melodiesofeternity | Player Plot: A (skele)ton of Work

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Player Plot: A (skele)ton of Work

Who: [AU] Papyrus and everyone else attending the expedition
When: January 7th
Where: The I.B. Magitek Tower
What: The I.B. Magitek Tower may rest on top of the ruins of Asura's temple. Thus, it's up to our heroes to investigate the tower in hopes of finding the great Eidolon within.
Warnings/Notes: Let's just say it's gonna get... topsy turvy. ;)

Everything is pre-arranged. The flight to the tower. The appropriate waivers. Naturally, everyone who accompanies Papyrus will have to sign to gain access- the Triumvirate was rather adamant about preserving the more confidential secrets within the tower, after all.

But once the appropriate paperwork gets signed away, the tower staff escorts the group toward the elevator. Though with the sheer turnout, it may take a few trips to get everyone down below.

[ooc: Info and sign ups are here!

As a quick clarifying note, here's the gist of how the temple and tower relate.

- Characters can access terminals on specific floors, which will open up stairways to an upside down and photo negative version of the I.B. tower without any people in it. Characters enter on the ceiling, which is now the floor, but must proceed to doorways that are on the floor (now the ceiling).

- The elevator does not function on these flipped floors, but it does function on the regular floors, which is what will allow them to skip around to key areas.

- For the trials, there are only terminals within three floors of the destination (as outlined in the comments).]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"The parts are being taken further in, I think. Not sure I like the implication of what we may find at the end, but that's for future us to worry about."

A pause.

"Oh! I think there's a control panel over there. Why don't you poke at it? Perhaps we can stop the operations from it, lessen the chance of an army of magitek soldiers on the other side."

"Magitek soldiers, huh? Definitely sounds like something we want to avoid..."

And, changing his Job to Spellbinder, he too would open Dimension Doors in order to appear next to the control panel. Taking a look over it, he soon decided to see what would happen if he fiddled with it.

Papyrus has been quiet up until now, mostly because he's been busy soaking in the surroundings. So many amazing, mechanical pieces! But Madhuri has a point. These pieces could prove a problem, especially with a mirrored temple awaiting them.

But hmm, there are switches, too. And surely they have some connection to the machinery...

"I THINK WE ALSO SHOULD CONSIDER WHAT THINGS'LL LOOK LIKE WHEN FLIPPED! BUT I AGREE THAT THESE LITTLE BITS AND PIECES COULD CULMINATE INTO SOMETHING BIGGER..."

He paces around, then stops to tap his foot. "DO YOU THINK IT'S WORTH TRYING TO DISABLE THE CONVEYOR ALTOGETHER?" Or do they try to ride it?

Well, it looks like Adrien's already on the case, anyway. And as he fiddles with the first control panel, the machinery responds in turn. Specifically, the mechanical arms, which halt their movements briefly. Some extended. Some withdrawn.

They look study enough that one could probably use them like poles to descend- or ascend, for the mirrored room.

"Let's shut down this operation. I'm going to move ahead and see where the belts lead."

With a burst of magic, she proceeded to a nearby belt and headed forward on foot. Her hand snatched for the rolled-up whip at her belt, just in case.

"Always wanted to play with magitek, anyway!"

"Alright! Just tell me if anything needs to be moved specifically!"

Adrien would take a few more seconds to slightly fiddle with a panel, just to memorize which buttons and levers exactly controlled each mechanical arms. He'd move over to the next panel in a moment, but for the puzzle, they'd have to know which one to mess with.

Maddie's already moving ahead, and Adrien's working at the machinery. So what does that leave a skeleton to do? Papyrus folds his arms and narrows his sockets. Logically speaking, those parts must be assembled somewhere, right? The arms assist in that process...

He looks up, trying to visualize the situation.

"WHAT IF WE ARRANGE THE ARMS IN SUCH A WAY THAT WE CAN SHIMMY DOWN AND HOP FROM ARM TO ARM? THAT COULD MAKE TRAVERSAL EASIER..."

He pauses. "OR WE COULD USE MY HOVER BOARD, BUT THAT'S JUST TAKING THE EASY WAY OUT!!!"

