From his perch atop the crumbling masonry, the Vampire drew in on himself, taking up the darkness that surrounded him as he shook of the disorientation of being so close to such bright light. As Astraea herself began to glow, he let out an infuriated hiss, which only grew angrier as she began to taunt him from the open clearing further down in the cave. He drew up to his full height, spreading both wing arms out in a threat display that made him look more like an actual bat than anything else yet.
"Why is it that you torment me in my home!?" The voice was that same rough-edged rasp that sounded as though proper speech wasn't easy for him, but any Sympathy the little alien might have felt was probably misplaced; a moment later, he jumped, swooping down to Astraea's location again in a move that started as a glide, and became a sharp dive as he reached her, leading with his wickedly sharp talons. It was way too fast. Prepared as she'd been, the tinkerer tried to dodge quickly back out of the way, but the sudden dive raked her viciously all the same, and it hurt. It really hurt. (-40)
There was a bright side to this, however: the blow, along with Astraea's attempt at avoidance, pushed her out of the way of the impact zone for her plan. The Vampire was less fortunate. Two small bursts of fire from her hidden turret zipped upward, striking the large, heavy growth of rock, and with a crack it came crashing down onto its target. The lord of the manor looked up in time to see his plight, and with a sharp gasp raised an arm and drew one wing over his face instinctively. It wasn't enough to protect him completely. With a very loud sound of impact, the rocky spike crushed the vampire, dispersing his bats in a shrieking cloud and obscuring his form under the rubble for a few moments (-45).
He emerged, shoulders hunched, and swatted a hand defensively in the alien's direction, loosing another ball of dark shadow towards her, before scampering back out of the light again. The shadow orb, flung in haste, wavered wide of the alien girl, but as before, it began to curve around, swinging back for another attempt.
-=Lord of the Crumbling Manor=-
VampireBat.Bat: 145Hp [Barrier Broken!][Not far from the edge of the light]
-=Staying for Dinner?=-
Astraea.Exe: 45Hp [Strengthen: 20][In the Open][Dark Fragment Homing; off to her left]
-=Crumbling Manor=-
All Normal Terrain.
This is a large area, with much cover to be found, if desired. There are tall stalagmites on the cave floor, though much of the central area is open. There are several dilapidated stone structures, a few of which have viable doorways to enter through or take cover in.
-=Objects=-
CTB: 10Hp [Allied][Ready]
((Yes, thank you for reminding me about the Hp, I missed changing it. Thank you for your honesty))
Testing Run
last edited by
Astraea was in a bad way.
Stimulated nerves sent damage reports to her central processing like a drill digging for planet's core. Pain itself seemed to sink its claws into the alien's back as Bat.Bat passed overhead. She had tripped in her attempt to dodge and skinned her hands and legs and knocked the breath, and the odd personality fragments, out of her. The gashes on her back consumed almost all of her processing as she tried to convince herself to attempt standing up but vaguely she could hear the impact and the shrieking of bats as her gambit played out. She had hurt him bad but she'd gotten injured in the process, and on her own as she was she didn't see much hope of being able to continue the fight for very long. She could attempt to continue with dodging and her shield but she felt that such actions would only be a delaying tactic. She needed aid, needed reinforcement but with the downed communications she wasn't sure such aid would be coming.
Then she remembered her turrets.
So far they had provided additional firepower and distraction as required. She could very easily use them as additional shields as well. Astraea shifted her weight to the side with a pained groan and reached her hand to her belt. Half-twisting her back to clear enough space for her keypad to meet air was painful. It felt like something had grabbed hold of the gashes on her back themselves and twisted with a malice she felt was uncalled for. Her fingers moved more stiffly than before but she still managed to peck out an order with her eyes half-closed. There was a confirmation beep from the turret and it came to life with a much less impressive light show; all it had were the damage and ammo indicators on its side. Nevertheless it twisted and turned and sought the form of VampireBat.Bat as he pulled himself out from the rocks and fired a pair of bright red half-molten slugs at him to call attention to itself. Astraea cracked a vindictive grin at the sound and dragged herself to her feet.
The static came crashing down on her senses like a waterfall. It blared in her ears and screamed across her processes and vaguely she was aware it was more than just sound but everything loud-hurt and loud-loud and it was awful right up until the point it suddenly wasn't. A chill settled across the pain as it registered in her mind, seemed to smother it like wet blanket over a fire. She was distantly aware that there was a vague green tint to her own silver-glow but the static was gone and the hint of green was fading along with most of the pain.
Alex.
The name rang in her head with a certainty that was as refreshing as it was definite. Her face eased into a look of wonderment and relief. She had not been abandoned in this strange place! Communications might be cut (and a little nudging at the back of her mind told her visuals were now cut as well) but he was still watching her vitals. She had a Huston in the command center and that meant she had chips. She spent a valuable moment sending her mind running along the path the static had come from and found what she was looking for: a gift. She seized on it eagerly, her mind whispering that the time to attack was now and she needed to strike while the opponent was off-balance. They were both in bad shape but the first one to seize initiative would have a very real chance of gaining the upper hand in this fight.
Astraea pulled the gift to her core and drew her raygun, leaving her torch on the ground at her feet. It had fallen in the rushed moments of her ploy but she had no immediate use for it now. Instead she pulled the ray gun turned megaphone to her lips and drew on her turret's targeting processes as she inhaled. Silver light fled from her extremities and she wasted a valuable moment letting it gather in the back of the megaphone before releasing a scream of violence. The sound waves leaped from her weapon and raced through the cave riding almost the same wave of disturbed air as the silver light ahead of them. The powerful ripples of air were aimed at the direction the vampire was fleeing in. The silver light chased away the shadows as the waves sought a pillar, a structure, anything solid including their opponent himself, to smash against and then spread.
The alien girl sighed as her remaining damage caught up to her in the form of fatigue nipping at her joints. She sagged where she stood but remained standing. Out of the corner of her eye Astraea caught something dark and malevolent moving through the air. She remembered the first attack like this and thought it was perhaps something similar so she brought up her shield to guard. The plastic snapped weakly in place and a calculating part of her mind made note of the weaknesses of the structure as a resolve to improve upon the flaws in design. The alien girl was ready but her earlier commanded came into play first.
At first there was just a clicking sound, like a car engine that wouldn't turn over. Then whatever was clicking seemed to catch and the engine, for it was indeed an engine (if not a very good one) came to life as a quiet rumble. The legs under the turret flexed and then it staggered out from behind its pillar of rock. The claw-like feet tapped out quiet pings as the contraption skittered to its creator's side in an attempt to shield her from the shadow-stuff. Then the engine or maybe the legs seemed to give a terrible squeal and the movement-giving parts of the machine broke and dropped the contraption in a heap between master and the foe's dangerous attack.
--Summary--
CTB: 5x2 fire @ VampireBat.Bat, Acc A
1) Recover 30 - +30 hp to Astreae (75!)
2) Pulsar 1 - 70 (+20) + Object Triggered Blast 2 (Primary Acc A, Blast Acc B ) @ VampireBat.Bat
3) Shield - Creates 1-hit shield
CTB Passive - Movement to between Astraea and Dark Fragment, attempting to take attack instead
Stimulated nerves sent damage reports to her central processing like a drill digging for planet's core. Pain itself seemed to sink its claws into the alien's back as Bat.Bat passed overhead. She had tripped in her attempt to dodge and skinned her hands and legs and knocked the breath, and the odd personality fragments, out of her. The gashes on her back consumed almost all of her processing as she tried to convince herself to attempt standing up but vaguely she could hear the impact and the shrieking of bats as her gambit played out. She had hurt him bad but she'd gotten injured in the process, and on her own as she was she didn't see much hope of being able to continue the fight for very long. She could attempt to continue with dodging and her shield but she felt that such actions would only be a delaying tactic. She needed aid, needed reinforcement but with the downed communications she wasn't sure such aid would be coming.
Then she remembered her turrets.
So far they had provided additional firepower and distraction as required. She could very easily use them as additional shields as well. Astraea shifted her weight to the side with a pained groan and reached her hand to her belt. Half-twisting her back to clear enough space for her keypad to meet air was painful. It felt like something had grabbed hold of the gashes on her back themselves and twisted with a malice she felt was uncalled for. Her fingers moved more stiffly than before but she still managed to peck out an order with her eyes half-closed. There was a confirmation beep from the turret and it came to life with a much less impressive light show; all it had were the damage and ammo indicators on its side. Nevertheless it twisted and turned and sought the form of VampireBat.Bat as he pulled himself out from the rocks and fired a pair of bright red half-molten slugs at him to call attention to itself. Astraea cracked a vindictive grin at the sound and dragged herself to her feet.
The static came crashing down on her senses like a waterfall. It blared in her ears and screamed across her processes and vaguely she was aware it was more than just sound but everything loud-hurt and loud-loud and it was awful right up until the point it suddenly wasn't. A chill settled across the pain as it registered in her mind, seemed to smother it like wet blanket over a fire. She was distantly aware that there was a vague green tint to her own silver-glow but the static was gone and the hint of green was fading along with most of the pain.
Alex.
The name rang in her head with a certainty that was as refreshing as it was definite. Her face eased into a look of wonderment and relief. She had not been abandoned in this strange place! Communications might be cut (and a little nudging at the back of her mind told her visuals were now cut as well) but he was still watching her vitals. She had a Huston in the command center and that meant she had chips. She spent a valuable moment sending her mind running along the path the static had come from and found what she was looking for: a gift. She seized on it eagerly, her mind whispering that the time to attack was now and she needed to strike while the opponent was off-balance. They were both in bad shape but the first one to seize initiative would have a very real chance of gaining the upper hand in this fight.
Astraea pulled the gift to her core and drew her raygun, leaving her torch on the ground at her feet. It had fallen in the rushed moments of her ploy but she had no immediate use for it now. Instead she pulled the ray gun turned megaphone to her lips and drew on her turret's targeting processes as she inhaled. Silver light fled from her extremities and she wasted a valuable moment letting it gather in the back of the megaphone before releasing a scream of violence. The sound waves leaped from her weapon and raced through the cave riding almost the same wave of disturbed air as the silver light ahead of them. The powerful ripples of air were aimed at the direction the vampire was fleeing in. The silver light chased away the shadows as the waves sought a pillar, a structure, anything solid including their opponent himself, to smash against and then spread.
The alien girl sighed as her remaining damage caught up to her in the form of fatigue nipping at her joints. She sagged where she stood but remained standing. Out of the corner of her eye Astraea caught something dark and malevolent moving through the air. She remembered the first attack like this and thought it was perhaps something similar so she brought up her shield to guard. The plastic snapped weakly in place and a calculating part of her mind made note of the weaknesses of the structure as a resolve to improve upon the flaws in design. The alien girl was ready but her earlier commanded came into play first.
At first there was just a clicking sound, like a car engine that wouldn't turn over. Then whatever was clicking seemed to catch and the engine, for it was indeed an engine (if not a very good one) came to life as a quiet rumble. The legs under the turret flexed and then it staggered out from behind its pillar of rock. The claw-like feet tapped out quiet pings as the contraption skittered to its creator's side in an attempt to shield her from the shadow-stuff. Then the engine or maybe the legs seemed to give a terrible squeal and the movement-giving parts of the machine broke and dropped the contraption in a heap between master and the foe's dangerous attack.
--Summary--
CTB: 5x2 fire @ VampireBat.Bat, Acc A
1) Recover 30 - +30 hp to Astreae (75!)
