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GEK MONOLITHS
PuzzleType: TRA_MON_
Alien: Underling! The Gek First Spawn demand you destroy the weak!
I see a strange vision. A small winged creature lands on the very top of the monolith. Suddenly, its eyes glow red and its head revolves in a full circle. It screams for mercy in an ancient voice that wants itself dead.
The poor animal has clearly broken its neck, but the monolith's power of possession still animates it. I wonder if the right thing would be to shoot it, and put it out of its misery.
{Shoot the creature}
The poor winged creature is no more.
The monolith rewards my actions.
---C_GEKRELIC---
---STD_INC_TRA---
---HEALTHLARGE---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Leave the creature alone.}
The possession ends, and the poor winged creature drops down dead.
All else is silent.
{Locate a Portal}
---REVEAL_PORTAL---
Alien: Beware! Murderous abomination! Do not awake! Terror! Despair!
A strange new reality grips me. The ancient structure swings open to reveal a body encased in ice. It is a patchwork of different body parts. Its ragged beak appears to have been stitched on with animal gut.
A hand-written sign in the language of the ancient traders can be seen above the body's head. A flammable isotope would most likely melt the ice...
{Melt ice}
The creature's eyes flick open. Its hands leap around my throat.
I force it back into the depths of the disapproving Monolith.
---DAMAGESMALL---
---STD_DEC_TRA---
{Leave}
The panel on the Monolith swings shut.
The abomination remains trapped. I am thanked.
---C_GEKRELIC---
---STD_INC_TRA---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Locate a Portal}
---REVEAL_PORTAL---
Alien: Underling! The Gek First Spawn demand help! Give silicate!
I'm inspecting the monolith's surface when, suddenly, a ragged silicon claw grabs me. Despite being broken and fragmented, it holds me tight while an ancient metallic beak emerges from the living rock.
It shouts in an ancient tongue, unaware of who or what I am.
{Give silicate}
The metallic hand releases its grip and grabs at my offering.
I have perhaps appeased an ancient evil...
---C_GEKRELIC---
---STD_INC_TRA---
---HEALTHLARGE---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Smash claw}
I smash the metallic claw into pieces.
---PROD_FUEL---
---STD_DEC_TRA---
{Wait}
The claw grips me tightly. Just when I feel like my forearm will crack into pieces...
...I am released. The pain is agonizing.
---DAMAGESMALL---
{Locate a Portal}
---REVEAL_PORTAL---
Alien: Feed First Spawn beak common oxides! Rare oxide brings painful noise! Furious noise!
A beak emerges from the ancient stone. It's shouting, but can't be heard. In the stone above someone, long ago, has scrawled advice for those who would approach it.
The beak screams wordlessly at me, furiously intoning the words of the ancient beings that once worshipped here. My scanner detects traces of oxides around it, but can't specify which ones.
{Feed beak common oxide}
The beak whispers the words of those who once worshipped here.
---TEACHWORD_TRA---
---TEACHWORD_TRA---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Feed beak uncommon oxide}
The beak shouts the words of those who once worshipped here.
---TEACHWORD_TRA---
---TEACHWORD_TRA---
---C_GEKRELIC---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Feed beak rare oxide}
The beak screams the words of those who once worshipped here.
The noise is extreme. I feel great pain.
---DAMAGESMALL---
---TEACHWORD_TRA---
{Locate a Portal}
---REVEAL_PORTAL---
Alien: ToilGek dare approach First Spawn holy site? Leave! Leave! Depart or die!
I hear a low rumble, which gradually builds into an ancient scream. It's like no other noise I've ever experienced. To this strange alien landscape it's a calm silence, inside my helmet it's a nightmarish cacophony of pain and death.
Through the noise, however, I can make out some words within the screams.
{Touch Monolith}
The vengeful spirits that inhabit this place are grateful for my obedience.
---DAMAGE_TECH---
---DAMAGESMALL---
---STD_DEC_TRA---
{Move away}
The vengeful sprits that inhabit this place punish my disobedience.
---C_GEKRELIC---
---STD_INC_TRA---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Wait}
The vengeful spirits that inhabit this place are grateful for my obedience.
---DAMAGESMALL---
---STD_DEC_TRA---
{Locate a Portal}
---REVEAL_PORTAL---
Alien: The Gek First Spawn destroy the pirate!
A portion of the monolith melts in front of my eyes. The face of a trader emerges, its beak cut off for reasons unknown. It screams and writhes in the bubbling vertical lava, desperately reaching out to me - with a multi-tool in its hand.
Supercooled liquid frenium from my suit systems could relieve its pain, but I can also take a risk and pull it from the molten rock.
{Cool lava}
The relieved ancient trader pushes a gift out towards me.
The lifeform is absorbed back into the rock.
---C_GEKRELIC---
---STD_INC_TRA---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Reach into lava}
I pull the overjoyed trader from the burning lava.
