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Post by Joe Fischer on Sept 6, 2014 17:06:55 GMT -6
Joe, having already put his helmet and gauntlets back on, smiled at the krogan's remark even if no one could see it.
Removing the Typhoon from the cinch on his armor, he stepped to one side of the entrance hatch and flicked off the machine gun's safety.
"Time to earn our paychecks, everyone," he said through his external speakers.
He then looked over at Lysander and said, "Hey Pops, remember: you point the barrel of the gun at the bad guys."
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Post by Game Master on Sept 6, 2014 22:54:31 GMT -6
The docking bay's kinetic barrier shimmered as the former Cerberus shuttle flew through it, entering into the Collector base and safely setting down with a gentle thud. Anelya released the breath she didn't know she held, deciding to not cut the engines. "We landed safely," she called back, pulling up the Vengeance's passive sensor readings. "And it looks empty out there. Three other shuttles. No power readings from them. That's all I'm getting right now." She glanced back at everyone. "Opening the door now! Good luck." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the Collector Base: Docking Bay. The walls of the Collector Base have an organic appearance to them, with shades of brown and black mixed in with bizarre glowing red combs (hexagon pattern). (see pictures of the Collector ship and base from Mass Effect 2). - Sections are fairly well lit, others blanketed in shadow.
- One major passage enters into the base. An unknown pile lies in the middle of it.
- Three unknown shuttles rests in the shuttle bay. They are similar in shape to a cocoon, except with a viewport in front.
- A panel is present to the side of the open docking bay doors.
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Post by Maelstrom on Sept 7, 2014 0:03:46 GMT -6
Maelstrom looked about at the three docked shuttles. If they were to use the same docking bay for extraction, the enemy craft would need to be dealt with promptly. He started back towards the armory before thinking better of it. While he definitely had a passion for causing explosions in enemy fortresses, there was one man on the ship that certainly had more finesse when it came to such things.
"Lysander. You have some charges that can take those three birds out, or should I use mine? Explosions will take out half the bay," Maelstrom said.
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Post by Morgan Bryn on Sept 7, 2014 0:31:04 GMT -6
Morgan had given up doing much of anything at all on the Vengeance after the fourth time she'd been chastised by Maelstrom's VI for doing anything short of breathing.
She spent the remainder of the flight in the back of the shuttle with her feet kicked out and her arms folded across her chest, lost in the melody of music playing loudly over her headset. Her face-mask was clipped into place, the goggle portion almost dark enough to obscure her closed eyes, and the breather a completely opaque metal. Her hair still stuck out the top and back of the apparatus, but otherwise, her face and ears were completely hidden.
Morgan stayed still until she felt the shudder of the vessel as it touched down, and only then did she open her eyes, standing up and stretching as the hatch was opened.
The young woman ducked out of the hatch, her feet touching down on the slightly soft, organic surface of what passed as the base's deck plating and she made a face.
"Okay... ew," she commented as she took in their completely foreign surroundings, noting some sort of panel off to the side of the doors across the bay.
Beside her Maelstrom had filed out as well and turned back to Eric. "Lysander. You have some charges that can take those three birds out, or should I use mine? Explosions will take out half the bay," Maelstrom said.
Morgan turned on the biotic with an incredulous look hidden behind her breath mask. "Explosives? Do you want to announce our presence to every Collector on the damn base?" Morgan blurted out before she could stop herself.
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Post by Esteban Bridges on Sept 7, 2014 0:49:23 GMT -6
Esteban exited the the craft shortly after Morgan, taking the extra moment to pull out his M-5 Phalanx before his feet hit the base's floor. He looked around, not certain what he was looking at. The walls did not look like any metal he was immediately familiar with. It almost looked like an insect shell. He frowned, stepping to the side while his helmet's HUD began a readout of the surroundings. His pistol dropped down to his side once he visually confirmed no danger was present.
"Lysander. You have some charges that can take those three birds out, or should I use mine? Explosions will take out half the bay," Maelstrom said.
"Explosives? Do you want to announce our presence to every Collector on the damn base?" Morgan's voice rang out in response.
Esteban activated his helmet's speaker with a quick flick of his tongue. "Maelstrom," Esteban looked over at the mercenary through his helmet's tinted visor. "I concur with Morgan. In addition, this is our only known escape route. Don't destroy our only way off the base."
