Metroid Supremacy IC

[Zender_Solarheart]

Introduction

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Desprin VII. A planet that was only discovered about a year ago, yet now gathers increasing attention from the Galactic Federation. Over the year that followed its discovery, the Feds sent down several science teams to survey and document the planet and its inhabitants...but none returned, each of them losing contact the moment they entered the atmosphere. After these repeated failed attempts, the Supreme Council decided to move on, and when the press brought up rumors that the Space Pirates were on the planet, they responded with: "While that may be possible, we cannot act on speculation. We have enough to do cleaning up this war, and we're not about to risk starting another."

Despite this, the rumors grew ever more shocking...and surprisingly, remarkably more convincing. This has begun to draw the attention of some bounty hunters, the lure of credits for the supposed Pirates' corpses being all but irresistible. They have no idea, however, the dangers that lurk below. If they succeed, their names will be renowned for generations, perhaps even as much as the legendary Samus herself...but if they fail, those names may very well be lost to obscurity forever...

Napsii

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Your approach to Desprin VII appears to be going smoothly. Indeed, you appear to be the first one here, giving you a head-start on any mangy Pirates down planetside. Your account could use some more credits, especially if you want to get that new holo-screen anytime soon. The news stories labeling the planet as a "Class-2 Danger Zone" are somewhere in the back of your mind, a label assigned after the science teams mysteriously vanished upon entering the atmosphere...but the promise of what you could depart with after a successful hunt push those concerns away. It'd be unhealthy to dwell on those concerns for too long, anyhow.

Or perhaps you could've afforded pondering them just a little longer.

The moment you enter the atmosphere, you're given a hint as to what may have downed those science teams. In an instant, your ship tilts into a nosedive, the autopilot non-responsive, and the whole ship shaking, making it difficult to grab the manual controls. Once you do, you manage an emergency landing in a patch of clear, level ground, amid a sprawling jungle.

Location: Ghalman Jungle

Your emergency landing is softened by some trees your ship grazed on its way down. Upon landing, the only answer you can get to why it suddenly spiraled out of control, is the message displayed saying "ERROR: Electro-Magnetic anomaly has scrambled weapon and autopilot systems. Auto-repair processes initiated." While your ship won't be combat-capable until its auto-repair functions finish, you may be able to find some metallic Ores in the area to "feed" into it to shave off some time. On the plus side, the lack of any Pirate vessels in the area means you didn't get detected by them...assuming they're even here, that is. That old man had better be right; he mentioned a large ship that looked a lot like a Pirate battle-cruiser heading planetside a few weeks ago, but you haven't seen any trace of said ship yet. Of course, the only way you'll find any Pirates right now, is if you get out there and explore for yourself.

As for the clearing you landed in, it appears remarkably peaceful, especially considering the ship that just landed in the middle of it. A stream runs through the clearing on a path in front of you, and the only creatures around that could even scratch you are a few Zoomers. Of course, given their role as simple carrion feeders, the spikes on their back are a mere defense mechanism, and they tend to avoid bioforms your size to begin with. As long as you don't go pissing them off, you can pretty much walk right past them.

According to your armor's navigation systems, the bow of your ship is pointed west, in the direction of a pathway enclosed between two rocky cliffs. To the north is a door sealed with a blast shield, which your visual scanner identifies is made of Radion; you're not getting through that without an explosive weapon, and with your gunship's weapons currently disabled, you can't just pop a rocket out. To the south is a door sealed with a Silver energy shield; scans indicate the shield is vulnerable to abnormal cold, but you're shit out of luck on that form of weaponry, too. To the east is a door sealed even tighter than the other two; a thick, mighty blast shield of Denzium adorns its surface, a material made to resist several minutes of explosive pounding. Unless you get a freaking mini-nuke, you're not going through there. There's also a cliff to the northwest, but there's no way in hell you can jump up that high...

All in all, the only available path out of the clearing is through that passageway between the cliffs...though, you might be able to find something of use in this area, if you take a good look around.

Not too long after you start walking, however, you hear the roar of another ship entering the atmosphere, and if you look up into the sky, you'll spot the silhouette of said other ship, the shape of it being oddly similar to that of the outdated Anhur-class ships that the Federation once used. Could it be...?

Creature Data Recorded: Zoomer

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Zoomers are semi-spherical mollusks with spikes along their backs. They are carrion-feeders, and are known for spreading a number of diseases, though the majority of lifeforms native to the same planet develop immunities to these diseases. Zebes was a notable exception, where it spread a flesh-eating bacterial infection that led to the extinction of many native species.

Threat Level: Negligible.
Attacks: Aside from ramming you with their spiked shells, Zoomers are defenseless. Besides, they prefer to simply be left alone.

Click here for the Zoomer's Wikitroid page.

H4wk

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Not too long after catching wind of the rumors surrounding Desprin VII and a presumed Space Pirate presence, you caught word that Gwyn was going to act on them, and travel to the planet to do some hunting. Well technically, you heard that it was a girl who looked exactly like her, but from the description you overheard, the identity of that girl was easy to figure out. Perhaps you could give her some company on her hunt? Whether that was your driving motivation or not, something compelled you to go to Desprin VII, but you arrived mere moments after she had entered the atmosphere. Maybe you could catch up to her if you found a place to land real quick?

Well, that was the plan...but the electromagnetic interference in the upper atmosphere didn't quite agree with that plan. Indeed, it sent your ship out of control much like it did her own, and while your emergency landing was definitely not soft, the heavier defensive plating on your vessel helped protect it from the ground's impact. Unfortunately, your ship's gonna need some time to do auto-repairs, as its weapon systems are unusable until said repairs are done, and if there are indeed Space Pirates on this planet, you can't just fly around without options for self-defense.

Location: Ghalman Jungle

The area you're in can't quite be called a clearing, but with the way your ship landed, enough smaller trees were uprooted for you to have some walking room. Your HUD's navigation systems say that your ship's landing has its bow pointed towards the north. The only visible path out of here is to the south, where a small river runs down a slope, which leads into the jungle, but with enough room between the plants for you to forge through it. Anywhere else is sealed off by cliffs, which your ship was lucky enough to avoid on its way down. If you search the immediate area, however, you may be able to find something of interest...

[napsii]

Gwyn watched the holoscreens scroll by listlessly.

She reclined in the captain's chair of the Rosencrantz with a laziness unexpected of a Bounty Hunter, content to be spoonfed well-worn knowledge from the half-moon of holoscreen panels that stared her down. Galactic news rolled down a ticker on one screen; the Milky Way never ran out of stories to tell. A rotating diagram of Desprin VII occupied the next screen, annotated by an encyclopedic list of scientific trivia, while adjacent to it, static images of Space Pirates were granted the illusion of motion by the way the animated screens adjusted the light of the room. Among these panels, though, one was dark and off-tilt -- finally burnt out by years of wear, much to Gwyn's recent displeasure. The tickle of gravity shifting beneath her feet compelled her to lean forward, commanding one of the screens out of the way to reveal the spherical form of Desprin VII approaching with comfortable speed. The holoscreens' combined feeds did a remarkable job of blinding her from the darkness of space, though she made no urgent efforts to prepare herself to depart even as the Rosencrantz adjusted itself to the gravitational pull of the planet. It was a lovely ship, in that way; for a weapon meant for war, it possessed the smoothness of a luxury space yacht.

And while it was true that the unstable income of a Bounty Hunter often generated for them an anxiety to succeed, there was only so much to be said about these personal concerns. She was not interested in speculating over Desprin VII, as hard as that was. Instead, she regarded the approaching planet with patient curiosity; as it often was with traveling to new planets, there was never a binary outcome. With respect to this, it meant that there were as many chances to be benefited as they were to be destroyed, but Gwyn had realistic expectations. Rumor and hysteria made mention of absolute and destructive forces as explanations for the misfortunes that stimulated natural curiosity -- in this case, the disappearances of those dispatched to investigate Desprin -- but experience had taught Gwyn that such things did not exist -- other than those that governed nature, of course. She tapped a button on the instrument panel ahead of her, abruptly causing the holoscreens to disengage and fold away. As the wall of streaming information crumbled, the ambient lighting of outer space overtook the cockpit.

Through the canopy, Desprin looked like a floating marble, its size skewed from the perspective offered by the Rosencrantz' low trajectory.

As she pondered what looked like individual storm systems among the planet's upper atmosphere, Gwyn secured herself into her seat a few locking straps. The power armour that adorned her body was poor protection against the rigors of atmospheric entry, which only caution and wise piloting could endure. Her chosen protection was slender and resilient, made of interlocking armoured panels across the entire body reinforced by a dark colored undersuit of protective insulation. Blue light pulsed in seams along the predominantly black-coloured armour -- veins of power from its integrated energy tank. And while armour was rarely associated with femininity, modifying the breast area of her suit's torso had been necessary to comfortably accommodate her physique. Instead of armour plating, she'd simply exposed the elastic undersuit. A tall, armoured boot tapped once against the mesh metal floor of the cockpit. The Rosencrantz was moments away from breaking the stratosphere.