It dematerialises suddenly, leaving only what it carried.
---WEAPON---
---DAMAGELARGE---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Locate a Portal}
---REVEAL_PORTAL---
Alien: Retain foul First Spawn stench! Remove sweet eggs from the spawning syrup!
Reality changes. I'm standing in a crater beneath a jet black sky. I'm up to my knees in a strange syrup that glows pink in the darkness. Spherical eggs float around me. Some of these mucus-covered orbs smell terrible, others are sweet and delicate.
The taint of the foul eggs is infecting the entirety of the spawning pool. I am filled by an urge to separate them.
{Remove noxious eggs from pool}
I have angered the ancients Gek spirits that dwell here.
Reality is restored.
---STD_DEC_TRA---
{Remove sweet-smelling eggs from pool}
I am smiled upon by vengeful ancient spirits.
Reality is restored.
---C_GEKRELIC---
---STD_INC_TRA---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Locate a Portal}
---REVEAL_PORTAL---
Alien: First Spawn... power... low ... give... element... isotope... carbon... plutonium...
The monolith's glyphs take on a faint yellow tinge, then flicker and disappear. It has no power: the mysterious forces that fuel these stones are weak. I hear a faint crackling whisper on the planetary breeze, and I notice a hole in the monument's base.
I could potentially fit some of my mined resources through the gap...
{Insert Isotope element}
I awake this place's vengeful spirits.
They reward me.
---C_GEKRELIC---
---STD_INC_TRA---
---HEALTHLARGE---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Insert Oxide element}
There is silence.
My elements are not returned.
{Insert Silicate element}
There is silence.
My elements are not returned.
{Locate a Portal}
---REVEAL_PORTAL---
Alien: The First Spawn gives help to the worker. The First Spawn destroy the workshy.
The monolith has the smell of burnt metal and heavy industry. Strange runes swirl and transform, forcing an image deep into my mind.
I look into the past. I see a small beaked figure, silhouetted by the light of a forge, industriously hammering armour. Next to it, a cloaked companion idly watches – seemingly content to avoid the work. Both look at me. I must choose.
{Choose the worker}
I have pleased this place's spirits.
My equipment is filled with a strange power.
---SHIELDLARGE---
---REPAIR_TECH---
---C_GEKRELIC---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Choose the onlooker}
I have angered this place's spirits.
My equipment is damaged by a strange force.
---DAMAGE_TECH---
---HAZARDSMALL---
---STD_DEC_TRA---
{Locate a Portal}
---REVEAL_PORTAL---
.png)
#7
Alien: Bathe in our waters. Feel Korvax Echoes calm.
I'm running my fingers over the ancient glowing runes, when I look down. An expanding pool of liquid metal has rippled out of the obelisk's base. My feet have already been covered. In the bright reflection I see my expression turn to horror as I begin to sink.
I feel warming hands on my legs, pulling me down into the silver sheet. Every hazard detection device on my multi-tool is going haywire. Radiation, heat, cold... every danger imaginable.
{Sink}
I emerge from the metal pool in a fetal position. I feel alive and reinvigorated.
Some equipment is repaired and recharged.
---HEALTHLARGE---
---C_KORVAXCASING---
---REPAIR_TECH---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Struggle}
I thrash from side to side in the metal pool.
I am free, but the hazards have taken their toll.
---HAZARDSMALL---
---DAMAGESMALL---
---DAMAGE_TECH---
{Locate a Portal}
---REVEAL_PORTAL---
#9
Alien: Korvax Entities escaped slavery. Korvax Echoes share this knowledge.
Two stone blocks slowly revolve on the base of the monolith. Two beads of red light then trace images on each one. The red lights then pool together and liquefy in an indentation below. The closer I get, the more agitated the red pool becomes.
The images both show masked electronic lifeforms. The first shows the lifeform absorbing power to break free from its shackles. The second shows it hiding from its captors.
{Place hand on the lifeform breaking free}
The red liquid surges into my multi-tool.
It somehow unlocks a technology blueprint.
---TECH_WEAPON---
---STD_INC_EXP---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Place hand on the lifeform taking shelter}
The red liquid surges into my exosuit.
It somehow unlocks a technology blueprint.
---TECH_SUIT---
---STD_INC_EXP---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Locate a Portal}
---REVEAL_PORTAL---
#10
Alien: Korvax Echoes embrace Traveller gift.
A chiselled hole appears at the foot of the obelisk. From its smoothed edges and the scraped markings around it, it's clear that over centuries unknown creatures have pushed elements through this gap.
It's impossible to tell quite what will happen, but below it are three blocks of the exact same dimensions that look like they can be turned by a mechanism deep within the monolith itself. I search my gear for the rare elements that look like they could fit...
{Insert rare isotope}
The monolith somehow transforms my offering.
