[Nexus] CURATOR I: The Evil Has Landed

[Zefir]

[Weathered Ruins]

Wealthy....

Mr. C goes for the shiny thing, he flies around the sphere watching for traps and such. If nothing found he tries to find out what the sphere is for, maybe it's not only wealthy.

[The Alexandrian]

[Lake Hylia]

Well, whatever just happened, those vines feel real enough. Healthy too! That's got to be a tad unsettling, but the structure is still holding together well enough! That's a plus!

When Rein does decide it'd be a good time to stick his head out into the hallway he'll spot...

Holy geeze! There are giant slugs out there! And by giant I mean they're about as high as a normal person's kneecap. That's no end to end either. That's height.

They're slow, fortunately, and they don't appear to have noticed Rein yet.

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[Weathered Ruins]

Mister C will notice that there is a whole lot of mystical energy swirling around within that orb. Makes one wonder what it does, eh? It also might be resting atop a pressure plate that will spring a trap if decompressed, if Mister C does pick up on that...

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[Corner of CURATOR]

Several years months weeks days minutes later, Lintha returns to her senses somewhat. She hauls herself up and stares down at Javert, curiously quirking an eyebrow as if completely unaware of what just happened.

She innocently questions Javert,

"What just happened?"

Also, he probably shouldn't be pinned to the floor anymore, the magic that chained him to it dispersed by now.

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Elevator of Doom

The ground is indeed visible though the slits in the flooring. The elevator might not reach it before that creature breaks through the floor, though.

The elevator floor rusts easily enough, being composed of enough metals able to undergo oxidization for such a feat to be pulled off. I'm wondering what Kenneth is trying to accomplish through this property damage. It seems strange that he would risk rusting the weakened floor he is standing upon to keep the monster at bay...

[Reinholdt]

[Lake Hylia]

Rein frowns. This was entirely random and not fitting the prior theme at all. He didn't understand it. He quietly looks to see if it's reasonable to fly around the slugs without giving them much room to... eat him he supposes, in case they turned out to be carnivorous.

[The Alexandrian]

[Lake Hylia]

This place was run by magical quackjobs, as Reinholdt has discovered by now. There's no telling how they wasted spent their not at all limitless reserves of time! In between watching Nextube videos and eating mountains of nachos, they must have conducted some wacky experiments on the side!

Reinholdt could squeeze past the slugs without giving them an opportunity to nom if if he stayed close to the ceiling. He probably could head back to those doors in the opposite direction to check whether or not they...

Oh hey look! A map! A map on the wall showing the corridors of the labs and where they connect to the crew module and such. It also has a conveniently placed X and a "You are here label." pasted onto it.

Looks like the kitchen is the closest room followed by the recreational area and then the lab space.

[Reinholdt]

[Lake Hylia]

Oh hey! A map. Those are useful. Rein examines it, trying to memorize as much as he can in a brief period. But mostly he's looking for areas where they might have stored the artifact he's looking for. Storage rooms or 'super artifact here' labels are high on the list.

[The Mad Hatter]

Tour of Curator

Javert tells her, Well...you forced yourself on me...Help me up dear?

[The Alexandrian]

[Lake Hylia]

Conveniently for Reinholdt, a subsection of the labs is entitled "Storage" with "Clearance: Red" and "Authorized Staff Only" stickers glued onto it. That's probably where the stuff he's searching for is. Unfortunately, it is connected to the "Deadly Bioweapon Laboratory" and the "Reanimation Theory Area"...

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[Tour of CURATOR]

Lintha looks quite surprised! And impressed come to think of it!

"That would explain a lot, actually..."

"My head hurts."

Lintha complains. She has every potential to be a Sith Lord. She reinforces this concept by attempting to help Javert to his feet with a hastily cast levitation spell instead of the conventional and probably expected hand.

[Reinholdt]

[Lake Hylia]

Reinholdt facepalms. There are certain things that don't go together. Come on people! Common sense!

Reinholdt mentally maps a route and then goes to fly above the giant slugs and go to this subsection of labs!

