TEAM COGNAC LOG

[recollecters]

TEAM COGNAC

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 Cognac roster: Allen Walker, Aradia Megido, Fai D. Flourite, Fuuka Yamagishi, Grell Sutcliffe, Laurent, Mafuyu Kurosaki, Mako, Mohammed Abdul, Pitou, Prompto Argentum, Roronoa Zoro, Tsurumaru Kuninaga. 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? > cognac CONFIRMED. TEAM COGNAC MISSION PARAMETERS? PLEASE BE ADVISED SYSTEM ENERGY LEVELS ARE CRITICALLY LOW. > make contact with sysadmin > contact point entrance 8 > 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 COGNAC 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 Cognac's access point is in the Recollé Subway System. Team members will find they can travel further in the subway system so long as they approach it in a group of two or more team members. Only Team Cognac team members can see or enter the subway system sublevels 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 Cognac 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 Cognac is as follows: WEEK 1: Objective 1; CLEAR (M. Mahoney); Maurice WEEK 2: Objective 2; Team 1 IC briefing; Team 2 IC briefing 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 1, After Investigating the Rooms

[redarm]

[With how easy the Imps were to take out, the party that went to Room 4 are the first to return to the hub area. In their arms (or sling in Ami's case), they have several jars of extremely pink paint, and they seem to have even acquired a new party member. Probably don't get too attached to him.]

We're back, our room had the letter "T" painted all over.

[He then proceeds to set down the pink canisters he was carrying, and sit down on the ground, pulling out his phone. Time to see what food places nearby deliver]

[OOC: Top-level mingle for discussing findings in the different rooms! Feel free to threadjack or respond to other players. ]

[buncho]

[ Mafuyu's still got one more room to explore, but she makes a pit stop at the hub with a handful of chip bags. She's basically got everything she needs to live down here, and doesn't exactly plan to go home all month. ]

The room across the entrance had a bunch of foodstuff in it. They all start with "C."

[ She's no help with actual password stuff, so she sets her stuff down to investigate what Noah and Ami had found- in particular the paint, in which she stares down at the open can for a moment. Gives into temptation. And dunks her entire left hand into it. ]

[redarm]

"C" huh--

[AND THEN SHE DUNKS HER HAND INTO IT]

-- What are you doing??

[buncho]

Huh?

[ Mafuyu holds her hand up so that the paint drips down her arm to cover her elbow like a long glove. ]

Don't you ever feel like sticking your hand into a can of paint when you see one? [ and so she does just that ] Why? Do we need to save it for something?

[redarm]

Fuck no????

[WHY MAFUYU JUST WHY]

I dunno- we just got it off a bunch of monsters that attacked us!

[anguinous]

Yes, it seems there are plenty of things down here that aim to do us harm. I'd avoid coating yourself in paint if you can help it, it might make defending yourself difficult.

[ Just a practical suggestion. Laurent, who has been examining his phone again, pinches the bridge of his nose then steps up to the terminal and stares at it. ]

I don't think we'll make any progress until we make our way past this. Suggestions? I'm assuming the password isn't just 'retrospec'.

[ Has anyone tried that, even? He lofts an eyebrow and glances around, then frowns in concentration at the terminal and begins to type slowly and carefully. After a certain point, the cursor stops adding asterisks to the prompt. ]

No more than ten characters.

[redarm]

Yeah see? What he said.

[Gesturing at Laurent. SEE LISTEN TO THE MAN.

But oh yeah, the password thing]

Uh, well it sounds like there's a "C" and "T" in it...if the rooms are supposed to be hints or whatever.

[buncho]

Eight more rooms, then? I'll go check out the other ones!

[ Since she's like zero help with passwords, let her go punch some more monsters, brb ]

[anguinous]

[ If the rooms are meant to be hints.

Laurent wants to protest the idea that real people working for a real company would deliberately leave hints to a password in rooms but, in truth, it can't be much stranger than faceless monkeys and dragons etc bursting out of projections.

Perhaps Retrospec even consider this nonsensical exercise a test. Laurent closes his eyes for a second, trying to re-gather his patience, then stares at the terminal again in thought. ]

If we're assuming the rooms are hints...

