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magisteriaexe2024-08-18 03:29 pm
magisteriamods) wrote in magisteriaexe2024-08-18 03:29 pm
Event #002: Training in High Rise Village, Pt II
Note: This event will double as a TDM! Characters are now up to 30-35% of canon powers. That's going by a metric of fairly OP characters. If one is unsure about whether a particular power would transfer to the game, feel free to ask a mod!
For new players/characters: the tech and magic from the first event can be acquired by working with fellow PCs! New players are encouraged to look at the previous event (tho this one will be a bit simpler), the coffee shop mingle, and, possibly, the High Risk Quest. It can now be assumed that techies have the tech from the High Risk Quest.
For in-game powers, techies and magic users who have been in the game for a while can fast-track some power transfer to the newbies. For the magic users, this is particularly true of those who helped take the runes of water/fire respectively. Tech users can handwave various abilities related to their implant or enhanced tech state. Both sides can use their Synthesis power creation hack. If new players have any questions about how to get involved, or if anyone has any questions about the event or world lore (it's a lot!), feel free to ask mod below.
*Characters who pursued the animal speech blessing on the TDM can go ahead and utilize that for this event!
I. Outside the Symbiotic Skyscraper
Rosalind: “Vile android woman,” huh? ... tho it does sound kinda bad-ass.
Well, we got a pretty big clue. They’re after technology that melds the biological and the artificial. Even the Otherworlders with their powers have to acknowledge that our city’s abilities in this domain are superlative.
Avenaticus: Presently, High Rise Village is being scoured. Disruption-centric technology is to be removed and disposed of.
The problem has been the pre-emptive location of such technology. Even after analyzing the scripts and building countermeasures, the digital signatures have changed. It is virus-like behavior – a modification from our friends, no doubt.
Rosalind: So put simply, we’re still vulnerable to sudden activations of disruptive technology. You guys should have the resources to put down this sort of thing by now, but we need to get focused on preventing such incidents in the first place. That’s what we’re going to be working on, going forwards.
II. The Symbiotic Skyscraper
This facility is run by another android, Avenaticus [above]. Its exact purpose is opaque to outsiders, except that research seems to occur here. The research involves the tech fauna. The level of weaponry attached to this particular group of tech fauna also stirs rumors of involvement/cooperation with the military.
Once again, another disruptive incident is in progress. Fortunately, Otherworlders now have the means to disable the disruption tech.
Today, Otherworlders are tasked with making their way through the skyscraper and finding the control nodes with the hostile technology so as to then disable them. The main obstacle is the tech fauna themselves
Scanning the tech chonkers with the aXess Link will give names, usually combinations of animal names with letters and numbers. For example, one might be 12-XA Bear.
Objective: Get past the tech fauna and find the nodes causing the feral/disruptive behavior to disable them. It's fine to get rough with the tech fauna; assume they have pretty high mechanical regen.
[ Feel free to propose names for the fauna. Some might even become game canon names. Tbh, I just don't feel up to assigning them all names, but you guys can go wild. ]
Once again, another disruptive incident is in progress. Fortunately, Otherworlders now have the means to disable the disruption tech.
Today, Otherworlders are tasked with making their way through the skyscraper and finding the control nodes with the hostile technology so as to then disable them. The main obstacle is the tech fauna themselves
Tech Fauna: Chonkers Edition
Scanning the tech chonkers with the aXess Link will give names, usually combinations of animal names with letters and numbers. For example, one might be 12-XA Bear.
Boss-Tier Tech Chonkers
Bonus: WTF-its!
Objective: Get past the tech fauna and find the nodes causing the feral/disruptive behavior to disable them. It's fine to get rough with the tech fauna; assume they have pretty high mechanical regen.
[ Feel free to propose names for the fauna. Some might even become game canon names. Tbh, I just don't feel up to assigning them all names, but you guys can go wild. ]
III. Magic Training: Whisperwind Alley and Glimmergrove
Obstacles: Wind Colossi and Glimmergrove Creatures
Pictured: Tree spirits, wildlife spirits, great amphibians, Earth elementals, and Rose Whips.
All these creatures can be challenged directly. Some may be appeased in other ways than through combat, but all are applicable for PVE. As this is a training event, it's expected Otherworlders won't engage in fatal combat, but then, these are all pretty sturdy entities in any case.
Objective: Acquire the two runes!
All these creatures can be challenged directly. Some may be appeased in other ways than through combat, but all are applicable for PVE. As this is a training event, it's expected Otherworlders won't engage in fatal combat, but then, these are all pretty sturdy entities in any case.
Objective: Acquire the two runes!
Tech Fauna -- note: assume these are given out, like the Bursterflies
Description: These began as accessories for personal devices, especially used for file transfer, data gathering, and monitoring. The lepidoperative was developed and sold for these purposes and became a trendy accessory for almost every inhabitant of the city. The nanites making up the lepidoperatives could be programmed with many functions and to have many patterns and shapes, often reconfigurable on the fly to follow the hot colours or personal preferences. Some kept their lepidoperatives shaped as scarabs. Others were butterflies or moths with complex and vibrant colours. Others even shaped theirs to look like miniature bats. The only difficulty came when owners of the lepidoperatives passed away.
Without the owners there to deactivate them and seen as an insignificant accessory, the lepidoperatives simply continued their programmed routines until the natural progression began to take place: errors occurred, buffers overflowed, memory filled, and bit by bit, the lepidoperatives forgot that they were accessories. As the lepidoperatives became accustomed to the wilds, more of the “accessory” versions were mysteriously reprogrammed and joined the now-feral swarms.
They’re considered harmless, especially as their diet is sunlight and they deal no harm to anyone. However, sensitive buildings often have pest control shields especially to prevent the lepidoperatives from reaching confidential information and accessing it without permission. A few lepidoperatives have been domesticated again, but these are by far the minority.
Friend-shaped/Not Friend-shaped: Unpredictable. They will not attack, but their intent is unknown.
Questions
tech chonk
well, Gilgamesh was an ancient hero-king, so he was not exactly likely to have a lot of opinions on the topic of animal experimentation in the name of technology. he viewed these tech fauna through the same lens as the creatures who had attacked Uruk. ]
Once again, the time comes to channel Bios and engage in battle, it would seem...
[ he's not put-upon. the world is weird, but Gilgamesh kind of lives for this shit on some level.
finding the nodes turns out to be pretty straightforward. it's getting to them that is a problem. the interior of the skyscraper is like a multi-planar, multi-dimensional zone where the creatures roam across their respective terrestrial domains.
is it a simulation or magic or technology... ? at least the dimensions of the place do feel like some kind of fake-out is at work. it's a skyscraper, after all. in theory. so the idea it encompasses a bunch of biomes would seem an absurdity on the face of it.
most of the time, at least, moving within the zones themselves proved to be pretty straightforward. one could be reasonably sure about the distance of the tech lifeforms (?). but there was this sense of being stalked/watched by them, ready to pounce, as one advanced. they were stirred up, like the birds from before... but obviously this was a worse situation. ]
Hmph... though whoever designed certain sides of this city certainly did create quite the set-up for such a problem.
[ which could be said of a lot of things here, really. ]
lucy kushinada | cyberpunk: edgerunners
[ The more missions like this that Lucy goes on, the more she starts to feel at home. Maine's crew had kept her busy the same way; getting a call in the middle of the night, or as the sun rose, telling her to get her ass down to some decrepit warehouse or fancy saferoom or rusting back alley. The difference is, she'd never been on the frontline for combat, that had always been Maine and Dorio's jobs, Rebecca's job, while she'd always stayed behind the scenes to do her netrunning work.
It's no different now. Unlike some, Lucy doesn't run into the skyscraper guns blazing. She doesn't even have a gun right now. No, she finds the first person that's willing to work with her and is more combat inclined, and she follows behind them.
Her cyberdeck neuro-gear is working a little better these days, and she's able to pull up a blueprint of the place, directing them with efficiency. They're lucky enough not to encounter any of the shit they were warned about, not for the first few floors at least, and Lucy directs them to what looks like a hotspot of wiring -- and pretty quickly finds a massive terminal that has a pretty good chance of being one of these nodes causing the bad behavior.
Lucy grabs a wheeled chair, plunks it down in front of the terminal, and gets to work, fingers flying over the keyboard.
And that's when she hears what can only be metal paws making an approach. ]
Keep an eye out. Something's coming.
Emet-Selch | Final Fantasy XIV | open (will match format)
Glimmergrove
Wildcard
Rhea'li Akhbala | Final Fantasy XIV | I'll match format!
While there are greater concerns and conflicts brewing in the city, your average everyday Magisterian has their own problems to think about. Such as this one shopkeeper selling televisions and other electronics, who currently has a swarm of lepidoperatives of all shapes and sizes swarming her shopfront. The creatures -- buzzing and droning -- certainly attract some attention but hardly anyone can see the TV screens (playing brightly coloured cartoons) on display and more importantly, they bother anyone trying to enter.
"They just won't go away!" the shopkeeper bemoans loudly to Rhea'li, who is nodding as he listens. "Please, can you help me?"
Well... as Rhea'li observes, more of the mechanical creatures are joining the feral swarm (possibly attracted by the others?) and some of them are even spilling out onto the footpath next to the shop. If you're passing by, watch your head! Try not to get swooped by yet another lepidoperative flying in to join the others.
Wildcard
[ooc: Want to thread with Rhea'li but this isn't calling to you? Hit me up either in DMs/Discord/
no subject
Since the last time they met, his control over his Bursterfly is much more natural; with the cyberseed it's just like controlling one of his magical constructs. But while he can feel that more of his magic is usable compared to when he first arrived, he's largely kept to using the weapons of this unknown land, such as the energy rifle in his hands.
His ear twitches at the sound.]
Understood.
[As the scrape of metal draws closer, Rhea'li silently commands his Bursterfly to take flight. He's making an educated guess as to where exactly the creature is based on sound, but he'd much rather draw it out into the open than to wait for an attack. Hells, scaring it off is a perfectly viable option, too. And with a flutter of its wings, his Bursterfly suddenly lets out a sudden beam of blinding light, intent on flooding the visual sensors of the unknown creature.]
William G Maryblood | The Faraway Paladin
2. Who's that Pokemon?
3. Wildcard
Pokemon, bless.
Gilgamesh looks so perplexed. Was William preparing to fight it, or trying to harness the energy, or something else? ]
Tch... I believe our goals are the nodes, you know.
[ That's what he says in passing, absent any other explanation, anyway. Not like he can't be persuaded to chase Pikabot, too. ]
But just what is that...
as much as i love pikabot, i think we need one of the big bads here.
Gilgamesh saw that Bios signature and he knew what was up. Lucy was certainly difficult to miss, with the purple-white Bios and the bodysuit. She had really leveled up impressively. But then, he's had his hands in some grandiose projects, too. Well, at such a moment, even with all this tech-savvy, she could probably benefit from his presence, huh? Maybe especially in this particular context. ]
Oh, I think I'm equipped for such a situation.
[ Look, they had managed to survive those monstrosities, right? ]
wind colossi
She may look like a rather hapless individual, and indeed, she was young and unworldly. But she had her mage instincts. And she knew she was probably outclassed here. Still, she had been giving the matter some consideration, and there was something she could contribute: Bios. Of course, it always went back to that, huh? But the analogue to mana in Sakura's world was close enough that the concept made sense to her.
She wishes to contribute. She knows she can do so. Therefore, watching from a certain amount of distance, she channels her Bios -- her magic -- towards Emet-Selch in this particular endeavor. That was cooperation, yes? "Synthesis"?
Well, on Earth, she had quite a bit of mana. Not sure how that would translate here, but she figured it would be a meaningful contribution for a great sorcerer.
... also, sorry, bruh. Not like Sakura is necessarily trying to brush into you everywhere, but the two of them are on a pretty similar magical journey here, So.
Ask and you shall receive! re: tech wildcard.
Therefore, sometime during the Symbiotic Skyscraper nonsense, Gilgamesh contacts Emet-Selch via the Link device. By now, he's gotten enough of a feel for how to reach fellow Otherworlders.
"I think this particular expedition might benefit from your expertise."
You know. Animals and such. Hadn't he been one of the ones to receive that speech blessing? Well, did it work on tech fauna? Perhaps time to find out.
NOT PIKA BOT, BUT EVEN BETTER
It'd be hard to miss the flood of light, but she doesn't let that distract her. Taking down the node isn't overly complicated, just time consuming. There's a ton of firewalls she has to break through. But she risks a glance over her shoulder, only to see--
A dog-sized robot scampering out into the light. Lucy's work come to a pause as she stares at the tech fauna, baffled. That's not weird and scary at all? Or at least, it doesn't seem weird and scary, but as it yips and starts barreling toward Rhea'li with an intent look, it does suddenly seem capable of taking out some legs. ]
>:)
It helps that she feels more confident in her own skin here. In Night City, she had always been on the run, always looking over her shoulder. Here, Arasaka doesn't exist. here, she doesn't need to worry about being captured and used as a tool again. Here, she... feels freer to indulge in something that looks a little bit like trust.
His statement makes her half-smile. ]
I know. You're a badass. But anything could attack, so let's keep our eyes sharp.
[ Dealing with the node seems like it's not going to be hugely complicated, mostly just time-consuming as she breaks through all the ICE and the firewalls. Single-minded as she is, though, even she doesn't miss the loud, thumping footsteps that start to approach.
Lucy turns her head just in time to see a narrow head emerge from the door, and then bulky shoulders, black metal with glowing blue inlay, and then... comes a whole lot more of it. That's a walking tank, and it doesn't look happy. ]
Going for the beast rider!
She doesn't carry a gun either, but she could easily outright the best swordsman Solos Night City can throw. Still, the start of the mission goes too well. As they approach the wiring hotspot, she pouts a little.
"Eeeeeh, I know this is good and all but I wouldn't have minded at least one tussle on the way up!" Still, she takes up a guard position as Lucy gets to work, so she gets a glimpse of their opponent. A giant wolf, atop which is mounted an armored figure with a quite nasty-looking lance.
"Well, well, something indeed! A...Cyber-Rider!" She decides suddenly. The "Cyber-Rider" points it's lance towards them as Musashi draws her swords and steps forward.
"I, Shinmen Musashi-no-Kami Fujiwara-no-Harunobu, Servant Berserker, accept your challenge!" She charges as the Rider kicks its mount into a run as twin katanas meets lance.
no subject
As they walk, a pack of machine hyenas watch them from the tall grass of a nearby biome. Musashi's gaze lingers on them as the walk past. Hmmm...a pack. And there might be more hidden in the grass where she can't see.
She prefers human (or humanoid or...you get the idea) opponents over beasts, but these ARE machines. Anyway, beggars can't be choosers.
"You go onto the next node. I'll catch up." She decides, drawing her swords and stepping aside.
"Those hyenas look fun. I'm gonna go fight them." And off she goes
AWWW I love Eevee-bot ♥
Rhea'li's brow furrows as he sees the mechanical creature that scampers into view. On the one hand, it looks rather small and cute. On the other hand, he knows better than to underestimate something just because it is small and cute. And he sure isn't about to stand there and let a fast-moving creature made of metal take out his legs like a warrior's axe to the back of the knees.
He waits until the last moment before darting out of the way, reaching for his spellbook; shooting a fast moving metal mutt with his energy rifle in this enclosed space seems like a bad idea. So instead, if the creature makes another go at him (or Lucy), a small magical construct of roughly the same size will put itself in the robot's way, using its stubby rock arms to try and hold it in place.]
no subject
When that tank appears, needless to say his attention is rather diverted. ]
I stock my vault with diverse weaponry.
[ Still, that was a lot of armor to slice through. Well, if he were to resort to back-up, Lucy was here, yes? And there were potentially others. But he is estimating that maybe he has this.
Big tanks could fall hard and all. ]
Can you lend me some of that Bios, perhaps?
[ She can focus on the tech, but he needs a bit of juice here. ]
no subject
Whatever you're doing it, keep it up. If we don't want to kill it, I can knock it out after I'm done with the node.
[ Or maybe Rhea'li can, if he's got any access to electricity magic. ]
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Lucy allows herself a moment to feel incredibly jealous. What a useful ability. She's mad she can't do that.
While her attention is mostly on dealing with the node, she dedicates at least 20% of her attention span to keeping an eye on what's happening behind her, because the approaching robot looks massive and armed with spikes everywhere. Lending him some Bios is no big deal; she doesn't need much of it right now, only enough to power her cyberdeck. She hasn't shared Bios before, but Lucy's quick on her feet, and it's alarmingly easy to picture a big chunk of her Bios solidifying into an object-- a pair of boxy sunglasses made of glowing purple-white that will dissolve as soon as Gilgamesh touches them, gifting him the Bios. ]
Here.
[ Lucy tosses him the sunglasses, and turns back to the controls for the node. Her progress is ticking along nicely, slowed only slightly by the fact that she's taking a good look around the building's internal framing as she does so. ]
Ever fought a dinosaur, Gilgamesh? [ Lucy's crack is accompanied with an amused smile. ] Don't tell me, you probably have.
no subject
She knows she shouldn't be trusting people here. It's a lesson that's been beaten into her for her whole life. Don't trust anybody. A lesson that Kiwi had only reinforced before ironically betraying them all in the end and proving her lesson right. But she's alone in this city now, and there's nobody in her ear screaming about trust, and... maybe she wants to have people she can trust. Maybe she wants to grow a little, grow beyond that distrusting girl who always held people at arms length.
So here she is. Trusting Musashi.
At Musashi's lengthy declaration, Lucy glances over her shoulder out of curiosity, and stops dead. The Cyber-Rider as Musashi had dubbed it is massive, a humanoid figure of glowing blue atop a bestial mount of orange, light glinting off the sharp edge of its metal fangs. When Lucy had heard to expect tech fauna out of control, she'd imagined... Bursterflies, or robot raccoons, or whatever. This is much closer in threat level to the Fractured they'd taken down not long ago.
But she knows Musashi can handle it.
"Kick that choom's ass, Musashi," she murmurs, unlikely to be heard over the clashing of weapons, and gets back to her job.
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[ He jogs to a halt, peering around to try and glimpse where it went. It seems to have gone into hiding. ]
It looked like, um... A creature I've seen before. I guess you could say it's-- an electric mouse?
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"--Gh!" He hisses in pain, the world flashing as he pushes himself upright. The way his eyes glare at the giant, his pride seems more hurt than anything else.
\o/
"What is the situation?" he asks briskly. As abrupt and to the point as ever.
no subject
His rocky construct, Titan-egi, holds the struggling mechanical creature without any kind of emotion.]
Knocking it out seems for the best, cute as it is.
[A pause as he peers at it, scanning it with the aXess device and reading over the description.]
The scanner indicates this creature is an Eev-33. Supposedly it can change shape when exposed to different stimuli...
no subject
[ It comes out flat, but Lucy actually is kind of interested. A robot that can change shape when exposed to different stimuli? She's never heard of anything like that; it sounds pretty cool.
But she's trying not to get distracted from her work, so she refocuses. Doubles down, engaged her cyberdeck a little harder. Eyes lighting up orange with the hack-work, Lucy's world narrows down to code and numbers. She's close enough to shutting down the node, and once they get enough of them, the disruption will end, and the tech-fauna here won't be coming after their asses anymore.
A minute more, and it's done. The screens go dark. ]
Node's down. Any changes to the robot?
no subject
At the moment, however, he is left looking somewhat exasperated as Musashi departs for her battle. After all, even if Gilgamesh's own class was different and he is the wiser/older version of himself... just what exactly is he doing, handling this tedium of finding and disabling a mechanical node, while Musashi is taking charge of the battle? Gilgamesh is feeling rather disgruntled at the moment!
"Hmph... the sacrifices a man must make for the good of his people..."
Not that Magisteria is his kingdom, but being Gilgamesh, he could lay claim to it nonetheless. He was after all the Chief Financial Advisor among the Otherworlders, thus he had a Responsibility to this citizenry and those who had arrived with him, he supposed. Heroic sage-king life might be a thankless and long-suffering one, but Gilgamesh supposes there is no choice but for him to assume such a mantle.
At any rate, he proceeds to dial in the coordinates, seeking out the mechanical structure responsible for this disruption, that he might pursue and interact with it, using the scripts and codes he gained from their former quest together. Just what role is this world training him for, anyway? Gilgamesh has never thought to end up working with his hands on technology of such a sort... and yet here he is, performing a role more adequate to someone like Lucy.
no subject
He glances down at the Eev-33 held in his Titan-egi's stubby little arms. Unfortunately, it still appears to be struggling to escape, still caught in under the disruption's thrall.]
Nay. If we are to proceed without hassle, it would be best if you knocked it out.
[If these creatures are effectively mechanical versions of the biological creatures he's much more familiar with, then he's loath to kill it unnecessarily. But they've a job to do and they can't have this little robot dogging their steps, as cute as it is.]
no subject
It is a storehouse containing all the treasures he accumulated throughout his journeys in the world
but since this is Fate/, it can be assumed to contain virtually anything, ever, and even Gilgamesh has observed that the contents of his treasury have long since surpassed even his own knowledge or memory, meaning even he does not know the entire scope of his inventory.Of course, in this particular summoning, as a Caster-class Servant, his vault has been diminished somewhat, as he freely gave away his weapons and defenses to the citizens of Uruk during their time of need at the Absolute Front. Moreover, it has been diminished further in Magisteria -- at least initially. Gilgamesh, being himself, has of course been stocking the vault with Magisterian cyber-weapons, such as those which their group was supplied with when they fought The Fractured.
In any world, Gilgamesh thinks, his vault will adapt accordingly to the level of technology and the treasures a given society might have to offer. That is the natural course for him, the Absolute Hero-King.
Gilgamesh reaches for the sunglasses, thinking to ... don them, of course... only for the pair to disappear into a flash of Lucy's purple-white Bios that then flickers into his own golden manifestation thereof. A touch disappointing: Gilgamesh is all about Cool, and the sunglasses would have been a nice touch! Yet at least he has what he needs now. ]
Tch... I did indeed battle a primordial goddess in the form of a dragon! [ And not that long ago, from the perspective of the Singularity from which this incarnation of him had been summoned to Chaldea. ] One of the Evils of Humanity, a Beast who threatened the existence of the continuity of human civilization ...
[ That is to say Gilgamesh (and company) pretty much saved the world and All Subsequent Human Eras with it, if at great and terrible cost. As one does, yknow.
... anyway, here and now, Gilgamesh thinks the time has come to armor up and prepare. So he does: he summons a gun for each hand, and, with the Bios Lucy has so generously given, he proceeds to power the weapons and with ammunition from the energy, taking aim at the "tank" dinosaur and engaging in some rapid-fire shots. ]
In any case, let us see how that one deals with this counter-offensive!
[ Bios-covered/infused bullets? Well, Gilgamesh is fascinated by how this might play out. As armored as it is, Gilgamesh does not think fatality is likely at all, but if he can distract it, scramble its systems, or simply deter the creature during the course of this interaction, that should be enough for Lucy to accomplish what she needs to... ]
no subject
It yelps, flickers with electricity-- and then ripples, its metal plating turning a bright yellow, a ruff flaring up around its neck, ears elongating. And then it topples over, unconscious.
Lucy blinks. ]
Now I kinda feel bad.
[ She steps closer, crouching down to examine the bot. She gives Rhea'li little elemental a curious glance, and restrains the urge to poke it. ]
I guess that's one of the different stimuli you mentioned. Huh.
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'course you did.
[ Of course Gilgamesh fought an Evil of Humanity that's also a primordial goddess and also a dragon. Why does she even ask? Just when she thinks his stories and experiences can't get more ridiculous, he somehow manages to surprise her.
She turns her attention back to the stack of servers powering the node, and dives in. It's complicated, but nothing she can't deal with -- mostly, it just seems like it'll be time consuming, so it's best that she gets started right away. Out of the corner of her eye, she takes note Gilgamesh summoning a pair of guns and firing what have to be Bios bullets at the dinosaur-bot, and nods to herself, sure that he'll manage to secure the situation.
Reasonably sure, at least. Lucy's too much of a pessimist not to assume that something will probably go wrong. ]
This'll take a few minutes. Bit longer, maybe.
no subject
After a moment, a shadow passes overtop of the King, and a hyena lands in a heap a few feet away, apparently tossed there by the intensity of one of Musashi's strikes. It gets to its feet, blearily, but still functional...
And its gaze falls on Gil. It bares teeth, and advances.
"Oh! Sorry, sorry! I think I got a little over-eager!" Musashi calls out. "You need a hand, Boss?"
no subject
[ Gilgamesh halts with William. He's definitely considering, though. His first impulse was to focus on their more immediate goal, but ... well, in truth. ]
Do you suppose we should capture it?
... For research purposes, of course, hm.
[ Look, if Rhea'li and Lucy could yoink that Eevee... well. Gilgamesh is probably the wrong person to be the adult in the room here.
As with Lucy, William exudes those Hero-Protagonist/Master sort of vibes, so Gilgamesh looks to him a bit as he would Ritsuka if the latter were here. ]
no subject
He doesn't approach it, instead keeping attention outwards in case other mechanical creatures find them and are looking for a fight.]
Let us press on before it wakes.
[A pause as he considers Lucy's understated interest in it.]
Once our work here is done we can come back and check on it, if you'd like.
no subject
No point. It's just a bot.
[ She doesn't give it a second glance as she moves away, looking upward at the ceiling as she studies the blueprint file she'd snagged. The rest of the nodes are easy enough to see in the overlay on her vision. ]
Come on. Next node's two stories up and on the other side of the building.
no subject
We can give capturing it a try. If it proves too dangerous then we'll leave it be and continue on.
[ But how to capture something that can potentially emit a dangerously high voltage of electricity? ]
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"The... mechanical fauna are proving somewhat difficult."
Gilgamesh was only just developing the language for these robot creatures, even if he was a quick learner.
"You are experienced with those, yes? Animals?"
Mr. Bear Guy and Charmer of Cursed Furby Creatures, Emet-Selch. He must be the hero they would need at such a moment.
she can react however and i'll roll with it lmaooo; he has a Plan but idk if she wants to do smth
On the matter of dinosaurs, Quetzalcoatl's pterodactyls were also involved in that conflict, as I recall...
[ Though, Gilgamesh thinks, he is not an expert on such beasts. Now, were one speaking of a divine animal, such as the Bull of Heaven, then he might be more well-versed, but -- ]
Ah. [ He murmurs. ] How troublesome...
[ The grazing shot seems to have agitated the animal (?). It emits a cry that is distinctly not that of flesh vocal chords, full of the roar of cyber-materials, metal parts like gears shifting within it, and the next thing they both know, its movements become quicker and more erratic. More than anything, Gilgamesh seems to have startled this cyborg dinosaur, and now it's moving with a chaotic lack of a path, liable to crash into Lucy and the server if not diverted. ]
Tch. This mongrel. I will have to change courses, I suppose...
[ He shakes his head. But he does sound as though he has something in mind. ]
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Turns out it's pretty hard to do delicate coding work while a mental dinosaur is stomping around not far from you, but Lucy's worked under more tense circumstances. Dinosaurs have nothing on Arasaka goons beating down her door, and Lucy has always viewed stress as a motivator rather than an inhibitor. Her fingers fly over the keyboard, working in tandem with her cyberdeck.
When the dinosaur cries out, Lucy darts a look over her shoulder. Shit. Is that thing heading this way? Suddenly she wishes she'd acquired a gun.
She casts a wild gaze over the desk, and picks up a pencil, of all things, and throws it -- not at the dinosaur, but just past its eye-line, distracting it just enough to change it course a little. But not enough. ]
Do something, Gil!
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That's what Gilgamesh means, right? Emet-Selch has yet to utilise his blessing.
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Feeling somewhat apologetic, she runs forward. She may not have sufficient power to actually battle the colossus, but perhaps there is something else she can do. Sakura has been practicing with magic of the four elements, so she pours her Bios into the flame barrier, launching it outwards like an arm -- one intended to swat at the creature, perhaps encouraging it to back off.
Really, when she thinks about it, Emet-Selch had a wise idea here: Sakura would not have thought to use fire to battle a creature of wind, but when you considered that the effect of its wind could backfire into literally feeding the inferno... then this approach actually made a great deal of sense, from the perspective of a sorcerer. She thinks she could certainly learn something from training and fighting alongside him, as she herself is still aiming to become an excellent magus.
"Are you okay?"
Only once the fire is strengthened does she chance a glance to her side.
Her Bios flares up, and maybe his Soulsight will perceive that she has quite a massive amount of capacity, although she is relatively untrained in magic (this world's or any other's). If there's nothing else she can contribute, Sakura has learned she is an excellent support unit for the great and powerful beings of the world.
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Then that metallic hyena lands in front of him, and well... Gilgamesh is still in Grumpy Cat mode, so he summons his axe and strikes the beast aside. It does not seem to be expecting the blow, so it lands particularly sharply, though he does not immediately check to see whether it has been completely felled.
Okay, admittedly, he does feel a little better, having had a bit of a chance for fun. But the vibes are still all off, here. However, there's no time to be thinking like this. They both have more pressing matters to attend to.
... ah. And once again, Musashi uses that title. Gilgamesh has to wonder just what his Edo self was like, exactly. Not that much of his own doings would be likely to surprise him, but.
"Hmph... are you still fighting them?"
If so, he may need to check about this other one. Though he now has to decide whether she needs assistance or whether she has the battle covered, and what more to do before prioritizing the node.
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He pushes himself up, scowling. He's not annoyed at her; he's just always scowling.
"What did you add to the barrier?" It's difficult for him to see through the wall of magic. He squints harder. "Is that an arm?"
he can jump in w/the thread w/lucy above. as soon as i whip up a tag for it, i'll let you know
If Emet-Selch wants to try to blast these things to smithereens, Gilgamesh isn't exactly one to oppose the idea. Even in Wise King mode, he's never really been a great voice of restraint.
But, yes, in theory, they're supposed to try to disable rather than destroy outright. Property of research facility, scientific research, yadda yadda.
"But would you be willing to assist those of us on the technology affiliation?"
It's a little unorthodox, but this city was always going on about cooperation, after all.
/thumbs up, also sorry for late ;;
Emet-Selch isn't opposed to a little machine destruction but neutralising them - without damaging them, he presumes - will actually be a challenge.
"Very well. But if you don't intend to decimate these things then what would you have me do? I am a mage, not a...technologist."
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Are you also learning the technology of this world? If so, it may perhaps be an opportunity for us to exercise our abilities with what we've learned thus far.
[ And so saying, Gilgamesh waves his hand, directing his Bursterfly and Lepidoperative to swoop down, following after the creature. By now, it has put some space between itself and William, taking advantage of the pause occasioned by their conversation and having turned one of the corners. ]
It has halted... [ As if curious or in thought, the mechanical creature seems to be looking up at Gilgamesh's own tech fauna: they are recording the information and sending it back to him. ] We can perhaps run a scan and figure out how to disable the high voltage, and then we may render it docile.
[ Oh, yes, he's going to have fun with this. Gilgamesh knows how clever William is, too, so he will probably have a lot to contribute in terms of helping figure out a way to disable the high electricity the bot is out-putting. Once that's done, they may even capture it, and make... what, of it? A weapon, perhaps? Or a pet? The thought briefly flickers across Gilgamesh's mind, though it does seem a touch silly. Well, having a curiosity of such a sort could be a useful tool for study, if nothing else... ]
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But as it stands, whatever he knows is probably more than Gilgamesh, who comes from an ancient tale. ]
Alright, um... We need to find a way to redirect the electric current or insulate ourselves. I can't tell from here how it produces electricity, so let's scan its body first.
[ Assuming it will stay still long enough for them to do so. William glances at his Bursterfly and starts to have it slowly approach. ]
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[ Don't mind Gilgamesh. He has his aXess Link device pulled out as though it were his tablet (not the phone sort, but rather the ancient Mesopotamian sort... though he handles them similarly) and he's trying to do some quick research... ]
... though that might require collecting materials...
[ ... well, William is right about Gilgamesh having an ancient frame of reference. Though, he is an adaptable entity, and he has been summoned to modern times. Or at least what would constitute "modern" to his own world. So, needless to say, he is now on whatever the Magisterian version of Google is on "InfinityNet," Magisterian Internet, basically looking up "how to disrupt electricity flow in a cybernetic creature" or some such search engine query... ]
... these Bursterflies are capable of taking off in an aggressive, disruptive manner...
[ hence the name "Bursterflies." When they take off, sometimes it's like an airplane "bursting" into the air, as opposed to the gliding, calm flights that they and the Lepidoperatives engage in at other times. ]
... perhaps this could be made use of to disrupt its electrical flow?
[ that might be the simplest solution, though it's not guaranteed to work. ]
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From what I remember, emitting some kind of electrical pulse can disrupt electronics. I'm just not sure how to actually do that in a way that wouldn't also hurt us.
[ Ironic, perhaps, given his previous life. But it's been almost twenty years since William has looked at anything remotely 'modern' and there does come a point where technology is inscrutable to the average person. ]
What do you want to do? I think it's going to run again soon.