The party of explorers (including the swarm of mind-moths) leaves the doomwalker, locking (and resetting its electric trap) as they go. Then it's into their own vehicles, and off to investigate the lead they've gotten...

Alyn sends a psychic command to the moth swarm to have it take to the air and scout from above, and to notify him psychically if they notice anything unusual. Including potential prey for them and the Duke to hunt.

Ground-side, he leads the way in his psiwalker and corrals the caravan east-ward, toward the direction the military outpost ought to be. He shuts the computer down via the datapad for a few days as well after all the security and traps are back in place as well.

Meanwile the Duke sits in the back of the other vehicle drooling as he keeps making up the most obscene lizard recipies.

Ajakstu gives Duke the side eye as he limps to and then falls into the driver's seat.

He sets a slow pace over the most even terrain available, cursing the civilzation that can build giant robots but not hovercars, healing salves, teleporters, automatic pilots, robotic valets, massaging seats, cup holders, food synthesizers, food delivery drones, inns, taverns, hotels, restaurants, homing beacons, mapping software, and radios.

Basically the lack of anything logical and helpful.

(Someone-- anyone, but just one person-- roll Insightful, please...)

23:25, Today: Alyn Reed rolled 5 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 3,1.  insightful.

I THINK he has a -1 to this roll from something Duke did earlier, but maybe I'm mistaken. But he either gets a 5 or a 4 on the roll accordingly.

In reply to Alyn Reed (msg # 6):

ooc: If this is the first roll after the Duke tried to prophecise you you have yes. Its only for the first roll after.

There's a rumble from off to the right.

There's a very low cloud there, like a brushfire...

...But there's nothing to burn out here...

...Ah. It's not smoke-- it's a dust cloud.

A herd of armored stags, like elk but with rhino plating-- but spikier than that sounds-- come charging into view, fleeing from something behind them.

Dang, these things might actually hurt your vehicles if they take a hit in exactly the wrong way-- or take multiple hits...

The rhinelks-- the elkocerouses? Elkoceri? The rhinocerelk don't want to ram your vehicles, of course, but they're so crowded together that for all of them to successfully avoid them is challenging...

(Each driver of the two vehicles needs to roll an Agile check.)

14:55, Today: Ajakstu Gul rolled 14 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 6,6.  Agile  .
Not sure how the four wounds affect this ......

"I am not going to say that I am the best," Ajakstu said as he spun and navigated the walker around, through, and over the beasts. "I will let my most excellent hat speak to that."

He managed a weak attempot at patting himself on the back.

"Oh, and Duke, maybe kill some of those so we can eat them."

OOC:
22:09, Today: Alyn Reed rolled 4 using 2d6 with rolls of 1,3.  Agile.

Ok so good news and bad news.

Bad news is Alyn failed the insight check AND the agile check LOL! Duke simply added salt to the wound. :P

The Good news s I get 2 xp so am at 8 xp now!

(The good news: yep.

Bad news below...)

Enough of the rhinocerelk slam into Alyn's quadwalker that tragedy ensues.

(Alyn, choose:

--You manage to pilot it so that your quadwalker takes only cosmetic damage, but it also has to come to a very sudden stop, and it pitches you out and onto the ground,

OR

--You manage to keep yourself and your passengers unharmed, but your quadwalker gets damaged (and not just cosmetic damage).

Which will it be?)

OOC: I choose to protect my psiwalker, and Alyn gets flung embarrassingly from the vehicle.

Thank God he has that force field lol.

The Duke looks at the incomming horde of creatures and then at Ajakstu who so skilfully swerves around the mob and directs him to a nice and juicy one as he gets ready to leap from the moving vehicle to take out one of the Rhiocerelks out for next weeks dinner.

"Venison here we come!!"

And with that he leaps out of the moving vehilce straight onto the elkeronous.

08:25, Today: The Duke rolled 9 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 6,1.  forcefull.

Seeing The Duke and Alyn leap from the vehicles almost inspires Ajakstu to follow suit. Almost.

"Mighty cat hunter!" he shouts to Kalsk. "Surely you can also bring down a pair of these beasts for future feasts!"

Pleased with his poetry, he turns to Rake. "And you can pick out their eyes!"

"We have other problems!" shouts Kalsk, and the last of the rhinocerelk are leaving the area now anyway.

The Other Problems to which Kalsk refers is what the rhinocerelk were fleeing from-- a couple of huge crabs, each slightly bigger than the vehicles in which you're riding.

We won't be much help against those, the mind-moths sigh to Alyn. Too armored... too stupid...

The Duke, however, is pleased. If the rhinocerelk he landed on isn't good to eat, he feels certain that these crab monsters must surely count as either surf or turf!

With the stampede gone, and Alyn seemingly preoccupied, Ajakstu quickly acts to maneuver his walker behind Alyn's.

As in Alyn's walker is between the crabs and Ajakstu's precious hide.

He has no worries that The Duke will soon be the closest of any of them to the crabs.

Alyn sighed as he stood up from the ground. Thankfully, all that was damaged was his dignity but that's a valued commodity these days!

He sent a quick mental message to the moths.

If you can feed off some of the energy from the rhinocerelk thingies, go ahead. I figure their fear response is heightening their emotions and mental states, which hopefully will give you guys a better snack. We'll deal with the crab things.

Alyn turned to the others.

"Well...this is interesting. The moths won't be able to do much on them so I'm having them make sure the rhino-elk things don't circle back on us. And seeing if they can get a snack at the same time." he said.

"Dukie! I promised you a food source soon and here you go! Thank goodness I love seafood too." he said, as he focused his psionic energy and unleashed an invisible blast of telekinetic energy at the crabs, to see if he could throw them off balance and create an opening for the Duke.


23:05, Today: Alyn Reed rolled 7 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 1,5.  Weird.

My intention is to try and use a telekinetic blast to knock the crabs off balance and create an opening or some other type of advantage for the Duke when the man makes his attack.

The Duke was proudly showing off the big Elkoceros  he got when the next meal showed up. But they where big really really big and the Duke looked at those massive things as he wonders how they have to cook those. He eyes Alyn in frustration as he babbles his voice echoing upon itself and having that tone that he also has when prophecizing.

"But we don't have a kettle and they are to big. Look at those legs alone. Not even my lungs are big enough to suck out the meat. Oh man oh man its a disaster. Maybe i can just pet them. Their shells look so nice and shiny. Surely they want to be my friend. One that does not run away and loves to hunt for food as much as i do. Ah yes loyal friends that do not eat me or run away in the night. The Duke doesn't want to be lonely no more."

ooc: Giving this fresh power a try. So its Written

10:27, Today: The Duke rolled 7 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 2,4.  So its Written.

--7 to 9: the GM will do his best to make some part of the weird mad babbling
come true, as soon as narratively possible, but it might not be entirely
beneficial.

Bah, say the mind-moths. They run too quickly...





Alyn's mind blast affects one of the crabs strangely... The eye-stalks of the crab on the left start waving back and forth wildly... it attacks its fellow crustacean, reaching out with one claw and hammering on the carapace of its fellow as hard as it can!

Unfortunately, this drives the hostile crab sideways (since that's pretty much the only crab-movement option)... and one of its legs hits The Duke.

(--One crab is now Confused
--The other, hostile crab is now somewhat damaged
--The Duke takes 1 new damage)

Alyn looked visibily surprised.

"Well...THAT wasn't what I was expecting. I tried to use telekinesis but instead it was more like telep...ugh never mind." he said, figuring neither Jak nor Duke would really "get" his mentalism that much. Especially when he sometimes didn't even always understand it.

"Buuuut....I can work with this. Crabby...sic him!" Alyn said as he considered his next move.

Trying another telekinetic blast probably wasn't a good idea right now. So instead, he tried to use his powers on something external. Like maybe he could fling a rock or something at the hostile crab? Something that could give the Duke an opening.

And that was when Alyn's eyes glowed again as a nearby boulder began to levitate off the ground suddenly, defying physics.

"Go get him Dukie! I promised you food, so let's crack that shell and get cooking!"

And suddenly the boulder launched itself like it was fired from a gun at the hostile crab...