The clouds and the sky of the planet, viewed from above, looked vaguely like an impressionist piece, up until the moment the Rosencrantz surrendered wholly to its gravity and the picture was broken. All of the instrumentation of the Rosencrantz whined at once, the ship tilting steeply downwards in a drunk nosedive. Gwyn was rocked forward in her seat, the sudden restraint of the straps keeping her from flying from her seat knocking half a breath out of her. But, for all her appearance of having been inattentive, the young woman was not undisciplined. Instinctively, her hands reached for the manual controls of the Rosencrantz. She looked nowhere in particular upon the instruments, but the array of grimly-colored lights and sudden loss of control indicated that the autopilot had been disabled. The few moments of shock made it hard to focus enough to grab the controls through the violent rumbling which rocked the ship. Somewhere among the cacophony, a distinct tone played and a series of clicks were heard faintly through the noise as the Rosencrantz's internal control system magnetically locked down anything that was breakable -- namely the dishes in the kitchen cabinets.

Her hands seized around the controls the very moment the Rosencrantz emerged from the smokescreen of gray-white clouds that had obscured the canopy, at last lending view to the green land beneath. But Gwyn's attention was all but focused on the scrolling arrays of numbers and figures that judged the success of her attempts at restraining the unruly spacecraft. Augmented by the mechanics of her power armour, she pulled back hard on the controls, taming the ship's steep dive. The shift in elevation rocked her back into her seat again, generating unwanted vertigo. The obfuscating sensations -- the light, the noise -- oppressed her ever harder, and the impending knowledge that the ground was fast approaching made it even more difficult to not question the wheres and whys of this sudden event. An Erisian pilot had once taught her to not think during an emergency landing. It had seemed ironic at the time, but was validated by her own experiences. The senselessness of such situations lent no room for questions. The extreme figures on the digital instrumentation relented, indicating that she was at least upright, but she was forced to look up at the rapidly approaching surface to know where she would land.

Trees and rock stretched out for kilometres, a continuous canopy of thick green leaves obscuring most of the surface. It was a jungle or a forest of some sort.

To her benefit, the Rosencrantz wasn't flying vertically. Her trajectory was almost completely horizontal, but the endless sea of trees gave no indicator on where to land; it looked all the same, and so Gwyn just held on as her vessel screamed lower. It rammed into the trees with another dizzying jolt that pitched the bow of the Rosencrantz upwards. The sudden lack of perspective was frightening; Gwyn could only see the sky above as below her the Rosencrantz tore through the forest, whipping up leaves and other debris that passed her sight. She pushed forward on the controls, and the ship leveled out, still sundering trees violently beneath its mass. It was in this brief lull from the violent motions that she pulled down on the brake, depleting its inertia with such force that she felt several times her weight for a dozen perilous heartbeats.

The engines of the Rosencrantz roared once more and then were silent, abandoning Gwyn alone with the sound of her own labored breathing. She doubted she were even alive for the few moments she took to register the situation; the thrust from violence to calm had been so sudden.

She sunk into her chair and waited for her instincts to overcome the shock before she set to work examining her ship's diagnostics. The message that appeared foremost presented the most needed answer. Already, one riddle was solved: if an electromagnetic anomaly had downed her ship, perhaps the other vessels sent here had met the same fate. It was preferable over having been engaged by Space Pirates, as her first panicked thought had been, but the Rosencrantz's systems had yielded no other vessels. Indeed, while it was widely speculated that the Pirates had taken residence here, the most believable evidence she'd been was a claim that a Pirate battlecruiser had been spotted in this system -- and that had been from an elderly man who hadn't stopped staring at her chest. Gwyn looked up through the canopy, which was now plastered with mud and loose leaves. As luck had it, her ship had settled down inside a jungle clearing. She thought about staying to give the Rosencrantz a complete diagnostic, but that was unappealing to her adrenaline-filled mind.

Reaching over the side of her chair, she grabbed her trusted SCR-LYT energy gun from where it was braced against the instrumentation panels. It resembled a hulking semiautomatic pistol, with a long grip and a distinct squarish shape to its dark-colored frame. Its rectangular power cell was located beneath the barrel and ahead of the large trigger guard. Though heavy for a pistol, it packed an enormous punch and was still light enough to raise and fire with one hand. Additionally, its holographic sights were excellent for distance shooting. It was not unlike a Federation weapon, though the same couldn't be said for the ERIS Blade whose dark sheath Gwyn attached to the back of her armour by means of simple magnets. She reclined back in her chair and exhaled -- the last moment of catharsis before she flung herself into a new and dangerous situation. The hatch beneath the chair dropped open, and it lowered to the ground beneath the Rosencrantz -- which levitated above the ground -- where it paused just inches from the soil. Gwyn rose slowly from the chair, which quickly retracted back into the Rosencrantz as she stepped from under the ship and into the clearing.

All around her, Desprin felt fresh -- renewed. A woodsmoke smell hung in the air from where the Rosencrantz's engines had burned the trees on its way down, but the wind was charmed with a mild disposition. Here was a world that hadn't yet been overrun with urban development, as Earth and Daiban had. She walked forward, and her gray-white hair (endowments of her mother) swayed behind her, divided into two long ponytails as it often was. She clicked an apparatus over her ear and a sleek, transparent visor hissed out in front of her eyes; her plain view of this world was quickly obfuscated by the many data feeds from her suit. Her power armour actually had no helmet; she found them limiting, so instead had opted for a field generator in the form of two animal ear-like apparatuses that she wore in her hair. It completed the field of protection, but she still deemed to wear an electronic visor as a medium for her suit's scanning feature. Little of interest revealed itself, other than the few Zoomers that trundled about. Gwyn gave them little thought; they were frightful, non-confrontational creatures by nature, and they did not seem rabid.

Her first thought was to take a walk around the area. Exiting her ship, she'd found herself facing a pathway in between two rocky cliffs, but a short stroll revealed much more. What she noticed first was a sealed Radion door to the north, built into the rock. It was highly unexpected for Gwyn, who hadn't known such advanced structures would exist here -- nor who might build them. It was a similar story with an energy field-sealed door to the south, and the mighty Denzium door east. Gwyn knew immediately that she must have landed right on top of some sort of structure, but all scans indicated that the doors wouldn't yield to her current weaponry. In the thick of the trees, the only other feature that stood out to her was a particular cliff to the northwest that looked as if it was a mere powered jump away.

She holstered the SCR-LYT in the magnetic holster upon her right thigh, circling her ship once more.

It was then the roar of another engine was heard, and her attention was directed upward to where a distinct silhouette blazed through the sky on a rapid approach to the surface. The woman knew immediately that it had met the same experience as the Rosencrantz; its trajectory and speed was horrendously off-pattern for any skilled pilot of a ship that size, and Gwyn froze watching it descend beneath the horizon. She questioned from whence it had came. Its shape seemed familiar -- not unlike an Anhur-class vessel -- but the Federation would never send a single ship in pursuit of this. Nor did it look like a civilian ship.

A Bounty Hunter, then?

A resonating crash was heard in the distance, and Gwyn watched anxiously for smoke or fire to rise. Instead there was only a plume of dust. Perhaps the ship had survived.

But she wasn't willing to leave the Rosencrantz alone so soon. It was foolish to leave the one reliably safe place on this planet so quickly, especially with the circumstances confused to her. Aside from that, she desired some time to walk this experience off, and scouting for any hull damage to the Rosencrantz seemed an efficient use of her time before she would set out to explore the area -- and perhaps contact whomever else had touched down here.

She set to work examining the area.

I wonder if it's... she pondered of the other ship, kicking over a rock.

[Zender_Solarheart]

Napsii

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Your more thorough search of the immediate area has you finding 2 pieces of Small Ore. After using these to expedite your ship's auto-repair functions, progress jumps from 98% to 90% complete. Not bad.

On top of that, you also find a large vine hanging near the high cliff you spotted earlier. There are some indentations in the cliff itself, as well; not enough to let you scale the cliff, but enough so that you can reach the vine with your left hand if you can hold your footing. If you fall, it's probably gonna hurt a bit, but nothing fatal. If you succeed in grabbing onto the vine, you may be able to rappel up the cliff...

SSG
(I am Error 404. Player's post not found.)

NEWCOMER: Zeus

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Being the "space templars" that they are, Vhozon tend to hear various rumors and gossip during their travels to seek out heretics and criminals. The rumors surrounding Desprin VII are no exception, and the apparently high potential for Space Pirate involvement holds two promises for you: the reward in credits for the scurvy dogs' heads, and the ability to rid the galaxy of a little more of their filth. Whether you're a fan of your race's general social norms or not, it's commonly believed that the only good Pirate is a dead Pirate.

