[Nexus] Random Places and Plots 4

[Rebonack]

[Dungeons of Doom!]

Wait...

What's thing?

There's most than just gold in the pouch!

There's also a small crystal vial with a label on it! Hmmm... Apparently it's a potion of detect hostility? No doubt chugging it will allow the imbiber to temporarily sense the presence of things that want to murder them!

That's probably useful.

Y'know, given how many things seem to want to get their murder on around here.

Vinge heads up toward the north-east corner of the room, fiddles with the wall a bit, and causes another passage to slide open! They now have two paths to choose from! "Seem to be a lot of hidden doors around here..."

[Halae]

[Dungeons of Doom]

Torg will count out half the gold for himself and half for Vinge, as well as giving Vinge the potion.

"Good work, Toy Man!" Torg says enthusiastically, beginning his march down the hall, "Explore!"

[Rebonack]

[Dungeons of Doom!]

Vinge has no idea what to do with the potion. "What is this for, exactly?" he inquires. See? No idea. And no desire to drink random bottles of black fluid that fell out of the guts of a monster.

Anywho, through the most recently opened passage!

Another somewhat wide hallway that soon branches off, one path toward the north and the other toward the northeast. Dead animals line the metal halls, though the path to the north feels significantly colder than then other.

Which way shall they go?

The northern, cold path?

Or the warmer path that smells more of decay?

Both will probably be unpleasant.

[The Bushranger]

[The Quest]

Why, thank you, I sp- hey!

Run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch them, they're daffodil men! Or clovers. Whatever.

Crissy may trip over something in the field as she runs! If she does, a yelp from a human voice is heard, but it doesn't come from Crissy or Dorota!

Crissy does, indeed trip - and finds herself sprawling flat on her face with an oof!
It takes a moment before she registers what she heard. But when she does, she spins around wide-eyed.
"Who's there?!"

[Halae]

[Dungeons of Doom]

"Toy man, drink potion. Tell us if monster ahead," Torg points to the black vial if it is visible. He seems wary.

[Rebonack]

[Dungeons of Doom!]

Vinge looks at the potion again.

"I can't even identify what this stuff is made of," he states in a rather flat tone. "And given that I know where it came from I'm really not at all inclined to drink it."

That's pretty understandable, honestly.

Would YOU want to drink something that just fell out of a monster that apparently wanted to butcher you?

Probably not!

And it would seem Vinge is no different in that regard!

Soo... Which way are they going to go?

[Halae]

[Dungeons of Doom]

Torg gives Vinge a flat look and extends his hand, palm up like he wants Vinge to give him something. His entire expression says, 'if you won't do it, I will.'

[Rebonack]

[Dungeons of DOOM!]

Vinge is an archeologist!

Not an adventurer!

He doesn't put his trust in labels on bottles of black fluid if he can't tell what said fluid is.

The vial is handed over to the troll with the following bit of caution. "I know this stuff has an odd power reading. But I have no idea what it is or what it does."

Though the label is pretty clear.

It helps you detect hostile things!

And that would be helpful, right?

[Halae]

[Dungeons of Doom]

"Read label, Toy Man" he says flatly.

Wait, Torg can read?

He imbibes the liquid, and casts about for any sign of hostility. Or creatures that might be hostile.

[Rebonack]

[Dungeons of Doom!]

Like all randomly generated items in the Dungeons of Doom! there's a chance that a potion might be normal, blessed, or cursed. ...or not what the label says it is. And it's up to the dice to decide when one is used!

So let's find out, shall we?

1-2: Cursed
3-5: Normal
6: Blessed

Aaaaaaaand the result is-

Three!

It's a normal potion.

There's something hostile down the northern passage! There's something ELSE hostile creeping up on them from the way they had come previously.

After a few moments of clarity the effect of the potion fades.

[Halae]

[Dungeons of Doom]

with a swift motion, Torg pulls back his massive club... and chucks it straight at the thing that was following them. It's an accurate toss, so unless the thing wants to get hit by twenty pounds of wood and metal traveling at high speeds, it may want to move.

