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Post by Ribitta on Nov 20, 2007 22:33:09 GMT -5
The walk continued on for over an hour. Occasional discussions were made with one another, but for the most part, it was quiet, almost eerily quiet. The Master Chief was beginning to get on edge. Either it was the want to meet some fiend, or it was the fact that he had been anticipating an attack to happen by that time. He let it go though. He was very well armed and could take on most of the monsters out in these areas, add that to that fact that he had three Betas with him made things relatively simple. There was something else though, something Kite probably knew as well.
It would be a shame to have to silence Rua and Alasea should the glitch that had been occuring pop up during their travels. It was more than just a virus, and players were not allowed to know about it. He forced himself once more to remember he was not on this little excursion to fight, it was for the view he hoped to see.
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Post by Rising Dragon on Nov 21, 2007 0:09:20 GMT -5
Rua had the enormous Phase Scythe drawn and activated, and Alasea had her own Phase Blade out. The cold light of the northern lands gave them a pearly glow. Their armored boots made harsh crunching sounds as they tread through the snow, and the tip of the ragged cloak Alasea wore left a slight trail through the snowfall. The girl's cheeks were bright red, this time from the cold: she had no helmet to guard her face, unlike her boyfriend. He had offered the helmet of his Armor to her once before, but the girl declined, stating that she had no way of using its interface in case there were unseen dangers lurking out in the drifts.
"Kite, Chief?" Rua suddenly asked, "What exactly can we expect to find out here? I've heard tales of ruins with treasure littering the lands beyond the Great Wall."
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Post by Ribitta on Nov 21, 2007 1:52:22 GMT -5
The Chief was still on the lookout for possible predators while keeping track on the trail. Keeping point was indeed a mind consuming job, so he released the lock on Cortana's voice. "Well, a while back this was a common place to find old artifacts. Not nearly all of them were powerful even remotely to the extent of the Seven Perfect weapons or the Six Weapons of Destruction. Rumor has it actually, that something lives up here. Not a virus or glitch, but a terrible monster some early coders slipped in. Not the easiest to delete so the admins let it be and let players learn for themselves not to go out this far. Anyways. Rumor has it that players would find these artifacts, but before they could leave they would be attacked, their artifacts stolen and horded. Most of these player deaths were above the Beta rank, Beta ranking characters finding better things to do with their time in the system then try and tamper with myths.
"The story goes on though. Some players ventured back again. After improving themselves they figured they could take on the beast. Unfortunately for them, however, they didn't count on it being able to use some of the artifacts and weapons found. Needless to say their deaths were even more humiliating than the last time. The problem fixed itself though. Players became smart enough to avoid the area, and the legend lived on with no one brave enough, or stupid enough, to try and deal with it.
"The final part in the tale is the monster's lair. Of course, when it was programmed in it was given some sort of epic nesting place. Its unknown currently what it is, but there are varying descriptions floating around. Some say its a wrecked castle. Others describe it as a huge sinuous cave. Even some venture to say it lived on a lake. Where the water remained unfrozen by the energy it generated. Those who described it as this claimed it lived on a massive boat suspended between rocks above the water.
"All these recounts are not completely reliable, most of the time it was some Epsilon leveled character trying to get attention. What is confirmed though is something exists, and if you run into it... well, you've fought worse, but it would still be a challenge."
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Post by Rising Dragon on Nov 21, 2007 2:03:17 GMT -5
Rua's mind raced as he took in Cortana's information, piecing together what he heard with what he knew. A castle, a lake, a cave, a boat? Chances are, it was a combination of all four. Probably a castle half-buried under a lake, with a cavern complex on the inside. But the monster? What could that be? It's not often that people found monsters capable of using artifacts and equipment generally meant for players...
His train of thought ran aground as Alasea looked to the side slightly and muttered in too loud of a voice, "I know two people here stupid enough to try."
