This is stressful.
First thing to remember: stay alert.
...It's fairly likely that if I tamper with the vials on the device, it'll transmit an alarm. On the other hand, if I snap the antenna first, the device might detect that it can't call home anymore and detonate. It's probably not a good idea to just leave it, in case the newcomer detects my presence in some other way and remotely detonates the device. From among these options... A distress signal would be less disastrous than an explosion, so I'm going to try to disconnect those vials first. Once it can't explode anymore, break the antenna. If I'm lucky there'll be nothing in range for it to cry to...
Hmm. Something close. Worst-case, there could be an attack 'bot in the closet, set to activate if the trap squawks. Keep an eye open for that while dismantling. If it's unarmored, I could take it down with a pistol. If it IS armored, time to leave.
That bout of paranoia done, collect the four vials from the device. Might be handy, you know?
If I'm still not dead at this stage, check the modified suits very carefully. Might be trapped too. If it seems clean, take one. If the newcomer needs this equipment, so do I.
Then check the closet. Door might have a tripwire, so push very softly and see if I can see any device through the crack.
Then just generally look around the room for any clues as to what he's looking for. Would it be too much to hope for that this guy keeps a diary?
This guy is more paranoid than you'd like, so you make a mental note to stay as alert as possible. Who knows what other traps he might have set?
That done, you set about dealing with the trap. The vials (more like small misshapen syringes now that you look at them more closely) are connected to the reaction chamber through small plastic tubes. It doesn't look like it has any way to detect the tubes being cut, so as long as you lead with that, you should be safe. You very carefully cut the tubes with your combat knife, remove and then seal the vials. You then proceed to snap the antenna off as slowly as you can. As you snap the antenna the vibrations cause the limit of some unseen sensor to be exceeded and the device activates. It beeps menacingly and activates the motors that would had resulted in the vials mixing, if you hadn't already removed them. You think you snapped the antenna off before it could get a signal off but you can't be too sure. You remove the battery as well, just in case.
You check your surroundings to make sure no catastrophic chain reaction that would result to your death has been triggered. Your mundane senses show you nothing. Your new senses also show you nothing, though the people in nearby rooms remain quite alarmed from the noise of you breaking into the room. None of them going out to investigate yet.
You check the suits more carefully. The most obvious modification is the added armour. The thin layer of metal has several hollow parts where air tanks are meant to be attached. In that way the armour protects the sensitive connections from any accidents. The tubes from the extra tanks link to a central device that appears to be responsible for regulating and directing their flow. Strangely, the device is designed to be able to output or receive air through two extra tubes on the suit's back and two on its hands. Hm. Maybe a way to share extra air or maybe to refill the air tanks through some external system, instead of swapping the old air tanks for new? The armour also serves to cover several devices that have been placed underneath it. Most of them look like transmitters or receivers of some sort, though you can't tell what they're meant to receive. Other than that, it's mostly standard (but quite high-end) diver equipment with some redundancies. A long-range radio, powerful lamps, backup battery packs, clips for attaching rope or tools, a tablet with rotary interface so it can be handled with the suit's somewhat bulky gloves, backup analog gauges, a slate, an emergency patch kit, a cable reel... You also notice there's holsters for a knife and a gun, though you aren't sure how easy it would be to use one through such a bulky suit.
Hmmm... There's something missing here. Many of the more successful divers tend to augment their suits with biocomponents to increase their chances of finding something or make them last longer, but these suits appear entirely mechanical. Maybe the newcomer doesn't trust biocomponents? Or maybe he can't use them? If that's the case then he probably doesn't have any abilities like yours either, since those are usually made by the same growers.
Checking the bags, you find more equipment, this time meant mostly for drilling and scanning along with some basic electronic equipment, including a high end engineer multi-tool tablet (locked with a password, of course). You also find some detonators but no actual explosives. Yet everything else looks ready to go, as if he could leave this place any second. Maybe he's out buying the explosives right now? Or maybe he's hidden them somewhere on the way to an airlock?
Overall, it looks like the Newcomer and his friends want to be as prepared as possible. Probably going for a long dive to a dangerous place. Probably searching for something then, like the slug said. It occurs to you that the slug probably knew about the newcomer purchasing at least some of this equipment, which is why it sent you after him. Letting you know would had been nice. Wonder what else it knows but hasn't told you about.
You turn your attention back to the suits and experimentally move one of their arms to test its weight. You make the suit wave to you with some effort. You could wear one of the suits. However it's quite heavy, it would be very tiring to try to move quickly with it. Unless there was an emergency, you'd have to walk until you got to the airlock. Such a bulky and expensive suit would also attract attention. It's not uncommon for divers to walk around in their suits but divers themselves are not a common sight, especially ones successful enough to have such expensive suits.
If you want more mobility, you could detach the armour plates from one of the suits and some of the redundant equipment, but that would take a couple of minutes and leave the suit's more sensitive parts vulnerable.
