"Um... hello. Soteriologist? Any suggestions?"
No, bullets probably won't work... those things are steel or something...
The gravity gun might slow them down... but it won't stop them for long enough.
If only I was a wizard.
Well, technically I am a wizard... I just have absolutely no idea how to do any decent magic.
Which makes it a very bad idea to try.
Which basically means I should...
RUN. But slowly unless they go into attack mode.
You could try one of the words as a distraction? Sure... risky, yeh? But you're a hero! Risk is a third of what being a hero's all about!
So long as you RUN afterwards. Seriously. Do it. Just because you're a hero doesn't make you invincible, wizard boy.
Wait, since when do I have voices in my head? Other than Soteriologist, anyway?
You're a hero now. That means you've got an Audience. Deal with it.
James whispers "ixc" under his breath towards the hounds, then turns and RUNS away, activating Memento Mori and following the path least likely to get him killed.
Try shooting.
The Loremaster Consortium are not ones to waste a perfectly good asset.
Not when people such as yourself are the lifeblood of their ops.
[COMP: 4/3] Outlines erupt from your chest, each the shape of a bullet. They spray towards the murderous art installations doing nothing due to their insubstantial nature. Well, looks like you've found a promising addition to your magical arsenal.
You start running back the way you came, wolves in hot pursuit. They're catching up to you, but not nearly as quickly as they should, thanks to Memento Mori showing you that vaulting over the desks is not something they were expecting, combined with the fact that you're able to do so flawlessly. Still, you can't run forever. Okay, yeah, you sort of can, but it's not going to be helping much with completing your objectives.
Summon toolbox, offer lunch dumped on the ground. Dump as many lunches as possible in the time I have left.
"Here..."
The time you have left turns out to be quite a lot of time as your actions seem to have confused it, like offering an axe-murderer balloons when he runs at you flailing with the weapon of his trade while wearing a clown costume drenched in blood.
It looks at you and at the growing pile of lunches before up the lunches and begins adding sandwich battlements to the castles and constructing moats out of pumpkin soup. The electrical discharge across its glossy black carapace lessens. Well, looks like you've placated it, or at least distracted it long enough to make your escape.
"The ladle can do ranged? Let's do that then."
Let's try to knock out his cameras with some ranged attacks.
[UTAR: AUTOSUCCESS] Your ladle wreaths itself in a corona of green discharges as you swing it, discharging an inky black wave that roils through the air. Your foe is prepared however. Your foe was expecting that. Your foe is completely oblivious to the properties of your weapon. It unleashes a blast from its gateway weapon, a blast that ineffectually blows through your attack, doing absolutely nothing as their frame's head degrades and rusts.
Your foe quickly recovers, raising both of its heavy cannons and opening fire.
You know the drill, primary cameras disabled, more cameras in the core.
"Well, the research center sounds about right. After dealing with that we need to handle the thing that keeps dropping these things all over the floor. Say, anyone wanna come with me hunting the big game?"
Persuasion. Word: be.
The soldier struggles internally for a bit, looking as if the Devil himself was trying to force them to fellate one of the grenade launchers or something.
"What, now? No! Hell, no! Look, we can cover you but good luck trying to fight that thing close up. No way in hell I'm going up against that again. We'll certainly be rooting for you and we'll try and give you some fire support but that thing we don't wanna go near."You could have already guessed that response before they even finished speaking seeing as you saw money surreptitiously changing hands along with clicks of their internal comms.
[COMP: 4/1] You summon the image of a glaive which disappears like all the others before it.
Mutter:
"Yea, I'm alright with some menial work, I could do with something completely menial to turn completely mental. By Accident I swear. Pray tell"
Wander off in whatever direction he indicates, and mutter (my follower will learn sooner or later, so eh, but if hes not paying attention I'm fine with that):
"06" [Dedicate 7/14 COMP]
"07" [Dedicate 7/14 COMP]
Good, in the Shade Research building, the server bunkers should have the files. Files will have PROTECTOR or something similar somewhere in their name.
You walk for a few minutes through the deserted streets of the 4th floor, cars abandoned and once busy promenades empty of people. The building of shade research is a large series of wide, squat glass buildings surrounded by a large parking
[COMP: 7] Fizzle
[COMP: 7/3] You summon a large globule of clear liquid that splashes onto the ground and begins to rapidly evaporate smelling extremely strongly of paint thinner and leaving the section of footpath in front of you far cleaner than before. Your squire's eyes open wide in what is hopefully awe and not a feeling that he must burn you at the stake for being a witch.
