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Four large work bays fill much of this industrial space, with exposed cables and metal arms dangling from the thirty-foot ceilings. Massive, heavy doors stand at the north and south ends of the long room, while a smaller door leads east and three humanoid-sized doors line one wall of the largest workspace. The air is thick with ozone and smoke.
Of more immediate concern, however, are the two robots which are perching in front of one of the workbenches, busily repairing a damaged Gearsman (one of more than a dozen partially-completed robots); they are human-sized, but appear to be nothing so much as a mechanized octopus - with a bulbous head topped by a single glowing eye, below which writhe an octet of (surprisingly dextrous) metallic tentacles.
Gregory's entrance into the room leaves them utterly unfazed, and they continue their work, as if he was not even there.
Interesting... I wonder if it would be possible to co-opt one of these? They would make interesting allies... Maybe another time.
Since they seem inclined to leave him alone, Gregory gives the Drones a wide berth, and heads for the double-doors at the other end of the room.
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Beyond the southern double doors lies another corridor, this one gently curving to the north-east.
Double doors exit from the outer curve of this corridor, whilst a series of single doors line the inner curve.
As Gregory progresses along the corridor, another laser turret drops from the ceiling, but it is swiftly turned into scrap.
Gregory decides to investigate the single doors first.
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A railing runs along the southern end of this long room. To the north, several broken-apart, human-shaped mannequins lie strewn across the floor.
Against one wall sits a row of surprisingly pristine weapon lockers...
Inside, Gregory finds a large pile of (extremely useful) tech!
"Interesting! I can certainly get a good price for these..."
Gregory bags his new acquisitions, and moves on to the next door.
With a shrug, Gregory heads through the door to the north.
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A combined cafeteria, kitchen, and pantry, this room looks as if it were once capable of providing both reconstituted meals and fresh-cooked selections, but today the chamber lies dusty and neglected. A short counter separates the dining area from the kitchen.
Gregory whistles in appreciation when he discovers the dagger.
"This will definitely fetch a pretty price!"
Gathering up the dagger and the Goo Tubes, he heads back out into the main corridor, to explore more rooms.
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The remaining single doors on this arm of the corridor lead to empty offices and storage rooms; Gregory's attention is briefly diverted when he reaches the end of the corridor, and discovers a ruined monorail station, where a laser turret does its (futile) best to incinerate him.
All that is left is to explore the corridor that exits the monorail chamber and curves north-west (undoubtedly heading back to where he encountered the Directors), and the double doors to the south-east.
Gregory heads for the south-eastern double doors.
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An array of steel-and-rubber devices fill half this room, while the other half is open. The circles, lines, and squares inscribed on the floor form a complex pattern, and mirrors line the far wall.
As Gregory floats into the room, two heavily-muscled humanoids stretch, causing sheets of dust to cascade from their bodies, revealing them to be robots clad in (only vaguely convincing) synthetic flesh, wearing board-shorts.
They bow, and adopt martial arts poses, before speaking in unison:
"All New Trainees Should Present Themselves For An Assessment Of Their Hand-To-Hand Combat Skills."
Round 1: Gregory(-1), W.A.R.D.E.N.(-,-)
How cute.
Thoroughly bemused, but never one to back-down from a fight, Gregory pounces on the closest WARDEN.
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Gregory falls on the WARDENs like a starving man presented with a buffet, shredding one of them, and heavily wounding the second, sending strips of rubbery, synthetic flesh cascading across the room like a shower of confetti.
"Your Technique Is Powerful, But Lacks Finesse. Observe."
The remaining one then unleashes a flurry of blows!
Incredibly, in among a series of sharp raps to Gregory's shields, it actually manages to damage a capacitor, causing a small amount of damage.
Round 2: Gregory(-18), W.A.R.D.E.N.(-110)
"Possibly, but then again, brute force generally works quite well."
Gregory then tries to demonstrate his point, by rending the robot limb from limb.
With a sigh, Gregory moves to explore the north-west curving corridor.
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This corridor is guarded by another (wholly ineffective) laser turret, and has a series of empty offices which bud off from it.
