Skrivix peers in, then looks at Harrac expectantly. "Isn't this where you charge in like a pissed off bull?"
You make your way cautiously inside the building and into a large chamber. Compared to the dim light outside, the interior of this circular room is quite bright. The source of the illumination is a clear central pillar approximately 10 feet in diameter, which pulses with a continuous series of bright bursts of blue light that travel up and down the interior. Around the perimeter of the chamber, numerous terminals and instruments are embedded in the white walls and provide readouts on a range of information both biological and technological. There are no creatures, or drones to be seen.
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Harrac turns to Talc, "don't insult our silicone sisters here! Ok Talcalliope?" He slowly walks over to the pillar, adjusting his comms unit to see if he can pick anything up. "Use that datapad of yours Rei, see if you can pull anything out of the stream. Don't stop till you get enough."
He walks in a circle around the pillar before calling out, "oh great Error Null Record, we did what you asked. Now how do we get out?"
Rei walked up to the nearest terminal and set her datapad on it. She pulled an interface cable and began connecting the leads. "Okay, let us see what kind of information we can gather for later study."
jena
harrac
rei
skrivvixx
talc
As soon as Rei begins interfacing with the terminal, the door to the room vanishes, replaced by solid, featureless concrete as a cool, mechanical voice speaks.
"Greetings, interlopers. Your behavior thus far has been noted. Final adjustments to the study have been made, and the building has been sealed for your personal safety. Commencing Duskmire sterilization protocols. Thank you!"
With that, a deep and ominous hum fills the room.
R1: rei, skrivvixx, jena, harrac, talc
Skrivix readies himself, looking around warily.
”If this is something you chose to do Rei it would have been nice to at least let us know in advance. Is it too many robot parts? Do they take away your sense of humanity?”
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Harrac watches Talc lose his mind, "heyyy buddy? you ok there?" He turns to Rei to see what she's doing but calls out to the room, "You thank us with sterilization?!? What does that mean?! No little Harracs running around? What's happening outside? It's very unscientific to destroy the experiment once you get the result!"
He moves to where the door used to be and starts banging on the wall, "what's going on out there Unikitty?" Hearing nothing he grips his blade harder and looks around for something to hit.
No sounds from outside the room penetrate the thick walls, and your words have no obvious effect on whatever intelligence is controlling this place. However, one of you does do something to gain more insight. Rei's efforts to stop what was going on had no effect on the room, but she did manage to decode some of the datastream that was being passed through the terminals. One of these was a list of files, including some of the operating protocols for the simulation. There was nothing listed as "sterilization procedure". There was, however, a file listed as "Experiment Results". Most of the data in this file was gibberish, technical jargon that would take some serious time and analysis to figure out. But, near the bottom of the file, one line stood out:
Gnolls: 2, Yetis: 3, Unicorn: 3
The humming sound continued to rise in both pitch and volume. The flashing lights on the walls and central pillar also increased in tempo and intensity, almost painfully bright.
There are no obvious threats
R2: rei, skrivvixx, jena, harrac, talc
Skrivix shouts to Rei, "Hey when you're done playing GigaTetris over there would you mind hitting the mute button on the console?"
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Harrac is at a loss. He grabs Talc's arm and leans in to scream in his face, "IF THIS IS IT, FRIEND, IT'S BEEN FUN. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THERE WAS A DJ THAT WAS SOMEHOW WORSE THAN SKRIVIXX AND THEY WANT TO KILL US WITH SICK BEATS" He starts dancing around the room, trying to find some kind of melody in the sound and strobing lights. Every circle he makes, he tries to glean something useful from whatever Rei and Jena are doing.
"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO US? DON'T YOU WANT TO SEE LITTLE JARRACS AND HENAS?" He winks at Jena as he continues to flail about.
As you try desperately to understand and control what is going on, and avoid the large vesk dancing his way through a panic attack, there is a loud, bass rumble and the lights go dark for a moment before returning to normal. The computers resume their monitoring and central pillar returns to a steady glow, with occasional pulses of blue. Any attempts to communicate with the room are met with silence.
The doorway reappeared and you can see the cavern beyond. Outside you find no evidence of anything having happened, and you suspect the controlling intelligence was either testing, punishing or just messing with you.
A more relaxed investigation of the room confirms that the pillar in the center is a sensor node with massive energy usage and output. You further learn that the information gathered by the equipment in the room is being sent somewhere else, but exactly where remains unknown. Penetrating the security features and understanding the nature of the high-tech equipment in the room likely requires several months of dedicated effort from Starfinder technicians.
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Having finished your investigation of the power source, you make your way back to the original entry into the cavern to find the forcefield gone, and your exit from the cavern unimpeded. The airlock to the vault is open and you find Vex and a team waiting on the other side. "Starfinders! I'm glad to see you back safely. You had me worried when the vault locked down." You report your findings to him, and he calls an end to further investigations for the time being, focusing instead on studying the temple's technology and extracting any survivors from the vault.
Skrivix surveys the team with a puzzled look. After a prolonged pause he quietly addresses the Vex team. "It is a simulation. Beware the unicorn in the swamp with a grenade launcher. It is not friendly. Shit gets real. But like... it isn't real." He trails off with a dazed expression on his face.
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Rei talks to Vex about her findings while hacking the powersource.
"It seems like it is some sort of experiment. Based on some key information i found during the hack, specifically 'Gnolls: 2, Yetis: 3, Unicorn: 3' lead me to believe that we were not the first to enter the simulation. It sounds as though it is keeping a tally of which of the 3 factions comes out on top. Still unsure why. I'd like to be kept informed as your team learns more about this, so i can keep my databanks up to date."
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Harrac nods his head and leans in to "whisper" to Talc, "I KNOW! THAT'S WHY I'M WHISPERING. HEY, DO YOU THINK JENA WAS IMPRESSED BY MY SWEET DANCE MOVES? SINCE I DON'T HAVE ANY COMPUTER HACKING SKILLS, I NEED TO SHOW OFF MY NUNCHUCK SKILLS AND BOWHUNTING SKILLS. GIRLS ONLY WANT BOYFRIENDS WHO HAVE GREAT SKILLS!"