Regis Meynolt

It was easy enough for Regis to discern the obstacles in their way. A shut door, a malfunctioning keypad, and a fallen shelf all blocked access further into the ruin. The vehicle beneath the shelf in particular was of interest to him. Was this a machine shop? A garage? Or was the vehicle nothing more than a warehouse lift meant to move heavy objects around the facility?

If Regis had it his way, he'd spend all day here, carefully removing the layers of dust and examining everything in the room. However, he knew he hadn't been brought here to catalogue dusty machine parts, and one need only look at the half-collapsed, questionably stable structural state of the room to know that studying this room wasn't a priority to the Institute expedition.

Still, it didn't mean that he couldn't take some photos of this place. As Regis approached the shelf to assist Amalie, he took a moment to turn his viewport towards the machinery and the vehicle, lightly tapping his helmet to take a photograph. He also took photos of the precarious looking pillar and the vent- just in case.

Regis grabbed the shelf, attempting to drag it away from the door. He didn't expect it to be too difficult of a task, especially with Khalisa and Amalie assisting.

"I reckon I won't be of much use with that keypad in this state, wearing these bulky gloves," he remarked to Amalie. "I'll take a look at that vehicle instead."

If they've come here in the first place, then they should be well-prepared to make this sort of trek. I feel no need to assist anyone in the climb, if I'm being perfectly honest. Besides, I would have to go more slowly if I was using Repulse to lift someone most of the way. And that would just be inconvenient for everyone involved.

Beyond that, this area appears to have been some sort of factory or warehouse. At least, that's the clearest conclusion that I can make based on my initial observation. The old crates indicate the purpose of storage, and the mechanical limbs don't appear to be carrying any form of weapons.

Quite intriguing, already, but we're still not very far into the site. This is all surface-level.

At least, aside from that blue gas.

Hmmm...

"I can't make any solid guesses at its nature simply by observation, but you'd have to be a fool to try walking through any of the rooms that have been flooded with it."

As I speak, my staff lowers and I step off of it, gripping it firmly in my right hand as I eye the vents.

"Repulse should be able to clear it, but with no-where to go and no indication of the source it would simply fill the rooms again. Do we have any further analysis?"

@Rune_Alchemist@Raineh Daze

Cellica climbed up the rope without effort, giving the blue mist a curious look. "If we clear it, would we not have a better idea of its source and whether that can be plugged?"

It seemed to be a rather banal aerosol for the time being; if it couldn't permeate a solid barrier then they ought to be able to clear a path until they found the original cause of the mist and shut it down – or opened another path through. That, of course, relied on the assumption that it wasn't incredibly corrosive… but in that case, what was protecting the decaying infrastructure of the ruins? Simply blocking it should suffice for their purposes.

---

@Raineh Daze@VitaVitaAR
Auxiliary Storage -

"Nothing to report yet, Monique. Lady Cellica, Miss Kynborough and I have taken to the mana-filled entrance." Otelius replied over the comms. "We're currently assessing the situation and thinking of a way forward."

"Be careful all of you. I do not want someone to have to drag someone out that has mana poisoning."

"Yes, that would certainly work. Although, it poses certain risks, too, Lady Cellica." Otelius turned to the elf. "We don't know the rate of how fast it fills, and since we don't really have a good idea of the layout of this section of the facility it would be difficult to navigate precisely and we may end up in a difficult situation if we have to repeatedly clear the room as we travel and end up in a dead end somewhere..." Otelius hummed thoughtfully. "That said...I may have an idea now that we're all here. Miss Kynborough, if you can temporarily remove the mana I could theoretically craft a script that creates a barrier of sorts around the entry point for the mana within the room. Alternatively, I suppose I could also create a small bubble around ourselves...but I dont know how long I could keep that up."

One of the mechanical arms hanging from the ceiling twitched, the metal pincer on the end of its appendage closing a few inches before stopping again at a speed that only a machine could naturally reach.

---

@Crimson Paladin@Pyromania99
Maintenance Corridors -

"Oh? Do be careful. That side was particularly unstable it looked like. Try not to do anything that might compromise the structure of the room."

Of course, that likely didn't need to be said too much.

Regis and Amalie would work easily enough to move the shelf. It was heavy, but manageable enough to simply drag away from the door and off the vehicle, its frame grinding and groaning as its old, weighty body was moved for the first time in centuries. It'd hit the ground with a metallic clang.

