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]

Try to hold onto something, Ms. Swan. We wouldn't want anymore accidents. [Gold braces himself with his cane. In case it works. And he's a bitch.]

[goodbyecaroline]

[ so this time, everyone is visible, which means they get to watch as Emma is turned... into a stone statue. :') ]

I didn't know artificial intelligence was capable of experiencing deja vu. And yet. Here we are.

[reallywicked]

NO! [Shouting won't help but it's a knee jerk reaction and Faye can't help it. She's also incredibly aware of the decision that was made the last time this happened. She turns her gaze to Gold, desperate for him to have an answer.]

We can't just- We have to fix them.

[pathology]

Not again! [ugh this shit is traumatizing. she looks over at gold.] There's nothing you can do? at all?

[undealt]

Despite the fact that she seems so self-invested?

[He glowers at Emma and then softens a bit. He looks like he'd rather fucking choke on a dick than try it, but ruthless fuck that he is and even with the fact that Emma didn't try to save him, he certainly won't give her the satisfaction of knowing he didn't try something.

He'll hold it over her head later.

So he tries to cast dispel magic on Emma's statue form. THIS IS FOR SCOTLAND.]

[goodbyecaroline]

[ the spell functions as it should... except that the spell doesn't actually help in this case and emma's as statued as ever. ]

[reallywicked]

[Faye watches, expectantly. When... nothing happens, she bites down on the inside of her lip, trying to keep emotions at bay. After a moment, she forces some words out.]

I'm not leaving her here.

[pathology]

Well, what the fuck are we supposed to do?

[undealt]

We can't do anything, but continue the tests and hope thwarting that thing sets everything to rights.

[And he tried. He wants it on record. HE TRIED TO SAVE YOUR LIFE, SWAN.

AFTER YOU NEARLY LET HIM DIE.

NEVER GONNA LET YOU FORGET IT.]

[reallywicked]

[Stubbornly, Faye shifts to put a hand on Emma's arm, trying to ignore how stone-like it feels.]

I'm not. Going. Anywhere. Not without her.

[pathology]

We can't just wait for her to better. Or lug her from room to room. Are you going to wait here with her while Gold and I keep going? Because that's ... kind of stupid. I don't like it either, but I don't know what other options we have.

[undealt]

Astrid's right, Faye. We'll need all the help we can get to make it out of here- you won't be able to do her any good if you stay behind. This is the mission now. We must finish it- for both her sake and for Mars.

[reallywicked]

[She wants to be stubborn, wants to dig her heels in and tell them both to go to hell, but she knows that they're right. And she knows that Emma would want her to keep moving forward with the mission, to get them all out of there.]

We're coming back for her, for both of them. [No, she hasn't forgotten Mars.] What do we need to do? Just keep firing at this thing? [She's not waiting for your answers though. She's just casting the spell, damnit.]

[goodbyecaroline]

[ this time the spell is successful, and again the strike causes the platform to drift five feet closer to the other side... ]

[undealt]

Unless someone else has a more efficient plan, yes.

[He fires a magic missile as well.]

[pathology]

[/silently lets jesus take the wheel]

[reallywicked]

[Immediately after Gold starts to cast, Faye is gonna just cast magic missile again. Unless rocks start falling or something. idk. WILD MAGIC.]

[goodbyecaroline]

[ TEN MORE FEET. SUCH SUCCESS. :D ]

[undealt]

Our chances of success are going to get lower every time we attempt this, which I imagine is precisely her aim.

[But he casts another magic missile anyway.]

[pathology]

If only we still had our grappling hooks, right? [/makes a face]

[reallywicked]

Someone tell Wynn to start making metal-free equipment just in case of magnets. [ALSO CASTING MAGIC MISSILE. GET ME OUT OF THIS DAMN ROOM JFC.]

[goodbyecaroline]

[ as gold raises his hand, a stinking cloud of noxious gas spreads out around them, the vapors nauseating. a fort save dc 15+ keeps them from retching. otherwise they are unable to cast spells, or take any action requiring concentration until it clears. ]

[pathology]

[with a fort save 20 total, she is ACTUALLY FINE FOR FUCKING ONCE. /covers her nose and mouth with her shirt collar again. but she is also ... hella pissed because WE ARE NOT MOVING.] Did you summon fucking skunk shit?!

[reallywicked]

[Faye's fort of 21 says fuck you to the fart cloud hovering around them. So she will cast magic missile still... but now while looking utterly disgusted.]

Remind me to tell Wynn I'm never going to Germany again.

[goodbyecaroline]

[ she might not ever have a chance to, really. because abruptly the ground around them starts to very slowly and inexorably move - not the plate that their half of the room is on, which is confusing at first, but THE ACTUAL GROUND around this underground lair. whoopsie. the emma statue teeters a bit but manages to stay upright, even as they find themselves surrounded by rumbling sounds and feel quaking everywhere. ]