There is another alternative however. You see here enough parts to make another suit. You could wear a simple dive suit underneath your clothes, put a lightweight helmet in your backpack and tie a couple of air tanks on the backpack. Of course, if the newcomer really needs all these airtanks to get to where he wants to go, then two tanks might not be enough. Then again, the newcomer's suits are bulkier and heavier and they are probably going to be drilling based on their equipment, so maybe that would lead to higher oxygen consumption. Maybe with a more lightweight suit you'll be able to keep up with them, if you choose to simply follow them and refrain from strenuous activities.
Do you want to do something with the suits now or do you wish to continue exploring the rest of the room?
You try to throw your weapon but your injury makes your throw weak, the gun barely makes it halfway to him.
You summon a couple of winged dolls. They flap their wings and fly after Jack. They dive on him and try to pin him to the ground. He dodges one but not the second. The doll slams into him but he maintains his balance. The doll flaps its wings. It manages to slow him down somewhat, but he's still running.
With the help of the dolls slowing him down, you manage to catch up to him.
He pulls a glowing heart card out of his sleeve and slams it into the doll. You immediately feel your connection with the doll break. The doll is already breaking apart but it turns to face you for an attack. You manage to raise your arms just in time to shove it away. The doll slams into the ground, breaking apart into dust as it does so.
Somewhere behind you, the monsters finish off your doll and start running towards you. You keep an eye on them with your one remaining flying doll. More doors are opening all around the arena.
♚The Doll Prince: Quantity Has a Quality of its Own♚
As the apparent situation became worse, Napoleon gritted his teeth as more of the foul creatures begin flooding into the arena. It was not often that he would swallow his pride enough to curse a totally foolish decision on his part but considering that his journey could end here, Napoleon felt like screaming out how foolish he is to shoot at that machine in hopes of killing the creatures. Now here they come, baying to have a taste of his sweet dollish Frenchman flesh. Hell, he doubted that he can make his skin as hard as porcelain.
"Now is not the time for self-regrets," he chided himself as he ran to catch up to Jack. "You must prove to the world that the Doll Prince is here to stay."
This self affirmation gave him strength and Napoleon spent only a few seconds analyzing this situation. Despite how things looked, he still held an advantage over Jack. Unlike Napoleon, who can summon as many dolls as his stamina allowed, Jack can only activate his ability with playing cards. While Napoleon can overwhelm his enemies with a swarm of dolls like a dolled-up Swarmlord/Norn Queen, Jack only has a limited amount of playing cards and will soon run out. Though no one could've anticipated that the both of them would clash swords with each other, all shall agree that Jack have already lost the fight with the Doll Prince the moment he'd ruffled his chitinous exoskeleton feathers. Jack's inevitable defeat had never been such a foregone conclusion.
Summon a swarm of small winged dolls. Use them to harass Jack and get him to waste his cards on them while keeping at bay any creatures that get too close. Be the first to get through that door.
You summon a swarm of small dolls and send them to harass Jack. Jack slams a diamond card on one of the columns and immediately a transparent barrier forms out of it. Your dolls easily fly over it. You also make it through. Mostly. Your left arm is caught by the barrier, bringing you to an abrupt and painful stop as your wounded flesh is stretched and torn.
Meanwhile, Jack is overextering himself to push through your doll swarm, pushing and kicking them away. You can also see the distorted form of the monsters approaching through the transparent barrier. A second later the barrier dissolves and you can get up and run again. You catch up somewhat, but you're still too far behind. Jack is almost at the door.
[pwr:5]
[Jack pwr:5]
[Rflx:1]
[End:3]
[doll str: 1+1]
[Jack str: 6]
[spd: 2]
[jack spd: 1-1]
Yeah, that's some terrible luck. I usually don't show rolls but I just wanted to show that it was a Good plan but there's not much you can do about the rolls.
Seems interesting. I'll join the waitlist.
Name: Midnight Edgeman
Ability: Edginess
Appearance: A man wearing shades, a skull bandana, a hood, and a red and black trenchcoat.
Bio/Personality info: Probably the definition of edge.
Other: I want his starting weapons to be a blood-red katana and dual edgy revolvers, dubbed the 'Misery Extingushers'.
You wake up.
The soft rumbling of the plane's rotors was just interrupted by an explosion.
"See you on the ground. If you can make it." you hear a muffled voice.
You catch a glimpse of the person in a dark wingsuit jumping off the side of the plane.
You have no idea how you got here.
A moment later something slams to the top of the plane, causing a big dent to form on the hull.
Generating, changing the shape and hardening, like that guy from Naruto.
Here's my sheet.
Name: Kokkaku.
Ability: Bone Manipulation: Kokkaku can harden, extend and alter the shape of his bones, they also mend much faster than a normal human's bones, however, this doesn't extend to his fleshy bits.
Appearance: Kokkaku is an emaciated and skinny man in his early 20's, he has pale stringy hair and long fingernails.
Bio/Personality info: Kokkaku was born in some backward village in Japan, his strange appearance left him ostracized and alone, eventually he joined a circus as a freakshow attraction before finally finding peace in a Buddhist colony. However, his life was turned upside down when the monastery he resided in was burned by the army of Oda Nobunaga, he soon embarked on a roaring rampage of revenge before being brought here.
