Date: 9:29:01 PM, February 15th, 2015.
Valron: "Noted." *He nods to Santigue, going to help take Blaine's corpse and move it, along with himself out of the way.* "So, 'S' is probably for 'Steam', then. Good to know."
Santigue: "Huh. Well, that'd explain it. Figure the 'H' ones out, yet?"
Nonna: *R* "Cylinders of some kind of gas I cannot identify."
Santigue sighs. "You know, this is why I need the rest of my equipment." She'd swing the Halligan bar to crack a hole, hopefully, in said steam pipe.
Metal Man (GM): The pipe would hiss, as steam would rapidly fly out of the pipe with enough force to push anything near it into the ground, narrowly missing launching the halligan bar out of Santigue's hands. The room would also start to fill up a bit with steam, impairing visibility...
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Now it's like a sauna in here... and not the good kind... the blue kind... whatever a blue sauna is."
Nonna: *R* "Let's hope it's not a toxic hydrogen gas. Extra caution is advised until it can be identified."
Santigue is perfectly fine with that, there was a reason she did it. "Better. Oh no, you'll see. Lacking pressure the machine providing this steam will likely overheat itself further and stop boiling the water, thus... It'll be a water line." She'd feel for a wall and door.
Metal Man (GM): Eventually Santigue would encounter the left wall and the door there, and see Xavier's form in the steam. And also what looks like a second Xavier near him, for some reason.
Valron: "I see. Now, let me see if I can make visibility a vague bit better..." *He turns on his visor's flashlight, trying to see if he can get any better visibility in spite of the steam.*
Santigue: "Xavier, step to the right." *She doubted he was holding up a corpse.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Yes si--ma'am." *Steps to the right.*
KitRedgrave looks for any interesting rooms then, judging the pipes to be a lost cause.
Metal Man (GM): The other being in the fog is still standing there. Xavier you realize has that interesting Q badge on his chest.
Santigue grumbles. "You know... Valron, was it? Those typically don't help. They hamper, you're lighting up a lot of tiny bits of water. Anyhow... Who's beside you now? I don't think that's Valron." Oooh. Q!
Metal Man (GM): His doppelganger doesn't have any light coming off him at all. He seems to just be... standing there. The light reflects blindingly at Valron. Fog and all. The fog does start to minimize a little, though.
Valron: "Right, right... I'll just save the pow- ergh." *And with that bit of self-humiliation, the lights go off.* "You'd think I'd have learnt from last time..."
Santigue: "Eh... Xavier, I asked you who that was... You didn't have a twin before. I'm trying to cool the place, I don't have time for this."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "That's... who?" *He looks to his side and at the doppelganger.* "...We killed the last Evil Metal Man. This isn't him."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier sticks a hand at the doppelganger. It goes right through him. As the mist clears, so does the image of a doppelganger.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "...Now I'm just creeped out."
Valron: "...Peculiar."
KitRedgrave: *R* "You got ghosts over there?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "That was some sort of ghost, yes."
Santigue: "I'm not even going to ask what that is. I'd suspect it's a Solarian, were they called? Or a ghost. Warp distortion. Keep an eye on it. Water should start coming down if my theory worked anyhow." *She'd use the pry end of her Halligan bar on the door to try and open it up by force.* "Something over here. What is a Solarian?"
Metal Man (GM): Water starts slowly pouring into the room very slowly.
Santigue: "It might be that Blaine fellow. Break the pipe further, just the 'S' one. Not the other one."
Commander Borne: *R* "A Solarian is an... elf like being who can manipulate magic... they don't usually wear armor, if that helps."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Ah, a good time for me to break things, then?" *Swings his golf club and busts pieces off of it.*
Metal Man (GM): The water keeps coming, and the floor steams a bit from it, although more and more water comes into the room ever so slowly.
Santigue: "I'd not *Grunt* Use that stupid burning club right beside a gas line..."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "A gas line? Gah!" *Puts it away and takes out his sword instead and stabs the pipe very carefully.*
Gelato: *He pops up, gnawing at the steam line. Grrr!*
Commander Borne: *R* "Good thing you stopped him before he started going Ruby Tuesday on it."
Santigue: "I'm not sure what this... Ruby Tuesday is but it sounds stupid."
Valron: *He pulls out the Indigo Blade and starts to help Xavier with chopping up the pipe.*
Santigue is still prying on the door.
Commander Borne: *R* "Yes. Going stupid is what he does to things with it."
Valron: "Perfect summary of what Xavier does, yeah."
Metal Man (GM): The door continues to resist all attempts to pry on it, until it opens a mere inch. It's a stupid 3-part door that connect in the middle. The air on the other side is different as you hear a suction noise sucking air from this room into that one. Well. 'air', it's not exactly very oxygenated in here.
Santigue: "That's potentially bad.Can anyone analyze this?"
Metal Man (GM): The pipe is about as destroyed as you'll get it, the entire place starting to cool down a little from all the water, though it's pretty much still superheated in there, just that perhaps the suits on the ground that melted aren't as liquid anymore....
Valron: "One moment." *He sheathes the sword, looks over to the place the suctioning is coming from and starts to scan it. Hopefully he'll get something out of this...*
Metal Man (GM): Kit, Violet: You could detect that there's a vacuum leak in the room to the left. Which Valron would also confirm with his visor.
Gelato: *He starts trying to squish in through that door.*
Metal Man (GM): However Kit and Violet could tell that the room on the left was intentionally shut down for some reason... given the destruction dealt to the wall in there, seems like that's why, there's a hole in it. It's easy enough to squish through the door... though it's dark in there, and a continual current is trying to slowly suck anything in there out a hole in the end of that room...
Valron: "...It's a vacuum leak."
KitRedgrave: *R* "Hold on... that room looks like it was intentionally disused. I think it may be open to vacuum."
