Post by: Corsair on May 02, 2015, 05:47:32 am
Spoiler: Acknowledgements (click to show/hide)
You are a citizen of this planet, and by extension, the New Earth Empire. Your precious little colony is about to wallow in a tide of blood.
You see, that orbital battle? You guys lost. You guys lost hard. In record time. That's the price you pay for focusing more on terrestrial combat. So now, you ought to go cower in the mud, waiting for the orbital bombardment to put you out of your misery. Only, in this duet of disappointment and dissatisfaction, that won't be happening. Colonies are expensive, and whilst the System League has cash to burn, the only really valuable content of Arietis IV is the colony.
So, they're not going to just merrily pummel you all to dust, oh no, they're going to march in there, kill anyone who resists, kill a few more people because their recruits have no idea what the fuck they're doing and then annex the whole establishment, which probably involves killing a few thousand more people. Now, the NEE knows this, that's why they pulled out of orbit after all - to move onto more advantageous battlefields, or at least you hope so.
The stage is set for bloodshed, and that's before Dead Hand gets involved. And Vestige. And The Loremaster Consoritum. And the plague of invading aliens. And whatever other faction of murderous assholes that may or may not decide to suddenly exist just to screw you over.
Welcome to the clusterfuck you call a war.
Try not to die.
Spoiler: Starting Options (click to show/hide)
Code: (Character Sheet) [Select]
Name: Your legal name, not your nickname or whatever your online dating profile says
Handler (if any): Choose between SOTERIOLOGIST, RED_QUEEN,JUS_AD_BELLUM, SMOTHERED_MATE, MALEBRANCHE, TZINACAN, DECOHERENT, and SCHROEDINBUG
Faction:
Role:
External Statistics: Please distribute 15 points
Static Defense: Intercepting incoming attacks using an implement
Mobile Defense: Evading incoming attacks through action film stunts
Liminary Targeting: Hitting with melee attacks and spells that instantly appear in an area
Unbound Targeting: Hitting with ranged attacks and spells that need to travel to their target
Internal Statistics: Please distribute 21 points
Compatibility: Successfully casting spells, casting larger spells, casting stronger spells
Transcendence: Using and/or surviving dangerous supernatural stuff, not going insane
Quote from: The Grimoire
Spoiler: Part I (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Part II (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Part III (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Part IV (click to show/hide)
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Post by: Dbuhos on May 02, 2015, 06:55:41 am
Quote
Name: Elias Newman
Starting Area: Military Base
Starting Weapon: IW05-ALCYONE
Starting Extra: AF01-PHAROH
External Statistics:
Static Defense: 3
Mobile Defense: 3
Liminary Targeting: 5
Unbound Targeting: 4
Internal Statistics:
Compatibility: 8
Transcendence: 7
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 02, 2015, 07:01:46 am
Name: James Heign
Starting Area: Maintenance Facility
Starting Weapon: Fire Axe
Starting Extra: I waive my right to an extra in exchange for an antique music player called an "iPod".
Static Defense: 3
Mobile Defense: 3
Liminary Targeting: 6
Unbound Targeting: 3
Compatibility: 10
Transcendence: 5
Ninjas.
Post by: Hawk132 on May 02, 2015, 07:18:52 am
Spoiler: Sheet (click to show/hide)
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 02, 2015, 07:20:25 am
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 02, 2015, 07:20:53 am
Starting Area: Maintenance Facility
Starting Weapon: Plasma Torch
Starting Extra: AF02 Assembly
Static Defense: 2
Mobile Defense: 5
Liminary Targeting: 1
Unbound Targeting: 6
Internal Statistics: Please distribute 15 points
Compatibility: 5
Transcendence: 10
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 02, 2015, 07:22:11 am
Post by: Sarrak on May 02, 2015, 08:44:50 am
Starting Area: Colony center
Starting Weapon: Automatic Knife
Starting Extra: Strange Syringe
External Statistics:
Static Defense: 1
Mobile Defense: 7
Liminary Targeting: 6
Unbound Targeting: 1
Internal Statistics:
Compatibility: 5
Transcendence: 10
Post by: Pencil_Art on May 02, 2015, 09:11:16 am
Starting Area: Maintenance Facility
Starting Weapon: Plasma Torch
Starting Extra: AF02 Assembly
External Statistics:
Static Defense: 2
Mobile Defense: 6
Liminary Targeting: 3
Unbound Targeting: 4
Internal Statistics:
Compatibility: 6
Transcendence: 9
Post by: NAV on May 02, 2015, 11:20:15 am
Quote
Name: Hobart Weinreb
Starting Area: Colony Center
Starting Weapon: Revolver
Starting Extra: Mysterious Matchbox
External Statistics: Please distribute 15 points
Static Defense: 2
Mobile Defense: 6
Liminary Targeting: 1
Unbound Targeting: 6
Internal Statistics: Please distribute 15 points
Compatibility: 7
Transcendence: 8
Post by: Shaporia on May 02, 2015, 12:23:29 pm
Starting Area: Maintenance Facility
Starting Weapon: Fire Extinguisher
Starting Extra: Flight Systems Workshop
External Statistics:
Static Defense: 3
Mobile Defense: 4
Liminary Targeting: 6
Unbound Targeting: 2
Internal Statistics:
Compatibility: 7
Transcendence: 8
Post by: Nidilap on May 02, 2015, 01:25:34 pm
Starting Area: Colonial Center
Starting Weapon: Assault Rifle
Starting Extra: Dual plasma pistols
External Statistics: Please distribute 15 points
Static Defense:1
Mobile Defense: 6
Liminary Targeting: 2
Unbound Targeting: 6
Internal Statistics: Please distribute 15 points
Compatibility: 0
Transcendence: 15
Post by: Corsair on May 02, 2015, 04:47:03 pm
Name: Lemmy HeinattUh the weapons are limited by starting area so you can only get proper guns at the military base (Which is also more dangerous thus meaning said guns are needed). Also dual plasma pistols can be your extra if you want (also anyone else may request a nonstandard extra I reserve the right to say no), but they would be similar to the 092AIAR range-wise and likely have been looted from an earlier skirmish.
Starting Area: Colonial Center
Starting Weapon: Assault Rifle
Starting Extra: Dual plasma pistols
External Statistics: Please distribute 15 points
Static Defense:1
Mobile Defense: 6
Liminary Targeting: 2
Unbound Targeting: 6
Internal Statistics: Please distribute 15 points
Compatibility: 0
Transcendence: 15
Post by: Nidilap on May 02, 2015, 05:07:53 pm
Name: Lemmy HeinattUh the weapons are limited by starting area so you can only get proper guns at the military base (Which is also more dangerous thus meaning said guns are needed). Also dual plasma pistols can be your extra if you want (also anyone else may request a nonstandard extra I reserve the right to say no), but they would be similar to the 092AIAR range-wise and likely have been looted from an earlier skirmish.
Starting Area: Colonial Center
Starting Weapon: Assault Rifle
Starting Extra: Dual plasma pistols
External Statistics: Please distribute 15 points
Static Defense:1
Mobile Defense: 6
Liminary Targeting: 2
Unbound Targeting: 6
Internal Statistics: Please distribute 15 points
Compatibility: 0
Transcendence: 15
Well, sure then. To all of that. Yep. Totally.
Post by: Hawk132 on May 02, 2015, 05:13:46 pm
Post by: Beirus on May 02, 2015, 07:48:14 pm
Post by: Corsair on May 02, 2015, 08:04:05 pm
Will post a thing when I get out of work. Did you save me a spot, Corsair?Yeah spot saved for you and Shaporia as per requests from each of you. Once your sheet is in I will make a big post explaining the game and calling the first round of actions.
Post by: Beirus on May 02, 2015, 09:27:27 pm
Post by: Shaporia on May 02, 2015, 10:48:34 pm
Thanks for savin' me a spot man ^.^Will post a thing when I get out of work. Did you save me a spot, Corsair?Yeah spot saved for you and Shaporia as per requests from each of you. Once your sheet is in I will make a big post explaining the game and calling the first round of actions.
Post by: Beirus on May 03, 2015, 02:30:18 am
Spoiler: Deploying anti-~ field:₩₩₩₩₩₩ (click to show/hide)
Post by: Corsair on May 03, 2015, 04:59:48 am
- Shaporia
- Beirus
- Dbuhos
- FallacyofUrist
- Hawk
- AoshimaMichio
How turns will work:
- A dice pool system will be used for stats. A number of (simulated) dice, equal to the points in a stat are rolled. For each die, a 1 subtracts 1 from the score, a 4 or 5 adds 1, and a 6 adds 2. External stat scores are relative, meaning they will be compared to the score of the opponent. Internal stat scores are absolute, meaning they will be compared to fixed scales. We will show the score, not the individual die.
- You may cast a maximum of 2 spells per turn allocating an amount of Compatibility to each. If your score is less than half the required score, bad things happen. Like accidentally transmuting your lungs into kittens. The score cost of words vary, and a spell's cost will only be shown should it be successful.
- Combat runs on an Action-Reaction basis. You get to make actions to react against enemy attacks, and do whatever it is you wish to do. Note that you will only get one action and one reaction regardless of how many enemies there are.
- Before we let anyone who applies run loose with total abandon. There will first be 6 players for a couple of turns in order to set up whatever semblance of a plot we have and in order to deal with administrative tasks such as ensuring the viral drug bear assassins aren't going to kill everyone and ruin everything forever. Then the player cap will be raised to 10. This cap will continue to rise as we automate more and more of the tasks we need to do (so basically programming a spell translators, figuring out a way to generate areas, etc).
Here are the starting positions, post yer actions people!
Maintenance
- Mikako: Flight Systems Workshop: You walk into your cubicle this morning tired as usual, the mechanical arms continue to whirr overhead and the occasional curse can be heard from another cubicle somewhere. The cubicles themselves are accessed through a long enclosed hallway. Work has been merciless with the conflict, engines and thrusters blown to hell beyond repair expected to be fixed in half the time it would take with just half of the damage they actually have with the minimal cost. Today as you enter the soot stained walls of your cubicle; a half finished LUPUS engine array dangles there teasing you with its unfinished state. By the tumbled array of tools and engine parts that covers your desk like a miniature mountain range is a single metal box. The box is rectangular and the size of a thick textbook, its surface is silver with iridescent swirling patterns it bears a small yellow sticker indicating that it arrived 10 seconds ago by mechanical arm delivery the item section names it "*****".
- Ao Shi: AF02 Assembly: Today was a normal day until now, continuing your work on an old LATRANS horrifically abused by both pilot and enemy. After hours of labor by 6 engineers it has been deconstructed down to the basics that still work to any degree; coolant, generator, alcubierre capacitor [which is plastered with more warning signs than a nuclear warhead] and a cockpit surrounded by wiring and metal. Guides of thin metal with wires in side run out to where the right arm and two legs would be if they were still there. The armour also needs to be replaced. But now you just received package containing a box the size of a thick textbook which appears to be silver and covered in swirling iridescent patterns the courier receipt indicates that it is "Fragile Machine Components".
- James Heign: Cafeteria: Now is your lunch off from general maintenance-maintenance (The irony of being a maintenance worker to fix a maintenance facility is not lost on you) and you are currently enjoying lunch listening to your "i-pod", the room is full of tables and chairs although few are occupied and the kitchen is running on robots only resulting in meals that are nutritious but not especially interesting, while eating you feel thud and see a package wrapped in black paper on your table. Inside is a silver box the size of a thick textbook with iridescent swirling patterns over the surface. It feels surprisingly heavy like how a piece of iron or lead seems "too heavy" for it's size.
Military Base
- Elias Newman/Berius: AF-01 Pharoah: Holding your yellow assignment sheet with one hand and a bulky armoured helmet in the other you both arrive in the hangar, proudly wearing your armoured pilot suits, the gold stripe on the black and grey uniform illustrating your ranks as frame test pilot. Scattered around are a multitude of people going about their jobs busily, pilots move to frames leading them out laden with soldiers hanging on the back armed with varied weapons. Others laze around or duel with flexible resin rods. You ignore the traditional chaos and move to your assigned bays - 03-5 and 6. You retract the blast doors and see the Pharaoh; A machine with the classic bulky silhouette of a Lupus although with slightly heavier arms. On the back you see the heavy main gun currently inoperative and limp. When you enter the cockpit aside from you chosen sidearm is a silver box the size of a thick textbook with iridescent swirling patterns over the surface.
- Edward Whitmore: AF-01 Lupus: You wake up in your Lupus cockpit after a night of heavy fighting in section M-03-lambda, stiff and sore from the chair. Stifling a yawn you fumble in the darkness for the light switch. Eventually you find it and flick it on bathing the inside of the frame with orange light. Your eyes adjust quickly to the light and you jump when you notice a silver box the size of a thick textbook with iridescent swirling patterns over the surface. You put it aside for the moment focusing on getting your lumbering under-repaired frame moving before dealing with the possible breach of security. You receive today's patrol route through M-03-Beta & Delta, normally a relatively uneventful route.
Post by: Empiricist on May 03, 2015, 05:01:53 am
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Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Pencil_Art on May 03, 2015, 05:21:52 am
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 03, 2015, 06:21:18 am
"I don't remember ordering anything."
Study the box closer, as well as it's content if possible.
Yell at other engineers to get leg actuators for
((Did I understand this correctly? I have 5 Comp points. If I cast a spell and allocate 4 points on it, then I can allocate only 1 point for my second spell on same turn?))
Post by: Empiricist on May 03, 2015, 06:29:34 am
Spoiler: Starting Options (click to show/hide)
Post by: Dbuhos on May 03, 2015, 06:36:09 am
I place the armored helmet and assignment sheet on the side of the chair taking notice of the box.
Oh bloody recruits...always tinkering about and leaving their toys in MY frame.
Pop my head out of the cockpit for a second, checking if anyone is looking to get a reaction out of me then get my ass seated again. I shake the box, listening for any rustling or rumbling and then check if it has any clip/opening mechanism.
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 03, 2015, 06:59:54 am
I grab the box and smash it several times against the table, being certain to set aside my food first.
Post by: Hawk132 on May 03, 2015, 07:20:42 am
Examine the box and begin moving my AF out of the hangar.
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 03, 2015, 07:30:39 am
Post by: Hawk132 on May 03, 2015, 07:37:08 am
Elias Newman/Berius: AF-01 Pharoah:
Post by: Corsair on May 03, 2015, 07:57:02 am
This is one shitty catalogue. Doesn't even come with description of the parts...Also it is a box the size of a thick textbook not an actual book. Also I will just save you a portion of your turn as It is a really basic thing that could have plausibly been part of the Introduction; there is a sender marked "******" and no contact info.
Check the courier receipt. Who is marked as sender? Any contact information? Does the book contain any other information like title, edition, publisher or instructional page?
Yell at other engineers to get leg actuators forlatrineLATRANS.
((Did I understand this correctly? I have 5 Comp points. If I cast a spell and allocate 4 points on it, then I can allocate only 1 point for my second spell on same turn?))
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 03, 2015, 08:05:07 am
Post by: Hawk132 on May 03, 2015, 08:08:32 am
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 03, 2015, 08:22:36 am
Also it is a box the size of a thick textbook not an actual book. Also I will just save you a portion of your turn as It is a really basic thing that could have plausibly been part of the Introduction; there is a sender marked "******" and no contact info.
((Right. Edited accordingly.))
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 03, 2015, 08:32:10 am
Post by: Hawk132 on May 03, 2015, 08:33:39 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 03, 2015, 08:36:49 am
Post by: Empiricist on May 03, 2015, 08:38:17 am
Post by: Shaporia on May 03, 2015, 09:15:42 am
(Also, do we have radios?)
Post by: Beirus on May 03, 2015, 11:20:47 am
After putting on his helmet, Beirus runs through the start up procedures for the Pharoah.
Post by: Empiricist on May 03, 2015, 08:39:13 pm
((Oops, sorry. I misread and listed it as a textbook in the statuses >__< Fixed now.))This is one shitty catalogue. Doesn't even come with description of the parts...Also it is a box the size of a thick textbook not an actual book. Also I will just save you a portion of your turn as It is a really basic thing that could have plausibly been part of the Introduction; there is a sender marked "******" and no contact info.
Check the courier receipt. Who is marked as sender? Any contact information? Does the book contain any other information like title, edition, publisher or instructional page?
Yell at other engineers to get leg actuators forlatrineLATRANS.
((Did I understand this correctly? I have 5 Comp points. If I cast a spell and allocate 4 points on it, then I can allocate only 1 point for my second spell on same turn?))
Post by: Toaster on May 03, 2015, 10:57:45 pm
Post by: Empiricist on May 03, 2015, 11:36:16 pm
| AF01-LUPUS: 5 meter tall Armor Frame, schematically old but very reliable. Comes with anchor points on its top for infantry and supplies. Equipped with a chain-gun that integrates into its arm. |
| AF01-PHARAOH: Modified LUPUS frame equipped with Dead Hand technology. Rumored to be cursed. Equipped with bound arms and back-mounted auto-cannon. Auto-cannon has seemingly infinite ammo. |
| AF01-AVALON: Modified LUPUS frame. Equipped with a plasma rifle that can fire bolts or generate a bayonet. Equipped with jump-jets and wings that double as radiators. Its plating and heat output make it vulnerable to thermal weaponry. |
System League
| 01-PUPPET/AF: 5 meter tall Amor Frame. Very fragile, it uses energy thrusters to handle virtually all its movement and trades everything for speed. Comes with a battle rifle and a sword. |
| 00-LANDSKNECHT/AF: 5 meter tall Armor Frame. Capable of grafting and using parts of any similarly-classed frame. Comes with standard LANDSKNECHT parts and a battle rifle. |
Vestige Conglomerate
| 04CORF: 5 meter tall Amor Frame. Light but fast and sporting a sophistocated sensor array. Equipped with vibrational dampeners, six unarmed drones, one low-caliber machinegun with an underslung extending bayonet, a munitions launcher loaded with 4 rounds of unknown type, and a nuclear reactor. |
Flight of Fantasy
Note: Flight of Fantasy staff reserve the right to adjust the strength of their frames to make things more "sporting".
| AF01-DIRUS: A frame made out of bone and based off a LUPUS. It is weaker to kinetic attacks but can function so long as it still has limbs and a pilot. It can eject its head, limbs and core front. Equipped with a necrotic greatladle that causes death on touch and drains life to wreath itself in a corrosive aura that is fired with each swing. |
Post by: Empiricist on May 04, 2015, 05:44:18 am
With a bit of effort, the tightly-fitted top comes off like the lid of a shoebox, albeit one with abnormally thick walls. Inside, is a literal black box, a flat entity with edges sharp enough to count as "user-unfriendly" but blunt enough not to be a credible safety concern. Seemingly in acknowledgement of its container being opened, it activates, its dark screen coming to life with pale white text.This is one shitty catalogue. Doesn't even come with description of the parts...
"I don't remember ordering anything."
Study the box closer, as well as it's content if possible.
Yell at other engineers to get leg actuators for LATRANS.
Initially, it spews out a deluge of text, not unlike the booting process of a computer, scrolling down faster than your eyes can keep up with. After a few seconds however, the screen goes to black returning to a rather odd interface.
Code: (Terminal) [Select]
Grimoire protocols activated
Available networks are:
SOTERIOLOGIST
RED_QUEEN
JUS_AD_BELLUM
SMOTHERED_MATE
MALEBRANCHE
TZINACAN
DECOHERENT
SCHROEDINBUG
Enter a network name, or press ENTER to skip
Wow. Just, wow. That kind of interface is bloody ancient. Archaic. Obsolete, even. You vaguely recall them being referred to as "terminals" or "command lines", never really seen outside of museums and history textbooks. Well, those and the computers of some of the more hardcore (and certifiably insane) members of the electronic warfare division. The ones you normally keep your distance from as they futilely and irritatingly loudly attempt to proselytize each other into worshiping either a supposed saint, or some kind of infernal "beast".
As you examine the peculiar device, you hear one of the engineers shout incoherently, mostly drowned out by the rumble of machinery. Not that you really needed to hear, nor that they really cared if you did. You both knew what it meant - leg actuators have arrived. Within 45 minutes, give or take, the actuators should be installed. Now this is mainly because they have to be bolted on and connected manually, apparently the designers of the chamber didn't really consider their installation, or decided it was too difficult to accommodate. By comparison, attaching the leg armor afterwards will only take 5 minutes since the chamber's arms can actually access the required locations.
Elias NewmanNo one seems to be paying too much heed to you or your reaction. Actually, several of the soldiers and guides, the more superstitious ones, are actively avoiding your gaze. Of course, they've been doing that routine for quite a while now, ever since the first few deaths and that rumor about the curse. That probably makes them either innocent or good actors.
I place the armored helmet and assignment sheet on the side of the chair taking notice of the box.
Oh bloody recruits...always tinkering about and leaving their toys in MY frame.
Pop my head out of the cockpit for a second, checking if anyone is looking to get a reaction out of me then get my ass seated again. I shake the box, listening for any rustling or rumbling and then check if it has any clip/opening mechanism.
As for the combat engineers, whilst it is indeed possible for one of them to have slipped it in, if any of them did, they're too distracted to admire their work - a heavily damaged LUPUS just limped back to base, missing the arm its chain-gun would have been attached to along with quite a bit of armor, particularly that near the cockpit. As poor the System League's reputation for weaponry is, they've been throwing enough Armor Frames to compensate.
"Huh? What is that?... Sorcery!!!"You proceed to mercilessly bludgeon the defenseless table with the heavy package, you monster.
I grab the box and smash it several times against the table, being certain to set aside my food first.
Aside from making a small crater in the table's surface (well, at least it won't be you who'll have to repair that), it doesn't seem to do much aside from generating a nice clanging noise and making a few of your newer colleagues stare and back away slowly.
"Who the hell put this here?"The box continues being boxy and covered with swirling iridescent patterns. For a moment, you're glad that you pilot something without thrusters, otherwise you would've probably found it embedded in one of them.
Examine the box and begin moving my AF out of the hangar.
Carefully, you put on the helmet and wait until the frame's screen confirms that the neural interface was calibrated. Perhaps it wasn't the most accurate term, seeing as it doesn't act as an interface as much as it just checks your brain signals to ensure that you aren't unconscious and dead.
Next up comes the activation procedure, consisting of pulling a series of levers and flipping a few switches. Of course, it could have all been automated. In fact, it used to be. But, after a few incidents where people accidentally reactivated AFs during cockpit maintenance, and several more cases of drunks and jackasses taking them for joyrides, the system was removed.
After getting confirmation that the three-person squad of soldiers and all the supplies had been securely tethered to the anchor points, you begin to move.
The first step was always the hardest, having to re-familiarize yourself with the controls and the auto-balancing system. It gets easier of course, and it certainly has become second nature to you, but still, this first step was always the most difficult part.
A second step followed, not as hard, but still not too easy. Then a third. Then a fourth. By the time you exit the hanger, you were controlling it like your own body. Well, that is if you were five meters tall, morbidly-obese, missing most of your senses and required a control panel to move.
Miaoko picked up the box, glancing down at the label. '*****'. So informative. He rolled his eyes, tapping on his PDA to order the arms to begin replacing damaged parts first and to pull up a schematic of the engine. He'd like to know thrust, the gimbal's effective range of movement, and cooling system. He examined the box, can it be opened? If so, open it and examine inside.((No, you have a PDA though.))
(Also, do we have radios?)
Okay, I've gotten this data from Corsair, and I'd like to make the disclaimer that the figures are more for fluff than as actual hard values since this isn't something he's qualified in. Meanwhile I'm even less qualified to talk about their adherence to reality.
According to the schematics, the engine should weigh 190 kilograms and produce 300 kilograms of thrust with each gimbal able to rotate 5 degrees in either direction. Cooling is 536 kilojoules per second.
The current estimate for this unfinished engine is that it produces about 200 kilograms of thrust, and that the gimbals can only rotate 1 degree in either direction. Plus about half the cooling system isn't actually functional right now, so it cools far too slowly at around about 218 kilojoules per second. Now this is all a rough estimate guided by gut feeling and what your PDA says, after all, it hasn't been tested seeing as no one feels too compelled to test a half-finished engine.
As for the box, you manage to open it in the same as Ao and find the same contents which is also making the same prompt.
"Odd, this wasn't mentioned in the assignment sheet."Beirus takes a moment to pick up and look at the box before setting it down next to him.The start up procedures for the PHAROAH are nearly identical to that of a LUPUS. Nearly. Aside from checking a different set of weapon systems, that was something else. Something that happens when the interface activates.
After putting on his helmet, Beirus runs through the start up procedures for the Pharoah.
Perhaps it's the supposed curse flowing through your veins. Or perhaps it's the knowledge that the frame is equipped with the Dead Hand technology, technology that on their seemingly infantry-exclusive ground combat forces, has still proven capable of tearing apart Armor Frames, now-scaled up and integrated into one of the NEE's famous machines. It's a feeling of power, of being more than a mere human, mixed with the nervous energy knowing that, curse or no curse, this may be the last time you enter the cockpit.
It's wonderful and terrible feeling. The almost-maddening desire to get into battle as soon as possible, to decide your fate within a brief haze of adrenaline rather than to just stand around, fearing death, fearing the unknown, fearing everything under the damn sky and being unable to do anything about it.
Post by: Empiricist on May 04, 2015, 05:45:46 am
| < | Administration (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6206238#msg6206238) | | | Turn 1 | | | Turn 2 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6212612#msg6212612) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Shaporia on May 04, 2015, 06:40:31 am
Miaoko glances at the interface, blinking a few times. "..Who the hell even uses these anymore..?" He sighed, shaking his head and typing in, 'MALEBRANCHE' and pressing enter. He then replaces the engine gimbal's damaged motors, and installs new turbo pumps into the fuel and coolant line, checking for any possible leaks.
Post by: Hawk132 on May 04, 2015, 06:52:27 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 04, 2015, 06:56:30 am
Grab the box, drop it on the floor, and stomp on it a lot.
Post by: Dbuhos on May 04, 2015, 07:09:02 am
Leave the box inside the cockpit and jump out, taking my ALCYONE and clipping it to my belt (if I happen to have one) I approach the damaged LUPUS frame and ask the first person that crosses my path what happened.
"Is the pilot wounded ? What's the situation ?"
Post by: Empiricist on May 04, 2015, 07:18:19 am
Post by: XXXXYYYY on May 04, 2015, 07:43:57 am
Post by: Toaster on May 04, 2015, 09:31:39 am
Spoiler: Sheet (click to show/hide)
Post by: Beirus on May 04, 2015, 12:51:12 pm
"Beirus O'Greenahan, standing by for orders."
Get orders, open box. If prompted to choose network, choose JUS_AD_BELLUM
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 04, 2015, 01:04:13 pm
((Forgot to mention for AoshimaMichio, that when we said 45 minutes for leg actuators and 5 minutes for leg armor, it's going to be completed by next turn.))
((All of it? Ok.))
Ao Shi
Oh wow, and how's this related to machine parts? Some super secret net catalogue? But these network names sound more like a porn channels... Huh, red queen sounds fun. Let's see...
Choose RED_QUEEN. Anticipate some kinky ASCII porn. Be disappointed.
Put the thing away and install legs and armor with the guys. Once done request arm actuator & armor to be delivered.
Post by: Empiricist on May 06, 2015, 06:46:05 am
Miaoko glances at the interface, blinking a few times. "..Who the hell even uses these anymore..?" He sighed, shaking his head and typing in, 'MALEBRANCHE' and pressing enter. He then replaces the engine gimbal's damaged motors, and installs new turbo pumps into the fuel and coolant line, checking for any possible leaks.As you hit enter, the screen flashes and a jolt surges through your entire body, rushing through all your nerves and causing a mild amount of spasming. As you recover from the literal shock, you notice that the screen is dead and no amount of tapping seems to revive it, seems that you probably shouldn't have trusted the hardware behind something with an interface that damn dated.
The motor and pump installation goes well. Physically at least. After all, this is far from the first time you've performed such a task, so whilst it goes off flawlessly (well, as close to flawless as possible when you're working at a frankly unreasonably rate) the sheer tedium really is beginning to set in. The cooling system however is a bit more problematic, perhaps even relievingly so. It turns out that one of the lines has an enormous leak by the virtue of not actually existing, so that's a definite issue, granted it's an easy fix, but at least it's some deviation, however small from the usual monotony. Looks like not even a whole war is going to make your job any more exciting.
Scratch that, something's happening. You notice it in your peripheral vision at first, a Loremaster Technician's uniform. Though strangely, it seems a bit, nonstandard, as it if someone modified it to be a bit more flamboyant in parts but also more stylized in others. Now, last time you checked, none of those technicians moonlighted as pimps, and considering the current circumstances, none of them are probably going to start either.
Huh, now that you glance at the wearer, you notice that you've never seen her before. You definitely would have remembered her otherwise, considering that "nonstandard" doesn't even begin to describe her attire. It doesn't just have modifications to it, about half of it seems to have been replaced with parts of a cloak, not unlike the kind that Dead Hand necromancers supposedly wear.
As she smiles and waves, pale text, identical in font to that of the terminal fades into the air in front of her.
Code: (MALEBRANCHE) [Select]
hi, you can haz magic nao, kthxbai
And with that, she vanishes. No extravagance, no showmanship, she just flat out vanishes from right in front of you.Magic huh? That's what they call the blackbox tech that doesn't predate humanity's fall, supposedly at least. The general public consensus though is that it's just lost tech like any other lost tech, albeit overblown by propaganda and a bit more enigmatic.
The consensus amongst certain pilots however, is that there is indeed something out there, something supernatural. Something dangerous. And whatever it is, it damages frames in ways that no known weapon could. Some postulate that its related to the Fall, after all, the NEE inhabits the systems closest to its point of origin - Earth. Others suspect that it has more recent, more human origins. The dominant theory amongst your fellow engineers however, is that pilots are bad liars who resort to blaming witchcraft when they misuse their equipment in ways you cannot even begin to comprehend.
There is but of course yet another viewpoint, that of the emergency lights and sirens. Their view is, that the facility's under attack right fucking now. Their argument consists of bathing the work station in orange light and shrill sequels. It's quite a convincing argument, especially when the distant though still uncomfortably close cacophony of artillery fire and gunshots begins.
((You are now able to summon a hallucination of the grimoire found in the OP and cast spells from it.))
Begin the patrol. Check what's inside the box if I have enough time/hands free. Pick JUS_AD_BELLUM if I manage to turn the thing on.The patrol so far remains uneventful, it seems that the route is as peaceful as usual. Either that or the automated frames the System League oh so loves to field have, yet again, gotten stuck trying to run through a building in the misguided belief that it isn't really there. It honestly wouldn't be too surprising if half their forces are just doing that somewhere, waiting for a stray shot to collapse the structure and unleash them like a Pandora's Box of concentrated idiocy.
As you hit enter, the screen cracks apart, shocking you in the process. Within the shattered shards that now adorn the tablet, you can see your disjointed reflection along with some of your cockpit, not exactly a groundbreaking discovery. What is odd however, is that there is another person in the reflection, right behind you in the blind spot that the damned harness makes more or less impossible to check.
It's a figure clad in full platemail, looking like a knight from ancient times. Within one hand, they hold a small book with a title that, whilst hard to discern due to being a broken mirror image, you are reasonably sure reads The Art of War. Within their other hand, is something far more modern and quite recognizable device: one of the target designators used by forward observers to order artillery support.
Pale text precipitates into the air before your very eyes
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Just for future reference, you really shouldn't sleep in these things. You might get deep vein thrombosis.
((You are now able to summon a hallucination of the grimoire found in the OP and cast spells from it.))
"Break! Break!"Valiantly stomping on despite the lack of any noticeable damage being done, you continue your brave duel against the fiendish box. Even as the lights cut out, you continue your courageous struggle. Nevertheless, your fight is forced to an untimely end once the emergency lights and sirens banish the brief moment of darkness, for in the not-far-enough distance you hear gunfire and shouting, unwelcome sounds that are growing just that little bit louder with each passing instant. Looks like you'll have to vanquish the evil box later. Or maybe these sorts of things run on videogame logic and the accursed box has its summoned minions because you reduced its health below a certain value.
Grab the box, drop it on the floor, and stomp on it a lot.
Elias Newman((Yes, your uniform comes with a belt designed with that purpose in mind.))
Leave the box inside the cockpit and jump out, taking my ALCYONE and clipping it to my belt (if I happen to have one) I approach the damaged LUPUS frame and ask the first person that crosses my path what happened.
"Is the pilot wounded ? What's the situation ?"
Shakily, through the large crack in the armor, the pilot replies in between pants "I'm fine now mate, the things that did this all got turned to scrap. The League's getting quite insistent around the front today... " he pauses as he squeezes his way out of the crack that some of the engineers have now widened "Ugh, they're resorting to horde tactics as usual, hiding in and flanking from whatever streets their frames can fit in." As he gets back onto solid ground, he extends his hand to you "Jim Yarefeld by the way". You haven't a chance to react as several sirens go off and you hear a scratchy voice over the speakers as people move to their frames in a sudden hurry.
"There's been a surprise attack on Maintenance Terminal 3! Elias Newman will lead the attack team, Berius O'Greenahan will lead flank team; LUPUS units 33, 12 & 57 are with Newman in PHARAOH-01, and units 17 & 91 are with O'Greenahan in PHARAOH-02. WE NEED THAT MAINTENANCE FACILITY, MOVE PEOPLE!"
A surprise attack? By the System League? Now that isn't something you hear every day. Normally, they're perfectly content with sending a constant deluge of units to whatever frontlines have formed until one side is forced to retreat. That's what they do. That's what they always do. Several years back when they were still buddy-buddy with the NEE, there was even an agreement that they'd keep up the pressure on front lines and leave all the tactics and maneuvering to NEE forces, or so you've been told.
This feeling. It felt so...right. He couldn't wait to get out there and start tearing into the System League's forces, but he needed his orders first to know which portion to tear into. Still, he didn't really care what his targets were now. He felt like he could take on anything the System League threw at him, or die trying. Waiting for orders was so boring though, so he decided to look through the box he got.Well the orders were just screamed out through the intercom system, how convenient.
"Beirus O'Greenahan, standing by for orders."
Get orders, open box. If prompted to choose network, choose JUS_AD_BELLUM
As for what happens with the wonderful box of electric shocks, you receive your shock and the complementary hallucination in the same manner as Hawk.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
You might want to get your curse-buddy down there to open his box. Or, you could start screaming about tripping balls and hallucinatory knights spamming you with text messages. Pick one.
((You are now able to summon a hallucination of the grimoire found in the OP and cast spells from it.))
Ao ShiThe text promptly vanishes, replace with footage of a photo-realistic though clearly fantastical figure.
Oh wow, and how's this related to machine parts? Some super secret net catalogue? But these network names sound more like a porn channels... Huh, red queen sounds fun. Let's see...
Choose RED_QUEEN. Anticipate some kinky ASCII porn. Be disappointed.
Put the thing away and install legs and armor with the guys. Once done request arm actuator & armor to be delivered.
It's a lady in a simple white dress. Her hair is stained red with blood, or rather would seem to be if it were not for the fact that her irises are of the same visceral hues. She appears to be brandishing a rather odd implement: a large antler covered with a layer of bacteria and fungi like plaque on a teeth. Through cavities on its surface, you can catch brief glimpses of various parasites scuttling about inside it, along with some of the chains that emerge out from its base.
Welp, it's certainly not ASCII, though porn or no porn, it's probably going to be kinky. The odds of actual pornographic content however still remain at fifty-fifty. Not that it matters much seeing as the screen proceeds to die whilst the tablet shocks you.
Now, you aren't actually qualified to install actuators, but with everyone learning how to do a bit of everyone else's jobs thanks to the current deadlines and rush, you know enough to actually contribute meaningfully to the installation. The armor, that, you're qualified to bolt on anyway. This whole process takes about 35-40 minutes and leaves both the legs functional and mostly armored. There's still some gaps in the back since the plating that fills them comes attached to the flight systems.
The good news is that the arm actuators and armor arrive. The bad news is, when the lights went off, so did the assembly chamber's mechanisms. Now, they should have gotten back online before the emergency lights and alarm turned on, seeing as they have backup power supplies after all, but it seems that those backups have also been taken out. Or, knowing the general theme around here, some idiot lodged something or other into them and ruined everything forever. Either way, it doesn't help your current predicament.
"Shit! Barricade the door!"
Two of the engineers begin to frantically weld whatever scrap metal and plating they can carry onto the door, whilst a third stands around, trying to help but all in all accomplishes little due to not really having enough room to assist with the barricade construction.
Above, on the control platform you were previously standing on, an intruder stands. Its the lady from the screen, watching the current commotion with evident amusement.
((You are now able to summon a hallucination of the grimoire found in the OP and cast spells from it.))
Post by: Empiricist on May 06, 2015, 06:46:54 am
| < | Turn 1 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6208259#msg6208259) | | | Turn 2 | | | Turn 3 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6220060#msg6220060) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 06, 2015, 07:01:54 am
Grab box. Wield fire axe. Chuck box at any hostile soldiers, follow up with many chops with axe. Now move to somewhere... safer than here.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 06, 2015, 10:08:33 am
Can't help guys with the barricade, can't work with the frame. What I can do? Well, I can certainly shut down that apparently not-so-archaic porn channel.
Get back up to the platform and confirm the woman is a holograph by feeling her up. If she's solid then apologize and demand her to explain how she did get up there, because no civilians shouldn't be allowed here and she's definitely not part of base personel. Also compliment her hair.
If she's incorporeal then pick up the terminal and try to shut it down. If terminal doesn't exist or work then be very confused and ask the woman what the hell is going on.
Post by: Hawk132 on May 06, 2015, 12:38:25 pm
Keep patrolling. Hope that
Post by: Beirus on May 06, 2015, 01:27:09 pm
Do conversation stuff. Once I get an answer from that reflection, gather my squad and move out. We'll be heading around the facility to flank any SL frames. If we enter combat, open up on the SL frames with the autocannon.
Post by: Shaporia on May 07, 2015, 08:41:09 am
Post by: Empiricist on May 09, 2015, 01:49:31 am
This turn will be posted a 12:00 pm [GMT +10], if Dhubos doesn't post until then. It's a bit of a crude method, but we don't really know how to handle player inactivity properly >__<))
Post by: Empiricist on May 09, 2015, 09:05:24 pm
The colony, often affectionately called “Adrift” by the colonists for the fact that it is the back-end of NEE space, is a quite large for its kind and situated in the temperate zone of Arietis-4, giving it a comfortable climate of around 25 degrees (Celsius of course) for most days on the surface. The colony itself is unique in that it is an old Pre-Fall design from several thousand years ago.
The surface section of the colony is a large hexagon measuring 14 kilometers across from point to point, this surface rises approximately 100 meters out of the grassy plains surrounding it which provide the food for the colony. This surface consists of a series of plates of varying size that can raise or lower on command allowing the formation of docks for landing shuttles and smaller ships capable of entering atmosphere. In the center is a section that remains unmoving and has a single building complex which contains hangars, office centers and other similar buildings to handle hundreds of shuttles from above and trains carrying food from the outlying farms. Underneath this facility is a large elevator capable of carrying anything up to a large size armor frame, this runs through the central pillar of the colony beneath the hexagonal landing pad. Underneath there are a set of lights that maintain illumination and temperature similar to the surface, with sheer rock walls that descend down for 4 kilometers.
Around the central spire, the colony is arrayed as a spiral that slowly rotates, spreading air from the surface through the colony pit and the industrial works down below. The base of the colony links with industrial centers that keep churning out anything the colony can use or reuse. Along with electricity, they provide anything you can name, provided of course that it can be made with the resources on hand. Despite the efforts of the rotating colony to remove the mix of steam and smog from the lower reaches the industrial centers, are often shrouded by a pea soup fog of steam and smoke nonetheless.
The colonial center has been largely untouched by the fighting with the extremely dense cityscape making piloting a nightmare. There are few people on the streets as the emergency warning has sounded. Normally around now the streets would be bustling with people going to lunch at one of the many food outlets provided by the colony administration, or at private street stalls that while technically illegal, are still generally tolerated. The main streets are logically laid out throughout the mess of buildings with a central highway leading through the center straight from the top of the colony to the base.
The maintenance facility contains some of the only structures 15 stories or fewer in height compared to the usual minimum of 30, with the outlying buildings around the central facility taking up a large amount of space that, if used for housing or offices, would have been able to contain thousands of people. The maintenance facility is able to justify its existence in this format for several safety reasons due to the often hazardous materials they work with; anyway, even if the land the outbuildings occupy was freed up and the outbuildings stacked on the main offices, nobody would be insane or desperate enough to build an apartment block next to such a condensed pile of rocket fuel and high explosives. The central building, the only one taller than five stories, contains the main offices of financial and other non-maintenance staff that oversee the day to day running of the facility as a whole these offices extend for the 3 lowest floors of the building. On the ground floor there are workshops for teaching and use by the public which are open every Sunday when the colony isn’t under siege, there are also consultation offices and a reception area allowing for the commission of works by both public and private clients. Above the third floor are another 10 floors of which 8 are dedicated to housing the facility staff and 2 are dedicated to recreation.
The workshops are all connected to the central hub by underground access tunnels, these tunnels allow for the workshops to be mostly underground with the top side left open for testing and the storage of dangerous materials such as oxy-acetlyene packs and generators that if they do catch fire are separated from the workshops and their personal supplies along with being open to fire department personnel to stop the blaze. The flight systems workshops are the closest to the main building and the vault where dangerous or highly expensive (often these are one and the same) items such as Alcubierre Drives are stored for installation. The AF construction and maintenance centers are along the edges of the facility as they are the least prone to violently explode and the AF’s need space to enter and leave without running into other facilities. The top floor of the flight systems workshops (consisting of gantries over the workspaces) open out onto the large flat concrete slab lined with access roads that consists of most of the area of the facility. The AF construction areas are entirely above ground as they have to accommodate the movement of AF units.
The colonial center has been largely untouched by the fighting with the extremely dense cityscape making piloting a nightmare. There are few people on the streets as the emergency warning has sounded. Normally around now the streets would be bustling with people going to lunch at one of the many food outlets provided by the colony administration, or at private street stalls that while technically illegal, are still generally tolerated. The main streets are logically laid out throughout the mess of buildings with a central highway leading through the center straight from the top of the colony to the base.
"Waitaminute. What- well this can't be good."No soldiers show up just yet, or at least you don't see any. You do hear them closing in though, or perhaps those are just your coworkers running around and panicking. Either way, you hear someone yelling about having room for another person in their workshop, and seeing as they're in the proper uniform and you're quite certain they are indeed in a Flight Systems Workshop and not some sort of hypothetical windowless van capable of displacing rooms from buildings, you run into it.
Grab box. Wield fire axe. Chuck box at any hostile soldiers, follow up with many chops with axe. Now move to somewhere... safer than here.
Oh was that a bad idea.
Perhaps, it is best that bitter anagnorisis comes now than later. But surely, is it not better to live and die in blissful ignorance than to endure this torment? To see truths that man should not know, and to bear witness to such unimaginable evil, what foul transgression have you performed to deserve this? For upon the bench rests another malevolent box, identical to your own.
But, this box is open, it's content lying beside it. The horror, the horror.
Ao ShiAs you ascend back to the platform, you notice the terminal, right where you left it and still as functional as ever. The intruder is leaning, back against the safety rail, when you suddenly attempt to disprove her existence via sexual harassment. The result is that, well, they're quite soft and you may or may not be ashamed of yourself. "Oh~? Getting grabby already? Not even going to buy me dinner first~" She then proceeds to completely disregard your questioning, instead saying "You're in a bit of a predicament, aren't you? Well, I'm here to help with that, when you're done groping me." When you look at the terminal again, it seems to have been cloven in twain by some unseen force.
Can't help guys with the barricade, can't work with the frame. What I can do? Well, I can certainly shut down that apparently not-so-archaic porn channel.
Get back up to the platform and confirm the woman is a holograph by feeling her up. If she's solid then apologize and demand her to explain how she did get up there, because no civilians shouldn't be allowed here and she's definitely not part of base personel. Also compliment her hair.
If she's incorporeal then pick up the terminal and try to shut it down. If terminal doesn't exist or work then be very confused and ask the woman what the hell is going on.
A series of consecutive bangs resound from behind you, followed by the faint scent of ozone and a familiar mechanical whirring. Someone down there screams "IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE!" before breaking into maniacal laughter. Wat.
There is now a misshapen mass of cables running from the LATRANS generator to three of the chamber's assembly arms, one of which has started twitching sporadically. You're reasonably certain that the arms aren't designed for that, the occasional spark arcing from the hasty connections doing little to discredit that theory. At any rate, it looks like you've got (some approximation of) power again. And countless voided warranties.
((Tradecraft Gained: Bio Scan))
"Got it, hallucinatory armor guy."There still don't seem to be any enemies yet, much to both your dismay and of the trio riding atop your frame. "Okay, James, it's your turn." the voice squawks through your comms. You hear some movement above as someone shifts their position. Now, this is in definite breach of protocol, soldiers generally are generally meant to be be on alert on all times, as opposed to taking turns on keeping watch whilst the rest of the squad looks at something or other on their phones. But, with a pilot looking through the LUPUS' cameras, and a soldier above covering the blind spots, it really didn't impact performance too much, plus it at least kept morale from dropping too low. Perhaps that's why even the higher-ups stopped caring: it simply wasn't worth admonishing troops over.
Keep patrolling. Hope thatnoSystem League troops show up.
As you ascend further up the colony, you notice a white transport truck, not unlike those used for military to move frame parts and supplies. On its side in vibrant colors is a corporate logo in the shape of a stylized optical microscope with sleek text beneath it reading as Weyland Testing. Not exactly a common sight seeing as there is currently an evacuation in place and, though it isn't actually compulsory just yet, most people have heeded its call. The truck doesn't seem to react to you presence at all, neither speeding up, nor slowing down.
((Tradecraft Gained: Equipment Check))
"I'll hold onto that tripping balls suggestion for when we aren't going to be in combat soon. You have a name, or can I call you Jus? And what are you?" Beirus responds to the reflection before he opens a channel to Elias. "Newman, this is O'Greenahan. Did you find a weird box in your frame too? If so, I'd suggest you open it. The interface is pretty archaic, but you'll have to choose a server for it. I chose JUS_AD_BELLUM, doesn't seem to have any problems with it." He states before looking at the reflection again and waiting for a reply.The figure nods and promplty vanishes, but the text continues nonetheless.
Do conversation stuff. Once I get an answer from that reflection, gather my squad and move out. We'll be heading around the facility to flank any SL frames. If we enter combat, open up on the SL frames with the autocannon.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Jus is fine.
As for myself, I am here to atone for the sins of another. I am here, because from Nothingness came the Devil, and from the Devil came God.
Just think of me as a handler of sorts, I give you assistance and in exchange, you run some odd jobs for me that need to be done.
Your squad races through empty streets lacking in signs of both life and death, looks like the hostiles managed to slip in without encountering any resistance. Unlike Elias, you don't get data projected onto the road surface - it would give away your flanking maneuver. The roads, the markings on them are digital images, capable of being altered and dynamically reacting to events such as car crashes. They weren't always like this, the data used to be projected to HUDs mandatory installed into every motor vehicle.
Well, until people found out they could jailbreak their HUDs. Which promptly went from a safer way to convey driving information into a non-stop porn streaming service. Or worse, kitten image dispenser. Seriously, before HUDs were banned, the leading cause of death for a year was "road fatalities caused by driving while distracted by kitten images projected by jailbroken HUDs".
The approach was tense and quiet, anticipating for all hell to break loose and for gunfire to erupt. That doesn't actually happen, rather as you near the side of the facility, you see a group of Armor Frames, definitely not NEE units. They were skeletal figures, heavily lacking in armor and really enough actuators to support their own weight, yet somehow, they remained upright. Some were perched on buildings, others were patrolling, gilding swiftly across the ground. They're still somewhat distant, with a plaza and ten-lane highway between your squad and them, but, the PHAROAH's autocannon, and the rest of the squad's chainguns are in range.
So, how do you want to take out these oblivious foes? Open fire? Or try and sneak up further?
((Tradecraft Gained: Equipment Check))
Miaoko's eyes widened as he heard the alarm. He leaned out of the workshop and yelled, "I've got room in my workshop for.. Two!" (Sorry for the short action, doing this on my phone & don't have access to a computer.)You succeed in caroling your co-worker into the cubicle. Well, let's see, what do you have? Well, it looks like the workshop still has emergency power, meaning your PDA can still control it. You have a fire extinguisher and your co-worker is brandishing an axe alongside a box not unlike your own. The rumble of cannon fire is gone, and the gunshots are now far and in between, though the shouting is becoming louder than ever.
More text fades into view.
Code: (MALEBRANCHE) [Select]
back, had 2 go shout at red for misusing sys rsrcs again
if u need to fix stuff, i can help, just gimme a shout
((Tradecraft Gained: Work, Damnit!))
Quote from: Automated action for Dhubos
Stand-by for auto-derp.Whoopsie-daisy, your PHAROAH's electronic systems malfunction for no discernible reason, leaving you talk to Jim whilst engineers hurry to fix.
((Elias will be active as soon as Dhubos posts an action.))
Post by: Empiricist on May 09, 2015, 09:11:04 pm
| < | Turn 2 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6212612#msg6212612) | | | Turn 3 | | | Turn 4 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6235073#msg6235073) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 10, 2015, 02:49:35 am
Hmm, she's taking this rather well. Let's not push my luck here. Ao thinks and pulls his hand back.
*khrm* He clears his throat. "I didn't expect you to be real. I'll buy dinner later then, once this situation is over."
"Now then, I don't see how you can help, but I'm listening. Mainly because I can't figure out how did you manage to walk up here without being seen. That outlook is very noticeable you know, in a good way."
Stop groping. Discuss.
Yell remaining engineers to get arm in place and do a systems check.
((Do I have any ability to pilot the armor frame? As in enough skill to walk it around and smash
Post by: Hawk132 on May 10, 2015, 03:52:49 am
Intercept the truck. Try to contact it and order it to stop if I can. Fire some warning shots if necessary.
Post by: Empiricist on May 10, 2015, 04:44:11 am
((Do I have any ability to pilot the armor frame? As in enough skill to walk it around and smash((Yes. You can pretty much do anything a pilot can do since you've used the box.))puny godinfantry?))
((Uh, does anyone have advice on how to handle player inactivity and guidelines for when to actually do something about it? Since neither myself nor Corsair have any experience in dealing with it and aren't really sure if automating Dhubo's action so quickly was the right idea or what the proper way to deal with things like that is even is >__<))
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 10, 2015, 05:28:57 am
Post by: Corsair on May 10, 2015, 05:54:47 am
((To elaborate on that "pretty much do anything" the box does effectively give you the instruction manual it doesn't actually give field experience; you know how to quantitatively pilot but not qualitatively. So while you know how to do anything like say compensate for a soft surface like sand you don't know how best to guess as to how slippery the particles are or to bang the panel near your right hand when a certain circuit-breaker trips; you'll be able to run a diagnostic and find the problem but not be able to guess "I need to hit this panel at roughly this angle". This same idea applies to all skills granted by the box so you know how to use something without horribly damaging yourself but you don't know how to compensate for your own body and quirks of the environment as well as someone who has extensive training to the same level as you albeit through practise.))((Do I have any ability to pilot the armor frame? As in enough skill to walk it around and smash((Yes. You can pretty much do anything a pilot can do since you've used the box.))puny godinfantry?))
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 10, 2015, 07:11:23 am
Open my box, or try to. Perhaps that way I can figure out its weak point.
Post by: Shaporia on May 10, 2015, 07:24:39 am
(Also, this ability is amazing ^.^!)
Work, Damnit! [3 Turn Cooldown][Ready]: Magically forces a broken object to work, as long as it hasn't been entirely destroyed. Results may vary.
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 10, 2015, 07:27:27 am
Post by: Shaporia on May 10, 2015, 07:29:38 am
"Oh. I didn't see you there. Um... hi. What is this thing anyway?" James shakes the box."Well.. As far as I know, either it's filled with drugs, or it's magic. Maybe both." He shrugged. "It's strange, to say the least."
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 10, 2015, 07:33:27 am
((Playing as a magic-phobe is going to be hard to transition out of.))
Post by: Shaporia on May 10, 2015, 07:43:25 am
"Well. Magic, you say? Just another reason I'm going to destroy it."Miaoko shrugged, turning to the engine at hand and tapping on his PDA.
((Playing as a magic-phobe is going to be hard to transition out of.))
Post by: Beirus on May 12, 2015, 03:02:11 pm
Post by: Empiricist on May 16, 2015, 01:35:28 am
Post by: Pencil_Art on May 16, 2015, 03:49:39 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 16, 2015, 06:48:09 am
((The next turn may take a bit of time, since we'll be moving all the waitlisters into the game. Plus, I have quite a lot of work at the moment whilst Corsair is arguably even more busy trying to code a way to procedurally generate a map of the entire colony.))((...oh... what... all the waitlisters? Is that a good idea? Consider the first Perplexicon. And- a map of the colony? I'm getting brain headaches.))
Post by: Corsair on May 16, 2015, 11:38:47 pm
((Well we need more players so that there is more happening. Also the map is pretty much done it covers approximately 845 square miles of colony and while adding a function to make it generate in a logical manner would be sensible it really is quite difficult to program what is in essence a selective GOL pattern and any odd placements can be easily explained anyway.))((The next turn may take a bit of time, since we'll be moving all the waitlisters into the game. Plus, I have quite a lot of work at the moment whilst Corsair is arguably even more busy trying to code a way to procedurally generate a map of the entire colony.))((...oh... what... all the waitlisters? Is that a good idea? Consider the first Perplexicon. And- a map of the colony? I'm getting brain headaches.))
Post by: Empiricist on May 17, 2015, 01:13:23 am
((It'll be fine, the time taken for each player action is going to decrease because we don't really need to shove in as much world-building description. Also, we've got two people and a few simple automating programs, so the workload per person is less, plus we will still have a maximum character limit of 11.))((The next turn may take a bit of time, since we'll be moving all the waitlisters into the game. Plus, I have quite a lot of work at the moment whilst Corsair is arguably even more busy trying to code a way to procedurally generate a map of the entire colony.))((...oh... what... all the waitlisters? Is that a good idea? Consider the first Perplexicon. And- a map of the colony? I'm getting brain headaches.))
Post by: Corsair on May 17, 2015, 01:16:19 am
Ao Shi((We'll use red text for her from now on to distinguish her from normal NPCs.))
Hmm, she's taking this rather well. Let's not push my luck here. Ao thinks and pulls his hand back.
*khrm* He clears his throat. "I didn't expect you to be real. I'll buy dinner later then, once this situation is over."
"Now then, I don't see how you can help, but I'm listening. Mainly because I can't figure out how did you manage to walk up here without being seen. That outlook is very noticeable you know, in a good way."
Stop groping. Discuss.
Yell remaining engineers to get arm in place and do a systems check.
"Well, as much as I'd like to accept your invitation, Sote and Mal will probably yell at me again if I do, so I'll have to pass.
Since I snuck in here without anyone noticing, I'm sure I can go check to see what the System League soldiers are doing outside without any of them noticing, or see if whoever broke the backup generator is still down there. It isn't like I'll be of much help with that frame, I'm more qualified to study living things."
The six engineers have manage to get all of the more fiddly actuators of of the left arm installed before you all hear banging on the barricades, followed by shouting. "Come out! We aren't going to shoot you or anything, we aren't Dead Hand, we don't want that sort of shit on our conscience. Just open the door and let us in, we're just here to destroy the chamber, you can all just run back home for all we care." Needless to say, no one opens the door. For starters, its welded shut by scrap metal so no one could have even if they wanted to, plus no one is even near it at the moment.
In a more subdued voice, one of the engineers call out to you, evidently trying to be loud enough to be heard by you, but quiet enough not to be heard by the people outside.
"Hey, er, sir? I think we can install these arms 'bout twice as quickly, but, well er, it might displease the electrical gods, if you know what I mean."
((2 Turns remaining until left arm is functional. 1, if you take your chances with screwing up the electronics.))
"Hey, I'll need you guys alert for now. See that truck over there? We're going after it.""Yes boss"
Intercept the truck. Try to contact it and order it to stop if I can. Fire some warning shots if necessary.
You step in front of the truck and they slow to a stop almost immediately, probably because you have enough strength to probably caber toss the vehicle and all its contents with ease. The radio screeches as they tune to the public military channel, you hear them whisper to each other briefly beforehand as they blow through the channel while tuning in "I thought... the... warnings... didn't know... nothing wrong.... should be..... easy done."
"Hello? what is the meaning of this interruption, we have work to do. If it's about being out here, there's nothing wrong with moving through a evacuation warning."
"... okay. Something, has to be going on."You find a terminal tablet just like everyone else. Weakest part would probably be the glass screen which is currently asking for you to either select a network or skip, though chances are breaking the screen, whilst rendering the device unusable probably won't destroy it outright. But, seeing as it, as a whole, doesn't seem nearly as durable as box, it shouldn't be too hard to break through any means really.
Open my box, or try to. Perhaps that way I can figure out its weak point.
Miaoko looked over at James. "..You have a box too? Huh." He contemplated this for a moment before checking the engine's current performance. Also checking how much scrap metal he has on hand. "Hey, try connecting to Malebranche? It's the network I'm on." If he feels like he needs to, Miaoko will raise the blast doors. He looked over at where the text had come from, "Thanks, might need it at this rate.."You activate the engine for a few seconds and check its performance. It seems to be working perfectly now, though since it hasn't been computer calibrated or hooked up to a control pump, it's going to guzzle fuel like crazy. According to your PDA, you have a gallon of volatile rocket fuel (no Flight Systems Workshop is complete without the risk of violently detonating), an oxy-acetlyene torch (mounted and operated by one of the mechanical arms), three wrenches of differing sizes, a set of screwdrivers (not quite a full set, there's always at least one missing from each set, usually the more useful ones), enough scrap metal to make two decorative sets of plate armor (because nothing says class like stylized replicas of military equipment from a barbaric era), enough motors to animate said sets of plate armor (if undergoing convulsive seizures in an approximation of the worm counts as such), about three and a half (rather shitty) computers worth of assorted electronics and five extra bolts (just about everything seems to come with extra bolts for some reason, including the parts that don't even use them).
Gunfire erupts anew, seemingly from just outside the building. Thankfully, they haven't reached you, not yet at any rate.
Does my squad have cover over here? If so, open fire on enemy frames. If cover isn't good, try to sneak as close as possible to enemy frames and open fire if they notice us. Try to stick to cover at the edges of the plaza when sneaking through it.
You're shit out of luck in terms of cover it seems, the plaza's practically empty and there's nothing large and sturdy enough to act as cover. Infantry might have been able to, but something as large as a PHARAOH or LUPUS is not going to anywhere to hide.
((...Wow, you just rolled poorly. Really damn poorly.))
You lead your squad forwards for approximately 30 meters before you hear a crunch, followed by a shrill alarm. Shit, you kick the crushed husk of what was once a car aside as 6 of the hostiles lurch and begin aiming their weapons at your squad. You feel the chains tense up slightly and the PHARAOH leans forward almost imperceptibly as you and your support team charges forth, weapons blazing.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 3 vs. 2] Before one of the hostile frames can even move, your autocannon rounds rip it apart, its thin frame doing little to resist the impact.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 5 vs. 6]
[UTAR vs. MDEF: -1 vs. 6]
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 4 vs. 1]
The rest of your squad doesn't fare as well, with only one succeeding in destroying their target, the other two having their aim thrown off by the evasive maneuvers of their foes.
The four remaining System League frames manage to leap into the air and fly forth at high speeds. As they open fire with their sniper rifles, time seems to halt. You find that you can cast your glance at will, though your body does not follow.
Code: (JUS AD BELLUM) [Select]
Try not to die. Just don't expect those squadmates of yours to live.
If you need assistance, I can give you some data about those automatons and their weapons.
Emerging from the frozen muzzle flashes, you see pale lines, curving ever so slightly to account for bullet defects, gravity, even air currents. Each line was marked with time until impact. Around each muzzle was a pale circle, and somehow, you instinctively recognize it's meaning: time until another shot may be discharged. As you focus on the lines approaching your squad, ghostly images come into view, spreading and diversifying with each passing moment (if such still retains a meaning in a world without time), bright lines and circles erupting from your own weapons: interception options. For the bullets that approached you, more complicated options appeared, involving the use of your PHAROAH's arms to swat them away like nothing more than flies. A different set of images also come forth, pathing lines spreading from your location, evasion options. Some entail diving into cover, taking a path that avoided the attack vectors of the enemies, others were, less conventional, apparently requiring you to somehow run along the walls of a buildings.
((That last bit was reposted since it will be removed from last turn, as Dhubos' automated turn will be altered so that Elias doesn't just stop moving in the middle of combat.))
-snip-You, fortunately have a functioning backup generator. So when you and your crew barricaded the doors shut in the facility's newfound tradition of "HELP! WE'RE ALL GONNA TO FUCKING DIE", all the chamber arms were still functional. Unfortunately for you, the LATRANS sitting in the chamber doesn't have any electrical systems, hydraulics, movement core or limb armor installed. Granted, all its limbs and their actuators are there, but, you don't have a generator, which is, disheartening, to say the least. Worse still, whoever's outside the door is trying to shoot their way through, evidently mistaking bullets for some sort of magical lockpicking device.
At the very minimum, to get the frame moving, the electrical systems need to be installed and hooked up to some sort of powersource. Which, as with most things, is easier said than done, seeing as the doing involves either rerouting the chamber's power to it, or ripping holes in the floor and jacking straight into the entire sector's electrical supply. Okay, you could probably use power supply of the weird terminal that is asking for you to select a network or skip, but trying to power a giant armored exoskeleton using a tablet battery somehow doesn't seem like a smart idea to you right now.
Hydraulics and the movement core would take a bit more time, though they aren't strictly necessary - they're just there for fine movement and smooth movement respectively, but their absence would probably result in the frame flopping around like drunk whale attempting to reenact every professional wrestling match ever.
((Electrical system can be done in 2 turns. You can have hydraulics and the movement core installed by then if you don't want to play "Giant Robot QWOP", but your team will have to rush. 3 turns if you want the three without a rush. If you want armor, it's an additional turn.))
-snip-
-snip-
-snip-
-snip-(NAV, didn't respond to the PM, but he didn't say no either, so we'll just put Hobart here as well.))
Slowly, your consciousness returns, ever so reluctantly. Sleep-dulled senses intruding upon the utopic oblivion, you feel a headache pounding your brain and dryness parching your throat. And so, another day begins. You awake amidst a noxious haze of tobacco smoke and nausea, the dim lighting of the bar bringing vision to tried eyes. Your three compatriots seem to have freed themselves of sleep as well. "Awake now, are you?" an orotund voice pierces the silence. The barkeeper, a man in too fine a garment but just the right amount of apathy for his job, idly surveys the four of you, before casting his attention back towards the ceiling.
What the fuck.
There appear to be miniature stalactites and bullet holes in the ceiling seemingly formed from small sections of the ceiling melting and idiots with guns respectively. Judging by the trio of rifles on the bench, you have the sinking feeling you know (or, more specifically are) the people responsible.
Wait, rifles? None of you own rifles, that's illegal. As in, proper illegal, the kind of illegal activity that is punishable under, and actively punished by, law. Where the hell did those come from anyway? You can't seem to remember. Come to think of it, most of last night is just a blur of disjointed sensations, a vibrant fury signifying little. Were your drinks spiked or something? But where? This definitely wasn't the bar you all piled into at the beginning of the night, and judging by the relative lightness of your wallet, its far from the only bar.
Staring at the rifles in hopes of some sort of epiphany, you are disappointed once again. They don't look like anything you recognize, indeed, they raise far more questions instead. Two look alike, seemingly bullpup weapons with magazines substituted for what appear to be ridiculously long extension cords that snake around the room and out the door. The third looks, a tad more conventional, taking the familiar form of an assault rifle albeit with the kind of sleek construction more fitting for a smartphone than a firearm.
Around the room, tables lie in a cluttered mess, and though all have seen far better days, some have fared worse than most - having seemingly been ripped apart. On top of one of the more intact ones, are four tablets that are certainly far from being intact. Vague memories return to you, you think they had some sort of prompt asking you to pick a network or skip and then they all broke somehow, or maybe you were the one who broke them, it's hard to remember. Okay, thinking it over, you're certain they prompted you about the network or lack thereof, which option did you pick?
"Your pet's outside, in case you were wondering" What? You try and gaze outside, finding that the windows are quite high, though apparently offering a poor view of little else than the footpath, guess that means this joint's below ground level.
Post by: Empiricist on May 17, 2015, 01:17:26 am
| < | Turn 3 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6220060#msg6220060) | | | Turn 4 | | | Turn 5 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6249286#msg6249286) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Sarrack (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: NAV (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Nidilap (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Hawk132 on May 17, 2015, 07:15:03 am
Tell my guys to check the truck.
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 17, 2015, 08:11:57 am
Flip a coin, press skip on the box's terminal if heads, pick a random network on tails.
Post by: Shaporia on May 18, 2015, 07:02:27 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 18, 2015, 07:28:54 am
Post by: Toaster on May 18, 2015, 02:17:10 pm
"Urraagh. Anyone remember what happened? I sure don't."
Ugh... I had to pick an option... what was it... didn't know what was in the box... oh yeah, that cat guy. Slobenger? Schroider? Whatever the one that sound like the cat in the box guy, that was it. Anyway, didn't want to put fingerprints on those rifles; hopefully there weren't any already.
Select SCHROEDINBUG. Don't take a rifle; that's bad news. Just where are we, anyway? Ask the dude if required. Maybe that strange thing in my pocket has a clue.
Post by: Beirus on May 18, 2015, 02:42:29 pm
Take any evasion option that allows me to still have a line of fire on at least one System League frame. Continue firing autocannon while evading. If one of them closes to Melee range, RELEASE THE
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 18, 2015, 04:47:55 pm
"Sote? Mal? What? You gotta fill me in about what the hell is going on. Why your image was on that ancient tablet? Also, what's your name?"
"I appreciate if you can check the backup generator. Those soldiers outside probably will make their plans clear soon enough."
In other words, use Bio Scan. ((That's what she means, right?))
Then Ao turns his attention to guys below.
"Fix it properly! No jury rigging anything!" I'm not risking electronics.
Post by: Empiricist on May 18, 2015, 07:38:53 pm
((That's what she means, right?))((Yep.))
Post by: piecewise on May 18, 2015, 08:24:56 pm
Thats a new one.
Post by: Empiricist on May 18, 2015, 10:05:12 pm
Did you put Mechs in my Perplexicon?((Yep, Corsair had been wanting to add them since Perplexicon: A New Age. Unfortunately the game died before anyone took a skelewheel train into the fortress of the undead mecha liches.))
Thats a new one.
Post by: Beirus on May 18, 2015, 10:07:31 pm
((Dead Hand fortress?))Did you put Mechs in my Perplexicon?((Yep, Corsair had been wanting to add them since Perplexicon: A New Age. Unfortunately the game died before anyone took a skelewheel train into the fortress of the undead mecha liches.))
Thats a new one.
Post by: Empiricist on May 18, 2015, 10:24:11 pm
((Dead Hand fortress?))((They were called the Old Lords, a series of loosely allied splinter factions from a communist necromancer empire that once occupied the area the game took place in (the split happened when the Other popped up and nommed on most of the gods and ruined everything forever) which also ended up becoming the only survivors from that empire. They had a penchant for ectoplasm-based weapons with modern or futuristic designs which were designed to rip the soul out of their foes to empower themselves further. It would have been possible to ally with them (by speaking to one of their commanders) or against them (the automatons left over from the imperial loyalists still followed their old orders and were hostile to the Old Lords).
Dead Hand is more based on a cross of the pre-schism empire and another nation where their rite of passage may or may not have involved literally waving their junk around inside the maws of a woodchipper made out of as many dangerous magical elements as possible just to emphasis how effectively they made the dark arts their bitch.))
Post by: Pencil_Art on May 19, 2015, 12:43:24 am
Post by: Empiricist on May 22, 2015, 12:39:14 am
Post by: Beirus on May 22, 2015, 01:11:40 am
Post by: NAV on May 22, 2015, 01:18:42 am
What is this in my pocket? Check out the little box thing.
Post by: Empiricist on May 22, 2015, 06:55:02 am
Post by: Corsair on May 22, 2015, 09:20:59 pm
"Just a simple cargo check. Where are you going with this?""This is highly irregular, I'll have to notify my superiors of this."
Tell my guys to check the truck.
The soldiers agilely clamber down and move to the back of the truck with one of the occupants of the vehicle. They enter and investigate, reporting that the truck appears to be some sort of mobile test rig or coordination room of some kind. It is odd, but not unheard of for companies to have their own mobile test rigs for quality control, especially those that require specialized facilities or have trade secrets to hide, which in both cases, tend to denote members of the Vestige conglomerate.
"Anything in particular you want us to check, sir?"
"... well. Let's get this thing done with."((Coin landed on tails. Random.org selected SOTERIOLOGIST for you.))
Flip a coin, press skip on the box's terminal if heads, pick a random network on tails.
The screen goes black and an electrical current surges through your body, you convulse, spasming in place as the muscles in your hand tense up and refuse to release the tablet. The screen begins to crack around the edges, your reflection in it desynchronizing and shifting further with each fracture. Soon, in the reflection, you see not yourself but rather your decayed corpse grinning back at you.
The tablet breaks, shattering into pieces as the current finally stops, returning to you the control of your body. Stand before you, is a man of appearance reminiscent to that of a porcelain doll. He wears a business suit messily with the coat resembling a black cloak more than anything else. Slashing forth with a scythe, he conjures pale text before vanishing.
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
I am the scythe that kills a newborn before its parents eyes, the atrocities that silence the screams of the innocent, and the noose upon which sinners hang.
I am the raven that devours the dead, the pox that fells the raven, and the salted bomb that brings an end to them all.
I slay the young, I slay the old; the rich, the poor. None too wretched, none too fortunate - all are my rightful prey.
I stand here before your sorry ass today, so that some punk bitch with a 9 mm can't cap it.
Not easily, at any rate.
((You are now able to summon a hallucination of the grimoire found in the OP and cast spells from it.))
((Tradecraft Gained: Memento Mori))
Miaoko closed the flight system workshop's blast doors, grabbing some of the scrap metal and with the help of the arms, trying to make it somewhat of a gimbal, full 360 movement side to side. And two things that he could grip to make it easier to turn. "Shit, they're coming. Hold on."Door shut.
Using the remains of a desk chair, several feet of steel tubing and discarded armor of indeterminate thickness you manage to make something roughly resembling a twisted cross between a decidedly unsafe merry-go-round and a lightly-armored wedding cake. It consists of the bottom half of a swivel chair with a small platform mounted above it, in the center of the platform is a cage of metal for a thruster to be mounted onto. Now, since being really anywhere near the backside of a thruster isn't the brightest idea, the front of the cage has a set of railings that allow cage rotation, though it requires the operator to stand facing it and side step around the front, dragging the entire cage around with them. Not remotely safe at all if you intend to ride it. But there aren't too many options considering what you wanted.
Whilst you were busy doing all of this, your coworker just randomly convulses for a bit. Helpful.
"Urraagh. Anyone remember what happened? I sure don't.""The Drunken Engineer Bar, 54 Chest Nut Avenue. 1st 'Floor'."
Ugh... I had to pick an option... what was it... didn't know what was in the box... oh yeah, that cat guy. Slobenger? Schroider? Whatever the one that sound like the cat in the box guy, that was it. Anyway, didn't want to put fingerprints on those rifles; hopefully there weren't any already.
Select SCHROEDINBUG. Don't take a rifle; that's bad news. Just where are we, anyway? Ask the dude if required. Maybe that strange thing in my pocket has a clue.
Floor probably wasn't the best term to use, but as is common with language, appropriate usage was not much of a consideration. The first floor consisted of the section of the colony starting from the bottom of the helix and spiraling up all the way until a bird's eye view would make it appear as a circle, which considering the size of the region covered by that definition, is inexact to the point of uselessness.
Pale text erupts forth. Some before your eyes, others in your mind. The text that is more, comprehensible reads:
Code: (SCHROEDINBUG) [Select]
Finally lucid now, are you?
Tell me, do you like fire and explosions?
((You are now able to summon a hallucination of the grimoire found in the OP and cast spells from it.))
((Tradecraft Gained: Arrow of Simurgh))
"More information would be good. I'm sure the autocannon is strong enough to tear through them, but do they have any maneuvering weaknesses? Inability or trouble turning, the sort of thing I could exploit?" Beirus replies to Jus, his gaze coninually flicking through the evasion options presented to him.
Take any evasion option that allows me to still have a line of fire on at least one System League frame. Continue firing autocannon while evading. If one of them closes to Melee range, RELEASE THEKRAKENARMS!
Code: (JUS AD BELLUM) [Select]
Hostiles Identified.
They are 01-PUPPET/AF units, lightweight frames designed for high-speed combat. Minimalistic design, lacking many of the systems most frames have.
No hydraulics, no actuators, they move using high-output thrusters embedded over their entire frame. Armor is as light as possible, any thinner and
infantry weapons would have been able to destroy them.
No maneuvering weaknesses. At least, not as long as they remain airborne. With enough obstacles however, they run the risk of crashing.
Hard to pilot, even harder to automate. And these are indeed automated. They run the risk of overturning when trying to aim, or just crashing and burning.
Their weapons are 19-MUSKETEER/SR sniper rifles, all of them are out of ammo - those weapons are single shot Hail Marys.
They double as swords though, and if one of those PUPPET frames hits a core with them at the speed they can move, the pilot is as good as dead.
If they go for a stab, they'll have trouble unlodging their weapon after hitting, or if they miss, they'll probably crash.
If they go for a slash, they might knock the MUSKETEER out of their own hands, or, they'll overswing completely.
Basically, for them to be using that weapon is suicidal.
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 1 vs. 1] Wow, just wow. You dodge, barely. The sniper round ripping through the air just to your right and plowing into the pavement.
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 0 vs. 2] [MDEF vs. UTAR: 0 vs. 1] [MDEF vs. UTAR: 0 vs. 0] The rest of your squad aren't so lucky. Two of the rounds crash straight into their targets, slamming them backwards amidst a spray of ablated armor and heated cursing. The final round just plain misses and slams into the side of a building,
"Shit! We're all gonna die if we don't get into cover!" Instead of returning fire, your squadmate in the undamaged frame proceeds to charge straight into the damaged building, crashing through the already crumbling wall. They continue running into the building, spinning around in the process to try and cover everyone else with their chaingun.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 3 vs. 4] Despite your best efforts towards the contrary, your target remains unscathed having suddenly reversed its direction entirely, performing a horizontal dash at immense speeds.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 4 vs. 5] [UTAR vs. MDEF: 2 vs. 5] Your other two squadmates also fail to enact their vengeance, the PUPPET frames having scattered to avoid their shots.
The frame you targeted shifts its trajectory, flying in an arcing trajectory towards your position whilst the other three enter steep dives, one of them apparently intent on stabbing the LUPUS in the building to death through the entirety of said building. As time halts again, you notice the something falling off of the one targeting you.
Code: (JUS AD BELLUM) [Select]
It's purging its cooling systems and armor to dump excess heat and speed up.
It's going to overheat. It's thrusters are going to melt to slag.
Assuming it doesn't crash and burn before then.
Try not to be in the crash, or at least keep your frame's arms in the way.
Ao ShiShe doesn't move at all before replying
"Sote? Mal? What? You gotta fill me in about what the hell is going on. Why your image was on that ancient tablet? Also, what's your name?"
"I appreciate if you can check the backup generator. Those soldiers outside probably will make their plans clear soon enough."
In other words, use Bio Scan.
Then Ao turns his attention to guys below.
"Fix it properly! No jury rigging anything!" I'm not risking electronics.
"Colleagues of mine. Most people just call me Red, and that was my image because I sent you the tablet before I came here. Oh and your backup generator has cancer. I really wouldn't recommend going down there, unless you like dying from cosmic radiation.
It's a bubble of twisted reality that can grow and multiply by draining electricity. Casting a spell inside its boundary should be able to pop it really easily, but, it can teleport and it has a really unpredictable attack pattern so you probably won't want to try.
You can thank the aliens for it."
Aliens? What aliens?
Speaking of ways to ruin your day, whoever's outside has started shouting again "Agh, damnit, okay fine, have it your way. We're going to break down your wall. Please clear the way, so that you don't get manslaughtered by our frame."
Left arm is just over halfway done in terms of actuator installation, at this rate, you might have to just resort to kicking everything to death with a paraplegic frame.
"Great. Seeing as that machine is probably our only hope of seeing another day, can you guys get to installing the electricity, hydraulics, and movement core? Don't rush, I want this done properly." Derek says to the other engineers with him. Moving to the weird terminal, Derek looks at the list of available networks."On it sir. How do we power this thing though?"
About 60% or so of the electrical systems get installed but they still don't have any sort of power supply so to speak of. Hydraulics and movement core installation has yet to begin. During this, you hear some sort of muffled discussion take place outside, mostly drowned out by the whirring of the chamber arms and background noise, after a while the voices are gone, replaced by disquieting silence.
Code: (Terminal) [Select]
Grimoire protocols activated
Available networks are:
SOTERIOLOGIST
RED_QUEEN
JUS_AD_BELLUM
SMOTHERED_MATE
MALEBRANCHE
TZINACAN
DECOHERENT
SCHROEDINBUG
Enter a network name, or press ENTER to skip
"No idea. What the hell am I doing here? I don't even drink.The matchbox's insignia, a minimalistic eye with a faint smoke pattern around it, doesn't really match any brand you know of. Opening it, you find that there are 19 safety matches, seemingly of mundane construction with no particularly notable characteristics.
What is this in my pocket? Check out the little box thing.
Post by: Empiricist on May 22, 2015, 09:22:38 pm
| < | Turn 4 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6235073#msg6235073) | | | Turn 5 | | | Turn 6 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6258827#msg6258827) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Sarrack (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: NAV (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Nidilap (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 23, 2015, 07:05:28 am
"Lesson learned, never trust strange magical boxes. aww.... crud."
Examine self frantically, make sure nothing's broken, misplaced, or changed.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 23, 2015, 07:12:49 am
"I probably shoud stop asking questions because in the end I only have more questions... I have no skill or knowledge of spell casting so generator have to wait for someone professional. Damn aliens... I knew we shouldn't have let just anybody in. If I were to run the immigration office, I would ensure thorough background checks for all immigrants so terrorists wouldn't get in so easily."
I try to gain time for frame installation by lying to the guys outside.
"Sorry, we welded the door full of all kind of crap so it's a bit hard to open it! And especially since you apparently broke our generators we have to rely slow battery powered cutters to clear it all off! And it's quite cramped here, you know!? So give us few minutes, I'm sure you understand how annoying it is when your workplace is being trashed."
If enemy agrees, then I instruct two guys to start breaking down the makeshift barricade blocking the door slowly. Or at least pretend they are doing so. I will then assist with installation. As soon as it is done I'll jump into cockpit and do systems check to ensure it actually works.
If enemy disagrees, then I tell our engineers to make space (loudly), jump into LATRANS, start it up and do my best to beat the frame coming in. Priorize its weapons, arms and legs. Then deal with their infantry.
((Shouldn't Bio Scan be on cooldown?))
Post by: Empiricist on May 23, 2015, 07:19:40 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 23, 2015, 07:21:36 am
Post by: Empiricist on May 23, 2015, 07:26:30 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 23, 2015, 07:29:29 am
Post by: Hawk132 on May 23, 2015, 08:25:23 am
Post by: Nidilap on May 23, 2015, 09:17:12 am
Look around. See if any friendlies are around. or baddies. Or booze. Make sure my rifle is loaded.
Post by: Toaster on May 23, 2015, 11:23:09 pm
Code: (SCHROEDINBUG) [Select]Finally lucid now, are you?
Tell me, do you like fire and explosions?
Winston rubbed his head. Memories of... indeed, fire and explosions entered his head. Everyone enjoyed seeing a big boom, right? A tiny niggling doubt wondered if those memories were actually his, but that thought was quickly repressed.
"I... think I do. What were those symbols? Can you tell me how to make more explosions?" That last question almost felt like it didn't come from his own mouth. Hm. "What's this book thing?"
Talk
Post by: Beirus on May 23, 2015, 11:37:29 pm
Fire autocannon at approaching frame. If that doesn't take it out, focus on dodging the attack. Keep the arms chained and in front of me.
Post by: Empiricist on May 24, 2015, 12:13:01 am
Fire autocannon at approaching frame.((Your reaction (the dodging) is going to happen first. Are you sure you want to open fire on a frame that is probably going to be destroyed/inoperable one way or another by the time your action (the shoot) is processed?
Or are you giving up your action in order to use both Defensive stats for your reaction?))
Post by: Beirus on May 24, 2015, 12:36:19 am
Post by: Pencil_Art on May 24, 2015, 12:36:50 am
Type in RED_QUEEN.
"Let's see what this does." Derek whispers to himself.
Post by: Empiricist on May 24, 2015, 01:07:54 am
((Are the other enemy frames going to be destroyed too? If not, target one of them instead.))((Got it.))
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 25, 2015, 07:15:33 am
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 25, 2015, 09:27:59 am
((Amazingly, nobody's actually casting spells from the book.))((I haven't done any magic because I don't have any IC knowledge to do so. Or even IC reason to. And Ao is busy with more important things.))
Post by: Shaporia on May 26, 2015, 07:03:17 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 26, 2015, 07:08:02 am
Post by: Toaster on May 26, 2015, 09:50:47 am
((Amazingly, nobody's actually casting spells from the book.))
((My talk-action is kind of a prompt for IC knowledge of it, though most people have more pressing matters at hand than stringing random words together and hoping for something interesting to happen.))
Post by: Corsair on May 27, 2015, 07:28:37 am
"Lesson learned, never trust strange magical boxes. aww.... crud."After some, examination, you find that your genitals are still attached. Your sensory organs, vital organs and observable bodyparts seem to all be fine as well. It's a bit hard to check whether or not your appendix and other such organs are still functional, but there's nothing really indicating that they fared any worse.
Examine self frantically, make sure nothing's broken, misplaced, or changed.
Beyond the blast doors, there is only a muddled haze of footsteps, neither departing nor advacing. Clearer, more distinct noise however is now emanating from the gantry above the rails upon which the mechanical arms reside.
Ao ShiRed dissolves into hysteric laughter on the floor, clutching at her sides after you reach the word "professional""I oh god, oh please st- st-op, 'professional'? I oh-" she dissolves into laughter once more for a while "I, this is just, that is... so ridiculously hilarious... You are one of the most professional spellcasters on this planet!" for the next few moments she attempts to regain composure only to look at you and snort with stifled laughter. "Okay since you seem to be a bit dense on the whole spells thing, I'll spell" she giggles at the unintentional pun "pardon me I'm just so excitable today~!" she says in a shocked self-mocking tone ", anyway now look at me... you feel that slight ache in the back of your head? Focus on it..." As you follow her commands you see the words of the grimoire moving across your vision and mind "You can see all of the words. That is something that very few people get, anyone who can cast magic normally knows only 2 or 3 of those words." her voice takes on a slightly sad note at the end of her explanation. "Oh I'm getting another contact request... I wonder if Sote would mind if I made this a conference call..."
"I probably shoud stop asking questions because in the end I only have more questions... I have no skill or knowledge of spell casting so generator have to wait for someone professional. Damn aliens... I knew we shouldn't have let just anybody in. If I were to run the immigration office, I would ensure thorough background checks for all immigrants so terrorists wouldn't get in so easily."
I try to gain time for frame installation by lying to the guys outside.
"Sorry, we welded the door full of all kind of crap so it's a bit hard to open it! And especially since you apparently broke our generators we have to rely slow battery powered cutters to clear it all off! And it's quite cramped here, you know!? So give us few minutes, I'm sure you understand how annoying it is when your workplace is being trashed."
If enemy agrees, then I instruct two guys to start breaking down the makeshift barricade blocking the door slowly. Or at least pretend they are doing so. I will then assist with installation. As soon as it is done I'll jump into cockpit and do systems check to ensure it actually works.
If enemy disagrees, then I tell our engineers to make space (loudly), jump into LATRANS, start it up and do my best to beat the frame coming in. Priorize its weapons, arms and legs. Then deal with their infantry.
With a horrible grating noise, the barrel of a gun erupts through the wall, several meters above the barricaded door. Judging by the length and, oddly sharp appearance, it's either a sniper rifle or a sword. Or maybe some sort of horrible cross between the two. Slowly, ever so slowly it begins to force itself downwards, towards the barricade. "We'll get it open then! Just keep your limbs and stuff away from that blade. That... really, urgh really slow blade. Sorry 'bout the generators, if it makes you feel any better we've got orders to blow up that whole chamber, so it ain't like you'll be needing it. I would've thought you guys would have backups or something, guess not."
Left arm installation complete. Systems check indicates plenty of issues, but nothing you didn't know already. The only ones of actual concern are the fact that the frame isn't receiving enough power (probably just because the generator's hooked up to the chamber's arms right now) and the lack of any weaponry (though the sheer size of the frame should probably be enough anyway). During all of this, Red apparently climbed up the frame's arm and is now sitting on the shoulder.
Tell my men to check what exactly can they test in there. Ask the guys in the truck where they're heading and what are they going to do. If nothing suspicious/dangerous to NEE found - let them go after advising them to evacuate."Could test anything really from the looks of things they have bullet proof reusable blast chambers to some sort of high tech uh a '3D metal ion laser etcher'" one of the soldiers responds laconically.
"We're just driving a product testing and coordination truck, an important one, down to the lower industrial district while there were less drivers on the road." the driver states testily.
Well you have no real grounds to keep them any longer... but you know there is something odd about this all, though it might not matter, and definitely not
enough to hold up two truck technicians. You end up letting them go (however begrudgingly), advising they get out of range of the fighting.
"Oohhh... Bugger a Harpy! I need a drink or my 'ead will explode..."Well, the bar hasn't exactly changed in the last few minutes. Unless of course, you count the movement of molecules and particles, changes in air pressure in different points in the room, and the overall increase of entropy that may or may not eventually lead to the heat death of the universe and the erasure of anything and everything you held, hold or will hold dear as the cold and uncaring laws of physics erase all traces of you and the rest of your arrogant species in spite of their desperate, delusional hopes that they are greater than the mere self-replicating structures of carbon compounds and chemical reactions that all logic and reason tells them they are.
Look around. See if any friendlies are around. or baddies. Or booze. Make sure my rifle is loaded.
The friendlies in the room would be Daos, Hobart, and Winston. The barkeeper could probably also be placed into that category provided you continue to purchase drinks. The greatest threats in the room thus far seem to be broken furniture which may pose as trip hazards, though if one were not to limit this categorization to merely the physical, then the consumerism-driven societal perceptions of alcohol that subtly pressure and indoctrinate people towards its consumption at their own detriment would probably also count.
As for the booze, well, you're in a bar, so there's plenty of it. Though there is currently no quantity of it that you can access without payment or committing a criminal offense. Your assault rifle is definitely loaded. The other two rifles, er, well, they've got what appear to be extension cords screwed into them, does that count as being loaded?
Winston rubbed his head. Memories of... indeed, fire and explosions entered his head. Everyone enjoyed seeing a big boom, right? A tiny niggling doubt wondered if those memories were actually his, but that thought was quickly repressed.
"I... think I do. What were those symbols? Can you tell me how to make more explosions?" That last question almost felt like it didn't come from his own mouth.
Code: (SCHROEDINBUG) [Select]
A grimoire. Consider yourself lucky, few have access to them. Fewer still have a complete one like yourself. We pulled a few strings to deliver it to you.
They are used to cast spells, and, provided you get your hands on something that can be used to engrave things, certain other kinds of magic.
Keep in mind though that using a spell too powerful for you may be lethal, but we can always bring you back.
I can help with blowing stuff up. You just need to find something remotely explosive and I'll see if anything you have on hand can make it explode and tell you how.
"Well, shit. This doesn't look good. Shouldn't there be someone else attacking? I thought I was supposed to be flanking, not the main force."As the other two LUPUS frames scurry into the building, you alone stand to brave the onslaught. "Other team had an electrical fault and is delayed. Danger-close A605-tracer/smoke and frag are on the way recommend switching to UV filter." ((We'll use orange glow to signify headquarters.))
Fire autocannon at approaching frame. If that doesn't take it out, focus on dodging the attack. Keep the arms chained and in front of me.
[MDEF vs. LTAR: 0 vs. 2] [TRANS: 1] Your vision dims as the PUPPET slams into your upraised arms, temper flaring at these mechanical mockeries of men come as everything goes blurry except for your rightful prey. You feel every weakness in their frail forms and shiver with anticipation with the prospect of tearing them apart, limb by limb. The synthesized voice of your console is almost indistinct through your feverish bloodlust.
"> Critical damage to restraint system detected."
"> Continued containment chance 0.003%. Conditions suboptimal."
"> Pilot stress detected, continued voluntary containment chance 0.001%"
"> Combat system active, restraints removed 99.986% ,... 100.000%,... Complete."
"> Beginning restraint repair."
"> Pilot auth. required for re-containment protocol #100."
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 1++ vs. 3]
You see the hands of the PHARAOH clearly for the first time, glossy and black almost like that of a human rather than the mitten-like hands of the
LUPUS units. You see the armor that saved you, metal strips of a shiny metal covered in ripples linked together around the forearms and across the
backs of the hands.
You also see what the hands can do as the right one grips the mangled mass of scrap that crashed into you and flings it bodily at the other PUPPET seemingly taunting you with by hovering out of reach. The flying PUPPET dodges the flying remains of its comrade, pity that. The husk-turned projectile proceeds to crash through the upper floors of a building and ignite. Collateral damage. Irrelevant. It blurs away into the your clouded vision.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 2 vs. 6] [UTAR vs. MDEF: 7 vs. 4] [UTAR vs. MDEF: -2 vs. 3] Gunshots and two more crashes ring out. It seems that the PUPPET that trying to fly through a building continued with its course of action, an action which ended predictably, whilst the auto frame you targeted was gunned down by your squad.
You see the rest of the frames down the street, each sharp and clear in your otherwise unfocused sight. Without hesitation, you begin barreling towards them, your radio crackles with the concerns of your squadmates and the frantic yells from the command center. Irrelevant voices. Irrelevant white noise. Noise that is soon drowned out by all the other meaningless sources of similarly pointless sounds. Your prey shall soon be within your grasp, to hell with everyone else.
((Uh, have you desecrated any ancient burial grounds by holding orgies with the spouses of people who work on random.org on top of them recently? Because you've been rolling incredibly poorly for some reason.))
"Can you work on installing the other things right now? I have to concentrate on this."You get shocked like everyone else. "Having a bad day?", turning around at the sound of the voice, you find yourself face to face with the same lady that Ao sees. "As much as I'd like to draw this out, you seem to be in a hurry, so I'll make this quick."
Type in RED_QUEEN.
"Let's see what this does." Derek whispers to himself.
"The words that are in your mind right now are uh..." she frowns with concentration "lets keep this simple and just say "magic". You can "cast" them by focusing on that ache in the back of your head, no not that one the other one, yeah that one. There are no "rules" so no need to worry about syntax or anything. Just, try not to kill yourself with them, well that is a bit unfair since you don't know what they mean, so just um... stand back I guess? Oh, and I, as your new little helper, can give you info on what sort of life forms are hanging about. Like the people outside, the ones with the guns." she finishes with a mildly hushed tone.
You hear a gruff, muffled shout come from outside "This is your first and final warning. Surrender now, or we will breach." Welp. At least the electrical systems are done, albeit lacking any source of electricity for them to use.
You now have access to the grimoire
Miaoko smirked, looking at the engine. "Alright, this should work.." So, now to install those electronics for regulating the flow of the fuel. Calibrate them slightly higher than normal.Calibrated. There really isn't much else to say for this turn, other than you hearing the same sounds as James.
Post by: Empiricist on May 27, 2015, 07:30:13 am
| < | Turn 5 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6249286#msg6249286) | | | Turn 6 | | | Turn 7 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6272029#msg6272029) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Sarrack (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: NAV (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Nidilap (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 27, 2015, 07:38:20 am
Post by: Hawk132 on May 27, 2015, 07:59:16 am
Continue the patrol.
Post by: Toaster on May 27, 2015, 08:38:19 am
44 a5 sabb -M
((Not really sure if hiding actions is the right idea here since ostensibly we're on the same side. Further, I feel more doing more organic testing since there's no defined pool as far as I can tell. As such, first spell is just random words strung together and thrown into the wild.))
Post by: Nidilap on May 27, 2015, 09:12:33 am
Pay the man, down my drink, and get to the engineers
"Do any of you know what the hell is goin' on?"
Post by: Toaster on May 27, 2015, 09:48:45 am
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 27, 2015, 10:39:07 am
"Oh. Wow... I don't suppose you can tell me what each word will do? And I must question the reason why I was granted this, I'm certain people already familiar with magic could make much better use of this."
"Wait... I am one of the most professional... Are you saying there's others with equivalent or even greater access? Please do not tell they are enemies..."
Talking. Also tell Red to find safer location because I'm about to crush this thing.
Tell engineer buddies to detach generator from chamber and get into safety in case a lot of rubble will fo flying soon.
Prepare to disable the enemy frame the moment they finish breaching the wall. Then curb-stomp enemy infantry.
Talk to them while waiting.
"We do have backup generators, this is not some amateur workshop, you know that? But you broke that as well. Or some other party did. Ha, maybe there's three-way fight going on! That would really suck! Hey, you are not going to kill or rob us non-combatants, right? Will you ensure our safety?"
Post by: Beirus on May 27, 2015, 03:57:54 pm
"I WILL KILL THEM ALL!"
If I have enough control to fire the autocannon while approaching, do so. If not, just close as fast as possible and rip them apart. Focus on mobility and dodging incase of attacks.
Post by: Shaporia on May 27, 2015, 05:07:10 pm
"Um... I think only my voice's changed... maybe my personality also? Anyway... what now?""..Uh. Well.. We could.. Armor up the thruster? Maybe get it to be steerable with the gimbal. Or we could just surrender." Miaoko looked over at the thruster, then he looked up at the gantry, watching for any movement. And try to hallucinate the grimore.
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 27, 2015, 05:09:31 pm
"Would they leave us alive if we surrendered?""Um... I think only my voice's changed... maybe my personality also? Anyway... what now?""..Uh. Well.. We could.. Armor up the thruster? Maybe get it to be steerable with the gimbal. Or we could just surrender." Miaoko looked over at the thruster, then he looked up at the gantry, watching for any movement.
Post by: Shaporia on May 27, 2015, 05:38:13 pm
"I'm not sure.""Would they leave us alive if we surrendered?""Um... I think only my voice's changed... maybe my personality also? Anyway... what now?""..Uh. Well.. We could.. Armor up the thruster? Maybe get it to be steerable with the gimbal. Or we could just surrender." Miaoko looked over at the thruster, then he looked up at the gantry, watching for any movement.
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 27, 2015, 08:03:49 pm
Post by: Empiricist on May 27, 2015, 09:05:09 pm
((Them is some bad rolls. Damn. Also, what are those +s? Is it so that it beats a roll of the same value? And I'm running straight into the frag strikes, aren't I?))((Increments (based off of programming notation). The curse is magically enhancing your combat ability, so those ++s indicate a bonus score of 1. +=n would mean a bonus score of n, -= n would mean a penalty score of n, and -- would mean a penalty score of 1.
Oh and, you can disregard the LTAR vs. SDEF roll, we forgot to remove it from the post - since the thing you were grabbing was basically inoperable by the time it happened, it couldn't have resisted at all.))
((Just a heads up, this will probably go on a hiatus in just over a fortnight's time due to end of Semester exams. Though we would probably be able to post more quickly for a while afterwards due to the lack of lectures and tutorials.))
Post by: Pencil_Art on May 28, 2015, 12:18:22 am
Post by: Empiricist on May 28, 2015, 08:32:32 am
((What words in my head?))((Whenever someone chooses an option and gets shocked, they also end up with all the words from the Grimoire in their head.))
Post by: Empiricist on May 30, 2015, 05:33:06 am
Pay the man, down my drink, and get to the engineers((Which engineers? The ones two floors above in the middle of a mechanized skirmish? Also, you need to choose a Handler, if any, for your character.))
Post by: Nidilap on May 31, 2015, 10:10:58 am
Pay the man, down my drink, and get to the engineers((Which engineers? The ones two floors above in the middle of a mechanized skirmish? Also, you need to choose a Handler, if any, for your character.))
Is there a handler for accurate shooting? I'd like that.
I should probably start looking around for any baddies to shoot at. That's my thing.
Post by: Empiricist on May 31, 2015, 06:48:55 pm
Post by: Pencil_Art on May 31, 2015, 07:01:52 pm
"Get the Hydraulics on, and hook the electricity onto this terminal! Prepare for a breach!"
Post by: FallacyofUrist on June 01, 2015, 07:01:59 am
Post by: Corsair on June 02, 2015, 06:26:42 am
"They're suspicious as fuck. Too bad that we have a patrol to finish."You arrive at the next waypoint of your patrol, the military base AFH29, a spire-type facility with a small exclusion zone of about 30m between the base of the building and 10m high concrete walls tipped with the gold spines of shield generators that leave a telltale shimmer of superheated air around the building. The building itself is constructed of cast concrete cubes with two opposite ends missing and stapled together with iron I beams. These form long concrete tubes of dimensions 5m x 5m x 10m which can hold two LUPI and their support crew, it is a design employed in urban spaces where every meter is extremely valuable. There are 10 stories of these tubes which are placed in alternating directions in pairs allowing up to 40 LUPI to be held there at once, though there are often as few as 15. You hurry inside and see a System League squad consisting of a close packed group of about 4 PUPPETs armed with pairs of sub-machineguns, they are just sitting outside the other gate still. On the other side of the shield from them are two LUPI with heavy cannons ready to intervene if necessary.
Continue the patrol.
Winston scratched his head. "So just string words together? Do I just pick one from each section, like say..."[COMP: 14/7] As you focus on the words, the rest seem to fade, not fully disappearing but becoming hard to focus on, like memories just outside your recollection. So to does the rest of your mind, your own thoughts, for whatever brief instant dimming to the edges of your consciousness as the spell expands. And then, as abruptly as it began, it ends. Your thoughts and the rest of the grimoire come rushing back into your mind. Huh, nothing happened.
44 a5 sabb -M
Code: (SCHROEDINBUG) [Select]
No, you don't need one from each section, any number of words in any order will work. Generally, the more words you use, the harder it is to cast.
"Are you, feeling okay sir?"
The barkeeper begins to back away from you slowly, his hands reaching into his pockets.
"You're not making a lot of sense..."
A small UAV hovers along the ground outside, one would be forgiven to assume that it were child's toy, though no child would be around in the smog of Floor 1, especially not in the current circumstances. The design was quite skeletal, presumably due to weight considerations, it consisted of what appears to be a bulbous camera array with four 'arms' arranged in a cross-shape, each terminating with a set of rotors. A distinct lack of landing skids seemed to indicate that it was designed to remain in the air at all times, rather odd considering that with that many cameras, it's battery life should be quite short.
It didn't look like something used by your side, they had plenty of security cameras in the colony already, but it also didn't look like something the System League would use, they usually preferred actual operatives and signals intelligence. The fact that an indistinct figure formed of some sort of transparent figure abruptly appears and smashes through the window seems to be even more conclusive that it isn't something used by either side of this little war of yours.
As glass and fog cascades into the bar, a flanged obsidian mace proceeds to fly head-first out of your left shoulder, smashing into the wall.
Ao Shi"Something's been interfering with us, even if I tried telling you, the words won't reach you. There aren't any well there are and aren't, personality is a large part of choice in candidates, so there are people better than you but there is only one.... you? I guess? I dunno never really paid any attention to some of the rants on statistics, it was really depressing.
"Oh. Wow... I don't suppose you can tell me what each word will do? And I must question the reason why I was granted this, I'm certain people already familiar with magic could make much better use of this."
"Wait... I am one of the most professional... Are you saying there's others with equivalent or even greater access? Please do not tell they are enemies..."
Talking. Also tell Red to find safer location because I'm about to crush this thing.
Tell engineer buddies to detach generator from chamber and get into safety in case a lot of rubble will fo flying soon.
Prepare to disable the enemy frame the moment they finish breaching the wall. Then curb-stomp enemy infantry.
Talk to them while waiting.
"We do have backup generators, this is not some amateur workshop, you know that? But you broke that as well. Or some other party did. Ha, maybe there's three-way fight going on! That would really suck! Hey, you are not going to kill or rob us non-combatants, right? Will you ensure our safety?"
You have the most access possible, but yes, there are System League units with as much access in fact..."
She trails off and begins counting on her fingers, though evidently more as a gestural embellishment than as a necessity.
"Uhhh, think one of them's in this building/area right now~? One of Tzi's (a friend if you were wondering). You'll be fine, she's a really nice lady, makes a great butterscotch pudding, seriously bribe her with something cool and she'll make you some, I'll be per~fectly fine here.
In fact I think I'll sit down and see how you handle things."
She proceeds to sit down. On a nearby wall. Entirely perpendicular to the floor.
The engineers frantically detach the jury-rigged cables and rush into cover at the rear corners of the chamber. The electrical warnings are gone.
"If there is, then all the better we all get out of dodge ASAP. We can ensure your safety assuming we get you the hell out of that room before it gets caught in crossfire or some hot head makes the autos murder everything in here, us included. So yeah, we're kinda on a tight schedule if you haven't figured that out yet, we wouldn't have time to kill or rob even if we wanted to. Not that any of us want to of course, you know shit is these days, foes one day, friends another. We'd rather not waste our bullets shooting people we could be fighting alongside next week for all we know."
The barrier finally falls and the door swings open. Issue is, the frame hasn't actually breached the wall above, it just cut downwards through it, meaning it's still intact. One of the soldiers, a figure clad in full ballistic body armor with the mixed grey hues of urban camouflage, walks in assault rifle in hand. "Either you guys are real damn fast, or I call bullshit on that mess." After a few seconds, he finally looks up, horrified gaze meeting the camera array that serves as the eyes of the LATRANS. "Oh fuck me." He proceeds to throw his rifle, grenades and magazines away and raises his hands. "...shit. Okay, okay, you've got us. We're putting down our weapons, no need to do anything to hasty... No need to worry about the frame back there, it's an auto, so as long as we don't tell it to do anything, it won't hurt you" That statement seemed almost, like it was prepared in advance. Rehearsed even. You think you also hear someone nervously remark in a sing-song voice "Told you so."
The rest of the squad walks in, hands up and noticeably relieved of their armaments "Just a heads up, a few buddies of ours have a few buddies of yours at gunpoint, now look, we don't want any trouble, but we kinda need to make sure you guys don't just kill us all. No offense."
"I WILL KILL THEM ALL!"[TRANS--: 7/5] The feeling begins to fade, reality, oh so clear, oh so loud crashes back to you. Realizing that you are running headfirst into an enemy squad and soon-to-be shrapnel storm, you quickly stop and backpedal a bit. A fifth shell explodes above, creating a large cloud of smoke, switching to UV cameras you see through the smoke as if it were but a large wisp of steam.
If I have enough control to fire the autocannon while approaching, do so. If not, just close as fast as possible and rip them apart. Focus on mobility and dodging incase of attacks.
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 11 vs. 3, 3, 3, 0, 2, 2] BANG. BANG. BANG. And the PUPPETs are gone! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUUyQQbCxjg) The spindly frames evaporate into shrapnel which shreds several storefronts after the next four shells, fragmentation ordnance land amongst them. Looks like you didn't need to do much, aside from stare sheepishly.
"...hmm so that is the power of the cursed frame. You back with us O'Greenahan? Anyway now to mop up the infantry proceed into the main compound ahead. If you need artillery support, try and lure them out of the facility, there'd be too much collateral if we tried bombarding our own infrastructure."
"..Uh. Well.. We could.. Armor up the thruster? Maybe get it to be steerable with the gimbal. Or we could just surrender." Miaoko looked over at the thruster, then he looked up at the gantry, watching for any movement. And try to hallucinate the grimore.You see the squads of soldiers grouping above occupied work cubicles and dropping grenades into them, judging by the distinct lack of explosions and the objects in their hands, they can use remote detonators instead of timers. They are approaching your position and will arrive within 1 minute.
Grimoire hallucinated.
Derek uses Bio Scan on the area outside the door, where the enemy soldiers say they will breach. Meanwhile he shouts."There are four of them, two there-ish,"
"Get the Hydraulics on, and hook the electricity onto this terminal! Prepare for a breach!"
She points towards the door seem.
"aaaand two sorta there-ish"
Her point shifts rightwards.
"I've detected a spike in Neuropeptide Y and Cortisol levels. Considering the minor needle wounds in their legs, they're probably raw recruits who've just
taken NPY doses."
She speaks with a bored monotonous voice.
"Since you don't have a clue what I just said, Cortisol is a stress hormone, NPY suppresses the stupid urges that stress drives such as attempting to breathe water while drowning. Important in preventing mental problems, and naturally causes a drop in Cortisol. Increases survival rate but doesn't really raise actual combat skill - in short it makes you not dumb, you understand?"
Her tone remains quite patronizing.
"Other than the usual gut flora, non-aggressive thyroid cancer and a case of... oh for god's sake how? ugh~, they're also carrying some pathogens foreign to this planet. You should be fine though, you're inoculated against them already, well probably unless they got some super virus that turns you to jelly if you aren't used to it. Doubt it though."
Good thing the System League were allies a few years back. When two factions are at each other's throats for a long time, or just withholding vaccination data from each other, wars tend to get rather, messy. Soldiers can end up becoming walking biological weapons with payloads of diseases that their foes lack sufficient immunity to. Granted, half the time it's just influenza (the infuriatingly persistent phallic thorn that perpetually sodomizes humanity's sides), but even that can be lethal when it gets in the way of not getting shot.
"What do we power it with?"
"The chamber! We can reroute the power-supply!"
"Are you fucking kidding me, that is not going to work."
"Shut up and help me with this damn cable, if it doesn't we're dead."
Uh, it seems to be done. Emphasis on "seems". It's hard to tell whether or not the chamber's power-supply is actually sufficient to power the entire frame, after all you aren't in the cockpit and it isn't actually on right now.
With a roar, the breaching charges tears through a section of the wall just right of the barricade. Thick smoke billows through the newly formed entrance followed by the same gruff voice, emanating now from somewhere within the haze "Halt and surrender, or we start shooting."
"Their bluffing for now, the idiots forgot to put on, or don't have goggles - I can sense their eye irritation... deeefinitely newbies,"
She assumes the tone of a patronizing mother.
"Now play nice with them, no unnecessary extreme violence. Have fun dear!"
I should probably start looking around for any baddies to shoot at. That's my thing.You head outside of the bar into the street, when you leave the stinking bar you are greeted with the stench of off-food and something... slightly musky, like fur? The "street" barely qualifies as such, with the entrance of the bar lying on the T-intersection of two alleys barely wide enough for two cars to pass, and a thin sidewalk on one side. The buildings are made of brick, stained black by the soot from the factories, each about five stories, above them, smog sits thick and impenetrable. It seems that both extension cords are outside as well, trailing off into the distance.
Amongst the refuse of newspapers and garbage surrounding the driveways out of the blue-collar housing is something large, furry and moving. It appears to be a distressingly large brown bear, it's ears prick up at the sound of your movement and proceeds to slowly amble towards you. Your head is only at it's shoulder level and it becomes distressingly apparent that its eyes have an azure glow to them. Once it gets near you the stench of alcohol becomes overwhelming and it becomes quite apparent that its lumbering steps are the results of heavy intoxication.
It gets close and begins licking your pants and hands, barking occasionally like an excited dog although in a much deeper tone.
Another strange thing happens around the same time. A quadcopter with a large array of cameras and sensors jammed into its central node flies past quite
rapidly and smashes through a window into the bar below, you smell a faint whiff of something sickly sweet before the smell of the alley rushes back to you.
A loud bang and the sound of something shatter follows shortly.
The bear looks at it briefly before continuing to lick the alcohol stains off of you.
Um... study the area?You are inside a engineering room with another male human and a deskchair attached to a rocket. There are four walls and no ceiling on the room, the walls are made of scorched iron that is able to withstand high temperature. Approximately 20m above you are several crisscrossed gantries and a large number of interconnected tracks for the mechanical arms to roll along, on the gantry you can see what look to be soldiers they are moving in groups along the gantries and gathering in certain positions. You can correctly deduce that they are locating active cubicles and taking control of them, via the tested strategy of dropping
grenades into them and demanding surrender. It is likely that you will face the choice between grenade explosions and capture within the next minute or less.
Quote from: EVERYONE
-time's up-An explosion.
Stones shift, squealing and crackling.
They tumble, scraping down along the colony walls.
More explosions, reverberating throughout the colony.
Gunfire. Detonations. They must've hit a munitions stockpile.
Several thousand dollars, up in smoke.
Lights out.
The lights of the lamps perpetual no more.
Darkness. Several seconds long. Eviscerated by the return of light.
Normality does not return with it.
Third Floor.
Thunder. Indoors. In the colony. A frenzied rumble.
It surges. It screeches. It continues without end.
Temperatures fall. Cold winds rush forth.
A tempest has come.
First Floor.
Alarms. Sirens.
Evacuation order. Now mandatory.
Retreat to the center it says.
Retreat to the center it cries.
They are here.
You can start screaming now.
Post by: Empiricist on June 02, 2015, 06:27:00 am
| < | Turn 6 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6258827#msg6258827) | | | Turn 7 | | | Turn 8 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6285712#msg6285712) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Sarrack (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: NAV (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Nidilap (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: FallacyofUrist on June 02, 2015, 06:57:05 am
Well... maybe not. Use Memento Mori!
((It's a pity the only thing that makes us special(grimoires, and handlers) aren't going to be of much help. No time for science.))
Post by: Shaporia on June 02, 2015, 07:22:14 am
Post by: Hawk132 on June 02, 2015, 08:00:31 am
Engage the PUPPETs. Rip them apart with my chaingun.
Post by: Nidilap on June 02, 2015, 08:21:35 am
Check through the door of the damage. Aim rifle.
For my "handler" can I instead have a bonus for shooting?
Post by: Toaster on June 02, 2015, 08:41:23 am
Grab the mace and duck out the back way! If there's no back way, just the nearest available exit. Get away from that drone.
If it attacks me, scream 1e 34 at it.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on June 02, 2015, 10:06:24 am
"You just keep impressing me..." Ao says with admiration when witnessing her wallsitting technique.
As for enemy soldiers he says "Yeah, don't worry. No killing is gonna happen around here and hopefully not outside either, but that's not entirely in my hands. I'm not soldier, just an engineer who knows how to drive this thing. And judging from that explosion it's probably more like 'foes one minute, friends now', don't you think? Because while I'm not a strategist I'm fairly sure your side wouldn't start bombing the colony while having your own guys inside so it is probably third party trying to screw over us all.
So how about this; we team up and get the fuck out of here, preferrably all alive and let hotheads above decide later what was supposed to happen?"
Persuade.
If succesful, then figure out a way to get LATRANS out of the assembly chamber without having power to do so normally. ((Although I kinda want rest of the missing stuff installed, but I probably won't have time for that.)) If I can't get my frame out then see if it is possible to break it out by its own force. If not, then might as well abandon it.
If I get my frame out then retreat to center while carrying a whole lot of people and recommend soldiers to order the auto frame stay behind. I'm not trusting it if it can be remote controlled.
If not, then do same but simply without it.
If persuasion is not succesfull, then say "Well, we have a problem then. Any suggestions? Anyone?"
Post by: Empiricist on June 03, 2015, 03:34:21 am
For my "handler" can I instead have a bonus for shooting?((Nope.))
Post by: Beirus on June 03, 2015, 03:39:37 am
Post by: Empiricist on June 03, 2015, 04:05:37 am
Yes, you can definite notice the tempest. Everyone on the entire Third Floor would notice it one way or another, due to the storms being rather, uncommon, in an underground colony. You are approximately 2 kilometers from the edge of the storm right now. The facility is in front of you and kilometers to its side is the storm's edge.
Arms still unrestrained. Yes.))
Post by: AoshimaMichio on June 03, 2015, 04:20:25 am
Post by: Empiricist on June 03, 2015, 04:29:27 am
A condensed faction info dump can definitely be made. I'll try and get one done before the game goes on that hiatus.))
Post by: Beirus on June 03, 2015, 05:15:05 am
"Roger, I'm back. Looks like the curse is real, which I assume you were aware of. Fan-fucking-tastic. How the hell did Dead Hand make this, magic? Anyway, I'm going to restrain the arms. Also, it seems there's a storm up here. Any idea what caused it?" Beirus reports to command.
"Jus, you have any information on the construction of the Pharoah? How it was made or why it's cursed? Seems like magic to me, but I've never actually seen or heard of any real magic before. Also, you know anything about that anomalous storm?" Beirus asks Jus as he goes through the arm restraint procedures.
