Turn 7
This will not do. It seems we will need to stop these hostile drones to safely evacuate the key.
Attempt to communicate with the hostile systems and breach their wireless security. If that is not possible, attempt physical interfacing.
If i can seize control of one or more of the drones and turn them on the other incoming drones, we might be able to buy enough time to retrieve the key and complete our secondary directive. Also, capturing one of the drones for weaponry would be excellent.
[4] A quick signal probe locks onto the hostile mechs' unique frequency. Next, you manually jack into the brain of one of the destroyed quadruped drones. After quickly parsing its system, a quick jack through its own network relay coupler grants you a brief spate of unrestricted access.
[4] One of the centipede-like machines experiences a catastrophic weapon failure, as its back-mounted heavy blaster loses gyroscopic stability and begins spraying plasma fire in random directions!
[6] Several of the legged mechs nearby are struck, one going down from direct hits sizzling through its midsection! The cannon itself soon cooks off and
EXPLODES, heavily damaging the centipede and rendering its hardpoint useless!
[3] A few stray plasma rounds BARELY miss you, but unfortunately destroy the mech you are jacking into -- you just barely jack out and move before something sensitive gets damaged.
Follow the people into the fortress to get the key.
[5] The retreating patrol toss you a few glances, but they're more concerned with the robots actually shooting at them right about now. You easily follow them all the way into the fort, along the way noticing a loud general alarm siren begin to blare from within. The chief barks orders for two men to "take the wounded to Medical" (you interpret this as a repair & service station for organics), two more to supplement the defense, and the last to follow him.
The immediate interior of the fort is a set of long asphalt pathways leading to the center, all ringed by sturdy buildings of various function. Sandbag-ringed mortar emplacements sit in the middle, frantic guards manning, loading, and orienting them towards the fight. The leader and company make a beeline for a fortified compound across the field, their presence keeping guns pointed away even as weird stares come aplenty.
Get inside the fort and go towards the beacon’s locations, likely where the key is
[6] VROOOOM! Following quickly behind Bob Mk III, you have to weave to dodge a few of the quickly running humans, most of whom react with shock and anger at seeing you inside the fort they're trying to guard from killer robots. Thankfully, you reach your friend in time,
SLAMMING into him while evading runners!
[4] Neither of you are damaged or knocked down, though, and this causes the chief to look back, shaking his head like this might be amusing another time. The others take the hint and stand down, letting you through.
"Go for the key I will try to give you more time"
Rush towards the downed Scythe enemies and Fuse with/Absorb them, so I can fight them more efficiently.
[3] Rushing for the one remaining downed "scyther" drone, you furiously attempt to integrate its hardware with yours. You get as far as detaching the mounted arc-plasma thrower, though the drone's armor and subsystems elude you for now.
[2] A quick test-fire in the general direction of the very much active and angry drones sends a sizzling bolt of plasma their way, but you unfortunately miss.
[Arc-plasma thrower equipped! Can now engage targets at range.]Gather parts to Build Sakura Drones, blocky floating Xs with lasers in each of the four cubes on each of the four limbs. The centerpoint is the relay coupler and hardware. Overall 5 feet by 5 feet.
[5 (4 + 1)] With instinctual grace and precision, you carefully comb through the lockers for components.
[5] Luck is on your side, as you stumble upon ample quantities of both hurricane-rated raw materials and other hardware, likely for setting up shelter and other installations in the unknown! It doesn't take you long to design a perfectly serviceable -- even ingenious -- prototype drone, complete with its own float system, and slaved to your local network. Had you eyes, you might have shed a tear hearing it
beep-boop for the first time, rising to a cozy 45cm above the ground.
[5 (4 + 1) (O___O)] Making military-grade lasers work with its 'limbs' was a bit tougher, but the bionic limbs gave you an idea. You discover very usable and stable power sources that might have been used to support them, and it doesn't take you long at all to make an effective, if slapdash, array of beams in the arms. They're even capable of tracking targets independently, giving the whole design remarkable coverage.
[Sakura Drone Prototype constructed!]>Fix my limbs, and load the shotgun if it isn't fully loaded, before attaching it to my back alongside the busted rifle.
[1] You reattach the legs to your elbows, allowing you to walk, but making it really awkward if you try to shoot while moving.
[3] With some help from your multitool set, though, you don't have much trouble taking the shotgun (8/8 shells) and the ruined rifle. You don't look like a mutated ape anymore, just a center-weighted barbell on stilts. At least you got everything picked up, though!
Shouldn't my visual sensor still be damaged? If so just scavenge around the area for materials to repair it. If not, go back and bring the naked bird back.
[6] Finding materials to fix a complex device like a visual sensor in the badlands proves harder than should be fair. Giving up, you chase after and grab the squawking bird, attach it to the front of your body with a loop of wire from your kit, and manually probe and screw and drill your way in to the back of the creature's head. With some effort, you find yourself able to see out of the bird's eyes! When it's looking where you need it to look, that is. It's being
terribly uncooperative, flapping and making loud noises. But it's serviceable.
Returning to the scene of the fort, you abruptly realize you probably could have used one of the dead drones... Oh, well!
[Visual sensor still damaged for now, but can ignore penalty in some cases.]-----
[3] The mechs continue their relentless assault on the fort, but with the disruption caused by Ongoing_Directives.bat, their fire turns sporadic and lacking in coordination while they try to regain their footing. They do take some ground, and their efforts begin to show with parts of the walls taking serious damage.
[6] PHOONK! PHOONK! Several high-yield mortar rounds suddenly launch from the interior of the fort, arcing up before falling to blast several of the hostile mechs! Accurate turret fire and a few contributing small arms from the walls helps to pick off a couple more.
[4] The operations chief hurriedly taps on the keypad outside a door of the compound, unlocking it -- but is then stopped dead in his tracks by a panicked man in civilian clothes. He blathers and screeches while gesticulating madly, and you make out the words "psychic - radiation - corruption (your definition of "insanity")" through it all. The chief lets out a string of curses, taps a finger to his helmet and starts calling for "the foil-hats" as backup.
-----
kittens, Ongoing_Directives.bat, and 333 are all at the
fort.CIWLEAL and Bob Mk III are
inside the fort.0cra_Tr0per, TricMagic, and the Sakura Drone Prototype are at the
portal device.-----
ziizo (333) [Armed with Arc-Plasma Thrower]
The Canadian Kitten (kittens) [Covered in petrol-soaked bird feathers][Damaged visual sensor, bypassed with neural-grafted avian eyes (+ avian creature)]
Dustan Hache (Ongoing_Directives.bat) [Translator device]
King Zultan (Bob Mk III)
TricMagic (B.B.[8]) [Bionic arms, legs, chestplate & head (+1 to actions requiring hand dexterity/grip. +1 to damage resistance rolls.)]
NatureGirl1999 (CIWLEAL)
0cra_tr0per (dominustrex.exe) [Mismatched bionic limbs (You look like a center-weighted barbell on stilts; no bonus or penalty)][Shotgun (8/8 shells)][Bolt-action rifle (broken)]
Sakura Drone Prototype (built by TricMagic)
-----
I'm just going to call it 'Sakura Drone Prototype' unless you guys want to vote on a name. Something deserving of the
1/216 odds you just beat to get those 5's. This is like rolling two nat 20's in a row.
Author
Topic: Minimalist Robot AI Multiverse Adventures [On hiatus] (Read 12322 times)