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Poll

Alan

It was inevitable
- 15 (42.9%)
Winners don't do drugs
- 6 (17.1%)
I'll be back
- 2 (5.7%)
Drink the Kool Aid
- 6 (17.1%)
Groovy
- 3 (8.6%)
Insane in the membrane
- 3 (8.6%)

Total Members Voted: 35


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Author Topic: Special People: Mechanical Syndrome  (Read 1148573 times)

Harry Baldman

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Re: Special People: After the End
« Reply #6180 on: June 06, 2016, 04:27:07 am »

Campaign, Ike!

"I have a very good feeling about you lot! Get your throwing and shooting weapons in order. We're going zombie-hunting!"

Organize these people into loose skirmish groups of shit-throwing troops. Mobility is important! Zombies tend to be unable to skirmish effectively in return, after all.
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Parisbre56

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Re: Special People: After the End
« Reply #6181 on: June 06, 2016, 06:18:59 pm »

"HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG"

Perform my best DBZ imitation; keep charging!

((I just realized that Alan is basically a slightly more articulate version of Buu, the way I've characterized him.))
You are surrounded by a semi-transparent purplish flame and begin visibly vibrating. You're right on the edge and ready to explode with vegetable power. You can barely keep yourself from unleashing it right this very moment.

I have a bad feeling about these poor villagers.

On a nearby hill, two aliens from planet Fruita, here to investigate an unusual concentration of vegetable energy, are watching from afar.
"Hey, Fruita. What does the scouter say about his calories?"
"They're over NINE THOUSAAAAAAAND!"
"WHAT? NINE THOUSAND?"

Campaign, Ike!

"I have a very good feeling about you lot! Get your throwing and shooting weapons in order. We're going zombie-hunting!"

Organize these people into loose skirmish groups of shit-throwing troops. Mobility is important! Zombies tend to be unable to skirmish effectively in return, after all.
Sure. Let's say you get 4 groups of four with rocks, knives, bandages and makeshift spears (essentially long wooden stakes). And your world-class words of encouragement, of course.

You try to get a good spread of quick-looking, tough-looking, least-scared-looking and experienced-looking amongst the groups. Or, well, you do the best you can with what you can tell and what they tell you about themselves.

Let's hope your theory works and a) those people don't panic and run away or do something stupid at the first sign of trouble and b) these aren't some of those fast cheater zombies.
...
Wait, didn't one of those guys mention one of those bull-like things running through the streets?

If you have any other preferences or alterations you'd like to make, say so and we'll work it out quickly, assuming it's nothing too ridiculous.

<Okay. We don't know how much our bond is your kind and how much it's mine. Mine would be completely harmless even for a really deep connection, but if yours could hurt me, then I guess we'll have to be careful.>
<Good. Glad we agree. And that you're not mad at me.
This is something new for me. Our kind's magic is not really predictable. So I'd prefer to play it safe, even if it turns out this is harmless or beneficial.
I wouldn't want to hurt you. Or change you without your permission.
And really, even if this turns out to be just a very close and deep bond... Why would you let yourself get close when you know you'll have to go through the pain of separation again, even if it is to a lesser extent?>


"Sir with the bow waiting for him in town, would you please get yourself a small bundle of torches, one of them lit, and come with me to guide?"
unless DAF / Tiruin are ready to play, then I'd like to leave their characters here to help guard the locals.
speed is important, as soon as my guide is ready, I'll move out towards the town, following his guidance as to the route to take.
((I'm leaving if we move as a group or separately up to Ike / Alan. separate we can cover more ground and search faster, group is safer.))
"Name's Vind. And sure." he says as he leaves to gather the materials you requested.
He returns a while later and you immediately leave for the village while "grand general Ike Blownapart" as D calls him finishes organizing the rest of the volunteers into their suicide squads.

