Chapter 7- Where the Cities Have No Name - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG
Silas slept deeply for a long time. That same day, Liora had already recovered. She was having a lively conversation about fighting strategies with Petra and Frank when Silas woke up to give a belated, almost nocturnal good morning.
"Are you okay?" Petra asked, scribbling notes on a terminal modified to resemble a notebook. "We're planning how to handle stressful situations so we won't be caught off guard again. We didn't wake you because Liora seems fine. Anyway, I jotted down what I remembered from the conversation and sent you a copy."
Silas, still waking up, instinctively held his right hand, which was bandaged. He connected his various terminals while reading Petra's report, all at the same time. He said, "I’ve had better days, but I'm fine now. I really needed to rest. Interesting!" Silas, visibly surprised. "In your report, did you use any kind of voice-to-text tool?"
"No, I don't think so, at least. I wrote it from memory with some comments, but Liora is fine! Are there any problems?" asked Petra, who continued to jot down notes. She spoke, now dividing her attention: "I'm listing each of our abilities and what we plan to improve in the next few days. We'll have at least 20 more days of travel, right?"
"No problem, Petra. I was impressed by the richness of detail in your text. Share those notes with me later. Yes, 20 more days. I plan on making some personalized gifts for you guys!" Silas said, smiling, relieved that everything had gone well. He continued to watch Liora for a while to make sure she was okay, and he noticed that the copy had continued working from where she had left off before yesterday's incident.
Liora, seeing Silas staring at her, said, "My systems are almost all up and running. I'm not going to train today, but I’ll fully recover tomorrow. You’d have a bright future as an oioi doctor, Silas. You should consider that option when we get back to civilization!" Liora joked. "But seriously, thank you all. I would have become scrap if it weren’t for you guys!"
Frank, still in his corner, felt a joy that was very rare to him on Earth. But he couldn’t find the words for the moment, which was both strange and pleasant to him.
"I'm sure that if we weren’t all there yesterday, none of us would have made it out alive!" Petra added, "And that’s why we need to plan our strategy. Since we left Rocatrista, we’ve trained every day, amazed by our powers as superheroes, but we need to coordinate better from now on."
Silas looked at everyone and decided to break the silence. "I have some traditional ebex training that takes advantage of my physique, but for the dangers we're exposed to, that's not enough. Petra is probably way better than me in that area right now, so I'm focusing on technology. Before we reach our destination, I plan on making everyone at least minimally prepared." The burning sensation in his hand reminded him, "Ah, yes, I was just about to forget about this!" He waved his bandaged right arm. "It’s not something terribly powerful like the Flexoclava, but I can release an energy beam that pushes things away. I can control how explosive this energy is, so it can be an option to damage something or just push it away. In an emergency, I could use it to push myself and fly away. The reach of this beam is amazing, a few dozen miles or even more." Frank shook his head, impressed. Silas continued, "And there's more. If I release all the energy at once, I can blow up a large area near me. But in that case, I have no control over targets. It would catch everyone!”
Frank chimed in from his corner, "That's a very interesting maneuverability option because I've realized I can run and move things with great ease. I can get into any position if I notice in time, but I have to try to stay near the front line. Yesterday, if I had known that our enemy was going to go after Liora, I think I would have been able to get there before it. So, I feel kind of guilty for not noticing in time." Frank lamented.
"You almost threw yourself off the aerolito with it. I don't even know how you managed to do that!" Petra reminded him of the incident. "In my case, I'm focusing on physical defense training, regeneration, and everything that seemed interesting to me in terms of being able to defend everyone. I read in Liora’s material that there’s a training for non-physical defenses that I think I’m going to check out. After having taken that bolt to the head..." Petra pondered, still looking at Frank.
