Octavia's Notebook
This story is not for the Elder, or for anyone else in that matter. Not for as long as I live at least. This notebook is just for me! :)
So who am I. My name is Octavîa and I live in the Ark, just like all other 232 231. When I was younger The Elder made me a Chronicler, he saw something in me as youngest person in the Ark. He learned me how to read and write, told me about the Ark and its people, and now I'm writing down the tales of the Ark.
I want to help the People, I always wanted that. That's why I became a Bonesaw. I learned the basics from Olîas, but he is no longer with us :'( The !@#$% Rot got him, like it got so many. One day I'm going to cure it, I'm sure of it! That's what I was already thinking for 5 years, but never did I dare to set a foot outside of the Ark. I was not going to ignore the Elder's warnings, the Rot is out there! But still, inside the Ark I will never find a cure.
This all changed when my mutation appeared. Somehow I got insensitive to the Rot, and one time I even spit it out! Luckily I didn't hit anyone, I think that would've hurt. But this gave me the courage to go out there together with Tesla!!
Who she is? She is the best girl in the world! We are already best friends and roommates for as long as I can remember!Oh, and Tesla is also the one that found you, dear notebook, and brought you to me <3
Here some other people that are important in my life:
- Ruby is beautiful and great and whenever I need something I know she can get it!
- Lincoln is a little scary sometimes and is a boss. But he is nice to me and I always help him if anyone of his gang is injured. He got the most interesting things happening to him, not always good things, but still, I think he will make a great story and I will make sure that I write it down!
- Rianna is also a friend, she is strong and can get angry quickly, but never to me. I've stitched her up a lot. While doing that I learned her how to do it herself.
- Bolt knows a lot and can make anything with scrap, but he doesn't understand the stories around it.
- Finn is a friend of Lincoln, that's how I know him. The best part of him is his dog! I love that dog! <3
So that's who I am. And I'm going to cure the Rot, fix our resources problem and unite the Ark! Well... maybe not alone... I'll contribute to it at least! Lets keep hope, we can do it!
That's it for now, more stories will follow I'm sure of it. But be patient dear notebook, stories need time to happen...
Octavía
Time for an update from me. I had an exciting day today! First some backstory, since I'm didn't tell you this yet. The Ark's water basin got contaminated :( I'm not sure if it's the Rot or not, but the water is green, which is not good.
14 days ago Lincoln decided it was time to do something about it. He send Ruby, Ava, Finley and Felix out in search of the Pure Plant. The stories are that it has an endless supply of clean water!!!
So yeah, I miss seeing Ruby, and the worst thing is, they are still not back! They should be back now for sure. I'm worried...
Apparently I am not the only one. This morning Lincoln asked me to join this group he is leading that goes looking for them. It includes Tesla! The others are Rianna, Bolt, Garrett, Flux and Finn.
Well, I didn't say no, so here I am in the middle of the Zone! We did see some awesome things today, but no sign of Ruby. Let me explain what we saw by using this map. K-16 is the sector where the Ark is. First we went to sector J-17, which is to the North-West.
Sector J-17:Tesla quickly found a path through this sector, she even found some grub! It looked Rot-contaminated but I'll have a better look at it later. Maybe we can make it work.
I heard tales about places like this. A place where the Ancients talked to their boss in the sky!
Tesla wanted to go into the spire to get a good view of the surroundings, which I thought was a great idea! It would really help us find the safest paths through the Zone. The others joined her except me, Flux and Garrett. Bolt tried to join them, but didn't manage to climb up there. He started to gather scrap on the base floor instead. He found a weird yellow metal dish and some mechanic that could move when you turned a small iron key. So nothing useful interesting.
Sector I-17:
The building which Tesla saw looked different compared to the spire. The cross was reddish and had another shape, like this:
Inside it was crazy! There were so many skeletons! A lot of rooms, and in them beds with more skeletons! Skeletons in the hallways, skeletons everywhere! When looking closer to one it became clear that these were skeletons from ancients. I even saw some very small ones, not much longer then my arm! What happened here? They all died? And none of them were buried like in the stories?
A bit further we noticed a metal door which was slightly ajar. There was a weird symbol painted on it ->
A terrible smell came from the room, and some barrels in there were leaking a black-green liquid on the floor. There was a weird yellow suit on a metal standard. This place smelled and looked Rot-contaminated!
It was starting to get dark outside, so we looked for a place to spend the night. We found a room on the 4th floor which looked safe and is easy to guard. We agreed on the following watch order:
I'm going to bed now, rest is important! Let's hope we find Ruby and the others quickly and alive. Goodnight sweet Notebook!
Octavía
Last night I didn't sleep very well. I was rudely awoken in the middle of the night by shouting. It was Rianna! I looked around and only saw Bolt. Through the darkness we quickly ran towards the noise downstairs. The only light was coming from an oil lantern on the floor.
The others were there. I heard Flux howling in pain and saw some shadows in the hallway around him, poor dog! Who were these attackers? Zone-Ghouls? I inspired Lincoln the beat the !@%$# out of them, they would not stop our journey to safe Ruby and the others! With the help of Rianna and Bolt they managed to kill all 5 Zone-Ghouls!
