[IC] The Castle (Clash of Fate)

[Chevaleresse]

(This is a thread to contain all interactions inside the group's home castle during the period that Clash of Fate runs, due to relative inactivity.)

[DragonRage]

Down in the engine room, Alexandria enlists Mar to begin construction of a Gravity Cannon, as discussed in the Discord.

[Hal Henderics]

Mar, having finished his abberation against engineering, wanders the castle after completing work with Alexandria on the cannon, suspicious of recent going's on's, He checks on all our wildlife, the Glavinius, the Trash Spider, The Aptonoth, the Apceros, and of course, his very own Little Sneak.

[Yours Truly]

After speaking to the researcher he sort of but not really helped to rescue, Mot decided that his time was best spent wandering the castle's many rooms while atop his trusty steed Eddie. He wasn't really looking for anything in particular, except maybe for something to do and someone to talk to who isn't as whiny as Eddie is.

[Hal Henderics]

Mar approaches Alexandria, having checked on the animals.

 

"The castle is empty, Alexandria, were it any emptier, our property would be defenseless, even now I had to personally oversee searching the castle for problems and dangers among our assets.  I feel we should spend what time we can devising a solution."

 

The Orc looks a bit winded, probably him scouting the castle.

[DragonRage]

"Hm.  I could create a network of self-replicating drones, loyal to us, that could oversee the castle for us, and save our attention for the most important of tasks," Alexandria suggests, "I will begin drafting a design.  However, my generator is not complete and they will need electricity to fuel themselves.  Can you create a source for them to use?"

[Hal Henderics]

"Yes, I am able to make Gemstones which pump an endless supply of electricity into the air, Storm Gems, I have taken to calling them.  If your drones could include an intake fan to their power supply, the added airflow would draw mana in with it to create electricity."

 

Mar creates a finger sized Gemstone which Alexandria can detect an increased electrical presence near, the same conditions found in a thunderstorm.

[DragonRage]

"I believe a single, large power supply would be more efficient," Alexandria posits, "I could incorporate a fuel cell into each drone to store power from your magical gems, and they could return to it to recharge."

[Hal Henderics]

"Yes, I can do this."

 

"Do you have a preferred shape, or will any do?  I can make a single large gem, large enough to provide the electricity you need."

 

Mar nods, looking pleased.

 

At her command, he begins creating a single large Storm Gem, which Alexandria must first create lightning rods to draw off the electricity, to prevent lightning striking inside the castle, or outside of it.

 

[DragonRage]

"I can incorporate any shape, but one that will be easy to secure to the charging station would be ideal.  Take a look at this," Alexandria offers, projecting a holographic image.  The lightning rods crackle behind them as they draw off excess energy.  "I based the design off a Terran insect called an ant.  They're known for their teamwork and industrious nature.  This model is equipped with the ability to walk on nearly any surface, coordinate with its fellows through radio and blink code binary messages, and perform construction tasks, as well as harm intruders with their strong jaws and electric arc welder.  Each will be approximately the length of your hand, and capable of self-replication by constructing more drones.  Their intelligence level will be approximately that of a smart dog, and they will be loyal to us for we have given them food, shelter, and companionship.  I also have a design for a mobile hive they will be able to use as a fueling station and central hub.  They will be able to install modular hardware upgrades into themselves at the hive once we have the time to design them."  Alexandria walks over to the fabrication station, and starts machining some parts.  "The best part is that once I have constructed the first few, they will build the rest themselves.  I shall need some steel and stone, some silicon, and some water to complete the first wave, and they will need more of the same to self-replicate." 

[Hal Henderics]

Nodding, Mar shows his own hologram, of an obelisk made from storm gem, with a hole going down it's length. It is split into 3 sections for stability.

 

"I can provide all of those easily, in fact, You will find stone and steel aplenty in the workshop, and our water tanks should be full."

 

"This looks like a good plan."

 

--

 

Soon, the Small Ant like drones are happily building more of themselves and repairing the castle, while Mar amuses himself rather impressively, making various gestures and commands to make the drones move in specific ways.