Nonna: *R* "Looks like a vacuum lea in the room to the left... intentionally shut down from damage I'd guess."
Gelato: *He tries to quickly back out! He remembers what those are, he shot Illian through one.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "It's a broken vacuum room!"
Metal Man (GM): Gelato casually gets back out. It's a vacuum leak that's not insta-deadly, but it doesn't seem nice by any means. An occupational hazard to anyone who would go in there.
KitRedgrave: *R* "I would not try to mess with that room... wait a second."
Metal Man (GM): It's strong enough to suck some of the debris out of the room you're in, though, into it.
KitRedgrave: *R* "I got an idea as to how you can cool the base down with that. But you'll all probably need real, legit spacesuits for it."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "My suit counts as a space suit."
KitRedgrave: *R* "Actually wait, nevermind. That won't keep it cool for long, there's a SUN right there."
Santigue: "Suits me." *She'd step away from the door, kneeling down and scooping up the Gelato and re-pocketing, then starting to work on the other door.* "I can think of one too, however, that's not... Likely going to work, believe it or not. Exactly why it wouldn't." *Pry pry the other door door.*
Nonna: "Wonder if we'll need Asgard after all..."
Metal Man (GM): The other door opens more easily. On the other side is something a bit more interesting. An intact Erastian ship.
Valron: "Well, that explains why the other one was more of a pain to open up..."
Metal Man: "The Spirit of Vengeance."
Santigue: "Random ship."
Valron: "...Well, hello there!"
Metal Man (GM): A bunch of things indicate it was Commander Blaine's personal ship. His name's on it and noted as 'captain'... ...and there's his honor guard, melted to the floor outside it.
Santigue: "Get on it, Valron, feed coolant in here." *She'd leave and search the hallway[s] for anything else of note, like the thing that was making steam.*
Metal Man (GM): ...And an evil looking rune is on one of the computers. You'd notice there's a bunch of shutters on the room and somebody left them wide open. Getting more than a few feet inside this room would be too hot to go without taking damage.
Valron: "Will do." *He looks for some steam pipes to bust out or for a good way to lead the busted pipes in and let it leak into there... and then he notices the rune. He takes a moment to scan that.*
Metal Man (GM): The rune shows up as a Solarian rune. It's locked the computers in this room.
Santigue: "Depends, Xeno, can you get in there without being hurt? It's too hot for my suit."
Metal Man (GM): A dead man is seen melted by the computer. His armor, like the others, stuck to the ground.
Gelato: *He schlorps out of her pocket, testing that room by slowly creeping towards it.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "...I'm not going to want to talk to Illian for a while after this. I sincerely hope he had nothing to do with this..."
Valron: "Hmm... Let's see here. Solarian rune..." *He sorts through is mind, trying to recall if this particular rune is of any familiarity to him.* (Using Valron's knowledge of Solarian Culture to try and get somethin' out of this.)
KitRedgrave would look around for any cameras or anything to watch over the party with.
Metal Man (GM): The rune is a Solarian version of 'Panel.' Of course this one has been enchanted to persist... forever. Probably just took a bunch of coins.
Valron: "Solarian iteration of 'Panel', enchanted to persist permanently."
Santigue: "What? I'm not sure what you meant."
Gelato: *Creeep... is it too hot for him?*
Valron: "Damned if I know how I'm going to deal with this..."
KitRedgrave: *R* "Interesting! Any chance we can get a picture of it? Hm... let me think about it."
Nonna: *R* "Yes... I'd like to observe it too."
KitRedgrave: *She would poke at her Time Device. Probably outta juice by now.*
Valron: "A moment." *He takes a picture of the rune with his visor, then sends the image to both Nonna and Kit.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I'd take out my Smash dex, but then it'd burst into flames."
Metal Man (GM): The rune shows up. Solarian runes are... like neither of the ones you know. Though Kit might find it a little familiar.
KitRedgrave: *R* "Hm... vaguely familiar. The structure of it looks like something I'd write, but the characters don't match up right."
Santigue: "What does this Panel mean? And did anyone bother watching out little ghost?" *She'd look around at any water displacement on the floor.*
Valron: "A form of magic used to manipulate machinery."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I'm keeping an eye out for the ghost."
KitRedgrave: *R* "Thanks for the picture, this will help me research these things."
Santigue: "... Manipulate how? Is it keeping it locked into doing something in particular or?"
KitRedgrave: *R* "Trying to think of a way we could mess with that rune... 7 times out of 10, whatever runes we find are usually things we don't want to leave as-is."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "How would we break the rune? Hmmm... where's the anti-magitek... We made a thing to break magitek, right?"
Valron: "It's preventing us from using the computers."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Some sort of teal energy or acid or something..."
Valron: "Yellow fire, Xavier."
Commander Borne: "The question is, both our magic users are over here..."
Santigue: "Oh." *She'd start into the room, despite the heat, already pulling out her axe... To ... Start hacking at the rune...*
Commander Borne: "Can any of you conjure up magic?"
Valron: "I can only conjure up magic via spellbook."
Metal Man (GM): Cue obligatory "Hacking the computer" joke.
Nonna: *R* "Is there a possibility it's a booby trap of some kind?"
KitRedgrave: *R* "I may be able to extend my reach over there. Hold on..."
Valron: "So unless you can give me something to inscribe..."
Metal Man (GM): You hit the rune. It rebounds your axe with a bunch of sparks. You'd notice the dead man tried to punch the rune and it bent his hand out of shape.
KitRedgrave: *R* "Or wait. Yeah. Nonna and I can probably write something down for you to cast."
Metal Man (GM): Seems this rune was made by somebody with one hell of a grudge.
Santigue clicks tongue, tries to smash the computer it's on instead.
Metal Man (GM): The rune blocks it, the energy from the rune entwined with the computer. At least a direct assault doesn't seem doable as long as that thing is in the way.
