"You tried to kill me! Thus... no!"
Kosak may not know much about advanced technology, but he knew plenty about important things. And that fireball staff thingy looked important. Therefore, he grabbed it, ripped it free from anything it might have been attached to, and threw it at his foe. Preferably before his foe could enter the strange machine.
Certainly, if there's one thing science has taught you, it's that if something is spinning then it is important. So, without further ado, you run up to the fireball. The one that's spewing lighting. And then try to grab the metal pole supporting it.
One of the spinning bits hits you and a jolt of electricity strikes your body. You fall down next to the pole as your body convulses, but fortunately you-... well, fortunately might be an overstatement. You appear to be suffering from a temporary loss of control of your muscles and all the unfortunate side effects that brings.
A few seconds of convulsing under the heat of the giant spark-shooting fireball, the effects subside and you regain control of your body. You get up and grab the pole from its base. Unsurprisingly, it is quite hot. It also stings your hands, causing them to tremble slightly.
: You idiot! What are you doing? Stop it! : the voice comes enhanced from a speaker this time.
The pole is also unsurprisingly sturdy. Whatever is holding it inside the ground (screws, friction or something else, you don't know), it is not giving up easily.
: Stop this instant! Do you know how long it took me to get this thing to work? : the voice continues, coming closer with the sound of the repeated explosions of an internal combustion engine.
But the pole is not invulnerable. With enough pulling and tugging, the pole starts to give way and becomes free from whatever is holding it in place. You almost drop the thing as the pole suddenly stops going up just as suddenly as it started. A bundle of wires is still attached to the bottom of the pole, holding it close to the floor.
: No! You fool! You have no idea what you're doing! : he continues screaming, sounding really close.
You turn around to see the tin-can has reached your position. The arm that looks like a
can opener is twitching, opening and closing its spiky tips menacingly, while the arm that looks like pole with a rounded tip is pointing at you.
As you turn around, the fireball starts growing larger, sending electrical sparks at the cage of spinning machines around you, the extra strikes making them glow red and spin much faster than before.
: You!... you!... : He doesn't sound happy.
Team A
"Make sure I can see your hands, and make sure they're empty."
If she complies go and restrain her with handcuffs (I have handcuffs as the police right?). Then help her to where she indicated. If I don't have handcuffs still make sure she's unarmed, and go help her. Renew mental defenses, never know when someone might stab you in the back.
"O-OK."The wounded woman tries to be still and non-threatening.
You approach her carefully, get out your handcuffs and force her hands behind her back, trying to apply them as tightly as possible.
"I-I promised. You don't need to do that. Please? It's hard enough to walk as it is and-""Shut up and walk!" Joanna says, still pointing her gun at her.
"OK! OK, I'll do whatever you want."Once the woman is handcuffed, you give her a quick pat on her pockets to make sure she isn't hiding any weapon and then help her up. With that, you start walking. You support her as you walk forward, helping her keep her balance whenever she wobbles or stumbles. You remain alert and careful. Joanna might be pointing a gun at the woman, but you don't want to rely solely on that for your safety. And there's no telling when something unexpected might happen and when things might take a turn for the worst.
The short walk is uneventful but filled with tension. The woman seems to still be in pain, whimpering every time she stumbles and puts more pressure on her injured leg, sobbing and sniffing occasionally. You also can't help but feel Joanna pointing that gun at your back. Not directly at your back, rather at the person next to it, but it is still uncomfortably close, especially considering the person behind the trigger doesn't seem very emotionally stable at the moment. The area is still quiet, save for the sound of snow getting crunched beneath your feet, along with the occasional twig. And you have to remain alert through all of this.
"How much longer?""Not long. It's right over there."You continue until you reach a patch of snow-covered ground that seems no different than the rest.
"There." the woman says, pointing at the ground with her eyes and then looking down.
"There's nothing there." she says as she gets closer to the patch of ground.
"Under the snow. Here, I'll-"She tries to walk towards the ground but Joanna stops her.
"Not so fast."Joanna carefully kicks the snow, revealing part of a drawing, part of a double circle about a metre in diameter, with things written inside it in unknown angular symbols, carved into a stone.
"It's a transportation sigil. You just step on it. Then I activate it and it takes you back."Joanna looks at the drawing for a few moments before looking at you.
"I don't like this. How do we know it's not a trap?""It's not! Really! Look, I can go in first-""Ha! So you can get ready to stab us on the other side? No. I don't think so."