"I've been thinking about that too since I’ll be next to you, Petra. But my best bet is to use my speed so I don't get hit," Frank responded, and continued, "As for my desperate act yesterday, I trained something that caught my attention about mental focus and resolution. It allows me to focus my will on a goal to do my best. It seemed like a very limited power, but given my history of low self-confidence, it seemed useful for crises. I just didn't think it would be so useful. But I feel like I won't be able to do that again any time soon. I just don’t know how it works exactly." He finished with a certain perplexity.
"Ah, yes, that mental focus power is also useful for bringing someone back to life. Ramirez must have the same training or some magical equivalent. It’s amazing, but from what I know, it takes quite a long time to reactivate," responded Liora, who continued to speak. "In my case, I’m putting all my chips to dodge things as Frank. I'm specializing in my physical dexterity. Soon, I'll be able to maintain my super speed full-time if I want to. At least, that’s the plan!"
"Really? Mages use that kind of thing, too? So they need mental focus?" Frank said, already reflecting on how this new world worked.
"When you’re bringing back someone who’s been gone for a long time, it's hard to be sure who to bring back among an almost infinite number of options. The mage seems to have a few seconds to coordinate all the information they have about their targets and identify who to bring back. When we get back to Rocatrista, you can try asking Ramirez how it works, but mages don’t always discuss that kind of thing, although he, hmm…" Liora pondered if she was talking nonsense. After all, she didn’t know much about magic.
"Now that you’ve brought that up, if I remember correctly, the brothers’ names were similar to ours. They were English, and we speak English. Instead of the 18th century, we were born in the 80s, and we have some family history with the military. Liora, are you sure Ramirez wasn’t just drunk?" Petra asked, attempting a laugh. Frank hadn’t noticed this before. He couldn’t control himself.
"That rascal… If it weren’t for the gods of booze, whose temples I was a devout patron of, we wouldn’t be here to tell the story," Frank exclaimed, impressed by the similarities that Petra pointed out.
Liora put her hand over her eyes and attempted a laugh but said, "Maybe, but there may have also been a real problem with the two brothers. When something happens and the targets do not come back to life, other people show up. They may be similar, but it depends a lot on the mage's personality and what they decide to do in a matter of seconds. Someone would certainly return. They have to choose who, somehow."
Silas commented, "Petra, I think you've already noticed that your ability to perceive and remember things has increased considerably. Those are effects of the mental endurance power you just talked about." Petra nodded, still entertained by the uncertainties of all those new powers. Silas continued, "It's a great idea that you all update me on what you intend to do so I can direct my efforts using the time we have.”
"That´s right, Silas! So, I think that's all for now, guys. Tomorrow, we'll get back to training if Liora is 100%." Petra concluded.
Silas got up to tidy things up in the new carriage. Liora went to rest and started another battery of consistency tests while Petra and Frank reminisced about what life was like in America in the 90s before going to sleep. Petra shows Frank that now she can ask for much better cocktails for her cube to create. She found out that the better the user's memory, the better the quality of food, so they enjoyed themselves that day and even managed to hear some 80s songs from the Seneca project backup. The smooth days seem to have returned.
The next morning, everyone was more relaxed and woke up early to begin training. Silas, who was on a different schedule, took advantage of the time to fix another training aerolito, the third one destroyed so far on this trip. The trio's abilities were visibly progressing, seemingly without limit. One day, Frank managed to adjust the windshield of the first carriage, which had been scratched in the attack a few days earlier, as if it were the lid of a pickle jar. Frank was able to play with an object that exerted a force of over 50 tons, but even if he landed a full blow on Petra, she wouldn't budge. As both of them had developed some degree of regeneration, broken hands or feet would return to perfection in a matter of seconds. And no matter how hard they tried, neither of them could hit Liora with her speed. The training was exciting, and each day became more absorbing for the enthusiastic students, interrupted only by Silas, almost at the planned end of the trip.
