Archimedes walked towards the board. He pressed the button on his small device, creating a force buble around the plank.
"Time to head back to HQ"
The Beast RP (Apps Open)
Thu, 02/05/2015 - 10:31
#52
Gotta stealth post dont mind spelling errors
Thu, 02/05/2015 - 14:52
#53
New Page! :) Back to school.. :(
Ricante was rather abruptly dropped behind a rock formation, but landed in a crouch, and immediately got his bearings. He was behind a rock formation he had passed when he had found the orb, meaning, so long as the Gremlin went back the way she came, she wouldn't see Ricante. He didn't know where Ael was, but he'd bet on the rock formation near the tree, she was probably winded after all, she did so many spells in such little time. He peeked around the formation to see what the Gremlin was doing.
***
Diruoer woke up, with everything in her head floating around in a random mish-mash of memory loss and haziness.
*What...had happened?* she asked herself, getting up and brushing off her uniform. The dust.. it wasn't regular dust, it had a certain Undead stench to it...and it was on her Hatchets as well. It smelled like.. Zombie.
The Zombies.
It made sense. The Zombies had probably left residue from her close contact encounters all over her uniform, not to mention her Hatchets, which would need a proper shining once this was all over with. She was concerned though, as a couple Zombies had left her basically wiped out in the middle of the Clockworks. Why had the colony sent just her? Was it due to her advanced Swarm Mode? It had barely even come into play.
Speaking of the colony, Diruoer snapped her head around. Something had seemed off about her surroundings, but no time for that anymore. She needed to get right back home. And she needed to bring the Orb of Aline with her. In a swift movement, she pounced onto the Orb like a bandit, stuffing it into her pack gruffly.
Behind a rock formation near her, a disdainful thought was directed at the Gremlin and its action.
Diruoer, blissfully unaware of the waves of loathing coming her way, rambled off to her newly found limp. For some reason, her left leg hurt..like she had fallen or something.
((Ember-Break: How far do you want her to go before your next post? Wherever you designate, you've gotten there without incident, along with Ricante. I NEED some sleep))
***
Feron was there to meet Archimedes and his squad.
"Glad to see that you made it back safely, and with such a bevy of information, we hope. Naturally, even you don't know what you found, such is the nature of Gremlin facilities. Your squad will take your findings to our Intel Knights and we will get back to you as soon as possible." he said.
"In the meantime, I advise you get some rest. Enjoy Haven for a bit," Feron said, and walked away.
There was a slight undercurrent of "while we can" in Feron's statement.
Thu, 02/05/2015 - 22:14
#54
To the Elevator, then.
Ael continually checked over her Tracking Cylinder as her headache slowly dissipated. Once the Gremlin had started moving, the arrow would tilt sleightly, acting as a Compass of sorts in a mock 3-D image within the odd contraption. Ael often wondered about what made the item work the way it did... But it was most likely a highly complicated series of runes which had to do with the adjusting buttons for activation -- so she never ended up tinkering with it.
After the arrow moved slightly, Ael waited a single minute. She then moved slightly out of the cover, and scanned the area where the Gremlin was -- just in case the Tracker hadn't activated properly. But, as she expected, the tracking had gone on without a hitch, and so Ael moved out into the clearing and met with the knight.
"Before we get tracking... Introductions are in order." Ael did a short bow, folding one arm to her stomach, and the other outwards; "I am Ael. I would show you my face, but..." Ael straightened herself and fidgeted with her fingers slightly.*
'The elders would probably have a fit if I did...' Despite these words being simple enough to formulate, Ael could not let them escape. It was harmless information, and yet... It wouldn't come out. After receiving the name of the Knight, Ael proceeded to address other things within the tracking of the Gremlin.
"Hopefully you have enough provisions to make it to the Colony... I have no food to offer if we are to travel by foot." Ael withdrew her wings to a packed fit near her back, she then took out her Cloak, and draped it over herself. The Knight couldn't fly, so covering her wings would spare her the need for cleaning them off later. She just hoped the knight wouldn't ask if she could just pick him up and fly him... Only infants were permitted to fly in that way with their parents -- it was a symbol of trust and maternal love when it was between a young Owlite and an older female Owlite. Even if the Knight didn't know, addressing why she couldn't with him would be embarrassing...*
Usually, Ael would proceed to go over their supplies should she come across a partner in tracking -- but she figured that the Knight would prefer to keep his items private, and Ael was tentative to reveal her own tools as well, so she didn't even bother asking. Ael would lead the way to the Gremlin, seeing as she had the Tracker, and she occasionally slowed down or sped up depending on the amount of time within the blinking of the arrow -- which indicated how far the target was.
