"Allow me to go first, my armour does not hinder me as much as some, and I am more than capable of self defence."
"Wait Master Ludicus,now we have found these servo skulls, I think we would all rather risk them in service to the emperor and save risking yours. If either myself or Master Rakavet operates it and the other taps into the optic link then we can bring both brains and knowledge to play on this one."
4dos
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Another man might have to suppress a hint of irritation at having begun to scale the pylon already.
Ludicus however took the news and suggestion with the same stoic acceptance as if he had been told that the Amasec was only 50 years old, not 51.
He simply allowed himself to drop gently down to the ground and nodded his understanding.
Gaius is easily able to guide the servo skull up as Ludicus begins climbing.
Upon reaching the location where the tracks end the servo skulls augers begin making a detailed scan of the area and when it nearly seems hopeless the array seems to detect some discrepancy in the texture and composition of the pylon. A small power signature, barely detectable at close range. The pic-recorder zooms in and Gaius' real time view through the MIU shows him a small rounded piece protruding from the surface of the structure, and looks as though it could move. Certainly not natural and most curious.
It is possible for the servo skull to use a tiny manipulator to attempt to apply pressure to the area, equivalent to a human touch, though mechanical.
The servo skull immediately disappears in front of your eyes in a small flash of green light. This can bee seen by anyone looking. Gaius if you did it with your MIU, then I need a WP test.
Ludicus already nearly there and equipped for the job has shown himself a capable climber and could easily reach the area. Assuming he knows what he's looking for he could attempt to press it or further inspect it if he desired.
With one additional servo skull left, Rakavet could easily participate in this endeavor and either search or attempt closer scrutiny.
Anyone else could attempt to climb and touch the area in question, not hard to find if you know what and where to look. The pic-recordings on the Servo-skulls could provide very precise locations for any of the members to search for.
You disappear in a flash of green light, no sound. This can bee seen by anyone watching. You stumble and fall unless you pass an agility test. In the blink of an eye you went from scaling the pylon by rope to being in pitch blackness. There is no source of light, there is air you are breathing, as your stretch your legs or move around you feel nothing. The surface of the floor is smooth and cold from what you can tell so far.
Powering up the skull, Rakavet began to scan the the Pylon. "Would you like me to haul a rope up as well? I think the skull can manage that."
As Rakavet is powering up the second skull, Gaius spots the power signature. Sending the skull in for a closer look he reports to the others. "Nothing to report.... Oh wait, I have detected something protruding from the structure with a small power source, I am sending in the skull to investigate further. Let me see if I can grasp it .. " As the skull's manipulator extends to the object, the servo skull immediately disappears in front of your eyes in a small flash of green light. This can be seen by anyone looking.
pass
You have lost contact with the Servo Skull and are no longer receiving any data from it. Gaius' mind is strained by the sudden disconnection, but he relinquishes control in time, suffering no side effects. You have no indication the Servo Skull was destroyed, it is simply vanished. You will need to consider more deeply what you saw and where you are to recall some reasonable explanation.
You see that nothing has changed from before, the are protruding is still there and there are no changes in anything the Augurs could scan.
Phineus waits patiently in place for an update, confident that his compatriots are handling the situation.
"I have located the area of disturbance, nothing has changed physically."
Sister Federica stares at the pylon, still on the ground. Irritated by the noise, she turns off her jump pack. Trotting around, she then looks up at the others. "I have a dataslate myself. It would be possible to take the power source from mine, then use that source to power the one we found, no? I do not know as much on such matters as you, mind you."
There is no connection between the warp and this that you can recall. While instantaneous movement from one point to another is possible through the warp, especially short distances, you are certain this isn't the case, the flash of light and trigger mechanism, not warp related. While the Pylons have been known to interfere with the delicate ebbs of the warp, you don't recognize nor feel any connection here. You also recall rumors and stories of the "Necron" who supposedly built these, and you believe they were unable to channel the warp or use it for this manner. It must be something else entirely.
Staggering slightly at the sudden disconnection, Gaius steadies himself and reorders his mind. "I am afraid this is outside of my knowledge, I will need to study this in depth to work out the cause, but although I hate to admit it, I don't even have an idea of where to start."
As Federica makes her suggestion Gaius ponders it. " Yes well that might work, even if the power source isn't the same, it should run at a similar voltage and we could improvise a connection, perhaps they gained some knowledge of this disappearing trick, I could take a look, but Master Rakavet this is more your area."
While portions of the data seemed to be corrupt you can gather a few hints of their work. In Chronological order:
1. There is no indication of that they discovered anything unusual about the pylon. They had been doing routine research, but its unclear why they were at this particular pylon.
