IC-Down the Hatch(various)

[Mr. Handy]

Z-Day - 10:00 AM Mountain Daylight Time - Underneath the T-Bone
In the upper hatch chamber-
"I guess I better go with you then," Rita said to Alex, boarding the elevator beside him.

"I'll, uh, wait for the next one," said Lynne, still nervous about going down there."

"I'm bringing up the rear, so I'll stay topside for now too," said Bud.

Charlie and Alice also remained behind.

Duke, Beth, and Robert got on board. From here they could see that the underside of the glass window in the hatch had a mark upon it, which Alex recognized as being the impact of a bullet. The glass was unbroken, which suggested that the glass was bulletproof. Beside the hatch was a small panel with yellow and black stripes. On it were two buttons, one red and one green. Just below the hatch was the gray metal platform on which they stood, clearly marked "LIFT" and "ENTRANCE TO LAB." It could hold a maximum of six people, so they would definitely need to take two trips. There was also a ladder leading down, the top of it just visible above the surface of the lift.

"Here goes nothing," said Beth, pushing the red button, which was the lower of the two. The elevator descended into the unknown...

In the lower hatch chamber-
As the lift moved down, those on it could see a ladder on one of the walls of the vertical shaft that had previously been concealed beneath it. It led from the chamber below back up to the hatch. "That's good," said Robert. "If anything goes wrong with the lift, we can still get out of here."

Before long, the lift reached the bottom of the shaft, which was a hole in the ceiling of the chamber below. The ladder reached all the way down to the tiled floor of that room, and the lift touched the floor with a loud bump.

The room was sterile, the thick dust on the floor disturbed only by two sets of footprints leading from a hallway to the ladder. On the tiles near the lift were the words: "Welcome- DEEP MOLE ONE."

Other writing was on the tiles. Most of it appeared strange and indecipherable. There was also a sign next to the entrance to the hallway.

[Mr. Handy]

10:01 AM
In the lower hatch chamber-
After everyone stepped off the platform, Beth pressed the green button to send it back up the shaft.

"We shouldn't get too far ahead," said Robert. "Let's look around here while we wait for the others to catch up to us." He examined the tiles on the floor. The symbols were bizarre and didn't match any known alphabet. He did, however, find some writing in more or less plain English.

One message on the side was marked simply: "CROATOAN"

Another message said: "F***ers ff***ers fuker fukkers fucers"

A third message said: "The apple has a worm"

A fourth message: "Inside it knows."

Duke walked up to the sign and read it aloud for everyone:
"Project Manager- Alan Kirby
Assistant Project Manager- Samuel Niedler
Head of Geological Research- Patrick Craig
Head of Biological Research- David Muth
Assistant Geological- Judith Reagan
Assistant Biological- Gerald Starsia
Chief Engineer- Thomas Bateman
Assistant Engineer- Robert Cross
Steward- Randy Smith"

He peered down the corridor beside the sign. "There's another big room at the end of this short hall," he said.

OOC,Everyone in this room may roll History. The base skill is 20%.

In the upper hatch chamber-
The empty lift returned to the top of the shaft.

[aine]

History,[dice]0[/dice]

Alex looks at the messages. "Do you reckon these were written by different people at different times?" He hunkers down and takes a look and then gets up and looks down the corridor with his rifle raised. "We'll wait for the others and see if anyone can make any sense of all this before we go any further; we need to know what we're getting into."

[Mr. Handy]

10:02 AM
In the upper hatch chamber-
Lynne helped Alice onto the platform, followed by Charlie and Bud. Bud pushed the button, and the lift began to descend.

In the lower hatch chamber-
Alex could see that the hall opened up into what looked like a large meeting room after a short distance. There was nothing moving, and no sign of any people.

Duke shrugged. "I dunno," he said. "Whoever wrote this stuff clearly wasn't right in the head."

"I don't know if I would be after being locked down here, which is clearly what happened to them," said Beth. "I saw that bullethole in the glass of the hatch above. They tried to get out, but it was bulletproof."

"Good point," said Robert. "How can we be sure that won't happen to us?"

"I know what Croatoan means," Beth added. "There was an English settlement called Roanoke established in the late 16th century in Virginia. The governor went back to England once, and when he returned all of the people were gone without a trace except for a carved message with one word: Croatoan."

