Palitutu's Secret Lab

[jadethenecromancer]

Characters: OPEN to Heroes working at the lab, as well as anyone else who's interested!
Where: Palitutu's Lab
When: During the month of July, before the Festival of Light
Summary: Thanks to the Heroes who explored the sewers, a secret area under Palitutu's laboratory was discovered and is now accessible through an elevator! What secrets could Palitutu have left behind? Let's go look...
Warning: N/A

[The lab seems to be a mixture of Aqurean, Heran and Ancient technology and is designed identically to Palitutu's old room in the Temple of Fire. There are several points of interest to be investigated...]

[OOC: Threadjacking is allowed and encouraged!]

Comments

Family Photos?

[jadethenecromancer]

[While the lab itself is pretty Spartan, the Heroes may find a number of framed photographs that stand out in the otherwise clinical room. There are nine photographs in all:

-One of Palitutu with Artemicion (before he dyed his fur)
-One of Artemicion on his own (after he dyed his fur)
-One of Biggs, Wedge and the Queen
-One of Palitutu with Deweg
-One of a younger Kurma
-One of a Hypello they've never met before
-Three of Palitutu with a kid who appears different age in each picture -- 5, 9, and 13 years old. Heroes who have met Garland may see a resemblance...]

Re: Family Photos?

[bloodypast]

It wasn't what most people would think would draw his attention, but the labs were not likely to be Vincent's favorite place. He'd come anyways; curiosity and trying to start making sense of things when all Heroes had too many puzzles. The photos in a hardly-decorated work space stood out to him as incongruous then.

One could learn a lot about a person by their desk and work-surroundings.

Moving to examine the photos, Vincent stared at them for a while before picking up the one of Biggs, Wedge and the Queen. Turning the frame over, examining--was there a way to remove the photos and search for a date? Not to mention photographs were not common in this world, so how had she gotten these?

Family Photos?

[shinrasfinest]

A particular curl of unease wasn't so far underneath Sephiroth's facade, either, at stepping into any such clinical room. He's got a lot better recently, considering he has spent more time in the labs upstairs than he did before. Not only with the development of his custom job, but then there was the cure he helped the research for...

He delivered Vincent a careful, long look as one of the frames was picked up, deciding to take up for himself the one he didn't quite get. The Hypello. Sephiroth didn't turn it over or look for a date though, he frowned as he looked at the picture; it's as if it should be someone they know...but yet don't.

Might have to break some frames here...

[bloodypast]

Nothing was obviously yielding itself to be a 'date' on the picture Vincent had picked up, so he placed it back. Moving to give the others a cursory examination too--and there seemed no easy way to get the pictures out of the frame. Time to be messy then, as he took up the first picture, Palitutu and Artimecion, and started carefully trying to break the frame without damaging the photo inside.

[OOC: The pictures might be time-stamped at least. They might also have names on them, and dates, more obviously.]

Computer Decryption

[jadethenecromancer]

[Several computer screens are projected from a crystal and respond to touch just as any physical computer would. Much of the contents is encrypted, but perhaps a Hero with some programming skills might be able to dig out something interesting?]

Re: Computer Decryption

[umslay]

[Ales has been practicing using the Programmer and Engineer Jobs in conjunction to prepare himself for hacking the Ultima WEAPON this coming August. These computers will be his first true test of his abilities. The seats are perfect some someone his size - they were meant for a Tarutaru, after all - and he picks a spot in front of a screen.

He doesn't tell anyone that he's started working. If they want to help with investigating the computers, they're free to come, but Ales is fine with doing all the work himself. He doesn't trust the others enough to ask them for assistance directly.]

Re: Computer Decryption

[jadethenecromancer]

[Jade doesn't have Programmer equipped and thus can't offer much assistance in that regard. He stands by nevertheless, just in case they need translating.]

Any luck?

[With some persistent digging, Ales will be able to find some encrypted files. One of the titles stands out: "Palitutu’s Report #10 – The Endless Cycle Of Chaos."]

