Sector 21: Ready Player One

Camleen

I'm going to be my own kind of princess
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  1. Intermediate
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Genres
In no particular order: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Modern, Magical, Romance, anime, comic books, cartoons, video games..
Sector 21: Archaide and Syrinx

Archaide is a planet in the OASIS with a barren surface comprised of vector graphics (an old style of video game graphics used in the 80's to give a three dimensional effect to a game). The planet is in perpetual darkness and some of the only surface features are a large volcano (which stays to the north no matter where you are) and multiple entrances to the inner parts of the planet. The inside of the planet is mostly comprised of vintage arcade cabinets. Some OASIS users have come to the planet and have coded their childhood arcade gaming spots within Archaide. To navigate the inner parts of the planet a user has to go through different levels seemingly arranged by the age of the systems. Starting closest to the surface are the newest Cabinets and then the farther you go the older the games are. At the center are the games Tennis for Two and Space War!.
Technology and Magic are permitted in this part of the Sector.

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Syrinx: A recreation of the world that is featured in the 1976 Rush album "2112". It was considered an experimental album, the album itself telling a tale of a dystopian future of the year 2112. The name of the OASIS planet is tribute to the second song on the first side of the album: 'The Temples of Syrinx'.
And the meek shall inherit the earth...

We've taken care of everything
The words you hear, the songs you sing
The pictures that give pleasure to your eyes
It's one for all, all for one
We work together, common sons
Never need to wonder how or why

We are the priests
Of the temples of Syrinx
Our great computers
Fill the hollowed halls
We are the priests
Of the temples of Syrinx
All the gifts of life
Are held within our walls

Look around this world we made
Equality our stock in trade
Come and join the brotherhood of man
Oh what a wide contented world
Let the banners be unfurled
Hold the red star proudly high in hand

We are the priests
Of the temples of Syrinx
Our great computers
Fill the hollowed halls
We are the priests
Of the temples of Syrinx
All the gifts of life
Are held within our walls
 
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Dante took a moment to process all the information that was coming his way. He was glad that they were as willing to talk about their abilities as he was about his own. Dante took notice of Jerick-O's remark. Dante grinned back at him. "Well then we must of never crossed paths then. I don't leave any survivors when I'm working, especially ones so cocky. Though as professional courtesy I wont attack you after this... unless the price is right."

Dante broke from this light rivalry to pay attention to what Damagi and Iria. He couldn't help but grin at Iria when she gave out her strategy. It was a pretty standard one given the group that was assembled. He was happy to take the back seat on some of these major decisions. He had no problem being a range DPS and support healer. "Well then... I don't know about anyone else but... I like this plan. I'm excited to be apart of it. I mean don't get me wrong there is a reason people say to make a plan and be prepared to see it fail. Odds our that shit will hit the fan, but I think we all have the capability to think on our toes. Also don't worry about being, protecting the healer is party rule number one. If we do our jobs right the predator wont target you... maybe. I hear it is supposed to have some wicked AI. Whatever the case if you take me with you guys I will gladly risk all my hp to keep the party alive."

He looked around at the team. "I picked up a visual scanner for my helmet that cycles through different vision modes: night vision, thermal, electrical pulses. There is even a light tracking feature that will let me predict the movement of something that goes invisible for up to five seconds. Downside is that it prone to fail and need a restart of 30 seconds. Also I have a lot of toys to bring to the part in case anyone needs anything. I don't know about you guys, but I feel ready to do a suicide mission for the attempt to make Oasis history and get Uber rich."
 
“Huh?” W3ndy says when Herak basically offers up his trophy to the group after listening quietly beforehand. Not often you hear someone just offering up their trophy to people. Which means this guy could really be in this game for something...more you would say. W3ndy keeps looking around at the others as they lay out their skills, and for Iria the bare bones of their strategy. She is again a bit flabbergasted that Damagi and Dante are opening their inventories for anyone in need of something more substantial than what they brought.

These people sure are friendly. Maybe I should group up more often!

All the while W3ndy eyes up the Predator mask, discretely she hopes, as nobody makes further mention of it. Her eyes do linger on Dante when he takes his turn to talk though, liking the light-hearted banter between him and the Gargoyle. A showdown between those two, or any combo of the assembled group would be interesting. Iria probably wouldn't have any interest in it though, she feels from what little she's seen.

When there is a lull in the talk, W3ndy takes the opportunity to ask Herak hesitantly “So...you mind if I have this?” Looking around at the others “If that's alright with ya'll that is? I'm not used to folks just offering stuff without...ya know...asking for lewd things first.” She says the last part with a bit of a nervous laugh as she realizes too late she had just said that without thinking...
 
Herak

Herak listened to the others for a while. Damagi seemed to have a handle on being leader and everyone sounded capable. He felt he had been pretty lucky the last time to have companions. This time though, going to their world. He was going over his action with the alien in his head when one of the girls came over and started to talk to him.

" Sure miss Wendy, go ahead. I consider myself lucky that that one went as well as it did. I'm not one who is much into being rude to women. "
 
"I'd offer the same, but that depends on the client. Won't really have a choice if they're in your crosshairs." Jerick-O says to Dante smirking back and chuckling before giving Iria his undivided attention, following her every move and hoping he doesn't induce another 'episode' while being polite. When she does look at him very briefly and looks away, but also smiles, Jerick-O has a glimmer of hope she didn't think ill of him from earlier. There was something in the way she moves and talks that is just delightful for him. Iria was a competent player, even if she obviously wasn't the most confident in this kind of situation right now. Being a second/backup tank is no skin off his nose either. Although he does have one suggestion, which he composes in his head while Dante speaks and W3ndy asks if anyone has any issue with her taking Herak's offered trophy.

