The Lands Beyond (Outer Wilds/The Land Before Time)
- Thread starter gutza1
- Start date
- Crossover Sci-Fi
Loop 1 - Part 6
- Location
- Orlando, Florida
[X] No more beating around the bush. Equip your space suit and prepare for an adventure.
[X] Head to the Far Beyonder ruins buried in the Great Valley (1 hour)
-[X] Attempt to climb in using the cave entrance
You run to the Circle of Learning as fast as your legs can take you, sometimes finding yourself ducking to avoid the glances of any passers-by even though you technically haven't done anything wrong yet. As you climb the hill, you take more than a few glances to make sure your grandparents are nowhere near your suit's hiding spot. Fortunately, the coast is clear, and you make it to the tree next to the hiding spot with no incident.
It is when you attempt to unearth the suit that you hear the same faint whirring noise as earlier. You almost leap out of your skin when the robot from the Museum suddenly materializes in front of you. Its fake eye scans you with the same coldness it did during your first encounter, yet, to your relief, it does not attempt to tear your mind apart. Still, you feel it reach out to your mind. A moment later, and you sense a connection between it and you established. You cannot possibly predict what will happen next, but the last thing you expect is a bunch of faintly glowing purple displays appear in the robot's vicinity. They almost look like the components of your suit's HUD, but projected directly into your vision instead of on a helmet's faceplate.
As you look closer at the robot's displays, words in the City's written language manifest on them, one for each separate display: Records, Probe, and Programs.
You open up the Records display, and immediately, the vision overlaid on you switches to what feels like an invisible field. You reach out to it with your mind, and suddenly, a vertical rectangle appears on it. You play around with it further, and you find that you can add text to the rectangle. This must be some sort of note-taking system. Curious but confused, you resolve to play around with it later and move on to the next option.
After switching to Probe, you find the robot suddenly spring to attention, and a path emanating from it to the tree is displayed. You reach out and realize that you can alter the length and direction of the path. After some experimentation, you accept a path heading around the tree, and immediately the robot flies along the course you set. Once it is further away than a meter, you feel the connection you had with it break. However, it returns to your vicinity seconds later and your connection with it is reestablished. Once that happens, you see multiple pictures of the surroundings along the path displayed in your vision. This definitely feels like a useful way to probe areas without you stepping foot there in person.
Unfortunately, when you switch to "Programs," the only thing that pops up is a list with a single entry: "Basic." You wonder if this is incomplete and there are other Far Beyonder "Programs" somewhere out there. For now, the current lineup of features will do.
An idea flashes through your head. Already, there are many mysteries you have stumbled upon. What if you could use the Records feature to keep track of all of them? As the concept crystalizes in your mind, you open the Records display and create a note for the City, and a subnote for the Museum. After jotting down your observations about the rainbow face and the robot, you create another note for Far Beyonder ruins in the Valley. Finally, you create a note for the Astrodrome, jotting down the fact that all of the MBV personnel you've seen today have been on edge about something.
You have acquired a Far Beyonder robotic drone to accompany you on your journey! The Discovery Log in the Informational tab is now active! You also have acquired the ability to send the drone on scouting missions in a manner similar to Outer Wild's probe launcher! Finally you now have the ability to ???!
Once again checking to make sure your grandparents aren't around, you finally unearth and equip your space suit with trembling motions. This is the most dangerous idea you've had in weeks! The voice of sanity in your brain tells you that shouldn't even consider going on a wild chase to alien ruins with unknown dangers just because you had an accident! Yet, another part of you feels that the rules went out the window when you became the first Saurian you know of to use a Far Beyonder artifact. That happened for a reason, and you would not forgive yourself if you could not figure out why.
You're convinced that strange rainbow face also had something to do with it. His "distraction" was far too convenient. Is he also connected to whatever is to you?
You put that thought aside. Your grandparents could be back any second now, and there is no more time to be lost. Once your space helmet is secure and its familiar HUD is broadcasted across your faceplate, you set off for the other side of the Great Wall. This time, you follow an indirect route, giving a wide birth to the homes on the outskirts of the City and hewing close to vegetation you use as cover. It is only once you are past the Airstrip that you are comfortable resuming your normal pace.
The terrain near the edge of the Great Wall is rough and craggy. To others, it would appear an insurmountable rise of rock that no sane Saurian would ever attempt to scale - especially one lacking grasping paws such as yourself. However, you've spent more than one uneventful afternoon exploring here, and you've managed to find pathways among the rock that lead upwards. It shouldn't be too hard to travel the path to your destination, though the bulkiness of your suit makes you somewhat worried.