Either way, he'll move to the other panel, though he's wary of pressing anything until Maddie is safely on the next floor. "OH! AND MADDIE, FEEL FREE TO USE THE IMOG SLATES TO REPORT BACK! WE WANT TO MAKE SURE WE DON'T INCONVENIENCE YOU, AFTER ALL!"

Madhuri and anyone else moving on to floor 40 will find further conveyors with more Maigtek armor components. Where the previous floor contained the base components, this floor sees the attachment of the ranged artillery to go with those big, hulking claw arms. She'd best be careful, though, lest she get in a tangle with the automated mechanisms!

Floor 41 will bring further progress on the Magitek armors, as the arms plant additional armored plating on the mechs to fortify their defenses. These armors continue upward and through a chute, leading to floor 42. This, like the previous floors, contains further control panels, to halt, speed, slow, and even reverse the flow of the machines.

But if left to their own devices, the Magitek armors will continue to floor 42 where sparkling power crystals are inserted inside the hulls of each machine. Some kind of enhancement, perhaps? A monitor up above flashes and states: "To testing bay. F90."

Interestingly, there seems to be an idle Magitek Armor stationed at the center of the room, surrounded by caution tape and a sign that reads, "Unstable prototype. DO NOT REACTIVATE. Further testing is required."

There is another set of control panels- three this time. One for the arms, one for the conveyors, and one to control the shutters for the door through which the Magitek armors are headed.

All of these will remain on the inverse floors if not tampered with, and who knows how they'll fare in the mirrored temple?

[Other characters are still welcome to join in! This is mostly just to provide context for what's ahead during Madhuri's scouting mission. This also applies only to the Magitek Tower version, since that is what is currently being explored."

This whole time, Pidge has been mostly quiet, if only because she's been taking it all in. There's just so much to see here, and tech has always been her thing as it is.

Madhuri, Papyrus and Adrien didn't seem to be in any particular need of her assistance, so she's content to hang back at first, taking copious amounts of photos of everything she can see - for future reference. Maybe it's not strictly allowed, but nobody's come to yell at her for it yet, so until that time...

Mostly, though, she's paying close attention to what the Magitek Armors are doing. So much so that she finds herself on Floor 42 before she knows it.

It takes her all of five seconds to discover the prototype situated in the center of the room, and she immediately makes her way over to investigate. The sign is warning enough to keep her from poking around at it, but that doesn't mean she's not leaning in close to examine this or that. For now, she's resisting the siren call of the control panels, but there's no telling how long that's going to last.

[Frankly, most of this stuff was going right over Tressa's head. She was not very knowledgeable on tech-y stuff, relying mostly on others for that sort of knowledge. However, she figured it would probably be a good idea for her to learn some of this stuff herself. It sucked being left in the dark.

So, she followed Pidge to Floor 42 , and noticed how interested she seemed to be in the Armor in the center of the room. The sign confused her, though, how could a suit of armor be unstable? How curious... maybe this girl knows something about it, since she seems to be so interested.]

"Do you know anything about this thing?"

It's an interesting prototype. Larger than the other Magitek Armors, with thicker plating. Larger weaponry. By all accounts, it looks to be a potent model for sure. If active, who knows what sort of damage it could wreak?

Though at the very least, there does't seem to be a clear way to activate the mechanical monstrosity. Perhaps any instability is less in its physique and more in its programming. But it's difficult to say. As it stands, it's just a giant hunk of mechanical parts.

The assembly line continues to chug along, as completed Magitek Armors proceed up, up, and up some more... And so it shall remain, lest the controls be tampered with.

A message springs up on the iMog Slates.

Moving on ahead. They're going somewhere, completed. I'm going to see where they're being taken... I hate to think it's building an army for another one of the groups, but it wouldn't hurt to be 100%.

Can we turn the conveyors off?

Edited 2019-01-18 20:20 (UTC)

Leave it to me. I'll try figuring out which console will stop this. Maybe even reverse the process that's been made.

Didn't need to be facing a possible army after all. Considering he was at the arms right now, he'd have to figure out where the next panel was. So, using a new Dimension Door, he was going to start taking a peek around the other floors. While floor 40 yielded another construction section, he did see something on floor 41 and disappeared.

"DANG IT! WHY DOES TELEPORTATION HAVE TO BE SO CONVENIENT?!"

