Diff for "RolePlaying/landingplot2018/Experiment_8507B"

Plot started on 10/24/2018.

Plot summary: Kyizl and friends go to explore a world known as 'Experiment 8507B'. The greetings sent before we landed indicated they would welcome visitors, though did not indicate what was on their world.

10/24/2018 Session:

• Arrived on the planetoid, and discovered it was basically a desert.
• Found these signs:
  • YOU ARE ENTERING AN EXPERIMENTAL AREA. PLEASE CHECK IN WITH THE MAIN OFFICE BEFORE MOVING ABOUT.
  • Another sign, again in seven languages, directs visitors to the 'main office' just up ahead. Built into the rock face of a cliff, the office looks long abandoned. The front is composed of a thick metal screwed into the rock face, pitted and rusted from sand over the years. The windows looking out at the desert are badly cracked, slightly broken. The metal door itself has what looks like a simple lock; it doesn't open.
• The 'main office' was locked and clearly long abandoned. Maynard was able to pick the lock and get us in.
• Inside, the group confirms the office is indeed long abandoned, though all the equipment is still there and operational.
• Gwen and Nicholas found a server room in the back, with cabling that goes right into the cave rock.
  • Amy used her powers to determine the cabling goes deep underground and forks off repeatedly. She also detected what suggested an open area in the cave, not too far from the office. There must be a way inside.
• Looking around the office, the group notes the high fidelity headphones in every cubical (Designed for a slightly different species but will work for us) and high fidelity speakers at several listening areas. This suggests the experiment is sound related.
• Looking around, papers are found in cabinets in a language none of us know, but have lots of text, tables, charts, but also sketches of audio waveforms and what could be a map with waveforms attached to certain locations. There are also maps with a 'heatmap' overlaid over it to indicate some sort of activity.
• Maynard was able to use his abilities to hack one of the desktop computers and get access to the data.
• Others discovered stacks of metal cartridges in the cabinets, and note they look like they'd fit in what could be some sort of player in a listening area. No recording devices were found.
• Some of the audio played includes (RP logs):
  • ( The cartridge begins to play through the ultra-high-fidelity speakers, a little rotating icon on the display to indicate speed, with changing glyphs that are probably numbers. It's not hard to see those big knobs are positioned just right to constantly adjust them during playback... the sound that comes out is both alien yet familiar. Strange breathing, rising and lowering tones, irregular chitters, clicks and hisses, even stuff that almost sounds like music. )
  • ( The audio stops, as does the display. End of recording? When it was playing, ti sounded -really- good, like whatever it was is literally right in front of you. )
  • ( More sounds emerge. This one suggests insects or similar, though the sounds suggest an actual language, or some sort of communication besides 'I'm here!' )
  • ( You may find that 'oscilloscope' may closely resemble some of the waveforms on the papers. )
  • ( Also, those of you with sensitive hearing will detect the recording has high frequency chirps beyond the range of (human) hearing. There's a lot of layered sound to each 'conversation'. )
• Nicholas, after listening to the audio for a bit, realized he could understand it due to a quirk in his character's past: "I think...they were talking about agriculture."
• Kyizl searched the front desk and found:
  • ( The trinket is a thin metal wafer with a complex pattern engraved into it. The pattern is a darker color from the shinier metal of the trinket. )
  • Also found a small, black, rectangular object: ( Crimson finds it has a single silver push button on the otherwise black metal surface. One side has a series of slits, like you might expect for a small speaker. )
• The rectangular object turns out to be a translator for the audio. When they held it near one of the cartridges while it played:
  • ( The cartridge is reinserted, and replayed. The first section doesn't seem to translate very well (the ones with all the really strange noises). The second section translates perfectly. As Nicholas suggested, it is about food and agriculture. The voice in the little handheld translator has a strange accent, and is a neutral gender. Whoever it is is having a discussion about the timing for harvesting plants near the 'water area'. "We should harvest in 100 drips." "That should be the right time. They smell almost ready." )
  • ( "When are the fish due to return?" "30 drips. We have more than enough food stores. It is not a concern even if they are late." )
  • ( The recording ends. )
• NEXT TIME: Finish searching the office, then figure out their next move. Perhaps there is something to those caves Amy can sense.

11/07/2018 Session:

• The group continued looking around the office. Crimson found what looked like a map of the area around the office.
• Maynard tried the 'coins' in what looked like a special reader on the server rack. Most came back 'green', while a few were 'red'.
• Following the map, the group went back outside and came to a metal, locked door built into the cliff base not too far away.
• It took a little bit of experimenting, but Maynard was able to get the door to open using one of the coins.
• Once inside, the group found themselves in a sort of natural airlock; the cave tunnel had a similar door a little ways down. A microphone was found embedded in the rock wall (connecting back to the office) and there were dim lights in the ceiling. Using the same coin, the second door was successfully opened.
• Once past the second door, the group found themselves completely in darkness:
  • ( What greets you is complete and utter blackness. It's as if light simply is not allowed. The feeble lighting above doesn't go more than one inch past the second door. You can hear a bit of wind and smell the cool air (and a scent suggesting something else might be in there, but not nearby), but otherwise there's no hints at all as to what's beyond the door. )
• The group finds the tunnel continues as expected, with no drop offs, sharp edges, or anything of the like. It's a natural cave tunnel, though may have been artificially smoothed.
• Nicholas and others set up rope and handkerchiefs so the group can follow each other without losing touch.
• Special, large symbols were found engraved near the door they just went through, suggesting a way to help keep track of where they are just be feeling.
• Nicholas releases little intelligent mice to help sort out where they are and what's around us (Parliament).
• ( We continue walking along. The ground seems smooth enough to not worry about tripping, and the curves gentle enough that we're not likely to run into walls and get a bloody muzzle. In short, nothing dangerous. We continue along, and finally, it feels like we've made progress. There's a sudden, but light, crosswind that wasn't there before. Also new scents. We're definitely not alone, though they aren't nearby. But they are somewhere along the path of the wind. The very sensitive will make out faint chittering sounds not unlike what was on those cartridges. )
• The session ends with the group coming to what they think is a cross-passage (intersection), based on the wind and scents.
• NEXT TIME: More exploration!

11/14/2018 Session:

• The group travelled left at the intersection.
• The rats encountered the first Host!
• Given what the rats found (nothing violent, potentially insectoid, approximately our size), it was decided everyone should continue and meet the Host personally.
• After some initial touching (via antenna on the Host's end, and light paw touches on our end), we found: ( You feel... chitin. Definitely insectoid. Solid exterior, though plated, suggesting it's not a hard exoskeleton all over - more flexible than that. As you touch it, the host backs away suddenly, still chittering at us, or to its friends. The antenae still feel you over though, a bit more tingly! )
• Crimson got the translator working, and now everyone could communicate!
• ( The translator converts our words into chitters and other noises, and for a moment our host is silent. Then, it responds. More chitters.... and translated says, "I am Bwreen. We have always been taught our world is sealed, and that we can never leave the confines of where we are. The elders would be very interested in hearing about this. ... Welcome." Indeed, it shuffles about, and most of us feel tingly (electric, but not painful!) antennae tapping at our fur and such. It's very rapid, quite unusual, but not harmful. )
• Those who wanted to were allowed to lightly touch our host. They found: ( You find armored segments with softness in between, suggesting it's not purely an exoskeleton. The host stands up vertical, like us, and apparently has more than two segmented arms with useful 'fingers', allowing it to manipulate stuff. These are very sturdy arms; really the whole of the host is sturdy. There are no wings or anything of that nature of them; this is not a flying insectoid. It has four legs as well, with a elongated bottom half that ends up sticking out like a tail. )
• Other things said by Bwreen:
  • ( Bwreen says, "Do not take what belongs to others. Since you do not know anyone here, ask before touching them or their things. You are encourage to talk and explore." )
  • ( Bwreen says, "There are tales of monsters... of gods that put us in this world.... of sounds from other realms of existance.... even of brothers and sisters that we can never meet.... but we have seen no trace of any of those things." )
  • ( Bwreen says to Amy, "You can touch the walls. It is normally accepted that light taps are used to navigate, but they should be light and quick, like Alexis. We are social and balanced enough that that is acceptable." )
  • ( Crimson feels Bween's antennae as they feel over the translator, "What sort of rock is this?" "Alexis, those are fables told during periods of rest of before sleep. You....." It stops a moment. "You are one of those fables! This is very exciting. Are you here to take us to a bigger world?" Its chirps, squeaks, chitters get more excited, and it begins to sound more musical. The activity in the village around us comes to a halt. Are others listening? Shuffling sounds are heard, clicks on the rock floor, as the others move about, closer. )
• The group was taken to the village proper, where other hosts took note, and came over to investigate.
• When asked what the group wanted to know next, the biggest question was how do the hosts note the passage of time. To answer this, they were taken to the Drip, which was basically a place where water dripped audibly in a set interval.
  • ( There! You just heard a different sort of plop. "That is the Drip. You can hear several between eating, perhaps about 10. A day is considered as having about 40 drips; many sleep for about 10 after that." )
  • A drip is maybe ~30 minutes or so (but isn't too important for the RP)
  • ( Bwreen says, "Yes, we time our crops based on the number of drips. Sometimes timing is very important to get our food at its peak. We cannot afford many mistakes if we want to keep everyone fed and everything in balance." )
  • ( Bwreen says, "We were placed here by the gods, many, many drips ago. This is the world I know." )
  • Someone is stationed at the Drip at all times to count the drops and note the passage of time. It is considered an important responsibility.
• Bwreen was also asked when they knew of our presence. Apparently they realized we had come in soon after we went through the door. They could feel the shift of air pressure and wind.
• NEXT TIME: Back to the village to get a proper tour, and meet the elders.

CategoryRolePlaying