2. There's some indication in the logs that they believed they were being watched or observed by....***Incomplete data***
3. They had finished their research and had planned to leave the following day but ***incomplete data
4. Some file directories show there were more detailed scans and analysis uploaded to the slate, but the information isn't recoverable.
5. The Servo Skull that returned shows an internal structure within the pylon, but it was not programmed for deeper scans. Its preliminary data shows a network of connecting tunnels just barely accessible by the Servo Skull. Once it reached a larger cavity within, it showed no light or energy signatures, there are no recoverable pic recordings stored on this data slate, or the data has been corrupted or lost. (This is a summary of the logs.)
6. The acolytes were excited by this discovery and sudden return of the servo skull, they stayed a little longer than planned but were to return in the afternoon.
The above is all that you can gather from the internal memory of the data slate.
There is one encrypted entry that requires some work. -10 Tech Use:
Personal log: "I swear I saw a green light in the dawn above us, while looking to the sky and then the servo skull appeared. I don't know if its the sun playing tricks on me or if the servo skull appeared out of no where...It doesn't matter how it returned, it only matters that it did and the data inside should finally prove....***Incomplete data
"Interesting...", says Federica, leaning over the fixer's shoulder. "Can you get me a timestamp on the when the last message was recorded in? And for the pylon, I believe we could either wait on our servo-skull or try to enter the same way it did. Risky, but I don't know if time is on our side, no?"
She begins pacing around intensely, staring at the distance and beginning to automatically draw and holster her pistols, deep in thought. Send someone inside? No, that's the Inqusitor's call. Volunteer? No, you don't know enough... Perhaps the Master at Arms would volunteer himself, he seemed willing. The Emperor would protect him, shall he venture inside... But does he know enough about this pylon? Does anyone? A test, perhaps?
She puts the bullet she's been playing with back in the revolver's drum, sliding it back, then turns around again. "I think, unless Her Ladyship decides anything else, we should send someone inside and wait for their return. May I suggest the pilot?"
awareness test for pilot
The pilot is busy daydreaming and doesn't over hear the conversation or see the servo skull disappear, though he's not far away after having brought over the skimmer to offload the equipment. He's a slightly overweight looking man who doesn't look particularly in shape or interested in what the cadre is doing.
" Well i am inclined to agree with you Federica, in so far as we either wait or we attempt to follow. If only one of many has returned then the likelihood that this one will is low. I myself am fascinated and would like to investigate, but i fear i am not perhaps suited to the potential dangers on the other side. It is a risk as it may not be a respirable atmosphere on the other side, but i would go if one of you more dangerous types would accompany me. I fear an unwilling conscript won't serve us too well here"
"Whatever this phenomenon is, it is not related to the warp.
I can recall rumours of the xenos known as Necrons being responsible for the construction of the phylons.
Necrons are reputed to be unable to interact with the warp completely."
"This phenomenon strikes me as something more likely to fall within Magos Rakavet's learning.
Archeotech perhaps, or xenotech."
"The Necrontyr created many wonders in their time, using sciences so advanced they are nearly indistinguishable from magic to us now." Lillian comments through her Voxcaster. "This could possibly be an artifact effect of their time, if it is not of more recent artifice."
She engages her antigrav drive to the max and her coffin slowly rises up. "I will explore this anomaly myself." She says as she moves the coffin to touch it.
As the Inquisitor finally speaks up and shares her wisdom the cadre watches as her coffin slowly begins to rise towards the location of the mark on the pylons wall. Upon reaching the height she extends a manipulator thats connected to her coffin and disappears in a flash of green light, no sound. This can bee seen by anyone watching.
In the blink of an eye you went from scaling the pylon to being in pitch blackness. There is no source of light but there is breathable air you are able to detect.
Just as before, the others still have the option of climbing and activating the device as well.
You disappear in a flash of green light, no sound. This can bee seen by anyone watching. You stumble and fall unless you pass an agility test. In the blink of an eye you went from scaling the pylon by rope to being in pitch blackness. There is no source of light, there is air you are breathing, as your stretch your legs or move around you feel nothing. The surface of the floor is smooth and cold from what you can tell so far.
Lillian ignites the hololithic projector on the front of her coffin and uses it as a lamp to illuminate the darkness and see what she can see.
"Where the inquisitor goes, so too much the interrogator."
With no hesitation, Ludicus touches the area.
Phineus climbs last, taking up the rear as ordered.
Rakavet considered the wisdom of this endeavour. Messing around with clearly Xenos tech was a recipe for disaster, and his limited knowledge of this particular species suggest they were more dangerous than most. But ties to the Inquisition were binding. His oath to the Machine God had been given to obey them until it went against his ways, and this, so far, did not. Cadia was too important to fall, even if it meant relying on dreaded heretekial machines.