~~~
*
~~~
After a while of walking, Ael noticed that the Arrow started pointing upwards within the cylinder, meaning the Gremlin was ascending via an elevator. Ael's wings twitched in her cloak -- as it was at that time that she would have usually lifted off to follow the Gremlin to her assigned depth... But her cloak held them in place. She was partially glad it did. If they weren't held, she would have had to get back onto the ground, seeing as the knight wouldn't be able to follow any longer.
That, in of itself, was problematic. She turned to the knight and asked for his opinion on what to do.
"I'm not familiar with the mechanisms leading up or down depths in the clockworks -- I've always simply flown level to level. How shall we proceed?"
---------------
[[@Ares-Hsg
The * symbols indicate that dialogue can be implemented near said areas. Technically, you could just write up Ricante's reaction to all of what just happened, part by part, but for the area between the ~~~'s specifically, dialogue between starting the tracking and making it to the elevator will need to be initiated by him (as Ael would be content with just tracking in silence).
Or, you can just not use any of the *'s, and I'll edit them out. Whatever you want.]]
Sat, 02/07/2015 - 07:34
#55
Sorry for inactivity, I was unclear what to do
Archimedes walked back to his lab and sat, exhausted by the day. He took out one of the vials of goo he had kept. Archimedes walked into the hazmat room to gram a suit, grabbed his sample and his trusty microscope and walked back into the room. He carefully poured a little gloop onto a slide and slid it under the microscope with some tweezers.
((What does Archimedes see and are there any missions I can do))
Sat, 02/07/2015 - 10:09
#56
((I hope it's not too late...))
Name: Milyn
Race: Knight
Age: 14
Description: Stands shorter than most knights due to her relatively young age. Blue Personal Color. Milyn wears Heavy Glasses and has a large backpack, with holding capsules designed for her sprites to stay in when not deployed.
Equipment: Milyn has a Master Blaster and Cold Iron Carver for personal defense, in case she's ever separated from her Battle Sprites. She wears a suit of Mighty Cobalt armor and carries a Rock Jelly Shield.
Most importantly, Milyn has a trinket called a Command Gauntlet that allows her to issue more advanced commands to her Battle Sprites. This also allows Milyn to have two sprites out at once, with an additional three in reserve in case either Sprite is too damaged to fight. Certain moves can be used for non-combat purposes, even if the Sprite can't battle. Milyn's current team is as follows:
-Drakon (Bunsen): Level 60 w/ Elite Crystal Harness [Firebolt, Fire Trap, Firestorm, Dragon Fang, Sky Strike] {Preferred food base: Crimsonite}
-REBEL.exe (White Hat): Level 58 w/ Elite Iron Harness [Data Blast, Voltage Spikes, 0 Pulse, Keylogger, Hyperlink] {Preferred food base: Moonstone}
(REBEL.exe is a Virtual Battle Sprite found on the Dry Dock in "Ghosts in the Machine"; it is thought to have. It looks like a small, floating terminal.)
-Seraphynx (Seraphynx): Level 59 w/ Elite Golden Harness [Ray of Light, Heart Attack, Angelic Aura, Clarity, Sunflare] {Preferred food base: Luminite}
-Cobaltex (Cobaltex): Level 58 w/ Elite Iron Harness [Valiant Strike, Leviathan's Roar, Nitro Mortar, Azure Barrier, Power Blast] {Preferred food base: Cyclic}
(Cobalt is an Unchanged Battle Sprite that was raised in Haven's Lab. It looks like the standard battle sprites seen in the lab, but with more armor plating.)
-Maskeraith (Maskeraith): Level 58 w/ Elite Dark Harness [Caustic Quills, Shadow Cloak, Hexing Haze, Bear Trap, Icicle Knives] {Preferred food base: Dark Matter}
Bio: Milyn was the orphan daughter of a Vanguard killed in the Morai Wars. Stranded on her own after the Skylark crash, Milyn was fortunate enough to find one of the lost Battle Sprites, which had become a Drakon. Venturing into a haunted area in search of food led her to another sprite, REBEL.exe, fighting for its life, and Milyn and her Drakon helped it fell a Shocking Deadnaught and escape the place; REBEL.exe felt as though it owed the two a debt.
