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

[recollecters]

It's very hard to see much in the room if they don't bring in their own light sources, for the record; there's some vague light near the door spilling in from the main crypt area, but room 6 seems to be almost extra dark. They can also hear some scuffling noises...

A rat runs out between them, but that doesn't seem to be the only source of the noise.

CW: mentions of paranoia

[bitemefightme]

Orion only nods in response, pulling out his phone to try and use the light from it to help take a look around.

He jumps when a rat runs out, just short of yelling, then follows with an audible sound of relief. Seriously? Why did he have to get stuck here? Retrospec is going to receive Hell when this is over. There's bullshit, and then there's cruel and unusual bullshit.

Orion's pretty sure he can feel his legs shake as he tries to continue to shuffle around, holding the phone inches from the surfaces of some places, pressing his back to the wall as he goes deeper in, sidling along it.

A thought.

"Hey, if something happens, just... shout, or... something." His voice is a little bit shaky, trying to reaffirm to himself constantly that something isn't going to jump out and grab him. That's... that's impossible, right? Isn't it?

His paranoia doesn't seem to think so. He might lock himself in his room for a few weeks after this is over. Hands down the worst experience he's had in this city.

He swallows. You know, now would be a time he wouldn't mind being saved for once. Not that he'll say that outloud. Besides, what would Ros be able to do? She's smaller than he is and doesn't look like she has much to offer in a physical fight.

Damn...

[originallutece]

"All right." She glances back, her mouth tight. Truth be told, she's more on edge from his nervousness than the room itself; it's amplifying her own, making her tenser by the second. At least he hadn't yelled when the rat appeared, that's something.

Rosalind's gaze sweeps over the room, but that doesn't do her much good. It's so bloody dark, and after a moment, she follows Orion's lead, taking out her phone and shining it in the darkness for all the good it does her. But oh, sight is only one sense, and she really ought to pay attention to her others, hm? There's more noise than just rats . . .

Slowly, warily, Ros edges towards the scuffling sounds, and clenches her teeth. If it's more rats, she's determined not to shriek, even if discovering a group of them would be hideous.

[recollecters]

The phones do light things up a little...

They also, however, attract the scufflers. Rosalind will hear those sounds speed up before a figure bursts out at her, sword raised. It doesn't seem like he's alone, either; they may want to either run or figure out how to fight very, very quickly.

Shout confirmed and permissioned by Ros-mun

[bitemefightme]

Oh, great, the scuffling is getting... closer? Louder? Either way, Orion's nerves aren't taking it any better. A nervous swallow as he tries to continue, his hand visibly shaking at this point.

Bu then the hair on the back of his neck stands on end when Ros yells, and he almost drops his phone; but thankfully he's got enough common sense to move. He runs in Rosalind's direction, keeping his phone out before him to try not to run into anything.

He reaches out to grab Ros by the arm and try to yank her away from.... whatever the Hell that is!

He actually freezes for a moment upon seeing it, eyes wide. Nope, no, nope. Nope!

If it wasn't for the fact that Ros was with him and needed protection, he might have actually stayed frozen there. But his wits kick in just enough to move to yank Ros out of the way of it and hopefully start pulling her along into a run.

"Tell me I'm not the only one who sees that!" Or... maybe it's better if he is. If that thing... things... is real, they're in real trouble.

The biggest question is which way to run. He's hesitant to go further in the dark and looks at Ros for instruction. She's the brains, and while he's trying not to panic, he really needs someone to be the gamemaster here.

[originallutece]

He yanks her back and she stumbles, more than willing to move but a little petrified nonetheless. It's just-- it's enormous, rotting and decaying and yet somehow raising a sword at her in obvious intention. There's more noises from behind it, but then they're off and running, Rosalind jamming her cell phone into her pocket to hide the glow. He's glancing over at her, obvious in his need for instruction, and she tries like hell to think quickly through her fear. They're racing down the hall, but there's only so far they can go, and god only knows what else might be in here (and the back of her neck prickles, an awful little intuition that screams of danger just behind them)-- they could go back the way they came, certainly, but to what end? They need to fix things here, they need to stop all this madness, and so running isn't going to help.

"Can you fight?" She hisses it to him, keeping her voice low, hoping those creatures don't have a quick turn of speed. If he can, perhaps he can take them on, and--

Yes. Yes, if he can fight, he can take them on, and she can help. She can breathe fire now, can't she? And corpses are dry, perfectly flammable. They can do this. Running won't solve anything, she thinks again, so best to deal with things here and now, yes. Rosalind half-turns, eyes scanning the darkness, trying to see if those creatures are coming.

"I can," she adds, "a bit. Tell me now: do you think you can fight them or not?" If not, she can at least occupy the damn things for a few minutes while they run; surely even a corpse will pause at being set on fire.