After I had a look at Flux to make sure he was fine, I finally dared to get a little closer to the (dead) Zone-Ghouls. They really were as ugly, stinking, wretched, skinny, short, ugly and terrifying as in the stories. Also I heard about Lincoln's mutation in the past, but seeing how he started to eat their corpses almost made me throw up (barf!). At least it saved us some grub... I tried to get back to sleep, but I had a restless night...
Sector H-18:This morning I noticed the first effects of the Rot. Some of us were coughing and scratching, but nothing to worry about yet... We travelled to the sector in the North-East, where the surroundings started to change. Less ruins and more water.
Sector G-18:
Next we decided to go North where it was less wet. Tesla found some bottles of clean water and 2 cans of contaminated grub.
I have the contaminated grub in my backpack and am planning to try one tomorrow. To see how bad it is, at least I should be able to handle it, I don't want to feed the others Rot. Maybe I can try to prepare it in a way that will reduce the Rot... like... heating it above a fire for a long time? hmm...
Then suddenly Tesla raised her hand! Far in the distance we saw a large grey creature. If I was not mistaken that could be a Devourer as from the Elder's stories! Bolt told us it hungers for flesh! Best to avoid! Tesla guided us in a very long and safe path around it.
Sector F-19:We should be starting to get close to Pure Plant location now. And indeed, soon we saw a huge river that was a few hundred meters wide. In the middle of it there was an island with huge metal barrels at least 20 meters high! And next to it a even higher tower! Could this be the Pure Plant? Let's hurry, Ruby might be there! <3
The river didn't look deep at the edge, it had algae but didn't smell bad. It felt like there was less Rot around here. While Bolt started searching scrap to build a raft, Lincoln found a stick to poke the river bottom and went into the river. It turned out it not to be deep, and we could wade through it!
I followed the others and made sure my backpack containing you, dear notebook, was kept dry above my head! Bolt followed a little later since he was distracted as always by his raft-building. On the other side Lincoln found tracks of people and a dog! Could it be from Tank, Felix his dog?
I made sure I stayed back and didn't ruin the tracks this time, while complimenting Lincoln on his great achievement! From there Flux could follow the tracks! After a short walk there was an area where the tracks went into all directions. And after some more investigation it turned out that the tracks of 3 people went towards the right (where did the 4th go?), and the dog tracks went towards the left.
Finn heard a dog sound, and decided to let Flux follow the dog tracks to the left...Octavía
Let's continue. Flux was following the dog tracks. They passed a huge round basin with green and dirty water in it (so far no endless supply of clean water...).
Huge pipes ended above the basin, and from one of them more dirty water flowed. There was a sign with a skull next to it. It looked handmade and didn't fit in with the rest of this area.
We continued towards the huge tower when Flux suddenly stopped! There was a creature in the fog. Lincoln yelled "Tank!" and the creature ran towards us. It was Tank, Felix' dog! He clearly wanted us to follow him and started to jump against the huge tower. What was up there? Felix? Maybe even Ruby?
The tower had no entrance, but there was a ladder attached to the side. Rianna and Tesla started to climb it. They are so brave, climbing on that old ladder on that high tower!
In the meanwhile Bolt couldn't wait for even a second minute and started to wander around looking for scrap. That could be dangerous so I tried to stop him, but I failed. I'm afraid that someday it will get him killed... He entered the building next to the dirty pool.
Not long after we heard a screech in the distance. Something was coming... I quickly took cover in the same building Bolt was in. Inside there were loud noises and Bolt was pushing buttons and turning a big wheel. What was he doing? I told him to stop and that Rianna was in danger. But he was not easily distracted and told me Rianna could take care of herself.
Lincoln joined us dragging Felix' corpse. Another screech from outside! Luckily we saw Tesla and Rianna sliding down the rope. Tesla quickly took cover but Rianna stayed outside pulling on the rope. Suddenly the rope was coming to her, together with half the tower and the nest! She could barely jump aside in time!
She tried to loosen the rope. It was clear the rope was very important to her!
Then a huge bird appeared and attacked her, scratching Rianna with his claws. Finally Rianna managed to get the rope loose and took cover with us inside. We waited until it was quiet again and I bandaged Rianna's wounds.
Inside the building there was a huge metal grille in the floor. Beneath it was where the noise came from. Bolt and Lincoln wanted to open it but failed. Then the amazing Tesla remembered that she found a small blue notebook in the bird's nest. She brought it as a gift for me!
- Left the Ark and was going back to Eden! (Yes, Eden, from the stories!)
- Was being chased by Zone-Ghouls.
- Was looking for a lookout point.
- Was missing its children?! Was it an Ancient? An Ancient that left the Ark? This must be from long ago!
- Was attacked by Zone-Ghouls and they stole a keycard to Eden. (What would that "keycard" be? A card with a drawing of a key? A map?)
- It had this word "November" with a number besides it above every section. (A Name? A Day)
- At the corner of the paper there was a symbol and the text MIMIR. This was not ruined by the water and still readable on every page, like the lines on my notebook!
I explained this to the others, and Tesla told me she got it from a blue suit that was found on the remains of a female Ancient. The same symbol was on the suit, with the name "Mary" below it. So this must've been Mary's notes!
