* Last time! * Monica dissapeared, and Tobias ran off ahead! * And then everyone who was -there- met a blast from ... the future? * There was much talking, and then people finally decided to go find everyone else! * Start! * Carter hovers upwards, spreading senses wide, hunting Tobias, Monica, and/or Joshua. Or that sword-guy. * Elonith holds his head as the group walks. "I'm getting a headache from all this. WHY can't they be sensible and stay with the group?" * Carter looks sideways at Elo as he moves off, letting the seeming 10-year-old answer his own hopefully rhetorical question. * Alex stands up, and whispers something in Tze's ear. They head off upstairs. * Elonith mutters something to himself in an unknown tounge. He looks up at Carter. "Do you see any sign of our lost companions?" * Carter hovers back down, peeking back through the door. "I have to get out there and look! Sheeze... Gimme a bit. I'll contact you or Julia if I find anything." * Carter goes zipping out into the festival, looking. * Sensors spots Joshua roaming around. No trace of Monica. And Tobias at the festival. * Carter lands near Joshua, though he keeps an eye on Tobias, so he can rush off to the boy if he gets himself (or anyone else) into trouble. Hey, Mr. Joshua, what are you up to here? * Joshua spares a glance at Carter. "Looking for Monica." * Elonith consoles himself at his computer. Any sign of her? (as if Carter didn't already know...) Nope. I've been asking around, noone's seen her. Everyone keeps saying she'll turn up eventually, that she's being 'stored in the system,' but noones explained it to me. I see. Wonder what happened... anyway, we're all staying at the Lighthouse. Room's in my name. ...stored in the system... thanks. Um... good luck. And watch out for the drinks here. I understand they're...potent. * Carter lifts off again, and goes towards Tobias to see what the multi-species boy is up to. * If you're off to find Tobias, #7swords (Saber!) * Elonith looks around. Is there anyone else in the room with him? * Julia is busy. But it seems to be dying down. And there's plenty of other random people, too. * Elonith keeps a hold of his computer (half-open) as he looks for a data-jack. * Elonith glances at his computer, typing a few things in with one hand and quickly continues looking. * Julia manages to break away! And plops down in one of the open chairs at the table Elo's at. * Elonith looks up at Julia. "Impressive, Snake. You are as good as I have hoped." *mock-evildude voice* ... what? * Elonith plops the computer down. "Do you have a place I can 'jack' my computer in here?" Obscure Pop Culture Reference. Where'd Carter.... that's right. Off to find the rest of your group. Yeah. Are you done being facinated by him yet? ^_^ ( *^_^* ) * Julia blushes. "Uh..." No.. not yet. *cough* * Elonith blinks and types a little, then looks back up at Julia, smirking. "Yeah, I've seen your kind before. Anyways, back to my previous question... Do you have a data-jack of some kind?" * Julia glares at Elo. "What does this look like, Fera?" Just asking. After all, you are technically inclined. *glances at the screen* Carter's bringing back Tobias, who drank a little too much of the... substance they celebrate with here. He says you might have the skills to bring him around. * Julia hrms. "Well, I've got a couple of detox pills here. They don't work immediately, though. He'd still have to sleep it off, even after the pills." * Julia slumps forward onto the table. "Man, I'm bushed." * Carter flies towards the Lighthouse, landing by the front entrance, and carries Tobias into the room. * Elonith looks over at Carter, then at Tobias. "He isn't injured in any way, is he?" Not that I could tell. Just...enibriated. I saw bugs! ... Yeah, okay. Set him down on a bed. I'll try getting an exact on what *is* in that stuff. * Elonith starts analyzing the data with his computer... * Julia unslumps hurriedly, and waves excitedly at Carter. * Carter takes Tobias up to the room, and lays him on the bed. He smiles and nods to Julia in passing, greeting her mentally since his hands are occupied. Hey! I'm not sleepy! * Alex waves to Carter upon him entering. Tze's not there. Just... lay