The Enigma Complex Pt 3-5 - Ghost in the Machine - RPLOG

Participants

• Booker
• Junes
• Syntax
• Umeko
• Ysadora

Date

24/6/2023

Log

(Syntax) While there is clearly much to investigate in hydroponics, our four hapless adventurers recognized that they had a job to do. Thankfully, Oswynd hasn't been sitting on his hands. Upon returning the the central corridor, they discover that he's been hard at work ensuring the wall building robots can do their thing. It appears that something was interfering with them, but he's been taking his time to ensure that everything has gone up. He's pretty sure both paths to the lower floor will be cleared out by the time you finish going down the other hall. As he walks away to check on the wall builder by the ramp, you once again find yourselves looking down the remaining hallway.

(Booker) Booker glanced amoungst the group. "So looks like we only got one way to go!" He tugged on the leash still attaching Junes to him. "We should definately go back to hydroponics at some point to continue investigating.."

(Junes) Junes nodded and followed looked back "hmm hopefully that door stays shut while syntax clears the spores, maybe we should try contacting? besides the dreamer watching our nanomagic hopefully we can get a message through" watching their step following forward

(Ysadora) Ysadora hangs near the back of the group, tablet in her hand and map open. She does her best to look like a diligent and reliable navigator...even though the only way left to explore is literally directly in front of them. "If we don't find the source of this 'Dreamer' phenomenon in the silo...well, I guess we'd have to assume it's lower down. From what Oswynd said, we might be able to get down there sooner than expected, though."

(Umeko) Umeko followed along as she carefully inspected the walls and such. "Might as well keep on going yeah, I'm curious what else is in here... Not sure if we'll find the source of this whole 'Dreamer' thing if it's able to control the server in some way, but who knows what's down here... Not sure if the military put some sort of nanite based technology in here too based on the date it was made, but who knows if they came back..."

(Syntax) The hall down to what is noted as the "living silo" on the map is about as long as the one to Hydroponics. What stands out the most, however, are two things. The first and most obvious is that, occasionally, the sound of frantic running footsteps echoes; sometimes from ahead and sometimes from behind. None of the party ever sees anyone or anything that could be making those sounds. The second item of interest is only noted by Umeko. Not only is the random instances of nanomagic increasing down this hall, but so too is the nanite density. While this floor thus far has certainly had a greater number of nanites than the upper floor you came from, whatever lies ahead is higher still.

(Booker) Booker continued forward down the hallway, occasionally watching where he'd hear footsteps. "Weird.. Ysadora, You doin spooky shit back there?" He glanced backward. "Also I wonder why its called a 'silo' and I hope 'living' isnt in a literal sense."

(Junes) Junes smiled a bit thinking the same before realizing those footsteps were definitely being heard..."well lets hope we get an idea on what happened besides a radiation warning, people panicking and...well the fact that something was... familiar, i think one of the screams from the stairwell i heard was like one in the clinic but I wouldn't know much past that" brushing a wall and getting closer to the silo "hopefully we can find some way to contact the dreamer in a more clear way but for now let's see what happens next or anything weirder than these footsteps"

(Ysadora) Ysadora perks up at Booker's comment. "Huh? Nah, all my spookiness is contained within my hazmat suit right now. ...And I hear it too. I swear, if we walk through that door and end up in a nasty organic room or something I'm going to be in a bad way." Swiveling her neck all the way around to the back, Ysadora sees...only the back of her hazmat hood. Her head spins back into place with an annoyed purse of her lips. "I'll be really happy when we can get these suits off, too. They take away all the fun of being a ghost."

(Umeko) Umeko paused for a moment as she looked around and used her internal nanomagic to get a better idea of what was going on. "Hmmm, looks like we might actually be getting close to -something- related to this, if not the source... There's more nanomagic occurring and more nanites in this direction, more than there should be... At the very least, I'd expect more illusion, if not outright hazards like the other room... Be careful heading in here." She also nodded to Ysadora, "Yeah, hopefully our next excursion down here won't need them if the cumrot stuff clears up properly."

