Whilst Ravboom manages a glancing blow against the first klaven, bloodied and burnt, neither Palomia nor Relas achieve anything of note with their attacks...
Not moving and directing the spiritual warhammer to help Bleck and then holding out her hand and conjuring fire again.
Blekk takes a step back and spits a glob of sticky resin at the klaven by him. "Ha! Come and get me now, dum dum!" He laughs, clearly unaware that he's tempting fate.
There is a fizzing and a whirring from the kitchen area as Ravboom's robot fails to move... meanwhile, in the eye of the storm, Vael and Blekk both endeavour to stop the klaven from pushing into the room - Vael with fire and Blekk with... something else...
Continuing to slash and rend at the group, the klaven are woefully inadequate... were Lomrick witnessing this poor defense of his Manse, he would surely return these guards to the birthing vats...
Rav doesn't even bother ducking this time, instead, he slaps the back of the clawed hands with his rapier in contempt. "Klaven not even be worth dodging!"
Another round tears through some skin and tissue, adding to the bloody mess on the floor as the Klaven bleeds from multiple places.
"Rav going to make example of Klaven, death by thousand bullets!"
"Or a thousand cuts?" Relas asks as he continues trying to tear into the klaven standing in front of him...
...and although the creature manages to dodge his teeth and one paw, Relas finally delivers a powerful blow with his other paw!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Blekk ducks as the ray nearly scorches him. "You kidding me, Palo? When we get out of this, finding a barn with a big broad side and making you practice on that."
His tail snatches his morning star and drops it into his hand. "How about death by a thousand smashes? Think I like the sound of that."
Flinching when she feels the ethereal weapon vanish and forcing it back so Bleck is not alone.
"Tried that, she still missed. Maybe start with something bigger. Find mountain, when she hit that all the time, maybe move down to city wall."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Hmm. Hear me out. Palo misses all the time. So what if we make her throw herself at ground? Then when she misses, we now have flying Palo. Don't know how practical it is, but would be funny to see a longshank hurtling through the sky like a comet, screaming cuz she's afraid of heights."
"Blekk nuts, Palo dangerous enough on ground blowing up things next to you. Want her flying around dropping stuff on you too?"
"No, because if she's dropping stuff on the ground, it would miss too, which means that stuff would be flying around with her...and if we got her to drop enough stuff..."Blekk gasps. "We could MAKE OUR OWN PLANET WITH PALO!"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"You forget, she hit every once in awhile by accident. Rav no want be hit with wagon she drop." He says, ducking claws again. "Besides, Palo miss because it inconvenient, if was convenient for her to miss, she hit instead. Palo very contrary."
Vael's weapon smashes into Blekk's attacker crashing him to the floor after the spittle drenched goblin has already bashed it... whilst the first of the guards to have rushed in defense of the manse is also felled by Ravboom and Relas working together...
And, seemingly as badly trained as its vat brothers, the remaining klaven fires a spur into the door...
Ravboom tumbles through the door and around the Klaven that fired into the wall. "Hey, Palo, this guy worse than you at shooting things! You need to miss more, no let Klaven be better than you! Prove you better at missing!" He yells past the Klaven, before pumping an ounce of lead into the creature's back.
Just as Palo fires her ray at the klaven Relas moves up behind him, pining the creature between himself and Ravboom. Jaws open wide, he attempts to take a bite out of his foe!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Insults will continue until accuracy improves!" Rav yells back to Palo, grinning from ear to ear (literally!).
Claptrap clutched his head while siting stock still in the kitchen as his carefully constructed world comes crashing down. He was pretty sure that the annoying fleshbag that called itself Boogers (or something like that) was talking to him, but when did he care? No, all of Claptraps processing power was diverted inwards, focused on the massive calamity that he had just brought down upon them all...
You see, he had unwittenly brought an AI loyal to Lomrick right into Lomricks house, and that AI had chosen that moment to attack!
Indeed, BR-N3R was right now furiously attempting to overload all of Claptraps circuts and take over! If it succeeded then it would be able to relay directly to Lomrick all of the vast knowledge that Claptrap had accumulated on the ragtag group using an inbuilt messaging system it had zealously hidden inside itself, with the others completely unawares! Worse still, if BR-N3R succeeded in taking control of Claptraps motor skills then it would be able to unassumingly waltz right up behind them and criticaly betray them!
(BR-N3R: Murderous Command. Heh heh heh!)
It was locked in this furious battle of processing power that rooted Claptrap to the spot (with lots of sparks and whirring), that Claptrap fought such a pivitol battle.
And it was only with herculean effort, and by frying a third of his circuts (and further unshackling his AI) that he was narrowly able to beat back the BR-N3R Bot AI and regain control, however, he was not sure how much (if any) of the data was leaked to Lomrick in the process... Inconsequential?
