Saevus, After the End
Well-balanced (for improved accuracy) sword and shield. Continue onwards, but be ready to cut the creature down if it attacks.
You summon a relatively lightweight sword and shield and give it an experimental swing. Looks good, it's sharp and quick. You decide to use your golden arm to hold the shield. That means the damage won't affect the accuracy of your sword, but on the flipside, if you try to block a really powerful blow, it might receive further damage.
You start moving, keeping your eye on the vermin. It's looking at you, but not attacking. Maybe it thinks you aren't alive? Maybe it can't figure out what you are? Maybe the lights are confusing it? Who knows. You enter a dark corridor with an exit sign on it and start walking through it. There are less signs of combat here and some of the lights are actually working. No dead vermin either, unless they were collected. Looks like whatever went down here, it was concentrated on that- You see a shadow at the corner of your vision. You flip around. A vermin is there, limping forward. It stops a bit after you stop. There are more behind it. They are following you.
You keep moving, glancing behind you from time to time, keeping an eye on the vermin following you. You keep moving until you reach the entrance. The entrance and the room behind it, once a quite large thing of glass and plastic, has been heavily fortified with metal, sandbags and barbed wire, made full of cover and chokepoints. You're currently on some sort of platform. There's stairs leading down. There's only two men down there that you can see, both close to a machinegun pointing outside, standing watch. This area is quiet. You don't think you could approach them without them hearing you coming, but the heavy cover would mean that they would not actually see you until you're quite close.
Nice! Okay, one more addition.
Time for a murderbot. Simple laser weapon, basic armored frame. Takes orders directly from me. Doesn't need much independent AI except protective instinct toward me.
Hmm... Let's see... You get the thing, now to roll for additional characteristics... You get a relatively small unit, the size of an average dog. It's got a short rectangular base on top of which sits an arrow-shaped turret with some spikes in the front. It's got several sets of small but powerful rover-like wheels hidden beneath its turret that allow it to move quite quickly, especially when it's on a good road. It's got a small chemical laser coming out of the centre of its turret and continuing on until its spikes. Its triangular turret can move independently of its base, so it can shoot while moving at another direction. Overall, it should have good odds on a one on one battle with an armed human, but it could quickly get overwhelmed when facing more, especially if it becomes stationary or gets ambushed. Furthermore, while it appears to be able to follow simple commands (like "attack that" or "move there" or "follow me") or even sequences of simple commands, complex orders like "protect me from anyone who would harm me" are beyond its understanding. It would probably require a bit of micromanaging to work at its full potential.
WMD, After the End
Getting out of here sounds good. See if my host knows of a way to get out of here. If not, follow one of the roads. Maybe check a few of the small buildings on the way for a disguise.
Well, the best bet would be the giant coilgun close to the centre of the city. If you're lucky, you could go there without dying, find some sort of vessel that could safely launch you to the colonies and then launch it to get out of this hellhole, hoping they won't shoot you down before you get there. On the other hand, you're already quite close to the edge of the city. They
must have
something that allows them to get out of here around here. A digger, some sort of submarine, maybe even a submersible aircraft if you're lucky. Contamination can't be this bad everywhere on Earth. If you're lucky, you might be able to use your escape vehicle to reach safety.
...
Both of those plans appear to rely heavily on luck. Maybe you could just convince everyone that whoever tries to kill you will end up dead so that they all stop bothering you and start respecting you. Maybe if you kill enough of them... You don't want to live down here, but if you have to, then you guess having a few slaves and power for yourself would make the stay more bearable.
While musing, you enter a shed with a busted lock and turn on the light. This one is a very simple thing. A locker, a grate leading underground to some pipes and an old computer. It looks like whoever broke the lock also broke the locker's lock. There's a black work suit, a helmet and a pair of boots in there. This could work for a disguise.
Kosak Durar, After the End:
"RAAAAAGH!"
Wait, the heart's vulnerable? Dwarven Gatling Barrage. If that's not an option, Dwarven Hammer Fist. If that's not an option, repeated kicks.
