[IC] Depths of the Vallis (dead)

[WolfmanX9]

16 hours ago, DarthContusion said:

Suno took the opportunity to cast a Splinter Storm on her nearest allies, the Grineer duo. Though, not much was getting through the combination of her glass barrier and the Arctic Eximus' wall.

She was impressed at how quickly her allies had routed the Corpus opposition. She checked her radar, to be safe.

"We have nullifiers on route!" she called out, nervously readying her Zaw, a heavy bladed Dokrahm. Then she blasted the glass barrier apart, and with that the laser barriers were finished. The glass would be of no use against the nullifiers anyway.

Suddenly, another blip appeared on the radar, and a shadow appeared from on high. The nullifiers paused and the sound of gunfire could be heard in the distance. A hideous cry sounded from that direction, and, one by one, their blips on the radar faded away as they encountered the shadowy creature.

"Oh God, oh Void, it's coming," hissed the captive foreman. "You have to let me go."

"I'm not doing that until you answer a few questions," Suno replied as nonchalantly as she could manage. She turned to others. "Anything you all want to know?"

(OoC: Ask questions of the foreman, and I (he) will respond)

Dante turned his attention to the captive foreman to ask a “simple” question or at least simple in his mind.

”How come you asked the Solaris first for help and not the Tenno directly? Wouldn’t want Nef anyo finding out or something?”

[UnremarkableUsername]

The Arson Eximus put a heavy hand on Dante's shoulder, towering over his warframe.  "That's a question for high officers.  We have more immediate issues," she said.  She had not even a hint of a grineer accent, but she spoke with the deliberate and measured rhythm of a second-language speaker.

She looked at the Corpus man with a pale-green eye.
"Is there anything in particular that attracts the thing's attention, or which scares it away?  And, has anyone actually seen it and lived to tell the tale?"

[DarthContusion]

 

10 hours ago, WolfmanX9 said:

Dante turned his attention to the captive foreman to ask a “simple” question or at least simple in his mind.

”How come you asked the Solaris first for help and not the Tenno directly? Wouldn’t want Nef anyo finding out or something?”

The foreman shook his head frantically. "I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't ask anyone for help. If someone asked for help it had nothing to do with me."

9 hours ago, UnremarkableUsername said:

The Arson Eximus put a heavy hand on Dante's shoulder, towering over his warframe.  "That's a question for high officers.  We have more immediate issues," she said.  She had not even a hint of a grineer accent, but she spoke with the deliberate and measured rhythm of a second-language speaker.

She looked at the Corpus man with a pale-green eye.
"Is there anything in particular that attracts the thing's attention, or which scares it away?  And, has anyone actually seen it and lived to tell the tale?"

"Well it likes shiny things. Probably why it attacked our nullifiers, haha," he laughed nervously. "It takes out our automated probes. It's some sort of Condrac, so far as we can gather. As for what scares it... There is one thing... but..."

His pupils moved back and forth.

(theme of exposition)

"We don't know what it looks like or what it is. There is another monster. Wherever it strikes, that Condrac doesn't even clean up the entrails. It preys on us all and we never see it or hear it. We thought... it might be one of you, but..." he shook his head. "That's all I know. It's only a matter of time before we kill that giant bird."

Suno tapped the man's forehead condescendingly. "Okay, so you're saying, to be clear, that flying thing isn't the monster we're looking for. But they are connected somehow."

"I don't know, I don't know. We never know what you want or what you're doing, Tenno. You kill us and that's all we know."

Suno looked around, "What do you think? Anyone got anything else they want to ask?"

[EpicdudeX]

On 2021-01-03 at 5:16 PM, DarthContusion said:

Suno took the opportunity to cast a Splinter Storm on her nearest allies, the Grineer duo. Though, not much was getting through the combination of her glass barrier and the Arctic Eximus' wall.

She was impressed at how quickly her allies had routed the Corpus opposition. She checked her radar, to be safe.

"We have nullifiers on route!" she called out, nervously readying her Zaw, a heavy bladed Dokrahm. Then she blasted the glass barrier apart, and with that the laser barriers were finished. The glass would be of no use against the nullifiers anyway.

Suddenly, another blip appeared on the radar, and a shadow appeared from on high. The nullifiers paused and the sound of gunfire could be heard in the distance. A hideous cry sounded from that direction, and, one by one, their blips on the radar faded away as they encountered the shadowy creature.

"Oh God, oh Void, it's coming," hissed the captive foreman. "You have to let me go."