Something shifted above. A small stream of dirt and a few rocks fell from where the ceiling was buckling near the pillar.

"Yikes. This place could come down any second, eh?" Khalisa whistled wiping her hands together to brush off some dust after helping move the shelf. "Lemme know if you need my expertise, Amalie. I'ma help Regis take a look at this vehicle."

The vehicle in question was in well, what looked like fairly good condition all things considered. It vaguely resembled a large flat rectangle, the main body made of some sturdy metal It didn't seem to have any seat for a human operator, either, the top being completely smooth and flat, the only noticeable structure on it were two sturdy looking metal rods sticking up from the front. The wheels on it, if it had them, were nothing more than empty wells at this point.

There wasn't any visible ports or way to interact with it from a usual physical or wired connection.

"Hm. This thing is pretty typical of ancient construction. Probably has some fancy scripts or executables that make it work." Khalisa said, climbing on top of the vehicles smooth surface, laying down on it so one of her ears was pressed against it before giving it a solid thump. "Sounds like it at least. Its insides dont make any sense otherwise."

The keypad...well, it was some sort of keypad. A hand sized square next to the door on a completely flat touch-screen. Ancient script flickered on its surface, though it was hard to make out what exactly it was saying. Like the vehicle, there wasn't an easily accessible port, but that didn't mean it wasn't physically wired in some way if it was connected to the door.

Regis Meynolt

A shame for us that their walls are so more sound than their ceiling, Regis quipped. Judging by the vehicle's shape, he'd guess its purpose was to move heavy objects around the installation. With how unstable the room was, and with their goal of getting through the doorway still unachieved, it'd probably be best to leave it alone for now.

Speaking of their primary task, the structural unsoundness of the ceiling would make forcing the door open too risky of an option. They would have to try and trigger the door's opening mechanism and hope that it had enough power to still function.

Regis walked up to the door and knelt down to take a closer look at the keypad and whatever script was appearing on the screen. If he could interpret what it said, it could provide useful information- or at least give them a clue as to why the door isn't opening.

"It still has power, looks like it's wired to the wall. Amalie, you think you can bypass it?"

---

"Well, their sound walls are probably what's keeping the rest of the ceiling from crushing our entire operation here, at the very least." Amalie mentioned as she looked closer at the keypad. "I can bypass it probably. No visible ports to plug into... Unfortunate. Doesn't mean I can't though. I might just have to get a little... creative." The elf said, as she got closer to observe it. Firstly, she tried to read some of the ancient script but that was a herculean task at this point in time. She then looked at it to find any points on it that might allow her to remove it from the wall so she could access the wiring inside. "I can probably do something with the wires. Wonder if Monique would get mad if I surgically remove this from the wall." The elf mused her options if there was no obvious way to either get inside the keypad or past it to see the wires connected to it. "It's good that at least there's power. Might be a bit difficult to open the door otherwise."

Unless there's some other, notable better option at hand, she holds up her right hand index finger and activates the laser cutter from it. It's a rather short beam that made it easy to make small, measured and controlled cuts. "This might take a bit. I don't want to damage the actual machinery or the wires. Just the wall immediately around it so I can try to either repair or, as you said, bypass this keypad."

"Very well, there's no point in wasting any more time."

I raise my staff, pointing it towards the nearest portion of the blue mist. Certainly, I need more observation to determine its origin, but when it comes to simply clearing a space---

Well, it's utterly trivial.

I'll use myself as the first target, and the mist as the second.

The threads of myself spread out. In my mind's eye I can see them, glistening, shining things like spider silk, magical energy rushing as if along my veins and outwards, pouring down the threads like dew. The power to manipulate the world around me manifesting inside of my brain, a visualization of the invisible force extending from my being and the staff gripped in my hand.

In reality, only a faint haze, a distortion in the air, signals what is about to occur, though the nested triangle pattern dyed in purple spreading from the head of my staff, light tracing the lines that make up its holographic structure, is a clear indication of my casting process.

Personally, I'd love to take samples, but that can wait. For now, it's time to find out just where it's coming from.

I part my lips.

"Repulse."

The near-invisible haze vibrates, distorting the air as the triangle pattern flashes. The threads within my mind twist together, forming a flat surface that rushes away from me, a resounding thrum echoing through the room.

