Looking around the large room, Daisy saw pipes covering every inch of the wall. They ran all the way to the ceiling creating a huge maze-like structure. This reminded her of a prison. In fact, seeing the walls themselves as pipes made her uneasy as she started to sweat. What was the temperature in this room? The large elongated lamp above her gave off a warm glow illuminating the entire area, and the checkered marble floor was shining with a large glow. The pipes were not reflective; to this the mare sighed a bit, relieved not to squint at the large lamp’s large flame. She looked around. Behind her was the room she came out of, in front was a hallway of pipes, to the left was a large pipe she could fit into,and to the left the ladder leading to a very high ceiling. Daisy surmised that this place was big! But why it had to be so big she couldn't tell, and the way the room stretched made her uneasy.
To comfort herself she thought back to the day before yesterday; hanging out with her camp buddies in the Everfree forest. She remembered how happy she always was when she hung out with them. They were great friends who cared about her well being. Even though they didn't know much about her past or her life, they still treated her just fine. For once someone actually understood her without trying to change her. But then everything changed…
The next thing she knew she was falling through space. Her heart beat rapidly in fear and panic as she fell faster and faster toward certain death. Then waking in that room?
Daisy continued to sweat. Whatever this place was, it was hotter than a desert. She wasn't sure if she should continue going forward or turn back. She decided on continuing since she hadn't seen anything yet that scared her. Besides, she figured she'd only get lost again. She started walking down the corridor feeling some relief from the heat at last, but the floor even changed to pipes. Where she was walking was just a conglomerate of pipes. No doors, windows, nothing except pipes. The light visibility was getting lower as she walked along. She wondered if there was a light source somewhere or perhaps another exit. Or maybe back in the beginning room? No she checked, there was a mirror, and an axe from what she remembered. She thought about this for a while. She had only been gone from the room for a few minutes. Maybe the light was in that bag she broke the first time? She pinched herself. "Ouch!" she yelled!
Daisy Chain woke up and looked around the room surrounding her; she was in a dark room with barely any lighting. The walls were made up of old wood that had been stripped down to its bareness revealing layers of paint underneath. She was starting to get a hang of... Whatever was causing her to wake up in this particular room.
She went to the bookshelf and grabbed the chisel and using the axe as a hammer started picking off the locks. After several attempts she managed to open two of the four books. One said Instructions and the other read History. Daisy decided that any direction would be good direction so long as it made sense, and decided to search through the books. She scanned both pages looking for clues. After reading the page she took notes on what she learned. There was a group of ponies who had come before and given the locations to their bases.
They were called The Explorers. And their bases are located in rooms 7, 13, 20, 31, 50, 54… there may be more, but she had to reach room 55, which is the final entry.
She now read the instructions.
"Welcome to the Lavapits! If you do not know, the Explorers have decided that this cathedral is a liminal space. We believe that these words mean something like ‘the middle.’ a plane of existence within our plane, but contoured to ridiculousness. If another person is reading this, we have set up a base on level seven but getting there is dangerous. So we mapped out the levels in this book. Hope this helps.”
Daisy began to read about the current room in the history book.
Room 1: "Lob E”
Survival class: inhabitable
》Safe
》Secure
》No Entities
This is a safe room. A dark room with barely any lighting. The walls were made up of old wood that had been stripped down to its bareness revealing layers of paint underneath.
“Entrances can be accessed by accidentally dropping from a portal trap in normal reality.”
Guess that explained how Daisy got here
“Exit Room 1 by using the only open door. Bring a flashlight!”
Daisy finished reading. As she was the kind of person to get a little frazzled and go a little fast, she looked at the satchel that was attached to the instruction book.
Inside was a flashlight and a mirror. She turned the flashlight on and looked into the mirror. She saw her face staring back at her. It was herself!
She recounted what she looked like just to be sure she was sane. She was a green skinned human...orange eyes...black hoodie with red accents to look cool around Everfree yep that checked out... wearing a horn???
Weird, in this plane she had a unicorn horn. Where did that come from? she wondered. She reached up and touched it. yep it was there it could be observed with sight and touch. It felt cold however, so she slowly pulled up her hood and opened her eyes. She gasped as she realized it was still there. she breathed deeply, it would probably go away when the exited the Lavapits.
She exited out of room one and entered room two. It was dark. There was no lamp burning from above. She turned on her flashlight and a very bright glow met her eyes. "Ah, not me!" she exclaimed. She quickly took note of all the exits. Left, right, straight ahead. Oh, and the ladder from earlier. Nothing except the lamp and its rope was changed. She quickly opened the book of history and read about the room.
Room 2: "Pipe dreams"
Survival Difficulty: Class 2
》Unsafe
》Secure
》Low Entity Count
Consists of long, dim concrete maintenance hallways with steam pipes lining the walls and ceilings. Doors are rarely found, housing metal shelves, and ventilation ducts. The pipes cause the heat in room 2 to reach immense temperatures, reportedly reaching 200 Fahrenheit (93°C) and higher, boiling any Wanderer alive. It is described as being generally more decayed than the previous room.
Occasionally, doors can lead to small rooms that may contain machinery that are connected to the pipes present throughout the level. Random items that were left by other explorers can be found in the metal shelves like water flavored cherries. Due to the insalubrious conditions found in Room 2, roaches and mice are found around the hallways.
Some sections of room 2 are completely devoid of light, while some others are only lit up by alternate sources of light, such as flashlights and lamps. A notable humid, musty smell can be found in areas where the pipes exist.
Due to the hazards of entities inhabiting the level, if you come into contact with a creature in this level, it is advised that you should run immediately, as they are incredibly hostile and will kill off most victims.
Known entities that lurk in room 2 are faceless, pones, frowners and sniffers. Additional entities likely lurk in the room.
The text ended there.
She looked around the room one last time. Behind her was the room she came out of, in front was a hallway of pipes to the left a large pipe she could fit into, and to the left the ladder leading to a very high ceiling. She decided to climb the very long ladder. Up and up and up she climbed. The ladder was not shaking at all which was good, but it didn't prevent her from instinctively shaking anyway.
