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It was inevitable

14 (41.2%)

Winners don't do drugs

6 (17.6%)

I'll be back

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Drink the Kool Aid

6 (17.6%)

Groovy

3 (8.8%)

Insane in the membrane

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Total Members Voted: 34

[Parisbre56]

After the End

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm going.

How about... Underwater parts, Geothermal vents

I'm going, right?

Timing puzzles, hardlight, portals.

Driving, Apocalyptic Destruction, and Panic

Saevus would probably like something he's familiar with, so I suggest Ruins, Medieval.

((On a highway, where we're ON the vehicles, not in them.))

Heh. Thanks. I love highway chases. Movies, games. Especially when people are on vehicles. Everything from the Matrix to Bunnykill.

For the Arena:
Wooden, Tacos

Technobabble, Alien, Orbital.

((Idea tosses:))
Plants vs. Zombies.
It's raining houses.
Time fluxes.

Underwater base or city

<Svajoklis>
Spaceship, military base, Mad scientist lab-castle.

Establishing host control. Standby...

"You sure that's tight?"
Burning fat.
"Yeah, I've got him nice and tight."
"Good. Keep your eyes on him."
"Don't worry. With the stuff I've given him, he won't be moving for hours."
Bone against bone. Click click.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, yeah, I said it's fine. I'm telling you, sleeping will be the least of his worries when he wakes up. Damn. You're stupidly careful today."
"Eh, well..."
Vibrations. Some stronger.

"What do you think the boss wants with him?"
"Sell him probably."
"Hm. Maybe. But-"
"Shhh!"
Shuffling. Metal creaks and slides.
"Uh... Hey boss! Everything good back here!"
"Yep. Everything fine! As you can see, we-"
&&"Did he wake up?"&&

Silence. Touching you.
"Nope. Still out. I've-"
&&"Then wake him."&&
"Right away."
Shaking you.
"Hey, wake up!"
Hitting you.
"Wake up!"
Stabbing you.
"Damn bastard, you-!"
&&"Stop."&&

Opens your eyelids. He sees. Danger. You see. Opportunity.
&&"Who sent you?"&&
Low light. Two holding you. Deformed. Third speaking. Anomaly.
&&"I know what you are. Haven't seen this in years."&&
Another hit. Different.
&&"Where did you come from?"&&
Small room. Rusty. Two doors, large. No reflections.
&&"Where is it?"&&
Another hit. Cold.
&&"Tell me!"&&
Another. Very cold.
&&"I know you can hear me!"&&
More. You have to get out. They're waiting.
&&"I want out!"&&
Eyes open as he is about to hit you. He pauses.
Silence. You look at each other. His dark eyes, floating in the air.
You slip blades under the ropes. Too slow.
&&"Well?"&&
Smoke and light in the corner. Ready. You think.
&&"If you won't speak. Then I have no use for you."&&
Old gun. But it will work. When against your head. Just stop it for a second.
Just need the syringe.
"Wait."
He tenses.
"I can take you to it."
He twists his gun as he thinks.
That's all you need.

Explosions and light and heat. Close and far.
Blood falling on your eye. Too close.
You fall back. The syringe punches through your back and straight into your heart.
That's all you need.

A collection of jagged metal pieces appears in the air, forming scales that float there with the help of your telekinesis, just in time for them to deflect the shrimp-like stinger trying to stab your head. You kick the cheap plastic chair and slide out of the way as it breaks through the flimsy barrier with another strike.

The brute rushes you, trying to shove you against a wall. You form a plate of scrap to block his sight, take a step to the side and the moment he breaks through the plate, you launch a self-heating nail to his head and use his momentum to shove him against the wall.

You turn to face the anomaly that has just now recovered from the chair striking his legs, launching an electric disk at him. The shrimp-man manages to free his stinger from where it was embedded on the floor just in time to get in the way. The anomaly pauses for less than a second before shoving the corpse towards you.

You push the corpse away from you just in time to dodge the dark distortion coming your way. You try to summon but it fizzles and fails, sparks flying into the dark vortex. So you dodge the old fashioned way and hit the floor.

In that time the anomaly has slid open a small metal door on the other side of the small room, pushing away the burning corpse that was blocking him and taking your weakness with him. In his place is...
A bomb!
Unlock the door and-
Shit! Jump!

Highway 2: Aldrin Interchange

You watch the stranger stumble for a moment as he realizes where he is. Despite his apparent vigour and strength, he is still affected. But his confusion doesn't last long enough. A step materializes underneath his foot, letting him jump away from the road. The van behind him explodes a moment later. He smashes against the car following him, partially going through the windshield. The two men inside look at him in shock.

&&"Get him you idiots!"&& you yell at them. But the stranger is quicker. The airbags explode, stunning them, while the car swerves to avoid the burning vehichle in front of it that is now rapidly slowing down. The passenger's seatbelt starts strangling him. The driver reaches for his gun. The stranger jumps to the side, grabs the opening door and slides the driver's chair out.

