Regis Meynolt

From the look of it, untangling the hardware and software of the reactor was going to be a challenge. With Amalie busy working on trying to get the reactor to work and Khalisa eyeing the robot, the task most suited for Regis was the mana-choked passage.

"Please do, Khalisa, that mana doesn't look particularly inviting," he spoke in response to her offer. He typically had someone else inspect the exterior of his suit before dives, so it was reassuring to have someone on hand who could handle it. Khalisa might not be a diver, but he trusted in her extensive mechanical knowledge.

Assuming Khalisa found no problems with his suit, Regis would approach the stairway.

"I'm heading down into the lower passages. I'll try to stay in touch, interference permitting." With that he descended the stairs and ventured into the mana-filled corridor.

---

The results were simultaneously expected and not. She'd much rather a fully legible experience, but really, it wouldn't be likely. She struggled through the text from the door before speaking. "I'd rather not get security systems working again. Despite it's origins, this armor isn't currently designed to be damaged." The elf mentioned before disconnecting from the door. "But, I suppose we should try to get the reactor running, I suppose." She grumbled, "Lets give the system a quick once over before trying to mess with it much." She mentioned aloud, before looking over the reactor's systems once again.

She turned on the connection to the base and the other three inside the ruins to give them a heads up of her plan. "I tried to connect to another door to proceed but... Well, the text looked like scrambled eggs but if they were letters and not eggs. The only legible thing in it said 'Null.OS' which... I'm unsure of. I don't think I'm going to be able to do anything with it until the power is turned on, even then...? Anyway, to my dear friends dealing with the mana issue elsewhere, I'm going to work on getting the reactor working. Do beware of the dangers as Monique mentioned. Any security systems will become operational... Umm. Yea." Amalie wasn't really sure the best way to end the message so she just ended immediately after the "yea".

Amalie then moved to the pylons to take a closer look at the consoles. "Now then, how to get this type of generator running again..." She mentioned, walking over and trying to see if she could do anything with the console while it was low power. Perhaps the cylinders of liquid mana could be of use. If nothing else, she could try interfacing with her console for now. "Khalisa, when you're done helping him, come help me with getting this reactor running. Regis, keep in contact with us, alright?"

The presence of more leaks is of course, notable.

However, it's the words I've heard that strike me as far more intriguing, and potentially far more hazardous then the mana leaks.

"Null?"

The word leaves my lips almost unconsciously. Faster then even my thought acceleration. There's no doubt in my mind that's what I heard, and yet I want to verify it.

It's not as if 'null' is an uncommon term when it comes to digital systems. However, this is not simply a case of a 'null condition'.

It sounds as if it is a far more specific term.

Could it truly be a reference to the dark god of the Era of Discordia? But what could it mean?

Naturally, this is the sort of conundrum that a genius exists to pursue, but that does not mean I shall not be cautious of potential dangers.

"Visiting Security would be ideal," I say, after a moment's pause, "But I want to peruse the databanks as well. I cannot allow that reference to 'Null' to escape further investigation."

I can't say that I have enough information as of yet to form a more detailed hypothesis, but at the moment the reference to the dark god stands out like a scorching hot inferno in the middle of the void. I have to perform a deeper investigation.

@Crimson Paladin@Pyromania99
Power Core

"Understood! You just leave your life in my capable hands." The Tivven would thus get to work inspecting Regis' suit, starting with giving it a quick once over to make sure there weren't anything that may impede its motor functions, any potential wear or concerns on its exterior that might lead to a leak of some sort. She'd even polish a few spots on it. She'd have him do a few movements, keen ears twitching lightly as she'd listen for anything out of place before reaching up, plucking out a small bit of metal that had likely gotten stuck when the ceiling collapsed earlier.

"Alright, everything sounds good. Good to go, Regis. Just uh, y'know, Moni said to not go off on our own so maybe don't let her know yeah?"

"...you do realize comms are open, Khalisa?"

"...ehe."

"Look, I can't approve but I can't stop you either. Be careful Regis-huh? Did I hear that right? Null?" A pause. "...if miss Kynbrough heard it too, then...hm. As a refresher for you three, Null was the Evil God described in the Discordia Era. They're a bit of a mystery as there were great efforts on erasing anything about them from history, but they definitely existed...oh, if this site has some information on them we could make a killing in the private-"

"Monique." Bianca interrupted, the sounds of Monique and Bianca fighting over the comms filtered through for a few moments...

In the meantime, Amalee would have Khalisa's help getting the generator back up and running. While the internal components of the devices would be difficult to figure out exactly, the external bits were easy enough to assume or extrapolate.

Interfacing with the terminal, once she got through a rudimentary security wall that had been rendered mostly useless by the seemingly facility wide data corruption, she could get a fairly coherent readout of the problem with this particular pylon.

