Unsheathe wristblade, perform a Mount grappling hold.
Don't try that again, got it?
Get up, sheath wristblade, dust myself off, and glare at the onlookers.
I'm not going to screw around with you people. If a teammate comes at me, they will be handled only slightly less violently than an enemy.
And by that, I mean, instead of firing a chemical-incendiary grenade at you, you will be shot or slashed.
[Dex:1+1]
You move to pin and intimidate him but, after a rather uncoordinated fall, end up straddling him with your faceplate a few inches from his face. It's gone from intimidate to intimate. Oh dear.
"We're not sending him back just for that, and- hey!"
Faith watched the ensuing scuffle, wanting to stop it but not wanting to get punched. Hopefully everyone else had that under control.
Grab an already-lit glowstick, drag Chin to the edge of the tunnel and have him kneel down, filming closely. Then swipe a glowstick out into the path, like Conrad did, hopefully revealing a bunch of shades for Chin to capture in close-up detail. Repeat this process at a few other nearby points.
Then head a little further down the path and try a similar approach, but this time whipping the light through as fast as I can. See if I can figure out if the shades maybe survive this motion, and whether they flee or what after it's been done.
Those glow sticks simus set down are basically just enough to keep the path complete, taking one would sever it again. Still wanna do that?
((Gah, just try it with the headlamps then. If that's not fast enough, grab and crack a new glowstick and do it with that.))
Unsheathe wristblade, perform a Mount grappling hold.
Don't try that again, got it?
Get up, sheath wristblade, dust myself off, and glare at the onlookers.
I'm not going to screw around with you people. If a teammate comes at me, they will be handled only slightly less violently than an enemy.
And by that, I mean, instead of firing a chemical-incendiary grenade at you, you will be shot or slashed.
"So you're not so much a teammate as a temporarily neutral party. Good to know," Faith shot back at her.
Travis takes a quick glance at the fight unfolding
"Perhaps. But as long as no one loses a limb or is killed, it's not my problem.
Anyway, it appears the sand is only a few centimeters deep. It'd be interesting to see if that's still the case in the dead forest. So, does anyone here have a cutting torch or something similar? I'd like to take a chunk of the rock for examination back home, and see how deep we can get. Perhaps a meter or two"
Faith then turned to Travis.
"Ooh, that sounds interesting. And yeah, I've got a cutting torch; gimme a minute to mess with shadow bugs and then I'll be right over.
I really doubt we'll be able to get a meter down, though, at least with a cutting torch. We'd need something that can punch a large hole deep down, like I guess a mining laser. Or maybe a laser rifle with several batteries."
Once finished acquiring high-quality footage of shades, dig away a large section of dirt/sand and see what's beneath.
Using Chin as a mobile camera emplacement, and via the technique of furious, heavy metal headbanging, you capture some footage of the shades, though you can't really tell much about them thanks to all the blood rushing to your head.
[aux:5+1]
After the dizziness passes you attempt to cut a sample sized section of the rock out of the ground using your cutting torch, but get a little overzealous and hack out a section the size of a car tire.
Travis got up
"Look. I am all for restraining the idiot or otherwise sending him home. We don't need to escalate things, however. We're in an alien dimension with our guide knocked out, and the last thing we need to do is start threatening to cut each other up on the slightest provocation.
Some of us value our humanity, and honestly waking up in a metal cage could be a punishment worse than death.
Travis found himself touching his new face
Anyway, for all we know he could have contracted some kind of wisp or spirit while he was out there in the dark wandering. We'll have to wait until the guide wakes to see if that's possible, in the mean time, just don't go lopping off his limbs, he might not be in control of his actions. I know I was once
Travis nods at Faith's enthusiasm
It's just some kind of sandstone. A cutting torch should cut through it like butter"
Travis checks his inventory. Was he provided anything that emitted light? If not, he grabs a few sticks off the guide, if he's still stunned
Besides your Headlamps you don't have so much as a match, not that it would do you any good. You grab a few glowsticks from the guide, who seems like he's coming out of it.
>Ensure my hat is on straight. Wait around for Conrad to wake up, and keep an eye on things.
You straighten your hat and stand around, hoping everyone forgot how you just completely failed to restrain one very physically weak man.