there until you are. It'll make you feel better, I promise. Found him, huh? Hello, Miss Alex. No luck finding Miss Monica, though Joshua is still looking. Something about "lost in the system". *looks around* Where did Tzezhin go? Oh, I asked him to do something. He'll be back later. *nods* As you can see, he found the festival drink. May I ask what? * Alex grins. "You'll see." * Carter gives a half-hearted, sickly and nervous grin in reply to that. That bodes... * Tobias amuses himself by turning the sheets into confetti. Tobias! Stop that! * Tobias <;;> We can't afford to destroy this room! And Julia could get in trouble! * Elonith makes a frown at the stuff. "And people *drink* this stuff?" It would seem so. Any luck identifying the last two substances? Alchohol is alchohol. And I gotta tell ya, that's some damn fine alchohol. Bacteria and solvents mostly. I see. You ever drunk the stuff, Julia? Did it affect you? * Julia blinks. "I work in a bar. What do you think?" * Julia frowns, too. "She's still not out?" * Carter looks embarrassed. "Stupid question, sorry." How long has it been since she got here? * Elonith scratches his head. "Okay, what's going on? * Carter shakes his head. "Seems not. Um... she entered slightly before we did, so since about noon today?" Oh, sorry. We were discussing the location of Miss Monica. Oh... sorry again. Habit. *she bows her head apologetically at Elo* * Tobias grooms his tail. * Elonith smirks. "I don't mind. I know it's second nature to you guys." No no, my fault. I just ... liked using the terran band again, and forgot myself. Don't worry about it, Julia. My fault. * Carter turns to Tobias. "Still got that nuclear reactor going off in your head?" So.... Is there an official we should contact about Miss Monica? Monica's still there....? As much as I dislike her... * Alex shudders. "Wouldn't wish that on anybody." Okay, okay. *What* is happening with Monica? Indeed, what? *looks worried* * Tobias looks up from his tail,"Its better!" I'd rather not say. But I can assure you... it's not fun. How does one get out? I don't care if it's not fun. I want to know what happens when someone is 'stored in the system'. Once .... it ... decides whether you're not a threat, and drops you off with who you're with, or decides you are a threat, and kicks you out. Well shove it. I'm not telling you what it's like in there. Great. 'Big brother is watching you'. *shudder* Over-active government... _Can_ we do anything? Not government. It's there to keep out all the dimension hopping soul sucking demons and eldritch horrors and all the other inherently destructive entities that might happen upon this peaceful place. * Elonith chuckles. "Makes me wonder why they didn't grab me, then. But that would explain why Monica's in there." * Carter nods grimly, still worried. Hm... there's an underground access tunnel to get to the core. But I didn't tell you that. ^_~ I hope they keep her forever! I'm guessing they run more extensive scans than can be done on a, ehem... public basis. * Alex eyes Tobias. Oh, come now, Tobias, that's not nice. She may be... unpleasent... but still. She's not proven dangerous. Why wouldn't it just kick her out if it didn't like her? Why keep her there? She's proven herself very dangerous. Still, she hasn't proven to be malicious, which is why I'm still reserving judgement. By that logic, all of us have proven very dangerous, except Tobias. *mutters* even me... I still hope they keep her forever! I don't like her either. But she dosen't deserve being stuck in there. Don't qoute me on that, though. I might change my mind later. * Elonith nods. "There's little we're accomplishing just sitting. Should we go in and play 'hero'?" Is there a legal means of dealing with this? I mean, an actual person we can talk to? Well if you aren't, I will. ... if you all go I'll go too! I thought you wanted her to stay in there forever. * Carter sighs. "I will go. She has done nothing to warrent indefinite imprisonment." I wouldn't mind taking out a piece of that ... whatever it is in person, either. *she grins sadistically* Julia? Can I have a map to and/or of this access tunnel, please? I guess we have reached an agreement, then. Miss