TEAM ETHANOL LOG

[recollecters]

TEAM ETHANOL

After that strange Retrospec post, you may be wondering how to contact this "technician". Luckily, your phone or whatever device you have handy to check the network chooses that exact second to go haywire... Team Ethanol roster: Almedha, Augustine Sycamore, Chuuya Nakahara, Heine Rammsteiner, Izumi Sena, Kazuma Kiryu, Nui Harime, Peko Pekoyama, Rosalind Lutece, Weiss Schnee, Yukiko Amagi, Zaveid. On whatever device you use to view the retrospec application, you may note the following scrolling on the screen instead of the usual options: ALERT: CRITICAL TIME-SPACE ANOMALY ACTIVE. SEARCHING FOR ADMIN... SEARCHING FOR ADMIN... DESIGNATED ADMIN CANDIDATE: EMPLOYEE #91962 M. MAHONEY PLEASE INPUT AUTHORIZATION CODE. The prompt does not seem to be for you, however, as the text prompts continue to scroll, this time with some input. > ********************** ACCEPT ADMIN STATUS Y/N? > y DESIGNATE PROGRAM TO RUN. PLEASE BE ADVISED WE ARE SYSTEM CRITICAL. > run subroutine designation echolocation-alpha CONFIRMED. EMPLOYEES ACTIVE IN AREA: 2 > list employees EMPLOYEES ACTIVE: M. FITZWILLIAM LEVEL 0 ACCESS, INTERN M. MAHONEY FULL SYSTEM ACCESS, ADMIN > search for alternative assets CONFIRMED. SENDING ALTERNATIVE ASSET LIST. Names scroll by on the screen. and look, there goes yours! It seems like someone is manually picking and choosing from a list of every Retrospec user who didn't disappear into the void, and several names queue up. > initialize support team CONFIRMED. TEAM DESIGNATION? > ethanol CONFIRMED. TEAM ETHANOL MISSION PARAMETERS? PLEASE BE ADVISED SYSTEM ENERGY LEVELS ARE CRITICALLY LOW. > make contact with sysadmin > contact point entrance 6 > temporary access level 1 granted CONFIRMED. MISSION PARAMETERS SET. TEMPORARY ACCESS LEVEL 1 GRANTED. The screen clears itself, and instead of the familiar retrospec logo, there is simply TEAM ETHANOL as a designation. the application will refuse to show anything other than a map, with one point highlighted in red. it is, of course, up to team members to decide whether or not they approach the access point. Team Ethanol's access point is in the Recollé Graveyard. Team members will find the grave of "G. Mahoney" will move aside to reveal catacombs so long as they approach it in groups of two or more team members. Only Team Ethanol team members can see or enter the catacombs at this time. Please see the Objective 1 toplevel for more information on what they can see when they travel further down the tunnels. This is the Team Ethanol Event Log. You are free to toplevel and thread as you choose on this log, but only team members may utilize this log. Important links to mod toplevels are: Mod Questions & Participation Reporting. Please be aware you are responsible for reporting your own participation & objective completion efforts with links; the moderators will try to keep up with threads, but as we are currently running several teams with participation, we require you to keep us up to date! Please read each of the toplevels and instructions! The schedule for Team Ethanol is as follows: WEEK 1: Objective 1; CLEAR: M. Mahoney WEEK 2: Objective 2; IC mission briefing; CLEAR: W. Guo WEEK 3: Objective 3; IC mission briefing 24th: Objective 3 closes (8PM EST), Final city-wide log posted (9PM EST) Objectives will be given in mod toplevels to this post with instructions; please check the log currently for Objective 1 to see how this will work. NPC interactions will be rnged from your team roster once per week, and toplevels for those will also be posted, although all team members can hear/see these interactions!

Comments

week 3 | amelia & peko | room 9

[saburai]

[ Having acquired the copper key from the team of Vera and Yukiko, Kaguya wastes no time in unlocking the door to room 9, but she pauses just shy of opening it to turn to Amelia. ]

Are you ready to go in? Who knows what will be waiting for us there...

[ She's refreshed after cleaning up a bit at home, but she's still wary about all the monsters creeping around the place. Exploring all of these rooms is important, but so too is making sure her partner isn't caught off-guard if something attacks. That would likely end poorly for them both. ]

[smothershadow]

[With a new weapon, Amelia was also feeling newly confident—but that confidence hadn't overridden her desperation. Three weeks. Three weeks since she'd seen her child. It wasn't like all the times he'd been away at film studios, when she knew he'd return. This was an unknown entity, and she hated it.]

Waiting here won't bring my son back.

[Without fear or hesitation, the tall woman stepped forwards towards the door. If Kaguya wasn't fast enough about opening it, she would do so herself.]

[saburai]

Understood.

[ That's certainly fair. She hasn't had anyone dear to her disappear during this time, but she can imagine how desperate one would be to bring that person back.

So Amelia doesn't have to worry about Kaguya delaying things any further; she'll open the door and walk in, pausing once out of the doorway to assess their new surroundings. It's beautiful... and definitely out of place in the catacombs. ]

Looks like we've certainly found the right place.