OOC,[b]Rita[/b]'s History roll (20% base skill) about the messages: [dice]0[/dice] [b]Duke[/b]'s History roll (20% base skill) about the messages: [dice]1[/dice] [b]Beth[/b]'s History roll (20% base skill) about the messages: [dice]2[/dice] [b]Robert[/b]'s History roll (20% base skill) about the messages: [dice]3[/dice]

[aine]

Alex is impressed, "That's some knowledge, Beth. The 16th century is a long time ago but both times people have disappeared. Rita, when was this place operational do you know? And one thing is bugging me. Look, there are geologists on this list, fair enough but why biologists? What is there for them to research underground?" He turns to watch the elevator descend.

[Mr. Handy]

10:03 AM
In the lower hatch chamber-
"Thanks," said Beth. "I think the people who were trapped down here left that message as a deliberate reference to Roanoke. They're educated sorts, so they'd know about it, and they were hoping whoever found this place would get it. That's us."

Rita shrugged. "Earl and Hammond didn't really tell me much about this place," she said. "I think the government had this land since the fifties, and Earl bought it from them in the seventies."

The elevator arrived, and the others stepped off of it.

[Mr. Handy]

10:04 AM
In the lower hatch chamber-
Beth filled the others in on what they had learned in this room.

"Are we ready to keep going?" asked Robert.

[aine]

"Yes. Same positions as before. Everyone keep their eyes and ears peeled as we go and keep noise to a minimum." Alex checks his gun, nods and then moves quietly down the corridor to the big room.

[Mr. Handy]

10:05 AM
In the lower hatch chamber-
Everyone proceeded down the short corridor, which opened out into a large meeting room.

In the meeting room-
The explorers emerged from the short corridor into a large conference room of some sort. An oval wooden table surrounded by chairs dominated the center of the room, and there were two exits aside from the way they had come in: an alcove on the left side of the room, and a doorway at the far end. The table was badly scratched, and the chairs had all been ripped up and knocked over.

OOC,Everyone, please roll Spot Hidden. The base skill is 25%.

[aine]

Alex moves quietly into the room checking all the corners.

Spot Hidden,25%[dice]0[/dice]

. If it's all clear he looks carefully at the scratches to identify what might have made them.

[Mr. Handy]

10:06 AM
In the meeting room-
The room was deserted. The doorway at the other end led to a hall with eight cubicle-like alcoves, four on either side, which was also clear. The alcove in this room had nobody in it and led to a small kitchen and pantry. A number of glass jars had been smashed on the floor, and there was broken glass all over the place, but it looked like a simple matter to simply avoid stepping on it. There still appeared to be a lot of food in the pantry, but none of it would be any good after all these years. On one wall was a message written in large red letters that simply said "KIRBY KNEW." Another, smaller, message said "We are going below." On the floor was a steak knife coated with a long-dried red residue that matched the color of the writing on the wall. Examining the scratches, Alex could tell that they were made with a knife, probably the very one he had found. The dark red stains around them looked like they were the same color as that of the substance on the knife. He'd seen enough blood to know that that was what it was.

Alice carefully examined the broken glass in the kitchen. "There's some sort of liquid organic substance on the glass," she said. "It looks like it could be blood, except for the fact that it's purple."

OOC,[b]Rita[/b]'s Spot Hidden roll (25% base skill) in the meeting room: [dice]0[/dice] [b]Charlie[/b]'s Spot Hidden roll (25% base skill) in the meeting room: [dice]1[/dice] [b]Lynne[/b]'s Spot Hidden roll (67% base skill) in the meeting room: [dice]2[/dice] [b]Alice[/b]'s Spot Hidden roll (25% base skill) in the meeting room: [dice]3[/dice] [b]Bud[/b]'s Spot Hidden roll (55% skill) in the meeting room: [dice]4[/dice] [b]Duke[/b]'s Spot Hidden roll (30% skill) in the meeting room: [dice]5[/dice] [b]Beth[/b]'s Spot Hidden roll (50% skill) in the meeting room: [dice]6[/dice] [b]Robert[/b]'s Spot Hidden roll (50% skill) in the meeting room: [dice]7[/dice]

[aine]

Alex looks around generally. "This here's been written in blood; I'm guessing Kirby had a different agenda than the others; he was the the project manager I think. Maybe the project went wrong and he said nothing. Someone took their revenge with a knife though; nasty. Alice, it's a kitchen so what's purple, blood like and edible? Blueberry juice? Sounds like a joke. What does it taste of?"

