Staging Area
There's no way he's going to help, out of the goodness of his heart. Still, something about the idea seems... compelling. Maybe I haven't been fully successful in suppressing optimistic thoughts. They're never helpful, but...
"...Okay, fine. There's no way that I can beat you, anyways. At least if I try trusting you, you might get a chance to kill me quickly, so that I won't have a chance to lose my hope before I die."
Lower the rifle.
"Good. Good. Now, could you kindly explain what exactly your employer wants from me? Does he simply want my suit and gun? Does he need those things right now? I could just give them to you after I'm done with my job, you know."He is still crouched on the ground.
A civilian opens his apartment door somewhere behind you, takes a peek outside and quickly gets back in.
His two friends are going to enter the apartment soon, based on their intent. The gas has probably cleared by now.
Your hands are still somewhat numb from the gas.
((Hi,
I'm really really sorry for not having been posting lately. The last few weeks I've been caught up in immigration appointments and well, this week I was involved in an unfortunate car accident and have been recovering both mentally and physically. I will try to post my action in the coming few days.
I didn't mean to have disappeared on everyone here, and I truly am sorry for that. If I am truly not able to participate temporarily in the future, I will make sure to at least notify Paris.
Hope everything is going well for all of you!))
((I hope that everything pan out alright for you and that you'll get through all of this. You may even look back and consider this to be only a chapter in the story of your life!))
She sits back down on her throne and looks at you.
"Hm."
She spends a few more seconds looking at you thoughtfully.
"Very well then." she declares and stands up again.
"You will be going to the domain of one of my competitors. Do try to keep your eyes open for anything useful and you will be rewarded."
With that, she waves her arm. You blink and you are in an old-timey tavern.
"This..." she points to a shadowy humanoid being sitting at one of the tables, waving as if she is unsure of what to call it.
"...person will let you know more." she finally says, somewhat dismissively.
((Keep reading.))
"Get me away from her and I'll fight the gods themselves"
"Nyan, you don't like me?" the thing complains.
The shadowman flicks his hand and the thing is thrown into the shelf behind the counter, smashing a few bottles as it does so.
"Waah, you're so mean Charlie-kun, waaah." it continues in an exaggerated manner.
The shadowman ignores her and calls you to the table. You are joined by another person you hadn't noticed before. He has a strange appearance. He's waring flash red and gold clothes, his skin is a bit too white and he wears a crown on his head.
"Kokkaku, this is Napoleon. Napoleon, this is Kokkaku. You may call me Charlie, everybody else does. And, now that the introductions are out of the way, I'll get to the meat of things."
He leans forward. Though his form is nothing but wispy shadows, you get the feeling he's looking at you.
"A while back, we sent some guys like you to find a ship that had gone missing. However it's been a while and we still have no communication from them. So the idea is we send you at their last known location, you find them, you help them do their job, you bring them back. We'll also give you a way to contact us in case things are going terribly. Sounds reasonable?"
♚The Doll Prince: A Frenchman, an Emaciated Man, and a Shadow Man Talked into a Bar...♚
"I'll be sure to do just that, ma Reine," Napoleon replied to the Queen's suggestion that he watch for anything useful. "Such things can prove useful in the right hands, after all."
Looking around the bar, Napoleon noticed the people hanging around the bar and shrugged after a moment. Had he himself not been what the dullards called a freak or haven't been exposed to so much surreal craziness already, he would've been deeply disturbed by these beings. Now, he oddly felt as if he can fit in with these strange characters. When the shadow man the Queen introduced sent a fur-less catlike creature with a human face into the bottles behind the bar with a flick of a hand, Napoleon raised an eyebrow. It seems that even as... whatever the hell these beings supposed to be, they still have to put up with each other's antics. When the shadow man motioned him and another person to sit at the table with him, Napoleon straightened up and strolled to his seat.
After introducing Napoleon and Kokkaku to each other, the shadow man, now known as Charlie, spoke of their task. Basically, it boiled down to a search and rescue mission on a ship with a bit of assistance thrown in for good measure. No doubt those incompetent plebs got themselves in a bind and thus need him to save and to guide them. Perhaps he should bring along some bibs and diapers too? However, since the Queen said that this will be his final test, perhaps he should exercise prudence as well. Who knows how hard this mission will be compared to the mansion and Queen's Tower?
