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- Jul 6, 2008
- Messages
- 11,370
A lock pick.
The padlock you are dealing with is not complicated. You should be able to fashion a lockpick from items you can find in the hospital. Thinking that there won’t be any need to venture far, you descend to the sixth floor to begin your search.
Still, it does bother you that you possess this knowledge. There is little you remember about yourself – you recall, vaguely, that there was a period of time where you were surrounded by books, but you can’t reconcile that faint memory with the ability to pick a lock. What were you? It would indeed be slightly distressing to discover that you had been a thief of some sort. You settle for the more comforting possibility that you are a locksmith by trade.
The sixth floor is as deserted as the rest of the hospital – somehow, it does not surprise you. The things that you need can most likely be found in a surgical ward or some similar room. Luckily enough, it does not take you long to find one.
track: room
The room has multiple trolleys and medical equipment. As you walk into the room, you notice something odd lying half-hidden behind a blue privacy screen. It’s a black object… a plastic bag? No, it’s a rather large garbage bag. You frown. It feels rather strange for hospital staff to leave a bag like that lying around. Wouldn’t it be considered unhygienic? Still, the bag is none of your concern. Turning towards the metal trolleys, you open the drawers with a softly muttered apology to the hospital for, well, stealing their instruments.
Alright, I can work with this.
You get what you need in the second drawer. A pair of fine forceps and a surgical clamp. Levering the instruments in your hands, you bend and twist them until you shape the stainless metal into something that can be used as a general purpose lock pick. For just a second, you do wonder: does it mean anything that you are familiar enough with hospital equipment to manipulate them for other uses? The thought brings about a sense of dissonance that passes quickly, as you focus on your work.
You hold up your new pick to the harsh fluorescent lights. A small sense of self-satisfaction passes over you, but it is quickly interrupted by the small, rustling noise of plastic.
The… garbage?
The lights blink. You whip around to face the source of the noise, and see a pale white hand reaching out for you. Startled, you fall back with a shriek of fear, your arms raised instinctively to ward off whatever it is that is coming for you. The unpleasant surprise causes you to lose your balance and snag yourself on the trolleys. You fall, bringing down the trolleys and the medical equipment mounted on them with a loud crash.
It takes a few seconds of you looking around wildly to realize that nothing else is going to happen. In fact, there is no garbage bag at all. You shake your head in confusion. Did you hallucinate it all? You get up hurriedly and leave the room while checking yourself for injury. You appear to be perfectly fine, except for a small, dark bruise on your forearm that you must have gotten when you fell.
As you walk down the empty hallways, however, you can’t help but feel as if there is an extra footstep shadowing yours.
***
Returning to the door, you twirl the lock pick in your hand while examining the padlock intently.
It shouldn’t take long.
You have bent one of the forceps to serve as the torsion wrench – sliding it into the bottom of the lock, you give it a twist to confirm the direction of the turn. Next, you insert the pick into the keyhole, gently searching for the pins that you are supposed to push. With this sort of lock, there should be five of them.
Click. That’s the first one raised. You repeat the process again, and the remaining four follow shortly after. You turn the forceps, releasing the padlock. Finally, you have access to the rooftop. Removing the padlock, you lock it again with the hasp released, push the door open and walk out.
track: courtyard
The first thing that hits you is how cold it is. Winter is coming. The wind is strong and you are dressed rather thinly. Shivering, you make your way across the flat roof. A light fog seems to have moved in – still, you are able to make out the lights of the city in the distance, and the moon and stars are dazzling in the night sky.
Strangely, there is a faint, rotting smell in the air. The stale hospital air did not agree with you, but you can’t really say that this is an improvement. Looking around, you note four other buildings besides this one. It looks like they are connected through short, covered walkways; from here, you can see two corridors leading to the adjacent buildings. The one on your left is lower, and leads to a large, round structure, while the one of the right is higher up and goes to a block not unlike the one you are currently on. The buildings are arranged so that they surround a large central courtyard, lit up by small yellow lamps.
After spending a while on the rooftop, it doesn’t seem like there’s anything else to do up here. You turn around to leave.
The door is closed.
Perhaps the wind blew it shut. Grabbing the knob, you turn and pull.
It’s locked.
You do remember locking the padlock before coming out here, so someone must have opened it up and locked the door again.
“Hello?” you call out, knocking on the door half-politely, half-fearfully. “Is anyone there? I’m still up here!” Your words are almost swallowed up by the wind. There is no response. Even after what must be minutes of calling for help, there is no sign of the door opening. You look around the rooftop again.
If you aren’t a locksmith, but a thief after all… maybe you are good at climbing?
***
00:30
A. The front-facing part of the building is too difficult to shimmy down especially in these windy conditions; you try your luck in getting down from the walls facing the central courtyard.
B. You try to drop onto the covered walkway to the building on your left and crawl your way across.
C. You try to drop onto the covered walkway to the building on your right and crawl your way across.
D. It’s just too risky. You would rather sit tight and wait for someone to come. If you fall, you aren’t getting away with any light injuries.
