Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
[X] Storage three engineering station. That's where you gather in the event of an emergency and this probably qualifies as an emergency!
Runesmith: A Science Fantasy Action Quest
- Thread starter Spectral Waltz
- Start date
- Original Sci-Fi
LucidProp
Pocky Eating MafiaDoka
[X] The Common Areas. You need to make them abort current entry, and with the voicecaster down the only way to get a message to the bridge is by runner.
No one knows this is an emergency, so I doubt anyone will be in the Storage Room. Bridge could be compromised, or our comms are just being jammed or something. Either way, I'll take the bridge over storage.
No one knows this is an emergency, so I doubt anyone will be in the Storage Room. Bridge could be compromised, or our comms are just being jammed or something. Either way, I'll take the bridge over storage.
Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
Well I mean... You know that something is up because the comms are down. Are you sure you're the only person to notice that?
You may be the main character, but you aren't the only competent one.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] The Major Runeplate. Those things are too big to be offlined by a few scratches like this was. Maybe you can still fix it!
Just staying the course here. I anticipate still picking major-runeplate-related options in about eight more pages.
Also it might actually work.
Just staying the course here. I anticipate still picking major-runeplate-related options in about eight more pages.
Also it might actually work.
- Location
- United States
[X] The Major Runeplate. Those things are too big to be offlined by a few scratches like this was. Maybe you can still fix it!
LucidProp
Pocky Eating MafiaDoka
[X] The Major Runeplate. Those things are too big to be offlined by a few scratches like this was. Maybe you can still fix it!
Vote change. Might as well do something productive while we're out here. We are the ship's best Runesmith after all, if we can't fix the plate, we'll at least get more clues as to how the sabotagers did what they did. Maybe even some clues on their identity.
Vote change. Might as well do something productive while we're out here. We are the ship's best Runesmith after all, if we can't fix the plate, we'll at least get more clues as to how the sabotagers did what they did. Maybe even some clues on their identity.
Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
Going to bed, got work tomorrow. Vote closure will probably wait until the evening since that's when I'll have the time to write.
- Location
- Somewhere.
What do we know about pre-entry procedures?
...What do they know about pre-entry procedures?
How obvious is a course change?
...What do they know about pre-entry procedures?
How obvious is a course change?
Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
On a ship this size, pre entry procedures are limited to checks on the protective wards and runes as well as the propulsion systems. In most smaller vessels passengers would need to be strapped in due to the shaking that often results from passing into the stellar current, but this ship is simply too large for the shaking to get that bad in most cases.
Of course... the vibration itself can still theoretically be intense enough to tear the ship apart at this size, but only if there are failures in the runes.
As of the present moment, you have about 35 minutes to current entry.
Given that you don't know who 'they' are to begin with, you couldn't possibly say how much they know about pre-entry, though the knowledge is fairly commonplace so far as you understand.
A course change might be perceptible to someone that is highly attuned to the ship, but most people wouldn't notice anything was wrong until the current entry did not occur on schedule. Given that you don't know who 'they' are however, you have no way of knowing whether or not they could be attuned enough to notice immediately.
- Location
- Somewhere.
If the checks don't come back, is entry aborted? (It should be. Then again, if they're capable of using the communications network to feed false information to the pilots...)
How hard would it be to suborn a pilot?
How capable are we of actually stopping some sort of active hijacker/suicide bomber person?
Is there any sort of emergency alert that isn't connected to the same comms network?
I was asking about how noticeable a course change was so I could tell how likely a contingency for "if you notice a course change, do X" would be.
(Sorry about asking so many questions.)
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Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
Unfortunately, the system is designed such that the engineering department should report to the bridge in the event of major plate failure. The bridge has no position dedicated to checking on the plates themselves.
They could check, but they would need to go out of their way to do so, and normally they simply trust the engineering department to keep them informed.
Bribery is a thing? A pilot or other bridge crew could be suborned if someone knew the right levers to pull. The bridge crew of the Princess are very well paid due to the city's general wealth and power, but everyone has weaknesses and few people are truly incorruptible.
Your capabilities are limited to you being a single person who is very very good with runes and mechanical engineering. If sabotage is the extent of the attack, then you can just repair the broken systems and all will be well, but if there's more going on then you may need help, or just to move very quickly in order to limit enemy action.
In theory you could hijack the runic network and try to encode a message by causing patterned fluctuations in the power to specific systems. It'd be pretty hit or miss though, and if you wanted to make sure your message made it to the bridge you'd need to go out of your way to find a plate with direct connections to it.
You personally are extremely aware of the ship, you have lived on it all of your life.
If there's a course change, you'll know immediately, though the extent of the change will not necessarily be apparent.
- Location
- United States
Considering the city is designed to traverse space itself, it probably has some form of escape shuttle aboard. They would be useless if the general populace didn't realize that the city was doomed. But if you were to one who sabotaged the city/ship in the first place...
Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
You both have very good points here, consider them carefully.
Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
Looks like a tie~ Break it please?
Ultramandalore
Errant Quester
- Location
- just south of Parts Unknown
[x] The Major Runeplate. Those things are too big to be offlined by a few scratches like this was. Maybe you can still fix it!
Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
Closed~
Overload Fault
Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
[x] The Major Runeplate. Those things are too big to be offlined by a few scratches like this was. Maybe you can still fix it!
Your mind raced. Sending a runner to the bridge could get them to abort the entry but you'd need to make it to the passenger decks first, and then find someone in person rather than just calling it in, unless the voicecasters up there were still working. On the other hand, clear protocol for emergency situations like this was first to assemble at the closest hub area for your department, but that would take you away from the problem itself that you did know about, and if you waited for them to authorize a fix, you might end up waiting too long.