Her legs burned with every step she took, and she was becoming a little fatigued. She climbed faster and faster until finally she reached the top. There was a small trap door just big enough for a human to squeeze through if they were skinny enough. She squeezed through and found herself staring at a large storage room. Full of water and coins and cherries and cookies. Must be a forward stash from the travelers. She grabbed 20 water flavored cherries and put them in her sack. She smashed the bag with the cherries inside; every part of the bag was soaked! She knew now everything in the book bag would be with her the next time she woke up. She looked around some more.
She noticed a few things hanging off the wall near the entrance. A couple of pipes, an engine block, and a piece of broken roofing shingle. ‘I wonder what those are?’ she thought. She walked towards them. When she approached them, she heard a loud clink. She stopped and listened closely. She heard footsteps coming closer. She backed away quickly and hid behind a pile of boxes. Someone was approaching.
Daisy Chain ran for it. Not looking back. Being careful of the hole that she came out of, she ran across the floor. She jumped the box piles and ran alongside them. She ducked under several other stacks. She couldn't see anyone following her anymore. She hoped she wasn't caught. She continued running and jumping between the boxes, then she paused and listened. It was gone. Daisy looked around with her flashlight to see where she was going or who might have followed her. She tried to remember exactly where she was. She did remember ducking under a lot of boxes and sliding between them as well.
She backtracked, and looked around with his flashlight again. She spotted a large stack of boxes which she moved carefully so as not to fall. She picked up one corner of the box, and slid underneath. She made sure to keep moving because she was afraid she'd trip and fall. After a moment, she peeked out. She saw another stack of boxes. She went toward it. She kept trying to think like a thief. She needed to look like one too. She looked around nervously for anything that might help her blend in but she was getting tired. Until she came upon the hole again. She climbed down the very tall ladder which was shaking profusely with how tired she was.
She was getting hungry and getting sleepy. Maybe she could sleep in room 1? She landed on the checkered marble floor. She went back to the room where the books were and saw the old floor and old paint. She lay on the floor wondering what might be next, then, using her satchel as a blanket, she slept 8 hours listening to the distant ocean waves.
When Daisy finally awoke, she again was seeing the scratched paint of the surrounding room, yet even though she felt all rested the truth was that she was really hungry. Deciding to take an unexplored route that she knew to be safe (if what the book said was to be believed) she tried the closet first. Inside were several shutes that came from below and on the tray below the output of the vent was a single cookie. There was text on the chute but she couldn’t read it from this far. She first ate the cookie, she was expecting a baked good, but it did not taste good at all.
It tasted weird.
It tasted like it was dipped in a ranch dressing. While the taste was weird, it wasn't at all repulsive enough to make her puke, but it was just tame enough to make a sour expression on her face. She crunched on the cookie again, noting that this cookie tasted like it was very old. It did not crumble despite how long it might have been there, yet it did not taste dusty. Food was food and she would rather eat something then nothing. maybe it was just aged to taste that way? She took a bite anyway. It didn't seem bad actually. She had eaten worse before. Now at least satiated, she decided to read the text on the chute. It read "Ezi geiwev, xs kix jssh wtmr xli kpsfi''
“Not very helpful,” decided Daisy. “Maybe the book has something on this?” she thought. Confused, she decided to read the book, hoping for a key to the cipher of the closet. She read:
In the main room the closet is where we can now provide you with the necessities to keep your strength up. However, we do expect our guests to contribute their share by helping us maintain the place. We need new metal shelving, ductwork needs replacing, and the plumbing system will require repairs soon. Please be kind to us and help us serve you better.
If you look at the note it is a CAESAR CIPHER. This was to ensure no entities could get free food. We found out later that the room is safe, so we will tell you what it says. "Ave caesar, to get food to spin the globe." Many of these notes are all around the Lava Pits and if you can find the code, you can get an ordinance that may help you.
With renewed hope for more food, she decided to spin the globe. A very loud clunking sound like creaky gears echoed out through the vents. She started to panic, thinking metal was pelting the room! The echoing rumble of a round object sounded like it was falling and out from the vents but then it quieted down and out popped from the vent was another cookie. She nibbled on the cookie in the closet and sure enough, this one also tasted like it was ranched dipped, yet this one was sweet. Daisy concluded it must be an age thing... ranch dipped cookies... the thought weirded her out a bit, but she was getting used to the taste. Not wanting to intrude upon the Explorers' kindness in providing these... acquired-taste cookies, she decided to look out the window before leaving the room.
Looking out she saw the never ending ocean washing up into what looked like the bottom floors of the cathedral. She decided to count the floors, and upon counting she came up with 100 floors. Looking across, she saw the outside of the building and noticed it was in a U formation. Across it were 100 windows, each one showing a different view of the ocean. She realized she was standing on the top level of the Cathedral. The view seemed to go on.
Having satisfied her curiosity enough, she decided to try level 2 again, remembering to bring the bag along. In the darkened hallways there was a single rope suspended in air which led to a large lamp that would illuminate the room. Straight ahead was a hallway of pipes, and to the right was one giant pipe.
Deciding that the ladder may not be as safe as she would like, she tried the big pipe, hoping for something safer. Inside the large pipe, a water spout ran through the center of the pipe, slowly pouring water over the entire length of the pipe. The temperature was warm, but not hot; in fact, it made her feel comfortable. The water trickled down in a small creek. Daisy looked down the pipe with her flashlight. Seeing such a pipe was unnerving—it was tinted red and led straight into darkness. While the idea of climbing down the pipe scared her, she was already inside. However, the red tint was pretty convincing.
Quietly, she said to herself, "Nope! Forget it. I'm going back." She turned away from the pipe and started walking back towards the checkered marble floor of room 2 .
Having explored all other options, Daisy went into the hall of pipes. This hallway was also leading straight ahead, but at least it looked comfortable in her opinion. She walked forward cautiously, knowing that this path was probably filled with dead ends or traps. As she began to walk forwards, As she walked down the hall, she passed first a green door, then a purple door, both on her right. The purple door was to the right of a T. Having no idea where she might go, Daisy looked in the books to see where she might go next. She found some information about the rooms’ doors and the color coded keys.
