Yomojo

Meaningless Code: The Server After the End

@Patches @hefewy @Ryougu @Polaris North
VAC cracks his knuckles, a grin coming across his face ~Well, if Boreas wants me to show him what I got, might as well give him a show~ he thinks as he pulls his holoscreen back up, minimizing his allies' data to one corner. He sweeps the screen around, tapping on each of the spacefillers as they come across it. Taking a look over the data quickly flashing by on his screen, V's grin grows even wider. ~Looks like all that prep work paid off, these ones are almost exactly the same as the others I hacked. This should be easy.~

Dialogue boxes and strings of code flying across his screen, the first thing he worked on was the Spacefiller's access to graphical data. Because of her stubbornness, he couldn't modify their permissions to see Coleander's graphics, and he left Boreas' alone, since focusing the viruses' attentions on the protector was kind of the point. For himself, Hueco and Nazir, however, the viruses would quickly start losing visual on them. It would start with glitchy-looking effects, parts of them phasing in and out, until eventually the three of them would become more or less invisible to the spacefillers.

"Hueco, Nazir, you guys are invisible to these bottomfeeders now. They can still hear you, so either keep silent or keep moving." VAC shouted to the other two, taking his own advice and preparing to re-position after calling out to them. Suddenly, V's eyes widen as he comes to a realisation. "Shit..." he mutters under his breath before calling out to Hueco: "Coder boy, they can still see your drone! Tell it to bugger off of you!" After warning his team-member, he re-positions a couple meters to the side, so any viruses coming after his voice would find only empty air. He then turns his focus back to his data, continuing to fiddle with the horde's code in silence and trusting his team-mates to take care of the rest.

The Mysteries of Isz: A Kokotha RP

Lucy stands there, wide eyed, watching the door open. The stuff upstairs had been pretty cool, but something told her this was where the real fun would begin. She felt like a little kid opening the huge box her parents got for her birthday. She rocks forwards onto the tips of her toes, trying to get a good look into the room beyond. "Here we go... here we go!" she says excitedly.

Ash steps up behind the other two women, attention focusing on the room beyond. If that sand trap was just guarding the entrance, she could think of two scenarios. Best case, the Isz didn't think anyone would get past it, and there would be no more traps. Worst case, and the one she is preparing for, the traps would only get worse from here on out. She puts a hand on Lucy's shoulder. "Don't let your excitement kill you, Morphling." She knew using Lucy's White Tooth codename would get her attention enough to get the message across.

Sure enough, Lucy looks annoyedly back at the larger woman, then softens her gaze at Ashley's facial expression, a combination of stone-faced seriousness and genuine concern. "Yeah yeah, I know. I won't do anythin' dumb, I promise." comes the reply. "Well Winnie, you wanna lead the way? I realize you're the archeologist here, so point out anythin' I shouldn't touch." Ashley's words seemed to have brought Lucille back down to earth.

Meaningless Code: The Server After the End

@Patches @hefewy @Ryougu @Polaris North
V pops off a shot at each of Hueco, Nazir and Boreas. There is no sign of physical impact, the mostly transparent blue ball that comes out of the sidearm just disappearing into their bodies. There was a slight tingle, but other than that it was almost unnoticeable. "Suit yourself, girlie, just know I won't be able to do much to protect you." he says to Oleander, her puppet thingy only cementing his opinion of her. He then turns his attention to Boreas "As much as the old me would love to, HQ would rip me a new one if they found out I consented to a plan like that. HIVE's idea is probably best, continue with our mission as written, mapping the area and wiping out Spacefillers, and if it comes to self-defense then it comes to self-defense." Despite not being the team leader, the way he spoke made it sound like the decision had been made.

His gaze turns outwards, beyond the building they're in, at the sound of approaching hostiles. "Speaking of spacefillers... let's wipe these ones out to make sure they don't blab on us, then keep moving. Being mobile will probably be our best bet in a place like this." V pulls his holo-display back up, pulling up the PINGs on his three team-mates, and nods his head over towards Boreas. "Well Mr. Protector, lead the way."

The Mysteries of Isz: A Kokotha RP

"Wow, what a guy. Sounds like he went kinda bonkers at the end there. Did he fall in accidentally? How'd he survive the fall? The deeper we get, the more questions I'm havin'." Lucy shakes her head at the absurdity of it all.

"I think I'd feel better if ya took the dagger, Winnie. As much as this place excites me, you two might be right that maybe I shouldn't be holdin' the key to this whole temple. Here." she offers to Wingate, taking the dagger and flipping it around in her hand, holding the blade and offering the hilt out to the teacher.

Ash raises her eyebrows slightly, indicating an amount of surprise. She didn't say anything, however. She was still keeping her senses open to traps, no matter how safe the room seemed.

The Mysteries of Isz: A Kokotha RP

"Alright, another skeleton. Everyone, don't go anywhere until we can make sure we don't end up like they did." Ash comes up from behind, putting a hand on each of the women's shoulders.

"I dunno, maybe it just couldn't get past the door, 'an died of dehydration. That diary above did say somethin' about followin' someone in somewhere, but how did this fella get down here in the first place? Multiple daggers?" Lucy offered, scanning the room for danger. Most of her attention was focused on the floor, looking for pressure plates. "But yeah, I see what you're sayin', Winnie. Somethin' fishy 'bout this place."

Ash looks around the antechamber mainly for runes carved into the walls, floor or ceiling, realizing that any moving parts would most likely activate based on the dagger beaming magic to them. Or whatever was happening. She had enough of an idea to know what to look for, and didn't much care beyond that anyways.

