Serious Plots 5: No lulz.

[Devixer]

Scripture and Sword

Ashley stays outside of the inn for now, as Ally heads in. People are already going to be suspicious of her, it'd be better if she didn't head inside without any protest.

The publican is in the front room of the inn. He's a bit surprised at her just instantly asking for a map, but he's also quick to get her one, since he knows not to make knights of any kind mad. "Not from around here, then?" he says, trying to strike up a conversation.

[Deathkeeper]

Abandoned Facility

Here is where Red's job ticket would have led here, a few miles outside of Inside. The door to the complex is a thick metal thing hidden in the side of a small hill on an open plain, overgrown with moss and greenery.

What does she do?

[Rebonack]

[Abandoned Facility]

Ah yes.

The job ticket.

Many members of Team Nightmære have been picking those up. Generating funds for their faction and all. After all, when you have that many people all working together with a common goal lots of resources are going to be consumed! And in spite of what you might have learned from Trog's insane pricing scheme, not everything in life is free.

Or unlife, as the case may be.

Regardless, this is where Red Velvet is supposed to be finding some rare books. Or at least that's what she gathered. Certainly seems like a simple enough job, right? The place will likely be crawling with killbots or maybe deranged experimental monsters. A nice, refreshing, brisk way to spend the afternoon as far as the hemomagus is concerned.

She's an interesting one, Red is. With a coat the color of the namesake treat and her mane the ivory off-white of cream cheese frosting. The mark on her flanks displays a cupcake with a cute little skull atop it. How... adorable?

So that leads to the question, what does she do?

Well!

She starts by doing what any self respecting pony would do out in a grassy hillside on a sunny day.

She rolls around in the grass for a bit.

That done, she rolls back to her hooves. She lights her horn with a sanguine glow, a rather creepy grin spreading across her face as a bloody gash gouges itself open along her spine, and hemorrhagic tendrils come snaking out of the wound to binding to the door. The animated blood will then begin dissolving the iron in the barrier, using it to fuel the creation of more blood. And then once the door's moorings have been sufficiently corroded? She'll yank the thing off its hinges and cast it aside.

"Knock knock! Is anypony home?" Red calls out into whatever may lay beyond.

[Deathkeeper]

Abandoned Facility

The door is "opened" revealing a dark staircase leading down, and a very large rat that hisses at the light she has cast on it. The walls are mostly old metal, dirty but not entirely rusty yet.
There IS a lightswitch nearby, about five feet from the floor of the first step, but the gloom-pony probably doesn't need that.

[Rebonack]

[Abandoned Facility]

"Well hello to you too," Red says to the rodent as she strides into the darkness. One of her tendrils snakes toward the light switch and flicks it on. Why? Gloompones might be able to see in the dark, but they can't resolve a lot of fine details such as color. Being able to see is helpful! Especially when dealing with camouflaged foes.

It isn't like the dark ever bothered her anyway.

[Deathkeeper]

Abandoned Facility

Down the stairs, Red will come to....another door! This one is made of a strange, sleek white material. There's no obvious means of opening it, but there is a large red eye-like lens next to it...

[Rebonack]

[Abandoned Facility]

Welp.

There's only one thing to do here.

Red trots up to the door, extends a tendril, and pokes lens-thing.

"Boop."

Poking it is always the first step in any investigation.

[Deathkeeper]

Abandoned Facility

Eeew.
Now there's totally a bloodstain on the lens.
A tiny little panel opens up from the wall, from which extends a tiny arm which wipes the smear away. The lens then focuses on Red Velvet.
UNIDENTIFIED VISITOR DETECTED. STATE NAME AND BUSINESS.
croaks a voice from damaged speakers.

[Rebonack]

[Abandoned Facility]

A rather lurid grin begins creeping across the gloomicorn's face at the question. "I'm Red Velvet. I'm here to repair the toaster."

A broken toaster?

Say it ain't so!

They should let her in right away lest any more toast get burned.

[Deathkeeper]

Abandoned Facility

There's a buzzing sound.
ERROR. 'RED VELVET' NOT FOUND IN DATABASE. 'TOASTER' NOT IN NEED OF REPAIRS. DENIED. PLEASE VACATE THE PREMISES.
whines the voice.

[Rebonack]

[Abandoned Facility]

Red pouts. "You're no fun at all."

And here she was hoping that the frizzy AI would accept her excuse if it was absurd enough! Violence probably wasn't going to help the situation either, so she would have to try something else.

To that end?

She begins looking for any seams or cracks in the door or the wall near it. She might be able to slip through...

[Deathkeeper]

Abandoned Facility

The door is pretty sturdy. The wall though...actually isn't doing as well. And Red does know where the panel of the lens' arm was...

[Rebonack]

[Abandoned Facility]

Indeed she does!

Step one?

Try prying the panel off. Maybe she can slip in through there...

Thankfully her blood tendrils combined with her TK make for a pretty decent amount of leverage.