Jerick-O steps forward "Sounds like a solid plan. Just one suggestion." He looks at Iria, trying his best not to appear or sound like he's talking down to her even though by virtue of their avatar's heights, he was. "How about the primary healer gets protection? I could cover you-" He points between himself and Iria "-But if Herak needs he can tag me in, and you heal him up while I do my part?" He asks, hoping what he's suggested is not too forward.
 
“I think our primary healer getting a bodyguard is a fine idea!” Damagi gets between Iria and Jerick-O, slaps Iria lightly on the shoulder and Jerick-O on the ribs. She beams at them both. “Team leader says, healers get bodyguards. So…” Damagi turns around and points at Dante then W3ndy, bringing the two fingers she uses together. “W3ndy dear, you get Dante’s back. From the movies the Predators are beyond tricky, so nobody goes anywhere alone.” She says the last part in a more authoritative manner looking around at everyone, her smile fading then popping back up as she claps her hands together.

“So long as everyone’s got that, excuse me one moment while I check a message, see if we got this last member in order.” She stands still, and the Damagi avatar goes into Standby Mode as she checks her messages.

After about five minutes while everyone does whatever they can in that time, she comes back, sighs and says “Thought we had a guy, but he needs time we can’t really hold off to make. I’m sure we have enough to help us as-is.” Damagi opens her inventory and takes out one of the pods she had purchased earlier just before running into W3ndy, holding it in miniature form for everyone to see.

“Now, for transport I got one of these for everyone. Might be a tight squeeze for you, Jerick-O but in canon Nappa managed to fit so you should as well. These can be programmed to land in the same zone, and once we land we group up.” She puts the Pod back in her inventory and waves her arms at Iria.

“Now I believe the lovely Iria has something to show the class?” She asks looking aside at her friend with a toothy grin, hoping her abrupt declaration(and attempt to pair them together) wasn’t too much for her friend.
 
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Iria finds herself smiling a little with Jerick-O’s suggestion. Usually she’s the one asking for some cover, like she has to point out the fact enemies tend to swarm towards her. But maybe Jerick-O’s done this kind of thing before, which makes her feel a bit more at ease. With something of a surprised look, her gaze moves to Damagi when she makes it an order. Iria shrugs her slim shoulders and looks back towards Jerick-O “Well sure, I’m more than fine if someone wants to take a hit for me.” She says with a nod.

When Damagi speaks of the Predators being tricky, Iria says softly to herself “Yautja”. As if to correct Damagi without Damagi actually hearing her. But her mentioning how clever they are, it makes Iria remember something. She opens her inventory as Damagi checks her messages, and she speaks in a light tone, addressing the group. “We do have a good group. I kind of wish we could do some training runs together, but I don’t think we have time. A few more parties have come and gone from Yautja Prime. According to my search algorithems… no one’s bagged a Yautja there yet. So…” she closes her inventory as she smiles a little to the group “We may have to improvise a bit. Just go with your gut feeling, and watch each other’s backs.”

And when it’s announced they won’t have a tracker (she assumes that’s what Damagi means), she opens her IU menu again to do some more searches quickly. She looks at her friends list… and the small handful of names on it. She finds herself frowning a little as she stares at 5P1D3R’s name. She knows he’s leveled some tracking skills with his Ranger build. But she doesn’t want to ask him, or bother him. She sees he’s online.. but has his status as ‘Do Not Disturb’. Iria frowns a little more. Her eyes look towards Jerick-O, and she closes her UI absently.

Life sucks.

She is watching Jerick-O, and then she looks towards the others of the group. Herak, W3ndy and Dante. They seem really cool. But she knows this is just a PUG. A pick up group. Just random people getting together for a singular goal. Such groups are usually one and done. Which she hates. Maybe it won’t happen this time.. but it will. She knows it.

Iria jumps a little when she hears her name, and her wide eyes look towards Damagi. “Whawha?” And then she remembers that yes she did have something she wanted to point out. “Oh! Oh oh oh” She says as she opens her inventory. Her fingers dance across the invisible screen (invisible to everyone else of course), and she moves closer to a near booth. Next to her, a small disc shaped device materializes. It’s white in color, and just hovers there a moment. Iria reaches up and unscrews the lightbulb above the booth, and as she does the disc shaped device seems to unfold.
Thin legs and arms stretch out under it, and a single softly glowing eye materializes. It lets out a series of delighted beeps and squeels, and does a little spin. As if wanting to show off. Iria smiles widely as she motions to the small droid. “Everyone, this is one of my little buddies. Artemis. Artemis, this is Jerick-O, Herak, W3ndy and Dante. They’re our pals, kay?” She says as she looks towards the droid. It lets out an affirmative beep, it’s glowing eye looking towards Damagi as it lets out a sour sounding whirring sound towards her. It’s not that Artemis dislikes Damagi.. Damagi just has a very… powerful… personality. “Focuse Artie, please.” the droid’s gaze snaps back to Iria as it beeps once more. “Please play folder ‘WhyPrimeFirstHuntPartyDownfallSentryDroids’ starting at 70% please.” Iria likes to get very specific with her filenames. The droid lets out an affirmative beep, and it’s eye starts to glow a little more brightly. It then projects what looks like a television screen for them all to see. Which is why she unscrewed the lightbulb a little. Iria now moves a little from the booth as she speaks.

“So this is a pretty popular recording right now. It’s the first group to get to Yautja Prime. There’s 3 of ‘em… Nak3dBob, xXanderXx and TinkTank. I don’t know they’re exact levels, but they are really strong. So this is them landing…” the screen shows the dropship from Aliens descending to the surface of the planet, and setting down. “So.. this part is boring. And most everyone just forwards to the meaty stuff. Because all this part shows is them landing, disembarking and walking to where their camp is. So forwardforward… “ The video now speeds forward, quickly moving to the group of 3 taking equipment into the jungle area and setting up a camp. “Okay stop.” The video pauses a moment, and then plays in normal speed. On the screen, Nak3dBob is seen setting up 7 perimeter guns. “So this is kind of smart. He has those 7 sentry droids, all of them in a circle around their camp. Pointed outwards. Nothing bigger than a deer can approach them without them knowing an probably getting shot to pieces. Which is good in this case.” She glances at the group, and speaks in a sudden softly, apologetic tone. “Sorry if this is boring.. just wanna be thorough with you guys..” She then looks back to the video, taking a deep breath before she continues.

