Re: The Spectacular Exhibition (S3G2) [Round 1: Parallels/Perpendicularities]
06-12-2011, 09:55 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by Pick Yer Poison.
Red readied his mech, listening closely but finding he could not determine the origin of Crepitans' footsteps. Left or right passage? Could be either. Should check to be sure. He inched cautiously to the junction, wishing he could look both ways without actually having to step out between the passages. Invention idea: launchable "sticky" camera spike. Motion of camera remotely controlled. Hesitating momentarily, he dashed out into the junction, arbitrarily looking first left, then right, only to find neither direction contained anything even remotely Crepitans-like. Red put away his guns in exasperation and turned back, continuing to trudge down the passage. Must've been an echo.
He glanced at the walls as he skittered along the corridors. Light yellow bricks were stacked upon each other in a neat and orderly fashion, each the same as the last. Guttering torches adorned the walls, each spaced a few yards apart. A maze of twisty little passages, all alike. The floor began slanting downwards, although not sharply; Red's torso adjusted itself to compensate. The slope ended a few minutes later, and Red turned a corner to find himself facing an ornate set of double doors. They were the same general color as the walls, albeit a slightly darker shade, and were covered in engraved patterns featuring a tall, stockily-built humanoid figure generally beating the shit out of other shorter, scrawnier humanoid figures. Red mentally raised an eyebrow and pushed open the doors.
They opened into a wide chamber, the sides of which sloped up and inwards, meeting at the center to form a pyramid ceiling. About twenty feet beyond the door were three tiered platforms, with short sections of stairs carved out on the side facing the door. A golden sarcophagus with inscrutable designs lay on the uppermost platform, long side facing the stairs. A golden scepter was balanced on top of it, glimmering unnaturally. Six large standing torches were arrayed along both sides of the path to the sarcophagus, and at the foot of the stairs lay a pile of bones that Red thought were just a bit too big to be normal human bones. A skull, also slightly oversized, topped off the pile. Red paused for a moment as he took it in. Normally, he had no interest in any treasure but knowledge that he could use to his advantage, but for some reason the scepter caught his eye. He wanted, no, needed to have it. He began scuttling towards the sarcophagus.
The moment he passed the first pair of torches, the bones began clattering. Red halted warily, raising both arms towards the pile. One was still ready with its flamethrower, while a long panel on the top of the other slid open, allowing a set of three rotating gun barrels with an attached feeder system to emerge. The skull hovered up in the air to a height of nearly seven feet, with the bones forming into a human skeleton below it. Muscles and sinew began to grow, covering the bones in moments; a thick layer of blotchy gray skin covered it, and was in turn covered by a layer of dark, green-gray scales. A few red scales on the creature's face gave the illusion of eyes, but as far as Red could tell it had no actual eyes, or mouth, or any other facial features for that matter, aside from a possible nose consisting of two small slits, and some larger ones on each side of its head that Red supposed might be ears. He backed up slightly, decidedly unnerved by the abomination in front of him. A deep, foreboding voice spoke in his mind. Red could not tell if it was male or female; it sounded as if a number of men and women were speaking in unison at the same time. Who dares disturb His tomb?
Red spent several seconds twisting his torso around, looking for the speaker, before he realized that it was the mouthless creature in front of him. He stepped forward again, feeling slightly awkward. "What are you? What do you want?"
The creature did not quite sigh - in fact, it did not appear to breathe at all - but Red could feel the exasperation emanating from it. You have violated His sacred tomb and desire His scepter, which I have been cursed to guard for all of eternity. The creature raised its muscular, and much too large for comfort, arms and assumed a stance reminiscent of a boxer's, with its hands balled into fists and hanging around its chest. But cursed as I may be, I still possess a sense of honor. My name is Sentinel. Now tell me who you are, that once you are dead I may provide the proper blessings!
Red bristled at the creature's arrogance. "Should worry more about your own death!" he snarled, firing at the creature with his triple gun barrels. To Red's surprise, Sentinel put down its hands and began lumbering towards him as the bullets pinged uselessly off its scales. As soon as Sentinel got within range of the flamethrower, Red opened up on it the creature, bathing it in flames. But the fire found no purchase, and while Sentinel raised its arm against the flames, Red could tell they were little more than a minor annoyance. Red could feel Sentinel's smugness hanging in the air, could almost hear its silent laughter. Solution should be easy. Just needs more...boom.
