The Dying Mech

Log Title: The Dying Mech

Characters:
 * Imager
 * Scales
 * Spike
 * Typhoon
 * Imager
 * Backblast

Location: Cybertron Underworld

Date: 3 July 2018

TP: Dungeon Crawl TP

Summary: The Autobots find a dying prisoner.

As logged by AlphaRaposa

Log session starting at 21:30:12 on Tuesday, 3 July 2018.

Western Chamber - Level 3 – Valvolux
This large open area has a foreboding presence. It's dark with pockets of flickering light from the random fires left unattended. It's obvious this is a gathering place for someone - or somethings. As you look around you notice unfamiliar markings on the walls. Are they directions? Are they names? Is it graffiti? At the edges of the meager sources of light you occasionally see a dull reflection. One cursory closer look to realize it's the banged up and rusted remains of a bot is all you need to know to move on and move on quickly.

As Backblast studies the graffiti it all begins to make sense, of a sort, and perhaps he should be concerned that it is making sense. It strings together to make a phrase.

In the meantime Imager is checking the torches with her pole, and nothing seems amiss. Imager gives the wall some pokings, then a blank look crosses her faceplate. "Seems legit. Don't see no holes either. Okay, so after that extensive searching, I'm going to say that there's nothin amiss here...But we are probably still in Trans-Organic territory." She looks around, "We came from the east, so....south?"

Backblast stares for a long time, frowns. "Either I'm going batty, or... you know what, there is no or. I'm going batty, this graff's starting to make sense." He scowls. "It says 'ere. 'It shall be then, when what's shroud is revealed, a defeat shall bring forth a toppling of leaders and an age of death' that don't sound fun."

Scales blinks at Backblast. "Age of death?" She makes a face.

<> Imager says, "uhhh....you read Tee-Ohh there Backblast?"

<> Para-Droppable PITA Backblast says, "Uh apparently?"

Scales sits on her haunches and looks at the various openings. "I guess south is as good a direction as any."

<> Imager says, "Huh...well you know more about em than I do, so I guess that fits." Imager ponders, "age of death huh?" She frowns, and swaps out to her shotgun, "Sounds like the sorta thing that's inevitable...but I'm really not wantin to die...So south it is." She motions for the team to join her...not that she's team lead or anything. Certainly not.

The Autobots go to Dank Cell - Level 3 - Valvolux.

Dank Cell - Level 3 – Valvolux
Unlike other rooms, this one didn’t have a door. It had a boulder that had to be shoved aside to reveal the room beyond. Whatever is in this room, the Mutants don’t want to leave... or be found... easily. Proceeding into the room, you must wait for your optics to adjust to the dim light level. There’s nothing here. Why make it so difficult to access if there’s nothing here? But then you hear it -- a raspy rattle of a damaged vocalizer. There’s someone in here. Someone the Mutants didn’t want to get out. Someone the Mutants didn’t want found.

Backblast follows Imager to the south, keeping his gun held ready as he moves. "I think I got a vague idea of what we got to do. And I'm gonna sound a bit fraggin weird for saying it..." he comments as he walks. "I don't fink we want any leaders - Autobot or Con - to die here in Valvolux."

Typhoon follows along, her own pistol drawn. She glances around quickly, her stress level quickly spiking again after the short reprieve in the fountain chamber.

Imager eyes the large boulder ahead. "Hrmmmm....it ain't just me I think, but this here rock looks like it got moved in." She puts a few fingers to her chinplate. "Well, that means its either bad news for us and them, bad news for them, or good news for us. And I have no actual logic to support that viewpoint." She turns her back to the boulder and jerks her thumb to it. "I figure I can mebbe push it, and you guys cover whatever its blocking AND the way we came, cus this surely'll make hella noise."

<> Imager says, "Well, Backblast, I doubt Grims would bite it down here, but I can't speak for the Cons o'course"

<> Imager says, "I wouldn't put it past the Cons to deal with these thing-os"

Scales scoots over to one side, as much out of the way of the boulder as she can manage.

Backblast nods thoughtfully. His LMG aims to point over his shoulder, while he aims his main rifle at the centre of the boulder. "Scales, watch our six yeah?"

Typhoon takes a step back, to support whomever first needs her.

Scales nods to Backblast. "Okay!" She flicks her vision to infrared and watches for anything in the dark behind them.

