Despite all of the excited chatter and talking last night about the tangled cobweb of current issues, we did manage to catch some sleep, albeit a few short hours. Thankfully it was enough; well rested we packed up our stuff and headed for the main house of the outpost. With the map in SERVERE's hand, and with the instructions to decode the yellow-bound book back at the base, we had done all we could at the outpost. We still hadn't managed to come to a decision as to whether we should inform COLUS and the others about SERVERE; UOPETA thought it was unfair and dangerous to leave them in the dark, whereas THEROS and AMPHIS wanted to keep it from them. Once again, I found myself on the fence in the middle. Both sides posed convincing arguments, but I doubt it would be merely a case of me joining one side or the other. We had to be united in the decision before we could make it, although if we hadn't made a decision by the time we reached the base, I had a feeling we would be taking AMPHIS and THEROS's approach until we came up with the final decision. In secret... Away from the others.
"We've got a good day's travelling ahead of us, which will be made easier with this to discuss as we go. Is everyone set? Don't leave anything behind. Any trace of our presence might be enough for HoN Co. to suspect something, especially if we can't trust SERVERE..."
"I still think we should keep it from them, at least until we receive more information from him."
"If we plan to keep it from the others, tell me this: how do we receive information from him without the others knowing, and how do we explain the early return from destroying the portals? The way I see it, we have no choice but to tell them. Not only do they deserve to know, but they might be able to offer insight into the information we do know about so far."
We had a long way to go, and a long time to discuss this, which I could guarantee we would be doing. With a day's trek ahead of us, we could at least be happy in the knowledge that the journey was going to be anything but boring!
We were at the halfway point in our journey, and had decided to take a rest. We were making good progress, and our discussion has covered a large majority of ground we had gone over the night before. However, towards the midway point, conversation had turned to how to deal with this information in relation to the others. We all knew more than the others, but we hadn't decided whether it was fair to tell them or not. However, after thinking about it for some time, I had to agree with UOPETA. We were all brothers of the Lone 7, so too are COLUS, THEXIS and OROTHO. They deserved to know everything that we knew. Like UOPETA had said, SERVERE put all of us in danger by making himself known to us, so letting everyone else in on the secret wasn't going to change everything. We could gain a better insight into how to tackle future issues if we had everyone running for the same team. Additionally it would be easier to deal with if we weren't trying to hide from the others if we didn't tell them. And since joining UOPETA's side, AMPHIS has begun to question his initial decision. With two of us voting to tell the others, it seemed a lot more of a sensible option. All of our lives would be easier that way.
"Well how do you expect us to tell them? Look at how we all treated AMPHIS before when he was the only one to see him! COLUS and the others would treat us the same."
"I doubt that. Firstly there's four of us who have seen him and spoken with him. Secondly, he's taken the map and glowing stone; two items we wouldn't just randomly throw away of leave behind simply to justify a lie. And finally he's given us a task to do. If we help AMPHIS decode that book, we can prove that we're not lying, even if they believe we are!"
We continued to talk amongst ourselves; we got up and headed back towards the base. With each mile we walked, THEROS and AMPHIS began to slowly merge onto our side. They began to see the sense in informing the others, against SERVERE's wishes, as they knew it would be greatly beneficial to everyone that way.
"Okay... We'll tell them. But you're the one who's going to be doing the talking!"
After finally deciding on whether to tell the others or not, conversation turned to getting back into the base. The main entrance through the hatch was off limits due to the lockdown, and the the same can be said for the cliff mine entrance as it was locked from the inside. That meant only one option, and it was a risky one. The only other way into the base would be through the new tunnel that we had dug out recently. We couldn't guarantee the door would be open, but if they had an sense, they would leave the mechanism open, remove all of the torches and close all of the other doors. From anyone else's point of view, it would merely look like just another hole in the ground. That meant that we would have to extend our journey by an hour or so to get to the entrance to the South of the conducting tower. UOPETA had initially had the idea of checking in on the primary portals before heading back, but with all of the baggage we were carrying, and with an urgent task to perform, we decided against it. The light had begun to dim as the sun slowly sank below the horizon, which would make it harder to find the entrance. But UOPETA assured us he knew where he was going.
"It's just a little further along. It was concealed directly beneath a tree which I had marked close to the base."
There were quite a few trees around which would make it harder to find, but UOPETA wasn't checking them all. In fact, he wasn't checking any! He seemed to know exactly where he was going; we were within the shadow of the tower, looming in the distance to the far North by the time UOPETA stopped. Bending down, he rubbed the base of a tree, before exclaiming quietly to himself, and looked around.
"We're close. It should be a little further... Aha!"
UOPETA stood up and made his way towards the edge of a small hill, and disappeared entirely! He appeared once more, and approached us with a smile on his face.
"They've left it open!"
We followed him in through the entrance and descended the stairs. As I was the last to head down, I flicked the lever and watched as the entrance was blocked with a realistic entrance that would preserve the look of the small hill above us. As I caught up with them, I merged with their current conversation, which seemed a little daunting, now that we came to think about it.
"It's all well and good that entrance being open, but if the other doors are closed... How do you suggest we get into the main base from here?"
"We'll approach that obstacle when we get there..."
We continued down the tunnel, knowing that the security doors had only been implemented partly along the way, and we would have a mainly unobstructed walk back to the base. It was only the last few hundred metres that were blocked by the iron constructs. And as we got within that distance, we could see a large sheet of silvery, white iron blocking our path.
"Well then... Any more bright ideas...?"
Syeonyx signing off
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