@Steve/Aresteve: "What do we know about the thermophage and its abilities? What is its range? can it eat heat through perfect insulators?
do we have any reference material on similar heat eating entities that could prove useful?
Has your artifact research turned up anything potentially useful against this thing?"
Take control and possesion of the two grenade launchers and chem throwers i requisitioned.
Prevent anyone from running off with them just because they want them, they will be distributed once our plan of attack has been established.
Check to see if I can wirelessly connect to the shuttles flight computer using my Man Machine Interface implant.
if I can connect to it then set up the ability to control it remotely, but dont take control of it yet.
((Do we have any possibility of getting coldspikes for this mission? or any other forms of assistance from hephaustus personnel, be it intel or extra cooling apparatus?))
We'll say you get all that and that you can do the remote piloting.
>Not much. Close to nothing actually. The closest we have is the light eating sand from the Abyss; but that's sufficiently different that I think it might not be worth comparing. Cold spikes might work, but they're difficult to handle. Anthony finally seems to stir from his stasis induced catatonia. "Aaand we're here. Alright then, so this is the infamous forge world? Seems kinda...meh. Eh, whatever. So, Flint. Famous actor and it looks like the de facto leader for this mission. Mind if I stick close to you? I uh...I'm not one of those smart people, most of my life experiences are shooting stuff and getting into fights. Oh, and I might snag one of those 'nade launchers if that's alright."
If possible grab a grenade launcher and some ammo for it. And some artifact containers as well. Stay with Flint
So long as there are still some around, you can have them.
Jobasio spent the shuttle ride slumped (well, as slumped as a robobody can get) in his seat, stroking his beloved gauss rifle with clumsy metal fingers and muttering to himself about a wide range of mostly-nonsensical topics. When the shuttle finally lands and opens, he bounds quickly outside to take a look around.
"Well then, here we are. Time to do our job, whatever that job may be!" He remarks in a toneless voice, then clambers up on top of the shuttle for a better vantage point. "...Just what is it we're looking for, again? A rogue machine of some sort, correct? I can't say I was paying a great deal of attention."
Climb atop the shuttle to scan the surroundings (above and below ground) with both my normal cameras and the cam-eye on my robo-schlong.
Nothing really interesting out here. Just a big slightly rocky plain full of grayish grass and frost. Rather uninteresting. You wonder why they built a door out here.
((Just re-read M18 for inspiration. What I came away from it with is don't punch the alien, no matter how tempting it is at the time. Reposting actions here to make sure they are seen by pw:))
Does Eddie have enough scrap to create some sort of metal riot shield? If so, would it actually be any good? Use remaining scrap to MFM into existence 3 sets of tongs. If there's not enough scrap, use one metal pole.
Collect some of the frost in Eddie's specimen jar using tongs. Does it just look like normal frost? Also use the manipulator to assist Christopher in determining the temperature of the area nearby.
Also contact the green voice Eddie heard:
"Are you this 'computer' I've heard about? That's truly remarkable! You must be the key to this organization's strategy against the government. Why do you have to bring it down? Do you have a name? In any case, can you please tell me a little more about this tunnel? Where does it go, are there branching paths and if so where do they lead, etc? Could you perhaps even provide a map?"
"Also, is there a way to the target that doesn't take us through a cramped, ambushable, trappable, and collapsible tunnel?"
You make your tongs and grab your frost, though it does appear to just be normal frost. And rather then using powerful space magic, we'll just say you used the suit thermometer.
>You really chose a poor time to start asking these sorts of questions. If you would like answers, please look around you. See the biggest, most robot looking teammate you have? Ask them. They've been around here for a while.
>No. Welcome to Heph, it's all tunnels, all the time.
Try and get a shoebox-sized artifact container that can be easily carried. Then try and determine roughly how cold the ground is - does it look like 0 degrees, or -30? Keep Sullen Moon boxed up and on person.
But forget about these if they'll take too long - go with Vladimir and open the hatch with him.
Christopher thinks briefly, then calls out, "I volunteer to be one of the people to open the hatch. I doubt my life's worth any more than anyone else's here, and I have no scientific or investigative skills, so it's probably worth a damn sight less than some people's right now. I'll lead the vanguard, or at least be in it. Anyone else gonna come with me?"
it's about -40 F on the ground.
You go with the rest.
Vladimir tosses the cigarette stud out of the shuttle gate on the frozen ground, puts on the helmet and steps outside, his rifle hanging on its simple sling behind his back. He passes people gathering their stuff, examining the equipment, doing last bits of their tinkering, and heads directly to the hatch. On his way, he taps Christopher on the shoulder:
- Come on, let's open it.