"I'm not doing that until you answer a few questions," Suno replied as nonchalantly as she could manage. She turned to others. "Anything you all want to know?"

(OoC: Ask questions of the foreman, and I (he) will respond)

14 minutes ago, DarthContusion said:

 

The foreman shook his head frantically. "I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't ask anyone for help. If someone asked for help it had nothing to do with me."

"Well it likes shiny things. Probably why it attacked our nullifiers, haha," he laughed nervously. "It takes out our automated probes. It's some sort of Condrac, so far as we can gather. As for what scares it... There is one thing... but..."

His pupils moved back and forth.

"We don't know what it looks like or what it is. There is another monster. Wherever it strikes, that Condrac doesn't even clean up the entrails. It preys on us all and we never see it or hear it. We thought... it might be one of you, but..." he shook his head. "That's all I know. It's only a matter of time before we kill that giant bird."

Suno tapped the man's forehead condescendingly. "Okay, so you're saying, to be clear, that flying thing isn't the monster we're looking for. But they are connected somehow."

"I don't know, I don't know. We never know what you want or what you're doing, Tenno. You kill us and that's all we know."

Suno looked around, "What do you think? Anyone got anything else they want to ask?"

"I have one." Kacilius stood up and walked over, leaning slightly too close to the foreman. "Let's see... how long has Nef Anyo known about this 'monster'?"

[DarthContusion]

23 minutes ago, EpicdudeX said:

"I have one." Kacilius stood up and walked over, leaning slightly too close to the foreman. "Let's see... how long has Nef Anyo known about this 'monster'?"

"How long? Who can say? Nef Anyo is wise beyond all of us. How else could he amass such profit? But... To tell you the truth, I'm a recent arrival, Venus is new to me. But Nef Anyo is acting quickly in his shareholders' best interests. He must have foreseen this. He truly has a big heart. If I had that kind of foresight, I wouldn't have set foot on the planet to begin with. He's willing to take these risks for the sake of our finances," the foreman answered.

Suno groaned. She hated dealing with these guys and their weird money ideology.

"Alright. We know the monster in the sky is a giant bird that likes shiny things. That makes flying a risk. Without a plan, something that hits that hard that fast will make mincemeat out of the best of us. But we don't know much about what will come for us if we travel by ground, and we still might get attacked by that bird," Suno murmured. 

[WolfmanX9]

Dante thought about what the foreman has told them for a moment before he continued to speak with one of his hands holding his chin.

"So if this bird like shiny stuff, maybe we could lure it out by using anything shiny and maybe that would allow us to see the real monster, somehow. Does the shiny thing have to be made out of things that shine? Cause I could always gather a pile of gems from nearby gem veins and use that as the bait, maybe even use some fruit from orb valis as food bait, just in case. That's one plan we could try out, unless anyone else has a better idea, then I'm up for it"

[UnremarkableUsername]

12 hours ago, WolfmanX9 said:

Dante thought about what the foreman has told them for a moment before he continued to speak with one of his hands holding his chin.

"So if this bird like shiny stuff, maybe we could lure it out by using anything shiny and maybe that would allow us to see the real monster, somehow. Does the shiny thing have to be made out of things that shine? Cause I could always gather a pile of gems from nearby gem veins and use that as the bait, maybe even use some fruit from orb valis as food bait, just in case. That's one plan we could try out, unless anyone else has a better idea, then I'm up for it"

The Arson Eximus looked at him with an unimpressed expression.

"I could make a big, bright fire.  I could make my armor glow.  When it comes close, I could see it, or throw fire at it."

She addressed the group.  "Didn't we have a mission out here?"

 

[DarthContusion]

2 hours ago, UnremarkableUsername said:

The Arson Eximus looked at him with an unimpressed expression.

"I could make a big, bright fire.  I could make my armor glow.  When it comes close, I could see it, or throw fire at it."

She addressed the group.  "Didn't we have a mission out here?"

 

Suno took a deep breath. It seems like everyone had gotten lost in the excitement about the bird.

"That's right. The reason the bird is a problem is because we could be attacked en route to our destination if we travel by air. We can try to travel by land, but we don't have much intel about what might happen there. We know the way that bird is connected to the second monster is that the bird avoids it like the plague, which suggests it is able to track it somehow. Our mission is to gather intel by raiding a corpus facility and abducting one of their scientists. What we need to do now is to decide which risk we want to take to get there."