Santigue takes out a heat pencil to... Scribble over it?
Metal Man (GM): It pulses with a feeling of rage, like you can almost feel the rage of whoever made it.
KitRedgrave: *R* "Do you have any surfaces to write this on? Or writing utensils?"
Metal Man (GM): You can actually draw on it, but most of your scribbles slowly fade away.
Valron: "What've you got in mind, Gelato?"
Santigue: "Yes, you may, Xeno. I have no idea how this Chaos works. Do hurry, it's hot in here."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "And even though I'm a bit chaotic, I don't know how Magitek works either."
Gelato first, a Charge on himself... then an Alter on the rune to turn it into a picture of his new friend.
KitRedgrave would pull out a paper pad and pencil and start drawing something. Hm. Maybe...
Metal Man (GM): The rune malfunctions and turns into an image of Santigue... ...then switches back to the rune It took some damage from that, though. It seems to be flickering a bit.
Valron: "Seems like you cause it some damage."
Metal Man (GM): Magic seems to damage it.
KitRedgrave: "A rune to counter this one... Nonna, you seem to know a fair bit about these. Think you could help me?"
Santigue: "Do it again, Xeno."
Nonna: *R* "Unfortunately my rune magic is limited. There is one which you could use, but may cause more problems instead. Will you risk it?"
Gelato: *Charge, then an Alter to a smiley face.*
KitRedgrave: "Maybe. Hey, have you figured out a way to deal with the rune? Nonna and I are coming up with something if you don't have anything yet."
Valron: *R* "Gelato's turning it into various things. Seems to be doing some damage to the rune."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "Even if I walked into there, all I could do is... launch a giant beam of light energy at it, possibly destroying the very computer we want."
Metal Man (GM): A smiley face damages it more, as now the rune is struggling to continue to function.
KitRedgrave: *R* "That would be a way to do it. I was gonna try to translate Dispel to a rune for you, but that might not have worked very well."
Valron: *And then he casts Charge on Gelato for the little guy* "One more time, buddy."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "Maybe dispel would turn it off faster."
Nonna: "Try Isa on it first. If that does not work, I will send you a rune which may work if we are lucky."
Gelato: *Alter... a nice, pretty picture of everyone on the ship! All his new friends!*
Santigue: "Chaos. It should have no power here, the Emperor would dispel this garbage with a mere thought! Begone Daemon rune! You have no power here!"
Metal Man (GM): You can tell that of the people who died here, none of them seemingly had any magic. The rune starts to dissipate like steam, making a hissing noise. An image of the ghost from earlier appears in the mist, the weird empty armor being, staring at you, as it slowly dissipates too ..Though with the rune gone, now the computer sits there, waiting instructions.
Valron: "Right! Let's see what we can do with this..." *Scans the computer, checking to see its' current state now that it's been de-runed.*
Santigue: "Gelato work this accursed machine, make it activate the suppression systems."
Metal Man (GM): It controls the shutters on this room. The 'anti-sun' shutters, specifically.
Valron: *Aaand anti-sun shutters shall be set to ON*
Metal Man (GM): The room becomes pitch black.
Valron: *NOW comes the flashlight now that he won't humiliate himself with steam in his face.*
Santigue is also fine with this, because heavy smoke and such does that also...
Metal Man (GM): The heat begins to decrease. It's still hot, but you're no longer in any danger of damage or melting.
Gelato: *Can he Computer Connector here?*
Metal Man (GM): You can, Gelato. However, only this room is available in this room. They seem to be isolated by security protocol.
Valron: "There we go. Should make things a good deal more manageable..."
Santigue has an axe for that protocol...
Valron: *In any case, he goes to check out the Spirit of Vengeance now that he can... well. Actually do that.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "So... after that excitement... ...Yeah..."
Metal Man (GM): The ship seems in better shape than the room. However, it's locked. It has a mild electroshock anti-theft system. Touching it is like touching one of those weak joy buzzer gag items. The rounded cockpit has its door hermetically sealed as well.
Valron: *Scan, attempt Computer-Connector on it. Maybe he can disable the dumb thing with that.*
Metal Man (GM): It's waiting for Commander Blaine's authcode. Or you can try to hack it by very slowly brute forcing it. They aren't the greatest programmers here.
Santigue lets Gelato work on the heretical machines, wandering off to go find out where the pipes lead.
Valron: "Hey, Xavier. Do these things have any particularly serious security systems against someone trying to brute force their way through them? Because I don't think we actually have Blaine's authcode on hand, so..."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Remember how everything I make is so easy to break Sloan broke into them and I noted him doing that was to be expected? ...Yeah. I learned from these guys. Heck, that evil rune shouldn't have been able to control Erastian computers, but it did."
Metal Man (GM): The pipes lead in two directions: One further down at the end of this room and down through an area with an in-floor access panel.. ..And also back to the dead end vacuum room.
Valron: "...That explains a lot." *Welp. Brute-forcing is go. Though he'll try to speed it up by abusing any particularly glaring holes in this. Which there are probably a lot of.*
Metal Man (GM): Your magitek device finds it about as easy to brute force as that rune did the computer: Rather easy.
Santigue: *;picks the floor access panel and tries to open it, without force, using halligan as needed.*
Metal Man (GM): Santigue would be able to open it easily, as unlike the other stuff, this was meant to be opened. It has a ladder going down a deep ways... it feels much cooler down below.
Santigue: "Oooh." *A slow and marked descent away!*
Valron: "There we go Should be able to open it up now..." *And now he tries to actually board the Spirit of Vengeance.*
Gelato: *He follows Valron on. Adventure!*
Valron: "Let's see what this thing has to offer..."
Nonna: *R* "Be careful."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I think we can get this place to be more person-friendly..."
KitRedgrave would now try to find anything on the network, now that it isn't being Panel'd to ineffectiveness.
