Past the gate, the lights have come back already. The walls once again have constellations decorating the surface, intermingled with the curved designs you may have gotten used to already.
Maybe the surprising part is that there's no sign of the malice that had passed by these hallways before you did, despite having entered far sooner than you all did. The number of enemies in the halls is zero, too. That might be a welcome respite, given one of the adventurers got mauled by a skull on the neck, and another just crashed against a number of prickly screens and has a part of a robot hanging from his leg.
The safe trip leads you all to a bifurcation. A path leads upwards, another leads downwards. According to the map, the path upwards has a drawing of what seems to be spikes, the other has a...circle. No indication of what it truly represents.
The inner workings of Van Medoh are...strange. It's an ancient machine, and as such, it's no surprise it has all kinds of rooms and mechanisms inside. Despite that, it's hard to imagine what purpose a place like this one can have other than to dissuade people from passing by.
It's a hallway, unpleasantly cramped. Despite that, it's not too long -- fifty meters at most before you reach the end to it. From the entry point you can see some sort of contraption at the end of the hallway. Doesn't look like an enemy. It's a mechanism that activates something inside Van Medoh. Easy enough...
...if it wasn't for the spikes.
The hallway is shaped like a hexagon, divided into rotating sections, rotating slowly so one can walk by. Some gyrate clockwise, other counterclockwise. The further into this hallway you go, the more spikes there are – in the first section there's only one side with spikes, the last section having four sections with spikes. It seems passing through is an issue of good timing. Fortunately, the spikes are small enough for any impalement to not be...immediately fatal, but it's bound to cause grievous injuries if you were to fall on them.
You also can see a couple enemies, and unlike the one from the initial chamber, they're not dilapidated and rusty, and they're active, holding onto the sections of the rotating hallway and focusing on Zuko and Sebastian as soon as they step onto the first section. Time has been far kinder to these ones...but they continue being small fries. Be careful.
An offensive attack! That doesn't go unnoticed to the guardian scouts. They look at each other for a brief moment before one begins to charge a laser. The other turns around and goes upwards, onto a section of rotating hallway, where it buries its arms into the inner workings of Van Medoh. The hallway stops for a moment, trembles, and with an ominous creak begins to turn erratically.
One of the guardians has taken control of the hallway itself instead of attacking them. Looks like it will be using the spikes and the hallway to try to kill them!
The other one begins to charge its laser, a red aiming dot appearing on Sebastian, following him around infallibly thanks to the [19] roll, a buzzing sound filling the air! It's about to fire!
[ but first things first. squishy boy is in danger! zuko's got his sword out already. who brings a sword to a laser fight. this guy. ]
[ he manages to successfully pull sebastian behind him with a roll of 14, then holds his sword out, ready to reflect the laser!!! it totally works that way, right. ]
[ kind of squeaks out a "thanks" as he's pulled to safety, and tries another fireball because they've already got the machines' attention and surely that was just a fluke last time!!
...well at least 9 is better than 1 (in this context). ]
Zuko channels the hero of Hyrule and deflects the laser successfully! However, the strength of the laser knocks the sword off his hand, throwing it to the ground. The hallway moves, taking the sword away from Zuko and towards a side.
Speaking of spikes! The fire Sebastian throws misses the attacking guardian and singes a few spikes. Those touched by the fire crack, turning brittle.
The guardian, all of a sudden, retracts the arm into its body, and when it comes out it's holding a spear, looking between Zuko and Sebastian. Since Zuko is disarmed the guardian lunges at him, jumping over spikes, aiming with the spear at him!
[ wow he's on a roll! with a 20, zuko braces for the incoming guardian, punching straight up into the arm holding the spear. since he rolled another 20 somehow, zuko manages to wrest the spear away from the thing -- ]
[ and tries to stab it through the eyes. i rolled a 9 so we'll see how that goes ]
he notices the fire making the spikes fall apart and comes up with the brilliant idea to destroy them more efficiently by attempting to throw a bomb at one of the spikiest sections further in. but he gets a 6, so ?
The Guardian Scouts are prepared for many things. Truthfully, a kid punching an arm to wrestle its weapon away was not one of those things. The guardian emits whirring that somehow conveys it's surprised, and loses its grip on the spear! Zuko makes good use of the spear by trying to stab at its eye, the guardian moving aside, the spear leaving gouges into the outer casing. These guardians are very vulnerable to their own weaponry!
But the guardian grabs the robot arm hanging from Zuko's leg and pulls to make him fall to the ground [14], and begins pulling from him, dragging him along, towards the spikes on a side, placed there by the one controlling the hallway, inexorably dragging him along!
Sebastian's bombing the spikes plan is a good idea! The bomb detonates, its bluish explosion searing spikes. They don't break but they certainly look fragile now! The guardian handling the hallway, unhappy its weapon is getting damaged, sweeps the sections underneath Sebastian, making him slip, and places the fragile spikes above Sebastian, the movement breaking some, falling towards him! It's been pretty telegraphed and only one section moved like this, though, [6], giving him plenty enough time to make a move.
The reason why this area is represented with a circle inside a chamber is glaringly obvious as soon as you come in.
The room looks...out of place in Van Medoh, you realize immediately. The brown and metallic walls change into bluish gray tiles, the walls turn smooth, and there's a strang echo with every step you take. Looks like you entered into some some of short chamber, meant to be only for passing through. The floor extends from wall to wall and curves upwards, up to halfway up. Grooves fill the surface...
...for the boulders to roll on.
There's a number of metallic boulders rolling around, twice as large as a person, and undoubtedly pretty heavy, rolling slowly and with no purpose. They don't seem to be machines or alive, fortunately for you.
What is a machine, though, are the two guardians over there in the center, attached to the roof, and unlike the one from the initial chamber, they're not dilapidated and rusty. Time has been far kinder to these ones...but they're inactive, turned off. Strange.
On the other end of the chamber there's a contraption of some sort. Presumably the reason why you had to come down here! You can't see the details from where you're standing.
...nothing happens. Odd. No reaction from the inactive machines.
When they pass through, they...still don't activate. Looks like they're free to cross all the way to the contraption at the end without injury, as long as they can dodge slow metal boulders -- which they most likely can even without a roll, really.
They don't look nearly as rusty as the one that grabbed Zuko, either...
[Guess? She's walking past these very slow boulders to make her way over to the contraption? Though she glances up whenever she can, keeping an eye on the machines.]
[He walks forward at the same time as her, glancing up now and then, trying to check if they're suddenly going to activate now that they're in the room proper.]
While they pass through, one of the machines' eye opens up, looks at them, and...the machine doesn't move at all, following them by sight, until they reach the end of the chamber. Stairs are placed into the wall, leading out.
Near it, there's the contraption. It turns out to be a tube, its diameter as big as a cantaloupe. Judging by the opening facing up and at them and the usual blue glow of something allowing action, they're mean to introduce something there. Ah, and how fortunate! Right to the side of the tube there's an indentation of the ground, where a sphere of the right size is at!
Or should be at.
The by now expected noise of the guardians coming to life echoes in the chamber, and when Bradley and Sheila turn their heads, they notice two things:
One is that among the boulders, rolling around leisurely, there's the sphere they would need to get into that tube, glowing with arcane lines.
The other is that the guardians are on the move -- one running in direction of the sphere, chasing it! And the other charges a laser, aiming at Sheila's chest, a dot signaling where it will hit. It seems one of the guardians will try to keep the sphere they need away from them, while the other attempts to murder them!
[He will create a pillar as close to the charging guardian as he can manage (14). It's not really a shield, but he figures if it's a projectile, that maybe it'll be slowed down a little?
A pillar of ice emerges from the floor, rising high! Just in time for the guardian to finish charging thanks to that [14]! The laser strikes the ice, and [6] it seems it worked well as protection, chunks of the ice breaking and striking Sheila. A minor annoyance, better than getting your chest blown away by a laser. The attacking guardian, unhappy its quick attack to get rid of one didn't work, decides a more hands-on approach, getting a sword out of its body and beginning to approach Sheila!
In the meantime, with Bradley, the stealing guardian, having been closer, reaches the sphere first, grabbing it and holding it high, making high-pitched noises at Bradley that are definitely meant to mock him. Catch it if you can, pretty much is shouting! And swings the sphere around, striking a passing boulder, making it roll in his direction thanks to the inertia!
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guestservices) wrote2022-06-26 02:36 pm
SECOND
Maybe the surprising part is that there's no sign of the malice that had passed by these hallways before you did, despite having entered far sooner than you all did. The number of enemies in the halls is zero, too. That might be a welcome respite, given one of the adventurers got mauled by a skull on the neck, and another just crashed against a number of prickly screens and has a part of a robot hanging from his leg.
The safe trip leads you all to a bifurcation. A path leads upwards, another leads downwards. According to the map, the path upwards has a drawing of what seems to be spikes, the other has a...circle. No indication of what it truly represents.
Two people in each path, please.
spikes
[ i forgot to be funny about his suffering. oh well, it happens. ]
Let's just get this over with.
[ he'll be heading to the spikes room to die more ]
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[ so he's following and trying very hard not to think about the spikes ]
SPIKES
It's a hallway, unpleasantly cramped. Despite that, it's not too long -- fifty meters at most before you reach the end to it. From the entry point you can see some sort of contraption at the end of the hallway. Doesn't look like an enemy. It's a mechanism that activates something inside Van Medoh. Easy enough...
...if it wasn't for the spikes.
The hallway is shaped like a hexagon, divided into rotating sections, rotating slowly so one can walk by. Some gyrate clockwise, other counterclockwise. The further into this hallway you go, the more spikes there are – in the first section there's only one side with spikes, the last section having four sections with spikes. It seems passing through is an issue of good timing. Fortunately, the spikes are small enough for any impalement to not be...immediately fatal, but it's bound to cause grievous injuries if you were to fall on them.
You also can see a couple enemies, and unlike the one from the initial chamber, they're not dilapidated and rusty, and they're active, holding onto the sections of the rotating hallway and focusing on Zuko and Sebastian as soon as they step onto the first section. Time has been far kinder to these ones...but they continue being small fries. Be careful.
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[ to sebastian. zuko just toddles ahead, taking stock of everything.... ]
So spikes and enemies. We need to get that mechanism without dying.
[ it's probably fine ]
Can you try shooting at those things?
[ it probably won't reach but a guy can dream. ]
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Y-yeah, I'll try it!
[ and then he rolls a 1 so i guess the fireball just went like 6 inches and then fizzled out. ]
...Hm.
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One of the guardians has taken control of the hallway itself instead of attacking them. Looks like it will be using the spikes and the hallway to try to kill them!
The other one begins to charge its laser, a red aiming dot appearing on Sebastian, following him around infallibly thanks to the [19] roll, a buzzing sound filling the air! It's about to fire!
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Ugh, those things can control it?
[ but first things first. squishy boy is in danger! zuko's got his sword out already. who brings a sword to a laser fight. this guy. ]
[ he manages to successfully pull sebastian behind him with a roll of 14, then holds his sword out, ready to reflect the laser!!! it totally works that way, right. ]
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...well at least 9 is better than 1 (in this context). ]
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channels the hero of Hyrule anddeflects the laser successfully! However, the strength of the laser knocks the sword off his hand, throwing it to the ground. The hallway moves, taking the sword away from Zuko and towards a side.Speaking of spikes! The fire Sebastian throws misses the attacking guardian and singes a few spikes. Those touched by the fire crack, turning brittle.
The guardian, all of a sudden, retracts the arm into its body, and when it comes out it's holding a spear, looking between Zuko and Sebastian. Since Zuko is disarmed the guardian lunges at him, jumping over spikes, aiming with the spear at him!
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[ and tries to stab it through the eyes. i rolled a 9 so we'll see how that goes ]
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he notices the fire making the spikes fall apart and comes up with the brilliant idea to destroy them more efficiently by attempting to throw a bomb at one of the spikiest sections further in. but he gets a 6, so ?