Sometime in the next month, Milyn assembled the Command Gauntlet, which helped her use two Sprites at once. She also delved deeper into the Clockworks to find more Sprites. By the time Spiral HQ found her a month after the crash, Milyn had befriended four different Battle Sprites, and was quickly getting acquainted with the experimental Cobaltex scouting unit they'd sent out to survey the place. Proud of their young recruit's resourcefulness in the face of danger, HQ awarded Milyn full access to the Sprite Database, and the techs helped Milyn work out the kinks in the Command Gauntlet. Milyn resolved to find all the Battle Sprites she could, and learn more about the effect Cradle had on them. And though she's working with HQ to get a way off this rock, Milyn, deep down, still wishes she could save Cradle...
Misc/Special Abilities: Sprites! Milyn is weak on her own, but her Battle Sprites decidedly aren't. Instead of shooting, Milyn will normally devote her energy to issuing commands to her Battle Sprites, which fight directly, and have improved defenses based on their natural abilities and their Harnesses.
A sprite that takes too much damage will be unable to fight, and forced to retreat; however, with proper field repairs, they can still use their power for non-combat purposes, and stopping at an Arsenal Box will allow Milyn to administer full repairs. In extreme cases, Energy may be required to reboot the sprites.
Sat, 02/07/2015 - 13:21
#57
Sorry for my absence
((OK so first off, DoctorSpaceBar: You're Accepted. But I can't visualize Rebel.exe.. what type of Terminal exactly? I haven't played in so long..
Saucce: Due to its current state of inactivity, you see nothing but its colour. It's as if it has found a way to shut itself off from observation in this state. Compared to the affinity to the board the sludge had, it almost fits that the sludge would do nothing on glass. It's sitting there, and the colour and smell it had when you took it are seemingly vanishing.))
***
Ael seemed to have qualms about showing Ricante her face. Why? Would someone find out? Was she ruled by someone? Considering the social structure of the sentient groups to ever take residence in Cradle, this was not too far-fetched.
[There is presumably an Owlite ruling class, with strict regulations its underlings, should that be the correct terminology, should observe.] he thought.
"I'd take off my helmet, but there is always the chance this doesn't go well for me, so it's even," Ricante replied to Ael.
Ricante took a look at the device Ael was using to track the gremlin. It seemed to be pointing in the direction the gremlin went, by honing in on a certain signature that certainly must be on the Gremlin.
[Combinations of magic and technology seem to give rise to very interesting and useful devices for the Owlite tribe.]
Ael then expressed concern about his provisions. Ricante hadn't considered how long the journey would have been, but no matter.
"I'm quite well stocked actually, I could probably keep both of us going, assuming you're a carnivore that is," he replied confidently.
***
Diruoer had never seen a floor this quiet. True, it wasn't quiet when she had gotten here, but she had thought that by now something would have gotten its wits about it and tried to attack her. It was lonely. Fortunately, little time passed before she reached the elevator. Noting, the floor layout, she realized that the floors had shifted some minutes ago, maybe not more than five. There was now a Clockworks Terminal above this floor. These weren't really a hassle unless you wished no minutes of interruption. The elevator took a minute to cool down before use again, which could get really annoying.
She tinkered with the mechanisms a little bit, this way she wouldn't have to stop at the Terminal that was now above this floor. The next elevator occupants, however, wouldn't be so lucky. They'd have to wait a minute extra for cool down too.
Soon she was on her way. The air went downwards past her at a leisurely speed. It was an understatement to say Diruoer felt good about herself, and she had felt a little too smug. So smug, in fact, that she had forgotten to connect the elevator shaft to the one nearest to the Colony. She was going to one on the Outskirts of Haven instead.
"Just my luck," she snarled.
Fortunately, the knights weren't aware of this elevator, but there was the ever slim chance of being spotted by one. She would have to keep on her claws for this.
***
Ricante was slightly amused, but he tried not to show it. It would have been awkward to ask Ael to fly him at any rate, how undignified was that? What would Kora say? Stepping onto the elevator, he demonstrated a basic tutorial.