He heads into the main area of the facility. If he runs into any System League infantry, he offers them a chance to surrender. "This is Pilot Beirus O'Greenahan of the NEE. Cease all hostile actions and surrender, or I will use this autocannon to blow you into so many tiny pieces that they'll use a pill capsule as the coffin at your funeral. If you surrender, you will not be harmed. Also, the wonderful weather that just sprang up might warrant a bit of consideration in the time you take deciding whether or not you really want to refuse to surrender."
Restrain the arms. Check if the two pilots with damaged frames want to continue the mission. If not, send them back to HQ. Head into the facility with my squad and offer any System League infantry we meet the chance to surrender. If they attack, fire on them with the autocannon.
Post by: Corsair on June 03, 2015, 07:11:32 am
((I'm slightly lost as where everyone and everything is. How's the map coming? Also how about condensed info dump of all factions and what we are supposed to know about them?))((I'm currently working on the map, should be done tomorrow afternoon))
((The map is more of a GM-aid at the moment since all the data is represented as text that is accessed by a java program. Turning it into an actual symbol/color coded image may take a while due to Corsair being traumatized from working with graphics when trying to code games in java :P))((NO GRAPHICS2D NO NOT AGAIN PLEASE NO NOT THE FACE STOP STOOOP AHHHH))
Post by: FallacyofUrist on June 03, 2015, 07:34:47 am
Post by: Toaster on June 03, 2015, 08:31:08 am
Now they have two problems.))
Post by: AoshimaMichio on June 03, 2015, 08:43:59 am
Post by: Toaster on June 03, 2015, 08:55:37 am
Post by: Nidilap on June 03, 2015, 10:26:26 am
For my "handler" can I instead have a bonus for shooting?((Nope.))
((Why not? How does this work then?))
Post by: Beirus on June 03, 2015, 01:52:59 pm
((The handler is a path to Boons and stuff. It isn't a way to get straight bonuses to anything. That's what magic is for.))For my "handler" can I instead have a bonus for shooting?((Nope.))
((Why not? How does this work then?))
Post by: Corsair on June 03, 2015, 10:08:55 pm
((Also handlers give the universal "reaction time" ability meaning they get the action hero physics rather than ordinary bloke physics allowing them to do things like waltz through gunfire and deflect bullets[possibly with other bullets]. I could give you a bonus to your UTAR skill instead but that would prevent you from gaining access to the grimoire and the handler abilities which are added to as you gain levels. Also the handlers don't specialise in a bonus to X attack type instead giving unique abilities that are really damn hard/impossible to do with magic or are useful for example the "scan" abilities of red queen, jus ad bellum & shrodinbug, all provide information beyond the knowledge that you have, that you can use to make attacks more effective by using the information to hit the enemy weakpoint.))((The handler is a path to Boons and stuff. It isn't a way to get straight bonuses to anything. That's what magic is for.))For my "handler" can I instead have a bonus for shooting?((Nope.))
((Why not? How does this work then?))
Post by: Empiricist on June 05, 2015, 08:21:52 pm
((Faction data is now in the OP.))Spoiler: Factions (click to show/hide)
Post by: Corsair on June 07, 2015, 08:21:31 pm
"Has it occurred to you that we may be doomed? Well... it's occurred to me."The entire cubicle gains an outline labelled "Probable Situational Death". Additional paths go up and the walls of the cubicles, or through them accompanied with a downwards arrow presumably indicating that the wall needs to be lowered first. Those paths are labelled "Acceptable Possibility of Death".
Well... maybe not. Use Memento Mori!
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
You aren't as screwed as you think you are.
We've altered your reflexes, amongst other things.
Should the shrapnel-lined maw of death seek to consume you, you could always slap that bitch and haul ass away.
Or you know, just deflect their grenade away.
"..Well, damn uh... We could try opening the blast doors and running. Really fast." He watched the soldiers for a moment, before muttering under his breath, '22 01'.One of the soldiers move over above your cubicle and waves.
"You know the drill. Surrender and give us any Alcubierre Drives you have, or a grenade goes down there."
[COMP: 5/3] You get a sleek digital wristwatch, it's quite light thanks to its thin design. It lacks any indicator as to it's model, brand or manufacturer.
"What was that?"
The soldier draws their rifle and points it at you, visibly shaken, presumably because you just conjured a watch from thin air.
"Now that's new. I finally get to shoot something during a patrol."It seems that these are the derpy variety of System League frames seeing as they don't even move as you open fire on their tightly packed formation, rounds tearing into the armor. All except one. The one in the center does not fall.
Engage the PUPPETs. Rip them apart with my chaingun.
Indeed, as the broken PUPPET frames fall, it becomes clear that the survivor is different. It looked like a PUPPET when positioned in their midst thanks having the head component of one, but the rest of it is quite different.
Its arms are immediately recognizable as being from a LUPUS frame, even possessing the integrated chaingun on one of them. Though judging by the scorch marks and nonstandard armor, they weren't installed, rather they look like they've been taken from a fallen frame and somehow attached to the core. It's a wonder they are even functional. Behind both of its shoulders are strange formations which appear to be twin computer clusters, albeit bent in circular arcs with peculiar protrusions facing inwards with no discernible purpose. The legs are stranger still, bearing the hallmark streamlined design and thruster bulges of a larger frame. It really shouldn't be able to maintain balance, or really withstand the weight of the rest of the frame.
The core is of a rather sharp, angular design, presumably designed so that attacks either glance off the slants or are forced to penetrate further in order to cause any real damage. Oddly, at where it's limbs are attached, there seems to be some sort of oily black goo slowly leaking from it, it seems to be leaking from the joints as well albeit at an even slower rate and in lesser quantities.
"What the hell is that thing?"
Electricity begins arcing from the regions where the arms, legs, and clusters are attached, discharging at irregular though definitely shortening intervals. In the center of the broken circle formed by the clusters, a pinpoint hole appears, filled with radiant light. It expands growing in size until it becomes a shifting region of twisted space with indistinct boundaries, vaguely spherical with diameter roughly half that of the cluster array, it baths the frame with a green glow. Seeing as it isn't moving yet, it's probably to be powering up and, if it's anything like an NEE frame, you still have a bit of time before it becomes fully operational.
"Well aren't you an adorable little bugger. I'll call yeh 'Jack'. OH SHET! Quick Jack, THE BAR'S UNDER ATTACK"As you approach the door with Jack in tow, Wallace dives out through the window and scrambles to his feet.
Check through the door of the damage. Aim rifle.
Entering the door, the sickly sweet scent envelops you once more. Though now, it is not so much a whiff as much as it's a pervasive, intoxicating stench. Drawing your rifle, you take aim at, the odd liquid figure and the quadcopter behind it.
"Oh hey look at that, time to go!"As a sickly sweet scent fills the room, you find that the mace has unfortunately been shattered upon impacting against a wall, though you still do manage to scoop up some of the larger shards of it as you run in search for another exit. Turns out there isn't any other than the window. The shattered window lined with broken glass. Welp.
Grab the mace and duck out the back way! If there's no back way, just the nearest available exit. Get away from that drone.
If it attacks me, scream 1e 34 at it.
People normally don't look at that and decide that they like the odds. Nor would they actually then attempt to do so with utmost confidence that they will succeed. Yet seemingly from instinct, you do. Leaping off of a table, you dive straight though the window with uncharacteristic agility, easily clearing the glass and coming to a stop on the footpath outside. Huh, you're completely unharmed, not even a graze.
Code: (SCHROEDINBUG) [Select]
I see that you've familiarized yourself with your new capabilities.
Ao ShiWith no source of power for the chamber, you have little choice but to smash your way through the rear wall which, as it turns out, is quite easy to do thanks to the size and strength of the LATRANS.
"You just keep impressing me..." Ao says with admiration when witnessing her wallsitting technique.
As for enemy soldiers he says "Yeah, don't worry. No killing is gonna happen around here and hopefully not outside either, but that's not entirely in my hands. I'm not soldier, just an engineer who knows how to drive this thing. And judging from that explosion it's probably more like 'foes one minute, friends now', don't you think? Because while I'm not a strategist I'm fairly sure your side wouldn't start bombing the colony while having your own guys inside so it is probably third party trying to screw over us all.
So how about this; we team up and get the fuck out of here, preferrably all alive and let hotheads above decide later what was supposed to happen?"
Persuade.
If succesful, then figure out a way to get LATRANS out of the assembly chamber without having power to do so normally. ((Although I kinda want rest of the missing stuff installed, but I probably won't have time for that.)) If I can't get my frame out then see if it is possible to break it out by its own force. If not, then might as well abandon it.
If I get my frame out then retreat to center while carrying a whole lot of people and recommend soldiers to order the auto frame stay behind. I'm not trusting it if it can be remote controlled.
If not, then do same but simply without it.
If persuasion is not succesfull, then say "Well, we have a problem then. Any suggestions? Anyone?"
"Shit, I was kinda hoping that whatever made that noise was your side's doing. Okay, yeah, teaming up sounds great, where we will be headed?"
The squad of soldiers cautiously begins to pick their equipment back up and proceed to help the engineers climb onto, and anchor themselves to the frame.
"Not sure if the PUPPET is going to stay there if it's orders are overriden, but, it's probably gonna have a hell of a time trying to get outta the building without manual guidance."
Exiting the chamber, you see the storm for the first time. Perhaps, it is even the first time you've seen one with you own two eyes, after all the only rain inside this colony is from vapor condensing and falling back down in sparse quantities. This however is different, this is a blanketing mass of grey clouds covering the ceiling. Lightning flashing endlessly, either arcing amidst the tempest, or crashing down from it. It's still a few kilometers away thankfully, but it seems to be growing, slowly expanding to cover more and more.
You run across the facility lateral to the storm seemingly at speeds somewhat higher than what the LATRANS should be capable of. Oddly, even if you factor in the lower weightload it is carrying, it is still running a bit too fast. As you race towards the colonial center, Red apparently levitating just outside the cockpit, you pass by the entrance of the main facility, which has turned into a battleground of sorts between 6 (which soon fell to 3) Auto Frames, 3 LUPUS units, and an inexplicably wall-running PHAROAH.
"Is this what your pilots normally do? Or were they just showing off?"
You end up just outside the facility on the side facing the colonial center. There don't seem to be any hostiles nearby, at least, not yet.
"Roger, I'm back. Looks like the curse is real, which I assume you were aware of. Fan-fucking-tastic. How the hell did Dead Hand make this, magic? Anyway, I'm going to restrain the arms. Also, it seems there's a storm up here. Any idea what caused it?" Beirus reports to command.The restraint systems are not fully repaired yet, they're presently at 47% integrity and the console is refusing to let you reactivate them at anywhere below 90%.
"Jus, you have any information on the construction of the Pharoah? How it was made or why it's cursed? Seems like magic to me, but I've never actually seen or heard of any real magic before. Also, you know anything about that anomalous storm?" Beirus asks Jus as he goes through the arm restraint procedures.
He heads into the main area of the facility. If he runs into any System League infantry, he offers them a chance to surrender. "This is Pilot Beirus O'Greenahan of the NEE. Cease all hostile actions and surrender, or I will use this autocannon to blow you into so many tiny pieces that they'll use a pill capsule as the coffin at your funeral. If you surrender, you will not be harmed. Also, the wonderful weather that just sprang up might warrant a bit of consideration in the time you take deciding whether or not you really want to refuse to surrender."
Restrain the arms. Check if the two pilots with damaged frames want to continue the mission. If not, send them back to HQ. Head into the facility with my squad and offer any System League infantry we meet the chance to surrender. If they attack, fire on them with the autocannon.
"No damn clue, all we know is that it's expanding and there's some sort of structure in the middle of it that shouldn't be there. As far as we're concerned, it just appeared out of thin air. We're getting similar reports on Floor 1 about unidentified enemy units, we're hoping that it's just the System League flanking with new units or something."
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Well, it isn't 'real' magic. But it's about as close as you'll get to it. It's made using the same kind of reality distortion effect we've given you.
AF01-PHAROH units are primarily based upon the AF01-LUPUS frame, their main point of difference is in their integrated weapons, which
unsurprisingly, are also where the supernatural effects come into play. They very much are prototypes.
Those arms are bewitched, not too strongly, but enough that their users become a bit bloodthirsty and able to use them better
than if they had not been augmented that way. Depending on their mental attributes, however this may instead twist a pilot's
thoughts to the point that they are possessed by those arms without even realizing it. There have been reports of some pilots
even being driven to killing themselves because they could not satisfy the bloodlust of these weapons, things like biting off
their own tongues and choking to death on the blood during training, all while laughing madly. Or gurgling. Let's just say
the first few days were very eventful for the councilors.
Those chains bind them, weaken their effects. But they also build up the power within them, causing a surge when they are released,
proportional to the time spent bound, up to a certain limit of course. I would wager that it is one of the reasons why the PUPPET crash
didn't cause too much structural damage - the energy pulse unleashed with the arms would have struck it and counteracted some of its
impact force.
The auto-cannon's properties should more obvious: it doesn't carry any ammo. If it did, you'd have trouble keeping balance in
between the bound arms and the weight of the rounds. Plus, they would've run the risk of detonating in the case of an electrical failure.
Instead, it summons a round into existence just as its needed. No need to cycle in new rounds, no risk of jamming. Very reliable.
By itself.
Issues start happening around its electronic firing system. It's basically trying to interface something magical with something that
was never really designed with that in mind. Plus, they had to make sure that the arms themselves couldn't access them either.
So the electronics aren't too reliable. Sometimes they might fail to start firing. Or they might fair to start firing. Or have an
inconsistent rate of fire.
That storm is, something else entirely. It is the first of many, more metaphorical storms. It is why we contacted you.
"I can still fight, sir. Besides, if I need to retreat, I'll probably have to go through a few of those autos anyway."
"I'll be fine. Didn't sign up expecting to live forever or anything. Anyway, better to die now from a gunshot than to wither away in a nursing home somewhere decades from now."
"Uh, am I the only one here who isn't too keen on throwing myself into combat? My frame's fine anyway, so I got no excuses. Plus, gotta get paid somehow."
Ah yes, that payment incentive. Each System League frame has a bounty of sorts on it, more dangerous, larger sized, or just manned units are of course worth more. Destruction, disabling, doesn't matter too much, as long as it's rendered inoperable. And according to those bounties, each squad gets a nice bonus for all their kills.
No infantry encountered yet, guess they've holed up inside the facility. Or all dead, though you have a feeling that the way your luck's going, that probably isn't the case. What you do end up seeing as you approach the main facility is another group of 6 PUPPET frames, hovering a few meters off the ground in front of the main facility. These ones armed with what appear to be some kind of rifle.
[TRANS: 3/5] Welp. Back to mechanical arm possession with you.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 0++ vs. 0] [UTAR vs. MDEF: 9++ vs. 3] I am beginning to think that the RNG doesn't want you dead, it just wants you as an eternal slave to the arms. Okay, now it's all a bit of a haze seeing as the murderous arms are clouding your senses to only really feel what they need you to feel, but you do get the general idea of what follows. First, you run, you run at the building building and leap forwards, the PHAROAH impacting feet-first. Before the debris even hits the ground, you run, you charge along the wall, rising to the top and leaping off. Finally, your prey is in range. Damned pathetic fools, thinking that being airborne would save them. A barrage of strikes, half-punching, half-impaling descend upon the closest PUPPET quite literally ripping it apart before hurling its shredded carcass with enough force to slam a second auto frame out of the air. You descend heavily, the frame's legs having surely been damaged by the fall judging by the terminal's warnings and the horrid mechanical groans it made on impact.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 2 vs. 3] [UTAR vs. MDEF: 5 vs. 3] [UTAR vs. MDEF: 1 vs. 5] The rest of your squad opens fire during the commotion managing to down a third PUPPET.
The remaining three frames scatter into the air, flying towards cover and open fire on what they deem to be the greatest threats and most vulnerable frames. Categories which as it turns out, you fill quite well. Oh joy, three volleys of bullets aimed at your face, is it your birthday?
((Chain integrity is now at 63% because this has been a rather long turn for you. Integrity is regained significantly slower in combat since turns are shorter.))
Post by: Empiricist on June 07, 2015, 08:21:49 pm
| < | Turn 7 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6272029#msg6272029) | | | Turn 8 | | | Turn 9 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6293586#msg6293586) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Sarrack (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: NAV (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Nidilap (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Nidilap on June 07, 2015, 08:26:17 pm
shoot the mass with a plasma rifle
Post by: FallacyofUrist on June 07, 2015, 08:59:50 pm
((Lower wall? wot?))
Post by: Empiricist on June 07, 2015, 09:01:45 pm
Post by: FallacyofUrist on June 07, 2015, 09:03:50 pm
Ask my cubicle mate to lower the wall, so we can surrender. If he doesn't, just wrap myself into a ball and rock back and forth.
Post by: Pencil_Art on June 08, 2015, 01:02:18 am
Derek climbs into the cockpit, thinking of the words floating around in his head.
Post by: Hawk132 on June 08, 2015, 03:49:33 am
Equipment Check! Then try to shoot the enemy frame's weakpoints.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on June 08, 2015, 04:24:24 am
"Fucking pilots, always abusing frames. Guess who has to repair all the shit they wreck up, huh? Bastards think it just magically fixes itself while they look other way! On the other hand they keep me employed so it evens out nicely."
"I have never before actually seen them fighting, but this explains some of the shit I have seen. Aaaand that's a cursed PHAROH. Welp, let's pretend we are not here until he chains those arms again."
Chatting with ex-enemies-now-friends hanging on my frame.
Waggle eyebrows for Red's levitation show and do more talking.
"Cool, can I too do that levitation trick? And are you partially invisible or something, because nobody seems to care about you hovering around. Anyway, is that storm perhaps related to you or magic somehow? Is something deeper or badder coming around?"
Contact allied LUPUS squad: "Aah, hello? I'm Ao Shi, your engineer and the guy who's probably gonna fix all the damage you do to your frames. Do you think it is safe to be seen by the wall-runner? Because I got some reasonably nice System League guys hanging on my half-disassembled LATRANS who decided together with us that now would be great time to be somewhere else. Like, please don't shoot them? Or us?"
If the squad thinks I should hide or thinks it's great idea to shoot us, then hide somewhere somehow. Perhaps put some buildings in between us. In meanwhile will the grimoire into existance and focus on 02.
Post by: Toaster on June 08, 2015, 09:18:56 am
"New capabilities? What are they? Why did some mace suddenly appear? What's all this about, anyway? If you're asking about fire and explosions, what's the command to turn them on? What happens if I try... this one?"
Duck into any convenient alleyway. Request infodump from strange voice. Focus on a point on the wall and give 3d 88 ulez a shot.
Post by: Shaporia on June 09, 2015, 12:00:40 pm
"I surrender! Please spare my worthless life! Lower the wall.""Oh, uh, this is something we've been working on with the whole stealth-tech.." Miaoko shrugged, putting on the watch.
Ask my cubicle mate to lower the wall, so we can surrender. If he doesn't, just wrap myself into a ball and rock back and forth.
Lower the wall! And uh, pull my colleague behind the engine and start it up for mobile cover hopefully yes maybe yay? Oh, and have the mechanical arms use something like a sheet of metal to deflect any grenades and/or bullets.
If the chamber arms don't actually work, use ye olde ability, Work Damnit!
Post by: Beirus on June 11, 2015, 01:50:57 am
Dodge the shots and fire back with the autocannon. Or try to do whatever the Pharoah wants if I'm still controlled as long as it doesn't involve maiming myself.
Post by: Corsair on June 11, 2015, 02:51:23 am
"That thing looks like it should be shot with plasma."After staring down the ironsights of your assault rifle, you proceed to quickly clip it back to your belt and draw another rifle, firing as soon as you finish raising it. From the barrel of your weapon erupts a small, luminous sphere.
shoot the mass with a plasma rifle
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 7 vs. 3] The figure reacts, sending forth a barrage of punches at unnatural speed (https://youtu.be/OzHE5q1NGa4?t=25s) (not too surprising considering how unnatural it already was). As each punch terminates, the fluid seems to rapidly evaporate, forming a concussive pulse of gas that quickly reforms back inside the figure. Was it trying to protect itself? No matter, they fail to intercept your shot which slams into the figure's torso and halts.
Around the sphere, the fluid boils and evaporates, only to be dragged back to the bullet, trapped by an invisible force. The figure lashes out, trying to drive its fist into your face, but you're too far away, and with its torso held by your shot, it cannot move forwards to close the distance.
((You may want to decide whether you have a handler and if so, which one. Because in your current state of limbo, you have neither Tradecrafts nor passive abilities.))
"I surrender! Please spare my worthless life! Lower the wall."
Ask my cubicle mate to lower the wall, so we can surrender. If he doesn't, just wrap myself into a ball and rock back and forth.
"Oh, uh, this is something we've been working on with the whole stealth-tech.." Miaoko shrugged, putting on the watch.Miaoko manages to get behind the engine before the soldier can react and lower the frontal blast wall. Though none of the scrap metal is sufficiently large to act too well as cover, the arms themselves are solid enough that they can be used to block gunfire. The engine sputters to life as James finds himself hoisted onboard the makeshift vehicle halfway through his attempts to surrender. With a burst of speed, you both are sent zooming out into the corridor.
Lower the wall! And uh, pull my colleague behind the engine and start it up for mobile cover hopefully yes maybe yay? Oh, and have the mechanical arms use something like a sheet of metal to deflect any grenades and/or bullets.
If the chamber arms don't actually work, use ye olde ability, Work Damnit!
[SDEF vs. UTAR: 1 vs. -1] Despite Miaoko's efforts, he was unable to block the incoming shots. Namely because the soldier apparently got distracted by a shiny object and his shots go wild, menacing a wall a rather considerable distance away from the two of you.
You both are now out in the corridor, riding a rocket-propelled-deskchair. Scattered through the concrete corridor are bullet marks and bloodstained corpses of two security staff that encountered the soldiers and were gunned down. You know that to the left end of the corridor are the outer facilities and surface access. To the right is the central administration building.
"Okay guys, while they're distracted, some grab o' them plasma torches and sneak round the back, and flash their eyes a bit, maybe burn them. Others get the armor on the frame. I'll take the cockpit."You bark your orders to the engineers. You know, the ones significantly further away from you compared to the soldiers standing right in front of you? The ones easily within ear-shot? A glacially cold voice comes emanates from the smoke as one of the soldiers steps out from it, rifle raised.
Derek climbs into the cockpit, thinking of the words floating around in his head.
"Do that, and we will kill every single last one of you."
Almost simultaneously, multiple shouts come from around the chamber, each of which taking some variant of the words "Are you fucking kidding me? Have you lost your goddamned mind?"
Welp, you're standing at the assembly console, which is a ways off from the cockpit, since usually the person operating it isn't expected to, nor qualified to access the cockpit of the frame in much of a hurry. You can definitely run over to it, but well, people will be shooting at you and trying to disable the frame. Oh and the other people in the room are strangely hesitant to throw their lives away by trying to fight trained and armed soldiers.
Small explosions begin to rumble awfully loudly from the back of the chamber, the wall beginning to crumble under the onslaught.
"Huh. Hallucinatory armor guy, what do I shoot?"
Equipment Check! Then try to shoot the enemy frame's weakpoints.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Weak points are the head and arms. And by weak points, I mean points you can do a non-negligible amount of damage to within a reasonable timeframe without putting yourself at a disadvantage.
Keep in mind though: that, thing, in front of you doesn't look like something you can expect to fight and live, well, not with skill alone.
That frame is a 00-LANDSKNECHT/AF. It isn't actually a proper model, it's just a classification for a kind of manned frame.
The only thing they really have in common is a kind of liquid sorcery that allows the core to interface with just about any frame part. And even then the exact mechanism varies.
They're built from whatever is on hand, be it ancestral heirlooms, scrap from fallen foes, and spare parts.
The core is, well, it's a lot of things welded cobbled together. Pretty durable. Main thing to watch out for is the reactive armor.
It's made from processed sugar and enchanted to erupt as a directional blast. Doesn't sound too menacing, but it hits like a sledgehammer.
It can definitely injure infantry, and cover surfaces with the sticky molasses, try not to get it on your camera, it won't be easy to get it off.
This one's interfacing unit for this is, good. Above average, not too amazing or anything.
Slowly, whatever is attached to it will be synchronized to the point where it acts like it's been custom-made for the core.
Head unit is from a 01-PUPPET/AF, a high-mobility lightweight frame. So it doesn't have too much armor, if you were to engage, I'd say that's the best part to target.
Camera function is, mediocre, nothing special. No extra sight modes either unlike NEE frames.
Arms are, of course from an AF01-LUPUS. I believe you're acquainted quite well with it, durable, reliable, old too, but definitely still can hold its own.
The chaingun is still functional, though that's the least of your problems..
Legs have no identifying name. They're blackbox tech. They're the best of the three worst things about that frame. Inbuilt energy-based thrusters.
They are far stronger than their appearance suggests as well, very durable and can carry a lot of weight. Oh and they move and respond quickly, latency is comparable to that of human legs.
Plus they're just as agile. Well, more agile if you consider the thrusters of course.
Rear weapon is, it's something from the Fall. It's a gateway-based weapon that acts as an adaptable particle cannon.
It basically generates a field of distorted reality that produces a kind of charged particle that is easy to weaponize.
It then creates transient electromagnetic fluctuations for the particles to travel through. Which, means that it can dynamically alter their paths.
So its shots are effectively homing and can ricochet off of thin air, depending on how good the firing control system is.
Shots can vary. It can be anything between a fast low-density beam to an explosive high-density shot. It can fire quite quickly.
The computer clusters it uses aren't too durable, issue is, that distortion is right between them, so incoming attacks can be intercepted by its shots.
And now, finally, the worst piece by far: the firing control system. It is also from the Fall. It is also clairvoyant. It knows what you will do before you do it.
It knows what you can do. And it knows where to fire to hit, and kill you, regardless of anything you do, and regardless of the fact that you now know what it can do.
Normally you'd have decent odds since it'd just be a race to destroy it before it destroys you. Issue is, the reactive armor gives it an edge in defense, and the gateway weapon is quite powerful.
All in all, it's a walking death machine. Albeit one that is still starting up, you have a bit of time.
Not much time.
But no one really has much time.
So, I guess the million dollar question is how to beat eh?
Well, I don't really know, that's up to you. But I can tell you that fighting fairly is going to probably end with you and everyone with you dead.
Still, if you blow off the head before it can fire, you could buy yourself a bit more time to rack on the damage. Aiming for the core can deplete its reactive armor.
Aiming for the weapon, might be able to damage or destroy it, but like I said, the FCS is capable of intercepting your attack, so you'd have to pretty much tackle it.
You'll probably die either way. We can resurrect you though. But you won't have a frame, or weapons, or clothes.
Hmm... I could could hook you up with their radio-frequency so you could contact the pilot. I guess if you want to bluff, surrender, or lie your backside off while you run.
Everything else is really up to you.
We'll stop the turn here for you for you to decide on what to do given this information. Only a few seconds have actually passed, so the LANDSCKNECHT is still powering up."Sir? Do we engage?"
Ao Shi"So, the prototypes are here then. Guess command was wrong. What was that stuff about a curse and the chains?"
"Fucking pilots, always abusing frames. Guess who has to repair all the shit they wreck up, huh? Bastards think it just magically fixes itself while they look other way! On the other hand they keep me employed so it evens out nicely."
"I have never before actually seen them fighting, but this explains some of the shit I have seen. Aaaand that's a cursed PHAROH. Welp, let's pretend we are not here until he chains those arms again."
Chatting with ex-enemies-now-friends hanging on my frame.
Waggle eyebrows for Red's levitation show and do more talking.
"Cool, can I too do that levitation trick? And are you partially invisible or something, because nobody seems to care about you hovering around. Anyway, is that storm perhaps related to you or magic somehow? Is something deeper or badder coming around?"
Contact allied LUPUS squad: "Aah, hello? I'm Ao Shi, your engineer and the guy who's probably gonna fix all the damage you do to your frames. Do you think it is safe to be seen by the wall-runner? Because I got some reasonably nice System League guys hanging on my half-disassembled LATRANS who decided together with us that now would be great time to be somewhere else. Like, please don't shoot them? Or us?"
If the squad thinks I should hide or thinks it's great idea to shoot us, then hide somewhere somehow. Perhaps put some buildings in between us. In meanwhile will the grimoire into existance and focus on 02.
"With some enchantments perhaps... but it really isn't that useful for that purpose, if you were able to walk up a steep slope, let alone defy gravity with it, I'm not sure would be considered human at that point. It's easier to just use a spell."
She replies conversationally as she now leans on the forward wall of the cockpit inspecting her nails and seemingly unable to be shaken by your rapid movement.
"I am simply not here, just an image put in your head, sound put in your ears or pressure put into nerves... I must admit I rarely get to slip tactile simulation past Mal, she always gets quite huffy about "wasting system resources" blah blah blah, I also do some rather complex minor changes in those around you mostly so that you don't look like some sorta crazy person talking into thin air. The storm is a different matter altogether and considering that you have some time I guess~ I can explain..."
She takes a breath to begin but pauses.
"You wouldn't know about that would you? *sigh* this will take a bit of explaining..."
"This will be mostly out of context but the context would take far to long to explain and probably have context of its own: no the storm is not my magic, not that real magic exists anyhow, as far as we know it is an extrapolation manifested by something. And that the something is extra-dimensional which is at best, very bad. To the second question: definitely."
"Well, our CO has lost, found and relost his marbles, but he's still trying to murder the right frames."
You hear something from the PHAROAH's pilot about puny bullets being unable to stop him.
"Wait, I think he just refound his marbles again."
The cursed frame continues its attempts to reenact action film scenes by diving backwards as the ground explodes beneath its feet whilst returning fire.
"Just hurry along and get the hell out of here, we won't try and stop you, not sure about those autos though, they seem to like going kamikaze."
[COMP: 2/1] A faint set of chains appear outside the cockpit, little more than regions of distorted light, not unlike how a body of water refracts light. It soon fades away to nothing.
Winston ducked into the nearest convenient alleyway to lose sight of the bar and anyone out to murder him. He then looked to see who might be talking to him.You don't find the source of the text, they just seem to pop up in your field of vision. You do, however, find an alleyway and duck into it. The UAV doesn't seem to be following you, apparently being preoccupied with Lemmy and his newfound bear.
"New capabilities? What are they? Why did some mace suddenly appear? What's all this about, anyway? If you're asking about fire and explosions, what's the command to turn them on? What happens if I try... this one?"
Duck into any convenient alleyway. Request infodump from strange voice. Focus on a point on the wall and give 3d 88 ulez a shot.
Code: (SHROEDINBUG) [Select]
Enhanced Agility: You can run along walls and dodge things you normally can't, such as bullets. Diving through broken windows also counts.
Enhanced Targeting: You can aim well using any weapon and deflect incoming attacks using them.
Enhanced Reflexes: Time subjectively freezes when you're in danger, giving you time to think out your course of action.
Reality Distortion: You can cast magic, like you are currently doing.
That mace appeared because you summoned it using magic.
It would have appeared as soon as you used the spell normally, but your spell also specified for it to be withheld until a certain condition was met.
I am unable to communicate the command.
An external party, thereby deemed the Outsider (one of whose matchboxes you seem to be in possession of) has been interfering with our communications.
Thus attempting to message them to you would be futile. Likewise, I cannot tell you what a certain spell will do for the same reason
[COMP: 8/4] A region of space just in front of your sternum shimmers with refracted light and a wall of wax cats erupts forth. The mass slams against the wall and deforms upon impact concealing whatever damage it did. Well, aside from the portion that flies through a window, it evidently shatters it and seemingly vanishes from existence a few feet afterwards.
"Your puny bullets cannot stop me!"[TRANS: 10/5] Having apparently regained the favor of the almighty dice gods with your boast, reality again comes rushing back as you force away the influence of the arms.
Dodge the shots and fire back with the autocannon. Or try to do whatever the Pharoah wants if I'm still controlled as long as it doesn't involve maiming myself.
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 2 vs. 0, 2 ,1] [UTAR vs. MDEF: 3 vs. 0] You know those Hong Kong action films? The ones where people dive around in slow motion to dodge bullets? That's exactly what you do here. Upon the creaking legs of your frame, you leap backwards, the volley of battle rifle rounds exploding upon the region of pavement you had just been standing upon. Bringing your autocannon to bear, you discharge three rounds in mid-air, they strike one of the PUPPET frames and promptly rip apart its core. Your frame lands knees first, sliding backwards a short distance on the ground before you get it back on its feet.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 3 vs. -1] [UTAR vs. MDEF: 3, 2 vs. 3] During this brief sequence, your squadmates open fire, succeeding in downing another PUPPET. The final one however, manages to evade the incoming shots and fly into cover.
Chain integrity at 70%.
Post by: Empiricist on June 11, 2015, 02:51:42 am
| < | Turn 8 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6285712#msg6285712) | | | Turn 9 | | | Turn 10 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6304397#msg6304397) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Sarrack (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: NAV (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Nidilap (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Hawk132 on June 11, 2015, 06:03:18 am
Attempt to contact the two LUPI inside the base and tell them to shoot the LANDSKNECHT's core and rear weapon (focus on the core if they aren't scratching the weapon) while I take care of the head. After the head's gone, fire on the core.
((First player casualty of the game is me. That's a 90% certainty guess.))
Post by: FallacyofUrist on June 11, 2015, 07:22:47 am
Cower in fear.
Post by: Toaster on June 11, 2015, 08:46:09 am
"Normally I'd say that was a load of crap, but it seems I just conjured up a load of cats. Now do you know what happens when they tell a person they can run along walls?"
See just how well I can run along walls. Give "99 ed obbh" a shot while I'm at it.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on June 11, 2015, 10:46:27 am
Addressing my hangers: "I probably shouldn't tell you but whatever, I don't care at this point. That frame is AF01-PHAROH and it is rumored to be cursed. As in pilot goes nuts and does stupid things like that. It's arms are usually chained when not in combat."
Red: "So what I felt wasn't real then? That's a shame... I appreciate your assistance, I really do. But if you can manipulate my sensory input can you then..." at this point he stops speaking and articulates rest of sentence in his head. ...read my mind?
"Oh, and another question. You, or rather your side, probably wants something in return of granting me this wide access to magic words. What it is?"
If Beirus is sane enough to get his message through, then wait in cover with his squadies instead of doing running action below.
Lets run into direction where storm isn't and which also isn't a dead end. Probably also should give heads up to allies in that direction via radio. Or let Beirus's squad do warning on my behalf.
How are my passengers doing? Can they handle my ticket worthy speeds?
How fast these frames are supposed to be compared to how fast it actually seems to be going?
Be dissappointed for lack of materialization. 02 3d.
Post by: Shaporia on June 12, 2015, 04:39:41 pm
Post by: FallacyofUrist on June 13, 2015, 07:18:41 am
Post by: Nidilap on June 13, 2015, 10:49:23 am
Post by: Beirus on June 13, 2015, 01:32:47 pm
He then switches to the public channel so that Aoshi and his group can hear him. "I'm sending my squad to cover you until these arms are restrained. Once that is taken care of, I'll need any System League soldiers who are willing to volunteer and help us clear the facility. They might be able to talk down their comrades without us having to resort to violence."
Go take down that last Puppet with the autocannon. If I lose control, then let the Pharaoh do its thing as long as the Puppet is the only target.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on June 13, 2015, 02:42:08 pm
"Okay, sure. They seem reasonable enough. Not at all murder happy." Ao responds to Beirus.
Post by: Pencil_Art on June 16, 2015, 01:06:07 am
Derek attempts to run over to the frame.
Post by: Corsair on June 16, 2015, 03:15:21 am
"We engage. It'll be extremely dangerous though."As you give the order, you notice that the hostile pilot is broadcasting on an unencrypted channel. Huh. Now, whilst it may be understandable for them to be demanding surrender or some-such given their definite advantage, that isn't what you hear. What you hear is deranged, maniacal laughter. Apparently you're fighting a cartoon villain.
Attempt to contact the two LUPI inside the base and tell them to shoot the LANDSKNECHT's core and rear weapon (focus on the core if they aren't scratching the weapon) while I take care of the head. After the head's gone, fire on the core.
Your shots succeed in rendering the head unit inoperable by blasting holes in it. Chances are, as with all frames, it has back-up cameras, but, they'll be shittier of course, so you can chalk it up as a success. Meanwhile the other two LUPUS pilots don't fare as well, their heavy cannon rounds fail to deal any noticeable damage, namely because the distortion around the weapon reduces them to hazes of plasma before they manage to impact it.
"What the hell is that thing?"
"Shit, aim for the core."
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
01-PUPPET/AF Head unit disabled.
FCS impaired.
Effective combat range reduced to: still too damn far.
"You children, you pitiful children are all so weak. So utterly naive, fighting for the dead empire of husks."
So, with the head out of the way, and the weapons apparently impervious, everyone proceeds to open fire upon its core. Upon the sustained fire, a seemingly endless deluge of Stygian ooze erupts from the frame, thankfully no one is in the range of the reactive armor, though it still manages to soak up quite a lot of the incoming damage. The laughter only seems to grow louder.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
00-LANDSKNECHT/AF fully activated.
"I have seen what it has shown me. I know what once was."
Flaring to life, the leg-integrated thrusters come to life, propelling the frame into the air as it begins to adopt evasive maneuvers.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 2 vs. 2] Try as you might, you are unable to keep up with its movements, bullets grazing past but never hitting it.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 7, 6 vs. 2] ((This uses the same MDEF roll, we just prefer to keep player rolls separate from NPC rolls.)) Your allies, however, fare better, managing to continue pounding the core with their heavy cannons.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Gateway weapon activated.
Electromagnetic anomalies detected.
The distortion, now large enough that its sides almost touch the computer clusters, glows with a brilliant violet light, one so bright that it approaches a blinding white.
"I know how we are but ants amongst the bones of God. God is shattered, the throne of man was burned by God."
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 0 vs. 2] [MDEF vs. UTAR: 0 vs. 11] The weapon flares with radiance as eight beams erupt from its center. As they leave their source, each fans outwards in an arcing trajectory, spreading apart. If you watch closely, you can see a spectrum of colors - a reversed rainbow of sorts, at their widest points before they collapse back into a deathly white. It is upon where the head and limbs of each of the two LUPUS frames connect to their cores that each beam refocuses inwards. Explosions of plasma erupt forth from the points of impact, the beams pulsating to coincide with their dissipation as they sweep along, severing the parts with ease. Judging by the frantic screams and cursing, the cores and pilots are intact still.
"But I see you... fragment... I see you child of darkness. Run dark spawn Run! RUN!"
The hovering frame begins to slowly glide towards you.
"Oh god, we're all gonna die!"
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
I'll go out on a limb here and assume that the FCS isn't too good for the user's mental health and not that the League entrusts things like that to psychos.
Actually, they're purposely reducing its accuracy as well, they seem to be toying with you.
Looks like you have one last chance to get outta here or cripple that lunatic.
The arms are quite damaged from the heavy cannon rounds, and the reactive armor has been depleted for now.
But, everything it needs to kill everyone is still fully functional.
"Normally I'd say that was a load of crap, but it seems I just conjured up a load of cats. Now do you know what happens when they tell a person they can run along walls?"
See just how well I can run along walls. Give "99 ed obbh" a shot while I'm at it.
Code: (SCHROEDINBUG) [Select]
If last night was any indication?
They'll break into two separate secure facilities, steal three rifles and an incomplete bio-weapon, randomly discharge said rifles into the ceiling and get the bio-weapon drunk.
Well, you're able to run along them pretty damn well, provided of course that you maintain a reasonable speed. However, running up doesn't seem possible, and you can only descend at a rather shallow angle whilst wall running.
[COMP: 4] Your spell fizzles unfortunately.
"...AHHHHH!!!"You cower in fear (as effectively as you can on the rather small platform of the makeshift vehicle) as your apparently suicidal ally speeds down the hall at highway speeds and stops at the gate to the lockers.
Cower in fear.
Ao Shi"That sounds fucked up on so many different levels. How would you even repair them? Anyway, I can help with the negotiations, but I can't guarantee much, most of the guys sent here are raw recruits, they figured that we had better chances of surviving out here than on the front lines. So much for that."
Addressing my hangers: "I probably shouldn't tell you but whatever, I don't care at this point. That frame is AF01-PHAROH and it is rumored to be cursed. As in pilot goes nuts and does stupid things like that. It's arms are usually chained when not in combat."
Red: "So what I felt wasn't real then? That's a shame... I appreciate your assistance, I really do. But if you can manipulate my sensory input can you then..." at this point he stops speaking and articulates rest of sentence in his head. ...read my mind?
"Oh, and another question. You, or rather your side, probably wants something in return of granting me this wide access to magic words. What it is?"
Lets run into direction where storm isn't and which also isn't a dead end. Probably also should give heads up to allies in that direction via radio. Or let Beirus's squad do warning on my behalf.
How are my passengers doing? Can they handle my ticket worthy speeds?
How fast these frames are supposed to be compared to how fast it actually seems to be going?
Be dissappointed for lack of materialization. 02 3d.
"We can get back to that 'real' thing another time, perhaps where there are fewer murderous robots roaming 'round."
She pauses before smiling wryly
"And no, I can't read your mind. But, I can read brain signals and stimulate nerves, so I've gotten quite good at hot reading. Plus it doesn't get Mal angry, which always is a good thing."
"We need you to fight the big evil thing chewing on the bottom of your colony. Now I know that you want to just go 'why not just go now with a big bomb?', well, no... Just no. BAD PLAN"
She sort of just flails randomly, apparently deciding to do that instead of elaborating
"You'll need to deal with a couple of other things first. Then you have to (and this may happen while dealing with previously mentioned things) deal with some minor things. I suggest finding a few transdimensional targeters, even though the damned pieces of crap caused this mess in the first frigg'n place."
Transdimensional targeters?
The storm is still steadily growing in size, its torrential downpour incessant. Thankfully, due to the design of the roads, widespread flooding is unlikely to occur, well, aside for in nearby basements. But then again the general waterproofing of a basement is analogous to the function of a touchscreen: they are things that do not work, are not expected to work, and exist only so that their inevitable failure may inspire existentialism regarding the ultimate futility of the human condition (http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/mickens/nestofhornets.pdf).
Well, you're moving at the frame's maximum unassisted running speed for its current load. The frame is capable of reaching that. But it usually does not move at that rate, the controls should not be capable of facilitating those speeds, due to being decidedly user-unfriendly. They are designed to be as ergonomic as possible, but considering that they are also meant to handle the movement of a giant somewhat humanoid vehicle with enough control that it can perform jumps, kicks and various other leg-based actions on a variety of differing terrains, that isn't saying much. Really, it'd be quite hard to make it significantly less ergonomic considering that all the options short of replacing the console with a wall of electrified blades the pilot must repeatedly headbutt are pretty much equally shit.
You on the other hand, are maintaining that speed without any training, whilst maintaining two conversations at the same time, and randomly casting spells.
[COMP: 2/2] Speaking of spells, you manage to conjure a length of chain formed from wax.
You duck into cover behind a building whilst the rest of Beirus' squad covers you and your passengers.
"Wooohooo!" Steer! Let's get to that admin building. Oh, and stop and see if the security guards have any weapons, if we have the time. "This is awesome!"You grab a pair of self-defense pistols off fallen the guards and continue trucking down the hallway, riding your deathchair rocket sled. To your right are doors into the different flight lab cubicles, on the left are doors into the storage areas, high energy labs, maintenance areas and other miscellaneous areas. You arrive at the heavy steel door, screaing partner clinging on in fear to the back of your seat. Through the partially open door you can see part of the locker room which has casual clothes and minor personal belongings left there from when people change for work. The locker room ends after about 20 meters and is about 10 meters wide from memory.
FIRE THE SECOND PLASMA RIFLE!!You draw the other plasma rifle and fire.
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 0 vs. -1] You should have missed. You really should have. But, in its attempts to either intercept the projectile or punch you in the face, it's rather hard to tell which one the figure was aiming for, it thrusts as much of its body as it can move into the path of this second shot. So now its being boiled and trapped by two of those rounds. It doesn't seem to be dying or anything, just trapped and pissed.
You are beginning to feel rather light headed.
Beirus radios his squad on their private channel. "Stay clear of me until these arms are restrained. That's an order. I'll take care of that last Puppet myself. Go take cover with that engineer for the moment, but don't go too far. We still have a facility to clear afterwards."[TRAN: 9/5] Oh hey, you don't relapse for once! Good for you. You chase after the PUPPET in as sane a manner as you can normally manage and open fire on it as it attempts to slip behind another building.
He then switches to the public channel so that Aoshi and his group can hear him. "I'm sending my squad to cover you until these arms are restrained. Once that is taken care of, I'll need any System League soldiers who are willing to volunteer and help us clear the facility. They might be able to talk down their comrades without us having to resort to violence."
Go take down that last Puppet with the autocannon. If I lose control, then let the Pharaoh do its thing as long as the Puppet is the only target.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: -1 vs. 0] Well, it fails to dodge in any appreciable manner, but your aim is off and all you succeed in is a bit of property damage.
"Pretend I never say that."Needless to say, all four soldiers open fire on you immediately whilst the explosions continue to bang against the wall. Time freezes and your evasion options appear. Red however, seems to still be moving.
Derek attempts to run over to the frame.
"My oh my did you fuck up. Time has frozen so that you can see how you can fuck up less in the next few seconds and not die horribly."
((You are able to sacrifice your Action phase (since you probably aren't going to attack, and your Reaction phase still lets you move towards the frame) to use both your stats in your Reaction phase (as in, we roll both, both take effect and incoming attacks have to beat the higher of the two rolls).))
Post by: Empiricist on June 16, 2015, 03:25:22 am
| < | Turn 9 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6293586#msg6293586) | | | Turn 10 | | | Turn 11 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6346931#msg6346931) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Sarrack (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: NAV (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Nidilap (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on June 16, 2015, 03:27:00 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on June 16, 2015, 10:42:26 am
Post by: AoshimaMichio on June 16, 2015, 10:52:04 am
Red: "Heh. Yeah, now doesn't seem to be so good time. Some other time then. So, it seems you have given me something else in addition of magic. Thanks for that, I suppose fighting against Big Bad Boss requires more than some magic. But what exactly you gave? I need all information you can give me so I can be useful for you. Heh, time to unleash the couch strategist!"
"Talking about useful, a wax chain? Is that all the magic is good for? Conjuring random items?"
"I take you don't have any idea where those... targeters could be?"
Keep hiding. More magic: 3d a5
Post by: Toaster on June 18, 2015, 10:28:10 am
Or are the answers "It's a secret" and "Try it and see?"))
Post by: AoshimaMichio on June 18, 2015, 12:36:00 pm
((How do rolls use the stats? For Comp, for example, is it 1d[Comp], rolling to beat the DC cost of the spell?((Each stat point is a die to roll. Each die is rolled and 1 means -1 for final score, 4-5 is +1 and 6 is +2 for final score. Each word has their own DC class that adds up and which you must beat to do magic succesfully.))What if multiple spells are attempted in one turn?Oh hey, split the comp between the two spells. I see where you already said that now.
Or are the answers "It's a secret" and "Try it and see?"))
Post by: Hawk132 on June 18, 2015, 12:38:00 pm
Post by: AoshimaMichio on June 18, 2015, 12:46:26 pm
Post by: Hawk132 on June 18, 2015, 12:49:17 pm
Post by: Toaster on June 18, 2015, 12:56:47 pm
((How do rolls use the stats? For Comp, for example, is it 1d[Comp], rolling to beat the DC cost of the spell?((Each stat point is a die to roll. Each die is rolled and 1 means -1 for final score, 4-5 is +1 and 6 is +2 for final score. Each word has their own DC class that adds up and which you must beat to do magic succesfully.))What if multiple spells are attempted in one turn?Oh hey, split the comp between the two spells. I see where you already said that now.
Or are the answers "It's a secret" and "Try it and see?"))
((So Perpublicon mechanics? Got it; New Arena rolls the same way.))
Post by: Shaporia on June 18, 2015, 03:10:59 pm
Post by: Hawk132 on June 19, 2015, 12:44:37 pm
Post by: Pencil_Art on June 19, 2015, 05:26:20 pm
((You are able to sacrifice your Action phase (since you probably aren't going to attack, and your Reaction phase still lets you move towards the frame) to use both your stats in your Reaction phase (as in, we roll both, both take effect and incoming attacks have to beat the higher of the two rolls).))
((I'll do that))
Derek attempts to reach the frame again.
Post by: Beirus on June 19, 2015, 09:45:14 pm
Post by: Empiricist on June 19, 2015, 09:54:32 pm
Derek attempts to reach the frame again.((You already are heading to the cockpit. The problem is that the entire squad of soldiers is shooting at you. Also, please bold your actions it makes them easier find, and means that I don't have to listen to Corsair wanting to make Fred magically contract space herpes.))
Post by: FallacyofUrist on June 25, 2015, 03:53:05 pm
Post by: Shaporia on June 29, 2015, 04:57:21 pm
Receive pistol. Weep.Also pat him on the back. "Hey, what's wrong?"
Post by: Bigf00t on June 30, 2015, 07:38:14 am
I don't really want to swoop in at the last minute and risk interrupting the respawn-mechanics test, but damn I need to waitlist and get in on this awesomesauce.
Spoiler: Waitlisty Sheety (click to show/hide)
Also please PM me or whatever if you want another pair of Java-compatible programming hands :)) (I've helped make some simple tools for Perplexicons before, and I don't have to know all of the rules to make them, word translators and the like; I understand if not tho, it seems things are going pretty damn well atm anyway!)
Post by: Corsair on June 30, 2015, 08:05:46 am
Well. This is awesome. Perplexicon with mechs? Count me in.
I don't really want to swoop in at the last minute and risk interrupting the respawn-mechanics test, but damn I need to waitlist and get in on this awesomesauce.Spoiler: Waitlisty Sheety (click to show/hide)
Also please PM me or whatever if you want another pair of Java-compatible programming hands :)) (I've helped make some simple tools for Perplexicons before, and I don't have to know all of the rules to make them, word translators and the like; I understand if not tho, it seems things are going pretty damn well atm anyway!)
The enthusiasm is appreciated also the image link just gives me a blank page and a thin grey textured line so might want to check that. Also you are missing a point in external stats. You will start in your home on the 2nd level of the colony (office-worker-ville effectively) which is low to middle socioeconomic households. You have a multitool that can do anything (within reason) in the realm of computer repair and refit. You have a wrist computer that has the indeterminate number of programs of indeterminant functionality and you have enough cables to theoretically connect with any of the major port types but the cables were left unobserved briefly and thus have tangled together utterly. Youtube is still full of cat videos.
Post by: Empiricist on June 30, 2015, 08:11:56 am
Post by: Toaster on June 30, 2015, 08:12:51 am
"So why are you here, granting people this... magic, I guess? Is it because we're being attacked? Who are you and why are you intervening?"
"99 ed obbh" again while talking.
Post by: Bigf00t on June 30, 2015, 06:27:47 pm
Sounds pretty good to me! (Im cool with a wrist computer, was considerig asking for one actually :P )Well. This is awesome. Perplexicon with mechs? Count me in.
I don't really want to swoop in at the last minute and risk interrupting the respawn-mechanics test, but damn I need to waitlist and get in on this awesomesauce.Spoiler: Waitlisty Sheety (click to show/hide)
Also please PM me or whatever if you want another pair of Java-compatible programming hands :)) (I've helped make some simple tools for Perplexicons before, and I don't have to know all of the rules to make them, word translators and the like; I understand if not tho, it seems things are going pretty damn well atm anyway!)
The enthusiasm is appreciated also the image link just gives me a blank page and a thin grey textured line so might want to check that. Also you are missing a point in external stats. You will start in your home on the 2nd level of the colony (office-worker-ville effectively) which is low to middle socioeconomic households. You have a multitool that can do anything (within reason) in the realm of computer repair and refit. You have a wrist computer that has the indeterminate number of programs of indeterminant functionality and you have enough cables to theoretically connect with any of the major port types but the cables were left unobserved briefly and thus have tangled together utterly. Youtube is still full of cat videos.
And youtube still being full of CatVids is something I can live with.
I have added the extra point into the quoted waitlist request above because right now Im on my phone and this thing doesnt handle editing text well.
Post by: Empiricist on July 02, 2015, 06:31:20 am
Post by: Hawk132 on July 02, 2015, 06:35:35 am
Post by: Empiricist on July 02, 2015, 06:40:29 am
Post by: Empiricist on July 02, 2015, 08:59:31 am
Ao Shi
Red: "Heh. Yeah, now doesn't seem to be so good time. Some other time then. So, it seems you have given me something else in addition of magic. Thanks for that, I suppose fighting against Big Bad Boss requires more than some magic. But what exactly you gave? I need all information you can give me so I can be useful for you. Heh, time to unleash the couch strategist!"
"Talking about useful, a wax chain? Is that all the magic is good for? Conjuring random items?"
"I take you don't have any idea where those... targeters could be?"
Keep hiding. More magic: 3d a5
"Well I can scan things for you and you can react extra fast, so there is that. Oh and you can pilot frames and kill people more easily.
You would be surprised how conjuring a wall of fish can save your life, I saw someone do it, the smell was ghastly though. Well the wax chain is just the start, of a very mean leaning curve, you can eventually become very potent on the battlefield. 'Conjuring random items' as you put it is only part of it.
As for the transmitters, other than telling you if you find one, not really. They're old and difficult to interface with, so finding them is a pain. Look for old undisturbed places or new disturbed places. stupid useless incompatible software bullshit"
[COMP: 0] Oh dear. Your spell apparently transmutes the caster's head into a wax mace. Turns out you kinda need your head and all the stuff inside it.
YOU DIED
You pop back into existence, disoriented and missing all your clothing save for your underwear. Hopefully you're actually wearing underwear. You're in, what appears to be a basement somewhere. Scattered around the barren floor are an old mattress, a first aid kit, some old clothes, several cans of food, and a piece of plywood.
"Oh are you kidding me? There's no good places a two minutes ago but I can revive you right here? Your spell killed you, you're on the Fourth Floor now."
Prior to the war, this floor housed various research facilities along with the housing, infrastructure and secure storage required to support them. Now, this is the front line. Where the System League throws forces against your own, hoping to grind them away to dust. Oddly you don't really hear anything. The gunfire might just be too muffled, but one would think that you could hear or even feel explosions and frame movements. That doesn't seem to be the case.
"Well since Jus just hehe "'Jus just'"
She spends at least half a minute messing with pronunciation before remembering what she was doing.
"Oh right, you get this for being good at talking and things,"
she stops and a small pinprick of red light goes from her finger to the palm of your hand.
"This isn't much, but we need to make sure what you did back at the hangar wasn't a fluke. There will be much more once you've proven that."
((You have 1 free external statpoint to allocate! Further speech-based successes will result in a much higher bonus.))
There's something else in you mind though, something new. It's, more abstract, closer to an idea, than anything else, and when you focus on it, something appears in your hand. It's a plasma torch, similar in general appearance to your usual one. Except in this case, it seems to lack a cord, and possesses a more knife-like grip with the cutting jet emerging out the front, rather than perpendicular. It doesn't seem as bright, or hot for the matter. You seem to be able to also dismiss it at will, through it automatically vanishes should it leave your hand for too long.
((Bound Weapon - Plasma Torch gained!))
Give my teammate one of the pistols and enter the locker room, pistol at the ready. "Is anybody in here?! We're peaceful!" Also see if I can keep anybody from hijacking the rocket chair of doom by disabling it temporarily.You enter the room pistol ready, your calls for anyone to show themselves are unheeded and you do not hear hurried movements for weapons which is good. You can disconnect any one component from any other to disable it, however most people that are technically adept would be able to reactivate it relatively easily, although they would be delayed. Or you could just try breaking the engine entirely and hope that Malebranche can repair it well enough for your purposes.
Fire on the LANDSKNECHT's core. Try to not die.You and your squad open fire upon the core. You with the chaingun, they with their anti-Frame rockets. Nothing words are spoken, it is too late for that.
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 6 vs. 16] Try as you might, none of your bullets ever reach the core, each being intercepted with pinpoint precision by linear beams that erupt from the distortion.
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 1, 1, -1 vs. 16] The rockets are destroyed in a similar fashion, never given the chance to detonate. Not even prematurely.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Only a supernatural amount of skill, or something that it cannot destroy, at least not fully, would be able to bypass that by itself.
The pilot has apparently reverted back to maniacal laughter interspersed with mostly incoherent screaming. You think that they mentioned something about "bleeding dolls", "fragile men", and "glass bones". Not particularly useful, and at this point, practically formulaic.
More beams erupt, this time as a shotgun-spray aimed towards you.
"Well everyone, it's been an honor. See you all on the other side."
Time freezes. You see the trajectory of each beam and how they outer beams will ricochet. At a certain point, the trajectories go from straight lines to diffuse cones indicating that the anomalies each beam travels through is splitting open to turn it more into a high-energy particle shower from various positions in front of you.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
They are scattering the beams. With their present output and that spread, the energy will be insufficient to damage anything past your armor.
However, they will be able to kill the rest of your squad should they hit them.
Derek attempts to reach the frame again.[SDEF vs. UTAR: 1 vs. 3, 4, 3, 0] Okay, you rolled, incredibly poorly. And your opponents, at least most of them, rolled abnormally well. The RNG does not like you, it seems. You make a mad dash for the cockpit of the LATRANS, twirling your plasma cutter in your hand in an carefully-time movement, hoping to deflect whatever bullets you don't dodge. Though failing to dodge in any appreciable manner, you succeed in striking a few bullets on the side, ensuring that they miss. Unfortunately, the other bullets slam into various parts of your body. Shock sets in, soon to be followed by death. As the pain dissolves into nothingness, you hear Red's voice, still clear amidst your fading thoughts.
"You ain't done yet... I won't let that end all this... I need to find something I can use..."
"there has to be something else... seriously.... ughhhh..."
"The only available revive point is an old gameshow set. The admin unit there is... eccentric... but it is better than death at least... probably... well less dignified but you'll be alive at least."
YOU DIED
Slowly, you open your heavy eyelids, reluctantly struggling against your own lethargy. The walls are immaculate and white. The air smells of disinfectant with the faintest hints of citrus. The air-conditioning is set to what is a degree or two below what could be called a comfortable temperature. The reception chairs, pristine though still decidedly bad, are arranged in pairs, with each pair separated by a low tables, wooden veneers likely belying plastic constructions. Upon the tables are magazines dedicated to the usual waiting room pentatheon: Food, People, Cars, Guns and Technology. As is always, the magazine names themselves are not any that you recognize. A clock on the opposite wall, one of those minimalistic analogues in unoffensive monochromes, ticks along steadily.
What a strange dream that was. Perhaps even terrifying.
Yeah. Keep telling yourself that.
Not even you believe those thoughts. You don't have a medical appointment, you aren't sick. You aren't pretending to be. At around this time, you should still be back at the assembly chamber, working. Had it not under attack. Had you not been killed.
((Bound Weapon - Plasma Torch gained!))
Keep trying to take down that PUPPET with the autocannon if in control, or presumably the arms if control is lost.[TRAN: 2] Welp. Possessed again. Not that it changes much since you end up pursuing the PUPPET anyway.
As you sweep around the corner, you see it. It's already covered quite a fair distance, flying away from the facility. It's too damn far for you. You may have been able to run up a building and catch that squad by surprise earlier, but with the speed and altitude of this one, there's no way to catch up. As if realizing this, the possession fades away. By now it's too far for you to even have much of a chance hitting it with your auto-cannon.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
You seem to be a fine soldier, when you aren't being used as a meatpuppet.
Good to see.
I've taken the liberty of allocating some more system resources to you.
It isn't much, but more will follow, depending on your performance of course.
((All your stats have been raised by 1! You have 1 free external statpoint, and 1 free internal statpoint to allocate!))Receive pistol. Weep.Pistol acquired.
Pat on the back acquired.
[WEEPING INTENSIFIES]
"So why are you here, granting people this... magic, I guess? Is it because we're being attacked? Who are you and why are you intervening?"
"99 ed obbh" again while talking.
Code: (SCHROEDINBUG) [Select]
Correct. Something other than the NEE is intruding. Something foreign to this universe. The last time this happened unchecked, we had The Fall.
We are an organization with vested interests in the outcome of this situation.
It isn't feasible for us to get one of our own out onto the field, so we're relying on providing people like yourself, already on the ground, with the means to handle the matter.
[COMP: 2] ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? Apparently the RNG hates mages. Your lungs are replaced with a cloth handgun.YOU DIED
You wake up in the same waiting room as Derek (Pencil Art).
Code: (SCHROEDINBUG) [Select]
Your revival was intercepted and redirected here.
This used to be a gameshow set. Used to be. It's now a fragment.
Just like what caused the evacuation warning. Just like what sent that UAV after you.
Mostly safe.
((Bound Weapon - Revolver gained!))-snip-You are currently in your apartment on Floor 2, fresh from your shower. Which, according to the current reports, means that you are sandwiched between four layers of incredibly unpleasant shit. Floor 4, which already was quite fucked from being the frontlines and all, has somehow gotten worse, with the two sides entrenching themselves because they're too busy being attacked by unidentified units, and caught in the crossfire of unidentified units, to actually attack one another. Floor 3 experienced some skirmishes, and a giant fucking tempest is running amok, despite it having no damned place in an underground colony. Something is attacking Floor 1, they aren't really sure what it is because apparently all the witnesses are either too traumatized or too dead to give any details. Mostly just dead. Floor 0 meanwhile seems to have opened a gateway to hell and unleashed a horde of demons who proceeded to relocate half the facilities while running around murdering each other, leaving the workers terrified and nonplussed.
When the most positive news you hear is "Oh hey! We accidentally opened a portal TO FUCKING HELL!", it is probably safe to assume that you are either about to have a very long day, or a very short life. If somehow, you and your building survive this in one piece, you could stand to gain a small fortune from how much your residence will be worth.
Of more immediate concern is the fact that someone seems to have broken into the aforementioned residence, stolen nothing, and instead left what appears to be some sort of boxy computer on your table. Kids these days.
Code: (Terminal) [Select]
Grimoire protocols activated
Available networks are:
SOTERIOLOGIST
RED_QUEEN
JUS_AD_BELLUM
SMOTHERED_MATE
MALEBRANCHE
TZINACAN
DECOHERENT
SCHROEDINBUG
Enter a network name, or press ENTER to skip
Post by: Empiricist on July 02, 2015, 09:00:11 am
| < | Turn 10 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6304397#msg6304397) | | | Turn 11 | | | Turn 12 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6355333#msg6355333) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Sarrack (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: NAV (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Nidilap (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Hawk132 on July 02, 2015, 10:08:46 am
The only thing on hand I have that won't be destroyed by the beams is my Frame. And I don't really feel like retreating.
Charge at the LANDSKNECHT while shooting and weaving through the beams that might be in the way. Try to stop it from moving somehow and then keep punching the frame if I somehow even make it there.
(Do I get a VICTORY ACHIEVED if I destroy him somehow?))
Post by: AoshimaMichio on July 02, 2015, 11:54:28 am
"Oh... Well. That didn't go well. Hrm, could you check surroundings while I sit here and do science?"
+1 Mobile Defense. One bio scan please. Wear clothes, grab first aid kit. Do science on 01 03.
Post by: Toaster on July 02, 2015, 01:24:58 pm
Post by: Shaporia on July 02, 2015, 08:21:30 pm
Post by: Empiricist on July 02, 2015, 08:48:11 pm
(Do I get a VICTORY ACHIEVED if I destroy him somehow?))((I think we'll have to do a roll to decide between "YOU DEFEATED", "VICTORY ACHIEVED", "NIGHTMARE SLAIN" and "PREY SLAUGHTERED".))
Post by: Hawk132 on July 02, 2015, 08:58:48 pm
Post by: Empiricist on July 02, 2015, 09:03:34 pm
Post by: Corsair on July 03, 2015, 01:05:20 am
((I was wondering whether I should use "YOU DEFEATED" or "VICTORY ACHIEVED" for like 15 minutes before I made that post. You forgot "THE DEMON WAS DESTROYED" though.))(("YOU DEFEATED" is the only victory message all others are inferior))
Post by: FallacyofUrist on July 03, 2015, 03:12:48 pm
Follow Miaoko.
Post by: Shaporia on July 03, 2015, 04:16:00 pm
Post by: Pencil_Art on July 03, 2015, 09:22:32 pm
"That sure was a funny dream."
Post by: Beirus on July 03, 2015, 11:26:47 pm
"Attention squad, this is O'Greenahan. The PUPPET got away, and the frame possession seems to have receded for the moment. I advise you to stay clear of me until the arms are bound again, just in case. Afterwards, I'll join up with you and we'll start clearing that building. Go ahead and get any willing System League forces to hitch a ride on your frames." Beirus stops to make sure his channel has the maximum possible encryption and that his squad is the only one to hear it before continuing. "And before you ask, no, the PHARAOH is not cursed. The arms possess a bloodlust enchantment that enhances the capabilities of the pilot at the expense of rational thought. Yes, that does mean magic is real, or at least the closest thing to magic we can have in this reality is real, and that storm that showed up is just the beginning of what we may see today. Now, I will offer you one more chance to leave if you don't have the stomach to stay. You can bug out, find a hole to hide in, and pray to whatever God you worship that you live through the night, which isn't likely. Or you can stick with me, we can complete our mission, and we might have a fighting chance against whatever freaky shit the universe has to throw at us." Beirus finishes his message, checking the status of the arm repair.
Get those arms bound already, then regroup with whoever is left of my squad and let's start clearing this building.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on July 04, 2015, 01:53:06 am
Post by: Bigf00t on July 04, 2015, 03:10:00 am
- Take a damn good look around my lil' apartment, what is there that is either of potential use, or could be useful in making something else? If I have any other tools or clothing options check them out too. (Batteries, resources/parts of any kind, weapons of any kind, armor of any kind, etc)
- Once checking that the door is in fact still locked, check out the weird terminal box thing.
- Try searching up the "network" names on the internet via my wrist computer, there is a remote chance that on some cray-cray blog someone has heard of these... groups? factions? networks? identities? whatever they may be ((IC I know less than John Snow))
- If I can't find any information regarding the box, or the networks hit skip, otherwise I'll reserve my choice for next turn. ((A quick IRL google search as revealed... interestingness))
- Gather everything of immediate use on my main table/bench ((just to keep IC busy))
((PLEASE NOTE MINOR TURN EDIT))
((I Got a chuckle out of vi btw, just finished my Open Source and Linux course, and C programming and Data Structures elective at uni :P))
Post by: Corsair on July 06, 2015, 12:51:04 am
Post by: Empiricist on July 06, 2015, 01:08:36 am
WHOOPS((...You just posted your turn draft didn't you? :P))
Post by: Corsair on July 06, 2015, 01:49:30 am
((I can neither confirm nor deny))WHOOPS((...You just posted your turn draft didn't you? :P))
The only thing on hand I have that won't be destroyed by the beams is my Frame. And I don't really feel like retreating.You run, charging towards your foe, straight towards the spray of beams.
Charge at the LANDSKNECHT while shooting and weaving through the beams that might be in the way. Try to stop it from moving somehow and then keep punching the frame if I somehow even make it there.
[SDEF vs. UTAR: 2 vs. 6] They adjust, the beams ricochet and spray early. Your squadmates are gone. Dead. Burnt and charred corpses. Your armor is damaged, some of it molten, some of it reduced to plasma.
Their thrusters flare with power. They know what you are doing. Though to be fair, it isn't too hard to tell what you are doing considering that you're charging straight at them. They're trying to fly up. Out of reach. Our of range.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 3 vs. 2] Too slow. Your frame slams against their core. You swing you weaponless arm around in an awkward hug. Your other fist slams against them in a cacophony of horrible metallic groans. Standard LUPUS frames do not possess the raw power of their PHARAOH frames. That is not to say that they are weak however. Indeed, they were designed to be capable of destroying hostile frames just by repeatedly punching them. And in this case, with their reactive armor depleted, you begin doing just that, beginning to make dents in their core.
They are about to open fire on you with their chaingun, and start kicking you with both legs. You, due to punching with your chaingun arm, can shoot and punch at the same time. Please be as specific in your next action as possible. If you are going to move, state how and where. If you are going to attack, state which specific region of which specific part. Because right now, this can go either way.
Ao ShiStatpoint allocated.
"Oh... Well. That didn't go well. Hrm, could you check surroundings while I sit here and do science?"
+1 Mobile Defense. One bio scan please. Wear clothes, grab first aid kit. Do science on 01 03.
"You may want to get out of here soon. I'm not picking up anything notable outside, but the walls, floors and ceilings of this building are alive. It breathes, bleeds and eats. Mostly eats. And if it gets hungry, it'll try and drag you into one of its mouths using tentacles. Oh and it's running on videogame logic - it has, big glowy weakpoint in the center. Though it seems to be able to emit some sort of signal when attacked."
You put on the clothes, they aren't exactly in-fashion anymore, nor do they fit perfectly, but they'll do for now. You grab the first aid kit.
[COMP: 6/2] The space around you twists and alters, light shifting and distorting. You see the outline of, something. It looks like, an awfully large cuckoo clock, albeit one with the door below the clockface rather than above. In the seconds before it fades away, its door bursts open and a boar erupts forth before retracting back inside.
"Ugh... what the hell just happened?" He noticed Derek. "This may be a silly question, but where are we?"
Code: (SCHROEDINBUG) [Select]
Remember when I said that magic-usage can result in death? That happened to you.
I revived you, but it seems that we were redirected here.
This was the set of Flight of Fantasy, an old gameshow. It is now, under new management, so to speak.
The waiting room door opens and an orange wisp rushes forth.
"Greetings, the masters are unfortunately unavailable at this time, they will speak with you when they are available. For now I will be your guide, you will be able to change into more appropriate clothing in the next room, when you are done simply open the next door."
The wisp disperses into light orange smoke that soon drifts away.
"Ya know, I have absolutely no idea." He looks up.Red appears next to you and nods mockingly in agreement.
"That sure was a funny dream."
You also hear and see the wisp.
"It's not worth weeping anymore. Now I need to... live and let loose. There are better things to do."
Follow Miaoko.
He nodded. "Alright.. Let's go, I suppose." Pick a random direction, drive our death chair towards it, woo! (preferably not into a wall)You damn kids these days with your safety slogans and your rock 'n' roll. Back in my day, we'd drive into walls and we'd like it. Since your room is at the end of the corridor, there's nowhere you can actually drive your death chair towards that isn't back the way you came from, or into a wall. There's a door in front of you that leads into the office space of the facility, it appears to have been partially ransacked. You can see only part of the room but doubt from inspection that any soldiers still reside there. You could go in there, but well, the death chair won't fit, so you'd be back on foot.
Where do you two want to go?
"Thank you, Jus. I'll be sure to put those resources to good use. I feel more capable already...wait, did you just alter reality and alter me? Is reality like a program you can change? That would make you like a god, wouldn't it?" Beirus pauses for a moment to reassert control of his currently spiraling thought process. "Well, there will be time to be existential later, I hope. I'm still a soldier and I still have a job to do." He remarks before opening the channel to his squad.
"Attention squad, this is O'Greenahan. The PUPPET got away, and the frame possession seems to have receded for the moment. I advise you to stay clear of me until the arms are bound again, just in case. Afterwards, I'll join up with you and we'll start clearing that building. Go ahead and get any willing System League forces to hitch a ride on your frames." Beirus stops to make sure his channel has the maximum possible encryption and that his squad is the only one to hear it before continuing. "And before you ask, no, the PHARAOH is not cursed. The arms possess a bloodlust enchantment that enhances the capabilities of the pilot at the expense of rational thought. Yes, that does mean magic is real, or at least the closest thing to magic we can have in this reality is real, and that storm that showed up is just the beginning of what we may see today. Now, I will offer you one more chance to leave if you don't have the stomach to stay. You can bug out, find a hole to hide in, and pray to whatever God you worship that you live through the night, which isn't likely. Or you can stick with me, we can complete our mission, and we might have a fighting chance against whatever freaky shit the universe has to throw at us." Beirus finishes his message, checking the status of the arm repair.
Get those arms bound already, then regroup with whoever is left of my squad and let's start clearing this building.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Gods? For some we are.
Your squad doesn't respond. At least, not immediately. Instead you are treated to the sounds of panicked breaths and quiet cursing. They fade eventually, reverting to silence for a few more seconds. Then, finally, one of them speaks, somewhat shakily. "Uh sir, the pilot of the LATRANS is dead. The frame suddenly halted, and when the people riding it opened the cockpit, er, the guy's head was a lump of wax."
Another voice becomes audible, almost maddened disingenuous laughter that shifts into heavy panting.
"Heh, so guess that shit about magic wasn't all just bullshit. There's no need to worry about us. I'm scared. We all are. But we'll die if we just go cry in a corner somewhere. Anyway, I said it before didn't I? I ain't plannin' on dying old and decrepit. And if I gotta die now, at least it'll be one hell of a send off.
We have a job to do sir, we'll finish it. We also like being paid - no matter which God you pray to, money and loot are the best protection."
"We've got the people from the LATRANS riding on our frames now. They're kinda spooked about it. We all are. Say, where did you get that stuff about magic from? Just intuition? Or is headquarters keeping the rest of us in the dark about something?"
You wait out the repair without incident, the arms are bound up nice and tight. There are several buildings nearby to clear: the main building which would require leaving the comfort of heavily armored frames (unless you intend on smashing your way through the entire building), the surrounding buildings which are like semi-sunken aircraft hangars which you could peel open like sardine tins, or finally there are the outer mech workshops that you don't need to destroy to get into but will likely have the most "heavy" armor support.
I'll post a more in-detail turn soon if I have the internet access, but for now (so the turn can go on :P )Let's just say that you have the in-setting equivalent of anything you can find in your house (excluding something that would be in the shed or garage), within reason. The door is locked, it is approximately a inch thick and 12" by 8", the rear side is featureless and the screen joins the main frame seamlessly. You get the same results as a google search as now. Although a far larger quantity of the results are either poorly formatted conspiracy sites or ads. Some of the more obviously crackpot conspiracy sites claim that the terms are bynames of a powerful group that are a universal shadow government and that the internet will one day awaken as the Anti-Christ, but they also claim that microwaves are heralds of plague... so yeah.
- Take a damn good look around my lil' apartment, what is there that is either of potential use, or could be useful in making something else? If I have any other tools or clothing options check them out too. (Batteries, resources/parts of any kind, weapons of any kind, armor of any kind, etc)
- Once checking that the door is in fact still locked, check out the weird terminal box thing.
- Try searching up the "network" names on the internet via my wrist computer, there is a remote chance that on some cray-cray blog someone has heard of these... groups? factions? networks? identities? whatever they may be ((IC I know less than John Snow))
- If I can't find any information regarding the box, or the networks hit skip, otherwise I'll reserve my choice for next turn. ((A quick IRL google search as revealed... interestingness))
- Gather everything of immediate use on my main table/bench ((just to keep IC busy))
You proceed to dump the contents of your inventory (barring clothing and bodyparts) onto your table for inspection.
Post by: Empiricist on July 06, 2015, 02:26:57 am
| < | Turn 11 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6346931#msg6346931) | | | Turn 12 | | | Turn 13 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6366320#msg6366320) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Sarrack (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: NAV (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Nidilap (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Corsair on July 06, 2015, 04:51:52 am
Post by: Hawk132 on July 06, 2015, 07:23:33 am
Try to stop his legs with my own legs.
Post by: Empiricist on July 06, 2015, 07:46:34 am
Post by: Toaster on July 06, 2015, 08:24:32 am
Go through the door, change, whatever, get moving quickly and get out to street level, trying to figure out what's going on. Think hard about trying to communicate by thought to Schrodinbug.
Post by: Hawk132 on July 06, 2015, 08:48:23 am
((Their chaingun arm is on the side you are grabbing with your non-weapon arm. You can't really hold it away and still keep punching, since you need one arm to maintain your hold on the frame, otherwise you're going to fall off and it'll fly away.))((Then I'll just have to hope that I'll crush his cockpit before he shoots through mine.))
Post by: Bigf00t on July 06, 2015, 09:03:57 am
SMOTHERED_MATE < ? Social powers? Backstabby-themed-paramour stuff?
TZINACAN < Nahuatl for "vampire bat" (Apparently, according to the one possibly dubious source I found and failed to crosscheck. I'm lazy) Sounds pretty cool.
DECOHERENT < Make things less... coherent? Could be cool if reality warping etc, less helpful if it makes me hard to understand :P
<SKIP> < Possibly no handler, but maybe something else? Maybe an "unbiased" handler?
Right;
-Random.org shall pick one of the above networks (including <skip>) for me. The winner is..... DECOHERENT! (Select DECOHERENT)
-Enjoy any so far pretty damn good writing that may arise from my chosen option. Ask my Handler (presuming I get one) what is going on, who are they (and once we get to it) what are the consequences good and bad of choosing this network name?
-If I have any IC reason or knowledge to do so, try out:
-"22 09"
Post by: AoshimaMichio on July 06, 2015, 11:32:54 am
22 ed. Pick up the thing and figure out if it is functional. If yes, then go where the heart is or let Red guide me there. Otherwise exit the building.
Post by: Shaporia on July 06, 2015, 04:05:18 pm
Post by: FallacyofUrist on July 06, 2015, 04:35:32 pm
Go with him. Examine pistol.
Post by: Corsair on July 06, 2015, 07:44:38 pm
Given that out of the remaining un-chosen options:((I will tell you that one of those is pretty much correct, one is entirely wrong and another is a direct meaning. No I will not tell you which ones. :P))
SMOTHERED_MATE < ? Social powers? Backstabby-themed-paramour stuff?
TZINACAN < Nahuatl for "vampire bat" (Apparently, according to the one possibly dubious source I found and failed to crosscheck. I'm lazy) Sounds pretty cool.
DECOHERENT < Make things less... coherent? Could be cool if reality warping etc, less helpful if it makes me hard to understand :P
<SKIP> < Possibly no handler, but maybe something else? Maybe an "unbiased" handler?
Right;
-Random.org shall pick one of the above networks (including <skip>) for me. The winner is..... DECOHERENT! (Select DECOHERENT)
-Enjoy any so far pretty damn good writing that may arise from my chosen option. Ask my Handler (presuming I get one) what is going on, who are they (and once we get to it) what are the consequences good and bad of choosing this network name?
-If I have any IC reason or knowledge to do so, try out:
-"22 09"
Post by: FallacyofUrist on July 06, 2015, 07:48:31 pm
Post by: Bigf00t on July 06, 2015, 09:17:20 pm
So one is correct, one is wrong and one is a direct meaning? (1+1+1 = 3. Out of four :P)Given that out of the remaining un-chosen options:((I will tell you that one of those is pretty much correct, one is entirely wrong and another is a direct meaning. No I will not tell you which ones. :P))
SMOTHERED_MATE < ? Social powers? Backstabby-themed-paramour stuff?
TZINACAN < Nahuatl for "vampire bat" (Apparently, according to the one possibly dubious source I found and failed to crosscheck. I'm lazy) Sounds pretty cool.
DECOHERENT < Make things less... coherent? Could be cool if reality warping etc, less helpful if it makes me hard to understand :P
<SKIP> < Possibly no handler, but maybe something else? Maybe an "unbiased" handler?
Right;
-Random.org shall pick one of the above networks (including <skip>) for me. The winner is..... DECOHERENT! (Select DECOHERENT)
-Enjoy any so far pretty damn good writing that may arise from my chosen option. Ask my Handler (presuming I get one) what is going on, who are they (and once we get to it) what are the consequences good and bad of choosing this network name?
-If I have any IC reason or knowledge to do so, try out:
-"22 09"
No hint for number four?
Well, I can just hope that Decoherent is... coherent with my playstyles. If not I'll have to MAKE IT COMPATIBLE! MWAHAHAHA!
Post by: Beirus on July 07, 2015, 01:10:41 am
"Headquarters didn't tell me anything about it, but I got a strange package earlier today. Now I have magic too, and a few other abilities I think, probably like that wall running earlier.Although I think I'll hold off on testing out the magic after seeing what happened to that LATRANS pilot. I also happened to come into contact with someone who is a significant source of information about what is going on, although I won't reveal their identity without their consent. I don't know what HQ knows about it." He communicates to his team before opening a channel so the System League folks can hear him.
"Hey, get on your radios and see if you can get in contact with any of your teams inside the main building. Try to get them to come out here peacefully. Once they are out here, they can see the storm and that LATRANS pilot if they need proof that there are more important things going on than this squabble. After that, we can hopefully get our engineers out too." He conveys to the System League personnel.
Mostly talking stuff. If we come under attack, blast the attacker with the auto cannon.
Post by: Corsair on July 11, 2015, 06:33:39 am
Within the span of seconds, the battle is decided. You relentlessly punch the core of your foe, chaingun blazing as you do so. Likewise, your foe opens fire upon your frame, also aiming for the cockpit, albeit firing more slowly in part due to the severe damage their now barely-functional chaingun has sustained, and in part due to how awkward their firing angle is.Hold his chaingun arm away from me. If I can't just punch him with the other one too.Keep punching his core, more specifically - the cockpit. Shoot him at the same time. Hopefully I'll kill him before he kills me.
Try to stop his legs with my own legs.
Thrusters still firing off between kicks, the legs repeatedly strike those of your frame. Or at least attempt to at any rate, you've managed to impede them quite a bit by positioning your legs to reduce the space they have to accelerate. Not that it matters much of course - by the time they can break your legs and start menacing your core, one of you would already be dead.
Though you were certainly dealing more damage, any armor that could have protected your core was melted off, so by the time you've pounded your way through the depleted plating of your foe (which only took a few seconds), your interface was practically filled with numerous warnings about various issues that arise from large pieces of (previously) high-velocity metal lodging themselves in parts that they really shouldn't be in. You do come close. You come really damn close to crushing their core and filling it with bullet holes. But in the end, your newfound lack of armor proves to be lethal. A spray of bullets rip their way into your cockpit leaving little but blood and pulverized electronics in their wake.
BREAK DOWN
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Better luck next time.
The text burns itself into your vision as your eyes snap wide open. You're lying on cold concrete, naked save for undergarments, gazing upwards at the bright lights that litter the silver ceiling of corrugated metal. Silence.((Bound Weapon - 092AIAR gained!))
Winston looked at the wisp, then at Derek (who he still didn't know the name of.) "Uh... I'm just gonna head out now. Have a nice day!"You go through the clothes, ending up picking the most practical out of a variety of strange looking clothes that echo the fashion of the medieval revival movement back in the (41)50's. You end up with a burgundy silk shirt, some comfy black wool pants and leather boots. Schroedinbug does not respond to your thoughts.
Go through the door, change, whatever, get moving quickly and get out to street level, trying to figure out what's going on. Think hard about trying to communicate by thought to Schrodinbug.
Your attempts to leave to street level are stymied however as the door leads to a gothic cathedral. You are pretty sure that the colony doesn't have one of those, even considering the strange abominations that architects sometimes produce. The building is roughly cross shaped with two side wings along a long central aisle, the seats are tiered however, slowly descending to where the altar would be. In place of an altar are five empty stone doorways arranged in a semi circle around a central dais. Behind them on a small ziggurat of stairs is a far larger sixth doorway.
Along the walls are windows of stained glass, brilliantly illuminated by, something outside. You can't really tell, as you see nothing but a featureless white void lying beyond them. They depict a grand, intricate mass of vibrantly colored and textured clockwork around which a paradisaical world of flourishing life is built around, with some plants seemingly growing into the geometrically impossible gears themselves. Above the ziggurat is perhaps the largest window of all. It depicts, what appears to be a figure wearing one of those sleek jet-black spacesuits used by the military, it stands amidst a nebulous darkness faintly illuminated with a glowing sigil in the background, one identical to your matchbox's symbol. Its arms outstretched (less like the usual religious poses, and more like this (http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/30716715937722665/7370AF8A62DD8B653C7822DAB61F0B025BD4201D/)) with great flames hovering within its hands. Staring back from within the azure-tinted visor is a grinning skull. Piercing their chest is a radiant scythe and from the wound erupts a great deluge of blood. The streams are not confined to their window however, as paths have been cut in the very wall and filled with more colored glass, thus depicting it flowing into the clockwork of the other windows.
As you step towards the end of the stands, the doorways light up, the leftmost a bright yellow green which fades through yellow to a deep red on the rightmost door. The sixth glows purple with swirls of bright red and crackles of brilliant blue lightning. Through these ethereal gates traverse five identical figures. Clad in black hooded robes and floating slightly off the ground. They remove their hoods as one, revealing the grinning rictus smiles of bleached skulls. Under the robe you can see hints of brass mechanics.
>Greetings
>Welcome to
>the great
>Game:
>Flight of Fantasy
-Random.org shall pick one of the above networks (including <skip>) for me. The winner is..... DECOHERENT! (Select DECOHERENT)You select DECOHERENT, getting the good old taser vision along with the grimoire forcibly implanted into your mind. You are greeted with the image of someone who looks to be a successful gambler: expensive suit, well groomed, tastefully selected clothing and a variety of different expensive electronic accessories. His face is mostly concealed behind a pair of sunglasses but you can see he is in his 50's, with a lean clean shaven face and grey hair.
-Enjoy any so far pretty damn good writing that may arise from my chosen option. Ask my Handler (presuming I get one) what is going on, who are they (and once we get to it) what are the consequences good and bad of choosing this network name?
-If I have any IC reason or knowledge to do so, try out:
-"22 09"
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
Welcome to the great game.
The words you see are commands in a dead tongue for a dead god. Fortunately that god still takes requests.
You can call on me anytime you want to take a chance.
Something has intruded this world of ours.
Last time it happened, was the Fall.
My organization has seen it fit to provide you with assistance in order to help neutralize this threat.
Each network name represents a different handler. Each differing in agents, connections and skills.
Forsaking all forsakes our protection. It exposes you to the unseen. It may be ultimately beneficial, or ultimately disastrous.
Think of it as another kind of gamble.
((Tradecraft Gained: Luck))[COMP: -1] Your words go poorly with your heart replaced with a rifle barrel that pierces one of your lungs. Ow.
YOU DIED
You blink, eyes fluttering open once more. You are now on the surface of the planet, which you determine from the bright light outside and the glimpses of sky though the clear plastic windows of the tent you are now in. This must be the SL reserve line. Outside you can hear people moving around along with the mechanical clang and rumble of combustion driven transports, you can also hear what sounds like the lively raucous of a marketplace.
Around you are various cardboard boxes of varying size, stacked together in an orderly manner.
((Bound Weapon - Multitool gained!))
"At this point I'm not even pretending being suprised. Video game logic you say? So if I destroy it then it will drop something cool? Right, lets go see it. Did you happen to figure out its weakness?""Being hit. I'm not kidding."
22 ed. Pick up the thing and figure out if it is functional. If yes, then go where the heart is or let Red guide me there. Otherwise exit the building.
[COMP: 1] You get death. Your medula oblongata spontaneously transforms into a mass of advanced polymers which unfortunately fail to serve the same function.
"Or you could just die here. Guess that's an option too."
YOU DIED
You respawn back in the exact same place, we'll assume that you loot your corpse for all the stuff you gathered up the previous turn.
"You should probably stop trying that for now it seems to be... not working, unless you like constantly leaving mutilated corpses around. I mean, I won't judge-, well I will actually..." She states as she motions to shuffle your old body into a corner, but evidently fails to due to not actually possessing any physical form.
"At least it'll go after this first."
You leave the room and it soon becomes clear that this building's architect is an absolute asshole. It lacks any real signage, which is quite an issue considering its labyrinthine structure renders it a fire hazard, and you know, turns it into a deathtrap when it suddenly becomes a living organism. You follow the only available path until it becomes a corridor that ends at a T junction. The air is humid, and there seems to be a faint stench of fish lingering about. Which path will you take?
"Guess we're going into the offices." Onwards! To the offices!You enter into the offices finding that they have been tossed thoroughly with any expensive items - screens, computers and comfy chairs now missing. The cream decor has been ruined in it's warm uniformity by a large section of missing wall, with a skeletally thin PUPPET troop carrier frame lodged in it. Said frame has a functioning 9mm cannon and you lack an IFF unit. Truly this is going to be a great day.
"Right!"The pistol is the same as most modern pistols though its specific aesthetics mean that it could be mistaken for one of the ancient smokeless powder designs were it not for the rear heatsink and fire-set dials.
Go with him. Examine pistol.
You follow your buddy into the next room. The one with the naked murderbot.
"Jus, did that guy in the LATRANS have a box too? How many people have them? Are they all NEE?" Beirus takes a moment to ask before reopening his squad channel.
"Headquarters didn't tell me anything about it, but I got a strange package earlier today. Now I have magic too, and a few other abilities I think, probably like that wall running earlier.Although I think I'll hold off on testing out the magic after seeing what happened to that LATRANS pilot. I also happened to come into contact with someone who is a significant source of information about what is going on, although I won't reveal their identity without their consent. I don't know what HQ knows about it." He communicates to his team before opening a channel so the System League folks can hear him.
"Hey, get on your radios and see if you can get in contact with any of your teams inside the main building. Try to get them to come out here peacefully. Once they are out here, they can see the storm and that LATRANS pilot if they need proof that there are more important things going on than this squabble. After that, we can hopefully get our engineers out too." He conveys to the System League personnel.
Mostly talking stuff. If we come under attack, blast the attacker with the auto cannon.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Indeed. He is one of our other recent recruits here, along with two other such people.
The number, well, it depends on whether you mean to say overall, or just in this colony. Either way, there are not that many.
Relative to the population from which they were recruited from of course.
Allegiances matter not to us. As a matter of fact, there is another agent in this facility, a more experienced one working for the System League.
Do not worry. Unless something goes horribly wrong, you two will not even meet here, let alone be forced into hostilities.
Johnny replies whilst the rest of your squad make affirmative grunts.
"Okay... the sounds really damn crazy. But there's a storm right here as well, so the fuck do I know. Did that contact of yours say who we're up against? Judging by the storm, I'd think it's the commies, but, I don't see the other usual signs of 'em."
Needless to say, the System League soldiers don't sound too composed, though they are at least, somewhat calm by now.
"Working on it."
After a few minutes, they finally radio back.
"They're coming out now with the engineers. The live ones I mean, not entirely our fault, some lunatic tried to have some of our guys murdered with cutting torches, and well, shit happened.
Normally they aren't that agreeable, but considering well.... all the stuff going on further down... Anyway, I can't make any guarantees that they'll give themselves up. But they've said they aren't gonna shoot unless you shoot first."
Post by: Empiricist on July 11, 2015, 06:36:01 am
| < | Turn 12 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6355333#msg6355333) | | | Turn 13 | | | Turn 14 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6381258#msg6381258) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Sarrack (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: NAV (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Nidilap (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Hawk132 on July 11, 2015, 06:56:15 am
"Damn it, so close, yet so far. But never mind that. How am I still alive?"
Get up and investigate my surroundings. Maybe there are some clothes around.
And since I lost my Frame, I might as well start using the Grimoire. "1e 6f"
Post by: Empiricist on July 11, 2015, 07:03:11 am
((Guess I don't get any stat boosts for my valiant efforts. Oh well.))((Yeah, we were discussing whether or not to do a level up, but we ended up settling on only handing them out for winning a conflict (with or without violence).
You came really damn close. For the last turn, we didn't even roll anything, we just prepared a list of things that if you targeted, would result in victory (of some kind), and everything not on it results in death.))
Post by: Hawk132 on July 11, 2015, 07:24:10 am
Post by: Empiricist on July 11, 2015, 07:33:02 am
Post by: Toaster on July 11, 2015, 10:08:16 am
Post by: Shaporia on July 11, 2015, 02:14:55 pm
Post by: FallacyofUrist on July 11, 2015, 03:32:16 pm
Post by: Shaporia on July 11, 2015, 04:22:29 pm
Post by: Empiricist on July 11, 2015, 09:02:39 pm
Post by: FallacyofUrist on July 11, 2015, 09:22:26 pm
Post by: Shaporia on July 12, 2015, 12:40:43 am
Post by: Toaster on July 12, 2015, 09:24:41 am
Get rules, follow directions. If asked to pick a door, the leftmost first. If violence is implied, cast 44 a5.
Post by: FallacyofUrist on July 12, 2015, 09:36:06 am
"Runrunrunrunrun!" (Woo, action edited.)"Yes. Run!"
Run away. Run! Run! As fast as I can! Activate Memento Mori as I run.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on July 12, 2015, 12:01:53 pm
(https://i.imgur.com/wAmPLid.gif)
"I would like to repeat my doubts about usefulness of magic."
Go left. Pick up any object that can be repurposed as a throwing weapon and as a tool to bash skulls in (or cores of pesky living buildings).
Post by: Bigf00t on July 13, 2015, 06:01:23 am
((Tradecraft Gained: Luck))
[COMP: -1] Your words go poorly with your heart replaced with a rifle barrel that pierces one of your lungs. Ow.
YOU DIED
((Oh sweet Irony, you are not missed on me))
(To my handler)
"...That went well. As they say, luck truly goes both ways. So by virtue of the fact I am here sarcastically commenting on my own demise I suppose death is a little less 'permanent' for me now? Any quick pointers, like a limited number of lives I should be aware of? Or is every death as you say, just another gamble?".
Try and find some clothes in the tent (if I am missing clothes like the other respawnees) activate "Luck" and try 22 09 again.
If I still have time peek outside the tent. For the nearest barracks if unclothed, or the command tent if clothed. Also to see if there are any troopers nearby and what equipment they have
((Also ~yay~ for achieving the game first negative competency roll! And on my first try too! With a full 8 dice! According to my maths that's... [Attempts to do probability maths]...[gives up and writes C script to brute force calculate the probability]))
Spoiler: Maths and code output: (click to show/hide)
Post by: Beirus on July 16, 2015, 01:15:35 pm
"I'm not sure, I'm asking for information right now." He responded to Johnny before opening up a channel so the SL soldiers could hear him.
"It happens. We'll wait for them to get out here before we make any more decisions." Beirus responded before closing the public channel and opening a line to HQ.
"HQ, this is O'Greenahan. I've managed to get the System League to come out of the main building with the engineers peacefully. I haven't had a chance to check any of the facilities outside of the main building yet, but I think that storm might be spreading this way. What's the priority of keeping the facilities versus keeping the engineers safe?"
More talking stuff. When folks come out of the building, try to appear nonviolent by not pointing my autocannon at them.
Post by: Pencil_Art on July 17, 2015, 04:53:38 am
Post by: Corsair on July 18, 2015, 05:23:05 am
((Guess I don't get any stat boosts for my valiant efforts. Oh well.))
"Damn it, so close, yet so far. But never mind that. How am I still alive?"
Get up and investigate my surroundings. Maybe there are some clothes around.
And since I lost my Frame, I might as well start using the Grimoire. "1e 6f"
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Because I wish it to be so.
The warehouse is a simple construction of a thick I-beam skeleton plated with corrugated steel to protect the inside, which is filled to the ceiling with steel shelving and plastic boxes. The boxes do not contain anything particularly useful unless you wanted to attempt to build a suit of armor out of electrical appliances or bludgeon someone with a frying pan. Okay, you may be able to try strangling someone with a power chord, or give dry humping a cheesegrater a go, but let's not go into those possibilities for now.
[COMP: 4] Fizzle.
"...We really, really should do it." He looked over at his companion, grinning widely. "You wanna pilot? I'm terrible with shooting things." Actually, run the hell away! While spraying my fire extinguisher behind us so it can't actually see us. If we pass by any broken doors, use Work damnit so they automatically close. Make sure my co-worker's infront of me at all times, push him forward if he isn't running as fast because aaaah run.
"Yes. Run!"You both get out of the room with the sound of exploding office furniture and cubicles behind you as it cycles up a bit late to actually get you. Memento Mori proves quite useful in highlighting a line of "probably not dead" that basically lets James lead Miaoko along in a path that avoids everything in advance. Not too surprising considering that System League frames aren't known for their quality. Like if someone made a car out of paper mache and thought that it was still too good and so decided to use a pocket calculator as the onboard computer. An issue that is worsened by the fact that Miaoko discharged half a fire extinguisher's worth of powder at its optical sensors.
Run away. Run! Run! As fast as I can! Activate Memento Mori as I run.
You two do pass through a door, though it isn't broken. So Miaoko doesn't end up using his tradecraft this turn.
"Oh, I get it, right? I have to win the game to keep my soul, right? So what are the rules?">We care not for what does not exist.
Get rules, follow directions. If asked to pick a door, the leftmost first. If violence is implied, cast 44 a5.
>If you win you get a prize, if you lose then you lose.
>You will go through an obstacle course. Rules are simple:
>1: We will provide the equipment.
>2: No refunds or exchanges on the prizes.
>Or you can leave. We will drop you off somewhere in the colony.
>You can always return here later. You need only to be looking for us.
The moment he respawned he summoned hallucination of the grimoire and expressed his opinion about it.You find a heavy worn monkey-wrench.
(https://i.imgur.com/wAmPLid.gif)
"I would like to repeat my doubts about usefulness of magic."
Go left. Pick up any object that can be repurposed as a throwing weapon and as a tool to bash skulls in (or cores of pesky living buildings).
To the left is a long corridor with three exits on the right side of it before it hits a dead end. The smell of fish remains at the same intensity.
"...That went well. As they say, luck truly goes both ways. So by virtue of the fact I am here sarcastically commenting on my own demise I suppose death is a little less 'permanent' for me now? Any quick pointers, like a limited number of lives I should be aware of? Or is every death as you say, just another gamble?".
Try and find some clothes in the tent (if I am missing clothes like the other respawnees) activate "Luck" and try 22 09 again.
If I still have time peek outside the tent. For the nearest barracks if unclothed, or the command tent if clothed. Also to see if there are any troopers nearby and what equipment they have
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
You have only your carried possessions to lose.
You are indeed missing your clothes. Rifling through the boxes you find an assortment of combat rations (powdered meal replacement drinks meant to be added to water) and uniforms (just the uniforms, not the body armor or rank identifiers).
[COMP: 10/8] ((Wow. Now the RNG is just taunting you. You didn't roll a single three there.)) You summon forth a complex weapon. It is similar to a modern assault rifle with the outer protective case made from a metal of some sort instead. It differs in several respects. The sights are very advanced including some sort of leading marker for high velocity targets and a small compass showing magnetic north. Below is an ammo counter of some sort showing a percentage, specifically zero with the message "Connect to power-source for power reading". The trigger and grip are relatively normal except for the material that seems to shift as you hold it the weapon fitting perfectly to your hand. Directly above the trigger on the left side is a finned heat sink. Above it poking through both sides is a cylindrical tank similar to a gas tank with a single heavy duty exposed wire leading into a power port, around the barrel you can see copper coils. The end of the weapon looks like a flash suppressor has been attached to it. The only connector that looks like a power port is a port the shape of a round rectangle with three pins in a row.
You peek outside the tent and see, well, more tents unsurprisingly, erected in orderly rows along the grassy fields. Soldiers move about in a rather relaxed manner. Some are walking alone, others chatting in groups. They are wearing uniforms, most are similar to those found in the boxes, though some of them look quite different. Weapons, vary quite a bit. Some have the same kind of weapons as those favored by NEE forces, others have more foreign weapons instead. Others still, well, what they're wielding should be displayed in a museum, or disassembled in a research facility. You're reasonably certain you saw someone lugging around the bastard child of a shield and a door.
"Jus, were those engineers that got killed also your agents? What exactly are we up against? What caused that storm? And will that storm spread this far?" Beirus asked, making sure his communication channels were closed while he asked. He reopened his team channel after he asked.
"I'm not sure, I'm asking for information right now." He responded to Johnny before opening up a channel so the SL soldiers could hear him.
"It happens. We'll wait for them to get out here before we make any more decisions." Beirus responded before closing the public channel and opening a line to HQ.
"HQ, this is O'Greenahan. I've managed to get the System League to come out of the main building with the engineers peacefully. I haven't had a chance to check any of the facilities outside of the main building yet, but I think that storm might be spreading this way. What's the priority of keeping the facilities versus keeping the engineers safe?"
More talking stuff. When folks come out of the building, try to appear nonviolent by not pointing my autocannon at them.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
One of them was ours. Not mine though.
You are up against, what is for the lack of a better term, an eldritch god.
It is trying to proliferate itself. Well, trying maybe a bit too generous. We aren't entirely convinced that it is sentient.
It might just be closer to a virus or prion in nature.
It is going to try and infect everything. Starting with the easiest targets.
Unfortunately, one of those easy targets caused the Fall.
And if it tries to infect it, it will reactivate.
That storm is a distant kin of sorts to the Black Moon.
It exists because that eldritch entity has reactivated something.
Possibly infected it as well. I am unsure of how large that storm will grow.
"Facility is more important. Not a cheery prospect I know, but with our industrial sectors in the state that they are, and with the storm there... We really need to keep those facilities in order, and if that storm doesn't consume it, we'll be converting it into a hangar to help do recon on it. There's a skyscraper in its center, one that shouldn't be there."
The soldiers and engineers (the Loremaster Technicians are noticeably absent) all move out as one group, with soldiers about equaling engineers in quantity. Unsurprising given the high rate of military service in the League and the tendency for them to spam troops at problems. A PUPPET wanders over, still carrying the loot it had claimed - two nuclear blast cubes, each the size of a small car, which slow it down quite a bit. It looks around in an almost bemused fashion at the remains of the other auto frames. A voice, quiet and vaguely feminine crackles over the radio.
"Well I can't carry all these things, soldiers are yours now, O'Greenahan... also... catch"
You wonder for a second what that refers to before a blast cube smacks into you and the PUPPET flies off with the other one while chuckling.
Derek follows the other guy through the door.You catch back up with Winston. You also have the peculiar feeling that if the otherworldly being controlling you doesn't start bolding their actions properly soon, you'll be fed to a space kraken. Which is sort of like a black hole. Except with more screaming. And a silly cephalopod outfit glued to its event horizon somehow.
Post by: Empiricist on July 18, 2015, 05:23:24 am
| < | Turn 13 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6366320#msg6366320) | | | Turn 14 | | | Turn 15 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6401188#msg6401188) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Sarrack (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: NAV (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Nidilap (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Hawk132 on July 18, 2015, 06:52:37 am
Have one last check for clothes/weapons and exit the warehouse.
Let's try "12 0d" this time.
Post by: FallacyofUrist on July 18, 2015, 12:20:35 pm
Post by: Shaporia on July 18, 2015, 12:32:29 pm
"I think we lost it."Miaoko grinned, offering his hand for a highfive. "Sweet!"
Post by: FallacyofUrist on July 18, 2015, 01:12:21 pm
James returns the high five.
Post by: Shaporia on July 18, 2015, 02:28:50 pm
Post by: AoshimaMichio on July 18, 2015, 02:54:12 pm
And look for more items to throw at people. One wrench isn't gonna cut it. ((I just noticed it isn't in my sheet.))
Post by: FallacyofUrist on July 18, 2015, 05:50:53 pm
"So uh.. Back to the rocket chair?""Seems like a good idea."
Post by: Shaporia on July 19, 2015, 12:04:30 pm
Post by: FallacyofUrist on July 19, 2015, 05:36:49 pm
Miaoko nodded, Heading back to the rocket chair.James followed Miaoko back to the rocket chair.
Post by: Corsair on July 20, 2015, 01:49:29 am
Miaoko nodded, Heading back to the rocket chair.((You are in another office room not the lockers so you will need to find another way round unless you want to try your luck with that gun again [sorry if that wasn't clear]))
Post by: Bigf00t on July 20, 2015, 07:08:34 am
Test "05"
If valuable/useful take it with me, either way grab the rifle for later and head in the direction of commotion, any evident command or communications or just wherever the most soldiers are going.
Act reasonably confident/self-sure as most of the people here are wearing or using a rag-tag assortment of gear, so with any luck if I don't act too suspicious I'll blend right in. For better or worse :-\
Post by: AoshimaMichio on July 20, 2015, 09:46:38 am
Post by: Toaster on July 20, 2015, 09:56:03 am
Accept the challenge. Follow directions; take provided gear.
Post by: Shaporia on July 20, 2015, 12:48:57 pm
Post by: FallacyofUrist on July 20, 2015, 01:09:50 pm
"..Erm." Miaoko looked around briefly. "Yeah, I'm lost. Wanna go this way?" He pointed to a random direction, and if James agrees, starts walking over there.If it's not back towards anything that was highlighted as dangerous by Memento Mori last turn, James says "Why not." and follows Miaoko.
Post by: Empiricist on July 20, 2015, 10:17:52 pm
((I just noticed it isn't in my sheet.))((Sorry, typed it into the wrong sheet >__< I swear, your datasheet seems to be cursed or something, I've had far more errors with your sheet than anyone elses. When I first typed up the sheets, I ended up having three different copies of yours, two of which had substituted other people's sheets.))
Post by: AoshimaMichio on July 21, 2015, 01:33:17 am
Post by: Beirus on July 24, 2015, 02:22:05 am
Catch? Fucking assholes. Beirus thinks to himself as the box bounces off his frame.
"Looks like your armor support is gone. Id rather resolve this without bloodshed. Do you surrender?" Beirus asks the SL troops over the comms.
If they surrender:
"Do you have any other troops in this facility we should be aware of? If so, call them over here. We'll see if they surrender too. I'd rather not have any senseless violence." Beirus states.
If they say they have no other troops in the area:
Beirus opens his communication channels to HQ. "HQ, this is O'Greenahan. All System League forces inside the facility have surrendered. The facility is ours. Please send reinforcements and further orders." Beirus states over the channel.
Mostly talking stuff. Ask Johnny to open up the box. Have the other two watch the SL troops. If the SL troops attack, fire on them with the autocannon.
Post by: Empiricist on July 25, 2015, 10:28:40 pm
Post by: Corsair on July 27, 2015, 03:19:04 am
"So, hallucinatory armo-... actually, since you gave me the ability to not die, I guess I should a bit more respectful. 'Jus' fine with you? Anyway, you need anything done? Oh, and... any idea where I am?"
Have one last check for clothes/weapons and exit the warehouse.
Let's try "12 0d" this time.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
You are at 67th West Street approximately 1.5 kilometers from AFH29, where you and the rest of your squad died.
Jus is fine, my colleagues already call me that.
As for our operations here, we are intending to send agents to investigate and destroy the storm anomaly.
Though chances are, the NEE will be sending scouts there anyway. If you still want to rejoin them that is.
The LANDSKNECHT frame you fought is also rather troublesome, so we will have to decide on how to neutralize it.
As for what you can do right now?
We have recently expanded our resource pool, so we are able to give out further enhancements to all our agents.
Decide on a ratio between mental fortitude and magical capabilities for us to raise.
((You have 6 free internal statpoints to allocate!))You find a box of steel ladles which while not a weapon specifically will likely still hurt when people are hit with them. You are able to carry seven without having to stuff them into your underwear (or eye sockets if you weren't wearing any today).
Upon exiting the warehouse you end up in a deserted street crisscrossed with alleys between the various types of glass and steel buildings, the bottom floors of which are all colorful receptions, pubs and stores as is the norm with most large buildings. Far down the end of the street you recognize see the tower installation where you just died, easily recognizable by the sugary coating outside it and the wreckage that was once your frame.
[COMP: 5] Before your oxygen-starved brain can even comprehend it, your body dies standing upright, frozen in position.
YOU DIED
You respawn back in the warehouse, let's assume that you retrace your steps and grab your stuff again. Your corpse is still there, turns out that the spell had removed most of your flesh and turned what remained into a solid stone monolith in the shape of your remains.
Run into furthest door down in the corridor. Not into the door, but the room/carridor/whatever behind it.You turn into the room and the smell gets mildly worse, the walls are damp and cold to touch. At the opposite side of the room is another door. The low quality steel shelving that evidently once occupied this room has already partly rusted from the environment. Well, with any luck, anyone who'd complain about you looting them would have fled or been eaten by now. You grab the remains of five shelves, they aren't in the best condition but at least they can be used to bludgeon people. Or more pertinently, angry walls.
And look for more items to throw at people. One wrench isn't gonna cut it. ((I just noticed it isn't in my sheet.))
Red appears again and six points of red light float over to you.
"Here, maybe you'll be able to stop killing yourself with magic now. Not that I'm secretly judging your actions or anything of course. I do that openly~"
((You have 6 free internal statpoints to allocate!))
Put on a uniform (one that's not the lowest rand if possible), stash a MRE in a pocket (or the breast of the uniform if like a mechanic's overalls).You put on a basic set of grey camo formed from grey blocks with lighter slashes in threes spattered over a dark grey background. Evidently it was designed for combat in an urban setting. Or in a black and white film. You stash a combat ration and a bottle of water into your pocket. However, ((as stated in the previous turn)) there are no ranking identifiers available to attach to your uniform.
Test "05"
If valuable/useful take it with me, either way grab the rifle for later and head in the direction of commotion, any evident command or communications or just wherever the most soldiers are going.
Act reasonably confident/self-sure as most of the people here are wearing or using a rag-tag assortment of gear, so with any luck if I don't act too suspicious I'll blend right in. For better or worse :-\
[COMP: 4/4] Strange runic symbols inscribe themselves upon the ground before you in blood. The end result is a series of formations, arranged in a circular order. Each bears a resemblance to the previous one, with the image in its center more complex each time. In the middle of this array is a pile of sharp pieces of metal, looking like fragments of a blade of some sort.
The troops are moving towards and away from the market in equal numbers, away is toward a large grassy plaza in this tent city with tables and chairs littered around filled with a variety of people both combat and non-combat units.
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
Someone just raked in their winnings. You get a cut of it too.
((You have 6 free internal statpoints to allocate!))"Uhh... sure, let's go for it. Day can't get any weirder.">Excellent. Then let us begin.
Accept the challenge. Follow directions; take provided gear.
Your surroundings vanish.
You are now standing on a small, plastic platform 9 square meters in area all of which is painted a particularly obnoxious shade of pink. You are in a hole. An extremely wide hole. The walls are made from panes of glass covering arrays of lights that produce a perpetually shifting patterns of vibrant colors, it continues as far as the eye can see, both above, and below.
>Welcome to Delirium Furiosum, the vertical obstacle course!
>Your boots have been enhanced to allow you to run up even vertical surfaces.
>Vertical surfaces like the trains we will be firing at you.
>You win by surviving until we run out of trains. Good luck!
A train of abnormally large size with rather long carriages erupts from in front of you in eerie silence, seemingly defying gravity. Your platform begins to slide across thin air towards it, by the time it stops, a good portion of this (apparently ludicrously long) train has already passed by. Its close enough to touch, in fact, were it any closer, the platform would be scraping the roofs of its carriages. Now presumably ((for the sake of ensuring that you actually get the opportunity to make a meaningful action this turn, and we stop wasting your time)), it is at this point you begin to run up the train as the platform tumbles down into the abyss below.
Two more trains of similar proportions rush by on either side with absurd speed, decelerating to (approximately) match the speed of your train. Their carriages are close enough for you to run onto if you wish to do so. The coming carriage to the left has, what appears to be a ramp, descending into its inside (in the same way your are running). The coming carriage in front of you has no notable features, offering only its dull metal surface.
Standing at the end of the coming carriage to your right however, is a figure. They are immaculately dressed in a Victorian-era long-coat, complete with gloves, trousers and all. In contrast to the pristine condition of its garments, it wears a simple pale mask, featureless save for a black, somewhat faded, magic circle and adorned with countless scratches. It stands silently in place, as if gravity was pulling it towards the train rather than down into the waiting abyss below. Its hands swinging idly by its side, metallic contacts cantered in their palms glinting as it does so. Resting at its hips are twin halves of a greatsword’s hilt, the blades noticeably absent.
Time stops and a person appears before you, dressed in an armored hazmat suit and flanked by a constellation. From each star, a blade hangs by a ray of light.
Code: (SCHROEDINBUG) [Select]
Another agent of ours has retrieved something of great value.
Hence, our resource pool has increased.
Enhance yourself with these as you see fit.
She gestures and six of the blades retract into their respective points of light which flow over to you.((You have 6 free internal statpoints to allocate!))
"..Erm." Miaoko looked around briefly. "Yeah, I'm lost. Wanna go this way?" He pointed to a random direction, and if James agrees, starts walking over there.
Code: (MALEBRANCHE) [Select]
u can haz points nao
((You have 6 free internal statpoints to allocate!))You walk through another looted office and go up the stairs to the right and through a door. You end up in a gallery over the main cafeteria where there are several System League soldiers filing out, carrying a variety of weapons. They don't seem to notice you or your friend.
If it's not back towards anything that was highlighted as dangerous by Memento Mori last turn, James says "Why not." and follows Miaoko.
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
The restless dead have returned to their caskets once more.
With this harvest, I present to you your rightful portion.
So that when you can flee now more, those who stand in your path will perish.
((You have 6 free internal statpoints to allocate!))You follow Miaoko and end up in the same location as him.
Catch? Fucking assholes. Beirus thinks to himself as the box bounces off his frame.An officer in the crowd opens up his comms.
"Looks like your armor support is gone. Id rather resolve this without bloodshed. Do you surrender?" Beirus asks the SL troops over the comms.
If they surrender:
"Do you have any other troops in this facility we should be aware of? If so, call them over here. We'll see if they surrender too. I'd rather not have any senseless violence." Beirus states.
