Heyho, time for glorious murder!
Too bad that I've got classes to attend.

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>>27999312

HOLLOW SUN: 11.9%

http://pastebin.com/c5Lu9D8e

(Updates:

- Reduction in research costs.
- Reduction in priming costs for Light and Heavy Weapons.
- Clarification on Void Anchor use, Void Anchor now has an alternative function.
- Reduced cost on EXEC_CONSUME
- Displacement effect on EXEC_REND.)

Should have one of our meat puppets break off and get in contact with Argent for backup. Or call in Rook. We still need to deal with that sub-quest afterall.

I'm starting to love the void anchors even more.

>>27999416

Another reason to get the Tri-Stars one or even several. Plus we know now Spaghetti-san was feeding them bullshit to keep his bros away from us. They'd be cool with relocating to the Joker Cave if they live through this clusterfuck.

I'm curious if our Coil Gun will have as much of a devastating impact against the Panzer as it has against everything else. Or if he is so stupidly PLOT armored that we need a Caliburn to plow through his lives.

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Another note; we should prime and throw the gravity gun to a tri-star too. We'll need the heavy artillery to deal with the incoming murder.

In the hands of Tyrian, that shit would be deadly.

>>27999484
>A murder of Joker
>Any number of Jokers

>>27999312
Wait, the Tempest Scrander produces electrical charge, right? What if we can use that to jury rig some kind of cathodic protection so Rusk Kaiser's abilities don't fuck up our gear again?

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The hall beneath the Holophusikon has the high-vaulted, arch feel of a reliquary - Or a tomb. The walls are polished grey stone, inlaid with silver and ivory; The ground is black marble, the space dark and monumental like a necropolis catacomb. The air is dry, still - The floor cracked and cratered, gouged by the violence of your arrival. Half-formed, warping shapes are suspended in alcoves along the walls - Supported horizontally in columns of clear glass, and light. They bend and twist and malform, rupturing, puffing out cysts, spurting like soft lava; Assuming new and awful configurations, not quite flesh, not quite metal.

In the flickering, fitful light, Rust Kaiser looms. His rust-badged form is a point of solidity in a shifting world: Spined knuckles brought to bear with a crackle, radiating a rage so terrible, so baleful, it beats against you in palpable waves. A red glow comes from everywhere and nowhere at once, underlighting his iron-shod bulk. He seems vast, like a titan, like a primoridal engine of destruction.

His armoured feet bite into the ground. Spiderweb fissures skitter across the marble floor, as he gains traction - Propelling himself forward, in surging steps, the sound of each grinding footfall as blunt and vicious as a grunt of pain.

(Continued)

>>27999443
By the description, Void Anchors aren't discriminatory. Plonking one down and telling it to blow up will kill everything in the radius, including enemies, allies, Relics, event locations, entire stages and the person setting the bomb if he stays around. The primary function is much more useful. Also, we already killed Panzer Gallient, this is Rust Kaiser, who's actually frightening.

>>27999312
Evening OP. Sounds like you've been busy.

Just reading the last thread I missed.

Why the hell didn't you guys give them a barrage of Tyrant Burst 4 while they were all bunched together in that room?

>>27999603

>we already killed Panzer

I know. We're dealing with the proverbial mighty glacier though. A walking tank..

>>27999604

Don't really want to kill Megs, i think.

>>27999631
Pfft, she's one of the founding members of the smilers, I'm pretty sure she could take a couple plasma bolts, provided they even hit her.

>>27999561

The echo of the Sinistral's concussive blast still lingers - The beginnings of a field flickering, fighting to recohere - as you wrench yourself to your feet, sparks shooting from your left arm. Microfractures skitter across your armour; The limb responds, but sluggishly, with an ugly grinding sound that tells of internal damage-

...As your right arm smolders with the fires of EXEC_HARROW.

Your HUD flickers, jumps - The white snow fuzzing your vision resolving into Rust Kaiser's accelerating form, as the narrow distance shrinks. The ground trembles underfoot at the imminent impact, your piston-driven legs whirring as you find your footing-

There's a sound, like the beginnings of the fastest wind. The air shudders, in a hissing inhalation - Surging inwards, drawn *into* him in racing streamers, the beginnings of choking smog coiling upwards like incense as one great, pitted fist wrenches back with a cackling werewolf growl of rusted joints-

HP: 172.5%
COBALT BOOSTER: 95%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 136%
METER: 11%

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>27999666

Satan pls.

She's probably like Nat. We thought she was a higher level player at one point too until she was rekt by the Bomberman.

>>27999688

Not just satan but revolving satan

>999666

>>27999680
blast backwards using the sinistral, use the tau to blow a hole, yell at the tri-stars to find cover and get back. once we do that, get away from the smilers to 1v1 kaiser

Keep the fuck away from him, i remember him nearly blowing up the sinistral with his rust-blast thing

>>27999723
i'll go with this, make sure we hit him with the tau first though, dont get too far away

>>27999680
We're in a hallway right? And the Tri-Stars are behind us? Then pllug the entire hall with fortress mode. Let the debuff hit that and wash back over the smilers.

>>27999723
That's a stupid plan given he's about to debuff us.

>>27999752

(They're actually above you, to clarify - You were punched through the floor.)

>>27999680

>we're marked
>we have a busted arm
>he's about to shit on our parade and everyone elses

Do we even have the booster to cover all of this shit?

We can probably get away with leaving the deathmark chilling on us for a little bit. He'll use it to track us before blowing it. But it WILL need to be removed eventually. I'd say at the bare minimal use Disrupt to keep him from shitting out his smog and then begin working on repairing the arm back to functional. It doesn't haft to be fully repaired, just working. The external armor can wait and plus the armor will protect the exposed bits while they're under maintenance.

While THAT is ongoing, bring up our new favorite anti-armor toy, the tau, and give him a tap right in center of mass. After we've fired our shot, boost away from the our downed wingman, Volt I think, so he doesn't come under fire from Rusty.

>>27999680
We fire Exec_Harrow at him and get the fuck out of the way.

Let's try something fun. The Tri-Stars have a door that can go anywhere. Red Joker has a key that can open any door. We also have access to an extra-dimensional killing field. Let's reenact our first visit to the Hollow Sun. Jump into the main chamber, then into Holophusikon proper. Cobalt Boost Scrander Crash in front of the Siege Perilous, use the Nihl Sphere to open a door into the Hollow Sun... a few hundred meters up. Most of the Smilers should fall through. The survivors get cut down by Hellions, or we dribble them until they break.

We can separate out Bell Zephyr. Really, if she wanted to make sure we'd chase her, there are way more fun ways to ensure it.

>>27999723
Actually he just punched Red Joker.

>>27999776
I want to support this solely on how crazy it sounds.

>>27999776

He fisted so hard he put his punch through Regios. Which carried straight into us.

We're not alone down here.

>>27999776
Ok, I am all for noping right the fuck out of there. Rust Kaiser is the herald of fun times ending. Only shitty slogs of fights after that.

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Rolled 33

>>27999776

It's so stupid that it might work. One could say that it's ogre.

>>27999810
Kaiser threw two punches. The first blow hurled Volt Regios out of the doorway he was defending alongside Red Joker. The second one punched Red Joker into the stage's foundation.

>>27999834
I did start reading that last week...

>>27999834

>STUPID LUCKY

God help us.

Above - Somewhere up there, past the level you smashed your way through - you can hear fighting: The crackling, wordless sounds of effort, the *zip* of rounds and the lethal hum of weapons biting into Player armour - The throaty roar as a heavy weapon opens up, muzzleflash flaring in bursts of staccato, strobing illumination, mingling with eye-searing blue flash of lightning...

-They have their hands full, all right. It sounds like there's a full-scale war happening just out of sight, the din echoing - muffled - through bulkheads and distant archways and half-seen corridors-

The Tempest Scrander flares at your back, electrical distortion gathering beneath you: Red particles fuming, dispersing, as the charge kicks you into the air, angling for the high ceiling - As you cast the fires of EXEC_HARROW at him.

Rust Kaiser doesn't even attempt to dodge. Violet light flares, and his silhouette ignites on your sensors with the fierce illumination of a magnesium flare - Tiles crunching, denting beneath his hooves as that raw iron helm cants back with a metal-on-metal screech...

The Nova Cannon sketches itself into existence, as soon as EXEC_HARROW leaves your hand; The neon lines of the schematic solidifying into weight, mass, green telltales winking to life as your gauntlet clenches around the grip, racing the rushing howl of an imminent rust-choked cyclone -

...You're not going to make it in time.

(Continued)

>>27999762
But can we still seal the hallway between our team and theirs?

>>27999845

It's one of the better quests I've followed. Blorp is god damn hilarious.

>>27999861

Ah shit. Nice knowin' ya Joker.

>>27999873
If we get up there, we can use Fortress Mode.