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Post by Joe Fischer on Sept 7, 2014 3:29:44 GMT -6
After making sure he was the first to exit the shuttle, Joe took in the room: No Collectors. Three shuttles. Open panel by the doors. One passage leading into the base.
He moved as quickly and as quietly as he could to the passage entrance and took up a defensive position; the last thing they needed was for some drone to show up and ruin any chance for a quiet insertion.
Over his comm set he heard a discussion about blowing up the Collector shuttles and he decided to throw his two cents in.
"Maelstrom, I understand the need for eliminating pursuit, but I'm sure there's a way it can done more quietly," he said.
Or did you forget that this is a stealth operation?
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Post by Eric Lysander on Sept 7, 2014 9:09:03 GMT -6
"I'm not seeing any activity in there," the Asari read from the scan's summary that she pulled up. "And it looks like there's a power feed coming from a panel to side right there..." She stopped long enough to create a holographic rectangle to the right of the open door. "I think that's the controls...."
"Should come in handy later on," commented Eric.
Her expression softened. "I can safely set us down there in thirty seconds..." She looked back at everyone around. "Is everyone ready?"
Eric straightened up and rolled his shoulders. "We'd better be or this'll be the shortest boarding party of all time."
"Time to earn our paychecks, everyone," Joe said through his external speakers as he turned to Lysander and said, "Hey Pops, remember: you point the barrel of the gun at the bad guys."
"Sure thing, kid. Just remember: ya arm the grenades first before ya throw 'em," Eric fired back without missing a beat, smirking beneath his helmet.
The Vengeance was able to set down inside the enemy docking bay without incident.
"We landed safely," Analeya called. "And it looks empty out there. Three other shuttles. No power readings from them. That's all I'm getting right now... opening the door now! Good luck."
"Be careful and watch each other's backs, guys," Eric commed to Analeya, Enaleya and Murdoch.
Eric and the team silently poured out of the Vengeance and formed an informal half-perimeter about their shuttle, taking in what the asari twins' readings suggested. It reminded Eric of the inside of an irradiated beehive. There were some parts of the bay obscured in shadow. Ahead was a large hallway leading further into the base; there was a pile of something in the middle of it.
Maelstrom noted the three Collector craft in the docking bay with them. "Lysander. You have some charges that can take those three birds out, or should I use mine? Explosions will take out half the bay," Maelstrom said.
Morgan, Esteban and Joe all voiced their disapproval in drawing attention to themselves too soon. Eric looked over the three shuttles.
"I have a better idea," he said finally. "The Collectors like turnin' our stuff against us, right? The twins 'n Murdoch'll have this place covered. They can only come in through that passageway and from outside; they can keep troops from trying to board 'em. And if we find ourselves comin' back with more prisoners than Vengeance can carry..."
Eric swept an arm at the three Collector ships in a dramatic gesture. "... but let's make sure no one's already asleep inside 'em first. If we manage to find data maybe there'll be an instruction manual or control codes for these things. Mal can feed 'em to Emily and we can fly out with them in tow."
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Post by Maelstrom on Sept 7, 2014 11:10:13 GMT -6
"Don't destroy our only way off the base," Bridges said.
Maelstrom ignored the comment from the stow away. She had not worked with him before, and their first encounter was not one that most people would associate with a sane person. The same from Fischer. For Bridges to think that, though, stung a little.
"I'm not that dense," he said, trying to keep any defensiveness out of his voice. "We rig them up with concealed charges. Blow them on our way out... or when they fly out of the hangar after Vengeance. Not that hard to rig up a remote detonator quick..."
Eric voiced his own plan. "Mal can feed 'em to Emily and we can fly out with them in tow."
"If you're actually thinking of taking one of these things, we need an engineer to give them a thorough going over. I mean, how hard would it be for the Collectors to hack and remotely fly their own ships? We'd need to make sure all the on-board transmitters were destroyed first."
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Post by Eric Lysander on Sept 7, 2014 13:26:36 GMT -6
Malestrom turned to Eric "If you're actually thinking of taking one of these things, we need an engineer to give them a thorough going over. I mean, how hard would it be for the Collectors to hack and remotely fly their own ships? We'd need to make sure all the on-board transmitters were destroyed first."
