Look, Karezen says I get the feeling you belong here as much as I do, which is to say, not at all. If you are indeed sticking it to Lubose, maybe you can help me escape, before I get 'disappeared'. In return, I can give you this. he says, holding up his ID card, Yours may get you into the building, but only this one can access the secret lift in the CEO's office, that leads down to Nightside. The entrance is hidden beneath the fish tank.
Nightside is the secret laboratory that is ran inside this facility. Dayside, nightside, get it? Lubose has been running experiment on my old K-BLD collars, and he is using them to control undead. I never thought that these devices could be used for that purpose!
Karezen also provides access to the laboratory computers.
The computer files mention the solvent polyecotane. According to the data, polyecotane is a solvent used for working with especially brittle materials or for very precise work. In this case, in conjunction with a host of other solvents, polyecotane was being used to refine a specific physical material—some kind of rare mineral that was incredibly fragile and impossible to work with in a raw state. However, the mineral is never named, and doesn't seem to appear in any lab samples. Polyecotane and the associated solvents were part of something called “Project Dawn,” however, all further data on Project Dawn is classified, other than it being headed by Dayside’s CEO, Lubose.
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I'm all for helping him escape. Bringing him along might be the best way to do that. I fear from him that escaping might not be enough. They will likely come after him. If he comes with us and we get more of a sense we can trust him we might offer to take him with us.
"Pronk Lubose, with your pass and info we can fight the Big Cheese right out of office." Jek ques up 'I fought the Big Cheese out of office' "So how were you thinking of escaping? What will you do after that?"
I was hoping you'd help me get off the planet, getting out of the building isn't that hard for me, Karezen says.
Karezen agrees to meet at Dr. Destructo's Record Emporium, finishes up his works and rolls out through the back door on the tune of 'I fought the big cheese out of office'
♫ Cause see I rolled in through the back door
when it was my turn for the throne
I never wanted to stand on your pedestal man
cause I was born to build my own
When they say do or die,
I said no way no how,
they said I wouldn't last for long
But I'm still standing still
in the hurricane's eye
Just dancing to my song ♫
After Jekcedo turns off his antimatter blasters, the group sneaks around the office building. So far, the team seems a bit less confident than usual, but manages to get to the 90th floor mostly unseen.
The unwritten law of corporate Verces is that the CEO's office is on the top floor. Far above the research and public floors, the CEO's office overlooks the perpertual daytime of the industrial district it is situated in, including the dry cleaner's that so helpfully lended the group their uniforms. Both the elevator and stairs have been set up such that they lead into to a wide, smug hallway with a single capitalist door.
The Big Cheese doesn't like being watched, it seems. The entire floor isn't connected to the security system at all
Nothing says '100 credit a second income' like not being disturbed. The doors don't even even yield to the access-all-areas pass that the team managed to fabricate, instead giving a stoic 'dng' beep that universally signals 'access denied' across the pact worlds.
Freeman turns the stoic 'dng' into a much more satisfying 'click' as the door to the CEO's office opens.
The CEO’s office is extravagant and pristine. It has a desk and countertops made of polished petrified wood and lush golden carpets. The walls are opaque windows that can be made transparent with a touch to offer an unparalleled view of the Drest business district. A single computer terminal is embedded in the desk with a holographic touch display just above the worktop. A single framed holographic image sits on the desk, depicting a happy couple, one a quorlu and one a dragonkin. Behind the desk rests a thick, comfortable, dark red leather beanbag made for a large occupant, and a floor-to-ceiling fish tank filled with hundreds of colorful fish.
The holophoto on the desk depicts a quorlu and a dragonkin, looking happy and in love. The quorlu is clearly Lubose, although they don’t yet have a cybernetic eyestalk, and they look younger by at least a decade. The dragonkin looks quite old, perhaps in their 70s.
This picture should be about 50 years old. Since dragonkin rarely live more than 100 years, the dragonkin in the photo is likely no longer among us.
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While TheFreeman works on opening the door Jek Jek ready a stickybomb grenade in one hand and places a frag grenade in Jeks Quick-Release Sheath
"Karezen said something about the lab working on undead control, and the big cheese doesn't have normal security up here I got a bad feeling.
Jek thinks back to Jek's first combat encounter on Jek's first mission where the whole party was all most killed by undead.
Jek takes a closer look at the holo picture.
"Consitering how out of date the clothing in this picture is I'd say it's at least 50 years old." Jek pauses to think a bit then Jek's antenna snap to high alert. "I got a feeling the big cheese is now the walking dead kind of big cheese... Undead dragon kin... Wish I brought a thermal detonator."
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"Huh. You're right, Freeman. No surveillance at all. Must not be willing to risk anything getting hacked."
"Consitering how out of date the clothing in this picture is I'd say it's at least 50 years old." Jek pauses to think a bit then Jek's antenna snap to high alert. "I got a feeling the big cheese is now the walking dead kind of big cheese... Undead dragon kin... Wish I brought a thermal detonator."
"Sounds lovely." Shrugging, she turns to look for the secret door.
The group contemplates the possibility of the dragonkin being active as an undead when Rattus and Arvoris find a panel near the fish tank that is meant to scan identity cards.