 

 

Edited June 30, 2017 by Hal Henderics

[Sutoratosu]

With the cannons completed, Tesla had taken to searching the other sectors of the old fort to try any sign that at least someone in the damn place hadn't mysteriously up and gone. Hell, all they did was crash, and the place was fully intact more or less... why is so difficult to find anyone besides the Green dude and the android? 

 

She had checked the barracks first, of course, no dice. Then a few other ares- namely the throne room, the grandhall, the entrance way... she had made the thought as a joke at the start of her search, but... in all honesty she really was almost convinced that they'd somehow landed back in tempest and some spatial fuckery had warped most of the crew out. A quick look at the gates though, put that idea to rest. Wherever the hell they were, it wasn't the Planes...

     "Geez, who the hell was even piloting when we hit?" she muttered as she walked away from the entry point, noting the barrier of... some type of energy that had been erected there- she figured this must've been what the orc had mentioned. "Guess they up and vanished too... screw it, this is gonna take way too long on my own... do I got anything to speed this up"

    The interface of the Void sphere lit her mind up the instant her hand touched out, various bits of data listed beside all the entries for the object in storage. Maneuvering through the inventory with a few thoughts, she slowly scanned until... there it was. Those weird little trophy things those blobs in tempest had dropped; she'd felt something odd when she'd picked them up... almost like they were calling to her somehow, not unlike how one might summon their mech from their dreamspace... but... no, it couldn't be, could it? Would the process even work on them?

 

Shrugging and shoulders and not really able to think of what she might have to lose, she selected one of the strange objects and held out her hand, watching as the device removed it's data from the inventory and materialized the thing in her hands. She examined it with mirthless curiosity... before mentally reaching out and connecting with the stand when she next felt it's impulse, using her favor and will to establish a firm grasp and guide whatever the hell was on the other end of the link out into the world before her. Just like she thought, it really hadn't been much different from the feeling of summoning a mech... she just had to reach outwards rather than inwards. And oddly enough, on some base level it seemed almost like... instinct to her. 

      What met the woman once the process was done was a brief flash of light as the trophy vanished, and it's place, one of the very same invasive creatures they had slaughtered so many of back in Wrath. The little blob looked up at her with it's single, massive eye and gave a wave in greeting, as he and Tesla were just two neighbors going about their daily routine, rather than enemies. Tesla replied with silence. Eventually the Waddle Doo stopped waving. 

      "So... I guess that's what they do?" in all honesty, she wondered what would happen if she just took out all the other ones in her possesion and smashed them to bits on the ground in front of her- maybe that would've yielded a different result than performing a mock-summons had. That would just be a waste of potential resources though, and besides, the thing didn't seem hostile.

 

"Well... I guess you're... kinda cute. In a weird, almost offputting way..." The waddle doo kept staring. "well... do you things talk? or blink, or... how do you communicate, whats the deal there?" 

 

The waddle doo simply shrugged in confusion. She couldn't tell whether he legitimately didn't know, or didn't even understand her to begin with.

 

"Uh-huh... okay then, real helpful."

 

Before she could say much more though, something seemed to catch the creatures attention, given it waddled off, promptly waving at another figure, one riding from room to room on... a motorcycle of all things. Screw it, he was the first person Tesla had seen so far outside of the engine bay. "Hey, you! You see anyone else around here? the damn place is like a ghost town..."

[Yours Truly]

Mot's motorcycle puttered along down the hallway as he waved back at the friendly seeming urban youth and said "Let's see....I met a man named Mar who helped me make a lance out of some...scavenged goods, and before that I met a shy young woman named Bridgett who was a mage of some sort, and talked with her for a while before I bumped into several people I don't know and sort of but not really helped to rescue a scientist....In short, yes I have seen anyone else around here, and no I don't know if they are still here".

 

While Mot was talking for an unnecessarily long amount of time, Eddie was busy rattling off as much information he could make up on the spot about the chances of someone dying while doing this exact thing to the person currently riding him.....no pun intended.