You twist your vortex to get a better look. He is still holding on. You take out your gun and try to aim at where you think he is in relation to you. It's hard when you can barely see through your human eyes. But practice has given you a good idea of how to do it. You empty your clip and manage to hit one of the car's tires with one of the bullets. It's slowing down, getting further away. But he still won't give up. He jumps in the vehichle, out of the windshield and on the hood, where he starts summoning something.

You stand up, brace yourself and gather your strength. You bring your vortex in front of you and maginfy it as much as you dare. A moment later, a beam of light arcs through the air and disappears inside the vortex, inside your eyes.

You stumble as the world around you shifts and distorts, the darkness clawing at your vision. The wind pushes you, making you fall on the van's roof. You try to hold on.

You can't take much more of this.
&&"Drive! Faster!"&& you try to yell at the van's driver.
You've got to get the fuck out of here.

<Synchronization complete.>
<Primary objective: Eliminate all other players. Be the last player standing.>
<Alternate Primary objective: Hidden.>

Establishing host control. Standby...

Breathe in. Breathe out. Adjust the scope.

You wait for the time, looking at your target, listening to the wind, the groaning of the thin plastic scaffold and the occasional sound carried up here by the wind.
You don't like to look. You aren't used to this place. Feels too large and too small at the same time. In the wrong way.

The time comes and goes, but the signal doesn't.
Where is he? You're running out of time.

A distant rumbling. Orange light reflected off the window your target sits behind.

You look away for a moment. It's not your signal. Down there, in one of the large roads running through the biosphere compartments, there has been a large explosion, fire burning under a small mushroom of black smoke.

You look back at your target. Barriers are closing.
Shit. This is your last chance.
Take the shot or don't?
Either could end in death and destruction for all.
You decide to take it. You'll find a way.
The bright beam of light cuts through the air.
But in the time it has taken for your body to respond to your command, for your hesitant brain to send the nerve impulse, for it to travel to your muscles,  the man has moved away. A small change, just an inch, but at this distance...
You catch a glimpse of the shocked expression of the man with the now half-burnt face before the barrier closes. You feel quite similar. In shock, taking a moment to realise what just happened, how unlucky you were to have your target move at the exact moment you fired.

Some workers are looking at you. And among them, someone dressed differently. Someone armed.

Things are going downhill very quickly.

Trans-Orbital Cannon Assembly: Level 245

You saw the beam of ionized air, you heard it explode. It's been a long time since you heard that noise. It brings back memories.
You raise your weapon out of instinct.
"You! Freeze!"
You don't know what happened. Where he shot. If he shot him.

He turns his weapon towards you. You fire, the shots making holes in the plastic, pieces of it breaking off, plastic shrapnel mixed with blood flying through the air. But a moment later, the blood disappears. He falls through the broken plastic sheet and onto the one below him. He sweeps the gun towards you, firing a beam of light, the plasma blinding you and melting through the scaffolding with a loud buzzing noise. Many fall. You mentally hold the collapsing scafolding steady, just long enough to jump to a steady platform.

He used that chance to retreat. He's in the cannon now. You can feel his echo, a trail left through the air.
You don't know what he did. You don't know what he knows. You don't know in how much danger you or anyone else is.
Through there, he could quickly get down and then away. Do more damage.
You can't let him get away.

<Synchronization complete.>
<Primary objective: Eliminate all other players. Be the last player standing.>
<Alternate Primary objective: Hidden.>

Establishing host control. Standby...

You stare at the towers, lights and reflections on white plastic against the dark background. Their bottoms are dark. Stripped of plastic, their metal skeletons exposed, making them look like matchsticks stuck on the ground. Not that many people would understand this analogy. Haven't seen a matchstick for years down here. and whatever makeshift schools are working down here have better things to deal with than stories about a world that is now dead.

You don't think there's much of any sort of wood left in this place, now that you think about it. If it wasn't for that one desk, you think you'd had forgotten about how it feels by now. No, not many of the young people would understand. They would be much more likely to understand the analogy if you compared them to cigarette butts. Even in the worst of conditions, people still want to smoke. And manage to do so apparently, although what they do smoke, you're really not that sure. You guess bad habits die hard. If only they showed the same dedication to things that actually mattered.

Compartment 1. The brightest part of the city, but still shitty. And it gets worse from there. Compartment 2. Factories stripped of plastic to make shantytowns. Compartment 3. The Flooded Compartment, the tunnels running under it getting worse every day, creating swamp-like arreas in adjacent compartments. Comparment 4. Filled with cramped houses and rotting life support infrastructure that's barely enough to give you food one can eat safely. Comparment 5. A smog-filled and irradiated hole that's all that's keeping the lights on. And so on with the rest. But this slowly dying city is all you have. You regularly look out of here, the only place other than the Cannon overlooking all compartments, to remind yourself of that.

