Re: Grand Battle S3G1! (Round One: Vio Maleficat)
01-02-2011, 07:41 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Pinary.
As the group moved down a flight of stairs, Tor lagged behind, brooding. Why am I trusting these people? We're in a battle to the death, we should be taking potshots at each other from behind columns and shouting threats, not taking time out to sip some tea and collaborate on generator repairs. Krekkad, this flying fish could be leading us all into a trap right now, and I'm just walking along!
Of course, then again, cooperation is a good way to avoid hostility, and if they're considering me one of "the group," we might all be safer- basic group dynamics. In a total group this small, though, there can't be much stability in such a thing. The larger the group, the sooner it'll be forced apart by necessity. Ideally, a group of two or three would probably be best- right now, we're half the total group, and that can't last for long.
They arrived at a door, and after a moments' hesitation, Tengeri formed the words "perhaps others should open doors. miles?" Murdoch acquiesced, and the group proceeded through and to the right.
Inside the facility, Tor could feel the machines all around him, moving massive amounts of electricity around and generating a constant magnetic field. Some combination of the Telpori-Har vaguely avian ancestry and their cells' high iron content left the Telpori-Han with a weak magnetic sense, which generally gave them an idea of which way was north on any particular planet and let them know if there were any high-powered systems in the area. Excessive magnetic fields could be downright painful, and regenerations in their presence had a higher-than-normal tendency to go awry.
Right now, all Tor's sense was doing was making him a bit nauseous. Rather than one constant direction to the field, as most generators would create, this place was filled with numerous competing fields, all ebbing and flowing and swirling around and making the whole place sway when Tor closed his eyes. It hadn't been so bad outside, Tor knew, and something had changed when that crack had appeared. Maybe if they could get that fixed, all this would calm down and the fields would stabilize.
Unfortunately, the magnetic field was only getting stronger as they approached the generator, and if that magician's Unity laser didn't work, it'd probably be up to him or the Leviath to fix the thing. (And to be perfectly honest, he doubted that Tengeri would be able to do much of anything without shorting the whole thing right out.)
The group came to a door that was already open, the lock shattered by water when the sea-serpent had entered it earlier. She went through again, the other three following her onto the not-entirely-stable catwalk beyond.
At the sight of the massive, cylindrical generator, Tor swore dejectedly. The thing was rattling, sparking, and steam was pouring out of a leak somewhere inside. It was on its last legs, he could tell, and he had a feeling the thing's magnetic effects weren't going to get and calmer any time soon. Grasping one of the catwalk's rails for support, he turned to the group. As he did, he caught the look on Tengeri's face. It may not have been a particularly humanoid face, but it was still perfectly capable of conveying the feeling every engineer knew all too well- the feeling of being trapped in a doomed project. There was no way they could fix this thing, and they both knew it. It was too far gone for anything they did to make much of a difference, and the best they could possibly do would be to shut it down relatively safely rather than let it tear itself (and likely the whole facility with it) to pieces.
Murdoch, though, didn't seem to share their misgivings. Stepping between them and aiming his wand squarely at the generator, he loosed a beam of Unity into the thing's innards.
For several seconds, it seemed to be calming down- the rattling got quieter, the magnetic field settled down a bit, and the patch of grime and rust that had been rearranging itself into rude words on the far wall froze in place. All seemed to be going well-
Until, as soon as the beam stopped, the generator deteriorated again, this time sounding even worse than before. Another pipe burst, sending more steam shooting out the side, and the grime decided to go from just plain rude to downright offensive.
Miles looked down at his wand, then back to the others. "Alright," he said, apparently unfazed, "what's plan B?"
Tor sighed, Tengeri growled in an attempt to sigh, and Kerak looked concernedly from the generator to the others.
Before any of them got a chance to say anything, though, Tengeri tensed up. "Lifesigns detected," her own voice informed her, "GB-006 detected. Distance: 9.22 meters. GB-008 detected. Distance: 12.81 meters. GB-009 detected. Distance: 12.61 meters. Lifeforms indicated on map." Scofflaw was approaching in the hall they'd come through, and Huebert and TinTen were now coming up a staircase in the other direction.
"scofflaw coming from left, huebert and tinten from right," she formed. "this way" Turning around, she started along the rickety catwalk.
She stopped short when the walkway before her decided to disconnect, retract away from her, and stick out its tongue, blowing a raspberry in her general direction.
Blinking, she turned and started in the other direction, urging the others, "other way, hurry," but to no avail- that side rudely refused them passage as well, leaving them stuck with the door as their only escape.
Frustrated, she nodded to the door, and the other three quickly moved to go through. Kerak exited first, couldn't decide, and arbitrarily chose to start off to the right. Murdoch, seeing no better alternative, followed him. Tor, not entirely steady, paused in the hallway. Tengeri emerged, jerked her head to the right, and went that way as well, and Tor couldn't think of any reason not to follow.
