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← Older revision		Revision as of 05:39, 10 October 2016
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	"To tell the truth, I'm not sure why it's doing this," he shrugs, gesturing vaguely in the direction of his shoulder-passenger vine. "But if it's affecting my brain, it's doing it very subtly. With that said, if I start acting like a plant-zombie, I give you permission to shoot me." Although Acetyl speaks in a jocular tone, the look he gives Cerl, then the others nearby, is sincere. He means it 100%. "Just make sure the samples and data make it out of here if that happens." After a moment, the serious expression fades, and he turns his head as if trying to look at the vine on his shoulder, though the shape of his face hardly permits it. But, you know, I don't think it will," the xenobiologist continues, that sense of wonder returning to his voice. "It's almost like... like Iatro. Only it seems... well. Smarter. No offense, buddy," he finishes, rubbing at the nanite golem's skull-like head. Apparently, no offense is taken, as Iatro accepts the attention with a happy 'panting' look, allowing its gauzy tongue to unroll again.<br> <br>Whatever is controlling the vines appears to be content enough with allowing everyone out of the nursery unmolested, though the one riding atop Acetyl's shoulder soon reaches its limit and departs to be replaced by a different one, a process that repeats itself as he moves throughout the lab. Fenris will find that hooking a mako battery up to the panel will indeed restore power to it; it seems that the computerized display in the room occupied only by him is a means to open the door. Willy will find that the computer is still powered on, though the mako battery attached to it now reads '75%'.<br> <br>Astara is enlightened at the appearance of a mako battery slot, and pours over the display with great interest. "Well, Fenris, you do the honors?"<br> <br>Cerl sticks her head in the computer lab. "You going to be ok on your own? Looks like they found something down the hall." She then heads down to Fenrir and Astara, rubbing her wrists as she goes.<br> <br>"He won't be alone." Raika splits off, heading into the computer lab. "Don't worry." And with that, she's taking a look at the display too.<br> <br>Willy hops back to the computer and begins working his way into the unknown. For the moment, her digs into the journals and tries to discern any sort of information on what the functions of the lap were, not to mention if there are any sort of directories of the floor.<br> <br>Honestly, Fenris is a little relieved to not have to try to haul those blast doors open with his bare hands. The tubby tanuki wipes his padded palms on his plush posterior and steps up to the display to open the way ahead, assuming that the process isn't too terribly complicated.<br> <br>For several long moments, the only sounds that can be heard are the operation of a computer in the computer lab, along with whatever noises are made by the people near the sealed door.<br> <br>Acetyl hesitates. Part of him wants to go check out the computer information. He isn't as skilled as Willy, but he's sure he's competent enough to use whatever machines have been powered up. Yet his curiosity about what the others are up to is intense. After a moment, he sighs and says to Iatro, "Oi, buddy. Go with them, eh? Be a good boy. Help out." Pointing down the hall to the third room, the room with the trapdoor, Acetyl sends Iatro in to be with that group. Then he enters the computer room to join Willy and Raika, figuring he can catch up with the others once he's had a look at whatever's on the computers.		"To tell the truth, I'm not sure why it's doing this," he shrugs, gesturing vaguely in the direction of his shoulder-passenger vine. "But if it's affecting my brain, it's doing it very subtly. With that said, if I start acting like a plant-zombie, I give you permission to shoot me." Although Acetyl speaks in a jocular tone, the look he gives Cerl, then the others nearby, is sincere. He means it 100%. "Just make sure the samples and data make it out of here if that happens." After a moment, the serious expression fades, and he turns his head as if trying to look at the vine on his shoulder, though the shape of his face hardly permits it. But, you know, I don't think it will," the xenobiologist continues, that sense of wonder returning to his voice. "It's almost like... like Iatro. Only it seems... well. Smarter. No offense, buddy," he finishes, rubbing at the nanite golem's skull-like head. Apparently, no offense is taken, as Iatro accepts the attention with a happy 'panting' look, allowing its gauzy tongue to unroll again.<br> <br>Whatever is controlling the vines appears to be content enough with allowing everyone out of the nursery unmolested, though the one riding atop Acetyl's shoulder soon reaches its limit and departs to be replaced by a different one, a process that repeats itself as he moves throughout the lab. Fenris will find that hooking a mako battery up to the panel will indeed restore power to it; it seems that the computerized display in the room occupied only by him is a means to open the door. Willy will find that the computer is still powered on, though the mako battery attached to it now reads '75%'.