When Kokkaku asked him what's his ability is, Napoleon flinched visibly once he got a good look at his face. Like a man wasting away from starvation, this... creature looked positively skeletal and could've been mistaken for undead had Napoleon not seen his chest rise and fall with every breath. However, one creature that Kokkaku resembled did came into mind:
"I can summon dolls of various shapes and sizes, Monseigneur Kokkaku," Napoleon said as he demonstrated by summoning a two feet tall doll on the table, making it change its limbs into various implements. "Like the very fingers on my hands, I can control, shape, and use some of my senses through them as they are a part of me. They serve me in various capacities, ranging from aiding me on and off the battlefield to helping you find the One Ring-"
Immediately, Napoleon sputtered as he struggled to force his train of thought to behave itself. Finally, Napoleon regained his composure and continued, "-er, I meant 'find anything you need.' Heh heh."
Eager to change the subject before he commit another faux pas, Napoleon turned back to Charlie. "Your plan seems reasonable, Monseigneur Charlie. I just have a few questions though. Do we get any weapons? I'm sure that our abilities can only be so useful. Secondly, is there more to this mission than just fetching some wayward adventurers and helping them complete their objective? The Queen did mentioned something about entering one of her competitors' domain."
"Nah, no weapons, you won't need them. Besides, I'm probably doing you a favor. I've seen you use a gun, you'd be more likely to harm yourself with your shooting. If you really must have more firepower, then there were guns on the Maximus, I'm sure you'll be able to find one there. But my advice is, focus on your abilities until you get some upgrades."
"However, don't think we'll be sending you there empty handed. You'll be given special clothes for environmental protection but the best thing is, you'll be getting an Interface."A silvery shackle appears around your arm. One side has a small circular screen with a cyan tint. It's not tight enough to be uncomfortable but somehow it manages to be impossible to remove.
"This little thing will keep track of your location and what you do. It has a shard of S-Zero inside so it can understand you, answer simple queries and perform some simple tasks. Oh, and it will let us revive you if you die, so try not to lose it." he adds that last bit as if it's not really important.
"And no, there's nothing more about this mission. I suppose it's worth mentioning that the ship you'll be going to was built and operated in a joint effort between the Dark (my team) and the Light (a... let's say competing team) and that universe might be home to an Outsider, but that shouldn't concern you. You can ask your Interface to replay the briefing if you want to know more. I did a big presentation and everything."
Campaign: Rebel Assault
((Hi,
I'm really really sorry for not having been posting lately. The last few weeks I've been caught up in immigration appointments and well, this week I was involved in an unfortunate car accident and have been recovering both mentally and physically. I will try to post my action in the coming few days.
I didn't mean to have disappeared on everyone here, and I truly am sorry for that. If I am truly not able to participate temporarily in the future, I will make sure to at least notify Paris.
Hope everything is going well for all of you!))
Hey man. Hope everything goes well. And really, don't worry about this game, your life is more important. Make sure to follow your doctor's advice, rest and not push yourself. Again, best of luck with everything.
((Hi,
I'm really really sorry for not having been posting lately. The last few weeks I've been caught up in immigration appointments and well, this week I was involved in an unfortunate car accident and have been recovering both mentally and physically. I will try to post my action in the coming few days.
I didn't mean to have disappeared on everyone here, and I truly am sorry for that. If I am truly not able to participate temporarily in the future, I will make sure to at least notify Paris.
Hope everything is going well for all of you!))
((Good luck immigrating and recovering from the car accident. Hope it all goes well.))
"Damnit, work you shoddy piece of crap!"
Give the lightning cannon some percussive maintenance. A few good whacks with a pommel should remind it to disengage and work properly.
If that doesn't work, go to emergency repair procedure #2. Just cut some wire in the charging circuit and hope it stops charging and actually fires.
Shield my face with my little wooden shield. Safety first!
"Wait, did I just tsar two things at the same time? Ha! My magic is getting better!"
