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Post by Warrior on May 2, 2021 16:07:29 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/EodXWY3~jpg There was a slight change of temperature in the air, but Shine brushed it off as she continued her antics with the records. She was determined not to miss a single detail, though some details were still more interesting the others, naturally garnering them more thorough notes.
Yumland was certainly fascinating, but what was perhaps more relevant to Grom would be the stuff regarding Netopia. It's true, the more recent stuff was missing, but seeing where the trail went cold was still valuable; specifically, what was the last recorded event in Netopia? How was the scene painted from the logs' point of view?
Knowing the logs' author was probably most significant, though, so if that happened to be lying around she'd certainly make note of it as well.
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Post by Regis on May 3, 2021 20:36:40 GMT -8
This was...a bit stranger. He couldn't quite get over the fact that this room seemed rather well maintained, given the current circumstances. So there was someone here then? But them never showing up, did that mean... He frowned, noticing the shift in the air. Poison and ice? That was a rather strange- His sheathed weapon flicked upwards, smacking at the arrow as he spun.
That didn't seem like a natural part of the system's defenses, considering that more hadn't popped up. Or maybe just delayed? But he slashed, sending a wave forth to destroy the statue, as he tried to see if he could sense anything else. If this was a person triggering it, then odds were they might be nearby.
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Post by Zane on May 4, 2021 2:07:55 GMT -8
The last recorded event from the Netopian angle appeared as though it was related to a change in positions in the ranks of the NIA as well as a few locations being built. Those locations were gone now due to the Cybeasts both rampaging for a time in Netopia before they met their end at Rammount as they had. For the NIA ranks changing, it mentioned a new enforcer but with no name given for the enforcer, simply that they were a more direct officer in charge of dealing with the creatures of power that always threatened their world whenever they possibly could. The data seemed damaged when it came to the author of the logs and yet still offered the information that whoever it was happened to be one of the leaders of the Faction and that they were possessing of the initial D for their name.
Destroying the initial statue was easy enough with the wave as he sense around for anything else. While he didn't feel a person at all there was something else still here. It was further back in the room, appearing as though it was a hovering coffin. The poisons were still seeping from it, and melting Regis away at an alarming rate now that the statue was removed from the area. He would have to determine his course of action from here quickly.
Regis loses: 700 HP. Max HP reduced by damage taken.
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Post by Warrior on May 4, 2021 2:36:27 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/EodXWY3~jpg Well, that information was certainly fascinating, not to mention more than she expected. It'd probably be nothing new for Grom, though, so she tried thinking of what type of information he'd find useful instead.
They never really did get to the bottom of why the Dark Colony invaded Netopia, so perhaps that's what she'd search up next. She stopped midway through typing the query, though, taking more notice of the slowly declining temperature as it instead reminded her of another place that she had forgot existed lately.
" Huh... I wonder how Sharo's been? "
As if on cinematic queue, however, she heard noise of the commotion from down the hall where Regis had went just before she submitted the query to search for information on the location in the electronic log -- her finger literally hovering over the submit button when she turned her head to look for the source of the noise.
" ?! "
Making her way over swiftly, Shine turned the corner to see what it was all about, feeling the air get colder as she approached. She detected the poisonous odor quickly enough to cover her mouth, what little protection it provided, though hadn't quite noticed the coffin that was emitting it in the back of the room yet.
" Oh, I know what to do! "
It was her solution to everything thus far, and if it didn't fix the problem again, then it'd definitely finally kill the joke this time. To be fair though, this was probably the one circumstance where having a Windbox using its suction to blow air out of a small compartment was actually useful -- it was just too bad that it wasn't her tact that came up with the idea and really just her simple-mindedness that defaulted to it once again.
But really, who was that even surprising anymore?
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Post by Regis on May 4, 2021 19:50:27 GMT -8
Regis winced, at the unexpected obstacle that showed up given the effects it had on the field; or him rather. What... was it? It was already taking effect on him. But before he could do anything about it, Shine made an appearance. And honestly, it couldn't have come at a better time, as she was setting up to handle it all. Regis gave a small cough, trying to get over what he was inflicted with.
"*cough* Thanks for the save." Shine was handling that aspect of it, so... He let loose a series of waves, figuring that it'd be better to destroy now sooner than later. Following up the slashes, he let loose a blast of azure, trying to force it down.
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Post by Zane on May 5, 2021 6:54:14 GMT -8
Shine had been close to finishing her search criteria, but action was required and the tried and true tactic was helpful once again, pushing back the toxic fumes. Regis would take action next, striking it multiple times before he at last brought it low. It was here that they would notice the final obstacle from the room, as behind that coffin lied what appeared to be another poison object that was being kept down thanks to Shine: a Poison Anubis. For such an advanced dark chip to be in use in the citadel of the anti-dark faction was a sight indeed, but it wasn't destroyed due to its somewhat different nature compared to the coffin. It wouldn't take many more hits, just that it was a bit more durable than the previous poisonous obstacle that was destroyed. And beneath it, something else could be seen but not quite made out. A somewhat more precise assault against it would be required to destroy it without destroying whatever it was that it was resting right on top of.
