Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/14(Mon)19:19 No. 92169 ID: 1afd58
File 126084718831.png - (18.19KB , 640x400 , esc1-92.png )

>>90218
>not waste people, better to have someone who is a warrior
"I'm not going to just let you starve. I might need you to help me get back to my home. Kobolds and fairies are only so useful. I can help fight for your group too."

Oudekirk doesn't move, but there's a lot of fear in his voice. "We... we don't need more fighting. The only thing threatening us at this point was hunger, really. Well, that, and the coolant leak, but we had that pretty much locked down. Besides, I mean, most of the people in engineering are military anyway."

The kobolds have rejoined me. They both look a little shaken from whatever that device the humans threw into the room did. Mariana is flying unsteadily and looks a bit dizzy.

Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/15(Tue)16:35 No. 92621 ID: 1afd58
File 126092373578.png - (18.12KB , 640x400 , esc1-93.png )

>>92169
>No suggestions

I hesitate a moment. I'm not sure where to go from here.

The kobold female is cowering behind Jrifdlib, who has his knife out and readied. Mariana still seems a bit off.

Oudekirk keeps speaking, gesticulating weakly. "I uh... I mean... Look I don't know a good solution. We're short suits no matter what, and short of tugging groups of people back and forth in the transport bag, I can't think of any way to get everyone over there."

He seems nervous, and he's basically babbling. What next?

>>92621
Hey. Is the woman reaching for the axe? That's not acceptable.

This is a horribly shitty situation with no real good situation. These people's knowledge might be essential to survival. We need to know that we can trust these assholes and they won't just backstab us, but that doesn't seem super likely.

Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/15(Tue)19:45 No. 92676 ID: 1afd58
File 126093513034.png - (20.61KB , 640x400 , esc1-94.png )

>>92623
>woman reaching for axe
No... she's reaching for the crossbo--

Shots ring out!

Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/15(Tue)19:45 No. 92677 ID: 1afd58
File 12609351582.png - (18.28KB , 640x400 , esc1-95.png )

>>92658
>bad situation, no good solution, might need to trust them.

Yeah... ugh... not looking likely. Her shot went through Oudekirk's forward leg, grazing him, and also grazed my side.

Most of my shots missed. I like this weapon. Still, one hit the female. She is likely dead.

I don't know what to do.

>>92677
Well shit, his suit is now damaged.

Now we have zero working suits. Ask him if he can call for someone to bring some extra suits over, or if there's any way to repair damaged ones.

Check your wound for more serious injury, you might not be able to feel it.

Ask him what the fuck just happened. It also might be product to move tot he room behind you.

These people are fucking retarded. Don't they realize that you will kill them if they don't cooperate? What the hell is their problem?!

Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/18(Fri)16:55 No. 93977 ID: 1afd58
File 126118414769.png - (18.38KB , 640x400 , esc1-96.png )

>>92682
>zero suit Ugluk, ask about repairs or extra suits.

"Oudekirk. How can we fix this armor and get back to engineering?"

Oudekirk covers his face and mutters vaguely. "Dead. They're dead and I'm dead. Oh God, we're all dead."

>>92751
>check wound
Hrm. I remove my hand and look at it. The wound is like a combination of a slash and a burn. It's not bleeding much, but it's about a quarter of an inch deep and perhaps three inches long on my side. Nothing internal injured, but smells of burned meat.

Oudekirk's wound is bleeding a great deal more.

>>92836
>>92838
>what just happened, are they stupid?

"HEY! Pay attention, human! What is wrong with you damned people? Why can't you surrender to a superior opponent?"

Oudekirk makes no direct response. "God, Jake and Chief Wilson. What am I supposed to... Oh god we're all dead."

Tell him that nobody else is going to die as long as the humans stop trying to kill you.

>>93977
Get some pressure on his wound before he bleeds out. Tell him to snap out of it! We don't want to kill anybody, but they keep shooting at us! What are we supposed to do, stand there and die?

Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/18(Fri)19:41 No. 94165 ID: 1afd58
File 12611940819.png - (19.97KB , 640x400 , esc1-97.png )

>>93996
>no one has to die if they stop attacking
"No one else has to die if you damn idiots stop trying to kill your betters."

He keeps mumbling. That leg is looking bad.

>>94088
>pressure on wound
I tell klildril to use the scrap of cloth I'm carrying (used to be a loincloth) to bandage him, but Mariana flies out before I can finish the sentence, and begins doing something, I suppose healing him. The blood flow seems to have stopped, but Oudekirk is still clutching at the wound.

That process looked less pleasant than what she did with me. He shook and twitched as she did whatever she did to him.

Still, she's flying more steadily again, and his leg seems to have healed. He's still just holding his head and muttering though.

>>94165
I think she drained him while healing him.