In the section entitled The Doorways it explained the following:
One type of door is only available when the door behind it is opened. This usually occurs after you've solved the ciphers. These doors open onto another part of Level 2 (or sometimes Level 3). These doors are always marked with blue. On the other hand, there are certain doors in the hallway itself that cannot be unlocked unless they're connected to a specific chamber/room. These doors are always marked with yellow. When trying to unlock a door without a matching key, the key gets into an out of phase state and never appears again. If you manage to lock yourself out of a room, you'll just have to brave yourself. Caution: these doorways may be shortcuts but not sanctioned paths of the explorers, open at your own risk.
Purple doors: The Explorers have deemed these rooms as rooms with special importance because team 1443 went to one of these rooms but could not return as they accidently forgot the key. Blue doors: These are chambers/rooms that contain useful items. Yellow doors: These chambers contain either dangerous creatures or valuable objects. Green doors: These rooms are suitable for storage purposes.
Daisy with her flashlight on the green door decided to walk and attempt to open it. to which it opened up flawlessly, there was a note on a wooden barrel that was reached up to her mare eyesight. The note read: “XLMW VSSQ MW WEJI JSV ERCSRI csy ger lmhi mr livi erh rsx kix wtsxxih fc aieoiv irxmxmiw. Gsrwypx xli dsspskc fsso jsv qsvi mrjsvqexmsr.” Recognizing the cipher, she translated, "THIS ROOM IS SAFE FOR ANYONE you can hide in here and not get spotted by weaker entities. Consult the zoology book for more information." It had been written in the same code the book gave her earlier. Feeling much better about things, she continued to explore the left side of the intersection believing that the "open road" the note was talking about was telling her to stay on the path and not to get distracted by things like doors. With that in mind, she went left into the pipe hallway. It was a long walk, but she thought everything else was not an option. Finally reaching the end of the pipe hallway she discovered the most amazing sight yet.
It was a large circular room covered in mossy cobwebs and debris. It had a strange smell to it, almost rotten. The walls were lined with old computer monitors. There was quite a lot of junk everywhere: different colors of wires, broken chairs, files, papers, and even a few computers scattered around the room. Looking closer, she noticed that the screens were cracked and while some still worked, others did not. Some of them were still powered on and showed static images. After taking a quick look around, Daisy decided to start looking for animals to befriend to feed off their energy instead of eating the cookies she brought along. She began searching the desks, finding several laptops, two hard drives, and what appeared to be a server. She also saw a number of notebooks lying around, although none of them contained any writing. Finally, she came across a monitor screen that wasn't working. It was showing a picture of a woman sitting in front of a desk examining a laptop.
The caption above the image read:
The surrounding oval room was a paste white with no color, and the temperature here was a bit chilly, but not so cold as to make Daisy shiver. Again looking around the area with caution, she inspected the oval room closely. To the right curvature of the arc was the “Room 3” monitor that flickered in and out. Straight ahead was a wooden door, and to the left were rows upon rows of computers, each with the same time. 11:21:34. It appeared to be stuck on this time. She looked behind her at level 2, noticing a new noise that sounded like there was steam coming from somewhere.
Daisy went left to see more closely the row of computers, some of which were still functional, while others weren’t.
"What are these things?" she said aloud. "I don't know what they are, but I'm going to find out." Daisy walked over to the row of computers and looked inside one of them, it was clean and empty. She had a feeling that it would be more productive if she took a look at the other computers.
"Wow!" Daisy exclaimed, "it's a white box that has a moving image on it… is this a computer? It looks ancient. It’s not even close to flat!" She touched the mouse and the screen made a howling noise, probably a fan to cool it. "Wow, it’s so loud!" she winced. On the screen was an automated message.
Welcome to Level 3
Please enter password: _
Frowning, she just hit the cancel button in hopes to become logged in as a guest as this was an old enough computer. However, this just landed her back at the time screensaver.
Daisy had a thought of what the password might be… and so, clicking on the mouse again, she put in her guess:
Welcome to Level 3
Please enter password: 112134_
As soon as she hit enter, a slight shock sparked the computer screen.
Daisy Chain woke up and looked around the room surrounding her. She was in a dark room with barely any lighting. The walls were made up of old wood that had been stripped down to its bareness revealing layers of paint underneath. Daisy could barely make out what looked like an old wooden door at the far end of the room.
"Goshdarnit," she uttered to herself. She knew she was back in room 1. Daisy quickly got up from her laying position and remembered, walked to the bookshelf… she had known she would have to come back here when she had the chance to collect the two remaining books. On the bookshelf were four books locked in place, an axe, a mirror, and a chisel. Daisy checked inside her book bag to check what she had. Inside were a History book and an Instructions book. the inside of the bag felt moist still from the watered favored cherries from earlier.
Daisy looked at the place where the cookies normally came out in the closet. There was one cookie, but the vent that it exited from looked broken beyond repair. It would take some resources to get it fixed. She took the one cookie and placed it in the bag. It looked snug down there with the books. Daisy grabbed her book bag, filled with moist cherry-flavored water in it, and slung it over her shoulder, heading to the bookshelf to get the other two books. Using the chisel and the axe as a hammer, she knocked the lock off the books. This time she looked at each one of them.
Instructions
History
Entity Zoology
Plumbing Repair for the Common Moron
That was all that was on the bookshelf. Daisy looked around again in the room with the familiar scenery, beginning to feel a little spooked. ‘How many times am I going to be sent here?’ she wondered.
She put the two other books with the books she already had to complete the series while fear rose within her. There was something about this place that bothered her. Her eyes slowly drifted toward the door at the opposite side of the room. She stood still waiting for herself to calm down. Checking in her book bag one more time, she saw the four books and the cookie looking a little mushy from all the weight that was applied to it. Seeing the cookie getting smushed in the bag, she reached in the bag and pulled out the cookie, placing it on top of the books. "Oh my gosh! Stay on the top…" Daisy whispered to herself.