Felix' belongings were divided and we went to sleep. Lincoln asked me if he could have the last watch during the night. Not sure why, but after he started dragging Felix' body outside I got an feeling... I could understand, it was his way of saying goodbye, and having early breakfast...I went back to sleep until I was woken by Garrett for my watch. He saw light in a building behind the tower. I had a quick look and indeed, there was light! Tomorrow we should go investigate that! Could it be Ruby? I miss her more every day! I hope she is safe...
After my watch I didn't sleep much anymore. Lincoln had breakfast and gathered wood from the nest to make a pyre with Felix on top. When the others were awake he spoke some words and lit the fire. I put one of the cans of contaminated grub in the fire to heat it.
I waited a bit and then tried the grub. It tasted different warm, less Rot taste than expected, but there was still Rot, that was clear. Maybe next time I should stir it, such that the heat spreads better... Or put it in longer...
Lincoln and Bolt wanted to open the grille and explore down there, but luckily I could convince Lincoln to go to the building with the light. It could be his crew, the reason we were here in the first place! Ruby!! <3
We found a door to enter the building, but it was locked and couldn't be forced open. But it was no problem for Bolt his acid spit! We entered a big hall, and in the distance we saw some shadows dart away...
Octavía
It was dark in the building, the small windows at the top didn't let through much light. You could see some machines, tables, a staircase, some barrels.. But there was not much time to look around. After Lincoln asked "Who is there?" and it stayed silent, Rianna ran towards the staircase where we saw a few shadows disappear. Tesla, Lincoln and me went after her.
Upstairs was a hallway with rooms on each side. You could look inside them through broken windows. I saw a lot of cans in one room, maybe grub? The next rooms had bags on the floor in ordered patterns. Halfway the hallway we saw a nicer room.
When we arrived at the end of the hallway Rianna was already there. I heard chanting for one room and in the other dark room you could see 5 small creatures afraid in a corner. They were looking scared at Rianna. Before I could say anything Tesla was asking about Lutrell. Who? What did Tesla know? Lincoln grabbed one of them and pinned it against the wall. How could he! They were so afraid, and probably just children... but I guess they also looked like Zone-Ghouls, so strange...
Lincoln knew enough and barged out. He was angry and in a hurry! I went to the room with the book to see if that could help us. But it didn't make sense at all. It had words like October with increasing numbers in every entry, and behind it the letters like PH and again numbers. This was not a story I could read...
Together with Tesla and Rianna we went back downstairs. There Lincoln was talking to another creature, which must've been Lutrell, with 10 more armed adult creatures behind him. We learned that Lutrell calls this place his shrine, and the other Zone-Ghouls his people. Lincoln explained about our 3 missing people and Lutrell agreed to help us find them as long as we would leave afterwards. Lincoln agreed to that. Did he forgot we were here also for another reason? We needed water for the Ark!
Suddenly there were noises from a machine in the back... Of course, it was Bolt. Lutrell didn't seem happy with all the things Bolt did to his machines. He was even speaking of the "Deep One" that would become angry. Who could that be, some kind of Boss from Below?
We learned that there were living live about 40-50 of these Zone-Ghoul-creatures here. At least they looked like Zone-Ghouls and couldn't handle the light very well. But they did speak our language a bit, and were not aggressive like all the others...
Ruby was very hungry so I quickly gave her my only non-contaminated grub. Tesla gave some to the other two. What a relieve, we found them unharmed!... It turned out they stayed hidden there for days because of the big angry bird that killed Felix. Which does make me wonder a bit.. Where is that evil bird now?...
Octavía
So we are back at the Ark, finally! Let me tell you what happened since last time.
We met the others in front of the big building. Ava told their story, about how they encountered the Devourer and could only barely escape, thanks to Tank distracting it. How they arrived on the island and got attacked by the huge bird, which took Felix. How they stayed hidden in one of those huge metal barrels, such that the bird couldn't reach them anymore. And that they saw these Zone-Ghouls at night. Which we now know luckily turned out to be the Pure-Ones!
Bolt then started a (way too long) story about this place. Apparently this whole island is one big machine that makes dirty water clean and drinkable, and it is all connected underground.We went inside and started talking with Lutrell. It didn't went smoothly at all. Lutrell didn't wanted to tell us how they survived, he didn't think it was relevant for us. He just wanted us to leave. When we explained we wanted to trade for water to save our Ark he told us he didn't care, and that there was nothing they needed.
I explained more clearly that our water supply turned green, and that maybe some of that white powder could help? Or something else, since they knew a lot about cleaning water. But all I got in response was that it was not that easy, that this was a sacred place that you could not reproduce somewhere else, and more like that...
We did learn that the bald dog-like creatures were called "pigs" and that they arranged food for them. Meanwhile I was thinking about the "Deep One", wasn't that his boss? Maybe we should help him taking care of this "Deep One"?
When I brought up the "Deep One" Lutrell got really angry and irritated. He told me I should never say that word out loud... Not sure what has gotten into him, as if saying a word out loud could do any harm... In the end he told us that we could go look for the "Deep One", because we should be a good sacrifice.
I had no idea how we could transport water for all people of the Ark from here... but I guess Bolt could help with a solution. Wasn't he talking about some tracked vehicle that could carry a lot of stuff between places?
We then went outside to convince Lincoln about the trade proposal. But Lincoln was stubborn and already made up his mind. He wanted to leave. Bolt mentioned that we could come back with 200 people. Since Lutrell also was outside, Finn added "To carry the water" to that, but I don't think Lutrell bought the excuse.
