Eternal Cymophane Heading back up the ladder to discuss with the others.
Almost absently, Cymophane called back to Taenite, “I’m good!”
Most of his attention was focused on the platform. He could make it if he swung over. Probably. Cymophane might not look particularly athletic, but he felt good about his chances all the same. He was magical, after all! That helped!
But the rest of his team was still up on the elevator. Cymophane didn’t want to proceed any further without them. Going alone surely wasn’t the best idea, especially in a place like this, where they knew so little about anything. They were in the Rift, and he was a Senshi. It wasn’t the most friendly place to his kind. Besides, he was supposed to be leading. He couldn’t exactly do that if they got separated.
So, despite his eagerness to continue on, Cymophane climbed back up the ladder. The platform wasn’t going anywhere. He would come back to it.
“Yeah, ladder’s pretty stable,” he agreed with Taenite as soon as he was back with the others. “Think you can squeeze down?”
Cymophane didn’t get off the ladder yet. He glanced around to see if anyone had found anything of interest, but without a closer look, nothing immediately jumped out at him.
“If we can’t get this thing running, we should be able to make it down on the ladder,” he announced to everyone. “The platform’s not far. It’s a bit of a jump, but nothing we can’t handle. Benitoite!” he called to the General in charge of the other team. “If you and your team want to see if you can get this thing running again, I can take mine ahead. Unless you think we should all stick together.”
Triplite only admitted to herself that she had grown a bit impatient since their group had gone last, but eventually they made it and were finally on their way down. She had given a "what" look at the General in the tube. It seemed that the General and that cat knew more than they were letting on.
That peeved her a little. Of course superiors had secrets that they couldn't let others know about, but what about this place had to be kept a secret?! Ugh it sucked that she was a basic! At least if she was a Super she might be able to ask the darn question out loud!
Instead she huffed and moved to one of the sides of the elevator. There were already plenty of volunteers and someone had gone up the ladder as well.
The thing that caught her ear though as the console beeped Kosmochlor's name and asked if they wanted to open the emergency hatch. "Emergency hatch? We might wait until everyone is out from under there. Then if we can't move the chains then we could use that..." She trailed off, her voice becoming quieter as she realized that perhaps they should see if the emergency hatch was on the floor of the elevator and how big it may have been.
She started to look around to see if there were any signs of a hatch in the floor, though with the dim light it was hard to tell. But they needed to make sure that it was small enough to get them all out, but not enough to where if it opened anyone standing even close to the middle would fall out. Perhaps it wasn't that great of a concern, but with an unpredictable place like this? Might as well check!
daekie
Slightly talked to lol
Strickenized
wasn't an option but she is investigating the floor of the elevator, at least from a standing position.
Captain Kosmochlor, Team Pipevine Investigating the panel on the elevator; asking Benitoite/Cymophane for permission to hit buttons. (4 + 2 = 6) Now this was a find. It was impossible this had been installed too recently -- and even if it had, Kosmochlor had been in Seattle for a few years, so there wasn't much of a way it could know who she was... unless it was reading her starseed. Maybe. It was a baseless hypothesis, but it seemed like as valid of one as any! "Hey? Team bosses? This interface is giving me permission to engage the emergency hatch; am I good to go on that?"
Really, she just wanted one of them to sign off on it so in the edge case that it ended up getting someone hurt it totally wasn't officially her fault, but it made her look respectful, and that was always a nice bonus! And she said as much to Psiomelane, too. "Probably! Not yet, though, since if I start hitting buttons and people die, it looks kind of bad on my part? So as long as one commanding officer says everything's good, then we're good to go." She grinned, bright-eyed. "I think this might be reading starseeds? It knows me, and outside of maybe Metallia and Laurelite, I don't really think there's any proper database -- can't be reading fingerprints, it's not as if we register those with alter egos -- sorry, I'm babbling!"
Kosmochlor did not look particularly sorry, but she reined herself in, nonetheless.
She looked back down at the panel, trying to see if she recognized anything about the UI, or the way the panel was connected to the rest of the platform, or how it had recognized her by touch. Since all the most advanced tech in the Negaverse was Mautech... maybe this was too? And if it was, maybe it'd share some small similarities; even if this was one isolated console, doubtlessly there were more around, controlling other, more complicated things. Any knowledge she could hit the ground running with was an advantage.
Strickenized
talking to psio, taking a closer look at the panel before she hits any buttons! adding Tech bonus since she's been trying to get herself familiar with mautech & negatech for a while -- if it's not applicable here & should be recon, disregard the +2!
