File 1, Entry 5 - Data Retrieval
Lepidoptera
Mother of Monsters, Unverified Impuritas Civitatis
- Location
- Indeterminate Unknown
Machine Learning - File 1, Entry 5 - Data Retrieval
As the elevator continues its slow, grinding ascent, you retrace your steps back from your last intact memories. You follow your squad's sweeping path through the Island as you scoured it of anything of the slightest interest. It was a more interesting mission than what you were usually assigned.
The Island had been in the periphery of many of your previous missions. It was only logical that eventually you would be sent to the mysterious origin place of the Red Flowers. The floating Island predated all existing records, and while there was evidence that multiple large civilizations had at some point been present on it there were no remaining members of those civilizations left. Just Mimiga and ruins that people abandoned. Chevron suggested that there might have been a Mimiga empire on the Island, and then went on to suggest that they were the ones who created the Island in the first place. You let him know exactly how stupid that suggestion was. The Mimiga are and always have been an underdeveloped people. They don't have the magical or technological capability to create something like the Island and never did.
Naturally-occurring magical phenomena aren't unknown, but they are extremely rare. What's more common are magic-adjacent life forms like most Monsters, sapient creature like the Mimiga or Demons, and abnormal plant life like the Red Flowers. All of these tend to cluster near places like the Island, implying some line of correlation between them. Apparently that's not important though, so your team's investigation was purely about what was on the Island and how much of it could be taken or replicated.
You had been dropped off on a clear area near the west side of the Island, just on the surface's edge. The landing zone was lightly forested, dotted with treasure troves of information all within walking distance. The remnants of structures from all throughout history were found quickly. Though "all throughout history" isn't exactly correct. There was a notable gap between the older structures, typically carved from stone and sometimes cut from the Island itself, and the metal buildings that were built in later and clearly constructed by visiting teams like your own investigating or attempting to settle the Island. You were the only one to find this interesting. Curly and Quote were clearly trying to pay attention when you were explaining but were both starting to zone out. Paren just told you that it was all meaningless for the mission outright. Chevron said the same thing, just in a nicer way. Syn, as usual, didn't have anything to say.
This elevator is one example of an old structure left within the Island. It matches the make of the newer constructions put together by the other forces present on the Island at the time, but it's way too old to have actually belonged to anyone who was present so recently. Or maybe they built this early on in the incursion but abandoned it? It's not really important. Other factions were sent at the same time as your own mission, but the Island itself was more of an obstruction than those things. A proper Machine Soldier could wipe out thousands of those mass-produced units. Instead, it was just traversing the Island that caused the most trouble.
Most of the important parts of the Island aren't on the surface. They're inside it, nestled somewhere in the intricate cave systems that fills the floating landmass completely. You don't know how much of it has been explored. The maps held in the facility that you woke up in seem extensive, but they're missing paths that you remember. What's more interesting is how much of it is filled with buildings. The facility connects to the Egg Corridor, both entirely constructed areas. Whoever was operating down here must have been well-equipped. They also were wiped out by someone else a long time ago. It wasn't your team, you can tell that much. The signs of damage are more in line with animals than gunfire. Paren definitely wasn't there judging by the lack of gaping holes in the walls and smoking wrecks in the place of anything she thought looked at her funny.
Your route through the island took your team across the surface first, eventually meeting a cliff face too sharp to scale. There was also a bit of resistance from the local population and other invaders, but it was so easily overturned it was hardly worth noting. More of the difficulty came from just getting around the cave network within the Island. You can recall the path that the team was meant to take. A slow, methodical sweep based on existing maps that would eventually circle back to the surface near the opposite end of the Island. There were certain rumors regarding magical artifacts and technologies that you were supposed to verify and retrieve if possible. The strange machine that nearly crushed you earlier was one of those, you're sure of it. You can recall seeing other constructs like it along the way. The Sand Zone and Labyrinth were both part of the planned route, but you don't have any memories of either place. Either the plan changed for some reason or you've lost the relevant memories.
The closer to the present you follow your route, the spottier your memory becomes. At first it's just tiny moments, the blink of an eye's worth of time absent, but the gaps grow larger and larger until you can barely keep track of where you've been. Hours of travel missing, taking you from a day of sampling ancient ruins to a hike through an underground jungle to more walking through lifeless caverns. Then the gaps grow further, and all you can piece together are glimpses.