[WolfmanX9]

1 hour ago, DarthContusion said:

Suno took a deep breath. It seems like everyone had gotten lost in the excitement about the bird.

"That's right. The reason the bird is a problem is because we could be attacked en route to our destination if we travel by air. We can try to travel by land, but we don't have much intel about what might happen there. We know the way that bird is connected to the second monster is that the bird avoids it like the plague, which suggests it is able to track it somehow. Our mission is to gather intel by raiding a corpus facility and abducting one of their scientists. What we need to do now is to decide which risk we want to take to get there."

“What about using the caves to travel to our destination? If said option is possible that is. We Tenno are a lot more...efficient in close spaces after all” he suggested as one idea. Cause he had a feeling that not everyone has a k-drive or tamed Velocipod to use.

 

[EpicdudeX]

1 hour ago, DarthContusion said:

Suno took a deep breath. It seems like everyone had gotten lost in the excitement about the bird.

"That's right. The reason the bird is a problem is because we could be attacked en route to our destination if we travel by air. We can try to travel by land, but we don't have much intel about what might happen there. We know the way that bird is connected to the second monster is that the bird avoids it like the plague, which suggests it is able to track it somehow. Our mission is to gather intel by raiding a corpus facility and abducting one of their scientists. What we need to do now is to decide which risk we want to take to get there."

"Hmm... do you want a distraction? Vlad and I are good at that." Kacilius said with a smirk. "I can fly fast enough with my Itzal and use Penumbra (Cloak) if I need to, so a flying beast shouldn't be much of a problem." Vlad nodded. "Let us go. I've got some pent up stress I need to release."

[DarthContusion]

On 2021-01-05 at 12:27 PM, EpicdudeX said:

"Hmm... do you want a distraction? Vlad and I are good at that." Kacilius said with a smirk. "I can fly fast enough with my Itzal and use Penumbra (Cloak) if I need to, so a flying beast shouldn't be much of a problem." Vlad nodded. "Let us go. I've got some pent up stress I need to release."

"Well I guess if your mind is made up..." Suno grumbled. She was glad someone was taking the initiative, truth be told, but 

 

On 2021-01-05 at 12:09 PM, WolfmanX9 said:

“What about using the caves to travel to our destination? If said option is possible that is. We Tenno are a lot more...efficient in close spaces after all” he suggested as one idea. Cause he had a feeling that not everyone has a k-drive or tamed Velocipod to use.

 

"We could do that, but we've got a monster down there we know nothing about. At least those two-" she gestured at the sketchy Tenno "-can keep the bird off our backs if we make a run for the caves though...

"And who all has an archwing here? I guess we might end up having to travel by ground anyway. Dante could be right about the caves being more efficient."

[WolfmanX9]

2 hours ago, DarthContusion said:

"Well I guess if your mind is made up..." Suno grumbled. She was glad someone was taking the initiative, truth be told, but 

 

"We could do that, but we've got a monster down there we know nothing about. At least those two-" she gestured at the sketchy Tenno "-can keep the bird off our backs if we make a run for the caves though...

"And who all has an archwing here? I guess we might end up having to travel by ground anyway. Dante could be right about the caves being more efficient."

Dante didn’t say anything when it came to the question, he simply held a hand up to signal that he had an archwing, ready to be deployed if needed.

[UnremarkableUsername]

On 2021-01-07 at 2:24 PM, DarthContusion said:

"Well I guess if your mind is made up..." Suno grumbled. She was glad someone was taking the initiative, truth be told, but 

 

"We could do that, but we've got a monster down there we know nothing about. At least those two-" she gestured at the sketchy Tenno "-can keep the bird off our backs if we make a run for the caves though...

"And who all has an archwing here? I guess we might end up having to travel by ground anyway. Dante could be right about the caves being more efficient."

On 2021-01-07 at 4:54 PM, WolfmanX9 said:

Dante didn’t say anything when it came to the question, he simply held a hand up to signal that he had an archwing, ready to be deployed if needed.

"We'll have to walk, obviously," the Arctic Eximus said.  Her voice carried a sharp edge of annoyance.  "And we should get moving.  It'll take a while on foot, and if we stay in one place too long, we might get some firsthand knowledge of the creature's gut."

[WolfmanX9]

3 hours ago, UnremarkableUsername said:

"We'll have to walk, obviously," the Arctic Eximus said.  Her voice carried a sharp edge of annoyance.  "And we should get moving.  It'll take a while on foot, and if we stay in one place too long, we might get some firsthand knowledge of the creature's gut."

