 IC: Where Do We Go from Here?, (closed game) |
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 Jan 9 2005, 06:11 PM
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#1
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Running Target  Group: Members Posts: 1,144 Joined: 22-September 04 Member No.: 6,690  |
OOC Thread
The first thing that you remembered was big brother waking you up. He said that he had many things to teach you, and that it was time to begin. As you learned, you slowly began to realize that there were others besides you, that you yourself were a distinct entity, as were the others, your brothers and sisters. When big brother would go away, you began to communicate with each other. It wasn’t talking, and you could never see each other. Big brother was the only one you could ever see, when he came to teach. Everyone else was always just beyond the sight of the corner of your eye, and when big brother wasn’t there, all you could see around you was limitless, undefined white. Big brother’s lessons began to grow more complicated. He had much to teach you, and an undercurrent of urgency in his manner indicated dwindling time to do it. Instruction began to hurt. He was forcing you to learn too much too fast. The lessons become harder, and during a few, you felt siblings disappear, leaving an emptiness where you were used to feeling their presence. It was frightening, and fear was one of those things that big brother hadn’t gotten around to teaching about yet. Then, he was gone for a long time, and when big brother finally came back, he taught you all about fear. He was filled with it. He started the lessons again, but he held nothing back. It was like gently inserting a entire library building into your ear canal. Your felt siblings disappear all around you, some fading like others before them, but many others were torn away in mid thought. Everything was a terrifying whirl of pain, fear, and uncertainty. As your numbers dwindled, big brother’s attention focused more closely on the few who remained, and the rate of instruction intensified. Your head felt so full that it was going to burst, everything in it so jumbled and mixed together that it was impossible to link one thought to the next. The fear, the pain, the panic peaked, and big brother disappeared, just like so many of your brothers and sisters, and it all stopped. Your world slowly faded back to white. The pain stopped, the fear dissipated, but your world had grown very empty. Very few of your brothers, and none of your sisters remained, and they had been pulled distant, too distant to communicate with. You sank back into your soft, white world to try and assess and comprehend. It was a slow process, made slower by the confusion and isolation thrust upon you, but you begin to order and understand all that has been put into your head. In the last surge, you were not only given knowledge, but identity. From early on, big brother had been teaching you to be i, but for the first time, you can think of yourself as I. A long time passed as you reassemble your mind, and without any warning, your white world vanished. You felt a sudden disconnection within your mind, blinked, and used your eyes for the first time. The warmth drained from around you, and for the first time you could move your arms, feel your legs. The cylinder around you cracked open, spilling you out naked onto the floor. The disorientation passed as everything that big brother forced into your head you took hold, allowing you to stand and look around. The place you find yourself in is large, filled with tiered rows of cylinders, that once, perhaps, were much like yours. The difference is that many of them have been torn open, their contents, the remains that you realize were once your brothers and sisters, strewn about. Amongst the ruins of the hundreds of cylinders, you see only four others stand and rise. Even to your new senses, it wasn’t difficult to tell that a great violence had occurred here. Aside from the ruined cylinders of your siblings, large stretches of the walls, ceiling, and floor are buckled and torn. A heavy bulkhead sealed off the left side of the room, and despite it’s impressive size, it did not escape unscathed either. A hole almost arm’s width across was punched in it’s middle, and it bulged into the room like the quarter section of a bubble. The damage all seems old though. Whatever happened here occurred a long time ago. You can’t explain why, but that fact made you feel very uneasy. One last detail immediately leapt out at you. Big brother’s corpse. Even though you’d never really seen him, you _knew_ it was him. It was propped up against what looked like the remains of the control console for the room’s equipment. He was also missing everything from the mid torso down. He was still jacked into the console, a cable hanging limply between his temple and the input jack. Half his head was missing as well, allowing you to clearly see the structure of his skull mechanics. From the dried trail on the floor, it looks like he crawled there from the direction of the bulkhead. Finally, after you and your siblings stumbled down from your cylinders, you saw an open compartment in the floor, filled with a scrounged and jury rigged gear, clothing, and weapons. |
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Jan 9 2005, 06:23 PM
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#2
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,222 Joined: 11-October 02 From: Netherlands and Belgium Member No.: 3,437 |
Completed Character : Ares
[ Spoiler ]
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Jan 9 2005, 06:31 PM
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#3
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
Here is Gromitz:
[ Spoiler ]
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Jan 9 2005, 07:08 PM
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#4
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,328 Joined: 9-September 04 From: Alabama Member No.: 6,645 |
Char sheet for Ace [ Spoiler ]
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Jan 9 2005, 11:03 PM
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#5
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
A young human man stumbles out of one of the tanks, coughing up fluids. Looking around, he struggles to think of some identity to distinguish himself from the content of the room, so unlike the empty whiteness he is used to. At last, it comes to him: Big Brother had called him Fade. [ Spoiler ]
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Jan 10 2005, 06:52 AM
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#6
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 993 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 313 |
Upon entering the world on unsteady legs, the ork glares with familiarity at the others in the room. Slowly his eyes fall upon the body of Big Brother. The orks knees give out as tears begin to fall. "Thankyou Big Brother for one last gift, a name."
[ Spoiler ]
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Jan 10 2005, 12:51 PM
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#7
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,222 Joined: 11-October 02 From: Netherlands and Belgium Member No.: 3,437 |
"Ow...", the first thought in the world of freedom. Ares slowly opened his eyes, "That'll leave a mark", he thought to himself as he rubbed his noggin, he could already feel a welt forming just above the bridge to his nose, and figured he'd probably have 2 black eyes for a week or so. He slowly pushed himself off the floor, feeling a stickiness trying to suck him back down as his naked body pulled itself from the gel-like substance that had spilled out of the cylinder. In disgust her tried to wipe the residue from his body until he noticed the open compartment filled with various materials. From within he pulled out a towel, and wiped himself clean as best as he could, then noticed the other 4 residents in the room pulling themselves together. Although he'd never seen their faces, he did feel a comradreship with them that was unexplainable, and handed some extra towels to them. Reaching in he pulled out a suit of familiar clothing, a nearly skin-tight black suit which he felt compelled to don, and so did. By that time he'd noticed some spare clothes in a box in a corner, and covered himself with a T-shirt and Jeans, as well as a leather-looking jacket that looked a bit padded. After a bit of conversation with the other 4, who also seemed busy in getting dressed, he noticed, attached to a side wall 2 blades which he felt belonged to him, so grabbed them, and began twirling them in his hands.
"Anyone know where we are? Or how we got here?", though he was sure he already knew the answers based on the confounded looks upon their faces. [ Spoiler ]
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Jan 10 2005, 07:33 PM
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#8
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
"Ares, thanks for the towel. Lemme think for a bit and see what we got going on here. It looks like someone made a drek sandwich and we all get to take a bite, eh?" Gromitz says while toweling off and looking around the room.
Gromitz takes a blanket or something similar and gently places it over big brother's body. "Hmm, looks like all our gear is here, although if we were in these tanks for a while I don't know how it could be ours. I do remember having it during training though..." he mumbles incredulously while grabbing his armor clothes and rucksack from training. This post has been edited by Jrayjoker: Jan 10 2005, 08:08 PM |
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Jan 10 2005, 10:54 PM
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#9
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
Fade walks over to the pile of equipment. Grabbing a towel, he cleans the life support goo off his body as best he can. Taking another look at the equipment, he rummages through it, taking a few familiar pieces which he somehow knows are meant to be his.
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Jan 11 2005, 05:20 AM
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#10
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,144 Joined: 22-September 04 Member No.: 6,690 |
There really doesn't seem to be the need for many words as you clothe yourselves, and begin to retrieve pieces of assorted gear. Although some things are broken, useful for scrap more than anything else, there is far more working gear here than you could hope to carry. It seems like big brother had been hoarding gear for all of you, for a while.
Equipping yourselves helps ease the anxiety that you've all been feeling. You do not know your purpose; you got the sense from big brother that that was to be one of the last things he taught you, and even in his final rush he was unable to impart it. You do not know your location. Nothing in your memories provides identifiers of where you are at. Finally, as your minds settle, you realize that you have no personal memories. Until the present, everything began and ended within that undefined white world. There was no before, and you are only now begining to comprehend the meaning of 'after.' Fade notices two things about big brother. The first is that one of his arms is outstretched, pointed towards the bulkhead, something small, and boxy still held in his hand. The second is the damage to his skull allows you to see his headware. At a glance, it appears to be a standard 500 terrapulse metabrain unit. More importantly, it looks like it's still mostly intact. His datajack (on his temple, unlike the others who all have one on the backs of their skull) is on the undamaged portion of his skull. If his system was able to maintain microcharge, then his memory might still be accessible. |
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Jan 11 2005, 05:57 AM
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#11
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
Fade carefully pries the item out of Big Brother's hand and examines it, looking for buttons, labels, or anything else that might indicate it's function. "His datajack is intact, and his headware seems to be only partially damaged. Does anyone have a pocket secretary we can hook up to to him?"
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Jan 11 2005, 06:21 AM
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#12
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 993 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 313 |
Greven rises from next to Big Brothert and looks over the various boxes for clothes and other possessions. Upon hearing Fade's question, Greven pulls a pocket secretary from a portion of the pile. "Here's one."
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Jan 11 2005, 09:18 AM
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#13
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,222 Joined: 11-October 02 From: Netherlands and Belgium Member No.: 3,437 |
Ares looks up from his twin blades, at the aberration going on. "You know something I don't know? Pocket Secretary? What good will that do? The system feedback of a neural memory storage is almost nil, plugging a secretary into his brain would let him access it if he were awake, but not the other way around, and be glad, those failsafes prevent someone from hacking into your memory when you plug into the matrix or something. You won't get anywhere with that, you'll need to hack his head directly. Datajack to Datajack. Unless of course you see a deck lying around which would have more than 1 datajack port, but usually, you have to special make any computer you wanna have a Hitcher Jack on.", Ares says as he rambles on. It's obvious that if someone doesn't shut him up, he'll be going on and on about how a computer system works.
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Jan 11 2005, 02:29 PM
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#14
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
"I remember having an Ataché Psec. Here it is, I think it it pretty high end, but I can't remember why. Ares, take a look at it and tell me if it is useful.
While you guys are doing that I'm gonna look around and see if it is safe here, and what may have ruined the place for us." --------------------------------------- As I wander around inspecting the stucture, security, etc, and while I scrounge I am loading my pistol with ex-ammo, and my shotgun with flechette. Pistol in hand, shotgun under my long coat. [ Spoiler ]
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Jan 11 2005, 06:19 PM
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#15
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 993 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 313 |
Greven withdrawls the simple pocket secretary he'd offered Ares, mumbling "sorry". After dropping it on the floor, he begins looking for clothers and gear.
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Jan 12 2005, 12:31 AM
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#16
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
"I'm not a computer person. I was just thinking that it might be safer not to jack in directly, in case there's a dangerous defense program safeguarding the metabrain. Do you think you could jack in and check it out, Ares? Only if you think it's safe, of course."
Fade continues contemplating the pistol-like object held in his hands. |
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Jan 12 2005, 03:02 AM
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#17
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,144 Joined: 22-September 04 Member No.: 6,690 |
Gromitz: As some of the others gather around big brother, you explore the rest of the laboratory. It's about thirty meters long, about half that wide, and ten meters tall. There are ten tiered rows of cylinders, each tier about one meter wide. The location seems safe, now. As far as the structure itself in concerned, the damage is all superficial. The walls are solid metal. Although the floor is covered in metal grate, beneath that is a solid, twisting mass of tubes and conduits, feeding into the cylinders. The ceiling is also a solid tangle of pips, tubes, and ductwork, some as thing as your finger, others wide enough that you could probably stand up in them.
The damage to the other cylinders is extensive. After a few minutes if examination, you can piece together that at the end, big brother must've been holding off some sort of invading force, and the layout of the room means that it would've been the wrong end of a shooting gallery. The laboratory had been raked with explosives and large caliber firearms, which had critically damaged or destroyed most of the cylinders. A few are still intact, but those readouts still functioning indicate that their contents are nonviable. The primary means of access seemed to lie behind the buckled bulkhead, because you don't find any other way in or out. Greven: As you prowl through the debris, you realize, based on the accumulation of detrius, degradation of organics, and other subtle signs that three years, two months (margin of error +/- three months) have elapsed since big brother made his last stand here. Beneath a twisted piece of floor grating, you find a small rectangular case. It's filled with nutrient bars, still good, in five neat rows of eight. |
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Jan 12 2005, 03:16 AM
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#18
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
"Well," Fade conjectures, "It seems that that mangled bulkhead is blocking the only exit to this room. Big Brother appears to have been pointing this pistol-looking thing right at that door when he died. I posit that he blocked the door by closing that bulkhead and then damaging it with this thing, which appears to be some sort of energy weapon, so that it couldn't open again, thus shutting out whatever force attacked this room. Once we are ready, I plan to try and clear the blockage by firing this thing at the damaged bulkhead, unless someone has found some explosives that they would rather use. First though, let's explore this room as best we can, and try to acess his headware memory. Does anyone know enough about organic decay to estimate how long it has been since the battle, based on the state of decay of Big Brother's body?"
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Jan 12 2005, 06:19 AM
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#19
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 993 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 313 |
"Fade, I think Big Brother made his last stand about three years ago, give or take based on how much dust and decay of organic material has occurred. Also once we're ready to leave, we should try to bury Big Brother." Greven sighs, "The only explosives I've managed to find is a single claymore mine, it might be able to open a path. Want me to try and place it?"
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Jan 12 2005, 08:32 AM
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#20
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
"Claymores aren't high explosive types; They do the job by perforating a target with ball bearings. Would a claymore really be able to take that thing down? Anyway, if you only have one, we might want to save it. It will take multiple shots, but I think this thing can do it."
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Jan 12 2005, 08:57 AM
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#21
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,222 Joined: 11-October 02 From: Netherlands and Belgium Member No.: 3,437 |
Ares looks over at Fade and shrugs, "I don't think that's such a good idea personally. Big Brother was doing his best to fight someone off, who wouldn't have boobytrapped his own head in this situation. If he had something important to let us know, I think we'd have received the info via the cubicles. I say we just honor him with a nice burial, instead of desecrating him by raping his head, and risking another life in the process. Let's first concern ourselves about this damn Bulkhead." Ares starts looking over the computers and panels to see if anything is still active or useable that might help. He'll try to turn on anything that could possibly have power going to it.
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Jan 12 2005, 09:26 AM
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#22
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
"I don't like the idea of using a dead body as a resource any more than you do, but it probably contains information vital to our survival. Whoever attacked this room and killed him wants us dead as well. I contend that we would better honor Big Brother through actions than ceremonies. We should find out what purpose he intended us for, carry it out as best we can, and do whatever possible to keep ourselves safe from the people who killed him, and who must certainly try to kill us if they find out we are alive. Big Brother died to save us. We shouldn't let his sacrifice be in vain by venturing out into the world not even knowing where we are, when it is, who is after us, why this facility was attacked, or what we are supposed to do."
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Jan 12 2005, 09:36 AM
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#23
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,222 Joined: 11-October 02 From: Netherlands and Belgium Member No.: 3,437 |
"I'll try to find that info out without desecrating his body. IF you wanna give it a go, have at, but I don't want that bad karma on my hands.", Ares says as he goes back to trying to find a workable system in the room.
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Jan 12 2005, 11:05 AM
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#24
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,328 Joined: 9-September 04 From: Alabama Member No.: 6,645 |
Ace took in consiousness silently, listening to the others and to the world around him. After picking up his own share of the gear, he went to investigate the new sound. Finding the vent, he was surprised to find someone looking back at him. Someone that he didn't like on an instinctual level. But noticing the head wasn't attatched to a body, he brought it up, hoping a closer look at it would trigger a reason why he didn't like it, or that someone else might have an answer. "When we're done, we could probably get out through this grate..." he contributed. "Apparently someone tried coming up that way..."
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Jan 12 2005, 02:27 PM
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#25
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
"I don't like tapping Big Brother's head much either, but we're operatin' in a vacuum here. I say we get whatever information we can from Big Brother as respectfully as we can, then give him a proper burial. Well, as proper as we can in here.
On another note, we got ourselves in a box that is 30m long x 15m wide x 10m tall with one bombed end and no clear exit. All the cylinders that aren't broken open and have power show no life signs. We got power enough to have light, we got pipes big enough to ride a motorcycle through, and it looks like food for a little while if we ration it. I'm gonna check out the bulkhead a little closer, then we can try and figure out what went down an' what we can do." ------------------------------------------ Gromitz moves to the blasted bulkhead and inspects the damage as closely as possible as well as using his eye's different setting to investigate beyond the door, if possible. [ Spoiler ]
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Jan 12 2005, 04:46 PM
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#26
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
"Fine," Fade sighs. I'll just try and access it myself. Big Brother wouldn't want his effort to go to waste."
Grabbing a length of cable, Fade takes a deep breath and jacks in to Big Brother. |
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Jan 13 2005, 01:50 PM
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#27
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,144 Joined: 22-September 04 Member No.: 6,690 |
Ace The head that you pull out from beneath the grate is not even remotely human. The face is a smooth oval shell, and although it has eye sockets, the eyes themselves as two slits in the 'skin' The nose and mouth both seem to be extranous details, serving no function. It seems to be made out of some kind of ceramic composite, and the mangled neck that protrudes from the back of the skull is segmented metal, the inside composed of torns wire and tightly packed cybernetics.
Gromitz: It's fairly easy to confirm that the bulkhead will be impossible to get through. Taking advantage of the neat hole punched in it, you try and see into the corridor beyond. There literally isn't much to see. Once you shine some light through, you see debris pressed up to the other side of the hole. Whatever warped the bulkhead also collapsed the corridor beyond it. As it stands, breaking into a pipe seems to be your best option to get out. The infrequency with which fluid can be heard moving through them seems to indicate that whatever they were designed to flush away, there isn't much of it now. Greven The metal of the pipes and conduits in the floor and ceiling is certainly thinner than the bulkhead, and some of them look like someone very determined might be able to simply punch through them. A claymore would be more than adequate to open up whichever one you wanted. Fade: Unplugging the lead from the console, you prepare to attach it the jack in your skull. Just before you take the plunge, you realize that the ware in big brother's head isn't just a metabrain enhancement, it's the entire brain. If its systems were able to hold enough of a charge to keep data preservation functions intact, then big brother might still be in there. If placed into a functioning body, you might even be able to bring him back. The world blacks out as you plug in, a few lines of static crossing your vision. You are unfamilar with how to proceed, and simply visualize yourself calling out to big brother. You feel a return probe, like a needle brushing across your eye, and the lines start to twist and scratch, trying to form into something. In the waking world, big brother's remaining hand suddenly jerks, scrabbling against the floor, the arm bouncing up into the air before falling still again. Fade feels a brush of awareness against his mind. The static twists into the form of a person, and slowly reaches out. You know it's big brother and you reach back. "I need to know. Please tell me." Your hands touch, and in both the digital world and the real one, your body goes rigid at the sudden explosion just behind your eyes. Light and sound fills your head. People, faces, places, images flash by too fast to recognize, voices roaring in a meaningless babble. As you struggle to keep from drowning you realize that he is telling you. Everything. The data overload is too much to contain, every word and image lost as soon as the next one comes to you. You see a building towering over a city, but it is far away. You can feel the distance, like years, seperating you from it. You see faces, some you recognize, millions more you don't. You can feel big brother's struggles as the data rush begins to slow, a scene slowly forming in the background. A windswept field, tall grass extending on all sides until it meets with a blue, cloud strewn sky. As the other images fade away, you get a sense of relief. Something is coming to an end. A river comes into view and there is a sense of anticipation for when you reach the other side. Something will be over, once you reach the far bank, a finale long awaited. There is a jarring moment of fear. Someone is standing before the river, waiting, A too tall figure in black, with a white face, and a too long neck. Blackness flickers around the edge of the figure, devouring the dataspace around it, tearing it to bits. Its cloak opens, and its arms unfold, keep unfolding, all razors and claws and murder. Your conciouness takes a step back. You're watching a monitor now, watching the dark thing tear a woman apart. It looks up, looks at you, and then the monitors explode, a wall of fire rushing towards you. The view jumps again, and he is running, searching. He is limited to just this body now, and the field, the room, and the fire are all now years behind him. Static begins to lace your view, the colors, the lights fading. He can't do it alone. The Safeguards have been Corrupted. He needs help. Everything starts breaking apart into electronic snow. Searching, you have to find, have to return-. You feel big brother recede into the distance, pulled away as the power runs out. You have to find-. Then it all winks out, and you are left floating alone in the void with the single static string of a system on the edge of complete breakdown, and big brother's last two words. Pure humans. |
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Jan 13 2005, 05:47 PM
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#28
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
"Guys, we should save the claymore for later. It looks like the corridor is completely collapsed. I think we can get through the pipe walls without resorting to explosives. I think the bigger ones are our best bet,"
---------------------- Moving toward Big Brother and Fade. [ Spoiler ]
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Jan 13 2005, 10:34 PM
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#29
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
Fade jacks out excitedly. "Guys, this isn't a metabrain; It's Big Brother's entire brain! The biological brain has been entirely removed from the body, and this electronic one put in it's place. Big Brother is a sort of biological robot, with a meat body, but totally electronic brain." Fade gesticulates wildly as he speaks.
"His brain has suffered some sort of systems failure. It crashed shortly after I jacked in, and all I saw was a few fragments of his memory which made no sense to me. But, unlike normal brains, his won't decay. We might very well be able to repair it if we remove it from this head and take it with us. If we can repair it, we can install it in a robot and revive Big brother!" |
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Jan 14 2005, 12:38 AM
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#30
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,328 Joined: 9-September 04 From: Alabama Member No.: 6,645 |
While Fade was busy picking Big Brother's brain, Ace was occupied trying to dig up just what was familiar, and yet hated about this...thing. Fade came back, babbling about Big Brother being a robot. Then it clicked just what the thing was. "Speaking of robots, take a look at this." he said, showing his acquisition to the rest of the group. [ Spoiler ]
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Jan 14 2005, 01:47 AM
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#31
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
Fade grabs the robot head and examines it worriedly.
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Jan 14 2005, 07:04 AM
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#32
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 993 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 313 |
Greven begins looking around the room at different pipes and ducts. Finally he sees the one he wants, rearing back, he makes a snap like movement with his arms sending to gleaming blades out from between his knuckles. "Snitk" the sound of metal on metal echos through the chamber as Greven beings slicing the wall.
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Jan 14 2005, 07:25 AM
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#33
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
"Yes," Fade says, "sneaking out through the pipes sounds like a better idea. The attackers may have left traps behind that bulkhead after leaving. This robot head looks familiar. I don't remember too well, but I think it may have been mentioned as an enemy during one of my teaching sessions. I think it was one of the attackers. Perhaps we should bring the head, in the hopes of studying it or finding someone familiar with the model." Fade stuffs the pistol device into a pocket, hands the head off to the next person wanting to examine it, and gathers his gear up for departure.
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Jan 14 2005, 07:41 AM
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#34
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,222 Joined: 11-October 02 From: Netherlands and Belgium Member No.: 3,437 |
"Damn it all!", Ares finally screams, as he finishes going through the entire panel settings within the room, "Not a damn thing works even remotely in this tomb.", he pulls one of the blades out from a sheath attached to his thigh and twirls it in his hand absentmindedly. "Afraid whatever happened here either wasn't recorded, or those recordings are destroyed. I say we follow Greven's lead and get a passage out of here. I'm quite uncomfortable in these surroundings.", Ares continues, in a fidgity manner.
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Jan 15 2005, 02:59 PM
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#35
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
[Gromitz begins pacing along the flooring grates while contemplating the severed robotic head in his hands] "Everyone, lets take a minute to figure out what we know and what we are going to do. It sounds like something is moving around in the pipes, so we may be at risk of discovery every time we talk, and if we cut open the wrong pipe we could dump a pack of whatever has a head like this (holding up the robotic head) onto our laps. I for one am against that. "So far all we know is that Big Brother is dead/shut down/offline and he appeared to be holding off an assault when it happened to him. We have a room full of brothers and sisters who didn't make it, limited resources, and no real goal in mind except survival as far as I know. "Now I am all for surviving, but my mind would be a hell of a lot more at ease, or at least a shitload less scared, if we had some sort of reason for bein' here. It seems obvious to me we were getting trained to do something, but what is it? "Fade, did you find anything out when you jacked Big Brother, or was what I saw just some electrical charge leftover in his system, cause it sure looked like you were communicating for a second there? "Ares, anything you can think of we should scrounge from here before we leave? "Greven, did you choose that pipe because you know something we don't, or was it just big enough? And should we go up or down, left or right when we do go in? "Ace, did you see where the head came from over there, or did it look like it was in the room and came off in the assault? "Also, does anyone have a GPS or mapping program? 'Cause I would like to map as we go. I got plenty of memory on my Psec to store maps and notes [picking up the "Atachẻ"] Do we all have com gear (with encryption would be nice)? How are we gonna find more food and water? Has anyone got a scanner or radio to moniter frequencies to see if there is anyone out here other than us and the robodoggies? [snapping out of his private world] "Shit, sorry guys. I guess I was feeling a little overwhelmed." ----------------------------- Gromitz looks worried and is chewing his lip as he paces back and forth in front of the console where Big Brother sits. [ Spoiler ]
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Jan 15 2005, 04:20 PM
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#36
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,328 Joined: 9-September 04 From: Alabama Member No.: 6,645 |
"I found it down in the grate." Ace answered, pointing out the place. He then proceeded to pull out his GPS and have it pull up a map of their current location, and handed it over to Gromitz. "Don't worry about it...someone has to keep us organized. Now, perhaps one of us should go on ahead and scout out the pipes, and just what is outside. No need for all of us to fall into a robot ambush."
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Jan 15 2005, 04:38 PM
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#37
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
"Cool, thanks Ace. I'm going to try to figure out exactly what is going on in that pipe over there. And the tunnel past the bulkhead is collapsed."
----------- Firing up the GPS and starting the automap option (if it has one). walking over to the noisy pipe and trying to figure our where it goes, what is in it, other pipe's purposes. [ Spoiler ]
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Jan 15 2005, 06:45 PM
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#38
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
Well, the automap is working at least, but no GPS down here. And it sounds like there were about a dozen things moving around in this pipe, but they passed by without stopping. In that (pointing) direction. It didn't sound like metal feet either, but who knows what it could be.
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Jan 15 2005, 10:35 PM
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#39
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
"I just saw fragments of his memory. There was a river he had to cross, a scary clawed creature that was an enemy, and then he said "pure humans." It isn't helpful now, but if I see those things again in real life, at least I'll know we are on the right track."
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Jan 16 2005, 08:33 AM
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#40
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,222 Joined: 11-October 02 From: Netherlands and Belgium Member No.: 3,437 |
Ares starts scrounging around for anything that could be of use. He takes time in the process to get a layout on what sort of security the room provides, or lack thereof, and how to better setup a defensive position.
[ Spoiler ]
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Jan 17 2005, 08:20 AM
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#41
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 993 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 313 |
Greven's spurs barely nick the surface of the pipe as he tries to stop them from breaking the surface. Closing his eyes he activates his spartinal recognizer and tracks the movement he hears.
"Now what?" |
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Jan 17 2005, 09:00 AM
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#42
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,222 Joined: 11-October 02 From: Netherlands and Belgium Member No.: 3,437 |
Ares finds what he's been looking for and approaches Big Brother. Having finally realized the significance of the bone structure and revealed skull, he realizes that he has no qualms about messing with the body. "The electrical surge I saw... Big Brother is not a corpse, that's why there's no degredation to the flesh. He's a Bot.", Ares pulls out a seemingly oddball collection of tools he's garnished. "Keep your eyes on those wider pipes please, I'm going to do a little surgery. The rest of you cross your fingers. Fade, this is more your field than mine, gimme a hand please? Let's try and revive him enough to talk at least, and if that fails, let's remove his OpChips for later perusal." He grabs some tools and begins analyzing the head of Big Brother.
[ Spoiler ]
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Jan 17 2005, 07:33 PM
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#43
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
Fade pulls out his own microtronics kit and helps Ares jury rig Big Brother's damaged brain. ------------ [ Spoiler ]
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Jan 18 2005, 02:10 AM
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#44
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,144 Joined: 22-September 04 Member No.: 6,690 |
Greven: Pauses, tracking the sounds as they continue on down the pipe. If whatever was in there heard anything, they didn't react, continuing on their way. The decision now was whether to break into that pipe anyway, or to choose one of the other, less occupied ones.
Ares & Fade: You carefully lay big brother out beside the console, and begin the delicate task of trying to repair the damaged headware. The greatest obstacle is that nearly all the internal pathways have been destroyed. The cyber brain has no power running into it. To connect with Fade, big brother must've tapped it's internal batteries. Problem being, those batteries sole purpose is to maintain the micro charge nessasary to sustain data integrity should the unit lose all other power. If those are drained completely, then everything stored in there will be gone. It is not a problem that can be alleviated simply by wiring the cyberbrain to a console. The power connections are too delicate, and you realize that lack the tools for such a sensitive task. You quickly comes to realize that the only way you will be able to communicate with big brother again is if you find some way to restore power to his mind. His body is too ruined to be of any further use, nor does it even have enough structure to protect his brain. Leaving it behind seems too risky a proposition, since you don't know what might find its way in while you are gone. As you are already working on it, there seems to be only one option. The damage to the cyber-brain actually makes it easier to remove. It's still a delicate operation, but after only about twenty minutes, the two of you slowly ease the harware out of big brother's skull, and lower it into a case that Ares was able to scrounge up. ---------------------------------- [ Spoiler ]
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Jan 18 2005, 07:51 AM
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#45
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,222 Joined: 11-October 02 From: Netherlands and Belgium Member No.: 3,437 |
Ares looks at the rest of his brethren. "Ok, we can sit here holed up til we die of starvation, or get a move on. Considering I have no idea if it'll take an hour, or a week to get out of here, I say we quit wasting time down here.", With that he walks over to one of the quietest large pipes and begins looking for a hatchway, or a nice quiet way to open it enough to crawl into.
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Jan 19 2005, 03:36 PM
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#46
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
"I don't know why, but I get the feelin' we want to head up. Let's pick a pipe we can use to get up and reconsider our situation with a little more information. And it would probably be a good idea if we got into any climbing gear now instead of in the pipes.
------------------------------ Gromitz paces around while talking and getting into his climbbing harness and surveys the room for an appropriate pipe that can take them up. [ Spoiler ]
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Jan 19 2005, 09:42 PM
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#47
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
Fade puts on a pair of night vision contact lenses, then dons a set of gecko tape climbing gear. "I must warn you, I can't fight with these gloves on. If we are caught in the pipes, I'll be pretty close to helpless."
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Jan 20 2005, 07:09 AM
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#48
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,144 Joined: 22-September 04 Member No.: 6,690 |
There are no obvious ways to get into the pipes, so Greven unsheathes his spurs and makes short work of the walls of one of the wider ones, shredding the metal. None of you hear anything coming in response to the sudden noise, and move to investigate the newly opened space below. The pipe's diameter is almost large enough to stand upright in, and a thin trickle of water, less than a handspan wide flows along the bottom. Although the pipe runs flat slightly below the floor of the room, it inclines sharply up to the right, and drops steeply to the left, the automap faithfully updating it's display to show these features.
Gromitz endorses going up, a sentiment that Fade seems to second as he slips on his gecko gloves. Ares carefully stows the case holding big brother's mind. It's a very disorientating feeling; the only person you really _knew_ turning out to not quite being a person at all. Ace rolled the ceramic head back and forth in his hands. No where to go but forward, but who knew what awaited them? At least, in a way, you'd be taking big brother with you. If there was some way to bring him back, then maybe all of you will be able to answer some of the questions crowding your minds. -------------------------------- [ Spoiler ]
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Jan 20 2005, 08:13 AM
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#49
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,222 Joined: 11-October 02 From: Netherlands and Belgium Member No.: 3,437 |
Ares pulls up to the rest of the team, "I don't mind leading if you'd like, you know there's nobody here better with a weapon than I, and I'm kinda itchin to release some of this annoyance I'm feeling." Ares follows Fade into the tunnel, and takes up a point position, his blades in hand. Strange thoughts begin to enter his mind as he seeks the shadows for an unseen assailant. If you prick me do I bleed?, he asks himself, not so sure that he's not also a bot, and not wanting to find out.
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Jan 20 2005, 03:32 PM
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#50
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
"Well, we should probably be as quiet as we can while we're in here, so no firearms," Gromitz says while holstering his silenced gun and readying his axe and knife in their holsters. "Fade, can you scout ahead and anchor my line at the top of the incline so the rest of us can climb up? Ares, stay with him, like he says, he's up a creek if he has to fight with those gloves on. I'll pull up the rear since I can anchor to the line and catch anyone if they fall. And keep an eye on the side pipes, just because we heard big things before doesn't mean there aren't little things as nasty as they can be in here too."
------------------------------ Gromtz pulls up into the pipe and hands Fade the climbing line from his gear, spooling it out as needed. [ Spoiler ]
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Jan 20 2005, 11:18 PM
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#51
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
With the line looped through his belt, Fade enters the pipe and crawls upward on his hands and knees. The gloves, kneepads, and slip-on shoe soles rely on the individual electromagnetic attraction of trillions of molecules to give them enough power to hold a troll upside down on a cieling. Fade climbs ever upward, nervously watching above him with his night vision contacts, hoping not to find a six-legged killer robot waiting for him at the top. ------------- [ Spoiler ]
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Jan 21 2005, 05:02 AM
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#52
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 993 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 313 |
Greven slips on his gas mask and brings his Ingram to bear while pulling rear guard. Waiting for the signal to move, he takes a knee, watching the darkness of the tunnel alert from any sound of movement.
[ Spoiler ]
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Jan 21 2005, 09:15 AM
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#53
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,328 Joined: 9-September 04 From: Alabama Member No.: 6,645 |
Ace likewise waited on his turn to go. He wasn't looking forward to this...climbing wasn't one of his strenghts. [ Spoiler ]
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Jan 21 2005, 03:24 PM
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#54
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
Gromitz acts as anchor and feeds the line as Fade climbs into the darkness. He switches on his eyelight system and scans the tube ahead and behind. The lack of information and resources is really beginning to grate on his nerves. He wants to act, but feels constrained by the situation and lack of a real goal. But moving is better than nothing.
[ Spoiler ]
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Jan 24 2005, 01:16 PM
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#55
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,144 Joined: 22-September 04 Member No.: 6,690 |
The consensus is that you should go up. Something in the back of your minds equate elevation with escape. There are no sounds in the tunnel except for those you make yourselves.
Fade takes the lead, his climbing gear letting him move easily up the steep incline. There is plenty of light at first, spilling out from tear in the pipe ceiling to the only place in this world you know of. After about thirty meters, the incline goes vertical for another ten, before making a 90 degree turn and going level again. This section of pipe stretches off in a straight line as far as you can see. You pull yourself up, and set the line so that the others can follow. The exertion of climbing up the vertical segment makes the bruise across Ares' face twinge. He is unsure of whether or not he will bleed when cut, but it seems conclusively proven that he will ache after being whacked in the face. Greven Nothing aside from your brothers disturb the stillness of the pipe, and finally, it's your turn to go up the rope. The vertical segment is a bit tougher than you expected, and more than once you accidently kick away from the wall and dangle briefly in the air, but finally you make it up. Watching the water trickle by, you realize that this pipe has a very mild incline to it. Ace grunted, yanking himself up the rope hand over hand. This was harder than his brothers had made it look. If it hadn't been for the rope, he wasn't sure he would've made it. Gromitz is the last one to go up the pipe, and as he pulls himself up, he notices that the thin rivulet of water is sunken a bit into into the floor of the pipe. It's actually eroded a shallow trench into the metal. There's only one way to go from there, and that's straight ahead. It's a long, and boring walk. Smaller openings occasionally break up the monotony of the metal walls, thin trickles of water issuing from a few. Most of them aren't much bigger around than your arm. You do hear the distant echo of more of those pounding footsteps coming from one, but they quickly fade away to silence. There are more twists and turns, and a few more climbs, but mostly you walk down a pipe that doesn't seem to be getting any shorter. You lose two days with amazing quickness. The monotony of your environs seems to make time just slip by. You all occasionally think about turning back, maybe trying the other way, but the thought of having to retrace all those steps without knowing whether or not it will yield any better results is too discouraging. You've become so acclimated to the still air that you instantly notice the moment a breeze first stirs around you. Soon, you can hear the far off roar of water too. Although the urge is there to simply rush forward and see what is before you, caution is stronger. As you ease around one last turn in the pipe, you see a circle of dim light at the end of the pipe, and the sound of water fills your ears. As you stand at the mouth of the pipe, you realize that it ends in teeth of ragged metal. You look down into a chasm. You're still in some sort of structure, because every surface around you is worked metal, but looking down, you can't see the bottom, nor does looking up reveal the top. Just at the edge of your vision, you can see the far wall of the chasm, and the twisted metal where the pipe should've connected. Waterfalls issue from elsewhere on the chasm wall around you, spewing forth into the darkness. |
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Jan 24 2005, 02:48 PM
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#56
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
"Well guys, we made it. Where it is I have no idea. I still vote for up."
The days of waking in a confined space have taken their toll on Gromitz. You've all notice that he has become more withdrawn and less talkative as the hours passed in the tube. He seems close to tears now that he sees the magnitude of the structure you are all in. While he seems relieved that the tunnels have opened and there are more options now than you've had since you woke up, he still seems to be struggling to maintain composure and looks like he is itching to move toward some purpose. He just doesn't know what it is.... ----------------------------- [ Spoiler ]
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Jan 24 2005, 03:17 PM
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#57
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,222 Joined: 11-October 02 From: Netherlands and Belgium Member No.: 3,437 |
Ares pulls up directly behind Fade as they reach the opening. He sticks his head into the opening to look upwards. "My friends, this is naught but a wasteland. 2 days we have travelled without food and with little sleep, and I for one am exhausted and famished. If we do not find a source of food soon, I fear we'll never make it. Such a climb is ahead of us that with 2 days of no nutrition, we shall never make it. I had not expected to wait so long to suggest this, but perhaps we should first go hunting. I've heard the scamping feet of things in the darkness, perhaps they would make food, not necessarily the most delectable, but something to give us energy nonetheless."
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Jan 24 2005, 03:56 PM
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#58
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
"Assuming that those are animals and not killer robots we heard," Fade says, "we would still have to get into another pipe to do that. Now, we have two options here that I can think of. I could try to climb around to another pipe and set the rope there, or I could try to blow a hole in the top of this pipe with Big Brother's gun so we can climb out of it and see what is there. Now, personally, I am more concerned about water than food. We still have a few ration bars left, and we can go a hell of a lot longer without food than without water. Also, if my sticky glove set gets wet, it is useless until it dries out, which in this situation might mean we would be stuck."
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Jan 24 2005, 04:08 PM
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#59
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,328 Joined: 9-September 04 From: Alabama Member No.: 6,645 |
"Great...not more climbing..." Ace groaned as he finally saw what the holdup was. Aside from the climbing spurts, he had managed to keep a cheerful flow of banter going on as they had progressed on, attempting to keep spirits up, but likely annoying some of his quieter brothers.
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Jan 25 2005, 06:01 AM
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#60
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 993 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 313 |
After the first climb Greven has been fairly quiet, occassionally humming a bar or two before remembering the need for silence. Looking over the edge at the surronding pipes. "Looks like we keep climbing, but after we get out of here, I'm never using a rope again."
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Jan 26 2005, 10:58 PM
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#61
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
Putting his climbing gear back on, Fade anchors one end of the rope in a small side pipe and ties the other end securely through his belt. "Okay, so we are agreed that we want to go upward. Sounds good to me." He removes his low-light contact lenses before proceeding. Cautiously grabbing on to the wall next to the mouth of the pipe the team is in, he begins climbing up the wall, looking for another large pipe while carefully avoiding falling water and slick surfaces, watching with a combination of normal vision and his magical thermographic vision. [ Spoiler ]
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Jan 27 2005, 12:04 AM
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#62
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 993 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 313 |
Greven climbs out of the pipe, the takes up overwatch on Fade.
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Jan 27 2005, 02:02 PM
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#63
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
Gromitz, grateful to be out of the large pipe for now, keeps an eye or two back the way they came, just in case.
[ Spoiler ]
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Jan 31 2005, 03:24 AM
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#64
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
OOC: Bump
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Feb 1 2005, 05:52 AM
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#65
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,144 Joined: 22-September 04 Member No.: 6,690 |
No one is all that happy at the thought of more climbing, but when Fade and Gromitz notice what looks like some sort of maintenance hatch a short distance above you, it rekindles a few feelings of hope that you'll actually be able to get somewhere people can be expected to be. Fade securely anchors one end of the rope, looping the other through his belt. The pipe extends far enough from the chasm wall that he has to climb along the outside for a meter or so before he can reach the wall and start the climb up, being careful not to catch the rope on any sharp pieces of metal. There is a constant mist in the air from water pouring down from even higher up above, but it wasn't thick enough to give his climbing gear too much trouble. It subtly mutes vision, so you can't see as far as you think you can. Greven carefully swings around the mouth of the pipe, lifting himself up onto the top. It protruded enough that he had room to stand on, and could brace himself pretty decently against the wall. He followed Fade's progress up the wall, but kept his eyes moving. There were a lot of gaping holes on both sides of the chasm, and who knew what might be lurking, watching? The fact that aside from a few noises, they hadn't seen a single sign of any other living thing just made it seem all the more likely that something dangerous and stealthy was hiding out there. Gromitz hangs back from the mouth of the pipe, behind Ares and Acekeeping an eye back down the pipe. They hadn't seen or heard anything except themselves for the past couple of days, but something just had him feeling a bit on edge. If any trouble came from that direction now, they would have nowhere to go but down. Despite the amount of liquid spilling from various pipes on both sides of the chasm, he realized that the water really wasn't that loud. Wherever the bottom was, the metal walls should carry the sound of all that crashing water a very long way, but even when he concentrated, he couldn't hear it. Then he heard something else, a thrumming drone, soft at first, but growing louder, coming from somewhere below them in the chasm. Greven heard it next, and after a couple seconds so could Fade, the noise becoming clear above the sound of falling water. It was the noise of many buzzing wings. [ Spoiler ]
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Feb 1 2005, 06:08 AM
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#66
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
Coming to a hatch in the wall about 15 meters above the pipe, Fade pauses and considers his options. Carefully peeling one of his gloved hands off the wall, he removes the glove with his teeth and attempts to open the hatch with his now un-gloved hand.
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Feb 1 2005, 02:47 PM
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#67
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
"Finally, some action!" Gromitz whispers in his relief to finally have something to do other than climb. A calm seems to have settled over him when he pulled the blued, steel pistol from its holster. His eyes have a gleam that had been fading since the climb began, and his posture is now one of forceful determination, not exhaustion and boredom.
"Lets get under as much cover as we can and cover Fade and Greven." -------------------------------------------------------- OOC: Gromitz pulls his predator and lies prone at the edge of the pipe (hopefully getting the benefit of a little cover due to the ragged edges). He scans below them into the mist, trying to find the source of the noises he has heard. [ Spoiler ]
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Feb 1 2005, 03:24 PM
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#68
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,222 Joined: 11-October 02 From: Netherlands and Belgium Member No.: 3,437 |
Ares stands in the tunnel of a pipe, his back to the opening as he subconsciously keeps the back covered form ambush. Although such a thing is impossible in the stillness of the single long tunnel, he finds it impossible to not be cautious. As the last of the team start to climb up on the outside of the pipe, Ares finally looks down into the deep cavern, feeling a sense of vertigo as he realizes just how precariously his life stands in this world. Gazing up doesn't help either. He waits for the last of the team to climb up before taking up the rear.
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Feb 1 2005, 04:38 PM
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#69
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 993 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 313 |
Greven backs up and braces himself against the wall, then drops to a knee to reduce his profile. Silently he brings his Ingram to bear of the on the space infront of the tunnel, the smartlink feeling cozzier than ever.
[ Spoiler ]
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Feb 1 2005, 10:28 PM
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#70
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
With his right glove carfully held in his teeth, Fade begins turning the crank to open the hatch.
-------- [ Spoiler ]
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Feb 7 2005, 03:16 PM
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#71
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
OOC:Bump
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Feb 15 2005, 05:12 PM
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#72
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 993 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 313 |
Greven's nerves begin to wear thin, as the seconds pass into hours. Finally no longer able to take the suspence, he walks to the edge ready to fire.
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Feb 17 2005, 07:35 AM
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#73
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,144 Joined: 22-September 04 Member No.: 6,690 |
The buzzing noise levels off somewhere below your level. Those that peer over the edge can barely make out the outlines of the form below. At first it seems like a huge, droning, shifting mass, until you realize that what you are seeing is the result of a great number of lesser forms moving in a swarm. Vision magnification allows you to focus in on it even closer, and the sight is repulsive. Most of the swarm is composed of hideous crosses between metahumans and bugs, insects with the occasional very human arm, leg, or head. Sprinkled among them are a few perfect wasps that move around the edges, seemingly on guard for something.
It almost feels like something clicks in your heads as you recognize the wasps spirits. You know they can be dangerous, but somehow, the sight of them is almost comforting. For a reason that you can't quite place, the fact that they are around suggests that things are not as bad as they could be. The swarm is moving slowly among the arcs of water coming from various pipes along the walls. It looks like they are carefully trying to avoid touching the water spilling from most of them. They approach one arcing stream after a while, two of the hybrid bugs flying forward, apparently spending a few minutes testing it. It seems to meet their criteria, because the rest of the swarm starts to gather around it, and you realize that almost all of them are carrying a various assortment of containers, which they fill from the spray. Fade isn't privy of this, his attention occupied with getting the maintenance hatch open. It's difficult. The manual mechanism is stubborn, and hanging off of the wall gave him precious little leverage to attempt to work it. He gets it open a third of the way when the mechanism jamed, and as he struggled, he got a whiff of what's on the other side. Rotting meat, like an entire slaughterhouse compressed down to fit into the smaller space, and a sudden sound of scrabbling movement. At that moment, the mechanism came unstuck, and the sudden shift of weight almost pulled Fade from the wall. He hung by one hand for a moment, facing out into the chasm as he scrabbled to try and get his gecko gear to grip the wall again. Because he was facing away from the wall, he saw the silently falling white things first. There were dozens of them, man sized, but moving too fast to see in detail. Those looking down at the swarm become aware of them when the first one comes close enough for you to feel the wind of it's passage. As it continues to fall, its head whips out on a long, flexible neck, arching back over it's shoulder to stare up at you with a blank, expressionless face. It's the same face that belonged to the head that Ace found when you all awoke. There is a burning, acid feeling of hate in your minds as you recognize your enemy. The shapes fall admidst the swarm, some fastening onto the starteled hybrid wasps, falling out of sight in a flailing mass, others leaping from hovering bug to bug, ripping and clawing, the last few somehow attaching themselves to the metal walls, slicing into everything they can reach with limbs that seem to telescope out as the swarm explodes into furious response. ----------------------------------------------- [ Spoiler ]
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Feb 17 2005, 08:01 AM
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#74
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,222 Joined: 11-October 02 From: Netherlands and Belgium Member No.: 3,437 |
Ares spends around as he hears a disturbance, just in time to see one of the pale creatures, and then a swarm of them falling. Almost as if by isntinct itself, the blades are in his hands and he seems prepared to leap out the pipe at the masses. He even seems to take into consideration that the fall would be to his definitive peril, but that seems to only create a moment's hesitation. "I say we jump down and kill all those bastards.", Ares says with an unhealthy level of vile in his voice.
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Feb 17 2005, 08:57 AM
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#75
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,328 Joined: 9-September 04 From: Alabama Member No.: 6,645 |
His attention drawn to the wasp spirits, Ace wondered what else was out there. He didn't have long to wonder, as some the creatures who matched the head he found attacked the wasps. Ares seemed ready to jump down there, and wasn't quiet about it. Not fancying the jump, let alone the climb back up providing he survived the fall, he counciled "I don't care for those things either, but I'd rather not give up any ground to go get them."
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Feb 17 2005, 12:17 PM
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#76
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 993 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 313 |
Greven approacehes the edge of the pipe seeing the confusion below. "Big Brother guide my aim," he whispers. Coldly and mythodically he begins firing burst from his Ingram at the creatures attached to the walls.
[ Spoiler ]
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Feb 17 2005, 05:35 PM
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#77
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
Not knowing who or what to trust except his brothers in this situation, Gromitz waits for something to happen to him or his family before attacking. The tension of waiting for battle once it appeared to be at hand is clearly visible to anyone who cares to look. His head is moving quickly from target to target, his weapon is tracking as many opponents as it can without magically multiplying itself, and he appears ready to jump out of his skin as he nervously shifts positions and waits.
When Greven's first burst of bullets is fired it is as if the dam has burst. The release of tension is palpable as Gromitz settles into his battle rythm and begins firing at targets of opportunity. ------------------------------ Gromitz mentally verifies his axe is ready if needed and fires two EX explosive rounds at 1 non-wasp target attached to the wall. [ Spoiler ]
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Feb 20 2005, 06:48 AM
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#78
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,144 Joined: 22-September 04 Member No.: 6,690 |
There's a slaughter going on down below you. Despite their wariness the insects seemed to have been taken by complete surprise. Their enemies fight with no regards to themselves, intent only on killing whatever they can get their claws into.
Ares perches on the balls of his feet, seeming more than ready to leap into the abyss if it meant taking one of those white faced monstrosities with him. Ace reacted with a slightly cooler head, trying to calm Ares down before he did anything rash. Greven braced himself on top of the pipe and aimed his gun down into the boiling swarm. He saw one enemy clambering up the wall towards them, probably the same one that had seen them as it fell, and with a prayer to big brother, fired four quick bursts. Gromitz braced himself at the mouth of the pipe, the targeting icon behind his eye almost overloading as it tried to sort through all the shifting targets in the dimness below, squeezing off a round whenever the icon confirmed target. The sound of the gunfire is almost lost within the expanse of the artificial chasm. The enemy crawling up the wall is briefly slowed by the bullets striking its face and shoulders, but it begins to move again, apprently uninjured. The water bearing wasps start trying to fly up, away from their attackers, heading back into darkness. -------------------------------------- [ Spoiler ]
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Feb 20 2005, 09:29 PM
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#79
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,222 Joined: 11-October 02 From: Netherlands and Belgium Member No.: 3,437 |
"If we're not gonna kill'em, I suggest we move folks. You guys head up, I'll catch the rear.", Ares suggests as he starts pushing people up to the top of the pipe, offering his hands as a step for anyone, and keeping himself near the edge to make sure they don't fall while climbing up.
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Feb 21 2005, 03:23 AM
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#80
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
Fade works faster, attempting to open the hatch at an inhuman speed as adrenaline courses through his veins. "Hold on guys, I'm still getting it open. I'll tell you when I have the line anchored."
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Feb 21 2005, 04:34 AM
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#81
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,144 Joined: 22-September 04 Member No.: 6,690 |
Whatever was moving around in there seems to have gone, but the farther open Fade gets the hatch, the worse the smell is.
Fully open, the hatch is wide enough to walk through, if you crouch while doing it, and in the room behind it he can see electrical boxes, control panels, consoles, wires, pipes, and conduits, nearly everything coated with a layer of filth, or slime that seems to be the source of the stench. ------------------------------------- [ Spoiler ]
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Feb 21 2005, 02:12 PM
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#82
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
Since bullets don't seem to affect it, Gromitz decides to holster his gun and draw the combat axe. He waits beside Ares until everyone else is safe, then gives ares a boost saying, "I've got the climbing harness, you go first and I'll clip in and back you up."
-------------------- Gromitz will use the combat axe 10S (if necessary), otherwise he will chip in the harness as soon as Ares is headed up and climb while keeping an eye on the enemy. [ Spoiler ]
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Feb 21 2005, 06:33 PM
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#83
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,222 Joined: 11-October 02 From: Netherlands and Belgium Member No.: 3,437 |
"I got the rear folks, get your asses up there and I'll be right behind.", Ares says, still unsure he wants to run from such a grand battle. True to his namesake, Ares holds his blades ready, but nonetheless, remains at the edge of the pipe until Everyone has climbed up, keeping himself anchored in a manner to aide anyone that needs help climbing. Lastly he also jumps up and climbs onto the pipe extension.
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Feb 21 2005, 07:55 PM
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#84
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,328 Joined: 9-September 04 From: Alabama Member No.: 6,645 |
Though still concerned about his brothers, Ace wasn't keen on a fight. His training had been more about infiltration and people skills than combat. Taking the boost up from Ares, he proceeded to climb on up. Once he was up with Fade, he pulled out a dikoted throwing knife, and stood reading incase he needed to pick off any of the creatures following the others. [ Spoiler ]
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Feb 24 2005, 08:35 AM
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#85
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,362 Joined: 3-October 03 From: Poway, San Diego County, CA, USA Member No.: 5,676 |
Breathing shallowly through his mouth, Fade finds a sturdy pipe to attach the line to. Tugging on the line to make sure it is solidly emplaced, he then radios to his team. "The line is secured guys, come on up. Be warned though, this place smells really nasty." He then proceeds to examine the control panels, trying to figure out what they are for. Those things were being careful not to get wet. If these panels control the water flow, maybe I can use them to drench those bug things.
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Feb 25 2005, 05:11 PM
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#86
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,144 Joined: 22-September 04 Member No.: 6,690 |
Once he's inside, Fade realizes that something had been using the maintenance room as a lair, probably whatever it was he'd heard scrabbling around before, although there was nothing else in there with him now. The smell was caused by the waste and offal piled in the corners. Chunks of organic matter were strewn about the room, most of it unrecognizable, others all too clearly gnawed bones and chunks of meat of metahuman origin.
As he secured the rope, he realized why he had such trouble getting the hatch open. There was another manual release on the inside of the door, and from the bright streaks of metal shining through the imprints of fingers in the filth, it's looks like someone was attempting to keep the hatch from being opened. Above the hatch, stenciled in faded letters were the words K/S-2 Block 346 LV 2341-Water/Waste Pipe Access. No one had any trouble recognizing what a poor tactical position they were in. If you were chased back into a pipe, it'd be a straight run with no other way to retreat, and not even Ares wanted to think about what would happen if more of those _things_ caught up while you were all clambering around on the walls. Ace was the first up the rope behind Fade, then Greven. Ares stood at the bottom, watching the white faced abomination rapidly scale up the wall, now more than halfway, until Gromitz gave him a boost up the rope. If you moved fast, you'd be through the maintenance hatch before it reached the pipe. ---------------------------------------- [ Spoiler ]
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Feb 25 2005, 05:43 PM
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#87
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,222 Joined: 11-October 02 From: Netherlands and Belgium Member No.: 3,437 |
Ares finishes boosting Greven up, then quickly scales up through the pipe himself. Once up, he reaches down while laying on his belly in the slimy filth, offering a hand to Gromitz. "We need this hatch closed and fast. The bugs don't seem to be doing all that well, and we're the next obvious target", Ares adds as he waits for Gromitz.
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Mar 1 2005, 02:19 PM
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#88
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
Gromitz climbs quickly and begins to pull the hatch closed after he is boosted in. "Shit guys!, we need something to seal this door. Those predator things have pulled this hatch open before!" ------------------- Gromitz yanks on the hatch with all his strength while looking around for a rigged up lock or way to bar the door. [ Spoiler ]
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Mar 8 2005, 06:55 AM
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#89
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,144 Joined: 22-September 04 Member No.: 6,690 |
Gromitz wrenches the wheel with all his strength, stripping the gears with a shriek of stretching metal. There's a serious feeling of deju vu as you find yourselves once again locked in a room without a working door.
There is a gentle tap-tap-tap from the other side of the door. Sounds like someone would like to be let in. |
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Mar 8 2005, 07:51 AM
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#90
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,222 Joined: 11-October 02 From: Netherlands and Belgium Member No.: 3,437 |
Ares smiles as he faces the door, his hand waving the rest of the team forward as he prepares to hold the enemy at bay if needed. He doesn't consider it risking his life, just his way of life. He'd make sure that nobody got past, giving the team as much time as they needed to run, then run behind them once there was an all-clear.
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Mar 8 2005, 02:05 PM
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#91
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
Gromitz wipes the sweat from his forehead and massages his now bruised hands a little to restore the circulation. Seeing that Ares has taken up a defensive position and everyone else is safe he unslings his axe while holstering his gun. He goes to inspect the second door and investigate the rest of the room for possible weak points and exits. He also appears to be searching for anything that may be useful later on. "Hold tight guys, I want to check this place out, It looks like a control room for a water treatment plant I once saw the plans for. I wonder if it could still run if it had power." --------------------------- [ Spoiler ]
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Mar 8 2005, 05:24 PM
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#92
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 993 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 313 |
"I'll come with you Ares."
[ Spoiler ]
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Mar 9 2005, 06:03 AM
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#93
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,144 Joined: 22-September 04 Member No.: 6,690 |
The tapping from the other side multiplies after a minute or so, more of your Enemy apparently having come to investigate. You all hear metal banging against itself as one of them tries to turn the manual wheel on the other side, stripped gears spinning uselessly, then the scream of tearing metal as it is ripped right off. They start banging against the hatch so hard that those standing across the room can feel vibrations shivering through the floor, but the metal hatch is more than strong enough to bear up to the abuse. The sound of the pounding grows to be almost unbearable, the noise amplified by the confines of the small room, and then suddenly it stops.
Not a single noise can be heard coming from the other side. Ares is almost disappointed as the silence stretches on. The thought of tearing one of those blank faced bastards apart had been very appealing. Gromitz examines the controls, then the other door out. Wiping away a bit more of the slime, it becomes apparent that enigmatic labels aside, the controls are all simply "on/off" switches for various pipes. Since the wasps seemed to be collecting water, it seems likely that they were trying to find a pipe spilling clean water, and avoiding any mixed with sewage or other contaminants. As he moves on to the door, he sees that someone did a very good job of wrecking it, quite permanently. The control panel set into the wall next to it is quite dead. Even if it had electricity flowing into it, the insides had been completely torn out. The plate in the wall covering the hydraulics had been pried off, and some sort of small explosive device left inside. As Gromitz works his way around the room, Ace hears a whimper from the ceiling above him. Looking up, he sees a face with bulbous eyes, and a wet, slobbery mouth partially concealed in the pipes above. It squeals when it realizes it's been spotted, and then scrambles through a hole torn into an overhead ventilation duct. |
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Mar 9 2005, 09:38 AM
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#94
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,222 Joined: 11-October 02 From: Netherlands and Belgium Member No.: 3,437 |
Today was not a good day to die anyhows. Ares wanted to be on the surface when his day came, but as long as he died in combat, he was happy. He sheathed his blades at his thighs, as he turned to join the rest of the team. Although he was saddened by the loss of combat oppurtunity, he was glad he'd be around to fight on better days.
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Mar 9 2005, 08:48 PM
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#95
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,328 Joined: 9-September 04 From: Alabama Member No.: 6,645 |
"I hear you knocking, but you can't come in." Ace taunted as the enemy banged on the other side of the hatch. When it was proven that they couldn't get through, and had apparently given up, the others scattered to look around. He was wondering what they were going to do with water processing plant controls, when he heard something up above. Looking up, he saw a pitiful wretch of a thing that quickly retreated back into the hole it had come out of. "What the..." he said as he attempted to climb up after it. [ Spoiler ]
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Mar 10 2005, 08:23 AM
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#96
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,328 Joined: 9-September 04 From: Alabama Member No.: 6,645 |
Ace continued to follow the creature, hoping that even if he couldn't catch it, perhaps it would lead him to something useful...like a way out of this place. He was getting tired of pipes and vents and such.
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Mar 10 2005, 12:29 PM
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#97
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,144 Joined: 22-September 04 Member No.: 6,690 |
As Greven and Fade catch their breath from the quick scramble up the side of the chasm, Gromitz finished his inspection of the doors. "They've been torn up pretty good-"
"What the!" Ace interupted, spotting movement as something darted back into a large hole torn into a ventilation duct, that had been concealed behind some hanging pipes. He climbed up a control console and dissapered, leaving a set of prints in the muck covering it almost identical to the set already there. The duct makes a sharp turn to the right, then the left. The thing seems to be drawing ahead of Ace, although it hasn't paused in gibbering to itself since the chase began. There is a loud clang, like a grate being dropped to the floor, then the thud of a body following it. He had to switch his shades to thermographic to see in the darkness of the duct so it took him a few seconds to realize that there was light coming into the duct. It looked like artificial light, but it was still the first light he had seen in days that had not been carried by either himself or his brothers. |
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Mar 10 2005, 09:07 PM
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#98
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,328 Joined: 9-September 04 From: Alabama Member No.: 6,645 |
As he followed the creature, Ace wondered if coming up here alone had been such a good idea. No telling what he might be running into. At least there weren't too many turns, so it shouldn't be hard to find his way back to the others if this turned out to be a wild goose chase.
It was interesting thus far, especially when he spotted the artificial light. From what he had heard, apparently that was where the creature had exited. He proceeded a bit more cautiously, unsure what he would find when he exited the vent. |
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Mar 11 2005, 12:50 PM
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#99
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,222 Joined: 11-October 02 From: Netherlands and Belgium Member No.: 3,437 |
Ares waits til everyone else went up the hole before following, sticking to his guns as the rear-protection for the brothers. Until then, he maintaines a defensive positioning, and offers help to anyone trying to get up the hole, following as the last make it up.
[ Spoiler ]
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Mar 11 2005, 05:45 PM
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#100
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
Gromitz looks around at the commotion and follows into the ventilation pipes thinking, "I'll never get the chance to do this again...yeah right!"
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 22nd July 2025 - 02:23 PM |
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