Summon extra strong bleach and pour it on the flesh as an experiment.
((Just writing to say that the dripping liquid forms paths clear of flesh for Xantalos and Toaster. Forgot to write that in the post. I'll see if I can make a quick edit.))
Walk through while doing the bleach thing.
You get a plastic bottle with a tiny amount of bleach in it. Pouring it on the flesh doesn't do much beyond causing it to go red and then start growing faster where the bleach made contact. However, when a drop of yellow liquid falls on the bottle it immediately starts dissolving. Okay, note to self: stay away from the yellow liquid unless you're made out of metal.
John slaps Alan on the shoulder. "Don't touch it. It might get mad. That said..."
Summon a flamethrower for use against the flesh, just in case. Continue to proceed toward objective.
You get a number of small pressurized canisters connected to each other with cooper water pipes that lead to a valve, in turn connected to a garden hose with a spray gun and a candle lighter tied on its end that have their triggers linked. The whole setup has straps that allow you to carry it. You've got to open a valve connected to the canisters to use the flamethrower.
John and Alan leave the sofa behind and make their way through the forest of flesh, making certain to avoid going anywhere near it or the yellow liquid. Along the way they notice the shredded remains of the lower body of a guard, its upper body having been consumed by the pale flesh and the yellow liquid.
You move on, a bit more paranoid now. You finally reach your objective, an inverse pyramid. It's glowing green. From the top of the pyramid grows the pale flesh, like the roots of a tree. From holes on the sides of the pyramid come tubes carrying the glowing yellow liquid. Parts of the pyramid not producing the liquid are covered with wires and optic cables pulsing with light. Some of the wires are connected to a nearby table equipped with various screens and tools for handling chemicals, while others disappear beneath the metal floor. And from the tip of the pyramid fall drops of glowing green liquid, very very slowly. They accumulate in small glass vials, only one of which is currently full. You carefully remove the full vial and seal it. Well, that's done. Now all you have to do is get to the elevator and-
The optic cables connected to the pyramid pulse brightly with red light. The flesh begins to stir and grow, making sounds like gurgling and moaning and chirping and infrasonic things you feel in your guts and feet more than you hear them. It's moving towards you, eyes looking your way and hands reaching for you. The yellow liquid is holding it at bay for now, but at the rate it's growing, it won't stay that way for long.
"Whoops. Looks like Ike just did something bad."
Keep moving, the marathon runner I am! /sarcasm
You keep moving. On your way, you feel a tremor. When you reach the elevator corridor, there's a cloud of dust floating around that causes you to cough every once in a while.
You reach Irene's location. Or at least you think you do, there are balls of fire spinning around. It's hard to see with all that dust.
You can hear metal and stone striking upon metal in the elevator shaft.
((Man, all the cool stuff started happening after I died.
Okay, the first cool thing killed me, and the rest of the cool stuff happened after I died.))
Notice the host's body.
Will...will she be okay? ...Will I be okay?
It's kinda hard to notice your host's body because:
A. You're desynchronized.
B. You have no body. You don't have anything to notice it with.
C. There isn't much left of the host's body except for some broken bones and burnt flesh covered with fire extinguishing foam.
Host body deemed unrecoverable. Reconnecting with staging area...
"Sorry, man, I don't feel like getting vaporized. You see any ways for us to get to you? Or for you to get out of there?"
"Easy, just walk toward me or I can walk toward you. The turret's not operational, and the reality fuckery has subsided a notch, so I bet you could make it over here safely. Or I could just pass the canister to you, then come back here and touch the cube! Cube! Yes!"
Corrected action: before touching the cube, run over to Jordan and pass him the important canister. Only then return and touch the cube.
You make your way around the rim of the crater and give the canister to Jordan before returning to touch the cube. You get up on the white-marble-like pedestal. It feels rather tingly, static electricity hitting your skin every once in a while, causing your hair to stand on end.
You touch the cube. It's cool and smooth. You think you feel it vibrating slightly. You can hear voices in the back of your head. When you try to listen to them the cube pulses with light and-
You're standing under the sun and there are thousands of fireflies around you. And they're all looking for a way out. And the sun is beautiful and painful. And the fireflies are tearing into your flesh, trying to hide, to escape. And the sun is uncaring. And it all makes you angry. You scream at the sun and it screams right back at you. You continue screaming, your lungs never running empty.
((You actually had to fail two willpower checks in the same turn to touch the cube, because I thought that having someone affected by mindfuckery that easily would be kinda cheap. But then you went ahead and touched the cube yourself. When someone gives me permission to potentially mess with them... Can't say no to that. And you rolled badly for your interaction with the cube, so...))
"I'll pass, thanks. I mean, I might touch it first and make it non-operational. You found it, you deserve it more then me."
Catch the canister.
You make your way around the rim of the crater and get the canister from Ike and then allow him to return to his crazy experiment. You get back on the hallway and are about to start making your way towards the elevator when you hear Ike scream. Not a short scream of pain but a long scream of anger or despair. You look behind you to see Ike on the white marble pedestal, touching the cube with one hand. His eyes are closed and his face is contorted by the screaming. The cube and the optic cables connected to it are pulsing brightly with red light and hitting him with lightning. His other hand is raising his silenced pistol in your direction.
"Warned him that could happen. Try to not kill him? Or just run away?"Eria look at the stump "My poor tail." she says in a surprisingly sad tone.
She 'turns' to mission control "Is it still possible to get to the target with that?" she waves at the glowing parts.
Jordan just took the canister and brought it back to the hallway, so that's taken care of. Oh, and Ike is screaming in homicidal rage and alien mindfuckery on the other side of the crater. And he is raising his pistol in your direction. Great!
walk off the elevator, but only just barely, not risking losing control of the flames both around me and above the elevator. otherwise no action.
((Reminder that I'm already not in the elevator shaft, and have been for several turns now.))
take a couple steps farther away from the elevator shaft, but only as long as I'm not at risk of losing control of my flames.
Through interface, to D: <Thank you, please keep me informed as to what they're doing up there as best you can.>
((Yeah, but there will be debris falling. One of them might break up during impact and hit you with one of its fragments. And there will be dust and a... actually, I'm going to write those stuff in the turn, why am I telling them OOC?))
You slowly take a step back. And another. You go as far back as you feel comfortable going, which isn't more than a few steps, and make your way behind a box, your balls of fire spinning high enough above you that they don't set anything on fire. Not yet, anyway.
There is the sound of an explosion, magnified by the enclosed space. It makes your ears ring. Then comes the dust and the sound of things hitting the elevator platform and the structure above it and then the sound of the platform bending and breaking and pressurized fluid being released.
You try to maintain the wall of fire but you can't fully repair the damage the debris and dust are doing to it. It's gotten a bit smaller.
The dust causes you to cough intermittently and prevents you from seeing very well. You once again hear someone running behind you.
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Topic: Special People: Mechanical Syndrome (Read 1146621 times)