[recollecters]

[ the bird sitting on the strange robotic orb chirps and flaps its wings. do they approach? ]

[smothershadow]

Hm.

[Amelia did not look around in all directions like a tourist, but she was very, very tempted to do so. This sky was the proper color, and the castle in the distance was as intimidating as it was imposingly beautiful.

The first order of business, though, was that fluttering attracting her attention. With a frown and narrowed eyes, Amelia approaches the bird.]

[saburai]

[ Kaguya will approach the bird curiously as well, since it does stand out. She does so gently, hoping not to scare the birdie off. ]

I wonder what this little bird is doing here...

[recollecters]

[ the bird won't fly away, at least! it tilts it's head and says: ]

Heroes! Will you aid me?

[smothershadow]

[Abruptly, Amelia went very stiff. Mostly from shock and surprise. She knew some birds could speak, mostly parrots, but she was not expecting something like this to do so.]

...what do you want?

[saburai]

[ For her part, Kaguya's assuming that a talking bird's part of the unreality twist itself, so it's not as startling as it could be. But she's similarly hesitant to agree to an unknown task. ]

If you tell us what you need, then we can determine if we can help.

[recollecters]

At the castle is a witch who curses those who anger her...alas, I went to her abode to try to find my brother's heart. However, I failed, and she changed me into this form.

[ :[ ]

If you could steal my brother's heart back, that would do. Or if you could defeat the witch, or convince her to change her ways...

[smothershadow]

[Amelia strides right up to the bird, and stops right before the sphere.]

And what is your name? Why should I believe you?

[Citation needed.]

[saburai]

...Also. Are we talking a literal heart, or is this a metaphor of some sort?

[ Regardless of whether or not the story's true, she wants to get it straight. Because a witch who rips out beating hearts is a lot more dangerous than a seductress, or something else along those lines... ]

[recollecters]

Aina. My brother's heart is his true heart!

[ so...there's apparently a heart to be found somewhere? ]

Without it, he will not live again. As to the truth of my words, that is for you to decide.

[smothershadow]

[Aina. Amelia turned that name over in her mind, and found nothing.]

And your brother's name? What did he do?

[...she didn't have much hope in that heart remaining in a medically useful state, unless it had been a few minutes.]

[saburai]

[ So they're... looking for an actual heart after all. That's just lovely. ]

If you could tell us more about your attempt, that would be helpful as well. We wouldn't want to repeat the same mistakes.

[ Aina doesn't have any particular meaning to her either - it's a Japanese girl's name, so she assumes it's just the witch's name or something. ]

[recollecters]

My brother worked for her for a time, and spilled the tea when he brought it to her...as for me, when I entered her room and tried to retrieve it, I could not undo the magic cast upon it!

[smothershadow]

His name, please.

[Amelia was about...50/50 on believing this. Ripping someone's heart out seemed a tad extreme for spilling tea.]

[saburai]

[ Just a bit... but yeah, this whole story's more than a little strange. ]

How do you expect us to undo the magic if you could not?

[ As far as she's aware, neither of them are wizards, so magical things aren't exactly their forte. And she'd rather not wind up a bird (or worse). ]

[recollecters]

My brother's name is Elais. And if you do not wish to venture to her lair, I shall wait until those who will come to free us...thank you for hearing my tale, regardless.

[smothershadow]

[Amelia kept on staring levelly at the bird for a long moment, thinking. They could turn back, there were other rooms to explore. But that might be a waste of time. Time had never seemed to move so fast before.

She turned to glance at her companion first.]

Well?

[Her mind was almost entirely made up now. Amelia's anxiousness at Kurt not being at her side was winning out over her caution.]

[saburai]

[ On one hand: they'll have to explore this room sooner or later, she imagines, and she doesn't know if there's anyone on the team particularly well-suited to handle a strange magical situation like this. On the other, the bird's information is lacking at best and unreliable at worst. ]

...It's worth investigating the situation for ourselves, I think. Whether or not we'd try to retrieve the heart should depend on what we find.

[ Maybe the witch is more reasonable than they were told, or maybe they'll be able to find her weakness by observing her. Both would be better than rushing in blindly. ]

[recollecters]

[ they can make for the oddly mechanical castle in the distance! the walk shouldn't take too long, and once they are there, they can either enter through the front or try to find an alternative path.

what do they do next? ]

[smothershadow]

[That's a fairly standard door on a...not exactly standard castle. Amelia steps right up to it but doesn't barge in straightaway, looking instead for locks sealing the way. Or a doorknocker. It'd only be polite to knock before trespassing.

She leaves looking elsewhere to Kaguya, trusting the girl not to run off. She doesn't look back, busy studying the door.]

[saburai]

[ Since Amelia seems to have the front entrance covered, Kaguya will indeed investigate the surroundings of the castle, looking for alternate passageways or anything potentially useful.

She's not entirely sure if other entrances will be useful - perhaps it'd be better to go in the front door and try to talk with the witch directly, rather than anger her by breaking in - but either way, it's worth knowing if any exist. ]

[recollecters]

[ there is a door knocker! it has a twisted, screaming robotic face. do you want to use it?

kaguya, on the other hand, will find a less intimidating servant's entrance! ]