[ Like some nonsensical video-game-sequence farce, which is worryingly plausible in context the more he considers it. ]

Then room one had a book made entirely of exclamation points.

[ Why is he still here? Just to suffer?

Laurent pulls out his phone and begins to note down what they have: C, T, !

Three characters so far out of a possible ten. ]

[redarm]

[Noah watches Mafuyu run off, off to check the rooms. He makes no move to follow]

There she goes...

[Now he looks back at Laurent, listening to what he said]

exclamation marks?

[...]

Try... "Catcatcat!"? With an exclamation point at the end.

[He's not sure it'll work, but man, with how cat obsessed this town is? He would not be surprised at all if it did]

[prometheanflame]

[Mohammed returns from his investigations, clothes slightly singed but otherwise fine. He watches Noah for a moment.]

There were several drawings of apples signed with "A" in the room I was in.

...Though the exclamation point does not always have to be the last character when it comes to passwords.

[erythristic]

Usually, it is, though. The symbol in a password is often an afterthought for people.

[she gives a thoughtful hmm and tries to think of other passwords.]

C, A, T, exclamation..."catnip" and then four exclamation points.

[anguinous]

I can't tell if you're serious.

[ 'What is wrong with this place', honestly, is his mental mantra atm. ]

Do be clear if you are or not, since there may be a limit to how many times we can try before it locks out.

[erythristic]

Absolutely not. I'm just trying to get myself thinking about what's ten characters and has those letters in it. Six unknowns isn't the best of odds.

[any ideas might be what they need. anything at all.]

[stopbleeding]

[Somehow, due to the magic of RP, Zoro hears this whole conversation from down in the pit and shouts up, helpfully:]

TWO NUMBERS: 89. NOW YOU HAVE FOUR UNKNOWNS. YOU'RE WELCOME. THROW DOWN SOME FOOD AS PAYMENT.

[miraculously, this carries down the hall and back to wherever the puzzle party is.]

[anguinous]

[ Where is this echoing voice coming from.

Why is his life a comic farce?

Laurent needs a drink to get through this. ]

It doesn't have to be a full ten characters long, that's just the maximum length.

[ Just a thought. Although everyone seems set on ten characters now so he supposes that is what they will be trying regardless. ]

[redarm]

[Unlike Laurent, Noah seems to question very little why Zoro's yelling down the hallway. Instead he just cups his mouth as he yells back.]

89? THANKS ZORO. I WAS JUST ABOUT TO ORDER FOOD. WHAT DO YOU WANT?

[Then returning to the conversation.]

Maybe it's something like...89CAT! ?

[stopbleeding]

MEAT LOVER'S PIZZA. LARGE.

[and because he should probably contribute:]

CAT8989 EXCLAMATION POINT.

[buncho]

[ Mafuyu... doesn't stomp back here as per her usual mode of walking. She looks sort of drained, with a paper crumpled in her hand that she slaps at whoever's closest's face.

It's a Cyclops lady pinup, signed "LUVR" in pink glitter.

She doesn't want to look at this ever again. ]

[anguinous]

[ Neither does Laurent, in truth. He glances over at the poster as it is slapped into someone's face and frowns. ]

Where did you find that?

[ And... why?

Is it a clue.

... Why is it a clue... ]

[redarm]

OKAY. ILL ORDER IT NOW!

[And he gets right to that, but not before glancing at the poster]

Luvr...?

[buncho]

[ DON'T LOOK AT HER ]

I don't know, okay?!

[anguinous]

I'm beginning to suspect we're being toyed with. These 'clues' are rather heavy handed.

[ Real people don't leave glaringly obvious clues. These are DEFINITELY planted now. ]

[buncho]

But if it works, that means someone's on our side and are trying to help! Don't be so suspicious!

[ Mafuyu, for one, needs glaringly obvious clues if she wants to get anywhere; she'll take them. ]

[anguinous]

No.

[ Laurent shifts his weight and leans his hands on the edges of the console -- regards Mafuyu steadily. ]

If it works, it means this entire situation was deliberately set up with us in mind -- possibly as a test, or a distraction while they do something else.