[The Mad Hatter]

Tour of Curator

He grins, You know, if you wanted to curtain you could have just asked. I tend to prefer being in a private area....and perhaps on a softer place than the ground. He moves closer to Linthia and tries to kiss her on the lips. He'll attempt to wrap his arms around her waist and looks at her.

[The Alexandrian]

[Lake Hylia]

We really can't blame them. Wisdom was their dump ability! A poor rubbish score to assign to wizards, sure, but I have an inkling that they were the strongest nerds on the face of the planet!

Anyways, Rein should be able to reach the doors leading into the Reanimation lab with relative ease, especially when the emergency salt shaker defense system activates and the slugs begin to dehydrate and fizz. Smells awful in here now, though.

Outside of the crazy-big door is a throw lever that releases the sturdy door locks. Beside the lever is busted "In Case of Emergency Break Glass" container. Whatever moronic schmuck opened the case must have never played a single zombie game in his whole life because there's still something in it, a lever action shotgun! A Winchester, no less! With 10 shells of ammo too!

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[Tour of CURATOR]

"It was just an overwhelming urge and suddenly I lost control."

Lintha flashes Javert a sheepish smile. He does evidently hold more sway over her than he originally thought!

"We could head on down to my room if you want. It's nice and soft and private..."

[The Mad Hatter]

Tour of Curator

Javert grins lustily. His hands squeeze her against him. Mm... We could do that...lead the way..I'll make it wirth your while lovely...

[Reinholdt]

[Lake Hylia]

That's the worst part about adventuring. It almost always smells awful.

Reinholdt ties one end of his Kristin sling to his wrist before going to open the emergency glass thing. He probably shouldn't be getting distracted with weapons he doesn't need, but it's just such a good gun! How could he possibly pass it up?

[The Alexandrian]

[Lake Hylia]

I understand where Rein is coming from completely. In zombie games where encumbrance is a factor and the player character can tote more than one gun, that's always how I go out.

Reinholdt, as he successfully claims the gun from its case, may find that there is a reason why the weapon was left to rust in that storage space. As it is taken, the ceiling of the hallway slowly begins to fall down.

Very slowly. Clicking all the while.

Hey. Wait a minute. That gun wasn't trapped! Reinholdt may hear a door somewhere behind him slam shut.

Oh great. Someone must be stalking him or something. Someone stupid who triggered the trap.

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[Lintha's Room]

Lintha will wordlessly and speedily lead Javert into her fluffy pink bedroom and slam the door shut behind him should he follow! She'll then attempt to curtain him without delay.

[The Mad Hatter]

Linthia's Bedroom

Javert doesn't mind the speediness. She was his. He knew it. He'll go as long as she wants to. He has no need to breathe, he can go on forever. It's up to her when they stop.

[Reinholdt]

[Lake Hylia]

Well if someone is following him, Rein hopes it's at least Liz. Or whatever her name was. That lizardgirl he met months ago yesterday.

Well the first thing to do is... throw the lever that hopefully opens the door for him to just step out of the hallway!
Reinholdt doesn't normally think this would work, but the creators of this place don't seem to be the brightest of peoples at times.

[The Alexandrian]

[Lake Hylia]

Throw the lever, Kronk Rein!

Well whaddya know? The door leading into the reanimation chamber actually slides open! Woohoo! Success!

This also causes a dessicated corpse wearing a shredded lab coat to tumble out of the lab. It was apparently propped up against the door for some reason. A corny, worn sticker has adhered to the the upper right pocket of his lab coat. I think it was a he, anyway. The sticker reads,

"Resident Hide-and-Seek Expert: Waldo"

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[Lintha's Bedroom]

24 hours later...

Lintha is asleep on her bed! Which means that Javert is free to search every single square inch of her room if he wants! That is, if he's sure Lintha truly is asleep and is not a shallow sleeper or confident that she wouldn't care even if she was awake!

[Reinholdt]

[Lake Hylia]

Waldo is the master champion of the world at hide-and-seek. Though only if he's hiding. I don't know how good he is at seeking.
*peeers at corpse*
Guess we won't find out now.

Reinholdt, for his part, makes sure the shotgun is fully loaded. He peers inside to make sure there are no more corpses getting ready to surprise before stepping in, watching Waldo quite carefully. He really expects it to start trying to bite him. And Rein won't have any of that. If the corpse isn't blocking the door, Rein will close it behind him just to make sure it doesn't attack at an inopportune time.