Having set out to Desprin VII to cash in on whatever you may find, you quickly found out what caused those science team crashes you heard about: a global electromagnetic sheath wraps around the planet through its upper atmosphere, sending your ship plummeting for the surface. Grabbing the manual controls, you regain what steadiness you can for your flight pattern, and skid to a halt on top of a flat-topped mountain...which turns out to have a lot of thin ice in the middle, as your ship falls right through, using what's left of the engines' power to level out and let you exit your ship safely after landing.

Location: Mt. Steamfrost

Exiting your ship, you find yourself in the middle of a large, dome-shaped cave, the walls coated in thick, solid ice. The thinner ice up above, which you crashed through just a moment ago, is now bathing the area in light, revealing some stone pillars at the opposite side of the area. There are also pillars to either side of you, and a large stone dish of some sort that your ship touched down on. Everything else is pretty much covered in a thickly-packed layer of snow, though if you look really close, you can see small indentations in that snow, as if something with small feet had recently trotted through here. Hopefully it's nothing to worry about, because until your ship finishes its auto-repair functions, you won't be flying in-atmosphere, much less leaving the planet.

According to your HUD's navigation, you're looking towards the south, where a single door covered in a blue energy field sits between the pillars at that end of the cave. To your left (east), another door can be seen, though this one seems to be placed directly into the floor...and for some reason, faint emanations of steam can be seen drifting so subtly from its edges, suggesting that the area below might be of a higher temperature. The door itself, however, is covered in a blast shield made of Radion, which would be easy to handle if you had explosive weapons...but you don't. To your right (west) is an abnormally thick sheet of ice, too thick for even you to simply bust open physically; if you had a heat-based weapon, it'd be a cinch, but your current supply of weapons would only make the ice even thicker. Behind you (north)? Nothing much except your ship...wait...is that..?

<<LORE ENTRY LOCATED>>
(NOTE: For Lore entries, certain Creature logs, and other vital pieces of info, I'll post their Logbook entries in the OOC, and below the corresponding player's events in this thread. This will make them easier to find for future reference.)

Your onboard translator determines that the runes on the wall-mounted inscription you found is of Chozo origin. Wow, those people traveled a lot, didn't they? If their lore's here, then chances are that those stone pillars at the room's south end are remnants of their settlements here...which means the door at that end likely leads further into said remnants. If you're lucky, they might've left behind some relics of their once-advanced civilization, which are known to be incredibly compatible and modular with other forms of technology. Besides, the icy climate of this area gives you a home-field advantage, in the event that Pirate forces are wandering around here...

Chozo Lore Data

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

I am Wise Arm, 4th Elder of the Chozo society of Desprin VII. The final moments of my life draw ever closer, and so, I shall leave these fragments of our tale across the world. May the knowledge I impart serve you better than it did us.

There was a time when the Chozo race faced a stunning plummet in reproduction. Wives who were once as fertile as the jungle suddenly became as barren as the wastes, and our lives' longevity became obsolete in the face of this pandemic. Many sought salvation in transcendence, though only those on Tallon IV succeeded in escaping the bonds of mortality. Even those who found a way to achieve eternal life on Zebes still suffered under the harsh rod of age, facing disease and increased chance for injury. Despite this, we sought the same goal that they did: an immortal existence, preferably on the same nigh-omniscient level as our Tallon IV brethren.

In time, we found a gateway to such a state of being. The six Elders - myself included - labored for years and created the Datagate, a device which would allow us to escape the physical's limitations by becoming digital beings. Little did we know the dangers we had opened to this world in doing so...

NEWCOMER: Gory

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

For whatever reasons tickle your fancy, you find yourself drawn to the lure of Desprin VII, and the supposed Pirate forces that you could cash in on...once you've disposed of them and collected the proof of such, that is. Ironic that the peace-loving Galactic Federation would now be so willing to trade money for corpses, though when the Space Pirates are their enemies, perhaps such is to be expected.

Of course, nothing worthwhile is ever easy, now is it?

Upon entry into Desprin VII's atmosphere, electromagnetic interference in the outer layer sends your ship spiraling out of control, the display and controls too scrambled for you to determine where you're heading. Grabbing the controls and relying on best guess, you steer your ship towards the nearest place to land...

Location: Frigate Crash Site

When the dust settles and your ship's display both clear, you realize where you landed: in the middle of a crashed Space Pirate Frigate. Well, that settles it: the Pirates are definitely here. Problem is, your ship's aerial flight capabilities are currently offline, as the engines used for flight took quite a jolt from that EMP-inducing interference when you entered the atmosphere. For safety purposes, the ship converted itself into its bipedal mech mode, in order to prevent itself from being a sitting duck. Weapon systems are online, as are standard movement systems, though the offline engines limit your mobility somewhat. While your ship's shields took a bit of a hit during the rough landing, at least you have more protection from damage than if you were on-foot...

...and it looks like you're gonna need it, cuz you happened to drop in on a few Space Pirate Grenadiers when you landed. Their Meson Grenades are able to damage your ship, but would need numerous hits to actually bring you down. If you eliminate them quickly enough, however, they won't even be able to call for backup.

<COMBAT MODE ACTIVATED>
Opposition: 3 Pirate Grenadiers.
Battle BGM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG8Z_pBvWxI

<Grenadier 1>
HP: 20.
<Grenadier 2>
HP: 20.
<Grenadier 3>
HP: 20.

<Kyrios>
HP: 150.
EN: 100 (50 forward, 50 aft).
Status: Mech-Locked. Your ship is stuck in Mech mode, and cannot shift to Ship mode or use the "Boost" Skill.

<Actions Available>
Move: Move 1 space in any non-diagonal direction. Costs 1 AP.
Fire Pulse: Fire rounds from your Pulse Cannon. Costs 2 AP.
Slash: Attack with your Beam Sword. Costs 3 AP. Can only hit enemies who are next to you.
Tactics: Apply either Guard, Evade, or Counter stance effects. Costs whatever AP you have left that turn.

BATTLE MAP

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

(NOTE: Since you're fighting enemies with your ship that you'd normally fight on-foot, the size difference with your ship is illustrated by the blue outline around the 4 spaces your ship occupies. Movement still only shifts you 1 space in that direction, however.)

Coordinates on the grid are labeled with letters for horizontal position, and numbers for vertical position. Black lines are drawn outside the map as a visual aide. In other words...

Grenadier 1 is at space O-4.
Grenadier 2 is at space K-9.
Grenadier 3 is at space F-13.
The Kyrios is at space B-8.

Sections of the map outlined in green are cover pieces. If the path between attacker and defender is obstructed by a cover piece, then only an Arcing shot or a charged-up Piercing shot can hit them. Some cover pieces can be destroyed if they take enough damage; such cover pieces will be outlined in yellow when encountered.

I know it's messy, but MS Paint is a bitch to work with.

Metroid Supremacy Battlemap 1.jpg (66.31 KiB) Viewed 3261 times

New Creature Data: Pirate Grenadier

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Grenadiers are the anti-vehicle specialists of the Space Pirate forces. They use Meson Grenade Launchers, which can arc over cover pieces and strike anything within 6 spaces with a Diffusion effect. In order to carry the launchers, however, they must leave their Galvanic Energy scythes behind, rendering them ill-equipped for CQC. To counter this, they will keep their distance as effectively as they can.

Appearance: Click here.
Threat Level: Medium.
Attacks: Fire Grenade (Range of 6).

[Zeus Kabob]

Investigating the room, Dhoz finds the chozo lore and a door he's capable of opening with his energy beam. Excited by the prospects of finding Chozo artifacts, and fascinated by the prospects of historical findings, he cuts his investigation short to open the blue door and wander through it.

Dhoz listens for any sounds that would tip him off to company, as he's not too confident in a mysterious cave without his ship to escape in. He holds onto his blade, channeling the cooling power from his weapon's drive into the hilt of the sword. He checks his suit's power level; 100%.

[napsii]

Gwyn grunted as she hoisted a chunk of rock underneath the crook of her shoulder. It was ore, more specifically -- about the size of a soccer ball, and glistening with raw minerals treasured by developed industry far and wide. Its weight added to the second, similarly shaped chunk of ore in the clutch of her other arm, and though she wore a power suit, the woman still easily felt the weight of the dense metals. Chips broke from them as she turned and walked, headed for the open hatch that awaited her underneath the hull of the Rosencrantz. There was a time when she would have felt silly for acting like a common laborer, lugging loose minerals into the auto-repair function of her vessel, but she'd been forced to scavenge this way many times over. In this case, it wasn't truly a necessity -- the functions of the ship would be restored in due time -- but it was simple prudence to offer herself what advantages she could in this unexpected situation. She hefted the chunks of ore onto the large tray that'd extended mechanically from the area of the ship's power core. The hatch retracted shut to consume the offering, and a continuous tinny whine was heard as the vessel broke down the minerals for use in its internal functions. Upon her visor, the painfully slow figure of the repairs' completion instantly ticked down eight percent. The jump in progress filled Gwyn with validation as she dusted off the gloves of her suit.

