FINAL INVESTIGATION

[killerwaves]

FINAL INVESTIGATION

No announcement, or gruesome discovery greets you today, but you probably don't need to be told that it's time to make a move given the ominous change in the atmosphere, and in the weather itself. Sometime in the night, the stormclouds have moved in, darkening the length and breadth of every island and blotting out both the sun and moon -- it seems your summer vacation has ended. What's worse, if you're looking carefully as the stormfront rolls in, you'll spot the telltale shimmer of the distortion; not just low down on the sea or landbound as it usually is, or even up in the heights as with the waterfall.

No, these seem intertwined with the clouds themselves, descending from the heavens like divine catastrophe. Louder than any thunder or lightning -- the telltale rumbling pitch of the dimensional warping is overlaid with the watery wailing you heard last week, but much closer. Multiple whirlpools have opened up around Sungem's Peak, while snaps and booming across the water belie the safety of the other islands.

Attempting to travel away from the main island will tell you the following: several of the railways have been beset and partially destroyed by both whirlpools and aerial distortions. If you manage to get far enough to see the other island destinations: the peak on Kingfisher's Retreat seems a lot lower than before. The planetarium has vanished from Dodo's Outlook. And there seems to be a small tornado cresting the back of Seagull's Playground. Is that a go-kart caught in the whorls???

Beneath the storm-driven sky, the haven of Sungem's Peak carries an audible din of future tidings as well: what whirlpools haven't set upon the ways off the island have shaved off at least some of the shoreline and, judging by how loud they are, the singing fish are not having a good time. The disturbances in the water are enough to have the tide itself receding from the shore, farther than it's ever gone: to the point where the continental shelf is exposed, baring parts of the sea floor and the island that haven't been accessible until now.

While the dead have provided you with a map, it's not a GPS; you'll still need to navigate your way into the inner workings on the island and confront whatever challenges you find, along with your two administrators.

Hopefully the encouragement of those beyond the grave will be enough to buoy you as you descend into the depths of the island, since it's just you, and the scream of the waves.

(( OOC: Welcome to your final investigation! While we will provide AREA CLEARS, the choices you make here will affect end game. Good luck!))

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[killerwaves]

[It does indeed turn on! And with alacrity, at that.

Using the kittybots as a shield seems to buy her a little bit more time, though it's mostly because there are enough stored in here that it takes some care and precision for the fishbowl bots to navigate around them. In the meantime, the terminal lights up to a pretty little logo of a cat face under the word AILOUROS.

Nostalgic, isn't it? It's been almost a week since that cat face existed on this island.

A few options blink into existence beneath the cat face:
> SYSTEM INFO
> MAINTENANCE LOGS]

[idologue]

[ Okay - so which of these is likely to get the fishbots off her tail... Hmm hmm hmm... Why can't Mr. Pink's engineering work when it counts?!

She's going to go into the maintenance logs to see if she can get any user information out of those somehow... ]

[killerwaves]

ALL CREDENTIALS SHOULD BE PRESENTED WITHIN 300 SECONDS OF ENTRY. 176... 175...

[All of the fishbowl bots here, too, start using their projected fish to count down as they come closer and closer. However, with Lacus being on the terminal now -- the countdown abruptly ceases just short of 170. Instead, extensions pop out of the bots, electricity arcing menacingly at the tips.

All fishbowl heads in the hangar now uniformly display a >:0.]

UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED. BEGINNING DEFENSE PROTOCOL.

[Before the fishbowl bots really get going, Lacus will be able to glimpse the following lines in the maintenance logs:

RECENT MODIFICATIONS:

Aesthetic change to system interface.

Update to system software allowing the system to more closely cooperate with KRATOS’ surveillance functions.

Update to system hardware to more broadly support island defense.

WARNING: Some updates may reduce battery life or structural integrity of electronic components.]

[idologue]

[ Reduced battery life, huh? Now that is something that may be useful. May. If she can give these the runaround until they power down, which... probably isn't going to happen.

Okay. Okay, let's look around here - is there any better hiding space? Anywhere she could climb up or something? ]

[killerwaves]

[Judging by how long some of the kittybots have been out and about on the islands... it's really hard to say if reduced battery life will end within the day.

Unfortunately, this is also a pretty sparse room, so unless she plans on climbing on top of a resident kittybot or Mr. Pink (both options seem a bit unstable and structurally challenged), Lacus' strategy, Run-the-Fuck-Away... may have reached its limit.]

[idologue]

Shuda! Can you distract them for a moment?

[ If that's viable... hopefully they won't just split up but! Let's find out! ]

[plunges]

[ Hi our fish bots are still counting what's happening- oh.

Xiao will position himself defensively between Lacus and the bots! He's got his spear out, too. ]

Did you get everything? If so, go. I'll handle them.

[dancing_flames]

On it.

[He's already got the sword out in preparation. Let's work out a little bit of that pent-up stress, shall we?]

