James nodded to himself, heading towards the administration area.
Although he would have preferred to get straight to the thing that needed repairing, it was possible there were human survivors that needed his help. So on James went.
"Thanks for the axe. And yes, I'd be fine with some "augmentation"."
Well, there's dark, barely red splotches on the walls. Not going to say that it's dried blood, but it's probably dried blood. Lovely. The room itself is, well, it's an office. You're currently to one side of it, standing on a relatively wide pathway that heads further inwards with the actual work stations and whatnot to your left and a window-lined wall to your right. The design of the place as a whole is generic and inoffensive. Workstations, whitish but off-white enough that stains don't immediately stand out, are arranged in rows of cubicles each with a sufficiently comfortable swivel chairs and height-adjustable monitors.
There's also blood and corpses everywhere. Seriously, it's like a fucking heat map in here. You can tell just by the location and distribution of mauled corpses that the vast majority attempted to run away, with limited amounts of success, the ones closer to the back of the room and sitting nearer to the path you're on being more successful. You can tell that from the corpses of the people near the front of the room where you are, and those that are crumpled against their now even more off-white desks on the far left. You can also tell that some people tried to hide under their desks, they're still under there, just dead. Some look like they tried to fight judging by the occasional debris pile. They lost.
Okay, so guess running, while not too good an option, probably still the best option. After all, there are a good deal more of cubicles than there are corpses.
Winston sighed. "Oh bloody hell. Okay, need your help here."
Arrow of Simurgh, go! Examine the following weapon attacks against weaknesses:
1d ulez (Should fire forward a wall of burny stuff)
Revolver
Bow Sword
Take whichever Bug determines to be most effective. If it's a tossup, that list is in priority order, top to bottom.
Time stops and your foe's visage shatters, leaving behind their silhouette, nothing's glowing. It's just a solid mass of, whatever that invisible stuff is. Red text burns itself into view, reading 'No Weakpoints' while flashing for emphasis. Now, an outline appears, originating a point in front of your chest, tracing out the area covered by your spell. Light erupts from the point, representing the area and trajectory after taking into account the existence and composition of the figure. It isn't too good. The light that impacts it rebounds backwards before dissipating just short of your initial position. Not only is it ineffective, if you're running too quickly it will actually hit you on the rebound. The revolver shot, represented by a line and then a ray of light is also expected to do nothing, ricocheting off without causing any harm. For the bow blade attack, a ghostly image of yourself rushes forwards before the slash appears represented in a similar manner to the spell, it also bounces off ineffectually. The text shifts to read as 'You're Fucked'.
Guess you might just have to try and lure it away or slip past it.
Or you could try another spell, if you know any other ones or want to take a chance with a new one.
Your toaster might function as a weapon as well, since they usually don't leave completely useless items to pick up.
Of course, it might not be a weapon. Or it might be hazardous to use.
Ao Shi
"My queenie, since their description of the foe sounds a bit similar as the video game thing we met earlier I assume it's another variant of same thing. Therefore discovering power of this pretty pretty jewelry is more important. If it runs via power of love or friendship, I definitely would like to know about it." Ao responds with a grin.
Red can scan soldiers.
Talky stuff with soldiers.
Ignoring the question about Ao's reasons to be here he starts talking. "Your situation sounds similar I encountered a little while ago. I was fighting against couple of literal meatmen and one bone armored thing. They were protecting a glowing sphere, a root of their existance I assume, since after destroying it they all just faded away. So I guess you have similar case in your hands. Though in my case the armored thing appeared after I found the core... Which one you encountered first? The strobe lights or the spearman? Do you know the area where the spearman was seen first time? Because I assume that's where their core is located. I'm making a lot of assumptions here, but it's not like I have any better knowledge..."
"I guess by virtue of being still alive I'm decent shooter, but this is only gun I have and it has only seven shots left." He says showing the pistol.
Spellings: ef. Also ask Red to make soldiers ignore results of this. And if she can do it in first place.
