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Post by Unknown on Nov 21, 2019 8:46:37 GMT -8
Warrior's assumptions about the strange snowflake-barriers proved true. When attacked, they offered no resistance and ample time to move forward. Warrior had successfully made his way deeper into the catacombs. It doesn't take long for him to reach the first "room" of the cave system; an expansive, dark chamber, every bit as cold as the hallways that had just been left behind. At the four compass points of the chamber are four pillars that are obviously too tall and slick to climb or jump to, each nearly reaching the red-ice ceiling above. From Warrior's vantage point, he could just barely see that each of the pillars have... something... seated atop them. to either side of the room is a ledge affixed to the wall and just barely within reach. They're not high enough to make a leap to the pillars, but they both support doorways cut into the icy walls that they're affixed to. Searching around the room also reveals two other details; first, at the opposite end of the room from where Warrior entered is what appears to be an open elevator at ground level. However, the panel won't respond without a key. Second; at the four corners of the room are large ice blocks sunken down and set level with the floor. It's hard to make out, but each of the four obviously houses some sort of abstract mechanical beast, each frozen inside, dead and unmoving in their icy prisons.
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Post by Warrior on Nov 21, 2019 20:03:13 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/dk4CQm0~png At this point, his best bet was to head for one of the doorways and hope he'd find the key to the elevator somewhere further on. There wasn't any scaling these pillar structures and no point in desecrating the graves of the mechanical beasts (or reviving them if he even had the ability to) -- it was clear somebody was already here before him to cage them inside, indicating these certainly weren't untrekked ruins.
Well, unless they were just really clumsy beasts, obviously.
Either way, to Warrior, it was mysterious what the story behind those was, but given that he had two pathways to choose from and they most likely led to a dead end, he figured he'd be trekking back here at some point so there seemed to be no need to spend too much time exploring for now, just making mental notes and moving along.
He still sucked at 50/50's so now it was better to just accept the fact that'd he'd pick the worse of the two doorways and roll with it. Heading toward the western-most ledge (or at least west from where he had entered), Warrior took his leap at it and indeed was just barely able to reach it with an outstretched hand, pulling himself up and proceeding toward the doorway it supported.
Caution wasn't thrown in the wind just yet -- he still kept up his awareness for his surroundings. And the cold wasn't negligible by any means either, his body was starting to get numb which at least assisted in stabilizing, but it wasn't simply the kind of cold you'd just adjust to after a while. Until frost built up on his body or significant debilitation became evident due to the coldness though, he'd keep on trekking as is and let his semi-appropriate clothing do its job of keeping him functional even if not necessarily warm.
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Post by Unknown on Nov 25, 2019 16:45:27 GMT -8
Warrior once again finds his path devoid of life and motion save the doorway sliding open to welcome him to the next branch of his journey. Inside is a small room, roughly 15 feet by 15 feet, sporting nothing save a single panel that rises from the floor on a pedestal. On the dimly lit screen, downright archaic by current standards, is a list of what appears to be security functions.
Security: Enabled
1. Elevator Lock-Down: Enabled 2. Key Lock-Down: Enabled 3. Security Barriers: Enabled 4. Sentries: Disabled 5. Pathway Sensors: Enabled 6. Routine Security: Disabled 7. Security Override: Enabled
System Status: Intruder Detected Remote Login Accepted
Somehow this panel had already been given administrator access. With just a basic amount of checking, it was obvious that each of the numbered fields could be toggled, leaving it up to Warrior how he'd leave the system before moving on.
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Post by Warrior on Nov 25, 2019 19:14:43 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/dk4CQm0~png
" Hmm... "
Convenient, to say the least.
The panel at least revealed that he had been detected by this security system, but frankly he already figured as much after the looming presence from before. It was odd that the panel was just presented to him as being freely accessible, but he'd count it a blessing and press on. If it ended up being just an elaborate trap to lure him further into the caves, then the mastermind was already a step ahead and considered the outcome of Warrior suspecting as much undoubtedly. So he'd eat that cheese right up and just be ready for the spring-loaded snap if it ended up coming later.
There was no need to be too greedy with the settings: there was still a chance that toggling some would unwillingly toggle the others.
He'd already been detected: no point in trying to hide that fact now. All he needed right now was the ability to proceed, and the only thing that prevented that was the Elevator Lock. If he ended up needing the remove the Key Lock-Down later, well he knew where to find this panel now.
Toggling that one to off, Warrior ensured the rest of the settings remained as they were before returning to the previous room and scanning for any changes from the ledge that held the door he'd just come through.
1. Elevator Lock-Down: Disabled
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Post by Unknown on Dec 2, 2019 19:55:27 GMT -8
The panel effortlessly switches and none of the other switches flip. With this small change, absolutely nothing else seems to be different. The room is still dark and dead with no sound or movement, and the main elevator is still locked despite the change on the panel. Did anything actually change...?
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Post by Warrior on Dec 3, 2019 14:24:31 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/dk4CQm0~png
" A little too careful, I suppose. "
A personality flaw of his.
The options remaining were to either flip the remaining switches or to explore the other corridor opposite the central room, but in lieu of needing to back track later, it'd probably be better to finish the deed with the control panel first.
Returning to the room, Warrior flipped the switches a bit more greedily.
2. Key Lock-Down: Disabled
If it was the key for the elevator, this made sense to open the door for. If it was a key for anything else, the fact that it had its own dedicated menu option meant it was probably going to be important for some other door later on, if intuition served him well enough here.
