estoria | « 004 ⇢ INTERLUDE004.EXE »

Entry tags:

!event,
!interlude

« 004 ⇢ INTERLUDE004.EXE »

Who: These suckers and E R R O R
When: OOC: 5/29, IC: 7/15
Where: CERES Research Tower and Beyond
What: It seems an old friend has decided the situation is progressing too slowly.
Rating/Warning: PG-13: Violence, injuries and inevitable deaths.

▶ ACTION.EXE | IC: 7/15

For those unlucky saps who disappear today, ranging from early in the morning towards the middle of the afternoon, well...they can't be reached by CereVice.

Any attempt to do so will bounce back the message User Currently Occupied.

It's an odd message, and one that's never been used by the CereVice. How strange. It's probably nothing though, right? No contact can be established between groups or from groups to outside people in Cerealia, whether by technology or magic. You're cut off from everyone but those in your groups, now.

Otherwise, all abilities will remain intact.

As for the people who do disappear, well... things get a little hairy really quickly.

▶ 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
Group 04 | OOC plotting
Group 05 | OOC plotting
Group 06 | OOC plotting
Group 07 | OOC plotting
Group 08 | OOC plotting
Group 09 | OOC plotting
Group 10 | OOC plotting
Group 11 | OOC plotting
Group 12 | OOC plotting
Group 13 | OOC plotting
Group 14 | OOC plotting
There is no tagging order, so feel free to tag in whatever way works best for you as a group.

The characters should not ICly be gone longer than 5 hours -- if they survive, of course. There will be mod involvement in each of the threads.

If there are any questions, feel free to ask them here. Please try to avoid asking hypothetical questions (such as "What will happen if my character does [action]?") as that's part of the fun and risk of the interlude! You are welcome to plot with your groupmates in this post. Thank you!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Once her second knot around Raven's arm was tied and secured, Iris moved to stand. Her gaze altered between her three current companions and the door. Until now, there had been no answer from beyond, but...that didn't have to mean anything was wrong, right?]

We don't know what's directly behind the door. If we try to blow it out...we might risk more people getting hurt.

There must be a...a beam or something around here. Something we could use to smash it down.

[She gives a short pause, thinking it over, before nodding.]

Let us move on and see if we can locate something that could help, then.

[She's fairly worried by this point about what they might find on the other side of that door, but there's no point in voicing that. Better to devote herself to something productive. She glances at Raven; with him injured, it's probably best not to split up again.]

Do you have strength enough to walk?

[She suspects someone might have to help him along, depending on how much blood he's lost from the wound.]

[ Togami's going to find that a) the monster's blood is a strange, dark green color and b) there's a tag on it.

The tag's number reads N53324.

With the monster dead, they're able to pull themselves together for as long as they need, at least; for poor Raven, even with the bleeding staunched, he's going to find it hard to get himself together. There's going to be a pretty strong sense of vertigo, which is going to worsen over the course of the next ten minutes until he can no longer stand up.

There was probably something in the monster's saliva. ]

"N53324". [ He reads the tag aloud, before trying to cut it off with the knife, so that he can keep it for later.

After that, he stands up and starts to walk down the hallway. If someone's gonna help support Raven along the way, it's not going to be him. ]

Thanks. [He addresses that to Iris, and once she's finished, he goes to pick up his bow. He'd thought he was a little lightheaded at first just from the blood loss, but reaching to pick it up is when the room lurches, the vertigo really becoming obvious.

He manages to snap the weapon into sword form and reattach it to his belt, but he's suddenly struggling to orient himself. He holds his head, dazed.]

Uh... Sorry to be a pain, folks, but this old man might need helpin' along...

[The fact that he's actually apologetic about it and not using it as an excuse to be weird should indicate he's serious about it, at least?]

[Serious or no, Iris could tell that he was in need of some assistance. So she offered hers, wordlessly slipping her arm around his waist and allowing him to lean his weight on her. Weight that she...will surprisingly be able to carry with far less difficultly than one might assume for a girl her size.]