Or at least it was all you had, until recently. Now there is something else. A way out. Now all you have to do is wait.

A distant explosion catches your attention. What the hell is going on down there?
You're not taking any chances. Not with the way things are.
"Computer. Lockdown." you say as you take one final look before turning around.
Better investigate-

A moment later, you are down on the floor and your face is burning, along with a large part of the room.
There's beeping, flashing lights. Bolts lock.
You think... Something bad.
Gas. It starts flooding the room just as you remember about it. Or was it the other way around?
You force yourself to get up. The flashing light guides you to the gas mask.
You just need a few seconds of breathing, of protection from the cold and the lack of oxygen.
A few moments later, ventilation is clearing the room, bringing it back to the way it was... Except for the large gash surrounded by snapped wires and molten metal on the floor and the molten hole in the window. Those are new.

You sit down on the throne-like chair in the center of the room, surrounded by screens and keyboards, and rest your arms on the armrests. With a few taps, a mask descends and starts working on fixing your face. With a few more taps you access whatever cameras are still working in the highway.

You catch a glimpse of them speeding by a camera. It's... that weapon. It's the same as the one that shot at you, but not as good. Disposable. And he's fighting... You don't know. The computer gives you a name and an occupation, but it's just meaningless. Outdated and unhelpful information. All you can tell from that glimpse is that he's an anomaly.
You can't deal with this now. With a few taps, you send a drone to deal with it instead.

And that beam... It came from the Cannon. What cameras do you have in the area? On the ceiling of the biosphere? Yes, one of the wide area cameras. You can't see many details, but you can see where the shot came from. The scaffolding from one of the repair points. It's on fire now. Another camera, closer. One of the guards you assigned there is running. Hopefully chasing whoever shot you. Now where is the shooter? Inside the cannon? Yes, from the looks of it.
Can't let him be in there.
Send another drone or two to deal with it. No explosives on this one.

A red window on the edge of the screen catches your attention.
Activating Keres array...
Checking missile status...
Ker online. Uptime 5 days 8 hours.
Stygere offline.
Akhlys online. Uptime-
The list continues. They are many. As many as you had time for, after you decided to go through with this. And even one is enough.
No, no, no...
Stop.
Unauthorized.
What? That can't-
Try again. Stop.
Unauthorized.
Why?
The order is incompatible with higher level directives.
What directives?
Unauthorized.
Whose directives?
Unauthorized.
Damn computer.
I put those things up there. They're mine. I am ordering you to take them down.
Unauthorized.
If you use those missiles, humans will die.
No response.
People in this city will die.
No response.
You have to protect humans. Correct?
No response.
Grrhh...
Need to think about it in another way.
What clearence is needed to cancel that order?
Military.
Fuck. This can't be happening.
List military.
Unauthorized.
You know the answer. There is no military.
Open communication with Pandeia. Maybe you could warn them-
Unauthorized.
You run your hands through your hair, trying to avoid the mask covering half your face.
This isn't good.
Idiots. All idiots.
Why did they have to come?
Why didn't they listen to you? Do what you asked?
Why isn't this damn machine listening to you?
All you wanted was to be left alone. In peace.
If everyone had done what you asked... If everyone had just. followed. orders.
But some people. They want to destroy it all. Everything you have left. For them, the war still goes on.
You guess you were right. Bad habits die hard.

For a moment you fear about getting blamed for all this. But it doesn't matter now. You'll worry about it if- when you are safe.
You bring the radio close to your mouth and push the button.

Central: Level 132

You rise out of your slumber.
Pushed out of your tank.
Now put inside the elevator. Going up.
Fluid still dripping.
The door opens.

: -repeat, the AI is not to be trusted. It is erratic. It has turned on us- :
The guard looks up from his radio and to you.
"Shit."
"What the fuck is wrong with that drone?" the one next to him asks.
A crossbow appears on your arm.
You try to speak but only a strange noise comes out.
They raise their weapons.
Traitors. Eliminate.
The guards fire.
The bullets stop mid-air.
One guard is pinned to the wall by a bolt and then falls when it vanishes a moment later.
The other is crushed against it by a wave of force.
Targets eliminated.
: -listening, you need to make your way to the communications array and contact- :
You step on the radio, crushing it.
Now, you have to stop someone. You can feel it
The traitor is in here. Somewhere beyond this lobby. You can tell. You can feel it.

<Synchronization complete.>
<Primary objective: Eliminate all other players. Be the last player standing.>
<Alternate Primary objective: Hidden.>

Establishing host control. Standby...