OK, so none of us actually knows how get the hell out of here. Except the guy having a breakdown in the corner. Err, get the kobold to go hug him. THat may make him calm down and let all of his emotions go at once.

I guess we just need to see if he'll calm down. Maybe give him some food and water or something. We need his knowledge.

Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/18(Fri)21:52 No. 94254 ID: 1afd58
File 126120194489.png - (13.96KB , 640x400 , esc1-98.png )

>>94170
>>94176
>calm him down, kobold hug

Actually, I didn't have to order them. Despite some brief reservations, seeing Mariana tend to him seems to have made the kobolds sympathize with him, and they cautiously try to comfort him.

He holds them like they were children.

After a moment, he seems much calmer, though it's hard to read his emotions through that armor. He hasn't spoken.

Bask in the artistic joy.

I suppose you should just wait to see if he chills the hell out, and becomes willing to speak with you.

Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/20(Sun)17:11 No. 95541 ID: 1afd58
File 126135789164.png - (17.52KB , 640x400 , esc1-99.png )

>>94301
>bask in artistic joy
What.

>>94415
>wait a bit

A pause a moment.

After sitting with them for a time, he slowly speaks. "Ugluk... we have no working suits, and they basically can't be repaired. I don't know what to do. I have... I have my welding set on the upper floor, as well as that transport bag, but I can't cut through the door to engineering with it; I don't have enough fuel. The bag isn't really designed to support life; any living things in it would freeze to death long before they got anywhere, and it has no propulsion of its own anyway."

His voice is calm and even, but he sounds like he's simply doing his best to face the situation without panicking.

He pauses, and then continues. "How... How 'magical' is that axe? Can you cut through steel? Nano-reinforced steel? Otherwise we aren't going to get a hole more than a few inches wide in that door. Unless you can convince Schuster to let us through."

Didn't we slice open the door he's sitting next to?

>>95541
Collect the axe, and ask Mariana why it looked different this time when she healed that guy.

Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/21(Mon)18:55 No. 96241 ID: 1afd58
File 126145051851.png - (18.56KB , 640x400 , esc1-100.png )

>>95543
>didn't we slice open that door?
Yes. He's implied that the interdepartmental doors are different though. I don't know how.

>>95557
>get the ask, why was healing different.
I pick up the axe. Oudekirk stands and tenses visibly as I come close. The kobolds stand also.

I ask Mariana quietly why it was different. She smiles slightly, and her eyes glow a light blue. "I needed to eat, and... you've been killing a lot of the people we meet, so I decided he wouldn't need much time. I'm full, and so is my ring. Don't worry about feeding me for a while~"

She seems vaguely cheery about it.

Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/23(Wed)19:49 No. 97233 ID: 1afd58
File 126162658980.png - (22.39KB , 640x400 , esc1-101.png )

>>96241
>no suggestions

I pause a moment. "I don't really have a good way out. The axe is sharp, I cut through a couple doors down here. I don't know if I can cut the other one. Maybe."

Oudekirk nods, and presses a switch on the front of his suit. The door on the ladder opens again.

Lead on. To weldings!

Weldings then.

Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/23(Wed)20:41 No. 97253 ID: 1afd58
File 126162969132.png - (3.43KB , 292x305 , esc1-102.png )

>>97235
>>97242
>Welding

We move upstairs, and I tell him to try his device on the door. The device creates fire, like the crossbows, but shorter and more sustained. The metal melts like butter.

The brightness hurts my eyes.

Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/23(Wed)20:43 No. 97255 ID: 1afd58
File 126162980655.png - (3.46KB , 640x400 , esc1-103.png )

The torch soon burns out, however. There's a hole, perhaps three inches wide, in the door. There is a visible reinforcement bar in the door, dark black metal that the torch didn't seem to even damage. A hallway is visible through the hole.

Should I attempt to use the axe to cut a larger opening?

Not till you move kobold out of the way.

see if we can nick the BLACK METAL with it first.

>>97255
Use AXE on DOOR.

Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/24(Thu)07:02 No. 97573 ID: 1afd58
File 126166697742.png - (32.70KB , 640x400 , esc1-104.png )

>>97256
>move kobold out of the way

I tell Jrifdlib to go away for a bit. He complies.

>>97257
>Black Metal
My axe doesn't even make a dent. It's like clubbing a heavy iron door with a stick. This frustrates me.

>>97283
>axe the door

I work for a short time, hacking away all the covering on the door. The lattice of reinforcement bars is rather dense. The square spaces are about three or four inches across. The bars are somewhat unevenly spaced, for whatever reason.

can the fairy get through?

Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/24(Thu)11:41 No. 97653 ID: 1afd58
File 12616836768.png - (6.48KB , 640x400 , esc1-105.png )

>>97621
>fairy?