While the others were crossing the river I stayed to say goodbye to Lutrell. I thanked him for his help, and told him I would try to convince the others to set up a trade with them. He told me that he thought I was the only one thinking that way... I hope not. For sure Ruby would be interested in trading!
In the morning I warmed contaminated grub above a fire, and I kept stirring it. Still not all Rot was gone, but I was getting close! I'm sure of it! Maybe it would help if I had a better container to heat it in...
We travelled back to the Ark while looking for more resources like grub and water. During that day I talked a bit to Lincoln about the trade proposal. I explained that is was better to not take the water by force, since without the Pure-Ones handling the island-machine, it would probably break and the clean water source would be gone forever.
Let's see if it helps, and at least he was less irritated then yesterday. Before we arrived back at the Ark I made sure to get rid of my Rot. I emitted the concentrated Rot on the ground. You could see the grass dying under the effect of it.
At the Ark we saw that there was good progress on the defense and croplands projects. The People were glad we were back with most of us alive, but some did expect us to already brought fresh water.- The spire and the half-naked Ancient
- The Red Cross building and the Ancient skeletons
- The devourer blocking the route
- The huge bird that ate Felix
- The Pure Plant, an island that's a water cleaning machine
- The Pure Ones, living there and maintaining the machine
- The opportunity to setup a trade route for fresh water, if we figure out a way to transport the water
We also made sure that the book of the half-naked Ancient and the blue floating artifact were added to the Ark's Dawn Vault.
And that was this adventure. I'm curious what the next Assembly will decide about the Pure Plant and the Pure Ones!
Octavía
Tesla wanted to use the ancient blue clothes she found in the birds nest and enhance her own clothes with it. Luckily i'm good with needle and thread, so I helped her sewing it together! She looked amazing in blue! <3
The next morning I got called to Kincade's cabin at the first floor of the Ark. Kincade's body lay on the ground with an axe in his head. Nothing could be done to help him anymore, he was very dead. I removed the axe and handed it to Tesla, maybe she had a use for it. Together with Rianna and Tesla we brought the body to the fire place, where we burn all the dead.
Death's like this don't often happen on the Ark, most of the time it's the Rot, or an accident, or fights... But this looked like assassination... and nobody heard or saw anything... Also there was no reason why Kincade would've been a target, he was a good guy.
The rest of the day I worked on the croplands. It was hard working, and I didn't cope well. I went to bed early, a good nights rest would help.
In the evening Tesla came back to our cabin. She told me there was a clear sky that evening, and she had some great views of the surroundings. She told about a ruined dome in the north, And in the east a broken bridge and a long flat building with iron roads coming from it. She even saw a light very far to the east! Maybe one day we could go take a look there...
The next day Lincoln told us that he wanted to use Bolt's raft to go back to the Pure Plant to get fresh water. He arranged stuff to trade, and apparently they did some testing of Bolt's raft and it really could float?! They would leave the next morning and asked me to join. Since Tesla was also going I decided to join them. They would probably need me, and maybe I could finally get the Rot out of the grub, so we had more to eat.
Early the next morning we left. First I walked at the shore with Lincoln, pulling the raft via a rope. But later that day, when I noticed the raft felt surprisingly stable I tried to board it. Luckily we stayed close to the shore where the water was not too deep.Into J-19 the surroundings again changed a bit. Instead of buildings there were high dead and rotting vegetations. I assumed the Rot did that...
So lets be careful. It was getting dark, and we decided to spend the night on an island, where we could better see and hear anyone or anything approaching.
During that night, someone heard a female voice: "Helloooo... Helloooo...."
Octavía
I'm not sure what wakened me, but Tesla was gone! Where was she? who was keeping watch? And Rianna was also gone! I heard sounds from the North and therefore woke everyone up.
It was pitch dark, but we carefully walked towards the noise. A dim flame could be seen in the distance across the water. I ran after Finn and Flux across the water and through dead and rotten vegetation. We arrived at a clearing with a huge plant! This must have been a tree, I've heard stories about those!
Finn and Flux started to attack a bearded guy that was standing next to a woman at the edge of the clearing. When I arrived at the clearing, I got a weird feeling as if the tree was calling for me... But I could resist it.
Tesla was too close to the tree. This was not like her at all, she should shoot arrows from a safe distance! I motivated here to find the courage to get out of there, away from the tree!But then things worsened. The branches grabbed Rianna and brought her to its huge mouth! I tried to encourage Rianna to get out of the tree's entangling grip, but it was too late. The tree crushed Rianna's foot with its mouth, leaving her in paralyzing pain. But she was not alone! All the others helped and we managed to kill the tree!
We quickly got Rianna away from the burning tree and I started to look at her foot. I needed to act fast! First I put the bones back into their original positions. Then I stitched it up with needle and thread. Rianna stayed surprisingly calm during all of this, she even seemed happy? What a woman! Lastly I took 2 branches which I used to splint the foot, and bandaged it with cloth.
After breakfast Tesla had an amazing surprise for me! She found this thin book with drawings in it. It also had a name: "Deadpool #483".
Did the Ancients also had mutations just like us? Or even more powerful ones? Was the Rot already around that long ago? So many questions! I will study this book a lot! All the violent and wounds in it might give me more insights into how to better cure those wounds!
