FILE NAME:

  [LOG - STRONGHOLD - PROTOTYPE DRILL - ?]

  FILE SIZE:

  2.7GB

  FILE DATE:

  01/01/0001 (NO MOTHER CALENDAR, WILL UPDATE WHEN SEASON RECORDS UPDATE)

  LAST UPDATED:

  [2074] Days ago

  FILE HOST:

  Ace_Administrator

  [BEGIN LOG]

  -Hey hey people, ? here. Before the file begins here's a counter of how many times I've touched myself in this machine. Here you go!

  { Sin counter [13] }

  -Anyways, yeah, the drill. It's a piece of shit. The culmination of roughly 2 tons of complex mechanisms, expensive materials, and several hours of work all came together to create something that doesn't work. I haven't had a day where this thing doesn't break, my dementia ridden grandmother runs better than this fuckin thing.

  -The reason is NOT because I can't build drills, no siree, it's because somehow through the miracle of whatever trickster god that decided I can't have good things, the other drill designs somehow operate WORSE than this steampunk nightmare.

  -I've already considered the idea of ‘some’ kind of overarching force governing this crevice of Limbo, setting its own ‘rules’, but this adds proof to it. Physics do not work the same; the viotion of the Law Of Conservation of matter being created and destroyed via the ‘deconstruct’ feature in my TK field, and the complete ck of support beams needed in construction and mining despite the literal TONS of weight…

  -Something is watching me.

  -Something is allowing aspects of reality to be ignored whenever I have a hand in it. Things fall, weight colpses, but only when it's ‘not’ caused by me.

  -And for some reason, this same force is causing any and all machines made for mining to brick past a certain level.

  -Somewhere around Y level -20, haven't found the specific threshold yet.

  -I thought it was some mild EMP field, some weird electromagnetic null field caused by rge amounts of Lapis and Amethyst that are typically found on these levels, maybe the two magical energies are ‘fighting’ each other, and it fucks with my machines, water and oil type beat.

  -That thought was IMMEDIATELY thrown away when I found out my other machines were still working.

  -Machines.

  -Powered by Lapis Energy.

  -No, I realized that this effect is metaphysical, it happens because it just… fucking ‘happens’. Like a universal constant.

  -What comes up must come down, things born will eventually die, Libertarians will never win the United States election, and drills just don't work past Y level -25. It's just how it is!

  -I hate this fucking world.

  -So I made this.

  -In some fuckass way, this thing isn't even a drill, it's technically more of an engine attached to a bunch of doodads and noise machines, like the shit the Grinch has. I thought that maybe having the drill act as a sort of energy waste system that would take in any excess energy directed at the other doodads and burn it as it spins. I thought that I could ‘trick’ it, making the drill not the main ‘focus’.

  -If you scroll up a little bit, you can tell how that went.

  -Newsfsh, it went NOWHERE.

  -Whatever force is watching me has to have ‘some’ kind of intelligence. Maybe I can try having the engine on a higher level while powering a drill below the threshold? Whatever, I'm tired and horny, GOD I wish I could make synthetic skin, for a purely non-sexual way of course, promise.

  -Stronghold.

  -Only have a brief mention of it I found in some old texts while gagglefucking around in some abandoned buildings. Not written by another person, generated by the world.

  -Apparently it has a portal, not sure where it goes, but having a frame of reference to portal tech sounds very very nice right now, maybe I could find a way back home?

  -That sounds nice.

  -The Stronghold ‘apparently’ generates underground, this is what this drill was for, but I guess I'll have to do it the old fashioned way.

  -But something tells me that I'm missing something.

  -Aside from the noticeable ck of man meat in my body, of course.

  -It feels like I'm tip-toeing around a sleeping dragon, and I don't know why. But I don't care.

  -I will get home.

  -For both of us.

  -I miss you Pinks.

  {Hyperlinks - Miscelneous - ?}

  -[HERE] is the drills specifications, [HERE] is the current coordinates of my base, and [HERE] is if you, yes you, want to add your own sin counter! I know you're thinking about it!

  -Also! If you are the owner of a [BOW (Soulbound)], please, please go to these coordinates. I want to believe this is proof that someone else is in this shithole, I want to believe I'm not alone.

  -[HERE] is the blueprint of a navigational device that can read coordinates. Find one of my beacons and sync it up, hard to miss, big fuckin things. Coords won't mean anything unless it's synced.

  -Have to update the sin counter.

  -What's the point of writing these things if there's a good chance this shit will be lost to time?

  [END LOG]

  Joshua slumps back.

  Mindlessly, he clicks the various links. It's strange seeing new recipes in a pce like this, so he notes them down, paying much more attention to the navigation device Ace was talking about.

  It needs a custom crafting bench, like the Workshop, but Ace put that in the list too.

  Overall, he needs more materials, and some more exotic ones, like amethyst.

  Aside from that, he feels… numb.

  What the fuck…

  2074 days ago, that's like… how many years?

  Is Ace still alive? And this… other guy, the Bow guy. Is there truly someone else?

  And while it's not surprising…

  Ace knew Gabriel.

  Gabriel may not remember, there's a huge gap in her memory probably caused by her ‘condition’.

  What does he even do?...

  His back presses against the cold metal, he leans back, defeated.

  2074…

  “Is this a wild goose chase?...”

  “Are you okay Mister Joshua?!” He hears Gabriel below him, she's very loud for such a small mare.

  “Just fine, Gabe”

  “Pony?”

  Concern.

  Joshua feels her presence in his mind.

  “I'm fine love”

  Doubt.

  “I am, I just…”

  He feels frustrated. He's embarrassed to share his thoughts out loud, so he shares it with his psychic neighbor.

  “Are we even going anywhere?”

  Confusion.

  “Like… love, there's another note from Ace up here, you remember the hospital?”

  Affirmation.

  Excitement.

  Skepticism.

  “It's from over two thousand days ago. Hasn't been touched in years”

  There's a terse silence in the link for a moment. Before a familiar monotone, broken voice pys in his mind.

  “O* De**...”

  There's a hint of emotion in the words, just barely, but Joshua doesn't bring it up.

  “There's blueprints that can help us find their base, but…”

  He really hates this idea.

  “What if there's nothing there? Nobody there?”

  Another long period of silence. Jophiel is thinking, Joshua can practically see her mind running.

  “What would happen, Jophiel? What if this is a dead end? What if we're just fucked?! It's over! What if… we're all that is?”

  More silence…

  Then…

  Assurance.

  Conviction.

  Affection.

  It will be okay.

  “...”

  Joshua stares into nothing.

  Then down at his cross.

  He gives a gentle ‘tug’ to his link with Jophiel, and he feels another wave of reassurance from her.

  He almost wants to ugh at the absurdity of it.

  The silver cross feels sharp against his fingers, a grounding feeling along his skin.

  He doesn't know if it's even worth it, but he'll find Ace.

  And he'll find a way out of here.