text; un: alenko

[majorbiotic]

If anyone is investigating the mines, be careful around the ore they take out of there. My co-workers at the Trading Post have warned me that it's very dangerous. I tried to confirm this by scanning some with my omni-tool but it doesn't even register that there's something physically there when I try. And my tool does work-- I tested it on a chair just to make sure and the readings were normal.

But back on the subject. They tell me that the ore is made into something they call "pulsefire". All three of my co-workers agree it's nothing good. One of them said that if you use it as flint, it'll create a pulsefire storm "as big as a whole town" and then said it killed her grandmother. Another told me that it's "pure evil" and "only kills living things in its path".

Has anyone else come across this "pulsefire" in their investigation? I would suggest trying to sprinkle it into your conversations with the locals and gauge their reaction. The comment on a storm "as big as a whole town" really set off alarm bells, considering everything else we've discovered so far.

There's also something else that's been troubling me. Whatever is happening is affecting our technology and even our perception. Words blur and start to look like gibberish if we focus on it for too long. My omni-tool didn't register the ore as a physical object and when I tried later, it just turned off. And of course we have the locals who repeat themselves or just look blank if we ask them certain questions. It feels... too familiar to things I've seen back home. I don't like it. I really, really don't like it.

Comments

[aurable]

This opens the possibility one of us is going to suggest interrogation now that we're being starved out and going nowhere fast.

[majorbiotic]

I don't think it's a question of if we'll interrogate, but whom. The mayor? The sheriff? I really don't want to involve that kid Clara says is unaffected by what's happening.

[aurable]

Process of elimination? See who is least affected by the memory loop. Not too long ago, we watched a resident disappear outside the town's boundaries, thinking we were mugging him only to show up right back where we met him the next day.

Granted, the man was three sheets to the wind but had no recollection of the events.

Maybe whoever retains the most memories of an event like that would have the most answers.

[majorbiotic]

We'd have to do something pretty unforgettable. Pressing them about pulsefire might do it since it's so dangerous.

[aurable]

Take them where they think they might be most at risk? The mines, for example. You go deep enough you wind up back at the entrance. We've looped through about five to six times now. I have a pretty good grasp of where the point of return is.

[majorbiotic]

[He does not particularly like where this line of thought is going, but they aren't getting anywhere with their current tactics]

Right. Take them as close as you can to that point, talk about pulsefire. Maybe tell them you thought you saw someone trying to make it.

[aurable]

To be clear, I mentioned the loop because I want the quickest possible way to end a possible interrogation. [ Drift is desperate, not a monster. Anymore. ] Convince them it's in the town's best interest we know?

[majorbiotic]

That could work. Do you think the loop acts like a reset button? I don't want to do anything to put these people in danger if they're being controlled.

[aurable]

Haven't tried it on anyone other than myself and the other teammate I was with, but I want to assume it works like the town's boundaries. Only I don't like going into anything on assumptions.

[majorbiotic]

Neither do I, but we're just running into roadblocks. We may just have to take a gamble and hope for the best.