Tesla and Bolt also found 2 other artifacts. A device that could make light from electricity, and a metal stick use to hit something with. But it was not clear what to hit with it...
Time to continue following the river! We went into sector I-18. There we found a fenced area with a lot of metal structures in it. Some had ladders, others chains and there was one that was 4 times Rianna's height!
In I-19 there was a huge skeleton of a concrete building next to the river. You could look through it and it was 10 stories high! We were inspecting it from a distance to see if we could climb it for the view, when it suddenly collapsed!
A lot of dust and the sound of falling stone and... squeaking? Tesla recognized it as rats! Lots of rats! We quickly got away from that place. Rats can be very dangerous in huge numbers!
Octavía
We had an uneventful night, and in the morning I prepared the contaminated Rot which Tesla found in the Zone! I love how she finds the most useful things in the weirdest places! I also managed to cook some contaminated water which became drinkable! Too bad this is not easy to do on a large scale...
On those short roads there were these wreckages of big vehicles. I entered one and it was filled with broken benches! These were probably used to transport a LOT of people, more than 50 in each one of them! But why would you need to move so many people around?
Tesla found a metal container with a weird liquid in it. Bolt, who seemed very happy with 2 huge tires he found, could tell us it might be used for fueling machines? Or to burn!
We continued to G-19 and saw a woman wandering in the distance. Lincoln approached her but she seems confused and hurt! Even Tesla's telepathy and Finn's pathokinesis powers didn't help much. Her brain was a mess!Tesla proposed to bring her to our raft, which was a great idea! We wouldn't leave her here alone, she would probably die. And we needed to figure out who she was, and where she came from. Not from our Ark, so from where was she? Maybe ... Eden?!!
We followed our journey on the raft. The river started to look darker, more dirty and started to smell. There was more Rot here and soon Bolt had to throw up. He became very sickly and passed out...
Most of us washed themselves in the river to get rid of the Rot. Rianna helped the strange woman. I thought it was better to not get rid of the Rot in me, since I might needed it later...
We went to the Pure Plant and moored the raft at the wooden structure in the water. Tesla and me were going inside to talk to Lutrell, but noticed Lincoln stayed behind with Rianna and Bolt. Why wouldn't he join? It was his plan to trade and I assumed he would arrange the trading?! After some convincing by Finn he did join us.
Tesla in the meanwhile talked to Lutrell about the trinkets we had to trade for water. And while walking to the raft I explained my amazing idea to Lincoln. He told me to go with that idea to Lutrell and see what he would say!
Octavía
I'm still a bit shaken this morning, so let me tell you what happened since last time...
We were at the Pure Plant talking to Lutrell. I explained that we wanted to free the kidnapped Pure-Ones, and in exchange for that they would provide us enough water to sustain our Ark. Also we could trade some of the trinkets we brought for some barrels of water.
Lutrell was very happy with our proposal, but didn't had much use for the trinkets. They needed weapons to protect themselves. We agreed to stay for the day, and Bolt would help them build some scrap weapons. We also gave Lutrell the metal stick we found.
I spend most of that day with Yelena Varvarra, which I learned were the names of the strange woman. Yes, she had two names! She also repeated some specific words: "Is le dovatel", "Laboratoria" and "Voyna".
- Bolt was making weapons from scrap and reinforced the raft.
- Finn wandered around. He apparently learned where the Deep One was.
- Lincoln talked with Lutrell and learned about the female attackers, pigs and water cleaning.
- Rianna and Tesla spend some time with me and Yelena, but also helped Bolt.
In the evening after dinner Lutrell invited us to join their offering ritual. We walked towards the west side of the island. Some Pure-Ones were carrying a small pig.
Time to get some sleep, but before that I walked to the shore to spit out all the Rot I still had in me. Argh, it didn't go easy and I came back disoriented and had a huge headache. I quickly went to get some sleep, and was glad my watch was at the end of the night.
Finally, back at the Ark, and what a surprise, the croplands were finished!! But that wasn't the only surprise... Elona told us another weird death happened: Latifa jumped down from the 4th floor, suicide... Jo-Ann and Max saw it happen! I didn't knew here very well, but it was another strange death...
And can you imagine how surprised I was when I also saw Bolt at the Dawn Vault?! Apparently he brought the weird 2-wheeled vehicle there. Looks like he finally started to figure out that more people besides himself could learn from the artifacts we find!
Yelena didn't get the welcome she deserved. The people were afraid of her and avoided her. Even Elona thought she shouldn't be here. I explained that we could learn a lot from her and that she might even be from Eden! Yelena recognized that and repeated the word Eden to Elona. But Elona ignored it and made clear that Yelena was not welcome on her deck.Finally, time for some sleep... so I thought...
It was halfway the night when I rudely got awoken by two of Lincoln's enforcers. Apparently Lincoln was badly wounded?! I grabbed my stuff and went his room. There he was, breathing heavily and blood everywhere! What happened? He looked like he was attacked by a wild animal and his lung was punctured! I quickly started the operation, and spend at least an hour, if not longer, until Lincoln was finally stabilized.
Octavía
I don't remember too much from yesterday morning anymore... it is a bit of a blur. We left on the raft to free the Pure-Ones, that's for sure...