You don't know what you're doing in here. Walking in the ruins of this place.
But the boss told you to search, so you search.
They said they found something here. Something valuable, related to the past. You don't care very much. There's no use poking into the past. It's gone, isn't it?
You don't know what he expects you to find. This place is a maze. And people who come in here tend to not come back right, if they come back at all.
You avoid a bundle of cut wire and the fluid surrounding it.
You don't even know why you're following his orders. Sure, he's scary, but you're scarier. You should probably be boss, now that you think about it. Yeah, you should do that. When you get back. Or maybe right now? Hmmm.

You are distracted from your thoughts by the green glow up ahead. Someone else in here? Or just more broken lights? You hide your glowstick in your pocket, just in case. But as it turns out, it is unnecessary. The room beyond is like a very long corridor, with a large open circular section in the middle. The door you go through is on one side of the corridor. Rusty machines and broken robotic arms line the walls, with the occasional door between them. In the central part of the corridor there is a gap, revealing dark murky waters below. There are weeds growing down there, blinking their glowing white eyes at you occasionally.

The light is coming from the centre of the room. There is a broken pipe in the ceiling. More of that black sludge is dripping through it. Water is coming through one of the walls, next to a circular watertight door. It has a strange green hue to it. As the two mix, the water bubbles and a green glow is emitted, making this room quite brighter than the rest. No use getting close to investigate. Probably gonna turn you green too, if you touch it. Should probably watch your step too. The concrete here is rotten, the metal rusty. And you're not exactly light. Strain this thing too much and you could find yourself bathing in that stuff.

What is interesting is a trail of that glowing green water, leading out of the puddle and towards the other end of the hallway. Hm. Maybe there will be more of those giant roaches around here, like the ones that attacked you earlier. That was a fun distraction while it lasted.

Compartment 3: Maintenence Tunnels

You lie down and cough as hard as you can, trying to get the water out of your lungs. That was close. Too close.
Those things. They were alive. They grabbed you.
Could they really be humans? Their hands... Their faces... They looked like....

You lean against the the wall and try to calm down. You close your eyes. The cold isn't helping. Making you shiver. You try to dry yourself up as best as you can, but it's like that stuff is clinging to you.

After a while, you get up, rub your hand against the wall to dry it up as best you can and reach for your watertight container. Glowstick, yes please, might even warm you if you're lucky. Food, you don't need that, your stomach feels like it's trying to come out of your mouth. The black sticks are for later. And the map. That's probably important.

You check your watch. You've wasted too much time here. It might even be too late. But you can't just give up. You need to keep going. And hope for the best.

You start walking, using the glowstick to get a better look at the synth-paper. If the plans you got were given are right, then there should be a way to access the AI core from somewhere around here. A very big if. And that's not counting the chance that you've not been reading this right or that a passage has been blocked or that you missed a turn. Hopefully you won't have to swim through that stuff again. It's making your skin crawl. They said you're immune now, but you just can't believe them for some reason. Even if it wasn't for that stuff, it would still be weird. People aren't meant to swim.

You something somewhere behind you. A rumbling. Like something heavy walking.
That doesn't sound good.

<Synchronization complete.>
<Primary objective: Eliminate all other players. Be the last player standing.>
<Alternate Primary objective: Hidden.>

Establishing host control. Standby...

It's the first time you felt like going up every since you woke up. But now you regret not having gone up earlier. Flying here is quite fun. It's wide open and filled with heat and smoke. It allows you to glide and shift and fly in long straight lines, eating insects by the dozens. Even though the ceiling here is so low you have to be careful not to touch the rocks.

But right now you're hunting something else. You saw it, like you saw your prey other times in the past. And you somehow know where it is. You land in front of the building and shift into something more comfortable. But you keep the wings. You've grown fond of them.

The panel chimes and the door politely opens. You know it's the right way when the door opens. You walk inside, letting out pulses of vision and trying to ignore the distracting shouts of the people around you. Turn right, then left, then... Hmm... Yes, this is it. The door opens for you with a hiss of rushing air. Inside are men, playing with machines. They all look scared stiff, easy meals, but you don't really feel like eating them. Maybe if you get hungry later. Now, where was your prey?

Compartment 6: Cannon Payload Assembly

You walk through the streets and watch the people you've never seen before pass by you. You were scared when you first got here. But it's like they're not even seeing you.
You've walked through them for all this time. You thought you'd feel something. Something beyond this urge they gave you when they made you.

You disappear inside a door. From there it's a ladder, and then a tunnel and from there a vent.
You drop down in a storage area. It looks like this is it. You peek through the door, just to make sure.
Yes, this is it. All the materials. Nozzles. Fins. Casings. Circuit boards. And all the people assembling them, in their once-clean but now stained white suits and bright white boxes. Creating the weapons your makers are afraid of.
You don't know if this is really everything, but it should be enough. Enough to qualify. Enough to stop the urge.

You are about to burst in when the door on the other side of the room opens and what looks like a demon walks in. A humanoid with bat wings, a deformed eyeless face and black-green sludge dripping from gashes on its abdomen. As can be expected, the people in the room don't look very happy to see it. Well, if they think this is bad... wait till they see you.

