Ajakstu takes a look at Rake. "Priorities," he says. It may have sounded like a question, or perhaps a reminder.

Taking the liquor he sets down by the safe. Perusing it first for any kind of trap mechanism, he then sets about trying to open it.

OOC, will make a roll, is it Insightful +1 or Agile +2 or a combination...?

The safe does not appear trapped, but the lock is not computerized-- it's a dial that one turns to the left and right, stopping at certain numbers... a series of numbers of which Ajakstu Gul is not aware.

(Ajakstu Gul may try an Insightful roll to carefully "feel out" the lock-opening with his fingertips... but with an extra -1 penalty...)

21:22, Today: Ajakstu Gul rolled 5 using 2d6-1 with rolls of 5,1.  crack that safe.

20:28, Yesterday: Ajakstu Gul rolled 8 using 2d6 with rolls of 2,6.  open the safe, no bonus yet applied.


Ajakstu cursed, then sighed. Sitting back, he furrows his brow in thought. "Perhaps the sleeping giant can crack this...." he surmises. "I, however, can crack this!"

He opens the liquor, sniffs it, and then takes a small sip.

The Lady, having put The Duke to sleep, takes a nearby bed, and sleeps herself.

(The Lady and Ajakstu Gul, you may also use the Rest move.

No threats disturb your rest.)

Ajakstu checks if he can secure the room. If so, he will sleep too. If not he will grouchily keep watch.

It takes a good five minutes of frustration to achieve, but Ajakstu Gul uses his gold wiring to repair the door controls on the room he and his colleagues are in. It is now locked from the inside, and can successfully unlock and lock again, open and close again, whenever he wants.

(He can always open the door and reclaim his gold wiring when he leaves, if he remembers/has time...)

Ajakstu looks at Rake. "You are in charge. Do not lay eggs in anyone's apertures."

With that, he curls up on the bed farthest from the door and goes to sleep.

Nothing disturbs the adventurers during the night, unless one counts the eerie quiet of the corridors and the quiet but barely-audible hum of the electric lights...

That's not THAT different from The Ziggurat, though, so sleep isn't too hard to find...

About eight hours later, the group wakes up, in various degrees of "somewhat refreshed..."

Waking with a loud yawn and the sound of bones popping back into places the Duk awaes refreshed and hungry. Scrathing his massive belly he looks at the mushrooms and shakes his head.

"The Duke wants something else to eat. Shall we look for something else?"

The way he looks at Ajakstu's new friend makes it seem that it might be a suitable alternative.

Ajakstu half opens one eye. Seeing The Duke's gaze he hastily rolls to his feet. "Surely there is something to eat around here, else those quarreling factions where we met would be at eachother's throats! We can either press on or return to them and demand sustenance."

The Lady, while hungry, woke and rose with the grace of ... well, a Lady.

As she straightened her attire and hair in a nearby reflective surface, she waited to hear what the menfolk decided to do.

The duke groans and shakes his head.

"I dont want to touch the light more then i got to. It made me sad.

No food in this fridge?"

He asks looking at the still closed safe and gives it a solid tap with his mutilator glove to see if there was any food in the kinder surprise.

(To attempt to break the safe open, roll Forceful.)



(...What?)

ooc: 19:58, Today: The Duke rolled 13 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 5,6.  ?Safe cracking.

Kinder Surprise is a chocolate egg with a present inside. Illegal in the US cause kids might die from swallowing the egg with toy inside the toy.

(Ah, got ya. Even those of us who are aware of the sacred mysteries of jelly babies, dolly mixture, and humbugs trip over new references now and then (I grasped the context of "kinder," but didn't have sufficient context to guess "candy."))

The Duke idly tears the safe apart like it's made of cheap paper. Its contents are opened to all:

--printed-out papers involving very complex computer programming stuff
--a folder of other papers labeled "blackmail"
--paper money, now worthless (except to help light fires? to help light a fire? etc.?)
--some sort of ray gun
--something that looks like a wristwatch but isn't-- it has tiny speaker grills, so maybe noise is supposed to come from it?
--a bottle containing some sort of alcoholic beverage, mostly full
--a jeweled tie clip or other similar accessory
--a hairpin
--a bottlecap with a star on it
--a memory device that doubtless contains information accessed by plugging it into a computer

Ajakstu moves from one side of the large man to the other, trying to peer around him. The ray gun is of some interest, but the jeweled accessory for his wardrobe, noe that was something. The envelope marked "Blackmail" also had some interest, but would probably be obsolete.

With no food in the safe the Duke harumph's and just grabs the bottle and takes of the cork to down it as he saunters off towards the door and deeper into the complex in the hunt for food.

"No food at all. Bad place this is."

(1. I take it you look through the Blackmail folder?)



(2. Do you drink the bottle's contents immediately, or are you just about to do so...?

3. I take it you're going to explore the rest of the complex-- or are you just exploring the Programming Department more...?)

THe bottle ? What this empty one you mean? I'll toss that away ;-)

And just the next room really. The duke might have forghotten why they are here and his tummy rumbles.

The Duke has drained the bottle.

The effects are... strong.

(Until I inform you otherwise, The Duke takes +1 toward all his Charming or Confident rolls, but -1 toward all his Forceful, Agile, or Insightful rolls.)

Unfortunately, the next room does not have any food... It's a computer room, where a room of (very sturdy) terminals and (very sturdy) monitors wait, prepared to interact with the batteries of servers visible behind the reinforced glasteel far wall.

The Duke belches and tosses the bottle to the side with a loud crash. The room with the servers had little interest for the Duke and he starts to sing an off tone childrens song as he wobbles further into the complex in his hunt for food.

Ajakstu leafs through the Blackmail envelope, hoping for something useful, but with low expectations.

"Perhaps these computers can order food for us? Or tell us where food might be?" he suggests.

The Blackmail folder turns out to involve two types of content:

1. Someone didn't like their co-worker... there are print-outs (with memory chips) of photos taken from security cameras of two human staff members of this facility being... a bit more indiscreet than they should have been with one another with so many cameras around (or maybe extra hidden cameras were secretly added to certain rendezvous points?)

2. The other kind of blackmail material is more interesting, though... it contains printed-out lines of code-- that mean would mean nothing to Ajakstu Gul... without the blackmailer's helpful added notes in the margins.

It's interesting because it gives Ajakstu Gul his first hints of what this facility was supposed to be for. That it was a facility for genetic experimentation has seemed obvious since yesterday, but these notes offer details. Among other things, the point may have been to create new species capable of surviving on the surface of the planet "even in the state its advanced decay" ...and possibly making life forms to serve as servant-races for human beings?

"The mantis experiment" was apparently to create farmers...

"The frog experiment" may have been to create soldiers, though this seems less certain...

The purpose of "the jaguar experiment" is the least clear at all, though there are certain hints that they were supposed to be "naturally artistic" or "naturally creative"?

The blackmail part is that the blackmailed co-worker had, for a while, been trying to introduce lines to pre-program one or more of the species in development with extra traits that would make them controllable when the right smells or pheromones were introduced? Or if not controllable, to have some other effect on them that the original purpose behind the facility hadn't envisioned...?

Ajakstu tucked the folder away with his other possessions. "Something best thought on with a full stomach," he said to Rake. "I was also hoping that someone else would find a menu and order a meal," he added.

Ajakstu will attempt to fire up one of the terminals and see what he can do about finding food.