Campaign
Campaign
Everyone, I think we know what we must do.
Summon cool sunglasses and put them on.
Before I do that, generously give Nikolai a crutch in his general direction. Or a walking cane if I can't do crutches.
Also a pair of sunglasses for my good friend Ike.
You summon a pair of wooden shutter shades for you and Ike. They have a slight green glow.
You also make a small stick for Nikolai.
You put the shades on and cross your arms. Groovy.
Nikolai, Campaign
Bash the breastplate with rocks until it is wearable. Put it on under my coat and secure it with duct tape. Put some spare tape in my bag.
This is a bad idea. It's too dangerous.
"Alan, can you please summon a crutch for me."
Try to not die.
You take cover and prepare to dodge but it turns out it isn't necessary. The only thing that comes out of Alan's palm is a wooden stick which clatters ineffectually on the floor. You could use it as a crutch but it's not tall enough to use comfortably and it lacks handholds.
That done, you start bashing the breastplate, trying to return it to what you assume was its original shape. It's hard work. After all, this thing was designed to withstand impacts. But not to bend, now that you think about it. Wonder what that would cause to its internal structure... Still, you get it about halfway done. You could wear it now, but it wouldn't be a perfect fit. It would probably make moving quickly and comfortably more difficult.
Irine, Campaign
I continue to collect as much fire as I can
Devour again...
"Thank you River."
I look over at Zech's gore-covered open wounds.
"Zech, you should try to keep your burns clean. Covering them in that slime stuff is likely to give you an infection."
You continue to do so perfectly, not letting a single shred of fire escape without risking extinguishing them completely.
Campaign
Zechariah picked himself up from the goop that he was searching through and carefully brushed off his own arms.
Irine, Campaign
I look over at Zech's gore-covered open wounds.
"Zech, you should try to keep your burns clean. Covering them in that slime stuff is likely to give you an infection."
"What... oh." Zechariah looked down at himself, seeing the unsavory goo that he got himself into by trying to search the man-eating octopi for any signs of... well, anything, really.
"I should probably clean that up. Um, do we have any healers in the group? Maybe Darkstar, but I'm pretty sure he's busy. If we don't have a healer, I could at least use a bandage or two."
Meanwhile, Zechariah also called to Ike.
"Ike, did you find anything from the octopi? Anything weird, or is there nothing to tell so far?'
Converse. Try to clean the vile octopus matter off of myself.
The best you can do is wiggle your hands a bit and wipe the goo on your clothes.
Campaign, Ike!
"How terribly fascinating, I must say. Anyway, guys, the coast is clear."
There's doors that respond to touch and behave like funny glass bubbles. Behind the one to the left is what can best be described as a dark spider singularity. It seems to mean us harm, which is further evidence of its spidery nature. It has already given Jesus a fire and shockwave-based makeover. Also, the shadows vibrate and absorb sound at the same time.
Jesus smells okay, in other news.
River increasingly reminds me of Ted.
Yellow land octopuses are apparently present and possibly quite dangerous!
Update: yellow land octopuses aren't so bad when you stab them in the center of mass repeatedly and firmly!
The room on the right has a set of four large eggs, surrounded by eight sizable benches and eight not-so-large eggs.
Clearly whoever built this place has a strange fascination with the number four, or multiples of four. This either completely rules out or utterly confirms the involvement of the Nipponese.
I am starting to get slight flashbacks to the start of the previous mission!
Yellow land octopuses can become invisible! Or maybe there's a breed or species of invisible land octopus! May require some breeding to get a clearer picture of their relation. Still yellow on the inside, though! In addition, they appear capable of making mortal mindslaves without any trouble at all.
In addition, people live here. Or humanoids, at least. They seem to have been subjugated by the yellow land octopuses, or octopodes. One's a nice red and purple lady, and the other one's dead as a doorknob.
Also:Well, the creatures' anatomy is the same. Just a small central part filled with organs with a large number of very thin and long but surprisingly strong tentacles sprouting out of it.
Slicing a tentacle in half, I discover that they lack muscles, which kinda begs the question of how they managed to move them in the first place. Instead, they are composed of four tubes (two large and two small) arrayed around a central part that feels and looks like very flexible cartilage. Around those tubes are very small, almost invisible clusters of black things, (some sort of organ, probably) that correspond with very small dimples on the outside. Maybe they emit something from there? Or maybe it's some sort of sensory organ? Or maybe it's used for camouflage? Or communication? Who knows. The area between the tubes and the skin of the creature feels very mushy and soft, breaking apart easily.