HunterKiller managed to get access to the CEO's computer. Dayside Inc. has been working with an unnamed shadow company owned by one of Lubose’s former assistants, whose appointment seems entirely for show. This assistant’s name is clearly linked to a false identity, but Lubose slipped up and referred to them as “Kebzec” in a few instances. All Dayside Inc. products for the past 5 years have a back door code left in them. This code, when activated, seeks out any passwords and financial information accessible to the household tech and sends that data to Kebzec’s unnamed shadow company. Through this arrangement, Dayside Inc. and their ally have been siphoning credits system-wide to the tune of billions each year.
The group uncovers a file on the weapon being created from the seismologist’s work. This weapon causes targeted earthquakes in an area surrounding the place it’s deployed. The earthquakes are incredibly powerful—literally city destroying. Additionally, this machine can select areas within its range to be spared from the earthquake (allowing them to pick and choose what to destroy with an untraceable weapon that seems natural). This weapon has already been constructed, sold, and delivered to an unknown source as part of something called “Project Dawn.” Based on the project’s objectives and goals, it’s clear that the weapon is intended to be used on a large, densely populated city, which will certainly result in extensive loss of life, likely numbering in the millions. Unfortunately, there’s no indication where they intend to use the device or where the device was moved to.
Doubtful as Arvoris is, Karezen's id card actually does work on the panel.
When Karezen's card is scanned, the fish tank and its built-in base slide back along well-concealed tracks, and an express lift rises up from the ground in its place, chimes pleasantly, and opens. Inside, the elevator has only two buttons: “Dayside” and “Nightside.”
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Before slinking toward the elevator, Twila-5 downloads all the pertinent information onto her datapad and sends a copy to the ship's computer. "Great. Mass murder. But where? And why? --Money. Of course it's money. It's just a matter of how." She mutters to herself.
Before crossing the threshold into the elevator, she checks for traps: outside, inside, and all around--especially the "Nightside" button and the floor of the elevator.
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"What was looking bad is now looking MUCH worse. It's been almost too easy to get this far. What if it's a trap? I got an idea what if I set my com unit to record sound and video, and send it down on the elevator, then call the elevator back up? That might give us some clues what to expect down there."
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Arvoris' eyes go wide in surprise as the id card works.
Ok, what's the catch here? Nothing ever goes THIS easy...
Arvoris whistles and shakes his head when he learns about the earthquake weapon.
Agreeing with Twila, he states, "All that loss of life... and for what... money?"
He then nods at Twila's insight and also searches the elevator thoroughly for traps.
"It's up to you if you want to send your comm down first, Jek."
The comm unit moves down, and then back up. The remote footage shows an underground area, with austere hallways and a pink line lighting up on the floor, which seems to be some guide for little drone robots. There is no sign of security, or any cameras. Touchscreens cover the walls playing endless loops of dayside commercials, and the hallway is filled with the sound of 'Imploding Superstructures', a dark industrial synth music with a lot of bass.
No sign of traps.
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Jek shares the recording with the team. "Interesting choice of music down there. It's odd no one is around here. They got a history of killing people to hide things. I wonder if they are done with their research here, and this building is the target of one of their earthquakes to hide the evidence. I think going down is our only option, and fast. It might be up to us to save the city!"
The friendly elevator music chimes as the group descends into the secrets bowels of the friendly, where the light notes are replaced by the dark bass of 'Imploding Superstructures'.
Near the exit of the elevator (it's actually called a lift on Verces) is a blast door labelled 'N E C R O T E C H'. The hallway makes a curve around the corner with further doors.
Arvoris pronounces the all clear on the door.
The laboratory behind the door is separated into two areas. The north chamber is a circular containment unit with force wall panels that’s currently deactivated. Computer banks and touchscreens hang along the curved western wall with controls to activate the containment unit and log research findings. The south chamber is an operating room, with a high-tech surgery table, a collection of tools, and a grisly display of necrografts and preserved organs. A slim light path winds its way through the room and around the table, where a tiny drone idles.
There are three winged creatures with bulging eyes and sharp claws, which have been outfitted with necrografts. They immediately turn hostile as the door opens.
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Arvoris
Twila
Freeman
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Enemy
Enemy
Enemy
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Jekcedo
HK
Rattus
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Arvoris moves to get a clear shot at the creatures.
What ARE these things?
If they are not highly resistant to fire (say, more than 5 points), or if Arvoris doesn't know, he will fire his laser rifle. If Arvoris knows they have 10 or more points of fire resistance, he will instead cast shooting stars at the nearest creature.
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Seeing the situation and seeing one still inside the containment area freeman mutters, "Ah hells, this is gunna suck."
Drone gives a long battle cry that almost sounds like "Lerroooy Freemannnnn!" and follows...
Freeman goes to the control panel and tries to shut beastie number three in so the group only has to deal with two.
Drone follows and tries to shoot the nearest one with hos static arc pistol...
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Twila-5 pokes her head into the room to assess the situation, then ducks back out of sight for a moment before jumping out while drawing her static arc pistol and firing at the yellow-ish flying thing.
[ooc]She's basically using her movement to go back and forth in the doorway, thus is able to draw her weapon.