uhhh... dodge?

Well, keep looking for them, I guess. How come you're looking for them? Also, would that happen to be a construct behind you? It appears to be holding a knife.

Yellow 2014/01/02(Thu)23:10 No. 554849 ID: eaa372
File 138873304317.jpg - (100.53KB , 750x750 , machine_devils_p2.jpg )

>>554845
Don't mind the blade, that's all I had to prop open the door while I climb through.

But which direction should I start looking?
I recognize some of the symbols that the archaeologists translated.

The orange lines and the square symbol seem to symbolize some kind of storage, those usually contain linens, water, and boxes filled with some kind of white powder.

Green lines and three intersecting bars means “ready room”, not sure what those are ready for.

Red lines and that strange box, I have no idea what that means, the archaeologists didn’t translate that before everything went to pieces.

Well, I dunno. Go to storage, maybe. Would the twins know what the symbol meant? Storage seems like a good hiding place. Can you smell them more strongly down one passage than another?

Uh, is this a human ruin/derelict you're walking in? And if so, is it a ship or spaceship?
Because if it is I would tend to expect that the colour red would either deal with an engine, a power plant, or a clinic.
If it is a human ruin/derelict I might know what the white powder is.

If you don't know what the red areas are, lets stay away from them for now.
Storage rooms sounds like a good place to start looking, so lets follow those orange arrows.

White powder, in a room containing linen and water? Most likely possibility is flour, as part of an emergency supply cache, with sugar as a second option. The third is... less likely.

Did the twins you're looking for have any idea about these symbols or what this place is? If so, and they're scared and hiding, a storeroom sounds like a good place to go, so that's a good spot to check anyway.

>>554890
Foodstuffs are generally not stored with linens, because of pest-control concerns. That would be soap.

Lucille vi Ombre [1/2] 2014/01/03(Fri)20:00 No. 554961 ID: eaa372
File 138880803760.jpg - (94.54KB , 750x750 , md_p3.jpg )

>>554855
Elven ruin to be correct, though I have no idea how anyone let alone those tree huggers ever built something like this in the past.

>>554890
The twins, Alia and Veechy are scribes, they figured out most of the translation of the symbols in these ruins. Those two are probably best equipped to survive since they know what the signs say on the walls. Alia had enough presence of mind to grab Veechy by the hand and run when the constructs started attacking.

Lucille vi Ombre [2/2] 2014/01/03(Fri)20:04 No. 554962 ID: eaa372
File 138880827131.jpg - (71.24KB , 750x750 , md_p4.jpg )

I’ll check the storage room first.

Oh hell is that Veechy?

Well now, how effective are these 'constructs' at S&D in environments like these ruins, what is their probable goal, what are their resources like, and do you have a step two after finding these academics?

Also, er, if it is who you're looking for pressure on a wound is important to keep more blood from escaping. Hopefully you can find something usable for a bandage in the linen closet.

How much do you know about first aid?

Lucille vi Ombre Yellow 2014/01/04(Sat)01:44 No. 555049 ID: eaa372
File 138882864915.jpg - (93.90KB , 750x750 , md_p5.jpg )

>>554964
He’s barely conscious but it looks like his wounds were already tended to. He’s got his right arm tied up against his body.

“Veechy where’s Alia”
“Red Lucy the Bounder wasn’t it? I was just keeping a watch for unwanted guests. Don’t need those walking boxes to interrupt Alia now do we?
“Is she inside the closet?”
“Yes, we found some interesting things hidden under several bolts of linen. She’s trying to translate the codices that came with the artifacts we found.
“Can you walk?”
“I can stand but I can’t promise to not pass out.”

>>555035
I’d rather not linger out here any longer. I’ll take a look at Veechy’s dressings inside the closet.

>>555049
Uh...can they bring the things and translate them later? It seems like a good idea to leave. Er, right?

>>555055
Not so much, if they have sufficient numbers to force us to retreat then it's likely this structure has constructs searching through it and a blockade to face if we were to try and leave. We need a plan to get through that blockade first.

