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

[adoringpast]

[ sena goes over to where chuuya is examining the crystal points and spots the dials. all they gotta do is turn them up, right? seems easy enough.

... too easy. ]

The good doc back at the crypts gave two of us "Level 2 access", if that's what you meant. I'm one of those guys. [ holds up his phone ] Apparently you're Employee #32041.

[ so is she one of those retrospec scientists or a victim just like them? ]

[doublesmall]

A few groups of us got access to different places a little while ago. Sounds like it's pretty much a skeleton crew working, so-- we're helping out.

[he's just kind of talking over his shoulder while he investigates, here, considering-- six points and five flowers, so it's not one of each. maybe matching them to the one she's standing on...?

chuuya goes ahead and turns the dial on this one so the lotus is facing up.]

[eyestitch]

[Nui had the same thought, so she turns the nearest dial to "lotus" as well. What a bad riddle if it's just making them all match, isn't it? she thinks. Finally feeling like it's fine to turn her back on the girl in the flower, she'll make way to the second dial near her and do the same.]

Yeah, only two real employees keep showing up, you know? Something really, really bad happened with reality, so it's just the doctor and Maurice.

You know, the intern!

[STOP PICKING ON MAURICE HE'S DOING HIS BEST.]

[recollecters]

Wendy Guo. [ also, the crystal chuuya moved the dial for is now glowing, and the petal "blooms".

wendy can't reach the dials, so presumably that wasn't helping her with her escape attempts. ]

Wait, which doctor? [ there's more than one and she has no idea which one is in charge. who would even think to call in these guys? ]

[adoringpast]

[ turns the other dial nearest him towards the lotus too! ]

Doctor Mahoney. For some reason she looked older now the last time we checked in at the crypts, even though she looked much younger the first time we met her.

[ and finally turning the last dial towards the lotus as well. that should do it. ]

[doublesmall]

[honestly a fair thing to wonder, wendy

anyway i think that was 5? but chuuya will help if they haven't covered them all and get the last; if his glowed and nui's crystals didn't, though, he has a feeling there's more to it than matching them all to the same thing.

still, it's a starting point!]

I mean, she is working on time and space shit, it's probably related-- doesn't make it any less weird, though.

[and with a glance back to wendy:] So are you part of her department? She didn't mention anyone being stuck around here.

[eyestitch]

[She scowls when only Chuuya's lights up and stomps back over to the first crystal she examined. Which actually is a bad idea because it really hurts her beaten-up legs.]

What gives? [She mutters to herself, bending over to examine the dial.] It's not like they can spell anything...they can't be different numbers...

Hey, Wendy! [Waving her hand like she's asking a question in class.] One more thing! Is there a question or something that goes along with this riddle?

[recollecters]

Oh. Mahoney would ask you guys. [ that's fine, then...but: ] I'm not a Technician.

[ anyway...there is one more step after all the crystals light up and the petals bloom:

the crystal shatters, and wendy freezes, scanning the area, before her eyes narrow. she draws her sword in one movement and is immediately jumping off the platform and over towards nui to slice at the air. assuming no one tries to slaughter her, they'll find this guy appears where she aims, blood dripping from a cut. ]

I'm Security. And I hate these guys. [ so she will help you kill the thing dead, apparently. what he does is illusions and slicey hands, so. ]

[adoringpast]

[ GODDAMMIT of course there's gonna be some sort of boss battle after this.

he also grabs for his sword, but hesitates. this isn't like the ninjas from the main hall where they can easily manipulate them, so this is gonna be one heck of a fight and he's not really prepared? how do you avoid its hands, though?

anyways, maybe attacking it from behind will help. so while wendy is doing the coolest job so far, sena will circle round this guy, checking if it has a weak spot on its back or something. ]

[doublesmall]

[staying behind it is definitely a good plan, but chuuya has another suggestion here, just to make a point after sena's done a good job being careful:]

Hey, model boy, does this look underground to you?

[you know what you doing. take off every bombs.

chuuya, for his part, draws his knife with a grin; this looks more interesting, now that there's 1. another fighter here, and 2. there aren't fifteen of this fuck.

the goal here is to try to dart in close and make contact, see if he can slow this guy down-- he's not sure how much he can actually affect it, but hey, one way to find out.]

sorry about my last tag i got confused re: the dials working

[eyestitch]

[Nui definitely thinks that Wendy is coming over to stab her, so she flings herself back with her hands raised...not like there's anything she could do to stop it. When the monster appears at the end of Wendy's blade, she is briefly, momentarily grateful. Wendy is now her favorite company employee.

The KUMA riot shield is definitely up now, and close to Wendy still, should she need the protection. Though whatever damage she does will be weak, Nui is eyeing the gaping maw in this guy's stomach.]

No offense to this guy, but it looks like he can't move all that well...If we wanted to blow him up, we could probably get out of the way past me.

swings back in after opening reserves

[recollecters]

[ did wendy have competition for favorite employee really? wendy is at least sticking to nui's side here, since nui was visibly injured.

she kind of glances over at the retrospeccers when they start talking about bombs? ]

You have explosives? Like, by all means. That'd kill the twist if we get out past it anyway.

[ SHE'S GAME? ]

[adoringpast]

[ oh shit. he's been given the OK, after promising that he won't use it during the duration of this mission.

a grin breaks out on his face as he digs into his fannypack, merging three minibombs into one that fits in his hand and flings it at the monster. and another, and another.

the creature does turn around as it's been attacked on the back and swipes its ginormous claws at sena but he narrowly dodges it by a milimeter. jesus fuck that's close. ]

Try attacking its back whenever you can!

