This one sure took a long time.
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Turn 130 ------------
I fix up my wrist and play a little bit around with my neglected TK manipulation, trying to increase it's strength mostly.
| You focus your TK Healing on your wrist. Having built up over long hours of disuse, the power bursts outward explosively!
| With nothing but air to connect with, your upper skin layer disintegrates into tiny shreds! Some bits of your skin are also stuck into the vest and backpack you're wearing. Being in the focal point of the outburst, your left hand suffered extensive surface damage, skin got flayed off it completely, leaving it a bloody mess. It still works though. You're bleeding out of a billion cuts all over the surface of your body, not to mention the severed veins in the wrist. The pain is excruciating.
i tell zako about neo, then i take the enemy's weapons.
| You enter the dustcloud, see Zako and quickly assess the situation. Telling Zako to let go of his prey, you quickly pick up the clanner's weapon that lay quietly on the ground. It's a small-caliber automatic pistol with one short barrel and some weird protrusions that (you guess) are for compensating the kickback when firing. It must've been firing caseless ammo, because there are no spent casings anywhere. You find the clip release button and check the clip.
| About half full, looks like 16 rounds left. Having no free hands, you put the gun back on the ground. You look around some more, but find no sign the clanner carried any other weapons.
I free myself and then place my guns in my backpack, getting out my knife.
| You make a weak effort to come to your senses, but it doesn't work. You're not sure you can ever find yourself again.
I try to move the pain so that it doesn't affect me. Then I look for more guns and ammo in the box.
| You concentrate on the pain to remove it, but as you do so you actually begin to feel the pain more clearly. It's like you first saw a vaguely scary picture and were afraid of it, and now it clears up to reveal your worst childhood nightmare, forcing you to huddle into a corner and cry for help. The pain makes you fall down and roll on the ground in agony, but you manage to get a grip on yourself and regain some form of self-control.
| It's nowhere near enough to do something as complex as searching through a crate of weapons. You try to dig through the crate's contents, but accidentally bury your lasergun among the assorted firearms.
I use TP to "interrogate" the clanner.
| You bend your will on the clanner's mind and try to read his thoughts. But, whether he received mental conditioning or you are just too inexperienced yet, you fail to get any sort of coherent information from his head. There're bits and pieces of various facts and events, but for the most part they're about things you already know.
I drag those who I have gripped with my tail out of the dust and place them on the ground when they are under guard. If its neo I'm holding, I will go back and grab the clanner and do the same to him. Make sure to search and take away all weapons! He mustn't be able to kill himself!
| You heed Andrea's advice and get your prey out of the dustcloud. You're somewhat surprised to see that you're holding
both Neo and the clanner. Both are unconscious and barely breathing. You uncoil your tail and set the two on the ground. While you were doing it, andrea examined the clanner's gun and conveniently set it on the ground near you. You pick it up.
I'll try paralysing the clanner with my gaze, hoping that the new ability of my evil binocular riot shield makes that possible. Or as he seems to pinned down already, I figure out the new effect of my evil shield.
| You decide to examine your evil shield in more detail. Peeking out of the truck's cabin, you look through the binoculars at the running figure of Gantolandon in the distance. The view is slightly blurred, but you cannot discern what it is. You feel something strange happening when you look through the lenses though. Try as you might, you cannot understand the shield's effects.
I try to wake up OR complete the counciousness gaining process
| You succeed at neither, instead only becoming more lost in your dreams. You lose even the tiny bit of connection to the real world you've achieved earlier.
I try to get to the clanner and interrogate him. I suppose transforming him part by part will be enough for him to talk.
| You keep running north to the crash site, already seeing colourful images of the future "interrogation" in your mind. Suddenly your vision blurs for a second. You keep running for another minute, and then stop. You feel your mind being overtaken by a steadily growing feeling of hate! Not hate of anything particular, just pure, all-encompassing hate. Your sight turns into vague blurs, and you thrash around mindlessly for a while, until at last a definite object comes into your view. A rock. A small, round, but inexplicably hideous rock. You hate it. You hate it with the burning intensity of a thousand desert suns. You focus all of your strength, and bring it to bear on the basalt abomination!
| The poor rock, only a few inches in diameter, is no match for all the weight and power of an enraged human with an axe and is instantly pulverized into thin dust. The bone axe is cracked, but you don't notice it and keep striking at the remains of the rock until nothing is left that could even hint at it being there. With the target of your hate removed, the feeling passes and your sight returns to normal. You stagger for a moment, then look around and wonder what the hell has just happened.
