Notail Simulator Beta (4/4)

"I'll come with you. I don't have anything I want to do. =3"
"Very well. Let us go. <:)"

You follow E-4 and their personal group up the tower with enough supplies for all of you for a week.

They're all ecstatic over the artwork and cravings in the tower, but you find yourself becoming bored within hours. The only thing of interest to you is the statues with their arms to the sky, holding baskets of meat, though lacking in heads and with clear indications of damage to their backsides. You find them rather funny.

The week pasts, nothing has happened. You and a few others bring up two weeks of supplies this time. E-4 cannot stop babbling about all the incredible objects up here. You typically tune them out and nod until they leave to show someone else.

Another week pasts and you decide to hone in on a single room in the tower. The most boring one. Even the others gave it but a glance and then turned away from it. It was the central most room on the highest floor. Its defining feature is its emptiness, containing only a single generic statue and a skeleton.

You sat in this room to avoid the others when you weren't feeling up to work, or socializing, knowing that they would never check in here. Over time your [curiosity] and [obseventness] made you aware of the tiny details of the room.

Something was wrong with this room.

You bring E-4 and the others to the area the next day.

"E-2732, this is just...the empty room, why did you decide to bring us all here? <:)"
"The skeleton is heading towards the wall. =3"

There are mumblings from the group. You got them thinking now, but this is only the start.

"Well, there appear to be many murder victims in this temple E-2732. This one may have just ran into a dead end and died before it could turn around. <:)"
"That is possible, but how about this? What room is below this one? =3"

E-4 and the others attempt to recall the rooms, but you proudly answer before they could.

"There is no room. If you go down one floor and map it out, there is no room and the floor after that? Also missing a room. The next few floors as well. Every room under this one does not exist. =3"
"What do you think this means, E-2732? <:)"
"I think this means we need to have a closer look. =3"

They get right to it. Checking every corner of the room, touching and inspecting every inch of wall, especially the one the skeleton was heading towards before death.

One of them finds a loose stone in the wall, and after much effort, pulls it out. They described it as an oddity, a force pulled back at the rock, trying to take it back in. You all stare at the thin hole in the wall, wondering what it could be its importance. Some start to suggest that maybe it was just a random loose rock, you, on the other hand, realize it's the perfect width for something in your bag.

You take out a knife and approach the hole.

"E-2732.....<:)"
"Knives can solve anything. =3"
"E-2732, please do not stab th-"

You stab the hole.

You felt a force draw in the knife as you did. You stand back to view what you have created.

"It looks like a....lever, huh, doesn't it?...wait....I think I know what this might be.... <:)"
"Mmmhmm, I had a feeling too. =3"

You grab the knife and pull it downwards.

The doors slam shut, trapping everyone inside. The cranking of some ancient machinery springs to life.

The elevator descends.

You hold it downward for a few seconds, then let it go. It keeps moving for just a small bit of time before stopping as suddenly as it started and opening up.

E-4 checks outside the doors.

"We moved two floors down. There was a wall here before. Is this an elevator of some kind? <:)"
"Seems to be. =3"

E-4 steps back in, their next words excited.

"This might be it! I mean, why else would they hide an elevator? There has to be a good reason for it to be hidden, correct? <:)"
"I think we're about to find out what their reasoning was. =3"

You hold down the lever fashioned out of one of your knives.

Fortuna rolls a 20 sided die. A 13 is rolled.

The elevator descends.

It goes lower and lower.

Too low.

It heads
lower
than any floor
that has been mapped before.

And then even
lower
than that.

It stops with a sudden jolt, and doors fling open.

Air that hasn't been breathed in many years fills your lungs.

A whole world stands before you in ruins.

Unlike the rest of the temple, there are no emotions in this place. No cravings of joy, or statues offering pleasantries. It is sterile, and only a cold floor and white walls great its residents.

Everyone is forced to walk past the hoard of skeletons outside the elevator door. They had been waiting countless lifetimes for it to finally come. Like above, all had their skulls torn off. Claw, burn, and other unrecognizable marks adorn their remains and the lobby like area they resided in.

Four signs hang from above. One of green, one of yellow, one of orange, and the final of red. Each with a different symbol upon them, yet no one able to figure out their meaning from a glance.

E-4 puts a hand on their chest, mumbling something about how they have finally found it, before turning to everyone and speaking louder this time.

"Alright everyone, make sure to keep together, ok? If I had to take a guess, I would say the green zone has to be the safest so we'll head down that way. <:)"

Papers litter the path you walk. All of them brittle and easily crumbled into bits with enough pressure applied. E-4 is carefully collecting those that are on the floor and tells the others not to touch those pinned to the walls in front of the doors. Those hung by the walls are usually a stack of papers, the first one displaying an image.

Some of an object, like a cup, others of entities which you have never seen before, some twisted in disturbing shapes and figures. A window, sometimes shattered, looks into every room. Nearly all of them are damaged, with dry blood, scratches, bones, or just walls missing between rooms.

One of the group walks forward, bored with the broken rooms, when they come to a stop in front of one.

"Hey, this room is fine! Nothing in it though.... IuI"
"Really? =3"

You walk up to the window.

But it's not empty for you.

A foxish creature, much like the one you saw on top of the tower is inside. It is doll-like in appearance, with ball joints holding its limbs together. You assumed it was a toy, but it suddenly turns its head in an unnatural motion towards you, trembling.

It grabs its tail and starts to violently sweep off all of the dirt and grime off of it, humming what feels like a disjointed tune as it does. Time to time it looks upon you and twists its head around before returning to its brushing.

The person next to you seems puzzled.

"It's not empty. =3"
"Yes it is, but there's this weird sound coming from the room. It only just started. IuI"
"The humming? =3"
"Yeah, it's a sort of hum! IuI"
"That's coming from the creature inside! =3"

E-4 walks over, hearing but not picking up on the subject of the commotion.

"Oh! You two have found a room that's still filled! It's some sort of animated puppet! <:)"
"Is there something wrong with my eyes? I don't see it! IuI"

The others gather around the window, and you except the others to see the grooming creature within, but they too do not. Only you and E-4 can see it.

While you all discuss what could be a reason for this oddity, someone's tailmic hums down the hall, attracted by everyone gathered up. It hums a delightful little tune as it approaches the window.

The puppet stops its grooming as he tailmic approaches. It's fur puffs up, and its ears point straight up, alert and tense. It has stopped humming.

The tailmic presses its head on the window and taps its legs in delight on it to hear the sound.

The creature's face seems to detach from its head, flipping open like a book to reveal a mouth filled with teeth. It screeches and flails across the room as if being tossed like a toy by a child to simulate aggression in a game of pretend.

The rest of you jump back, either due to seeing this action or being surprised by sudden screaming coming from a room perceived as empty.

The tailmic is unphased and does not reel back, too amused by the sound made by tapping glass.

"That is definitely an anomaly. <:)"