trespassers [IC] ALTEREDNU

[Powder Miner]

Although calm during the period of the elevator's normal descent (or, at least, calm by the standards of how he was acting right now), but once the elevator's descent turned uncontrolled he let out a sound that transferred from a yelp to a very hearty "MOTHERFUCKER!" With a violent crash, the elevator finally reached the end of its journey -- and was followed with a clang clang clang as Nader stumbled into an elevator wall in his attempts to stay on his feet. "Fuck!" Finally, Nader stumbled backwards and managed to stay on his feet despite his heavy armor, and swept the machine gun around the elevator (miraculously not blowing holes in the walls). Finally, he lowered his gun and seemed to calm down a little. "Bastards. They've acted to make this a one-way trip, so whatever is down here is almost certainly dangerous. Keep on your guard, space alien." And he began to move out the door, intent on exploring this place no matter what.

 

Nader exits the elevator, guns raised!

[StormLord]

Ignia shakes her head, why is it always people dabbling in the powers of the Heart?  Why can't they just leave it alone?
She pulls out a notebook like Frigus' and scribbles down notes on the blueprints, workbench, etc.

Then she wanders over to take a look at the strange machine with Lucine.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Proditor

 

In contrast to Nader's reaction, Proditor barely flinched when the elevator began rapidly descending, the only sign that he reacted being the slight opening of his helmet. At first, the alien attempted to at least slow the elevator down with his psionics, mostly to ensure the inevitable crash wouldn't be as hard on the both of them. When it was clear that he was unable to slow the descent in any meaningful way however, he instead changed his approach... Swiftly phasing out of existence as he harmlessly latched onto Nader's mind, only to reform shortly after the elevator finally made its stop.

 

Once more, Proditor remained calm despite the situation, noting the fact that Nader had turned his gun on him for a brief moment before moving it on, but choosing to ignore it. Seeing as how they were now cut off and in a potentially hostile area, that seemed to be the better idea than bringing attention to it. Regardless, Proditor left the elevator shortly after Nader, expanding his senses in order to get a better understanding of the area around them. He knew that there were lifeforms down here, but sensing something miles away was different from sensing things nearby. 

[Hal Henderics]

-Snowdin Outskirts

 

As Rachel opens the box, she notes the presence of a pink leather glove in it.

 

"A worn pink leather glove. For five fingered folk." Arminius hears from nowhere.

 

Toriel hums uncertainly.  "It has been many years, but I believe the righthand path would be best."

 

The child walks a very short distance to the left, and it becomes obvious why the right fork is better, as the left one dead-ends at an ice cold river.

 

On the bank of the river, a fishing pole is stuck in the snow, line out in the water.  The child reels it in, pulling up a photograph of a weird-looking monster.  They read the writing on the back of the photo;

 

"Call me!  Here's my number!" it reads.

 

The child raises an eyebrow, before tossing the line back into the water.

 

Toriel's look of disdain is obvious as she narrows her eyes.  "As I said, I believe the right-hand path would be best."

 

-The Lab

 

Lucine and Ignis find that the machine is leaking a cold pink slime... It smells like kelp.

 

Jun finds that there are no phones laying around... Although, with all the junk here, there might be enough parts to construct one, to be honest.

 

-True Lab

 

Exiting the Elevator, Prodditor and Nader find themselves in a long hallway.  Panels in the walls seem to house computer screens that light up as they approach.

 

Quote

ENTRY NUMBER 1

• This is it... Time to do what the King has asked me to do.
• I will create the power to free us all.
• I will unleash the power of the SOUL.

 

Quote

ENTRY NUMBER 2

• The barrier is locked by SOUL power..
• Unfortunately, this power cannot be recreated artificially.
• SOUL power can only be derived from what was once living.
• So, to create more, we will have to use what we have now...
• The SOULs of monsters.

 

Quote

ENTRY NUMBER 3

• But extracting a SOUL from a living monster would require incredible power...
• Besides being impractical, doing so would instantly destroy the SOUL's host.
• And, unlike the persistent SOULs of humans... The SOULs of most monsters disappear immediately upon death.
• If only I could make a monster's SOUL last...

Quote

ENTRY NUMBER 5

• I've done it.
• Using the blueprints, I've extracted it from the human SOULs.
• I believe this is what gives their SOULs the strength to persist after death.
• The will to keep living... The resolve to change fate.
• Let's call this power...
• "Determination."

 

The hall bends to the left, leading into a larger room.  The sound of electric humming from faulty wiring is especially loud here, and the lights waver from time to time.  The only things fully functional seem to be the more advanced pieces of technology.

[kj1225]

Arminius nods, beginning to head down the right hand path. After a second he pauses.

"Hey kid, was there anything over the river?"