On that day, Silas woke up before everyone else except Liora. Shortly after the cube coffee, he called everyone together. Petra and Liora sat down at the table while Frank stood, arms crossed, in his favorite corner. Silas began, "I managed to finish twice as many projects this time! First, let’s start with this simple lab coat here. It looks normal at first glance, right?” Everyone looked on without any surprise. “It’s very comfortable and can enhance Petra’s defenses. Please…" Petra got up and put on the lab coat. It was comfortable and had a shirt and pants in one piece. She immediately realized that the ensemble formed an armor to protect her whole body, but it was completely discreet.
"Frank, I'm not going to block your punches. Let's see how this works!" Petra stood still as Frank prepared some practice strikes. He muttered under his breath, "Looks like I’m going to break my foot again..." With that, he unleashed a combination of punches and kicks. Petra didn’t get a scratch. She put her hands in the pockets of her lab coat and remained unscathed. The same couldn’t be said for Frank, who backed away with swollen hands and feet, saying, “You guys are abusing me. I shouldn't have trained regeneration!”
Petra said, "Thank you so much, Silas. This coat will be incredibly useful. During training, when I missed a defense, I would start getting hurt. I was worried when I imagined situations where I couldn’t protect myself from everything, but with this, it’ll be amazing!"
Silas continued, "I focused on defense with this lab coat. It adapts and improves with your training, and it also regenerates itself almost immediately. I tried to make it protect a little bit against magical attacks, but I don't know if it worked. We can’t test that right now..." Petra became increasingly impressed, returning to Liora’s side, trying to understand how the armor formed in a fabric that felt so soft.
Silas then went behind his workbench and brought with him two large volumes. He said, "These are for Liora and Frank. They took quite a long time to make. I had to put double the energy cells into each..." With that, Silas revealed two artifacts similar to riles, each two meters tall, with a spiked arch at the tip, pointed forward in a “U” shape. The design was completely different. Liora was even more impressed.
“Silas, these two are quite different from what I was expecting today,” said Liora, but without hiding her approval. Frank began to think about strategies that hadn’t crossed his mind before.
"Like them? I asked your copy to suggest the design, and I did the engineering. I also tried to replicate something more familiar from Earth." Silas pondered, seeing that Petra was also interested. He continued, "This isn't a rifle, although it works similarly. It's powerful, dangerous, and pretty hard to operate. I wouldn't be able to use it properly, but I think Liora and Frank can. Those devices produce a directed antimatter beam guided and powered by a high-precision LASER. It has a long range. I made it in advance as I think we’ll probably encounter our winged opponents sometime on the way back. These weapons can fire up to twice before automatically reloading, which takes seconds. I think maybe Liora can shoot them that fast at the moment. According to my calculations, each shot would be more than enough to eliminate one of those abominations at a safe distance of a couple of miles. Still, you need to keep the target locked for a while to prevent the antimatter from dispersing in the air. It's a difficult task, but if done correctly, it's devastating. I put safety locks linked to our location links to prevent friendly fire and accidents, but even so, be very careful with them.”
Petra leaped from her spot, thrilled by Silas' results. Frank said hesitantly,
"Silas, I am still unable to conceive of a weapon capable of taking down those creatures. I mean, it's incredible but also scary.
"Yes, Frank. Do you remember what I said when we started our trip about dangerous powers?" Silas recalled his words after his fight in Rocatrista. "And I could say more. Your current physical strength, as far as I can measure, is already many times greater than it was a few weeks ago. With a Flexoclava, you could even exceed the damage caused by this antimatter weapon, but with much more control."
Petra was still euphoric, but she restrained herself when she realized that the others were more serious this time. Frank asked,
"Silas, I'm having a hard time understanding how strong we're talking about. Can you give me an example of something on Earth that would be equivalent to this weapon or what I could do with a Flexoclava now?"