Imager eyes the boulder, cricks her neck then spits some oil on her hands. She rubs her hands together, and moves in to the side of the boulder. "I reckon, these critters are about as big as me, but I think I'm stronger, so I should be able to get this out the way easy enough..." She sets her feet then puts her shoulder into it as she tries to move it, "Course, I spose we could det pack it or something but we only got so many explosives....mental note though on bringing more det packs...Hgggnhhhh...and explosives training."
 * GAME: Imager FAILS a STRENGTH roll of Very High difficulty.

Typhoon watches Imager struggle with the boulder a second, and then calls out, "Do you need my help, Mage? I'm pretty strong, too," she offers.

Backblast nods "I don't think they were working alone when they did that." He sniffs, looking around somewhat nervously.

Imager blanches as her feet slide beneath her, "Uhhhm...yeah looking that way. That's kinda humiliatin' to be fair about it, but I guess its the spark of a poet that's keepin me from bein all.. ." She trails off, as she refuses to make eye contact for a moment.


 * GAME: Imager PASSES a STRENGTH roll of Average difficulty.
 * GAME: Typhoon FAILS a STRENGTH roll of High difficulty.

<> Imager says, "well this is embarrassing"

Backblast sniffs "What, that you can't do what it took... lemme see, looking at the space here, at least three of them to achieve?" He says.

<> Para-Droppable PITA Backblast says, "What, that you can't do that work of... at least /three/ of them? Uh-huh, and it's embarrassing that I don't fire nukes, too."

<> Imager says, "Well, I'm sort of a hoss here, Backblast, so yeah, I mean I'm sure Grimlock would've done it. Unless you want me cracking off a note that can shatter rock, then mebbe I'd have solo'd it."

Having learned nothing about over-exerting herself while injured, Ty tries to take the lead in moving the boulder, pushing before even waiting to see if Imager is ready. She makes a face as she strains, and then one of her field-repaired seams opens back up, leaking a greasy mix of energon and oil down her side, making her footing even more treacherous. Ty makes a face and covers the re-opened injury in embarrassment.

<> Para-Droppable PITA Backblast says, "Well, you did /try/ and solo it. It's not embarrassing, Imager..."

Scales looks around. "Uh, that didn't sound good, Typhoon."

Backblast frowns as he watches. "Ty, easy, you're hurt, lemme give it a shot. Watch our backs, yeah?" He tries to hustle Typhoon out of the way, pausing. "We could also be going about this the wrong way. What's the tensile strength on yer stick, Imager?"

<> Imager says, "eh, usin music'd be loud. Ah well, this entire thing hasn't been that Flattering.”

Typhoon chuckles nervously. "I'm fine," she insists. She moves out of Backblast's way quickly, drawing a pistol with the hand that's not covering her injury. She turns so the wound points away from the other Autobots, trying not to draw attention to herself. She gives a forced smile to anyone who looks her way, and then makes a distracted attempt to keep watch for trans-organics.

Imager shakes her head, "The pole's just standard durasteel, collapsible...but well, if we're talking leverage...." Its a bit hesitant, but she draws out her shield, and eyes the boulder. "If this breaks my shield, Imma be livid." Imager raises her shield, putting the flat bottom of it forward, then punches forward with it, jamming it into what little gap there is between the boulder and the tunnel. She shrugs at Backblast, "Anything else we can do, you think? I did want a drilltank on the team..."


 * GAME: Scales PASSES an INTELLIGENCE roll of Average difficulty.

Scales 's medic senses are tingling. She sniffs the air by Typhoon and squirms around to get a look at those welds, ignoring the tunnel behind them for the moment.

Backblast nods and puts a rock in position to act as a fulcrum for the lever. "Give me a long enough lever, and a fulcrum upon which to place it, and I shall move the world." A pause. "Dunno who said that, but he was a smart bastard. I'll try and keep it stable... and if it does break, I know a guy who can help fix it, does durasteel at /great/ prices... if you don't mind not asking where it came from."


 * GAME: Backblast PASSES an INTELLIGENCE roll of Average difficulty.
 * GAME: Imager PASSES a STRENGTH roll of High difficulty.

Typhoon turns slightly and grins down at Scales. "It's nothing!" she says preemptively, but Scales probably smell the energon and oil even over all the other pleasant scents of the dungeon.

Scales huffs. "If -I- c'n smell it, I bet those -things- c'n smell it, too." She leans to peer past Typhoon's hands. "Lemme see it."

Backblast and Imager take some time to set up the impromptu lever and fulcrum. Something just looks off to the sniper and he makes some minute adjustments before stepping away and giving Imager the go ahead.