[doublesmall]

[chuuya is, at least, watching for bombs after pointing that out-- he's getting the fuck back to avoid the explosions, though watching out for bombs and its claws at the same time is a little rough. he doesn't quite dodge one as the monster turns, slicing through the sleeve of his jacket and along his shoulder as he hisses at the contact.]

Hold up on that for a sec--!

[is he going to let that cut stop him from going for its back? absolutely not. guess who's just going to make a leap right for its back to try and drive that knife in: it's definitely chuuya. if this isn't illusory or something and if gravity works on this thing he's gonna try to weigh it down to make it an easier target for sena, please don't bomb it before he gets the hell out again he likes being alive]

[eyestitch]

[Wendy is definitely her favorite.

While she took a few weak stabs at the gaping maw in the monster's stomach, Nui is definitely backing up once bombs start coming out and getting thrown, especially since she can tell how enthusiastic Sena is getting about firing up. No wonder the ground caved in last time if this is how he handles it.]

I'd rather stab it when it's not getting blown up, you know!

[She beckons with her sword.] Get on the door side unless you want to get stuck outside or fall into the abyss or whatever!

[recollecters]

[ is nui good to run? if not wendy will haul her along given some sort of permission - once the enemy is down enough. the enemy isn't illusory - it hasn't had time to set any illusions on them - and gravity definitely works on it.

wendy throws a dagger at the thing and then focuses on trying to get the Injured Party the hell out of dodge.

also, she doesn't want to blow up? so like. there are so many bombs what if she leaves.

this enemy is, for the record, very susceptible to bombs. and blowing it up will start a sort of chain reaction explosion of the world beyond the portal, so they all do want to leave asap... ]

[adoringpast]

[ okay that went easier and faster than he'd expected, and he throws one last bomb once he's sure he's not hitting any of his teammates with friendly fire. but the world is slowly falling apart around them after that?! so sena wastes no time in getting the hell out of there, pulling out his phone to navigate through this world and out of the portal.

aaaand he hops right back through the entranceway, turning around and checking for his other teammates. come on team we can't die here now?! ]

[doublesmall]

[yeah chuuya is down as fuck to run, because you know what absolutely overrides the weariness starting to creep back in? everything blowing up. thanks for that shot of adrenaline there.

he books it without looking back, trailing the rest of them, and when he gets back through that door he's just.

dropping right to his knees to catch his breath, which is still coming heavy.]

Holy shit. Think you could've had just a little chill, Sena?!

[yeah he literally told sena to do it but also he did not expect that many bombs]

[eyestitch]

[She can run, it's fine, it's fine. She waves Wendy off as she sprints along behind her, though she hovers close after they make it to the door. There are a lot of things she really would like to do before she's killed in a fiery explosion.]

Seriously?! [NINE BOMBS, SENA??? She doesn't need to say anything else since Chuuya is already Chuuya Sena out for not having a single iota of chill.

Instead, Nui sways on her feet a little bit and faceplants into Wendy('s arms), exhausted.] Yay...team...!

[recollecters]

[ the portal basically explodes behind them, and shimmers - then it becomes an...ordinary wall. wendy absently sheathes her sword and will, like, catch nui.

she looks mildly impressed. ]

The hell are you guys doing with that kind of firepower? But it worked, so nice job.

[ okay, she's...in the crypts. probably she needs to report to mahoney, but wendy seems all right for the second to just, like, chill outside of her stupid flower trap. FREEDOM. ]

[adoringpast]

[ and sena just... waves chuuya off because HIS CHILL COULD NOT BE LOCATED HERE APPARENTLY, CUT HIM SOME SLACK.

just give him a moment to catch his breath and then: ]

So... that's it? We-- We fixed the unreality there, right?

[ or did his bombs fucking destroyed the fabric of reality because uh

that's his bad ]

[doublesmall]

We got named team Ethanol, 'course we'd have firepower.

[listen someone had to do it.

chuuya shifts to sit properly, just chilling on the ground for right now, because now that he's resting after all that, the ninjas earlier and everything else-- well, it's going to take effort to get him back up again. he's tempted to just pull a nui and pass out here.]

And I sure as fuck hope that's it, I don't think I have it in me to deal with another ninja swarm or something.

[eyestitch]

Sena, if you made it worse, I swear...

[More kneecapping will probably happen, but there's not a lot of rage in her voice right now. This really isn't the life she imagined when she moved out to live on her own. She sighs, heavy-boned, and yawns.]

My legs hurt. Hope we get some answers soon...this is way above our pay grade, right? [Right? Right? The question is for anyone, but she's definitely ingratiating herself to...certain people...]

[recollecters]

No, that should cover it. It got rid of the twist. I mean, Mahoney or some of the others would probably call it reckless as fuck, but who cares if it works?

[ team ethanol's area-specific npc is their kind of person, probably, since wendy is like "why don't we just blow everything up, though". this probably won't end badly for anyone, ever! ]

I should probably report in to the Doc, if she's in charge. It's seriously just Mahoney and the intern?

[adoringpast]

[ this settles it - wendy is literally the coolest retrospec person sena has ever met. he manages a grin after panting and stretches out his arms. god, he's fucking tired. ]

That's basically how we roll. And yeah, those are the only people who showed up to us so far.

[ but with that's done, it's time to get out of here. he coolly waves a hand at nui - the piggyback offer is still up in the air if she still wants it. ]