No... You have to try and fix the Runeplate first.
You break into a sprint, leaping through the narrow hatchways as you tear down the maintenance corridors. Practically diving into the downwards stream of a shaft, arrowing towards the lower decks as the floors blur by before whipping your hand out at the last minute. The muscles of your arm and shoulder scream pain through you as you swing too fast and too hard onto Deck 23 but there's no time to stop and assess your injury. You just keep running, skidding as you round a corner, then beelining for the hull.
Finally you slide to a halt, slapping your palm against the Senwood and panting for breath as the access shutter for the plate you want slowly folds open. Come on... Hurry up already. You stare at the runes that slowly reveal themselves before you. Three major glyphs inscribed deeply into the heavy gold, governing a small portion of the Princess' Shields, Coherency, and Reaction Thrust.
Inscribed around, between, and within them are hundreds of lesser runes, governing and regulating specific functions. For a moment you just stare at them, trying to take them all in at once, feeling despair well up inside you at the sheer scale of the task before you. What if you were wrong? What if the minor plates were the key? What if there was nothing here to fix at all?
Stop.
You admonish yourself, closing your eyes for a moment, counting your breaths. In for Seven, Hold for Seven... You release the air in a sigh and look again, carefully raking your eyes over the runes once more.
There. Three runes in the centre of the plate, all defaced by the same three-pronged cuts as the minor plates. The power governors that kept all the power working. But... Taking them out shouldn't stop the power entirely unless...
Unrestricted flow...
You would be impressed if you weren't so irritated. They cut off the runes that regulated the power, then caused a surge somehow. The two minor plates... Scratch that, they caused a surge by overloading the minor plates, prompting the Major plate to shut itself off to avoid damage since the regulators that would normally handle such surges were offline.
Someone had used the Plate's own failsafes against it, which meant that they were either Geniuses like yourself, or they had prior understanding of the Princess runework.
Either way... They hadn't counted on you.
[] Fix the regulator runes and reactivate the plate.
It'll take a little while, but you'll make the jump safely with time to spare. Worry about who did this and why afterwards once you're safely on the move.
[] Hijack the Major Plate's propulsion interface runes to send a message to the bridge.
Warn them that something is wrong and that they should abort the Current Entry. You need to get to the bottom of this before you go anywhere.
Your mind raced. Sending a runner to the bridge could get them to abort the entry but you'd need to make it to the passenger decks first, and then find someone in person rather than just calling it in, unless the voicecasters up there were still working. On the other hand, clear protocol for emergency situations like this was first to assemble at the closest hub area for your department, but that would take you away from the problem itself that you did know about, and if you waited for them to authorize a fix, you might end up waiting too long.
No... You have to try and fix the Runeplate first.
You break into a sprint, leaping through the narrow hatchways as you tear down the maintenance corridors. Practically diving into the downwards stream of a shaft, arrowing towards the lower decks as the floors blur by before whipping your hand out at the last minute. The muscles of your arm and shoulder scream pain through you as you swing too fast and too hard onto Deck 23 but there's no time to stop and assess your injury. You just keep running, skidding as you round a corner, then beelining for the hull.
Finally you slide to a halt, slapping your palm against the Senwood and panting for breath as the access shutter for the plate you want slowly folds open. Come on... Hurry up already. You stare at the runes that slowly reveal themselves before you. Three major glyphs inscribed deeply into the heavy gold, governing a small portion of the Princess' Shields, Coherency, and Reaction Thrust.
Inscribed around, between, and within them are hundreds of lesser runes, governing and regulating specific functions. For a moment you just stare at them, trying to take them all in at once, feeling despair well up inside you at the sheer scale of the task before you. What if you were wrong? What if the minor plates were the key? What if there was nothing here to fix at all?
Stop.
You admonish yourself, closing your eyes for a moment, counting your breaths. In for Seven, Hold for Seven... You release the air in a sigh and look again, carefully raking your eyes over the runes once more.
There. Three runes in the centre of the plate, all defaced by the same three-pronged cuts as the minor plates. The power governors that kept all the power working. But... Taking them out shouldn't stop the power entirely unless...
Unrestricted flow...
You would be impressed if you weren't so irritated. They cut off the runes that regulated the power, then caused a surge somehow. The two minor plates... Scratch that, they caused a surge by overloading the minor plates, prompting the Major plate to shut itself off to avoid damage since the regulators that would normally handle such surges were offline.
Someone had used the Plate's own failsafes against it, which meant that they were either Geniuses like yourself, or they had prior understanding of the Princess runework.
Either way... They hadn't counted on you.
[] Fix the regulator runes and reactivate the plate.
It'll take a little while, but you'll make the jump safely with time to spare. Worry about who did this and why afterwards once you're safely on the move.
[] Hijack the Major Plate's propulsion interface runes to send a message to the bridge.
Warn them that something is wrong and that they should abort the Current Entry. You need to get to the bottom of this before you go anywhere.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Hijack the Major Plate's propulsion interface runes to send a message to the bridge.
Keep voting for the major plate!
...No, seriously, this one seems like a better idea. There's some actual sabotage going on here, so letting as many people know about the sabotage as possible is a better move than going "I can fix this" and getting clonked on the back of the head or something.
Keep voting for the major plate!
...No, seriously, this one seems like a better idea. There's some actual sabotage going on here, so letting as many people know about the sabotage as possible is a better move than going "I can fix this" and getting clonked on the back of the head or something.
Ultramandalore
Errant Quester
- Location
- just south of Parts Unknown
[X] Hijack the Major Plate's propulsion interface runes to send a message to the bridge.