Silas thought for a moment. Finally, he said, “So, the weapon is a thin, directed, point-blank beam. At its maximum, it would open a small hole in almost anything. But if the energy was spread out, a simple shot from Liora's, under perfect conditions, could bring down a small hill or building. And in your case right now, Frank, a truck. The longer you can keep the beam aligned with the point of impact, the greater the destructive power, so this means this weapon will become even more powerful as you guys keep training. The same goes for your Flexoclava, but in terms of brute force, you could already move mountains with that. But beware, avoid doing those things here in Gate. You can never be sure. One day, the mountains from Gate might retaliate."
Frank stroked his beard and began to speak, “We've been here for less than 2 months. This is insane. And I think some people are already there…” He was interrupted by an alarm and the mechanized voice of Liora’s copy.
"Attention, everyone! I’ve made the first visual contact with the destination. The deceleration starts just before the spiral, and it looks like we'll have company!" The voice came from Liora´s copy on the front terminal, framing a distant point on the screen.
"This time, we'll have enough time to train with the weapons if necessary. The second rifle is a modified prototype. It’ll be finished by the end of the day," Silas warned. "Visual contact indicates that we still have one day of travel, plus the spiral descent… Why do you say we’ll have company?"
"Each composition on land has a faint, continuous glow after they’ve been unloaded, indicating that the energy batteries are active. According to my calculations, some of them are missing," the copy continued. "But there doesn't seem to be any sign of a village here. Perhaps people are collecting the cargo to take somewhere. For now, we can only detect points of light at the limit of our sensors."
With that, Silas began to operate at the terminals. He worked quickly and with focus, but he was much calmer than last time. He said, “Okay, I’m going to monitor the arrival point now that we’re closer. Tomorrow, we’ll get a clearer view of what’s going on.”
While Silas concentrated on the monitoring, the other three got up from the table and returned to their usual training. They had a mixture of tension. Outside the carriage, they began stretching, and Liora observed the new weapon, visibly impressed.
“Arch forgot to remind us that we should use our codenames when we arrive at a village," Petra said excitedly. "Star, do you think we’ll have problems upon arrival?"
Liora took a few seconds to respond. She was completely absorbed in her thoughts. She said, "That’s true. I’ve forgotten, too. We’ll have to wait and see what awaits us. For now, they are just points of light. At least the light of the cargo at the destination is a good sign, I think."
"Something feels wrong with all this cargo. And how is it possible that there’s no communication from the cities here to the outside?" Frank asked.
"Before the fall of the Old Metropolis, this was a region in expansion and of great interest. But those leading these initiatives were the leaders of the Eighth House of the Academy, along with the Order of Tempus mages. They intended to create a safe route from Old Metropolis to the North Pole. But the project never took off. Unfortunately, they all perished in the fall of Metropolis. However, we don’t know much about the people who live here now. There isn’t much information about that in the databases we have access to,” said Liora.
"Right, but whoever is here should have ways of communicating. Now that we are at close range, shouldn´t we detect something?" Frank asked.
"Certainly, even though it’s not trivial, there are technological or magical means of keeping in touch, as long as people here want to do it…” Liora said, with some insecurity. “I don’t know for sure, either. From what I understand, in Rocatrista and Paradiso, the cities we passed through, There is nothing about these villages, and no one answers anything. I think people are curious, but maybe the relation to the old houses of the Academy is troublesome. No one is going to talk openly about it with outsiders, especially with the current Metropolis government…” Liora, visibly uncomfortable as she remembered Metropolis politics, concluded, “It’s been several years since an isolationist proposal was elected in Metropolis, and in the coming decades, I wouldn’t be surprised if they cut these supply lines without warning. That is, if anyone remembers them. What they’re sending today is just technological waste.”
"Well, we'll find out soon enough what's going on," Petra interrupted. "Now, let’s go about testing these weapons before we get closer to the village. From where we are now, it’ll be difficult for anyone to notice us, but we only have today to do this…"
Along that day, the three became engrossed in testing the new weapon. Petra even tried using it out of curiosity, having some practice with weapons on Earth. She managed to hit a target, but it was almost impossible to have enough precision to keep the beam aligned. In Liora's hands, however, the effect was brutal. They threw a few targets into the turbulent air current above and tried to hit them with the beam. Frank almost always hit, and Liora never missed.
