Season 3: Chapter 89: Nokia
“Exterminate! Exterminate!”
“RUUUUUUUUN!!” Jesse screamed as a cornucopia of lasers lit up the hallway in a dazzle of red lights.
This was bad! Real bad! A hundred enemies with laser guns?! What idiot came up with this-
Oh. Ehem.
Man, it's hard remembering things… Wouldn't it be cool if I had a lightsaber right now… I could be all verm verm vrrm-
Oh wait. Right! Ayaka!
“Hulp!” Ayaka let out, scurrying forward and throwing up a barrier that shielded us from onslaught.
Slimey! Gobledo! Hector! Protect the core! I sent, directing my troops to shield my dungeon heart as the way behind us became barred by a steel door slamming from from above.
At my command Hector rolled out from the carriage, reforming his body and picking up a shield to create a blockade with Gobeldo as Slimey hardened herself around the chest that kept my beating dungeon.
“Sir Hiro! Is there something you can do?! You must be familiar with these machines!” Simone called out, the priestess clutching her staff to conjure a spell to help augment Ayaka’s protective barrier.
“Yeah! Is there an off button or something?! Tell them to stop shooting at us!” Jesse cried.
Right!
…
…
…
In truth… These automatons were created after my time. I wasn't familiar with them and there was no real telling what changes had occurred to the Dectus hallway while I was intombed.
One thing was for certain, if I didn't intervene soon we'd all be dead.
Damn. I was hoping to visit civilization today but it looks like I've got no choice. D:<
“Get down!” I yelled, taking control of Slimey's mass to form my body as my eyes focused on a glowing red box beside a nearby door.
A keypad.
Inhabiting one of Slimey's cores, I grabbed a shield from the wagon, opening the carriage door and nearly dropping the petrified catboy held within as I rummaged for the dragon slayer that lay atop Alexio.
“Gather what you can carry!” I barked, signaling Jesse and the rest of the party to grab what they could as I rushed forward to intercept the robots.
Using the legendary weapon as a shield, I quickly closed the distance between me and the vanguard of machines, swinging my black blade with the weapon tearing through the pristine automatons like a hot knife through butter.
Mmmh. Butter…
Sorry.
Spinning my weapon with the help of Slimey’s telekinesis, I caught the enemy’s counter-attack, fending off their barrage of lasers as best I could with one hand while my other tapped on the keypad modeled after an old Nokia flip phone.
Now, while I couldn't shut down the machines, and stop the flood of laser beams, that didn't mean I was useless.
On the contrary, I still knew the layout of the facility, and the codes, and with…
Ah. Oh crap.
Suddenly a sense of dread tickled my shoulders, my mouth twisting into a frown as I stared at the glowing keypad.
Was 1 for a-b-c? Or was 2 for a-b-c? Every number corresponded to three letters right? But then what was pound and star bonded to?
2-4-7-2-6-.... No that wasn’t right.
As I attempted to remember old-school texting, the sound of machinal marching began to escalate with Lhikan standing before me with a tower shield to provide protection for Ayaka and Simone to resummon their barriers beside me.
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“Sir, pardon my insolence but we need to move, the enemy’s numbers are beginning to rise,” Lhikan said as six streams of blue beams struck Ayaka’s barrier only to congregate at a center point and boil the air.
Looking over my shoulder, I could see the drider’s barrier visibly twisting, some kind of magical reaction occurring with the blue beams that was warping the space and boiling the air.
Well… That’s certainly not disconcerting…
Should I use my followers faith to summon a barrier? No, with my dungeon core messing up, Faith was my trump card, something in reserved that I couldn’t waste especially since I was barely accumulating any with my servants displaced.
“Sir?” Lhikan reiterated, adjusting his gas mask.
“Yeah! I know! Just give me a moment!” I spat, typing in annoyance on the keypad that displayed another ERROR message against it’s screen.
“The barriers coming apart!” Simone yelled behind me.
Did they change the code?
The thought crossed my mind, causing me to pale for a moment before I shook my head and tried again, hoping against hope that my attempt at a shortcut didn’t just get us all killed.
Well, them. I would probably survive, but the humans here would definitely starve.
Okay, let’s try 2 as A instead.
“3-5-8-3-7-0-7-8-2-5,”
Suddenly a whirl of machinery sounded from behind the door, the keypad flashing green once before the metal frame opened up as I finished typing in the code on the keypad.
