Located deep within Tolkin's memory banks is a single, heavily encrypted file. Should anyone with the knowhow somehow find Tolkin's dead body in the case of his unfortunate death, this is all you get to start you on a galaxy-wide treasure hunt. Upon activating and decrpyting the file, whoever views it would be met with the following. "Recording starts...now." Is said by an offscreen, deeply slavic voice. The video starts facing adjacent to a robot consisting of a smooth, chrome chassis, a featureless, skull-like face, and yellow eyes. They sit idly in what appears to be an industrial building adorned with deep orange accents and gunmetal grey walls. Adjusting themselves in the seat, the robot speaks. "To whoever views this file, or finds it, you have discovered the body of...well, me. Though I may not look it, I am Tobias Theodore Tolkin the Fourth, son to Tobias Tolkin the Third, and Meredith Pazdaricci. I'm making this because as both me and my associate, Vasily Soosnekev, have learned...nobody lives forever. Converting my intelligence to a semi-artificial state has extended my life from hours to decades, at the cost of losing what little humanity has survived the destruction of my body at the hands of...that creature." The robot holds up a picture of a human man, looking to be exceptionally old, with long grey hair, a scruffy grey beard, and opaque goggles. "As you can see, I bear little resemblance now to who I used to be. This is by choice." The robot speaks with deep punctuation, wasting no time in providing information to the viewer. They clearly have a tendency to leave all beating around the bush for those who have time for it. "As far as I am concerned, and I only concern myself with brutal facts, I'm not even half of the man I used to be, and I fear that this will only get worse with time. So, there's no point in hanging onto the scraps of what was, and instead, we should continue to look forward in time to what we will become." "Several days before this recording, I was rushed off of our home planet, Earth, after sustaining critical injuries from an otherworldly entity that many have started to relate to old gods from century-old works of fiction. Medical supplies were limited, and as you can see, this has required us to resort to drastic measures. I control this body remotely from a secure location upon my mining and research rig in a private sector of space that I will not be revealing in this log. Though limited in range, this allows me to continue my movements about the mining rig and keep things operational, while also delving into my own experiments with robotics and engineering. Before the attack, my company was the shining star of the eastern seaboard and abroad, but as with all things on the planet, my legacy has been smashed to pieces. I'm not bitter, I'm simply thankful to be given the chance to leave something behind." The robot reaches down, off camera, and brings up a large lockbox. "Now...contained within this box are my old schematics for many designs I've worked on over the years. You won't find anything like this out in the galaxy, I know that for certain. I'll leave the surprise up to those who actually manage to find them at the coordinates on the starchart I will list at the end of this." "Also located inside are several old pieces of Earth media from the late 20th to early 21st century. I'm a big fan of the classics, and I hope that whoever finds these will make sure that these works circulate all over the galaxy for those who enjoy watching a proper piece of history." "Finally, for those who seek to gain tangible wealth from this...treasure hunt, of sorts, worry not, there's more here than old movies and scribblings of a dying man." "1 billion pixels. Naturally, this is in a digital account, but I've made sure that all the information needed to access it is locked up tight in here, so there are no cases of writing smudging and ruining your chances at a fortune." "Oh, also, as it probably goes without saying, you're entitled to whatever I have on my own person, as long as it doesn't seem like...anyone else is going to miss it." The robot breaks eye contact from the camera for a moment, seemingly growing somber. "...As smart as I am, I can't plan the future, but I can at least provide an accurate hypothesis as to where I see myself in nth amount of years. Mental degradation and aging are inescapable, and it's hard to tell how much of myself will actually survive a full mind transfer into this body if the situation ever requires it, so the man you see here, talking to you, viewer, will not be the man you meet. All I truly ask is that you forgive the mistakes of a dying psyche trapped in whatever body I move to after this one fails to survive long enough to keep moving." "I can't explain it, this urge to push forward with no real reason as to why, other than I just feel that I need to survive. Maybe I just wish to survive long enough to pass something on that can help someone. I'm not a violent man, nor a vindictive one. What motivated me to push my mental limits was the simple urge to expand what we understand in the universe rather than sit in the dark with the unknown until we're all driven mad." "I'm sorry for my tangent there, I feel that you've heard me talk philosophy long enough. Now for the crucial information." Tobias lists off information as to where this treasure will be buried, and the coordinates on the galaxy map they can be found. "Now, naturally, as I hold it, it's not buried yet, but I'll be sending my right-hand and his son to go and make sure it's all squared away when we're done here." The robot stands up from their seat, ushering over the man behind the camera, and presumably, his young son. They all pose in front of the camera, the young man sporting a happy grin, and the father, with his long black beard, also sporting one. When the pose is finished, the two step back off to their place behind the camera. "As odd of a name as Soosnekev is, I trust these two with my life, and they with mine. Vasily is a good man, and I hope that his son, Vadim, grows to be just like his father. If you find me out there, expect a Soosnekev to be close by in some way or form, making sure this doesn't stay hidden forever. We've helped each other out of some bad situations in the past.." The robot holds his hands together, clasped in front of his torso. "...By now you've probably closed this, since you've gotten the information you want, but if you haven't, I'll leave you with some positive words and a proper goodbye." "No matter how bad the world gets, keep ambition and morale high in your heart. Never let the world tear you to pieces, focus on you. Focus on your world, and protect it. No matter how much you change on the outside, or even on the inside, you will still be you." Tolkin sits down in the chair one last time, nodding to the camera. "Goodbye, Milky Way, and good luck. My heartfelt wishes go out to all of you." And just like that, Tobias Tolkin is gone, left as an echo in a recording from decades past. With the power to find that treasure, what will you do now?
As a proper OOC note, this isn't a public entry, and this isn't an open invitation to just kill Tolkin on sight to get this. There's no prior IC knowledge about this treasure, period. It's only ever been mentioned in the past by me offhandedly and as a half-joke from when I used to spitball ideas for Tolkin at the wall and see what would stick. If one of you just shows up to TolkinBurger and tries to cap Tolkin with no reasoning, I'll make sure that you don't get that treasure and that staff hears about it.