>>27999876
I made the mistake of trying to read it at work. Haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

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Why wont Rust just fucking die.

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>>27999928

I always loved the context sensitive buttons.

>>27999752

The Assault Shroud detaches from your shoulders, hexagonal segments tightly interlocked like the teeth of a fractal dragon; The nanomaterial disperses, sealing off half the chamber - Condensing, locking itself in place, a wall of crimson hexagons, taking on a gleaming sheen as it cuts the hallway neatly in two-

...Just as the compressed whirlwind blasts forth, gale-force winds slamming into your barrier: You hear the scratching noises of *sand*, accelerated to scouring knives of clogging, choking grit, corroding and churning...

The Fortress Barrier holds. But barely. There's a terrible *crunch* of impact, like a battering ram brought to bear against a portcullis gate: The sound is a splintering one, a sledgehammer blow - The barrier juddering beneath the impact, red smog swirling from the seams-

And again. Rust Kaiser's fists crashed into the wall again, each blow with the shattering force of a short-fused grenade: The surface beginning to buckle beneath the pounding impacts, actually *denting* outwards beneath the titanic strength brought to bear...

But that's all you see, as you smash upwards, through the ceiling; The jagged edges of the hole scraping and clawing at your crimson plate, leaving long gouges - and plunge back into the firefight.

(Continued)

We should try and absorb some of the Hellion shells into the Nihl to see if it is possible. Or cannibalize Dominion into the sphere. Just a thought.

>>27999956

The battle above has erupted out of the great chamber, into the corridor beyond: Grey mist swirls in the air, shrouding the vaulted hallway - At least forty meters across - in fog. Lethal crossfire whips back and forth, tracers and plasma bolts cross-crossing the space: Rounds spang hollowly off your pauldrons, as HAIL BUSTER swings his autocannon to bear - His armour green, chased with white, myomer muscles bunching in his upper body as he sets his stocky legs-

The multibarreled cannon makes a grinding metal noise, like bells crushed through an industrial press. Burning cases flicker across the rotating barrels, as you're bracketed by a storm of shot - Fragments of your crimson armour blasted free, more shots rebounding off the Sinistral as the field kicks back into fitful life-

There's at least four of them, several dozen meters down the corridor; Advancing, relentlessly, through GREY SHROUD's swirling mist - A plasma bolt screams past your shoulder, close enough to smell the ozone.

"-behind cover!"

Bishamon shouts; A meter behind you, the corridor's walls jut outwards in twin bulkheads, now scarred with shot and burns - Out in the open, you're the clearest target. BLITZ CALIBER's lightning guns spit cohered blasts in your direction - The crackling bolts twisting away, drawn to Volt Regios's thorn-sword, hissing as it soaks up the power.

Dimly, next to a charred, decapitated form, you make out Tyrian Edge - Hunching down, doing...*something* with his gauntlet, the keys clacking in a frantic, chattering rhythm.

HP: 162.7%
COBALT BOOSTER: 105%
METER: 16%

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>28000095

Welcome back sir. I know i stayed up for a reason.

Processing and backreading!

Rolled 41

>>28000095

"I've got a stupid idea that might get us out of this alive."

Followed by enacting Ogre with >>27999776

>>28000095

Seconding >>28000139

Also start spraying the Smilers with plasma vulcans to keep them back and build up some meter.

>>28000139
This is stupid. this is gonna get us killed. no rule of cool in JQ, didnt you pay attention in Nara Dreamland? JQOP, is this even theoretically possible?

>>28000095
>There's at least four of them, several dozen meters down the corridor; Advancing, relentlessly, through GREY SHROUD's swirling mist

2 Tyrant Burst 4 into that mist with Argus assisted targeting

>HAIL BUSTER swings his autocannon to bear

Is he separate from the concealing mist (like he won't be hit by a TB)? If so, we have the Tau with us, shoot him with it.

Also, since we Harrowed Rust Kaiser we should still know where he is, Keep track of that

>>28000139
>>28000153
veto-ing, this is stupid

>>27999776
>>28000139

(My sincerest apologies: The Hollow Sun portal doesn't work like that. You can only open the door at the physical analogue to the Hollow Sun's location - A burnt-out area somewhere in Dis.

Also, the Siege Perilous door was in the main meeting room of the Black Tri-Stars - The room with Phantom Edge's form, the one the enemy Players were in.

At present, you don't have access to that chamber.)

>>28000167
this is a hallway, right?

>>28000139
>>28000153
Personally, I don't want Rust Kaiser loose in the Hollow Sun. Everything in there is technological, he'd wreak mad havoc.

>>28000095

"We need to get the fuck out of here right now. Covering fire!"

Bring up the Fortress to cover our retreat. We need to get out of the killzone while we still have the chance. Lay down covering fire with the vulcans.

>>28000095
>COBALT BOOSTER: 105%

Cobalt boooster to Tau Gun. This should let us fire twice in one turn since it ups the firing rate.
Pulse the Argus system as we fire, and double-tap Hail Buster in the face twice before he can re-aim his heavy weapon.

Afterimages ON to distract the advancing party.
Cybele's Mark to cleanse this rust crap from our system.

and......>>27999776
This sounds like a hilarious plan. get to it. We NEED to even the odds.

Whats our rifle bit status? Any up still? We had a full flight out.

>>28000095
>>28000163
Yeah, not sure if we should really use 2 given how that will near completely drain the booster but pretty much this then get to cover.

>>28000167
In that case ask Tyrian Edge if there are any alternate exits. Rust Kaiser is going to kick our asses in this enclosed space once he catches up.

>>28000176

(Yes. You're in one of the hallways leading to the meeting chamber: The Black Tri-Stars are retreating backwards, being pushed back by superior firepower. They just can't close the range, because they're met by a fusillade each time they're out of cover.)

>>28000198

(Two are still functional. They've auto-returned to you, now that you're back within the command radius.)

>>28000198
see >>28000167 about that plan

>>28000095
Oh fuck, no Assault Shroud. This is going to be a bitch and a half. No standing still, Red Joker's squishy. Jump to Hail Buster, punch him with the Crisis Arm then use him as a human shield while Exec_Consume fixes Joker's arm.

After that, use Plasma Vulcans until we build some meter. Keep an eye out for Bell Zephyr, next to Rust Kaiser she's the biggest threat to us.

I'd still like to try moving the battlefield to home territory, but I just realized why it wouldn't work.

>>28000167
The location is why I suggested Scrander Crashing into their midst. It would disorient the Smilers and leave the fliers vulnerable. Besides, you've missed the real reason it wouldn't work; the Siege Perilous connects doorways. The field effect there wouldn't have an effect here, so no gravity well.

>>28000179
Rust Kaiser's in the basement.

>>28000192
Fortress Mode is what's keeping Rust Kaiser from leaving the basement.

>>28000198
Tyrant 4 isn't aimed at all. It's blind fire.

>>28000192
Don't think we can given how we already used it to block Kaiser's debuff

>>28000198

No wasting booster. We need that to fix our arm.

>>28000202

Agreement. CONSERVATION OF BOOSTER is in effect.

We're gonna survive this entirely by consume+cybele emblem healing, which is booster heavy. Conserve it.

>>28000207
Didn't notice that when I wrote it, but the rest of it is still valid.

Do we have orders for our allies?

>>28000217
>>28000218

Hence why we need to get out now. Flash Eye then? We only need a few seconds to bug out.

>>28000217
>Rust Kaiser's in the basement.

And what's going to stop him from punching through the floor and grabbing us?

>>28000219

Its 10% booster for the tau gun for a round, and maaaaybe 10% if we pulse the argus system for two shots instead of leaving it on.

We regenerate 10% booster a turn

So its not really wasting. Its actually an incredibly effective play, because our Main Imperative right the hell now is to drop as many of the competition as fast as possible before rust kaiser breaks free.

In short:

Tau Gun Yes, Tyrant 4 No.
Tau gun's already deployed anyway, might as well use it. We NEED our heaviest hitting gun because we NEED meter fast fast fast.
Its worth 10% booster to fire it faster(and the cutting beam), and its worth an argus system to guarantee two hits.

Do it.

While we do have a moment to huddle under fire, take this chance to fix our arm.

>>28000231
This, Kaiser is crazy enough to do it. Can we detect where he is somehow ? Like with the argus system /

>>28000227
Kouichi/Bishamon's got three different death flags raised. Bugging out means he dies.

>>28000231
Fortress Mode.

>>28000223
>Do we have orders for our allies?

Get Tyrian Edge to figure out a way to get the hell out of here. Bishamon is close protection while Volt focuses Blitz Caliber, since it seems like he's his hard counter.

>>28000223
>Do we have orders for our allies?

"Tyrian, whatever you're doing - HURRY. Everyone else, cover him. Bishamon - front and center. Now's our chance before rust kaiser gets free!"