Yeah, Mariana could get through easily. I call her over to me, and pose the idea.

She hesitates, and the nods. "Yes, I can go through for you, Ugluk. Or, I could shrink us and whatever things we want to bring that we can't fit through the bars, and we could all go through. Except your axe, because it wouldn't fit."

She pauses, smiling. "If I go through myself, I'm going to be on my own in there, no magic stone like you had with Jrifdlib. What do you want me to look for?"

Oh right, forgot about the shrinking. Both you and the human, leave the kobolds to keep an eye on things.

>>97659
"keep an eye on things" meaning "furiously noserub for the entire time we're gone" of course.

But yeah, let's shrink.

And our dakka. Don't fergit da dakka

Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/30(Wed)08:48 No. 101290 ID: 1afd58
File 126219172329.png - (9.07KB , 313x271 , esc1-106.png )

>>97659
>shrink, Kobolds keep an eye on things.
>>97698
>shrink, Kobolds noserub.

I tell Jrifdlib that he's my lieutenant for the moment, and to keep Klildril and himself safe while I'm gone. He agrees and seems marginally proud.

We shrink, and head through the grate. I have to leave my magical axe.

>>97869
>don't forget dakka
The repeating crossbow? I didn't forget.

We travel down a short, L-shaped hallway. We come to another door, labeled "Engineering". Oudekirk points out a panel on the wall; his voice has a rather excited tone.

"Can you get this open? I don't have a screwdriver, but you are stronger than me. If we can open this, I might be able to open the door. I don't know if you have any tools hidden on your person, but you are carrying... grenades, I guess. They might work in a pinch, if I can use the handles to unscrew the bolts."

What do you think?

Sounds like a horrible explosion waiting to happen.

Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/30(Wed)12:47 No. 101496 ID: 1afd58
File 126220602738.png - (9.63KB , 313x271 , esc1-107.png )

>>101292
>explosion

"Can't they set fire? Break things?"

Oudekirk pauses. "Err... yes. But I'm not going to make them do that. How do you even know what a grenade is?"

I don't answer. We use the end of a handle to unscrew the panel. Behind the panel is another wall, metal, and some weird things that look like vines or cords. Oudekirk seems like he expected to find this.

"Ok, I need a laser cutter. Your gun could work, but I'd have to remove the firing assembly and lower the power... eh, it wouldn't work like a gun anymore. Also I need electricity. The gun's powerpack isn't enough. Do you have... I dunno, an EMP grenade? Or can your fairy make lightning?"

Mariana breaks in immediately. "I'm not *his fairy*! He's *my orc*!"

Regardless, should I hand over my weapon? From what I've seen, I could probably overpower Oudekirk hand to hand.

Ask Mariana if she could make lightning before you go handing your gun over.

>>101496
I believe you do have an EMP grenade. It's the one that says static discharge on it.

Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/30(Wed)14:12 No. 101578 ID: 1afd58
File 126221117670.png - (9.88KB , 313x271 , esc1-108.png )

>>101498
>ask if Mariana can make lightning, hand over gun.
>>101512
>static discharge = EMP

Mariana says she can make the power I need, but that it is draining and she'd prefer if I let Oudekirk use the grenade.

Oudekirk takes the weapon, and fools with it a bit, flipping switches and popping parts out. After a time, he has crafted a smaller device from pieces of the gun, and cuts three of the ropes inside the wall. He then stops.

"Well, the gun won't work anymore, but we don't need it. Ok, so uh... Miss Fairy? Can you... er... do whatever you can do?"

Should I use the grenade or Mariana's magic?

Grenade.

>>101578
Use the grenade.

Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/30(Wed)14:47 No. 101605 ID: 1afd58
File 12622132558.png - (9.93KB , 313x271 , esc1-109.png )

>>101579
>>101595
>Grenade

I hand Oudekirk the grenade labeled "Static Discharge".

"Use this. Mariana is not going to do it."

He nods, takes the weapon, and removes the top, as well as a few other components. He moves slowly and gingerly, as though he's not terribly comfortable with what he's doing.

He pulls a ring out of the cap, and then holds a brass portion of the weapon to one of the rope ends.

Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/30(Wed)14:48 No. 101608 ID: 1afd58
File 126221330010.png - (12.56KB , 313x271 , esc1-110.png )

A brilliant light blinds me momentarily, and all I can see is a flash of lightning, and sparking traces of fire!

Take a small step backwards.

Ugluk !DbPH.o8UWk 2009/12/30(Wed)14:49 No. 101611 ID: 1afd58
File 126221336980.png - (9.44KB , 313x271 , esc1-111.png )

As my eyes readjust, I realize that the door has opened. The way into Engineering is clear. Other humans are there, looking at me in mixed surprise and terror. Suddenly, I wish I had my axe.