examine all other weapons for anything special.
Oh yeah, there was that over charge mode that increased damage but also caused damage to the gun for the Gauss. Forgot that.
Well there's the laser rifle's dials, but thats about it. There's no secrets built into your gunpowder rifle or katana.
(( As for the gauss rifle - wasn't the overcharge mode a hidden feature? And the wind chime, of course! ))
Wind Chime? *searches back*
My lord, you remember a bad joke I said over a year ago?
Continue on healing.
"ACTIVATE HEALING MODE!"
You sit around grunting. Hey, you can hear that grunting. Sweet.
You head AAAAAAAAAAAAALL the way up north and straddle the weird-o-vision and Flat zones. Why? Who knows.
((Wait, are you joking here or wasn't I clear on what I'm trying to do? The idea is to find a safe route through the weirdvision hex, so that we can drive the trailer with all the materials through to the black tower forest where those animals live (because bughunt). I choose the border between hex 2 and 7 because it seemed the safest. This is so that we won't need the shuttle to carry us over all the time, and so we can use the trailer as a mobile base of operations.
I'll admit, trekking all the way to the caves was unnecessary in hindsight, but at that time I wasn't sure what Red team would do yet, and besides, I can fly anyway, so f*ck walking.
So, if all went well, the 4 of us should be going for hex 18, the blacktower forest, where we will hunt the most dangerous sport of all: man vicious aliens.))
Once we arrive at the tower forest, scan environment with suit sensors and cameyes.
Comm channel to Blue team: 'Hey, is there anything we should know about this hex that you didn't mention before? What sort 'of samples have been taken here already?'
(you can just say "Go to the black towers via the area between those two zones" then. Because I think all you said was go to the area between those two zones, so I had no idea if you were going farther or you had business in those zones.)
Your various scanning modes reveal nothing terribly interesting. There are definitely heat producing lifeforms here, scattered around on the towers, leaping between them and scurrying on their sides. But you already knew about them. x-ray shows that the towers are quite dense and show up as solid white. Motion reveals that the towers are either not moving or moving so little that it's not detectable. Radiation scanning reveals radiations levels normal for an unshielded planetoid, and infrared reveals no anonymous sources of low frequency EMR.
Keep reading! Also check on my hearing.
Your hearing doesn't seem to have returned, but your ears hurt a whole lot less, at least. However you're starting to feel very sick again. The combination of damaged inner ear and reading makes it seem like you're trying to read a newspaper while on a boat at sea. And the sea is on a tilt-a-whirl. You put the pad down and close your eyes. It helps, a little bit. Might wanna ask mesk for some anti-nausea medication. At least if you feel like reading more then a few pages without throwing up.
"It's just like that time I read 50 shades of gray!"
You throw up a little in your mouth.
"Or that time where they marketed the Great Gatsby movie with a fucking Fergie song! Yeah, lets use a bunch of party rock anthems to market the live action adaption of a book that was nothing if not bitingly critical of mindless indulgence and the casual sociopathy and hollow existences of the rich!"
You throw up a lot in your mouth.
"Hmmm... That still doesn't explain how we ended up with only half of a shuttle. What happened to the other half? Maybe some part of the object is left 'in between' locations during transit and that part disappears during SV events? And why was he flying into the domes? Doesn't he know that the first rule of fight club alien exploration is 'assume everything is trying to kill you'?"
If possible, have another drone fly over the top of the domes (or at least higher then the point the dome intersects with other domes) and have it enter the dome. See where it ends up. I'm trying to determine if dome intersection plays a role in the destination of the dome. Because for example the dome on my left could send the drone to one of the middle domes that then redirects it to another dome.
If the experiment is successful, send the two drones to each untested dome and start marking the domes with the following notation: Red number for starting dome Blue number for termination dome. So for example if the dome on my left always sends things to the dome the drone ended up, the dome on my left will be marked with a 1 and the dome the drone ended up will be marked with a 1. However, I am unsure what part the middle domes play in the teleportation proccess, so don't start marking domes unless they've been tested with the drone on top experiment.
While doing the above experiments, note any changes in the direction the drone is facing when exiting the dome and whether or not its the same for all domes.
((If I can map the domes successfully, I'll be able to tell where the shuttle came from.))
@Miyamoto: "I've got some parts of the black towers, but that's pretty much it. I think someone on green team took some beetle exoskeletons, you should check with the lab, if they remembered to offload them. I've also got some experiments running there: one to check whether or not towers change size and another concerning what's making those carvings. See if they got any resulted if you have the time. And I think mesk and green team spotted some large creatures with predator behaviour there. Check with them if you want more info. And try not to look like a beetle. And the atmosphere is safe on the ground floor but might be flammable higher up. So your bbest bet is to have Mesk deliver you on top of the towers and then rappelling down, if you don't want your rockets to ignite the atmosphere."
Coming in from overhead seems to have no different effect then just coming in from the side.
Your tests reveal only that the way the domes transport things appears random; you can find no pattern in how the drones exit compared to how they enter. Even when they enter from the exact same place, they can end up miles apart, on any side of the domes. Eventually you lose the drone; or at least you lose it's signal. It wasn't during an SV though, so maybe it just appeared somewhere beyond it's broadcast range.
attempt to identify the organs and their purpose of mesks beetle once it is dismantled.
Dont get in his way, just look at the parts he isnt actively examining.
Hmm. The organs are almost all connected to the main intestinal track that runs through the body. Chances are that they all do something to the stone that the creature is bringing in; though exactly what each organ does you can't tell from just looking. However, you would guess that these organs; the ones not attached to the gastric system, were something to do with either controlling the thing or maintaining the other organs. Hard to tell.
What the hell is this shit? Team
Bishop takes a moment to reply to Miyamoto: "Watch out for the critters. I wouldn't trust any of them to not try anything, even if you are in a suit."
Release a drone to map this orange lake and look at that orange stuff closely, but try to keep a safe distance at all times. Is it doing anything?
You release the drone and squat down to take a look at the lake. It's a bright orange, appears to have a consistancy somewhat like water and is gently lapping against the shore, despite there being no wind. There's an atmosphere here; in fact the atmosphere here is breathable and at a survivable temperature. It's pretty damn nice, all things considered. The liquid doesn't seem to be doing anything beyond gently moving.
((Seems like I picked a good time to disappear. Huh. Also, with Flint leaving, now someone else needs to be be the guy poking at the alien stuff))
Team blue.
Check for atmosphere.
Are the rods the same ones as in the teleportation sector? How far away is the closest one?
Is the liquid active, and does it have any creatures active in it?
Throw rocks at in the lake. What is the viscosity of the liquid, and does it respond in any way?
If the lake is not active or alive, collect a sample of the liquid. Pour some of it on the frying pan. Does it react in any way?
Atmosphere is, as with bishop, strangely livable.
The rods are not the same. They're significantly larger. As in 6 to 10 feet in diameter larger.
It does not have any visible creatures in it and it's only active in that it's gently rolling with tiny waves or ripples.
You can deduce the viscosity from the waves just as well as if you threw stones in, so you decide not to throw stones. It looks to be about as thick as water, maybe a tiny bit thicker.
I'll let you choose if it qualifies as alive or active next turn.
Map
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zqzazdual91p7rh/overall%20map.png
Author
Topic: Einsteinian Roulette (Original Thread: Rules, Armory, Misson archive 1-11) (Read 3939510 times)