"Well ordinarily -" Ricante stopped himself. Though his facial expression didn't change, he had almost shown the Owlite the button to get to Haven.
[Why does it matter? Everyone knows where Haven is.] was his initial thought.
[Doesn't feel right] came the counter.
Ricante passed this off as a coughing fit, not too over the top but serious enough to stop him from commencing the lecture. He paused and started again.
"You should get on the elevator, by the way," he said, and waited.*
Once Ael, had gotten onto the elevator, he gave her a basic tutorial. Pointing to the up and down buttons, he said,
"These buttons take you one floor up or down."
There were three big blue buttons to the side. They were on the right side of the panel, in a column. Ricante indicated the top and bottom buttons. The top button would bring them to Haven, but he didn't know that for the time being.
"These two buttons, well I'm not sure what they do, they don't respond to Knights, probably a Gremlin design," he said.
Then pointing, at the middle button, he said,
"This button will allow us to mimic the journey of the last elevator used in this shaft, which as we know, is our Gremlin friend."
He hit the button, and they shot off at a brisk pace, only to stop a floor later at the Clockworks Terminal. A countdown of 120 appeared and began ticking down. Ricante groaned.
"The elevators always use terminals to cooldown before subsequent usage. Usually it doesn't take this long, but who knows? The Gremlin probably messed with it," he explained.
He sat down, stone-faced. The timer had only reached 110. There was a strong, resonating presence of Obsidian to the left of the two, and a gun, an Obsidian Carbine, would be obviously discarded there to anyone who looked in that direction.
***
Diruoer had reached the surface and immediately set off at a brisk pace. After about a minute of walking, she stopped, confident she was out of sight of any potential lookouts.
She would need to conserve her energy, she had a long journey ahead of her.
((Also, there are no missions available for anyone right now. You can develop your character's personal arc a bit or do anything relating to your last mission, if you have one. There should be one available for Milyn soon, should be.))
Sat, 02/07/2015 - 15:28
#58
((All right, thanks!
The terminal I'm talking about is the kind that you see on elevators; essentially, REBEL.exe is a floating desktop computer. With a GitM theme. (And an extension cord for holding things.) The name comes from the fact that its programming is directly opposed to the enemies in Ghosts in the Machine; where they try to kill Knights, REBEL fights for Knights.))
"Bunsen, the fire."
Bunsen immediately lit a stack of Lumber remains on fire with a Firebolt, before crawling up next to the fire and going back to sleep. Milyn was sitting just outside the walls of Haven, watching a small habitat she'd constructed for a stock Sprite on the outskirts.
The soil on the ground was imported from Jigsaw Valley and lovingly spread over a twenty square-foot plot. Trees from the Aurora Isles were transplanted within, and Snipes roosted in their perches, or on the ground next to the dormant Battle Sprite. Eight yards away from the plot, Milyn sat next to a campfire with Bunsen and White Hat, roasting marshmallows while Bunsen slept and White Hat uploaded movies.
What made these little machines transform into the wondrous creatures Milyn knew and loved? Environments? Minerals? Food? Milyn was eager to find out. And maybe one day, Sprites could have a place on Cradle where bad people wouldn't try to hurt them.
"Yep, one day!"
Sun, 02/08/2015 - 07:58
#59
Well...
Cerick was too late. He had already seen the knight leave the facility. Then what was keeping him here?
Cerick sniffed, he smelled (Insert what Cerick smells here)
Sun, 02/08/2015 - 21:11
#60
Scents and Beast Influence
Cerick smells ((I'm assuming his sense of smell is extremely detailed at the moment)) bomb smoke, dust and an extremely potent toxin. It seems to be extremely concentrated in a particular spot, and moving, at that matter. You can also hear the racket that is desks and whatever else may be left in the facility being overturned by the movement of whatever is in there.
There's also the pack of 15 Wolvers, 3 of them being Alphas, that are approaching you, but they're 10 feet away, to the left, in some bushes.
***
Orion still had one floor to go, and this one was a deserted as he had ever seen it. From the looks of it, it was one of the Gremlins Deconstruction Zones, which would explain why it was so deserted. The cowards fled to their Colony, the location of which had somehow eluded the greatest Owlite enchanters. You know, maybe if he had gotten through with this mission soon enough, he could find a Gremlin, and make it take him to the Colony or something.
