Super Smash Quest - Story - Chapter 336: Wrecked Kuja Facility
Date: 5:32:48 PM, October 18th, 2006.
Metal Man (GM): Okay, now beginning.
The Last Remains
You're all in the big room; Traon included. (He warped in in-between the missions.) Metal sits behind his desk, reading over a relatively yellowed paper, and brushing dust off of it.
Metal Man: "Hmmm... according to this, Kuja built this facility while his tower was under attack. It was never completed, however it happened to be an integral piece of something he must have planned. I'm unsure as to what will await you there, however thanks to the Gerald Virus, it's likely to be devoid of guards and traps."
Gibby: "Well that's a plus at least."
Metal Man: "That means you... and, unfortunately, anybody else who can traverse to there... can have free reign in there."
Digifanatic is actually seen in the Big Room for once. Honestly, this is a surprise...
Metal Man: "The goal is to find out what it's about and make sure there's nothing dangerous that, say, ol' Gerald could steal and kill everybody with."
Digifanatic: "My goodness."
Scott Gibson stands around with his guitar slung and arms crossed listening.
Digifanatic: "Nothing is sane in this world anymore, except for us, it seems."
Traon is just standing there being his silent self.
Gibby: "Us? Sane? I doubt it."
Metal Man: "Comes with the job, as you'd know, Digi. Comes with the job..."
Scott Gibson: "So free to pick'n choose what we take? Nice."
Digifanatic: "Of course."
Metal Man: "Take anything you want, as long as it's taken away from there."
Digifanatic: "Alright. That's cool. By the way, Metal, I have to ask you about something."
Scott Gibson: "You'll find me wherever I can salvage some choice parts."
Digifanatic: "Just something quick while the others head to the warp--I'll catch up with them after we're done."
Gibby: "You building something?"
Traon: "I've got my own question, how did I get mixed up here?"
Scott Gibson: "Kick ass! Rox, get the bag. It's time for a salvage run."
Metal Man: "Well, there happens to be some ol' dimensional warps around... they have a tendency for sending people here."
Gibby turns to Traon. "You wound up just like the rest of us..."
Roxy beeps a sort of aye-aye, sir and leaves coming back momentarily with a humongous bag.
Metal Man: "Something to do with destiny, or something. I don't know what, exactly, but most of us came here that way."
Gibby: "I've just learned to accept it."
Scott Gibson even dons a backpack with a lot'o'storage room.
Charles Magellean is outside the doors of the Big Room, leaning against the wall still.
Digifanatic: "Heh..."
Traon just shrugs. "Works for me... Beats working as a janitor."
Digifanatic: "Strange how so few people seem to actually have a solid motive for coming here..."
Gibby: "That's just how this place works I guess."
Traon: "I'll just stick with a crowd for the time being and see if there is a benefit out of this."
Gibby: "If you benefit from random acts of stupidity, then you'll blend right in."
Metal Man: "Money is a real benefit, eh?"
Scott Gibson: "Don't sweat it, man. I've been here for awhile and this place is pretty cool. Beats the runs I used to do back on Voodoo Child. Amen to that."
Traon: "I worked as a janitor... Random acts of stupidity are second nature to me. I get the feeling I'll like it here."
Gibby: "Most do."
Scott Gibson stows his guitar on Roxy's rear fender pun and hefts the large empty bag over his shoulder.
"Nothing like pillaging the daylights out of villainous has-beens in the morning."
Metal Man: "The Warp Elevator is online; you may proceed."
*He flips a switch; a round part of the floor glows; that's the warp out, of course.*
Digifanatic just quickly walks to Metal while the others head to the warp.
Gibby proceeds into the warp elevator.
Digifanatic: "Hey. Do you know what happened to Aribar? He's been gone ever since we took care of matters on Turion with Robotnik. Or at least, with what I know, I haven't seen him."
Metal Man: "He went back to his homeworld, specifically so he could protect it from its own problems."
Traon walks over towards Scott and offers a light shrug. "I'll just stick with you for the time being, I don't want to wind up getting lost."
Metal Man: "Don't ask me why, don't ask me how; that's all I know. With his leaving, the old generation continues to dwindle."
Digifanatic: "Ohhhhhhh maaaaaaaaaaaaan... I wish I could have said goodbye to that guy. He was cool..." .oO(I'm sure Alexia knows...)
"Well, if he ever, at the very least, sends us any messages of the sort, tell him I wish I was there to see him leave and good luck for whatever he's doing."
"I know he will be dearly missed here."
"But thanks for letting me know, anyway."
Charles Magellean: .oO(Only five of us left. Guess that new generation is coming sooner than he thought.)
Digifanatic sighs, but without concern, heads to the warp.
Julian Sawyer rushes into the Big Room, pausing only to casually roll a grenade towards the loitering Charles' feet, and carrying that staff he picked up in the Infernal Realm "What'd I miss?"
Metal Man: "The mission briefing."
Julian Sawyer: "...So what're we doin' this time?"
Traon: "I think he passed out..." *He tapes Scott with his foot and then shrugs, he then follows Digi to the warp.*
Metal Man (GM): *sighs* "Again, just checking out an old wrecked ruin of Kuja's and taking the stuff outta it. Pretty routine."
Julian Sawyer: "...An' who's the new guy?"
Metal Man: "I think is name is Traon or something. You ask him."
*He shrugs, waiting for Julian and co. to enter the warp, filing his papers. *
"This advanced technology permit certainly is constraining... I'll have to call up Ivan and get it relaxed."
Julian Sawyer: "...'K. One more thing." *Julian drops the Staff on Metal's desk* "Figure out how this thing works. Somethin' involvin' magic. Later!" *Julian rushes into the warp before Metal has a chance to reply.*
Metal Man looks at the staff. "He wants me to find out how a pole works? What a weird person."
