[network] @whatisthis | video | Morning 384 [open]

[godsspeed]

[ The minute Castiel comes back properly - not just riding along with Jimmy, able to communicate but only sporadically and vaguely at best - he logs onto the network, skimming over it to see what's already been said before posting a message of his own. ]

There's something I need to tell all of you about the bunker. One of the rooms in the bunker - [ He pauses, briefly, to scrawl a simple map of the building in chalk on the floor before pointing his tablet's camera to it and pointing to room 11 ] contains a functioning computer. The computer asks for a username, and when I entered my own it displayed the text "Identity verified. Room access granted."

Unfortunately, we succumbed to the toxic mold before we could investigate. I don't think it's possible to get into and out of that room without being fatally poisoned.

I'm going to return to the bunker to see if I still have whatever access it granted me, but if not we'll need to either find some way to clear enough of the mold to make the way safe or shield ourselves from it.

Comments

@hotstud_xxx; text

[rubikscomplex]

[He's still dealing with his death price, but this is too exciting to not respond to.]

did america and his crew ever make it to the bunker?
i sent them ahead with vinegar

toxic mold's a wicked way to go, dude
what were the symptoms like?

Text [cw: graphic description of organ failure]

[godsspeed]

I’m not sure. That should be some help in clearing the mold away, though.

It was intensely painful and disconcerting. Shortness of breath came first - the lungs inflated, but drew less and less oxygen and more and more spores with each breath. At the end it was like trying to breathe at the top of Mount Everest. No fluid buildup in the lungs, though - not enough time for the toxin to break down cell walls and the immune response was severe but not overactive. Watering, itchy eyes, dry throat and mouth, mucus and sneezing.

Irregular heartbeat came next, starting as a murmur and escalating towards rapid beats, irregular and weak. Then muscle spasms, at the extremities first. Difficulty balancing. Weakness. Floating black spots in the vision. Aside from the difficulty breathing, these all emerged after over an hour spent in the overgrown areas of the bunker, with death occurring within half an hour after they became noticeable.

Does this help?

[rubikscomplex]

i mean, for me figuring out what it's probably derived from?
yeah!
thanks for the deets

sounds like stachybotrys chartarum
that's your classic toxic black mold
didn't look much like a stachybotrys from that pic rhys got, though
maybe some sorta hybrid...

[godsspeed]

[ Okay, that's... unusual, but if House is going to be straightforward for once, Castiel guesses he can't really complain. ]

The onset was too abrupt even accounting for how much of it we were exposed to, as well. We should have also developed lesions or lost hair, if black mold was the cause.

Molds don't tend to mutate very quickly, but this strain has been isolated in extreme conditions for hundreds of years, and has been exposed to considerable amounts of radiation. It could be unique to this place, descended from Stachybotrys chartarum or one of its relatives.

[rubikscomplex]

relatives more likely
who do i gotta kill for a staining kit?
actually
you pick up any food dye along the line?

@theiceman, audio

[holmesice]

There's a room free from mold not too far from there. It's the third door on the left side if you're approaching from entrance section of the large center room.

I managed to get it open with a found tablet. It wiped itself after the room unlocked, but it did log me as a member of the military, interestingly enough.

It's some sort of meeting room, but you might be successful if you stop to recover from the mold there.

audio

[godsspeed]

Not having to return to the guard posts at the entrance to recover will help, but I'm still not sure it will be possible to get into the room with the working computer and out again without inhaling fatal amounts of spores. chaos and I lingered longer than we should have, but barely made it out before succumbing.

[ There's a faint scratching of chalk as he adds to his hastily drawn map, trying to work out distances. ]

Did it seem safe to stay in this meeting room overnight?

audio

[holmesice]

From what I could see--or rather, what I could not. It was quite dark in there, so it should be free of mold.

Unless there's some other danger in there, which in that case, sorry for your bad luck.

perma-audio

[godsspeed]

Maybe if someone started from the meeting room and immediately returned there to recover after receiving access, they'd have enough time to look around afterwards.