The Tech-Priest followed.
"Alas Argos you size is prohibitive here. Guard this entrance until we return. I hope that is not too long!"
With the lack of dexterity, to be expected of a scholar and a fair bit of assistance. Gaius ascends to the device. After a closer inspection and photos for evidence, he touches the device.
Tumbling in the darkness, Gaius goes sprawling, fumbling with his helmet, he adjusts the settings.
Climbing up the ropes, Sister Federica touches the... thing last. "Pilot! We are going into the pylon. If someone else comes here, tell the guard dog, then depart and check back with us every 30 minutes. Emperor be with you."
The sister isn't expecting pitch darkness and falls down as soon as she enters the unknown. Sac...
Putting on her helmet, she draws a pistol from her side and shouts over vox, "Palatine Federica checking. Status report!", as she looks around for the others.
As the team makes their way one by and activates the device they suddenly disappear and reappear into pitch darkness, some falling, others maintaining their composure. As they regain their wits and begin to look around, they notice they are alone. The walls smooth with no markings and clearly unnatural, having been shaped countless years ago if they are the age of the Pylons.
As you look ahead, you see only one path before you. It's dark and your only option is to venture forward or attempt to return from the way you came.
You find a small area similar to how you entered that can be depressed.
You find little evidence of these passageways being used. You follow them and they lead to the central corridor where you meet up with the others. They look to be human and similar to what you saw outside. None of the prints are leaving though, only one way in each of your tunnels.
After 5 minutes of venturing forward you're able to eventually meet up in a centralized corridor connecting all the hallways. Once there you see a central console of sorts in the middle and may examine the room further.
The central console is a very simple interface that has 3 buttons. It looks very old and the technology interface rudimentary. It's as though someone bypassed the main controls and did some work, but you don't know or understand how or what they did.
One is probable up and another is down. The third could be anything.
You are able to discern between the xenos technology and the interface built to power and control the equipment. It is very advanced and micronized technology unlike anything you've seen before, or only heard rumors about. There is more to it if you took the time and dismantled it, but for now you can figure out how to operate it and activate the bypass and power the console.
It is Necron glyphs to the best of your knowledge. This confirms so much about the pylons itself that its nearly overwhelming. Greater DOS and I'll provide more perhaps.
You seem to be in what looks like an elevator shaft. It's round and the edges are smooth and nearly seamless, but you notice that there is the slightest separation between the floor. The lift could easily accomadate all of you and is quite large, nearly as large as the room itself. Which is about 30 square meters.
"We may not have been the first people here, there are tracks leading from my initial position, and I see tracks from your tunnels as well.
None of them come back however..."
"Hmm, this appears to be an elevator shaft, and the floor of the lift mechanism covers nearly the whole room."
Phineus notes the notch and moves on quietly.
Looks like this is the way...
He quietly makes his way to the center and joins the others. Phineus leaves the technology to the others and examines their surroundings through the whole spectrum available to him.
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"It would appear that many have come here from many locations, maybe the other pylons, but haven't returned, i guess we will see if it was death or another way out that claimed them."
Upon reaching the lift shaft.
Yes, yes a lift. I would assume we have up, down and other, but i can't see how it works. Rakavet, any ideas? Otherwise we may be stuck here. When it moves let us assume a perimeter, we have no idea on which side it will open or what we may face. Weapons ready i suppose."
[ooc]Just using my combat formation talent, we can all use my int bonus of 12 for initiative.
"It would appear that it's reasonably simplified," the Tech-Priest replied after studying it. "One button to go up, one button to go down. As to the third, I do not wish to guess. It could be later movement, all things considered, or some kind of teleportation device to exit this place.. I can only garner a rudimentary understanding of it without completely dismantling it, and that would seem to be a poor choice right now. It could leave us stranded."
As the Cadre finally rejoins one another and share what they have learned, the Inquisitor remains silent and distant as usual, as if waiting for the Cadre to make their decision and act.
Having figured out the dimensions of the lift and how to operate it, the the station remains powered and idle awaiting an input.
During the wait there is no change and the area remains the same. Eerily quiet and dark, no sounds are able to permeate through the walls and for some reason you hear no echo, as if the walls are absorbing the sounds you make. While you didn't notice it initially, the idle time and observation of each other might be cause for concern or curiosity.
As he is concentrating on the console, eerie quiet goes unnoticed by Gaius. "Which way do we want to go? Up, down or ... other? Rakavet, this is a little too advanced for me, but I am ready and waiting to assist you. Would you like to pick, after all it really makes no difference as we know nothing about any of the options."