Alas, Papyrus had no choice but to pursue via hover board. Thankfully, that wasn't too difficult, and so he zoomed his way along, checking just long enough to make sure the arms on the next floor were held in an appropriate position for those less aerially efficient.

With the arms tampered with, the rest of the construction would slow at least a little. The Magitek armor pieces, Adrien would find, continued trailing along with fewer flourishes with each passing second.

Unfortunately, both the belts and the arms remained active on this floor. How fortunate, then, that the control panel flickered near by. Perhaps it was time to have some fun.

But what would the team on the next floor do? Well, while Papyrus made his way up, he'd shoot a message to the others.

DO YOU NEED HELP, DEAREST? I'M WORKING MY WAY UP RIGHT NOW, SO I'M HAPPY TO ASSIST IN ANY CAPACITY!!!

ALSO, IF ANYONE IS ALREADY ON FLOOR 42, I'D LOVE TO HEAR YOUR FINDINGS! THE MORE WE CAN WORK OUT ON THIS SIDE, THE BETTER!

I'd love an extra pair of eyes, Papyrus. Come on up.

She popped onto a conveyor belt and took a look around. Hmm, what happens if she took these spare limbs on the belt and just gave them a little kick off into the void? How might the operation get mucked up if some crucial pieces were missing?

Now, what's up here then...?

Papyrus continued rocketing upwards, leaving Adrien on Floor 41 for now. It'd be easier that way, wouldn't it? To divide and conquer! He'd seemed to get a handle on the controls, after all, so he stopped by the doorway just long enough to say, "I'M GOING TO TRY AND FIDDLE WITH THE MACHINES ON THE NEXT FLOOR. MADDIE SEEMS TO BE CONTINUING ON- PERHAPS WE CAN RECONVENE ON THE INVERTED SIDE ONCE IT'S ALL READY?"

They'd have to go down at some point or another, after all, but the more they could do ahead of time, the better.

The controls for Floor 41, should Adrien peruse them, deal specifically with the modification pieces- there seems to be a menu of different elemental enhancements, separated into offense and defense. The goal, it seems, is to create the most state of the art, optimized Magitek Armors on the market.

But Adrien can just as easily reverse and halt these modifications with a few menu choices.

While Papyrus proceeded, it seemed two others were already on Floor 42, along with that shady Magitek Armor. Papyrus' eye sockets darted from the lifeless machine, to the girls, to the controls on the wall, and back up to the conveyor. He didn't want to keep Maddie waiting, but...

"SAY, WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF ALL THIS? HAS THAT MAGITEK ARMOR REMAINED DORMANT THIS WHOLE TIME?" Best to check, while he moseyed over to the controls. If they could tackle this all as a team, then it'd make things easier. "ALSO, HAVE EITHER OF YOU TRIED ADJUSTING THE CONTROLS YET? THEY SEEM TO BE CONNECTED TO... WHATEVER'S GOING ON HERE."

That sign up above was daunting- to F90? Wasn't that another one of their destinations? Oh dear...

As for Madhuri herself, she'd find that some of the mechanical arms did grab. Jets of burning fire blew at the armors- perhaps a test of magical endurance? As the conveyor climbed higher, further elemental streams would follow.

Ultimately, however, this particular belt would lead up to a lift, set to continue straight up to Floor 90. If she could get past the more dangerous hurdles, it'd be smooth sailing, albeit with a bunch of magitek armors being carried along with her.

All inactive, however.

Conveniently, the elevator also seemed to have an emergency switch. If she wanted to, she could stop it mid-lift. Stall, at the very least.

They'd spread out a bit, so Papyrus left another Linkshell message.

I FOUND MORE CONTROLS UP HERE, ALONG WITH A SUSPICIOUSLY UNSTABLE MAGITEK ARMOR. IT LOOKS BIGGER THAN THE OTHERS! CURRENTLY TOUCHING BASE WITH TWO OTHERS BEFORE I PROCEED.

IT LOOKS LIKE WE MAY BE ABLE TO REVERSE THE ASSEMBLY LINE IN THEORY. THESE ARMORS SEEM TO BE HEADED STRAIGHT FOR FLOOR 90, WHICH COULD SPELL SERIOUS TROUBLE LATER.