2) Pulsar 1 - 70 (+20) + Object Triggered Blast 2 (Primary Acc A, Blast Acc B ) @ VampireBat.Bat
3) Shield - Creates 1-hit shield
CTB Passive - Movement to between Astraea and Dark Fragment, attempting to take attack instead
last edited by
The Vampire lurked in the dark as Astraea recovered herself; both fighters seemed to pause, creating a short lull in the conflict while they collected themselves. While the alien girl had a moment to settle her thoughts, however, her adversary had to deal with the new attention from her turret.
It reached up towards the ceiling of the cave, recalling another cloud of tiny bats to swarm and circle about it, but within moments the two rounds from the turret sent peels of bright light in his direction, striking and making the swarm screech and shriek. The Vampire hissed at the previously disregarded turret, somewhere between surprised, and possibly offended at this non-living interference, but if Astraea herself noticed it, the relatively weak incendiaries from the turret had managed to fully scatter the entire cloud of bats within moments. If light was bad, apparently fire was worse.
Hissing and snarling, the creature drew its wings over itself in a cloak, seeming to pull more of the darkness into itself and wallow in it, though it didn't do anything else immediately. There was a sense in the air that it might be preparing for something; Astraea had pushed the creature considerably, but it didn't look or sound like it was about to back down from what it seemed to view as invaders.
In response, the little alien added some dramatic vocals to her intolerable light-bearing, and sent a rippling sonic wave in his direction. The Vampire ducked quickly behind a tall spire of rock to shield his sensitive ears, but it didn't help; the blast struck a spike just past him anyway, and the reverberation was joined by a very discomfited howl of pain from his hiding place.
While this was going on, the small orb of darkness curled and wove as it made its way back towards Astraea, but with well-timed mobility, her turret succeeded in intercepting the attack, taking the hit and toppling to the side with a decommissioned crash.
-=Lord of the Crumbling Manor=-
VampireBat.Bat: 55Hp [Barrier re-formed and re-broken!][Cover][Not far directly ahead of Astraea]
-=Staying for Dinner?=-
Astraea.Exe: 75Hp [In the Open]
-=Crumbling Manor=-
All Normal Terrain.
This is a large area, with much cover to be found, if desired. There are tall stalagmites on the cave floor, though much of the central area is open. There are several dilapidated stone structures, a few of which have viable doorways to enter through or take cover in.
-=Objects=-
CTB: CRASHED
It reached up towards the ceiling of the cave, recalling another cloud of tiny bats to swarm and circle about it, but within moments the two rounds from the turret sent peels of bright light in his direction, striking and making the swarm screech and shriek. The Vampire hissed at the previously disregarded turret, somewhere between surprised, and possibly offended at this non-living interference, but if Astraea herself noticed it, the relatively weak incendiaries from the turret had managed to fully scatter the entire cloud of bats within moments. If light was bad, apparently fire was worse.
Hissing and snarling, the creature drew its wings over itself in a cloak, seeming to pull more of the darkness into itself and wallow in it, though it didn't do anything else immediately. There was a sense in the air that it might be preparing for something; Astraea had pushed the creature considerably, but it didn't look or sound like it was about to back down from what it seemed to view as invaders.
In response, the little alien added some dramatic vocals to her intolerable light-bearing, and sent a rippling sonic wave in his direction. The Vampire ducked quickly behind a tall spire of rock to shield his sensitive ears, but it didn't help; the blast struck a spike just past him anyway, and the reverberation was joined by a very discomfited howl of pain from his hiding place.
While this was going on, the small orb of darkness curled and wove as it made its way back towards Astraea, but with well-timed mobility, her turret succeeded in intercepting the attack, taking the hit and toppling to the side with a decommissioned crash.
-=Lord of the Crumbling Manor=-
VampireBat.Bat: 55Hp [Barrier re-formed and re-broken!][Cover][Not far directly ahead of Astraea]
-=Staying for Dinner?=-
Astraea.Exe: 75Hp [In the Open]
-=Crumbling Manor=-
All Normal Terrain.
This is a large area, with much cover to be found, if desired. There are tall stalagmites on the cave floor, though much of the central area is open. There are several dilapidated stone structures, a few of which have viable doorways to enter through or take cover in.
-=Objects=-
CTB: CRASHED
last edited by
Astraea called down another turret as the first died, her fingers tapping out the coordinates. She was starting to change her mind about her turrets, they were proving to be more useful than her initial results had show. She didn't bother to be subtle about calling down her next turret, although she was forced to swap from the legged blueprint ('Invalid Syntax.' informed an internal error report) to the more steady immobile design. But that was fine, it would only take a small shove to push the turret into a clear firing line.
---
Cinder Turret Alpha was assembled piece by piece in a place of steel, bright lights, and the conveyor belt that moved him from one piece adding machine to the next. Eventually he was gently shunted down a gentle incline to rest atop a pad light up with blue and encircled by bands of steel and plastic. He perked up immediately; he knew what being here meant.
Seconds stretched into minutes stretched into waiting-too-long! He wasn't equipped with the ability to actually tell time so all Alpha knew was that it was taking entirely too long for him to be called onto the battlefield again. He soon got his wish.
Twin lines of blue light spiraled around him and then there was a rush of white light and the room where he was built and waited was gone. The cavern was dark except for the circle lit by dropped torch. He didn't have time to sit and view the area though: a pair of familiar hands had already reached out and shoved him to the side. Suddenly he could see beyond one of the big formations of rock and his targeting systems locked on quicker than he could think.
He spat fire and lead almost before he was conscious of the target lock.
---
Astraea was pleased to see her turret firing at the beast's location. She had lost sight of her opponent herself but being able to point the turret in the general direction had provided her with an indication of which way the danger laid.
Static crackled into life again and was gone as quickly as it had come. This time Astraea checked immediately for the little packet of help that was delivered with the noise and drafted it immediately into service. The barrel of her toy-like gun split in two and reformed. The antenna's topper gleamed and then the alien was moving.
Step, step, step.
Carefully she edged around the obstacle between her and her foe. When she felt she had a clear shot she would fire and send a ragged curtain of splintered light at the vampire.
--Summary--
1)Summon CTA - 10hp object, 5x2 Fire shot passive, acc a
CTA* Move for clear line of sight
CTA - 5x2 Fire, Acc A @ VampireBat.Bat
2)Movement - Get a better firing angle on VampireBat.Bat
3)Shotgun 50 + Spread 1, Acc A @ VampireBat.Bat
---
Cinder Turret Alpha was assembled piece by piece in a place of steel, bright lights, and the conveyor belt that moved him from one piece adding machine to the next. Eventually he was gently shunted down a gentle incline to rest atop a pad light up with blue and encircled by bands of steel and plastic. He perked up immediately; he knew what being here meant.
Seconds stretched into minutes stretched into waiting-too-long! He wasn't equipped with the ability to actually tell time so all Alpha knew was that it was taking entirely too long for him to be called onto the battlefield again. He soon got his wish.
Twin lines of blue light spiraled around him and then there was a rush of white light and the room where he was built and waited was gone. The cavern was dark except for the circle lit by dropped torch. He didn't have time to sit and view the area though: a pair of familiar hands had already reached out and shoved him to the side. Suddenly he could see beyond one of the big formations of rock and his targeting systems locked on quicker than he could think.
He spat fire and lead almost before he was conscious of the target lock.
---
Astraea was pleased to see her turret firing at the beast's location. She had lost sight of her opponent herself but being able to point the turret in the general direction had provided her with an indication of which way the danger laid.
Static crackled into life again and was gone as quickly as it had come. This time Astraea checked immediately for the little packet of help that was delivered with the noise and drafted it immediately into service. The barrel of her toy-like gun split in two and reformed. The antenna's topper gleamed and then the alien was moving.
Step, step, step.
Carefully she edged around the obstacle between her and her foe. When she felt she had a clear shot she would fire and send a ragged curtain of splintered light at the vampire.
--Summary--
1)Summon CTA - 10hp object, 5x2 Fire shot passive, acc a
CTA* Move for clear line of sight
CTA - 5x2 Fire, Acc A @ VampireBat.Bat
2)Movement - Get a better firing angle on VampireBat.Bat
3)Shotgun 50 + Spread 1, Acc A @ VampireBat.Bat
last edited by
As Astraea called in Alpha turret to replace its fallen brother, something strange began to happen to the cave space. Alpha only had to deal with the normal darkness of the cave, but for Astraea herself, the gloom seemed to deepen, and darken. Impossibly so, everything began to fade away into a pitch blackness that devoured even her tiny light and would feel like it gnawed at her very being. Sound dulled, sense dampened, and the cold emptiness seemed to go from oppressive, to downright crushing.
Two pinpoints of fire light streaked out through the solid blackness, and somewhere in the distance, another painful shriek and angry snarl followed, but to Astraea, both of these effects would seem somehow distant, and a bit detached. Against the overwhelming totality of the dark, they were inconsequential. Despite this, the alien girl managed to keep moving, seeking her foe through the impenetrable night, and soon enough she found him:
Standing clearly now, the vampire stood out; a figure alone, looming tall with his cloak wrapped about him dramatically. Underneath the weight of the dark, that same unnerving crooning song tickled at her senses again, and it was enough to confuse her senses and thoughts; once she laid eyes on her target, taking her gaze away again would prove to be a supreme effort of will if she tried, and the gradual slow steps of her feet strayed towards him again, regardless of cover or safety; indeed the effect almost felt like it was pulling on her entire body, drawing her towards him. The sensation seemed to be dragging her very essence towards the unnerving song (-5).
If Astraea could retain some clarity of thought at this point, she might notice that what she was seeing wasn't quite right either; her suitor was tall, with a dramatic cloak wrapped about him, swaying slightly as though about to offer her a dance. He watched her with piercing blue eyes, set in what would have been a knee-weakeningly, pant-dampeningly, handsome face, by any human standards; given that she wasn't exactly modelled after human norms, though, the alien-girl might possibly find herself a little bit more immune to that element of the effect. Perhaps so, anyway, but she would feel drawn to him all the same. He stepped forward to meet her, spreading his arms and opening his cloak to reveal a formal opera suit of immaculate presentation. His arms were wide and inviting, and another step forward matched Astraea's movements, until she had more or less strayed and been drawn into the fold of his arms, which closed gently around her as he stooped to embrace the smaller girl in his hold.
There was every possibility that some part of Astraea knew this was wrong, that something was not right at all but every movement seemed to go in slow motion, tremulously breathless in a way that defied all reason and logic. Whether Astraea was actually finding him to be impossibly handsome or not, he gently craned his neck and tilted his head. It seemed like he was about to kiss her neck, but the alien-girl's particular proportions actually made that exact action a rather difficult one to achieve. There was a moment of brushing against her cheek and her shoulder, and in this moment of difficulty, on the edge of sinking fang into its meal, the creature had over-reached: Astraea's shotgun blaster was pressed up against his chest in the closeness of the embrace, and through the mesmeric song and the dark illusions, Astraea managed, at last, to pull the trigger.
The burst of light and sound that followed shattered the illusion completely, and the excessive darkness returned to the more normal, natural dark of the cave. It was still pretty dim, but no longer the impossible pitch black from moments ago. The creature, his glamour destroyed, snarled and shrieked as the blast of light shards ripped through him and he fell backwards to the ground, flailing and trying to cover himself with his wings.