Metal Man (GM): Xavier types on the computer. Kit and Violet would see a blip showing Santigue headed towards the main climate control center of this base... and that there's some rupture half-way down she's headed towards.
KitRedgrave: *R* "Be careful going down there, there's some sorta rupture."
Metal Man (GM): Meanwhile, the Spirit of Vengeance is... basically a ship version of a personal corporate jet.
KitRedgrave: *R* "In fact you probably shouldn't try to go down there at all with it in that state."
Metal Man (GM): With some pretty impressive laser batteries on it.
Valron: "God damn. This Blaine fellow certainly has quite the ship."
KitRedgrave: *R* "Which is a shame because that's the main climate control center it looks like you're going to. They specifically labelled it as such on the map. Very nice of them."
Santigue pauses on the ladder. " Elaborate for me? Rupture to what... Space? Warp? What?" She'd wrap an arm around a rung for stability, looking down to look and listen for anything.
KitRedgrave: *R* "Hm... if you're not feeling a vacuum it probably isn't going out to space."
Metal Man (GM): Santigue would notice a bunch of gas and steam lower down in the pipe.
KitRedgrave: *R* "I just see a lot of structural damage."
Metal Man (GM): The gas is of unknown composition but probably not breathable. Looks like some rocks there too. The Spirit of Vengeance looks like it's ready to take off at any moment. In fact, it was set to do so by Blaine himself... However, in a bit of irony, not even one person got aboard.
Valron: "So! We're taking this for parts for the Wing Fortress, right?"
Santigue: "No big deal then." *She'd hook in her rebreather and do a ladder-slide to descend quickly.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: *Wanders aboard* "Or at least, we're going to do something with it. Unfortunately we need to get it out of here, and the door back is too small. We have to fly it out... And the controls are still a bit messed up out there. That break I heard about in the radio may be involved."
Metal Man (GM): Santigue would go down, finding the area devoid of oxygen or anything else other than an inert gas and steam. It'd get darker and darker below, before encountering another access panel.
Valron: "Well, then. At the least, this is certainly a very nice find."
Santigue tries to open the panel, flicking on a light on the side of her helmet.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I know, right? Instead of being so badly made it catches on fire, it's not on fire and looks comfy!"
KitRedgrave: *R* "You guys should probably go after her in the side room, make sure she's okay."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Oh, right. I was about to try this several decade old Erastian coffee, but later. Lock the ship after us, Valron, so the ghost doesn't... uh... steal it?"
KitRedgrave: *R* "It'll still be several decades old when you get back to it."
Valron: "Right, right." *He goes to lock up the ship.*
Gelato: *He promptly hops onto Valron's shoulder this time, riding along.*
Metal Man (GM): The panel opens easily.
KitRedgrave: *R* "But do be careful, there's only one ladder down and as far as I can tell the whole thing isn't too sturdy."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *Looks at the way down* "Wow... we should totally not get on that ladder without letting her finish what she's doing first. I mean, I'm heavy enough to probably break it on my own if I'm not careful."
Valron: "Probably best not to break it like idiots, yeah..."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Though this base was made for an entire race of mes, so I'm confused as to why they didn't reinforce... ...oh right, they're also like me."
Metal Man (GM): Santigue finds a dark, cavernous room down here. It's nice and cool, though devoid of oxygen.
Santigue would try to climb down semi-gently to look around with the light on her helmet. "Aah. Cold."
Metal Man (GM): The room has a machine that pumps the gas and another malfunctioning machine that would ostensibly be pumping steam but is now obviously malfunctioning.
KitRedgrave: *R* "Can you still hear me? Radio only has so much signal strength."
Metal Man (GM): The radio would be a bit faint where Santigue is at, barely hearable.
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "I can hear you up here."
Santigue: "Say something? Can't hear you well. Vox distortion." *She'd walk further in, looking at the gas machine for labels on the gas, hopefully.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "You can hear us, right, Santigue?"
Metal Man (GM): Xavier would be a bit louder, if only because he's at the top of the ladder broadcasting down the shaft ..And also because this base was designed around whatever peculiarities of his suit radio happen to be.
KitRedgrave: *R* "This is getting pretty dangerous. Please be careful, I don't want your story to end here."
Metal Man (GM): Given that, as you can see, even more dead Metal Men are laying about in this room.
Santigue: "Yes. Found the system. The steam machine's broken like I wanted it to be. There's dead Men of Iron in here, though I'm not positive as to what could have killed them... It's cool in here."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "Weird... be very careful... I'm coming down."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier gets on the ladder and starts sliding down so he isn't on it too long. It makes a metallic noise.
KitRedgrave: *R* "It'd be better if Valron went down, since you'd break it."
Valron: *R* "Will be following after. Might take a while, though. Don't want to break the ladder."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "At least they designed this ladder to interlock with my hands... ...oops, well don't worry..."
Santigue: "Don't... Slide... Sparks are dangerous... Possibly..." "Idiot."
Valron: *R* "So long as Xavier is actually vaguely careful, the ladder should hold."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "It's wobbly, but they made it to fit my suit, so I don't seem to be breaking it yet... ...oops." *Slows down, causing even more sparks, then going to climb down it.*
Santigue sighs and rubs the front of her mask.
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "Having people actually tell me not to set myself on fire without screaming 'I DON'T CARE IF YOU DIE' is still new to me... ...ow." *Sound of rubbing a hand on a wall* "That did light my hand on fire... oh well." *Slowly climbs down the rest.*
KitRedgrave would sigh, and look over her Time Device. There's one thing to do, but probably crazy to do.
Metal Man (GM): The gas controls can turn off the... 'Halon' gas. Or, reroute it. There's more than that, as there's also another Solarian rune... this one's on the environment machine. Seems this place could still be cooled down a bit, at least to livable temperatures... but it has a powerful rune on it.
