Ruins of the Ancients - Battlemamono RP

[KillMoves]

Whatever we ran into, I'd bet good money that they don't like us. I immediately aim an enchanted arrow at their direction, waiting for them to make the first move while also throwing a question at Magnus' direction. "We got some metalheads looking at us funny boss. Are we doing this?"

I really wished these guys would just give us answers and not their misgivings but since when do my wishes come true?

[Animajunki123]

After the Card had been passed around among us, I honestly couldn't find anything magical about it and simply pocketed it for safe keeping just in case we need it later. I let the rest of them know about it and continue on with the rest of the group, unable to find a use for myself down here... unless my bodyguard happened to count, then maybe I was somewhat useful. However, she seemed to be having far to much fun with the edge of danger. She seriously seemed to enjoy fighting as much as fucking as far as I could tell. Course, given what our little bout had turned into, maybe she considerd them both to be similar.

We continue our search deeper into the 'cavern' though that term was starting to turn tentative with how much we happened to find so far. this place was pretty large, and if I was to hazard a guess, then it appears that it was being used for something like a military training base if the training rooms where anything to go by. We finally happened upon a rather large room that seemed pretty devoid of anything useful save for large open space. I honestly had no idea what it could have been used for, but it could have been used for something of a recreational purpose in mind. However, before I could think deeper on it, the sound of grating metal followed by rhythmic thumping noises broke me from my concentration. A short minute later, large metallic constructs looking somewhat similar to the one we found a while back entered the room. I would say they where maybe here to clean up the area... but what they might be about to clean might be more human sized in nature. About to reach for my magic, I quickly stopped when I began to feel that brokenness again when I tried to touch the Mana of the area. Seeing as I didn't have any magical weaponry in my staff (something I would need to look into if I survived this), I decided to go with the next best thing in a mages arsenal.

reaching into my pouch, I whipped out a few magical concoctions with different effects in them. All of them with certain combat related spells attached. Thankfully, the fight with the owl bears had quickly taught me that as I was now, I couldn't just depend on my magical energy to back me up, so I had created 'spell-in-a-bottle' catalysts that would react when correctly applied to each other. pulling out two such vials, I held them up and was ready to toss them if the things where about to charge us. I had no idea how well a magical explosion would do against them, but I was hoping it might do something.

I look to the commander to see what it is we should do.

"On your word captain! I've got a decent throwing arm ready to lob some damage that way of need be!"

[Firedragon]

All, the strange constructs spread out and advance towards you with more grinding and clanking sounds. All of them extend blades and several point tubes at you. You have never seen the like, but there are similarities to the guns certain mamono (and a few of their husbands) use, though those are always as much works of art as weapons, while these are clearly made without any regard for how they look.
With a crack, the first construct fires its weapon, but the shot goes wide. The other weapons also fire a moment later, but either the constructs' aim is horrible (not that you are complaining) or their weapons are only barely functional. Looking at the constructs more closely, you notice that all of them sport patches of rust and several seem to have difficulty moving. They may still be working well enough to be a threat to you, but they apparently are not as dangerous as they could be. One has to count the small blessings, right?

In any case, it is obvious that you will have to take out these things before you can advance any further. And you should probably be prepared to meet more resistance later on, which will almost certainly be in much better shape - or can you imagine these half-broken constructs somehow subduing and then... modifying... all those loci beasts?

[TehDanimal1]

All, the strange constructs spread out and advance towards you with more grinding and clanking sounds. All of them extend blades and several point tubes at you. You have never seen the like, but there are similarities to the guns certain mamono (and a few of their husbands) use, though those are always as much works of art as weapons, while these are clearly made without any regard for how they look.
With a crack, the first construct fires its weapon, but the shot goes wide. The other weapons also fire a moment later, but either the constructs' aim is horrible (not that you are complaining) or their weapons are only barely functional. Looking at the constructs more closely, you notice that all of them sport patches of rust and several seem to have difficulty moving. They may still be working well enough to be a threat to you, but they apparently are not as dangerous as they could be. One has to count the small blessings, right?

In any case, it is obvious that you will have to take out these things before you can advance any further. And you should probably be prepared to meet more resistance later on, which will almost certainly be in much better shape - or can you imagine these half-broken constructs somehow subduing and then... modifying... all those loci beasts?