Metal Man (GM): The Ruined Base
The Questers appear in the middle of a purple-sanded desert, in front of a huge, wobbly tower.
The front door lays open and most of the windows are cracked; the building is made out of regular sandstone itself.
Gibby: "Aw, man... and I just had all the sand out of my shoes from the last visit."
Metal Man (GM): Old relics of Kuja's reign are strewn about, mostly 'All hail Kuja' posters and the like.
Digifanatic: "Oh man... talk about ruins and wastes."
Julian Sawyer: "A'ight, all we gotta do is a lil' repossesin', shouldn't be too hard... An' who're you?" *Directed towards Traon.*
Traon looks over at Julian and just shrugs. "A simple janitor named Traon who somehow got mixed up in one of the dimension warp things."
Gibby: "He cleans things!"
Julian Sawyer: "...How the hell is a janitor gonna help... Don't matter, jus' don't get in my way. Now c'mon, we got lootin' to do." *Onward!*
Gibby: "He shall sweep his enemies with the mop of justice!"
Julian Sawyer: "Hush."
Gibby follows Julian.
Traon just follows. "The janitor part is just a side job..." he mumbled lightly to himself.
Gibby: "He will wipe down his foes with the turtle wax of salvation!"
Julian Sawyer: "What'd I just say, Gibby?"
Metal Man (GM): You walk inside, and see before you something nice and odd; a large staging area, complete with what looks like a Mission Control setup; 5 rows of dead computers facing a large screen, which happens to be full of static.
Scott Gibson moves on with Roxy in tow looking for anything he can pillage.
Metal Man (GM): There's a door ahead, to boot, but it's locked.
Gibby: "Eh, something about looting..."
Julian Sawyer: "Jus' shut up."
Metal Man (GM): Hm... slim pickings. Microphones, mice, keyboards, monitors (most of them, though, integrated into the console), light bulbs...
Gibby: "Yes, master of the freakin' universe..."
Julian Sawyer: "An' don't you forget it." *Julian checks out that locked door.*
Traon passes a glance at Gibby and just makes a light laugh. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but this thing on my back isn't exactly a mop." he points to the nice naginata on his back. (basically a long blade on a long pole.)
Metal Man (GM): It's a steel door, covered with two strapping and huge I-beams of steel welded to it.
Julian Sawyer: *Explodeable?*
Metal Man (GM): A sign on it says, 'Don't even try to come in here, Questers. It shall be the death of you. -Kuja'
Gibby: "Well at long as it hurts bad guys it gets my approval."
Metal Man (GM): Yes, it probably could be exploded open.
Julian Sawyer reaches into his back pocket and pulls out one of his many bricks of C4. He affiixes it to the door, backs up, and sets off the charge.
Gibby: "Meep!"
*He leaps back. *
"A little warning would be nice..."
Traon just closes his eyes and looks away.
Metal Man (GM): *BLAM* The doors open... revealing a dark room, mostly, with a single spotlight in the center.
Traon: "I think I'm going to like this guy."
Digifanatic: "The amazing thing is years after we killed him, it's probably still true..."
Gibby: "No... no you won't. You'll accept him."
Metal Man (GM): In the center there stands something in black armor, which looks vaguely robotic. It's standing, but its head is slumped down, and no signs activity can be seen.
Julian Sawyer: "Like someone I killed's gonna tell me what to do. New guy, go check that out."
Traon: "Great... Leave it to the new guy. Fine." *He approaches the door and while he does so he plants his left hand on the pole part of his weapon, keeping it ready to be drawn.*
Gibby: "You're sending a sheep to the slaughterhouse aren't you?"
Metal Man (GM): You get that far without anything bad happening... so far.
Julian Sawyer: "I call it initiation."
Traon looks through the doorway, a bit cautiously.
Gibby: "Call it what you will... I just hope he stays in one piece."
Metal Man (GM): You see nothing but darkness, and the strange black-armored machine; and strewn about laboratory stuff.
There's a lightswitch, too.
Gibby: "Alright then, two pieces."
Traon looks at the light switch and then looks over his shoulder. "Besides this ironically suspicious black-armored machine in here, it looks fine. I guess I'll just flip this here switch and get some lights going on in here." and he does so, he slowly approaches the switch and flips it.
Metal Man (GM): The switch lights up the room; the old fluorescent lights buzz... several of them dangle haphazardly on the ceiling.
Papers and such are strewn about, along with cables and the like.
Gibby: "Hmm... nothing bad so far."
*He steps further inside himself.*
Metal Man (GM): The machine looks to have been a last-minute project, which was abandoned when the position of Kuja's administration became untenable.
Gibby: "We should probably get rid of that thing... but how?"
Metal Man (GM): The various documents name it as 'Commander Overlord, Base Retaliator, and Attacker (COBRA)'
Traon: "I'll take a look at that machine... I know I can't do anything with it, but it won't hurt to look." *He approaches the machine a bit slowly.*
Gibby: "Fair enough."
Metal Man (GM): It stands at 10 feet tall and wears various interlocking plates made of a strange black metal.
Its eyes are highly complex camera sensors behind a sheet of a very hard material, and it looks vaguely like those Supersoldiers Gerald's virus infected.
It also, from a distance, resembles the 13 Gentlemen androids.
Traon: "Looks like a science project gone wrong. I wonder if this thing even works." *he looks back at Gibby. * "You want to do the honors and touch this thing first?"
Metal Man (GM): However it has more joints than even a human, a variety of thrusters on its feet, back, elbows, wrists, and sort.
