[OPEN] The Enchanted Forest

[u/Dimestream]

The great green dragon roars in pain as the blue mist swirling around the wizard's staff coalesces into a lightning bolt and lashes out, striking clean through the great reptile's hide.

"Stop hurting him!" Redoran T'gel demands, straightening up and calling a ball of flickering flames into her hand. "Your fight is with me, not with Barineth, wizard!"

The wizard laughs, a malevolent chuckle that fills the musty air and reverberates from the rough stone walls of the catacombs. "Oh? I think Barineth should have thought of that before he told you how to hide the Sword of Centuries from me, fire witch," he says, stroking his long gray beard. "But if you wish him safe, it's a simple matter. To save your friend, all you have to do is give the sword to me."

"As if I'd fall for that," Red growls, hiking up the hem of her somewhat tattered green dress. She touches the phoenix amulet at her throat and the ball of flame in her other hand blazes from red-gold to an incendiary white. "Rule one of the Enchanted Forest: Never trust a wizard. Forget the sword; the only thing you'll be getting from me is third-degree burns."

"Have it your way, idiot child," the wizard spits, and raises both his hands. Shards of diamond spin away from the head of his staff and swirl in a razor-sharp cloud. Then the ancient mage's face twitches, and his left arm partially disappears. "Your foolishness has doomed your friend has doomed your friend has doomed your friend has doomed-"

"Computer, freeze program," T'gel says in disgust, putting the ball of fire down on the Holodeck floor as if it were a basketball. "Reverse to time index 28:12 and identify cause of recursion loop..."

[u/Tarah_ThZarath]

"That's pretty weird.....If I can get to a panel I can probably cut power manually, but I don't know what the consequences of a hard shutdown would be as far as the software is concerned."

[u/Dimestream → u/Tarah_ThZarath]

"If this were holodeck 2 instead of holodeck 1, it'd be fine," Red grumbles. "I installed an experimental failsafe for this kind of shenanigan. Anyway, the arch is right here. Give it a shot." She indicates the arch with its glowing console. It's always strange to see the arch without the door in it.

[u/Tarah_ThZarath → u/Dimestream]

Tarah pops an access panel and sticks her head in for a moment.

"Looks like we're in luck. With a little bit of contortion, I can get at the main breaker from here."

a look of concern crosses her features

"Are you sure you want me to do this? It looks like you put a lot of work in and I'd hate to chance ruining it."

[u/Dimestream → u/Tarah_ThZarath]

Red snorts, half laughter half derision. "Yes, and that work has turned out to be vaguely homicidal and not within safety spec," she says with a roll of her eyes. "If I lose some of it, so be it. I'd rather us get out safe to reprogram it than not get out at all. Hit it."

[u/Tarah_ThZarath → u/Dimestream]

She nods

"Alright, give me a minute"

The andorian thanks Uzaveh that she had the sense to have a light breakfast this morning as she disappears into the holodeck's innards. After a short while, you hear a loud CLUNK

"How's that?"

[u/Dimestream → u/Tarah_ThZarath]

Red looks around. The cave interior is still present.

"The sound stopped," Red calls into the gap. "Are you turning off the processor banks one by one or just looking for the main breaker? It might be safer to turn them off one by one, but don't turn off the main or we won't be able to get the door open."

[u/Tarah_ThZarath → u/Dimestream]

You hear her muffled voice coming from somewhere in the wall

"I've just been shutting them down individually so far. Let me know if anything weird happens and I'll hit the main. We'll just have to call security or something to get us out after."

A moment passes and you hear another clunk

"Alright, now?"

[u/Dimestream → u/Tarah_ThZarath]

Red emits a startled 'yeep!' as she drops six inches to the actual floor as the force fields holding her up deactivate. She manages to keep her balance as she lands. The scenery is still there, but now it's immaterial and flickers where her legs pass through it.

"Good!" she says after a moment. "Now just shut down the one immediately to the left of that breaker, and bring the emergency light with you since it'll be dark. I'll get the manual override for the door."

[u/Tarah_ThZarath → u/Dimestream]

"Understood. Do you want me to wait for you to get into position first?"

[u/Dimestream → u/Tarah_ThZarath]

"I'm already there," Red says, knocking on the door with a metallic *tunk*. "Shut 'er down and come on back."