After a long day, just before dinner, everyone gathered at the table. Silas was more tense. He began, “The news isn’t the best. I couldn’t see any city. The cargo is accumulating in the tens of thousands. According to my calculations, almost none of it has been used since the cataclysm. There are a few dozen compositions left open, and it looks like the remains of both the carriage container and the cargo have been destroyed. We still haven’t gotten perfect visual confirmation as everything is illuminated with the cargo dim lights. Probably, we will deal with Northern Rats here." Silas looked at Liora with concern.
After a short pause, Liora began to speak, "It’s one of the oioi's nightmares, a creature common to the North of Gate that feeds on technology and energy. There are reports of oiois that have been devoured by these creatures when one hides inside an aerolito and infiltrates a city…” Liora continued, resigned. "We were expecting to find this type of creature, especially in an abandoned cargo depot in the middle of nowhere. But there’s a good side to it. They are less bad than our winged old enemies. In the cities we passed through, a detachment of a few guards, without any power training, can get rid of a couple of them. So I think we can solve this if we plan ahead."
"Those rats are not robots, but they act almost programmatically. They’ll respond if they’re attacked. But if they perceive energy cells nearby or Liora, they might give in to instinct and attack the source. The problem is that if they hit, they can drain energy from devices uncontrollably and, in doing so, disable them." Silas spoke as he had reviewed the rat reports last night.
“So, the idea is to shoot them from a distance before that happens,” concluded Petra.
“Exactly. If we stay hidden upon arrival, Frank and I will shoot them before they notice,” said Liora. Petra liked what she was hearing, nodding and saying: "And I’ll position myself further forward alone in case you two can’t hit them all. I think we’re good!”
"Seems good to me, but there’s a flaw in this plan," Frank commented. "If I’m too far from you, Petra, it won’t be simple to intercept them if they go after both Liora and Silas."
Petra responded, "Okay, then we’ll do it this way. I’ll start isolated in front, and Frank will stay halfway between me and Liora. If there’s a problem, Frank will join me."
Silas thought for a moment and added, “Good, but let's make an emergency escape plan. I'll stay in the air, riding the airbike. I'll let Liora’s copy pilot it if necessary. I’ll also interrupt the aerolito’s unloading procedure, leaving everything ready to go back. If things go wrong, I'll bring everyone into the aerolito, and we’ll get out of here. The windshield will be on the wrong side, which will prevent high speeds, but it should be enough to escape the rats…"
"Well, you guys better get some rest tonight. I'll be monitoring our destination. Initially, we'll follow the cargo loading and unloading protocols. Based on the amount of cargo on the ground, it’s been done countless times without problems. This way, we’ll stay hidden to preserve the element of surprise, and we’ll also have the option to stop or even turn back, given that the next aerolito should arrive in about 40 days," said Liora, already making her way to the terminals where Silas was.
Liora stayed awake while the others went to sleep, but it was a light sleep, full of worries. Petra and Frank reviewed the information that Liora had in her database about the so-called Northern Rats. And in their minds, they reconstructed their plan of action.
The next day, everyone woke up earlier than usual, fueled by anxiety. Over breakfast, they shared the news from the night. Liora reported, "In a few hours, we’ll start the descent through the spiral. I identified Northern Rats last night, as expected. There are three of them, and they’re much fatter than usual. We have visuals of them here." On the front screen, parts of the night’s footage began to appear.