Eric nodded. "Agreed. Okay, first order of business is to secure our beachhead before we go any further. Go over the docking bay n' make sure there're no surprises, lay down some remote charges at key points. Inspect th' ships, prep 'em ta use or scuttle when the time comes. Give Murdoch an' th' twins an edge if things get bad."
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Post by Esteban Bridges on Sept 7, 2014 18:20:13 GMT -6
".......Inspect th' ships, prep 'em ta use or scuttle when the time comes. Give Murdoch an' th' twins an edge if things get bad."
Esteban said nothing at first, rather heading past them all and over to the wall panel. It resembled many wall panels he worked on before. It was delineated with a rectangle, the only hint that it was actually there. He ran his armored hand over it, feeling every bump and imperfection of the unknown material. He seemed to be looking for something...
"there you are...." he whispered softly, pulling his hand away. He brushed his fingers over his armor's forearm, activating his omnitool. His HUD flashed and transformed, showing a miniature person in the lower right corner of his vision.
"How may I help you sir?" Data asked, standing at attention.
Esteban waved his open palm over the wall panel, connecting it to his omnitool.
"No need," he responded to his VI, his eyes reflecting the plethora of data flashing across his HUD. "I should be able to handle this..."
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Post by Weyrloc Karn on Sept 8, 2014 7:27:22 GMT -6
The light thud of armor hitting the alien floor gave a small resonating sound amongst the party inside the collector ship. Karn finally hopped out from the shuttle, before inspecting around the area for what he could see, his view noting everything around. It was alien to him, alright.. Most don't get to see such a sight and live to tell the tale, so for that was the only thought he had stuck in his mind, the thought of keeping alive during this mess of an 'operation'. Regardless of what he thought, he soon moves up over towards the group, soon hearing their bickers.
"Can we not discuss blowin' shit up before we get this thing done already?", he responds to the mass of 'explosive' questions with a simple grunt.
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Post by Eric Lysander on Sept 8, 2014 13:30:42 GMT -6
Eric motioned for the group to disperse and reconnoiter the docking bay as he outlined. His employer went over to the panel that Anelya had picked up on her scans and activated his omni-tool. After confirming that his section of the docking bay was secure he looked in Esteban’s direction. The affluent engineer seemed to be making progress.
“How’s that panel comin’ Fearless Leader?” he radioed.
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Post by Esteban Bridges on Sept 8, 2014 22:39:34 GMT -6
Esteban's radio crackled to life. He calculated a minute left before the jamming signal would begin. “How’s that panel comin’ Fearless Leader?”
Esteban did not respond at first, concentrating on his task at hand. He was finishing analyzing the data stream from the Collector internal sensors. The Alliance reports were proving to be shockingly accurate in this case. The Collectors did not seem to view their own internal sensors as important, the security protecting it was lackluster. If he was not aware of this before hand, he would swear it was a trap.
His omnitool flashed once, signaling that the data was compiled and the map was completed.
"I have what we need," Esteban responded confidently, his smile carrying through in his voice. "Transferring the map over to everyone's omnitool now."
Esteban turned away from the panel, walking back over to the main group. He tapped the holographic button on his omnitool while he extended his arm out, causing a map of the base to project upwards. To call it complex would be an understatement. There was so much detail, it was nearly overwhelming. There were hundreds of pathways and hundreds of rooms spread out throughout this planetoid. With this much complexity, the Collectors had to have been working on this for at least a century. Three rooms lit up.
One room was at the edge of the map. "This is where we are," Esteban explained.
The next room that lit up was to almost to the far left (or right, depending on where you were standing at in the room) of the map. It was still deep within the planetoid. "Here is where the prisoners are held," he continued on. "0.7 kilometers away from here. It looks like there are a few pathways you can pick from. I would recommend steering clear of this one..." one line in particular lit up. This line looked close to where the group was currently at. "There appears to be a heavy concentration of small objects flying around. I suspect it is a seeker swarm..."
He took a breath as the last room lit up at the dead center of the base. "And this is where my objective is. It's 1 kilometer in. There are three paths that seem to be filled with seekers. Here, here, and here." Three pathways lit up between where the group was currently at and the core of the planetoid. Two of the three was by the core, the third between the group and core.
"I am not getting much other details," he continued, staring at the map. "My program is set up to locate the targets and any large concentration of seekers. But this should give us a good start."
Esteban looked at Eric first, then the rest. "Ready to head out?"