23:43, Today: Alyn Reed rolled 9 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 2,6.  Weird.

Using telekinesis to launch a nearby boulder from the scenery at the hostile crab. Ideally at a joint or three  where its legs meet its main body or something to help Duke get an advantage.

The Duke at first looking for a friend now got annoyed at the crab that kicks him and goes baslistic upon it and any crab that does not want to be his pet. He still was unsure how they would be cooked but it seemed Alyn had ideas about that.

ooc: 13:06, Today: The Duke rolled 7 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,2.  atrocity.

(Hmm, a 9. Alyn has a choice:

1. Damage the crab, but only a little

2. Damage the crab more, but the boulder rebounds wildly and hits an ally (or you) (determined randomly)

3. Doesn't actually damage the crab BUT DOES weaken its armor, setting it up for a more effective beating soon after))

OOC: OOPS thought I replied!

I take choice 3. Let's soften it up so Duke can sink his teeth into it better!

Alyn cracks the armor of the crab on the left in multiple places.

The Duke tears into the crab on the right. His power and savagery is disturbing to behold-- especially because one gets the feeling he isn't even really good and angry yet.

(Choice: Duke, you can kill the crab in one shot but take 1 damage, or leave it on its last legs, ready for a coup de grace (from you or someone else), but take no damage yourself)

The Duke beats the massive creature within an inch of its life and bellows at it to lie down and behave or he will be forced to finish it. He wants to keep it as a pet but it really needs to listen then!! For good measure he takes hold of the broken shell and gives it a little thug to get the message acros.

(13:05, Today: Vult rolled 7 using 2d6-1 with rolls of 4,4.

13:05, Today: Kalsk rolled 7 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 5,1.)


The crabs don't seem to be smart enough to understand that they're supposed to give up and stop fighting now. Weakly, they move to attack...

Kalsk runs up and does a mighty leap, tearing into a crab, claws out.

Inspired, Vult, still in his rocky form, does the same, pummeling with a stony fist.

Vult's clearly less good of a fighter than is Kalsk, but he displays a certain fearlessness that helps him make up for what he lacks in actual skill.

Together, the two friends manage to finish off the threat of the crab monsters... which are now deceased.

(Kalsk and Vult each take 1 damage. But they were awfully brave!)

Ajakstu immediately gets out of the walker and sets about the most important task of getting a fire going.

"While I am no gourmand, I am thinking cooked would be better. Steamed perhaps?" he muses, staring off into space, and perhaps speaking to no one at all.

"I would say raw, perhaps rolled with rice, but they are no doubt crawling with parasites."

Then inspiration strikes.

"Say, Duke, do you suppose that those shells could be useful as armor for our walkers?"

Alyn was relieved that the threat had ended. He sent up a quick thought to the mind moths.

The Crabs are taken care of, which means the herb of...um...bison deer whatever the heck those things are should be calming down soon. Go ahead and take this opportunity to have a meal of your own. The calmed down relief from their previous fear frenzy from the crabs should prove fairly filling.

He turned to the others.

"Well that is then then. So Dukie? I am sure you wanted them as pets or something but they weren't the cuddly types. But they will make for a lot of food. I promised you food and so Alyn has delivered!" he said.

He turned to Jak.

"And Jak...I was definitely thinking we could boil them and harvest the meat. The shells are all nice and soft now from us taking them down. I think our lasers and such will be enough to get a fire going, but if we need more heat I can try and mentalize us some. And interestingly enough...their shells are so big we can probably turn their claws into makeshift cauldrons or something and boil meat in batches in them. But I'm open to ideas." he said.

"Otherwise, I was going to try and use pyrokinesis to slowly cook them from the inside-out, and hope I can regulate the heat enough so it doesn't turn into a charred crisp. Hence why I'm more hoping we boil them, or perhaps take chunks of meat out and roast them on spits over bonfires. We can cook them, make sure parasites are killed, eat our fill, and put the rest into Duke's food storage."

The Duke pouts at first as his friends kill his pet but when Ajak starts a fire and Alyn proclaims it was to make due on his promise so he seems content as he expertly starts to gut the crabs to remove the bits they do not like. At Ajaks suggestion he nods.

"Yeah its tough so we might be able to use it as armor. But first we need the shells to pail the crabs in i dont think we can cook em otherwiase without a massive fire."

Alyn considers.

"Duke? You're the food expert. How do you think we should prepare them?" Alyn asked.

"I can get us a massive fire. Probably maybe. But I'm open to other ideas if you have them..."

"Otherwise...why don't you use some of that monstrous strength of yours and help gets some fire wood and such together, and I'll get a fire going. Then we can crack the shells and cook em. Or if you'd prefer, I can try to cook them from the inside out...sort of like an infra red heat cooker or something. We won't need a bonfire, but you'll have to help me crack their armor when they are done so you can harvest and inspect the meat."

The Duke eyes the beasts and after a short moment speaks up.

"Cook em in their shell. They are to big to boil after all. Not enough water around for that. But we gonna need a lot of wood for that."

He shrugs and saunters off to go look for the firewood still a little sad none of the beasts wanted to be his pet. Now he was again the only person without a friend to cuddle in the group.

"I would help, but I am grievously wounded," Ajakstu declares, and slinks off to sulk.

17:27, Today: Ajakstu Gul rolled 4 using 2d6-1 with rolls of 4,1.  Come on dice, don't screw me.

Alyn agreed with the Duke, and did whatever he could to help them properly preparee, cook, and package the food. He sent the moths out to go hunt for food for themselves as well.

Alyn prepared to rest, he decided to try something with his psychic powers. He knew he could he could share some of his energy with others and that the process was straightforward enough. Seeing as he saw how worn down Jak was he went over to the man as he lay there sulking, and held his hands out at the man. His eyes glowed with power ad energy began to suddenly manifest and flow toward a presumably surprised Jak, reinvigorating him somewhat!

OOC: No roll needed for this - Alyn can transfer his energy to others freely. I don't know how he will do will do so only transferring 1 stress level to him to be safe. AKAJSTU HEALS 1 STRESS LEVEL!

Alyn then lay down and rested/meditated himself, and luckily was able to marshall his inner power and refresh himself more than he was expecting! The man would awake at full strength!

18:47, Today: Alyn Reed rolled 11 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,5.  forceful.

Basically, Alyn is down 1 stress to start, loses another to heal Jak a bit, then rolls really well and regains 2 so is at full life again!

Ajakstu sighs mightily, then cracks a smile. "Thank you! I fear that my mistreatment at the paws of the evil cat people," he rambles, making no effort to be quiet. "Well that, of course, had created a residual pall upon my brain that you have lifted. With time, and a total avoidance of combat, harmful situations, complex negotiations, close quarters haggling, and mundane victuals, I am certain I can be restored to my righteous self."

The Duke looks at poor Ajakstu as he is face deep in cooked crab.

"Want me to kiss and make it better? I hear females in the Ziggurat tell wee ones to do that and it magically heals all that ails the blaring wee ones."

Alyn nods kindly at Ajakstu.

"Try to be careful today and you'll be fine. Don't push yourself too hard, and you'll be just fine. We won't let you fall over." he replied.

He then grinned at the Duke, and said.

"You know Dukie? I think Ajakstu really could use some kisses from you to make his boo boos feel all nice and better. Or it is worth trying on him and seeing if it works, anyway."

"Silence!" Ajakstu scowled between bites, chewing, and swallowing. "I am formulating a plan to armor our walkers with the crab shells and even masquerade as these not quite so apex predators!"

He offered a few scraps to Rake while drawing indecipherable nonsense in the dirt with a stick.

The Duke grins and gets up too grab poor Ajakstu in his massive hands one hand on an upper arm and lifts him to give the poor sod a sloppy wet kiss on the mouth. And in such a process one can smell the Dukes last 3 meal at least. But it has to help of coarse as he is covered in all them healthy sea creature omega fats from the juicy crabs.

Realizing resistance is futile, Ajakstu goes to his happy place, all the while making sure that no harm comes to his ever so impressive hat.

Rake, an omnivore, happily munches on the scraps.

A glowing (orange) energy creature in vaguely humanoid form floats up. What the heck?

