« 002 ⇢ INTERLUDE002.EXE »

[reparator]

Who: These unfortunate souls
When: OOC: 9/02, IC: 3/01
Where: CERES Research Tower
What: It's time to stage a raid against CERES while they're MIA; what better place to start than the research tower?
Rating/Warning: R: violence and death

---

▶ ACTION.EXE | IC: 3/01

[ It took some time to get to the tower itself; the Research District was in as bad a shape as the other district, if not more so due to the lack of reconstruction there; the debris was piled high, pools of water hiding shorted out electrical gadgets (be careful not to touch!).

But either way, after a few days of hard work, the characters will find themselves at the door of the research tower.

Time to go in through the front door!

You step inside, and then... you're separated. ]

---

▶ RUN.EXE | MOD NOTES

This is the event log for these sign-ups! Your groups have been sorted below; here are a few handy links for you:

Group 01 | OOC plotting
Group 02 | OOC plotting
Group 03 | OOC plotting
There is no tagging order, so feel free to tag in whatever way works best for you as a group.

There will be mod involvement in each of the tours; please be prepared for injury and death in each thread.

If there are any questions, feel free to ask them here. You are welcome to plot with your groupmates in this post. Thank you!

Comments

▶ GROUP 03.EXE

[reparator]

. . . LOADING ALCOR.$$$ . . . LOADING CHIBI.$$$ . . .
. . . LOADING ILLIDAN STORMRAGE.$$$ . . . LOADING ISHTAR.$$$ . . .
. . . LOADING JACK FROST.$$$ . . . START RAID.EXE. . .

---

[ Group 1 falls through a trap door and Group 2 is dragged off so suddenly by robots that there's really nothing that can be done --

And then Group 3 is left in the lobby alone.

There's awkwardly cheerful music playing. A door across the way denotes itself as an "Employees Only" entrance, and there is an elevator off to one side, though the lights are flickering.

There's no receptionist at the desk.

Welcome to CERES...? ]

i love that the youtuber got requests for the last second of elevator music and had to upload it

[manolia]

[Chibi braces himself for something sudden - will he fall through that trapdoor? Get dragged off by robots to gay baby jail, or be struck down where they stand by lasers or, uh, something suitable??]

[Overall, he's more surprised when nothing happens at all... Just the music (it's quite nice, actually, he thinks) and the four people standing around him. For a long moment, he stands there, eyebrows raised, mouth opening and closing.]

[Eventually, he settles on:] Well, at least our blessings are with us. [For now, or something.]

[He doesn't even look at the elevator - no thank you, no metal box from which there's no escape for him. Instead, he casts a careful eye towards the door, but lingers on the desk. Maybe there's some kind of directory, even if it's a puzzle?? Action Man, he is not, and he's grasping at straws here.] Shall we, then?

it's like director's cut, those seconds make aaaaall the difference

[2cool4guardian]

[After so many days trying to find a way... he's finally in. But he's not alone - dammit! He doesn't want to risk it for the others too! His worst fears are proven when part of the group gets kidnapped not once, but twice.

Jack has been angry since he met Water, and this only makes it worse. He hits the closing trap doors with his fist, obviously not getting an answer.]

They took my friends, don't call this a blessing!

[Sorry, but Jack is just mad - and it shows with the temperature going down in the hallway. Hiccup, Rei, Hiro, Korra... it was a glance, but he saw them, he would recognize them everywhere. And now they're gone who knows where.

Unlike Chibi, Jack IS a man of action, and one without patience. So he'll just shoot an ice beam at the employees only door in an attempt to find a way deeper into the building.]

[unpreparer]

If they cannot handle themselves, then they should not have bothered coming. I have faith in the priestess,but I cannot speak for the others.

[Illidan would have rolled his eyes at the bickering, had he still had them. Instead he gazed around the area, while his eyes could detect magic, the lifeless metal of the place was another matter entirely. Illidan followed the stringy water elemental boy down the hall. He would have tried to take lead, but with his size maneuvering that which he could not see would be difficult without a guide. He did keep a lookout for any threats at least.]

Come on, hurry it up, boy. Patience is not one of my virtues.

[adminproof]

[Alcor/Saiduq/whatever he's known as by now simply follows along via floating a few inches off the ground, not uttering a word of complaint or conversation. He's far from uninvested; indeed, he's also looking out for any threats, and making a mental map of their surroundings and the current layout.

He simply shoves a hand in his pocket, preparing himself for anything that might happen from Jack's outburst of ice aimed at the door.]

[reparator]

[ If Chibi searches the desk, he will find a pamphlet titles "CERES and You: How to Make the Most of Your Career With CERES". It seems to be full of propaganda, but there is no map.

The ice hits the employee door, and now it is a frozen employee door!

No, really, it's a normal door, it's not even locked. ]

[xroyal_bratx]

Yeah I wouldn't really call this a blessing. It's like a curse, or a nightmare of some sort.