"Right, who want to take the lead? Preferably someone who can take a beating if things get harry" he asked in a neutral tone, not really wanted to be the one to take the lead as hes more of a support kind of tenno.

[DarthContusion]

16 hours ago, WolfmanX9 said:

"Right, who want to take the lead? Preferably someone who can take a beating if things get harry" he asked in a neutral tone, not really wanted to be the one to take the lead as hes more of a support kind of tenno.

Grumbling lightly, Suno pulled up the map and decided to make a beeline for the nearest cave. She casted shards on herself just to be safe, but she worried it wouldn't be enough against whatever they might face.

She called back to Vlad, "You guys are gonna be the decoy, right? Contact me on the com and I'll throw down a waypoint once you're safe."

A cry rang out over the Vallis. The bird had finished its meal and was on the way.

[EpicdudeX]

20 hours ago, UnremarkableUsername said:

"We'll have to walk, obviously," the Arctic Eximus said.  Her voice carried a sharp edge of annoyance.  "And we should get moving.  It'll take a while on foot, and if we stay in one place too long, we might get some firsthand knowledge of the creature's gut."

17 hours ago, WolfmanX9 said:

"Right, who want to take the lead? Preferably someone who can take a beating if things get harry" he asked in a neutral tone, not really wanted to be the one to take the lead as hes more of a support kind of tenno.

15 minutes ago, DarthContusion said:

Grumbling lightly, Suno pulled up the map and decided to make a beeline for the nearest cave. She casted shards on herself just to be safe, but she worried it wouldn't be enough against whatever they might face.

She called back to Vlad, "You guys are gonna be the decoy, right? Contact me on the com and I'll throw down a waypoint once you're safe."

A cry rang out over the Vallis. The bird had finished its meal and was on the way.

"We'll take decoy duty." Kacilius said as he called down his Itzal.  "If anything happens, we'll tell you guys." Vlad nodded and took to the skies as well. "Kacilius. What do you think this 'monster' is?" Kacilius shrugged. "Could be anything at this point." "I'll enjoy ripping it apart." "Alright. Just don't splash us with the guts. Now let's see what bird we're cooking today."

[WolfmanX9]

4 hours ago, DarthContusion said:

Grumbling lightly, Suno pulled up the map and decided to make a beeline for the nearest cave. She casted shards on herself just to be safe, but she worried it wouldn't be enough against whatever they might face.

She called back to Vlad, "You guys are gonna be the decoy, right? Contact me on the com and I'll throw down a waypoint once you're safe."

A cry rang out over the Vallis. The bird had finished its meal and was on the way.

Dante simply followed Suno, having his Stradavar in his hands just in case of hostile. Could never be too careful.

[DarthContusion]

The bird soared into view above Kacillus and Vlad. It was truly enormous, at least 10 feet tall and with a wingspan of around 30 feet. Its body was green and orange, like a parrot, and it screamed loud enough to cause Tenno armor to shake. Its beak was hooked cruelly, ideal for piercing cold flesh and tearing innards, and its talons were similarly fearsome. The thick, black, keratin-like substance composing the beak also went on to cover its face, providing a helmet of sorts. It flapped its massive wings and sent an enormous blast of air towards the pair of Tenno.

Meanwhile, Suno and co. had almost reached the caves. Suno hesitated a second to look back at the bird and sent Kacillus one last message over coms: “If things get bad, please for the love of anything just run, I don’t care how stubborn you are.”

As the group entered the caves, the lifesign of the Corpus foreman quietly blinked out behind them just before he would have exited radar range.

[OoC: I'll make a second post detailing the inside of the caves tomorrow, my head hurts. If you think of something you want to post in the mean time go ahead.]

[DarthContusion]

The inside of the cave was unnaturally quiet. There were coolant pools with nothing swimming in them. There were no plants or moss. There were no corpus patrols, no animal scents, and no animal tracks. Something was very wrong.

Suddenly a whooshing sound filled the cave. Air was flowing in or out from somewhere. And just as suddenly, it stopped.

Suno readied her Komorex, and walked in slowly. She looked around carefully, for any sign of activity at all. She gulped nervously. How much was this mission worth again?

Finally, her gaze settled upon something. It was on the ceiling, clinging spider-like to the top of the cave. She couldn't quite see it clearly as it skittered further into the cave and out of view.

[UnremarkableUsername]

((my characters never actually introduced themselves lol, I'll just assume they did that in the elevator, "off camera" as it were.  Anak is the tall arson eximus, Kelekh is the ballista artic eximus.))