Santigue: "Oooh. Halon. Maybe. ... Emperor, break this rune." *She'd try to... Pull the rune...*
Metal Man (GM): Hm, using the halligan on it or something else?
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "See anything interesting down there, Santigue?"
KitRedgrave: *R* "You think maybe things have cooled down enough to bring other people in yet?"
Metal Man (GM): Xavier is nearly to the bottom now, thanks to his completely insane and unsafe sliding down.
KitRedgrave: *R* "I'm getting a little antsy here listening to all this, and there might be more runes we're not otherwise equipped to deal with."
Metal Man (GM): You pull on the rune. The rune kinda... fights with you. Worse yet, this rune isn't specifically alone. The ghostly metal being shows up next to it. It's flexing its hand at you.
Valron: *Still waiting for Xavier to finish climbing before he goes down next, making sure to be careful about each step he takes down the ladder. He does not want to be the reason everyone gets stuck down there.*
Metal Man (GM): Of course, Xavier clanks down behind you, as well.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Wow... this is darker than Season 2's mid-way ending! What's going on over there? I can hardly see..."
Santigue: "Oh? Really?" *She's start trying to wedge deeper, but pauses.* "One of them is ... It's ...It wants to touch me?" "Xavier, there's one right here... Make it go away."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "...Well I know what to do against abominations."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier takes out his sword and it begins to glow with light energy.
Santigue: "Wait. What does it want?"
Valron: *Slowly climbin' on down. Will be with the others in... a while. Do not wait up. Maybe.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I dunno. I can interrogate it."
Santigue: "What do you want, Chaos?"
Metal Man (GM): The being looks at Santigue. Then it looks at Xavier. It hisses and clenches its fist, saying one whispy word.
???: "Traaaaaaitors..."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier gets close enough to swing at it, but it fades away again.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Dammit! I was so close to poking its stupid invisible face into view... We'll need to find out where that thing is coming from."
Santigue: "I'm loyal only to the Emperor." *She muttered, then returned to prying at the rune, putting a boot on the machine for better leverage.* "Need this off. It controls halon, and halon will work well enough to cool everything... But it'll eat the oxygen everywhere."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I thought it might be Blaine, but that armor's wrong to be him. Well, we can probably set up some more permanent solution after we fix this..."
Santigue: "I'll fall for no more of these Chaos tricks. The Emperor protects, always." *She goes back to pry-fighting.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I'm protected by my insanity, so I should be all right."
Valron: *R* "I'll be down with you folks in a minute. Kinda slow goings for me with the ladder. You find anything interesting?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Last time Mewtwo tried to read my mind, it gave him a migraine and drove him insane for a couple days."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier stabs at the rune with the light sword, trying to pry at it too.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Hate these runes, they won't seem to budge."
KitRedgrave: *R* "Mewtwo was pretty cool. We should stop by one day."
Santigue: "While I'm doing this, talk to Kit and comfort her... Or... Beat it... Stop that. You'll break Halon into the room."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "Just another rune, a halon machine, and the annoying ghost. I'll go do that then, because my sword doesn't work on the rune."
Valron: *R* "Another rune? Great..."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier walks over to where he can be heard better.
KitRedgrave: *R* "Have you cooled things off? Hello?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "It's okay, Kit. We managed to scare a ghost by talking about the Emperor to it. Then I menaced it with my sword of Light."
Valron: *R* "No, we haven't cooled things off yet, sorry."
Santigue holds onto her halligan with one hand after wedging it down enough, taking the axe with the other and using the flat side of the head to try hammering it in further for the best pry angle.
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "It's really cool here and--" *Valron would land on Xavier's shoulders* "...Valron is here."
Valron: *He pauses as he lands on Xavier's shoulders* "...Oh. Hey there."
KitRedgrave: *R* "Ah... okay. Okay."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "We should fight in this formation all the time, Valron. Imagine the power of the totem pole formation!"
Valron: "I feel like this could only end awkwardly."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "...Also there's another rune." *Sets Valron onto the ground.*
KitRedgrave: *R* "I was just worrying because it would take one bad accident to totally lose all of you."
Metal Man (GM): Santigue slowly has bent the rune sideways.
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "Well, we don't die normally, so the good news is we'd come back! ... ...on the flip side, being dead wasn't fun the last time I died."
KitRedgrave: *R* "I thought that was just a Nintendus thing."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "That's true, but you'd... uh... get a bucket of Nintendus energy and pour it over here."
KitRedgrave: *R* "And I'm not too sure the newcomer can break common sense in that way yet."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "I'm sure Mewtwo would understand."
Santigue: "Come here Xenos, get back in my pocket." *She keeps trying to pry it free.* "It's sorta... Are these things supposed to bend? Does that make them work differently? What's this even mean?"
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "'Mewtwo, the Questers are dead again and I need a bucket of non-death.'"
KitRedgrave: *R* "Can the stargate even do that... hm."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Uhhh... I don't even know how those runes work. I try to will them to go away but they won't listen."
KitRedgrave: *R* "If you do die, I'll have no choice but to try!"
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "Hey Kit, can you still possess people? There's another stupid rune down here and I'm pretty sure Gelato spent most of his energy on the last one."
KitRedgrave: *R* "Um... maybe. I have no idea if that was just because reality itself was weaker or if I can really do that."
Valron: *He takes note of Santigue bending the rune.* "I have no idea if you're doing anything to it, but... Hmm." *He pulls out the Indigo Blade, trying to stab the rune... Well, stab it from a spot that wouldn't interrupt Santigue's bending of the damned thing anyways.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "Maybe if you could remote control me to shoot it with some magic spell or something we could finish the job Santigue's started on it."
KitRedgrave: *R* "I'll try though. That's a better plan than what I had in mind. Ahahaha... not you. I'd probably go out of my mind if I tried you."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "...Whoops, forgot about that one. Sorry, maybe... somebody less insane."