Tugging at the chains he found them to be unwilling to budge, unwilling to break under his strength. Taking a breath, not at all happy with this, Benitoite looked up to where he heard Cymophane was speaking. "Rigel says there are symbols down here, I think it best we investigate those as they may be useful. If not here, and now, than perhaps in the grand scheme of things." They might help to figure out things, to piece together what this place was and who had a hand in this place, and it's creation or running.
"If you think it safe enough than your team can move ahead while we take a look at this." Hoping that Rigel would be able to show him where these symbols were, they were worth looking into in his opinion. That in mind he started moving about on the chains, headed towards an anchor.
"Once you get to the location send someone back if you need help. We'll forgo this investigation to help then." Otherwise he did want to look into this.
"Witherite, if anything comes up while we're investigating I want you to handle it, and keep me informed." But he wanted the Captain to stay with his team. he just wanted him to handle anything it something happened. Since Cuprite was busy with his ropes and Reinerite was offering to help Rigel. He didn't know too many people on the two teams and what they were capable of.
Shouting up from where he was, still moving about the chains and making his way towards an anchor, the blond paused in his movements to shout. "I'm going to assume the hatch would be a door in the elevator. So I don't think it'll cause the elevator to move in any way." And potentially crush him, or Rigel, so he assumed it would be safe. "I'll sign off on it, but check with the other lead ust incase they see something I might not be seeing from down here." He wasn't about to risk anyone because he couldn't see everything. He wanted another opinion and another set of eyes on things.
Strickenized
Going to investigate anchors and where the symbols are.
Reinerite gave another slight nod in acknowledgement at Cymophane'swords. "Understood" she said, but kept her attention on the Super Senshi (Rigel) because the other had yet to turn down or accept her offer and it didn't look like anyone else had stepped up to offer to help spot–
At least that she could see.
Kaefaux
Rigel
Sunshine Alouette
Cymophane
Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2022 9:38 am
Eternal Cymophane Agreeing with Benitoite in regards to Kosmochlor proceeding with the emergency hatch. Lingering to see what happens. Updating Faustite.
“I don’t see any reason not to try it,” Cymophane agreed. He couldn’t fault Benitoite’s logic. A hatch was a door. From his spot at the ladder, Cymophane saw nothing about it to warrant concern. If anything, Kosmochlor proceeding with it might offer them more options. “Go ahead and see what it does.”
Cymophane lingered instead of departing right away, in case he should be needed if anything went awry in the attempt, what with Benitoite otherwise occupied.
In the meantime, he pulled out his communicator. Might as well give Faustite an update.
“Greetings, oh fiery one. Don’t know if you got the message about the elevator being busted, but the elevator’s busted. Or stuck. Anyways, Benitoite wants to stick around with his team to try and get it working, so we’re going to split off and I’ll take mine ahead. There’s a handy ladder if we have no other options. Hope you’re doing okay in that tube!”
“Don’t worry, I’m pretty good at squeezing into tight spaces,” Taenite responded to Cymophane after taking a few moments to inspect the ladder and where they were headed once more. And maybe waited until Cymophane was almost done with speaking with Faustite to say anything.
He flashed Cymophane with a charming grin, and then made sure any of his extra dangles on his uniform weren’t going to cause problems for him to climb down.
“If I get stuck I’ll just use spit or something.”
He waited to make sure Cymophane was still good with the plan, and then started to make his way down the ladder. If he was down first, he hoped to be able to help the others jump across to the platform as well.
Taenite took a moment to assess the distance, and then took a leap to the other side.
He was only sort of paying attention to the conversations going on up above. It'd startled him a little to hear a voice right above him after he'd climbed down towards the chains. Looking up--and taking off his hood in the process, realizing he needed to see better in this--he blinked up at the General (Reinerite) from the other team. Oh. Huh!
"Ah, okay. Thank you! I just tied off the rope to the rail. If it looks off, feel free to adjust it--just give me a shout so I know to stop moving around when you do." Last thing he needed was for a perfect timing lead to a horrible, potentially very long fall for him.
He did hear something from the Eternal leading the other team (Cymophane) and wasn't... sure if the General who was going to help him was going to head off with her team. So he slowed his approach to the anchor point he was heading for, glancing back up towards her just in case there was an update he needed to pay attention to.
As he glanced back at the symbols, though, he cocked his head, humming a little curious tune.