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“So xXanderXx is a melee damage dealer, Nak3dBob is a ranged damage dealer, TinkTank is the tank. Complete with forcefields and autohealing and regeneration. Like I said.. they are a darn strong group.” She now steps back as the video now shows Nak3dBob speaking into the camera, grinning widely under his mask. The audio comes on. “Hour 14 of our Predator raid! We’re gonna get some food, and then head out for the hunt!” Iria glances to the group “Yeah, this video is about 15 hours long. Pretty sure that’s most of the reason everyone forwards to this point.” She then looks back to the video, and over Nak3dBob’s shoulder.. they can see the very large TinkTank start to push himself to his feet hurriedly… and then his chest just explodes into a hundred pixelated pieces. Nak3dBob spins around, and suddenly right next to the fallen Tank… a very large Yautja hunter. His cloak falls, electrical energy dancing along his form. He pulls the spear from TinkTank, and he disintegrates into a thousand glowing pieces… along with his credits and equipment. xXanderXx calls out to the Yautja as she dashes towards it. Nak3dBob starts to power up his weapons as he speaks in a panicked tone. “How the fuck did it get passed out sentry drones?! That isn’t possible!” Iria sighs as she crosses her arms over her midsection, looking discretely away from the video. xXanderXx actually holds her own for a few moments, getting in some brutal hits in on the Yautja.

This isn’t how Nak3dBob had planned it. Things are falling apart, and he doesn’t know how to react.

The Yautja makes a loud clicking sound as it grabs xXanderXx’s hand right out of the air as she jabs at him, and he flings her towards Nak3dBob. Just as he was firing. She cries out as she is almost instantly deleted from Nak3dBob’s energy attack. Nak3dBob curses loudly, and the Yautja is suddenly on him. Iria looks back towards the video quickly, her eyes wide. “Okay.. okay… almost…” the Yautja jabs it’s arm blades through Nak3dBob’s neck, and his form slowly disintegrates. “Okay, here here! Listen listen!” Iria says excitedly. The camera feed starts to get static as the Yautja stands slowly, a low growling tone heard from him.

‘Lead you astray’

The video pauses, showing the large, muscular outline of the Yautja. Iria points at it as she speaks excitedly. “So so so no one wants to go there, cause everyone thinks the devs gave the Yautja a weapon that’s not in the canon. Everyone thinks that Yautja got passed the sentry guns with some kind of advanced cloak or something, right?” She says as she looks towards the others.

Since she started, she hasn’t really shut up long enough for anyone to ask questions. Sometimes once she does start, she doesn’t slow down. Because she’s afraid she’ll lose her train of thought midstream. “But that’s not what happened. That’s not how the Yautja got passed their defenses, how it got passed their sentries.” She motions to her little droid. “Okay Artemis, back to them disembarking.” The image goes black, and then a paused image of their ship. And the trio coming down the ramp. “Like I said.. everyone skips this part. Cause it’s 14 hours of listening to that jerk bragging and telling his pals how cool he is and how they’re gonna be the first to win. But when people skip over this part.. they miss this!” She motions to Artemis, and the video image starts once more. Small talk, xXanderXx expressing doubts about whether or not this is a good idea. And then Nak3dBob declares proudly (arrogantly) zan m’dear. I have never lead you astray, right? Truuuuust me! We’re gonna be famous!
With wide eyes Iria looks to the rest of the group, pointing excitedly at the video as it pauses again. “That! That! The Yautja heard him say that… and then repeated it when he beat them! So that means… the moment they landed… the Yautja was right on top of them! He heard that… shadowed them to their camp… and was IN their camp when they set up the sentries! That’s how it got passed them! He was never in front of them, he was always behind the sentries with the rest of them! But it’s kind of dark, so they couldn’t see the Yautja. They didn’t even think to look, cause that’s not how dungeons usually work. You set up camp, get prepared and then go do your quest. But here… the moment you break atmosphere, I think you’re tagged... you're hunted.” She says proudly, looking to Damagi. “That’s why they were beat so easy. The Yautja outsmarted them. It doesn’t behave like normal NPC mobs. These things are… different.” She says with a nod, a little bit of worry in her voice.
 
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Dante chuckled a bit at Jerick-O's response. "Very well just don't get mad if I start walking around with your gear after taking it off you."

Dante looked to Damagi. "Well I was going to say something along the lines that I don't need someone watching my back. Not because I don't feel I need it. It's because I don't want anyone at risk of zeroing out for my sake, but I won't argue with the team leader here."

Dante watched in silence as Damagi pulled out the pod from Dragon Ball Z. Something small like that could make less noise on impact, but it limits what can be brought.

Dante's attention was now on Iria. When Iria pulls up the video it has Dante's undivided attention. Through this video he tries to pay attention to every detail. Anything in this could save their lives. Dante stayed silent throughout the video and Iria's explanation of the situation. "Holy Hell... this is really something else. This isn't a raid quest. It's a survival horror. I mean this information is life saving. So I guess this means we have to make sure we all touchdown near each other. Do you think that since everyone is coming down in something so small like the pods they might not agro to us immediately?"

Dante took this time to look through his inventory. Looks like he was going to need to bring out his new armor for this one. His veteran ranger armor was his favorite, but was no longer his best. He had his new piece commissioned a bit back and had only recently made the final payment on it. "Well one thing is for sure. My bullet expenses are gonna skyrocket this month. I mean that is if we love to get through this. To be honest the prize I want is that shoulder mount plasma gun they have. That thing could add a whole new dynamic to my style. Also that little voice trick brings something important up. I think it would be a good idea to do callouts with a random phrase before stating any info or request for help. If we all say something weird and random each time then the predator can't mimic our voices to catch us off guard."
 