Santigue puts the axe up after driving the bar in as deep as possible, standing on the machine and using her boots to shove it after bracing herself on the machine.
Gelato: *He crawls back into Santigue's pocket to cool off, panting slightly.*
Metal Man (GM): The indigo blade... remind me what that was again? My RPG Alzheimer's is acting up again. XP
KitRedgrave: *R* "Hm... how about Valron? He's generally sane. Though then I'd probably have to figure out how to buttonmash to do things."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "Valron, do you usually control your body with a Playstation Controller, or an Xbox one?"
KitRedgrave: *R* "Or I could just steal a spacesuit, keep myself cool with spells long enough to make my way down there, and deal with it directly. Maybe."
Metal Man (GM): The Indigo blade behaves weirdly with the rune.
Valron: *R* "Huh..."
Metal Man (GM): Because it, too, was made out of computational energy, the rune starts to get bent in two by Santigue and then poked and weakened by the Indigo Blade. The rune starts to destabilize... but this one's different. It seems to be... powering up... ...expanding... ...unstably beeping?
Valron: *R* "There might not be any need for that. This sword I stole from the simulation way back seems to be messing it up. ...I suggest running." *And then he gets right away from that rune.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "We're running from a deadly Rune, don't worry!" *Leaps onto the ladder and starts climbing up real fast.*
KitRedgrave: *R* "Oh don't tell me, it's a bomb."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "It's... ...it's a movie that didn't sell well!"
Santigue: "Is it going to blow up? Do they do that?" *She'd pull free and grab her bar, hopping down and trotting off a bit... After smacking a Halon pipe.* "Should help contain the explosion... Gotta have good air to create a big one, there ain't any in here."
KitRedgrave: *R* "Okay, emergency insanity plan Q going. That ladder probably ain't gonna hold you all. Somebody take a picture of the room at the bottom."
Metal Man (GM): The ladder starts to break a bit, but Xavier grabs onto it and holds it into place.
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "I... I got the ladder, Valron can climb over me, and Santigue, I'll be the last one out. If I get buried, you can dig me out. I'm not really organic like you guys."
Santigue: "My suit is likely better rated, go, I'll be last out. Gelato, onto Xavier or Valron, go on buddy."
Valron: "Will do!" *And then he goes to climb right up the ladder.*
KitRedgrave would try to focus her chi and push it into the Time Device, hoping to get it charged enough to do an emergency portal in the worst case.
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "Get up here and hold this busted ladder then, if I let go the ladder's goin' down and not coming back up."
Metal Man (GM): Valron climbs over Xavier fairly easily. The bomb-rune gets larger, and loud noises occur as it starts to horribly warp the area around it.
Santigue: "Bah. That's what tools are for. I can climb the wall, get." *She'd try cracking into the wall with her bar, and axe alternately to start climbing.*
Gelato: *He hops onto Xavier's head!*
Valron: *R* "I'll be sure to hold it once I'm up!"
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "Just wanted to make sure... didn't want any more Star Steels."
Santigue: "Being last out is my job, and I'm going to pass you, get a move on or I'll haul you up."
Xavier Ridgecrest starts climbing up, reluctantly letting go of the ladder, unless Valron were to catch it. *R* "Technically as the Captain of this Team it's my responsibility to make sure everyone lives, but I determine arguing with you right now is not conducive to that." *Hurries his way up the ladder.*
Valron: *And of course, he makes sure to hold onto the danged thing.*
Metal Man (GM): Finally the explosions start at the bottom, causing the entire place to shake violently.
Gelato: *He rides on Xavier, whimpering softly...*
Santigue destroys her way up the wall as fast as she can scramble, boots helping with grip. "Nooooot nooooow..."
Metal Man (GM): The air flying from below can be felt, as the entire place violently shakes more. First out is Gelato, followed by Xavier... Santigue encounters Valron, where it'd become rather obvious both should just book it since behind both is just explosions...
Valron: *Yeah, there's about no way he isn't booking it. Because really now.*
Metal Man (GM): Eventually everybody gets up and out of there, as a bunch of shrapnel rains about before it sputters out. With the water and gas cut off for good, any further steam ends as well.
KitRedgrave: *R* "Are you all okay?"
Santigue is nice and calm because the Emperor protects and shit... "Perfect exercise."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "Nothing really damaged here, except for whatever was down there. Which definitely was booby trapped. No more touching these runes without careful inspection!"
Santigue: "The effects of Halon suppression on explosives. Shockwaves not withstanding, no ball of fiery death."
Valron: *R* "Yeah, we're all good. An explosion happened, but none of us are scratched up."
Santigue: "Back to the pocket Xeno."
KitRedgrave: *R* "Hopefully we didn't lose much of the loot, then."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "So uh... let's just make a new safety rule. Don't touch magic until you know what it is. Prying on a rune probably doesn't work any better than stabbing it with a sword."
Valron: "More like don't touch Panel runes with a digital sword."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Until we know whether or not to stab it that way."
Valron: "That's the lesson I'm taking from this."
KitRedgrave: *R* "Don't touch runes if you're not a wizard. Even then, be careful."
Santigue: "No one warned me of these runes, as you call them. If it's in my way I break it down."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Right... well in this case the best way to break them down obviously is to use magic on them. I didn't know that rune would do that either, mind you. I tried to stab it too. Probably for the best you waved me away from it."
Valron: *R* "Nah, the Spirit of Vengeance should still be perfectly fine. Not sure how we're going to get it out, though."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Well, we can always go to the next room and look there."
Metal Man (GM): A door to the right hasn't been opened yet.
Santigue: "I will not wield this magic. Yes, and I stopped you because you'd break the machine." *She'd scratch at her helmet.* "Where's the ghost at? I'm not convinced it was the same one as before. And yes, a valid point." *She'd try the door.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Just a bit more chastened against swhacking runes..."
