CHAPTER THREE ♔ in an isolated system the entropy can only increase

[goodbyecaroline]

♬ the device has been modified - victims of science

WHO || Gold, Faye, Emma, Mars, Astrid, GLaDOS
WHAT ||  The Knights become unwitting test subjects for a psychotic AI  
WHERE || Luckman Industries computer-aided enrichment center, Germany
WHEN || May 31st/June 1st [backdated]
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

Why Wynn ever thinks there will be such a thing as a 'simple recon mission' we just don't know.  

Several Knights were dispatched to a small isolated town in Germany where magic was rumored to not function, only to discover that the situation was a bit more complicated.  Yes, magic didn't function when attempted - sometimes.  But other times it had bizarre and dangerous side effects, including driving townspeople insane.  

Research led the team to a company called Luckman Industries who had bought digging rights to make a large quarry beneath the town, but further investigation revealed that they had actually constructed a massive underground laboratory instead.  Some sort of strange device stood at the center of it, magical in nature, but when they attempted to leave, they found the doors locked, and were forced into trying magic despite the potential side effects.

The spell seems to have attracted the attention of something within the building itself - a disembodied voice that's offered them a (mostly) pleasant greeting - to the Luckman Industries computer-aided enrichment center.

There will be cake.

Comments

[undealt]

I think we may have to try another approach.

[ONE THAT IS NOT USING HIS CANE AS A LOCKPICK. Gold approaches the door and lays a hand on it. LET'S SEE IF CORROSIVE TOUCH DOES ANYTHING TO THE DOOR. (dmg 16 if it... works)]

[goodbyecaroline]

[ it does work! and begins to melt part of the door away, but it only makes a little dint in it altogether. ]

Perhaps I should go do something else while you're all struggling your way through this test. Unfortunately, I am so vastly intelligent that I could finish two hundred supplementary tasks in the time it took for you to utter another word.

[uncurse]

[ Emma watches the door bubble as the acid eats away at it, and her brow furrows. ]

Try it on the lock itself.

[ She looks to Astrid. LOCKPICKING ??? SORT OF ?? ]

[pathology]

[as she sees emma looking at her, she approaches the fizzy door, careful to stay away from the eroded part and … maybe accidentally tries to do some ~magic~ herself??? like when harry potter didn't want to get his hair cut okay. kind of like that. she casts acid splash on the lock. (ranged atk 19?? 3 dmg if it hits. and doesn't actually turn everyone into trees or some shit …) ]

[goodbyecaroline]

[ it works! the acid eats away at the door a little further but there's still... door left. sob. shit be thick. ]

[uncurse]

[ emma approaches the door and, avoiding the acid, plants her hands on it to try and pry it open now that the lock has been melted through! str 15. ]

[pathology]

[gasp!! NO LITERALLY GASP.] Did you see that?! Holy shit!!

[goodbyecaroline]

[ Astrid's celebration is cut short as Emma pries the door open successfully, and GLaDOS interrupts testily: ]

The Luckman Industries Enrichment Center reminds you that all damage to the property will be deducted from your stipend. I believe that leaves your current balance at negative seventy... thousand dollars. In the interest of your continued dedication to scientific study, money that you are unable to reimburse to the facility will be collected in the form of harvested organs.

[pathology]

Don't let her scare you, you could get that with one kidney easy.

[undealt]

How fortunate. I'll try to remember that when I'm done dismantling that thing. [He gestures to the ceiling and steps through the door.]

[uncurse]

Did I see acid?

[ sorry astrid it doesn't occur to emma to be excited. ]

You're with the Dragon's Light—shouldn't that be less surprising than you're acting?

[ what are real doctors. she follows gold into the room. ]

[pathology]

Um, no? I've never done magic before! I'm pretty strictly non-magic.

[reallywicked]

Not anymore you're not. [Heading on into the next room with the gang.]

[goodbyecaroline]

I don't know if I'd call that unimpressive display very magical.

[pathology]

[oh right. i meant to say astrid went into the next room in my last tag but i didn't. BUT SHE WENT THO.] Oh, go die in a ditch! It was fucking weird, whatever it was.

[uncurse]

"Whatever it was" is magic. Not doing it before now doesn't change that.

[ SURPRISE BITCH, u magical. ]

[undealt]

Nor does it change that we're still trapped here.

[He's surveying their new room.]

[goodbyecaroline]

[ the next room isn't numbered at all. instead, it's small, white, and circular, with slatted walls, in the center of which stand four elevators back to back, each wide enough for one person. ]

Please proceed in an orderly fashion into the chamberlock.

[pathology]

[mmm. small enclosed spaces. surely nothing can go wrong in here.] Harry Potter didn't have to deal with this shit. Just saying.

[reallywicked]

[Faye glances at Emma, like do I have to??]

Where does it go?

[Because there has been nothing but forthrightness going on around here so far]

[uncurse]

[ Emma gives Faye a quiet nod. ]

If they wanted us dead, we'd be dead already.

[ They're not going to use a weird chamberlock to do it when they're this far, ok. The tests might be inhumane, deadly, and absurd, but they're still tests.

She'll take one for the team and do the Charming thing step into one of the middle chamberlocks. ]

[undealt]

[Gold stares at the chamberlock like it personally offended him in a previous life, but as soon as Emma gets into hers and doesn't explode or get lit on fire or something, he decides it's probably safe and steps into the one to the left of hers.]

[reallywicked]

[Faye hates this plan but... ugh okay. She gives a look to Astrid before taking the chamberlock on the other side of Emma.]

[pathology]

[astrid's stare back at faye says yeah we're probably all fucked but whatever. she too moves her ass into a chamberlock.]

[goodbyecaroline]

[ the chamberlocks close, sealing each one of them in individually. there's a sudden pressurization and the feeling of the tube moving, and then the doors open--

revealing that each one of them is now facing a single, tiny little white padded room, with a bed, one pillow, and a toilet.

they're all alone. GLaDOS' melodious voice is the only company they get. ]

Welcome to the Relaxation Vault. In order to maintain optimum testing stamina, you will be granted eight hours to recuperate from your long day of exciting involuntary participation.