M127

NCQuest: Smith's Rest

Joe hadn't made any effort to fix the recievers of Swarm's comms, however, he did fix the transmitters, so he would be able to mock the enemy. He quickly took off, looking for an enemy to strike.
Joe was looking for one of the walkers, who had dropped their cargo-pods, preferably, the one who had escaped the most already. He decided to divekick it, and then send missiles at the other walkers.
"Death to all, who oppose me!"
He was aiming for the legs on those walkers, that still had their cargo pods on, to not accidentally explode the cargo pods with civilians inside.

Plague-Hunters 2

Imgor coughed a little as the fumes got denser. "I have once seen a fire in dense, dry pine forest from a distance; the flames were as high as 4 trees on top of another, and moved faster than birds could fly away from them. I doubt this will happen here, but it is better to overestimate fire, especially when it is about life and death."
He was already running as fast as he could, the direction didn't matter, as long as it was away from the fire onto some patch of land, that was away from forest and other dense vegetation.

NCQuest: Smith's Rest

Well, I can't quit not, I still have something to finish here, and even if it is the last thing Joe will do!

Plague-Hunters 2

Iṃgor's familiar dug upwards near Alexander's and Sapphire's location, breaching the surface next to them. He quickly reentered the tunnel, and Iṃgor got back to the surface through the same exit.
"If we would have had our switch-weapons, this would likely not have resulted in a fire." He sighed.
"Anyways, I suppose we should enter the city before the fire is discovered, otherwise we might end up in big trouble, if it goes out of control. Maybe we should even use the gate on the other side of Coalstrike, just to be safe, and then wait the rest of the time in the hideout."
After a short pause Iṃgor continues: "I'll make us dinner there, if anyone is interested."

NCQuest: Smith's Rest

I'm back from university for today [21:00], and available to finish the collab. @Mcmolly

NCQuest: Smith's Rest

After the debriefing, Joe ate his dinner ration for the day, the struggle had made him hungry. The hall he expected to be the canteen was almost empty at that hour, so he was done eating within 5 to 10 minutes, as nothing distracted him from eating.

Having nothing to do, he went to his room and browsed the shop, the technical issues he was having had been resolved in the meantime, so he looked through the weapons category.
He was looking for a backup weapon, in case he couldn't use his missiles due to either damage or too thick fog around the enemy. As this included him not planning to use it too often, he was looking for a cheap weapon. The cheapest listed weapon were missiles for a mere 8K ICC, but those weren't really an option, he already had sufficient missiles. The 2nd cheapest one was the VEKW-01.65 railgun for 12K ICC. It fulfilled all of his criteria for his backup weapon, and when you don't frequently use a weapon, its power consumption usually does not concern you, provided your system can store enough power for 1 shot.

Joe decided to ask an engineer whether or not Swarm's power generators and capacitors could field the railgun's requirements. The engineer he asked thought a bit, and then responded with an assuring 'yes', so Joe went back to the console and purchased it.
In the occasion, that damage dealt by the enemy prevented Joe from using his missiles, a mere NC-grade rifle likely didn't have enough 'umpf' to do much about the situation.

Plague-Hunters 2

Alexander cried out in pain as the stinger sank into his chest

@Eklispe

The beast had no stinger. It pierced you with one of its pincers.

Plague-Hunters 2

Imgor had problems to worry about, as he stood right behind the beast, and had probably aggreviated it too much. He had to get away from it, quickly.
Without time to think, his familiar reacted, and the ground directly below Imgor collapsed, causing him to fall into his mole's tunnel. The soil surrounding the hole wasn't too stable, and the hole quickly closed, leaving only a cone in the ground.

The collapse of the hole had also buried Imgor, but that is what usually what happens when you enter a tunnel by collapse, so his familiar was quick to dig him out without breaching the surface. If only he had his switch-weapon, this fight would be easy. The chitin plating of beats of this size usually doesn't stand a proper pickaxe swing, provided it hits. His bow was useless against the chitin, and the knife would only work against the joints between the plates, so he was left with 3 options:

• staying underground and wait the fight out
• attempting to stab the beast from below the ground
• leaving the tunnels in a proper distance form the fight and then return

He attempted the 2nd option, and thus used the tunnels to get below the beast, and thrust the knife upwards through the soil. He constantly knew the beast's location using his tracking spell.

When breaching the surface with his knife-hand, Imgor felt something; foilage, mostly dry, lying on the ground. It sparked an idea: If he was to ignite the foilage on the ground, would the beast survive?
He couldn't tell if he had stabbed the beast, or failed at the attempt, or if the beast had even noticed it, however, Imgor retracted his hand until the fingers were barely touching the foilage. After telling his familiar to get out of the area and leave an escape route behind for him, he cast 'Minimal Sparks' to attempt to ignite a fire. He hadn't witnessed Arnold arriving, so when he checked if Alex was still nearby, which he wasn't, he completely missed the passed out hunter. If the fire did ignite, it would most likely spread uncontrollably within the near vacinity.

Imgor ended up casting the spell 3 times, before it got too hot for him to keep his hand up there. As he got away, he crawled through the tunnels as fast as he could, and as his arm wasn't in the tunnel's roof anymore, the ground below the beast, if it hadn't moved already, would likely collapse soon.

NCQuest: Smith's Rest

Speaking of putting doods through shit, I sorta wanna put the PC's through some shit before this mission is over myself.

Y/N?

Edit: Eh screw it nvm. So, is anyone up for jolly co-operative writing in the first place?

LHG100

I am.

NCQuest: Smith's Rest

The Swarm's electronic systems were still functioning, as they were embedded within the torso, which didn't take much damag during the crash, as the jetpack shielded it from the ground, which did the most damage. The jetpack was probably either completely ground up by the friction during the crash, or it was crushed by the impact. Possibly something in between. The legs and arms were also damaged, soil got into the joints, and armor was deformed, limiting the joints' mobility. In it's current state, the Swarm had the mobility of an elder person suffering from gout.

Despite this, Joe managed to get the Swarm in an upright position, and started walking towards Blur and Mad-E. Despite the reduced flexibility of the Swarm's joints, slowly walking in the NC was still a littlebit faster than running on foot. He opened a direct line to Blur: "Did you get any response from Mad-E yet? If not, I'll attempt to force a video feed from within the cockpit, unless I arrive first." Joe muted himself on the line afterwards, he didn't want to distract anyone with his attempts of getting a response.

His first test was to check if Mad-E's communication systems were still functioning, so he sent a PING to the NC. Any device interfacing with a network should respond to a PING with a PONG, provided it is able to do so, and the origin of the PING isn't on the device's blacklist. Mad-E'S computer immedeatly replied with the automated response. Joe sighed, relieved that the communication equipment survived, so he wouldn't be forced to be in the dark about the pilot's state until the hatch was broken open.

The next step would be to get a response from the pilot, and not the computer. Joe decided, that the best way to do so, was to pretend to be an unknown entity attempting to open a channel to the Mad-E. The computer should then prompt the pilot as for what to do. Even if the pilot wasn't plugged in, there should at least be a notification on a display or through a speaker, provided any display or speaker had survived.

As he sent the request, he had walked a 3rd of the way. Without the impaired joints, Joe would've arrived before he would have been able to start the 2nd test.