Fast.

[Rebonack]

[Dungeons of Doom!]

Torg's club crushes a mudcrab!

The mudcrab is smashed to smithereens without any trouble to speak of. And a good thing too. It probably would have pinched someone otherwise. And there's nothing worse than being pinched by a mudcrab.

All they do is pinch and hate.

And make more mudcrabs, of course.

But that shouldn't be mistaken for love between mudcrabs since mudcrabs are only capable of feeling hate and contempt for other living things.

He probably did the world a favor by killing the cranky crustacean. It won't be missed at all by anyone.

Vinge stares at the exploded crab incredulously. "This place seems a bit cold for arthropods."

[Halae]

[Dungeons of Doom!]

Torg retrieves his club and searches the body to see if there's any loot besides crab meat. After all, mudcrabs often carry lockpicks.

[Rebonack]

[Dungeons of DOOM!]

Nope.

No loot this time.

Just exploded crab remains.

Certainly not anything worth keeping.

Unless you really like to eat raw crab. Rebo advises against eating raw crab, however.

Vinge is actually somewhat surprised that more money didn't tumble out of the dead critter for no readily apparent reason. That seems to be a common theme among things down here in the dungeons of doom!

Silly doom.

[Halae]

[Dungeons of Doom]

In that case, Torg will head towards the other source of hostility, running at full tilt with his club high in the air. He'll swing if he sees something even vaguely threatening. Including at a trap or something.

[Rebonack]

[Dungeons of DOOM!]

Torg runs up the northern path!

Vinge eeps and hurries along behind him, dropping onto all fours and bounding along to keep up!

They both encounter a very icy, SLIPPERY PATCH of floor soon there after and go sliding into a large chamber! A chamber about 40 feet wide and 70 feet long. On the opposite wall sports an IRON DOOR and a TALL ARCHWAY. The whole room is thick with ICE and ample amounts of CRUNCHY SNOW.

There's also a big UNJOLLY SNOWMAN in the middle of the room. It appears to be the sources of HOSTILITY that Torg noticed earlier. The monster is equipped with a BLOODY RIB for a smile and a MISSHAPEN FINGER BONE for a nose.

And both our heroes are sliding right toward it!

What do they do?

==>

[Halae]

[Dungeons of Doom]

Torg uses the momentum of the sliding. If possible, he pushes it faster! Torg will smash it to bits, given the chance. Momentum!

[Rebonack]

[Dungeons of DOOM!]

Torg slides right into the UNJOLLY SNOWMAN and whollops it mightily with his CLUB! This seems to have damaged the snowman, but it isn't going down just yet! It reaches out to rake at the troll with its UNJOLLY CLAWS as he goes sliding past!

Vinge, meanwhile, digs his talons into the ice and comes to a grinding halt still some distance away from the snowman. A slight hum sounds from his DARK ENERGY ARRAY and he becomes effectively weightless!

It's a lot harder to slip around when one is weightless. It's also hard to move around, but Vinge is use to operating in zero gravity. His VARIABLE GAUNTLET reconfigures into REVOLVER mode and fires a pair of LARGE SPIKES at the snowman!

The rounds crunch into the thing and Vinge is propelled backwards by the force of the shots.

==>

[Halae]

[Dungeons of Doom]

Torg will get clawed by the UNJOLLY CLAWS! oh no!

But that doesn't keep torg down! He uses the club the grind along the ice, slowing him down, and then starts moving his feet to send him back the way he came! He comes right back towards the Snowman, but Vinge and the UNJOLLY MONSTROSITY will get their turns first.

[Rebonack]

[Dungeons of DOOM!]

The UNJOLLY SNOWMAN responds to Vinge's attack by hurling a bunch of REALLY HARD SNOWBALLS at him! Normally you would think that a bunch of snowballs wouldn't be that useful against someone with futuristic body armor. But no matter who you are it's hard to see when you get hit in the face by blinding snow.

"GAH!"