"No more! Begone with your light! Begone!!" The rough cry sounded strained and desperate as he cried out, and a moment later his body seemed to fade to mist again, which promptly curled away from Astraea, and out of the great cave far faster than any normal trial of mist could go. It seemed clear that this time, the creature was definitely fleeing.
For Astraea, the effects of his song and illusions clung on, not quite having a proper hold on her but lingering like a bad memory that was difficult to shake off. The battle was over, though, and the alien-girl was triumphant... though in the aftermath the thought might occur as to how differently it may have gone if the hypnotic assault had actually let him get his teeth in. For now, though, there were spoils to he had, and a quick search of the crumbling ruins would reveal a not inconsequential amount of zenny for her troubles.
-=Lord of the Crumbling Manor=-
VampireBat.Bat: 1Hp [Fled]
-=Not Staying for Dinner, Thank You=-
Astraea.Exe: 70Hp [Blind][Confuse][Slow]
-=Crumbling Manor=-
All Normal Terrain.
This is a large area, with much cover to be found, if desired. There are tall stalagmites on the cave floor, though much of the central area is open. There are several dilapidated stone structures, a few of which have viable doorways to enter through or take cover in.
-=Objects=-
CTB: CRASHED
CTA: 10Hp [Victorious!]
Battle 5, Victory!
Spoils: 1200z
Two pinpoints of fire light streaked out through the solid blackness, and somewhere in the distance, another painful shriek and angry snarl followed, but to Astraea, both of these effects would seem somehow distant, and a bit detached. Against the overwhelming totality of the dark, they were inconsequential. Despite this, the alien girl managed to keep moving, seeking her foe through the impenetrable night, and soon enough she found him:
Standing clearly now, the vampire stood out; a figure alone, looming tall with his cloak wrapped about him dramatically. Underneath the weight of the dark, that same unnerving crooning song tickled at her senses again, and it was enough to confuse her senses and thoughts; once she laid eyes on her target, taking her gaze away again would prove to be a supreme effort of will if she tried, and the gradual slow steps of her feet strayed towards him again, regardless of cover or safety; indeed the effect almost felt like it was pulling on her entire body, drawing her towards him. The sensation seemed to be dragging her very essence towards the unnerving song (-5).
If Astraea could retain some clarity of thought at this point, she might notice that what she was seeing wasn't quite right either; her suitor was tall, with a dramatic cloak wrapped about him, swaying slightly as though about to offer her a dance. He watched her with piercing blue eyes, set in what would have been a knee-weakeningly, pant-dampeningly, handsome face, by any human standards; given that she wasn't exactly modelled after human norms, though, the alien-girl might possibly find herself a little bit more immune to that element of the effect. Perhaps so, anyway, but she would feel drawn to him all the same. He stepped forward to meet her, spreading his arms and opening his cloak to reveal a formal opera suit of immaculate presentation. His arms were wide and inviting, and another step forward matched Astraea's movements, until she had more or less strayed and been drawn into the fold of his arms, which closed gently around her as he stooped to embrace the smaller girl in his hold.
There was every possibility that some part of Astraea knew this was wrong, that something was not right at all but every movement seemed to go in slow motion, tremulously breathless in a way that defied all reason and logic. Whether Astraea was actually finding him to be impossibly handsome or not, he gently craned his neck and tilted his head. It seemed like he was about to kiss her neck, but the alien-girl's particular proportions actually made that exact action a rather difficult one to achieve. There was a moment of brushing against her cheek and her shoulder, and in this moment of difficulty, on the edge of sinking fang into its meal, the creature had over-reached: Astraea's shotgun blaster was pressed up against his chest in the closeness of the embrace, and through the mesmeric song and the dark illusions, Astraea managed, at last, to pull the trigger.
The burst of light and sound that followed shattered the illusion completely, and the excessive darkness returned to the more normal, natural dark of the cave. It was still pretty dim, but no longer the impossible pitch black from moments ago. The creature, his glamour destroyed, snarled and shrieked as the blast of light shards ripped through him and he fell backwards to the ground, flailing and trying to cover himself with his wings.
"No more! Begone with your light! Begone!!" The rough cry sounded strained and desperate as he cried out, and a moment later his body seemed to fade to mist again, which promptly curled away from Astraea, and out of the great cave far faster than any normal trial of mist could go. It seemed clear that this time, the creature was definitely fleeing.
For Astraea, the effects of his song and illusions clung on, not quite having a proper hold on her but lingering like a bad memory that was difficult to shake off. The battle was over, though, and the alien-girl was triumphant... though in the aftermath the thought might occur as to how differently it may have gone if the hypnotic assault had actually let him get his teeth in. For now, though, there were spoils to he had, and a quick search of the crumbling ruins would reveal a not inconsequential amount of zenny for her troubles.
-=Lord of the Crumbling Manor=-
VampireBat.Bat: 1Hp [Fled]
-=Not Staying for Dinner, Thank You=-
Astraea.Exe: 70Hp [Blind][Confuse][Slow]
-=Crumbling Manor=-
All Normal Terrain.
This is a large area, with much cover to be found, if desired. There are tall stalagmites on the cave floor, though much of the central area is open. There are several dilapidated stone structures, a few of which have viable doorways to enter through or take cover in.
-=Objects=-
CTB: CRASHED
CTA: 10Hp [Victorious!]
Battle 5, Victory!
Spoils: 1200
last edited by
InterNavi attachments was one of the main themes Astraea had been built around. Her predecessor had failed because she was too human-like; sure she was an excellent spokeswoman but she relied too much on relationships with others to be happy.
So Astraea was built with the opposite in mind. She'd be able to easily leave behind friends she might make while not on the satellites. She wouldn't require the limelight to thrive.
To help prevent her from making friends in the first place her creators had clipped and trimmed the standard interaction skills mos Navis started out with until there was nothing there for her to draw on. Her empathy had been cut off at the knees, then again at the head. Then the desire and priority for interpersonal communications had been scaled way the hell down so the alien caretaker wouldn't miss what she couldn't (or didn't) have.
It was why Astraea hadn't realized trying to broach the subject of Alex's style of living might be constructed as an attack by him, why she didn't realize how much distress she may have caused VampireBat.Bat by invading his space and essentially acting like the rudest of house guests to ever visit the subterranean plaza. It was why if she were to meet the other Navi after the fight she would think nothing of striking up what might constitute as a friendly conversation, nor see why that might be considered a bit odd.
It sure as hell didn't explain why, when he used his move that beckoned her to him, it actually worked. Because Astraea went willingly to the side of the beast that had been manhandling her only moments before. Her steps were halting, her eyes wide but dulled as he encircled her, her raygun loose in her grasp as she laid down her will to fight and stepped into his embrace.
There is something wrong here. The thought was vague and distant, cloud but still the most solid thing in the soup that was currently her mind. There is something wrong here. We are in danger. There had been fighting yes... but why continue now? All was well, all had been absolved. The differences between her and her opponent laid aside and she was fine with that.
One could still learn things from a peaceful discourse after all.
The experiment is in danger. What experiment? She had only been testing out her turrets, seeing how they fared in battle. So far the results had been... mixed at best, but she had a fairly decent sample size to go off of now, had even been able to introduce a couple of the more experimental designs she had prepared alongside the control design. Things had been going remarkably well some would say! Although personally she was disappointed her designs were so shoddy compared to some of what she had seen...
We are contaminating the trial. There is insufficient data That thought brought Astraea's mental wandering up short. Her greatest joy on the space station had been her clinically executed testing. She had been a scientist first, a caretaker second, and a spokesperson a distant third (and she had help with that last one). To fail to perform an experiment to completion was anathema to her. It was clear what she had to do, she had been testing for combat uses after all.
She brought up the raygun and squeezed the trigger.
Light and sound filled her senses, and then the angry shriek of the other Navi was all she was aware of for a moment. She watched him flee passively, as if she had been a spectator to the events all along instead of an active participant. Her throat felt thick, and her cheek and shoulder tingled where he had touched her. It seemed so strange that he should leave, but the fact that he was leaving meant she had completed this test, completed this section of the longer trial. She should be happy.
It was a while before Astraea began to move again. She slipped her raygun into its holster and walked slowly back to her currently standing turret and the wrench that was currently pretending to be a blowtorch. A clatter of fingers on keyboard and the turret was gone, a few slaps of her feet against the ground then a grunt as she bent and the blowtorch-wrench was in her hand again.
The alien girl looked around the cavern then forced herself to move about and collect the spoils of her victory. She moved slowly, pain made her joints ache although the worst of it had faded away with the pink light of the recovery chip. It took her some time to collect the zenny but once she had she turned and headed back the way she came.
She would go back to the green-triangles (trees she knew, but they looked so odd even to someone who had never seen them before), she would go back to them and then continue on the path she had not taken.
Part of gaining good data was testing a wide array of situations and conditions after all.
She had always been great at overseeing testing.
((Searching for Battle #6))
So Astraea was built with the opposite in mind. She'd be able to easily leave behind friends she might make while not on the satellites. She wouldn't require the limelight to thrive.
To help prevent her from making friends in the first place her creators had clipped and trimmed the standard interaction skills mos Navis started out with until there was nothing there for her to draw on. Her empathy had been cut off at the knees, then again at the head. Then the desire and priority for interpersonal communications had been scaled way the hell down so the alien caretaker wouldn't miss what she couldn't (or didn't) have.
It was why Astraea hadn't realized trying to broach the subject of Alex's style of living might be constructed as an attack by him, why she didn't realize how much distress she may have caused VampireBat.Bat by invading his space and essentially acting like the rudest of house guests to ever visit the subterranean plaza. It was why if she were to meet the other Navi after the fight she would think nothing of striking up what might constitute as a friendly conversation, nor see why that might be considered a bit odd.
It sure as hell didn't explain why, when he used his move that beckoned her to him, it actually worked. Because Astraea went willingly to the side of the beast that had been manhandling her only moments before. Her steps were halting, her eyes wide but dulled as he encircled her, her raygun loose in her grasp as she laid down her will to fight and stepped into his embrace.
There is something wrong here. The thought was vague and distant, cloud but still the most solid thing in the soup that was currently her mind. There is something wrong here. We are in danger. There had been fighting yes... but why continue now? All was well, all had been absolved. The differences between her and her opponent laid aside and she was fine with that.
One could still learn things from a peaceful discourse after all.
The experiment is in danger. What experiment? She had only been testing out her turrets, seeing how they fared in battle. So far the results had been... mixed at best, but she had a fairly decent sample size to go off of now, had even been able to introduce a couple of the more experimental designs she had prepared alongside the control design. Things had been going remarkably well some would say! Although personally she was disappointed her designs were so shoddy compared to some of what she had seen...
We are contaminating the trial. There is insufficient data That thought brought Astraea's mental wandering up short. Her greatest joy on the space station had been her clinically executed testing. She had been a scientist first, a caretaker second, and a spokesperson a distant third (and she had help with that last one). To fail to perform an experiment to completion was anathema to her. It was clear what she had to do, she had been testing for combat uses after all.
She brought up the raygun and squeezed the trigger.
Light and sound filled her senses, and then the angry shriek of the other Navi was all she was aware of for a moment. She watched him flee passively, as if she had been a spectator to the events all along instead of an active participant. Her throat felt thick, and her cheek and shoulder tingled where he had touched her. It seemed so strange that he should leave, but the fact that he was leaving meant she had completed this test, completed this section of the longer trial. She should be happy.
