OP
Host
Lurker
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2009
- Messages
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- Thread Starter
- #221
Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)
Grave got around the bot without any need for theatrics; now that there was only one, and most of its limbs were preoccupied, getting behind it no longer required any aerial acrobatics. This did put him in direct line of fire of the two wraith-bots, but the rest of the squad had the dark mage covered. Bullets, both physical and energy tore into the pair, from Pale, Host and Suri’s fire, dropping the machines after a short burst. Grave’s actual attacks on the back of the creation had about as much success as the attacks on its front; hits that should have torn it like paper only dented it. Still, the hits would add up, and the few cords it had free were too few and too slow to hit the fast but brutal mage. The odd thing would fall–hopefully, before it killed their second-in-command.
Shade made the action fairly pointless, however. Manifesting energy barriers between molecules for the sake of cutting things may have been Shrike’s trademark, but the psychic was preoccupied, and the half-elf doubted Sinful would chastise him for using the same strategy. As strong as the creation’s armour was, it’s cables didn’t share the resistance. The barrier cut them from Shade’s direct commander, though it did take a bit of effort on the mage’s part. The greatest advantage about casting a barrier for cutting was that it also continued to defend the creature inside it; several cords of now-varying lengths immediately tried to pierce the barrier, but their electric charge was still oddly weak, and the attacks themselves easily repulsed without too much effort on part of Shade’s spell.
The creation didn’t have much chance to test the magical shield, anyway. While Sinful was still twitching too much to stand, let alone fight back, Burrito took revenge on her behalf. With Grave directly behind the target, his former commander didn’t want to use anything that might cause unnecessary collateral damage. Taking a page out of Sinful’s own book, Burrito closed the distance to the creation, stopping the rest of the squad from taking any more shots, not that they would need to. Burrito punched past the cords, and smashed something that sounded quite fragile inside the creation. Not entirely satisfied that the creation had been mauled enough, he grabbed hold of something complex and obtruding, tearing it out with his superhuman strength and the sound of twisting metal. The creation fell back, sparking internally – and a bonfire started up inside it. Burrito’s hand came away near black with oil, and a handful of pipes. It looked fairly cool, up until a spark struck the mess of flammable fluid and tangled metal in his fist, setting the limb alight.
The sound of the grenade explosion rocked the group before Burrito even moved to put himself out. It was only because of Shrike’s shield that they were not also rocked by the feeling of the grenade’s explosion, though the telepath’s mind might want to argue the definition of feeling – it certainly felt like the grenade had gone off between her ears. Despite the strain of repelling the shrapnel, the shield held up, even if its creator was bent double. The wall wouldn’t take another explosion like that, and it wouldn’t hold up for long if they stayed where they were any longer, continuing to be under fire from a hallway full of bots – but if they got moving immediately, and got lucky with bot encounters, Shrike should still be able to protect the flank while the ULMFers made their way out of the complex.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Host asked Sinful as he picked her up off the floor; she could stand, but not run – and the squad would soon be doing a lot of running. Being the most otherwise-useless member of the team, the Lurker got the job of hauling her until the nerve twitches died down… assuming she could still walk afterwards. “I was thinking we needed to move quickly, and I knew it wasn’t going to kill me.” The demon was hardly placated. “We both knew it wasn’t going to kill you -you aren’t the only one who’s checked into the past weapons Toonpimp’s used! It only needed to cripple you to screw us up, and now I have to carry you out of here!”
“Less whining, more carrying, please.” their commander added, before Sinful could retort. “If Sinful hadn’t attacked, I would have ordered her to – although I also would have let the rest of the team get into position before attacking. I would have preferred she announced her intentions, but it was a snap decision in a situation that needed them.”
“Writing up the mission report in your head already, I see.” Host quipped, getting his cargo into a comfortable position. “Cradle carry? Really?” said cargo pointed out in annoyance, and so the reptile provided her with other options.
“Would you rather I slung you over my shoulder?” The mercenary merely rolled her eyes. “Just try not to get me killed.”
The group now ready to leave, (Burrito having put his arm out - not a difficult feat as he was still without skin, leaving nothing to burn,) Pale gave the order to get going. “Path’s clear, Shrike; time to move. Let’s get going before more of those creations stumble onto us.”
