In the tradition of Zork, King's Quest and other text-adventure games, I want to do something similar here on TL. Basically this is how it will work: I will post a narrative of what's going on around you, and using your wits and simple commands you will move through the story. For example:
****EXAMPLE***** You climb down the rope and find yourself at the bottom of a well that seems to have been dry for years. The river stones that line the walls of the well are beginning to loosen themselves from the cement and are slowly falling out of the walls, revealing the dry tan clay behind.
>look at the floor
On the floor are chipped and broken rocks from the crumbling well wall. You also notice a large stone that seems out of place.
>move stone
You push the stone out of the way. Underneath the stone, a briefcase made with very dark leather has been buried. The clasps are shut and locked - a 4-digit combination is required to open them. *****EXAMPLE*****
You supply the simple commands - nothing too extravagant or specific. However, all commands will be considered and the story's protagonist will perform them to the best of his abilities. I will update this several times daily (because stories are awesome and you are awesome) so keep checking back!
*****OKAY SO THE STORY STARTS... HERE*****
It's a hot summer, and you and a couple of your buddies decide to take a week off of work and go camping up in the mountains, which are a few hours' drive north. Your friend Marc just got a promotion at his job, so he's treating you and your other friend Alexander to a 5-night stay at the best campground he could find. You guys talk about the trip on the way there. "This is going to be awesome. The campsite was a little pricey, but it's nice and secluded and it's got the best view of Deer Mountain for miles" Marc tells you. You're really excited - you're going to go skiing, hiking and have a bonfire or three with two great friends.
"I don't know, dude. We're gonna be way off the main road. What if someone gets hurt?" says Alexander, with a look of worry. "Quit whining, Alex. You're just mad I made you get out of the house and do something other than play video games with the blinds shut all day." counters Marc. Alex rolls his eyes and goes back to playing his DS. Marc, who picked you and Alex up right after work and didn't even change clothes for the first day of camping, loosens his tie and grins. "We're almost there, gentlemen. Just another hour on the road or so and we'll be roasting marshmallows and tossing back some cold beers."
Two hours go by, and you still aren't there. Marc furrows his brow and presses random buttons on his GPS to get it to respond. "This is too weird, I just bought this thing. Piece of crap." Marc continues to fiddle with the GPS as he drives on a narrow mountain road. "Keep your eyes on the road, man!" Alexander yells, as Marc almost ran the car off the road and over the side of a very steep embankment. The drive continues up the winding mountain pass for another 20 minutes, and then the "LOW FUEL" light turns on. Confused, Marc drives on for another minute when he notices a dirt driveway towards a log cabin and turns onto it. There's a metal gate in the way, but it is unlocked, so Marc stops the car, gets out and opens it. "Stay in the car, man. Alex and I will go see if these guys have some gas for us. No big deal if they don't, I can always call AAA or something." Marc and Alexander get out of the car and walk to the log cabin. Marc knocks on an old wooden door that has been patched several times with plywood, with no response. A minute goes by, and you see Marc check the doorknob. It's unlocked, and they both go inside. Assuming that your friends will be right back, you recline the front seat and close your eyes.
You awake in a panic. You arrived at this cabin in mid-afternoon, and the sun is now setting. You check your cell phone - it's 8:22 pm. You've been asleep for over three hours! You jump out of the car and jog towards the grassy clearing in front of the cabin to get your bearings. You turn around in a circle a couple times, and you realize something unsettling.
This might be fun, the other ones we've done were fairly enjoyable. It might be a good idea to put all the actual choices in a poll so you can see what people want rather than sifting through pages of garbage. On an unrelated note, why would you start the thread before the story is ready?
On July 04 2010 12:24 ghermination wrote: This might be fun, the other ones we've done were fairly enjoyable. It might be a good idea to put all the actual choices in a poll so you can see what people want rather than sifting through pages of garbage. On an unrelated note, why would you start the thread before the story is ready?
Like I said, I'm open to any choice. Similar choices will be grouped together. Weird or impossible choices will be performed to the best of the character's ability.
I will edit the OP shortly. I'm just gonna start this now.
On July 04 2010 13:20 BroOd wrote: >Go back to the car and sleep until your friends get back.
You go back to the car. The seat is still reclined, so you lie down and close your eyes. Since you're worried about your friends and just woke up from a 3 hour nap, you find it impossible to sleep. Instead you lie on your back and stare at the car's roof for 10 minutes wondering what happened to Marc and Alexander before getting out again.
On July 04 2010 13:28 Caller wrote: grab the skis and ski downhill to make your getaway
The roof rack holds three pairs of skis, one for each of you. Alex thought it would be funny to rent a pair of pink ones, and those are the ones on the passenger side. You unhook Alex's skis and poles and walk back to the road.
You cross the road and look down. Man, what a slope! You've been on roller coasters with a shallower incline than this. You are also well below the snow line. You strap on the skis, grab a pole in each hand and look down again. The slope extends a good 300 yards at a neck-breaking angle before starting to even out at a thicket of dense pine trees. You can't see another building anywhere. Even if you made it to the bottom, where would you go? What if your friends came back and found you missing? After giving it some thought, you decide that the last thing you want right now is to be found dead and mangled Sonny Bono-style while wearing Pepto-Bismol pink skis, you take the skis off and walk back to the car.
On July 04 2010 13:49 qrs wrote: >enter cabin
You drop the skis off at the car and walk to the cabin door. You'd think a strong wind would probably break it in half - it's half plywood. A dirty and torn screen window on the door opens up to the dim room beyond. You open the door and step inside.
There's quite a bit of stuff in this room. Even in the dim light, a lot of it seems out of place. You call out, "Alexander? Marc?" No answer, just sunlight coming in through the boarded up windows highlighting the incredible amount of dust. Neither of your friends seem to be here.
On July 04 2010 14:33 Beloth(OD) wrote: > Yell out at the top of my lungs "IS ANYBODY HOME?!"
You suck in a great lungful of air, and yell "IIIISSSS ANNNYYYOOONEEE HOOOOME?!?!" as long and loud as you can. The lead glass windows shake in their loose frames. Your ears are ringing. Thirty seconds pass and you get no response.
On July 04 2010 14:38 BottleAbuser wrote: >look at dust on ground for tracks
You look at the ground. What you once mistook for carpet was actually an astonishingly thick layer of dust. Gross! Lucky for you, thick dust means you can see where people have been moving around. The tracks are a bit hard to follow, but there are two sets. The footprints move around the room, to one of the boarded up windows, to a bookcase, to a long-cold fireplace, to a dining room table and to what looks to be a large pile of broken and very old computer equipment. The strange thing is that the tracks seem to end somewhere in this room - the footprints are only facing inward from the door.
On July 05 2010 06:31 KtheZ wrote: > Get the hell out of the cabin and attempt to establish contact with ANYONE with phone.
You kick open the cabin door and get outside - that place is starting to give you the creeps. You pull out your cell phone. Being this far in the mountains means you are getting awful cell phone reception - you remember the GPS acting up several miles back. Looking through your numbers, you decide to try and get in contact with Marc and Alexander.