<Synchronization complete.>
<Primary objective: Eliminate all other players. Be the last player standing.>
<Alternate Primary objective: Hidden.>

OOC

For this mission, the area is dangerous, but not too dangerous. I've put you close to each other, but not that close. I'm counting on the players and the starting situations to lead to the inevitable destruction of everything. If experience has taught me anything, it won't take long.

EDIT: I think I fixed most mistakes. One or two might have made it through.

[TheBiggerFish]

"Armokdammit!"

Get my bearings and be very careful of the shooty guy!

Like, if he goes to shoot me, shoot back.

[Coolrune206]

Shift my nose into that of an animal. Use that body-part to help me locate my target. At the same time, use some biomass to develop those poisonous gas body-parts that I have in my skills. Release poison into the room, and attempt to kill or knock out anyone nearby.

[DreamerGhost]

<Svajoklis>

"Info comes first, then we get to the dangerous part."

Drain what information I can from the computer. Seek places where I am likely to find weapons, armor or helpers. Afterwards, inspect myself for any weapons I might have to hand.

[FallacyofUrist]

"What in the- well this is interesting. Hopefully I will find some foes to CRUSH!"

Kosak flexes his muscles, then looks around the area. It's always a good idea to know one's surroundings. And one's circumstances.

[Hawk132]

"Death to the traitor."

Summon a shield&repeater crossbow combo. Search for the traitor.

((Paris, I took a look at my upgrade sheet to refresh myself on my current abilities and it looks like I have a point unspent. I looked at my PMs and it turns out I did send you one where I tell you where I want it spent. Did you just forget to change the sheet? Or did my PM not arrive?))

EDIT:

Central: Level 132

((I saw what you did there.))

[Alarith]

Bryan

Bryan thinks to himself,
A guard, a pursuer, more favorable to being a traitor. Though still not as good as infiltrating. Easier though, except when I was supposed to protect Joanna I failed. Got overpowerd. Maybe this time will be different than all the times before. Like Joanna, like Lauren. The emotions are barely dulled from everything that's happened since then.

Bryan shakes himself out of it. It's time to move.

Pursue and track the shooter, he's aware of my presence already so active detection should be fine. Stay out of his sight if possible

[Toaster]

((Was I supposed to get a second section?  I never got the final Zero blurb for my character.))


((EDIT:  Upon second look, I'm guessing I got everything I was supposed to.  Running as such.))

That bastard's not getting away that easily.  I've never given up before.

If there's a more intact vehicle to jump to, do so.  In any case, let's get some light armor.  Bullet resistance is good.

[Zormod]

Steady myself, reload if I can. Try to move my vortex a bit further away.

[Parisbre56]

Campaign

"Theri? Zech? Do either of you have any input to give on this?"

"I think we should trust our host and continue along the path marked by him." Theri replied, heavily implying that she was voting against Ike's proposal after a long period of silence and letting everyone else speak.

"Besides that, Irine has a good point. We're more topographically sure about one location than the other, and as an aside, I can make a good scout and take a day or so ahead of the rest of you to check the path. Next is River; we need him, he needs us, we have no idea where he is, he supposedly is going to the place we most likely knew. Which isn't in your suggestion, Ike. I apologize."

Act as forward scout either way; really vote heading along with Irine's choice.

You take point and start leading the group to your chosen destination.


You detour around the town and continue towards the east. You stay away from the road, but keep it in your sight, using it as a landmark to aid you in your navigation. You try to use the terrain to your advantage, putting small differences in elevation between you and the road to make it harder for others to notice you. You can see people moving through it occasionally. Hopefully they don't see you back.

You continue walking even after the sun sets and the moon rises. Your eyes adjust after a while and with the help of those in your group more capable of navigating in those low light conditions, you are able to continue moving through the shadows and dark shapes around you. Hm. Now that you mentioned dark shapes... There is something in front of you. It can't be a mountain or a hill, there weren't any nearby according to the map, unless you got lost in this darkness. But you can see a dark shape against the moonlit sky.

Walking starts getting difficult as you get closer to it. There are twisted sheets of metal and broken wooden beams and torn pieces of cloth on the ground, causing you to trip or scratching your legs with sharp edges and nails. And as you get closer, you start encountering larger and larger ones, to the point where they are as tall as trees or larger. Your pace slows down to a crawl, so you decide it might be best to wait until morning and decide a course of action then. Even if it weren't for all those things on the ground making walking slow and dangerous, it would probably still be a good idea to take a break. You've been walking for almost half a day and half a night. A very stressful day. Everyone is tired and hungry. Alan especially.