>>555148
I dunno; I don't think we've been told what the situation is, really. It could be constructs from inside the ruins, looking for the intruders (and maybe not caring so much if they just leave), or it could be some kind of external force trying to capture them, specifically, or trying to take the place, etc.

So, what are the constructs, where are they from, and what are their goals?

Double check that his wounds are tended to, then leave him outside the room with orders to shout if he sees anything while you do in to talk to Alia.

So... what happened when the constructs attacked? You fought them off, or were forced to retreat into the ruins after the twins?

>Red Lucy the Bounder
Huh, that doesn't match your surname. Ombre is shadow. (Lucy of shadow? From shadow?). I suppose a title doesn't have to, though.

Yellow 2014/01/05(Sun)17:01 No. 555381 ID: eaa372
File 138897007992.jpg - (105.80KB , 750x750 , md_p6.jpg )

>>555152
>Pseudonym discovered; Red Lucy the Bounder
When you start to outlive your descendants you learn not to keep the same exact name. In about a decade or so I may need to build a funeral pyre for “Red Lucy” to ward off any nosy scholars or idiot wizards who insist on bothering the undead. Suffice to say, I’m old, I drink blood, and I tell NOBODY about this.
>Trait discovered; Vampire

Alia doesn’t look much better and it seems she’s using a crutch to support herself. She’s relieved to see another familiar face but she seems to be distracted by the papers and artifacts. Those clothes don’t look like the usual things you find in ruins; maybe Alia knows what they are.

“Are any of those enchanted with useful spells?
“Enchanted is the wrong word to use Miss Lucy. Extremely well engineered is a better description.”
“So how does that help us out of this situation?”

Alia gives me a quick rundown on each of the artifacts she found in the closet.
-1 suit of armor made out of some kinda substance that feels like sharkskin on the outside, Alia insists that it’s tougher than the chain coat I’m wearing under my tunic.
-1 transparent helmet made out of who knows what, at least it won’t interfere with field of vision
-3 hollow needles filled with a pain numbing substance
-1 transparent tower shield made out of the same material as the helmet
-3 bottles of what seem to be hair dye (green, white, and grey)
-1 paper booklet that contains a Deepelf parable on the perils of excessive drinking
-1 set of diagrams of the ruins where Alia has circled several exits
-1 satchel overloaded with papers that Alia wants to leave with
-1 glowing lantern that produces light at the flick of a switch

We’re limited to what we can carry with our arms, which means Alia can carry 1 item along with the satchel of papers and use her crutch, I’m limited to carrying 1 item since I need my sword arm, Veechy could potentially carry 2 items but he is suffering from mild blood loss. I might be able to improvise a backpack with some of the linens in here but that may give the constructs more time to find us when they finish searching the lower floors.

It looks like there are two exits to choose from on the diagram Alia dug up.

1.Back the way I came from.
I was able to avoid most of the constructs by climbing that mineshaft looking place but the ladders will be problematic for both of the twins. Once we reach the bottom there’s a tunnel that leads out into the Burrows. This is the initial path we used to reach the ruins originally so I’ll know the way back to civilization. It will be more difficult for the constructs to chase us this way since they can’t climb with their tiny stilt legs.

2. Following the green line to the “ready room”.
Apparently the twins had a look in there and it turns out to be a side passage leading out of the ruins and back into the Burrows. Easy to reach but the problem is that it’s also easy to reach for the constructs that may or may not try to follow us out. Navigating back to civilization will be easier here since there there’s a stream we could trace back to the Great Aorta and eventually find a port on somewhere downstream.

>>555150
The constructs are essentially four legged boxes armed with lances and their goal is to stab people while charging with said lances. They’re quicker than a horse but I found that once I flip them onto their back their helpless. Problem being is that they don’t hunt alone. Once we get far enough from the ruins they might give up their search.

Is the shaft short enough that you could just jump down holding one of the twins, or catch them at the bottom? Otherwise the shaft does not sound viable, as the constructs could drop on top of you during the slow climb down.

Item priority:
- Take and equip the helmet.
- Take and use the shield yourself, hopefully that will help fight the constructs.
- The diagrams probably won't be necessary since the twins explored this floor, but add them to the paper satchel if you can.
- Alia takes the armor, that sounds like a nice thing to have though it would take too long to put on now.
- Veechy takes the light and the needles; those might be useful and should not be too heavy.

