Jane Porter (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cantgetanyworse) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
maskormenacelogs2019-10-21 06:31 pm
cantgetanyworse) wrote in maskormenacelogs2019-10-21 06:31 pm
[OPEN]
WHO: Jane Porter & YOU(????)
WHERE: The Dwemer Ruins, inside & outside
WHEN: During event (can work around when people want to show up!)
WHAT: Exploring, because Jane never really learns her lesson about not getting herself into trouble.
WARNINGS: None yet!
--
i. outside
ii. it's a trap!
iii. that's no statue
iv. the oculory
WHERE: The Dwemer Ruins, inside & outside
WHEN: During event (can work around when people want to show up!)
WHAT: Exploring, because Jane never really learns her lesson about not getting herself into trouble.
WARNINGS: None yet!
--
i. outside
[Even before she enters the large, brassy-coloured door she's already scribbling notes and gasping softly at the sheer scale of the thing. She takes the odd rubbing here, the odd sketch there, measuring the width of the door with her hand (wider than the full span, thumb to forefinger), and then...
Then, she dithers, because although she came here fully prepared for an adventure - sensibly dressed, wearing strong shoes, with some supplies - she does have the self-control to at least temporarily second-guess the idea of venturing into a place like this entirely unaccompanied. Who knows what might be in there!
But then... who knows what might be in there?]
Alright, Miss Porter. [She says, straightening her rucksack across her shoulders.] Let's go and see what all the hullabaloo's about.
ii. it's a trap!
[So far, so good. It's difficult to open the doors on her own, but she's been managing to create gaps just wide enough for her to slip her slim frame through. Her initial eager scratching of pencil to paper has turned to simple, mute wonder at the magnitude of the place the further she's walked down into it, through wide stone halls lined with heavy, steaming pipes and down shallow ramps and staircases.
She pauses at the top of a particular set of stairs. There's a strange track running down the centre of it, and it's enough to have her pursing her lips and taking a step back. Not so reckless as to take on something so suspicious without due care but not wanting to turn around either, she creeps her way forwards and presses close to the wall, inching along carefully.
Then, a click, a clunk, and a dreadful swooshing sound and suddenly there are blades emerging from inside the stairs, spinning an all too deadly path towards her.
Jane does what any sensible person would do in that situation.]
Oh, dear. [She says, then she lets out a strangled shriek and bolts down the rest of the way, certain that any moment she's going to feel the dreadful things across the back of her legs.
But she's faster than the old steam-powered trap and makes it away unscathed. The blades retract, relative silence falling once again, just in time for her to see another person reach the top of the ramp.]
Ah, be careful!
iii. that's no statue
[She's found herself in a large room full of hissing and distant clunking. The sounds of the ruins have mostly faded into the background by now, and she takes a seat on one of the stone benches to have a break and munch thoughtfully on an apple she'd had stowed away in her rucksack.]
Maybe some kind of meeting hall... or a place of worship?
[Come to think of it, she's seen nothing at all down here to suggest that whoever or whatever lived here worshipped any kind of deity at all.]
Probably a meeting hall. They could have orated from up there... [She allows herself a giddy little smile, though it fades as she notices something - another noise over the hisssss-clunk-hiss rhythm of the ancient machinery.
A kind of strange... rolling, scuttling noise.]
... What is that..?
iv. the oculory
[It is, in the end, the reward for her exploring (as far as she's concerned). A button pressed, a deep pit of spiral stairs opened, and she had ventured carefully down into the silent darkness that it offered.
Below, she'd entered a large, open room and she had gasped. Sunlight somehow managed to make its way here, filtering through large panes of green glass suspended on brassy supports over what might have once been a map... now too faded and worn to be read at all (though she tries, regardless).]
An orrery? [She has to wonder out loud, excitement and wonder gathering in her chest like a tangible, solid thing. Jane wonders, then she shakes her had.] No-- no, this isn't a planetary system-- Oh, goodness.
[The remoteness of it and the initially sealed door have left the place safe from the machines roaming the halls above her (something to think about while she's trying to leave, but not just yet) and Jane seats herself in this place for some time, making sketches and notes or simply enjoying the peaceful aura that it gives off.
At least, until she hears movement by the door.]
Oh-- if you're one of those horrible spider things again, I'm going to--
no subject
She steps back neatly - not a jump, but close - and brings her hand to her chest as her heart skips against her ribs. Part surprise, part the excitement and danger of nearly having her feet amputated.
"I don't know why you'd think I was here to keep you out," she says, a little wide-eyed at the idea. Oh, she can be incredibly brave when she has people around her to back her up, but somewhere like this... she is all too aware of her vulnerability.
"And I do believe I'd like your name before I give you mine, sir."
no subject
"Since you asked politely," he turns back to the human, bringing a metal hand to his chest. "Chief Researcher Tyl Regor. How d'you think that thing's activated? Pressure plates under the stone? Optical sensors? Magnetic interference?" Yes, he's immediately forgotten that introductions are supposed to have two sides to them. Can't keep track of those things when there's something to hypothesize about!
no subject
"It seemed to set off when I got too close to it," she tells him, moving up to his side but making sure to not get too close to the thing again.
"But this looks like a passage that lots of people would have used, so how did it know I wasn't supposed to be here?"
no subject
"We're not authorized. Not on file, not carrying the right key, not sure which." He turned his gaze toward the ceiling all along the hall, looking for cameras or scanners. "Standard stuff. Blades, not so much, but I see the appeal. Probably more deeper in, they can't expect just one set to get everyone." Which didn't seem to concern him in the slightest.
"More important: How's it powered? I keep hearing steam. that's not enough to turn all these gears, not even half of all this! 's gotta be something else. Something deeper."
no subject
She hasn't seen anything like the kind of technology that might be able to read an authorisation, but... who knows? She's never seen technology like this, either. Maybe they're just not the right species.
"Some kind of power source, somewhere inside? It's hard to know which pipe you'd have to follow..." Jane trails off, looking over their heads. The walls are lined with pipes wide enough that she could easily walk on top of one, but the higher ones seem slimmer.
"I suppose we'd just have to keep going downhill."
no subject
"And I intend to!" He starts meandering his way down the corridor, examining every surface as he goes. "Still not convinced any of this is real. It's the simplest answer: All of this is a simulation. Maybe even us."
Which obviously he wasn't a fan of, but figuring out who and how to strike back was a question for a later date. "But if it is, there'll be traces. And there's always ways to break a program."
no subject
"Ah... traces?" Jane tries, clasping her hands in front of her while she follows Tyl down the corridor. "What exactly are you looking for?"
no subject
"Glitches, shortcuts in modeling complex systems, ways that elements of the simulation--us--can manipulate the rules in unexpected ways. Or, at least I think that's how it goes," he muses, idly running a hand along a stone wall and listening to his metal fingers skitter against the surface.
"I'm not actually in the habit of messing with those things. Always more interested in making certainties, rather than just watching some intangible maybes."
no subject
"It's a fascinating idea... though I'm afraid I don't really grasp it terribly well at all." She replies, with an apologetic smile. "There are no computers where I'm from. I dare say they're barely even an idea."