Meaningless Code: The Server After the End

@Patches @hefewy @Ryougu @Polaris North
"Let's see here, we got the reckless do-gooder," he motions to Azir, "the infamous daredevil turned straight-man, he directs at Boreas, "the creepy young child," referring to Oleander, "and finally, the timid, bookish coder" he finishes, looking to Hueco. "Not to mention the over-eager, under-experienced, self-centered hacker." he adds, standing up and bowing to the rest of the party. "Yup, that's everyone alright. Guess Aegis wanted to get rid of a bunch of misfits by throwing them at a low-danger problem. No way that'll go wrong." VAC continues, half-jokingly.

"But, onto serious business. Don't worry about the Spacefillers here, they can't really do anything at this point. If anyone sees a reason to keep them around, speak up. Otherwise, feel free to blast 'em. I'm also going to ask, out of courtesy, if anyone objects to a little PINGing." he says as he pulls out his small sidearm with a twirling flourish. "Completely harmless, it'll just add a small little data packet to each of you that will make my job a lot easier, and your lives most likely a lot safer. A special request to you, Hueco." he looks to the coder as he adresses him "Your permission to give me some limited access to your hive? Just so I can access its sensory data, and maybe allow it to deliver PINGs for me as well. I promise all this stuff is very easily removed after the mission is over."

Not the best first impression, but VAC hasn't really gotten the hang of those yet. He wondered if this was some sort of test from Aegis, to see if any of the lessons they'd taught him in humility and self-restraint had sunken in. It was going to be an interesting mission at least, that he could count on.

The Mysteries of Isz: A Kokotha RP

"Crazy... all this rune stuff, still workin' after all these years. Betcha we're gonna find some stuff that'll be worth a fortune to the UM. Guess that's part of the reason the Boss is puttin' so much effort into this place." Lucy says, staring in amazement at the walls. Ash is in the back, and slows down a bit as the sand starts to re-form, keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't try to run out and bury them.

"Hey, you think all of this rune stuff is bein' powered by the dagger? Is it better to keep pumpin' magic into it, or should we see if we can turn it off?" Lucille asks the other two.

"Well, keeping it on could activate some rune-powered traps in this place, but judging from the previous room, I'm willing to bet we're going to have to keep using it if we want to progress further in. And the Isz would not guard an area so thoroughly if there wasn't something worth guarding." offers Ash. "Which means my vote is for keeping it powered, and being more careful"

"Jeez, I get it, I'm sorry for almost killin' us, and I promise to not do that kinda stuff again. I learned my lesson, I'm good now, you don't need to keep pesterin' me." Lucy huffs at the other two women.

The Mysteries of Isz: A Kokotha RP

"Hey, you think this dagger's some kinda magic projector? Is that somethin' that's possible, activatin' magic runes without touchin' 'em?" Lucy asks Wingate as she stands up from where she had been kneeling on the light barrier. Dusting herself off, she walks over to the entrance of the tunnel, just standing there and looking in.

Ash just stands where she is, looking suspiciously at the runes on the wall, waiting to see if they show any signs of changing. She also glances at the spikes on the ground, in case they decide to try and do anything crazy. "The Isz being clever is not a good thing for us. Of course, what it means is that we're going to have to be more clever than they were."

"And keepin' that in mind, I guess we should keep goin, ey?" Lucy responds. "Yes, but I would still feel more comfortable if Wingate took the lead again." came Ash's reply.

Meaningless Code: The Server After the End

@Patches
VAC had made sure he was the first one to the meeting location, and was camped out in a corner with his holographic display up. The small group of Spacefillers that had been milling about in the building had been easy enough to hack, and were now all laying on the ground, motionless. He hadn't killed them, per se, he had just revoked their permission to move, see, hear, speak or communicate in any way. He looks over the portfolios of the other Aegis members assigned to this mission, the data Aegis has on this virus stronghold, and the details he was able to gleam from a Spacefiller type he had stealthily PINGed on his way here, in addition to those he had taken care of in the building.

While looking over his data, he chews on a piece of bubblegum that he had created, blowing bubbles with it occasionally. "Oh sweet, we got a Coder in the group. And that Hive of his looks quite useful, too." VAC muses, scrolling through Hueco's Aegis profile. "Gonna have to ask him if he'll let me play with it a bit."

He glances up at the entrance to the building, the invisible barrier restricting access to viruses still in the doorway, then glances at a clock in the bottom-right of his holo-screen. "Well, the others should be arriving soon, unless they get held up." V mutters to himself, bringing the virus interface back up to check on the Spacefiller he had PINGed, waiting for the others to arrive.

The Mysteries of Isz: A Kokotha RP

Seeing the pit open beneath them, Ash flings out a hand, a stone platform extending from the edge of the pit around the same time the hard-light platform sprung into existence. Due to the similarly quick thinking of Ash and Wingate, the three women now found themselves on a platform of light with a platform of stone beneath it.

"Lucille Barlow!" she snaps, "That was not a good idea. I did tell you to be careful before we came down here, and haphazardly activating all the magical items we come across is not being careful." Ashley says with a huff. She takes a deep breath, glaring at Lucy, before continuing "Please confer with Ms. Ipswitch and I before doing anything like that again."

Lucy looks a bit sheepish at the scolding. "Right, sorry." She peers down into the pit over the side of the platforms she is now on. "That explains that, then. I guess it hasta fill back up, judgin' from how we found the skeletons. And looks like that tunnel down there's our way forward. Can ya just lower us all down with the light disk, Winnie?"

Ash, seeing that the hard light structure was supporting them all fine, retracts the stone ledge back into the wall. She is, of course, ready to create any more platforms at a moment's notice.