Typhoon sighs, and removes her hand, which is coated in energon and oil. By this point she's totally not keeping watch as the others move the bounder, although she does glance in their direction as the make their third attempt.

Backblast glances over at Ty "Keep watch while you're getting patched, yeah?" He says, before carefully using the ten-yalm pole to keep the fulcrum in place

Scales tsks and wipes away the excess oil and energon to get at the seams. "Hold still... can't have this leaking while we're down here." She sticks the end of her forked tongue out of the side of her mouth as she angles to do a patch weld.

Imager mutters, "Don't you break on me." She pushes in against her shield as the boulder finally starts to give, shards of metal crumbling down as it moves. "Hah! There we go, now we're moving!" She pushes again, getting a full yalm of a gap before retrieving her shield. She steps back from the small opening, "No sense opening it up all the way until we know what’s inside eh? Could be somethin needing shot." She motions "Let’s have us a looksee."

Typhoon holds up her arm, and belatedly goes back to looking around to make sure all this noise they're making isn't attracting the wrong element.

Peering into the opening they've made so far doesn't allow a good view of the space behind the rock; even shining a light source directly in won't reach all the corners.

Backblast shakes his head "I think we gotta get it all the way... you got it from here? I'll get my rifle up and resume watch..."

Scales is very focused on what she's doing. No distractions!

Imager squints into the darkness, which is probably really stupid, then nods to Backblast, "Yeah, now that it’s not wedged, it should be movable. Back to positions, peeps." She puts her foot against the hole and her back against the boulder, pushing off against it, as she opens up the hole enough to allow full entry for everyone.

Backblast nods and slips back to his rifle, lifting it up to aim into the darkness, ready to fire at anything hostile that might come at them...

For a moment, all is quiet. Then, a rasp, a rattle. A quiver. Finally, a weak, crackling voice says, "Please... please... just... leave me alone. I don't know what he's saying. I don't... please... just kill me if you have to. I have no more answers for you."

<> Imager says, "That sounds...like a friendly....-ish!"

Backblast lowers his aim "We're not TransOrganics, we're Autobots." A pause, a helpless glance at Imager, Scales, and Ty, before he adds "We're not here to hurt you, or kill you."

Typhoon turns, optics widening, at the sound of the voice, forgetting for a moment that Scales might still be working on her.

Scales eeeeps and digs in her claws so she doesn't fall off her perch.

"Please," the voice says. "If you can. Get away. Before they come back! Leave me... it's too late for me now..."

Call her a big softie, but if it’s a sympathy trap, Imager's going to fall for it. She nods at Backblast, and makes a motioning gesture to Scales, though she isn't exactly paying attention to what Scales and Typhoon are up to. Her lights activate as she moves to investigate the voice, her hands free. "Hey...is someone there? Yeah what he said, we're not here to hurt you. We're from the surface..." She pauses as her lights move to sweep the room. "We've got an SAR field medic with us if you're wounded."

Backblast smirks a little. "We've killed and driven off a lot of them." Backblast comments. "We help you get out of here... you help us get around here, maybe lead us to the source of that big power drain - or tell us what's down here." With his LMG still watching his back, Backblast moves in towards the source of the voice, holding out a flask of energon tea.

In the corner of the cell lies a broken mech in ragged maroon robes. His pale yellow face shows signs of trauma, and his faint red optics flicker with fading light. His tattered hood partially covers a strange mark on his forehead. His orange limbs look desiccated and weak. "I.... I doubt I could help. I came here seeking answers and found only... death."

<> Imager says, "Scales!"

Backblast looks to the others "Scales, you busy? Got a mech here in need of assistance." He looks at him. "Who are you, anyway? What answers did you seek?"

Typhoon shrieks suddenly, her cry piercing the area. She looks down at the dragon clinging to her wounded side like a scared cat. "Would you please let go?" she asks as calmly as she can.

The ruined mech on the floor chuckles, which turns into a bad-sounding cough. It takes him time to recover, but finally he says, "Who I am is unimportant. I barely remember, myself. What I came seek was everything."

Backblast shrugs "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't." Backblast comments. At Ty's shriek, he looks back at her, before relaxing a bit. "Hm."

Scales blinks up at Ty. "Crud, sorry.." she glances down to find a foothold before easing off of the injured femme. "Wasn't ready for the change in angle," she says, half to herself. Back on solid ground, she looks over at Backblast. "Okay, what's going on?"

Backblast motions to the ruined mech "Can you do anything for this poor bastard?"

