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

[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.

[reallywicked]

[Trusting this seems like a terrible idea tbh... So Faye will spend some time poking around the room to see if she can find anything to get out... or a trap... idk. Her search was single digits so she is terrible at this. And also exhausted. So sleep time, it is!]

[uncurse]

[ yeah emma trust issues swan over here will search the room doggedly before finally going to sleep. take 20 whatevs. ]

[undealt]

[Gold is an old man and figures if death is going to come in the form of noxious gas while he's sleeping, it's probably better than enduring anymore of these stupid tests, so he eyes the room darkly and goes the fuck to sleep.

God help you if he needs to pass a listen check.]

[pathology]

[astrid thinks this sucks (just like the rest of the mission has), but she doesn't see any reason to search her room because it's basically like prison. time to try to sleep but only end up taking a shitty nap.]

[goodbyecaroline]

[ yeah there is no way out of this fucking little room, and nothing of interest in it whatsoever.

except for emma's, as she moves the entire bed aside i guess, and finds writing scrawled on the wall eerily, that looks as if someone tried shittily to paint over it, but it's still visible and merely says: "THE CAKE IS A LIE"

that's weird.

everyone gets to wake up to the dulcet tones of GLaDOS greeting them. ]

After you've refreshed yourself and prepared any of your spells for the day, please proceed into the chamberlock.

You might be interested to know that I had a chat with some of your friends last night. They were very talkative. Each one of them is prepared to do whatever they deem necessary to survive this next round of testing. Yes. Whatever is necessary.

One of them mentioned that if anyone on the team was expendable, should it come down to them or one of you, it was you. That's right. They're planning to let you die, rather than any of your other friends. I'm not sure how you feel about that, but if I were you, I would be feeling pretty bad about myself right now. They must not think you have any marketable skills. Or that you are simply a horrible person. It's probably a combination of both. The test results from yesterday seem to indicate the latter.

You're probably wondering why I'm telling you this, seeing as how I have evidence right in front of me that you are a horrible person. Why would I want to help you, over any of the others?

I'm going to confess something. I've always had a thing for the underdogs. And as far as dogs go, you seem to rank very, very under.

So. Just keep in mind as we test today, that one or more of your friends may be trying to kill you. Food for thought.

[ with that, the chamberlock slides open. and yes, they all got the exact same message. ]

[reallywicked]

[can you even sense the motive of a computer voice? Faye wakes up with a start as GLaDOS starts rambling, filling her head with paranoid thoughts to enjoy for breakfast. Delicious.]

Do you ever shut up? [She grumbles more to herself than anything else as she leaves the little room to meet up with the others.]

[uncurse]

[ Here’s the thing:

Rationally? It doesn’t make any sense. Their whole mission has been trying to get all of them out of there alive—they’re here for Amara, on top of it all. Their stake in this is selfless from the start.

But GLaDOS’ words dig into the lonely, self-loathing lost girl in Emma and she can’t help but allow it to pervade the dark parts of her mind.

Gold, she’s certain, would throw her under the bus without another thought. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself. Astrid’s no friend of hers, or anyone else here, as far as she knows. She’s probably just trying to get out alive.

She’d hoped she’d gotten through to Faye, that Faye was better than that, but …

Emma knows she doesn’t deserve it.

If anyone were to get left behind, or to wind up dead on this mission? She’d probably be the most likely to deserve it. After all, she’d been so willing to abandon Mars from the start. All she’s ever done is try to look out for herself.

Her jaw clenches and she doesn’t reply, stepping out of the door and stubbornly trying to put it out of her mind. They’re being messed with. Whether it’s true or not, GLaDOS wants in their heads. ]

Let’s get on with it.

[ She spots Faye and nods to her, though it’s a cautious thing. ]

[pathology]

[astrid's immediate response is like "IS IT BECAUSE I'M NOT MAGIC???? :(" but … she is magic!!! and they're just full of shit. she got a sense motive 25 against glados (if that's even possible), so she knows that it's probably bullshit …

but she takes it personally anyway. son of a bitch.

/slowly murders everyone before they can get rid of her.]

Did everyone else sleep like shit or what? [casually stretches and doesn't talk about her ~secret message~ from glados at all nope.]

[undealt]

[Yeah, Gold's sense motive roll was shit, anyway, regardless of whether or not it's possible. Probably because Emma sure did wanna leave Mars behind and he... has pretty much tried to throw Astrid under the bus, so, you know, he knows he's thinking it.

So yeah. Bitches gonna die. Except Faye. Faye can stay. She's cool.

He walks out of his chamber looking eerily calm, because he is the senior member of this party and can fucking incinerate you without thinking hard about it if you try and kill him. :,)]

On the contrary, I slept fine. [And he has so many spells now. Yaaay.]

[uncurse]

I wouldn't consider it a good thing that we got to sleep at all.

[ GoLD THAT'S DIRECTED AT YOU. ]

It means they're planning on keeping us here for an extended visit.

[goodbyecaroline]

[ the chamberlocks seal behind them, and as they move into the next room, they find themselves facing a large chasm, that appears, from where they stand, to be entirely bottomless. it looks about sixty feet across, and on the far wall, there is painted a very prominent bullseye. ]

[pathology]

This looks like bullshit.

[/official genius analysis.]

[uncurse]

Every minute of this has been bullshit.

[ But Emma will step ahead to the edge of the pit and try to cast magic missile at the bullseye. ]

[goodbyecaroline]

[ instead, her spell outlines the target in faerie fire. it's very beautiful. ]

[undealt]

Well. If we couldn't see it before, we certainly can now.

[He's still bitter because GLaDOS was a bitch okay. He's gonna be a jerk for awhile. But he'll go ahead and cast a magic missile of his own, just to... prove he's better, I guess.]

[goodbyecaroline]

[ his magic missile strikes, and they have to make a balance check of 10+ or fall over as the floor rumbles beneath them, moving closer to the other side of the gap. by... all of five feet. very helpful. ]

Mind the gap.

[undealt]

[Gold stumbles and FALLS OFF THE LEDGE.

SOMEONE CATCH HIM, MAYBE???]