It was a while before Astraea began to move again. She slipped her raygun into its holster and walked slowly back to her currently standing turret and the wrench that was currently pretending to be a blowtorch. A clatter of fingers on keyboard and the turret was gone, a few slaps of her feet against the ground then a grunt as she bent and the blowtorch-wrench was in her hand again.
The alien girl looked around the cavern then forced herself to move about and collect the spoils of her victory. She moved slowly, pain made her joints ache although the worst of it had faded away with the pink light of the recovery chip. It took her some time to collect the zenny but once she had she turned and headed back the way she came.
She would go back to the green-triangles (trees she knew, but they looked so odd even to someone who had never seen them before), she would go back to them and then continue on the path she had not taken.
Part of gaining good data was testing a wide array of situations and conditions after all.
She had always been great at overseeing testing.
((Searching for Battle #6))
last edited by
Falling back into some more controlled thought patterns seemed to help Astraea shake off the last lingering effects of her encounter, and the alien-girl began to process of back-tracking through the dark caves in an effort to return to the light. Good fortune stayed with her through the trek, and the path she'd already cleared had remained so, and the journey back out of the cave provided her with good chance to relax and re-focus herself if needed.
By the time the tinker emerged from the mouth of the cave, the brighter lights of the open ACDC net would prove quite bright by comparison indeed. The path that continued through the woods made a pleasant change to the dark and clammy environment she'd been exploring before, though it wasn't very further on that the trees began to thin out, with progressively more and more space between them, while the track grew broader, and began to change subtly from hard earth to something softer.
Before very long, the track Astraea was on was more sandy than anything else, and the warmth of the sun was beginning to feel more notable as the last of the tree cover faded away. there was a regular, heavy sound in the distance; a crashing that Astraea might recognise as the sound of waves, if she'd ever heard it before, but was otherwise slow and rhythmic, and coming from somewhere beyond the low, sandy-looking hills in the distance to Astraea's left. The dunes were still covered in grass, though it was hard to tell at this distance, but it was the thinner, hardier type of spinifex, unlike the the more regular variety closer to the edge of the trees. To the right of the path, the grass tapered off much in the same way the trees before it had, leaving what looked at this distance like an expanse of desert, shimmering faintly in the sun.
Nearer to home, however, the little alien had more pressing concerns than sight-seeing; amongst the grass, several tall, prickly plants swayed and turned obvious attention in her direction. Each cactus had a segmented body, and slight movements showed that, at times, the upper-most globe was actually detached from the body, somehow. In amongst the cacty viruses, a pair of Swordys were apparently trying to trim the long grass, sweeping with their blades in a way that made green fly... though even shortened it still remained quite clearly grassy terrain, so one had to wonder what they were about. One Swordy sliced a tuft, then shook its head, not finding what it wanted. It turned to face Astraea, since she was now the more interesting target as far as it was concerned. The second Swordy took no notice and kept going at the grass, though it seemed to be moving towards a patch that emanated a soft green glow, so maybe its attention was more fixated.
Further back, a solitary, round-bodied little vehicle cruised back and forth in the sand, though when its turning arc brought the approaching navi into its sights, the little tank revealed some unfortunately ready weaponry as well.
-=Up for A Fight=-
CactyA: 70Hp [Mid-Centre][Sand]
CactyB: 70Hp [Near Left][Grass]
CactyC: 70Hp [Near Right][Sand]
Swordy-N A: 60Hp [Mid-Right][Grass]
Swordy-N B: 60Hp [Back Left][Grass][2 Actions away from the glowing patch of grass]
Beetank: 80Hp [Far Back, 1 Movement Away][Grass]
-=Back In The Light=-
Astraea.exe: 70Hp [Normal]
-=Terrain=-
20% Normal [Path that leads forward through the area]
40% Grass [Mostly the area near Astraea, and the Left hand side]
40% Sand [Mostly the area further away, and the Right hand side]
-=Battle 6, Start!=-
By the time the tinker emerged from the mouth of the cave, the brighter lights of the open ACDC net would prove quite bright by comparison indeed. The path that continued through the woods made a pleasant change to the dark and clammy environment she'd been exploring before, though it wasn't very further on that the trees began to thin out, with progressively more and more space between them, while the track grew broader, and began to change subtly from hard earth to something softer.
Before very long, the track Astraea was on was more sandy than anything else, and the warmth of the sun was beginning to feel more notable as the last of the tree cover faded away. there was a regular, heavy sound in the distance; a crashing that Astraea might recognise as the sound of waves, if she'd ever heard it before, but was otherwise slow and rhythmic, and coming from somewhere beyond the low, sandy-looking hills in the distance to Astraea's left. The dunes were still covered in grass, though it was hard to tell at this distance, but it was the thinner, hardier type of spinifex, unlike the the more regular variety closer to the edge of the trees. To the right of the path, the grass tapered off much in the same way the trees before it had, leaving what looked at this distance like an expanse of desert, shimmering faintly in the sun.
Nearer to home, however, the little alien had more pressing concerns than sight-seeing; amongst the grass, several tall, prickly plants swayed and turned obvious attention in her direction. Each cactus had a segmented body, and slight movements showed that, at times, the upper-most globe was actually detached from the body, somehow. In amongst the cacty viruses, a pair of Swordys were apparently trying to trim the long grass, sweeping with their blades in a way that made green fly... though even shortened it still remained quite clearly grassy terrain, so one had to wonder what they were about. One Swordy sliced a tuft, then shook its head, not finding what it wanted. It turned to face Astraea, since she was now the more interesting target as far as it was concerned. The second Swordy took no notice and kept going at the grass, though it seemed to be moving towards a patch that emanated a soft green glow, so maybe its attention was more fixated.
Further back, a solitary, round-bodied little vehicle cruised back and forth in the sand, though when its turning arc brought the approaching navi into its sights, the little tank revealed some unfortunately ready weaponry as well.
-=Up for A Fight=-
CactyA: 70Hp [Mid-Centre][Sand]
CactyB: 70Hp [Near Left][Grass]
CactyC: 70Hp [Near Right][Sand]
Swordy-N A: 60Hp [Mid-Right][Grass]
Swordy-N B: 60Hp [Back Left][Grass][2 Actions away from the glowing patch of grass]
Beetank: 80Hp [Far Back, 1 Movement Away][Grass]
-=Back In The Light=-
Astraea.exe: 70Hp [Normal]
-=Terrain=-
20% Normal [Path that leads forward through the area]
40% Grass [Mostly the area near Astraea, and the Left hand side]
40% Sand [Mostly the area further away, and the Right hand side]
-=Battle 6, Start!=-
last edited by
Hearing from Alex again caused something like relief to bubble in the alien's stomach and she's privately glad it happened before she had left the cave completely.
It's only a 'little' spooky in the dark like this. Especially after what she had just finished chasing off.
"This is about where we last had contact earlier so," he drew out the word, paused a moment as if to gather his expectations and then finally speaks them them. "Can you hear me now?"
"Yes, the signal is strengthening. Audio communication has been restored."
"Good! It's about time, I only got visual back a little bit ago." Astraea's face crinkled with concern.
"Were you unable to observe the altercation with the occupant of these caverns then?"
"Oh nah, I could see bits of it. It got pretty static-y on my end though. If you were recording your personal view that would be much appreciated." His video window popped up ahead of her and to the right. He grinned in amusement and his eyes gleamed with the same. "Remind me to pull up a list of old horror movies some time! I think 'Alien vs Vampire' might be a first but I can't be sure."
The joke was lost on Astraea, she merely let her gaze slip to his window then to the path ahead of her with a small nod of confirmation. "Activity will be scheduled, was there a particular time and place you wished to complete this task?"
Alex's smile faltered but he recovered. He still wasn't use to her sense of humor; he was starting to think she didn't have one. "It was a- oh nevermind. Thats okay. Let's just keep on keeping on!"
The trip back to the woods was quiet enough that Alex never considered using one of the sub chips in his possession. They still had a battlechip that, while it wasn't capable of doing as much healing, wouldn't disappear after one use. "You know, you could really use some more battle chips. You rely on Pulsar far more than you probably should."
Astraea paused in her combined navigation and observation of the 'forest' to consider his words. There was a pause as she processed it through. Part of good testing was ensuring that the variables were limited and controlled so that only one or two were changed at a time. The lack of control out here was damaging to her results, and he wanted to throw yet another variable into the mix?
Madness.
"I am already failing to control variables appropriately. Battlefield, opponents, etctera. are changing enough that the test data may have been rendered useless by increased variance between each test." The ground was beginning to grow sandy under her feet and the artificial 'sun' warmed her skin. It was a pleasant experience, one that she even stopped a moment and closed her eyes to enjoy.
(Somewhere something heavy and liquid was crashing against something. It should have been frightening but wasn't.)
"Wha, oh. You mean testing your little turrets don't you? Haven't you already been screwing with the results by swapping between different designs in the same fight?" Alex watched in amusement as there was a definite twitch to the Navi's shoulders before she opened her eyes and fixed his vid screen with them. His poking was having an effect.
"No," Annoyance tinged her voice and her normally flat expression had the corners of her mouth pulled down. "one of the main points is to test the different forms in various environments and op-" she shut up right quick as she realized what she had been complaining about now was what was happening.
Combat testing was quite different from lab testing after all.
"I'm sorry,what was thaaat?" Alex made no secret of his jeering, stopping when a bit of grass flew by his vid screen. He swivelled it around until the viruses were in view and promptly closed the window.
No, he wasn't running because attacks seemingly thrown at your face was terrifying. Why would you think that?
"Alright, looks like you have company again! I'd say go for the things that are actually, y'know, looking at you and leave the rest alone for a minute. At least until the numbers are more manageable." Astraea nodded and pulled her blaster into one hand and wrench into the other as she turned to view the viral crowd. The sand dunes had suddenly gotten a lot more crowded. "Mmm, that might let the Swordy get to that glow though, and I'd bet you in a hot minute that that's another GMD thing. Whatever, I'll leave the execution up to you. Standby for chips~"
'Acknowledged, calculating current battle factors." She said, her fingers already at work summoning up her turret. CinderTurretAlpha popped up with a series of rather happy beeps; his first appearances may have been wrought with such failures as dying to quickly but he had survived until the end of the fight last time! He felt a brief touch of the Creator's blowtorch on his rickety little joints and rambled off another little series of beeps.
"Aim for the opponents who appear to be vegetation-inspired." The turret felt his internal systems latch onto the order and run with it He sighted on the tall green circle-stacks on the bright green field and something told him his job of dispatching them was going to get quite the helpful boost. He loaded a chamber and fired his incendiary. Long live the Creator!
The Creator, or mechanic as she preferred to think of herself, was having her own bit of internal debate. She did take a moment to shove the turret away from her once it had fired then took a couple of sliding half-steps in the opposite direction. She had a few things that could simply blast a few of the current crowd right out of the fight but she wouldn't be able to make use of her most favored (and easy win, as she'd come to subconsciously think of it) chip. Not without possibly annihilating whatever was hiding in the grass. "Alex, Cannon please."
Short, simple, and polite. Oh well, at least she appeared to be thinking this through. "On chip, heading your way!"
The antenna on the raygun lit up with the sent data and all Astraea had to do was lift and fire. She knew Alex probably wanted that glowing-thing but his first comment had been on the money tatics-wise. She aimed for the swordy not still hacking grass and fired.
Her firing arm fell to her side as she calculated her best options with her remaining chips.
---Summary---
1: Summon Cinder Turret, summon 10 object, 5x2 passive FireShot Acc A.