When it speaks, you realize it's Vult. Apparently enough hours have passed that he's changed form again, this time to some sort of superhot plasma. "Hey guys. We about ready to get back on the road again?" His voice is the same sort of teenaged male voice he previously had, but now it's like it reverberates with eerie otherworldly echoes. His personality seems about the same, though.

The Duke eyes vult and tosse shim a bit of crab meat he is unable to stuff into his massive cooler.

"Really could used that shape yesterday. Saved us hauling all the wood."

He then shrugs checks on his new best friend Ajakstu staightening his hat and works himself into the vehicle to be driven around agian.

Alyn walks up, and nods at the plasma-Vult non-chalantly. He was getting too used to the weird-as-normal life he lived in now.

"Oh Vult? You changed again! Cool I didn't know you could turn into plasma!" he said "I wonder if I can weaponize you with pyrokinesis? Hmmm....yeah, I better not. If I slipped in my focus it would be messy. So I'll look but not touch. and yes we're about ready to head back out again to find that military base." he said with a grin.

He turned to Duke.

"There you go! Jak looks a lot better already. Is all the meat we were able to cook last night packed up? As much as we can handle anyway?" he asked.

"I told you if you stuck with me you'd get lots of food. Hmm...speaking about appetites, I better call back my new pet murder-moths and let them know we're heading out."

His eyes flickered with energy for a brief moment before subsiding, and he turned back to them with a nod.

Yo psi-moth murder-pets! Did ya eat your fill last night? We're about to head back out onto our um...adventure or whatever. Just send me a ping if you lose direct track of me.

He indeed nodded.

"Ok they've been apprised."

Ajakstu gives his hat one more going over, then looks at Vult and shrugs.

"Where's Kalsk? And where are we going again....?" his voice trails off as if the journey and destination are really not all that exciting.

"Armor? Crab shells?" he asks no one in particular.

Alyn nods.

"Ok to recap like a bad Saturday morning cartoon, which is basically what we are...we're looking for that Military base we learned about from the Doomwalker. We're probably getting close to it now. I realize the place most likely is dilapidated as a great deal of time has passed it seems from the recording till now but...not necessarily useless though. I was checking if there was food but I think we are full to the gills now with food." he said.

"But there's another reason I want us to make a pit stop and that's to see if we can scavenge for any useful technology, information, etc beyond any potential food. And I wanna see if I can take over the Doomwalker to make sure his Seeker-ness can't. Plus...that would be an epic ride. Heh!" he continued followed by a chuckle.

"Oh I am indifferent to the crab shell. The Ziggurat granted me this cool force armor before we left and it's already helped me at least once or twice now. Unless crab shell can be used to upgrade my force armor or something?"

The Duke looks at the big hatted man and then to the massive piece of armor scorched black by the fire and then breaks out in a loud hearthily laugh.

"You really want to ruin your beutiful hat by putting that on your head? It will squash you buddy. No this armor is to big for you."

"Yeah, I know, I know. I can't control it-- it just happens every several hours." The orange energy-being shrugs.




We hunger, say the mind-moths. The deer-things were not mindful enough to be a strong meal. We are eager to relocate. We will follow.

Eventually, after resting, everyone gathers their stuff together, and moves on...

(I was looking at the rules just now, and noticed that players were encouraged to help shape the lands away from the Ziggurat... So I'll ask you...

WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS NEW AREA AT WHICH THE PCs HAVE ARRIVED?
--There's a building (or other structure)
--There's a new life form or robot or other being
--There's a group of new lifeforms or robots or other beings
--There's a lots of new lifeforms or robots or other beings
--There's a machine
--There's what looks like an unusual object d'art
--The PCs feel weird in some way
--There's something here that seems like it's impossible for it to be here (will it turn out to be illusory? a rifts in time and/or space?)
--There's something on the ground over there (a weapon? a gadget? clothing? an arrow pointing the way elsewhere?)
--There's some water (a natural spring? a geyser? a stream? a small lake? a medium-sized lake?)
--There's one or more plants (how?))

Alyn mentally coordinated with the psi-moths, helped the Duke pack up as much meat that they were able to cook and store as he could after they had ate their fill, and otherwise got the group back on track and heading toward the military facility.

For your question, GM, I'll choose 3 things like Ajak did in the ooc thread. The ones I'm choosing that he also chose represents these things having more "suggestive away" over your choice of choosing to add them to the next scene or not.

WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS NEW AREA AT WHICH THE PCs HAVE ARRIVED?

--There's a building (or other structure)

--There's a group of new lifeforms or robots or other beings (ideally ones who can help feed the moths)

--There's what looks like an unusual object d'art

(I really just wanted someone/y'all to choose ONE thing. Oh well, I'll know better next time...)

Eventually, after resting, everyone gathers their stuff together, and moves on...

Soon, the adventurers must stop walking, or else they'll crush a bunch of little robot guys wandering around.

The little robots-- most of whom have two legs, although some have 4, or 6, or wheels-- are slowly moving around, picking up anything they find (which is pretty much small rocks and pebbles, every time), and muttering to themselves as they do it.

There is a strange... well, statue? Objet d'art? It's like a mobile, but it's anchored to the ground, not moving. There's a big arrow that points in the direction you're headed, but there are other arrows, too, pointing in other directions. There are also many antennae sticking off of the arrows, and sometimes convex/concave things that might be satellite dishes. The whole thing looks like very weathered bronze, but looks can be deceiving.

The whole... sculpture...? is maybe seven feet tall at its highest point if you don't count antennae, maybe 8 or 8.5 feet high if you do count them.

Behind the sculpture by about 45 feet, there's a building... about the size of a gas station, Alyn would say... It seems like it's stucco or adobe, with an open doorway (no door) and some crude squarish windows.

"Finally!" Ajakstu hoots. "A merchant in the business of selling these mechanized toys...or gardeners...or appraisers of detritus. Do you suppose they all join together to make a megarobot worthy of The Duke?"

Without waiting for an answer he dismounts and heads for the building. "I will go inquire of the proprietor as to the availability of wine and women."

The little robots all run out of the path of the giant that walks amongst them. They're not very fast, though, so Ajakstu will have to walk slightly slowly to make sure he doesn't crush anyone.

Alyn nods as Ajak heads off to check the building out. He, in turn, wants to check the outside out first.

He closes his eyes a moment, and then opens them. His eyes flicker for a moment before returning to normal as he basically does a "mental radar sweep" of all sentience in the area. INCLUDING from the little robots but also from - potentially - the weird artwork thing and from within the adobe looking building. By now, he has a psychic connection to his traveling companions and his moths so is more focused on things NOT from Team Alyn.

17:19, Today: Alyn Reed rolled 8 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 2,4.  Charming.

He's doing a psychic sweep of the area, to try and identify any sentience intelligences. His powers work on non-biological things too FYI, and this is simply to identify them not to like control or influence quite yet.

As a secondary note though he is looking for non-team psyches that can make a good meal for his moths too.

The Duke on the other hand who had made a small dent in their food supplies already, maybe the Duke eats when he is bored? Looks at his driver run off and slowly closes the cooler straps it on his back and climbs out to follow Ajakstu any of the small robots to slow to clear from underfoot wil perish under the massive boots of the 'friendly' giant.

"Don't forget food!!"

The little robots are sentient, but they don't seem very smart. But they also seem capable of more-- maybe they're wirelessly hooked up to a bigger computer brain somewhere? Or maybe they're capable of thinking more complex thoughts in unison under the right circumstances?

There's also something-- or more than one something-- off to the east. Too far to see, apparently, but barely on the edge of Alyn's psychic senses. Something or things very smart, but very alien. Something kind of... dangerous.

Alyn sent a mental message up to the moth swarm that was somewhere in the air above.

"Hey psi-moths? What do you think about these little robots here, as well as the weird sculpture thing that probably isn't really a sculpture? Do either seem appetizing to you guys?

Also do you guys also sense something quite intelligent but kind of dangerous-feeling way to the East? Do you guys know anything about it?"

Alyn turned to face the party.

"Hmmm...those little robots are individually fairly harmless-feeling and don't seem super intelligent, but I can tell they are networked to something bigger that might be  like a computer or something bigger. Maybe the sculpture thing even but I'm not sure yet." he said.

