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Encounter Conditions
Etheric
Access via Row After Row Of Cubicles: Hide under a desk or Abandoned Call Station: Dive under a desk
Initial Text
The gap beneath the desk continues, winding further and further downward until you enter into a wider cavern. Ghostly lights cling to the ceiling, giving you just enough to see by.
Glancing around, the oddest feature is probably a set of railroad tracks. They seem wide for a mine cart, but it's possible this used to be some sort of industrial mine.
(Or, after waiting by the tracks twice?)
Mists in the deeper part of the cave almost hide the subway train you know is waiting for you in the depths.
Summary of Choices
- Go exploring - Unlock result in Executive Servers: Crystal Barrier.
- Wait by the tracks - Gain 20 Spectral Curse, allows unlocking the train by Resting
- Rest in the darkness - Gain 20-40 hit points, lose 20 Call Center Alarm
- Plant a spouting seed (with a sprouting seed) - Lose a sprouting seed
- Find a way out - Gain 2 XP Perception
After unlocking the train by losing to Tattered Specter with Spectral Curse active and resting to get special message:
- Head for the engine - Fight Spectral Conductor, or with train conductor hat:
- Push it higher - Go to Executive Floor
- Drag it down - Go to Maintenance Storage
- Attack him instead - Fight 2 Spectral Security and Spectral Conductor
- Leave it be - Walk away
- Search the cars - Fight Spectral Security), or with 1 spectral outfit part:
- Swipe some food - Fight Tattered Specter which can drop ancient licorice, saltine packet, subway soup
- Wire some credits - nothing
- Pay with ancient gold coins (with ancient gold coins) - Gain subway soup, saltine packet, lose coins
- Pay with tarnished coins (with tarnished coins) - Gain subway soup, saltine packet, lose coins
- Pay with old coins (with old coins) - Gain 2-3 subway soup, 4-6 saltine packet, lose coins
- Buy the lot (20 old coins) (with 20 old coins) - Gain cowl of the dead, or with cowl equipped: gain shawl of the dead, lose 20 coins
- Offer an unearthly coin (with unearthly coin) - Fight Tattered Specter which can drop ancient licorice, saltine packet, subway soup
- Leave her be - Walk Away
- Wait for departure - Fight 2 Tattered Specter, or after riding the train, go to Maintenance Storage or Executive Floor
- Explore the cave - Unlock result in Executive Servers: Crystal Barrier.
- Rest in the darkness - Gain 20-40 hit points, lose 20 Call Center Alarm
- Plant a spouting seed (with a sprouting seed) - Lose a sprouting seed
- Find a way out - Gain 2 XP Perception
Choice Text and Results
Go exploring / Explore the cave
Deep in the cavern, you find a shape outlined in the darkness. A monolith with chiseled, crystalline edges looms over you like Midgard Headquarters itself.
Whatever power it might hold, you feel its fear more strongly. It disappears a moment after you set eyes on it, but in that moment you can see a similarly carved stone slab among the refined decorations of an executive office.
(Unlocks special result on the Executive Servers' Crystal Barrier.)
Wait by the tracks
You wait until a bank of mists rolls over the tracks, chilling you to the bone.
The longer you wait, the more it feels like you've made some sort of terrible mistake. Humanoid shapes dance in the mists, taunting you until your patience wears thin.
Even after you leave, however, the chill clings to you.
You've gained 20 duration of Spectral Curse.
Allows unlocking access to the train by resting in the Call Center.
Head for the engine
You pass through the cars, each offering glimpses of grandeur where things haven't completely crumbled. A figure in an old fashioned uniform stands at the engine, turning to look at you as you take a step inside.
Its skeletal jaw opens and a hollow voice echoes through the train. "Not allowed."
You've gained 1 duration of Misty Cabin.
(Fight Spectral Conductor)
Or, with train conductor hat:
You reach the front of the train. A figure in a conductor's uniform nods at you, fading into the background.
A single massive lever promises some semblance of control over the train, although it's hard to say where its track may lead.
Head for the engine » Push it higher
You push forward on the lever and the train begins to move with the slow chugging of steam machinery. Eventually, it picks up speed, moving faster and faster until the train leaves you behind entirely, the mists whipping away to reveal a far nicer set of offices.
(Go to Executive Floor)
Head for the engine » Drag it down
You pull the lever towards you and the train begins to move with the slow chugging of steam machinery. Eventually, it picks up speed, moving faster and faster until the train leaves you behind entirely, the mists whipping away to reveal a dingy maze of storage lockers and exposed wiring.
(Go to Maintenance Storage)
Head for the engine » Attack him instead
The spectral figure wails, a sound eerily like a train whistle echoing deafeningly. Two more figures, these carrying ancient batons, emerge from the mists.
You've gained 1 duration of Misty Cabin.