*Masterwork - Add 21 hp to CTA
CTA - 5x2 Fire @ Cacty A
CTA* - Movement - Horizontally away from Astraea
2: Dodge
3: Cannon - 60 + Knockback, Acc A @ Swordy-N A
I'm baaaaaaack. -cue halloween appropriate cackling-
It's only a 'little' spooky in the dark like this. Especially after what she had just finished chasing off.
"This is about where we last had contact earlier so," he drew out the word, paused a moment as if to gather his expectations and then finally speaks them them. "Can you hear me now?"
"Yes, the signal is strengthening. Audio communication has been restored."
"Good! It's about time, I only got visual back a little bit ago." Astraea's face crinkled with concern.
"Were you unable to observe the altercation with the occupant of these caverns then?"
"Oh nah, I could see bits of it. It got pretty static-y on my end though. If you were recording your personal view that would be much appreciated." His video window popped up ahead of her and to the right. He grinned in amusement and his eyes gleamed with the same. "Remind me to pull up a list of old horror movies some time! I think 'Alien vs Vampire' might be a first but I can't be sure."
The joke was lost on Astraea, she merely let her gaze slip to his window then to the path ahead of her with a small nod of confirmation. "Activity will be scheduled, was there a particular time and place you wished to complete this task?"
Alex's smile faltered but he recovered. He still wasn't use to her sense of humor; he was starting to think she didn't have one. "It was a- oh nevermind. Thats okay. Let's just keep on keeping on!"
The trip back to the woods was quiet enough that Alex never considered using one of the sub chips in his possession. They still had a battlechip that, while it wasn't capable of doing as much healing, wouldn't disappear after one use. "You know, you could really use some more battle chips. You rely on Pulsar far more than you probably should."
Astraea paused in her combined navigation and observation of the 'forest' to consider his words. There was a pause as she processed it through. Part of good testing was ensuring that the variables were limited and controlled so that only one or two were changed at a time. The lack of control out here was damaging to her results, and he wanted to throw yet another variable into the mix?
Madness.
"I am already failing to control variables appropriately. Battlefield, opponents, etctera. are changing enough that the test data may have been rendered useless by increased variance between each test." The ground was beginning to grow sandy under her feet and the artificial 'sun' warmed her skin. It was a pleasant experience, one that she even stopped a moment and closed her eyes to enjoy.
(Somewhere something heavy and liquid was crashing against something. It should have been frightening but wasn't.)
"Wha, oh. You mean testing your little turrets don't you? Haven't you already been screwing with the results by swapping between different designs in the same fight?" Alex watched in amusement as there was a definite twitch to the Navi's shoulders before she opened her eyes and fixed his vid screen with them. His poking was having an effect.
"No," Annoyance tinged her voice and her normally flat expression had the corners of her mouth pulled down. "one of the main points is to test the different forms in various environments and op-" she shut up right quick as she realized what she had been complaining about now was what was happening.
Combat testing was quite different from lab testing after all.
"I'm sorry,what was thaaat?" Alex made no secret of his jeering, stopping when a bit of grass flew by his vid screen. He swivelled it around until the viruses were in view and promptly closed the window.
No, he wasn't running because attacks seemingly thrown at your face was terrifying. Why would you think that?
"Alright, looks like you have company again! I'd say go for the things that are actually, y'know, looking at you and leave the rest alone for a minute. At least until the numbers are more manageable." Astraea nodded and pulled her blaster into one hand and wrench into the other as she turned to view the viral crowd. The sand dunes had suddenly gotten a lot more crowded. "Mmm, that might let the Swordy get to that glow though, and I'd bet you in a hot minute that that's another GMD thing. Whatever, I'll leave the execution up to you. Standby for chips~"
'Acknowledged, calculating current battle factors." She said, her fingers already at work summoning up her turret. CinderTurretAlpha popped up with a series of rather happy beeps; his first appearances may have been wrought with such failures as dying to quickly but he had survived until the end of the fight last time! He felt a brief touch of the Creator's blowtorch on his rickety little joints and rambled off another little series of beeps.
"Aim for the opponents who appear to be vegetation-inspired." The turret felt his internal systems latch onto the order and run with it He sighted on the tall green circle-stacks on the bright green field and something told him his job of dispatching them was going to get quite the helpful boost. He loaded a chamber and fired his incendiary. Long live the Creator!
The Creator, or mechanic as she preferred to think of herself, was having her own bit of internal debate. She did take a moment to shove the turret away from her once it had fired then took a couple of sliding half-steps in the opposite direction. She had a few things that could simply blast a few of the current crowd right out of the fight but she wouldn't be able to make use of her most favored (and easy win, as she'd come to subconsciously think of it) chip. Not without possibly annihilating whatever was hiding in the grass. "Alex, Cannon please."
Short, simple, and polite. Oh well, at least she appeared to be thinking this through. "On chip, heading your way!"
The antenna on the raygun lit up with the sent data and all Astraea had to do was lift and fire. She knew Alex probably wanted that glowing-thing but his first comment had been on the money tatics-wise. She aimed for the swordy not still hacking grass and fired.
Her firing arm fell to her side as she calculated her best options with her remaining chips.
---Summary---
1: Summon Cinder Turret, summon 10 object, 5x2 passive FireShot Acc A.
*Masterwork - Add 21 hp to CTA
CTA - 5x2 Fire @ Cacty A
CTA* - Movement - Horizontally away from Astraea
2: Dodge
3: Cannon - 60 + Knockback, Acc A @ Swordy-N A
I'm baaaaaaack. -cue halloween appropriate cackling-
last edited by
Out in the fresh air again and enjoying the breeze and the sunshine, Astraea and her operator enjoyed a... discussion about what made for good science in the wild unknown. the wild unknown wasn't going to wait around for them forever, however, so it was with wisdom that they got back to business and made ready to deal with the latest threats.
Before long, CTA was back on the field and ready to show the world what it was made of, for the glory of its maker. It set its sights on the nearby Cacty and engaged; the first incendiary round flew clean and true, socking the plant with a scorching burn. The cacty retaliated, sending its head flying towards the eager turret, but CTA was on the move, albeit with a little help. Between the virus' poor aim and the neat little slide, the projectile missed the turret, and CTA followed up with a second burning round to its body. There was a faint cracking, crystalising sound as the sand beneath the poor virus began to melt under the heat, swiftly cooling into a softly peaked wave pattern of glass which would probably be no good at all for the cactus to soak up any water through.
While this epic duel was going on, Astraea herself was lining up a careful shot on the Swordy that had looked her way. Just as she was about to fire, it teleported in, prepared to swing its sword fight through her face, but the fortunate reality was that this just put it at point blank range and made it a nigh unmissable target for the swiftly fired cannon shot. The swordy did not get to finish its swing.
The other two Catcy viruses wobbled slightly then each launched their heads; one seemed to be aiming for Astraea, while the other was taking a blind-sider at the cinder turret. The head that came bounding towards Astraea was on target, for a rarity, but the alien girl managed to get out of the way before it spiked her. the one making a cheap shot on CTA missed by a mile and its head bounded away out of sight, before reappearing with a small phase of light, back on its body. the tank seemed to have noticed the commotion wand stopped its dune-kicking, beginning to trundle now towards the fight; it would be ale to take a shot next round, at this rate.
The Swordy it the grass moved forward and cut down another swathe of grass. As well as a tuft of cut grass ends, and small bundle of arrows popped out and lay on the ground beside it. The swordy looked down at them as though the grass was mocking it, and continued on; there was enough grass between it and the glow for one more safe swing, but no more than that.
-=Up for A Fight=-
CactyA: 50Hp [Mid-Centre][Glass]
CactyB: 70Hp [Near Left][Grass]
CactyC: 70Hp [Near Right][Sand]
Swordy-N A: DELETED
Swordy-N B: 60Hp [Back Left][Grass][1 Action away from the glowing patch of grass]
Beetank: 80Hp [Back][Sand]
-=Back In The Light=-
Astraea.exe: 70Hp [Grass]
-=Terrain=-
20% Normal [Path that leads forward through the area]
40% Grass [Mostly the area near Astraea, and the Left hand side]
35% Sand [Mostly the area further away, and the Right hand side]
5% Glass [Under CactyA]
Before long, CTA was back on the field and ready to show the world what it was made of, for the glory of its maker. It set its sights on the nearby Cacty and engaged; the first incendiary round flew clean and true, socking the plant with a scorching burn. The cacty retaliated, sending its head flying towards the eager turret, but CTA was on the move, albeit with a little help. Between the virus' poor aim and the neat little slide, the projectile missed the turret, and CTA followed up with a second burning round to its body. There was a faint cracking, crystalising sound as the sand beneath the poor virus began to melt under the heat, swiftly cooling into a softly peaked wave pattern of glass which would probably be no good at all for the cactus to soak up any water through.
While this epic duel was going on, Astraea herself was lining up a careful shot on the Swordy that had looked her way. Just as she was about to fire, it teleported in, prepared to swing its sword fight through her face, but the fortunate reality was that this just put it at point blank range and made it a nigh unmissable target for the swiftly fired cannon shot. The swordy did not get to finish its swing.
The other two Catcy viruses wobbled slightly then each launched their heads; one seemed to be aiming for Astraea, while the other was taking a blind-sider at the cinder turret. The head that came bounding towards Astraea was on target, for a rarity, but the alien girl managed to get out of the way before it spiked her. the one making a cheap shot on CTA missed by a mile and its head bounded away out of sight, before reappearing with a small phase of light, back on its body. the tank seemed to have noticed the commotion wand stopped its dune-kicking, beginning to trundle now towards the fight; it would be ale to take a shot next round, at this rate.
The Swordy it the grass moved forward and cut down another swathe of grass. As well as a tuft of cut grass ends, and small bundle of arrows popped out and lay on the ground beside it. The swordy looked down at them as though the grass was mocking it, and continued on; there was enough grass between it and the glow for one more safe swing, but no more than that.
-=Up for A Fight=-
CactyA: 50Hp [Mid-Centre][Glass]
CactyB: 70Hp [Near Left][Grass]
CactyC: 70Hp [Near Right][Sand]
Swordy-N A: DELETED
Swordy-N B: 60Hp [Back Left][Grass][1 Action away from the glowing patch of grass]
Beetank: 80Hp [Back][Sand]
-=Back In The Light=-
Astraea.exe: 70Hp [Grass]
-=Terrain=-
20% Normal [Path that leads forward through the area]
40% Grass [Mostly the area near Astraea, and the Left hand side]
35% Sand [Mostly the area further away, and the Right hand side]
5% Glass [Under CactyA]
last edited by
The first of her turrets crumpled and Astraea's mouth flattened into a hard, thin line. The numbers showed this was going to be a hard fight and so far the actual events were going the same way. Did she have enough damage potential to take the rest of the enemy group out? This battlefield wasn't as conducive to bringing her most powerful chip to bear the way she had in the previous match. The raw damage of the chips she had left available meant she had a chance but accuracy was required.
Astraea could do precision.
"Operator, please provide Shotgun"
"Ask and ye shall receive Oh Formal One!" Astraea glanced to the left where her programming told her Alex's camera was currently getting a wide-angled shot of the battlefield. "Don't give me that look, you are only bringing this upon yourself Oh Yellow One!"
Astraea just looked at her targets again, deciding the best way to deal with the situation (which she didn't know /how/ to deal with) was to ignore it for now. She could devote processing power to deciphering her Operator's strange behavior and what it meant later.
