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Post by Vitsheep on Jul 13, 2020 21:24:30 GMT -5
Floyd
"Alright, fine..." Somnis says. "Let's go. But be careful, OK? If we run into much more than 2 of those things at once we're in trouble."
You head into the next room and find another large, two-leveled room. You see the stream of liquid, molten metal being pumped up through some clear pipes and collecting in a large basin near the entrance. A conveyor belt makes a loop through the room, coming from further into the train and making a pass under the basin before looping back into the next room. Metal trays are spaced at regular intervals. As they pass under the basin, a small stream of the molten metal falls out through an opening in the bottom of the basin and fills the tray.
The room is dimly lit by a few weak lights, most of the glow coming from the molten metal as it's carried out... and from the searchlights carried by a half-dozen small drones patrolling the room.
"Oh, look, drones!" Katie says. "Just like ours!"
"Except with guns..." Fox points out.
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Post by Vitsheep on Jul 28, 2020 19:19:03 GMT -5
Floyd
Floyd looks around, carefully planning out the drone's patrol route and thinking carefully about how to move between them without being noticed. He spots a few gaps, plans out a path, and explains to the others. He starts moving forward between the drones, starting to scramble up onto the conveyor belt. And then Katie trips over nothing, falls on her face, and gets spotted. Good job, Katie.
Katie looks at the drones, then looks at the other drones starting to move in on everyone. She turns back the way everyone came and starts to run up the stairs. The drones follow after her, ignoring the others.
Floyd motions at Fox and Somnis to go check the door, then doubles back to follow after Katie. Katie climbs up the stairs, doubles back, and starts running forward again on the upper level. Floyd makes it to the bottom of the stairs as the drones continue to chase after her. He looks back to see Somnis and Fox standing at the open door. Somnis waves.
Floyd moves back towards the door with Katie running along on the platform above him. Two of the drones shift from chasing after Katie and start chasing Floyd instead. Fox and Somnis stand on either side of the door, ready to close it when the two come by. Katie leaps from the upper platform, landing with a thud on all fours and stumbling. Two of the drones pass by, opening fire on her with a stream of small pellets before looping back and preparing for another run.
Floyd makes it through the door first, turning to help close them. Katie gallops through, and you all start closing the door. As if shuts, two drones slip through at the last moment. As the doors slam shut, you hear the rest of the drones thud against it.
Turning around to face the drones that got through, you find yourselves in a large, almost empty room. There's only a pair of conveyor belts running along either wall, a glowing portal in the center, and the pair of drones turning to attack.
Somnis waves her arms and both of the drones turn on her. One goes charging forward and tackles her, knocking her back a few feet and onto her back. The other drone gains altitude and rotates its small cannon to face her. A small ball of light appears on its tip and begins growing larger.
Floyd unleashes a burst of chilled wind at the closer drone. It shudders in the air and seems to lose some of its control. Katie jumps on it and slashes with her claws. Fox crouches down and gets ready to leap at the drone charging its cannon.
You look back to check on Somnis and find she is gone. Again.
Fox jumps and slices the drone charging, causing it to shudder. Floyd throws a bunch of dirt and crap at it, and it starts to shake even worse. Just as it looks like it's about to fire, Somnis appears on top of it and stabs it repeatedly. It starts to go crashing to the ground, and Katie runs underneath it, jumping to catch it in her jaws like a frisbee. She shakes it a few times, then tosses it aside, tail wagging.
The other drone sits still for a moment, then suddenly explodes. Heat and debris hit everyone, and everyone's keys begin to buzz.
"Why does EVERYTHING in this place EXPLODE?" Somnis asks in an angry whisper.
Obtained Hover Unit x1
Obtained Metal Plating x2
"Ow.... OK now what portal? Portal!" Floyd exclaims.
"Yes, it's a portal..." Somnis says. "Uh... We should at least see where it connects. Then we can decide whether or not to press on."
Katie nods enthusiastically, jumping in without waiting for anyone.
"Uh, wait..." Fox says. "Oh, she's gone."
"Well no waiting now..... one of us should stay behind though just in case.....not it!"
"What? Uh. OK?" Fox says. "Somnis and I can stay I guess?"
"Sure or two that works as well don't worry I'll make sure curiosity doesn't kill the Katie," Floyd adds.
Floyd steps out of the portal and is immediately assaulted by a horrible smell. There's tall hills with jagged rocks and horrid shapes surrounding him on all sides. As his eyes adjust to the dim night, he realizes he's surrounded by piles of trash, scrap, and bent metal.
Katie is standing a short distance away, a hand over her nose. "Ew... Is this the dump?" she asks.
"Well it certainly looks and smells dumpy.... You think that guys around here somewhere?"
"Maybe?" Katie says. "Um... There might be another portal here somewhere?"
"Yeah that's what I was thinking just need a second to remember where this one is...... and good OK let's go check this place out"
"Where are the others?" Katie says.
"Ohh they stayed behind just in case you were jumping into a trap you wanna go get them?"
"Uh... Iunno. Are we going to look around the dump or the train? Probably best to not split up, probably? I guess?"
"You're probably right we can come back some other time.... better prepared for the smell and such"
"Um... OK, I guess," Katie says. "It's probably not safe to go too much further, though."
You head back into the train to find Somnis poking at the destroyed drone and Fox walking in circles around the portal.
Fox snaps to attention as soon as you come through the portal. "Oh, you're back."
"Hi," Somnis says. "Our keys have finished patching up our armor... but they're still pretty stressed out. Ready to keep going?"
"The portal lead to the dump if things get hairy we can leave from here and use it as a point of entry some other day!'
"Yep!" Katie says. She hops over to the door forward and uncharacteristically waits beside it for everyone else.
Somnis and Fox join her and swing the doors open. Inside you find a stark-white room with the conveyor belts continuing along. Some devices near the ceiling are letting out a stream of freezing cold air. The floors and walls are coated in a layer of ice. A dozen small robots that look like simple arms on wheels are rolling around, spraying liquid on some of the passing trays.
A pair of turrets in the center of the room swivel to face the door as it opens.
"Ah... c-cold..." Katie says. She grabs herself ans starts shivering immediately.
"Y-yeah... R-really..." Fox agrees.
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Post by Vitsheep on Jul 28, 2020 22:42:42 GMT -5
Floyd
Floyd takes a deep breath "Ooh that feels nice" then runs over to one of the worker robots putting it between himself and the turrets. Once in position he'll use Burning Ash on the Cold Sprayers.
Fox raises his scythe and fires a bolt of wind at the closest sprayer while Floyd moves into position. Floyd begins to superheat the air around him. Three of the nearby cold sprayers turn to face him as if recognizing they're under attack, but they seem decidedly nonplussed.
Somnis throws a cluster of daggers into the herd of sprayers, hitting one of the ones near Floyd and two at the far end of the room. Katie turns into a praying mantis near the end of the room and prepares to attack.
The sprayers begin to swarm. One accelerates and slide-tackles Katie, then one lays down a sheet of ice at Somnis' feet. She slips and lands on her back, and two of the other sprayers quickly run her over. Two more attack Fox from either side, smashing him between them. The three Floyd attacked all begin to spray him with icy liquid and he can feel his armor starting to solidify. Another two start giving Katie the same treatment, while the last focuses its spray on Fox.
The turrets open fire, sweeping across the room. One takes advantage of Somnis' exposed state to focus on her, the barrage pushing her off the ice and back onto solid ground. The other lobs some kind of small orb towards Katie, which bursts in the air and damages her and Fox.
Somnis and Katie's keys both begin to let out a soft whine.
Fox leaps with his scythe and slices one of the damaged robots. Somnis rolls from her back and up to her feet, throwing knives at the same one. It bursts and falls to pieces.
Floyd runs from the enemies, charging their rear line. His sword clangs off the armor, leaving a dent. Katie hops forward, slicing at one of the robots spraying her. It doesn't seem bothered, and continues to go about its job of coating her in ice along with its partner, and then a third joins in. Katie's movement slows to a crawl, then she stops completely, a layer of ice glistening in the light. Another sprays the floor under Fox, sending him falling over. A turret locks onto him and begins firing repeatedly. Two of them begin smacking Fox with their arms. Three more follow after Floyd, ramming him in the back. The last two start coating Somnis. The remaining turret that Fox struck spins rapidly, slamming into him and knocking him back.
"I th-think we might want to c-c-consider... retreating..." Fox suggests.
"Agreed th-this is going real bad real fast help Somnis I'll grab Katie" Floyd shouts back. He'll use Acid Armor as he runs over to pick up the Frozen Katie
Floyd runs back to Katie, struggling to try to pick up the solidified bug, then realizing it's easy to slide her to the door. The robots chase him as he slides her out of the door, and by the time he makes it to safety he finds moving is almost impossible. Fox and Somnis arrive a moment behind him, quickly closing the door.
Katie sits quietly, staring, unmoving.
Floyd takes a moment to catch his breath and warm back up. "I think that's enough adventure for one night we need a plan for a room like that and.... ideally some warmer clothes" He says before turning his attention to the Bugsicle
"Yeah... Maybe we should ask the others if they have any ideas?" Somnis suggests. "Maybe we should make some armor with fire-y stuff in it? Or bring someone who can melt stuff good?"
Fox prods Katie. She wobbles back and forth before settling back in place. "Um..."
"Hm? Oh, she should be fine," Somnis says. "Just give her a few minutes."
Floyd sits with Katie. Fox realizes what he's doing and sits on the opposite side.
Somnis takes out her phone and checks it while you wait for her to thaw. "Uh... oh. That's, uh... hm. Uh-oh, that's not good."
"Do you want to share with the rest of the class?" Fox asks.
"Yeeeeaaaah... uh... something happened... hold I'm, I'm still reading through all of this... OK, um... so... something happened at the beach... uh... some people... got in trouble with some monsters... and got captured by the Earth Beast and uh a lot of people came to help? It looks like they fixed it? I think?"
"....The Beach.....Earth Beast?......Well as long as everyone's OK. We probably won't be much help at this point"
"Nope!" Somnis says. "Unless we want to slide Katie at them, like a big hockey puck."
Katie manages to make a single, annoyed clicking noise.
Floyd takes a stab at which place would be the most comforting to pat a werebug. "Well at least this seems to be working. How far is the Beach from the Dump?"
Pretty far... but not that far," Somnis says. "With how things are now, it'd take maybe 30, 45 minutes to get there?" Somnis says. "But it'd be really dangerous to take Katie out of here until she warms up. Her key's keeping her safe as-is, but if we went outside, I'm not really sure what would happen."
"Yeah yeah of course" Floyd says "Just my luck first time I come over here on purpose and I miss the big stuff" He adds laughing nervously and leaning in closer to Katie
"Yep," Somnis says. "It happens. No one invites me to anything until they need me."
There's a sound of cracking ice, then Katie breaks free, clawed arms flailing wildly. She crouches down and starts growing fur until she transforms into a large werewolf, immediately beginning to run around the room in a circle, then flop onto her back and start rolling around.
Floyd smiles up at Somnis "Birds of a feather flock together huh" He manages to get out before narrowly dodging Katie's flailing. He watches her dart around the room "How're you feeling Kit-Kat?"
"Cold! I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! And wet! And cold!" She continues to roll around on her back. "Those stupid... things! They're worse than the bees!"
Floyd chuckles "I swear one of these days we'll go somewhere and not have to run for our lives"
Katie pauses rolling long enough to stare at you with a look of complete and utter doubt.
"So... now that everyone's warmed up, should we just head home?" Fox asks.
"Oh, yeah. Alice said she wants to have a meeting Wednesday night to compare notes," Somnis says. "Didn't say where yet."
Floyd returns the look with a hopeful smile. "Wednesday Wednesday..... Got it. Anything else?"
"Nope!" Somnis says. "I'll tell you more when I find out."
"...This is annoying. That smug jerk won," Katie says. "We need to figure out how to get back at him soon."
Floyd nods "We're not giving up this is just a tactical retreat"
Katie grumbles something to herself as you all head through the portal and out into the dump.
"Oh...!" Somnis says. "This is the scrap metal part of the dump. Yeah, that makes sense." She nods to herself. "Well. Goodnight!"
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