Computer Decryption

[umslay]

[Tiny fingers continue typing on the small keyboard.]

Not much...

[There's a mess of coding to go through, and most of the files he's come across contain mundane programming code and applications. Nothing that he can investigate without other information.]

But there may be a change Palitutu wrote some information in the Ancient language, judging by the state of this room. I may need help with something like that.

[He scrolls down the screen, and there he sees it. Writing in the common tongue, right there for him to see.]

A report?! [Without waiting for a response, he clicks on that file.]

The Globe

[jadethenecromancer]

[The most eye-catching part of the lab is a giant world globe of Crystallis, likewise projected from a crystal. Crystallized regions are showing in white, but the rest may be a little less self-explanatory.

Small red dots can be seen in various locations. The more dots there are in one place, the more diffuse and dark they become. Should the Heroes happen to see more than ten dots gather in the same spot, the dots become muddled into a deep dark hue. The entire region of Aqures Ixen is surrounded by this dark red hue.

There are also larger, more diffuse and dark dots in certain locations: one in Downapolis, one in Mysidia, two in the Village of Santa Claus and one in Esdham.]

Re: The Globe

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

The visual appearance of exactly how far the Calamity has progressed isn't reassuring. But Jack is more interested in the locations, first of what appears to be every Hero of Light? And then the more prominent dots. Jack sighs and points.

"Our wayward Avatars of the Calamity? Except there was no need for Palitulu to keep track of herself?" Jack points to the two in the Village of Santa Claus. "Kurma and Prajapati. Who were the others, again?" Three more to account for.

Re: The Globe

[umslay]

Ales is thinking the same thing: Heroes and Avatars. "The leader of the cult is definitely an Avatar, as well as the one who's been causing trouble for us recently. Kalki is gone, so she's not on this globe."

He didn't have much time to meet with the Avatars, but there was something bothering him.

"How many Avatars are there supposed to be?"

Re: The Globe

[jadethenecromancer]

"Ten. Kalki is dead, Shakyamuni is in the Rift, and Mograma..." Jade pointed to Aqures Ixen on the map, "is here in this city, although you can't make him out among all of us, it seems.

"And then we have the Sage, Narasimha, Kurma... and yes, most likely Prajapati." She hadn't exactly been identified as an Avatar, but it would explain a lot. "And Varaha is in Esdham. That's the eight Avatars we've discovered so far."

The Globe - that hue though

[shinrasfinest]

Avatars, right, that made enough sense but figuring out who each Avatar was wasn't going to help them solve anything in Sephiroth's opinion. Unless they could map out the exact purpose for each Avatar they'd never be able to tell which would truly have a positive or negative agenda for them. It's much too big of a puzzle still.

"Do you suppose the red hue indicates the connection a great number of us still have with Narayana? Considering there are Heroes who are 'disconnected' so to speak..."

He spread his hand out over the red area, the majority of which was over Aqures Ixen - the base for many Heroes.

"What does the red indicate, do you think?"

Sealed Doors

[jadethenecromancer]

[Looking at the rest of the lab, the Heroes will find several sealed doors. Some can't be opened at all, but there are a few that can probably be broken into.

The first four doors that seem breakable are labeled "Magitek Armor Prototype." Another four are labelled as follows:]

"Emerald WEAPON Containment"

"Jade WEAPON Containment"

"Sapphire WEAPON Containment"

"Ruby WEAPON Containment"

[Who wants to break in first?]

Re: Sealed Doors

[neverfirstclass]

Cloud frowned as he looked around the room, slowly rotating as his gaze shifted from door to door. He hadn't been on the Diamond Weapon mission, but he'd heard about it, and as the would be Heroic Pilot of the Ultima Weapon the whole idea of the things and how Palitutu used them still left a sour taste in his mouth. But multiple containment bays? "Oh. Of course she put this right under the city."

He glared at the doors, angry at their persistent existence, but not foolish enough to propose opening them to see what was inside. On the other hand...