With the cookie secured, she continued walking towards the door. She turned around once reaching the door to level 2. She took the path to the hallway with the open door. The room was wide open and every step she took echoed to what seemed like forever. She was about to travel through the hall of pipes when she heard a churning sound and the sound of a loud steam whistle echoing throughout the entire building. She covered her ears, trying to block the sounds, and ran further down the hallway ,traversing down the long corridor of pipes. It was getting hotter, like, really hot. She couldn't stand the heat anymore.
Daisy pressed her ears with her hands and slowly bent down against the floor, not able to stop fast enough to realize that the pipes were melting her flesh. Then the pipes started squirting liquid black stuff onto her body. She screamed and tried to crawl away from the pipe, but her body wasn't working and the pain was indescribable. She was being melted alive by the steam. She closed her eyes, hoping that she wouldn't die before she got to safety. Daisy's mind raced as she remembered everything she did wrong in life. She closed her eyes writhing in pain. But as she opened her eyes, she saw nothing. No light or anything. There was only darkness. Daisy cried out in agony, screaming until her throat was raw.
Daisy Chain woke up and looked around the room surrounding her. She was in a dark room with barely any lighting. The walls were made up of old wood that had been stripped down to its bareness revealing layers of paint underneath. "Dammit, this room again," she said, looking around the room once again. Something was different; she heard a familiar noise. It was the steam whistle she heard earlier, but muffled sounding. She looked into the other room and saw a lot of steam in random places… or at least what looked to be in random places. She braved her hand out into level 2 and immediately felt her hand get hot as soon as she put her hand out. Luckily, it was not hot enough to melt skin this time. She pushed further into the area and the temperature rose rapidly. Daisy's heart began racing faster, her breathing became labored. She didn't know if she should go forward or run backwards. She was sweating, but the uncomfort was not as painful as her face literally getting melted off like earlier. She recalled a passage in the history book she had read.
“The pipes cause the heat in room 2 to reach immense temperatures, reportedly reaching 200 degrees Fahrenheit (93°C) and higher, boiling any Wanderer alive."
Daisy was a patient girl, but she doubted she could wait for however long it took for the pipes to stop. Maybe she should try her luck? "Pfft, oh, yeah, let’s go through the giant steam maze of death! No thank you! I’ll just go back to room one and wait this crap out."
Daisy decided to turn around and run back into room one, which she knew was much cooler and a bit more comforting. She quickly bolted back to the doorway leading into level 1 and stuck her head inside. The cool air hit her like a slap across the face, but in a good way, if that even makes sense. She breathed deeply, feeling relief wash over her. As soon as she stepped in the room, she noticed how bright the sun was. She went back inside the closet, where she found a single cookie. Dang, she wanted that cookie badly just as a comfort food. Nom nom. Taking the cookie from the exit vent, she ate the cookie whole and remembered the familiar flavor as the sweet ranch dressing taste went to her brain. She made a face as she chewed the rest of the cookie, swallowing hard. Daisy finished eating the last crumb of cookie and walked along the wall, pacing back and forth while listening to the whistle the next room made. She sat there, just looking into the next room and watching the steam flow out of the bronze pipes.
She waited even more. She was starting to get bored, but she sat down and watched the steam coming out of the pipes. It was thus for a painful amount of time. Daisy sighed and leaned back. Maybe she would have to try running past the pipes. “After all,” she thought to herself as she laid down on the cold concrete ground, staring up at the ceiling… "Is that a camel on the ceiling?"
“Huh… just looking at the cracks… am I seeing things? Am I that bored?" Daisy laughed to herself remembering all the silly things she used to do while waiting for dinner back at home. ‘Ah, those were the days,’ she thought to herself, letting the whistle lull her to a time before she was in this nightmarish place.
She stretched her hands in front of her with her lucidity taking her to a time when she was young, sitting atop a hillside overlooking a field full of cows grazing peacefully.
Daisy smiled at the memory remembering how happy she was at that moment. Her mother always told her stories about how she met her father when they lived in the mountains and how he saved her from a pack of wolves, and how his love brought them together in marriage. He never would have dreamed of marrying anyone else after that day, and they lived happily ever after. She saw her mother in her dream. Her face was blurred and wiped. Faceless. She took a step closer to look at her mother. ‘Why couldn't I see her?’ she wondered.
"I love you, Daisy Chain," a voice called from the blur.
"I love you, too, Mommy," she replied, smiling at the memory.
Daisy turned around slowly, seeing her father! His beard was scraggly and unkempt, but he was still handsome. She ran towards him, hugging him tightly.
"Daddy!" she squealed, jumping onto his lap. "You're here!"
He held her close and kissed her forehead. "Yes, my little princess, I'm right here. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. We've got each other now, dontcha think?” Daisy nodded yes, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Well then, let's go home." Daisy climbed off her father’s lap and stood beside him holding hands. They both gazed out at the fields dancing with enlightening flashes of lightning striking through the clouds. She smiled as her father kept hold of her hand.
"We are going to live forever, daddy. Forever and ever!"
Her father laughed. "Good thing, because I sure as heck ain't planning on dying anytime soon."
A large white flash appeared from nowhere and the explosion shook her awake. It was so sudden her face felt numb. She felt weird everywhere, even in places she never knew existed.
"Momma!" she shouted. She listened and looked around the room surrounding her; she was in a dark room with barely any lighting. Frick, she was still here. But it sounded like the steam whistle had gone away while she was sleeping. She took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm down. She closed her eyes and tried to clear the images out of her head. Daisy's mind wandered to other times in her life, in her bedroom at home… But she had to move forward in the Lavapits or go insane.
She had to get out of here.
She stood up and bravely continued on to room two. Trying to forget what she just dreamt. It all happened so quickly back then, she should have guessed the lightning would strike her father. She shook as a shiver rolled down her spine, And entered the room where her footsteps echoed for forever
Switching things up a bit, Daisy decided to climb the ladder to the ceiling above. She started climbing cautiously, desperately not wanting to fall. She heard a thumping behind her and froze, thinking someone might be chasing her. She peeked below and flashed her light down to see a frame of a faceless man who was covered in wires. She screamed and jumped, falling a bit before grabbing a rung and hanging on for dear life. A loud purring yell came from the entity below her. It wasn't climbing the ladder below her though; it was crawling under the floorboards. Its body was black and slimy. The creature lifted itself up slightly, slithering underneath the ladder.