>>28000231
The dude is super heavy and can't fly and while we know where he is he can't track us

>>28000259

That was a call for all four of us to sound the retreat. We can't win this. No shame in retreating to live another day. We really do not want to reenact Pyrrhus of Epirus now.

>>28000095
>METER: 16%

Welp.

Deploy our two bits, boost them since its cheap, and aim them at whomever we hit with the tau gun.

If we can alpha strike one person down this round, we will have done good.

>>28000192
Would be nice to get some kind of radio or telepathy in the future, as to not signal every move to the enemy

>>28000275

Did you miss the part where someone put HARROW on us?

>...As your right arm smolders with the fires of EXEC_HARROW.


He can totally track us. And kill us if our health dips low enough.

>>28000259
>>28000276

There's no reason we can't do a fighting retreat.

And if we take more of them out on a withdraw, it makes an opportunity to turn the tables on them.

>>28000290
Right, we need to get that cleared off.

>>28000290
>Did you miss the part where someone put HARROW on us?

Then we cleanse it with cybele's emblem. It can burn the codeburst away.

Are you sure it wasn't US using the harrow code on Kaiser? because that was the plan last thread.

>>28000293
Joker is awesome, but we're outnumbered. And Kaiser will crush the tristars/us if he catches up.
Don't be greedy. All we cn do is cripple one and retreat

>>28000198
>Pulse the Argus system as we fire,

Ooh!

Argus system on Meter, not Booster!
Since we can totally do tat

>>28000276
We won't. We'll reenact the Spire. Rust Kaiser's in the basement, leaving us plenty of time to unlock and charge the Fusion Annihilator.

>>28000290
...That was our Exec_Harrow, before we fired it.

>>28000293
No, they're here for something. Either Phantom Edge's corpse, the Tri-Stars tech, or there's a Manifold Tower in the basement. Hell, this might just be a hit on one of the Hyades' champions for Kraken. Regardless, they have to be pushed out. Blow off someone's head, prime the Void Anchor. Either it'll explode and deny everyone their prize, or in a day or two this place will be a disintegrating wreck as its Essence goes to feed our industry.

>>28000300

It'll still cost us an arm in booster though. Which we need to heal from Rusty. I wonder if the cost in regenerating an arm is less than actually using cleanse.. if it is, just rip the arm off and regen.

>>28000314
But we don't have the void anchor yet and we have no way of getting one right now.

>>28000309
>Joker is awesome, but we're outnumbered. And Kaiser will crush the tristars/us if he catches up.
>Don't be greedy. All we can do is cripple one and retreat

Not necessarily. We have a veerrry small window to even the odds before he's back in play.

You seem to be advocating running away. Like drop everything and run.

That's a bad idea, and that kind of panic will get us killed.

We need to stick together, stay together, work together, and focus enemies DOWN as we withdrawn.

A fighting retreat is our only hope. Especially well-coordinated one.

Remember, this is our test of being a leader, and the only way for us to get through this is to step up and be a HERO. (thanks oracle lady!).

Drop everything and run is NOT the answer here.

Play smart, play tactical, hit one of their members are hard as possible right now and get our allies heads in the game.

>>28000198

The Tau Gun's green telltales wink to blue: The weapon pulsing with cold blue light. Shots *spang* and deflect off your pauldrons, as you try to keep the Sinistral up - On your HUD, your left arm is registering acutator failure, the limb seizing up, locking in place at irregular intervals, sooty black smoke coiling from the ruptured joints.

You can't bring your Plasma Vulcans to bear - But you have something *better*. The smokescreen makes it hard to see anything but silhouettes; Until the Argus System sends a millimeter-wave pulse down the corridor, coming back with four targets-

HAIL BUSTER, keeping up a relentless volley with his chugging autocannon, the barrels whirring in a constant stream of metal-jacketed death - BLITZ CALIBER, firing two-fisted, lightning guns spitting electricity, scorching twisting lines across the already-scarred walls. DUSK CORSAIR, cyclic plasma gun replacing his left limb, each high-yield round screaming through the air, exploding in a sunburst corona that sketches hard radiation across your sensors.

Rust Kaiser is still somewhere beneath you - He's on the move, but you can't *see* where he is, his Essence signature vibrating fitfully...Beginning to rise, slowly, inexorably-

>>28000192
>>28000249

Bishamon leans out - The raised horns of his kabuto helm blasting twin lines of tracers, Vulcan fire hammering down the corridor: He hits Dusk Corsair, and you see the midnight figure stagger - His next shot going wild, spalling and chips of rock blasted from the ceiling.

Head vulcans. An idiot's weapon.

As you back into cover, you swing the Nova Cannon into line with HAIL BUSTER: The targeting beam scorches through the foggy distance, carving a thin line across his chestplate. He checks himself, adjusting his fire-

(continued)

>>28000314

No. He put HARROW on us.

The post where WE put HARROW on Rusty is

>The Nova Cannon sketches itself into existence, as soon as EXEC_HARROW leaves your hand; The neon lines of the schematic solidifying into weight, mass, green telltales winking to life as your gauntlet clenches around the grip, racing the rushing howl of an imminent rust-choked cyclone -

>as soon as EXEC_HARROW leaves your hand;

He totally put HARROW on us before that. Reread it.

>>28000326
>But we don't have the void anchor yet and we have no way of getting one right now.

we bought one last thread. We have one.

>>28000314
>We won't. We'll reenact the Spire. Rust Kaiser's in the basement, leaving us plenty of time to unlock and charge the Fusion Annihilator.
I KNEW i was forgetting something good.

yeah. Fusion annihilator time.

We need to use the tau gun to get to tier 2 ASAP.

>>28000340

(My apologies: That was your EXEC_HARROW. In the previous chapter, you activate HARROW, but didn't use it - The Codeburst was still available, but 'unfired', at the start of this one.)

>>28000326
We retroactively purchased one last thread.

>>28000340
As of >>28000350 we're still the only player using codebursts on the battlefield. Zephyr probably has some though.

>>28000350

Ah, alright.

>>28000370

I'm surprised Rusty doesn't have any. Would be my first assumption. You'd never expect the tank to also be a caster.

>>28000387
Everything we've been told about him suggests that he traded INT and WIS for more STR and CON than any Player should have. Come to think of it, it's probably why Kou is so messed up in the Blue World.

>>28000332
>You seem to be advocating running away. Like drop everything and run.
Maybe I was unclear. Of course we leave here as a team.
>Remember, this is our test of being a leader,
Who prioritizes the lives of his troops over being able to kill every enemy. But there seem to be enough good ideas to take on the enemy. We'll see what happens

>>28000335
>Head vulcans. An idiot's weapon.

I really hope those three levels you put into it come through here, buddy.

That and that fancy sword.

>>28000398
>Everything we've been told about him suggests that he traded INT and WIS for more STR and CON than any Player should have
And traded in his DEX and CHA too, just for chuckles

>>28000400
>Who prioritizes the lives of his troops over being able to kill every enemy.

Ah.

So THAT is where our misunderstanding is.

No, I'm not advocating trying to kill them all at the expense of our friends lives.

I'm advocating using this window where their tank is unavailable to do as much damage as possible to give us better odds in a round or two.

Also, we still need a way out.

>>28000417
Maybe I missed something, but just making an exit isnt an option ? (i.e. blasting a hole in the wall)

>>28000424
I don't think we have enough meter for the fusion annihilator yet.

>>28000413

well, and that thing where he keeps coming back to life.

>
- After absorbing part of MIRAGE SYLPHEED's Essence, the Nihl Sphere's glows with a steady, pulsing violet illumination.

Its likely he has a hyades mark (of unkillability) or a tether set to go off if he's about to die.

We should pulse the Nihl Sphere - since it CAN power codebursts and we've used it that way before - into the Argus System.
The sphere is used for finding things, and can reveal otherworldly or obscured things - so it seems like it would have natural synergy with the argus system.

Try combining the two - locate rust kaiser's source of Extra Special Bullshit via Nihl Scan - and then once we know where it is we can target it specifically.

>>28000413
He's still viciously fast. Not too nimble though. Oh hey that gives me an idea. Could we activate Exec_Swarm through Fortress Mode? Rather than let the final pieces stand inertly, have them turn into a swarm of armor chomping bugs after Kaiser breaks through?

>>28000427
There's always the Crisis Arm...

>>28000424
>>28000427

Another reason we need to get our murder on.

We need lots of meter, fast.

JokerOp, meter gain is based on damage, right?
If we use an AOE weapon, and hit more than one person with it, does our meter gain go up with multiple target hits?
Kind of like how its possible in FPS games to get over 100% accuracy with explosive weapons. If you only fire one shot, and it hits two targets...

Because I was thinking that unleashing some cobalt boosted napalm missiles onto their firing line is an EXCELLENT way of hitting everyone at once, and getting meter over time as they stand in the fire, AND forcing them to move so we have a line of retreat.