You go off road, taking a circuitous route to the village.

after we get moving:
"Sir, I'm going to move that ball of flame over the village to us, in case we get attacked. Please don't be scared, it's under my control."
after warning my guide, I'm bringing the giant ball of flame from the housefire to hover over us. and illuminate the area around us like a gigantic torch over our heads.
"Fine." he says. He doesn't appear very bothered by the fire, although he does keep an eye on it.
The coldness, the feeling of being watched intensifies after you bring the sphere close to you. And then a minute later, it disappears.

After some walking, you reach the south-southwest part of the wall. The wall was clearly not intended to be of military use. It's quite short, barely taller than the average man. Probably intended to stop animals, children and thieves. And you're not so certain about the last two, since the gaps between the rocks give ample handholds.

You can't see anything out of the ordinary beyond it. The roofs look clear. And your ears and nose aren't giving you anything interesting either. There is a faint smell you've smelled before in this world, while on the road, but you've never seen the creature that caused it. But you remember Ike showing you the tracks a group of those creatures left, tracks made out of four extremely thin legs, disappearing and reappearing a couple of steps later in roughly the same  arrangement, as if it didn't walk.

There's still a bit less then an hour of sunlight left and whatever light gets reflected off the sky after the sun sets, so it's not completely dark. But there are long shadows all around you and your fire helps dispel their darkness. Which you just noticed seems... a bit too dark. Thankfully, there doesn't seem to be anything else wrong with them, they don't start moving, there's nothing hiding in them, they behave normally in all other respects.

The man, Vind, kneels by the wall and gets ready to boost you up and over it. He remains quiet and just looks at you.

((Pausing a bit to let you give input and give others a chance to catch up, since you're a bit in the future.))
« Last Edit: June 06, 2016, 06:22:36 pm by Parisbre56 »
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DreamerGhost

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Re: Special People: After the End
« Reply #6182 on: June 06, 2016, 06:54:15 pm »

<Svajoklis, After the End>

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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The point of keeping the golems on fire isn't for the value of fire as a weapon. It's more to keep the golems functioning at a reasonable speed.
It was never a promise. It was a dirty lie, and you all knew that. You should all know by now that you can't trust a word I say.

Lenglon

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Re: Special People: After the End
« Reply #6183 on: June 06, 2016, 08:18:39 pm »

<Ike, ever since I started manipulating fire around here, I felt like I was being watched. I brought my ball of flame from the village to me, intensifying the light around me by a lot, and that feeling grew stronger, but after a bit, it completely disappeared. The shadows here are a little too dark too. Also, I smell that jumping quadruped thing around here. I'm afraid if you bring a mob of people here, they're going to all die. I'm being careful and I'll keep you updated.>
"One moment."
I pause in the silence, letting my superior ears listen for anything unusual, but even if everything seems fine after that pause I'll sweep a tongue of flame along the stone walltop, the far side of the wall, and the ground a short distance beyond it, in case of things waiting in ambush in the wall's blind spot, and then spread my flames out in a bit of a dome over the area we're going to climb over, making sure that the entire area is extremely well lit. I'm trying to retain as much of my flame as I can, despite my already large starting amount, and I'll enjoy any growth of flame from the security sweep. but naturally I'll be taking all of it when I move the flame onwards so there won't be lingering flames that might burn Vind or grow outside my influence.
"Okay."
I then accept Vind's help getting up the wall, and pause at the top to survey what I see and to help him up too after I've leaned forward with an arm, a leg, and a tail (two tails on the far side) on each side of the wall to stabilize myself. Once we're both safely on the other side, I'll return my flames to being an overhead sphere, but I'll flatten it a bit and spread it out a little so that we ourselves shouldn't be casting any shadow at all, since we're directly under a wide light source.
"Vind, you should know, my eyesight isn't great, but my hearing is very good, if I suddenly stop and hold a closed fist in the air, please stop moving and be totally silent, and watch my ears. whatever direction they're pointing, I heard something from. Anyway, lead on."
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((I don't think heating something that is right above us to a ridiculous degree is very smart. Worst case scenario we become +metal statues+. This is a finely crafted metal statue. It is encrusted with sharkmist and HMRC. On the item is an image of HMRC and Pancaek. Pancaek is laughing. The HMRC is melting. The artwork relates to the encasing of the HMRC in metal by Pancaek during the Mission of Many People.))

