Olney Powerworks

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

There were Deathclaws and Enclave and fire and falling concrete and all kinds of horrible things not all that very long ago. Now.... now, with the massive steel door of the Olney Powerworks firmly closed behind everyone, it's quiet.

Well. Mostly quiet. There's the hum of an ancient generator somewhere in the distance.

And the faint rasp of air through a ventilation system that wanted to give up a very long time ago.

And the whirr of something moving through corridors reasonably close by.

Oh, right, and the sound of thrusters as a spherical robot with three arms, three equilaterally spaced optic sensors, and a flamethrower putters past on the prowl for security violations up ahead.

"All I ask," mutters Ellen, "is that anything that looks even remotely like a Tesla coil be spared. Or holotapes that might have plans on them. Otherwise, go to town."

The sooner they're done here the better.

Comments

[basic_powers]

"Ahh...the 70 effective maxims of pirates...Pillage, then burn." Moon Shadows rasps out from his vocoder.

Yes he had to say that line, and he's smiling under that mask.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Grognak too," says Ellen. "No point in being a barbarian raider if there's nothing to raid."

She's busy making sure her plasma rifle is ready to go, and wishing she had a pulse grenade on her.

[unbreakableben]

"Can I keep any comics I find?" Ben half jokes as he looks around. He's always on the look out for new reading material.

"Hey She-hulk, how about you and I go make some noise and see if we can't draw out some targets for these guys?"

[boston_bruiser]

"Fine by me," Voodoo mutters, taking a knee and keeping the barrel of the M60 pointed downrange. "So long as you stay out of my line of fire."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"You can have the comics," Ellen promises Ben. "If there are any readable other books, the Brotherhood would like them-"

"Are you ready to die for your country, you commie son of a bitch?" snarls a very creditable imitation of R. Lee Ermey from a side corridor just up ahead.

[unbreakableben]

"Ppsssh, "I'm bullet proof." Ben begins to reply over his shoulder when R. Lee Ermey's voice interrupts him. "What the hell?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Prewar building security. It's a Mr. Gutsy robot," Ellen murmurs, readying her plasma rifle. "They hover and they have flamethrowers and energy weapons."

"Well, since you won't do the world a favor and kill yourself, I guess I'm going to have to do it for you!"

"... and they don't shut up until they're dead."

[gammagammahey.livejournal.com]

"'Mr. Gutsy'? Ellen, please tell me you made up that name."

Then she hears what Mr. Gutsy has to say and laughs audibly. But these Gutsys could kill her mission partners, so she has to supress more silent hilarity. This mission is no laughing matter.

"Who wants this one? Ben and I can be in front and take the brunt of fire if that sits well with everyone else."

She's already moving towards what she judges the front of the pack.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Nope. General Atomics product. Mr. Gutsy was the military model, Mr. Handy the household caretaker."

She thinks for a minute and adds, "It's pretty thick armor but it'll go down if you shoot it with enough ordinary bullets. Anyone who wants a crack at it can have one."

[unbreakableben]

"Please do not tell me the name of the service model." Ben manages to not laugh himself but he can't resist quipping. THen, not one to be left behind, he charges after Jen, doing a zip zag like he had the game scoring ball in his hands.

[gammagammahey.livejournal.com]

Shulkie has just realized that the size of the chamber somewhat precludes a front to back formation.

"Maybe we should do a circle the wagon formation," she whispers. "Threats can come from any direction, right?"

Meanwhie, she's hoping someone is dealing with Mr. Gutsy, otherwise she'll go put it out of its commie-hating misery herself.

[unbreakableben]

Ben nods to Jen as he splits off and heads towards the side corridor the sound of Mr. Gutsy is coming from. He can't help wondering what the robot is talking to.

"How high do they fly?" he asks in a stage whisper. He grips Fawkes' hammer in anticipation but holds off until the word is given to attack.

[calmhrtprevails]

"No higher," rumbles Fawkes, "than the height of a man. Come out and fight!""

He's... not much fond of waiting for his foes. And the Mr. Gutsy that swings into view, a livid green glow writhing around the end of one of its snakelike arms, apparently isn't either.

[unbreakableben]

Ben tightens his grip on the Hammer of Awesomeness, cocks it back for a good swing and calls out, "Anyone want to debate on the merits of Socialism?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The robot doesn't seem inclined to talk, alas. It's busy opening fire on the nearest members of the group, flinging bolts of green plasma very like the ones Ellen's rifle produces at anybody too slow to get out of the way.