She commanded away the tally on the repairs for now, knowing the fatiguing speed of its progress would only dissolve her concentration. It would do her no good to expect too much of a ship with as limited technical capacities (on account of its size, natch) as the Rosencrantz.

The woman was finished with her scavenging for now. It was true that on planets such as Desprin VII, loose minerals often broke from their nodes, erupted from the crust or were left behind by passersby, but it was not entirely devoid of industry or urbanization; the doors isolated around her were proof enough of that, and there was little logic breaking her back for scraps. Without the Rosencrantz, she could not travel far and did not have an escape, but she only needed to get a sense for the surrounding area -- and perhaps make contact with the Anhur-class ship that had gone down earlier. She walked around to the starboard side of the Rosencrantz and placed her hands upon her hips, gazing upon the vessel with seeming fatigue. The ship was her most valued possession. There had been a day, many years ago, when it had appeared to her as the lone escape from a miserable fate, and it had served her well since then, but its luster had faded. Perhaps it was just her senses fooling her, but its paint seemed to have faded with age, and there were definitely tiny nicks here and there punctuating the fuselage. It was somewhat ironic, but Erisian ships hadn't been built with so much stress in mind. The long-term military plan of the government had been avoidance and cooperation, not prolonged conflict, so they hadn't been engineered with heavy weapons or technology like the warships of the Federation fleet.

And so Gwyn wondered if she was pushing the Rosencrantz harder than she should have. With her diligence, it rarely had maintenance problems, but it worried her sometimes: this ship was the last of its kind, for the rest in its line had been dismantled long ago and their plans seized. Once the Rosencrantz was gone, it was gone forever. It was miserable to even think about, admittedly. Her vessel was a relic from Erisia, and it felt like a trusted friend; it housed her, fed her, kept her safe. She hadn't even made plans for what she'd do if it was gone -- to breeds such as hers, their ship was everything. She glanced up pensively to the sky. It was clear as crystal, a true wolf in sheep's clothing; no traveler would ever spot the electromagnetic storm ahead of time.

She resumed walking, trusting the ship to deal with itself. The issue of the electromagnetic storm had occurred to her while she was gathering ore. She'd heard of such phenomena, but never so intense; usually, they were unique to planets with severe ionospheric storms, but there was no lightning nor thunder to be seen, and the correlation she drew suggested the Federation ships dispatched here had met its wrath. It was too coincidental, but if it was a widespread natural occurrence on Desprin, she'd be hard-pressed to escape in a small vessel limited in its abilities to weather such activity. But such pondering was meant for another time. As it usually was, the universe was silent on her dilemma, but with effort, it might yet surrender its answers.

Having decided to grab a suitable vantage point, her first priority was to get herself somewhere. Her biding had yielded only a few revelations on her environment, and only one of them appealed to her as useful. The tall, rocky cliff erupting from the jungle was something she'd written off as too high for her to scale, but the silhouette of a thick vine draping from its top now presented itself to her. She approached the base of the cliff thoughtfully, casting her eyes up and down its mass. A row of indentations and cracks in the face of the cliff ascended high enough to reach the vine, which swayed gently back and forth in a tempting manner. By any regard, the idea that jumped at her was a risky one; formations in nature like these were usually too convenient to the human mind to be trusted, but it was naive to shoot for guarantees in a situation like this. She stepped her boot into the first indentation, shifting it back and forth to check for loose rock. A number of chips and pebbles cascaded to the ground, but it was solid. There was her Grapple Beam, too, but the device was notoriously finicky, and she could only take a bet on whether there was enough ferromagnetic rock ingrained into the cliff for the tether to operate. She reached up for the first handhold, again testing her weight. It was reliable. She proceeded up a step, inserting her boot into another seam in the cliff, and climbed the rest of the distance with little stress.

She paused to engage her Grapple Beam in standby mode. The tether was a square protrusion from the armor plating on her left forearm, drawing power from her suit's core and influenced by specific hand movements. Rather obviously, it was built more for swinging from place to place and not rappelling, being that it unevenly hoisted her body weight. With her command, the protrusion hummed and its seams extended with a series of clicks, yellow-amber energy streaming across the lines. Now, just in case she lost her footing, she could fire it in a gamble to recover herself. Satisfied, she reached for the vine, which dangled just inches from her fingertips. For a moment, she thought she would not reach, but eventually seized hold.

The woman tugged firmly to ensure it was not loose before swiftly transferring to it, both hands seized down upon the natural rope. She swung outwards immediately and twisted herself around so that she might secure her boots against the cliff. She exhaled some tension as soon as her feet were firmly down upon the rock, refining her handholds and looking up. The vine was taut with tension and groaned, but held steady. By the time she made her first effort to go upward, she'd already remembered what she knew about rappelling. Her suit gave a much needed advantage, ensuring her arm strength and helping her direct herself. Foot by foot, she ascended, pausing only when she worried she might slip or the vine would break.

It was an awkward situation, but she proceeded with determination to the top, eager to rid herself of these limiting circumstances.

[Goryokaku]

Kal moves the Mech 3 squares to the south(3AP), then bringing up weapons control she aims and fires the pulse cannon twice at grenadier 3(F-13). "Bit of a bumpy landing but the mech form seems to be working fine, now lets hope the weapon systems hold up some." Kal then preps to evade any in coming shots or grenades.

[Zender_Solarheart]

(NOTE: Battle maps are not yet finished. Those in combat should wait for those to be edited in before making their posts.)

Napsii

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

For a brief moment, your jump appears as if it's going to fail. The familiar pull of gravity can be felt as you're mere centimeters from reaching the vine, and your descent makes securing your initial grip on it a little harder. However, that grip ultimately holds true, and while you have a bit further to climb than you expected thanks to that descent, you manage to climb up the ledge with about as much ease as you can manage in this situation. A few times, your feet slip a little, but you make it to the lip of the ledge without falling.

At the top of the ledge, you find a large, single munitions crate, its build of unknown origin. Scans indicate that it's made of relatively common materials, or at least common for a military-grade container. The metals on the inside, however, are a bit stronger stuff: largely Radion and Talloric Alloy, both used in containers made for caustic or explosive contents. Thankfully, the internal metals aren't built that well for resisting damage from the outside; one charged shot from your Beam weapon will be enough to bust it open, without damaging the contents held within.

That said, the place this crate is located in seems a bit...odd. No other crates nearby, no defensive measures taken to protect it, and not a life-form in sight to stand guard. This is either an elaborately-set trap, or it was accidentally left here...

Zeus

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

No life forms show up as you pass through the door. No signs of Space Pirate activity. No icy predators prowling and sniffing around. Not even any beady eyes glistening in a shadowy corner. So far, it looks like you're alone here.

On the other side of the door, you find a good reason for why Chozo lore was at your landing site: the remains of a Chozo temple presents itself to you upon entry, and a pretty visually-stunning one, at that. Pillars with glowing orbs adorn the stone-laid path inward from your position at the northern end, while at the southern end, a large statuary representation of a Chozo elder leans out of the wall it was carved into, its hands open and positioned as if awaiting an offering. In the center of the room, a second Chozo statue can be seen, this one far smaller, and holding an artifact of some sort. You can't tell what exactly the artifact is, as it's enclosed in a spherical energy field that hides its appearance. However, scans indicate that the field itself is quite weak; a single shot from your Beam weapon will disable the field, and allow you to claim whatever's held inside it.

In the event that you choose to pass up that statue's upgrade, the larger one at the northern end of the room has two doors on either side of it. One's covered in a thick sheet of ice like that one at the landing site, and the other's sealed with a Radion blast shield. Unfortunately, the only way further in that you can access right now would be the third door, embedded into the larger statue's base. Even so, would you really be willing to pass up the Chozo tech right in front of you?

Gory

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

As you charge right up to the Grenadier to the south, he brings up his grenade launcher in a desperate attempt to at least deal some damage to you in your charge. The result?

(CRITICAL SUCCESS!!)

The poor mook can't even get a shot off, as your trigger-finger outruns his own, and white-hot bolts of plasma incinerate every part of his body, no more than ashes and a scorch mark on the floor remaining of him.

<Enemy Phase>
Grenadier 2 certainly doesn't appreciate you having reduced his comrade to ashes, and he wastes no time in showing that displeasure. Running forward into an effective range (to space H-7), he lets loose with a grenade, aiming to catch you in the explosion's splash damage.