"Hey General Benitoite," he called towards the other man now down at the chains with him. "Am I crazy or do these symbols look like Saturn symbols?"
It wasn't very often he'd crossed paths with knights, directly anyway. But he'd seen the symbols around on the database, and around his own personal interests in the occult. Astronomical symbols fell right into that, even if some began to take on another meaning when he learned about knights wearing them. Looking around at the different anchor points, though, he definitely recognized the symbol for the ringed planet. Which just made him all the more curious why they were holding up chains...
Captain Kosmochlor, Team Pipevine Engaging the emergency hatch; responding to Rigel (not that he asked her) Alright -- there was that confirmation she was looking for. "Engaging the emergency hatch, then!" Kosmochlor called back to the team captains, politely tapping the YES. And -- overhearing it from Rigel -- what was that about Saturn? She craned her head up, trying to get a good look from this angle; yes, those were Saturn symbols, she'd recognize them anywhere.
"They're definitely Saturn symbols! Used to be a Saturn Knight," Kosmochlor said, offhandedly, "so I'd recognize them anywhere. Saturn loves restrictions," godforsaken communications-scrambling prison tower of a Wonder she'd tried her best not to handle for all the time she'd had access to it (and sometimes she felt like its ghost haunted her in Destiny City; certainly she was still stuck in its purple, even a name and an allegiance away), "so if they're magic, it's totally Saturnian," and she popped her head right back down to check on how that emergency hatch was going, swapping focuses again. Did the terminal want anything more from her yet? Always best to check. (Was that the correct possessive? Was it Saturnite? Saturni? Ah, she didn't remember. But -- honestly -- who cared?)
It was an entire task, watching people shimmy, shake, and clamor around. In the end he stuck next to the flirtiest fire-whirl he'd ever met in his life. Idled alongside listless and wide eyed for watching, waiting for the world to fall in on his head while wearing practically nothing at all. What a shitty way to die that would be: 'Here lies Cyrolite, the Nakedest Senshi --'
He knew ******** about symbols and tech though, had learned as much while on Astraya and so while the chatter from the back held some mild intrigue, he was far more eager to follow Cymophane ahead -- the cat of all trades being his current 'commander' and all. If Taenite could get down the hole and over the platforms, then it was likely all of them could manage it. Unsteady as it seemed at a glance? It hadn't yet decided to fall apart.
"You know Taenite, Sir --- not to be rude, but given your predilections I'm rather surprised you don't have something better than 'spit', on you. Maybe something industrialized---" the idea occurred latehand that Taenite might just be into---
But no, no, this was no place for those ideas now. However fun it was to entertain bantering about instead of focusing on the way those jumps made his stomach drop. Taenite looked to be fitting just fine...
If Rigel (4) touched the symbol, he would gain an eerie feeling, like he was being observed by something that would end him. As if sentient, the anchorpoint bearing the glyph shifted away from him, further out of reach. This shifted Rigel, too, to be further away from the others. There was clearly power in these symbols, but the purpose of them yet eluded everyone, including Benitoite (0).
Reinerite (7) would discover much the same as Rigel from her vantage point, though she could likewise see that the other chains had started to shift as well. These symbols were responsive, though there was little to say what else they might respond to besides touch.
While Triplite (1) searched for signs of a hatch in the floor of the elevator, she would not find anything obvious – it was all smooth material with no breaks or seams but for the panel that Kosmochlor accessed. There was simply nowhere, by today's standards, for an emergency hatch to be.
As Kosmochlor (6) looked into the panel, she would find that it was roughly a half a centimeter taller than the rest of the floor, but it was also seamlessly fused with the floor. If she tried to move it with her hands, it would not budge – trying to do so was tantamount to moving the whole elevator. For the operating system itself, it most closely resembled DOS for its total simplicity, though it clearly had an intelligent backend beyond the simple interface. Her supposition about the starseed reading was as good as any; interacting with its options had revealed no connection to the Negaverse database or any other information repository.
Touching YES caused the display to simply retract. The top and bottom edges of the screen grew close to each other until they winked out of existence, revealing a glass pane that peered straight down the elevator shaft. A translucent orange glow fell like rainfall at a great distance, misting down into the depths of the shaft from the emergency hatch. Then the glass pane disappeared. There was space enough for one person at a time to descend, though there appeared to be no ladder or any platform to lower them. It did not appear to be malfunctioning, however.
Faustite's transmission came in on Cymophane's tablet, sounding fuzzy. "10-4. Be careful."