It doesn't appear to be armed, and a bunch of cables connected to its back appear to serve as some sort of programming/power cables.
Gibby: "I wouldn't be much of a Quester if I didn't risk getting killed every now and then." *He walks over to the giant bot and touches it with the tip of his fin.*
Metal Man (GM): It is totally offline, and has no visible 'on' switch.
Julian Sawyer: *Any consoles that connect to those wires?*
Metal Man (GM): It feels somewhat cold and smooth, but it doesn't react.
The wires connect to a bank of consoles and a mainframe, both of which seem dead.
They have a large number of holes in them.
Nearby, several exploded harddrives can be seen.
The few documents that are legible sit alongside a massive pile of burnt schematics; you'll never find out exactly what it can do from that.
There is also an elevator to the right, and another sealed door (this time with a fallen mainframe) ahead.
Julian Sawyer checks out those few legible documents then.
Gibby: "Well it looks like the thing's down for the count."
Metal Man (GM): It says the name, shows a picture of it, and also has a single footnote from the second page, which is unburnt.
Julian Sawyer: *And page 3 is... burnt. Fantastic. How big is that mainframe?*
Metal Man (GM): Size of a bookcase; you can move it.
Julian Sawyer does so.
Metal Man (GM): It probably fell there after being shot to pieces.
Traon backs away from the machine and looks over at the elevator and perks a brow. "I'm going to go see if that elevator is running, who knows, maybe there are some interesting things in here to obtain." he said with a smirk.
Metal Man (GM): The door to the next room hangs open when the mainframe is moved.
Gibby: "Just don't go running into Sephiroth or something..."
*He hangs around with the cool looking robot.*
Metal Man (GM): The third room is a stripped bare armory, showing millions of little places to put weapons and armor... but all of it is gone.
There is, however, a suspicious pile of TNT in the corner, with a detonator with the lever pressed all the way down.
It appears the attempt to destroy this floor failed.
Julian Sawyer: "Hmmm..." *Julian knocks on the floor to see if it's hollow.*
Metal Man (GM): The elevator, meanwhile, has an 'up' and 'down' button, but the buttons don't respond; furthermore, the doors to it have been welded together.
The floor is thick as can be. Concrete, not hollow.
It makes a dull thud.
Traon: "Hrm... So much for that." *He turns back and heads over to the next room where Julian is.*
Julian Sawyer decides to disconnect the TNT from the detonator to prevent any future mishaps.
Metal Man (GM): You do so; the wire feels burnt and crumbles at the touch.
Gibby walks over to the others and notices the TNT.
"...Are we blowing up stuff again?"
Julian Sawyer: "Nothin' in here." *Julian heads back to the armor room and checks out the elevator... Explodeable?*
Metal Man (GM): At the risk of destroying the controls and the elevator car itself.
Gibby: "Meh..."
Julian Sawyer: *Force-openable?*
Metal Man (GM): Possibly; STR check related.
Or perhaps you could cut it open.
Traon draws his weapon and uses its extended length to attempt to poke the ceiling, seeing if there are any soft spots.
Metal Man (GM): Depends on your favorite methods.
You dislodge some moldy ceiling tiles and find nothing but pipes and wiring and dust up there. Purple dust.
Gibby steps away from the mold.
"Yuck..."
Traon: "The hell... why is that dust purple?" *He backs away as well.*
Gibby: "Remember the purple sand outside? Same thing."
Julian Sawyer: "Hmm... New guy, how strong you think you are?"
Traon pushes his weapon back in the holster hole on his back and looks over at Julian. "Well I was a janitor so I was moving and pushing things around for awhile. What needs to be done?"
Metal Man (GM): Sorry about that, I was attacked by a bad installer which caused infinite programs to appear.
And with the speed of my computer, it opened about a thousand before it rebooted.
Julian Sawyer: "Help me pull this door open. You get on one side." *Julian hopes Traon can figure it out from there as Julian gets on one side of the door, and grips one half of it.*
"Help me pull this door open. You get on one side." *Julian hopes Traon can figure it out from there as Julian gets on one side of the door, and grips one half of it.*
Metal Man (GM): Julian grabs one side of the door.
Julian Sawyer: "Also, what kinda janitor carries around a sword-stick?"
Gibby: "Yuck..."
Traon: "The hell... why is that dust purple?" *he backs away as well.*
Gibby: "Remember the purple sand outside? Same thing."
Julian Sawyer: "Hmm... New guy, how strong you think you are?"
Gibby: "The wicked cool kind!"
Metal Man (GM): Traon and Julian: STR check, if you want to try to pry open the elevator door together.
Dragoshi warps on in, next to el Gibby, with the hood of his cloak up. "Yo. So, what's this 'bout a ruined base?"
Traon walks over to the other side of the door and gets in position. "The kind that has a second job."
Gibby: "GAH!"
*He leaps back.*
Julian Sawyer: "Whatever. One, two, THREE!"
Gibby: "Oh... hey, Drag. You gotta not scare me like that."
Dragoshi: "Eh."
Metal Man (GM): You pry both open. Luckily, the elevator car is inside; but unpowered, and somebody ripped out the controls inside.
Julian Sawyer: "...Man, I shoulda just blown it open."
Metal Man (GM): The doors, due tot he way you opened them, have simply been unwelded; they slide back and forth smoothly now.
Julian Sawyer: "Drag, two things: One, what kept ya? Two, cut us a hole."
Traon scratches his head and looks inside and then looks at the ceiling of the car, hoping to see a hatch.
Metal Man (GM): No hatch above. These cars are different.
Traon shrugs and steps back out of the way.
Dragoshi: "One, I was asleep. Two, sure thing" *Zooms into the elevator, pulls out his scythe, and attempts to cut a hole open in the ceiling.*
Gibby walks into the elevator with the others.