The padlock you are dealing with is not complicated. You should be able to fashion a lockpick from items you can find in the hospital. Thinking that there won’t be any need to venture far, you descend to the sixth floor to begin your search.
Still, it does bother you that you possess this knowledge. There is little you remember about yourself – you recall, vaguely, that there was a period of time where you were surrounded by books, but you can’t reconcile that faint memory with the ability to pick a lock. What were you? It would indeed be slightly distressing to discover that you had been a thief of some sort. You settle for the more comforting possibility that you are a locksmith by trade.
The sixth floor is as deserted as the rest of the hospital – somehow, it does not surprise you. The things that you need can most likely be found in a surgical ward or some similar room. Luckily enough, it does not take you long to find one.
track: room
The room has multiple trolleys and medical equipment. As you walk into the room, you notice something odd lying half-hidden behind a blue privacy screen. It’s a black object… a plastic bag? No, it’s a rather large garbage bag. You frown. It feels rather strange for hospital staff to leave a bag like that lying around. Wouldn’t it be considered unhygienic? Still, the bag is none of your concern. Turning towards the metal trolleys, you open the drawers with a softly muttered apology to the hospital for, well, stealing their instruments.
Alright, I can work with this.
You get what you need in the second drawer. A pair of fine forceps and a surgical clamp. Levering the instruments in your hands, you bend and twist them until you shape the stainless metal into something that can be used as a general purpose lock pick. For just a second, you do wonder: does it mean anything that you are familiar enough with hospital equipment to manipulate them for other uses? The thought brings about a sense of dissonance that passes quickly, as you focus on your work.
You hold up your new pick to the harsh fluorescent lights. A small sense of self-satisfaction passes over you, but it is quickly interrupted by the small, rustling noise of plastic.
The… garbage?
The lights blink. You whip around to face the source of the noise, and see a pale white hand reaching out for you. Startled, you fall back with a shriek of fear, your arms raised instinctively to ward off whatever it is that is coming for you. The unpleasant surprise causes you to lose your balance and snag yourself on the trolleys. You fall, bringing down the trolleys and the medical equipment mounted on them with a loud crash.
It takes a few seconds of you looking around wildly to realize that nothing else is going to happen. In fact, there is no garbage bag at all. You shake your head in confusion. Did you hallucinate it all? You get up hurriedly and leave the room while checking yourself for injury. You appear to be perfectly fine, except for a small, dark bruise on your forearm that you must have gotten when you fell.
As you walk down the empty hallways, however, you can’t help but feel as if there is an extra footstep shadowing yours.
***
Returning to the door, you twirl the lock pick in your hand while examining the padlock intently.
It shouldn’t take long.
You have bent one of the forceps to serve as the torsion wrench – sliding it into the bottom of the lock, you give it a twist to confirm the direction of the turn. Next, you insert the pick into the keyhole, gently searching for the pins that you are supposed to push. With this sort of lock, there should be five of them.
Click. That’s the first one raised. You repeat the process again, and the remaining four follow shortly after. You turn the forceps, releasing the padlock. Finally, you have access to the rooftop. Removing the padlock, you lock it again with the hasp released, push the door open and walk out.
track: courtyard
The first thing that hits you is how cold it is. Winter is coming. The wind is strong and you are dressed rather thinly. Shivering, you make your way across the flat roof. A light fog seems to have moved in – still, you are able to make out the lights of the city in the distance, and the moon and stars are dazzling in the night sky.
Strangely, there is a faint, rotting smell in the air. The stale hospital air did not agree with you, but you can’t really say that this is an improvement. Looking around, you note four other buildings besides this one. It looks like they are connected through short, covered walkways; from here, you can see two corridors leading to the adjacent buildings. The one on your left is lower, and leads to a large, round structure, while the one of the right is higher up and goes to a block not unlike the one you are currently on. The buildings are arranged so that they surround a large central courtyard, lit up by small yellow lamps.
After spending a while on the rooftop, it doesn’t seem like there’s anything else to do up here. You turn around to leave.
The door is closed.
Perhaps the wind blew it shut. Grabbing the knob, you turn and pull.
It’s locked.
You do remember locking the padlock before coming out here, so someone must have opened it up and locked the door again.
“Hello?” you call out, knocking on the door half-politely, half-fearfully. “Is anyone there? I’m still up here!” Your words are almost swallowed up by the wind. There is no response. Even after what must be minutes of calling for help, there is no sign of the door opening. You look around the rooftop again.
If you aren’t a locksmith, but a thief after all… maybe you are good at climbing?
***
00:30
A. The front-facing part of the building is too difficult to shimmy down especially in these windy conditions; you try your luck in getting down from the walls facing the central courtyard.
B. You try to drop onto the covered walkway to the building on your left and crawl your way across.
C. You try to drop onto the covered walkway to the building on your right and crawl your way across.
D. It’s just too risky. You would rather sit tight and wait for someone to come. If you fall, you aren’t getting away with any light injuries.
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