"Ew! Oh, God, what is that?!"she wondered.
She stabilized herself on the ladder, watching the black menace attempting to climb the ladder, but failing to lift its own weight. The beast stopped moving momentarily only to turn and look into the beam of the flashlight, revealing a face. It grinned, showing rows of sharp fangs. It was an eyeless skull wearing a leather trench coat and sunglasses. It raised a finger signaling Daisy to come closer and follow it. Daisy was so frightened she climbed up the rest of the ladder, away from the entity, fear guiding her decision. The entity just aimlessly slithered around the ladder below, trying to climb but could not. Daisy was safe for now. "Man, I’m dead…” she commented, realizing that up here was no better.
Up in the attic was another entity somewhere in the conglomerate of wooden boxes. The walls were lined with metal shelves containing canned goods, plastic bottles filled with water, pickles, breads, crackers, and more edibles, or so she thought. There was also a small table where there was a bowl with dried fruit, raisins, nuts, and some kind of grain. Daisy chain took the trail mix and put it into her mouth, and immediately gagged. "What the frick? This crap tastes like cardboard!" She spat out the mixture angrily.
The sound of crunching crackers made her jump. She spun around looking for whoever was making all the noise. But she looked with her flashlight and saw a can that had fallen on the floor. It was a can of beans that had rolled out from the shelf when she brushed by it earlier. She bent over, picking it up and putting it back on the shelf. She then noticed something strange about the cans lining the wall. They appeared to have writing on them, words written in cursive painted on every single can. She picked up a few, randomly reading them aloud.
ONLY THE BEST FOR MY PUPPY…
BEST TO EAT BEFORE YOU GO OUTSIDE OR AFTER YOU COME IN FROM THE RAIN.
THIS IS GOOD FOR YOUR SKIN AND A NICE CASH PRIZE IF YOU WIN IT ALL.
THIS SAUCE IS GREAT ON BURGERS.
IT'S NOT JUST ANOTHER COLOR OF SPICED KETCHUP, IT'S CHILI-RANCH SPICE WITH A LITTLE BITTA WATER.
Looking at these various cans of food she thought to herself. "I could make cookies out of these… probably better ones than the ranch ones I keep eating and better than this crappy trail mix… but how would I heat it? Is there no heating element up here? Well, there was heat down the ladder. The kind that boiled her alive earlier. Why didn't it boil the entity down there as well? Maybe heat doesn't work on it?” Looking down the ladder with her flashlight Daisy heard a distant hiss of the pipes, but she did not hear the purring she heard earlier.
Still thinking about the cookies, Daisy thought to herself that she still lacked one thing to cook, a pan that could cook them in. so as a normal human would do, she searched through the cupboard in search of a pan. All she found were several varieties of instant ramen noodles and jars of… peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?
She grabbed the jar of sandwiches and put her hand in the opening, but found her hand was too big. Frustrated, she banged the jar on the shelf, causing it to shake loose and roll off the edge of the shelf onto the hardwood floor that looked like it was just waxed. As soon as it hit the floor, a sandwich popped out of the jar flying in the air. She leaped for the sandwich, trying to not let it touch the floor, and successfully caught it midair, landing herself on top of the jar without breaking either of their necks, then closed the lid of the jar to prevent that from ever happening again. She looked across the room and saw empty shelves along the left side of the hallway. She knew there was nothing that was awakened to all the noise she was causing.
Part of her was indignant for eating a PB&J at her age, but food is food, she thought. “Let's eat," she said, putting a mouthful of what she hoped was a good PB&J sandwich into her mouth. "Oh my God, this is terrible!" she cried as the jelly tasted like a tomato preservative and the peanut butter tasted like soap. She threw the jar out of her sight, hearing it go boing as it hit the floor. She turned, looking around to see this logic defying jar. Below her was the lower area of pipes, to the right of her was a porcelain wall, and to the right of that was a door leading to a stairwell. Ahead of her were more wooden boxes and behind her was a bookshelf. "Wooden boxes… I remember those… were near the cherries… let's check that out."
She had to find some kind of way out. She walked around the room looking for anything that could be used to climb up or possibly find a way out. Ahead of here were more wooden boxes, and she recognized a few of them when she was up here earlier.
nothing had changed about it. In fact, it was creepy that the boxes were exactly back where they originally were. It spooked her a little. She kept pressing on, keeping an eye out for the cherries she'd seen before, but she couldn't see them anywhere. However, she did notice something while looking around. The ceiling above her was leaning slightly. She flashed her light ahead, following the ceiling, to reveal that there was a low crawl space ahead.
The sloped ceiling stopped where she guessed there was just enough room to crawl underneath. Daisy once again looked around the room, but there wasn't much to look at. There was a small table with a bowl of dried fruit, nuts, and a few other items. Even though cherry was a fruit, none were located in the fruit bowl. She picked up the bowl, and made sure there were no water flavored cherries in it. Sure enough, there weren't any. She put the bowl down on the table. Seeing no reason to stay, she decided to press on through the crawl space.
Crawling through the crawlspace was not easy. It was pitch black, and she could barely feel her hands on the walls. It was a good thing she had her flashlight with her. She took a deep breath and started crawling. She saw the above ceiling had changed when she entered. It was wooden as well. In fact, the entire enclosure was wooden. The ceiling was now a huge wooden beam holding up the ceiling. It was difficult to see because of the darkness, but she could see the small gaps between the beams. She crawled through the gap and came out into a large room.
There was a small wooden table with two chairs in the middle of the room, and a kitchen sink on the far wall. There was a small countertop next to the sink, which was covered in dust. The low hum of a fluorescent light could be heard as it dimly lit the room. Ahead of her was the sink to the left of her was a small yellow door. To the right was a slim opening into where she could not see, but the call of water flavored cherries was calling her. She stared at the yellow door remembering what the book said about yellow doors: behind it could be dangerous or something nice. However, the extreme danger did not sound very appealing, and the slim opening did not seem promising, so she chose to check the sink before attempting that opening.