(Enemy gets Normal success.)

The grenade's blast mostly misses you, but a bit of the blast cloud's edge manages to catch the Kyrios's left leg from the back (6 damage to Aft shields). Unfortunately, it seems the crash through the roof left your shielding systems a tad unstable, as that blast did a bit more damage than it normally would have. Your larger size also makes you a bigger target, so evading those grenades might be a bit tough...

As for Grenadier 1, he's wiser than his remaining counterpart, hanging back at the north-eastern corner of the room, staying behind cover. He's playing it safe, most certainly...but considering how much longer his buddy's bound to last - i.e., not very long - he likely won't be able to do much once you start closing in on him.

Battle Map and Stats

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

(Whoops, forgot to crop the walls out of the battle map. Sorry about that. Coordinates fixed as appropriate.)

Metroid Supremacy Battlemap.jpg (57.98 KiB) Viewed 2996 times

<Grenadier 1>
At space O-2.
HP: 20.
<Grenadier 2>
At space H-7.
HP: 20.
<Grenadier 3>
TERMINATED.

<Kyrios>
At space B-9.
HP: 150.
EN: 94 (50 Forward, 44 Aft).
Status: Mech-Locked.

<Actions Available>
Move: Move 1 space in any non-diagonal direction. Costs 1 AP.
Fire Pulse: Fire rounds from your Pulse Cannon. Costs 2 AP.
Slash: Attack with your Beam Sword. Costs 3 AP. Can only hit enemies who are next to you.
Tactics: Apply either Guard, Evade, or Counter stance effects. Costs whatever AP you have left that turn.

[Zeus Kabob]

Dhoz is incredulous as he walks into the room. "Chozo artifacts and statues? It must be my lucky day!" He immediately explores the room, checking for any lore entries and scanning the area for info regarding the objects.

After he's done searching the room, he's satisfied that the room is safe. He has an idea though... What will happen when he takes the sphere off the statue?

He steels himself, knowing that this could be dangerous. He tries to pull the sphere off the small statue and place it onto the large statue.

[napsii]

At the lip of the cliff, Gwyn hung over a painful drop, at the mercy of her own will to not let go. The rough palms of her gloves were peeling back the skin of the vine -- an uneasy sign that nurtured her fear that the vine would crack. You could never truly conquer fear of falling; it was bred by evolution. But it was particularly unnerving to have achieved ascended up the side of a cliff only to halt an arm's length from the top. The young woman panned for her final handhold, her footing displaced by the chalky mineral. She stretched and twisted for a jumbled outcropping of rock, unwilling to compromise her hard-won safety up this height. Eventually, she seized hold, and the antiseptic quality of knowing victory was assured healed of her few concerns to push toward the top. Freed from the vine, she ascended neatly over the lip of the rock and stood up. A self-satisfied exhale resumed her graceful stature; with rappelling in particular, she was out of her element. She was greeted by a gust of jungle wind.

Above the trees, the wind was felt easily, and the view from here -- a sea of trees, interrupted by only a few landmarks for miles around -- was scenic.

She'd assimilated the presence of munitions crates over the years; they were not unlike grass, or streetlights in that regard, and she'd already been walking before the unusual considerations of finding one here caught up with her. It was the needle of suspicion which compelled her to stop, though if the crate was a trap, she was probably already in its grasp. She gently unhooked the SCR-LYT from its holster nonetheless, letting it rest at her side while -- like any prudent Hunter -- she observed the crate with her scanner. Gwyn shifted her eyes back and forth as the device made its review; the result wasn't truly alarming. Containers such as these were a dime a dozen and employed by the Federation and armed forces galaxy-wide -- similar implements were used by private companies, too. She considered her few theories on the crate's origin that jumped out at her -- she was no in mood to approach such a suspect scene without being confident in her logic. It was certainly no native artifact; crates like these were modern, but this one was unmarked and unlabeled.

She guessed it belonged to one of the major parties that'd come here -- the Federation or another Bounty Hunter, possibly.

It'd been ejected from a vessel snared by the anomalies in the atmosphere, or perhaps left behind by survivors of the crash. There was no remarkable evidence to support either of her most plausible guesses, so Gwyn didn't waste time approaching the crate. Speculation only told her so much, and while it was headstrong, the answer always revealed itself by proceeding. She raised her weapon to it thoughtfully, as if assuring herself she understood the consequences, and depressed the trigger of the weapon. The gun whirred, and immediately Gwyn felt an electric tingle start to crawl up her arm as the weapon pooled energy within itself. The charged shot was the most basic of gun techniques and the anticipation of the weapon charging itself up to deliver an impressive reward reminded Gwyn over and over again to make good use of it. Arcs of electricity buzzed at its muzzle; the battery alone couldn't contain the current. Gwyn counted the passing seconds in her head. One, two, three.

The air cracked loudly as narrow blue bolt of energy -- streaming tendrils of electric discharge -- jumped from the weapon's flashing muzzle. The tickle of recoil travel up Gwyn's arm as the bolt exploded colorfully upon the side of the crate, illuminating it in a curtain of electrical discharge. It was silly and crude, shooting things to open them, but it was among the most reliable of methods. It was then she turned her attention toward the treeline. Not urgently, but rather to observe whom the sound of a beam shot might alert in this wide and unknown area. She walked cautiously and expectantly around the side of the crate, peering through to see what was inside while her gun remained at the ready.

[Zender_Solarheart]

Zeus

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

While you cannot touch the sphere directly due to the energy field, a single shot from your beam disables the field, allowing you access to the contents...

ITEM ACQUIRED: Missile Launcher. Check upgrade data below for statistical and tactical info.

Sweet, a Missile Launcher! Now you can open doors with Radion blast shields, such as that one near the big statue in this room, or that one back at the landing site, and...wait a second...

...did the smaller statue just blink?

Suddenly, the Chozo statue you just took the Missile Launcher from starts moving, bringing itself into an upright standing position, and chunks of its outer stone layer crumbling off like shedding skin. In fact, it's not a true Chozo statue at all...it's a...

|====================|
TORIZO STATUE
(Battle BGM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cWbLagjxbA)

Cover pieces boxed in green. Torizo size in red.

Metroid Supremacy Battlemap 2.jpg (63.34 KiB) Viewed 2922 times

<Torizo Statue>
On space I-7.
HP: 200.
Status: Normal.
NOTE: Check Enemy Data below for more information.

<Dhoz>
On space J-11.
EN: 99
Status: Normal.

<Actions Available>
Move: Costs 1 AP per space moved. Diagonals count as 2 spaces.
Fire Beam: Fire an uncharged Beam shot. Costs 2 AP.
Melee: Strike with Melee weapon. Costs 3 AP. Must be adjacent to target.
Charge Shot: Charge Beam weapon for a more powerful blast. Costs 5 AP.
Fire Missile: Fire a round from the Missile Launcher. Costs 4 AP.
Stance: Take up a Guard, Evade, or Counter stance. Automatically ends turn once used.

ENEMY DATA: Torizo Statue

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Torizo Statues are a special type of Chozo statuary, designed more often as guard units for certain areas. They are normally immobile, appearing as inanimate and harmless as any other statue. Should someone or something in the area violate one of its assigned protocols, however, it will come to life and attack them. Torizo Statues are known to have a series of combat systems that vary slightly between models, but generally consist of the following:

1: Arcing projectiles released from the beak, which usually function as bombs.
2: Kinetic force waves projected from the palms.
3: A claw-swipe sheathed in energy.

A portion of Chozo text found on Tallon IV refers to the Torizo's intended function, stating that "those who respect and honor these relics will know the friendship of the Chozo. Those who deface or destroy them will know our wrath, unfettered and raw." However, after years of inactivity, some Torizo have been known to malfunction, and attack passersby for no apparent reason. In the event of a Torizo assault, concussive weapons like Missiles and Grenades usually prove effective.

Threat Level: High.
For more information, visit the wiki page here.

UPGRADE DATA: Missile Launcher

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The Missile Launcher adds ballistic explosive capability to your projectile arsenal. In exploration, Missiles can destroy objects made of Brinstone or Radion. In combat mode, Missiles have Homing properties, and can apply concussive force against some lighter-weight targets, knocking them back 1 space. Firing a Missile costs 4 AP in combat. The "Reload" Skill can be used for 6 AP, which will reload the Launcher with 10 Missiles. Outside of combat, the Missile Launcher will not expend ammo, and auto-reloads to half capacity when combat mode ends if ammo is below 50%.
-Power: 15.
-Effective Range: 5. Targets outside this range cannot be locked onto.
-Maximum Range: Infinite. However, if the lock-on with the target is broken, the Missile will fly straight in the direction it is facing and explode on impact.
-Starting Ammo: 10. Collecting Missile Expansions will increase this number by 2 Missiles per expansion.

