Off the scale

     We remained above the large building for a few moments, trying to get a sense of the place, and trying to determine the best point of entry. But that was the problem; there was only one! At the entrance, there were two doors, but I doubted they both worked. UOPETA reckons that one is for entry, the other is the exit. If that's the case, getting in and out is going to be tough. Very tough! We've brought quite a few darts with, and despite my constant worrying about running out of time, UOPETA keeps reassuring me that we won't be in there long enough for the sedative to wear off.

"Maybe we can look for a vent or an external shaft that runs into the place? I don't think they'll let us saunter in, somehow..."

Whilst monitoring the building from above, and ensuring there were no more guards hanging around, we went around the entire edge of the building, looking for small entry holes that we could exploit. After a few minutes, we had gone around in a complete circle, and had found nothing...

"It doesn't make any sense... If they're utilising lava, they'll need some way to vent the geothermal energy without it building up, and blowing its top! Unless they're venting it somewhere else..."

We sat in silence, staring at the entrance for a few moments, considering it to be the best option. It was the only option... We didn't even know if this was the right place, but it was something of value to HoN Co., that was for sure. We eventually agreed that we would need to gain entry at some point, and after a few minutes of deliberation, we settled on the entrance. With blowpipes at the ready, we began to make our way down towards the building, but stopped! From the left side of the entrance, a guard emerged. We quickly crouched where we were and watched him move out from the door. Looks like UOPETA was right.

We remained motionless until he was in range, and had moved out of the way of the door. If UOPETA was to fire a dart towards him, he may cause anyone else inside to be drawn to the commotion. UOPETA eventually fired a dart, and within a few seconds, the guard dropped to the floor, just to the right of the entrance. We remained still for a few moments longer, to ensure we didn't run into a guard coming out, before heading down, and removing the dart.

"It looks like the door to the left is the exit, whilst this is the entrance. Seems to be activated via a concealed pressure pad. Be careful near the door."

THEROS helped drag the guard further out of sight, whilst I slowly approached the door. I could just make out the edge of the pressure pad, and carefully negotiated it to be able to look through the door. I immediately pulled back, for fear of being spotted! Another guard was stood inside, behind a small counter. Peering back through the bars of the door, I watched as the guard sat down, and flicked through some papers on the desktop. I backed fully away from the door, and informed UOPETA and THEROS.

"Is he alone?"

I couldn't tell... The room was angled in such a way, it was hard to see what was around the corner to the left. He suggested that I sedate the guard and wait for any response from any guards lurking around the corner, so I re-approached the door, placed the blowpipe to my lips, and fired.

     THEROS and UOPETA moved through the door and joined me on the inside. There hadn't been any more guards around the corner, thankfully, so we were able to move in quickly. I moved over to the guard, and took the dart from his neck, when UOPETA reminded us of the reason we were here.

"Look for anything that could help us locate where this obsidian is going... Reports, files, papers, anything!"

Whilst I was behind the desk, I flicked through the papers that the guard had been going through, to see if it contained any information that might help us. It didn't contain anything that we didn't already know; from the looks of it, some cover story HoN CO. had propagated to ensure no questions were asked about the purpose of the obsidian. Apparently "obsidian has become a highly sought after material for creating surfaces and tools..." but we knew better. We made our way down a set of stairs, protected by a wooden gate, ever cautious about the presence of more guards... We hadn't seen any more just yet, but this place was likely to be big, so there was bound to be more... Somewhere. Moving down to the bottom, the stairs stopped, and a corridor veered off to the left, where it continued for awhile, before heading right. As we got closer, we found out that there was actually two ways to go; left and right! To the right was a flight of stairs, split in the middle with a sign indicating the direction of minecarts, and two minecart tracks leading up and to the left, Presumably, the left path took you back into the main building, and to the exit... We decided to check the right path, as this was likely to be where the obsidian farm was.

We went down the right path of the stairway, which the sign had indicated as "up"... Presumably the direction the minecarts would go. This would come from the end of the actual process, before being dispatched... As we went further and further down, a huge wall of heat hit us, and the stench of brimstone and sulphur was thick in the air. We were close...

"What do you think we'll find? It's got to be big for HoN Co. to go to this much effort to conceal it. A lake of lava and a spring source of water maybe?"

"No... I think we're looking at a big operation... Very big... Huge..."

We cautiously made it to the last few steps, until the corridor flattened out. The wooden divider stopped, and a metal barrier took its place, dividing the two sets of stairs and tracks. Up ahead, we could see a light source. A large light source... As we got closer, we realised how huge an operation this truly was... Standing at the end of the corridor, looking over an iron railing, we looked down into a huge pit... To the right was a massive building of some form, whilst to the left, a large iron structure jutted from the ceiling and veered off to the left... What was all of this? As we looked down, we saw the light source as a huge lake of lava! This operation... Was off the scale!

Syeonyx signing off