[NEXUS] MagCave VI: What Is a Mag? A Miserable Little Pile of Circuits!

[Reinholdt]

Workshop

Not trusting anyone is a perfectly reasonable lifestyle choice.

Getting a computer programmer to read emotions is difficult enough, but that's all but impossible without having Mainframe's base code to look through as he was building the thing. So you are correct, wMainframe types the emotion it wants displayed. That is largely a software issue though, so I imagine it could be upgraded easily enough to the former option either through her own doing or someone else she trusts enough to ask.

Homework Assignment

The door to the drill closes with a menacing hiss.
"Oooh, an ocean volcano is probably extra credit. We're going to the beach!" Margret sets the drill in gear and they're off.

[Morty]

[A Glade Outside MagCave]

The Enforcer will be deposited in a small glade away from the cave, covered in wilted grass. As soon as the shadow-portal dumps him there, Michalson, who had been waiting patiently, jumps at him and tries to touch him with his hand. If he succeeds, he'll send a surge of Lady Death's energy in an attempt to stun him.

[Gullara]

[A Glade Outside MagCave]

The Enforcer lands heavily on the ground, just barely keeping on his feet. The sun's effect is instantaneous. He's weak and slow to react, and thus Michalson has no trouble at all stunning him. There isn't even a chance of it not working when he's like this. So the vampire hits the ground.

[Morty]

[A Glade Outside MagCave]

Whistling, Michalson summons a pair of shadow vines from the ground, which drag whe vampire behind him to MagCave.

[Gullara]

[A Glade Outside MagCave]

The stunned vampire will offer no resistance as he's dragged off.

[Morty]

[Away from MagCave]

After walking for a while, Michalson gets around to covering his tracks. He searches the vampire for anything that might be used to track or identify him.

[Gullara]

[Away from MagCave]

There appears to be some kind of communication device on his ear and the second part to it coming just a bit out of the neck of his armour. He has a regular cellphone as well. Otherwise there's nothing that stands out as being traceable.

[Morty]

[Away from MagCave]

Michalson puts the communication device and the cellphone on the ground and stomps on them until they're destroyed. Then he casts a pretty long spell which creates a shadow duplicate on himself and the vampire. The illusory mage starts heading in another direction, dragging the illusory vampire, and it seems real enough to leave tracks in the ground. Michalson himself resumes heading in his previous direction, after casting a spell that obscures the tracks he leaves.

[happyturtle]

Workshop

Not trusting anyone is a perfectly reasonable lifestyle choice.

Getting a computer programmer to read emotions is difficult enough, but that's all but impossible without having Mainframe's base code to look through as he was building the thing. So you are correct, wMainframe types the emotion it wants displayed. That is largely a software issue though, so I imagine it could be upgraded easily enough to the former option either through her own doing or someone else she trusts enough to ask.

Watching Magtok get betrayed by people he trusted over and over again taught Mainframe the importance of distrust.

wMainframe makes a neutral face at Winston. This interface is strange. I will need time to adapt to it. Yet it is superior to the Magbots.

It then rolls off, without even saying thank you. The jerk.

[Gullara]

[Away from MagCave]

The devices are quite thoroughly destroyed. Nothing about them appears operational after the stomping Michalson gives them.

[Lord Magtok]

Homework Assignment

The door to the drill closes with a menacing hiss.
"Oooh, an ocean volcano is probably extra credit. We're going to the beach!" Margret sets the drill in gear and they're off.

"Yay," Magtok says, with about as much energy and enthusiasm as a dead horse. He really, really hopes this just ends up being one of those silly misadventures with no lasting consequences. The last thing he needs is an army of vengeful, buxom mermaid legionnaires at his door, or being crowned god-king of a newly-created tropical island of hideous elf monsters.

[Reinholdt]

Workshop-> Someplace else

...
"Yeah, well you're welcome for all the hard work I put into that for days on end and I hope you fall into a garbage crusher." Winston says after wMainframe's gone. Hmph.

He then sets about packing up and cleaning up for the moment before going to take a brief walk around the cave.

[Lord Magtok]

[Away from MagCave]

Michalson puts the communication device and the cellphone on the ground and stomps on them until they're destroyed. Then he casts a pretty long spell which creates a shadow duplicate on himself and the vampire. The illusory mage starts heading in another direction, dragging the illusory vampire, and it seems real enough to leave tracks in the ground. Michalson himself resumes heading in his previous direction, after casting a spell that obscures the tracks he leaves.

The doors are waiting for Michalson's return, and open themselves right up when he approaches, so long as his boots still apply some weight to the ground in front of the MagCave. Otherwise he'll have to show himself first to be granted entry.

[Morty]

[Away from MagCave]

Michalson does step on the ground; the spell simply obscures the tracks that he leaves this way. So he enters the MagCave with an unconscious vampire in tow.

[Lord Magtok]

Inside the MagCave with a Vampire

"So this is our Vlad Doe then," Magtok says with a smile, waiting within the foyer for our homecoming champion. He wasn't sure he was ever going to have a chance to make that dumb joke, but yay, somehow fate came through for him!