First you dial Marc. It takes you five or six tries before you can call out without the connection dropping. The phone rings twice before Marc picks up. "Marc? Where are you guys?" Marc sounds exasperated, almost panicked. There is little background noise, just Marc's voice through the phone. "I don't kn...! I w.... the cabin... Alex... ... try.. ....ch. ..found a... ...cas...." The connection cuts off mid-sentence. You dial him back five or six more times, but can't get a signal. You then try and call Alex. Again it takes you a few tries, but the phone finally connects through It rings seven times. Right before you think it's about to go to voicemail, you hear a click. "Alex? You okay, man?" No answer. For several seconds you can hear thick static and shallow breathing. You hear a click, and the call ends.
On July 05 2010 09:09 shinosai wrote: >Go back into the cabin. Retrack the footprints to the dining room. Search for a hidden room.
You re-enter the cabin from the front door.
Considering that you don't remember your friends leaving this cabin, you decide to take a look around. The light coming through the boarded up windows is growing dim - it will be completely dark in a matter of minutes. Following the footprints is nearly impossible - if you dropped your keys at your feet you think it'd probably take you a good minute to find them. Since you don't feel like stumbling over who knows what in the dark, you take a look around right near the door. Right above your head is a single lightbulb with a pullstring. Directly to your right is a wall with a small metal panel door about 4 feet off the ground. To your left is a shelf with what looks to be a few tools, and in front of you is the dark rest of the cabin.
On July 06 2010 05:24 Inkarnate wrote: >Go back to the car and chug a/some beer(s) to get your courage up.
Well, this cabin is creepy as hell. You walk back out to the car and pull the trunk latch. Inside are two cases of some cheap beer that Alexander picked up on the way, as well as a tire iron, some jumper cables and your backpack. You pick out a can of beer, poke a hole in one and shotgun it. It isn't ice cold like cheap beer should be for rapid consumption, but it gets the job done. 3 cans of beer and 10 minutes later and you feel ready to take on anything.
On July 06 2010 07:22 emperorchampion wrote: >Grab the Tire Iron and go investigate the cabin again
EDIT: Try to open metal door in cabin
Tire iron acquired. You think you should probably get something to carry things in, you only have 2 hands, and your pockets are full. You open the cabin door and look at the metal panel. A closer look in the dark indicates that this is a circuit breaker. You open the door and see the following:
Everything is in the off position, except for the final three circuits. One is labeled 'Secuirty Door'. The other two seem to have been placed in the 'ON' position, had their switches broken off and their labels blacked out with a permanent marker.
You hear the faint hum of electricity wash over the house. The lightbulb above you flickers, and then burns brightly. Most of the lights around the cabin follow in tandem, and now the cabin sings with the sound of humming wires and lightly buzzing incandescent bulbs. For a place in the middle of nowhere, almost out of the reach of satellites and cell phone towers, it sure is getting a lot of power.
On July 06 2010 09:27 Inkarnate wrote: > boot up the computer if the power goes back on. check for anything suspicious like pictures of dead animals and/or children
> grab your backpack from the car and fill it with food and drinks. You've played enough Fallout to be prepared.
You head back out to the car, again, and grab your backpack. Inside you find:
an iPod with earbuds a bag of peppered beef jerky a book, "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley a clean pair of socks
You throw the contents of your pockets and the tire iron in the backpack as well. You search through the car, grab 4 bottles of water, 2 cans of beer (just in case), a big bag of trail mix and 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Unfortunately you can't find any bottle caps, so bartering with the dust bunnies for Nuka-Cola is going to be difficult. After loading up, you put on the backpack and head back to the house.
You walk through the dusty house, and go through every room. This place is a dump. Aside from the monstrous amount of dust on the ground, most of the appliances don't work - the toilet is broken, the sinks run brown from rusty pipes and the refrigerator in the kitchen is not only dirty but filled with mold - the food rotted away long ago. Smelling the remains of whatever was in that fridge causes you to double over and dry heave so hard that your eyes go blurry for a moment. Through your searching, you don't find a whole computer anywhere - just parts in the large pile on the dining room table. And that stuff looks dated, too. There are at least six giant magnetic rolls of tape that very old computers used to use to write things to memory, the sort of thing you'd see slowly rotating on the front of some calculator at NASA back in 1960.
All you have to go on at the moment are those tracks your friends left in the dust, and after retracing their steps, they both end at a bookshelf on the far wall of the living room.
A backpack Cell phone house, car and mailbox key on a keyring Wallet with $26 and your ID a ball-point pen a tire iron an iPod with earbuds a bag of peppered beef jerky a book, "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley a clean pair of socks 3 bottles of water 2 cans of beer a big bag of trail mix 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
> Start pulling out all the books from the book shelf just in case one of them triggers a secret door like in movies, also read the first 10 pages of "Brave New World"
On July 06 2010 16:30 Beloth(OD) wrote: > Start pulling out all the books from the book shelf just in case one of them triggers a secret door like in movies, also read the first 10 pages of "Brave New World"
You pull Brave New World from your backpack and start reading. This story, from the first 10 pages, seems to be about some future where people are grown in bottles under dynamic conditions based on their "genetic predestination" - eugenics mixed with home brewing. Those considered of high-grade genetic material, the A+, are destined for the most lucrative jobs. Working down the list of Greek letters, the Epsilon caste seems to be suited for not much more than cleaning sewers - the scientists in charge of this bottling of children even expose them in vitro to chemicals they may be working with for the rest of their miserable lives. You muse that the caste system reminds you of iCCup rankings, and you smirk at the thought of D- players being grown in jars and blasted with radiation.
You put Brave New World in your backpack and walk to the bookshelf. It is about 5 feet wide and almost as tall as the ceiling. Looking at the titles, all of them are technical and engineering manuals from decades ago - some of them even describe schematics for vacuum tubes. Looking for some sort of hidden door, you pull all the books off the shelf, one by one. Heavy tomes fall to the floor in an ever-rapid pace as each book proves to be just that You swipe the top shelf of books off with your forearm in frustration, and one of the last books hits you square in the cheekbone. You cry out in pain, rub where the corner of the book hit you, and look at the perpetrator. It's not a technical manual. It's Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
A backpack Cell phone house, car and mailbox key on a keyring Wallet with $26 and your ID a ball-point pen a tire iron an iPod with earbuds a bag of peppered beef jerky a book, "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley a clean pair of socks 3 bottles of water 2 cans of beer a big bag of trail mix 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species
On July 07 2010 03:17 Durnic wrote: Change my socks, put Ke$ha on my iPod and examine the rolls of tape more closely for titles or dates.
As you always say, "If in doubt, change your socks". You take off your shoes and the pair you are wearing, roll them together and throw them in your bag. You slide on the pair of clean white tube socks with a tingle of satisfaction only a fresh pair of socks can provide. You can't decide if it's the beer you chugged 30 minutes ago or the new socks, but you are already feeling a little better about the situation. To really get you in the mood for exploring abandoned cabins alone in the middle of nowhere, you put in your earbuds and crank "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha. "How did Ke$ha end up on my iPod?" you muse to yourself. No matter. You are fairly sure you have never woken up feeling like P. Diddy or brushed your teeth with an entire bottle of hard alcohol, but the song is damn catchy.