[The Mad Hatter]

Linthia's room

Javert kisses the sleepink Linthia once on the cheek before scooting out of bed. He puts the blanket over her gently, lovingly. He then looks around. Javert has neglected to put his clothes back on. He wasn't in public. What does he see?

[The Alexandrian]

[Lake Hylia]

I'd wager that there was an extremely valid reason for he was trying to hide as well. Someone obviously wanted him dead, draining him of all of his bodily fluids like that. Maybe he was a part of some secret witness protection program or something. I dunno.

If Rein takes his eyes off of Waldo for anything more than a split second (like when he closes the door behind him), he'll hear the sound of something large being whisked across the floor. If/when he searches for the body, he'll find an open ventilation shaft that looks to have been chewed open with a jet engine of a fan whirling inside of it.

Oh gods. Waldo is out there, somewhere, hiding in the dark, waiting for Rein to find him...

Inside of the first room is a...

Decontamination area.

Oh great. Its not functional.

The middle of it is full of a nasty smelling blue coolant.

But is that coolant moving? Oh great.

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[Lintha's Room]

There's a desk here. And a pile of cuddly stuffed animals. And a leather chair. And a dresser. And a closet. And a safe. And a desktop. And a toy chest. And a mirror.

That's about it!

[The Mad Hatter]

Linthia's Room

Javert moves to the closet and opens it quietly. What does he see? Javert was tired. He wondered how Linthia would react if he just went back to bed. Maybe curtain again...it was his base desire. His essence.

[Reinholdt]

[Lake Hylia]

But if Waldo chewed open a vent and went inside, wouldn't he get chopped up by the fan?

Reinholdt knew he should have shot Waldo when he had the chance. But with those lizard creatures still out there, he didn't want to make too much noise.

Rein closes the door all the same, frowning at everything in this place being hostile.

Even the freaking coolant. But hopefully it's just... kind of running rather moving towards him in a cohesive, blue ooze, eat flesh fashion. Rein looks to see if it can just be bypassed by going around it to the next area or not.

[Zefir]

[Weathered Ruins]

"They knew how to annoy me. How should a guy like me do that?"

Mr C will try to watch the pressure plate closly hoping to see where it is connected to. Then he takes another watch at the three rooms hoping all stayed the same way. he also watches the way he came from since that should be clear as well. And then he tries to remember what he is searching here, since his playre forgot.

[The Alexandrian]

[Lintha's Room]

What's in Lintha's closet you ask?

Well, when Javert finishes swinging the closet door open he'll find an undead, mulched, starving Waldo lunging at him and attempting to gnaw his face clean off a landslide of clothes spilling out along with assorted candies and...

Weaponry...

Lots of knives and stabby implements in there, that's for sure. Most of them are sheathed, but there's enough cold steel in that pile to arm an army. All of it appears to be worn down from use too...

Lintha rolls over in her sleep and mutters something about a body before falling silent again.

Javert might have discovered more than he had bargained for searching that closet...

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[Lake Hylia]

Pretty much, yeah. Then again, this is Waldo we're talking about. In the video game someone made about him he stepped out onto the moon wearing nothing more than a fishbowl, so I'm under the impression that he's some weird breed of alien that likes hiding in random spaces.

As for the ooze, Rein could totally try stepping or flying over it instead of fighting it. There are several other viable options available to him as well.

-There's a chemical fire extinguisher on the wall beside him.

-There's some kind of sprinkler head on the ceiling.

-He's got the expendable Kristin wonder tool.

Regardless of what he chooses to do, he'll find that the slime isn't quite interested in him as is. He's decent distance from it, I'd reckon, and it either doesn't want to eat him, is far too lazy to pursue him, or is trying to set a trap for him by lying in wait for him to pass!

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[Weathered Ruins]

Mister C is supposed to be searching for a ring! A golden triangle magical ring that grants the wearer legendary power!

The rooms are all still where they were before. The room with the whirly floor appears to be safe to cross now, the floor having returned to being nothing more than wooden slats.