Red dropped a small ball in between himself and Sentinel. Hatches on its surface opened, and it began pouring out thick black smoke. Red scuttled back to the entrance of the room and raised his arms together, pointing both into the smoke cloud, which was already beginning to fade. The palms opened up, allowing large twin gun barrels to extrude slightly. Clamps on his mech's spidery feet folded out onto the floor, securing him in place. He waited a few moments for the smoke cloud to clear enough to allow him to see Sentinel - who it seemed had continued lumbering forward the whole time - and then fired a pair of autocannon shells at it, one with each arm and with a time gap in between. Sentinel caught the first blast in the shoulder, the small explosion knocking its entire right side back. The next one hit it in the leg, and it fell forward, just barely catching itself on its forearms, cracking the stones on the floor and raising a small dust cloud. Red aimed his cannons downwards and fired more rounds into Sentinel's back, driving its arm out from under it. Red let up the barrage when Sentinel finally stopped moving. To his surprise, he saw no visible damage to the creature's backside. Very powerful scales. Good armor.
He unfastened himself from the floor and put down his arms, the autocannon barrels retreating. But the moment he began to move towards the sarcophagus, Sentinel raised its head from the floor. Your magic is strong, Nameless One. It began to pick itself up, the cracks and dents in the stone floor repairing themselves as soon as Sentinel's limbs left them. But you cannot harm me. Red glanced between the scepter and the monster picking itself up in front of him, then scuttled out the double doors and back along the passage. Trying to kill something that could survive a dozen autocannon rounds at point blank range was not worth a stupid scepter. He was halfway up the sloping portion of the passage when he heard a crashing sound from the tomb's entrance. He knew without looking what had made it, and the faint voice in his head confirmed it. WE ARE NOT YET FINISHED, NAMELESS ONE.
Red scuttled faster.
Red readied his mech, listening closely but finding he could not determine the origin of Crepitans' footsteps. Left or right passage? Could be either. Should check to be sure. He inched cautiously to the junction, wishing he could look both ways without actually having to step out between the passages. Invention idea: launchable "sticky" camera spike. Motion of camera remotely controlled. Hesitating momentarily, he dashed out into the junction, arbitrarily looking first left, then right, only to find neither direction contained anything even remotely Crepitans-like. Red put away his guns in exasperation and turned back, continuing to trudge down the passage. Must've been an echo.
He glanced at the walls as he skittered along the corridors. Light yellow bricks were stacked upon each other in a neat and orderly fashion, each the same as the last. Guttering torches adorned the walls, each spaced a few yards apart. A maze of twisty little passages, all alike. The floor began slanting downwards, although not sharply; Red's torso adjusted itself to compensate. The slope ended a few minutes later, and Red turned a corner to find himself facing an ornate set of double doors. They were the same general color as the walls, albeit a slightly darker shade, and were covered in engraved patterns featuring a tall, stockily-built humanoid figure generally beating the shit out of other shorter, scrawnier humanoid figures. Red mentally raised an eyebrow and pushed open the doors.
They opened into a wide chamber, the sides of which sloped up and inwards, meeting at the center to form a pyramid ceiling. About twenty feet beyond the door were three tiered platforms, with short sections of stairs carved out on the side facing the door. A golden sarcophagus with inscrutable designs lay on the uppermost platform, long side facing the stairs. A golden scepter was balanced on top of it, glimmering unnaturally. Six large standing torches were arrayed along both sides of the path to the sarcophagus, and at the foot of the stairs lay a pile of bones that Red thought were just a bit too big to be normal human bones. A skull, also slightly oversized, topped off the pile. Red paused for a moment as he took it in. Normally, he had no interest in any treasure but knowledge that he could use to his advantage, but for some reason the scepter caught his eye. He wanted, no, needed to have it. He began scuttling towards the sarcophagus.