Alex, we shouldn't hurt it if we don't need to. It is a defensive mechanism for this city. One moment... I don't wanna miss out on action!! * Elonith gets up, packing his laptop away. "If not over-active." Oh, if you don't mind, could you send the map to my laptop too? * Julia nods. * Ding! Map of Lifa, with the access point highlighted on it, sent to laptop and Carter. Thank you very much, Julia. * Elonith nods. He doesn't bother opening his laptop, 'cuz guess what! It's packed away already. Shall we go, all? * Carter heads for the door. Yeah. * Elonith heads for the door too. * Julia shakes her head, not following. * Alex does follow, though. * Tobias flies after. * Carter nods once more to his fellow terran, before heading out, down, and into the city. He heads off on foot towards the entrance. * Ding! Access point. It's a circular metal disc, with a warning etched into it, 'Do not enter,' and there's no handle or outwards mechanism to open it. ( er, the entrance to the tunnel or whatever ) 'Do not enter'. Wow, that bodes. Well, there's only one thing to do with doors that say that... Open them? * Elonith puts his left hand around his crystal, the right one outstretched torwards the cover. Kick them down and go in with guns blazing. * Carter backs away, putting himself between the door and Tobais + Alex. * Elonith grins and points his finger up, the cover flying up like a coin and landing right next to the hole. Ladies first? * Alex jumps back suddeny, landing in a crouch, at that. A little WARNING next time? Normally, I'd agree. But I think in these circumstances... *leads the way, senses extended to maximum* * Elonith looks back at Alex. His eyes briefly flash green, then back to normal. "Oh, sorry. Forgot that not everyone's used to Tek's." * The tunnel is fairly well lit, and after a short steep descent, there's a strip of luminescent light along the walls near the ground that emits a soft constant glow. * Tobias flies along looking around! * Carter holds Tobias back. "Don't wander off." * Elonith takes the last position in the order. Being in the back is a good idea. * There's a 6-way split up ahead. * Tobias mreeks and hovers around Carter. * Carter shakes a bit. He's not nervous, honest. But he does cautiously advance, not letting Tobias or Alex pass him, trying to keep the group together. And then he pauses at the split. Well... Shit. High energy reactions from all directions. There's something patrolling, too. *whispered* * Carter seems to be concentrating. * Elonith speaks quietly. "Where's the patrol?" I'm... looking. To avoid it, we need to go... * Carter heads for the right-most corridor. * Elonith follows Carter. * Alex follows, guns drawn. We can't avoid it entirely, I don't think, but if we time it right... this place is like a wheel. We need to get to the middle. The patrols guard the paths we need to take, though. * Elonith draws his energy pistol as well. "Gotcha." * Elo, soul roll, +1! Dog Gone it! I can't get a good lock on whatever it is. Maybe we can trick the system... *shakes his head* This place is giving me a headache. Any ideas, anyone? Tobias? I already can guess Miss Alex's suggestion... * And a awareness check all round, vs hearing. Hmph. * Dicesuke throws the bones for Elonith (2d6-2) and gets 6. (Eeeaaasy.) * Dicesuke throws the bones for Carter (2d6-4) and gets 2. ( That'll be a pass, ladies and gentlemen. ) * Dicesuke throws the bones for Tobias (2d6-2) and gets 1. (wee, made it) * There's a heavy sound, like something really big walking. * Elo, soul roll +1, as well. * Dicesuke throws the bones for Elonith (2d6+1) and gets 6. (Made it.) * Elonith looks around, narrowing his eyes. * Carter looks downright scared, though he's trying to hide it. * Tobias eeks! and puffs up a bit to look bigger! Ah fuck... * Elonith concentrates... *whispers* what? That dosen't sound good. Ummm... Nothing you guys should worry about. Hopefully. Why is that? *looks around nervously, trying to pinpoint the patrols and that heavy-moving thing* Or maybe... I'm picking up a dimensional rift, but it's... moving? Or we're moving relative to it. Either way, I'm not taking any chances. I heard giant crocagators live in underground