He flew a bit faster, finding the elevator in a minute, and flying upwards through to the next floor, his destination floor.
Pure reflexes saved him as the moment he cleared the elevator shaft, office supplies flew at him. Why were they being so aggressive? Not to mention they had almost hit him into a passing elevator, with one tan coloured occupant.
The Devilites had no apparent physical changes, apart from looking stronger and faster. And to be frank, why would you give a Devilite an extra talent? They'd take over the Clockworks.
The same Devilites that were hurling office supplies, fiery tritons and verbal abuse, at Orion. Orion flew over to the area with less Devilites, twirling in the air to avoid the projectiles aimed at him. The projectiles hit other Devilites, and sparked an in-group argument.
*Perfect,* Orion thought malicously.
He flew away from the group of Devilites, wildly hoping that they'd trim themselves down before he had to come back to them.
Sun, 02/08/2015 - 13:54
#61
Woop woop. Been busy, sorry.
When the knight went into a momentary coughing fit, Ael couldn't help but wonder if he was sick. If he was, there would be even more delays... Which would be problematic. After finishing, however, he seemed to collect himself enough to erase Ael's doubts. For now. As for his request to get on the elevator, Ael tentatively placed one of her taloned feet onto the Grid which made up the bottom of the elevator. She then set her other one on it after making sure the whole thing wouldn't just fall through.
After getting onto the elevator, she listened intently to his explanation of what the buttons did; while she didn't plan on using Elevators after this Mission, knowledge was knowledge, and it may have been useful at some point. Like if her wings were ever damaged; not that she'd ever let them sustain damage...
What particularly piqued her interests was when the knight explained that two of the three buttons off to the side didn't respond to knights. Regardless of how technologically savvy the Gremlins were, wouldn't a Button press from a Gremlin be the same as a Knight?
'Well... Not that it matters. The mimic button will serve our purpose.'
The knight then abruptly hit the Mimic button, and Ael stiffened as they started elevating. Ael wasn't afraid of ascending -- no Owlite that was open to Missions from the elders was -- but the experience was definitely different from flying. It was like she had strapped herself onto a wolver, and the wolver decided to climb up a tree -- just way faster.
When they arrived at the Terminal above, Ael was trying her hardest to stay standing. Leaning against the railing helped, she had found, but not by much. The knight groaned while looking at a descending number count and explained that their target may have messed with the elevator.
A stray thought that the Gremlin may have noticed them and set the timer up on purpose crossed Ael's mind for a moment... But then passed. Even if she noticed them, Ael would still be able to track her to the Colony. Still, there was no helping the timer, and so as the Knight made himself comfortable, Ael decided to look around. She had never really payed much attention to Clockwork Terminals, because her objectives were never placed within them, but rather the areas around them. And it didn't take her long to find something of interest.
'A gun? No... An odd assortment of stones?' Ael walked closer to the odd object, but stopped a couple of meters away. There was some sort of odd foreboding feeling... Then again, it may have just been a draft in the unknown area. Still, Ael kept her distance -- she didn't need to be up close to examine it anyways.
Even after looking at it, however, Ael found something odd about it. An energy pulsed between the stones... And she didn't like it. Perhaps the knight could spread some light on whatever this was?
"Knight, what is this?" she asked while turning towards him.
[[@Ares-Hsg
Ricante didn't end up introducing himself in Post #57, so Ael can't use his name. Dang flabbit.]]
Sun, 02/08/2015 - 14:12
#62
Wheeeee #Default
((@Ember-Break: Ahhh sorry about that... :/ ... thought I covered everything))
Ricante was amused at the effect the elevator had on Ael. It couldn't have been that different from flying, however, perhaps it was just too fast. Nevertheless, he successfully suppressed his snickers, after all, it had been much the same for him when he first took the elevator.
Ael had walked over to some odd resonating energy, which Ricante had sensed, but chosen to blissfully ignore. But, he could ignore it no longer, as he was sure that it was what Ael was calling him over to look at.
With a quick glance at the timer, which was at 90, ((at this point Diruoer has 40 seconds of movement left in my last Diruoer post)) Ricante fluidly launched himself over the elevator rail. As he walked over to her, he said,
"My name's Ricante, by the way."