[DragonRage]

Sister Rachel examines the glove carefully, before following the group down the right-hand path.

[Hal Henderics]

-Snowdin Outskirts

 

Walking forward not ten meters, the group crosses around a bend in the road, encountering Sans and Papyrus standing in the middle of the path.

 

 

He says, pausing for a moment as he notices the group.

 

His eyes narrow as he scrutinizes everyone.

 

He turns to Sans, who is now looking at the group.

He turns back to the group, as Sans turns to look at Papyrus.

He turns back to look at sans, Who is now looking at the group...

 

Both of the skeletons are now shaking their heads frantically as they look between the group and each other at high speeds, dizzily spinning out of control.

 

As they slow to a stop, Papyrus grabs his brother's shoulder and turns him away from the group, speaking in a loud sotto voice.

 

 

Papyrus throws a hand to his chest.

 

 

Seemingly noticing that the party is there, he clears his throat.

 

 

He laughs maniacally as he dashes away, throwing up a cloud of snow behind him.

 

 

Sans says, smiling vacantly as his brother disappears into the distance.

 

 

He turns and walks away after Papyrus.

[Chevaleresse]

"This place is smelly and weird," Lucine declared abruptly. She'd expected some mad science lab in a different universe to be more interesting, but instead it just looked like the rooms of the younger mages in the Yggdmillenia castle. "I don't even remember what we're doing around here." She wanders over to the workbench, messing with the magical tools around. She's magic too, after all. "I'm bored," she adds to her now-trio of announcements.

[Yours Truly]

Jun begins to gather parts from around the lab to assemble a makeshift phone of sorts with, there didn't seem to be all that much to do here by this point anyway, other than wait for whoever was running this lab to return.

[DragonRage]

"That was... surreal," Sister Rachel tilts her head to one side, perplexed, "Perhaps we should follow him to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone... or himself, in his misplaced zeal."

[kj1225]

Arminius nods. "Well... I'm sure he has good intentions." Arminius looks around for a moment before shrugging and following after the skeleton.

[StormLord]

Ignia wrinkled her nose at the smell, kelp wasn't the most pleasant thing around.  She took a few steps back and then walked behind Lucine at the workbench.

"Once you finish up there we should catch up with the others."
After that she headed back down stairs and pressed the elevator button to call it back up.

[Powder Miner]

The moment that Nader stepped out of the elevator and into the hallway, eyes darted around wildly behind his mask, taking every detail in. What wouldn't be visible in normal circumstances was potentially something Proditor could sense -- he went over every single message, once, twice, thrice, and then darted between them, pacing up and down the hallway as he did. "Human SOULs... human SOULs... human SOULs... I knew it all along, it makes sense doesn't it? You have to make it out from what they have with humans and they didn't look very hard because of course they didn't, they had a score to settle, so it makes sense that that's how they get... out..." Nader trailed off, looking back up and down the messages again. "Deityhood... but... that's the goal, isn't it? A... a metaphysical barrier, I think, that must be what "free" means and what "barrier" means..." He looked back over them again. "And that's how... but if they had to..."

 

He paused for a moment, his thoughts in pitched battle with each other, standing shockingly still, before he turned to Proditor and began to explain in a halting mess of words. "They had the human SOULs, but they didn't work, but then not using them didn't work -- and they're still hunting for us-- so that means-- they had just the one. SOUL. Not SOULs. They just had the one. But the coffins... multiple. So... they failed to ascend with the first SOUL, and then they tried making some, and that failed, and then they must have gathered more." He paused and paced up and down the hallway another time, observing the messages again. "...We don't have messages for that -- they succeeded. They killed people, got multiple SOULs at once, and managed to ascend using that. We're looking at what's left -- the messages we're seeing don't include that because they left this-- this existence entirely and went into a higher one, where they can no longer directly affect things down here. Then they set the grand machine up as a puzzle." Did that include this place? It must. Of course it must. "We're being shown this... I think he thinks that we're his chance to once again be able to affect things down here, that's why they've been talking to me, and why they drew me down here. His brother... still here? Left with him, maybe. Both of them? They must have put this plan together a long time ago. Prescience...?"

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Proditor

 

"Perhaps the solution to all this is simpler than dietyhood" Proditor commented, staring at the entry panels as he himself thought about the puzzle presented to them, "The barrier they're referring to may be metaphysical. But I believe we've already encountered this barrier. Earlier, before we entered this mountain, something prevented me from retrieving any data from my psionics when I sent it in, something that trapped it inside. Both at the pit, and then the door" he added, recalling his experience from those times, as well as the short tale that they were told going through that empty house.

 

Specifically, the tale of Asriel on the human child. That held the key.

