((It will take me some time to finish writing the SPESS mission intro. I'll probably finish it during the weekend.))
<Svajoklis, Phoenix's passenger area>
Secure my shotgun and wait for the ride to begin.
You secure the shotgun on one of the equipment slots. You could probably ask Icarus if he has a backpack or something like that once you reach your destination, if you don't want to have the shotgun dangling from its strap. Or you could search around the passenger area, maybe some of those containers have some goodies you could use...
The Phoenix, Passenger Area
I'll take a seat and leave my eyes outside.
You keep an eye on the left side of the ship and another on the right.
((Glad to see we're on the same page; my first action was going to be "technosense the ship."))
John took a seat at the front. Flying through space sounded awesome, and he wanted a good view.
"You folks ready for this?"
Probably not a good idea launch brute force attacks on the ship. And while the suit is probably about at peak utility for its current function, it could possibly have more functions...
Take the time to mentally map out the suit functions and plan for future enhancements. Specifically for some light armor (without making it bulky) and enhanced sensors. You know how John likes his sensor helmets. (Not actually changing; just planning future changes.)
Well, a good view from the passenger/cargo area would be hard, since the only window is in the cockpit. Unless there's inflight entertainment and some sort of projector appears, in which case you would be in the best position. Or you could ask Icarus to let you sit in the co-pilot seat in the cockpit, you bet that would be interesting.
Light armor you could do, but you're not certain about whether or not it would interfere with the suit's anti-radiation and heat-management system. You might have to try to extend the suit's network into your additions. Or you could simply give your ability a bit more leeway and trust it to make the necessary adjustments.
Sensors wouldn't be hard, you could implement them as some sort of goggles (or AR glasses) that you wear from inside your visor. Or you could make some sort of mask to wear on top of your visor (or completely replace it). Or you could make the sensors completely independent and project AR images on your visor (or the environment around you, if you want a more Dead Space vibe). You could probably put them straight into your brain, but it's probably not a good idea to take that risk unnecessarily, even with your power.
Kosak Durar:
"I certainly hope so..."
Kosak has never seen a seat belt before, and if there is one, will likely end up not using it.
Well, there isn't a seatbelt, but there are an awful lot of mechanical limbs ready to spring out from behind the chair. It's like lying on the belly of a spider that's ready to embrace you. A rather soft and comfortable spider.
Tess dashes into the alley, still being careful not to touch her right hand to anything. She continues simply trying to put distance between herself and the portal.
You quickly move into the alley and keep running. The man taking out the trash looks at you and asks you something you can't understand. You ignore him and keep moving.
The alley is quiet. There's only the tap-tap-tap of your feet hitting the ground (becoming splish-splish-splish for the few moments it takes you to cross a puddle). In the distance you hear the siren stop, followed a few seconds later by the sound of gunshots and the frightened gasps of the masses.
You reach the end of the alley. On this side there is a boulevard, a large two-way street with a line of tall trees separating the two sides. Still, there's not too much traffic, at least not on the road. The rather wide sidewalks are filled with people going about their business, their numbers bolstered by a large number of people exiting a nearby building with many bright lights (probably a theater or cinema). Some of them glance at you for a few moments as you come running and panting out of the alley, but they don't seem to care too much about you.
On your left, you can see the the boulevard ending up in the ocean, the warm wind-less day making the waters calm and clear, the only white you can see being in the wings of seabirds. On your right the road continues towards the city centre and the tall buildings located there. The architecture of some is a bit strange, like castle towers made out of metal and glass, becoming blue and white from the sun and sky being reflected on them.
((Okay, sounds good to me. Final question. Do you want to go to the mission IN SPACE! we are currently starting? Note that it is hard and has a chance of permadeath.))
You wake up. You are sitting on something hard. You open your eyes to see the floor made out of black marble blocks. They have grey and red impurities, forming lines on it. Raising your head, you notice there's a
display case in front of you containing a mannequin in a lavish dress, full of red, purple and gold, fit for a queen. A queen that wants to project the image of a warrior, you add to your previous thought as you notice the short golden scabbard hanging from her hip. You notice there are other display cases in this room. Behind the display case you notice a window, but it's dark outside, you can barely see what's out there. Even in here the lighting is low. The lamps overhead are all extinguished and only some of the display cases have lamps burning besides them. The lamps create moving humanoid shadows in the walls, making you feel as if you're being watched by things in the dark corners of the room. The marble bench you're sitting on is cold, making your hair stand on end.