The blue, mana-rich gas wavers as it's forced aside, as if a massive hand reached in to wave it away. A bare spot on the floor is immediately visible.

I lower my staff.

"There."

@Rune_Alchemist@Raineh Daze

---

@Raineh Daze@VitaVitaAR
Auxiliary Storage -

The gas is brushed aside, moving away from the trio and being forced back deeper into the facility itself, making the room beyond for now, at least, clean enough to move through the hallway and into the room beyond.

"So one is the vents and the other is...yes. One moment." Otelius was quick on the uptake the moment Anette had started her own spell, he'd hold both hands up, geometric shapes forming at the ends of his fingertips as string of divine language started to form as mirages in the air. "Execute: Barrier. Reiterate thrice. Locations twenty, ten, and thirty from source." Duration one hour." There was a mechanical noise, followed by a flash of blue. Where one of the vents were, a bright blue solid square barrier formed in front of it. One more formed in front of a corroded hole in the hallway that presumably led to another room, and a third was put at the end of the hallway, just temporary to stop it from flooding immediately back in.

Using such a method they were able to easily make it through and into the next room beyond.

The room beyond was a mess, to put lightly.

The entire room, having likely been submerged in the mana-rich air for uncountable years had corroded beyond recognition. The entire room was covered in a layer of bluish colored growth, having covered the walls entirely. Its high ceiling was the only thing that seemed to escape from the corrosion due to the mana being denser then air. Everything in what was presumably once a storage room was mostly completely nonfunctional.

And of course, the source of said mana leak.

Along the far back wall to the right were two things. One, a large tank of bluish liquid. The glass old and cracked in several places, but surprisingly still holding, for now. Anette would immediately recognize it as a chamber for pressurizing mana and effectively condensing it enough to turn it into a liquid. Common in making mana batteries or other similar functions, typically for robots and other such things...and what it was for, was easy to find.

Not far away against the far wall seemed to be storage stations of some sort. Two of them. One was empty, but one...one had a fully intact - Well, mostly intact aside from the corrosion - construction robot of some kind. It was roughly nine feet tall, its bulky body three feet across. One of its hands ended in a drill, the other seemed to be a giant hammer.

It didn't seem functional.

A tube was hooked up from the tank of compressed mana to it, and it was spewing a constant stream of depressurized mana gas into the air.

A quick check of exits seemed to be a large corroded over rolling door that led deeper into the facility. It seemed as though this tank was the source of the mana, but how to deal with it and how it was getting out was a question in and of itself.

"Hm..." Otelius looked towards the tank then towards the wall opposite it. A hole had corroded into the wall, revealing a room beyond, it may have been just big enough to squeeze through if one could make it a little bigger. It looked fragile. "...the other side of that wall should be the main area beyond the large door outside..."

Of course, they were asked nicely by Monique to do no destructive excavation if it could be helped.

---

@Crimson Paladin@Pyromania99
Maintenance Corridors -

"Bwhaha." Khalisa laughed, hopping off the vehicle in question. "Could maybe get this thing moving if we had someone good with scripts or something with us. Might be able to jury rig something if I could get to its insides..." The Tivven walked to the other side of the vehicle, taking a few tools from her bag to attempt doing just that. A small torch for welding, it seemed like.

Accessing the panel in question would be easy enough for Amalie. Cutting a hole around it would be a fairly simple if slightly length affair. Whatever the material of the place was made out of it was fairly resistant to the lasers on the end of her suits fingers. Thankfully at least the walls were rather thin, comparably and soon she had a nice sized hole cut out around the keypad. Linking up her glasses to it was a trickier affair - she'd have to splice open some wires and connect them with her glasses.

After a few minutes of work though, it was done.

A display would show up on her glasses as it started feeding her system information the best it could. Unfortunately, much of the information was written in the language of the ancients and translating it automatically only would explain things in bits and pieces to say nothing of the seemingly heavy amount of data corruption that kept causing distortions in the translated text itself, but what she could eventually make out is a few strings of words with Regis' help.

Error

Power Level Minimal
Generator in maintenance mode
System remote override shutdown by Admin SolOS.Gala

Manual Override Y/N?
Warning: Power level low - Door may not operate at expected capacity.
Warning: Obstruction within internal components preventing door functioning as expected. Initiate Automated diagnostic to remove obstruction?