It had been disconnected and its catalyzer removed, thus effectively rendering it unable to properly process and use the mana in question stored below meaning while it was likely technically functional it couldn't convert the mana into actual power. How and why it was removed was a question for another time.

This did mean though, that if Amalee and Khalisa could hook up a potential outside source of power it could theoretically run on that...and thankfully, there was a rather conveniently place mana battery that was already ready to be plugged into some device not too terribly far away being held by a robot.

"Mmmhm...okay. I think...we should be able to jury rig that battery over there up to the outtake systems." Khalisa's eyes scanned the terminal. Well, as much of it she could.

It was about level with her face.

"Hey, lift that big ol battery for me and drag it over here. I'll start."

---

For Regis, heading down the tunnel would soon see his path being clouded over by the dense, blue fog of the condensed mana. It swirled in thick, gaseous motes that clung to his suit when when his feet met the ground. He'd find any comms he received spotty and reception difficult at best due to the interference, but it was probably fine.

Visibility as low as it was though, what he could see at the end of the hallway was a red light ominously blinking in slow, rhythmic pulses. As he'd approach deeper into the hallway, passing by a few corroded over doors -

Skrrrrk

The sound of metal scraping against metal. The light jerked to the side, and disappeared down a hallway leading to the right.

---

@Raineh Daze@VitaVitaAR
Warehouse 2 -> Security Room

Leaving the failing bot behind, the duo would instead head towards the security room. The door, thankfully at least wouldn't prove a problem. Whatever happened here saw to that - it was laying thrown aside some distance, beaten and bent by some heavy blunt force as its edges were ripped off, clearly indicating some violent removal.

Walking into the security room wasn't much of a better spectacle.

A rectangular room with a number of desks on one end near the door with a number of computers in various states of function, a number of what seemed to be servers...and more corpses. Skeletal remains, though less than were in the cafeteria. Notably only two. One was slumped against the far back wall, head missing.

A second was lumped together with the body of what seemed to be a fairly bulky looking droid. Its body main body was vaguely rectangular and fairly heavy and sturdy looking, with its 'face' being a flat disk that sat between the shoulders of its disproportionately long arms. A single now broken 'eye' laid lifeless its its metallic skull. One of its long arms had been severed at some point, and one of its legs had been bent at the wrong angle.

The remains pinned under the droid seemed to have some sort of rectangular object on them. One of them might notice it as a form of Ancient Data disk - similar to a modern day keycard of some kind.

"...Hm." Otelius walked over to one of the computers. "Amalee, any progress on getting the power back on?" Hed ask over the comms.

It'd be hard to investigate the computers with it off, at any rate.

Regis Meynolt

That's not a good omen, Regis silently noted as he witnessed something darting away down the hallway. Judging by its glowing red light- and the near-impossibility of anything living in this sealed ruin for this long- it had to be a robot.

While Regis' suit could withstand the mana and his executables of water and gravity should be able to keep threats at bay, these hazards would be immensely more dangerous together. His executables couldn't be relied on to function properly in this mana-choked corridor, and any harm inflicted upon his suit could let the mana in.

Regis headed back to the exit. Sometimes, it was prudent to return to the surface, take a breath, and prepare before delving too far into the depths.

"Regis here. I just spotted what looked like an active robot in the lower levels. I couldn't get a good look at it, other than a glowing red light on it." he spoke into his comms, warning the rest of the expedition that they weren't alone in here.

Now that he had reported what he had seen, there was one other matter he needed to tackle before taking another dive into the passages.

"Execute: Cetacean Adaptation B," he began, starting the command for a divine executable. The dark, obscured, and not-unoccupied corridors demanded more keen senses than what could be achieved with a headlamp and diving suit viewport. And even if he chose not to venture down there again, he didn't want to risk letting anything sneak up on him.

---

"I'll keep an eye out for anything referencing Null. For now, however, repairing this generator takes priority." Amalie said over the comms as she started her work with Khalisa on repairing the system to start. It had been a small bit of a slog getting it all going really. While it was only minor issue after minor issue asides some, admittedly there were glaring problems (why remove the catalyzer?) but work went smoothly enough otherwise.

It was time to hook up their little improvised work around. "Easily done." Amalie said in response to Khalisa's request to bring the mana container over. Luckily, her suit still kept many of the power lifting modules that it's ancestor suits had. The engineer walked over to the container in question and grabbed it gently to make sure she didn't crush the container itself. It lifted quite easily as the servos in her suit revved. She brought it over to where she and Khalisa had started working.

Between her and Khalisa, the generator should get started very soon and they'd have about ten more things to worry about in due time. As she set it down in an appropriate spot for the two of them to start working, she spoke. "At least there was an easy enough solution for this at hand." Now that it was just the two of them, she felt the smallest bit awkward. She fidgeted a little bit under the armor as she worked to get the mana container connected to the system. "This shouldn't take too long I don't think. Hopefully. Probably." She sighed a bit, working to get the improvised power system working.