Survival
Survival
"Okay, fuck this. I'll just make a damn car. Everyone back up into an alley; we need some cover."
Back the fuck up away from TrapStation 9000. Summon a car; just a simple one will do. Technosense it and make sure it's kosher. Fix anything that isn't.
You back up into an alley between two warehouses and find a place good enough to summon a car. You close your eyes and start concentrating on what features it should have, how it should all be connected. Cars may seem deceptively simple to most people, but one like you knows that even the simplest of cars in the modern sense of the word is a very complex machine. Even something simple like a motorized wagon would need quite a lot of parts to make. And you'll need something more than simple if you are to get out of this place quickly.
Worst of all,
you have to get everything just right. The amount of oil has to be just right, the fuel-air mixture has to be just right, the voltage in the spark plugs, the timing of the pistons, the calibration of the brakes, the alignment of the steering wheel, the tension of the drive belt... Not to mention what would happen if you got a flawed part and ended up with something like an obstruction in a fuel line.
You do your best to imagine the machine in all its intricacy, every piston, every wire, every bolt, muster all the strength you can gather and then release, hoping that your ability will compensate for anything you might have forgotten. Or that it will at least keep working long enough for you to get out of this god forsaken island. Parts of the frame start appearing out of thin air and assembling while you try to maintain your focus and guide the assembly process.
The assembly moves along quite quickly despite the complexity. At this rate you'll be done in less than five minutes. Maybe even quicker than you built that cannon.
After a while, you have most of the frame done, wheels, some of the interior and a good part of the engine. It looks a bit long, the engine being noticeably larger than the passenger compartment. The
way your ability works give it an appearance best described as scaly while the giant engine make it look like something Cruella Deville would drive.
All you have to assemble now is the rest of the engine and assorted components, wires and electrical bits, along with non-essential things like the exterior, windscreens, lights, mirrors, seat stuffing, etc. That is, if you want to wait for them.
Let's just hope nobody interrupts you.
Survival
"Perchance thou might attempt to repairest mine legs?"
Go where John goes.
Legless golem.Legless golem.
Crawls wherever mechanic man goes.
Repair his legs?
No he can't.
No he can't, cause he's making a car.
Wait foooor
mechanic man.
"I can drive, we heading straight out?"
Hide in alley, if car is summoned get in driver's seat. While I'm waiting feel with my radar, can I fine tune it to feel any suspicion or curiosity from the station?
While John works, you close your eyes, open your mind and focus on feeling the emotions of everyone around you.
The old police station is too far away from you to sense properly. You sense... something from it, but you can' tell for sure. You're not even sure how many people are in there. It's really faint and all mixed up. There's an entire city out there. All the psychic energy coming from the station is being drowned by the background noise. You're lucky you can even sense anything at this distance.
But you keep an open mind, just in case. For a while, the only thing you can sense is John concentrating on his car and Saevus worrying about his legs.
But then you pick up on a feeling. And then another. And another. Overall, you think there's at least 7 of them out there, maybe more. Their feelings are mixed. Some feel mostly fear, others anger, others anticipation, others curiosity, but all of them feel a mixture of the above, or so you think.
They seem to be approaching from the east, the direction you came from, not from the station, which is south. You can sense them spreading out, splitting in three groups moving parallel to each other, going through the block. They are probably searching for something. One of them is moving towards you. They're about 30 metres away now.
Survival
Just follow that John guy for a little while. Look around for things of interest. Try to figure out who I'm walking around with
You start
walking towards where John went. Currently you are walking alone, since you stayed back to search for stuff. ((You were also a bit behind on time, but
now you're synchronized again.))
As you round the bend on the main road close to the old police station you notice something a bit alarming. There's a group of 4 people walking on the sidewalk, moving away from you, checking the alleys as they pass by them. You notice the glint of a revolver in the hand of one of them. Maybe they're searching for your teammates? Another is carrying a shoulder bag stuffed with something, the third is carrying something that looks like a
very long briefcase and the fourth and last has a very bulky-looking backpack.
Whoever they are, they don't look like they've seen you yet.
Staging Area
((The Xantadice strikes again))
"Fair enough on the visible enhancements. Though if you're concerned about stealth you could always disguise them as regular prosthetics. As I've always said, the best death laser is a surprise death laser.
Interesting job you have. Sounds quite fun. How did you get into the business? I might look into it later."