<br> <br>Astara is enlightened at the appearance of a mako battery slot, and pours over the display with great interest. "Well, Fenris, you do the honors?"<br> <br>Cerl sticks her head in the computer lab. "You going to be ok on your own? Looks like they found something down the hall." She then heads down to Fenrir and Astara, rubbing her wrists as she goes.<br> <br>"He won't be alone." Raika splits off, heading into the computer lab. "Don't worry." And with that, she's taking a look at the display too.<br> <br>Willy hops back to the computer and begins working his way into the unknown. For the moment, her digs into the journals and tries to discern any sort of information on what the functions of the lap were, not to mention if there are any sort of directories of the floor.<br> <br>Honestly, Fenris is a little relieved to not have to try to haul those blast doors open with his bare hands. The tubby tanuki wipes his padded palms on his plush posterior and steps up to the display to open the way ahead, assuming that the process isn't too terribly complicated.<br> <br>For several long moments, the only sounds that can be heard are the operation of a computer in the computer lab, along with whatever noises are made by the people near the sealed door.<br> <br>Acetyl hesitates. Part of him wants to go check out the computer information. He isn't as skilled as Willy, but he's sure he's competent enough to use whatever machines have been powered up. Yet his curiosity about what the others are up to is intense. After a moment, he sighs and says to Iatro, "Oi, buddy. Go with them, eh? Be a good boy. Help out." Pointing down the hall to the third room, the room with the trapdoor, Acetyl sends Iatro in to be with that group. Then he enters the computer room to join Willy and Raika, figuring he can catch up with the others once he's had a look at whatever's on the computers.

	Checking out the room, Acetyl looks to see if he can get a workstation of his own, otherwise reading over Willy's shoulder shamelessly.<br> <br>When the display is powered on, a fairly simple screen is displayed, in large enough font that even a child - okay, a fairly tall child - could easily press the right buttons. It's quite simple, really: the bottom half of the display is a keyboard like one might find on a cell phone. The top half is an empty field.<br> <br>Astara looks at the numberpad and scratches her chin. "Hmmm... might need to go back to the computer lab to see if we can dig up the code. Unless you have any bright ideas, Fenris. But first..." She trails off, and presses in the pin '1-2-3-4' on there, and enter, just to see what happens.<br> <br>Cerl fades back to near invisibility, standing back and letting Tubbs get on with whatever he's doing with the display, keeping distance from the door the tanuki is trying to open.<br> <br>"Hmm..." Willy goes as he bring up the three journal entries he found. "The way this sounds, this was a...biological scientific lab for Zephyr I guess." he says and he continues to the second entry. "Sounds like there was an incident that occured right after P-Day..." he mumbles a bit and continues to work and then reads the third. At this point his eyes raise "Uhh...guys, I think I have our answer...the plant was well...human...and may need our help." he says as he reads the third entry agian.<br> <br>Fenris stares at the screen for a moment, looking thoughtful. "Yep," he says with a definite nod, "Never figuring this out by trial and error." He perks up when he hears Willy's call and trots out of the room to go examine the deceased lab techs. "Does your new vine friend know any pass codes?" he asks amiably as he roots around.<br> <br>For the moment, the crowd remains gathered around the podium, attempting to work out the password. 1-2-3-4, when entered, does nothing. Press the Enter button, and it simply clears the field. Whatever the password is, it's not something that belongs on somebody's luggage.<br> <br>"So it is a human mutant." Something in Acetyl's tone sounds almost disappointed, as if he were hoping for genuinely nanite-uplifted sentient plants, or something. But the moment passes quickly as the storm dragon reaches up to the tendril currently riding on his shoulder. "Don't worry, buddy. We'll get it figured out." He grasps the vine gently, as if squeezing someone's hand to reassure them. Glancing to Fenris, Acetyl blinks. "Good question, actually. Oi, vines - do you know the passcode to the trapdoor? We might need to get down there to sort all this out."<br> <br>Astara gives a shrug, admitting defeat at not cracking a secure device by just pure guessing. "Well, I'm going to go over to the computer lab and see what's going on there. Don't get trapped by the vines as soon as I turn my back this time, okay?" And with that, she walks down the hallway (again) and comes up behind Willy. "Find anything like a pin number? There's a security terminal for that door that needs a pin. Digits only, about the only thing I can say that'd help."