SO! WHAT DO WE DO? I'M ALL FOR PULLING THE PLUG PREEMPTIVELY, BUT I KNOW THERE'S ALSO VALUE IN RECONNAISSANCE.

I'm going to stop the process here. We're destined to get to the bottom of this place as it were, and I don't want some defense protocol waking all these guys up.

I'm then going to check out how far I can reach.

Off we go. Dodging blasts of fire and grabbing hands was no problem when she could pop out of existence, especially once she learned the flamethrowers' patterns. No use getting her goose cooked today, especially since her natural fire resistance was gone.

Heck, if she could reach floor 90, she could maybe shut off any security systems.

Okay, so... making Magitek Armor.

Maybe he had to have a better idea of what was going on wherever these Armors were coming out completed, then he would know whether or not what he was doing would be good or bad. Going onto the market was expected - if they're been mass produced - but while they're inside the Tower...

Yeah, he'd feel better with production not happening. Going through the menus, he was going to shut it off first. Then, if possible, reverse it - or at least, remove any enhancements already made on the suits.

"Don't need this... definitely don't need that... Why would they want that?"

Papyrus' sudden appearance came as a mild surprise to Tressa, however, she quickly regained her composure, answering the skeleton's question.

"Well, it was like this when I arrived, so I'd have to assume so? I don't know much about these things, so I was asking this girl if she knew anything about the armor, since she seems so interested in it."

Tressa paused, before following behind Papyrus to the controls.

"As for these controls, I didn't lay a finger on them... yet. I'm not entirely sure how they work, though."

So far, Adrien's efforts seem to be paying off. When he halts the process, the relevant conveyors screech to a stop. As he tries reversing, those mechanical arms reach down and start plucking the parts from the suits in question. It may take a bit to completely undo the armors on the floor, but he's certainly on the right track, as fewer armors are arriving to gain augmentation.

So far, so good.

Maddie's dodging and dimensional doors allow her easy access to the lift, though with Adrien's actions down below, she may find that the flow of armors has considerably slowed. But if she wishes to ride the lift, it will indeed take her higher.

Or she can halt the lift.

If she does decide to ride all the way to floor 90 she will find many Magitek Armors scattered across the floor in varying levels of completion thanks to the antics on the lower floor. But there are quite a few with complete, advanced armor and weaponry on display, as well as a peculiar circle at the center of the floor. It is barren. Just a marking on the floor, really.

There is also a magnet on the ceiling that can be controlled via a panel on the wall. It could be used to grab and move the gathered suits and place them back on the lift.

Back on Floor 42, Papyrus listens to Tressa and then nods. "HMM... LOOKS LIKE IT CONNECTS TO THE SHUTTER HERE THAT LEADS TO THE NEXT LEVEL OF THE ASSEMBLY LINE. I'M SEEING A FEW OPTIONS TO DISABLE SOME SORT OF... MAGICY TESTING STREAMS, AND... WOWIE. AN ELEVATOR, TOO? I JUST WONDER WHAT THEY'RE GONNA DO WITH ALL THESE SUITS!"

Hmm. Well, time to fiddle in the mean time. Seems the overall flow of progress has stalled, so Adrien must be doing something right!

She would go ahead and halt the lift, knocking on that switch before she offered her report:

Lots of armors here on Floor 90. We've mucked up their operation a bit, some are incomplete.

There's an odd marking in the floor. I'm going to fiddle with it.

Now that definitely looked like a magnet. Accessing the panel, she would try picking up a half-completed armor and drop it on the circle.

Okay. I'm going to keep messing with the armor here then. Tell us what you find out.

He had only affected a bit - he was concerned how many were complete, but he'd keep on dismantling armor so there would be a dent and more managed.

Until his input was needed, he would focus on this task.

While Papyrus fiddled with the controls, Tressa thought it would be a good idea to report to the rest of the group about their findings. It wasn't a whole lot, but it was better then being radio silent.

Floor 42 has these crystal things being inserted into each set of armor. I think they're being sent to... Floor 90, was it? Yeah.

There's also this set of armor in the center of the room, it says it's "unstable". Whatever that could mean. Should we ignore it for the time being?

After delivering her report, she turned her attention to Papyrus once more.