Other: Kokkaku has an addiction to milk, cheese, and other dairy products.
You wake up.
You find yourself walking through an empty grey plain. Hm. Maybe still dreaming then.
There's a figure in front of you, dressed in a cloak a slightly darker shade of grey than his surroundings.
"You have been chosen, warrior, to receive the gift of ultimate power. But first, you must prove your worth."
Before you can think too much about it, the man draws his sword and slashes towards you.
You fall through a tear in the world and slam into a piece of metal, making a big dent in it. Immediately the strong wind starts pulling you towards the edge of the curved metal surface.
You realize this metal tube with wings is flying through the air, slowly falling towards the ground. You can see clouds passing above you and forests extending below you.
"Son...of a whore! what in the 18 hells is your problem!?!"
Kokkaku extends the length of his nails before hardening them and trying to dig them in the wing of the plane before he falls off, he then wills his ribcage to mend into a makeshift armor before bracing for impact
You make your nails slightly longer and sharper, harden them and drive them through the soft metal of the plane with a mighty punch, arresting your movement. You start extending your ribcage but you have a bit of trouble focusing. Due to a miscalculation, you extend the bones a bit too much, turning making them more like wings. They catch the air and immediately pull you away from the metal. Your arms' sockets hurt like hell but you manage to hold on without injury (for now).
Also, you're rather high up and this thing is still trying to stay level, though it's starting to slow down and dive slowly. You think you have about a minute before it crashes. It looks like it's going to crash into the thick woods surrounding a small town. Hopefully the treetops will slow it down more gently, otherwise even armoured up you don't think you're going to survive.
Alayne, Versatile Royalty
"Hmm. Most of the people at the party are already my friends, I just need to get to Ventis. Given he's spreading all those salacious rumors about me he probably believes some of them, so going there on an Angel's out. That'd scare him too much. He's probably watching the entrances too, wizards are paranoid and all. Ooh, I know!"
Alayne hops up and down excitedly - this was such a good idea she'd had! Her mandibles were practically quivering.
Go through a portal with Ammie's help, and taking some inspiration from Cinderella, use my makeup powers to disguise myself as a servant girl until I've found Ventis to prevent him from suspecting anything give him a better surprise.
You bounce to the ceiling and back excitedly before going off to search for a maid outfit that fits your spider-y exterior. You don't really
need to be wearing clothes to wear clothes, but if you're going to look well you want all your selves to look well. A few hours and a couple of ruined outfits later, night has fallen and you're preparing to go to the party. You're certain everyone will love the surprise.
You can see Lord Audrey's airship from the top of your tower, a massive thing docked to one of the docking cradles of her warehouses, close to the outskirts of the city. From what you heard from Lord Audrey (she's so proud she won't stop talking about it) this thing is so huge it can only stay afloat for a little while, it actually needs to be flying at a certain speed to remain in the air. That is why it needs to stay in the cradle instead of merely using a tower and that is why it's been designed to be able to easily touch down on land or water.
Both the docking cradle and the airship itself have been decorated with several small lights (appearing to blink due to the slight heat distortions in the air) and various colourful pieces of cloth fluttering on the wind. There are also large floodlights illuminating the airship's massive wings and sails, which currently lie neatly folded on its sides. However they won't remain folded for long. The airship is meant to make its first 'official' flight today. It has made smaller test flights before to make sure that it is properly balanced, but today it will receive its name (you wonder if Lord Audrey will take your suggestion) and fly as a complete and finished vessel for the first time. It will be its longest flight yet, with a full complement of crew and passengers. It has received permission from the Sovereign to slowly fly above the city to awe the citizens with its size before demonstrating its speed and defensive capabilities further away from the city.
It's still a bit early, the first and most eager guests should only now have started arriving. However there's no point in delaying to make a more dramatic entrance. When you're going somewhere in disguise, you're always going to make a dramatic entrance when you reveal yourself. You contact your mum and ask for her help in creating the portal. You think you're starting to get the hang of this portal business, but your mum insists to help you whenever you make one.
You raise your hand and point towards the airship. You feel the Chaos energy flow outwards, forming itself into twisting symbols in the air. A circle forms in front of you and in that circle the image of the ship quickly zooms in. You guide it to one of the storage rooms close to the forward kitchen. It should be empty and you'd only need to climb the stairs to reach the forward observation deck where the main party is being held. Lord Audrey should be there for most of the evening, so Ventis shouldn't be too far behind.
The portal stabilizes, showing you a dark storage area occupied by a few lonely boxes secured to the floor by restraints. You step through it and emerge on the other side without problem. You thank your mum and dismiss the portal. Its faint buzzing noise and the illumination it provided disappear with it, leaving you in almost complete darkness (not that you mind, you can see in the dark). Somewhere in the distance you can smell the smells and hear the noise of kitchen (metal utensils clicking, fires roaring, water boiling, stuff moving and falling, orders and instructions being shouted to be heard over the noise...).
Poll
15 (42.9%)
Author
Topic: Special People: Mechanical Syndrome (Read 1141020 times)