Hitting the manual override seemed to make the scraping noise in the wall worse. Seemed she'd have to figure out how to get the door open. Perhaps it just needed more power...she could always try the seemingly automated diagnostic, though.

"Whew, this things insides are a mess. How did they even do that...?" By now, Khalisa was almost all the way inside of the machine proper. Her upper half had disappeared into its insides, while her butt was sticking out as she'd tinker with its components internally. "Hows it going on your end, Amalie?"

---

"Wish I could make more of this out. I'll have to get some help on updating the language model later." Amalie mentioned aloud. "System remote override shutdown by Admin SolOS.Gala?" The elf questioned as she pondered if this was related to her or something that happened prior. That aside, there was an obstruction in the door which was pretty obvious by the grinding sound. That would need to be rectified before the door could be opened. "Power Level minimal, generator in maintenance." She mentioned to her co-workers. "There's also an obstruction in the door, as I'm sure you were aware from that grinding noise we heard in the door."

"Well, there is an automated diagnostic tool... And it says it can remove the obstruction, though it might need more power to actually do that. If you two had any ideas on that end." She continued, ready to input a an affirmative for the diagnostic. "Now, unless you two have an objection, I'm going to give this a try." Amalie said, waiting a small few seconds for objections before she initiated the diagnostic. If it worked, good. If it didn't, well, they'd have to figure it out.

Cellica looked around the storage room curiously… and took off to inspect the construction robot immediately. The thing about large robots was, well, large and made entirely of resilient materials. If this was to start moving of its own accord, there was no bigger threat to their safety: collapsing ruins and environmental hazards could accidentally get you, but they didn't have a known habit of chasing you to make sure you were paste and a map of the area.

It might be a construction robot, but you never knew if programming had gotten muddled down the line and it thought it was now a combat model.

Curiously, the uneven corrosion suggested that the robot had been mobile and active more recently than anything else… perhaps maintenance work? And its power source was the tank…

"It seems this robot has moved more recently than anything else here. Perhaps if the leaking tube was temporarily sealed, it would reactivate and we could guide it. Or it might simply repair the door of its own accord, dependant upon its programming."

---

@Raineh Daze@VitaVitaAR
Auxiliary Storage -

"We could try activating it. I'm no expert but if Miss Annette can assist we could likely get it powered on. Hm...if miss Bianca was here..." Otelius shook his head. "Its up to you two. Alternatively, that wall over there...we should be as neat as plausible but I could theoretically knock it down. If my estimations are correct then the other side should put us relatively close to the large door at the entrance...alternatively just breaking the door would work too, though if this place has any kind of security measures."

Just as Otelius would turn his attention from the corroded wall and towards the door in question though, Annette and Cellica if they were looking would notice something pass by it on the other side. It was difficult to make out what - except that it wasn't large enough to be a construction bot of some kind. It moved too fast and was far too small for such a thing to occur.

A small bit of liquid mana leaked out of one of the cracks of the tank and immediately returned to the air. It was likely this was where it was coming from, but the leak seemed to be somewhere else deeper in the facility.

---

@Crimson Paladin@Pyromania99
Maintenance Corridors -

Upon attempting to run the automated tool, there was a few seconds of silence, followed by that same grinding noise that was heard near the door earlier. It was quiet at first, as though metal was scraping against metal or something was trying to move but unable too. Khalisa would pull herself out of the machine she was inspecting, ears twitching, a brows furrowed as she listened.

"...uh, guys?"

As she spoke, Amalie's glasses would display a small update.

Automated repair initiated

Obstruction detected in the superstructure. Attempting removal.

...

...

Warning: instability detected

Complete: Obstruction is cleared. Have. A nice. Day.

The cacophonous grinding noise grew louder as the sound of grinding metal filled the room until there was a loud, sudden, sharp BANG, and the door suddenly slid upwards.

"Guys we should move!" Khalisa grabbed her gear bag, forgoing any further investigating of the room as the ceiling started to creak, dust and rocks falling from a handful of cracks in the ceiling, the walls shifting and starting to give way.

Regis Meynolt

Amalie succeeded in getting the door unstuck, but the process proved to be taxing on the already weakened walls and ceiling. There was no time to think- they had at most a few seconds to get to safety before the mountain came down on their heads!

With the door opened, the closest way out was further into the ruin. It'd be a one-way journey, but with the immediate danger overhead, that didn't matter at the moment.

