Cadenza: Veritas
Chapter 11: Fire > Carlos by the bar
Your eyes quickly catch wind of Carlos talking to the bartender in the nearby bar.
Tanja cups her hands over her mouth and yells, "I'm not going to look after you if you get drunk again, Carlos."
Right after she says that, you see the bartender pour whiskey onto a shot glass. Carlos gleefully takes it and drinks it in one shot.
"Carlos, you IDIOT!"
"What? It's just one shot."
"One shot is too much! With such a low alcohol tolerance, this guy…" Tanja hits her face with both of her palms, and screams in frustration.
"You doubt me too much, Tanja. Do you know how much this hurts me?"
"My, my, my, it hasn't even been a minute since he drank and he's all emotional like this? So sad."
"Tanja, I'm being serious here! I'm tired of being treated like a doormat, being stepped on all the time--"
"Then stop acting like one!"
Tanja runs to where Carlos is seated, and pulls him out of his chair.
"Hey, what was that for?"
"Get yourself together. We weren't here to drink. We're here to address a distress call, remember?"
"You realise that I'm supposed to be off-duty today, right? I'm not even supposed to be here if you didn't lose your friggin' car."
"Didn't you receive the call from this bar? You're so irresponsible!"
You stand between both of them just as Tanja prepares to slap Carlos, and tell them both to stop.
"This person is right, Tanja. I'm sorry I lost control of myself. I just have so many problems…"
"We'll talk about that later. Let's look for those missing people first."
"Do we even know where to start? There's nothing else in this floor apart from a bar. Maybe we should try the third floor--"
"No, let's check the fire exit first."
"What for?"
"The pages that fell from the diary." Tanja is visibly frantic. "I-I can't explain it… but… but… the ink on some of the words just changed colour as we were reading it!"
"Why the hell are you reading someone's diary?"
"The pages fell off, okay? Don't blame me!"
"I'm not going to argue with you. Let's go!"
You all head towards the fire exit, conveniently located next to the elevator. The barkeep yells at Carlos, demanding that he pay for the whiskey he ordered. Carlos just yells back, "I'll be back!"
As soon as you open the door to the fire exit, decorated with an ominous "OFF LIMITS EXCEPT DURING EMERGENCIES" sign, a fire extinguisher nearby, you hear a loud noise coming from inside. On the junction between the fourth and third floors, you hear some noises coming from what seems to be the wall. Tanja knocks on the wall, immediately triggering a panel to fall into a gap. Green-coloured light floods a portion of the floor through the opening Tanja inadvertently made. She leads the way, and encourages you to follow her.
It's a lengthy stretch of hallway, illuminated with alternating green and blue neon lights. You all decide to keep quiet, just in case someone might be nearby. Sooner than you think, you reach the end of the hallway, where an unmarked door lies before you. Tanja holds the door knob, and gently turns it.
"They didn't even bother to lock the door."
The door opens to reveal what seems to be a control room. Multiple screens show closed-circuit camera feeds, including at least three that seem to monitor the hallway you just passed by. There is nothing else illuminating the room, apart from the screens and numerous flickering dots, which seem to be computer boxes of sort. Carlos locks the door behind the three of you, as Tanja and you look around.
"It's strange that nobody's in here."
"Defeats the purpose of a security room, don't you think, Tanja?"
"Indeed."
You feel your phone vibrate in your pocket.
Tanja cups her hands over her mouth and yells, "I'm not going to look after you if you get drunk again, Carlos."
Right after she says that, you see the bartender pour whiskey onto a shot glass. Carlos gleefully takes it and drinks it in one shot.
"Carlos, you IDIOT!"
"What? It's just one shot."
"One shot is too much! With such a low alcohol tolerance, this guy…" Tanja hits her face with both of her palms, and screams in frustration.
"You doubt me too much, Tanja. Do you know how much this hurts me?"
"My, my, my, it hasn't even been a minute since he drank and he's all emotional like this? So sad."
"Tanja, I'm being serious here! I'm tired of being treated like a doormat, being stepped on all the time--"
"Then stop acting like one!"
Tanja runs to where Carlos is seated, and pulls him out of his chair.
"Hey, what was that for?"
"Get yourself together. We weren't here to drink. We're here to address a distress call, remember?"
"You realise that I'm supposed to be off-duty today, right? I'm not even supposed to be here if you didn't lose your friggin' car."