He looked at the object, which still had an overwhelming essence of power coming from it, and all he saw was Obsidian crystals at first. Then he realized what it was,
"That, is a gun," he said.
"The Obsidian Carbine, made chiefly of Obsidian does Shadow damage, and has a chance to Poison its targets. It's an alternate version to the guns I have. If you want it, then that's quite fine, but if you don't, I'll take it," he continued.
The timer said 75 seconds.
Sun, 02/08/2015 - 14:38
#63
Short post is short.
Ael nodded after the knight introduced himself, and tilted her head at the his explanation. How could shards with dark energy holding them together shoot anything?
"I do not use weapons..." Ael stated after tapping her staff against the ground.
"You may have it, but are you sure that picking up a discarded weapon is wise? Especially one so..." Ael took in the oppressing atmosphere surrounding the weapon once again, and continued; "Dark?"
The timer had gone down to 70 once she finished.
Sun, 02/08/2015 - 20:48
#64
And so are long posts. Wait... that's not right.....
Ricante was still a little surprised at the Owlite's declaration.
"You realize you're essentially screwed if you come across something that can cut off your magic, right?" he asked.
Then he pondered Ael's question. It was definitely reasonable. The aura of darkness and power resonating from the gun was unimaginably powerful for a sidearm. But, Ricante figured that could only be good.
"Probably means it's more powerful than most. Knights use these weapons more and more since the Obsidian lines were created. I never had a chance to try one myself. Plus I think if I could stand the aura of these," Ricante grunted softly, pulling out his Acheron and Sentenza.
"If I could stand the energy given off by these too, and a Gran Faust, which I don't use anymore, then I'm pretty sure I can take this one. Plus, this way the collection is complete, I have every gun in the Antigua line," he concluded.
He picked up the gun and felt its weight in his hand, admired its design, and fired a shot at the wall with it. It left a noticeable impact, which impressed Ricante. He could fit this in along with his Sentenza after all. It also fit perfectly in his hand, and felt quite easy to maneuver. It definitely met Ricante's standards.
"C'mon, time's almost up," he said.
He stepped onto the elevator with 20 seconds left.
*
_______
Once Ael got onto the elevator, it rocketed upwards again, this time with no delays. In the matter of a minute, they lurched to a stop at the surface. To Ricante's surprise, they had found themselves near to the outskirts of Haven. Far enough that noone would casually see them, but near enough that a lookout could spot them. But in general, they found themselves in a wide expanse of sand, with a forest at a considerable distance to the left of them.
"There was an elevator shaft here? Well, that's...surprising. I can't imagine the Gremlin actually wanted to come so close to Haven," he observed.
Then he spotted the Gremlin-esque footprints leading to the forest to the left. He looked to Ael all the same, and asked,
"So the Gremlin went towards the forest I'm assuming?"
***
Ahktomb hadn't expected the Knight and the tall creature, whatever it was, to have shown up, but he was happy with what happened. This way, anything the Knight killed could have its soul claimed by him for Apocrea. He was satisfied. As for how long he would remain as a gun, he wasn't sure. Given the air this particular Knight had about him, he was well connected in Haven, where Ahktomb had masqueraded as a Stranger himself, drawing the Knights' essences of the Crowns they paid for his guns, and fueling the Obsidian in Apocrea. This meant he might have access to the more confidential information the Spiral Order had access to, which could definitely prove beneficial. He pulsed in self-satisfaction.
***
Diruoer had almost made it to the forest. It was full of vines and Jelly Cubes, which Diruoer hated, but it was the most direct route to the Colony from here. And the safest, as the Fiends in the wide expanse of sun-baked rocks and dust dealt shadow damage, and were extremely aggressive.
She looked over her shoulder, and again saw nobody behind her. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong, or off.
((@Ember-Break: I'll edit for any dialogue before the elevator goes up. Naturally, anything said once they get to the surface will be replied to in my next post))
Sun, 02/08/2015 - 21:30
#65
Reports
Kora opened the link to Biotech Archimedes.