After a few hours on the raft we put it on the East-shore close to J-19 where we continued on foot. The area was a wasteland... not many buildings, and everything in ashes. It was clear there was going to be Rot here, and Bolt prepared himself by putting on his Rot-suit. And indeed, I started to feel the rot accumulating while Tesla found a path through the area. I even had to use my mutation to make sure to not get hurt by the Rot.
Lincoln warned us to be careful, and threw a rock at the flowers. But Finn walked towards the flowers. And at that moment a big cloud of colorful dust came from the flowers, and Finn dropped on the ground. What happened? Was it poison? Was he still alive?
It wasn't safe to get close because of the dust clouds, but still Lincoln crawled towards him while covering his mouth and nose with a rag. There were bones on the ground, and Finn was stuck. Thorned vines grapples his legs.I had a look at Finn. He was... sleeping? His leg was wounded and it looked like he had a concussion. While trying to heal him my mind couldn't focus. Thoughts went to last night and Lincoln. He did save Finn without hesitation.. he had to be good, right?
Luckily Rianna helped me to treat Finn, I couldn't do it alone in that state. It's only after we were done I noticed Rianna's hair?!! It was bright-red? What happened there? That wasn't the case earlier today... or was it? Was my mind playing tricks on me?
That evening when it got dark we saw lights coming from a huge tower in the south-east. And the lights changed every now and then. At one moment we even saw some kind of beam of light next to the tower pointing into the air. But a moment later it was gone again. According to my map that could be the "Singing Monolith".
In the morning I cooked all the contaminated Rot Tesla had, and I made some more time to check up on Finn. I gave him some advice of how to handle his concussion to speed up his recovery.
Next we walked into K-21. You could see more buildings here, most in decent states. But there was one thing you could almost always see, the huge tower! It had a huge wall of scrap around it, with people walking on top of it! And one of those big vehicles was blocking the entrance. Maybe they could drive it away to open the entrance?
Tesla and Ava went ahead to scout the rest of the area. They found out that there were about 10 people on the walls, all woman with guns. Outside of the walls they saw remains of Zone-Ghouls. They didn't find any weak spot in the walls, the gate was the only way to go in.
Next to the entrance they saw a huge lamp. It was pointed towards the entrance. This would also make it more difficult to get in unseen during the night. And It's probably the source of the light we saw shining into the sky yesterday...We spend some time with Lincoln searching for tunnels in other buildings. He hoped that there was an underground way to get in, like at the Pure Plant. But we found nothing...
So I have no clue how we can ever save them... It seems so difficult to even get in, and they all have guns!! We could try talking, but I doubt they are willing to give away their slaves, or whatever the Pure-Ones are for them... So what can we do?? Maybe Lincoln has an idea?...
Octavía
We set up camp in a large building next to the tower. Lincoln and his crew went hunting, and we stayed behind to keep an eye on the tower. First we watched from a higher floor so that we could look over the wall.
There were women walking around ordering the men around. The men worked in the cropland and walked around with buckets of water, which were filled through a pipe on the side of the building via a continuous stream of water. It was clear that the woman were in charge.
Then we moved to a spot close to the gate and waited... After a while, 3 women came out of the gate and headed North. Tesla and Finn followed them without being seen. Rianna, me and Bolt stayed watching the gate. As expected, it only took a moment before Bolt left us to search (s)crap again.
There were 9 women inside, but no sign of the Pure-Ones. There was something strange going on with one of the women, she had a very big belly, even though she was not fat... Was that a mutation? Or the Rot?
After another long wait we saw 2 of the 3 women return. One of them had a large package in the shape of a small person on her shoulders. Fortunately too small to be Finn or Tesla! But what happened to them, where was the last woman? And more important, where was Tesla?!
Tesla had blindfolded and gagged Carla. We took her to a place a little further from the tower where we questioned her. This is what we learned:
- There are about 150 people living in the Tower.
- There is a boss called the Chairman, he is a man?!
- He is the boss because he can make children! Yes, children! Which are like small new people!
- We learned how they make children, and apparently the very big belly is a child growing inside that woman! Isn't that amazing! But why isn't that working for us?? What's so special about this Chairman?
- They see the Pure-Ones as Zone-Ghouls, and they eat Zone-Ghouls. So we have to save the Pure-Ones before they eat them!!!
- Men are called Givers, and are treated like slaves.
- If we want to try to free the Pure-Ones, we need to talk to the Chairman.
- They don't have the Rot inside, and when we go in we will have to wash ourselves.
- We are the first other people they encounter.
- They are mutants like us, but they can make children...
- The wall and guns are just to protect them against Zone-Ghouls, of which they have a lot during the night.
- She thinks it's safe for us and our men to enter the Tower.
That wasn't good! I'm sure Lincoln won't let that happen! But he has to be on the ark to stop it! And is Ruby safe? :'( We have to go back as soon as possible, she could be in danger!
But going back through the Zone at night is deadly, and if I'm dead I can't help Ruby... So we have to wait until tomorrow... Maybe we can spend the night in the Tower and see if we can get the Pure-Ones out before they eat them!?To the tower it was! I spit out all my rot, and after Carla let them know it was her, the vehicle-door went open. Inside we were washed. I guess they couldn't notice I already got all Rot out of me.
