On the 27th, after extensive planning by the Tower residents and the chipped-collar units, Aria will lead the infiltration team to the administrative levels via a retrieval unit elevator. After a long ride--half an hour at the least, though it's hard to keep track--the elevator opens into a hallway which seems to absorb extraneous light after a certain distance, leaving the way ahead pitch black.

Aria will remain stationed at the elevator and give a final overview of the plan: Riki's computers must be shut down without detection, and Riki must be drawn out of the machine room once the equipment has been shut off. Only after Riki leaves the room can Aria and her workers secure the machine.

With that, she sends the infiltration team along with a chipped-collar unit. Deviation from the path specified on the map would not be an easy task; the darkness of the corridor is all-consuming, and even light sources created by those with real powers can barely illuminate the immediate area. Thankfully the chipped unit seems to know the area well, and will lead the team through until the hallway begins to illuminate again.

The chipped unit will not accompany them any further, but the rest of the trek is a short, straight shot to the machine room, and the administrator working within.

Hopefully the time spent planning will pay off.


Meanwhile, the conditions in the residential levels of the Tower continue to deteriorate. Once the monsters have all vanished from the Tower, a profound exhaustion starts to set into the residents. Their energy continues to drain throughout the week, worsening by the day.

But even sleep doesn't offer any respite from the exhaustion--nightmares plague even the most peaceful of sleepers, assaulting them with abstractions that feel representative of fear itself. Later in the week, these horrors begin to bleed into a character's waking world, manifesting as hallucinations. It may be the feeling of always being watched, or the sensation of something crawling beneath the skin, or a flash every now and then that warps the very walls and floors beneath your feet. Whatever form it takes, it always feels somehow beyond the reach of understanding--uncomprehensible, and terrifying for its obscurity.

There are certain areas that worsen the nightmarish visions and increase the frequency at which they are experienced. Floors sixteen, twenty-six, forty-three, forty-four, fifty-six, and fifty-nine will all exacerbate the condititions of the player characters. The exhaustion worsens on these floors, as well, to the point where it almost seems possible to feel the life draining from your body.

Surely there must be some underlying cause? Because at this rate, it seems likely that you could collapse at any minute...

If the player characters do not determine what is causing them to weaken, they will eventually die of exhaustion, with characters who spend more time on afflicted floors succumbing more quickly to their fatigue. Characters who die as a result of the exhaustion will not be revived until the beginning of May.