-the Filthy water pouring through mounds of miscellaneous trash, its murky brown color reflecting the rot and rust that clings to every surface with all the tangible contempt of the-
-brilliant moonlight cast above sweeping silver clouds drawn into the Island's wake, an ocean within the sky making a second horizon far above the-
-pristine white stone marred by cracks and fractures, marked by the years it has endured. The pillars feel like teeth closing around-
-Curly, wincing as Quote pulls a bright silver arrow from her arm. Paren's laughter and the sound of explosions fill the air-
-"Mere machines cannot hope to"-
And then nothing but a haze of gunfire and light. Sometime after, you woke up. Your later memories had moon and sunlight though, so your team must have made it to the Island surface. But then you ended up all the way down here, so that's not really that helpful.
You consider putting your fist through the passing cavern walls only to notice a strange eye-shaped carving. It feels like it's staring at you as the elevator platform slowly passes it by. These things are everywhere on the Island, to the point that when Chevron joked that they might be naturally-occurring you actually considered it. On seeing the pictures you sent back to Command, their specialists claimed that there are no marks on any of the eye structures that would indicate as to what tool was used to make them. It still seems ridiculous that they would just be sprouting out of the walls, but the functions of magic-infused locations are a mystery. It's why you're here in the first place.
That, and all the things you need to kill here. You would rather not think about that part if at all possible.
Instead, your attention latches onto the final moments you can remember. Fighting something that remains frustratingly obscured to your recollection. Frustrated enough to break out a dictionary for the description, apparently. You sound like the Commander.
The Commander will be fine. That fact would be clear to any member of your team. Curly Brace and Quote occupy more of your thoughts, having been damaged as you were in what you can recall of the battle. Somehow, you're most worried about Paren and Chevron. The other two would do just fine on their own. Quote is literally built to operate solo when required to. Curly picked up some reconnaissance abilities for some reason as well. Chevron and Paren, meanwhile, don't do well when separated.
It's not that they're weak. They're not! But the two are… Chevron doesn't like the word damaged. Paren was calibrated incorrectly in her construction, and that mistake was worsened by some damage she took in an early mission. Even since she's been especially unstable. She's never been dangerous to any of you, but you wouldn't trust her in a social situation. Chevron was damaged similarly, though in the opposite way. He has issues making decisions on his own, so he really needs to be paired with somebody else. Having to run her ideas through somebody else tends to slow Paren down enough to make less terrible decisions most of the time, and Chevron can perform as well as anyone else when he's properly directed. They work well together, but if they got separated…
Well, at least Paren would be easy to find. You'd just need to follow the sound of fire.
There's no fire up ahead, but the light at the top of the elevator shaft has come into focus. It's harsh and artificial, the mark of another underground facility. You stare at the platform above as it draws closer and closer. It looks cleaner than the ruins below. Soon, the elevator platform grinds to a halt in a tidy but dimly-lit room. A massive, echoing clang sounds out as it stops. You stumble, not having expected the slow-moving platform to have carried that much force.
The room is wide and mostly empty, lit by a few lamps affixed to either side of a massive door in the center of the opposite wall. The floor is a metal grate, its off-white material matching the metal plating on the walls. Maybe this color is what the corridor is named after, and not an actual egg. Judging by the similarly-shaded shipping crates strewn about the corners, it seems more like a cargo transportation zone than anything to do with eggs.
The loading door looks like it'll be difficult to open, but a quick scan of the room reveals a smaller door beside it. You prepare to leave the room, but stop just as your hand closes on the handle. You don't know what's going to be on the other side of the door. Somebody was in the lower facility, and they took something out of it and brought it to one of the upper floors. It might have been here. Not only that, but this place looks much more well-maintained. It might still be in use.
If there are foreign elements based here, you have an obligation to remove them. It'll be difficult on your own, but not impossible if you're smart. You had no trouble accessing the lift and the door isn't locked, so whoever might be on the other side isn't expecting an attack. You have the element of surprise on your side. As long as you are careful and-
Somebody screams. It's not a voice you recognize, that's your first thought, but it is a scream nonetheless. Your fingers sink into the doorknob's metal with an awful screech that you hope nobody noticed.
Sounds of distress are a good thing for your mission, even if they unfortunately confirm that the Corridor is occupied. A distraction will only advantage you further.
But it sounds like whoever's screaming needs help.
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\
A Scream
[] Don't be baited.
This isn't a member of your team, it isn't your objective, so it's not your problem. Just move through as you would normally.