They look less like wires and more like collections of thin metal and stone pipes. Not that it matters that much at the moment.
You whack the cannon with the pommel. Nothing happens. You whack it again. You see the internals move a bit but nothing changes. Before you can do more a lightning bolt strikes right next to your position. The ground vaporizes, sending out a shockwave powerful enough to momentarily lift the cannon on one wheel. You are not strong enough to hold on, being thrown back and down the small slope.
Your try to reorient yourself. You can see blood mixed with the water surrounding you but don't feel too much pain. Your armour must have taken the brunt of the shockwave and shrapnel, leaving you mostly unnamed. Miraculously, the lightning cannon appears to still be functional. Perhaps your body shielded the most important bits?
You get up and run towards the cannon, your shield in front of your face and the sword resting above it, ready to stab. A lightning cannon blast illuminates the sky but it's way off target. You reach the cannon, take a split second to find the point the two circuits connect and then stab it. You feel a painful tingling on your arm and are forced to withdraw your blade. It looks like you jostled the connector and managed to break the connection by a centimeter or two. However it's not far enough apart, sparks are still flying between the two bits.
You insert your ice blade between the two bits, trying to use it as a lever to move them further apart. Next thing you know there's an explosion that fills your ears with ringing, a blast of heat, a moment of weightlessness and then the sound of your body hitting the ground and tumbling down the slope.
You fall unconscious.
...
"Hey! Answer me!"
The slap shocks you into consciousness. You are about to complain about the pain but a moment later you realize you have much bigger pain to worry about. You let out a few words that help you deal with the pain.
"Hey, easy now."
Someone holds you down.
"Need a potion here!"
You can't see very well but you can tell your armor is disabled.
"Finally."
A few seconds later someone brings a vial to you, full of a foul smelling liquid. She always seems to enjoy the potions she drinks. You're certain she's doing it on purpose.
"Come now."
You are forced to drink the entire thing.
"Can you still fight?"
You raise your arm to inspect the damage.
You arm is badly burnt and your fingers are bent on an unnatural angle. Your head throbs from where you hit it and your entire body aches. And yet you are still alive. The potion is slowly repairing the damaged skin but it's not doing anything for the pain.
Someone helps you to your feet.
"What do we do?"
"What happened? The airship-"You are interrupted by the need to cough.
"It's down. The cannon blast hit it."
"Ha! Got it.""It fell somewhere inside the town walls. You must have hit something important."
You look at the cannon. It sits on its side halfway down the slope, pieces of glowing metal littered around it. There's still a bit of charge left on its Power Stone but you're not sure if the cannon can still fire safely. Well, for a certain definition of safely, given what it did to you.
The red line represents where the cannon fired. I should had probably made it somewhat thicker.
I only have my phone with me so the best I can manage are some lines in a screenshot. Sorry.
<Get out of sight and under cover!>
Do the same myself and with the sword, which I assume one of recruits still is holding, but keep growing my flames and preparing to counterattack the airship.
You and the recruits helping you hide as close to the bottom of the slope as you can, using the Earth as cover. From there you watch Nikolai stab his ice sword into the cannon and then disappear in an explosion of steam. A moment later he is flung out of the steam and sent tumbling down the slope. At the same time the cannon fires, letting out a constantly shifting jagged line of blinding blue energy. If the airship's barrage was a series of deafening bangs, this thing is probably what a rocket sounds like, a constant stream of explosions. The cannon, which had been leaning forward due to the burst of steam, is pushed back by violent wind, causing its barrel to swing upwards. The beam carves a path through the air. It slashes through the tendrils of darkness stretching out from the tower but they appear undisturbed, quickly reforming a moment later. When the cannon ends up pointing straight up several recruits dive for cover but thankfully by that point it has run out of energy. The beam flashes a couple of times and then stops just as the cannon falls down.
((Sorry for the long lost post; thought I had it through a few days ago but apparently not x.x Also busy with RL stuff like job training, editing a book for university, etc. Taking up TONS of my time 
))
((Normally I'd continue with your actions until combat is over or something significant happens, but I'm going to pause here to give NAV a chance to react since his actions might affect yours.))