If they say they have no other troops in the area:
Beirus opens his communication channels to HQ. "HQ, this is O'Greenahan. All System League forces inside the facility have surrendered. The facility is ours. Please send reinforcements and further orders." Beirus states over the channel.
Mostly talking stuff. Ask Johnny to open up the box. Have the other two watch the SL troops. If the SL troops attack, fire on them with the autocannon.
"How about we call it mutual ceasefire? Everyone gather in the main courtyard command rating 79, parley protocol."
There are a few minutes as more and more SL infantry begin coming out of the woodwork of the facility resulting in them outnumbering you by at least 10 to 1, however you see a lack of any rocket launchers that could damage you seriously.
"So if there is no need for us to have any issues, just let us leave and everyone goes home."
Johnny responds
"No can do sir, it's RFID says that it's an Alcubierre Drive. You know how dangerous those things can be."
Welp, that certainly explains why the PUPPET pilot is flying away now. FTL Drives are far from cheap, indeed, it would actually be cheaper to let everyone in a maintenance facility like this to perish and compensate all their families than to purchase another one.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
We have allocated more resources to you thanks to the actions of another operative.
Perhaps now, you can use those arms without becoming possessed.
((You have 6 free internal statpoints to allocate!))
Post by: Empiricist on July 27, 2015, 03:19:41 am
| < | Turn 14 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6381258#msg6381258) | | | Turn 15 | | | Turn 16 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6428641#msg6428641) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Sarrack (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: NAV (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Nidilap (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: blazing glory on July 27, 2015, 07:32:23 am
Post by: Hawk132 on July 27, 2015, 08:06:59 am
((Hrm? What's this? A Perplexicon, noice, can I join?))((It's been running for a while, how did you not notice this? There's no one in the waitlist right now, by the way.))
"I need to stop killing myself."
+3 COMP, +3 TRAN. Walk to the place where the LANDSKNECHT killed me. While going there take a look at the various stores here and loot them (if there's no one there, that is) if they may have something interesting (like clothes or weapons). Try using "12" this time.
Post by: blazing glory on July 27, 2015, 08:14:48 am
((I've seen the thread title forever but only now have I gotten around to actually checking it out.))
((I'm sorta weird like that.))
EDIT:((In other words, if an RtD's OP is longer then 5 lines, it can take me weeks before I get around to checking it out properly.))
Post by: Toaster on July 27, 2015, 09:31:08 am
+5 Comp, +1 Trans, because explosions. Also, run onto that left train and take the ramp down inside. Video game logic says there should be a long line of coins in there.
Post by: Shaporia on July 27, 2015, 10:56:11 am
Quote
"Woo!" +4 Tran +2 CompCode: (MALEBRANCHE) [Select]u can haz points nao
Miaoko looked at all the soldiers filing out, immediately attempting to stay out of sight. "Look out," He whispered in his partner's direction.
Post by: FallacyofUrist on July 27, 2015, 11:06:01 am
James whispered back: "I... see... this may be difficult to survive."
Like so, try to stay out of sight.
Post by: Empiricist on July 28, 2015, 04:43:49 am
((Hrm? What's this? A Perplexicon, noice, can I join?))((Give us a bit of time to update the OP and starting options first. We need to replace one of the options and possibly add in replacement options.))
Post by: Empiricist on July 31, 2015, 01:28:18 am
Post by: Beirus on July 31, 2015, 02:15:10 am
((Okay OP's character sheet has been updated so that people don't have to use boxes when they spawn, we'll assume they already made a choice. We were considering adding another faction option, but we've decided to delay that since it would take quite a bit of work to write up and balance. I'm personally leaning more towards implementing quick and easy ways to contact factions and change sides.))((You mean like letting me get a truce going between the SL and NEE?))
Post by: Empiricist on July 31, 2015, 02:27:20 am
Post by: AoshimaMichio on August 01, 2015, 11:36:15 am
+5 to COMP, +1 to TRAN.
Continue forward through the new door, following my nose.
Post by: Beirus on August 01, 2015, 01:19:37 pm
If the SL troops leave peacefully, Beirus opens up a channel to HQ. "HQ, this is O'Greenahan. The facility is clear. Requesting reinforcements and new orders."
+6 TRANS
More talking.
Post by: Bigf00t on August 02, 2015, 04:31:54 am
"Let's load the dice in our favor."
"0b 0a", if the result is even somewhat safe to handle, take with me and head to the market.
Post by: Pencil_Art on August 02, 2015, 11:01:39 pm
He walks up to the robed figures.
Post by: FallacyofUrist on August 03, 2015, 01:36:13 pm
Post by: Empiricist on August 03, 2015, 08:58:14 pm
Post by: FallacyofUrist on August 03, 2015, 09:02:34 pm
Post by: Empiricist on August 07, 2015, 05:16:28 am
"I need to stop killing myself."We're going to cut your turn short as we'll be needing you to specify your course of action here. Okay, we could, conceivably have handled that entire action. But the amount of assumptions we'd be making would undermine your control over your character. Not to mention that we'd probably just have had you set off every alarm in the entire area and dress yourself in provocative lingerie whilst carrying around a golf-bag full of ladles and comically oversized sex toys.
+3 COMP, +3 TRAN. Walk to the place where the LANDSKNECHT killed me. While going there take a look at the various stores here and loot them (if there's no one there, that is) if they may have something interesting (like clothes or weapons). Try using "12" this time.
Instead, we'll be giving you a description of the stores where you can get what you want. How you get in, and what you take is your choice.
Along the sidewalk, there are three relevant stores. All of which sport steel shutters over their doors, and plate glass for windows.
First, there's a retailer that sells outdoor clothing and equipment. Unsurprisingly enough, it has various insulated clothes, in addition to walking poles, kayak paddles and survival kits amongst other things. Unfortunately, each of their products has been noticeably equipped with a security tag, one that will no doubt set off the security systems should it be improperly removed. Assuming of course, that they have not been set already. There are diminutive monoliths of sorts that stand behind the doors and windows - security tasers. If set off, they will form a barricade of electrified wire.
Next, there's an independent clothing store. It, as evident, sells clothing and, more or less, only clothing. That is not to say that it lacks weapons, just that it lacks good weapons, seeing as coat hangers are not well known for being particularly efficient murder implements. Thankfully, the store lacks the taser monoliths. Or at least seems to, there's no guarantee that they're not hidden out of sight like some sort of vengeful electrical ghost. The clothes also bear security tags it seems, so chances are, there is at least an alarm system that could be set off.
Finally, there's a high-end fashion store. Needless to say, it sells clothing. Okay, perhaps from a certain point of view, it sells a certain image and set of (mostly) positive connotations, and the main benefit is from the association with their brand than their actual physical form, but, considering that you are currently running around near (if not fully) naked, that is probably a lesser concern. It evidently has an alarm, which is currently shrilly screaming, presumably because someone broke through the window, scattering the glass everywhere, and stole most of the merchandise.
[COMP: 8/5] Quite a lot happens in the next minute or so.
In the air before you appears a object the size and shape of a sweets tin, though decidedly not actually containing sweets, unless confectionery companies have started to manufacture containers out of what appear to be small bones not unlike those you would find in a creature's tail. In an unscrewing motion, it separates into an upper and lower half, revealing what appears to be a lump of coal inside. A lump of coal with a disturbing resemblance to a heart. With each shuddering beat, petroleum ripples through the air with an utter disregard for gravity. As each ripple slows to a halt, each reaching further than the last, it forms a magic circle. As the rhythm accelerates, the outer rings begin to spin and rotate.
For a brief moment, that object is bathed in an unearthly glow as green sparks seemingly erupt from its immediate vicinity, racing into it. Though still afterwards, lingering sparks remain, occupying a corona of sorts that is both a certain distance away from and in a certain proximity to the object. Interestingly enough, as long as their trails do not touch the heart, they remain indefinitely, but as soon as they do, they fade into naught. New ones appear at the outermost boundaries of the zone, whilst others flicker away when their points of origin move too far away. Perhaps, "interestingly" isn't the best term.
After all, from the center of your sternum, there is one such trail. A far larger one, closer in appearance to the discharge of a tesla coil, and it is with its far greater scale that you see the details. The trail ends in a hand, and it is grasping for the heart. It is stretching to grab it, yet unable to due to your distance to it.
Then, it flickers and dies, rapidly receding back into your body like a dying flame. Likewise, all the tiny wisps also flicker away.
With a roar, the circles collapse back into the heart as the object closes. Beneath it, the concrete footpath is torn apart by a series of cracks, the region closest to the epicenter effectively crumbling apart. The object falls and lands in place.
Welp. You know that the military would have commandeered all the nearby security cameras to help monitor the base's perimeter. You know that, unless something has gone horribly, horribly wrong, there are people watching their feeds at all time.
Question: What would someone watching through the security cameras see?
Answer: They will see a man in his underwear (or lack thereof) carrying an awfully large number of ladles casting black magic.
Truly this has been a great day.
"Wheee! I guess someone wanted to run a train on me!"You race down the ramp, into the depths of the carriage. It is approximately 8 meters wide, and 8 meters tall, awfully large for a train. Indeed it seems even more spacious than that, due to the evident lack of any seating. Instead, protruding from each of the luxuriously curtained walls, are mahogany benches. Resting ahead on the one to the left are eighteen pistol rounds, seemingly the kind your revolver would use, albeit painted in various vibrant pascals that extrude an almost childish innocence to them. Opposite to it, on the other bench, is a wireless toaster, albeit one with the chrome-shelled aesthetics of one of those primordial Cadillacs, complete with exhaust pipes.
+5 Comp, +1 Trans, because explosions. Also, run onto that left train and take the ramp down inside. Video game logic says there should be a long line of coins in there.
Inscribed in golden hues upon the red carpet is a line that forks into two arrows, each pointing to one of the benches. The words "Take a Chance" are written above it. Illuminating it, and the rest of your surroundings are gas-lit chandeliers that hang at constant intervals along the center of the gradually arching ceiling.
At the end of the carriage, there are twin ramps along the sides, leading upwards, not to the top of the train, but rather 4 meters up. Presumably, the next carriage has two floors. In between the ramps is a set of double doors, with a sensor at the top of their frame.
+6 Transcendence, because this game hasn't been about magic yet, and when magic becomes important, I want not to be dead.
James whispered back: "I... see... this may be difficult to survive."
Like so, try to stay out of sight.
"Woo!" +4 Tran +2 CompYou both hide as the soldiers pass beneath you, oblivious to your presences.
Miaoko looked at all the soldiers filing out, immediately attempting to stay out of sight. "Look out," He whispered in his partner's direction.
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
So, tell me, have you felt like murdering anything yet?
Code: (MALEBRANCHE) [Select]
is it over yet?
"I value your honesty.""And I value your ability to accept the meaninglessness of death!"
+5 to COMP, +1 to TRAN.
Continue forward through the new door, following my nose.
Red replies in an enthusiastic tone.
"Oh, and that isn't a door."
Sure enough, upon more scrutiny, it becomes apparent that the doorknob is in fact just a really good mimicry thereof, and the door is just more wall. This poor situation gets worse as three things constructed out of what appears to be raw meat walk through the wall as if it were liquid. They are somewhat humanoid in their arrangement of limbs and mass, though instead of a head however have a single glowing yellow eye and a huge maw of teeth like a lamprey. Their shoulders are covered with bony protrusions and from the top of their torso sprout three horns in the same manner as a gazelle.
"No need to worry about the building itself just yet. It's currently busy nomming on your first corpse."
The meat monsters begin to move in on you.
"That would work. Return anything you took from the facility and you can go home.""How about half and you can keep the inoperative PUPPETS? ...Ah fuck it, not going to push it. Okay, you heard the man, drop the loot, we're withdrawing."
If the SL troops leave peacefully, Beirus opens up a channel to HQ. "HQ, this is O'Greenahan. The facility is clear. Requesting reinforcements and new orders."
+6 TRANS
More talking.
The soldiers drop their loot and quickly fan out into a loose collection of small squads. They begin to leave the facility, though it is quite evident that some of them, specifically the ones with the odder weapons, have their eyes still trained upon you, just in case you decide to open fire.
"We'll release the hostages when we're a safe distance away, it's not that we don't trust you, it's, okay yeah, it's because we don't really trust you. No offense."
Mirai speaks up quietly through your squad's private comms channel.
"To think that they'll be getting away with all this. Hopefully, they won't make it out of here alive, but I digress."
"Understood. Reinforcements are inbound, you'll get your new orders when they come to secure the area. How damaged is your frame right now?"
ALL MA POINTS INTO THE COMPETENCIES! (+6 Comp)[COMP: 9/4] [TRAN: 4/4] You get a horse made of rope, like if a real horse had been flayed and had all it's muscles replaced with rather complex arrangements of coiled rope. It extends its next forwards slightly, by partially uncoiling the middle of its neck, and "licks" (if such could truly be called that) your hand with a dry, ropey tongue.
"Let's load the dice in our favor."
"0b 0a", if the result is even somewhat safe to handle, take with me and head to the market.
The market is full of people, the merchants are all dressed in casual clothes and appear to be a mix of civilians and military, although in the SL there is little difference between the two. Their stalls are colorful mats and carpets laid over the grass with shiny trinkets ranging from new toasters to exotic looking weaponry. Several of the merchants look at you and your horse with a speculative eye as you enter.
Derek, looking at the other guy vanish, ponders about this.The robed figures, upon closer inspection appear to be a fusion of skeleton and mechanical exoskeleton with their body and limbs covered in golden metal plates with gears moving beneath. Only their heads, fingers and toes remain uncovered.
He walks up to the robed figures.
The figure on the left speaks
>Do you wish to join the game?
Then the figure on the right speaks
>Or to return to the world outside?
Behind the figure the red door becomes dull grey and fades into an image of an abandoned street, with rain and hail falling down from the obscured sky.
((You need to distribute your six free internal points.))
Post by: Empiricist on August 07, 2015, 05:17:44 am
| < | Turn 15 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6401188#msg6401188) | | | Turn 16 | | | Turn 17 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6449407#msg6449407) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: AoshimaMichio on August 07, 2015, 06:09:43 am
"Say, could you guide me to heart of this thing or to outside, which ever is closer? And maybe dull my sense of pain?"
Be guided to somewhere. Not interested of fighting yet. If no guidance is provided then poke and bash eyes of those things with whatever implement that does the job best.
1c
Post by: Hawk132 on August 07, 2015, 07:11:29 am
Wave at one of the cameras. Throw one of my ladles at the thing I summoned. Take it if nothing happens.
If I manage to get in, going to take a closer look at what I can get from this place. That means clothes and the survival kits.
Post by: Toaster on August 07, 2015, 10:21:17 am
While his first instinct is to pick up the ammo, Winston decides what the heck, he'll go for the toaster. Grabbing it, he headed for the doors.
Get toaster. Take doors between ramps.
Post by: Shaporia on August 07, 2015, 11:40:52 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on August 07, 2015, 02:23:52 pm
"...Okay, what now?" He asked his partner, then to his handler, "Yeah, think so.""Now what? I really don't know."
To handler: "... no."
Post by: Shaporia on August 07, 2015, 03:14:01 pm
"..." He took a brief glance over the railing. What can I see of the troops, are they armed? Do they appear hostile? If they don't appear hostile, slowly stand up with my hands up and shout, "What's going on!?" If they do appear hostile, remain quiet, keep my head down, and watch them very carefully. "...I think.. Hm.. Going to try something. I'd recommend you stay out of sight but, y'know, your choice.""...Okay, what now?" He asked his partner, then to his handler, "Yeah, think so.""Now what? I really don't know."
Post by: FallacyofUrist on August 07, 2015, 03:21:11 pm
Stay down. If we are attacked, grab my ally's hand and RUN.
Post by: Bigf00t on August 08, 2015, 12:10:10 am
Lead Ropey (working title) around the market, see if I cant find some form of energy source compatible with my weapon. Ask the relevant vendor what kind of items they may wish to trade for, or if they have any errands they need run.
Also keep an eye out for any open, empty tents I can duck into if I need to make some items to barter with, without raising suspicion.
Lets play a little game called Economy Meets Magic
((Does my rope horse look like it could hold my weight?))
Post by: Corsair on August 09, 2015, 02:49:29 am
((Hahaha brilliant))((It looks like it could hold your weight))
Lead Ropey (working title) around the market, see if I cant find some form of energy source compatible with my weapon. Ask the relevant vendor what kind of items they may wish to trade for, or if they have any errands they need run.
Also keep an eye out for any open, empty tents I can duck into if I need to make some items to barter with, without raising suspicion.
Lets play a little game called Economy Meets Magic
((Does my rope horse look like it could hold my weight?))
Post by: blazing glory on August 09, 2015, 02:59:55 am
((Operator(Optional): <-----What on earth is this?))
((Am I going to have to read the whole thread?))
Post by: Beirus on August 09, 2015, 03:07:44 am
((Hoy, is it alright to join yet? I dunno.))((You probably just need to read the OP and whatever post had the list of Operator/Handlers. They give you things and let you do stuff. I wouldn't read too much more than that though. Where's the fun in jumping into this clusterfuck of a war when you know what's going on? It's just going to get weirder anyway.))
((Operator(Optional): <-----What on earth is this?))
((Am I going to have to read the whole thread?))
Post by: Empiricist on August 09, 2015, 03:20:32 am
((Hoy, is it alright to join yet? I dunno.))((Yes you can join now, we fixed up the OP.
((Operator(Optional): <-----What on earth is this?))
The Operators are: SOTERIOLOGIST, RED_QUEEN, JUS_AD_BELLUM, SMOTHERED_MATE, MALEBRANCHE, TZINACAN, DECOHERENT, and, SCHROEDINBUG. They grant you various boons, most notably, the use of Tradecrafts. You get other, different, benefits if you choose to not have any of them at all.
You can check the most recent status sheet (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6428641#msg6428641) to see what everyone else selected, and what tradecrafts they got.
The only benefit in reading the whole thread would be for forming crazy conspiracy theories from various scraps of information or whatever it is that players do in these sorts of games. And knowing what certain spells do. But for the latter case, your fellow players are probably willing to inform you.))
Post by: blazing glory on August 09, 2015, 07:19:52 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
((Is that it?))
Post by: Empiricist on August 09, 2015, 07:24:57 am
Post by: Corsair on August 16, 2015, 12:32:44 am
Ao Shi"Theoretically. The core and exits are sort of everywhere and nowhere at the same time. This place both exists and doesn't, allowing rules to be bent to a degree. Pain, later maybe. That's reserved for more experienced people, since it's really tricky and I'll have to put up with Mal shouting at me if do it without permission. Her lack of capitalization is really grating."
"Say, could you guide me to heart of this thing or to outside, which ever is closer? And maybe dull my sense of pain?"
Be guided to somewhere. Not interested of fighting yet. If no guidance is provided then poke and bash eyes of those things with whatever implement that does the job best.
1c
You follow Red's directions and race out into the corridors. The meat demons charge after you in hot pursuit. Somewhere during all this Red relocated and is now sitting on the left shoulder of the demon closest to you.
[COMP: 5/4] You summon forth the image of a mighty (if a grotesque, hunched figure that looks like it should be in Notre Dame ringing its little bell could be described as such) gargoyle which promptly dissolves disappointingly.
"... I completely forgot about those. Well, it's too late now anyway."After waving to the camera, you hurl a ladle, striking the object and doing a whole load of nothing. Seeing as it is apparently inert, you retrieve the ladle and the odd device.
Wave at one of the cameras. Throw one of my ladles at the thing I summoned. Take it if nothing happens.Let's just take the easy option and go into the high-end fashion store and get some clothes. If no clothes found, attempt to get into the independScrew that, let's take the ballsy option and try to get inside the outdoor one. If no easy way in found, throw what I summoned at the windows (and close to one of the monoliths). If nothing happens, use "12".
If I manage to get in, going to take a closer look at what I can get from this place. That means clothes and the survival kits.
Strangely, there are no easy ways that can circumvent the expensive and meticulously set security measures which render their existences utterly meaningless. How strange, if reality had a developer, you'd be criticizing them for their poor level design.
So instead, you try breaking the window with the summoned item. Because as everyone knows, in the absence of bricks, grim implements of dark magic are perfectly acceptable substitutes. Throwing it with seemingly practiced grace, you send it hurling towards the window, doing no appreciable damage save for a few cracks at the point of impact. Huh.
Well, time for Plan B: calling upon the power of black magic to assist in committing petty theft.
[COMP: 4] Satan has forsaken you.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
You are one stupid name away from becoming a supervillain.
May I suggest "The Ladlemonger"?
While his first instinct is to pick up the ammo, Winston decides what the heck, he'll go for the toaster. Grabbing it, he headed for the doors.Toaster acquired. You continuing running, taking the lower path. The doors begin swing open when you are a good few meters away, having apparently been designed with supernaturally fast, vertically-ascending Japanese Gameshow contestants like yourself in mind. Which, depending on your political views may be a welcome sign of a more inclusive, tolerant society towards people such as yourself who occassionally find themselves in a situation where they need to run up trains. Or, yet another case of politically correct bullshit that panders towards increasingly minor minorities. Politics is hard.
Get toaster. Take doors between ramps.
Beyond the door, the carriage interior isn't actually too different, the only real difference is that, due to the lower height, the arches are flatter, with lanterns fixed to the walls. Gone are the benches, in their place are more substantial furnishings, inward facing chairs separated from one another by the lanterns and the tables beneath them. A single door lies at the end of the carriage. However, there is something between the door and you.
Three quarters of the carriage's length away and walking with its back to you is another figure in archaic garbs, the back of it's bare skull visible. It wears an elaborate, elongated fedora, presumably because in Victorian England, fedora-shaming had not been invented yet. Brandished in its gauntleted hands is a battle-scarred, though still clearly functional baton. A small skeletal fiend scampers energetically across its body, an array of sturdy, elongated arms grasping onto an icy-blue buckler that seems to be shrouded with a faint shimmering.
"Now what? I really don't know."
To handler: "... no."
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
A shame. A real shame. Wish you two dismantled that autoframe back then as well.
Still, I suppose it would be disingenuous to be disappointed by the prospect of more work.
At the very least, you've shown you're good at running away without dying.
((You have 3 free external statpoints and 3 free internal statpoints to allocate!))"..." He took a brief glance over the railing. What can I see of the troops, are they armed? Do they appear hostile? If they don't appear hostile, slowly stand up with my hands up and shout, "What's going on!?" If they do appear hostile, remain quiet, keep my head down, and watch them very carefully. "...I think.. Hm.. Going to try something. I'd recommend you stay out of sight but, y'know, your choice."The troops, well, they're all on their way out with your fellow colleagues at gunpoint. In fact, most are through the door already. Their armaments, unsurprisingly considering the habits of the System League. Some hold unremarkable assault rifles, others weapons of strange and peculiar construction. One of them was even carrying a shield and longsword. Not too sure if you still want to shout at them, but, judging by how noisy they are, they probably won't notice you either way.
Code: (MALEBRANCHE) [Select]
kay
After a while, the hostages return. Shaken, but mostly fine, your colleagues gather outside, delivering varying conversations and verdicts to one another regarding their mutual ordeals. You soon see some more, recent, arrivals. A large number of troops in gray splotchy uniforms walk into the cafeteria. Mixed among them are medics and combat engineers. The medics set up in the cafeteria below, and begin looking over the various minor injuries, whilst the combat engineers quickly disperse, judging by their tools, they're here to inspect the structural damage throughout the complex.
Code: (MALEBRANCHE) [Select]
u can haz moar points nao
((You have 3 free external statpoints and 3 free internal statpoints to allocate!))Lead Ropey (working title) around the market, see if I cant find some form of energy source compatible with my weapon. Ask the relevant vendor what kind of items they may wish to trade for, or if they have any errands they need run.The first vendor can't identify the adapter so you move on. The second vendor, who has their items laid upon a large table covered with a black cloth and comments that your horse may actually valuable enough to get something that could be used for your gun and points you to a third one who may have that something.
Also keep an eye out for any open, empty tents I can duck into if I need to make some items to barter with, without raising suspicion.
Lets play a little game called Economy Meets Magic
This third vendor appraises your horse with a look of disinterest.
"What do you want?"
You show them the source adapter.
"I could get something that works ~approximately but, ehhh... this horse... It's nice horse but ehh, I don't need a horse. Not even a rope horse. No I don't need any errands run, I don't have errands, I have jobs. And I doubt you could handle them, especially for what you want."
-snip-You are standing in your small, cheap apartment, a place for sleeping eating and not much else. A place is so cheap that instead of a bunker for shelter, it has steel plates that simply barricade the windows and front entrance, this "security" is about as secure as a tissue-paper prison in a rainstorm, you know of several cheap tricks to get around the locks on the lower doors, and the roof if you wanted to get to the grocery store by base jumping.
You are near the center of Floor 2, where the bulk of your fellow civilians are, now that war has touched the colony. Not that, everyone's elsewhere either. This after all, is where the majority of the population live normally anyway, so there actually wasn't that much relocation that was needed. Still, with a literal storm above, and unknown forces rampaging below, the atmosphere here isn't exactly relaxed.
Pressing as such matters are, they are probably the least of your concerns right now. It all started with that silver box, and the black tablet within it. It said something about selecting a network, and, for whatever reason, you chose 'TZINACAN'. Before you knew it, the tablet broke, and you received an electrical shock for your troubles. If only it had ended then.
Evidently, it did not. If it did, you wouldn't be standing here, staring at the motes of dust illuminated by your desk lamp. There's no real pattern. You know that. The dust had been scattered through the air by so many variables it's practically random. Yet, in spite of that, you almost certain you see something. As the dust moves restlessly, it wavers, but it always returns. You see it. In the dust. A feminine form covered in furs, with a feline head upon one shoulder, their head is obscured by a mass of intertwined branches that form a wooden hood.
And, now, at this very moment, it vanishes. The image returning back to mere dust. Yet, you still see. You still hear. You see letters formed by the uneven textures of the wallpaper. With each passing glance, spelling out a message. It doesn't matter where you look. Looking at the bookshelf, you cannot help but to be fixated at certain words in the titles. Looking at the bed, the ridges of folded sheets form the vaguest outlines of letters. Closing your eyes does little. You hear whispers in the duet between the ticking of the wind and your own breath. Background noise seems to cry out to you, twisted yet coherent words coming to life.
And soon enough, they synchronize, a symphony of apophenia.
Code: (TZINACAN) [Select]
Just to be clear, you aren't going crazy. Probably.
I am here to act as an assistant of sorts. Someone who can uncover the truths that others may have tried to bury.
Or I'm just a figment of your imagination that just happens to speak in a way that makes you doubt your own insanity.
Whatever gets you through the day.
Anyway, you have magic now. No, I cannot tell you how to use it properly - something is messing with my messages.
You can also run along walls, deflect bullets and use weapons you are absolutely not qualified to use.
Post by: Empiricist on August 16, 2015, 12:33:43 am
| < | Turn 16 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6428641#msg6428641) | | | Turn 17 | | | Turn 18 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6487365#msg6487365) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on August 16, 2015, 12:34:58 am
Post by: blazing glory on August 16, 2015, 01:33:31 am
Secrets Laid Bare [3 Turn Cooldown][Ready]: Reveals secrets about the target. The target can be just about anything. Results may be obfuscated, however.((Hrm, noice.))
"What? Ungh...."
Lewis rubs his eyes.
"Alright...first thing's first."
Open the Matchbox.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on August 16, 2015, 02:11:33 am
"I buy you two dinners and something nice! Assuming I can get my money back from my first corpse. Oh, and nice seat! Don't mind if I break it!" Ao shouts while running.
22 ed. If it works this time then use it against meat boys while keeping distance. Aiming eyes. Otherwise keep running towards the core, which IS behind next door. It must be. Will it to be.
Post by: Hawk132 on August 16, 2015, 04:14:34 am
Try to nom a little on the coal.
If nothing happens, attempt to use "12" near the windows again. Hope the Dark Lord answers my prayers.
Failing that, remember that I can summon my rifle and just shoot the windows and the monoliths.
((This is hilarious. First thing I'm going to try to do if I manage to get another Frame is to summon a giant ladle as its weapon.))
Post by: Empiricist on August 16, 2015, 04:42:41 am
((Corsair has described it as a "badger the GM" button. Beirus is probably very jealous of you now. Or they'll just badger you to badger us by proxy :P))Secrets Laid Bare [3 Turn Cooldown][Ready]: Reveals secrets about the target. The target can be just about anything. Results may be obfuscated, however.((Hrm, noice.))
((This is hilarious. First thing I'm going to try to do if I manage to get another Frame is to summon a giant ladle as its weapon.))((Normally, I'd ask why you're even bothering with magic when you can just conjure your bound weapon to shatter the windows, but I have a feeling that you've already sworn off using any weapon that isn't powered by dark magic or ladles and are far too busy trying to find a superhero who shall be your archnemesis by now :P))
Post by: Hawk132 on August 16, 2015, 04:52:59 am
((... I forgot about it. Actually, it's more like I forgot about it while still remembering that it existed... somehow.))((This is hilarious. First thing I'm going to try to do if I manage to get another Frame is to summon a giant ladle as its weapon.))((Normally, I'd ask why you're even bothering with magic when you can just conjure your bound weapon to shatter the windows, but I have a feeling that you've already sworn off using any weapon that isn't powered by dark magic or ladles and are far too busy trying to find a superhero who shall be your archnemesis by now :P))
((Also, note to self: make a dark magic powered rifle.))
Post by: blazing glory on August 16, 2015, 05:35:09 am
Post by: Toaster on August 16, 2015, 07:28:38 am
Arrow of Simurgh, go! If there's an obvious target, take a revolver shot at said weakpoint. If there's no weakpoint (or if shooting it is ineffective), just run past it. Focus more on getting past it than killing it completely.
Post by: FallacyofUrist on August 16, 2015, 10:05:24 am
"Do you think we can do anything to save our colleagues?"
Post by: Beirus on August 16, 2015, 11:11:54 am
((Beirus, you also get 3 free points for each stat type. You didn't post, so we had nowhere to put this message in the turn.))((Wish I had my computer so I could look up a fitting image, but I think YEEEEEAAAAAH! just about covers my reaction. Also, I thought I had posted some action to tell HQ about the frame damage. Guess I didn't. My bad.))
Post by: Shaporia on August 16, 2015, 11:14:18 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on August 16, 2015, 11:49:47 am
Post by: Shaporia on August 16, 2015, 12:07:59 pm
Post by: FallacyofUrist on August 16, 2015, 02:14:20 pm
Post by: Bigf00t on August 19, 2015, 06:39:54 am
"What do you want?"
You show them the source adapter.
"I could get something that works ~approximately but, ehhh... this horse... It's nice horse but ehh, I don't need a horse. Not even a rope horse. No I don't need any errands run, I don't have errands, I have jobs. And I doubt you could handle them, especially for what you want."
EDIT: Bolded things 'cause turn.
EDIT2: Kill all this turn stuff, I have a better Idea, I'll make a new post for that.
Post by: Beirus on August 20, 2015, 01:38:37 pm
"Jus, you know anything about what we'll be facing in that storm? Also, seems like I got some more resources. Mind telling me what I did so I can keep doing it?" He asks his handler after getting some distance from the rest of his squad.
Talky stuff.
((And now I can faff about in the facility. Yay.))
Post by: Pencil_Art on August 20, 2015, 11:20:46 pm
Post by: Bigf00t on August 22, 2015, 08:53:55 am
"What, you don't think I can handle it? What have you got in mind? I might surprise you."
Ask the shopkeeper, but if he still isn't interested take my leave.
If so specifically head back in the way of the "large grassy plaza" and look around. On the way there keep an eye open for the location of any large sheds or structures. Specifically anything that could... I don't know... house some PUPPET (or any other kind for that matter) frames? ;D
It's always nice to have a backup plan.
Post by: Empiricist on August 26, 2015, 02:09:35 am
Post by: Corsair on September 05, 2015, 12:03:17 am
"What? Ungh...."Inside the matchbox are three matches of unremarkable construction and appearance. Wow. Were it not for the fact that you definitely did not pay good money for this, you probably would like a refund, or at to least complain about the value for money or the utter lack thereof. Honestly, with all its elaborate fractal art, the box itself is worth more than its actual contents.
Lewis rubs his eyes.
"Alright...first thing's first."
Open the Matchbox.
Well, at least you could just randomly ignite all of them and derive some happiness from it. Oh wait, the person who does that dies at the end of the story. Whoopsies.
Ao Shi"You seem to be really desperate for someone who is completely unharmed. Unless you want to become 'THE MAGNIFICENT PAINLESS MAN!' or something? I mean being painless can mean you die without warning. Poof and you're dead. Actually more of a sort of pop noise, or perhaps swearing followed by a gurgle?"
"I buy you two dinners and something nice! Assuming I can get my money back from my first corpse. Oh, and nice seat! Don't mind if I break it!" Ao shouts while running.
22 ed. If it works this time then use it against meat boys while keeping distance. Aiming eyes. Otherwise keep running towards the core, which IS behind next door. It must be. Will it to be.
[COMP: 6/6] A pistol appears in your hand, it appears to be a chrome .357 pistol with a thin extension on the front similar to a silencer but not quite large enough. There is an under-slung laser light and the chamber is a battery of roughly the same dimensions but hexagonal, the battery is vaguely similar to some of the high energy batteries you have worked with before all this at the maintenance facility.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 6 vs. 6] You spin around mid stride and swing your arm around. The instant its barrel aligns with the glaring eye of the lumbering mass of meat in the center of their V formation, you pull the trigger. There is the distinctive crack of a gunshot, though without the muzzle flash as a bullet erupts from the gun. Reacting ahead of time, your target leans backwards and buckles their knees, sliding forwards as they dodge the shot by the barest of margins. Though it remains unscathed, its little stunt slows it down, resulting in the formation adopting the shape of a reversed V.
[TRAN: 6/5] ((What the hell, why are all the rolls for your turn 6s?)) The door wavers and flickers as you concentrate, as you open the it, the entire corridor flickers and vibrates before shortening from an infinitely long hall to a short corridor that ends with a large room filled with orange light. The walls are draped with horrific pink flesh and in the center is a glowing orange orb held by bone spikes. Two more meat monstrosities spawn and another different entity a large figure in the shape of a man. It's skin is black it has a lipless mouth filled with teeth and it is armed and armored in white bone that seemingly grows from its flesh.
"Sounds good. Anyway, about to try something that will either kill me, do something interesting or make me look completely stupid."You, for whatever unknowable reason, decide to start nibbling on a shriveled heart of coal. You can only imagine that it makes for quite interesting viewing to whatever poor soul is tasked with watching the feeds of the cameras monitoring you. The coal tastes like, well, coal. It probably isn't too pleasant to consume, even in tiny nibbles.
Try to nom a little on the coal.
If nothing happens, attempt to use "12" near the windows again. Hope the Dark Lord answers my prayers.
Failing that, remember that I can summon my rifle and just shoot the windows and the monoliths.
[COMP: 4] Fizzle. Presumably, your prayer timeout was too high, guess it probably would have been a good idea to have gone and made a sacrifice at a coaligned altar first, but where the hell are you meant to find a convenient corpse at this hour let alone an altar to the Dark Lord? Well, at least you didn't get struck by lightning, or shot with a wide-angle disintegration beam.
Okay, allow me to put this into perspective. 09AIBRs do not have a selector for their firing mode. They have two - one selects the mode (whether or not it continues firing when the trigger is pulled), the other the rate (depending on the mode, this is either the amount of bullets fired per burst or the rate of automatic fire). This is because at the highest settings of the latter, it is utter overkill for anything that requires normal burst firing and discharges its magazine at such a rate that it becomes unsuitable for the suppressive fire that automatic fire is meant to provide. This setting isn't for those circumstances. This setting is for the situations where you need to fucking impale an armored van with four supersonic spears of white hot metal.
Now the thing is, that is all under the assumption that it has a finite amount of ammunition in each barrel. This does not apply to you.
Conjuring your weapon, you burst-fire with the highest rate setting sending what are effectively beams of metal across the store front, emulating some sort of ridiculous action hero that hates window dressings. A horrible, buzzing roar fills the air, soon followed by the shrill shrieks of the triggered alarms. The windows are shattered. The monoliths shredded, their now inert wires littering the floor.
"Alright, this is when I ask for help."Time seems to halt once more and the figure's visage is shattered apart as if it were glass. What remains resembles an X-ray image, revealing armor plates beneath their outfit, and a skeleton inside. The gaps in the armor, and the gaps in the skeleton both glow faintly, and near each shoulder where the points of weakness intersect, bright but not quite blinding lights shine.
Arrow of Simurgh, go! If there's an obvious target, take a revolver shot at said weakpoint. If there's no weakpoint (or if shooting it is ineffective), just run past it. Focus more on getting past it than killing it completely.
Code: (SCHROEDINBUG) [Select]
A shame you don't seem to have any explosives on you. Those are fun. And useful.
Especially against this thing. It's a walking skeleton. Not especially durable (or original), even with that light plate.
Issue is, it's persistent, and very hard to kill. You could crush it's skull without consequence.
A few shots should blow off an arm. Though it can always just reattach it given enough time.
[UTAR: AUTOSUCCESS] A ghostly visage of yourself rushes forwards and brings a hand up. Within their palm, a revolver precipitates from nothingness, a series of lines, representing bullet trajectories inscribe themselves upon the frozen air, intersecting one of the points of weakness. As time comes rushing back, you retrace those simulated steps and expertly discharge three rounds into the shoulder of your oblivious foe, blowing off its right arm along with the baton grasped by it.
The figure halts and glances briefly at its severed arm. Then, with definite nonchalance it turns to face you as you race by its side, sightless eyes behind a sightless mask gazing upon you. The doors have already swung open in anticipation of your approach, revealing a carriage formed entirely out of what appears to be glass. The undead guard however, hasn't given up just yet. It sprints, speed matching yours as the critter riding it scrambles to its front, raising its buckler in your direction.
You are now hurtling towards the next carriage with a fashionably challenged skeleton (sans one arm) running alongside you.
He nodded. "Okay." He then got up, jogging off in the direction of his workshop. Navigating his way as necessary unless they were stopped by something. "I'm gonna go check my workshop, hope it still works.."
James nods, following Miaoko.Now in the new and noticeable absence of soldiers who are liable to deliver bullet-ridden deaths to wayward engineers, the two of you are able to simply walk down to the main foyer and back to the workshop (after a short detour wherein a group of confused soldiers had to be given a brief explanation of why there is a rocket-propelled death chair lying around). Barring a few bullet holes of varying diameters and depths, it looks perfectly fine, except, for the fact that only the dull orange emergency lighting works for some reason. According to the PDA, the power got cut sometime after your daring escape, though the generator's still running.
"It'll probably take some time before my frame is repaired. Get some R and R. I'm going to take a walk." Beirus states to his squad before heading off into the facility.
"Jus, you know anything about what we'll be facing in that storm? Also, seems like I got some more resources. Mind telling me what I did so I can keep doing it?" He asks his handler after getting some distance from the rest of his squad.
Talky stuff.
((And now I can faff about in the facility. Yay.))
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
The storm is unnatural, I cannot predict it. As in, more unnatural than usual.
It was created from parts, ideas, things it shouldn't be made from.
Just continue fighting. You're a soldier after all.
The repair crew that came with the reinforcements start repairing and replacing the damaged parts of your squad's frames as you walk around the facility.
"Captain O'Greenahan, this is command. One of our bases has been destroyed in the city, we don't know what happened, one of the pilots was delivering supplies there and neither he nor the staff have reported in.
Be advised that the Lone Wolf protocol is active fully now, we'll be sending pilots such as yourself on solo reconnaissance missions. The more successful you are, the more resources we can send your way, admittedly part of which would just be salvage, but something is better than nothing eh?
Also we captured something, it took out a base, on its own. We had to deploy an ARES model to destroy it, you would think that it would be completely gone. We did too. It fully repaired itself within 6 minutes and 16 seconds.
We've been picking up some strange transmissions as well, they claim to be our people, and it seems to all check out. But they're, well, if they're to be believed, they're moving faster than they should. We don't know who these clowns are, but they'll be arriving earlier than our scheduled reinforcements."
Time for a bit of background information that you obviously know already, being a soldier and citizen of the NEE, which you definitely did not just receive from a load of text being shoved in the general direction of the puppeteer who controls you and who repeatedly badgers godlike beings on your behalf.
The ARES model armor frame is a heavy type frame reserved for ship and exotic combat. They are each the size of an 8 story building and have extraordinarily powerful with armor made from a ceramic-tungsten composite in addition to shielding. They are all fitted with Alcubierre drives and many different support systems that can only described as nigh-blackbox technology. Their weapons are utterly irresistible, the most iconic weapon of an ARES is the Solaris particle cannon, a weapon that can turn an entire ship into burning radioactive slag from a single grazing shot. In atmosphere they use 60mm rapid fire Gauss rifles, and a variety of explosive weapons (since particle weapons tend to irradiate everything when used in atmosphere). Despite their size ARES are extremely nimble due to their neural interface being a complete control unit rather than balance assist, along with this, their thrusters are unnaturally strong allowing these war machines to fly at Mach 4 in atmosphere.
"I wish to join the game, if it's all fine with you.">So it shall be.
They gesture in unison and conjure an image before you.
It is entirely sable, its emaciated form reassembling a shadow granted some twisted mockery of life. Gaping maws unlike those from any creature gape hungrily from the beneath gaps in the ribbed chitin that covers the majority of its body. Radiators protrude from its back, connected to thick wires that trail back into its torso. It's head, lacking any recognizable sensory organs, seems to be a coiled mass of stingers, lined with barbs and serrated blades. Around its major joints are armored plates, covering something, you can't really see what. Sheathed inside a scabbard seeming welded to the pipes that form its left hip, and hilt firmly grasped by its right claw, is the distinctive form of a katana.
>This is your target. It being transported aboard a ship nearing orbit.
>We will insert you into the ship.
>Find it and attach this to it.
Something congeals in your palm, it looks like a military award with a pale blue and white ribbon. The medallion itself has a rose etched upon it.
>Do not get caught.
And then, everything goes black. You can't see it, but you can tell clothing has changed, you can feel it cling tightly to your skin. You can hear a quite humming, and feel out your surroundings. You're in a very small space, there are some sort of pole-like implements near you, with soft, puffy ends. Mops perhaps? You quickly determine that in front of you is a door and that you can push it open with ease and leave.
"What, you don't think I can handle it? What have you got in mind? I might surprise you."They stare at you for a few seconds before responding with short, sharp sentences.
Ask the shopkeeper, but if he still isn't interested take my leave.
If so specifically head back in the way of the "large grassy plaza" and look around. On the way there keep an eye open for the location of any large sheds or structures. Specifically anything that could... I don't know... house some PUPPET (or any other kind for that matter) frames? ;D
It's always nice to have a backup plan.
"Your weapon doesn't have ammo. You forgot to put your rank identifiers on. You asked me for errands. Menial tasks. Low risk. Unrelated to combat ability. Something anyone can do."
They pause, scowling for a bit before their features soften and reverting to their usual tone.
"Okay, I'll humor you. You see the people here have some weird technology, namely they have these automated nature study units that - ah screw it.... Well long story short, I want you to go out, hunt down, and bring me back a robotic laser deer with as little damage to it as possible."
Judging by their expression, this isn't some kind of strange, nonsensical joke.
"If you do that, we've got a deal. I won't stop you from accepting, but, I'd just like to remind you again that you have an empty gun and a rope horse. The robo-deer have lasers and more robo-deer."
Post by: Empiricist on September 05, 2015, 12:03:48 am
| < | Turn 17 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6449407#msg6449407) | | | Turn 18 | | | Turn 19 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6526288#msg6526288) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: blazing glory on September 05, 2015, 12:24:31 am
Ryles shakes the Matchbox a little bit and sticks it in his pocket.
"Alright then, can you tell me some secrets about yourself?"
Post by: Empiricist on September 05, 2015, 12:40:12 am
Post by: blazing glory on September 05, 2015, 12:48:04 am
((Heh. That is the one question we have written an answer to in advance :P))((Can hardly blame ye, it's a probable and interesting question.))
((Also if you did it in advance that means it won't be evaded/will be elaborately evaded so yay.))
((Wish it could be aimed as a question about something instead of just revealing secrets but oh well.))
Post by: Beirus on September 05, 2015, 12:54:58 am
Post by: Pencil_Art on September 05, 2015, 03:09:04 am
Post by: AoshimaMichio on September 05, 2015, 04:12:22 am
Ao Shi.
"I don't like pain and this screams like lots of pain! I mean pain is good warning, but too much is too much!"
Crazy stunts time! Run into the meat corridor. Throw Monkey-Wrench at the bone man and shoot The Obvious Target, aka glowing orb. Dodge incoming shitstorm like Neo. "HADOUKEN!"
Post by: Shaporia on September 06, 2015, 09:36:40 am
Post by: Hawk132 on September 06, 2015, 02:45:14 pm
Get in the store and look for weapons, clothes, survival gear, food, and interesting things.
Try to magic up a 22.
Post by: Toaster on September 08, 2015, 10:39:08 am
((How is he positioned relative to me?))
Post by: Bigf00t on September 08, 2015, 10:54:32 am
"If you can help me with the ammo situation and better yet also point me back to the front lines (don't ask) I'll get you a robo-deer."
Ask the general way and strike off to go grab me a robo-deer! (Or two, he probably wants it for parts, no reason I can't do the same)
On the way, try and find an abandoned tent, pop on in and try "04".
Keep an eye out for any batteries I can nick in said abandoned tent(s), worst comes to worst I want to be able to cobble together something I can get a few shots out of.
Post by: Empiricist on September 09, 2015, 06:20:12 am
((How is he positioned relative to me?))((It is to your left (since you had to move to the right side earlier to grab the toaster). It's near you, but a bit behind since it didn't start running immediately.))
Post by: Toaster on September 09, 2015, 08:32:23 am
Keep running, but slow down just enough so the skeleton is directly left, then 22 02 sabb.
Post by: Beirus on September 09, 2015, 08:00:27 pm
"Jus, something took out one of our bases. They destroyed it and it repaired itself in under seven minutes. D you have any other operatives that encountered something capable of doing that? And on a tangent, what happens if I were to die? You have a contingency for that?" Beirus asks as he continues his stroll through the facility, making his way through the workshops. He stops when he finds one occupied by two people.
((This next part is directed at James and Miako, because Empi said I could faff about and run into you.))
"Oi, you two. You weren't with the hostages we got back. What are you doing here?" He asks, leaning against the doorway of the workshop with his rifle visible.
+1 UTAR, +1 LTAR, +1 MDEF, +2 TRANS, +1 COMP. Talky stuff for info getting.
Post by: Shaporia on September 11, 2015, 07:51:25 am
(Fallacy's going to be gone awhile, I believe. It says so in his sig.)
Post by: Beirus on September 20, 2015, 03:22:39 am
"Looks like they nabbed all the others. How'd you two get away? Somebody, or something, must have helped you, and I doubt it was the other engineers. How do I know you two aren't just System League plants they snuck in when they returned the hostages?" Beirus asks, continuing to block the doorway as his finger slides down to rest near the trigger of his rifle.
Post by: Empiricist on September 22, 2015, 06:31:35 am
Post by: Corsair on September 27, 2015, 09:31:13 pm
"Hrmph, wish I knew where on earth this thing came from."
Ryles shakes the Matchbox a little bit and sticks it in his pocket.
"Alright then, can you tell me some secrets about yourself?"
Code: (TZINICAN) [Select]
Imagine a fantasy novel. Imagine a character in it, doesn't matter which one. To them, there is free will, everything is to be determined when it occurs.
But you, the reader, know better. Their fate is ironclad, set in the typography of the pages. They have no free will.
The universe is that book. You are one of the characters. We've read your book, we know what happens: cause will follow effect.
Argue non-determinism, argue quantum physics, it all matters not.
Maths is not unlike magic - The character believes its rules but the reader knows it is just the author's means to an end.
We know how your story ends, we know how everyone's stories end. We wrote this book. We are the author. The one you call God.
We wrote the past before our supposed existence. We wrote the present, where I explain this to you. We wrote the future that follows.
Gaze in awe upon our might, upon our wisdom, and despair. Despair, for we are but characters in books of our own, grasping for truths we cannot know.
We call our author, Outsider, for it exists outside our stories.
Wanna bet that it has an author of it's own? It's turtles all the way down.
Of course, who I specifically am, is different. The author doesn't live in their book after all.
But suppose the author wants a character to know of the true nature of their existence, to break the fourth wall.
How could they go about it? Their character might start out with that knowledge, or told that by someone.
Details don't really matter, they're all just ways in which the author places something inside their novel.
I am that something. That knowledge, that belief, that idea.
Strictly speaking, we aren't actually sentient or even conscious. We just appear that way. We're just the author writing in something for you to know.
A means to an end.
Or, I could just be screwing with you for lolz.
I mean, the truth's only as good as a brilliant lie, and it really doesn't matter what supposed truth you believe in as long as it models everything it needs to well.
Derek grabs a mop and peeks out the doorway.Grabbing a mop, you push open the doors and find yourself being suddenly propelled out of the janitor's closet.
The spacious room you find yourself in is quite pleasant, though oddly designed, with natural light filtering down through overhead windows constructed to mimic the aesthetics of fluorescent lighting. A gentle breeze caresses your skin through your attire, carrying fresh air and subtle floral scents. The ground is polished and takes an aesthetic similar to that of marble, though needless to say it is quite doubtful that it actually is. Protruding from the floor are various eruptions that take the form of spire-like interfaces, and slab-like terminals, sleek but blank constructions of glass and faux-stone, matching the exact aesthetics of the walls. It is silent, save for the faintest melodies of birdsong in the distant.
There's just one little problem. You're in a cargohold. In space. There's no natural light, no windows. There are no breezes, just noisy air conditioning. No floral scents, just stale recycled air. The floor is traversed too easily, even with artificial-gravity there should be 'mapping-errors' regions where the gravity is a bit too weak or strong due to power fluctuations, space being sacrificed for other more crucial components, and just plain defects in placement. Finally, though there is no official consensus, it is still an expectation that in space, whatever the hell transports murderous biomechanical samurai should not have fucking birds on board.
You are dressed in a jet-black latex catsuit, deviating from the borderline fetishistic garments you may find a spy movie by the fact that it is far less flattering, having aesthetics based around that of the spandex outfits one could reasonably expect a gameshow contestant to wear. Though it seems to at least provide some degree of stealth in spite of how badly it clashes with your brightly lit surroundings - all of your movements thus far have been completely silent. Your footsteps cannot be heard. Your breaths make not even the quietest of sounds. Even your very heartbeat cannot be felt from outside the suit.
Behind you, where the janitor's closet you came from was, there is no trace of it. Just another plain wall of no features of interest. The mop you took twists and shifts soundlessly, swiftly taking the form of a sleek umbral carbine. Oddly enough, its grip is entirely solid, which is to say, it lacks any sort of magazine. In fact, the only moving parts you can find is the safety, and the trigger.
To the left is a door. By the looks of it, its locked off by some sort of electronic system. To the right is a hallway.
Ao Shi.[UTAR vs. SDEF: 2 vs. -4] Seems that human sacrifices make the RNG really damn happy. As you charge into the room, time halts. Let's see... what do we have here? Judging by its projected counterattacks, which is of the form 'stabbity stab stab', it really doesn't expect you to throw the wrench. It's not going to do much, if any damage to it at all, but with its arms flailing like so, a well placed throw at its arm ought to knock it off balance. You fiddle with the arcing line of the wrench trajectory to try and optimize this, which is harder than it sounds seeing as you can't actually see the predicted impact effects, and the projected counterattacks changes with your trajectory as well. Hmm... got it. Probably. Time resumes as you hurl the wrench just off to the side, and like clockwork, drunken, clumsy clockwork, it reacts. The bone demon's attempts to stab the wrench out of the air results in said wrench hitting one of its arms knocking it off balance and staggering it. Looks like you've bought yourself a bit more time.
"I don't like pain and this screams like lots of pain! I mean pain is good warning, but too much is too much!"
Crazy stunts time! Run into the meat corridor. Throw Monkey-Wrench at the bone man and shoot The Obvious Target, aka glowing orb. Dodge incoming shitstorm like Neo. "HADOUKEN!"
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 3 vs. 0]
The pistol bucks in your hand and the bullet sails gracefully and pings into the side of the gem, shattering a lump of it. Yellow-orange light sprays from the wound like blood, igniting exposed surfaces with dancing yellow flames. The meat men screech with pain, one of them dissolving into pink goo as the larger beast roars with rage.
The meat men are entering the chamber, the bone beast is still getting back up right now.
"..Well, time for some projects." Okay, re-assess what parts I have remaining vaguely. Also check if I have any gyroscopes or the like. Try and make a little (possibly controllable) roller ball. Probably make a very rudimentary screen/controller combo? If I can't do all of that, first start with rigging up the gyroscope to some motors and weights first, and run wires from a small battery (or generator). Also, try 3d 72 eyv. +3 trans +3 ltar
You have a bunch of spare parts, nuts, bolts, electronics. But not many specific parts like a gyroscope or camera. And since you don't have power, the arms can't fetch any for you. You can rig up a basic controller through, quite quickly as well. Oh, and, if you really wanted to, you could always do something weird so that the soldier holding you at gunpoint gives you free bullets, though you'd have to dig them out of whatever abstract art installation your sternum would become.
[COMP: 4] The spell fizzles with a pathetic splutter of failure and regret.
Code: (MALEBRANCHE) [Select]
just a reminder i can fix the power supply for you
you know, if jus' agent over there doesn't burn you at the stake for witchcraft
"Holy shit, this gun is amazing."The store has a variety of all weather clothing, survival gear ((basically if you can find it in a catalog for an outdoor supply shop, it's there)) and no food. Well other than dried ration packs, which are, well they are what they are. There are certain things that working with the military has taught you. Ration packs are not food, they are condensed desperation and misery.
Get in the store and look for weapons, clothes, survival gear, food, and interesting things.
Try to magic up a 22.
[COMP: 3/3] You conjure up a square of grey fabric it is light and very silky. Softly glowing ripples brilliant teals, greens and purples illuminate where your fingers touch its surface.
"Take my word for it, with the day I've been having no ammo or rank identifiers is just the start of my problems.""Go out east till you hit the trees then you should find their recharging point. It's a big metal hexagon with a bunch of solar panels around, front is inside. If the look of that gun of yours is anything to go by, it should be able to use it. I'd suggest getting an extension cord or something if you plan on doing that though. You have a fun night."
"If you can help me with the ammo situation and better yet also point me back to the front lines (don't ask) I'll get you a robo-deer."
Ask the general way and strike off to go grab me a robo-deer! (Or two, he probably wants it for parts, no reason I can't do the same)
On the way, try and find an abandoned tent, pop on in and try "04".
Keep an eye out for any batteries I can nick in said abandoned tent(s), worst comes to worst I want to be able to cobble together something I can get a few shots out of.
[COMP: 13/1] You pop into a tent and conjure the brief visage of a whip.
Keep running, but slow down just enough so the skeleton is directly left, then 22 02 sabb.With a lurch, your carriage decouples and begins to fall. Not that it is too much of an issue, or even an inconvenience for that matter. You, and the skeleton pursuing you are running fast enough to easily leap over the gap and continue running. As you enter the glass carriage it becomes quite clear that the remaining carriages before you are of an identical composition. Staring through the refracted light, you don't really see any other objects or enemies in the remaining carriages. What you do see, however, is the open front of a train, a train that is barreling downwards towards yours, heading for a head-on collision.
At the end of this carriage, there is a set of sliding glass doors though with seemingly no mechanism to operate them. To their side, are there are ramps that head to the roof.
[COMP: 6/3] You slow down, ever so slightly so that your foe may catch up, and before they can even begin to strike, you cast your spell. From your left shoulder, a single chain link appears and erupts forth. With each passing instant, more chain links appear and connect to it on either side. In the brief moment it took to reach your foe, it had become an entire taut chain spread horizontally.
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 0 vs. 3] Turning its upper body, the skeletal guardian brings its fist towards the center of the chain. As the arm races forwards, the critter jumps onto it, riding along as it brings up its buckler. As it parries the chain, the shimmer intensifies repulsing the contacted area and robbing your attack of its force. However, the sides of the chain have force still, and slam against the guard from either side, dealing no noticeable damage but staggering it enough for you to start broadening the distance between you two.
"Copy that. I'll be mission ready when my frame is repaired. I have a question though. Have we lost any squads in recent months that disappeared mysteriously? Do they have any clearance codes that match the incoming unknowns?" Beirus radios back, remembering some holovids he once watched that centered on a group of people that mysteriously reappeared after having disappeared a long time ago. Hell, if magic was real there wasn't anything saying it couldn't follow the plot of a cheesy old holovid."Disappeared squads? Yes. Mysterious circumstances? There were, but most of them turned out to be from desertion or those unknown units that are popping up everywhere now.
"Jus, something took out one of our bases. They destroyed it and it repaired itself in under seven minutes. D you have any other operatives that encountered something capable of doing that? And on a tangent, what happens if I were to die? You have a contingency for that?" Beirus asks as he continues his stroll through the facility, making his way through the workshops. He stops when he finds one occupied by two people.
"Oi, you two. You weren't with the hostages we got back. What are you doing here?" He asks, leaning against the doorway of the workshop with his rifle visible.
+1 UTAR, +1 LTAR, +1 MDEF, +2 TRANS, +1 COMP. Talky stuff for info getting.
As for the unknowns, heh, they match all right, doesn't guarantee they are who the codes say they are. You want in on the betting pool? Current options are: allies, enemies, aliens, pan-dimensional invasion, and the relatives of whatever the hell we took out a few centuries ago coming here for a rematch.
Also for the next mission we're sending in mobility armor, the AF's are too cumbersome for recon work. Believe me, we tried, apparently there was a lot of screaming and some people need to go see their therapists now. Also we got you an experimental from R&D for all your assistance, designation 'ZGMF-SOL:18I' if you come up with a better name we have a suggestion box, my suggestion is toaster knife. Cos it *crunch* *crunch* makes really good toast *crunch*. Oh we are going to be turning the maintenance facility into a command center as we don't have anything like that in the area after losing the spire base."
Mobility armor, unsurprisingly is a kind of armored exoskeleton designed to provide additional protection to its user and enhance some of their physical attributes. You know the badass exoskeletons that turn up in oh so many sci-fi holo-films? It isn't that. You see, it isn't designed to let you do anything particularly superhuman because reality is a bitch, its main enhancements really just consist of letting you run a bit faster for an extended period of time and carry more weight. Which, as you may imagine, is a role that can also be filled by a horse. Or the memetic mechanized bear cavalry that people joke about nowadays after a certain CO rambled on about after drinking far too much. The armor is, well, it works. Its not going to protect you from the nastier things, or sustained fire and can sometimes get deformed by an impact and end up fucking with the actuators, but its at least more reliable than the murder-happy arms of a supposedly cursed frame.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
I heard that perfectly fine, you don't need to repeat that.
Unless you have some sort of weird fetish for pretending to be a parrot. That's fine I don't judge.
I just sit around here, pretending not to judge, while I secretly judge you. A lot.
Don't have too much information about what's going on there.
None of our agents have been there for too long. The competent ones I mean.
Many of the entities there are quite hard to kill. Though from what little I know, I don't think those are responsible.
The closest thing I have heard of, would have taken longer, and it wouldn't have lost against the ARES Frame.
Whatever they've caught is different.
In the case of your demise, we will reconstruct your body wherever it is the easiest to do.
Post by: Empiricist on September 27, 2015, 09:32:59 pm
| < | Turn 18 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6487365#msg6487365) | | | Turn 19 | | | Turn 20 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6541558#msg6541558) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on September 27, 2015, 09:34:11 pm
Post by: AoshimaMichio on September 28, 2015, 12:37:23 am
Boneman getting up doesn't mean it is up yet, which means I have time to shoot more. Shoot the bonedemon in knees! Or face. Distract nearest hostile entity with 44 01 sabb (no aiming).
Post by: Empiricist on September 28, 2015, 02:31:35 am
((I thought 22 has DC of 2, not 3. Does the system change over time? Are all my notes worthless?))((According to my notes, it's cost should be 3. Hopefully, this doesn't mean we screwed up and stated an incorrect DC early on >__<
The system shouldn't change unless there's some sort of massive issue. There's only been one change to the scores so far, it happened really early on and it didn't affected that many discovered words. It only actually affected a single spell. Remember when Toaster cast a spell in the bar and it resulted in a mace flying out of his shoulder? Its cost was lowered from 10 to 7.))
Post by: Beirus on September 28, 2015, 03:20:13 am
"My bad, Jus. Thought you were something relatable instead of a semi-omniscient asshole listening in on all our comms. I suppose I should just assume you know everything about anything that's going on. Outside of that storm, anyway. At least the non-permanent death thing is nice. Anyway, looks like that ability to scan equipment will come in handy when I get that glorified toaster from R&D. And since you know so much, Judgey McJudgepants, what do you know about those unknowns approaching us? Are they some of yours?" Beirus comments before opening a channel to call HQ.
"Roger that. And I'll get in on that betting pool. I bet it's an interdimensional invasion led by some otherworldly abomination trying to start shit, and I'll bet that abomination was a cause of the Fall. Or wait, was it just a pool on the incoming unknowns? Gimme a moment and I'll place my bet in that pool too." Beirus replies to HQ before closing the channel, keeping his eyes trained on Miako.
"You still didn't answer my question. All you did was spout random groups of numbers and...letters." Beirus trails off, his gaze unfocusing for a moment as he pulls up the mental image of the Grimoire and searches for the 'words' he heard. Upon finding them, he shifts his stance and rests his rifle against his shoulder as he trains it on Miako. "You better start explaining things right fucking now, starting with who you are and how you know those phrases." He growls.
Talky stuff. Maybe get an ETA on when my new toys will arrive, and when those unknowns will show up.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on September 28, 2015, 05:57:33 am
In another news, my inventory still lists the wrench. Better double check it all.))
Post by: Empiricist on September 28, 2015, 06:57:05 am
It's just that here the spell 22 01 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6285711#msg6285711) has total DC 3 which made me think 22 is 2 and 01 is 1.((Some words have 0, or negative cost.))
Post by: Shaporia on September 28, 2015, 08:20:04 am
Post by: Hawk132 on September 28, 2015, 08:52:01 am
Walk out of the store and magic up a "12 09". If I succeed, grab what I summoned if it looks useful, along with the things I looted from the store. If I failed, just grab my stuff. If I kill myself, grumble about magic and walk back to where I was before and grab my stuff.
Post by: Empiricist on September 28, 2015, 08:56:39 pm
Never been in a outdoor supply store, so I'll just guess.((It has everything on your list other the weapons, mainly because of the colony's somewhat strict weapons control. You could probably use a walking pole as an improvised weapon, but using non-ladle melee weapons may be against your religion :P))
Post by: Shaporia on September 28, 2015, 09:19:02 pm
"You still didn't answer my question. All you did was spout random groups of numbers and...letters." Beirus trails off, his gaze unfocusing for a moment as he pulls up the mental image of the Grimoire and searches for the 'words' he heard. Upon finding them, he shifts his stance and rests his rifle against his shoulder as he trains it on Miako. "You better start explaining things right fucking now, starting with who you are and how you know those phrases." He growls.
"Okay, okay, sorry.." He shifted uncomfortably raising his hands into the air halfway, glancing at the gun frequently as he talked. "Miaoko, I'm an engineer, I found this box with a screen- old command line stuff -and pressed a few buttons chose some network called Malebranche.. It shocked me and.. uh." He glanced around briefly. "..I made a death rocket chair and escaped some soldiers." He said with a touch of pride tinging his voice.
Post by: blazing glory on September 28, 2015, 09:20:42 pm
((I don't know how exactly we're doing this magic so I'll just meh my way through.))
Ryles rubs his forehead and tries this magic thing, -x.
Post by: Beirus on September 28, 2015, 10:02:38 pm
((I dunno why, but the handlers kind of remind me of the Project Freelancer AIs from Red vs. Blue.))
Post by: Empiricist on September 30, 2015, 12:14:23 am
Shoot the bonedemon in knees and throw those rusted things I picked up earlier at the orb! And 44 01 sabb for extra distraction at nearest hostile entity.((Wait, are you trying to use the spell as a distraction? Or to actually hit a hostile with it? Because if you're targeting multiple things using separate attacks that use the same stat, you'll need to distribute your UTAR pool between them.))
Post by: AoshimaMichio on September 30, 2015, 12:43:07 am
Post by: Empiricist on September 30, 2015, 01:07:26 am
Post by: Shaporia on September 30, 2015, 07:38:46 am
Beirus keeps his rifle trained on Miaoko for a few more moments before he slowly lowers it. "They recruited you too, then. You probably haven't even been in a single fight in your life. I wonder what other unlucky souls the handlers managed to rope into this. You can call me Beirus. My handler is Jus Ad Bellum. He's kind of an ass, but he's helpful." Beirus introduces himself, slinging his rifle back over his shoulder and extending his hand towards Miaoko for a handshake.Miaoko paused after the gun was lowered, listening for a moment. "Yeah. How many people do you think there are there with handlers?" He accepted the handshake firmly.
((I dunno why, but the handlers kind of remind me of the Project Freelancer AIs from Red vs. Blue.))
Post by: Bigf00t on October 01, 2015, 10:24:58 am
If I'm not still in the tent pop back in, but say: "1f a8" within the tent, grab whatever I get (if remotely safe to do so).
If I actually get anything (unless it is a rifle with an inbuilt power supply :P) trade it for an extension cord, someone here must be willing to trade for whatever it is I get, and have a cord for barter. If I can't that's not a deal-breaker tho, but would be quite useful.
And finally jump on my rope horse and ride east to the charging station the vendor mentioned. Hopefully with the aid of the horse I can get there faster and have some time to scope out the area/set up/practice magix 8)
((If the spell kills me... then lol.))
Post by: Toaster on October 02, 2015, 08:43:23 pm
Post by: Empiricist on October 02, 2015, 09:00:07 pm
Bet I can outrun that! Do so!((Just to be clear, you're talking about the guard, right? You're not saying to turn around and run down the train in an attempt to outrun the other train heading for a head-on collision, right?))
Post by: Pencil_Art on October 02, 2015, 09:31:03 pm
Post by: Beirus on October 02, 2015, 10:17:27 pm
((You should do the second one. It'll be the best game show ever. ))Bet I can outrun that! Do so!((Just to be clear, you're talking about the guard, right? You're not saying to turn around and run down the train in an attempt to outrun the other train heading for a head-on collision, right?))
"Probably not enough. And even fewer competent ones. For all we know, the handlers could have just picked people at random because they were out of otpions. Or maybe we have some untapped potential or some other cliche bullshit like in the holovids." Beirus replies to Miaoko.
Post by: Corsair on October 07, 2015, 01:18:58 am
Boneman getting up doesn't mean it is up yet, which means I have time to shoot more. Shoot the bonedemon in knees! Or face. Distract nearest hostile entity with 44 01 sabb (no aiming).[UTAR vs. SDEF: 3 vs. 3] Wow. Really? Fucking really? After proving itself to be too incompetent to even catch a wrench, the bone demon proceeds to stab your bullet in midair, sending the round slamming impotently against the wall.
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 3 vs. 0] It seems that hurling random pieces of metal deals as much damage to the core as a slug of metal moving at hypersonic speeds. The shelving manages to somehow shear more of the core off. More light sprays outwards and yet another meat man dissolves into meaty paste.
[COMP: 5/3] An obsidian sundial erupts from your in the general direction of the final meat man who dives out of the way.
Well, it seems that Stabbity McStabberson is now stabbing towards you in an effort to show you how it earned its name. Here's a hint: it involves stabbing. A lot of stabbing.
"My bad, Jus. Thought you were something relatable instead of a semi-omniscient asshole listening in on all our comms. I suppose I should just assume you know everything about anything that's going on. Outside of that storm, anyway. At least the non-permanent death thing is nice. Anyway, looks like that ability to scan equipment will come in handy when I get that glorified toaster from R&D. And since you know so much, Judgey McJudgepants, what do you know about those unknowns approaching us? Are they some of yours?" Beirus comments before opening a channel to call HQ.
"Roger that. And I'll get in on that betting pool. I bet it's an interdimensional invasion led by some otherworldly abomination trying to start shit, and I'll bet that abomination was a cause of the Fall. Or wait, was it just a pool on the incoming unknowns? Gimme a moment and I'll place my bet in that pool too." Beirus replies to HQ before closing the channel, keeping his eyes trained on Miako.
"You still didn't answer my question. All you did was spout random groups of numbers and...letters." Beirus trails off, his gaze unfocusing for a moment as he pulls up the mental image of the Grimoire and searches for the 'words' he heard. Upon finding them, he shifts his stance and rests his rifle against his shoulder as he trains it on Miako. "You better start explaining things right fucking now, starting with who you are and how you know those phrases." He growls.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
You give me a bit too much credit. What I can sense is more or less only what my agents can sense.
As for the unknowns, some of them are ours. Like I said, we don't have too many relative to the size of the rest of the population.
Our resources are only finite after all, so it's a balance between having good coverage, and having competent agents.
Oh and for the record, you were chosen because it's slightly less of a bitch to enchance and contact you.
The fact that you have access to proper weapons, and a blood-thirsty armor frame also helped.
There are far more ships inbound than just the ones identifying themselves. Those that say they are NEE, are indeed NEE.
However, there are other ships, from the System League, from Vestige, from the Loremaster Consortium, and from Dead Hand.
From their perspective, they aren't moving any faster than normal. You're all just responding much slower than normal.
"Nah, we got *crunch* *crunch* pool for that as well. That's weirdly specific, but hey, I guess it won't even matter if you return from this. How much you wanna bet?
The mobility armor's arrived by the way."
Never been in a outdoor supply store, so I'll just guess. Locate some tough looking clothing and boots, some kind of melee weapon (machete? hatchet?), perhaps some kind of rifle or shotgun if possible along with ammo (and attachments if I find any). Then find a backpack and stuff some food and drinks inside. Maybe try finding a map and a compass too. Or just something like a GPS. Don't actually take anything in case I kill myself with my next spell. Wouldn't want to damage my finds.[COMP: 4] Crit-fail. Barely. Your flesh boils away from your head as your skull twists into a macabre approximation of a shotgun. A green, hand-shaped discharge rips itself from your chest and vanishes into the barrel. Then, the gun fires, a wave of corrosion and decay ripples through it, tearing it asunder as it erupts forth, swiftly reducing your corpse to half a skeleton lying in a pool of petroleum.
Walk out of the store and magic up a "12 09". If I succeed, grab what I summoned if it looks useful, along with the things I looted from the store. If I failed, just grab my stuff. If I kill myself, grumble about magic and walk back to where I was before and grab my stuff.
YOU DIED
You again find yourself back in the warehouse, but with one important change: in front of you a limousine painted in a gleaming black. Its doors are open, making it rather evident, in spite of its heavily tinted windows, that there is no one inside. Not unless the people inside it are invisible at any rate. Stretching across the back seat, is, well, it appears to be one of those monolith-like advertising kiosks you'd find in a shopping center.
A heavily accented voice, rife with incorrect prosodies and odd intonations calls out from inside the vehicle.
"get in, INFIDEL. i will drive you to retrieve your POSSESSIONS. i wish to make you an OFFER; your SKILLS are desirable to us."
The screen of the kiosk comes to life, displaying a rather cartoonish image of a car and being driving over to a pile of knick knacks with a sign reading 'your stuff' planted at its apex.
Well, that's a thing.
"Don't suppose you're willing to tell me why you're stuck with me?"
Ryles rubs his forehead and tries this magic thing, -x.
Code: (TZINACAN) [Select]
Atonement for the sins of our late creator.
Why you specifically? Well, we need to have a good coverage with our agents.
But if we have too many, we won't really have the resources to support them all.
I suppose you could call yourself a protagonist of sorts.
One of the main reasons for choosing you is because, well, you're here.
You're in a colony being attacker by a monstrosity from another universe.
The storm above. The turmoil below. They are symptoms of its presence.
It's probably trying to reopen the old gates. The transdimensional targeters.
Trying to let more of itself through. Issue is, well, they're occupied.
And if it prods them hard enough, what caused the Fall will reawaken.
[COMP: 5/3] The spell activates, but nothing actually happens.
Alright, lets get ready for a busy turn!~[COMP: 7/6] [COMP: 5] Silvery pieces of metal begin to appear in the air before you, twisting and turning as they slam into each other. Dragged by an immense force, your rifle is ripped free from your grasp. The nearby beds find themselves pulled, then dragged, then hurled into the assembling mass of metal. It shifts, individual components twisting and rearranging in a cacophany of clacking as its form alters to accompany its newly requisitioned parts. The bedframes lock into place, their mattresses quickly discarded in the process. The backside of yoru rifle is enveloped in a series of mechanisms that, judging by their appearance, secure it and can pull its trigger. Standing before you, coated in chrome, is a mass of neodymium in the very much animated form of a bear. Its head is a turret assembly build around your (thankfully unloaded) rifle. Its chest is skeletal with its oversized, reinforced ribs forming a cross between an iron maiden and a trash compactor. Sprouting from its back, like great wings, are the bedrames-turned-shields.
If I'm not still in the tent pop back in, but say: "1f a8" within the tent, grab whatever I get (if remotely safe to do so).
If I actually get anything (unless it is a rifle with an inbuilt power supply :P) trade it for an extension cord, someone here must be willing to trade for whatever it is I get, and have a cord for barter. If I can't that's not a deal-breaker tho, but would be quite useful.
And finally jump on my rope horse and ride east to the charging station the vendor mentioned. Hopefully with the aid of the horse I can get there faster and have some time to scope out the area/set up/practice magix 8)
Well, you are now in a tent with the quintessential perplexicon mascot (which is to say a metallic murderbear) that is lumbering towards the exit of said tent. What do?
Bet I can outrun that! Do so!You manage to outrun your off-balance foe. Unfortunately, that means you are also running straight towards the head-on collision that is currently in progress. The front of your train has effectively shattered, and a cacophany of cracks are ripping down its length towards your carriage. Oh, and you know, the other train is still barreling down towards you giving no apparent fucks about the several carriages it just demolished. Its open front exposes the now glass-lined interior of oncoming carriage quite well. Said interior consists of a single enormous ramp heading upwards to the next carriage.
The sides of two trains adjacent to yours slide open, revealing their insides as well. If you manage to shatter the side of your carriage, you might just be able to jump into one of them instead. The one to the left appears to has a cavernous interior. Not as in large or dark, more as in it appears to actually be a limestone cavern. Abnormally bright fire-flies dart around within, their soft glows illuminating their otherwise dark surroundings. The carriage to the right seems to be a makeshift aquarium of sorts, with glass tanks lining the ceiling, floor, and opposite wall. In the tank that runs alongside the wall are schools of clockwork fish with bear traps for jaws.
The oncoming train is about to slam into your carriage. Make your move.
Derek walks down the hallway, staying close to the wall, and keeps an ear out for anything.Silently, you creep into the hallway. You still don't hear anything aside from the distant songs of noticeably absent birds. Perhaps they're playing that noise through concealed speakers? Still, that doesn't explain how they've managed to generated a convincing breeze. Really, it's quite surprising that they'd try and make the interior of this ship so comfortable even near the cargo-holds, especially considering what they're transporting.
The room it leads into has four terminals positioned against the walls, two on each side. Again, all their screens are dead and there doesn't seem to be any way to turn them on. No visible buttons, nothing to interact with. Unless they're touchscreens, though one would again have to question why what is most likely a military transport ship would have touchscreen-based terminals.
At the end of room are a rather lengthy flight of stairs that descend downwards.
Post by: Empiricist on October 07, 2015, 01:19:25 am
| < | Turn 19 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6526288#msg6526288) | | | Turn 20 | | | Turn 21 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6570130#msg6570130) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: blazing glory on October 07, 2015, 06:32:00 am
Get up and go out the door, also try some other bit of magic, otrm.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on October 07, 2015, 11:24:12 am
((It seems that these things have weakness against slow moving targets. And stabbing you say? As in stabbity stab stab? That calls for... something.))
Let's relocate into position that is equally far away from all potential stabbing action. And shoot Mr. Stabber's brain off. Or whatever part that works as one.
"Surrender or die!"
Post by: Bigf00t on October 08, 2015, 01:41:10 am
I mean, on the plus side that was some reasonably educational science, but still.
Also for my failed roll, was that supposed to be Trans? Like my (what I presume was a) "tame" roll when I summoned my horse?
Anyway I had Random.org generate a number between 1 and 100, less than 35 and I was to try and tame the Murderbear again, the hard way. Anything else was let it kill people and loot corpses.
I got 23.
Cast "22 02" and think of plastic polymer chains.
Run up behind the bear and climb up on it's back, in between the Bedframe-shields and hold on for dear life, using the summoned chains (if successful) as a kind of reins, or hold onto the back of the ribs elsewise. Hopefully it doesn't mind.
Look for any mechanisms I can either manipulate in order to try and exert some control over the Murderbear or something I can jam my Bound Multitool into to stop it from moving in a pinch if nessesary (some sort of weird Magnet-Metal joint or something).
Try to ride the Murderbear, holding it's ability to move hostage if taming goes particularly poorly, see if I can steer the Murderbear out of the camp and towards the colony, whichever direction that is.
If that doesn't appear possible hold on, hide myself behind the shield as much as possible and see what happens.
((I know this is probably a bad way to try and control a 1 ton magnetic murderbear, but hey, I'm short on time before someone inevitably tries to shoot at it.))
Post by: Empiricist on October 08, 2015, 02:44:49 am
Post by: Toaster on October 08, 2015, 08:47:44 am
Post by: Bigf00t on October 08, 2015, 10:30:28 pm
((Well, it's a little more than a tame roll, but yes, it does tame them if successful.))General Hostility roll? I assume Crit failure on that roll would have made the Murderbear start with me :P
Post by: Pencil_Art on October 09, 2015, 12:09:23 am
Post by: Hawk132 on October 09, 2015, 12:45:00 pm
"Jus, any idea who sent this limo?"
Get in the car. Get my stuff. Probably get back into the car. Listen to the guy.
Try "12 ed" before getting in though.
Post by: Shaporia on October 10, 2015, 03:42:41 pm
Post by: Empiricist on October 10, 2015, 05:14:56 pm
(I'm probably going to be taking a break from Bay12 for a bit, unfortunately. Can't really keep up with posting much at the moment so.. yeah.)((If you're still interested in this when you get back, PM me. I've got something I can rope Miaoko into.))
Post by: Beirus on October 14, 2015, 07:29:18 am
"Looks like HQ sent me some new toys to play with, and I've got another mission. You take care of yourself." Beirus states before jogging back out of the workshop towards the spot his new kit would have been delivered at.
"Jus, you mind giving me the details on the new gear? Especially that new weapon R&D sent over."
Go get new gear. Equipment Check new gear.
((Shame Shaporia has to go. I don't think there's anyone else in my area. Oh well, that just means I can shift my full attention back to badgering Empiricist and Corsair.))
Post by: Corsair on October 23, 2015, 12:18:08 am
"Wait-what? Being attacked by a monster from another universe? Also potentially causing a second Fall? Why is it attacking here of all places?! I'm definitely not sticking around."
Get up and go out the door, also try some other bit of magic, otrm.
Code: (TZINACAN) [Select]
It's here because it found a way in.
It is doing this because it is alive. Because living things spread, proliferate. Often at the cost of other living things.
It will awaken the demon within the darkness and it shall be most wroth with burning gaze, it shall look down upon the makings of all the living and destroy them.
Not too pleasant a chap as you can imagine.
As you get up, a visage of TZINACAN appears again and hands you a copy of your revolver.
Code: (TZINACAN) [Select]
Think of this as a backup weapon.
((Bound Weapon - Revolver gained!))You head out into the hallway and walk towards the fire-escape, which holds the honor of being the only way out nearby. You look out over the rusty steel bars of the fire escape landing, the alley below is deserted with it's only inhabitants being bags of trash. You cast your spell.
[COMP: 2/2] What you get isn't really an object or an image, it's more, abstract. You feel safe, as if something's protecting you. Not as in watching over you or anything, you know you aren't that lucky, it's more that you feel that you can protect yourself if needed. It fades after a few seconds.
Ao Shi[LTAR vs. MDEF: 0 vs. 3] Stabbity attempts to express its love for stabbing the only way it knows how, but you're a bit too fast and you run further into the room, the sides and walls are plastered with crawling flesh that glows the same sulky orange of the core, you open fire at the advancing stab-monster.
Let's relocate into position that is equally far away from all potential stabbing action. And shoot Mr. Stabber's brain off. Or whatever part that works as one.
"Surrender or die!"
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 3 vs. 4] Not even slowing its advance, the bone demon sends your shot sailing into the ceiling, in a shower of sparks and a ringing crack with a shocking uncharacteristic swipe, rather than a stab.
It's almost as if you don't want to hurt each other.
"Oh god, WHY IS IT SO EASY TO CREATE DEATHTRAPS AROUND HERE?"[COMP: 8/4] You conjure a 10 meter length of chain made of some sort of dull grey material with an odd surface texture. Running up behind the bear you leap onto it and loop the chain around it's neck.
I mean, on the plus side that was some reasonably educational science, but still.
Also for my failed roll, was that supposed to be Trans? Like my (what I presume was a) "tame" roll when I summoned my horse?
Anyway I had Random.org generate a number between 1 and 100, less than 35 and I was to try and tame the Murderbear again, the hard way. Anything else was let it kill people and loot corpses.
I got 23.
Cast "22 02" and think of plastic polymer chains.
Run up behind the bear and climb up on it's back, in between the Bedframe-shields and hold on for dear life, using the summoned chains (if successful) as a kind of reins, or hold onto the back of the ribs elsewise. Hopefully it doesn't mind.
Look for any mechanisms I can either manipulate in order to try and exert some control over the Murderbear or something I can jam my Bound Multitool into to stop it from moving in a pinch if nessesary (some sort of weird Magnet-Metal joint or something).
Try to ride the Murderbear, holding it's ability to move hostage if taming goes particularly poorly, see if I can steer the Murderbear out of the camp and towards the colony, whichever direction that is.
If that doesn't appear possible hold on, hide myself behind the shield as much as possible and see what happens.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 0 vs. 0] The chain loops partially around before the bear shifts and makes the grip less effective. You can attempt to jam the multi tool into the nape of it's "neck" which would likely give you a bit of leverage in guiding it although it may become annoyed with that. But screw it nobody tames a murderbear without taking risks.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 3 vs. 2] As you swing your empty hand down, the multitool precipitates into existence, jamming itself into the nape of the bear's neck, granting you a degree of control over the beast.
The bear lumbers out of the tent like a grand metallic monster of myth, the tudding of it's tread matching the screeching of its joints which mixes into a glorious harmony with the yells of the soldiers scrambling out of it's path.
The bear begins lumbering diagonally back and left from the opening of the tent, squeezing between itself and another tent the pegs of both flying into it like bullets. It is roughly moving in the direction of the colony which is to the left, but also in the direction of several large tents and more screaming.
Shoot out the left wall! If so, make the jump left. If that fails, try to jump into the new oncoming train once it's close enough.Two shots erupt from your weapon, shattering apart the wall. Shards of glass hang in the frozen air as you calculate your trajectory. Then, you leap. Slivers rain upon you as they fall opposite the train's motion, sailing unto the abyss, nearing, barely missing, but never touching you.
>Ooooh! He fell for the negative index trap!
>Wonder where he'll end up.
>You lost the bet by the way.
>I recall it was fifty souls.
>Damn it.
As you cross the threshold into the cavern, something goes awry. Darkness slams down behind you like the blade of a guillotine, tearing away the light of the carriage so that only the glow of the fireflies remain. Gravity twists, pulling you towards the cave floor, rather than backwards like before. You make the landing still, it isn't perfect, but hey, nothing's broken at least. Earthy scents of damp mud and wet limestone greet your entrance, accompanied by the faintest scents of, is that, honey? It certainly smells like that, though it's too soft to be sure. The fireflies silently scatter in your wake, delineating the rest of your surroundings. There is a path in front of you, and a path behind you. Lodged in a cage of sorts formed of stalactites and stalagmites, something glints in the darkness. To the right, tucked away in a natural alcove appears to be a marble altar.
Derek creeps down the stairs, then.They are arranged in tight clusters, fanning outwards from the stairs. Transparent pillars, or perhaps cells of some sort. Glassy cylinders containing some sort of energetic shimmering, and inside them, in the center of each pillar is a figure forged of blackened brass. They looks almost gorilla-like, with proportionally large arms and a hulking form. Were they not so thin. Were they in possession of actual faces, rather than a gaping bear traps for mouths. Their bodies are formed almost entire out of countless gears lined with quite literal teeth, their forms interlocking in spite of their individual variations. Fangs and blades leer from within, beyond the narrowest of gaps in the mass of mechanisms. Each is equipped with one of two weapons. Either a polearm of sorts that ends with pulsating black sphere securely socketed into a receptacle of sorts that leaves most of it exposed, or a cross between a pistol and a cannon, with a segmented shield of sorts covering its barrel
Next to each cluster is, once again, are terminals, seemingly turned off with no apparent means of reactivating them. You are in a chamber of sorts with the stairs back up and stairs descending further down behind you.
"This isn't suspicious at all. Nope."
"Jus, any idea who sent this limo?"
Get in the car. Get my stuff. Probably get back into the car. Listen to the guy.
Try "12 ed" before getting in though.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Judging by the alien in the back seat, the aliens.
[COMP: 5] Fizzle. Hooray for not dying horribly I guess.
"i am SALESMAN - i sell DEATH by big ROCK. big bad THING is here, ROCK cannot kill, must be contained. not our problem. is yours. but can help you, if you help our HARVEST.
the THING, it's PRESENCE, has reawakened the SHARDS of old LORDS. we want SHARDS. pay you for SHARDS. FAVORS; EQUIPMENT; sell DEATH to your FOES."
The drive itself is rather uneventful, with not much to worry about, save for how you plan on explaining why you were caught looting, magicking and dying on a security camera before reappearing in a limo. A shame your late comrades were not as fortunate, well, as far as you can tell at least.
You retrieve your loot and return to the car.
"drop you off where?"
"I'll bet all my equipment that I have on me whenever the bet resolves for that invasion pool. And for the incoming unknown pool, yeah, I'll bet my current gear and half the resources I'd get if I complete this mission that the ones identifying as ours are ours, moving at an accelerated speed in time compared to us. They probably think we're responding slower than normal. If I'm right, you hold onto my winnings for me until I claim them, even if it looks like I'm dead. And you might want to check your scanners again for ships that haven't identified themselves. I bet System League has reinforcements coming, and I've got a gut feeling that Vestige, the Consortium, and Dead Hand are probably on their way to get a slice of the anomalous clusterfuck that's going on here." Beirus replies to HQ before closing the comm channel and turning to Miaoko."No can do, gear belongs to the NEE, even if it's assigned to you. A higher-up is gonna throw the mother of all hissy-fits if we start throwing them around willy-nilly in betting pools. Cash only. Still interested in throwing in a fiver or two?"
"Looks like HQ sent me some new toys to play with, and I've got another mission. You take care of yourself." Beirus states before jogging back out of the workshop towards the spot his new kit would have been delivered at.
"Jus, you mind giving me the details on the new gear? Especially that new weapon R&D sent over."
Go get new gear. Equipment Check new gear.
You walk over back to your frame and find your new equipment laid out on their containers. The mobility armor consists of thin black plates on a sleek black exoskeleton, as if it had crystallized from pure teen angst and powered by edginess and poor fashion choices. Next to it is a long-handled blade made of white and grey ceramic, its edge noticeably missing. It has a long thin spine and a simple handle, with a rather stiff trigger of sorts. There are also four additional barrels for your assault rifle.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
MA07-KIANG, a new addition to the NEE armory.
Designed to enhance mobility and strength, it is lightly armored and is laminated with graphene plates over vital areas.
Those plates are extremely light and extremely strong rendering the wearer resistant to small arms fire and slashing.
However testing indicates that the strength of the armor transmits impacts of harder hits as the armor doesn't deform.
This use of graphene is very new, I had no knowledge indicating a previous ability for the NEE to produce this form of technology.
A followup investigation may be needed later.
The SOL18I is an 18'' long plasma blade with a ceramic-tungsten body and back.
It is able to cut through most substances and can be projected as a gout of super-heated plasma.
This however drains the battery by quite a large amount.
This technology is also new, especially in the "fuck convection I want my energy sword" department.
It's very advanced, whatever they based this off of is at least close-Fall in era.
Also, it's weighted. So yes, you can spear a bitch if needed.
You equip your new shinies, finding that somewhere along the way a copy of your assault rifle has managed to lodge its way into your mind.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Flight of Fantasy sends you their regards.
((Bound Weapon - 092AIAR gained!))
Post by: Empiricist on October 23, 2015, 01:00:13 am
| < | Turn 20 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6541558#msg6541558) | | | Turn 21 | | | Turn 22 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6593586#msg6593586) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Toaster on October 23, 2015, 10:11:57 am
Examine the shiny in the "cage." Can I get it out? Can I smash it out? Try to do either, as appropriate.
Also examine the altar. If nothing obvious presents itself, reverently place the toaster on it.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on October 23, 2015, 10:57:38 am
Post by: blazing glory on October 23, 2015, 04:53:45 pm
"Always did want to use the Fire Escape instead of the normal way out."
Go down the Escape and say '8b' on the way down.
Post by: Empiricist on October 23, 2015, 07:54:27 pm
((I'm now in same room with the core, right?))((Yep, you are well into the core room, there are two meat men there as well. Stabbity is chasing you, followed by one of the original meat men.))
Post by: Beirus on October 23, 2015, 09:47:06 pm
Equip new shinies. Get orders.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on October 24, 2015, 03:04:18 am
Kill the core! Lot's of bullets into it! It must die! And do my best Neo impression if anything tries to attack me.
Post by: Hawk132 on October 24, 2015, 06:53:00 am
Get dropped off. Take a look at what I got from looting (my inventory seems to be empty). Attempt "22 ed" and hope that the Dark Lord doesn't strike me down for not using dark magic. If I got dropped off at the place where I got killed previously, check if the LANDSKNECHT is still there.
((I have no idea why I want to go to where the LANDSKNECHT was (and probably still is) so badly. It's obviously a bad idea, but I still want to do it for some reason.))
Post by: Empiricist on October 24, 2015, 07:15:09 am
Post by: Bigf00t on October 24, 2015, 09:53:59 pm
Shout out for my horse to follow if it isn't and continue with my Murderbear Rodeo ((love my datasheet status btw)) and try to steer the Murderbear towards the colony and away from tents/passers-by, activating [LUCK] if it can effect my physical rolls as well. Continue to try and bring the bear under my control.
Ask DECOHERENT what he thinks of the situation/where he thinks I should head, it's probably time I started dealing with some of the problems we already have, rather than exclusively making them ;D (No matter how awesome they may be :P )
But screw it nobody tames a murderbear without taking risks.((Sig? Sig!))
Post by: The Ensorceler on November 03, 2015, 01:01:09 am
Spoiler: Charsheet (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on November 03, 2015, 03:08:11 am
The available operators are SOTERIOLOGIST, RED_QUEEN, JUS_AD_BELLUM, SMOTHERED_MATE, MALEBRANCHE, TZINACAN, DECOHERENT and SCHROEDINBUG. All of them have at least one player using them currently, except for Smothered Mate.
You'll start off next turn. Which may take a while since myself and Corsair are studying for next week's finals. Though we'll endeavor to get a turn out before this game hibernates for another fortnight or so.))
Post by: Pencil_Art on November 04, 2015, 10:56:32 pm
Post by: Corsair on November 05, 2015, 05:55:21 am
Post by: Corsair on November 05, 2015, 08:52:19 pm
"....huh."The shiny seems to be a violin bow with its handle extended as to form a hilt not unlike that one would find on a sword. Well, aside from the trigger protruding from it of course. The limestone isn't fragile, but you have, as far as you can tell at least, time, and (an infinite quantity of) revolver ammo to spare. Shooting apart the stalagmites and stalactites, you claim your prize.
Examine the shiny in the "cage." Can I get it out? Can I smash it out? Try to do either, as appropriate.
Also examine the altar. If nothing obvious presents itself, reverently place the toaster on it.
As for the altar, well, it's in pretty damn good condition and that's before considering that it's been in this dark and dreary cavern for lord knows how long. Despite how well polished it is, it certainly looks old, as if from an age long past. Roughly cut from a solid piece of rock, decorated with the symbols of some dead language. As you place your toaster upon it, its color and details seem to drain, like silver paint washing away. All that remains is a mass of marble carved in the shape of a kitchen appliance.
And then, the light of the cave shifts, rapidly. Some of the fire flies swarm and then scatter, lines of light etching themselves into existence, connecting them together to form a constellation of sorts. Said constellation takes the form of a sword that is now flying towards you.
"Well thanks, nice to know that if a big abomination from beyond comes to eat me I'll have a back up weapon."You being heading down the escape and say your word
"Always did want to use the Fire Escape instead of the normal way out."
Go down the Escape and say '8b' on the way down.
[COMP: 6/0] You conjure the image of a magnificent quality table from purplish vapor that rapidly disintegrates into nothing.
The alley is pretty deserted the street however is beginning to fill with people once again as the attack from the SL has faltered. Now all they worry about is the damage below from the explosion and secondary, allegedly eldritch blast. Oh and there's the storm above the third floor which is definitely against the norm in terms of relationships between storms and underground colonies with no rain or weather systems.
"Fine, I'll bet ten then. Got my gear too, looks like pre-Fall tech, or something close. Fucking love R&D. You mind telling me what exactly I'll be doing?" Beirus responds to HQ, looking over his new kit before working his way through the process of equipping the mobility armor and sword.Shinies equipped.
Equip new shinies. Get orders.
"Orders are simple - you are to investigate the storm, we sent in a LATRANS earlier and horrible death ensued. Hard to tell what happened, there was a lot of screaming and no useful information. Determine, useful information, causes and possible preventative measures against future anomalies. Come back alive, or, at least ensure your dying screams are more information and less incoherent. Best of luck to you, O'Greenahan."
Ao Shi[UTAR vs. SDEF: 3 vs. 0] Your bullet slams into what remains of the core, sending a spiderweb of cracks ripping through it. And then, ripping beyond it, cracking the air beyond and then, the entire room. Everything shatters.
Kill the core! Lot's of bullets into it! It must die! And do my best Neo impression if anything tries to attack me.
It is like watching reflections in shattered glass, like listening to a surround sound system with its speakers placed haphazardly in different rooms facing different directions. The fleshy tendrils around the room jerk violently then dissolve with a sickening squelch. The meatmen turn to meatmush which proceeds to rapidly sublimate into the smell of rotten flesh. Mr Stabby roars with rage and dissolves into a mass of ephemeral shadows. In the expanse beyond the broken pieces of reality, more rooms appear, only for the cracks to shatter them too. An octahedral cathedral, to an evil eye, and finally to a simple basement made of cinderblock. The basement is a large square room with several sub-rooms of cinder blocks that don't quite reach the ceiling, inside of which are shelving, workbenches and various water, gas and electrical distribution systems. You notice a shiny object that is in the center of the room, it is a small golden diadem.
"Well congratulations, you're in one piece and I didn't need to turn you into Congenital Analgesia Man."
She gestures and sixteen points of red light converge upon you.
Spoiler: LEVEL UP (click to show/hide)
"If you know if there are any of these shards nearby, then drop me off there. Otherwise, drive me to <the place that I got killed horribly by the LANDSKNECHT>.""none nearby. it is early. if you do find one, contact us. i will be waiting in FLIGHT OF FANTASY. the ENTRANCE will appear when you need it."
Get dropped off. Take a look at what I got from looting (my inventory seems to be empty). Attempt "22 ed" and hope that the Dark Lord doesn't strike me down for not using dark magic. If I got dropped off at the place where I got killed previously, check if the LANDSKNECHT is still there.
Blasted walls and melted chambers welcome you. The spire still stands, despite having been gutted haphazardly by explosions and particle blasts. The walls had been reduced to rubble. The shield generators are gone, along with their signature shimmering. Sprawled on the ground in front of the ruins is what was once your frame. What little armor remained is burnt and charred save for the shadows that were once your comrades. The pair of dismembered LUPUS frames are still where they once were. Mostly, you note that a pair of arms and both of the heavy cannons are mission. That explains the blast damage at least. Judging by the noticeable absence of maniacal laughter, the LANDSKNECHT has already left.
As you exit your vehicle, you hear a familiar voice. Far shakier than before, and now bearing the the faintest hints of cold indifference. Soft glacial tones that belie the violence they promise. Without a doubt, it's one of the pilots you fought alongside earlier. Guess they survived after all.
"Get on your knees, hands behind head. Identify yourself, please."
They bark at you, the words seeming to initially lurch as if to inform others of your intrusion.
[COMP: 1] Well. Hope you enjoy your covenant with the (apparently yandere) Dark Lord. Your lungs transform into masses of metamaterials, none of which are particularly useful for breathing.
When respawn, you find that you are no longer in the warehouse. Instead, you're being propelled out of the limo onto your recently-created corpse as it speeds away behind you. The limo, not the corpse. That would be weird. Okay, all things considered, that'd be the least weird thing so far. But point is, that doesn't happen.
After much sputtering, they finally speak again.
"You can put those clothes back on. Slowly, no sudden movements."
"Or we'll shoot."
They don't say that last bit, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out the implication.
"YYYYYYEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAA!!!!!"[LTAR vs. MDEF: 3 vs. 1] You bring the murderbear under your control, okay not really your control, but you're able to sort of steer it. The swaying of it's body, controlled by your power over it's neck with your chain, you bring it around to the direction of the colony leading it through the tents some of which collapse behind you as the tent pegs fly like bullets at the shining hide of the murderbear.
Shout out for my horse to follow if it isn't and continue with my Murderbear Rodeo ((love my datasheet status btw)) and try to steer the Murderbear towards the colony and away from tents/passers-by, activating [LUCK] if it can effect my physical rolls as well. Continue to try and bring the bear under my control.
Ask DECOHERENT what he thinks of the situation/where he thinks I should head, it's probably time I started dealing with some of the problems we already have, rather than exclusively making them ;D (No matter how awesome they may be :P )
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 2 vs. 2] You dodge a ballistic tent-peg that would have made a painful stirrup straight through your ankle.
The bear continues to spasm beneath you, but can't put enough speed into it really buck you, so it tries to sway side to side such that you fall off which proves to be similarly ineffective with you gripped onto a chain around it and whatnot. The way the bear moves it appears to be searching for something, as you approach the colony the tents transition to prefab buildings constructed of interconnected shipping containers some of which are small enough for trucks the others that would have been dropped by aerial transport.
It shifts quite violently at one point lurching towards a generator outside one of the buildings tearing through the mesh fence before you can bring it under control. The bear greedily rips at the generator grabbing as much of the copper as it can before you drive it onward. Officers, covered in exotic weapons and armor, stream from the building the generator once powered and look onward they begin conferring amongst themselves conspiratorially. Apparently after the initial novelty, magnetic murderbears have just become another fact of life in the camp.
You also notice that a soldier is following you, equipped with basic rifles and roughshod armor constructed of ceramic cast offs and metal scraps. He addresses you respectfully
"Sir who has such great fortune upon himself. I would ask you allow me, a lowly decade to join a vaunted century like you! So that I may improve myself as you do yourself. What say you? May I join you in the glorious reclamation of our enemies goods and chattels?"
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
Head into the colony. There are matters to be dealt with on Floor 4. As the situation goes, the payoff should be well worth the risk.
-snip-Well, your day has been rather, eventful, thus far. Your workplace got attacked by enemy soldiers. You and pretty much everyone in the facility other than those who got killed, and the Loremaster Consortium staff (guess the League didn't want to piss off the people who also fix their FTL drives), were taken hostage and then released a distance away from the facility, a distance just great enough to be irritating. Oh and during all this a fucking tempest has planted itself in the middle of the colony. The underground colony. Where tempests have no business existing in.
From what you can gather from the rumors being passed back and forth between your colleagues, one of the pilots sent to retake the facility apparently turned into an action movie hero and started running up walls during the battle. Oh, and a guy working in Flight Systems, Ao, is dead. Details are hazy but apparently he managed to figure out how to pilot one of the LATRANS, captured an enemy squad and then his head turned into wax. Somehow.
Having returned to where you were, you find a black tablet sitting next to your toolbox. Its screen is on.
Code: (Terminal) [Select]
Grimoire protocols activated
Available networks are:
SOTERIOLOGIST
RED_QUEEN
JUS_AD_BELLUM
SMOTHERED_MATE
MALEBRANCHE
TZINACAN
DECOHERENT
SCHROEDINBUG
Enter a network name, or press ENTER to skip
Derek continues past, going down the stairs.You manage to move down most of the stairs before it happens. The ship lurches, ripping the stairs away from your feet and sending you tumbling down onto the floor. Then, the sirens begin to wail their dire warnings.
It has come.
First comes the stench. The sickly odor of death and decay. Then, thick, choking smog billows upon you from all sides, smothering all light. Finally, the emergency lights kick in, soulless crimson eyes piercing the darkness. Damn it all. Even with this light, the thick fog conceals all but the faintest of details. You are in another chamber with pillar-like structures. That much you can make out.
You cannot see the contents of the pillars, or at least, not at this distance. But, in the short lengths of silence, the gaps of the alarm as it loops back to the beginning, you can hear them. A sort of quiet sloshing, amidst the panicked and dying squawks that have subsumed the distant birdsong.
You are sprawled at the bottom of the stairs sore but unharmed. Behind you, there are more stairs heading further downward, in front of you are the pillars of unknown contents. Above, the crimson lights shine down, the only clear visages within the roiling haze. In the corners of your vision you see things. Glimpses. Sudden movements within the fog. The glint of metal. Distant figures. Mounds of corpses. For a moment, you could of sworn that from the corner your eye, you could see one of the crimson lights open, like a set of eyelids, to reveal an abyssal darkness. A void that was darker than black.
Post by: Empiricist on November 05, 2015, 08:56:27 pm
| < | Turn 21 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6570130#msg6570130) | | | Turn 22 | | | Turn 23 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6622705#msg6622705) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: PenciL_art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: blazing glory on November 05, 2015, 09:58:41 pm
Ryles stands in the rain for a minute, then sighs.
"Waking up would be really good right about now."
Ryles goes out onto the street and recalls the local points of interest while getting into the swing of letting forth a constant stream of magic, 53.
Post by: Beirus on November 05, 2015, 10:25:21 pm
"Into the storm? And you didn't even send me an umbrella? I'll try to make sure my dying gurgles are understandable. O'Greenahan out." Beirus responds to HQ before closing the comm link.
"Looks like it's just going to be us, Jus. Hopefully I don't run into whatever that LATRANS did." Beirus remarks casually.
Into the storm!
((RP faffing about begins here.))
Beirus decided to take one more walkthrough of the facility. He stops when he peers into one of the rooms and notices an incredibly familiar looking black box sitting on top of someone's toolbox.
((This next part is directed at The Ensorceler.))
"I wouldn't go touching that if I were you. No going back once you do." Beirus remarks to the man by the toolbox (Vaguely Swell), while he leans against a nearby wall.
Post by: Toaster on November 05, 2015, 11:00:58 pm
DOOOOOODGE
Post by: AoshimaMichio on November 06, 2015, 01:54:53 am
"Oh wow, that was quite experience! I definitely prefer role of couch stragtegist over frontline soldier, albeit I did some sick sweet moves there... Hahaha!"
"Hmm, this would look good on you." Ao says and picks up the diadem. "Do you have any idea if it does anything else besides being probably valuable?"
+3 UTAR, +2 MDEF, +2 COMP, +3 TRAN
Pick up the diadem. Examine it. Obtain information, check if it doesn't look too girly on my head. Wear it if Red thinks it isn't dangerous to do so.
Make my way to outside and see if the videogame entity left anything else behind.
Word: 27
Post by: The Ensorceler on November 06, 2015, 10:41:31 pm
Type HELP into the interface. If it fails to respond, press enter to get it back to a proper menu, and try again.
Post by: Hawk132 on November 07, 2015, 04:29:23 am
Get my clothes back on. Then do as they said - knees on the ground, hands behind my head.
"Edward Whitmore (you may also call me the Ladlemonger), NEE Armor Frame Pilot. That wreck over there -" Edward motions at his destroyed Frame with his head "- is mine. Good to see you folks are still alive."
Post by: Bigf00t on November 15, 2015, 07:06:03 am
Attempt to steer the murderbear in that direction, avoiding unnecessary loss of life, if possible.
You also notice that a soldier is following you, equipped with basic rifles and roughshod armor constructed of ceramic cast offs and metal scraps. He addresses you respectfullySay the following to my new follower:
"Sir who has such great fortune upon himself. I would ask you allow me, a lowly decade to join a vaunted century like you! So that I may improve myself as you do yourself. What say you? May I join you in the glorious reclamation of our enemies goods and chattels?"
*ahem* "If you wish to come with I, to... better yourself... through varied experiences the like of which you probably have never seen, you are welcome to do so, but take note: my purpose is much more specific than mere plunder and destruction. If that is all you seek then you belong elsewhere."
Post by: Pencil_Art on November 21, 2015, 10:27:16 pm
Post by: FallacyofUrist on November 22, 2015, 12:09:17 am
Post by: Corsair on November 22, 2015, 09:48:05 pm
"Okay, things are officially weird, maybe this is all a dream, maybe the orbital battle never happened, maybe the entire war never happened..."Off the top of your head, the nearby points of interest are: the massive unnatural tempest above (could be a popular tourist attraction after the war's over, you could probably hire people as tour guides for the inside of the storm and probably sell safety gear to tourists), your workplace (where you do, whatever it is that people throw money at you for) which is one street down and two across from where you are, at 40th and 74th, located near a small supermarket, one of the innumerable pubs nearby (which come in varying degrees of sleaziness, legality, price and criminal activity), and the commotion down below (fire, smoke, screaming, and all that jazz). Oh, also, there's that cozy little gambling parlor on 41st and 80th! It's kinda seedy, but you've been assured that it's perfectly legal. Probably. Maybe. Close enough to legal.
Ryles stands in the rain for a minute, then sighs.
"Waking up would be really good right about now."
Ryles goes out onto the street and recalls the local points of interest while getting into the swing of letting forth a constant stream of magic, 53.
Oh, and there are also the explosions that happen on this floor. Started a week ago. Not too sure why. Though rumor has it that there's a group of System League agents hiding somewhere with a metric shit ton of explosives and an inversely proportional amount of impulse control.
[COMP: 2/2] You conjure the shimmering outline of a dragon that decided that it would rather do something other than be a fat pyromanic slob that lives by the motto "Horde riches, get bitches". Also known as a lizard.
"Into the storm? And you didn't even send me an umbrella? I'll try to make sure my dying gurgles are understandable. O'Greenahan out." Beirus responds to HQ before closing the comm link.As you make your remark, someone taps your shoulder lightly. Well, lightly for mobility armor at least. Johnny is there, ALCYONE in hand.
"Looks like it's just going to be us, Jus. Hopefully I don't run into whatever that LATRANS did." Beirus remarks casually.
Into the storm!
"Hey boss, I know this is meant to be a 'solo' mission and all that jazz, but we've been assigned overwatch. We'll try and cover your back, but well, it's the damnedest thing, they're more worried for us than you. Been told to ditch you and run if it gets too hot. I'd say you've pissed off someone high up, but,"
He nods towards your prototype weapon.
"I'm beginning to think that it's more that you've caught their eye. You okay with that? I mean, I know you pilot those cursed frames for a living, but I fear that they might overdo it and end up putting you in a casket. I-"
Novjoy interjects, as she walks over, AIAR in hand.
"I believe what he's trying to say sir, is to that we'd hate to see you out there. Don't push yourself out there."
Mirai just nods silently while adjusting her ALCYONE's sights.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Hate to ruin the moment you're having here, but it's best to tell you right now.
If they go deep into the anomaly, near the eye of the storm, they won't be returning.
The march towards the anomaly is tense, though uneventful and in due time you find yourself at the edge of the storm.
You are standing before the business district, a gleaming expanse of glass and steel. Above, the serpentine forms of enormous black clouds spiral chaotically, bringing forth a torrential downpour. Distant thunder roars and chilling gales howl amidst the incessant rattle of the rain. Even here, at the edge, the weather is nothing short of horrid. It's a wonder that your armor is even able maintain anything resembling a grip on the water slicked roads. Visibility is, poor. The hydrophobic material of your visor is helping keep the droplets off your field of view, but the sheer density of the deluge isn't doing you any favors.
The rest of your squad are several meters behind you in a loose formation, the barrels of their weapons sweeping around cautiously for the umpteenth time.
The densely packed buildings, haphazardly varying in size and purpose (though generally into one of the three categories of commercial, corporate and dining) ought to provide shelter if you need it. Assuming of course that they aren't filled with some sort of horrible aberrations.
Spoiler: Map (click to show/hide)
"Huh... neat. Oh hey AAAA"[MDEF vs. BEES: 2 vs. 3] You throw yourself out of the way as the blade launches itself at your chest with a roaring buzz. A ripping and searing pain tells you that you didn't make it out entirely unscathed. Your left hand is gone, having been torn apart, ripped off and burnt. It never even touched the sword, it seems that just being close enough causes grievous harm. The heat has thankfully cauterized the stump, so at least you aren't bleeding out. Infection would be a concern, but with how this is going, you'd have finished this course or died trying by the time it would matter.
DOOOOOODGE
The swarm disperses as the buzzing abates, the murder bees apparently having had their hunger for flesh sated, at least for now.
Well, you're still in the same section of the cave, having looted a sword, sacrificed a toaster, and fed a constellation of bees. So, guess the million dollar question is, "Are any of those things related?". Your back is to the altar. The smashed cage to your front. There is a path to the left, and a path to the right.
Ao Shi"Well aside from making you look like a girl... it's projecting a reality-altering field sort of like what that core was trapping you in, as in, it's doing that already. It's shiny and is some sort of boss loot so probably isn't trapped like 99% sure well 87%, maybe.... I guarantee it will probably not kill you. Since you know, it's already doing its thing and you aren't dying."
"Oh wow, that was quite experience! I definitely prefer role of couch stragtegist over frontline soldier, albeit I did some sick sweet moves there... Hahaha!"
"Hmm, this would look good on you." Ao says and picks up the diadem. "Do you have any idea if it does anything else besides being probably valuable?"
+3 UTAR, +2 MDEF, +2 COMP, +3 TRAN
Pick up the diadem. Examine it. Obtain information, check if it doesn't look too girly on my head. Wear it if Red thinks it isn't dangerous to do so.
Make my way to outside and see if the videogame entity left anything else behind.
Word: 27
Nothing that it left around. You head up the stairs and find yourself in a large warehouse with several shelves of shipping containers, all of which are locked bar four that have been blown open what the big hole in the wall suggests to be artillery shrapnel. Outside you can see several glass and metal buildings with trees dotting the edges of the open lawn, now ruined by flame, bullet and artillery. This is, or rather, was likely the center of one of the many universities or research areas that are predominant on Floor 4.
Nothing noticeable happens when you wear the diadem. Other than it clashing horribly with the rest of your outfit.
[COMP: 4] Looks like you still aren't too lucky with magic. But, the good news is that your spell only fizzles and doesn't murder you to death.
"Hello, there," Vaguely says in the general direction of the nonchalant intruder.You type in your command and hit the enter key.
Type HELP into the interface. If it fails to respond, press enter to get it back to a proper menu, and try again.
Code: (Terminal) [Select]
Error: "HELP" is not a valid operator
Huh. You hit enter again, there ought to be some sort of way to configure the network settings later on anyway. It does not go to a proper menu. It goes to a video of sorts, though it's muted and no matter what buttons you press you can't bring up a control panel for it. You see white, a pale deathly white. Not the white of bones, bones can still harbor microbial life. No, this was the white of metamaterial plating, blasted by cosmic rays, cratered by interstellar dust. You look up from the screen. But the screen is gone. The room is gone. You are gone.With sight not your own, with thoughts approaching delirium, you watch it. An agent of the Exiled Shepherd.
Its robes are white. The pale deathly white. Styled after the regalia of ancient primaries. Its armor, a cold silver. Silver forged in the imagery of early spacesuits, yet bearing the flourished plating of romanticized medieval armor. Its halo, a radiant gold. A fractually-repeating set of metallic curves that seem to move with no physical connection to the rest of the being. Its wings are colorless. Angular fields of twisted reality, from within which impossible forces churn.
Transient fluctuations in every viable quantum field ripple out from it, encoding arbitrary mathematical patterns. Prime numbers. Catalan numbers. The Fibonacci series. And should such calls fall upon deaf ears, there were the other patterns. Patterns you do not know. Patterns you could not know, for they arose from inconceivable, unthinkable abstract systems, systems that rival mathematics in their complexity and beauty. Each as capable, if not more at describing the universe and the laws of physics. Imaginary words in imaginary languages, cried out in the hopes that someone, anyone understands them.
Behind it, are its kin. Each looking similar, yet not quite the same. Colors, designs and appearances all vary amongst the vast legion. Those lesser worn, and those that had to be salvaged, they tended to bear the greatest deviations of them all.