>>28000434
>He's still viciously fast. Not too nimble though. Oh hey that gives me an idea. Could we activate Exec_Swarm through Fortress Mode? Rather than let the final pieces stand inertly, have them turn into a swarm of armor chomping bugs after Kaiser breaks through?

What, like, have the swarm eat the fortress mode to grow, then turn on kaiser?
>Also, the summoned swarm is surprisingly resilient to physical force.
Seems like a good thing vs rust man

>>28000434

...And then you wrench the trigger, and his upper torso explodes. It's a clean shot: The antimatter projectile takes his arm off, and you hear HAIL BUSTER's muffled shout of surprise as he reels back, his heavy cannon clattering to the ground, still smoking.

The Nova Cannon cycles, venting waste heat, and you fire *again*. The second round goes high, but it explodes the ceiling in a hail of fist-sized stones, rebounding from Player armour in a clattering barrage.

>>28000284

"*Yes*!" Volt Regios's growl is savagely triumphant - His cloak is in tatters, and you can tell that he's furious from not being able to fire back, his azure plate scorched and slagged in places, though cising sparks crackle over his armour. Hovering in the space between the bulkheads, your twin Bits begin to lance particle fire into the hazy mist, with remarkable accuracy - The incoming fire slackens, for a moment, as the enemy's advance is checked, though shots still whistle past the middle distance.

>>28000297

You focus. Cybele's Emblem smolders with blue light - The mark of the serrated sun casting a shuddering glow. Neon lines sketch your damaged arm back into existence, new plates of armour cycling into place-

Bishamon stiffens, sharply, as if struck. "Wha-" he begins, raw surprise in his words-

>>28000262
>>28000265

"I'm *trying*." Tyrian Edge, in this moment of crisis, is surprisingly calm. Holographic screens flicker above his gauntlet. "-Remote access is out; They're *in* the system, somehow. They don't have control, but..."

He looks up, his metal faceplate gleaming - "...Neither do I. Block A's compromised - We're cut off from Siege Perilous." A shell skips off the floor with whine, cracking the wall next to him.

"There's a secondary transit passage in Block C-"

(Continued)

>>28000434
Then there's the rust cloud that will kill the swarm almost instantly.

>>28000434
>a swarm of armor chomping bugs after Kaiser breaks through?

Man those assault shroud nano-upgrades are looking tasty....

>>28000434

There's an idea. They'll still be wiped out though soon as they're spawned. Fucking Hitler had nothing on this dudes gas.

>>28000458

>tasty

That had better be intentional, Carlos.

>>28000451

"There's a secondary transit passage in Block C-"

"*Fuck* that," Volt Regios snarls, a savage edge to his voice. "-This is our *home*. I say we take it back." He wrenches his head to the side: "Armory's in E Block, down and to the left. If we make a break for it-"

"E Block's a dead end-"

Bishamon shakes his head, as if jarred from a reverie. His helmet gives away nothing, but you can tell he was staring at you - Or rather, at the azure glow of the Hyades Emblem, shedding its azoic light.

"The backup server's in F Block," he cuts in. "If we can reboot the system, we can drop half the building on these bastards-"

"...If they haven't got to it, first." Tyrian adds - Between frantic key-pressing. "-If there aren't *more* of them-"

You tune out the argument for a moment - Rust Kaiser's Essence signature is *moving*. Moving upwards, slowly, a little at a time; Somewhere beneath you, closing in. Is he - Climbing the wall? You imagine - Those pitted fingers driving into the stone, for a handhold - Again and again, tireless and inexorable...

"Joker!" Regios snaps - His voice carrying over another burst of fire. One of your Interceptors explodes, the other still pulsing shots down the distance. "Joker, *where do we go*?"

They're all looking at you. That's the thing that strikes you the most: As energy shot slags against the bulkhead, as tendrils of grey fog filter past the gouged corridor - They're *all looking to you.*

HP: 156.0%
COBALT BOOSTER: 90%
METER: 23%

[ ] "-We head for the transit passage, and Block C. We're getting out of here."
[ ] "We're heading for E Block, and the armory."
[ ] "We need to reset the server, first - F Block's our first priority."
[ ] "We need to take the main chamber back, first."
[ ] "Bishamon, what do you think?"
[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>28000451
>"-Remote access is out; They're *in* the system, somehow. They don't have control, but..."

"..Can you find out where they are? We are going to need to break through the ambush somehow.... siege perilous may be our ticket out."

>>28000499
>[x ] "Bishamon, what do you think?"

We need the trust of all of our men

>>28000499
To the armoury

Let's wipe these clowns off the map.

>>28000499
>[ ] "We need to reset the server, first - F Block's our first priority."
with all of us moving as one, we can get there, hold them up, get ourselves fortified and ready to kick-ass

>>28000499
[X] "We need to reset the server, first - F Block's our first priority."

We've done pretty well on the hacking segments so far. I'm thinking Server-->lock the place down-->Armory-->Rust Kaiser-->Main chamber.

We should also consider dropping the Void Anchor soon in an out of the way corner. OP, after the Anchor has been initialized, and after it's come online, can it be located? The ideal place for it is in the foundation area, but we won't have time to go back down there until after this event chain.

>>28000499
"Which one is 'up'? Because I want to keep as much distance between us and Rust Kaiser as humanly possible."

>>28000499
>[ ] "Bishamon, what do you think?"

Vetoing this answer. ANY answer but this.

>>METER: 23%
SO CLOSE to tier 2

>>28000499
>"...If they haven't got to it, first." Tyrian adds - Between frantic key-pressing. "-If there aren't *more* of them-"
Nihl_spere to argus scan. Answer the number of hostiles in this area ASAP. Then make an informed decision.

Warn the others rust kaiser is climbing.

"Right now we need to even the odds. Fast. If they gain control of the building or security, we're in even WORSE shape. We can't let them drop the building on US."

"Armory, then server room. Dead ends don't matter much when you're packing my guns, or that new apex blade of yours. This IS your home - our home. We're not handing it over without a fight."
"Its not going to be easy. we NEED to work together. No hesitation, no second guesses, and use the home field advantage."

"Which is faster? Armory first, or server?"

>>28000499
[X] "We need to reset the server, first - F Block's our first priority."
[X] Free
"If we can't take it back we need to sabotage it. You do not want the smilers to have the ability to port strike teams anywhere in the Red. Also, I think Kaiser's going to try and punch through the floor to get at us, so we should go now."

>>28000499
>METER: 23%
>>28000499
>One of your Interceptors explodes, the other still pulsing shots down the distance. "Joker, *where do we go*?"
Aww, not boosted?

Darn.

Deploy plasma vulcans and shoot whomever has their head sticking out.
Cobalt Boost for armor-piercing and shooting through walls as we do this plan >>28000538
>Nihl_spere to argus scan. Answer the number of hostiles in this area ASAP. Then make an informed decision.

No sense wasting an argus sweep by not firing.

>>28000499

"F Block. We need that server. I'm willing to gamble on their being more. If we can take back the system we can trap Rust Kaiser and finish off his goons at leisure. Dim your vision sensors, I'll pop the Flash Eye to blind them so we can make a break for it."

"LET'S MOVE FOLKS!"

>>28000532
Addendum. We want to stop the Smilers from looting the Armory, so we might have to split the party. Bishamon and Volt to the Armory, Tyrian and ourself to the server room. The problem is that it puts Bishamon in a place where his death flag can go off.

I'm still willing to risk it, but it's something to consider.

>>28000551
Problem: The scanner can't be boosted by the Cobalt Booster. Is it going to be able to accept the input of the energy the Sphere puts off?

>>28000499
>[ ] "Bishamon, what do you think?"
As long as i don't have to go toe-to-toe with kaiser, i'll follow his suggestions, since i havnt a flying fuck of a notion of whats going on anymore

>>28000554
Maybe we should actually ASK them what they've got in their armory, because we've already got a pretty effective armory in the form of the Hollow Sun.

>>28000499

"Do you have anything in the armory that could absolutely ruin our day? If yes, we split the party to go and recover or destroy as much as possible. We meet up at F Block to take back the server."

>>28000554
You might want to keep Bishamon with you to prevent death flags. so maybe Joker/ Bishamon
and Tyrian/Volt

>>28000554
>Problem: The scanner can't be boosted by the Cobalt Booster. Is it going to be able to accept the input of the energy the Sphere puts off?

We haven't tried. We do know the nihl_sphere can power code bursts, despite that function not being listed.

Soo.... give it a shot.

>>28000554
>Addendum. We want to stop the Smilers from looting the Armory, so we might have to split the party. Bishamon and Volt to the Armory, Tyrian and ourself to the server room. The problem is that it puts Bishamon in a place where his death flag can go off.
Regarding this, the plan I was going for here:
>>28000538
>"Armory, then server room. Dead ends don't matter much when you're packing my guns, or that new apex blade of yours.

is to hit the armory through the wall, grab everything and go to the server room asap.

