Propagate: A survival litrpg

50th | No Rest for the Wicked | Quinary


13/4/1837/11

Log ID: 18902467

D#: 1003

Subject ID: 2576CD\\RF

Security Clearance: Medium High

Basic Oversight: Subject has been denoted through basic observation to be of the 'ravager' species. Through appraisal of the mundane and arcane variety, the Subject appears to have perished from starvation, evidenced by the char of its vacant internals. Death by starvation has precedent for this species, however its mortality is being scrutinized due the nature of its extraction site.

Physical Description: Subject 2576CD\\RF is a large, rusty red humanoid creature consisting of multiple metal plates composed of an unknown but previously documented substance which will be further referred to as: Regiment. Subject appears to have already gone through multiple phases of restructuring, focusing on mobility and terrain adaptation. The indents in the Subjects chest appears to resemble a furnace, possibly denoting its existence as a rarer subspecies of ravagers.

Extraction Site: The Subject was found deep in the high woods of the rikkenet forest, a nature preserve safeguarded by a family of higher class nobility. Clearance for denoting their family name is still being processed. Near the extraction site, most notably, was a moderate sized cabin furnished for a small family. Near the exact extraction site of the Subject were the remains of a still unknown woman, and further from her near a line of bushes, a man. The two were examined first by local authorities and later fully explicated by site personnel. The two appeared to be eclipten in origin, and had been illegally squatting within the property for some time, possibly due to ignorance towards the ownership of the property. These two appeared to have been family to "Elise Fracetal", the adolescent who informed site personnel of the scene.* Both of the two ecliptians sported severe wounds. The man, who was found dead perched up against a tree, sported thin cuts across the left side of his torso, and more on the upper right of his chest that appeared to originate from a deep gash at the front of his chest. The overall cause of death was denoted to be the large chunk missing from his throat, his bug-eaten shirt covered in his own blood. The women had a much more gruesome death. Her head appeared to have been smashed, with bits of skull and brain matter found spread across the entire area in an exploded pattern. Both bodies were later incinerated by the Cleaners on site.

*Note: "Elise Fracetal" was quietly disposed of once the extraction zone was inspected and the Subject was scheduled to be collected.

Audio Log (Transcribed): The following log is transcribed audio of an interview with site personnel. Said personnel, hereby referred to as: J104 was present during the initial encounter of "Elise Fracetal".

What were you doing before the initial contact?

J104: "I was on guardian duty for one of the search teams looking for traces of [redacted]. We'd followed its 'signature' about seven eks 265 bound from the.. 3rd site holding facility. Around that mark we'd found physical trails that even us guards on the perimeter could follow."

And these trails lead to the girl?

J104: "Yes and no. They did, but by pure coincidence. She just happened to be coming at us from the same direction the slime trail was leading us. As I'm sure you've seen from the investigation, there was no such connection as initially suspected."

What did you do when you found her?

J104: "Ah, well, things didn't go smoothly, that was for sure. Poor girl was clearly scared out of her mind and barely knew eclipten, and I'm sure our appearance didn't help calm her down. While we were waiting for orders she eventually babbled something interesting. The section chief took high interest in; 'the big red monster' and promptly began organising an interrogation to get more info out of her."

J104 Then proceeded to explain his personal views on the matter and his relationship with the girl. The unprompted explanation has been deemed unnecessary and has been cut from the report.

Once J104 was informed of the current status of "Elise Fractal" J104 refused to continue the interview. Both the interviewer and J104 have been expunged from their duties, with J104 promptly disappearing from the database. Standard procedure.

Personal Notes: The on-site rumor mill is pretty sure they disposed of J104, but due to lack of concrete evidence (despite the already well accepted precedent) I have decided to not include that tidbit of information in this draft of the log.