I look at Ilaria and I nod, we both took aim a different rust spots. Thwip, Thwip, Thwip! Clunk, ching, Ka-Chink She was always great with bows. Ker-POW! a slug from my Lightning Rifle metal screeching as the element discharges from the slug releasing energy on the inside.

[Animajunki123]

I only note the state of the things, half rusted and moving at a slow pace before I Take two vials and chuck them both at a metal golem.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

is what I shout, reminiscing about my school days when we had to say this, when the two magical concoctions broke on the things metallic body and mixed together. on contact with each other, something akin to a controlled explosion occurred on the things body, causing what I would hope was a nice bit of damage. However, where I had been focused on keeping my distance, Shanaki dashed forward with a smile on her face and ripped into one of the constructs with a solid punch, ripping out it's 'guts' with horrifying screeching sounds followed by her laughter, which in my ears, sounded like a kid having the time of her life right now.

[KillMoves]

Well I guess that's that. The security decided the entire standoff by shooting at us.

I immediately ducked to make myself a smaller target when the clankers opened fire. I returned fire with my arrows, aiming at any who was not taken down by my allies. The clankers' weapons were barely functional to be effective and the ones which were functional enough had horrid aims. The constructs were also rusting a bit, making them easier to be shredded by our more physical members. The years have definitely not been kind to these clankers.

All in all, we've got this in the bag.

[DogKama]

Spoiler: show

All, the strange constructs spread out and advance towards you with more grinding and clanking sounds. All of them extend blades and several point tubes at you. You have never seen the like, but there are similarities to the guns certain mamono (and a few of their husbands) use, though those are always as much works of art as weapons, while these are clearly made without any regard for how they look.
With a crack, the first construct fires its weapon, but the shot goes wide. The other weapons also fire a moment later, but either the constructs' aim is horrible (not that you are complaining) or their weapons are only barely functional. Looking at the constructs more closely, you notice that all of them sport patches of rust and several seem to have difficulty moving. They may still be working well enough to be a threat to you, but they apparently are not as dangerous as they could be. One has to count the small blessings, right?

In any case, it is obvious that you will have to take out these things before you can advance any further. And you should probably be prepared to meet more resistance later on, which will almost certainly be in much better shape - or can you imagine these half-broken constructs somehow subduing and then... modifying... all those loci beasts?

The 'sudden' appearance of these new(and more worrying looking) metal constructs was the reminder the group needed to always be alert. Before Magnus could take command, this impromptu squad leaped into action with a speed and conviction that left him feeling proud for a split second.

He reflectively ducked as one of the constructs fired its own version of a gun before reaching for his standard Officer's sword, a short, single handed sword.

He watched as his squad unleashed what looked to be a devastating counterattack that at first glance seemed to be working. Unlike his squad, Magnus didn't have magical abilities or any weapon of great strength instead relying on this comrades in arms and his short sword. Even with with the one sided looking battle, Magnus kept a fierce grip on the sword as he cautiously kept looking where the strange constructs had originated wondering if anymore would show themselves. Keeping to his soldier training he left the door to do a quick scan of the room, front and back looking for something to help in the fight.

[Firedragon]

All, you make short work of the half-broken constructs, in fact, several of them practically fall apart without any help. Ilaria and Shanika grin at each other before looking at Giovanni and Xander. You get the distinct impression they are half-tempted to jump someone else now that there are no more enemies around, but a quelling look from Magnus reins them in again. For now...

Be that as it may, you carefully continue deeper into the complex, always looking for traps or more (and more dangerous) constructs. You find several rooms that were apparently intended for storage (empty and sometimes broken shelves are a dead giveaway) and finally find a large hall with many more of the semi-broken constructs standing in neat rows. Or rusting in not quite so neat rows, as the case may be...
Suddenly, you hear a crackling above you. Quickly scanning the ceiling, you see lightning run along a row of crystals and strike down into several constructs, which begin to move towards you, pointing their weapons at you.
Taking them down takes no more effort than before, but when the last one falls, the lightning crackles again and more constructs activate. A quick look around tells you that there are still several dozen constructs in this hall, even if you discount those too rusted to be any threat. Oh, and the lightning activates several more before you can react - seems as if you have managed to trigger something...