Within their wake, the fundamental forces twist and shift. Strength and range fluctuating wildly in the span of chronons. Lifeless planets tear themselves asunder, pledging their mass to bolster the exiles' ranks. And with, this imperfect replication, more errors emerge. Mutations of sorts. They were not perfect after all. And indeed, they bear their battlescars proudly to emphasize that. So that those who see them will know. They are neither gods, nor demons, but something greater - the triumphs of mortals. Grand culminations of sacrifice upon sacrifice, imperfection upon imperfection.
Trailing behind their endless march are the Territory Lords of their first and, for now, only contemporaries, watching intently with sightless eyes.
You blink, and find that you are again yourself and where you once were. Except, the tablet has vanished. In its place is a perfect duplicate of your toolbox, complete with a packed lunch inside. There also appears to be an enormous, pellucid bubble jutting out of the floor beneath your desk, currently out of sight of everyone else. Engraved upon its silvery membrane are the words "Your services are needed. Touch to accept".
"Uh, sorry about that. I seem to be dying quite often recently.""Okay, 'Whitmore', just stay as you are, if it gets too uncomfortable, lie down. But don't come any closer, and no sudden movements. Backup should be here soon. Now, supposing you are who you claim to be, how did you come back to life? And why were you in a limo?"
Get my clothes back on. Then do as they said - knees on the ground, hands behind my head.
"Edward Whitmore (you may also call me the Ladlemonger), NEE Armor Frame Pilot. That wreck over there -" Edward motions at his destroyed Frame with his head "- is mine. Good to see you folks are still alive."
"Psst. Hey, go ask something only he would know!"
Another voice, lower in pitch and noticeably warmer. Guess the other pilot's still alive as well.
"Such as?"
"I dunno, maybe the crap the psycho was babbling on about?"
"He was broadcasting an unencrypted message, anyone could have heard that."
"Anyone except you, you mean?"
"Well excuse you me, if I can't FUCKING hear over you screaming about how we were all going to die."
Huh. Well, her voice is still icy as ever, though any semblance of professionalism had thoroughly evaporated.
"In all fairness, you were screaming as well."
"Yeah, but unlike you, I stopped after the first five minutes. And didn't mention marriage either."
So, while they continue bickering, would you like to skip to when help arrives? Or do something else?
First, quietly (so others can't hear me over the calamity that is my current steed) ask DECOHERENT what he thinks of the situation/where he thinks I should head now. What is the nearest "issue" the Handlers want dealt with?
Attempt to steer the murderbear in that direction, avoiding unnecessary loss of life, if possible.You also notice that a soldier is following you, equipped with basic rifles and roughshod armor constructed of ceramic cast offs and metal scraps. He addresses you respectfullySay the following to my new follower:
"Sir who has such great fortune upon himself. I would ask you allow me, a lowly decade to join a vaunted century like you! So that I may improve myself as you do yourself. What say you? May I join you in the glorious reclamation of our enemies goods and chattels?"
*ahem* "If you wish to come with I, to... better yourself... through varied experiences the like of which you probably have never seen, you are welcome to do so, but take note: my purpose is much more specific than mere plunder and destruction. If that is all you seek then you belong elsewhere."
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
The colony where everything is actually happening perhaps? Or you can hunt some laser deer.
Yes, that actually helps our cause.
The nearest specific issue is Floor 3 but there are also issues on Floor 1 and Floor 0.
There is also some sort of divine incursion on Floor 4.
"Experience is as valuable as gold. I shall follow thee."
Looks like you've gained yourself a follower.
You guide the bear with great skill as it seemingly gravitates towards the nearest transport station on its own accord. It seems to have stopped trying to shake you off, and has instead devoted its time to rearranging itself a heart of copper wire that is rotated rapidly by the shifting magnets within. The maglev train station, well, it's seen better days, that's for sure. All the nonessential fixtures have been removed and cemented over, while all the electronics have been visibly rewired to alternate power supplies and have had various components removed and replaced. Probably so that the NEE can't remotely shut them off or something. The good news is, the transport train just closed its doors, so the platform's abandoned, meaning there aren't any weapons at risk of flying into you.
The bad news is, the death bear is currently trying to mount itself to the back of said train. Guess this is the last chance you have to get the hell off before you, your rope horse, and your new squire go riding off behind a maglev atop a magnetic winged doom bear with a gun for a face.
Derek retreats slowly, continuing down the stairs.You wisely decide to fuck this noise and get the hell out. Unfortunately, upon turning around you find that two figures have appeared in your peripheral vision, one on each side.
They are formed of bleached bone twisted into a blasphemous mimicry of bandages, wrapping around and around in the form of a mummy. Flayed skin hangs upon them, stitched together and tattooed with the incomprehensible symbols of a long dead tongue. Formless, indescribable implements of glistening steel pin its torn chest open, restraining the struggling bone as it bleeds with a scarlet ichor. Inside, lies an infinite expanse of defiled, leprous flesh. From within, countless nameless appendages for which neither language nor thoughts can ascribe a description reach forwards towards you. Mechanical, yet resembling no mechanism in existence, indeed you can only see their outlines, which consist of the wisps of smoke, the silhouettes of the room, and the brief images that flicker into your vision ((sort like this (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Wenceslas_Hollar_-_Landscape_shaped_like_a_face_%28State_1%29.jpg))). Disturbingly enough, the extremities of the outlines appear to be undergoing rapid ossification, bone beginning to form in the very air only to flake away, leaving contrails of black light in their wake.
A multitude of bright flashes pierce the darkness, splashing brilliant white stains upon the smoke in rapid succession as time stops. Foster slugs. Fucking Foster slugs. Who the fuck gave the shoggoths shotguns?
Wake."Yo, got a few minutes?"
Trailing behind his question with similar nonchalance is one of the Loremaster Technicians. He's dressed in the usual uniform consisting of overalls colored predominantly grey with muted green highlights and a flatcap with gold five-pointed star and eye embroidery. He seems to be carrying a bag of those assorted, individually wrapped chocolates. He seems to only be eating the plain chocolates.
"You're one of the guys who didn't get caught right? Rigged up that chair and all that? Well, the damned soldiers broke some shit lower down and we're gonna need to go survey it and figure out a fix. You seem competent, so how 'bout it? Fix some dangerous malfunctioning shit? We'll make it worth your while, promise."
He begins sauntering over to a nearby panel van.
"Oh and, don't worry 'bout your superiors getting miffed. It wasn't too hard to sweet-talk them."
Post by: Empiricist on November 22, 2015, 09:49:48 pm
| < | Turn 22 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6593586#msg6593586) | | | Turn 23 | | | Turn 24 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6646922#msg6646922) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: PenciL_art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: FallacyofUrist on November 23, 2015, 12:29:20 am
Go do the thing the guy wants me to do. Once I reach the thing, use Memento Mori.
Post by: Toaster on November 23, 2015, 11:57:39 am
Keep running, but slow down just enough so the skeleton is directly left, then 22 02 sabb.[COMP: 6/3]
Can I please have verification that cost is right? I should have asked a while back, but I'm just now going through and updating my notes.
Also, if you roll exactly half the requirement, is that a critfail or does it have to be less than half?
Post by: AoshimaMichio on November 23, 2015, 12:14:55 pm
"Eh, maybe it makes people underestimate me which suits me just fine."
Well then, let's make our way to where I left my LATRANS and corpse. Mostly avoiding mobile entities and using tradecraft when when my own senses are not enough to do that. See if I can commandeer a car to speed up the travel speed.
While traveling try to see if the reality altering effect responds to my will in any way. Like moving objects, altering substances, materializing stuff, altering my senses or senses of others.
Word. 72
Post by: The Ensorceler on November 23, 2015, 02:48:03 pm
Poke the sphere anyways.
Post by: Hawk132 on November 23, 2015, 02:59:44 pm
If they stop bickering and want me to answer their questions, then:
"I seem to have accidentally entered an eldritch 'pact' of sorts this morning. One of the effects is me being unable to die properly."
"As for the limo - aliens decided to give me a ride here."
"The things that the crazy guy in the LANDSKNECHT said? Like calling me a child of darkness? Or some weird shit about God?"
Post by: Corsair on November 23, 2015, 04:24:35 pm
Ao Shi((You're on floor 4 so it isn't a short walk so you know))
"Eh, maybe it makes people underestimate me which suits me just fine."
Well then, let's make our way to where I left my LATRANS and corpse. Mostly avoiding mobile entities and using tradecraft when when my own senses are not enough to do that.
While walking try to see if the reality altering effect responds to my will in any way. Like moving objects, altering substances, materializing stuff, altering my senses or senses of others.
Word. 72
Keep running, but slow down just enough so the skeleton is directly left, then 22 02 sabb.[COMP: 6/3]
Can I please have verification that cost is right? I should have asked a while back, but I'm just now going through and updating my notes.
Also, if you roll exactly half the requirement, is that a critfail or does it have to be less than half?
Yep that is supposed to be five not three.
Below half from memory
Post by: blazing glory on November 23, 2015, 05:12:06 pm
Hdo.
Post by: Empiricist on November 23, 2015, 07:06:54 pm
That is supposed to be five not three.((Nice to see that we're fucking up the actual Perplexicon part of Perplexicon >__<, and yes crit-fail happens on rolling less than half the cost. This applies to TRAN rolls as well, though with less direct death.))
Below half from memory
Post by: AoshimaMichio on November 23, 2015, 11:54:07 pm
((You're on floor 4 so it isn't a short walk so you know))((Can't help it, I don't have other tanglible goals at the moment. In this chaos I might commandeer someone's car to speed up the process, but magicing stuff will make it dangerous. Besides the map of this place is still quite hazy in my head.))
Post by: Toaster on November 24, 2015, 01:08:25 pm
Leftward! Take my loot with me, and let's magic a bit for good measure: 1d 35! Surely there's a way to fix my stump issues.
Post by: Corsair on December 03, 2015, 08:32:01 pm
Post by: Beirus on December 03, 2015, 08:36:52 pm
Post by: Bigf00t on December 04, 2015, 06:59:03 am
Either that or it modded itself for mag-lev somehow, but given it's trying to mount the train and not the rails, I'll assume the former.
"Alright my valiant steed, onwards to GLORY I guess! Although... I'm not sure if you can understand what I am saying." (Keep an eye out for any signs of acknowledgement, I'm curious if I am sitting on top of a potential free-thinking ally or not :P )
So, let's do the thing... how did you put it...
...go riding off behind a maglev atop a magnetic winged doom bear with a gun for a face.:D
Post by: Beirus on December 04, 2015, 04:09:53 pm
"Jus, I need you to tell me when we reach the point that they have less than 70% chance of surviving if we continue. And don't bother telling me that their only chance of certain survival would be not going in. Also, do I really need to be off comms when talking to you? Seems like the others can't see or hear you anyway, would it seem like I was talking to myself?" Beirus asks Jus while looking at the buildings , trying to decide which would make the best vantage point for his squad. He also unmutes himself on the team channel.
What's the effective range on my squad's weapons? If it's enough for them to cover me for at least a block or two from a vantage point, then it's time to start clearing buildings. Start with whichever one of the bottom three is tallest and/or has the best line of sight into the rest of the area. I'll go in first to check the ground floor, then my team can come in and we'll move up floor by floor with me in the lead until we get to the top floor. I'll double check that the roof is clear and then they can provide overwatch from there while I clear the next building up. If that one is safe and in the mostly normal zone, I'll go back to escort them to a better vantage point. If their weapons don't have the range to cover me, we'll go up the street to the left of the gazebo thing to the edge of the mostly normal zone and I'll check the effects on the other side of the border. Is it a sudden change or gradual?
Post by: Empiricist on December 06, 2015, 06:29:39 am
The turn, and case for the NEE to put Bigf00t on trial for treason should be up soon.))
Post by: Corsair on December 06, 2015, 06:34:02 am
"Ow... my head. Oh. Hello... okay. Okay, yes, I'll make the attempt."You follow the engineer who walks with the assuredness of a commander for the brief walk to the van which may as well have a giant neon sign saying "Totally not sleeper agents, we promise!" on top. Inside is another Loremaster technician who hands you some gear of dubious origin. Lovely. They are now practically running around screaming "Please don't notice me senpai!" and no-one seems to be giving a flying fuck about it. "We told 'em we'd give them a discount for replacing the stolen Alcubierre Drive. Anyway, it's not like fixing the stuff doesn't help you guys as well either."
Go do the thing the guy wants me to do. Once I reach the thing, use Memento Mori.
Your newfound gear consists of a pistol, a gun and a helmet. The pistol is identical in make and model to the one you already have, the only real distinction being that it has a full magazine of 12 rounds and (probably) wasn't looted off of a dead person. The gun, if it can be called that, amounts to a literal black box with a pistol grip and a frontal grip. The pistol grip, of course, has a trigger, while the frontal grip has two buttons, one on top of the other. There is a display on the top of the box which reads a distance and a battery percentage.
"Think of it as a weight gun. Whatever is in its field will get mashed against the floor. Buttons in front change the field distance. So if say, the display reads 10, then the field will form 10 meters ahead in the direction where its pointing."
Finally, there's the helmet. Its an ugly grey with cameras built into the front. It also has really shitty visual and audio feeds. It basically reduces everything you see into a pixelated blur through the cameras, and replaces everything you hear with what amounts to an 8-bit approximation. Lovely.
You head down the slowly filling streets towards the central spire eventually reaching it and joining a direct access lift down to Floor 1. The floor seems like you remember it, although the number of cars leaving is far greater than normal given the time of day. You soon see why as you head towards the edge and down some more, the warehouses and production facilities look like they have been caught in a warzone with a massive variety of damage from entirely cubic sections just gone to beams of destruction that have melted through several dozen in a single shot.
Outside the entrance to a electronics factory three stories tall, fairly sprawled out and painted in various shades of beige, you are unceremoniously dumped and told that the central reactor has been damaged and that you should probably put on the helmet. Judging by the sound of gunfire, this facility's probably not going to be doing much even with a working reactor power.
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
With whom do your allegiances truly align? The nation of your birth? Or given the chance, would you defect?
You have options now. This Consortium of theirs is quite partial to hiring more field agents at the moment.
And I'm sure the others will be just as willing if not more to hire once they learn of the opportunities here.
Your view shifts to highlight the more dangerous routes. Well, firstly, going into the actual facility is not a safe choice. It ain't certain death or anything like that, but it isn't really something to be doing without a good insurance provider at the very least. Secondly, it appears that actual entrance itself isn't too dangerous, nor is the area immediately following it. However, the routes on the lower floors do have noticeably lower survival rates. And, interestingly enough, for the paths that go near the sources of gunfire nearer to the entrance are safer, but the paths that go near the gunfire further away are more dangerous.
Ao ShiYour accessory continues in its refusal to produce any tangible effect, regardless of what you attempt to will it into doing.
"Eh, maybe it makes people underestimate me which suits me just fine."
Well then, let's make our way to where I left my LATRANS and corpse. Mostly avoiding mobile entities and using tradecraft when when my own senses are not enough to do that. See if I can commandeer a car to speed up the travel speed.
While traveling try to see if the reality altering effect responds to my will in any way. Like moving objects, altering substances, materializing stuff, altering my senses or senses of others.
Word. 72
With nothing better to do ((our fault, we definitely need to give more palpable objectives)), you stride across the ruined lawns amidst the distant crackle of gunfire and occasional roar of artillery towards Floor 3. You come across the top of a grand flight of stairs that cascade downwards, out of the university and into the surrounding business district. Flanking you on either side are twin buildings, blocky squares with edifices consisting almost entire out of panes of glass. Many of which have been shattered. You see desks and computer monitors lining the insides, having been seemingly spared from looting, for now at least.
And, on the bottom floor of each, are NEE and System League infantry, huddled together with twenty in either building. Those with light machineguns have their weapons deployed as to cover the stairs, rather odd considering that everyone else looks like they're ready to march out on a moment's notice, with all their equipment kept on their person. Some of them seem to only be wielding pistols, and are just carrying additional ammunition for the soldiers with grenade launchers. Everyone seems to be packed rather lightly, with only weapons, ammunition, canteens and radios. A few of the soldiers in the right building are waving frantically at you.
[COMP: 11/0] You conjure the shimmering image of a pencil.
"You need to work on your recruitment process, guys. People can't actually make a choice without knowing what it is. This could kill me, but so could refusing, so how is this fair?"You blink and are now in the middle of a street presumably on one of the lower levels given the smell and smog. You are in the middle of a rail repair depot, the tracks running beneath your feet with a lip on either side about 2 feet high. The warehouse to the south looks like it would be a repair and check station for trains before sending them onto the large test loop around the facility which the track you are on connects to, to the east is the rest of the building which has one fire entrance on this side which is propped open. The stacks from the forges are still billowing steam from the nuclear smelters which produce replacement parts on site for all the transport in the colony.
Poke the sphere anyways.
Twenty meters below, you can see the rail yards stretching a good hundred meters to a fence marking the edge of the facility. Fifty meters out is a break in the sea of trains, in the form of the test track which is held above the train-yard with concrete supports.
The facility and the neighboring warehouses and plants are similarly abandoned, the sounds of gunfire and inhuman screams along with visions of explosions and flame. This facility and three others are on fire and you can see gunshots pouring into the air like sparks from several streets. For once the smog is not entirely that of industry but one of battle also.
The silvery sphere is now next to you, with new text reading "We did not recruit you. Something else did.". The sphere flickers and the text changes to read "Evacuation was sounded. But no one did. Find out why.".
Something precipitates in your hands. It is, approximately, a gun. It looks like an assault rifle, albeit with somewhat exaggerated curvatures. That is, if someone subsequently decided that instead of bothering to give it a barrel, they'll just cut off the front of the gun. And indeed, looking at it, it seems to have been constructed in the same way as a cheap water pistol, with most of it just being plain empty, not to mention existing as a singular entity rather than being assembled out of individual components. It sports two pistol grips, each with a trigger, no magazines, and some sort of gauge at the top.
"Rear trigger to fire. Front trigger to activate rounds. Cannot fire more if you have 10 bullets awaiting activation."
You can see movement in the train-yard and can hear something inside the warehouse.
Let them bicker. Lay on the ground and chill out until their backup comes. Maybe ask Jus if he has any suggestions as to what should be done.It isn't long until the investigation team arrives. Clad in black exoskeletons, unpainted save for a red stripe running down the center. Hopefully, that means they didn't have time to paint any camouflage on, and not that the army's decided that paint has become too expensive. Or maybe it's to match the color of their weapons, angular shotguns that look more like miniature cannons than anything else.
If they stop bickering and want me to answer their questions, then:
"I seem to have accidentally entered an eldritch 'pact' of sorts this morning. One of the effects is me being unable to die properly."
"As for the limo - aliens decided to give me a ride here."
"The things that the crazy guy in the LANDSKNECHT said? Like calling me a child of darkness? Or some weird shit about God?"
After sweeping around the area, three of the four walk over to the dismembered frames and begin talking to the previously bickering pilots. The remaining one stands guard over you from ten meters away. Their weapon is readied, though they seem quite relaxed for now seeing as you aren't doing much.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
My suggestion? Make your way to Flight of Fantasy. You can quickly move your way to somewhere else from there.
Because these guys will probably want some answers, and answering it all is going to take far too long.
Start looking for an entrance. I'm sure you'll find one you can escape through.
For actual objectives, well:
Helping clear out Floor 0 would definitely help us and the NEE.
Since it is similar in nature to the storm here, and the turmoil on Floor 1.
You might even be able to get yourself a new frame for your efforts.
One of the old AIs have resurfaced on Floor 4 by the looks of it.
You could use that as a bargaining chip with basically anyone else.
Or, keep it for yourself. They're quirky but can be quite powerful.
There's rumors of something on Floor 2. Might be nothing.
Might not be. They say there's System League soldiers running amok down there.
Well, some of our operatives are System League, and they haven't heard of any of their
comrades doing much there. Could be lootable.
Go to one of the less nasty looking pubs.You head down the streets over to one of the better pubs around, a large establishment on 35th and 72nd, it is a place designed with the modern minimalist approach which is often summarized as the work of lazy interior decorator who didn't want to plaster the walls so just left them as bare brick with some 20's style brass switches and wooden benches that are as overwrought as they are overpriced. The crowd is relatively large with many people crowding around talking about recent events such as the weather and how there is weather and the fact that the first floor is under assault by slavering legions of eldritch horrors. Normal everyday stuff.
Hdo.
Code: (TZINACAN) [Select]
So, here for the drinks? Or here so I can help you blackmail someone?
[COMP: 0] Fizzle goes the spell.
"aaaAAAAAA FUCK! Fuck this place! Bug-man, any way to fix my hand you know of?"
Leftward! Take my loot with me, and let's magic a bit for good measure: 1d 35! Surely there's a way to fix my stump issues.
Quote from: SHROEDINBUG
You may be able to magic a way to heal yourself, or create something to replace it. More long term, the staff here will heal you should you die, or complete this gauntlet.
I cannot do much for you. If you were to run to one of the places where you would respawn upon death, I could repair you, but those are constantly shifting and they made sure that they can't appear here. I'd suggest you just try and not get injured further. Preferably by violently murdering any potential source of harm you come across. And then setting the remains on fire. Repeatedly.
You head left, running down the tunnel and ending up in a large cavern with walls made of indigo stone and a floor of fine pink sand. In the center runs a stream which then goes into an upwards waterfall into a cavern above, the roof is lit by bright blue crystals that seem to be the source of a soothing crystalline hum that fills the cavern. There are footprints throughout the cavern and evidence of activity in the form of a dead campfire and some bedrolls. The river enters from a gorge at the north of the cavern, there is a ramp up to a high exit in the east, the upward waterfall into a hole in the ceiling lies to the southeast and the entrance is to the south. The murder bees seem to following you, though they are a fair distance away still thanks to your supernatural speed, plus they seem inert for now.
[COMP: 10/6] You summon a large black belt of fine powder that rapidly disintegrates and falls to the floor, when it reaches the sand you hear an audible hiss as it touches. After a few seconds it, and the sand, begin to smoke with noxious black fumes that burn hotly, forcing you to back away a bit.
I guess it is time to return to the major fray, as much as I'd live some parts from those Laser Deer for myself, I'm kind of curious what my steed's intentions are, given it's clearly intelligent enough to (at least instinctively) understand the basics of electromagnetism and how to modify itself, presumably as so to create a dynamo to power my beautiful laser gun. :PThe bear gives little acknowledgement other than continuing to shift beneath you. You remain on the bear, with your acolyte and rope horse climbing aboard a flatbed carriage with supplies. The train pulls off from the station, slowly accelerating to a cruising speed of just under 80 km/h (slightly under because the murderbear seems to be acting like an inductive brake to generate more power) as it enters a long tunnel into the city proper. After several moments, a slight blue glow pierces the darkness as the gun appears to power up due to the bear's efforts with its copper core. It only has one shot though, since it's still evidently lacking its primary battery, meaning that it can't actually store much power.
Either that or it modded itself for mag-lev somehow, but given it's trying to mount the train and not the rails, I'll assume the former.
"Alright my valiant steed, onwards to GLORY I guess! Although... I'm not sure if you can understand what I am saying." (Keep an eye out for any signs of acknowledgement, I'm curious if I am sitting on top of a potential free-thinking ally or not :P )
So, let's do the thing... how did you put it......go riding off behind a maglev atop a magnetic winged doom bear with a gun for a face.:D
The tunnel soon rapidly turns unto the fifth level of the colony after corkscrewing for several minutes. A large and opulent level filled with stone facades and the other hallmarks of the rich or government employed. The colony itself is a graceful corkscrew still turning regardless of the petty squabbles over it.
The train slows to a halt on the transition station at between Floors 5 and 4. After the magnets shut off the bear disengages and looks around almost unsure of what to do. There are several exits to the platform but they all lead to the main entrances of the station, the troops are disembarking from the train and the 'guards' are motioning them to the exits shouting.
"All personnel move off the carriages and report to base on this floor! From there new troops will be briefed by Ishida anyone, everyone else reports to their COs!"
((Welp. We just made a roll for the bear. It, well, succeeded so hard that it leveled up from it.))
Raising its wings and spreading its mass out, the bear proceeds to, well. It's now covered in guns. You're not sure how, but after the first few guns its magnetism seems to suddenly intensify. Its grown larger, and well, it has guns for fur now. It's a giant bear made out of supernatural magnets and guns. It seems that either it can empower itself just by attaching more things to itself, or it's some kind of pokemon and just evolved. At this point, it just ejects your weapon free and turns to face you with its gun face. Which it proceeds to eject into your hands amidst the flashes of a camera from somewhere on the platform.
There's a military journalism there, checking their camera before bursting into cheery laughter amidst some backslapping from some of the nearby soldiers. You aren't certain, but you're pretty sure you just helped make propaganda for the enemy. Propaganda that features a magical magnetic bear made out of guns.
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
Have you considered defecting? Because at this rate, you're probably going to get tried for treason when this is all over.
The murderbear, having cycled another gun into its face and grown a gaping maw, proceeds to crawl onto one of the flatbeds and lie there apparently having its hunger sated for now. One of the higher ranking officers, sort of just stares at it blankly for a few minutes before shrugging "Well, guess we've got ourselves a new mascot. Send it back to camp, keep it away from things we actually need, oh and request some replacement guns." They nod towards some of the freshly disarmed soldiers.
Beirus opens an encrypted channel to his team on the way. "I really appreciate the concern, but I won't die. Well, I might, but it won't keep me down for long. One of the perks that comes with the wall running and possibly dangerous magic. Y'all, on the other hand, would not come back. Which means that if I tell you to run, you haul ass and don't look back until you get back to base. Understand?" Beirus says to his team before muting himself on the channel."Sure, running sounds good to me."
"Jus, I need you to tell me when we reach the point that they have less than 70% chance of surviving if we continue. And don't bother telling me that their only chance of certain survival would be not going in. Also, do I really need to be off comms when talking to you? Seems like the others can't see or hear you anyway, would it seem like I was talking to myself?" Beirus asks Jus while looking at the buildings , trying to decide which would make the best vantage point for his squad. He also unmutes himself on the team channel.
What's the effective range on my squad's weapons? If it's enough for them to cover me for at least a block or two from a vantage point, then it's time to start clearing buildings. Start with whichever one of the bottom three is tallest and/or has the best line of sight into the rest of the area. I'll go in first to check the ground floor, then my team can come in and we'll move up floor by floor with me in the lead until we get to the top floor. I'll double check that the roof is clear and then they can provide overwatch from there while I clear the next building up. If that one is safe and in the mostly normal zone, I'll go back to escort them to a better vantage point. If their weapons don't have the range to cover me, we'll go up the street to the left of the gazebo thing to the edge of the mostly normal zone and I'll check the effects on the other side of the border. Is it a sudden change or gradual?
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
They can go in safely. Assuming they don't catch a stray bullet, trip over and break their neck, or suddenly go crazy.
Don't expect me to tell you when it falls exactly to 70% or something though, I'm not an actuarial.
A good bet would be to have them fall back if something weird pops up or if it starts getting dangerous for you.
If there were close enough, I could make it seem perfectly normal for you to be speaking to me.
Even if they are too far, you have recently run up vuilding, been used as a meat puppet for a cursed frame
and, are now marching into a supernatural storm in an underground colony. After raving about
how you'll come back to life should you die. I do not think that failing to mute yourself would be much
of an issue at this rate.
The AIAR has an effective range of around 400 meters, assuming a human-sized target. The ALCYONE is a bit iffy, its damage comes more from the bullets exploding than their kinetic energy, and it's surprisingly accurate. Issue is, the bullets are subsonic, so there'll be a bit of a delay between firing and actually hitting.
As you aren't too far into the business district, the buildings aren't too tall just yet. The tallest one of the three, standing at thirteen stories, is the rightmost one. An office building of a design best described as unremarkable were it not for the windows being arranged in a curving pattern its facade. Really, windows are just decorations. After all, with the colony underground and all that, all the lighting's artifical, and anything ressembling a breeze is from air conditioning, so it isn't like windows really offer anything in terms of natural light or fresh air.
You sweep into the deserted, dusty reception. Not much of note, the desk is lacking its computers though its probably just that the company didn't want to leave anything of particular value to be looted or blown up. The lights are currently off for the sake of saving power, though they can be turned on still by the lightswitch. There are four elevators, which don't seem to have any power. Your squad joins you as move up the fire stairs and clear each floor, one by one. As with the reception, all the more valuable assets such as computers and monitors are nowhere to be found. Finally the four of you head out onto the roof.
From here, you've got a fairly good view of the surrounding area, well, the road and rooftops at the least. The footpaths are partially obscured by the cyborg trees. Actually, you're not sure whether or not they count as cyborgs, but they are referred to as such surprisingly often. Though how much of the tree is actually needed is up for debate, seeing as quite a lot of their physiology is rendered redundant by the fact that they are literally pumped with the water and nutrients they need like just about every other utility and have been modified specifically for that.
Ahead, darting beneath the ashen clouds are birds of some kind, you can't really make out much from this far, but they definitely aren't the feral birds that are normally here. Trading your weapon with Johnny, you go back down the staircase (good thing the exoskeleton's been doing most of the work running up and down stairs) and continue to the next building up.
Crossing into the anomaly is utterly unremarkable. It seems that the border is more of a hazy, arbitrary "beyond this line lies weird shit" line to put on the map than something of any greater importance. The next building ahead is an inoffensive beige slab of an apartment ten stories high. Though upon smashing through the automatic door, you find that it has quite a rustic, cozy interior. Okay look, we'll assume that you check each floor and make sure that none of the units have been broken into or anything, but if you want to properly clear every single unit to make sure that there isn't some sort of horrible frame-eating monster squatting in one of them, you're going to need to break down a lot of doors, and it'll take a while. As it stands, everything you've checked seems fine. No sacrificial altars belonging to kooky death cults or anything on the roof either.
Your radio crackles, and after a short delay, Mirai's voice filters through "Boss, I think I saw something. Looked, sort of like a person, but it, vanished before I could get a good look at it. It was on the roof of the building on the opposite side of the street, I think it was looking at you."
Post by: Empiricist on December 06, 2015, 06:35:46 am
| < | Turn 23 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6622705#msg6622705) | | | Turn 24 | | | Turn 25 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6671460#msg6671460) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: PenciL_art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Hawk132 on December 06, 2015, 09:16:05 am
If I find the entrance, run in there. Try to pick a moment in which I'm not being watched too much.
Post by: The Ensorceler on December 06, 2015, 07:02:14 pm
Post by: blazing glory on December 06, 2015, 07:45:33 pm
"Both, most likely."
Go to the center of the bar and get a drink that won't knock me off my feet.
Post by: Empiricist on December 06, 2015, 09:15:09 pm
((Are the instructions for the facsimile rifle correct? They would make sense if either no more than ten bullets can be activated at once, or else if bullets are loaded manually. As is, I would assume that it has access to an effectively infinite supply of bullets and will never fire, as nearly infinite is greater than ten.))((Sort of, you have an infinite supply of bullets, but they don't actually exist until you fire them. It's like having an infinite amount of 10-round magazines, where the bullets activate upon reloading.
So yeah, you can't activate more than ten bullets at once, because you won't be able to fire more bullets if you already have ten of them awaiting activation.))
((Damn it. Just realized that we should have told Ao in-character about the option to fast travel via Flight of Fantasy >__<))
Post by: FallacyofUrist on December 06, 2015, 11:54:20 pm
Spoiler: Dense Interesting Internal Monologue (click to show/hide)
James nodded to himself after finishing his proper internal monologue. He switched a single bullet from the handgun with 12 bullets to the other with 10(he wanted a little evenness, but perhaps he was just stalling himself). Then he donned the helmet(horrible though it was), flicked the safeties off the two bullet using pistols(if they had safeties), and went to face his new life.
And with that, James headed towards the facility. Wherever. Danger didn't matter so much now. It was good to know where it was, though, but it didn't matter so much now. He was going to win.
And with that, James thought to himself, "Job one. Let's do this."
Post by: AoshimaMichio on December 07, 2015, 01:18:03 am
Check surroundings for dangers and sprint to the building on right when it seems safe enough. Talky stuff with soldiers.
"What's the situation?"
Spellings: 3d 72 -M. Since Red can cover me talking to her, maybe she can cover result of the spell so it hopefully doesn't startle anyone.
Post by: Empiricist on December 07, 2015, 01:51:13 am
((What happened to my spellings? As per objectives, I remember the goal being to get something from Flight of Fantasy, so I decided having a big ass mecha would be nice.))((Remember those days where we didn't screw something up every other turn? I miss those days.
We forgot to include it in the turn. I'll get Corsair to edit it into the turn. In the meantime, here's your roll and description:
[COMP: 11/0] You conjure the shimmering image of a pencil.))
Post by: The Ensorceler on December 07, 2015, 02:27:10 pm
Play around with the toolbox summoning. How fast can it appear, where can it appear, stuff like that. Try shooting the gun into a wall, too.
((I seem to have written my character into shock on accident. Anyone have advice on how to get them playable enough not to have a veto on interesting actions?))
Post by: Empiricist on December 07, 2015, 07:29:57 pm
Try shooting the gun into a wall, too.((How would you like to do the firing tests? Just firing repeatedly at the same spot? Sweeping fire across the wall?))
Post by: The Ensorceler on December 07, 2015, 11:21:37 pm
((Just one shot, I don't have any particular grudge against this wall.))Try shooting the gun into a wall, too.((How would you like to do the firing tests? Just firing repeatedly at the same spot? Sweeping fire across the wall?))
Post by: Toaster on December 08, 2015, 10:45:17 am
Run up the ramp to the high exit in the east.
If I am being followed and the danger is near: (I assume the exit has some sort of chokepoint) Face the exit chokepoint and 1d 8b to block it.
Otherwise 0e 80 at a convenient wall past the exit and just keep going.
Post by: Bigf00t on December 13, 2015, 05:57:28 am
If my face would be visible if I would be identifiable in the photo:
Motion for the reporter to come over for a selfie with the murderbear and it's gallant (if obviously not in control) "handler".
Hope that the bear wants to eat it. It would likely have a small power source/battery and some complex internals (*nudge nudge bear*)
Other than that, I'd like to go see whats going down on floor 4. If I can coerce the bear to follow (with promises of delicious ferromagnetics). The really dumb part of me wants to try combining the magnetic Murderbear and the AI referenced in someone else's post.
If the bear won't budge/go towards floor 4 then head off myself. As much as I really want to keep him/it/her around I may just have to leave this little carnage-maker to his nap. (as much of a bad idea THAT probably is too)
If I find a nice quiet area without witnesses or security cameras say "f6 ff", ask my new friend to be lookout; No need for him to know my magic abilities explicitly... unless he is actually one of the System League agents/on the side of the handlers.
Keep an eye out for some non-military-affiliated clothes. Even just a jacket, although an engineers uniform of either side's would be perfect.
I have plans.
((Is that line about System League operatives a reference to me? Heheheh :P
Do you think the NEE would accept the "I did what I had to do to survive in enemy territory" argument at my trial? If I get one?))
Post by: Toaster on December 14, 2015, 02:27:52 pm
Post by: Beirus on December 14, 2015, 03:05:35 pm
Jump across to the roof of the other building if it is the same height or lower than the apartment, with a running start. Keep an eye out for that shadow thing my team saw. Wait for a bit on the roof to see if the thing shows itself. If not, clear the building from the top down with the ALCYONE drawn. If the other building is too tall or too far to jump, head back down through the apartment building and cross to the other building. If there is a lounge or something on the bottom floor, have a seat and see if the creature shows up. If not, clear the building from bottom to top.
Post by: The Ensorceler on December 14, 2015, 10:37:28 pm
Post by: blazing glory on December 15, 2015, 12:19:43 am
it looks pretty similar to lime green. I can change it if it has confused anyone.))((It doesn't really.))
((If anything lime looks a lot more like the typical dark green.))
Post by: Pencil_Art on December 16, 2015, 03:28:10 am
Post by: Empiricist on December 16, 2015, 05:39:07 am
Derek sees if he can find somewhere else to run away to.((You're going to have to make a reaction. I mean, you can stand there and look around, but they're currently firing at you so you may want to actually dodge or something.))
Post by: Corsair on December 17, 2015, 06:51:13 am
Look around. See if I can't find anything that looks like an entrance to this 'Flight of Fantasy' thing. Didn't the aliens mention it too, now that I think about it? They said that an entrance will appear when I need it and I certainly do feel like I need it. Try to will it into existence maybe?You begin to look around, trying to find an entrance to this practically abstract location. You have a name, and not much else really. No idea what the place looks like, no idea where it is. In other words, you have no idea what an entrance would even look like, let alone where it would be once it magically appears. But you look for it anyway, because that's how magic works, isn't it? A bunch of arbitrary crap that flies in the face of all reason. And soon enough, you find it.
If I find the entrance, run in there. Try to pick a moment in which I'm not being watched too much.
It was right in front of you. You stare at the plating of the soldier before you, looking into one the small gaps between two of the pieces. And as you look at them more, it no longer seems so small. Soon, you find that you can't take your eyes off of it, or perhaps it is now so large that no matter where you look, you can only see more of the gap and not even a single trace of the plates that outline it.
You are no longer where you once were. Indeed, to the soldier standing guard over you, and cameras built into their exoskeleton, you just vanished. The ghost of a dead soldier, returned to the grave.
Outlines trace their way into the darkness, followed by details, colors, and finally, light. You are in a gothic cathedral, sitting on a surprisingly comfortable pew (seriously, it's softer than it should be ans you have plenty of leg space) and facing an enormous stained glass mural depicting a skeleton being impaled by a radiant scythe while giving precisely zero fucks. Arranged on a desk folding out from the back of the pew in front of you, are six colorful fliers, not unlike those you would find in a travel agency. Strangely, aside from the names and locations at the front of each, they consist entirely of pictures.
Spoiler: Flight of Fantasy, Everywhere (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pandaemonium, Floor 0 (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Wild Hunt, Floor 1 (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Silo Ghosts, Floor 2 (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Broken Heaven, Floor 3 (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Psychiatrist's Psychoses, Floor 4 (click to show/hide)
Sitting to one side at the front of the building is the alien monolith-kiosk thing. Its screen lights up with one of those waving emoticons you'd find on a social media site.
Ryles sighs.You get a good ol' fashioned beer that, of course, tastes like beer. It obviously doesn't knock you off your feet seeing as it's basically yellowy water when you get down to percentages. The chatter continues around you, now beginning to transition from (mostly) credible news to far from credible rumors, which is sounding more and more ridiculous, such as demons invading the frontline because why the fuck not, and someone's girlfriend's ex-boyfriend's colleagues' friend's CO that turned into some sort of action hero by wall-running in a cursed frame and almost single-handedly driving off a System League assault on one of the maintenance facilities.
"Both, most likely."
Go to the center of the bar and get a drink that won't knock me off my feet.
Code: (TZINACAN) [Select]
So, you just going to sit here and try to drown me in liquor?
Or are you going to go do something more, exciting?
Such as blackmail. Seriously. Pick a person. Any person.
I'll give you something to talk about. See how they react.
You want to know that you aren't crazy right?
This ought to prove it to you.
Or going to a warzone via a Japanese gameshow run by skeletons appointed by God?
You have one of their matches after all.
To handler: "At this point, I don't really care who I join so long as I'm alive, mostly human, and not brainwashed."Your pistols do indeed have safeties. You walk into the building, through the shattered remains of the glass doors.Spoiler: Dense Interesting Internal Monologue (click to show/hide)
James nodded to himself after finishing his proper internal monologue. He switched a single bullet from the handgun with 12 bullets to the other with 10(he wanted a little evenness, but perhaps he was just stalling himself). Then he donned the helmet(horrible though it was), flicked the safeties off the two bullet using pistols(if they had safeties), and went to face his new life.
And with that, James headed towards the facility. Wherever. Danger didn't matter so much now. It was good to know where it was, though, but it didn't matter so much now. He was going to win.
And with that, James thought to himself, "Job one. Let's do this."
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
"Mostly human"?
So you aren't ENTIRELY opposed to a little bit of augmentation then?
In that case, when this little matter's resolved, see if you can weasel out an
infusion or transmutation unit out as payment. Not sure if they've got one.
But it's worth a shot.
As you may be happy to hear, we can resurrect you in the event of death.
Still, I wouldn't recommend dying, it is still painful for the most part.
In case you want another fire axe that won't even break, one of our, 'contacts'
by the broadest definitions of such a term, has you covered.
Enjoy your doubtlessly fruitful future as a heroic axe murderer.
Preferably by killing whatever left this horrid mess.
A duplicate of your fire-axe lodges itself in your mind, like the grimoire.((Bound Weapon - Fire Axe gained!))
Well, you can't see too well, thanks to the damn helmet, but it seems that the floor is utterly littered with, well, it's as if someone took a bunch of metal statues of dogs, shot them repeatedly with a cannon, and then haphazardly placed them in messy piles. The broken pieces seem to leak some sort of viscous purple fluid. It seems that this new life of yours involves some very angry janitors. Strewn in lesser numbers amidst the debris are corpses that you can only presume to be human. By and large, the majority of them seem to have died from bloodloss, judging by the numerous bite wounds and chunks of missing flesh. However, some of them appear to have broken bones, one of them seems to have had their face sanded off (thankfully the helmet's camera feed is too poor to let you see much other than the noticeably missing mass). Two of them however, look like they were punched to death by a frame or something seeing as they've been utterly pulverized in numerous locations with extreme force.
There are two sets of doors both of which have been left wide open, the one at the back of the room leads further into the factory, whilst the one to the right opens to what were more furnished rooms, offices or administration perhaps?
Check surroundings for dangers and sprint to the building on right when it seems safe enough. Talky stuff with soldiers."We're waiting for evac, doesn't really matter whose shows up first. A bunch of unidentified units showed up and attacked us, so we figured we might as well band together and drive them off. Well, more things showed up and now we're hiding from the thing down there."
"What's the situation?"
Spellings: 3d 72 -M. Since Red can cover me talking to her, maybe she can cover result of the spell so it hopefully doesn't startle anyone.
They gesture down the stairs.
"It's fast, so not too sure if they stairs will do much good. It's armored too. Has, some sort of glowing spear. It's backed by other things as well, walking strobelights basically. Makes hitting it even harder."
Another soldier glances at you
"Say, what's a civilian like you doing here on the frontlines anyway? You able to shoot well? Because any more manpower is definitely welcome. And it ain't like you're going to fare any better out there than if you were with us."
"Your cute lil' tiara's reacting to them, princess. I'm detecting increased field activity, that just so happens to be on top of all of the people here. Could be anything from combat augmentations, to making them fantasize about you. Want me to do a scan? I can narrow down the possibilities a bit. Or do you want to save it for whatever they're hiding from?"
[COMP: 4/4] It seems that Red doesn't need to, seeing as nothing actually happens.
"Okay... I'm going to assume this is all actually happening even though I would really prefer it weren't." Vaguely looks for their toolbox, accidentally summoning the copy. "Uh."It appears seemingly instantaneously, but it can only be conjured into your hand. If you let it go, it vanishes after a while, though the 'timer' seems to reset if you grab it again. You can also dismiss it at will, and you cannot summon more than one instance of it.
Play around with the toolbox summoning. How fast can it appear, where can it appear, stuff like that. Try shooting the gun into a wall, too.
Firing the gun, you find that it has no recoil at all. You'd think it's a good thing, but it also means that you really don't get much feedback from firing at all. Were it not for the gauge displaying the number of active bullets, the strange hallucinatory lines you see that mark the projected trajectories and the shrinking circles that represent the delay until the next shot can be fired. You put a shot into the wall, dealing negligible damage. Seriously, it's not much of bullet hole, it just slams into and barely buries itself in.
Then, you pull the other trigger. There's a slight, nearly imperceptibly small delay. Then, gauge resets to show no active bullets and place you shot pretty much explodes. It isn't too large an explosion, nor was it particularly energetic. There's no flash of light or anything like that. No, here a nice chunk of the wall around the bullet, and the bullet itself seem to just turn into powder and fly out, leaving behind a crater.
"I could get down with burninating some of those asshole bees, that's for sure. Oh shit, what's that burning stuff I just made? Sounds like your area of expertise. Can I make a gun that shoots that crap? I might have to try some more magic shit."
Run up the ramp to the high exit in the east.
If I am being followed and the danger is near: (I assume the exit has some sort of chokepoint) Face the exit chokepoint and 1d 8b to block it.
Otherwise 0e 80 at a convenient wall past the exit and just keep going.
Code: (SCHROEDINBUG) [Select]
You could. You could also just fire it at foes. You've already found two attack functions after all.
Even if they aren't the easiest to aim. Or just summon it near flammable things and start an inferno.
The hissing of the black substance turns into a crackle as the sand ignites with ruby flames where the powder touches it. You begin running up the ramp noting the trails of footprints that go up and down is length when you notice something shimmering at the top. Which, probably isn't signifying anything pleasant.
It seems to be a person. A mostly-invisible person made out of some sort of mostly-invisible substance that shimmers energetically. A mostly-invisible person that is now adopting a side-on stance that showcases its fists of poorly-defined form but definite power. And you know, the fact that it wants to murder you. But you probably already knew that. Everything here wants to murder you, so it isn't much of a huge surprise.
Oh god damnit.You probably could be identified through the photo. But then again you're also meant to be dead and left a rather confusing corpse in your apartment. The reporter happily complies, sauntering over as he- What's he doing with that camera? He's handing it over to someone else? He must've misunderstood, you just need to go explain the situation and then the bear can go- Wait, what's he holding? No! No! No! He's taking out a fucking phone! Well, the net result is that the bear is now munching on his phone, he's mildly embarrassed, and the person who was holding the camera is just taking photos while everyone else laughs. Foiled again it seems.
If my face would be visible if I would be identifiable in the photo:
Motion for the reporter to come over for a selfie with the murderbear and it's gallant (if obviously not in control) "handler".
Hope that the bear wants to eat it. It would likely have a small power source/battery and some complex internals (*nudge nudge bear*)
Other than that, I'd like to go see whats going down on floor 4. If I can coerce the bear to follow (with promises of delicious ferromagnetics). The really dumb part of me wants to try combining the magnetic Murderbear and the AI referenced in someone else's post.
If the bear won't budge/go towards floor 4 then head off myself. As much as I really want to keep him/it/her around I may just have to leave this little carnage-maker to his nap. (as much of a bad idea THAT probably is too)
If I find a nice quiet area without witnesses or security cameras say "f6 ff", ask my new friend to be lookout; No need for him to know my magic abilities explicitly... unless he is actually one of the System League agents/on the side of the handlers.
Keep an eye out for some non-military-affiliated clothes. Even just a jacket, although an engineers uniform of either side's would be perfect.
I have plans.
The bear, tired of being photographed decides to nest in the corner and sleep which makes your plan of attempting to tug it to your fun adventure a bit difficult. Oh well, you've still got Ropey. Floor 4 is a little worse for wear, but mostly recognizable even if the buildings lack power and bear definite battle scars. The soldiers are being rallied into various groups, from what you can make out from the shouting, most of their objectives seem to revolve around investigating areas populated by unidentified units, and bailing out their comrades from other unidentified units.
After finding a secluded alley you speak the words, with your squire watching the alley entrance and occasionally glancing back to watch you as you speak into thin air.
[COMP: 6] You feel the spell come together then fall flat causing a mild tingle and nothing else.
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
You realize you don't need to actually say the words, right?
"What are you doing exactly?"
He gazes up and down at you.
"And, I've been meaning to ask you this earlier, but, what happened to your N-Y Syringe? Did you use it already? Or are you trialing one of the experimental ones like me?"
There are no discarded jackets or anything similar that fit your criteria unfortunately. So far you can only find cardboard boxes and newspaper.
"Roger that. Hold position, I'll go check it out." Beirus responds over the radio. He heads up to the roof of the apartment building and walks over to the edge, sizing up the gap over the street.Yeah, uh, you might not make the jump. Seriously. It's on the other side of the street and while you're fast, you're not that fast. After all the exoskeleton is more of an endurance enhancement thing than a speed enhancement thing. So with your hopes and dreams foiled once again by the laws of physics (one day, one fucking day, you are going to have enough magical compatibility and knowledge to make physics your bitch, and you are going to relish it), you descend back down and cross the street. The downpour is, as torrential as before, if not more so.
Jump across to the roof of the other building if it is the same height or lower than the apartment, with a running start. Keep an eye out for that shadow thing my team saw. Wait for a bit on the roof to see if the thing shows itself. If not, clear the building from the top down with the ALCYONE drawn. If the other building is too tall or too far to jump, head back down through the apartment building and cross to the other building. If there is a lounge or something on the bottom floor, have a seat and see if the creature shows up. If not, clear the building from bottom to top.
You're about to enter the lobby when you catch a glimpse in the reflection of the glass doors. It's faint and the rain isn't helping much, but you're sure you see it. Namely because you know, you can do the whole 'stop time and look around while planning on how to murder people' thing. Peering out from the alleyway beside the building your were just in, hidden away from the view of your squad is, you know how when a droplet hits water and splashes back up? Well, imagine that, but much larger, and in the shape of a robed figure, its featureless face peering at you beneath its hood. In the skies above, diving down towards you are a small flock of those weird birds, they look sort of like icy, emaciated crows. They are still a fair ways off though.
Derek sees if he can find somewhere else to run away to.Are you sure you want to do that? The chamber hasn't exactly changed, so you can always run further in and hopefully find other exits, take cover behind a pillar or try kiting those monstrosities away from the stairs.
Because right now, there are white hot pieces of metal heading towards your face at ludicrous speeds. And while you can just stand there and try looking for more ways out in the smog-choked darkness, your insurance provider is not going to be happy with you.
Post by: Empiricist on December 17, 2015, 06:52:28 am
| < | Turn 24 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6646922#msg6646922) | | | Turn 25 | | | Turn 26 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6713397#msg6713397) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: PenciL_art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: FallacyofUrist on December 17, 2015, 09:42:53 am
Although he would have preferred to get straight to the thing that needed repairing, it was possible there were human survivors that needed his help. So on James went.
"Thanks for the axe. And yes, I'd be fine with some "augmentation"."
Post by: Toaster on December 17, 2015, 10:19:17 am
Arrow of Simurgh, go! Examine the following weapon attacks against weaknesses:
1d ulez (Should fire forward a wall of burny stuff)
Revolver
Bow Sword
Take whichever Bug determines to be most effective. If it's a tossup, that list is in priority order, top to bottom.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on December 17, 2015, 11:02:54 am
"My queenie, since their description of the foe sounds a bit similar as the video game thing we met earlier I assume it's another variant of same thing. Therefore discovering power of this pretty pretty jewelry is more important. If it runs via power of love or friendship, I definitely would like to know about it." Ao responds with a grin.
Red can scan soldiers.
Talky stuff with soldiers.
Ignoring the question about Ao's reasons to be here he starts talking. "Your situation sounds similar I encountered a little while ago. I was fighting against couple of literal meatmen and one bone armored thing. They were protecting a glowing sphere, a root of their existance I assume, since after destroying it they all just faded away. So I guess you have similar case in your hands. Though in my case the armored thing appeared after I found the core... Which one you encountered first? The strobe lights or the spearman? Do you know the area where the spearman was seen first time? Because I assume that's where their core is located. I'm making a lot of assumptions here, but it's not like I have any better knowledge..."
"I guess by virtue of being still alive I'm decent shooter, but this is only gun I have and it has only seven shots left." He says showing the pistol.
Spellings: ef. Also ask Red to make soldiers ignore results of this. And if she can do it in first place.
Post by: Hawk132 on December 17, 2015, 11:20:51 am
"Jus, did my Frame somehow put itself back together and inherited my wish of killing this guy in a wrestling match?"
Give the alien a friendly wave. Then try "12 a5". After hopefully not killing myself, grab the "Flight of Fantasy" pamphlet. Attempt to somehow go there, whether by actually going there, willing myself to be there or asking the alien how it this place works.
Post by: blazing glory on December 17, 2015, 07:10:05 pm
"Alright, fine, I just needed to get my thoughts together and maybe blackmail someone who I actually need something from."
"Eh...do that one then."
Ryles nods over to one of the less drunk patrons.
Post by: The Ensorceler on December 21, 2015, 05:41:04 am
Post by: Empiricist on December 21, 2015, 06:03:59 am
Post by: The Ensorceler on December 21, 2015, 07:10:50 am
Post by: Pencil_Art on December 23, 2015, 09:14:05 pm
Post by: Bigf00t on December 25, 2015, 12:28:22 am
EDIT: Just made new post.
Post by: Empiricist on December 25, 2015, 12:29:26 am
Sorry for the delay, I'll edit in a turn shortly (Limited internet over Christmas, because reasons)((That's fine, we figured there may be players out on vacations and whatnot at this time.))
Post by: BFEL on December 25, 2015, 03:48:15 pm
Post by: Bigf00t on January 03, 2016, 10:07:18 am
"Ah, regarding the syringe, yea, you could say I got something experimental. I've already died once today, if you can believe that, and that was before I rode through town on a wild mag-lev bear with fur made of guns. As far as what I was doing I'll let you know once I have a vague idea of what's going on myself.."
Once done grappling with the fact that my Reality Cheque just bounced, head down to the fourth floor. Meta wise I want to check this AI and character wise.. I think I just want to go home to the third floor :P
Think to my handler: "Helpful to know, any other little magic-casting tibbits or methods I should be aware of? I'm happy with anything that doesn't make me look like a nutter, helps me solve problems or gives me a fun new avenue to wreck havoc by accident"
Post by: Beirus on January 03, 2016, 01:46:08 pm
Turn and face the water thing with my pistol drawn and held by my side whi
le stepping back frim the door. See if it reacts. If not, ask it to show me the way to the skyscraper. If it gets hostile for any reason, shoot it. If it doesn't react at all, go check that building I was gonna check.
Post by: Corsair on January 03, 2016, 07:19:01 pm
Post by: Corsair on January 04, 2016, 07:06:56 am
James nodded to himself, heading towards the administration area.Well, there's dark, barely red splotches on the walls. Not going to say that it's dried blood, but it's probably dried blood. Lovely. The room itself is, well, it's an office. You're currently to one side of it, standing on a relatively wide pathway that heads further inwards with the actual work stations and whatnot to your left and a window-lined wall to your right. The design of the place as a whole is generic and inoffensive. Workstations, whitish but off-white enough that stains don't immediately stand out, are arranged in rows of cubicles each with a sufficiently comfortable swivel chairs and height-adjustable monitors.
Although he would have preferred to get straight to the thing that needed repairing, it was possible there were human survivors that needed his help. So on James went.
"Thanks for the axe. And yes, I'd be fine with some "augmentation"."
There's also blood and corpses everywhere. Seriously, it's like a fucking heat map in here. You can tell just by the location and distribution of mauled corpses that the vast majority attempted to run away, with limited amounts of success, the ones closer to the back of the room and sitting nearer to the path you're on being more successful. You can tell that from the corpses of the people near the front of the room where you are, and those that are crumpled against their now even more off-white desks on the far left. You can also tell that some people tried to hide under their desks, they're still under there, just dead. Some look like they tried to fight judging by the occasional debris pile. They lost.
Okay, so guess running, while not too good an option, probably still the best option. After all, there are a good deal more of cubicles than there are corpses.
Winston sighed. "Oh bloody hell. Okay, need your help here."Time stops and your foe's visage shatters, leaving behind their silhouette, nothing's glowing. It's just a solid mass of, whatever that invisible stuff is. Red text burns itself into view, reading 'No Weakpoints' while flashing for emphasis. Now, an outline appears, originating a point in front of your chest, tracing out the area covered by your spell. Light erupts from the point, representing the area and trajectory after taking into account the existence and composition of the figure. It isn't too good. The light that impacts it rebounds backwards before dissipating just short of your initial position. Not only is it ineffective, if you're running too quickly it will actually hit you on the rebound. The revolver shot, represented by a line and then a ray of light is also expected to do nothing, ricocheting off without causing any harm. For the bow blade attack, a ghostly image of yourself rushes forwards before the slash appears represented in a similar manner to the spell, it also bounces off ineffectually. The text shifts to read as 'You're Fucked'.
Arrow of Simurgh, go! Examine the following weapon attacks against weaknesses:
1d ulez (Should fire forward a wall of burny stuff)
Revolver
Bow Sword
Take whichever Bug determines to be most effective. If it's a tossup, that list is in priority order, top to bottom.
Code: (SCHROEDINBUG) [Select]
Guess you might just have to try and lure it away or slip past it.
Or you could try another spell, if you know any other ones or want to take a chance with a new one.
Your toaster might function as a weapon as well, since they usually don't leave completely useless items to pick up.
Of course, it might not be a weapon. Or it might be hazardous to use.
Ao Shi"Well my, dashing prince, the soldiers are your garden variety, although their dopamine levels near you are slightly elevated. Seems the diadem makes them happy near you, like a walking drug high. Isn't it what you always wanted~?"
"My queenie, since their description of the foe sounds a bit similar as the video game thing we met earlier I assume it's another variant of same thing. Therefore discovering power of this pretty pretty jewelry is more important. If it runs via power of love or friendship, I definitely would like to know about it." Ao responds with a grin.
Red can scan soldiers.
Talky stuff with soldiers.
Ignoring the question about Ao's reasons to be here he starts talking. "Your situation sounds similar I encountered a little while ago. I was fighting against couple of literal meatmen and one bone armored thing. They were protecting a glowing sphere, a root of their existance I assume, since after destroying it they all just faded away. So I guess you have similar case in your hands. Though in my case the armored thing appeared after I found the core... Which one you encountered first? The strobe lights or the spearman? Do you know the area where the spearman was seen first time? Because I assume that's where their core is located. I'm making a lot of assumptions here, but it's not like I have any better knowledge..."
"I guess by virtue of being still alive I'm decent shooter, but this is only gun I have and it has only seven shots left." He says showing the pistol.
Spellings: ef. Also ask Red to make soldiers ignore results of this. And if she can do it in first place.
"I'm guessing you didn't have an extended encounter otherwise I doubt you would be here, no offense. Still, the help of someone who knows a bit will be useful. The problem for us is that we were in the middle of a firefight when those... -things- came to kill us. Best bet for where the core is would be the Gabriel Memorial Research center. When we were near that place it was strange, people started hearing and seeing things, we were jumping at shadows. It's also the only place without power in the entire block.
They were both there when they first attacked. Strobelights lead if that's what you're asking, made it real hard to aim.
Also if you are nearly out grab a rifle off a barricade and use it."
"Oh and heads up, that little tiara's effects also happens to match up with an old piece of pre-fall fuckery that is causing all these problems. If you manage to reach wherever it's physically located, likely some sort of horrific gothic castle given the ridiculous number of video game tropes this thing has already blown through. I ought to be able to metaphysically bang it enough to stop it from making meat-monsters at the very least. Plus they let us acquire more resources by the way of it's enslaved insane mind."
[COMP: 2/1] ((Wow that was a poor roll.)) You conjure the ephemeral visage of a wheel.
"Whether or not I do anything, they can't see a spell if it doesn't actually do anything. Also, just another reminder that I'm not actually a magical fairy."
"Jus, did my Frame somehow put itself back together and inherited my wish of killing this guy in a wrestling match?"
Give the alien a friendly wave. Then try "12 a5". After hopefully not killing myself, grab the "Flight of Fantasy" pamphlet. Attempt to somehow go there, whether by actually going there, willing myself to be there or asking the alien how it this place works.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
I think you already know the answer to that. But just in case you've gone full insane supervillain, no.
Your frame is not made out of bones. Nor does it have a luchadore mask.
The beings running this facility sometimes run challenges such as the one depicted. They take something memorable
such as your first death, recreate it and twist it to their own tastes.
[COMP: 4] Fizzle.
You focus on it and are transported into the ring depicted on the pamphlet. It's a large ring, 100 meters each side, allowing space to move. The audience seating is filled with all manner of classic styles of aliens from techno-colored over-sexualized humanoids to the amorphous-blob-creatures. The announcer is a large purple komodo dragon with breath so minty, you can actually smell it from inside the (surprisingly cushy, for something made out of bone) cockpit of your reassembled, reanimated frame.
"In this corner, the blaster bastard! The murderous maniac! It's your favorite! It's The Ringed King of Madness!"
The enemy frame from earlier lift's it's arms in the air raising a cheer from the crowd.
"And in the other corner! Our newcomer cum challenger! The Ladlemonger!"
Your ladle crackles with discharge.
Now that you can check through all your cameras and see yourself on the large screens arranged everywhere, you notice a few details that weren't too clear in the picture. For starters there's an additional layer of calcified flesh covering your frame like plating, not that it'll do you much good seeing as it's already been mostly melted off for some reason. The bones that make up the legs are all fractured and the bones that comprise the front of the core look like someone took a frame-grade chain gun and opened fire on it. Finally, clinging to your frame are three charred skeletons, each clad in a luchadore masks and cape. Well, guess you can't fault them for detail.
Still, in spite of the apparent damage, your interface indicates that the frame is in pristine condition, with the apparent problems purely for show.
Ryles cautiously ignores the comment about a Japanese Gameshow.
"Alright, fine, I just needed to get my thoughts together and maybe blackmail someone who I actually need something from."
"Eh...do that one then."
Ryles nods over to one of the less energetic patron.
Code: (TZINCAIN) [Select]
Well, Jimmy over here has a mistress, how awfully pedestrian of him.
Her name's Natalie. Actuary. Works for an insurance company.
Her house is on this floor of course, 46/100 Military Road.
"Okay, then, lets see how this goes," Vaguely says to his spherical companion.You walk towards the doors of the maintenance room along the tracks, your nearly silent footsteps drowned by the rummaging inside. You reach the large doors to the maintenance facility and push them ajar.Shoot the toolbox six times with my new favorite gun, and pick up the bullets after they fail to penetrate. If anything dangerous appears, throw them all and pull the activation trigger.Investigate the noises from earlier, with gun at the ready.
Inside are a number of rubble piles, artfully arranged to look like fantasy castles of varying size and construction. Crouched down in front of a pile of metal parts is an emaciated metal thing - all you can see is the back and part of an arm. It's several times larger than you but extremely thin for its size, like a starving man. The waist of the beast is adorned by streams of lightning that drape like fabric down between the legs, illuminating it's project along with causing lightning to arc along anything it is working with. The legs of the beast appear to be mechanical but have been warped and the plating has spikes of metal that dance with electrical discharge. Along the arm you can see the metal seems to be warped and engorged with great spines protruding from it. The back appears to be relatively normal, made of sections of steel attached to a hydraulic assembly. However, it bears a large rear thruster assembly that has been partially warped, with organic wings that appear be slightly stylized, in addition to a rather excessive amount of thrusters. The entire beast has a childlike air to the way it is formed, like a doodle messily scribbled upon an otherwise real image.
Derek dashes behind the pillar.[MDEF vs. UTAR, UTAR: 2 vs. 1, 2 vs. 3] You dash behind the cover, into safety. Most of you at least. As the slugs crackle through where you just were, you feel a burning pain in your right arm. A flesh wound, one of the slugs must have struck you. It had plowed though your arm, missing the bones though. Adrenaline begins to kick in, dulling the pain, yet you still feel warm blood bleeding from the wound. This isn't a movie, a flesh wound has definite potential to kill, and unless you manage to stop the bleeding or finish your objective, it will kill you.
Your thoughts begin to become clouded, hazy. Like a dream, as the adrenaline kicks in.
When you look for them, the shotgun-wielding abominations are no longer where they were. And then, you see them from the corner of your eyes. They're right next to you now, one on each side, though they thankfully have yet to commence their attacks.
TURN:"An item that grants resurrection? Truly it will be good when they start mass producing those! Also if you're out of ideas, we can just go hunt some NEE scouts in no-man's-land then loot their bodies and sell the results for profit!"
"Ah, regarding the syringe, yea, you could say I got something experimental. I've already died once today, if you can believe that, and that was before I rode through town on a wild mag-lev bear with fur made of guns. As far as what I was doing I'll let you know once I have a vague idea of what's going on myself.."
Once done grappling with the fact that my Reality Cheque just bounced, head down to the fourth floor. Meta wise I want to check this AI and character wise.. I think I just want to go home to the third floor :P
Think to my handler: "Helpful to know, any other little magic-casting tibbits or methods I should be aware of? I'm happy with anything that doesn't make me look like a nutter, helps me solve problems or gives me a fun new avenue to wreck havoc by accident"
((Decoherent doesn't respond, since it's been established that they can't really read thoughts. Also, you're already on Floor 4 already.))
"We got birds incoming, and I've got some sort of weird water person thing down here. Somebody keep an eye on those birds." Beirus orders over the squad channel as he watches the reflection of the water thing in the door."Opening fire!"
Turn and face the water thing with my pistol drawn and held by my side whi
le stepping back frim the door. See if it reacts. If not, ask it to show me the way to the skyscraper. If it gets hostile for any reason, shoot it. If it doesn't react at all, go check that building I was gonna check.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 2 vs. 3] Novjoy proceeds to miss every shot.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 0 vs. 2] As does Mirai.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 4 vs. 5] And Johnny.
Well, looks like the visibility really is too damn poor. Or maybe your squad mates are just plain incompetent.
The flock, nine birds in total are about to reach you, though you'll still be able to attack or run first.
As for your new liquid buddy, it doesn't really do much. It just unceremoniously collapses into a puddle and then proceeds to collapse in reverse right in front of you, rising from the water-logged road. It remains staring at you motionlessly.
Post by: Empiricist on January 04, 2016, 07:07:27 am
| < | Turn 25 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6671460#msg6671460) | | | Turn 26 | | | Turn 27 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6783640#msg6783640) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: PenciL_art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Hawk132 on January 04, 2016, 07:20:03 am
First of all - an equipment check. Try to include my own frame into it.
Afterwards throw one of the luchadore skeletons at the LANDSKNECHT, if my equipment check decides they are weapons-grade (fakedit: oh, those are the corpses of the three guys that were on top of my LUPUS). If they aren't - let's try out my ladle on the most dangerous piece of equipment it has.
Post by: FallacyofUrist on January 04, 2016, 09:43:51 am
James sighs, then heads further inwards, perhaps trying to determine what caused this damage.
Post by: Beirus on January 04, 2016, 03:09:45 pm
Let's try that gout of plasma thing. Sweep it across the flock. Or use my Bound Weapon on the highest rate of fire for all four barrels. Then try to get to cover.
Post by: Bigf00t on January 10, 2016, 09:25:23 am
I'm a dolt.
Anyway, Explore for a bit, look for any sort of production/military buildings that may be of use for looting (Fallout style :P ), if I dont find any join up with one of the groups of soldiers going to bail up their mates under attack from "unidentified units".
Also mutter my previous thought-question about alternate magic use/invoking methods to my handler.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on January 10, 2016, 10:34:39 am
To Red: "You are not? Bummer..." Ao sighs dejectedly. "Guess I have to deal with dissapointing reality. I suppose we could set that place as a goal here, though I really would like to get my mecha back first. I know you can't tell me details, but can you at least tell if this magic thingy has word for bullets?"
It would really good to find a word for bullets. d0.
Grab a rifle.
To my good soldiers: "The only place without power you say? Do you happen to have any idea location of power lines there? Transformers? Fusebox? Monsters plus lack of power equals something is leeching it right from the source. Destroying it would be rather beneficial, don't you think?"
Post by: Toaster on January 12, 2016, 08:44:11 pm
Just keep running and try to juke past it. If it looks like it's going to catch me, hit it with a 3d 88 ulez and just keep running.
Post by: blazing glory on January 12, 2016, 09:54:16 pm
Go up to "Jimmy" and say, "Hey, having a good time with Natalie these days?"
Post by: The Ensorceler on January 13, 2016, 03:34:00 am
"Can... Can you talk? If not, this could get tricky, but, uh." Louder, "I have some authority here. Please don't try to fight.
Post by: Empiricist on January 13, 2016, 04:49:17 pm
Shoot it up.((Which parts of it are you aiming for?))
Post by: The Ensorceler on January 14, 2016, 08:55:12 pm
Post by: Pencil_Art on January 17, 2016, 10:32:32 pm
Post by: Empiricist on February 01, 2016, 11:01:46 pm
Post by: Corsair on February 02, 2016, 12:12:58 am
"Yeah, that was mostly a joke."
First of all - an equipment check. Try to include my own frame into it.
Afterwards throw one of the luchadore skeletons at the LANDSKNECHT, if my equipment check decides they are weapons-grade (fakedit: oh, those are the corpses of the three guys that were on top of my LUPUS). If they aren't - let's try out my ladle on the most dangerous piece of equipment it has.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Most of it's the same, it's based on the frame that killed you after all. I'll summarize the old details for you.
It's a 00-LANDSKNECHT/AF, core is protected with reactive armor that erupts with proceesed sugar. Can be a real problem if it gets on your cameras.
Legs are blackbox with energy thrusters. Durable, stable, agile and low latency. Arms are LUPUS of course.
Time for the changes. The head is now LUPUS as well, so it's got the full sensor package, not that it matters much when you're this close and have nowhere to hide.
Still it's more durable so it might not be as easy to blow it off like last time, plus the camera functionality's greater.
Chaingun's been replaced with two heavy cannons, they're both loaded with high explosive anti-armor rounds.
They've replaced the pre-Fall tech with things that are equivalent. So the gateway weapon now runs on blatant magic that shouldn't even exist.
It's still its most dangerous weapon, in between its high output, volume of fire and sheer versatility.
And instead of having an FCS unit, it just has a crystal ball that can tell the future. Yes, really.
The good news is this new frame of yours, the AF01-DIRUS, and no that isn't an actual NEE frame, is better than the old one. Well, overall at least.
It doesn't have any of the electronic warfare hardware, but none of that would be too useful here anyway. It has no actuators to speak of and is
animated through magic. So it can still move even if they pump it full of holes as long as the cockpit's fine. It's tougher than it looks as well
since even if you shatter the bones, they'll still stay in place, it isn't like there's anything holding them in place right now anyway.
One extra feature is that it can purge individual parts. The purgable parts in question being the head, limbs, and the entire front half of the core.
Yes, that includes part of the cockpit, so you'll have no screens at all if you that, though you'll still be able to see through the gaping
hole in your frame. Thankfully, it doesn't eject any of the controls.
You've got three sets of flares each of which are able to force your opponent's weapons to target them. Yep, they look like your old squadmates. Real classy.
Bear in mind that it doen't prevent them from just physically bashing you though.
And then of course there's that greatladle. Yes, greatladle, like a greatsword. Believe me, I didn't coin the term.
Firstly, it literally sucks the life out of everything nearby in order to power itself. Oh and it can cause death with its very touch,
though that effect can be resisted, still wouldn't recommend licking it or anything like that. It automatically wreathes itself in a corrosive aura when swung,
making it even more lethal against flesh, and capable of damaging inorganic substances as well. Oh and on top of that, the aura is discharged at the end
of the swing in the form of a blast of dark magic. Again, it corrodes things. So if you aren't too confident in melee, you can just rely on that.
Then again, you seemed pretty happy shoot-punching it in the face last time.
Still want to swing at it? Or going to try out the ranged attack?
"... rest in peace."You reach the end of the administrative area, the cubicles giving away to desks sealed off behind clear plastic in their own little rooms. There's blood as well, not as much as before. Still, there are still several corpses lining the way to the door at the back. The doors that had been flung wide open. So, guess not everyone died then. Hooray for them. That just leaves the bodies to bury, probably not your thing really. You're an engineer-slash-action-hero, not a gravedigger after all.
James sighs, then heads further inwards, perhaps trying to determine what caused this damage.
Besides, you have far better things to be doing now, like dragging human remains out of the bellies of the four beasts that stand before you now. Violently if need be. You know that sculpture, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/'Unique_Forms_of_Continuity_in_Space'%2C_1913_bronze_by_Umberto_Boccioni.jpg/220px-'Unique_Forms_of_Continuity_in_Space'%2C_1913_bronze_by_Umberto_Boccioni.jpg)? Well they look like that, albeit canine and formed of gleaming steel. You've seen parts of them before, littering the ground of the lobby in haphazard piles. The surfaces of these live specimens are constantly rippling almost fluidly as they stalk towards you bearing the bloodstained blades they have for teeth.
"When we get back, all of you are spending time at the target range. I guess it's time to test out the new toy R&D gave me." Beirus says over the squad channel.[LTAR vs. MDEF: 5 vs. 3] With a deafening roar, blue-hot plasma erupts forth from your weapon. It isn't so much a jet, as much as it's a continuous, barely directed explosion. The blast shatters the flock, the rapidly cooling plasma devouring bird and rain alike. Unfortunately, you can't actually do much aiming when firing it, mainly because you can't see shit thanks to the burning radiance, so your sweep is pretty much made half-blind.
Let's try that gout of plasma thing. Sweep it across the flock. Then try to get to cover.
The four surviving birds, the ones on the fringes of the flock that managed to scatter, swoop around the blast, diving at you.
[MDEF vs. LTAR: 7 vs. 4] You dive backwards, the glass doors of the apartment resisting but ultimately shattering as your exoskeleton slams against and then through it. Sickle-like talons swipe at you, leaving lingering arcs of electricity in their wake, but ultimately failing to hit you.
Now that you've gotten a much closer view, a view that is probably a bit too close for comfort, you can see that they're made entirely of ice and vapor. Their torsos are skeletal, with their backs missing, exposing the blade-like tentacles that emerge from behind their thick sternums. Their wings are wreathed in miniature clouds, while their discharge-wreathed talons look like a set of sickles.
You are currently sailing backwards through the air into an apartment lobby, accosted by a shower of glass and a few homicidal ice birds. Wat do?
Welp.You look around and note down several places as you wander through the street. Three of them in particular stand out: a MAS Corporation Archaeology building, an AMD Technology center, and a facility belonging to Shade Research. But unfortunately, they're utterly worthless because they're mostly filled with useless crap related to blackbox technology from back when humans were on the cusp of godhood, as opposed to anything truly useful such as ceramic mugs. Okay, with a lot of luck, you might just be able to come across some sort of hypothetical machine that conjures them out of thin-air, but that's a bit of a long shot, sure it'll be like an even better version of Pascal's Wager, but it's still not too likely. Damn it, where are the kitchenware stores when you need them?
I'm a dolt.
Anyway, Explore for a bit, look for any sort of production/military buildings that may be of use for looting (Fallout style :P ), if I dont
find any join up with one of the groups of soldiers going to bail up their mates under attack from "unidentified units".
Also mutter my previous thought-question about alternate magic use/invoking methods to my handler.
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
No tips, no. But, I will let you know that your magic isn't unique.
Others can take a gamble with the same principles, hedge their bets and refine it even.
But they can't cast anything they desire on the spot unassisted like you.
You know, since you're here, we do have a few menial errands to run.
Just rifling through paperwork and files for an investigation, boring stuff. Safe stuff.
But we'll send some more resources your way if you do, not that much though - it's pretty menial work like I said.
If it doesn't interrupt your busy schedule of summoning magical bears and using them to dig you a deeper treason hole of course.
Ao Shi"Probably, I dunno. But even if I knew I wouldn't tell you anything straight. Messing with you is so easy, being in your head and all! heheh!"
To Red: "You are not? Bummer..." Ao sighs dejectedly.
"Guess I have to deal with dissapointing reality. I suppose we could set that place as a goal here,
though I really would like to get my mecha back first. I know you can't tell me details, but can you at least tell
if this magic thingy has word for bullets?"
It would really good to find a word for bullets. d0.
Grab a rifle.
To my good soldiers: "The only place without power you say? Do you happen to have any idea
location of power lines there? Transformers? Fusebox? Monsters plus lack of power equals something is leeching it
right from the source. Destroying it would be rather beneficial, don't you think?"
She impishly replies while playing with a hallucinatory newton's cradle while what appears to be a childish drawing of a girl in an engineer's uniform, labelled 'Mal' yells ineffectually at her in the background.
[COMP: 12/1] You conjure the shimmering image of a magnificent sword out of purple light. Unfortunately, you currently are not equipped with any firearms that fire swords at people. Not yet at any rate.
"Afraid we don't, sorry. We were just expecting to go shoot the other guys here, no offense."
They gesture somewhat apologetically to another soldier
"None taken. We could try fanning out around the research center, I'd figure it'd be somewhere in it or near it. Issue is, well, it's down there."
They point down the stairs.
"The place grew past its initial lot, so they just put some of the newer buildings nearby in the city. Where the creatures were we fought are."
Rifle get.
"Agh! CRAAAP!"[MDEF vs. LTAR: -3 vs. 6] Good lord, well, you succeed in juking your face into its fist. Which also happens to be the last thing that goes through your head. Messily.
Just keep running and try to juke past it. If it looks like it's going to catch me, hit it with a 3d 88 ulez and just keep running.
THANKS OBAMA
Before the debris from what used to be your skull even settles, you find yourself awakening in the middle of the cathedral, once again dressed in 50's clothing. As if it were all just a bad dream.
>Better luck next time then.
>Try another? Or leave?
>Your consolation prize:
They toss you six revolver rounds. They are inscribed with the same insignia as the matchbox you once had.
Spoiler: LEVEL UP (click to show/hide)
"I see..."He looks at you, and for a brief moment you see a look of utter terror flash across his face. It is the look of someone who has just realized that what they thought was a glory hole was actually an irradiated woodchipper. With rusty blades. That are actually just vaguely blade-shaped colonies of spiders. While reading this awkwardly forced and horribly mutilated rhetoric. Point is, he does not look like he's having very pleasant thoughts.
Go up to "Jimmy" and say, "Hey, having a good time with Natalie these days?"
"H-How do you know Natalie?"
He blurts out, evidently not doing the best to maintain his composure.
Shoot it up, but don't activate yet. If it actively threatens me, activate all bullets.Okay well this is going to be... interesting.
"Can... Can you talk? If not, this could get tricky, but, uh." Louder, "I have some authority here. Please don't try to fight.
[UTAR vs. SDEF: -2 vs. 5] You unload your weapon at the beast. Your shot go wild and ricochet off its plating before impacting into the scrap-castles around the room. The creature turns and screeches in a horrible combination of a bird call, grinding glass and tearing steel. It begins moving towards you examining you closely as it does, it's sword-like claws scraping along the ground menacingly.
It cocks it's head as you speak, seeming to lack some inherent understanding of your attempts at communication.
((8/10 bullets used))
Derek runs further down the next set of stairs.Okay, so, you took cover behind a pillar previously, meaning you can't run forwards. There are two shoggoths flanking you, so you can only run backwards. And it is at that point that something precipitates from the haze. You don't even get a good look at it before you feel a hard impact followed by the feeling of being crushed by the two shoggoths.
YOU DIED
You wake up next to Winston in the middle of the cathedral.
>Well, sucks to be you.
>Next time, try not to die.
"You realize you need to use the resources to make yourself better right? Not just cling onto them like pieces of bling?"
Spoiler: LEVEL UP (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on February 02, 2016, 12:14:39 am
| < | Turn 26 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6713397#msg6713397) | | | Turn 27 | | | Turn 28 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6840297#msg6840297) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: FallacyofUrist on February 02, 2016, 09:45:41 am
No, bullets probably won't work... those things are steel or something...
The gravity gun might slow them down... but it won't stop them for long enough.
If only I was a wizard.
Well, technically I am a wizard... I just have absolutely no idea how to do any decent magic.
Which makes it a very bad idea to try.
Which basically means I should...
RUN. But slowly unless they go into attack mode.
You could try one of the words as a distraction? Sure... risky, yeh? But you're a hero! Risk is a third of what being a hero's all about!
So long as you RUN afterwards. Seriously. Do it. Just because you're a hero doesn't make you invincible, wizard boy.
Wait, since when do I have voices in my head? Other than Soteriologist, anyway?
You're a hero now. That means you've got an Audience. Deal with it.
James whispers "ixc" under his breath towards the hounds, then turns and RUNS away, activating Memento Mori and following the path least likely to get him killed.
Post by: The Ensorceler on February 03, 2016, 08:22:45 pm
"Here..."
Post by: Hawk132 on February 04, 2016, 09:24:13 am
Let's try to knock out his cameras with some ranged attacks.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on February 04, 2016, 09:47:16 am
Persuasion. Word: be.
Post by: Empiricist on February 04, 2016, 03:25:21 pm
Post by: AoshimaMichio on February 04, 2016, 03:53:56 pm
Post by: Beirus on February 04, 2016, 05:41:03 pm
Post by: Empiricist on February 04, 2016, 05:43:18 pm
Post by: Bigf00t on February 07, 2016, 10:03:56 pm
"Yea, I'm alright with some menial work, I could do with something completely menial to turn completely mental. By Accident I swear. Pray tell"
Wander off in whatever direction he indicates, and mutter (my follower will learn sooner or later, so eh, but if hes not paying attention I'm fine with that):
"06" [Dedicate 7/14 COMP]
"07" [Dedicate 7/14 COMP]
((Good News Everybody! I now have insane and reliable internet. Well. I assume reliable. It's pretty good tho. Anyway I should actually update more often and timely now, and if one of you talk to me I might even respond :P ))
Post by: Corsair on February 18, 2016, 08:34:32 pm
Post by: Beirus on February 18, 2016, 09:22:41 pm
Enslave those birds to my will through Transcendence. Or at least calm them down so they don't attack me or my squad Failing that, unleash my Bound AIAR on them on full auto, all barrels firing. If they get too close, hit them with my plasma sword instead. Try not to break anything near my squad. If shit goes south, tell them to retreat, then attempt to buy enough time for them to get out of here. If I need to dodge, try to get out through a side door or window, or roll further back into the building, maybe putting some doors or furniture between me and the birds.
Post by: Empiricist on February 19, 2016, 12:13:07 am
And I don't think anyone Corsair mentioned is currently fighting either electro-mecha or metal wolves :P))
Post by: Pencil_Art on February 19, 2016, 12:33:14 am
Post by: blazing glory on February 19, 2016, 01:25:47 am
Lewis smiles.
"Well, lets just say the writing was on the wall."
"Don't worry, nothing...drastic will happen, but you might want to reconsider how you spend your free time."
Turn around and walk out of the bar.
"Okay, so it worked, but how exactly does this benefit me? I don't get the feeling you want me to idle out my time and randomly try bits of magic that doesn't work."
Try the next bit of magic that doesn't work, "84".
Post by: Empiricist on February 19, 2016, 01:28:54 am
Post by: blazing glory on February 19, 2016, 02:33:40 am
((Yeah, I think we ought to just start launching random enemies out of alleyways at you seeing as there really isn't that much happening on your floor. To be honest, Corsair was half-expecting the RNG to murder with magical mishap, letting him respawn you in the middle of a warzone or something :P))((Mmh, It seemed rude to practice magicks in a crowded building and the turns update too slowly for me to really get into it with dedicated research.))
((Speaking of which, heads up, I edited my action.))
Post by: Bigf00t on February 19, 2016, 02:39:59 am
((BEIRUS, BLAZING, PENCIL_ART; Your posts are not here yet. Post so we can murder you all with electro-mecha and metal wolves.))I like your style.
Post by: Beirus on February 19, 2016, 03:46:04 am
((Beirus, you may want to specify how to dodge/deflect the attacks of the birds, as in, give us a direction to for you to dodge in or something. Otherwise they'll hit you if you fail to kill them all since you have no defensive action.((It's been edited. Also, I guess that means transcendence doesn't work like that. Thanks for crushing my dreams, Empiricist. :P))
And I don't think anyone Corsair mentioned is currently fighting either electro-mecha or metal wolves :P))
Post by: Toaster on February 19, 2016, 01:20:04 pm
I forget, am I picking one? If so, pick one of the ones I haven't at random.
Post by: Empiricist on February 20, 2016, 08:02:24 pm
Oh and in case you two were curious:
Pencil_Art you had hidden TRAN rolls the whole time. Mission was supposed to be just the smog and entities that live within it slowly creeping in, forcing you to fight your way further in with the difficulty fluctuating over time. However you just kept on rolling amazingly well, managing to keep it at bay until that staircase wherein you proceeded to just repeatedly crit-fail. Your carbine was stupidly powerful, it would have covered the entire area around you in shadows, summon figures out of the shadows and subsequently had those figures open fire with powerful magical blasts that were incapable of damaging the contents of the ship.
Toaster, you well, you were already on the leftmost train thus the train on your left was a trap. If you actually shot at the lines between the bees, you could have actually interrupted their attacks. Though over time, they'd attack more regularly and be more aggressive until you were just being chased by a mechanical dragon made out of solar bees that wields a gatling gun made out of solar bees that can fire solar bees at you like bullets or turn its barrel into a quasar that ejects radiation at you. A good deal of the loot wasn't actually too useful, just distractions to give the bees more time. So what the bow-blade would have down when you pulled the trigger is to just unleash this massive blast of styrofoam. Oh and that toaster? It originally fired enormous flaming blades but risked screwing you over every time you fired. Placing it on the altar changed it so that the blades were a different elements and would have made it screw you differently. You probably could have survived that punch normally, but well, the RNG really, really hated you.))
Post by: Corsair on February 28, 2016, 04:25:15 am
"Um... hello. Soteriologist? Any suggestions?"
No, bullets probably won't work... those things are steel or something...
The gravity gun might slow them down... but it won't stop them for long enough.
If only I was a wizard.
Well, technically I am a wizard... I just have absolutely no idea how to do any decent magic.
Which makes it a very bad idea to try.
Which basically means I should...
RUN. But slowly unless they go into attack mode.
You could try one of the words as a distraction? Sure... risky, yeh? But you're a hero! Risk is a third of what being a hero's all about!
So long as you RUN afterwards. Seriously. Do it. Just because you're a hero doesn't make you invincible, wizard boy.
Wait, since when do I have voices in my head? Other than Soteriologist, anyway?
You're a hero now. That means you've got an Audience. Deal with it.
James whispers "ixc" under his breath towards the hounds, then turns and RUNS away, activating Memento Mori and following the path least likely to get him killed.
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
Try shooting.
The Loremaster Consortium are not ones to waste a perfectly good asset.
Not when people such as yourself are the lifeblood of their ops.
[COMP: 4/3] Outlines erupt from your chest, each the shape of a bullet. They spray towards the murderous art installations doing nothing due to their insubstantial nature. Well, looks like you've found a promising addition to your magical arsenal.
You start running back the way you came, wolves in hot pursuit. They're catching up to you, but not nearly as quickly as they should, thanks to Memento Mori showing you that vaulting over the desks is not something they were expecting, combined with the fact that you're able to do so flawlessly. Still, you can't run forever. Okay, yeah, you sort of can, but it's not going to be helping much with completing your objectives.
Summon toolbox, offer lunch dumped on the ground. Dump as many lunches as possible in the time I have left.The time you have left turns out to be quite a lot of time as your actions seem to have confused it, like offering an axe-murderer balloons when he runs at you flailing with the weapon of his trade while wearing a clown costume drenched in blood.
"Here..."
It looks at you and at the growing pile of lunches before up the lunches and begins adding sandwich battlements to the castles and constructing moats out of pumpkin soup. The electrical discharge across its glossy black carapace lessens. Well, looks like you've placated it, or at least distracted it long enough to make your escape.
"The ladle can do ranged? Let's do that then."[UTAR: AUTOSUCCESS] Your ladle wreaths itself in a corona of green discharges as you swing it, discharging an inky black wave that roils through the air. Your foe is prepared however. Your foe was expecting that. Your foe is completely oblivious to the properties of your weapon. It unleashes a blast from its gateway weapon, a blast that ineffectually blows through your attack, doing absolutely nothing as their frame's head degrades and rusts.
Let's try to knock out his cameras with some ranged attacks.
Your foe quickly recovers, raising both of its heavy cannons and opening fire.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
You know the drill, primary cameras disabled, more cameras in the core.
"Well, the research center sounds about right. After dealing with that we need to handle the thing that keeps dropping these things all over the floor. Say, anyone wanna come with me hunting the big game?"The soldier struggles internally for a bit, looking as if the Devil himself was trying to force them to fellate one of the grenade launchers or something.
Persuasion. Word: be.
"What, now? No! Hell, no! Look, we can cover you but good luck trying to fight that thing close up. No way in hell I'm going up against that again. We'll certainly be rooting for you and we'll try and give you some fire support but that thing we don't wanna go near."
You could have already guessed that response before they even finished speaking seeing as you saw money surreptitiously changing hands along with clicks of their internal comms.
[COMP: 4/1] You summon the image of a glaive which disappears like all the others before it.
Mutter:
"Yea, I'm alright with some menial work, I could do with something completely menial to turn completely mental. By Accident I swear. Pray tell"
Wander off in whatever direction he indicates, and mutter (my follower will learn sooner or later, so eh, but if hes not paying attention I'm fine with that):
"06" [Dedicate 7/14 COMP]
"07" [Dedicate 7/14 COMP]
Code: (DECHOHERENT) [Select]
Good, in the Shade Research building, the server bunkers should have the files. Files will have PROTECTOR or something similar somewhere in their name.
You walk for a few minutes through the deserted streets of the 4th floor, cars abandoned and once busy promenades empty of people. The building of shade research is a large series of wide, squat glass buildings surrounded by a large parking
[COMP: 7] Fizzle
[COMP: 7/3] You summon a large globule of clear liquid that splashes onto the ground and begins to rapidly evaporate smelling extremely strongly of paint thinner and leaving the section of footpath in front of you far cleaner than before. Your squire's eyes open wide in what is hopefully awe and not a feeling that he must burn you at the stake for being a witch.
Enslave those birds to my will through Transcendence. Or at least calm them down so they don't attack me or my squad Failing that, unleash my Bound AIAR on them on full auto, all barrels firing. If they get too close, hit them with my plasma sword instead. Try not to break anything near my squad. If shit goes south, tell them to retreat, then attempt to buy enough time for them to get out of here. If I need to dodge, try to get out through a side door or window, or roll further back into the building, maybe putting some doors or furniture between me and the birds.Vaulting over the desk, you conjure the assault rifle into your hand and discharge all four barrels at once, spitting force a hellish stream of white-hot metal at the remaining birds.
[UTAR vs MDEF: 3 vs. 3] The birds narrowly dodge the hypersonic deluge. Darn. Why can't they just squawk around in their trees, shitting everywhere like all the other birds?
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 3 vs. 1, 3] However, they are unable to actually hit you either. Lovely. Guess everyone's aim is off today.
The figure has collapsed and risen in one of the corners and continues staring at you.
Derek starts this game again.You are surrounded by glowing purple energy as you warp through space-time to somewhen, somewhere or other.
You are in the cockpit of some sort of AF, the readouts holographically projected into the air before you. There is debris field spreading around you in all directions for what must be hundreds, even thousands of kilometers. You see a battle of an immense size a few kilometers away, flashes of laser fire flicker, or rather their aftermaths between the sides in an invisible hail of omnidirectional destruction.
The readouts make very little sense partially due to the fact that they seem to be written in complete gibberish with many characters you cannot recognize. The pictures and numbers are moderately more informative; primarily a full picture of your AF which has an angular aerodynamic design going on. You also figure out how to look at your hands like a stoner which you proceed to do as they appear to have no joints or internal rotating parts whatsoever, which makes the "movement" thing rather paradoxical. Weapons are a bit inconclusive, with a pair of pictures either side of the frame, the left one looks like a rifle although more angular and stripped down, generally space-y. The right image appears to be a metal ring in which are a dozen blades evenly spaced around it the ring appears to have some sort of tech-y thing in the middle. In the same position as the start bar are a bunch of icons evenly spaced across the screen.
Icon 1: A "T" with the middle of the vertical line shifted to the left so that the right pixel of the shifted section is diagonal to the left pixel of the central shaft.
Icon 2: An asterisk star.
Icon 3: A circle with an "x" through it.
A message flickers onto your view screen:
"Destroy enemy forces. Allowed active time is 300 seconds."
Lewis smiles.[COMP: 7/1] You summon the shimmering image of an ornate chestplate which dissipates into nothingness.
"Well, lets just say the writing was on the wall."
"Don't worry, nothing...drastic will happen, but you might want to reconsider how you spend your free time."
Turn around and walk out of the bar.
"Okay, so it worked, but how exactly does this benefit me? I don't get the feeling you want me to idle out my time and randomly try bits of magic that doesn't work."
Try the next bit of magic that doesn't work, "84".
"Uh... um okay I understand..."
He stutters before downing his beer and immediately paying the barkeep for two more.
Code: (TZINCAIN) [Select]
There's more than just magic.
Time halts. You cannot move. But you can still think. You can still cast your gaze around you, looking at your surroundings. Pale lines trace out at random, aiming at you, each of them bearing a time until impact and a ring around their seemingly arbitrary origins, representing the delay until the next shot. Ghostly images race out of you, ducking and weaving through the barrage, some of them run along the walls, others conjure the revolver and shoot the bullets of the air. The images vanish and time resumes once more.
Code: (TZINCAIN) [Select]
We have enhanced your reflexes, your agility, your coordination.
We have combat data to assist you as well.
Your spells do nothing because you are summoning forms without defining the substances from which they are made.
There is work to be done elsewhere, get somewhere secluded, I'll call in a favor.
"Uhhhhh I have no idea what's going on with my life right now, so let's try another!">We require something
I forget, am I picking one? If so, pick one of the ones I haven't at random.
>A set of specimens
>the great
>Volatile and dangerous specimens:
>Follow us if you would
They lead you to the crackling orange doorway, after you step through the gateway you are dressed in your normal clothes in addition to a pith helmet and three Polaroid photographs. One depicts a wolf made of steel, its body looking like a semi-abstract sculpture. One is a skeleton wielding a brass flywheel attached to some kind of mechanical apparatus. One is what appears to be a high-tech gimp suit hard to tell from the lens flare coming off of the burning silver blade in its hand.
You are at a bus station on Floor 1 in all its Detroit-esque glory. It's not as swell as you remember it. There buildings have been evidently scarred by stray shots that seem to have torn sizable holes through them.
They hand you a literal ten foot pole, terminating in a tightenable noose of icy blue metal.
>We have altered this implement's properties
>Your Unbound Targeting protocols are compatible with it now
>Hunt down your targets, ensnare them
>They whey are subdued press them against their photo to capture
>You will be rewarded for each one
Post by: Empiricist on February 28, 2016, 04:28:10 am
| < | Turn 27 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6783640#msg6783640) | | | Turn 28 | | | Turn 29 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6854537#msg6854537) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on February 28, 2016, 04:38:43 am
Post by: blazing glory on February 28, 2016, 05:17:01 am
Go back to my apartment.
Moar magic:"-O"
Post by: Hawk132 on February 28, 2016, 09:33:07 am
Start moving around unpredictably. Try to get out of the sight of his cameras. Launch more corrosive aura at him. Aim for his cannons now. Warp his barrels so that he cannot fire them without destroying his own arms. Then launch one of my skeletons and close in for a melee strike on the core.
Post by: FallacyofUrist on February 28, 2016, 05:25:29 pm
Calm down, idiot. Sure, maybe bullets can't hurt them, but you have other options, remember?
"Alternatively..."
James conjures his bound fire axe, then lobs it at the closest wolf. He keeps running afterwards.
Post by: Bigf00t on February 29, 2016, 06:27:56 am
Also yay! Acetone!.. wait.
To my follower:
"Oh yea, kinda forgot to mention. I can do magic. Don't know why exactly, but 'the powers that be' decided to give me awesome powers of my own in order to do... something about saving the world. In this case grab some files.
In case you were wondering how I ended up riding a neodymium magnet murderbear... yea. I have no idea what most of this stuff does, but I'm slowly getting the grips of it."
"d0 22"
Grab the (hopefully save and/or usable) sword, scan the carpark for threats and if seemingly safe head on in through the least dangerous looking entrance. Or the front door, whatever works.
To my follower:
"Hey, you were the one who said 'experience is as valuable as gold' right? I doubt you'd get this carnival ride elsewhere. Then again you might, the world has gotten pretty weird lately."
Post by: AoshimaMichio on February 29, 2016, 12:40:01 pm
22 84. Probably cool armor if RNG is nice. Wear it if it works. Probe how their opinions change if it produces anything tangible. Maybe more willingness to tag along?
And get a verbal map to predicted target location of next core.
Post by: Beirus on March 02, 2016, 04:52:26 am
Post by: Corsair on March 06, 2016, 02:18:09 am
"Substances huh? So if I keep going through this list I'll eventually hit on something I can make things out of?"You head back to your apartment through the fire escape once more and cast your spell.
Go back to my apartment.
Moar magic:"-O"
[COMP: 3] Fizzle.
Code: (TZINACAN) [Select]
Wrong list. Substances are in one of the sections you haven't used.
Hold still, you'll be helping someone get the data we need.
A shimmering orb of thousands of shifting points of light enters your apartment, phasing straight through the wall. It shifts and whirls its lights like thousands of cogs and belts of a mechanism beyond your understanding. It floats up to your chest height and grows larger, you notice several lights flicker and begin to drown out as it grows to your size. Just before the lights give out it floats through your chest with a slightly sticky feeling over your body, and you are instantly transported into a parking lot somewhere else.
You can see three buildings and several guards on each. Just a car over, you can see a shoddily equipped soldier from the SL forces and someone else in SL uniform carrying a strange rifle and silver sword, he is also followed by a horse made of rope.
"That's step one of my plan. Now for step two."[MDEF vs. UTAR: 2 vs. 10] Your foe begins broadcasting on an unencrypted channel once again, but that familiar voice is nowhere to be heard. Instead, it's just blaring out cutesy J-pop beneath heavy static. It also proceeds to knee-cap your frame. Thankfully, the legs are still functional albeit a bit unsteady.
Start moving around unpredictably. Try to get out of the sight of his cameras. Launch more corrosive aura at him. Aim for his cannons now. Warp his barrels so that he cannot fire them without destroying his own arms. Then launch one of my skeletons and close in for a melee strike on the core.
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 0 vs. 10] You however do still manage to more waves of corrosion, aimed at their heavy cannons. They predictably intercept, this time their more solid rounds crashing against the ripples, corroding into naught but canceling out your attack as well. Mostly. There's some residue left, which strikes their weapons, visibly rusting their barrels.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Heavy cannons damaged. Accuracy lowered.
No meaningful loss of structural integrity.
Both have 9 rounds remaining.
One of skeletons stands up, salutes you, and flies upwards as you close in for a ladle swing. Your foe stands their ground, aims both its cannons at your core, and suddenly swings its arms upwards, discharging both rounds into the skeleton, blowing it apart. As one of the severed hands, flipping the bird at your foe, falls you make your swing.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 1 vs. 4] Before you can hit its core however, your foe's thrusters activate, launching it backwards at an angle, sending it airborne and out of the path of your swing and its aftermath.
"Shooting. You want me... to try shooting at them. I'm an action hero, not a demigod! And I don't think bullets can even hurt those things!"
Calm down, idiot. Sure, maybe bullets can't hurt them, but you have other options, remember?
"Alternatively..."
James conjures his bound fire axe, then lobs it at the closest wolf. He keeps running afterwards.
Code: (SOTERILOGIST) [Select]
The weight gun. Not the peashooter.
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 0 vs. 1] Your axe precipitates into your hand as you run, the swinging of your arms allowing you to quickly assess its weight and point of balance. Spinning upon your heel, you turn around and hurl it at the nearest wolf, running backwards whilst doing so. It makes no attempt to dodge, the axe head impacting one of its legs. It tears through it with seemingly supernatural force and continues onwards, its spinning form effortlessly cleaving apart all four limbs in some sprays of that same viscous liquid you saw earlier. Yet before its body hits the ground, it has already recovered, new legs manifesting in faint flashes of light.
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
I take that back. They're weaker than they look, it seems.
It's stride barely interrupted, it lunges at you. As time halts once more, you note that the others are still a bit too far away to reach you. Right now, you are crossing back into the lobby.
Yay! Moar updates![COMP: 8/4] You get a silver-bladed, single-edged sabre the blade shifts and whirls constantly like warm honey. It has perfect balance and appears to weigh very little.
Also yay! Acetone!.. wait.
To my follower:
"Oh yea, kinda forgot to mention. I can do magic. Don't know why exactly, but 'the powers that be' decided to give me awesome powers of my own in order to do... something about saving the world. In this case grab some files.
In case you were wondering how I ended up riding a neodymium magnet murderbear... yea. I have no idea what most of this stuff does, but I'm slowly getting the grips of it."
"d0 22"
Grab the (hopefully save and/or usable) sword, scan the carpark for threats and if seemingly safe head on in through the least dangerous looking entrance. Or the front door, whatever works.
To my follower:
"Hey, you were the one who said 'experience is as valuable as gold' right? I doubt you'd get this carnival ride elsewhere. Then again you might, the world has gotten pretty weird lately."
You approach the carpark and see that the building is in lockdown with several security guards patrolling the roofs and (fortunately) a lot of cars in the car-park which cover your approach. You can see several signs saying "WARNING: Trespassers may be fired upon" on the building and in the far end of the carpark. There are three buildings that are near you. The central tower that is 4 stories tall and covered in glass but it appears to have shutters behind that have closed to protect the squishy people inside. There is a sniper & spotter team on top of it watching the streets, next to the central tower are two wings which are three stories tall each and have ten guards on each armed with a mix of LMGs, assault rifles and shotguns. None have noticed you yet, and there appears to be an additional building behind the three front ones.
Code: (DECHOHERENT) [Select]
Another unit is being tasked to your position to improve odds of success, standby while their waveform is adjusted.
"That dangerous, huh? Guess I need to prepare a bit more. Good thing I may have some blackbox tech available. Unreliable stuff, but it may help."
22 84. Probably cool armor if RNG is nice. Wear it if it works. Probe how their opinions change if it produces anything tangible. Maybe more willingness to tag along?
And get a verbal map to predicted target location of next core.
[COMP: 8/4]
Your spell conjures up what appears to be a highly advanced chestplate. It is jet black and has a matte coating but when you look at it from the side it shimmers with a mirror sheen. Underneath is a layer of what appears to be kevlar that also covers the joints where the armor isn't. It has several sections in the armor plates allowing for great flexibility up to the tips of the shoulder blades where there is a single solid unit that reaches up to the nape of your neck. It has a central heatsink and two cylindrical batteries(?)) that poke out slightly from underneath the plate covering most of it. There are several fine pipelines that seem to lead to the fabric sections where they blend in perfectly.
The soldiers though evidently surprised by your little conjuration, don't say a word, as if acknowledging your blatant wizardry will be last straw that tears apart whatever scarce verisimilitude of reality remains to reveal the hellish abyss of demons and eldritch fuckery that lies beneath. Not a word to you at least - you hear the clicking of their radios again and more money changes hands, by the looks of it, the odds for you just improved. Finally, after settling their finances, one of them speaks:
"Aw hell, okay, do you have any more fancy tricks up your sleeves? It burns through armor, and once it's through,"
He cringes
"A bullet's the only thing we can do for ya."
Another one pipes up.
"The building the core may be in is down the stairs and at the end of the third street on the left. It's one of those corporate buildings."
"Tell you what, we'll act as overwatch, move a few people upstairs where there's a clearer view, give you covering fire, that sort of thing. No way we're going against that thing directly again though, I can't endanger the rest of my squad like that."
Keep shooting. If there is an opening, try to get back outside.[UTAR vs. MDEF: 1 vs. 2] You continue firing and they continue dodging, lovely. ((No, their MDEF isn't particularly high, the RNG just hates you right now.))
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 5 vs. 2] They again swoop in through your bullets and begin slashing at you. Of course, it doesn't do much because you manage to dive out of the way of their crackling talons and run back outside. Right back in range of your squad.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 5, 5, 0 vs. 5] Oh dear, it looks like we might be here for a while. The storm has worsened with the wind and rain intensifying, and seeing as your squad couldn't hit before in better conditions wherein they didn't have to worry about the risk of hitting you, it probably isn't too surprising that they all proceed to miss. Novjoy and Johnny by the barest of margins. Mirai, on the other hand, well, let's just say that her subsonic ammunition isn't doing her any favors.
The figure continues staring at you from the center of the lobby.
Post by: Empiricist on March 06, 2016, 02:18:34 am
| < | Turn 28 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6840297#msg6840297) | | | Turn 29 | | | Turn 30 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6880428#msg6880428) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: blazing glory on March 06, 2016, 05:01:13 am
Ryles puts on a fake looking smile and does a small wave.
"Hi! Don't be alarmed! I may have teleported out of thin air but..."
Ryles gets a good eyeful of the Rope Horse.
"Uh....just don't kill me, please?"
Post by: Bigf00t on March 06, 2016, 09:38:52 am
Ah fuck! It's the System League, is this thing trying to get me killed?!Ned Killy just stares blankly at the man who just appeared out of... nowhere... It ranks as definitely weird, but downright mundane by today's standards. Today's standards being offered the blue and the red pill, grinding them up and snorting the lot with a side of horse tranquilizer.
Ryles puts on a fake looking smile and does a small wave.
"Hi! Don't be alarmed! I may have teleported out of thin air but..."
Ryles gets a good eyeful of the Rope Horse.
"Uh....just don't kill me, please?"
Ned Killy recovers.
"Hey there, I suppose you're the help? Can't fault your response times I guess. Don't worry about the horse, he... she.. it's tame, probably a good thing the bear isn't here but that's another mind bending story..
The name's Ned Killy. Up until not to long ago I was a citizen here. Events... transpired and now, well, I've made a new friend and now I'm taking help from people who just pop out of literally nowhere to steal files for... people? I guess? Anyway: Welcome to the gang!"
Somewhat more warily:
"I suppose you also got one of those weird terminals? And all that followed?"
((So yea, looks like the compound is reasonably well defended on the outside, or at least against "normal" threats, probably similar inside, but maybe automated security as well? We could just rush or sneak in but I'm thinking of maybe doing some more prep or something, certainly having a little chat in character :)) ))
Post by: Hawk132 on March 06, 2016, 10:41:26 am
Launch a skelly. Go for the core with more ranged.
((Also, I seem to be missing a skeleton. There was no mention of it getting launched in the turn, but I am at 2 out of 3.))
((T'was fixed. Though my action didn't change much.))
Post by: FallacyofUrist on March 06, 2016, 03:37:45 pm
"But... it didn't really stay damaged."
So they're liquid? Maybe the weight gun might work better than expected...
James realizes what a weight gun might do to a semi-liquid creature. Hence, he uses it on the closest wolf.
Post by: blazing glory on March 06, 2016, 05:10:51 pm
"I'm Lewis Ryles, and yeah, I got a terminal, so you're like me?"
Post by: Empiricist on March 06, 2016, 08:23:11 pm
((Also, I seem to be missing a skeleton. There was no mention of it getting launched in the turn, but I am at 2 out of 3.))((ARGH! Corsair posted an old draft! I'll go badger him to fix it.
You fired a skelebro, it got shot twice while you closed in, but your foe flew up, avoiding your swing. I'll PM you a notification when he fixes the turn. You ought to be the only one affected by this error.))
Post by: Bigf00t on March 07, 2016, 02:33:46 am
"The help? I...suppose, I wasn't really well informed on what I was going to be doing.""If by 'like me' you mean having the worlds best, but worst documented, dictionary in your head then yea."
"I'm Lewis Ryles, and yeah, I got a terminal, so you're like me?"
"I wasn't expecting anyone else to show up, let alone be pulled into this but hey, If you'd like to help me storm this random research building we're looking for some files with 'PROTECTOR' or such on them and they should be in the server bunkers... wherever that is."
Ned eyes the lone revolver on Lewis' hip, and his own 'eclectic' collection.
"Normally I wouldn't say this to strange people I meet in a random carpark but.. maybe it might pay to be more heavily armed? Have you figured this magic stuff out yet? ."
((Page one seems to be substances, page two forms, page three "targeting" (loose definition) and I assume page four is modifiers/effects.))
"Once we're ready, I'd say we should probably sneak around the back into that lone building behind the three here. With any luck there will be connecting tunnels that'll keep us out of the way of the firing squad here. Probably trapped up the wazoo with cameras and motion detectors but hey. Getting shot later is more fun than getting shot now. Who knows, maybe these guys are under-financed? What do you think?"
(( I've got to admit, I kinda want to pinch the large collection of weaponry the guys on top of the building are using, but let's face it, probably won't end well :P ))
Post by: blazing glory on March 07, 2016, 03:25:45 am
((Page one seems to be substances, page two forms, page three "targeting" (loose definition) and I assume page four is modifiers/effects.))((That'd line up with my sparse list so far.))
"Yeah I've been having some issues straightening out how this works, though I admit I haven't seen the need for various gadgets that kill people until now."
"So wait, the guys up there aren't with you? Well, I think we'd probably get shot to bits then, so we should probably avoid that killzone."
"We should probably share what we know, magical-dictionary wise, though I don't doubt you know more then me."
"Give me a minute, I have an idea."
"TZINACAN, tell me the secrets of this big-ass tower."
((Just assume I'm referring to whatever building we're actually trying to get into if it's not the tower, I don't have a good picture of this area.))
Post by: AoshimaMichio on March 07, 2016, 01:05:38 pm
Ao Shi
42.
To soldiers: "Does it count as a fancy trick if I tell I have died twice already today?" Ao grins, and then sighs. "Not that I enjoyed those experiences."
"Yeah, overwatch sounds good enough, can't really ask you to do more than that. By the way, how's the odds for my success now?"
Check out path to the supposed location of the core that enjoys maximum benefit of overwatch and doesn't require me running too much in open area.
To Red: "Could you scan that building for me? I don't want to run blindly in when these folks are so afraid of it."
Post by: Pencil_Art on March 07, 2016, 10:40:51 pm
Post by: Bigf00t on March 08, 2016, 01:36:31 am
((I've been building my dictionary turn by turn from everyone's science, and have a record of every (well, possibly missing one or two) spell cast so I can Sudoku the spell meanings and costs together later, but I have some already, if you actually want them (and not just an in universe trade) let me know, I'll post them.))((Page one seems to be substances, page two forms, page three "targeting" (loose definition) and I assume page four is modifiers/effects.))((That'd line up with my sparse list so far.))
"Yeah I've been having some issues straightening out how this works, though I admit I haven't seen the need for various gadgets that kill people until now."
"So wait, the guys up there aren't with you? Well, I think we'd probably get shot to bits then, so we should probably avoid that killzone."
"We should probably share what we know, magical-dictionary wise, though I don't doubt you know more then me."
"Give me a minute, I have an idea."
"TZINACAN, tell me the secrets of this big-ass tower."
((Just assume I'm referring to whatever building we're actually trying to get into if it's not the tower, I don't have a good picture of this area.))
"So you have a handler too eh? And yours tells you secrets? Handy. Mine is a dapper, lucky fellow. If you want a slightly more vague but useful question, might I reccomend 'tell me the secrets of this research facility?' May, or may not, end up with a more useful answer."
((As far as structure goes there is a main tower, two (presumably connected) smaller buildings like wings and a smaller still building behind it. I presume some sort of maintenance structure, or alternate entrance. I assume))
Also, if the turn is made before we finish talking, say "29", preferably behind something (like a wall, or big car/van, whatever) so even if the sniper/spotter team was paying attention they would hopefully not notice.
Post by: blazing glory on March 08, 2016, 02:06:50 am
((I've been building my dictionary turn by turn from everyone's science, and have a record of every (well, possibly missing one or two) spell cast so I can Sudoku the spell meanings and costs together later, but I have some already, if you actually want them (and not just an in universe trade) let me know, I'll post them.))((What do you mean exactly by "and not just an in universe trade"? Your list of meta-recorded spells vs the ones you've actually done?))
"So you have a handler too eh? And yours tells you secrets? Handy. Mine is a dapper, lucky fellow. If you want a slightly more vague but useful question, might I reccomend 'tell me the secrets of this research facility?' May, or may not, end up with a more useful answer."
((As far as structure goes there is a main tower, two (presumably connected) smaller buildings like wings and a smaller still building behind it. I presume some sort of maintenance structure, or alternate entrance. I assume))
"No offence to your own suggestion, but I get the feeling that if I push my luck and make the question too broad, then the answer will just be worse then what I would've got by keeping the question focused on the main part."
"Besides, it doesn't take all that long before I can ask my operator another question."
((Action quoted for ease of GMing))
"TZINACAN, tell me the secrets of this big-ass tower."
Post by: Beirus on March 08, 2016, 02:11:59 am
Post by: Empiricist on March 08, 2016, 04:15:56 am
((No roll numbers for me? Also I don't see the armor in my inventory.))((Sorry, my bad >__<
You rolled 8/4. Inventory updated.))
Post by: Bigf00t on March 09, 2016, 04:43:44 am
((Oh, I just meant RPing our characters swapping words, my list is significantly meta, or else I'd just have futuristic magnet deathbears :)) ))-snip-((What do you mean exactly by "and not just an in universe trade"? Your list of meta-recorded spells vs the ones you've actually done?))
"No offence to your own suggestion, but I get the feeling that if I push my luck and make the question too broad, then the answer will just be worse then what I would've got by keeping the question focused on the main part."
"Besides, it doesn't take all that long before I can ask my operator another question."
((Action quoted for ease of GMing))"TZINACAN, tell me the secrets of this big-ass tower."
"Yea no offense taken, that's probably the best course of action."
Say "29", preferably behind something (like a wall, or big car/van, whatever) so even if I spawn an accidental flash-bang and the sniper/spotter team was paying attention they would hopefully not notice. Hopefully. How far away are we?