Pioneering Roll (Easy): 2 + 2 + 2 (Pioneering) - 2 (Unfamiliar with Suit) = 4
4 vs. 8 = Failure
You move towards the margins of a thinner portion of the path when you are faced with a series of natural steps in front of you. You move to try and scale them, but after lifting your forelimbs, you find that they don't flex quite as well as they would without the suit. You try to scrabble atop the steps, only to feel your balance slip! Out of desperation, you try to reach out with your tentacles to stabilize yourself!
Pioneering Roll (Easy): 1 + 5 + 2 (Pioneering) = 8
8 vs. 8 = Success
Fortunately, you have plenty of handholds in the rock ahead of you, and your tentacles quickly find something to latch on. You grip the rock tightly as you try to stabilize your body, then use both your tentacles and your forelimbs to pull yourself onto the step's top. The experience leaves you gasping for air as you try to calm your jilted nerves.
The rest of the way to the cave entrance is much less eventful. You find yourself on a small cliff overlooking the entire Valley. The entrance is a long crack in the side of the Great Wall, thick enough to let you squeeze through. The inside is a very dimly-lit cavern of rock, with the occasional metal glint shining from the left end. At the time, you thought it was too dark to safely explore, but fortunately your suit comes equipped with a helmet-mounted flashlight. You flick it on before slowly wriggling through the entrance.
It takes a minute to get your body through the gap, but once you are done, you find yourself standing on top of a ledge of rock. After shining your flashlight beam around the space, you spot a clear path down a series of rock ledges into the cavern. With trepidation, you head down, watching the mass of metal grow closer. Eventually, you find yourself right in front of it, and your image of it grows clearer.
You seem to be standing before the partially caved-in roof of a room in a Far Beyonder complex of some kind. The clearance on the gap in the roof is enough for you to barely squeeze through. With no other options, you plunge into it, wriggling through the roof before unceremoniously falling down into the room below.
After picking yourself up, you see that you are surrounded on four sides by dark gray metal, interspersed with line-shaped carvings inset with electric blue tints. They vaguely remind you of an electric circuit's pattern, though you suspect they are primarily for decoration. Placed by the walls are large holders containing topsoil.
Deduction Roll (Hard): 5 + 3 + 4 (Deduction) = 12
12 vs. 12 = Success
You aren't sure, but you think these must have once contained living plants of significant size, similar to the kind making up the Valley's undergrowth. But for what reason did Far Beyonders need plants for? Decoration?
In front of you is a multi-segmented plate of metal inset into the wall. The moment you approach it, the Far Beyonder robot projects a new display into your vision, this one resting at the center of the plate itself:
"OPEN/CLOSE"
A door, then? But without any visible handle. Did Far Beyonders even have door handles, or did they use their robots to interact with their technology? Is that why the mysterious stranger bound the robot to you?
Whatever the answers to these questions are, you won't be helped by staying here. You reach out to the "OPEN/CLOSE" display with your mind and it flashes bright purple. Suddenly, the door comes alive, its segments dilating apart in front of you. Quickly, you rush through the now-open passageway before the door changes its mind.
You have discovered the final unknown feature of the Far Beyonder Robot: allowing Saurians such as yourself to operate the otherwise invisible digital interfaces of Far Beyonder technology.
This next room is significantly larger than the first. Like the previous one, its walls are made of metal, but the entire floor is covered in topsoil. Whatever the Far Beyonders were doing here, they clearly needed a lot of plants.
You can see two doorways in the room: one to the right side and about the same size as the one you came through, and the other significantly larger and heavily reinforced. Which one do you go through?
[] Door to the side
[] Large door in front
Time: 4 hours/?? hours
Health: 10/10
Food: 100%
Sleep: 11 hours of wakefulness remaining
Inventory: Space Suit, Far Beyonder Robot
[X] Head to the Far Beyonder ruins buried in the Great Valley (1 hour)
-[X] Attempt to climb in using the cave entrance
You run to the Circle of Learning as fast as your legs can take you, sometimes finding yourself ducking to avoid the glances of any passers-by even though you technically haven't done anything wrong yet. As you climb the hill, you take more than a few glances to make sure your grandparents are nowhere near your suit's hiding spot. Fortunately, the coast is clear, and you make it to the tree next to the hiding spot with no incident.