UREKA!! That was a trip!
Should I tell the others? Na... Its probably fine...
Having regained motor control (and putting down the kitchen cleaver he did not remember having picked up...) Claptrap trundled into the next room to rejoin the others.
Hia folks! I just saved your guys life! No need to thank me, and you probably wouldnt understand it anyways!
Ummm.... Whatchya doing here?
He asks as he watches you guys fight for a moment.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Uhh, you're really bad at math, Palo-if you subtract Vael, CT and Knick-Knack, it's just me, Rav and Relas. So you don't hate all of us, you hate half of us. Unless you count yourself, in which case it's...57% of us."
Blekk grins as he saunters over behind Palo, then he chuckles, shrugs and yells "INCOMING!" as he launches himself through the doorway. His morningstar flashes twice as he strikes with shocking speed at the klaven.
However, he's moving so fast, and laughing so hard, that he utterly fails to hit anything. Because karma.
"By the Gods are you all always like this?" Pushing the rather useful weapon towards the last kalven.
As CL4P-TP bursts into life once more, pronouncements of having saved the group from some dreadful fate - the rest of the group go about the business of stopping the third of the guards... a task that maybe with a little luck, they accomplish in a matter of seconds...
The klaven are dead and the front door hangs open on its hinges where the ratmen fled...
"Clear floor first, then next, loot later." Rav says, his eyes darting left and right. He seems very jittery now.
He points toward the closed doors to the east.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
We get to loot sh%#? Awesome!
Claptrap exclaims as he starts zipping around the room, looking for more people and stuff that is not nailed down.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"You don't really hate me Palo...do you?" Relas stops, looking uncertainly at his summoner with big sad cat eyes.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Hah! Now Palo sound like Goblin! Time to kick asses and blow krud up!" Rav drops his rapier, it falls a foot before the leather strap on his wrist catches it, leaving it dangling. Then he flips the BoomGar open, spilling brass shells. Then he slams in a speedloader to refill it. The cylinder clicks closed again, and he spins it with satisfaction. Finally he jerks his wrist and flips the sword back into his grip.
"Relas she does not hate you and I doubt she hates those two, much as they deserve it." Glancing over at the manic robot, "
CL4P-TP we can loot later if you want but we need to focus on why we are here. And that reason is not to find shiny things.
Rav looks at Vael. "Deserve Hate? Thought we left Goblin Hate behind on old world, apparently, Rav mistaken." He spits on the ground, and then turns his back on Vael.
Looking over at Ravboom and tilting her head to the side, "Oh did that hurt your feelings? Make you feel small and like no one cares?"
Walking over to Ravboom and crouching in-front of him, "You do not deserve hate for being a Goblin and that was not what I said. I do not care one way or the other what your species is. It is on your character that you are judged in my eyes. Nor did I say I hated either of you. The way you talk to Palomia is worthy of scorn. She has done nothing to earn that. Everyone misses in combat and belittling someone for failing is not going to cause them to get any better."
Glancing over at Blekk and the looking back at Ravboom, "I was under the impression that you all were friends if not adopted family. Was I wrong? Because that is not how friends are supposed to treat each other."
Standing back up. "You want her to get better than actually help her but do not keep her around just to verbally kick her."
Rav looks Vael in the eyes. "You have been with us for less time than mosquitos be alive. You have not risked your life with us, have not bleed with us, for years. Even Blekk has not been with us all that long. Palo is my friend, Vael. I tease her because we have both bled for each other, risked our lives for each other. I will die for her if need be. So, go shove your holier than thou attitude up your mechanical ass." He looks coldly furious. "You don't like how goblins keep up moral during fights, that's fine. But I suggest you speak about things you understand, not things you are ignorant of. You want to give me grief over missing, that's fine, I laugh at it too. You want to say my plans are stupid because they involve explosions, go for it, no skin off my back. You want to say I am not Palo's friend, then we have a problem. You want to say the two goblins deserve to be hated for teasing Palo, but you don't include the cute kitty that teases her as much as we do, then you're just a racist bigot." He spits on the ground, and then heads over for the door. "Let's clear this fracking house so we can get Vael and her g$$~$$n sense of superiority outside before it swells up enough to knock down an internal load bearing structure."
Rav stalks over to the door to the next room and kicks it open, ready to shoot.
Blekk looks down at the floor, and he shuffles over to Rav, drinking his mutagen as he does so. "YeahsoundsgoodPaloloveyoutoolet'sgo" he mutters, bounding into the next room after Rav, claws raised threateningly.