Valron: "Yeah. Best to do less of that."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Yes, you won't wield the magic, and I don't wield the magic either. It's Kit and Nonna who wield magic."
Valron: "And sometimes Gelato and I mess about with it as well."
KitRedgrave writes down "improve robes against extreme temperatures, hostile/no atmosphere" to her to-do list.
Metal Man (GM): The door is pried open, slowly. The next room is... creepy. A bunch of empty suits on stands. Dimly lit through a few cracks in the shutters.
Santigue: "Heretical. I don't trust it. This is the work of Taint." *She'd click her light back on attached to her helmet.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I would love to meet who designed this place. So I could beat them with a rock. I'm not even an Emperor person and I can tell something is wrong here beyond the normal..."
Santigue: "Well. Do we see anything in here you all need? I have yet to see a part."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Normal bases of my people would have a lot more televisions and potato chips and a lot less of dreadful arrangements reminding us that we can die..."
Valron: "Yeah... I'm not liking the look of this in the slightest."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Well, the suits are kinda nice."
Valron: "The suits could be useful, yes."
Metal Man (GM): Xavier looks at some of them and flips open various panels on them.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Fuses... wiring... we could do a lot if we could harvest all of these. But there's so many!"
Metal Man (GM): At the back of the room, a terminal, for once, is just sitting there.
Valron: "Well, that just means a lot of spares, right?"
Metal Man (GM): No runes or anything.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Yeah."
Santigue: "Get pulling then. Take what you need and be quick before something happens." *She'd look at the terminal, still in the doorway herself.* "There's no rune. Why?"
Valron: "Of course, it might be nice to take a working suit or two in for research purposes." *He scans the terminal, checking to see any oddities with it and whatnot.*
Santigue starts looking at the door more carefully, and the walls, herself, trying not to go inside.
Metal Man (GM): This time the screen is a bit more freakish. Valron would see an ASCII version of that creepy ghost suit.
Valron: "...Okay, now this ghost is just being ridiculous."
Metal Man (GM): It would fade out as purple energy would resonate through the dark room.
Valron: "It showed up as text."
Santigue: "Chaos!" *She'd pull out her axe and run in... And start hacking the computer with it.*
Metal Man (GM): Running in, Santigue would encounter something new. The computer would be defended! A suit of armor comes to life to block the attack! Digital noises would occur as the suits would all start to slowly come alive, but only one is fully awake.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Gah... get out of there! There's an entire horde of mes in there!"
Metal Man (GM): A strange noise would be heard as the room could be heard by the howls of someone distantly screaming.
Santigue: "I knew it! Out of my way Taint! I am protected by the Emperor! Destroy the rest before the Warp commands them!" *She... Didn't understand technology here either. She'd try to get around the suit to break the computer.*
???: "Kill the traitors... kill the traitors... kill the traitors..."
Valron: "...Yeah, I'd say getting out is a really good idea."
Metal Man (GM): Hm... Now for some actual dice system stuff.
Santigue: "Then leave!" *She growled behind the mask.* "I'm no traitor, Chaos! I am loyal to the Emperor!"
Valron: *But, before he does leave he suddenly draws the Brick Blaster, takes aim at the terminal, making sure he doesn't accidentally clip Santigue with the ensuing blast, attempting to wreck it from a distance!*
Metal Man (GM): Roll a z3, Santigue. Yeah, z3 normally gets 3 successes, and you got... 7.... The possessed armor goes to dodge... And utterly fails. The armor is tough, but it's also meant for a normal person to be in it. So while it can probably take a zillion swings, you do cause it to fall over backwards. Now of course, there's a Terra Cotta Warrior army around you, so that probably isn't so good. Now, roll for it, Valron.
Valron: *aaand cue Disarming Shot.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "Not to alarm you, Kit, but we have a malevolent army of ghost armors about to attack Santigue en masse. Maybe if you could... run in and cast a dispel real quick I'd use my healing item on you so you don't get too messed up?"
Metal Man (GM): The shot hits the computer directly. However it has more than one hit point, so it angrily flashes that ASCII ghost man icon at Valron's visor and sends the armors after him for some reason. Apparently vengeful ghost people fail at tactics.
KitRedgrave: *R* "Let me see what I can do..."
Santigue will... Take that. And the distraction. And swing the axe down on the computer. Bad Chaos Computer.
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "...It appears to attack whoever attacked it last. Let's... try to take advantage of that? I can lead them towards the Wing Fortress!"
Metal Man (GM): I... think so. If not, we can assume she'd provide it to you.
Valron: *And out comes the cube spellbook! He attempts to use the Isa rune on the floor near the empty suit army, attempting to create a good bit of ice to slip them up!*
Metal Man (GM): For purposes of narrative, I'll note Santigue is chopping on the computer continually. However, the evil energy is powering these machines in a way that mere chopping at the computer doesn't seem to stop. In fact the panel is laughing maniacally every time it gets hit. At least by the axe.
KitRedgrave would take one of Borne's spacesuits. "This is getting ridiculous. Time to roll the dice..."
Valron: "...Hey, Xavier. Think you can shine a bit of light on the terminal?"
Metal Man (GM): The armors run towards Valron and slip comedically on the ice ..They are now all butt-sliding towards Valron. Even though that's nowhere near as menacing, getting hit by all of them isn't likely to feel good.
Valron: "...Okay, this is silly. I'm out." *Exit, stage Wing Fortress, pursued by butt-sliding possessed suits of armor.*
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I shall work on the terminal then!"
Santigue is not only hacking the computer, but is also being very annoying with the spouting of rhetoric and Emperor and Holy Terra and such.
KitRedgrave would then try drawing the Isa rune or something like it on the back of it, and... hm. How did they make the spells permanent?
Metal Man (GM): Valron runs towards the Wing Fortress.