It is when you attempt to unearth the suit that you hear the same faint whirring noise as earlier. You almost leap out of your skin when the robot from the Museum suddenly materializes in front of you. Its fake eye scans you with the same coldness it did during your first encounter, yet, to your relief, it does not attempt to tear your mind apart. Still, you feel it reach out to your mind. A moment later, and you sense a connection between it and you established. You cannot possibly predict what will happen next, but the last thing you expect is a bunch of faintly glowing purple displays appear in the robot's vicinity. They almost look like the components of your suit's HUD, but projected directly into your vision instead of on a helmet's faceplate.
As you look closer at the robot's displays, words in the City's written language manifest on them, one for each separate display: Records, Probe, and Programs.
You open up the Records display, and immediately, the vision overlaid on you switches to what feels like an invisible field. You reach out to it with your mind, and suddenly, a vertical rectangle appears on it. You play around with it further, and you find that you can add text to the rectangle. This must be some sort of note-taking system. Curious but confused, you resolve to play around with it later and move on to the next option.
After switching to Probe, you find the robot suddenly spring to attention, and a path emanating from it to the tree is displayed. You reach out and realize that you can alter the length and direction of the path. After some experimentation, you accept a path heading around the tree, and immediately the robot flies along the course you set. Once it is further away than a meter, you feel the connection you had with it break. However, it returns to your vicinity seconds later and your connection with it is reestablished. Once that happens, you see multiple pictures of the surroundings along the path displayed in your vision. This definitely feels like a useful way to probe areas without you stepping foot there in person.
Unfortunately, when you switch to "Programs," the only thing that pops up is a list with a single entry: "Basic." You wonder if this is incomplete and there are other Far Beyonder "Programs" somewhere out there. For now, the current lineup of features will do.
An idea flashes through your head. Already, there are many mysteries you have stumbled upon. What if you could use the Records feature to keep track of all of them? As the concept crystalizes in your mind, you open the Records display and create a note for the City, and a subnote for the Museum. After jotting down your observations about the rainbow face and the robot, you create another note for Far Beyonder ruins in the Valley. Finally, you create a note for the Astrodrome, jotting down the fact that all of the MBV personnel you've seen today have been on edge about something.
You have acquired a Far Beyonder robotic drone to accompany you on your journey! The Discovery Log in the Informational tab is now active! You also have acquired the ability to send the drone on scouting missions in a manner similar to Outer Wild's probe launcher! Finally you now have the ability to ???!
Once again checking to make sure your grandparents aren't around, you finally unearth and equip your space suit with trembling motions. This is the most dangerous idea you've had in weeks! The voice of sanity in your brain tells you that shouldn't even consider going on a wild chase to alien ruins with unknown dangers just because you had an accident! Yet, another part of you feels that the rules went out the window when you became the first Saurian you know of to use a Far Beyonder artifact. That happened for a reason, and you would not forgive yourself if you could not figure out why.
You're convinced that strange rainbow face also had something to do with it. His "distraction" was far too convenient. Is he also connected to whatever is to you?
You put that thought aside. Your grandparents could be back any second now, and there is no more time to be lost. Once your space helmet is secure and its familiar HUD is broadcasted across your faceplate, you set off for the other side of the Great Wall. This time, you follow an indirect route, giving a wide birth to the homes on the outskirts of the City and hewing close to vegetation you use as cover. It is only once you are past the Airstrip that you are comfortable resuming your normal pace.
The terrain near the edge of the Great Wall is rough and craggy. To others, it would appear an insurmountable rise of rock that no sane Saurian would ever attempt to scale - especially one lacking grasping paws such as yourself. However, you've spent more than one uneventful afternoon exploring here, and you've managed to find pathways among the rock that lead upwards. It shouldn't be too hard to travel the path to your destination, though the bulkiness of your suit makes you somewhat worried.
Pioneering Roll (Easy): 2 + 2 + 2 (Pioneering) - 2 (Unfamiliar with Suit) = 4
4 vs. 8 = Failure
You move towards the margins of a thinner portion of the path when you are faced with a series of natural steps in front of you. You move to try and scale them, but after lifting your forelimbs, you find that they don't flex quite as well as they would without the suit. You try to scrabble atop the steps, only to feel your balance slip! Out of desperation, you try to reach out with your tentacles to stabilize yourself!
Pioneering Roll (Easy): 1 + 5 + 2 (Pioneering) = 8
8 vs. 8 = Success
Fortunately, you have plenty of handholds in the rock ahead of you, and your tentacles quickly find something to latch on. You grip the rock tightly as you try to stabilize your body, then use both your tentacles and your forelimbs to pull yourself onto the step's top. The experience leaves you gasping for air as you try to calm your jilted nerves.