[Sutoratosu]

"I meant after the.... oh forget it." Tesla sighed. Much to her surprise, the Waddle Door seemed to mimic the gesture... she put it off for now though, there would be time to look into the thing later "so I'm guessing that it's no, you haven't seen anyone besides me since the crash just now. Figures. Look, there are a few more of us in the Engineering Bay; since this search is looking to be pointless, I'm heading back there. You should come with me, we're gonna need to figure what to do about all this..."

[Yours Truly]

Mot's motorcycle continues to follow Tesla while the man himself was pointing vaguely in the direction of the armory "Actually I saw Reese the scientist there just now, talked to him about how to clone a membrane I looted from an alien that tried to kill him.".

 

The motorcycle is just about to pass Tesla on its trip to where he thinks the engineering bay is as Mot was saying "He is trying to not throw up in the smithy, also I have an odd question here, but do you have any fungus with you?".

[Sutoratosu]

"Who the hell is Reese? And uh... no. I don't." Actually she stopped and thought about for a moment, Void moss was weird and all, but... no, no wait... Moss actually was a plant. "yeh, no fungus. Sorry. Now what's this about some scientist dude in the barracks? Cause that was the first place I checked, and I didn't see anyone...unless he was hiding or something..."

[Yours Truly]

Mot had by this point stepped off of his motorcycle as it tried it's best to open the door to the engineering bay.

He shrugged his shoulders before saying "Well...he isn't a very noticeable person".

 

A few moments after Mot had finished speaking, the door to the engineering bay was somehow open....the man responded by nodding once at his motorcycle, before turning to face Tesla again to ask "Do you know where I can get some ink or a quil pen? I seem to have misplaced my calligraphy set...".

[Sutoratosu]

"Look, I don't know man. I'm just a tinkerer, ok? I don't mess with that type of stuff" She shook her head, becoming just a little annoyed at the rather odd questions the man kept asking. First Fungi, then some scientist dude who was apparently either real good at hiding, or so unnoticeable she walked right past him, and now archaic writing instruments? "You should ask one of the others inside to help you. Whatever you want with all this stuff, I'm pretty sure its not in my wheelhouse. There's not much I can do about that."

     With that said, she turned and walked into the bay, the Waddle door following behind and waving farewell to mot as he passed. Tesla had taken out her void sphere and began examining the inventory again when she stopped dead in her tracks upon reaching the main room... and just staring.

 

Ants. Mechanical Ants. Everywhere. And those two standing amongst the middle, the green old dude talking to them and looking like he was giving them orders... 

 

"Uhhhhhh...." Tesla stammered. She... didn't really know what to think. These two... they'd made all these things in the time she'd been looking around the place? Gods... "So.... I see you guys have been... busy?"

      She just couldn't keep her eyes from drifting back to the small horde of ants assembled in the place. The waddle doo meanwhile waved in friendly greeting to the android and the orc, looking like he hadn't a care in the world.

[DragonRage]

"Yes.  We have been busy," Alexandria states, "We noticed that the castle lacks self-repair and automatic defense functions.  So we created a hive of self-replicating, easily upgraded mechanical ant drones to assist us.  They should follow the orders of everyone my IFF systems have tagged as friendlies, and are smart enough to remember complex instructions.  However, they are not full artificial intelligences.  I lack the required materials to create one of those."

[Yours Truly]

Mot tipped an invisible hat to the young woman he had been talking to the whole time before clambering back onto his motorcycle and gingerly entering the engineering bay, while slowly but surely trying his best to not run over any of the mechanical ants that exist here for some reason or other.

 

He spotted a familiar face somewhere inside of the room, and he said "That is an impressive amount of robot ants" to no one in particular, although he did continue on to say "And Mar, do you know where I can find some Ink and preferably a quill pen?".