“Ain't you a perfect gentleman.” W3ndy giggles and picks up the helmet that's now hers. She holds it aloft before putting it into her inventory to continue following the others as they talk. W3ndy feels she could be mistaken, but Jerick-O just seems to have a thing for Iria why he suggests he be the one to protect her. That line has been played on W3ndy before too many times to count. She hopes this Jerick-O is on the level at least as for the little time she's known Iria, she seems a sweet gal.

When Damagi assigns W3ndy and Dante together, W3ndy looks at Dante and gives him a thumbs-up. “You can count on me to keep you from zeroing out! Promise!” She follows this with a wink of her left eye. Not very subtle, but she couldn't help herself.

Seeing the pods they'd be going to the planet in, W3ndy isn't too thrilled. Even with all this being virtual, W3ndy's player does not like enclosed spaces like those pods. But if that's how they're getting there, then she'd suck it up. Should hopefully be short trip anyway.

W3ndy comes close to watch the video, standing beside Dante as she does. Artemis is a cute little robot even if W3ndy's not too partial to robots herself. If she got enough credits from this endeavor, she wanted to get that Kuriboh companion she'd had her eye on for a while.

“Wow.” Is her initial reaction when it's all over and Iria has explained her findings on what a Predator is likely to do when they touchdown. “Just like the movies. They always loved to mess with the characters using that trick.” She muses aloud while opening up her inventory like Dante to rearrange her deck. “I don't think Monster Cards will be much use in this, so I'm going to swap them out for more traps. I think I got a couple that will bite back when they come in for a sneak attack.” At Dante's suggestion about weird phrases to prevent any vocal trickery, W3ndy giggles before she voices her assent. “Agreed. Totally tubular.”
 
Herak

The big guy does listen to Iria, nodding in agreement to her conclusion.

"Yes, I agree, they are damned clever. We'll have to be on our toes the entire time we are out there. "

He gets up finally, smiling to W3ndy.

" My pleasure W3ndy, pays to be nice or at the minimum civil and professional to your team. All of you will find I have a good reputation for those times I teamed up. "

He checks his gear, which seems sparse.

" I am sorry though, I neglected to purchase tech armor or a good Tech bow in my rush to get out here. I have plenty of credits, does anyone have anything they can sell me ? "
 
Wow, that worked.

Jerick-O smiles at his suggestion being taken up, with enthusiasm, by their leader. He reaches over and has another slice of his jalapeno pizza while listening to the others. The tiny pods from Dragon Ball Z were not ideal for him, but Jerick-O silently assents to Damagi's plan with a nod and hopes they are actually able to fit him just as they did that huge Saiyan, and the larger members of the Ginyu Force. Gregarious Games tended to keep vehicles within the canon dimensions and capabilities as much as was fair. He finishes his pizza, crust and all, just in time for Iria to bring her little robot friend out for a presentation.

While watching the video Jerick-O realizes later that he fell for it too. He'd been looking all around the group's area for any sign of a Predator's cloaking field hoping he could look cool and point it out just before it showed itself. "I agree, these things could be the most intelligent NPCs Gregarious has come up with yet. So we can't afford to think of them behaving the same way as others we've each met." Jerick-O confers with Iria he scratches his chin and his tail sways to show his contemplative mindset.

"Sounds good. I got a few phrases in mind. And I wouldn't say they won't agro on us right away, but there is another bad possibility." He chimes in with Dante "What if the system spawns one for each of us? Or more than the one we know went after this group?"

At Herak's question about gear, Jerick-O brings up a point from earlier he'd noted. "I believe our leader said something about opening her armory for us? Just to borrow I think?" He asked of Damagi.
 
"Excellent." Damagi says, grinning and putting her fingertips together like Mr.Burns while her eyes dart between Iria and Jerick-O; then Dante and W3ndy. There have been a rare few occasions she's played matchmaker like this, but Damagi has always enjoyed playing that part. After passing the focus from herself to Iria, Damagi keeps quiet as her friend takes the time to put on a little show and tell of her strategy for this quest. When the little robot Artemis makes it dislike of her known, Damagi sticks her tongue out at it but says nothing. It is a robot after all. Damagi watches the recording very intently, making mental notes along with those Iria makes as it goes. One of her biggest questions is Why are they waiting so long? 15 hours? The moment before the tank gets it first and all hell breaks loose.

It's when xXanderXx gets into a fistfight with the Yautja that Damagi gets really interested, noting the style she uses that allows her to get in those few hits before the thing overwhelms her with its sheer power. It's impossible to tell if xXanderXx was of a species with high strength like a Saiyan, but whatever she was, the alien hunter had been stronger. Hearing that people suspect the devs would give the Yautja something out of canon, Damagi shakes her head. The devs wouldn't do that, it'd be against the spirit of the game they set up. But then Iria comes up with a sound theory to vindicate the devs and give their team an edge.

“Looks like we got a batch of smart cookies here.” Damagi says proudly after the others have given their assessment. Jerick-O's was the most intriguing and gets her thinking. “Hmmm. I can program the pods to launch and land in unison. That should trigger the system to only spawn one for us as a team.” Then she has another idea. “Unless...and this is likely, they're including in the canon that Predators movie where it was also a team of Predators for the human team that got dropped in. Then we might be facing off one for each of us any way, and that is just...scary and exciting at the same time to be honest.” She chuckles and steps away from the booth.

“And yes you recall correct. I got a nice little armory on the Kickin' Wing for you all to pick from. You can borrow something from me now, and if we survive we can barter for what you want to keep.” Damagi tells the group, and then claps. “Speaking of which! Down your drinks and your pizza if you got 'em. Time to load up, suit up, and go out.” She points triumphantly out the front doors “Onward!”

