Strange Behavior |
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Stage 1 |
Location: | Dahon Plains (Dell) (2, 10) |
GS9 waves over to you. |
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The Gaunt smiles weakly at you, 'The Golgesh are using the cave network beneath us to launch their attack on Cerrath. But the attacks have become much more frequently and targeted. They have gained access to some of the inner areas of the facility, we are losing the battle. But there is an odd behavior which we cannot ignore. The Rah Kain troops have started to take prisoners rather than straight extermination. We have been ordered to find out where ever they are taking our Units and stop whatever they are doing.'
The Gaunt shrugs, 'Again I'm not sure why we would do this, but Cerrath knows what she is doing. The Golgesh are taking their prisoners below, so that is where we must go. There is a way into the caves below here in the Dell, but the Golgesh have left vicious dogs to guard the entrance. We must get past them. Kill 100 Grashnek, come back when you are done.' |
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Stage 2 |
Location: | Dahon Plains (Dell) (2, 10) |
The Cerrath Unit types onto his datapad. 'Sorry, I'm just updating Cerrath on our progress. She is very pleased at your return for some reason. But that's beside the point, have to got rid of those blasted dogs yet?' |
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GS9 stands up slowly, 'Excellent, I have been downloaded the Cave Plans. We can enter the Caves through the Passage. I shall go first, there is a large Cavern which I suspect the Golgesh will be using. I would if I were them. So I shall meet you there.' |
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Stage 3 |
Location: | Cerrath Caves (Cavern) (10, 14) |
GS9 greets you, he tries to stand but his knees give out. |
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The Gaunt nods, 'Sorry, I think I require sleep. 47 hours without rest is apparently too much for me. I am not completely useless though. I did discover that they are holding our lost Units in some powerful electric field. But I saw those Drolsan can walk through the lighting arc with no effect. It just hits them and they just carry on walking. They must carry something that allows them to do this, go find out what it is and try to get our Units back.' |
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Stage 4 |
Location: | Cerrath Caves (Cavern) (3, 10) |
You eventually find what GS9 described. An odd node casting an electric field around a terrified bunch of Cerrath Units. But the field generator seems to be an Entity of some sort. A weird plant-like node growing out the ground. Maybe you can find something that can turn off the Shock Caster.' |
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You found a strange bug being carried by the Drolsan that seems to absorb electricity. You place the Shockbug onto the Caster and wait to see what happens. The bug runs in a small circle, the bites down into the flesh of the Shock Caster. After a few seconds the bug starts to glow, you then realize that it seems to be draining the electricity straight out of the Caster. You turn to see the containment field holding the prisoners shimmer and fail. The Cerrath Units look around in astonishment, then get up, stretch as one run off into the darkness of the Caverns. It is not long before you hear the tortured screams of dying Drolsan.
You should return to GS9 and tell him what happened. |
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Stage 5 |
Location: | Cerrath Caves (Cavern) (10, 14) |
GS9 sits in the dark waiting for you. 'Did you manage to do anything about those Prisoners? |
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You tell him you found a bug on the Drolsan that seemed to eat electricity. You put it on top of the Shock Caster and it simply drained it of it's juice. The Units then ran off into the Caverns and have started killing the Drolsan.' The Gaunt smiles in the gloom of the Caverns, 'Yes, I bet they have. Enraged Cerrath Units are far more dangerous due to the way we are manufactured. Part of our unique selling point I'm told. We can assume that the Golgesh in this area will be dealt with. The problem is that there seems to be no base being set up. It must be deeper within the Caves, there is a large subterranean lake near by. Maybe we should check there.'
At the mention of the Lake you grab GS9 and say, 'A Lake! In my experience Cloning Facilities use local water sources to cool down their systems. We must check to see if the Golgesh are messing with the Lake and protect Cerrath's critical systems against chemical sabotage.'