Napsii

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The blue electric bolt streaks forward, impacting the crate with its electromagnetic blow, shattering all that stands between you and its contents. Inside, you find...

ITEM ACQUIRED: Grenade Launcher. Check Upgrade Data section for more info.

Well, this is certainly a nice add-on to your arsenal. Might lack the accuracy of a man-portable missile system, but at least you can hit targets behind cover with it. Besides, its modular design integrates wonderfully with your Beam weapon system, allowing you to wield it without having to trade in any other weapons. On top of that, the weapon can breach Radion blast shields, so you can access that other door at the landing site if you want. Or you can go through the one back there that was already free to access. Your choice.

UPGRADE DATA: Grenade Launcher.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The Grenade Launcher packs about the same punch as the Missile Launcher, but with slightly different function. First off, the grenades do not track targets like a Missile, but can clear cover pieces with their Arcing property. They also have a Diffusion property thanks to the blast radius. The downside? They're a bit easier to see coming than a Beam shot, making enemies more likely to avoid them. This is definitely a weapon you want to aim at small groups. Like with the Missile Launcher, the Grenade Launcher comes with the Reload Skill, though it only has half the starting ammo capacity.
-Power: 17.
-Effective Range: 7.
-Maximum Range: 14.
-Starting Ammo: 5. Collecting Grenade Expansions will increase this number by 1 Grenade per expansion.

NEWCOMER: Argo

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Like the hunters that got here before you, your ship was knocked out of the sky by electromagnetic scrambling. To make a long story short, you managed to get it to a safe place for the emergency landing, which happened to be in...

Location: Chozo Ruins.

The visual scanners on your ship were hit a bit too hard by the EMP-like storm in the upper atmosphere, and shorted out shortly after you landed. When you emerge from your ship to take a look around, you find the remnants of another Chozo civilization all around you. Stone structures and bridges woven with tree branches, intertwined almost seamlessly with technology that once supported the former inhabitants. Currently, you stand smack-dab in the middle of an old landing site, with the area's walls forming a smooth, perfect semicircle. You face towards the north, where a sole door rests in the wall, a sculpture of a Chozo elder hanging over it, similarly carved into the wall. To the west is a small circular hole roughly 1 meter in diameter, too small for you to even attempt crawling through. To the south is nothing but a steep drop off a cliff, which your ship was lucky enough to land clear of. To the east, you find a series of Chozo rune text, etched into a depression in the wall...which, upon being scanned, turns out to be...

CHOZO LORE FOUND. Check data entry below.

Whether you choose to read that lore entry right now or not, there's clearly only one way to go from here: further into the ruins, via the northern door. Your ship's going to need some time to auto-repair enough to fly again, so you might as well take a look around. Anything useful in the ruins is basically up for grabs, since the Chozo aren't going to be needing them any time soon.

Chozo Lore Data: The Datagate.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The Datagate was a technological miracle, even by our own standards. With it, we could transform our minds into pure program data, leaving behind our physical bodies entirely. As a digital consciousness, each of us would be able to transmit ourselves unto the stars, gliding on streams of data sent outward by our own satellites. Time and space would mean little to us; as long as a location could be reached by any form of digital transmission, we too could reach it.

Of course, that was merely what we theorized. In truth, we had yet to properly test the Datagate, something which could only be done with a living Chozo. We had no idea whether the machine would actually work, and some speculated that the mind may become damaged or even destroyed during digitization. They feared the process would fragment or corrupt the psyche, causing the subject to either go mad or simply...vanish. These uncertainties brought great fear to our delegation, most of which were completely unwilling to volunteer as a test subject. Even I, Wise Arm, had my doubts about the machine...

In the end, it was Iron Soul, a former Chozo warlord, who volunteered. We prepared him for it as best as we could, set him in front of the Datagate, and prayed. He turned around shortly before the digitization process was completed, as if to wish us one final farewell, in the event he did not survive...

...and our work succeeded.

Iron Soul's body went limp as a true corpse, but his mind quickly greeted us via the Datagate's holographic display system. His figure was a teal, spectral shadow of his old physical self, and upon seeing our labors bear such sweet fruit, we celebrated as if we were young again, then began planning for the rest of us to cross over into the realm of data...unaware of how that sweet fruit would sour all too soon...

[Goryokaku]

Kal moves Kyrios to c-7(3 AP), the attacks the grenadier at H-7 with two Pusle shots(4 AP), She the moves Kyrios up to C-4(3 AP).

[napsii]

Gwyn stocked the SCR-LYT back into its holster as the smoke cleared.

She peered into the crate, having clearly seen a silhouette through the small blast. What she found surprised her. Military-grade explosives, of all things, were hiding in an unmarked crate likely forgotten about by its owners. She extracted it carefully from the container, aware of the dangerous qualities of explosive weaponry; the high explosive materiel could have been damaged in a fall, or the frame of the weapon could have been cracked, making it difficult to fire. Her scanner worked proactively, unfolding a data file on the weapon before she'd even cleared it from the crate. It was in immaculate condition -- if it had suffered any fall, it'd been shielded by the crate. Satisfaction coursed through Gwyn. The law of space was finders-keepers. Property law was something she'd been educated about on Erisia, though it was already a common idea that'd been passed down through countless histories. In the frontier of the galaxy, anything that was left behind was up for grabs. The Federation would never occupy itself tracking down a plasma torch that'd been stolen two lightyears away, meaning force or trickery was the only means to protect one's items. She studied the trigger mechanism and bore, ensuring it was not broken.

It was perfect, and it was all hers.

For the very reason that thieves would make off with her things if she left them unattended, she'd secured her meaningful possessions inside the Rosencrantz. She did not look back once feeling hypocritical for taking someone else's possessions; the crate had likely not found its way here deliberately, and even if its owner was alive they'd have been forced to forget about it. A grenade launcher was a valuable treasure, and its firepower would be immensely valuable to her. She clicked a button on the weapon's side and it hummed to life, wirelessly interfacing with the power unit of her suit. A number of figures and diagrams appeared before her eyes, which she ignored until a small signal from her visor gave her a proverbial thumbs-up to fire away. She raised the weapon and aimed it around, getting a feel for its grip and stubby stock. It was small enough to carry on her back despite its large capacity, and folded up in a convenient manner. As the weapon's bore panned its lethal gaze across the surrounding land, a very impulsive component of her personality, deep inside her psyche, urged her to fire off a round into the wilderness. Of course, her subconscious extracted a hundred more faulty reasons for her to do so.

She collapsed the weapon, placing it onto her back adjacent her sword. It clicked to a magnetic panel within the suit's chassis, locking it there.

The woman walked off for the vine which had brought her here without delay. She saw little else, and an idea had been cooking in her head since she confirmed the weapon worked. She leaned over the cliff, studying the drop. The most awkward part of climbing was the start, although it'd be easier to descend. Hopefully the extra weight wouldn't crack the vine at last.

She hitched onto the vine with the expected grace, smoothly departing from the cliff onto a firm grip on the vine and feet planted against the chalky rock. She didn't struggle this time; her ascent had refreshed her few experiences with climbing, and measuring the vine carefully, she nimbly abseiled down the cliff with long, slow jumps. Occasionally she looked down to check her progress, but once she was reasonably low, she simply let go to fall to the ground, feet closed together so she could dampen the fall with a roll. She impacted the ground with a quiet grunt, quickly resuming to her feet. As she walked back to the area of the Rosencrantz, she patted away the dirt that'd collected on her armor. Her long silver hair was entirely unperturbed; she washed with nanomachine-infused shampoo and conditioner for this very reason.She did nearly strangle a Space Pirate once with a ponytail -- an extraordinary story.

Her eyes passed briefly over the path into the wilderness she'd considered earlier. It had been an obvious choice at the time, but she also remembered the Radion blast door nearby, and with explosives on hand, she convinced herself it was a ripe opportunity; the complex that was built here would likely reveal more about Desprin than a trek in the jungle.

She procured the grenade launcher from her back as she walked. The weapon clicked and glowed menacingly as it shone to life. Gwyn approached the nearby Radion door like an executioner approached her victim, halting a safe twenty feet from it and taking aim down the weapon's sights. It was a perfectly inanimate target, but Gwyn still lavished a moment to center the sights just above the center so that the grenade would arc into a bullseye. The weapon thumped firmly as it lobbed its payload, its distinctive kick assuring Gwyn of the weapon's sheer force. She looked down and away immediately so that she wouldn't be blinded by the blast. Shrapnel didn't concern her; this class of weapon didn't have a particularly wide radius and many weapons manufacturers were moving away from shrapnel-based explosive.