Grave took up his position as point-man during their exit. Burrito trailed only slightly behind him; a strategic position, given that he was one of their meatier members when it came to taking hits. The rest of the group, being squishier and ranged attackers, stayed in the general vicinity of Shrike… and,if ever a decent group of bots ended up following the ULMF agents, Shrike would stop moving and set the barrier down, then develop small firing slits for the squad to massacre their tailing enemies through.
The base was nothing but identical passages, all seemingly at right angles to each other. The squad’s front group moved up to each intersection at it appeared, lying in wait to carve up any bots that turned the corner onto the group. Thankfully, Rapture could still remember the path she had taken to reach the control room in the first place – were it up to the rest of the group, they’d likely be wandering around until the timer ran out on the complex’s self-destruct. The bots that had been clustered behind Shrike’s shield were left behind fairly quickly; the few that were speedy enough to keep up with the group were held back by the mass of their slower companions. That didn’t stop new bots from getting in the way; when they came one at t a time, the things were only so much cannon fodder – but in groups of three or greater, they could slow the group down for a moment, something that the ULMFers really couldn’t afford. Miraculously, there had not been any of Toonpimp’s machine-mimicking creations since the three that had initially attacked the group, at least.
Despite the nature of the situation, Host found something to smile at, at least – even if no-one else could tell quite what. “Heh… feel that? No, of course you don’t.” He announced to the world in general, smiling with considerable self-assurance for someone in a life and death situation.
The squad’s tactics continued to work well, at least to a point. Waiting at the latest intersection of paths, this one down a fairly long stretch of corridor, the front group heard once more the sound of bots walking toward them. The defining difference, in this case, was the number – more than three, definitely. The vast majority of the bots in the complex seemed to be randomly wandering and didn’t intentionally group up, which made this larger group either some of the more intelligent constructs, or the result of very bad luck. The trailing group was too far back to hear the bots approach, and alerting them would have ruined the element of surprise. Instead, Grave and Burrito pounced at soon as the bots turned – all seven of them, in a loose bunch, and all still-skinned wraith bots. Four of the group had only handguns, conveniently; less convenientwere the bulky and rather archaic grenade launchers in the hands of the three at the front of the group, elevating the situation from ‘annoying speedbump’ to ‘WOAHSHI-’. The pair’s only blessings would be their initiative, and ability to take hits…
Grave got around the bot without any need for theatrics; now that there was only one, and most of its limbs were preoccupied, getting behind it no longer required any aerial acrobatics. This did put him in direct line of fire of the two wraith-bots, but the rest of the squad had the dark mage covered. Bullets, both physical and energy tore into the pair, from Pale, Host and Suri’s fire, dropping the machines after a short burst. Grave’s actual attacks on the back of the creation had about as much success as the attacks on its front; hits that should have torn it like paper only dented it. Still, the hits would add up, and the few cords it had free were too few and too slow to hit the fast but brutal mage. The odd thing would fall–hopefully, before it killed their second-in-command.
Shade made the action fairly pointless, however. Manifesting energy barriers between molecules for the sake of cutting things may have been Shrike’s trademark, but the psychic was preoccupied, and the half-elf doubted Sinful would chastise him for using the same strategy. As strong as the creation’s armour was, it’s cables didn’t share the resistance. The barrier cut them from Shade’s direct commander, though it did take a bit of effort on the mage’s part. The greatest advantage about casting a barrier for cutting was that it also continued to defend the creature inside it; several cords of now-varying lengths immediately tried to pierce the barrier, but their electric charge was still oddly weak, and the attacks themselves easily repulsed without too much effort on part of Shade’s spell.
The creation didn’t have much chance to test the magical shield, anyway. While Sinful was still twitching too much to stand, let alone fight back, Burrito took revenge on her behalf. With Grave directly behind the target, his former commander didn’t want to use anything that might cause unnecessary collateral damage. Taking a page out of Sinful’s own book, Burrito closed the distance to the creation, stopping the rest of the squad from taking any more shots, not that they would need to. Burrito punched past the cords, and smashed something that sounded quite fragile inside the creation. Not entirely satisfied that the creation had been mauled enough, he grabbed hold of something complex and obtruding, tearing it out with his superhuman strength and the sound of twisting metal. The creation fell back, sparking internally – and a bonfire started up inside it. Burrito’s hand came away near black with oil, and a handful of pipes. It looked fairly cool, up until a spark struck the mess of flammable fluid and tangled metal in his fist, setting the limb alight.