He then turned back to the doors marked as "Magitek Armor Prototype." His curiosity was piqued as he slowly took steps towards those doors.

Sealed Doors [/throws a sempai at?]

[shinrasfinest]

"The problem being, that we don't know if they are actually containing anything at all."

Sephiroth slipped in a comment to Cloud about the WEAPON containment bays, and the particular door the young man had approached, as he too stepped into the area with the several sealed doors. Meticulously eyeing up each one in turn in a way that, quite likely, was something of a signature for him. Constant weighing of odds going on behind his eyes, cogs turning relentlessly as risks are calculated.

"Did you not already have a Magitek Armor, Cloud?"

Re: Sealed Doors [/throws a sempai at?]

[neverfirstclass]

"Yeah....I'm not planning to open them to find out. There has to be something in this place that will tell us if she has them here. I don't think she'd be able to go without gloating or taking notes about it." He eyed those doors one more time beofre looking back to the others that he was more willing to open.

"No. Funny thing. I was one of the first of us using Magitek Knight, maybe the first. I wanted to give Deweg a piece of what he gave me. And then every time a chance came up I either missed it or didn't have the gil." Smirking, he crossed his arms and leaned back on his heel. "It might be poetic to bring one of Palitutu's own weapons against her, considering I was the one in Ultima Weapon's pilot seat first."

Magitek Armor Prototype #1

[they_call_me_sonic]

[Sonic got curious about what was inside the labs, mostly because the adventurous side of him got to him. At the moment, the hedgehog was looking at the first Magitek Armor Prototype door. Set up in his Cyber Ninja form, he brought Caliburn up and pointed it at the door.]

Alright, let's see what's inside Door #1!

[With being a full-charged Cyber Ninja, he can now slice through anything! And unless someone stops him, he's gonna cut it down.]

[umslay]

[Ales side-eyes Sonic with all the contempt that can possibly be sealed in his small body.]

And what if you cut through whatever's behind that door, hm? The door will be open, but so will the armor.

[What a dump, rash idea. Typical for a Hero. Ales feels like he's scrambling to gather the scraps of sanity he has left before he just snaps and shoots Sonic.

...When thinking about it, it's a cathartic image, but he's in a room full of precious research. He has to be careful not to cause a scuffle.]

[they_call_me_sonic]

[And Sonic stops, rolls his eyes and glares at Ales]

Look, are we really gonna play the "let's not do anything rash" bit again? I had enough of that back in that tower ages ago!

Job Assembly & Restoration Area - Mingle

[jadethenecromancer]

[Finally, there is a Job Assembly & Restoration area, which sadly will not activate no matter what the Heroes do.

Feel free to use this for mingling or any other threads you might want to play out while inside the lab!]

[ninjainviolet]

[ This is where Sheena will eventually wander off to while the others poke and prod at some of the machinery. Except for a few times, she hadn't really said much on this trip--not even a wry joke about Jade's name being on one of the doors.

Sighing, she lightly runs a finger across a panel. She really should apologize to him for what had happened at the beginning of the month...

But it's probably too late now. ]

[im_pancake]

[You think you feel bad, Sheena? Twilight's feeling worse. She doesn't understand what's gotten into her the past few weeks, but all of this has sapped her curiosity and happiness. What should have been quite the happy moment for the princess has just lead her to lay nearby and letting out a defeated sigh.

Unless Sheena decides to speak up first, they might just end up spending the entire time moping.]

[jadethenecromancer]

[Given that Sheena usually tries to contribute more to the discussion, Jade quickly notices that something's off. He makes no mention of it with others around, though. No need to put her on the spot.

Once others are distracted elsewhere, he quietly slips away and goes to check up on her.]

Why the long face, Sheena? Bored already?

[has_been_faking]

[While everyone else gathers around different areas, Ed futilely attempts to get this one online. After spending far too long at it, he slams a fist down on one of the terminals in frustration.]

Forget it. Don't waste your time over here.