Nah, maybe I'll join the next mission. Right now, I want to be what to make of my current situation. Anyway, am I supposed to have stats or something?
Napoleon looked dreamily at the mannequin, imagining it to be one of the most beautiful life-sized dolls he'd ever seen. Its almost regal design seemed to combine elegance and a martial style in one costume, much like his own. Eyeing the golden scabbard, Napoleon imagined it as his side. However, he had the nagging feeling that he was being watched and didn't want to open the case without setting anyone or anything on him. Needless to say, Napoleon knew what to do:
Summon several three-inch dolls to scout out the entire room. Using the hive mind that connects him with the dolls, Napoleon can peer through their eyes to determine whether his suspicions are correct and to see what were in the other display cases.
((I'll give you your stats later, writing from phone right now.))
You summon a few small dolls and have them scurry around, slowly exploring your surroundings. You use them to perceive the dark corners of the room. You don't find anyone lurking there, not even on the ceiling. Through their distorted vision and your own you look around and check the contents of the various cases.
One has a heavy suit of armor holding a spear and a heater shield. It lacks decorations but its pristine nature is in a way its own decoration, its polished metal surfaces being as shiny as a mirror.
Another holds a black gentleman's suit and a white shirt, worn by the mannequin in a sloppy manner, as if whoever put it there was in a hurry or didn't care that much about how the fine material was treated. With a closer inspection, you notice that there is a bloodstain on it, hidden by the low light and the black color of the fabric.
There's also one that would be more fitting for the head of some religion than a man or a king. Or maybe a wizard. The golden outfit with the red and green decorations looks loose and comfortable but there is a massive crown on its head, holding an arcane symbol on a circular golden plate. From the crown trails a golden veil that glitters in the flickering light of the lamps.
((Okay, I've read up on most of what happened. I'm very excited to be back for this.))
Zechariah knew what the feeling was that resonated with him subtly. Ever since he had retrieved his staff with the help of River, it had felt this way. His staff, in a way, was directly connected to his powers. Like any of the other Guardians or Mediums, any weapon that he brandished could become hybrid: imbued with a bit of his own soul. Accordingly, he had to have a sense of unity in and of himself. If he was unable to achieve this, he would find it difficult to manifest any abilities relating to the extension of his soul.
Was it River's hand in rebuilding the staff that tainted it, or did this come from within Zechariah? It could be both, he thought to himself. No, it was certainly that. His staff was not fully his anymore; neither was his mind entirely. Many of his memories were corrupted or scrambled, and his dreams were full of interruptions and distortions from his memories. He was haunted by figures from his past, but he couldn't recall exactly who they were. He knew what his last moments were in the Medium, and he remembered his purpose in whole, but many of the precious details that made him who he was now were lost to the void. It was a small price to pay to be alive again, but in this time, it troubled him greatly.
And, of course, there was the matter of the wholeness of his soul. Artemis had been such a large part of his life and identity that, having had his memories sullied and Artemis being in an entirely different multiverse, he found it hard to master the irrational, basic feelings that stirred in him eternally. Artemis, at least, served as his introspection - his internal muse. He did not have that anymore. He had to figure out -
His thoughts were interrupted by a commotion coming from outside. He picked up his staff and signaled to his comrades.
<Ike? Nikolai? What is happening?>
Go out and investigate. Be ready for defending myself and others if it's needed.
((Hey man, good to see you.))
You make your way up to the meeting room. Though the clarity brought upon you by your hours of mediation is fading, you can still sense that faint darkness in the air. It feels like it's coming from this place. Something bad is about to happen.
Campaign, Ike!
"Smart move, bud. You may get out of this alive yet."
Deliver the man into Nikolai's care and go get the Headwater in a nonchalant kind of way. Comment on the quality of the bathrooms around here if any of the other guests give me trouble.
"Got your boy, my dude. Wanna go check on him or should I tell my friend to take him someplace for processing?"
Let the Headwater take care of the organizational part of this, however he prefers. Do inform him that his buddy Griman's up to no good as well and apparently has several guys in the guard willing to do things for him, that sounds like a good thing to keep in mind.
You leave your overzealous teammate to guard the man while you start making your way to the meeting room.
