Alyn nodded at Kalsk, before turning from his psiwalker to head to Ajakstu.

"That's definitely our mark. And I think we should check out the area you found. Maybe it's an easier way inside or something?"

What Ajakstu spotted was a thing on the inside of the robot's right foot... it looks like a handle. Like maybe a door handle?

The vehicles are stopped to the left of the giant robot, and everyone gets out to go look.

...Yeah, there's a tiny seam, just visible to the naked eye, that could be a human-sized door around the handle.

The question now is, should one pull the handle, push it, turn it, do something else to it...?

So far, no one has touched the handle.

"If I was vapor, I could see if this thing is airtight," says Vult, "but that's not going to happen again for hours and hours..."

Alyn considered.

"Hmmm...let me try something. I'm here to look pretty as far as this group is concerned, but even a male fem-fatal still has their tricks when it counts." he said to the others with a grin.

"Stand back....this could get dangerous if I need to get too forceful." he said as he eyes the handle and focused his mental energy. His eyes began to glow with unnatural power as he stared at the door.

The air around him began to churn a bit unnaturally...

10:13, Today: Alyn Reed rolled 8 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 2,5.  weird.

OOC: Alyn is attempting to use telekinesis. He will start the output small, and tug and pull and turn the handle and see if that works to open the hatch. He will gradually increase the strength until the door opens up...up to and including him shocking everyone by tearing the whole door off in a strong telekinetic yank...but that's only his last resort. But his telekinesis is a LOT stronger than a normal human's strength which is why he's starting on low output and going upward as needed as he'd prefer to NOT damage the door if possible.

The Duke practical as always was already planning to move over and just open the door when told to stand back. So he does and keeps an eye out on what the new guy is doing which looks like nothing. He guess he is doing his weird mind stuff again and helps him. His face contorts into a weird caricature of Alyns and his tongue escapes his mouth as he 'concentrates' the door open.

ooc: Aid for 5

21:43, Today: The Duke rolled 5 using 1d6 with rolls of 5.  Aid.

Noticing The Duke, Ajakstu happily claps and exclaims, "It is as if I am looking at twins!"

He then looks about for a niche or nook to hide the vehicles or enough brush to cover them. "One would not want those pesky wandering robots coming along and noting our presence," he says knowingly to Rake.

As Alyn starts trying to telekinetically open the door, the handle sizzles and crackles with energy. Booby-trapped!

BUT that doesn't harm Alyn... or stop him. He keeps manipulating the handle... turns out one is supposed to pull and turn it at the same time...

With a sudden CLANK, it opens all the way. It's big enough to let even The Duke in (with a bit of a squeeze, perhaps).

(Alyn, choose one of the following:
--That was tiring! Take -1 forward toward your next roll.
or
--That was tiring! Take 1 Stress.
or
--That wasn't too tiring, but now the door is broken-- it won't close again properly. Could be a bit of an issue if anyone or anything else comes along.

Whichever you choose, however, the door is open, AND is no longer booby-trapped.)




There's... really no place nearby to hide the vehicles on this open plain... The best you could do is to go park them both on the far side of the robot's legs, since you know what direction the robots will be coming from (sooner or later). That way, at least no one (coming from that direction) should notice them until they're within less than 100 yards (especially in this light).

Ajakstu pilots his vehicle behind the robot's leg, cozying up as best he can.

"Well, that's some hiding that's lacking," he says to no one in particular. Cocking his most awesome hat, he draws a throwing knife and heads for the now open door.

"I probably should let The Duke go first, but I'm curious," he tells the others.

--I PROBABLY SHOULDN'T, BUT I'M CURIOUS:
When you put yourself at risk to check something out, ask the GM any one question related to the risks and roll +Weird.

I head in. My question is 'Do I see any footprints or others signs of life that would caustion me to yield way to The Duke?'

15:22, Today: Ajakstu Gul rolled 7 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,1.  Weird.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:23, Thu 11 Nov 2021.

The Duke was indeed planning to go in first practical as he always is standing around just wasn't his thing. Sitting around and eating maybe but this was not the time for that. He just shrughh and goes to grab the cooler with food from the ride. He was not going to get locked inside somewhere again without it.

In reply to The GM (msg # 187):

I choose: --That was tiring! Take -1 forward toward your next roll.

As the door opens, and the trap goes off, Alan wipes his brow. He had the mental force to do it, but it tired him a bit and it would take him a bit to catch his mental breath, so to speak.

He looks to the others.

"Well good thing I did that as the thing was trapped apparently. But I made sure not to break it, so we can seal it from the inside to prevent those robots from getting in this way until we're good and ready to be done." he said.

"And Duke? Thank you for being patient. I'm glad you didn't rush in there and get jolted by the trap."

Ajakstu looks inside and sees... stairs. Going up. All righty then.

There is no sign of anything so dangerous nor worrisome that he feels he must let The Duke go first.

There's just a few things of note...

1. The air is fine. It seems as normal as the air outside the giant robot.

2. There's no spiderwebs nor anything else like that.

3. There's no dust lying around.

4. Rake seems... a little excited. Hard to say if that's good or bad or means anything at all.

"All clear, but maybe too clear," Ajakstu says. "Either the seal is most excellent or someone has been cleaning. Hey Kitty," he cocks his head at Kalsk. "Maybe you can sniff about and see if you smell anything?"

"...Kalsk, please..." mutters Kalsk, but he steps forward and takes a sniff... then several more sniffs. "...I see what you mean. Something alive in there, I think," he says. "Maybe not something big... but something alive... like, organic, I mean. Not just mechanical automatic cleaning systems. Maybe that, for all I can tell, but not just that, I think... I think your beetle can tell, too..."