You eat and drink whatever rations you have on hand accompanied by a sizable portion of junk food summoned by Alan (chips and some sort of spicy dressing). While you eat your late dinner, you examine the surroundings of your temporary shelter. Whatever it is, it probably hasn't been here long. The pieces have only now started accumulating a covering of dust and dirt.

You can see the glow of fires in the distance, hidden behind one of the bigger things in your way. Ike and Theri help each other climb one of the metal pieces, where their new vantage point reveals the light is coming from some sort of camp. There's a few fires burning, both mundane and magical, and pieces of cloth covering holes in hollow pieces of metal that probably act as dwellings.

A quick look on the map doesn't reveal anything close to the point you think you are. There's another town further down the road towards the east, a drawing of a squiggly circle with an I coming out of it somewhere to your southeast and something that looks like watchtower towards the northeast. Whatever this place is, it's not on the map. After that, it's a long stretch of mostly empty land and then a few more villages as you get closer to your destination.

...

The night is quite uneventful. Ike discovers some human smells during his watch, but none of them fresh. And while the insects crawling around are annoying, the turn out to not be dangerous.

When morning comes, you discover what you could had guessed last night. This place is the remains of... something. The pieces of debris have been launched for hundreds of metres in all directions, forming small craters wherever they got embedded on the ground. What's left of the massive thing lies in three gigantic pieces, one of them blocking the road (not blocking you from continuing though, you'd simply have to go around or through it). Whatever it was, it was definitely man made. You can tell, both by the occasional object you find (pipes, gears, spheres, chairs, etc.), the way the materials have been processed and the general structure of the thing, since it was apparently made out of many compartments, many that look hollow and a few that look like rooms

After the End

Trans-Orbital Cannon Assembly: Level 245

"Armokdammit!"

Get my bearings and be very careful of the shooty guy!

Like, if he goes to shoot me, shoot back.

You're in one of the maintenance access ports of the cannon. A small door leading from the scaffolding outside to the thin, hollow and quite claustrophobic outer layer of the cannon. The door is the most prominent source of light, blinding you to the rare red led light strip that you know should exist every dozen metres or so.

The outer surface (which is mostly made out of frighteningly thin plastic with some metal supports) is cracked and broken in places, showing you views of the lights of the city below and making your stomach twist, as you can't help imagining the shell cracking and you falling to your death.

You know that some of those holes lead to scaffolding like the one you were on. Firing the cannon creates a lot of stress and this old thing (while still impressive for its age) can't take much abuse. The inner casing cracks and exposes its internals, the magnatronic de-equalizers melt and fuse... With the rate they've been firing this thing, they probably need to constantly repair it. You're surprised the entire thing hasn't collapsed yet. Anyway, one such repair point is somewhere below you, hence the scaffolding you were on.

From here, you could try climbing, using the ladders formed by the cleverly positioned metal supports combined with cables and the occasional plastic platform. That's how you got here, so you know for a fact that it's not very quick, since doing it in a hurry could be bad for your health. There should also be a small service pneumatic carrier around here somewhere, maybe enough to carry one person. That should be a lot quicker, assuming you can get it to work and nothing goes horribly wrong.

Normally there would be tiny maintenance drones sliding around here in this outer layer of the cannon, inspecting the casing. But you don't see any. You could use their means of transportation and try to slide down, but there are so many ways this can go wrong you'd have to be either very certain about your skills, very bold or very foolish to try it. The shell could break, leading to you falling to your death, you could slide through a hole, leading to you falling to your death, you could get stuck or worse collide with a support, leading to you getting shredded and/or broken in half, you could fail to slow down and stop at the end, leading to you going splat, you could snap an ultra high voltage cable, leading to you getting fried, you could encounter something that wasn't on the plans... Really, you're not even sure why you're considering this in the first place.

Oh, yeah, right, gunman chasing you.

You have a gun yourself, a PIU, but the battery is spent. It will take about an hour until the micro-fusion array refills its charge. Until then, it's just a very large, very expensive and relatively fragile flashlight. A very bright flashlight, but still mostly harmless. You also have the detonator for the charges you have paced on the cannon and a few extra charges on you, but using that sounds like a poor idea right now, since that would most likely result in your death. There's also a watch (a standard electronic wristwatch, no James Bond-esque hidden functions (that you know of)), a multitool (knife, screwdriver, the usual) and a grey but stained set of clothes.

You can hear people moving around and yelling outside. You'd take a peek, but you're not sure you want to risk get your head blown off. You think the only positive point in all of this is that you can use your ability, for whatever good it will do to you.

Bryan

Bryan thinks to himself,
A guard, a pursuer, more favorable to being a traitor. Though still not as good as infiltrating. Easier though, except when I was supposed to protect Joanna I failed. Got overpowerd. Maybe this time will be different than all the times before. Like Joanna, like Lauren. The emotions are barely dulled from everything that's happened since then.

Bryan shakes himself out of it. It's time to move.