It's alright. I've got you.

[She turned back towards Byakuya, brows furrowed.]

Does that mean anything to you?

[She assumes just that, automatically stepping forward to help Iris — before pausing as she realizes the other girl can handle it on her own. She nods at her in approval before walking forward the way Togami is headed, looking for another door they can enter to explore.]

[ He keeps walking, but he turns his head enough to be heard, addressing Iris's question. ] It doesn't ring a bell, but it might mean something to someone else.

By the way, I believe the knife was found in one of the desks.

You're too kind, darlin'.

[He mumbles it under his breath, not even having the energy to really flirt any more even when she puts her arm around him. He puts his good arm across her shoulders to help steady himself, but he won't try to put too much weight on her yet, not wanting to be too much of a burden on her.

That'll change once the vertigo starts getting worse, though. He'll listen to the conversation as attentively as he can, but he doesn't contribute, concentrating on not keeling over and slowing them down as little as possible.]

. . . NEW FILE CREATED . . . CHECKPOINT #001.SAV . . .
. . . CONTINUING ESCAPE.EXE. . .

[ Now that the band's all back together (with the exception of poor ol' Sapphire there), they'll be able to walk in relative peace for a while. Down the hall they'll go until they come across a door, half ajar and with a bright blue light shining out from it. There doesn't seem to be anywhere else to go but into that room and when they do, it'll become obvious why this room is the final stop in this hall.

It's a large conference room with computers at every station and a large bright blue map on the screen taking up the entire wall. While the language the maps reads is entirely in Cerealian, it'll be easy enough to read with their translators. The map on the screen is labeled as "Tellus", a bright blue dot in the center is equally labeled as "Cerealia". To the side of the map and on the screen are different readings of what is clearly marked as energy. Three different categories are listed there: Spirit, Artificial, Natural. The "spirit" category in particular is very, very high compared to the other readings.

After that, they're free to poke around in this room as they please. Nothing will immediately jump out at them. Take a break, catch your breath, put your feet up -- you're fine for now. ]

It's the least I could do to help.

[And then silence prevailed. For a time. Until they reached that room, and Iris' eyes went wide at the sight of the map. The language...for some reason, she could read it. And recognize that name in the middle. Cerealia. That was...the name of the city they'd been staying in, wasn't it. And those readings--]

Just like the papers we found.

[The ones talking about different energy levels. She still had a few of them tucked away in her uniform.]

The spirit levels...oh, I wish Mystic Maya were here. [In spite of the danger.] She...she would know better about the spirits than I. Maybe even be able to contact one of them.

How very interesting...

[She looks all around the room as they enter, making sure it's clear of any danger before turning to the map. After reading over it for several moments, she looks around the room for paper and something to write with, hoping to be able to make a copy.]

[Raven will just have to take Iris's word for what the map shows. He tries to get a good look at it, but the room is spinning before his eyes, and it only seems to be getting worse as time goes on. It's actually starting to make him feel pretty dizzy, coupled with the effects of the blood loss. It's a distraction to the pain in his arm, but still an unpleasant combination.

He'll just have to trust the others know what they're doing. Even if it would be nice to have a certain genius mage around, when it comes to spirits and spiritual energy.]

Don't mind me... I'm gonna sit down.

[He lets go of Iris and staggers over to the nearest seat, sitting back and closing his eyes.]

[ No papers anywhere to be found in this room! That said, there are unlocked tablets, or she could type it on her CereVice if she doesn't mind that struggle. There's just no paper in this room.

As for Raven, he can relax, the chair is very cushy and comfortable and that poison's not getting any better any time soon. Soon enough, his extremities are going to start going numb on top of everything else. ]

What papers are you saying you found?