Xantalos

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Re: Special People: After the End
« Reply #6184 on: June 06, 2016, 11:38:26 pm »

Kakaralan

"Innocent villagers! Point me in the direction of your troubles and I shall solve them with an excessively healthy dose of vitamins and minerals and orangeness! AT SUPERSONIC VELOCITY!"

Get people to guide me to things that need terminal carrotification!
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Harry Baldman

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Re: Special People: After the End
« Reply #6185 on: June 07, 2016, 06:06:21 am »

Campaign, Ike!

<Ike, ever since I started manipulating fire around here, I felt like I was being watched. I brought my ball of flame from the village to me, intensifying the light around me by a lot, and that feeling grew stronger, but after a bit, it completely disappeared. The shadows here are a little too dark too. Also, I smell that jumping quadruped thing around here. I'm afraid if you bring a mob of people here, they're going to all die. I'm being careful and I'll keep you updated.>

<But if I didn't take them along it'd break their poor hearts. Look at them, so wonderfully spirited. Also, I think that was somebody's scrying spell wearing off. Probably nothing to worry about right up until the point the black dragons start showing up in the sky and disgorging wizards in black to take you into custody.>

Listen for trouble. Be the General of the People I was always meant to be! Flank that village and flank it good.
« Last Edit: June 07, 2016, 06:45:35 am by Harry Baldman »
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Parisbre56

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Re: Special People: After the End
« Reply #6186 on: June 07, 2016, 06:43:22 am »

I assume the general of the people also wants to move in towards the village? If so, he should state so clearly.

Harry Baldman

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Re: Special People: After the End
« Reply #6187 on: June 07, 2016, 06:45:56 am »

I assume the general of the people also wants to move in towards the village? If so, he should state so clearly.

((The General of the People needs only one tactic.))
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DarkArtemisFowl

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Re: Special People: After the End
« Reply #6188 on: June 08, 2016, 05:31:26 am »

((Was busy with a major test over the weekend, and have been trying to catch up with certain things in life. Sorry! Thankfully, I'll have a lot more time in the coming month.))

Zechariah walked slowly and looked around. He felt uneasy, a sense of uncomfortable familiarity present for him about the situation.

Shadows. Monsters. Deformed, tar-covered creatures. Why does this sound so much like we're about to fight the Shadows I fought before in the Medium? Could this multiverse have its own versions of the Shadows, or are they the same type?

With the sunlight quickly fading beyond the horizon, he was worried that he wouldn't have much in the way of offensive talent, seeing as how his hardlight abilities relied on natural light. Even if the flames provided enough light to muster a defense, his powers regarding light seemed to be unstable when he tried to use his staff earlier. Perhaps it'd be safer to rely on his shadow manipulation abilities for now.

Stay close to the others for now if Irine decided to go alone with the guide. Do a little test with my shadow powers: form a tendril of shadows and wrap it around my own hand. Does it hurt me to use my power? Am I able to do it quickly and without much difficulty? If not, then look for a natural light source nearby and test out my hardlight powers as well. If there's no light, then just wait until I can find one.
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Parisbre56

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Re: Special People: After the End
« Reply #6189 on: June 08, 2016, 11:34:59 am »

"One moment."
I pause in the silence, letting my superior ears listen for anything unusual.

But even if everything seems fine after that pause I'll sweep a tongue of flame along the stone walltop, the far side of the wall, and the ground a short distance beyond it, in case of things waiting in ambush in the wall's blind spot, and then spread my flames out in a bit of a dome over the area we're going to climb over, making sure that the entire area is extremely well lit. I'm trying to retain as much of my flame as I can, despite my already large starting amount, and I'll enjoy any growth of flame from the security sweep. but naturally I'll be taking all of it when I move the flame onwards so there won't be lingering flames that might burn Vind or grow outside my influence.