The footage revealed creatures wandering among the train carriages without aerolitos dumped on the ground, like containers, each one of them with small, dim bluish lights on the upper corner. On a surface of hard snow and earth, they were arranged in an orderly pattern resembling city streets, which allowed for a very precise size reference of the rats. The creatures didn’t look much like Earth rats. They were about 10 feet tall when upright, but they could move on all fours if their large bellies allowed. They had long tails, reminiscent of a rat’s, but instead of fur, they had some kind of liquid oozing along their entire gray and dark blue skin. Sometimes, this liquid seemed to evaporate, making them appear hot. They had massive skulls with no apparent necks, forcing them to look up when standing upright. Their enormous mouths were full of sharp, misaligned teeth, ripping through the front part of their skulls. They also had completely black eyes, but they lacked a visible nose and ears. The liquid present on their entire bodies was even more abundant in their eyes, making them seem to cry constantly. Inside their mouths, and reflecting off their teeth, was a blue light and a lot of vapor. They didn’t seem to interact with each other, nor did they appear to react to anything except their food. They didn’t notice the aerolito’s approach in the mantle of the eternal night, or if they did, they didn’t react.
"Those rats shouldn't react like a creature from Earth. Although they don’t seem to communicate, there are reports that they have some strategy and collective reaction when threatened. So, when the first one notices us, all the others will attack. We need to coordinate the first attack very well or opt not to attack at all." explains Liora.
"Is there any danger in staying relatively close to them?" Petra asked. "Because we could simply stop the aerolito here and go to a nearby village to find out what’s going on..."
"Villages generally eliminate them when they find them because, as long as they're not feeding, they can hide in the city structures or even underground. And in a village without defenses, many could die. They’re quite strong and fast compared to an untrained person." Liora reflected for a moment. "But it's an option. We can leave the aerolito ready to return, and we'll all explore the region. We’ll leave my copy here to guard the place…” At that moment, a text message appeared from the copy on the terminal. "That doesn't seem like a good idea to me..."
Silas interrupted, “The rats concentrate on the most recent compositions near the spiral, and they seem to have far more food than they need. After all, we have a dozen compositions open compared to tens of thousands that are closed. I think it took them a while to get here, and they’re still ignoring the oldest part of the stock. Some of the furthest carriages have already sunk a little, indicating that they’ve been abandoned for a long time. It doesn’t rain or snow here. The dust accumulates with the wind, slowly." After a brief pause, he continued to speculate, "We don't know how rat reproduction works exactly, but this invasion may be compromising the nearby villages. If people come to get materials here, they must do so in extended time windows because they must open and then close the compositions. The only open compositions are the same ones attacked by rats."
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“So, we’ll act. The plan is for Frank and me to be in the front. We’ll move half a mile from the end of the spiral towards the rats. Liora will stay near the foot of the track where the spiral meets the ground, in a higher position. If the rats start to climb the spiral to get close to Liora, she’ll have some time to get back to the aerolito. And Silas will stay on the airbike, further away, high above Liora,” Petra defined the line of action.
"Good idea for me to be at the edge of the spiral," Liora countered. "I was thinking about staying on top of one of the carriages down there, but your idea is much better!"
After a brief contemplative silence, everyone agreed on the line of action and positioned themselves outside the aerolito, checking all the details. Petra had made a checklist for everyone to review. Time passed tensely but in a controlled manner.
Finally, the aerolito stopped near the end of the spiral. Silas departed with his airbike still hidden behind the windshield while the others positioned themselves. Liora was the first to reach her spot. She prepared her weapon and identified one of the rats. She let everyone know she was ready. Frank and Petra cautiously crossed the streets between the carriages. They could already hear the noise of the rats scratching and chewing metal in the distance. Petra pointed for Frank to stay on a corner of an open street where he’d have a clear line of sight. He also prepared his weapon while Petra continued to advance. When she was just a few steps from the rats, she silently alerted everyone on her communicator that she was in position. They were all set.