Rakavet considered. "No logical reason, but I would suggest going to the top floor and working our way back down. Thus we know nothing is likely to be behind us, although given what we're dealing with..." The Tech-Priest looked at the panel. "I would not recommend 'other' until we have some slight idea what it does."
Phineus stands quietly and unnaturally still as he keeps watch.
"Hmmmmm." The Inquisitor says, but little more for awhile. "I'll leave the choice up to the team."
"I agree, logic dictates that there is a limit to how high we can go in any structure, but limit to how far down we can go is much less certain."
"I agree, logic dictates that there is a limit to how high we can go in any structure, but limit to how far down we can go is much less certain."
"Neither is certain in this place. The Necrontyr have multiple technologies that we know of, and perhaps many more we don't, that are based on ungodly sophisticated space warping physics theorems. This space may be unlimited in dimension, despite the size of the tower on the outside." The Inquisitor comments. "Regarding how to choose which button to push, our logical choice may be limited to enee menee minee moee."
"Waiting around doesn't do us any good, no? As far as I can see, the only ways are up and down.", says Federica, twirling one of her guns out. Approaching the console, she continues. "Your points have been very reasonable, more than I could imagine. In such case, I believe my task here is clear.", she says, her finger hovering above the UP button. "Master Marleno made his point well. I suggest we follow it.", she nods at the Master at Arms, pushing the button.
"May the Emperor protect us all in this venture.", she mutters as the button sinks in. She draws her other pistol and points it towards the door. "Let's see what lies on the other side."
Sister Federica finally decides to man up and press a button as the Intellectuals get momentarily distracted by the theoretical and scientific implications of the discovery. Much to the teams surprise nothing happens as they ready for an invisible enemy that never materializes. Motionless and tense, as they knew not where or how the device operates everyone breathes again and awaits for someone to try another button.
"It is of course possible that we are already as far up as this lift would take us.
Or that the unknown button is needed before either direction can be travelled.
I suggest we try the button taking us down first."
" That seems as good a choice as any, here we go."
Gaius presses the 'down' button.
Phineus continues to wait. His body remains eerily still and his pistol is trained on the door. He might as well be a statue and seems ready to stand there indefinitely.
"A little concerning," Rakavet commented, "That the initial teleportation took us to the top. I wonder if it was designed to go further with the third button..."
As the machine travels, Federica catches her eye on the pistol trained towards the door. "Master Phineas.", she says, studying the weapon without leaving sight of the door. "I'm curious about your... Ordo. As you know, us Adeptas are quite known, and so are stories of our actions. But very little is known about you, at least by me. While we're waiting, I thought I'd ask you to share what you can. That is reasonable, no?", staring at the assassin.
Nodding at Rakavet, "I believe that if the 'down' button doesn't provide us with answers, we may be forced to venture into the unknown once more with this button. Perhaps it could be a combination of sorts? You are the experts on this, I'll leave it to your judgement.", she gestures towards Adept Haxtes and Rakavet.
Ludicus bows his head momentarily.
"We walk into the unknown every day, but the light of the emperor shall guide us to safety.
From the golden thrown, his light shines upon us."
His pistol never wavers, the sound of his voice slightly distorted and filtered by his mask, We are trained in stealth an marksmanship in order to destroy enemies of the Emperor. I mean no disrespect by my terse answer, Sister, but I know of no more precise information I could give.
For the purposes of our mission, I can infiltrate nearly any environment either through silence and camouflage or other means.
The lift immediately hisses and clamps release underneath the platform that begins lowering into unknown depths. As the room slides up and the platform descends the walls are still the same unnatural surface of this entire complex so far. The sounds and movement seem very out of place for a complex warped into and a race with far greater technological means than this loud and clunky lift.
As you descend you see nothing but darkness and no floor that you could access. You do see a few tunnels along the way, but none large enough for anything but maybe a servoskull.
5 minutes of descent and no idea how long it will take, you roughly try to calculate your current depth.
Calculating the speed and rate of descent isn't difficult for you, you estimate you are roughly 300 feet below where you entered.
There seems to be a slowly increasing breeze as the platform grows quieter over the course of the next few minutes. Anyone paying enough attention to the speed may attempt to extrapolate what is happening.
You notice that speed has increased considerably, nearly doubled. You are concerned with stopping and how far you are falling, everyone else should begin feeling the effects soon as their bodies may not fall at the same speed as the lift once terminal velocity is reached.
After some time, the speed of the lift is accelerating far faster than you anticipated and some of you begin to feel the physical effects and a slowly increasing feeling of falling. Those that are heavier will take a few moments longer to notice.
"Hmmm, it does appear that we did indeed enter at the highest point, or at least the highest point of this particular shaft.
And the further down we travel, the more cavernous the structure can afford to be.
Something like an...underhive?"