Damagi then leads the team out of Happy Jack's, up through the caverns, and out to the landing pad where she had parked her ship, The Kickin' Wing The interior is spacious, with the main cargo hold occupied by a lounge on the right with a mini bar and 50's style Jukebox. The left has large stacks of crates labeled Armor, Ammo, Weapons, and Outfits. Damagi stands in front of the crates and gestures over them like Vanna White. "Behold! Browse and borrow! And once we're all geared up, we head outside and I lock this baby down before be blast off."

Looking inside the various crates, the others find that Damagi has quite an eclectic collection.
 
The glowing eye of the little floating droid dims, and it veers back towards Iria. She smiles widely to it and pats it on its metallic head lovingly. “You did real good, Artie.” She says with a nod, the droid letting out a happy series of little beeps. The legs of the droid start to fold up, and Iria replaces it back into her inventory as she looks towards Jerick-O.

“See I’ve been thinking about that too. Now on this I’m not 100% cool with the Yautja info.. but.. I think if there was more than one spawned… I mean one for each member of the party… they would have shown themselves. I don’t think any of them would have stood back and allowed just one Yautja to hunt. They would all want a piece, they would all want a trophy. I mean I might be wrong.. but it could be 1 Yautja spawned per party… or 1 for each member” She sounds doubtful of that “Or maybe its based on the levels of the players. I kinda think if we see 1 to start and that’s it… it’s kinda safe to assume that’s it. But if there’s more than 1… maybe we assume there’s 1 spawned for each party member. I just don’t have enough info to be sure..” Doubt creeps into her voice at the last. She doesn’t like not being able to see the whole picture. She doesn’t feel comfortable going into a situation with so many randomized factors.

“But… I mean we got a good team. Great tanks” she motions to Jerick-O first, then Herak “and a plan. We’ll do better than that other team did.”

Hopefully.

Iria then brushes off her robes absently as she motions to Dante “I don’t think they would ambush us right away. I mean not until we had time to at least set up a defense or something… or arm ourselves. The Yautja don’t wanna ambush someone out of nowhere for a win. They wanna beat combatants in battle. It’s kind of an honor thing. The group on the video… they had the sentries set up, they were about ready to head out. So they were armed, they were battle ready. The Yautja didn’t attack until that point. It coulda offed ‘em at any time before that.. but it didn’t. It waited.”
When Damagi exclaims it was time to go, Iria smiles widely and walks right behind Damagi. As she often did. She thrusts her arms up and exclaims “Wooohooo!” as she follows along. She does wave to Rachel as they leave, but Rachel doesn’t seem to notice/care. That’s just how Rachel is, Iria is used to that rection from her. The little parade of awesome is lead by Damagi out through the caverns, but abuot halfway through them Iria seems to take a few steps outside of the line. She gets a personal message, and in a hushed tone she seems to be speaking with someone. The whole time she is frowning. And as the group emerges from the caverns, Iria has taken a few jogging steps to get back with the group.

She boards The Kickin’ Wing with everyone else, but she doesn’t really have a need to get into the cargo crates Damagi. She knows what is in most of them, and just doesn’t have anything she might need at this point. As everyone gathers gear, Iria opens her inventory once more. She scrolls through the different menus to her gear sets. Tapping a few different pieces, her robs shimmer for a moment and are then replaced by her stylized Trooper armor. Usually it’s simple white and black in color, but she has painted some of the pieces to include green and pink. To her, the colors mean something specific. Which Damagi might know.
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She reaches to her hip and draws her pistol, which she thinks she needs to swap out with something else eventually. It’s cute and all… but she may have outgrown it by now. The pistol is fully charged, and she holsters it once more. She opens her inventory once more, and she narrows her eyes. Glancing towards everyone else… she kind of turns her back slowly to them. She discretely taps one of the inventory spaces, and a deck of stylized cards emerge in her open hand. With a deep calming breath she picks a random card from the deck… her eyes narrow as she sees the card she drew. The Queen of Cups, in Astral Position. So… stay calm, use your brains. “Got it.” She whispers, and she slides the card back into the deck. She feels she’s ready to go.. she feels she’s ready to face this, the biggest challenge of her young career. Of her young life.
 
Dante decided to keep quiet and listen to Jerick-O and his concerns for the intelligence of the predator AI. This was ofcourse a concern Dante had too. When Iria talked about her hypothesis of the situation Dante found himself agreeing internally. With the exception of AVP and predators. The predator itself always seemed to be the lone hunter. Odds are they were too low a level even collectively to warrant more than two predators max.

Dante was glad that they were finally getting the show on the road. From his person, Dante was keeping his ship on standby to come to his new location. He walked close to Wendy on the way up there. He talked in a way that he hoped no one would here. "Hey... if things look too bad for me when we get their don't risk anything. Try to get away. If you can get to a place that lets you off the world use this..."

Dante sent over the 8 digit code for his ship, 86753069. "Just type that into your hub and say 'activate protocal fallen soldier.' That should bring my ship to you. She is the Dirty Wastelander. Treat her well ok? Actually also..."

Dante took out the dynacap of the Ship that used to be 4way's and put it in her hand. "Just in case as well. You can never be too sure. I want to make good on my promise to take you to the distracted globe."

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Dante decided to not say anymore until he arrived on the Kicking Wing. It was a nice ship, but he preferred his, which was why his flew in on auto pilot and uncloacked itself when they were in the cargo hold.

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Dante looked around and back at Damagi. "Well this is quite an impressive armory. I have one myself. I will take from my own. I prefer to work with what I know. Though it seems that my current attire may need a change. Normal I would use my NCR armor, but I just finished paying this off and I feel that now is the time to unveil it."