<br> <br>Cerl looks at the podium after the others step back, and tries entering 72779673.		Checking out the room, Acetyl looks to see if he can get a workstation of his own, otherwise reading over Willy's shoulder shamelessly.<br> <br>When the display is powered on, a fairly simple screen is displayed, in large enough font that even a child - okay, a fairly tall child - could easily press the right buttons. It's quite simple, really: the bottom half of the display is a keyboard like one might find on a cell phone. The top half is an empty field.<br> <br>Astara looks at the numberpad and scratches her chin. "Hmmm... might need to go back to the computer lab to see if we can dig up the code. Unless you have any bright ideas, Fenris. But first..." She trails off, and presses in the pin '1-2-3-4' on there, and enter, just to see what happens.<br> <br>Cerl fades back to near invisibility, standing back and letting Tubbs get on with whatever he's doing with the display, keeping distance from the door the tanuki is trying to open.<br> <br>"Hmm..." Willy goes as he bring up the three journal entries he found. "The way this sounds, this was a...biological scientific lab for Zephyr I guess." he says and he continues to the second entry. "Sounds like there was an incident that occured right after P-Day..." he mumbles a bit and continues to work and then reads the third. At this point his eyes raise "Uhh...guys, I think I have our answer...the plant was well...human...and may need our help." he says as he reads the third entry agian.<br> <br>Fenris stares at the screen for a moment, looking thoughtful. "Yep," he says with a definite nod, "Never figuring this out by trial and error." He perks up when he hears Willy's call and trots out of the room to go examine the deceased lab techs. "Does your new vine friend know any pass codes?" he asks amiably as he roots around.<br> <br>For the moment, the crowd remains gathered around the podium, attempting to work out the password. 1-2-3-4, when entered, does nothing. Press the Enter button, and it simply clears the field. Whatever the password is, it's not something that belongs on somebody's luggage.<br> <br>"So it is a human mutant." Something in Acetyl's tone sounds almost disappointed, as if he were hoping for genuinely nanite-uplifted sentient plants, or something. But the moment passes quickly as the storm dragon reaches up to the tendril currently riding on his shoulder. "Don't worry, buddy. We'll get it figured out." He grasps the vine gently, as if squeezing someone's hand to reassure them. Glancing to Fenris, Acetyl blinks. "Good question, actually. Oi, vines - do you know the passcode to the trapdoor? We might need to get down there to sort all this out."<br> <br>Astara gives a shrug, admitting defeat at not cracking a secure device by just pure guessing. "Well, I'm going to go over to the computer lab and see what's going on there. Don't get trapped by the vines as soon as I turn my back this time, okay?" And with that, she walks down the hallway (again) and comes up behind Willy. "Find anything like a pin number? There's a security terminal for that door that needs a pin. Digits only, about the only thing I can say that'd help."<br> <br>Cerl looks at the podium after the others step back, and tries entering 72779673.<br> <br>Raika stares at the article (since she is still with Willy, after all), reading over it with him. "...well, that'd explain a lot of the vines' behavior up to now."<br> <br>Willy points to the journal entry. "If I'm reading this right, I think code to get downstairs to where Sarah's main body is Demeter." he says. "Something still confuses me though, why are the people that were staying in the lab dead...surely they didn't die of old age in that short of time and there is no way they starved to death..." he tries to read through the journals some more and see if there is another entry.<br> <br>"Skeletons are not good helpers," Fenris says, trotting back into the room with the sealed door and staring down the pinpad. On Willy's advice, the tanuki reaches out and taps on the pin pad. 336387, and enter.<br> <br>The vine on Acetyl's shoulder offers no indication to knowing the passcode...or much of anything, really. There appear to be no additional journal entries on the computer; Willy has read the final one. No, all that's left on the desktop is things like progress reports, door controls, personal information, and other various and sundry items. Whatever killed the other scientists, it's not immediately obvious to a casual observer. 72779673 does not work, and neither does 336387...