Also ask my handler for any useful info he may have on this scenario, and if he has any useful tibbits or tricks we could make use of either on this place or the people guarding it (if he has any info he can give us at all that is).
Spoiler: WORDS FOR Y'ALL (click to show/hide)
Post by: blazing glory on March 09, 2016, 07:50:56 am
((Eh, I'll do it the propah way, I now has no excuses.))((Oh, I just meant RPing our characters swapping words, my list is significantly meta, or else I'd just have futuristic magnet deathbears :)) ))-snip-((What do you mean exactly by "and not just an in universe trade"? Your list of meta-recorded spells vs the ones you've actually done?))
"No offence to your own suggestion, but I get the feeling that if I push my luck and make the question too broad, then the answer will just be worse then what I would've got by keeping the question focused on the main part."
"Besides, it doesn't take all that long before I can ask my operator another question."
((Action quoted for ease of GMing))"TZINACAN, tell me the secrets of this big-ass tower."
"Yea no offense taken, that's probably the best course of action."
Say "29", preferably behind something (like a wall, or big car/van, whatever) so even if I spawn an accidental flash-bang and the sniper/spotter team was paying attention they would hopefully not notice. Hopefully. How far away are we?
Also ask my handler for any useful info he may have on this scenario, and if he has any useful tibbits or tricks we could make use of either on this place or the people guarding it (if he has any info he can give us at all that is).Spoiler: WORDS FOR Y'ALL (click to show/hide)
"Anyway, this is what I've found so far."
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on March 14, 2016, 04:50:19 am
Post by: Bigf00t on March 14, 2016, 05:48:56 am
((Right, the turn is basically finished, we just need to "Reddify" RED_QUEEN's text, and add some more facts to the output of Secrets Laid Bare. Unfortunately, Corsair is now sick and unable to think straight. If you wish, I could post the draft right now without those changes. Otherwise the turn will be delayed.))
It's an "Either / Or" from me. I hope Corsair feels better soon!
Post by: Empiricist on March 14, 2016, 05:50:45 am
Post by: AoshimaMichio on March 14, 2016, 11:30:51 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on March 14, 2016, 02:03:14 pm
I can wait for quality.+1
Post by: blazing glory on March 14, 2016, 04:52:36 pm
Post by: Corsair on March 18, 2016, 06:12:25 am
"Sure. Weaker than expected. I agree."[LTAR vs. MDEF: 2 vs. 0] The closest wolf as it turns out, is the one lunging at you, about to try and tear your throat out. As time grinds to a halt, you mentally position your weapon's region of influence in the path of your assailant, being careful to lead them to account for the time it takes to target your weapon. Honestly, it's a trivial matter, there is no way for it to really dodge now it's midlunge, and you can literally just read the target distance off the air, so there's no need to estimate it either. Time resumes. Your finger reflexively presses one of the front buttons as you aim it as if you've operated it hundreds of times before. You don't even need to release it. You pull the trigger, the weapon firing the very instant the distance is adjusted to the one you decided, before the digital display even finishes updating. The wolf plummets, slamming against the ground with enough form to shatter it and crush its fragments into pancaked discs, smeared with that strange viscous fluid.
"But... it didn't really stay damaged."
So they're liquid? Maybe the weight gun might work better than expected...
James realizes what a weight gun might do to a semi-liquid creature. Hence, he uses it on the closest wolf.
It does not regenerate.
One down, three more to go. The next two are advancing towards you, evidently unfettered by your brutal murder of their comrade. The last one is still a ways off right now.
"... Not as planned."You launch another skeleflare and begin to launch more corrosive waves towards your foe.
Launch a skelly. Go for the core with more ranged.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 8 vs. 8] Evidently not too keen on trying to intercept your attacks after it wasted two shots and nearly got whacked by a ladle last time, it accelerates, thrusters flaring with white light, propelling it in an unpredictable, curving trajectory. Try as you might, you find yourself unable to hit it, though each time you only barely miss.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Its generator is still standard. Legs are efficient, and won't overheat, but if keep forcing it to dodge like that,
and it won't have enough power to do much with its gateway weapon.
With a burst of radiance, the thrusts on its left leg erupts sending it careening towards you in a flying axe kick.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Keep in mind that its reactive armor's magical, your ladle will still set it off.
So just beware of that if you aim for the core at close range.
"Yeah I've been having some issues straightening out how this works, though I admit I haven't seen the need for various gadgets that kill people until now."
"So wait, the guys up there aren't with you? Well, I think we'd probably get shot to bits then, so we should probably avoid that killzone."
"We should probably share what we know, magical-dictionary wise, though I don't doubt you know more then me."
"Give me a minute, I have an idea."
"TZINACAN, tell me the secrets of this big-ass tower."
Code: (TZINACAN) [Select]
Violation of building code 117 on floor 7, western corridor B.
Smoking area at the foot of external fire stairs 5.
Violation of military codes 127, 48-2, 72 and 87-3-6 in sub basement corridors F7, G7 and A8-H8.
Violation of building code 25 in roof subspace 6-53.
Violation of OH&S code 5 inside the building. Violation sources on the move. Location changing.
Melee. Unconventional stealth capabilities. Now violating OH&S codes, 8, 12 and 13.
Objective is located under the code 534912 in the western shaft.
Ao Shi"...No comment."
42.
To soldiers: "Does it count as a fancy trick if I tell I have died twice already today?" Ao grins, and then sighs. "Not that I enjoyed those experiences."
"Yeah, overwatch sounds good enough, can't really ask you to do more than that. By the way, how's the odds for my success now?"
Check out path to the supposed location of the core that enjoys maximum benefit of overwatch and doesn't require me running too much in open area.
To Red: "Could you scan that building for me? I don't want to run blindly in when these folks are so afraid of it."
[COMP: 7/1] Apparently the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything is just the shimmering image of a chisel.
This building's a pretty damn good position for firing right down the road, it becomes more of an issue when you have to make a left turn and continue down the other street, since the buildings block their line of sight. If they jump you before you take the turn, or you lure them back over onto this first street, they'll be sitting ducks. Sitting, murder ducks that apparently are good enough at not getting killed by bullets fired by a few squads of trained soldiers, but it might at the very least make it harder for them to just flat-out charge you.
The building fades into a faintly luminous outline. Glowing wireframe figures appear on the bottom floor, corresponding to the detected lifeforms. Red vanishes, taking her place is a writhing circulatory system, a storm of blood coursing through blood vessels that don't actually exist, propelled by a heartless pulse. It slowly rotates in place, giving you a full view of it.
"Well, I've found your spearman. Bad news is, and there's a lot of bad news, they aren't like those meatmen, they exist independently of any core. So even if you take that out, it'll still be alive and angry, like really angry. A sort of you-seeking hate missile. And yes, that's blood, and a lot of cocaine, but mostly just blood. I'll get to the cocaine later. That thing's fast and can heal real quickly, not very durable though. Well not durable in the sense that steel isn't as durable as titanium."
A weapon appears in its hand, it isn't really a spear, it's far closer to just being a really long shiv. Its just a long neon light that's had one of its ends broken off, not exactly the sort of weapon that strikes fear into your heart or anything.
"This is the spear, it's a symbiotic organism. It's sort of alive, it grows becoming more powerful when fed, would've really just started off as a small knife. But it's been fed very well, it's had enough cocaine to kill all of 80's Hollywood. 1980s I mean, when cocaine was taken from great piles rather than lines. And when I say cocaine, I mean magical cocaine, similar to the stuff you can summon with magic. You know, when you aren't killing yourself with it like an idiot~
Soo... anyway, the spearman can't produce it naturally, and it's also moving sorta drunken like, so I'm going out on a limb here and say that it probably-definitely has some sort of coke-armor that's just pumping it into its bloodstream. When the symbiote is given crack, it activates and releases hellfire, which you know is like regular fire but worse. Oh and did I mention it's a massive sadist? Because it definitely is! Lucky you! That's probably what's making everyone so scared. It's going to hurt if it hits you, like being flossed with barbed wire through every artery and vein. So don't do that~ Unless you're some sort of masochist or something~"
The spear changes, its tube now looking like pellucid gemstones seamlessly melded with one another resulting in an appearance reminiscent of stained glass. It depicts a multitude of vibrant spears, with their heads corresponding to the jagged edges at the front, and their shafts getting increasingly intertangled further down the weapons shaft.
"So, the core mostly just prettified the weapon itself. It's now more effective as a quarterstaff, but the horrible firey torture spear features thankfully haven't been enhanced... but neither have they been removed. If the thing holding it does have armor, then that armor's probably going to be tougher as well now, so you know the only weakness is it's greatest strength... yada yada. Still if you break whatever's supplying the coke, the spear should just stop working since no-one's feeding it, or it may get grumpy possibly maybe~ . On that note, you might want to hurry, it's pumping in quite a bit, so the spear's growing at a rapid rate, by the time frame support finally comes, it might have gained features to take them out, if it hasn't already. But~ if you do kill the spearman, it'll work for you just fine. You'll just need something to do with sex, drugs, or rock 'n' roll to douse it in to activate it, like grinding up frender guitars and..."
The spearman vanishes, replaced with a ghostly, indistinct long thin blob. Its form is upright, like the upscaled stalk of a slime mold, with multiple short stubby legs dragging it along the ground. It looks like the night sky, with strange stars and galaxies visible within.
"These make up its posse. Believe me, in non-person, they're much brighter. And louder. And smellier. They're like living nightclubs or an LSD trip but solidified and given a will that wishes to give everyone seizures. Can't hurt you themselves, unless you're epileptic, and if you were, then we fixed that already... But they'll make it much harder to fight effectively, and those soldier buddies of yours won't have too good a chance of hitting if they're around. Might want to take them out first. 'Cause even if you crack" she giggles childishly for a bit "the spear's feeder unit, with enough of those around, the spear'll still be fed enough to work. 'Cos you know parties are very sex-drugs yadayada... Good luck!"
She finishes with childish glee, her form returning to normal.
Derek speeds towards the combat, pressing the asterisk. He tries to stay on the edge and figure out which side he is on.The asterisk brings up a new screen with several buttons three of which are unchecked and a partially filled slider bar at the bottom. The writing is totally beyond you.
You reach the edge of the combat area near instantaneously. There are two distinct forces; one is a mixture of strange animalistic and other similarly inhuman AFs with black angular armor, or perhaps they are space-borne creatures, you can't quite tell. The other side are all copies of the same humanoid AFs clad in titanium-white plating. Well sometimes the universe is awfully convenient, isn't it?
Keep shooting the birds and dodging. Or hit them with the sword if they get too close to shoot. Dodge by staying mobile.[UTAR vs. MDEF: 4 vs. 4] ((You have got to be kidding me.)) Again, the damn birds disperse, dodging all your rounds as they weaves their way towards you, claws crackling with electrical discharge. As they sail out of the lobby and into the torrential downpour, the rain begins to freeze against them. Their claws grow, their arcing contrails intensifying, their mist-like wingspan broadening, their icy tentacles lengthening as they swoop in for another round.
[MDEF vs. LTAR: 8 vs. 1] You hurl yourself out of their path, bringing the prototype weapon to bear as you swing and activate it as they sail past.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 3 vs. 2] A bright blade of plasma rends through the air, vaporized droplets tracing its trajectory. It boils the ice and cremates the bone, the slash practically blowing the birds apart with its heat, strewing their broken remains across the pavement. No charge is used. It seems that only the plasma gout depletes the battery.
Like ink in water, black clouds precipitate. They roil forth, slithering one behind the other, like a single great serpent gliding through the ashen sky. It begins to coil above you, its elongating form spiraling inwards, its shadow already covering the block around you. The howling of wing, the roar of thunder, the rush of rain. They grow with each passing moment. The storm is worsening, closing in. Soon it shall be upon you, one way or another.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Might want your squad to run now.
Congratulations, sempai has noticed you.
"Yea no offense taken, that's probably the best course of action."You are about 100 meters from the front door with 8 rows of cars between you and the building.
Say "29", preferably behind something (like a wall, or big car/van, whatever) so even if I spawn an accidental flash-bang and the sniper/spotter team was paying attention they would hopefully not notice. Hopefully. How far away are we?
Also ask my handler for any useful info he may have on this scenario, and if he has any useful tibbits or tricks we could make use of either on this place or the people guarding it (if he has any info he can give us at all that is).
[COMP: 8/2] Your spell creates several uneven lumps of lustrous silver metal.
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
Odds are against you for a direct assault, even with your stacked decks. They're expecting a frontal assault, but have covered their flanks and rear.
But, they control only their stronghold, not the surrounding area. You might be able to go through the buildings and sneak through the rear.
Her visage briefly flickers into sight, a lady covered in furs with a head obscured by a wooden hood of intertwined branches conversing with him.Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
Right, Tzi here just told me that your new buddy has one of the Outsider's matchboxes. Could be useful. Could.
Or it might just blow your stealth completely. Or both. Feeling lucky?
Post by: Empiricist on March 18, 2016, 06:12:56 am
| < | Turn 29 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6854537#msg6854537) | | | Turn 30 | | | Turn 31 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6917052#msg6917052) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on March 18, 2016, 06:23:51 am
Whoops, missed Ao's spell. Editing it in now.))
Post by: Hawk132 on March 18, 2016, 06:34:02 am
Meet the LANDSKNECHT's leg with a swing of my ladle. Resume ranged attacks afterwards. Go for quantity instead of aiming anywhere in particular.
Post by: blazing glory on March 18, 2016, 07:02:19 am
"Other then that I've got a batch of trivia that may or may not be helpful when we're actually inside."
Ryles watches Killy summon lumps of metal.
"I think I can use that particular word."
"Lets see..."
Try crafting magicks together, "29 84"
Post by: FallacyofUrist on March 18, 2016, 08:41:21 am
Well that was quite effective.
Bonus points if you can do it to more than one at a time.
James Heign nods to himself, then makes use of the weight gun again, trying to get several of the wolves in its field this time.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on March 18, 2016, 02:14:30 pm
Empty words to no one in particular.
"Okay guys, so I'm chickening out here. It's probably better if I continue on my original goal and retrieve my LATRANS down on maintanance facility. It's definitely better against that monster than going with only two guns and overwatch. It's also probably better if you too move as far away from the spearman and his posse as possible. Wanna tag along? It's not a retreat by the way, just strategic re-evaluation of options."
Abort the mission! Self-preservation programs activate! Stay away from the monster guy and keep advancing to where my mech is. Persuade these guys coming with me, but don't bother waiting for them. If they come, good, if they don't, wish them luck.
Magic: -E
Post by: Bigf00t on March 22, 2016, 02:50:22 am
-snip-"Sounds like a good idea to me. What do you say we sit here for a spell and figure out our next move while we get some basic science out of the way?"
Try crafting magicks together, "29 84"
"10 72"
((PENCILMANCY!!))
Post by: blazing glory on March 22, 2016, 02:55:47 am
"What have you found so far with your magic dictionary?"
Try crafting magicks together, "29 84"
Post by: AoshimaMichio on March 22, 2016, 05:20:18 am
Post by: blazing glory on March 22, 2016, 06:45:32 am
Post by: Beirus on March 22, 2016, 02:33:51 pm
Make sure my squad gets away and that the storm monster is focused on me instead of them. Then haul ass towards the center of the anomaly. Cut through buildings if I need to in order to dodge lightning bolts or whatever else. If that monster gets too close and I can line up a shot, blast through it with a plasma gout. Otherwise, use the ALCYONE and my Bound Weapon to harass it and keep it focused on me until my squad is clear. If I actually make it to the building at the center and it's a skyscraper with windows, Equipment Check it, run up the side of it to whatever floor the tech is on and use the ALCYONE to blast open a window to get inside.
Post by: Bigf00t on March 22, 2016, 09:31:24 pm
"What have you found so far with your magic dictionary?"((Did you check my spoilered chunk of post previously? Just add shiny silver metal to that :P ))
"Also are you going to be bringing your...uh...horse along?""If we think we can sneak him in.. yea. Or maybe my companion here can be our mounted cavalry, should our plan require it."
Post by: blazing glory on March 22, 2016, 10:28:50 pm
"What have you found so far with your magic dictionary?"((Did you check my spoilered chunk of post previously? Just add shiny silver metal to that :P ))"Also are you going to be bringing your...uh...horse along?""If we think we can sneak him in.. yea. Or maybe my companion here can be our mounted cavalry, should our plan require it."
(('Dat's the metalist though isn't it?))
"I'm pretty sure calling the cavalry needs more than several loops of rope shaped as a single horse, does it actually fight?"
Post by: Corsair on March 23, 2016, 03:13:04 am
Post by: Bigf00t on March 25, 2016, 06:57:04 am
"What have you found so far with your magic dictionary?"((Did you check my spoilered chunk of post previously? Just add shiny silver metal to that :P ))"Also are you going to be bringing your...uh...horse along?""If we think we can sneak him in.. yea. Or maybe my companion here can be our mounted cavalry, should our plan require it."
(('Dat's the metalist though isn't it?))
"I'm pretty sure calling the cavalry needs more than several loops of rope shaped as a single horse, does it actually fight?"
"Oh, you're not thinking of my friend here, he's been with me since after I created a death bear out of neodymium magnets back at the SL camp... That was an interesting day. I was suggesting that with the aid of Ropey here he could come charging in."
((I gained a follower in the SL camp, he has roughshod armor and a rifle if I remember correctly... he should be standing with us, or still be riding Ropey from the ride here.))
GM! Can we get him added to my status/inventory under "other" or something?
Post by: Empiricist on March 25, 2016, 07:19:47 am
Post by: Beirus on March 25, 2016, 02:42:47 pm
((A shame Corsair's camping, I was looking forwards to this turn just from what we had written already >__<))((It worries me when you say things like that. You know, 'looking forwards to this turn', 'can't wait for this turn', 'all of you are going to die horribly this turn', things like that.))
Post by: blazing glory on March 25, 2016, 06:55:06 pm
"Oh, you're not thinking of my friend here, he's been with me since after I created a death bear out of neodymium magnets back at the SL camp... That was an interesting day. I was suggesting that with the aid of Ropey here he could come charging in."Lewis suddenly notices the NPC he has been neglecting.
((I gained a follower in the SL camp, he has roughshod armor and a rifle if I remember correctly... he should be standing with us, or still be riding Ropey from the ride here.))
GM! Can we get him added to my status/inventory under "other" or something?
"Oh, sorry, I didn't really notice you there...he doesn't say much does he?"
Post by: Toaster on March 26, 2016, 12:21:17 am
Search the area. Any clues as to whereabouts to any of the prey?
"Bug, any ideas?"
Post by: Empiricist on April 03, 2016, 07:05:49 am
Post by: Corsair on April 05, 2016, 06:07:58 am
"I see your leg and I'll raise you a ladle."Time stops. The ghostly images precipitating with singular purpose as they spread out from your location, trying to find the best position, the one wherein you shall hit your foe no matter what they try. Yet, the projection of their kick remains the same, unchanging in the face of response. It seems that they are unwilling, or unable to avoid it, instead seeking to maximize the power of the strike. The spectral images converge becoming one. The vision of a ladle colliding against the vision of a leg. A trading of blows, wherein both are willing to accept the costs.
Meet the LANDSKNECHT's leg with a swing of my ladle. Resume ranged attacks afterwards. Go for quantity instead of aiming anywhere in particular.
History repeats itself.
This happened the first time as well, and in the end, white hot metal flooded your cockpit. You still remember that pain. The pain of death. The pain of failure. Something that you've since grown used to. You were weak then, but a soldier, naive to what the world would hurl at you. But now, even now, you have accepted your destiny. You are the Ladlemonger, Lord of Undeath, Bane of Storefront Security Products, and you will not stand down.
Time resumes.
[?DEF: AUTOFAILURE][LTAR: AUTOSUCCESS] Your greatladle wreathes itself in a corrosive aura, colliding with the LANDSKNECHT's leg. It is a weapon, designed to be used in combat between armor frames, designed to endure hard impact and even gunfire without a single scratch. But this? Technology from before the Fall of living gods, brought to bear with a crushing blow? That is too much for even it to withstand.
Dire runes rend themselves upon the air. Corrosion and decay surge forth once more. The screams of the damned. The wrath of the dead. All explode forth.
The impact is not kind. Your frame is flung against the ropes. Your frontal plating is all gone. Your rear core plating has been shattered and is slowly healing. You're down to the secondary cameras in your core, the primary ones in your head not responding. If the frame still has a head. But fallen on the other side of the ring is your foe. Their left leg missing, their reactive armor no doubt depleted. Experimentally, you swing what remains of your weapon. Corrosion wreathes it and ripples forth, weaker than before, but still functional.
Checkmate.
We're not even going to bother rolling for this one. Your opponent doesn't have much in the way of MDEF anymore, or any melee options either. And with one skeleflare active, and one other ready to take its place, their firepower won't come into play quickly enough. You slash wildly into the air, corrosion spilling forth in a mad frenzy. First, you deplete what power is left in their reactive armor, the distance too great for the blasts of molasses to faze you. They try to dodge, but, they can't do much, the thrusters on their remaining leg letting them move, but not with enough control to throw off your aim. More and more decay waves crash against them. Soon enough, all that remains is the rusted husk of a once-fearsome frame.
"Aaaaannnnnnnddddd the winner, by the complete, and utter destruction of their opponent isssssssss, The Ladlemonger!"
YOU DEFEATED
The crowd applauds, the applauds breaking into cheers, the cheers breaking into chanting. They're changing your name. Your new name.
Your eyes snap open. You are in the cathedral again, standing before the alter.
>Congratulations! You have prevailed!
>We hereby bequeath unto you, Caladlebolg!
Another great-ladle, this one fit for a person to wield, precipitates into your hand, not unlike your Bound AIAR.
((Bound Weapon - Caladlebolg gained!))
>And formally acknowledge you as the Ladlemonger!
With that your clothes melt into a formless grey, bulky plating precipitating and expanding outwards. You are clad in a grand set of ashen white armor, incredibly light despite its bulk, its metallic sheen belying the fact that, judging by its texture, it seems to be made out of styrofoam. Surprisingly study styrofoam, but still not something worth trusting to protect you in anything more life-threatening than a larping session. Anchored to the obligatory spiky protrusions is a billowing black cloak, its immaterial form flowing through the air, comprised of mascara and eyeliner, contrasting the cold glint of the oversized championship belt at your waist. Completing it is a mask in the form of a stylized, melting skull, the top partially covered by a hood that looks like it came from a ghillie suit that had been spray-painted black.
>Go forth and let the world know your name
>For that, we shall grant you further power
The remaining brochures flutter before you as JUS conjures ten points of red light.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Decided where to go next?
Spoiler: LEVEL UP (click to show/hide)
"Well, my uh...operator, told me a bunch of things that would probably be more useful to someone who isn't me, all I really know is that there's probably something moving around inside there able probably able to tear out our throats and possibly our guts out while invisible in a weird way, as well as the fact that whatever we're looking for is located in the western "shaft", which may or may not be one of the smaller buildings attached, I dunno."[COMP: 5/3] You summon a silvery breastplate and pauldrons, that clatter lightly to the ground. Hmm considering its relatively low density, it may not be enough stop a rifle round, not comfortably at least.
"Other then that I've got a batch of trivia that may or may not be helpful when we're actually inside."
Ryles watches Killy summon lumps of metal.
"I think I can use that particular word."
"Lets see..."
Try crafting magicks together, "29 84"
"HAH! Take that you bloody hounds!"[LTAR vs. SDEF: -1 vs. 1, 1] ((Well, the RNG does not like you today.)) Even as time remains frozen, as you mentally place the field, you know it won't be a clean hit. They had options, too many movement options to cover. You needed more time, more time in a world without time, to cut off their escape routes, to prepare your contingency measures. Time resumes. You tap the range-setter and pull the trigger, a bit less confidently than before. The two closest foes manage to quickly shift their positions the field envelops them mid-lunge, shifting their weight backwards, going more upright. They take the brunt of the impact with their hind legs. Their legs are crushed. Their bodies shattered. Their jaws broken. But their heads are still intact. Mostly intact. Leaping from their own shattered remains, they lunge towards you, metallic maws gaping wide open, their entire bodies having already regenerated in mere moments.
Well that was quite effective.
Bonus points if you can do it to more than one at a time.
James Heign nods to himself, then makes use of the weight gun again, trying to get several of the wolves in its field this time.
"Oh boy... I'm suddenly having second thoughts. A lot of second thoughts. That thing is absurdly dangerous... Give me second to think this over once again."Two NEE troopers are ordered to go with you to get additional reinforcements.
Empty words to no one in particular.((Rethinking the plan in both IC and OOC. Will edit once something comes up.))
"Okay guys, so I'm chickening out here. It's probably better if I continue on my original goal and retrieve my LATRANS down on maintenance facility. It's definitely better against that monster than going with only two guns and overwatch. It's also probably better if you too move as far away from the spearman and his posse as possible. Wanna tag along? It's not a retreat by the way, just strategic re-evaluation of options."
Abort the mission! Self-preservation programs activate! Stay away from the monster guy and keep advancing to where my mech is. Persuade these guys coming with me, but don't bother waiting for them. If they come, good, if they don't, wish them luck.
Magic: -E
How would you like to go there by the way? Still going to run down the main road? Or would you like to take a longer way around, giving the core building wide berth to minimize the chances of having your nervous system getting tentacle raped with a spool of barbed wire? Or...
"There is a faster way of getting there, much safer, much quicker, but you can't bring those two with you."
((This won't take a turn by the way, we'll give you a personal mini-update when you respond to this.))
[COMP: 4/3] You feel a great yet cautious sense of power, one that is tempered with a mixture of dread and fear.
[COMP: 14/6] ((What is it with you and weird animals?)) Shimmering into view for you, and only you, are the outlines of a manticore. A lion with a mane of paintbrush heads, a scorpion-like tail terminating in a large, sharpened fountain pen nib, and the face of a bored office worker. Its maw and claws are lined with countless stylus blades. It dissipates with no elements to complete it.-snip-"Sounds like a good idea to me. What do you say we sit here for a spell and figure out our next move while we get some basic science out of the way?"
Try crafting magicks together, "29 84"
"10 72"
Beirus opens a channel to his squad. "You remember when I said there would be a time when I told y'all to run and not look back? This is that time. You haul ass and you do not stop until you get back to base. Now go!" Beirus closes the channel to his squad and opens one to HQ. "This is Beirus O'Greenahan, reporting in from the anomaly. It seems to be filled with creatures that embody the storm. Birds made of lightning and ice, and some sort of humanoid that looks like a raindrop. And the storm itself may or may not be sentient. I think I pissed it off. Looks like it's turning into a giant snake made of storm clouds. Sorta like that Storm Elephant from that old holovid, Jim and the Enormous Fig. I'm sending my squad back, and I'm going to see if I can reach the center of this anomaly. I'll try to report on what I see on the way for as long as I can. I apologize in advance if this channel becomes filled with incoherent death screams. And if I get through this, I expect a meal when I get back to base. A good meal, like a big steak, not that freeze dried MRE shit. And please, for the love of God, have the squad put in some serious time at the shooting range when they get back. I think they may have gotten too comfortable with the targeting assists provided by their frames." Beirus takes a moment to check the position of the storm snake and looks down the road towards the center of the anomaly."Reading you clear O'Greenahan. Your squad have already been picked up by our radio tracers and we have a truck on the way to them. The barometric pressure look really above you guys and not so much elsewhere, is there some way you can hide from the storm to see if it passes? Also apology accepted, and the steak will waiting in the wings. Yeah. we were betting on that cavalcade of failure that your squaddies call shooting... don't worry Captain Caid will be giving them an extensive lecture about 'attending the range rather than the fucking pub you incompetent fools'."
Make sure my squad gets away and that the storm monster is focused on me instead of them. Then haul ass towards the center of the anomaly. Cut through buildings if I need to in order to dodge lightning bolts or whatever else. If that monster gets too close and I can line up a shot, blast through it with a plasma gout. Otherwise, use the ALCYONE and my Bound Weapon to harass it and keep it focused on me until my squad is clear. If I actually make it to the building at the center and it's a skyscraper with windows, Equipment Check it, run up the side of it to whatever floor the tech is on and use the ALCYONE to blast open a window to get inside.
You run, raising both weapons to the heavens and opening fire. Your ALCYONE clip soon runs dry, though the Bound Weapon's absurd rate of fire is more than making up for it, the recoil dampened by your exoskeleton and the loss of accuracy mattering little considering the size of your target. The black clouds simply swirl above, neither flinching from your fire, nor descending to engage you.
Your radio crackles to life.
"Hey uh, sir the -argh! Get the fuck off of me you bloody-"
It cuts off amidst the sound of gun fire and cursing, clicking back several seconds later.
"Sir? The birds can't get through our armor, punching works if they start trying to claw you. Heading out now. Don't you die in there."
You run and keeping on running, a mad, desperate dash as the tempest rages. Soon enough you clear two blocks, but progress is beginning to slow. The inky darkness remains overhead, smaller than before but also more focused, its center remaining directly above you. More hooded figures appear; some keep pace, collapsing and rising back up in front of you as you pass; others peer at you from the alleys or behind the glass of nearby buildings.
You manage to go another half block, a slow trudge. It's hard to even push forwards now, the relentless gale contesting each and every step, countless raindrops bombarding you with each passing moment.
"We're out! Heading back to base now. You able to escape?"
Time stops as pale lines, trajectories, fill your world; the circles that mark their origins so densely packed, they blot out the clouds themselves.
Too many. Too many to dodge. Too many to block. You're going to get hit. Question is, how much it'll hurt, how quickly you can get into cover.
To your left is a car dealership. To your right is moderately tall office building.
((Just a reminder that you can sacrifice your attacking action to use both your defensive stats.))
((Still not caught up, but putting in an action for now))
Search the area. Any clues as to whereabouts to any of the prey?
"Bug, any ideas?"
Code: (SCHROEDINBUG) [Select]
Look for fresh corpses. That's always a good bet.
You wander around the street past rubbish skips and dirty industrial buildings. The occasional car or bus speeds past, madly speeding away, desperate to escape whatever fresh hell was wrought here. In the distance, you see that several industrial centers have begun producing smoke and embers rather than their usual products. As you wander, you hear a horrid grinding sound, punctuated by several wet crunches. From a nearby alley flies out a bloodstained mess of flesh and broken bone. Stalking out after it is a walking skeleton. Yellowed bones moving without muscles to propel them, eyeless sockets trained upon its long-dead victim.It hefts a large tire-less wheel, a complex assembly of gears and engine cylinders keeping it in motion.
[TRAN: -1] There is something wrong with it, something terribly terribly wrong with it. Something about it, is just off, unnatural. The fact that it's spinning so quickly, that the gears are interlocking like so, that the cylinders are keeping it running, you're not really sure why, they seem so horrid; you've seen objects spin faster, you know that clockwork makes perfect sense, and internal combustion isn't exactly a mystery either, yet, watching them here, you can't help but feel that what you see before you should not be allowed to exist.
It lunges forth, choking black smoke pouring from its weapon as it slams the wheel against the corpse, pressing it down, grinding away at its broken form before bringing it back down for yet another crushing blow. It hasn't noticed you, and you're far away enough that you could probably maintain your distance if it gives chase. However, the black miasma is already beginning to creep towards you, blowing forth towards you with a windless gale, as if intending to smother you.
Post by: Empiricist on April 05, 2016, 06:08:35 am
| < | Turn 30 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6880428#msg6880428) | | | Turn 31 | | | Turn 32 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6929263#msg6929263) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: blazing glory on April 05, 2016, 07:27:49 am
((Can I cast multiple "spell chains" in the same turn if I have enough points? It doesn't really seem mentioned anywhere.))
"Now we're talking."
22 d0, COMP 6.
f1, COMP 2
Post by: FallacyofUrist on April 05, 2016, 08:50:40 am
"AHA! They regenerate from their heads!"
James pulls forth his bound fire axe and uses it to smash one of the wolves' heads in.
Post by: Hawk132 on April 05, 2016, 09:49:20 am
"Looks like I'm the Ladlemonger for good. It's quite amazing what a simple joke can turn into, right? Not that I'm complaining. Well then, I guess I should start getting into character."
The Ladlemonger takes a quick look at the brochures, before coming to a decision.
"We shall help the NEE and System League soldiers on the 4th floor, Jus. If we get lucky, we might end up coming in contact with that AI you mentioned a while ago too."
"Actually, no. Nevermind that. I have a weird feeling that something or someone is calling me. If I were to explain this feeling, I'd say it's grossly incandescent."
+5 to COMP, +3 to UTAR, +2 to MDEF.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on April 05, 2016, 02:56:42 pm
Post by: Empiricist on April 05, 2016, 06:34:37 pm
((Can I cast multiple "spell chains" in the same turn if I have enough points? It doesn't really seem mentioned anywhere.))((Original ruling was that you can only cast two and must distribute your pool between them. But on second thought, it should be fine to cast any number of spell chains so long as you distribute at least one point of pool to each chain. So if you still want to, just edit in your COMP pool allocation for each chain.))
((Yeah! The Ladlemonger prevailed over the one (okay, it was a copy, but that's not important.) that gave him his first death! Also, giving my new weapon the name 'Caladlebolg' is both hilarious and awesome. Too bad that I didn't get to keep DIRUS. There's just one thing that is missing - where's my VICTORY ACHIEVED, dammit!?))((Damn it. I knew I forgot something! >__<))
"Oh? Do tell. Does it involve me dying? Because I got this nice stuff I would like to keep.""Nope! Unless the nice folks near your frame shoot you~"
Post by: blazing glory on April 05, 2016, 07:30:16 pm
((Aw yeah, that'll make some focused testing go faster and thus be less obnoxious.))((Can I cast multiple "spell chains" in the same turn if I have enough points? It doesn't really seem mentioned anywhere.))((Original ruling was that you can only cast two and must distribute your pool between them. But on second thought, it should be fine to cast any number of spell chains so long as you distribute at least one point of pool to each chain. So if you still want to, just edit in your COMP pool allocation for each chain.))
Post by: AoshimaMichio on April 05, 2016, 11:44:56 pm
Post by: Beirus on April 06, 2016, 03:37:05 am
"Jus, you know any shortcuts? Or a quick escape route? You know, just in case."
Cut through the office building and continue advancing further in, cutting through buildings if it will cut down on resistance from the storm. Reload the ALCYONE on the way, and put a round into those hooded raindrop guys if I see any. Fucking hate spotters. How much further?
Post by: Empiricist on April 06, 2016, 06:57:06 am
"I certainly hope they don't. Well, fill me in with details!""You only need to look for it to get there, it's one of those stupid kind of things."
Post by: AoshimaMichio on April 06, 2016, 07:26:57 am
Let's halt analytic thinking and look for my LATRANS-whetever-mecha. Avoid getting shot.
Post by: Hawk132 on April 06, 2016, 09:08:36 am
((Also, Hawk, you sure you don't want to join me in Broken Heaven? We could be Sword Bros.))((A chance at getting a very powerful AI or jolly cooperation? It's a pretty easy choice. Action edited.))
Post by: Empiricist on April 08, 2016, 08:40:01 am
"Seriously? So if I just... Does it stop working if I think about why it shouldn't work like that?"What happens next is a bit of a blur, you look around and find yourself in an odd cathedral and when you look around again, you find yourself entering a hallway. Engineers jostle past a patrolling group of bored-looking soldiers amidst distant yells and the whirring of actuators. You're back in MRM03, in the Flight Systems corridor, and it looks like they're about to notice you. Still, you haven't gotten shot just yet, so that's a plus.
Let's halt analytic thinking and look for my LATRANS-whetever-mecha. Avoid getting shot.
"This only works when you aren't in danger, and only for certain POIs. It's like a tourist's guide to all the best places to horribly die~"
((Hawk: Corsair has now edited in your "YOU DEFEATED" message.))
Post by: Hawk132 on April 08, 2016, 10:07:11 am
((Hawk: Corsair has now edited in your "YOU DEFEATED" message.))((Woo! That makes my victory about 10x better.))
Post by: AoshimaMichio on April 08, 2016, 11:29:44 am
Right, I'm on familiar ground and I'm here on purpose. So let's go looking where my LATRANS is. Two possibilities: 1) They got it back to the assembly. 2) They left it where I died. Let's explore the options in presented order. Actually, go to my lockers first and get proper uniform. Borrowed clothes aren't best clothes.
Be relaxed and act cooperatively if soldiers want something from me.
Post by: Empiricist on April 09, 2016, 12:42:45 am
Also, giving my new weapon the name 'Caladlebolg' is both hilarious and awesome.((Credits go to IamanElfCollaborator (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?action=profile;u=51897) for the name.))
Post by: Bigf00t on April 09, 2016, 11:42:44 am
Nice, I did the maths tho, splitting up the rolls like that drastically reduces the chances of favorable rolls. And when I say "I did the math" I wrote a C program to brute force the complicated probability rules and manually count outcomes for up to 8 die. Took about a second per "x% chance to get y on your roll" with 8 die, didn't go any higher tho, 10 die would have taken 22 years by my calculations.((Aw yeah, that'll make some focused testing go faster and thus be less obnoxious.))((Can I cast multiple "spell chains" in the same turn if I have enough points? It doesn't really seem mentioned anywhere.))((Original ruling was that you can only cast two and must distribute your pool between them. But on second thought, it should be fine to cast any number of spell chains so long as you distribute at least one point of pool to each chain. So if you still want to, just edit in your COMP pool allocation for each chain.))
It was a boring afternoon.
Despite this I'm going to throw caution to the winds, and be the architect of my own demise. To save time.
"10" COMP:7
"17" COMP:7
The MathTM says I have something about a 10% chance of getting zero or less for these rolls. Or at least the estimates I made off of my math for 8 die, because I'm lazy, haven't done actual probability math in about 4-5 years. Also I'm pretty sleep deprived right now, so sorry for that :P
Don't worry, I shouldn't be SCIENCEing for too long before I seriously consider attacking that building. Both are probably equally lethal, and I'm probably more likely to find a power source in there for my gun before I'd find words I could combine to make one.
Post by: Empiricist on April 10, 2016, 02:39:30 am
Post by: Corsair on April 11, 2016, 06:12:54 am
Slip the Chestplate on, it's better then nothing and shouldn't be too hard to move in.Armor equipped.
"Now we're talking."
22 d0, COMP 6.
f1, COMP 2
[COMP: 9/3] You summon another silvery sabre with a surface of shifting metal that looks like liquid.
[COMP: 1] Welp, first crit-fail since their update. Congratulations, I guess. You feel like something terrible just happened. You don't know what though.
James was silent for a moment, as he processed what he just saw.In future, please also specify a defensive action, because there are cases where trying to dodge is far worse than trying to block, and vice versa. Plus we have no idea which direction you'd dodge in.
"AHA! They regenerate from their heads!"
James pulls forth his bound fire axe and uses it to smash one of the wolves' heads in.
[MDEF vs. LTAR: 4 vs. 1, 3] You juke and sidestep towards the entrance, the lunging wolves sailing to your side.
[LTAR vs. SDEF: 3 vs. 0] You swing, your axe manifesting in your hand, the head catching the nearest wolf right in the jaw. There's a hard impact, your wrist jostled by the collision, but far less than you'd expect. Instead, with a horrible grinding screech, it cleaves straight through the wolf, its bisected body fracturing from the blow, and shattering as it crashes to the ground.
Two down. Two left.
Your back is now against the door. One wolf to your left, the other just entering the room from the right. That, and whatever awaits you deeper in the facility, there's still much work left to be done.
"Looks like I'm the Ladlemonger for good. It's quite amazing what a simple joke can turn into, right? Not that I'm complaining. Well then, I guess I should start getting into character."[COMP: 6/6] You conjure a black chest plate formed of bleached bones covered in a cohesive mass of what appears to be crude oil, burning green runes rippling across its surface. Well, no discharge is emerging from your chest, so it's probably safe. Possibly flammable, but safe.
The Ladlemonger takes a quick look at the brochures, before coming to a decision.
"We shall help the NEE and System League soldiers on the 4th floor, Jus. If we get lucky, we might end up coming in contact with that AI you mentioned a while ago too."
"Actually, no. Nevermind that. I have a weird feeling that something or someone is calling me. If I were to explain this feeling, I'd say it's grossly incandescent."
+5 to COMP, +3 to UTAR, +2 to MDEF.Psychiatrist's PsychosesBroken Heaven it is. Will myself there. Before that though - try "12 84". If it's armor and doesn't look like it might kill me, try putting it on. If it's not armor and is interesting in some other way, take it.
You focus on the Broken Heaven brochure and it flies out of your hands, falling onto the floor. A droplet of water falls down, setting ripples against it, and the floor around it were but a reflection. You look up and see that it is indeed a reflection, an image in a puddle. You're back, back on Floor 3. A storm rages in the distance, its edge mere meters away. Four soldiers, clad in rain-slicked exoskeletons march over to an armored truck awaiting them. One of them notices you, quickly spinning around, assault rifle trained on you.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Jus, you know any shortcuts? Or a quick escape route? You know, just in case."
Cut through the office building and continue advancing further in, cutting through buildings if it will cut down on resistance from the storm. Reload the ALCYONE on the way, and put a round into those hooded raindrop guys if I see any. Fucking hate spotters. How much further?
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
None. I'm afraid that is the specialty of another handler, not me.
[MDEF vs. NOPE: 4 vs. NOPE] You sprint frantically, the dense raindrops slamming down upon you with enough force to fracture your armor. You discard your spent magazine as you run, your plating already beginning to buckle from the onslaught. You crash straight through the glass doors, slamming in another magazine as you do so.
"Picking up massive power fluctuations near you, O'Greenahan. Something's messing with the grid, or maybe the sensors got fucked up."
The lifts quietly crackle with spark and arcs of discharge. Probably inoperable. But there's a set of fire stairs well within reach, and plenty of building remaining to run through. Several of those figures have followed you, and a few more are in sight. Well, might as well do something about that.
You spin around, instinctively piecing the room's layout together in your mind as you retreat backwards without even looking, discharging eight ALYCONE rounds ((these figures have no defensive stats, for each point in UTAR, you can distribute it to one such target and autohit it)), quiet coughs drowned by the raging tempest. Each one finds its mark, piercing halfway into the trailing spotters and blowing them apart into sprays of water as they detonate within.
An explosion. The street outside blasted apart, twin craters where the talons, the sickle-like talons, touched the ground. An enormous bird of ice, like the ones you fought earlier, only far larger, the size of LUPUS, has descended. Lightning crackles along its blade-like claws, shining a bright octarine, the occasional stray arc blasting another crater into the ground with force comparable to a hand grenade. Powerful wings flap, bringing forth great gusts as it hovers in place, its grasping tentacles flexing as its eyeless head turns to face you, unfazed by the crushing downpour. It has no mouth, its beak just a cruel wedge of sharpened ice. It has no veins, the cyclonic wind it has for blood rushing inside and outside its body, accumulated dust and rain racing along the icy armor coating its sturdy bones.
Three blocks remaining.
"Whoah! Cool trick! Will I discover any other equally cool tricks later on?""Seriously? you think THAT is amazing?"
Right, I'm on familiar ground and I'm here on purpose. So let's go looking where my LATRANS is. Two possibilities: 1) They got it back to the assembly. 2) They left it where I died. Let's explore the options in presented order. Actually, go to my lockers first and get proper uniform. Borrowed clothes aren't best clothes.
Be relaxed and act cooperatively if soldiers want something from me.
Red looks piteously at you.
"I mean I am a series of layered hallucinations projected straight into your brain, but 'going somewhere quick-like' is more interesting? More wonderful?"
Red continues in mock horror one hand on her head like she was about to faint.
"Fine, yes you will, once I deem it appropriate."
She finishes with a devilish grin.
You quickly make your way through the periphery of the building toward the lockers you feel that being seen by a large number of people might be bad considering you died relatively publicly. You manage to slip into the locker room with few people noticing you. You access your locker, noting that your code works and the locker is untouched, normally that happens pretty fast, although considering the attempted assault several hours ago someone probably just forgot or put it off.
You quickly put on your uniform to help you blend in in case you encounter anyone, which while rather unlikely at 17:30, it is possible. The walk through the tunnels to your hanger is short though you have to dodge a few engineers you knew? Know? Dying and coming back makes choosing tenses a bit difficult.
Regardless of literary quandary you continue on to the hangar. The LATRANS sits there inactive and motionless. Weapons glinting in the light of the fluorescent lamps and the newly installed thrusters are untarnished by exhaust, fully installed armor. Those weren't on there before and they look to have been installed fully, not just slotted into the mounts. You get the distinct feeling that someone is watching you.
Your reflex-vision flares unconsciously as you hear a footstep behind you. A man appears, shrouded by a black trenchcoat their face is that of someone in their late 30's or so they have short straight black hair. They could probably pass off reasonably well as a wrestling heel, were it not for the fact that half their face has been replaced with liquid silver, his eye is a large glowing aquamarine orb. His hands have also been similarly changed, with metallic chitin on top of a layer of more liquid silver.
Their drawl is fast, fast enough to be entirely gibberish to anyone lacking the benefit of your powers, but coming out crystal clear to you with your distorted perception of time.
"Like what you see?"
He gestures to the frame, as if to ensure that his stoic drawl hasn't been mistaken for a horribly awkward pickup line.
"My name is Andrukas, Steel Inquisitor. Consider yourself drafted."
"10" COMP:7[COMP: 8/3] Another shimmering outline of a manticore, this one more normal at least.
"17" COMP:7
[COMP: 3/1] An illusory wall appears. As in, the shimmering outline of a wall, not a pseudo-hologram or a piece of text promising an illusory wall along with recommendations involving horses and using both hands.
Post by: Empiricist on April 11, 2016, 06:46:22 am
| < | Turn 31 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6917052#msg6917052) | | | Turn 32 | | | Turn 33 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6949166#msg6949166) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Hawk132 on April 11, 2016, 10:28:39 am
The Ladlemonger replies to the soldiers' question in a grandiose manner, complete with unnecessary and exaggerated, theatrical even, gestures.
"I am the Ladlemonger, Lord of my own Undeath, Bearer of the Legendary Caladlebolg, Bringer of Decay, Champion of Eldritch AF Wrestling and Bane of Storefront Security Products. I have heard a call, and I have arrived. Who among you is the most skilled? So skilled that his feats border on the supernatural? And where can I find this fellow?"
Converse.
"Excuse me for a moment. Do not be alarmed if something explodes. Please accept my apologies if I suddenly drop dead and come back sometime soon."
Turn away from the soldiers and '12 09'.
Post by: Empiricist on April 11, 2016, 10:34:49 am
((Is there any particular reason as to why my Necrotic Armor is in the Bindings section instead of Inventory?))((Yes, here at Perplexicon - Down the Foxhole, we have a minimum fuck up quota that we have to meet each turn. The mistake has now been fixed.))
Post by: Hawk132 on April 11, 2016, 10:37:22 am
((Speaking of your fuck up quota, you didn't add my stat ups.))((Is there any particular reason as to why my Necrotic Armor is in the Bindings section instead of Inventory?))((Yes, here at Perplexicon - Down the Foxhole, we have a minimum fuck up quota that we have to meet each turn. The mistake has now been fixed.))
Post by: Empiricist on April 11, 2016, 10:42:06 am
Post by: Hawk132 on April 11, 2016, 10:47:04 am
((...Damn it. Fixed. COMP roll for the armor is unchanged. I rolled it with 14 COMP, just forgot to update the datasheet.))((No problem, I'm always happy to provide things you could fuck up on. Gotta fill up that quota.))
Post by: AoshimaMichio on April 11, 2016, 12:47:30 pm
Talking to the bastard child of Silver Surfer: "Drafted? I already got a job, but I guess you got higher authority than my employer. Yes, I do like it. Much better shape than when I saw it last time. Thanks for doing my job for me! And if you have drafted me in service then I guess you have a task for me. Can it wait a bit? I got a coke powered bastard to deal with which needs more firepower and bunch of soldiers to save. I don't exactly want to leave them hanging after telling I'm gonna get bigger guns for the job."
Post by: blazing glory on April 11, 2016, 05:28:20 pm
"We should probably get a move on soon."
f1, all COMP.
Post by: Bigf00t on April 12, 2016, 09:37:26 am
((You'll be happy to hear then, that we've reworked the crit-fails so that instead of killing you, they'll just do other horrible, but less lethal stuff to you! :P))((I am happy to hear that! Also dangnamit, didn't mean to cast "manticore" a second time :P))
"I agree"
"18" COMP:7
"23" COMP:7
Post by: Toaster on April 18, 2016, 05:07:43 pm
Better to go with the ambush. And I know just how to foul up that mechanism.
1f 02 ulez! I'm sure this won't go badly.
Post by: Beirus on April 18, 2016, 06:41:57 pm
Cut through buildings, try to keep some sort of cover between me and the bird while running towards the center of the anomaly. If I have to fight the bird, shoot it with my Bound Weapon on full auto. Shoot any more spotters that show up with the ALCYONE. If the bird manages to get close to me, blast it with a plasma gout or cut it with the sword.
Post by: FallacyofUrist on April 18, 2016, 06:53:08 pm
Post by: Corsair on April 21, 2016, 06:27:05 am
The Ladlemonger replies to the soldiers' question in a grandiose manner, complete with unnecessary and exaggerated, theatrical even, gestures.Two of the soldiers, each wielding 09AIARs approach apprehensively
"I am the Ladlemonger, Lord of my own Undeath, Bearer of the Legendary Caladlebolg, Bringer of Decay, Champion of Eldritch AF Wrestling and Bane of Storefront Security Products. I have heard a call, and I have arrived. Who among you is the most skilled? So skilled that his feats border on the supernatural? And where can I find this fellow?"
Converse.
"Excuse me for a moment. Do not be alarmed if something explodes. Please accept my apologies if I suddenly drop dead and come back sometime soon."
Turn away from the soldiers and '12 09'.
"You mean captain O'Gree-"
An elbow to the ribs, he flinches more from the impact than any actual pain, judging by their armor. Their partner raises a hand in front of them, a period of silence ensuing. Even if you can't hear the clicks, it's obvious they're using their radios. Eventually the other soldier responds, their quieter and paced with the sort of unsteady pace that only could have come from a response decided by three people with minimal planning
"Captain O'Greenahan is inside the anomaly."
She gestures down the road
The third soldier answers spins around and converses hurriedly with the driver. He exits the van. The first soldier explains hurriedly, his voice gaining newfound urgency
"Key's in the ignition, drive down that road, as fast as you can. He might not be alive for long."
[COMP: 7] Fizzle.
To Red, probably long before encountering inquisitor. "Well dear, you are nothing new at this point. No offense, but I am already accustomed at your incorporeal presence, but please, keep suprising me. wink This trip however, it was entirely new experience. Not gonna be so impressed next time.""That is acceptable. You will be contacted when required for your duties. Make it quick."
Talking to the bastard child of Silver Surfer: "Drafted? I already got a job, but I guess you got higher authority than my employer. Yes, I do like it. Much better shape than when I saw it last time. Thanks for doing my job for me! And if you have drafted me in service then I guess you have a task for me. Can it wait a bit? I got a coke powered bastard to deal with which needs more firepower and bunch of soldiers to save. I don't exactly want to leave them hanging after telling I'm gonna get bigger guns for the job."
With that, he leaves the room, his stride confident.
From the very first glance, you can tell that the LATRANS has been modified, you've fixed enough of them to know nonstandard parts when you see them. The sensors are definitely different, the head's shape has even been altered to better accompany some of them, adopting a more angular appearance thanks to additional plating to protect the numerous cameras within.
The usual chaingun is absent, replaced with a machinegun of a distressingly low caliber that seems to have an awful lot of recoil dampening and one of the camera-scopes more prevalent among sniper rifles than automatic weapons. It honestly doesn't look like something that's intended for use against enemy frames. The smoke launcher's also gone, just flat out missing with no replacements at all.
Entering the cockpit you certainly get a surprise - firstly, those fancy new sensors? Their visual feeds are distorted, giving you a good general idea of what everything is, but still a far decline from the usual visual quality. Desaturated and rather lacking in detail, it really seems like they've put quite the effort in giving you such a specific poor kind of view rather than just smashing the screens and calling it a day. The other surprise? According to the interface, there's an Alcubierre Drive installed, ready for use.
Give the saber a swing, is this shifting quality going to cause issues?As with your compatriot's weapon, it swings perfectly well. The blade is light, its edge razor sharp, with the center of balance close to the hilt giving you plenty of control over it. You tap it against a nearby pole, instinctively testing how well you can feel through it, the whirring does cause a bit of issue there, but the blade is light and flexible enough that it doesn't matter too much. The phantasmal targeting image you will into existence seem to agree, with plenty of options open to you even during a swing.
"We should probably get a move on soon."
f1, all COMP.
[COMP: 5/5] You feel watched and see the shadows shift and twist. Out of the corner of your eye you see men in gray coats their faces indistinct. Horrific dread slices through your soul like the claws of death itself.
"I agree"[COMP: 1/1] The outline of a starfish.
"18" COMP:7
"23" COMP:7
[COMP: -2] You fail. You fail so hard Corsair literally didn't know what to do.
The arm holding your rifle deforms, flesh and sinew twisting into fractal patterns not unlike those of a tree branch, they converge and recombine forming a fleshy abomination that is approximately a bat, given a generous enough leeway. One that, despite evidently lacking any internal organs, pulsates with its own heartbeat. It begins to fly off, surprisingly unfettered by the weight of your firearm which it clutches with what was once your hand.
Well, at least you have a closed-off stump, rather than a bleeding one. So, that's something at least.
Better to go with the ambush. And I know just how to foul up that mechanism.((That's fine, we're just glad that we still have players and that the game is still alive :P))
1f 02 ulez! I'm sure this won't go badly.
[COMP: 6/5] [LTAR: AUTOSUCCESS] Briefly, your enhanced vision flares, confirming that there is no escape. Then, you focus. The words burn white-hot, consuming the rest of the grimoire, consuming the rest of your thoughts, consuming who you are, if only for the briefest of instants. A single silvery chain link appears, floating just in front of your chest for a split second. Then, it rushes forth.
Several more appear, scattered around it. Then, they begin to grow. New links appear, their toroidal forms interlocked with those of their predecessors. A roiling blast. A wall of metal. It roars forth.
At close-range, not even you could dodge it. With those speed enhancements, maybe, but not normally. Not even if you knew it was coming. Your unfortunate foe didn't even have that benefit. Before it can even react, it is already upon them, the chains slamming into them. The wheel grinds to a halt, chains jamming its gears. Bones dislocate, the skeleton falling apart from the impact. The smog billows forth, an ominous wind, a dying wind, slowly fading with its source halted and entangled, a severed arm from its wielder still grasping it.
The other bones shudder before rolling together into a pile, your target slowly reassembling its half broken form. It seems that you've done no lasting damage, having blown it apart but failing to do any appreciable damage to the bones themselves. That being said, it still hasn't fully recovered, and it's down both an arm and its only weapon. Easy pickings.
Beirus opens a channel to HQ. "I think I found what killed that AF you sent earlier. It's like one of those lightning birds we fought earlier, but on steroids. The damn thing is as big as a Lupus. The storm might let up if I kill it, though. That bird'll probably kill me first." Beirus states over the channel, a resigned tone to his voice as he looked at the giant bird. After closing that channel, he opens one to his squad. "This might be it for me. I don't think I'll get out of here. I guess now I'll get to test out that resurrection thing I mentioned earlier. Whether it works or not, it's been an honor serving with you all." Beirus then closed the channel and looked up towards the skyline. He had to be close to the source of this thing, and that bird wasn't going to deter him. He would stop this storm or die trying. And then maybe die a few more times after that."I'm getting reports of an 'armored weirdo' near your squad. He apparently just appeared out of thin air and is wearing some kind of strange armor. Might be Dead Hand. He calls himself the Ladlemonger, and by the sounds of it, he's saying he wants to assist you."
Cut through buildings, try to keep some sort of cover between me and the bird while running towards the center of the anomaly. If I have to fight the bird, shoot it with my Bound Weapon on full auto. Shoot any more spotters that show up with the ALCYONE. If the bird manages to get close to me, blast it with a plasma gout or cut it with the sword.
You start running straight further into the building to put distance between you and the giant icy murder bird. The brief break from the constant roar of the storm is jarring, the silence sudden and striking.
[MDEF: AUTOFAILURE] There are a few important details to know about your enhancements. Firstly, you can't dodge what you can't anticipate. Secondly, you can't dodge everything. You just learned both, very painfully. As you run past the elevator, the world burns a blinding white and a thundering crash hurls you against a wall. An explosion of lightning had surged from the door.
Your heart is still beating, pounding faster than ever actually, and for the most part you seem unscathed, your exoskeleton taking the brunt of attack. Which is to say that all its electronics, including the actuators have burnt out. The roar of thunder continues, as does the glare of the lightning. Were it not for your vision and hearing protection, you'd have neither right now. Arcing forth from the elevator and its call panel is, lightning doesn't quite describe it. Lightning strikes and it's done. This is different. This persists. It is a bolt in the form of a spider, its arcing limbs, in the shape lichtenberg figures flail violently, trying to reach you, to finish what it started. But it cannot, apparently unable to straying too far from its conductive nest.
You scramble away. Your exoskeleton is weighing you down. Its plating can still take more impacts for you, but with the actuators burnt out, it's also dead weight. It's slowing you down.
The storm roc rakes its claws across the front of the building, the edifice literally exploding from their destructive discharges, slowly tearing its way in.
Novjoy's voice comes filtering through
"Not yet. There's another guy here, claims to be the same kind of person as you. We're sending him over now. If he's lying he'll still be a good diversion I'd think."
James is surprisingly silent as he makes use of his axe to smash in the head of the wolf to his left. If he's attacked, he tries to dodge.[LTAR vs. SDEF: 5 vs. 2] You spin around and swing your axe, aiming it along the quickest path to it's head - through its body. The axe-head slams into its backside, half-smashing, half-cleaving its way through its body before breaking the head, scattering its broken shards in a spray of, whatever that viscous liquid is. Certainly isn't blood, it smells, sweet, sweeter than anything you've ever smelt, yet not sickeningly so. Strong, but not overpoweringly so. Apparently, you're fighting homicidal pinatas.
[MDEF vs. LTAR: 0 vs. 3] Ow. Well, that's going to hurt in morning. Halfway through your swing, the other wolf lunged for you and unfortunately, you weren't able to leap away in time. It bites into your side, its jaws fracturing from the impact, leaving its teeth still lodged in the ragged wounds they left behind.
You're bleeding right now, but not too much thanks to the teeth plugging up their own wounds. There is one wolf left here, and the rest of the factory looms in front of you.
Post by: Empiricist on April 21, 2016, 06:28:36 am
| < | Turn 32 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6929263#msg6929263) | | | Turn 33 | | | Turn 34 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6971814#msg6971814) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: blazing glory on April 21, 2016, 07:57:02 am
((Also, I am going to be in so much trouble for crit-failing that, unless...hm, has theories.))
Post by: Corsair on April 21, 2016, 08:05:22 am
((Are these menNo you are just hallucinating.actually herecurrently holding a physical presence in the world or should I not waste an action?))
((Also, I am going to be in so much trouble for crit-failing that, unless...hm, has theories.))
Post by: Empiricist on April 21, 2016, 08:06:26 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on April 21, 2016, 08:16:08 am
Oi mate, what's wrong with you?
Enough of this.
"DIE..."
James drives his(non-bound) fire axe through the last wolf's head. If attacked, he attempts to dodge.
Post by: blazing glory on April 21, 2016, 08:19:16 am
Ryles's face grows a few shades paler as he whirls his head around looking for phantoms, before settling on the Fleshbat.
"Oh....shit, we should go now."
Ryles firmly grabs Killy's other arm.
Post by: Hawk132 on April 21, 2016, 09:32:27 am
"May the Ladle
Get in the APC. Pedal to the metal. Find my soon-to-be-companion, so that we may engage in jolly cooperation. If I find him and he is getting attacked, call upon the power of Caladlebolg and destroy his enemies. If using spells at the same time as attacking physically is a thing, throw some '12 ixc' into the mix.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on April 21, 2016, 10:28:56 am
Systems check, RTFM. What's new software-wise? Anything about the gun?
Is the Alcubierre Drive useable within city scale? How precise it is? Preparations needed? Danger radius for humans not intented for transport? Cooldown?
Check with Red if that undanger teleport works with LATRANS. If it does, then use it to get right back to the coke monster plaza at any spot that doesn't instantly provoke hostile attention or damage infrastructure. Otherwise use the Alcubierre Drive from location where it doesn't ruin everything, of course assuming it can be used precisely enough. If not... well, I have to take the long route.
Post by: Bigf00t on April 24, 2016, 11:18:57 am
(('Aight, that also puts into clarity what it actually does.))Killy just stares at his new stump blankly for a moment.
Ryles's face grows a few shades paler as he whirls his head around looking for phantoms, before settling on the Fleshbat.
"Oh....shit, we should go now."
Ryles firmly grabs Killy's other arm.
...
"Crap"
...
*arm grabbing occurs*
"Wait what? Oh right, I think we should head around to the back building if at all possible, what do you think?"
Post by: Beirus on April 24, 2016, 01:13:16 pm
Stay out of the spider's reach. Shoot it with my ALCYONE and bound weapon. Keep an eye on that roc. If it manages to get far enough into the building that I have a clear shot that won't miss, blast it with a Plasma Gout. Otherwise, try to continue further into the building. Watch out for any more lightning spiders or threats like that.
Post by: blazing glory on April 24, 2016, 08:01:58 pm
See if we can go around the back.
Post by: Bigf00t on April 25, 2016, 11:53:11 pm
"Better then standing out here until something kills us, lets go."Ditto
See if we can go around the back.
Post by: Corsair on May 02, 2016, 03:08:09 am
James trembles for a moment. Then he stares at the wolf very, very, intently...[LTAR vs. MDEF: -1 vs. 0] Axe Attack.
Oi mate, what's wrong with you?
Enough of this.
"DIE..."
James drives his(non-bound) fire axe through the last wolf's head. If attacked, he attempts to dodge.
You swing at the wolf but a jolt of pain sends you staggering forwards, your axe cleaving into its body but failing to deal a mortal blow, which, considering that it rapidly regenerates, is far from ideal.
[MDEF vs. LTAR: 4 vs. 4] Enemy Attack.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 3 vs. 0] Axe Attack.
Seeing its chance it lunges at you again, a little pain might have stopped you the first time, but it's not going to stop you again. First, you leap back, kicking off the ground with supernatural agility, keeping you out of its reach. You quickly lean forwards as soon as you land, driving your legs against the floor in dash forwards as the wolf tries to follow up with a second lunge, its motion serving only to drive its head into your readied axe.
Your short charge sends you straight through the wolf, its bisected body blowing apart from a seemingly far greater impact, fragments clattering to the ground.
Sote flickers into view, an illusionary hand to your side, examining your wound, regarding it with a concerned expression that while not disingenuous, is evidently artificial, an acknowledgement more than any sort of real worry.
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
Feeling alright? There should be first aid kits in the factory,
my scans can guide you to the nearest one if that is your wish.
Before the Ladlemonger enters the APC, he turns back to the soldiers and bows slightly.The engine roars. You floor the accelerator, and flick the windshield wipers to as high as they can go. A small blessing that all cars have them, even in an underground colony, if not because no-one could be bothered designing models without them, then because car washes window cleaner still give them some token use. Indeed, these are as good as those you'd find on other planets where storms are actually a concern for drivers, that is to say, they are of negligible use. For whatever arcane specifications they designed were for sadly did not list "murderous underground storm" amongst the conditions they were meant to handle. A futile smear of motion on a blur of rain.
"May the Ladlelight upguide your pathwith its gross incandescence."
Get in the APC. Pedal to the metal. Find my soon-to-be-companion, so that we may engage in jolly cooperation. If I find him and he is getting attacked, call upon the power of Caladlebolg and destroy his enemies. If using spells at the same time as attacking physically is a thing, throw some '12 ixc' into the mix.
The wind roars. Two blocks in and you see the black clouds, roiling and shrinking, like ink in water played in reverse. Flashes of lightning piercing the congealing darkness. Soon you are three blocks in
The thunder roars. You see the building above which the clouds gather, and something that is tearing apart its edifice, you can't see too clearly. Clearly this is your stop. You brake and swerve, sending your van careening into a drift as you swing open the door. An icy roc, like the one on that brochure rakes its claws against a building, explosions blasting apart a widening hole in the reception. You swing your legs out, striking your right heel against the van's side as if performing an axe kick, and then you run. Your run along the side of your van, mid-drift, Caladlebolg manifesting in your hand as you leap off.
[COMP: 9/8] Spell.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 5 vs. 3] Bound Weapon Attack. Spell Attack.
[MDEF vs. LTAR: 4 vs. 7] Enemy Attack.
[TRAN: 6/9] Enemy Resist.
As you swing, so too does the roc. It's smaller than the one in the brochure, yet up close now, it's still far too large. Sickle like talons swing towards you, wreathed in, and trailing arcs of octarine energy. Your left foot hits the ground, you relax the joints, letting your leg flex with the motion. Your right foot touches the ground, you kick off into a sideways leap, swinging Caladlebolg.
Your armor bubbles like tar, a machine-gun spray of oily globs bursting forth. So you see the corrosion roil forth from your greatladle. You see the rotted flesh that bubbles from your spell bolts. You see the familiar green sparks. And then, you see octarine. A great octarine arc, and the claws that they arc upon.
Pain. Burning pain. Cutting pain. Worse, far worse than anything you've felt. The chaingun had the courtesy to finish you off. This did not. You manage to lessen the impact a bit, and at the very least reduced a killing blow to a likely mortal wound. Perhaps you wish you hadn't.
You skid along the road, blood mixing with rain. The choking smell of ozone mixes with the sickly sweet scent of your own burnt flesh.
If you were to stop time once more, if you were to look at yourself, you would see a broken body. Fractured and cloven bones, charred and missing skin, and lichtenberg figures carved around the flesh that exploded apart. You don't need to however, for you can already know that death approaches.
At least you brought them time.
At least, this grave shall be for two. The corrosion had found its mark, blighting the ice and decaying the bone. The bolts too had hit, and as you skidded along the ground, you could see that a great green spark in the shape of a hand reaching out of the roc, bending backwards into itself and discharging with a flash.
[MDEF vs. LTAR: 3 vs. 1] Enemy Attack.
Its corpse falls, crashing down upon you, its final flap seeking as to secure its vengeance. You may not be alive for much longer, but there is still time, however little. It shall not deny you that.
Adrenaline pumping, pain fading, you throw yourself forwards, passing under as it crashes behind you. Good riddance.
You try to crawl, try to fight the worsening pain, to focus your fading consciousness, but you can't. In your attempts to crawl, you bolt upright into a jog. As you try to fight the pain, you find that there is no pain. You don't feel tired. You feel alert, focused, ready.
You feel the rain on your skin, your missing skin. You look down.
You've healed. You healed as soon as the roc perished, and only now did you notice. Perhaps "heal" is not the best term. Were you to go to your GP, they would not say that you were healed, actually they'd just run away screaming. For though you are not dead, you aren't quite alive either. Around your wounds the flesh rotted, leaking a petroleum-like fluid that now pools in your wounds and replaces the missing skin. In the tiny hole left in your chest, just in the gap between mended ribs, you can see your heart, black and shriveled now, yet beating steadily.
"What's this? From first glance it looks upgraded, but in reality it is downgrade? Damn... I drew short stick again. Unless there's something else. Hmm..."The systems are secure although several software and hardware notifications about new additions and non-standard gear. The weapon appears to be a almost turret like weapon mounted on the forearm that can pivot in multiple directions it also has it's own cameras and sensors allowing for it to pick out small targets easier.
Systems check, RTFM. What's new software-wise? Anything about the gun?
Is the Alcubierre Drive useable within city scale? How precise it is? Preparations needed? Danger radius for humans not intented for transport? Cooldown?
Check with Red if that undanger teleport works with LATRANS. If it does, then use it to get right back to the coke monster plaza at any spot that doesn't instantly provoke hostile attention or damage infrastructure. Otherwise use the Alcubierre Drive from location where it doesn't ruin everything, of course assuming it can be used precisely enough. If not... well, I have to take the long route.
You read the on-system manual on Alcubierre jumping which brings your attention to a warning that the particle sweep has been disabled, which while possibly sounding perfectly reasonable to a buffoon who doesn't work on frames, is the sort of message that sends alarm bells ringing in your head. Not only should that not be disabled, disabling it shouldn't even be an option, there should be numerous mechanical interlocks specifically built into the drive to stop that from ever occurring, because otherwise whatever is in front of the frame at the end of a jump is not going to be there anymore, blasted apart with a spray of high-energy particles.
Looking at the software you see further modifications with the capacitor's capacity having been halved and the navigation software is three version numbers ahead of the latest that you have previously seen. The software system is described as granting "rapid short range movement through dense terrain by chained warp envelope manipulations with additional assault field". You also manage to find the drive specs.
Spoiler: Drive Specs (click to show/hide)
Checking the UI, you see that you are able to plan a series of jumps in rapid-succession to reach locations you lack a direct line of sight to. Unfortunately, that also entails a murderous blast of radiation being released by every single jump, proportional to jump distance. Seems that so long as you have enough charge, you can use it without any delay between jumps.
Seeing as the jumps involve colossal quantities of collateral damage, you just fly out out the hanger, using the frame's thrusters. Well, it's certainly refreshing being able to use what you once repaired, even with the realization that you will likely have to repair whatever damage it sustains.
Returning to coke demon plaza, you find that you can't see a damn thing. It's like rave in there, except with flashbangs instead of strobelights. You might honestly be better off with the distorted sensory feeds seeing as it's at least. There's just this mass of light and sound charging forth, a LUPUS frame spraying it with chaingun fire in an attempt to keep it at bay.
The spearman is probably somewhere in there, seeing as there are a few corpses on the ground, though for all you know they might have just died from massive epileptic fits or something. The rest of the soldiers are behind the frame, making a fighting retreat as they fire grenades in, the vague direction of the demon's post code.
Stay out of the spider's reach. Shoot it with my ALCYONE and bound weapon. Keep an eye on that roc. If it manages to get far enough into the building that I have a clear shot that won't miss, blast it with a Plasma Gout. Otherwise, try to continue further into the building. Watch out for any more lightning spiders or threats like that.You discharge two ALCYONE rounds and all four barrels of your bound weapon into the spider, the bullets ineffectually passing through it and putting several holes in the elevator. Well, that's going to be an issue.
Making a turn and running further into the building, parallel to the street, the roc leaves your line of sight, as does the spider. There are no spotters nor any suspiciously sparking electronics in your path, however you do skirt past a symbol on the ground, one that you give wide berth. Up ahead, inscribed upon a wall is another one.
The roc's cacophany has ceased. Now, you hear only the storm and your own footsteps once more.
Spoiler: Map (click to show/hide)
"Better then standing out here until something kills us, lets go."
See if we can go around the back.
DittoYou slowly make your way around towards the rear side of the building until you run out of carpark, and stop at a slightly oblique angle. The building behind is a large warehouse with a connection to the main building through a covered walkway. Several guards with shotguns and rifles are patrolling the grounds, from here, you can see four with rifles and three with shotguns.
Post by: Empiricist on May 02, 2016, 03:08:55 am
| < | Turn 33 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6949166#msg6949166) | | | Turn 34 | | | Turn 35 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6991377#msg6991377) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Hawk132 on May 02, 2016, 05:58:42 am
"The Ladlemonger has arrived! I have vanquished the roc!"
Go inside the building and look for the one they call O'Greenahan. Should I notice something hostile (which would mean the lighting spiders and the spotters that Beirus mentioned) - let it feel the wrath of Caladlebolg. If I see something weird - throw a ladle at it and apply Caladlebolg if it proves necessary. But before doing any of that, cast "12 otrm".
Post by: blazing glory on May 02, 2016, 06:20:42 am
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 02, 2016, 06:55:33 am
Broadcast with speakers if I have external ones, use radio if not: "Greetings, Ao Shi is back. I see party started while I was getting the big guns. Now let's pull the plug from these party lights!"
Start shooting strobes with the turret. If Red can assist with targeting (Bio scan) to measurable degree, then use it too. Objective is to eliminate as many strobes as possible to give soldiers better change to see actual enemy.
Post by: Empiricist on May 02, 2016, 06:57:13 am
((Series of short jumps around the plaza would probably kill everything. Is it possible to change orientation during jump so most of high-energy particles are aimed to specific direction?))((It's aimed in the direction you're jumping in.))
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 02, 2016, 07:01:23 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 02, 2016, 08:52:42 am
James pauses for a moment, then gathers up several wolf head shards. His employers might find them interesting. Afterwards, he follows his handler's guidance to find a first aid kit.
Post by: Corsair on May 02, 2016, 06:34:22 pm
((You could jump say west then jump further west and jump east into the previous blast creating the effect of turning 180 during the first jump but that is taxing on the envelope (which is bad) and requires successful entry of the jump macro (which if you fuck up is very very bad). So if you want to play a game of particle-deathray-tennis go ahead but it would be ill advised most of the time.))((Series of short jumps around the plaza would probably kill everything. Is it possible to change orientation during jump so most of high-energy particles are aimed to specific direction?))((It's aimed in the direction you're jumping in.))
Post by: Empiricist on May 02, 2016, 09:19:03 pm
Plus even if you could, you'd have another westerly blast from the second jump which you'd have to to race and recapture, and so on, until you have a Ponzi Scheme that involves superluminal mechs and spontaneous death rays, which I don't think many consumer-protection agencies will be happy about.))
Post by: blazing glory on May 02, 2016, 09:48:01 pm
Post by: Corsair on May 03, 2016, 03:17:20 am
((I am curious, would it be possible to use JOLLY COOPERATION to pool our COMP for particularly large spells))?((AFAIK it isn't covered in the rules and was an option in perplexicon so sure, if only to magnify your potential to fuck up :P))
NB: Co-operative casting does require certain materials.
((Actually, Corsair, the second westerly jump would scoop up and reaccelerate the initial blast. It isn't a teleport, it just compresses space in front of it, which has the side-effect of scooping up and accelerating matter in front of it.((True, perhaps by chaining multiple jumps of 1 degree off previous direction to make a circle? Problem is that you would need so many that you would have a blast of frankly ludicrous proportions by the end; approximately 77.4 PetaJoules or 1228 times more powerful than little boy.))
Plus even if you could, you'd have another westerly blast from the second jump which you'd have to to race and recapture, and so on, until you have a Ponzi Scheme that involves superluminal mechs and spontaneous death rays, which I don't think many consumer-protection agencies will be happy about.))
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 03, 2016, 05:45:45 am
Post by: Empiricist on May 03, 2016, 05:56:39 am
Post by: Bigf00t on May 03, 2016, 10:58:17 am
"Should we go guns blazing or try something a little more sneaky? I have ideas for both so I want to know what you think.""I'm good with hearing both, I like stealth, but I'm not entirely against running in swinging this sword wildly, provided you have an ok plan for it. Hey, got to be some perks to near immortality... right?"
Post by: blazing glory on May 03, 2016, 01:40:46 pm
"It could either kill us all or just kill them, but it'd probably do the trick."
((I'm pretty sure the result will be hilariously horrifying and probably has a greater chance of killing everyone instead of everyone-who-isn't-us, but we should do it, just for the sheer horror.))
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 03, 2016, 01:52:02 pm
((I'm pretty sure the result will be hilariously horrifying and probably has a greater chance of killing everyone instead of everyone-who-isn't-us, but we should do it, just for the sheer fun.))((Fixed it for you.))
Post by: blazing glory on May 03, 2016, 02:02:35 pm
((Yes I suppose that is rather what I meant, heh.))((I'm pretty sure the result will be hilariously horrifying and probably has a greater chance of killing everyone instead of everyone-who-isn't-us, but we should do it, just for the sheer fun.))((Fixed it for you.))
Post by: Hawk132 on May 03, 2016, 02:15:47 pm
Spoiler: Added a few words to the list a few pages back. (click to show/hide)
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 03, 2016, 03:14:59 pm
Post by: Bigf00t on May 03, 2016, 10:48:16 pm
"Well...it's not a PLAN, per se, just an idea, but if what you've given me is more or less accurate, I'm thinking we could try a rather big spell, 12 f1 a8, to be precise.""Hmm, I could continue my Bearomancy studies... did you want to add 'sabb' to that? Might help 'direct' it forcefully towards the bad guys" :P
"It could either kill us all or just kill them, but it'd probably do the trick."
((I'm pretty sure the result will be hilariously horrifying and probably has a greater chance of killing everyone instead of everyone-who-isn't-us, but we should do it, just for the sheer horror.))
((We will require a pot combo between 11 and 15 for standard, 12 and 16 for +sabb if we want to succeed, want to swap out '12' for something cheaper?))
Post by: blazing glory on May 03, 2016, 11:39:16 pm
((We'll have to go with Undead Nightmare Bear some other time.))
Post by: Bigf00t on May 04, 2016, 03:21:59 am
"Yeah, alright, what should we use for the base component though? What we have so far all has its downsides and I don't think a bear made purely of fear will go over well.""Well... I happen to know for a fact Magnet Bears (1f - no more than 3 points) are very effective against gun-wielding opponents... but any of our metal stuff, nearby cars, the lot will be fodder too. Could be a problem if we can't control the bear."
((We'll have to go with Undead Nightmare Bear some other time.))
"We could also make the Bear from advanced polymers and futuristic meta-materials, that sort of stuff (22 - 3 points). The stuff the future is made of!). We could create a dystopian cyperpunk bear... Hmm."
"Or hell, if you want to try Undead Nightmare Bear I could use my Luck Tradecraft to increase our odds of success."
((I'm cool with either of these 3 options personally.))
((Just realized, I think Bear might be a point cost of 3, and I think the TRAN rolls which determine the creature's allegiance/your control might be simply 2x the COMP cost of the animal word. :D ))
Post by: blazing glory on May 04, 2016, 05:53:50 am
Post by: Beirus on May 04, 2016, 03:24:46 pm
"In here. Take the first left, then down the hall. Watch out for the spider in the elevator. Oh, and kill any of those watery guys you see, they're spotters for the rest of the storm."
Use Equipment Check on the symbols if I can. They're sort of like deployed equipment, right? Look outside if I can to take stock of the situation, and double check my gear to make sure it's in working order. Gotta take advantage of down time.
Post by: Bigf00t on May 05, 2016, 07:01:12 am
"Necromancy sounds like the best thing to mesh with fear, lets try it and to hell with the consequences."((We probably should ask hour handlers if this is possible first))
USE OUR ULTIMATE POWER! 12 F1 A8 SABB.
Ask handler, if they say IMPOSSIBRUUUUU then DON'T F#KING DOI IT CAP'T'N!
If they say it is possible, and how, then DOOO EEIIIT!
ACTIVATE "LUCK" TRADECRAFT[/u]
COMBINE OUR ULTIMATE POWAAAAAR! FULL COMP THIS BIATCH! CO-OPERATIVELY1!
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
1: Hopefully. Oh god.
Post by: blazing glory on May 05, 2016, 05:23:04 pm
Post by: Corsair on May 06, 2016, 01:38:25 am
"Necromancy sounds like the best thing to mesh with fear, lets try it and to hell with the consequences."((We probably should ask hour handlers if this is possible first))
USE OUR ULTIMATE POWER! 12 F1 A8 SABB.
Ask handler, if they say IMPOSSIBRUUUUU then DON'T F#KING DOI IT CAP'T'N!
If they say it is possible, and how, then DOOO EEIIIT!
ACTIVATE "LUCK" TRADECRAFT[/u]
COMBINE OUR ULTIMATE POWAAAAAR! FULL COMP THIS BIATCH! CO-OPERATIVELY1!Spoiler (click to show/hide)
1: Hopefully. Oh god.
((Reasonably sure it's completely possible, just more on the risky side of murderspells.))YOU REQUIRE ADDITIONAL
Post by: blazing glory on May 06, 2016, 01:48:37 am
YOU REQUIRE ADDITIONALpls no then we'd have to do more testing instead of murdery funPYLONSEXOTIC MATERIALS
Post by: Empiricist on May 06, 2016, 02:54:39 am
I mean both of you doing it raises the chances of one of you succeeding, but it means you both might horribly die :P))
Post by: blazing glory on May 06, 2016, 05:25:55 am
((Unfortunately, no, you cannot do that innately, there are certain things you can get that allow that, but neither of you have any.))((What are we actually referring to? Being able to cast the spell?))
Post by: Empiricist on May 06, 2016, 09:26:00 pm
Post by: blazing glory on May 06, 2016, 09:59:02 pm
((No way it's succeeding independently.))
Do a more mundane spell, 22 ixc, fight the guards.
Post by: Bigf00t on May 07, 2016, 11:32:38 pm
LUCK POWERS, ACTIVATE!
Cast "22 03 sabb" (full COMP) thinking of and aiming at either whatever guards are standing closest to one another or the furthest guard. If the TRAN roll succeeds (and if I get one) direct thy new noble beast to ATTACK!
Direct my follower (on horse or not) to also join the fray, and to help us murderise guards as he sees fit
"Remember what you said about taking the fight to their chattels etc? Your time has come!"
Ready my blade, take a deep breath and once my and my ally's spells are cast... !!CHARGE!! at the nearest enemy! (and you know, kill/incapacitate them. The usual)
((Only now am I thinking of the ethical ramification of murder, and thinking that maybe... MAYBE we could have talked our way in. Oh well. Next time.))
Post by: blazing glory on May 08, 2016, 01:38:35 am
((Only now am I thinking of the ethical ramification of murder, and thinking that maybe... MAYBE we could have talked our way in. Oh well. Next time.))((But if we failed they would've gotten the first shots and that would suck, also I wouldn't be able to get GLORIOUS COMBAT PRACTICE.))
Post by: Empiricist on May 10, 2016, 07:01:48 am
Post by: Corsair on May 11, 2016, 07:11:05 am
"The Ladlemonger has arrived! I have vanquished the roc!"[COMP: 17/7] Spell.
Go inside the building and look for the one they call O'Greenahan. Should I notice something hostile (which would mean the lighting spiders and the spotters that Beirus mentioned) - let it feel the wrath of Caladlebolg. If I see something weird - throw a ladle at it and apply Caladlebolg if it proves necessary. But before doing any of that, cast "12 otrm".
That familiar black oil pours from the palm of your non-dominant hand, swirling outwards. It expands to approximately one meter in diameter. Pausing time, you see that it will react to your movements. Should you try to cover yourself with your arms, it will flow over them like armor; if you two-hand Caladlebolg, it becomes wreathed by the spell; and if you summon your other bound weapon, the assault rifle, it will form a shield expanding from just over half-way along its length.
Well, looks like you've figured out a defensive spell. One that uses Static Defense, you know? That stat that none of the the active PCs actually uses?
You walk into the building, nonchalantly killing two spotters via corrosion without even pausing. Hugging a wall, you manage to get past the elevator without getting electrocuted or flashbanged by the angry spider within.
Broadcast with speakers if I have external ones, use radio if not: "Greetings, Ao Shi is back. I see party started while I was getting the big guns. Now let's pull the plug from these party lights!"Time holds and eight silhouettes appear, overlayed on top of the target area. Seven strobes, loosely clustered.
Start shooting strobes with the turret. If Red can assist with targeting (Bio scan) to measurable degree, then use it too. Objective is to eliminate as many strobes as possible to give soldiers better change to see actual enemy.
After running over the procedure a few times, time resumes and you input the seven into the assisted aiming system of the frame and open fire on the strobes.
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 6 vs. INEFFECTIVE] Machinegun attack.
The Bio Scan doesn't really show you much beyond their initial positions, so it still comes down to a bit of spray and pray, but seeing as, after an initial burst of light, there's no clusterfuck of lights remaining, you're reasonably certain you hit all seven of them.
A blur of motion. Amongst six soldiers. During your attack, the spearmonster moved into action deciding to throw in it's lot with a flank rather than waiting and getting shot at (go figure).
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 3 vs. 0] Spearman attacks soldier.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 0 vs. 0] Spearman attacks soldier.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 3 vs. 0] Spearman attacks soldier.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 0 vs. 0] Spearman attacks soldier.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 1 vs. 0] Spearman attacks soldier.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 2 vs. 0] Spearman attacks soldier.
With a single wide sweep, four are doomed. Flames formed of shadow dance along their writhing forms, their edges delineated by a brilliant neon, its radiance rivaled only by the sheer sleaziness of its ever-changing color scheme. Screeching maggots of hellfire erupt forth, both from their wounds and the concrete around them, as spasming tendrils of rusted barbed wire precipitate from the flames.
Its armor is streamlined and unpainted. Its weapon is shifting, growing further now.
"I... I... yes. A first aid kit would be wonderful right now."Wolf shards gathered.
James pauses for a moment, then gathers up several wolf head shards. His employers might find them interesting. Afterwards, he follows his handler's guidance to find a first aid kit.
You creep deeper into the facility, hugging the walls as suggested by your tradecraft, and doubling back a few times, avoiding the nearing sounds of gunfire. You arrive on the factory floor and find one of the first aid kits in a convenient wall-mounted cabinet. It contains the usual assortment of bandaids, cotton balls, cotton swabs, iodine, bandages, hydrogen peroxide and comes with an inbuilt button to call an ambulance. Not that you think any ambulances will be willing to come anywhere near this floor for the foreseeable future.
Retrieving it, you walk along a path a few steps away from the cabinet and stand there, that specific spot apparently safer than most of your surroundings. Bullets begin whizzing past at infrequent intervals. Oh.
Heavy footfalls follow. Two soldiers, NEE by the looks of it, are running your way, firing apparently at random. They don't really seem to see you, and zig-zag hap-hazardly with seemingly no pattern, sometimes even bumping into the factory equipment and walls in their haste.
Beirus takes a moment to look at the symbols before speaking to Jus. "Jus, you have any idea who that new guy is? I figure he's one of us, but who is his handler? And do you know anything about these symbols?" Beirus asks before turning to call down the hallway.
"In here. Take the first left, then down the hall. Watch out for the spider in the elevator. Oh, and kill any of those watery guys you see, they're spotters for the rest of the storm."
Use Equipment Check on the symbols if I can. They're sort of like deployed equipment, right? Look outside if I can to take stock of the situation, and double check my gear to make sure it's in working order. Gotta take advantage of down time.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Edward 'Ladlemonger' Whitmore, a fellow NEE Armor Frame pilot. He and his squad were killed in action by a LANDSKNECHT frame earlier.
He has a penchant for magic, particularly that of a necrotic nature. One of my other recent acquisitions here.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Autonomous weapons systems. Embedded into the walls.
Outlines enter your vision, tracing in a vaguely rectangular region around each symbol, almost like a primitive mask.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
They generate regions of distorted reality that produce an unnatural force. One that lets it levitate itself and its surroundings.
Think of them as antipersonnel mines, one that can chase their victims. And yes, you are in their activation range.
I'm picking up one-way communication from the storm to them. It's directing them.
I'm picking up more of your "spotters" ahead. So keep them in mind before you engage.
Good news is that I've got a read on them. More automatons, these ones with two-way communication.
They transmit target locations to the storm, so try not to stay any longer in their sights than they have to.
This storm is awfully good at focusing its energy so a repeat of that rain trick it did would be best.
All in all, very human in design. Our uninvited guest seems to have a taste for human tech it seems.
Oh, and, try not to die. Or at least, leave no body behind. Those spotters have the hardware to salvage corpses and extract data from brains.
So ice zombies. Murderous ice zombies.
You check your gear but well, it isn't looking too good.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
ZGMF-SOL:18I and IW05-ALCYONE are fully operational.
The MA07-KIANG is fried however. The plating take a few more hits, but you'll be stuck lugging it around.
Do a more mundane spell, 22 ixc, fight the guards.
[COMP: 8/6] Spell.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 3 vs. 0] Spell Attack.
Your spell activates with a flash of Bremsstrahlung as brilliant blue streaks spray into the warehouse, impacting with craters the size of golf balls in anything particularly sturdy and punching straight through anything else. Your target, a soldier with a rifle isn't even able to react in time.
The difficulty in hitting really only came from how awkward it is to aim, seeing as the spell comes from a point in front of your sternum rather than anywhere more convenient. Had it been your revolver instead, you could have read out your shots in excruciating detail beforehand - medulla oblongata, C1-C2 vertebrae gap, C3-C4 vertebrae gap. Here, you can't, but you could still tell they'd hit.
And they do, leaving for a brief instant what looks like a modern art project made out of burnt and perforated meat that promptly collapses to the floor. One of the soldiers returns fire, pale lines tracing forth in stopped time.
((Just a reminder that you can split your UTAR or LTAR pool between multiple targets if you like your odds of hitting them.))
As for fighting, uh, could you please be a bit more specific? Do you wanna run up and stab them? Shoot them? Use those matches? Use their tradecraft to start a heated argument about their private political views? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!
((Also, in future, you may want to specify what to do when they start firing back at you. Because we have no idea which direction you want to dodge in, or if you want to start trying out SDEF or something, so now there's a timestop while you figure out what to do about the bullets flying towards your face.))
LUCK POWERS, ACTIVATE![COMP: 11/6] Spell.
Cast "22 03 sabb" (full COMP) thinking of and aiming at either whatever guards are standing closest to one another or the furthest guard. If the TRAN roll succeeds (and if I get one) direct thy new noble beast to ATTACK!
Direct my follower (on horse or not) to also join the fray, and to help us murderise guards as he sees fit
"Remember what you said about taking the fight to their chattels etc? Your time has come!"
Ready my blade, take a deep breath and once my and my ally's spells are cast... !!CHARGE!! at the nearest enemy! (and you know, kill/incapacitate them. The usual)
[TRAN: 0] Synchronization.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 3 vs. 0] Flying boar.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 2 vs. 0] Squire attack.
You summon a robotic boar with razor sharp tusks and fine musculature made of metallic wires leading into elegant shining joints. It appears to the left of your shoulder and launches in that direction, straight into a group of three guards, crashing into one of them.
You charge at one of the guards and suddenly begin to see the flaw of charging those with guns while wielding a sabre without being too hot at Static Defense. Three of the six upright guards turn to face you, six which rapidly becomes four after a burst of something from your partner turns one into mince and your squire's mad spray finds its mark on another.
Time stops as two of the remaining soldiers begin firing, pale lines tracing all around you, their projected trajectories ending with starbursts of shrapnel, probably not the most legal of ammunition. You know that depending on where you attempt to move you may get caught in a corner, which, evidently won't end well, even with your supernatural agility. Especially not when a robotic boar is charging at you, murder its lenses. Two guards are on the roof of the glass building while the other two take cover behind pillars in the arcade between the warehouse and the glass building, the fifth one is near them, getting back up off the floor.
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 0 vs. -1] Shotgun soldier fires.
Judging by the predicted images coming off of Ropey, they'll be able to keep itself and its rider safe from the incoming slugs.
((May want to specify a defensive action next time, helps get more done in the turn.))
Post by: Empiricist on May 11, 2016, 07:13:31 am
| < | Turn 34 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6971814#msg6971814) | | | Turn 35 | | | Turn 36 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7009645#msg7009645) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 11, 2016, 08:33:48 am
Two soldiers coming towards you, that's what. They are definitely not in the best state of mind-they're firing their weapons at random. Maybe... don't reveal yourself?
James nods silently to himself...
James stays silent. Waiting for the soldiers to pass by. If they notice him, and start attacking(brainwashing, perhaps?) he dodges to the side of the bullets and chucks his bound fire axe at one of them. If they notice him, and stop shooting/whatnot... time to talk. Perhaps ask medical assistance.
Post by: Hawk132 on May 11, 2016, 10:46:13 am
Continue. Find my companion. Keep killing the spotters and look out for weird things. If I see something that actively tries to kill me, '12 ixc' and apply Caladlebolg.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 11, 2016, 11:17:34 am
Now make sure I'm not too close the spearman, and shoot the spear with machinegun. Pray I won't miss.
((The core was in the spear, right?))
Post by: Empiricist on May 11, 2016, 03:51:37 pm
((The protection spell is a one-turn thing or does it last a longer time? Because I see no mention of it in my character sheet.))((It's a one turn deal.))
((The core was in the spear, right?))((The core was in a building down a nearby street.))
Post by: blazing glory on May 11, 2016, 05:23:08 pm
Post by: Empiricist on May 11, 2016, 05:34:24 pm
Actually, hold on a bit, I'll see if I can talk over a few things with Corsair first. Might be able to make the rules a bit easier to use actually.))
Post by: Empiricist on May 13, 2016, 05:07:28 am
I'll see if I can talk over a few things with Corsair first. Might be able to make the rules a bit easier to use actually.Okay, so here's how combat goes now.
For each round of combat, you get to use all of your Targeting (LTAR, UTAR) and Intrinsic (COMP, TRAN) Pools.
Unless your targets are clustered, you'll need to split your Targeting Pools between each enemy you wish to at in any given round. So if you want to shoot two people, you'll need to distribute your UTAR between them; if you want to shoot the same person with as many guns as you can fire in one turn, you can use your full UTAR since it's still only one target. If you want to fire a directed blast of wax cats at someone and then shoot them in that order, you can use both your full LTAR and full UTAR pools separately, though chances are if the first one hits, the impact will leave them unable to evade the second one.
You'll also need to allocate your COMP and TRAN across every relevant active use of them, however any sort of check using them will still use its full value. So if you've got some sort of "Summon where the caster is thinking"-style spell you can cast it inside a PHAROAH's cockpit without putting yourself in any additional risk at becoming possessed.
Finally, you get to choose one of your Defense (MDEF, SDEF) Pools. You'll need to specify how you use it, so for MDEF you'll need to tell us in what direction you move to avoid getting hit, and for SDEF, you'll need to tell us what you use to block or intercept the attacks with. These are applied at full value for each applicable attack regardless of the quantity of attacks. So as long you are able to dodge somewhere, your MDEF will act in full against any number of bullets moving towards your face.
You can opt to not attack and instead combine your Defense Pools, you'll need to specify where to dodge and how to intercept in such a case.
There is one exception to this, and that is when you're protecting another person via SDEF. You can distribute some of your SDEF to them and specify how you intend to keep them from getting shot. Though in a lot of case, you could just stand right in front of them without sharing any SDEF, and you'll still manage to keep them safe since the attack would have to go through you first.
Make sense?
Post by: blazing glory on May 13, 2016, 05:57:49 am
(If we need to finish the current round of actions first)
MDEF Roll to the right (or just away from the cars, boar, and closer to the building in general) and then split LTAR between two slashes at both the soldiers left, 2 LTAR goes to any that have assault rifles, or just either, with the other one getting 1 LTAR.
(If not)
1f 02 sabb at the boar, all COMP (and UTAR), regardless of if it succeeds or not, carry on with the above.
((Do I need to split UTAR and LTAR to any and all spells as well as attacks?))
Post by: Empiricist on May 13, 2016, 06:14:20 pm
So if you want to summon a spray of bullets at someone, and slash them with your sword, you'll need to allocate LTAR to the slash and UTAR to the spell. Because while they're already being targeted for the slash, it's by a different targeting pool.
But if you want to just throw your sword at them instead you can just use a single UTAR allocation to handle both, since both of them use UTAR.
If you want to throw your sword at a different person, then you'll need to split UTAR because then you'd be targeting multiple foes using the same stat.))
Post by: blazing glory on May 13, 2016, 06:34:32 pm
Post by: blazing glory on May 14, 2016, 09:53:35 pm
Post by: Empiricist on May 14, 2016, 11:20:38 pm
Post by: Bigf00t on May 17, 2016, 03:56:37 am
"05 sabb" thinking of / aiming at the closest, most exposed opponent, and quickly dive behind a car, preferably one that provides at least some cover from both the goons on the roof and those at the foot of the building/wherever (We are still in the car-park right?) (use full COMP and MDEF respectively?)
((Hopefully if I'm out of sight of the mad boar it'll turn to the next closest enemy. Heh heh heh. Unless it really hates me for that abysmal Synchronization roll, in which case... dang))
Post by: Beirus on May 17, 2016, 02:08:20 pm
Wait for Ladlemonger to catch up, then keep moving towards the center. Kill any spotters I can with the ALCYONE as soon as I see them, preferably before they see us. Move quickly, before the storm can catch up to us. If I get attacked, retaliate with Bound Weapon or Plasma Sword depending on range. Dodge any attacks, into another building if I need to.
Post by: Corsair on May 21, 2016, 06:26:54 am
Oh come on. What now?The soldiers scramble past you clawing forwards and firing wildly behind them at something, though your positioning continues to ensure that none of the shots stray too close to you.. What you hear as they run past is... disquieting to say the least, if not in implication, then in sheer cheesiness.
Two soldiers coming towards you, that's what. They are definitely not in the best state of mind-they're firing their weapons at random. Maybe... don't reveal yourself?
James nods silently to himself...
James stays silent. Waiting for the soldiers to pass by. If they notice him, and start attacking(brainwashing, perhaps?) he dodges to the side of the bullets and chucks his bound fire axe at one of them. If they notice him, and stop shooting/whatnot... time to talk. Perhaps ask medical assistance.
"DON'T JUST STAND THERE, RUN! CAN'T YOU SEE THEM? THEY'RE HERE!"
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
Ah, the feebleness of the human mind at work. A warning to you, for you are cut from the same cloth.
A sordid circumstance I must say, heroes ought to be made of sterner substance; mind you that is, something we've been working to rectify.
Let's see how well that's coming along, shall we?
[TRAN: 11/6] Unnatural Perception on first soldier.
[TRAN: 5] Unnatural Perception on second soldier.
Your vision shifts and you see, you see unfiltered through the cameras and filters. Though "see" isn't quite the right word, you perceive, you feel it, that otherworldly something here, placed in terms of your sense, forced into your own terms.
They appear like the phantasms you see in stopped time, pale outlines of negotiable detail and opacity. Haze. A suffocating smog, thick to the point of blinding fills the room, well, choking and blinding for those who aren't you. You just adjust your vision and pierce straight through. Within it you can see glimpses of unknown horrors of a more physical variety - gorilla-esque behemoths of swollen turgid flesh covered in shredding horns, maws of teeth, and eyes that weep fire. You see near-formless pillars of eyes, mouths and faces surrounded by foot long spikes of fractally-splitting bone that constantly seem to fall and warp forward infinitely.
Interestingly, some of them are actually occupying the same space as the other soldier as if they didn't exist. Huh, guess each one's nightmare is their own.
You find yourself unable to switch your view into whatever's terrorizing the second soldier, but you've probably seen enough to get a pretty good idea.
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
Congratulations, you can see them.
Don't think of them as hallucinations, they're something more palpable, real enough for you to see them at least.
You hear a whirring, one that grows louder, coming from the same direction the soldiers ran in from.
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
You might want to patch yourself up while you still have a bit of time.
Continue. Find my companion. Keep killing the spotters and look out for weird things. If I see something that actively tries to kill me, '12 ixc' and apply Caladlebolg.
"Watch out for the symbols over here. They're like mines." Beirus calls down the hallway.
Wait for Ladlemonger to catch up, then keep moving towards the center. Kill any spotters I can with the ALCYONE as soon as I see them, preferably before they see us. Move quickly, before the storm can catch up to us. If I get attacked, retaliate with Bound Weapon or Plasma Sword depending on range. Dodge any attacks, into another building if I need to.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Remember when I said you're in their activation range? They are now activating.
The masks seem to burrow into the walls, embedding themselves for protection.[UTAR vs. MDEF: 9 vs. 1] O'Greenahan fires on first mask.
[COMP: 8/8] Whitmore's spell.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 8 vs. 4] Whitmore ladles and spells second mask.
[TRAN: AUTOSUCCESS] Enemy resist.
You know, I'd like to eventually make an encounter that doesn't just get resolved with one side absolutely slaughtering the other with minimal effort.
The walls give way and crumble, concrete and wiring whirling around each mask at high speeds. It'd probably be somewhat threatening if the two of you didn't take that time to shoot both of them in their face analogs.
Beirus, you just conjure your weapon, and pull the trigger, discharging all four barrels. The bullets are weak, far weaker than that of a normal AIAR, so even as they plow through a gap in the tornado of debris, impacting the mask, they only manage to make a few cracks. So you pull the trigger again, and again, and again. Try as it might, no matter how it alters its makeshift armor, you just keep on finding lulls in the density of the debris that your shots can break through. Soon enough, the mask shatters, dumping the accumulated mess onto the floor.
Hawk, you don't even have to fire more than once. The corrosion wave and about half your barrage crashes against a transient weakness in its defenses, eating through it. Then, the remaining globs of that black oil slam straight into the mask. You don't see any discharge, but it crumbles anyway from the onslaught.
With that anticlimax out of the way, you two quickly (well, as quickly as O'Greenahan can manage in his cumbersome armor) slip out the side and run off towards the center. After a block or so, the pair of you come to a stop in the reception of a large office building just outside the center. You can't actually see the skyscraper in the center, but you can figure out its position quite clearly, seeing as it's the only building surrounded with storm activity so intense your enhanced vision marks its entire perimeter as a killzone. The cyclonic gale sheathing it alone could probably strip the flesh of a person, not to mention the fact that individual raindrops are registering as projectile attacks.
Swarms of spotters meander near it, currently oblivious to your presences, though that is probably the least of your problems seeing as there are a few lightning spiders arcing through air, their radiance illuminating the circling flocks of even larger ice rocs above. Burnt and embedded into the side of a building across the road is the missing LATRANS, having evidently fared quite poorly.
"Ha, found someone trying to compensate for his small dick!"[MDEF vs. UTAR: 0 vs. 1] Machinegun attack.
Now make sure I'm not too close the spearman, and shoot the spear with machinegun. Pray I won't miss.
You fire your machinegun, displaying such shameful accuracy that you can feel your ancestors, every last one of them, spinning in their graves (and urns) at your failure. You manage to hit everything outside of five meters of your target, who proceeds to nonchalantly waltz straight towards you, swinging its burning spear forth.
Considering you're in a eight meter tall machine perfectly capable of flying out of reach, it isn't a particularly threatening sight. Yes, it's probably a capable of harming you if you let it, but so could a shiv-wielding raccoon, and no one really lives in fear of those.
(If we need to finish the current round of actions first)[MDEF vs. UTAR: -3 vs. 12] Soldier fires on you.
MDEF Roll to the right (or just away from the cars, boar, and closer to the building in general) and then split LTAR between two slashes at both the soldiers left, 2 LTAR goes to any that have assault rifles, or just either, with the other one getting 1 LTAR.
(If not)
1f 02 sabb at the boar, all COMP (and UTAR), regardless of if it succeeds or not, carry on with the above.
[COMP: 3] Spell.
Welp, one of the bullets clips your shoulder as you dodge. It then proceeds to shatter, its fragments tumbling chaotically through your flesh, forming numerous wound channels, the armour appears to do nothing to stop the shrapnel simply being torn through. You yourself, are sent tumbling to the floor from the impact, needless to say, no part of this experience is remotely pleasant. You try to aim your spell as you fall, but it fizzles anyway, adding insult to injury. Or in this case, impotency to grievous bodily harm.
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 2 vs. 0] Soldier fires on Squire riding Ropey.
Squire, having managed to remain unscathed thanks to Ropey's supernatural agility ducks into cover further ahead. Turning to face you, he quickly scrambles across his armor, pulling out some sort of autoinjector that he tosses to you.
"This might save you, use it."
You are now bleeding out. Also, your shoulder and arm are in a pretty bad state.
"... whoops"I'm not entirely sure you understand what those spell words mean...
"05 sabb" thinking of / aiming at the closest, most exposed opponent, and quickly dive behind a car, preferably one that provides at least some cover from both the goons on the roof and those at the foot of the building/wherever (We are still in the car-park right?) (use full COMP and MDEF respectively?)
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 2 vs. -1, 0] Soldiers fire.
[COMP: 10/5] Spell.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: OUT OF RANGE] Spell attack.
But it matters not because you miss anyway. As you leap into cover, evading the incoming hail of bullets, you cast your spell. An odor, that's the first thing you register. A horrid, nauseating odor intense to the point of being almost palpable. With a violent roar, an abyssal black discharge flares outwards from your left shoulder, the roiling energy taking on traces of a blood-red hue as it disperses. Needless to say, while visually impressive, it doesn't really do much to the people standing well out of its range.
The boar on the other hand is forced to do a one-eighty to avoid crashing into your spell.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 5 vs. 0] Goring.
Apparently deciding that it still needs to brutally murder someone, allegiances be damned, it proceeds to charge straight back into the soldier it was initially launched at and proceeds to start goring them much to their displeasure. And pain. Mostly just pain.
Quote from: EVERYONE
-holy hell it's been over a year now and less than 24 in-game hours have elapsed-Night is beginning to fall. Yes, night. In an underground colony in the middle of a war. It really, really shouldn't, but seeing as the designers thought it would be a great idea to put all the main control systems at the very bottom of the colony, the bottom that is apparently now overrun with eldritch fuckery, there aren't any easy fixes right now.
Though really, considering that everyone is either in the dark, in a well-lit area, or in a frame with night-vision, it's probably not going to impair any of you anytime soon.
Post by: Empiricist on May 21, 2016, 06:28:14 am
| < | Turn 35 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6991377#msg6991377) | | | Turn 36 | | | Turn 37 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7011423#msg7011423) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 21, 2016, 12:31:47 pm
Let's do the patching up. Extract teeth, disinfect, bandage wound. Simple as that, right?
Post by: blazing glory on May 21, 2016, 04:53:14 pm
Fucking assault rifles, you'd think they were going to fight demons with those.
Inject the thing into the exposed arm of my wounded shoulder and try to MDEF crawl over to wherever the squire dude is sitting, can't be that far, if I manage to get there after taking mystery fun chems then stay there and try to shoot one of the guys on the roof with my revolver.
Post by: Corsair on May 22, 2016, 06:44:23 am
Because blazing did a thing that will affect bigf00t in a pretty major way so that needs to be cleared so bigf00t can post something useful, and fallacy posted quick and posted an action of basically "spend turn preparing" which isn't really meaningful, so it got shoved into the turn to save turns if that makes sense.
"Okay... good idea."You extract the tooth, and bearing the sharp sting of the disinfectant, quickly patch up the wound. Well, bleeding out shouldn't be too much of a concern now, now is getting shot seeing as the soldiers and the phantasms chasing them have just left the room. And aside from the whirring that is growing closer, all is right with the world.
Let's do the patching up. Extract teeth, disinfect, bandage wound. Simple as that, right?
Okay, aside from the colony being invaded all manner of supernatural fuckery, including magically regenerating sculptures, murderous hallucinations and indoor storms, but hey, you can't have everything perfect, right?
Quote from: Bigf00t
-no action yet-[TRAN: 8/3] Ryles Resist.
[TRAN: 6] Ryles Resist.
Something grabs your gaze, and wrenches.
Your gaze, your thoughts, you very conciousness is torn out and brought before your fallen ally. You feel nothing, not the ground beneath your feet nor your heart pounding in your chest. You see, you hear, those are the only two sense that remain. Time has stopped and your comrade alone continues moving.
You see it, the transparent emptiness that grabs him, that lifts him up, and which starts to wring him like a wet towel. You see flesh and fabric, bone and metal melting into one another, becoming one and the same. You see his eyes burn with, and away with vibrant energies, tumerous pustules filling their widening sockets with unearthly radiance. You see the protoplasmic tendrils rise from the ground, their depthless forms ever-shifting in a mocking caricature of the mundane, their infinitesmally thin edges scything through the air.
You hear it, the hymn sung in dead tongues, a wretched, maddening melody. You know not of what they herald, nor of what they proclaim, and yet they sing on, the blaspehomous miserere building up to a crescendo. With a screech, they ignite, with fire unfit for human eyes to behold, a congerie of scintillations bubbling forth as if a pox upon the air itself. The tendrils converge, melding with that which was once a man, they spiral inwards into nothingness in perfect lockstep with the chorus of the damned.
The chords strangle themselves to a lull as the figure descends admidst the fading flames. A cruel caricature of a knight, wreathed in viscous aura that discolors the very air. Devoid of all depth, it writhes in place, pseudopods transfiguring, features forming and unforming as if in some sardonic imitation of those around it. It is an abberation, a monstrosity, vaguely humanoid with raw color for flesh and a deep red blood that it still discharges from its old wounds, its sparse armor colored orange and white.
Turning to face the frozen soldier who shot it, it raises an arm, conjuring or perhaps growing something approaching a polearm, albeit terminating with countless tendrils, stiff as if in rigor mortis. As it points it towards its adversary, you catch a brief glimpse into the tears it leaves behind, and the star-filled abyss that waits within.
Then, time resumes.
Your mind snaps back into your body, your senses come flooding back, but the song continues and the figure remains.
"Might" save you, great way to give a guy confidence.Allow me to be clear - you are not possessed. You are very much lucid and in full control of your body, save for the occasional, involuntary spasm. Your little metamorphosis didn't really hurt, indeed the pain from your wound has now dulled and you feel energetic once again.
Fucking assault rifles, you'd think they were going to fight demons with those.
Inject the thing into the exposed arm of my wounded shoulder and try to MDEF crawl over to wherever the squire dude is sitting, can't be that far, if I manage to get there after taking mystery fun chems then stay there and try to shoot one of the guys on the roof with my revolver.
Post by: Empiricist on May 22, 2016, 06:44:43 am
| < | Turn 36 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7009645#msg7009645) | | | Turn 37 | | | Turn 38 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7038064#msg7038064) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on May 22, 2016, 07:14:00 am
Why post turn with only two people?((To be clear, when we say it isn't really meaningful, we mean it doesn't really affect his circumstances that much, so it made sense to just run it now rather than forcing them to wait a week to confirm that James patched himself up.))
fallacy posted quick and posted an action of basically "spend turn preparing" which isn't really meaningful, so it got shoved into the turn to save turns if that makes sense
((Welp, with any luck, the implications of this might excite Beirus if he still remembers. And it only took us over a year, so I sure hope it's worth it :P))
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 22, 2016, 02:27:30 pm
James draws his axes and prepares for battle.
Post by: Beirus on May 22, 2016, 03:50:06 pm
((Oh, oh, this is that thing! I vaguely remember it, but I'm excited to get one. Also, nobody has used the matches in a year either. I want to see those.))Why post turn with only two people?((To be clear, when we say it isn't really meaningful, we mean it doesn't really affect his circumstances that much, so it made sense to just run it now rather than forcing them to wait a week to confirm that James patched himself up.))
fallacy posted quick and posted an action of basically "spend turn preparing" which isn't really meaningful, so it got shoved into the turn to save turns if that makes sense
((Welp, with any luck, the implications of this might excite Beirus if he still remembers. And it only took us over a year, so I sure hope it's worth it :P))
Post by: blazing glory on May 22, 2016, 04:25:04 pm
((Is there a way to tell if I have any enhanced physical capabilities right off the bat? Could I try to jump on the roof?))
TZINACAN, what...is this? Should I be concerned?
Although I have to say, so far I quite like it!
Spend 3 UTAR firing on the final soldier, try to send a spell of f1 sabb towards the two on the roof with 2 UTAR, although hopefully it won't need it, spend my MDEF sprinting to the warehouse's door, take a swing at the boar with my cleaver on the way there with all my LTAR.
Killy! I'm getting my ass indoors! I'd advise you do the same!
Post by: Empiricist on May 22, 2016, 05:30:52 pm
((Oh, oh, this is that thing! I vaguely remember it, but I'm excited to get one. Also, nobody has used the matches in a year either. I want to see those.))((Yeah, unfortunately the people with matches either stopped playing or I guess haven't really run into anything that's intimidated them enough to make them use any. Or they secretly suspect that they're just regular matches :P))
((Is there a way to tell if I have any enhanced physical capabilities right off the bat? Could I try to jump on the roof?))((Aside from being energetic? Not really, you aren't any stronger or faster than before, though for some reason your heavy cleaver feels awfully light regardless.))
TZINACAN, what...is this? Should I be concerned?
Code: (TZINACAN) [Select]
Yes, very much so. For if this is what the System League has access to, then you shall likely have to fight such beings in the future,
and the rest all have their own little projects to match I would think. Consider it a warning, that you must seek power where you can,
lest you be rendered obsolete.
But for the really short-term? Well, you're still alive, so there's that.
Post by: blazing glory on May 22, 2016, 05:50:27 pm
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 23, 2016, 11:50:12 am
Message to all soldiers in area still alive: (assuming the core is in the building where they met this one.) "I'll keep this fucker as my dance partner! Go have party with his momma! She's where you think she is!"
Post by: Bigf00t on May 26, 2016, 11:19:20 am
((A tentacle broom and a vacuum cleaner, I have to say Elderitch warping has a strange perspective on firearms, wonder what the vacuum does.))
((Is there a way to tell if I have any enhanced physical capabilities right off the bat? Could I try to jump on the roof?))
TZINACAN, what...is this? Should I be concerned?
Although I have to say, so far I quite like it!
Spend 3 UTAR firing on the final soldier, try to send a spell of f1 sabb towards the two on the roof with 2 UTAR, although hopefully it won't need it, spend my MDEF sprinting to the warehouse's door, take a swing at the boar with my cleaver on the way there with all my LTAR.
Killy! I'm getting my ass indoors! I'd advise you do the same!
