Utrax

The Forest of Helsend Village

What would you guys say to a discord server for this

@Blizz

For the sake of voting, I say nah.
In reality, I'm down for whatever ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We Were Human - Marspunk Psychics

@DeadDrop
Tell them we have toilet paper and hand sanitizer.

We Were Human - Marspunk Psychics

^{@DeadDrop@Blizz}

To free more mutants? Tilting his skull to the side in confusion, Paulo stepped aside as commanded, as several questions began bouncing around within him.

Why did Cartelli have slaves? How long had that been a thing? How had they covered it up? How did these mutants get freed in the first place? If they were free then someone was most definitely dead. That wasn't concerning but where had they come from?

What... was he doing? No doubt his family heard about the explosion in the square. There would be panic and questions. Had his panic switch been triggered? Before he even realized it, Paulo had pressed a few command keys into the small console on his suit, and a distorted voice recited to him:


^{"Employee N̷am͡e̶-- ̵P̧a̴ulo Mi͟e͘reles̢
Current District-- U҉nk̕now̧n̨
Vital Signs-- Blood Pressure, ẕ͜e̡̩̞̩̠r̛̠̟̥̫o̤.
Heart rate, ze̠r͘o͎̮̘̠.
Oxygen Saturation, ze̖r͓͖̝͖̲͈͝o͏̞̺ͅͅ.
Last recorded vital signs indicate possible demise of service employee. Assistance request sent. MEDICAL ETA U҉nk̕now̧n̨. Dispatcher Notified. Notification-- UNREAD.
Please move to the nearest safety pod if possible, otherwise, remain in place until MEDICAL can locate you.
Go͟͡o̸̶d҉̷̢ ̢̛͜b̶̡͠y̢͠ȩ."}

As the drone of static within the helmet began again, Paulo looked down, then began his awkward shuffle after the mutants, scooping up a piece of something odd on the floor. This would be his example. "ʜᴇʏ-- *BUBL* Hey! I *GURGLE* Help you," Paulo said, catching up to them, with his object in his non-leaking hand. As demonstration, he placed his leaking hand onto the sewer thing, then watched somewhat in awe as it violently deteriorated, sizzling and popping-- as if it had been made of sand, ready to crumble.

Paulo stopped to look down at his hand again.
The hole.
The acid.
THUD--

The sound was soft but he knew the noises in the darkened tunnels well. Without waiting for confirmation if he could join the mutants, he told them, "I *blub* come back. Close the top *gurgle*." as he turned and shuffled back the way they'd came. He had left the manhole cover open which was wildly irresponsible and could also be a problem for these freedom fighters later.

And then he heard a voice from the darkness.
"Hello?"

Paulo slowed, then came to a halt.
He was behind her-- some distance away but he could see her clearly enough.
Preceded by the noise a water-cooler makes, he answered her back, as cheerfully as he could, "Hello."

The Forest of Helsend Village

@Utrax

> Trumbone battleaxe

I love it

@Blizz

Got my inspiration from Monster Hunter.
Doot doot, here comes the PAIN!

The Forest of Helsend Village

--

We Were Human - Marspunk Psychics

He wanted to cry but there were no tears.
He wished to scream but could make no sound.

Paulo told himself to calm down-- to take deep breaths-- but found himself wanting to laugh in grim amusement. There was no way to take that breath-- he felt no heart racing, no shaking in his hands, nothing but his mind full of fear and confusion. Well then. If he couldn't have the physical aspects, despite obviously being able to move, then he had to do the mental calmness.

What was important here? What could be controlled? His hand had moved and he'd received visions! They were divine visions! Had that been the birth of a god, he'd seen? Was that the origin of the Martians? What a beautiful tree that had been-- but what had happened to him? How had he moved his hand? A closer, louder, sound of scraping caught his attention and instinctively he looked toward it-- but how? Such an angle was impossible for him to see without having to move his neck--"ᔕᑫᑌIIIᔕᕼY!!"

A confused kind of fear surged in Paulo and he sat up sharply-- an alarmed "GURGLE!!" erupted from him as if he were a water jug shook. A mutant had come from the darkness and they were running toward him, swinging their chain, clearly ready to do... do something? What was their intent? Just as Paulo began to hold his hands up in some form of surrender, they were PULLED back into the darkness. All at once, Paulo's squishy body seemed to tense, as it firmed somewhat to conform to a humanoid shape.

A "Gurgle" of confusion left Paulo as another mutant stepped forward. While their odd garment was alarming, as was their height, Paulo began to consider the possibility that he may have been the alarming one instead...

"ᔕᑫᑌIᔕᕼᗷᗩG Oᖴ GᖇEEᑎ, ᗯᕼY YOᑌ ᗪOᗯᑎ Iᑎ ᔕEᗯEᖇᔕ ᗯITᕼ ᗰᑌTᗩᑎTᔕ? YOᑌ ᗯEᖇE ᔕᒪᗩᐯE?"

Paulo couldn't answer but he held his hands up still, as if he were being robbed, and hopefully communicating to them that he meant no harm. He "BUBL'd" placatingly. Still, the reaction of the speaker gave Paulo the feeling that something was definitely alarming about his appearance-- the pile of dead rats probably didn't help either. A lone bubble of exasperation popped within his helmet.

"ᔕᑫᑌIᔕᕼᗷᗩG ᗪOᑎ'T ᗷEᒪOᑎG ᕼEᖇE, ᔕᑫᑌIᔕᕼ TOᑭ ᔕIᗪE. ᗯE GO TO ᑕᒪEᗩᖇᖴᗩᒪᒪᔕ."

Clearfalls? He'd never heard of that place but something about the tone of this guy, well, it gave Paulo motivation. Time to move would come eventually and clearly it was meant to come now. Within, Paulo recited the words of his own private prayer, as a means of centering himself.