The rest of the way to the cave entrance is much less eventful. You find yourself on a small cliff overlooking the entire Valley. The entrance is a long crack in the side of the Great Wall, thick enough to let you squeeze through. The inside is a very dimly-lit cavern of rock, with the occasional metal glint shining from the left end. At the time, you thought it was too dark to safely explore, but fortunately your suit comes equipped with a helmet-mounted flashlight. You flick it on before slowly wriggling through the entrance.
It takes a minute to get your body through the gap, but once you are done, you find yourself standing on top of a ledge of rock. After shining your flashlight beam around the space, you spot a clear path down a series of rock ledges into the cavern. With trepidation, you head down, watching the mass of metal grow closer. Eventually, you find yourself right in front of it, and your image of it grows clearer.
You seem to be standing before the partially caved-in roof of a room in a Far Beyonder complex of some kind. The clearance on the gap in the roof is enough for you to barely squeeze through. With no other options, you plunge into it, wriggling through the roof before unceremoniously falling down into the room below.
After picking yourself up, you see that you are surrounded on four sides by dark gray metal, interspersed with line-shaped carvings inset with electric blue tints. They vaguely remind you of an electric circuit's pattern, though you suspect they are primarily for decoration. Placed by the walls are large holders containing topsoil.
Deduction Roll (Hard): 5 + 3 + 4 (Deduction) = 12
12 vs. 12 = Success
You aren't sure, but you think these must have once contained living plants of significant size, similar to the kind making up the Valley's undergrowth. But for what reason did Far Beyonders need plants for? Decoration?
In front of you is a multi-segmented plate of metal inset into the wall. The moment you approach it, the Far Beyonder robot projects a new display into your vision, this one resting at the center of the plate itself:
"OPEN/CLOSE"
A door, then? But without any visible handle. Did Far Beyonders even have door handles, or did they use their robots to interact with their technology? Is that why the mysterious stranger bound the robot to you?
Whatever the answers to these questions are, you won't be helped by staying here. You reach out to the "OPEN/CLOSE" display with your mind and it flashes bright purple. Suddenly, the door comes alive, its segments dilating apart in front of you. Quickly, you rush through the now-open passageway before the door changes its mind.
You have discovered the final unknown feature of the Far Beyonder Robot: allowing Saurians such as yourself to operate the otherwise invisible digital interfaces of Far Beyonder technology.
This next room is significantly larger than the first. Like the previous one, its walls are made of metal, but the entire floor is covered in topsoil. Whatever the Far Beyonders were doing here, they clearly needed a lot of plants.
You can see two doorways in the room: one to the right side and about the same size as the one you came through, and the other significantly larger and heavily reinforced. Which one do you go through?
[] Door to the side
[] Large door in front
Time: 4 hours/?? hours
Health: 10/10
Food: 100%
Sleep: 11 hours of wakefulness remaining
Inventory: Space Suit, Far Beyonder Robot
Last edited:
- Location
- Orlando, Florida
I wanted to say that the City's scientists are pretty confident the White Hole is actively spitting out gas and dust particles that are responsible for the interior's much thicker atmosphere compared to the shell, which has a surface pressure only a bit more than Mars'. Glad you're enjoying the quest!
[X] Door to the side
This door seems like it could be another entrance, and so an exit that we can leave from. That seems like the first thing to investigate. So that if somthing bad happens we have an out.
On the plants the place is not air tight so they are probably just either decorations or grow something like food or are medicine.
The robot is intriguing but I don't think I have any ideas not previously stated. The idea of getting more programs for the robot is enticing.
We should check in with the MBV when there is a good time.
This door seems like it could be another entrance, and so an exit that we can leave from. That seems like the first thing to investigate. So that if somthing bad happens we have an out.
On the plants the place is not air tight so they are probably just either decorations or grow something like food or are medicine.
The robot is intriguing but I don't think I have any ideas not previously stated. The idea of getting more programs for the robot is enticing.
We should check in with the MBV when there is a good time.
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MordredRaal
Agitating
- Pronouns
- She/They
[X] Door to the side
Always take the big obvious path last!
Always take the big obvious path last!
Loop 1 - Part 7
- Location
- Orlando, Florida
[X] Door to the side
You enter the side door and find yourself in a room even smaller than the first one, with no topsoil holders at all. Behind the entrance is what appears to be a small shaft of some sort: far too small for you to squeeze in, but large enough for your robot to fit through. When you look to your right, you see another Far Beyonder display pop up by the wall facing the room you just came from. This one doesn't control any door, but instead is labelled "OBSERVATION FEED." When you reach out to it, it shifts into multiple views of the large room. This must have been used to monitor it, but what were the Far Beyonders keeping here that needed constant observation?