Get closer to the hatch in the ground and briefly examine it. If nothing seems immediately wrong about it, try to open it and take a look inside.
Nothing seems wrong with it, but it's heavily frosted over, so you'll need to force it open with a good deal of energy. Probably the sort of thing a larger, more mechanical friend could help you with.
Action edited, Xanessa's just sticking by the shuttle.
Alright.
Robert keeps his mouth shut. He's no idea what is going on, is as green as can be, and will probably end up as cannon fodder for the horrible monster they sent the HMRC ARM down here to deal with.
Try not to get in the way or fuck up. Try taking a sample of the grey vegetation.
The science team is getting a lot of frozen salad when this mission ends.
((Moved action here so it won't be missed.))
Talk to Aresteve: "Hey Aresteve! Long time no see. How have you been doing all those years? Are you well? Did you enjoy the mural I left you in your underground chamber corridor thing?"
Talk to Aresteve: "Can you give us a quick summary on all important info you have on the anomaly? Nothing fancy, even a sentence will do.
Is it growing? Stable?
What was the terrain around it like? Hills? Mountains? Forests?
What does the facility it was in like? Where and how far is it?
Was there anything important around it like explosives or generators?
I realise that the area might have been changed by whatever happened there, but whatever info you have helps."
Talk to Aresteve: "Do you know if you'll be able to contact us once you're down there? If not, is there any comms station or junction box down there we could reactivate to restore comms and sensors or camera feeds, assuming they still function?
And if needed, how quickly can you airdrop us some equipment, assuming you have it on hand?"
Get a tank of liquid helium for the chem-thrower and artefact containers, most of the big ones and few of the small ones, both the forcefield kind and the regular kind. Edit: If Auron prevents me from grabbing my equipment and he can't just be shoved aside, grab the entire shuttle and start shaking it with the door pointed down until the equipment I want falls out. Robo-might makes right.
Move away from the shuttle while carefully scanning the area with cam-eyes, normal vision and watching the Indigo Hydra heads, in case they point at anything interesting.
How far are we from the border of the anomaly?
Can we see anything interesting on the horizon?
How cold is everything? Winter cold, Pluto cold, Ice-9 cold?
If nothing of interest is found, return to the entrance and if it looks safe, start slowly going down, just a few steps to see what's in there.
Or just prepare to go down if it's too much to do in one turn.
>I did but lets save the pleasantries for later. We have work to do.
>The anomaly appears to be stable and is in the facility below you. Being an artificial facility, it has no natural landmarks or shapes. It is about 2 miles below you. And I can only ask that you try to destroy as little as possible. There is nothing completely vital in there, but there is an awful lot of infrastructure. I don't think auron took your stuff so we'll say you got it.
The rest of this seems to be a bit confused as to where you are.
SO does any one have any tips on how not to die?
get several small artifact containers
Done.
Reply to Eddie, private channel: "Thanks Eddie. I, uh, I needed that. I am not good with angry people."
To Auron, private channel: "I'm feeling very cowardly all of a sudden. You're pissed cuz an old overconfident rookie will get people killed. Yeah, I don't want to get people killed. I'll do my best not to, and for me that means making sure nobody does anything risky that they didn't have to. For you that's the same thing, and if you misunderstood me as suggesting people go to their deaths, they might have misunderstood me too. Only a few people are interested in listening to my suggestions, but for them, I'll try to be more clear."
Public channel: "I have been doing most of the planning so far, but I am a rookie and AreSteve has not responded yet, so I'll only suggest you don't do anything stupid yet. We make a proper plan when we get proper info. As for figuring out who to listen to, it turns out that we don't actually do that. You have to choose for yourself who to follow, which is not easy when you don't know anyone, but them's the breaks."
Walk a big circle around the shuttle and hatch, poking interesting rocks with my cane.
Return to stand near Flint when argument with Auron starts.
Be angry, then scared. Gesticulate with cane to underscore some of the things I said.
Calm down.
Interesting looking rocks eh? Well you find one that kinda looks like a turtle, but it has no response to your poking.
The rest we can assume happened.
Keep an eye out for anything suspicious, bluesmokes.
I'll assume this means you smoke them, not that you're looking for suspicious things, like blue smokes.
Auriel, being a medic, takes the advanced kit and emergency kit, if nobody else has already.
It seems like they haven't, so consider it gotten.
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Topic: Mission 24: By the pricking of my thumbs... (Read 62971 times)