[Audio] @fjord, Unhappy Discoveries [May 11]

[fjorgedinfire]

[There's silence for a few moments, as Fjord collects himself. When he does talk, he sounds... tense, and upset, but it's wrapped up tight in a calm facade.]

During the flood, I accidentally discovered an underground tunnel that connects to the church - some sort of mineshaft, almost. I went back after the waters went back down, the other day, and I found a torch down there too, with...

[With Mollymauk's horn. He clears his throat, and continues.]

And, uh... with Soldat earlier today, we went explorin' it properly. Turns out that it connects to that trapdoor in the floor - there's some kind of fancy lock on the underside that we didn't try messing with. Followed it the other way too - about fifteen minutes of walking took us to an intersection, and about the same again took us to this big, steel door. Looks like it was supposed to be locked, but the storm fucked it up enough that we could get inside.

[There's silence, and a quiet, but audible, tremble to his deep breath.]

...well. You could almost call it a catacomb, really, there were. [Another, briefer, pause, and a faint tremor that comes out as an almost amused bounce to his voice.] Actual, uh. Dead bodies in it. There were. Five of them, all up. Covered in mushrooms and decayed as fuck, I don't-- I got no idea how long they might've been down there.

[And another pause, the longest yet.]

Kal-El, Alisaie, and... Mollymauk. I didn't see... there wasn't anything to identify the other two bodies.

[There's a light clatter, identifiable as him putting the tablet down on a hard surface. Another audible breath. And he continues a bit more calmly.]

After that we doubled back, got to the intersection and tried the second path. Not sure how long we were on it for, but given how steep it was, seems like we must've gone under the river - sure sounded like it. That took us to this big twisting tunnel going up. Not sure which direction we were pointin' by the end of it but there was another trapdoor at the top, locked again. Didn't look like there was anywhere else to go besides one a' those trapdoors or- or the door on the other side of that catacomb.

So if anyone wants to go tryin' one a' those locks to see what's on the other side, give us a shout if you get it open, yeah?

Comments

@purin; text, private

[flangirl]

[ Oh. Oh, oh no. ]

[ Pudding doesn't recognize any of those names, but the way Fjord says them... ]

[ Not just dead, but - oh god, she can only imagine the smell, and has to cover her mouth and nose with her hand at the thought. ]

[ Shit. ]

> Can I bring you something to drink?

[ She thought about writing do you want company, but ~manly men~ don't usually respond honestly to questions like that. ]

[fjorgedinfire]

[ Fjord is totally 100% a Manly Men. Yes. ]

> I'd appreciate it. I can meet you in the Invincible, my room's there.

[flangirl]

> I'm happy to bring it up to your room, if you'd like. The front room is still a little... untidy.

[ Full of smashed shit and graced by a giant ugly grinning peanut statue. ]

[fjorgedinfire]

> Yeah, I suppose it is.

> My room's 203. Door's open for you.

action

[flangirl]

[ Pudding takes a little more time than strictly necessary preparing drinks, taking the time to... get her bearings, internally. A week or so of Conveniently Avoiding Fjord, with plenty of cleanup and cataloguing to keep her occupied as an excuse, has given her time to... well. Very Much Not Process, but calm down a bit. ]

[ It'll be fine. She just has to make sure he never sees it again. ]

[ She still knocks softly before entering with two mugs on a tray (and some tea biscuits, and soft jerky, and a cup of broth - she's not letting you get away with not-eating if you haven't, Fjord). Her smile is soft, somber. Gentle. ]

Room service?

Text @ Soldier

[worthallthis]

[Public:]

I can answer any questions about this, too.

[Private to Fjord:]

I told you I would have made the announcement if it would have been easier Fjord.

[Because it is super clear that really shook Fjord up, dammit, and they don't like listening to him sound like that. Again.]

Private text

[fjorgedinfire]

It needed saying, and I'd rather do it myself.


[It takes a few extra moments for the second message to come.]


This is the second time I wasn't there for Molly dying.

[worthallthis]

[Shit this is not something Soldat is great at via text. (Or at all. I dunno, you're better than some people. No. I'm going with Asset, this time, Sarge.)