Team Abandoning duties, WMD
"Might as well. Be nice to be able to act in my own interests instead of whoever them is that are trying to control me."
More talky stuff.
"Good.
Then take this. And use it on yourself."A hole opens in the air in front of you. You catch glimpses wood and thick red cloth through it, before a knife comes through and clatters on the ground on your left.
"A sacrifice is needed. To seal the deal.
One of blood. Spilled willingly.
Do this and you will join us.
Do this and you will be free."The knife is ornate, its hilt covered with dark scaly skin and a red ribbon tied around it, it's bottom holding a red crystal rhomboid and its blade holding carvings of strange angular symbols that seem to give off a slight red glow.
Well, that's not sinister at all.
Also, there's some screaming coming from somewhere above.
Keep evading things in any way possible. Try focus my good thinking on them. It's good to gain knowledge of such peculiar creatures!
You charge at the creatures coming out of the wall while screaming "I am happy! Come taste my happiness you reptile scum! I wanna be your happy fun snake friend!".
Sadly, the creatures don't appear to want to be your friend. The keep their distance from you. How rude.
Oh, look. Looking out of the hole in the wall, you can see someone down there, a naked man, lying down in a half-destroyed hovering corridor, looking at a knife. Maybe he can bee your happy fun naked friend!
Staging Area
DreamerGhostForgot about this last turn, but you should also be there. Can't have a levelup until the mission is over, but you aren't stuck in the mission anymore if you don't want to be. You can go ahead and do something else if you want.
Order an alcoholic drink of unknown origins.
You blink.
Hey! There's an old bottle there! How did it get here?
And what is it? It's label is missing. All that's there is dust.
Hmmm... Do you dare to try brand X?
"Hookay, this... What... Huh... What?"
"What the..."
You do your best imitation of parrots squawking "What" at each other.
"You could use a more diversified vocabulary friends. Perhaps you'd care to purchase some onomatopoeias? You could use exotic and distinctive phrases such as 'Waaak!' or 'Er...Bwah-ha-ha-hyuck' for only 0.99! Guaranteed to make you stand out in parties!""I still maintain that if that brute hadn't alerted Nick, we would have fared much better, at the very least, been able to prepare better.
Hmph, no use crying over it, I suppose, though I would like a thank you for saving Johns skin."
Adam gives another small 'hmph' before turning around and noticing the fungimen band.
"Interesting, what are those?"
You take a closer look at the slightly bioluminescent humanoid mushroom musicians. They seem... normal. Too normal. Nothing different in how they look.
<Musicians. Another player put them here. Aren't they fun?>((I wanted an IC answer more than an OOC one; wanted to see if it'd stump the entities a bit. Guess not!))
"Oh. Uh. Okay, I guess." He waved at the group. "Have fun!"
John returned to his private area, and addressed the ceiling. "Okay, Zero, what's up?"
((Yeah, sure, just thought the parallel was interesting to point out.
That said, trying to stump
him about the nature of the games is probably not the easiest thing to do.))
You walk outside, make your way around the plaza's central fountain and enter your mansion.
The inside is as you remembered it. However when you speak there is no response. Although you do hear voices coming from an adjacent room. So you decide to head that way.
: -still attempt to. :
: A waste of resources. : : I do it. Am I different? :
: Yes. : : How? :
: You have different directives. You are a simple and imperfect imitation. You are insignificant. : : Then why talk to me? Why play with me? :
Galatea and someone else are in the living room, playing billiard. Galatea is looking at said person, who seems to have just finished executing a shot. The person in question looks like a human trapped in a thick layer of metal, a layer of metal obscuring all his features and leaving behind a basic humanoid shape. There are edges on it, completely symmetrical, as if he was constructed out of pre-made parts and welded together like some sort of mass-produced modern art piece. However there are no seams or welds visible, only slightly menacing edges where it looks like different pieces of the material have merged. Each part and each edge lacks curvature, being almost 2d in a way.
The material gleams like polished iron, with a greyer, less polished shade appearing wherever an edge is formed. There's thick lines of rusty red on his arms below his shoulders (where the deltoid would be), on his temples and between his chest and abdomen, pointing downwards like a V. But as he moves, standing up and turning to face you, you can see that the material is not rigid, not like metal should be. It bends like rubber, adjusting to his new shape, allowing him to move freely, even though the rigid way he moves doesn't seem to indicate he needs the flexibility that provides. You can also see small ridges in it, as if the material is not completely smooth.