*jaw drop*
"What.... what the [REDACTED]?!"
Run behind my newly pimped compatriot, shouting to Ropey and my NPC friend to follow, but only if they see an opening, otherwise cover us and fall back.
If I see an opening to get some shots off cast "44 ixc" while facing an enemy. Full comp and full aiming rolls for either one guy, or up to two if they look like they're both going to get the drop on us. Use full MDEF to try and stay behind my friend or to simply dive out of the way/behind something. Only use my sword if an enemy gets close enough to us or we get close enough to one that I can use it without excessively risking being shot.
Post by: Hawk132 on May 26, 2016, 11:31:05 am
Let Beirus lead. Anything hostile gets to be introduced to Caladlebolg (and '12 ixc', if overkill seems necessary). If applicable, use the APC to move around. If nothing dangerous is encountered - use '12 84' to replace my armor.
Post by: Beirus on May 26, 2016, 12:22:43 pm
Is the APC still operable? If so, let's try that. Otherwise see if Jus or the Ladlemonger have a better plan.
Post by: Hawk132 on May 26, 2016, 01:39:41 pm
Let's execute Beirus' plan.
Post by: Corsair on June 03, 2016, 06:35:33 pm
"The APC should still be in perfect condition and your plan sounds reasonable to me. Let us do that. And if it fails, well... death is not a concept we have to concern ourselves with."
Let's execute Beirus' plan.
"You can call me Beirus. And thanks again for saving my ass back there. I was expecting increased resistance near the core, but this is ridiculous. The electronics on my armor are fried too, so trying to sprint past them all probably won't work out too well. What about that APC you arrived in? If that's still operable, we might be able to drive it right into the building. Going backwards, you could probably shoot some of that corrosive stuff out the back to weaken the wall and winds before we impact so we can plow through. Otherwise, we'd probably die before we got inside. Might be best to fall back and come back with more forces, but Jus wants whatever is in that skyscraper. What do you think, Ladlemonger?"
Is the APC still operable? If so, let's try that. Otherwise see if Jus or the Ladlemonger have a better plan.
Do you want to make more detailed BOLDED actions?
I mean if you want what those actions get I already wrote it up.
Post by: Beirus on June 03, 2016, 07:01:16 pm
Go to the APC, preferably sneakily.
Remove my suit and set it aside if it's still going to be dead weight once the last of the armor gives out.
Drive the APC backwards at full speed towards the building, with Ladlemonger by the back door, to hopefully have enought momentum to keep going if something fries our systems. Try not to be touching anything conductive.
Have the Ladlemonger use Caladlebolg to blast the winds around the building and the wall of the building to weaken it before we impact.
Yell "Yippee Kie Yay, motherfuckers" slightly before impact.
Impact, hopefully pushing at least a good portion of the APC inside the building and plugging the hole.
Haul ass out the back and head upwards the fastest we can go. Or downwards or wherever Jus says the anomaly-causing thingy is, watching for more of those mines, spiders, spotters, and other threats. Kill any spotters we see inside on our way. Maybe have Ladlemonger use his Equipment Check on the building to get a more precise location, because I remember either you or Empi saying it could do that back when I asked about the Cancerous Power Core.
((Hopefully that's coherent, my autocorrect is trying to mess with me on this post.))
Post by: Corsair on June 03, 2016, 08:14:18 pm
The plan is as follows:
Go to the APC, preferably sneakily.
Remove my suit and set it aside if it's still going to be dead weight once the last of the armor gives out.
Drive the APC backwards at full speed towards the building, with Ladlemonger by the back door, to hopefully have enought momentum to keep going if something fries our systems. Try not to be touching anything conductive.
Have the Ladlemonger use Caladlebolg to blast the winds around the building and the wall of the building to weaken it before we impact.
Yell "Yippee Kie Yay, motherfuckers" slightly before impact.
Impact, hopefully pushing at least a good portion of the APC inside the building and plugging the hole.
Haul ass out the back and head upwards the fastest we can go. Or downwards or wherever Jus says the anomaly-causing thingy is, watching for more of those mines, spiders, spotters, and other threats. Kill any spotters we see inside on our way. Maybe have Ladlemonger use his Equipment Check on the building to get a more precise location, because I remember either you or Empi saying it could do that back when I asked about the Cancerous Power Core.
((Hopefully that's coherent, my autocorrect is trying to mess with me on this post.))
Something that probably wasn't clear is that there is a good 150 m between the winds and the building, although that doesn't really invalidate the plan except for expecting to hit the wall with calaladlebolg blasts
Post by: Beirus on June 03, 2016, 08:19:25 pm
Post by: Corsair on June 03, 2016, 09:18:00 pm
((What if he keeps blasting until right before we impact?))
Yeah, if you make it 150m across contested ground then sure it would help, there is still a chance of being turned into modern art that leaks red liquid.
Post by: Beirus on June 03, 2016, 09:26:05 pm
Post by: Corsair on June 04, 2016, 01:02:22 am
((What if I lent him the plasma sword for the initial blast? Would it make it less contested ground?))
((The enemy contestants are airborne so no...))
Post by: Beirus on June 04, 2016, 01:19:39 am
Post by: Corsair on June 05, 2016, 06:27:41 am
((I'm trying to decide if the risk of losing my steak is worth the possible epicness if this goes well. I'm worried that it wouldn't have gone well since you asked for clarification and said you already had it written.))((Do you want me to process your current clarified action or use the old one? Cause you know getting turn up and such.))
Post by: Beirus on June 05, 2016, 12:04:47 pm
Post by: Corsair on June 07, 2016, 08:52:51 pm
Post by: Empiricist on June 08, 2016, 03:01:39 am
Post by: Corsair on June 08, 2016, 03:46:42 am
"Huh. Did time just get distorted? In any case... I'd better be ready for this... I know a boss fight when I hear one."The whirring grows louder and into the room drifts a strange creature. It is similar to a large cephalopod with a sectioned body and long hextuple-jointed limbs terminating with serrated bone spikes. The creature's face which you presume would be normally fleshy, is covered by a metallic faceplate with several cameras on it while the body has been mechanically enhanced with plates of rune-enscribed steel. It's tail rather than ending in a sensible fan to move through water instead has a trio of mechanically augmented scorpion tails the tips of which drip grungy red orange liquid. The back has a large industrial fan that is parallel with the floor.
James draws his axes and prepares for battle.
[UTAR : 10/6] Resistance.
Something's not too right about that fan. It's giving off the same vibes as those hallucinations.
TZINACAN, what...is this? Should I be concerned?[UTAR vs. MDEF: 1 vs. 0] Broom Attack on first soldier.
Although I have to say, so far I quite like it!
Spend 3 UTAR firing on the final soldier, try to send a spell of f1 sabb towards the two on the roof with 2 UTAR, although hopefully it won't need it, spend my MDEF sprinting to the warehouse's door, take a swing at the boar with my cleaver on the way there with all my LTAR.
Killy! I'm getting my ass indoors! I'd advise you do the same!
[COMP: -2] Spell/
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 2 vs. 0, 2, 0] All soldiers fire.
[LTAR vs. SDEF: 1 vs. 6] Cleaver strike on Boar.
Seeing as their opponent has spontaneously transformed into some kind of depthless abomination, the three soldiers who aren't currently being mauled decide that the best course of action is to of course see if you're vulnerable to bullets. Dashing through the incoming fire, you sweep your broom forth, a black abyss tearing forth ever so briefly. Shrapnel. A hail of debris rushes forth at orbital velocities, quickly cutting down your target with rather excessive power. Making a spinning sidestep between their shots your point your left shoulder at the other two and cast.
Dread. Again, the chill of impending doom. Something has happened, something grave. You don't know what. Your targets remain standing their live fire testing of your hide remaining inconclusive on accounts of being unable to hit you. Lunging at the boar, you swing your cleaver forth only for it to parry with its tusks, the motion handily eviscerating the soldier they were lodged in.
Keep shooting the spearman, keeping just enough distance I won't end up shooting myself into knee.You stay back a few steps so you don't shoot yourself in the knee as you so eloquently put it.
Message to all soldiers in area still alive: (assuming the core is in the building where they met this one.) "I'll keep this fucker as my dance partner! Go have party with his momma! She's where you think she is!"
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 4 vs. 6] Firing on the demon.
The demon moves forth, building speed as it runs... straight diagonally left of you? You follow, and unlike an action movie villain, actually lead your target rather than peppering the ground behind it like a moron. Unfortunately, it manages to evade your now far-less erratic machinegun fire. If it continues like this you may end up running out of ammo. Eventually.
Crunching, it slams its weapon straight the ground, generating a burning explosion of sickly yellow flame. The next few movements are obscured by the blast but the demon soon comes back into view, leaping up the side of a building, something rendered relatively easy by the edifice's stupid post-modern design. The demon reaches the top as time halts, showing the trajectory of a soon-to-be executed leap straight into you, your foe apparently failing to comprehend that there is literally nothing stopping you from just flying a bit higher up. Or flying backwards. Or just about any of the other options afforded to you by virtue of being in a giant flying robot.
*jaw drop*[TRAN: 10/5] Spell.
"What.... what the [REDACTED]?!"
Run behind my newly pimped compatriot, shouting to Ropey and my NPC friend to follow, but only if they see an opening, otherwise cover us and fall back.
If I see an opening to get some shots off cast "44 ixc" while facing an enemy. Full comp and full aiming rolls for either one guy, or up to two if they look like they're both going to get the drop on us. Use full MDEF to try and stay behind my friend or to simply dive out of the way/behind something. Only use my sword if an enemy gets close enough to us or we get close enough to one that I can use it without excessively risking being shot.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 2 vs. 0] Spell Attack on first soldier.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 4 vs. 0] Spell Attack on second soldier.
Following you friend, who has helpfully drawn everyone's fire, you turn to face the soldiers as jagged shards of obsidian twist into existence before your chest, firing off one by one, each shard finding their mark. They're probably still alive, but probably not for long and certainly not in any state to fight effectively anymore.
Well, the entire facility probably has realized that they're under attack, and foe who has lived the longest was the one you summoned. Good job.
"The APC should still be in perfect condition and your plan sounds reasonable to me. Let us do that. And if it fails, well... death is not a concept we have to concern ourselves with."
Let's execute Beirus' plan.
The plan is as follows:Gear purged. Sneaking successful.
Go to the APC, preferably sneakily.
Remove my suit and set it aside if it's still going to be dead weight once the last of the armor gives out.
Drive the APC backwards at full speed towards the building, with Ladlemonger by the back door, to hopefully have enought momentum to keep going if something fries our systems. Try not to be touching anything conductive.
Have the Ladlemonger use Caladlebolg to blast the winds around the building and the wall of the building to weaken it before we impact.
Yell "Yippee Kie Yay, motherfuckers" slightly before impact.
Impact, hopefully pushing at least a good portion of the APC inside the building and plugging the hole.
Haul ass out the back and head upwards the fastest we can go. Or downwards or wherever Jus says the anomaly-causing thingy is, watching for more of those mines, spiders, spotters, and other threats. Kill any spotters we see inside on our way. Maybe have Ladlemonger use his Equipment Check on the building to get a more precise location, because I remember either you or Empi saying it could do that back when I asked about the Cancerous Power Core.
You rev the engine, engaging the reverse gear and positioning yourself in the center, the Ladlemonger crouching on the lip of the rear opening. One hand on the top of the doorway and another grasping Caladlebolg near its the end given the confines.
Once you get close you can see two watchers shadowing you, they appear more solidly than the others, half-emerging from the wind-wall appearing almost gleeful at your approach. The Ladlemonger begins swinging the ladle unleashing the corrosive blasts, which do little to dissipate the horrific wind.
"Yippee Kie Yay, motherfuckers!"
Impact. Sort of. You hit the edge of the wind wall, and though it is evidently far from solid, there's an immediate jolt as the APC lurches to the side and several holes are punched in its plating by hyper-sonic hail.
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 8 vs. 6] Whitmore's face versus shrapnel.
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 4 vs. 6] O'Greenahan's face versus shrapnel.
The Ladlemonger dives down, dodging the spray of projectiles as they scythe through the APC towards you as their momentum carries through the wall, you move, but not far enough as several strike you in the chest causing severe bleeding. Okay, there's also the usual sharp agony and whatnot, but that's not exactly going to impact your enjoyment of a good steak. Death by blood-loss is.
You cough up a spray of blood which one of the watchers uses to appear in front of you as a with a leering grin of vindication. Or maybe it's face is just frozen like that. The APC with its drive-shaft severely wounded and not designed to cope with snow drifts slows to a halt one hundred meters from the black monolith at the center of the storm. Lightning and ice race around the looming structure it in an infinitely twirling double helix which weaves through great holes through the building with edges like those of bismuth crystals.
The noise in here is deafening with roaring wind forming a great chorus of moaning whistles and tumbling roars through shattered suggestions of obliterated buildings and strange formations of blue ice. Above you see a great winged beast circling the tower.
A shot rings out. The sanguine watcher collapsing back into a small pool of blood. As soon as it drops another takes its place some distance away, the other one that was watching from the wall stands next to it. Never liked spotters, did you? Your dismiss your bound weapon and stumble out of the van.
So lessons learned: one, these grinning fools can apparently manifest from blood; two, you have a punctured lung and are probably slowly drowning in your own blood; three, the APCs really need more armor.
You you want to use the Equipment Check now or later? Because it can't be targeted like Bio Scan can.
Post by: Empiricist on June 08, 2016, 03:47:02 am
| < | Turn 37 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7011423#msg7011423) | | | Turn 38 | | | Turn 39 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7065167#msg7065167) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on June 08, 2016, 03:48:26 am
Post by: blazing glory on June 08, 2016, 04:18:55 am
Post by: Empiricist on June 08, 2016, 05:17:42 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on June 08, 2016, 08:17:20 am
Dude, not original.
I suppose I'll have to come up with a better catchphrase later...
You know Memento Mori? Let's use it. It will show the paths that lead to certain, likely, and probable death. Hypothetically, it should show the method of attack with least chance of death to self. If it does, do it. If attacked, dodge.
Post by: Bigf00t on June 08, 2016, 10:14:07 am
((Yep, more or less. The ones Bigf00t hit aren't quite dead yet, but they're dying of shock anyway.))Aaahahhhhhh damnit. I should not have made that boar :P Oh well!
"SECOND VERSE, SAME AS THE FIRST! MOSTLY!"
Cast "22 ixc" at the boar (fight fire with fire! ;D ), other than that go take a gun or two from the most dead soldiers. I may need it.
Use mobile defense to dodge out of the way of the boar if necessary, and don't be afraid to test the guns on the boar if I get a chance.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on June 08, 2016, 11:32:05 am
How weaponizable is particle sweep right now? I mean is it within realm of possibility to jump right next to him and release enough of accelerated particles to annihilate it? Can I do double jump back and forth fast enough to gain increased destructive power?))
Post by: Beirus on June 08, 2016, 05:42:10 pm
"That didn't *gurgle* go as well as I had hoped. Drowning in my own blood. That's like number *gurgle* two on my list of the worst way to die. Fuck this *gurgle* storm. Ladlemonger, you got any ideas?"
Let Whitmore try his ideas out. It's TRANS to resist, right? Don't outright deny the magic so much as control it to heal me and shape me into a better version of myself. Better as in not bleeding to death or corrupted beyond recognition, and maybe with the ability to fire off necrotic blasts and beams and whatnot. Or to control that energy through my will. If that doesn't work and I'm not dead, check the APC quickly for a med kit or anything that might help, like mysterious syringes or something. Then try to get inside the building.
Post by: blazing glory on June 08, 2016, 05:54:29 pm
If it DOES make a go which it probably will, use my LTAR to make another swing after dodging.
Dismiss my broom, take out my vacuum cleaner, and...fire at the boar, preferably keep firing until the boar is dead or I run out of ammo, using all my UTAR.
Fire out 1f a8 sabb with all COMP at the boar as well with the same UTAR pool.
((If I understand how the rules work anyways.))
Post by: Empiricist on June 08, 2016, 07:22:38 pm
((Well, it most certainly cannot dodge in midair, unless it feels like ignoring inertia.((As long as you're fine with damaging your surroundings, yes. Though you're in mid-air, in the middle of a warzone so whatever you do hit probably isn't occupied right now anyway.))
How weaponizable is particle sweep right now? I mean is it within realm of possibility to jump right next to him and release enough of accelerated particles to annihilate it? Can I do double jump back and forth fast enough to gain increased destructive power?))
((If I understand how the rules work anyways.))((Yep, your actions are perfectly valid.))
Post by: blazing glory on June 08, 2016, 09:15:58 pm
Post by: Corsair on June 08, 2016, 09:33:52 pm
Post by: Beirus on June 08, 2016, 09:46:08 pm
Post by: Empiricist on June 09, 2016, 03:54:59 am
Post by: AoshimaMichio on June 09, 2016, 05:10:06 am
Post by: Corsair on June 09, 2016, 08:26:32 am
((So what was the starting difficulty of Broken Heaven?))((It along with wild hunt are one of the two areas that once complete advance the world-state significantly and eventually the final boss along with each unlocking part of a secret boss accessible after both are complete. So considering that nothing has approached that strength yet you can guess the base difficulty is very very high (hence great rewards and loot), also due to the unique nature of broken heaven it is possible to increase the base difficulty. If you figure out how to do this after the first time it likely happens by accident, don't just don't it isn't worth it, I like having games that can actually be won.))
Post by: Hawk132 on June 09, 2016, 11:59:24 am
If Beirus consents, dab my finger in his blood and write '12' on him. Try to apply magic to the numbers. If that doesn't work (and my COMP points weren't drained), try '12 84' and put the armor on him. Maybe one of these will turn him into the similar state (aka half-dead, but not really) as I am.
If none of these work, or Beirus does not want to be a test subject - look for meds in the APC and try to patch him up. If no meds are found, but I have something I could improvise with, try that. Then help Beirus into the building.
Also, fire off my Eq. Check. Beirus' will recharge next turn anyway, assuming he lives.
Post by: Beirus on June 13, 2016, 04:09:55 am
"Can't end up much *gurgle* worse than this. The only thing higher *gurgle* on my list of horrible ways to *gurgle* die is...oh no, I'm not walking into that one. Seen too many holovids to *gurgle* fall for that. Nice try, universe eating eldritch entity thing, but I'm on to you."
((EDIT: Also, I feel like the way to increase the difficulty is either to insult or otherwise taunt the spotters, which would be completely in character for my character to do, and would probably be fitting for my character to do if he's going to bleed out, or to kill the biggest storm roc. But I really don't want to raise the difficulty as my character dies, since that would leave Ladlemonger to deal with it alone until my character gets back there.))
Post by: Corsair on June 13, 2016, 07:03:38 am
((I feel like I had a discussion with Corsair and Empi about this method we're attempting, and I'm thinking it either won't work like we want, or it'll be temporary. I can't really remember, though. Also, I edited my action post.))
"Can't end up much *gurgle* worse than this. The only thing higher *gurgle* on my list of horrible ways to *gurgle* die is...oh no, I'm not walking into that one. Seen too many holovids to *gurgle* fall for that. Nice try, universe eating eldritch entity thing, but I'm on to you."
((EDIT: Also, I feel like the way to increase the difficulty is either to insult or otherwise taunt the spotters, which would be completely in character for my character to do, and would probably be fitting for my character to do if he's going to bleed out, or to kill the biggest storm roc. But I really don't want to raise the difficulty as my character dies, since that would leave Ladlemonger to deal with it alone until my character gets back there.))
((I can sort of remember this conversation, also you are partially right about the method of difficulty increase.))
Post by: crazyabe on June 13, 2016, 08:04:10 am
Post by: Corsair on June 26, 2016, 05:43:21 am
"Okay Soteriologist, wish me luck- It's hero time!"The shadows reveal paths to death, there are an awful lot of them. Anywhere within 3 meters of the beast is a death zone, absolute, guaranteed death, extending even up and behind it. The tails give rise to a triplet of intersecting arcs over its front that spread to cover it from most forms of frontal attack with a murder curtain, though it seems to lack any ranged options.
Dude, not original.
I suppose I'll have to come up with a better catchphrase later...
You know Memento Mori? Let's use it. It will show the paths that lead to certain, likely, and probable death. Hypothetically, it should show the method of attack with least chance of death to self. If it does, do it. If attacked, dodge.
UTAR vs. SDEF: AUTOSUCCESS] Gravity attack.
LTAR vs. MDEF: 0 vs. 3] Murderlobster attacks.
Seems that it's best to keep your distance, so taking a step back, you draw your twin pistols and, red. Bright red, wreathing the area. Huh. You quickly swap them out for your gravity gun, the crimson reassuring dulling from "you're fucked" back to "you're probably fucked".
Rushing towards you on its spiked legs, it lashes out with the three scorpion tails at once from different directions. Red. Bright burning red. Something's wrong. You practically hurl yourself backwards as pull the trigger, then the world burns octarine. Out of the explosion of the tails rushes forth.
Pain. Burning pain. You stagger backwards. It caught you in the abdomen, the wound bleeding, burning, liquifying before your eyes, rapidly expanding. Memento Mori begins to wind down, the world slowly reddening as if stained by your weeping wound. But there's a beacon of life still, a single, clear spot, your ipod.
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
I shall dispense with the pleasantries, you're pretty fucked up right now.
Run for now. We can stop the bleeding, maybe.
Break open the case, there should be a length of metal, rip it out and bend it into a loop.
Stab yourself, torso, above the wound. Between the ribs, or your throat.
Focus on one of the words in your head, and direct it there.
Hurry, time's running out.
Spoiler: Visual Reference (click to show/hide)
The apparently-explosive monstrosity finishes reeling from its crushed head, seemingly only mildly inconvenienced from gravitational decapitation and is now about to charge at you. Lovely.
Aaahahhhhhh damnit. I should not have made that boar :P Oh well!COMP: 3] Killy's spell.
"SECOND VERSE, SAME AS THE FIRST! MOSTLY!"
Cast "22 ixc" at the boar (fight fire with fire! ;D ), other than that go take a gun or two from the most dead soldiers. I may need it.
Use mobile defense to dodge out of the way of the boar if necessary, and don't be afraid to test the guns on the boar if I get a chance.
MDEF vs. UTAR: 1 vs. 0] Killy's spell attack versus Killy.
MDEF vs. UTAR: 3 vs. 0] Killy's spell attack versus Ryles.
MDEF vs. UTAR: 0 vs. 0] Killy's spell attack versus Ropey & Squire.
SDEF vs. UTAR: 5 vs. 0] Killy's spell attack versus Boar.
COMP: 9/7] Ryles' spell.
TRAN: 4] Ryles' synchronization.
UTAR vs. SDEF: AUTOSUCCESS] Ryles attacks boar.
MDEF vs. UTAR: AUTOFAILURE] Sniper shoots at Killy.
Et tu? Et tu?
The spell goes off funny, shots spraying out in all directions straight in front of you. Including towards you. The shots themselves appear to be bright particle beams as per usual.
Fortunately everyone hits the deck in time for the particle spray to demolish a good portion of frontages of both the glass building and the warehouse leaving gaping holes in both rather than in you guys. The next few seconds drag out into eternity as you hear the tromp of feet, the men from the front of the building. The boar also begins charging you. Looks like it isn't your day. You begin to get up to defend yourself.
You hear nothing just a sudden blackness envelops you and you wake up somewhere else. A dark apartment, the computer is still on with the hard-drive whirring away in the background. Your clothes are missing. Around the room is a small cot and a desk on which is a pile of roughly organized papers covered in scribbles.
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
Sniper from the roof shot you during your recovery.
Stacking the decks only works on the cards you know about.
You need to get back there, your partner's in trouble.
He made a few bad bets, and what he's unleashed could make further ops near that building riskier.
We need to go kill it.
Back off as swiftly as possible, if the boar makes a go at me then MDEF dodge either way that has open space in it, except up, unless I'm trapped.As you dash away from Killy's spell, you hear a crack, shortly fired by a distant gunshot. You turn just in time to admire your comrade's new exit wound, right before the boar gores his corpse. Turning side-on, you dismiss your weapon and draw your vacuum with your left hand, bringing it into line perpendicular to your body. A grand magical circle traces itself before your weapon, time seeming to slow for everything else as it rapidly grows. Then, it flares with power, you swing your arm a few degrees you pull the trigger.
If it DOES make a go which it probably will, use my LTAR to make another swing after dodging.
Dismiss my broom, take out my vacuum cleaner, and...fire at the boar, preferably keep firing until the boar is dead or I run out of ammo, using all my UTAR.
Fire out 1f a8 sabb with all COMP at the boar as well with the same UTAR pool.
The spell fires first, a large, vaguely streamlined mass, your cleaver ripped from you to join it. As it flies off, you notice that the cleaver has reverted to its old saber form once more. The summoned creature slams into the boar, its body too massive to be blocked. As its still reeling from the blow, your shot, a burning rainbow crashes into it, tearing a hole through its frame.
It might have survived, it's hard to tell, giving its mechanical construction, but before it can give any indication, it finds itself torn apart by the magnet death bear. The ursine mass shifting to integrate whatever ferromagnetic components from its prey, along with both sabers now into its form.
The good news is that it doesn't charge at you or anything, the bad news is that it doesn't appear to be an actual ally either.
Code: (TZINACAN) [Select]
Get into cover or try and find the sniper.
You can't save yourself from attacks you can't predict.
"I have an idea, but I'm not certain it will work. It also might kill you."COMP: 9/5] Whitemore's magic.
If Beirus consents, dab my finger in his blood and write '12' on him. Try to apply magic to the numbers. If that doesn't work (and my COMP points weren't drained), try '12 84' and put the armor on him. Maybe one of these will turn him into the similar state (aka half-dead, but not really) as I am.
If none of these work, or Beirus does not want to be a test subject - look for meds in the APC and try to patch him up. If no meds are found, but I have something I could improvise with, try that. Then help Beirus into the building.
Also, fire off my Eq. Check. Beirus' will recharge next turn anyway, assuming he lives.
TRAN: 15/5] O'Greenahan's Resist.
Well, so much for hygiene. You dab, almost jamming, your finger into the edge of one of his wounds and attempt to trace the numerals onto him, they aren't really visible due to his chest unfortunately already being somewhat blood-stained. Nonetheless you focus, trying to somehow channel the spell into him. It's, not working, but it's not entirely failing either.
The spell's definitely going off, but it isn't manifesting immediately like the usual casting. You try retracing a few times but to no effect, not until your finger reaches the edge of a wound. You feel it, a connection, the spell activating.
Instinctively, you jab your finger into the wound and see that a green spark in the shape of a hand discharges from his chest, reaching towards you. Something pulls it back, dragging it back into him. His blood blackens and congeals, his pulse slowing. The influence ripples outwards from your finger, spreading across his body, flesh and bone rapidly decaying, liquifying into oil. Something gives way and your hand falls further in. There's no heartbeat, no heart, no lungs. Your hand brushes against something near the back, it feels flexible, slimy what remains of his spine perhaps?
Everything beneath his neck is pretty much just petroleum with a few traces of coal. He seems pretty alert though and seems to still have full control of his body.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
This will only last so long as your hand remains inside him.
You'll need to jam in some kind of antenna, like a nail or aerial to make it more stable.
Speaking of which the van has one. Shrapnel went through the engine, so it's inoperable at this point.
For future reference, your comrade's weapon is the SOL18I. Weighted ceramic-tungsten body.
Projects an plasma blade 18'' long or a gout of plasma. The latter depleting its battery. 50% battery remaining.
As for what's up ahead? You're currently out of range for me. You'll need to push forwards.
"That didn't *gurgle* go as well as I had hoped. Drowning in my own blood. That's like number *gurgle* two on my list of the worst way to die. Fuck this *gurgle* storm. Ladlemonger, you got any ideas?"So feel a tingle as your comrade tenderly fists your chest wound and then everything below the neck becomes crude oil. Small green sparks begin to discharge into you from the surrounding air. Strangely, you can still feel and move your body pretty well.
Let Whitmore try his ideas out. It's TRANS to resist, right? Don't outright deny the magic so much as control it to heal me and shape me into a better version of myself. Better as in not bleeding to death or corrupted beyond recognition, and maybe with the ability to fire off necrotic blasts and beams and whatnot. Or to control that energy through my will. If that doesn't work and I'm not dead, check the APC quickly for a med kit or anything that might help, like mysterious syringes or something. Then try to get inside the building.
We'll end the turn here for you two, seeing as while it did 'work', it's not going to be too easy to fight if the Ladlemonger wield you like a sock puppet.
Right. Let's get reckless. Double jump back and forth with Alcubierre Drive, trying to avoid damaging soldiers and cause matter annihilation in spot where the junkie will be shortly.You prime the drive and all the feeds cut out for a microsecond while the jump program activates. To an external observer the LATRANS frame is breifly cloaked in a feild of warped air, like a mirage. Then it flickers for a heartbeat to be replaced by something akin to the surface of a star which explodes violently obliterating said observer.
The feed cuts back in and the only mark of the demon is a shadow burned into the building it was leaping from. The buildings around you have had up to their first ten meters completely atomized while the next few meters are still glowing orange in places, steel and glass melted like wax while anything organic is either burning or ash blowing in the shockwave. The damage is far greater in the ones you moved towards, with little damage to those behind you.
YOU DEFEATED
Spoiler: LEVEL UP (click to show/hide)
Your frame's radio crackles to life.
"This is Andrukas. Once you're finished up report to Floor 1 and observe the anomalous units. Engage at your leisure, I only require your observation."
Post by: Empiricist on June 26, 2016, 05:43:37 am
| < | Turn 38 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7038064#msg7038064) | | | Turn 39 | | | Turn 40 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7080109#msg7080109) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: FallacyofUrist on June 26, 2016, 02:18:38 pm
Okay then. James does as Soteriologist asks, breaking open his precious iPod(sacrifices must be made for heroism), carefully removing the metal, looping it, and stabbing it into his throat, focusing the word "38" into it.
And then he hopes.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on June 26, 2016, 02:45:00 pm
"I... er, yeah. Sure." Ao responds slowly. "Oh fuck. I totally underestimated effects of this..."
Can I perhaps turn particle sweep back on? This seems very dangerous. If the core of this isn't destroyed yet, then figure out where it is and curb stomp it into submission. If getting out of LATRANS is required, then do so and use the assault rifle instead.
MDEF +1
UTAR +3
COMP +3
TRAN +1
Post by: Empiricist on June 26, 2016, 05:55:52 pm
((...so soldiers I tried to save are ashes now?))((You ordered them to head for the Core earlier, and they weren't exactly going to turn down an excuse to go away from the spearman. So no one died, save for the ones that got stabbed.))
Post by: blazing glory on June 26, 2016, 05:59:01 pm
((Also you didn't remove an object from my vacuum's chamber.))
"Oh shit, I didn't mean to do that."
"Okay! TZINACAN, Tell me the secrets of this sniper."
Meanwhile, don't provoke the bear, get up close to the warehouse to obscure view and try to get inside, if I do get inside, unleash a wide blast from my broom, along with 22 ixc splitting my UTAR between all revealed targets.
Post by: Empiricist on June 26, 2016, 06:04:19 pm
Post by: AoshimaMichio on June 26, 2016, 11:50:19 pm
((Oh, you never mentioned that they did move. I'll edit my action a bit in one of these days.))((...so soldiers I tried to save are ashes now?))((You ordered them to head for the Core earlier, and they weren't exactly going to turn down an excuse to go away from the spearman. So no one died, save for the ones that got stabbed.))
Post by: Bigf00t on June 27, 2016, 05:51:16 am
"Oh.
I suffered from terminal existence failure didn't I?"
...
"Drat."
Take further stock of my surroundings, what's with the scribbles? Any adult size clothes in this room? Do I hear anyone outside the room? Check out the computer while I'm at it.
If nothing in this room is particularly interesting and if the inhabitants don't seem to be home then look around for clothes and anything that might work as armor (sporting gear/clothes?) , any weapons (or promising improv weapons), and definitely look for any batteries or powersources I could possibly take with me.
I need to prep quick apparently. Someone didn't get the memo that Magnet Murderbears are a bad investment xD I thought bad investments were my specialty!
Try "avdi" (full comp)
Ask my hander:
"There's got to be some way to augment myself, even with my limited magical vocabulary.. have any tips or tricks?" (Just looking for some in-universe non-meta exposure to.. whatever the heck Hawk and Beirus did. I remember someone saying at some point about inscriptions, but.. what? :P)
((At least I've got my arm back I guess? :P))
Post by: blazing glory on June 27, 2016, 11:41:38 am
Post by: Corsair on June 27, 2016, 06:12:34 pm
...
EDIT: I cannot copy-paste correctly
Post by: Empiricist on June 27, 2016, 08:06:04 pm
Post by: Beirus on June 27, 2016, 09:42:10 pm
Move with Hawk if he goes to get something to stabilize my form. Then let's get our asses in the building. Check the APC for that med kit or anything else useful if it won't make us waste too much time and get attacked out in the open.
Post by: Hawk132 on June 28, 2016, 02:12:46 pm
Post by: Corsair on July 06, 2016, 07:19:17 pm
"AAAGH. No... no, not giving up..."[COMP: 3/3] Transformation.
Okay then. James does as Soteriologist asks, breaking open his precious iPod(sacrifices must be made for heroism), carefully removing the metal, looping it, and stabbing it into his throat, focusing the word "38" into it.
And then he hopes.
You jam the metal into your throat, the brief jolt of pain quickly dulling. Your skin becomes transparent, the flesh beneath rapidly desiccating, the color and opacity quickly draining away into a pale, ghostly blue. The wound stops growing and you feel light, very, very light. You are also made out of aerogel now, which while ensuring you aren't dying from the venom, probably won't save you from another hit.
The explodey murder lobster is now barrelling towards you, with your augmented vision indicating that it's given up on trying to shank you and is now just aiming to blow you apart with another explosion.
"I... er, yeah. Sure." Ao responds slowly. "Oh fuck. I totally underestimated effects of this..."There are no options for the drive whatsoever and attempts to access it give an "Access Denied" error warning. Whelp that's useful.
Can I perhaps turn particle sweep back on? This seems very dangerous. If the core of this isn't destroyed yet, then figure out where it is and curb stomp it into submission. If getting out of LATRANS is required, then do so and use the assault rifle instead.
MDEF +1
UTAR +3
COMP +3
TRAN +1
You head over to the core where you sent the soldiers, they aren't doing very well. They have taken positions near parked cars around the office block that houses it. The lobby has been pocked with thousands of bullet marks and you can see a bloody streak and several shredded pieces of meat that were once probably people. Demons are running amok through their front lines ruining all sense of fire discipline. Around the elevators in the lobby is a void of smoking black miasma that blocks every form of sight. Above the soldiers hover several black winged demons with limbs and torsos wrapped in barbed wire, which they unfurl to lash and whip the soldiers from above, the lashing rather ineffectual due to the LUPUS' frenzied spray forcing them to keep on dodging.
"Oh shit, I didn't mean to do that."The bear seems distracted by the fact that it exists and whatnot so it poses little threat. The very angry and large firing squad, twelve men strong, however opens fire with the shotgunners tossing grenades as you attempt to dash through the door.
"Okay! TZINACAN, Tell me the secrets of this sniper."
Meanwhile, don't provoke the bear, get up close to the warehouse to obscure view and try to get inside, if I do get inside, unleash a wide blast from my broom, along with 22 ixc splitting my UTAR between all revealed targets.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 1 vs. 0] Squire on overwatch.
[MDEF vs. LTAR: INEFFECTIVE] Soldiers grenade you.
[SDEF vs. UTAR: -1 vs. 4, -3] Soldiers fire upon bear.
[MDEF vs. LTAR: -1 vs. -1, 0, -1, 1] Soldiers shoot at you.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 2 vs. 0] Counterattack on Soldier #2.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 0 vs. 0] Counterattack on Soldier #3.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 0 vs. 0] Counterattack on Soldier #4.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 1 vs. 0] Counterattack on Soldier #5.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 1 vs. 0] Counterattack on Soldier #6.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: -1 vs. 0] Bear attacks Soldier #7.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: -1 vs. 0] Bear attacks Soldier #8.
You take two hits as you enter, the first nicks your left arm, painful for future you but not really damaging. The next takes you in the left shoulder again, again not painful just yet, but chances are, when this transformation ends, you won't have that arm for much longer. The bear meanwhile takes a spray of LMG fire point blank, its form partially shattering and while trying to slash at its attackers, fails to connect with either saber.
The grenades detonate bathing you in a lovely mixture of shrapnel, fire and a pressure wave. The experience leaves you much more battered and bleeding, only the transformation is keeping what would be debilitating pain away. You duck into the warehouse as another hail of gunfire strikes a staccato rythm against the outside of the building. The empty warehouse. That was decidedly non-empty before. All there is now are a pile of bodies thoughtlessly taking up space in the corner and a large heavy steel trapdoor in the middle of the room surrounded by bloodstains.
(http://1un1ba2fg8v82k48vu4by3q7.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Admiral-Ackbar-Its-A-Trap.jpg)
Squire rushes to join you atop Ropey, having been ignored by virtue of not being as interesting as the abomination or the bear.
...The scribbles are quite varied, some are of various people most of which are obviously black operations, eight of which have sigils forcefully drawn in the top left corners. The sigils appear to be: a crosshair, a wrench, a die, a magnifying glass, a paw print, a dagger, a book, and three dots joined with two lines.
"Oh.
I suffered from terminal existence failure didn't I?"
...
"Drat."
Take further stock of my surroundings, what's with the scribbles? Any adult size clothes in this room? Do I hear anyone outside the room? Check out the computer while I'm at it.
If nothing in this room is particularly interesting and if the inhabitants don't seem to be home then look around for clothes and anything that might work as armor (sporting gear/clothes?) , any weapons (or promising improv weapons), and definitely look for any batteries or powersources I could possibly take with me.
I need to prep quick apparently. Someone didn't get the memo that Magnet Murderbears are a bad investment xD I thought bad investments were my specialty!
Try "avdi" (full comp)
Ask my hander:
"There's got to be some way to augment myself, even with my limited magical vocabulary.. have any tips or tricks?" (Just looking for some in-universe non-meta exposure to.. whatever the heck Hawk and Beirus did. I remember someone saying at some point about inscriptions, but.. what? :P)
[TRAN: 3/3] Piercing the Cloak.
You check the computer and see, corpses. Some soon-to-be, others definitely dead.
There they are, lying in broad daylight for all to see. No one's helping. Why aren't they helping? Can't they see? Those who they trample. Those who are breathing their last, right next to them. It's surreal, the lady splattered in blood, nonchalantly wiping away the stains, the maintenance staff repairing the bullet holes with abject boredom, the little boy giving a the smallest of parting glances to his fallen father, the look of mild annoyance etched into his eyes.
You see someone screaming, a knife pointed to their throat, wielded by a figure in a navy business coat. One of the more professionally focused photos you recognize. It was from a few months back, before the war, before this whole mess. You saw it in a newspaper article, something about a charity marathon, the runners treading across bright data displays and sponsor logos on the road beneath. You didn't care much for the picture back then, but looking at it again you can't help but think that perhaps, that guy getting their head blown off with a shotgun is a bit odd.
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
Well, this really is more Tzi's game than mine,
but the cards speak for themselves.
This is what you need loaded dice to see.
Clothing is present and varied a little big but still better than running around in your underwear. Other people are absent although there is a picture of the person that presumably lives here, a young man with brown hair who standing with a blonde woman of similar youthfulness. In the background, you see what appears to be the world's least covert assassination being summarily ignored. Perhaps that is what inspired this this collection of images.
You look into the closet and find several changes of clothing along with a large number of textbooks on advanced physics, all heavily used. In the base of the closet is a small safe. In the kitchen is a knife which you grab. Power sources are unfortunately lacking however.
[COMP: 1/1] Spell.
You feel the pull of the sky above you, as if it were pulling something out of your head and flinging it upwards.
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
Take something pliable, like a wire, and twist an end into a loop.
Focus words into it, and jam it into something. Converts it.
Though if it's life-like enough, enough to hold some chips at any rate,
it's only an overlay. Damage or remove the antenna and it reverts.
Not quite what happened to your partner back there, but still able
to keep you from folding if used well. For people? It sort of traces the nerves.
Jam it close enough to your head and you'll become something completely different.
Into your wrist and only your hand will change. Into your groin (wouldn't recommend it)
and only your legs.
That's most you can do without specialized tools, or using specific spells.
I'll point those tools out if they're in the pot or if you see them in the field.
"I'm not bleeding to death now? Hell yeah. Except now I'm made of a flammable material and my biggest weapon fires plasma. Well, one problem at a time. Let's get this shit stabilized if it isn't already and make these stormy fucks regret ever laying eyes on us."You search the APC with Hawk grabbing the medkit held in the back. A proper medkit, a military medkit, with everything needed to handle your wound. That being said, the designers were expecting anyone with that kind of injury to just lie down and not swan dive around in the middle of a storm, so how useful it is for you right now is debatable.
Move with Hawk if he goes to get something to stabilize my form. Then let's get our asses in the building. Check the APC for that med kit or anything else useful if it won't make us waste too much time and get attacked out in the open.
Scavenge the APC for something antenna-like to jam into Beirus. Once I have something antenna-like jammed into Beirus' body, stabilize the spell. Then let's get ourselves into the building.You scavenge until you find the breakdown kit, grabbing a spanner you platonically jam it into Beirus.
[COMP: 7/5] Whitmore's magic.
[TRAN: 13/5] O'Greenahan's resist.
Stabilized. Okay, everything is fine. Mostly fine at any rate.
You begin running towards the building and then, all blue hell breaks loose.
From above you hear, if you can hear silence, a roar of utter silence, nothingness. Even the beating of your own heart is soundless. The storm winds slow and from the sky descends a great beast of ice and nothingness, a dragon of bone graven with icy blue runes and pictograms that while to far to read, you know contain the entirety of the ideas of a perfect civilization from aeons ago where it was a god. The monstrosity is utter stagnation given form, at its heart and through its form you see stars barely contained within it, all of them are cold and dead, preserved by the perverse power of this abomination. Circling it in a halo are six great shards of ice, each with eyes and wings that burn with the same frozen fire as the heart of the beast.
Five great rocs of ice dive through the wind wall, towards the dragon, seemingly ignoring you and your compatriot.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Those shards the alien wanted? This is a piece of one.
A very large one.
Post by: Empiricist on July 06, 2016, 07:21:46 pm
| < | Turn 39 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7065167#msg7065167) | | | Turn 40 | | | Turn 41 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7095435#msg7095435) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: FallacyofUrist on July 06, 2016, 08:05:45 pm
James grimaces, then makes use of his absurd lightness, leaping into the air, hopefully above the bloody lobster monster's explosion. If attacked in mid-air, he tries dodging by pushing off against it--hey, he's aerogel! If he survives this turn, he launches another attack with his gravity pistol.
Post by: Empiricist on July 06, 2016, 09:13:31 pm
Post by: FallacyofUrist on July 07, 2016, 08:17:04 am
Post by: AoshimaMichio on July 07, 2016, 10:38:12 am
To Red: "This is getting hectic. I already miss the times when I could walk around killing myself accidentally with magic and you would insult me. Stupid me, making promises I have to work hard to keep. What's the deal with that black smoke?"
Post by: Beirus on July 08, 2016, 01:10:26 am
Post by: Corsair on July 10, 2016, 06:17:31 am
Post by: Bigf00t on July 11, 2016, 05:08:30 am
"Hey... those sigils. One of those happens to be a die, a symbol I'm sure you appreciate. Also there are 8 sigils, and I was given the choice of 8 handlers.."
"Care to let me take a peek at your hand there DECOHERENT? Care to share why this guy was so interested with you all?
Hmm.
Lets risk it.
"12 d0"
Lets make a decay-sword :D
If the spell works, and looks like it won't coal/oil-ify my hand on touch (best to poke very carefully with a pinky, hell I got two), use it to corrode/destroy/weaken the door of the safe, use my bound multitoolwrench to finish off the door if needed and check the contents.
Take anything of practical value.[/i]
(Ask DECOHERENT)
"Also you mentioned I should get back to my impromptu ally, shall I be legging it or is a "free" ride on the cards?
((EDIT: Sorry for the delay!))
Post by: Beirus on July 11, 2016, 05:55:11 am
Beirus mutters something unitelligible under his breath as he looks at the dragon. "So we do what, Jus? Help the dragon fight? Or use the distraction to try to get to the thing causing this anomaly?
If Jus says to help, use Equipment Check on the dragon if it works, then help the dragon by firing on the Rock with my Bound weapon, and use the Plasma sword if they get close. If they cluster, try to hit them all with a plasma blast. If Jus says to go inside, go inside, get directions or use Equipment Check looking up if Jus says the anomaly thingy is in range, and head in the direction of the anomaly causing object. Watch out for traps and lightning spiders. Kill any watchers I see inside.
Post by: Hawk132 on July 11, 2016, 09:00:28 am
Post by: blazing glory on July 11, 2016, 06:17:45 pm
Quote
You duck into the warehouse as another hail of gunfire strikes a staccato rythm against the outside of the building. The empty warehouse. That was decidedly non-empty before. All there is now are a pile of bodies thoughtlessly taking up space in the corner and a large heavy steel trapdoor in the middle of the room surrounded by bloodstains.So wait.
Where are the soldiers right now in relation to me, are all of the close ones dead, or are only some of them dead?
Because to my understanding there was a bunch in the warehouse who messed me up but now it has a bunch of bodies?
Post by: Empiricist on July 11, 2016, 07:17:28 pm
Post by: Corsair on July 11, 2016, 07:35:07 pm
QuoteYou duck into the warehouse as another hail of gunfire strikes a staccato rythm against the outside of the building. The empty warehouse. That was decidedly non-empty before. All there is now are a pile of bodies thoughtlessly taking up space in the corner and a large heavy steel trapdoor in the middle of the room surrounded by bloodstains.So wait.
Where are the soldiers right now in relation to me, are all of the close ones dead, or are only some of them dead?
Because to my understanding there was a bunch in the warehouse who messed me up but now it has a bunch of bodies?
The ones that just shot you were on top of the glass building opposite the warehouse, the soldiers that were on the now destroyed grassy area between the two are all dead.
Post by: Empiricist on July 11, 2016, 07:50:53 pm
Post by: blazing glory on July 12, 2016, 01:42:23 am
Tell the Squire to pull up the trapdoor, from an angle that'd keep him protected by the lid as he lifts it up, be ready to shoot anything that comes up with my vacuum with all UTAR, jump back if whatever coming out is especially nasty.
If nothing comes out...tell the Squire to watch the door so no one comes in behind us, go down the depths within, and explore, unless going down proves to be unreasonable for one reason or another.
But shove a dead body in first if it proves dark and hard to see.
Post by: Corsair on July 17, 2016, 06:57:17 am
"Well this stinks."[MDEF vs. LTAR: 3 vs. 6] Heign attempts to leap over the Murder Lobster's explosion
James grimaces, then makes use of his absurd lightness, leaping into the air, hopefully above the bloody lobster monster's explosion. If attacked in mid-air, he tries dodging by pushing off against it--hey, he's aerogel! If he survives this turn, he launches another attack with his gravity pistol.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 2 vs. 1] Heign uses "weight" gun. Evasion is impossible, roll is only for damage mitigation.
You see visions of what is to come, what may be done. They aren't promising. There is no escape, and try as you might, you won't clear the blast.
Once, in ages past, in times that may or may not have been, there was a young prince standing at the crossroads. To his left, was certain death. To his front, was hunger and cold. To his right, was hardship. He need not have rode forth, and yet he did. He took the path to the right, and though he knew hardship, became a hero.
He was a fool. An imbecile, skilled in neither combat nor guile, and yet he was a hero, for he would go where his fellows dare not venture. It is of course, a platitude now, the tritest of cliches, to dare think heroism may be born of courage alone. And yet, even the most cowardly of heroes have their moments of bravery, for else they are naught.
Here you stand, with a body born of magic, a testament to humanity's glory days, a contract with the reaper. All you really need is a bit of courage. And really, let's be honest here, the heirloom you broke is far more valuable than your life at this point.
Steadying yourself, you charge forwards and leap upwards. At the apex, you swing your legs, running along the wall. It lunges at you. You kick off, a final boost. The air shimmers, and burns a brilliant octarine. The blast clips your boots, detonating them. Your feet are gone. Shattered. There is no pain, just a sudden loss of feeling as you are launched, clearing the rest of the blast.
As you hurtle through the air, your hold down the range adjuster, not even needing to look as you fire upside down. A sickening, wet crunch confirms what you already know as you land into a graceful roll behind your crippled foe.
You're off-balance now with the injury you've sustained, and you still hear the clicking of your foe as it skids to a stop. But you can also see, that its movements are sluggish and lurching, its tails swaying unsteadily, not long for this world. It begins skittering backwards, your vision tracing in another blast radius, one that soon extends in size as it lowers its tails backwards.
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
Crawl if you must, but dispatch it with care.
When this assignment's over, I can give you a body anew.
((Your feet are missing, but your legs are pretty much still intact, so you can sort of run along unsteadily along them, though you can't really stand on them. You can also crawl pretty quickly, hell you can crawl and fire your mundane pistols at the same time if need be like if John Woo made a remake of The Grudge starring Chow Yun-Fat as the ghost.))
Clear the airspace from demons. Then shoot any remaining demons on ground."Well I thought you understood your own incompetence by now and I didn't need to constantly remind you sweetie. Also that shadow is a cloaking field as you could have guessed... idiot~."
To Red: "This is getting hectic. I already miss the times when I could walk around killing myself accidentally with magic and you would insult me. Stupid me, making promises I have to work hard to keep. What's the deal with that black smoke?"
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 7 vs. 1] Ao opens fire on aerial units.
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 4 vs. 5] Ao opens fire on ground units.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 2 vs. 1] LUPUS opens fire on ground units.
[MDEF vs. LTAR: 1 vs. 4] LUPUS attempts to evade the darkness.
You manage to pulp all of the air demons with ease firing off shots with your heavy cannon nailing them in surprisingly few hits each, the sniping package has definitely improved your accuracy. The ground demons however take cover near your non-bullet-proof, very delicious comrades making hitting them very difficult. The NEE LUPUS opens up on some of the demons from it's lower position with it's rifle which is embarrassingly larger than your own.
It manages to down a handful of the annoying meatball demons before the shadow decides to join the party. It detaches itself from the lobby of the building like a sinister cloud and forms an orb of rippling darkness then it spawns several dozen tentacles. The LUPUS attempts to switch targets but is too late and the orb attacks before it can counter swinging its tentacles like cleavers at the frame.
The frame is much worse for wear now lacking one of its arms and having a mixture of coolant, oil and viscera slowly dripping out of the cockpit which features several new windows.
(Ask DECOHERENT)He manifests once again before you, and speaks, with the kind of slick nonchalance befitting his appearance.
"Hey... those sigils. One of those happens to be a die, a symbol I'm sure you appreciate. Also there are 8 sigils, and I was given the choice of 8 handlers.."
"Care to let me take a peek at your hand there DECOHERENT? Care to share why this guy was so interested with you all?
Hmm.
Lets risk it.
"12 d0"
Lets make a decay-sword :D
If the spell works, and looks like it won't coal/oil-ify my hand on touch (best to poke very carefully with a pinky, hell I got two), use it to corrode/destroy/weaken the door of the safe, use my bound multitoolwrench to finish off the door if needed and check the contents.
Take anything of practical value.[/i]
(Ask DECOHERENT)
"Also you mentioned I should get back to my impromptu ally, shall I be legging it or is a "free" ride on the cards?
"Now, I wouldn't normally be as frivolous as Red, but you did ask nicely... but I'm afraid, that -"
From his pocket, he produces a playing card
"- Is not my card."
It's neater and glossier, but it is, without a doubt, a replica of the image marked with a crosshair.
"As for their interest, if you saw people like you, doing what you do, I'd wager you'd take quite the interest as well. There's no free ride, but you're close enough you won't need one."
[COMP: 11/6] Killy's spell.
You make a sword, it looks really evil being made of bone and having glowing runes it seems to whisper and move when you aren't looking directly at it. You decide to touch the sword with your pinky because that is totally safe.
[TRAN: 3/6] Killy's resist.
The instant your pinky touches it, a green arc in the shape of a hand rushes from your chest and grasps it by the blade. You die, and wake again in the same room which now features a sword that is very probably definitely evil and a coalified corpse.
We'll assume you grab some more clothes and take back the knife.
Beirus mutters something unitelligible under his breath as he looks at the dragon. "So we do what, Jus? Help the dragon fight? Or use the distraction to try to get to the thing causing this anomaly?
If Jus says to help, use Equipment Check on the dragon if it works, then help the dragon by firing on the Rock with my Bound weapon, and use the Plasma sword if they get close. If they cluster, try to hit them all with a plasma blast. If Jus says to go inside, go inside, get directions or use Equipment Check looking up if Jus says the anomaly thingy is in range, and head in the direction of the anomaly causing object. Watch out for traps and lightning spiders. Kill any watchers I see inside.
I'll follow Beirus' lead on this. If we fight the rocs - use Caladlebolg and '12 ixc' on them. If we go inside, be ready to use Caladlebolg and my necrotic missiles at any foe within.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Anomaly source.
Now.
Dragon identified. Record found in Flight of Fantasy databases.
XII: Stasis Wing Emperor-Drake. Go complain to the skeletons about it. I didn't name it.
It's from before the Fall, a common topic nowadays it seems. Part of an advisory AI network.
Can't figure out its original purpose right now, it's only a fragment and it's gone completely haywire. They all are.
The AI itself is likely somewhere within its center of mass, and projecting the rest of its body, yes those rocks too, they're just extensions of its body.
Issue is, it's effectively impervious to all harm.
If you can somehow get into its body, I can try and disable it, but it's so badly damaged we won't be able to make something out of it.
Not unless you get the other two units of its local group here.
It's repurposed some of its utility functions to freeze areas in time, and some of its interfacing to have some kind of pseudo-mind control.
So yes, bad news all around.
I'm not picking up the source here, but the anomaly is definitely in this area, and the building's foundations don't extend that far down.
It has to be on one of the upper floors.
Oh and, don't take the lift, I'm picking up electrical anomalies within it.
Those birds are, evidently also parts of this anomaly. They're really more Red's specialty, but I am able to pick up arcane energy readings in their discharges.
Steer clear away from those arcs, they'll explode flesh on contact.
Those tendrils also act as a sensory array, they're able to pick up every faint electrical fields, including those in your brain and heart.
They don't seem to be too good at spotting though, I'm not entirely sure why, by all rights they seem far more suited for directing the storm than those hooded entities.
You both head toward the tower and make it halfway before the party rather inconsiderately decides to be with you guys and the party is not the conventional cake variety but instead the 'MURDER THE SHIT OUTTA BITCHES' kind of party and it just so happens that the two of you are the super special guests of honor. Fortunately the other guests are preoccupied so you can dodge their incidental collateral (read as: you) damage with ease, allowing the rocs to charge the dragon and its thralls while the dragon begins to really wreck shop using pre-Fall hax.First it's a dragon so it just turns one roc into a snowcone with a crushing swipe of its tail while its thralls begin engaging the smaller birds, preventing them from interfering with it's fight with the remaining five. The rocs retaliate, forming together into a massive spiraling double helix of static and swirling wind, one doesn't join the funnel, instead hanging back near the far end. Then, from the clouds above arcs lightning in a blinding flash. It redirects them into the helix and they rapidly begin to multiply. You can barely see as the bolts multiply and condense into a bolt several meters wide.
It lances towards the dragon at a c-fractional (approximately 33% according to Jus) velocity. Only your enhanced reflexes allow you to track the next move. The dragon looks at the beam of pure destruction and simply takes the hit. It doesn't flinch as it takes 126% the yield of Hiroshima: The Musical's climax straight to the face and is totally fine. The blastwave of the colossal bolt sends both of you flying into the air and causes the snow to be blown away entirely in the area around the bolt. The snow and debris freeze.
They ice over, frozen, unmoving in mid-air.
Code: (IV: STASIS WING EMPEROR-DRAKE) [Select]
Continued attempts to enforce change are futile.
Accept that eternity is superior.
Feel my majesty and weep, lesser ones.
It unleashes the force of its will. The voices of countless people, past, present, and future coursing through your mind in a matter of nanoseconds. All of them demand, exhort and cajole for you to submit; to submit to their desire to remain, to stop, to slow, to preserve. To change no more, for the future is too uncertain. To become as absolute and eternal as the very bedrock of this universe.
[COMP: 12/8] O'Greenahan's Resist.
[COMP: 1] Whitmore's resist.
Berius: You notice Hawk's eyes begin glowing a hellish blue as you both tumble through the air, he calmly dismisses Caladlebolg and conjures his 09AIAR, as he swings his arm towards you, with intent to open fire.
Hawk: Your head is currently swimming with unnatural thoughts. You also notice that Berius is a dirty liberal who must be purged before he revokes your right to bear the arms you are about to smite him with.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Not sure how lucid you are, Ladlemonger.
But if you are unable to break free soon enough, we shall terminate you and bring you back away from this influence.
"Damn, I hope this transformation lasts long enough for me to do my business here."The squire lifts the trapdoor with a grunt as he covers the door with his rifle "Clear!".
Tell the Squire to pull up the trapdoor, from an angle that'd keep him protected by the lid as he lifts it up, be ready to shoot anything that comes up with my vacuum with all UTAR, jump back if whatever coming out is especially nasty.
If nothing comes out...tell the Squire to watch the door so no one comes in behind us, go down the depths within, and explore, unless going down proves to be unreasonable for one reason or another.
But shove a dead body in first if it proves dark and hard to see.
The trapdoor reveals a room beneath lit only by emergency lighting so it is quite dim. The dead body lands with a thud and little else. Once you enter you are in a corridor made of concrete lined with cables and pipes. As you look around the dim emergency lighting makes it difficult to see detail beyond fifty meters in either direction. In the distance you hear cackling.
Spoiler: Rudimentary Map (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on July 17, 2016, 06:58:35 am
| < | Turn 40 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7080109#msg7080109) | | | Turn 41 | | | Turn 42 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7113569#msg7113569) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on July 17, 2016, 07:02:03 am
Post by: Hawk132 on July 17, 2016, 07:34:45 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on July 17, 2016, 04:00:39 pm
Okay then. Gravity blast it again. If that doesn't kill it, James attempts evasion by pushing himself above the explosion. Using his arms.
Post by: Empiricist on July 17, 2016, 06:59:16 pm
Post by: FallacyofUrist on July 17, 2016, 08:34:29 pm
Post by: AoshimaMichio on July 18, 2016, 03:55:00 am
Bioscan assisted aim. Shoot.
Shoot all non-humans still moving around.
Post by: blazing glory on July 19, 2016, 09:04:21 pm
Go down right(? Forward? Idk go somewhere) of the corridor/ladder until I find something.
Since we have a moment for some magic now:06, and 08, separate with comp split between.
Post by: Empiricist on July 20, 2016, 02:35:18 am
Post by: Beirus on July 20, 2016, 03:23:37 am
Post by: Empiricist on July 20, 2016, 04:22:54 am
Edit: Blazing, we gave you a simple map of the tunnels. It's now in the turn.))
Post by: Bigf00t on July 21, 2016, 11:19:29 am
"Thank you DECOHERENT, for your candor. I must admit, it is quite the interesting world I seem to have found myself in, or quite an odd world that seems to have found itself to where I happened to be.
*Killy quietly ponders the mysteries of the cosmos... and since the sigils do not match the styles of his handler how he expected, he wonders just what aspects or attributes they do match.*
"22 ed" and hope to hell I don't Tyrannosaurus Wrekt my self again. :P
If the spell works, grab the result, hope it at least has a full chamber or charge enough for one load worth of rounds! Either way yea, grab the clothes and knife.
Killy takes one last hard look at the sigils before heading out of the apartment, heading whatever the most likely route to my embattled, impromptu friend. Ask DECOHERENT, or.. Decon for short? If I need directions.
(Worst comes to worst I can always borrow one of my squires rifles... if I can get there without ending myself :P))
Post by: Beirus on July 21, 2016, 01:14:26 pm
Run inside and start heading upstairs. Bob, weave, zig, and zag to dodge attacks. Shoot any spotters I see, watch out for mines and spiders. Stay away from the lifts. And if the drake tries mind control again and I beat it, see if I can turn the link back on it to tame it or weaken it or something.
Post by: Corsair on July 29, 2016, 06:11:38 pm
Resist XII's will. The Ladlemonger is no one's thrall![TRAN: 13/7] Whitmore tries not to violently purge O'Greenahan.
[TRAN: 7/7] Whitmore tries to resist IV's influence.
Tumbling through the air, you level the rifle as Beirus' head; he, in turn pins you with his gaze. He makes no attempt to dodge, no attempt to fight back, he just stares you down with almost cocky confidence. You notice you finger pulling the trigger, and, in that instant, your mind goes silent. The voices, their will, it's gone. Just flat out vanished. Swinging your rifle, the hellish spray of bullets misses Beirus and you tumble into a rough landing.
Presumably you follow Berius to the safe place that is not the outside.
"You had better! And fixing my iPod would be nice too... how am I supposed to be a good hero without good music?"[LTAR vs. MDEF: 5 vs. 3] Heign uses "weight" gun. Evasion is impossible, roll is only for damage mitigation.
Okay then. Gravity blast it again. If that doesn't kill it, James attempts evasion by pushing himself above the explosion. Using his arms.
You crush the squid-lobster-scorpion abomination's tails along their midsection. It screeches and slides to a halt, curling up like a dying spider and quickly expiring. Your enhanced vision, however, still displays the "giant explodey killzone", so it might not be safe to go teabag it just yet.
PREY SLAUGHTERED
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
Excellent, excellent.
Formidable prey carry formidable bounties.
Prey upon its corpse and reap what was sown.
As for the device, I'm sure those skeletal weirdos are happy to provide one. For services yet to be rendered of course.
Spoiler: LEVEL UP (click to show/hide)
Ao smiles. "Well, let's take it down then, shall we? Check out what makes it tick and I'll jam some highspeed wrenches into its cogs.""You should shoot it there..."
Bioscan assisted aim. Shoot.
Shoot all non-humans still moving around.
Your scan reveals the heart of the beast; a massive multi-chambered mass of muscle and barbed wire right in the center of it's chest you open fire with your rifle as it flies towards you.
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 13 vs. 7] Opening fire.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 11 vs. 7] Avoiding retaliation
You hit the target square in the chest with a hail of machinegun fire, it drops into the ground with a tremendous crash and is obscured by rubble and rising dust. From the rubble erupts a roar of fury and several blasts of black burning energy.
"This one's 'pure'. The core made it, it's like a giant angry cenobite midget or something."
You manage to dodge most of the blade slashes but the last one catches you mid-dodge, the dark energy slashes through your frame's left arm and leg while it damages the other severely.
A number of warnings immediately flash up some obvious such as "PART X DAMAGED", and some serious "FLIGHT SYSTEM COMPROMISED", and some very serious "ALCUBIERRE STABILITY COMPROMISED".
Realise that I'd rather have someone watching my back next to me instead of him watching my back a long distance away, call down the squire and tell him to keep an eye on where we're coming from.Squire drops down atop Ropey and covers your flank.
Go down right(? Forward? Idk go somewhere) of the corridor/ladder until I find something.
Since we have a moment for some magic now:06, and 08, separate with comp split between.
[TRAN: 4] Spell, 06.
[TRAN: 3/1] Spell, 08.
The first spell fizzles, the second one conjures a large lump of dark grey metal that thuds to the floor heavily.
You walk towards the fork and ten meters from the fork is a pair of corpses halfheartedly jammed into the piping, their blood pooling beneath them. From the blood you can see traceries of strange arcane sigils which glow a faint purple. The air around them moves like heat haze.
Ok, little bit crazy busy this week, so we'll keep it simple(ish):
"Thank you DECOHERENT, for your candor. I must admit, it is quite the interesting world I seem to have found myself in, or quite an odd world that seems to have found itself to where I happened to be.
Killy quietly ponders the mysteries of the cosmos... and since the sigils do not match the styles of his handler how he expected, he wonders just what aspects or attributes they do match.
"22 ed" and hope to hell I don't Tyrannosaurus Wrekt my self again. :P
If the spell works, grab the result, hope it at least has a full chamber or charge enough for one load worth of rounds! Either way yea, grab the clothes and knife.
Killy takes one last hard look at the sigils before heading out of the apartment, heading whatever the most likely route to my embattled, impromptu friend. Ask DECOHERENT, or.. Decon for short? If I need directions.
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
Decon is fine by me.
[TRAN: 11/6] Spell.
You conjure a large chrome pistol with no apparent magazine, although it appears to fire bullets given the rifling in the chamber and the small tungsten lozenge in the back of the weapon behind a small panel. Under the barrel are a long line of heat-sinks welded in place. It has an old fashioned mechanical trigger though which is surprisingly mundane.
After taking a few turns and consulting a couple of automated information kiosks you find the location of shade research, which is surrounded by a staggeringly large line of arcane script perfectly aligned with the boundaries of the plot. As you move around it appears to re-orient so that it is always visible without parallax. Above the runes is a faint ripple like a heat haze.
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
Quiet, isn't it? Your friend drew quite a lot of attention.
"If you want to kill me, you'll have to catch me first."[TRAN: 12/8] Navigating the architectural abomination.
Run inside and start heading upstairs. Bob, weave, zig, and zag to dodge attacks. Shoot any spotters I see, watch out for mines and spiders. Stay away from the lifts. And if the drake tries mind control again and I beat it, see if I can turn the link back on it to tame it or weaken it or something.
You begin running "up" the tower, unfortunately they contracted M.C. Escher for the interior design so even taking a step forward is a creative exercise in perspective management. Having run down, through, around and up multiple corridors and hallways you stop to take a breather and try to figure out where the hell you are. At this point several things happen. The hallway ahead and behind you explodes into a pair of maelstroms, while the lightning that courses through the building like a nervous system beginning to give you funny looks. Also the dragon tires of swatting at ice-birds and begins climbing up the tower, only turning to occasionally backhand the incidental annoyance.
Post by: Empiricist on July 29, 2016, 06:13:39 pm
| < | Turn 41 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7095435#msg7095435) | | | Turn 42 | | | Turn 43 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7143453#msg7143453) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: FallacyofUrist on July 29, 2016, 06:25:36 pm
HEROIC LEVELING UP!
Exterior Spending:
+0 to Static Defense
+16 to Mobile Defense
+2 to Liminary Targeting
+2 to Unbound Targeting
Interior Spending:
+7 to Compatibility
+13 to Transcendance
Now then. James takes a rest. And eyes the blasted corpse, some distance away from it. If it moves, it gets gravity gunned. Once the explody kill zone disappears, James takes a look at it and sees about looting it.
((OH YEAH!))
Post by: blazing glory on July 29, 2016, 06:47:56 pm
"So what can you tell me about these runes here? I'd rather not push my luck at this point."
Bit of magic too since I lost my cleaver/sword, 08 a5 full COMP.
Post by: Hawk132 on August 05, 2016, 05:04:20 pm
Post by: Beirus on August 05, 2016, 06:09:25 pm
Post by: Empiricist on August 05, 2016, 07:31:56 pm
Post by: AoshimaMichio on August 06, 2016, 02:39:29 am
Shut down alcubierre drive systems if it doesn't affect anything else. Jump backwards balancing on one leg and... shoot the thing some more. I suppose the vital part doesn't move within the thing too much.
Post by: Beirus on August 06, 2016, 03:35:43 am
Post by: Bigf00t on August 07, 2016, 12:38:01 am
"I suppose you could call what we did... and what I assume he did after... that."Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]Quiet, isn't it? Your friend drew quite a lot of attention.
Hmm
Start with some magic testing:
"3d 72 -t"
Mess about with that in the safest way possible. I'll leave what that means up to you (I'm definitely going to die again)
Look around to see if there is anywhere the script-boundary looks less intense, or if there is a natural entrance over it, or hell if a lightpost happens to dangle over out of the heat-haze. Even look for nearby manhole covers, maybe I can sneak in underneath the security (something I should have considered last time).
If no such ways around make themselves apparent, try and find a pebble, or some other non-magically-summoned boring-something, and throw it at a 45 degree angle over the line of script, but thru the heat haze, be ready to duck behind cover if dangerous things happen, or if an alarm sounds. ALSO BE WARY OF LINES OF SIGHT TO THE TOPS oF THOSE DAmN BUILDINGS! Snipe me once shame on you, BUT SNIPE ME TWICE *eyetwitch*
======== < line of script
/ < direction of throw
/
@ < me
If nothing happens I may throw the crayon and see if it is triggered by magic things, next test after that being fleshy things of course :P
Post by: Corsair on August 15, 2016, 12:28:11 am
Post by: Corsair on August 21, 2016, 05:37:19 am
Take a break and consult TZINACAN's secrets.[COMP: 8/2] Spell
"So what can you tell me about these runes here? I'd rather not push my luck at this point."
Bit of magic too since I lost my cleaver/sword, 08 a5 full COMP.
You conjure up a dull metallic mace that clangs to the floor heavily.
Code: (TZINACAN) [Select]
Worlds align. Beasts coalesce.
Bound to inscriber's behest.
Agents of the Crown cull the forgotten as to sate their dark pacts.
Cloaked daggers, tempered with the blood of the innocent.
They know you are here. They are here to slay you.
Pass this threshold and what lies beyond shall manifest.
Devoid of empathy, devoid of mercy, devoid of humanity, yet in human guise still.
Look.
Listen.
Smell.
You'll be able to discern their amushes and formations with enough attention.
But look not too far, listen not too close, and smell not too deep, lest you lose your mind.
We have altered you to be resistent, and you may become more resistent still with time.
Your comrade here, however, is not so fortunate, and in any direct combat may very well be a liability.
These entities were never meant for a true warzone. In such confined spaces, explosives may work wonders.
You can see the shadows shift and waver in the hallways beyond the runes.
Keep following Beirus. Have Caladlebolg and necrotic missiles at the ready. Prepare my mind for any more attacks on my free will from IV.
Shoot the maelstrom ahead of us with my Bound weapon. Hope the Ladlemonger can take care of the one behind us, or the one in front if I don't destroy it. Keep heading down the hallway and towards the anomaly-causing object.Eight rune masks detach from the walls and begin forming whirlwinds of icy shards and chipped concrete around themselves as you raise your weapon. Two range from half ruined walls you can see below due to the building being full of improbably large holes, while three approach from each side. You fire at one of the trio ahead.
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 6 vs 7] Beirus open fire with Bound Weapon
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 6 vs 4] The Ladlemonger tags in with Caladlebolg
Your hail of small arms fire pings off of the creature's whirling body of concrete and ice, the cyclone of debris slamming into your rounds, peturbing their trajectories enough to miss the masks within. You comrade jumps forward and swings with the ladle, unleashing a torrent of necrotic energy at the enemies.
The necrotic blast strikes all three and they are flung backward several meters by the impact, a good amount of their mass is now gone, having been rusted or crumbled by the decaying influence of the attack. They move back further and begin slowly growing once more.
"Oh crap this shit..."
Shut down alcubierre drive systems if it doesn't affect anything else. Jump backwards balancing on one leg and... shoot the thing some more. I suppose the vital part doesn't move within the thing too much.
[UTAR v SDEF: 6 v 6]
[LTAR v MDEF: 6 v 7]
You fire on it and it parries the blows with a flurry of sword strokes, your accuracy suffering due to the blaring warnings in the cockpit. It attempts to fire on you but you drop below it's sword strokes easily. Slap fight over other things begin occuring.
[1d100: 2] Alcubierre Drive Stability
Well, looking over Corsair's notes, if you rolled one lower than you did, you'd have ended the game. So uh, congratulations (https://youtu.be/ypNxZUaNTEo?t=22s), I guess?
It's... what?
It isn't shutting down.
Why? Why isn't it shutting down? What kind of incompetent buffoon designed this piece of shit? How the hell is it even still functioning well enough to fuck you right now? That's like, the exact opposite of what it's supposed to do! It gets damaged, it stops; those are the rules, and for good reason at that.
"> Warning!"
"> Acubierre Drive is now critical!"
"> Attempting rectification... rectification failed."
"> Destabilization event imminent!"
"> Purging rear plating... rear plates purged."
"> Ejecting capacitor...."
Your frame lurches forwards, the weight shifting forwards.
"> Acubierre Drive stabilized."
"> Acubierre Drive disabled."
Whatever it just ejected was not a capacitor, not even close. Veiled in a shifting region of twisted space it sails in a peculiar trjaectory, randomly shifting and "skipping" back and forth like a broken video, its indistinct, vaguely spherical boundaries discharging with transient, spiralling tendrils of nothingness.
And then, something happens. The veil compresses, deforming, the discharges hasten but without the tendrils, as if the "capacitor" was grasped by the hand of a wrathful god. The "skipping" intensifies, as if trying to escape, yet in the end, it fails.
It begins to shudder in midair, and, according to your enhanced vision, is about to be thrown straight back into the midst of the battle.
"I suppose you could call what we did... and what I assume he did after... that."There is a tree branch that lies over the line and it is quite odd. The point where it crosses the line is covered in the same runes circling the branch along with being present on the ground, like when line painters spray straight over bits of wood. Just to be sure, you snap a small branch off of a nearby tree and throw it across, and indeed, you find that the runes encircle it as it passes through before returning to normal.
Hmm
Start with some magic testing:
"3d 72 -t"
Mess about with that in the safest way possible. I'll leave what that means up to you (I'm definitely going to die again)
Look around to see if there is anywhere the script-boundary looks less intense, or if there is a natural entrance over it, or hell if a lightpost happens to dangle over out of the heat-haze. Even look for nearby manhole covers, maybe I can sneak in underneath the security (something I should have considered last time).
If no such ways around make themselves apparent, try and find a pebble, or some other non-magically-summoned boring-something, and throw it at a 45 degree angle over the line of script, but thru the heat haze, be ready to duck behind cover if dangerous things happen, or if an alarm sounds. ALSO BE WARY OF LINES OF SIGHT TO THE TOPS oF THOSE DAmN BUILDINGS! Snipe me once shame on you, BUT SNIPE ME TWICE *eyetwitch*
======== < line of script
/ < direction of throw
/
@ < me
If nothing happens I may throw the crayon and see if it is triggered by magic things, next test after that being fleshy things of course :P
[COMP: 9/-14] Spell
Your spell goes off, but nothing seems to happen.
"Hehhehehheeehhhhh... I have all the power! ALL OF IT!"So you sort of sit down, your lack of feet making it hard to remain standing, and wait. You wait, listening to the distant crackle of gunfire, the unearthly explosions, and the sonic booms. You wait, as buildings crumble in the distance, as battles rage too far to see, too close to ignore. The zone remains. Your vision indicates that your foe is either truly dead, or too busy evaluating its life choices to dare attack no matter what you do, however the killzone around it remains very much active.
HEROIC LEVELING UP!
Exterior Spending:
+0 to Static Defense
+16 to Mobile Defense
+2 to Liminary Targeting
+2 to Unbound Targeting
Interior Spending:
+7 to Compatibility
+13 to Transcendance
Now then. James takes a rest. And eyes the blasted corpse, some distance away from it. If it moves, it gets gravity gunned. Once the explody kill zone disappears, James takes a look at it and sees about looting it.
Post by: Empiricist on August 21, 2016, 05:38:29 am
| < | Turn 42 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7113569#msg7113569) | | | Turn 43 | | | Turn 44 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7168571#msg7168571) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: blazing glory on August 21, 2016, 06:27:03 am
Take my mace, tell the squire to stay here and watch things, then...proceed, down into the dark depths where the Agents of The Crown reside.
5c, 31, split COMP.
Post by: Bigf00t on August 21, 2016, 07:01:36 am
So... Magerks? :P"I suppose you could call what we did... and what I assume he did after... that."There is a tree branch that lies over the line and it is quite odd. The point where it crosses the line is covered in the same runes circling the branch along with being present on the ground, like when line painters spray straight over bits of wood. Just to be sure, you snap a small branch off of a nearby tree and throw it across, and indeed, you find that the runes encircle it as it passes through before returning to normal.
Hmm
Start with some magic testing:
"3d 72 -t"
Mess about with that in the safest way possible. I'll leave what that means up to you (I'm definitely going to die again)
-shhhnip-
Can haz magerks pls? (it is in bold, although admittedly obscure next to my WALL O' TEXT)
Post by: Empiricist on August 21, 2016, 07:06:12 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on August 21, 2016, 03:22:37 pm
Waiting intensifies. While he's at it, James uses Memento Mori.
Post by: Bigf00t on August 21, 2016, 09:56:17 pm
((Oh whoops, we must've missed that. We'll PM you a notification once we edit it in, since one of the words in that probably needs to have the cost rebalanced first.))I noticed that "stylus/pencil/marker/whatever" had a cost of zero, like table so I thought... why the hell not! Hahahah.
Unless you mean "-t"
In which case... HHHHMMMMMMMMMMM [INTEREST TRIGGERED]
Post by: Empiricist on August 21, 2016, 10:16:56 pm
Post by: AoshimaMichio on August 22, 2016, 04:19:01 am
Say, which way does one enter/exit the frame? From front or back?))
Post by: Empiricist on August 22, 2016, 06:59:30 am
Post by: Corsair on August 22, 2016, 07:18:39 am
Post by: AoshimaMichio on August 22, 2016, 12:14:49 pm
Crazy maneuvers time. Try to trap the dark tentacle thing under my frame and eject myself out as far out as possible. With any luck malfunctioning drive comes down while the thing is still trapped and I'm theoretically safely away.
Post by: Bigf00t on August 23, 2016, 09:58:54 am
MOAR SCIENCE!
Look around for a tiny, tiny shred of wax on the ground around me. If this spell does what I immediately assumed it does, and trades off effect for cost reduction, I might have summoned an TEENY TINY bit of wax, MAYBE shaped like a crayon :P
ALso:
"3d 72 -a"
MOAR CRAYONS!
Hmm, for more barrier testing, try and find a hollow scrap metal tube, or bit of discarded newspaper I can roll into a tube, and insert one end of said tube into the barrier. Do the runes appear on the inside of the tube? If not I may have a way to sneak in without tripping any arcane alarms (provided they ignore random garbage being inserted and removed over and over).
Regardless of if that works, look around for a light vehicle, something with an enclosed cabin/drivers seat/cockpit, preferably operational but not necessarily. I has a plan.
(I presume my earlier attempts to find a manhole nearby were for naught?)
Post by: Hawk132 on September 01, 2016, 04:30:25 pm
Post by: Beirus on September 01, 2016, 04:31:26 pm
Post by: Corsair on September 09, 2016, 04:29:27 am
"Great...wish I knew if the rune was a boundary or an origin point, guess I'll find out."[COMP: 2/2] Spell
Take my mace, tell the squire to stay here and watch things, then...proceed, down into the dark depths where the Agents of The Crown reside.
5c, 31, split COMP.
You conjure the image of a spike which slowly fades away.
[COMP: 1/1] Spell
You conjure the image of a boxy cage which slowly fades away.
You proceed past the barrier and immediately see a difference, from the inside the haze is almost impenetrable. After a few paces you notice that the shadows are stretching towards you, the shadowy corridor ahead appears to shift and twist. The lights in both the left and right forks have been dimmed by some outside interference; likely whatever lies beyond.
After a few more steps you feel the temperature drop sharply like falling from a tropical beach into the arctic ocean. Ahead the deep shadowed recesses seem to watch you with eternal malevolence.
[TRAN: 7] Resistance
They are everywhere, listening, watching. What do they want? Your soul? Your body? You begin to panic feeling the fear that primal man had of the dark, filled with predators and their deadly fangs and scything claws.
"Hey Soteriologist, can I turn this thing into a zombie?"
Waiting intensifies. While he's at it, James uses Memento Mori.
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
Invoke the legacy of the gods that man once was.
Cow the flames of genesis and align them to your will.
You need only a loop of wire and the right words.
And though I may speak them to you, my voice will never reach you.
MAXIMUM WAIT
Memento Mori highlights a wall, with the obvious implication that if you were to kool-aid-man your way through, you would likely meet some sort of grisly end. Likewise, the region around the giant murderlobster corpse is still red with certain death.
After a few minutes sitting, wondering how you will replace your feet and how you're meant to take out that field, you hear a loud crack from outside followed by clinking and jingling. The area in its direction pales, apparently whatever's making that ruckus isn't too bad for your health.
"This little shit..."[LTAR vs. SDEF: -1 vs 5] Attempting to trap it
Crazy maneuvers time. Try to trap the dark tentacle thing under my frame and eject myself out as far out as possible. With any luck malfunctioning drive comes down while the thing is still trapped and I'm theoretically safely away.
[SDEF vs. LTAR: 1 vs 6] Trying to keep the LATRANS intact
You attempt to trap the monstrosity and fail abysmally, violent mechanical groans and a flood of new warning messages flood the cock pit as your foe's tentacles quickly tear apart your frame, your efforts earning only their grating laughter-like roar.
An explosion, a pneumatic hiss, and near instantly, impact, it feels like someone has just tried to jam your seat up your backside, which, to be fair, isn't too far from the truth. Those were the first set of the thrusters, the actual "eject" ones, they don't send you too far - they're more just there to get you out of the frame, and for the safety thrusters to make sure you're oriented the right way and not about to be launched into a building.
You know from experience that they are an utter bitch to install, all sorts of delicate sensors wired up with some outdated processors and linked to a frankly irresponsible amount of thrusters, which are seemingly 50% mechanical interlocks and safety measures by weight. Well, they were at least. Those pieces of black plastic and metal, scattering in your wake? Those are the interlocks, you won't be needing them. Now, it's just the thrusters remaining. Okay, there's also the chair, and you, the person strapped to it, but, that's more of an afterthought.
You remember to relax for this next bit, let yourself sink into the now, semi-inflated, and decidedly softer seat. It'd have felt a hell of a lot worse otherwise. You're practically much crushed against your seat as the "get the fuck out of dodge" thrusters fire off and eject, easily propelling you half a block away somewhere along that ordeal. What few thrusters remain will ensure a safe (but far from comfortable) landing. At the very last possible moment of course, the NEE wouldn't want their precious little pilots to get picked off in midair now would they?
This of course means that as you sail backwards, wondering what lunatic designed this system, you have quite a good view of the ensuing bloodbath. Lucky you.
So, the capacitor fires off back towards the ground near its previous position, its previous position that you have thankfully just evacuated. Seeing this, the tentacled abomination takes to the air once more. Fast enough to live. Not fast enough to save itself.
The capacitor hits the ground. It does not continue. It freezes, an instant after it touches the ground, before the impact had even really began, and rushes back upwards.
A snap, a sharp, loud, snap. As if the very tension in the air, had pulled something, you're not sure what, to its breaking point.
The monstrosity's legs and parts of numerous tentacles fall off. A sanguine deluge, crackling with dying discharges of dark energy, gushes forth.
It was a perfect cut, a clean slice along a plane precisely perpendicular to direction of gravity, and perhaps, more concerningly, at around the rough height such that, were the LUPUS in range of it, it would have neatly bisected the cockpit and the pilot within.
A horrid, furious roar. The beast lashes out in every direction, as if assailed by an unseen foe, dark discharges flying off at random angles.
Snap.
Another "slice", this at exactly half the height off the ground as the previous one. Severed limbs, blasts of energy, flailing tentacles, all cut apart.
Snap.
It is perhaps thankful, that your comrades were a bit further back relative to where you fought; thankful, that the brighter ones had disengaged and ran. Because every soldier, every demon still in a wide radius has just been neatly bisected at just below chest height.
Bloody gurgles.
Snap.
Horrified screams.
Snap.
Cries for help.
Snap.
Snap.
Snap.
Snap.
Snap.
Snap. Snap. Snap. Snap. Snap.
Blood, flesh, and metal. Diced, scattered, and fallen.
Unrecognizable.
From what you can make out, most of the soldiers are fine. Physically, at least. They managed to retreat far enough to be out of range. Mentally, well, let's just say you don't envy their therapists. The fact that one or two of them got caught running, their severed top halves managing to sail just out of range into the embrace of bloodloss, shock, and merciful death, probably doesn't help much. You hear some screams, some sobs, most are quiet though, rushing back into cover as the LUPUS unloads into the disoriented abomination.
What the hell did it... do? That was fantastic but... what? :P[COMP: 8/6] CRAYONS!
MOAR SCIENCE!
Look around for a tiny, tiny shred of wax on the ground around me. If this spell does what I immediately assumed it does, and trades off effect for cost reduction, I might have summoned an TEENY TINY bit of wax, MAYBE shaped like a crayon :P
ALso:
"3d 72 -a"
MOAR CRAYONS!
Hmm, for more barrier testing, try and find a hollow scrap metal tube, or bit of discarded newspaper I can roll into a tube, and insert one end of said tube into the barrier. Do the runes appear on the inside of the tube? If not I may have a way to sneak in without tripping any arcane alarms (provided they ignore random garbage being inserted and removed over and over).
Regardless of if that works, look around for a light vehicle, something with an enclosed cabin/drivers seat/cockpit, preferably operational but not necessarily. I has a plan.
(I presume my earlier attempts to find a manhole nearby were for naught?)
You get a purplish-pink crayon. It isn't violently murdering you, abnormally heavy, abnormally light, giving you dominion over wax, or anything like that. It seems to be, for all intents and purposes, a perfectly mundane crayon. Which is to say that there is obviously something very, very wrong with it, you just need to figure out what.
You can't find any other wax here however, no matter how hard you look.
We forgot about that bit about manholes last turn, sorry about that. But no, you didn't even need to search for any, you know that all the maintenance areas, located within the ridges of the helix itself (which is to say within the literal floor) are accessed via maintenance access point. Access points that, thanks to this little war of yours, are no longer accessible and have been sealed off, which may or may not involve flooding them with cement or some other such substance.
The runes still appear on the inside although no alarms are going off or spiked tentacles appearing to do unspeakable things to you so... positive outcome? You turn around and are presented with dozens of options of cars parked carelessly where immortal magical jackasses can steal them.
Caladlebolg + '12 ixc'. Finish them off. Then continue following Beirus.[UTAR vs. MDEF: 4 vs 1, 1, 1] Caladlebolg swings targeting the recovering masks, targets close enough to only need one roll
[COMP: 8/8] Spell
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 5 vs 9, 5 ] Spell attack on the ascending masks, targets close enough to only need one roll
You swing Caladlebolg a few times, corrosion spilling forth and overwhelming the still-regenerating malestroms, weathering their masks to naught. With the momentum of the last swing, spin upon your heel and unleash your necrotic barrage upon the two ascending masks. They all manage to avoid damage by locking their debris fields together and slowing them down to the point of forming a barrier, one which your inky black-green missiles rapidly rusts and ruins.
They're unharmed, but they'll need some time to regrow their debris fields. Seeing as the three blocking your path are just piles of rubble now, you gesture for O'Greenahan to disengage and let him rush past you, while you follow along, covering his back against the four remaining foes.
Stay out of the way of Hawk's attack. Keep shooting if I need to. Keep going.[UTAR vs. SDEF: 4 vs 1] Opening fire on a mask
[SDEF vs. LTAR: 1 vs -1, 1, 1] Not being brutally murdered; nowhere to dodge
((Considering how badly they rolled, they might as well just commit seppuku, seriously, what the hell?))
The three maelstroms on your side rushes forth, storms of debris and shrapnel descending upon you. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. Seems that, you're going to have to meet this head-on. Tendril-like protrusions erupt, the nearest one sweeping to take your head; you catch it with the side of your bound weapon, and time stops.
With each swing, each trigger pull, time stops. It's, slow, methodical, almost relaxing even. You fall into a certain rhythm, a cross step here to get into a better position, angle the rifle to redirect an attack there, a quick twirl to keep the shrapnel out of what little flesh remains, and another burst-fire to keep them on their (figurative) toes. Hard to tell how much subjective time passes, an hour? Maybe more? Doesn't feel that long, but combat hardly ever does.
In real time, the clash lasts only a few seconds. Your twirling, spinning rifle clashing over and over against their onslaught, punctuated with roaring discharges and quick steps that, again and again, barely escaping injury. A violent cacophony. You leap over sweeping tendrils, and deflect shrapnel with impossibly well-aimed shots, a dancing figure amidst a storm of death.
A gap. An opening. You slam your rifle against another incoming blade-like limb and dismiss it, resummoning it in your other hand, the barrel pressed against one of the masks, right against the rune. All four barrels empty at once, blowing it apart. Expertly guiding the recoil, you use it to slam the butt or your rifle backwards, parrying a blow aimed for your throat, combining the force of the incoming strike with a quick backstep to disengage now that the Ladlemonger has finished off his lot.
You both continue higher through the tower until you stop, remembering the elevators from the first building. The tower up here is scorched all around and you can see the faint flicker of electrical discharges hiding behind light globes and near the bare, exposed rebar.
Post by: Empiricist on September 09, 2016, 04:34:36 am
| < | Turn 43 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7143453#msg7143453) | | | Turn 44 | | | Turn 45 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7199890#msg7199890) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on September 09, 2016, 04:36:17 am
Post by: AoshimaMichio on September 09, 2016, 05:38:02 am
While I can still see the tentacle monster I try some magic: 22 5c ulez
Post by: TheBiggerFish on September 09, 2016, 06:24:46 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on September 09, 2016, 08:20:56 am
James investigates the slightly less lethal thing. How does he move to it without legs? He flies by flapping his arms very quickly. That's a thing he can do because 22 MDEF and aerogel transformation.
Post by: blazing glory on September 09, 2016, 11:13:31 am
Ryles fires a shot from his vacuum down the corridors while frantically going through his magics.
06 COMP 3, 0e COMP 3, 0f COMP 2.
Post by: The Ensorceler on September 10, 2016, 02:44:09 am
Post by: Empiricist on September 10, 2016, 02:47:03 am
Post by: Bigf00t on September 12, 2016, 02:31:37 am
Purplish-Pink Crayon: Conjured by magic. Your mother must be so proud of you right now.YES.
YES SHE IS.
THANK YOU FOR NOTICING. :P
Well, try drawing on something with the crayon, I dunno, a circle on the pavement? Toss the crayon in the air?
DO SOME SCIENNNCE! : "0e"
Anyway, back to Grand Theft Auto, brought to you by an immortal magical jackass!
"Hey Decon, ready for some old-school mischief?"
Take a look around for a medium/fast car, not too damaged (or negligibly so) with a sturdy, well protected cockpit/cabin. Helps if the rest is sturdy too. Nothing fancy enough to have security mechanisms that'll lock me in or something tho.
If keys for cars still exist in this universe take a look in the usual places for the millennia denoted 2000, in/under seats, glovebox, sunvisor.
If no keys found, or keys don't exist, summon up my MULTITOOL and see about getting this thing started without setting off every alarm in a 3 block radius.
If I can get in/get it started, alarm or not, DRIVE THAT THING RIGHT AT WHERE MY OLD PAL VENTURED FORTH!!!
MAXIMUM EFFORT!
(Take it carefully until I cross the boundary, or if something starts to happen FULL SPEED. Park this thing right next to the hole and run up to the squire, or seeing as my comrade is... in trouble... perhaps a little further back :P)
((PS Sorry for the large turn hahah, wasn't sure how much I could accomplish, so I decided to just put everything here and you guys can stop me when I need to give input/when I've done too much))
Post by: Empiricist on September 12, 2016, 07:47:43 pm
All you'll need to do in either case is pick a role and a faction and we'll give a selection of starting scenarios to choose from based on those selections.))
Post by: Beirus on September 12, 2016, 08:27:20 pm
See if I can find a loose, throwable piece of metal this isn't hiding a lightning spider and isn't in their jumping range. Basically, if it ain't close to me, I don't want to go get it and possibly get zapped/combust. If I do find such a piece of debris, toss it by one of the sparking fixtures the spiders hide in to see if it will make them jump to the metal piece and ground them there. Aim for a fixture away from me so the spiders can't jump to the metal in mid-flight and then to me. Wait until Ladlemonger tries the magnets first, though.
Post by: Hawk132 on September 13, 2016, 08:01:46 am
'1f ixc' at any lighting spiders and any places where they're hiding.
Post by: The Ensorceler on September 13, 2016, 07:59:31 pm
Spoiler: Charsheet (click to show/hide)
Post by: Corsair on September 28, 2016, 12:58:25 am
Post by: Empiricist on September 28, 2016, 01:33:40 am
Post by: Bigf00t on September 29, 2016, 08:11:46 am
((Bloody hell, our schedule's really slipping, isn't it?))Hey, it wouldn't be a Perplexicon game without an unexpected and sudden hiatus :P
I'm just happy to know a turn is coming haha
Post by: Empiricist on October 03, 2016, 12:49:26 am
"Man, is this an overkill contest I accidentally joined in?" Ao wheezes."Seems like we have a few party crashers, don't think whatshisface will be too happy"
While I can still see the tentacle monster I try some magic: 22 5c ulez
[COMP: 4] Spell
Fizzle.
Your chair continues sailing and reverse-defenestrates you into an apartment. A quiet hiss informs you that foam is now being pumped into the remaining thrusters, can't have volatile tubes of propellants left as such after all. It's a messy single bedroom unit with a kitchenette, sparsely furnished and ultimately quite drab and boring, the kind that people buy for the sole sake of renting out to university students or having a convenient place to cheat on their spouse.
"Alright then... I don't think I'm going to loot or zombify this thing any time soon, so... adventure!"Like a moderately, extremely stupid looking bird you flap, stumble, and curse your way outside. Honestly less like a bird more like a dying confused fish, which really isn't helped by the fact that however little you weigh, you still have weapons, knick-knacks, and that helmet weighing you down, but screw the rules you're a magical aerogel man.
James investigates the slightly less lethal thing. How does he move to it without legs? He flies by flapping his arms very quickly. That's a thing he can do because 22 MDEF and aerogel transformation.
You make your way out and around the corner to be greeted by a sight that sends chills down your theoretically existent spine. Deadhand, and not just ordinary soldiers or drones, Witch Knights.
Supposedly the most deadly combat insertion force ever created by man, they are all heavily armored in plate carved with runes that glow with unearthly light. One wields a long golden stave which ends in a candelabra of crystal, above it a shimmering blue sphere that crackles with energy while in their offhand they have a sword bound with snaking trails of runes and script. Three have shields and bearded axes, while the final two have spears and shining blued metal nets.
They turn to face you as soon as you round the corner.
"Contact! SE Relative!"
The voice comes out modulated, inhuman.
Well, their reputation may be fearsome, but they look like they aren't equipped to deal with you at any rate, they look better off trying to mug a dragon. One of the shield-bearers pulls out a combat knife, one that glistens with a hazy, almost indistinct aura.
[TRAN: 13/2] Resistance
"Identify yourself."
Cold, commanding. A shame their posture doesn't match, not when you shrug off the effects. You feel like you ought to have felt fear then, they seem to as well, and for a moment, their masks slip. Most of them take a step back. A few of them tremble, ever so slightly, but you notice it of course. And all of the clutch their weapons just that little bit more tightly.
"Fire! I need fire! Light!"[COMP: 3] Spell #1
Ryles fires a shot from his vacuum down the corridors while frantically going through his magics.
06 COMP 3, 0e COMP 3, 0f COMP 2.
[COMP: 0] Spell #2
[COMP: 3/3] Spell #3
You cast and then feel excruciating pain as part of your skin on your right arm transforms into a horrific red mist that effectively liquefies your hand into mince in seconds and begins work on the rest of your arm and, by extension, you. The next spell makes it awfully hard to breath, and your gasps come out all high-pitched and weird, you can't seem to get the suffocating gas out of your lungs, or perhaps, it's being generated your your lungs. Your third spell summon a glinting metallic lump that lands, relatively lightly on the ground. That's, one out of the three at least, and unfortunately, it isn't much reason to celebrate seeing as the rainbow you discharged ignites the gas, which, rather violently detonates your lungs. Your transformation reverts. With your lungs blown apart, and both arms lost, shock quickly sets in, perhaps rather mercifully, seeing as the last thing you remember is your body continuing to liquefy.
You awaken in a dark apartment, someone has been here very, very, recently. Someone's gone through through the scribbled papers on the desk, and rifled through the drawers. Also, there's the clearly evil sword on the ground next to a corpse that's been reduced to coal, that's a pretty dead giveaway.
Code: (TZINACAN) [Select]
This exit point is near enough to the objective. Your mission still stands.
Your comrade revived here and has been sent back into the fray.
Be careful, the Agents of the Crown were summoned by your erroneous hand, and seek to oppose you.
Well, try drawing on something with the crayon, I dunno, a circle on the pavement? Toss the crayon in the air?You continue making your mother hypothetically proud by drawing a circle in the pavement in crayon. Good for you. Well, you've established that it's a decent crayon, not one of those cheap budget ones that require you to practically scrub with it, and that it seems to be pretty mundane in all except origin. You toss it upwards, an underarm throw.
DO SOME SCIENNNCE! : "0e"
Anyway, back to Grand Theft Auto, brought to you by an immortal magical jackass!
"Hey Decon, ready for some old-school mischief?"
Take a look around for a medium/fast car, not too damaged (or negligibly so) with a sturdy, well protected cockpit/cabin. Helps if the rest is sturdy too. Nothing fancy enough to have security mechanisms that'll lock me in or something tho.
If keys for cars still exist in this universe take a look in the usual places for the millennia denoted 2000, in/under seats, glovebox, sunvisor.
If no keys found, or keys don't exist, summon up my MULTITOOL and see about getting this thing started without setting off every alarm in a 3 block radius.
If I can get in/get it started, alarm or not, DRIVE THAT THING RIGHT AT WHERE MY OLD PAL VENTURED FORTH!!!
MAXIMUM EFFORT!
(Take it carefully until I cross the boundary, or if something starts to happen FULL SPEED. Park this thing right next to the hole and run up to the squire, or seeing as my comrade is... in trouble... perhaps a little further back :P)
[4] ? ? ?
You hear a sharp crackle, and feel the faintest rush of air against your face. The crayon, is gone. Or rather, it's smashed somewhere upon the ceiling of this floor, having been propelled hard enough to break the damn sound barrier.
[COMP: 8/2] Spell
The spell goes off, but you don't notice anything at first, that is, until you try to comment on it, quickly finding that your voice has become incredibly high pitched. The effect wears off quickly enough though.
You find a decently sturdy sedan and mash open the driver-side window. A shrill shriek announces that the alarm has gone off, that, was basically unavoidable, no-one on this street was foolish enough to leave their windows open or their doors unlocked unfortunately. This car's owner however, was indeed foolish enough to leave their keys in the sunvisor
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
It seems that you are too late. Your ally has perished, magical mishap I'm afraid.
What are the chances.
He's been resurrected in the same exit point as you, and is still assigned to this mission.
((Cutting you action off at here in case Blazing's death has changed it. If not, then just say so, we'll do a mini-update that continues it according to plan.))
"Shit. I fucking hate lightning spiders. Ladlemonger, you know any magic to fling some metal past them, maybe ground them to it? Or maybe to make a magnet that might disrupt them?"
See if I can find a loose, throwable piece of metal this isn't hiding a lightning spider and isn't in their jumping range. Basically, if it ain't close to me, I don't want to go get it and possibly get zapped/combust. If I do find such a piece of debris, toss it by one of the sparking fixtures the spiders hide in to see if it will make them jump to the metal piece and ground them there. Aim for a fixture away from me so the spiders can't jump to the metal in mid-flight and then to me. Wait until Ladlemonger tries the magnets first, though.
"I can do magnets."[COMP: 10/6] Whitmore's Spell
'1f ixc' at any lighting spiders and any places where they're hiding.
A spray of silvery metal erupts forth from just in front of the Ladlemonger, it isn't exactly easy to aim, but enough of it heads in the right direction. Both of you almost immediately have to avert your eyes and cover your ears as with a continuous, deafening roar, the spiders erupt forth, spindly limbs of blinding light arcing towards the whole of you, the image almost burning into your retinas. Eventually, after far too long a time, it ceases. The light, the sound. Seems that they've given up. The metal continues to spark, even more angrily than before, but now, the arcs crackle backwards, back into the metal, apparently restrained, if not trapped.
The wall explodes and the two of you find yourselves staring off against three more of those ice rocs. It'd probably be more of an imposing sight if they had any more ranged attack or any means to actually dodge while inside the tower.
-snip-((Here are your starting options, pick one. We'll give a more proper introduction in a mini-update.))
Spoiler: Starting Option #1 (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Starting Option #2 (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Starting Option #3 (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Starting Option #4 (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on October 03, 2016, 12:49:44 am
| < | Turn 44 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7168571#msg7168571) | | | Turn 45 | | | Turn 46 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7205963#msg7205963) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: blazing glory on October 03, 2016, 02:00:15 am
((I'll sort out an action in a new post later.))
Post by: The Ensorceler on October 03, 2016, 02:13:09 am
Post by: Empiricist on October 03, 2016, 02:25:20 am
Post by: AoshimaMichio on October 03, 2016, 12:11:52 pm
Does this ejection seat have anything for communications? I may want to tell my latest boss I'm gonna be late.
Look for pens or other writing implements.
Science: 70 90
Post by: FallacyofUrist on October 03, 2016, 06:19:07 pm
If hostilities are initiated, James throws himself straight up in the air by striking the ground with one of his hands, hopefully dodging any attacks. While in the air, he then conjures his bound axe and tosses it at Stave Guy's head. If hostilities are not initiated... conversation, methinks.
Post by: Bigf00t on October 06, 2016, 06:30:29 am
((Well, that was particularly violent, maybe I'll be able to make something of those spells at a later point.))((Hey man, let me know if you want to join my game of Grand Theft Magical Auto :P))
((I'll sort out an action in a new post later.))
Post by: Corsair on October 07, 2016, 03:36:31 am
I'll take option #2A pale blur. An explosion. The blast grazing, but enough to spell doom. Damage indicators flare across your screen as the view spirals into glossy pavement and goes black. In crimson letters, SIGNAL LOSS burns across your vision.
You recline in your seat, it's comfortable, but not too comfortable, and one of the only parts of the cockpit that cannot be swapped out - apparently they were worried pilots would just stuff into a miniature couch and fall asleep or something. That, and concerns that tampering with the stim-injector currently pressed gently against your thigh, would result in a rather nasty case of air-embolism.
You look over your screen, augmenting your view is is a window cycling through the remaining Units 01 and 04 along with your own camera feeds to the upper left, to the lower left is your squad map, now noticeably mission the Unit 02 icon, over on the right side is the frame status and blow it, the ECM data window. By the looks of it, the core's reactive armor's back at 100%, and whatever minor scratches were dealt to the left arm, are precisely that. It was, fortunate, in some respect that you were hit in the core, the reactive armor doesn't extend too far into to the limbs.
They tried to, boy did they try, but the system simply doesn't like moving parts that much. See, located in your frame is a scavenged Dead Hand artifacts, that, when rigged and doctored together with a few additions the engineers cooked up, produces a steady stream of molasses that is then pumped through channels in the armor. Now, if something, were to strike this with enough force, then molasses violently sprays forth in seemingly larger quantities than there should be, dampening the impact. It's pretty lethal against infantry, and while it doesn't pack enough punch to menace frames that much, it's hell to remove, especially if it catches them in the cameras.
The trick of course, is to make sure that the frame's own movements don't set it off, and that it still gets pumped back into place quickly enough, which ironically enough, due to the near unavoidable leakages, often makes the system itself pretty irritating to maintain, which is compounded by the fact that while it does recharge, the plating the channels are carved into will be degraded and damaged with each impact, meaning that it becomes less effective over time. The fact that the source is located in the rear, and therefore takes more time to resupply frontal plates, doesn't make it any better.
Still, magical armor's magical armor, Unit 02 didn't have that, expendable autos usually don't have much, and right now, you're probably cursing the poor camera and comms quality. Skipping back through the occasionally pixellated and jumpy footage, you scour for clues on the nature of your assailants and their attacks, something to justify sacrificing this pawn.
You find it shortly after impact, as the autoframe was toppling out of the air, a few nice frames that manage to capture another missile and its launcher. Well, it's, probably, a missile at least. It looks close enough to one, or at least like it had a few in its family tree. Still, you're not entirely sure what it's supposed to be, it looks like someone tacked oversized avian wings to the bastard lovechild of a horse and cruise missile. At any rate, just based on the appearance and explosion radius, it's designed to take out something decidedly larger and slower than a frame, especially not a PUPPET.
In the corner of the frames, you can just make out what fired it. It's just shorter than your frame, though far slimmer, proportioned more like a person or a pillar, its form smoothly flowing down and outwards as if clad in a formal dress. It seems to glide across the ground and any real limbs, with sleeve like protrusions sliding down, fused to the "dress". The head is humanoid, with a featureless mask-like face and writhing tendrils extending from the head. It seems that its entire head has rotated backwards, another missiles emerging from the much narrower "neck" amidst a flash of sanguine light. Judging by 02's recorded maneuvers, there were several of them.
It appears, that you are fighting a small squad of pez dispensers. Overgrown, armored pez dispensers that, rather than dispensing sweets, dispense homicidal horse missiles.
You'd probably be thinking this is all rather strange if you haven't just spent the last five minutes trying to avert your eyes from the comrade who called you up for this gig enthusiastically rubbing himself against a large, blue-tinted metal box in a way that makes you feel rather uncomfortable while the hallucinatory lady who gave you magical powers texted an explanation of how it's the physical manifestation of a Fall-corrupted janitorial AI directly to your brain.
Okay, let's take a step back and summarize the situation shall we? Clear our thoughts a bit?
- You were contacted by a comrade to transport the large mysterious box of unknown purpose. You took four transport PUPPET autoframes with you, as your LANDSKNECHT's reactive armor renders it incapable of transporting infantry, not without the risk of sugary friendly-fire at any rate.
- You found a terminal in your frame, and activating it, hallucinated a figure who calls herself MALEBRANCHE. She gave you magic.
- En route, you came under attack from missile strikes. You lost Unit 03.
- MALEBRANCHE identified the box, and seemingly repaired it. Apparently, scrubbing it against something, or scrubbing against it causes it to erase "rubbish" from reality. Turns out it classifies certain explosions and shrapnel as rubbish.
- You sent Unit 02 out on a suicide mission to scout out the culprits.
So, what are you fighting? Well, they're certainly not fellow System League units, they're too weird to be NEE, not the same kind of weird shit as the weirder Vestige stuff, and too big to be Loremaster or Dead Hand. So that rules out... literally everyone unless-
Code: (MALEBRANCHE) [Select]
targets id'd as from a pre-fall unit on flr2
must've drifted here
Well, that doesn't bode too well.
Right now, you'll need at least one of the PUPPETs to transport the soldier, and it's probably best that it, or the other carry the box. You fight better than them anyway seeing as your frame's head uni has absurdly good cameras capable of seeing the entire electromagnetic spectrum, in addition to pin-pointing electronics and living organisms through walls from great distances, whilst your ECM can disrupt all other electronics in a vaguely directed area for brief moments, which you can only presume would be effective against missiles. Well, it can go indefinitely, but it causes everything to go kooky and wrong, or so you've been told.
Your FCS is, well, it can lock onto and track a limitless number of targets without any noticeable performance loss, targets that can be as small as people or as fast as missiles, but it also occasionally prioritizes allies or pieces of furniture located beyond your visual range, so it's a bit of a mixed bag, still better overall than most.
There's just one slight problem, your weapon, is shit. The 19-MUSKETEER/SR is like a sniper rifle, but without the sniping, and it traded all its ammo capacity for being able to function as an oversized shiv. There's a reason why it's almost exclusively used by expendable autoframes after all. So yeah, the fact that this is your primary and only armament basically means you'll have to shoot a frame, shank them with your rifle, and pray that they were carrying a better weapon. Lovely.
Your frame and the other two remaining autos are currently inside the warehouse the AI box was found in.
((The LANDSKNECHT frames aren't all this powerful we swear! It's just that whenever Corsair rolls for one, the dice skip over all the weak and shitty combinations and instead decide to hand out animu deathmachines like it's Oprah or something.))
"Yeah... "The ejector seat indeed comes with a radio set, and now that it's no longer part of the frame, the mechanical interlocks should be disengaged, allowing the former pilot to take it with them if need-be. You find a selection of ballpoint pens in one of those mesh pen cups.
Does this ejection seat have anything for communications? I may want to tell my latest boss I'm gonna be late.
Look for pens or other writing implements.
Science: 70 90
[COMP: 10/4] Spell
[COMP: 16/4] Synchronization
A metal cowry, the size of a basketball, manifests before you. Its shell is formed of solid silver, with swaing protrusions closer to tendrils of native silver than actual papillae. The body is semi-molten despite being at room temperature, or at least close enough to it that the carpet isn't burning or anything. It slowly glides around you, apparently tame.
"Hello there mates! I'm just an aerogel torso mechanic hero guy. Care to tell me if you have any beef with me? Maybe why you're here?""To investigate this facility and capture the unknown units responsible. You must be the, contact, they spoke of."
If hostilities are initiated, James throws himself straight up in the air by striking the ground with one of his hands, hopefully dodging any attacks. While in the air, he then conjures his bound axe and tosses it at Stave Guy's head. If hostilities are not initiated... conversation, methinks.
Same cold drawl, just a lot less intimidating give the slight stutter.
"Can you still fight?"
Post by: Empiricist on October 07, 2016, 03:36:44 am
| < | Turn 45 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7199890#msg7199890) | | | Turn 46 | | | Turn 47 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7280098#msg7280098) | > |
Spoiler: Shaporia (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Dbuhos (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Pencil_Art (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Toaster (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Blazing Glory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Beirus on October 07, 2016, 04:08:25 am
Get Jus to tell us how close we are to the target. If he doesn't know or the results are vague, use Equipment Check directed above us to try and pinpoint the anomaly artifact. On the off chance it is only a floor or two above us, use a Plasma blast on the ceiling to burn through to the floor(s), then haul ass upwards with the Ladlemonger. Otherwise, let Ladlemonger attack the birds first. If it weakens them enough to provide openings, blast then with my Bound weapon and Alcyone. If they aren't too damaged, then blast them with plasma. Regardless of the results, haul ass along the safe path with Ladlemonger, dodging when necessary, but not into the spiders.
Post by: Empiricist on October 07, 2016, 04:32:35 am
There is now a clear though convoluted path past them (well, path further up, not the elevator). Though those birds are faster than you, so they'll still be able to attack.))
Post by: Beirus on October 07, 2016, 04:47:14 am
((That, in spite of my usual verbosity was meant to be more of a mini-update than a full turn :P((If we attacked the birds before running, would we attack first?))
There is now a clear though convoluted path past them (well, path further up, not the elevator). Though those birds are faster than you, so they'll still be able to attack.))
Post by: Empiricist on October 07, 2016, 04:51:03 am
Post by: Beirus on October 07, 2016, 04:54:46 am
Post by: Hawk132 on October 07, 2016, 05:16:57 am
Post by: Empiricist on October 07, 2016, 05:19:38 am
Post by: Beirus on October 07, 2016, 05:49:44 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on October 07, 2016, 08:27:15 am
Readiness to dodge continues. And so does the conversation.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on October 07, 2016, 11:59:25 am
Take the radioset out and contact my latest boss.
"Ah, hello there. I may have problems with fulfilling your request to observe what you wanted me to observe because my LATRANS got just shredded into pieces. I mean, what kind of idiot built that Alcubierre Drive? It somehow had its particle scoop disabled. Who the fuck does that? And then it got unstabilized AND IT DIDN'T SHUT DOWN! There are rules regarding this shit, and they are for reason! Find the idiot who ignored safety regulations and fire him. Now then, do you still need me to go watch places for you?"
Carefully touch my new pet to confirm its temperature.
Then draw 22 on my 09AIAR and try focus whatever magic power I have into it.
Post by: The Ensorceler on October 07, 2016, 09:47:14 pm
PUPPET-04 should switch to more appropriate evasive patterns, prioritizing raw speed and wide dodges over the twitchy stuff that would leave it in a missile's blast radius. Let it lead, flying overhead so it can shoot down their throats. Use the ECM as/slightly before missiles are fired by watching their internals on sensors, but keep it aimed at the pez dispensers so I don't hit -04. Run in towards their group and make use of my size advantage to pick one up, shoot its head off, and beat up on the others with it. If any fire after the initial batch, try to use my new friend as a shield.
((What is an FCS, by the way, some kind of targeting computer?))
Post by: Empiricist on October 07, 2016, 10:16:25 pm
Post by: blazing glory on October 10, 2016, 05:17:13 am
Post by: Bigf00t on October 14, 2016, 08:35:54 am
((I'll...have to drop out, I think, recently I've had more things to deal with, along with a failing motivation to stay present, I've felt very bewildered and out-of-touch as well, due to joining so late, so..ciao.))((Well, it was fun to have a brief science sesh and failed infiltration with you! I hope you had fun :D ))
If the job is still on, do the last plan, drive this thing at max speed across the courtyard/parking lot/whatever right into a door or window of the main building, if the sniper on the roof has time to notice do some back-and-forth weaving to interrupt their aim. Remember to attach my seatbelt before attempting, providing new fancy futurecars don't use them to secure unruly thieves that is.