You grab one of the tape reels and look at it. The dented aluminum case for it is labeled "Steinholz - Replicate 27 - 19 Oct 1964". You take the reel out of its case and extend the magnetic strip out a bit and hold it up to a lightbulb. All of the information on this tape seems to be magnetically encoded, like a cassette tape. And just like a cassette tape, you can't tell what's on it just by holding it up to the light.
A backpack Cell phone house, car and mailbox key on a keyring Wallet with $26 and your ID a ball-point pen a tire iron an iPod with earbuds a bag of peppered beef jerky a book, "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley a dirty pair of socks 3 bottles of water 2 cans of beer a big bag of trail mix 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species
>Unwind the magnetic strip and wrap it around the diameter of the reel several times, then tie a knot at the end. Stick your forearm through the makeshift handle and equip the tape reel like a buckler.
>Remove ear-buds to be aware of strange noises.
>Go outside, turn on your vehicle's cabin lights, and search for ski equipment, specifically a ski pole or six to use as weapons or tools.
On July 07 2010 03:36 Durnic wrote: Play the tape.
As all of the machines you see in this room have been disassembled or destroyed, you can't find anything in the area to read the magnetic film. Instead, you play a game called 'The Tape' with yourself, which consists of spinning the aluminum film canister on the ground like a giant coin while jumping up and down and clapping. Whee!
On July 07 2010 03:55 EchOne wrote: >Unwind the magnetic strip and wrap it around the diameter of the reel several times, then tie a knot at the end. Stick your forearm through the makeshift handle and equip the tape reel like a buckler.
>Remove ear-buds to be aware of strange noises.
>Go outside, turn on your vehicle's cabin lights, and search for ski equipment, specifically a ski pole or six to use as weapons or tools.
Who needs information about what the hell is going on in this place when you can have a flimsy plastic and aluminum buckler? You unwind that bad boy with gusto and fashion yourself a sweet shield. Now you are an impenetrable wall of metal and advanced hydrocarbon polymers. Nothing can stop you, except for anything more than a couple pounds moving faster than a couple miles per hour.
You remove your earbuds and put the iPod and Ke$ha's ridiculous rantings about men that look like Mick Jagger back in your backpack. Walking back outside, you notice just how damn dark the mountains get at night, every last one of the stars is out. The mountains provide a black background to the blue and white brilliance above you. You take two graphite ski poles from the car, wielding one as a weapon and the other you collapse and throw in your backpack. Now after you're done defending yourself with your immovable wall of a shield, you can break your walking stick hitting anything harder than a down pillow. You're ready for battle. A cursory scan of the car's front and back seats didn't do much good - it seems like you've taken everything useful from the car for now.
Great. Now you're ready. You've chugged beer, fashioned yourself weapons, ruined a perfectly good bookshelf, considered skiing down a steep and snowless slope and made at least 50 trips back and forth to the car. You've accomplished every task you put your mind to except for finding your friends. I guess old habits die hard, you've always been a bit of a procrastinator.
A backpack Cell phone house, car and mailbox key on a keyring Wallet with $26 and your ID a ball-point pen a tire iron an iPod with earbuds a bag of peppered beef jerky a book, "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley a dirty pair of socks 3 bottles of water 2 cans of beer a big bag of trail mix 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species a collapsed graphite ski pole
>Move to the side of the bookshelf and attempt to pull it along the wall, away from its current position, while trying to keep it from toppling away from the wall.
On July 07 2010 08:49 EchOne wrote: >Move to the side of the bookshelf and attempt to pull it along the wall, away from its current position, while trying to keep it from toppling away from the wall.
You position yourself on one of the narrow ends of this old bookshelf and push hard. It doesn't budge. Not an inch. It doesn't tip away from the wall, nothing. You try to pull a corner out from the wall and succeed in nothing more than hurting your hand. You're pretty sure that there's something strange about this bookcase - why would it be so solid against the wall unless someone wanted it that way? Maybe you picked up a clue earlier.
A backpack Cell phone house, car and mailbox key on a keyring Wallet with $26 and your ID a ball-point pen a tire iron an iPod with earbuds a bag of peppered beef jerky a book, "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley a dirty pair of socks 3 bottles of water 2 cans of beer a big bag of trail mix 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species a collapsed graphite ski pole
On July 07 2010 10:57 EchOne wrote: >Flip through the pages of On the Origin of Species rapidly.
You take Darwin's On the Origin of Species from your backpack. This looks like a really old copy. You open up the front cover and ready your thumb to flip through the pages, but you can clearly see that there is no need. Inside, the pages have been hollowed out. The moment you turn the book upside down to flip through it, a small cassette tape clatters to the floor, followed by a piece of paper that lazily floats downward. You pick up both and inspect them. The piece of paper looks like it came from the corner of a yellow legal pad, and it has the following diagram and short note written down. It looks to be hastily drawn:
a bag of peppered beef jerky 3 bottles of water 2 cans of beer a big bag of trail mix 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
A backpack Cell phone house, car and mailbox key on a keyring Wallet with $26 and your ID a ball-point pen a tire iron an iPod with earbuds a dirty pair of socks a collapsed graphite ski pole a cassette tape labeled 'PLAY ME'
a bag of peppered beef jerky 3 bottles of water 2 cans of beer a big bag of trail mix 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
A backpack Cell phone house, car and mailbox key on a keyring Wallet with $26 and your ID a ball-point pen a tire iron an iPod with earbuds a dirty pair of socks a collapsed graphite ski pole a cassette tape labeled 'PLAY ME'
On July 08 2010 02:55 EchOne wrote: >Take the cassette back to the car. Check if car has a cassette player. Play tape in car's cassette player if possible.
You leave the cabin and make another trip to the car. The car isn't exactly new, but it's not old either. It has a CD player and a radio, and a black sound jack coming out from behind the sound system where Marc jury rigged a place to plug in his mp3 player. The system isn't stock and doesn't have a cassette player, and even if it did, you don't think it would help. The cassette is really small - something you'd find in an old answering machine or voice recorder. You look at the cassette and the note that came with it. There has to be some significance to the diagram...
a bag of peppered beef jerky 3 bottles of water 2 cans of beer a big bag of trail mix 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
A backpack Cell phone house, car and mailbox key on a keyring Wallet with $26 and your ID a ball-point pen a tire iron an iPod with earbuds a dirty pair of socks a collapsed graphite ski pole a cassette tape labeled 'PLAY ME'
The note refers to the circuit breaker, with DOOR referring to the security door and the 2 X's are the unmovable switches. I'm guessing O means On and | means off ... so we should turn off the kitchen bathroom and security door, and turn on the living room, bedroom, and foyer.
I would like to do a few others things first: examine all the film reel descriptions, as well as the shelf with some tools.