(Booker) Booker glanced backward. "Well I dunno what "the dreamer" is.. but Is it like a person? Or a computer? Or what..."

(Junes) Junes glanced back listening to umeko "ill admit im curious about which kinds but I'll just say, ive got a good feeling about whoever this dreamer truly might be whatever they are, some moments with the vanishing sensation, stairwell and solar but considering the illusions there's more to tell and nothing outwardly hostile there, so maybe we can have a talk and hopefully answer some questions or just sort things out"

(Ysadora) Ysadora nods. "Then we should be prepared for anything. Get ready to move, if it tries to hit us with some thermal nonsense again. And don't trust your eyes!" So said, Ysadora narrows her eyes and hunches her shoulders, bracing herself for whatever lies beyond that door. "We'll try to talk to this Dreamer, if we can. I mean...it's not like we can do much else, unless we find its core or body or whatever."

(Umeko) Umeko nodded as she continued along, "Yeah, like I said earlier, be ready to raise that field to give us a little breathing room just in case as well. Also I don't even know if it has a body at this point... It seems to know where we are and such despite not appearing to be in the room with us, so maybe it can perceive things directly through the nanites or something, if it's not hiding out of our sight or something..."

(Syntax) Perhaps you didn't know what to expect when you saw "living silo". Syn didn't exactly include a detailed explanation on the map. Before you is a large cylindrical area that opens up to something almost akin to a street with sidewalks on either end. The outer walls are dotted with doors and windows which, based on appearances, must be living quarters akin to apartments. At the center of the room, you can make out a hole in the ceiling and floor blocked off with rusted railing and containing several clearly inoperable elevators. You can't see too much from here, but it's clear there are floors both above and below you.

(Syntax) The windows are lighting up and shutting down in such a way to create a wave effect. As the windows light up, you see silhouettes of people frozen in time. Some walking, some playing, some talking. As the lights go out, time seems to suddenly catch up to them and a great force throws them like ragdolls. This happens again and again on repeat with different pleasant scenarios being interrupted with a blast every time. This effect is silent, but a gust of air does blow past you every time the "blast" passes you. Thankfully, you aren't suffering the same tossing the "ghosts" are.

(Syntax) Of interest to Umeko is that while the lights and people are illusions, the room itself is not. While you are unclear just how far up and down this place goes, this is an honest to god underground "town". There are two passages in the room similar to the one you are entering from. One on the opposite side of the large space and another on the northern wall.

(Booker) Booker walked down the 'street' as he looked at the various windows and scenes. "Well seems like theses ghosts arent a fan of the dreamer... atleast shouldnt be." He tried a door to see if the window was a screen instead of just glass.

(Junes) Junes grimaced at the supposed explosion or blast forcing the assumed former inhabitants away and couldn't help but wonder just what forced then to abandon it all and run "if we get some info on these people should we set up a memorial? i doubt that many would've survived" a hand lightly raising towards the replaying blast and catching notice of a spider "anyone see anything?"

(Ysadora) Ysadora creeps along the street after Booker. She peers into the windows as they pass, waving her arms and making faces, then watching to see if the figures react when they 'reset.' "I don't see anything down here. You, Umeko?" Turning to the center of the silo, she peers into the shaft. "We could take the elevators. Do you think it's more likely our 'Dreamer' is above us or below us? I vote down; the 'Dreamer in the Deep' is a trope after all."

(Umeko) Umeko continued to peer into the windows as she followed along, "Hmmm, there definitely appears to be some sort of illusions going on in these apartments, so I guess it wouldn't hurt to take a peek. There's some sort of room over here that's different, maybe a break room that could be worth checking out... Maybe we can head there next."

(Syntax) While most of the party considers which door to go to first, Ysadora immediately moves to the breakroom.

(Ysadora) Ysadora strolls over to the breakroom while the others deliberate and pulls the door open. Presuming she meets no resistance, she pokes her head in and looks about before entering fully.

