Turn 3
noticing the translator that was found by Bob mk.III, attempt to integrate it into my form for the purposes of using it's databanks of various known languages and deciphering tools for unknown languages.
[4] You pick up the desk calculator-sized device, and successfully hardwire your way into it. It contains a healthy amount of data on interpreting humanoid languages, though you're not sure how useful the complete files will be considering the nature of the metaplanar portal.
Translator is now
EQUIPPED.STICK THE GUN ON ME.
[1 (1 - 1)] The entire weapon's magazine cooks off as soon as you attempt integration!
BANG-CRACK-BANG-BANG-BANGThe internal magazine ruptures, nearly breaking the gun in half!
Dodge: [1] You eat a couple stray bullets to your sensitive faceplate, compromising your
visual sensors.(You are no longer DAZED, but suffer -1 to all rolls involving sight until you can get your 'eyes' repaired.)Onwards to the unknown.
[3 (4 - 1)] You hover cautiously through the now-open door, wobbling from your transition through space. Dust and sand wicks up from the breeze, some of it
tinking against your frame. You notice that the temperature is a balmy 83°F. And no wonder -- you've been dropped into a dry, arid region, with sparse vegetation and many many rocks. The sky is almost cloudless, and judging by the single sun, you guess that it's late morning.
All you can get a good look at for now is your immediate locale. Checking behind, you see the metaplanar portal machine sitting in a deep depression in the dirt as though it'd fallen down a ways; if you hadn't been able to float, you might have tripped over the low shelf of earth reaching up over the door threshold. Somewhere nearby, you hear the disturbed caws of some avian creatures flying to get away from you.
enter the new area
Glad we found a place to explore, let’s learn what we can
[1] Your vision is filled with sudden hallucinations of
very, very angry cats, screeching, romping and leaping in physics-defying ways around the ground outside! Apparently, Kittens' harrowing experience with the gun forced it to locally broadcast its anguish, and you were just off guard enough to not firewall it off in time. You don't learn much beyond what 333 has discovered.
Float outside and see where we ended up.
[1 (1 - 1)] You suffer the same fate as CIWLEAL, and it's even WORSE since you're still reeling!
Attempting to firewall... [5 (6 - 1)] You manage to counter the images of cats with another hallucination of a sudden rainstorm forcing them all back inside. Quite proud of yourself, you brave the unknown and explore quite a ways forward, taking stock of the surroundings.
The shock of your arrival seems to have toppled several large cacti. You notice from within, they're leaking some kind of orangish fluid... wait, that can't be right... it's registering a viscosity similar to
petroleum. Perturbed, you look further, noticing more standing cacti spread out among the rocks. And, not that far off at all, you see the clear definition of what has to be sapient-made structures -- a star-shaped formation of walls and embrasures, like a fort, but very awkwardly spaced as though it were a recent addition.
Doublecheck my sensors, before seeing about finding a locker with arms to go with the legs.
[2 (3 - 1)] Your sensors seem to be working, but the sudden spatial distortion threw everything for a loop. There doesn't appear to be system corruption, though. It takes you a minute, but you come out of the daze. Unfortunately, you can't yet find anything to do with arms, though you guess they and the legs might be in the same locker.
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A flurry of radio transmission suddenly beams throughout the room. It's unintelligible, as you're not used to languages aside from binary and code... except...
Ongoing_Directives.bat: [5] You easily interpret and translate the signal with your newfound device! It seems to be a pre-encoded message, set for anyone who uses the portals.
"You have accessed the Metaplanar Conduit. Destination 4 of 8. Per the Deep Space Exploration Initiative, all sites have been pre-confirmed to possess livable conditions. Each are ideal grounds to conduct THE GAME.
You have been confirmed as PLAYERS with the activation of this device. Eight worlds -- eight keys. One key for each destination. Eight artifacts must be brought in turn to WIN. The key for this-- ...ame is the APEX. A key itself to unlock-- --...an potential in the mind. The reward for ALL keys is--" *garble-crack-skrrrkh" "...--ache of... h-gh techn...gy... -s prepared-- ...y Director--"
The transmission shuts off. Audio file corruption seems to have claimed the rest of the record. However, you also caught and decoded an algorithm before that happened, which seems to allow for the confirmation that an object is a 'key' or not. You relay this to the rest of your group.
ALL PLAYERS may now detect the presence of and confirm
KEYS.