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Post by Game Master on Sept 9, 2014 9:22:11 GMT -6
[GM Note]
I had a couple people asking me about how the dungeon crawl will work without a map. It made me realize I was unintentionally vague with how I was envisioning this.
So here is how I am seeing the first part of this (towards the goal)
There will be three phases before reaching the prisoners / database
1. Battle phase - As the team heads out, they will be moving throughout the base. There will be multiple twists and turns, dozens of rooms that are empty save for piles of dead bodies and the occasional Collector standing inert within an alcove. At various points on the trip, the group will encounter small packs of Collectors (no more than three or four). These Collectors are at mook-level. These battles are not meant to be challenging, only to allow your character to look cool / bad ass just like in the video game. Just remember to be fair (don't make the Collectors look weak or your teammates look weak).
It is not necessary to participate in this phase if you do not wish to. But ideally everyone will play a part/role in the battles. Like, your character could shout out a warning, or maybe do something to save another PC.
2. Exploration phase - This is when your character has a chance to make a discovery of some sort, just like Shepard had a chance to in ME2. There are a few secrets that the Collectors are keeping that the PCs can find. Once you reach this phase, please RP out how your character is exploring (splitting off from the group because they see something? Stopping everyone because they believe they spotted something that looks suspicious? Maybe something on a Collector body?) and then send me a private message (the GM account please) asking what you find. If there is something you're hoping your character can find, please tell me so we can work it out.
3. Resolution phase - This is the default phase of the first part. If your character is not in battle or exploration, the are in resolution. This is when communication and sharing of information happens.
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This is not meant to be a linear list. Your character could explore, which could lead into battle, then back into exploration. Or your character can explore, find stuff, find more stuff, then get into battle, then go back into the resolution phase. I hope this makes things clearer...
The goal with this is to offer enough freedom within the Collector base to allow everyone to have fun.
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Post by Eric Lysander on Sept 9, 2014 11:36:36 GMT -6
Eric looked on with the other team members as Esteban displayed and went over the layout of the entire base downloaded from the panel. There were plenty of turns and nooks to get lost in. Esteban then highlighted three rooms, noting their significance: the group’s present location at one end, the prisoner area almost at the far left and the data core at the heart of the base. He suggested which paths to avoid as his scans showed the presence of Seeker swarms in them.
"I am not getting much other details," he continued, staring at the map. "My program is set up to locate the targets and any large concentration of seekers. But this should give us a good start."
Esteban looked at Eric first, then the rest. "Ready to head out?"
“It’s more info than what we started with. We’ll definitely need a “bread crumb” program or somethin’ to find our way back,” said Eric “But I guess you already have that sorted out, huh, Mr. B? The better we can find our way around the better our prisoners’ chances.”
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Post by Esteban Bridges on Sept 9, 2014 20:40:15 GMT -6
“It’s more info than what we started with. We’ll definitely need a “bread crumb” program or somethin’ to find our way back,” said Eric. “But I guess you already have that sorted out, huh, Mr. B? The better we can find our way around the better our prisoners’ chances.”
Esteban typed away on his omnitool. He was pretty sure he had a program that Eric was talking about. It was a simple use of using the omnitool's global positioning software and using it to track motion, overlaying onto the map. If he did not have it, he was pretty sure Morgan could jury-rig her omnitool to do that. Though fortunately, he had the program. It was standard. He attached it onto the map.
"I did not think of that, actually," Esteban spoke up, looking toward Eric. "But I was able to attach a program to the map to do what you wanted."
He paused for a moment. "Good idea, Eric."
Esteban waved his hand toward Karn and Joseph, signaling them to come over. "I believe we should head out," he said over to the former N7 before turning back to the two mercenaries he was taking with him. "Are both of you ready to go?"
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Post by Morgan Bryn on Sept 10, 2014 1:38:52 GMT -6
"If you're actually thinking of taking one of these things, we need an engineer to give them a thorough going over. I mean, how hard would it be for the Collectors to hack and remotely fly their own ships? We'd need to make sure all the on-board transmitters were destroyed first," Maelstrom commented to the others.
"If I have to steal one of these things, I'm keepin' it..." Morgan mumbled only half under her breath as she walked away from the others, cautiously investigating their surroundings.
She didn't like how quiet it was. Perhaps the Collectors simply weren't expecting any opposition out this far, or maybe this was all a set-up and a trap carefully laid by whoever was working with them in the first place.