"Do you have any requests for targeting priorities?" The ray gun's barrel split in two and the rest of it shifted appropriately to look like a cross between cartoonish ray gun and a shotgun.
"Ah, to think that the mighty Supervisor would ask for the opinion of one so lowly as myself! Truly, an honor!" The look Astraea directed Alex's way this time actually had some of the cold heat she used to empower her attacks; but maybe that was because she was empowering her attacks, or at least preparing to. "Ahaha, wow! Alright more seriously then...Mm. I'd like to take a look at that green thing in the grass but Shotgun is really meant for hitting two opponents." He sighed loudly. "Just, go do what you were going to do originally. If you want input try asking before you've already put whatever you have planned into motion. I don't want to be the dumb jerk that countermands a valid strategical move already in motion."
Astraea was fairly certain he had thrown his hands up even though she couldn't see it. She didn't know how or why she felt that; she just did. Regardless of the unexpected insight she nodded and turned her attention, yet again, back to the enemy. The alien could look into this curiosity later. "Understood, moving as planned then."
The ground she was on would soon change but for now Astraea was glad of the normal terrain below her. It meant she could move easily to get into position and take aim at the already wounded plant-creature and one of its fellows. The silver light surrounding her body was funneled into her weapon and she took an unscientific moment to marvel at the ease she could call upon whatever was the source of this extra reserve of power.
When she pulled the trigger she added another mental note to 'do more research later' to her list.
She was starting to work up quite a backlog.
[Summary]
1) Starmight - +20 Strength 1 turn cooldown
2) Movement - Line up CactyA & CactyB
3) Shotgun - 50 (+20 dmg) + Spread 1, Acc A @ CactyA & CactyB
Astraea could do precision.
"Operator, please provide Shotgun"
"Ask and ye shall receive Oh Formal One!" Astraea glanced to the left where her programming told her Alex's camera was currently getting a wide-angled shot of the battlefield. "Don't give me that look, you are only bringing this upon yourself Oh Yellow One!"
Astraea just looked at her targets again, deciding the best way to deal with the situation (which she didn't know /how/ to deal with) was to ignore it for now. She could devote processing power to deciphering her Operator's strange behavior and what it meant later.
"Do you have any requests for targeting priorities?" The ray gun's barrel split in two and the rest of it shifted appropriately to look like a cross between cartoonish ray gun and a shotgun.
"Ah, to think that the mighty Supervisor would ask for the opinion of one so lowly as myself! Truly, an honor!" The look Astraea directed Alex's way this time actually had some of the cold heat she used to empower her attacks; but maybe that was because she was empowering her attacks, or at least preparing to. "Ahaha, wow! Alright more seriously then...Mm. I'd like to take a look at that green thing in the grass but Shotgun is really meant for hitting two opponents." He sighed loudly. "Just, go do what you were going to do originally. If you want input try asking before you've already put whatever you have planned into motion. I don't want to be the dumb jerk that countermands a valid strategical move already in motion."
Astraea was fairly certain he had thrown his hands up even though she couldn't see it. She didn't know how or why she felt that; she just did. Regardless of the unexpected insight she nodded and turned her attention, yet again, back to the enemy. The alien could look into this curiosity later. "Understood, moving as planned then."
The ground she was on would soon change but for now Astraea was glad of the normal terrain below her. It meant she could move easily to get into position and take aim at the already wounded plant-creature and one of its fellows. The silver light surrounding her body was funneled into her weapon and she took an unscientific moment to marvel at the ease she could call upon whatever was the source of this extra reserve of power.
When she pulled the trigger she added another mental note to 'do more research later' to her list.
She was starting to work up quite a backlog.
[Summary]
1) Starmight - +20 Strength 1 turn cooldown
2) Movement - Line up CactyA & CactyB
3) Shotgun - 50 (+20 dmg) + Spread 1, Acc A @ CactyA & CactyB
last edited by
Left to its own devices, while the creator planned her movements, CTA was free to ponder how best to assist its master without any further instructions. Astraea was moving to make a line on its old target, so instead the little turret turned its sights on the swordy in the grass at the back. The virus took another swipe at the grass, causing a small collection of odd-looking seeds and nuts to tumble out, just before CTA's first bolt of fire smacked into the side of its helmet. The grass ignited, sending a vaguely impressive rush of bright fire over the virus and chewing up the remainder of the long grass as it did.
With the rest of the grass gone, the final square revealed what they had all been hoping for: a brightly glowing GMD. A small chime of music played from seemingly nowhere; the sound of discovery. The swordy was shaking itself off from the unexpectedly painful fire burst, and saw the crystal, raising its sword in glee - just in time to be smacked in the side of the helm by the second incendiary round from the cinder turret. This second insult drew its attention and it waved its sword, turning to face the construct in what could almost be called a tantrum state. Forget the crystal, it was going to show that pesky machine what for, now.
While this had been going on, Astraea made her own tactical movements, empowering and lining up her shot carefully. As she moved, the more damaged of the two cactus viruses bounced its head towards her again. Again, it missed. The head bounced merrily away to the side as Astraea's amped up shotgun blast ripped through the base of the cactus body, thought he surprisingly resilient, woody flesh robbed the shot of much of its stopping power. In a piece of better luck, however, the second cactus was making its attack as she shot, and being more on target to hit her, this meant that its bounding head wound up right in the past of the spreading buck-shot and was utterly destroyed by it. Without its head, the body of the far cactus began to degenerate.
If she was observant, the scientific thoughts of the little artificer might compare the differences between how resilient the cactus bodies had been to her regular attacks, with how vulnerable they seemed to be in the head, or to her turrets seemingly insignificant fire rounds in general.
The small tank, having now wandered into range, assessed the targets as it came forward, determined that the fiery little construct was closer, and launched a fragmenting explosive in its direction. Despite the poor accuracy of the round, the cinder turret was still caught in the damaging blast, but thanks to the handy bit of extra love Astraea had given it earlier, it survived to shoot another day. It was probably a good thing that it wasn't equipped to move any more on its own, though; a lace-work of cracks damaged the ground all around it from the blast, making any attempts at movement rather precarious.
-=Up for A Fight=-
CactyA: 15Hp [Mid-Centre][Glass]
CactyB: DELETED
CactyC: 70Hp [Near Right][Sand]
Swordy-N A: DELETED
Swordy-N B: 45Hp [Back Left][Soil][Furious at CTA]
Beetank: 80Hp [Mid-Back][Sand]
-=Back In The Light=-
Astraea.exe: 70Hp [Sand]
-=Objects=-
CTA: 16Hp [Allied][Reinforced][Cracked]
Green Mystery Data: 30Hp [Soil]
-=Terrain=-
15% Normal [Path that leads forward through the area]
25% Grass [Mostly the area near Astraea, and the Left hand side]
10% Soil [Where the long grass was]
35% Sand [Mostly the area further away, and the Right hand side]
5% Glass [Under CactyA]
10% Cracked [Around CTA]
With the rest of the grass gone, the final square revealed what they had all been hoping for: a brightly glowing GMD. A small chime of music played from seemingly nowhere; the sound of discovery. The swordy was shaking itself off from the unexpectedly painful fire burst, and saw the crystal, raising its sword in glee - just in time to be smacked in the side of the helm by the second incendiary round from the cinder turret. This second insult drew its attention and it waved its sword, turning to face the construct in what could almost be called a tantrum state. Forget the crystal, it was going to show that pesky machine what for, now.
While this had been going on, Astraea made her own tactical movements, empowering and lining up her shot carefully. As she moved, the more damaged of the two cactus viruses bounced its head towards her again. Again, it missed. The head bounced merrily away to the side as Astraea's amped up shotgun blast ripped through the base of the cactus body, thought he surprisingly resilient, woody flesh robbed the shot of much of its stopping power. In a piece of better luck, however, the second cactus was making its attack as she shot, and being more on target to hit her, this meant that its bounding head wound up right in the past of the spreading buck-shot and was utterly destroyed by it. Without its head, the body of the far cactus began to degenerate.
If she was observant, the scientific thoughts of the little artificer might compare the differences between how resilient the cactus bodies had been to her regular attacks, with how vulnerable they seemed to be in the head, or to her turrets seemingly insignificant fire rounds in general.
The small tank, having now wandered into range, assessed the targets as it came forward, determined that the fiery little construct was closer, and launched a fragmenting explosive in its direction. Despite the poor accuracy of the round, the cinder turret was still caught in the damaging blast, but thanks to the handy bit of extra love Astraea had given it earlier, it survived to shoot another day. It was probably a good thing that it wasn't equipped to move any more on its own, though; a lace-work of cracks damaged the ground all around it from the blast, making any attempts at movement rather precarious.
-=Up for A Fight=-
CactyA: 15Hp [Mid-Centre][Glass]
CactyB: DELETED
CactyC: 70Hp [Near Right][Sand]
Swordy-N A: DELETED
Swordy-N B: 45Hp [Back Left][Soil][Furious at CTA]
Beetank: 80Hp [Mid-Back][Sand]
-=Back In The Light=-
Astraea.exe: 70Hp [Sand]
-=Objects=-
CTA: 16Hp [Allied][Reinforced][Cracked]
Green Mystery Data: 30Hp [Soil]
-=Terrain=-
15% Normal [Path that leads forward through the area]
25% Grass [Mostly the area near Astraea, and the Left hand side]
10% Soil [Where the long grass was]
35% Sand [Mostly the area further away, and the Right hand side]
5% Glass [Under CactyA]
10% Cracked [Around CTA]
last edited by
"Nice save by the turret! I admit I'm so use to you dropping turrets and them immediately dying I forgot that one was still alive." Alex confessed, flipping his viewpoint to focus on the turret and its timely distraction of the Swordy.That was definitely a Mystery Data back there, a possibility for a new chip or two. "That virus looks pretty mad, you might want to back it up."
"Understood, do you have any more tactical recommendations to make?" Alex blinked at Astraea's overly dry tone. Was that back talk or just her being her?
"Uh, I guess drop another turret? Your workshop should be ready with another one right?" Astraea nodded and began tapping at her wrist pad. Light flashed from high in the digital 'sky' and left scorch marks on the grass near Astraea but, surprisingly, did no damage to the terrain. Another turret stood there and Astraea gave it much the same maintenance as she had been forced to give all her turrets so far. A quick tightening of the bolts and a weld here and there and it promptly looked much sturdier.
Then she turned it towards the Cacti since her shotgun had only been partially successful. Hopefully the turret would buy her time while she moved to help it's fellow construct, and perhaps actually eliminate something in the process. She keyed in a quick command on her wrist pad and turned her attention on to the next task. The turret's barrel clicked noisily as it tracked up and down until it set its sights on the head of the most damaged Cacty and fired. Astraea, it seemed, had noticed that the head was more vulnerable and had instructed the turret to respond appropriately.
"Requesting Rageclaw1 for immediate use please." Astraea moved into melee range with the Swordy as she swapped out her raygun for her wrench.
"You certainly are moving fast huh! Rageclaw chip in!" There was a frantic beeping from CTA as the wrench began to glow and the little turret fired a couple quick shots at the Swordy-N who was currently faaar too close to to his creator for the little turret's comfort. The bombs from the tank had hurt, but there were more important things at stake right now!
The wrench had shifted as before: the pointy end elongating and becoming much sharper than before. Astraea brought up the wrench in a swing, aiming to knock the virus' sword out of the way so she could strike.