[ But it's hard to tell just by looking at a map. He'll have to actually try it. ]

Did the door unlock permanently, or will we have to find a way to unlock it again?

text @Enoch

[warriorscribe]

[Oh...guess what got lost in the...everything. The thing Castiel begged him to look for.]

I'm sorry. After returning to retrieve Chaos's body, I was beginning to feel short of breath, myself. I thought it had only been carrying you, but his body is much smaller, and it persisted. I opted to return to safety and hope the room stayed open, rather than die, myself, and be unable to report what I found.

text

[godsspeed]

I understand. It would have been a waste for more of us to die over something that might not have worked to begin with. You did all you could, Enoch. Thank you.

text

[warriorscribe]

I wish we could have saved you, or at least your host.

[godsspeed]

It's our own fault for not being more mindful of what was happening. We should have been more careful.

Still, chaos and I are both back now, and we learned something valuable in the process. I am sorry I put you through that, though.

@Spoiler; video

[spoileralert]

I'm glad you're okay now, at least.

Did you try anything else with the computer?

video

[godsspeed]

As far as the penalties this place inflicts on death go, mine are more pleasant than some.

[ He just wishes there were an easier way to give Jimmy the chance to be himself than getting both of them killed. ]

I tried entering Eve, Robert Miller, and Winter's usernames as well, but was denied access. The computer only accepted my username from myself and chaos's from himself. My guess is it checks the user's nanomachines in order to verify their identity. Other than that, no. There weren't any other obvious prompts and I am... not very familiar with computers.

video

[spoileralert]

That's alright. Something to fiddle around with later. You're probably right about the nanomachines, it's pretty basic technology compared to some of the stuff in play here.

[godsspeed]

Hopefully once we've figured out a safer way to reach it. The Ice Man was able to open a room that could serve as a stepping stone to make the trip survivable. I'm on my way back to the bunker to check now. Is there anything you'd recommend trying, if it works?

@curiouschloride | text

[motherserpent]

Cool. You near the bunker now?

[i.e. are you going to crash her awesome cookout and get your angel stink all over the place?]

text

[godsspeed]

[ Oh, that's right. She's there. Hm. For the briefest of moments Castiel considers putting off returning to the bunker until she's done with her thing, but like hell he's going to be waylaid by some upstart goddess of a doomed pantheon. He has work to do. ]

Yes. I should be able to make it back there before lockdown.

[motherserpent]

No need to hurry, wouldn't want you to get stranded out in the snow because you tried for a longer walk than you could make.

[godsspeed]

I have important work to do, and I know my limits.

[ Ignoring the fact that he just admitted to having trouble with that to Enoch, but moving on... ]

Don't worry. I won't interrupt your gathering.

@prettypinkflowers; video

[lacecase]

Oh, no, sweetpea!

[Ginger puts a hand over her heart, clearly concerned.]

I'm so sorry that happened to you, it must have been awful. How are you feeling now?

[All of these people dying of toxic poisoning...oof.]

Anything I can get for you?

video

[godsspeed]

It was very unpleasant, but I'm okay now. There's no trace of the mold left on me. [ Not even on his clothes, which is a little unusual, but no more so than anything else in this town, he supposes. ]

I'd recommend being very careful if you pass through the bunker yourself. There's nothing I need, but if you come across any food dye, ink, or iodine, you should bring it to Dr. House. He needs it to use the microscope.

[lacecase]

Okay! We'll, like, keep an eye out for those things. Thanks for letting me know.

[She knows House usually gives America tasks, so he might have some of those in mind already, but it never hurts to be extra sure.]

I'm glad you're hanging in there. Were you with anyone when it happened?

IIiiiiii lost all these tags for a month whoops

[godsspeed]

I was exploring the bunker with chaos, and Enoch and Another Rhys tried to get us out before we succumbed to the toxins, but it was already too late. Thankfully chaos seems to have come back before me, and the other two weren't exposed as much as we were.