<br> <br>Well, it has been a long shot. Acetyl wasn't too worried about the vine's lack of communicability. He shook his head, though, at the lack of journal entries. "Damn it. They didn't keep very good worklogs. Maybe there's experiment notes somewhere else on the drive." Glancing at Fenris, Acetyl frowns. "Maybe when the person first became the vines they were... well, feral, since having calmed down some?" After a moment, he adds in a more growling tone, "Or maybe there's other mutants around. More hostile ones." Iatro, growing bored, begins to snuffle around, sniffing at the corpses and in corners.<br> <br>Cerl tries punching in a few more codes, but none seem to work. She steps back down the hall to the computer room and begins searching again for anything she might have missed the first time.<br> <br>Willy sighs "Well whatever it was...I hope they left this place already...and I'm being a little dumb, we didn't need the pass there" he says, and starts looking over the door controls so as to see if he can open a direct passage was to where he believes Sarah is, and check if there is a map to the place. As he's working it out he grimaces a little, and there is a minor sound of something filling with liquid, as he grumbles under his breath. <br> <br>Fenris tries his old standby, since none of his clever passcode ideas are working, and simply goes up to the sealed hatch and knocks politely. "Hello?" he says, "Open up!"<br> <br>Without power to the control panel in the room at the far end of the hallway, the code would have done nothing. Without the code, the control panel was useless. But both together? A pop, a hiss, and the sound of locks sliding away heralds the slow, loud creaking sound that comes with the opening of the metallic door that leads below. Clearly visible is a ladder that leads down into an entirely separate area. Fortunately, the passage is large enough to accommodate anyone who isn't significantly larger than the average human. Also fortunate is Fenris's ability to avoid being smacked by the door - tough or not, that would hurt!<br> <br>The storm dragon's ears twitch, hearing the faint sound of the door opening in the third room. "If I'm not mistaken, that door's come open. Can you get the hard drives out of these machines? We can make copies back at Zephyr. The information on them may be invaluable even if those are the only actual journal entries," Acetyl explained, thinking of experiment notes and sundry boring-yet-priceless bits of information. "I'll be right back," he said, then, unable to resist his curiosity, headed back down the hall to the other room, joining Iatro and the rest of the group.<br> <br>At the bottom of the ladder, the team will find something...truly different. Behind a bulletproof plexiglass wall is what can only be described as a tree-woman, a dryad of sorts, her 'mouth' perpetually open in a silent scream. Her arms are branches, penetrating the upper reaches of the ceiling, having pried apart cracks and worked their way upward; indeed, they're legion, pressing out in every direction away from the lab. It would seem that the door to the quarantine is still securely closed, though that does nothing to explain the presence of one final set of skeletal remains outside of the quarantine area. This skeleton is mostly dressed in a labcoat with bulging pockets, and its nametag reads "John".<br> <br>The tree woman also appears to have taken root, rather firmly; she's not going anywhere any time soon.<br> <br>Willy ws<br> <br>Astara is in awe of the woman before her, but she can't also help but feel a little saddened at the figure. "I... knew it, there had to be something with sentience down here. However... hey, uh... 'Sarah', can you hear us?" she inquires, walking towards the door and trying to find some way to get through - probably another inferal computer terminal, given their previous attempts. "I think that's your name, at least..." she mutters.<br> <br>Cerl glances around briefly, and seeing no immediate threat calls "clear" up the ladder and heads towards "John" to search the bulging labcoat pockets.<br> <br>Raika follows on down the ladder. Cerl's kinda getting to this 'John' fellow first, so she goes to take a look at the tree-woman with Astara. As Astara starts walking toward the door, Raika muses something she remembers reading -- or possibly hearing -- when she was up with Willy. "...passcode for where 'Sarah' is contained is 'Demeter'... but where does one input a passcode around here?"<br> <br>Willy reaching the bottom of the ladder, Willy sees Sarah within the room, and spies the locked door. Walking over, he looks for a pass book, and tries to type in the code from the computer. As hes doing so he stops and grimaces briefly but shakes it off, mutting something about stupid cycles under his breath before he finishes the code. Anyone looking at him would notice that his balls are looking sizably larger than they were looking not too long ago. <br> <br>Fenris knew he should have knocked sooner! The tanuki slides down the ladder expertly and wanders over to press his face against the glass. "Guess we found our screamer," he says, "Looks like she's in a bad way." He looks back at the others, mainly the Zephyr agents, since it is technically their party. "Now what?"