[...]
Give the lightning cannon some percussive maintenance. A few good whacks with a pommel should remind it to disengage and work properly.
If that doesn't work, go to emergency repair procedure #2. Just cut some wire in the charging circuit and hope it stops charging and actually fires.
Shield my face with my little wooden shield. Safety first![...]
Theri had her adrenalin running--lightly, perhaps, as she could tell by the "exaggerated" feelings in her that could drive not just physical but also emotional and stress reactions to be quite intense. In hindsight, she would feel glad from Nikolai's loud disruption. . .as her own actions would be quite embarrassing. As the noise turned to a more patterned tune, it was humbling in a way to have this time to see oneself, even if this instance told of more trouble than she had thought.
((If I can act for Zechariah, we're basically securing the area and perimeter, even putting rudimentary defenses for the hostages inside from oncoming fire or projectiles, even improvised slopes leaning onto their cages to bounce off grenades or provide cushion to force or broken glass would be one thing))
Quickly gather and utilize the weaponry from the disarmed soldiers in the next bit of the plan, leave the securing-of-said-soldiers to these perceptive fellows who seem too late to the party with me. I do have soldiers with me, right? Because if not, I'm leaving them corralled by and because of River.
If I can, divert the prisoners along an escape route to meet up with the previous batch of people for evacuation.
((Happy to hear you're doing well, keep at it.
))
The plan was to free and arm the prisoners, so you didn't bring any extra soldiers with you to make it easier for you to sneak.
The sound of enemy cannons is overshadowed by something much brighter and louder. You don't have something to compare it to. It's the sound of a hundred thunder strikes falling in the span of a second.
You don't let it stop you. You have more pressing matters to deal with. Even as the noise still echoes, you run and gather the weapons from the incapacitated soldiers, throwing them away in a corner of the room to make sure they don't try anything stupid. At the same time River takes care of the last soldier standing and moves to threaten any who try to move.
((Keep reading DarkArtemisFowl's part.))
Zechariah struggled to find a balance in his use of the Shadows. The rush of power greatly aided his abilities, but he was not mentally strong enough yet to fully restrain the outpour of Shadows. He would have to limit how long he used his powers. For all he knew, he could be feeding into the dark mechanisms of the Tower. To make matters worse, his focus was threatened by the sound and force of artillery being used on the airship. The hostage rescue team was not well-equipped for a full-on assault. If they wanted to get out of there intact, they had to evacuate in the next few moments.
<Theri, River! Is the inside of the building secure? Did you take out the guards? If so, we need to leave now! Nikolai's firing the artillery and we have no idea when enemy reinforcements will arrive or if we'll get hit by debris or artillery.
If Theri or River responds affirmatively to my questions, dissipate the Shadow wall and tell the mages to secure the civilians. If there's time, test out my crystal light powers. Is it feasible to create a hardlight wall and sustain it? If so, prefer using that for defensive measures instead of the Shadow wall. If not, continue using the Shadow powers, but sparingly. If the Dark influence becomes too overpowering, refrain from using Shadow powers beyond life-saving measures, and inform the rest of the team of this.
Once the civilians are secured, evacuate.
You don't think there's enough light around to really make anything too large and the Dark magic fallout certainly isn't helping. There are flashes of light from the airship's lightning cannons but they don't last long enough to be useful.
Suddenly the entire world is blindingly bright, every detail visible. A flickering jagged beam of blinding energy explodes from the direction of your camp and slashes across the ground, exploding and setting the roofs of buildings on fire, before rising through the air to strike at the airship. The beam splits and bends around the airship, some sort of defense mechanism probably. A moment later the defence collapses, letting the beam through and allowing it to blow several holes on the back of the ship. The beam keeps rising until it's pointing straight up at the sky, when it finally flickers and dies. The airship starts slowly falling, leaving a trail of smoke behind it. Ok then.
Theri says the inside is reasonably secure, so you and the mages move in and help restrain the soldiers before any of them can recover and try anything. As you work, you hear the airship crash somewhere nearby, a loud crash as the Earth rumbles. You ignore it and keep working, moving to open the cages and let the prisoners out.