Liora typed to Frank’s comlink, "We’re going to shoot together. I'll share my aim with you. I’ll try to get two, and you’ll take the third. On 3…" Liora waited a few seconds… "1, 2…"
Three silent shots tore through the eternal night in a city of containers. A flash, followed by a hole, pierced the first rat, causing it to explode immediately. The second rat turned reflexively, but it didn’t have time to react. A flash illuminated its belly, and it met the same fate as the first. The third and final rat managed to move but was hit by Frank's shot. It barely managed to survive until Petra revealed herself. She activated her Flexoclava, which caught the attention of her wounded opponent. Without thinking, it leaped toward Petra, intending to bite her, but that turned out to be a terrible idea. The creature’s massive skull shattered upon meeting a perfectly delivered counterstrike.
Before anyone could celebrate, Silas warned over the communicators. "Attention! We have more of them coming from under the ground, and they’re coming out all over the place. There are seven in total, and they’re all headed toward Petra. They’ll be here in a moment!"
With that, Frank tucked away his weapon and grabbed his Flexoclava. "I'm on my way. If any escape that I don't see, let me know, and I'll jump toward Liora!"
Liora fired four shots before the rats reached Petra. Now that all the rats were alert, she only managed to hit two, but once she hit, there was no chance for the rat. With that, five rats got close to Petra. The first one met Petra's Flexoclava, which delivered another fatal, one-hit counterstrike. Petras parried the second rat attack, but it wasn't injured. The rat started chewing on Petra's weapon, fighting with her like a dog after a twig. Its teeth, full of a blue liquid, now completely covered its prey. With that, the three remaining rats attacked Petra.
An energy bolt from above struck just before it hit Petra. It was Silas´ ray, surfing upon his airbike with his right hand open while the copy was probably in control. The rat did not get hurt but was sent flying away. Another was hit by Frank, who flew over it like a battering ram, practically exploding it upon contact with his Flexoclava. The third hit Petra in the back and tried to chew on her protective clothing, which kept regenerating. Despite the complicated situation, Petra yelled, "I’m fine! But they destroyed my Flexoclava, and they’re trying to do the same to my armor! It's that blue crap that seems to interfere with the energy cells!" Petra was visibly injured from the attack from behind, but she didn't seem too worried about it.
Liora tried to fire two shots at the rats near Petra, but she missed both. It was difficult to lock onto a target in the middle of the chaos. She calmly stopped and thought about changing her strategy.
Silas said over the communicators, “Petra, drop your Flexoclava. I’ll send you another!” Reflexively, Petra dropped her broken weapon and saw the rat in front of her immediately spit to the side. With that, Frank grabbed the other rat on Petra's back by the head and threw it to the ground in an acrobatic arc, placing himself back-to-back with Petra. He then followed with a lightning-fast blow to the rat as soon as it fell in front of him; the impact was so brutal that the rat exploded. One more down!
Silas energized his own Flexoclava with his ray and beam-fired toward Petra, who realized what was happening and grabbed a weapon that fell perfectly at her side. It's almost twice the size of the previous one, but she managed to use it anyway with two hands. The rat that had been chewing on the first club was planning to do the same to the new one, but this time, Petra’s counterstrike hit it squarely, immediately knocking it down. Silas warned, “Careful!” Petra and Frank only had time to see the rat that had been dragged away by Silas’s energy beam charge back at them like a beast. Petra instinctively tried to place herself in front, already thinking she was going to lose another weapon, but at the moment the rat jumped to attack, a single, accurate shot from Liora put an end to the brutal combat. Both Silas and Liora said in the comlink, "It´s over!"
Now euphoric with their total victory, Frank let out a shout of relief, followed by Petra, who lifted him to celebrate. Silas, relieved, spoke, "Excellent, everyone! There were 10 in total. I don't think there are any more. But let´s be cautious."