Ha! AHAHAH! AH I LOVE YOU LEMODIANS!
“This way!” I barked, directing the others through a service corridor as Hector and Gobledo carried the petrified Alexio through the doorway.
9 in, 9 out. Tipsy the first in with Ayaka on her head and each person carrying what they could as I shut the door behind us.
Almost immediately the door began to glow, red heat permeating from the center and expanding as the robots outside tried to get in.
“We're dead! We're dead! Uuuugh why did I agree to even come back here?!” Jesse exclaimed, shaking Simone who responded by uppercutting the man.
“GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF! YOU'RE FREAKING ME OUT!” Simone cried.
“Listen up,” I interjected, clapping my hands that made a wet spunk sound to get their attention. “A few things have changed since last I was here. But seeing as there's power, there's a good chance we can lift the alert and get out of here.”
At my words, hope returned to Jesse and Simone’s eyes, the two returning to their senses.
“Lift the alert?” Lhikan asked, the paladin rubbing the spot on his armor where a laser beam and bore through.
“This facility is on lockdown, that means all lifts and doors are locked while security protocols are in effect. We’ll have to try to lift the security if we want to exit. Fortunately we’re in an access shaft, so, if I remember correctly this will bring us to a staging area. Once there, we simply need to cut through the living quarters and-” I replied, trying to piece together what I could remember as I looked over all 7 members of the party, “-Wait. Where's the knife-ear and Ayaka?”
The group looked around, noticing the tiniest of the group weren't there within the corridor.
Great. Just great! Why did they wander off?! I take my eyes off of them for a half a second and of course- AAAAAh!
“Slimey,”
“YES MY LORD?!” Slimey responded, cuddling up to me, pressing her body against my body.
“Go find your sister, the rest of you let's move. I don't have much time and there's a few things you need to know about this facility.”
****
Elsewhere.
Walking through the darkness that was occasionally interrupted by red lights, Tipsy smiled as she observed the glowing interior bulbs with wide starstruck eyes.
“Watcha doing?”
Suddenly something was atop her head, a familiar creature that crawled to the front of Tipsy’s head to make eye contact with the gnome.
“Studying the architecture and electronics of the facility,” Tipsy replied, running her hands across the red light covered in what seemed to be a thin film of protective gel.
The ruins were unlike anything Tipsy had seen before, sure she had seen and been to a few Lemodian digs, but those were all rusted and ruined with nothing but scrap and pieces already widely known, but here though? This was a fully functioning facility. Complete with lights, automatons, sound boxes, and walls crafted out of mithril just a few feet of a nearby wall would be enough to buy her a home in the capital.
In short, this was a once and a lifetime find that would cement her name as a great explorer. But that was just the surface, no, there was SO much to learn here, so much to discover, and maybe… just maybe a hint on to what happened to the famous race of builders who had seemingly gone extinct.
“Do you have any mold?”
“Huh? Tipsy replied, pulled out from her introspection by the spider woman using her as a mount.
“Mold, I can smell it on you!”
Tipsy froze.
“What? No I don't!” Tipsy immediately refuted, the gnome going pale as her hand subconsciously shifted to beneath her red leather coat.
“Uh huh! Uh huh! Uh huh! You do have some! Gimme!” Ayaka exclaimed, the tiny drider bobbing up and down in anticipation as she waited for Tipsy’s response.
“I-i don't know what you're talking about,” Tipsy replied, doubling down.
At this, Ayaka went silent, the tiny monster glaring at the gnome who suddenly felt a chill flow through her veins. “Do you think anyone would miss you if I ripped you limb from limb?”
Tipsy paled, forgetting that the cute creature she was conversing with was actually a legendary monster. A thing of nightmares with tales of adventurers discovering ruins filled with webs only to be never heard from again.
“Ah… oh! Mold! You were talking about that mold! Right! The mold that I have! Haha!” Tipsy exclaimed, hastily pulling out a specialized metallic jar filled with viscous black material. “Why didn't you say so?”
Immediately Ayaka vanished alongside the jar, leaving Tipsy alone in the darkness to sweat under the circumstances of her close brush with death.
“Phew… that was close,” Tipsy sighed before cold black hands reached out from behind the gnome and suddenly pulled her into the darkness, leaving the only trace of her existence the scream she left behind.
****