Faustite's voice sounded over the team leads' tablets. "Benitoite, status with me if you've anything to report."
As power filtered into the elevator shaft, more of the lights to the lower region grew brighter. Soon, team members who climbed down the sides of the elevator could see how many of the chains they faced, and how far down those chains had collected. They grew denser toward the bottom, as if becoming more desperate, as if their sole intent lay with preventing the elevator from progressing any further. It was difficult to make out what lay at the bottom of that mess, but it looked at odds with the rest of the facility as they've seen it – some mess of off-white.
Those that crossed to their destination despite the chains would find a short corridor to a set of double doors, bearing two long glass slabs on either side of their separation point. These intimidating obsidian doors featured a square of glass in the very center, covered in fingerprints, that allowed a brief view into a darkened room. The glass slabs on either side read AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY over their obsidian background.
[bA skeleton had been slumped near that door, as if resting from an arduous journey. Its hands were pooled in its lap, which had since fallen into a clatter without any tissue. From its ribs jutted the haft of a spear that had been buried inside of its body, yet had not gouged the door behind the deceased. No scrap of meat or cloth remained – only a single ring around one of its fingers.
The chains had begun to rattle. The sound was ubiquitous, either echoing up the whole of the shaft or rattling inside their minds. It became clear, however, that the chains shifted from where they were anchored to the wall, crossing over one another or angling themselves higher or lower. Some moved quickly while others moved at a slow, daunting pace, like predators stalking the stranded. Finally a handful of chains had picked their targets, Cryolite and Triplite, seeking to bind them up.
Quote:
Cryolite and Triplite must roll 1d6 + combat bonus (if applicable) to escape the chains. If the roll is 3 or lower, they are bound up and suspended in chains for the duration of this round. They are still fully conscious and able to communicate with others, and are unhurt, but they cannot reach their tablets to communicate.
Members of Cymophane's team have rolled 1d6 (plus combat bonus) to reach the platform with the double doors. The minimum to make it across is 3. Add +1 to your roll for each team member that had successfully crossed (so each roll gets +1 right now for Taenite). If a team member's roll fails, Cymophane must roll 1d6 (plus leadership bonus) to rescue the team member (minimum 3 for success).
The next story post will occur on 12/23/22 around 9PM EST.
Eternal Cymophane Going back down the ladder and jumping to the platform; awaiting the rest of his team. 6 + 2 (combat) + 1 (Taenite) = 9
“You guys are so bad,” Cymophane told both Taenite and Cryolite.
He did not, however, sound as if he thought this observation to be bad in and of itself. In fact, he seemed rather amused by them, if the barely concealed snickering was any indication. He grinned and watched Taenite descend the ladder, then, when the panel Kosmochlor was investigating offered no immediate danger, Cymophane moved to follow. Whatever else the elevator had in store for them, it was up to Benitoite’s team to find out now. Cymophane would take his team and move on.
“Alright, team, let’s move out!” he called to the others. “Reinerite, see if someone else can spot Rigel for you.”
Once again, Cymophane followed the ladder to the platform. Taenite reached it successfully, proving Cymophane’s assumptions accurate; the jump wasn’t far. He could make it. They all could, if they weren’t hesitant about it.
So Cymophane jumped and made a nimble landing with little more than the soft clatter of heels. He met Taenite with a self-satisfied smile.
“You wanna check out the skeleton by the doors while I make sure the others get over alright? Poor thing looks like it's seen better days.”
Guine
Strickenized
litian
shiningamisgirl
Sunshine Alouette
Eternal Senshi
Offline
Guine rolled 1 6-sided dice:
2Total: 2 (1-6)
Guine
Crew
Lonely Explorer
Offline
Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2022 7:07 am
Super Taenite Helping others when they jump across the platform. Checking out the skeleton and then the double doors. 2 + 1 (tech) = 3
“Surprised?” Taenite flashed his teammate (Cryolite) a grin as he held out his arms as he prepared to help catch whoever jumped across the gap next. “I’m just trying to keep things PG-13 for all the youth here. However, I would be happy to discuss what I’ve really got up my sleeves later.”
He winked and then made sure to stand to the side for Cymophane to jump across, and then held out his hand once more to assist anyone else who would be joining them. It seemed as though their token General (Reinerite) was going to be helping out the other team for a bit, which just meant the Senshi could get the party moving forward.
Taenite made a little salute to let Cymophane know he was going to check out the skeleton--
But it looked as though Cryolite and another Senshi were suddenly caught up in the chains beneath the elevator.