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Post by Warrior on May 5, 2021 16:12:47 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/EodXWY3~jpg Having seen where Regis was aiming, Shine now noticed the source of the toxic gas in the room.
" Rats, if only we had some way of blowing the poisonous statue off of the thing it's sitting on. "
And before one brashly assumes "she'll just spawn another windbox", Shine actually had run out of those finally. For the greater good of the universe, she didn't think to use a "Fan" chip instead.
" Guess we'll just have to try moving it some other way. "
A simple enough solution to a simple enough problem.
Shine placed her NIA Isolator on the Poison Anubis, tweaking its programming slightly to pair it with the Anubis' digital signature, and activated its teleportation function, most certainly removing it from their own presence and placing it among the presence of other, much less suspecting individuals in the NIA HQ. Or at least most likely, she figured.
Common sense would have probably told her that this was a bad idea for her reputation at her new job, but she wasn't exactly the brightest spoon in the crayon box shed, as the saying goes. She just wanted it to get out of her way and she had a solution on hand.
" Easy as that! "
In hindsight, this would have probably been a much more effective means of getting her previous mysterious object to Grom than to blow it around with a Windbox, but hindsight was 20/20 and all that.
Of course, there was a chance that this back-fired and didn't work at all, but her confidence just couldn't be shaken on the matter in the meantime.
(OOC: If this actually works I'll totally RP that thing showing up in NIA HQ)
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Post by Zane on May 5, 2021 19:20:39 GMT -8
(OOC: Sometimes it has to be this way.)
At least in Shine's defense for her latest idea, she could reason that arguably sending the Poison Anubis would be safer than sending the other object that she would have wanted to send back to HQ. And due to underlying circumstances in fact, her idea managed to work out for her this time for all her confidence too, as the Isolator took the Poison Anubis back with it to the HQ. She'd obviously be hearing about this in detail later among other things, but it also managed to reveal the gruesome reality of what was underneath the Poison Anubis then.
It was a severed arm. A right arm whose hand was more claw-like than ordinary, light blue and attached with some kind of metal to what was once a shoulder. It had a blizzard symbol on the backhand, and was likely the hand used to summon forth the Anubis in question. Near the hand looked like a compressed message as well, an audio file of some sort to be accessed, beginning to open itself with the dark obstacle out of its way as the voice came through.
"For whoever hearing this message, I pray it finds you in good faith. I don't have long before the effects of the advanced dark chip takes over, so I'll be brief. Whatever war engine this is was sent here deliberately and is well versed in Anti-Navi warfare. It has a simple basis for how it works from the time that I've engaged it, but I could only slow it down and never truly defeat it with all of these bugs and its overall combat paradigm versus my own. I've set some traps for it to aid you and if you're having difficulties, the... things you overcame in this room... alone are the clue."
It sounded like it was beginning to become more difficult for him to speak. The voice was steadily beginning to sound more feral in just that brief time. He would likely have wanted to go into more detail but would have to hope that they got the general idea behind the turret, the coffin, and the Anubis and what they could have in common. There could be several assumptions made for that unfortunately, so even the speaker knew they could misinterpret the message delivered.
"Hopefully my...partner managed to escape after...all this time. If you're willing to perform...one favor...for me. Find the spare buildings outside in the city. The ones with the...Trapper's designation. You'll find me locked away in one of those if they haven't feasted on me by then."
The message cut off there, silence returning back to the room.
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Post by Regis on May 5, 2021 19:41:03 GMT -8
Regis blinked at Shine's action. Well... That was definitely one way to handle all of that if he was going to be honest. Not quite the way he expected, especially since he didn't have access to such a thing, but a way nonetheless. "Smart." Or lucky? Who knows, but in this case he didn't mind giving her the benefit of the doubt given that she had saved him for the most part. But he frowned, looking at what the statue hid away; a severed arm, the symbol not being one he recognized. And hearing the message... As the silence returned, he took a glance over to Shine.
"Rescue mission?" Even if it wasn't the smartest idea, he wouldn't mind trying to see if they could help out the person. But at the same time, it wasn't the brightest thing to do, especially given the conditions, and given he didn't know what the Trapper's symbol was. So he'd let Shine have the reins on this one.
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Post by Warrior on May 6, 2021 15:10:09 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/EodXWY3~jpg What a fortunate success! Admittedly, Shine had never actually pressed the button before so she didn't really know exactly where it got sent to, but out of sight out of mind was the way she lived.