"Hm. Yes, I suppose I could do that. Maybe you should remind me when it's time for your enhancements. I'll see what I can do.""Anyway, about how I got in the business... It's a long story. Let's just say there are two ways to earn that kind of power. Either a god gives you part of its power for whatever reason or you kill a god and consume it to gain its power. Well, three ways actually, you could possibly become a god on your own overtime, but that's never been done to my knowledge. Could also be other methods, but they'd need very specific circumstances. I won't expand further because I don't want to turn this into one of the Spanish Inquisition's lists."The screen behind him changes to show three men in nice red uniforms. Is one of them wearing pilot goggles?
"Anyway, I think you can guess which method I used.
Oh, and when I say god, of course, I don't mean that in the literal sense. It's just a convenient word. I mean I'm-... "There is a pause for a couple of seconds, as if he is considering something.
"Hmmmm... Let me ask you this. What's your opinion on magic?"The screen behind him shows a classic magician's hat and magic wand.
Name: Alex Raman
Birthplace: New
Age: 23
Appearance: His body is covered in sleek black and grayed metal plates. His eyes are still human, but they constantly glow green. He has long, artificial hair that is pure white and glows.
Quote: "Fear is a weakness. Magitek has purged fear. Without fear, I am a god."[/glow]
Power: Alex is a magitek cyborg, being a perfect combination of advanced tech and magic. He has superhuman levels of durability, strength, and can copy tech and improve it with magic.
Okay then, one more question. The copy tech thing.
Is it "copy tech" as in you "consume" a device and can then alter your body to have a somewhat altered copy of it on your body?
Or is it more like whenever you start using a certain device, you can enhance it to perform better by half-merging with it?
Or do you stick pieces of technology on you and have them work?
Or do you create improved copies of objects?
Campaign
Campaign.
Wrap myself and River in the severed tentacle and act like a zombie to blend in while we make our way to the hallway. It works all the time in zombie movies.
Keep my knife in hand and tsar-stab anything that attacks us.
And try to remember the fine art of tourniqueting.
In these dark moments, moments of despair, where everything seems lost, when everything depends on you, it is at this moment that we seek comfort in the memories of the past. That we reflect upon ourselves and seek that inner power, the power to do what's right, to change the world, to choose our destiny.
Your life flashes in front of your eyes. You can see it clearly now. All your life has been building up to this moment, preparing you for this.
You know what you have to do. You procure your sling and start groaning, a groan that soon turns into a shout, a primal cry transmitting your message of fury to the heavens. With one swift motion, you rip River's clothes off of him and shred them to pieces that disperse in the wind that has started to pick up around you.
The blood coming out of River starts mixing with the darkness in him, twisting, turning, taking the form of a hideously deformed dragon baring its teeth at you, threatening you with breaths of darkness, trying to scare you. But you feel no fear. It can do nothing to you. Because now you have true power. Ultimate power. Unlimited power.
The sling starts glowing as it transforms due to the power you channel through it. You swing it at the monstrosity like a whip, its tip distorting reality as it cuts through the ether around it. It hits with the sound of thunder and the crackle of electrical sparks. The monster screams as it is cut in half, banished back into whatever alien dimension it came from, its form never to blight this world again.
With a pause for a deep breath and another shout, you throw your sling at River's arm, where it warps around it. You begin working on tying it.
An aura of light surrounds you as you work faster and better, angelic choirs singing in your ears, accompanied by epic rock music.
With the final knot tied all the accumulated power inside you blasts outwards, creating a cloud of dust and throwing everyone but River away from you.
That was it. You did it. The power of tourniquetting was inside you all along. All you needed to do was believe in yourself and the power of the Heart of Tourniquets.
At least, that's what's going on in your imagination. In reality, you simply apply a tourniquet to River after removing his coat and backpack. It's good enough to stop most of the bleeding.
((Never say I failed to provide a convoluted over-the-top description for a mundane event. See Harry's part for less silly things.))
Campaign, Ike!
"Alan, baby! Try using salt on one of these yellow land octopuses!"
Utilize my knife to slice off the tentacle grabbing me as well as any others that may have the same plan. That's some impoliteness right there, you know. Then focus on getting my good friends out of here.
You reach for your knife using your other hand, your speed making the delay irrelevant. One upward slash with your knife frees your other arm. Another slash with your sword stuns the slave and makes him stumble backwards. Then, a dual stab with knife and sword, hitting both parasites on the slave, pushing the backwards and on the floor, dead. And finally, you duck to avoid a wave of fire, making it look like a taking a bow. Being quick sure does pay off. Or at least it looks cool.
The fire forms a line in front of you, forcing the parasites to stay away. Looking back, you see a similar sight behind you, a line of fire, keeping the parasites away but also blocking your progress. It looks like Nikolai has taken the opportunity to start applying a tourniquet to River while you wait for the wall to open.