[recollecters]

They need to make their plan quickly; these corpses - and there are three - are no slow shamblers, but move as quickly as a living man might. There are no words from the corpses, only roars. They will give chase if Rosalind and Orion race back into thte main hallway; running further into the dark room may be unwise, since they wouldn't be able to see their enemies.

The first undead will reach them as they speak, going in for a wild sword slice.

[bitemefightme]

"I can, but I don't have a weapon," he hisses back. And as skilled as he is with his fists, swords are dangerous territory. He has nothing to properly defend with against... that. "If I can get past the sword, I'd have a pretty good shot."

Orion actually glances around, trying to determine if anything could be useful, but..

SHIT! Doesn't look like he gets a choice, does he? He's only got a split second to decide.

He shoves Ros back and figures his best bet is to drop low toward the floor as he tries to sweep himself under the swordswing. Then he lunges his weight to aim a kick straight at the beast's kneecap.

God, this is such a bad idea. But it's too late to change his mind. He doesn't like his odds against a freaking sword!

[originallutece]

They're still in the relative dark, and Rosalind tugs out her cell phone again, for all the dim light it might provide them both. Certainly it's better than nothing, but it's also not much-- hopefully Orion can get the first down quickly, incapacitating it if not killing it. Rosalind stays back for the moment, her eyes trained on the other two corpses. The moment one gets near enough, she'll try blast it with some fire.

[recollecters]

Well, kicking a kneecap is always useful! The monster doesn't grunt in pain since zombies don't really care about that kind of thing - or these ones don't - but it does need the kneecap to stand properly, so it stumbles and the swing goes wide.

As to the other two, if Rosalind does try to blast them with fire, they will definitely catch aflame. Which would, of course, give them two flaming zombies with swords approaching. They are burning up, but it will take time to burn away entirely, apparently, and they can totally still try to attack in that time. It's cool being undead!

Hopefully she had a plan for dodging the flaming zombie brigade.

[bitemefightme]

Well, one took the damage. That's lucky enough for Orion to let out another breath of relief, but as he's getting back up, a... Fireball??? blasts past him to hit the other monsters.

Which would be great, except...

They're still moving. Orion's eyes blink wide, and he's not certain if that's more from fear or surprise. But shit, it's bad either way, isn't it?

He glances at the flaming Zombies, and back at the one he kicked over, and he quickly stomps to crush the fallen one's hand to yank it's sword from it. If he's going to keep this up, he needs something, regardless that he's never practiced with a sword before.

[originallutece]

"Shit--"

Perhaps she should have anticipated the living dead not having nerves or pain receptors, but honestly, who thinks of that in the midst of panic? Rosalind steps back again, giving Orion ample room to swing that sword. At least he can see now, right? But god, it'd be helpful if someone else were to come and join them . . .

[note to mods: Yukiko's gonna leap in here, in case that pointed narration didn't clue you in!]

[burningblossoms]

Yukiko had heard the sounds of fighting and shouts, so she'd come running to help, and bursts onto the scene with her persona ready and a bladed fan in hand. Flaming zombies are really okay, since she absorbs it now.

"Look out" she called out as she lunged to join the fray, her fan slashing at a zombie's leg, her Persona driving at another with her sword.

[recollecters]

The second Yukiko crosses into the room, there's a creaking groaning noise as the door slams into place. It looks like the additional person has triggered some sort of trap, cutting off the escape route. While Orion is free to grab the sword from one of the zombie and a second will meet the Persona in question, three jets of flame burst up out of the floor around the character's feet, lighting the dark for an instant before stopping.

The third zombie who Yukiko slashed at with her fan will cut her with it's blade, turning quickly and undeterred for the moment by the leg wound.

[bitemefightme]

Mother of all fucks! Orion looks up when the door slams shut.

"Are you fucking serious!?" Okay, Orion's definitely pissed. Why the Hell did Yukiko come in? He's having a hard enough time defending just himself and Ros, and now he has to take care of Yukiko, too. Despite that she seems to have her own means of defense, she did trigger a trap after all.

He swings the sword messily to behead the closest one and then charges toward Yukiko's direction to try and stop the one headed for her.

"If you're that stupid, why did you come in here!?" he demands as he swings.

[originallutece]

"Not the time!" Rosalind shouts. There's plenty of time to argue about blame and worry about exiting later; for now, it's enough that they survive this encounter. Rosalind skims the ground, trying to see if there's any trigger that set off those flames.

"Cut off its legs!" she adds after a moment; surely that will help. Even if it doesn't feel pain, it'll be hindered by a lack of mobility.

[burningblossoms]

"Be quiet and focus!" Yukiko snaps at Orion after letting out a hiss of pain from the cut to her forearm. Blood oozes from the cut, but it's not bad enough to stop her yet! The flames don't bother her one bit, nor her Persona, not even seeming to singe her clothing. If anything, they both seem to absorb the heat.