Dante scrolled through his inventory until he found what he was looking for. Dante selected the full armor and his body glowed for a moment as the armor came on. It was perhaps some of best quality ravenger gear made. Instead of the standard red it was almost a navy blue. The overcoat had reinforced metal plates in the shoulders and arms. It had a reinforced metal chest plate. It appeared to be more durable and well made compared to others like it. It even seemed to have metal gauntlets. The mask was equipped until Dante pressed his hand to the side of his face. He gave the party a grin. "Cool right? I call this my Gaurdian armor. It fits this kind of suicide mission where no punches are pulled."
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W3ndy has just come out of her UI, and raises a finger at Herak's question about equipment, but Jerick-O answers him before she can say pretty much the same. Some people might get angry at him, but W3ndy admonishes herself for not being quicker. If this were combat, she'd be zeroed out. Years of hard work and level grinding, down the drain. Again. The prospect of there being more than one is a little distressing to her, not helped in the least by She puts on a look of determination when Damagi announces they would be leaving and leads the way out. W3ndy falls in beside Dante, but only about arm's length. Can't make things too obvious.

She is quite taken-aback by Dante's sudden generosity. First his own ship, and in a dynacap what she can only assume is his back-up ship if his first should not work. He was giving her both ways out of the coming quest, and ostensibly to 'make good' on his promise of a date at the Distracted Globe afterwards. What else could she really say after that even on a private channel?

“Thank you Dante.” Is all she can manage to say back. She spends the rest of the walk contemplating how serious this has gotten with Dante already. They'd known each other less than an hour, and now she had a way to bail on him if she so wished. If she wanted, she could use that protocol to call his ship and run away soon as they hit the surface of Archaide; forget the Yautja Prime quest altogether and have not one, but two ships of her own.

But W3ndy is, as he would find, just not that kind of girl. When they get to the 2D surface, W3ndy follows them onto the Kickin' Wing with no motion made to screw Dante over for his trust in her. She claps excitedly when he changes to his Guardian armor and says "Very cool! Hope I can find something cool and functional in all this."


She goes to the crates and opens the one labelled Armor. Of the selection offered in these crates, she takes one armor set that could augment an area she is lacking: stealth. She equips it right away, spinning on her heel to face everyone. "Choice made! Don't want to get too encumbered, but still want a little more than what I got, ya know?" Her armor for this mission selected, she moves on to the Weapons crates. She has her own to choose from, but far as melee that would surely be operable on Yautja Prime she was lacking.

"Ah-hah!" W3ndy proclaims upon finding the kind of weapons she was looking for. Just as she'd done with the armor, she equips the weapon immediately and twirls the green lightsaber in one hand a few times while she turns around. While she knows lightsabers are about as common as most 'iconic' weapons from Star Wars, for her it doesn't diminish the feeling she gets from hearing that hiss-hum and vrooom. She clips it to the belt of the Assassin Suit and walks over to the bar, sitting at one of the stools while the others make their selections.
 
Herak

He goes through the armor crate for a bit. Discarding one, then the other. Finally finding a non powered armor that had for him, the best combination of actual armor and least constraint to his movement.

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He had intended to use his own strength and skill in hand to hand fighting, to augment that he had a extremely well crafted mace. That being said, he rarely used much in the way of ranged weapons, particularly in this venue. Anyone could fire a gun of course. He still preferred archery as a style. It fit better with his style. Then he found something in one of the weapons boxes.

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It only had one quiver, but he liked it's style. Very nice, a tech bow. He equipped both happily along with his other regular gear. He took a few moments adjusting where everything was accessed with this new armor. The armor had a nice sensor array. Maybe not enough to pick up their high tech cloaking, but better than eyes.

Now being ready, he loaded himself into his seat, ready as he ever would be.
 
"Yeah, you could say that." Jerick-O says in response to Damagi stating it would be both 'scary and exciting at the same time' if they had to face off more than one Yautja, since they were twice the size of the group in the video. Really he is not thrilled at all, but you can't say that. Least, Jerick-O himself won't. Cordiality and friendliness are essential to getting yourself into a team, if temporarily, but showing that kind of worry could be seen as a weakness. Weakness does not get you far in the bodyguard racket.

When the group moves out of the pizza place, Jerick-O follows behind them on foot for a bit. However when it gets to the narrower passages, he hops up onto the walls digs in with his claws to basically wall-crawl alongside them as the rest of the group walks. From this vantage point Jerick-O sees Dante pass over something to W3ndy, and sees the lips move but over the sound of his own hands clawing through rock he can't hear what is said. He can make some educated guesses though. Likely, to him, some means of both of them to get out if and when things get really bad. He'd seen it before. A couple had wanted extra protection through a level on Tomb World, and he'd seen them work out a means to leave him in the crosshairs while they got away. Couldn't really blame them, but he'd also not taken the job. It was too late now to back out for Jerick-O however. If any of these people lived, word could spread that 'Jerick-O split at the last minute in a team quest' and that would hurt his chances for future work.

And he just could not have that. Not again. So this was a real 'make it or break it' moment as they say.


When they get into the Kickin' Wing, Jerick-O is very tempted to 'browse and borrow' but refrains. He feels he's well-equipped right now. So he steps back and watches W3ndy and Herak take the opportunity. Seeing Herak go into the cockpit, Jerick-O takes the initiative and tells Damagi "I'll handle this." While following after the guy.

He comes up behind the other player, and says "Hey Herak. Think your speakers are broken or something. We're going to Yautja Prime in pods, not this." He thinks a moment before offering his idea of reasoning as to why. "Think our leader isn't gonna risk her rig being snatched up by just anyone if she doesn't come out of this without zeroing out. I would, if I had a ship of my own." He admits at the end.
 
Damagi takes a seat at her small bar and watches, listens to the others (which turn out to be only W3ndy and Herak, but to each their own) as they make their selections.

