Examine the shaded building, survey its environs. Wander around in it for a bit, but stay away from deep, dark shadows.
Unless it's nighttime, of course. If it's nighttime, examine how the building affects light in its immediate area.
EDIT: If the place doesn't look overly dangerous, take some samples of the walls with my array of miscellaneous tools.
It's nighttime, but even at night the shade of the building seems a bit...too shady. There's no real abnormal cold associated with it, at least none that you can feel through the suit, but the light from your suit doesn't seem as bright here, and the suit's sensors are reading a drop in temperature near the ground. The sands seem to be several degrees colder then the air around them. You dig a bit into the sand it's even colder deeper in. Hmm. You scrape some stone from the structure and store it away, but it seems fairly mundane.
Do a quick search of the building for any artifacts or engravings or secret passages or anything. If nothing interesting is found, then hurry quickedly to catch up with the main group.
The cold is a bit odd; though the building itself, not much more then a stone slab held up by pillars, is rather uninteresting. Anything on it has been worn away by time. Though, maybe if you dug away some sand near the pillars you might find some better preserved areas, unaffected by the wind.
Tek stopped for a moment in wonder. He had heard, just for a second, the voice of the being behind the comb whisper divine wisdom in his unworthy ear. But the astonished tech-diver paused only a moment in rapture-- there was looting to be done!
Okay thanks pw, cut in from the top then. Then, excavate using the method described in my previous post. But hurry!! Before the others come and steal the loot!!!
You brush away some sand and cut carefully into the roof, carving a sort of lopsided oval into the stone. The chuck of rock cracks and falls into the darkness below. Judging from the sound, it's not an insignificant distance. You shine your suit lights down into the void. About 15-20 feet down is a stone floor partially covered in sand, with the broken remains of the circular plug you just cut out scattered across it. You stick your head in and look around: The stone that makes up the building appears fairly normal; clearly cut and put in place, with what appear to be faded paintings and still sharp engravings scattered about in some areas. There are odd marks on the walls as well, small, seemingly carved trails which trace random patterns across the walls like bark beetle tunnels.
Help Tek with exploration, otherwise run to catch up with the group.
I believe you may be mistaking which group and which ruin you're currently residing in.
Let's do the time warp skip again
Time skip to third watch. Since this has happened a few times before, assume Sambo has decided to heat up the glass cylinder a fair bit before it all goes down. From about 30' away, on 60% laser power, medium/high dispersion if it helps any. Suit lights on the Eater cylinder while I'm doing it.
"I reckon we've got the damn thing licked this time for sure."
((For sure....... :p))
Aid in the third watch
((Sorry, real busy and Happy New Year!))
Take first watch.
Ie the "I would like to be asleep when everything goes bad" position. There's a sexual joke in there somewhere.
Time skip.
third shift time skip
On the the next catastrophenight
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 Morul); 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.
Alright. So the night goes fairly well, up until those really late hours just before sunrise, those 3-4 ams when the sky is a weird semi-luminous and exhaustion is working its way around into overly tired giddiness. Despite a redoubled effort to keep the glass prison hot, the Eater begins to awaken. This is happening with such regularity that it can't be coincidence; perhaps there's something other then heat that is awakening it?
The glass prison begins to glow red and then yellow, becoming molten and soft. The sand around it vibrates and glows cherry red, swirling into the air on wild thermal currents. The Eater pulls itself slowly out of the molten glass like a man tugging himself out of molasses, grasping hands clawing their way out and reaching blindly toward the star speckled night sky. The smell of burnt blood and meat mixes with the acrid stink of molten sand and burnt hair. The Eater is calling out even before it's head breaks the surface glass, its voice distorted and muffled in the molten fluid. When its head finally does break free, the sound is enough to overload the external microphones of anyone nearby; though that doesn't stop them from feeling the strange resonant tones thumping through the sand and palpably shaking their flesh. Everything within 30 feet of the Eater is immediately coated in flame and strange tongues of flame rise from the creature's body; the human form within the inferno barely visible as a black smudge in a white hot flame.
Author
Topic: Mission 18: The final sunset (Read 182592 times)