The pressure plate is hooked up to the interior of the rock plinth itself. Not an easy thing to disable, but Mister C can probably use his wits to disarm it.

[The Mad Hatter]

Linthia's Room

Javert's face turns to confusion, which doesn't look good on the handsome dark elf's face. He casts a spell that should muffle Linthia's ears just a bit. Nuu! Not teh Waldo! His claw grows and he cuts a small hole in reality. He attempts to grab one of the blades via magic. Can't touch them, would hurt Javert due to his half-demonic nature. He'll keep that one for studying. He moves the clothes and looks deeper into the mess. He casts a small illusion on the bed. So Linthia wouldn't be alarmed by turning in her sleep and not touching Javert. A magical, and solid mirror image of him appears next to her. It puts a warm arm around her.

[Reinholdt]

[Lake Hylia]

The sprinkler head is a trap. If that's ooze made of disinfectant, what does anyone think the sprinkler sprays more of.

Reinholdt grabs the chemical fire extinguisher and makes sure it's ready for use. Once it is, Rein goes to fly over the ooze as high as he can. The second the ooze starts making a move towards him, Rein intends to blast it with the fire extinguisher to the face. Or... other part. Really hard to tell with oozes.

[The Alexandrian]

[Lintha's Hazardous Room]

Lintha's ears are successfully plugged with magic! As the realistic Javert replica drapes an arm over her, she attempts to cuddle up to it wearily.

Great. Now how's he going to get back over there without disturbing her?

Meh. Details, details. Operation knife snatch is also a complete success. Of course, the knife is forged of steel, not silver, so I'm guessing Javert doesn't abide by the conventional set of rules governing demons, which is sad for him as steel weaponry is in no short supply in comparison to silver blades that crack and sunder with great ease.

Javert picking through the heap of clothes does, surprisingly, bear fruit. There is a thick ancient book with pages that have long since yellowed with age tucked away in the heart of a mountain of skirts along with a tiny enchanted golden band with a ruby set into it that just feels wrong.

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[Lake Hylia]

Swords are meant for ooze hacking, not fire extinguishers! Still, all goes to plan, so long as Rein doesn't miss the ooze.

When Rein sails over the ooze, it flows upwards towards him, likely only to be spritzed with the fire extinguisher! Oh gods its face/abdomen!

And that's when everything stops going to plan as a zombie shuffles into the room from the exit Rein is bound for.

A green zombie.

Too bad there isn't a greenhouse with a slew of random seeds stored in it anywhere near here!

[The Mad Hatter]

Linthia's Room! Of Doom!

Illusion Javert snuggles close. Real Javert jams the book into the reality hole! He would store it in the shadowfell for now. He casts a spell which should put everything back in its normal position and close the door. He'll scoot over to the safe and try to jam it in the storage area too. He had people who could unlock it. Find what's inside. He'll then teleport right into the bed by Linthia. In the exact position his image was. He'll gently whisper after removing the muffle spell, You still tired? He holds her close and breathes in her smell.

[Reinholdt]

[Lake Hylia]

BAH! Rein knew it! He still panics a little and throws the fire extinguisher at the zombie's head before pulling out the shotgun again and firing it at the zombie. Preferably until the zombie stops moving and one shot afterwords, because of rule #2.

[The Alexandrian]

[Lintha's Room]

Sure. Lintha's totally not going to miss that hefty safe that was sitting in the corner of her room up until she invited Javert into it.

Lintha's eyes don't even open a millimeter when Javert addresses her. She merely mutters,

"I'm meditating, Javert. What do you want?"

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[Lake Hylia]

The fire extinguisher bounces off of the zombies head with a cartoonish tonk. The shotgun blasts, however, knock him off of his feet and then blow his head clean off. Nice headshot!

The ooze, however, seems to be taking this opportunity to slither away into the wall as rapidly as possible! Chemicals hurt!

[Reinholdt]

[Lake Hylia]

Reinholdt is fine with that. So long as he doesn't have to deal with it, he doesn't care where it goes.

Well... I suppose he probably cares if it goes and eats his friends or something.

Anyways, Reinholdt readies his shotgun, prepared to shoot any zombies that feel the need to exist in the next room as he cautiously heads in.