{Well, it hasn't been promising, to say the very least. The computers were mostly shut down from the beginning. There was nothing salvageable in them save for one computer. It said and I quote..}
{Improved designs have worked on organic material. No other effects can be determined at this time, but with a little more refining, it could be a promising project.}
{The stuff in the locked cabinets were black cubes. On the papers, the only things that could be inferred in relation to the cubes,was that you put the cube on something organic. It also has a connection with the black sludge you found, but we're not sure exactly what it is. We tried putting the cubes onto organic material, like plants, and they simply latched on, and did nothing else. The papers also had some sketches of seemingly totally black creatures, and to the side, appears to be what once was a list of characteristics.}
{Basically, it's a start, but we're not sure exactly what the objective of this whole thing was. You did well, and I'm not sure if you'd go back to the facility to double check. At this point, anything you choose to do is on your initiative. We're trying to sort out the mission parameters for the knight called Milyn at the moment. I can confidently tell you that the facility, at the very least for the moment, is still intact, however.}
Kora saluted and signed off.
Tue, 02/10/2015 - 12:50
#66
((Might as well.))
A ding from White Hat got Milyn's attention. "White Hat? Got something?"
White Hat faced Milyn and displayed some text. "LOCKDOWN SKOLVERSLAM XLII - LIVE FOOTAGE STREAM COMMENCING. WATCH?"
"Ooh, yeah!" Milyn laid down and watched White Hat's screen as it showed footage- a bit pixelly, not remotely hi-def, but just good enough- of a big Lockdown match. "Good ol' Krogmo! Bringing people together to watch a bunch of tough guys nonlethally beat the stuffing out of each other. White Hat, can we have some audio? Here, connect to this!"
Milyn drew a pocket radio, and plugged it into White Hat's side, streaming in a crackly bit of static. "And Gilded Reaper breaks out a Divine Avenger! King of Knockouts is downed in one hit! What an upset! Looks like that point is going to the- What's this?! A surprise attack with a Volcanic Pepperbox! Gilded Reaper is out for the count! That's one more notch for Viceroy of Visibility! Ultimate Regalia is keeping hold of Point Three and slowly regaining the lead..."
Milyn laughed. Not a young Isoran lady's typical pastime. Battle Sprite studies and watching Pro Lockdown. Then she shrugged. Is there a typical Isoran anywhere on Cradle? Meh, probably not...
Tue, 02/10/2015 - 13:25
#67
I KNEW I was forgetting something!
[[I thought I had replied to all RP's I was based in... I guess not. Whoops. Sorry for the delay!]]
Ael didn't dwell on what the knight said about the gun. Like she said -- she didn't use any weaponry, unless her staff counted as a weapon. If the knight found satisfaction in picking up a gun from the middle of nowhere, she wouldn't stop him.
After noting that it was in fact the gun giving off the oppressive atmosphere, and not some draft within the terminal, Ael stepped onto the elevator once again with 15 seconds remaining. She quickly settled herself against one of the railings for when the elevator would surely skyrocket upwards, and reminded herself to never use them again once it did.
After another minute of ascending, Ael had gotten semi-used to the mechanism, but her thoughts stayed the same. Flying would undoubtedly be her primary choice of transportation after this experience, even if elevators did save a great deal of time. She quickly hopped off the elevator once it reached the top, and noticed that it didn't go any higher. They were at the surface. With a quick look at her Tracking Cylinder, she noticed that the Gremlin was as well.
"There was an elevator shaft here? Well, that's...surprising. I can't imagine the Gremlin actually wanted to come so close to Haven," the Knight said, probably more to himself than to Ael. Despite that, Ael looked around and (using her enhanced vision) spotted the walls of Haven.
While the Knight would undoubtedly report this means of getting near their main base, adding in the elevator location as a side note into her report at the end of her mission wouldn't hurt. Besides that, knowing the location of this elevator would allow her to follow its path downwards and cut the amount of time needed to travel back to her Flock by about 30-50%, considering Ael's usual slow-but-detailed pace...
With that, she fiddled with her Tracking Cylinder and marked the elevator. Ael noted that this may upset the knight, but... She didn't really have a real reason to mark it beyond travel-efficiency, so hopefully he wouldn't take it as a sign of eventual-spying on Haven. She then turned and noticed the Gremlin tracks towards the forest. At about the same time, the knight spoke up and asked a question.
"So the Gremlin went towards the forest I'm assuming?"