You dig into the exposed section, kicking, ripping and tearing as fast as you can. But it's not fast enough. The entire thing shakes, threatening to throw you off. The walls are closing in. You're getting crushed. But you won't let it end this way. You flip around, using your legs to against the shell closing around you, becoming the spear that will pierce this heart, driving yourself through the hole. You madly thrash around its dark insides, tearing at flesh and wires. The vibrations are deafening you. Metal is piercing your skin. You're being eaten alive. Something breaks. There's an explosion, pain and then only darkness.
| >Agent life-signs terminated | | Control signal terminated) | | >Transponder signal lost | | Unable to reestablish communication) | | >Final burst confirms termination | | Assuming total loss) | | >1/2 Activation Preconditions met | | Activating Final Countdown Timer) |
|
"Well done." Charlie says, bringing your attention away from the TV.
"You did it. You defeated the mastermind responsible for that mess. One of them, anyway.""Yeah, but he still died in the end." the entity sitting on the other side of the table responds.
"Eh, victory is all that matters. Everything else can be sacrificed for it.""But is it a victory if you sacrifice yourself for it? I say it is not.""And I say it is."((Paris, Irine doesn't know anything about final fantasy. it's out of character for her to say that. I need to know if that's a real thing that I need to worry about (lingering influence of D?) or if it's just creative license. Her reaction to the sword's posturing would, yes, be to deflate it, but she'd take a different tack, one less direct. specifically, she'd start shop-talk about universe creation. she WAS a major player in the building of her own after all. and if the sword wasn't an actual fellow creator, instead simply a creation, then it wouldn't be able to keep up, but it would probably be able to recognize that she DOES know what she's talking about and IS an expert on the subject.))
Irine said what she said.
<You make it sound like you don't actually care how you're used. That seems kinda messed up. I can understand wanting to restrain your own power really well, that's how I ended up as weak as I am now after all, but there's no way I'd incarnate into an inanimate form. let alone subject myself to being simply someone else's property. What do you really want? and why would you be so timid as to use an inanimate avatar and yet talk yourself up so much when someone finally says hi? Do you have regrets about your choice?>
<Those worthy will be led to worthy pursuits. And what we are here for is irrelevant. We are here to judge, not to be judged.><You know what? never mind, that's a personal question and you probably don't want to talk about it. sorry for asking. anyway, um, I'm no swordmaster by any means, in fact I'm pretty sure you're so heavy I couldn't actually wield you even if I tried, and I flat refuse to lay claim to a person as mere property, but if you want I'll carry you with me for a while, so long as you don't get intrusive on my mind. I'm currently hunting a highly dangerous criminal from another universe, and our current best guess for where it went is Godstone Fortress, but if it isn't there we'll probably have to chase it all over the place. Would that make you happy?>
<Until the fated one frees us, we shall accompany the worthy. Are you ready to be judged?>Wait, you mean Alan got where he is in life completely drug free?
Well, I guess it's true what they say then, champions don't do drugs.
Kinda? He's certainly done drugs before, but not really. He doesn't actually have any knowledge of what they're for - he thinks cannabis is a weird type of spinach, for instance. This obviously lead to a great deal of shenanigans when he watched Popeye the Sailor Man. He's also accidentally made cinnamon buns frosted with cocaine icing for more than a few kindergarten kids classes. Stuff like that. He's mostly high enough on life that he doesn't really develop dependencies on drugs even if he knew what they were.
Hey, where'd Ike go? Go find him and show him Bill And Ted! It's just another wacky addition to the cast of side characters I seem to be building up around myself.
((That sounds like an Alan thing to do.))
What's that Rickman? Little Ike fell down a well? Well, lead the way boy!You wanna go down there to show Ike your bird and your plant? Or just yell really hard? He's got big ears, he could probably hear you. Hell, he could probably hear you even if you didn't yell.
Theri continued meditate-dreaming with the theme of healing, with some of her thoughts leading onto past events, following what had occurred and several distinct-yet-not-wholly-understood feelings passing by and just brushing at her subconsciousness, stemming from the battle in the church to her meetings with the shadow creatures, to several other events covering a summary of what had occurred since. Like the villagers--especially the villagers. Thankfulness, peace, healing, and many other facets to mind.
Healing continues.
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Topic: Special People: Mechanical Syndrome (Read 1141807 times)