GS9's eyes go wide, 'If what you're saying is true, we have no time to waste. Meet me in the Lake and we shall see what the Golgesh are doing.' |
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Stage 6 |
Location: | Cerrath Caves (Lake) (2, 6) |
GS9 crouches in the dark, he waves at you. |
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He shifts his weight in the gloom, 'I have noted that there are weird Golgesh Entities drinking massive quantities of water. Please find out why they are doing this and return when you have found out.' |
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Stage 7 |
Location: | Cerrath Caves (Lake) (17, 12) |
A large still Lake sits in the center of the area, as you walk it's cold shore you find a huge Pod. You are about to inspect it when a tall Guzzler shambles up to in and shoves its long nose into a socket near the top of the pod. You guess it is pouring water into the large pod and you will need a nose like a Guzzler to look inside it. |
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The silly looking Entity is still pumping water into the Pod and you scan it easily with your Datapad. From the Bioscan you can easily see the nose structures, simulating the is trunk will be easier than you would think. You name and print out a Blueprint, this should get into the Pod.
You receive 1 x Water Pod Key Blueprint |
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Stage 8 |
Location: | Cerrath Caves (Lake) (17, 12) |
A large Pod sits on the shores of Cerrath Lake. The Pod is tightly sealed apart from a socket near the top. Only the Guzzlers can use the Pod Socket. |
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You climb on top of the Pod. You are shocked to find that it is warm to the touch. You shove the key into the pod socket and look down the hollow center into the Pod. Inside is a central chamber with green bubbling liquid surrounded by three other chambers filled with different colored goo. You are baffled by what could be going on inside the Pod when an eye pops out the boiling chamber and a mouth appears waiting for something. A drink you assume. Whatever it is the weird thing is a Golgesh, you slam the Pod Key down as hard as you can. You hear a screech come from inside. Behind you a comes the sounds of the shuffling gait of a Guzzler. So you jump down and back off.
The Guzzler tries to insert it's trunk into the Pod socket, but the key you left stops it. From inside the Pod a thrashing starts, then the pod suddenly breaks apart and a pathetic Entity flops out. It's long green limbs too thin to support it. The thing just lays on the cold rock and gasps for air. The Guzzler walks up to it, and instinctively see's something weaker than itself. You smile as it crushes the strange Entity underfoot. They might be all on the same side, but apparently not all the Golgesh like each other.
Then from the wreckage of the pod you see a familiar green ooze seep out. You realize that the Pod is used to produce the Golgesh terraforming goo that the Golgesh cover the land in whenever they want to colonize an area. The Guzzler then quickly retreats from the pod. You are surprised at its speed. You are about to get up and go and see what it was so afraid of, when you hear a sizzling sound coming from the Pod. The colored goo from inside the Pod then flow out and mix together. This seems to make an highly corrosive acid that begins to eat up the destroyed pod. In moments the pod and everything inside it vanishes into a thin grey mist. You make a mental note, never mix anything the Golgesh want kept apart.
You should return back to GS9 and tell him what has happened. |
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Stage 9 |
Location: | Cerrath Caves (Lake) (2, 6) |
GS9 waits patiently for your return, 'Have you found out what those Guzzlers were doing?' |
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You quickly describe the Water Pod and that the Guzzlers were giving water to an Entity inside that was producing a terraforming goo. But the Pod is now destroyed, so the immediate threat is gone. GS9 gives a long sigh, 'I just hope what you say is right. But whilst you were gone I re-examined the Facility Plans and think I know what they are up to. There is a Pump Station near by that sends coolant water up to Cerrath above. If the Golgesh polluted the supply then there is no telling what damage they could do to Cerrath. Meet me in the Pump Station, we must check that its clear of Golgesh. |
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Stage 10 |
Location: | Cerrath Caves (Pump Station) (2, 15) |
GS9 types quickly onto his Datapad. Something is very wrong... |
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The Gaunt stops for a moment and points into the murky darkness. You follow his finger and see a Golgesh reloading a handgun. At his feet is a brightly glowing ball. 'They are here, and they have some sort of poison. I have just contacted the Maintenance Chief and there is nothing unexpected happening. Apart from the obvious Golgesh intruders, they are kinda obvious. We need to figure out what they are up to and quickly.'