"I've been wondering that myself, why are there so many? Is someone planning on selling them all or something?"

As Madhuri drops the armor into the center of the circle, something curious happens. The armor begins to glow. Some of the nearby armors do as well. Were Madhuri to add any more armors to the circle, she'd find that the armors, regardless of completion, would all start to glow even brighter. Their parts would click and disconnect and whirl in circles within the field before vanishing in a flash.

Perhaps it's best that they tampered with this operation, otherwise they may have ended up with a great deal of magitek armors not only being transported to the other side, but the components of a select few sent... elsewhere. To contribute to the coming challenge at the temple's end.

Of course, there's still a chance that this could happen. It all depends on what Madhuri chooses to do.

The more Adrien tampers with the machine, the bigger dent he'll be able to create. The progress is already halted thanks to his and Madhuri's combined efforts, the once intimidating armors look no better than puny endo-skeletons.

Up on Floor 42, Papyrus turns to Tressa and rubs his chin.

"IT'S ENTIRELY POSSIBLE! BUT GIVEN THE, ERM, NATURE OF THIS TEMPLE, WE SHOULD KEEP AS MANY AS POSSIBLE FROM REACHING THEIR DESTINATION. OR WE'LL PROBABLY HAVE A BIG CONUNDRUM AT THE END OF IT ALL."

Well, for now, he'll set the conveyors to reverse and close the shutter that lets them progress to the lift. This will in turn send more armors back to Adrien to dismantle if he so desires, though the ones already on Floor 90 will remain, unless Madhuri decides to muck with them herself.

Though the tower staff might not approve.

Either way, he'll send another text. I THINK THIS UNSTABLE ARMOR MIGHT BE A THREAT ONCE WE ENTER THE TEMPLE PROPER. DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT? I'M WARY OF BREAKING IT TOP SIDE WHEN THE TRIUMVIRATE WAS SO GENEROUS TO LET US ENTER IN THE FIRST PLACE.

I THINK WE NEED TO FINALIZE OUR PLAN SO WE CAN PROCEED THROUGH THE INVERTED FLOORS AND GET THE KEY AS SEAMLESSLY AS POSSIBLE.

Perhaps dismantling it rather than simply destroying it would be considered a good compromise. As for a plan, I'm good for whatever everyone else wishes to do.

Found a teleporter, I think. It mends the armor, too. I'm going to do something about it.

She dug through her bag and examined everything she owned. Hmm... how about her special, right here? A simple silk bag of glitter. Discount. With her finger, she traced a Glyph of Warding, and filled in the blank runic circle with the symbol for lightning.

Whistling, she took the silk bag by the cord and gave it a whirl over her head before chucking it at the circle. With the impact, it would become the glitziest electric bomb.

Dismantling the armor seemed like a good idea, though where would they even start? She doubted taking apart a set of armor would be an easy task to undertake, even with an extra set of hands.

"Well, I guess we just take it apart, then? Do we need some kind of tool, or..."

She scratched the back of her head, unsure of what to do.

Papyrus gestures to the control panel. "WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO USE THE MACHINERY HERE, IF WE CAN JUST REDIRECT THE VARIOUS APPENDAGES TO ITS BODY."

He steps away, looking down at the lifeless machine.

"BUT WE MAY HAVE TO GET IT CLOSER FIRST... DO YOU HAVE ANY SKILLS THAT MIGHT BE USEFUL FOR MOVING LARGE OBJECTS? IF NOT, WE MIGHT HAVE TO GET CREATIVE."

He does have his bone magic, though, so that's at least a start.

Fortunately for Maddie, the magic will indeed drop down one heck of a glitzy bomb to the beast on the Inverted Floor 90, dealing a good chunk of damage before the battle even begins!

While they futz about, Pap sends another message.

WE'RE GOING TO TRY AND DISASSEMBLE THE UNSTABLE ARMOR, BUT IT MAY TAKE A BIT TO GET IT INTO POSITION. I'M THINKING WE CAN USE THE EQUIPMENT TO TAKE IT APART.

AFTER THAT, SHALL WE PROCEED THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE? I'M NOT SURE WHAT'S LEFT TO DO!

Player Plot: A (skele)ton of Work

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