"Hm. This thing's supposed to be dead," says Vult. "Just a shell full of spare parts. Common knowledge, around here. But I think common knowledge was wrong... Or if not wrong, something weirder is going on. I mean, when is that not true... but I think this time is no exception to that rule..."

Alyn listened to the others make assessments. He wasn't expecting something alive in there. It wasn't enough to stop them exploring though but they needed to arm themselves with information.

"Well I'm a bit winded from un-doing the trapped door, but I'm going to attempt to see if I can locate where inside the thing the living thing you guys are sensing actually is. I'll try, anyway..." Alyn said as he closed his eyes a moment and concentrated.

Rolling insightful with the -1 penalty from before, to try and "scan" the area for living and mechanical sentience.

14:22, Today: Alyn Reed rolled 5 using 2d6 with rolls of 3,2.  insight.

Well that fails (+1 xp at least lol) but it was a risk I was willing to take!

Alyn sighed softly.

"I cannot pick it up...I'm still catching my mental breath from before. We;ll just have to go in and proceed carefully."

Ajakstu turns to The Duke. "Prudence dictates that you take the lead. While I am quite willing to do so, your massive muscles may create difficulty should we wish to make a hasty exit."

Cocking his head, he continued. "In a worst case situation we could create the thorn barrier to trap or isloate a potential foe. Unless, of course, it's a ghost."

Alyn was in full agreement to let the Duke Take the lead. Even with his forcefield armor and everything having that big wad of fat and muscle up front as a little of meat shield was comforting.

The Duke shrugs slings the cooler onto his back and enters the titan unbothered by all the things his companions fear and just trying to satisfy his curiosity.

(Yes, Alyn gets 1 new xp... and...)

The motley crew marches up the stairs... up, up, up the stairs... and then...

The vertical passage they're in opens up considerably wider... must be in the torso.

There's still a lot of machinery taking up the place, but there's a little more room to move around. There's also a little light glowing now and then, here and there, in the walls... but next to each light are signs written in an unknown language, so there's no telling what they indicate. (Also, is a red light bad? Is a green light good? Is an amber light a warning? What about the little blue and purple lights? There's no way of knowing.)

And then, a static-y, over-echoing, stuttering voice: E_RG_ F__LD DET__ED-- INTR__R-- UNA_TH__IZED-- DEF__E

Cylinders pop out of the walls in four places and begin shooting ray beams of some sort.

Their aim is very bad, but if you had to guess, they seem to be aiming at Alyn-- and they can (partially) penetrate his shielding! (Actually, the first hit against Alyn does no damage, but then they seem to learn from that, because the beams change color from whitish to sort of blackish, and the second beam does get through...)

(Alyn loses 1 health level.)

So far no one else gets hit-- so far, anyway...

"I think I can grab one and aim it to shoot the others!" Ajakstu declares.

Rakishly cocking his most beautiful hat, he executes, or tries to execute, a tumbling move, or staggering motion, towards the cylinder within easiest reach.

15:12, Today: Ajakstu Gul rolled 5 using 2d6 with rolls of 3,2.  Luck! Plus my zero weird!

The Duke looks at the beams and as they seem to ignore him meanders through the place looking for a control console as he calls out to the machines.

"Hey now do not attack our friend. Would be a shame if you end up broken because we have to defend him."

Talking to machines worked in the Onsu place so who knew if it worked here.

ooc: 12:19, Today: The Duke rolled 6 using 2d6 with rolls of 4,2.  Charming.

Owww. Both Ajakstu and The Duke get hit by the beams...

(And lose one health level each, although they get 1 xp each.

08:40, Today: Kalsk rolled 6 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 1,4.

08:39, Today: Vult rolled 4 using 2d6 with rolls of 1,3.)

Vult looks around like he's trying to find a shut-off switch... but he apparently finds nothing, and gets beamed. Too bad he's solid right now...!

Kalsk snarls and just attacks the barrel of one of the automated weapons, just trying to break it.. but he gets hit too, in the process...

(Vult and Kalsk each take 1 hit. Too bad they're NPCs and don't get xp as such!)

At... least they draw the fire (temporarily) from Alyn...? I guess that's good? For as long as it lasts...?

Ajakstu emits something between a scream and a swear. He makes a flailing dodging motion while scanning the place for an off switch. Or override. Or hiding place.

13:36, Today: Ajakstu Gul rolled 6 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,1.  Insightful.
The dice are jealous of my hat.

Dang, moving around (or is it making noise? or both?) just seems to draw attention. (Ajakstu racks up yet another 1 xp while losing 1 additional health level...)

The Duke howls in righteous indignation and activates his destructor gloves planning to destroy the defences and anything that is connected to this system. He was not planning to play nice at all now.


22:12, Today: The Duke rolled 8 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 5,2.  Atrocity.

A haiku:



The Duke is harmed by one more beam, but he manages to tear all four barrels from the wall in the process.

(The Duke loses 1 more health level, but the torso's automated defenses are permanently disabled without repair (and they ain't gonna repair themselves, either).)

The same not-very-intelligible voice speaks again: T_R_I__L SYS__M F__LURE T____ D_FEN_ ER__R B-1_7...

It slows down at the end, there.

"...Well that's one way to do it," Vult says appreciatively. "Maybe you guys really are humans after all."

Ajakstu doffs his cap towards The Duke with as much of a flourish as he can muster.

"My minimal pondering on the situation makes me almost certain that we have no means of tending to our wounds. No leeches. No salves. No balms. No unguents.While I have always been one to rely on fortune and my wits, it is astounding that those who sent you out from the Ziggurat did so with such meager provisions."