You don't hear anything. There isn't even any wind around here, beyond the distortions in the air your giant fireball is causing. It's just your and the human's breathing. Maybe if Ike was here he'd be able to tell you more about what's beyond the wall.

You send down some fire (maybe a bit too much fire) to sweep the wall and the area beyond it. Vind moves away from the wall and removes a knife from his belt. Probably getting ready for trouble.

As you sweep the area beyond the wall, there is a high pitched warbling cry that ends in a whistle. You've heard similar calls during your nights on this world, but this one seems a bit off, distorted and out of tune. You hear it quickly move away, footsteps lightly impacting the ground as it jumps away and soon you can hear it no more.

"Cacolopes. Ambushers. Quick jump. Bad bite. Annoying scream." Vind says as he puts his knife back into his belt.

Seeing that you can no longer hear anything beyond the wall, you assume that whatever was there is gone or dead. So you reposition your fire into a defensive dome around your crossing point.

"They're usually pack hunters. Should move inside before more come." he adds as he once more gets in position to help you get over the wall.

"Okay."
I then accept Vind's help getting up the wall, and pause at the top to survey what I see and to help him up too after I've leaned forward with an arm, a leg, and a tail (two tails on the far side) on each side of the wall to stabilize myself.

Once we're both safely on the other side, I'll return my flames to being an overhead sphere, but I'll flatten it a bit and spread it out a little so that we ourselves shouldn't be casting any shadow at all, since we're directly under a wide light source.

You climb on the wall, feeling it still warm from your flames' passing and take a look around. The area is clear. And a bit burnt, smoke still rising from the extinguished flames.

It looks like people had various things either on the back of their houses or on the wall itself. Small gardens, clotheslines, outhouses, little fences, storage cabinets... The creature you scared away was probably somewhere among them. Many of them were composed of wood, mostly in the form of smaller or larger branches. They haven't fared very well after your firesweep. Hopefully they won't miss those very much. And if they do, well... you have more important things to deal with.

You run your hand over the wall once more to make sure it's not too hot for humans and then help Vind up, taking his torch first. He gets down and gets his knife ready again. You reposition your flames above you and get ready to follow him.
"Vind, you should know, my eyesight isn't great, but my hearing is very good, if I suddenly stop and hold a closed fist in the air, please stop moving and be totally silent, and watch my ears. whatever direction they're pointing, I heard something from. Anyway, lead on."
He nods and starts moving, trying to remain as silent as he can and you try to follow his example.

Vind moves straight towards one of the nearby houses, a small shack made out of stone and small wooden branches. You follow him, slowly stepping through the burnt remains of the few things that were apparently outside his house, breaking some of them with the sound of cracking wood. He glances at you from time to time.

He stabs his torch to the ground, leaving it outside the house before going in. The inside is really sparse. Just a bed, a table and a few chests and storage cabinets. You saw a few cooking implements still intact outside. He probably didn't store everything he had in here.

After some searching, Vind exchanges his knife for two small knives and a large knife.
"I tried to fight one of the dark ones. They are tough." he whispers.
Ah, so that probably explains the blood on him, it was from his fight. Unless... it's from whoever was with him at the time...
"I'll injure them if I can't kill them. Slow them down. Let you burn them."
He then retrieves his bow, puts it between his legs and begins stringing it. Finally, he gets a quiver filled with a good number of arrows.
He gets an arrow out and puts between his fingers, so that he can get it ready to fire quickly. He looks ready.
"So?" he asks, looking at you.

Campaign, Ike!