River raises a hand to Nikolai while speaking privately to both of you using his comm-Pendant.
<Do not bother. This body will not last long. Even if you saved me, carrying me when I am weak like this will only slow you down and put you in danger.
So I will use the strength I have to make sure you have a clear path, make sure you are safe. Because if I do not, I fear Irene's bloodthirstiness will slow you down and cause more problems. She seems intent on agitating and killing every last one of the Parasites. Keep an eye on her.>He turns to face Ike.
<Help Nikolai. Bring him to safety.
After my body perishes, make sure one of you retrieves my Soulsphere. Keep it safe. I do not want to die.
I trust you the most. When I am gone, I give you all of my authority, for all it is worth. Take good care of your companions.>When Nikolai is done, he gets up and starts walking towards the centre of the room.
<My target is east-south-east of here. I do not know what the best way to get there would be. Search for maps. Explore on your own. Ask the locals. Whatever you wish. This was supposed to be about you, after all.
I should have regenerated enough to at least be able to talk to you in a couple of days at most. I know you can take care of yourselves until then.><And whatever you do, make sure nothing bad happens to Theri.>I'm going to be nice and assume you break apart your shield into smaller chunks so that Irene can see more clearly and Theri can join you.
Irine, Campaign
!!
I look around and do a rapid head-count.
Me, Zech, Alan... still missing Ike, Nik, and River, and now missing Theri too... this is getting really, really bad.
I shape some of my flames into a wall at the doorway, to be lifted whenever allies need to pass through it, then send out the rest into the room again, striking down as many of the squid-things as I can and looking for my missing teammates. If/when I spot them, then I attempt to clear any parasites from their immediate area and clear their escape.
Not much time...
You can see Theri. Looks like she fell behind for some reason. Now she's making her way towards you. But one of those things is following her. You reposition fire into a wall formation behind her to force it to
stop before you target it for annihilation. That's good. Looks like Theri will be fine.
Next you see Nikolai and River emerging from behind on of those claw-like things covered in parasites, River helping Nikolai hobble forward. Looks like they will be surrounded soon. You do a similar thing with them, forming a wall around them to protect them while you "dissuade" the parasites from approaching. That done, you create an opening for them to get out while you work on clearing the rest of the way.
It looks like Zechariah's portal shield is about to collapse. A few parasites have slipped through gaps in it, pushing at the weak points, widening them. Some of the shield fragments have shrunk a bit. And more parasites are arriving. Probably all the ones that were following you.
<I need a clear shot.
Zechariah, target the parasites on the Field Generators. Do not damage the generators. Just get the parasites off them.
Irene, keep them off me. Burn me if you have to. Only if you have to.>Campaign
((I do muchly recall River asking us all something something backpack at the start of this :I))
That...was close. Light wall. Light wall. Must move to the shadow. Where light falls but under cover. Light wall, dear goodness.
Come, memory, recall.
Where are you River!?
Search for any shadowy area and move there--obviously in the direction of my allies; focus on evasive maneuvers and moving to aid any allies left. Ponder in the seconds separating me and them of what I may distinctly do to aid given my prowess.
((River provided you all with backpacks that were essentially filled with camping supplies, so that you could survive in the wilderness. They would had been necessary if your team had chosen the other path which was more slow paced exploration and less fast paced combat. In that path you'd have to use them until you got to a town or similar. Now that you are near civilization though they are not as necessary. Although they could probably come in handy later.))
You roll away from the hostile creature, get up and start making your way towards Irene and the others.
The best you can do right now is probably stay with Irene and the others to protect them. Their abilities seem to be much better suited for dealing with this.
You could probably also help with Nikolai's broken leg once he gets here. Maybe you could even ask to borrow his sword, since he doesn't seem to be able to use it right now.
As you reach Irene and the rest, you hear the voice of River in your mind.
<I am sorry. I have to break my promise. You will have to travel alone for a while.><Stay safe. Enjoy this world. I will talk to you soon.><I am sorry.> he repeats.
It he saying... goodbye?
OOCSorry for the delay. Had to study. And my mind feels like it can't concentrate on anything.
On the plus side, I've started writing a new mission information bit that will give you more info on the entities and brush the surface of their relationships. I'm about halfway done with it. It will also tie in with a modification of the upgrade system that allows you to get a semi-random upgrade by selecting an entity and a combination of symbols that I have started working on and will hopefully be ready by the end of the Survival mission.
Just so you don't think I've wasted all my time partying or something.
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