"Good idea. I like to keep my armor light, since the OASIS accounts for weight of your armor when making movements. I mean I'm strong, don't get me wrong. Saiyans start with one of the highest strength stats available." Damagi says to Dante regarding his armor selection and flexes both arms.

"But this armor is well below my strength, so it's almost like I'm wearing nothing at all." She says with a wink of her right eye. "I'm more keen on weapon selection for this venture, and I think these are two of my best options." Damagi equips both weapons to one fist each.

She holds up her right fist "Both of these you'll recognize, Ranger. First, The Paladin Toaster. It was designed for opponents with electrical components of some kind, so I'm hoping with strikes from this the Yautja's cloaking and other armor will be shorted out. Next." She brings up her left fist. "A Displacer Glove for the knock-back effect. You see me connect a hit with these two, you got a window to light the thing up a few seconds before it fully recovers." Both fists equipped, she flexes both. The Paladin Toaster emits a zapping noise as its coils fire up, the Displacer Glove a hum from its speaker.

The Saiyan woman looks quite happy with her selection, but is not so self-absorbed to not give W3ndy her attention. She gives her teammate two thumbs-up with both gloves. "Nice selection my dear. You'll knock 'em dead." And when she sees Herak go for the cockpit, rises to go after him only for Jerick-O to take it upon himself.

"Takes initiative, I like that." She says and then tells Iria "Might have a right hand-" She puts out her right hand to Iria "and a left by the end of this quest." She puts her left out in Jerick-O's direction. "Then I would have the excuse I need to get that Ruby Rod outfit I've been looking at." She says, chuckling at the little reference she made even if nobody else heard and found it amusing.

"Speaking of which.." Damagi goes into her inventory and produces an object she tosses at Iria. It looks like a fist-sized moon replica with a button that looks like a lunar lander. "If it looks like the Yautja are going to get you, you take that, and you press the button. Let it do it's thing, and while I might get zeroed out, it should give you the chance to come out roses." She explains and makes a shushing motion when Iria asks what exactly it is.

"ALRIGHT!" Damagi proclaims, jumping off the stool and pointing out of the ship. "Now. To the Pods!" She says and takes off at a jog.

Outside the ship, Damagi waits for everyone to be off before going into her UI. She activates one of her more expensive programs: a Retrieval Protocol that will lock the ship down and open only for one who can enter its lock code,. The Kickin' Wing vibrates, and flashes red. Damagi turns around , takes the pods from her inventory, and chucks them out in no particular order. The Pods enlarge to their normal size and rest on the ground, opening up for their passengers. Damagi goes around to each pod and punches in the same coordinates to the onboard computer, gesturing to one member of the party when done to indicate that was theirs and giving them a blue invite.

"These Pods will get us there in no time. I've chosen a zone at random for us to take, and once we do land, I don't want no lollygagging or the like. We land, we group up, and close ranks for the hunt." Once everyone is at their randomly assigned pod, Damagi stands with hands on hips next to hers looking at all of them.

"Now, we've been speculating what we're going to find on Yautja Prime, but there's no knowing until it's happening. I am going to promise, as your team leader, that I will do all I can to keep you all in the game. Buuuut.." And she raises a finger "If, and only if, I hear or see anything like 'Game over man!' or you cut and run, I am no longer your team leader. I will instead be, to the best of my ability, your executioner. This is your last chance, you get in that pod and launch with us, you're my team and most likely to be a winner. Don't and well..."Damagi shrugs and smirks "..you're just a plain old loser." She gives them all a thumbs-up "Hop in and launch!"

Damagi hops into her pod, hits the launch button, and the pod shuts. The pods rise from the ground slowly into the open air, rotate to be pointed in the same direction, and then take off at lightspeed.

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Everyone ‘suits up’ in their own way, everyone begins to mentally prepare themselves for what might come. An in her own mind… Iria wonders why she has such an ‘odd’ feeling right now. Is it the nature of this particular quest? When you get right down to it, it’s your basic hunting mission. Go in, get the baddies, get loots. But for some reason she just has this.. foreboding.. feeling. Rarely is she in parties of more than herself and Damagi, and so she wouldn’t have to really divide her attentions that much. But now… nearly a ‘full’ party… and she is to act as the main healer. If this weren’t tech only, she wouldn’t think twice about it. But now… between the full party, one of strangers, the tech and the unknown of just what they might face… Iria is nervous. But she will keep that to herself. No need to worry the others, or have them doubt her. She’ll doubt herself enough for everyone, thank you.

She sits down for a moment on one of the small benches as everyone gets their gear together, and she once more goes over her inventory. Her medical tricorder is fully charged and equipped… her sensors are all working… Artemis is reading all good… she thinks she’s ready. But she won’t know that for sure until they touch down on the planet itself. She watches as Jerick-O goes towards the cockpit, and a little smile finds its way onto her lips for a moment.

She starts her own playlist, one of the playlists she regularly plays for herself. No one else would hear her music, of course. And the first song that comes on is one of her favorite anime songs (even though she’s not a major fan of the genre, she does love some of the music). She lip synchs the music as it plays in her ears, and she sits up a little on the bench. And then despite herself, she very very softly whispers some of the lyrics as she watches everyone. “I’m a leetle oof inside ah gorl” Engrish at its best..

When Damagi addresses her, she falls silent and smiles to her. She looks in the direction she motions, towards Jerick-O, and wonders if she’s going to be replaced. Surely Jerick-O could be more of use to Damagi than she. A tank would be a good fit for Damagi’s fighting style. “Iunno what ya mean by that..” she says as she looks back towards Damagi. “But since when do we need an excuse to get new looks?” Says the girl with 9 different character skins.

“Oh oh!” She exclaims as Damagi throws the little artifact towards her. It hits her in the chest, but she catches it with a surprised look on her face. She stands as she holds it up to her eyes more, looking it over. “What’s it d--” But she is cut off by Damagi, who of course knew Iria would ask that. Her brows furrow as she puts the object into her own inventory now… and then sees the name of the object. ‘Vegeta’s Wrath’. Her eyes widen a little as she nods in understanding. She should have figure that out herself. She nods and gives the thumbs up to Damagi.