Rua looked back over his shoulder at his girlfriend, frowning behind the visor. While she couldn't see through it, Alasea knew the gaze and smiled sweetly back at him, knowing he wouldn't do anything to get back at her... in public, at least. Rua turned his gaze back and asked, "Did any of the players give any clues to the creature's identity? I know we've fought tough monsters before, like Sea Serpents and Khaglessi, but its plain stupid trying to take on a super-powerful beast without knowing anything about it."
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Post by Ribitta on Nov 21, 2007 2:27:48 GMT -5
"Information?" Cortana said with a laugh, "no, if the staff had had information on it it would have been killed long ago. You see, it was not just the effort that it took, but the, well, lack of information. There was no point in sending in an administrator if the wrong one was sent in. I think though, that with enough past players being killed here. We'll find a few things to guide our tracks."
The Master Chief groaned inwardly, perhaps he should not have let Cortana go off on this tangent. Now it would be expected that he would help to cleanse the area of it. With a sigh he embraced this fate though, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad. It was better than coding anyways. His thoughts were cut short though as his temperature reading on his HUD dropped according to wind chill. A storm?
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Post by BD on Nov 21, 2007 9:56:44 GMT -5
Kite typed a PM:
Consider this a warning Chief, I know what would have to happen should 'that thing' pop up and if you even try to silence either of them i'll have your head.
~Mcknights
Kite was well aware of the glitch lurking up here; he knew also that Cortana was intentionally trying to put it off.
"...and if you'll look to your right, you'll see the corpse of a former beta tester..." Kite said looking ahead in the snow and picking up a corpse,"I knew him, this was Stoller Sigma, he was one of the greatest warriors I ever knew. Cortana, analyze the body, see if you can determine how the beast killed him if it did, that'll at lealst give us some idea what it looks like."
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Post by Ribitta on Nov 21, 2007 15:40:06 GMT -5
Cortana had a reply to the PM before the Master Chief could even finish reading it:
I think not Mr. McKnights. The Master Chief has not only the rest of the entire staff on his side to this protocol, but also the entire military force of Ymaggion too. I know what you're thinking, Kite. If the beast shows, and I'm quite sure we'll find it, then there is no problem. If the glitch shows that has kept it alive for so long, well, that's another matter. I expect you to follow what must be done, we all know Rua does not have a clean history, and even if his intentions are good he cannot always be trusted. This is the last person we need to know about the glitch up here.
~Cortana
Cortana paused after hearing Kite's remark, the nerve of that kid, "Analyzing... Done. This particular player was hit by an attack that took him out in about... one strike. It doesn't even look like the attack was physical, I'd say... well, what else. He was killed out of fear."
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Post by BD on Nov 22, 2007 18:55:17 GMT -5
You know what, that's the problem with you guys. None of you realize that being staff is about helping people, keeping them in the dark about things such as this doesn't help at all. Also, before you play the support card, remember this, I've been in this game for years and I have more allies than you would think; the staff is starting to become completely biased and i'm sick of speeches where action is needed. I'm not about to attack Dragonheart just because he has a smudge on his record; hell, the guy's more trustworthy than just about 98% of the players; i've known him for awhile, don't attempt to rag on someone you don't know well. Hell, we all have a skeleton in the closet Chief, i'm not sure you want your's out there, but if it comes to it, it'll be there.
~Mcknights
Kite was well aware at how much Cortana was pissed off at him; he enjoyed it thoroughly.
"Great, so one of the greatest warriors ever quakes in his boots at this thing, sound like he must be uglier than the love child of Jay Leno and David Letterman..." Kite said in a rather sarcastic tone.
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Post by Rising Dragon on Nov 22, 2007 19:07:39 GMT -5
"Fear?" Rua muttered, kneeling down and examining Sigma's corpse. "He was scared to death?"
"But that sounds like..." Alasea trailed off, a worried look on her face. She and Rua exchanged knowing looks before turning their gaze back on the corpse, identical frowns on both of their faces.
"But that doesn't make sense," she continued, moving closer, "One of them wouldn't just leave a body out in the middle of no where."
"Forget about one leaving behind a meal," Rua said, planting his sword in the ground, "One of them shouldn't even be out in the open here at all."