E Block and F block are similiarly named, so they should be right next to each other.

If we go through walls, since this IS an emergency, we should GAIN speed.

You wanted to give bishamon his apex blade so bad - the sword that can cut through anything?

This is the time to put it to good use. We NEED speed and guns and to get the the objective FIRST.

Armory->server via wallhacking(literally) accomplishes all of these.

>>28000573

>wallhacks

If we're going through walls we need to shout OHHHH YEAHHH. It has to be us to go through the wall first. We are a trendy bright red.

>>28000568

No. NO.

Fuck that. We're already overwhelmed: I say we make a break for the exit, and escape as quickly as possible. This whole thing is a losing prposition.

>>28000573
>Armory->server via wallhacking(literally) accomplishes all of these.
I like the wallhacking idea a lot. I'd be willing to go in for this, and in this order too.

The codeburst thing is mentioned under Nihl Sphere in the equipment listing.

>>28000586
Except for the part where enemy fire was PINGING OFF the Red Joker frame. It's kind of light, you know? Most anything above a certain level can punch through it... Which means most of the people they've brought are scrubs. Oh, there'll be captains who can fuck us up but good, and sustained fire can damage Red Joker, but we're not in immediate danger. Worst comes to worst we activate Nihl_Rend or fire the Fusion Annihilator into a wall.

>>28000504

Precious seconds tick by, as Tyrian tabs through the dozens of feeds he's monitoring - The tiny images clustering around his forearm, hovering in the hololithic miasma.

"-No," he says, his words coming faster and faster. "I'm in observer mode only: Someone's jammed the feeds." He tilts his wrist, to let you see: Besides scrawling lines of code, all you can see is a white staticky blurt.

Somewhere down the corridor, there's a *crash*, a bellicose metal-on-metal clashingroar: You can hear the grinding of powerful limbs, the ground shaking underfoot. For a moment, you think it's Rust Kaiser; But no, his presence is still slowly, doggedly closing in. This is something else.

>>28000534

"C block, but-"

"...But it might be compromised," Regios snaps. "-How do you think they got *in*?"

"You don't know that," Bishamon cuts in - He leans out, then his head wrenches back with an oath - A well-aimed round glances against his helmet, hard enough to send him staggering.

> "Which is faster? Armory first, or server?"
>>28000534

"The server room's 'up', but it's further away-"

Suddenly, there's a staggering explosion. Searing beams chop the gloom, slicing through the walls: Tyrian throws himself flat, as they punch through the bulkheads, the scintillating green beams shearing through the metal like paper. A ray splinters against your Sinistral - Another against Bishamon's Apex Blade, hurling prismatic scatter in all directions-

"FUCK!" Volt Regios's snarl is wild, incoherent, as he stumbles, nearly falls - His left arm's gone, a charred ruin, the angle of the beam slashing a deep gouge in his torso. "They're moving up the passage!"

(Continue)

>>28000568
>>28000586

Middle ground option.

Move as a group
Go for the important table-turning options. Things are bad NOW, but if we can turn the tide.....?

>>28000606
>Worst comes to worst we activate Nihl_Rend or fire the Fusion Annihilator into a wall.
We need tier 2 weapons asap, man. only 7% more meter.

>>28000608

TYPE FASTER DAMNIT. THE SUSPENSE.

"What's-" Tyrian begins, uncurling from his crouch; "What's happen-"

"Oh my god." Bishamon's voice is low, hushed - He sounds entirely appalled, as he catches a glimpse of the hulking form grinding down the corridor, a hunched ogre with a dozen faces. The swelling black pitch of it's form runs and reshapes like half-melted wax: Gun barrels and cooling lines bulging out of the snouted shape-

...In a word: AMAGLAM.

The temperature readings on your HUD shoot up, as the air begins to roil with sickening blurs. A red glow filters from within the misshapen thing's very core, fizzing with the rising heat-

"I'm reading fusion weaponry-"

>>28000528
>>28000563
>>28000566
>>28000573
>>28000606

(Armory wins by one vote.)

"*Go* already-" Bishamon wrenches Regios's smoking form to his feet - Volt Regios staggers, unbalanced by his missing limb, as the Amaglam behind you begins to retch searing, twisting fusion beams. It's nowhere as cohered, as *controlled* as your Fusion Annhilator - But it fires without restraint, a wild fusillade that carves through the metal bulkheads, that boils the slowly-morphing forms within their glass alcoves...

-And behind it, in the concealing white mist that swirls in it's wake, the Smilers come on.

(Continued)

>>28000668
>...In a word: AMAGLAM.

We didn't kill it?

Oh no no no no.

Our priority just changed.

We get someone to the Siege Perilous, and get Palladium Rook and his crew in here for help ASAP.

>>28000668

>Amalgam

So the Nihl can open doorways? Now would be to time to use it to get out. Like right now. Yesterday preferably.

And we can still go through the wall for F Block. No worries.

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>>28000668
>...In a word: AMAGLAM.
FUCK. They've started mass producing them!

Cobalt boosted missiles. The last one really didn't like those, and it'll deter Smiler pursuit.

I wonder if we can charge up a couple of the Void Anchors prior to a battle and use them as fuckhuge bombs that would make even Enfer envious.

All of those stupid, time wasting questions. For fuck sake you guys.

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Tyrian Edge leads, the holographic panels above his gauntlet forming a shifting, ever-changing map. You bring up the rear, your Sinistral raised - The next fusillade gouges long lines of molten slag across the walls, in an unruly away: The scars seared into the tiled floor glowing like magma, sparks flying from your hard-light shield as you back away.

You fire your Nova Cannon: With the *size* of the thing, it's hard to miss. The Tau Gun pulses, quavering in your grasp - The antimatter round blasts a fist-sized hole through the suppurating black mass...Which closes with sickening slowness, oozing and bulging onto itself-

The Amaglam's many faces answers with the cackling laughter of demons.

Behind you: Shouts. Stray gunfire, most of it hard rounds, hosing at you, firing as they move. Sharp snatches of words, between bursts of shot-

"-ays 'hello', you son of a bi-"

"-ut them off, kill them-"

"-et them get away-"

"-ack and play, Jok-"

You turn, brace your feet. Your Triskelion launchers spin up: A fusillade of five missiles erupts from your launchers, corkscrewing down the corridor on twisting contrails of smoke - Flames roar up, blue-white, sour. Something *screams*, the sound like a knife across your brain...

And then the corridor gives way to a stairwell, the doorway irising shut in your wake. Great metal shutters slam down, great mechanisms cycling as the steps descend - Rotating downwards, counterclockwise, in utter darkness.

You can still feel Rust Kaiser's presence, but EXEC_HARROW's effect denudes at this distance: He's...*somewhere*. Somewhere above you, and far away. You wish you knew more, but even that is fitful, uncertain. Is he out of the area of effect?

(Continued)

>>28000751
>The Amaglam's many faces answers with the cackling laughter of demons.

Look for familiar faces

And cobalt the tau gun and fire again.

>>28000751
Huh, anyone know which Players make up this Amaglam? I kinda figured we'd meet another one, but not on these terms.

>>28000767
We're not in the same room anymore.

>>28000767
>the doorway irising shut in your wake. Great metal shutters slam down
Might indicate that the door is now solidly closed.

Stupid to go for the armory when doing so gives the enemy an opportunity to gain control of all the doors.

>>28000792

Who needs doors when we have perfectly good walls to make doors with?

>>28000751
I idly wonder if they got enfer after the manifold tower incident and stuck him in this thing as well? I don't see him escaping the smilers in the state we last saw him in. Unless... he's still wandering around underground.

"Okay." Tyrian's voice is low, strangely muted. "-That's the only way in. If the door holds..."

"'If'?" Regios rasps, supported by Bishamon. For a long moment, there's silence: Bishamon cants his head up, listening intently - And, very faintly, you hear an actinic *hiss*, the *clang* of a weighty impact being brought to bear...

"How long do we have?" Bishamon asks, his voice echoing hollowly.

"-It depends. How badly do they want *in*?"

The stairs slope down into another hallway - This one larger, angular, vaguely reminiscient of an underpass: Lit only by the red glow of emergency lighting. There's a shuddering groan, as the ground beneath your feet tilts; Your center of gravity shifting, so subtly it's as if you may only have imagined it.

"...Shit." Tyrian glances down at his gauntlet - "They're reconfiguring the Holophusikon's structure - Bringing this Block in line with another." He looks back over his shoulder, clearly troubled: "When we come out, we're going to have to come out shooting."

"We already knew that," Bishamon says, under his breath. He adjusts Volt Regios's bulk, his Apex Blade held in his free hand.