She pulled the faucet up and turned it on. Water began pouring from the faucet, filling the sink. She looked at the sink and noticed the drain was clogged. She reached down and tried to unclog it, but it was stuck. She looked around the room for something to use as a tool, but there was nothing. she checked herself. Did it matter if she unclogged the sink? She turned the sink off and backed away slowly. reaching into her front hoodie pockets. It was not her business to repair something that was broken, she tried to tell herself. But she couldn’t accept this. After all, the Explorers expected her to make repairs to the place to earn her keep. As she was not that very handy with fixing plumbing, ventilation, and… anything really… Daisy took out her bag, and looked inside of it in search of the Repairing for Dummies book. She found it, flipped open the cover, and read the first paragraph.
"…Plumbing problems are common among Wanderers and they always get around to fixing it, but all they ever do is just leave the repair parts close by. They never actually fix things, which is disappointing considering our great cartography of the first 7 levels.''
They were even kind enough to show in this book how to repair most of the things in the Lavapits.
“Inhabitants have been given this knowledge while the Wanderers were doing their primary function of exploring every level of this liminal space…"
Daisy sighed, reading the rest of the book, which filled her with knowledge of doing basic welding and repair, and as she finished the book she was more knowledgeable about how to repair common blockages and breaks.
She felt confident and knowledgeable that she marched right over to the sink and examined it to see what was wrong with the bloomin' thing! She got down on the floor and inspected the pipe under the sink. She saw a pipe that was there, but it was clamped together with a screw clamp so she would need a screwdriver to unscrew what fastened the two pipes together. She didn't want to waste time trying to force it apart since it might break. She looked from above the sink down into it with her flashlight. Inside were maroon colored marble type objects obstructing the path. Standing back and looking at the red object below, she hesitated before sending her hand down to the drain where the pipe exited, luckily the pipe was big enough to stick her hand in and she carefully touched the red objects. They had an oozing feel to them but Daisy was brave and pulled out some water flavored cherries that obstructed the sink. As if in thanks, the sink happily gurgled as the standing water flowed freely.
She stood up and wiped her hands on her jeans. The sink quickly became itself and then went silent. With the satisfaction of fixing a sink, she put the cherries in her bag and crawled back to where she came from passing the rickety looking small causeway to the maze of the wooden boxes. As soon as the ceiling had angled to where she was crouching, she heard a soft rhythmic pattern of feet in the distance. She looked towards the sound and saw a figure walking her way. When she realized what it was, she ran forward and hid in the box maze’s shadow. She peeked around the corner, hoping to find a weapon nearby.
She sprinted across the room and jumped onto the sink. She climbed up to the top of the ladder and leaped into the air landing safely on the other side. She stumbled down and stretched, closing her eyes. Then she opened them, realizing that she'd lost track of time. Daisy carefully got out her bag and pulled out the zoology book to look up whatever this thing was. She found a picture that resembled the entity perfectly and began to read.
Entity 3: "Hounds”
Entity Hazard: Class Variable
》Entity Number: 3
》Habitat: various places
Hounds are an inscrutable species of mysterious entities simply identifiable by their four misplaced feet and being completely headless. Their bodies are composed mostly of highly elastic jelly-like material and cant be damaged by physical means such as bullets, fire, heat, radiation, electricity and acid. Hounds have been reported as bats, as they cannot see things but hear things. Any sudden noises above 66 dB will make it attack that direction where the noise originated from.
Daisy finished reading about the Hounds and saw it coming in her general area with a box between it and her. Daisy was shakily moving into a comfortable sitting position while the frowner continued its steady march toward her.
The Hound's body suddenly turned sharply left making Daisy jump a bit, but it continued its march, to where its head was pointing. Now it was going to her right, continuing its rhythmic march into what would eventually make him knock into a box if she didn’t do anything.
The entity was 6 feet in front of her, ever going closer to the box. Thinking quickly, she ducked down hopefully able to avoid whatever was going to happen next. There was a loud wooden noise, a snarl, and a pop. She was not sure which was louder or how much damage any did because everything happened too fast. A moment later, the hound just walked past her without a care in the world, ducking into the small crevice she came from. The entity continued on until it could not be heard anymore.
After hearing nothing else, she cautiously emerged from cover. Daisy decided to go back to the bookshelf she remembered seeing and investigated what was on it. There appeared to be a letter and a book here labeled Cipher Red Day.
She grabbed both of them, and put them in her bag along with what she already had, which had four books, a cookie and some water flavored cherries. With the assertion of the new material, the bag now weighed 5 pounds. With the new items in her bag, she was scared as she was trying to figure out what to do next. To try and jog her memory, she looked around at her surroundings.
She was in an attic of the pipe rooms below with the only entrance so far being a long ladder. To the right of her was a plain wall. To the left was a shelf where a lot of food was kept, and straight ahead was an entrance to a kitchen type place.
Having recounted where she was, she took a deep breath and went to the opening to remember the previous entity encounter. She looked down with her flashlight to see what lay below it. All was well, there were no black wire faces down there. Satisfied with no scary faces, Daisy took the rung and started climbing down. It was about halfway down when she began to get paranoid. Was it just her or was the climb down taking longer then previous times? ‘Even though it seems slower, maybe something is different; perhaps due to fatigue,’ she thought to herself. She hit the marble floor, and took a look around the hum of the pipes were still the same as when they were normally. Daisy looking ahead with her flashlight saw the familiar hall of pipes, a few steamy pipes were still outputting steam, but it was not hot. Onward she walked, into the piped hallway, she almost forgot how long this hall was, it was a bit unsettling for her.
Finally, she reached the weird intersection she saw earlier. To the left was level 3, and to the right were two doors next to each other. She took the open hallway, back to level three.