"And also...it's out of visual range, but somewhere way to the East out of our immediate area bit within travel distance there's something very intelligent and dangerous-feeling, and it's not often a mind feels dangerous. It feels alien too. I don't know  much more as I'm purposefully avoiding making mental contact with it so we don't get its attention, but I wanted you guys to be aware something is out there, farther East."

The Duke stopping his stride after Alyn another of the too slow poor things crushed under his heavy boots turns to look into the far distance as he cracks his knuckles.

"I am the danger! If it comes for us it will be sorry."

The little machines are not appetizing... but they could be dangerous as a group... grumble the mind-moths...

(Hmmm... Make a Charming roll, Alyn, to see if you can get them to try to stretch their senses over there to the east...)



The little robots whisper to themselves... some (not all!) of them start grabbing on to each other... Forming a little robot acrobat pyramid-- no, more like a tower--

--Soon, there's a robot that's almost as tall as The Duke, made of the little guys clamped onto one another, with two legs and four arms and a head in shape. "You-- are-- destructive," says a voice from the head. "What-- is-- your-- purpose?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:58, Sat 24 Sept 2022.

"Walking away!" Ajakstu loudly declares as the robots assemble. He makes for the safety of the building. "Rake! Attend!"

Alyn raised a curious brow at the little robots forming a larger Duke-scrutinizing mass, but decided to stand back and see how this played out. Partially out of amusement at the situation, and partially due to the fact the psion was convinced the Duke sometimes (in ways even the psychic Alyn didn't fully understand) had a strange insight or narrative effect on his surroundings. Alyn wasn't quite sure how to put it, really.

Instead, he attempted to send a thought up to the moths.

01:03, Today: Alyn Reed rolled 6 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 2,2.  Charming.

Well there's something fairly dangerous, but quite intelligent over to the East on the edge of my senses. It's up to you guys, but if you're hungry you could go check it out and see if it could provide a psychic meal for you guys.

The Duke chuckles at the things and stretches his arm to give the thing a poke to determine how sturdy the thing is making a head gesture at his companions as if saying look at this. When it acknowledges his destructiveness he bursts into a laugh.

"I am destructive. That is my purpose. I must make sure my friends reach the choir. Do you know where it is?"

He eyes the things and his voice changes a few octaves as he pokes again.

"And you are my slaves piece for piece each bit and byte each screw and circuit board. Smart and skilled in the art of welding and soldering polishing and grinding making what is broken whole and dismembering that what is whole to its component parts."

And in the Dukes voice as if nothing happened he points at the building.

"Got any good food in there? Our supplies are a little low."

The mind-moths just give Alyn a little scorn. They apparently do not feel motivated by his suggestion.

The little robots close in around Alyn and Ajakstu's feet, surrounding them. They don't do anything hostile (so far), but one can't take a step without stepping on them (and doing that has already caused problems for The Duke)...

Kalsk turns to Vult. "I think I can walk on these guys without hurting them, maybe... my feet don't work like the humans' do... but I don't want them getting up in my toes..."

"I can fly over them right now... but I'm not sure what to do... I guess I'll see what the humans do," responds Vult. "Maybe they can negotiate out of this...?"






"The-- choir?" says the amalgam robot, replying to The DUKE. "Give-- more-- information."

And then: "There-- is-- no-- food-- for-- biologicals-- there."

OOC: Alyn fails the roll and gains 1xp. Xp goes from 8->9.

Alyn was going to follow up with the moths, but decided they could look for food on their own a bit while he focused on the present situation. Especially since the little robots started to swarm around them.

"Little robots...I do ask that you do not violate my personal space any more than you are. I will only give this warning to you all once." Alyn said to them, suddenly firm and with an icy tone of voice that was a shift from his usual demeanor. He was kinda getting sick of the pushy machines that seemed to fill the future. However, he quickly re-asserted his usual mask of being mostly-friendly once again as the cracks in his composure recovered swiftly.

He turned to Duke and smiled.

"Silly Dukie...we have a ton of cooked crab meat right now. Although then again, I know you're always on the lookout for new food source opportunities." the psion said with a pleasant chuckle.

He turned to the robot swarm again.

"Yes the Cloister, actually. It's a quasi-legendary and perhaps quasi-mythical settlement of humans that's out there...somewhere. It's different from the main Ziggurat. Would you happen to know anything about any human settlements or group that are in the area by chance?" he asked.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:05, Mon 03 Oct 2022.

(Roll Charming, please...)

00:09, Today: Alyn Reed rolled 5 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 1,2.  charming.

OOC: Well...that's gonna fail (and be my 10th xp and thus first level up lol), unless one of you wants to do an aid other and try and substitute out my 1 with something else.

The Duke chimes in helpful as ever.

"Yeah tell us or i turn you into scrap metal."

ooc: I'll turn your 1 into a 1 ;-)

09:21, Today: The Duke rolled 1 using 1d6 with rolls of 1.  Aid.

"Your threat is acknowledged. You wish to escalate the situation. Complying..."

The little robots all swarm onto the big one... it gets bigger. Twice as big.

It attacks The Duke:

(GM rolls dice)

It misses, this time, barely, mostly because now that the robots have all teamed up, it's easier for The Duke to dodge. But the big amalgamated robot seems like it's still getting its bearings, adjusting to its new size. I'm sure its aim will get better soon.

"Exit, stage left!" Ajasktu shouts as he beats feet for the building.

The Duke gives the massive construct a dark smile as FOERS highlights the robots as a lethal threat and allows unrestrained violence. And the Duke is more then willing to deliver. His power fist cracle to life and he tears into the small constructs with a force strong enough to topple buildings. Geneva conventions cry and human rights shudder in fear at the ATROCITY done to these poor things.

"You should have told us."

ooc: I am de escalating the Duke way! ;-) 16:21, Today: The Duke rolled 10 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 4,4.  Atrosity.

Yikes. There's surely horrible threats on this planet that can withstand such savagery as The Duke unleashes, but this is not one of those. The robot attempts to fight back, but it's no match for an armed The Duke, and might not have been equal to one who was unarmed, either-- we'll possibly never know.

It doesn't so much "break" or even "fall apart" as both at the same time, various individual little guys breaking even though they weren't present at any of the exact spots of violence.

About six little robots manage to cling to each other when The Duke is done. "This system is no longer operating properly," they say in a high-pitched voice that is sometimes a little too fast and sometimes a little too slow. "We apologize for the inconvenience."

The ball of robotics rolls up to Alyn and sort of rolls back and forth in front of him. "We apolo-- we apolo-- we apologi..."


Meanwhile, Ajakstu discovers there's not much in the building... a LOT of dirt and dust on the floor, at least an inch think. There is also a microphone, and a speaker, built into a desk (but if there was ever a chair, it's long gone now). There are other things-- dials and digital readouts, maybe? But they're all covered with dust, kind of grimy...

Most carefully, one might even say the act is done in a finicky manner, Ajakstu searches the building. He is especially wary of dust bunnies, grime slime, dirt nappers, and all such nightmares from childrens' stories.

"Surely Pretty Boy would have warned me of any such threat though," he muses aloud.

18:58, Today: Ajakstu Gul rolled 10 using 2d6+1 ((4,5)).

Alyn looked at the Duke, and held up one of his hands.

"Alright Dukie. I think they learned their lesson. Please don't um...totally pulverize them, okay bud? I think your mostly-pulverizing them got the point across." he said with a smirk.

He turned to the little robots that had rolled up to him and were kissing a  LOT of ass right now.

"Well I did warn you guys to play nice. Serves you right." Alyn said with a shrug.

"Buuuut I suppose we can spare you so you can try to repair yourselves or whatever, but you all had better tell us what you know about the Cloister. And this time without any snark. Otherwise, I let my buddy here take over the diplomacy." the young man said.

"And also...tell us what you know about this old military base? I um...think it used to be a base, anyway. Just tell us what you know about this building behind us, and this weird art piece thing?"