I----------O O---------I DOOR O--------X I----------X
You squint your eyes and concentrate real hard. You grit your teeth and think as hard as you can - if you concentrated any harder you are certain the paper would catch on fire. You concentrate so hard that you get dizzy and sit down hard on the ground outside - you think you might have popped a blood vessel in your eye.
After the dizzy spell goes away, you did have something come to mind: + Show Spoiler +
Steinholz, the word found on a film reel description, is German for "Stone Wood", there's an interesting and short wikipedia article here: + Show Spoiler +
Also, everything about this cabin implies it's been abandoned for a long time. The dust, the film reels, the date on the reel (10/19/64), and the technology implies nobody's been here for decades.
Also, the note referred to Typhon and Echnida, known in Greek mythology to be the mother and father of all Greek mythological monsters. It's implied in the note that they're in facilities 31 and 27 ... and I've got a bad feeling the two X'd out switches in the circuit board have to do with facilities 31 and 27 lol.
On July 08 2010 03:46 Happy.fairytail wrote: The note refers to the circuit breaker, with DOOR referring to the security door and the 2 X's are the unmovable switches. I'm guessing O means On and | means off ... so we should turn off the kitchen bathroom and security door, and turn on the living room, bedroom, and foyer.
I would like to do a few others things first: examine all the film reel descriptions, as well as the shelf with some tools.
On July 08 2010 04:06 KtheZ wrote: Following what Happy.fairytail said,
>Flip kitchen and bathroom off also.
Your epiphany leads you back to the circuit breaker. Sure enough - 8 switches, 2 at the bottom right broken. Just like on the scrap of paper. Your heart beats hard with anticipation as you flip the switches. Some lights go off and on in the house according to their assigned breakers. You flip the door switch into the off position and... nothing. Hmm.
The circuit breaker is now in the following position: + Show Spoiler +
You turn around and look at the shelf of tools while you ponder your next move. A lot of this stuff is old and rusted from being out for so long, much of it seems unusable. These are (or were) all construction tools, maybe for when this cabin was made. Hanging from the wall is a rusty wood saw with half of the teeth missing, which is next to a hacksaw with the rusted blade broken in half, with a half dangling from each end of the saw. On one end of the shelf is a box of nails that have rusted together, and on the other is a Phillips head screwdriver. On the very center of the shelf an old claw hammer.
After studying the tool shelf, you go back to the film canisters. In no particular order, you examine their titles: Steinholz - Replicate 27 - 19 Oct 1964 (this is the one you made armor out of ) Steinholz - Te|||||||l||||| |||||||r||||||||| (this label has been scratched off with a permanent marker) Steinholz - Facility 7 Environment Control Log - 12 Oct 1964//12 Apr 1965 Steinholz - Dictation on Replicates 1-24 - 22 Sep 1964 Repair Log - 29 Apr 1965 Steinholz - Modified Epidemiology of Filoviridae
a bag of peppered beef jerky 3 bottles of water 2 cans of beer a big bag of trail mix 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
A backpack Cell phone house, car and mailbox key on a keyring Wallet with $26 and your ID a ball-point pen a tire iron an iPod with earbuds a dirty pair of socks a collapsed graphite ski pole a cassette tape labeled 'PLAY ME'
>
((happy.fairytail please spoiler your link on Steinholz - it is breaking the page layout ty ty <3))
I'm pretty stumped here guys, someone take over while I take care of some work...
Some notes in my head: Filoviridae is the family of viruses that Ebola belongs to, a disease that results in death by diarrhea and is usually fatal. I'm guessing there are same # of facilities as there are replicates, which refer to the virus. Replicate #27 and #31 sound particularly deadly, as indicated by the note. Finding a way to listen to the film reels and the cassette tape sound pretty essental.
On July 08 2010 05:20 Happy.fairytail wrote: > take screwdriver and hammer
I'm pretty stumped here guys, someone take over while I take care of some work...
Some notes in my head: Filoviridae is the family of viruses that Ebola belongs to, a disease that results in death by diarrhea and is usually fatal. I'm guessing there are same # of facilities as there are replicates, which refer to the virus. Replicate #27 and #31 sound particularly deadly, as indicated by the note. Finding a way to listen to the film reels and the cassette tape sound pretty essental.
You take the screwdriver and hammer from the shelf and fit them into your very full backpack.
On July 08 2010 05:28 Durnic wrote: Turn on the kitchen, bathroom and security door. Turn off the living room, bedroom, and foyer.
You return to the circuit breaker and switch everything that was on off, and everything that was off to on. You click the final circuit, the one labeled as '"SECURITY DOOR" on the inside of the circuit panel, and immediately hear a loud CLICK echo from the other room, like the sound of a thick metal bar sliding into place. Chills run down your spine.
The circuit breaker is now in the following position: + Show Spoiler +
a bag of peppered beef jerky 3 bottles of water 2 cans of beer a big bag of trail mix 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
A backpack Cell phone house, car and mailbox key on a keyring Wallet with $26 and your ID a ball-point pen a tire iron an iPod with earbuds a dirty pair of socks a collapsed graphite ski pole a cassette tape labeled 'PLAY ME' a claw hammer a Phillips head screwdriver
On July 08 2010 06:07 Beloth(OD) wrote: > arm yourself with the hammer and the crappy shield and drink some water, this could get messy
The crappy shield is already tied to your arm, so you collapse the ski pole and put in your pack, and gird yourself against unknown dangers with the fury that only a claw hammer can bring. You pull a bottle of water out, drink it down and put the empty bottle back in your backpack. Gotta stay hydrated when you're bringing the fury, you know.
On July 08 2010 06:19 Durnic wrote: >Instead of the water, drink a beer. It has water in it. Right?
To cover all of your bases, you pull out a beer (not quite as ice cold as it was in the car) and down it fast. Beer brand beer - liquid courage at its finest.
On July 08 2010 05:48 [NyC]HoBbes wrote: >check to see what is making the noise
Armed and ready, you walk back into the living room. The dark cabin is eerily silent after the loud metal sound you heard just moments before. The smell of old furniture and dust is overpowered by the electric smell of ozone. Deep below the cabin, you now notice a very low frequency hum at your feet that must have been there before - more of a throb, like the slow pumping of a diesel engine. From behind the empty bookcase you see a light.
a bag of peppered beef jerky 2 bottles of water 1 can of beer a big bag of trail mix 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
A backpack Cell phone house, car and mailbox key on a keyring Wallet with $26 and your ID a ball-point pen a tire iron an iPod with earbuds a dirty pair of socks 2 collapsed graphite ski poles a cassette tape labeled 'PLAY ME' a Phillips head screwdriver an empty water bottle
On July 08 2010 07:41 Omnius wrote: >reexamine the pile of computer parts to see if you can find some way to play the tape
You make your way to the pile of computer parts and sift through it. There's plenty of broken vacuum tubes, bent computer cases, piles of ancient microchips and magnetic tape writers with their old corroded wires hanging out of them like electronic viscera. Among this detritus you see nothing that could play this tape - it must have come from a personal voice recorder or answering machine.
