The sealed archive’s read-only copy flickers, then routes a narrow-band call through an underwater relay network marked with Blunker’s obsolete signature. The lower chamber fills with cold blue diagnostic light.
Locnomos
Jostan. The archive has found technology Leonidas was never meant to reach. Do not let it complete the comparison.
Locnomos appears only as a secured voice and fractured data imprint, isolated beyond Jostan’s checksum lattice. Ancient code begins mapping the creation file against submerged systems, unable to write into his cybernetics.
Rodney
Blunker does not call Leonidas by accident. This is an opportunity, a trap, or both, and it already knows where we are.
A thin pulse leaves the archive and travels through the floor conduits. Somewhere beyond the weather spine, the underwater relay acknowledges their location and returns a second handshake.
Sela Marr
The channel is transmitting our position. If we cut it, we lose the comparison. If we keep it open, something below Blunker gets a clean route to us.
The diagnostic map reaches the first sealed partition and pauses, displaying two compatible paths: preserve the creation record in silence, or expose it to the Blunker network and learn what recognized Jostan.
“chuckling to myself I tell rodney, " this has gotten deeper then I wanted to swim but no backing out now" I then isolate the blunker handshake from the archive and copy the comparison data, severing the channel, in my head I start to get curios of who I am.....”
SUCCESS (Legendary Hacking, rolled +1)
Jostan Ordomo
This has gotten deeper than I wanted to swim, but no backing out now.
Jostan’s isolation routine clamps onto the Blunker handshake, separating its underwater relay signature from the sealed creation archive. The comparison stream remains readable while the live channel loses its route into the chamber.
He copies the comparison data into a fresh partition, preserving submerged system identifiers, compatibility metrics, and the exact point where Blunker recognized his architecture.
Jostan Ordomo
The comparison data is separate, complete, and mine to examine.
Jostan severs the handshake. The blue diagnostic light collapses to a muted standby glow, and the floor conduits fall silent as the underwater route disappears from the archive.
Rodney
Good. We learned what recognized you without giving it a permanent line back here.
The creation record stays sealed behind the checksum lattice. Beside it, the copied Blunker comparison waits in isolation, carrying a new lead about Jostan’s origins without surrendering control of the system.
“Impaitenly I examine the isolated blunker comparison date and and wink to sela while asking if she knows a way out, I then say, " after all i do owe you a favor, cant do it down here" blowing her a kiss at the end”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled -1)
Jostan opens the isolated Blunker comparison in read-only mode. Submerged system identifiers resolve into compatibility metrics, showing the network recognized continuity between his cybernetics and an older, nonlocal architecture.
Jostan Ordomo
Do you know a way out of here?
He winks at Sela, keeping the comparison partition sealed, then turns the display so its findings remain visible without reopening the destroyed handshake.
Jostan Ordomo
After all, I do owe you a favor. Can't do it down here.
Jostan Ordomo
He blows her a kiss.
Sela Marr
There is a maintenance lift behind the coolant manifold. It exits into a municipal service spine, and it does not require the archive to open again.
Sela retrieves Jostan's Jimmy from her coat and offers it back grip-first. Then she moves to the manifold, revealing a narrow lift door beneath the condensation.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the municipal service spine
“I grab my jimmy back but not before mkaing a butterfly made of Ki-nen and blowing it to selas hand before it dissapates, entering the lift while keeping the comparison partition sealed”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +2)
Jostan takes the Jimmy grip-first, then shapes a small butterfly from Ki-Nen between his fingers. Its luminous wings flutter once before he sends it toward Sela.
The Ki-Nen butterfly settles briefly against Sela’s offered hand, cool light tracing her knuckles, then disperses into harmless sparks. The sealed comparison partition remains untouched.
Sela Marr
A message without a channel. Clever. I’ll count that as your answer to the favor.
Jostan steps into the maintenance lift with the Jimmy secured in hand. Behind him, Sela enters after checking the chamber and pulls the narrow door shut.
The lift descends through obsolete climate infrastructure, cables humming softly around them. Jostan’s comparison partition stays sealed, its Blunker identifiers isolated from every active system.
Sela Marr
When we reach the municipal spine, we separate cleanly. No archive access, no extra promises, unless you choose otherwise.
Below, a green service indicator appears through the lift’s scratched glass. The doors prepare to open onto Leonidas’s municipal spine, with the archive evidence still under Jostan’s control.
+ New Item Acquired
Jimmy Revolver
“I step onto the municipal service spine”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled -1)
The lift doors open onto the municipal service spine. Jostan steps out cleanly, boots meeting grated flooring above a channel of slow-moving maintenance water and bundled data lines.
Green status strips guide the corridor beneath the compliance district. Condensation beads on old conduit housings, while distant traffic trembles through the concrete overhead.
Sela Marr
There. You’re out, and the route is still quiet. That is where our arrangement ends unless you decide otherwise.
Sela remains inside the lift, one hand on the closing control. She watches Jostan without raising the jammer or reaching for the sealed archive evidence.
Sela Marr
The private logistics node is yours. Keep it off public systems, and nobody gets to claim this favor was a misunderstanding.
The lift doors slide shut, leaving Sela behind as it rises. Jostan stands alone on the municipal spine with the comparison partition sealed and the logistics node secured.
Ahead, the service spine divides toward the financial district and Habitation Sector Seven. Leonidas hums around him, indifferent to the archive hidden safely in his buffer.
Quest Complete
Reach the municipal service spine
Skill Upgrade: Athletics Good→Great