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← Older revision		Revision as of 05:39, 10 October 2016
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	The Storm Dragon's voice catches in his throat as he holds his breath in anxiety, watching Fenris stride toward the glowstick beneath the writhing vines. Their poised expectancy reminds him of the Xanadu Birds he'd mentioned earlier, and he tenses, waiting for the strike that would surely come if it were one of said mutants. But it isn't. And nothing happens. Acetyl heaves an audible sign of relief. Moving to stand under the place where the vines drew up, Acetyl squints upward, trying to spot them. "Well. That's a good sign. What's down there, Fenris?" He calls to the tanuki without looking, focused on staring up in the direction of the withdrawn vines for now. Iatro sneezes again. A shudder runs over its bony frame. It doesn't seem to like this place much. <br> <br>Astara is absolutely gobsmacked at Fenris' reaction, even after having been on many a mission with him. After she picks her jaw up off of the floor (figuratively, of course), she slithers on after him, laser pistol in hand now. "Does anyone happen to have electric nanomagic? Might be able to power those computers in there if we do - without turning on power to the whole joint, as well, since that might have... some bad reprocussions." She points over to the computer lab down the hallway in indication. "Otherwise, we might want to split up? Some people could go to that nursery over there and collect samples of anything interesting, and the others could go see what's going on with mystery door #3. Me, personally? I want to see what's going on behind that door." And with that, the lamia beelines for that door rather silently: without having any feet to make footsteps, her locomotion is mostly berefit of any sound.<br> <br>Cerl slings her rifle over her shoulder again to free her paws when it appears no further attacks are forthcoming. She looks through the wall into the computer room, looking for any cabinets, desks, or drawers that might need to be examined for the information her employers are seeking before cautiously trying to open that door.<br> <br>Raika gives a confused look in the general direction of the thrown glowstick when nothing touches it, but still hits the switch her finger is hovering over anyway before raising that arm toward the ceiling. She starts walking forward to follow Fenris, though doesn't stray too far from the rest of the group (or the largest group if they split, anyway) either. Her hand's still raised as she watches the ceiling, waiting for something... <br> <br>Willy watches the Tanuki almost lackadailsy walk back through the vines and sees that he's uneffected. "Hmm..." he goes, and slowly follows after. Reaching the next room, he hears the comments about powering the computers and splitting up. "I will have to look into Nanomagic myself sometime, but if someone can do the powering, I am probably at my best working in the computer room. I dunno about splitting up though...at least unless there is some sort of trust we have with the plant I do not know about..."<br> <br>Fenris shrugs and saunters up to the apparent nursery. He hooks his spear back in its holster and smiles around at the others. "Sounds like a plan," he says, though what plan he means is an utter mystery. He turns and knocks gently on the nursery door. "Tanuki coming in," he says, like a nurse at a hospital before trying the door to go inside.<br> <br>Whether or not the vine strike was an isolated incident, no additional attacks have yet occurred. Cerl will discover that the computers each have their own individual desk upon which their monitors are placed; each one appears to have been a workstation of some kind, although more information will be difficult to discern without actually entering the room due to the low-light conditions. In stark contrast, the nursery has become overgrown, with the plant life having long since surpassed the point where it should have been pruned. When Fenris knocks, he'll find that the door swings open to a very small degree; as it turns out, the door isn't locked. Considering the security this place had when it was operational, there likely wasn't much need for locks once you were inside.<br> <br>The Storm Dragon looks thoughtful for a moment. "I can generate a stable electric field, and a more powerful but brief electric surge..." But then he frowns, shaking his head. "The surge is more likely to overload the computers than do anything useful, and even if the field is strong enough to power the machines, how to direct it?" He shrugs a bit dejectedly. "For what it's worth, our, ah, host seems not to be bothered by our presence for the moment. I'm sure we'll find out the instant that changes," the Zephyr agent adds in a sardonic tone. Using his polearm like a walking stick once more, he and Iatro proceed into the next room. The nursery catches Acetyl's attention first, and he peers into it like a child looking through the front glass of a candy shop. "Now that's what I'm talking about." As Fenris tries to open the door, Acetyl moves to stand beside him, intending to join him in exploring the nursery.		