But they're better in person. Sigh.]

where are you. I'm bringing beer

[fjorgedinfire]

[...shit. He didn't. Mean for that to make Soldat come over.

Welp.]

In my room. 203.

==> action

[worthallthis]

[Well, then don't post things to the network sounding sad, Fjord. You're friends now. That means you get friend things. Like bringing beer when a you're sad because somebody died.

Soldat is there in five minutes flat, with two bottles of beer, and a very large jug of something clearly alcoholic. There's like a gallon of it.]

These are for you. This one's for me.

text; @badeaux

[ultraviolents]

fjord mentioned a keypad, did it look like there was any significant wear on any of the keys?

Text @ Soldier

[worthallthis]

The 9 key seemed to have a little more wear than the others, but nothing else stood out. It's probable that she used the keypads by the church and the bodies more than the one across the river.

@silent | voice

[callada]

Bodies, huh? Connected to the church. And we know who used the church and its tunnel system to keep bringing us back. Guess there's a lot we still don't know about how that actually works, though.

Can you describe the lock system?

[fjorgedinfire]

Not well, they were all a bit beyond my time. It had, uh. Ten numbers on it, one to nine in a grid and zero on the bottom with some symbols on either side of it. Looked like a noughts-and-crosses board and a star.

[callada]

Huh. Never seen anything like that, myself. Needs a number combination to unlock, I guess that much is obvious.

[And since this post is forward-dated, then...]

You try asking that robot on the network? Those tunnels have got to be connected to Dr. Solis somehow, maybe it knows.

@langit; text;

[arsarcanum]

i can do locks but if you're talking about a fancy keypad one it... could kinda depend on the lock
you holding up okay?

[fjorgedinfire]

I didn't see any holes on it, that's about the extend of my lock knowledge.

I'm fine. [Which is always code for 'I'm not fine', isn't it?] Just need a nap after all that.

@HK

[catholicisms]

( troubling. and also horrific. )

A tunnel under the river? What would the point of that be?

The bodies... I don't know. Not everyone can be revived, it's possible that those are the unlucky ones that couldn't come back.

[fjorgedinfire]

I'd assume to get to the other side of it without needing to surface. [ask a stupid question] But there's definitely gotta be some sort of building south-west of the church that we haven't found yet. Probably south of that, uh. Bicycle shop.

[His voice turns a bit stiff.] I already know not everyone gets revived. But up 'til now, they weren't supposed to leave corpses either. They just got left there...

[That's the part that's getting him. That his old team-mate and new friends were just left to literally rot.]

[catholicisms]

( south of the bicycle shop. that's at least a good direction to start scouting. )

I can't say I understand it, either. You'd think if they couldn't be revived, it'd be better to bury them. ( so why leave them to waste away in a tunnel nobody knew about? ) Unless... they weren't there because it didn't work, but because she hadn't gotten a chance to try yet.

[fjorgedinfire]

Looked like she must've been waiting for a while. I don't exactly know how long it takes folks t'turn into fuckin'... liquids. [A short silence, a deep breath.] But they can't have been there for a short amount a' time.

@badeaux, voice

[ultraviolents]

[ that is...a whole lot to unpack. elektra's not generally one for comfort so she doesn't try, but she does feel for him. ]

How do you mean fancy? Can it be picked, or would it require a code?

[fjorgedinfire]

I didn't see a hole, so I'd assume it needs a number code. No idea how long that kind a' password might be, mind you, Soldat gave it a few tries and got nothing.

[ultraviolents]

Generally they're four digits, but figuring out that kind of code could still take a while. I doubt anyone would want to follow in your footsteps without having a few guesses ready, but if there was any wear on any of the keys that might be a clue.

[ these kind of codes can also be translated to a word, and with beacon being the kind of place it is it wouldn't surprise her if there was some sort of riddle involved, even if it wouldn't necessarily be obvious just by looking at the keypad. ]

Did you get a good look at the keypad? Did you see anything like that, or any letters above the numbers?

[fjorgedinfire]

A, uh. Zero to nine, a star thing and a noughts-and-crosses board. It's well ahead of anything that existed in my own world, I can't say I know more than just what I get from lookin' at it.