[Mr. Handy]

10:07 AM
In the meeting room-
"Are you kidding?" said Alice weakly. "I'm not tasting whatever that is. Even if it isn't poisonous, it must be over sixty years old."

"I'm a grad student in biology," said Duke, examining the liquid. "It certainly does have the consistency of blood, but it can't be. Blood is red when it's exposed to oxygen, because the iron in the hemoglobin turns that color when it's carrying it. Deoxygenated blood, however, is blue-purple and does kind of look like this. You can see it when looking at someone's veins through their skin. But there's definitely oxygen in the air, or we'd all be dead, so it can't be blood. It looks just like blood except for the color, but it's not blood. If I had to guess, it's something analogous to blood. Maybe it uses some other metal instead of iron, like copper. Beyond that, I have no idea. But it may have something to do with the fact that they had biological experts here. I think we've learned all we can from this room. Let's keep going."

OOC,[b]Duke[/b]'s Biology roll (55% skill) about the purple liquid: [dice]0[/dice]

[aine]

"I was only kidding, Alice." Alex grins and then raises his eyebrows, "We're lucky to have you along, Duke; we're going to need specialist biological knowledge by the looks of it.
I wonder why they kept some weird blood in kitchen jars. Hopefully we won't find out. Come on, let's keep going."
Alex leads the way through the far door, poking his rifle into the alcoves as he passes.

[Mr. Handy]

10:08 AM
In the meeting room-
"I don't know if they kept it in the jars," said Duke as they proceeded. "Maybe someone - or something - got cut on the broken glass."

In the quarters-
This was a long room with a hallway at the other end leading further inside. The room contained eight small subdivisions that resembled cubicles, four on each side. The beeping was coming from the second on the right. The corridor continued past them.

[aine]

"Hmm, maybe they used the jars as missiles against some attacking aliens." Said Alex. It was hard to tell if he was joking or not.
"I'm going to check on that beeping. Anyone seen any torches around? Just in case of a power cut." He heads towards the alcove of beeping and had a look inside.

[Mr. Handy]

10:09 AM
In the quarters-
"I haven't seen one," said Robert, "but any batteries that have been down here for decades won't have their charge any more. We'd be better off with candles, if we could find any."

Alex looked into the alcove while Rita covered him. The little room inside was some kind of living quarters, though it wasn't much larger than one of the prison cells upstairs. There was no door, just an opening. Inside, Alex could see a desk and chair, a bookshelf on the wall above the desk, and a small lamp on top of the desk. There was also what seemed to be a bunk, but it looked rather odd. It was shaped like a coffin, but the top was made of clear glass, and there was a panel with buttons on the side. A padlock kept it locked shut. Lying within the capsule was a woman in her thirties, with black hair down to her shoulders and wearing a white lab coat. She appeared to be sleeping, her chest slowly rising and falling.

It was this capsule that was the source of the beeping. A text readout on the panel flashed. Peering closer, Alex could make out the words: "EMERGENCY - OXYGEN LEVELS CRITICALLY LOW- DEATH IMMINENT"

[aine]

"Holy bazookas! There's a woman in here; quickly we must get her out! Anyone a techy?"Alex calls to everyone and looks hopefully at the two young men otherwise he'll try to decipher the buttons himself.

[Mr. Handy]

10:10 AM
In the quarters-
After nobody replied, Alex looked at the controls, which were simple enough. The technology was fairly old, dating back at least to the 1960s. There was a button that would open the lid, but with the padlock in place, it wouldn't work. The device did have an oxygen tank, and the controls indicated that it was just about empty.

"I can't understand those controls, but I can pick locks," said Lynne, who began to fiddle with the padlock. An array of lights inside the capsule came on as soon as she budged the padlock, lighting up the woman inside so that it was easy to see her. Suddenly, her limbs began to twitch. Her arms banged on the glass lid, but it did not break. She seemed to be having some kind of seizure.

OOC,[b]Lynne[/b]'s Locksmith roll (48% skill) trying to pick the lock: [dice]0[/dice]

[aine]

"Nice try but there's no time to waste- I'll have to shoot the lock off!" Alex aims his rifle at the lock and fires one round.

ooc,This always works in the movies, right?

rifle,80%[dice]0[/dice][dice]1[/dice]