The Storm Dragon's voice catches in his throat as he holds his breath in anxiety, watching Fenris stride toward the glowstick beneath the writhing vines. Their poised expectancy reminds him of the Xanadu Birds he'd mentioned earlier, and he tenses, waiting for the strike that would surely come if it were one of said mutants. But it isn't. And nothing happens. Acetyl heaves an audible sign of relief. Moving to stand under the place where the vines drew up, Acetyl squints upward, trying to spot them. "Well. That's a good sign. What's down there, Fenris?" He calls to the tanuki without looking, focused on staring up in the direction of the withdrawn vines for now. Iatro sneezes again. A shudder runs over its bony frame. It doesn't seem to like this place much. <br> <br>Astara is absolutely gobsmacked at Fenris' reaction, even after having been on many a mission with him. After she picks her jaw up off of the floor (figuratively, of course), she slithers on after him, laser pistol in hand now. "Does anyone happen to have electric nanomagic? Might be able to power those computers in there if we do - without turning on power to the whole joint, as well, since that might have... some bad reprocussions." She points over to the computer lab down the hallway in indication. "Otherwise, we might want to split up? Some people could go to that nursery over there and collect samples of anything interesting, and the others could go see what's going on with mystery door #3. Me, personally? I want to see what's going on behind that door." And with that, the lamia beelines for that door rather silently: without having any feet to make footsteps, her locomotion is mostly berefit of any sound.<br> <br>Cerl slings her rifle over her shoulder again to free her paws when it appears no further attacks are forthcoming. She looks through the wall into the computer room, looking for any cabinets, desks, or drawers that might need to be examined for the information her employers are seeking before cautiously trying to open that door.<br> <br>Raika gives a confused look in the general direction of the thrown glowstick when nothing touches it, but still hits the switch her finger is hovering over anyway before raising that arm toward the ceiling. She starts walking forward to follow Fenris, though doesn't stray too far from the rest of the group (or the largest group if they split, anyway) either. Her hand's still raised as she watches the ceiling, waiting for something... <br> <br>Willy watches the Tanuki almost lackadailsy walk back through the vines and sees that he's uneffected. "Hmm..." he goes, and slowly follows after. Reaching the next room, he hears the comments about powering the computers and splitting up. "I will have to look into Nanomagic myself sometime, but if someone can do the powering, I am probably at my best working in the computer room. I dunno about splitting up though...at least unless there is some sort of trust we have with the plant I do not know about..."<br> <br>Fenris shrugs and saunters up to the apparent nursery. He hooks his spear back in its holster and smiles around at the others. "Sounds like a plan," he says, though what plan he means is an utter mystery. He turns and knocks gently on the nursery door. "Tanuki coming in," he says, like a nurse at a hospital before trying the door to go inside.<br> <br>Whether or not the vine strike was an isolated incident, no additional attacks have yet occurred. Cerl will discover that the computers each have their own individual desk upon which their monitors are placed; each one appears to have been a workstation of some kind, although more information will be difficult to discern without actually entering the room due to the low-light conditions. In stark contrast, the nursery has become overgrown, with the plant life having long since surpassed the point where it should have been pruned. When Fenris knocks, he'll find that the door swings open to a very small degree; as it turns out, the door isn't locked. Considering the security this place had when it was operational, there likely wasn't much need for locks once you were inside.<br> <br>The Storm Dragon looks thoughtful for a moment. "I can generate a stable electric field, and a more powerful but brief electric surge..." But then he frowns, shaking his head. "The surge is more likely to overload the computers than do anything useful, and even if the field is strong enough to power the machines, how to direct it?" He shrugs a bit dejectedly. "For what it's worth, our, ah, host seems not to be bothered by our presence for the moment. I'm sure we'll find out the instant that changes," the Zephyr agent adds in a sardonic tone. Using his polearm like a walking stick once more, he and Iatro proceed into the next room. The nursery catches Acetyl's attention first, and he peers into it like a child looking through the front glass of a candy shop. "Now that's what I'm talking about." As Fenris tries to open the door, Acetyl moves to stand beside him, intending to join him in exploring the nursery.