<Ike, ever since I started manipulating fire around here, I felt like I was being watched. I brought my ball of flame from the village to me, intensifying the light around me by a lot, and that feeling grew stronger, but after a bit, it completely disappeared. The shadows here are a little too dark too. Also, I smell that jumping quadruped thing around here. I'm afraid if you bring a mob of people here, they're going to all die. I'm being careful and I'll keep you updated.>

<But if I didn't take them along it'd break their poor hearts. Look at them, so wonderfully spirited. Also, I think that was somebody's scrying spell wearing off. Probably nothing to worry about right up until the point the black dragons start showing up in the sky and disgorging wizards in black to take you into custody.>

Listen for trouble. Be the General of the People I was always meant to be! Flank that village and flank it good.
You leave Theri to help take care of the wounded and lead your group of volunteers around the village, to the east entrance. You guess that at least if everything goes south, you'd at least be able to run away and escape towards the direction you were originally going towards. While you make your way there, you hear a cry of one of those four legged jumping creatures coming from where Irine's giant fireball is floating over, almost on the opposite side of the town. Good. If she attracts their attention, that should make your job easier.

As mentioned before, the village stretches along the road, remaining close to it. It starts with one or two buildings per street and goes all the way to five at its thickest point. Maybe 50 buildings total, more or less, about 16 streets total. Probably less, since those two large ones in the middle should take up the space of more than one building.

You slowly approach the open gates (more like two wooden fence pieces on hinges), close your eyes and listen and smell for trouble. Let's see smell... Human smells, cow smells, jumping four legged thing smells... Human smells are more prominent, which seems natural. None of the non-human smells smell very fresh though, unless you count cat smell and rodent smell. Maybe whatever affected those creatures also helps mask their scent.

Sound says... muffled voices which stop almost immediately. Must be scared villagers, in a nearby building, two streets forward and then right. Might be more hiding nearby. Should be able to smell them if you get closer. There's also footsteps. Three streets away to the left, two pairs, one much slower than the other. Maybe another one five streets away? Even in this quiet it's hard to make out. And there's also that damn thing you can't quite hear but more feel, that pressure in your ears that returns just as you are about to forget it, that annoying background noise-

"It looks fine." the young man (you've heard the others call him Mios) tells you as he approaches you.
"We should get in, start looking for people and tell them it's safe to leave. Before more come."

Some of the other men don't share his eagerness. Maybe they can subconsciously feel that damn noise, even if they can't hear it, and it's affecting them somehow. Maybe they smell the blood of other humans and its triggering some primal fight or flight response. Or maybe it's the half-eaten corpse lying in the middle of the road in a puddle of blood, just a street away from where you are.

Kakaralan

"Innocent villagers! Point me in the direction of your troubles and I shall solve them with an excessively healthy dose of vitamins and minerals and orangeness! AT SUPERSONIC VELOCITY!"

Get people to guide me to things that need terminal carrotification!
One of the villagers hesitantly points towards the village. You decide to follow Ike, since he's heading there anyway.
You manage to hold your vegetable in. For now.

((Was busy with a major test over the weekend, and have been trying to catch up with certain things in life. Sorry! Thankfully, I'll have a lot more time in the coming month.))

Zechariah walked slowly and looked around. He felt uneasy, a sense of uncomfortable familiarity present for him about the situation.

Shadows. Monsters. Deformed, tar-covered creatures. Why does this sound so much like we're about to fight the Shadows I fought before in the Medium? Could this multiverse have its own versions of the Shadows, or are they the same type?

With the sunlight quickly fading beyond the horizon, he was worried that he wouldn't have much in the way of offensive talent, seeing as how his hardlight abilities relied on natural light. Even if the flames provided enough light to muster a defense, his powers regarding light seemed to be unstable when he tried to use his staff earlier. Perhaps it'd be safer to rely on his shadow manipulation abilities for now.