"Better get him here, as quickly as you can. I can make him confess his crimes. If he does that in front of such a large audience, then this can be resolved quickly and without the conflict an investigation and subsequent trial would bring. Even if his testimony doesn't prove Griman's actions, it would be enough to rob him of his support and render him harmless."
"If I just arrest them on your word alone and then held them while I searched for evidence, I am afraid things could get out of hand. He and the others of his group would use it as evidence that I'm just as bad as he says. Even if I managed to find the necessary evidence, by that point he could had gained enough support that it wouldn't matter."
catch up to Ike. Guard the prisoner.
<Thank you for causing trouble, we'll get a nice fat reward for stopping you!>
Empty his pockets, strip him, blindfold, tie his wrists and ankles, and hold the scissors against his back.
You reach into the man's pockets, searching for anything suspicious. You find a crude pendant, a small bit of parchment with smudged black marks on it and a short curved knife in a black scabbard. You pocket the stuff and have him remove his clothes. He doesn't seem to like it very much, but he agrees and slowly starts removing his clothes.
A man approaching from the other end of the hallway looks at you with suspicion, but rather than get distracted, you stay focused on your job. Your awareness allows you to notice that the guy you're guarding stares at the approaching man intensely. You can tell he is about to try something.
Oh, I figured that since the distraction wasn't needed right now, Alan was going to momentarily be sensible for the later chance of greater calamity. Nevertheless, I planned to go with an Alan classic to properly welcome the restarting of this game back: a boombox and a few megaphones that I can tape to said boombox, all several sizes larger than normal.
((Sorry, forgot to PM you your stuff, sent them now.))
It's early in the night, the last hints of the sun's glow disappearing. That is when the people of Chizra hear a sound they have never heard before. It is so powerful that almost everyone can hear it and those closest to its source can barely stay standing. Some can even see it. The giant machine surrounded by a halo of blinking multicolored decorative lights, its speakers visibly vibrating. Suffice to say, it is more than enough to grab everyone's attention, either by making them look at it and investigate it or making them run away from it.
Though the unfamiliar music and alien pop-culture references are not making it an instant hit, humans and their appreciation of beat and melody is almost universal (or rather interuniversal), especially when boosted by mind-affecting chaos energies. Soon, a wave of dance starts overtaking the people of the residential area, starting from the bars and slowly spreading outwards.
Brad taps at the inner wall.
"Then we're going to need a way to overcome the inner wall. The best way to do that would be from an angle they would never expect. We could simply go around the edges of the inner wall." he says, pointing close to the top of the map.
"Or we could climb the outer walls and then you can summon something we can use to glide or rappel down." he adds, making a line from the outer wall towards the temple.
I am on board with Theri's 'return to the group' plan.
((FYI, you're several hours forward in time compared to Ike and the rest. And unless you decide to try sprinting, it will take about a day or a day and a half to make it back there. So when you go back, if nothing happens along the way, I'll probably have to pause time so that you two can catch up and I can prevent paradoxes. I might just speedup the healing of River's mind to at least give you a bit more to talk about.))
((Well since we're farther ahead in time, and travel back makes up time, I intend to make this balanced so we just arrive at an opportune moment of your pick))
"We've covered a lot of ground, but we've been casting (as in moving in circular paths instead of a straight line) around to cover the most area of vision. What say we move hard at night and rest in the day? It's a lot better on the body with less heat, and the cool night breeze will benefit a lot. That and Irine or my vision could prevent any falls or otherwise--I memorized the terrain."
Do travel straight back there! Hopefully not to get lost!
Bring Irine and San that way!
You decide to start moving right now and then find a place to rest when the sun comes up. As you move, you notice that all of your companions are currently rather shorter (and thus slower) than you. Yesterday you solved that problem by carrying them and their supplies whenever you could, but now their number is getting to the point where trying to do so would be quite staining and would offer fewer benefits.
After the sun rises, illuminating your surroundings, you are able to see further. That is when you notice something that doesn't look good. As you reach the top of a small hill, you can see a number of people a great distance away, lying on the ground next to a dying campfire. You would assume they were merely sleeping, if it wasn't for the fact that their tent is completely torn to shreds and their clothes painted red by blood. You're not certain if you should investigate to see if you can save anyone or keep your distance in case it's an ambush.
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Topic: Special People: Mechanical Syndrome (Read 1128870 times)