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Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 18 / 4 Powers Super-Life Magnitude 1 Super-Energy Magnitude 2 Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1 Super-Technique Magnitude 4 Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 1 Superior Technology: Architect Magnitude 5 Natural Combined Armor (ebex) - Know it all (party) - Skills Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4 Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - - Essence: Reality +4 Days: 9162 Equipment Superior safety clothes (AC 3) Silas´ Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) Other 3 credits on Paradiso account Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube) Flight surveillance drones (1x, normal tech) Airbike, speed +4 (boosted), flight (normal tech)
Name: Liora “Stardust” Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 17 / 4 Powers Super-Life Magnitude 1 Super-Dexterity Magnitude 11 Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1 Superior Technology Network (oioioi) - Structural (oioioi) - Know it all (party) - Skills Aerolito´s Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +3 Streetwise (Cha) +4 Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) - - Essence: Reality +4 Days: 8607 Equipment Double-trouble (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn, prototype (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) Other Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety 2 credits on Paradiso account Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra "Warden" Somerson Species: Human XP: 16 / 4 Powers Super-Life Magnitude 3 Super-Resistance Magnitude 7 Super-Wisdom Magnitude 1 Super-Constitution Magnitude 1 Skills Aerolito´s Dojo Training (Res) +4 Shooting (Dex) +4 Military Discipline (Mor) +4 Tang Soo Do (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) - - Essence: Reality +4 Days: 5276 Equipment Flexoclava, Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn Sci-lab jacket (AC 3), regen, prototype (quirk: AC 2 to magical defense) Other Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Frank "Firebreaker" Summers Species: Human XP: 16 / 4 Powers Super-Life Magnitude 1 Super-Willpower Magnitude 1 Super-Strength Magnitude 6 Super-Dexterity Magnitude 3 Super-Constitution Magnitude 1 Skills Aerolito´s Dojo Training (Dex) +4 Bar Politics (Int) +4 Power Drinking (Res) +4 Drunken Fighting (Str) +4 (fixed - know it all) - - Essence: Reality +4 Days: 4996 Equipment Dual-ray trigger happy rifle (5), ranged, hit: Dex, 2TP\turn Ebexian Flexoclava (d12), melee, hit:Dex Other Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Superior Technology projects People on development Silas 5 research/day People on prototyping Silas 9 research/day People on production Silas, Liora (1 copy) 10 research/day Blueprints Flexoclava Foundation melee weapon + 1x internal energy generator 20 / 20 Research Sci-lab jacket Foundation main protector + regeneration 20 / 20 Research Dual-ray trigger happy rifle Foundation ranged weapon + energy(2) 30 / 30 Research Prototype Silas´ Flexoclava Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn (quirk: Silas got +3 hit bonus when using it) 20 / 20 Research Sci-lab jacket of disbelief AC:3, regenerate (quirk: AC:2 for magical defense) 20 / 20 Research Double-trouble Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produces 2TP\turn (quirk: +3 hit when shooting twice a turn) 30 / 30 Research Production Flexoclava (complete: 2x) Damage: d12, melee, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 1TP / turn 20 / 40 Research Dual-ray trigger happy rifle (complete: 1x) Damage: 5, ranged, Hit: Dex, consumes 1TP / successful hit, produce 2TP\turn 30 / 30 Research
The Unforgettables Assembly (Milestones 2/2) Maneuver: +7 (condition: Firebreaker on vanguard) Perception: +3 (condition: Stardust on perception range) Vanguard: Firebreaker, Warden Ranged: Stardust Artillery: Archon Combat Totals Char-action life aural hit dam def mdef dodge TP cost extra Warden 30 / 30 21 2 0+4 War - melee 0+4 1 War - parry 7+4 7(d12) X-1 X hit/t Firebreaker 10 / 10 WP 1/0 0 0 3+4 Fir - melee 3+4 6(d12) X-1 X hit/t Fir - ranged 3+4 15 X-2 X hit/t Stardust 10 / 10 0 0 11+4 Star - ranged 11+4 55 X-2 X hit/t Star - ranged TF2 1+7 55 X-2 X hit/t Archon 10 / 10 TP 2/2 5 0 0+2 Arch - melee 0+5 1 X-1 X hit/t Arch - parry 1+7 1(d12) X-1 X hit/t Arch - Blast(art) 4+4 X(d6) X push Arch - Nova(mle) 4+4 2X X all targets