3. Security Barriers: Disabled
It'd be a bit prideful to think he could just pummel through whatever barriers were in place up ahead -- probably more sophisticated than the rotating snowflakes from earlier. Clearing the path forward was more wise.
7. Security Override: Disabled
At this point he was just going for the middle-point toward opposite extreme since his first approach didn't bear any fruit, or at least it didn't appear to. Leaving the sentries and the routine security off seemed to be his predecessor's choice so by all means he'd let them keep that one. Leaving the Sensors on was a fair enough trade off for whatever it implied, and leaving on the security override had multiple implications really, good or bad, but it was a valid assumption to him that it may have been what prevented the elevator change from taking effect. May have been.
Seeing the fruits of his retconning was all that was left now, so back to the central room he went.
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Post by Unknown on Dec 9, 2019 21:05:07 GMT -8
The panel accepts the changes while betraying no new information, leaving Warrior to wonder what had just happened. This time, Warrior would find the door to the panel locked behind him as soon as it closes. The main elevator is still obviously dead, but for the first time since entering this frozen cavern, Warrior would realize that he's not alone. Metallic footsteps pound hard onto the icy floor, and shadows move in the main room just out of sight. Something that Warrior had done drew additional attention from something.
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Post by Warrior on Dec 11, 2019 16:07:15 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/dk4CQm0~png
The door was locked now, so there was no going back to change his mind this time. A fair consequence of his earlier indecision.
Another presence made itself known, or possibly "their" selves known since there was no telling how many were out there. Suspense wasn't his preference though, so better to address the company than let it linger about.
Still standing atop the ledge leading the the door he had just exited, he called out to the unknown presence in the direction that he had heard the noise.
" I suppose we should introduce ourselves. "
Them first, of course.
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Post by Unknown on Dec 12, 2019 10:51:54 GMT -8
...and yet the metallic stomping continues off in the shadows, giving no sign that it gave Warrior's call any mind.
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Post by Warrior on Dec 12, 2019 12:38:37 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/dk4CQm0~png " ... Have it your way. "
Coming down from the ledge now, Warrior continued on toward the ledge on the opposite side of the room, going so far as to get atop it and enter the opposite door from which he came if the presence didn't interfere and if it wasn't also locked.
If they weren't here to hinder him then he couldn't be bothered for the most part. He kept his wits about him as he crossed through the room; technically it could have just been another illiterate drone like those from before, so he kept his ears peeled for the sounds as he kept his eyes forward to where he was going, ready to alter course immediately if he felt the approach of the invisible entity.
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Post by Unknown on Dec 14, 2019 17:43:29 GMT -8
The stomping silences the moment that Warrior sets foot on the ground. Warrior's presence was obviously noted though. A moment after the silence, what sounds like a set of loud, distorted trumpets erupts from the darkness, and four huge figured break the darkness. It's hard to tell what they are exactly, but their archaic and sharp details betray their identity as reaver bots; four of them, and all four charging Warrior's position with absolute abandon!
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Post by Warrior on Dec 14, 2019 18:33:12 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/dk4CQm0~png
" ! "
Just illiterates indeed? Warrior's first instinct was to leap back onto the ledge he had come from for the sake of getting out of their incoming Reaverbots' way, but their combined impact on the wall could probably knock him back off. And also, who was to say that they couldn't jump?
Having a Wind-aspected body proved beneficial here as a force of that very same aspect appeared to whirl around Warrior while he drew his sword -- clearly charging up for a swing. The air around him collected into his sword, concentrated into the cavity that ran down the blade's center and stored in there as the weapon began to glow with an aura befitting the color of Wind.
He swung the sword quickly and suddenly as they came near, still quite outside of the reach of the weapon, appearing to just strike the air horizontally and arguably meaninglessly. After a short second of silence though, all of the gathered energy was released at once -- a literal sonicboom with enough force to rock the cavern and even shake the four pillars around the room, the intent here being to knock back the reaverbots to the opposite side of the room so that he'd have a moment to assess everything going on.
Four reaverbots here and four cages in the floor from before seemed enough of a clue to be worth investigation. If he'd earned himself enough time, he'd check to see the status of those four pits and whether or not these trumpet-sounding friends of his were in fact zombies of what had been trapped in there earlier.
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Post by Unknown on Dec 14, 2019 20:04:02 GMT -8
As Warrior had predicted, the reaverbots proved to be particularly mindless. They rushed with abandon and closed in without any sort of evasive or defensive moves. Warrior's attack cuts through the ancient programs effortlessly, absolutely smashing them as the sonic-boom flattens them against the back wall with an explosion. When it all dies down, the room is once again quiet.
On inspection, Warrior would find his suspicions valid; the four chambers had been opened and were now empty, but they had absolutely nothing inside. The main elevator was still locked up, but fortunately the western door had unlocked itself again.
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Post by Warrior on Dec 14, 2019 21:11:10 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/dk4CQm0~png " Hmm... "
He didn't actually mean to destroy them, but if they were dead before and came back to life, perhaps it could happen again. Whether that worked for or against him was a question to be answered later, for now they didn't pose any further threat.
The door to the panel was open, but Warrior found interest in the door in the East so he made his way there instead. Knowing those were the same frozen husks before given life was at least useful knowledge going forward.
(Warrior -> East Door)
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Post by Unknown on Dec 14, 2019 21:18:26 GMT -8
The door opens without an issue, and inside is another elevator. It's almost identical to the one in the main hall, but this one is obviously active and usable.
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