Regis attempted to scoop up Khalisa under his arm and bolted for the doorway as swiftly as his suit could move. He trusted that Amalie- with her much more mobile exoskeleton- would make it through the door before him, otherwise he might end up tackling her into the passage. In any case, if they tarried a split second too long, they'd all be dead.

Upon making it through the doorway, Regis would use his free hand to tap a button on his helmet, turning on a light through the viewport. With the facility in ruins and running at low power, it was unlikely that this place would be well-lit.

---

Amalie was quite intent on what the machine was doing. She was moatly focused on the door and her display, her focus divided between the two. Then, a sharp bang from the door and a message telling her to havr a nice day and that the obstruction was cleared followed soon by the door lifting made her cheer in excitement, "It worked like a charm!"

This cheering was the disrupted by Khalisa's warning and feeling a small rock bounce off her shoulder as Amalie finally noticed the roof was about to fall in in them! "Ah." She mentioned for half a second. "Aaah!" She then screamed as she scrambled to hastily remove the wires from her connector. It took a few seconds but she managed to do so.

Free from the doorpad, the engineer turned to the door and in a panic activated the thrusters on her suit to get her past the doorway where she didn't quite stick the landing and fell flat on her butt. She only hoped that that the ceiling was more stable past the threshold.

The machinery within this location is falling firmly within my expectations given what has been observed within the site so far. Nor is the state unexpected, given the fact that this area has been dealing with an extended mana leak. The corrosion is exactly what I would anticipate from the kind of leak that we've already seen taking place. With that being said, that is certainly not a reason for disappointment. Rather, it affirms the conclusions that I had reached to begin with.

Still, I want to see far more exciting things then this. Why else would I be here?

In any case---

"Reactivating an ancient machine? Well, I can't deny that should be intriguing."

The obvious solution is a simple one. Not something that takes a genius intellect, but alas.

"Leave it to me."

I raise my staff once more.

Directly compressing the damage won't do. While I can certainly use such methods offensively, all that would do is result in even greater damage to the leaking tube when the duration of my command included.

Rather, as with many things, simple thoughtless brute force isn't sufficient.

The threads of myself reach out once again. This time, they're not pushing anything away, but rather wrapping around it. An invisible cube around the damaged tube, not the entire tube but rather the spot where the damage is specifically. But I'm not grasping the tube with the threads of me.

I'm clutching the space around it. It is, I suppose, still somewhat akin to brute force, but still a far more refined way of utilizing it.

"Compress."

The threads of myself become like fingers, a squeezing vice the instant the word leaves my lips. From all angles, they push, collapsing the space where the damage located. And, with a grinding, grating sound, the leak is beginning to be squeezed shut, the pressure being exerted upon it causing the gash to become tighter and tighter, with less and less space for the gaseous mana to escape.

---

@Raineh Daze@VitaVitaAR
Auxiliary Storage - Cafeteria and Recreation room

The piping connecting the machine groaned and squealed as it was compressed. A rather unconventional way of repairing the holes, but it seemed to be working. It'd slow the flow of mana due to a compressed size, but overall, it would seal it shut.

Suddenly, the entire building rumbled slightly. something collapsing not terribly far away.

"Hey whats going on! I'm hearing a lot of not great sounds, Amalee, Regis!"

"Hm. Sounds like the passage the others took may have collapsed." Otelius frowned. "Sounds like they're fine, for now though." Otelius turned his attention to the old robot, studying it intently as the mana was slowly pumped into it by the ancient machines, the low-power of the facility doing its job as best as it could. Thankfully, it seemed at least this would potentially count as 'maintenance' mode of some sort.

After a few minutes of waiting, the robots entire body would shudder and groan, years of rust and corrosion flaking off its body as a number of blue lights lit up on its body.

"...bzzt....eerrror." A garbled error message played out of a speaker. "POwer...10%...error...N-bzzt-u-ul-bzzt-ll.." The robot slowly started to move, creaking joints sending up years of dust and corrosion as a heavy limb pressed on the floor, slowly making its way towards the corroded over door. "Err-err....n-nexus...offline. Pathing...protocols...absent.-bzzt-u-bzzt. C-commence...c-clean...maint-p-p-rotocol-new path."

It lifted the arm with the hammer and slammed it into the corroded door. Once. Twice.

"E-ero-r...in-intru..."