(Fight 2 Spectral Security and Spectral Conductor. )
Head for the engine » Leave it be
Although the large lever is intrinsically tempting, you manage to resist its sirens call.
Search the cars
You make your way through the cars, getting faint glimpses through the mist of shattered glass, pristine seats, gilded windows, and rotten upholstery. Eventually, a figure approaches through the mist.
Although it's silent in its old fashioned uniform, the way it raised its baton is easily recognizable regardless of the age.
You've gained 1 duration of Misty Cabin.
(Fight Spectral Security)
Or, with at least 1 spectral outfit part equipped:
As you explore the train, you hear a faint metallic squeaking. Although you can't find its source, a few cars later, you hear it again.
Eventually, from the mists emerge a woman pushing a cart scattered with food in antiquated packaging. She doesn't look up at you, her face still concealed by the mists, but she waits patiently for you to make a purchase.
Search the cars » Swipe some food
She shrieks as you reach forward, half-dissolving into the mist along with her cart. Food scatters to the ground as she swoops towards you.
You've gained 1 duration of Misty Cabin.
(Fight Tattered Specter, which can drop: ancient licorice, saltine packet, subway soup)
Search the cars » Wire some credits
You try to wire her some credits, but can't find a connection. She ignores you when you ask about it, walking past your offered comm into the mists.
Search the cars » Pay with ancient gold coins
She accepts your gold coins, offering you soup and crackers in return.
You found: subway soup
You found: saltine packet
(Lose 1 ancient gold coins)
Search the cars » Pay with tarnished coins
She accepts your tarnished coins, offering you soup and crackers in return.
You found: subway soup
You found: saltine packet
(Lose 1 tarnished coins)
Search the cars » Pay with old coins
She accepts your gold coins, offering you a generous helping of soup and several packets of crackers in exchange.
You found: 2-3 cups of subway soup
You found: 4-6 saltine packets
(Lose 1 old coins)
Search the cars » Buy the lot (20 old coins)
She hands you a piece of cloth that looks like a mask. It almost slips through your fingers, like it's made out of cold mist you can barely touch somehow.
You found: cowl of the dead
(Lose 20 old coins)
Or, with a cowl of the dead equipped:
She hands you a piece of cloth large enough to wrap around yourself as a shawl. It almost slips through your fingers, like it's made out of cold mist you can barely touch somehow.
You found: shawl of the dead
(Lose 20 old coins)
Search the cars » Offer an unearthly coin
She shrieks in pain on touching the coin, her form and the cart dissolving into a tattered form. Food scatters to the ground as she swoops towards you.
You've gained 1 duration of Misty Cabin.
(Fight Tattered Specter, which can drop: ancient licorice, saltine packet, subway soup)
Search the cars » Leave her be
She nods and continues her route through the train, periodically pausing as though invisible customers are inspecting her wares.
Wait for departure
The train pulls out with a shriek like the damned but does not pull your forward. As the train disappears like mist blowing off in the wind, two more solid patches of mist seem to cling around you.
(Fight 2 Tattered Specter)
And, if you win:
At least the mists seem to have cleared out a little.
Or, after successfully riding the train, and you last pulled the lever down:
The trains pulls out, rumbling nauseatingly downward. It passes through mists, elaborate train stations, and dingy sewers until it rumbles past you, leaving you behind like it was just a strange dream.
Although the place you've been left is dark and full of humming machinery, it's hard to say if any of it is for a subway line.
(Go to Maintenance Storage)
Or, after successfully riding the train, and you last pulled the lever up:
The trains pulls out, spiraling nauseatingly upward. It passes through countless misty and dark places until you enter a blinding light.
Once your eyes adjust, the train is gone… replaced by a well-appointed office floor.
(Go to Executive Floor)
Rest in the darkness
You rest under the ghostly lights, far from the noise of office life.
You regain 20-40 hit points!
Lose 20 Call Center Alarm
Plant a spouting seed
You bury a sprouting seed beneath the ghostly lights. It takes root easily, spreading vines across the cave.
(Lose 1 sprouting seed)
Note: Kinak has confirmed that, as of 2024, we did not do the thing required at Halloween to unlock vines in the cave here. Possible future content additions will make this possible.
Find a way out
The lights are lovely, but you find your way out as quickly as possible. There's something not right down there.
You search and search, but as the panic threatens to set in, you emerge back into the office… from under a different desk, you note.
You've earned 2 XP in Perception
History
Prior to May 26th, 2025 waiting by the tracks resulted in:
You wait until a bank of mists rolls over the tracks, pierced by a single brilliant light.
Dull rumbles and sharper shrieks echo through the cavern as a massive locomotive tears along the track without even slowing. Humanoid shapes dance through the mist, passing through you as they follow the train.
You're left with a terrible chill.
You've gained 20 duration of Spectral Curse.