The Duke was revelling in the carnage and was already stomping over to finish the last ball of scrap metal when Alyn stops him with a hand gesture. There is a moment he looks at his traveling companion like he was about to stomp him just as hard as the robots but then massive sparks on his head flare up and he stops in his tracks looking really sad.

Ajakstu finds nothing whatsoever hidden in the small building.

Except the handle.

Hel-lo, what' this? A handle. In the floor. It was flush with the floor, covered by dust... but surely this is meant to be a groove for digits to hook under, and then lift upward?

Nothing. But...

More brushing away of dust.

An outline. A big rectangle. If this is a hatch, even The Duke could fit through it... Barely.

More importantly, a circle. It seems like the handle should...

Yeah. Ajakstu decides that the handle should be pushed DOWN slightly, and then TURN left or right, which would then probably free it to pull the whole thing UPwards.

He doesn't do that just yet, though... what if it's trapped, like the exterior ankle-hatch of the Doomwalker was? Hmmmm...





"For infomatin on base ask inside plz. For Cloister-- for Cloister-- infon z limitd. Cloister was redoubt of humans fr survivl. Above surfce n belw. Signs were scattered. Clues and hints. Calling and warng."

He turned and looked at Dukie, boldly staring at the man with a raised eyebrow as the Duke considered aggression but nodding with relief when he chose the pro-Alyn path. It was the only path, really. Alyn was the best at helping the Duke find all sorts of exotic food after all.

"Dukie? Do you hear that? It's comforting to get some reassurance that the Cloister is real. Ya they aren't giving us "the answer" but this is something." he said.

He turned back toward the robots.

"Thank you for that. And about the base? Who or what do we need to ask inside there for more information? Is there a mainframe that we can access or something? I've watched enough Star Trek to know there's always a mainframe somewhere in cases like this." he continued, momentarily slipping and hinting at his exotic origin before catching himself and continuing.

"Err...um what I mean is that if there's robots like you around, and an old military base, and this here data pad...then it only makes sense there's some mainframe gizo thingy or the other in there. What do you guys know about this building and its contents?"

(Annnnnd that'll call for a (new) Charming roll.)

22:27, Today: Alyn Reed rolled 6 using 2d6+3 with rolls of 2,1.  Charming.

"Direct sir to inquire inside."



"Direct sir to inquire inside. Database accessible frm inside."

21:22, Today: Ajakstu Gul rolled 8 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 2,5.  I Probably Shouldn't But I'm Curious

"Acquaintances! There is a portal in the floor in here! I have surmised that it is most likely not trapped," Ajakstu called out. With that he actually cocked his head and squinted at the handle. The attractive handle. The almost irresistible handle.

"I am the luckiest boy in the world," he said to Rake. "Much luckier than you."

With that, he took a firm grasp on the handle.

The Duke ever helpful and itching to release some of the energy of a suddenly stopped battle before it finished saunters inside to see if his friend with the wonderful hat needs a hand.

OOC: Well that charming roll is my first failed roll for this next level, although it is also my first new xp lol!

Alyn nods and follows after the Duke, eager to let his personal meatshield stalwart ally be the first to be subjected to the possible traps have a chance to channel his attention in a constructive manner by looking around inside.

Alyn considers, and silently sends out a mental ping to try and assess the building for other intelligences besides the party's.

Ajakstu's hand takes a firm hold of the handle... In one of those almost-too-late flashes of insight one has when one has acted without really thinking things through, the following occurs to him:

--He's seen this type of door before-- just on walls, not floors, that's why it took him this long to realize it.

--Actually pulling on the handle-- or even letting go of it now that he's grasped it-- is certainly likely to trigger an unpleasant response-- though he's not sure what it will be.

--However, there's normally a sort of click and/or vibration when that's about to happen, and that didn't happen this time. So maybe the unpleasant part will turn out to be malfunctioning with age? ...Or... maybe the warning click/and/or/vibration is the part that's malfunctioning due to poor maintenance?





Alyn doesn't try too hard, just sort of takes a vague mental glance-- nothing that might warn any telepaths that might be inside that there's another one up here on the surface.

And the results are... vague. There's something with a mind down there, somewhere, all right. How many, what sort, how powerful, and how hostile or friendly or neither they might be, Alyn can't really tell without trying harder.

The only other thing he can be certain of is that they aren't near. They're pretty far down below the surface somewhere, he's sure of that.

Ajakstu slowly turned to the entrance. "Say, Duke......" he called out. "There's some sort of trap connected to the door that I happen to have my hand upon. My first idea is for you to squeeze in and defeat whatever foul mechanism is present."

With that he sat back on his haunches while firmly holding the handle. Although there was LUCK! There was always LUCK.

Best to see what the damage soak had to say though.

Alyn followed after the Duke.

"Dukeie? A.G. Guys? ?" Alyn said suddenly.

"I can sense the mind of someone or something down there. It's deep down, so I suspect this complex is something that seems nondescript on the surface but actually hase basement levels out of sight underground. I don't know how strong the mind is down there, or really if it is friendly or hostile as I haven't tried probing hard." he continued.

"But whatever the case, I think we need to proceed inside to find what we came here looking for. For me? More stuff I can do with this Datapad and doomwalker knowledge stuff. 'Cus screw the seeker. For Duke? Food and Food-preparation opportunities. For A.G? Scrounging opportunities. And of course I'm always happy to help cook food and help scrounge in equal measure." he said.

"A.G.? Tell us more about this trap. I might be able to use telekinesis pur pyrokinesis or even cryokinesis or electrokinesis or some sort of kinesis on the damned thing. And...oh wait! The datapad! Lemme try something" he said as he went over to Ajakstu Gul.

He punched in a few things, his eyes glowing now and then with psychic insight as he did so.

"Hmmm...computer. Do you got any info on this trap here, and can you please disarm it or at least omit us from activating it?" he said as he spoke into the datapad in his hands after hitting some keys on it in a way that somehow made sense even though it didn't.

Quite frankly little of Alyn's life made much sense anymore, including the fact he somehow became smart enough to use computers easily on top of having psionic powers and who knows what else at this point. His humanity was debatable at this point, honestly, although at least he was "human enough" when it came to sensors and such.

21:15, Today: Alyn Reed rolled 13 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 6,6.  Insightful. This is me making a roll to see if I can use the datapad to find a way past the trap. The above is flavor test representing his high roll.

The Duke chuckles and looks at his companion hunched over the door and then pats his not so small girth.

"I ain't squeezing anywhere friend."

Still at the prospect of food inside the Duke 'inspects the door and seeing it swings outwards seems to have come to a conclusion and unless stopped by Alyn will brute force the door open in the wrong direction by using his gloves to smash the door inward. After all traps set on a door swining out will not trigger with the door swining in and being ripped out after. Why did they use tinfoil for the door anyhow.

ooc: 10:39, Today: The Duke rolled 12 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 4,6.  Forceful.

11:29, Today: Ajakstu Gul rolled 6 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 2,2.  Agile to dodge behind the Duke.


Seeing The Duke spring into action, Ajakstu shouts out in surprise and tries to throw himself behind the giant so he is shielded from whatever may happen next.

The Duke hammers the hatch hard, and an extremely-dented hatch falls downward into the darkness.

There's a small explosive charge that doesn't hurt The Duke at all-- but it does knock him backward into the wall... fortunately, Ajakstu serves as a cushion.

(Ajakstu gets +1 xp, but gets -1 on his next TWO rolls from being a little disoriented and wall-smushed.)


A little smiley-face pops up on Alyn's screen:

:) HI! I'M SMILEY, YOUR DATAPAD DIGITAL HELPER! YOU SEEM TO BE TRYING TO DISARM A TRAPPED HATCH AT SUPPPLY POST THETA-THETA-EPSILON! IS THAT CORRECT?


However, at Alyn's words, a mechanical voice also comes out of the speaker next to the nearby microphone: "Supply Post Theta-Theta-Epsilon, how may we help you re-supply today?"

Alyn stepped to the side smoothly as the Duke went comically flying past him into Ajakstu, and then into the wall. He just chalked it up to the Duke's normal antics.

He did putz with the datapad a bit, before inputting the following.

Never mind. The trap has been dealt with.

