Why does this sound so easy? We're in agreement that someone is at least hiding something, if not outright lying, right? We're being played. Gorat asks his ghosts.
"How well secured is this host?"
Ask ghosts. Ask Steve.
Str 3; Dex 3; End 3; Cha 10; Int 6; Wil 15//Spe 0; Int 1; Han 0 (-1); Con 4; Unc 0; Exo 12; Aux 3 (+1); Med 0
Mk II Suit; Microwave PK Amp; Mass manip PK Amp; laser rifle (fired once); 0 tokens: normal cigarettes; blue smokes; datapad (with platformer shooter); nanoghosts; shock trigger (with me); white skin-tight node-covered black-shell stasis suit worn under Mk II.
Appearance: 5'11'', 170 pounds in a rather unmuscular frame, shoulder-long brown hair, short goatee, brown eyes, a rather long chin that earned him his nickname. Age 32
Half a robot foot. Robot right arm. Wears basic clothes when not in the Mk II.
The ghosts don't respond. You ask again and get something like a burst of white noise that splatters across your frontal lobe and causes an involuntary shudder.
>Confined enough for the moment. They have used something traditional, some method they've had for generations, but apparently the thing isn't manifested yet, at least not fully, so containing isn't as hard. Does the Eater have or imbue the host with any powers or abilities we should be aware of?
((Probably covered in the warnings, but can't hurt to be sure.))
>In it's current state, there's an unnatural heat around it. But it's not fully manifest and further powers, while no doubt possible, are unknown. We'd have to rely on stories and they're too scattered and contradictory."How do we kill it?"
How do we kill it?
>We have to kill the host and make sure it can't find another. More about that after we go see it. "We will receive details now, or later? You will keep in radio contact, or follow us?"
Time for another installment of Ask Steve!
>Momentarily
>Radio. I have some other work to take care of here.
"What if it possesses one of us? Can it jump between hosts? Also, would it make it easier to transfer if I pulped it with my Shackle? I have a combination for that, and paste might be easier to manage than a conscious being." Jason asks.
Ask.
"Does it matter all that much if we cut the bloody thing's arms and legs off before we go hauling it anywhere? Even just it's hands and feet. Cauterize the wounds, fill it with tranqs, no more problem. Plus, be a damn sight lighter to carry as well. Yeah, and all that shit the others asked too, especially the powers and possession part. Don't want the freaky bastard doing anything once we lop it's arms off."
Sambo asks Steve enquiringly.
>I don't know. Though I wouldn't suggest it; damaging the host might cause unforeseen side effects. If you're gonna do it, do it out in the desert, away from here. How does the method of infestation or infection occur? As in, from Eater to the host? What's the usual method of parasitism, and in what natural habitat does the Eater thrive?
May we have details as to what this Eater is? And any ideas on its relation to the living creatures here?
Feyri was carrying quite the arsenal. She was partly annoyed that all those who chose to give up their weapons picked her...and only her, but her annoyance was tempered: it was a good start.
Remember to bold.
You seem to think we have a lot of info on this. We don't. The stories talk about the portent of a meteor and about certain symptoms the host will present with. Thats about it.Oh, so that's what they were doing. It honestly didn't seem too bad to Tek. He had a sinking feeling though that he would be changing his mind on that before the end of the mission.
Tek asks a few questions. "What degree of control does the host have over himself once infected by the Eater, if any? Does killing the Eater require the death of the host? Is the Eater a sapient creature, and will it attempt to appeal or bargain with us? What does the king anticipate our major difficulties will be in accomplishing this task?"
Remember to bold.
She, in this case, seems to still have control over herself to a degree. She has gone mute but follows instructions. We believe it will...kill the host in a manner of speaking. We don't know it's level of sapience.
The king warned that the last time one of these things came and successfully matured it "Departed for the stars" but left behind fragments of itself, pieces which broke or budded off when it left. They're dormant in the sand, but that this creature's coming might wake them. He doesn't know what that means, however. "Understood Sir, Are we able to knock the host unconscious or otherwise restrain them in some manner Sir?"
Ask, stand at attention, read instruction manual / warning label for PAWN
You could try. Be careful though, it unconscious might be more dangerous then it conscious. Pawn never got a manual, as far as I know. It was player made, after all.
"You have got to be fucking kidding me. Seriously? Cannot be killed through normal means, must be taken to a special place, and there's a ritual involved. Good god damn, this sounds like a fucking movie plot. Goddamn ancient prophesies."
Start setting up mental barriers to prevent mindfuckery.
>There is usually some degree of truth in these things, wrapped in falsified mythic teachings and significance. Steve speaks with the king for a few more minutes and then the entire party is lead through the palace into another room. It resembles the throne room, but is smaller, square shaped and the sky light is larger. There are squat benches along the wall, and the floor appears to have once contained a garden; though now there is nothing left but a bed of cracked, dry earth and the black and brown wilted forms of dead plants scattered across it. The bronze birdcages line the walls in here as well, but their occupants are dead, laying on the bottom of their cages, sunken and mummified.
Standing at the center of the dead garden, is a woman. She appears to be in her 20's, slim, but tall, with a white blindfold bound across her eyes. Her skin is an unearthy shade of dark red, barn red, like a sunburn so deep and powerful it charred the flesh. She is naked, save for ropes white ropes which bind her hands behind her, bind her arms to her body, and bind her ankles so she can walk, but not run. Several large white ropes are looped around her throat and anchored into the earth. Someone has written on these ropes with black ink, in an odd, curling script. Staked around the woman are large metal sconces, clearly meant to hold a flame, but they are extinguished for the moment. The ground beneath the woman's feet is ashy colored and the entire room has an unnatural heat to it. A smell of smoke and burning hair and hot metal. The woman, despite her confinement and the heat, looks perfectly healthy aside from her skin tone.
>This is the host. The heat right now is nothing, a forerunner of what is to come. Apparently keeping the host hot, depriving it of shade and water and cold makes it hard for the thing inside it to develop. Hence the naked suntan. At night they light those things around her, but there is only so much that can be done. Eventually the thing will mature. Before that, you will have to take it to a place in the desert; a pit in which there is no shadow, and then kill the host when the sun is directly overhead. This will force the Eater out and then the sunlight will kill it. This is what the king said.
Before you ask, no, we can't just fly it there. Apparently bad things happen if the host loses touch with the ground. And if you move it too fast. The Eater in there is mostly hibernating, but if we alter the environment too drastically it will wake up. And though it's not at full strength, that would still be unpleasant.
Questions now?
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Topic: Mission 18: The final sunset (Read 182617 times)