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I prefer to be a bit of describing for this soo... ear with
me or skip it.
The pod sealed with a slight pop/hiss. The screen was a white
wall with the words "Insert Disk" emblazoned across it. After
settling comfortably into the seat Jaired drew out his disk and
dropped it into the slot. Whirring softly the data cartrige slipped
into the reciever and the screen muted itself. Moments later panels
started to light up as the controls started to manifest themselves.
A new message floated on the screen "control check, please". Jaired
ignored it, choosing to concentrate instead on the panels. Stisfied,
he pressed the button marked 'clear' on the central console where
the game radar would be.
His names popped onto the screen: Jaired - Clear. Following that
Chiisai - clear, Auzzie - Clear, Clipper - Clear, SpaceC - Clear.
Five opponents..might be easy, might not.
After all of the players registered as on-line the screen changed
again, this time showing the interior of a Mecha Bay (#3). In
front of him a slim female in overalls was directing him toward
the bay exit and the entry tunnel for the arena.
Slowly Jaired moved his mech toward the doors, as he approached
they opened, in the distance he could see red hills..'so it was
to be the Blood Plains today', he thought, advantedge to me. He
started to accelerate, one hand over the electronic panel, ready
to activate his primary systems the moment he exited.
Halfway down the tunnel the screen Twisted and went blank. 'Wha???'
"Warning: Sensors Off-Line" "Warning: Power Core Unstable" "Warning:
Navigation Off-Line" "Warn - ". The computers voice cut out.
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The Labyrinth
A (Psychopatic) Virtual Mekton Arena
Take a classic labyrinth, give it to MC Escher. Hand it toGiger, and ask DeSade to populate it. The sky is an
angry bloody soot color, the walls are of ancient steel with some
sort of vine growth on it. There are (here anyways) three exposed
levels leading lord knows where. There are mech-sized stairwells
leading up to landings to access those tunnels. Panels are scattered
here and there along the wall, some frozen open, others vined
shut. A low rumble can be felt, what it was coming from was anyones
guess. For a more detailed description, see the short history
on the Sidebar.
The Labyrinth is not a Standard Arena. It shows up at random, usually only when experts or better are
playing, but it has been known to pull in the odd group of novices.
The labyrinths physical description is very close to the "dianetics"
commercial(also see above), the layout of this is up to the GM,
but remember: this has three levels, each of which is mostly open
to the others. There is only one way out: the central anomaly.
The central anamoly will allow ONE mech - the first one to reach
it - out of the labyrinth and onto victory. The others will fight
it out for second place as the only Survivor of those that came
in. There is no third place.
Whoever built this didn't want to make it easy, there are many traps and denzeins. And you cant fly higher than
3 hexes (nope, can't see over the top to get a free layout)
Now, the traps in this are of varying types: the Claws (do 1k damage REGARDLESS of protection,) which pop out
of the walls (roll init for first shot) and can only take 1k damage
before they are rendered harmless, the Lava Pits (2k damage(cumulative),
incendiary) make wonderful places to drop an opponent. The Energy
Grids (3k beam disruptor, 1kill to the doorframe blows them offline)which
are usually hidden in doors).
Floor Spikes (3k AP melee, 2kills to blow apart). Lightning strikes hit spikes
on the top of the walls every now-and-then, but will hit any mech
on the third level as well (5k, shock added)(15+1d10 to hit).
Some walls collapse (4k, entangle, dodge only way to avoid), some
doors are pulled from Star-Wars: they are instantly open, then
instantly closed(4k, bv2, 5kills to destroy).
The drones vary, but a typical one will be slightly less powerful than the weakest
mech (1kill less than the weakests frame and armor) with enough
fire power to cause 1-3 kills to the intruding VMs. shapes vary,
as no one (NO ONE) has ever found the Drone Foundry or explored
the entirety of the maze. The drones will attack at random in
singles or in pairs, or when a VM gets careless and doesn't pay
attention to the envrionment (this means the players themselves,
no "I stay at amximum alertness until this match is over" statements
from them). The feel of the evironment is Death At The End Of
The World. The maze is slightly decayed, as are its inhabitants.
Quiet, desperate music is piped into the pods, underlying the
PCs choice of music (doesn't interfere with it), sometimes the
music will even cue the player that Something Might Happen. If
they pay attention. Not all is against the Players here, there
are rare Repair Bays (nominally for the Drones, but hey the controlling
intelligence is a bit out of it anyways.) that will repair the
VM to full up status. There are also occasional "dead" units that
might have a power-up. Just don't expect them to give them to
you without a fight. It has yet to be found, but there are rumors
of a SINGLE map module on one of these dead units..t it has yet
to be found, and what good did it do for that user?
General limits in the Labyrinth are: basic sensors function only, radar will work to the farthest
extent of visibility (won't go through walls), flight limited
to 3 hexes high,electronic systems function (cloaking, ecm, etc
etc)sporadically (luck vs 12 every time activated/used)
If you are the lucky player that Escapes the Labyrinth, you will win Triple the rep points normally associated with a
match - only 2 have ever done this.
If you are the Survivor, you get double, +1 for every opponent (PC) you take out. If you are taken out,
then you lose nothing..he labyrinth is a rareity, and not an easy
one to boot. Depending on the arcade, you might even gain a few
points for having been IN the Labyrinth.
Working on more details..ut this is the majority of it.
This arena created by Kencyr
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He started to unbuckle himself from the straps, and reached for
the pod hatch. Cursed viruses, no respect for a proper game, if
I ge ahold of whoever brought in a Bad Disk I'm gonna kill them
Jaired thought savagely. The pod door refused to unlock. "Sonuva"
he started to swear. That was all he got out when the screen relit.
Given the choice of having the game be over or facing what he
saw now, he would have headed home happily.
It was The Labyrinth.
Take a classic labyrinth, give it to MC Escher. Hand it to Geiger,
and ask DeSade to populate it. The sky is an angry bloody soot
color, the walls were of ancient steel with some sort of vine
growth on it. There were (here anyways) three exposed levels leading
Lord knows where. There mech-sized stairwells leading up to landings
to access those tunnels. Panels were scattered here and there
along the wall, some frozen open, others vined shut. A low rumble
could be felt, what it was coming from was anyones guess.
"Sensors at 80%, Computer On-Line". The computers voice made him
jump, distracting him from his musings. 'