THE MARK OF THE ATLAS
Into the heart of the city you go.Down below the lowest levels of the city, somewhere beyond the twisty maze of passages, several of the paths converge in a huge underground cavern. Here the air is blissfully cool compared to the desert above. A single shaft of light shines down from somewhere on the surface; motes of sand drift lazily as if suspended in the light. Elsewhere, the cave is lit by small clusters of glowing fungus that live off the moisture collected down here. Dim but navigable for most.
But perhaps the most striking items in the area are the
monoliths. Great fragments of stone over three meters long, too smooth to be natural but too jagged to be whole either. Several of them glow from the pulse of energy running through them. Others, while dark, have recessed notches large enough for a person’s hand. And still another group seems nearly shattered, a larger fragment surrounded by smaller ones. All of them react when the interlopers draw close enough...
LIGHT
Upon closer inspection, the lit monoliths have a curious pattern worked into the tone. The symbols are rather arcane, but perhaps they make sense if one tilts one’s head and squints. This one has strokes that resemble tongues of flame. That one is covered in cascading, fluid lines. Another … well, that look more like a
warning sign than anything else.
Interacting with these monoliths results in a warning crackle and the scent of ozone before the monolith
opens. Something comes pouring out of it in response. Gushing water is the most common, matching up with the cascade monoliths; others open to flame or greenery or other odd things. And one
definitely opens up into a vacuum. Careful with that unless you want to have something sucked out into space.
Whatever connection they make is brief and non-traversable, but whatever comes through stays on this side.
DARK
The unlit monoliths aren’t nearly as flashy as their glowing brethren, but they have their own stories to tell. With the help of a little light (and the suit), the interlopers will find that these monoliths are covered from top to bottom in alien script. Most have at least one solid crack or chunk in them - at the juiciest parts! - but there may be enough left to be intelligible, given a little luck.
VISION
The last set hum with an ominous energy that belies their dilapidated appearance. Interlopers who approach these monoliths trigger strange images that float in the air. No two visions are alike, though they all share common themes. Silhouettes descending to the surface of the planet and spreading out across it. Exploring and interacting with an alien environment. There’s something deeply familiar about these shadows despite the variety of body types represented by them. The shape of their clothing is reminiscent of your own suit...
Other snippets are set in space. Here the silhouettes are a darker patch of black against the darkness of space. The mood in these images is strangely pensive, somewhat tense. These figures are searching very desperately for something.
There is one, though, that’s different from all the others. No silhouettes, no searching, no space. Only a shaft of light starting from a point beyond this planet’s moon. At first it’s a too-bright star; then, a solid beam stretching down to the planet itself. The light increases in intensity and breadth exponentially until it impacts physically with the surface of the planet itself. The eruption kicks up huge clouds of dust that race towards the city with all the heat and speed of a pyroclastic explosion. It rises up like a wave...and then crashes down, burying the city.
Eventually, each of the images go dark once again.
BROKEN
Amidst the myriad of strange monoliths and now-flowing water? Is some sort of chassis. The ruined frame of an old robot of some kind, easily as large as a cement mixer's chamber and just as tall. Most of it lies buried beneath the sand, stuck near the far end of one particularly large chamber within the caves' network. It takes a bit of walking to get there, but there's a reward to be had for those who find it:
The room is not empty.Standing in the exact middle is a strange, hulking figure. It stands at eight feet at least, a massive frame encased in black. Whether it's carapace or suit is impossible to tell, and whether or not it's
alive is another story altogether. It stands perfectly motionless, skull-like face staring ahead at the robot's husk as water pools in through cracks and recesses, giving the ground a glass-like appearance through which
tiny grass-like eels can be seen rising from tiny holes in the sand.
For all intents and purposes the figure seems nothing more than a statue.
Eerie.
OOC
There will be an
24-hour event encounter which runs from
Nov 26th at 8:00am EST to
Nov 27th at 8:00am EST. Feel free to let characters toy around & thread in the innermost areas of the city before the main event! Sections will go up in this entry and will be linked here when they are ready.
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It's the quickest and sloppiest shift she's ever done, and she's going to feel awful after all this is over, because she just lost a kidney to replace it with a Hunter's organ. She doesn't go running, waiting until the last second to leap slightly to the side, though she doesn't go too far.
What she wants is to get a hand on the thing, so she can flood her body with acetylcholine and give it a nice 900 volt shock. If she takes a knock in the process, that's fine with her. Bodies always heal.
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Somewhere at the back of his mind, he really wishes he'd been knocked out cold. But then he also feels the need to help somehow, and that's what has him running to where Max is, though he's too far away to even do anything. "Look out!"
Doesn't seem to make much of a difference, anyway. He's just relieved she manages to get out of the robot's path. Wincing, he cups the side of his head, then shakes off any lingering dizziness.
"About time we do something," he says more to himself than anything, then looks around, trying to find Lexa in the middle of the mess. He just shouts instead and hopes anyone at all will answer. "That tree— where is it? I think I can give it a good run." Someone to tag along is always welcome, though. Just for the record.
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Adrenaline kicks in, causing her senses to be on high alert. Dizziness fades as she makes her way over to stand near Jim. "I know how to get there, if we can get out of here in one piece." She's useless when it comes to strength, but she's fast enough and good at playing bait.
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Or just straight-up trap them, which he feels like would be worse, somehow. If Max managed to get them some kind of opportunity here, they need to take it.
"We can figure out the details on the way there. Whoever knows the way, just go!"
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Anyone watching their regular suit power levels may notice something alarming: they are starting to drain. A few percentage points have dropped since the start of the fight, and the rate of depletion doesn't seem to be slowing. And anyone who was within that first blast still doesn't have their powers back.
Satisfied with its distance, the drone slows to a halt. A compartment opens on its back, revealing an enormous laser canon. It takes aim at the group as a whole and fires a concentrated laser at them. Wildly painful even with a near miss, and capable of removing limbs if it intersects with someone directly. The beam starts on the left of the group and moves across in one swift motion.
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"Shit!" Before thinking twice, he grabs Clara and lunges forward and towards the ground, a few feet closer to the robot but hopefully enough to get them both out of the laser's way before they lose any limbs.
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Cayde backs a little more toward the exit, avoiding the laser handily like he hadn't managed with the light, frustrated by how weak he feels suddenly but more by how no one else is leaving.
"Come on! We need to get out of here now." He has his gun out, ready and aimed toward the robot, but somehow he gets the feeling it won't do much. "This thing is surfacing one way or another, we'll figure out what to do about it topside."
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As things are he both overhears the tail end of this tree-luring business, and witnesses Max do. That thing, that she just did, which he's only known one mage to be able to do, and she was one of the most powerful he'd ever met. He will just have to get all heart eyes over that when there's not an inexplicably ill-tempered slab of scariness trying to smash everything, however.
His initial aim was to cast Barrier on Max, since she's closest to him and had a destination and all, but then there are lasers and it is really hard to be a guy from pseudo medieval Europe right now let Dorian tell you. He at least can easily grasp that whatever that is it equals nothing good, and so flings out an arm instinctively; anyone who might be within his immediate vicinity will find themselves shielded from most damage for around thirty seconds, though it makes the power level on Dorian's suit drop distressingly low, and that's before he notices the life sustaining part of it trickling away.
"Try not to die as you go, please," is the helpful advice he provides, while ....you know, running.
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"No promises on the dying!" She calls out to Dorian, since she's not sure how they're all going to make it out with debris falling, things caving in, and lasers.
But she's got a lot of incentive to lead the thing toward the tree now, at least. She's feeling a little worn, but hasn't noticed her suit's energy levels draining yet. She's too preoccupied with what's going on around them.
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He does feel weaker in the meantime, and he knows why, but right now they're all out of options. Running is all they can do, while hoping that somehow they can get out of this mess before their suits run out of power.
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She's distracted by the laser, briefly, diving to the side even as Dorian's barrier saves her from straight up dying.
Once the laser has passed and the rolling has started again, she decides it's time to get the hell out of here, because she wants to get her hands on some of those incredibly acidic cacti.
Over the commotion of the rolling robot, she shouts, "Keep it busy, I've got an idea!"
With that, she's going to head in the opposite direction of James and Clara; good luck guys.
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Cool.
This has to be about the 500th time Cayde's wished that they had some kind of comm system out here, but once everybody's moving he doesn't bother to wait. He reaches into his bag for a pearl to crush and moves quick, watching down the scope of his gun as it curls itself up like a pillbug of death and rolls into town.
"We need to scatter!" Cayde yells as he runs, breaking into a sprint and jumps for something tall, (boy does he miss that triple jump,) pulling himself up some luckily unbroken pillar for a clear line of sight and fires off a short round of bullets in its direction. If he can draw its attention, they can lure it.
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She's caught up in glancing down at her arm, at the torn suit, but then begins to move, chasing after Clara. If nothing else, the two of them should be able to act with whatever Cayde has in mind.
The problem is that Lexa keeps an eye on Cayde and remembers his great act of brilliance from before.
Yes, she decides that it's time to come up with a backup plan of her own. ... While she's moving, that is.
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When it was Clark, that meant friendly concession. Somehow he's pretty sure this demonic metal piece of shit bas won't accept a white flag. But what he can do is take on a support role. Not usually his wheelhouse, but he's seen Breq doing her best to carry Hunk away from the fight. If anyone else gets knocked out by the falling debris, Bull can carry 'em, and if it looks like they might be about to be hit by the regular avelanches of rock and dirt, he's still naturally big and fast and hardy; he'll do his best to take it on his back and let them get out of the way. So right now that's his plan, getting back and getting everyone who can't handle themselves in this fight to safety: "If you can't help take that thing out," he roars at full battlefield volume, "You're with me!"
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Cayde has dealt damage and gained the Drone's attention, and as a result it starts barrelling towards him with the intent to cleave him in two with a wide, heavy swing of its claws.
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Cayde fires another burst, waiting until the last possible moment to leap off the pillar and land in a roll, running for some other elevation or cover or a convenient hole. Not so easy given he's also running in the direction of the tree.
"If anyone else has a gun-- Now's a good time to use it!"
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As mentioned, the idea of fighting a giant murder robot is a little outside his wheelhouse, but they're running out of options here. The Bull seems to have getting people out under control, so Fuyuhiko lets impulse win and grabs for Hunk's discarded rifle. He'll return it later. If he's not dead yet.
A possibility whose odds skyrocket when he drags himself topside and discovers that the fucking thing doesn't have any bullets. Of course.
He takes a second to swear, loudly, and then shouts in the direction of Cayde, for anyone to hear: "Hey! You got a fucking magazine, I can cover you!"
He's little, but the boy's got some lungs on him.
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Here's hoping he knows how to use it.
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When he has it loaded, he scrambles for better cover (height advantage: this is not that hard to do), and squeezes off a volley of shots. He might not be a sharpshooter, but the weight of a firearm is familiar, and he doesn't hesitate. It's not especially pleasant, but, well, not like he's got much of a choice.
He knows he doesn't have much in way of ammunition, so he's sacrificing speed in favor of a) not missing, and b) giving Cayde some breathing room.