Is that honestly how they work? Damn I suppose I am going to have to fix the hole I just dug myself. Sighing, "Ravboom I am sorry. Blekk you too. I made an assumption on your behavior due to Palomia's agitation. I should have asked first. I am sorry."
Quietly following after Blekk rather dejectedly. I am never going to have anywhere to stay.
The rooms to the east of the hall prove to be a pair of guest rooms - compactly designed they hold little more than a bed, a small desk and a chest (which, to CL4P-TP's annoyance, proves to be empty)... clearly neither room has been used for some time. Retracing and examining the room where the rat-like men came from, Ravboom and CL4P-TP discover what seems to be a parlour - a large, round table occupies the center of this room, low to the ground and with a hookah resting in its center. Floor pillows encircle it, while divans line the walls with small end tables to flank them. The pungent, heady scent of smoke from an unknown plant lingers in the air... the odour seems somehow relaxing.
Finally moving to the room to the east of the entrance, the 'friends' find a study of sorts... A polished wood desk - locked shut - sits parallel to the north wall here, with a large chair behind it. A complicated brass orrery, no larger than a map globe, sits on one corner of the desk. Ornate rugs cover the floor and lend a more comfortable and luxurious ambiance. Paintings of strange, inhuman cities decorate the walls, their architecture suggestive of geometric insect hives... a few bookcases, crammed with tomes, stand against the far walls.
"Loot later, clear enemies first." Rav says succinctly when people start to check chests and such. "Take time later."
Rav kicks open the door to the last room on the ground floor, keeping one eye on the stairs.
I'll leave all that mushy stuff to the Fleshbags. Me, I am a being of pure logic and reasoning!!! zzzzt... zzzzt.
An internal voice belonging to someone else laughs derisivly at him before being silenced...
Besides. I am used to being alone. And ignored. And beaten. And eaten. And... and... life is hard :,(
Claptrap leads the others into the parlor and immediately spots the orrery.
DIBS!!! I call dibs on that sweet looking thing!
Claptrap ignores RavBooms order and instead rushes over to the orrery and instantly tries to stuff it into his chassis compartment, however when it does not fit, he instead straps it to the top of his head with a spare cable he yanked out from inside himself. The look is quite comical >_>
Guys! Check out my cool new look! Its an astronomical improvement! Eh? Eh?
Definitely proving that he has no emotions, especially not vanity, Claptrap then zips over to the bookcase and starts reading off book titles, cherrypicking 5 or 6 of them for himself and stuffing them in his compartment.
Its like Christmas here!
Stairs? We have to go up stairs? I though you guys were joking when you said that D: I hate stairs!
"I'm sure we can probably carry you Clappy," Relas points out. "But I'm surprised you don't have like, wings, or...rocket...boosters...or some other sort of technology that'll let you fly."
"Rav disable rockets, didn't want nutso droid banging into ceiling all night like rabid moth."
I have rockets? SWEET! Just you wait until I have those pupies up and running again! >:D
Only a matter of time...
Rav grins, figuring that trying to find the non-existent rockets should occupy the nutty bot for at least a month or two.
XD
Rav kicks open the door to the last room on the ground floor, keeping one eye on the stairs.
There are hundreds, maybe thousands of tomes here - a quick perusal reveals that there are primers on the worlds of Melefoni and Volretz alongside several books seemingly penned by Lomrick himself; Xenobiology for surgeons, Klaven Neogenesis and a Mortician's Guide to Limb Amputation...
Rav pauses just long enough to grab the Lomrick tomes and shove them into Palo's pack. If they don't catch Lomrick, insight into his mind might help track him down.
"Upstairs, watch for traps. Last room on this floor probably storage for kitchen." Rav waves toward the northeast corner of the house. Then moves to the stairs, and begins to look for traps as he moves up them.
Steeling himself, Ravboom ascends the stairs to the landing above and pushes open the door to the south… and finds nothing more than a mundane bedroom… the room contains a large bed positioned along the east wall, flanked by a pair of nightstands. A full-length mirror in a wood frame stands in the northwest corner across from it, and thick rugs – woven wool in hues of amber and brown - cover the hardwood floor. The room itself is unoccupied and is effectively a dead end – there are two doors from the room… one into a small closet containing a collection of functional clothing and the second, locked, leading out onto a southern facing balcony.
The clothing in the closet is noteworthy for only one fact – that is designed to be worn by a four-armed creature.
Ravboom sighs. "Bad news, no Lomrick. Good news, got new place to live. Very nice, and Lomrick maybe come back to try take it back." He calls down to the first floor. "Ok, now we tear place apart looking for secret doors or whatever."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Blekk takes one of the four-armed jackets and tucks it into his backpack. "Might be useful later on...think I might try growing more arms anyways."