[ Even as he asks Iris that, though, he's already sitting down at one of the computers. Even if he doesn't have any special powers, he has basic technological proficiency that he... kinda doubts the others possess, from the looks of them. He'll just try and access the system while they talk. ]

[Iris spared a worrying glance Raven's way before turning to Byakuya. With her hands now free, she reached into her robes and pulled out the few papers they'd found earlier.]

These.

They talk about different kinds of energy levels.

[She starts typing it on her CereVice, then! While glancing around the room to see if there's anything they might be able to use to break down the door Sapphire entered.]

[ Unless they want to throw chairs at the door, there's probably not a lot that's going to help out with that task. She will find that there's another exit, the door already open a crack.

Togami won't have any trouble accessing the system. The documents on file that he can access are all about Tellus -- they seem to be a written report about the planet and it's suitability for the building of a colony: Cerealia.

The suitability conditions are as follows:

High Spiritual Energy
Natives not technologically proficient
Ease of transporting in those from other worlds due to position of planet
Unknown planet ]

[ He copies that information down on his own CereVice. Good idea.

...Then he goes ahead and copies down the information on the papers Iris gave him, too. While he's at it. ]

This information shifts the perspective on Cerealia and Tellus. For example—the position of the planet lending itself towards "ease of transport". Rather than it solely being based on CERES's technology, I wonder if perhaps there is some sort of... wormhole or distortion in the cosmos, located nearby.

Or perhaps it's "Spiritual Energy". [ He scoffs. He doesn't really place a lot of stock in the supernatural, and even if he decided to start, as the evidence has already begun to convince him to—he doesn't know much about how it works. He can't really go much further with theories based on that. ]

Our group discovered experimental logs about exposing a native to some "catalyst"... Presumably, it caused an abrupt mutation into that creature we just disposed of, given similarities between the monster and evidence left behind in the room. If spiritual energy is considered native to this planet, perhaps it was one of the other sources of energy that served as a catalyst.

[ It may not be the time for theories at all, but this room seems safe, and if they sort things out now, they'll figure out what things to be on the lookout for as they proceed. ]

Do you think...this has anything to do with the alter we found underground some time back? And that dagger...

[There was so much of what they were uncovering she didn't understand. The Science. The Computers. She was raised a simple nun up in the mountains, and her education in those areas were severely limited. But she couldn't help that nagging feeling in the back of her mind, given what she did know about spiritual rituals, that there was a connection.]

And if that creature was...mutated, as you say...then what was it before?

Looking over this information... I do think it's interesting that they indicated there is a high level of spiritual energy when there's typically an emphasis on technology and science as well.

[As she speaks, she goes to go look at the open door, peeking through. Better to make sure there's not another monster heading their way.]

[Raven's heart sinks when he feels himself start to go numb. He's starting to realise his minutes might be numbered, but doesn't voice his discomfort, ready to just wait it out for as long as need be. Getting this information is important to everyone, too, and it's not like dying scares him.

Eventually through, he sits up with a wince, and opens his eyes again.]

When you kids are done here... [Despite his best efforts, he can't keep the shakiness or the pain out of his voice any more, and he's a lot fainter.] Maybe we can leave the speculatin' for later...? We still need ta find Sapphire...

The monsters out in the jungle were certainly very monstrous when we encountered them—

[ He gives a sidelong glance to Raven, though, when he urges them to move on. ]

...Are your bandages too loose? Have you lost too much blood, old man? [ He really looks like he's about to pass out. ]

It... It ain't that. [He shakes his head -- then quickly regrets the action and stops.]

You'd better leave me here while ya keep searchin'. There... musta been somethin' in that monster's bite... I ain't goin' anywhere.

[Raven is only going to slow them down, and might even prove a dangerous liability if another creature attacks. It's the pragmatic thing to do, and he's sure Togami would understand that even if Iris and Adelina might not.]

[ It's hard to see through the open door with how little it's open; she'll have to open it further to really be able to see what's out there!

But nothing's growling, at least, that's probably a good sign. ]

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▶ CHECKPOINT ONE.SAV

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