Three times. Each movement became faster and faster, the beating of metal on metal until the door started to give way, and after five beats the drill started to rev up, until almost in a disconcertingly manic fashion it starting ripping and tearing at the doorway until the entire thing gave way, smashing through it with enough force to crack and crumble the surrounding wall.

Once through, it rip and tore at the wall, bashing and tearing it down - a hole large enough for it to move through into the room beyond. Once through, it paid no mind to the trio of mortals, walked through the room spouting more errors and pathing objectives.

The room in question beyond, once the dust settled...

a graveyard.

Thats what it was.

What at one point seemed to be some sort of recreation room, or perhaps cafeteria was now home to nothing more than a bunch of skeletal remains. Some seemed as though they had simply sat down for a meal, slumped over tables - or perhaps they were sitting when they accepted whatever fate they had - some, with weapons near them were slumped against the now barricaded door that seemed to lead into the main area. Some had holes in their skulls, or other obvious injuries indicating a violent end of some kind.

Were they ancients? Or ancestors of their own? It was difficult to tell with the equipment they had on hand.

The maintenance robot didn't seem to pause or pay any heed as it stepped on the remains, crushing it underneath as it headed for the barricade and immediately smashed through it, disappearing further in as its programming led it on some unknown objective.

The only other way out was down a set of stairs, the subtle blue glow of dense mana gas signaling it was likely dangerous to traverse.

They didn't have to linger here, at least if they didn't want too it looked like. Perhaps following the maintenance robot might lead them somewhere.

"Well...while they're getting their bearings, how are things on your end, Cellica?"

---

@Crimson Paladin@Pyromania99
Maintenance Corridors -> Power Core

"H-hey! Do I look like a sack of rocks or something!" Khalisa responded to being picked up as one might expect - like a cat that had suddenly been lifted and decidedly didn't want to be. She wiggled and squirmed, arms flailing lightly and legs kicking. Thankfully for Regis, she was about as strong as a kitten herself and after a few seconds she managed to steady herself.

Amalee was the first through the door, the hallway beyond didn't seem to be in much immediate better condition, the weakened ceiling crumbling like wet paper as a metal part fell onto the ground right behind her seconds after she moved and just seconds in front of Regis as he turned his helmets lamp on, illuminating the dim corridor beyond.

"Hey whats going on!" Monique's concerned voice came over the coms for everyone to hear. "I'm hearing a lot of not great sounds, Amalee, Regis!"

"Uh, nothing to worry about!" Khalisa responded on her own comms. "Just...a little detour? We're going further in!" Vision blocked by dirt, debris, and a lack of light in general made passage difficult at best. If not for Regis' headlamp, they might not have any light at all aside from the dim and half working emergency lights of the facility itself - nor how long the corridor was in the first place.

The ceiling above groaned, metal creaking and coming down completely now as the trio ran through the hallway beyond, it was hard to tell how long exactly it was, but it wasn't until a soft blue glow was seen further down did the ceiling start to become more stable, the ceiling collapse stopping as suddenly as it had started as Regis managed to pass the threshold into the room beyond.

"I want a status report, now you three!"

The room they found themselves in was much larger - and in vastly better condition. A roughly circular room at least three stories high, softly glowing blue from a pit in the center. Enough to navigate, but not enough to see good details with. Approaching the center would reveal some many meters down was a large blue pool of something - liquid mana - the source of the light currently. Five large pylons encircled it, in surprisingly good condition. Each pylon seemed to have its own console, with each console showing an error screen of some sort ranging from 'Low power' to 'lockdown initiated, please contact Admin', with one being completely disconnected.

Both Regis and Amalee might recognize this as a sort of very old mana-based reactor for power.

More importantly, it looked like there was a door that led elsewhere, though like the one in the previous room it was locked and showing an error on its keypad about a lockdown. At least this one likely wasn't going to be bringing the ceiling down on them. There was also a staircase that led down - unfortunately it seemed to be flooded with gaseous mana meaning Regis was likely the only one who could traverse it safely.

A few machines - one more intact of the one in the previous room was parked to the side. A large robot of some sort was sitting, unused, with what seemed to be some sort of cylindrical object full of liquid mana as well.