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18/4/1837/11

Log ID: 18902467

D#: 1003

Subject ID: 2576CD\\RF

Security Clearance: Medium High

Timeline-

9/4/1837/11|3:22: Off-Site personnel are alerted to the presence of Subject 2576CD\\RF

9/4/1837/11|5:05: EXtraction team is deployed to the area. EXtraction team locates the Subject and initiates quarantine protocols

11/4/1837/11|1:86: EXplication team finalises area analysis.

11/4/1837/11|11:54: Subject 2576CD\\RF is brought into the facility

11/4/1837/11|13:24: Subject 2576CD\\RF is secured within its designated holding site.

12/4/1837/11|10:00: EXplication team begins taking samples of Subject 2576CD\\RF.

Eight samples were taken from the Subject's body. Three samples each of the thicker outer armor, and thinner endo skeleton beneath the armor. As well as two samples of the soot found within the open chest cavity of the Subject. Set A and B of the samples were given three tests, Physical, Chemical, and Magical. The C set of samples were subjected only to the chemical and magical tests.

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Sample 1(A1) Physical Durability: The Regiment scrap taken from the Subject appears to be highly brittle and weak against physical force. Attempts to damage the regiment through incisions with a blade have borne results. In all instances, whether it be blunt, sharp, or penetrating, the regiment has easily succumbed to all of the damage.

Conjecture: These results are wildly different from the results of other ravager specimens. It is unclear whether this lack of durability is a result of the unique evolutionary pathway of this specific specimen as an individual, or if this specific type of regiment becomes brittle with the death of its host. It should be noted that no tests have been run on deceased ravager regiment before. Results inconclusive.

Sample 1(A2) Chemical Reactions: Through multiple reruns and several more samples extracted across a wide range of the Subjects body, it has been confirmed that both samples A & B are completely inert as far as chemical reactions go.

Conjecture: This aligns with previously documented knowledge of the ravager species.

Sample 1 (A3) Mana Conduction/Spell Absorption: The Subjects Regiment has a high conductivity with fire mana, and utterly rebuffs most other types. Interestingly, the regiment melts easily when heated by fire magic (SpCd: 1201), and reacts the same when exposed to mundane flame. The Regiment melts like ice, pooling up in a similar manner. However, its liquid form appears to have greater surface tension than water, creating more of a disk shape when melted as opposed to a simple puddle. The regiment can not be affected by metal magic, however, it can be easily shaped by matter magic. Metal and matter mana are not rebuffed by the regiment, however their effect is currently inconclusive.

Conjecture: Other, live Ravager samples have reacted in notably different ways. All other samples do not possess such a low melting point, and completely rebuff all types of mana besides metal and matter. All other types continue to be weak to both metal and matter magic. The melting point of other ravager specimens regiment is still unknown. Again, it is unknown if the host of the regiments current life state is affecting the results, however, it is highly suspected that the regiments low melting point is not life state related.

Sample 2 (B1) Physical Durability: The inner regiment shows mostly the same level of durability as the first set of samples, however it can endure being bent slightly more than the A set of samples.

Note: The B set of samples are so similar to the A set that their results for both the Chemical and Magical test were deemed redundant, and thus will be excluded from the log.

Sample 3 (C1) Chemical Reactions: Sample C1 reacts prominently with golderite in hexcore fusions and expedited halcyon exposures. Both instances created minor fluctuations in the weave, the hexcore fusion generating a resonating wave of metal mana, while the halcyon exposure generated type 17 raken radions.

Conjecture: Chemical reactions for the soot have shown extreme promise. Further samples will be extracted and sent into the lab for deeper conductions. Results satisfactory.

Sample 3 (C2) Mana Conduction/Spell Absorption: Sample C2 holds an affinity for both fire and wind mana, however its reaction is minimal. Samples remain inert when subjected to basic fire and wind spells (SpCo:1202)(SpCo:0901). Refraining from using higher level spells for fear of destroying the samples.