With Damagi’s command, she moves in a jog behind Damagi, and she puts on her Stormtrooper helmet. The display inside of the helmet comes to life, giving her a sensor awareness of her immediate vicinity, as well as the condition and location of her teammates. Artemis is online, his own status having a little spot in the UI. The Saiyan Pods emerge, and without a word Iria moves towards the one closest to her. She meant to paint these all different colors, but just ran out of time. Damagi had put in the coordinates, and Iria mentally prepares herself. As much as she can.

Attentively she watches as Damagi gives her final pep talk. Well her version of a pep talk. Basically ‘do your best or I’ll bust your ass’, very Damagi. “+Game over man!+” She utters softly to herself with a giggle, imitating Hicks’ southern accent as she does. She thinks it was Hicks… she remembers the voice well, just not the name specifically. She says that softly, not wanting to interrupt Damagi. Her voice further muffled by the electronic masking of the Stormtrooper helmet.

One by one the Saiyan Pods launch into the darkening sky, and the journey to Yautja Prime is made in less time than one would generally expect. Almost the time of 2 posts, it seems. In a triangular formation the Pods enter the thick atmosphere of Yautja Prime, a yellow hued world. The Pods quake as they pierce the atmosphere… and then make impact in a jungle scape. The Pod doors pop open, and Iria leaps out of her Pod. She doesn’t have her laser pistol drawn, instead she is looking down at her left gauntlet. A small screen mounted there, her right hand typing onto the screen. “+Arty, get up there!+” From her back the small droid detaches with a series of beeps and blips. It’s legs unold under it as it raises into the air over the party, turning slowly. Iria stands to her full height as she looks down at the display on her gauntlet, getting instant scanner readings from Artemis. “+Not seeing anything yet… but everyone stay close! Herak, Jerick-O… keep the team between you two! Assume we’re being watched.+” Her softly glowing green eyes look towards Damagi as she nods to her.
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Dante took a moments as he was messing with his own virtual inventory from the ship. Now that he was close by to his gear he was able to swap stuff around from his safe. He wasn't sure what they would need so as a partial medic he was bringing the works: stimpacks, buffount, mentants, jet, calmex, first aid kits, and surgeons tools. He wasn't sure if he could use the last item under stress. That was only meant to give them a jerry-rigged cybernetic limb. He kept chems on them in case they needed a boost. Nancy Reagan may not agree with this standing, but Dante figured that the deceased former first lady never had to fight killing machines on a far away planet and could blow it up where the sun don't shine.

Dante thought also on his last will and how he left his stuff to Wendy. Since everything is connected to their oasis accounts it would be tough to get anything of his back beyond the money he put into his account each month from his work here. All his weapons, armor, ship, and gear would be floating in space until some scavenger found it. He figured it should go to someone who could really need it. Plus it didn't hurt that Dante gets fixated on people he shows interest in. He didn't show interest in a lot of people so when someone comes around it is special for him.

Dante had made his choice on what weapons he could fit on his person. He could only fit six firearms with all the ammo he was carrying. For dante it was tough. It was like choosing your own children, impossible. He finally settled on six: Ranger Sequoia- (Fallout New Vegas), Ebony and Ivory- (Dante Devil May Cry), Model 1887, BR55 Battle Rifle, Anti-Material Rifle (Fallout New Vegas)- Beatrice, and his final choice which was something he only brought out on a special occasion if he needed to bust something up real good. All these guns were semi auto or old west stuff which fit his skills nicely. Now melee combat was something he was not proficient in so all he had was a Bowie knife for the close stuff.

Dante decided to go in his pod. He was intending to take his ship there on auto pilot, but keeping it locked up here was good too. It was in a sector nearby and would only take a bit of time to travel over at light speed if Wendy called for it. Dante could enter the protocol as well. Dante watched as the vector world disappeared from his vision as he was whisked away toward the jungle planet. Dante chose to not participate in any team chat. He simply chose to think on his last attempt to be on a team... it wouldnt end that way again.

As though picking up on his thoughts, Kara began to speak in his ear from his own gauntlet. "So youre really going through with this... why do you do this to yourself Dante. Are you hoping to seek redemption for what you did, or perhaps you are intending to die a warriors death. Which is it you melodramatic otaku."

Dante looked down at his gauntlet and smiled. "Perhaps both in a way... though i think it could be that I'm tired of being alone. I'm tired of being afraid. I am going to live life on my terms and if i die well then. At least ill have company."

With that Dante would have a grin on his face as they descended toward their final destination.

-End Transmission-
 
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W3ndy's player is glad she was able to swipe off the emotion emulation for her avatar before Damagi's assertion there would be no running without consequence. Here Dante had given her two means by which to make an escape if things went deep deep South where all you hear is banjos and gators, and Damagi would zero her out if she wasn't gone herself by then. Therefore W3ndy keeps a straight face, while her player swallows a lump of nerves and wrings her hands together before it was time to jump into the pods and take off.

In the privacy of said pod, W3ndy says aloud to herself while looking out the window "You got this. No turnin' tail cause that's not what ya do anyways. Not because Damagi will tan your hide if ya try. No no you got this...." She takes a deep breath when the planet Yautja Prime comes into view as they exit hyperspace and they hurtle towards it. W3ndy braces(maybe needlessly) for impact.

"You.Got.This." She bumps her fists together and feels the impact of the pod. It only kinda startles her for all anyone could see.

The black-clad fighter opens her pod and jumps out, equipping the lightsaber but not activating it yet. She forms up with the others, her blue eyes darting all around as she does her best to look like a poised predator. She side-steps over to Dante and says aloud to the group "Dibs on saying the thing if we get to take one's helmet off."