[x] Move Quickly
This endangered person presently a limited window of opportunity to retrieve whatever information they might have.
[] Write-in
As the elevator continues its slow, grinding ascent, you retrace your steps back from your last intact memories. You follow your squad's sweeping path through the Island as you scoured it of anything of the slightest interest. It was a more interesting mission than what you were usually assigned.
The Island had been in the periphery of many of your previous missions. It was only logical that eventually you would be sent to the mysterious origin place of the Red Flowers. The floating Island predated all existing records, and while there was evidence that multiple large civilizations had at some point been present on it there were no remaining members of those civilizations left. Just Mimiga and ruins that people abandoned. Chevron suggested that there might have been a Mimiga empire on the Island, and then went on to suggest that they were the ones who created the Island in the first place. You let him know exactly how stupid that suggestion was. The Mimiga are and always have been an underdeveloped people. They don't have the magical or technological capability to create something like the Island and never did.
Naturally-occurring magical phenomena aren't unknown, but they are extremely rare. What's more common are magic-adjacent life forms like most Monsters, sapient creature like the Mimiga or Demons, and abnormal plant life like the Red Flowers. All of these tend to cluster near places like the Island, implying some line of correlation between them. Apparently that's not important though, so your team's investigation was purely about what was on the Island and how much of it could be taken or replicated.
You had been dropped off on a clear area near the west side of the Island, just on the surface's edge. The landing zone was lightly forested, dotted with treasure troves of information all within walking distance. The remnants of structures from all throughout history were found quickly. Though "all throughout history" isn't exactly correct. There was a notable gap between the older structures, typically carved from stone and sometimes cut from the Island itself, and the metal buildings that were built in later and clearly constructed by visiting teams like your own investigating or attempting to settle the Island. You were the only one to find this interesting. Curly and Quote were clearly trying to pay attention when you were explaining but were both starting to zone out. Paren just told you that it was all meaningless for the mission outright. Chevron said the same thing, just in a nicer way. Syn, as usual, didn't have anything to say.
This elevator is one example of an old structure left within the Island. It matches the make of the newer constructions put together by the other forces present on the Island at the time, but it's way too old to have actually belonged to anyone who was present so recently. Or maybe they built this early on in the incursion but abandoned it? It's not really important. Other factions were sent at the same time as your own mission, but the Island itself was more of an obstruction than those things. A proper Machine Soldier could wipe out thousands of those mass-produced units. Instead, it was just traversing the Island that caused the most trouble.
Most of the important parts of the Island aren't on the surface. They're inside it, nestled somewhere in the intricate cave systems that fills the floating landmass completely. You don't know how much of it has been explored. The maps held in the facility that you woke up in seem extensive, but they're missing paths that you remember. What's more interesting is how much of it is filled with buildings. The facility connects to the Egg Corridor, both entirely constructed areas. Whoever was operating down here must have been well-equipped. They also were wiped out by someone else a long time ago. It wasn't your team, you can tell that much. The signs of damage are more in line with animals than gunfire. Paren definitely wasn't there judging by the lack of gaping holes in the walls and smoking wrecks in the place of anything she thought looked at her funny.
Your route through the island took your team across the surface first, eventually meeting a cliff face too sharp to scale. There was also a bit of resistance from the local population and other invaders, but it was so easily overturned it was hardly worth noting. More of the difficulty came from just getting around the cave network within the Island. You can recall the path that the team was meant to take. A slow, methodical sweep based on existing maps that would eventually circle back to the surface near the opposite end of the Island. There were certain rumors regarding magical artifacts and technologies that you were supposed to verify and retrieve if possible. The strange machine that nearly crushed you earlier was one of those, you're sure of it. You can recall seeing other constructs like it along the way. The Sand Zone and Labyrinth were both part of the planned route, but you don't have any memories of either place. Either the plan changed for some reason or you've lost the relevant memories.
The closer to the present you follow your route, the spottier your memory becomes. At first it's just tiny moments, the blink of an eye's worth of time absent, but the gaps grow larger and larger until you can barely keep track of where you've been. Hours of travel missing, taking you from a day of sampling ancient ruins to a hike through an underground jungle to more walking through lifeless caverns. Then the gaps grow further, and all you can piece together are glimpses.