The surrounding oval room was a paste white with no color, and the temperature here was a bit chilly, but not so cold as to make Daisy shiver. Again looking around the area with caution, she inspected the oval room closely. To the right curvature of the arc was the “Room 3” monitor that flickers in and out. Straight ahead was a wooden door, and to the left were rows upon rows of computers, each with the same time. 11:21:34. It appeared to be stuck at that time. But this time she opened her book bag, and brought out the appropriate book to learn more about the room. Looking through the pages she slowly found information.
Level 3: "Tech Support"
Survival class: Low/Medium (Requires skill at a computer)
》Unsafe (reported for having constant electrical shocks)
》Secure
》Low Entity Count
Consists primarily of large concrete walls lined up against another similar set of walls forming various angles creating lots of arched walls. These rooms appear empty except for desks scattered throughout, ranging from simple metal tables that house low tech computers to large reinforced tables carrying the weight of large supercomputers. Floors are totally concreted and cold to the touch and almost never get shocked with an electrical surge. The entire level is full of these computers showing the exact same time.
She moved further left and realized the room she thought was an enclosed oval was in fact an optical illusion, because behind a ledge there was another opening leading to more computers. It was trippy to say the least!
She proceeded forward while keeping watch over her shoulder, moving across several lines until finally getting close to the edge directly facing the monitors. She looked through carefully, going straight ahead until she reached the end of the corridor. On her right was another optical illusion that made it look like the previous oval-shaped room was an oval. On the left was a wall with computers in front of it.
On closer inspection, most, if not all, of those screens showed the exact same thing every single second. Straight ahead was something new though, a gray box that had a number pad on it. On the sides were an insignia that looked like the letter T.
Daisy looked at the box, investigating it and looking at all the sides, turning side to side, and checking everything. This could mean anything really… Maybe it's a phone? No dial pad buttons, hmm… She lifted it and found that it was really heavy, and felt solid inside. Looking at the insignia at the side, the engraved inscription on the log read "The Travelers.” It appears they left something behind she theorized.
It was common sense that the book said it would be relevant to the room. The one thing that was pretty obvious was all the computers saying 11:21:34, so she put in this code by pressing numbers 112134 and pressing enter. To her surprise it beeped and opened.
Inside was a note with a cipher using the same red day code on it which read "Indigo White Green Red" and a map with an arrow that had select computers. The map was very large and daunting but it looked like only four connected rooms were depicted as selected. The map of the first four rooms looked like the mathematical symbol of Pi for some reason, probably because they're oval shapes maybe? This find makes her chuckle at this corny coincidence. She instinctively typed this password on a nearby computer and hit enter. The computer screen sparked.
Daisy Chain woke up and looked around the room surrounding her. She was in a dark room with barely any lighting. The walls were made up of old wood that had been stripped down to its bareness revealing layers of paint underneath. Daisy could barely make out what looked like an old wooden door at the far end of the room.
"Son of Celestia," she muttered. She was back in room one.
This was getting frustrating. She took the path to the hallway with the open door. The room was wide open and every step she took echoed to what seemed like forever. Having explored all other options, Daisy went into the hall of pipes. This hallway was also leading straight ahead, but at least it looked comfortable in her opinion. As she walked down the hall, she passed first a green door, then a purple door, both on her right. The purple door was to the right of a T.
Feeling much better about things, she continued to explore the left side of the intersection believing that the "open road" the note was talking about was telling her to stay on the path and not to get distracted by things like doors. With that in mind, she went left into the pipe hallway. It was a long walk, but she thought everything else was not an option. Finally reaching the end of the pipe hallway she discovered the most amazing sight yet.
It was a large circular room covered in mossy cobwebs and debris. It had a strange smell to it, almost rotten. The walls were lined with old computer monitors. There was quite a lot of junk everywhere: different colors of wires, broken chairs, files, papers, and even a few computers scattered around the room. Looking closer, she noticed that the screens were cracked and while some still worked, others did not. Some of them were still powered on and showed static images. She walked and turned right and she was finally back where she was before she woke up. She decided this time she would read the note and not hit enter when entering codes. She went to the first one. Daisy used the mouse to wake the computer
Daisy typed on the keyboard I N D I G O but didn't push enter yet. As soon as she typed the last letter, the screen turned purple. Daisy sighed a sigh of relief. “Good job, girl. Well played,” she said to herself. She looked around the room she was in. She was in the beginning room of level 3 again. She already knew what was here but… something felt off.
She heard something.. a whisper. The room fell silent in her own adrenaline as she looked behind herself. There she saw the wired entity standing in the exit of level 2. Its black sharp face was more visible now that she saw it up-close, but it was just standing there, watching daisy. It was just standing there, menacingly. Daisy took a good look at the black wired figure. As it was just standing there she could make all the observations that she couldn't previously. She could tell how big it truly was; compared to other entities or humans alike. Also, she noticed how smooth its body looked despite having no flesh covering its bones (its skin being dead tissue). Its movements were also extremely fluid giving it an unnatural gracefulness. Lastly, she observed its head structure—no hair whatsoever!
Daisy gulped as she slowly quietly backed away, thinking this was in fact the same entity as the one she previously encountered. But she was wrong, as it went forward and she kept creeping silently past each monitor, past the table, and into the next room. Daisy didn't want to wait as she kept creeping away into the next room. A purring moan emanated from the entity's mouth.
"Ѝ̵́Ő̷̕Õ̵̚Ó̶̀O̷̓̈́O̷͊̚O̵̒̓Ö̶́̋Ó̵̕Ö̷̿Ō̵̕Ö̵́̍Ò̶̓Ơ̶̑O̵̓̈́Ǒ̵̔o̶̓͋!̶“ it went.
“Aw, man," she thought to herself, backing away quietly.
“Й̷̏ö̴͆!̷̏͘ ̷̛̍Գ̶̀̚l̷̋͠ɘ̵̈͑A̸͛̇ƨ̸̿̒ɘ̵͆̾ ̸̉͂Ⴇ̴̈̃ö̴́́ǹ̸̌Ɉ̷̓́ ̴̿́Ә̵̀̉o̴̍͗!̴̄̿”, it said. Black ink oozed from its face, making an ink stain on the floor which was absorbed into boiling steam as it hit the pipe floor.