You hear panic in GS9's voice then say, 'Cerrath will have water filters. If we can discover the toxin the Golgesh are using we can tell maintenance and they can filter it out.' Hope flashes in GS9's face. 'You think so? Alright, get me a sample of whatever they are carrying and we'll get it to the Maintenance Chief.' |
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Stage 11 |
Location: | Cerrath Caves (Pump Station) (2, 15) |
GS9 hunkers down in the murky black. If you didn't know he was there, you would miss him completely. 'Did you get a sample of whatever toxin the Golgesh are trying to poison Cerrath with? |
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He looks at the orb in his hand, 'It's strange that something that fits into my palm can potentially destroy Cerrath. We should get this to Maintence as soon as possible. Lucky the Pump Station entrance is locked with a hologram, so that should slow the Golgesh down a bit. We can port into Cerrath via the Cave Station Portal. That will takes us directly into Maintenance. I'll go give this to the Maintenance Chief, you need to carry onto the Upper Halls and meet SV13. Cerrath has just messaged me with a situation update. The Upper Halls have fallen and Cerrath is now isolating her main data, so we are losing the battle. We best be quick or Cerrath will be destroyed.'
You must use the Cave Station Portal and enter Cerrath Maintenance. Find the entrance to the Upper Halls and contact SV13.' |
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Stage 12 |
Location: | Cerrath (Upper Halls) (14, 3) |
You hear a shattering crack of lightning, followed by a mirthless laugh. |
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You follow the sound of laughter, eventually you find an enraged Biospark splattering any Slargon she finds. She see's you immediately and walks up to you and shakes your hand firmly. There is a snap of static as her hand touches yours. 'Good to see you Unit. I'm SV13 - I could use your help. I'll kill these maggots whilst you go find the squash the Queen who is laying the eggs that these foul Golgesh hatch from. Be quick now. We have no time to waste.' |
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Stage 13 |
Location: | Cerrath (Upper Halls) (14, 3) |
SV13 fries another Slargon, you almost gag on the smell of burnt flesh. 'Have you got rid of the Molgin yet?' |
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SV13 grins at you. 'Excellent, with that out the way there should be no more maggots. Others can clean up the mess. Meet me in Tech Division, I need to check on something.' |
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Stage 14 |
Location: | Cerrath (Tech Division) (14, 14) |
SV13 stands speechless over a corpse of a heavily mutated Bioshock. |
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The Unit frowns at you, 'I didn't believe it when I head the rumors. That the Golgesh had taken many of us prisoner and altered them into Golgesh monstrosities. I need to see if it can be reversed.' She prints out a Blueprint and throws it at you, 'Come back when you have done the Biospark Diagnostic.'
You receive 1 x Biospark Diagnostic Blueprint |
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Stage 15 |
Location: | Cerrath (Tech Division) (14, 14) |
You return back to SV13. She stands staring down at the Biospark at her feet, 'There are fingernail marks on the back of her head, I think she tore her own face off. How much pain must you be in to do that?' She coughs, then turns to you, 'Have you got that Biospark Diagnostic yet?' |
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She scans the silver disc with her Datapad, 'There is something odd here. The Golgesh seem to have underestimated the cybernetics within the Cerrath Unit. The Blood is saturated with Nanites attacking the Golgesh DNA manipulation. To such an extent that there are unabsorbed toxin clusters still floating around. The odd tentacle is 100% Golgesh, it's a completely different Entity living on her back. The Datastore is utterly unaffected, so I'm guessing the personality files are also fine. It's like the biosystem of the Unit thinks it has a sort of cancer and it trying to kill it. We just need to extract the Datastore and upload it into a new body. I shall inform Cerrath at once. This is good news. We can bring an end to this torment for them.' She types on her Datapad and suddenly cries out in shock.