Morgan largely ignored the others until Bridges transferred the map he'd obtained out to everyone's omni-tool. Morgan took a moment to look it over. Her sense of direction had always been one of her strong suits, but this base would even give her a run for her money. The corridors were so numerous and convoluted, she wasn't sure were to begin.
Arriving at Bridges' side, she leaned in looking at the map he had projected for the others over his shoulder.
"This is where we are," Bridges explained. "Here is where the prisoners are held, 0.7 kilometers away from here. It looks like there are a few pathways you can pick from. I would recommend steering clear of this one. There appears to be a heavy concentration of small objects flying around. I suspect it is a seeker swarm..."
Morgan frowned, concerned about the layouts of the swarms, and what they could be guarding... or not guarding, as the case may be.
"And this is where my objective is," Bridges spoke up once more, drawing Morgan's attention back to the center of the map. "It's 1 kilometer in."
Morgan eyed the room on the map, knowing Bridges had said he was going after Iskra's data specifically rather than the prisoners. She wondered if it would still be possible to access the data from outside such a room, or if an individual would need to be present with Bridges in the core room. Iskra had seemed to imply any panel directly linked to the base's mainframe would do, but there were obviously differing opinions at work here.
Bridges wrapped up his discussion with Eric before waving his hand toward Karn and Joe. "I believe we should head out. Are both of you ready to go?"
"Good luck out there, Boss," Morgan stated, giving Bridges' shoulder plate a friendly pat before letting go once more. "You three be careful out there."
She then glanced up at Eric. "I can monitor the locations of the swarms as we move, but... do we want to outright avoid them on the way in? I fear they might be alerted when we reach the prisoners and swarm us en masse, but if I can at least get close enough to see the rooms their currently guarding... I might be able to lock them in. I won't know for sure until we get there, but... might at least buy us some more time while they counteract my lock, or find the long way around," Morgan offered, not in any hurry to experience the swarms, inoculation or no.
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Post by Joe Fischer on Sept 10, 2014 5:09:50 GMT -6
Joe, maintaining his position at the entrance to the passage, glanced at the map Esteban sent to his omnitool. Sense of direction had never been his strong suit, and seeing the map started giving him a headache, with its massive size and countless tunnels curving and running into each other, so he turned it off.
"Are both of you ready to go?" Bridges asked.
Not taking his eyes off the passage, Joe said, "Ready when you are, boss. Just tell me which way to go."
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Post by Weyrloc Karn on Sept 10, 2014 8:22:26 GMT -6
"Are both of you ready to go?" Bridges would ask.
Karn gives a slight nod, before moving over beside the two, his view glancing around the several entrances, tunnels and whatever else was held inside the craggy mess of the ship. "Was ready from the start.", Karn grunts out, soon watching the same passage Joe would set his eyes upon. "..Least' I think I'm still ready.", he grumbles out.
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Post by Eric Lysander on Sept 10, 2014 13:23:00 GMT -6
"I did not think of that, actually," Esteban spoke up, looking toward Eric. "But I was able to attach a program to the map to do what you wanted… good idea, Eric."
Eric checked his heads up display to confirm the program was loaded. It was paramount that the team showed a high degree of competence and direction if they were to obtain and keep the prisoners’ confidence as they would be led back to the docking bay and hopefully to freedom. Esteban waved over his unit members Karn and Joe, preparing to move out. Morgan went up to Eric after wishing them luck.
"I can monitor the locations of the swarms as we move,” she said. “But... do we want to outright avoid them on the way in? I fear they might be alerted when we reach the prisoners and swarm us en masse, but if I can at least get close enough to see the rooms their currently guarding... I might be able to lock them in. I won't know for sure until we get there, but... might at least buy us some more time while they counteract my lock, or find the long way around."
“Narrow down our targets to ones with a center o’mass we can hit, yeah,” noted Eric, going over the map again. “Jesus… this place is jus’ one big maze… even so, the Collectors'll have to to prioritize… if they go for the prisoners my team can give ‘em the runaround as long as we can crack any doors they slam in our faces. But if they wanna preserve base integrity… unless the core’s a fortress Fearless’ team’ll be a sitting duck. The Collectors may concentrate infantry and their big guns there, leaving the swarms and a few grunts to chase everyone else. I recommend that both teams reach their objectives before we start misbehavin'.”
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