“ᆿ̸̝̅Ṵ̶̈Ɔ̴̗̑ﻼ̷͔͌ ̶̳̈́Y̸̨̾Ọ̷̿Ù̴͉,” it cried, leaping forward jumping into level three… but that's as far as he got before disintegrating into the very air leaving nothing left of the wired entity. Daisy jumped at this but saw nothing left of the entity. She gingerly went to the spot using her hands to shakily guide her to the spot where it once was. She waved her hand into the air like a mad woman. Even though she wanted to scream, she feared the other entities might hear it, so she let out a tiny squeak instead. "Pineapples! That was spooky," she said out loud. "Wait, why did I say pineapples?" she asked herself laughing nervously through clenched teeth. Daisy went down to the next computer that was marked on her map, which had her go into the next room. The second one was a bit duller than the first.
She typed the word W H I T E and the screen glowed white so brightly she had to shield her eyes. But it was done and she was still here. Daisy tried to look around the room she was in but it currently was too bright to see anything useful. "Reminds me of light mode on my social media…" she said longingly as she reached into her pocket, remembering where her phone used to be but no longer… didn't she have a phone when she got in here? Why did she not have it now and why did she remember just now having it?
Useless questions did not make her progress so she went into the next room. She immediately went to the marked computer that was on her map, but before she went, she looked around the room she was in. As she explored her new space, she couldn't help but notice the carpet had changed in the third room.
It was plush instead of concrete, but still the same cream color that felt luxurious under her feet. She looked to the right and saw even more rows of monitors that had the same time on them, and to the left a window with glass made by something called volcanic rock. The vents blow cold air throughout the room, creating pleasant breezes blowing over her bare legs. All these changes gave off the vibe of luxury without actually changing much about the place itself. It reminded her of fancy hotels except better because they weren't trying to kill her every minute. There weren't any bloodstains anywhere either, nor broken furniture pieces lying everywhere
It inspired creativity. Her creativity! She had to write a verse on it!
"A bright and airy room,
With walls of soft white hue,
A sleek, oval desk,
Gleaming, bright and new.
The carpet's plush and creamy,
The lighting just right,
I sit and take in all its beauty,
Feeling pure delight.
The city skyline stretches out,
Beyond the window's frame,
I feel a sense of calm and peace,
In this white office space.
A place to work and create,
To dream and plan and grow,
I am so grateful to have this room,
This white office, all my own."
"What the heck? Did I write a poem?" she asked herself. This did not seem like her. When did she ever write a poem about anything? Except just now, of course. Poems are mushy, she thought, but another part of herself seemed opposed to this idea.
“Poems are both structured and free,
Both rigid and fluid,
A delicate balance of form and expression,
A dance between the strict and the unbridled.
They are both deeply personal and universal,
Both specific and vague,
A reflection of the self and the world,
A paradox of the intimate and the infinite.
Poems are both simple and complex,
Both concise and expansive,
A celebration of the beauty and pain,
A contradiction of the familiar and the strange.”
Woah, time out. Why was she thinking so… SCHOLARLY? Was it this room? Daisy looked around in the third room. "Yeah, this seems like a place where you work a lot," she said, typing into the computer G R E E N and it turned green accordingly.
Daisy skipped to the next room as she was enjoying being there, counting the distance as she traveled.
"16 inches, 36 inches, 69 inches! Nice!”
She turned the corner and saw something that was not pleasant at all. Inside the fourth room was complete darkness and an ambient noise that moaned like a ghost. Daisy went and took a step into the room, and an overwhelming fear crawled up her back. This room was not natural.
The entire room was painted charcoal and the floors were made of pure obsidian.
The desks were made of carbon fiber and all the monitors in this room were all Vista laptops.
Looking around with her flashlight, she spotted random red blotches of paint dripping from places dotted in random places. However, one computer, in particular, was circled with red paint around a laptop. Next to it was the marked computer, but it had a cracked screen on it. Next to that was the same spec of computer that she had been putting passwords in.
Daisy picked the broken computer and hoped it worked. She typed in R E D and surprisingly enough the screen turned red. An unlocking sound was heard with a big
kachunk.
Due to the place Daisy was in, the sudden sound spooked her, but she calmed down after processing what she heard. She looked around, remembering the place.
Suddenly, all the computers went off, turning the room even darker, only a single glowing thing was found in the room. A glowing frowner was looking at Daisy with piercing eyes looking directly into her soul, causing fear inside her heart filling up quickly until there were tears streaming freely running down her cheeks unable to stop sobbing crying uncontrollably feeling helplessness hopeless despair sadness anger confusion loneliness depression anxiety weakness pain frustration hate rage jealousy SHE WAS FROZEN IN TERROR! What should she do?! How could she get rid of him or whatever it was???!!!
The lights turned on and the computers roared to life again. The entity was gone now as it disappeared from the light. Daisy quickly grabbed the zoology book in her bag and sped through the pages to read about the entity and suddenly found it.
Entity 5: "Frowners"
Entity Hazard: Class Triggered
》Entity Number: 5
》Habitat: Dark areas within the Lava Pits
Frowners are an inscrutable species of mysterious entities simply identifiable by their crooked frown of glowing teeth and piercing glowing white eyes. Frowners prefer dark places such as abandoned buildings, sewers, caves, mineshafts, attics, and basements. They react to motion, so don’t move when you see one.
She picked up the map and studied it one last time. ‘Where does the pi fit in?’ she thought to herself, wondering whether she should finish the circle or travel along the radius. She traveled around the circumference of the map and found herself looking into once again in what appeared to be the entrance of level three. The door was now opened, though, and she was looking straight at it.
She gulped and looked behind her… what once was a dark room was now a wall. Isn't that strange?
She took the open door with her hand and slowly opened the door and peered inside, seeing many doors leading deeper within the building; some seemed dark, others lit from below, giving an odd glow making everything appear surreal and almost unreal. A few moments later after entering another hallway, she came across yet another computer marked "Thank you for your visit," and a red carpet to lead her away from the room. Leading her to what would be level four.