"We reactivated a maintenance robot. Unfortunately, it relied on some network for pathing and it seems to be simply breaching any obstacles as it heads to the facility centre," the elf was quick to reply, "The first room it opened appears to be a break room of some description, however…"

The blonde was quick to relay the violent ends of the inhabitants, but not before making the observation that the skeletons were surprisingly preserved; there was something to the conditions inside here. If it had just been cold, she would have expected more mummification; that had been an… unpleasant reality to discover in mountain passes, but now…

"Unless anyone has objections, I think we should proceed further? Perhaps with more caution," her hand drifted to her sword as she looked at the bodies. It was possible that whatever did that was still here.

Regis Meynolt

"We're all unharmed, but we've run into a...complication" he replied on the intercom, putting down Khalisa. "We opened the door, but it caused a cave-in behind us, and we had to flee further into the ruin to avoid being buried. It appears that we have found the facility's reactor room."

They weren't the only ones who had made progress. The team sent into the mana-choked passages had found their way through, but the skeletal remains were a cause for concern. The notion that something had gone sideways in this ruin was further corroborated by the message of a lockdown on some of the the reactor consoles.

Regis pulled out his datapad and pulled up the map. "Consoles in the room say that a lockdown is in effect. There's only one exit not blocked by the debris or sealed by the lockdown, but it's inundated with mana vapors."

Judging by the map, the locked door should lead to the chamber just beyond the foyer. However, even if they got through, Regis didn't think they had a good chance of opening the massive main door as long as the facility was locked down and the generator was in maintenance mode.

---

Amalie didn't really want to admit to those back in the base that she had made the ceiling collapse so she was happy Regis answered the call. After the second quick rush to escape falling rubble, the engineer elf was happy to take a small breather. "I wasn't expecting to stumble into a mana reactor like this..." She mentioned aloud to Regis and Khalisa as she approached the pit to take a look inside. She looked around at the general area as Regis was taking care of talking to Monique. She took note of the way engulfed in mana and the door locked like the one she opened that caused the entire place to fall down... Then there was a... canister? of liquid mana. Maybe it could be used to power something elsewhere.

"Well, Regis, good friend. How comfortable do you feel with going into the mana?" The engineer asked her colleague as she pointed over to the staircase engulfed in mana. "I can get working on this door." She mentioned, walking over to the door. She could probably interface with it the same way, right? Cutting around the panel and then working the wire together with her interface.

---

@Raineh Daze@VitaVitaAR
Recreation room -> Warehouse 2

"Intact skeletal remains in a place that old? Oh those would go for a fortu-ahem-be of great historical and archaeological interest."

"Monique your less reputable side is showing."

"A-ahem. As the financial advisor and accountant of the institute selling to private collectors is just something we have to take into consideration, Bianca. A-anyways if they've met a violent end and the room is as you've described there's a good chance as we surmised this was the site of some battle or conflict. Do the wounds look man-made? Or perhaps by machine...?"

Theories on the demise of this places' inhabitants aside, heading out of the recreation room and into the room beyond proper, would lead into the facility proper, leading out into what seemed to be a relatively small transitionary hallway. Heavy metal shutters and doors blocked the two ways out. Normally, this might have posed a problem on how to open it, yet the maintenance robot they had previously activated was continuing its seemingly aggressive maintenance induced rampage.

It approached the door on the far end, the one furthest away from the likely entrance and foyer. It paused at the door, inserting a one of its drill into a small slot on the door. A few seconds later, there was a click and the grinding and scraping of metal as the ancient door slowly began to lift.

It seemed like the robot did have maintenance privileges, meaning it could likely move around while the facility was on lockdown freely.

Following it into the room beyond, supposing the duo would continue, would lead the pair into a large warehouse looking place. A few catwalks hung from a high ceiling, a number of old shelves and racks were knocked over. Conveyor belts and assembly lines and storage racks of robots laid dormant and inactive though they were in the final processes of being put together before as the facility was put on lockdown.

And in the center of a room, another massive door. This one seemed to present a similar problem to the one outside - locked with no way inside. The conveyor belts seemed to lead both into the room beyond the large door, and away from it.

The maintenance robot hurried over to it.

"Err...error...N-nUl..."

It smashed its hammer into the door.

"...error...bzzt...k-keey...g-gug...nir...A-admin...unresponsive...can-can not...proceed...seeking alternative...r-route...error...error..."

...it didn't seem like it was going to move for a bit.