[killerwaves]

[Luckily for everyone, there isn’t really room to split up in this tight space, though that also means any fighting will be in tight quarters and might get you stuck in a kittybot or three...

At least they’re not active???

At Xiao and Shuda’s movements, the fishbowl bots whirl around and raise both their arms in preparation. One arm is holding the taser-like implement (that looks like a lot of volts...) and the other is... empty?]

[idologue]

[ Alright. The violent bots are now the boys' problem.... which realistically means that Lacus should get out of this room now.

However.

There is information she hasn't checked yet, and by god, she's gonna get it.

So. System Info - how are you looking? ]

[killerwaves]

[Good show, Lacus.

There's a bit more information to be finding here in the System Information section!

SYSTEM INFORMATION: AILOUROS SYSTEM

Primary Function: Support of resort and research facilities, supervision and maintenance of bird populations, recordskeeping. Communicates with the KRATOS system and is considered subordinate to it.

The Ailouros system is an autonomous neural network, able to learn the habits and most frequent needs of island residents and anticipate living needs.]

[idologue]

[ Okay, that is actually genuinely good to know. So that's what the kittybots are...

Are there any more fun buttons to press, things to access? If there isn't any way to give this terminal input, Lacus is going to try sneaking through the deactivated kittybots so she can get the fighters between herself and the malicious fish swarm. ]

[plunges]

[ Okay, well, Xiao sure doesn't like that weird arm thing spewing electricity! He's going to go ahead and try to take that arm out first, aiming to slice it around the shoulder area. He's not using his Vision for this, but he really does not like that, and doesn't want it anywhere near Lacus. ]

[killerwaves]

[When Xiao goes a-slicing and dicing at the not-so-hapless fishbot, it wheels around as though trying to protect its offensive electrical arm...

And in fact brings up its other arm in a mirroring swing, surprisingly fast. Xiao will feel his spear hit some sort of invisible wall and bounce off, leaving the bot wheeling away a little to regroup.

In the meantime, just how closely is he observing his opponent?]

[plunges]

[ VERY CLOSELY. He is looking for any weak spots or any combat patterns, that sort of thing. ]

[killerwaves]

[While he and the fishbowl bot are now circling each other, Xiao will spot something unusual jammed in its workings, just peeking out; it doesn't look to be a normal part of the bot's innards.]

[plunges]

[ Where is it peeking out of? He'll try a few more swipes -- is there a way to break or pass through the barrier? ]

[killerwaves]

[The barrier isn't absolute! As Xiao is contacting it, he'll realize that it covers an area equivalent to the front of the bot, radiating out from its arm, but it's possible to get past it. Basically like an invisible shield held on its arm that it's using to fend him off.

Looks like the strange thing is just under the fishbowl, so in its "mouth" of sorts.]

[plunges]

[ Good to know! He'll go ahead and do a very fancy jump to quickly maneuver to its backside. He'll try to do more powerful strikes against it in an attempt to slice off its arm again, before he goes for a more horizontal slash across its body. ]

[dancing_flames]

[Thanks for the obvious targets, fishbots-- Shuda is just going to try to use his sword to lop those arms right off before they can do anything.]

[killerwaves]

[This fishbowl bot has seemingly observed Xiao’s attempt at turning its fellow into a shish kabob and prepares itself in turn: it crosses its empty arm over the electrical arm and Shuda will run into that same invisible force field over its free arm. Lame.

Even as it’s pushed back from the force, the fish in its head form a question mark.]

NUMBER OF INTRUDERS HAS INCREASED. RECOMMEND: REINFORCEMENTS.

[Hm. That said, how closely is Shuda looking at the bot he’s fighting?]

[dancing_flames]

[Quite closely! He's learned that sometimes you need to outsmart your opponents rather than just overpower them cough cough Deep Snow cough cough

But first off, what happens if he targets a small explosion at the base of its electrical arm?]

[killerwaves]

[There's definitely something jammed in the bot, although it doesn't seem to hinder its combat operations.

What does hinder its combat operations is the little explosion that sneaks behind its invisible guard -- there's a chirrup of alarm as the joints in its arm are loosened, swinging the electricity every which way. Kind of looks like the bot is cartoonishly windmilling its arm at this point, actually.]

[dancing_flames]

[HMMM definitely going to take a closer look at that in a moment!

Once that arm is loosened and he sees that the explosion was effective, he's going to try to repeat the same thing to see if he can't just blow that arm clean off and get rid of the force field.]

[killerwaves]

[We're assuming this is before the manlet gets toasted with a side of pickles.

When the bot sees the same attack repeated -- it can't block the explosion, but it brings its shield arm to the explosion sphere, which if Shuda is watching closely enough... he'll see that the shield is able siphon some of the energy, though not quite enough to prevent the explosion. The electrical arm gets yeeted, all's well that ends well...

But much like in Xiao's case, the fishbowl bot will then try to use its shield arm as a battering ram. But at least its offensive capabilities have been cut.]