There is one interesting feature, however: an double Adamantine blast door, over which is a sign in Androffan which reads: "Armory".
Unfortunately, none of Gregory's Access Cards open these doors.
Pulling out his laser torch, Gregory calmly starts burning a hole through the doors.
With a resigned sigh, Gregory ambles forward, laser torch at the ready, and burns through the *next* set of doors.
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When Gregory burns through the second blast door, it reveals a triangular room packed with a wide array of dangerous (and valuable!) technology...
Five shoulder-mounted cannons, each containing a wheel of missiles.
Four suits of some sort of reinforced plastic, including an integrated breathing apparatus.
Four bulkier suits of synthetic polymers, which include transparent, dome-like helmets.
However, the greatest prize of all is mounted on a display plinth in the centre of the room: A titanically bulky suit, crafted from multiple different skymetals, which includes integrated weapons, and a rocket-pack, amongst many other things.
Before Gregory can be overwhelmed by his own larceny, however, a klaxon sounds, and a disembodied voice intones:
"Intruder Detected In Armory. All Units To Armory. Defense Protocol Omega Initiated."
Six laser turrets then descend from the ceiling, but are quickly dispatched. Several tense minutes pass, before Gregory realises that no reinforcements are incoming, and he can relax.
Gregory can barely contain his glee at the ridiculous amount of wealth that sits before him.
Eagerly, he packs it all up, hastily shoving it into a Bag of Holding.
I'll likely need to go to Chesed to sell this stuff, but boy, will it be worth it! That Powered Armor, though - they can take that when they pry it from my cold, dead hands...
He then stops to restore his shielding...
...before heading back to the southern blast doors, which lead to the core of the Security Deck.
With a sigh, Gregory pounces upon the Pulsepounder.
Scenting victory, Gregory continues his work as a high-technology scrap-maker.
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Gregory destroys the robots primary reactor, causing it to fall to the ground, inert.
The corridor that it was defending curves around a sealed central room, and is defended by a quartet of laser turrets, which prove to be of as little consequence as would a quartet of mosquitoes.
Eventually, however, Gregory finds himself in front of a pair of massive double blast doors, which clearly lead into the room at the very heart of this level, like a spider at the centre of its web.
Sensing that there may be a significant challenge beyond this door, Gregory takes the opportunity to buff, before trying to open it.
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The blast doors slowly grind open upon the application of Gregory's Prismatic Access Card, revealing the room beyond.
Glowing banks of information line the walls here, and the ceiling rises thirty feet overhead in a bank of glowing lights. A raised platform looks down over the rows of desks, while a short tower rises above all. The gleaming white panels of this room give way almost organically to black and green patches, like a spreading infection.
Standing upon the raised platform is a truly staggering sight:
A huge, four-armed humanoid robot, with shoulder-mounted cannons, all crafted from a pale green metal which glows faintly.
It utters a single word.
"ERADICATE."
At this, a dozen laser turrets sprout from the walls and ceiling, and focus fire upon Gregory...
...to no effect.
Clearly irritated, the giant Noqual-crafted robot strides forward, ready to deal with Gregory personally...
...even as rhythmic thudding noises from the corridors indicate that reinforcements are on their way.
Round 1: Gregory(-1), B(-), P(-,-)
Gregory is impressed by the sheer quantity of force present here.
"This looks interesting!"
So saying, he pounces on the big robot.
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Gregory slams into the side of the huge robot, carving through its force field like it was soap scum, and then shredding its external plating.
The robot responds with four swift slams...
...which don't pierce Gregory's shielding...
...but do set him up for two devastating strikes from the robot's gravity rifles, which knock Gregory back on his heels.
Two more Pulsepounders then round the corner, and attempt to body slam Gregory...
...but don't prove to be much of a threat.
Round 2: Gregory(-66), B(-260), P(-,-)
"Okay... That stung a little!"
Gregory attempts to finish-off the (rather inconvenient) robot with the gravity rifles.
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Gregory tears the head clean off the huge robot.