tunnels.. * Elonith pulls out a shot, puts it to his arm, and fires it. His face tenses for a brief period, and his form changes to its natural one for about five seconds before reverting back to what you normally see. Damn it! No! There's only one patroller. If we time it right, we might be able to miss it! One patroller? Who says we wanna miss it? I do. Fighting might draw more attention to us. * Alex cracks her knuckles. "Can always knock it out or kick it's but and go on unchallenged." But, what if it's alive? Or fighting triggers the system to take all of us in? Not everyone's out for bloodshead, you know. And I want to avoid whatever the hell this thing is... It's dangerous, at least to me. * Tobias s at Elonith then sa ys,"I say we leave it alone!" Okay, so we're agreed? As much stealth as we can muster? * Tobias nodnodnods! * Alex nods, begrudgingly. Elonith? Miss Alex? * Elonith nods. Okay, then. *leads the group around until they are timed as well as he can to avoid the patroller, then whispers* Follow me. Fast and quiet! *flies towards the center* * Elonith runs after Carter, trying to keep up while being quiet. * Carter heads for door/access point/whatever to try to get into central room before patroller finds them. * Alex runs along. There's only an occasional clack-clack from her feet. * Elonith follows. * Tobias flits after Carter! * There's no doors. But there is a force field! It's shimmering, and as the occasional mote of dust strikes it, there's a little blue flare. * There's some kind of combination computer/crystal orb past it, and lots of moniters. * Carter tries to make it's control system go down with a brute-force hack job. He's a bit rushed, you see. Always something working under the scenes... *searches for a keypad or a datapad or wall-jack* * The monitors are all showing numbers and stats and visuals. On one of them, there appears to be a cross-view of Monica. ( Goal: Make FF go bye-bye. ) Stand back. * Carter does, apparently having failed. * Alex steps back herself, and pulls out her guns. * Carter, Elo, anyone looking for jack-thingies: Awareness checks * Dicesuke throws the bones for Elonith (2d6-2) and gets 9. * Dicesuke throws the bones for Carter (2d6-4) and gets 0. (The scary thing is I made that.) ( Not so scary I made mine. ) * There's 3 small holes at the corner next to the floor and force field. * Scan! Scan! For the love of little purple pills, SCAN! * Elonith nods. He pulls out his laptop and looks for a jack that's compatable with his. * Carter interfaces with the nodes in the holes, and tries to access the controls for the force field. * Carter: Computers, I/S. * Dicesuke throws the bones for Carter (2d6-2) and gets 6. * Trying to interface with it gives you a slight headache... * Carter winces, but tries again...if he can... * Same roll, +1. * Dicesuke throws the bones for Carter (2d6-1) and gets 7. * More headache-ness. * Carter is quite shaking with fear. That patrol thingie can't be far now. He tries again! Oh the pain! * Dicesuke throws the bones for Carter (2d6) and gets 7. * Carter collapses to his knees. "Can't ... do it." * There's more loud heavy walking sounding sounds. Seems to be getting nearer. * Dicesuke throws the bones for Elonith (2d6-1) and gets 6. * Elonith finds it, plugging his laptop in and typing away frantically. * Computers:Intrusion/Security roll. * Dicesuke throws the bones for Elonith (2d6-3) and gets 4. * With a 'vmp' sound, the force field drops. ( Dice's mean. _I_'d have made that roll. ;_; ) * Carter rises. "Hurry, everyone inside." * Elonith unplugs and packs the laptop up. "Move it." He rushes inside. * The partoller is getting closer.... o/~ * Once everyone is in... * Can you put it back up, Elonith? * Elonith hooks up and starts to try and do so. "Ahead of ya..." * Alex helps Tobias in. Who dosen't seem to be feeling well anymore.... (Can I get the FF up again?) ( Yep! ) * Carter holds his head. "I can sympathize with the Ysfallian right now..." (Then I do!) * The footsteps sound increasingly louder. And the connection to the force field is severed as it coming back up zots the attachment. ... we'll see about getting out after we've figured out this place. * End.