The Grimoire of ElfTech571 
Tuesday, November 29th, 2005 2:19amI am working the magick required to link my own mind to this Grimoire. Everyelf is terrified about what's going on around here; noelf will even talk to me, but I'm going to go exploring as soon as it's fully dark. Someelf has to get to the bottom of all this.
The following Grimoire entry has apparently been recorded by way of a form of Elven Magick that allows the writer to record thoughts as writing from a distance. It may indeed be magick, but is far more likely a very advanced technological tool designed for this express purpose. For this reason this device has been preserved for further study.The yetis are on the loose, they're pissed, and they're dangerous.
They're also all over the place. Not all the elven magick in the world can stop these guys; it's why I hate them so much. Smart, strong, fast as hell too.
It was the same thing as last time, except thankfully there was no moon at all. No wind, either, and that's helped quite a bit. One thing the yetis aren't, and that's silent. They make a terrific amount of noise getting around; all snuffling breath and scraping claws. Talk about a bunch of knuckle-draggers; that's surely these boys...although they have one trick they do real well, and it's the most dangerous one.
They're patient.
They'll sit down somewhere, hardly moving, hardly breathing. You don't notice them. And then...WHAM. It doesn't help that we have half a dozen different toys around here that look just like the darned things...
I'm rambling. Well, of course I am. I just got scared out of my mind.
I started out by heading toward the CARPA lab. I mean, it just makes sense. That's where we built the first Hard Suit for Himself anyway.
I had gone down the hall from my room, and turned the corner by the break room. The lift to the production floor is at the end of that hall, and I'd gone down the adjacent stairwell because at night when the machinery's off you can hear the lift. For whatever reason, the night lights in the stairwell were off. It was as dark as the inside of my head. I didn't hear anything; I stood there in the darkness, listening for what felt like five minutes, before I even moved.
Quietly, stair by stair, I went down. Fortunately, it's only one flight down to the production floor. Then I was out the door, breathing a sigh of relief, letting it close silently behind me.
And all of a sudden, for no reason I could fathom, I felt the hair go up on the back of my neck. I was looking around the room as fast as I could, but I saw nothing...nothing at all.
I decided the best thing I could do was move quickly, so that I did, hugging the workbenches, milking every bit of cover I could get out of each and every shadow.
Keep in mind, though, that there's at least a hundred yards of workshop between the dormitory door and the basement lift.
I'd covered about twenty-five yards before I knew I was in trouble. I'd turned around to get my bearings, and to my absolute horror, saw a yeti swing down from the fluorescent fixture on the ceiling right above the stairwell door.
That thing had been hiding directly above me as I came out the door! It landed awkwardly on the floor, claws scraping on the asphalt tiles.
I ducked back deeper into the shadows, and, on impulse, moved about twenty feet to the right. The yeti I'd seen swing down from the light had recovered, and looked around the room, its eyes glowing red in the dark. It whistled softly, an eerie sound that made my skin creep.
And then there came an answering whistle from the end of the aisle to my left. I turned my head slowly that way, and saw a pair of red, glowing eyes floating there in the dark.
It was all I could do not to lose it on the spot. I willed myself to be invisible. No such luck, of course; we're not that powerful in magick. So instead, I froze. None of us moved for several minutes. Then, the yeti at the end of the aisle started coming toward me. Obviously, trying to flush me out.
(That's one thing about the yetis...those glowing red eyes of theirs are terrible to see out of in a dark shop. My eyes, on the other hand, do not glow unless I want them to, so in this I have a natural advantage -- in a dark environment, the yetis are all but blind; they can only see things that are moving quickly).
The yeti to my left went straight for the spot where I'd been standing only a moment before. When it didn't find warm Elf meat there, it whistled again...that mournful sound that gives me the creeps to hear it. This time, though, I heard a chorus of answering whistles, coming from places all over the workshop. The yeti near the stairwell door loped over and joined the one standing near me; the two of them swept their baleful red eyes around the surrounding territory, trying to see me if I moved again.
I stood there in the shadows, frozen. My heart sank. A hundred yards of yeti-infested workshop. Lovely.
A gauntlet.
Well, okay, kids, if that's the way you want it...Ever so slowly, I slipped around the corner of the cabinet I was standing against, while the two yetis were standing there scratching their heads and trying to figure out how I'd disappeared. Good thing they're not
that smart.
Quietly, I climbed the shelves of the cabinet, peeking carefully in all directions before emerging onto the cabinet top. This was a big one, some twenty feet tall, towering over the shop. And the great thing about that cabinet was, it had a neighbor about six feet away, as did that cabinet, and it's next neighbor. In fact, I realized...these tall cabinets ran in pairs the length of the entire production floor...all the way to the lift at the far end of the room.
I have only one thing to say: When faced with incredible odds, and an invincible enemy, you have only two recourses: cheat, or run. I opted for both.
A running jump, and then I was leaping from cabinet top to cabinet top. A chorus of whistles assailed me; I was up where they could see me, but I was moving too fast for them to catch. That wouldn't help much at the end of the room, but I still had a way to go before that...