On July 08 2010 07:23 [NyC]HoBbes wrote: >examine the bookcase for any change, try to move it again
You walk back to the bookshelf as your heart pounds in your chest. You don't like the idea of some high security facility in the middle of the mountains, and you especially don't like the idea of it while you're exploring said place alone in the dark. You move to the side of the bookshelf and get ready to push it. There is a faint flow of air coming from behind it, the only breeze in this stale cabin. The smell of ozone is stronger. In your head you get yourself ready by counting down. 3... 2... 1... NOW! And on 'now' you push as hard as you can. The shelf rolls smoothly on rails and casters into the opposite wall. Your push was way too hard and you fall flat on your face. After a moment of stunned silence, you sit up and look at what was behind the bookshelf. The cabin sits on the side of the mountain, and this tunnel goes well into the hard granite rock. Halfway down the tunnel a sodium lamp is fastened to the stone ceiling giving off the lonely orange glow of a street light. At the very end of the tunnel you see a thick steel blast door.
On July 08 2010 10:35 Beloth(OD) wrote: > Start hammering away at the bookshelf to get rid of it, play some heavy metal on the ipod for motivation
No glorified shelf is going to humiliate you, no sir! It's time to bring the noise on this sorry excuse for a bookcase. You pull the bookshelf back out of the wall, put in those earbuds, do a couple quick push-ups to get you pumped, and blast some Metallica.
Blow after furious blow is dealt to the bookcase. Shelves buckle under your rage, splinters of particle board fill the air like the atomized blood ejected from a broken nose. Boards collapse, and you keep swinging. Your face and hair are matted with sweat and covered in shards of wood. After a solid five minutes of beating the shelves into wood pulp, you breathlessly survey the damage. Man, that shelf had it coming. You slide the barely recognizable remains back into the wall. It feels like hiding a dead body.
a bag of peppered beef jerky 2 bottles of water 1 can of beer a big bag of trail mix 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
A backpack Cell phone house, car and mailbox key on a keyring Wallet with $26 and your ID a ball-point pen a tire iron an iPod with earbuds a dirty pair of socks 2 collapsed graphite ski poles a cassette tape labeled 'PLAY ME' a Phillips head screwdriver an empty water bottle
> Put some beef jerky inside a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and have a quick snack, then look for a way through the steel door, and if that doesn't then take out "The Fury" and begin work on the steel
On July 08 2010 14:02 A3iL3r0n wrote: >checks pants for genitals.
After a quick unbuckle of the ol' belt, you unzip and then extend the waistband of your undies. You are confirmed for genitals. Balls are go for launch.
On July 08 2010 12:23 Beloth(OD) wrote: > Put some beef jerky inside a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and have a quick snack, then look for a way through the steel door, and if that doesn't then take out "The Fury" and being work on the steel
Feeling particularly manly after beating an inanimate object back into its component atoms and then making sure your jibblies were securely fastened, you decide to make a particularly manly sandwich. Peanut butter, jelly and beef - a PBJ&B. You wolf down that bad boy and march down the tunnel like you own the place.
You reach the door, and it looks heavy. It has three levers, one which looks like a handle and the other two are attached to pipes that work their way inside the door. It's interesting to note that the door is designed to be sealed from the outside... As you reach the door, a cobwebbed speaker blares out a grainy computerized voice.
"THIS AREA IS OFF LIMITS. SECURITY SYSTEMS POWERING UP. ESTIMATED TIME BEFORE COUNTERMEASURE DEPLOYMENT *tick* *tick* *tick* 45 SECONDS."
a bag of peppered beef jerky 2 bottles of water 1 can of beer a big bag of trail mix 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
A backpack Cell phone house, car and mailbox key on a keyring Wallet with $26 and your ID a ball-point pen a tire iron an iPod with earbuds a dirty pair of socks 2 collapsed graphite ski poles a cassette tape labeled 'PLAY ME' a Phillips head screwdriver an empty water bottle
On July 08 2010 15:23 BottleAbuser wrote: >Leave. Return to circuit breaker. Turn security door off. Return to tunnel.
(gdroxor you are an AMAZING writer. I love you in a non-sexual way.)
That speaker is LOUD. You don't want anything to do with security systems or countermeasures - especially ones manufactured in the 60's, before the days where deadly guardian programs in secret facilities were governed by ethics laws. All that courage you built up with beer, pushups, 80's metal and a PBJ&B drain from your face as quick as the blood, and you book it back to the circuit breaker as fast as your legs will carry you.
You flip the switch labeled "SECURITY DOOR", and again the metallic CLICK, like a very big prison door being locked. Upon returning to the tunnel, the ruined bookshelf is back securely in place, and you see no light under the secret door. It seems like you're either going to need to figure out a way to deal with the security system, or wish for longer arms so you can flip the breaker switch from the tunnel.
The circuit breaker is now in the following position: + Show Spoiler +
a bag of peppered beef jerky 2 bottles of water 1 can of beer a big bag of trail mix 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
A backpack Cell phone house, car and mailbox key on a keyring Wallet with $26 and your ID a ball-point pen a tire iron an iPod with earbuds a dirty pair of socks 2 collapsed graphite ski poles a cassette tape labeled 'PLAY ME' a Phillips head screwdriver an empty water bottle
The smell of ozone is a clue to the type of countermeasure we're facing -- it indicates equipment that uses very high amounts of electricity, most likely an arc lightning-type device (think tesla coil from C&C Red Alert). Either that or just a machine that uses a crap ton of energy, or a straight-up ozone producing machine.
It'd be interesting to leave several items next to the door and allow the countermeasure to activate and see what happens to the items as a clue to what we're facing...
> Reopen the bookshelf and place something heavy/sturdy in between the opened shelf and the frame so that upon unlocking the security door it cannot close again
On July 08 2010 22:13 Happy.fairytail wrote: The smell of ozone is a clue to the type of countermeasure we're facing -- it indicates equipment that uses very high amounts of electricity, most likely an arc lightning-type device (think tesla coil from C&C Red Alert). Either that or just a machine that uses a crap ton of energy, or a straight-up ozone producing machine.
It'd be interesting to leave several items next to the door and allow the countermeasure to activate and see what happens to the items as a clue to what we're facing...
On July 09 2010 05:36 Beloth(OD) wrote: > Reopen the bookshelf and place something heavy/sturdy in between the opened shelf and the frame so that upon unlocking the security door it cannot close again
On July 09 2010 06:19 ella_guru wrote: oh golly this is so much fun!
I agree, let's leave whatever we dont think is useful behind to see what will happen to it. and run.