"Are you sure it's safe to do that?"
Traon thinks and looks at Drag. "Maybe we should check to see if there is a sub level to this place... Mind cutting a hole in the bottom of the car as well?"
Metal Man (GM): You cut a hole into the ceiling. The ceiling you cut off zooms upwards into the ceiling and blasts apart; you hear a counterweight crash into the ground nearby.
It rains small pieces of metal.
Dragoshi: "...Don't see why n-..."
Julian Sawyer: "...The hell?"
Gibby: "HA! I knew it!"
Traon: "I believe you cut the cable..."
Gibby would Gibby dance if they weren't in mortal danger.
Dragoshi: "...I can see that clearly."
Julian Sawyer: "What'd you knew, Gibby?"
Traon: "You know... forget about my idea for now..."
Gibby: "That it wasn't safe."
Julian Sawyer: "Whatever."
Gibby steps himself away from the metal rain.
Traon was already backed away so he cool with it.
Metal Man (GM): You can see up above that there are 9 other floors, all with doors sealed shut like the one you opened to get in here.
Julian Sawyer never stepped into the elevator to begin with. After it's done raining metal, Julian DOES step into it, and looks up through the hole.
Dragoshi: "...Huh." *Flies back up into the room, if he can.*
Traon squeezes in as well and tries to get a peek up the hole.
Julian Sawyer: "Great..." *Julian activates his Rocket Boots, and jets up to the second floor's door.*
Gibby: "This may take awhile..."
*He inhales some air and floats up to the second floor with the others.*
Metal Man (GM): You get up there, finding the door locked, as usual.
Dragoshi then flies up to floor 2 with the others... Which is apparently locked.
Gibby: "Another knock down?"
Julian Sawyer: *Pull-openable?*
Traon: "Hrm... Why am I the only one who has to climb..." *He crawls through the hole of the elevator and looks around looking for a way to climb up.*
Metal Man (GM): There's a ladder on the side.
The door can be pulled open, although requiring a STR check.
Traon: "How convienent." *He goes over to the ladder and starts making his way up.*
Julian Sawyer: "Drag, other side." *Julian gets to one side of the door, grasping it.*
Dragoshi: "...Wrong person to ask to help with that. Seriously." *Floats over to the other side of the door.*
Julian Sawyer: "Just do it. One, two, THREE!" *PULL.*
Metal Man (GM): Two STR checks, once you're set up... STR check for whoever else is helping.
Dragoshi: "...Right." *Tries to help.*
Metal Man (GM): The right door goes flying off, and Dragoshi's also falls off... but the way is clear.
Julian Sawyer: *Onward!*
Gibby proceeds onward.
Dragoshi: "...Well that was easier than expected." *Floats on into the room.*
Metal Man (GM): Here you see crew quarters; a bunch of beds, and the doors left/right are both sealed with I-beams.
Traon gets up the ladder just as the door falls off. He lets out a light pant in relief and follows after the others.
Julian Sawyer fixes this with another C4 charge.
Metal Man (GM): You blow up one of them... which do you choose?
Gibby: "...How many of those do you have?"
Dragoshi: "...Bet he has 18 or 19."
Julian Sawyer: "More than 15." *Door... right.*
Gibby: "Crazy."
Traon: "Crazy? I'd call it useful."
Julian Sawyer: "You got a better idea on how to open these kinda doors?"
Gibby: "Not at all, but a guy that carries 15 C4s is usually crazy."
Metal Man (GM): The door off to the right is busted open, revealing a weird looking room.
Julian Sawyer: "Keyword bein' usually."
Dragoshi: "...?"
Metal Man (GM): Several busted computers and six human-shaped pods, surrounded with mechanical stuff; you could sit in them, if you wanted.
A massive power switch on the wall is set to 'OFF'
Gibby: "Experimentations?"
Julian Sawyer explodes the other door while he's at it.
Traon looks at the power switch and he then rubs his chin. "Temptation temptation..."
Gibby: "Don't go messing around with that."
Metal Man (GM): The other door, once busted, shows some sort of chip-making factory, with all sorts of busted computers and blown apart factory machines.
Traon: "I'm going to check this room over here." *He slowly walks into the room with the six human-shaped pods and looks around seeing if anything is active in the least without the switch.*
Metal Man (GM): Nope... all dead. Intentionally dismantled, even.
Gibby: "Well at least nothing has been going on recently."
Julian Sawyer: *Anything remotely functionable in the Left Room?*
Gibby makes his way over to the room on the right and takes a look at the factory machines.
Traon looks at the switch again and approaches it. "Gibby, do you want to do the honors again?"
Gibby: "Nah, it's all yours. Besides, there doesn't appear to be anything useful in here anyway."
Traon: "Whatever happens isn't my fault." *He flips the switch.*
Gibby: "I'll still blame you."
Editor's Note: The story of SSQ in three lines.
Metal Man (GM): You flip it; a loud buzzing occurs, and a buncha sparks fly about.
Some stuff explodes, sending shrapnel about.
The switch overloads, overheats, then explodes.
The noises stop after the broken computers explode.
Gibby: "Traon did it!"
*He heads out of the room.*
Traon coughs and slowly backs away from the now exploded switch. "Well... Something happened... And then it didn't..."
Dragoshi: "...You told him to do it, so it's your fault as well. Technically."
Metal Man (GM): The other room is... full of rainbow chips hurled about, busted, and broken.
Gibby: "I just said it was his..."
Dragoshi looks to see if any of these chips are salvageable.
Metal Man (GM): There's a few complete ones around.
Traon looks around the room again to see if the switch did anything else.
Metal Man (GM): Nope.
Gibby: "Well that was fun..."
Metal Man (GM): It is a horrible mess, though.
Traon: "I'm not cleaning it..." *He shrugs and walks out of the right room and then walked towards the left one.*
Julian Sawyer walks out of the left room, the only complete rainbow chips successfully ganked. "Anythin' in the right room?"
Gibby: "A Janitor not cleaning? Now I've seen everything."
Metal Man (GM): Hm. I got things mixed around, but you've seen both rooms. Left room is factory one (I assume you went there first), right room is blown up pod room.
Dragoshi takes any complete chips as well.
Traon stops and looks at Julian. "Just a bunch of blown up stuff... doesn't seem to be anything of importance in there."
Metal Man (GM): Either way; that's floor 2 for you. Blown up stuff everywhere.
Gibby: "I say we move on. Exploded stuff won't help us."
Julian Sawyer: "We done on this floor then." *Out into the shaft again, and up to floor 3!*
Gibby follows the yellow brick Julian.
Traon follows after... up the ladder again.
Dragoshi follows the others.
Metal Man (GM): You go to floor 3; this door opens just as you reach it, revealing... a huge, gaping hole in the building.
Julian Sawyer: "..."
Gibby: "AGAIN with the holes."
Metal Man (GM): Guess whatever was there exploded completely.
Gibby: "...next!"
Julian Sawyer: "So much for that." *Floor 4!*
Gibby floors it to floor four!
Traon grunts and continues up the ladder.
Dragoshi follows the other flyers.
Metal Man (GM): With the door to Floor 4 (I assume you pry it open one way or another), you see inside it a large amount of power regulators and such. This is the only stuff you've seen so far not to be exploded.
However, every single switch in the room has been removed.
Gibby: "Behold! The powa!"
Metal Man (GM): There are no other rooms here, this room being 3x larger than the others.
Julian Sawyer: "Of nothin'." *Goes in anyway.*
Dragoshi flies up to floor 5
Metal Man (GM): Dragoshi: Nobody else with you. Do you wait, or try to break in anyway?
Traon stays on the ladder for a moment, thinking and continues up. "Technology isn't my strong point... I'll go up to floor 5 as well."
Gibby: "Indeed... this place is boring. Floor five!"
*He is movin' on up (movin' on up) to the fifth floor.*
Metal Man (GM): You go up to floor 5, finding the door easy to open, and seeing a laboratory full of... broken, emptied vials, and various potion decanters... also empty.
The doors to the sides are also sealed with I-beams.
Traon: "We can either keep going up, or wait for Julian to get in here..."
Gibby: "So boring around here... my sword's getting rusty."
Dragoshi: "...I say we wait for the latter."
Gibby: "But the ladder can't move."
Julian Sawyer: *And right on cue, Julian shows up, assesses the situation, and sets the doors up the bomb.*
Dragoshi: .oO(All your base are belong to us.)
Metal Man (GM): The doors explode; the right door is basically a supply cabinet that's been emptied, while the one off to the right contains stack after stack of DVD cases and a big monitor for watching them with. And a DVD player.
Dragoshi: "...Huh."
Julian Sawyer: *Are there DVDs in the DVD case?*
Traon: "Well this will be fun."
Metal Man (GM): Yes. Untouched.
Julian Sawyer: "Where's the sack?"
Metal Man (GM): Volumes and volumes of 'Kuja Advertisements' and 'Quester Idiocy'
Gibby: "Sweet! Movie time!"
Dragoshi: "..."
Metal Man (GM): The sack of ol' Scott's is here, with Roxie, and a silent Scott.
Julian Sawyer loads up the sack with the bootleg DVDs, DVD player, and big-screen TV. "This'll go nice in R&R."
Gibby: "I hope they caught my good side."
Dragoshi: "...Heh. Now, we're talkin'." >_> "But, seriously. We go to floor 7 now?"
Julian Sawyer: "We're on floor 5, genius."
Traon: "..." *He turns back to the elevator shaft and hops onto the ladder. * "I'll continue up to floor 6."
Dragoshi: "...I meant 6."
Gibby sighs.
"Onward and upward."
*He floor sixes it.*
Dragoshi flies up to floor 6
Julian Sawyer: *After making sure everything's packed up, Julian heads for floor 6*
Metal Man (GM): You go up to floor 6, and find inside a bunch of altered Supersoldier suits, intended for outer space.
There's also a little model of a white spaceship. And a locked back room of sorts; display cases full of memorabilia too.
Dragoshi: "...Steal those too?"
Gibby: "Space suits. They may come in handy."
Traon looks at these and perks a frown. "Well, I'd like to have one of these."
Metal Man (GM): Nothing exciting, of course; Kuja only left behind mementos and stuff showing off his glory.
Julian Sawyer: "Gank 'em, I'll check out the door." *Which he does. Visible lock?*
Metal Man (GM): It has a chunky padlock on it.
Dragoshi ganks them, then."
Julian Sawyer pulls out a sledgehammer and breaks open the lock.
Gibby: "It's the ultimate skeleton key!"
Dragoshi: "Yep."
Traon: "Well... It works, hopefully."
Metal Man (GM): The door opens up, revealing some horrendously outdated propaganda.
'Kuja colonizes the moon' 'Moon pies: Shipped fresh from the Moon' 'Fly Kuja Moon Airlines!'
And a revised flag of Kuja's, which shows... the moon on it.
Traon: "Mmmh, moon pies..."
Julian Sawyer: "...Huh. Charles'd bust a blood vessel over this..."
Gibby: "MOON PIES!"
*He dashes over to the moon pies and grabs himself a couple finfuls.*
Metal Man (GM): And a pre-written article, which goes along the lines of 'After Kuja's horrendous defeat, his government victoriously escaped to the moon. There, despite all odds, all has survived as if nothing happened. Now planning to build the ultimate weapon to fry Nintendus once and for all, he had this to say. 'I will kill the Questers, Ivan, and soon, take over all of reality. Bow down to my almighty power!'
Dragoshi: "...Huh. And I thought I saw it all."
Julian Sawyer: "Speakin' a which..." *Julian is sure to take pictures with his Dex to show Charles later.*
Gibby: "Now I'm bored again..."
Traon: "Well, that sounds like fun."
Metal Man (GM): You may move on up to the next floor.
Gibby does so.
Traon follows after.
Julian Sawyer: *Onward!*
Dragoshi follows as well.
Metal Man (GM): You go on up... noticing the elevator shaft missing its sides and back, save for the door to the room, here.
Although the shaft reappears on floors above this one.
The door is ripped open again, aaand... (brb a moment)
Inside here lies a large amount of burnt-out books... literature on the internal working of Kuja's country.
Nothing remains, however there is a note on the ground. You can't quite read it without looking close.
Gibby: "Somewhere in this great big world of ours, a librarian is crying."
Julian Sawyer looks close. "That or Azure..."
Dragoshi: "Pretty much." *Does the same as Julian.*
Gibby: "What does it say?"
Metal Man (GM): You look close....
Roll a MNT check.
No; Julian.
You read it out loud. 'Today I inscribed Firaga onto this piece of paper.'
*BOOM*
150 damage to Julian.
Dragoshi: "... ...So, he prepared explosive runes this morning?"
Julian Sawyer: "..." *Promptly facefaults, comically charred.*
Dragoshi: "...Right."
Gibby: "..."
Metal Man (GM): Nothing else in here. Hm. No wonder this building is unarmed.
Gibby: "I guess not -all- the traps are gone."
Dragoshi: "'Pparently, so. To the next floor, then?"
Traon shrugs, "Next floor it is then."
Gibby: "Suppose so..."
Dragoshi flies up to floor... Well, whatever the next floor is. 7? 8?
Gibby likes to move it move it, he likes to move it move it, he likes to move it move it, he likes to... move it!
Metal Man (GM): 8.
Dragoshi: *8 then.*
Julian Sawyer lays there, recovering for a minute or two, before getting back up and heading to floor 8
Metal Man (GM): On the 8th floor you find a variety of communications consoles, all blown apart... one of them is intact; you see the on switch for it.
Dragoshi: "...So... Do we turn it on?"
Metal Man (GM): It appears to be a terminal which connects to 'Hub 4.'
Gibby: "Last time there were many explosions, so no."
Julian Sawyer: "Like we got anythin' better to do."
Metal Man (GM): That's all there is to this room; simple enough.
Traon: "Only explosions I've seen were from the C4s... I'm all for turning it on."
Julian Sawyer flips the switch.
Metal Man (GM): You hear a laughing soundtrack as it explodes violently, setting Julian on fire for 15 damage.
Dragoshi: "..."
Gibby: "See?"
Dragoshi: "...Yep."
Gibby: "I'm two for two today."
Julian Sawyer: *And Julian's on the floor for the second time in a row!*
Traon reaches into his pocket and pulls out a nice little shroom and tosses it over to Julian. "Best I've got... That should hold you over for now."
Metal Man (GM): You may go up to the 9th floor.
Dragoshi flies up to floor 9, waiting for the others.
Gibby is heading up to cloud 9....
"This... is a good day."
Julian Sawyer awaits for consciousness to return, then heads to floor 9
Metal Man (GM): 9th floor: Consists of a depleted area full of energy sources. That and the burnt-remains of containers which once held Magitek.
Traon follows after as well.
Metal Man (GM): There is, however, one container of glowing red substance left.
Dragoshi: "...I believe we should take that..."
Gibby: "Good call."
Dragoshi moves over to the one container, and goes to take it carefully...
Metal Man (GM): You take it; it acts like burning magma.
Inside the container; it doesn't burn you.
That's all for this room. The place has been ransacked.
Dragoshi: "Well, I believe that's it... If I'm not mistaken."
Gibby: "I guess... kinda anti-climatic, really."
Traon looks around the room and then back at the elevator shaft. "One more floor, correct?"
Dragoshi: "Gibby. Shush."
Gibby: "What? I mean we get all the way up here, and then that's it. Kinda disappointing really."
Dragoshi: "...Almost forgot about the tenth floor."
Gibby: "AH! That's where the action will be!"
*He proceeds to floor number 10. Oh joy of joys!*
Dragoshi: "...So, one last floor..." *Carefully puts away the container and flies up to floor ten, waiting for the others.*
Traon again follow after to the 10th and final floor.
Julian Sawyer: *And... Julian's already there! Wow.*
Metal Man (GM): To #10: Inside here are a number of posters with Kuja pointing and laughing.
They say 'You suck' 'There's nothing here' 'I ate the key, too'
Gibby: "...Damn it!"
Metal Man (GM): And then there's also a giant on button in the middle of the floor.
Gibby: "...sweeeeeeeet."
Julian Sawyer: "Go for it, Gibby..."
Dragoshi: .oO(...Yea, well, your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!)
Gibby rubs his fins together, steps back a bit, and then makes a running start for the button. He gets within a few inches of it and then leaps HIGH into the air before falling butt first on the button with a crash!
Traon: "Strangely... I found little humor in that."
Dragoshi: "...Same."
Julian Sawyer casually floats back into the elevator shaft as Gibby presses the button.
Dragoshi follows suit.
Gibby gets up.
"YES! One button down, many many more to go!"
*He gives the victory sign which granted is impossible with fins, but he still tries.*
Metal Man (GM): You press the button, and hear a click... downstairs.
Floor 1, to be exact.
Dragoshi: "..." *Slowly flies down to floor 1. Down, down, down, to the depths we go... I think.*
Julian Sawyer: "...Hope that didn't jus' activate what I think it activated..." *Julian heads down as well.*
Gibby: "I have no regrets over what I did."
Metal Man (GM): You go on down, and see a burnt hole in the ground where the robot once was.
And... the robot itself currently rooting through the stuff thrown around.
???: "No no no... this cannot be! This is not my body!"
Julian Sawyer: "Yup..."
Dragoshi: "...If that's what you thought it act-...Yar. This is not good. Prolly' the exact opposite."
Metal Man (GM): It turns to face you... and, with the limited technology it has to contort its face, stares at you with complete hatred.
Gibby: "Uhh... hello."
Dragoshi: "..."
???: "You... you're responsible for this! You killed me... Master Kuja only did this to get revenge on you! And yet... he didn't care for the departed..."
Gibby: "I don't understand."
Metal Man (GM): It stands a bit stiffer.
Julian Sawyer: "...Who're you again?"
Dragoshi: "Hmm..." *Tries to use the Eye of Truth on this thing to figure out who it is... If possible.*
???: "No, no. Not 'MASTER' anymore. He's dead... I am the master now."
Dragoshi: "...Hmm..." *Keeps the eye activated then...*
???: "You don't recognize me? The one who nearly succeeded? My mecha only exploded due to the vile backstabbing of Kuja!"
Dragoshi: "...Hmmm... Can you give us a little hint...?"
Julian Sawyer: "Lil' bit more."
Metal Man (GM): He steps forward, and one of his arms' panels open up, revealing... guns. Energy phasers of some kind. He stares at them as if he's never seen them before.
???: "Hmmhmmhmmhmmhmmhmm... what do we have here? My... latest invention... and it's in this body... You're screwed now, Questers!"
Dragoshi: "...Question." *Pulls out the strange pistol, yet keeps it away from the crazed robot* "Do you know anything 'bout this?"
Metal Man (GM): He laughs and opens fire, not specifically at you, but the area over and around your heads. Small ball-shaped projectiles fly out and hit stuff behind you, causing hundreds of small explosions.
He shakes his head, brandishing his arm at you.
Dragoshi puts it away then.
???: "This is the ONLY true superweapon made... your puny weapons are worthless against this."
Gibby sighs.
"Another day, another fight."
???: "Any last words?" *He picks up a hunk of metal and crushes it until it disintegrates.*
Julian Sawyer: "What the HELL is your name again?"
Dragoshi: "...Right. Tell me... How did you die, exactly?"
???: "You dare not recognize the speech of Maxamillian? Very well. I shall destroy your body and mount your head above my mantle!"
Metal Man (GM): He makes a 'come on' gesture with his pointer finger and approaches you.
Julian Sawyer: "...Oh, right. You."
Dragoshi: "...Huh. Where have I heard that name before..."
Metal Man (GM): Do you fight, run, or thing 2? (Pre-emptive attacks = fight)
Maxamillian: "I'd think you'd know me... killed by Kuja's dimensional cannon when I was near success... now I have been returned against my will, and you're to blame. I'm taking you with me this time."
Julian Sawyer: "I know this joker."
Metal Man (GM): He crooks his head forward.
Dragoshi: "Ah, right. Metal told me about you." *Quickly puts the pistol away, and attempts to pre-emptively strike by...*
Maxamillian: "Xorn and Thorn were the jokers. You're dead."
Metal Man (GM): OverCoat - CompoST57 - Deafened Me With Science
Battle
He seems relatively unaccustomed to this body. Somehow, though, he manages to move faster than Julian.
Order: Gibby, Dragoshi, COBRA, Julian
Gibby decides to gives this robot a good slashing to start thing off. He raises his sword up high and shouts "Swords Dance!" His sword shines brightly with power. He then makes his run towards COBRA and gives him two slashings to the torso.
Metal Man (GM): You crit it once, then miss it.
The crit hits a force field it generates once the attack gets within range.
Maxamillian: "You are not fighting any old hunk of rubbish! It will take you days to kill me with those sort of attacks."
Gibby steps back.
Dragoshi: "Oh, shut up you windbag." *Snaps his claws as minimech materializes and fires it's ungodly Deathlazors at COBRA Luck!*
Metal Man (GM): You hit. The force field also takes the hit.
Dragoshi: *The mech BLASTS the forcefield for 50 damage.*
Maxamillian: "You cannot shut up this machine."
Dragoshi: "...Right, right. Whatever" *Tries to do it again... But, instead of mech, he gets an... AL... AL... ALBATROSS! HOOOOOO!! But, seriously, Dragoshi attempts to slash COBRA with the albatross*
*Which misses. EoT.*
Maxamillian: "You better kneel and pray to whatever Gods you have now, because there won't be left of you after THIS!"
Metal Man (GM): The mech floats up a little, before various panels with phase-guns pop out of his sides and alongside the panels.
Julian Sawyer: "...Oh fuck."
Gibby: "...oh dear."
Dragoshi: "...Oh flux."
Metal Man (GM): They then commence firing mini-explosion pellets in all directions everywhere simultaneously in the direction he's facing, which is you.
This is equivalent to everything in that area exploding.
Gibby checks to see if that hit. -_-;
Metal Man (GM): There isn't really any way to avoid it; I was just rolling for the crit.
Dragoshi does the same. >_>
Gibby ASPLODE.
Metal Man (GM): Instant 150 damage to all in that area; his shield takes a little bit of it, too.
Dragoshi: *Fucking OW, MAN. Dead'd.*
Gibby is deathed. yay!
Julian Sawyer ... LIVES.
Metal Man (GM): He looks at Julian... and laughs.
Maxamillian: "I've only used half of my attack power... I could kill you now... but I choose to taunt you instead!"
Metal Man (GM): He laughs some more.
Julian Sawyer: .oO(This just ain't my day...) *Julian sets off a Dex to see if he should consider running like hell or not.*
Metal Man (GM): The Dex turns on.
Smash Dex: "...BEEP!"
COBRA
HP: Error
STR: 42
SPD: 42
EVD: 50
MNT: 42
AC: 30
Description: Unknown superweapon, presumably made by Kuja. While it is unfinished, it is technically invincible unless you can find the unfinished component inside it. It appears this facility was made in the middle of this very magnetic waste area so that it could not leave the premises.
Suggestion: Run outside into the desert, so as to escape the impending annihilation.
Julian Sawyer: *The Dex offers very good advice, which Julian takes. Smokebomb!*
Maxamillian: "Worthless garbage! The Questers never run. Why give them help now?"
Metal Man (GM): You make the smoke; he watches you run.
Maxamillian: "Look at that... it's the first time Julian has run from a battle! Haw-haw-ha-ha-ha! I win!"
Metal Man (GM): *One round passes*
The people who died regenerate.
Dragoshi looks around seeing as Jules left...
Gibby watches Julian book it.
Maxamillian: "Well, well. Now that your toughest member has run away, it's down to you. I may not be able to escape the premises, but I can be very persuasive."
Gibby: "...Oh gee, look at the time, I have to go refold my socks again."
*He makes a run for the desert!*
Metal Man (GM): He watches you run, as well.
Dragoshi: "...I believe I should follow suit with them... Adios." *Using the power of Quick Escape, he turns into a shadow, and pulls a get-the-hell-out-of-here.*
Metal Man (GM): Having escaped, you all look back. He stands there for a moment.
Maxamillian: "Hm... so this is what it is like to win... ...I dislike this greatly."
Dragoshi: "...Too bad it's a moot feeling, eh."
Metal Man (GM): A warp home appears.
Maxamillian: "...Uhhh... come back! I want to... uhhh... damage you a little this time, instead of instant death!"
Gibby leaps into the warp. No more pain for him.
Dragoshi: "...Bullcrap." *Still has the EoT on, looking at COBRA.*
Maxamillian: "Hmph. I'll find some way out of here." *He walks out of view.*
Dragoshi: "Also, as I said before, adios." *Sticks his tongue out, and floats into the warp.*
Metal Man (GM): You warp out. Julian: Do you warp out, too?
Julian Sawyer already left.
Metal Man (GM): Mission Completed - +10,000 coins
Also, +2000 EXP.
Maxamillian: "Noooooooo... oh. Wait. Overused. Bah!"
Metal Man (GM): *Fadeout*
You can downtime; I was fading out on the base out there.
Short mission, but I could feel the description power working.
Julian Sawyer: *After exiting the warp, Julian heads over to Metal's desk...* "So, find anythin' out?"
Charles Magellean is there in his same place. Very slowly, his impatience grows. Are the Questers still on the miss---no. They're back. He did not have the intuition that she would be there, either.
Dragoshi also does the same as Julian, but is carrying the container with the glowing red substance "What should I do with this?"
Charles Magellean is outside the Big Room; left going in, right going out. He has his back against wall, arms crossed, head down, eyes closed, and his left foot on the wall as well.
Dragoshi shrugs and puts the container on Metal's desk, and shrugs, heading out toward the Big Room, analyzing the odd pistol he got a few missions back. .oO(What does this thing do, if anything...)
Julian Sawyer just chills in the Big Room until Metal wakes up...
Charles Magellean finally speaks up.
"I know I don't have to say this, but judging by the fact that your mission is done and I haven't been informed of what I want, it means you didn't find any clues about the whereabouts of Number Four."
Dragoshi then pulls out a piece of paper and a pencil, and starts sketching something. Apparently, it's the superimposed image of what appears to be an outline of Maxamillian on COBRA. "Yes. That is the case"
Charles Magellean: "I want your views on a certain subject."
Dragoshi: *Stops sketching for a second* "Sure. What's the subject?"
Charles Magellean: "A person dies. The person was a good one. The person's soul, which has left the person's body, is also good."
Dragoshi: "...?" *Tilts his head.*
Charles Magellean: "How is it that that person's corporeal body is able to function on its own as any other person, but is no longer good... and now evil?"
Dragoshi: "...That... I don't know. It's a good question, actually..."
Charles Magellean: "Here is what is truly interesting."
Dragoshi: "?"
Charles Magellean: "Say the person, before dying, actually turned evil. The person dies, but the person's soul, after leaving the body, is not only benevolent, unlike during their lifetime, but has also been physically seen by our eyes and has been communicated with? I would measure that the person turned evil a few months before dying."
Dragoshi: "..." .oO(I might have an idea on what he's insinuating, but I'll just keep on listening)
Charles Magellean: "Not only this, but the same person's body is now 'alive' again, yet still dead, doing truly malevolent deeds?"
Dragoshi: "...That IS rather interesting, almost slightly disturbing, even..."
Charles Magellean: "This experience is not uncommon to here, yet all of it is merely supposition."
Dragoshi: "...Right. Please, do go on." *Continues listening.*
Charles Magellean: "Hmm, this is also supposition, but I assume that you don't know I've already finished. Your thoughts on this subject?"
Dragoshi: "My, thoughts, well... I really have no idea actually..." *Tries to think for a second.*