Next we were offered weird block-shaped grub. I told them that I would eat my own grub, since they ate Zone-Ghouls and Pure-Ones here... Who would be so crazy to eat that. Well, it turned out to be everyone besides me!! Even Tesla! I already got sick by the idea of it... so kept to my own grub. Even after I warned the others that they could be eating Pure-Ones they didn't care...
Time for some distraction. While Carla would talk to the chairman, we were allowed to walk around everywhere except the basement and the penthouse (which apparently was the top floor).
The area was lighted by strange flickering lights without a flame! Must've been artifacts from the ancient ones, something Bolt might be interested in. I started looking for a chronicler. In search to answers questions like: "What is their history?", "What do they know about the ancient ones?" and "Do they know anything more about the Rot?".
But it turned out that they hadn't written down much, and I was pointed to Nafta. After I got her attention she turned out to more a Gearhead then a Chronicler. I didn't learn much from her. And when I asked about the basement it looked like she was afraid to tell about that... like they had something to hide. She did stay friendly, and was very interested in our Ark.What was going on here?! That man must've been really desperate! After that she ordered some other man to bring the body to the basement... What would they do with it, turn it into cubes to eat it?
Carla then gathered us and brought us to a wooden platform in the building. There was a long rope attached to the top of it, I couldn't even see the end of it! We had to stand on the platform and slowly we went up. I held on tightly to a pole... Bolt even started to jump, did he want us all to fall to our death?!! Luckily Carla stopped him.
I did learn that all these mutant-woman were not his children, just the small ones. But when asking about the past, how he got here and that kind of things, he didn't give any clear answer. It all lead back to how great he was and that we all should recognise that, and that he could also help our Ark with getting children. Something weird was going on here... How did this situation became to be? Was he an Ancient one? I had so many questions and he wouldn't answer any of them...
Tesla continued trying to set up a trade and this kind of stuff. Why did she wanted to cooperate with such a man? She was very close to revealing the location of our Ark when Lincoln shut her up. Not much after that we left the room, without any way to free the Pure-Ones, and without any useful information, except that this Chairman is crazy...
She warned us that he would probably follow us to our Ark if we left! Maybe she could convince the Chairman the go with us, telling him she would spy on us. But in the end she then would join us and abandon the Chairman. I also asked her about the past, but seems she can't remember anything from when she was young, similar to us...
Besides the first idea, another idea was to come into action this night or tomorrow morning She explained that half the people here (all man) wanted this to stop also. And maybe a few other woman? Could it be possible to free the man and Pure-Ones, and convince the woman to live in a different way? Make and end to this Chairman?
I wasn't sure what to think of this whole situation... There was this crazy Chairman, women with guns, captured Pure-Ones ready to be eaten, and men that were handled as slaves... And of course the situation at our Ark where we had to go quickly, since Ruby could be in danger!
But Lincoln came with a plan. First Tesla, Finn and Ava were going to scout the basement. A few minutes after they left Ava returned. She had distracted the guard such that Tesla and Finn could enter the basement.
I kept looking outside. There was the big beam of light at the entrance. It wasn't as bright as during the day, and at certain moment completely dark for a minute.
Then we heard a gunshot! Lincoln ran downstairs... It was Flux that got shot by a guard! I removed the bullet and bandaged him, poor dog... Tesla and Finn who also returned told us about the basement. There were 8 cages. Most with men and one with Pure-Ones. Some men had to push a big wooden wheel around, and when they collapsed from fatigue and the wheel stopped, the lights went out! There were also 2 doors, but they were not able to reach them without being seen.
Then it was time for the second part of the plan. Lincoln, his crew and Rianna would go up all those stairs to the Chairman and take care of him. We would wait a bit and then go downstairs to the basement, to free the men and Pure-Ones.
We went into the basement with Bolt dragging her body. He then held the body in front of the doorway to the basement room. We heard a "Who is there?". Tesla took cover behind the body and shot an arrow! A gunshot was fired back which landed in the body. Finn, who took the shotgun from the first guard, shot the other guard dead.
We entered the basement. It was dark with only one small flickering light. I went towards the cage with the Pure-Ones. It was locked. I told them Lutrell send us to free them. They were happy about that, but also told me 2 of them were already taken through one of the doors. I looked behind it and it was like a nightmare (and that's coming from someone who often has to cut open body parts). It smelled awful, bodies were hanging on the ceiling on hooks and dried blood everywhere! It was clear there was nobody alive here so I quickly closed the door again... I wasn't even sure anymore if it were Pure-Ones, Zone-Ghouls or other humans... but probably all of them... These woman were crazy! Who does something like that!I wonder how it went in then "Penthouse"... how long till they were downstairs again? Would we survive this? I already started looking for a safe place to hide inside that vehicle...
Octavía
A few minutes later the bus door opened, but Bolt closed it again and told us to wait outside until he turned the bus on. Tesla and Finn were climbing on top of the bus to use the cannons. I myself went back to the previous room to free the men at the big wheel.
At the same time Rianna, Lincoln and the others arrived in the basement. Krin was with them. And while cutting the ropes from the men at the wheel there was suddenly a big flash of light coming from the bus room! It was follow by a screaming woman. What happened there?
We quickly went there. The bus started making noise and the door was open. I made sure all Pure-Ones and freed men entered it and looked for a safe place to hide.