(Syntax) The moment the door opens, all of the lights stop moving in a wave around the room and begin to pulse towards the room she opened. The lights are on within and it is far more well lit and clean than it should be. There are several men inside. Well, men is putting it loosely. They appear to be made of loosely joined scraps of photographed body parts of the same person. It's not unlike if an artist were to paint each individual part of a subject from memory with several days gapping the time between each portion. On the whole, they appear to be workers of varying races and have ID tags hanging off of of lanyards. The ID's are odd in that they seem to be constantly shifting every time you focus on a different part of the ID. The numbers and letters drift and morph beyond recognition except for two words that keep reappearing: Stallings Bunker.

(Booker) Booker twisted the handle of the door, opening it and poking his head inside. "Hello?" He hoped there wasnt actually people being set up like bowling pins in here.

(Syntax) Now that Booker has opened the door, the lights are now pulsing both between both. However, Booker might not be interested to keep this door open for long. Within, he looks at what appears to be the interior of a family's home just as a massive blast strikes it. Frozen in time the very instant before there is nothing left. A woman in clothing fit for the 70's hangs suspended in the air, eyes wide with fear with her skin blistering and tearing off with glass from a nearby window integrating itself into her flesh. Furniture and parts of the building itself are frozen in the air and are taking up space which was once empty air. It's likely the party would witness more horrors should they enter and walk amongst the frozen spectacle.

(Junes) Junes watched wide-eyed and silently as the blast decimated everything and seeing her skin blistering as they opened their mouth "right...lets just" reaching for the door and gingerly closing it "put a pin in that for now, besides we should keep everybody together for now so we dont miss out on anything important" tugging on the leash and walking booker over to the break room watching as the lights above stopped pointing to the one near them but pulsed towards the other room and saw the scene inside the break room "stallings huh? I wonder if he was the founder or lead director or something?"

(Ysadora) Ysadora stops and stares at the photo-amalgam creatures. She blinks a few times, obviously caught between horror and intrigue. Slowly, as though trying not to startle a wild animal, she reaches into her messenger bag and fumbles for her camera. Raising it up, she clunks the viewfinder against her visor and takes a picture. Then, she slowly turns to the others, face perfectly blank. "Booker. Junes. Umeko. There's...something really weird in that room...!" Excitement sends the last few words spilling out of her mouth. Finally, Ysadora attempts to contact the 'entities' themselves. "Um... Hello? Can you hear me? Do you speak?"

(Umeko) Umeko peeked into the room Ysadora opened carefully, with a look of concern on her face. "Hmmm.... I see... They're probably an illusion but I wonder how complex they really are..." she said quietly before giving them a wave as well, letting Ysadora lead the conversation, if there was going to be one.

(Syntax) One of the people waves. "Stallings! Glad babano choolee. See yeak ham clear?" Another of the illusions says something as well, but it's all nonsense. It resembles what someone who doesn't understand English thinks English sounds like.

(Syntax) After they speak for a few moments, you all become clear of the somewhat unsettling fact that while they are speaking towards you they aren't speaking at you. It's like you are inhabiting the space of someone in another reality and they are incapable of seeing your actions or hearing your words as anything but what exists there. However, while they are speaking nonsense, they are occasionally using real words. Perhaps if you listened for a bit...

(Booker) Booker stood there, trying to even figure out what they were talking about. "This is.... weird..." He glanced at the others. "Does anything... know what they're trying to say? or if they're even trying to say anything?"

(Booker) Does anyone*

(Junes) Junes shrugged and realized something about their looks were odd and tried something, using an illusion around them and raising a hand to where their ear would be and hoping they could notice but...it seems thats not it and so they looked back with a shrug and nodded to the odd illusions and listening, hoping to understand more bits and pieces of this strange situation

(Ysadora) Ysadora hangs back for now, listening closely to the 'words' coming from the entities in the room, wracking her brain to make more sense of it.