Besides the observation feed, you see a far smaller display in the shape of a square. When you reach out to it, it expands to a list labelled with different numbers below a section header reading "ATTACHED LOGS." The attached logs are the following:
"10045.4.10-1.1:
Beta: Construction on observation chamber of the Zoological Laboratory is complete.
Beta: The topsoil is promptly being filled with appropriate vegetation to sustain both future experimental subjects and provide a familiar environment for them.
Beta: My doubts about the enterprise withstanding, the facility shall be fully operational by the next decacycle.
Bary: There you go again.
Beta: Forgive me for being skeptical of diverting limited resources from the groundbreaking work being conducted by other research teams to constructing a new facility when simple field observations would yield similar results.
Beta: However, Gamma's authority outweighs mine, and I have no choice but to comply with their commands.
Beta: This does not preclude me from critiquing them.
Bary: Fine, we'll see who's right and who's wrong soon enough."
"10045.5.21-4.2
Beta: The observation chamber and attached medbay is operating nominally.
Beta: Subject is exhibiting a sustained and atypical fear response to its captivity as well as the preliminary trials presented to it.
Beta: Further investigation is required on this matter.
Bary: An atypical fear response is something Gamma will definitely want to hear about.
Bary: This could be evidence for exactly what they are searching for!
Beta: It is circumstantial at best.
Beta: These are mere animals, and the hypothesis that they could somehow exhibit consciousness equal to that of a sapient lifeform is absurd.
Beta: Regardless, we shall have to wait until the scheduled slate of experimental trials has been fulfilled before drawing any conclusions."
Discovery Log has been updated.
You take some time to absorb this information. These ruins must be the Zoological Laboratory mentioned in the logs. It seemed to have been used to... run trials on animals? But which kind?
[] Write-in actions
Time: 4 hours/?? hours
Health: 10/10
Food: 100%
Sleep: 11 hours of wakefulness remaining
Inventory: Space Suit, Far Beyonder Robot
You enter the side door and find yourself in a room even smaller than the first one, with no topsoil holders at all. Behind the entrance is what appears to be a small shaft of some sort: far too small for you to squeeze in, but large enough for your robot to fit through. When you look to your right, you see another Far Beyonder display pop up by the wall facing the room you just came from. This one doesn't control any door, but instead is labelled "OBSERVATION FEED." When you reach out to it, it shifts into multiple views of the large room. This must have been used to monitor it, but what were the Far Beyonders keeping here that needed constant observation?
Besides the observation feed, you see a far smaller display in the shape of a square. When you reach out to it, it expands to a list labelled with different numbers below a section header reading "ATTACHED LOGS." The attached logs are the following:
- 10045.5.21-4.2
- 10045.4.10-1.1
"10045.4.10-1.1:
Beta: Construction on observation chamber of the Zoological Laboratory is complete.
Beta: The topsoil is promptly being filled with appropriate vegetation to sustain both future experimental subjects and provide a familiar environment for them.
Beta: My doubts about the enterprise withstanding, the facility shall be fully operational by the next decacycle.
Bary: There you go again.
Beta: Forgive me for being skeptical of diverting limited resources from the groundbreaking work being conducted by other research teams to constructing a new facility when simple field observations would yield similar results.
Beta: However, Gamma's authority outweighs mine, and I have no choice but to comply with their commands.
Beta: This does not preclude me from critiquing them.
Bary: Fine, we'll see who's right and who's wrong soon enough."
"10045.5.21-4.2
Beta: The observation chamber and attached medbay is operating nominally.
Beta: Subject is exhibiting a sustained and atypical fear response to its captivity as well as the preliminary trials presented to it.
Beta: Further investigation is required on this matter.
Bary: An atypical fear response is something Gamma will definitely want to hear about.
Bary: This could be evidence for exactly what they are searching for!
Beta: It is circumstantial at best.
Beta: These are mere animals, and the hypothesis that they could somehow exhibit consciousness equal to that of a sapient lifeform is absurd.
Beta: Regardless, we shall have to wait until the scheduled slate of experimental trials has been fulfilled before drawing any conclusions."
Discovery Log has been updated.
You take some time to absorb this information. These ruins must be the Zoological Laboratory mentioned in the logs. It seemed to have been used to... run trials on animals? But which kind?
[] Write-in actions
Time: 4 hours/?? hours
Health: 10/10
Food: 100%
Sleep: 11 hours of wakefulness remaining
Inventory: Space Suit, Far Beyonder Robot
[X] Send the robot down the shaft
Leave no stone unturned!