[ ] "What's in the armoury, anyway?"
[ ] "So how do we get out?"
[ ] "Isn't there another exit?"
[ ] "Bishamon, what's wrong?"
[ ] "You mean, they have control of the building?"
[ ] "Wait, 'reconfiguring the structure'? What does that mean?"
[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>28000808
[X] Free
check our meter. i'd love to greet them with a fusion beam.

>>28000822
>check our meter. i'd love to greet them with a fusion beam.

Alternatively, ask if one of them would be willing to eat a little bit of a Consume to power us up

>>28000808

[X] "What's in the armoury, anyway?"

>>28000808

"Doesn't matter if we go through the wall.Volt,load up with whatever you can carry. Tyrian, rig up a directed charge with anything you have in here aimed at that door. When they break through, they'll get a nasty surprise.. Bishamon, you and me are going to start making our exit."

>>28000830
Bad idea. Also pretty sure that only give health

>>28000808
would be nice if we could heal Regios or send him away somewhere safe

>>28000808
>[ ] "You mean, they have control of the building?"
>[ ] "Wait, 'reconfiguring the structure'? What does that mean?"

"Well, fuck. How do we get control back?"

>>28000841
>A portion of the siphoned Essence is converted into vital energies - Gradually replenishing the user's HP and Meter.

Meter.

30% is our golden ticket.

>>28000843
Server room, hopefully.

You know if you guys hadn't veto'd my 2 TB4 barrages we'd have been much better off right now.

>>28000852
Still a bad idea. The Nihl isn't really controllable when it consumes. Remember it almost killed us once.

>>28000843
>>[ ] "You mean, they have control of the building?"
>>[ ] "Wait, 'reconfiguring the structure'? What does that mean?"
It means we're in a Cube-like environment, and they can realign the blocks. Pretty obvious

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>>28000808
"Reconfig--oh, I get it. This place is a fortress, not a museum, and modifiability is part of its defenses. If you didn't know the layout could be adjusted you might run in circles forever, or get sent into a trap. Okay, can you see where they're moving things? If we want to get out we'll need to take the control center, and to do that effectively we'll need to take the server. And for that, we're going to need guns. Lots of guns. Or, uh, other weapons."

>>28000830
Holy balls, no. Never.

>>28000836
Volt's being carried. Lost an arm too.

>>28000855
Wouldn't have hit shit, the level 4 can't be aimed.

>>28000843

"Server room," Bishamon says. His voice is carefully measured, to reserve all judgment; But Tyrian Edge clears his throat, with a vox crackle. "-If they've taken control so quickly...It means that they *did* have someone at the server," he says, awkwardly, by way of consolation.

"Great," Regios hisses, poisonously. "Out of the frying pan..."

>>28000830

With a breathing space at last, you check your HUD's readouts.

HP: 131.2%
COBALT BOOSTER: 86%
METER: 34%

TIER 2 WEAPONRY UNLOCKED

There's a silver lining to this cloud, at least.

>>28000867
>>28000883

"That's...Actually, that *is* it," Tyrian says, sounding almost startled. "That's what the Holophusikon *is*. Whoever's in control - They're moving the module we're in, towards..."

He falters.

"...I don't know, actually. It could be anywhere else."

> [X] "What's in the armoury, anyway?"

"Now, *there's* a complex question," Regios chuckles, bleakly. "-Bits and pieces, really. Anything we couldn't carry with us - Explosives, the Halo Shroud..."

"...Things that don't make the transit," Bishamon adds, by way of clarification. "As it turns out...Some Relics, you can't take with you. They stay right where you leave them." He shrugs, spined shoulders lifting as his black-and-scarlet armour articulates. "A place to store them...It seemed like a good idea at the time."

(Continued)

>>28000883
We've never missed before when we used it.

>>28000917

>explosives

Now you're talking my language. Let's get to nigger rigging. We need dakka. Lots of dakka.

>>28000917
>METER: 34%

Begin charging fusion beam. Use the sinistral to shield it when we come out so there isn't a containment breach.

Build six charges to a stable hold due to Manifold Tower upgrade.

"Well. I guess we have our work cut out for us. Was it above us to start with?"

>>28000917

Even Spaghetti-san thinks coming to the armory was a bad idea. Damnit guys. Hopefully we can salvage this..

>>28000954
What? I thought we were cutting an alternate exit with Bishamon?

>>28000955
There have been some really dumb decisions over the last few episodes.

>>28000960

We are.

However, see
>>28000808
>He looks back over his shoulder, clearly troubled: "When we come out, we're going to have to come out shooting."

We're pre-charging our fusion blaster.

When we pop out, we want it fully charged, ready to rock.

Not to charge it up once the fighting starts, you see?

>>28000926
We've only used Burst IV once: on Pazuzu. And only one of the beams hit.

>>28000960
Can't. The armory and server room were in entirely different directions. More to the point, the area's layout has moved, there's no telling where something would open up now. That said, the Fusion Field Eliminator is always an option.

I personally think we should hold off on the charging. The Chain Mine will be much more immediately useful against Amaglam.

>>28000960

Exit TO the server room/armory also.

>>28000967
>The Chain Mine will be much more immediately useful against Amaglam.
If cobalt boosted rockets worked against him last time, fusion grade heat should be as good as or better than napalm missiles.

Also, they aren't mutually exclusive.

20% for chain mine leaves 2.66 charges of a fusion blaster.

>>28000917

Bishamon falls silent, as the passageway opens up into a broad entrance - A vast interior space, rectangular, landscape in form. The grey, dressed stone of the walls are draped in banners - The symbols on the wide swatches of cloth blurred to indecipharibility, oddly disturbing despite their unreadability.

The space is radiant with yellow light: Oddly, it reminds you of the chamber where you fought Rust Kaiser, except in better order. The floor is smooth, seamless ebony inlaid with silver - Around the edges of the room, there are podiums, plinths, displays...Bearing objects, or the fragments of objects - An anteroom, a display arsenal lined with weapons.

They're, nigh-universally, blades. Swords and spears and axes, suspended on gravity hooks - And stranger things, too; Toothed and hooked and serrated, elegantly mystifying, all of them suffused in a pale, luminous glow.

"Don't get *too* excited," Bishamon warns - He barely gives the display of archaic weapons a second glance. "-They're exactly what they look like: Unpowered weapons. We don't know why they're here, but..."

He lifts the Apex Blade in one hand, sounding almost apologetic - "None of them are anywhere as good as this. You're free to help yourself, though."

(Continued)

>>28000917
>"That's...Actually, that *is* it," Tyrian says, sounding almost startled. "That's what the Holophusikon *is*. Whoever's in control - They're moving the module we're in, towards..."

"Alright. Then you need to use your computer and keep track of the server room. You're smart - you did leave yourself a backdoor into this place, right?"

"If they bring all of your security down on our head, then we're TOTALLY screwed. as sucky as it is.... we gotta head there and take it back."
"Think of it like capture the flag. Or football. Gotta play the objective."

>>28000975

They'll also be clustered around the door where the directed charges SHOULD be being set up by Tyrian. The Claymore Mine analogs should thin out the scrubs for our chain mine/annihilator shots.

>>28000986
>"Don't get *too* excited," Bishamon warns - He barely gives the display of archaic weapons a second glance. "-They're exactly what they look like: Unpowered weapons. We don't know why they're here, but..."

..... take one and Prime it. This looks suspiciously like a precursor to the hollow sun armory.

>>28000991
Do we rig the armory/ armory door for those coming to loot it or don't we have time for that ?

>>28000986
>"-They're exactly what they look like: Unpowered weapons. We don't know why they're here, but..."

.... actually, use the Nihl Spere to reveal the area.

If they're glowing, they're powered or linked to something.

There should be a hidden control console around here somewhere...

Scan for it really fast!

>>28001006

Don't know yet. We will soon as OP posts.

>>28000997
Priming a weapon has a cost in Cobalt Booster. We already know we're going to use up every drop of it we can get in the next battles. Let the Zenith Upgrade work its magic.

>>28000986
>"None of them are anywhere as good as this. You're free to help yourself, though."
"Your share of the spoils from the world's largest gachapon machine. A bit late, admittedly. I meant to have that to you last week."

>>28000967
We used it on Dvi-E's crew to great effect. The more target the more chance a beam will hit.

>>28000988

"Already on it," Tyrian answers. He taps a few more keys on his wrist-mounted console. "...We're locked out, but I've countermanded them, too. It's a stalemate: They only have auxiliary power."

He swallows, and a faint, staticky buzz comes over his voxponder. "-Unless they kill us, that is."

>>28000997

You reach out, and select a hook-bladed falchion. The weapon feels unfamiliar in your hand, leaden. You feel for the triggering point, and...

The charging element in your gauntlet comes to life, and the falchion goes light in your hand. You take a tentative swing, and it whistles as it cleaves the air. It's perfectly balanced, until it could almost swing itself...But Bishamon's right. It lacks the cising sparks of a shock field, or the razor edge of a phase blade...Well-crafted, sharp, but strictly conventional.

