"Hmmmmm."
When the falling becomes apparent.
"I think we have more pressing questions to answer right now, like are we falling to our deaths and can we stop it?"
"Agreed," Rakavet murmured as the speed picks up. "Perhaps the third button was 'stop'?"
" It might be fortuitous to try at this point."
As the speed of the lift increases, none of the cadre can anticipate what happens next. The speed increases and everyone begins to have a feeling of weightlessness as they slowly rise up from the lowering platform, the lightest first and heavily armored and geared next. Precious seconds remain before the lift is beyond your reach and you all fall to your deaths in the seemingly bottomless tunnel.
[spoiler=Press "Up" button]
Nothing happens as the speed of the lift continues to increase, you have but another second before you can no longer reach another button and you spiral towards your death.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Press "down" button]
Nothing happens as the speed of the lift continues to increase, you have but another second before you can no longer reach another button and you spiral towards your death.[/spoiler]
As soon as you press the button everyone is immediately and strongly brought back down onto the lift, everyone must pass an AG test -10 or take falling damage of 1d10 Impact. Whoever the brave soul is who presses the button saves everyone's life. The rest of you realize how dangerous it can be heading into these pylons and just how little you know...perhaps even unprepared...Your confidence is shaken, but not your resolve..at least not yet.
What you do is up to you. There are buttons to press and perhaps other actions you may take. The next few moments are critical as the fate of the cadre hangs in mid-air.
As the two experts note that the third button is the only remaining option, Phineus leaps forward as the feeling of weightlessness grows and jams it down.
He lands with an eerie grace and gives a curt nod to Gaius. Good call.
Everyone but Phineus do a (+0) WP test
You begin to doubt venturing as is, part of you wishes to return to the outside as soon as possible. There is too much unknown and you feel yourself and/or the cadre unprepared for what lies ahead. You don't really want to lose your life and will be more cautious than usual.
With surprising agility for a scholar, Gaius lands on his feet, his intellectual mind already processing solutions. Giving up doesn't even cross his mind as there is so much more to learn.
" Well done Phineus, you are quite the athelete. Is everyone ok? Perhaps if we move down in stages, using the down and stop buttons we can stop the descent before it gets quite so fast,say press the down button, leave it 2 minutes and press the stop button and repeat, unless you think you could adjust it Master Rakavet."
The master at arms lands with a dull thump, body seemingly reacting like a spring, coiling in on itself and then bouncing back into position almost immediately.
Rakavet slammed into the deck plating, his augmented physiology unable to cope with the sudden jarring motion. Spark flew as his heavy armour scraped along the floor. Rising slowly, Rakavet assessed the damage and decided it wasn't too sever, although he'd need to buff the scratches put of his armour.
"I'm not familiar enough with the technology. I'm better with other types than Xenos. Your measure sounds reasonable enough, however."
As the elevator stops completely, Sister Federica slams to the ground on her knee. "Sacr... What was that?", she asks, standing up.
Dusting her self off needlessly, she mutters a quick, quiet prayer. "I see the suggestion as quite reasonable, no?", looking around.
Phineus returns to his post, I'm happy to defer to the experts. His tone is flat with no hint of irony or humor. So far, so good. Or as well as could be expected.
"Right well if we have no other ideas, here we go."
Gaius presses the down button, waits for 2 minutes (or less if it gets faster quicker) and then presses the stop button, assuming this works he will continue until an opening is found.
As the Cadre comes slamming back into the lift, some remain standing while others lose their footing and hit the deck hard. Not understanding how or why, they continue to descend as before, but now somehow securely placed on the descending platform. After activating the middle button you feel little or no sense of movement as you fall even faster than before. After a few more minutes it finally loses speed and gently comes to a hault.
Before you lies a door that's been forced open by the looks of it. Someone spent some time torching and cutting to get through the thick door. It looks recent, but hard to tell how much so.
The area is still dark and the only signs of power are for the lift and what used to be some kind of interface by the door. It looks badly damaged and smashed, as if someone didn't have much patience for the machine spirits. Clearly of Xenos design or archeotech it no longer functions, nor is it necessary with a hole in the door.
The opening is large enough for everyone to fit with ease, even a bit larger than human size.
"Well this distortion of gravity is fascinating and will definitely warrant more research, I am assuming maybe magnetic fields Master Rakavet...Ah we seem to have arrived and it would seem we aren't the first. Obviously we need to head through and this is an obvious choke point. I would suggest someone armoured, but agile first, maybe you Sister? I will auspex scan first though."