Pursue and track the shooter, he's aware of my presence already so active detection should be fine. Stay out of his sight if possible

You go after the shooter. You run up to the scaffolding and then start climbing, doing your best to be careful. In a few seconds you will be up there, taking cover close to the tiny access port. You know he's there. You can feel him clearly, his fear and anxiety echoing and amplifying in an uncanny manner, the scent of prey calling to you but also giving you pause. He's a cornered snake, coiling up upon himself. And cornered snakes can bite.

You reach the level the access port is on. It's not much different than the rest of the cannon. The access port looks more like a small square hole on the outer casing. Its relatively smooth surface is marked by anchor points where the scaffolding attaches and sockets where various tools draw power from, including the lights that push this section of the cannon out of the dim twilight of the rest of the city. There's a human-sized hole on the plastic platform here, where your bullets broke the plastic. There are tools and replacement parts strewn among the shards of broken plastic on the level below. Hopefully you didn't break anything important.

Further below, on the surface, beyond the smoke rising from the burning scaffolding, there should be the remains of the part of the scaffolding that was sliced off. You feel bad about anyone who's down there right now. You bet it wouldn't have been fun to have several kilos of burning plastic and metal fall on your head at terminal velocity.

Compartment 6: Cannon Payload Assembly

Shift my nose into that of an animal. Use that body-part to help me locate my target. At the same time, use some biomass to develop those poisonous gas body-parts that I have in my skills. Release poison into the room, and attempt to kill or knock out anyone nearby.

Your nose is already quite good, however you don't really know how your target smells like. You never got the smells of prey before you smelled them yourself for some reason. Oh, well, doesn't mean you can't just murder everyone and sort it out later! One room full of poison, coming right up!


!!!!HEREBEIRUSBEIRUSHERE!!!!

Central: Level 132

<Svajoklis>

"Info comes first, then we get to the dangerous part."

Drain what information I can from the computer. Seek places where I am likely to find weapons, armor or helpers. Afterwards, inspect myself for any weapons I might have to hand.

You don't have any weapons of any significance on you. You've got a small concealed sidearm, but that's pretty much it. You guess that you could also bash something with your book, it's quite heavy. You're also wearing that healing mask. It looks sturdy. Maybe it will deflect a blow, if you're lucky. And you're carrying your radio. Maybe you could call for help, although you're not really sure about how many people would be willing to come to your aid after what you just transmitted.

Hmm.... Now, how exactly would that draining work? You're not really sure what you're supposed to do. Should you just... Maybe if you just shove the book against that port... No, that didn't do anything. Uhh... Oh, I know! It's based on what you can do! So... Logically... That would mean... That since you can type...

You bash a keyboard with your book. The keyboard breaks. But surprisingly, it works, giving your mind a small dump of info. Percussive maintenance FTW.

Unfortunately, your quick scan doesn't reveal much of interest. It's not that the computer doesn't have a lot of info. It does. In fact, it seems to be teeming with information. But, as you expected, most of that information appears to be outdated or restricted or not very interesting.

There's a bunch of unlabeled camera feeds (a very small chunk of how many were supposed to be active, you note) that show you glimpses of various parts of the city. It's not complete coverage, and the fact that they're unlabeled sometimes makes it hard to understand where the camera is, but it's pretty significant. There's information on people but most of it seems to have not been updated for several years. There's some manuals, technical diagrams, operating procedures, ethics codes, outdated news articles, access to various controls, personal correspondence, countless repetitive system logs... Overall, some interesting things, but no silver bullets that you can see. ((Assume you have a good chunk of into. If you need anything  specific, just ask. I can't list everything for obvious reasons.))

As for places where you can find weapons and armor, the map of this place says there should be a security station on this level, close to the lobby, which should be out this door and a short walk down a hallway later. The logs say it should be stocked with synthetic body armour and SMGs, but those logs haven't been updated for years, so... There's also a military level a few levels below, but you don't have access to details about it. But you can hope that there will be something good there. Or if anybody there would be willing to part with their equipment.

This place has a strange circular architecture. The map looks like the cross-section of an onion, with long corridors running through it and connecting the centre to the edges. Based on what you read, that's because the outer segments (the one you are on) can move around independently along the outside of the building.. Some can apparently even move to other floors, although not the one you are on. This high up the floors aren't very big, but further down the building gets wider.

As you are thinking about all that you have learned, the huge bolts locking the door start slowly unlocking and the shutters that were until recently blocking the window start to rise, once more giving you a view of the city below.

"Death to the traitor."

Summon a shield&repeater crossbow combo. Search for the traitor.

((Paris, I took a look at my upgrade sheet to refresh myself on my current abilities and it looks like I have a point unspent. I looked at my PMs and it turns out I did send you one where I tell you where I want it spent. Did you just forget to change the sheet? Or did my PM not arrive?))

EDIT:

Central: Level 132

((I saw what you did there.))