Someone wise once said, "We only fear what we don't understand". Well, that and cryptic old machines that smell like ozone and danger. You flip the breaker for "SECURITY DOOR" back on. The metallic click of the lock confirms that you've opened the door and powered up the hallway once again. The circuit breaker is now in the following position: + Show Spoiler +
The warm glow of the sodium lamp can be seen under the bookshelf. You slide the remains of the bookcase back into the wall and the blast door at the end of the long granite hallway comes back into view. Time to get your understanding on. You go back into the house and grab a few items - a wooden chair, a broken bookshelf, a piece of dirty glass from a broken window and an empty beer can from earlier and make your way back down the tunnel. As soon as you get 10 feet from the door, the warning message blares through the ancient loudspeaker again. "THIS AREA IS OFF LIMITS. SECURITY SYSTEMS POWERING UP. ESTIMATED TIME BEFORE COUNTERMEASURE DEPLOYMENT *tick* *tick* *tick* 30 SECONDS." You drop the four items and get the hell out of there. As you shut the bookcase, you hear some electric dynamo spin up to a ludicrously high RPM - the pitch is so high and loud that you drop to your knees and cover your ears. Right at the point where you think your eardrums are going to come out of your nose, the dynamo spins down and every hair on your body stands straight up. The floor vibrates. Every inch of skin tingles electric. Two whole seconds of silence. Then you hear a roar of destruction like static from an old TV with the volume knob set on a million. The light from the small crack under the door gets so bright that it illuminates the entire cabin, which is now shaking violently on its foundations. You fall down. The whole thing is over in just a few seconds, but it felt like a terrifying eternity. Still shaking, you stand up and open the bookcase. Everything you put in the cave is gone - all that remains is a shadow of each of the items rimmed with scorch marks. You quickly close the bookcase.
On July 08 2010 15:56 MeShiet wrote: >Since the power is on for the kitchen and bathroom, try to investigate those rooms for further clues
You go to the bathroom to splash some water on your face. After turning on the faucet and seeing the dark brown liquid that flows out, you quickly change your mind. You sit down hard on the cracked tile and put your shaking hands in your lap while you look around the small room. There is nothing special in here, and the room is stripped of everything. No towels, no shower curtain, even the shower curtain rod has been removed. Feeling a little better, you get up.
You head to the kitchen. There isn't much here, aside from the refrigerator which almost killed you earlier. In the interest of not choking to death on your own projectile vomit, you make the conscious decision not to open that fridge ever again. It looks like in their haste to leave, the inhabitants of this cabin grabbed what they could and left - there is a kitchen table here with no chairs, and all the cupboards are open and empty. The single working fluorescent tube hangs from the ceiling, casting angular shadows on the far wall. You go through the cabinets, finding nothing but more dust and the occasional cockroach. You remove the latch on the pantry expecting to find more ancient food, but find it empty as well. Well, empty aside from the dead body wearing coveralls.
a bag of peppered beef jerky 2 bottles of water 1 can of beer a big bag of trail mix 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
A backpack Cell phone house, car and mailbox key on a keyring Wallet with $26 and your ID a ball-point pen a tire iron an iPod with earbuds a dirty pair of socks 2 collapsed graphite ski poles a cassette tape labeled 'PLAY ME' a Phillips head screwdriver an empty water bottle
On July 09 2010 06:23 Durnic wrote: Oh shit we're down to one can of beer! WHAT WILL WE DO?!
go to the car and get more?
An excellent idea. You've seen a lot of things you really shouldn't have in the last five minutes, and it is most definitely beer thirty. A quick trip to the car and back nets you another six beers. If this place keeps throwing fun surprises like disintegration machines and dead people this frequently, you're going to need them. You pop open a cold one and drink it down.
a bag of peppered beef jerky 2 bottles of water 6 cans of beer a big bag of trail mix 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
A backpack Cell phone house, car and mailbox key on a keyring Wallet with $26 and your ID a ball-point pen a tire iron an iPod with earbuds a dirty pair of socks 2 collapsed graphite ski poles a cassette tape labeled 'PLAY ME' a Phillips head screwdriver an empty water bottle
On July 09 2010 07:40 ella_guru wrote: >Examine the dead body and then make a funny one liner about it
Returning to the pantry, you decide to get to know your new dead friend. He (you assume it's a he) is not much more than a skeleton slumped against the wall. Some black and mummified tissue still rests on the bones of the extremities and between the ribs, and there are several patches of short gray hair clinging to the scalp. His coveralls have been nibbled on by insects for decades and are filled with holes, revealing the bones beneath. A fraying belt is hooked onto a wall by one of the notches, and the other end is looped around his neck. His eyeless sockets stare up at the ceiling. A long-dried out felt tip pen rests at his feet, and in his left hand he is clutching an old leather book.
a bag of peppered beef jerky 2 bottles of water 1 can of beer a big bag of trail mix 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
A backpack Cell phone house, car and mailbox key on a keyring Wallet with $26 and your ID a ball-point pen a tire iron an iPod with earbuds a dirty pair of socks 2 collapsed graphite ski poles a cassette tape labeled 'PLAY ME' a Phillips head screwdriver an empty water bottle
>Take the book out to the car and quickly flip through it with the cabin lights on because we all know reading in the dark is a good way to destroy your vision, that and if the book happens to be ridiculously depressing, more beer can be found and drank
((Okay okay okay. I'm gonna update after I get some sleep. Real life just kind of hit me square in the face this week. I double ultra super special pinky promise this time!))
On July 09 2010 13:07 Beloth(OD) wrote: > Take the skull of our new dead friends and slip into the pack to keep for forensics later (and to keep us company is lonely and scary in this cabin)
PS gdroxor your fucking awesome :D
Since you have no faith that a forensics team could ever find this cabin and just inspect the body themselves while it is still intact, you decide to skip the middle man. You grab the brown and dusty skull, muscles still visible over the jaws and forehead, and give it a quick twist and yank. The skull pops right off of the spine and you reluctantly put it in your pack along with the rest of your stuff.
On July 09 2010 08:17 ella_guru wrote: HAH yes you dont disappoint.
> Pick up up the book and go read it somewhere. See if the pen works, if it does, tuck it behind your ear for some prestige.
>Leave the dirty socks behind for your friend as a sort of peace offering / trade
> also, if our hero does drink some more beer, make sure to pour some out for the homies that we lost (our coveralls bro, we hardly knew ye)
On July 09 2010 08:15 MeShiet wrote: >Take the book out to the car and quickly flip through it with the cabin lights on because we all know reading in the dark is a good way to destroy your vision, that and if the book happens to be ridiculously depressing, more beer can be found and drank
Mr. Coveralls was thoughtful enough to cap his pen before hanging himself, and it's a pretty nice pen too - the stainless steel casing even has a small band of dark wood near the textured grip. You uncap it and check it on the back of your hand and ink still flows. Feeling especially rational after taking the head off of a dead body, you pull out your rolled up dirty socks. Using your sweet new pen, you draw a smiley face on them and place the socks where the skull was, making it look like your new friend has a tiny sock head. Hee hee.
You leave the kitchen and walk back out to the car. You sit down in the passenger's seat, flip the cabin light on and pull the book out of your pack. You unwind the leather binding and flip it open. Skimming through it, it looks like maintenance logs for various mechanical equipment, large holding tanks, generators and the like. It's all down in a table that goes on for pages and pages. You see one interesting note next to something listed as 'the RIFT device', apparently a large container of liquid oxygen was left in the entrance area which short circuited it, leading to hours of expensive repairs.