"There's monsters to deal with, and we'll be fine!" she shouts as she drops to one knee and rakes the blade of her fan across the zombie's wound, neatly severing the zombified flesh.

Her Persona spins in place, sword flashing in a wide arc at the one engaged with her, intending to lop off her opponent's head.

[recollecters]

While Orion is free to kill the zombie who had been heading for Yukiko and one zombie is beheaded by the girl, and one left without legs, the trap isn't done being sprung. The addition of Yukiko's magic to the room has set off some fail safes, and the blast of sheer ice at herself and her Persona meant to freeze them in place might have more effect than the flames.

Out of the dark come two golems imbued with ice and stone magic, called into being to defend the tomb they were born in. The one who did not attack Yukiko smashes its fist into the ground, covering the entire floor of the still-dark crypt with ice.

[bitemefightme]

"Tch!" Orion scoffs at being told to be quiet. But he lets it go, if only because this really isn't the time. Expect an earfull later, Yukiko.

Unfortunately, he's got nothing for that ice, and he even ends up slipping and falling backward by the newly developed ice rink. He tries to hold a steady grip on that sword, mostly trying to keep himself from getting injured by it. When he manages to sit up, seeing the new monsters does nothing to help him. For a moment, he's as frozen as the floor by the pure terror of what he's witnessing.

If this is some sort of joke, it would seriously be great if it would stop.

[originallutece]

"For crissake--" Rosalind hisses, because aren't zombies enough? They ought to be. And yet no, apparently not, apparently we're not done with magical monster nonsense, because why should anything be easy? She has no more room for terror, not anymore; all that's left is anger, hot and burning, filling her up and eclipsing everything else.

At least she can fight these two reliably.

Rosalind exhales harshly, and with it comes another burst of flames: first towards the floor, trying to melt some of the ice near Orion, and then a larger burst aimed firmly towards the golems. She's trying to hit them dead-on, and hopefully some of the warmth will head Yukiko's way.

[burningblossoms]

Yukiko yelped in pain and surprise, her Persona and her both seizing up under the icy attack. She's not having the best day, after two narrow encounters with enemies immune to fire, and now this hitting her weakness, and the hit actually knocks her flat on her backside.

Staggering to her feet, helped by Rosalind's warmth a little, she sets herself to dodge and has her Persona lob a wave of fire at the new enemies...

[recollecters]

The stone bits of the golems shift to the front to make a sort of shield as the flames wash over them; there's some pain, but the stone seems to balance out the weakness of ice for the moment. It may be necessary to figure out a way to get behind them, for Rosalind. The stone shifts again after the flames stop and they start to breathe out ice again, focusing on Orion and Yukiko for the time being.

[bitemefightme]

Crap, what did he do to deserve this bullshit? He'd be absolutely furious if he wasn't more freaked out.

He feels the warmth beneath his hands as the ice melts to water, and that gives him a little bit of common sense back. He launches up and flings himself back against one of the walls.

Come on, Orion, focus. Deep breathing. Deep breaths. His eyes are still wide as he shakily breathes, focusing on the monsters. This isn't okay, not even a little. Orion might not be so against therapy after this. He can feel the hilt of the sword slip inside his grasp from his palm sweating so much.

He wants to act, really. But the only thing he has in his mind is to guard his back and try to run. This is a really shitty time to have a panic attack.

[originallutece]

Fucking hell-- Rosalind spares a glance towards Orion, looking pale and panicked. Later on, she'll have sympathy for him, but right now all she can feel is that anger, sparked by the monsters and lashing out towards anyone that catches her eye.

"Distract!" she snaps at him. "Now! Draw their attention, force them to come forward--" Because if he can, she and Yukiko can try and sneak from behind. It won't be easy right now, but if they'll stagger forward a few steps . . . but for the time being, Rosalind focuses on dashing towards Yukiko, going to stand side-by-side with her, trying like hell to combat the wave of ice with as much fire as she can muster.

[burningblossoms]

This time, Yukiko's ready. That new trick that the QR codes gave her is a big help, as now that she's prepared for it, dodging is suddenly much easier. She flows to one side with supernatural speed, avoiding the ice and hurling a blast of fire to help defend the professor rushing towards her.

"I am getting really tired of monsters that can just ignore everything I can do," she growls. But she'd seen the stone shift some, which meant it could defend itself where the stone could move? Something like that. She wasn't sure. But it looked like it did something, which was a start.

"Sumeo-Okami, let's go!"

This time, she threw out a Maragion, the biggest spell she could manage, hoping that the larger burst of fire would wash over the bits that the stone couldn't protect to get at the ice...