As the group moved down a flight of stairs, Tor lagged behind, brooding. Why am I trusting these people? We're in a battle to the death, we should be taking potshots at each other from behind columns and shouting threats, not taking time out to sip some tea and collaborate on generator repairs. Krekkad, this flying fish could be leading us all into a trap right now, and I'm just walking along!
Of course, then again, cooperation is a good way to avoid hostility, and if they're considering me one of "the group," we might all be safer- basic group dynamics. In a total group this small, though, there can't be much stability in such a thing. The larger the group, the sooner it'll be forced apart by necessity. Ideally, a group of two or three would probably be best- right now, we're half the total group, and that can't last for long.
They arrived at a door, and after a moments' hesitation, Tengeri formed the words "perhaps others should open doors. miles?" Murdoch acquiesced, and the group proceeded through and to the right.
Inside the facility, Tor could feel the machines all around him, moving massive amounts of electricity around and generating a constant magnetic field. Some combination of the Telpori-Har vaguely avian ancestry and their cells' high iron content left the Telpori-Han with a weak magnetic sense, which generally gave them an idea of which way was north on any particular planet and let them know if there were any high-powered systems in the area. Excessive magnetic fields could be downright painful, and regenerations in their presence had a higher-than-normal tendency to go awry.
Right now, all Tor's sense was doing was making him a bit nauseous. Rather than one constant direction to the field, as most generators would create, this place was filled with numerous competing fields, all ebbing and flowing and swirling around and making the whole place sway when Tor closed his eyes. It hadn't been so bad outside, Tor knew, and something had changed when that crack had appeared. Maybe if they could get that fixed, all this would calm down and the fields would stabilize.
Unfortunately, the magnetic field was only getting stronger as they approached the generator, and if that magician's Unity laser didn't work, it'd probably be up to him or the Leviath to fix the thing. (And to be perfectly honest, he doubted that Tengeri would be able to do much of anything without shorting the whole thing right out.)
The group came to a door that was already open, the lock shattered by water when the sea-serpent had entered it earlier. She went through again, the other three following her onto the not-entirely-stable catwalk beyond.
At the sight of the massive, cylindrical generator, Tor swore dejectedly. The thing was rattling, sparking, and steam was pouring out of a leak somewhere inside. It was on its last legs, he could tell, and he had a feeling the thing's magnetic effects weren't going to get and calmer any time soon. Grasping one of the catwalk's rails for support, he turned to the group. As he did, he caught the look on Tengeri's face. It may not have been a particularly humanoid face, but it was still perfectly capable of conveying the feeling every engineer knew all too well- the feeling of being trapped in a doomed project. There was no way they could fix this thing, and they both knew it. It was too far gone for anything they did to make much of a difference, and the best they could possibly do would be to shut it down relatively safely rather than let it tear itself (and likely the whole facility with it) to pieces.
Murdoch, though, didn't seem to share their misgivings. Stepping between them and aiming his wand squarely at the generator, he loosed a beam of Unity into the thing's innards.
For several seconds, it seemed to be calming down- the rattling got quieter, the magnetic field settled down a bit, and the patch of grime and rust that had been rearranging itself into rude words on the far wall froze in place. All seemed to be going well-
Until, as soon as the beam stopped, the generator deteriorated again, this time sounding even worse than before. Another pipe burst, sending more steam shooting out the side, and the grime decided to go from just plain rude to downright offensive.
Miles looked down at his wand, then back to the others. "Alright," he said, apparently unfazed, "what's plan B?"
Tor sighed, Tengeri growled in an attempt to sigh, and Kerak looked concernedly from the generator to the others.
Before any of them got a chance to say anything, though, Tengeri tensed up. "Lifesigns detected," her own voice informed her, "GB-006 detected. Distance: 9.22 meters. GB-008 detected. Distance: 12.81 meters. GB-009 detected. Distance: 12.61 meters. Lifeforms indicated on map." Scofflaw was approaching in the hall they'd come through, and Huebert and TinTen were now coming up a staircase in the other direction.
"scofflaw coming from left, huebert and tinten from right," she formed. "this way" Turning around, she started along the rickety catwalk.
She stopped short when the walkway before her decided to disconnect, retract away from her, and stick out its tongue, blowing a raspberry in her general direction.
Blinking, she turned and started in the other direction, urging the others, "other way, hurry," but to no avail- that side rudely refused them passage as well, leaving them stuck with the door as their only escape.
Frustrated, she nodded to the door, and the other three quickly moved to go through. Kerak exited first, couldn't decide, and arbitrarily chose to start off to the right. Murdoch, seeing no better alternative, followed him. Tor, not entirely steady, paused in the hallway. Tengeri emerged, jerked her head to the right, and went that way as well, and Tor couldn't think of any reason not to follow.