The Pulse of Awakening (RPG)

[NFX]

With a flash, Mira suddenly appeared in what looked to be a second chamber, identical to the one she had been trapped in just seconds before. She could hear an alarm in the distance, doubtless alerting their captors to her escape, but she definitely felt rejuvenated after the trip, and with her brightness having been restored, she looked decidedly more feminine than she had in the cell.

She had to move, though, and there were five different directions in which she could travel. She'd fallen through a trapdoor to get where she was, so she decided to take the stairs to her left. Maybe then she'd be able to figure out where this place went.

[NWOWWE]

More and more Shepard was regretting hanging around in this chamber. Alarmingly everyone seemed to be splitting off for themselves at the earliest opportunity. And speaking of alarms... This latest breakaway had made Avarice the most aggressive he had been yet.Putting up his hands (because if something bad was going to go down he wanted to be able to fire off a quick Overload and maybe create enough confusion to escape himself) in a nonthreatening gesture made one last attempt to ease things for the moment."Look I've played by your rules so far. I didn't want them all to scatter to the four winds any more than you do, but I don't have any way to force them to listen to me if they want to go off on their own. So by all means, let's proceed with your task."

[kodster]

(sorry Aaron, but since you've been inactive for so long and not posted when I requested you to via FB... well, guess :P )

--------
--------

GUNROD

There is a silence. "Another Illuxion?" the voice says, perplexed. "I didn't think there was another of my kind here. I've been trapped in this abominable contraption for who knows how long..."

Gunrod grunts and shatters the tube; a figure almost identical to Mira seeps forth from the broken pieces. Gunrod stares, but the Illuxion looks around.

"Well, I say, this does not look like any area I'm familiar with..." says the light being. He turns to Gunrod. "Thank you most graciously, although I cannot answer your question about what this place is, as I've not the foggiest idea myself. I was merely visiting a planet, and I was suddenly sucked into some sort of light-sucking system! An awful conundrum, but you appear to have solved it. Now, may I ask who you are?"

--------
--------

UNAROSHI

"Down we go, then..." states Viluy, and they trek down through the catacombs.

"Why do you talk like one of them, anyway?" inquires the hot-headed one.

"I was created thus," snaps Viluy.

"I still don't trust you, you know," shoots back the youth.

Viluy's lip curls dangerously. "I'm an agent. I've been commissioned to help you and those like you out. I will say no more than that. You can't trust me, but I'm all you've got."

Unaroshi grumbles. "Fine. But turn on me and I'll make you wish you were never born."

Viluy shakes her head exasperatedly as they keep moving down. It is then that they catch some movement. The stairs have only one wall, so they can see all the way down into darkness, a giant pit that leads into... what, they don't know. Up above, there is no light as the ceiling is not too far above them, but is lined with circuit-like lines, and only Viluy can see them. But when they look down, they find some figures moving quickly on the lower levels.

Viluy stops Unaroshi with an outstretched arm. "Hold on. Make no sound," she says quietly.

Viluy gazes at the levels below. Indeed, there are shapes moving below, opposite of the stairs they are in. Viluy cannot see exactly what they are, but they are by no means machines...

"What is it?"

"I have no reckoning of these creatures before..." is the reply from Viluy. "They are no machines, or my eyes are deceiving me. Yet something about them seems... inhuman."

"Well? Are they allies or enemies?" says Unaroshi impatiently.

Viluy glares at him. "If I knew, I would have told you already."

"I tire of all this secrecy."

"Then throw yourself at threats like you just did, and see where that gets you," Viluy snarls, sounding much less robotic than before. Unaroshi grumbles again but otherwise keeps silent.

They eye the figures for some time before they start to move off.

"We should likely follow them," sniffs Viluy.

"I don't know, it could be a trap."

"Well then, fine. Make your third decision. And keep that spirit of yours in check, it didn't do you that well previously."

Unaroshi makes another hard choice.

--------
--------

SAKER

Saker attended to Hachiel as best she could.

"What year is this?" asks the angel.

Saker tries to remember what it said on the map. "...year 2542, I think."

Hachiel's face pales. "But that's... that's over three hundred years since we started this conflict!!" she squeals.


"Are you serious?" says Saker, staring incredulously at the angel.


"It was the year 2230 when the Cosmic Collective attacked the machines... according to the humans' time," trembles the angel. She suddenly feels very faint. "Has... has it really been... that long..."


"How are you alive, then?"


Hachiel is a trembling ball of fright by now as she curls up. "I-I don't know. Sheer willpower, I suppose..."


"I guess angelic beings do not require sustenance, at least as much as humanity," snorts Saker. "Still, I will treat you as best as I can."


"Th-thank you," squeaks Hachiel.


"In return, however..." Saker's face grows hard. "I want you to tell me how to best go about defeating the machines, as I do not wish to remain here."


Hachiel looks at the spirit woman with a doleful expression. "I do not know. You do not have to worry much about the drones... I was told there would be weak points within the stronger machines, but... I could not find any. I do not know if any of the others in the Collective found any."


A grimace crosses Saker's face. She begins to barricade the exit Hachiel came from, and the ones beside it. It wouldn't do to ask Hachiel how to go three levels lower, since Hachiel had been lost in this place for over three hundred years... but Saker needed to warn Gunrod, at least, of this threat. She goes to the map again. For the first time, Hachiel shows interest in it.


"Is that a diagram of the facility?" she asks timidly.


"Yes," replies Saker shortly. She manages to find out where she is again, and traces a way from Vector 9E to Vector A1, where Gunrod is. She finds two ways; both of them lead back to where Saker fell from the party. One of the ways would be down a set of stairs near there, and then a short linear distance to where Gunrod would be... except there is a wall in the way. Saker disregards this path and studies the other. The other way is through an elevator near where the hole is, and that would take Saker a short distance to Gunrod. But Saker has no idea if there is power to the elevator, given the lack of power in these areas...


--------
--------

MIRA

Taking the stairs to the left, Mira travels down them very fast indeed, having great speed. Before she knows it, she is several, several levels below where she came out of. She chooses a level at random and gets out. Helpfully, a sign nearby designates it "Vector 77". Mira has no idea what it means, but hears shuffling around.

Able to discern that it is not a machine, Mira calls out, "Is someone there?"

From behind a steel beam creeps a cloaked, hooded figure...

--------
--------

SHEPARD AND MAXINE

Avarice contemplates Shepard for a moment. "You are curious, Arrival. Very well. However, we must eliminate some... burdens."

And with a horrible abruptness, Avarice lunges at Maxine and bites her head off in a gruesome display. Shepard yells and jumps backwards, as the body of Maxine drops to the floor. Shepard's sense of calm is eliminated on the death of Maxine.

"Why did you do that?!" demands Shepard furiously. "She did nothing to warrant anything like that!"

"Perhaps not... but I see further than you, human." Avarice rears up, its teeth stained. "I have studied your companion ever since I encountered you all. Her aggressiveness quotient was a detriment to our task."

"But..."

Avarice just stares condescendingly down at Shepard, who is now quite alone.

"Now then... you will accompany me to Vector R, where that filth, Byruit, has travelled," huffs Avarice.

"Sir, I don't think we can trust the human!" warns one of the androids. "Please send some of your loyal troops with you!"

"Do NOT question my orders!!!" roars Avarice. "Time alone for that when we have caught the scum!!! Now get back to your places!!!"

The android backs away fearfully, and then resumes its duties.

Avarice turns to Shepard. "You see, human, you are not the only one I am harsh with. Even my own kind I must set straight now and then." The machine grins. "My apologies. Now, let us go."

[majinb]

"I, am Gunrod! And, now that you are here to light my life, I suggest we explore the darkness ahead! Lets see what we can find out there!"

[NWOWWE]

It was some time before Shepard could turn his gaze away from the headless corpse of Maxine. The alarming abruptness that Avarice had chosen executed was easily the most disconcerting event yet. By this point Avarice rated little better than a slave trader in Shepard's mind and he found himself wishing he wasn't in such a defenseless position. It also made the prospect of being on his own with this monster more unnerving than before. For now, however, there was little else he could do but to continue playing along. "Lead the way."

[alex_holt]

Saker will try to tap in morse code on the route with the stairs and the wall blocking the way - she is not in any mood to trust technology right now.

[Mystic2000]

"i don't trust these robots, especially considering how it went last time i fought one, well, that was thanks to me and my hot head, but still, if they are all as powerful as the last one, we're not gonna stand a chance if they turn against us, better take another path"
Unaroshi marks a pause, then speaks again to Viluy: "i should take example on you, really, you're staying calm and cool like the ice when i burst in anger at the smallest of taunts, i just realised that my lack of analysis and reflexion is gonna lead us to our doom, as for the spirit,i'll try, and hopefully it won't end like last time..."

[NFX]

Vector 77...meaningless. She had hoped to be heading back upwards, towards where the group had been before, but the stairs only seemed to lead downwards for now. The Illuxion was about to head back up and try her luck with one of the other routes, when she heard footsteps. Not walking, mind you, but there was definitely someone there, emerging from behind a pillar. Tentatively, Mira brightened herself up a little, hoping to see who was behind the cloak and hood. "Who are you?" she asked simply.

[majinb]

"lets do this!

http://s10.zetaboards.com/Drowning_C...opic/807371/1/

it will be great!"

Gunrod says

[kodster]

(foolishness)

[kodster]

(A/N: Pretty much been in a bit of a lull for a while. Let's get rid of that, shall we? Here are some short but sweet updates.)

--------
--------

SAKER

After she is convinced that Hachiel will make a full recovery, Saker heads out of the new base towards the route with the stairs. She gets there after a while and starts tapping the wall in morse code... after a while she can hear, faintly, the sound of a cutting laser...

--------
--------

GUNROD

To his weird declaration the Illuxion blinks. "I know about no games, but if you wish to explore the darkness ahead, then perhaps there is something to be gained in it," it says. "Lead the way."

And so they go on. Eventually they come back to that dead end, but thanks to Albireo's presence, Gunrod can see things much, much clearer. It appears to still be a dead end, but looking closer there is a hinge at the top of the wall, and Albireo notices it first.

"Well, I daresay, that looks rather unfamiliar," he remarks. He tries a cutting laser but that does nothing to it. Albireo is persistent however, and keeps at it. Gunrod glares at the hinge... until there is a slight tapping sound... and it's coming from the other side of the wall...

--------
--------

UNAROSHI

Viluy smirks. "You are learning. Fortunate. Well, if you wish to not follow them, then we will not."

They go around the level and try to find anything of significance. Through another room, they manage to find two Phaser Rifles on the floor. Nearby there are two bodies... Viluy examines them. One of them is another human seemingly like Unaroshi. The other is a cyborg; half of his face is mechanical.

"What do you think happened here?" says Unaroshi.

"A fight, probably," replies the woman. "But why they would leave the bodies here is beyond me. Perhaps they were too busy to acknowledge their protocol."

They examine the Phaser Rifles. These weapons look and feel different to the environment they've experienced; further investigation by Viluy reveals they have sixteen power settings, fully-autonomous recharge capability, multiple-target acquisition, and gyro-stabilization. Rare weapons indeed...

Viluy passes both guns to him. "I have no need for them," she says, before Unaroshi can object.

"Uh, okay..." Why was Viluy so god damned care-free?

They hid the bodies, and then traced their way back to where they were before. This time, they could not see any movement below. "This time, I propose we head further down."

"I don't know. I still think those things down there can overpower us as we are now..."

"I see. Then what would you do?" Viluy asks.

--------
--------

MIRA

"So you have come back... why have you neglected to report for so long?"

"Huh?" This didn't make any sense at all.

"Wait a moment..." The figure casts back its hood. Mira stared. It belonged to something human-like enough... though rather aged in its appearance, but a huge chunk was removed from the top of its head, and replaced but a metal done of some sort, patched and bloody. The face is rather grubby and hair sprouts from his ears, too.

The figure stares back at Mira through bloodshot eyes. "No... no you are not him. Who are you?!"

--------
--------

SHEPARD

Avarice stomps over to another place on the floor, and motions for Shepard to accompany him. With no real choice, Shepard reluctantly follows. As he does, the floor around them starts to descend. Then he catches a horrifying sight. What appear to be mechanical rodent-like things have now swarmed the body of Maxine and were now reducing her to nothing... and then Shepard was underground. He couldn't believe what he had just seen... but then the floor descended quicker and quicker, and the next thing he knew, the two were on a floor many levels below where he had been previously.

"Vector R," utters Avarice. "Your Illuxion friend descended very far down indeed, so we will worry about her later. But Byruit must be apprehended. I can read her filthy energy levels even from here."

Shepard was quiet. He did not like being so far down with the mechanical beast, and alone as well. Perhaps he could ally himself with this Byruit... whoever she was.

Suddenly Avarice tensed himself. "Strange..." he hisses. "There is another energy reading on this floor." Avarice turns to Shepard. "What say you to that, human?"

Shepard glances up at the behemoth, unsure what to say at first...

[alex_holt]

Saker will try to use her claws to pierce some holes in the wall, weakening it a bit so it can be got through more easily.

[majinb]

"Hello?! Who is tapping?"

[kodster]

----

GUNROD

"Hello? Who is tapping?" He replies as he continues to hear that strange tapping sound.

--------
--------

SAKER

Saker's strength is somewhat formidable so she eventually manages to get something done. Then after a while she hears someone calling through the other side. She pulls back one of her talons and with all her strength slams it through the wall, bursting it open.

--------
--------

GUNROD

Pieces of wall go flying and Gunrod and Albireo retreat backwards as Saker emerges from the wall.

[alex_holt]

Saker dusts herself off quickly.

"Ah good, one of you lot. I'm creating and fortifying a base further back if you want to help. Any information you have now would be welcome. I like to know who or what I'm up against"