“s**t,” Taenite hissed, looking up to where the others were being targeted by the chains, and then back to where the skeleton and doors were. He took one last glance up at the ones in chains, figuring that too many people crowding would only make it worse, or only offer up more to get caught, and quickly made his way to the skeleton, noting both the spear and the ring it was still wearing.
Would it be rude for him to take jewelry from a corpse?
“Cymo, there’s a spear that might help tame those chains. Maybe. I’m going to see if this gives us more options,” he announced over his shoulder, but--
It took only a glance up at the doors for him to recognize the makings of a touch screen. He quickly stood and tapped his fingers along the surface of the glass to see if it could give any quick solutions to the chain problem.
Basic Corrupt Cryolite Cracking Free n Making a Run to the Ladder: I hate your chains and they hate me too~ Atk: 5 +1 Combat Stat = 6
For a brief moment Cryolite was smiling, the nagging feeling of having done so little so far ebbed away like melting ice warming through his veins. Cymophane had a very bright and polite laugh for what was such impolite banter between strangers.
It helped that his orders were easy to follow, and that the pair of eternals -- the team cobbled together as a whole -- seemed to know their stuff. The elevator was being passed onto the other half and it looked to him like they'd be taking the jungle gym route. Not a difficulty, but still something he had to psych himself up for. His inclinations for recreation revolved around grueling deskwork at a nine-five and being horizontally reclined pampering his damn self on his downtime. So he was hesitant to take that plunge down creaky ladder rungs, even if for a moment. As soon as he got the nerve, took the step closer to shimmying his skinny behind down the safe enough to carry the heft of Taenites ego and Cymophanes eternally large be-winged bow ladder and make his way across to the platforms -- he felt himself become stuck ---
The wrap of cold, hard, steel; pythonlike in ways even Albites magics weren't when they trained like that. He froze up on instinct, a hiss of frost and colder glare because no ******** thank you! He wasn't joining skeltors corpse today.
Sailor Scout Attack:
"Sublime Shroud!" Cryolite says the word, and his body temperature magically drops to below freezing. He is not affected by this, but anyone who comes in contact with him will feel as though they are touching dry ice and will feel as if they are suffering mild frostbite for as long as they are touching him, and for up to twenty seconds after they break contact. While he is channeling his magic, it will appear as if he is sublimating into a chilly, foggy vapor. The illusion of the cascading fog that bleeds off of Cryolite serves as a visual warning sign to any who can see it: it screams 'Super cold - Do not touch'.
No physical or lasting damage is done in this magic, only the very uncomfortable mental sensation of such. However, players can choose to sustain any lasting damage in the form of chills or up to mild frostbite.
Range: Touch/Grapple Duration: 30 Seconds Number of uses: 3 Number of targets: Whomever touches Cryolite
Super Rigel Trying to get a better look at the mess of off-white before he tries to wrangle ca--symbols.6 +2 bonus = 8
Hearing the General (Reinerite) was being called away, he lifted a hand to wave towards her. "I'll be fine, someone else can take over. Thank you though! Stay safe out there," was added after a slight hesitation, unsure if that was... what he should say? They all were dealing with a lot of unknowns right now, so the well-wishes were proper... right?
Eh.
The Captain looking at the floor of the elevator (Kosmochlor) did make Rigel pause for a few moments as he eyed her. So he wasn't wrong about them being Saturn symbols. The fact she was a convert was only a blip on his radar, but the fact she mentioned restrictions made him look back to the chains with his mind whirling about. "I don't suppose you can elaborate on Saturn magic, hm?" He'd no idea how much she knew of that time, or even what she might have known then. But didn't hurt to ask.
As he pulled himself over the last bit to the anchor point, he reached out, a dark gloved hand unable to stay away from the purple glow. Curiosity and the dangers of the unknown, and all. And it very much was an unknown--he blinked, fascinated as the symbol moved away from his reach… and pulled him along with it, as it adjusted the position of the chain. "Now why construct a system of chains if you can just have people chase them out of the way," he murmured to himself, assuming all the symbols must respond like this. But if they focused on the task, couldn't they arguably chase the anchors to one area, moving the chains out of the way of the elevator..?
Humming in thought, he looked down, wondering how many chains there might be…
And then Rigel stilled, leaning a bit and holding tight to his rope, to peer further down the shaft. Yet another mystery, he tried to make sense of the off-white mess so far below so, so many more chains.