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Post by BD on Nov 22, 2007 19:33:53 GMT -5
Kite realized he knew what Rua was talking about,"Oh shit, if it's one of those...maybe it'd be best if we stopped here and sorted through all the info we have..."
Kite noticed the sun was currently setting and it wouldn't be wise to keep going with 'that' out there.
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Post by Ribitta on Nov 22, 2007 19:58:59 GMT -5
Inside the helmet, Cortana muttered, "Chief, lower left pocket. Be gentle, looks like a book or a clump of papers." Wordlessly, the Chief knelt next to the frozen carcass. The eyes were wide open in shock, had he seen the beast? Or had it been something else... With a swift movement he flicked open the pocket and with extreme care for a man of his size withdrew a yellowed book with its bindings almost disintegrated. Flipping through random scribbles and entries of the Beta test which Cortana read instantly with fascination. Finally he got to the last few logged days. Cortana scanned them quickly and spoke aloud, "Chief, there's a tower a mile up and three quarters to the west. I recommend immediate evasion."
"From what, might I ask?" The Chief said as he moved immediately on her word.
"The beast, monster, fiend. Also," she said in a slightly louder voice, "if any of you begins to feel more distrust or dispair than seems natural. Speak your feelings. This thing isn't totally physical."
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Post by Rising Dragon on Nov 22, 2007 20:13:39 GMT -5
"Then maybe it's best we not stick around here," Rua muttered, yanking the Phase Scythe up out of the ground. Alasea nodded, muttering something under her breath, and kept her eyes open for anything that might be out there.
"What're the closest paths to this tower?" Rua asked, turning to Master Chief. "If there's more than one, I'll split off and close them off."
"R.D., no," Alasea immediately, "If we split up, it'll go after you first and it'll kill you first. I won't allow that."
"And if this thing comes up a path that we can't see," Rua countered, "We'll all be killed anyway."
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Post by Ribitta on Nov 22, 2007 20:29:25 GMT -5
"You're gunna need to practically cut off part of a mountain to stop this thing apparently," Cortana said grimly. "If you can do it though, it'd help." The Chief nodded in response to this, "Also," he said, "Rua, if you're going out there and you run into trouble. Send me a PM asap. I can run you out of there if needed."
He slid the shotgun off his back in an easy motion and pumped it quietly loading a shell into the barrel. "Well then, we should get moving now. Rua, the main opening to our location is northeast of here. You'll see it when you get there. If you can collapse that area we should be safe from anything hitting us from behind."
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Post by Rising Dragon on Nov 22, 2007 22:02:54 GMT -5
I used to be able to cut off part of a mountain, Rua noted bitterly, but nodded. "Alright," he said, "Just try to stay alive and get to the tower. I'll join up shortly."
"R.D.," Alasea said, quietly. He looked back at her stern face, quirking an eyebrow.
"I'll try to stay out of trouble." Alasea did not look one bit relieved. Nor did it look like she believed him. Rua couldn't really blame her for it. "Trust me."
Reluctantly, the girl nodded and stepped back, throwing him a worried look. Rua turned and looked off in the given direction, and after checking his sensors, began to move.
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Post by Ribitta on Nov 22, 2007 22:16:31 GMT -5
The Master Chief nodded at Rua, "We'll be fine." Rua took off at a quick speed and the Master Chief put his attention back in the direction of the tower. Rua was on his own now, Cortana's calculations of Rua staying alive were high, he wasn't too worried. A growl echoed through the snowy valley between mountains, and the Master Chief felt immediately sick. It cut him deeper than a weapon could. It was like it was trying to frighten him, but was not completing its task. He wished he felt afraid. Pulling himself together he looked at his two companions, "There's two ways we can do this. I can carry you both, as awekward as that would be, it'd boost the possibility to help Rua if needed. Or, we can simply walk the rest of the way and hope that whatever just made that sound doesn't go right through Rua and come for us." He felt slightly ashamed for presenting such biased options, but he felt it was the best choice, and he needed to convince them it was as well.
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