[Argonaut]

As he stumbled around Harbinger, a little rattled from the landing, Valroz couldn't help but spew obscenities. "...Worthless piece of crap. Y'know that, Harbinger? You are an absolute piece of shit! One day, I'm going to install some AI programming into you, JUST so you can fully comprehend how shitty you are. Worthless piece of crap..." Valroz lowered his face mask, taking a deep breath, activating the oxygen purifier inside. Although he wasn't worried about the atmosphere planetside, when you move as fast as Valroz does, the mask comes in handy.

As Valroz excited the Harbinger, he pulled his hood over his head. His piercing blue eyes scanned his surroundings, taking careful note of the cliff he missed, as well as the small hole. Noticing the Chozo rune text on the wall, he scanned it, mumbling to himself the entire time. "... Seriously, Chozo? You guys felt that THIS fourteen year old girl's diary entry was important enough to etch onto a wall? Fuckin' weirdos..."

Shaking his head, he casually skimmed through the text as he made his way to the northern door. After reading it, Valroz stopped, and did one last check to ensure he had everything. Patting his back, he felt his electrified shotgun, Tesla, snugly secured. Flaring his wrists out, his kattar blades flew from their hiding spots, ready to slice and dice. Putting the blades back, Valroz activated his X-Ray Scope lenses, his eyes glowing blue as he peered through the walls. Confident that he would see whatever dangers lay ahead before he had to deal with them, Valroz strolled casually to the door, taking care to try and see what was on the other side before he opened it.

[Zeus Kabob]

Dhoz wasn't expecting the statue to move, but he wasn't very surprised. Of course the Chozo would guard such a valuable artifact.

Dhoz dashes forward (4 AP) and kneels below the statue, and charges and fires his weapon up at the statue. The blast of cold energy shoots up into the living statue, instantly freezing the surface of the statue. (5 AP)

Dhoz then prepares for the statue's retaliation (Counter stance)

[Zender_Solarheart]

Gory

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Judging by the look on his face, the Grenadier at H-7 must have just realized how foolhardy that move of his was. Of course, he doesn't keep that face for long...
(CRITICAL HIT!!)
...as your Pulse shots ensure that his face - and just about everything else on him - is melted and vaporized in an instant.

Realizing that this fight is only going to get him killed, the third and final Grenadier makes a break for it, rushing to find some backup. At that range, you can't hit him reliably with your Pulse Cannons...and considering that your ship is running low on power to provide its combat systems with, any pursuit will have to be made on-foot, as your ship's about ready to shut down and start auto-repair procedures. So yeah, no point in staying in the cockpit.

Ahead of you, to the east, is a large metal gate, which the fleeing Grenadier just bolted through. Unfortunately, he locked it on his way out, and since it doesn't support remote operation, your suit's hacking equipment won't be able to unlock it. Instead, you may want to hack into that terminal on the northern wall, which controls the alarm system; if you can disable that, you should be able to at least cut down on the amount of Pirates that will be heading your way.

Combat Results

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

2 Pirate Grenadiers terminated, 1 escaped. 4 GP awarded.

<Awards>
(Awards function similarly to an Achievement system. By performing certain notable feats, you can gain bonus GP.)

Critzkrieg: All attacks that connected were Critical Hits. (2 GP)
Fight to Run Away: Caused a Space Pirate to flee the battlefield. (1 GP)

Total: 7 GP.

Napsii

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The moment you blow the Radion shield off its hinges with a grenade (4 Grenades left), a blast of moldy-smelling air greets you with the door's opening. Considering that you just unlocked the door to what appears to be a cave entrance, the smell seems logical. The passage itself is quite well-lit, with small glowing orbs lining the walls like torches. There are a number of cobwebs along the corners between the walls, floor, and ceiling, as well as what appears to be a tree's roots poking through along one side. Those roots do narrow the passage a bit tightly on the right-hand side, but you can easily squeeze through.

After squeezing through, you find the cave passage getting a bit roomier in size, opening up to what looks like an underground chamber from an undiscovered set of stone-built ruins. The markings on the wall are much akin to the Chozo alphabet, which can only mean one thing...

Location: Chozo Ruins

Yup, you're in one of the Chozo's many abandoned remnants of their civilization. Those poor bird-people had it rough enough without the Pirates getting involved: poor fertility rates in their women eclipsed the blessings of their long lifespans, forcing many of them to pursue a way of preserving their minds. Of course, the only society of theirs to have gained any form of immortality was on Tallon IV, where they miraculously found a way to transcend time and space. Nobody knows how they did it, but that fact became more widespread knowledge after historical data on the Phazon Crisis became declassified. It even attracted some other seekers of eternal life, thinking they could find and unlock the Chozo's secrets...but so far, none have replicated their work.

But enough about that. This is Desprin VII, not Tallon IV.

The room you're in appears to have once been a meeting room of some sort, driven literally underground by the jungle's expansion and the sands of time. The center of the room has some stone structures that appear to have been a hexagonal table, encircled by six stone chairs. Creating a perimeter around the table is an arrangement of twelve stone pillars, and while most of them appear as dead as the rest of the room, two of them at the far southern end have a blue glow along the seams in their stonework. If you want to just leave this room, the exit's on the eastern wall...but can you really pass up the allure of those two glowing pillars?

Argo

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The doorway is clear as you check it, your X-Ray Scope picking up nothing of interest on the other side. As you open the door, you find the expanse itself to be quite lifeless; like most Chozo ruin sites, The expanse has a lot of sand, plenty of stone structures, and a very desert-y feel to it. On your left (i.e., the west), there is a large, aged Cyrlic Tree growing out of the wall, the unique striped red leaves being a dead giveaway to its species. To the east is a series of stone platforms rising out of the ground, propped up by a few more Cyrlic trees, their branches apparently woven to support the platforms' weight. Those platforms are set in what appears to be a pathway up to a door in the southeastern corner of the area. Whatever stairs may have linked those platforms have crumbled over time, however, and the first of those platforms is too high to jump up to.

At present, there are only two things of interest in this area: the door at the far northern end, sealed with a green energy shield, and these two glowing stone pillars at the southwestern corner, quite close to your position. There seems to be a faint blue glow emanating from between them, as well, but unless you take a closer look, you probably won't know what they are.

Zeus

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

As you dart forward and go into a kneeling slide, the Torizo brings up its claw, perhaps to try blasting you away with its kinetic wave, but isn't quite fast enough. At point-blank, its chances of dodging are all but void, and it takes the icy blast straight in the gut. However, it appears to be built well for the arctic environment it rests in, and suffers little harm from it (9 damage). Perhaps banking entirely on cold-based weapons wasn't such a hot idea, eh?

Needless to say, the Torizo's retaliation is swift and spiteful. It wastes no time in literally punting you out from under it, and quite painfully, too (24 damage, knocked 2 spaces east by concussive force). Looks like bum-rushing it with your ice shotgun wasn't such a bright idea, eh?

|====================|
TORIZO STATUE

Battle Map and Stats

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Battle Map 2.jpg (57.09 KiB) Viewed 2811 times

<Dhoz>
At space L-7.
EN: 75
Status: Might wake up with a bruised chest.

<Torizo Statue>
Origin at space I-7.
HP: 191.
Status: Clearly resistant to Cold attacks.

HINT: Let your opponent have a blast.

NEWCOMER DUO: Reaver and Dax

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Unlike the other hunters, you don't even breach the atmosphere before you know something's up. In orbit around Desprin VII, a Space Pirate frigate floats lazily just outside of the planet's gravitational pull. Its simple presence is odd enough, but what's even odder is the lack of any activity as you warp in, since FTL jumps require your ship's cloaking system to be switched off. Even if they hadn't caught the Cherenkov radiation from your jump's conclusion, they would've seen your ship popping in out of seemingly nowhere...right?

Location: Orbital Pirate Frigate

At this point, you have nothing to lose by re-engaging your cloaking field, and setting down on the possibly derelict ship's exterior docking platform to take a closer look. Besides, if you can get a few Pirate heads on your records ahead of time, you'll get a bigger reward...and if there are any of the Pirates' sex slaves onboard, you might be able to get an extra reward of a different kind.

NEWCOMER: Misc

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

As you exit FTL travel, you are greeted not only by the image of Desprin VII up ahead...but also of a Space Pirate frigate, appearing far quieter than it should. The frigate bears an odd resemblance to the Orpheon frigate from the Tallon IV Incident, back in the early days of the Phazon Crisis. You can also spot a ship about the same size as your own approaching the frigate, perhaps to land on it. That ship's markings don't match up with any faction you are aware of; in all likelihood, that ship is crewed by a bounty hunter like yourself. While there is no concrete evidence that the fellow hunter is friendly, the likelihood of he or she being employed by the Pirates is quite slim these days. Ever since their headcounts got decimated during and after the assault on Urtraghus, those scurvy dogs have become pretty much entirely opposed to bounty hunter contracts, as they'd prefer to not use soldiers that would turn on them over the enemy's payroll being higher.