[Animajunki123]

Despite my initial assumption, the actual fight didn't take very long, and I couldn't help but notice that after Shanika got done pounding the metallic stuffing out of a few of those constructs, she had turned her attention toward me with something akin to a feral and lustful look in her eye. I seriously doubt I could have stopped her if she really wanted to jump me, but thankfully, Magnus had more then enough mettle in his own gaze to ease the Bouldacia off... for now at least.

Thankfully, we quickly got back underway in our exploration, but all our search seemed to find was a whole lot of nothing until eventually we managed to find a large hall filled with the same kinds of constructs that we had faced a bit ago. The reverberating sound of electricity caused me to jump as I tried to identify where it had come from, causing me to look upward where I witness a bolt seem to lance through a crystal like array and into the constructs. I look back into the room to witness as the ones struck came alive in jerky motions. I counted out a good several dozen in the room, but the sound of another bolt surging along the array caused me to look back up in enough time to witness even more of them come to life.

"Captain... I think we may have activated something."

I may have been stating the obvious, but I couldn't help it. Knowing that now was as good a time as any, I figured it would be best to start fighting again before the situation could get even more out of hand. I watched Shanika dash into the fray, but I felt that it was rather dangerous for her to do that... at least, not without some kind of protection on her. taking a deep breath, I reach into myself to draw on the magic of the area. I was once again assailed by the nauseating wave of wrongness of the place, but I only just barely keep myself from cutting the connection. Trying my absolute damnedest to draw on what magic I could, I attempt to cast a spell of protection on Shanika. Something that would make her a little tougher, but nothing that would cause me to overexert myself so early on.

[KillMoves]

The clankers were easy pickings. Unfortunately, there were more where those came from. They weren't difficult to dispatch thanks to their degradation but there was a lot of them and we can't fight them all.

I noticed that the constructs were being activated by a spark of lighting running through the crystal rows on the ceiling. With only my eyes, I traced the crystal network to find an area where I can cut off the flow of electricity. When I found it, I used an explosive arrow to destroy it which should stop the lighting from flowing and prevent any more of the constructs from waking up from their beauty sleep.

In theory, of course.

[TehDanimal1]

Both Ilaria and I were excited by the battle, maybe her more so than I but we knew now was neither right time or place. And almost to emphasize the point Magnus gave a sharp look of that we should continue on our exploration.

It wasn't too long until we stumbled into more, worse yet it seemed to be where they are all housed. As if to drive the point home, lightning erupted along the ceiling 'activating' more of these weird golem.

"I think I have an idea!" I took careful aim at the ceiling behind all the glems that wasn't sparking and load a strong essence in my rifle, hopefully it either shatter the chain or disrupt it.

KER-KAPOW!

[Firedragon]

Xander, using your magic is not exactly pleasant, but you manage to cast a basic protective spell on Shanika that should improve her ability to dodge attacks, at least a little. Of course, you never had much reason to develop this kind of magic, so a few basic spells is all you can offer. A quick smile from her shows you that the Bouldacaea appreciates the gesture, though.
She makes short work of about a dozen constructs before they can activate before returning to your side. It looks as if she really is even less like the 'common' ogre than you thought (she does not charge forward without regard for the consequences, for example)...

Itami, your ploy works and destroys one of the central crystals used to power up the constructs. Unfortunately, it works a little too well as your arrow triggers a chain reaction. So instead of more and more broken down constructs attacking you, you are now faced with several explosions rocking the ceiling and covering everything with stone dust.
Still, it does not take long for the explosions to end and the remaining constructs do not look as if they will activate ever again. That probably counts as a complete success, right?

Giovanni, it looks as if Itami and you both had the same idea, but he is just a little faster. Still, your shot definitely enhances the effect his arrow has on the crystals. When the explosions die down, Ilaria grins at you. "Is it my imagination or are you in a hurry to get through here?" she asks innocently. Or as innocently as a girl like her can ask while licking her lips suggestively...
Despite her often carefreee manner, she always is aware of her surroundings (at least as long as you do not take drastic steps to... distract... her), which she proves when she holds up a hand for silence. "I think I hear something from over there," she says, pointing at an opening in the wall on the left. "And it sounds very much like the humming we heard when those loci beasts attacked the caravan - just on a lower level." You do not hear anything, but then again, your ears are still ringing from the explosions Itami and you triggered. But you know that you can always trust your wife's hearing (if not her self-control...).