[boston_bruiser]

It's not wasting any time, is it? Voodoo sights in and opens fire on the robot. With the group they've got, this'll be no contest.

He almost pities it.

Almost.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Mr. Gutsys are reasonably well-armored. Then again, so were the Enclave. And the appropriate ammunition is currently in use for dealing with that kind of thing. And Voodoo's got assistance in the form of Ellen's own plasma fire.

That poor, poor robot.

... well, not really, given that it's still howling insults and spraying actual fire as Voodoo's armor-piercing bullets finally rip it apart. Fortunately, the explosion is a relatively small one. you wouldn't want to get hit with some of the shrapnel that thing threw out.

"Nice shooting, Voodoo," Ellen says. "Where there's one of those there's usually more.... keep an eye out, just in case. Does anyone want the thing's energy cells or the fission battery? Those are usually pretty well shielded."

[unbreakableben]

Ben also happens to make a pretty good shield for a lot fo that very same shrapnel. In fact it almost tickles.

"Any chance of them dropping from above?" he asks as he looks around. He's not interested in energy cells or fission batteries though it's almost tempting to bring one back for Reed. Of course then he'd have to explain where he got it and that would just open a huge can of worms.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"The thrusters won't get them that high off the ground," Ellen says as she moves forward to start scouring the heap of debris for salvageable parts. "But there may be lasers or conventional guns mounted on the ceiling for security. They've got limited arcs of fire."



(OOC: If anyone wanted to break up into smaller groups for timing's sake I'll be happy to do that now.)

[boston_bruiser]

"If you ask me, I think we oughta split up," says Voodoo. "We can clear this place faster, and one booby-trap won't get all of us."

We never said anything about him being an optimist, either.

"I got a radio. What's your freq, Ellen?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen rattles off the number and adds, "It doesn't have much range, but it should do anywhere in this building." She then looks over at the others. "Who wants to go with who?"



[OOC: I've set up two threads below, one for people who want to fight sentrybot-level enemies and one for people who want to go through the R&D area, which is mostly turret guns and Gutsies. If you want something else out of this encounter and/or have timing/availability issues I can set up a third thread as needed.]

Team "PAM! BULLETS WON'T STOP IT!"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

From the look of things there aren't any humans around here and there haven't been for a long time. There's dust on the floor, and it's streaked with the mark of wheels as wide as a human hand- at least where it's not scorched down by the passing of ancient thrusters. At least there's none of the dank, rotting-meat reek of the tunnels below Olney here, only dust and a whiff of ozone.

This isn't the office area of the powerworks, not by any stretch of the imagination. This is where the work gets done. There are faded signs on the walls that speak of hydrogen reserves and mass relays*, and the old scientific emblems warning of danger and explosion hazards.

YOu could make a pretty good fortress out of this part of the powerworks, if you didn't mind the strong chance that whatever finally defeated you would inevitably send the whole place up in a fireball to rival Minor Scale.



*[OOC: We wish we were kidding. We've played too much Mass Effect 2 not to twitch at the term. But there's ruins marked 'MDPL Mass Relay' and 'VAPL Mass Relay' on the map, so... yeah.]

Team "Anything I Can Pry Loose Is Not Nailed Down"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

One of the doors on the ground floor was still more or less on its hinges, and had a sign reading O ICES F R SEA CH & DEV nailed to it. Beyond it lay a flight of decrepit but still functional stairs. That looked promising.

The fact that there was a faint whirring noise and something bolted to the ceiling up at the top of the stairs was slowly turning its winking red light in the direction of the doorway was not.

Re: Team "PAM! BULLETS WON'T STOP IT!"

[unbreakableben]

He's not too sure what 'hydrogen reserves' and 'mass relays' are but the warning of explosion hazards is clear enough. He'll step carefully for now...at least until something jumps out at them, but the tension is a bit much so he flexes his fists a few times (having returned the Hammer of Awesomeness to Fawkes) to relieve the stress.

"Marco..."

Re: Team "Anything I Can Pry Loose Is Not Nailed Down"

[gammagammahey.livejournal.com]

"Nice shooting. I'll go with Ellen. Someone's got to carry this Tesla coil up top. Who else is with Ellen?"

Jen directs this at Voodoo and company before turning her attention back to Ellen and following her.

The whirring sound she definitely hears.

"Bogey at twelve o'clock, guys! Any idea what it is, Ellen?"