7dos
Phineus continues to sweep the comms channels as he takes up his post in the rear. He scans as the group moves, taking advantage of his high quality sensors and their ability to pick up heat and energy sources, as well as the in-built auspex.
Nodding at Gaius, Sister Federica puts on her helmet, draws her pistols and moves in through the breach. "I will take point." The jump-pack whirls as it's powered up.
"I'm in. Looking for movement." The voice buzzes through the vox.
Gaius and Phineus take a closer look at the door and the surrounding area. From your examination of the door and the breach, its unclear whether something broke in or something broke out. There are scratches and scrapes as if something moving between the spaces had a tight fit. There is no dust or dirt to help analyze tracks, just a breach in the door that was done with powerful tools and/or energy.
Sister Federica steps in first, but is distracted by the sounds of the Jetpack as it stirs to life and fills the halls with a high whined pitch, with echos moving down the hall. Additionally, the hall isn't that large or tall, roughly 3 meters by 3 meters, so she finds herself with little room to fly. Perfectly square and edges cut, surely not natural, the scans show no heat signatures or anything more than solid rock. While the area and corridors you previously explored were not natural, you now find yourselves in an underground cave. To what purpose or end you have no clue yet.
Auspex are unable to pick up any signals or radio traffic, but with the thickness of the rocks and being in an underground cave, it would be hard to detect any signals. The path continues forward, dark and smooth, nearly pristine and untouched for who knows how many years.
"Well this is unclear, something big either came or went. Be on your guard as we move forward, as we now appear to be underground we could come across anything as there is a lot more space down here."
Taking up a position in the centre of the group, Gaius checks his weapons.
The interface on this side is smashed. While the damage makes it difficult to tell which side whatever it is came through, I think that may indicate it traveled in the direction we are going. It is also possible that someone on this side destroyed the interface to lock the door? Phineus shrugs almost imperceptibly, Either way, it goes without saying that we should be ready for anything.
"The emperor protects...
but a loaded bolter never hurt either."
Turning off the jump pack as soon as she sees the corridor, Sister Federica stops. "It would appear that we are quite deep underground, no? I'll move in first, side by side with Master Marleno. I would suggest Master Rakavet and Phineus keep the rear guard. Senior Adept, you would be in the middle. I suggest we proceed straight down the corridor, and disregard all distractions." At this point, she had stopped and looks back into the elevator. "Senior Adept, I dare assume you still have your perfect memory, no? I would suggest taking notes or remembering the layout and the way we use to proceed. This place could be quite labyrinthine." The Palatine's voice gives the orders with seemingly no expectation of backtalk.
Needlessly checking her pistols once more, Sister Federica ventures down the corridor.
The team moves beyond the damaged door and further down the hall until they reach a chamber that opens up with no apparent exits. Its about 20m wide and 10m at its tallest point in the middle, with the ceiling curving down towards the ground. There are no edges or grooves, no cracks or blemishes that you notice. In the middle sits an alter like area, made up of the same smooth stone of the cave. It rises from the floor and appears to be single piece of stone connected to the floor and rising up to form the ceiling. On top of the raised alter sits a metallic looking box.
Moving forwards slowly, Rakavet began to scan it with his Auspex, seeing if it was giving off any detectable readings or energy signatures. "Wouldn't want to touch something that would melt us," he said cheerfully as he worked.
Sister Federica stares at the Techpriest. "Well, I do not bel...Oh.", before realizing that he's making a joke. Not the usual techpriest, is he? A faked smile to mask her confusion (and embarassment), she nods at Phineas. "I do believe I saw some tracks, Phineas. I'd suggest both of us go and track them as the others do work on not being melted."
"If this is truly Necron work, my abilities may prove less effective here.
Fortunately, it will not hamper my swordsmanship.
However, this is unusual..."
The Master at arms words slowly fade away as his face resume it's normal stoic and unsmiling mien, the momentary glimpse of a more animated person disappearing.
Scan's of the area show no heat signatures or anything out of the ordinary. As you focus on the box your scans can't seem to penetrate the box. The material looks unknown, perhaps of xenos or archeotech origin. Looking closer at the box you see its a small square foot box with no hinges and smooth round edges of perfect craftsmanship. On one side in the middle is what appears to be a button. It is emerald green and in the shape of a diamond.
The only tracks you can find are your own. None seem to enter the chamber from the door.