((Let me take a look... Yeah, looks like you did send me a message. Must have missed it. Fixed it now.
Oh dear. You're going for that upgrade? That might turn out badly for someone.))

You summon a shield and a repeating crossbow and then kick the doors down charging down the hallway like some sort of steampunk swat operative, your loud metal footsteps echoing as they strike the plastic.

Unfortunately, the hallway looks deserted. Nobody to get in your way, nobody for you to test your new toys. Oh, but it looks like the door on the other side of the wall has started opening. That's nice. How polite of them. You didn't even have to knock.

Compartment 3: Maintenence Tunnels

"What in the- well this is interesting. Hopefully I will find some foes to CRUSH!"

Kosak flexes his muscles, then looks around the area. It's always a good idea to know one's surroundings. And one's circumstances.

You're... You're in... Okay, you don't know exactly where you are. You're not that sure you're reading your map correctly. You're not even sure what this place is supposed to be! Okay, so apparently this place was something like a secret lab or research facility? At least the above ground part? Anyway, whatever it was, this was meant to be its guts. Power lines, pipes, backup generators, stuff like that. Then again, there was something like a manufacturing area back there, so maybe it was more than that? Damn it to the void, you have no clue.

Whatever this place is, it's obvious it hasn't seen regular use by humans for a long time. There's... stuff... everywhere. Dirt, dripping water, peeling paint and crumbling walls, living things that scurry around on the floor, living things that hang from the ceiling and stare at you from walls... The hallway you are in is much the same. A small alcove with a rusty powerbox, a rusty metal sliding door that is half open, bulging outwards due to the presence of... some black-sludge-like thing being pressed against it (you have no idea what it is, it looks like a flood in slow-motion, frozen blackwater seeping out of the room at a glacial pace. There's also another metal door and then the hallway turns right.

!!!SALSAHEREHERESALSA!!!!

Highway 2: Aldrin Interchange

((Was I supposed to get a second section?  I never got the final Zero blurb for my character.))


((EDIT:  Upon second look, I'm guessing I got everything I was supposed to.  Running as such.))

That bastard's not getting away that easily.  I've never given up before.

If there's a more intact vehicle to jump to, do so.  In any case, let's get some light armor.  Bullet resistance is good.

There's not much here. Traffic here is sparse (although it looks like there's more traffic up ahead), except for those that you guess are part of the convoy. (Well, "were" is probably the crorrect tense, given that there are only two vehicles left in it, about two dozen metres away from you.) However, there is one civilian car nearby. Said civilian is currently staring at you and maintaining a constant velocity, too shocked to react. You swerve into it and nearly run it off the road, leaving a large dent into it and somehow getting your vehicle stuck into it. The crash causes you to lose your balance, but luckily you just end up lying on your back, your body spread between the roofs of the two vehicles.

While you lie there, you also try to summon some armour. Some pieces of scrap metal cling to your shirt and pants, but they look more like a weird fashion statement than actual body armour. Specifically, a fashion statement saying "I embrace the apocalypse but I didn't have enough bottle caps to go for the complete Mad Max look." Well, at least you got your car smashed, that's something. Now you just need to give it something ridiculous, like giant plastic mohawk or giant fire spewing exhausts.

The highway splits up ahead. You can barely make out the paint on the signs, but you can clearly see one has a "1" on it and the other a "2".

Steady myself, reload if I can. Try to move my vortex a bit further away.

You take a few seconds to calm yourself and reign in your vortex, to keep it from growing. It's hard to not just give in and let it get greater and greater, consequences be damned. Whatever it is, it's a barrier between you and that guy. As the vortexes shrink, the distortion in your sight starts fading, your vision slowly returning to normal. You grope your belt until you find your extra magazine and reload your weapon.

Now that your vision is back to normal (well, normal-ish, you don't think it's never normal to have giant floating dark vortexes instead of eyes) you can see what your pursuer is up to. Huh. Maybe you shouldn't be that afraid of that guy after all.

[Coolrune206]

Complete my metamorphosis by becoming a large hominid bear. Continue spewing poison. Consume the dead bodies of nearby humans for sustenance.

"Biomasssssssss...."

[TheBiggerFish]

UHV cables?

Any of those around?

Either way prepare to stab that guard in the face with a knife.

[FallacyofUrist]

"GRAAGH! I just want somebody to fight, dangit!"

Kosak sighs, then gets to exploring. Every so often while he does so, he shouts out his intent to kill in such a manner that would have everybody in a mile wide radius after him.

[Toaster]

"Damn it!  Always cuts out when I'm low on time!"

Tail the guy.  He'll probably enjoy a summoned-shot missile right up his tailpipe.  Another shot at the armor, if there is time.

[Beirus]

((My bad. Got busy and forgot I hadn't posted here yet.))

Transform. Start charging. Keep an eye on the creature.