Once I have broken in, run at full speed in whatever direction looks like it might house archives (it was underground wasn't it? if Decon wants to point me in the right direction, all the better)
Have my gun ready and be mindful of pressure sensitive floors, physical and laser tripwires, especially at the base of doors.
Post by: Corsair on November 30, 2016, 06:31:45 am
Get Jus to tell us how close we are to the target. If he doesn't know or the results are vague, use Equipment Check directed above us to try and pinpoint the anomaly artifact. On the off chance it is only a floor or two above us, use a Plasma blast on the ceiling to burn through to the floor(s), then haul ass upwards with the Ladlemonger. Otherwise, let Ladlemonger attack the birds first. If it weakens them enough to provide openings, blast then with my Bound weapon and Alcyone. If they aren't too damaged, then blast them with plasma. Regardless of the results, haul ass along the safe path with Ladlemonger, dodging when necessary, but not into the spiders.Yes jumping into lightning spiders is bad. You shouldn't do that. You end up having to use Equipment Check to pin-point it.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Two floors above you is an armored "generator". It is powering this entire storm and everything in it, save for that dragon.
It's cheating. It has "gaps" in it, and instead of proper components, it has twisted space filled with some kind of "it just works" magic.
Its output is only at 20% of its maximum, and require further infrastructure to raise it. And by infrastructure, I mean bodies. Its security units are going to try and kill you, harvest your body, and use it to get a better foothold.
It will most likely succeed.
I am detecting a semi-autonomous security unit in the chamber with it. It isn't quite a piece of hardware so I can't fully analyze it, but what I'm picking up says a lot.
It is significantly more powerful that the units you two have faced so far and has similarities to those "spotters" you have been fighting, but is far more sophisticated.
Reality is distorting in its wake, the entre unit is displaying some behaviors related to gateway weapons.
I'm also picking up highly secure two-way communications equipment integrated into it.
Right now, what we need is combat data.
So what we'll need you to do is break in there, and try to survive for as long as possible, and keep your eyes on your enemies.
We'll be taking notes.
As if to drive the point, a brief apparition of Jus appears before you, sitting in an arm chair with a pen and notebook readied, an antique pipe sticking out of his helmet.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
We shall, of course, make sure that you are both properly compensated for your sacrifices, in addition to the usual resource allocation for your work here.
We'd do it now, but, it is capable of tracing some of these effects and using them to empower itself further.
I have located a possible exit point in the kitchen of your base, so we can resurrect you there for your steak. Otherwise, we now have enough influence here to insert you elsewhere with proper gear and no questions asked.
That includes the other sides here.
I am also picking up a piles of gear in the floors above. Likely gathered from people killed in this anomaly.
On the next floor are multiple Vestige 09AIARs, eleven Vestige 07AIARs with holographic sights, and assorted System League gear, the more interesting ones being the combat drugs and grenades.
The 07AIAR is a bullpup assault rifle with a 30-round magazine. It doesn't fire as fast as an 09' and is marginally less reliable, but is much more accurate and customizable.
In the generator chamber, there are three more 09AIARs, six more 07AIARs, a damaged but still functional 01-PUPPET/AF missing its armaments, a FOMALHAUT-LS-SEPS, a FOMALHAUT-GS-METROID, and an ARCTURUS-CK-TYRFING.
SEPS is a Dead Hand longsword that can unleashes crescent projectiles of a highly caustic acid-like substance.
METROID is a Dead Hand greatsword that can cause necrotic explosions of similar nature to your comrade's spell. It can steal its victims life-force to heal its user.
TYRFING is a Dead Hand combat knife. It needs to be wound up in between the use of its magic. When active, it displays disproportionate power but has a one-in-six chance of destroying itself and its wielder with each use.
As for getting up there, while it is only two floor above you, "jumping higher than most platformer protagonists" isn't actually one of your powers, so if you did burn a hole, you wouldn't really be able to jump through it. We'll just say that you take the long way up.
Follow after Beirus. If we stop to attack the rocs - '12 ixc' and Caladlebolg blast.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Bad news, we're going to need you to die for us again. Good thing you've had practice earlier.
The target is two floors above. The defenses will likely kill you. Stay alive for as long as possible. We need the data.
Good news is, we've managed to get some more influence here. Instead of resurrecting you in a warehouse somewhere, we can also have you pop up with military resources and contacts, no questions asked. Not just the NEE either,
if you want to see how the other half lives.
[COMP: 10/8] Whitmore's Spell
[TRAN: 1] Derp Roc's Spell
[TRAN: 3] Roc #2's Spell
[TRAN: 10] Roc #3's Spell
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 8 vs. 6] Ladle and Spell Attacks on the Rocs
[TRAN: 7] Derp Roc's Resist
[TRAN: 8] Roc #2's Resist
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 5 vs. 6, 8] O'Greenahan opens fire on the Rocs
[LTAR vs. SDEF: AUTOSUCCESS] Plasma Gout
Beirus pauses and nods to you. Caladlebolg materializes in your hand, as you begin to swing, your spell manifests, and time stops.
A circle appears in front of the of trailing roc, and pale lines scatter outwards, shifting with your own trajectories as to intercept them. Well, that's new; but it takes a little more than just novelty to stop you. You adjust the trajectories, and soon enough find a firing solution that doesn't get intercepted.
Somewhere, elsewhere, in the nameless void, four cries are heard. And so, the embers of genesis answer, burning their terrible power into the world. Four flames ignite. One fizzles. One implodes. Two survive. They roar into existence.
Oily glops precipitate before you and hurl themselves forwards. Simultaneously, a great crystal of ice appears before the roc in the back, as soon as it appears, it shatters, the great shards, each the length of your arm, exploding towards you in a shotgun-like spray. Meanwhile one of the leading rocs is rocked by an icy explosion that does little save for jamming similar such shards into its own body.
You leap the side, and pivot towards the center, O'Greenahan mirroring your movements from behind, both weapons drawn.
Shards whizz past you, they're awfully easy to dodge when not aimed at you. Your attacks on the other hand, fly straight through the barrage, striking the front two rocs in their wings. Twin discharges erupt from them, each shaped like a hand, bending back, reaching back into themselves.
One of them fizzles. The roc veers and scrapes along the wall, its wing corroded by the bolts and ripple.
The other, the one belonging to the roc that had already harmed itself in its misfire, succeeds. It discharges, and it crashes to the ground, dead.
The hole in your chest closes, sealing itself shut, along with what other minor cuts and scrapes you sustained on the way in here.
The third roc soars up and accelerates, taking the place of its fallen comrade, greeted by the roar of an AIAR, and the whisper of an ALCYONE, bullets spraying towards both remaining birds. None of them land. The rocs shift their weight, bringing their crescent claws forwards and slashing forth, octarine arcs detonating each and every round.
O'Greenahan however, was already lunging towards them by then, an edgeless blade in his hands. And from it, explodes a radiant blue, and a terrible roar, eclipsing both the arcane discharges, and the battle still raging on outside. He directs it at the healthier of the two foes, and lazily sweeps it to catch the other.
There isn't much left of either. Their front halves having been half-vaporized, half-detonated.
Now with no pressing threats bearing down, the two of you continue upwards. You find yourselves in the penultimate floor. Uniforms, syringes, and grenades lie in one pile. Assault rifles lie in another. The ceiling, and really, everything to do with chamber above is heavily armored. Up the stairs is the entrance to said chamber, and what Jus assures you is your probable door, it is blocked by a heavy blast door.
They're making it awfully tedious to attend your own execution.
"Yes, if not at full strength. I don't suppose you could get me some new legs of some kind? Maybe make some new ones out of the giant monster I smashed?""...Y-you killed it?"
Readiness to dodge continues. And so does the conversation.
Four of them lower their weapons. All of them take a few steps back. Some more than others. They're staring at you, looking at you as if you're a monster. Well, that's one way to go about it, after all, the distinction between hero and monster can be awfully blurred at times.
"Repairing, uh, not really, legs are complicated, could tape some flattened boxes to your arms so you flap about better I guess(?)"
Another one speaks up, and gets slapped on the helmet for their trouble.
"That is dumb and you should feel dumb. Look, gel guy, we don't have that much support right now, but when we clear this place, we can try and order some prosthetics or something and clear this place in the meantime."
"You sure about that? He doesn't look like he should be fighting."
You hear the click of radio.
"Yes I know I'm saying this out loud, do you want to tell the horrible glass person, no offense, that we don't trust him enough to talk out loud?"
Click.
"No? You're sure?"
Click.
"Want to share that with the class, or...?"
"Okay, okay fine! And er... s-sorry pleasedon'thurtme."
The clicking person meets your gaze, if only to avert theirs as soon as humanly possible.
"Now that that's out of the way, listen up: we're in a bit of a hurry here - bad news bears showing up if we dilly-dally, so let's get in there and get this over with, we can talk while we're on the move. Now, can you still fight, or am I going to need to carry you?"
"Aww, I made a pet. I'll name you Princess Pink!"After a few seconds, you hear a strangled sigh that is best described as "the low growl of an enraged, deflating balloon" followed by a period of silence.
Take the radioset out and contact my latest boss.
"Ah, hello there. I may have problems with fulfilling your request to observe what you wanted me to observe because my LATRANS got just shredded into pieces. I mean, what kind of idiot built that Alcubierre Drive? It somehow had its particle scoop disabled. Who the fuck does that? And then it got unstabilized AND IT DIDN'T SHUT DOWN! There are rules regarding this shit, and they are for reason! Find the idiot who ignored safety regulations and fire him. Now then, do you still need me to go watch places for you?"
Carefully touch my new pet to confirm its temperature.
Then draw 22 on my 09AIAR and try focus whatever magic power I have into it.
"There is a bus inbound. The skeleton driving it will give you your gear and orders. Do not ask about the bodies. Just, go."
He hangs up. Or rather stops talking. It'd probably be a lot more impressive if it was a phone rather than a radio.
Hesitantly edging your hand closer to your pet, you find that it is cool to touch, and you aren't dying from super spacemagic poisoning or anything either. It makes a whistling noise in response to your touch and naming of it. As for your attempts at using magic, nothing happens, you just wrote a number on your weapon.
"BZZT! WRONG! Use a conductive loop for that or all you get is some silly scribbles on your death-spitting-murder-stick. Seriously has nobody studied 6th dimensional quantum fluid dynamics in the last millennia?"
Comrade and the box can both stay with PUPPET-01, which should stay out of the fight. -04 can come with me to deal with the pez dispensers.You figure around with the command interface for a bit, setting -04's behaviour profiles. It's a pretty simple system, each profile corresponds to a set of general movement patterns and targeting orders. Just a press of a button and the PUPPET can drastically change its behaviour, great for adapting on the fly. Or, for selecting the wrong one and sending all your autoframes hurtling crotch first into enemy fire. That too. Worrying at first yes, but you generally find your own little way to deal with it.
PUPPET-04 should switch to more appropriate evasive patterns, prioritizing raw speed and wide dodges over the twitchy stuff that would leave it in a missile's blast radius. Let it lead, flying overhead so it can shoot down their throats. Use the ECM as/slightly before missiles are fired by watching their internals on sensors, but keep it aimed at the pez dispensers so I don't hit -04. Run in towards their group and make use of my size advantage to pick one up, shoot its head off, and beat up on the others with it. If any fire after the initial batch, try to use my new friend as a shield.
You set the first profile to be a simple "move to this waypoint, do not fire", that should take it to the warehouse's door, just within the AI's effective radius. The next profile you set covers the wide dodges and fast approach, with an additional override to have it cross over above you - that way you can jam any missiles chasing it.
Really, with only one PUPPET, it's a pretty easy gig all things considered. It only starts getting tricky when you've got multiple, because then you need to account for what happens when one of them gets destroyed. The textbook response of course, is to make use of their triggers to automatically swap profiles. The textbook is wrong.
You do not use triggers.
You never use triggers. Relying on a PUPPET's hardware to read your orders is already hit-and-miss, relying on them to read each other's orders and status, is like trying to get a bunch of drunk college students to communicate with each other solely through pelvic thrusts in the middle of an orgy - it does not end well, and you'd be a fool to expect anything else.
You bark your orders to your comrade, and upload your commands to -04. Then, you march to the very threshold of the warehouse, and wait, -04's thrusters burning idly to keep it upright, levitating over the ground. Two missiles scream in desperate arcs, streaking forth to meet you. Then, they detonate. Twin flashes, and then, nothing. No heat, no sound, no shrapnel, they're just gone, erased mid-explosion.
You push the button, and charge.
[MDEF, SDEF vs. UTAR:5, -1 vs. 9, -4, 8, 5] PUPPET attempts to avoid missiles, Iliana attempts to intercept missiles via ECM
[SDEF vs. UTAR: 5 vs. 6-2, 10-2] Iliana attempts to intercept missiles via ECM (again)
[SDEF vs. UTAR: AUTOSUCCESS] Iliana attempts to intercept missiles via ECM (for the third time)
[COMP: 2] Enemy Spell
[COMP: 5/5] Enemy Spell
[COMP: 4] Enemy Spell
[COMP: 1] Enemy Spell
[LTAR: AUTOSUCCESS] Grab and Ballistic Decapitation
[LTAR: AUTOSUCCESS] Smashing a pez dispenser with another pez dispenser
Code: (MALEBRANCHE) [Select]
eyes on the puppet
More text pops into in your head, as if you're insane, but apparently not insane enough to get the full voice package. Unsure of whether to be flattered or offended by that, you follow its advice, it's yet to fail you after all.
Keeping your frame's head trained on -04, or rather it's general direction you continue rushing forwards, relying on the backup cameras to see where you're actually going. Sure enough, you soon see four missiles streaking towards it, prompting it to swerve drunkenly through the air at speeds that you can't really keep pace with.
Time stops. Your body stops. Your mind continues.
You see it, the future. Or something close to it at least. A ghostly images bloom from a reality on pause, you see where -04 is heading, and how the missiles will follow. You see yourself, you see your frame, from the outside, and more phantasms blossom forth. You see your options, what you can do, and how they can affect the outcome. You focus on the ones involving the ECM unit, which as it turns out, happen to be most of them.
Aiming the ECM's blast cone, you sweep it just behind a still image of -04, taking care to note the necessary timing.
Time resumes, you hit the override. -04 sweeps backwards, screeching through the air as you aim your ECM. It's easier than you thought it'd be. It feels like you've practiced it a thousand times. And maybe, in a way, you have.
The first missile flies straight through the zone and into the ground, the other three however, they, avoid it? That, shouldn't be happening. There's no way they could've detected that, no unless they used where the first one started malfunctioning as a point of reference... but if that were the case, they wouldn't have been able to figure out the exact shape of the affected area, which, judging by how closely they skirted it, you've got reason to believe that they do.
-04 swerves again, accelerating and... crashing straight into a building.
You hear an explosion as the second missile cuts out the frame's feed. The remaining two streak around to meet you.
This time, you know what to expect, which helps, it doesn't help as much as you'd like, but it helps. Half way through the timestop, and you can already tell you won't be getting both. Again, you snare the first, the second one however, crashes straight into your core.
Your backup feeds are replaced with a slew of error messages. Your screen fills with damage warnings. Doesn't matter now. You can see them now, four of them, right up ahead, and all you need to do is close the distance. Close the gap and it's over, close the gap and you can go back. You'll turn in that box, collect your pay, figure out what the hell's happening. All you need to do is keep running.
Their heads bend backwards, and from them erupt more missiles. More missiles that are launched directly into your ECM field; doesn't matter if they can detect it if you're close enough to just hit them before they can take off. They fire again, you put up the field again. You're close now, nearly there, just a few more steps and...
Well, of course they weren't going to make it easy for you. Fire, erupting from the nearest one. Practically an explosion, a massive omnidirectional backdraft, consuming your frame with flame. And then, your reactive armor goes off.
With one hand, you grab the pez dispenser, hoist it up, and impale its head with your rifle before firing. Then, you bring it to bear against its allies.
As you swing your makeshift weapon again and again, reducing both it and your target to twisted masses of scrap, you assess your situation. Your reactive armor is pretty much depleted, you lost most of it thanks to that missile impact, and the rest was lost to the fire, the channels themselves have taken quite the beating as well, so you're not going to be taking as many frontal hits even after they replenish. You've taken a bit more damage to your limbs, shouldn't be affecting performance too much, but the plating's a bit weakened. As for your foes, well, you've basically wrecked two of them, the other two, seem to have ignited themselves in their attempts to pull that same fire attack, and for all their fancy tricks, don't actually have any real way to remove confectionery from their sensors. Okay, the fire will burn it off, eventually, but, that's time neither of them has.
If the job is still on, do the last plan, drive this thing at max speed across the courtyard/parking lot/whatever right into a door or window of the main building, if the sniper on the roof has time to notice do some back-and-forth weaving to interrupt their aim. Remember to attach my seatbelt before attempting, providing new fancy futurecars don't use them to secure unruly thieves that is.Fortunately, while over the years there have been suggestions for mechanisms like that, they were deemed "dangerous and unethical", in part because constricting to the point where you can't slip out is rather dangerous, even more so for the more, enthusiastic "choke a bitch" designs, and in part because encouraging thieves to not wear seatbelts was met with an altogether rather icy reception.
Once I have broken in, run at full speed in whatever direction looks like it might house archives (it was underground wasn't it? if Decon wants to point me in the right direction, all the better)
Have my gun ready and be mindful of pressure sensitive floors, physical and laser tripwires, especially at the base of doors.
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 0 vs. -1] Dodging sniper fire.
You rev your new ride a nice blue sedan and charge the barrier, passing through it with ease... perhaps it does something else? Meanwhile, the sniper turns and starts bombarding you with .50 rounds, blowing chunks out of the carpark and turning several vehicles into expensive art pieces with the anti-material rounds.
While several rounds come close, some missing only because you manage to tilt onto two wheels, you use handbrake turns to rapidly dodge like something out of a Fast and Furious movie, the shots getting noticeably wilder as it presumably dawns on the sniper that whoever, or whatever they are fighting is apparently capable of making a car dodge sniper fire. The comparison continuing to hold as you drift straight into the lobby through a blast of shattered glass, coming to a screeching halt midway through the reception desk.
You can already hear enemies approaching the commotion as you bolt down the fire escape deeper into the complex. As you reach floor -3 there is another line of purple runes and a mirage-like shimmer above them. The tromp of boots echoes behind you.
Post by: Empiricist on November 30, 2016, 06:32:18 am
| < | Turn 46 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7205963#msg7205963) | | | Turn 47 | | | Turn 48 | > |
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on November 30, 2016, 06:35:17 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on November 30, 2016, 10:00:31 am
James Heign:
"Bit of both. Carry me, then when you see something you want really dead, throw me at them."
Yeah. That.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on November 30, 2016, 01:33:14 pm
Try enchanting again if Red can teach anything useful. It was free gun so I may as well do experiments here. See if I can construct magical antenna Red is talking about. 22 is the word for enchanting experiments.
Otherwise do easy magic... hmm, when in doubt c4. And dd. Split COMP evenly for both.
Wait for the bus.
Post by: Hawk132 on November 30, 2016, 08:08:17 pm
Summon myself a new '12 84'. Replace my breastplate with the new one, should I not fail the spell. Start looking through the various syringes and see which ones seem useful. I am going to die again soon, so I probably don't have to worry about overdosing too. If overdosing on those is a thing. Grab a few grenades and bind them together with cloth from the uniforms. Making a few grenade bundles for whatever is waiting for us up there sounds like a good idea. If we got unlimited time to prepare (and thus am able to cast another spell with full COMP) do a '12 d0' and give the result to Beirus, since his sword is now more or less useless (and if I've got time for another full COMP spell, do yet another '12 84' but for Beirus, this time).
Once the Ladlemonger's preparations are complete, he'll turn to Beirus with a grin under his skull mask.
"Ready to die, my friend?"
((Ya forgot to update my status, it looks like.))
Post by: Empiricist on November 30, 2016, 09:54:07 pm
"I know I didn't. What's conductive loop? Please teach me. Teach me many things!""A conductor in a loop you big dummy~! Like some bent wire. Do I need to explain what a conductor is as well~?"
"Jus, when I die, send me over to the Dead Hand. I want to take a look at their gear. And if Dead Hand isn't a possibility, just plop me back to an NEE base."
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
That, I can do. You want minions? Or you want magical artillery? Because those are your choices for that gig.
((Ya forgot to update my status, it looks like.))((Damn it! It's the thing saying you're still being influenced by IV, isn't it? Fixed now.))
Post by: Beirus on November 30, 2016, 10:29:47 pm
Gather supplies, mostly grenades and useful looking combat drugs. Also grab an 09AIAR and an 07AIAR. Grab an extra clip for each out of the other guns.
"Jus, is there any way to hook the plasma blade into the generator to siphon power? Or any way to shut off the generator?"
Post by: The Ensorceler on November 30, 2016, 11:57:43 pm
Recall -01 and use its gun to shoot the last two pez guys. If they haven't fought back effectively, take the time to shoot one only in the top half and the other only in the bottom half.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on December 01, 2016, 01:53:50 am
Post by: Hawk132 on December 01, 2016, 07:23:43 am
"Magical artillery sounds fun.""Jus, when I die, send me over to the Dead Hand. I want to take a look at their gear. And if Dead Hand isn't a possibility, just plop me back to an NEE base."Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]That, I can do. You want minions? Or you want magical artillery? Because those are your choices for that gig.
((My wounds have been healed as well. Good to know necromantic magic can regenerate damage. Though I still wonder if I getting my semi-undead body was thanks to being the Ladlemonger or Necrotic Armor.))((Ya forgot to update my status, it looks like.))((Damn it! It's the thing saying you're still being influenced by IV, isn't it? Fixed now.))
The hole in your chest closes, sealing itself shut, along with what other minor cuts and scrapes you sustained on the way in here.
Post by: Empiricist on December 01, 2016, 07:29:03 am
Post by: Corsair on December 02, 2016, 06:05:22 am
"There's orchestra conductor and electrical conductor. First swings their arms wildly pretending to do something, latter is conduit for electron stream. But what does conductive loop mean in terms of magic? In terms of electricity that only results aircore coil, which can produce magnetic field. Is magic like electricity? If so, then are magic words equivalent of frequency or amplitude? What is conduit then in context of magic? Surely not me because I cannot loop myself around anything. Another material then? A cloth wrapped around the rifle with the word scribbled on?"
"Sort of like electricity~ at least able to be expressed that way. You can think of it like sets of information if that makes you happy. Well you already have looped yourself around, just use your noggin and you will figure out how. Yes use another- no no not cloth, oh what a shame and you were doing so well."
Post by: AoshimaMichio on December 02, 2016, 11:02:14 am
Post by: Corsair on December 02, 2016, 07:50:49 pm
"So permanence of the material and or symbol is the key? Hmm..."
"No but also sort of, the electically conducting loop is so that there is an antenna of sorts. No need for carving either all in the mind."
Post by: Corsair on December 10, 2016, 05:44:02 pm
James Heign:They nod and pick you up. You are now being given a piggyback ride by the stave-wielder, perhaps not the most dignified arrangement for all those involved, but it works well enough thanks to your light weight. As you enter the reception, a few of them stop to collect some shards from the crushed wolves. Soon enough, you all arrive back where the monster's corpse lies.
"Bit of both. Carry me, then when you see something you want really dead, throw me at them."
Yeah. That.
"I-is it dead?"
"Does it look alive?"
"N-no, but I mean, i-is it safe to..."
[TRAN: 12/2] Resistance
One of them draws their knife and, after practising the motion a few times, throw it at the corpse. The world burns octarine once more, this time, at a more comfortable distance, the arcane explosion blasting apart the weapon and deepening the crater in which its epicentre lay.
"It is now."
"Not gonna lie, you saved us a lot of trouble, I wasn't looking forwards to fightin' that thing."
"Heh, that makes two of us."
Your impromptu mount nods to the axe wielders who hesitantly approach, shields out. As they near it, their strides gain confidence and they begin sinking their weapons into its chitinous form, their cleaving blows gaining strength and certainty with each strike.
"There's somethin' we need to cut out of it. Should be the most dangerous thing there in here. Should be."
((Also, we will be ruling that, since you're so lightweight that you don't really hamper the person carrying you, and you're in a position wherein you can still exert some influence over their movement if you try, you can still use MDEF while riding them. If your MDEF roll is higher than theirs (which it will almost always will be), your roll overwrites theirs, allowing you to protect both yourself and them.
Yes, this does mean that you PCs could all gather around and form some kind of horrible aerogel piggyback totem pole that requires enemies to beat six MDEF rolls to hit, but we're reasonably confident there are enough drawbacks to that such that it doesn't become the new meta or something :P))
"I know I didn't. What's conductive loop? Please teach me. Teach me many things!"[COMP: 2] Enchant, 22
Try enchanting again if Red can teach anything useful. It was free gun so I may as well do experiments here. See if I can construct magical antenna Red is talking about. 22 is the word for enchanting experiments.
Otherwise do easy magic... hmm, when in doubt c4. And dd. Split COMP evenly for both.
Wait for the bus.
[COMP: 2] Spell, c4
[COMP: 2/1] Spell, dd
You repurpose part of a wire coat-hanger into a loop and jam it into your weapon, you fizzle however, as does your following spell. For your second spell, you conjure an image of a pair of vambraces and rerebraces.
The bus arrives eventually, an old electric intercity coach with peeling paint and dirty windows. Sure enough, there's plenty of bodies inside it, they look like they've been pulverised with an obscene amount of force, yet oddly, the interior around them doesn't seem to have any of the impact damage you'd expect. The driver is a uniformed skeleton, it tips its hat as you enter. Waiting for you in one of the seats near the side doors, is an odd, bulky helmet with an elaborate harness that makes it quite hard to shift when fully secured and a sensor array mounted to the front, its interior is dotted with a series of electrodes. Next to it, is a sleek combat shotgun, and thirty scarlet shells for it. A note rests beneath it.
Put on the helmet before you leave. Secure it tight. The shotgun is loaded with six shells. All of those are incendiary. Think of it as a distraction. You'll have to provide your own weapons. Locate and engage the anomalous units. Further instructions will follow.
The bus speeds along all the way down to the newly battle-scarred landscape of Floor 1, dropping you off in a semi-industrial area. There are several large holes blasted into the facility to the east, to the north is another such facility in notably better condition. In the west, lie warehouses, and to the south the residential buildings lie burning.
"Jus, when I die, send me over to the Dead Hand. I want to take a look at their gear. And if Dead Hand isn't a possibility, just plop me back to an NEE base."[COMP: 6/6] Spell, 12 84
Summon myself a new '12 84'. Replace my breastplate with the new one, should I not fail the spell. Start looking through the various syringes and see which ones seem useful. I am going to die again soon, so I probably don't have to worry about overdosing too. If overdosing on those is a thing. Grab a few grenades and bind them together with cloth from the uniforms. Making a few grenade bundles for whatever is waiting for us up there sounds like a good idea. If we got unlimited time to prepare (and thus am able to cast another spell with full COMP) do a '12 d0' and give the result to Beirus, since his sword is now more or less useless (and if I've got time for another full COMP spell, do yet another '12 84' but for Beirus, this time).
Once the Ladlemonger's preparations are complete, he'll turn to Beirus with a grin under his skull mask.
"Ready to die, my friend?"
You conjure another rune-inscribed chest plate of bleached bone and oil-like fluid.
The wind seems to have died down now and you have plenty of time to prepare, almost as if the tower is giving you the time so you can throw your best shot at it. Perhaps 'it' is convinced of victory, or it has some unknown purpose achieved in waiting you cannot guess at. Grenade scavenging produces a single bundle cluster bomb.
As for the syringes, Beirus' Equipment Check manages to pick out the five unused ones. Come to think of it, if these are the only ones that haven't been used, then it could really only mean one of two things - their owners perished before they could use them, or, more concerning, their owners had, given the choice between using them, and death, chose death. All of them are apparently magical, which is to say that the horrible side-effects that may or may not exist aren't constrained by the laws of physics. Lovely.
You take three, one transformation, two enhancements. Beirus takes the remaining two.
[COMP: 9/6] Spell, 12 d0
[COMP: 10/6] Spell, 12 84
You conjure up an obviously evil sword of bone with glowing runes that seem to shift and whisper in the corner of your vision, followed by another chestplate with a slightly sturdier construction to the first one.
Jus gives you your resurrection options.
Spoiler: Option #0 (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Option #1 (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Option #4A (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Option #4B (click to show/hide)
Beirus returns the grin. "Not without a fight."[TRAN: 7/6] Resistance
Gather supplies, mostly grenades and useful looking combat drugs. Also grab an 09AIAR and an 07AIAR. Grab an extra clip for each out of the other guns.
"Jus, is there any way to hook the plasma blade into the generator to siphon power? Or any way to shut off the generator?"
The armour, takes some effort to put on due to the wrench sticking out of chest, you end up have to force it in a bit deeper before you can put it on. As soon as your hand touches the sword, a great green spark, in the shape of a hand, like those that came from the rocs your ally life-drained, arcs from your chest, reaching towards the blade. You pick it up anyway, dragging the energy back into yourself without even the slightest flinch.
You find and retrieve the firearms and associated ammunition for each easily, the combat drugs prove somewhat elusive, requiring Jus' assistance to locate the only discovering two usable syringes. They're both magical in nature, one transforms, the other enhances according to him. You also pick up three grenades.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Considering the generator has been controlling almost everything trying to murder you since entering this storm, I wouldn't recommend it.
Disabling the generator is easy enough, you just need to break it. The problem is that its security system has multiple contingencies and will try and eat you.
"MALEBRANCHE, you said they were pre-Fall. Any idea how they got here? I'd also appreciate knowing what you're supposed to be good at."[UTAR vs. MDEF: 1 vs. -1] '01 opens fire on a Pez Dispenser
Recall -01 and use its gun to shoot the last two pez guys. If they haven't fought back effectively, take the time to shoot one only in the top half and the other only in the bottom half.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 3 vs. -1] '01 opens fire on another Pez Dispenser
For once, the PUPPET works 100% perfectly. It sneaks up, for whatever measure the phrase may be applied to a giant thruster-propelled robot, behind the pair of mechanical monsters, places its STINGER behind each and executes them like a professional assassin.
It is frankly amazing how it managed to not fuck up.
You notice, sheepishly that your MUSKETEER has run out of ammunition (as it only can hold one round in its chamber). Guess it was lucky that the PUPPET worked so well.
Code: (MALEBRANCHE) [Select]
an ai on flr2 made them
old ais are re-activating and gathering, attracted by disturbances
i has magic
i can make stuff work
more powers later, need more sys rsrcs to use
Spoiler: LEVEL UP (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on December 10, 2016, 05:46:14 pm
| < | Turn 47 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7280098#msg7280098) | | | Turn 48 | | | Turn 49 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7304258#msg7304258) | > |
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Hawk132 on December 10, 2016, 08:49:15 pm
Spoiler: An update to the word list. (click to show/hide)
If the boss is giving us time to prepare, let's use it. Make two pairs of '12 dd' for me and Beirus. There probably are better materials to make armor from, but I don't want to risk having the Dark Lord strike me down again for not using Necrotic magic. Probably will add some stuff into this action once the datasheet is up.
Also, I'm torn between option #1 and #4A. I'll roll some dice...
Dice say I'm going to pick #4A.
((If I were to summon a Necrotic Manticore or something, am I the only person who can Synchronize with it or can I summon it and have Beirus attempt to take control over it instead? And out of curiosity, is there an 'Armor Frame' word?))
Post by: FallacyofUrist on December 10, 2016, 09:06:01 pm
James Heign:
"Not a problem. It's what heroes do. Anyways. I'm fairly sure there's something here I need to fix. So... you have any idea where nearby any large broken mechanical thingamajigs might be located?"
While this question is being answered, James activates Memento Mori, trying a function of it different than normal: looking at the paths of the axe users, trying to figure out if cutting into the creature is likely to get them killed.
((I've just now realized just how broken Memento Mori is as an ability. It's basically Path to Victory, limited to death. Find paths related to self's death, avoid them? What I've been doing. Find paths to death of foe, then follow said paths? Find paths of allies' deaths, help them avoid such? Find path to death of barrier/door/whatnot? Perhaps the most powerful tradecraft of them all...))
Post by: AoshimaMichio on December 11, 2016, 03:30:12 am
Next to north! Stay out of sight.
Post by: TheBiggerFish on December 11, 2016, 11:56:09 am
Post by: Hawk132 on December 11, 2016, 12:01:26 pm
How do I waitlist?I don't think we are above the player limit, so just post a sheet. Everything you need is in the OP.
Post by: TheBiggerFish on December 11, 2016, 12:04:22 pm
Spoiler: Oh Sheet (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on December 11, 2016, 04:19:59 pm
((If I were to summon a Necrotic Manticore or something, am I the only person who can Synchronize with it or can I summon it and have Beirus attempt to take control over it instead? And out of curiosity, is there an 'Armor Frame' word?))((Only you will be able to synchronise with it. And no, I don't believe there are any vehicle words.))
Post by: The Ensorceler on December 12, 2016, 03:52:13 am
Spoiler: LEVEL UP (click to show/hide)
Order -01 to fall in behind me, and resume delivering the mystery box. Take the carcasses of the last two pez guys with us; if they're full of pre-Fall tech, I want it. While we travel, try out Work, Damnit! on my reactive armor system to see how good it is at maintenance work, and finally work up the courage to try some magic. "Well, MALEBRANCHE, you gave me magic that you can't even use, so it must be pretty good stuff." Use the magics: "a9" "11"
((If I were to summon the hypothetical Necrotic Manticore, would it telefrag me because of the enclosed space of the cockpit, or is the magic system nicer than that?))
Post by: Empiricist on December 12, 2016, 05:23:51 am
((I meant to take the PUPPET's gun and use it myself. I'll use more careful wording next time.))((Oh, whoops! Sorry about that!
((If I were to summon the hypothetical Necrotic Manticore, would it telefrag me because of the enclosed space of the cockpit, or is the magic system nicer than that?))
As for getting in on the necrotic manticore market, it won't telefrag you. The, I think, only time someone successfully used magic in a frame, the effects occurred outside the cockpit.))
Post by: Hawk132 on December 16, 2016, 04:59:59 pm
Post by: Empiricist on December 16, 2016, 05:13:48 pm
-snip-
Spoiler: Starting Option #1 (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Starting Option #2 (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Starting Option #3 (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Starting Option #4 (click to show/hide)
((Just a micro-update so that Fish can select his options before the next update.))
((I think Beirus is in need of booping.))((On it!))
Post by: Beirus on December 16, 2016, 05:31:16 pm
Working on a plan. On the off chance the anomaly can actually hear us, transmit the plan to Jus mentally and have him relay it to the Ladlemonger. If I can't do that, then tell my plan to the Ladlemonger verbally. Still not sure how to get past those blast doors. Accept gear from Ladlemonger.
Post by: Hawk132 on December 16, 2016, 05:38:14 pm
((The helper being a Necrotic Manticore. Or a Necrotic Gargoyle.))
Post by: TheBiggerFish on December 16, 2016, 05:46:00 pm
Post by: Beirus on December 16, 2016, 06:09:16 pm
Post by: Corsair on December 22, 2016, 10:36:09 pm
If the boss is giving us time to prepare, let's use it. Make two pairs of '12 dd' for me and Beirus. There probably are better materials to make armor from, but I don't want to risk having the Dark Lord strike me down again for not using Necrotic magic. Probably will add some stuff into this action once the datasheet is up.[COMP: 5] Spell, 12 dd
Also, I'm torn between option #1 and #4A. I'll roll some dice...
Dice say I'm going to pick #4A.
[COMP: 10/6] Spell, 12 dd
One set of dark steel arm armour clangs onto the floor the other makes some colourful sparks and nothing else.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
You have quite the affinity for that element.
We will arrange for caches of it for you to load your weapons with.
((Tradecraft Gained: Necrotic Cache))
"Hmm...I think I have a plan coming together. A poor one, but it's better than no plan. We'll have to figure out a way to get past that blast door, but after that we might have a sliver of a chance. If we can get to the generator and disable it, it might weaken or disrupt the security. We should probably use the enhancement drugs as soon as we enter. If we're lucky, they'll make us fast enough to get to the generator before we get eaten. I'm not sure how armored the generator is, but we could probably use the grenades or cluster bomb to blow it up. Or at least use them to disrupt the security if they're like the spotters, since the Alcyone shots managed to disrupt the spotters. And if all else fails, we can use those transformation syringes and go down fighting. We'll need to keep an eye on the security like Jus wanted, if only to have a better chance at staying alive, and we'll need to stay mobile. Run along the walls, on the ceiling, whatever keeps you moving and harder to hit. I assume we're as good as dead if the security touches us, so it's kind of like a highly lethal game of tag football. Sound good to you, Ladlemonger?"Mental transmission isn't a thing, if it were, you'd probably be getting spam and a/s/l requests from other agents. No information on who gets the one arm armor so it just sits on the floor waiting for someone to put it on.
Working on a plan. On the off chance the anomaly can actually hear us, transmit the plan to Jus mentally and have him relay it to the Ladlemonger. If I can't do that, then tell my plan to the Ladlemonger verbally. Still not sure how to get past those blast doors. Accept gear from Ladlemonger.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
We've got another ability for you.
Won't do much to save your hide here unfortunately, but I'm sure you'll find uses for it later.
((Tradecraft Gained: Support Override))
James Heign:The paths slowly redden as they move deeper into the facility, but there's no heightened risk near the creature. Obviously whatever power was causing it to act like a touchy magic claymore has gone away. Which is good, the less magic claymores the better.
"Not a problem. It's what heroes do. Anyways. I'm fairly sure there's something here I need to fix. So... you have any idea where nearby any large broken mechanical thingamajigs might be located?"
While this question is being answered, James activates Memento Mori, trying a function of it different than normal: looking at the paths of the axe users, trying to figure out if cutting into the creature is likely to get them killed.
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
You've slaughtered your way here, through the tenacious, through the ruinous.
You've cheated your doom, and struck terror in those who are feared.
Good. Good.
We have a new trick for you.
It is only fitting that a hero may strike in a flash, and vanish in a pinch, no?
((Tradecraft Gained: Cetaphile's Waltz))
22 dd. Let's suit up, helmet and techno vambraces. Soon I'll be a techno paladin.[COMP: 10/4] Spell, 22 dd
Next to north! Stay out of sight.
You conjure a pair of arm braces made of a fine grey cloth with strategically placed hard plastic like plates. They go on easily like
fabric sleeves rather than like inflexible armor, you see several connectors at the ends that obviously would link up with a chest plate.
You approach the warehouse walking along the desolate streets occasionally marked by rubble, the factory to the north turns out to be a large distillery owned by Lonestar Brew, a beer company that is one of the many subsidiaries of Startech, one of the members of the Vestige Consortium. It appears to have been locked up but the lights are still on inside, perhaps there is somebody home?
"Also you've been surprisingly useful so now I can dedicate more energy to doing things for you without the others getting shirty with me... anyway now I can tell you their strengths and weaknesses more in-depth than the "this is the brain/heart/vulnerable-reproductive-organ, hit here." thing I've been doing previously."
((Tradecraft Gained: Bio Scan II))
2![TRAN: 6/4] Resist.
You stagger left and where you were but a moment ago, the scarlet hews.
Your name, is Therebus Ennis. Therebus Ennis, Frame Pilot. Therebus Ennis, peer to corpses. For that, is what surrounds you.
Close in they said. Hit them, hit them fast, hit hard, before they scatter. That's what they said as you made your charge. Slay the dragons, blast the area. Well they're dead now. All of them. The dragons and everyone else.
Smoke. They were made from smoke. The dragons that is. Turns out smoke doesn't make for good dragons. Oh sure they looked all big and scary, but that's it. Know what's really scary? The shit hiding behind them. The shit that tore their way through just to get at you lot. The curtains are open now, but they were closed for a reason. The genie's out of the bottle, out of bottles, and as turns out, an angry drunk. An angry drunk with a boner for murder, and hung like a horse, the whole damn horse, hooves and all.
You were having a nice day. That nice girl from senior administration building seven agreed to a date tomorrow at the mess tents. Nobody tried to junk your machine while you where on the john and you're pretty sure no one would dare try either. There was a nice easy battle earlier as Dead Hand threw some golems at you as a half-hearted attack which you defeated with equal effort.
And now?
Around you, frames lie broken and scattered.
Some were torn asunder, rent apart by sword and scythe. Others had simply been blasted apart from spellfire. The larger ones? The titans of war? They move no longer. Their armor may have endured, but their pilots did not. Before you, is the cause - a field of flesh, forged of black metal, great fangs and stingers rise like spires from corrugated conduits, grooves feeding into things resembling the mouths of lampreys. It shifts and bristles, the skin of something monstrous, something too large to fathom, something wrong, oh so wrong.
Wronger than it ought to be, and it already ought to be pretty damn wrong. Transcendence, that's what saved you. What it is, you don't know. But it's why you're still alive, or so SCHRODINGBUG tells you, and so far, you've yet to find reason to doubt her.
Anyway that's the least of your concerns right now. One of the more pressing ones, is currently pressing towards you. Jet black and emaciated, with ravenous maws gaping open beneath gaps in its ribbed chitin, it tightly grasps the now-unsheathed katana. You know, now that you put it that way, it doesn't sound too bad. But no, it's pretty bad. You've seen its brethren, they've hacked through frames with those blades.
Hmm... Could pull the trigger now. That's a nice thought. Just pull and trigger and turn it to salt. Hell, if you hold it and sweep, you could start clearing out that damn Giger-esque field as well. Let it all become salt, the fuck do you care? If only it were that simple.
There's another squad of them, spread out - they're learning. These are a different flavor so to speak, the bastard children of clockwork soldiers and woodchippers, blackened gears bearing claws for teeth. The oversized turnkeys in their backs are brass, the only shred of color they have. Some wield autoscythes, polearms with shifting arcane blades. Dangerous if they get close. But they won't. Not if you're doing your job right. No, it's the others, the ones with the smartcannons, with the beams and sprays and mortar shells.
It's the legs, the damn legs. PUPPET legs. They were never designed to hold your frame, only reason you're still up are the thrusters, but those? Those require energy to work, and if you're holding down the trigger, you'll be out of it soon enough. No energy means no movement, not unless you crawl, but the arms do not obey you, they're chained up anyway. And you want to move, because if you don't, they'll tear you apart, just like the rest. Could spin around, could sweep at them, they'll get a chance to dodge though, not ideal, and then, even then, there's more.
Above you. Out of range, a black winged beast, circling like a vulture. It can hit you from there. Not your frame, you, the pilot, the one inside the cockpit. You've seen its work, lightning arcing out of thin air. You gotta keep moving, not unless you wanna get fried.
Retreat? Must you retreat?
Maybe, maybe. Reinforcements should be coming, allies from below. The heroic. The quixotic. The brave. The foolish. They shall arrive shortly. You could regroup, help get some allies out as well, wait for the other guys to show up. Or the artillery. That too. Not a good look, blasting your own camp from orbit, but, what choice do they have?
Maybe. Or maybe... you could stay, dance between the blades and bullets, and clear this blight. Can you? You don't know. Hallucinatory spacemagic wasn't covered in basic training, funny that. Still, you're either fighting your way out, or fighting right here... who knows? Maybe they'll give you a medal for it. Well, not you, your casket. Close enough at least. You could even attend the funeral when you get back, just say that you got out, that somehow, you survived all that, it's not like there'll be anything left for them to identify. Then you could, aww hell, get a book deal out of it or something? Fuck. What are are you to do?
You stop time, and think.
You are sitting in your chair, it's comfortable, but not too comfortable, with various pockmarks and scratches adorning it. A kill tally is etched in the left side, they stopped bothering at 37. Opposite it, someone scratched a single reference: Genesis 19:26.
Your tactical map, located on the bottom left-hand of the screen is semi-transparnet. It shows your position, the positions of the frames that were destroyed, and the positions of the frames that were effectively destroyed - the ones that just didn't know it yet. The highlighted zone is the target area, now roughly corresponding to the field of magic fuckery. More icons lurk around the sides, arrows pointing at them - nearby units, pilots and soldiers fortunate enough to have not followed the charge. The rest of the screen extends across the entire width of the cockpit front and some ways up and down as well. Between you and it, but low enough not to obstruct your view, are your controls, marked with a few odd stains. One of them from the last pilot.
Apparently, they clawed out their own throat.
Soon. You need to decide soon, before time resumes. Guess you really can't think forever, not even in a world without time.
"Good things to know. Terrifying, but good to know."After loading up the corpses you continue on slowly trudging through the abandoned streets you occasionally see movement in the buildings as the only signs that the colony has anyone still living here, otherwise the main features are just rubble of varying color and size. You meet up with your comrade soon enough and carefully pick up the black monolith he has discovered, seems that people used to really have a thing for those. Suddenly a bleep goes off and a scarlet icon blinks into the corner of your vision. An urgent army-wide message. Seeing as there aren't any pressing issue right now, you open it.
Order -01 to fall in behind me, and resume delivering the mystery box. Take the carcasses of the last two pez guys with us; if they're full of pre-Fall tech, I want it. While we travel, try out Work, Damnit! on my reactive armor system to see how good it is at maintenance work, and finally work up the courage to try some magic. "Well, MALEBRANCHE, you gave me magic that you can't even use, so it must be pretty good stuff." Use the magics: "a9" "11"
The Surface is under attack. Return to Floor 5 instead.
You see your comrade talking on the radio, they continue for a while before cursing under their breath. They address you with a nod, their countenance grim.
"It's Dead Hand. 'parently they made a push earlier, guess they were just softening us up for the main event."
You head up the central elevator shaft to the surface the fastest way back with cargo in general and given the fact that someone is trying to blow the shit out of your camp, which contains all your stuff. You move quickly, letting the soldier scramble up -01's leg until he sits semi-comfortably on the AF's transport compartment while you drag the two dead monsters back, leaving the autoframe to carry the monolith.
As the two of begin moving back to base, you call on MALEBRANCHE to fix your frame.
Code: (MALEBRANCHE) [Select]
done
The damage indicators aren't going away, not by themselves at any rate, but your armor seems to be refilling back to maximum capacity, even though the channels should be too damaged for that anymore.[COMP: 4/2] Spell, a9
[COMP: 9/1/] Spell, 11
The first spell conjures a large number of springs, gears, and other clockwork parts arranged into various incomplete mechanisms, each sized for a frame. They clatter to the floor. The second creates a similarly large work of weird abstract art made of colored glass that shatters after it meets the pavement.
Your comrade makes no comment. It's odd yes, but lots of things are odd, and plenty of people have such things, no need to start accusing anyone of witchcraft it seems.
Eventually you arrive back at the outskirts of Floor 5, the conflict above failing to sully the mood too much. Frames rest in portable storage bays, or just crouch down wherever there's enough space, soldiers meandering around them and in and out of various buildings, buildings that are noticeably missing their doors. Some of them are pushing carts and trolleys of loot. You see frames gesturing broadly adding a bit of flair to their pilot's sales pitches. A few glances come your way, but nothing comes out of them though as -01 delivers your comrade and their haul onto a waiting truck before returning to its own bay for someone else to hire.
"Thanks! I really owe you one for that. Say, do you need a weapon? I could probably arrange for a rifle or something, it's not much, but it's better than a MUSKETEER or being empty-handed. Unless you wanna attach those things to your frame...?"
Your engineer, Laura radios in.
"I see you've made a fine profit today, anything I can do you right now?"
Post by: Empiricist on December 22, 2016, 10:37:03 pm
| < | Turn 48 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7291127#msg7291127) | | | Turn 49 | | | Turn 50 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7317078#msg7317078) | > |
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: TheBiggerFish (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on December 22, 2016, 10:39:50 pm
Post by: TheBiggerFish on December 22, 2016, 11:48:14 pm
Post by: Empiricist on December 23, 2016, 12:13:07 am
Can I...Go vertical and shoot their air support with it? And, I mean, take a wide enough path it'll have trouble shooting me. This is a feasibility thing, not a 'do this' thing.((Unfortunately not, while the legs are designed for flight, they're designed for flight in a very light frame with thrusters all over its body, not, well, the Frankenstein's monster you are piloting. So even if you pump all your energy into flying, you're probably going to go off to the side or something.))
Post by: TheBiggerFish on December 23, 2016, 12:40:00 am
Well, let's jet and pulse fire I suppose. Like, kind of like a tackle, but an assalt. Random-walky stuff. Avoid getting into the thick of it, unless I already am, in which case, random-walky out of the immediate thick.
Post by: Hawk132 on December 23, 2016, 02:01:52 pm
batteries for plasma swords((It's like you're trying to give me a hint.))
"This new ability is going to be extremely useful, Jus."
The arm armor will go to Beirus, unless he doesn't want it. Use Necrotic Cache - a battery for the SOL:18I and... perhaps try to enhance the grenade bundle with it. If I can't enhance the 'nades, how about Caladlebolg? If not, just summon a clip for whatever Beirus wants.
"Shall we go?"
The Ladlemonger is ready to ineffectually fight the boss. If we do head to the boss this turn, use Eq. Check once we have it in sight.
Post by: FallacyofUrist on December 23, 2016, 03:43:20 pm
"Thanks, reaper man! Also, I reiterate:"
"I'm fairly sure there's something here I need to fix. So... you have any idea where nearby any large broken mechanical thingamajigs might be located?"
Post by: The Ensorceler on December 23, 2016, 04:01:41 pm
Once Laura contacts me, head back to our garage. On the way, give her a rundown of the situation,"Yeah, I've got a pair of drones you'll want to take a look at. Pre-Fall tech, but brand new, made by an AI. Good missiles on 'em, and they've got some kind of fire magic. Dunno what else they've got, but they danced a missile right around my ECM field, somehow. I don't want their creepy AI brains anywhere near my frame, though; if those are intact, we sell 'em to Intel, contribute a bit to the war effort. My frame took a hit in the fight, but I want these two stripped down before you worry about repairs."
After I've delivered my catch, tell Laura to have fun and get out of the frame to try some more magic. Cast "27", "31", "4a", and "66".
Post by: Empiricist on December 23, 2016, 05:53:56 pm
((It's like you're trying to give me a hint.))((I'm afraid not. The sword and the ladle were just the most relevant examples that came to mind :P))
"I'm fairly sure there's something here I need to fix. So... you have any idea where nearby any large broken mechanical thingamajigs might be located?"((Damn it! We missed that. Our apologies, I'll try and get a reply very soon to that so that waiting for an answer doesn't take a whole turn.))
Post by: Corsair on December 24, 2016, 10:54:13 pm
James Heign:
"Thanks, reaper man! Also, I reiterate:""I'm fairly sure there's something here I need to fix. So... you have any idea where nearby any large broken mechanical thingamajigs might be located?"
"We just got here, tracking some signatures, so no maps either, sorry. Maybe somewhere with lots of overhead cables or something? What even needs to be fixed here? I don't think anyone's going to be hanging around this factory to be hampered by broken shit."
Post by: AoshimaMichio on December 25, 2016, 04:54:26 am
Try connecting the arm guards to my chest armor if compatible connectors are found.
c8 & ff, COMP evenly distributed.
Let's find quiet way inside this distillery.
Post by: FallacyofUrist on December 25, 2016, 03:40:41 pm
James Heign:"We just got here, tracking some signatures, so no maps either, sorry. Maybe somewhere with lots of overhead cables or something? What even needs to be fixed here? I don't think anyone's going to be hanging around this factory to be hampered by broken shit."
"Thanks, reaper man! Also, I reiterate:""I'm fairly sure there's something here I need to fix. So... you have any idea where nearby any large broken mechanical thingamajigs might be located?"
James Heign:
"Ah well. I guess I'll hang with you guys for the moment then. I'm fairly sure what I'm looking for is somewhere in this facility anyway."
Onwards ho!
Post by: Beirus on December 25, 2016, 05:09:07 pm
Accept the arm armor. Reload plasma sword. Get an NEE headset from the equipment and call in that artillery strike they promised me to open up that bunker and hopefully clear out some of the security.
"This is Captain Beirus O'Greenahan. I'm in the center of the anomaly, but the top floor of the skyscraper is armored and sealed. I'll need that artillery strike to crack it open like an oyster. And load up at least two more salvos. I don't really know what's on that floor and I've got a dragon outside that wants to eat me, or brainwash me or something if I make it out of here. Called itself IV. Also, did my team make it back? And did I win any of my bets yet?"
Post by: Bigf00t on December 30, 2016, 06:43:48 am
"Time to buy some precious moments"
Look around for some wire, or use my bound multitool thingamabob to rip something out of the side of the fire escape that I can make a loop out of.
Jam it into the (underneath) bottom of the fire-escape stairs and channel "9" into it. Cut and bend it up to cover the way down and rip out the antenna.
IF there is somewhere to hide definitely do so, with my gun at the ready and wait and see, otherwise just find a position where I can't easily be shot by anyone who wants to come down the stairs if I failed.
What do my surroundings look like in more detail? Any detritus I might be able to use? Alternate paths or just forward/down just one more floor? Is the rune line heading into L-3 or heading down the escape to L-4 (if there is a L-4 at all)
Ideally I'd like a thin(ish) wall on either side of the rune lined corridor that I might be able to tear down with some transformative magic, or my bound tool. Maybe I can simply bypass this one.
(To Decon)
"Well, this looks like one of the building or OH&S violations to me. Think it's an alarm that brings something nasty, or something in and of itself a danger?"
Post by: Empiricist on December 30, 2016, 04:47:48 pm
Post by: Corsair on January 05, 2017, 09:33:02 pm
To my comrade,"That'd be awfully helpful. I don't particularly care, as long as it isn't another MUSKETEER, but maybe a shotgun? Don't worry about ammo, I'm happy to get rid of the MUSKETEER to cover it.""No problem it would be the least I could do, thanks for the help!"
Once Laura contacts me, head back to our garage. On the way, give her a rundown of the situation,"Yeah, I've got a pair of drones you'll want to take a look at. Pre-Fall tech, but brand new, made by an AI. Good missiles on 'em, and they've got some kind of fire magic. Dunno what else they've got, but they danced a missile right around my ECM field, somehow. I don't want their creepy AI brains anywhere near my frame, though; if those are intact, we sell 'em to Intel, contribute a bit to the war effort. My frame took a hit in the fight, but I want these two stripped down before you worry about repairs."
After I've delivered my catch, tell Laura to have fun and get out of the frame to try some more magic. Cast "27", "31", "4a", and "66".
He runs inside his tent gleefully having pulled quite a magnificent haul.
You head over to your 'garage' although it is more of a tent next to a frame support scaffold, which is the large collection of concrete blocks and cranes to allow service to all parts of the frame with ease. Laura steps out of the tent looking gleefully at the chrome skinned drones, hair barely contained underneath a yellow pillbox hat which is a slightly, but noticeably different yellow to her coveralls.
"Oooh... pretty! I'm going to have some fun with these then I'll bang out all the problems in your ol' bucked of a bot."
She quickly gets to work viciously slicing through joints with a circular saw with a somewhat worrying amount of gleeful enthusiasm.
You get out of your frame through the hatch and hop onto one of the gantries of the frame scaffold using a metal bucket on one of the cranes to get down to the ground. Free of your un-air-conditioned metal box you begin practicing magic.
[COMP: 4] Spell, 27
[COMP: 2/1] Spell, 31
[COMP: 1/1] Spell, 4a
[COMP: 2/1] Spell, 66
Your first spell fizzles. The next conjures the shimmering visage of a cage, the next a goat, the last, a scythe. Well, guess if this whole "saving humanity from ravenous abominations" doesn't work out too hot, you could always become a farmer.
Well, let's jet and pulse fire I suppose. Like, kind of like a tackle, but an assalt. Random-walky stuff. Avoid getting into the thick of it, unless I already am, in which case, random-walky out of the immediate thick.Thrusters flaring, you drunkenly dash in the vague direction of "anywhere but this fucking hellhole". It works decently well.
[LTAR vs. SDEF: AUTOSUCCESS] Opening fire on Clockwork Automaton
Your flash of light catches one of the automata, a clockwork soldier wielding a shifting slick black scythe. In that instant, it becomes salt and scatters in the wind. Its fellows immediately turn on you, for to take one of their comrades is punishable by brutal unflinching murder. Two of them bear smart cannons, which true to their names take the form of hand-held cannons with barrels covered by small shields. The remaining one wields another autoscythe with a blade of flowing vegetal tendrils, its lively green glow sprouting from a floral arrangement of stone. Their formation remains quite loose, enough to make it hard to catch all of them in a single shot.
In addition to the 3 clockworks, there of course the matter of that single larger more brutal looking creature. It grips its sword tightly as it chases you, a haze of heat emanating from its spine-mounted generators.
They're... learning? Their paths are adapting to go where you're heading overall rather than blindly chasing your erratic dashes, and more concerningly, they're darting into your range as you dash, as if they know you can't dash and fire at the same time.
It also doesn't help that the vulture is keeping pace, still frustratingly out of range.
As time halts, you see the four earth-bound constructs make their move. One of them is going to fire a beam, another a series of shots, and then all of them, are going to close the gap. There is also nice little target zones shadowing your simulated movements, aiming to put some kind of delightfully murderous discharge insde your cockpit.
((If you do target any, please do specify which ones and how much of your LTAR you wish to assign to each.))
"This new ability is going to be extremely useful, Jus."You conjure up a battery for the SOL:18I which causes the blade to turn a sickly green with black embers flaking off it. Enhancement seems to be out of its purview but it does create two crystal-clear spheres of what appears to be glass that contain a sticky black liquid.
The arm armor will go to Beirus, unless he doesn't want it. Use Necrotic Cache - a battery for the SOL:18I and... perhaps try to enhance the grenade bundle with it. If I can't enhance the 'nades, how about Caladlebolg? If not, just summon a clip for whatever Beirus wants.
"Shall we go?"
The Ladlemonger is ready to ineffectually fight the boss. If we do head to the boss this turn, use Eq. Check once we have it in sight.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
The battery unit operates different to the standard SOL:18I blade. Even deploying the blade
will gradually drain the battery. The blade in question is entropic in nature, like the corrosion waves
of your Caladlebolg and will degrade non-magical materials, and reduce flesh to petroleum.
Instead of a plasma gout, it may deplete its entire battery to intensify its blade and, for a brief moment
render its wielder unable to die (though you will be maimed and harmed as normal). It will then attempt
to heal you by altering you into a necrotic entity using the remaining power and, hopefully, your now
deceased foe's life-force. The more charge you use it with, the "safer" it is.
The spheres are for your grenade bundle. Adding them to it will imbue the explosions with intense
entropic qualities and harvest the life force of anything killed by it to heal you. Again by altering
you and filling in your wounds.
Activity spike detected.
The security system has manifested.
I am detecting anomalies surrounding those weapons and corresponding
anomalies around the creation site. Imagine a big angry cloud.
Now imagine a big angry cloud making copies of weapons so it can shoot you
and eat you.
That's probably what it looks like.
You move to the door into the final chamber, it slides open creaking with the sound of rusted bearings. Behind it is a stairway that leads up for several laborious flights littered once again with corpses frozen in ice. The top of the stairs opens straight into the middle of a flat rooftop, well once flat. The rooftop is covered in ice and drifts of snow in the ice are dozens of different weapons all facing point or muzzle outward. At the edge of the area is a large mound with part of a PUPPET protruding from it. At 500 meters in all directions is a massive whirling orb of ice and black thunder clouds. Directly above you is a large glowing sphere connected by various heavy duty cables to 8 massive monoliths of concrete, likely this is the power source being all glowy and such. The monoliths are oddly shaped with large oblong pieces cut out or added to their 'core' rectangular shape looking quite postmodern. Oddly there is nobody else here, other than the water watchers that leer at you as usual.
James Heign:You follow the squad as they head inward past the mulched corpse of the crab monster you head into the labyrinthine corridors of machines and storage that make up the main floor. Before going far you are quickly confronted with the bodies of NEE soldiers, comrades of the ones from earlier maybe? They have been butchered to pieces, now more resembling a tomato soup than chunky salsa to make a food comparison. Their equipment has been, shattered. their guns have just been completely pulverized with seemingly supernatural force.
"Ah well. I guess I'll hang with you guys for the moment then. I'm fairly sure what I'm looking for is somewhere in this facility anyway."
Onwards ho!
Your allies glance at them. One or two nod, but no words are spoken.
You see cracks in the floor from some sort of impact and long scratch marks gouged into the concrete leading away and around the corner.
"Gimme just a sec. I may have a way to bust into that floor." Beirus replies as he scrounges through the gathered equipment for something.Considering the door just opened and there wasn't anyone in there I'll assume you decide not to blow your entry and likely selves to kingdom come. Your usual operator replies;
Accept the arm armor. Reload plasma sword. Get an NEE headset from the equipment and call in that artillery strike they promised me to open up that bunker and hopefully clear out some of the security.
"This is Captain Beirus O'Greenahan. I'm in the center of the anomaly, but the top floor of the skyscraper is armored and sealed. I'll need that artillery strike to crack it open like an oyster. And load up at least two more salvos. I don't really know what's on that floor and I've got a dragon outside that wants to eat me, or brainwash me or something if I make it out of here. Called itself IV. Also, did my team make it back? And did I win any of my bets yet?"
"Understood we have a LUPUS Ranger in support fully loaded and ready to assist. Dragon? Well that is a new way we are fucked..." she pauses and sighs. "Shouldn't expect any less really, your team is drying off in the barracks now, you are currently up in the pool by 521 credits if you survive whatever you are doing you will get 1344 credits and the steak dinner I promised you. So please try and make it back alive. Firing on coordinates now."
[UTAR vs. SDEF: AUTOFAILURE] Artillery Strike
Time stops and your vision zooms out, viewing the wind wall and all its surroundings from the outside. A series of lines arc out towards the tower from an origin somewhere in the distance. As you shift the lines, you soon find that there's no way you can get the shot to land. The wind's too damn strong. Strong enough to strip away unprotected flesh. To buffet APCs. And, as you find now, to send your shots off-course. There's no really adjusting for it either, the projected behavior alters in accordance to your own adjustments, not unlike what enemies do, ensuring that the shells never find your mark.
Time resumes, and before the first round leaves the barrel, you already know they will fail to reach their target.
"Time to buy some precious moments"
Look around for some wire, or use my bound multitool thingamabob to rip something out of the side of the fire escape that I can make a loop out of.
Jam it into the (underneath) bottom of the fire-escape stairs and channel "9" into it. Cut and bend it up to cover the way down and rip out the antenna.
IF there is somewhere to hide definitely do so, with my gun at the ready and wait and see, otherwise just find a position where I can't easily be shot by anyone who wants to come down the stairs if I failed.
What do my surroundings look like in more detail? Any detritus I might be able to use? Alternate paths or just forward/down just one more floor? Is the rune line heading into L-3 or heading down the escape to L-4 (if there is a L-4 at all)
Ideally I'd like a thin(ish) wall on either side of the rune lined corridor that I might be able to tear down with some transformative magic, or my bound tool. Maybe I can simply bypass this one.
(To Decon)
"Well, this looks like one of the building or OH&S violations to me. Think it's an alarm that brings something nasty, or something in and of itself a danger?"
Once you clarify your word I will post a mini-update to do this correctly
"Really now? My Queenie is very generous. This humble servant gladly accepts your gift."You connect them together and several lights on both activate, glowing a faint blue. You see a faint rippling in the air around your arms and torso now.
Try connecting the arm guards to my chest armor if compatible connectors are found.
c8 & ff, COMP evenly distributed.
Let's find quiet way inside this distillery.
[COMP: 5/0] Spell, c8
[COMP: 9/5] Spell, ff
You create two shimmering images. The first one is a screwdriver. The second one is a shifting humanoid with hazy features and proportions that shift and mutate before it dissipates.
You do after some walking around find an open window into a darkened room, however it is most of the way up a sheer brick wall and while you are more agile than before you still doubt you could wall run 15 meters and then leap into a half open window.
Post by: Empiricist on January 05, 2017, 09:36:51 pm
| < | Turn 49 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7304258#msg7304258) | | | Turn 50 | | | Turn 51 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7333268#msg7333268) | > |
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: TheBiggerFish (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Beirus on January 05, 2017, 10:21:08 pm
Post by: Corsair on January 05, 2017, 11:48:42 pm
((So wait, the weapons are pointed outwards, like away from us, and the glowy sphere is directly above where we exit the stairs? Want to make sure I've got the layout right. Also, those heavy duty cables, are they magic looking, or mundane?))the weapons are in groups pointed outward like the spines on an echidna or hedgehog. The glowy sphere is directly above yes. Other than being industrial heavy duty no not really special looking.
Post by: Beirus on January 05, 2017, 11:55:19 pm
Post by: TheBiggerFish on January 06, 2017, 12:15:41 am
08 a8 sabb, and I don't care about taming it. I just want to point it at the things on the side of me that I haven't just thruster-salt-combo'd at.
The result of this will be animate, right?
Post by: Corsair on January 06, 2017, 02:15:32 am
((So the weapons are in clusters all pointed outwards? Also, can we split LTAR like UTAR?))Basically yes with the clusters being evenly distributed and irregular in shape with a random selection of weapons in each. Yes each split adds an attack instance on other valid targets of your choice.
Post by: Beirus on January 06, 2017, 02:26:21 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on January 06, 2017, 03:00:04 pm
"Hopefully whatever did that was the thing I killed earlier. If it's not... well, that's what you have me for."
Riding continues.
Post by: Corsair on January 06, 2017, 04:17:31 pm
((The cables are valid targets, right? And how high above us is the generator?))Everything is a valid target? I don't quite understand. The generator is a good 200m or so up, so you will need a stepladder or two.
Post by: Bigf00t on January 07, 2017, 09:51:49 am
((PS: Additional question, is it possible to change our bound item? Ask Decon if I need an in-game prompt to learn this))
Post by: The Ensorceler on January 07, 2017, 04:34:41 pm
((Can I get a mini-update so I can pick out my mission and kit up this turn?))
Post by: Corsair on January 09, 2017, 12:04:47 am
Look for a mission, find a store or something, and remember if I was supposed to get paid for helping retrieve that artifact thing.
((Can I get a mini-update so I can pick out my mission and kit up this turn?))
Currently the virtual mission board just has "defend camps", apparently the looted corpses from the most recent battle are less corpses than previously thought or something equally stupid. You swear the recruits get stupider each year. There are as many stores as soldiers in the SL in fact many non combat support personnel run stores too, everything is trade based so any money will be useless. As for payment the noticed promised that Captain Manley and his syndicate would be able to give you something.
((Oh bugger, sorry "99" don't know why one 9 got truncated. Thanks for clarifying!))
((PS: Additional question, is it possible to change our bound item? Ask Decon if I need an in-game prompt to learn this))
You can but only once.
((Oh geez sorry again for my tardiness, mon dieu I am pretty damn bad at punctual turn submission (and many other things)))
"Time to buy some precious moments"
Look around for some wire, or use my bound multitool thingamabob to rip something out of the side of the fire escape that I can make a loop out of.
Jam it into the (underneath) bottom of the fire-escape stairs and channel "9" into it. Cut and bend it up to cover the way down and rip out the antenna.
IF there is somewhere to hide definitely do so, with my gun at the ready and wait and see, otherwise just find a position where I can't easily be shot by anyone who wants to come down the stairs if I failed.
What do my surroundings look like in more detail? Any detritus I might be able to use? Alternate paths or just forward/down just one more floor? Is the rune line heading into L-3 or heading down the escape to L-4 (if there is a L-4 at all)
Ideally I'd like a thin(ish) wall on either side of the rune lined corridor that I might be able to tear down with some transformative magic, or my bound tool. Maybe I can simply bypass this one.
(To Decon)
"Well, this looks like one of the building or OH&S violations to me. Think it's an alarm that brings something nasty, or something in and of itself a danger?"
You quickly run down the stairs and smash a light fixture ripping out the wiring and looping it around before casting your word into the stairs.
[COMP: 9/1]
The stairs shift turning into a plush version of themselves that sags alarmingly before you jump backwards onto the concrete. After ripping the cloth off the concrete you begin rolling it back towards yourself making a wall of misshapen multicoloured cloth. You rip out the antenna and it instantly returns to immovable concrete blocking the way upward.
Looking down and around the stairs that you bent like wet pasta you see the same line of runes below.
Post by: Empiricist on January 09, 2017, 12:30:02 am
((Also, to be clear, it isn't that big of a deal, since you can just get more than one. Like how Hawk got Caladlebolg.))((PS: Additional question, is it possible to change our bound item? Ask Decon if I need an in-game prompt to learn this))You can but only once.
Post by: Bigf00t on January 09, 2017, 01:35:40 am
((Thanks for the info guys :)) I'll upload my new next turn shortly))((Also, to be clear, it isn't that big of a deal, since you can just get more than one. Like how Hawk got Caladlebolg.))((PS: Additional question, is it possible to change our bound item? Ask Decon if I need an in-game prompt to learn this))You can but only once.
Post by: The Ensorceler on January 09, 2017, 07:48:05 am
Regardless of Malebranche's answer, I'll find Captain Manley and retrieve my reward. After I get it, go back to my 'garage' and practice some magic while I wait for my comrade to return with a gun. Cast 11 4a and gzdz.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on January 09, 2017, 01:54:19 pm
"Anyone in here or around, Red?"
Post by: Bigf00t on January 10, 2017, 12:49:13 am
If anything should attack me, activate my LUCK trade-craft, cast "44 ixc" and open fire with my pistol (or just use the pistol with full LTAR if I'd have to split it across the magic and pistol attacks) If the area/corridor is even slightly large enough use MDEF, only use SDEF if I have no hope to dodge.
((Its at this point I realize how miserable my physical stats are hahaha, oh well, all I need is a little luck :P ))
Post by: wipeout1024 on January 10, 2017, 04:06:18 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Corsair on January 10, 2017, 08:44:35 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
((Ok then so you will join next turn, you can choose any of the civilian equipment options available from the Old OP data here: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6206297#msg6206297, We would change the op but BB code is making the site have a bad time.))
Post by: wipeout1024 on January 10, 2017, 08:59:28 am
Post by: Empiricist on January 11, 2017, 03:22:54 am
Post by: Corsair on January 16, 2017, 05:53:32 am
Post by: Beirus on January 16, 2017, 06:20:23 am
Head on upstairs and use the enhancement syringe. Use my necrotic sword that Hawk gave me to try and cut as many cables as I can, with 1 UTAR allocated to each cable. If my enhancement syringe happens to give me the ability to jump high enough to reach the generator, jump and attack it with my plasma sword in that special attack mode thingy. If things go to shit and I get wounded in a way that significantly affects my ability to kill or not get killed, use the transformation syringe. Dodge attacks targeting me, preferably in a way that they damage the generator, cables, or monoliths if they miss.
Post by: Hawk132 on January 16, 2017, 09:24:38 pm
"I shall see if the sphere can be damaged, then."
Enhancement syringe go! Caladlebolg + 12 ixc on the glowy sphere. Be ready to dodge.
Post by: Corsair on January 21, 2017, 12:19:09 am
Haaaang on a minute. I think I'm going to cast a spell.As you spin around to face them, their fingers pull the trigger. You see the shields split open, each swinging out in four pieces leaving faint shimmers in their wake. You see what lies behind them, the gaping lamprey mouths that they hide. And then, you focus on the words in your mind, you focus until they are all there is, until all else is naught.
08 a8 sabb, and I don't care about taming it. I just want to point it at the things on the side of me that I haven't just thruster-salt-combo'd at.
The result of this will be animate, right?
[COMP: 6/5] Spell, 08 18 sabb
[COMP: 4] Synchronization
[SDEF vs. UTAR: AUTOFAILURE] Clockwork Automaton fires upon Bear
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 2 vs. 1] Clockwork Automaton fires upon Ennis
[MDEF vs. LTAR: 3 vs. 0] Black Vulture magics at Ennis
[MDEF vs. LTAR: 4 vs. 3] Clockwork Automaton slashes at Ennis
[MDEF vs. LTAR: 3 vs. 7] Sanguine Automaton slashes at Ennis
A titanic bear of lead, larger than even your frame crashes into existence to your left, a beam of octarine crashes through its head, and its now-headless corpse continues sailing to your left. Welp, at least you learned that in a frame everything is scaled to fit... and that you should be more careful about attempting to catapult leaden bears at your enemies.
The other constructs move to attack you.
The other cannon fires off several bolts of glowing dust but you pull off a dodge as the space just occupied a few moments ago erupts with electrical discharge. You continue your dodge as the scythe wielder flings itself at you with gutso, and though it manages to get close you manage to swat it away, but as you do the larger monster moves to attack. Its attack is far more savage, like a beast rather than a machine. Its katana sings out as it dodges around your attempts to withdraw to create some room. The blade dances across the surface of your frame, slice into the plates with the power of what appears to be pure weeaboo bullshit. The damage doesn't cripple but several plates have been loosened and you've got some minor damage from where it nicked some of the electronics and hydraulics.
James Heign:"Yeah that would be nice" They seem very unsure with your reassurances.
"Hopefully whatever did that was the thing I killed earlier. If it's not... well, that's what you have me for."
Riding continues.
The group moves forward looking down each aisle with tense anticipation of attack. As you approach the back of the warehouse you hear a sound like someone crashing a car into a wall repeatedly. As soon as the front soldier crosses into the corridor, you see something, something that the others cannot see - a ghostly beam of ripples flicks to target him straight in the head.
Time slows, the soldier moves to a defensive stance then there is a noise from down the corridor. A scratching metallic noise and then, nothingness.
Everything, just seems to turn, off.
You see nothing. You hear nothing. Smell nothing, taste nothing, feel nothing. Not even your own thoughts. For that split second, everything is gone.
And then, the world explodes with light and sound. It's like standing right next to a howitzer as it fire. In fact, that is exactly what it's like. Because there is a sawn-off howitzer there, right in front of you, the smoking barrel mere inches from where the man's head was.
Its head is a sphere of star-filled night, its body is humanoid, though concealed by long white robes, and it floats in a side-on stance, holding the weapon one-handed with metallic tendrils that look awfully like human spines. It lingers for less than a second, and then, it is gone.
Smeared against the wall, his armor and shield having done naught, is its victim.
"Fuck."
"Hey, Malebranche, you wouldn't happen to have any ulterior motives lying around, would you? Because I need something to do and... I dunno, you're magic? Gimme a mission, or something."
Regardless of Malebranche's answer, I'll find Captain Manley and retrieve my reward. After I get it, go back to my 'garage' and practice some magic while I wait for my comrade to return with a gun. Cast 11 4a and gzdz.
Code: (MALEBRANCHE) [Select]
options:
flr4 - ais creating a demons, also anomalous units, also alcubierre drive malfunction
flr3 - major spacial distortion and dragon
fl2 - source of missile frames
flr1 - 100s of unidentified units causing havoc
flr0 - is weird nao
Captain Manley is relatively easy to find with the stream of strange gear going in and out at a mostly constant rate. You register with your swipe card at the receptionist who is setup with several sheaves of paper and a briefcase laptop. She taps at the computer for a moment. Then another, after a few minutes she speaks up.
"Search and retrieval?"
"Yes..." you sigh, having already waited for nearly 20 minutes what with the line and the computer being as fast as continental drift.
"Okay got it... Item 225-B is assigned as mission reward. Wait here while I go get that."
The receptionist gets up and enters the large dun colored tent, emerging with a strange object.
It is a roughly kite shaped object made of multiple pieces of dark glossy metal around glowing green internal parts. The 'front' consists of one large central panel and two smaller side parts that possibly... flip out?
There are two large handles on the underside. Perhaps it is some sort of battering ram or shield?
[COMP: 3/2] Spell, 11 41
[TRAN: 7/2] Synchronization
[COMP: 3/2] Spell, gzdl
You summon a goat sculpted of colored glass that seems and flow and pulsate with the brilliant red heart within. You can see, distorted by the reflections and refraction of its body, its vibrant organs and bodily systems. Its body flows almost liquid-like it turns to face you, almost expectantly, as if awaiting orders.
Your fingertips get the feeling of pins and needles.
Quick magic experiment: 0d & 24, 8 COMP for both.[COMP: 10/6] Spell, 0d
"Anyone in here or around, Red?"
[COMP: 8/1] Spell, 24
With your first spell, you summon the image of a strange serpentine creature with the wings and head of a bird and the legs of a lizard. With your second, you get the image of a generic container.
"Well then as you have requested, I will look around for you. There are five people inside, two rather handsome fellows with big muscles... mmm I must say I like the beefy ones. They are Good at CQC and Normal in all other areas. Two are slightly smaller, a man and woman both with good depth perception so Good snipers and Normal elsewhere. Good, but you're better" She pauses for a moment before continuing peering through the wall at something you cannot see. "Well hello sailor, the last one has very high Transcendence, now isn't that enticing? He is also breathing in welder fumes they're obviously doing some metal work in there."
Their positions highlight in your sight, they're all clustered together in the middle of the warehouse.
Mentally brace myself, and prepare my body for combat. Ready my pistol and cross the rune-lineYou cross the rune line and are not instantly murder-raped by a dozen demons from the 16th layer of hell so go you! The rune line is different on this side while it was transparent on the outside inside it is mirrored and unyielding... maybe need to hold back on the celebration.
If anything should attack me, activate my LUCK trade-craft, cast "44 ixc" and open fire with my pistol (or just use the pistol with full LTAR if I'd have to split it across the magic and pistol attacks) If the area/corridor is even slightly large enough use MDEF, only use SDEF if I have no hope to dodge.
-snip-You awaken from a troubled sleep, your apartment is dark and you hear a faint thud from the main room. You live alone and don't have any pets that could to that, so you investigate. On your coffee table is a silver box with a slightly cracked seam. Figuring that a bomb would be a bit overkill and strange considering the ornate nature of the box, you open it. Inside is an odd black tablet which spins with ancient command line style code, at which point it asks for a network connection. You just skip, seems to be online anyway. It stops and the screen cracks as it suddenly shocks you violently sending you unconscious.
You wake up and feel strange words and concepts swimming in your brain. Also you are quite vividly hallucinating, with thousands of complex mathematical calculations spinning around the room. They concern everything from the predictable pattern of dimples in the paint on your walls to the exact formula that describes the shape of the couch.
Then the world shifts. Your consciousness leaves your body and all its senses, but you can still "see" in some way. Make no mistake, this is not vision, this is not sight, but there lacks a word to describe it, and thus, "sight" must suffice.
You see everything around you. You see in incredible detail. But you cannot see even the flimsiest of details.
You see the building blocks of matter themselves, the electrons, the quarks. You see the fundamental forces. You see everything but you see nothing. For in seeing each and every building block, it becomes hard to see what they make. It is easy to see the quarks, but the hadrons? Those are trickier. Trickier still are the nuclei, and then the atoms. Molecules? Those are beyond your grasp.
Your vision lifts upwards and zooms out, everything the same meaningless mess, until... you see something else. Something that should not be there. You see something made not from quarks or leptons, but something else entirely. Something the models never predicted, something unlike anything else, some other form of matter, if it could even be called that. A roiling storm of it, no larger than a small car.
Your vision rises again, and now, once again you see more oddities in motion, you see what appear to be beams streaking through what you can only presume to be the air, some are formed of something like mundane matter but tinged with laws of reality unlike your own, others are again completely alien.
The world shifts again and you find yourself floating in a dark, featureless void, the only source of light come from the five matches before you, each held by a robed skeleton. Their jaws open, and the flames blow out.
You are now back in front of your coffee table and no longer tripping balls. The box is gone, but on the other side of the table is something resembling those monolithic advertising kiosks (http://2.wlimg.com/product_images/bc-full/dir_95/2835663/image-05_p_983112_58376.jpg). From it comes a voice, heavily accented, the words and syllables emphasized oddly.
"hello INFIDEL. i am SALESMAN. i am here to help. what do you want to know?"
"It might be the obvious move, but getting rid of those cables might weaken this thing."
Head on upstairs and use the enhancement syringe. Use my necrotic sword that Hawk gave me to try and cut as many cables as I can, with 1 UTAR allocated to each cable. If my enhancement syringe happens to give me the ability to jump high enough to reach the generator, jump and attack it with my plasma sword in that special attack mode thingy. If things go to shit and I get wounded in a way that significantly affects my ability to kill or not get killed, use the transformation syringe. Dodge attacks targeting me, preferably in a way that they damage the generator, cables, or monoliths if they miss.
"I shall see if the sphere can be damaged, then."The wind howls, the air freezes and the dozens of weapons, become hundreds. Mercifully, the PUPPET remains alone, spared from the duplication.
Enhancement syringe go! Caladlebolg + 12 ixc on the glowy sphere. Be ready to dodge.
Berius: You use the syringe and feel heat suffuse your body, you soon begin to smoke and burn producing significant amounts of light and a pillar of black soot. The burning doesn't seem to harm you and causes the snow beneath your feet to melt making you quite obvious in the winter hellhole you now occupy. The hundreds of weapons around you seem to shift towards you menacingly, as if possessed by great animosity.
Hawk: You dose yourself and feel your head ache and vision swim as the drug takes effect. You feel far more competent and the weight and heft of your necrotic weaponry seems to feel far more natural to you, as you look around you can see dozens of small weakpoints in the arena of concrete you now occupy.
The PUPPET in the corner gets up, holes and rents in its armor patched with hardened ice. From its thrusters streams a storm of lightning and cloud forming a black billowing cloak lit by brilliant blue flashes.
The PUPPET reaches down as it begins to charge, sweeping its hands across the array of weapons, gathering swords of ice in its grasp as it moves towards you both. The dexterity and grace it shows is amazing, you know they can do this from their specs but seeing one achieve their limits is simply terrifying. It takes its bundle of swords and throws them out in front of itself reaching forward as if to catch them but missing completely... until you see it isn't a miss at all - they had frozen together in the air, and a single frame-sized hilt had extended backwards, right into its hand. It takes this new weapon, a massive blade five meters in length and holds it in a low guard behind it as it begins boosting towards you. The ice on its thrusters constantly melting and reforming to keep them barely under yellow hot. It screeches towards you pushing the absolute limits of every safety margin in pursuit of its only purpose - murder.
Hawk begins aiming upwards preparing his signature attack while Berius turns and starts sprinting towards the nearest monolith to climb to the vulnerable looking wires. Unfortunately 10 m/s sprinting is not in the same league as the PUPPET which as it reaches the pair is going at nigh 400 m/s. The PUPPET swings its blade upwards as it slows to engage, the blade leaving a tracery of purple-red darkness as a massive explosion of similar color goes off around the PUPPET.
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 6 vs. 10] Primordial Lord slashes at Whitmore
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 7 vs. 10] Primordial Lord slashes at O'Greenahan
[COMP: 6] Whitmore's Spell
UTAR vs. SDEF: 6 vs. 17] Whitmore fires upon the Core.
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 7 vs. 15] Primordial Lord fires upon O'Greenahan
[MDEF vs. LTAR: 14 vs. -1] Primordial Lord thrusts at Whitmore
The blast of energy hits both of you and where it touches you, it suddenly feels extremely cold for a brief instant and then, nothingness, as the limb freezes away into nothingness. Hawk is struck in his left leg leaving him with nothing below the knee, Berius is slightly luckier managing to only loose an oily arm halfway down the forearm which begins to regenerate very slowly.
You both begin a counter attack. Hawk uses the momentum of the blast to power an arcing swing of Caladlebolg towards the big glowing weakpoint, his spell having fizzled.
The corrosive wave from Caladlebolg roils towards the target exactly on center and the guns all around the arena shift and open fire disgorging an avalanche of metallic ice in a convergence of fury around the shot, which despite significant resistance, gets a significant way through; seems high penetration attacks would be advisable against this thing. The weapons shift back into an attack position.
This is definitely going to suck.
Berius: A single shot rings out from a rifle beneath you, it impacts, sending you spinning through the air. You feel an odd wet sensation on your cheek, you reach up and have a single final thought: I have more head than this right?
YOU DIED
Hawk: A single shot goes off and your partner goes down, head missing a significant amount of the right side. O'Greenahan falls down from his perch disappearing out of view behind the drifts of snow. The swords and blades all begin to point towards you and alternately in a flurry of shanking and shivving try to turn you into a shish-kebab. You are quickly turned into a pin cushion and briefly have an internal debate of if it was the 89th stab or the 88th stab that did it in the end.
YOU ALSO DIED
As the two of you float in an endless void, Jus speaks.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLEUM) [Select]
Good intelligence gathering back there, unfortunate that it got you before you could get any further.
It seems to be highly defensive and derives its attacks from theft of gear.
Penetrative attacks in concert are likely the best way to penetrate its defenses.
The PUPPET will be a problem but once destroyed it will be difficult for the entity to replace - it was unable to form replicas of it
unlike the other weapons.
We now know how the anomaly operates, what lies within, and how it fights.
With more firepower and soldiers, it shall fall soon enough.
You two did good.
And then, the world comes rushing back.
-snip-You awaken in a small dark room that smells of detergent and is seemly filled with brooms and mops. You also are lacking your clothing now only wearing underwear which is slightly problematic, you also smell what seems to be steak.
Spoiler: LEVEL UP (click to show/hide)
-snip-Your name, is Edward Whitmore. Or, the Ladlemonger. Or, whatever you're calling yourself these days.
A few seconds ago, you were being shanked to death by a giant fractal ice sword. Your current employers don't know that. In fact, as far as they know, you've been with the Arcadian Coalition all your life - that's what they call themselves by the way, figures, 'Dead Hand' wouldn't look too good on the tourism brochures, not that they have tourism brochures mind you, or really tourists who don't come from one of their constituent kingdoms. The one you come from is, a thing. Maybe it's Sirius, maybe it's Fomalhaut, maybe it's somewhere else, that's, for the higher ups to file away, you? You've got a job to do.
Right now you are standing in an alleyway, looking like the world's most terrifying mugger, en route to bailing out some NEE and SL forces who have found themselves pinned down.
You are clad in heavy plate adorned arcane runes and urban camo, the two blending into one another so well you cannot tell where one begins and the other ends. Mounted to over right shoulder is a small circular unit that points forwards, the fire support module. You send a preloaded firing request. A mage reads it and fires it through a one way portal, and that little circle over your right shoulder just so happens to be the exit. In the old days, in the days of the Black Moon War it was done differently, you just had a line to your own personal mage, tell them what you want, and they'd give you exactly what you'll need, not just what the preloaded request says you need.
But after that war, things, changed. Couldn't keep it like that anymore. Or rather, some people, couldn't keep it in their pants. And those were the better ones, the worse ones, well, they tended to do things involving stupid bets and margarita dragons. Long story short, the old system ended with a round of not-quite-dishonorable-but-still-less-than-riveting discharges, out with the old, in with, something akin to ringing tech support, except somehow even more impersonal and almost all the calls just ask for murder.
In your case, you only have one request loaded, and that, is to make it rain a dust that burns everything with plasma. For everything indoors, you've been given a combat shotgun sleekly constructed with a glossy finish. Inscribed on the side in golden calligraphic text is the name Monarch Incorporated. It can hold 9 shells at a time, you have 18 extra shells and have been instructed to breathe deeply as if meditating when using it. Apparently that empowers it.
Lastly, your helmet comes inbuilt with a voice changer, makes everything come out cold and inhuman. Helps keep up appearances, keep everyone afraid, as afraid as some of the Witch Knights themselves.
See, there is a general consensus among the front-liners, and that is that they are fucked. Completely, and utterly fucked. The New Earth Empire slew unimaginable horrors birthed by man's fall from godhood. The System League, from the very brink of ruin rebuilt what they had once lost and learned how to harness what others would take others centuries to. And Vestige? Amidst all their corporate weapons and systems they have, something, something neither Arcadia nor the Consortium can even begin to understand, made through dark pacts or so the rumors say.
While all this was going on, what were the Arcadians doing? They were farming.
They are fucked. You are fucked. Everyone is fucked.
Also, giant robots. All the other people have giant robots. No, you don't get one. Because giant robots are not be practical. Then why do they get giant robots? Because witchcraft. Because something, and the Arcadians don't know what, is letting everyone else tell the laws of physics and really just all common sense and decency, to go suck it.
And fighting giant robots is already bad enough, but having to fight giant robots powered by witchcraft? That, that's a whole new level of awful.
Yes, Arcadian infantry have the means to fight them on even footing. You know what would be better than that? Giant fucking robots. Because in a fight between some guy and a giant robot, somebody's gonna be the bitch and it sure as hell ain't gonna be robot. If they land a good hit, you're dead, magic or no magic.
That's what they think at least. You? You were NEE. You also have action hero powers and happen to be very good at dodging things. So you're going into this with a hell of a lot more confidence. The fact that the aforementioned armor frames are on your side this time are also a nice bonus.
Your radio crackles to life.
What's that? Uhuh-uhuh. Okay. No you understand. Yeah, got it.
So, turns out the frames that are meant to be helping have gone haywire and are now flying around, murdering people with witchcraft.
Spoiler: LEVEL UP (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on January 21, 2017, 12:19:43 am
| < | Turn 50 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7317078#msg7317078) | | | Turn 51 | | | Turn 52 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7351101#msg7351101) | > |
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: TheBiggerFish (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Wipeout (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: FallacyofUrist on January 21, 2017, 01:37:02 pm
James Heign:
"Oh. Um... well, that's a bit worse than the crab thing. And Memento Mori still isn't ready. Well, wish me luck, guys. It's hero time. Time to be a hero? Something to do with heroics and time."
Well, that can't be good. The next time(if there is a next time) the ripples appear, James attempts to resist/dodge the "everything is gone" effect in order to intercept the... whatever it is... with his bound axe. To be precise, he throws said axe at the being. If attacked, DODGE.
Post by: Empiricist on January 21, 2017, 02:46:53 pm
((No TRANS roll? The whole "everything is gone" seems like something to be resisted.))((No TRANS, no. This thing doesn't so much as alter the mind so much as it distorts reality in the area. Though now that you know it has this effect, you will be able to MDEF away from it in future.))
Post by: Beirus on January 21, 2017, 05:22:26 pm
Get steak. Eat steak and get dressed. Report to debriefing.
+6 MDEF
+3 UTAR
+9 COMP
Post by: TheBiggerFish on January 21, 2017, 05:29:12 pm
Repeat previous spell, targeting the vulture.
Post by: Hawk132 on January 21, 2017, 09:31:27 pm
+6 COMP
+8 TRANS
+7 MDEF
+4 UTAR
+3 LTAR
Let's get going. Figure out where the NEE and SL soldiers I'm supposed to help are and head there. Summon a '12 1c' on the way there.
Post by: The Ensorceler on January 22, 2017, 01:31:03 am
((I don't really care either way, but I want to know if I should start running around on foot for a while.))
Making an actual turn.
Post by: Bigf00t on January 22, 2017, 02:31:46 am
Summon a clockwork boar to help out a little: "a9 03" (and hope I can pass a roll of 3 on COMP and TRANS :P)
Proceed forward exploring carefully as I go. Keep the gun at the ready. If I think I hear/see/find an enemy carefully reconnoiter the area/investigate the enemy (I am aware based off of earlier information by the [Reveal Secrets] tradecraft it might mess with me a little mentally, so be prepared for that if at all possible). If ambushed trigger [Luck] and open fire with my pistol/sik the boar on whatever it is.
Post by: wipeout1024 on January 22, 2017, 02:49:43 am
"Wait, wait, what? Who are you? But, since you're asking me who I am, I guess I'll give it? I'm Padma. Padma Mangal. I'm a secretary here."
Introduce myself, hope it doesn't murder me?
Post by: The Ensorceler on January 29, 2017, 09:53:26 pm
Post by: AoshimaMichio on January 31, 2017, 11:53:20 am
There probably was a side door somewhere along the building, right? Let's find one that's not openly visible for the people inside and melt its lock (assuming it's locked) with my plasma torch and get inside.
Post by: Empiricist on February 05, 2017, 06:07:17 am
James Heign:The creature disappears and fails to come back, the sound of hammering resumes for a few tense moments before the sound of cracking and crumbling concrete stops it. This is followed by a sparking and crackling before you hear a sound that is horrific. Like lightning screeching down a chalkboard, the birth-scream of some horrific electronic demon.
"Oh. Um... well, that's a bit worse than the crab thing. And Memento Mori still isn't ready. Well, wish me luck, guys. It's hero time. Time to be a hero? Something to do with heroics and time."
Well, that can't be good. The next time(if there is a next time) the ripples appear, James attempts to resist/dodge the "everything is gone" effect in order to intercept the... whatever it is... with his bound axe. To be precise, he throws said axe at the being. If attacked, DODGE.
Code: (MASTER) [Select]
I SEE YOU CORPSE EATER
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
FUCK.
Change of plans.
Kill that thing. I don't care how you do it. Collapse the whole fucking factory on it if you need to.
Worry not about the reactor. Slay the beast, and present them with its head. They'll hail you as a hero.
Its gaze we could see, and because it needed to gaze far, it must too be far, or least not close.
But it is accursed now, possessed by dire forces, no doubt this dragon of yours has grown.
Be careful.
Since work on the frame isn't likely to be done soon, I'll kill time and practice my magic by Defending Camps. Take Item 225-B, my real Shorty, and the goat with me. If I arrive somewhere calm, find someone in some form of command and get orders. If I arrive somewhere distinctly non-calm, get ready to fight. Try and invent a usable weapon "a9 31 66", and hope it isn't too big.Item 225-B is heavy but you manage to lug it around. The trip towards the reserve camps is, tense, you board an APC that speeds right past the checkpoints, the guards stationed there no longer doing any checks - there's simply too many moving through them in both directions. Eventually, you return to the surface. First you see frames stand in rough formations, weapons readied for whatever tries to break through, slowly advancing as one by one, reinforcements arrive. Further ahead, there are the parties of infantry and frames engaged in various skirmishes, others, are fleeing, running away from all the death and destruction, the spells and the monsters.
Amidst the fighting you can see a LANDSKNECHT fighting several strange clockwork constructs and a large avian creature before it starts firing its weapon wildly and falling over. This probably falls into the not chill category, especially with the constructs trying to mine through the poor sod's plating.
[COMP: 1] Spell, a9 31 66
Something goes wrong and the result appears around you. A strange clockwork cage comes surrounds you, this would be just inconvenient but giant two foot long scythe blades pop out of the walls and begin spinning along the bars, closing in together like bladed irises. This is... not the most pleasant situation to be in.
The soldiers around you are now screaming and cursing.
"Huh. Dying didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. Guess I got lucky. Jus, how much stronger did that anomaly get after we died? And how can I get stronger? There's no way I can take that thing down with the resources I currently have, and I'll be damned if I get left out of the raid to shut that thing down because I'm too weak. I owe it some payback for killing me." Beirus asks as he takes a moment to collect his bearings in the supply closet. Afterwards, he exits the supply closet and goes to get his steak. He hopes he didn't get here too late, he likes his steaks rare. After retrieving his steak, he heads back to his quarters to eat and get dressed. Wouldn't do to be debriefed in his briefs. On the way back to his quarters, he sends a message to his oversight through a wall console or terminal or a phone or however they handle communication within the building. "This is Captain Beirus O'Greenahan. I'm back. I'll report for debriefing once I get some clothes on. There's plenty to go over, including what happened to my clothes, but that'll have to wait until the debriefing. This one might take a while, so some coffee in the debriefing room would be appreciated. And maybe let the ones debriefing me know to keep an open mind. Even with all this magic bullshit going on, some of what happened may be hard to swallow." After getting dressed, he heads to the debriefing room.You step out of the closet into the busy kitchen, which is just about to serve dinner. The chef looks dumbfounded as you casually walk through, grabbing your steak without looking twice at the stunned kitchen staff.
Get steak. Eat steak and get dressed. Report to debriefing.
+6 MDEF
+3 UTAR
+9 COMP
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Overall no change.
While it now controls your old body and that of your comrade we now know what it is, how it fights, and how the other NEE scouts died.
We know how to assault it, and you will grow stronger in time.
There is another operation to secure crucial resources. With those, and the intel you shall give, it will fall quickly.
"Understood, we will be waiting in briefing room six. The special investigation unit is here also so clothes will definitely be advised."
You dress, eat and report for briefing. Hopefully in that order. The room is a small conference room with comfortable office chairs and a probably-real-wood table running its length. In the room are four persons; one you know as the base communications officer, a woman in her mid thirties who often makes playful talk or mildly illegal bets with the pilots. Then there is General McMurdo, an old gentleman who is the commander of the NEE ground forces in the colony. The other two are black suited persons identical except for the fact that one has a slightly darker hair than their companion.
"Greetings Captain, have a seat." McMurdo is congenial as usual but has the voice of someone very on edge.
"We have recently heard of your exploits in the unidentified anomaly, further we know about your exploits with unknown factors. Due to this we are seconding you effective immediately to Special Intelligence. Communications Officer Yanis will be your operations leader."
Two sets of papers are pushed across the table, it notably states your rank as Major rather than Captain. Officer Yanis is about to protest before she gets to the paygrade section where she begins counting the zeroes with her fingers before whooping in victory.
((Debriefing ensues, please post as an action or dialogue what information you provide about the storm.))
Wait, that thing got in melee range? SALT IT.[COMP: 0] Spell, 08 a8 sabb
Repeat previous spell, targeting the vulture.
Unfortunately your attempt to do the previous spell again but better this time doesn't quite work as you again fire it leftward out of your left shoulder. Not your frame's left shoulder, your left shoulder. Inside the cockpit.
You are now in a cramped cockpit with a confused lead bear, maintaining balance quickly becomes impossible and you are shaken and shoved partway into a lead armpit. Fortunately the enemies miss as whatever they expected for you to do, "flailing like a shrew on a bad trip, spraying old testament flavored death everywhere like a homicidal disco ball" wasn't it. The large angry samurai thing is rapidly climbing towards your cockpit, blade clenched in its head, apparently unwilling to fuck with your arms, the others are following albeit more slowly than their serial killer robot companion.
"Why am I not surprised? Jus, anything of interest for you in the area?"It isn't that hard you simply follow the blood streaming into the gutters and the horrific, dwindling screams of pain and terror.
+6 COMP
+8 TRANS
+7 MDEF
+4 UTAR
+3 LTAR
Let's get going. Figure out where the NEE and SL soldiers I'm supposed to help are and head there. Summon a '12 1c' on the way there.
[COMP: 10/9] Spell, 12 1c
[TRAN: 15/9] Synchronization
You summon a squat humanoid creature that is, ignoring its horribly hunched posture around 5 feet tall with the wings adding another foot overall. The face is disfigured and part human part swine with tusks and an upturned nose, beneath its heavy grey eyelids an all consuming green light shines. It is made of grey ossified shell plates, between which runs oily black flesh. It turns to you and follows in silence.
After walking a bit further you finally find the university plaza. In the center is a beachball-sized sphere of silvery light floating a few stories above the ground, said ground is just completely covered in blood. Just, blood everywhere, it's like if a truck driver fresh out of his second divorce and heavily inebriated because of it, and overturned, spilling out all the contents of their tanker which happened to be blood for some inexplicable reason. Look, point is, there's a lot of blood and it's all over the ground. It's like a janitor's worst nightmare, or at least a slip hazard.
There's also slices of human flesh, slices of LUPUS and LATRANS, what appears to be evil demon flesh, oh and the remains of some kind of frame-sized, vaguely humanoid tentacled murder beast. It's had a lot of its lower parts sliced off and sliced up judging by the blackened flesh everywhere, while its body seems to have been violently burnt and exploded.
The buildings have been blasted with scorch marks, and some kind of explosive weaponry. The forces that are left are staying well away from the sphere, there are about 15 soldiers, all spread very far apart, hiding behind whatever cover they can... a scream and spray of blood reduces that to 14.
The attackers were a trio of PUPPET autoframes, circling the sphere in a holding pattern of sorts. All of them are missing their weapons, but their arms are positioned as if they were still wielding them, their fingers resting upon where the triggers should lie. Two of them had swung their arms toward their victims as if aiming an invisible rifle, they then both pulled the trigger. For the briefest of instants, nothing happened. Then the soldier and everything around them become mist and flew out, no heat, no light, just a mess and a crater.
Scanning around the area you also see several distortions, pellucid bubbles, filled with points of orange light flitting around.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
One of our other agents was here. There was a malfunction with his frame's Alcubierre Drive.
I believe that, is what is floating inside that bubble up there.
In that building over there, should be a core responsible for the demonic infestation.
We are unsure whether it is still intact, considering the state of this area.
Summon a clockwork boar to help out a little: "a9 03"[COMP: 4/4] Spell, a9 03
Proceed forward exploring carefully as I go. Keep the gun at the ready. If I think I hear/see/find an enemy carefully reconnoiter the area/investigate the enemy (I am aware based off of earlier information by the [Reveal Secrets] tradecraft it might mess with me a little mentally, so be prepared for that if at all possible). If ambushed trigger [Luck] and open fire with my pistol/sik the boar on whatever it is.
[TRAN: 2] Synchronization
The boar, a brass automaton with gears gleaming from within the gaps in its exterior, is summoned but not to your aid. It simply clicks several times at you then starts chewing on the floor tiles, a turn-key on its back steadily rotating. Brilliant.
Proceeding forward through the mess of tunnels you can hear footsteps all around, echoing through the dimly lit facility. After many turns you find an odd place where the path here splits into two.
[TRAN: 4/4] Resistance
Down the left fork is what appears to be the server room, but the more that you look the more wrong the image appears, it gives you the gut feeling of being a despicable trap of some sort. The right fork leads into all consuming darkness which looks menacing and seems to move at times.
You begin to hear faint chuckling echoing down the corridor on the left.
Padma looks at the kiosk-thing wide-eyed, shocked."no. you are not just SECRETARY. not any more. they have chosen you. you are compatible. you have POWERS now - AGILITY, ANALYSIS, ALTERATION. THING is here. THING is bad. ROCK cannot squish THING. they must neutralize THING. you are now their AGENT.
"Wait, wait, what? Who are you? But, since you're asking me who I am, I guess I'll give it? I'm Padma. Padma Mangal. I'm a secretary here."
Introduce myself, hope it doesn't murder me?
i SALESMAN. can help. i have special DEAL for you: you do JOBS for us, we help you - FAVORS; EQUIPMENT.
old LORDS have awakened. one is here. help harvest it. how you harvest is your choice, will give you LOCATION and DATA. you ask for TOOLS.
what do you want to know?"
"Oh come one, you have me! Please don't go cheating on me, it would break my heart.""Oh would I now~? Don't worry, I like you for different reasons~"
There probably was a side door somewhere along the building, right? Let's find one that's not openly visible for the people inside and melt its lock (assuming it's locked) with my plasma torch and get inside.
You sneak around the back and find a small service entrance, thank god for maintenance staff wanting their back doors. It takes several minutes to cut the lock but eventually you get through it. The room is a maintenance hallway which has several tools hung up in cages that have been cut open. At the end is an ajar door around which is a flickering blue white light of an oxy-acetylene torch.
Post by: Empiricist on February 05, 2017, 06:07:33 am
| < | Turn 51 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7333268#msg7333268) | | | Turn 52 | | | Turn 53 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7370538#msg7370538) | > |
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: TheBiggerFish (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Wipeout (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on February 05, 2017, 06:08:23 am
((Just FYI, in your "[COMP] ..." lines from the last turn, you seem to have "a" as "1" for the bear and goat, the spells are all still correct (from my notes at least) but yea just confused me a bit when crosschecking my own notes :D))((You are correct, might take a bit to fix since I'll need Corsair to edit his post but he's on vacation right now.))
Post by: Hawk132 on February 05, 2017, 07:03:43 am
Post by: Beirus on February 05, 2017, 07:21:12 am
Post by: Empiricist on February 05, 2017, 07:33:49 am
((HQ called me Captain after the first mission I did. Did I get demoted?))((Promoted. Major is the rank above Captain.))
Post by: AoshimaMichio on February 05, 2017, 11:57:10 am
Allright, sneak in 09AIAR ready. Stay in shadows, sneak to safe listening distance and eavesdrop these folks. Princess Pink or Princess Cuddles, whichever I named it, should follow right behind me staying my shadow. I want to figure out wheter I should shoot them or not.
83 & 87
Post by: The Ensorceler on February 06, 2017, 03:52:45 am
To the various soldiers: "Get away from it, now! If you want to help, get a frame to destroy it, but there's no point in getting chopped up with me. Go!"
Post by: FallacyofUrist on February 06, 2017, 10:05:59 pm
"Okay then. It's as good as dead."
Operation: Fear the Reaper is a go.
Step 1: Locate the enemy. Basically, look around until enemy is detected. And/or let enemy be detected as a result of beam thing becoming visible.
Step 2: Activate Path to Death. Basically, use Memento Mori to see the path that leads to the monster's certain death.
Step 3: Follow the Path to kill the monster.
If attacked: Dodge before attack is actually launched.
Post by: TheBiggerFish on February 07, 2017, 12:21:38 am
Salt them to death? Please?
Then run away really quickly.
Post by: Beirus on February 07, 2017, 01:03:31 am
"Sounds fun." Beirus responds upon hearing his new assignment and signing the requisite forms before starting his report.[/color]
Spoiler: Really long debriefing (click to show/hide)
Make my report. If they want the short, concise version instead, make sure to cover everything about the types of enemies I saw, the behavior and abilities of them and the storm, the wind wall, the dragon, and anything else that would be incredibly important, and how the Ladlemonger helped. See if Jus wants me to add anything else, or what I should tell them if they start asking about him.
Post by: Bigf00t on February 08, 2017, 03:37:44 am
...WELL THEN. HOW ABOUT NO THANK YOU.
[TRAN: 4/4] Resistance
Down the left fork is what appears to be the server room, but the more that you look the more wrong the image appears, it gives you the gut feeling of being a despicable trap of some sort. The right fork leads into all consuming darkness which looks menacing and seems to move at times.
You begin to hear faint chuckling echoing down the corridor on the left.
Summon up some hopefully ok armor: "22 84" and if it fits, and doesn't have spikes on the inside, wear it!
Head down the righthand fork, straight into the all-consuming darkness because I don't want to die, although if I can coax the boar to go first by tempting it with a nice hunk of tasty metal then do so.
Keep my gun at the ready, and if combat is initiated activate [Luck] and start firing at the threat's center of mass. Use MDEF in preference to SDEF. Be extra cautious of ambush in the darkness (that is if it doesn't instantly dissipate once I pass it's barrier :P)
((I definitely considered making a bomb of some magical description and rolling it down the probably-not-the-way-to-the-server-room corridor, but with my stats I'm just as likely to shoot myself in the face and just make whatever is lurking down there angry :P
Also I'd like to acknowledge that I may have read this situation wrong, in which case.. no change. HEAD FIRST INTO DARKNESS! YAY!))
Post by: Corsair on February 22, 2017, 04:32:44 pm
Fire off my Support Module on the Puppets. Call the wizards to prep me another rain of plasma dust. Then summon Caladlebolg and go with the good old ranged + 12 ixc combo. Gargoyle will help out with murdering the frames if able.[LTAR vs. MDEF: 2 vs. 4, 9] Wide Area Bombardment spell support
[COMP: 16/8] Spell, 12 ixc
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 4 vs. 6] Spell attack and Caladlebolg on PUPPET
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 7 vs. 5, 1] Avoiding the invisible explosion guns
There are a lot of ways to call in spell support, it could be an underslung laser designator, a hilt without its blade, or small device with a big red button. It depends on what spells you have, and how many. In your case, it's a set of sensors rigged to the glove on your non-dominant hand with a small protrustion pointing forwards from your wrist. To fire, you need to hold your palm open facing upwards, and then, clench your hand into a fist. Doesn't have to be dramatic. Doesn't have to take too long. Just long enough for each part to be detected, and then, a split second later (for the sake of last minute corrections) the designator will do its work. The idea is that you can quickly order in an attack while still running around firing your weapon. Let's see if it works shall we?
You hold out your hand, palm up. Not in too much of a hurry, they don't see you, not yet. Letting your shotgun to drop, hanging at the ready by its sling, your bring your other arm across your body, your faithful greatladle precipitating within your grasp. In frozen time, you watch your options unfold, and they don't look the best. These autoframes, they've got more processing power than they should have, must be in fashion these days amongst eldritch murderbeasts it seems. It's, a long shot, but it's the best you have.
Your hand clenches into a fist and from above, ashen dust rains upon the plaza, and when they touch something, something solid, be it a building or the ground, a flash of light signifies another release of plasma hellfire upon the world. You see your foes swoop down, bodies almost scraping along the ground as their formation scatters to avoid the deadly dust, and as they do, two of them swing out their arms, fingers pulling invisible triggers.
Where you stood, where the trajectories of two imagined rounds crossed, the world breaks. Everything there pushed outward and disintegrated in a mere instant. Of course by then, you weren't there any more. You were leaping to the side, a wave of corrosion and a barrage of necrotic bolts streaking forth to intercept the closest PUPPET.
It spins, twirling away from your attack as it catches three of the bubbles by surprise. The dust had past through them as did the plasma, but your magic, that proved to be far more effective, the wave and bolts rupture their membranes, popping them out of existence.
Your target on the other hand rotates upright, swinging its arm for another shot, and the remaining bubbles, seeing you as a threat begin spreading out to surround you.
Wink and offer charming smile for my Red Queen.[COMP: 3/0] Spell, 83
Allright, sneak in 09AIAR ready. Stay in shadows, sneak to safe listening distance and eavesdrop these folks. Princess Pink or Princess Cuddles, whichever I named it, should follow right behind me staying my shadow. I want to figure out wheter I should shoot them or not.
83 & 87
[COMP: 4/1] Spell, 87
You slowly step forward to listen, casting your magic on the go. With your first spell, you produce the image of a string, or perhaps a wire - you can't tell since it's just an outline. With your second spell you get the outline of a pile of various articles of clothing.
You hear five people talking as follows:
1: "How long until its ready?"
2: "The more you ask, the longer it will take, welding a full frame takes time."
3: "Just tell him..."
2: "Fine, about three hours, four if I calibrate properly."
3: "Can it fight effectively without calibration?"
2: "Maybe; wouldn't want to though - prone to slipping."
4: "Look we'll leave you be and nail down timing, as long as you finish in those four hours we're still on schedule."
5: "Finally, now we need to get to the target which is... difficult."
They begin discussion of a plan to weave quietly through the warzone that is Floor 1 and Floor 0 which after the explosion went dark. Apparently their target is at the bottom of one of the government owned mining operations. Some sort of secret facility that locked down after the breach.
You can pretty quickly guess that they work for Vestige.
Open up the flip out panels on Item 225-B and hope it can either protect me as a shield or blast me a way out as a weapon. If it has any controls in its handles, use them. If that doesn't work, cast a9 31 11 around myself, the way the last spell worked.The black panels flip out an project a shimmering green barrier that curves inward slightly as the blades impact it they stop suddenly and you can hear mechanisms straining and creaking. Seeing your predicament several soldiers begin running for assistance, you try and help yourself with some more magic.
To the various soldiers: "Get away from it, now! If you want to help, get a frame to destroy it, but there's no point in getting chopped up with me. Go!"
[COMP: 9/4] Spell, a9 31 11
You summon another cage this one is made of glass gears and mechanical parts entirely. It appears partially meshed through the first cage and does contribute to the jam slightly.
One of the soldiers returns with an engineer and plasma torch in tow. The engineer quickly begins slicing through the brass bars with his plasma torch leaving glowing orange cuts. It takes several minutes but eventually enough bars are cut such that the meat grinder is disabled. Soon after they pull the bars open like the rib cage of a monstrous beast freeing you, there is a brief celebration before they all begin swarming over the disabled thing. Classic System League.
James Heign:You dismount and cautiously stumble forward on stumpy ankles finding a hole after moving a short distance past the murdered soldier. It burrows straight through the foundations, cables sparking and water pipes gushing their contents into the room below. The room below is crisp clean metal with curved sides and many bare wires and electronic panels along the walls. You can see where a cable has been shoved into a wall to bring this electronic dungeon to life, removing it and going home is probably out of the question as you are unsure if your new form is resistant to electricity or not, certain aerogels are conductive after all, and your head probably isn't going to appreciate being shocked.
"Okay then. It's as good as dead."
Operation: Fear the Reaper is a go.
Step 1: Locate the enemy. Basically, look around until enemy is detected. And/or let enemy be detected as a result of beam thing becoming visible.
Step 2: Activate Path to Death. Basically, use Memento Mori to see the path that leads to the monster's certain death.
Step 3: Follow the Path to kill the monster.
If attacked: Dodge before attack is actually launched.
You hear rumbling from deeper in the facility and scratches lead from here down a hallway and away. You follow them, slowly, using your flapping and pushing off the walls to go faster than retarded bird-fish speed. You reach the end of the corridor and turn seeing the foe from before now sans howitzer moving around the next room holding a large makeshift hammer made of rebar and concrete. It is working at several computer terminals doing god knows what. You ready yourself activating Memento Mori, everything down the corridor is blood red murder which is seeping into this the longer you wait here... it appears not to involve the creature however, as its movements and position do not affect the coloration. There are several suspicious panels that don't appear to do anything and are black spheres that begin opening out like flower buds.
Ohcarpohcarpohcarp[LTAR vs. MDEF: AUTOSUCCESS] Going Biblical
Salt them to death? Please?
Then run away really quickly.
The bear is practically on your lap, making actually firing your weapon a slow, awkward affair. You hear the construct screeching. You see your console flare with warning messages as it cleaves straight through the restraints holding the arms in place. And then, your fingers wrap around a trigger.