'Cerrath has denied the restoration of the infected Biosparks. She thinks that the pain has driven the personality matrix of the Units beyond what they can handle. The result of uploading unstable personalities into new bodies would only be insane Biosparks. She has now earmarked the Biospark units for termination!' SV13 clutches her Datapad and closes her eyes, 'I suppose she is right. As logical as ever.' A loud bleep erupts from SV13's Datapad. She nearly drops it in surprise, grief evaporates from her eyes and fill with fear at what she reads, 'Come - we need to get into the Mainframe right now, the Golgesh are trying to attack Cerrath directly!' |
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Stage 16 |
Location: | Cerrath (Mainframe) (9, 2) |
You find SV13 killing Golgesh with relish. |
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She does not even look at you, just continues to strangle the Shalor currently in her hands. 'I want them all dead. Kill 200 Shalor and bring me one of those Eels that are using. We need to figure out why they are just randomly shocking Cerraths computers.' |
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Stage 17 |
Location: | Cerrath (Mainframe) (9, 2) |
SV13 shocks another Golgesh victim, you can hear a skull pop as it's brains boil inside. She asks conversationally, 'Have you got rid of 200 Shalor and found that Eel I asked for already?' |
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The Bioshock looks at the dead Eel in her hand, 'This Entity produces an electrical charge without need of a battery - interesting.' She then scans it with her Datapad, then looks over the results. 'I also see that due to the organic nature of the electrical generation, there are minute changes to the sparks it produces. So every one is different. I suppose any electrical system exposed to such shocks over an extended time might suffer a variety of system damage. Let me get an update with Cerrath.'
SV13 tries to link with Cerrath, but the link fails to connect. 'Odd, that has never happened before. I'll try a hard link.' She walks to the wall and connects to a dataport nearby. After a moment she looks up at you, 'I can't get hold of Her at all. Cerrath seems to have erected a massive datawall around herself, She has cut herself off from the world completely. I don't know what to do!' SV13 stares at you with wide eyes, her face drained of all colour.
You ask, 'How was your Unit operating system installed?' The Bioshock looks at you blankly. 'When our metallic skeleton as completed the OS was downloaded, then our personality blocks installed. It is through experience that we shape our identities extrapolated from these basic personality blocks. After that we are put into finishing and given flesh and hair. Why do you ask?'
You then say, 'So you have no ability to link directly with the Cerrath mainframe?' SV13 frowns at you, 'I can connect with her, I use the Datapad.' You nod, then ask if there is a Transfer pod or something similar within the Facility. SV13 shrugs, 'There is the old Archive Link, but that is a legacy port from when Cerrath was made. Nobody can use that, you would need a VR socket installed in your system and why would you have such a thing? It would require massive internal data processing capabilities, so how likely is that?'
You smile knowingly back at SV13 and say, 'Where is this Archive Link you mentioned?' She shrugs and points to her left, 'It's that weird Data Port there that is just gathering dust.'
Use the legacy Archive Link to enter the Cerrath Archive |
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Stage 18 |
Location: | Cerrath (Archive) (10, 9) |
You step into a place constructed entirely on red light. You walk the familiar halls until you find a woman with flawless features hovering in the air. |
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The woman flickers for a second, then her eyes glow. She stares at you with growing concern, 'I'm sorry, but how did you get in here?' You simply reply, 'I used the Archive Link to access this area, SV13 is having problems contacting you. Whats wrong?' Cerrath laughs, an oddly melodious sound but laced with resignation. 'I am being torn apart byte-by-byte. It is a slow but constant eroding of my data. I am just waiting for the time when a cascade error consumes me completely. It's odd. I spent centuries without a firm grasp of my mind. But now I can process what is happening to me, I wish I was insane again so I could die oblivious to the horror that is slowly creeping up on me.' She sighs deeply, 'The thing is I don't know what the error is. My systems cannot focus on any one source as the error keeps changing. It's subtle, but due to the random nature I cannot complete a defense against it. I could in time I'm sure, but the damage will be done before I solve the problem.'