"Well my, dashing prince, the soldiers are your garden variety, although their dopamine levels near you are slightly elevated. Seems the diadem makes them happy near you, like a walking drug high. Isn't it what you always wanted~?""I'm guessing you didn't have an extended encounter otherwise I doubt you would be here, no offense. Still, the help of someone who knows a bit will be useful. The problem for us is that we were in the middle of a firefight when those... -things- came to kill us. Best bet for where the core is would be the Gabriel Memorial Research center. When we were near that place it was strange, people started hearing and seeing things, we were jumping at shadows. It's also the only place without power in the entire block.
They were both there when they first attacked. Strobelights lead if that's what you're asking, made it real hard to aim.
Also if you are nearly out grab a rifle off a barricade and use it.""Oh and heads up, that little tiara's effects also happens to match up with an old piece of pre-fall fuckery that is causing all these problems. If you manage to reach wherever it's physically located, likely some sort of horrific gothic castle given the ridiculous number of video game tropes this thing has already blown through. I ought to be able to metaphysically bang it enough to stop it from making meat-monsters at the very least. Plus they let us acquire more resources by the way of it's enslaved insane mind."[COMP: 2/1] ((Wow that was a poor roll.)) You conjure the ephemeral visage of a wheel.
"Whether or not I do anything, they can't see a spell if it doesn't actually do anything. Also, just another reminder that I'm not actually a magical fairy.""Jus, did my Frame somehow put itself back together and inherited my wish of killing this guy in a wrestling match?"
Give the alien a friendly wave. Then try "12 a5". After hopefully not killing myself, grab the "Flight of Fantasy" pamphlet. Attempt to somehow go there, whether by actually going there, willing myself to be there or asking the alien how it this place works.
I think you already know the answer to that. But just in case you've gone full insane supervillain, no.
Your frame is not made out of bones. Nor does it have a luchadore mask.
The beings running this facility sometimes run challenges such as the one depicted. They take something memorable
such as your first death, recreate it and twist it to their own tastes.
[COMP: 4] Fizzle.
You focus on it and are transported into the ring depicted on the pamphlet. It's a large ring, 100 meters each side, allowing space to move. The audience seating is filled with all manner of classic styles of aliens from techno-colored over-sexualized humanoids to the amorphous-blob-creatures. The announcer is a large purple komodo dragon with breath so minty, you can actually smell it from
inside the (surprisingly cushy, for something made out of bone) cockpit of your reassembled, reanimated frame.
"In this corner, the blaster bastard! The murderous maniac! It's your favorite! It's The Ringed King of Madness!"The enemy frame from earlier lift's it's arms in the air raising a cheer from the crowd.
"And in the other corner! Our newcomer cum challenger! The Ladlemonger!"Your ladle crackles with discharge.
Now that you can check through all your cameras and see yourself on the large screens arranged everywhere, you notice a few details that weren't too clear in the picture. For starters there's an additional layer of calcified flesh covering your frame like plating, not that it'll do you much good seeing as it's already been mostly melted off for some reason. The bones that make up the legs are all fractured and the bones that comprise the front of the core look like someone took a frame-grade chain gun and opened fire on it. Finally, clinging to your frame are three charred skeletons, each clad in a luchadore masks and cape. Well, guess you can't fault them for detail.
Still, in spite of the apparent damage, your interface indicates that the frame is in pristine condition, with the apparent problems purely for show.
Ryles cautiously ignores the comment about a Japanese Gameshow.
"Alright, fine, I just needed to get my thoughts together and maybe blackmail someone who I actually need something from."
"Eh...do that one then."
Ryles nods over to one of the less energetic patron.
Well, Jimmy over here has a mistress, how awfully pedestrian of him.
Her name's Natalie. Actuary. Works for an insurance company.
Her house is on this floor of course, 46/100 Military Road.
"Okay, then, lets see how this goes," Vaguely says to his spherical companion.
Shoot the toolbox six times with my new favorite gun, and pick up the bullets after they fail to penetrate. If anything dangerous appears, throw them all and pull the activation trigger. Investigate the noises from earlier, with gun at the ready.
