HC:Pacifist | Ch. 151 - Goodwin's Log
Added 2023-11-01 12:50:47 +0000 UTCLoki watched as each hatchling set itself in place, and captain after captain signaled that their teams had gathered in the slums. They were almost ready to start. Finally, he would usurp the other guilds. They were all so full of it. He was done with how they monopolized all the best resources in the game. It was time to show them that Pegasus could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them.
All that was left was giving his guild the final order to move. He had gone through a lot to get this far. In a way, this quest was only possible because of his near-death experience at the hands of the Slayer. When Loki began making his wealth in gaming, he had always played with the Rogue class. Performing assassinations, setting up ambushes, and spying were right up his alley. But after that evil brute beat him up, he was forced to remain immobile. He would have preferred it if, instead of damaging his spine, the Slayer had cut his legs off. Not even advanced reconstructive surgery could reverse the damage he had done to his nervous system.
The game offered some options for handicapped people, and he did have a wheelchair. But, after that beating, he would never have the agility to play as a rogue again. He felt lost and unmotivated for some time, but he decided to rise above the tragedy. Since he couldn't go to the battlefields, he supported his guild from the sidelines.
Loki channeled every hour inside of the game, managing the guild. He organized all of his teams neatly, recruited only the best talents, and took it upon himself to draft guild benefits and a reward system, something that other guild leaders delegated to staff. He planned every battle and led Pegasus through victory after victory. Besides that, he spent countless hours combing through libraries, looking for recipes for craftsmen, hints to unlocking hidden races and classes, and clues to obscure quest lines. That’s how he first stumbled upon the parasitoids.
The first hint at this quest line was a memo he found in one of the logs of the astronomy department of the university in the capital city. The memo mentioned an observatory built by the university inside the forbidden region. Loki had instantly felt the potential for a questline.
When Loki inquired of the principal about the observatory's location and what had happened to it, the principal confided in him about how it was a great fiasco. The principal had then shared with him a log of the expedition. It was written by the chief of the expedition, Dr. Goodwin.
“March 3rd,
My name is James Goodwin, a member of the Capital’s Science Academy and leader of this expedition. I write this log in the hopes that my students and colleagues can live through my words the many exciting discoveries that I believe we’ll make.
Our astronomers predict that, due to the changes to the atmosphere caused by the Rain of Fire and the unique topography of the terrain, the lost continent will be the ideal location for a new observatory. We hope to find the answers to the strange phenomena that have assailed our planet and mutated life on it.
I’m blessed with the finest team any explorer could hope for. There are twenty of us: geologists, biologists, astronomers, technicians, and engineers. What a joy to again be gifted with the long-gone opportunity of braving new frontiers and expanding human knowledge.
March 7th,
The tempestuous winds over the Death Mountains make it impossible to travel by air, so we were forced to find a new path that could take us through to the famed forbidden region. From the locals, we found that one of the mountains is situated over a massive limestone outcrop, where water and centuries of erosion have carved a network of tunnels. We hope one of them can eventually lead us to the other side and into the new frontier.
March 16th,
The journey through the caves was perilous, and to our everlasting sadness, two of our dear colleagues succumbed to the vicious attack of the mutant centipedes that roam these caves. Dr. Richards and Dr. Bulwark were very talented people whose names I plan to inscribe on the most glorious plaques at the university and observatory. They would have wanted us to continue so that their sacrifice meant something.
Thanks to the combined efforts of our geologists and explorers, we eventually found our way out of the limestone maze and crossed the Death Mountains into the new frontier. What we found on the other side of the mountain range was quite different from the records in the university. What before used to be prosperous fields carpeted with grass has become a land covered in black soot and sand.
The meteorite shower struck the hardest in this forsaken place, creating a depression surrounded by high cliffs. The sky is covered by a perpetual gloom that barely lets any sunlight in. Even though the skies are gray and the clouds seem to carry water, it doesn’t rain. This place is a wasteland.
Thankfully, our radiation detectors assure us that most of what made this area inhospitable to human life has blown over. Mutations here seem to have taken life in a completely different direction than everywhere else. Plant life is leafless and seems to live off decay instead of sunlight.
I worry that the rations that we brought will prove insufficient for the duration of the project. Hopefully, we’ll find a solution to this soon.
March 18th,
It’s been hard to proceed with the journey since our biologists make ground-breaking discoveries with each step they take. Fortunately, we’ve already discovered a source of food that will extend our supplies. Our biologists have discovered fungi that thrive in this region, and we have also discovered an unknown species of giant beetle that feeds on the ash that covers the land and that the biologists guarantee is edible.
The fauna and flora here have incredible properties, and I’m tempted to send a few of us back to get a team of porters just so that we have enough people to carry all these treasures back to the university for further study.
Alas, it would be impossible to bring all of the riches of what has come to be called among us the ‘Dark Valley,’ the university’s original plan is proving to be the most reasonable. The outpost will be the right place to study all the wonders of this mysterious region, and then we can bring our findings enclosed into the much more compact form of books and reports.