	Following Fenris in, Acetyl goggles openly at the plant life. "No light. No water. Yet they're thriving. They've eaten the whole damn room." His tone is almost that of a proud father discussing the accomplishments of a child. Quickly he moves to the nearest specimen, examining it closely but with great caution. He slings off his backpack and begins to dig through it, removing a pair of gloves, which he pulls on, and a sample-taking kit full of vials, tweezers, and similar tools. Although excited, the Storm Dragon forces himself to take his time and be both careful and thorough. He must collect these samples, as many as he can get. He needs some for his own research, and his superiors at Zephyr will want their own as well. But he can't afford to contaminate them, or carelessly come into any more contact with the plants than necessary. Acetyl is all too aware of being surrounded by a familiar-seeming yet unknown thing.<br> <br>Astara moves right up to the mystery door, looking it up and down as she stands there. Not seeing anything distinguishable on the unremarkable metal door, she remarks "Well, here goes nothing..." and sticks her hand out to grab hold of the door handle, seeing if it'll budge one way or another... with her primary hand still on the pistol. Just in case.<br> <br>Cerl pushes open the door to the computer room and starts looking through the workstations, seeking any notes or other official documents regarding the workings of this lab, it's environs, or details into what research projects were being undertaken.		Following Fenris in, Acetyl goggles openly at the plant life. "No light. No water. Yet they're thriving. They've eaten the whole damn room." His tone is almost that of a proud father discussing the accomplishments of a child. Quickly he moves to the nearest specimen, examining it closely but with great caution. He slings off his backpack and begins to dig through it, removing a pair of gloves, which he pulls on, and a sample-taking kit full of vials, tweezers, and similar tools. Although excited, the Storm Dragon forces himself to take his time and be both careful and thorough. He must collect these samples, as many as he can get. He needs some for his own research, and his superiors at Zephyr will want their own as well. But he can't afford to contaminate them, or carelessly come into any more contact with the plants than necessary. Acetyl is all too aware of being surrounded by a familiar-seeming yet unknown thing.<br> <br>Astara moves right up to the mystery door, looking it up and down as she stands there. Not seeing anything distinguishable on the unremarkable metal door, she remarks "Well, here goes nothing..." and sticks her hand out to grab hold of the door handle, seeing if it'll budge one way or another... with her primary hand still on the pistol. Just in case.<br> <br>Cerl pushes open the door to the computer room and starts looking through the workstations, seeking any notes or other official documents regarding the workings of this lab, it's environs, or details into what research projects were being undertaken.<br> <br>Raika ends up going with Astara now that the groups have split because in retrospect evenly sized groups is probably the safest, and, well. Buddy system, right? She does lower her arm, though it's not quite hanging casually at her side either. Following after Astara, she lets the lamia open the door, though she's still resting her halberd against her shoulder and has one hand free for something...<br> <br>Willy shrugs and sighs as they start splitting up anyway, and follows his groupmate into the computer room. Looking about, he tries to find if there is some sort of power switch or generator in the room, or possibly a memory stick or hard drive that may be easy to pick up in the off chance of having useful data for later.<br> <br>Fenris is not nearly so cautious as his companions and wanders happily around the room full of plants that could be any combination of poisonous, sentient, ambulatory and carnivorous. "What was it that the Z wanted?" he asks as he wanders the room, peering at the various plants, "All I remember was someone asking for catnip." The tubby tanuki meanders around the room, eyes out for anything of particular interest. Books, seeds, fruit, prepackaged snack foods. That sort of thing.<br> <br>Willy and Cerl will soon discover the same thing as Fenris and Acetyl: bodies. Corpses, to be exact. There are several corpses on the floor in the nursery, and only two in the computer center; one of the ones in the computer center is sitting at a far desk not visible from the hallway, and one of them is sprawled out on the floor, arms outstretched as if reaching for the door. The corpses in the nursery are laid out in assorted states of disarray, with the foliage having grown through some of the skeletons. And all of them truly are skeletal; even a casual observer can tell that they've been dead for some time. Acetyl will discover an assortment of different plant types present in the nursery, some likely medicinal in purpose, some merely interesting for an assortment of scientific purposes. Willy, on the other hand, will soon realize that these computers are equipped to operate with an unusual power source in case of emergency: does anyone have a mako battery handy? As for Astara and Raika, they'll find a small room bereft of anything but a heavy metal door set into the /floor/, of all things, and a computerized panel (with, of course, no power). The room is otherwise featureless, clearly set up as an access point.