[network] @hotstud_xxx; text; Christmas at Ground Zero [Day 248]

[rubikscomplex]

greetings, snowhellions
dr. house coming to you live from the belly of the beast
or at least the upper digestive tract
take a looksee at the latest map i'm sending out with this message

[There is, indeed, a map.]

@betterhalf and i have been filling it out
red means BAD
the entire area outside is red
didn't bother to fill that in
buildings i've found so far are yellow and green for the most part
food and water are red, though
mickey mouse found some place with rations
#276
bring your own food, anyway
not sure if it restocks, yet

i'm on the trail of some rando russian chick fangs found an sd card for

[House sends out the clip.]

translation:
"i don't think anyone else is here anymore
i haven't heard from anyone on this thing for weeks
i think they're all dead"

she's been leaving her mark on some of the buildings down here

[There's a shot of a door that has the following written on it: "жёлтый."]

translation:
"yellow"

it's yellow on the geiger app

found another sd card in there

[Another audio clip is sent through.]

translation:
"two weeks and he's not back
two weeks
he's not coming back
dammit
it was his idea to keep records, and now
this place is nothing more than a tomb"

discuss

Comments

@jphawkins, text

[rattlingthestars]

[ Jim's not exactly wild about talking to House after the way their last encounter went, but. Information sharing. Important so that they don't all die, probably. ]

We're down there too. Not to deep in yet. There's a ghost in the restaurant and she's friendly.

Guessing we have to find out wherever 'he' went.

[rubikscomplex]

probably
i'm following the wall down here
he's probably at the high school or the chapel
think it was the high school that was supposed to be down here
and that's the "bad" place

[rattlingthestars]

Right, 'cause everywhere else's been a cakewalk.

We're still in the northern part of the tunnels. Found a chest, working on getting it unlocked now.

[rubikscomplex]

there are degrees of horror and horrible, kid
i'm sure you know that by now

[Seriously, Jim.]

pics of the chest?
which building?

[rattlingthestars]

Knock on wood, but I don't know how Norfinbury's going to top tower filled with human skin.

It's building 282 on your map.

[ Attatched: deadmanschest.jpg ]

@gravedigger; voice

[harlequinofhate]

Sounds like you some trace of the lass who backed up our buddy Winter.

[rubikscomplex]

[House cocks his head at that.]

i'd guess the missing hubby was the backer-upper
he's the one who wanted recordings
and she doesn't seem real happy exploring

[harlequinofhate]

The one who brought her home, then. Doesn't sound like her fella made it.

Unless her fella is Mister Miller.

Oooh, plot twist!

[rubikscomplex]

miller with a ruskie?
that'd make him a dirty traitor, though
real romeo and juliet thing going on

[harlequinofhate]

That's what makes it so juicy! Has the whole political forbidden love drama all the networks love.

We oughtta turn this into a soap.

I smell ratings!

@standardissue; text

[deus_ex_phs]

Previous session, maybe? Rather than an original resident?

[rubikscomplex]

she's definitely not local
and if she's not a previous session...
maybe someone who came in from the outside to investigate?

@totheark; text

[0thingsonmymind]

may be af ter
wint er @dulcedeleche
?

[rubikscomplex]

yeah
i'm thinking she came after everyone wiped each other out
maybe one of the first sessions
or someone who came in and screwed something up so the sessions actually started

[0thingsonmymind]

how

may be they still
can

*Maybe one of them really IS a mole.*

[deus_ex_phs]

If Russia lost their AI here, it would make sense for them to send someone to look into it.

[rubikscomplex]

true
sounds like she and her buddy got stuck here, though
it's why i'm thinking she's probably more likely as an earlier session
why would she have a tablet, otherwise?

@featherydouche; text

[mrcreamsicles]

not enough data to make any guesses on russian chick 2.0 yet so im going to hold off
but if we find anything down in the tunnels ill pass it along for translation or tell you to chat at her
were finally going to be starting into them tomorrow
gonna try to check that blank square near the gate too though im guessing its just going to be more snow and scrap

[rubikscomplex]

probably
but i'd rather have it filled in than not
we can probably throw r.c. 2.0 at winter when she turns up again and ask about her
i'm pretty sure we're do for another connection after opening up a new area

[mrcreamsicles]

yeah maybe
im sure people will fill her in

[Watson and his shadow network posts come to mind, but he's not going to mention them that clearly on here.]

miller might know something too but i doubt his opinion would be favorable

[rubikscomplex]

[House reads between the Shadownet lines, at least.]

i can ask him anyway
even if he's lying
we might get something out of it

@Enoch, text

[warriorscribe]

She was abandoned here. Who is she? And what of her companion?

She was moving the same direction we are. But we've seen no sign of her until now.

She's the only person we know of so far to come in from the outside after everyone died who isn't one of us.

Or the previous sessions, I suppose.

[rubikscomplex]

she could be one of the previous sessions
and there's no guarantee all of the sessions started in the same place
maybe hers started in the industrial area
inclined to agree that there's something contrived about it, though
we keep getting information piecemeal
we didn't know much at all about the prophet's cult until we got through to freamon's tunnels
winter managed to leave out any information about the skywalks until we activated them
we're hitting triggers as we make it through
whoever's handing out the info probably thinks they're doing us a favor
or that it's important we don't have all the information or we'll stop

[warriorscribe]

The pieces of the former session were written in English, as all of us have been made to write and speak whether or not we spoke it originally, and yet she is not. It seems odd to me, unless she is deliberately speaking and writing her language to disguise her actions or intent from others in the session.

[In his increasingly ragged state of mind, he misses the obvious hint against that theory, that she was speaking in person, in private, to someone with her and it was still not English.]

I wonder why. Stopping will certainly be the death of us. We know Eve cannot sustain us forever.

[rubikscomplex]

the pieces that we saw were written in english
and she's obviously recording for another ruskie
i've talked to romanov, holmes, and the clown in different languages

and you've never heard of a catch-22, have you?
it's a no-win situation
yeah
stopping might be the death of us
but getting to the center might be the even more horrifying death of us
we're running toward something that might kill us on the off chance it doesn't
if people know that getting to the center just means we're going to restart the session forever
some might want to stop it
most people have a problem playing the game
when there's no chance of winning