6 hours ago, DarthContusion said:

Finally, her gaze settled upon something. It was on the ceiling, clinging spider-like to the top of the cave. She couldn't quite see it clearly as it skittered further into the cave and out of view.

Anak thrust her fist forward, a punching motion into the air that sent a fireball into the dark, toward the creature.

[WolfmanX9]

On 2021-01-17 at 8:25 PM, DarthContusion said:

Finally, her gaze settled upon something. It was on the ceiling, clinging spider-like to the top of the cave. She couldn't quite see it clearly as it skittered further into the cave and out of view.

Dante looked at Gaze, wonder what she was doing and when he realized that she was looking at something or someone, he look at the same direction and prepared himself by steady his Stradavar, followed by having his trigger finger ready and aimed his weapon. Maybe it was one of the raknoids?

[DarthContusion]

Anak’s fireball illuminated the dark cave. It was not, indeed, a raknoid, it was something else, something humanoid. It was a Warframe. Suno couldn’t quite make out what model it was, but it again skittered deeper into the cave, crab-walking on the ceiling as though it were a 3d model stretched over the wrong skeleton.

“What the hell?” Suno whispered. "Are we following that?"

[WolfmanX9]

11 hours ago, DarthContusion said:

Anak’s fireball illuminated the dark cave. It was not, indeed, a raknoid, it was something else, something humanoid. It was a Warframe. Suno couldn’t quite make out what model it was, but it again skittered deeper into the cave, crab-walking on the ceiling as though it were a 3d model stretched over the wrong skeleton.

“What the hell?” Suno whispered. "Are we following that?"

"I suppose a small detour wont hurt, otherwise this mystery may haunt our mind for a while and so on" he bluntly whispered, probably making the whole curiosity of this mystery "warframe" worse. Although to be fair, he wanted to find out as well.

[EpicdudeX]

On 2021-01-16 at 5:06 PM, DarthContusion said:

The bird soared into view above Kacillus and Vlad. It was truly enormous, at least 10 feet tall and with a wingspan of around 30 feet. Its body was green and orange, like a parrot, and it screamed loud enough to cause Tenno armor to shake. Its beak was hooked cruelly, ideal for piercing cold flesh and tearing innards, and its talons were similarly fearsome. The thick, black, keratin-like substance composing the beak also went on to cover its face, providing a helmet of sorts. It flapped its massive wings and sent an enormous blast of air towards the pair of Tenno.

Meanwhile, Suno and co. had almost reached the caves. Suno hesitated a second to look back at the bird and sent Kacillus one last message over coms: “If things get bad, please for the love of anything just run, I don’t care how stubborn you are.”

As the group entered the caves, the lifesign of the Corpus foreman quietly blinked out behind them just before he would have exited radar range.

[OoC: I'll make a second post detailing the inside of the caves tomorrow, my head hurts. If you think of something you want to post in the mean time go ahead.]

"Turbulence!" Kacilius rolled to the left of the air blast, while Vlad rolled to the right. "We've got a feisty one!" Kacilius Blinked towards the bird, trying to startle it, while Vlad fired several arrows at the wings. "Kacilius, fall back!" Vlad yelled as he activated Fighter Escort, scattering his Locust Drones. Kacilius activated Penumbra and tried flying under the bird for a surprise attack.

[DarthContusion]

On 2021-01-20 at 10:36 AM, EpicdudeX said:

"Turbulence!" Kacilius rolled to the left of the air blast, while Vlad rolled to the right. "We've got a feisty one!" Kacilius Blinked towards the bird, trying to startle it, while Vlad fired several arrows at the wings. "Kacilius, fall back!" Vlad yelled as he activated Fighter Escort, scattering his Locust Drones. Kacilius activated Penumbra and tried flying under the bird for a surprise attack.

[Post 1/2, will post again tomorrow for the cave squad]

Perhaps the bird was sharper than Vlad and Kacillus were giving it credit for. It did notice Kacillus vanish, although it had no idea what to make of it other than “DANGER!” It was otherwise unimpressed with Kacillus’ increase of velocity. Thick, armor-like feathers caught the arrows in their bulk, though clearly the bird was not a fan of carrying the arrows with it.

It flapped its wings downward, propelling itself higher into the sky in another attempt to destabilize the Tenno in flight and scatter the smaller, lighter combat drones. From its heightened position, it folded its wings back and dove straight down at Vlad, hoping to bash him with its armor-clad face.