Ael looked back to her Tracking Cylinder, readjusting the buttons to show the Rune-orientation she had planted on the Gremlin. After waiting a moment for the arrow to appear -- in the direction the footprints were headed, no less, she replied a short and simple
"Yes."
She then extended one of her bird-like legs, and walked over more solid-ground areas, as to not leave a trace. Usually, she wouldn't need to worry about covering her tracks... But that would leave her knight companion behind.
Sat, 03/28/2015 - 06:33
#68
After all that and with Ares gone, I have an idea
Archimedes got up from the microscope. He incinerated his sample and re-pocketed the vial. Than he headed back down to the facility.
"Terra, qui transformandi {Land transformed}
de manu mea; {by my hand;}
reditum {return}
ad primam tuam forma. {to your first form.}"
This was the chant which would cause the Quicksand to reform into its original state -- a dusty dirt. It would also make the bonds holding the knight brittle. If Ael had the time, she would have helped free the knight before dispelling her trap... But time was not on their side. It was just as the Knight had said -- she and him needed to be out of sight when the Gremlin woke up.
With that, Ael unfurled her wings to push her forward. She then proceeded to pull the knight quickly out of the dirt, and gave a short "Brace yourself!" as she practically flung him behind a nearby fallen rock formation. She then tilted her wings to give her a quick stop over where the knight had previously been buried, sweeping off any semblance of a crater he may have left.
There was still much to do... And she had only moments. She reached into her pack and withdrew the Orb, she then tapped it with her staff and shouted one of the shortest incantations possible.
"Dux! {Guide!}"
Pointing with her staff, the Orb became propelled to where it was originally situated -- before Ael had taken it and turned the entire place into a sand-trap. Without taking a breath, Ael propelled herself forward once again using her wings, and flew behind the stone with her body height blown into it. She then reached into her pack once again and pulled out a bit of dust, which was kept in a small container within her pack.
Its contents were quite... Irregular, because it wasn't a regular standard-issue item. It was more something she herself collected for specific purposes. It was Zombie Dust. She popped the cap off the bottle and tapped it with her staff, then spoke another single-word spell.
"Demuto. {Change.}"
She then focused her mind as she tapped the ground with her staff.
The shorter the spell, the more basic it was. Longer incantations required little focus beyond the words to make them work -- shorter ones required a lot of mental precision in order to have function for specific means -- but Ael had no time for long chants. That was what the dust was for. By focusing her mind under the Stone she had walked through and over to the dirt surrounding the Gremlin, she changed the ground beneath the Gremlin into Zombie Dust. At the same time, the dust reached out to the hammers which the Gremlin most likely used, and brought them closer to the Gremlin, resulting in them becoming half-buried in the dust. The Gremlin itself was above-ground as a result of the dust pushing her upwards, making it seem as if she had slain a tough foe, and then dropped upon it due to a brutal blow.
Upon completing the spell, Ael gave a short gasp for air, and, with no short deal of effort, reached into her pack one last time to take out her Tracking Cylinder. The symbols on the thing were slightly blurred, due to the mental strain she had put herself through, so she relied almost completely on muscle memory for the ridges and turns on the mechanism. Thankfully, as a tracker, she had a lot of experience, and the mechanism activated without a hitch.
She then moved slightly to the side of the opening, and pointed one of the ends at the Gremlin, resulting in a short beam of light, and ending with a small rune becoming visible on the Gremlin's back. It then disappeared. If the Gremlin had enough focus to see the light, it would be similar to seeing what happens when you stand up too quickly, so there was no problem with the rune's activation... The only problem now was moving herself out of the area. Keeping a tight hold on the Tracking Cylinder, Ael ran to her left, which was behind more stone formations, and slumped down behind one that would provide sufficient cover.
She held her head within one hand and took off her mask once she had made sure her wings weren't pointed outwards, and that her Staff lay on the ground next to her, she breathed a deep sigh. Partially of relief, partially of exhaustion.
'Hopefully this is all the excitement that I'll come across today... I don't think I can handle much more than this.'
With a shaky hand, she reached into her pack and withdrew a couple small pills. Owlite Medicine -- great for migraines and refueling one's concentration. There were many varieties, but Ael only kept this type, and the basic Recovery Pills with her. She counted her lucky feathers for making an inventory of her supplies before leaving home.