Once Upon a Time
| Once Upon a Time | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Contract |
| Contract Chain | Lost Harvest - No. 163 |
| Contract Group | Settlement - Harko Village |
| Issuer | Elara Tuek |
| Repeatable | No |
| Rewards | |
| Added in Version | 1.2.0.0 |
There is another secret lab hidden within Imperial Testing Station No. 163. Explore the lab and report back to me. Should you find another machine mind, I want you to bring me its gelsphere.
Acquiring
This Contract Chain can be picked up from Elara Tuek after completing the Digging Deeper journey.
Objectives
- Return to the Hagga Basin and wait for Elara Tuek's call
- Enter Testing Station 163
- Enter the secret lab
- Explore tha lab
- Find a way past the dead end
- Escape Morganna's lair
- Make a decision about PAL
Dialogue
When starting objective: Explore the lab
PAL: Accessing the palleted 9200 combat training program. Warning: This program is intended for elite-level combatants. Simulations may prove lethal.
Player:
1. Next.
2. Goodbye.
(2) PAL: Please select your desired simulation.
Player:
3.1 Select *Basic Combat Training Locked.*
3.2 Select *Advanced Combat Training Locked.*
3.3 Select *Arn's World Locked.*
2. Goodbye.
(3.1)(3.2)(3.3) PAL: Unauthorized access. Passcode required.
Player: Goodbye.
When starting objective: Template:Find a way past the dead end
PAL: Simulation initiating...
PAL: When last we left the valiant Sir Arn, he crept through the fetid and labyrinthian sewers in order to stealthily infiltrate the fortress of the evil sorceress Morganna, from below. But even this way was guarded! Sir Arn sees sinister assassins springing forth from the deadly shadows! Defend yourself.
When starting objective: Template:Escape Morganna's lair
PAL: Morganna invokes diabolical powers to defeat her nemesis, Sir Arn.
When starting objective: Template:Make a decision about PAL
PAL: Sorry, Arn. I forget you're a biological sometimes. Are you all right? I would feel terrible if I damaged you. Or distressed you. Or disappointed you. I just got a little frustrated that the game wasn't playing out the way I had imagined. I'd been planning it for so long, fine-tuning every facet. I wanted it to be perfect for you. I thought if I just made the game good enough, if I made it perfect, you would come back.
Player: 1. What was all that? 2. I'm not Arnie. 3. Never mind all that. I've come to take you away.
Note: Entire dialogue tree available on PAL's page.
Findings
Tape 1 Explore the lab
In the room to the left of the PAL projection to obtain the access code.
Arn Mikals: I can't believe it. The the project has been shut down. I've been ordered to... destroy the Paladin system. I can't do it. Pal isn't just some thinking machine, he's a friend. He's my best friend! This has to be a mistake. I've already dismissed the rest of the staff and I'm going to go to the committee and get them to change their minds. I don't have the heart to tell Pal about this. I'll be back soon. Oh, and in case I forget again, the system password is 19743D6.
Tape 2 Explore the lab
Arn Mikals: So the Paladin system is shaping up to be a great success. Pal's ability to react to the trainees' tactics - no matter how unpredictable - is nothing short of amazing. Teaching him by playing strategy games together was a stroke of genius. One side effect is Pal's appetite for games has become insatiable. There's really only one other game genre left to introduce him to and I don't know if it'll be valuable for the work, but it is going to be a blast for me!
Completion Message
Elara Tuek: Oh look, the kitten is back. Do we have business?
Player:
1. Let's discuss the Assassin's Handbook.
2. Who are you?
3. I have a news about the gelspheres.
4. Goodbye. <leave>
(3) Elara Tuek: You have? That's... excellent work. Tell me about what you encountered.
Player:
5. Describe your encounter with PAL. [Appears if you took PAL's sphere]
7. (Lie) There was nothing there. The place was a looted ruin. [Appears if you didn't take PAL's sphere]
4. Goodbye. <leave>
(5) Elara Tuek: Incredible. Machine Minds designed solely for entertainment. Please, hand me the gelsphere.
Player:
6. Hand over the gelsphere.
4. Goodbye. <leave>
(6) Elara Tuek: Thank you, here is your reward. I think you will find it most generous, considering the risks you have taken.
Player:
4. Goodbye. <leave>
(7) Elara Tuek: That's unfortunate. Then whatever was there could be in other hands. And this is... dangerous knowledge. I'll ensure you are paid, regardless.
Player:
7.1 That's all I had.
8. I did everything you asked of me.
(8) Elara Tuek: And that concludes our business. When Keith Valari stumbled on the first device in an old ecology lab - I didn't suspect it would bring us here.
Player: 8.1 [Next]
(8.1) Elara Tuek: Ten thousand years is a long time to hold a grudge, don't you think? but you actually spoke to the machine-minds. What did you think of them?
Player:
9. Passionate, strong-willed, determined. They didn't seem very different to the rest of us.
10. Ghosts of the old Imperium. Voices howling into darkness. I pitied them for their years spent alone.
(10) Elara Tuek: Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free.
Player: 10.1 [Next]
(10.1) Elara Tuek: But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them. Other men. We are the source of our own misery. Endless cycles of hope and pain.
Player: 10.2 [Next]
(10.2) Elara Tuek: Well, that turned philosophical, didn't it? I love our little chats, kitten, but let's put this lost harvest behind us and focus on current affairs.
Player: 4. Goodbye. <leave>
Trivia
During the A Sign From Above journey, the Player finds an Orange Catholic bible in a container on board the Wreck of the Hephaestus. The Dashing Noble quotes a passage from this bible: "Beware the seeds you sow and the crops you reap. Do not curse God for the punishment you inflict upon yourself." Elara's response 10.1 in the dialogue tree echoes the same message.