A Player's initial weapon, at best.

>>28001006

"I'll do it," Volt rasps. He's still unsteady on his feet, but his crackling voice is firm enough. "We have...How many?"

"Around twelve," Tyrian says. He shrugs, apologetically. "-They're all on the same activation frequency, I'm afraid. The only way to set them off is all at once-"

"Better than nothing."

Volt reaches for one of the photonic charges, cradling it in his remaining hand. "How many do we set up?"

(Continued)

>>28001037
>>28000997
>>28001016
>>28000988
Why the hell are you idiots giving suggestions when it clearly says (continued)

Wata you especially should know better.

>>28001059
Wait what? Since when has this quest taken suggestions per post?

>>28001061
Dialogue suggestions are sometimes picked up. In this case, I figured that it would be the last chance to comment on the Blade in some time, so I took it.

Anyway, I needs to off. Luck Anon. Luck OP.

>>28001037

Bishamon laughs, a short, sharp bark of laughter. "I appreciate it," he says - There's a smile in his voice, though his armour's charred and scorched and scratched from glancing impacts. "I have to say...Your timing's either perfect, or utterly terrible."

There seems to be something more, but he's not saying it right now.

"...You know, looking around the place like this - It's kind of humbling. There's - Maybe - a handful of odds and ends we've collected..."

Bishamon hesitates, catching himself.

"I meant to say - Regios and Tyrian Edge are my friends, Joker. In case - If I went first - I wanted to tell you to take care of them."

He looks around the chamber: "It seems rather pointless now, from where I'm standing."

[ ] "We're all in this together."
[ ] "I - My track record isn't the best when it comes to things like this."
[ ] "You can count on me."
[ ] "You're in a pretty fatalistic mood today, I have to say."
[ ] "I have enough trouble keeping *myself* alive, to be honest."
[ ] "I'm still surprised that you asked me."
[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>28001016

(My apologies, I'll cover this in the next post.)

>>28001112
[x] Free. We don't really have time to discuss this. Let's get going. Those bastards aren't going to get us

>>28001112
you're in a fatalistic mood today. you did a very stupid thing, asking me to take over. once this is over, you'll have to tell me about her-she isn't worth it, no matter what she offers. anyway, we better go. volt, eight charges

>>28001112

"The four of us are going to get out of this mess or we're going to take as many of the fucks as we can. We're in a bad way, Spaghetti-san, but we'll make it work somehow."

"Volt, stagger the detonation timers. Have the four placed at the door go off as soon as they breach. Have four go off six to eight seconds slightly farther in. And then have the last four go off roughlyfifteen seconds after we've engaged in combat."

Let's see if we can pry off a steel plate and find a ventilation system or something. Play the Nihl around. There's gotta be something here.

>>28001112
[X] Free
"The people who act as proxies for one of the Hyades are granted a unique ability. What power did she give you?"

>>28001182

YES.

Now it's the time for the "I showed you mine now show me yours" schtick.

>>28001181
So are we not opening with a fusion beam now? And are we still going to try and cut another exit?

>>28001191

We still can cut an exit, but nodoy has suggested it..

>>28001112

"Bish, are you a betting man? Because I am. Let's put that blade to the test and make ourselves a door. Wherever we come out of has to be better than this situation."

>>28001136
>>28001158

"You're right." Bishamon ducks his head, faintly abashed. "-That can wait."

>>28001190

He hesitates - Just for a moment. "It's...hard to explain," Bishamon says, reluctantly. "Let's just say - I can't use it when the others are around. It'd do more harm than good, in this situation."

>>28001181

"Roger that." Regios's voice echoes through the passage: There's a whirr-click as he clamps each explosive, twisting the gauge to affix them in place.

Tyrian kneels next to the disc of the Halo Shroud, without prompting - His gauntlet extruding microtools, welding sparks flying as he bends to his work. The thing has clearly seen better days, from the time you brought it into the Hollow Sun - The mechanisms sliding and reconfiguring, a dull glow beginning within the inner ring, the air charged with ozone...

>>28001016

You raise the Helix Gauntlet: The shutters irising open, revealing the violet orb of the Nihl Sphere. The Sphere pulses, the colour shifting unsteadily, like the throb of a faltering heart - A smokeless illumination, one that brightens as you feel a surge...Like warm oil...shuddering through your form-

A *pulse* races outwards. A rippling wave, spreading through the chamber - Like the sweep of the Argus System, stark circuit-pattern lines momentarily highlighted against the walls...

Tyrian Edge looks up, startled - "...What is that?" he says, distracted by the glow. The Argus System sweeps, scans...The walls are at least a meter thick, metal behind stone. It seems that you're underground, encased in rock - Or whatever passes for rock in the Red World. Even with your Fusion Annhilator, it'd be hard to blast through-

...Wait.

(Continued)

At the far end of the chamber - *Behind* the wall of archaic weaponry - there's something else. You glimpse it in your mind's eye - The chamber's true dimensions, half against as large as the space you currently occupy.

There's something beyond the wall.

"Joker?" Bishamon's voice is wary. "Joker, what is it?"

[ ] "Stand back."
[ ] "That wall, there - Can we breach it?"
[ ] "...Nothing."
[ ] "There's a false wall."
[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>28001256
>[ ] "That wall, there - Can we breach it?"
FOR SCIENCE

>>28001256
HA HA HA, time for breaching!
Seriously, what else are we gonna do? ignore it? let them find it?

>>28001256

"You remember how I once said I had a key that could unlock doors? I.. may of understated what it is really capable of. You're going to want to take the Apex Blade to that wall right over there. There's more to this room than meets the eye."

>>28001259
>[ x] "That wall, there - Can we breach it?"
And unless we can breach it quickly and peek inside, there's no use doing it

Out of all of the relics we've collected, the Nihl is still the most useful. We really really should use it more. It does not get the love it deserves. If you can consider j-j-jamming it in other players so it can feed on their souls love.

>>28001300
S-stupid Smilers! It's not that I like you or anything!

>>28001256
[X] "There's a false wall."
[X] Free
"Hope I can get it open without blasting it apart."

Examine the racks, this place is part of a modular building so it's not a passage. There has to be some kind of switch, maybe of of the weapons?

I'd just rather not blast it in case whatever's behind it is fragile.

>>28001278
>>28001327
Oh, right. Forgot about that. We could help with a phase blade if we have one still?

>>28001338

We have the phase sword I think. It's the stoner cousin to the apex basically.

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>>28001259
>>28001281

> [X] "That wall, there - Can we breach it?"

"That wall...?" Bishamon follows your gaze. "...It looks pretty solid to me."

>>28001278

Rather dubiously, he steps up to the surface - Lifting the Apex Blade with both hands. With a grunt of effort, Bishamon *stabs* - The phase blade eats into the wall, driving right through. He wrenches the blade - A squeal of grinding stone echoing through the chamber, leaving a molten scar in it's wake as his new weapon slices through the superdense material...Piston-driven myomer muscles bunching with effort, widening the incision he's made-

"Can't-" With a hiss, Bishamon steps back. The Apex Blade squeals as it comes out of the stone, whining fractiously. "-That's not going to work. I'll need *days* to cut through it."

Not too far away, you hear a cataclysmic crash, a scream of tortured metal -

"They're through the first layer!" Regios calls back - "Two left; The charges are planted!"

"-The *charges*-" Tyrian Edge cuts in, sharply. "You can't shoot through it - You'll destroy whatever's behind the wall. But with a directed explosion - We *can* blast a path through." He goes quiet.

"...If you think we should, that is."

[ ] "Do it."
[ ] "Never mind - It's too much of a risk."
[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>28001356
>[ ] "Do it."
Man tyrian looks badass.

>>28001356

>[ ] "Do it."

We can use the racks and piles of weapons as some cover when it blows.

>>28001356
Do it.

Is it bad that i imagine Bishamon as a heracross, holding a lightsaber, with a gatling turret instead of a horn?

>>28001356
>[ ] "Never mind - It's too much of a risk."
If it risks setting of other charges: bad idea
If we think it's worth it we can use the Sinistral or Fortress to protect from the blast.

Either way we're not going to survive this home invasion without taking risks.

>>28001356
[X] Free
"Well we don't really have time to look for a hidden switch."

How many weapons are on that rack anyway?

>>28001356

"We've got nothing to lose and we're running out of time. If you think you can do it without bringing the entire place down on us, then blow it. I'd hate to waste good charges on a wild goose chase, but my luck has almost always been solid."

"I probably just jinxed it, didn't I."

>>28001373
>Fortress

Already used it, remember?

>>28001374

(A lot. Effectively, you could retrieve almost any bladed melee weapon you wanted from the rack.)

>>28001356
[X] Free

Start charging the Fusion Annihilator in case whatever's back there is just a waste of time.