Halfway there, I became aware that one enterprising yeti had picked up on my trick, and was loping along about a cabinet behind. With those long legs of theirs, he was gaining on me pretty quickly. I cheated left, and jumped into the top of a tall Christmas tree someone had placed in the middle of the aisle between the cabinets. The tree bent, startling the crap out of a yeti who'd been climbing the tree in an effort to cut me off. With a frightened squeak, it, let go of the tree and fell, vanishing into the lower branches.
The tree bent over under my weight, until it was within reach of the next cabinet top...and then I let it spring back.
The yeti which had been gaining on me took the thing square in the face; there was a dull thud as the treetop smacked it back, out of sight, and then a crash as it landed in a pile of tools and picture frames below.
I didn't stick around to admire my work.
I made it to the end of the row, jumped down to a table, and headed for the lift at full speed. Then I was there, at the door, banging on the button.
Come on, you fracking thing! I turned around, in time to see a crowd of yetis come surging around both ends of the long work row.
They started edging forward. There was, of course, nowhere for me to run. And Translocation requires a calm, focused mind in order to work properly...needless to say, that wouldn't be happening here. The yetis looked pleased, obviously enjoying the fact they had me trapped.
Then the elevator dinged, the doors slid open, and I jumped inside. Thumbed CLOSE DOORS.
Nothing happened.
The whistling outside became a sustained and cheerful hooting. Oh dear Santa, I'm trapped in the fracking lift...
I'm thumbing CLOSE DOORS over and over, and now the yetis are surging across the empty space...the last few yards...and then the lift doors start to slide closed. The doors are barely two inches open when a long, hairy arm thrust itself within the elevator, trying to grab me. Without thinking, I sank my own teeth into the arm. There was a roar of pain and fury from the owner of the arm, which was swiftly withdrawn.
The doors bumped shut, and the lift began to drop. I was safe.
For the moment.
The doors scraped open again, onto a dark and empty hallway. The only light came from the ceiling light in the elevator itself. I was half tempted to just stay there, but then, from far above, came the screech of tearing metal.
And then the lift car was bobbing violently up and down as bodies landed on top of it...and then came the scraping sound of claws on the roof of the cab. Seeking. Trying to find a way in. I charged out of the car, into the hallway. And then I had an idea.
Get in. All the way in.
The door to the CARPA lab was open. Shock of the Nineties, by the grace of the Gods, open. Both ends of the lab. The door I could not open before.
From somewhere behind me, there came the roar of many pissed-off yetis landing in the lift car. I didn't waste any time; didn't stop to look at the armor, the weapons, the diagrams hanging on the walls...frack, all the answers I wanted to find...they're all here, all of them. But there's no time to stop and look, no time to analyze.
No time for anything but my little sixty-four-thousand-dollar idea.
There was a faint, blue glow ahead of me which was becoming stronger with every step I took toward it...
Then I was through the lab and out into the inner racetrack corridor, heading for the source of the light. I saw it then, through the windows that line the inner walls of the corridor.
The windows looked out over a thirty-yard-wide sphere, which was smoothly mirrored and completely filled with a blue, glowing light. It was a lot like looking at a miniature, blue sun...and is apparently what powers this whole place. Control cables and wires and sensors littered the mirrored surface,...all snaking away toward one point...
I'd always wondered how they keep the lights on here...I followed the cable runs toward the end of the oval hallway, which ended abruptly at a control room. My tiny little idea suddenly went from seed to full bloom, and it came to me that I was seeing this forbidden place for the first and last time.
Kids, next time, if you wanna play, better pick on someone your own size!I turned to the door beside me, touched a control. The door slid shut with gratifying speed and a hollow boom. I touched another control, and there was a snick of lock bolts. Through the control room windows, I could see the yetis emerge through the door to the inner corridor I'd just come through; they milled around, looking at the light, and then they loped down the passageway, up to the door of the control room.
Glowing red eyes, glowering in at me.
Okay, kids, this ain't gonna be magick. But it will be quick. Although...there's something I can do here that way, if this is how it's gotta be...
elm nayech sod, may tayeh varr, elm nuchno...show me the way, show my hands the way, show my soul the way after...
My hands float over the controls. I know exactly what to do.
The light outside brightens, the dull flickering becomes an angry, lashing blue light. The dials and indicator screens on the various control boards slowly begin changing color, turning from green to yellow, to red. The sleepy humming sound I heard when I entered the room has risen to a dull rumble.
Somewhere in the distance, an alarm goes off. I couldn't care less. There's a blinding flash from outside, and the room rocks slightly when the windows to the corridor blow out as a wave of energy strikes them. The corridor, and everything in it, becomes a raging inferno.
Several indicators on the panel are now blinking red. The rumble in the walls has risen to a low, electrical moan. If I do nothing, then there's nothing left to do, except my last spell...
I look at the yetis, close my eyes, and smile.
Calm. Relaxed. And now...focus...The whole world turns white, a brighter light than I can imagine...
And in the end, on dreams we will depend...'cause that's what love is made of...
At this point, the journal entry ends. The explosion in the power room appears to have vaporized everything and everyone in the vicinity. The security cameras in the power room record that ElfTech 571 apparently triggered a reactor overload which ruptured its containment field, causing a catastrophic explosion and fire. No trace of ElfTech 571 has been found.We regret to inform you that the journal of ElfTech571 has been sealed due to a security compromise. Please do not attempt to contact him through this address any further. Thank you for your cooperation.
-S CORP
"Making Christmas..."