However...Smiley it would be super helpful if you could help alert us to any other traps in the facility, and possibly help us get past the safely too.

Alyn turned suddenly to face the direction the voice was coming from the intercom.

"Um...I am here to request full administrative access and ownership system rights for the Doomwalker 40 clicks west of us. Unless there is a more functional Doomwalker at this facility in which case I'd like that instead." Alyn said.

"Also please provide any non-spoiled food or rations you have access to as well. The Duke...err, I mean our group needs sustenance for our travels."

With an oof the Duke hits the wall and the thing between him and the wall introducing Ajakstuto his massive ass crack and the fact that he has never bathed in his life. He steps away and scrapes the poor sod from the wall taking a moment to uncrumple Ajakstus magnificent hat.

"Sorry buddy."

But then his attention is all on the speaker in the wall that is about to divulge the secret location of supplies and he is already showing his eagerness by rubbing his belly.

"Medic," Ajakstu mumbles as he slumps against the wall.

"Hey, where are Fishbreath and Gasbag? Shouldn't they be of more, by which I mean ANY assistance?"

SORRY, I'M NOT SURE I CAN INTERACT WITH THE SUPPLY POST'S SYSTEMS! :)  IT MAY BE THAT THERE'S A MALFUNCTION (ON THE SUPPLY POST'S END OF THINGS! NOT MY FAULT! :)  BUT THERE SHOULD BE A MICROPHONE WHERE YOU CAN ASK FOR ASSISTANCE DIRECTLY!  :)




"You are asking for DOOMWALKER FACTORY DRIVER HARDWARE/SOFTWARE so you can REPAIR AND OPERATE A MALFUNCTIONING DOOMWALKER. Is that correct? If so, we do have those DRIVERS in stock."




"You are asking for NON-PERISHABLE RATIONS. Is that correct? If so, we do have NON-PERISHABLE RATIONS in stock."




Kalsk and Vult show up in the doorway. "Everything okay?" Vult asks. "We thought we'd wait out here-- it looks a little crowded in here. Then we heard the big crash and we really, really thought we'd wait out here a little longer..."

Alyn turns to Ajakstu.

"It's probably best that they wait for us outside. That, and they can keep watch over the transports too. The murder-moths are up in the air somewhere too, so together they should be enough protection while we go inside and take a look." Alyn said.

He turned back to the Duke and gave a grin, before turning back to the Microphone.

"Yes um...microphone sir whatever you are. We are indeed requesting access to be provisioned with non-perishable food items. Or provisions manager, Duke, will take care of those logistics." Alyn said aloud as he spoke back to the microphone.

"And as for me...I also will be needing issuance of a set of DOOMWALKER FACTORY DRIVER HARDWARE/SOFTWARE as well for one of our MALFUNCTIONING DOOMWALKERS."

"Certainly. Stand by for 1 unit of DOOMWALKER FACTORY DRIVER HARDWARE/SOFTWARE and units of NON-PERISHABLE RATIONS."

You note that the hatch downward lights up. You can easily see, now, that there're easy-to-climb ladder rungs recessed into the wall of the vertical downward hatch.

"Stand by."

You hear machinery operating somewhere below you.

"Stand by."

Nothing new happens, except that the sounds of machinery grow slowly more quiet.

"Please stand by."

Is it your imagination, or does the voice sound a little worried?

Nothing new happens.

Just when you're thinking about saying something, the voice comes again.

"Thank you for waiting. Supply Post Theta-Theta-Epsilon apologizes for the inconvenience. It appears that your order is running late. There seems to be one or more physical malfunctions in the supply chain delivery system. Supply Post Theta-Theta-Epsilon assures you that your needed items ARE in stock-- however, they cannot be delivered to this surface pick-up point. You may want to descend manually and retrieve your items yourself. Supply Post Theta-Theta-Epsilon apologizes for the inconvenience."

It really does sound apologetic at this point.

"Um, Ajakstu Gul seems kind of, ah, worn out," observes Kalsk from the doorway. "Maybe we should have a rest again before anyone heads underground again?"

Alyn turns and nods at Ajakstu.

"Yes a rest will be fine if he needs it still. We're ahead of schedule honestly so there's no need to rush and wear ourselves out." Alyn replied.

He turned to the microphone.

"Supply post Theta-Theta-Epsilon? We will venture down and manually retrieve the food rations and the Doomwalker drivers. In the meantime though, we would like to rest and recuperate. Are there sleeping quarters available for my party?" Alyn asked into the microphone.

"Although this kiosk has been specially treated with the latest scientific advancements to be earthquake-proof, flood-proof, fireproof, and generally resistant to many other forms of damage, it is not, unfortunately, able to increase in size, nor can cots be delivered at this time due to supply chain issues. However, down below, there is a spacious Visitor Center which does include fold-out sleeping arrangements for a variety of species, including humans and humanoid-like beings." Somehow the speaker gives the indirect implication of meaning such as The Duke on that last part.

"After you descend, head west, and the Visitor Center will be the first door on your right-- You should find that it is clearly marked with appropriate signage."

"That sounds fine," says Kalsk. He steps forward a little and pats Ajakstu on the shoulder. "You can lie down soon and rest," he says (slowly and) clearly, a little pity evident in his voice. Kalsk has a bit of a paternal side, who knew? Maybe it's not so strange, considering that Vult tends to sound like a teenager...

Ajakstu cringes away from the pat, remembering his internment with Kalsk's relatives. He busies himself inspecting his hat and then finds Rake and gently places him on his shoulder.

The Duke having perked up at the prospect of food needs no further incentive and starts down the ladder mumbling something about scouting ahead.

Yay, Rake's okay! He jumped off to safety before it was too late. Rake doesn't fly well, nor quickly, but (as long as he's awake) he can fall from pretty much any height without any trouble.



At the bottom of the ladder shaft (it takes a good three minutes or so of climbing down), things are still lit up.

The Duke is in a long tunnel running east and west.

At his feet is the hatchway door he punched downward, very dented. Its fall has cracked the plastic floor, and made quite a dent in it, too.

He sees no doors to the east (not for certain, anyway-- there might be some way down there almost out of sight-- he can't be sure).

To the west, there are doors.

The first door, to his left, is unmarked.

The second door, to his left, is unmarked.

The third door, to his left, is unmarked.

The first door to his right is kind of a good 50 yards down there, but it looks like it might have some sort of signage outside of it.

The doors (as far as he can tell) have no windows-- they're just solid-looking metal doors.

Alyn climbs down after them.

"Anyone who wants to come rest should come after us, otherwise stay up by the vehicles." Alyn said, before sending a quick mental ping to the moths to let them know he was descending and that they were free to go hunting or just hang out and watch the vehicles.

After getting down to the ground, he says as he points to the right door.

"Well that looks like the visitor center. Duke? We should 'scout ahead' that way first. I'd think there'd be food in a visitor area, right? Plus that way Ajak can rest while you 'scout' some more."

Ajakstu waits until he hears the lumbering pf feet away from the base of the ladder. "Don't steal our walkers," he orders Kalsk before descending.

The Duke entheusiastly saunters off in the mentioned direction. Food was good!

"I figured we'd come with you, but we'll guard things up here if you want..." says Kalsk. "I suppose with The Duke, it's not like you can't take care of yourselves..."

(The Duke, roll Insightful, please...)

Don't worry Ajak. I trust them. Especially since they know I can kill them from across the Cosmos if I needed to. Cat-heads explode from telepathy and multi-state matter all goes POP with pyrokinesis. Or when dominated into self-detonation." Alyn said with a casual shrug, but in a comforting tone of voice. Even though what he said was totally scary and kinf of mildly psychotic. Especially as matter-of-factly as he said it. But on the plus side, it was Alyn and his looks and charm sure softened this truth a bit. "And I think the moths could eat them both too if need be. Gosh I had no idea I could cause so much destruction up close and afar. Who knew?" he added casually as he kept walking along the tunnels in a saunter.

"But like I said, I trust them both so it will be fine." he added.

Because Ajak must have known that The Duke and Alyn were absolutely two of the most safe and stable people to be near. Certainly.

The Duke passes the doors on the left, not giving into the temptation to open them, at least not right now.