It sounds like you are deep underground so it won't matter for a while, but do you have trouble with sunlight?

>Vampire
Okay, I suppose the new identity every few decades is a sensible precaution. As is not telling anyone.

I'm going to assume you've got one of the less crippling versions of vampire, since you're able to function around people undiscovered.

>stuff
Stuff the drugs and the map in with the satchel of papers. The lantern would probably be useful too.

I don't think you can afford the tower shield. You need a hand too badly. (Unless you can strap it to your back until we need it for flipping constructs?).

Equip the armor if you have time. (If you're not sure you trust it, give it a poke).

>exit
I'd learn for number 2.

The tower shield sounds damn helpful against constructs; you should take it. Alia should definitely carry the map and satchel, and Veechy can take the lantern.

The second route out through the ready room sounds like it has less that could go wrong, those ladders would be hell for the twins.

Lucille vi Ombre Yellow 2014/01/06(Mon)02:04 No. 555460 ID: eaa372
File 138900265434.jpg - (62.84KB , 750x750 , md_p7.jpg )

>Sunlight
It burns my skin and causes involuntary panic but I’m not worried about sunlight this deep underground. The people who live this far down don’t even have their own word for sunlight.

>Equip helm, armor and shield.
The armor’s strange, smooth on the inside like silk cloth but stiff like lacquered leather. The shield still baffles me by being sturdy in addition to transparent but Alia says there’s no magecraft involved here.

>Stuff the drugs and the map in with the satchel of papers.
Done, Alia should be able to handle that weight with the crutch.

>Give Veechy the light
Also done.

>Exit 2 Chosen
The twins are in no state for climbing. I’ll have to risk running into the constructs to get them out.

Alia and Veechy are apprehensive at the thought of the constructs finding us while we walk to the ready room. Is there anything I can say take their minds off of what happened to the rest of the expedition?

Hmmm. You could ask them to explain their findings to you. They seem highly academic, and given that they have a satchel full of papers, it's likely that they've found a lot of things that excite them. Many academic types can talk for hours on their favorite subjects. Is it important to keep quiet, though?

Tell them, "The trick to not panicking is to always have something to do. So, I'm going to guide you through the halls and you two are each going to think about how to summarize the most directly useful things you've learned here for combating the constructs, survival and getting out of here. When we make it to somewhere more defensible than this closet we start on a briefing. Can you do that?"

>Is there anything I can say take their minds off of what happened to the rest of the expedition?
...well, you survived, and now they're with you. That's a point in the plus column.

Although I guess the idea is more to distract them than to keep them thinking about the dangers and tactical situation.

Usual way is to get them talking. Thinking about something better. (Ask them about their past, or home, or some good memory to talk about).

>>555460
Strong but see though ah so that tech ant dead yet?

Lucille vi Ombre Yellow 2014/01/06(Mon)23:12 No. 555672 ID: eaa372
File 138907876932.jpg - (86.03KB , 750x750 , md_p8.jpg )

I’ll get them to focus on what they know about these sorts of ruins.

“Tell me about these ruins. I haven’t seen any architecture like this before and I’ve been all across the surface. ”
“What little we know about the deep elves cannot be compared to any other extinct civilization. Most of their building materials and tools are derived from different ways of refining rock oil. They weren’t limited by the scarcity of iron, if anything they produced weapons and tools that were superior to steel. Alchemist’s have been trying to replicate this for-”
Tell Lucy about the vines.”
“Vines?”
“That’s how we got away from the constructs. There are panels that open up into the walls where there are these metallic vines connected to the doors. The doors get jammed shut if you pull out the vines connected to them.”
“So theoretically we could lock the ready room behind us and stop the constructs from following us?”
“Theoretically. But the last time we tried that the constructs started ramming the door we jammed. They made dents but we didn’t stick around to confirm whether they could break down doors or not.”

Great. He got my hopes up when he first mentioned jamming the doors but given the way this expedition has turned out its likely those constructs can break down doors. At least we have a way to deal with groups of constructs.