The bus started moving up the ramp and there were shots, light flashes, fire! It was a chaos, and very scary... But I noticed Rianna took over the wheel such that Bolt and Lincoln could try to get the gate open. But she was struggling... I gathered all tehe courage I could find and decided to help her. We couldn't crash into a wall here, that would mean we would all die! I told Rianna to keep pushing the pedal with her feet while I grabbed the wheel.
The gate was now open and I steered through it! Bolt and Lincoln could barely jump on the bus and I steered towards the North until we were out of sight of the Tower. Then me and Rianna let Bolt take over the driving again.
We rode until the sun came up. During breakfast me, Rianna and Tesla shared all our grub and water with the Pure-Ones and the men. I don't think the others were going to share, but we had enough such that at least everyone got something to eat.
But where to now? I suggested the Pure Plant, since from there we could drive further to the Ark. But Lincoln was afraid that would take too long. We needed to hurry to the Ark. Which was a good point, we had to safe Ruby quickly!
So the plan was made to drive towards the raft. There we would split into a raft and a bus group. We would follow to river until we were close to the Ark. There we could use the raft to let everyone cross the river, and hide the bus.An hour or so later we arrived at the place were we left our raft, but it was gone! Did the water raise and take it? Lincoln started to walk to see if he could cross the river. But halfway he turned back, and he walked past the bus! Further south. It wasn't clear what was in his mind, but we followed him with the bus. A few hundred meters further he walked towards the river again, and there was the raft!
So now quickly to the Ark, and make sure Ruby is fine! <3
Octavía
We decided to split into two groups. Ava, Jack, Tesla and Rianna would use the raft, and the others the bus.
We drove through K-18. There were a lot of pools of water which we needed to avoid, and at one point a wheel got stuck in the mud, and we all had to push the bus out.
While Tesla was finding a path through the area Bolt decided to just stop the bus and walk around alone. Why would he do that?! Lets hope he will survive I guess...
Tesla returned with a weird artifact. She couldn't figure out what it was for, and after I checked it I also had no clue... Also she figured out this was a bad place to cross the river.
The Elder was lying in his bed, and looked really bad. Miri, the chronicler that was attending to him, did all she could. There wasn't much that could save the Elder's life... I would give him not more than a few days. While I was checking the Elder Lincoln talked to Elona about how to prevent Harper from gaining power.
Later Tesla told me about what she saw in the mind of the Elder. A white room, a woman which the elder called Doctor Retzius. And the Elder was called Doctor Sebedius! They worn white clothes, and on a desk Tesla saw the same logo as on that blue notebook! What was going on here? Where was that?
Wait, what did I just wrote down? Again that Doctor Retzius? And in combination with Mimir, that was the text next to that image in the blue notebook! But what about all those numbers? Maybe locations on a map? But not our map, that had letters and numbers, not twice a number...
Octavía
I'm not feeling great... but i'll get to that...
Me, Lincoln and Tesla took 2 of the Pure-Ones to our water basin. They explained that the green color was from tiny plants living in our water! Not healthy tiny plants I guess...
The rest of the morning I helped with the museum project, it's going to be great! I found a great spot for that book about the mutant Deadpool, so everyone on the Ark can learn about this mutant from the Ancients and his amazing powers!
The Pure-Ones were not welcomed here, most of the people didn't trust them at all. So we decided to bring them home as soon as possible. But with all the unrest here at the Ark it would be best if Lincoln would stay here.
Only Bolt was missing, but Rianna found him outside of the Ark next to some broken vehicle. We could convince him to join us by making clear we wanted to use the bus. That way we could bring the Pure-Ones home, and get the bus across the river to our Ark. Elona was sad to see us go, but understood and wished us good luck.Then we came to a new zone, I-20. It looked fine, decent roads and buildings. In the distance we saw 1 bigger building that stood out. Tesla saw some weird beasts next to it through the "goggles that make things bigger". I also had a look, and those beasts had to be Bitterbeasts! I've read about those in chronicler writings... they can spit acid and are bad-tempered. Better not go there! Also after an hour or so in this area we started to notice Rot-effects, so we moved on.
To H-20! It looked worse, more ruined buildings. But we could find a "nice" spot to spend the night under the overhang of a building. Tesla, me and the Pure-Ones slept under that overhang,
In the middle of the night I was awoken by the screaming of a Pure-One. He yelled: "Get it off me!". It seems there were big black worm-like created sucking themself onto people. They were falling from the overhang! I took my knife and tried to stab the one attached to Tesla. But no luck, their skin was really thick.
I'm not sure how much time passed, but I woke up when Rianna was bandaging my arm. I was in the bus, but it was on a different location now. I really have to be more careful next time... but first lets get a few more hours of sleep...
I should try it out later, but first food. I cooked the contaminated grub and water me and Tesla had and gave most of it to the Pure-Ones. It was all the water and grub I had, but I assumed Lutrell could give us some grub and water for the way back.
We were almost there, G-20 had less building and more dead vegetation. It was wet, but at least the roads were good enough. At some point we saw a square with a big black pillar.When we arrived at the lake, me, Tesla and the Pure-Ones left the bus and started walking through the water to the Pure Plant. The others would drive the bus around the lake.
Octavía
