Zepar ponders on this: the console in the middle and these platforms had keyholes, he looks at the statues and flies over to see if they weren’t mere statues.
Garnad nods, “You have a lot of crew and passengers to accommodate for.”
Cogs, couplings, and pistons could be seen through gaps in the statues’ armor- it seemed like there might more to these decorations than met the eye.
“We do at that,” Salvo agrees, nodding her head. “Got a couple thousand running about, I think.”
Zepar sits down on the head of Hyperborea and thinks, The giant keyholes, the identical weapons…
Garand gives an impressed whistle, “Indeed, a formidable crew count.”
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“Whaddya make of it?” Venture calls up to him.
" 'Course," Salvo says jokingly, “most of us don’t do squat, letting about twenty-or-so of us do all the heavy lifting.”
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Thrust nods and raises the key.
“Here.” He hands the key to Zepar. [quote=“MichaelBT-7474, post:6975, topic:49995”]
“Yes, of course,” King-Quan said as he glanced at the cyberglyphics, and began to read them
[/quote]
SideStep stepped back and watched.
Zepar places the Omega Key into the keyhole in the console and twists it carefully, first to the left.
“Is it deliberate? This absence of helping run and maintain this vessel?” Garand asked Salvo.
CH-CLUNK!
The lights on the Omega Key flash, and cogs in the ceiling lurch to life, producing a steady, grinding sound as flashes of electricity spark between them. Trails of cyan energy race along the machinery in the floor, toward the statue of Atlantis. The glyphs and trimming on the automaton fill with light as the machine shudders, before hoisting itself to its feet.
At the same time, forest-green lights bloom to life on the statue of Hyperborea, and the automaton rises, as well. The floor shakes as, around the walls of the arena, thirty inert sentinels erupt from the earth, all in varying states of disrepair.
Atlantis and Hyperborea brandish their swords as they step out from their resting places, turning their heads to regard our heroes.
“That was a joke,” Salvo clarifies.
“Still, there’s a couple of us who’ve done more work on this voyage than others, I’d say. They’ve taken the lead on all our battles, and found out more about the Omega Lock than Sprocket’s ever been able to.”
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“Uhhh.” Vigor clutches his pistol with both hands as he cautiously watches the sentinels.
“Don’t attack them, they may be friendly!” Lightshift said in Ancient.
Zepar examines the automatons before asking them, in Ancient, what their function was. He also deploys his CLUTCH drone to see if the giant keyholes had changed in any way, the feed from the drone being displayed on his visor.
“And who are these individuals?” Garand asked Salvo, pulling up a large crate and sitting down on it.
The automaton of Atlantis lurches forward, swinging his sword from his hip at Zepar. Faux!Hyperborea brings her blade to bear.
Gronius and Venture hoist their guns and open fire upon the automatons, figuring from their actions that they were most definitely not friendly.
The giant keyholes remained unchanged.
“One of them’s an Angelicon,” Salvo informs Garand. “Name’s Zepar, if I remember right.”
Zepar immediately dodges back from the sword swing, “Try getting them to stab into the large circular platforms, their blades may be keys!” He calls as he takes flight.
“Zepar?” Garand asked, “He was one of my more difficult students.” He said.
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Faux!Atlantis recovers from his thwarted attack, tracking Zepar as he takes to the air. An orb of orange plasma strikes his head suddenly, and the automaton turns to see smoke curling from the barrels of the Devastator Mk-1, which Venture still carried. The pilgrim gulps as Faux!Atlantis steps toward her and Gronius, deciding to attack them while Faux!Hyperborea dealt with Zepar.
Faux!Hyperborea transforms into her beast mode: a fanged dragon with sleek armor, sharp claws, and a long tail. Verdant plasma membranes fill the frames of her wings as she lifts off the ground, launching a jet of plasma from her throat at Zepar.
Salvo was surprised to hear that the two knew each other, but supposed that made sense.
“He’s got some spirit in him, yeah,” she affirms.
Zepar also became a dragon and dove towards the bigger dragon, spinning to the side to dodge the blast, “Come on!” He roared, “Can’t swat a fly?!” He blasts a stream of fire down the automaton’s back to draw its attention, trying to get it to chase him…towards one of the keyholes.
“You can say that.” Garand said, “I’d say he’s impulsive, prone to anger and doesn’t exactly play by the rules.”
He gives a scoffing chuckle, “His defense would be something along the lines of ‘if it gets the job done, does it matter’.”
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“Never mind then!” Lightshift grunts.
Vigor opens fire on the nearest automaton, as does Lightshift.
Thrust transforms into jet mode and looks for a ledge up high where he can safely use his sniper rifle.
The flames curl of Faux!Hyperborea’s back, and the dragon emits a low, artificial roar. Their is a rush of air as she flaps her wings, twisting through the air to chase after Zepar.
The nearest automaton to the two would be Faux!Atlantis. Their rounds ping off the machine’s armor, and it stops to glare at the brothers as Gronius and Venture retreat to safe spot to attack. Faux!Atlantis points the tip of his sword at Lightshift and Vigor, and in a flash of blue-white light, two sentries appear in front of them:
Each brandished a sword, and had a bow-rifle like the one Juliana Carried stowed on their backs. The two sentinels waste no time in laying into the two Splitter brothers.
Such a vantage point did exist: a spectator’s area wrapped around the arena, complete with metal columns that could also be used for cover. A spire on the far side of the room also had a ledge branching off of it.
“Not a bad mentality to have,” Salvo comments. “So long as you’ve got somebody to rein you in, I suppose. Keep you from going too far.”
Zepar tries to nosedive to the platform on the left, trying to use his smaller size to outmaneuver the faux-Hyperborea and get her to land on the platform before she could pull out of the dive.
“It’s also a dangerous mentality to have.” Garand told her.
Faux-Hyperborea crashes onto one of the platforms, kicking up dirt as her claws dig into the soil. She roars again, re-acquiring Zepar and breathing another stream of plasma at the Angelicon.
Gronius and Venture pelt Faux-Atlantis with their guns, with Venture’s Devastator taking a chunk out of the machine’s left shoulder, leaving behind a burning hole where the metal and circuity had been.
“Where’d you get that thing?” Gronius asks the pilgrim, looking eagerly at the weapon.
“Thrift made it,” Venture replies, keeping up the attack. The Devastator belches a variety of munitions from its barrels.
“Maybe,” Salvo levels with Garand.
“What’s wrong, too angry to use your sword like a real warrior?!” Zepar yells to the dragon, looking for something to get the thing to stab its sword into the giant keyhole.
“So, what’s the rest of the ship like?” Garand asks Salvo.
Faux-Hyperborea bellows another artificial roar, like the drone of an industrial machine, as she lunges toward Zepar, swiping at him with her left foreleg.
The builders of the arena hadn’t make the key to passing this test very obvious, unfortunately.
“Come on,” Salvo invites Garand, “I’ll show you.”
The quartermaster exits the armory, stooping to avoid brushing her head against the top of the doorway.
“Everyone!” Zepar called to the others, “Look for clues! Subtle discrepancies in the designs!” He tries dodging the sweep but tumbled through the air as he was clipped by the claw.
Garand also ducks a little as he follows Salvo.