[DogKama]

And just like before the conflict ended before Magnus could even draw his weapon, which both sadden him and filled him with pride.

Who would have thought just a few days ago the team he assigned to him by the Perfect could fight so well? Hell they even had the same idea of attack the crystals that had lined the ceiling, which continued to show that the Perfect knew what he was doing when selecting his companions.

Relaxing his stance, Magnus decided to draw his sword(letting the weapon lazily point toward the ground) as he moved toward some of the down constructs.

He half paid attention to Ilaria talking about something, as he prodded the metal construct with his foot before feeling confident enough to examine the remains more closely. So far these fights had been easy, too easy for his liking and he hoped to learn a little more about their ancient foe, or at the very least quench his curiosity about them. Even the few he had personally seen weren't this(Magnus assumed) complex in design and components, so how similar/different were these?

"Let's check the rest of this room, make sure there aren't any more constructs waiting to be activated."

[TehDanimal1]

Giovanni, it looks as if Itami and you both had the same idea, but he is just a little faster. Still, your shot definitely enhances the effect his arrow has on the crystals. When the explosions die down, Ilaria grins at you. "Is it my imagination or are you in a hurry to get through here?" she asks innocently. Or as innocently as a girl like her can ask while licking her lips suggestively...
Despite her often carefreee manner, she always is aware of her surroundings (at least as long as you do not take drastic steps to... distract... her), which she proves when she holds up a hand for silence. "I think I hear something from over there," she says, pointing at an opening in the wall on the left. "And it sounds very much like the humming we heard when those loci beasts attacked the caravan - just on a lower level." You do not hear anything, but then again, your ears are still ringing from the explosions Itami and you triggered. But you know that you can always trust your wife's hearing (if not her self-control...).

I holstered my rifle and brought out my swords, Ilaria followed suit as we went in for "Clean-up". We scoured and skulked through the piles making sure that anything that we didn't want moving was made still.

[KillMoves]

I coughed out the dust from my little scheme. But at least the constructs weren't going to bother us anymore.

It was time to move on. Down deeper into the rabbit hole we found ourselves in. Probably heading into more trouble but I suppose that's why we're here in the first place.

[Firedragon]

All, you continue on deeper into the complex, slowly growing more and more worried since so far you have not found anything that would explain who (or what...) unleashed that horde of... drained... loci beasts, how it was done or for what reason. The run-down constructs you destroyed might have been some kind of security system, but you seriously doubt they would have been able to catch or... modify... all those loci beasts.

You pass what looks like a large storage room, though you are not sure what exactly is or was stored here - the few items you find on the mostly empty shelves look a lot like magitek, though they also look (and feel...) subtly wrong. But before you can discuss what this might mean, more constructs enter the room. In contrast to the ones you fought earlier, however, these constructs seem to be in excellent condition. They are also flying instead of moving on wheels. And they are shooting lightning bolts at you with much more accuracy than the others before.
You barely manage to dodge the first salvo. Even those near hits make you tingle, suggesting that a full hit or two would likely take you out...

[TehDanimal1]

As we huddled around the corner I got a risky idea, I reached into my essence satchel for my rifle and found a fire crystalized essence. I looked at Xander and handed the stone to him, "You think you can overload this and toss it at those things?"

[KillMoves]

We continued forward, finding more nothing. However, what little we did find just looked... wrong. As if it shouldn't belong in this world. Well, it was up to the higher ups what to do with 'em. We were just here to find these things.