[Sutoratosu]

"An AI, huh? I could probably hammer one out pretty easily, if we just had a computer terminal or something around here with decent processing power..." Which got her thinking... there were also things that an actual terminal would come in very handy for. Altering her mech had... always been a bit easier for her than others it seemed- she didn't really need the divination system to put something into place, just needed the plans and schematics she always had a habit of drafting in her head, focus on applying them to the Mech, how everything would go together, how it would alter the function. And well, it just kinda... clicked into place she guessed, if she could hold a strong enough idea of how the new components worked and how they'd factor into the design... it tended to stick. Probably just yet another result of the shit they'd done to her head when she was little, but now wasn't the time to dwell on that. 

     "Still, I guess that's pretty good for a baseline at least. If they can already follow a more complex command string, it just means it'll be less work to build something off of later." she glanced at the nearest ant, going about it's work with a special type of diligence all to appropriate for the species it was based upon. Tesla couldn't help but crack a smile, half in amazement, half out of anticipation of the idea of tinkering with the literal buggers "You mentioned upgrades though, right? so uh... what can they already do, what type of equipment did you guys set them up with?"

[DragonRage]

"Currently, each drone is equipped with a variety of features selected for versatility and room for upgrades," Alexandria shares proudly, "Each one is fuelled by a hydrogen fuel cell in their abdomen, which they can refill at the central hive.  They are equipped with gecko tread feet for mobility on any surface, strong mandibles that can act as screwdrivers, rivet guns, or pliers as needed, and an arc welder at the mouth and sting for defense and metalwork.  They can use radio signals or blink code to message among themselves and apply software updates, though they understand verbal commands in a wide variety of languages.  They are keyed into my IFF protocols, and thus have the same ability to tell friend from foe that I do.  I also added them to my digital security systems, to ensure that they will be prohibitively difficult to suborn.  For expansion, each one is equipped with several modular ports, currently empty, to which external hardware packs could be attached to in the central hive.  More extensive refits or reprogramming can also be done through the hive's central hub and any tools you might wish to use.  Computing power is unfortunately a bit limited at the moment, as are materials for the fuel cells.  However, once a steady supply of water and high-tech scrap is obtained, I expect available options will increase dramatically."

[Hal Henderics]

"There is a Laboratory in the corner there, I saw Brushes and paints, like that of a Calligraphy set."

 

"Here, in case."

 

Mar turns a stone into a pen with an embedded well with a well placed strike from his fist.

 

"What do you plan to write?"

[Yours Truly]

Mot thought long and hard about what he actually wanted to write, but he eventually settled on a good old classic and said "Genesis...well not the whole thing of course, just the first couple of verses".

 

He then thanked Mar for the stone pen and went to the laboratory to pick up a piece of paper and stare intently at the page while thinking of what style he should use.

[Sutoratosu]

There was a glimmer in her eyes as the endorphins started pumping, looking at the small drones with even more interest than ever. The smile on her face only got wider "Oh, I'm gonna have lots of fun with these guys then, I can just tell." it faded a bit at the mention of the... resource issue however "Yeh, that... is something pretty big I've noticed around here to. At some point a few of us are gonna have to find a way to get easy access to more raw materials, even better if we could make them ourselves. Hell, this whole place is in pretty desperate need of renovation... with their help at least, it'll be alot easier." with that said, she turned to the others in the room, finally ready to address the elephant in the room.

      "And uh, talking about the castle and all. Anyone got any ideas what the hell to do besides just wait for... something? I mean sure, we've already got the cannons fixed and working, but there's still the problem of what happened to everyone. That guy right there is the only one I could find when I went out searching" before she could even make the motion, the Waddle Doo by her side jabbed a stubby pointer in the direction of Mot with a special type of enthusiasm, as if it brought pride to his heart to help. 

 

"oh... then there's this thing too." she continued. "I kinda... summoned him I guess? Where we went, there were a bunch of little buggers like him invading the Planes, pretty damn annoying to fight. Some of em dropped these weird trophies though, and well... one thing led to another while I was examining one. Who knows, he might be useful"

 

The waddle ceased his pointing at mot and nodded happily at the notion

 

"Or maybe he won't be, and all I might just end up blasting him into oblivion, like I did the first time..." if the little blob heard that last part, he certainly gave no indication of it...