You walk towards the doors of the maintenance room along the tracks, your nearly silent footsteps drowned by the rummaging inside. You reach the large doors to the maintenance facility and push them ajar.
Inside are a number of rubble piles, artfully arranged to look like fantasy castles of varying size and construction. Crouched down in front of a pile of metal parts is an emaciated metal thing - all you can see is the back and part of an arm. It's several times larger than you but extremely thin for its size, like a starving man. The waist of the beast is adorned by streams of lightning that drape like fabric down between the legs, illuminating it's project along with causing lightning to arc along anything it is working with. The legs of the beast appear to be mechanical but have been warped and the plating has spikes of metal that dance with electrical discharge. Along the arm you can see the metal seems to be warped and engorged with great spines protruding from it. The back appears to be relatively normal, made of sections of steel attached to a hydraulic assembly. However, it bears a large rear thruster assembly that has been partially warped, with organic wings that appear be slightly stylized, in addition to a rather excessive amount of thrusters. The entire beast has a childlike air to the way it is formed, like a doodle messily scribbled upon an otherwise real image.
Derek dashes behind the pillar.
[MDEF vs. UTAR, UTAR: 2 vs. 1, 2 vs. 3] You dash behind the cover, into safety. Most of you at least. As the slugs crackle through where you just were, you feel a burning pain in your right arm. A flesh wound, one of the slugs must have struck you. It had plowed though your arm, missing the bones though. Adrenaline begins to kick in, dulling the pain, yet you still feel warm blood bleeding from the wound. This isn't a movie, a flesh wound has definite potential to kill, and unless you manage to stop the bleeding or finish your objective, it
will kill you.
Your thoughts begin to become clouded, hazy. Like a dream, as the adrenaline kicks in.
When you look for them, the shotgun-wielding abominations are no longer where they were. And then, you see them from the corner of your eyes. They're right next to you now, one on each side, though they thankfully have yet to commence their attacks.
TURN:
"Ah, regarding the syringe, yea, you could say I got something experimental. I've already died once today, if you can believe that, and that was before I rode through town on a wild mag-lev bear with fur made of guns. As far as what I was doing I'll let you know once I have a vague idea of what's going on myself.."
Once done grappling with the fact that my Reality Cheque just bounced, head down to the fourth floor. Meta wise I want to check this AI and character wise.. I think I just want to go home to the third floor 
Think to my handler: "Helpful to know, any other little magic-casting tibbits or methods I should be aware of? I'm happy with anything that doesn't make me look like a nutter, helps me solve problems or gives me a fun new avenue to wreck havoc by accident"
"An item that grants resurrection? Truly it will be good when they start mass producing those! Also if you're out of ideas, we can just go hunt some NEE scouts in no-man's-land then loot their bodies and sell the results for profit!"((Decoherent doesn't respond, since it's been established that they can't really read thoughts. Also, you're already on Floor 4 already.))
"We got birds incoming, and I've got some sort of weird water person thing down here. Somebody keep an eye on those birds." Beirus orders over the squad channel as he watches the reflection of the water thing in the door.
Turn and face the water thing with my pistol drawn and held by my side whi
le stepping back frim the door. See if it reacts. If not, ask it to show me the way to the skyscraper. If it gets hostile for any reason, shoot it. If it doesn't react at all, go check that building I was gonna check.
"Opening fire!"[UTAR vs. MDEF: 2 vs. 3] Novjoy proceeds to miss every shot.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 0 vs. 2] As does Mirai.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 4 vs. 5] And Johnny.
Well, looks like the visibility really is too damn poor. Or maybe your squad mates are just plain incompetent.
The flock, nine birds in total are about to reach you, though you'll still be able to attack or run first.
As for your new liquid buddy, it doesn't really do much. It just unceremoniously collapses into a puddle and then proceeds to collapse in reverse right in front of you, rising from the water-logged road. It remains staring at you motionlessly.
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Topic: Perplexicon - Down the Foxhole - Raining Mecha (Read 179586 times)