How you approach this situation is up to you. You could try hailing the other hunter's ship to determine his/her disposition, but the frigate might pick up on your signal if you do. You could also try setting down on the exterior docking platform, and hope for the best with that other ship. Alternatively, you could bypass the frigate entirely, and head straight for the planet; considering the Pirates onboard haven't opened fire yet, chances are that their weapon systems may be too damaged for reliable use.

[napsii]

Gwyn passed through the door coolly, folding the grenade launcher onto her back as she walked. The dim, rocky scenery welcomed her first with an assault of fungal odor; the woman clasped a hand over her mouth. She was no prude, but the ancient-smelling air chipped at her nose and she had to measure her breaths to not inhale any mold spores without suffocating. She paused on the warm wreckage of the Radion door, which smoldered on ground having been shot put a remarkable distance into the entrance. Observing the room, she procured the SCR-LYT from its holster; the foreboding nature of the relative dimness and long echoes of a cave compelled caution from any sensible explorer and the dangers of such a place were very real. Although the rock and dirt could have been supported in places by artificial structures, the constant rain which fed the jungle wet the soil and primed it for rockfalls -- evident moisture clung to every surface. There were no apparent signs of humanoid presence -- at least not through here.

The stagnant air, likely sealed inside for a number of Terran years, was damning evidence. And yet it was not entirely forsaken. Mineral orbs punctuated the walls above in too great numbers and at too regular intervals to be natural formations. Their steady glow relieved the dimness and allowed Gwyn to measure what she could see of the cave. The irregular rock confused its geometry, but it was shaped something like a corridor. She stepped out of the natural light that streamed in from the doorway.

Unlike most caves, which were confusing and unyielding to explorers, there was a clear path for her to take past the roots which congested it. Only a Bounty Hunter could accept such an uncertain track; recognizing that few rewards were ever self-evident was a skill one developed as they charted the galaxy -- especially if it was for profit. She stopped to lean a boot against the thickest of the roots in admiration. The jungle trees were clearly ancient, but were probably not much older than these structures. She pondered this absentmindedly as she squeezed against the wall to pass the roots. The passage was uncomfortably tight and her chest even pressed against the wall in several spots. Whoever laid down the door and the orbs lighting the passage had obviously not intended for such a difficult path; the cave walls must have expanded since then. After a few tedious minutes of walking, the cave resumed its roomy breadth, but here, the environment was different. The walls were not rocky and irregular but carefully carved and measured, and as Gwyn emerged from the mouth of the passage, her gloved hand brushed over an engraving deep and distinct enough to alert her attention.

It was not a crack or a seam, but a symbol. A letter, specifically, trying to communicate something to passersby in its cryptic syntax. She pedaled back from the wall; countless more characters decorated its surface, as if spelling out something. She immediately ruled it out as any modern language, which left few possibilities. She was quick to come to a conclusion, though: although the Chozo were long extinct, their language had survived, and its nature was known to Gwyn. Immediately eager to confirm this revelation, she turned and swept her eyes across the room expectantly.

As guaranteed, the more quiet characteristics of Chozo architecture suddenly became apparent to her.

"Heh." she grunted in amusement. The Chozo. They were an answer unto themselves, so revered that their heritage was considered a fulfillment of many mysteries. The legendary avian race had settled and then abandoned Desprin VII long before it was known to any of the fledgling races that would eventually unite into the Federation. In this age, their remnants were prizes, for during their time, their technology, wealth and knowledge was known to have been unparalleled, and the many species raised into civilization with their aid attested to this magnificence in their histories, as did even the merest scraps from their golden age. As Gwyn digested this discovery, she could feel the impulse of arrogance sneaking up on her common sense. She had never come so close to Chozo remnants, but their value could not be understated -- even data on their location was worth a fortune, and it would be tremendously easy to get ahead of herself in an eager attempt to reap its treasures. While she restrained herself, she had every right to her moment of happiness.

It was a... lucky find.

She walked on.

While there were a litany of academic and pop culture works that spun both speculation and lies about the Chozo, it was rather easy to relate the mechanics of their society to modern cultures. Gwyn had studied them at one time or another and witnessed pictures of their ruins; the expectations brought forth by this education matched what she saw here. The arena-like room was tall and regal and was dominated by the large table and arrangement of chairs at its center -- all made of stone, she noticed, as were the twelve huge pillars which encircled them. The Chozo's decisions to carve their heritage into stone had helped it endure the ages. A necessity, Gwyn pondered, for it soon became apparent to her that this was not an underground room at all. Aside from the pillars, there were no great structures restraining the surrounding cave; rather, it was as if the cave had formed around the ruins, which she speculated was pushed down from the surface over many decades thanks to the mushy geology. Ah, but it survived, just as so much of the Chozo had. Their hearts had stilled, but their legacy seemed to become richer with every passing year as more was unearthed of them.

She scouted out the room with idle interest, her hand brushing one of the ancient chairs. It tempted her to sit in them, but an acquired respect for the Chozo compelled her not to. One of the most dizzying revelations concerning the Chozo had dispersed into the galaxy immediately after a library of information on the Phazon Crisis was declassified by the Federation. Supposedly, the Chozo had discovered a method to transcend physicality, time and space as a means to escape the declining fertility which had inevitably contributed toward their demise. It had been a widely absurd idea when it was first disclosed, but the formal report on it was tens of thousands of pages long and cultivated from raw Chozo scriptures extracted from Tallon IV. With time, Gwyn accepted the idea plausible for the Chozo, and as she wandered this room, she wondered if the Chozo who had once seated at these very chairs were still out there in the universe, alive in a capacity beyond her awareness.

It was difficult to linger on such distant considerations, for long, though. These ruins were not nearly dead.

Two of the pillars stood apart from the rest. The inanimate stone seemed to be alive with energy. Indeed, their seams were charged with a quiet blue glow -- not unlike a power cell, Gwyn thought, though who could say for sure what the pillars' purpose was. She approached with measured steps. Chozo ruins were not exactly known for being death traps, but nor were they known to have been entirely sedated by the passage of time. From a safe fifteen feet away, she could scry remarkably little about the pillars' purpose, but perhaps...

She extended an arm carefully and walked forward, hand reaching out to just barely touch the lit surface of one of the pillars...

[Zeus Kabob]

Dhoz picks himself off the ground, grumbling. "Damn, I should have known that a cold-resistant statue would be resistant to cold..."

Looking into the corner of his HUD, Dhoz sees his missile count. "The colder they are, the easier they shatter!"

Dhoz sends two missiles streaming towards the statue as he steps backwards.

[Reaver]

Emile screwed the top back onto his canteen as The Crimson Moon dropped out of warp. Only a couple of minutes ago he had been sipping some fine rum while listening to old earth rock. Now warnings and statistics were popping up all over his console as a Space Pirate Frigate came up on the main screen. "Gino! Get your furry ass up here! We got a frigate on our heads!" He started typing in commands furiously, only to stop when the frigate remained strangely quiet. He waited a second to see if the ships was going to do anything before activating the stealth engine just in case. With a sigh Emile took another swig of rum. "Scratch that buddy. We got a stationary frigate on our hands. I'm going to bring us closer in so we can start a salvage mission on it."

The idea of a Space Pirate frigate just orbiting and not even firing at a ship coming out of hyperspace seemed very suspicious. It could be a trap, but then why lure someone in when they could just blow them out of space? Emile wasn't going to pass this opportunity up but he was going to stay on guard. And he'd have Gino watching his back and that was a better insurance than any. "A silent frigate seems pretty shady, eh Gino? Maybe they're hiding their money and women from us and hoping we'll go away. Do you think it will work?" He turned and grinned at Gino, waiting for his best friend and partner to answer.

[Goryokaku]

Kal moved quickly, leaving her ship, she moved to the terminal on the northern wall and began to hack it. The technology looked advanced but Kal was a genius so she figured it would take a minute maybe 2 if she took her time. The main issue would be the space pirates that were likely to come running here from the grenadier direction, She also took the time to examine the room better she was going to need to plan an ambush for what came back with him.

[daxtinator396]

Gino was absently reading a book on some new beam weapon advancements. He liked to stay up to date and tinker when he could with his gear. This time he had several books laid out on a work bench with various subjects all relating to the ship armor in the case of what he was reading beam weapons. Soft symphonic metal played in the background as he heard Emile shout from the cockpit and he quickly raced forward into the cockpit in his plain clothes,"What's the situation? Oh... that's all? Hmm. Well then. We best go relieve them of their ill gotten gains. They would so much better in our ship than theirs I do believe. Come on let's suit up. The holding cells have been empty too long." He said with a devious wolfish grin he did so well.