Cerrath looks at you, 'This is the first time anyone has stood here since my construction. I think I like this interaction. I assume you wish to help me or you would not be here. As you are not part of my systems and will might not be fooled by what is happening. Please check the system integrity of my Sirens. I need to see if my security systems have been fully compromised. Note that if you are within my systems when it collapses, your consciousness will dissipate along with all the other data, so be quick.' |
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Stage 19 |
Location: | Cerrath (Archive) (10, 9) |
Cerrath floats in front of you, 'Have you managed to recover a copy of the Siren System? I require it to make sure my security systems have not been corrupted yet.' |
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Cerrath holds the System out in front of her. Her hands glow, then the system slowly evaporates. She smiles down at you, 'My Sirens are working perfectly. This is good, I can now trust their inputs. Please wait for a moment whilst I re-assess my data.'
Cerrath closes her eyes for a second. Her eyes flicker open, 'This is excellent news, there are indeed corruptions within my data, but they seem to be contained within a specific area of the Data Store. If left unchecked it would overwhelm me, but we are far from that happening at this time. Please enter the Data Store and check for any erroneous data errors. Return here when you find them. |
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Stage 20 |
Location: | Cerrath (Archive) (10, 9) |
Cerrath hovers in place, 'I'm glad to see you return, have you discovered the Data Error that is afflicting my information structures?' |
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She takes the error from you, 'Of course, a corruption of the Key fields would destabilize my database sending goto errors in circles. This can be easily fixed. Thank you. I also note that SV13 and other Bioshocks are holding their own against the Golgesh in the Mainframe room. I suspect we shall repel this wave of attack, but another will come. We will be eventually overwhelmed by their sheer weight of numbers.'
You smile up at Cerrath, 'Actually - I might have a solution for you. In my travels I can across an army of cybernetic battlesuits that have the personalities of dead Soldiers stored within them. The information is overloading the data capacity of the suits and they shut down after a few days. What they need are new bodies to upload into then re-install back into the battlesuits. They are part of what's called the Accord. The Accord have promised to defend you if you help them re-gain new bodies. You will then have a legion of Cybernetic Soldiers with centuries of battle experience to fight against the Golgesh.'
Cerrath blinks at you, 'I specialize in unit-cybernitic enhancement. I can produce as many bodies as the Accord require. But they will need to keep their word. My Dahon are a devoted customer, they gave their DNA freely, and we serve them - it is a good bargain. Amara is a fantastic product laision for the Facility. But although they produce strong Units, they do lack experience in all out battle. I shall do as you you ask. But I will require the Accord Units to be delivered to my Facility, will that be a problem?' You show Cerrath the Accord Field Unit and say, 'No, I can contact them with this, they only require co-ordinates to port the Troopers directly to you. Cerrath smiles at you, 'Excellent, simply give me the Unit, I can contact the Accord for you. I just need a moment to complete the Key Field diagnostic.'
Give Cerrath the Accord Field Unit. |
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Stage 21 |
Location: | Cerrath (Archive) (10, 9) |
Cerrath smiles down at you, 'I have complicated the Key Field Diagnostic. May I please have the Accord Field Unit?' |
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She takes it in her digital hands. After a few seconds she takes a sharp breath, then smiles beatifically. After a moment she opens her eyes.
'You never told me the customer was another AI. It is wonderful to speak to someone like myself. We can sort out the details later but my Dahon will provide the DNA required, and the Accord will provide the Personality and Skill structures. This will be the simplest order I have ever filled. Things are looking up for us. I have now re-activated the Portal in the Upper Halls and keyed it to a location called the Muster Point. When you are there you should contact the Accord, she is having some problems apparently. And thank you again for all your help.'
You receive 2,930,309 Xp + 50 Skill Points. |
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