[Deathkeeper]

Abandoned Facility

The panel comes off pretty easily. The tiny robot arm flails harmlessly at her.
WARNING: INTRUDER, CEASE DAMAGING THIS UNIT OR SECURITY PROTOCOLS WILL BE ACTIVATED.

[Rebonack]

[Abandoned Facility]

You know how the members of Team Nightmære are able to liquify themselves into gloom to slink around or avoid damage?

Well, Red Velvet can do that of course.

But when she melts the puddle of gloom has a distinctively sanguine hue.

The air fills with an overpowering metallic scent as Red goes fluid and attempts to go seeping into the mechanism for the door! Should she get inside she'll begin hunting for cracks and crevices to go slinking through until she finds her way to the other side.

And if there's anything in the way?

Well...

She has ways to deal with that. But we'll burn that bridge when we cross it.

[Deathkeeper]

Abandoned Facility

It might take some searching, but eventually, Red Velvet might find a crack in the wall where it's been dented in, raising one corner of the sheet of metal that made it up. Flowing out of it, she'll find the cause: a human body, well-aged (and probably smelly) wearing a sleek white security uniform. He appears to have been thrown into the wall so hard it broke his armor, the wall, and his spine.

The rest of the room is more of that white metal, in this case a wide room that looks like it was a bedroom for six people, though there doesn't appear to be any bodies except the former guard. There are a few footlockers, and what looks like a communal bathroom behind one of two doors. That one is open, the other is not.

[Rebonack]

[Abandoned Facility]

Well!

That isn't terribly pleasant, is it?

"You've seen better days," she comments to the dead guard as she rematerializes on the other side of the door. She makes a mental note to try dragging this guy out of the building and give him a proper burial if nothing else. He deserves that dignity rather than just rotting here on the floor.

Alright!

Book searching!

Red will begin to rifle through the foot lockers first.

Maybe the book is stowed in there?

[Deathkeeper]

Abandoned Facility

The footlockers contain mostly clothes, but each has a few personal odds and ends.
The first has a tiny trumpet.
The second has a plastic model of a spaceship.
The third has a notebook full of scientific diagrams.
The fourth has a tiny windup robot with something written on its foot.
The fifth has a flask containing what smells like whiskey, or something similar.
The sixth has a old-fashioned metal key.

[Rebonack]

[Abandoned Facility]

Ooooh, trinkets!

The thing about adventures is that you never know when you might run into something important that needs to be rubbed on something else to unlock a puzzle. With that in mind, Red snags all the stuff!

Though specifically she flips the robot over to inspect its feet.

Hopefully it'll have a message for her more relevant than 'Made in China'.

[Deathkeeper]

Abandoned Facility

Written on the robot's foot in absolutely tiny writing is:
"Come Home Soon Dad- Freddy"

[Rebonack]

[Abandoned Facility]

...

Well.

That's awful.

Daddy probably won't be coming home soon.

Red arranges the pile of trinkets near the door, hanging onto the key for the time being. Keys are almost always useful in adventure scenarios after all. The rest of the stuff can wait for her to finish exploring.

Then?

She's going to check out that closed door. If it's locked, she'll try the key. If the key doesn't work, she try persuading the door to open. And by persuading we mean ripping the door off its hinges.

[Deathkeeper]

Abandoned Facility

The door is opened! It leads out to a small hallway leading to four other doors. The one across from the one Velvet just left is labeled "Lounge" with a little white sign above the door.
However, before she can read the other doors' signs, a seven-foot tall white bipedal construct comes lurching out of the door on the far end.
WILDLIFE DETECTED IN FACILITY. COMMENCING PACIFICATION.
One of its limbs ends in a hand, but the other appears to be something akin to a taser. A very large taser.

[Rebonack]

[Abandoned Facility]

WELP.

Red Velvet would really rather avoid being tazered. It's an understandable thing to feel iffy about. And so to avoid getting tazered she decides to do the wise thing and strike first.

"Oooh, you want to get wild with me? Kinky," the creepy gloomicorn purrs as several blood tendrils face the construct and begin to swell at the ends. There come a series of rather loud wet pops as a hail of organic steel alloy spike still coated with congealed blood are launched at the machine. Said projectiles are traveling at a wholly unhealthy speed. A normal human caught in the path would probably get ripped asunder, but no doubt the machine is made of sterner stuff.

Should the thing charge her she'll probably start evading.

But right now?

Right now she really needs to brace herself to launch those missiles. If she tried to run and gun she would likely knock herself over.

[Deathkeeper]

Abandoned Facility

A trio of spikes bury themselves into the automaton's chest. It staggers, but does not stop moving forward. Its left hand-arm seems to have been damaged from the spike lodged in its shoulder, though, and does not seem to be moving properly.
FAUNA SHOWING NATURAL WEAPONRY. LETHAL FORCE AUTHORIZED.

Oops.