Valron: "Comin' through! Being chased by butt-sliding suits of possessed armor!"
KitRedgrave: "Wait, that's genius."
Metal Man (GM): An armor leaps at Valron. z3
KitRedgrave: "Bring them inside so we can all fight them!"
Metal Man (GM): Xavier is torn between helping Santigue and following the armor into the ship. The panel laughs at Santigue... ...and is unable to do anything but continually aggravate her by taunting.
KitRedgrave: "Though by our luck, I'm still gonna need this thing since more spooky ghosty crap is going on."
Metal Man (GM): On the other hand, the panel creeps Xavier out to such an extent he goes running after the armors. Valron takes 25 damage and gets an armor grabbing him as they both slide at the Wing Fortress.
KitRedgrave: "It needs... coins right? Crap, I don't think we have any,"
Commander Borne: "I'll let Illian handle that."
Metal Man (GM): The armors continue sliding into the Wing Fortress. They stand up, heavily confused. Illian walks into the room, confusing them even more.
Valron: "Oh, this is great. I was not expecting any hangers-on." *He continues his run into the Wing Fortress. While attempting to shake the armor off.*
Santigue stops beating the computer finally, and starts using her halligan to instead try prying the sides of it off to go for the guts more... Directly?
Valron: "Sorry, Illian. Decided to play distraction for a bunch of possessed suits of armor."
Metal Man (GM): Prying at the computer seems to be a better idea, given there's something behind it.
Illian MacGregor: "Erastian make... ...About the time my Solarian friends fried them... ...You dispel half of them Kit, I'll deal with the other half."
KitRedgrave: "Wait. These armors are probably perfectly suited for the environment out there. GREAT IDEA."
Santigue tries to find out what's behind it because it's interesting and relevant, like candy.
Metal Man (GM): Behind the evil computer panel is the mundane electrical outlet powering the evil computer.
KitRedgrave would go on and start dispelling them. Or enter combat to attempt to, anyhow.
Santigue pulls the plug.
Valron: *And he tries to throw the armor harassing him off and into the crowd.*
Metal Man (GM): Illian uses a giant Solarian rune on a bunch of them. Between all of that, the armor suits are all KO'd. They clatter to the ground and the evil laughter stops, for now. One last annoying appearance of the ghost Erastian before it winks out again.
Illian MacGregor: "...If they seriously posed a threat, I would have just used the E-123 Machinegun on them anyway."
Santigue: "Annoying machine. You cannot best the Emperor's will."
Valron: "Really getting tired of that dumb ghost."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "...Phew."
KitRedgrave: "Glad you didn't. I need one of these." *He would take one of them and frantically look it over to be sure it can do what she needs it to do.*
Valron: "Anyways! We have a bunch of free Erastian suits to use. Or research."
Metal Man (GM): It looks like it'll work. It's just taller than you usually are, Kit, so fitting into it is a little awkward.
Valron: "...Or, yeah. Wear. But really, research or spare parts was what I originally had in mind."
Metal Man (GM): Also I'm gonna pause in a moment, fading out myself.
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "So... status report. Annoying ghost things have stopped being haunted... more rooms in this base to research... ...we can now all move freely about it using these suits."
Santigue looks at Xavier if he didn't run off. "Well. Remove your components. I'm fairly sure I'm done here and I'm tired."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *Had run off due to the passive fear effect on the computer panel R* "Santigue, you can return to the ship, we've got most of the suits in here, we can rest and attack the rest of the cursed base tomorrow... ...whatever a 'tomorrow' is."
Valron: *R* "Perfect. What're we going to do with the Spirit of Vengeance, anyways?"
Santigue is talking to herself again, stabs computer one more time, steps over the armor that fell over, and wanders back towards the ship. "Yeah. On my way. I unplugged the infernal laughing, Chaos-ridden machine.."
Xavier Ridgecrest: *R* "Fly it into the Wing Fortress, then vote whether to scrap it for parts or use it as an awesome attack ship. Oh, good work Santigue, I think when you did that you helped turn them off. I mean the dispels we used probably also did it, but they seemed pretty stubborn."
Illian MacGregor: *R* "They are pretty annoying, aren't they... they play at claiming to know true power, but all the armor suits do is slide around on ice like idiots..."
Valron: *R* "I'd actually rather like to keep it, myself."
Santigue wanders back in, removing regulator and helmet finally. Possibly with a Gelato in-pocket, forgot where he was. "Or fall over."
KitRedgrave pants, very worn out from the sudden spree of magic work.
Xavier Ridgecrest: "Well, we'll seal off the base from the Wing Fortress while we rest, then we can try it again... Illian, you can guard the door."
Illian MacGregor: "No problem... you encountered a lot of Solarian runes. Before you enter there again, I will give you instructions on how to destroy them... tomorrow."
Santigue: "A halligan bar works well."
Illian MacGregor: "If anything malevolent comes by the door, I will just use this on it." *Brandishes elephant shotgun.*
KitRedgrave: "I can actually come along now, so it shouldn't be as much of a problem."
Illian MacGregor: "The powers of Solaria should compel whatever is in there to die, anyway... ...I'm surprised it had as much free reign as it did. I wonder if the runes were holding it back. It wasn't there when we first docked..."
Santigue: "The taint is destroyed now. It doesn't matter."
Illian MacGregor: "I doubt the Solarians liked evil dead Erastians either."
Valron: "Hmm... That's peculiar, then. But yes, proper info on how to deal with these will be much appreciated."
Xavier Ridgecrest: "I'm going to go rest for a moment." *Sits down on his captain's chair and relaxes.*
Santigue shrugs and slides down a wall to sit on the floor to play with the Gelato and try her hand at feeding it a snack.
Metal Man (GM): Mission Completed
KitRedgrave just goes off and finds something soft to lie down on for the night.
Santigue's just going to fall asleep trying to feed Gelato.