The sound of the grenade explosion rocked the group before Burrito even moved to put himself out. It was only because of Shrike’s shield that they were not also rocked by the feeling of the grenade’s explosion, though the telepath’s mind might want to argue the definition of feeling – it certainly felt like the grenade had gone off between her ears. Despite the strain of repelling the shrapnel, the shield held up, even if its creator was bent double. The wall wouldn’t take another explosion like that, and it wouldn’t hold up for long if they stayed where they were any longer, continuing to be under fire from a hallway full of bots – but if they got moving immediately, and got lucky with bot encounters, Shrike should still be able to protect the flank while the ULMFers made their way out of the complex.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Host asked Sinful as he picked her up off the floor; she could stand, but not run – and the squad would soon be doing a lot of running. Being the most otherwise-useless member of the team, the Lurker got the job of hauling her until the nerve twitches died down… assuming she could still walk afterwards. “I was thinking we needed to move quickly, and I knew it wasn’t going to kill me.” The demon was hardly placated. “We both knew it wasn’t going to kill you -you aren’t the only one who’s checked into the past weapons Toonpimp’s used! It only needed to cripple you to screw us up, and now I have to carry you out of here!”
“Less whining, more carrying, please.” their commander added, before Sinful could retort. “If Sinful hadn’t attacked, I would have ordered her to – although I also would have let the rest of the team get into position before attacking. I would have preferred she announced her intentions, but it was a snap decision in a situation that needed them.”
“Writing up the mission report in your head already, I see.” Host quipped, getting his cargo into a comfortable position. “Cradle carry? Really?” said cargo pointed out in annoyance, and so the reptile provided her with other options.
“Would you rather I slung you over my shoulder?” The mercenary merely rolled her eyes. “Just try not to get me killed.”
The group now ready to leave, (Burrito having put his arm out - not a difficult feat as he was still without skin, leaving nothing to burn,) Pale gave the order to get going. “Path’s clear, Shrike; time to move. Let’s get going before more of those creations stumble onto us.”
Grave took up his position as point-man during their exit. Burrito trailed only slightly behind him; a strategic position, given that he was one of their meatier members when it came to taking hits. The rest of the group, being squishier and ranged attackers, stayed in the general vicinity of Shrike… and,if ever a decent group of bots ended up following the ULMF agents, Shrike would stop moving and set the barrier down, then develop small firing slits for the squad to massacre their tailing enemies through.
The base was nothing but identical passages, all seemingly at right angles to each other. The squad’s front group moved up to each intersection at it appeared, lying in wait to carve up any bots that turned the corner onto the group. Thankfully, Rapture could still remember the path she had taken to reach the control room in the first place – were it up to the rest of the group, they’d likely be wandering around until the timer ran out on the complex’s self-destruct. The bots that had been clustered behind Shrike’s shield were left behind fairly quickly; the few that were speedy enough to keep up with the group were held back by the mass of their slower companions. That didn’t stop new bots from getting in the way; when they came one at t a time, the things were only so much cannon fodder – but in groups of three or greater, they could slow the group down for a moment, something that the ULMFers really couldn’t afford. Miraculously, there had not been any of Toonpimp’s machine-mimicking creations since the three that had initially attacked the group, at least.
Despite the nature of the situation, Host found something to smile at, at least – even if no-one else could tell quite what. “Heh… feel that? No, of course you don’t.” He announced to the world in general, smiling with considerable self-assurance for someone in a life and death situation.
The squad’s tactics continued to work well, at least to a point. Waiting at the latest intersection of paths, this one down a fairly long stretch of corridor, the front group heard once more the sound of bots walking toward them. The defining difference, in this case, was the number – more than three, definitely. The vast majority of the bots in the complex seemed to be randomly wandering and didn’t intentionally group up, which made this larger group either some of the more intelligent constructs, or the result of very bad luck. The trailing group was too far back to hear the bots approach, and alerting them would have ruined the element of surprise. Instead, Grave and Burrito pounced at soon as the bots turned – all seven of them, in a loose bunch, and all still-skinned wraith bots. Four of the group had only handguns, conveniently; less convenientwere the bulky and rather archaic grenade launchers in the hands of the three at the front of the group, elevating the situation from ‘annoying speedbump’ to ‘WOAHSHI-’. The pair’s only blessings would be their initiative, and ability to take hits…