(Umeko) Umeko frowned and tried to listen in closer, curious if she could at least manage to make some sense from the intonation and other cues, though the strange 'language' had her pretty stumped. "I'm not sure... They definitely seem like different parts of people that may have been here at some point, at least from appearance... I wonder if the words are scrambled too, or if it's something else..."

(Syntax) After some time, it seems hopeless that anything useful will come out of this. However, Ysadora stops focusing on the words and more so focuses on the body language and tone of the odd amalgamations. This feels like a finality of sorts. Like they are meeting up for one last time before going their separate ways. There's a great deal of familiarity between them and while they clearly look at whatever hole you are filling as being their superior, you also aren't beyond reach. Umeko, meanwhile, shifts her attention to unique words that aren't nonsense. Very often, when one of them motions to the area just outside of the door, the word "Alpha" is used. Interestingly, at one point, they refer to 'you' and make mention of "Beta 54" as well as "clear out". From the tone, it seems like a reminder.

(Booker) Booker just looks even more confused. "Yeah, i got nothin... anyone got a clue?" He gave a small chuckle before looking around the room at the figures again.

(Junes) Junes shrugged and looked to the other two

(Ysadora) Ysadora lets her head tilt slowly to the side. "It's like they're having some kind of...party. Like, one last gathering. Something's about to happen. Maybe the same something that happened to the poor folks inside those rooms out there."

(Umeko) Umeko rubs her chin as she listens in, "Hmmm... Almost seems like he's talking about some sort of software perhaps... Something about the place outside this room being an 'alpha' and a 'Beta 54'... It's hard to explain, but I think our 'Dreamer' guy might be here, and possibly some form of this Stallings guy..."

(Ysadora) Ysadora leans in more to keep an eye on Junes. As she does so, her arm gripping the doorframe outside brushes across a plate set in the wall. "Hey y'all, it looks like there used to be a spot for a room number here," she says after a moment of inspection. Without another word, Ysadora wanders off, counting off the rooms as she passes them. Soon enough, she comes to the front of a room numbered 31 with the greek letter Alpha next to it. "A-ha! Come on over, Booker, Junes, Umeko. I've got a hunch this room might be special for some reason. Maybe 'Stallings' 'himself' is in there." The scare quotes slide easily into place around both terms.

(Booker) Booker wandered over toward Ysadora. "Oh... hm.. Weird." He patted the top of Ysadora's suit with a clothed noise. "Nice work!"

(Junes) Junes looked back to ysadora and back to the strange figure before nodding, feeling the tug and following booker as they head to their friendly spectre ysadora "really?" finally standing besides the two and looking at the number "whats the number about?"

(Ysadora) Ysadora angles to try to get a glimpse through the room's window. "I think it might be one of whatever those entities were talking about. Umeko, is the nanite density any stronger over here?" She holds off on actually opening the door for the moment; who knows what series of events that might set in motion.

(Umeko) Umeko approached the outside of the room carefully, using her nanomagic to scan the nearby area before pointing west down the hall. "If we want to find the highest density and signal, we want to head out of here and go that way, will probably find our answer over there. No clue what's going to be in that room though... Might be worth a peek?"

(Syntax) Picking up on the direction of higher nanite density, Umeko leads the group out of the silo through the western passage. Sure enough, along one of the walls, faded paint indicates this path leads to "Silo Beta". Upon reaching the end, you find another silo much like the previous. If the place wasn't in such horrid condition, you could house hundreds of people down here. Of interest, however, are a multitude of wires that all come from and branch out from a singular point: the hole at the silo's center. They all turn to one direction once they reach the bottom floor.

(Booker) Booker looked around "jesus this place is fuckin huuuuge" He peaked down the hole. letting a glob of spit free-fall as he listened for a 'splat'

(Junes) Junes looked as well and knelt down "well im all for going down how about everyone else?"

(Ysadora) Ysadora follows the cables with her eyes. "My money's on the end of those cables having our answer." Without hesitation, she clambers up onto Booker's back. "Forward! Climb us down, noble Booker."