Krayzikk

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

There we go! Sorry that took so long for so little. Shoutout to @Caasicam for whipping that visual up for me.

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

GM IC:

"Welcome to Proxima Centauri, ladies and gentlemen."

The Captain spoke into his pickup, adjusting the brim of his hat. Across the bridge officers and ratings tended to their duties, coaxing the Pandora's mammoth hull to lower and lower speeds as they slipped into a geosynchronous orbit above the planet. Unlike the scientists and pilots waking up within her hull the Pyxis' essential crew were showing the wear of the journey. Even in rotations all of them had cumulatively lived a few years of the journey and their satisfaction reflected it.

He savored the moment for a moment, nodding his own satisfaction, continued.

"We are, all of us, further from Earth than any human being has ever been in orbit around a planet no human has ever set foot on inside a system no other soul has ever seen with their own eyes. There can be no overstating it. Each and every one of us has earned a place in the history books already. Humanity's first real stride into the stars." He leaned back in his chair, fixing his eyes on the view outside the ship. "I know such an usual mission has required an unusual crew. An unusual craft. Unusual standards. We're aboard a United Nations ship integrated into a civilian craft, carrying pilots detached from military service and civilians both. Every department feels that mix. Some of you haven't had long at all to settle into your crews, and it may feel strange after so much time. Some of you feel like you left minutes ago. Some of you years."

"All of you can feel the pride in this moment."

"But," His voice dropped, growing serious. "None of you can let it disarm you."

The planet below appeared on every nonessential screen aboard, the first glimpse they would all see of the world they had traveled so far to explore.

"Proxima Centauri b, operationally designated Kitezh until further notice. Breathable atmosphere, livable temperatures on most of the surface and extant lifeforms. This is what we've come for. Our first recon team touches down in less than an hour. First survey team will be taking one of the dropshops to the surface under Orbital escort. Combat conditions assumed, people, until I say otherwise. Helmets stay on, no one touches anything without the team leader's say so, and no one relaxes until they're off the clock."

"Report to your department heads, people, and as of now all pilots are to report to the hangar. Commanding Officer Orbital Operations will handle any additional information."

***

"Glad to be aboard, Mr. Cross." Artemie said cheerfully, following the others towards the hangar and listening attentively to the briefing. Nothing she hadn't really expected, so far.

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

Super quick post just to let things move again, over the weekend I'll work up the bigger one.

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

"Not in the slightest."

"Not that it'll hurt going back to all that money if I ever make it back to the Moon." Artemie's grin came back with a slightly knowing tilt. He was right; after a minimum of forty five years on ice before getting home there'd be a hefty paycheck waiting for her. Enough to go on 'vacation' for decades if she really wanted. Not to mention the seniority she was accruing. But it wasn't the point and Holden had hit the nail on the head. "I've wanted to make this trip my whole life. What was ten more years in cryo in comparison?"

She shrugged a little, pushing herself carefully to her feet and nodding at Adam's introduction.

"It's nice to meet you, Adam. I think Volana's right about getting to the hangar. If we don't hurry, they might name things after other people."

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

So who's posting next?

@ArmorPlated

I'll probably wait on Artemie's reply before continuing, otherwise, it'll seem like I started a conversation and then left in the middle of it.

@Hawthorne

I'm really sorry for the delay. Everything should have been pretty much set when I got up here but someone bungled something somewhere so I've had some extra things to deal with. If not tonight tomorrow.

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

Definitely still alive! Just stymied a little by having to move. I'm planning to have a post up tomorrow night at the latest.

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

And I'm back! Moved in, computer is set up, we're back in business.

So wait, was the alien tech a secret or no? I may have misinterpreted the IC and OOC opening posts.

@ArmorPlated

Good question, let me clarify. The fact that it exists and was found is not a secret, nor is it a secret that the predecessors to Orbitals were based on what they could figure out. The specifics of the find are still classified, and the artifacts themselves preserved and kept from the public beyond some approved pictures.

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

Quick heads up; my activity may be a little limited this week. I'm moving into my new apartment for the fall semester on Saturday after driving on Friday, so I'll be pretty busy straight through until Sunday. I won't be completely gone but I'll be a little slow.

Advance on Distant Proxima (Mecha RPG)

<Snipped quote by Krayzikk>

Metatron mode can barely fly, if that matters.

@The World

Mine also can't really fly also.

@eemmtt

The Ajax is capable of short bursts of vertical movement via the Talaria Jump Jets, but is otherwise incapable of atmospheric flight- it's too heavy, and the thrusters can't sustain long enough for continual upper movement. Different story in low gravity or Zero-G environments, but still.

@Hawthorne

All pretty much as I thought. Thank you.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

Mentions/Interactions: @VitaVitaAR @Crimson Paladin @PaulHaynek

So that was how it worked.

No doubt continuous enough dismembering would eventually wear out his ability to heal, but it would be a long, lengthy, and bloody process. And as satisfying as it might be the Knights would grow exhausted long before they succeeded. Fire would help, but alas none among them possessed that more Reonite magic. But Nicomede missed nothing, and he watched the trails of blood rejoin the vampire's lost limbs. It was his greatest strength, more than the force or speed of his arm. Swiftness could be accomplished by mortal men as well as strength, but a mortal man will die if he bleeds. A mortal man's arm will not return to its place, nor his head to his shoulders. That was the clearest divide between the creature before them and themselves.

So it would be taken away.

But he had not been idle in that moment and as the vampire had leapt back he had pressed on, eager to keep the monster from creating a gap. The bloodied liquid followed the lead of his off weapon this time, seeking to end the ranged threat the same way he had stopped the Nem assassin.

"Tagliare." The water shot forth to sever the crossbow's line and Nicomede followed it, staying in close and low while his spada swept again at the vampire's leg. "Sirs FLeuri, Jarde! Sever its limbs!"

There was no time to explain, and no way to do so without giving up the game. But he knew how to put down the creature, and put him down hard. Against someone else it might have a been a certain moral conundrum; Nicomede was not squeamish, but using a man's own vital fluids against him simply seemed wrong. It felt near to a very serious border, a line that should not be crossed. Not even against the wicked. It wasn't even something he was certain he could do against a living being, and certainly not before it had been separated from its owner.

But this was not a truly living thing, not anymore, and he would feel no qualms for what it might require to stop it.

Water is the most abundant resource in all the world, and found in most liquids. A fact the disgraced noble had amply demonstrated when he weaponized a glass of wine earlier in the evening, and one he continued to demonstrate with the bloodied water that presently sought to destroy another crossbow. Without a counteracting magic the work of one part would affect the whole, and dueling magics would come down to the practitioners. The monster might be stronger, but he wasn't smarter.

And blood was more than half water.

At the first drop of blood from his blade or any of his comrades he would utter the word, the growl, that would prevent the monster's blood from rejoining until he had conquered Nicomede's own will, the will of a human being;

"Rottura."

If it had the will for it at all.