Stay close to the others for now if Irine decided to go alone with the guide. Do a little test with my shadow powers: form a tendril of shadows and wrap it around my own hand. Does it hurt me to use my power? Am I able to do it quickly and without much difficulty? If not, then look for a natural light source nearby and test out my hardlight powers as well. If there's no light, then just wait until I can find one.
You wave your staff and grab some of the nearby shadows. It doesn't really hurt you. In fact, it feels easy. Far too easy, even easier than it when you tested it the day before yesterday. When you put it close to your body, it feels like the shadow wants to be as close to you as possible, clinging to your body. And it's strong enough that it trying to do so is quite noticeable. It's not strong enough to hurt you, not with the amount of strength you're using, but... Well, you think it might be best to be very careful if you try to restrain someone with it, lest you end up strangling them. You think you can feel it vibrating slightly, moving around as if it's filled with hundreds of worms. It's almost as if something is making it agitated. Even the small amount of darkness dancing inside your staff seems more active than usual.

When one of the villagers notices you using your ability, he gets quite scared and starts warning everyone about "black magic". Everyone else shares his concern once they notice you and get ready to fight or flee. Ike quickly defuses the situation by telling them it's not black magic, merely an illusion he might use to hide people, but only as a last resort. The villagers don't look convinced. You can see them keeping an eye on you, casting you sidelong glances.

Xantalos

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Re: Special People: After the End
« Reply #6190 on: June 08, 2016, 01:45:56 pm »

"Huminahuminahuminahuminahuminahuminahumina"

Scan for targets! Catch up with Ike if I haven't already.
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Lenglon

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Re: Special People: After the End
« Reply #6191 on: June 08, 2016, 01:49:59 pm »

"We search and rescue. You need to handle talking, scared people will think I'm yet another monster. Do you know where people might have taken shelter?"
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((I don't think heating something that is right above us to a ridiculous degree is very smart. Worst case scenario we become +metal statues+. This is a finely crafted metal statue. It is encrusted with sharkmist and HMRC. On the item is an image of HMRC and Pancaek. Pancaek is laughing. The HMRC is melting. The artwork relates to the encasing of the HMRC in metal by Pancaek during the Mission of Many People.))

Harry Baldman

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Re: Special People: After the End
« Reply #6192 on: June 08, 2016, 01:52:13 pm »

Campaign, Ike!

"Oh, certainly. Let's go get those survivors, eh! Right thing to do, no doubt."

As General of the People I do declare that my lovely regiments will proceed with the evacuation of any optimistically-expected survivors.
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Parisbre56

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Re: Special People: After the End
« Reply #6193 on: June 08, 2016, 03:41:03 pm »

"We search and rescue. You need to handle talking, scared people will think I'm yet another monster."
He nods.
"Do you know where people might have taken shelter?"
He shrugs.
"Normally the Market Square and the Temple next to it. Centre of the village. But many of the monsters headed there. Some said the temple was the target. Don't know if anyone there would be alive. Or if we could approach them without dying."
"Healer's house might have some. It's north-northwest."
"Maybe there are some hiding in the Guard Barracks. Don't know if any Guardsmen survived, the place is close to the centre. But people may have gone there seeking safety."


"That's all I can think of right now."

Lenglon

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Re: Special People: After the End
« Reply #6194 on: June 08, 2016, 03:51:34 pm »

"Ike's group will have the manpower to search all the lower-risk areas efficiently, and with this giant flame overhead we aren't exactly sneaky, though I admit I'm partly counting on how the glare from it will make it hard for people to see us. Lets head to the market square and temple first, before Ike's less-well-armed group can try it and risk a lot of people getting hurt over it. In big open areas I'm going to be able to bring a lot more fire to bear than in small cramped spaces anyway."
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((I don't think heating something that is right above us to a ridiculous degree is very smart. Worst case scenario we become +metal statues+. This is a finely crafted metal statue. It is encrusted with sharkmist and HMRC. On the item is an image of HMRC and Pancaek. Pancaek is laughing. The HMRC is melting. The artwork relates to the encasing of the HMRC in metal by Pancaek during the Mission of Many People.))
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