6 and 9... nice ]
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But the guardian grabs the robot arm hanging from Zuko's leg and pulls to make him fall to the ground [14], and begins pulling from him, dragging him along, towards the spikes on a side, placed there by the one controlling the hallway, inexorably dragging him along!
Sebastian's bombing the spikes plan is a good idea! The bomb detonates, its bluish explosion searing spikes. They don't break but they certainly look fragile now! The guardian handling the hallway, unhappy its weapon is getting damaged, sweeps the sections underneath Sebastian, making him slip, and places the fragile spikes above Sebastian, the movement breaking some, falling towards him! It's been pretty telegraphed and only one section moved like this, though, [6], giving him plenty enough time to make a move.
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1/2
2/2
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circle
Either way, the meta text is asking them to split up so she starts to head downward, towards the circle on the map.]
What do you think is down there?
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Some button we gotta press or a teleporter? [The only teleportation device he's actually aware of is a door.] The circle's vague.
NOT SPIKES
The room looks...out of place in Van Medoh, you realize immediately. The brown and metallic walls change into bluish gray tiles, the walls turn smooth, and there's a strang echo with every step you take. Looks like you entered into some some of short chamber, meant to be only for passing through. The floor extends from wall to wall and curves upwards, up to halfway up. Grooves fill the surface...
...for the boulders to roll on.
There's a number of metallic boulders rolling around, twice as large as a person, and undoubtedly pretty heavy, rolling slowly and with no purpose. They don't seem to be machines or alive, fortunately for you.
What is a machine, though, are the two guardians over there in the center, attached to the roof, and unlike the one from the initial chamber, they're not dilapidated and rusty. Time has been far kinder to these ones...but they're inactive, turned off. Strange.
On the other end of the chamber there's a contraption of some sort. Presumably the reason why you had to come down here! You can't see the details from where you're standing.
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Slowly, watching the boulders roll:]
Oh, no.
[HELP. She glances up, squinting.]
Well. It looks like circle means fucking giant death boulders and robots. How good are you at dodging?
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[The robots... He squints up at the robots.]
Those could suck.
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...
...nothing happens. Odd. No reaction from the inactive machines.
When they pass through, they...still don't activate. Looks like they're free to cross all the way to the contraption at the end without injury, as long as they can dodge slow metal boulders -- which they most likely can even without a roll, really.
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[Guess? She's walking past these very slow boulders to make her way over to the contraption? Though she glances up whenever she can, keeping an eye on the machines.]
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While they pass through, one of the machines' eye opens up, looks at them, and...the machine doesn't move at all, following them by sight, until they reach the end of the chamber. Stairs are placed into the wall, leading out.
Near it, there's the contraption. It turns out to be a tube, its diameter as big as a cantaloupe. Judging by the opening facing up and at them and the usual blue glow of something allowing action, they're mean to introduce something there. Ah, and how fortunate! Right to the side of the tube there's an indentation of the ground, where a sphere of the right size is at!
Or should be at.
The by now expected noise of the guardians coming to life echoes in the chamber, and when Bradley and Sheila turn their heads, they notice two things:
One is that among the boulders, rolling around leisurely, there's the sphere they would need to get into that tube, glowing with arcane lines.
The other is that the guardians are on the move -- one running in direction of the sphere, chasing it! And the other charges a laser, aiming at Sheila's chest, a dot signaling where it will hit. It seems one of the guardians will try to keep the sphere they need away from them, while the other attempts to murder them!
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Sheila quickly moves to get that dot off her chest, trying to avoid the laser, but—
kyuu 🦶 mommy? sorry. Roll: `[6]` Result: 6
Bye.]
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[He will create a pillar as close to the charging guardian as he can manage (14). It's not really a shield, but he figures if it's a projectile, that maybe it'll be slowed down a little?
And then he chases directly towards the sphere.]
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In the meantime, with Bradley, the stealing guardian, having been closer, reaches the sphere first, grabbing it and holding it high, making high-pitched noises at Bradley that are definitely meant to mock him. Catch it if you can, pretty much is shouting! And swings the sphere around, striking a passing boulder, making it roll in his direction thanks to the inertia!
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