"It appears to be safe," Rakavet reported as he examined the button, "Or at least as safe as such a blasphemous creation against the Machine God could be."
Leaning forwards, the Tech-Priest attempted to work out what it did.
Phineus nods curtly and follows the Sister.
Seeing the scrapes and the lack of obvious signs to track, Sister Federica shrugs. "I wonder if there are secret openings or anything."
Phineus follows the Sister quietly looking around for any signs of the tracks she speaks of. He shrugs slightly as she speaks about secret openings and scans the area with his sensors.
" Master Rakavet, I am not familiar with much archeotech or xenos technology, however my knowledge of the tenets of science and technology is yours if I can help at all. Shall we slowly progress our search forward? although I might switch this on first!"
Activating his Conversion field Gaius steps forward to inspect the device as closely as possible.
4dos
6dos
As the cadre splits its efforts and expertise the men examining the newly found box are stumped. Nothing they can scan seems to indicate what it is or its purpose. There are no energy signatures and the craftsmanship too great to try and visually compare to something else. The smoothness and reflection are water-like, while the green diamond shape part shows nothing to give it or its purpose away. It may not even be a button, perhaps an emblem or insignia. Perhaps some sort of lock.
As the others look for tracks in the hallway leading to the chamber they notice no other doors or means to open or activate something.
Rakavet shook his head. "I can't find out more without being more direct, and that will carry risks. I do not know xenotech well enough to say what might happen. I am, however, prepared to take the risk if others feel it is necessary."
"Master Rakavet, much must be risked for the Emperor, but you are the only one who will be able to interpret this.."
With this Gaius will reach forward and touch the box with a finger, if nothing happens he will touch the diamond.
Gaius decides to take a risk and touch the unknown device. His finger slowly approaches and lightly touches the surface, body nearly snapping back his hand in reflexively from touching something so foreign. As nothing happens and Gaius breathes a little easier, he moves down towards the diamond shaped area and runs his fingers across, again nothing noticeable happens. It seems ok to touch and inspect more closely.
The device seems warm to the touch, warmer than the ambient temperature of the room
Phineus makes no move to follow the shuttle, instead he uses his scanners to detect anything within it as it pulls away.
"Apparently there isn't so much to risk this time! Well perhaps we can investigate it further now? What about if i tty and press the diamond in?"
Gaius will then attempt to do just that.
Sister Federica walks back in the room, observing what's happening. "May I suggest that we first go and find a way out of here, then send a recovery team? I believe that all caution is necessary when encountering such artefacts, of obvious alien nature, no?" Unless this... device is the way out..., she says to the others.
You don't detect anything on the descending platform. It doesn't seem to pick up much speed as it disappears from sight.
Attempting to press the diamond does nothing that you can notice. However the box seems sturdy and dense. If you try to move it, you are unable to alone.
"Well it seems safe to touch, but unnaturally heavy, we could landmark it for now and return later if you wish Sister. Right how do we get out?"
Nodding at Gaius, Sister Federica gestures towards the elevator. "I suggest we figure that first, before considering the box. Let's explore this floor for an exit, then if everything else fails, try the way we came from.", before walking outside and beginning to look for other rooms and corridors.
"In the fullness of the night, the emperor is a beacon of light, illuminating even the darkest passage..."
The platform has left. Phineus says over the comm.
The cadre is left in the room with the box and now no exit. There is a panel you observed earlier that might be useful in recalling the lift, though it's damaged. You could attempt to descend it with your equipment, or try to go back up somehow, but the distance is great and seemingly impossible given the speed you descended. If you observed the platform leaving, you think the slower speed means there could be another level close by.
Any attempt to move the box fails and you arent left with much new information. Perhaps you arent alone down here.
What will you do next? How do you want to proceed?
"Well, that is certainly awkward," Rakavet commented as he glanced at the box. "I suppose we can press the button and see what happens, or we can try fixing the elevator controls. Or we can climb down." Rakavet glanced at the shaft. "Personally, I'd prefer the first two..."
Tech use - 20 to repair, luminen charge to power.
The console is motion sensitive you determine while repairing, you bypass that to activate circuitry upon success. You can't identify what powered it before, too badly damaged and circuits severed. Once activated the status light changes from red to green, that's the only indication you get that you've succeeded.
Those do seem to be our options. Phineus shrugs as he waits patiently.
"Well let's start by seeing if I can help you fix them first then."
Gaius pulls out his combi-tool and starts exposing the mess of damaged wires.