-[ prismic △ sanctum ]-

[SHIVERS]

Snow falls.



You can see a statue through the fog.

A giant stone chalice with two figures perched on platforms at its sides.
The non-descript bodies reach out across the wide rim of the chalice,
holding hands over the gap.
Snowflakes cling to it, freezing against its surface.

The snow is lighter just in front of you, and near the chalice,
but far beyond it, a blizzard rages in the fog, obscuring your vision of anything beyond the statue.





Falling snow sticks to the massive window in front of you, bringing your focus back inside.

You are sitting cross-legged on the concrete floor.

You feel dizzy.
Did you just wake up?





You can't remember anything.

[seppawku]

does anything hurt? do you know who you are?

[cosmo]

look inside the chalice

[Lilium Mortem]

first thing's first, explore your surroundings. what's the building you're in, where does it seem to be, are you in any danger?

and if we're going to be naming the protag I vote on Delta. just getting ahead of the crowd here.

[King-Clod]

Look over yourself. Do you have warm enough clothing to be able to go outside?

[MarxzVulpez]

How did we get here? do we know why we're here? and how are we, other than dizzy?

[SHIVERS]

The chalice is outside, you can only see it through a window at the moment.
Furthermore, as you stand up to examine your surroundings, you can't see any possible way of getting to it from where you are.

The window takes up one entire wall of the room you're in, and the glass looks very thick; if it even is glass.

The other three walls are all concrete - same goes for the ceiling - but you don't see a door or opening of any kind... anywhere.

You have a slight headache, and feel a bit shaky on your feet, but otherwise you appear to be physically fine.
You don't know whether or not you're in danger. Trying to remember anything before waking up draws a blank.

You look yourself over as you try to recall your name.

You are a Botley, H0pp3r morph, presumably made up entirely of shades of green, though you can't see all of yourself right now.
You're wearing a jumpsuit of some kind, made of a light fabric that is just a bit form-fitting on you.
The jumpsuit has two small pockets, which are... empty.


On the shoulder of the jumpsuit, you notice 'MANTIS' written in blocky text.
That seems to click in your head as your own name.

That same blocky font spells something else out on the wall opposite the window, but it's too difficult to make out from further away.
You feel it'd probably be worth examining further.

[cosmo]

bang on windows and shout for help! you've been trapped in here, somehow, someone please let you out!!!

[King-Clod]

Examine Blocky text.

[Lilium Mortem]

First, is there like, a self diagnostic you could run? Second go read the ominous text. Third, how's your cold weather functionality?

[SHIVERS]

You don't think banging on the window is going to help.
You can't see anyone out in the blizzard, and you can hear it even with how thick the glass is.
If there's anyone out there, there's no way they'd hear you.

You don't think you have any kind of self-diagnostic you could run that you're aware of, but you're also aware that you may have just forgotten.
You also have no idea how well you'd function in extreme cold. 
You can't help but feel highly frustrated by your lack of memory at present.

You step up closer to the green painted text, able to make it out now.
It spells out 'MAP'.

Upon reading this, you feel as if something's been 'activated' within you.
Something that isn't part of your circuitry.

A clear mental image displays in your head...



It's fairly small, but stays entirely consistent.



Being this close to the text on the wall, you can see something else.
There is a panel of some kind that had been masked by the paint.

[cosmo]

press panel

[SHIVERS]

You press the panel and it indents.
The section of the concrete wall with the text on it slides away, revealing an ornate white door.

The mental image from just before seems to have changed.

Show ContentMAP:

 

[cosmo]

look out door without going through. does it lead outside or are there more rooms?

[MarxzVulpez]

before leaving, we should check the rest of the room for anything that might be useful

[Lilium Mortem]

If you remember video games consider how much this feels like a dungeon crawl. Also do you remember anything about how you do work? What are your memories stored on? Your memory isn't completely gone, so is it corrupted? Fragmented?

[knux400]

double-check the room for anything else of note, then cautiously open the door

if you have a spare moment, revel in the fact that you are a mechanical construct and therefore superior to most forms of organic life

[SHIVERS]

There's isn't much of anything in the room other than the window and the door.
Even giving a closer glance along the walls, floor, and ceiling doesn't reveal anything similar to the panel.
...As a sidenote, you wonder if you might need glasses.

You remember what games are, and vaguely what they look like, but you have no memories of playing them or even seeing them in person.

You open the door and look through.
It's a bit hard to made out, but you think the walls and ceiling are mirrors, and you can see some pedestals around the room in a circle.
Nothing looks particularly threatening.


The map in your head has changed slightly again.

Show ContentMAP:

[knux400]

Step into the room. Is there anything on the pedestals?

[SHIVERS]

You walk inside and let the door shut behind you, getting a look around.


It does look like the walls and ceiling are mirrors, as you can see the room you're standing in reflected many times over.
The mirror on the ceiling, especially, reflects the room you're in quite clearly.

The floor is lined with white granite tile, with black lines connecting to each of the eight pedestals in the room, forming an eight-pointed star.
There are colored spheres on top of all but one of the pedestals, which has nothing on top of it.

There is a white door, just like the one you came through, across from where you entered.

The map has updated once again.
Since it seems to change very regularly, you decide not to dwell too much on it every time, knowing you can check it whenever you like.

Show ContentMAP:

[knux400]

Hmm. What colors are the spheres? I'm guessing this is some kind of teleporter room.

[Lilium Mortem]

Is there anything In the reflection of the room that isn't there in reality? Also don't go touching orbs yet, we don't have enough information. We should explore further.

[1011686]

Practice speaking a little. What does your voice sound like?

[SHIVERS]

You practice speaking.
Your voice resembles various beeping noises, almost cartoonish in nature; fairly standard for a botley.

Examining the spheres, each of the seven is a different color:
Blue, teal, purple, yellow, orange, pink, and red.
The empty pedestal is in between the red and blue ones.

You look up into the mirror on the ceiling.
Focusing on it, you notice that the reflected spheres look a bit lighter in color than the more vivid ones in the room. 


You also note that there is a single, vivid green sphere in the reflection, on the pedestal that is empty within the actual room.

Show ContentMAP:

[Lilium Mortem]

useful information to file away for later, we have another room to explore, I don't want to mess with the orbs until we absolutely have to. let's head to the next room.

[knux400]

Hm. Not sure if it's a coincidence that the missing orb is the same color as our map, but we can deal with that later. Next room?

[seppawku]

yea, lets poke our head into the other room carefully

[SHIVERS]

You head into the next room.

It seems like a very average concrete stairway, going up one floor to another identical door.

Show ContentMAP:

[Lilium Mortem]

two possibilities spring to mind. the first one is that there's weird mirror world stuff going on in the pedestal room and if you do something like look at the reflection of the green orb while reaching for it, you'll pick it up. the second is that the reflection is showing you what you need to look for in the dungeon. What the orbs do is still anyone's guess, so I suggest pressing forward. move up the stairs, what lies on 3F?

[knux400]

Up the stairs!

[SHIVERS]

You make your way up the stairs and go through the door.

You emerge in a room much like the one you were in before - tile floor, mirrors on the walls and ceiling, colored spheres on pedestals - everything is very similar.

However, there are no pedestals without spheres in this room.
Instead, most of the spheres have a lighter color than those of the previous room, save for the green sphere, which seems to be saturated similarly to those you saw in the other room.

Show ContentMAP:

[knux400]

Look into the mirror on the ceiling. Do the spheres appear different there?

[Lilium Mortem]

It seems like a very average concrete stairway, going up one floor to another identical door.

 

MAP:

If we were on the second floor and went up... how are we on the first floor? is the map counting wrong, or is this place some weird upside-down realm. anyway I vote we press onward. new theory is that we're going to be doing a lot of orb swapping if there are further reflection rooms.

[seppawku]

yeah, let’s keep going and keep an eye on the orbs in each

[SHIVERS]

You look up into the mirror on the ceiling, and find that the spheres on the ceiling are all more vivid in color than the ones in the room you're currently in.
Though, there is an empty pedestal where the green sphere would be.

You attempt to continue into the next room, but find that the door ahead of you won't open.

Show ContentMAP:

[Lilium Mortem]

OK, I think we have all the info needed to 'solve' this 'puzzle'. probobly. we may die. take the green orb from this level and take it to the mirror room on the level bellow(above?) and put it on the empty pedistal there. be prepared for magic nonsense and/or traps.

[SHIVERS]

Cautiously, you pick up the green orb and place it in your pocket.
You take it down the stairwell into the previous room, and place it on the empty pedestal there.

You hear a faint, metallic click, though you can't seem to discern the location of the noise.

Show ContentMAP:

[seppawku]

check each room starting from where u woke up?

[Lilium Mortem]

Yeah, just to be safe, backtrack to see if anything has changed, then go up(?)stairs and see if that door's open.

[SHIVERS]

You try to backtrack to the room you woke up in, but find that the door no longer opens.
Instead, you make your way back up the stairs to the second mirror room.

You check the door, and find it unlocked.

Show ContentMAP:

[Lilium Mortem]

any change to the reflections? check them both just to be sure, can't be too careful. unless you're low on battery or something there's no need to hurry.

[seppawku]

look at em and go through, i suppose!

[SHIVERS]

You look up into the mirror, just to be safe.
You see a full set of eight, vividly-colored spheres, including a green one.

Show ContentMAP:

[Lilium Mortem]

Ok, seems like everything is working order. check the other reflection press forward!

[seppawku]

wait wait. can we take any of the spheres with us?

[knux400]

So it seems like the doors need all eight spheres to remain open. If I had to guess, we can't mix and match vivid and pale ones either. Onwards!

[SHIVERS]

You experimentally try to pick up a few of the spheres in the room, but none of them seem to budge.

You press on through the door, finding yourself in a hallway.
Unlike the concrete and marble rooms you'd seen before, this seems more... homely.

The floor is reddish-brown hardwood, and where the walls have been painted a deep red to match. You can't see very much of the walls, though, as they're lined with rows and rows of books. Most look fairly old, too worn to really make out the titles anymore.
There's also simple red wooden door directly in front of you.
You can see beyond all that into the rest of the study, and start to check your surroundings.

However, once you manage a few steps into the hallway, a wood-covered metal panel juts out, sealing the door you just came through tightly.

You're a bit concerned, but seeing as it seemed to be a dead end, anyways, you try not to worry too much about the way back being blocked.

Exiting the hallway, you walk down a couple of steps into a small lounge area, another large window where the west wall would otherwise be.
Outside the window, it's quite dark, but you can tell it's daytime outside. There's a small garden, filled to the brim with various kinds of ferns, palms, shrubs and ivies. Vines have grown up around the sides to block the view somewhat, but you can still see plenty; the entire garden lit up in a blue glow from pouring rain outside, which also keeps a persistent ambiance throughout the room.
In the lounge itself, there's - appropriately - a large lounge chair, a couch, a desk with a chair, and a nook seat in the corner against the window. The desk has a green lamp sitting on it which is currently on, illuminating it with a golden tint, though there isn't anything on the desk itself.

You can see what looks like a kitchen east of the lounge area, though you're distracted before you can continue.

In your head, along with the map, you now find persistent words forming.

Show ContentMAP:

CURRENT ROOM: STUDY

[seppawku]

HMM keep an eye out just in case, but u should grab the books that seem maybe informational and take them by the lamp!

[knux400]

Let's check out the kitchen. Are we hungry at all?

[Lilium Mortem]

according to the map there are two doors and one set of stairs, double check their locations as you explore. also is the rain glowing? also also out the window are we higher or lower off the ground then we were in the entrance room? also also also keep an eye out for an owl. don't talk about bugs if you do see one.