Light Quest: a CK2 Style Quest in an 8-Bit Dystopia

It was actually a pretty difficult decision. Having Roll slip through the opening would be far quieter, but it would leave her alone and bereft of the protection from the Driller suit, even if it wasn't exactly made for this kind of situation. Wrecking the door would be far easier, but it would also certainly make enough noise to wake the drones. Or the vibrations from tearing through the door would, anyway. He wasn't quite sure what activated them beyond their olfactory senses, which were useless to them at this time.

"Alright, Roll. Get ready. I'm going to break through the door." He told Roll, who nodded and began to creep back to a position that would give her full view of the room. He pressed a few buttons on the controller, overclocking the bulky machine, rushing the door with a crash. The sound of tearing metal and breaking glass could be heard and he winced at the noise on instinct as the pink moss began to glow much brighter to an almost fluorescent hue and the drones began to move, their bones and muscles snapping and cracking as they rushed towards his machine.

Roll was the first to move, dashing through the first group with her drill and smashing through them, bowling over one of them and slamming the others into the walls with enough force that they gave an audible crack before they dropped and didn't move any further. The one that remained was immediately, almost ruthlessly executed with a drill jab while it was prone, its skull bursting pink gore onto the suit and its visor.

The creatures within the armory had awoken as well, but Light was slightly faster than they were. He wasted no time crashing into them, using the momentum from before to smash a few into the wall, crushing them between the wall and his machine, causing bone and long unused muscle to snap and pop. A thin spider's web of cracks could be seen where they impacted the wall, leaking pink fluid. The survivors he'd missed in his charge had managed to clamber onto his machine and began beating on it, but didn't do much at all in the way of damage. It all ended when Roll, having finished her fight, quickly leapt into action and used her drill to finish them off, the drill tearing through them with little resistance.

"Dr. Light! Are you alright?" Roll asked, panic in her voice.

"I- I'm alright, Roll. Just a little… shaken at the moment." he told her, using the machine to give her an awkward pat on the shoulder.

"What about you? These were people at one point. Are you…?" Light asked. His daughter huffed.

"More angry at whatever did this. I…" she started, looking down at her bloody drill. It was covered in pink gore. "...don't like killing people, even if it's just zombies who only used to be people. But even you said it yourself. The underground is dangerous. I won't always get to choose." She exhaled. "That doesn't mean I won't try diplomacy first, though. I think we'll be surprised at who might listen down here." she smiled.

She looked around. "Well... diplomacy with something that has the intelligence to converse with. That also isn't taking people over as drones. Hmm…" she hummed. "...This may be harder than I thought."

Light chuckled. "Don't worry. You're doing great." 'Better than me, in any case.' he thought to himself, solemnly.

All was quiet within the armory, and even the moss started to dim. They might have dodged waking up whatever intelligence was guiding these drones. It was good to know that loud enough noises did indeed wake them, even if it was more likely the vibrations that came with them. They went down pretty easily, too. Though that might just be because both of them were made of metal. They seemed to beeline straight for whatever made the noise, so they likely didn't, or couldn't, smell the two.

Light couldn't hear any banging from the locker room, so it was likely they were far enough away to manage not waking the other drones.

Before he could say anything, Roll bounced forward towards the armory doors. "Goodies!" she exclaimed, wrenching the door open and rushing in. Light was a little too big in his machine to really fit inside but tried to get a better look anyway. He shook his head with a smile.

Roll was currently trying to open the case to what looked like the precursor to the Driller Suit, an old armored MOPP suit that the military used back on Earth, though a little more advanced. It was heavier than the driller suit, but offered more protection. There were a few modern gadgets attached to it as well. With it was what looked like some kind of rifle that he recognized from the ships he fled from Earth in by the Telstar icon on the side, but he wasn't a gun nut and couldn't remember what it was called.

Eventually Roll managed to pry it open and get inside, quickly trading in her old suit for the new one. It looked a little big on her, but she seemed to take it in stride, holstering her handgun and securing the drill and pump around her waist. She slung the rifle over her back, giving Light a happy thumbs up that made him smile before going deeper within the armory.