I ought to get out of the wolf trap. I think I have completely screwed it this time. If possible I also get into a comfortable position, ready to concentrate.
| You pop the exit hatch and climb out of the crippled mech. Looking over it, you take note of the damage you can see. It looks bad. The left side of the torso and everything attached to it was basically torn into loose shreds. You were lucky the explosion didn't tear through the reactor shielding. The legs took some damage too, but if worst comes to worst, the mech can probably still stand and fight. At least you only lost the lasers and the LRM ammo. The big gun is still attached. You sit down and get your thoughts in order, trying to think of what to do next.
(RTTAI:{4}) I train strength some more. And put the Ashcraver down afterwards.
| You practice with the Ashcraver for a while, pushing your muscles to their limit. You feel slightly more buff, but you're still a long way off from any tangible strength increase. You put the big sword back onto the truck.
<Travel Mode: Clan Smoke Jaguar Base>
| 5 minutes pass by uneventfully.
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NPC Actions:
Allied: He decides not to mess with this odd weaponry and goes off in search of something useful to do.
| He puts on the scalemail and runs to the location of the shootout. He's late for the party though, as everything's been taken care of.
The bats stay where they are and do nothing. (2 of them are still unconscious, too)
Neutral: Soldiers move in to secure the clanner. Mechs provide light for the scene.
| The soldiers are mighty overzealous, and apprehend and tie up
both the clanner and Neo, disregarding the fact that they're both unconscious. Some medical personnel appear out of nowhere and haul the several wounded troopers away towards the convoy on stretchers.
Enemy: He's unconscious.
| …yep, still unconscious.
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Background: [6+2] Chaoticag examines the rocks out of boredom. Suddenly a panel pops up amidst the landscape, with a notice that the amount of precious metals in the soil is unusually high in that spot; it could warrant user attention. Zako looks around some more and notices something buried in the sand not too far away.
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Environment: Night. (-1 sight, accuracy, dodge, and movement to everyone who depends on light to see) The air is cold. (statistic penalties to constitution)
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Free items: Light infantry armor vest: Somewhere in the LV area 2. Can protect upper body. +1 against pierce damage.
Various assorted rocks and small leftover debris from the truck in LV area 2.
A gunmetal crate with an assortment of melee, light and medium handheld weaponry. Hidden under some rocks in LV area 3.
Unidentified yellowish box embedded in a hillside in LV area 3.
Various assorted rocks, several pieces of underwear, and JK's former purple shorts in LV area 3.
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Artifacts: "A massive, massive, MASSIVE sword. It is three meters long, 1'3'' (~40cm) wide, and dazzingly bright. Its fine steel has been polished to reflect light like a mirror. Its one edge is curved, jagged at the hilt, the other is straight and so sharp it could probably slice adamantine blocks like salami. Down the center of the sword, which is at least 2'' thick, runs a hollow slit 3'' wide, in which yeat another, smaller and straighter sword is concealed. The entire surface of both swords, except of course the sharp cutting edges, is finely engraved with uncountable images, among which the launching of the Challenger, world war II, a nuclear explosion, a trainwreck, and a rotary excavator. The hilt itself (being at the same time the hilt of the smaller sword) is decorated with gold and emeralds you can only assume you've taken from someone, arranged in beautiful patterns, and the handle is woven with three lines - one is a scaly snake with two small rubies in the eyes, and two seem awfully like DNA strands. You get a feeling you could decipher the human genome if you looked closely enough. The guard of the hilt is exquisitely detailed as well, but right down the senter of it, spanning the breadth of the sword, is a solid rectangular golden plate, with the single word: ""ASHCRAVER"" deeply embossed onto it. The entire thing is so immeasurably brilliant, you almost don't want to touch it fearing it'll stick to your hand and corrupt you like some magic ring. Overcoming this fear, you pick it up. Despite its size, it is relatively lightweight, relatively, of course, to anything else so large and made of steel. (+2 to damage, +1 to attack, -1 agility)
The second form is a smaller (comparatively) blade, that together with the folding hilt guard looks like an overgrown sai. It's also exquisitely detailed, but lighter. (+1 to damage).