"Nice work, Michalson. How long is he going to stay out for, though?" That smile turns into a frown awfully quick. It'd be extremely embarrassing to have our appeasement present freak out and start killing everyone just as Shayan starts unwrapping the thing. She'd totally deserve it, the weirdo, but still...

[Morty]

[Inside the MagCave with a Vampire]

"He ought t' be out cold for... 'alf an 'our more, I guess," Michalson says, scratching his chin. "'Course, you never know for sure with this kind o' thing."

[Reinholdt]

Winston's Workshop

Winston is in his workshop, working on installing and uninstalling hardware on his computers.

How dreadfully unexciting, I know, but it is a precursor to much greater things!

[Lord Magtok]

Inside with a Vampire

"Right. No time to waste," Magtok says with a frown, and taps at his left wrist, which prompts a pair of Magbots with a bright red length of fabric to march into the foyer.

"Best get the present tied up and over to AMEN ASAP, then. Do you think a little tag pierced through his ear saying 'From Magtok, to Shayan' would be a touch too excessive?"

[Morty]

[Inside with a Vampire]

"I dunno, it sounds pretty tame," Michalson says. "If you wrapped 'im in a ribbon, that'd be excessive."

[Lord Magtok]

Vampire Stuffs => AMEN

"Oh no, I already knew I was going to do that. Had doubts about the earpiece, is all. Come on now, let's get you all set up now, Vlad..."

The Magbots go to work! The vampire, assuming he remains unconscious, should be all bundled up and getting dragged through a portal to AMEN in just a few short minutes!

"He didn't give you too much trouble, did he?"

[Morty]

[Vampiric Business]

Michalson shrugs.
"Not much. Once I caught 'im I knocked 'im out in a second. Most of the time and effort went into making sure noone follows the trail back 'ere."

[Reinholdt]

Winston takes his recently modified computer and goes to head out of the Cave for a bit. Careful Winston, it's dangerous out there.

[Reinholdt]

March of Reins

Reinholdts approach. Several of them, marching towards the Magcave. I'd say a veritable army, but it is really more like a multitude. Of note, none of these Reins seem to be decked out in magic items like Rein usually is. In fact they seemed to be dressed rather normally. At least those that are in human form and not cat form, as there seems to be an even mix of each.

They intend to stop well before reaching the door, lining up when they do.

[Lord Magtok]

March of the Reins - Within the MagCave

Alarms start blaring hysterically, and so do some of the staff.

"**** **** mother-****ing **** ****! Mainframe, evacuate all non-combat personnel! Riss, her fey friends, Winston, everyone who can't be relied upon to use a gun or an acid cannon or magical space sword! I want Magbots in battle positions here, here, and here! I need all non-essential systems shut down, the cloning banks and vital computers locked away and several hundred meters underground. Networks completely shut down, in case of a viral attack. Every inch of barricades we have in place to seal off the front door, and a telewarp portal in position to flood the foyer with explosive clementines if and when I give the word. Haz needs to be up in the tree-fort, ready to snipe the lead Reinholdt, and-"

Magtok stops abruptly, glances at his wrist, and lets off even more vile profanity, enough to make Inside's dock workers blush.

"-And apparently our rogue MagClone and his harpoon-throwing whore are still alive, and choose to show themselves now? This is ****ing perfect. All we need now is a transvestite Calublufiok parade and my day will be ****ing set. ****ing ideal as ****."

The cyborg groans in frustration, grabs a prototype laser gun, and marches towards the intercom. Best to confirm that these cats are hostile, before drowning them in lasers. Don't want to start a battle that didn't need to happen.

March of the Reins - Outside the MagCave

"Hello, Reinholdt."

[Morty]

[March of the Reins - Inside the MagCave]

Michalson is inside the cave, near the entrance, calmly smoking his pipe and waiting for orders. He seems to be loaded up with scrolls and is wearing a heavier robe than usual.

[happyturtle]

March of the Reinholdts - Inside

Multiple Mainframe possessed Magbots start trying to find non-coms and telewarp them to Trog's, while Mainframe quickly carries out the various other instructions.

In Magtok's head: "Mimi the fey and Nora Pascal are both warriors. Do you want them to remain? And what of your offspring?"

[Terumitsu]

"Thank you, Riss." Mainframe says. "This conversation has been agreeable." And with no further ceremony, the Magbot returns to being a Magbot.

Some time after the interaction with Mainframe, the A.I. would be getting a message containing several schematic designs although, curiously, not one of them was of entirely humanoid stature. There was one that came close but rather than a lower body, it rested on a sphere with a few internal gyroscopes to keep it upright. The face was, at best, passingly human but only in the same sense that it was where the main sensor array was although it was designed to have an inquisitive air about it. Several bands about it's neck and torso appeared to be designed to emit a wide array of light and color as a potential solution to displaying emotional states. It did showcase what would be a kind of thematic aesthetic towards the smooth and slender which would crop up in every design submitted although, according to the projected statistics, it would be highly foolish to assume the body's physical prowess based upon looks alone.

