This is the third time I've tried to post this.  Hopefully, third times the charm, and the computer does not eat this one.  This time, I will try to be short.

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Build an outer wall, and droppable ramps for the humans to flee up, and once on top of the wall drop the ramps to keep the zombies inside the outer wall.

And it is done.

After a few weeks, or months, or who knows how long, Campbell returns. He tells you that he's done some research on another artifact that could potentially heal zombies. He wants to know if you want to go with him to look for it.

"That gauntlet could definitely come in handy on this quest." He tells you.

Meanwhile, you've healed thousands of zombies. Even at full focus of the sun's power, you still need to take a day off every four to let the gauntlet recharge. And you need the break as well.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:21, Sun 04 Feb 2018.

I dither a bit.  On the one hand, I'm helping people right now.  On the other hand, I know we need faster methods.

"How long is this likely to take?"

Excitedly, Campbell says "Who knows? Might be a few days. Might be a few months. But you don't understand. This could end the zombie war forever. Heracles was a great king. He employed all kinds of people. One of them was an alchemist named Cherneth. Cherneth supposedly developed a vaccine that would cure any disease or illness. Doctor Jepsen has examined what little we know about the vaccine and she says it looks promising as a cure. But we don't have the complete list of ingredients or their mixing instructions. That's where you come in. Let me have a look at that gauntlet."

He looks at the back of it, then he hits a few of the icons with his finger. Then he tells you to open your hand wide and sweep the area in front of you.

It's a more advanced version of the X-Ray scanner you've been using to remove bullets. It shines a red light around the area. The back of the gauntlet shows what's being scanned. It lists off different materials and whatnot. It's all in that strange other language.

Campbell says "I wish I could read more of this language. But this will definitely help us find that. It's supposedly hidden in a place called The Vault of Isis. The door is made from the same iron alloy as this gauntlet. This could scan for it."

He looks at you begging.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 144):

"OK, let's do it."

So Campbell shakes your hand. Then grimaces at the pain you're inflicting with the enhanced strength grip.

Speaking of the enhanced strength. You would have noted by now that's the one function which works whether or not the gauntlet is charged by sunlight. It's powered by your body energy. Your right arm feels bionic strong. Like you could put your fist through a brick wall. And the gauntlet would protect your hand.

There's still thousands of zombies which are caged up and waiting for you to heal them. Doctor Jepsen is here. She's leading a team of doctors and virologists to try to find a cure. Now that they have no shortage of test subjects.

Extensive notes have been made about how your gauntlet heals people. It's believed to be something like nanotech.

But he leads you to a helicopter. "The Vault of Isis is supposedly located near the foot of Mount Ararat, where Noah's Ark crashed."

So you're riding in a helicopter.

OOC) What do you think of the gauntlet? Especially as a substitute for a player such as yourself who doesn't like magic?

(Doing Therapy)

I tell Dr. Jepsen we're leaving, and where to, just in case we need a rescue party.  It would be stupid to freeze to death on some icy mountainside with help available.

I climb in the copter with a bit of worry, and a smile.  Its a bit scary taking off, especially since the maintenance isn't top notch, but at the same time its utterly cool.  I lean forward to get a good view.

OOC: Thanks for the gauntlet.

OOC) You've not even scratched the surface of everything it can do. Would you like more armor like that? You could have a whole Iron Man suit if you asked nicely.

You tell Doctor Jepsen where you're going. It's not really necessary as your helicopter is leading a half-dozen military choppers and half of the Mormon military knows where you're going. But she still appreciates it.

Campbell tells you "You're probably wondering why we would need a scanner to look for an iron vault door in the middle of the desert, right? Really simple. The door could possibly have corroded to the color of the surrounded desert. It would be very difficult to spot visually. So just activate the scanner when we get there and let me know if it registers anything unusual."

OOC) And we'll leave it there in case you have any questions or anything you'd like to know on the helicopter ride.

I'll activate the scanner when we get close.  Meanwhile, I'll ask what is known about the history of the area, and the Vault.

