OKAY, so I focused this exploration answer on the CCTVs, since many of you had actions related to them and Stoat's powers worked super well with what I had planned for them! Hopefully the BIG THING I gave the entire team will be something you can all play with. I also addressed some of your smaller actions, but the big focus is definitely what happens with the CCTVs. Also also, if I didn't address something at all, then you can assume that the action didn't do anything o7
THE CCTVS:
I TOO BELIEVE IN PHOENIX'S COMBINED POWERS TO FIX THE BROKEN CCTVS!!
The first few wireless pings Stoat sends out don't seem to work, but. . . eventually something pings it back! The presence registers as mechanical and spiritual at the same time, and it is attempting to speak with Stoat in terms of 1s and 0s. For a while, only Stoat can talk with the presence through its stoatly robot powers. Every time someone bangs on the keyboard (like you, Horse and Naoya and Sholmes!!) the connection will be momentarily broken and Stoat will feel a small shock course through its stoatly body. BE KIND TO STOAT 8(
The mechaspiritual presence doesn't seem to have much to say, though. It introduces itself as "Pagan Survivor" and insists that it is trapped!! In the computer!! It won't answer any other questions about where everyone is or what's going on, it will just constantly ask Stoat to help it escape. If asked how to help it escape, it will encourage the group to repair the CCTVs.
Repairing the CCTVs physically is an impossible job, no matter how many buttons the group pushes or how much a character may know about electronics. But Stoat's robotly powers allow it to interface with the CCTVs as much as the mechaspiritual presence. It can, in fact, airdrop memes onto the TVs, and eventually all the CCTVs will flicker on to show a pixelated version of this dude waving at the group. The figure will keep insisting! That it needs to be saved!! It will also ask what a meme is, thanks Stoat. Whether the characters decide to try and help the presence doesn't matter, because at some point Horse is breaking a television, and a spooky data cloud of 1s and 0s oozes out of the cracks and into the room proper, like smoke from a fire. Data smoke. . .? I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DESCRIBE THIS THINK LIKE A SPARKLY CLOUD THAT HAS GREEN 1S AND 0S FLOATING IN IT I GUESS.
The smoke seems to seep in through each character's nose and ears, and every member of Phoenix will black out to find themselves suddenly on a foggy stage with a stack of televisions in the corner. The televisions show a picture of the Pagan Deity laughing maniacally, before the picture cuts out, leaving nothing but static in its wake.
SO. PHOENIX WILL BE TEMPORARILY IN THE TV WORLD, where they will come across various Shadows with which they can fight. You can NPC your own battles, and have as many as you please, with whatever injuries as you please! Exploration of this world reveals only the central stage on which the team arrived, and a vast, foggy expanse with no other visible landmarks. It almost seems as though there is no way out!
But eventually, the group will come across a shadowy figure on their knees, hunched over in the fog, face buried in their hand. They have long hair which covers their entire body, and their features are impossible to make out. The figure will not speak nor respond to Phoenix if they try to interact with them. However, upon touching them, the figure will suddenly burst to life, whirl around on the team with pale, vein-covered, blue-tinged facial features and piercing red eyes and devour the entire team in one weirdly large monster bite.
Phoenix will then find themselves waking up on the floor of the security room. The mechaspiritual presence is gone, but all the damage they did before being transported to the TV world remains.
One member of Phoenix will be holding a remote control. It looks like a normal remote control and doesn't work on any of the televisions in the complex. Huh.
JUZO:
There seem to be no hidden secrets in the room, alas! However, he does find a normal pack of cigarettes in a drawer. As a Treat (™).
HARLOCK:
Harlock can take whatever pictures he'd like, wherever he'd like. They'll all turn out like normal photographs.
NAOYA:
The room will make Naoya feel very uneasy. Naoya will also be able to recognize the creatures in the TV world as Shadows! He can take a baton, but alas the guns do not have any ammunition. The baton is just normal.
MARIANNE:
Nobody will be able to read th words on the papers, alas. . . but she may notice the "letters" almost look like stylistic animal drawings? Hm. She can take the papers with her! They are hers now.
YOR:
Nothing shows up in the hallway! And the office chair is very ergonomically sound. Whoever purchased it cared much about the back and joint health of their employee. Probably.
. . . if she sits on the chair for too long some mysterious invisible force will kick her out. B( Very rde
SHOLMES:
The chair offers no clues for Sholmes's keen eyes, alas. But he can take a baton and a pair of handcuffs! The bracelets of the handcuffs are engraved with a heart, as well as the phrase "[SMUDGED LETTER] x [SMUDGED LETTER] 4eva." Is this romantic??? Why does Sholmes keep getting these things.
HUNTER:
Alas, the room has no hidden passages, ceiling panels hiding things, drawers with false bottoms, loose floor tiles, or anything of that nature. But Hunter does find box of donuts in one drawer. They're. . . fresh?? He can eat them. They do nothing, but they are delicious.
STOAT:
The language on the papers cannot be encrypted into a substitution cipher. It does not seem to follow the norms and patterns of any Earthen language. It's very mysterious!
There are nocards in the office. I'm sorry Stoat.
HORSE:
The moment Horse tries to break the chair, an invisible force will boot her out of the office. She can come back in! But every time she makes the attempt she'll be booted out again.
FREDERICA:
In rummaging through the drawers, Frederica will find a sudoku puzzle book that has been partially filled out. She can keep it, if she wishes!
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