The REALLY HARD SNOWBALLS shatter on impact before freezing into OBSCURING ICE!

Vinge has been blinded!

He begins clawing at the ice in a bid to get it off his eyes.

Stupid ice.

==>

[Halae]

[Dungeons of Doom]

And so, Torg comes up on what should be the back of the UNJOLLY SNOWMAN. He immediately attempts to take off its eyes, nose, and mouth. He probably collides with it while doing this.

[Rebonack]

[Dungeons of DOOM!]

The UNJOLLY SNOWMAN is attack from behind! And what's more he has his FACIAL FEATURES stolen!

He's now as blind as Vinge is!

The snowman begins to FLAIL VIOLENTLY since it really doesn't have anything better to do. It'll probably be pretty easy to finish it off at this point.

Meanwhile!

Vinge begins to heat up his plastoceramic skin, slowly turning the OBSCURING ICE into ANNOYING SLUSH.

At least you can wiped slush out of your eyes.

==>

[Halae]

[Dungeons of Doom]

Stolen facial features! Yay!

Torg will then attempt to grab the flailing arms and Pull them off!

[Rebonack]

[Dungeons of DOOM!]

The UNJOLLY SNOWMAN, now that his ARMS have been pulled off too, is now little more than a giant snowcone without any delicious fruit syrup. He becomes inert and lifeless.

The a *FWUMPH!* it collapses, leaving behind a SMALL WOODEN CHEST!

Woohoo!

More loot!

There seems to be lots of loot down here.

Probably normal considering that it's a dungeon and all.

Vinge manages to finally clear all the SLUSH off his face and looks a bit perturbed. His DARK ENERGY ARRAY hums ominously as he settles back onto the floor. Technology that uses DARK ENERGY always sounds ominous. Probably no reason to be worried about it.

"I'm growing increasingly skeptical that the man who sent us down here in the first place was ever here."

==>

[Halae]

[Dungeons of Doom]

Torg's face lights up when the chest is revealed, "Loot!"

He immediately raids the chest, evidently ignoring Vinge's complaints. Geeze, Toy Man. Don't you ever get tired of complaining?

[Neon Knight]

[The Quest]

Crissy does, indeed trip - and finds herself sprawling flat on her face with an oof!
It takes a moment before she registers what she heard. But when she does, she spins around wide-eyed.
"Who's there?!"

[The Quest]

A little girl, apparently sleeping prior to getting tripped over, sits up amidst the heath of the meadow, one hand rubbing her head. The wool-spun dress and wooden clogs aren't usual, but the two rabbit ears and the fluffy cottonball tail at the small of her back are. Also noticeable are the crimson petals and clover leaves she has decorating her hair.

The little rabbitgirl suddenly freezes like a... well, like a rabbit about to bolt. Crissy or Dorota have a chance to say something to her. Maybe they'll manage to convince her not to run away.

[Halae]

[The Future]

The Nexus has never been the most stable place in the omniverse, and 75 here sees more change than in most places.

It's still the place we know and love - chaos everywhere, but there's a Different tone to it. Tech level has expanded almost everywhere; it was just a matter of time really. With access to the technology from some worlds, the Nexus was quickly able to become a thriving technological marvel. Business carried on as usual. Many threats to the city, Apocalypses and invasions and even corrupting influences from inside the walls. They've all been stopped, as they always will.

However, time changes things. The organizations fell and were replaced by new ones. Remnant fell and was replaced by a long train of governments that never ruled quite as well as they did, or as intelligently, and thus lasted not nearly as long. Their designs are still used though; the remnant schematics for power armor were modified and are now used by the dragons.

The dragons are the management of inside now. A coalition of True dragons and their half-blood offspring started small, creating a bank with funds provided by their hoards. it grew quickly, as with half-dragons guarding it it was the most secure bank in the city. In lieu of a true government, the bank acts as enforcers and police, dragonkin roaming the streets in power armor based on designs that are decades old, but simply can't be beaten.