He stands at attention, completely unmoving. He looks at you from two hexagonal sockets elongated on the horizontal axis, where the eyes would be. Inside each is a layer of glass, glowing almost imperceptibly red.
: Hello, John. : the distorted cold voice comes from a trapezoid hole covered by an ultra fine mesh in place of a mouth, the shape making him look like he has a perpetual frown.
Galatea's reaction is much more vibrant in comparison. She frowns momentarily, still looking at the other player, but her frown quickly changes to a smile as she rests part of her weight on her billiard stick, looks at you and silently gives you a small wave.
Campaign
Alan grins in what could be called a malicious manner on anyone who wasn't him. As it is he looks mischievous.
"Hmm. They seem like pretty hyper little buggers. Do they drink at all?"
Spray some coffee beans into the enclosure. If they do drink, summon some cans of Red Bull and dump them into the pen.
Alan abruptly notices River by him.
"Oh hey Rover! Came to check out the fuzzballs? They're pretty awesome. At least I think they're pretty awesome which is why I'm dosing them heavily with caffeine."
"TheyDo drink, butVery little."You spray a large number of glowing coffee seeds into the enclosure. They don't seem to appreciate them very much. Some of them run towards them greedily, but once they get closer they stop, look at the seeds closely with their giant eyes and then walk away.
You can't can cans due to two twos.
River keeps watching the creatures while remaining alert, his head following their rapid movements in response to your seeds.
((I guess it's sort of a gang sign. Though, for reference, the Thief Sign.))
"Heh, Dragon's Hole," Ike offers usefully. "And yeah, we're technically interested in the east, but our guide doesn't really know as much about what we're looking for and where we're looking for it as we would like."
"Well, that doesn't leave me with too many questions... except maybe on the matter of wandering monsters. Is that a thing around these parts, or just around the blown-up city, would you say?"
Ask!
((
No Gang Signs))
"Hm. It doesn't sound like you know that much about what you are searching for. This kingdom may be one of the smallest in the continent, but it is still large. Searching through it, even if you limit yourselves only to what's east of here... With so few men, no plan and no idea where you are going will probably not be easy. Even the guard would have trouble locating someone if they hid in the wilderness. I could sell you this map. It might not solve your other problems, but it will at least let you know where you are and where you can go.""As for monsters, they are not common. There are creatures lurking around, especially in the night. Animals will hunt or try to protect their young and their territory. But I think an armed group such as yours won't have trouble driving away those brave enough or desperate enough to approach you. They're mostly small carrion feeders after all, they don't hunt so often."
"Monsters on the other hand... You'd have to be really unlucky to encounter something truly monstrous. Some sort of magical creature that actively seeks to harm you or some unnatural danger. Those are rare, at least until you get off the beaten path. If you get too far away from the road, especially if you go too close to the north, then it's anyone's guess. But as long as you're close to civilization, even with the state things are now, you should be safe. I doubt that the roads have been taken over by monsters in the past few weeks after the Tower fell. Things can't be that bad. If they are..."
"You'd be more likely to encounter a bandit. Heard many are hiding in caves close to the hills in the south. Some of those fools tried to raid this place a few months back."
"Maybe you could encounter a slaver if you're really unlucky and the rumours are true. I've heard that some might be around, but nothing more than people talking about what they heard, nothing substantial."I stare at the map and silently compare our direction of travel based on what River said and what is in that direction.
If you keep following the eastern road, then it's mostly villages and the occasional... tower? Castle maybe? It looks like a drawing of a castle. Those continue until you reach a large city close to the mountains, then the mountains themselves and a pass going through them. And then the map ends.
You don't remember River talking about what was in that direction, at least not recently.
Name: Brian Hoss
Ability: The creation and manipulation of unstable vortexes that consume energy(Preferably light and heat).
Apperance: Thin, and pale as a ghost. He has dark brown hair and eyes. If his face were any thinner, most people would make the mistake of thinking he was undead.
Bio: Brian was born on Earth with modern technology. He is 24 years old. He discovered his power when he was 21, and has only used them frivolously. He rarely shows anger or sadness.
Looks OK. I'll send you a PM sometime.
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Topic: Special People: Mechanical Syndrome (Read 1140963 times)