Go ahead and lock the door after you. They might break through, but time they spend smashing the door is time they don't spend trying to smash you.
(Even in the case that a few constructs are ahead of us, it would not be viable to retreat through the construct-filled rest of the ruins now and the locked door will keep the ones behind from flanking us.)

A door they have to break through is still a defensible choke-point and a proximity alarm as they start banging on it. Just because a defense isn't *perfect* this doesn't make it worthless.

If they can break down doors, it's a time buying measure if and when you need it. That's still valuable.

I wouldn't start jamming doors until you had to, though. You don't have a good way to repair the damage or un-jam doors, and you might be cutting off your only path of retreat if you sealed them behind you now.

Lucille vi Ombre [1/2] 2014/01/13(Mon)23:49 No. 557279 ID: eaa372
File 138968575726.jpg - (139.93KB , 750x750 , md_p9.jpg )

Personal schedule’s getting busy once more. Expect slow updates.

So far so good. It looks like the ready room has two sets of doors that we could jam, an inner and an outer set. I feel better about our chances already.

Lucille vi Ombre [2/2] 2014/01/13(Mon)23:50 No. 557280 ID: eaa372
File 138968582350.jpg - (70.58KB , 750x750 , md_p10.jpg )

*THWUMP*THWUMP*THWUMP*THWUMP*THWUMP*

AND THERE ARE OUR GRACIOUS HOSTS!
I could have Veechy jam the inner doors to give us time to step outside or we could head straight outside to just jam the outer ones. If we do the inner ones I’ll have to intercept those constructs that already have a running start!

Thinning the enemy numbers seems like a good idea here since it's unlikely they will give up chasing you here. The risk of a controlled battle with you in excellent armour and the enemy coming from a particular direction seems like the better long-term choice unless there's something important I'm missing.

Lucille vi Ombre Yellow 2014/01/23(Thu)21:51 No. 559218 ID: eaa372
File 139054267603.jpg - (65.13KB , 750x750 , md_p11.jpg )

“Veechy, Alia prep both sets of doors for jamming!”
Shield's less sturdy than I thought! Both of the constructs are trying to pull their lances out of my shield. How can I keep them out of the readyroom while Veechy and Alia work on the doors?

You said that they can't get up very well if they are flipped; this looks like a decent opportunity to do so by grabbing the shield and lifting.

Or you could twist it.

Well, that shield didn't last very long. Ideally, a shield is meant to deflect enemy attacks, not capture their weapons when.

Oh well. Better than nothing, anyways.

Trying to twist your shield, to knock them over, or into each other, or just trip them up, seems as good an idea as any.

If they're still holding on to their lances and your reach is long enough I'd imagine this would be an excellent opportunity to take their legs out from under them with your sword.

Lucille vi Ombre [1/3] 2014/01/24(Fri)23:41 No. 559367 ID: eaa372
File 139063566427.jpg - (71.19KB , 750x750 , md_p12.jpg )

>>559222
>>559275
>>559221
>Twist, cripple, then flip.
“Bend your little stilt legs you one eyed freaks!”

Lucille vi Ombre [2/3] 2014/01/24(Fri)23:42 No. 559368 ID: eaa372
File 139063572435.jpg - (95.35KB , 750x750 , md_p13.jpg )

Well the tower shield’s a loss.
“Tell me we can jam those doors now.”
“Y-yes we can start sealing the doors now.”
Alia seems to be surprised to see the constructs dispatched so quickly but Veechy’s too worn down by his wounds to give a damn about what happened.

Lucille vi Ombre [3/3] 2014/01/24(Fri)23:43 No. 559369 ID: eaa372
File 139063583197.jpg - (71.67KB , 750x750 , md_p14.jpg )

We need to go while we have the advantage. Should be able to take it slow since we have a head start with the doors.

What are we looking at then? I thought the second thing we were stopping for is a quick briefing on what the researchers found out that's so interesting about this place. First thing should be making sure that the emergency medicine you've practiced is holding up okay and dose up with any necessary disinfectant, painkillers or such.

Whoo, title drop.

Hm. At least we can guess the kind of punishment your helmet can take, since it's made of the same stuff as the shield.