>>28001361
>>28001366
>>28001368
>>28001374
>>28001379

It takes minutes - Precious, achingly slow minutes - to strip the charges. You're acutely aware of each second ticking by, as they're affixed to their new positions - The entire supply, planted to overlap the surface, the light strobing an almost continuous red. Overkill, you'd say...But in Regios's words: Better 'overkill' than 'not nearly enough'.

Outside, you can hear the *hiss* of an energy cutter; The metal shutters beginning to smoke, then glow cherry red. You're nearly out of time, even you crouch down behind a podium, armour clanking, hydraulics buzzing.

"Firing," Tyrian says, his voice unusually subdued - He's careful to avert his gaze, hunching down for maximum cover, as he hits the trigger frequency...

The charges explode, an almost simultaneous ripple of air-splitting detonations. There's flash of actinic blue light, brighter than the sun: Even directed, a solid wall of shock-force blasts out, in a brutal concussion - Polarized lens sliding over your sensors, an automatic reaction to the searing blast-

There's no smoke. The overlapping photonic explosions boil the matter away to nothing. There is, however, a horizontal rain of debris - Hurled outwards like harpoons, shattering with brittle, brutal noises.

"-it work?" Bishamon is saying, as he hauls himself to his feet. "-rian, did it *work*?"

Tyrian is staring. Just staring.

As the false wall collapses upon itself - As the facade of the half-chamber crumbles to nothing...

(Continued)

I wonder:
We had MINUTES of inactivity. While our Cobalt Boost regenerates.
Couldn't we have used our emblem during that time?

Also, I forgot, does it work on us exclusively?

>>28001448
Actually:
What happens if we regenerate after activating the Carnifex?
Can we keep the boost while keeping our armor?

>>28001461

We can. I asked that two threads ago. OP pretty much stated say what you want regnerated and he'll deduct the cost from the booster.

>>28001475
So what would our net booster be if we retroactively state to have been activating the Carnifex and then trying to regenerate as much as possible during our downtime?

>>28001498

That's a really good question..

I'm hoping that our next level grants us the ability to upgrade our codebursts. Being able to use Cybele's emblem to actually heal others would be stellar.

>>28001521

>use cybele's emblem to heal the assault shroud

>>28001534

Well, we did use the Gauntlet to regen our Booster when it was shot out of our chest. It would not be too farfetched to consider that our bitching duster could also be regened.

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The separation between the chamber you're in - The room beyond - is knife-sharp. There, the floor is creamy-white, the ivory slabs tightly laid in rigid formation - The ribbed walls of smooth, black metal sloping upwards to a room thirty meters above your head. Six concentric circles frame a massive central plinth - An invisible, harnessed force bristling the atmosphere.

The huge shape in the middle - A silent marvel - is instantly familiar, if not identical. You've seen it twice before; Once at the Manifold Tower, once with...

The Armory Guardian is all chromed armour and jointed legs, the great sphere of a central emitter set between steel paws. Even at rest, you can hear a low, subliminal hum...The same force supporting that multi-tonne frame, alien symbols filtering across your HUD-

Instinct makes you bring your Fusion Annhilator up, telltale lights winking to life, as the charges begin to cycle...But then, you catch yourself.

Because this one is *different.*

Even as you look on - Even as the room comes to life around you, screens flickering with the sudden activity, electronic blurts of sound echoing as banks of consoles chatter with arcane protocols-

> C0MM4ND PR070C0l5 0V3RR1d3
> SYSTEM AUTHORITY ENABLED

The subliminal chime of acknowledgement pings on your sensors - Control filaments extruding from the Guardian's frame, like the impaling spikes of an iron maiden or a reverse bear-trap.

The Guardian's eyes - Set between broad shoulders - ignite with the swelling violet flare of the Nihl Sphere. Plates of autoreactive armour retract, hydraulics rasping as the Guardian opens itself up, swinging apart like the ratcheting of a bear-trap maw, to reveal...

> ACCESS GRANTED: RED JOKER

-A cockpit.

JOKER QUEST

EPISODE 66

TO BE CONTINUED

>>28001521
I don't think it's a good idea to get too dependent on that. Cybele isn't exactly trustworthy.

>>28001547

son.

of.

a.

bitch.

Shit is going down.

>>28001547
ha ha, time for Tanks. Excellent episode again, OP

>>28001547

Did.

Did we..

Did we just get a Zoid? Or a Gundam? What.

...dude.

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>>28001547
Welp.
That's a thing.

>>28001547

i hope this thing has a nice big main cannon.

Say hi Smilers.

>>28001547

(Gentlemen: My apologies, but it's extremely late for me - And my writing quality is beginning to flag. I'd love to continue, but this looks like a natural break-point for now.

However, you've been a wonderful audience - And I'm rather looking forward to next time. Good night and God bless; I hope to see you again soon.)

Alright 8 am. managed to stay up for the entirety of a thread for once. Now for bed. And work in four and a half hours. Good show OP.

>>28001547

Holy shit. This is going to be amazing.

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>>28001547
>turned this on right before reading the post:
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRCZMJEzwFI
>mfw

>>28001547
So we've got a nice piece of FUCK YOU, which we can also utilize as a snack it it's taken down.
This is beautiful.

Also, I just realized that Carnifex + Cobalt + Crisis would be a way to punch on Rust Kaiser's level.

>>28001570
Did you actually intend us to get the thing if we didn't suddenly get the idea to scan the room?

>>28001059
>A Player's initial weapon, at best.

may be a bit late, but was there a Frost Cestus there?

or a joker blade?

>>28001547

oh my god oh my god oh my gawwwwwwd not only does the nihl scan work, its BEAAAAUUUTIIIFFULL inside! eeeeehehehehheheeheeeYEEHAW

>>28001683

I think OP meant that they were generic weapons.

>>28001547

Oh god, we're going to murder them all.

>>27999416

The Void Anchor is now a REALLY DEADLY bomb. I don't seen when we're going to get a chance to use it, though.,

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>>28001547
Mother of God. I can't believe I missed this thread. ...What are we naming the Red Joker's mobile suit?

>>28003436

I have no idea. I'm trying to think up a cool card-related name, but I'm coming up short.

>>28003446
Inside Straight? Royal Flush? Dead Man's Hand?

I'm partial to Haha You're All Fucked.

>>28003436
Myosotis, the scientific name for forget-me-not.
We found the first fucker when we first met Hecate and later she controlled those to help us.
It's a reminder of her.

>>28003527

That's actually pretty touching.

>>28003436

Red Comet.

>>28005869


The Tri-Stars face when we name it The Red Comet. Oh god. They'll end up dieing do to being our wingmen.

>>28005869
Absolutely perfect. There's really no other choice here.

>>28005920
>>28006217
If I read this correctly, wouldn't that be the death flag to end all death flags?

>>28006298
Yes. Well, maybe. Joker's already a Char clone, making it obvious won't do much but fluster them. It might be worth it just to see their reaction.

I doubt it's going to survive this raid anyway. Bishamon's odds of survival are 50/50 at this point, higher if we can fix Volt somehow.

>>28006407
...Let's see if we can put Volt inside.
He's hurt. We aren't.

>>28006435
> ACCESS GRANTED: RED JOKER

Dunno if he's got an invitation. Red Joker can fit into most situations and events in the Red World because of who he is. I'm not opposed to trying, but this could be like the Hollow Sun, where anyone but the Red Joker going in would probably result in death and worse things.

>>28006538
Maybe he will be eternally trapped inside and incapable of logging out if we do it.
Yet another Tuesday for the Red Joker.

>>28006217
>Absolutely perfect. There's really no other choice here
we can still use different names for it's attacks, like "Hecate Blast"

>>28006971
Now that's just tacky.

>>28006971

"Charrrrrr Beamu!"

>>28006435

It's worth a shot at least. Or we can have him ride in the co-pilots seat if there is one Have the other two take up gunnery positions on the dorsal or underwing hardpoints and let's blow this joint. I just hope OP reads the after quest comments and gets an idea at what we want to do.

>>28001547
So, this these Smilers seem to think this all a just a fucking game, as can be seen in their little "Come back ad play" spiel, I say the first thing we need to do when those doors open and they're confronted with a tank made of FUCK YOU is play "Tag. You're it." through the loudspeakers. Then waste the fuckers, of course.

>>28008123
*since *and

I need some fucking sleep. I can't spell for shit today.

>>28008123

http://youtu.be/aRM2YcGpmxg?t=1m9s

http://pastebin.com/DNGtTt04

Summary's been updated. Let me know if I missed anything.

>>28009631

Looks solid.

>>28003436
>Red Joker's mobile suit?

"Wild Card"

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>>28001620
>>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRCZMJEzwFI

This just makes me think of THIS.

>>28015164

ahem, forgot my link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz8AY3gGei0

>>28015239

Not entirely related, but I love this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACutTOlFyDE

Also, I see that the downvote spammer is at it again.