[Terumitsu]

On The Journey => Parting Ways

The Captain gives a sigh. "I do know what it looked like and some of what it could do as I was there when it attacked. I was one of the few that got away. I could go into detail, but it won't be long until we have to part ways and I don't wish to repeat myself three times after telling you. I'd much rather just go into detail once." He explains as he settles down to sleep. "See you at dawn, Spako. And may your hunt be glorious."

Several days and nights later, the party and the Honor Guard finally get to the fork in the road. While the King and his retinue move forward, The Captain stays behind to face the adventurers. "This is it." He says, pointing down the other fork towards a nearby mountain, a day or so away. "At the base of the mountain is a cave entrance where it resides. In front of it you'll find the gear and bodies that used to be several of my knights. If you find that, you know you're there. The dragon is long and snakelike with pink scales and several pairs of clawed feet. The thing loves to burrow, so it will likely erupt from beneath you when it senses that you're close enough." He explains. "Beware the gas it breathes out since it numbs the limbs and dizzies you. And whatever you do, don't underestimate the thing. It's far more clever than any others I've faced. Once you rescue the princess, head back here and follow the other fork. Three days walk will take you to the Capital. If you aren't there within a week, we'll send a rider to see how you've fared."

Parting Ways

Spako listens patiently at the Captain's explanation. Okay, note to self: prepare wind spells to repel poison gas. Also, see if you have anything to tie over your nose. Hrm, pink. Definitely not anything resembling his homeworld's dragons. A burrower, too. A shame, he'd almost been hoping it'd have wings so he could try Kitiara's Gambit. His flight will probably help to some degree. Being landbound with a giant burrowing monster is no fun at all. Or so he'd imagine.
"Understood. And thanks. I'm sure we'll be there by the deadline. I've no interest in dying again. At least it wouldn't be elf ghosts this time." he says simply, gazing out at their destination.

"Pfft," Krait responds, rapping his knuckles against his helmet, confident this gas won't even slow him down. The others may not be so lucky, but their bodies will certainly add to the drama, and only enhance his legend after he takes the beast down himself with magnificent grace and style. He'll make sure they receive proper burials and will be remembered as heroes (albeit ones considerably less amazing than himself, of course).

Mentally noting that this gas might be some kind of nerve agent, Ghoul made the decision that it would probably be prudent to stay away from any gas even if she did have some kind of breathing apparatus... At least until she knew if it was necessary for it to be inhaled rather than absorbed through the skin. Her condition made it difficult to gauge just what would work and what wouldn't but she erred on the side of assuming the worst just to be safe and potentially pleasantly surprised later. She simply nodded in parting towards the Captain as, given how she had been either asleep or aloof most of the trip, she didn't suspect there was much more that their limited interaction merited. Finding a decent meal while hunting game apart from the troops had been.. Fun in some ways but ultimately less than fulfilling in others. If things went well, though.. Only just a day away until she could have something properly satiating.

Once they had finally gotten far enough away from the escort, though, she finally piped up after what seemed to be quite a while to ask: "So what is it we can expect of each other going into this? We've got a day to make sure we don't end up just stepping on each others toes and I'm pretty sure each person doing their own thing won't end well, here." She could have asked this earlier but she deigned it best to keep any prying ears out of range if it could be helped. It might be paranoia but how could she be certain that one of the entourage wasn't some kind of spy to find out what sort of opposition they might present? ...Part of it might have also been due to her being rather wary of revealing her status as a bloodsucker, though. So far, that had generally been met with... Mixed results.

[Rebonack]

[Abandoned Facility]

Red frowns at the robot.

FROWNS!

That was supposed to do something aside from just staggering it.

Ah well, she'll just have to get a little rough

Several blood tendrils lash out to seize the machine by its taser arm. Should she get a hold, Red will begin thrashing the machine into the walls and floor until it stops moving.

It might not be a puny god, but it probably won't be feeling well pretty soon.

[Deathkeeper]

Abandoned Facility

The mechanical monster doesn't have much defense against being thrown about. The robot slams into the wall once, twice, and then its arm rips free at the shoulder. Its voice fails to produce recognizable words, and though its eyes still flicker, it doesn't do much but feebly flail on the ground with its legs.

[Rebonack]

[Abandoned Facility]

Red does the most reasonable thing possible now.

She pokes the robot a few times.

If she's sure the thing is no longer a threat, she'll begin hunting for any more doors, passages, containers, or whatever might possibly contain the book that she's hunting for.

[Deathkeeper]

Abandoned Factory

The robot just continues to flail. Its processor was badly damaged by her attack.
The other four doors are labelled:
LOBBY
LOUNGE
GENERATOR
SUPPLIES

Parting Ways

"I'm a magus. I primarily use my sword, but that's unlikely to do much here. Chances are it'll work out better if I try to use magic to deal with this thing and help you all." Spako explains.

[Rebonack]

[Abandoned Facility]

Red can't help but smirk at the robot. "I've haven't had that much fun with something battery powered in a while," she giggles as she heads off toward the lounge. Lounges have books, right?

Right.