Summary
-------------
1) Summon Cinder Turret 'B' - Summons 10hp Object that does 5x2 Fire Shot (passive), Acc A, 1TCD
-Masterwork Add 20+1 Hp to CTB
>CTB -5x2 Fire Shot, Acc A @ CactyA
2) Movement to melee range with Swordy-N B
>CTA - 5x2 Fire Shot, Acc A @ Swordy-N B
3) Rageclaw1 - 40 + Slash, Acc B @ Swordy-N B
"Understood, do you have any more tactical recommendations to make?" Alex blinked at Astraea's overly dry tone. Was that back talk or just her being her?
"Uh, I guess drop another turret? Your workshop should be ready with another one right?" Astraea nodded and began tapping at her wrist pad. Light flashed from high in the digital 'sky' and left scorch marks on the grass near Astraea but, surprisingly, did no damage to the terrain. Another turret stood there and Astraea gave it much the same maintenance as she had been forced to give all her turrets so far. A quick tightening of the bolts and a weld here and there and it promptly looked much sturdier.
Then she turned it towards the Cacti since her shotgun had only been partially successful. Hopefully the turret would buy her time while she moved to help it's fellow construct, and perhaps actually eliminate something in the process. She keyed in a quick command on her wrist pad and turned her attention on to the next task. The turret's barrel clicked noisily as it tracked up and down until it set its sights on the head of the most damaged Cacty and fired. Astraea, it seemed, had noticed that the head was more vulnerable and had instructed the turret to respond appropriately.
"Requesting Rageclaw1 for immediate use please." Astraea moved into melee range with the Swordy as she swapped out her raygun for her wrench.
"You certainly are moving fast huh! Rageclaw chip in!" There was a frantic beeping from CTA as the wrench began to glow and the little turret fired a couple quick shots at the Swordy-N who was currently faaar too close to to his creator for the little turret's comfort. The bombs from the tank had hurt, but there were more important things at stake right now!
The wrench had shifted as before: the pointy end elongating and becoming much sharper than before. Astraea brought up the wrench in a swing, aiming to knock the virus' sword out of the way so she could strike.
Summary
-------------
1) Summon Cinder Turret 'B' - Summons 10hp Object that does 5x2 Fire Shot (passive), Acc A, 1TCD
-Masterwork Add 20+1 Hp to CTB
>CTB -5x2 Fire Shot, Acc A @ CactyA
2) Movement to melee range with Swordy-N B
>CTA - 5x2 Fire Shot, Acc A @ Swordy-N B
3) Rageclaw1 - 40 + Slash, Acc B @ Swordy-N B
last edited by
Within moments, this numbers of the battle seemed to turn: Astraea brought in her second turret, and with prompt, mechanical efficiency it swiftly neutralised the wounded Cacty with a pair of well-aimed burning shots. The other remaining Cacty took offence at this and lobbed its head towards the new-comer. It bounded along the ground and struck the reinforced turret with a shuddering impact, but then rolled away and returned to its body; CTB was fine, for now. No longer outnumbered, the little alien made moves to engage the infuriated Swordy in melee, though the virus in question was more interested in attacking the turret that had pelted with with fire shot, and now fired off another.
It would have connected, had the Swordy not teleported at that exact moment, closing the gap to get right up in the construct's... uhh... muzzle. Astraea had arrived at about the same time, getting into range of the sword virus despite having to watch her step in the crazed and cracked terrain underfoot; one of the panels had fallen in behind her as she crossed it, and the one she was on would probably go as well, as soon as she stepped off it. Ready to make her stroke, however, she raked the virus with her weapon even as her turret beeped urgently and the virus made a broad, sweeping stroke with its blade. The attack missed the alien girl, but CTA wasn't really much for dodging and the stroke cut into it deeply, tearing several mechanics and almost tipping it over.
It was badly damaged, but in the end, what mattered as hitpoints, and the valiant little turret still had one left. Just the one, mind you, but one was all it needed. Barley a moment had passed since it took its first shot, so it still had one of something else left, as well: the construct fired its second incendiary directly into the over-sized helmet of the sword virus, point blank, and was rewarded with as close to a surprised expression as the swordy could manage, before it collapsed and began to disintegrate. elsewhere, the Beetank trundled closer and raised its own muzzle to fire off another explosive round, but this time it missed by miles, cracking up a portion of the sandy area instead.
-=Up for A Fight=-
CactyA: DELETED
CactyB: DELETED
CactyC: 70Hp [Near Right][Sand]
Swordy-N A: DELETED
Swordy-N B: DELETED
Beetank: 80Hp [Mid Field][Sand]
-=Back In The Light=-
Astraea.exe: 70Hp [Cracked]
-=Objects=-
CTA: 1Hp [Allied][Reinforced][Cracked][Still Alive!]
CTB: 21Hp [Allied][Reinforced][Normal]
Green Mystery Data: 30Hp [Soil]
-=Terrain=-
15% Normal [Path that leads forward through the area]
25% Grass [Mostly the area near Astraea, and the Left hand side]
10% Soil [Where the long grass was]
25% Sand [Mostly the area further away, and the Right hand side]
5% Glass [Under CactyA]
15% Cracked [Around CTA, and a patch over in the sand]
5% Broken [Just behind where Astraea crossed the cracked to reach the Swordy]
It would have connected, had the Swordy not teleported at that exact moment, closing the gap to get right up in the construct's... uhh... muzzle. Astraea had arrived at about the same time, getting into range of the sword virus despite having to watch her step in the crazed and cracked terrain underfoot; one of the panels had fallen in behind her as she crossed it, and the one she was on would probably go as well, as soon as she stepped off it. Ready to make her stroke, however, she raked the virus with her weapon even as her turret beeped urgently and the virus made a broad, sweeping stroke with its blade. The attack missed the alien girl, but CTA wasn't really much for dodging and the stroke cut into it deeply, tearing several mechanics and almost tipping it over.
It was badly damaged, but in the end, what mattered as hitpoints, and the valiant little turret still had one left. Just the one, mind you, but one was all it needed. Barley a moment had passed since it took its first shot, so it still had one of something else left, as well: the construct fired its second incendiary directly into the over-sized helmet of the sword virus, point blank, and was rewarded with as close to a surprised expression as the swordy could manage, before it collapsed and began to disintegrate. elsewhere, the Beetank trundled closer and raised its own muzzle to fire off another explosive round, but this time it missed by miles, cracking up a portion of the sandy area instead.
-=Up for A Fight=-
CactyA: DELETED
CactyB: DELETED
CactyC: 70Hp [Near Right][Sand]
Swordy-N A: DELETED
Swordy-N B: DELETED
Beetank: 80Hp [Mid Field][Sand]
-=Back In The Light=-
Astraea.exe: 70Hp [Cracked]
-=Objects=-
CTA: 1Hp [Allied][Reinforced][Cracked][Still Alive!]
CTB: 21Hp [Allied][Reinforced][Normal]
Green Mystery Data: 30Hp [Soil]
-=Terrain=-
15% Normal [Path that leads forward through the area]
25% Grass [Mostly the area near Astraea, and the Left hand side]
10% Soil [Where the long grass was]
25% Sand [Mostly the area further away, and the Right hand side]
5% Glass [Under CactyA]
15% Cracked [Around CTA, and a patch over in the sand]
5% Broken [Just behind where Astraea crossed the cracked to reach the Swordy]
last edited by
The swordy fell and a tightness in Astraea's chest relaxed. Her turret was almost in pieces but it and she still stood. In a rare sign of affection she reached out to pat the battered machinery on the still warm muzzle.
"You and your peer will immediately commence hostile actions against the plant. Aim for the head, it appears to be more vulnerable than the body itself." The turret beeped an enthusiastic affirmative and Astraea felt a warmth of pride bloom in her chest. The turret adjusted its aiming and Astraea prepared to go. "This design is a success. Would you not agree, Operator? It is highly responsive and has proven to have a level of endurance not previously projected."
"Hmm, I suppose so. They have been very useful both drawing fire and laying down their own." A grin crept onto Alex's face as he watched Astraea quickly navigate her way across the cracked panels that surrounded her. Behind her the turret she had touched was firing rapidly at the plant and was it him or did it look a bit redder? He would have to do some testing of his own!
Still, he was pleased Astraea had offered up her own opinion without being prompted. It was progress! Progress towards what he wasn't sure (he knew she'd never be an outgoing social butterfly and that was fine) but it was there! Speaking of...
"Are you really going to engage that tank in melee?"
Astraea marked the surprise and something else (worry?) in Alex's voice and nodded. "Affirmative, I wish to fully explore the close range ability of the currently active chip." She reached solid ground and broke into as quick of a run as she could manage. The alien looked pretty silly with her combination waddle-run, but there was only one person around to see. "It has made completion of this encounter more troublesome by altering the terrain and causing it to become unstable. It is a threat I wish to remove immediately."
The cracked terrain surrounding CTA came to mind, and so did the currently unblemished terrain surrounding her other turret. She needed to put a stop to the thing's continued bombardment!
"I guess that's alright...I think it'd be more efficient to use Pulsar but that is your call." He shrugged, forgetting she couldn't see it, and leaned back on the couch to watch.
Astraea had closed to melee range with the tank and so she brought up her wrench to give the virus a good swipe across the front. Standing directly in front of a turret was never a good idea (even if you made it) so she twisted to the side and stepped around, trying to angle herself her next swipe would be at the tank's back.
Meanwhile a very happy turret guided its companion as the second turret lined up, then took a shot at the cactus's head. CTA had aimed at the head, and it wasn't that hard to do really! Surely even the stoic CTB could do the same.
--Summary--
1) Movement to melee range with Beetank
>CTA - 5x2 Fire Shot, ACC A @ CactyC
2) Rageclaw 1 - 40 + Slash, ACC B @ Beetank
3) Feint to back of Beetank
>CTB - 5x2 Fire Shot, ACC A @ Cacty C
"You and your peer will immediately commence hostile actions against the plant. Aim for the head, it appears to be more vulnerable than the body itself." The turret beeped an enthusiastic affirmative and Astraea felt a warmth of pride bloom in her chest. The turret adjusted its aiming and Astraea prepared to go. "This design is a success. Would you not agree, Operator? It is highly responsive and has proven to have a level of endurance not previously projected."
"Hmm, I suppose so. They have been very useful both drawing fire and laying down their own." A grin crept onto Alex's face as he watched Astraea quickly navigate her way across the cracked panels that surrounded her. Behind her the turret she had touched was firing rapidly at the plant and was it him or did it look a bit redder? He would have to do some testing of his own!
Still, he was pleased Astraea had offered up her own opinion without being prompted. It was progress! Progress towards what he wasn't sure (he knew she'd never be an outgoing social butterfly and that was fine) but it was there! Speaking of...
"Are you really going to engage that tank in melee?"
Astraea marked the surprise and something else (worry?) in Alex's voice and nodded. "Affirmative, I wish to fully explore the close range ability of the currently active chip." She reached solid ground and broke into as quick of a run as she could manage. The alien looked pretty silly with her combination waddle-run, but there was only one person around to see. "It has made completion of this encounter more troublesome by altering the terrain and causing it to become unstable. It is a threat I wish to remove immediately."
The cracked terrain surrounding CTA came to mind, and so did the currently unblemished terrain surrounding her other turret. She needed to put a stop to the thing's continued bombardment!
"I guess that's alright...I think it'd be more efficient to use Pulsar but that is your call." He shrugged, forgetting she couldn't see it, and leaned back on the couch to watch.
