM technology), the bar were to be allowed to interface with the XM network and the Portal that sat on top of the Quint Arrow.
Due to an unrelated trip to Japan (also highly classified), I had the chance to investigate the bar, it's owner, it's patrons, it's food and most importantly, it's Tecthulhu module in person.
The bar is located only a short walk away from Takaracho station which is served by the Asakusa Line. The entrance to the bar could be missed easily by the normal person, however the scanner picked up the unusual XM readings from it and it's portal easily.
Once you enter the bar, there are a few tables and seats you could take a seat at. I choose to take my place directly at the conter to covertly keep watch of the owner and the other patrons.
The bar itself was very clean. There were a few electronics scattered about, the purpose of which could not be determined. Besides the door hangs a sign with the Niantic logo, erected shortly after the Epiphany Dawn anomaly in Yokohama and signed by NIA operatives. Above the sign is a TV which shows the live status of the Quint Arrow portal including faction, Resonator and Portal Mod details as well as a log of recent events that affected the portal, such as attacks or upgrades.
A little bit to the right I could spot the Tecthulhu itself, modified to look like a small portal model which lights up depending on the status of the portal. It's 8 arms represent the 8 Resonators a portal can have, these also light up in the colors of the corresponding deployed Resonator level.
(The Tecthulhu with one Resonator of each level)
A speaker which was hooked up to the Tecthulhu also revealed the presence of ADA. She informed Agents about new messages in the log and alerted us about attacks.
When talking about "us", I have to mention the other patrons that arrived shortly after me. While it isn't clear what exactly drew them to the bar, the current, most likely theory suggests that they were drawn in thanks to the work of the Tecthulhu and it's XM. Curiously, all the other patrons were XM sensitives and belonged to the Resistance. Conclusive evidence why only Resistance agents were attracted and why Enlightened agents or non-XM sensitives didn't seem to be affected could not be obtained in time prior to my departure.
The only non-XM sensitive person in the bar was an acquaintance of mine. Thanks to the rich XM atmosphere I was able to confirm the conversion of a non-XM sensitive to a XM sensitive: a new Agent entered the world of Ingress.
Agent @QuintArrow convinced the new Agent @Gotan1209 to return in a year with an Agent Profile that was granted Access Level 8. I intend to aid in that goal.
Special mention also need to go to the food. While Curry doesn't seem that special on its own, this one flourished under the rich XM environment and made my mouth water. Other food on the menu as well as a present of a few slices of watermelon behaved the same way. Evidence that Agent @QuintArrow is tapping into the Tecthulhus XM to activate latent XM sensitive abilities within himself to aid in cooking is inconclusive. The subject should continue to be monitored.
Conclusion:
While my main goal was to investigate the bar and its Tecthulhu, I still had a lot of fun. While I urge caution when visiting such a high XM-concentrated location, I can recommend every Agent in the area to visit the bar and to strike up a conversation with the owner.
//REPORT No.IXM-20230720 :EOF
Comments
@InvestigateXM Are you able to reveal anything please about the Tecthulhu interface, such as where one can get such a device?
Does it work for any portal it is tied to?
They were released to agents participating in the various live build events camp Navarro, etc, there was a form somewhere for changing the portal one is attached to,
The NIA is understandably very protective of their tech and only give out the modules to a very few, select people. I'm not sure exactly what the criteria is, but from the few modules I know of, it's often for Portals that are public and have some sort of connection to Ingress as well as a sculpture/stature/whatever that reacts to changes in the Portal Network via sounds, lights and so on.
I assume if you have a concrete idea for such a sculpture and can show that you're able to build and permanently place it somewhere public the NIA is much more likely to grant access to a module.
Modules are normally tuned to a specific Portal which cannot be changed.
It would be difficult to say that an idea would be useful as an art piece.
I'm sure that if Ingress First Saturday organisers had the chance they would have Tecthulhu attached to their IFS Event Portal, or post IFS pub beverages.
Though, late last evening, thought about Tecthulhu attached to an LED shirt, I've got one sitting around for years that I haven't used. It would be quite cool to go around during an Anomaly for example with such a t-shirt.
Think both of your examples would be either too temporary or too... movable. 🙈 The NIA is looking to investigate the surroundings of a Tecthulhu for long-term exposure to XM (read: It's a way for them to advertise basically).
Board game cafés would be ideal in that case.
I agree that we need to advertise Ingress more.
Using Tecthulhu's would help in that aspect