With careful observation, you notice that when the tendril twists, a large number of very small spikes are pushed out of its skin on the inside of the curve. You can't discern whether this is meant to inject something like microneedles or if it is just a means to grapple things and achieve better friction.
A quick inspection of the place the creature wrapped its tendrils around my arm reveals very tiny yellow needle-like things stuck in my skin, although none of them have managed to penetrate it.
An inspection of Nikolai reveals something similar. The fact that his skin has become more red around that area and has started to bruise prevented me from noticing it with casual observation, but he appears to have very tiny holes around the places the creature wrapped its tentacles around him, some of them bleeding slightly. Hopefully he won't start turning into any sort of octoman.
After that, I move to the central part of the creature. A thing of note is that it lacks any sort of visible mouth, eyes, nose, means of excretion or any of the other things I'd expect the central part of a creature to possess.
A large section of the central part of the creature is composed of two sacks, one larger, containing that yellow goo (or white with a whitish tint in the case of the later ones) and the other containing a black substance. Each of them is connected to the tubes that compose the greater part of the creature's tendrils, the black with the smaller ones and the brighter one with the larger one. The rest of their insides are filled with organs, although I can't tell exactly what they do. They have some connections between them, but they don't reveal much. Curiously, while I can identify many organs connected to the bright tubes, none of them are (visibly) connected to the dark ones.
Their insides don't smell so good, especially the ones of the creatures I encountered earlier. Smell like rotten and oil. Now that I think about it, the earlier creatures looked far worse than the later ones. The later ones were more of a whitish yellow than pure yellow, they were slightly larger and their internal organs were in much better shape.
Gee whiz!
Listen to what Darkstar's doing over there, but don't look. It probably looks really ugly.
It is too quiet for the others to hear (and the guy banging the breastplate rock isn't helping. Good thing you got those upgrades), but there's a small dull noise that sounds like wind that continues during the entire process. Then a pop, then the sound of something like snow being compressed in a snowball and finally a very quiet noise bordering on the infra-sound, with a very faint and very slow rhythm discernible in it, most closely resembling the sound a wind instrument would make, it's sound and slow rhythm making it sound pompous and sad, as if played on a minor scale.
The noises that follow a few seconds after that are a lot more audible to anyone paying close attention. Sounds of something being broken, something being torn, liquid falling on the ground. It takes about ten seconds for that to stop.
Darkstar emerges half a minute later, in the process of putting his coat back on.
"Good news. I learnt more about their world. Their magic and part of their world is based on an expanded elemental system. And that sorcerer could work with a very useful element." he says and grins. He snaps his fingers and a small amount of fire appears over them and immediately dissipates.
"She and others like her were trying to create a portal to the sky and the moon. Channelling energy into 'magical stone' that would create the portal. I think. Memory is damaged. Wanted power and... food? Sounds dangerous. And inefficient. And silly. Silly humans."He sends an image of a red slab and someone standing next to it, in a large room with similar slabs. It feels fuzzy, like a half-forgotten memory, some details more vivid and clear than others.
"The portal they opened leads to their capital. A small kingdom Northwest of the one I want to go. They like fire a lot. An entire tower dedicated to fire and magic. With the portal near the top.""The parasites have taken this opportunity. Going through the portal. Looking for sustenance. Getting through will be difficult. Irene can keep the parasites and predators away. Me too, using the energy that remains after I heal you. For as long as I can keep the sorcerer's soul. But if they have found more sorcerers to feed on, those will be difficult to evade. We will have to run."Another image, this one much clearer. Dark rock illuminated by dull green light, viewed from somewhere above. Dozens of those yellow things approaching a bright sphere.
"We do not have to do this. Not if you do not want it. Not if you can not survive it. I would prefer to do this quickly. But not if it requires your death.""Our other choice is the teleporter." He gestures at the four green rods at the centre of the room.
"We will drift further from our destination. Cause more delays. But it is safer. Gives me more time to heal you properly.""Oh, and remember: whatever you choose, when we enter that world we will be subjected to its rules. That world should accept us as one of its own. And I have no idea what that means. Just know that there might be changes."
Poll
15 (42.9%)
Author
Topic: Special People: Mechanical Syndrome (Read 1141626 times)