Well, I think we can all guess what type of "animal" was being experimented on. I do wonder if our species was sentient yet, or just very close to it. This would neatly explain the origins of some of the legends.
Leave no stone unturned!
Well, I think we can all guess what type of "animal" was being experimented on. I do wonder if our species was sentient yet, or just very close to it. This would neatly explain the origins of some of the legends.
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MordredRaal
Agitating
- Pronouns
- She/They
[X] Send the robot down the shaft
Loop 1 - Part 8
- Location
- Orlando, Florida
[X] Send the robot down the shaft
Curious to explore this passageway, you activate your robot's Probe function and order it down the shaft. It promptly complies, heading into the shaft and leftwards until it suddenly stops and turns back around. Once it reconnects with you, you are given images showing the robot reaching a fork in the vent, with one path heading leftwards (from its perspective) and the other heading forwards. You realize that you are going to have to repeat this process many times before the robot finishes exploring the vent system.
It takes a bit of time, but eventually you are able to map out the vents and which rooms they lead to. The starting vent leads straight to another observation room overlooking a large chamber similar to the one you just came from, while the leftward turn leads it straight to another intersection, this one between a forward path and an upward path. The forward path leads to a circular room with topsoil flooring and three alcoves in front. The upwards path takes the robot to another intersection, this one with forward, left and right paths. From there, the forward path takes the robot to a room filled with various equipment and - to your shock - another statue exactly like the one at the Museum. This one also appears to be active. The leftward path takes you to a small room with four other robots like yours lying on the floor. The rightward path takes you to a rectangular room connected to the circular room with a large path, and three small, dimly-lit alcoves are carved into it. An observation room is built by its left wall.
What will you do next?
[ ] Write-in actions
Time: 4 hours/?? hours
Health: 10/10
Food: 100%
Sleep: 11 hours of wakefulness remaining
Inventory: Space Suit, Far Beyonder Robot
Curious to explore this passageway, you activate your robot's Probe function and order it down the shaft. It promptly complies, heading into the shaft and leftwards until it suddenly stops and turns back around. Once it reconnects with you, you are given images showing the robot reaching a fork in the vent, with one path heading leftwards (from its perspective) and the other heading forwards. You realize that you are going to have to repeat this process many times before the robot finishes exploring the vent system.
It takes a bit of time, but eventually you are able to map out the vents and which rooms they lead to. The starting vent leads straight to another observation room overlooking a large chamber similar to the one you just came from, while the leftward turn leads it straight to another intersection, this one between a forward path and an upward path. The forward path leads to a circular room with topsoil flooring and three alcoves in front. The upwards path takes the robot to another intersection, this one with forward, left and right paths. From there, the forward path takes the robot to a room filled with various equipment and - to your shock - another statue exactly like the one at the Museum. This one also appears to be active. The leftward path takes you to a small room with four other robots like yours lying on the floor. The rightward path takes you to a rectangular room connected to the circular room with a large path, and three small, dimly-lit alcoves are carved into it. An observation room is built by its left wall.
[ ] Write-in actions
Time: 4 hours/?? hours
Health: 10/10
Food: 100%
Sleep: 11 hours of wakefulness remaining
Inventory: Space Suit, Far Beyonder Robot
- Location
- Orlando, Florida
You don't know yet, but you'll find out next update.
- Location
- Orlando, Florida
You are in the upper right corner of the map, yes. Sorry for not making that clear in the update.
[X] Explore past the heavy door.
MordredRaal
Agitating
- Pronouns
- She/They
[X] Explore past the heavy door.
A Helpful List of Saurian Vocabulary
- Location
- Orlando, Florida
I thought I would make a list of vocabulary terms Saurians use to describe themselves in order to reduce confusion. Many of these terms were directly taken from or inspired by the vocabulary used in the original Land Before Time movies, but I have changed some of them or even replaced them entirely to fit TLB's setting.
- Clade - a generic term referring to a group of species sharing a common ancestor and common traits. Can be used to refer to groups as broad as sauropods or as narrow as the various species of Triceratops.
- Sharptooth - a generic term referring to hypercarnivorous Saurians. This does not necessarily mean monstrous, as some small predatory clades have integrated themselves into the First City's citizenry. However, the term is usually associated with the large, dangerous Saurian predators of Wild Nest, who cannot speak the shared language of the City and are compelled to hunt the City's citizenry.
- Longneck - the Saurian word for sauropods, specifically those of the titanosaur clade which is the only one still extant in the world of TLB.