Enslave those birds to my will through Transcendence. Or at least calm them down so they don't attack me or my squad Failing that, unleash my Bound AIAR on them on full auto, all barrels firing. If they get too close, hit them with my plasma sword instead. Try not to break anything near my squad. If shit goes south, tell them to retreat, then attempt to buy enough time for them to get out of here. If I need to dodge, try to get out through a side door or window, or roll further back into the building, maybe putting some doors or furniture between me and the birds.
Vaulting over the desk, you conjure the assault rifle into your hand and discharge all four barrels at once, spitting force a hellish stream of white-hot metal at the remaining birds.
[UTAR vs MDEF: 3 vs. 3] The birds narrowly dodge the hypersonic deluge. Darn. Why can't they just squawk around in their trees, shitting everywhere like all the other birds?
[LTAR vs. MDEF: 3 vs. 1, 3] However, they are unable to actually hit you either. Lovely. Guess everyone's aim is off today.
The figure has collapsed and risen in one of the corners and continues staring at you.
Derek starts this game again.
You are surrounded by glowing purple energy as you warp through space-time to somewhen, somewhere or other.
You are in the cockpit of some sort of AF, the readouts holographically projected into the air before you. There is debris field spreading around you in all directions for what must be hundreds, even thousands of kilometers. You see a battle of an immense size a few kilometers away, flashes of laser fire flicker, or rather their aftermaths between the sides in an invisible hail of omnidirectional destruction.
The readouts make very little sense partially due to the fact that they seem to be written in complete gibberish with many characters you cannot recognize. The pictures and numbers are moderately more informative; primarily a full picture of your AF which has an angular aerodynamic design going on. You also figure out how to look at your hands like a stoner which you proceed to do as they appear to have no joints or internal rotating parts whatsoever, which makes the "movement" thing rather paradoxical. Weapons are a bit inconclusive, with a pair of pictures either side of the frame, the left one looks like a rifle although more angular and stripped down, generally space-y. The right image appears to be a metal ring in which are a dozen blades evenly spaced around it the ring appears to have some sort of tech-y thing in the middle. In the same position as the start bar are a bunch of icons evenly spaced across the screen.
Icon 1: A "T" with the middle of the vertical line shifted to the left so that the right pixel of the shifted section is diagonal to the left pixel of the central shaft.
Icon 2: An asterisk star.
Icon 3: A circle with an "x" through it.
A message flickers onto your view screen:
"Destroy enemy forces. Allowed active time is 300 seconds."
Lewis smiles.
"Well, lets just say the writing was on the wall."
"Don't worry, nothing...drastic will happen, but you might want to reconsider how you spend your free time."
Turn around and walk out of the bar.
"Okay, so it worked, but how exactly does this benefit me? I don't get the feeling you want me to idle out my time and randomly try bits of magic that doesn't work."
Try the next bit of magic that doesn't work, "84".
[COMP: 7/1] You summon the shimmering image of an ornate chestplate which dissipates into nothingness.
"Uh... um okay I understand..."He stutters before downing his beer and immediately paying the barkeep for two more.
There's more than just magic.
Time halts. You cannot move. But you can still think. You can still cast your gaze around you, looking at your surroundings. Pale lines trace out at random, aiming at you, each of them bearing a time until impact and a ring around their seemingly arbitrary origins, representing the delay until the next shot. Ghostly images race out of you, ducking and weaving through the barrage, some of them run along the walls, others conjure the revolver and shoot the bullets of the air. The images vanish and time resumes once more.
We have enhanced your reflexes, your agility, your coordination.
We have combat data to assist you as well.
Your spells do nothing because you are summoning forms without defining the substances from which they are made.
There is work to be done elsewhere, get somewhere secluded, I'll call in a favor.
"Uhhhhh I have no idea what's going on with my life right now, so let's try another!"
I forget, am I picking one? If so, pick one of the ones I haven't at random.
>We require something
>A set of specimens
>the great
>Volatile and dangerous specimens:
>Follow us if you wouldThey lead you to the crackling orange doorway, after you step through the gateway you are dressed in your normal clothes in addition to a pith helmet and three Polaroid photographs. One depicts a wolf made of steel, its body looking like a semi-abstract sculpture. One is a skeleton wielding a brass flywheel attached to some kind of mechanical apparatus. One is what appears to be a high-tech gimp suit hard to tell from the lens flare coming off of the burning silver blade in its hand.
You are at a bus station on Floor 1 in all its Detroit-esque glory. It's not as swell as you remember it. There buildings have been evidently scarred by stray shots that seem to have torn sizable holes through them.
They hand you a literal ten foot pole, terminating in a tightenable noose of icy blue metal.
>We have altered this implement's properties
>Your Unbound Targeting protocols are compatible with it now
>Hunt down your targets, ensnare them
>They whey are subdued press them against their photo to capture
>You will be rewarded for each one