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.
[ yells zuko, as he's grabbed by the robot arm and dragged to the spikes. he rolled a 3 so this is going to be very painful for poor zuzu. rest in pieces ]
[ as he's being dragged across the spikes and probably biting his lip to stop from yelling in manly pain, he tries for another stab at the thing -- 18 this time! woo! ]
[ WELL HE HAS ALREADY STOPPED AND DROPPED SO IT'S TIME TO ROLL... OUT OF THE WAY OF THESE SPIKES
and with an 18 he is probably managing to avoid them and get back up! yay! ]
Y-yeah, got it!!
[ i guess as long as he's this close to this section of fragile spikes he's just going to like, whack them with his fire rod to try to finish breaking them so they can't stab anymore?? got a 14 on this part. ]
It works! The spikes break, shattering, leaving only a craggy surface that probably won't hurt anyone as long as they don't fall onto it violently. The controlling guardian, enraged, begins charging its laser, aiming at Sebastian, and fires. The laser hits him right into the shoulder holding the rod, injuring him, making him drop the rod. The heat of the laser immediately cauterized the wound but it doesn't stop the pretty significant pain!
Zuko isn't faring much better in the staying unharmed department either. The guardian fighting him drags him across spikes, the sharp ends digging into the armor and turning the back of it into scraps. If it hadn't been for the armor, he would have died -- but it as terrible enough to leave gashes on his back. The silver lining is that since the guardian is dragging Zuko, it's very close and therefore very vulnerable to its own spear. Zuko's [18] hits it right in the eye, cutting like a hot knife into butter and embedding deep into its machinery, the guardian letting go of him immediately and going slack, sparks flying while it...pretty much explodes harmlessly, pieces of it scattering around.
The attacking guardian has been defeated, but it certainly left injuries in its wake. Ouch. The controlling guardian up there is still intact, but it's out of reach from the ground. Attacking with the sword and the such won't work right now.
[ zuko drags himself out of the spike pit, flinching and casually dripping blood ]
You okay?
[ they've got to do something about that controlling guardian.... but first thing first, zuko will make his way over to shield sebastian and make sure he's okay. ]
[ well, he's absolutely crying from the pain of that laser wound, but zuko looks a whole lot worse off and is still shielding him for some reason, so he sucks it up and nods. ]
Right...!
[ he scrambles to pick up the fire rod before it's lost [14] and tries to throw a bomb over toward the guardian, but that predictably doesn't go great [7] since his throwing arm is kind of out of commission right now. ]
Looking around, it seems the only thing one could use for cover is the contraption at the end of the hallway -- a long tube that probably is meant to withstand a lot of things, given its importance for the inner workings of this area. Still, it's at the end of the hall, past the moving sections. Sebastian's bombing has broken many of the spikes, making it far easier to pass -- although you would need to roll to determine how it goes.
However, judging by how the guardian up there stops attacking to move the hallway and try to set spikes into position for more hurting, it can't attack them and move the hallway at the same time. The bomb Sebastian throws falls and rolls away, exploding harmlessly over there.
If you could somehow manage to trick it into moving the place where it's at right now so you could reach it, or if you could attack it from a range and hit it, or if you could manipulate the area itself to your advantage somehow, you should be able to defeat it!
[ he's about to point out how much he just failed at that last left-handed pitch but then remembers cube bombs also exist so he can probably just like, set that down and kick it in a relatively straight line without having to worry about it bouncing and rolling?? ]
Oh!!
[ okay!!! he's kicking the cube bomb with what he hopes is The Best Amount of Force to get it to stop at the section where the guardian is, and hoping he's better at this than he is at soccer!
and the heavens smile upon him and he gets a 20 and detonates that thing as soon as it slides into place!! ]
Zuko's use of magnet is...clumsy, to put it that way. He manages to get a grip on the hallway section, all of it glowing with a strange orange light, and he, with a move, pretty much spins the thing madly, swinging it while trying to get the guardian into position, the guardian beeping all confused because what does that guy think he's doing, what is this clumsy handling.
Sebastian's expert timing saves the day this time. The cube bomb slides across the floor, sliding towards the section with the guardian on it, and almost miraculously, Sebastian detonates it right when Zuko's mad magnetic handling of this thing has the guardian in the right position for just a brief second.
The guardian lets go from that section immediately. The blast was accurate enough to damage it irreparably, and Zuko accidentally flings the guardian off and into spikes near Sebastian, giving it the final blow. It's not getting up anymore, skewered. Part of the guardian breaks apart, releasing a strange sphere, the size of a melon. Anyone can tell it's important because of the glowing lines all over it.
Finally, peace. Only thing that remains to be done is to take that sphere to its place in that tube over there.
The sphere rolls down the tube and into the wall. There's a subtle click somewhere in there, and beyond the stairs at the end of the hallway, you can hear the sound of rotors powering on. Looks like this sphere activated them somehow.
Once Sebastian and Zuko walk up the stairs, they will find themselves in a wide balcony, surrounded by a beautiful handrail. Four rotors are placed on the sides of the balcony, two of them spinning already. Easy to guess who will have to turn on the other two rotors.
In the distance, beyond an empty chasm very far over a lake at nighttime, is a cylindrical chamber, extending from below Van Medoh's wing. The rail goes into an opening there -- your destination, and somewhere in that cylinder, there's a way to reach the outside of this odd flying mechanical beast. You're so close!
Take a breather, Zuko and Sebastian, you deserve it.
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guestservices) wrote2022-06-26 02:36 pm
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.
no subject
[ 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. ]
no subject
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.
no subject
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!
no subject
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. ]
no subject
...well at least 9 is better than 1 (in this context). ]
no subject
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!
no subject
[ and tries to stab it through the eyes. i rolled a 9 so we'll see how that goes ]
no subject
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 ]
no subject
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.
no subject
Whatever you're doing, Sebastian, keep doing it!
[ yells zuko, as he's grabbed by the robot arm and dragged to the spikes. he rolled a 3 so this is going to be very painful for poor zuzu. rest in pieces ]
[ as he's being dragged across the spikes and probably biting his lip to stop from yelling in manly pain, he tries for another stab at the thing -- 18 this time! woo! ]
no subject
and with an 18 he is probably managing to avoid them and get back up! yay! ]
Y-yeah, got it!!
[ i guess as long as he's this close to this section of fragile spikes he's just going to like, whack them with his fire rod to try to finish breaking them so they can't stab anymore?? got a 14 on this part. ]
no subject
Zuko isn't faring much better in the staying unharmed department either. The guardian fighting him drags him across spikes, the sharp ends digging into the armor and turning the back of it into scraps. If it hadn't been for the armor, he would have died -- but it as terrible enough to leave gashes on his back. The silver lining is that since the guardian is dragging Zuko, it's very close and therefore very vulnerable to its own spear. Zuko's [18] hits it right in the eye, cutting like a hot knife into butter and embedding deep into its machinery, the guardian letting go of him immediately and going slack, sparks flying while it...pretty much explodes harmlessly, pieces of it scattering around.
The attacking guardian has been defeated, but it certainly left injuries in its wake. Ouch. The controlling guardian up there is still intact, but it's out of reach from the ground. Attacking with the sword and the such won't work right now.
no subject
You okay?
[ they've got to do something about that controlling guardian.... but first thing first, zuko will make his way over to shield sebastian and make sure he's okay. ]
We need to take that thing out, and quick.
[ is there anything they can use for cover? ]
no subject
Right...!
[ he scrambles to pick up the fire rod before it's lost [14] and tries to throw a bomb over toward the guardian, but that predictably doesn't go great [7] since his throwing arm is kind of out of commission right now. ]
no subject
However, judging by how the guardian up there stops attacking to move the hallway and try to set spikes into position for more hurting, it can't attack them and move the hallway at the same time. The bomb Sebastian throws falls and rolls away, exploding harmlessly over there.
If you could somehow manage to trick it into moving the place where it's at right now so you could reach it, or if you could attack it from a range and hit it, or if you could manipulate the area itself to your advantage somehow, you should be able to defeat it!
no subject
[ from the explanation. ]
I've got an idea. You throw the bomb, and I'm going to use my magnetic... whatever, to move it into range.
[ assuming sebastian is ready, zuko will do just that!! except he rolls a 3 and fails miserably. now... it's all up to sebastian...? ]
no subject
[ he's about to point out how much he just failed at that last left-handed pitch but then remembers cube bombs also exist so he can probably just like, set that down and kick it in a relatively straight line without having to worry about it bouncing and rolling?? ]
Oh!!
[ okay!!! he's kicking the cube bomb with what he hopes is The Best Amount of Force to get it to stop at the section where the guardian is, and hoping he's better at this than he is at soccer!
and the heavens smile upon him and he gets a 20 and detonates that thing as soon as it slides into place!! ]
no subject
Sebastian's expert timing saves the day this time. The cube bomb slides across the floor, sliding towards the section with the guardian on it, and almost miraculously, Sebastian detonates it right when Zuko's mad magnetic handling of this thing has the guardian in the right position for just a brief second.
The guardian lets go from that section immediately. The blast was accurate enough to damage it irreparably, and Zuko accidentally flings the guardian off and into spikes near Sebastian, giving it the final blow. It's not getting up anymore, skewered. Part of the guardian breaks apart, releasing a strange sphere, the size of a melon. Anyone can tell it's important because of the glowing lines all over it.
Finally, peace. Only thing that remains to be done is to take that sphere to its place in that tube over there.
no subject
Nice shot.
[ he's now going to hobble over to put it in the tube. ]
Looks like we cleared this room out. How's your arm?
1/2
Good enough for a high fi—
2/2
[ never mind. ]
It's, um, it's fine.
[ ...shifts his fire rod into that hand and holds up his other hand instead? ]
no subject
Once Sebastian and Zuko walk up the stairs, they will find themselves in a wide balcony, surrounded by a beautiful handrail. Four rotors are placed on the sides of the balcony, two of them spinning already. Easy to guess who will have to turn on the other two rotors.
In the distance, beyond an empty chasm very far over a lake at nighttime, is a cylindrical chamber, extending from below Van Medoh's wing. The rail goes into an opening there -- your destination, and somewhere in that cylinder, there's a way to reach the outside of this odd flying mechanical beast. You're so close!
Take a breather, Zuko and Sebastian, you deserve it.