recolle | TEAM ETHANOL LOG

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Kaguya's similarly on-guard; after an encounter with multiple exploding bears, and another with a flaming golem, she's more than expecting something nasty to be waiting behind this door somewhere. ]

I have this... sword-like thing over here. He's been able to help take down a few monsters, at least.

[ Gesturing to her sword companion, a little flying sentient sword with a goofy face. It looks silly, but hey - it works. ]

How about you?

[ they'll need to approach the sphinx for anything to occur, but nothing seems to be jumping out at them, at least! ]

[Might as well head towards the only landmark they can see, then.

He shows off the sword he got in the catacombs a few days prior.]

I've got this on me. Between the blade and your friend, here's hoping it's enough to keep us out of trouble.

[ She'll follow him over towards the sphinx, continuing to watch out just in case anything decides to jump out at them. ]

I'll keep my fingers crossed. [ For a small, easy fight this time around. ]

Though given that statue... I imagine we'll have to do more than just fighting here.

[ when they do approach, the giant stone sphinx will lower its head, and speak. ]

Give me food and I will live; give me water and I will die. What am I?

A riddle, huh?

[...Why does it have to be riddles. He looks thoughtful for a moment, looking to Kaguya for a moment before he decides to take a shot at it.]

Fire?

[He sounds confident, though there is a bit of question in his tone all the same.]

[ Just as she suspected: riddles. At least they seem to have an answer quickly for this one, one she nods in response to. ]

That was my first thought as well, though I'm not entirely sure how the food factors into it.

[ Kindling, perhaps? But either way, it makes sense, given how few things are killed outright by water. ]

[ one riddle down! the sphinx speaks again: ]

Many have heard me, but nobody has seen me, and I will not speak back until spoken to.
What am I?

[His head tips, his hands folding across his chest.]

That's a tough one.

[ She'll take a moment to think herself. ]

Could it perhaps be an echo, if it only speaks when spoken to? I can't think of anything else.

[ it seems to pass! but there is a Third. ]

I am taken from a mine, and shut up in a wooden case, from which I am never released, and yet I am used by almost everybody. What am I?

Edited 2017-08-15 21:33 (UTC)

[...Whoa. If he thought he didn't have a clue of the last one, this one stumps him. He doesn't want to say something that comes across as an answer, though he does look thoughtful.]

Shut up in a wooden case, from which I am never released...

...Honestly, I haven't the faintest clue. I'm not sure what you mine for other than coal or diamonds, and neither of those fit the rest of the riddle.

[ What can be used while still in a wooden case? She's completely puzzled. ]

[ kaguya is at least on the right track! if they get really stuck they can try polling people on the retrospec post. group 3 may have ideas? ]

I guess we should think about the clues, again-- what's something that's mined, but also used by almost everyone?

It's gotta be something really common, like talc.

[....]

No, that can't be right; I don't think you put talc in wood cases.

[ Really thinking hard about this... excepting coal, ore, and precious gems & metals, none of which are that common, what could it be? ]

Salt might also be mined, but you wouldn't be able to use it if it never left the case...

[ Also it's put more in shakers than in wooden boxes, so it fails at least two out of the three conditions. ]

Though it's difficult to think of many things that can be consumed without using them directly.

Edited (changing the wording) 2017-08-15 22:47 (UTC)

[ what else is related to coals and diamonds? it's something at least students will use most days! ]

[Hmmm...]

Do you know if graphite is mined? That's a rock, isn't it?

[ oh goddamnit ]

It's a form of carbon, isn't it? [ she vaguely remembers something like that from old science classes... ] So I don't see why not, given that coal and diamonds are both mined.

And a pencil would create a wooden case around it, too.

[ pencil is correct! the sphinx will lower her head to the ground and say: ]

Tell me one secret each.

[ ...

that isn't a riddle but you're probably nearly done pleasing her, somehow? ]

[A secret, huh?]

....I keep thinking maybe the bits and pieces I'm remembering are building up to a "me" I'd rather not know.

[ Kaguya's not sure if this is better or worse than the riddles.... ]

Sometimes I think I should've simply followed in my parents' footsteps. It would have been a much easier road.

[ the sphinx will open her mouth and this time cough up a golden key. it's dusty! what do they want to do next? ]

[He might as well take the key with them. It's previously obviously important.]

...You think there's anything else in this room? It's pretty weird, hiding a desert in here.

[ Yes, definitely grab the key. But at his question, she'll look around at...all the sand surrounding them. ]

It certainly doesn't fit with any of the other rooms. [ Presumably one of those "unreality twists" they were looking for? ]

You'd think there'd be a place to use that key around here, at least, but I don't see anything else.

(no subject)

recollecters - 2017-08-15 23:45 (UTC) - Expand

sivard - 2017-08-15 23:47 (UTC) - Expand

saburai - 2017-08-15 23:52 (UTC) - Expand