 

"... I was unable to catch most of the story, but I recall that one of the monsters, Asriel, used a human SOUL to pass through the barrier. It can be traveled through with one, but their goal is to free them all... Dietyhood might be their goal, but I believe that plan is to gather enough SOUL energy in order to overload this barrier, breaking it and allowing everything inside to leave. Even if it isn't, there may be more information hidden down here" Proditor explained, turning away from the panel and to the hallway, and then back to Nader, taking special notice of how Nader said that something was 'talking to him', "Nader. Whatever it is that's trying to speak through you... Would you allow me to attempt to contact them myself?"

[Hal Henderics]

-Snowdin Road

 

Walking forward, the group notice a sign attached to a shoddily crafted building made of cardboard and marker.  A sign is hung on the front, which reads:

 

 

Suddenly, the air dims, and everyone is dragged into a FIGHT, as a strange, icicle-like bird leaps out of the bushes!

 

 

Your party has the first move.

 

Status

Spoiler

Rachel: Healthy

Arminius: Healthy

Child: Healthy

Toriel: Healthy

 

-

 

Snowdrake: Healthy

 

 

-The Lab

Lucine notices the table vibrate as she messes with the magical tools, rattling a bit as she stands in front of the table.

 

Ignis notices, as she opens the door, that the elevator is simply gone, with nothing but a shaft leading down into the dark depths to greet him.

There is no cable, and it seems the elevator wasn't meant to be called back from the top once it's been sent down...

(78, 12, 15)

 

Jun manages to create a crude phone by hacking together parts in the room.

[DragonRage]

Sister Rachel looks at her blessed flamer, then at her melta pistols, and then at the bird made of ice.  "I really don't think you want to try to fight us," She informs the creature, "It is not going to go well for you."

[Powder Miner]

Nader stared at Proditor for a long moment, oddly unwilling to actually accept and take in most of his explanation - it was the deityhood, he knew because of the way that they'd talked and the god being in and out of everywhere in space and time -- ascension, in perhaps its sense of omniscience. When he finally did speak, it was short and perhaps disappointing, although it was prefaced by a hesitance, mask upturned towards Proditor as the man searched for something unknowable (and likely he didn't even know what he was looking for). "...I believe that I would mind." He paused, and then almost as an afterthought: "We wouldn't want you to be swept into the conspiracies that they've set up... I am very experienced with these things and know I can handle them." With that, Nader turned and moved further down the hallway, seeking whatever other bits of information this place had to offer.

[Hal Henderics]

-True Lab

 

Nader comes to a central room.  There are paths leading to the right and left, and a door with four colored spheres embedded in it.

 

There is a vending machine on one side of the door, and another computer screen on the other.

 

It lights up, simply reading "POWER ROOM"

 

The door seems to be locked.

[StormLord]

Ignia peers into the elevator shaft, noticing plenty of cudgeled tubes and wires, but no actual elevator cables or even escape ladder for that matter.  She sighed and pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose.  She glances back at Jun.

"Looks like the elevator was built like the rest of this place and fall apart on the way down.  It looks like most of the lift made it in one piece so hopefully the other two aren't hurt.  Once you two are done I think I've got a way to get us down there."

[kj1225]

Arminius clears his throat. "What she means to say is, could we maybe not do this? We have important business to attend to."

[Chevaleresse]

Lucine continues to fiddle with the tools, seeing if the vibration has any meaning, and how they react to an infusion of magic.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Proditor

 

"Very well" Proditor replied, watching Nader move on, a tad disappointed but unsurprised by the man's response. He let it go for now, floating after Nader as they delved further into the underground lab. At least until they hit a locked door and new pathways.  Doubtful as he was, Proditor attempted to use his psionics to open the door himself, expanding his mind into it to fiddle with its locking mechanism.

[Hal Henderics]

-Snowdin Road

 

(14, 5) (21)

 

"'S-snow' problem" they stutter, before running away.

 

 

Toriel sneers towards where the monster escaped to.

 

"What a haggard-looking child.  They will likely tell other of this, so be cautious."

 

Moving forward, you encounter another Sentry Station, this one proudly displaying a wooden carving of a dog on the top of it.

 

Next to it, a sign reads:

 

 

-The Lab

 

(2, 14) (60) Lucine's fiddling with the tools seems to have no meaningful effect on the vibration, in fact, it seems almost random, or perhaps, based on her proximity to the table?

 

-True Lab

 

(5, 13) (89)

 

Prodditor's fiddling with the door fails to open it.  A small power surge from his fiddling with the electronic makes the vending machine nearby dispense a bag of...

 

"Popato Chisps"

[Chevaleresse]

Lucine, irritated, sits on the table.

[Hal Henderics]

-The Lab

 

(1, 6) (67)

Lucine sits on the table, and the racket continues, before stopping all too quickly.  Seriously, what the hell was shaking this table?