-the Filthy water pouring through mounds of miscellaneous trash, its murky brown color reflecting the rot and rust that clings to every surface with all the tangible contempt of the-
-brilliant moonlight cast above sweeping silver clouds drawn into the Island's wake, an ocean within the sky making a second horizon far above the-
-pristine white stone marred by cracks and fractures, marked by the years it has endured. The pillars feel like teeth closing around-
-Curly, wincing as Quote pulls a bright silver arrow from her arm. Paren's laughter and the sound of explosions fill the air-
-"Mere machines cannot hope to"-
And then nothing but a haze of gunfire and light. Sometime after, you woke up. Your later memories had moon and sunlight though, so your team must have made it to the Island surface. But then you ended up all the way down here, so that's not really that helpful.
You consider putting your fist through the passing cavern walls only to notice a strange eye-shaped carving. It feels like it's staring at you as the elevator platform slowly passes it by. These things are everywhere on the Island, to the point that when Chevron joked that they might be naturally-occurring you actually considered it. On seeing the pictures you sent back to Command, their specialists claimed that there are no marks on any of the eye structures that would indicate as to what tool was used to make them. It still seems ridiculous that they would just be sprouting out of the walls, but the functions of magic-infused locations are a mystery. It's why you're here in the first place.
That, and all the things you need to kill here. You would rather not think about that part if at all possible.
Instead, your attention latches onto the final moments you can remember. Fighting something that remains frustratingly obscured to your recollection. Frustrated enough to break out a dictionary for the description, apparently. You sound like the Commander.
The Commander will be fine. That fact would be clear to any member of your team. Curly Brace and Quote occupy more of your thoughts, having been damaged as you were in what you can recall of the battle. Somehow, you're most worried about Paren and Chevron. The other two would do just fine on their own. Quote is literally built to operate solo when required to. Curly picked up some reconnaissance abilities for some reason as well. Chevron and Paren, meanwhile, don't do well when separated.
It's not that they're weak. They're not! But the two are… Chevron doesn't like the word damaged. Paren was calibrated incorrectly in her construction, and that mistake was worsened by some damage she took in an early mission. Even since she's been especially unstable. She's never been dangerous to any of you, but you wouldn't trust her in a social situation. Chevron was damaged similarly, though in the opposite way. He has issues making decisions on his own, so he really needs to be paired with somebody else. Having to run her ideas through somebody else tends to slow Paren down enough to make less terrible decisions most of the time, and Chevron can perform as well as anyone else when he's properly directed. They work well together, but if they got separated…
Well, at least Paren would be easy to find. You'd just need to follow the sound of fire.
There's no fire up ahead, but the light at the top of the elevator shaft has come into focus. It's harsh and artificial, the mark of another underground facility. You stare at the platform above as it draws closer and closer. It looks cleaner than the ruins below. Soon, the elevator platform grinds to a halt in a tidy but dimly-lit room. A massive, echoing clang sounds out as it stops. You stumble, not having expected the slow-moving platform to have carried that much force.
The room is wide and mostly empty, lit by a few lamps affixed to either side of a massive door in the center of the opposite wall. The floor is a metal grate, its off-white material matching the metal plating on the walls. Maybe this color is what the corridor is named after, and not an actual egg. Judging by the similarly-shaded shipping crates strewn about the corners, it seems more like a cargo transportation zone than anything to do with eggs.
The loading door looks like it'll be difficult to open, but a quick scan of the room reveals a smaller door beside it. You prepare to leave the room, but stop just as your hand closes on the handle. You don't know what's going to be on the other side of the door. Somebody was in the lower facility, and they took something out of it and brought it to one of the upper floors. It might have been here. Not only that, but this place looks much more well-maintained. It might still be in use.
If there are foreign elements based here, you have an obligation to remove them. It'll be difficult on your own, but not impossible if you're smart. You had no trouble accessing the lift and the door isn't locked, so whoever might be on the other side isn't expecting an attack. You have the element of surprise on your side. As long as you are careful and-
Somebody screams. It's not a voice you recognize, that's your first thought, but it is a scream nonetheless. Your fingers sink into the doorknob's metal with an awful screech that you hope nobody noticed.
Sounds of distress are a good thing for your mission, even if they unfortunately confirm that the Corridor is occupied. A distraction will only advantage you further.
But it sounds like whoever's screaming needs help.
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\
A Scream
[] Don't be baited.
This isn't a member of your team, it isn't your objective, so it's not your problem. Just move through as you would normally.
[x] Move Quickly
This endangered person presently a limited window of opportunity to retrieve whatever information they might have.
[] Write-in
Last edited:
