~ start c9479f7c-0c2a-4f58-abd1-660cdbcfe25b if is_quest_accepted if are_quest_requirements_met Azra: Side of the building, keypad by the frame. The old code's on the sheet. [#end] Read it. Key it exactly. Old machines forgive nothing. else Azra: You lost it? The sheet that says NEVER WHERE A PLAYER CAN SEE? - Yes, I'm sorry [#get_lost_quest_items] Azra: *He copies it out fresh, block letters, and presses it into your palm. Again.* [#end] A record only dies with its last copy. You came closer than you know. Go. else Azra: *The terminal's amber glare sits over his shoulder: INSERT CARD. Azra is grinning at it like it said something clever.* A membership card. Personalized, mag-striped, printed at the counter in there by somebody who's been dust for decades. Every card that ever walked out of this place walked into the war. Azra: But nobody who actually ran a place like this waited on cards. Shift kids. A service door round the side. Every system has official rules and real ones. The real ones get written down where the manager can't see. Azra: *From a salvage crate: a service binder, swollen with damp, an arcade-strip stamp on the spine. Pressed flat inside the cover, a strip of masking tape.* The old operator's code. Written down by somebody who was told not to write it down. Everything that survived the war survived because someone made a copy they weren't supposed to. This one's ours now. - Why not key it in yourself? Azra: *The grin goes somewhere else.* The last time I went through a door marked DON'T, it cost me everything but my name. I made promises. The tape goes in your pocket, not mine. Azra: [#quest_info=9c332521-0ade-4ff6-8d76-473a5b3e7afe] if is_quest_accepted: Azra: [quest: accepted] [#end] *He presses the tape flat into your palm.* The old code. Side door, keypad by the frame. Read the sheet. Key it exactly. Old machines forgive nothing. else: Azra: [quest: declined] [#end] *He smooths the tape back into the binder.* It survived the end of the world. It'll survive you thinking it over. => END ~ start 58d4556c-b6f2-4999-9036-4d9f78487b9e if is_quest_accepted and are_quest_requirements_met Narrator: *The service door sits in the building's shadow, unmarked. Beside the frame, a keypad: four arrow keys and two letter keys, B and A, all six worn to shadows by gloved thumbs.* - Key in the old code => door_1 - Come back later Narrator: *The keypad keeps its small amber glow behind you.* [#end] elif is_quest_accepted Narrator: *The keypad waits by the service door, patient as furniture. Six worn keys and, without the sheet, no order to press them in.* [#end] *Azra will have another copy.* else Narrator: *A squat pre-war building, windows boarded from the inside. VIRTUAL ARENA in dead channel letters. Through the wall, faint and regular, something holds a note and lets it go.* [#end] => END ~ door_1 Narrator: *The pad waits. First presses.* - Up, up, down, down => door_2 - Down, down, up, up => door_fail - Left, right, left, right => door_fail - Check the crib sheet => check_sheet ~ door_2 Narrator: *Four green blinks. The pad holds its breath.* - Left, right, left, right => door_3 - Right, left, right, left => door_fail - Up, up, down, down => door_fail - Check the crib sheet => check_sheet ~ door_3 Narrator: *Eight green blinks. Two keys left: B and A.* - B, then A => inside - A, then B => door_fail - Check the crib sheet => check_sheet ~ door_fail Narrator: *A red blink. The pad clears itself with a small, patient click.* *Whatever you keyed, it wasn't the old code.* => door_1 ~ check_sheet Narrator: *You unfold the tape. The old code is still there, in that irritated hand.* *By the time you look up, the keypad has timed out and cleared itself.* => door_1 ~ inside Narrator: *The last two keys. A pause long enough to doubt the whole idea. Then the lock throws itself back like it's been waiting decades for the exercise.* Narrator: *Inside: ranks of cabinets under dust tarps, an attendant's counter, a wall of coin lockers. Dead, all of it - except one aisle, lit end to end, leading to a bank of upright pods with glass lids.* *The air smells of ozone and carpet that outlived its warranty.* Narrator: *Above the pods, a board. Amber letters, still cycling.* [#complete_quest] *LEAGUE STANDINGS. The top line is lit: three letters, S.E.R., and a score longer than the screen wants to show. Every line below it is dark.* *The score ticks up while you watch.* - Look around Narrator: *The coin lockers along the wall hang open and empty. All but one. On its door, a brass tag, stamped with the same three letters.* [#load_quest=f2ad1747-e185-4e7f-9529-464d1765ab07] => END