[ Ishtar was disoriented at what just happened, and it took her a moment to understand what was going on. ]

Er... was that a good idea...?

[ Maybe not since the ice hits the employee door. It's frozen. Well, that's wonderful. ]

[manolia]

The 'blessing' would be that we're not falling through any trapdoors, as of now. [If they, you know, work together and plan how to extract this Bridge best. And luck and the Goddess are on their side. Which they are not. Of course Chibi gets stuck with the group that just rushes ahead, he thinks - what a mess.]

[So he takes it upon himself to portal over to the desk, opening and shutting a few drawers quickly - no advanced machinery, no maps, but a pamphlet which he tucks into his hat for safe-keeping. He's back through another portal as quickly as he left, landing lightly on his feet.]

[He won't browbeat Jack over the frozen door, which creaked unpleasantly with the force of the ice hitting it. Instead, he'll just walk towards it - aside the rest of the group, not in front or back - while quipping:] Let's see what's through door number one, then.

[2cool4guardian]

[Rushing ahead indeed - Jack is in a bad mood to stop and think... but the lack of reaction from the door does make him wary. That's all? No traps, no robots? He stands in an offensive position, staff aimed at the door, waiting for something to come at them... but nothing happens.]

...that's all? They ran out of surprises already? I don't like this.

[But he still goes ahead through door number one like Chibi said, always hovering in the middle of the air. You can't even trust the floor.]

[reparator]

[ Through door number one!

That brings them to a hallway; there are 5 doors on each side of the hallway, and nothing at the end. It appears it is a dead end, aside from those side doors.

Naturally, as soon as they open said employee door, the alarm goes off, blaring and red, though nothing happens just yet. ]

[adminproof]

...Ah.

[The alarm going off surprises Saiduq a bit, though really what else should they have expected, trespassing right into CERES's territory like this?]

Perhaps we should split into two groups.

[With a matter as pressing as this and the threat of discovery looming (or blaring, rather) overhead, there isn't much time to debate and discuss who goes with who, so he tilts his head at the nearest person, Chibi, as a silent gesture of invitation, and gestures to the nearest door.]

[manolia]

[Chibi almost wants to laugh when the alarm goes off; it's shrill in his ears, and he yanks his hat forward on his head to muffle it. Exactly as expected; he looks around momentarily for robots, but there are none, yet.]

It must be a hassle for employees to get to work in the morning. [How did the door know they were here for nefarious purposes??]

[Still, he has enough of a sense of urgency to look back at Alcor, then follow the gesture towards one of the doors to the right.] That would be best; we can cover more ground as two groups than one. Then, shall we? [Making sure he has a hand free, in case he has to make a sudden getaway, he proceeds to give the knob an experimental twist.]

▶ CHECKPOINT ONE_A.SAV

[reparator]

. . . NEW FILE CREATED . . . CHECKPOINT #001_A.SAV . . .
. . . CONTINUING RAID.EXE. . .

---

[ Chibi steps through the door and will find himself in a dark room -- but there is light enough to see that there are no people in it, but it looks incredibly broken down and distorted, as if something went terribly wrong in the room. Of course, it could have been the flood, but...

Either way, the door slams shut behind him and locks quite firmly. It seems he's stuck there now.

And it's quiet. For now. ]

wait I had assumed Alcor would be right behind or?? well I guess he's stuck now lmao

[manolia]

[And then he is alone.]

[There is no sign of Alcor behind him, at least, and the door clicks closed to make it so. Chibi balances a light of wakfu on his palm, which makes it a bit easier to see the damage: nothing like the waterlogged state of the rest of the buildings, but something a little more worn-down, a little more... Like something has happened here that should not have happened.]

[And he steps closer to trail a careful finger along one of the cracks in the distorted wall, seeing if he can see or otherwise sense a way into one of the other rooms.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSc9SivhcmE

[reparator]

[ He'll be able to see a door at the other end of the room, slightly ajar, and another closer by him that is properly closed.

Some of the cracks he's trailing a finger along are deep enough to be able to see through, however; if he peers through them he'll be able to see into the room next door, which appears to be a holding room of some sort.

It's also of note that the larger cracks are jagged, almost like claw marks in the metal (try not to cut yourself!). ]

[manolia]

[A sharp edge catches against Chibi's finger, and he notices that this crack isn't worn down at its edges, like you'd expect from wear and tear; it is pronounced from one side. Was there a struggle in here? (He doesn't say it aloud, mostly because there's nobody to say it to, and he'd prefer not to make any sudden noises.) Keeping his ears out for noise, he takes a look through and sees a normal-looking holding room.]

[Huh. Perhaps he should try and open up the wall, to better see what sort of doors are on the other side? He could use a portal, in theory, but best to save his wakfu reserves for other things.]

[But he's concerned, ultimately, that it would further compromise the structural integrity of this room if he started picking through walls... So he follows along the wall to the door at the end of the room and takes a careful look through, but does not step over the threshold just yet.]