The Ashcraver seems to accumulate the energy released by the deaths it causes. The process is admittedly rather slow, but has good uses."
"The ring consists of a toroidal adamantine core surrounded by a shell of tempered steel with thin bands of gold along the rims of the ring. Set into an adamantine frame on its top is a Star Sapphire imbued with the dark soul of a Greater Demon, under absolute control of the wearer. The steel surface of the ring is covered by three hundred tiny tiles of granite, engraved with images of various creatures, all being dead.
The wearer of the ring may call onto the soul of the demon, which can manipulate darkness and fire - anything from direct projection to creating sentient forms to giving protection against.
The wearer can also give an order to summon a creature mad with rage (any creature from the DF world you have seen), which will use up one or several of the stone tiles, depending on the power of the creature. The tiles may be restored, but only through personally killing sentient creatures with bare hands and absorbing their essence with the ring, which also adds that creature to the ""summonable creatures"" list.
The price to pay for all this power is a constant aura of darkness that any living being will feel (and will react accordingly), and the wearer may, under critical stress, give in and become controlled by the trapped demon soul.
(No passive bonuses. In a single turn, you can either perform an act of darkness/fire manipulation (including creating a prolonged effect), or summon a creature/creatures, but not both. The magnitude and potential of both depend on your skill - the ring grants ""basic level"" only. You can only absorb the essence of a creature you killed with your own bare hands, and only if it died last turn, at most.)
Currently applied effects: (-1 to relevant ability for every active effect)
Darkfire halberd - haft of materialized darkness.
Shadow Warp - Boksi's shadow invisibility."
An odd-looking gnarly stick made of iron and steel. The many wrinkles and crevices on its surface are ever so slightly glowing. The staff feels special, capable of doing wonrous things. Some of those things include: summoning a small lightning that seems to charge the staff, when being hit against the ground; launching a spark of electricity that explodes in a sparkling firework-like burst, on giving a generic mental command.
A hexagonal reflective box, rougly a foot across and 10cm thick. It can receive, process, transmit, focus, and disperse energy waves over a rather wide electromagnetic spectrum. Can work as a radio or a mini-microwave. Contains a battery that can be recharged by applying any electricity to the surface.
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Locations: Planet Wayside V: The planet seems to be barren as a whole. The sky is green here, and the air is cold. Or maybe it's just autumn here.
Large Valley: A rather dull and barren, though very large, rocky valley covered by reddish clay soil with patches of some unknown weeds or moss. Filled with broken rock and debris. Sloping mountains or plateaus many kilometers tall seem to surround it.
Sub-area 1: The place you initially appeared at.
Sub-area 2: Where your truck was destroyed by an aerospace fighter (and later rebuilt). Mostly everyone is here.
Sub-area 3: Somewhere far north of Area 2 - the fighter crashlanded there. And subsequently exploded, leaving a large crater and killing the crew of the two scout buggies sent by Fusiliers. Frelock, Neo, Zako, JK, andrea, and the dwarf are here, as well as a convoy of trucks, light mechs, and infantry.
Vast plain: An enormous plain connected to the large valley by a relatively narrow passage. Its ground is different from that of the valley, but you don't know what it is yet. Korora is travelling along it.
Fusiliers' main camp: A small military camp set up amidst the hills in the large valley. Mechs patrol its perimeter. All of you are at a spot some distace away from it.
"Overlord"-class Dropship "Bullrun": A big egglike spaceship designed to go to and from a planet's surface. Armed with several turrets and protected by thick armor. It's been attacked on its descent and is undergoing repairs.
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Vehicles: Battlemech. Lying on its back in the LV area 2.
Type: Medium-class, 45 tons. Capabilities: Jump Jets (piloting skill check required for every use) Armament: Imperator Code Red LB 10-X AC(30/30), two Victory 23R Medium Lasers(inoperable), one Shigunga LRM-10 rack(1x10/0x10). Protection: Ablative ferro-fibrous plating. State: Heavy damage on left torso, moderate armor damage to center torso, left arm destroyed, medium lasers destroyed, LRM ammo detonated, significant damage on left leg, armor destroyed on right leg. Risen from the ashes, this is a truck rebuilt from the remains of the last one. Has flimsy rear suspension, only front wheel drive, slap-patched brakes, and no platform on the back. And no cabin roof or passenger seat, plus a sizeable hole punched through the driver's seat.
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