Its torso remains standing for a few seconds, before an explosion occurs somewhere deep in its chest, and it collapses to the ground, smoking.
This leaves Gregory free to start ripping into one of the Pulsepounders, turning its external plating into scrap metal.
As the huge robot falls, the lights in the chamber flicker for a moment, and then the monitors scattered around the room project parts of image, creating a mosaic of a serene angelic face, which speaks, in a deep voice thrumming with power.
"So. You are my proverbial fly in the ointment. How interesting. I
await you in the Godmind. Please come to me there, that I might
take you into my mind and make you more than you can ever
imagine in that paltry shell of flesh and bone."
At that, the image winks out, and klaxons sound, as every piece of machinery in the room starts to overload.
A split second later, everything explodes in a horrifying blast of electricity...
...which washes harmlessly over Gregory, but destroys the injured Pulsepounder, and causes the shields of the uninjured one to flicker.
Following this, the room goes dark, as every remaining electrical circuit in the level goes inert.
The final Pulsepounder stoically slams at Gregory...
...but does not land a blow.
Round 3: Gregory(-66), P(-49)
"Huh."
Filing what just occurred under 'interesting', Gregory focuses on eliminating the remaining robot.
"Right then. Onward to the Command Deck!"
Gregory searches the room thoroughly, before healing his shielding, and moving back out to the entrance chamber to investigate the trio of unpowered doors.
"Well, I know an invitation when I see one..."
With a shrug, Gregory enters the lift, and sees where it will take him.
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The elevator ride is nearly silent, being accompanied only by a faint humming.
When the door opens again, it reveals a surreal sight:
This large chamber is spotless and well lit. Models of strange ships and hyperrealistic depictions of alien landscapes decorate the walls, but in many places they have been covered with tapestries depicting a glaring eye peering from a sawtooth gear. A sparkling statue of an androgynous angel, arms upraised in triumph, stands in the middle of the room.
Of more immediate concern, however, are the four chain-shirt wearing, battle-axe wielding gargoyles scattered around the room, who turn on Gregory with surprise and fury etched across their stony faces!
Round 1: Gregory(-), ACG(-,-,-,-)
Gregory pounces on the closest gargoyle.
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Gregory pounces upon the closest gargoyle, ripping it apart in a surprisingly gory display.
The other three shriek in anger, calling upon Unity to protect them!
Three spectral battle axes then form out of thin air, and attempt to hack away at Gregory...
...but only one manages to hit, carving away a little of the energy protecting Gregory.
Round 2: Gregory(-3), ACG(-,-,-)
More mildly irked than seriously inconvenienced, Gregory ignores the spectral weapons, and pounces on another Gargoyle.
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Once again, Gregory is frighteningly efficiency, ripping apart another gargoyle.
The spectral battle axes float over to Gregory and each take a swing...
...but glance harmlessly off Gregory's defenses.
The two remaining Gargoyles then utter prayers to Unity, which cause their forms to bulk out, becoming more muscular.
Round 3: Gregory(-3), ACG(-,-)
With a shrug, Gregory pounces on another Gargoyle.
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Gregory rips into one of the Gargoyles, horrifically mauling it, but not quite killing it.
All three spiritual weapons converge on his position...
Whilst the two gargoyles adjust their positions, and strike!
Incredibly, not a single blow manages to penetrate Gregory's defenses.
Round 4: Gregory(-3), ACG(-130,-)
Gregory grins.
"I think that you need to find a better god!"
He then works to finish off the Gargoyles.
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A single claw is sufficient to tear out the injured gargoyle's throat, allowing Gregory to focus his attention on mauling the last gargoyle.
The spectral battleaxes then unleash a dizzying array of blows...
...but only one manages to connect.
Still, they have better luck than the last gargoyle, who can only beat futilely on Gregory's shields.
Round 5: Gregory(-12), ACG(-102,-)
Gregory attempts to finish-off the last gargoyle, and then passes the time waiting for the duration of the Spiritual Weapons to run out, by bounding around the room to eliminate full attacks.