((@anaileater ...I'm genuinely sorry 
. The same line of reasoning my lack of response here as TCM's one, plus due to the hard and uncomforting truth that I cannot actually do anything to help your condition however much I'd like to. ))
Snapping out of thinking on guide's cause, Maurice turns to look at the what was causing that rabble and stares rather timidly and sadly at the confrontation.
People, don't... You will be alright? ...I'm sure it was a misunderstanding. No one here is seriously going to come at anyone with malicious intent, right?
Not on the mission, at the very least, he mutters then.
Walk up to Mason and help him get up. Check him for any injuries, then perform similar checks on Simus and Charro.
[private channel to Charro] Thank you. That was valiant of you.
[private channel to Simus] Don't bother to acknowledge the remarks, I honestly suggest you. He is just being Milno the Honeybadger, those don't mean anything apart from the obvious fun he gets from snapping them.
Hearing what Travis said, Maurice's expression changes to somewhat troubled, then brightens again.
Well, I don't think guide would forget mentioning something that dangerous. Though we'll ask him when he is conscious again, if you want - this place is a big strange anomaly, and there can be a lot of things he might have not have stumbled across.
Then doctor Sanctor turns to Simus again.
Sure. Alright, people, let us move on, then.
Take the unconscious guide and the lit glowstick(s) and resume walking along the path marked by the rope. Walk sufficiently slowly for no one to get caught in darkness again - hold the glowstick (if I succeded in picking up any of those already lit) up in the air as I move.
I am taking the light source with us, is everyone alright with that? It is not dangerous here as it is (according to our guide, at least), the rope-marked path is still there, and the amount of the glowsticks we have is limited.
Stand near the guide, and think over the ways of helping him get back to senses.
You would examine mason but...Simus seems to already be doing that...hm.
You walk over to the guide and take a look at him. Judging by how his eyes are flickering open and closed he's probably coming out of it on his own.
Charro nodded agreement at Travis's words.
"I can't argue with that. Hardly seems like a good idea to go running about in this place, where our entire knowledge of the area comes from a sketchy little map." He sat down by the rope, a short distance from Conrad.
"I think waiting is our best bet." He frowned slightly as he thought of something, looking uncertainly at the unconscious figure.
"...Unless he's dead, or something. That would be bad."
(Private channel to Maurice): "Erm... You're welcome, I suppose? Not like I accomplished anything."
>Wait for the guide to awaken. (unless someone goes carrying him off somewhere, then I had better follow them.)
>If Conrad doesn't show signs of waking up soon, begin searching the safe, lit area for any good poking sticks.
You join the increasing number of faceless helmets leering over the awakening man like the grim metal specters of death, if death wore a tin can on his head.
"That's a really good idea, actually. Miss with the wrist blades, could you cut through the sandstone down there?"
Thomas scoops enough sand into a sample jar to expose the sandstone.
You dig a little hole in the sand and expose the sandstone beneath. It's a lot harder then you'd think, the sand keeps flowing back in to fill the hole. The sandstone beneath is much like the sand above, very pale white, but otherwise is unremarkable.
Milno also digs a little into the sand and examines the stone underneath unless the group finally starts moving.
You dig a little hole as well. Yep, thats white sandstone. Cool.
Private channel to Doctor Sanctor:Milno? That's his name? No matter, I can deal with him using silence. It won't be pleasnt, but I can. Though he does need to learn that sometimes, a cigar really is just a cigar.
Back on the public channel: Doctor Sanctor, perhaps we should set up some lamps to replace them? And, perhaps, wait for the guide to awaken?
Help Dr. Sanctor help Mason up.
It would take a lot to even get me to slash at one of you, anyways. Like he said -
Motion to Travis
- people have been controlled before, and they're a lot more likely to set me off, as they'd be more belligerent. I'm not going to hold a grudge for something so minor, he tried to charge me and got floored, even if it was his own clumsiness. The books balance, no need to let it fester.
Go over to Thomas and attempt to cut through the sandstone with my wristblade. If any comes off as a result, take it as a sample.
Doctor, that's an interesting theory of yours, but I'm no Spatial Anomaly Theorist, so I can't say.
((All of you and your ninja'ing my post.))
Your blade is just a standard knife when it comes to the tip, so attempting to cut stone with it is gonna dull it up something fierce. Still wanna do that?
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Topic: Einsteinian Roulette (Original Thread: Rules, Armory, Misson archive 1-11) (Read 3983791 times)