[reparator]

[ Opening the door brings him to what appears to be a normal office space; there are a few computers, though they've been smashed. Sparks still occasionally flicker from shredded wiring.

Oh, and there are bodies in here -- human ones. The CERES employees are long dead, though.

The cause of death was probably the claw marks ripping through their chests. ]

[manolia]

[It reeks in here: Chibi recognizes the smell faintly as one of dead, decomposing animal. Upon closer look, it's dead human animal. Blood has congealed where it pooled across the floor, upon their chests where their no-longer-crisp employee shirts are ripped through, on nametags of names made irrelevant. As he steps in, he places his hands at three locations down his body, the Eliatrope equivalent of crossing oneself.]

[So something tore through here - something with pretty sharp claws, by the looks of it. It'd be best to trace its path.]

[What he does first, though, is take a quick look at one of those smashed-up machines. He takes to the thumb-screws on the side of the computer first: undoes them, gingerly lifts the bent-in side of the case from the rest of it. Whatever remains of a hard drive, he'll bend from its housing and place into his bag of holding hat.]

[And then he will look around for signs of where the thing with claws went.]

[unpreparer]

[Illidan winced at the sudden blaring alarm. So much for a quiet entrance. Illidan turned towards what he assumed was a door, and tore it open. If there were any doors that seemed to have anything magical or remotely powerful in it's vicinity he would gravitate that door, otherwise he simply picked one off to the side.]

Do what you will, but I for one am not going to simply sit here and dawdle after we have been given away. You may follow me, or you may go off on your own, it matters little to me.

[and with that he cloaked himself in shadow and started down the hall. Carefully.]

[xroyal_bratx]

[ Ishtar did too since she wasn't happy about this at all. At least, she could get some information. Maybe she could write it down and give it to Zero later about this damn obnoxious game! Ishtar was listening to the conversation as they started. ]

Whatever works. I just want to get out of this damn place. It's already annoying as is.

[ She muttered crossing her arms. Of course, one of them runs off before they could pick the teams. Ishtar, being the worry wart she was moved after the person that was starting down the hall. ]

H-Hey! At least wait for a discussion to happen first before walking off!

[2cool4guardian]

Discuss what, just get going! He's right, I'm not gonna sit here either.

[Jack didn't like Illidan's comment about his friends from earlier, but this? This he can get behind. He flies after him and the girl, always whirling above them to keep an eye on any corner. He still expects something to jump on them any minute now. It's too easy... his friends better haven't been the prize for the access.]

[reparator]

[ They've waited just a little too long, it seems; after the alarm has blared for a short period of time, there's the click of the remaining doors closing. Eight clicks, plus the door Chibi went through makes nine. There is one, single unlocked door in the hallway, if they can find it.

Which they should, because it seems one of CERES' defense mechanisms is some sort of gas, which is now being poured into the hallway at an alarming rate. With all of the doors locked down, there is nowhere for it to go, and so it pools and gathers.

Breathing it in will make them dizzy to start, before their associated sense will start to fade away until it is gone -- Alcor will lose his sight, Jack and Ishtar will lose any sense of touch they have, and Illidan will lose his hearing. ]

[unpreparer]

[Illidan pauses for a moment when he hears the odd hissing of the gas pouring into the hall, but quickly catches on just what's happening and takes of down the hall.]

We must move! Quickly! Hold your breath!

[He runs his hand along the wall as he goes, ramming himself into any doors he finds along the way in hopes for a way out. He's holding his breath for the moment in hopes of staving off the effects for as long as he can.]

[xroyal_bratx]

[ Ishtar whipped her head around, trying to find an exit of some sort to help the others but it was hard to see with all the gas piling in.

Ishtar could take a good degree of poison and gas was included in that but not this kind of gas. Ishtar didn't want ot stick around to know what would become of them if they were stuck here breathing in random gas that was spewing out. ]

Shit where did this come from!? Yeah go it!

[ The former princess covered her face with her hand to reduce the amount of gas she was inhaling. They needed to get away from the gas but she wondered if she could blow it with a wind spell. There's no use sitting around, so the girl goes for it, quickly muttering words and aiming the spell in the air in hopes to manage the gas. ]

[2cool4guardian]

[But I don't breathe, Jack wants to say... which doesn't matter anyway. The gas affects him too, even if slower than the others. He knows he is holding his staff, but not feeling it in his fingers just gets more on his nerves.

He thinks of calling the wind, too, but there isn't a breeze here... at least until Ishtar invokes one.]

Just what I needed - wind!

[Jack is checking the doors too, but he isn't as strong as Illidan, and that's why he tries to slam them with the wind. Bringing his hood up to cover his face as much as possible is annoying as hell, since he can't feel the cloth he's supposed to be touching. There's a lot of mumbling under his breath, because no matter how much you tell him to hold it in, he just doesn't have breathing to hold. It'd be pointless, his frustration must be shown through something, words at least.

If they manage to find the right door, he'll try to use the wind to push them into a new room if possible.]