You figure you have to be within about ten feet of something to scan it. Campbell suggests that when you land, you should try scanning the helicopter and the surrounding dirt to get an idea of what the scanner will read. You can't read the language, but you figure this symbol might mean metal, this symbol might mean dirt, etc. Couldn't hurt.



Campbell says "The Vault of Isis was supposedly built at about the same time as Noah's Flood. It contained all of the plants from the Garden of Isis. So that God would be able to restore the world after the flood. It was built by giants. The offspring of men and angels. The giants had technology which would not be seen again for thousands of years. Your gauntlet is a good example of that technology. No one knows if it's been opened or even found since before the flood."

And unless you've got more to ask, the helicopter lands at the base of a mountain. The surrounding area is lush and green forest. In the middle of the desert.

Campbell asks you to take your scanner and begin scanning the side of the mountain.

I do the scan of the copter and dirt and oh, a rifle, and a few other things to make sure I got a feel for what's going on.  Then I start a grid pattern search. If there are twigs, I use those to mark out the grid, if not, small piles of pebbles.  Put one of these 'marking posts' every ten feet in a grid, and just start searching.

Its tedious, of course, but its the thorough way to make sure everything gets covered.

A few hours, or maybe a day or two later, you are scanning the side out the mountain and the gauntlet lets out an earsplitting "BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP" You manage to turn the volume down, but it does this for a section of the cliff face which is exactly eight feet wide. Floor to ceiling, it also measure exactly eight feet high.

Cleaning the debris and dirt from it with your fingertips, you find a metal door underneath. It's so covered you'd have never found it if not for the scanner.

There's an impression which looks like a right hand print in the dead center of the door. There is no obvious way to open it, no hinges, no locking mechanisms that you see. Just the hand print.

Campbell is in awe. He asks how you propose opening it.

(Doing Therapy)

I reach out with my gauntleted hand....

And the gauntlet finds the hand print. And the door starts shaking. Vibrating. Shakes all of the dust and dirt off of it. Then, with just a slightest push from you, it moves inward. Once it's pushed back a few feet, it slides to the left on its own.

The only light coming in is through the doorway. You see two trees growing in the dim light. At the base of each tree is a small wooden barrel. Campbell goes in to investigate, opening one of the barrels. It's full of seeds for that tree.

You also find a humanoid skeleton. It's about 9 feet tall. The right hand is wearing a gauntlet like the one you've got, and the feet are wearing some kind of metal boots, made from the same iron alloy as your gauntlet.

After a few seconds exposure to the direct sunlight, the gauntlet and the boots start to glow. Not long after, they show the same power indication counter that yours shows. And it's counting up from zero.

(Doing Therapy)

"One of the giants." I say to myself feeling awed as I walk into the ancient room.  Then I stare amazed at the two trees.  Finally, I study the boots and gauntlet.

"Sorry, sir." I say to the skeleton, and start taking off the bits of armor, gently, gingerly.  I don't really  want to touch a skeleton, but I probably have to, to do this.  In the back of my mind, part of me is waiting for his eyes to flame red...

When he sees you reaching for the skeleton, Campbell yells "Don't touch that..... yet. Hang on a second."

And he calls out to one of the peons that are accompanying you and tells them to bring a spotlight. The spotlight is said to have a range of a mile and a half. Shining it into the room, you see rows and rows and rows of trees and other plants. All different. All with a barrel of seeds at their base. And the spotlight does not illuminate the back wall. You cannot see any back or side walls. You see support columns here and there, but no back or side walls. Reminder, the spotlight has a range of a mile and half.

And there are dozens, perhaps a hundred skeletons of giants, all wearing some manner of the armor. Some are wearing gauntlets, some helmets, some boots. Some chest pieces. You could probably cobble together an entire Iron Man suit out of what's in here.

But the one that's in the sunlight. Campbell forbids you from touching that one. He says he has "Reasons". The rest of them are apparently up for grabs.

But he says "Look at those trees. Some of them are extinct. Only found as imprints in coal. These must be the trees from the gardens of Isis."

I pause, trusting Campbell.