Regis' proposal was well met, Shine nodding her head in agreement, pointing to the unattended arm as she made her own way back to the hallway.
" He'll probably want to be reunited with his long lost limb too, so I'd say you should grab that. Maybe we can use it to hold that other weird object from before, too. "
If not, then windbox-ing it around was still find too.
Either way, Shine made her way back to her first windbox that plugged the hole they had snuck in through, checking on its status and making preparations to head back inside to find that warehouse that was mentioned in the message.
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Post by Regis on May 6, 2021 16:01:30 GMT -8
Despite everything, he picked up the arm without much complaint, though a sheen seem to coat his hand. It might be a bit more gruesome than average things, but in what he was meant for, what he strove for, it wasn't the unexpected. "Not sure if that would be a good idea, given what it was doing to your hand." After all, if they were rescuing the person, they didn't want to also lose said arm in the first place.
But he followed after Shine, as they worked their way back to the entrance and made ready to find the building. "You know what the Trapper's mark is though?"
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Post by Warrior on May 7, 2021 2:11:00 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/EodXWY3~jpg Regis made a good point about the hand, so Shine settled for the leaf-blower method again concerning her object. The Trapper's mark was a good point to, but...
" Nope, but if there isn't a data trail from the guy's missing arm, or if the mark just isn't obvious enough, I suppose we can just check them all until we find it, right? "
The most obvious solutions were the best, sometimes. If it was leaking blood rather than leaking data, that'd be an interesting discovery as well given other circumstances, but that'd be a mystery to solve if it even occurred to begin with.
Now was determining how many bugs there were left to deal with outside.
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Post by Zane on May 8, 2021 11:57:46 GMT -8
It may have been due to the nature of the arm in question, but it wasn't leaking any data or blood in part to its frozen nature. Either the arm had been frozen after it had been set or due to the prolonged exposure within the area, but if nothing else the arm must have had a resistance to the melting properties that almost snared Regis. This could be in part due to the owner's resistance or a programmed resistance for the user, but it meant that they would have to find the mark now. They at least had the clues, as it likely meant the emblem they held and other related dealings were with the Trapper in question. It would be right to assume that the more pressing matter would be the bugs outside...
That were alarmingly missing. Shine could see that her box from earlier was gone, likely devoured away finally. But there wasn't an infestation inside, nor the remaining damaged goods of the lion from earlier as well. Strange that it wouldn't presume the attack, but it may have been beyond repair due to the parts that Regis took and Shine was still blowing around to this moment. But it meant that they could instead scope out the city without any other issues aside from their own potential worries.
The city had its own wear and tear, obvious that the bugs had eaten their fair share. But luckily for them it looked like the Knights weren't very keen on using these resources often, as many were just buildings without any customization to them, meaning they could be skipped on their checks for the mark. And after another dozen minutes or so they managed to reach the area that had a few markings. A gun-sword for one of the devoured buildings, a halberd for another, twin swords on another... and finally a blue cloud surrounded by purple haze. If the events from earlier were any indication, this would be the mark they were looking for. They would find at least four buildings that weren't damaged, and two of them were empty, whatever stored inside moved out. The other two were locked, meaning if they were in luck this was their desired destination.
The first would open to the same item as before: the badge and allow access inside. It was a storeroom that looked like it mainly contained chips and other boxes and items of nothing special. The chips were largely ones that were focused on attacking later and some even out of date, like the trident or a variety of rockcubes. Likely a personalized chip collection that the Trapper left behind. This left the other building, which the badge alone didn't grant them access to, so they would have to figure out precisely how the lock functioned or try the tried and true brute force tactic.
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Post by Warrior on May 8, 2021 16:50:46 GMT -8
#s://i~imgur~com/EodXWY3~jpg Shine frowned at the lock on the door.
" Not really good at dealing with locks myself, honestly. "
A bit ironic, considering her trade, but here they were.
Brute force would probably work, if they were fine with attracting the bugs that were lingering around, that is. Probably better to at least know they were coming than to be caught offguard by a sudden arrival, but they also didn't know if another Hassmallim was lingering around these parts as well.
Shine positioned the object-she-dare-not-touch next to the door to see if it'd at least deteriorate through like it did with whatever else it touched, or to at least see what interaction it had with it.
" Soooo this is all you, Regis. "
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Post by Regis on May 9, 2021 19:57:58 GMT -8
"That's mildly surprising." Out of all the things that she couldn't do, he wasn't quite expecting that that was going to be one of them. Though he was slightly intereted in the chip collection, primarily for ones that leaned to his forte, wasn't quite the time or place for it. He gave a small shrug in response.
"Not like I am either. But..." He wasn't quite sure if it would work, but he tried to move the arm he was carrying to get it to unlock, seeing if the door was handled via registry.
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