- Flyer - Saurian word for pterosaurs. Birds are called "feathered flyers," though this is somewhat of a misnomer as pterosaurs also posses very primitive feathers on their bodies similar to bird down.
- Frillneck - Saurian word for ceratopsians.
- Threehorn - Saurian word for Triceratops and its relatives.
- Duckbill - Saurian word for hadrosaurs.
- Hoofhand - Saurian word for the distinctive species of ornithopod that resembles a bipedal hadrosaur but possesses fully functional grasping claws.
- Rainbow face - Saurian word for ornithomimosaurs such as Gallimimus or Ornithomimus. Named after their distinctive colored patterns on their beaks, which is a mating display.
- Circle runner - Saurian word for oviraptorosaurs such as Anzu. Named after their running abilities and their distinctive "loop" philosophy, which regards the entire world as running in cycles.
- Digger - Saurian word for small, lightly feathered ornithischians such as Thescelosaurus which are known for digging burrows as natural homes.
- Domehead - Saurian word for pachycephalosaurids such as Pachycephalosaurus.
- Spiketail - Saurian word for stegosaurids, thought to be extinct in modern times.
- Clubtail - Saurian word for ankylosaurids.
- Sharpeyes - Saurian word for troodontids, named for their acute eyesight.
- Fast biters - Saurian word for dromaeosaurs such as Velociraptor's relatives.
- Tyrant - Saurian word for tyrannosaurids.
- Swimmer - Saurian word for marine reptiles.
- Leviathan - Saurian word for very large carnivorous marine reptiles such as mosasaurs.
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Loop 1 - Part 9
- Location
- Orlando, Florida
[X] Explore past the heavy door and check the room with the alcoves
After having scouted the vent network, you emerge from the observation room and open the large reinforced door. After you activate the display, the latches on the door begin to slide open slowly but surely. You feel the ground in front of you tremble as the door slides open dramatically, revealing the wide corridor in front of you. Like the observation room, its floor is not lined with topsoil. Ahead, you see a fork in the path. The forward path, corresponding to the other holding pen mapped by your robot, is blocked by a caved-in roof, but the leftward path seems to be all-clear.
Moving down the leftward path, you find another large reinforced door in front of you. Like with the previous one, you open it, and you then step through to find yourself in a circular room possessing a topsoil floor. Your eye is immediately drawn towards the alcoves. Looking closer, you see the leftmost one holding mirrors with a robotic arm emerging from the ceiling. The center one holds a water-filled pit with small stones besides it, and the rightmost one contains a cage with a latch - something that would be right at home in the City. Curious, you wander closer to each. These alcoves are quite sparse and you can't figure out what purpose the contents of each would serve. It seems that any living components to these withered away long ago.
Turning back to the center of the room, you notice a data log node placed right in the center of the room. You open it just like the first one to find the following two entries:
"10045.5.24-10.5:
Bary: So, what does our skeptic make of these results?
Beta: Inconclusive at best, and that is being generous.
Bary: You're kidding me.
Bary: The subject passed all our cognitive tests, and you still don't think there's anything strange going on?
Beta: Very well, if you would prefer me to go over every one of these results individually...
Beta: It is true that self-recognition in a mirror, using water displacement to access food, and improvising tools to open containers are all signatures of elevated intelligence in the animal world.
Beta: However, many species we know of have exhibited these capabilities without possessing full sapience.
Beta: That is a far more extraordinary claim, and extraordinary claims-
Bary: -require extraordinary evidence, yes, I know that, I'm not a hack!
Beta: For one insistent that you are not conducting pseudoscience, you certainly have the demeanor of a charlatan.
Beta: Drawing conclusions and then searching for evidence to prove them rather than the other way around is the hallmark of erroneous scientific investigation.
Bary: You... fine, I guess you have a point after all.
Bary: The evidence is indeed inconclusive.
Bary: I still think there's something more going on here than mere animal cunning.
Bary: Let me run some additional tests."
"10045.6.04-3.7:
Beta: I cannot believe what I am witnessing.
Beta: These results defy all basic neuroscience!
Beta: What could possibly explain subject 3 passing all cognitive tests while their frontal cortex is one half the size of subjects 1 and 2?!
Bary: It's... I don't know what to think.
Bary: This isn't mere problem-solving.
Bary: This... is something else entirely.
Bary: Beta, tell Gamma that there's one additional test I wish to run on the subjects.
Bary: This one will require a dedicated room of its own.
Beta: I will inform our superior and attempt to procure resources for further construction right away."
You try to process the jargon contained in these logs, somehow translated into your language by the robot. You have no idea what a frontal cortex is, but the comments on the intelligence of these animals gets you wondering...