The moment he passed the first pair of torches, the bones began clattering. Red halted warily, raising both arms towards the pile. One was still ready with its flamethrower, while a long panel on the top of the other slid open, allowing a set of three rotating gun barrels with an attached feeder system to emerge. The skull hovered up in the air to a height of nearly seven feet, with the bones forming into a human skeleton below it. Muscles and sinew began to grow, covering the bones in moments; a thick layer of blotchy gray skin covered it, and was in turn covered by a layer of dark, green-gray scales. A few red scales on the creature's face gave the illusion of eyes, but as far as Red could tell it had no actual eyes, or mouth, or any other facial features for that matter, aside from a possible nose consisting of two small slits, and some larger ones on each side of its head that Red supposed might be ears. He backed up slightly, decidedly unnerved by the abomination in front of him. A deep, foreboding voice spoke in his mind. Red could not tell if it was male or female; it sounded as if a number of men and women were speaking in unison at the same time. Who dares disturb His tomb?
Red spent several seconds twisting his torso around, looking for the speaker, before he realized that it was the mouthless creature in front of him. He stepped forward again, feeling slightly awkward. "What are you? What do you want?"
The creature did not quite sigh - in fact, it did not appear to breathe at all - but Red could feel the exasperation emanating from it. You have violated His sacred tomb and desire His scepter, which I have been cursed to guard for all of eternity. The creature raised its muscular, and much too large for comfort, arms and assumed a stance reminiscent of a boxer's, with its hands balled into fists and hanging around its chest. But cursed as I may be, I still possess a sense of honor. My name is Sentinel. Now tell me who you are, that once you are dead I may provide the proper blessings!
Red bristled at the creature's arrogance. "Should worry more about your own death!" he snarled, firing at the creature with his triple gun barrels. To Red's surprise, Sentinel put down its hands and began lumbering towards him as the bullets pinged uselessly off its scales. As soon as Sentinel got within range of the flamethrower, Red opened up on it the creature, bathing it in flames. But the fire found no purchase, and while Sentinel raised its arm against the flames, Red could tell they were little more than a minor annoyance. Red could feel Sentinel's smugness hanging in the air, could almost hear its silent laughter. Solution should be easy. Just needs more...boom.
Red dropped a small ball in between himself and Sentinel. Hatches on its surface opened, and it began pouring out thick black smoke. Red scuttled back to the entrance of the room and raised his arms together, pointing both into the smoke cloud, which was already beginning to fade. The palms opened up, allowing large twin gun barrels to extrude slightly. Clamps on his mech's spidery feet folded out onto the floor, securing him in place. He waited a few moments for the smoke cloud to clear enough to allow him to see Sentinel - who it seemed had continued lumbering forward the whole time - and then fired a pair of autocannon shells at it, one with each arm and with a time gap in between. Sentinel caught the first blast in the shoulder, the small explosion knocking its entire right side back. The next one hit it in the leg, and it fell forward, just barely catching itself on its forearms, cracking the stones on the floor and raising a small dust cloud. Red aimed his cannons downwards and fired more rounds into Sentinel's back, driving its arm out from under it. Red let up the barrage when Sentinel finally stopped moving. To his surprise, he saw no visible damage to the creature's backside. Very powerful scales. Good armor.
He unfastened himself from the floor and put down his arms, the autocannon barrels retreating. But the moment he began to move towards the sarcophagus, Sentinel raised its head from the floor. Your magic is strong, Nameless One. It began to pick itself up, the cracks and dents in the stone floor repairing themselves as soon as Sentinel's limbs left them. But you cannot harm me. Red glanced between the scepter and the monster picking itself up in front of him, then scuttled out the double doors and back along the passage. Trying to kill something that could survive a dozen autocannon rounds at point blank range was not worth a stupid scepter. He was halfway up the sloping portion of the passage when he heard a crashing sound from the tomb's entrance. He knew without looking what had made it, and the faint voice in his head confirmed it. WE ARE NOT YET FINISHED, NAMELESS ONE.
Red scuttled faster.
![[Image: zjQ0y.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/zjQ0y.gif)
![[Image: vcGGy.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/vcGGy.gif)