You flip through the book with your thumb. About halfway through you see a smear of ink on a page, and then the next page is a hastily written note - the words sprawl diagonal across the page, as if the author wrote these words in the dark, with some of the words smeared with sweat.
Dr Steinholz had funding pulled mont.. ago govt strike team sh.... up to shut us down Steinholz refused men .. suits took Dr behind cabin + execut.d him I deac...ted the RIFT device at gunpoint ......t the soldiers in + they .ocked me in here RIFT no good with large qtys of ferr..agnetic/paramagn...c substances if the govt team breaches any .. the safety seals on the ph..nix project god he.p us
Oh good.
On July 14 2010 22:19 h2 wrote: > Realize just how many beers you have had to drink. Return to bathroom. Pee. Flush?
> Examine toilet tank, medicine cabinet, area under sink, etc.
> While looking at pipes under sink, recall plumbing knowledge father shared years ago. Consider purpose of pipes on blast door.
You shut the car door and head back into the cabin. Time to break the seal. You head to the bathroom (still disgusting) and lift the toilet seat that's only connected on one hinge and take a leak into a toilet bowl rusted brown from decades of hard water. You try and flush, but the valve under the toilet has been turned off and looks rusted shut. Between the dampness of the rusty pipes and the peeling walls you think that your addition to the bathroom has spruced it up considerably and decide to leave it where it is.
Searching the toilet tank earns you a look into about an inch of foul brown water and several small black spiders. Aside from an insect bite, you aren't going to get much from reaching your hand in there. You check under the sink by opening the cabinet doors and find an incredibly old bottle of bleach, but not much else but more mildew and the smell of rotting wood. In the medicine cabinet you find an empty prescription bottle and nothing else.
Thinking about your very basic knowledge of plumbing reminds you of something your father used to tell you. "Son, if you ever see a strangely faced blast door with pipes sticking out of it, it's probably to control the air pressure on both sides of the door in the event of an explosion or rapid decompression." You're not sure if he said that or not, but it seems to make sense considering the huge amount of energy released by whatever device vaporized everything you put near it.
a bag of peppered beef jerky 2 bottles of water 1 can of beer a big bag of trail mix 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
A backpack Cell phone house, car and mailbox key on a keyring Wallet with $26 and your ID a ball-point pen a tire iron an iPod with earbuds 2 collapsed graphite ski poles a cassette tape labeled 'PLAY ME' a Phillips head screwdriver an empty water bottle a nice felt pen
Explosive decompression occurs at a rate faster than that at which air can escape from the lungs, typically in less than 0.1 to 0.5 seconds.[1][3] The risk of lung trauma is very high, as is the danger from any unsecured objects that can become projectiles because of the explosive force, which may be likened to a bomb detonation.
Well that explains what the security system probably is. We might not want to leave more items there though
((a quick edit - "diamagnetic" should have been "paramagnetic". I fixed this in previous posts.))
On July 24 2010 02:15 Stratos.FEAR wrote: > return to the pile of books and search for anything related to 'ferromagnetics, diamagnetics and the phoenix project'
> look for a container that might contain the liquid oxygen that was mentioned in the book
If you're going to sift through lots of complicated books, you might as well look the part. You take out the felt pen and slide it behind your ear. You search through the book pile near the bookshelf door and sort through the titles. Among the technical manuals, you find a book labeled Electromagnetic Theory: Problems and Solutions and flip it open. Flipping through the index leads you to several pages on the application of ferromagnetism, but no clear-cut definition. What you discern is that ferromagnetic materials are those that readily form permanent magnets, such as iron, cobalt and nickel. You flip to the section regarding paramagnetic materials, and they are defined as "atoms, molecules and compounds with unpaired electrons in the s,p,d or f orbitals. These materials, when placed in an external magnetic field, will repel from the poles of the magnet. Some of these include magnesium, lithium and oxygen." Through several minutes of extensive searching, you can find no literature on anything having to do with a "Phoenix Project" here.
On July 24 2010 06:20 Beloth(OD) wrote: > Go to the Circuit Breaker and turn everything ON except the Security Door, keep that one on OFF
You go to the circuit breaker and turn everything but the circuit labeled "SECURITY DOOR" to the 'On' position. As soon as you flip the first one back on, you hear the loud CLINK of the lock on the bookcase slide forcefully back into place. The circuit breaker is now in the following position: + Show Spoiler +
a bag of peppered beef jerky 2 bottles of water 1 can of beer a big bag of trail mix 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
A backpack Cell phone house, car and mailbox key on a keyring Wallet with $26 and your ID a ball-point pen a tire iron an iPod with earbuds 2 collapsed graphite ski poles a cassette tape labeled 'PLAY ME' a Phillips head screwdriver an empty water bottle a nice felt pen
On July 25 2010 10:28 Beloth(OD) wrote: >punch the wall cause I'm stumped
Frustrated that you aren't an engineer or scientist, you grit your teeth, clench your right hand into a fist and slam it into the wall. Your whole arm rings when you hit a piece of rebar sticking out of the concrete. The ringing pain reminds you that in the maintenance log note, Mr. Coveralls wrote about something specific being left in the hallway with the security system making it go haywire, like a certain metal.
On July 25 2010 15:04 Stratos.FEAR wrote: > try lighting all the candles in the room if any, or push any suspicious statues in the cabin because that seems to work in zelda games
Since there are no candles anywhere in the house and all of the statues are friendly and not suspicious at all, (since there are none either) you resort to picking up a dusty porcelain flower vase high over your head and throwing it to the ground. Damn, no rupees.
> Use the claw hammer to smash up the drywall around the piece of rebar, see if you can pull it out or find anything else interesting in the wall.
Was the house directly against the mountain or do I misrecall that? Too lazy to go back and look right now :[
> Go outside, walk perimeter of the cabin, see what you see. Get onto the roof and look around if possible, maybe by climbing up point where cabin wall meets mountain wall. Perhaps construct grappling hook from jumper cables in car + ski pole.
((I'm abandoning this for now. I think a lot of the puzzles were just a little too hard. I'll be making a new one that will be a little more straightforward on what you can/can't interact with to make the story go a little more smoothly. Stay tuned :D))
Things like this have a story in TL of never getting finished due to author's lazyness or TL derailing the flow of the game by making retarded suggestions.
Oh man this story just drew me in like a sucker. the atmosphere so great i almost felt like I was there and I got the creeps reading it.
I'm so sad you won't be finishing this, I think you're an amazing writer. If you just had a bigger audience you'd get some smart people to figure things out. Maybe this can be moved to the general or sports and games section. I feel like this blog is of so high quality that it deserves it.
cmon man this was well written and mysterious, sure it started to get hard as hell but with more clues and investigation im sure someone would have figured it out!
well if i saw this earlier,i would check out the piping INSIDE the wall, there was a hint already abt the wall and the pipes on the door. too bad this has stopped being played
Last post for a while from me. I'm going to be offline looking for him.
You can point to this as evidence that I believe morality and legality are not intrinsically linked. I.e., although it is completely legal for gdroxor to stop this story, it is not moral. Therefore, I will morally punish him, although perhaps not legally.