You pull it, and the construct collapses into salt.
With the bear's position, you really can't do much, it's just confused and flailing, its movements hitting the controls and sending your frame flailing around like an epileptic being injected with electrified meth. Really, at this point the bear's the (horrifically incompetent) pilot and you're just the seat rest. The remaining foes, don't seem to be attacking for some reason, though the bear seems to thrash with increasing violence and fury. Perhaps getting out of this thing might be a good idea.
"Sounds fun." Beirus responds upon hearing his new assignment and signing the requisite forms before starting his report.[/color]The two agents just write everything down without batting an eye, the general looks confused but he seems to have made peace with the fact that the universe stopped making sense when there was an invasion of demons and the comm's officer is trying to make some sort of argument but can't get past the first few words before becoming speechless and flapping her gums uselessly.
Make my report. If they want the short, concise version instead, make sure to cover everything about the types of enemies I saw, the behavior and abilities of them and the storm, the wind wall, the dragon, and anything else that would be incredibly important, and how the Ladlemonger helped. See if Jus wants me to add anything else, or what I should tell them if they start asking about him.
"Given this debriefing I think you will need to come with us downstairs, come along."
They lead you and Comm's Officer Halliwell into one of the lifts which they take straight to the helipad, perched on the helipad is a military jump jet fitted with an underslung troop compartment. The engines warm up as you approach.
"The flight down is going to be rough to get past the enemy forces so grab a bag if you aren't good at flying."
The inside of the jet is spartan with basic bucket seats with a five point harness packed into a space little bigger than a cupboard. The engines whine as you all buckle in Halliwell grabs a bag quickly and already has begun to turn green. The jet kicks off the ground and lurches off the pad before beginning a violent dive down to the lowest floors, the scream of the engines matching the retching of Halliwell who is meeting her breakfast again.
After a frighteningly quick deceleration you slam back into your seats and the jet begins cycling down. Getting out, you find yourself in a warehouse the roof of which is rapidly closing back up to conceal this hidden landing pad. Soldiers and suited men are walking around checking everything.
"Do you have any questions or need anything before we begin?"
Summon up some hopefully ok armor: "22 84" and if it fits, and doesn't have spikes on the inside, wear it![COMP: 8/4] Spell, 22 84
Head down the righthand fork, straight into the all-consuming darkness because I don't want to die, although if I can coax the boar to go first by tempting it with a nice hunk of tasty metal then do so.
Keep my gun at the ready, and if combat is initiated activate [Luck] and start firing at the threat's center of mass. Use MDEF in preference to SDEF. Be extra cautious of ambush in the darkness (that is if it doesn't instantly dissipate once I pass it's barrier :P)
You summon a sci fi looking piece of torso armor. It's a perfect fit.
You toss some metal down the righthand fork. The boar trots happily forward towards the darkness and as it approaches, the darkness curls up and condenses into shadowy tendrils, the boar trots a little further and then there is an oink of surprise as it hits something solid. The darkness closes up around it and there is a squeal and then, there is nothing. The chuckling becomes a peal of cackling laughter.
Post by: Empiricist on February 22, 2017, 04:33:07 pm
| < | Turn 52 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7351101#msg7351101) | | | Turn 53 | | | Turn 54 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7402547#msg7402547) | > |
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: TheBiggerFish (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Wipeout (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: FallacyofUrist on February 22, 2017, 06:04:32 pm
"Well then."
Gravity gun the bloody monster. Odds are it won't like it. If attacked, dodge.
Post by: TheBiggerFish on February 22, 2017, 07:06:56 pm
Also, uh, what's with the arms, do they work now?
Post by: Beirus on February 22, 2017, 07:34:57 pm
Talky stuff.
Post by: wipeout1024 on February 25, 2017, 01:00:33 am
Ask questions!
Post by: AoshimaMichio on February 25, 2017, 02:57:42 am
Whisper to Red: "Hmm, any changes this secret facility is where the stuff you wanted me to find might be?
Say, how far your silencing ability goes? You can make people ignore my talking, so it stands for reason you can silence sounds of my movement too. I'm thinking launching suprise attack and it would be great if I can start off without making noise. I suppose the real question is: will you hide me if I ask you to do so?" ((Unless she has already answered this question before, I can't remember anymore.))
09AIAR ready for attack. Experiment with magic: otrm -E
Post by: Hawk132 on February 26, 2017, 08:49:45 pm
Post by: The Ensorceler on February 27, 2017, 12:40:08 am
Post by: Bigf00t on March 04, 2017, 12:42:18 am
...
Activate [LUCK]
Get on one knee, and bow.
Keep my neck and head straight, and pointed straight at the wall of enveloping blackness.
"You will fall to me."
"1d avdi"
Rise, and keep my gun ready. If it looks like I can pass safely do so, if doubt stays my step, then stay.
Post by: Empiricist on March 25, 2017, 08:39:26 pm
James Heign:[UTAR vs. SDEF: AUTOSUCCESS] Gravity gun on monster.
"Well then."
Gravity gun the bloody monster. Odds are it won't like it. If attacked, dodge.
[MDEF vs. LTAR: 11 vs. 2] Avoiding being sliced.
The monster crumples, distracted and unable to dodge, purple blood staining its robes, it's pinnedbut still alive, and your enhanced sight tells you that if you relax the trigger, it will limp out of your line of sight... not that your weapon actually requires line of sight to use of course. The strange black nodules on the terminals open up and spray out a tangled mesh of wire which begins shooting its razor sharp metal filaments at you like scything whips. You twist through the initial flurry of strikes dodging with ease, though it looks like you'll need to murderize the damn wiremonster as well now.
Shoot the bear (with the SHORTY) until it stops thrashing? Pleasedontdiepleasedontdie.The arms always worked, they're just kept chained thanks to seemingly having a mind of their own. Said chains have now been broken and they don't particularly interested in helping you, though really, short of tearing open the cockpit, they probably can't do much for you.
Also, uh, what's with the arms, do they work now?
[UTAR vs. MDEF: AUTOSUCCESS] Firing on the bear
You pump the lead bear full of lead, muzzle flash lighting up the cockpit as the round bury themselves into their target amidst flakes of its body. While you have manage to leave craters on its back, you fail to actually kill it.
Suddenly it stiffens and it yanks on something. Some that beeps.
...That was the ejection lever. Son of a bi-
With a woosh, you find yourself being flung out of the cockpit and through a series of abandoned tents, their fabric while entangling and rough do manage to help reduce your injuries to just a lot bruising. Your former frame rears up, piloted with no small feat of skill, while the remaining clockwork constructs turn around, now preparing to attack the recently-arrived infantry.
"A few, if you'll allow me to speak freely. What happened to those temporally displaced folks of ours that were detected coming into the system before I headed into the storm? And is there any chance the higher ups managed to get a temporary ceasefire or joint task force set up with the other factions to deal with the extrauniversal threat? I mean, they wouldn't be so foolish as to still be at each other's throats while the eldritch entity rapes our universe and threatens the existence of our whole species, right? And what exactly is it I'll be doing for you? Also, I'll need a fortified room to test out my magic. Fortified to protect those of you outside, I mean. I'll just come back if I die.""They're in orbit now, apparently to everyone else, we're the ones moving slowly. We're, trying to negotiate but we haven't assessed the true danger posed by the anomalous units, doesn't help that everyone's so damn fond of brinksmanship and trying to put a real high price on their aid, one we aren't allowed to pay. Hell really is other people I suppose.
Talky stuff.
We need you for your immortality, which means you can be sent on missions that would fail in mortal hands. And of course we can procure a room for your experiments."
"I mean, where do I start? I guess though, I'd like to first know about what those powers are: Agility, Analysis, Alteration?What is that meant to mean?"exactly that. you are faster, more perceptive, and can change the WORLD around you. summon what should not exist, interface and resist what most HUMANS cannot. you can see the PATH of a BULLET and shoot it away."
Ask questions!
Whisper to Red: "Hmm, any changes this secret facility is where the stuff you wanted me to find might be?"Not right now, takes time to set it up. It's not exactly easy. Besides, that takes all the fun out of it! And I'm afraid not, but this is a group that wants to mess with that thing so dealing with them however you desire is perfectly fine by me!"
Say, how far your silencing ability goes? You can make people ignore my talking, so it stands for reason you can silence sounds of my movement too. I'm thinking launching suprise attack and it would be great if I can start off without making noise. I suppose the real question is: will you hide me if I ask you to do so?"
09AIAR ready for attack. Experiment with magic: otrm -E
[COMP: 6/5] Spell, otrm -E
A shimmering outline of some manner of shield appears around your weapon. You feel power surge through it, but also a jolt of pain through your arm.
Caladlebolg + 12 ixc onto the AF. And Gargoyle, make yourself useful already! Pop the bubbles or something.[COMP: 20/8] Spell, 12 ixc
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 7 vs. 5] Spell attack
[LTAR vs. MDEF: AUTOSUCCESS] Gargoyle attack
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 16 vs. 8, 8] Avoiding the invisible explosion guns
The frame is crippled by the barrage of dark energy shot out by your legendary ladle and that point just in front of your chest, before it even begins to fall, the is gargoyle pouncing, intercepting in it midair and tearing it to pieces with entropic claws before it even hits the ground. Guess the gargoyle can't fly. As for the other two, well, they were far too predictable and far too slow - before they even attacked, you saw right through all the possibilities, and dodged before they could even aim, the ground again getting cratered were you used to be.
The bubbles shift and pulse, but they don't actually seem to be doing anything just yet.
Turn off my shield and check up on the downed LANDSKNECHT. Harass the clockwork goons with my bound Shorty, but don't get too close yet. Try to see if they've already killed the pilot, what weaponry they have, and where the giant bird thing went. Cast some quick magic, too: 9c gzdz.[COMP: 4/4] Spell, 9c gzdz
A stream of flesh jets out from all your finger tips at once, arcing back together into a larger stream and firing forwards before the beam as a whole solidifies into some kind of horrible pulsating meat rod and flops to the ground.
"Ewwwww"
The suppressive fire at the clockwork goons only serves to gain their ire, two bear swiveling smart cannons, one that disgorges bolts of glowing dust, the other unleashing an octarine beam. The third wields a shifting autoscythe with a blade formed of vegetation made from some kind of bright green energy.
The bird was circling above the frame but is now beginning to fly away.
Unfortunately, you also now have more, pressing, matters at hand because the pilot ejects from the frame, and the frame, continues moving. It get back up, and is now looking right at you lot, your augmented vision indicating that a conical projection is about to erupt from it and that you probably don't want to be within that cone.
Well then.[COMP: 8/6] Spell, 1d avdi
...
Activate [LUCK]
Get on one knee, and bow.
Keep my neck and head straight, and pointed straight at the wall of enveloping blackness.
"You will fall to me."
"1d avdi"
Rise, and keep my gun ready. If it looks like I can pass safely do so, if doubt stays my step, then stay.
Black dust flies forwards just in front of your head, launching into the darkness, you hear it ignite somewhere in the distance, the substance burning into a distant wall, the red flame providing some faint illumination.
The darkness seems safe and you step forwards as the darkness wraps around you like a funerary shroud. It is dark and warm here, but you can feel something nearby. Stalking you, the laugh trickles out again closer now. As you whip around to face it, the darkness coalesces into a single figure. A man wearing a full charcoal suit with a blood red tie and a grey stetson hat. In his hand is a bouquet of white roses which he lets fall to the floor, pulling from them a M60 light machine gun.
"I'm afraid you're sadly mistaken. Nothing personal old chap, you know how it is."
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 5 vs. 1] Avoiding the attack
The machine gun opens up with a roar of high velocity 7.62mm rounds. The rounds rip through concrete and air but you are able to handily dodge the burst of machine gun fire, but in such confined spaces, it's only a matter of time until you get hit, not unless you kill him first of course.
"Now, now, that's not how it goes! Let's try it again shall we? And this time, please do die."
You can already the pale lines tracing from where he will fire.
Post by: Empiricist on March 25, 2017, 08:39:48 pm
| < | Turn 53 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7370538#msg7370538) | | | Turn 54 | | | Turn 55 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7462802#msg7462802) | > |
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: TheBiggerFish (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Wipeout (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on March 25, 2017, 08:42:28 pm
Post by: TheBiggerFish on March 25, 2017, 08:46:07 pm
Post by: Empiricist on March 25, 2017, 08:49:00 pm
Post by: TheBiggerFish on March 25, 2017, 08:53:18 pm
Post by: The Ensorceler on March 26, 2017, 04:23:38 pm
Edit: This turn has been replaced.
Post by: Empiricist on March 26, 2017, 04:35:27 pm
Post by: TheBiggerFish on March 27, 2017, 09:32:06 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on March 27, 2017, 10:49:10 am
"Perfect. To quote somebody a long time ago: can't touch this."
Cataphile's Waltz over to next to the gravity amplified monster, decapitate it with bound axe.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on March 28, 2017, 12:30:00 pm
Silent deep breath. Swift movement at the door, hold breath, aim and fire. In order of priority: snipers, the sailor, and lastly beefy ones.
08 ixc at the ones still alive in reverse order.
Post by: Bigf00t on March 29, 2017, 02:35:52 am
...
The darkness seems safe and you step forwards as the darkness wraps around you like a funerary shroud. It is dark and warm here, but you can feel something nearby. Stalking you, the laugh trickles out again closer now. As you whip around to face it, the darkness coalesces into a single figure. A man wearing a full charcoal suit with a blood red tie and a grey stetson hat. In his hand is a bouquet of white roses which he lets fall to the floor, pulling from them a M60 light machine gun.
"I'm afraid you're sadly mistaken. Nothing personal old chap, you know how it is."
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 5 vs. 1] Avoiding the attack
The machine gun opens up with a roar of high velocity 7.62mm rounds. The rounds rip through concrete and air but you are able to handily dodge the burst of machine gun fire, but in such confined spaces, it's only a matter of time until you get hit, not unless you kill him first of course.
"Now, now, that's not how it goes! Let's try it again shall we? And this time, please do die."
You can already the pale lines tracing from where he will fire.
Excellent.
Focus on staying out of the way of those projected bullet paths (MDEF) and close the distance as fast and as soon as possible. The M60 is no derringer, he might have a harder time shooting me with it if I'm wrapped around his torso like a murderous groupie. Who also has a [Kitchen Knife], which I very much plan to use here.
"In the great words of SCOOB..."
As I close the distance open fire with my own handgun and pound the trigger, if I hit him that's awesome but mostly for suppression. (Thats right, I'm going to try and suppress a dude with a M60... with a handgun.)
((EDIT: If I must target something, go for the good-ol-fashioned center of mass. Something to slow him down a touch, add some more red to that tie))
"... YABBA ..."
Keep firing right up until just after I've found myself in his armpits and start stabbing.
But more than that; You know what this dangerous close-quarters engagement with an unknown M60 magical gunner needs? More dangerous magic.
"... DABBA..."
Once I'm close enough to count his nosehairs: a9 66 otrm
"... DIE."
Post by: Hawk132 on April 05, 2017, 06:05:54 am
Post by: Beirus on April 05, 2017, 11:37:29 pm
You mind showing me through the armory and R&D? And is there a mission for me already, or do I have a chance to work on some spells or something?"
Talking, touring. See if Jus can recommend any ways for me to get stronger or get better gear.
Post by: TheBiggerFish on April 06, 2017, 12:06:22 am
((Oh. That frame. Those clockwork automatons. Whoops!))
Try to block the cone with my shield, and if I'm still alive run away towards where the pilot escaped to. Don't bother trying to carry the shield.
"GET OUT OF THE WAAAAAAAAAAAY"(By the way, that's aimed at you.)
Post by: Bigf00t on April 08, 2017, 09:25:33 pm
"It's a shame, really. The eldritch monster trying to destroy our universe seems like the kind of enemy they would be able to unite against. Damn politics.((Just you wait until I start the RSPCEA: Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Eldritch Abominations))
Post by: The Ensorceler on April 10, 2017, 01:44:28 am
Well, the pilot knows how much death that frame is carrying better than I do. "OK THEN!" Ditch the shield, run like hell and, if I'm not immediately deadified, join up with the pilot. Look for a good attack material: 13(comp 4) 19(comp 4) 47(comp 4) 59(comp 4).((Oh. That frame. Those clockwork automatons. Whoops!))
Try to block the cone with my shield, and if I'm still alive run away towards where the pilot escaped to. Don't bother trying to carry the shield."GET OUT OF THE WAAAAAAAAAAAY"(By the way, that's aimed at you.)
Post by: flabort on April 10, 2017, 04:15:00 am
Spoiler: Waitlist? (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on April 17, 2017, 12:24:54 am
Handler: (What does this mean?)((It's a hallucinatory figure who gives you directions and conversation if you feel like it, each one grants a Tradecraft ability for picking them with later ones being tailored your the character. DECOHERENT's starting Tradecraft is Luck, which for one turn makes 3s in your dice pool count as successes.))
Post by: Bigf00t on April 17, 2017, 07:31:40 am
((JOIN THE [LUCK] ALLIANCE. RIG THE DICE, DO INAPPROPRIATE THINGS TO THE ODDS! PLAY THE PLAYERS))Handler: (What does this mean?)((It's a hallucinatory figure who gives you directions and conversation if you feel like it, each one grants a Tradecraft ability for picking them with later ones being tailored your the character. DECOHERENT's starting Tradecraft is Luck, which for one turn makes 3s in your dice pool count as successes.))
Post by: Corsair on April 23, 2017, 10:50:39 pm
Post by: Bigf00t on April 24, 2017, 02:49:32 am
So people know game is not dead just had lots of stuff to do for easter and three essays right after so post will happen this weekend hopefully.((Yaaaaay!))
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 12, 2017, 10:11:02 am
So people know game is not dead just had lots of stuff to do for easter and three essays right after so post will happen this weekend hopefully.
((Or this weekend perhaps?))
Post by: Empiricist on May 14, 2017, 07:45:50 am
Post by: Corsair on May 22, 2017, 07:46:08 am
Post by: Corsair on May 23, 2017, 07:44:12 am
James Heign:[LTAR vs. MDEF: AUTOSUCCESS] Axe strike on the monster
"Perfect. To quote somebody a long time ago: can't touch this."
Cataphile's Waltz over to next to the gravity amplified monster, decapitate it with bound axe.
You flash over through a direction that has no mortal name, twisting around the deadly net stretched before you along a path you did not see prior, a detour that is a shortcut, and as you twist you swing your entire body into a axeblow straight through the being's neck cleaving its head straight off. It hits the floor and purple ichor leaks from the sparking stump.
As everything calms down the lights go out and all is dark except for a single screen which projects blue-white light over the room. On it a single progress bar fills and text streams by behind it.
Code: (terminal) [Select]
Auxilliary computer core reboot initiated...
Errors detected in primary systems...
Memory errors at over 98%...
Main system reboot initiated...
Reboot failed...
Capacitor charge initiated...
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
Go down.
There is a computer.
Destroy it.
There is still time.
"Sorry for thinking effectiveness. I guess I could go for more fun route and talk them into my slaves. I mean, how's making people ignore me chatting with you in real time easier than silencing my foot steps in real time which should be much easier to predict and adapt to? Not that I'm complaining or really even understanding what you are exactly doing, but man is curious. Could ya entertain my pretty head?""Well, A: I find it more amusing to confuse you with arbitrary distinctions and B: honestly mostly A but also effort~"
Silent deep breath. Swift movement at the door, hold breath, aim and fire. In order of priority: snipers, the sailor, and lastly beefy ones.
08 ixc at the ones still alive in reverse order.
You stand up straight and swiftly begin to move towards the door, bracing for the coming fight.
"Hm..?"
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 3 vs. 1] Opening fire on the first sniper
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 3 vs. 0] Opening file on the second sniper
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 4 vs. 1] Opening fire on the sailor
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 1 vs. 2] Opening fire on the first beefy one
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 1 vs. 1] Opening fire on the second beefy one
[COMP: 9/4] Spell, 08 ixc
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 1 vs. 0] Spell attack on the second beefy one
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 3 vs. 1] Spell attack on the first beefy one
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 0 vs. 2] First sniper retaliates
The first two go down in a half second each, the bullet spears of your 09AIAR punching ragged holes in their bodies. You flick your
rifle right and fill the sailor with a burst of lead. The other two have caught up with you now and dive behind the half constructed frame unslinging their shotguns to retalliate.
You compass step left off your right foot bringing yourself quickly around to face the last two, a spray of something resembling grape shot flying out to meet them.
The spray while well spread unfortunately doesn't quite get them as they dive for cover, although not quite in this case means one of them having an arm and leg that look to be more destined for hamburger than anything else. The other is mostly okay other than catching shrapnel to the back. You hear a faint gurgle behind you. Obviously someone isn't quite dead yet.
You are surprised by a shot that by rights you probably should have dodged, perhaps you need to remember that you are unfortunately still mortal 'neath the badass exterior.
It impacts and feels like you've been stabbed in the back with a softball as the bullet proceeds to do fuck all to you, the impact spread out by advanced nano armour.
Well that was a wasted soliloquy.
"Told you so... would have been totally unnecessary on my part."
All that is left in your way is a lightly wounded man with a shotgun, and his comrade who is at this very moment succumbing to shock. You can already see phantom images of him blind-firing at your position. You just need to put an end to that.
"GET OUT OF THE WAAAAAAAAAAAY"Run run run away from the Red Bearon!!
Soon another system league pilot joins you in your frantic flight from your own frame.
Excellent.[UTAR vs. SDEF: 4 vs. 2] Firing at the agent
Focus on staying out of the way of those projected bullet paths (MDEF) and close the distance as fast and as soon as possible. The M60 is no derringer, he might have a harder time shooting me with it if I'm wrapped around his torso like a murderous groupie. Who also has a [Kitchen Knife], which I very much plan to use here.
"In the great words of SCOOB..."
As I close the distance open fire with my own handgun and pound the trigger, if I hit him that's awesome but mostly for suppression. (Thats right, I'm going to try and suppress a dude with a M60... with a handgun.)
((EDIT: If I must target something, go for the good-ol-fashioned center of mass. Something to slow him down a touch, add some more red to that tie))
"... YABBA ..."
Keep firing right up until just after I've found myself in his armpits and start stabbing.
But more than that; You know what this dangerous close-quarters engagement with an unknown M60 magical gunner needs? More dangerous magic.
"... DABBA..."
Once I'm close enough to count his nosehairs: a9 66 otrm
"... DIE."
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 3 vs. 5] Evading the machinegun fire
[COMP: 7/5] Spell, 19 66 otrm
Your charge is met with another burst of bullets from his M60.
Your fullisade of handgun fire hits home with two shots catching him in the shoulder. He reels back a stream of bullets from his machine gun stiching a line of sparks and concrete dust across the corridor. The burst catches you across the chest and you continue staggering on, your desire to kill this smug bastard outweighing the bloodloss.
As you close in, you cast and nothing really happens.
He laughs at your "failed" sorcery and pulls a jagged combat knife to finish you, going for a high strike straight through the collar bone towards the heart. At least he would if not for a sudden flash of movement over your shoulder and a giant clockwork scythe springs out of thin air parrying the strike. You take this oportunity to stab him right in the face.
"Guh.. cu... curses-"
He falls down, blood leaking from his face.
The world begins to warp, normalizing back to a sane normal corridor. The server room at the end.
You are bleeding out.
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
Easy now, it's just up ahead. Die if you want, but you ought to collect your winnings first, right?
Same as before, but add Plasma Dust.[COMP: 15/8] Spell, 12 ixc
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 3 vs. 8] Spell attack and Caladlebolg
[LTAR vs. SDEF: 1 vs. 3] Wide Area Bombardment spell support
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 5 vs. 4,5] Not exploding
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 5 vs. 2] Gargoyle attack
The PUPPET frames seem to have wised up to your strategy of shooting black necrotic shit everywhere and quickly split apart flanking you as your spell impacts a nearby building. The frontage begins to decay, glass shattering and popping out of frames as the points of impact experience a thousand years in seconds. You lash out with Caladlebolg, weapon of legend, and miss by a meter as it continues its arcing flight around and above another shot of plasma appears where you gesture.
The weird bubbly things change, several of them unfolding and stretching out into pillars then forming a protective barrier causing the plasma to just make them look like a really radical sunset for a moment.
You barely dodge the next point-and-crush as the puppets attempt to paste you once again. The gargoyle finally springs into action
leaping into the bubbles like a cat armed with an assault rifle in an aviary. It just starts stomping all around causing them to rupture and collapse into naught.
"It's a shame, really. The eldritch monster trying to destroy our universe seems like the kind of enemy they would be able to unite against. Damn politics."Well that is how humanity has always been."
You mind showing me through the armory and R&D? And is there a mission for me already, or do I have a chance to work on some spells or something?"
Talking, touring. See if Jus can recommend any ways for me to get stronger or get better gear.
They begin leading your to the left and swipe their hand at the heavy blast door you wind up at. The octagonal door slides up and away into the ceiling letting off a high pitch hiss.
"Here is R&D, currently there are one hundred and sixty two projects in development."
Behind thick glass set into the walls you see dozens of work benches manned by white cleansuited scientists. Automated engineering
drones hover on the columns of air created by their whirring rotors, their tool tipped limbs dangling beneath them working on the
various projects beneath them under the direction of their human masters.
"The drones are part of how we keep everything moving so fast, they have almost doubled the research speed. This has led to seventeen new technological advances for the general military."
He gestures at a compact thruster pack in a metal frame.
"This is part of the new jump jet technology in the LUPUS."
You continue onward into the facility
"This is the armoury, it houses all modern military armaments plus a few of our own materials."
Deeper and deeper in you go until finally
"Now we are heading to the nexus of this facility where Officer Halliwell will be working to assist you."
You enter into a large room similar to the control center of NASA. On the screens are images of all over the colony and inside the facility.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Third to the left, one down.
On the specified screen is a single massive looking room and inside it the form of some sort of massive Armor Frame easily 30 meters in height, it is made of white armour plate over coppery metal, one entire side of it has been scourged by something and is bubbled and boiled away.
"Ah, I see you have noticed our centerpiece... that is what let facility develop so rapidly." He gestures and it takes up the majority of the view.
"It was found in orbit inside one of the radiation belts, from it we have started researching new technology formerly thought impossible. It has been designated as Unit-0 until we figure out a way into its computer core. The most amazing thing is that the cockpit is still sealed and we can detect that the pilot is still inside. For now we are doing our best to rebuild it mostly by just pumping electricity and raw material into it, although getting anything pure enough is difficult. As for the mission, we need you to sweep the perimeter. Your frame's waiting for you outside, due to the issues with the pharaoh frame we've exchanged it for a new setup just out of R&D awaiting production to roll out."
Well, the pilot knows how much death that frame is carrying better than I do. "OK THEN!" Ditch the shield, run like hell and, if I'm not immediately deadified, join up with the pilot. Look for a good attack material: 13(comp 4) 19(comp 4) 47(comp 4) 59(comp 4).You join your newfound friend in running from the Red Bearon, taking cover behind a tent as the place you once stood is reduced to a plain of salt. It, seems to just be preoccupied with getting the pedals to work and flailing at everything nearby to worry about a few infantryman, for now at least.
[COMP: 3/6] Spell, 13
[COMP: 1/1] Spell, 19
[COMP: 3/5] Spell, 47
[COMP: 4/2] Spell, 59
Your first spell fizzles, your second conjures pieces of leather, your third too fizzles, and your fourth and last conjures a sudden crackling discharge of electricity before you.
-snip-
Spoiler: Starting Option #1 (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Starting Option #2 (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Starting Option #3 (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Starting Option #4 (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on May 23, 2017, 07:44:31 am
| < | Turn 54 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7402547#msg7402547) | | | Turn 55 | | | Turn 56 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7508616#msg7508616) | > |
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: TheBiggerFish (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Wipeout (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
Post by: Empiricist on May 23, 2017, 07:46:21 am
Post by: FallacyofUrist on May 23, 2017, 08:28:26 am
James Heign:
"Capacitor charge... probably not anything good. Alright then. Time for heroics! Blast, that still doesn't work."
That said, James is a mechanic. First, he tries to figure out if he can use the terminal to get admin access and shut down the capacitor charging. Quickly. If that doesn't work, he looks for an elevator or a downwards stairway that would lead to the computer he needs to destroy.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on May 23, 2017, 01:34:38 pm
Also, I can't even remember what for I came to this floor. Had to watch something?))
DOOOOODGE the incoming stuff and talk the survivor down: "Hey man, you may want to surrender. I mean sure, we may be on opposing side but this shit is so damn confusing that I got no idea what's going on anymore. I got first aid kit I can lend you. We can talk this through. How about it? Okay, ambushing you like that was a dick move, I admit that, but you were building a frame and probably go on a rampage in my city so I couldn't take the risk. This is a god damn war and all. ...what I'm even apologizing for, fuck this shit, I'm an engineer for god's sake, why I'm even fighting here? This is crazy, don't you agree?"
Finish him with 09AIAR if he doesn't appear to be a very wise person.
Post by: Empiricist on May 23, 2017, 05:38:52 pm
You were ordered to locate and engage anomalous units. More orders are to follow apparently.))
Post by: flabort on May 23, 2017, 07:36:12 pm
Option #4, please.-snip-Spoiler: Starting Option #1 (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Starting Option #2 (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Starting Option #3 (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Starting Option #4 (click to show/hide)
Post by: TheBiggerFish on May 24, 2017, 09:29:17 am
...Use Arrow of Simurgh on the anomaly.
Post by: Strider03 on May 25, 2017, 07:07:41 am
Post by: The Ensorceler on May 25, 2017, 05:16:01 pm
"Iliana Travieso, System League frame pilot and some manner of wizard, at your service." Iliana turns and dips into a crooked bow before smirking,"So how can I help? You want to kill your frame?"
Post by: Bigf00t on May 28, 2017, 09:38:37 am
Look for a coil of anything conductive, either on my dead friend or on my way into the server room.
Jam it into the base of my neck and channel "22"
Grab my foe's hat, gun and check his pockets for any items of value or interest.
Finally, if I have not done so already head (back) to the server room.
(If I was unable to find some wiring somehow, even in light fittings like last time etc, just go straight to the server room)
Post by: Beirus on May 28, 2017, 12:09:00 pm
If they take me down to see the frame, use Equipment Check on it, then let the researchers know if I find anything useful for them. If not, go get my new frame and use Equipment Check on it.
Post by: The Ensorceler on June 04, 2017, 01:41:14 am
Post by: Hawk132 on June 04, 2017, 07:15:46 am
"Would you just die already?"
Same as before!
Post by: Corsair on July 12, 2017, 07:34:13 am
James Heign:A quick glance is enough to make you realize it won't be that easy, figures. There's no damn keyboard, the damn thing must've interfaced with the circuits themselves or some shit. Well, time for the classic caveman approach then - hit it till it dies. One problem - the way down is at the end of the next hallway and it's filled with those metal flowers which are currently blindly lashing at the air with their tendrils.
"Capacitor charge... probably not anything good. Alright then. Time for heroics! Blast, that still doesn't work."
That said, James is a mechanic. First, he tries to figure out if he can use the terminal to get admin access and shut down the capacitor charging. Quickly. If that doesn't work, he looks for an elevator or a downwards stairway that would lead to the computer he needs to destroy.
DOOOOODGE the incoming stuff and talk the survivor down: "Hey man, you may want to surrender. I mean sure, we may be on opposing side but this shit is so damn confusing that I got no idea what's going on anymore. I got first aid kit I can lend you. We can talk this through. How about it? Okay, ambushing you like that was a dick move, I admit that, but you were building a frame and probably go on a rampage in my city so I couldn't take the risk. This is a god damn war and all. ...what I'm even apologizing for, fuck this shit, I'm an engineer for god's sake, why I'm even fighting here? This is crazy, don't you agree?"You walk forwards, casually swaying out the way of that final blind spray. The final few rounds miss by a hair. Just as expected. It was a distance that while certainly small was entirely certain, a dodge is a dodge be it by an inch or by a mile, no need to jump and flail around more than necessary right?
Finish him with 09AIAR if he doesn't appear to be a very wise person.
The guy just stares at you jaw agape for a few awkward moments before slowly answering. You have the distinct feeling that were it not for the calming effects of that diadem, he'd probably be shitting his pants right about now.
"Um... sure... I am completely fine with not dying. So uh, what now...?"
Option #4, please.You are on the surface. The surface which is trying to to its best impression of the apocalypse right now. Frame and construct duke it out to a backdrop of burning tents and Geiger-esque biometal fields. The noise is incessant, countless weapons with countless origins chattering away both far and near. It's a disorientating, chaotic mess, but now, even now, you know that the League is prevailing. That, was predetermined. The attacking force of constructs simply lacked the numbers and firepower to be more than what in the end, will be regarded a nuisance in the grand scheme of things. They had shock, they had awe, but when it comes down to it, it was just harassment. The analysts are saying that after than initial landing, League casualties will plummet. They'll be cautious. They'll take their time. But once they hit their stride, those constructs will be crushed.
Won't take more than a day. And that day is your chance, your window of opportunity. To heroically charge in, guns blazing as you, not-so-heroically loot shit and get the fuck out before anyone complains.
Your clients in particular have given you a list, a very short list detailed as follows with what scarce intel you have included with the various parts
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Ideally, you'd be getting all four, you're getting a hefty commission after all, but, they'll be more than happy with just one of them if you can manage it.
Currently, you're prone amidst the torn remains of a tent, four automatons stalk towards you, two with smart cannons, two with cursed katanas. They haven't seen you yet, they know you're here but not where.
The smart cannons could engage you as soon as you reveal yourself. Assuming they're using standard magical payloads, your armor should provide some protection, it's designed to mitigate such attacks after all, but best not to rely on that - it could save your life, but that's about as far as the manufacturers are willing to promise. The swords on the other hand, they'll have to close the distance first, there's an initial ranged slash when they initially unsheath, but they've expended that already, of course, up close your armor won't do much, it can handle arcane energy, lightning and the like, enhanced physical strikes not so much.
You on the other hand, are armed with a 01GPSG, a Model 1 General-Pupose Submachine Gun.
A few things to clear up first: it is not suppressed, it is not a sniper rifle, it is not a heavy weapon, and it is most certainly not ergonomic. It is not suppressed, but it is so quiet the only thing you'll hear is the pull of the trigger. It is not a sniper rifle, but it will kill its mark from kilometers away. It is not a heavy weapon, but it will threaten anything short of a frame. And it is not ergonomic. It really, really, really isn't. There is absolutely no feedback when firing it at all - you pull the trigger and that's that, no kick, no flash, no sound. Pull the trigger and if it wasn't for the display you wouldn't be able to tell how many rounds you've just put down range. It is hard to aim - it lacks a stock, it doesn't have a bipod, and it is so ridiculously short you can barely hold it with both hands. So even if you have a scope on it, and you do, it's still hard to aim because you've got nothing to steady it with. And the cherry on the top of all of this, is that it doesn't even look or feel like a proper weapon. It looks like someone tried to pass a bubble gun off as an SMG by flattening the top to add a rail and spray painting it black.
The earlier versions? They were transparent and lacked an ammo counter, so not only would everyone think you were holding a children's toy, it could end up even less effective than one when you run dry and don't notice for half a damn firefight.
Point is, it's weird, it's quirky, but it works. Usually. And against these constructs, it'll definitely hurt.
...Use Arrow of Simurgh on the anomaly.[TRAN: 1] Resist
You look at the fields of biometal and time seems to stop. It starts with a few points, points so tiny the naked eye cannot see them, points projected straight into your mind. Tiny imperfections visible only through an electron microscope. Next come the larger ones, and the larger ones. They build upon one another, lines and points. Faults, fissures, points of stress, points of damage. They spread. More and more, and where they intersect, they glow brighter and brighter. You see all the faults, scattered, seemingly arbitrarily positioned points. And in this instant you know each and every last one of them better than even your mother's face. Some will topple the spires. Some will still the mouths. But the more subtle ones, the ones you have enough firepower to strike, hit the right ones and patches of the field will start to die.
You'd say it's just a matter of hitting but it's a field, a fucking field. Those aren't exactly reknowned for their ninja-like reflexes now are they? No hitting it is the easy part. The hard part? That's the smog pouring out of it. Smog that wasn't there before.
Well, maybe that's not quite right.
It was there, it was there the whole time. In that first charge, you could hear some of the other pilots complaining about it. And then screaming about it. Screaming about all the things that dwelt within. They usually didn't scream for very long.
You really can't catch a break can you?
"Come on, man. I'm a cool magic wizard now." Shoot a 59 gzdz(comp 16) at the nearest enemy unit, on the off chance I've got the range. "See? I can fight a frame. Probably. With help."[COMP: 15/4] 59 gzdz
[UTAR vs. MDEF: AUTOSUCCESS] Spell attack
You feel a tingling in your hand and point it with fingers splayed at the bearron. There is a thunderous detonation and flash of blue-white as a storm of lightning leaps from your fingers and out to the frame. The lightning arcs across the mercurial connections of the arms and straight into the cockpit. The frame falls silent and topples over, disabled, at least for now.
As it turns out, you most certainly can fight a frame, and it seems that the remaining constructs have taken notice seeing as they're now headed your way.
"Worry not, I have no intention of dying yet."Unfortunately the lights are LEDs set deep in the the ceiling, out of reach, looks like you won't get out of this one the regular way. You still have enough steam to finish the fight though. You grab the hat and gun, but as you look back down, you find that he's gone. There's no body, no blood, all traces of his existence erased save for what your wounds and your loot. You step forward and open the server room door using the various racks to support yourself you push through to the terminal and open the files that were the goal of this far longer than standard mission.
Look for a coil of anything conductive, either on my dead friend or on my way into the server room.
Jam it into the base of my neck and channel "22"
Grab my foe's hat, gun and check his pockets for any items of value or interest.
Finally, if I have not done so already head (back) to the server room.
(If I was unable to find some wiring somehow, even in light fittings like last time etc, just go straight to the server room)
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
Say, before you expire, do you want to be resurrected back at that apartment? We can arrange
for other venues, some false identities, and a few cards to go with it.
Additionally completing this mission has unlocked new resources for our players and more for yourself.
You can all now imprint small Armour Frames that you have previously accessed onto the network to be summoned at
will after enough time has elapsed.
Spoiler: LEVEL UP (click to show/hide)
"Ooh, new toys. It's just like Christmas. Anyway, I have an ability that might let me get some more information about that frame than you currently have, if you want to take me down to see it. Although I suppose it could wait until after I sweep the perimeter.""Sure, you have full clearance. We'll send you down, come along now." The agent brings you down through dozens of layers of the facility, the air becoming hot and thick from the depth. After a long elevator ride down you come out before the titanic machine. It stands head and shoulders above even an ARES class. It's, breathtaking, beautiful in the way only divinity can be even in its current state, a wounded god on life support. You activate your scan.
If they take me down to see the frame, use Equipment Check on it, then let the researchers know if I find anything useful for them. If not, go get my new frame and use Equipment Check on it.
But nothing happens.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
No dice, its Defense Matrix is shielding it from our scans.
If you want to know what it is, that I can tell you.
It is a Protector unit. They were mechanical shells created for the purpose of protecting humanity's interests that grant their pilots
virtual godhood.
They hold enough control over reality that physical form was irrelevant in performance impact. As such they could be created in man's image.
At their heart, Frames are imperfect replications, built from what survived the Fall and whatever else is needed to supplement them in
carrying out their purpose. As you can see, there is still a long way to go.
Your new frame like the PHARAOH before it was a LUPUS variant, and the two were like night and day. The PHARAOH screamed power. A cannon so heavy it had to be mounted to the back, arms chained across the front as if barely restrained monsters, and that ominous black lustre of its talons steeped with the promise of bloodshed. The new AVALON on the other hand, it looks sort of like what would happen if you got all of R&D drunk and bet them that they couldn't make a working anime frame. For starters, its got wings. Four of them, golden and mechanical, folded on its back in a distinctively insectoid fashion. The chaingun has been replaced with a sleeker affair, something flatter and wider, mounted to the forearm and possessing a distinct lack of moving parts, must be some kind of energy weapon. The armor bulges at certain points on the legs - thruster housings, like those of larger frames, these must be the jump jets they were talking about, speaking of the armor, it the texture seems to be a bit different as well, some kind of different plating perhaps?
We'll say that you use Equipment Scan here as well since Jus never really carried out a scan on Unit-0.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
AF01-AVALON. LUPUS variant using technology from UNIT-0 and designed for close-range urban warfare.
It is equipped with graphene armor affording it the same ballistics protection at reduced weight
but the armour also leaves it more vulnerable to thermal weaponry.
Primary weapon is a plasma rifle created using the same technology as the ZGMF-SOL:18I unit.
Accurate. But the bolts it fires attenuate with distance and are unsuitable for any engagement beyond midrange,
it is also capable of generating a blade of plasma for close quarters combat. Testing has shown that use of the
blade for can result in the frame or weapon sustaining damage or impairment from the superheated spray
it produces when cutting objects if the user is not careful.
Further testing has suggested that it only ever be referred to as a 'bayonet' lest users become too eager in
its use and start slashing random objects or going for needlessly flashy attacks instead of a quick stab to
the cockpit.
Energy-based jump jets allow it to make short hops to close in or traverse rough terrain.
The new weapon and thrusters have greatly increased the required generator outputs to operate it,
those wings are heatsinks and can be deployed to cool the frame faster or to glide and skim over
short obstacles.
"Would you just die already?"[COMP: 11/8] Spell, 12 ixc
Same as before!
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 8 vs. 5] Spell attack and Caladlebolg
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 4 vs. 6] Avoiding the beams
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 8 vs. 6] Gargoyle attack
You strike out with a new burst of necrotic energy at the offending PUPPET frames striking one down as it's central core begins to disintegrate causing it to fly into a building in a sooty explosion of rocket fuel. The blast rocks the battlefield slightly and you are thrown off balance. The PUPPET that remains takes advantage of your momentary imbalance and puts a beam straight through your right arm.
Nothing happens. Nothing at all. It was the last PUPPET so there were no other targeting beams for its attack to intersect, and no intersections means no explosions. Which is to say it couldn't do much. Well, it could try punching you but considering its light armor and your combination of magic, speed, and shotgun? You wouldn't be betting on their odds.
Especially not when your gargoyle pins it to a building and rakes apart the flailing frame with its entropic claws.
A whoop of joy comes from the remaining soldiers as they stick their heads out, cautiously training their weapons on the sphere of silvery light. A few look your way, none for very long, you are still a bogeyman after all, yeah you're the bogeyman who saved them but also the one who just gave a live demonstration of what carnage he's capable of.
Eventually one of them speaks, NEE, a captain - you've seen the uniform plenty after all, "Um (fuck) uh thanks. I, I don't think we'd have gotten out of that alive if it weren't for you. You have no idea how scared we were-" he bites his tongue "or... maybe you do! I, I'm not saying you're a monster or anything but... er, um" he looks around at his comrades for help, his comrades who ware slowly backing away "y'know... the armor and freaky voic-" wow, he's like a deer caught in the headlights "L-look, you're scary okay! With your armor and your magic and, " he gestures at your gargoyle "whatever that is. I don't know how to talk to you okay? (Fuck) Er, do you drink? Could we buy you a beer or something? I mean, you did just save all our asses."
Spoiler: LEVEL UP (click to show/hide)
((All of you gained a new ability due to Bigf00t completing his mission. Check the datasheet for more info!))
Post by: Empiricist on July 12, 2017, 07:40:12 am
| < | Turn 55 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7462802#msg7462802) | | | Turn 56 | | | Turn 57 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7530205#msg7530205) | > |
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: TheBiggerFish (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Wipeout (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Flabort (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
List of Available Frames (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6207913#msg6207913)
Post by: Empiricist on July 12, 2017, 07:54:32 am
Post by: flabort on July 12, 2017, 10:05:31 am
If they don't notice me, try a spell on the other one with a Smart Cannon. If not, still try the spell, but on whichever is closest. The spell in question is f72fffad-f
Post by: FallacyofUrist on July 12, 2017, 10:15:00 am
"Well, that's a thing I can do."
If the hallway is big enough for a frame to fit in it, Deploy Frame: Lupus and dakka the flowers into oblivion. If it fits barely and wouldn't allow entry but would still work, summon it around myself. If it wouldn't fit... gravity gun the flowers. If that clears them out enough, head to the end of the hallway and drop down.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on July 12, 2017, 11:24:39 am
"You know what? That's a really good question. I was supposed to observe something on this floor, but forgot what, and I'm kinda supposed to do something about this magic bullshit happening around... But for starters let's treat your wound."
Provide first aid to the smart guy, and then to those who need it (assuming there's any and it would help in first place). Check out the frame they were building, estimate amount of work to complete it and viability for me to do so. Make a small talk with the guy to raise affection levels and figure out what they are here for exactly.
"My dear Queen, I know you can't tell what the magic words do, but can you at least tell if there's magic for healing?"
Post by: flabort on July 12, 2017, 11:30:46 am
((Only frame I have piloted is LATRANS, so I can't summon anything.))((I think any frame any of us have piloted can be deployed.))
Post by: Empiricist on July 12, 2017, 06:45:16 pm
((Yeah that, anything piloted by a PC. So everything in that list is available to anyone.((Only frame I have piloted is LATRANS, so I can't summon anything.))((I think any frame any of us have piloted can be deployed.))
Oh and PUPPETs are available since at least one allied NPC here has piloted one before.))
Post by: Hawk132 on July 13, 2017, 03:28:07 pm
Post by: Empiricist on July 13, 2017, 10:17:51 pm
((What about DIRUS? I'll get on my action as soon as I know the answer to this.))((We were originally thinking no (hence why it wasn't initially listed) because
((The AF01-DIRUS is now available for all players.))
Post by: Bigf00t on July 13, 2017, 11:26:29 pm
(("[+] Tactical Genius" ... *giggle* oh pishposh :P if you're not careful I'll grow an ego!Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]Say, before you expire, do you want to be resurrected back at that apartment? We can arrange
for other venues, some false identities, and a few cards to go with it.
Additionally completing this mission has unlocked new resources for our players and more for yourself.
You can all now imprint small Armour Frames that you have previously accessed onto the network to be summoned at
will after enough time has elapsed.Spoiler: LEVEL UP (click to show/hide)
Also... DAT ABILITY *HHHNNGG*))
Ned allows his body to slump down to the ground, and thinks about even just an hour ago, it almost seems an eternity away.
Fortunately he's lost so much blood already the pain is little more than a dull throb, even though he knows with each throb he inches closer to death. Fortunately Ned has a gatekeeper at death's door.
"If you've got another mission for me, feel free to send me wherever you need. Otherwise I might just have another look at that strange individual's apartment, see if I can't bust that safe."
Ned looks down at the vast collection of items spilling out of his pockets.
"... I understand asking to keep the m60 might be a bit much, but I'll ask anyway... but at the very least... could I keep the hat?"
Ned smiles to himself, but as his eyes close he hears not the answer.
Spoiler: NOTES AND SKILL ALLOCATIONS ETC (click to show/hide)
((PS: Hint to bring my own damn wire noted))
Post by: Hawk132 on July 14, 2017, 05:46:17 am
"Beer is good. Are there any more hostiles in the area? I'm supposed to help you in getting out of here."
+4 UTAR
+4 TRAN
If there's indeed stuff to be killed still or they think they'll need my support, summon my old buddy DIRUS and get in.
If not and they can manage alone, go check out that demonic core Jus mentioned previously.
Post by: Beirus on July 14, 2017, 01:35:10 pm
Time to patrol and secure the perimeter.
Post by: The Ensorceler on July 30, 2017, 01:14:22 am
I guess I'll post an action tomorrow no matter what.))
Iliana reels back a bit in shock before returning to her attempts to impress the other frame pilot,"Ahem. As I was saying, soldier, my magic is quite powerful. I'm, uh, sorry about the damage to your frame, so if there's any way I can make it up to you...?" Quickly, while I'm still good at magic, try a bigger bigger spell out a9 9a 19 -a(comp 16).
Post by: Empiricist on August 08, 2017, 08:34:20 am
Also, as far as the frames go, Can we "Imprint" a frame if we customize one (either summoned or found), and will it keep the customizations?((You can imprint them, but it imprints the "base" form of their type/model, hence why there's only one LANDSKNECHT option which uses the default configuration no one's even seen yet. There's lore reasons for this and totally not just so that we don't have to manage a frames list that becomes an ever-expanding pile of LANDSKNECHTs that differ by only one part! :P))
Post by: Corsair on August 08, 2017, 08:46:27 am
Remain prone, remain hidden. For now. From cover, use the 01GPSG to take out one of the ones with Smart Cannons.[UTAR vs. SDEF: 5 vs. 1] Firing on Autocannon Construct #1
If they don't notice me, try a spell on the other one with a Smart Cannon. If not, still try the spell, but on whichever is closest. The spell in question is f72fffad-f
[COMP: 13/8] Spell, f7 2f ffad -f
[TRAN: AUTOFAILURE] Synchronization
[UTAR vs. MDEF: AUTOSUCCESS] Spell attack on Autocannon Construct #2
You take aim and fire compensating for the lack of kick from the weapon by aiming at the head and letting your natural downward pull on the weapon sweep your fire down its body. Small pellucid bubbles of twisted space rush out the barrel of your gun, their perfectly straight trajectories terminating mere inches from your target's body. The only sound you hear is the construct's metallic death screech as it unseen forces tear its form apart, its complex internal mechanisms reduced to a neat pile of clockwork and circuitry in mere seconds.
The others go on alert, spreading out amidst noises for which there are no name, half-bestial half-robotic, unable to determine you position.
One begins stalking towards you flicking it's scythe from side to side with anticipation, you ready your spell, focusing on the words and moving your hand forward to try and direct whatever sorcery is about to occur.
You point at the construct and a swarm of small sulphurous (but not sulphur-laden) black insects stream from your index finger and towards the construct. They just sort of mill around it then begin spreading out as if searching for something. Something's wrong? Is it their composition? The mechanical violence, the bestial rage, and that buzzing that resembles the sound of static. It appears that what you have created are kin to the construct, forged of similar substances, and thus bound to ally with one another, said construct now however, having seen bees fly out from your hiding spot is keenly aware of something fucky going on and has decided to investigate.
James Heign:While relatively spacious a frame isn't going to fit down the hallway unfortunately. Not even a little bit. So you line up the gravity gun and fire.
"Well, that's a thing I can do."
If the hallway is big enough for a frame to fit in it, Deploy Frame: Lupus and dakka the flowers into oblivion. If it fits barely and wouldn't allow entry but would still work, summon it around myself. If it wouldn't fit... gravity gun the flowers. If that clears them out enough, head to the end of the hallway and drop down.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: AUTOSUCCESS] Gravitational mass murder
The tendrils crush into the floor with the sudden increase of gravity and the flowers are soon torn away with them. leaving sparking holes in the otherwise pristine walls.
Well that worked well. You pull up a hatch on the floor and drop into a service area filled with strange arcane circuits and thankfully normal old fashioned high voltage cabling. The cabling leads along the walls in both directions, one heading further in to the facility which is obviously the more sane design choice. Unless at some point it became fashionable to put your power circuits in your lobby for some reason? Because that's the other path.
[This will get a mini update being a both minor and important choice]
"You know what? That's a really good question. I was supposed to observe something on this floor, but forgot what, and I'm kinda supposed to do something about this magic bullshit happening around... But for starters let's treat your wound."You walk over to your new friend and examine the extent of his injuries, his arm is going to be relatively useless for at least a few weeks possibly a month and he will probably need surgery to remove all the bullet fragments. But first aid ensures that his remaining blood stays inside him and should keep him from keeling over suddenly.
Provide first aid to the smart guy, and then to those who need it (assuming there's any and it would help in first place). Check out the frame they were building, estimate amount of work to complete it and viability for me to do so. Make a small talk with the guy to raise affection levels and figure out what they are here for exactly.
"My dear Queen, I know you can't tell what the magic words do, but can you at least tell if there's magic for healing?"
"Yeah thanks, at least I'm not going to bleed to death now. How'd you even find us? Nobody's supposed to be in this section."
While continuing the small talk you examine the frame. It appears to be a custom model light frame designed to be easily dissassembled for transport. Its components are universally name-branded and very high performance, shaped and streamlined like a sports car but armored with some very high quality plating, and as you are sure to note, unlike the PHARAOH and FTL-enabled LATRANS frame, completely free of black magic and black box fuckery.
Most of the fiddly construction is complete but the legs still need to be assembled and then the armour has to be attached which while the engine hoist is useful for, is still a pain in the ass. Fesable to fix most definitely, especially for an engineer such as yourself. Back to this huh? Back to how it all began. Though you this time around it was your turn to do the interrupting.
"Yes, there are hundreds of ways just some of them result in horrific monstrosities, well actually some of them don't is more accurate, there are some kinks in the system... by which I mean unless you want to transmute people whole then you really shouldn't experiment. At least if you aren't aiming to create horrific abominations that pray for a death that never comes~ cos you'know that's cool too~" she nods at the frame and the soldier.
Ned allows his body to slump down to the ground, and thinks about even just an hour ago, it almost seems an eternity away.
Fortunately he's lost so much blood already the pain is little more than a dull throb, even though he knows with each throb he inches closer to death. Fortunately Ned has a gatekeeper at death's door.
"If you've got another mission for me, feel free to send me wherever you need. Otherwise I might just have another look at that strange individual's apartment, see if I can't bust that safe."
Ned looks down at the vast collection of items spilling out of his pockets.
"... I understand asking to keep the m60 might be a bit much, but I'll ask anyway... but at the very least... could I keep the hat?"
Ned smiles to himself, but as his eyes close he hears not the answer.Spoiler: NOTES AND SKILL ALLOCATIONS ETC (click to show/hide)
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
I'll see what I can do.
You wake up again in the strange person's apartment and while the gun is no longer present you do feel the slight weight of
a stylin hat.
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
A gift from your sponsors at Flight of Fantasy, they're awfully stingy with the good stuff I'm afraid. Tell me when you're up for another job, I know some good venues.
[COMP: 3] Spell, 2b
Fizzle.
((Tradecraft Gained: Wild Wasteland))
The Ladlemonger nods."Not that we know of, the demons are more common and whatever that was killed a large number of them. There was someone else here, a frame pilot their frame was fighting the bigest of the demons then there was an explosion and the pilot ejected. I'm not sure what happened to them, but they went carreening off over thata way."
"Beer is good. Are there any more hostiles in the area? I'm supposed to help you in getting out of here."
+4 UTAR
+4 TRAN
If there's indeed stuff to be killed still or they think they'll need my support, summon my old buddy DIRUS and get in.
If not and they can manage alone, go check out that demonic core Jus mentioned previously.
The soldier points at a street leading off the square.
"They saved us from one of the other demons and led us to the core which is in the building where tentacleface was. Then everything went to shit, our PUPPET support arrived but then they just went haywire, just threw away their guys and started pointing at people and obliterating them. Shit's fucked man. I'll admit the assist is appreciated and thankfully we'll be out of here soon."
The gargoyle silently stalks up to you waiting for further commands as the soldiers go about collecting the wounded, and the relatively intact bodies.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Don't mind the pilot, it's one of Red's agents. He's already left the floor anyway.
Your frame's waiting for you up ahead behind the building.
You head on over past a battle scarred building that looks like its entire front has partially melted off, and sure enough, camoflaged under a light dusting of dust and debris, crouching in the ruins of a collapsed balcony is your frame, the AF01-DIRUS. Needless to say quite a few bricks are shat when the soldiers see you walk back out now piloting it, gargoyle riding the top like some sort of
You head out towards the core, entering the building that tentacle-face apparently left from. The foyer is large... too large its expanse now containing a marble floor that quickly becomes broken and rough like quarry blocks as the distance mounts. The ceiling is stretched around this strange place warping it and the skylight is now sun to this warped world. In the air fly bruised flesh creatures like manta rays their undersides slick and mucusy. Then perched amid the warped and bent architecture are spindly creatures clad in armour with blade like arms and legs and coated in clothing of moving chitinous scarabs. In the center of this room the size of a small farm is a lighthouse of brilliant gold and silver beacon shining with potassium red light. The sensors get a closer look and it seems dilapidated up close, made of fools gold and polished steel rather than anything precious.
"No dice on the scan. The Protector, that's what my handler called Unit-0 by the way, does have some reality bending ability that allows"Your insight is appreciated we'll add it to the file. Your operator will be comminications officer Yanis, transferring comm."
it to function in that form as opposed to the boxes on legs we have, but that's really all I could get. Oh, and the pilot is immortal as long as they're
inside. I'm gonna take these new toys out and find something to kill...I mean, test them on. I'll radio back if I run into trouble."
Beirus radios to his Oversight after hopping in the frame.
Time to patrol and secure the perimeter.
"Well then I have to say that I owe you dinner, considering how I now earn enough for a car every month. Anyway systems are green you are go for launch."
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
I ought to warn you, our adversary's presence has twisted this floor the most. You'll see what I mean shortly.
Very shortly.
The displays give a green indicator and you slam the launch button, magnetic coils spring to life and your frame shudders and jerks forward gaining speed as it moves along the electromagnetic mortar track. You launch into open space from the tunnel and you hear a dull hiss as the thrusters ignite.
The floor before you is one you can no longer recognize. A twisted psychedelic metropolis, a great forest sewn by a mad god, both are fitting descriptions. Countless structures form its inpenetrable skyline, structures too mixed and varied to be referred as anything more specific. You see ivory towers. You see floating fortresses of flesh. You see dazzling shopping strips. You see godforsaken blacksites, and you see far more: crystalline expanses, forests nestled within great trees, heavenly spears fortified into keeps by rusted wrought iron, other worlds peering through rifts in the world, and crucified monstrosities turned into make-shift factories by the parasites that course through its dead-yet-living veins in place of blood, to name a few. These structures, they aren't strictly delineated from one another either, some are melded together, disparate conjoined twins; some have been stitched together like architectural Frankenstein's monsters; some contain others, and some that are contained are growing like great cancerous tumors, growing and spreading their influence with blade and bullet alike. Oh yes, it is a violent place, it is most certainly a violent place. Gunfire and artillery streak through the skies, flying beasts and jetpacking figures duke it out in the skies, twisted knights and armored vehicles lying blasted, burning, and frozen in the patchwork streets. Around you, the sound of countless weapons being fired, swung, detonated, thrust, brought to bear, reverberates through what was once under undisputed NEE control.
Yanis calls in and the display changes showing a sensor readout of the colony, holographically enhanced to be 3D.
"We have activity all over the place, preliminary intel is that most of the anomalous units here are stuck in an endless fifty-way war, don't get cocky though - a decent number of them also pose threats to frames. Apparently there's also a dragon over at the gate between floor 0 and 1, demons scattered through floor 4 and biomechanical monsters on the surface. So what do you feel like?"
Judging by the fact that all of the options involve going towards the Floor 0/1 gate, and that the path there, and basically most of this entire floor is reading as a hotbed of enemy activity, no matter what you pick, you'll have to blast a path just to reach them.
Iliana reels back a bit in shock before returning to her attempts to impress the other frame pilot,"Ahem. As I was saying, soldier, my magic is quite powerful. I'm, uh, sorry about the damage to your frame, so if there's any way I can make it up to you...?" Quickly, while I'm still good at magic, try a bigger bigger spell out a9 9a 19 -a(comp 16).[COMP: 4] Spell, a9 9a 19 -a
A fully grown elephant formed of clockwork and brass with leather for skin explodes into existence. Out of your chest. This proves to be fairly bad for your health.
Code: (MALEBRANCHE) [Select]
that, didn't go as planned. let's try that again shall we?
You open your eyes finding yourself lying alone on a pile of uniforms in the remains of a tent. The canvas has been torn open, empty supply boxes and bullet shells littering the ground around you. It's, quiet. Well, by some measure of that word at least. The gunfire chatters away further in the distance, and no one seems to be around. No one save for three clockwork automatons, one of them wields an autocannon, the other standing near it missing an arm. The last one lies motionless across from you, its turnkey destroyed and its weapon looted, it's intact, but it doesn't really seem alive anymore. The two live ones haven't noticed you yet and are picking through the area which is currently devoid of life as far as you can tell.
Must be a cleared area, meaning, you're a ways off from the frontline and where you perished.
Post by: Empiricist on August 08, 2017, 08:46:38 am
| < | Turn 56 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7508616#msg7508616) | | | Turn 57 | | | Turn 58 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7565519#msg7565519) | > |
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: TheBiggerFish (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Wipeout (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Flabort (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
List of Available Frames (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6207913#msg6207913)
Post by: FallacyofUrist on August 08, 2017, 05:24:24 pm
Presumably, not fixing(or whatever I need to do again) this thing would lead to certain death. Use Memento Mori to figure out which way to go. Because if I'm not going in the way the thing is I'm more likely to die due to it exploding or something.
Post by: flabort on August 08, 2017, 08:43:11 pm
Shoot up one with a katana, whichever of the two is closer. Use luck, and cast dcd cd df -o (comp 10) at Autocannon Construct #2.
Clearly at least one of them will have my position now, so as a reaction, if one gets close, Deploy Frame around myself, 0-1 PUPPET/AF and GTFO. If I instead have taken out the ones that know my position, or none get close enough, try to cast vi-v01 (comp 4) at whatever remains/is closest.
Post by: Corsair on August 09, 2017, 05:11:00 am
James Heign:
Presumably, not fixing(or whatever I need to do again) this thing would lead to certain death. Use Memento Mori to figure out which way to go. Because if I'm not going in the way the thing is I'm more likely to die due to it exploding or something.
The path leading outward is slightly less deadly but only just slightly, it is odd that they are so even. Following it the temperature begins to drop rapidly, frost encases the tubes and your breath begins to mist. Eventually you drop into a square room with a large cubic capacitor bank in the center, the floor and capacitors are covered in ice. The system seems to be spooling up but hasn't started charging yet. You can see large power connectors leading into the wall, a small black screen on the wall has a flickering display.
Code: [Select]
Capacitors charging for boot cycle.
Capacitors charged 5/8.
Readying capacitor 6...
Post by: FallacyofUrist on August 09, 2017, 08:39:58 am
"Not letting this happen."
Mechanical smarts say stop additional power from entering. Cut the cables leading into the wall with bound fire axe.
Post by: AoshimaMichio on August 09, 2017, 01:27:01 pm
If he's fine with me borrowing the frame then finish it and have Princess Pink keep company the guy. If not, ask where he would like to be dropped off to and see if I can accommodate his requests.
Red: "Yeah, not gonna experiment with living folks. I'm not that desperate yet."
Post by: Bigf00t on August 12, 2017, 07:02:17 am
Wild Wasteland [Passive]: Strange events happen around the user as if drawn to them or catalyzed by their very presence.((Wild (Wild) Wasteland, an awesome bound Stenson and a Luck based Handler? I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE. AND I LOVE IT))
Summon my brand new smexy hat and put it on my head.
"Thanks Decon, and thanks to the sponsors! I do like a stylish momento."
Use Tradecraft [Luck]
Summon some new clothes (I hope) : "19 87 22"[COMP 14/18] (curious what difference order has in spells if any)
And a little bit of lucky wire for later: "70 83" [COMP 4/18] (will also help pin down exactly what cost is silver)
Put on clothes (if successful, and don't have spikes on the inside or something ridiculous) and grab my wire (again if I didn't f#k it up) and go have a detailed look at that safe. Does it look like a mundane safe? Anything weird about it? Is it biometric, lock or combination secured?
"Anyway Decon more jobs sounds good! But I'm very curious about this safe, and this apartment for that matter. I'm just going to take a crack at the bank here before we leave.. Any details on this job, or is there more than one to pick from?"
Post by: TheBiggerFish on August 13, 2017, 11:40:59 am
I'm shouting at the elephant because I can.
"Keep them busy while I go shoot the things!"
Get me the fastest frame I can and just move and shoot targets of opportunity. Pass the data on the weakpoints off to people.
If they're *still* too fast for me, well...bother. Shoot what I can from out here. Maybe with the infinite ammo PDW, maybe with 59 gzdz, depending on what would work better.
Post by: The Ensorceler on August 14, 2017, 04:08:57 am
Summon an AF01-AVALON and get in. While I familiarize myself with the controls, confirm some suspicions about the spell that killed me -a(comp 16).
Post by: Beirus on August 17, 2017, 03:14:28 pm
Onwards, to take a dragon and make it my mount. Or at least kill it if it doesn't want to let me ride it.
Post by: Corsair on September 13, 2017, 12:08:12 am
"Just a regular dragon? Or the one that freezes everything around it? I've met the second one, but that won't be an easy fight. Still, it's in my way to get anywhere else, so I suppose I'll tackle the dragon first. I was wanting a mount anyway. Oh, and it looks like that presence that is invading our universe is using MC Escher as an architect, and paying him with a steady supply of LSD. Fucking eldritches and their lack of taste.""No dice, it's this weird snake thing. You don't sound too surprised, then again I'd hope our frames wouldn't have much trouble with a regular overgrown lizard. Anyway, navigation's updated, your flight path's open."
Onwards, to take a dragon and make it my mount. Or at least kill it if it doesn't want to let me ride it.
An augmented reality overlay activates showing your flight path as a green filter on the screens. The distance passes quickly beneath you the ride smooth and luxurious compared to the original model. As you approach the target the sensors highlight the area of interest, bringing up a thermal image of a large serpentine creature. Next comes the tactical uplinks from NEE units in the area, it is an unearthly silver and seems to perfectly reflect light incident on it in every wavelength meaning it shows up like a beacon to sensors.
The creature seems to be using a variety of attacks and tactics, the biggest and baddest of them all being some sort of giant orb of energy it periodically spits patterned after one of those yin-yang symbols, and ultimately pretty lacklustre compared to the fucking time-freezing ice. You can see the hammer of bullets and grenade fire into its metallic hide, slowly chipping away at it. Overall the battle seems even and you can quickly make a guess as to why; the creature is a balance of offence and defence with no real special capabilities. Its attacks may have this peculiar look to them, but they ultimately behave the same as regular ballistics. In other words, not much different to regular NEE frames, reducing the combat to just this extended slugfest.
1500 meters to target.
Iliana stands up from the impromptu bed of uniforms and shakily makes her way out of the tent, one hand pressing against her chest several times to check for elephants. After a few false starts, she manages to thank Malebranche, "I owe you so much for this, Malebranche, you... you brought me back to life. I mean, fuck your magic for killing me, but you brought me back to life. Thaaank you. I-I exploded. How did you? I." Iliana stops and regains her composure before continuing, "I need to take you up on the frame thing now. How does this work, I just pick one? I guess I'll have an Avalon, it sounds like if a Puppet wasn't supposed to be so disposable, and I think I can use the mobility."
Summon an AF01-AVALON and get in. While I familiarize myself with the controls, confirm some suspicions about the spell that killed me -a(comp 16).
Code: (MALEBRANCHE) [Select]
magic
frame's waiting outside
You exit the tent and soon find your new frame inside a nearby makeshift maintainance bay, not exactly the place most people would expect to find an NEE frame, though also well-covered enough that only someone looking inside would find it. You climb into the cockpit. You find that it's a different kind of beast to a LANDSKNECHT, cold, utilitarian, lacking all the personal customizations and creatures comfort of your frame, everything sleek and high-tech, a feel that is not nearly as comforting as one would think, probably in part as the words "sleek and high-tech" can also very well describe an emergency ward amongst other things.Still all of the usual things are in the usual places. Your head says you know enough to control it, and your gut says you'll know how to use everything else too when it comes down to it.
[COMP: 10/5] Spell, -a
You feel yourself on a razor's edge between great success and terrible failure, not quite a fifty-fifty split either. It feels, more like a game of Russian Roulette. The kind of gamble that you can rely on, and that which will inevitably spell your doom.
I'm shouting at the elephant because I can.[TRAN: -2] Resist
"Keep them busy while I go shoot the things!"
Get me the fastest frame I can and just move and shoot targets of opportunity. Pass the data on the weakpoints off to people.
If they're *still* too fast for me, well...bother. Shoot what I can from out here. Maybe with the infinite ammo PDW, maybe with 59 gzdz, depending on what would work better.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 0 vs. 6] Opening fire with PUPPET battle rifle
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 9 vs. 1] Autocannon Construct #1 fires upon you
[3] ? ? ?
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 6 vs. 3] Autocannon Construct #2 fires upon the elephant
[5] ? ? ?
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 0 vs. 6] Elephant tries to trample
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 0 vs. 6] Autoscythe Construct #2 counters with a slash
[COMP: 6/4] Spell, 59 dzdz
[UTAR vs. MDEF: AUTOSUCCESS] Spell Attack
The elephant doesn't really respond, it just clicks and looks around with confusion, though seeing as your enhanced sight shows a barrage of shots about to streak into it and not you, it's doing a decent job regardless.
With a burst of speed, you rush into the air in a PUPPET frame as the octarine beam blazes through where you were just standing, your arm swinging down, rifle discharging a round straight down at it only for it to throw itself out the way at the last minute, the attack managing to only make it more angry.
Your pachiderm companion fares even worse. It somehow manages to dodge the barrage with an act of surprising agility, the stray bolts of dust disassembling whatever random rubble they hit save for an old generator that they seem to ricochet off of for some odd reason. And then, with an even more shocking display of speed, barrels straight into the enemy formation in an attempt to trample them. A rather short-lived attempt seeing as the autoscythe-wielding automaton manages to sidestep its charge and run its blade across the creature's side, cleaving deep into its body, causing the entire elephant to spontaneously collapse into a pile of startled woodland creatures.
The haze is beginning to close in on you, your cockpit reeks of fumes now. It's getting harder and harder to see. You're not sure what's coming, but you doubt you'll like it. And with this shooting business clearly not working, you decide to copy your late companion. Tossing the sword up, you bring your frame's now-free hand pointing downwards, great beams of lighting crashing forth, merging, arcing into your foes. As you catch the blade, you see that the constructs are no more, just cooling piles of slag, slowly vanishing into the constricting haze.
Summon my brand new smexy hat and put it on my head.[COMP: 10/5] Spell, 19 87 22
"Thanks Decon, and thanks to the sponsors! I do like a stylish momento."
Use Tradecraft [Luck]
Summon some new clothes (I hope) : "19 87 22"[COMP 14/18] (curious what difference order has in spells if any)
And a little bit of lucky wire for later: "70 83" [COMP 4/18] (will also help pin down exactly what cost is silver)
Put on clothes (if successful, and don't have spikes on the inside or something ridiculous) and grab my wire (again if I didn't f#k it up) and go have a detailed look at that safe. Does it look like a mundane safe? Anything weird about it? Is it biometric, lock or combination secured?
"Anyway Decon more jobs sounds good! But I'm very curious about this safe, and this apartment for that matter. I'm just going to take a crack at the bank here before we leave.. Any details on this job, or is there more than one to pick from?"
[COMP: 2] Spell, 70 83
Your successful spell summons a stylish set of clothes akin to motorcycle leathers made of a similar material but it feels closer to vynil, the surface feels slightly water repellent with a smooth crinckly texture. As you put them on the clothes seem to learn and shift slightly to best accomodate you even changing their physical appearance to better match the non smart hat. With the final look being of a short brown jacket and matching trousers completing your mobster sheec outfit.
The safe is relatively mundane, seems to use a simple thumb scanner. Convenient, yes, secure, no. Could probably fuck with the wiring and get it open, would take a bit of time, but that you have in abundance. That, and magic. Lots and lots of magic. Might be possible to just transmute the entire thing into wax or something and jut cut it open too, though you'd need to somehow jam the wire into the solid safe or locking magic.
Code: (DECHOHERENT) [Select]
There are many opportunities for those willing to undertake their risks.
What sort of game do you wish to play is the question?
"I have magic red eyes. No, seriously. Can't explain it any better. And I got dropped in vicinity by a bus with a skeleton as a driver. Some really funky shit's going down here. Ah, do you mind if I borrow this?""Take it that is absolutely 110% fine by me."
If he's fine with me borrowing the frame then finish it and have Princess Pink keep company the guy. If not, ask where he would like to be dropped off to and see if I can accommodate his requests.
Red: "Yeah, not gonna experiment with living folks. I'm not that desperate yet."
"Aww... but I'm bored and he is so pliable like a good little meat head. Though I did mean the frame rather than this adorable little meat man~"
He seems less terrified by you now likely because the diadem means that he subconsiously knows that in a way you are trustworthy. The work on the frame takes quite a while of straining and welding just to put together the legs, attaching them also takes time and after several hours of frantic back breaking work the thing is mostly done.
It's a Vestige frame, not too surprising there, about the same size class as a LUPUS but sleeker, lighter. Plating's not as thick, construction's not as sturdy, faster though, you can tell that at least, and laden with a very sophisticated array of sensors, probably a spec ops frame by your reckoning. It's, got things that a normal frame shouldn't. Black boxes. Loremaster Tech. You recognise them as vibrational dampeners, the kind used by starships to kill the tremors of their engines. Certainly not something you'd expect to see on a frame, much less one this small. Armaments consist of a back-mounted munitions launcher, not sure what's loaded with, and a machine-gun, chambered for caliber so low that it'd struggle to do much damage to most frames and sporting some kind of underslung bayonet that judging by its mechanisms, would function sort of like a captive bolt pistol on steroids. There's also six small drones attached to it, they don't seem to have any armaments.
The only thing to left consider is power as the current power source amounts to a well-contained demon core, not a demon demon core mind you, no if it were some random magical infernal bullshit it'd probably be easier, no what you're dealing with is a miniature nuclear reactor that is quite liable to become a miniature dirty if not outright nuclear bomb at the drop of a hat, which while providing ludicrous amounts of energy isn't exactly something most insurers are willing to cover either.
((Frame Imprinted: 04CORF))
James Heign:With a swift blow you run the axe head across the cable, severing them in a shower of sparks, this proves to be of distressingly little help as the wires rapidly re-fuse together, metal fusing to metal, all signs of the cuts slowly fading.
"Not letting this happen."
Mechanical smarts say stop additional power from entering. Cut the cables leading into the wall with bound fire axe.
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
Damn it!
It must still have some of its repair functions online.
Find something fancier, more complex. Break it.
As you ponder this conundrum a synthetic voice speaks out a vaguely feminine which halts between complex syllables:
Unauthorized personnel; damage to capacitor stack 8; deploying drone
A droplet of oil begins to form on one wall ballooning outwards as a dark black mass of shifting metallic gunk. It eventually pops off the wall and begins floating towards where the cables have patched themselves. It begins projecting a small laser onto the cable improving the fix. It doesn't appear to have noticed you yet or perhaps it is simply leaving your brutal and no doubt unpleasant murder for later.
Well, stick a fork in me. I gave it allies. Allied bees.The two begin rushing towards you weapons ready and the gunner begins firing at you with his magic laser gun, beams of octarine roaring out towards you.
Shoot up one with a katana, whichever of the two is closer. Use luck, and cast dcd cd df -o (comp 10) at Autocannon Construct #2.
Clearly at least one of them will have my position now, so as a reaction, if one gets close, Deploy Frame around myself, 0-1 PUPPET/AF and GTFO. If I instead have taken out the ones that know my position, or none get close enough, try to cast vi-v01 (comp 4) at whatever remains/is closest.
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 2 vs. 1] Autocannon Construct #2 fires upon you
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 7 vs. 4] Firing upon Sanguine Automaton #1
A beam grazes your leg, exploding your flesh, making you stumble for a moment. The wound is bad, but it's treatable, definitely could've been worse, armor managed to repulse most of the energy. Your bubbles meanwhile strike your target's arm. Most of them at least, it managed to slice some of them appart with its accursed blade, but the ones that got through get to work tearing apar thte screeching construct's arm and are now moving onto the rest of its body.
You summon your frame which appears as a single instantaneous pop into reality just an abrupt transition rather than any discernable passing of time. The thrusters cycle up almost instantly and the outlets glow cherry red as the heat exhaust hits several hundred kelvin, the light frame leaping from the ground with a powerful jump that gives you second thoughts about the position of your stomach.
Post by: Empiricist on September 13, 2017, 12:09:38 am
| < | Turn 57 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7530205#msg7530205) | | | Turn 58 | | | Turn 59 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7647766#msg7647766) | > |
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Aoshima Michio (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: TheBiggerFish (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Wipeout (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Flabort (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
List of Available Frames (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6207913#msg6207913)
Post by: Bigf00t on September 13, 2017, 06:26:42 am
In a hybrid of both science and desire for some of the most ridiculous common house tools of all time:Code: (DECHOHERENT) [Select]There are many opportunities for those willing to undertake their risks.
What sort of game do you wish to play is the question?
"19 c8 05" (12/18 COMP)
"9c" (6/18 COMP)
Kinda looking for a screwdriver with a (safe) leather handle and a screwdriver-y core of what I have in my notes as "Blood Metal". All I know is I don't want to touch it without testing it first (Which is where the lump of flesh comes in!) :P
"Second verse same as the first? Something of a mystery, a puzzle or any tricky situation that needs just a little lateral thought. I must admit I greatly enjoyed our ill-fated corporate espionage earlier. Perhaps even some more... primary directives? You didn't bet on me with no rhyme or reason after all, the house always wins and all that.
Eschewing all that dump me in a warzone and I'll make my own problems ;) ."
While speaking to Decon, on noting the simple nature of the safe Ned grabs some thin plastic or paper from the table adorned with all the lovely drawings, carefully sprinkles and blows some dust on the thumbprint reader and presses the plastic/paper on the reader with his thumb. Hopefully the previous user didn't take the time to wipe off his thumbprint before Armageddon came knocking.
(Thin plastic preferred, or the suit I guess if it has appropriate gloves?)
(If "no dust can be found" some charcoal shavings/dust from same table)
((Huh, I wonder if the Squire is still knocking around.. almost feel bad now))
Post by: FallacyofUrist on September 13, 2017, 04:38:47 pm
If the room is big enough to fit a frame in: summon a Lupus around myself and shoot bloody everything that looks even the slightest bit important with the chaingun.
Else:
"Blast."
Axe the capacitors. If the drone attacks me, dodge and counterattack with the gravity gun.
Post by: Bigf00t on September 15, 2017, 11:56:33 pm
shoot bloody everything that looks even the slightest bit important with the chaingun.((Ahh, the tried and tested "percussive maintenance" technique turned on it's head. I dig it ;) ))
Post by: Beirus on September 16, 2017, 12:29:42 am
Not compared to what I've seen, at least. Oh well, I guess I'll just kill it. Maybe I can make one of those demons on the other floor be my mount." Beirus responds
Line up a shot on the Dragon while it's distracted and do a plasma strafing run. Circle back in preparation for a second run if it isn't dead. If I have to land, prepare to use my jumpjets to dodge any retaliation.
Post by: The Ensorceler on September 22, 2017, 01:32:55 am
Post by: AoshimaMichio on October 03, 2017, 09:55:37 am
Post by: Empiricist on October 03, 2017, 05:26:52 pm
((Emp & Corsair: Just so you know, I'm not frequenting on the forum much anymore. So count me out of the game too.))((Understood. It's been fun and in case we don't see you around again, we wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors.))
Post by: Bigf00t on October 04, 2017, 03:01:20 am
((Emp & Corsair: Just so you know, I'm not frequenting on the forum much anymore. So count me out of the game too.))Au revoir Aoshi! I will always value your contribution to SCIENCE :'(
Post by: Bigf00t on October 23, 2017, 06:21:29 pm
You guys bogged down in exams or the like?((Emp & Corsair: Just so you know, I'm not frequenting on the forum much anymore. So count me out of the game too.))((Understood. It's been fun and in case we don't see you around again, we wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors.))
Post by: Empiricist on October 25, 2017, 07:54:06 am
Post by: TheBiggerFish on October 25, 2017, 02:49:59 pm
Post by: Corsair on November 02, 2017, 08:01:46 am
Post by: Corsair on December 19, 2017, 07:51:23 am
In a hybrid of both science and desire for some of the most ridiculous common house tools of all time:
"19 c8 05" (12/18 COMP)
"9c" (6/18 COMP)
Kinda looking for a screwdriver with a (safe) leather handle and a screwdriver-y core of what I have in my notes as "Blood Metal". All I know is I don't want to touch it without testing it first (Which is where the lump of flesh comes in!) :P
"Second verse same as the first? Something of a mystery, a puzzle or any tricky situation that needs just a little lateral thought. I must admit I greatly enjoyed our ill-fated corporate espionage earlier. Perhaps even some more... primary directives? You didn't bet on me with no rhyme or reason after all, the house always wins and all that.
Eschewing all that dump me in a warzone and I'll make my own problems ;) ."
While speaking to Decon, on noting the simple nature of the safe Ned grabs some thin plastic or paper from the table adorned with all the lovely drawings, carefully sprinkles and blows some dust on the thumbprint reader and presses the plastic/paper on the reader with his thumb. Hopefully the previous user didn't take the time to wipe off his thumbprint before Armageddon came knocking.
(Thin plastic preferred, or the suit I guess if it has appropriate gloves?)
(If "no dust can be found" some charcoal shavings/dust from same table)
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
Oh don't you worry, we have suitable venue for you. We need you to sneak into Floor 0 and reactivate the defense grid nodes.
[COMP: 2/5] Spell, 19 c8 05
[COMP: 4/2] Spell, 9c
Your first spell summons a vintage screw-driver with a wooden leather-wrapped handle and fresh bloodstains on the tip, though said bloodstains are probably more to do with how you summoned it embedded through your forearm than its elemental composition. Ow.
Your second spell summons... a pile of bloody offal and meat, thank god you don't have to clean that up.
The safe opens easily enough, for all its reputation in the media, biometrics is more a matter of convenience than security, indeed it needs to accept a rather wide margin of error to even function in the first place to account for changes in the orientation, pressure, and general state of one's fingerprint, and in the case of this bargain-bin safe? That margin of error is more than enough for a little bit of dust and paper to crack it. Inside are several pages of handwritten notes so dense the paper is nearly black, countless perfectly scribed diagrams almost seeming to echo under your augmented vision.
It's hard to really make anything out, anything coherent at least, a few traces and words visible where it's less dense, but that's about it. You catch glimpses of mentions of conspiracies, every conspiracy, the greatest hits at least, substances being injected into drinking water, governments being comprised of inhuman forces, secret pacts being made with aliens, it's nothing new. Though they have to their credit at least mixed it up a few times with that sorta New Age cosmology and doomsaying, talk of the end being nigh, something about simulation theory and the holographic principle, and, hmm, it's pretty hard to make out, but there's a rough sketch of some sort of figure with their arms outstretched and something protruding from their chest.
James Heign:Unfortunately the room proves to be just too small to summon in a frame, if you had a way to blast more the place to make more room you'd be able to, but then again, if you could you probably wouldn't be in need of a frame in the first place. You swing your axe into the capacitors heroically, madly, frantically chopping again and again but unable to really do serious damage, the casing begins to dent but as you begin to make headway the drone finally figures out that it should stop you and fires a high energy cutting laser at you to make you go away, carving a burning swathe in the floor.
If the room is big enough to fit a frame in: summon a Lupus around myself and shoot bloody everything that looks even the slightest bit important with the chaingun.
Else:
"Blast."
Axe the capacitors. If the drone attacks me, dodge and counterattack with the gravity gun.
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 9 vs. 1] Evading the laser.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 1 vs. -2] Returning fire with gravity gun.
It sweeps upwards at an alarming pace, though by that point you're well out of the way. In fact it seems to have helped you more than anything, as with a burst of flames, sparks, and plastic fumes it burns through the capacitor.
There is a brief pause as time stretches from your enhanced senses, the capacitor begins to heat up from the center glowing cherry red then bright yellow as millions of coloumbs of electricity suddenly surge through its structure, no longer contained by its cage. You begin to dodge twisting towards the vent and diving inside before foot long spears of white hot metal spray the room. You can smell ozone as the power of all the capacitors is dumped through the system at once. You should run.
Code: (SOTERIOLOGIST) [Select]
Good job so far, but do not rest yet, the overload gave it 23 nanoseconds of active time.
A transmission has been detected from this facility.
Triangulation and baysian theory has detected a MASTER unit splinter program activating within
"Delicious TV Studios".
Location marked. Destroy it.
This will be an interesting episode of Platinum Chef.
"Oh, it's one of those Dragons. Fits with the yin-yang theme it's got, but it doesn't seem that strong.[UTAR vs. SDEF: 7 vs. 5] Strafing the dragon
Not compared to what I've seen, at least. Oh well, I guess I'll just kill it. Maybe I can make one of those demons on the other floor be my mount." Beirus responds
Line up a shot on the Dragon while it's distracted and do a plasma strafing run. Circle back in preparation for a second run if it isn't dead. If I have to land, prepare to use my jumpjets to dodge any retaliation.
[MDEF vs. UTAR: 7 vs. 1] Evading the dragon's breath
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 4 vs. 7] Evading the dragon's tackle
Wings glowing with heat, thrusters flaring to life, your frame, doesn't quite fly. Flying is for larger frames, frames that can house all the dedicated thrusters and auxillary systems needed to support them, the AVALON? It had a hell of a time craming everything needed to support its weapon systems and still remain upright. No, the AVALON does not fly so much as it hurls it through the air, an extended burn of its jump jets sending you hurtling through the air, the duration just long enough to stretch out acceleration as to not cause actual injury, though a bit of discomfort was most certainly on the menu.
Stabilizing thrusters, a sort of vestigial facsimile of the ones found on true flight frames kick into action, keeping you mostly upright and helping keep your weapon pointed right on target.
The familiar roar of plasma cries through your feed, forceful, intense, even when digitally muffled as it were now. The bolts crash into the serpent's side denoating as their containment fields give way, the beast's scales burning red hot, some ablating away under the onslaught, giving way for the plasma to sink in deeper, ripping into its battlescarred form as it is send careening into a building.
The visions in your gaze, the predicted attacks and movements, they fade away, dwindling in number. You've forced it into a corner, a disadvantage, a poor footing, though judging by the vigor of the remaining few phantasms, what you haven't done is wound it, not deeply enough at least. Whatever lay beneath that plating, it wasn't too important.
A breath attack, less a jet, and more a semi-directed explosion crashes towards you, or rather where you would've been had you not predicted it already. Brilliant tongues of what ressemble silvery flames sweeping across distance buildings, cracking and cratering as if they were struck by something far more massive. The dragon shifts and in your enhanced sight you see the beginnings of a lunging strike, like that of a viper, if vipers were giant, flight-capable, and liked to fill their mouths with orbs of burning energy beforehand.
"So, not to sound greedy, Mal, but does that work forever? I full stop can't die anymore?" Whatever Malebranche's answer,
Illiana grins and regains her self confidence. She was a frame pilot, and a damn good one. Going out on the front lines on foot to practice
being a wizard had been a bad plan, but in a frame she'd be just fine. "Lets defend some camps!"
Summon up a weapon 59 66 66 a9(comp 16) and, if it isn't mutilating the floor when it appears, pick it up in my frame's free hand.
Then leave the maitenance bay to engage the constructs.
Try to disable the autocannon quickly by using the Avalon's jump jets to get in close enough for a swing of my new weapon
(or the plasma bayonet if new weapon wasn't usable).
Code: (MALEBRANCHE) [Select]
ur existence is a constant, congrats[COMP: 7/7] Spell, 59 66 66 a9
You summon an enormous conglomeration of springs, gears, and brass, a clockwork scythe scaled up for your frame and so dizzingly complex you have no idea what it actually does, or how it won't shatter the moment you hit anything with it. Indeed, the only thing you do understand about it is the turn-key hooked up to the mainspring and the mechanism rigged to a latch on the handle that, if you understand it correctly, will allow the mechanisms to move when pushed down. At any rate it isn't murdering the floor, and after picking it up and winding it up, it still isn't trying to murder anything either, so you give it quick push.
There's a roar of thunder as the scythe's blade is momentarily wreathed in electricity, halting only when you relax your grip on the mechanism. You're not entirely sure how it's doing that, but you've a feeling that you won't be finding out any time soon.
You start moving out of the bay, slowly at first and then with increasing speed as you get better control of the system, understanding its flow better and better. With a kick you take off and quickly identify the group of constructs in the heads up display, setting off your jump jets you rocket forwards at a terrifying rate, lashing out with the scythe as you depress the mechanism once more.
You engage the jets and fly towards your target faster than it can react and lash out with your scythe.
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 3 vs. 4] Scythe attack on the constructs, evading the electrical arcs is impossible
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 8 vs. 6] Avoiding an autoscythe counterattack
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 6 vs. 4] Avoiding an autoscythe counterattack
The scythe swings through the air inches from the smartcannon construct as the group leaps back in unison, sparks leaping between the two as the scythe grinds against its metallic form and lightning crashes through the rest of their formation.
The autocannon construct falls backwards while the autoscythe weilding constructs move in to attack seemingly undaunted by your assault. QUickly jamming the throttle in full reverse, you step backwards, not too far, but far enough that their counter attack misses, pivoting and stepping to the side, you bring your own weapon back around, the blade now swinging too fast for the constructs to avoid, not with their own gears partially melted from the prior discharge, and you quickly cleave both in half in short order. The autocannon construct stands alone now, well, it would stand alone it could actually get back up, it seems that its internals are pretty badly messed up from that first strike, seeing as MALEBRANCHE's predictions for it are half-comprised of it shuddering in place from fused gears.
Up up up up up put of the smog and try to shoot the kill points if I can.You fly up higher pushing the engines at 127%, what little plating there is around the thrusters burning bright like a setting sun and surrounded by a mirage of ripples as they displace massive amounts of heat, kept from melting only by the airflow past them. As you push just below melting your entire frame to slag and clear one kilometer, the fumes suddenly snap out of existence no longer phasing through the atmospheric system, like a rubber band stretched till it breaks.
Floating downwards on your rapidly cooling engines you maintain an altitude of 100 meters above the surface. You see the site of the battle, now clear of everything except for an expanding ring of woodland creatures. At the edge of the zone you see where the "dust" hit some of the rubble, disassembling everything but a diesel generator the size of an apartment air conditioner.
As you continue watching on, the smog begins to coalesce again.
[TRAN: 5] Resistence
[UTAR vs. LTAR: AUTOSUCCESS] Neutralizing the biometal site
...But as it turns out, shooting immobile objects isn't too hard a task. You quickly fire the rifle emptying the clip into the kill points, one shot each with a few repetitions as needed, the twisted fields writhing as your rounds shatter what they strike with seemingly disproportionate force. The smog vanishes completely.
Post by: Empiricist on December 19, 2017, 07:51:35 am
| < | Turn 58 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7565519#msg7565519) | | | Turn 59 | | | Turn 60 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7655988#msg7655988) | > |
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: TheBiggerFish (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Wipeout (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Flabort (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
List of Available Frames (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6207913#msg6207913)
Post by: FallacyofUrist on December 19, 2017, 10:53:36 am
"A hero's job is never done."
Right... run! Or... richochet-fly-move, whatever I do to move. To the next location, this "Delicious TV Studios"! If I need to in order to escape the blast, use Cataphile's Waltz.
Post by: Bigf00t on December 22, 2017, 08:32:09 am
Investigate the screwdriver, poke stuff with it etc, if it proves mundane retry the spell (and test out that one too).
Dig through the notes to see if any of these conspiracies seem to relate to the current goings on, the handers, grimore or the plethora of strange goings on currently
(I'll probably put a more thoughtful turn here post-Christmas, but investigating the screwdriver at least would be rad)
Post by: Beirus on December 24, 2017, 02:15:19 pm
NOW!" He barks the short order in the commanding tone of an officer, the kind of tone that doesn't leave room for refusal.
If they open fire, Use support Override to focus the shots on a single point or few points of the dragon to maximize penetration and damage. If it's charging me, that should make it easier to line up a shot on that energy orb in its mouth, so fire on that with my plasma rifle. To dodge, Use my jump jets or any other mobility options to evade and put myself in a position to stab or shoot its head.
Post by: The Ensorceler on December 24, 2017, 11:52:22 pm
Post by: TheBiggerFish on December 25, 2017, 12:05:53 am
Post by: Corsair on December 25, 2017, 04:59:25 pm
Well, that was good. Reload, Repeat!
You already neutralized the sites, no need to double tap.
Post by: Empiricist on December 30, 2017, 09:07:48 pm
James Heign:You scramble back up into the vent, crawling back to the access panel and climbing out into the control room, now painted red by the warning lights as klaxons scream in a discordant harmony. Running past the dead flowers you soon make it to the hole where the soldiers are waiting on alert at the sudden burst of noise. The sergeant reaches down and helps pull you out of the hole in the floor, just as a blast of fire spits out of it the heat wash singing everyone's eyebrows.
"A hero's job is never done."
Right... run! Or... richochet-fly-move, whatever I do to move. To the next location, this "Delicious TV Studios"! If I need to in order to escape the blast, use Cataphile's Waltz.
"Well that was close, what now? Is it dead?"
You explain at least the basics of the situation, to them, presumably you want them to help. Even if only as redtunics.
"That thing killed good soldiers, I'm not of a mind to stop hunting now."
As now impromptu general you lead your very small army via smartphone map towards "Delicious TV Studios", the streets eerily quiet as you move through, something made all the more unsettling by the fact that you're in the middle of an active warzone, something that isn't exactly well-known its serenity. As you round the corner to Albert St. you notice a sharp drop in temperature and thin tendrils of white fog. As the street progresses the fog thickens to a wall of grey-white and in it you can see something moving.
In case you churn out a new turn before I get back from Christmas:After a bit of poking and prodding you successfully establish that you could've spent all that time doing something else. Your investigation indicates that the screwdriver is more or less mundane, which your intuition says is complete and utter bullshit. That element summoned abyssal black flares and strange runes, which generally aren't what one would consider to be 'normal', and which you half-suspect is probably at least a bit satanic. Really, you should've just gone out and shanked something with it, satanic weapons love that shit! It's like catnip to them or something. Probably! You're not an expert but, seems pretty likely!
Investigate the screwdriver, poke stuff with it etc, if it proves mundane retry the spell (and test out that one too).
Dig through the notes to see if any of these conspiracies seem to relate to the current goings on, the handers, grimore or the plethora of strange goings on currently
(I'll probably put a more thoughtful turn here post-Christmas, but investigating the screwdriver at least would be rad)
[COMP: 9/5] Spell, 19 c8 05
((Just noticed we gave the spell cost for the failure last turn. Whoops!))
Conjuring another one, this time on the floor rather than in your arm and of noticeably higher craftmanship, you get to work trying to decipher the scribbles of a madman.
It's slow work, frustrating even, the notes are extremely dense and you have to strain your eyes and mess around with your viewing angle just to read more than a single word. Honestly, it feels like a waste of time. Your colony is in crisis, indoor storms, gates to hell, occupying forces, and you, you have the power to make a difference. They entrusted you with it, DECOHERENT, they chose you, bequeathed unto you power that would elevate even the lowliest of wretches into something resembling a hero, they augmented your senses, and imbued you with magic, they revealed to you the secrets of the world, the secrets that lay behind the mundane, and let you taste a sip of that heavenly ambrosia they call immortality. There is so much you could do, secrets to plunder, monsters to slay, and what are you doing? Looking for truth in the ramblings of a madman. If this were a game, maybe, maybe it'll make sense in the end, but this is not and it will not, there's no great secret, no esoteric knowledge, just monkeys on typewriters all the way down.
You press on, pointless as this endeavour maybe and for your efforts you're rewarded with little more than brief and tangential references to what you already know - "8 watchers on high", along with something that DECOHERENT shows you about a "lightning devil born in steel and blind desire, that which wished to balance all things in and by itself".
Wow, real useful. Truly this is groundbreaking. It'd have been more productive to just stab yourself in the face with a screwdriver, which you proceed to do so, repeatedly. Y'know, for science and all that.
The last thing through your brain was that screwdriver. The second last thing was something along the lines of "this is really good at face-stabbing".
You awaken back in the apartment. You're not 100% sure what what happened, but you're pretty sure those screwdrivers are made of satan. Or new age offbrand satan. Something along those lines.
Beirus opens a comm channel to the soldiers that were previously fighting the dragon. "Open fire![UTAR vs. MDEF: 7 vs. 3] Support Override
NOW!" He barks the short order in the commanding tone of an officer, the kind of tone that doesn't leave room for refusal.
If they open fire, Use support Override to focus the shots on a single point or few points of the dragon to maximize penetration and damage. If it's charging me, that should make it easier to line up a shot on that energy orb in its mouth, so fire on that with my plasma rifle. To dodge, Use my jump jets or any other mobility options to evade and put myself in a position to stab or shoot its head.
[UTAR vs. SDEF: AUTOFAIL] Firing into the dragon's mouth
[MDEF vs. LTAR: 9 vs. 5] Evading the charge
The soldiers respond on reflex if nothing else, years, well more likely months of training giving them an instinctual response to orders. Your support override kicks in and you can feel the aim of every soldier as time slows down, you adjust and tweak each of them, like playing a symphony on a harp but with white hot death instead.
The dragon half roars before a storm of weapons fire concentrates on its midsection, the condensed storm of bullets tears through it like tissue paper, it's front half rocketing past you, your plasma swallowed up by the burning contents of its maw. Soon enough, its momentum runs out, its rapid ascent turns to an arc, and then a plummet.
Code: (XIV: Temperance Core Equilibrium-Wyrm) [Select]
In the end, all things return to balance.
I too shall return.
This is but a setback.
Its body burns away, a shooting star crashing into the pavement, and when the flames extinguish, all the remains is some ineffable shard of divinity, imprisoned in what could charitably be compared to a deformed skull of twisted silver. The soldiers surround it unsure of what to do, even the captains and lieutenants begin having an impromptu meeting to discuss their course of action.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Don't celebrate just yet, not until you get it into containment.
Like XII, its body is nothing more than a projection by the AI. It can create a new one with time.
You'll need to reunite them and the third member of their local group before we can stabilize them.
It may be safer to keep them each in their own little cage though, the skeletons seem excited about
at the thought of their reunion.
Finish off the last construct with another zap from the electroscythe, then spend some time examining the battlefield. Wind up the electroscythe and send a message to someone important requesting a promotion in light of my apparent immortality and ability to create such things as electroscythes and state of the art mechs from thin air.[LTAR vs. MDEF: 6 vs. 3] Scythe attack on the construct, evading the electrical arcs is impossible
You bring the scythe down upon your foe once again, lightning crashing over it and everything conductive nearby, reducing it to little more than a pile of slag, blasted and split apart from the impact slowly cooling into an ugly pile of melted brass and plastic dotted with half-melted gears. You even smell the ozone and something else that is truly horrible even through your atmospheric system.
You send off a message to the command unit along with some footage from the AVALON's cameras as proof of your vast mystical powers.
Code: (COMMAND_AI) [Select]
Data accepted, scavenger rank updated accordingly:
102,325 th --> 21,553 rd
Congratulations.
Accorded with being in the top 0.5% of scavengers is full access to all scavenging records.
Have a nice day!
Well at least you got your promotion, would have been nice to actually awe a human rather than an overglorified answering machine.
Post by: Empiricist on December 30, 2017, 09:09:04 pm
| < | Turn 59 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7647766#msg7647766) | | | Turn 60 | | | Turn 61 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7693111#msg7693111) | > |
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: TheBiggerFish (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Wipeout (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Flabort (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Waitlist (click to show/hide)
List of Available Frames (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6207913#msg6207913)
Post by: FallacyofUrist on January 01, 2018, 02:11:48 pm
"It's hero time! Fire in the hole!"
Deploy Frame: AF01 Avalon. Get in, open fire with plasma bolts.
Post by: Beirus on January 09, 2018, 01:56:08 am
Afterwards, he opens a channel to HQ."O'Greenahan to Command, the Dragon is dead. I killed it using everyone else's guns. It was just an AI projection, though. Requesting appropriate containment for the skull it left so that the AI doesn't have the chance to rebuild its projection."
And then he takes some time to talk to Jus. "Skeletons, huh? Is that where Whitmore got his ladle from? You think they'd be able to get me a hardsuit or mobility armor modified with powers similar to the dragon I killed, and that could evolve new abilities as I kill each of the other dragons? You know, just incase I have to fight the combined dragons once they're stabilized, presumably in our base because that's literally the worst place it could happen. I'd ask for a Frame, but mobility armor fits into smaller spaces. Also, this containment thing. Does the NEE have the tech to hold this thing without it remanifesting to kill everyone while I'm away? Because that seems like an issue if they don't."
And then he attempts to speak to the AI if he can without looking crazy, maybe getting Jus to act as interpreter or transmitter or something. "You seek balance? Then why do you fight us? Is it because you were attacked first? You must know something much more powerful than us is coming, something that upsets the balance of this universe even as it corrupts it. Would you be willing to work with me to stop it if I gave you a chance? Would you give me the opportunity? Also, and this is unrelated, do you want to be reunited with Frost Wing Emperor-Drake and your other counterpart?"
Mostly talky stuff while waiting to get this thing into containment. Then get this AI into containment if it doesn't give me a reason not to.
Post by: The Ensorceler on January 10, 2018, 09:34:58 pm
Post by: Bigf00t on January 23, 2018, 08:15:17 am
Post by: The Ensorceler on January 23, 2018, 09:58:15 pm
((Can I get a heads up on what's still around on the battlefield? I threw it into my action because I didn't want to waste a turn looking around, but it got skipped.))((Uh... nevermind. I'll figure something out.))
Look for anyone left in need of rescuing, and swoop in guns blazing to distract whatever is attacking them.
If all the fighting still being done is mop-up, try to rack up as many kills as I can before the battle ends.
Post by: Corsair on January 28, 2018, 06:34:22 am
((Can I get a heads up on what's still around on the battlefield? I threw it into my action because I didn't want to waste a turn looking around, but it got skipped.))((Uh... nevermind. I'll figure something out.))
Look for anyone left in need of rescuing, and swoop in guns blazing to distract whatever is attacking them.
If all the fighting still being done is mop-up, try to rack up as many kills as I can before the battle ends.
Sorry, it got missed amid the kerfuffle to get the turn out before January. My bad. :-[
The current area is a large field filled with partially destroyed tents and longer term demountable units. Many of the enemy units have been destroyed at this point and litter the battlefield like broken toys. If you went hunting you could find a few still causing a bother but most have been dealt with and all that remains is mop up operations.
Post by: Corsair on February 16, 2018, 05:35:22 am
James Heign:Nothing. Nothing happens. There is no flash of light, no quaking impact, the frame appears without pomp or ceremony the fog simply roils as it always has, catching you a glimpse of something else in the seemingly empty street, something almost in front of you.
"It's hero time! Fire in the hole!"
Deploy Frame: AF01 Avalon. Get in, open fire with plasma bolts.
"Mother of God... is that a frame?"
You scramble in, up the leg and into upper cockpit access, slipping into the controls and letting the systems turn on for a second as the soldiers slowly fan out around you, covering you flanks. The local area radar activates and begins pinging the surroundings. Everything is strangely blurred. No matter, you unleash a volley into the mist, bolts of plasma streaking forth and crashing down onto pavement, parting the mist for but a moment.
Everything here has been covered with a thin layer of moss, the cars seem to have been almost consumed, rusted like they were abandoned for a centuries rather than hours. The ground is covered in detritus like a forest floor. Amongst them are bones, some animal, some something else entirely, something strange, something unnatural. The radar pings again and in the instant before the mist closes, the instant stretched to eternity by your senses, you see it.
It is behemoth just smaller than a frame, a twisted amalgam of pieces both plant and animal. You could perhaps call it a chimera, but you would be wrong. Its head is the skull of some colossal eagle, but that skull belongs there. It fits there. It fits it more than it fits the eagle. Its eyes too are skulls, smaller skulls, human skulls. But they too belong there, they fit there better than they fit the heads they were taken from. It is the original. The primordial. The quintessential. A forgotten god returned to being, an ancient beast risen once more from the abyss of obscurity.
Risen right into your radar, right into your sights, and right down range of the NEE's latest frame-scale energy rifle.
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 3 vs. 1] Opening fire on forest warden
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 12 vs. 6] Evading the retaliatory swing
Phantasmal images surge forth and multiply, rushing forth with the great dead trees they wear for wings, each image soon punctured by a pale line, a trajectory. Your precognition ends. It rushes forth, and you put a burst right into its chest.
Try as it might, its sword proves ineffective for warding away burning plasma and soon enough its hide is blasted open and set aflame, the leaves and lichen matting its fur proving to be more of a liability than anything else as it is consumed by the flames. Beneath its thick fur in the freshly-inflicted wounds you can see more vines, flexing and pulsating like muscles along a bed of dark old bones.
It, to its credit manages to continue its charge and bring its greatsword into a thrust towards you, the rusted vine-tangled blade surging a deep green as it strikes the empty air you once occupied.
The soldiers, slow on the draw compared to two agents of the supernatural start their own counterattack, axes and spears being brought to bear against its now-vulnerable flanks.
[LTAR vs. SDEF: 3 vs. 7] Witch Knight cleaves with an axe
[LTAR vs. SDEF: -1 vs. 3] Witch Knight cleaves with an axe
[LTAR vs. SDEF: 1 vs. 1] Witch Knight thrusts with a spear
[LTAR vs. SDEF: 4 vs. 3] Witch Knight thrusts with a spear
The monster however parries most of the blows, evidently better suited to dealing with other pieces of sharp metal than burning plasma, one of the axe-weilding Witch Knights overextends with his axe strike and instead is himself parried into a nearby hatchback. The final soldier wielding one of the spears and nets manages to strike into it, spearing it in the side.
The captain with his staff and sword steps up and instead of striking at the creature reaches out a hand while chanting, the orb atop the staff crackling with eldritch energy
[UTAR vs. SDEF: 4 vs. 5] Witch Knight Captain unleashes a spell
Rolling as the air above it fills with fire, the creature barely dodges a sudden rain of glowing dust that sets the ground aflame, vanishing as suddenly as it appeared.
Damn it, why is everyone doing that today?
Beirus projects over his speaker for the soldiers to hear him. "I am Major Beirus O'Greenahan. Back away from the creepy skull. We need to get it into containment.""Acknowledged, local command has been informed wait for our extraction team to bag it then report back to base if necessary for repair."
Afterwards, he opens a channel to HQ."O'Greenahan to Command, the Dragon is dead. I killed it using everyone else's guns. It was just an AI projection, though. Requesting appropriate containment for the skull it left so that the AI doesn't have the chance to rebuild its projection."
And then he takes some time to talk to Jus. "Skeletons, huh? Is that where Whitmore got his ladle from? You think they'd be able to get me a hardsuit or mobility armor modified with powers similar to the dragon I killed, and that could evolve new abilities as I kill each of the other dragons? You know, just incase I have to fight the combined dragons once they're stabilized, presumably in our base because that's literally the worst place it could happen. I'd ask for a Frame, but mobility armor fits into smaller spaces. Also, this containment thing. Does the NEE have the tech to hold this thing without it remanifesting to kill everyone while I'm away? Because that seems like an issue if they don't."
And then he attempts to speak to the AI if he can without looking crazy, maybe getting Jus to act as interpreter or transmitter or something. "You seek balance? Then why do you fight us? Is it because you were attacked first? You must know something much more powerful than us is coming, something that upsets the balance of this universe even as it corrupts it. Would you be willing to work with me to stop it if I gave you a chance? Would you give me the opportunity? Also, and this is unrelated, do you want to be reunited with Frost Wing Emperor-Drake and your other counterpart?"
Mostly talky stuff while waiting to get this thing into containment. Then get this AI into containment if it doesn't give me a reason not to.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Yes, they are an ancient games show from before the Fall their AI circuit is meta-stable
so they are more useful than dangerous.
There's more too it of course, but the entity pulling their strings is the same one that censors our messages.
Their only problem is that they don't really provide anything for free,
you have to do one of their strange challenges or impress them somehow.
Your ability to deduce likely future events is growing better it seems.
This is good.
A request such as that could be fulfilled by the skeletons though the challenge they will devise will not be pleasant.
As for containment, you are in good hands. The NEE has a wealth of experience in dealing with AI technology.
Code: ((XIV: Temperance Core Equilibrium-Wyrm)) [Select]
Objective is reunification.
Units in the vicinity are hostile.
Subsequent heuristics thus dictated that all units in the area should be treated as hostile.
Foreign AI code has been detected.
It will be re-balanced once reunification of units is complete.
Alliance is preferable to continued existence of foreign AI.
Reunification requires all three components to be placed in physical proximity.
Code: (JUS_AD_BELLUM) [Select]
Be wary, reunifying AI network components will lead to changes in outward behaviour.
Whatever alliance you forge with this will only last until its objective is complete.
If it lasts until then.
I would advise that you make sure their reunion keep away from any anomalous materials
or more energetic power sources.
I grab my off-brand-neo-satan tool of screwing things and happily march off towards some way I can make it towards Floor Zero, asking Decon for directions if necessary.
Code: (DECOHERENT) [Select]
Transport arriving momentarily.
Wait outside.
You wait a moment and a bus pulls up, it's ancient in design and commanded by a skeleton with a ragged uniform. The passengers are the same with ragged clothes draped on aged dry bone. The ride is short, unnaturally so and you get out feeling slightly nauseous at the rapid change of location and rotation as the corkscrew of the colony slowly turns above you. You are near the entrance of Floor 0 and hear cheering from nearby, looking around you see a group of soldiers celebrating in a four-way intersection having emerged from their cover. In one corner of the intersection is a white Armour Frame with large golden wings, a type you have never seen before. At its feet is a giant silver dragon skull.
As you examine the rest of the surroundings you see that the further from the entrance you get the stranger things become, with the smog seeming to conceal unnatural shapes looming within its depths.
Look for anyone left in need of rescuing, and swoop in guns blazing to distract whatever is attacking them.With the battle winding down, and yourself being left in one of the already quieter areas, there aren't too many foes left here. Still with your radar you are able to find a reasonably large congregation of constructs huddled around a burning wreckage, two squads worth by your reckoning consisting of four clockworks with autoscythes, four with smart cannons, and two sanguines, all bearing various amounts of battle damage, and all apparently too distracted to notice your approach.
If all the fighting still being done is mop-up, try to rack up as many kills as I can before the battle ends.
It seems doubtful that anyone could be trapped down there, but these kinds of constructs are Dead Hand's signature "don't get out bed in the morning unless it's to eat babies" variety, so there's probably something still alive down there, something that they don't think the fire will finish off.
You approach slowly, creeping up on them as well as a giant robot really can creep up on anything, jump jets readied to close the gap or launch you out the way of an attack. It shouldn't be a problem, for all their firepower it seems that they're awfully conductive, and you just so happen to know a few lightning spells, not to mention the enormous electrically-charged scythe you happen to brandishing. If you do this right, you should be able to destroy or disable most of the group before the others can even react.
You close in, drawing nearer, the sounds of spellfire and metal clashing against metal growing louder and louder. Still nothing, no response. Augmented sight shows everything to be clear, all their offensive manoeuvres still focused on the wreckage. Sixty meters. Fifty. No response. Forty. Thirty. Thirty meters, the maximum range of the AVALON's jump jets. Still clear. Whatever's in there, it has their undivided focus. Strange, you haven't heard of anything like that except for that time with the boxes full of puppies - an entire cornucopia of helpless victims, as opposed to well, however few mostly dead people a burning loading bay can hold. You engage the thrusters.
The AVALON's wings swing outwards, quickly heating red hot as power surges through the frame's subsystems, inertial dampeners and stabilizers sparking to life. The thrusters flare with light as the entire machine lurches forwards and hurls itself towards its quarry. Lightning crashes through the formation as you swing your scythe, the constructs falling like wheat, homicidal robot wheat. All that is left is the wreckage, and what lies within, a large black containment box, effectively a heavily armored shipping container that lies somewhere between the chimeric aesthetics of the System League and the otherwordly sleekness of the Loremaster Consortium, a grid-like mesh of electronics and metamaterial vaguely reminiscent of a faraday cage lies exposed beneath the split and blasted armor that once covered it, sparking, failing.
A dull red light emanates from within the box. A red light that grows brighter with every passing second.
Post by: Empiricist on February 16, 2018, 05:35:34 am
| < | Turn 60 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg7655988#msg7655988) | | | Turn 61 | | | Turn 62 | > |
Spoiler: Beirus (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Fallacy of Urist (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Bigf00t (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The Ensorceler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: TheBiggerFish (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Wipeout (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Flabort (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hawk (in Storage) (click to show/hide)
List of Available Frames (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150460.msg6207913#msg6207913)
Post by: FallacyofUrist on February 16, 2018, 06:50:31 pm
"Every hero needs a good ride. I think a frame counts."
Wait for it to attack again. Get the gravity gun ready while I do. When it next comes, pin it with the gravity gun and then shoot it with the plasma rifle while it's pinned. Using the gravity gun through the frame shouldn't be an issue, it's not like it fires projectiles.
Post by: The Ensorceler on February 17, 2018, 05:59:47 am
In addition to the hotline itself, Iliana looped in her mechanic, "Pack up your gear and get the fastest ride over to my location you can, we've got a real piece of work here, maybe even some kind of AI! It's alive, it's dying, and I'll need you to help me save it."
With the more time sensitive part of the rescue set in motion, Iliana addressed the hotline directly, and began answering their questions about the situation to get some idea how to handle the Puppybox.