Hmm, I say to myself.  Thats a lot of trees.  A lot.  And then worries about reintroducing ecological invaders into a system occur to me.  Like the folk who brought rabbits to Australia.

Not sure what to do, I wait.s  After a bit, I pray to be clear-headed so that I can reason well what to do.

OOC) Yeah, I read about that. Rabbits had no natural predators there and they overpopulated the country. And I'm just like "What meat eater is /not/ a natural predator to a rabbit?"



When you pray, you feel like God is speaking back to you:

"My child. I have sent you here to open this vault. The center most plant in the vault contains the cure for the zombie plague. Put on the Full Armor of God. You will need it where you are headed."

Faith. The shield of...
Shoes. The preparation of the good news of peace.
Helmet. Of Salvation.
Sword. Of the Spirit.

I imagine myself as so clothed, and trust that it will be so as much as I can understand it.

Help me, I pray, and start walking determinedly to the door.

 Ephesians 6:10-18 New International Version (NIV)
The Armor of God

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

---

OOC) I had to look it up on Google. But here's the verses.

So you need:
A belt
A Breastplate
Boots
A shield
A helmet
And a sword

You don't find any left-handed gauntlets. All of the armor that you do find is much, much too large for you. You carry it out into the sunlight and try to put it on. It immediately shrinks down to a perfect size for you to wear. The metal boots are the most comfortable shoes you've ever put on your feet. The broadsword that you find is about 10 feet long, but it shrinks down to the perfect length and size for you to wield with your right hand. The handle conforms to the gauntlet. Like they were made for each other. The belt has a sword scabbard on it. It too shrinks to fit the sword. The shield is huge, but again it shrinks down to where you can wield it with one arm. Once charged by sunlight, the helmet has a heads up display system inside it. You reason you could probably see in many different spectrums of light. Even in total darkness, for as long as the charge lasted. The breastplate has a round glowy thing in the center of it, reminiscent of Tony Stark's arc reactor. It lights up once the charge is sufficient. It's all made from the strange bluish iron alloy. And you feel strong. Your whole body.

All of the weapons and armor pieces have the sunlight charge counters on them. They immediately activate once exposed to sunlight. The counters start going up. You know enough of the language by now to determine that they're all counting up. The boots, gauntlet, helmet, belt and breastplate have cables that connect one to the other. Once connected, the head's up display inside the helmet gives you, among other things, a readout of their individual power levels. You find you can control the head's up display by blinking your eyes in different patterns. It completely eliminates your need for glasses and in fact can give you zoomable telescopic vision, X-Ray vision, thermal vision, and a few others.

When Campbell sees you outfitted, he looks you up and down and whistles. He says "Try slamming your heels together. I've read somewhere about that's how they activated something in the boots." He doesn't know what, just that something is supposed to happen if you slam your heels together.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:42, Thu 08 Mar 2018.

I laugh. Sometimes the answer is right in front of your face.  Putting on the armor is pretty sweet.  I feel more protected, and thus more powerful.  And as the charge starts going up, I nod.

Hunh. I wonder what that makes the first guy?  He could be the boss,  or general, or he could be the sentry.  In any case, I remind myself to trust Campbell.


"Here's hoping I don't go to Oz." I mutter to myself, and slam my boots together.

OOC) Not going to Oz, but you are going somewhere......

So you slam your heels together. You hear a loud whirring sound from the boots and rockets ignite in your heels. You take off into the sky at well over 100 miles per hour, straight up. It's exhilarating. But unfortunately you didn't let the boots charge long enough. After about 10 seconds and a half-mile of flight, the power gives out and you're free falling back to the ground. Nothing you try to do will save you. Maybe the armor isn't charged enough. Or maybe you don't know how to use it.

But the last thing you see before you hit the ground is the look of horror on Campbell's face as he realizes his mistake. And the 12 foot skeleton that was laying in the sun rising to its feet and taking a step towards Campbell from behind him.

Thou Art Dead.

Hey Tadeusz, just wondering what you thought of this verse out.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 163):

Surprising but good.  Better to give the player a chance to escape, not that I want one now.

I figured it would be a fun way to show you one of the features of your new toys.