Deduction Roll (Hard): 6 + 2 + 4 (Deduction) = 12
12 vs. 12 = Success
...It clicks to you all at once. Saurians. The Far Beyonders were capturing and imprisoning Saurians! You feel your legs tremble as you process the implications. Thousands of years ago, when they came to Wild Nest, they saw your kind as nothing more than beasts. Despite it being understandable, part of you feels queasy. How could they treat your people like this?
Whatever the culmination of this research was, you still haven't found it. Back to exploring.
[] Write-in actions
Time: 4 hours/?? hours
Health: 10/10
Food: 100%
Sleep: 11 hours of wakefulness remaining
Inventory: Space Suit, Far Beyonder Robot
After having scouted the vent network, you emerge from the observation room and open the large reinforced door. After you activate the display, the latches on the door begin to slide open slowly but surely. You feel the ground in front of you tremble as the door slides open dramatically, revealing the wide corridor in front of you. Like the observation room, its floor is not lined with topsoil. Ahead, you see a fork in the path. The forward path, corresponding to the other holding pen mapped by your robot, is blocked by a caved-in roof, but the leftward path seems to be all-clear.
Moving down the leftward path, you find another large reinforced door in front of you. Like with the previous one, you open it, and you then step through to find yourself in a circular room possessing a topsoil floor. Your eye is immediately drawn towards the alcoves. Looking closer, you see the leftmost one holding mirrors with a robotic arm emerging from the ceiling. The center one holds a water-filled pit with small stones besides it, and the rightmost one contains a cage with a latch - something that would be right at home in the City. Curious, you wander closer to each. These alcoves are quite sparse and you can't figure out what purpose the contents of each would serve. It seems that any living components to these withered away long ago.
Turning back to the center of the room, you notice a data log node placed right in the center of the room. You open it just like the first one to find the following two entries:
"10045.5.24-10.5:
Bary: So, what does our skeptic make of these results?
Beta: Inconclusive at best, and that is being generous.
Bary: You're kidding me.
Bary: The subject passed all our cognitive tests, and you still don't think there's anything strange going on?
Beta: Very well, if you would prefer me to go over every one of these results individually...
Beta: It is true that self-recognition in a mirror, using water displacement to access food, and improvising tools to open containers are all signatures of elevated intelligence in the animal world.
Beta: However, many species we know of have exhibited these capabilities without possessing full sapience.
Beta: That is a far more extraordinary claim, and extraordinary claims-
Bary: -require extraordinary evidence, yes, I know that, I'm not a hack!
Beta: For one insistent that you are not conducting pseudoscience, you certainly have the demeanor of a charlatan.
Beta: Drawing conclusions and then searching for evidence to prove them rather than the other way around is the hallmark of erroneous scientific investigation.
Bary: You... fine, I guess you have a point after all.
Bary: The evidence is indeed inconclusive.
Bary: I still think there's something more going on here than mere animal cunning.
Bary: Let me run some additional tests."
"10045.6.04-3.7:
Beta: I cannot believe what I am witnessing.
Beta: These results defy all basic neuroscience!
Beta: What could possibly explain subject 3 passing all cognitive tests while their frontal cortex is one half the size of subjects 1 and 2?!
Bary: It's... I don't know what to think.
Bary: This isn't mere problem-solving.
Bary: This... is something else entirely.
Bary: Beta, tell Gamma that there's one additional test I wish to run on the subjects.
Bary: This one will require a dedicated room of its own.
Beta: I will inform our superior and attempt to procure resources for further construction right away."
You try to process the jargon contained in these logs, somehow translated into your language by the robot. You have no idea what a frontal cortex is, but the comments on the intelligence of these animals gets you wondering...
Deduction Roll (Hard): 6 + 2 + 4 (Deduction) = 12
12 vs. 12 = Success
...It clicks to you all at once. Saurians. The Far Beyonders were capturing and imprisoning Saurians! You feel your legs tremble as you process the implications. Thousands of years ago, when they came to Wild Nest, they saw your kind as nothing more than beasts. Despite it being understandable, part of you feels queasy. How could they treat your people like this?
Whatever the culmination of this research was, you still haven't found it. Back to exploring.
[] Write-in actions
Time: 4 hours/?? hours
Health: 10/10
Food: 100%
Sleep: 11 hours of wakefulness remaining
Inventory: Space Suit, Far Beyonder Robot
Last edited:
- Location
- Orlando, Florida
You are currently in the circular room and you already visited the habitat to the upper right. The habitat to the upper left is inaccessible due to the cave-in.