"All shall be as it must,
all will be as They will..."

He'd moved before. He could move again. Despair called his name and panic longed for his presence, but Paulo focused instead on where he wanted to be-- on his feet. Had it been so simple last time? Will and need to move happening purely with the thought-- raising a hand not by feeling but by desire. There was no need to feel, to pull or push, and thank the Saints he felt no pain now. No. His pain now was mental and so must his movement be.

"...I walk my path in faith,"
that I will find the way I am meant to,
and arrive right on time."

As if he were a puppet controlled by strings, Paulo's body rose all at once. Shoulders high and legs limp, he rose until the tips of his boots only slightly touched the ground, before he sank once again. Standing on the approximation of feet, knees bent slightly with should posture slouched forward, he stood as if he were one of those ancient "cavemen" but, he stood. Slowly and quietly he walked toward the sewer wall-- his floating skull pressing against the inside of his helmet-- and he tried to be as out of the way of the mutants as possible. As he moved, the hissing of the ground below him caught his attention, and he looked at his hand again. Whatever substance was leaking from his hand-- the tiny drops of it were causing the floor beneath them to boil and bubble. Once he was as out of the way as he could possibly be, Paulo took in the sight of the mutants-- most importantly their chains.

And then, with a rotation of his skull floating within the tank, he stared at his hand.

Acting upon a sudden idea, he slowly moved his other hand, to open up the small console controller, attached to the arm opposite, then hit a button. Though most of the suit's systems were probably a mess- especially since static was still screeching into his helmet-- Paulo hit the button for the info-graphic helmet display. Immediately, light illuminated across his helmet, forming the "universal" symbol for "help", and Paulo then pointed to mutants, then back to himself. Then came his gurgled question, "卄乇ㄥ卩?"

Paulo bubbled like a hot tub in mild alarm at having... spoke? Did that noise qualify as speaking?
Then again he gurgled more words-- with increasing clarity-- "ʜᴇʟᴘ... Me. What. Is *GLUG* Clearfalls?" He was down here for a reason, wasn't he? Seeing these mutants for a reason-- these Cartelli slaves-- so maybe he'd better act on it while he had the chance, even if it wasn't the most pressing matter at hand.

^{@DeadDrop
Edit: Cause i'm bad at colors.}

The Forest of Helsend Village

Interested if I can be A half-orc bard. ;)

We Were Human - Marspunk Psychics

Great post so far, for those who have ignored poor MLI boi.

Shammmmeeeee for shame!!!

@DeadDrop

Hate to see it happen.

We Were Human - Marspunk Psychics

"Damn, Mister Ninteen, that didn't take long at all!"
Paulo responded cheerfully over his audio-call, as he made his way up the latter, "Oh, it was nothin' but a busted sublet G nine-router. Weird place to have it-- in there like that. But wasn't hard."
Chuckling his dispatcher replied, "You'll be home in time to eat with the family."

"Sure will," he replied, emerging from the manhole. It was surrounded by a couple of warning cones, one of which had a flashing light, but the people walking by still seemed to press as close to the hole as possible. It wasn't the middle of Takari Square but it was still in a rather frequented segment of walking space, apparently. Dressed in the orange and silver disc suit, one that all sewer workers were mandated to wear, he knew he stood out enough for the people to take more of a wide berth. Neon lights from the square played pretty tricks across the surface of his helmet. He took a second to enjoy being out of an oppressively dark tunnel. Sighing as he received a few dirty-looks, for having just emerged from a sewer, Paulo continued to say, "I'll submit the report in--"
"Forget the report tonight. Just do it tomorrow- boss' orders. Says you deserve the time."
"Fantastic! I'll just close up and-"

"Ꮆㄖᗪ 千ㄖ尺Ꮆ丨ᐯ乇 爪乇."

Paulo turned to look but yelped as his body shook and searing pain raced through his back-- instinctively he threw his hands up, but his wrist caught between a ladder rung and the metal slab it was attached through-- ladder rung? Paulo's mind didn't have a chance to process further, as pain snapped through that arm, and weightlessness came to him. With a heavy thudding half-splash, he landed painfully front-first, twenty feet down, with several sickening crunches-- half of his body on the service walk and his other half submerged in thick acidic ichor at the bottom of the sewer. Static interference screamed in his ears and his voice picked up to join in. Howling in agony-- thrashing about and clawing at himself-- Paulo's voice filled the space of the sewer until he tasted blood on his tongue.

Darkness nipped at his vision as his consciousness fled him.
Visions emerged from the blackness.

Then there was a tiny fire. A light. Static screamed into his communication system.

Paulo stared at the tiny blue flame in fascination as it burned a hole clean through his glove.
His glove? HIS GLOVE! Paulo tried to pull his hand away but- but- but? Wasn't this a welding torch? Made of fire? Shouldn't it be hurting him? Again, he tried to move, and found that he simply could not. He looked around, taking in the odd blue-ish cloud of gas accumulating within the sewer around him, and then at the bodies of rodents spilling down from the walls of the tunnel. Again he tried to move.
Again he tried.

Again and again so much so that he wanted to scream-- his body was numb and he stared at the circle of the world above. Paulo heard screams-- there were strange lights-- and he couldn't move? Dread settled in as he figured he may have been paralyzed from the fall. How could he call for help now? Reaching up the the front of his helmet he-- reaching? Paulo stared at his hand-- through the hole in it-- then looked around as the gas quickly began to disperse. Then back at his hand. His. Hand.

His hand was leaking out of his glove in a very neon-blue-gree-ish sort of manner.
And there he was. And thus he stayed. Staring at his hand.

We Were Human - Marspunk Psychics

@DeadDrop
Thank you! Looking forward to the RP!