A pair of such just these young people are currently in the gray zone streets, chasing after a man well into his middle age. The man they chase took out loans from the bank, and has failed to return. He wears a haggard, old suit, and judging by the way it strains around his stomach, he's been wearing it since he was a younger, fitter man. he runs for all he's worth now, taking turns and hoping to give the pair of power armored half-dragons on his tail the slip.

Of the two, one has wings and a pair of protrusions on his helmet to account for a pair of horns. The other has a tail and customized legs for a pair of draconic feet.

"Del!" She says over their com link, a distinctly feminine voice coming through, "Shoot him in the damn leg! You're the better shot here!" That certainly explains why she's wearing a power sword at her hip, with nothing but a laspistol for range. Probably much better in close combat than shooting.

[Chaotic Bob]

[The Future]

Despite the dragons having properly risen to power, sired large numbers of half-bloods, and supplanted most major systems of control, humans remain the dominant demographic within the city still.
Just because they have the numbers, however, does not mean that they are confident of their place.

While in many ways, as long as you followed the rules, did what you needed to, life under this new regime was perfectly fine...the dragons did have a tendency towards harshness.
This has resulted in nervous respect for most, and in certain situations, outright fear of their reptilian lords and their kin.

This is shown tonight, rather clearly.
As the two half-dragons run, chasing their target, windows and shutters in nearby buildings clothes, pedestrians quickly move towards alleys or into shops.
No one wants to be remotely involved in this conflict, or worse, be seen as an obstruction.
Obstructions are rarely treated politely, when weapons are involved.

The other half-dragon slows his run slightly, carefully pulling up a scoped lasrifle and peering off towards the runner.
"He's taking a corner."
He slows his run further, lining up a shot quickly, before the opportunity is completely lost.

Two men obscure the shot, in their haste to flee the scene across the street, and at precisely the wrong second, one stands exactly between a gun barrel and its target, as a finger pulls the trigger.

"Tsk, side casualty for the cleaners.
I think he's making a run for the subway, Mi."
The man's voice is restraining a simmering anger, possibly at the missed shot, distorting what could normally be a smooth and pleasant tone.

[Halae]

[The Future]

"Damnit!" She yells, pushing herself a bit faster, "That pudgy ass must have drunk a haste potion or something. Nobody with that much fat moves this fast naturally."

She turns the corner in another instant, chasing after the man, and wondering where he'd gotten the money for that potion. for a second, she loses sight of him, but catches sight of his jacket making a mad dash for the riftline subways, just like Del said. Taking off after him, and presumably with Del not too far behind, she'll follow him into the subways.

[Chaotic Bob]

[The Future]

"Potion or not, if we lose him in that subway, we might not find him again!"
The lasrifle is lowered quickly to his side again, picking back up to the dead sprint he had moments ago to catch back up with his partner and their target.

"I'm right behind, take an opportunity if you get one!"
Again, a slight simmer of anger as the man slips into the tunnels, masked behind a focus on the task at hand and a determination to get this done.
It's just another menial job, just another chore.

****

The man leaps down the stairs into the Riftline tunnels, leaving no care for safe-descent as he flees.
Being caught would mean death or worse, or whatever it is the bank does to those that owe it money. They aren't often heard from again, and he's not interested in joining those ranks.

At the bottom of the stairs, he breaks a left towards a dimly lit hall, leading towards a side maintenance tunnel he's heard about.

"That's far enough, Leonard. I can take it from here."
A liquid form slides across the ceiling of the hall, noiselessly falling to the ground before the fleeing man, who has by now skidded to a halt.
"Sasch...I was worried you wouldn't show!"
"We promised you an out.
An out we have delivered."
"Than-"

The form quickly wraps around the man, like a living blanket, dragging it against a wall, and up towards the ceiling, immediately silencing it and placing it within the shadows.

As the foot-steps of the enforcers can be heard beyond, the form falls back to the floor, immediately taking the shape of the suited man, quickly folding out a wrinkle on its pants, and then patiently waiting for its pursuers.