He also passes a big red button without pushing it. Good job, Duke!

He even notices a hidden panel in the wall. It's almost seamless, but not quite.

But none of these things say FOOD, and The Duke had picked up the idea that there might be FOOD in the--

--Ah ha! The Visitors' Center! The sign says so!

The Duke looks in the little window of the door. Are those vending machines?!?!?

The Duke opens the door. They DO look like vending machines!

The Duke turns on the lights. The room is well-lit and painted in soothing shades of pink and light green. But let's look at those vending machines!

There is food! And it doesn't look a million years old!

The Duke is about to try to smash the glassteel when he hesitates. Look... look at those prices... Some of these items are... free...?

That candy bar, for instance! Its price is 0!

The Duke pushes buttons.

The candy bar falls!

The Duke retrieves it! Opens it! It's chocolate!

Mmm, milk chocolate with hazelnut and just a hint of caramel.

The Duke eats it!

Then he pushes the buttons again!

Another candy bar falls!

The Duke retrieves it! Opens it! It's chocolate!

Mmm, milk chocolate with hazelnut and just a hint of caramel.

The Duke eats it!

Then he pushes the buttons again!

Another candy bar falls!

The Duke retrieves it! Opens it! It's chocolate!

Mmm, milk chocolate with hazelnut and just a hint of caramel.

The Duke eats it!

Then he pushes the buttons again!

Another candy bar falls!

The Duke retrieves it! Opens it! It's chocolate!

Mmm, milk chocolate with hazelnut and just a hint of caramel.

The Duke eats it!

Then he pushes the buttons again!

Another candy bar falls!

The Duke retrieves it! Opens it! It's chocolate!

Mmm, milk chocolate with hazelnut and just a hint of caramel.

The Duke eats it!

Then he pushes the buttons again!

Another candy bar falls!

The Duke retrieves it! Opens it! It's chocolate!

Mmm, milk chocolate with hazelnut and just a hint of caramel.

The Duke eats it!

The Duke is happy and relaxed.

The Duke pushes the buttons again...

(The Visitors' Center is a safe place to rest, and about 12% of the items in the vending machines are free.)

Alyn, with much amusement, watches the Duke do his thing at the vending machines. He goes up to them and checks them out as well. It's been a while since he had things like chocolate and such since coming to the future (or whatever he did) and he took a few candy bards for himself for later.

He went and got Ajakstu, who was sort of hiding in the backline like usual.

"Yo Jack? Are you going to rest a bit? If So I'll try some psychic healing again to see if I can pass more energy onto you too since I'm fine physically beyond just needing a little general rest." Alyn said.

OOC: Ajak let us know if you're resting.

The Duke happily munches away on the snacks from the machines a small pile of wrappers forming at his feet making a calming sound as he wobbles through it to the next machine when the machine finally gives up and exclaims its out of free snacks. When he speaks his tone is dreamy and wishful and clearly in the tone of his 'other' persona.

"Oh man imagine if these machines where not this greedy and gave everything to me for free."

ooc: A 7 meaning the GM will do his best to make some part of the weird mad babbling come true, as soon as narratively possible, but it might not be entirely beneficial.

10:39, Today: The Duke rolled 7 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 2,4.  And so its written.

"Resting, yes, a most excellent idea." Ajakstu pondered trying to get something from the machines, but The Duke was in full on hand to mouth mode. It was worth noting that he was at least unwrapping the food. For now.

"Heal away...but there is something down here...."

Alyn nodded and "herded" Ajakstu into laying down on one of the cots. Alyn himself went and pulled one of the reclining chairs from the lobby over to the cot, and sat down into it and began to focus his energies. His eyes flashed unnaturally with psionic energy before he closed his eyes and laid his head back on the chair (using a pillow if necessary because he for sure as hell wasn't gonna be uncomfortable while he did psychic healing!).

In this state, Alyn was in something of a psionic trance. He was getting basic rest himself, but since his vital energy was already at its maximum at the moment he allowed the "overflow" to flow across the psychic connection he had established with each of the party members very early on (in this case to Ajak's connection) and sent the energy across it and flowing in a  peaceful surge into his comrad's body. This ensured that at worst, Ajak would still recover some of his missing vitality!

19:10, Today: Alyn Reed rolled 8 using 2d6 with rolls of 4,4.  forceful

So that's enough for 1 health level regained, which I'm using his psychic abelites to just "donate" over to Ajak since Alyn is at max health.

AJAK YOU STILL NEED TO ROLL 2D6+FORCEFUL AS WELL TO SEE IF YOU NATURALLY RECOVER ANY HEALTH TOO!

20:39, Today: Ajakstu Gul rolled 5 using 2d6-2 with rolls of 2,5.  Health recovery with first of two -1 penalty.

"Bah!" Ajakstu cursed. "Your eerie powers seemed to have helped, but I can get no rest knowing Fishbreath and Gasbag are watching the walkers and that some malevolent being creeps towards us from the darkness."

With that he set about picking real and imaginary dirt from his hat.

OOC: Grats on the experience point though!

Alyn nodded.

"I'll see if I can try to help you again when we rest up next time, but for now I can only do so much in one sitting. You know?" Alyn replied.

"We should go take a look around soon. Don't worry about our furry and elemental companions. I think they are cool cats. Literally in one of their cases. And if not, then know the murder-moths are watching them. They keep incessantly begging me to allow them to "just take a nibble" and "a little taste" of them. Gluttonous little buggers." Alyn added with a shrug,

"Anywho...I could use your help as I proceed deeper into the military base. I really, REALLY want that hardware so I can reboot that Doomwalker and make it into an Alynwalker. And Dukie should be keen on helping us too since I delivere don my promise to get him lots of food for our stores and his stomach. But there's something with a powerful intelligence down there and I;m not sure what it is. I didn't probe it just in case, you know? But I want that driver for my Alynwalker, dammit!"

"So........." Ajakstu slowly said. "You WANT the baddie to bring it on? And I get the treasure that doesn't get the walker to your desired level of technomancy?"

Alyn shook his head.

"No I just need to go fetch the driver from down there. I can go back to the Doombot and install it myself. Although as for other treasures...I'm sure there's interesting stuff down there. I mean no risk no reward, right?" he replied.

Something is coming down the hall... something noisy. A robot, maybe.

It speaks, too, as it gets closer and closer... "REQUEST RECIEVED FROM VISITORS' CENTER-- REQUEST RECIEVED FROM VISITORS' CENTER-- REQUEST RECIEVED FROM VISITORS' CENTER..." Yeah, sounds like a robot, maybe...

We gonna go look out in the hall and see what's coming?

Or just look out the window built into the door? (Whatever it is'll be on top of you before you know it, that way, though...)

Alyn figured that while he had a forcefield and kewl powerz, that sometimes it was better to be safe than sorry. At the very least, to get an idea of what to expect. So looking through the window seemed more appropriate. If the thing looked super hostile, he could mind probe it or something. If it looked more friendly, then he'd try and play nice and discourage the Duke from trying to use it as a toothpick.

Alyn looked knowingly at Ajak before getting up and going first to look through the window in the door.

The Duke pushes the button and a snack drops down.

The Duke looks at the door where a thing is coming.

The Duke takes the snack and unwraps it.

The Duke eats the snack.

The Duke is happy and whatever is coming is going to have a bad day spoiling that.

A walking vending machine with arms and legs is almost to the door... As it comes near the door, it starts throwing soda cans at the door. KLONK. KLONK. KLONK. Ow, those would hurt if they hit. "FREE BEVERAGES FOR VISITORS... FREE BEVERAGES FOR VISITORS..."

It starts to open the door...!


(Orleon, give me just another moment to introduce you...)

Alyn shrugged and walked back and over to the Duke, before shouting.

"Oh Duuuuuuuuuukie! It's for you!" Alyn said as he stood way back and out of the way of the hilarity that was probably about to ensure.

The Duke looks at the ruckus and claps his hands loudly chewing on the latest candy bar. As he speaks frothy chocolate droplets fly around.

"O i never was allowed soda cause i started to accidentially wreck things at home!"

The Duke rushes to collect his free sodas.