"Didn't you receive the call from this bar? You're so irresponsible!"
You stand between both of them just as Tanja prepares to slap Carlos, and tell them both to stop.
"This person is right, Tanja. I'm sorry I lost control of myself. I just have so many problems…"
"We'll talk about that later. Let's look for those missing people first."
"Do we even know where to start? There's nothing else in this floor apart from a bar. Maybe we should try the third floor--"
"No, let's check the fire exit first."
"What for?"
"The pages that fell from the diary." Tanja is visibly frantic. "I-I can't explain it… but… but… the ink on some of the words just changed colour as we were reading it!"
"Why the hell are you reading someone's diary?"
"The pages fell off, okay? Don't blame me!"
"I'm not going to argue with you. Let's go!"
You all head towards the fire exit, conveniently located next to the elevator. The barkeep yells at Carlos, demanding that he pay for the whiskey he ordered. Carlos just yells back, "I'll be back!"
As soon as you open the door to the fire exit, decorated with an ominous "OFF LIMITS EXCEPT DURING EMERGENCIES" sign, a fire extinguisher nearby, you hear a loud noise coming from inside. On the junction between the fourth and third floors, you hear some noises coming from what seems to be the wall. Tanja knocks on the wall, immediately triggering a panel to fall into a gap. Green-coloured light floods a portion of the floor through the opening Tanja inadvertently made. She leads the way, and encourages you to follow her.
It's a lengthy stretch of hallway, illuminated with alternating green and blue neon lights. You all decide to keep quiet, just in case someone might be nearby. Sooner than you think, you reach the end of the hallway, where an unmarked door lies before you. Tanja holds the door knob, and gently turns it.
"They didn't even bother to lock the door."
The door opens to reveal what seems to be a control room. Multiple screens show closed-circuit camera feeds, including at least three that seem to monitor the hallway you just passed by. There is nothing else illuminating the room, apart from the screens and numerous flickering dots, which seem to be computer boxes of sort. Carlos locks the door behind the three of you, as Tanja and you look around.
"It's strange that nobody's in here."
"Defeats the purpose of a security room, don't you think, Tanja?"
"Indeed."
You feel your phone vibrate in your pocket.
"i tried to ask one of the employees of the bar for floor plans
uhh i cannot use the free wifi or anything here so i cannot send it here
go to the fire exit just until between the 3rd and 4th floor
there is a fake wall just knock it over and go to the end of the hallway to the door you see
thats a control room hurry up while the guard isnt there
the server looks like a normal wifi router unplug it and take it with you -e"
It's from a different number from the one he used to text you earlier. You relay the message to Tanja and Carlos.
"But there are a lot of blinking dots here! How do we know which one is the correct router?", Tanja asks.
"Just unplug everything you can, Tanja," you hear Carlos say. Tanja gets to work, and you begin to look for something that appears more like a wireless router rather than a CPU. After a bit of searching, you find a lone, red wireless router. You unplug it, and give it to Tanja, who may hide it under her suit.
"Are we sure this is the right one? Can you try calling E?"
You take out your phone again, and ring the number where E most recently sent you a text. After a while of waiting, a familiar automated prompt informs you that the number is out of service.
"Typical of him to do that."
"Tanja, I think we've overstayed our visit. We should leave now."
Tanja stands back up, kicking the wires she unplugged to a place where the screens cannot shine light on them. You prepare to leave as soon as Carlos opens the door. The lit hallway you passed by earlier is now noticeably dark, and you are greeted by a hooded figure pointing a gun at you.
"But there are a lot of blinking dots here! How do we know which one is the correct router?", Tanja asks.
"Just unplug everything you can, Tanja," you hear Carlos say. Tanja gets to work, and you begin to look for something that appears more like a wireless router rather than a CPU. After a bit of searching, you find a lone, red wireless router. You unplug it, and give it to Tanja, who may hide it under her suit.
"Are we sure this is the right one? Can you try calling E?"
You take out your phone again, and ring the number where E most recently sent you a text. After a while of waiting, a familiar automated prompt informs you that the number is out of service.
"Typical of him to do that."
"Tanja, I think we've overstayed our visit. We should leave now."
Tanja stands back up, kicking the wires she unplugged to a place where the screens cannot shine light on them. You prepare to leave as soon as Carlos opens the door. The lit hallway you passed by earlier is now noticeably dark, and you are greeted by a hooded figure pointing a gun at you.
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