(Flashback: Imager sat in a darkened room, one with little light peeking in. She absently looked around her at her fellow prisoners, a worried look on her face. They were all high-class in some form or another, musicians, patrons of the arts, politicians. She shuffled over towards the Femme laying not too far away, as she was being tended to. She clasped the hand of the weak Femme, "Hey...Anteceda...you still with us?"

''Optics flickered on as the raucous cheers came from outside. The Femme spoke weakly, "Where are we?"''

''Imager glanced at the bars, then back at the injured Anteceda, "Kaon...." She let the word float fora moment, "Listen, you've got to stay with us. We're going to get out of here."''

Anteceda looked up at Imager, her exhaust sounding weaker, "Sometimes...there is only one way out.")

Imager shook her head, "Scales!" Of course Backblast had already called in the SAR, and Imager takes a few steps back to transform. Her frame splits in half, her pauldrons rolling up and forward to be her bumper and headlights. The solar array angles forwards, as the holographic design of a rudimentary cube is formed, and as the beam continues, slowly fills the cube with about a quarter of the way with Energon. << Here, Scales, use what you need. >> Imager kneels, her armored frame splitting apart to form a heavy grey hovercraft, complete with solar array.

Scales bounds over to inspect the withered mech. A preliminary sniff. "Hi," she tells him. "I'm Scales. D'ya mind if I take a look?"

The ruined mech on the floor chuckles again. "You can look, but I believe I'm beyond hope. It's OK. I've resigned myself to my fate. Soon I will find the answers I seek... from Primus himself."

Scales gently looks him over before returning to Imager. "Um.. carrying something that big is kinda awkward for me. Would one of you help?"


 * GAME: Typhoon PASSES an INTELLIGENCE roll of Immense difficulty.
 * GAME: Backblast FAILS an INTELLIGENCE roll of Immense difficulty.

<> Scales says, "He's... I'd need a stasis pod or something to stabilize him an' stop the damage before anything could be done."

<> Para-Droppable PITA Backblast says, "Can you at least make it 'urt less?"

<> Scales says, "Not much we c'n do with what we have here."

<> Scales says, "He's starvin'. A little energon would help a lot."

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "Got it right here"

Backblast looks at the old mech. "We're trying to find what's drawing all this power down here, and trying to keep it out of the hands of the Decepticons. Can you help us?" A pause. "If nothing else, friend, I can end your pain, if you want me to."

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "Wh...what?"

The ruined mech on the floor accepts the energon gratefully. "Thank you so much for this small comfort." He takes a small sip, allowing some to dribble down his molded facial structures. "An end would be a mercy. As for the draw of power ... it is simply a conduit to God."

Backblast nods a little as he listens to the old mech. "Where is the conduit? We need to secure it...don't want the Cons getting hold of it."

Imager transforms back, and approaches, "Wait! What? We're just....there's nothing we can do?" She waves her hands out, "Come on, there's gotta be something. We're Autobots, we don't accept 'acceptable losses'!" She looks at Scales and Typhoon for support, then kneels down next to the mech.

The ruined mech on the floor struggles to sit up, but it's a futile effort without help. "Are you sure they're gone?" he asks. "They were protecting it... worshiping it. Outside... down the corridor. The box. They wanted me as their voice... to interpret... but who can know the ways of God? I did what I could, but I'll admit..." he coughs again, badly. "I didn't tell them everything." A slight smile touches his ruined face.

Scales sits back on her haunches, crossing her forepaws grumpily. "Anything we could try down here would be more likely to kill him than help," she complains.

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "what about that big Hab Slab we found a while ago? That's gotta be a pretty good spot to start"

Out in the corridor, Ty is mostly focusing in the drama unfolding within the cell. However, she suddenly turns, optics widening. Backing towards the cell, she shakily raises her pistol, moving it first right and then quickly left. "Whatever y'all do, y'all better do it fast," she advises. "'Cause I'm pretty sure whatever he's afraid of is back."

Backblast stays quiet and listens. "You can tell us. I promise... whether we can heal you or not, the transorganics will never hurt you again." His tone is soft. But leaves no illusions as to what he means. He reinforces this point by calmly drawing his pistol and checking it's loaded, before slipping it into his holster. "Imager there... she's an idealist. If there's a way to save you, she will find it. Makes beautiful music, too."

The ruined old mech powers up his vocalizer to tell Backblast everything his knows, but at Typhoon's words fear grips him, and his voice goes silent... for now.