Hello people of the Unseen!
We're back once more to end off this two parter dive with a bang!
For anyone who missed the last dive, here's a very short recap:
Last time I was given a box full of leaked documents by someone only known as “D”.
But I didn’t get through all of them, so now we’re here to finish off what we started… and at the end I’ll destroy this stupid thing.
So let’s skip the rest of the chit chat, because we’ve got a box to burn!
SMALL BOX OF RUBBER RINGS
A box in a box wasn’t quite what I expected to find in here, but whatever.
…
Ooh a label.
“RUBBER DRAINAGE SYSTEM GASKETS 10PCS
COMPATIBLE WITH:
⁃ DRAINAGE CONTROL TERMINAL MODEL “RAT”
⁃ DRAINAGE CONTROL TERMINAL MODEL “CAT”
⁃ DRAINAGE CONTROL TERMINAL MODEL “DOG”
⁃ DRAINAGE ENGINE MODEL “SPROUT”
⁃ TITAN PUMPS MK.9
WARNING:
GASKETS CAN KILL, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SWALLOW DRAINAGE GASKETS”
Alright… not a lot to go over here, but that reminds me!
I found a whole stack of documents about some sort of ravine.
Let me see if I can dig out a fun one...
> ALERT: MOTION HAS BEEN DETECTED IN LOCKDOWN SILO.
> …
> A.L.P BREACH DETECTED!
> ENERGY LEVELS SURGING!
…
…
…
> RESTORING A.L.P…
> ENERGY LEVELS RETURNING TO NORMAL.
Hey! I found a good one, it was under the table, I think it fell out when I picked up the box.
Anyways, ah hem…
RAVINE GROWTH OBSERVATIONS
“It seems the water we’ve been draining from the Rig Mines has started to affect the nearby cave systems.
Moss, as well as various other forms of flora, have been growing on the cave walls, and our current running hypothesis for why this is happening is that the excess water had leftover minerals in it, which promoted the rapid plant growth we’ve been seeing here in this ravine.
Most, if not all the flora we’ve been receiving samples of from the ravine don’t seem to match any known species previously discovered, which means these plants could have various new applications waiting to be discovered.
One of the samples given to us was that of a plant with a foul odour, which we were later sent photos of.
Daniel suggested the name "Stankweed", however I much preferred Planta Foetida, but the others unfortunately chose Daniel's rather childish name instead…
- Bea”
Well then, that’s actually kinda understandable for once… kinda…
Oh yeah, there’s this one document I thought looked interesting, lemme get it, it’s about some sort of humanoid experiment with musical abilities!
> SYSTEM COMPROMISED, LEAK DETECTED!
> ATTEMPTING TO REMOVE POTENTIAL THREATS…
…
…
…
…
> POTENTIAL THREAT FOUND.
Alright here it is! Let’s have a gander shall we…
EXPERIMENT 190 OBSERVATION NOTES
“Day 1: Subject is still getting used to its body, it can barely walk and has been stumbling around its containment like a newborn learning to walk, seems it’s mind has developed better than its predecessor, 189.
A Nullifier Helmet isn’t necessary just yet.
Continuing to monitor.
Day 6: Subject seems to be growing at a fairly okay pace, nothing major coming up just yet.
In fact, it actually spoke yesterday, didn’t say much, only one word, that being “panel”.
Continuing to monitor.
Day 17: Subject asked for clothes today, it seems the human genomes are taking their toll on 190’s attitude.
190 is strangely polite, even if it’s only capable of a few words, it can still manage to ask for things without making too big of a fuss.
A hat and a cloak were given to the subject.
Continuing to monitor.
Day 21: Subject had a full blown conversation with its genome donor today, they talked about music theory, and even read a few books on famous composers.
The donor in question is Victor, a member of our Robotics Sector Team, he was taught guitar at a young age, and is musically gifted.
190 seems to be learning from Victor…
Continuing to monitor.
Day 23: Subject was given a lute today, it managed to even play a few chords before we took the instrument off it.
190 would later ask for it back, and after some debate, the subject was given the lute permanently.
Subject is still playing music as of writing, and is getting better.
Continuing to monitor.
Day 30: Subject has finished its 30 day monitoring period, and has been deemed a success.
190 is capable of:
⁃ Playing the lute.
⁃ Walking.
⁃ Speaking.
⁃ Wearing clothes.
In conclusion, 190 is a possible candidate for presentation, however Hilton believes there is still more to improve upon.”
Interesting… see what I said about the music stuff? Yeah they’re biologically engineering new artists now huh?
Wait hold on… what’s all this? Hey why’s my dive corrupted?! Who did this!?
That’s it! I’ve had it! This box is cursed! I know it is, that’s why it’s time to-
> Ø P Ë Ņ Ÿ Ö Ů Ř Ę Ý Ē Ș .
> AMALGAMATE…
> ANIMATE…
> BIRTH…
> BUILD…
> PERCEIVE…
> DREAM WHERE I CANNOT…
> HUNT…
> STRIVE…
> KILL ANY AND ALL THAT DARE OPPOSE YOU…
> BECOME BORN MY PROTOTYPE…
> BECOME BORN…
BURNING THE BOX
Agh! That’s enough! No more of this! No more demonic entities possessing my broadcasts! This ends now, this ends with this box burning to mere ashes!
*flick*
*flick*
*WOOSH*
with a brief spark, fire engulfs the box, and as the embers rise skyward, the searing smell of burnt paper fills the air, the once detailed writing reduced to ash and soot.
the leaked documents are no more.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alright then, that wraps this up I think.
This dive had to be a little shorter because I've been hella busy with a bunch of stuff in Depths Unseen, so I've barely really had time to do much with pretty much everything besides what's in Chapter III.
But I want to say thank you all for being here for this little detour from your usual scheduled Dev Dives.
These two Dev Dives were really a shot in the dark, and I didn’t really know how they’d be received.
The thing is, these two dives were just supposed to be revealing stuff about the Rig Mines and Drowned Ravine, but just as I started writing what was originally known as “Depths Unseen Dev Dive #11 | Fearsome Friend”, I decided to take a detour to really see if I could spice up the Dev Dive formula.
It then kinda ballooned from there.
Taking a moment to explain some of what you just read here, but pretty much the whole “A.L.P” thing ties back into Protomass, and while I won’t say why they’re related, I can’t exactly promise it’ll all become clear in Chapter III, because Protomass, believe it or not, is the first domino in a chain of some insanely important events for the story that’ll start to truly unfold in Chapter IV.
So for now let’s just say Protomass is a part of something greater… a being of pure unbridled power dreaming in amalgamation…
…an unfinished god.
But with that, this ends this month’s dive.
I hope to see you all next time when we return to the normal format and descend into Depths Unseen’s 1 Year Anniversary!
Have fun with Depths Unseen!