---C_KORVAXCASING---
---STD_INC_EXP---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Insert rare silicate}
The monolith somehow transforms my offering.
---WEAPON---
---STD_INC_EXP---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Insert rare oxide}
The monolith somehow transforms my offering.
---TECH_ALL---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
---STD_INC_EXP---
{Locate a Portal}
---REVEAL_PORTAL---
#11
Alien: Behold the holy Atlas stone. Avoid contact. Show respect.
The Monolith disappears. The landscape around me seems the same, but somehow the planetary vegetation has moved. Sitting central to where the mysterious stone once stood is a red glowing orb.
The intensity of the orb burns the ground beneath it. It crackles with an unknown power. I feel compelled to pick it up, and become a part of it. A distant voice speaks to me...
{Hold red orb}
The red orb scorches my skin.
I am torn back to my own reality.
---DAMAGESMALL---
---STD_DEC_EXP---
{Stand back}
The red orb convulses, hovers up and plunges into my chest.
I am blessed and rejuvenated. Reality is restored.
---HEALTHLARGE---
---STD_INC_EXP---
---C_KORVAXCASING---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Locate a Portal}
---REVEAL_PORTAL---
#14
Alien: Korvax Echoes request! Traveller! Restore holy casing to Korvax Convergence! Ignore valuable casing! Please!
An empty shell of an electronic lifeform emerges from the monolith. It is ancient and weather-beaten. The light in its mask has been extinguished for many centuries.
It holds a rusted canister in its hand, and my scanner detects that it once held silicates. The scan also reveals an unknown substance deep within the defunct entity's casing.
{Add silicate to canister}
The lights in the mask flicker on. The casing convulses before being absorbed back into the monolith.
I am blessed.
---HEALTHLARGE---
---C_KORVAXCASING---
---STD_INC_EXP---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Open casing}
I crack open the metal casing and retrieve a valuable reward.
A strange feeling of coldness and desolation comes over me as I do so...
---TECH_ALL---
---STD_DEC_EXP---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Locate a Portal}
---REVEAL_PORTAL---
#15
Alien: Overpowered Korvax Echoes subvert reality. Restore order. Remove power. Remove isotope.
The land around me suddenly inverts. My reality is flipped. The inside of the planet is hollow, and I'm standing at the base of its vast bowl. Around me the roots of trees push upwards from uncovered alien soil.
I look down, and see the foundations of the Monolith raised at my feet. Crystalline veins of different elements pulsate through the exposed rock. I hear a lifeform screaming in binary.
{Extract isotopes}
Reality is restored. Inversion ends.
I am thanked.
---SUBST_FUEL---
---C_KORVAXCASING---
---STD_INC_EXP---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Extract silicates}
The inversion gets worse. I feel as if every part of me is fed through itself.
I emerge alive, but broken.
---SUBST_TECH---
---STD_DEC_EXP---
---DAMAGESMALL---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Extract oxides}
The inversion gets worse. I feel as if every part of me is fed through itself.
I emerge alive, but broken.
---SUBST_COMMOD---
---STD_DEC_EXP---
---DAMAGESMALL---
{Locate a Portal}
---REVEAL_PORTAL---
#18
Alien: Traveller. Embrace unknown. Shine light in darkness. Discover galaxy centre.
Stars have aligned above the monolith. In the heavens above two distinct lines of distant suns can be seen stretching out into the depths of space. To be here at this exact moment in time, when the moving parts of the galaxy are aligned so perfectly, would seem almost an impossibility.
I am filled with a strange calm. One line of stars points towards the glow of a dull red giant, the other an unseen point far, far beyond my vision.
{Choose red giant}
The stars seem to move out of alignment.
I am unrewarded, and alone.
{Choose unseen point}
I am blessed with a gift that will aid my journey to this distant, unknown location.
---STD_INC_EXP---
---TECH_SHIP---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Locate a Portal}
---REVEAL_PORTAL---
#19
Alien: Beware! Monolith create dangerous toxins! Poison! Move back!
I feel faint. Ill, even. Looking around, the vegetation that surrounds this ancient structure looks withered and sickly. The creatures of the planet, meanwhile, appear to keep their distance. Environmental warning sensors in my exosuit are behaving erratically.
I could tie some of my Protection Mesh's operations to this place, but it's unclear exactly what. The answer perhaps lies in a warning that's been etched into the stone...
{Reduce monolith's toxicity}
The toxins released by the monolith are temporarily contained.
I am thanked by the planetary overseer.
---TECH_ALL---
---MONEY---
---STD_INC_EXP---
---TEACHWORD_ATLAS---
{Dampen monolith's radiation}
The monolith continues to poison the land around it, and myself.
---DAMAGESMALL---
---STD_DEC_EXP---
{Locate a Portal}
---REVEAL_PORTAL---