Astraea had closed to melee range with the tank and so she brought up her wrench to give the virus a good swipe across the front. Standing directly in front of a turret was never a good idea (even if you made it) so she twisted to the side and stepped around, trying to angle herself her next swipe would be at the tank's back.
Meanwhile a very happy turret guided its companion as the second turret lined up, then took a shot at the cactus's head. CTA had aimed at the head, and it wasn't that hard to do really! Surely even the stoic CTB could do the same.
--Summary--
1) Movement to melee range with Beetank
>CTA - 5x2 Fire Shot, ACC A @ CactyC
2) Rageclaw 1 - 40 + Slash, ACC B @ Beetank
3) Feint to back of Beetank
>CTB - 5x2 Fire Shot, ACC A @ Cacty C
last edited by
Positive bonding between creator and construct aside, Astraea was quick to make her way across the cracked terrain towards her next target, while the turrets stood quite carefully still; The panels fell in behind the alien girl, and it was only thanks to a good balance of caution and haste that she didn't fall in herself while making the transit, but it seems as long as the precariously positioned construct didn't budge, it was stable enough, for now.
The Cacty lobbed its head towards the second turret while the two fired on it; the line and aim was mostly good and the first three rounds popped and burned as they struck. The bounding cactus head veered away, missing its goal, but the second shot from CTB also ended up missing its mark as a result of the derailment. Oh well.
While this exchange was taking place, Astraea closed in on her own quarry while the Beetank took a bead on her in turn. As the mechanist sidled right on up to it and ducked around the side, the virus did its best to track her with its turret, but its eventual shot was premature and it blasted away into the far sands, missing her completely. Astraea, on the other hand, had a point-blank swipe lined up for her less than nimble target, and scored a deep gash across the front body of the little tank as she struck it. The virus lurched slightly, shuddering, and tried to trundle away somewhat to make line for a better shot; it didn't seem to want her right under its nose, so to speak.
-=Up for A Fight=-
CactyA: DELETED
CactyB: DELETED
CactyC: 40Hp [Near Right][Sand]
Swordy-N A: DELETED
Swordy-N B: DELETED
Beetank: 40Hp [Mid Field][Sand]
-=Back In The Light=-
Astraea.exe: 70Hp [Sand][Near Beetank]
-=Objects=-
CTA: 1Hp [Allied][Reinforced][Cracked][Still Alive!]
CTB: 21Hp [Allied][Reinforced][Normal]
Green Mystery Data: 30Hp [Soil]
-=Terrain=-
15% Normal [Path that leads forward through the area]
25% Grass [Mostly the area near Astraea, and the Left hand side]
10% Soil [Where the long grass was]
15% Sand [Mostly the area further away, and the Right hand side]
5% Glass [Under CactyA]
20% Cracked [Around CTA, and a patch over in the sand]
10% Broken [Just behind where Astraea crossed the cracked to reach the Swordy, and then the other line, as she left the area]
The Cacty lobbed its head towards the second turret while the two fired on it; the line and aim was mostly good and the first three rounds popped and burned as they struck. The bounding cactus head veered away, missing its goal, but the second shot from CTB also ended up missing its mark as a result of the derailment. Oh well.
While this exchange was taking place, Astraea closed in on her own quarry while the Beetank took a bead on her in turn. As the mechanist sidled right on up to it and ducked around the side, the virus did its best to track her with its turret, but its eventual shot was premature and it blasted away into the far sands, missing her completely. Astraea, on the other hand, had a point-blank swipe lined up for her less than nimble target, and scored a deep gash across the front body of the little tank as she struck it. The virus lurched slightly, shuddering, and tried to trundle away somewhat to make line for a better shot; it didn't seem to want her right under its nose, so to speak.
-=Up for A Fight=-
CactyA: DELETED
CactyB: DELETED
CactyC: 40Hp [Near Right][Sand]
Swordy-N A: DELETED
Swordy-N B: DELETED
Beetank: 40Hp [Mid Field][Sand]
-=Back In The Light=-
Astraea.exe: 70Hp [Sand][Near Beetank]
-=Objects=-
CTA: 1Hp [Allied][Reinforced][Cracked][Still Alive!]
CTB: 21Hp [Allied][Reinforced][Normal]
Green Mystery Data: 30Hp [Soil]
-=Terrain=-
15% Normal [Path that leads forward through the area]
25% Grass [Mostly the area near Astraea, and the Left hand side]
10% Soil [Where the long grass was]
15% Sand [Mostly the area further away, and the Right hand side]
5% Glass [Under CactyA]
20% Cracked [Around CTA, and a patch over in the sand]
10% Broken [Just behind where Astraea crossed the cracked to reach the Swordy, and then the other line, as she left the area]
last edited by
An insistent beeping began issuing from the PET and ALex's view of the fight was overridden with a series of warning messages.
"Aaah, dammit. I lost track of tiiiime. I'm going to get ready, can you finish this on your own?"
"Affirmative." Astraea stepped away from the Beetank after her slashing and turns to the cactus with the turrets still firing away at it. When she didn't hear the sound of him immediately getting up from his spot she paused and looked to where she instinctively knew his camera was. "This situation is well within my abilities to complete to satisfactory results." Her Operator's chuckle was an irritant but he listened and was getting up.
"Alright, alright. Deal with it then!" With a quick nod Astraea was off, striding with her usual 'slap, slap, slap' of her feet as she closed in on the Cacty. Her proximity seemed to spur the turrets into greater action: with a series of beeps CTA signalled the other and both little turrets opened fire.
When the flaming bullets had stopped flying all-about, Astraea stretched herself up on toe-tip (the best she could manage) and sliced sideways. She was barely tall enough to reach it's head!
--Summary--
1) Rageclaw1 40 + Slash, Acc B @ Beetank
2) Movement to CactyC
>CTA - 5x2 Fire Shot @ CactyC
>CTB - 5x2 Fire Shot @ CactyC
3) Rageclaw1 40 + Slash, Acc B @ Cacty C
"Aaah, dammit. I lost track of tiiiime. I'm going to get ready, can you finish this on your own?"
"Affirmative." Astraea stepped away from the Beetank after her slashing and turns to the cactus with the turrets still firing away at it. When she didn't hear the sound of him immediately getting up from his spot she paused and looked to where she instinctively knew his camera was. "This situation is well within my abilities to complete to satisfactory results." Her Operator's chuckle was an irritant but he listened and was getting up.
"Alright, alright. Deal with it then!" With a quick nod Astraea was off, striding with her usual 'slap, slap, slap' of her feet as she closed in on the Cacty. Her proximity seemed to spur the turrets into greater action: with a series of beeps CTA signalled the other and both little turrets opened fire.
When the flaming bullets had stopped flying all-about, Astraea stretched herself up on toe-tip (the best she could manage) and sliced sideways. She was barely tall enough to reach it's head!
--Summary--
1) Rageclaw1 40 + Slash, Acc B @ Beetank
2) Movement to CactyC
>CTA - 5x2 Fire Shot @ CactyC
>CTB - 5x2 Fire Shot @ CactyC
3) Rageclaw1 40 + Slash, Acc B @ Cacty C
last edited by
((You've got a double copy of your post there, Sketi, so you can feel free to take out the duplicate when you see this, even though I'm posting the mod now.))
In between some side remarks with her operator, Astraea managed to finish off the terrain-damaging tank before it could take another shot ant anyone, her wrench ripping the side of its shell open and leaving it to spill remnant data out onto the uncaring sand. Her two turrets showed an equal lack of mercy and efficiency, peppering the cacty with more of their burning rounds. They didn't all connec,t but it seemed to be enough to prevent the cactus virus from retaliating with any accuracy. It tried again, but its head bounded off wildly and it was difficult to tell which target it had even been going for. At the last, Astraea closed the distance and put an end to its suffering with a final thwack of her wrench.
The places where the terrain had fallen in were beginning to restore themselves, though the cracked panels still seemed to be persisting. Either way, however, there were spoils to be had! No interesting chips this time around, it would seem, as most of the viruses had collapsed into convertible zenny instead, although, there was that mystery data that glittered temptingly just nearby.
-=Up for A Fight=-
CactyA: DELETED
CactyB: DELETED
CactyC: DELETED
Swordy-N A: DELETED
Swordy-N B: DELETED
Beetank: 40Hp DELETED
-=Back In The Light=-
Astraea.exe: 70Hp [Sand][Near Beetank]
-=Objects=-
CTA: 1Hp [Allied][Reinforced][Cracked][Still Alive!]
CTB: 21Hp [Allied][Reinforced][Normal]
Green Mystery Data: 30Hp [Soil]
-=Battle 6, Victory!=-
Spoils: 700z
Open GMD?
In between some side remarks with her operator, Astraea managed to finish off the terrain-damaging tank before it could take another shot ant anyone, her wrench ripping the side of its shell open and leaving it to spill remnant data out onto the uncaring sand. Her two turrets showed an equal lack of mercy and efficiency, peppering the cacty with more of their burning rounds. They didn't all connec,t but it seemed to be enough to prevent the cactus virus from retaliating with any accuracy. It tried again, but its head bounded off wildly and it was difficult to tell which target it had even been going for. At the last, Astraea closed the distance and put an end to its suffering with a final thwack of her wrench.
The places where the terrain had fallen in were beginning to restore themselves, though the cracked panels still seemed to be persisting. Either way, however, there were spoils to be had! No interesting chips this time around, it would seem, as most of the viruses had collapsed into convertible zenny instead, although, there was that mystery data that glittered temptingly just nearby.
-=Up for A Fight=-
CactyA: DELETED
CactyB: DELETED
CactyC: DELETED
Swordy-N A: DELETED
Swordy-N B: DELETED
Beetank: 40Hp DELETED
-=Back In The Light=-
Astraea.exe: 70Hp [Sand][Near Beetank]
-=Objects=-
CTA: 1Hp [Allied][Reinforced][Cracked][Still Alive!]
CTB: 21Hp [Allied][Reinforced][Normal]
Green Mystery Data: 30Hp [Soil]
-=Battle 6, Victory!=-
Spoils: 700
Open GMD?
last edited by
Astraea re-holstered her deClawed wrench with a flashy spin unusual to her. She wasn't feeling a hundred percent satisfied with the results she had accumulated so far but sorting the data, cataloging variables, cross-referencing environments and such should keep her busy until she and her Operator had time to hit the net again.
With a couple quick taps on her belt-pad she recalled the turrets back to her workshop and managed to drag most of the zenny loot off with them. All that was left was the green mystery data Alex had been so interested in. She opened it and prepared to log the results.
Open GMD: Yes
With a couple quick taps on her belt-pad she recalled the turrets back to her workshop and managed to drag most of the zenny loot off with them. All that was left was the green mystery data Alex had been so interested in. She opened it and prepared to log the results.
Open GMD: Yes
last edited by
After a brief examination, accessing the Mystery Data caused it to spin quickly, and then divulge its contents in a glorious cascade all over Astraea. Fortuately for the little alien, its contents this time was a useful infusion of raw zenny. The prism played a cute chime, like something from an ancient video game, as it did so, then faded from sight.
GMD: 1300z!
GMD: 1300
last edited by
Astraea collected the spoils of her trek through ACDC Net and sent it zipping back along to her PET. It had been quite the productive day even if she wished to stay and run more tests. For now she had data to attend to, and that would have to content her for now.
She left the net, glad she could port directly back to her pet.
[Jack Out]
She left the net, glad she could port directly back to her pet.
[Jack Out]