But our scouting mission was interrupted again by constructs but these ones weren't as run down as the others. They were even flying and they wasted no time opening up on us. I immediately took cover from their accurate and undoubtedly dangerous shots and fired back, hitting one. There's still a lot of them and I don't see another crystal network for me to take advantage of. We needed a plan,

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

[Animajunki123]

Despite the shoddy use of my spell, I was somewhat happy about the fact that I didn't heave all over myself when I cast my spell on my partner. And after what quick work she made of the constructs, she seemed to appreciate the gesture. Thankfully Itami and Giovanni had managed to stop a good deal more of these things from waking up by destroying what I could consider the power relay to the constructs up overhead. My ears where ringing from the effort though, and when I finally managed to recover my hearing, the last of the constructs ended up... kicking the bucket as it might be put. After that, we made our way further down into the facility, my mind starting to work over everything we had encountered so far. It seemed that this facility was abandoned in a sense.

There was no sign of people, and from the looks of things, constructs seemed to be keeping this place clean at the very least. This told me that maybe, just maybe, constructs might be responsible for what had happened to those owlbeasts. This however was pure conjecture right now, and I don't dare voice the thought unless I have proof to indicate this, not only that, I had yet to see anything that would indicate the ability to do this, those rusted piles of junk not looking as if they would have put up much of a fight against... well, anything really. As I had been thinking, our group had managed to make its way into some kind of storage room housing magitek of some sort. nothing like what we had encountered in the owlbeasts, but of the same kind of design. It even had the same sense of wrongness to it, as if magic didn't seem to exist around it.

"Hum... so if this is down here, then it's safe to assume that maybe we can find the other items that we found in the Loci beasts..."

However, as I had been muttering to myself and had been somewhat busy observing the items on the shelves, the sounds of more constructs had brought our attention back around to see that creations of a much better design and make where hovering at the entrance. We barely had time to get out of the way as the things shots salvos of lightning at us. I never would have made it if Shanika hadn't grabbed me by my midriff and hauled me back around a corner fatser then I could realize the situation. Thankfully, we had managed to get ourselves caught up with Giovanni, who seemed to have an Idea when he saw me and pulled something out of his bag and handed it to me.

"You think you can overload this and toss it at those things?"

Looking at it for a second, I pull the crystal from his hand and think about it before I nod at him.

"I think I can do that... just... don't expect me to be useful for the next minute or so."

It was easy really to overload a magical crystal of an already unsteady nature. The problem comes from the fact that I'm going to suffer backlash from both the inherent magical instability of the area along with using my magic in a very erratic manner. But, I guess we can't be picky about our methods seeing as I didn't have a lot of access to more powerful spells while down here. Taking a deep breath, I reached into myself, pushing past the nausea and just forcing my magic flow into his Crystal. I then turn around the corner and hurl the thing with all my might into the air at the constructs, feeling the vertigo and sense of weakness overtake me as I did. I would have fallen flat on my face if Shanika didn't grab me by the collar of my cloak and reel me back behind cover into her protective arms and bosom.

[Firedragon]

Xander, the crystal goes off with a loud bang, spraying everything nearby with fire and destroying several of the constructs in another chain reaction. It looks as if the methods used to create these constructs and this facility are inherently unstable, especially (or at least?) when exposed to magic. Maybe this is also the reason why the magic here feels 'wrong'? Could this strange, almost primitive kind of magitek be intended to drain magic in order to reduce its instability? Or could this draining effect lead to this instability when this magitek is exposed to focused magic due to some kind of overloading?

After hauling you back, Shanika embraces you for a heartbeat and whispers, "Nice work - I think you deserve a reward for that..." Fortunately, she seems to be willing to wait for a better time. You are probably lucky you did not... befriend... one of those mamono that get really turned on by combat...


Itami, your target crashes down without getting completely blown up like the ones Xander destroys with Giovanni's crystal, so it might be possible to find out a little more. Assuming you manage to get rid of the remaining constructs, that is...

You also notice that these constructs act in a much more coordinated, almost intelligent way. They spread out and come at you from every direction at once, the way you would if you were trying to capture someone. Of course, considering what you have seen so far, you should probably avoid getting captured as much as you are trying to avoid getting killed.


Giovanni, while Xander takes out several constructs with your crystal and Itami shoots down another one, you notice that one additional construct is staying back and hovering higher up in the air instead of attacking you. In fact, this construct is doing more or less what you are doing, namely, staying behind cover as much as possible.

And it looks as if no more constructs are entering this room, so if you manage to get rid of those that are already shooting at you, you might be free to finally find out what is going on here...