Conjecture: The C set of samples appears to be one of the extremely rare instances of fused mana occurring in nature, ash mana. A combination of fire and nature mana. While the soot was no doubt caused by sticks and leaves blowing into the open subjects chest cavity, this soot somehow naturally combines nature and fire mana into a dark red energy. This source of fused mana is currently under intense study, further mention of the ash requires greater clearance.

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26/7/1837/11

Log ID: 18902467

D#: 1003

Subject ID: 2576CD\\RF

Security Clearance: High

Concerning the racial abilities of the ravager species: [Phoenix Cradle]- Describes the power behind the unique chest cavity possessed by all ravager species. Rather than just a consumption apparatus, these cavities actually have a secondary function, in that they harbor the life nexus of all ravager species. Whether that nexus be the artifice of consumption itself, or simply buried within more complex machinery, the best way to disable a ravager is to aim for its chest. As for why they possess such a pivotal weakness? It is possible to revive a deceased ravager through reigniting its life nexus.

This comes with a few caveats, however. One, the [Phoenix Cradle] is only possessed by the magical variety of ravagers, such as the ravager mito and this ravager furnace. The more common ravager species, such as the ravager shredder and crusher varieties, do not possess this miraculous ability.

Secondarily, the process through which the [Phoenix Cradle] is activated is both tedious and different per species. The ravager mito (my-toe), the only other magical ravager species extensively logged within site archives, required individual 'power cells' in its body to be recharged through undetermined means. Only after forcing other subjects to drain their naturally produced lightning into the powercells did the ravager mito's spark finally make an appearance again.

And finally, the ravager needs an enormous amount of biomass initially to compensate for its long period of inactivity, if feeding times and amounts are too far off, the ravager will shut down again, leaving all resources used for revival wasted.

However, this was only the experience of the ravager mito. Due to the complete lack of machinery within the chest cavity of Subject 2576CD\\RF, it is suspected that the course of reviving the Subject will be much less arduous.

Test 1 Preparations: 3 salamanders were brought in from outside the site. 5 site personnel were deployed to the Subjects test chamber, armed to the teeth with fire and force resistant armor and threads. The immediate testing area was then loaded with 11 tons of elken-compressed verdant fibers.

Test 1 Timeline:

12:00: End of preliminary equipment checks and offloading of ECVF.

12:11: 4 of the personnel wrench open the Subject's chest cavity while the fifth brings in the salamanders.

12:13: 3 of the personnel take command of the salamanders and order them to fire into the Subjects chest cavity.

12:14: The other two personnel begin throwing in chunks of ECVF once signs of life are detected.

12:19: Subject begins moving again.

Subject behavior: The Subject proceeded to collect its bearings before shoving more and more of the ECVF into its chest cavity. It gingerly collected the ECVF from the waiting arms of the 2 personnel.

Statements:

Z704: I was certainly surprised. When I saw it moving, I thought for sure it would jump me or something. But no. It just sort of… looked around. Confused, like I'm sure anyone would be in that sort of situation. It was almost… child like. It accepted the wood bundles carefully, as if it was afraid to hurt me. I swear to Panoptees that thing nodded at me!

A702: Yeah I thought for sure za- Z704… was done for when that thing reached out for him. But nope, it just accepted the fuel. That was it. Thing must be out of its mind with confusion, I didn't even know ravagers could be peaceful.

B703: It was curious. You heard me. Curious. It saw the salamanders, and instead of lunging at them like it should have, it bent its head to the side like a goddamn lycanthrine! Freaky little thing.

The remaining personnel refused to comment.

Aftermath: Once the Subject had its fill, it was escorted to a pre-prepared holding chamber, and now awaits the orders of the EXalted council. Talks are going forward to perform many different experiments, many that couldn't be performed without a willing Subject.

Beginning tests will mostly pertain to the parameters of the so far legendary 'Phoenix Protocol'. A racial ability that should, according to folklore, allow the personnel who revived the Subject to take command of it.

END OF LOG CHAIN

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