On October 30 2010 18:16 gdroxor wrote: ((I'm abandoning this for now. I think a lot of the puzzles were just a little too hard. I'll be making a new one that will be a little more straightforward on what you can/can't interact with to make the story go a little more smoothly. Stay tuned :D))
Way to get everybody excited then leave us hanging... You don't have to come and confess, we're looking for you, we gonna find you!
On October 30 2010 18:16 gdroxor wrote: ((I'm abandoning this for now. I think a lot of the puzzles were just a little too hard. I'll be making a new one that will be a little more straightforward on what you can/can't interact with to make the story go a little more smoothly. Stay tuned :D))
Way to get everybody excited then leave us hanging... You don't have to come and confess, we're looking for you, we gonna find you!
((I didn't realize that even after two months of inactivity there were so many still interested in reading and taking part in the story :O!
I will continue from where we left off sometime mid-week, probably in a short post reviewing what has happened in the story thus far. At the moment Physics and Organic Chemistry are kicking all of my butts.))
On November 02 2010 10:47 gdroxor wrote: ((I didn't realize that even after two months of inactivity there were so many still interested in reading and taking part in the story :O!
I will continue from where we left off sometime mid-week, probably in a short post reviewing what has happened in the story thus far. At the moment Physics and Organic Chemistry are kicking all of my butts.))
-Location & Time- *Mountains, camp-site supposed to be few hours' drive north from "work" *One hour away from camp-site was last known time before getting lost, drove for 2hrs 20min while potentially lost to unknown log cabin *Fell asleep for 3hrs, it's 8:22pm, can't see Deer mountain
-Friends- *Marc, Alex *Last communication: ~8:45pm, ring Marc's phone twice before he picked up: + Show Spoiler +
Marc sounds exasperated, almost panicked. There is little background noise, just Marc's voice through the phone. "I don't kn...! I w.... the cabin... Alex... ... try.. ....ch. ..found a... ...cas...." The connection cuts off mid-sentence. You dial him back five or six more times, but can't get a signal. You then try and call Alex. Again it takes you a few tries, but the phone finally connects through It rings seven times. Right before you think it's about to go to voicemail, you hear a click. "Alex? You okay, man?" No answer. For several seconds you can hear thick static and shallow breathing. You hear a click, and the call ends.
-Cabin- *2 sets of footprints [presumably Alex & Marc's] go to window, bookcase, fireplace, dining table, computer equipment, then end at bookshelf *Found items: -6 magnetic tape rolls: + Show Spoiler +
-Steinholz - Replicate 27 - 19 Oct 1964 -Steinholz - Replicate 27 - 19 Oct 1964 (this is the one you made armor out of ) -Steinholz - Te|||||||l||||| |||||||r||||||||| (this label has been scratched off with a permanent marker) -Steinholz - Facility 7 Environment Control Log - 12 Oct 1964//12 Apr 1965 -Steinholz - Dictation on Replicates 1-24 - 22 Sep 1964 Repair Log - 29 Apr 1965 -Steinholz - Modified Epidemiology of Filoviridae
-Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection" in bookshelf. Inside: + Show Spoiler +
-casette tape "PLAY ME" inside and piece of paper indicating circuit breaker operation, also says "TYPHON AND ECHIDNA / DO NOT OPEN FACILITIES 31 OR 27" -casette tape is small, playable by old answering machine or voice recorder
-Tool shelf has: rusty wood saw, broken hack saw, box of rusty nails, phillips screwdriver, and old claw hammer -Pantry has skeleton -- someone who hung himself, holding leatherbook, pen on ground + Show Spoiler +
-book is maintenance logs for various mechanical equipment, large holding tanks, generators and the like -one interest note: 'the RIFT device', apparently a large container of liquid oxygen was left in the entrance area which short circuited it, leading to hours of expensive repairs -halfway through the book, there's a smear of ink on a page, and then the next page is a hastily written note -- the words sprawl diagonal across the page, as if the author wrote these words in the dark, with some of the words smeared with sweat -"Dr Steinholz had funding pulled mont.. ago govt strike team sh.... up to shut us down Steinholz refused men .. suits took Dr behind cabin + execut.d him I deac...ted the RIFT device at gunpoint ......t the soldiers in + they .ocked me in here RIFT no good with large qtys of ferr..agnetic/paramagn...c substances if the govt team breaches any .. the safety seals on the ph..nix project god he.p us"
-Security Door- *Has a counter-measure which relies on a large amount of electricity, generates ozone, and produces a large explosive decompressive blast oor looks like: + Show Spoiler +
You reach the door, and it looks heavy. It has three levers, one which looks like a handle and the other two are attached to pipes that work their way inside the door. It's interesting to note that the door is designed to be sealed from the outside...
Friends - they've been gone for 3 hours. Footprints and phone call indicate they went inside the cabin, investigated, and went inside the bookshelf to the security door
Dr. Steinholz - most likely the lead researcher on the facility who was executed by a government strike team behind the cabin when he refused them entry. Experiments may be on Filoviridae, a family of viruses that include Ebloa. Replicates/Facilities range from #1 to #31. Facilities #27 and #31 sound particularly deadly, named Typhon and Echnida (known in Greem mythology to be the mother and father of all Greek mythological monsters) -- the X'd out switches in the circuit board may have to do with them.
Skeleton in pantry - apparently locked in the pantry by a government strike team that shut down the facility, and thus committed suicide after writing the last journal entry in the dark. Appears to be responsible for the RIFT device that guards the facility.
RIFT device - the countermeasure device guarding the security door, operates using large electricity to generate an explosive decompression blast. Can be short circuited by large quantities of ferromagnetic/paramagnetic substances, such as iron, cobalt, nickel, lithium and liquid oxygen.
Known unknowns/Actionables: 1 - RIFT device - can we find enough iron to disable the device? The picture also shows a valve (what does it do?), and two warning labels that are illegible (what do they say?).
2 - What do the casette tape and magnetic tape rolls say?
3 - Dr. Steinholz - >> Go behind the cabin with a flashlight and try to search for his corpse.
4 - Rest of the log cabin - >> Search the window, fireplace and dining table. (I want to see what Alex/Marc saw)
EPT![[image loading]](http://www.titan-ii.com/files/blastdoor.jpg)
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![[image loading]](http://www.nps.gov/archive/mimi/history/srs/images/fig44.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://flashoffroad.com/Accessories/Horns/images/sirenSpeaker.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.greatdreams.com/war/shadow.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.webgenstudios.com/instinctphoto/images/20090706024134_dsc_0076.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.elegantroots.com/images/P/Oberon_Journal_Rose_365x346.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.peterbeers.net/vw_roadtrip/GTI/GTI_Mods/LED_Dome_Lights/DSCN2884_Interior_Night.JPG)
![[image loading]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3032/2918646133_eacd54dbe3.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://superphysics.netfirms.com/t047413a.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/0/0/7/9/ar12455361197003.JPG)
![[image loading]](http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/4475/fuyeah.jpg)
oor looks like:
