Super Smash Quest - Story - Chapter 504: Ivan's Incredible Creations
Date: March 1st and March 3rd, 2008
Metal Man (GM): The Questers are at HQ. It's been oddly peaceful since their last mission... With Trevor in command of one enemy group, the other has seemingly gone into hiding. Metal, however, has something new today.
Dragoshi: *In R&R, drinking his usual odd drink mixture. Whee.*
Metal Man (GM): It's a usual lunchtime kind of day, with blue sky, few clouds, and boredom in the air. The stadium lies vacant, due to contract arguments which have yet to be settled. Apparently, at least three different ways of running it were proposed, got contracts, and violently collided.
Digifanatic: *With weather like that, he's lounging outside...*
Deloth: "Man... life is boring when you're broke."
Deloth looks enviously at the library and its massive stores of books.
Digifanatic: .oO(All I need is a bunch of whiffle balls with weather like this...)
Digifanatic stands for a second, doing a Johnny Carson-esque pantomime of a golf swing.
Deloth heads over to Metal's office... or wherever he is. "Please tell me you have something for me to do..."
Digifanatic: .oO(Yeah, that'd be nice right around now...too bad I've got to go back inside to get what I'd need.)
Digifanatic walks back inside.
Digifanatic: *passing by R&R, talking to Dragoshi* "Beautiful outside, isn't it?"
Dragoshi: "Eh, I guess."
Digifanatic: "Not much of an outdoors guy?"
Dragoshi: "Nah. More like I don't care." :/
Metal Man (GM): You head over to Metal's office. He seems to be talking on a phone. Do you open his door? (It's ajar.)
Digifanatic: "Heh. That is so you...no offense."
Dragoshi: "None taken"
Digifanatic: "Sweet."
Deloth blinks, then leans up next to the door, listening in on the conversation. Curiosity and all that.
Metal Man: "I don't think I'd want to send the Questers there. What do you mean we saw it in the past? We also saw it being filled with dirt."
Deloth: "...?"
Deloth steps a little closer to the door, hoping to catch more of this conversation...
Metal Man: ""Hmmm... Okay, fine. I'll do it... but only because I know you."
Metal Man puts down the phone, and goes to leave... and sees Deloth.
Deloth: "...Hiya."
Metal Man: "Ah! Well, you're awfully timely today. Why, I was just talking about a mission."
Deloth: *coolly* "Oh, good, I was looking for something to do... want me to head to the Big Room?"
Metal Man: "Well, yeah. Let's go."
Metal Man brings out the comms. All dexes broadcast this.
Metal Man: (All Dexes) "Mission has been announced. See Big Room for details."
Deloth starts running to the Big Room
Digifanatic: *takes his Dex out and flips it open*
Digifanatic heads there
Digifanatic: *flips it back*
Metal Man (GM): You all make it there. Metal brings out a dusty book.
Metal Man: "So, we're here now, and have nothing to do. Right?"
Digifanatic: "Practically."
Dragoshi: *Nods, while taking a sip from his drink*
Deloth: "I was hoping I could get another book... not enough cash, though. So what's our mission this time?"
Metal Man: "Well, we got ourselves a find."
Metal Man takes out a picture of the crater from the Dex video.
Metal Man: "Turns out... that crater is still there, thanks to what you did. "And it contains... yes, another piece of Eisnaught."
Dragoshi: "...Interesting."
Metal Man: "Innotek has been excavating it. For their own uses, obviously. However their men are gone for some reason. So you may check it out now."
Digifanatic: "Oh, cool. Well, since we all have nothing much to do, the sooner the better, I'd say. Whenever the Warp Room's ready..."
Metal Man: "The warp room, heh. Of course that's ready, silly me."
SIMBER: "Yes.... you may go."
Metal Man: "Ah!"
SIMBER: "Oh, sorry... I forget. You physical beings don't realize how many times I am watching."
Dragoshi: *Just continues drinking* "Eh."
Metal Man: "...Just don't do that... again. So, anyway, you're free to go now."
Digifanatic: "Heh..." *starts walking over to the Warp Room*
Metal Man (GM): You walk over, noting the nice marble floor and red rugs. Quite posh in this building, isn't it? Much better than the metal tiles some maniac decided were great.
Dragoshi: *Finishes his drink, takes a quick detour to the kitchen to put the glass in the sink, and then he goes back on his path to the Warp Room. Whee*
Deloth heads on to the warp room as well.
Metal Man (GM): You make your way in and... *WARP* You appear in a green field. In fact, you'd think you're in the most boring, unimportant field ever. Except... Your ankles are seemingly sunk into the ground. Clearly... this is no ordinary field. But how are you to know where to go? You can't seem to tell just standing there.
Deloth: "..." *tries to pull his feet out*
Metal Man (GM): In the distance is the Toad Town... and the sun is a bit burnt-looking in the sky, with its setting orange color. Odd how quickly that happened. Deloth: You do so... it's like the grass isn't there. No smell, no physical touch, nothing. You just see it.
Digifanatic wonders if he can just sorta wade his way through this...and then follows Deloth's lead.
Metal Man (GM): It even reacts to wind which, frankly, isn't there. Which way do you go, by the way? The way you're facing?
Digifanatic: "Okay. Are we in zero gravity or something?"
Deloth: "Uhh... something is going very, very wrong here.""
Dragoshi: *Tries to walk like he's going down stairs. >_>*
Metal Man (GM): You walk forward and feel the dirt under your feet, and walk out of the grass. It's a slope you landed on, just half-way inside the weird grass stuff.
Deloth just walks forward, since that seems to be the best option so far
Metal Man (GM): There's real grass outside. This grass... it has a circular-esque diameter.
Digifanatic does so as well...
Deloth: "Weird."
Dragoshi: *Looks at the slope.*
Metal Man (GM): It leads down. Making the fake grass go higher and higher. The fake grass is entirely fake though... so maybe it isn't bad, maybe it is.
Deloth: "...Tell you what, I'll check it out first."
Dragoshi: *Decides to go down, since what the heck.* "Nah, I'll do it"
Deloth turns around and heads down the slope cautiously, sword drawn and ready.
Metal Man (GM): Deloth walks down, sinking in... ...but as he goes down, nothing bad appears to be happening. You walk down, and lo and behold, there's a cavern/crater down here. The hologram lights the place down below it in an eerie white, flickering light. You can see the ceiling as a blurry, grassy window to the above. Of course, that's what Deloth sees. The rest see Deloth vanish beneath. Dragoshi then follows him in.
Digifanatic follows since it's probably not good he's alone...
Metal Man (GM): You're all down there... therefore you see the dimly lit path, deep into the crater.
Deloth blinks and looks around, trying to figure out what the heck is going on in here...
Metal Man (GM): You see something down, in the distance.
Deloth heads down said path, glancing around cautiously as he walks.
Metal Man (GM): The rough dirt shows it was plowed to make a path, but not much else. You see sticks and pipes and broken wires laying around. Eisnaught once connected into these places.
Dragoshi: *Turns on his Electric Torch, which prolly' still has juice for, like...2 rooms or so, then follows behind Del.*
Metal Man (GM): You walk down, and find your first obstacle. There is a building here, even one which leads deeper. But... There's a gigantic pile of rocks atop it.
Digifanatic looks to see how gigantic that is...yeah.
Metal Man (GM): Gigantic. Three-four truckfulls. It does not reach the ceiling.
Digifanatic tries to climb over it then.
Metal Man (GM): Gonna need something big to move it with, though. Your attacks... are just a little two small. Digi: You walk over it easily--the problem is simply getting below. As they block an entrance that goes downwards, further into the pit. The path, though, continues beyond this pile, too...
Deloth continues down that path. He's very curious about what's going on here...
Digifanatic: *from the other side* "Maybe it's better to continue this way first."
Metal Man (GM): Deloth goes over and joins Digi. Up ahead is a construction site. Mounds of piled earth. Broken construction machines.
Dragoshi: *Following...*
Metal Man (GM): An unexplained crater in the center of the site. Inside the crater, a charred computer.
Deloth: "...Okay, this is just spiraling down into the plot for a Twilight Zone episode now."
Deloth heads over to the computer.
Digifanatic: "Heh..."
Metal Man (GM): Several dead men. Appearance of a struggle. There's also a charred note in one of the dead men's hands.
Digifanatic looks to see if the computer just has cosmetic damage or if it's beyond the point of trying to get it to work.
Deloth bends down and reads whatever is left of the note
Metal Man (GM): 'swer the comp' *hole* 'lem. Make it so that I' *hole* 'ome ba' *hole* 'ill' *small hole* 's.'
Deloth: "I hate fill-in-the-blank puzzles..."
Metal Man (GM): You look around. There's not much else here, although there is a single shed. The door hangs open. A light was left on inside.
Deloth: "...Try to fire up that computer, Digi." *walks over to the shed*
Metal Man (GM): The computer looks like Satan himself melted it. Meanwhile, Deloth enters the shed. There are few supplies left here; appears they were almost done. However three boxes lay on the floor, with a sticky note on the wall. 'REMEMBER THE RIGHT BOX--OR YOUR HAND IS FORFEIT' Each box is opened by putting your hand inside it and turning a knob.
Digifanatic: "Uh, I don't think so. Those wires and such have got to be destroyed by now."
Metal Man (GM): They each have a name.
Deloth: "...Aww, crap, it IS a Twilight Zone episode!"
Digifanatic heads into the shed.
Metal Man (GM): 'Cnd' 'Dis' and 'Det' The boxes are rather large, but the opening for the knob is hand like. Er. Hand sized. The knob is shiny and has little indents in it, clearly stylistic. The box itself is made of poorly painted turquoise metal. The metal is very strong; Something hit one of them and only gave it a small dent. Whereas a nearby stand which once held stuff was immolated by whatever gave it that.
Deloth scans the boxes. "Any way to tell what's in those?"
Dex: "Not when they have so much lead on and in them."
Digifanatic decides to scan one of the boxes...
Deloth: "Let's see... I think we can rule out 'Det'."
Dex: "I just said this box was full of lead. That's all I can tell. Sorry."
Dragoshi: "Why rule that one out, if I may ask?"
Deloth: "Detonate."
Digifanatic: "Oh, I didn't know if there was anything else to them."
Dex: "The odd thing is how it has lead paint AND something lead inside... all three of them."
Metal Man (GM): To open them, you need to turn the knob. It apparently does bad things if you turn the wrong one. Hm... gonna need some inductive reasoning to solve this.
Digifanatic: "I'm just wondering, though...if there opening is from the outside, what would happen that would 'forfeit' a hand...
Metal Man (GM): You do have to stick your hand into an enclosed area to reach the knob. Who knows what goes on inside there.
Dragoshi: "No idea. But this is one of those times I wish I had one of those extendable grabbing hands at a time like this." :/
Metal Man (GM): Besides those, you got a light switch and... not much else. Charred up old reference manuals. 'Cnd' 'Dis' and 'Det' Abbreviations? Or a strange alien language? You decide.
Deloth starts clicking the light switch on and off absently while he thinks
Digifanatic: "Hmm...are we thinking about this place too much?"
Deloth: "DIS might be 'dismember'..."
Metal Man (GM): Deloth: Click click click click. On and off it goes. The light switch feels a little dirty.
Digifanatic: "Oh, geez...how did I not think of that..."
Deloth reaches in and turns the "CND" knob
Digifanatic: "I mean, unless something important is inside one of those boxes..."
Metal Man (GM): *SNAP* ...No, that's not your hand being chopped off. That's the front opening. It reveals construction and demolition materials. Good ole' Construction version of C-4, shovels, picks, a few small girders, screws, etc.
Deloth: "Hey, I was right! Cool!"
Metal Man (GM): Looks like stuff for small jobs, including enough material to make a small tunnel.
Dragoshi: "Good job, Del."
Deloth grabs some of the supplies and makes a beeline back to the pile of rocks
Metal Man (GM): You do so.
Digifanatic: "The C-4's probably good for our cause... Not sure about the rest."
Metal Man (GM): The rocks. They look cracked and old. And granite. Natural ones. Odd, because there isn't any mountains nearby.
Dragoshi: *Nods as he grabs some of the supplies as well, and heads back. Whee.*
Metal Man (GM): Looks almost... intentional.
Deloth then starts a'mining. And if it IS, not much we can do about it right now, eh?
Digifanatic heads back outside but stays out of the range of the C4.
Deloth tries to mine with C-4.
Deloth: *I REALLY hope you're out of range, then, guys.*
Digifanatic: *He made sure he was when he left the shed*
Dragoshi: *Is also out of range. What kind of fool do you take me for?*
Metal Man (GM): You put it in there best you can....
BOOOOOOOM
Metal Man (GM): It rains shrapnel for quite a large distance, also cracking the ground and potentially busting some underground stuff. Luckily, everyone else already ran out of range... so no death. You reveal a (now burnt) chasm which goes down 50 feet. Naturally you can't just jump down, and if there was a ladder, you just blew it up. And it's pitch black down there.
Deloth: "...oops."
Dragoshi: "...Should have used the picks." :/
Metal Man (GM): So then... how will you get down today, Carmen Sandiego?
Digifanatic hopes that if can leap down "into" the walls of the chasm, it'll be soft enough to slow down his descent with minimal damage...
Digifanatic: "Here's hoping the sides aren't jagged and all..."
Metal Man (GM): *BONK* Continue. *Nice footstep* Digi slows himself enough to not become a digital pancake. However, he makes a loud crashing noise on the bottom--too late by then to get another jump, thanks to that crud first jump. 45 damage and he's in the dark.
Deloth hops down, trying to use wall kicks to slow down his fall...
Metal Man (GM): *Bowling ball noises*
Digifanatic is bruised a bit but he gets up.
Metal Man (GM): Deloth nearly fumbles the first one, makes a mediocre one on the second, then slows down a bit more. He lands hard too... but it's only 25 damage. And on his feet, instead of crashing into it.
Digifanatic: "You okay?"
Metal Man (GM): Sound echoes in these corridors.
Dragoshi: *And, then Dragoshi goes last, following the same method the other two used*
Metal Man (GM): The sound of you crashing, for example.
Deloth: *after checking to make sure nothing's broken...* "Yeah, I think so."
Metal Man (GM): Dragoshi speeds up and falls onto his head. Ow. 30 damage. You're now all down here. There's two ways to go: Left, or right.
Dragoshi: *Gets up and dusts himself off*
Metal Man (GM): These are old hallways from the city of Eisnaught. Made of a weird blue stone... possessing mostly dead ceiling lights and old paintings. The paintings are of the Questers, Ivan Robotnik, Gerald Robotnik, and the Smashers.
Digifanatic: "Have any more torches?"
Metal Man (GM): It feels a bit like home... and also a bit sad. Oh, yes. The electric torch is running out of power by now... slowly. To the left way you hear nothing. To the right way, you hear water.
Deloth heads right.
Dragoshi: "No..." *Follows behind Del*
Digifanatic: *Better to follow..* *Right*
Dragoshi: *Right*
Metal Man (GM): Heading towards water, you find yourself walking through some. The explosion cracked open a pipe, or maybe an underground stream. It's leaking into this sector.
Digifanatic: *Goes along with it and keeps moving*
Metal Man (GM): You keep on going. You find... a miner man. Unsurprising. However, this Miner sees you...
Miner: "Ahhhh!!! More Quester robots!!!"
Digifanatic: "Whoa, whoa...we're not robots."
Metal Man (GM): He runs off screaming, and you only get a glimpse of his overalls and white shirt, and yellow hat with light. You hear his footsteps. Perhaps him running is a good thing, because he takes the left path at a fork ahead. You'll have to hurry a little to follow him though.
Digifanatic starts running to follow him.
Dragoshi: *Starts running, and follows the miner*
Digifanatic: *and takes the appropriate end of the fork*
Metal Man (GM): You follow him. You begin seeing... old places... hm... clearly... these levels were built in Season 2. Or at least, immediately after it. Depictions of The Void, sneering at you even now. Satellites. Smithy. Ivan Robotnik... The man runs by and hits the only area with a doorway. He opens the door, then slams it shut behind him.... the lock's broken, though. It does give him a chance to hide, however. The door has a sign over it. 'MAINT AREA J.'
Digifanatic gently knocks on the door.
Digifanatic: "Hello? Are you okay?"
Metal Man (GM): You get no response. The door swings open, though. It shows a massive ruined maintenance area. Everything busted. Big ol' pipes, computers, the works. Rocks fell, everyone in here died... and so did the machinery,. There's a pile of debris that's shaking, though. It seems rather obvious. There's water pooling in areas of this room.
Digifanatic slowly walks in and heads over to the pile of debris.
Digifanatic: "You're being nervous over nothing."
Dragoshi: *Also does the same, checking the electric torch to see how much juice it has left 'fore it goes out.*
Digifanatic: "Trust me, we'd only hurt you if there were a justifiable reason to do so, and so far, there isn't one."
Metal Man (GM): You take out the debris. Instead of a miner, however, you see... Razor. Wait a minute... He stands up, and you see that he is obviously a robot. As no Razor around had 'Q.U.E.S.T.E.R. EMERGENCY REPAIR SYSTEM' on their forehead.
Digifanatic: "Oh. I apologize. I thought you were someone else... But still, no reason to harm you."
Razorbot: "State your purpose in this area." He holds up a weird energy weapon. "Or I toast you into tiny bits."
Digifanatic: "Mere exploration."
Razorbot: "And you are?" His eyes are damaged. Likely he can't tell.
Digifanatic: .oO(Oh man...whether to lie or tell the truth.)
Razorbot: "Not many people wait that long. If I weren't in such bad condition, you would be dead by now."
Digifanatic: "A friend of Metal Man's."
Razorbot: "..."
Metal Man (GM): He raises his sword at your neck.
Razorbot: "A Quester, or a flunky? I cannot allow random people who come here to live. It would... damage the system. Ivan... would not be pleased."
Digifanatic: .oO(Ask no questions.) *calmly answers* "I am a Quester, but I come in peace."
Dragoshi: *Stays silent and lets Digi talk*
Razorbot: "A Quester?" He smirks incredulously. "Why did you take so long?" He shoves Digi back. You feel his strength as you fly backwards. "The city vanished, but the bunkers did not. If you had come before these idiots had... we could have found Ivan by now."
Digifanatic: .oO(Cause I wasn't sure how you'd react.)
Razorbot: "Now our systems are damaged, and we're down to a few robots. Naturally, me, Star Steel, and some others you'll see. The Deloth one was never the same after he blew himself up with C-4 by accident."
Digifanatic: .oO(Okay, that is weird...and this sounds like there's a bot of me back when I was a brat...)
Dragoshi: "...I see. That sounds like it didn't end well..."
Razorbot: "Now. I need... your help. And you cannot refuse."
Digifanatic: .oO(Another favor?)
Razorbot: "The bunkers must be reactivated for us to find Ivan. Then, and only then, are our jobs complete. As we have failed to protect the city... our only recourse is the emergency device Ivan left behind."
Metal Man (GM): He begins walking down a corridor.
Dragoshi: *Follows behind*
Digifanatic: *keeps going*
Razorbot: "Oh... of course, you can delay, but you cannot avoid doing it for me/Ivan. As your clever plan to get in didn't take into account that chasm collapsed shortly after you walked from it."
Metal Man (GM): He walks to the fork. There's a locked door. He flips it open with a key he has.
Razorbot: "He requested we take any Questers we find... here."
Metal Man (GM): He shows... why... it's the room Vector would tell you to go to! Er... The Computer room. It looks pretty bad, though. There is a light, though. You see that Razorbot appears to be a caricature of a strong man with brownish hair and red eyes, and a freaky energy sword. And a brown shirt and jeans... perhaps it is off. So few images of Razor exist. He has various metallic holes in him. The computer room, in addition, possesses only one computer that looks functional.
Razorbot: "The construction men found one of our computers and busted it. Luckily it was one of Ivan's cursed holograms--it killed them before eventually losing to their massed force. Then they buried the chasm and ran like cowards. Like that one you chased into that room. This is the real thing... but..."
Metal Man (GM): He presses the button. Nothing happens.
Razorbot: "I am not a real Quester. You... you are. Press the button."
Digifanatic: "Okay..." *press*
Dragoshi: "Fair enough." *Press button, get...something* *Nevermind. Digi already did it*
Metal Man (GM): You press it. It turns on.... ... ... *CLICK* *SHAKE* The entire room shakes violently. The lights turn on. Ivan's hologram appears.
Ivan Robotnik: "Reactivating systems. Reactivating systems. ... .. ... ... Ivan Robotnik is not in the building."
Metal Man (GM): It turns around once, twice, and three times. The ground shakes again.
Ivan Robotnik: "... ... ... ..."
Metal Man (GM): It stands there.
Razorbot: "Now... all we must do is go to that place. We needed the computer, for, you see... hm. What was it again? You remember? I think that button did something to my memory."
Digifanatic: "Well, the button only recognized Questers... As in...would 'organic' be the right word?"
Dragoshi: "Damned if I know..."
Razorbot: "Uh, hm. That wasn't it. We need to go to..."
Dragoshi: *Mumbles as he checks his Dex, checking to see where we needed to go to again. >_>*
Digifanatic: "Reactivate the bunkers."
Dex: "He said something about an emergency place."
Digifanatic: "That's what you said..."
Metal Man (GM): The Ivan Hologram suddenly glows.
Ivan Robotnik: "Enemy... enemy detected! Enemies! Detected!!!!"
Metal Man (GM): He suddenly spins around and leaps at the Razorbot... but fails to scratch him at all, due to the fact he's a hologram.
Dragoshi: "...Is it supposed to do that?"
Razorbot: "...Looks like the program's not doing so well after 30 years. Let's get going... now."
Metal Man (GM): He begins running.
Digifanatic: "Alright." *follows the bot*
Dragoshi: "...Yea, that sounds good." *Also gets to running*
Metal Man (GM): That must be a bad omen, since with Razor-like stats only someone like Julian could hope to match him. As you run to your destination... Screens of Ivan chase you as you run. The group is running to the 'emergency' bunker that some Quester-based robot of Ivan's mentioned. The Ivan screens all say the same thing, though they have no way to stop the group. (The session resumed at this point..)
Ivan Robotnik: "Do not go any further! You are intruders! The destruction of all is nigh!"
Metal Man (GM): The hallways, of course, are made out of Ivan's favorite blue material. Although now it's cracked and has some weeds growing in it. Razorbot took the Questers down the previously unused right-way path, leading them directly down a staircase, where we resume now.
Dragoshi: "..." *Just keeps ignoring it, and continues running* .oO(Seriously. What the hell is up with the blue.)
Metal Man (GM): He seems worried, which is bad... considering he is a robot.
Razorbot: "Something has gone wrong for sure now. I thought it was bad when one of us died inexplicably, but this just isn't something the hologram would do. It seems something more frightening than Charles Magellean has descended upon us..."
Digifanatic: "I haven't heard from Ivan for years, so I wouldn't know..."
Metal Man (GM): Your steps echo as the same message pops up on walls, ceilings, floors, everywhere. His angry face following not short behind.
Ivan Robotnik: "Stop now and you will not be punished! You are intruders! The destruction of all is nigh!"
Dragoshi: *Just stays silent and continues following behind* .oO(...Peculiar) "That is really getting annoying..."
Metal Man (GM): You continue clacking your way down the rocky stairs. It smells considerably more watery down here, sort of dank and mossy.
Dragoshi: *silent for the most part*
Metal Man (GM): The temperature's colder down these stairs, and you begin to feel the occasional dirt patch as you run.
Deloth: "Must be under construction..."
Razorbot: "There is only one thing which can complete my mission left, and it is this. All the others died trying. I have been informed the irony of this, as it appears my real-life duplicate died quite early..."
Metal Man (GM): You begin running out of breath. But not to fear: A big door looms in the distance.
Deloth: "I REALLY hope that thing's unlocked..." *takes another deep breath and keeps running*
Digifanatic walks up to the door and tries to find out.
Metal Man (GM): You hit it. The voice echoes behind you... the door has a large rusted lock on it.
Razorbot: "? ... !" He shakes his head. "I forgot. He said only a Quester could open it. He also said something about chaos. I forgot."
Deloth: "...You JUST told us this?"
Digifanatic: "Well, after the computer, I wouldn't be surprised."
Deloth: "Why couldn't you have said something EARLIER?!"
Digifanatic sees if he can use some attack to bust the lock apart...try a Fire Punch. That might melt the metal off.
Metal Man (GM): You punch the door. It blasts open.
Razorbot: "I don't know." He shakes his head. "It was 25 years ago."
Digifanatic runs in.
Dragoshi: *Runs in as well*
Deloth: *runs in after the others*
Metal Man (GM): BLAM!~ It opens right up, revealing an average-sized room.. ..a computer room, but this one much more secretive. The consoles are all heavily secured. Too bad they're fried and covered in moss. Somebody abandoned this long ago. Ivan's hologram flickers in again, at the center of the room, where a metal panel is covering... something.
Ivan Robotnik: "You must turn back, intruders! This... this is dangerous! You can't do this!"
Razorbot: "It's in your hands now... I've finally finished my life's work." He leans back.
Digifanatic takes a look at the metal cover...bolted? Placed down? Something else?
Metal Man (GM): It's obviously a formerly motorized one. Behind it is a mass of machinery, obviously it's something important.
Deloth runs over to the panel and starts prying...
Ivan Robotnik: "I developed this only for an emergency! You can't do this!"
Digifanatic decides he might as well try an Ath check if Deloth's isn't good enough.
Metal Man (GM): Deloth: You find an easy thing to open it with. However... before you can open it...
Ivan Robotnik: "Inside this hatch is the most powerful weapon ever created! It... cannot be opened... unless you want to destroy the world you live on! I only made it as a last resort... but it is not needed. That is why you should not open it."
Aribar warps in beside the other Questers.* "Apologies for not being here recently.. I took a bit of an unexpected leave of absence to train."
Ivan Robotnik: "Here, look for yourselves!"
Dragoshi: "... Why do people make stuff like this again."
Metal Man (GM): He shows a hologram. A robot, semi-tall, bunch of crazy technical information.
Ivan Robotnik: "Of course... it is a bit old, if the system time is correct."
Metal Man (GM): You see around you. It appears to be posters. But they're covered in moss.
Dragoshi: "What's the system time say? It prolly' is correct, but I just need to know. Confirmation an' all that rot."
Metal Man (GM): You can't tell what they say.
Ivan Robotnik: "At least twenty years since the last person checked this place..."
Dragoshi: "That sounds about right..."
Digifanatic: "Okay..."
Dragoshi: *Tries to carefully wipe the moss off of one of the posters so he can read it.*
Metal Man (GM): You see it. It explains the area. 'IRON STORM LABS--In case the Questers are not enough.'
Digifanatic takes a closer look at the robot hologram...just to see what exactly it has that might blow up the planet.
Metal Man (GM): 'Now creating a weapon capable of destroying The Void, Kuja, and more! Should the worst happen, Ivantek shall not surrender to their evil ways.' 'Of course, you must be working here to see this, but not even the printers of this must know what it truly is!' And that's all. There's several, mostly copies. But the robot seems... almost mundane.
Deloth: "So, uh... what's the big deal here?"
Ivan Robotnik: "I do not know. It is almost if... Something has gone awry."
Dragoshi: *Tries to carefully wipe moss offa the other posters to see if they say the same thing* "Such as...?"
Aribar keeps an eye on the hologram but glances over at the poster Dragoshi is dealing with as well..* "Hm... So much for having confidence in the Questers to do the right thing."
Digifanatic then looks at the robot's overall "physique"...what's attached to it, etc.
Ivan Robotnik: "I cannot be sure. You shouldn't have been told where this is."
Metal Man (GM): Not much is attached to it, it looks like a normal humanoid form robot, slightly taller than average.
???: "HA HA HAA HAA HAAAH!"
Digifanatic: "Oh, now what?"
Metal Man (GM): The strange laugh echoes through the room.
Deloth: "..."
Ivan Robotnik: "Now what could that be?"
Dragoshi: "Oy. Okay, who's the lunatic of the week...day...whatever." *In response to the laugh*
Deloth sighs, takes out his sword, and gets ready for the inevitable rumble.
Metal Man (GM): He turns around. A weird white bomb lands where he is and blows up. The hologram is knocked out.
???: "HA HA HAA HAAAH!"
Aribar puts a hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword and mutters a curse for his lack of information on this situation.*
Metal Man (GM): *THUNK* A very strange looking man falls from the ceiling and lands before the hatch, holding a white pistol. In fact, he also has a strange white hat, with a wide brim. Almost like a pimp hat. White boots with untied laces... white shirt... white trench coat. His face is strangely smooth; almost painted. His flesh being also.. white. Razorbot turns and looks at him.
Razorbot: "Hey, you don't belong here! I'll--"
Dragoshi: *Just readies his IAM...* "..."
???: "HA HA HAA HAA HAAH!"
Metal Man (GM): He spins his gun and shoots the Razorbot in the shoulder. The white bullet tears his entire arm off and flings him over, spinning. What kind of bullets are in that thing? Elephant killers?
Dragoshi: "That laugh is getting really annoying."
Metal Man (GM): Whatever they are, you realize why he dropped down. He spins his gun, smirks, and then shoots the ground beneath him. He then backs up, pointing at you with his left hand. He walks back a bit... and stops. Odd. Nothing has happened. What do you do? The weird man has bizarre white eyes to boot, and is rather lanky. Almost inhumanly so.
Digifanatic looks to see if there's another room ahead of them.
Metal Man (GM): He makes a motion as if to beckon you forward. There's no room ahead of you.
Aribar: "Ahh, does anyone know who this guy is?"
Metal Man (GM): The man begins chuckling creepily at Aribar.
Digifanatic: "I'm not sure if he'll let us know who he is."
Metal Man (GM): He then spins his gun and fires into the air. A light fixture falls down just an inch shy of Aribar and messily shatters. He then makes the beckoning motion with his left finger again.
Deloth: "Well, he's obviously insane..."
Metal Man (GM): Odd.
Deloth blinks, wondering whether to step forward or not...
Metal Man (GM): There aren't any overhead light fixtures. The man's standing just on the edge of the light and appears vulnerable to attacks.
Aribar jumps away from the broken light... That just appeared.* "I do believe this isn't a normal foe.."
Metal Man (GM): Although he's pretty nasty with his gun--you're pretty sure he wasted his last bullet on that one, as he ejects a cartridge onto the ground and doesn't bother to reload. There's plenty, Dragoshi.
Deloth steps forward VERY cautiously, ready to spring an attack at a moment's notice...
Metal Man (GM): Deloth walks closer. He grins with his shark-like teeth. He makes the beckoning motion again and then strikes an odd pose.
???: "HAA HAA HAA HAA HAAA!" Wonder why he laughed there.
Dragoshi: *takes a pebble and throws it down on the part of the floor the guy in white shot, making sure it isn't a trap or somethin'*
Metal Man (GM): It bounces off of it harmlessly. Makes a clanking noise, though.
Aribar looks about the room to make sure the white man isn't just a diversion.*
Metal Man (GM): There is no other movement in the room.
Deloth: "Guys, be ready to fire..."
Metal Man (GM): The man in white idly spins a white bomb on the tip of his left finger, like a basketball. Apparently, he has ADD.
Deloth takes another slow, cautious step forwards...
Metal Man (GM): He starts fidgeting oddly, although he seems to like Deloth coming towards him.
???: "HAH." He juggles three of the white bombs at once while Deloth is still about 10 steps away from him.
Deloth continues walking forwards slowly...
Aribar: "Can you do something other than laugh and fool about?"
Metal Man (GM): You walk forwards. Indeed, you get within arm's length of him...
???: "HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAA!!!"
Metal Man (GM): He psychotically jerks back into the darkness, and you can only see his white pupils, which glow.
Dragoshi: *Just stays behind, keeping his gun at the ready...* .oO(Seriously. that is one hell of a grating laugh)
Digifanatic holds his position for a bit...
Metal Man (GM): *SLAM* His gun hits something metallic, and possibly with glass. You hear a shattering noise as... ... ... A computer powers up. Then another. Then another. Then the entire room lights up with computers. The man laughs to himself once more, before backflipping into the darkness and vanishing in the split second it takes for the lights to come on. You wonder what that was all about. ....
Dragoshi: *And, you know what one does to unnecessarily turned on computer? Try and turn it of course.*
Metal Man (GM): Until you hear a grating noise coming from where the guy shot. Dragoshi touches the computer. *BZZZAP* The jerk decided to smash it in such a way it'd zap you. 5 damage.
Dragoshi: *Ow. Kinda. Sorta.*
Aribar watches as the man disappears and glances about the room at the various computers. The half-elf gives pause when he hears the noise and slowly turns towards the spot.*
Metal Man (GM): *SNAP* *BANG* The metal covering that Ivan warned you about suddenly bulges. *BANG* A hand-shaped dent appears under it. A large... large hand.
Deloth: "...Oh, dammit."
Metal Man (GM): *BLAM* The hatch busts loose--and all because he shot off the hinge.
Aribar: "I do believe things are about to get very bad.." *The elf calls up his magic in advance to the trial that will soon come.*
Digifanatic: .oO(Now what?)
Metal Man (GM): A humanoid-esque mecha rises out of the hole. It is... severely incomplete, although it has 'PROJECT IRON STORM' engraved on its head framework. It is mostly made out of framework with no plates to protect its innards. to boot, its left arm is incomplete--no hand and only the start of a wrist. It has one machinegun mounted to its right shoulder and a right fist, and a left eye. Its powerful reactor core module is unprotected and easily hittable, surrounded by minimal framework. It has fully functional legs and even a chair in the head where an operator would sit--but no workable controls.
Dragoshi: *Dexes it to see what kind of core it has, though. >_>*
Dex: "...DING! Iron Storm Protoype 0.13 B; Desc: A horribly incomplete prototype of Ivan's. It is relatively easy to damage (due to its exposed core.) According to files structured on its insecure disk, it was abandoned when Eisnaught vanished due to being 'too strong'. There are further files, but for some reason those are locked... manual retrieval necessary. It appears to be Ivantek in origin.; HP: 0/133; Defense/Init: q5; Attacks: Bullet Storm: Threatens all, q5, 15 damage, Rate 1, Speed 8.; Fast Punch: q10, 25 damage, Rate 3, Speed 8.; Malfunction: q1, 9000 damage, Rate 0, Speed 10."
Metal Man (GM): The mecha hears the ding and is apparently enraged by it. It marches at you with intent to kill. It is hideously unbalanced. It walks in a lurching manner. The computers around you show you what it sees and what it is thinking-- Entirely in computer logic, of course. It sees in a strange set of colors. Apparently, thermal, radar, and various other things humans and such cannot perceive. For some reason it has set your IDs as "Kuja". That is strange.
Deloth: "Uh-oh."
Metal Man (GM): Then again... you see the computer which that guy smashed. It reads--"ID CALCULATING COMPUTER" So, apparently, that guy just blew up its ability to tell friend from foe. Gee. Like you needed that. The Iron Storm goes first. What will it do? It lunges at Aribar, shooting sparks and spinning wildly, while firing bullets everywhere. It then trips at him while doing this and spinning.
Aribar quickly summons up a magic shield to deflect the bullets!
Metal Man (GM): Aribar recognizes the telltale pattern and leaps out of the way before where he was just standing is blown to bits by overkill attacking and it falling over on it.
Digifanatic is somehow surprised that Iron Storm survived that one...but he decides to Fire Punch Iron Storm before giving it one of those golf club smashes...
Metal Man (GM): Hit, hit. It is rather pathetic at that.
Aribar lands from his leap and springs towards the robot, gathering an electric charge as he flies through the air. The mage calls out, "Thunderstruck!" before slamming shoulder-first into the dangerous robot and discharging his spell's energy into it.
Dragoshi: *And, Dragoshi starts his turn off by opening fire on the Iron Storm with the Innotek Android Machinegun. Twice, at that.*
Metal Man (GM): Ari misses; Dragoshi does not.
Deloth jumps up and attacks the Iron Storm with a Fire Twist!
Metal Man (GM): Hit. Deloth's turn again!
Deloth: *Ah, well then... Bomb Kick!*
Metal Man (GM): Hit.
Digifanatic: *We know Iron Storm isn't immune to fire...but what about music? Let's go for it. A Day in the Life to the robot...* *Not this time*
Metal Man (GM): Miss.
Aribar commands the air stirred up by the battle to come to the mage and form into razor-sharp blades! They spin faster and faster about the elf as he charges past the robot, each sword attempting to get in a jab or slice at the core. The elf then skids to a halt and takes off to make another pass at Iron Storm!
Digifanatic: *Meh. Let's slip in one Icy Kick to at least try once more this turn.*
Metal Man (GM): Hit, hit, miss.
Dragoshi: *And, Dragoshi continues trying to shoot up that thar Iron Storm with another two barrages from his IAM*
Metal Man (GM): Miss, hit. What will it do now? It aims at Aribar, and... ... ... violently punches at him! 25 damage a hit. Man, that's a fast right hook.
Aribar tries his best to bob and weave through the punches!
Aribar floats like a butterfly right into each and every punch.. He's knocked off the feet and in a world of pain right now.
Metal Man (GM): The mecha moves in for the kill, but sparks fly. Apparently the 'horrible death by punching' feature isn't complete yet.
Deloth: *Charging up...*
Aribar groans as he struggles to get back onto his feet. The elf retreats back behind the other and consumes two Mushrooms to take the edge off of that terrible beating.
Metal Man (GM): It can't dodge very well right now.
Dragoshi: *And Dragoshi continues his barrage of machinegun fire. Whee. Because yes.*
Metal Man (GM): Hit, hit.
Digifanatic: *Hyper Beam Matrix, stat.*
Metal Man (GM): The prototype shudders and then violently explodes. Wait a minute... not entirely. Firstly, it shoots out a hard drive. One formerly protected. ...
???: "HA HA HAAH HAAA!"
Metal Man (GM): Right into the hands of a waiting weird white man. That guy again.
Deloth: *groan*
Dragoshi: *Tries to take the hard drive before laughing guy gets i-...*
Metal Man (GM): Apparently he decided it'd be funny if he took it.
Dragoshi: "..." *Tries to shoot it out of his hand. Because yes*
Metal Man (GM): *BLAM* You shoot the hard drive to bits.
Dragoshi: "Shut up"
???: "HAA HAA HAAH HAAAA!"
Metal Man (GM): He managed to move it into the way somehow. Although he is bleeding, he waves his finger at you and leaps away. Just now Trevor and a bunch of robotic, Machine-made-esque robot soldiers march in.
Trevor: "...Dang. Too late, I assume?"
Dragoshi: "Yes."
Deloth: "Oh, come ON..."
Metal Man (GM): The computers glitch out and begin showing 'ERROR' everywhere, since the robot they were controlling is dead...
Trevor: "I heard of this place when those Innotek fools found something similar and lost a lot of men to it. This was no exception, apparently. I assume it was a very powerful weapon?"
Dragoshi: "Yes."
Aribar turns to see this new face. The other Questers don't seem to be worried so the elf relaxes a bit.* "I may have came in at the very end of this and know little of what is going on, but it appears as if this mission is a bit of a loss.."
Dragoshi: "It was a prototype though."
Trevor: "Ah, but what is a loss?"
Metal Man (GM): He glances to Aribar, staring at the wreckage.
Dragoshi: "We destroyed it, and it shot out...that" *Points to the remnants of the Hard drive*
Trevor: "..."
Metal Man (GM): He shrugs and picks up the hard drive.
Trevor: "Perhaps if we lived on Earth. But you forget that I am... a data lifeform, and therefore this appears as data before my eyes... corrupted, perhaps, but I can fix it."
Dragoshi: "And some crazy laughing jerk in a trench coat wanted it, so...I tried to shoot it out of his hand, and...ye-Ah."
Trevor: "Hm." He glances at the blood. "What were you fighting, anyway? This blood... it doesn't seem human. But... Ivan never did any experiments of that variety..."
Aribar: "Hm. What is a loss? I suppose not this mission if you have the means to read that.."
Metal Man (GM): The Razorbot finally, weakly, stands up.
Razorbot: "That man... he seemed familiar. But his name... why is it an enigma to me?"
Dragoshi: "...What kind of variety, if I may ask?"
Deloth: "We don't know, Trevor. Some all-white nutcase with these weird shark teeth."
Dragoshi: "Yep."
Trevor: *Turns around* "And what is this?" He glances at Razorbot. "..."
Dragoshi: "And a rather powerful gun...Along with a couple of bombs, apparently"
Trevor: "Figures Ivan would parrot Questers in his robot designs. Let's get out of here. Ivan's creepy genetic experiments are probably still about."
Metal Man (GM): He begins walking out. The soldiers salute and go to follow. *CRUNCH* You hear something snap in the rafters.
Dragoshi: "Sounds like a good idea in all hones-..." *Looks up at the rafters. Hoo boy*
Aribar looks to the rafters and holds up a hand glowing with magic energy. If it is that white man again...
Metal Man (GM): A gigantic girder lands on Trevor's men, crushing them in one blow... ..and the weird man riding atop of it. He takes out his gun and shoots Razorbot the second time, blowing his head clean off. However, he throws the bomb and Trevor shoots it back at him, causing him to land atop the mecha, with speed you'd think would kill him.
Digifanatic: "I could only imagine what my robot was like...and I don't necessarily mean that in a good way."
???: "Ugh.... ..." He stands up. "HAA HAA HAA--" You might want to hit him now.
Metal Man (GM): His hand snakes for some part of the busted robot.
Deloth dashes forwards and attempts to Fire Twist him!
Dragoshi: *Opens fire on him. With the assault rifle this time*
Trevor: "Stop that man! He's clearly someone important! And stupid!"
???: "HAA HAA HAA HAAH!"
Aribar tries to (belatedly) blast the robot with Holy!*
Metal Man (GM): He dances like Michael Jackson around the shots, then grabs a weird rocket-like module.
Dragoshi: "...What the hell."
Metal Man (GM): He gives you the thumbs up sign and then straps it to his back, and rockets... into the ceiling... *BANG* and apparently THROUGH a vent? The Holy singes his feet on his way out.
Deloth: "..."
Dragoshi: "...Okay, what just happened there."
???: "HAA HAA HAA H-OW! HAAA HAAA!" *PING*
Metal Man (GM): He's gone. Trevor shakes his head.
Trevor: "I identified the bomb he used. It was clearly Ivan Technology."
Metal Man (GM): He holds his hands out to the computers around you.
Deloth: "Terrific..."
Trevor: "He knew of this technology and used it to annoy you."
Aribar sighs. "Has a single good thing ever come from a Robotnik?"
Digifanatic: "Strange that only a few years ago Ivan was our ally..."
Trevor: "He probably didn't even need that hard drive!!! And to think, he blew away 20 good Machine Mades and a prototype Ivan Quester robot thing... oh well... Oh, forgot this.
Digifanatic: "Oh?"
Metal Man (GM): He hands Dragoshi a disk.
Trevor: "While that went on I managed to decode some of the disk's information."
Dragoshi: *Takes it* "Thank you."
Trevor: "It's not very useful to me, so." He brushes his hair at you and then walks through a wall, vanishing abruptly.
Metal Man (GM): The file is a simple text file. STORMBOT.DAT It contains a bunch of gibberish, and a few text lines of interest. 'This robot is made to help protect the Questers should they fail' and 'To keep it secret, I did a number of strange things to ensure no one would think I was making such a thing.' And a final one. 'I preserved pieces of it across sectors of Eisnaught so it would be assembled when needed. In particular, one inside a tower near the fountain area, and a second in the bunker, and *glitchy junk*'
Dex: "Further information indicates Eisnaught broke into roughly 5 pieces when it vanished."
Deloth: "...of COURSE."
Aribar: "I am going to make the assumption that we came here to procure this robot?"
Dex: "We apparently have found one piece of it here, as this file has a large amount of anomalous data not related to the robot. However, that strange man managed to damage the code. How annoying. No, merely to investigate what was going on here."
Dragoshi: "Quite annoying."
Metal Man (GM): The ground shakes, blocks falling out of the ceiling.
Dex: "It appears our fighting destabilized the ruins."
Dragoshi: "Anyway, I do believe we should get out of here." *Calls a warp back to HQ*
Dex: "Warp activated." A blue warp appears as the entire place begins shaking to pieces.
Dragoshi: *Enters the warp*
Deloth jumps into the warp
Aribar glances up to the ceiling.* "Quite a good idea." *Hastens into the warp.*
Digifanatic: *warps*
Metal Man (GM): You warp out, and back to HQ. Though the mission is over, Metal has more to say; you appear in the Big Room. Bigger Room, actually.
Digifanatic: *hangs around to hear the news*
Metal Man: "Hm... this gives me an idea, but I'm gonna need to ask you guys your opinion."
Dragoshi: *Hands Metal the disk* "Okay, now shoot."
Metal Man: "The purple disk was a flop, basically. But this..."
Digifanatic: "Uh oh."
Metal Man: "This machine you discovered. It was made to help us, right? Maybe we should re-assemble it and store it away. We did that once before with something else and it came in handy, at least."
Aribar: "Don't these things typically come back to haunt us as often as they help us?"
Metal Man: "That other time didn't haunt us, though... we just only got one use out of it. One use, though, that was useful." *He nods* "Of course, it's your choice. If you're interested we can start looking for clues on a third piece of Eisnaught."
Digifanatic: "Is Kuja going to stalk this disc?"
Metal Man: "Disc?" *Shakes his head* "It's apparently more than just data."
Aribar: "... Apologies since I've been missing recently, but.. Did you just say Kuja? He's not back.... Is he?"
Metal Man: "I don't know exactly what it's supposed to be, however. The prototype you faced was so early that is an alpha. So we can't tell where it went after that."
Digifanatic: "Well, a spirit or so... Not a bodily form, though."
Dragoshi: "Only in ghost form, Ari." :/
Metal Man: "Kuja is dead, but his spirit is stuck in limbo, and he is mostly powerless. Something like this could kill him for good, though. Of course, so could the ARK's death ray... but he wouldn't just walk into it."
Digifanatic: "Okay, I apologize for my choice of words, but...is there any chance he'd be looking for what we've obtained?"
Metal Man: "Possibly. I'm fairly sure Trevor was looking for it, too. And Innotek, too! In fact, those Innotek morons were the ones who got there first. Our data shows they just didn't bring enough guns to repel the defenses."
Aribar: "... Okay, I fully support getting this machine built just to stop Kuja before someone finds a way to revive him."
Metal Man: "That was why it wasn't as nasty as it should have been. You see..."
Metal Man (GM): *Pictures of hallways filled with spikes, flamethrowers, fans, spiked ceilings, water, etc.*
Metal Man: "They'd been taking their sweet time de-trapping it. Almost 3 years, if your log is correct."
Dragoshi: "Ah. Well, that makes a lot of sense, then."
Metal Man: "But they apparently were in between shifts when we busted in and activated the stuff which caused its self destruction. Then Trevor's men... hoo boy."
Digifanatic: "I see."
Metal Man brings up a video.
Dragoshi: "We just pretty much snatched their hard work out of their hands."
Metal Man (GM): You see Machine Mades marching in and shooting it out with Innotek people. Trevor walks through a column of Innotek people like they're toys, pushing them over and blasting them away. He slices many in half with a white light saber.
Metal Man: "You'd probably be dead had you fought that son of a... ...he appears to have been unaffected by the big dimensional switch."
Digifanatic: "Okay, that's good. Well, Trevor holding his own."
Metal Man: "So, that's the Q and A for today. It might take a little bit to set up another mission--just be ready. Dismissed."
Digifanatic: "Alright."