April 4th,
After roaming the Dark Valley for a few weeks, our teams unanimously agreed on the best location for the observatory. It’s a hill affording a good view of the surrounding landscape, which is one step closer to the stars. We have named it Bulwark Hill in honor of our good friend who gave his life in the name of science. There is plenty of rock and timber close to Bulwark Hill. There is food and a well close by. We hope to begin the construction of the Richards Observatory soon.
May 10th
The attack came at night. The animals had gray fur and were vicious. Before we could fend them off, they had already dragged three of us away. The biologists have studied the remains of the one animal we could kill, and they tell me it's a coyote. They explained that even though they typically hunt alone, it’s not unheard of for them to hunt in packs.
I’m still reticent about their assessment. All I see when I look at the beast we slayed is a monster. The mutations here have made the local fauna extremely aggressive.
I blame the losses of Dr. Donald, Mr. Clayton, and Dr. Jillian on myself and my inability as a leader. After several weeks without encountering any hostile lifeform, I mistakenly suspended the night watch, giving the monsters the opening they needed to launch this surprise attack. That is a sin that I will forever carry in my conscience.
July 9th,
It was only thanks to the tireless effort of all 15 of us and the batch of capsuled drones that we were able to bring from the university that we finally managed to complete the construction of the Richards Observatory.
Now that the building is complete, we have an adequately equipped and safe refuge to study the surrounding nature. Just to be safe, we will keep some of the drones working on a palisade that should give us an extra layer of safety against mutant coyotes or any other beasts.
August 17th,
Dr. Kluivert has made an incredible discovery today. As the only surviving geologist, he’s taken his job seriously and has been questing daily in search of samples of the meteorites that have battered the Dark Valley. After a painstaking search, he has found the most impressive specimen we have ever seen. The object is almost a perfect sphere, with roughly a five handspan of radius.
Tomorrow, we’ll assemble an expedition to retrieve the meteorite. Dr. Kluivert hopes that studying it will help us better understand the origins of the rain of fire and why its radiation has had such a transforming power on Terran life. This might be the most significant discovery we have made yet.
August 19th,
I woke up today in the infirmary. It was explained to me that on the way back from our expedition, strong winds provoked an ashstorm, which nearly suffocated me. Dr. Leonaris succumbed in the storm, and Mr. Lewis has gone missing. I don’t even remember being caught in the storm, and yet I wake up to have to bury one more of my comrades in the ash it has left behind.
Dr. Nadia tells me my respiratory system was severely affected and that I’ll have to stay in the infirmary connected to a ventilator. It will take some time before my lungs are clean enough to deal with the dirty, dusty air of the Dark Valley.
August 20th,
Even though I’m stuck in the infirmary, I follow all experiments with interest. Dr. Shirley has been kind enough to install a monitor that shows me footage of the lab. I can follow every experiment from the comfort of my sickbed. My colleagues have also been kind enough to come and brief me on any breakthroughs or significant discoveries about the meteorite.
Dr. Kluivert reports that the meteorite is made from a sort of biometallic alloy, unlike any technology we have. This might be the first piece of evidence that proves the existence of extraterrestrial life. He is now working with the biologists, who are running tests on the alloy.
August 30th,
I finally reached the caves. I haven’t written in this log for many days. I can see now that my reluctance to write comes not from a deep sense of shame at having lost every single member of my team but from shock. This dark, godless place has chewed my whole team up and spat only me out.
I woke up to screams and, as I checked the monitor, I found all my colleagues were twitching on the ground. That’s when I saw it. Dr. Kluivert stood amidst them. His eyes looked at my other colleagues, but didn’t see them. For moments, I wondered if it was a nightmare, but it all felt too real.
I checked the footage and rewound it to see what had caused this. Dr. Kluivert and Dr. Nadia were drilling into the meteorite when something terrible happened. A cloud of dust burst from inside the meteorite, enveloping them.
As Nadia choked, Dr. Kluivert started limping toward the door of the containment lab, screaming for assistance. The others watched as Kluivert and Nadia succumbed under the dark miasma.
After a few moments, Dr. Kluivert, the first to breathe in the meteorite’s dust, got back up and, with inhuman strength, tore through the reinforced plastic as if it were paper. The fog of dust spread, and I watched in horror as, one after the other, my colleagues fainted.
I gulped as I realized that the miasma had also reached the infirmary, but thankfully, I was breathing oxygen from the machine. I saw as Dr. Kluivert dragged each of my colleagues toward the meteorite. I grabbed the oxygen tank and my journal and ran away, terrified.
The following day, I mustered the courage to return and found them all lifeless, huddled around the meteorite. What had before been the meteorite had tripled in size and had a black opal-like layer. Roots spread from it, and it pulsed like a beating heart. I think we have opened Pandora’s Box. Every cell in my body screamed at me to run away. I set the observatory on fire and ran.
If I don’t make it alone through the centipede caves, and someone finds these logs, I want you to heed my warning carefully. Run. Don’t go into this forsaken land. And don’t call it a valley. This is a pit. This is a dark abyss.
The principal said to Loki that after several months had passed without any news from the expedition, he sent a rescue party. They found the remains of Dr. Goodwin and the log book near the entrance of the centipede cave. As soon as he read the log, Loki knew he had stumbled upon something great.