<br> <br>"Whatever we can get our hands on, to tell the truth. But mostly, information about what was being worked on here, and if at all possible, samples of the work itself. And what the work has become since being abandoned." Acetyl lifts a specimen vial with a snip of newly-collected plant in it and waggles the vial significantly before capping it and replacing it in its container. "They're getting the information right now," Acetyl says, meaning Cerl and Willy. "We're in specimen ground zero." Something in Acetyl's tone is almost smug, although it's probably a more general sense of satisfaction. For its part, Iatro joins Fenris in wandering the room, seeming a bit more cheerful now. Its weird tail wags idly as it follows the tanuki, sniffing at everything at its head level. Appropriately enough for a being that appears to be made out of bones and random medical paraphernalia, Iatro doesn't seem perturbed by the bodies, merely snuffling over them the same way it does the plants. For his part, Acetyl spends extra time examining the plants growing out of the bodies. "Well, this explains a lot. Gruesome, but effective." Again, that weirdly proud tone comes through in the draconic mutant's voice. "Lots of water and nutrients in a human body. Nanites must be providing the actual metabolic energy, in the absence of sunlight. Unless..." Murmuring ideas and speculations to himself, Acetyl works the room. "What was that about catnip?" Frowning to himself, Acetyl looks around for anything that might answer to that description, though not expecting to find it in this menagerie of exotics.<br> <br>Astara peers inside and lets out a sigh of relief that Raika and herself didn't have to fight off any angry vines, or who-knows-what. Untensing, she looks to Raika and nods, then goes into the room, looking down at the door inquisitively. She trepidly stands over it... not that it'll budge, likely, and with that revelation she moves to the computer display, wiping the dust off of it and squinting. "Hmm... I don't think we're going to be able to get past here without finding a power source. This door REALLY doesn't seem to be the type that we're going to be able to brute-force our way through."<br> <br>Cerl ignores the dead computers, she has little training with such devices and no way to power them anyway. Cerl looks the skeletons over to see if there is anything of interest on the floor or surfaces near them, then goes back to searching through workstation drawers and desktops for any documentation or other clues to the workings of the lab.<br> <br>Raika follows closely after Astara, glancing around the room in case it's trapped or something. Once over at the computer display, she too squints at it, looking around it to see if it's connected to (or once was connected to) some source they can track (and where that connection leads to if anywhere), if it has some sort of backup power (and what form that would be in), and so on. Anything to find out what sort of powering they'd need.<br> <br>Willy goes "ech" he says as he looks at the corpses. "I'm hoping that the reason they are there has to do with P-Day and not after..." he says, before inspecting the computers some more. "oh whats this?" he says, as he sees the output point for a Mako Battery and realizes what could work. "Well thats interesting..." he says, and digs into his backpack. Fishing out one of his Mako batteries, he cleans up the output point and locks it into place, before looking for the power point to turn it on. <br> <br>Fenris gently prods a skeleton or two with a furry foot. "Plant food," he says thoughtfully, "I guess there are worse ways to end up." He thinks again, "Unless the plant ate them alive. That sounds kind of horrible." The burly tanuki turns slowly in place, a little bored now that it is science time. He reaches into a pouch and produces a crinkling bag of off brand sandwich cookies and tears them open with his chubby paws. "Cookie?" he offers Acetyl's little golem thing.<br> <br>The computerized readout display in the room at the far end of the hallway is on a podium, nice and easy to read. Or at least it would be, if it was actually saying anything; it has no power, though it does look like it has connections for that purpose. As Astara has indicated, the door set into the floor looks very heavy and difficult to move without a great deal of force. Acetyl will find that there is a small (compared to the excess of other plants) source of catnip among the vegetation in the nursery. He'll also notice a vine snaking its way up his right leg - not constricting, but definitely moving. Cerl will discover that each skeleton has a nametag - the one on the floor was David, the one at the desk was Dana - and will have a much easier time doing so because of Willy's booting up of one of the computer systems! Windows 7 begins to boot up on the machine, which merrily hums to life now that it has a (temporary) power source. The battery's readout? 95%. Apparently, this thing doesn't leech /too/ much power.

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