From here the facility seemed relatively open. To the left of the large door and the robot was an area that was labeled 'Material Processing' 'Research Labs' and 'Admin Offices'

To the right was a singular room that read 'Security Offices', down the hallway a little further was a some weathered signage that seemed to indicate 'Data Storage' and 'Parts Fabrication' A number of what seemed to be high tech mana batteries were laying about. Some were leaking.

---

@Crimson Paladin@Pyromania99
Power Core
"Reactor room? Be caref-"

"Can we get it back online?" Bianca's voice drowned out whatever it was Monique was saying next. "Theres a good chance rebooting it would initiate a sort of soft-reboot of the facility. Might end that lockdown."

"And it would also turn everything back on. Including possible security systems." Monique's matter of fact assessment continued.

"Might also clear out the mana. If the central ventilation is working. And who knows. We might need power to figure out what this place is. If we can find a central control room or something similar chances are it won't function without power. To say nothing of the more secure parts that likely need power."

"Look, I don't think its a good idea, but its your call since you're on the ground out there. Just be careful, whatever you decide."

The decision was entirely up to them. Assuming that Amalie would investigate the keypad further, it certainly seemed similar to the one that had been outside. Doing as she had previously and cutting out the keypad itself and hooking up to it, it wasn't too different.

The only small snag was that while it did say the same thing about a lockdown it also seemed to be heavily corrupted by something - far more than the one previously. There was also the issues of the physical wires themselves being a complete mess. It seemed as though someone or something had intentionally made attempting physical wire splicing difficult by making certain wires and inputs go into the wrong bit of the circuit board. Being written in ancient text didn't help, and the text itself was completely garbled and difficult to make out or read and each word was a random string of nonsense that wasn't readable at all.

There was a good chance some of it was the same as previous. A warning about the power level and the generator being in maintenance mode, and something likely about a manual override...but there was also more. It was hard to tell what was which option as well - and there was also the chance whatever was causing the data corruption would possibly cause inputs to prompt into something else entirely than what the physical wires were doing depending on how it was set up deeper in.

And perhaps one option just concerningly named 'NULL/laoscnecpEtD teadar taa seNull.OS'. Also, rather concerningly, the first option that was likely the 'manual override' was doing nothing as far as Amalee could tell. If she had some sort of reference or perhaps some way to cleanse physical or computer corruption it might be easier, but as it stood unless she had a way to run a whole system diagnostic on the entire facility and fix the root cause of it or a way to temporarily run it in a virtual environment and test it, there didn't seem to be an easy way to figure it out.

e rrMa EwiorL
evolr
limnPe

GrdaseSnuevayeOemendti.motel niSAemwymmt doaSar eoarrdbnt i oceGsnio l rho
ntne

> ctrwaoOxnD/ pdaeeme-i o?uvaWrlay Ydt coeMopttveP rwgee necNnlyaaorelp.lri i a et o rn:a
> oidqoea tuOc?RdlAslkmneiat fr. SwmnoGl f
> r?ayry Sr eponlydticiabahP ta
> aRoi ctoacgesDtrin
> Pleigoewe eivnae?oOrlsr Dvrsd
> Woaeltnrlaenertsun un:soM .aeh fb nr t-nmof hAW ?tcltigtc elspatitavpineL
> NULL/laoscnecpEtD teadar taa seNull.OS

"So what are we working with, Amalee?" Khalisa said as she was put down, seemingly not too bothered now. "Yikes that whole thing is less readable than one of them weirdo Tivven schoalars. Uh. Well, not my area. Good luck I'ma go check out them robots over there. Looks like we could get this place easily up and running again..." One of her furry ears twitched, causing her to turn her head towards the Mana filled sub-level. She frowned for a moment before shrugging and walking over to one of the robots.

"Ooh you guys are pretty intact..." She sat her tool bag down and took a few tools. "Lets see if I can fix that, eheheh." She paused only a moment to look over to Regis. "Oh, right, if you plan on going down there I can give your suit a thorough inspection if you want. Don't want any of that gettin' in ya."

Whatever the decision was, it didn't seem like they would know what exactly they were getting into immediately either way.

"More leaks…" Cellica said, shaking her head and starting off towards the security offices. "I believe we should go through security first; if there is any other record of what happened here, then I expect that we shall find it there."

If there was any greater surveillance functioning at all, that was where she would expect to find it. And from there they may find a better (and safer) idea of what awaited in each other room. Or perhaps it was already destroyed and ransacked, who could say?