Alyn walks back a bit more - like 30 feet away - and watches the show.

Ajakstu gathers Rake and slithers under a table. "Mayhap there might also be ale or lager or stout in those cans! Be selective in your takedown Duke!"

The Duke and the walkingtalking vending machine open the door at the same time.

(Roll... Hmmmm... Forceful, I think, The Duke. Someone's about to throw a soda can at you. Let's see if that's a problem or not...

Orlean, you'll be coming along here soon, honest...)

The Duke meets the robot with an expecting grin and grabby hands at the ready. And it that drool forming on the corner of his mouth?

ooc:
02:49, Today: The Duke rolled 8 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 3,3.  Is it a problem?

KLONK.

Ow! Right in the head! That hurt!

(The Duke does not lose any HP, but takes -1 toward his next roll.)

Then, The Duke notices someone else in the hallway-- a human, wearing impressive fancy robes. Hasn't The Duke seen him before somewhere? Oh yeah-- he rode up with some more supplies from The Ziggurat, and then after dropping them off, said he had to go back and look something up again, and now he's back. Whatever.

The vending machine pulls out another soda can to hit The Duke with again...

---

Orleon remembers the extremely large fellow from the first time he encountered the Ziggurat's Cloister-finding expedition. Excellent, he's found them again!

But that vending machine seems to be giving the big man trouble. Hmmm...

"Hey you have to give them properly. Throwing them makes them spill out of the can."

The Duke steps close to the robot planing to take the can before its being fired and drinking it as fast as possible to be ready for the next one. It would be a real big shame to waste more soda.

Alyn was surprised at the Duke's calmness. He watched again to see what would happen.

He also could swear he sensed another mind beyond the vending-robot. But for now, he wanted to wait and see what Duke would do next. If things escalated, then maybe he'd utilize some electrokinesis or something. Or accidentally blow them all up. You never really knew with Alyn.

Orleon looked at this thing called a vending machine. He searched his thoughts for the some knowledge of this ancient artifact. Surely there was something in there that could come to their benefit.

OOC: If necessary Orleon will roll to figure out the machine in question.

(Yeah, roll. Your Insightful stat is +2, so roll 2d6+2.)

11:59, Today: Orleon Templeton rolled 6 using 2d6+2 ((2,2)).

OOC: Ugh

Orleon looks at the back of the machine... moves around and looks at the front of it, at what items it seems to offer...

The vending machine seems to notice Orleon.

"FREE BEVERAGES FOR VISITORS... FREE BEVERAGES FOR VISITORS..."

KLONK.

Owww! Beverage, right to the head!

(Orleon loses 1 health level, and is now Somewhat Wounded.)

Seeing some random newcomer screwed by the vicissitudes of fate, Ajakstu calls out, "Yes, that's how it feels!"

https://youtu.be/qAeVlwRuP6Q

Orleon growns, damming this world of chaos that surrounds him.

The Duke recognizing the man that brought that nice little cooler with food that has never left the Dukes side ever after gives the man a smile but as the vending machine launches his cans at the Dukes bestestes of friends FOERS gets angry and on the Dukes head the implants sparkle and in his vision the vending machine turns into an enemy and enemies need destruction. As the thing is distracted by Orleon the Duke yells at it and steps in to lift the infernal machine up and shake against the wall till nothing pours out of it no more yelling as he does so.

"NOBODY HURTS MY FRIENDS YOU BLOODY TIN CAN!!! I ASKED YOU POLITELY TO GIVE THOSE CANS PROPERLY!!!!"

ooc: 7 on a forceful with a -1

The Duke shakes the soda machine, and shakes it and shakes it and shakes it, and all the cans of soda inside of it.

...BOOOOOMMMMMMMM.

All the carbonated soda cans explode at once, as does the vending machine. The Duke and Orleon are wet and sticky now.

(The Duke takes 1 new damage, but that particular vending machine is permanently defeated.)

Ajakstu snickers at the sight.

Seeing that The Duke is distracted he goes over to the candy machines to see if he can get any out for himself, and also to see if they ever accepted payment, because that would certainly mean they held treasure within!

It seems to Ajakstu's expert opinion that there is some treasure in the machines-- probably coins-- but not much.

But they'll give him free candy bars, and a few other treats. And there are several slightly-dented cans of soda lying around.

Alyn was eating a candy bar he had gotten before, putting pieces into his mouth like nibbling on popcorn, as he watched the show. It was probably a good thing that he didn't get involved. He may have accidentally blew them up or something as much as he could have just shut the thing down.

He went over to the vending machines with Ajak and got a few more snack packs and bars to put into his backpack, as well as a few cans of soda for later. He then turned to the Duke and headed over.

"Oh poor Dukie, you're all wet and stuff! I think I saw some rags and water stations back closer to the beds and I bet they even have a shower or something around here too." Alyn said.

He then clearly noticed Orleon's presence. His eyes flickered once visibly as he considered probing the man right on the spot, but decided against it and to play nice.

"You there. Yes you, in the robes and stuff. Do you work here? I really need to get my software drivers and stuff. The customer service in this place is atrocious as well, by the way. I mean come on the vending machines attacked my friend without even having some catchy jingle or elevator music playing. I mean I expect a bit more class from an on-the-fritz robot in a place like this." he said firmly. Possibly seriously.

"I'm not saying Rake CAN'T or WON'T eat new guy's eyes," Ajakstu said as he set to work on the largest or shiniest candy machine.


18:20, Today: Ajakstu Gul rolled 9 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 5,2.  Jigger the coin mechanism!

The Duke licks his fingers  and gives a big grin to Orlean and then rushes over to give the scrawny scholar a massive hug that might potentially take ones breath away not only because of how tight it is.

"What did you bring this time?"

He totally ignores that droning voice thats talking about a shower.

Ajakstu is able to get four coins out of the machine before two get permanently stuck, putting an end to that.

"Infernal machine," Orleon says looking at the traitorous device as he rubs his head.

Ajakstu scowls at the coins, trying to determine if they are legal tender in any realm he knows of in this age.

He glances at The Duke's new best friend. "Good to see the moths, Rat Breath, and Gas Bag have our backs."

Then he steps back, pondering. "Shower you say? Nothing bad EVER happens if one person wanders off to get cleaned up."

Alyn shrugs.

"True Jak, but this is the DUKE we're talking about. I'm pretty sure that whatever trope monster or other thing that would normally do something bad to him while he was showering would instead be the one who ended up getting preyed upon." he replied.

Also, the thought of the Duke naked in a shower alone was enough to give him pause, and it probably would terrify even the things that normally go bump in the night as well. There were normal people, and then the monsters that preyed upon them, and then there was the Duke.

He turned back to face Orleon.

"Um...I'm serious though. You had better start talking, weird robe-dude, before I stop being friendly. Do you work here or something, or are you a traveler passing through as well?"

"Perhaps he is the valet? Butler?" Ajasktu offered with deep sincerity.

Though Orleon's thoughts of an infernal machine are quickly squeezed out like paste from a tube by Duke's bear hug.

The Duke eyes his travel companions Orleon still in a solid hug dangling like a doll as he turns around his tone having a little edge.

"If you do not stop threatening my friend i have to punch you. He is the one that brought me my cooler. He is my bestestest friend in the world! Surely he is bringing more as he returned to the Ziggurat."

Though the Duke has soda dripping down his entire body and he smells super sweet he seems really protective about his friend and holds him really tight. (Is that nice man turning a little blue there?)

"What Dukie?" Alyn said casually and curiously.

"Do you actually know this guy? Is he from the Ziggurat too? Why didn't you just say so? Hell why didn't HE just say so?!" Alyn said with a roll of his eyes.

Alyn then grinned as he got an evil idea.

"So Dukie? Is he going to be your new pet, who you'll hug and squeeze and love all the time?" he asked.

The Duke grins hugging the poor sod till his air becomes a rare commodity in his lungs.

"He is my bestestes of friends. He gave me my cooler!! I am sure he is bringing ner supplies again."

To prove his point he releases poor Orleon for a second and shows the cooler which is now filled to overflowing its small cooler motor whining to keep any semblance of cold inside and he was also looking quite expectantly to his bestested of friends.