She returned a little while later a little less happy, gripping what looked like a datapad and a couple of grenades, along with what looked like a keycard wrapped around her hand.

"Roll? What happened?" Light asked, concerned.

"...I managed to get one of the doors open and found a body. They looked like they were shot from behind, judging by the bullet wound on the back of the head." she explained, handing over the datapad before beginning to move out. He looked at Roll, before looking back at the datapad. Most of it was just back and forth messages from staff and other people. He opened the last message.

"K.

If you're reading this, you'll find that stuff you're looking for when you go grab a cola. It shouldn't be too hard. As for me? I'm leaving. This job was already stressful enough and that was before that asshole took charge and decided to play god with his little prophecy child. Apparently whatever was going on down in Site Alpha wasn't good enough for him. Wanted to make his own version. Well, good fucking luck to him.

I didn't survive Earth only to deal with more fucking aliens. If the bigwigs find out about what's going on in this place we're all fucked. Especially if they take a look at Containment and Processing. That's if 'Experiment 08' doesn't kill us first. I've seen the way it acts. It waits and watches for people to fuck up before it nabs 'em. The fact that we've got to feed it several bodies a day is worse. Had to spin up some kind of treasure story about Tunnel 48 to get more poor bastards down here to feed it. After we destroyed the place trying to keep it secret.

The hell does he get off using a Cactuar, anyway? Fucker's are mean and turn whatever they see move into pincushions. Smart little assholes, too. Adding onto whatever alien DNA they're using is asking for bad news. Human DNA, too. Dumbasses. I'm catching a ride with Trioptimum up to Citadel Station. Apparently they want my knowledge on those old school reactors. Better than this hellhole. Least I won't be turned into fodder or experimented on.

Look man. You should bug out too. I left you my keycard in my locker. The combi's 0451. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm taking this chance while everyone is busy and getting the hell out of here.


Light looked down at the Keycard.

Marc Steinberg, Level 5 Security Access Card.

Well, that was the security card handled. It looked like this K. individual was shot from behind shortly after he got the message. Was it in the middle of the attack or before that? More information about the threat he was facing, too. It didn't bode well. But they were better armored, now. Those grenades could come in useful, too. Light wondered what they meant by 'grab a cola.' The vending machines here were broken and none of them appeared to be selling any kind of cola. There wasn't even a Nuka Cola machine, which he saw pretty much everywhere these days.

"Roll?" Light asked. She shrugged her head.

"...I'll be fine. We normally see the aftermath of those biomonster nests AND we've been trudging through corpses for about an hour. Just wasn't expecting to see somebody's body stuffed away in some nook after they were shot. They didn't take the keycard either, so it was probably personal, or something." She patted her cheeks, or rather the visor. "Ah well, we can deal with it later. For now, exploration!" she announced, pushing forward.

Light hummed, concerned. Or they didn't need it. It sounded like that new scientist in charge was a problem. He sighed. In the end she was right. They could talk about it later… though he might have to force the issue if she didn't bring it up herself. The mission was exploring this place and finding what happened here and it was quickly turning into "- and also deal with the monster in the basement, too". They were better equipped now, at least. The question was, did they try to head to the lockers next or did they go somewhere else?

[ ] The lockers are here. We may as well finish off the Security Wing.
[ ] Head Somewhere Else
--[ ] Personnel Wing, Front Desk, Containment and Processing, Maintenance, Stairway, or Leave the Facility.

You've gained: 3 Grenades [Each one is 5 Damage on a Successful Attack], A slightly too big Old Earth Armored MOPP Suit [-10 to Enemy Martial Rolls], A Telstar Marksman [Allows for Ranged Martial Attacks, +5 Martial], a Level 5 Access Card and a lot of bad feelings.

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Alright! Next post is done. You guys have used the 97, which means you gain grenades and a keycard (along with some lore and a hint for another secret somewhere else). Roll did very well on the combat rolls. Ended her fight on Round 1 and came in with the steel chair drill on Light's Round 2. I think I've finally gotten into a rhythm to work on these posts, so they should start coming out a little faster. I think I'm gonna make this voting round 24 hours like usual, though.

Moratorium is 30 minutes. Voting ends in 24 hours.