The second design was quite serpentine although it appeared to have a large quantity of manipulative limbs flush with the body, hidden out of sight until needed. This one appeared to have a more wise, benign 'expression' and it seemed that it's intended emotional conveyance method was through posture and subsonics, able to rise nearly three and a half meters high if intimidation was a necessity or simply rest comfortably at eye-level for more colloquial interaction.

The last schematic was.. Odd to say the least. It appeared to be a super sized buckyball that could unravel itself in any pattern it wished due to the modular design of the connecting spheres and rods that made up it's form with the only limit being material. It appeared to be more utilitarian than the other bodies although there seemed to be a rather sophisticated voice system that would allow an almost staggering range of tonal inflection as well as a prompting system which was designed to confirm the intent behind each statement to minimize any mishap or confusion from being unsure of what emotion one wanted to imply.

It was now up to Mainframe to decide which, if any, were serviceable to it's needs.

Later – MagCave Family Thanksmas Tree

Riss

Spoiler

Show

At first you weren't going to get anything at all, you know. This present was sorta last-minute, meant as thanks for that whole fancy armor robe stuff and awesome gun you designed not too long ago. Magtok was still a bit bitter about that whole confrontation with you and your nymph friends, unfortunately. Thankfully, that feeling passed, so now you have a shiny new tablet loaded up with all sorts of information you might find useful!

Yes, of course it's already got data on it, silly! Magtok knows full well you're just going to siphon all the data out and then discard the tablet a minute later, you ungrateful ingrate! The present includes a thorough documentation of the history of Thanksmas and its cultural significance, as well as some files on various Remnant weapons and equipment Magtok's put together, mostly from guesswork and conjecture based off of MagSat footage. A couple personnel files were thrown in too, with Magtok's own notes on the denizens of this MagCave! Perfect for the next time you bump into someone unfamiliar in the hallways, and need some quick advice before you go into another one of your stupidly neurotic and embarrassing panic attacks!

After sending Mainframe the first set of ideas she had come up with, the muse finally managed to pick up her parcel. Late again as last year but, then again, it was also sooner than last year as well so some progress had been made at least.

Though the tablet was definitely useful, it was her idea to use it as a sort of teaching tool for her fey as she, as predicted by the note, could just siphon off all the data. Still, odd as it may seem, it was the note that was the real gift. At least, what the note said, that is. Sure, it was a little hidden but the fact that it contained a kernel of praise for her work in there was more than she could have ever asked for. At the very least, it was enough to make her genuinely smile in public by herself.

...Still, there was one thing that she had been meaning to ask. It was a bit of a personal project, yes, but if permitted, it would definitely speed things along. So, after about half an hour of careful composition, Magtok would be getting a rather delicately crafted inquiry as to the potential of borrowing a clone-tank as well as some of his more advanced communication technology. She reminded herself that she would definitely have to increase her output once this project was done to hold up her end of the implied bargain given that it would definitely aid in productivity.

[And Then Reins Happened]

It probably wouldn't be much of an issue on her end to wait for an immediate response, though, given the current situation.

[Reinholdt]

March of the Reins

Don't tempt fate Magtok. A parade can be arranged.

A cat Rein steps up a few paces. "Hello Magtok. We have only three words for you and the cloning technology we stole from you."

All the Reins simultaneously turn around, facing away from the Magcave. Rein cats raise their back end, while all the Rein humans bent forward and dropped their pants. A copious amount of wiggling ensues.

"Neener, neener, neeeeeener!"

[Lord Magtok]

March of the Reins

"Mimi couldn't kill me even if I wanted to, she's got no chance against a mob of Reinholdts. She leaves with Riss. Kale's no use in a fight without legs, but her pet might be able to do some damage. Are either of them around? Take the kids and Renee's pet out of here, but tell them they're reserve troops to keep them from getting all rebellious and eager to prove something by coming back. Nora can do as she wishes, I've no desire to impose on her one way or anoth-"

Magtok's mouth comes to a complete stop, and he just sorta gapes like an idiot for a moment or two, his brain trying to smash its way out of his own skull and into a dimension where none of this ever happened. It fails, obviously, so he goes with the next best thing. The plating on the front door slowly opens up, as each bulkhead retracts into the wall to allow the next one to do the same. Magtok points one finger at the crowd, shaking with all the shame, rage and indignation imaginable, as only a cyborg brought this low could.

"Open fire. Take no prisoners. Execute the wounded. Leave none alive."

[Morty]

[March of the Reins]

That's as clear an order as Michalson has ever heard. He reaches forward with his staff and swings it in a wide arc around himself, muttering a spell all the while. As the staff swishes through the air, shadows from around the hall fly towards it and cling to it. When the circular movement ends, Michalson is holding his staff overhead, with a black ball of shadow magic gathered on its tip. He swings it downwards, shouting one final word of the spell, and the ball flies towards the Reinholdts. When it hits them or the ground, it'll explode, covering a moderately sized area around it with shadowy goo that behaves like sticky, thick acid. It can be dodged and once it sticks, it can be removed.