Most of them are shocked. They still haven't finished processing what they just witnessed. You think they can't yet believe they're free. Some hug you or fall on their knees to thank you, others run to check on their friends, others have to be restrained so that they do not commit unnecessary acts of violence on the incapacitated soldiers.
You tell them that now is not the time for revenge. They need to focus on helping each other. Those willing and able to fight should pick up a weapon and armor and stand ready to defend this area from enemy reinforcements. The rest should focusing on getting out of here, carrying those to weak or injured to do so on their own.
The plan was to get out of here the same way you came in, through the Eastern wall. You could also use the Eastern gate, since you already sent the women and children there. Whatever you do, you should do it now. Enemy reinforcements are probably already on their way.
Campaign: Party Crasher
Alan, Frustrated Princess
Alan stamps her foot. He's a princess, people are supposed to listen to him!
"Aww, but I have a really important message to deliver to Ventis! And if I don't get it to her ... well, there won't really be any immediate negative consequences on my end but I'll still be sad at having missed out on a new friend," she mumbles.
Wait, she's in disguise, he realizes. But maybe...
Is there anyone else in this hallway that could see me? If not, momentarily cast off my serving girl disguise and go full Persuasive Princess modo on these guards, possibly including my mind control venom arms if they're really stubborn. My royal status and irresistible charm should get me past them!
If they are convinced, don't go in right away - put my serving girl disguise on again before I do, if that's possible once I've taken it off. If it isn't, no big fuss, I just want to make a particular kind of surprising appearance for Ventis.
((Aye, best of luck with recovering from your whole situation, DAF.))
The guards are understandably shocked by your sudden transformation.
"Uh- Ah- Princess Alayne! Uh- Ma'am! I'm terribly sorry! I had no idea it was you! I'll announce you right way!" one says, grovelling as best as he can.
He bangs the armoured door a couple of times with his gauntlet to grab the attention of the people in the bridge.
"Open up! Open up right away!"
A slit opens on the door and a pair of eyes stare out of it. Judging by the helmet surrounding them, it's another guard.
"What is it?" he asks.
"We need to let her in! Right away!" the guard responds, pointing back at you.
"Why? What's so important about an ugly servant girl?"The outside guard tries to process that statement for a couple of seconds before looking back at you and noticing you have transformed back into a (slightly displeased-looking) servant girl.
"Eh- Ah- Well, you see..." the guard stammers, trying to figure out what he should say.
Maximus: Medical Section
Kosak Durar:
"You think you're tough, dislocating my shoulder? It's been done before. Now die!"
Punch to the head. Hopefully that'll distract it enough that Kosak can chest punch it.
You try to punch the thing to the Head but you just can't reach it from where you are. Before it can try to attack you again, you are both hit by Brian's dark vortex. It feels like someone grabbed you, dipped you into cold mud and spun you around until you felt like puking. You can still sense things, you can still see the world around you, but there is a layer of cold noise that confuses your senses. You feel the creature flailing at you and you flail at it in turn, but neither of you manage to do more than delivery some awkward slaps.
((Keep reading.))
Brian Hoss, Maximus
Try to circle Kosak with my eye.
You englobe Kosak and the creature with your eye. Erm... That's the same as circle, right?
((Keep reading.))
<Svajoklis, Maximus>
Be ready to shoot the creature if Kosak manages to throw it off.
You try to keep the creature in your sights but you are unable to get a clear shot. The creature keeps clinging on Kosak, despite clearly being disoriented by Brian's attack.
Luckily, it is at this time that Icarus arrives, flying through the corridors with his golden wings. He rushes towards Kosak and punches the creature, knocking the two out of Brian's vortex. Kosak recovers first, wiggling around to deliver another punch and send the creature flying away from him. Svajoklis tracks the creature as it floats through the air and shoots one of its arms off and sending the creature spinning further away. He shoots again and finally manages to blow a hole through its centre of mass, destroying the machines located there.
"Hi! Are you all well?" he asks merrily.
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Topic: Special People: Mechanical Syndrome (Read 1150955 times)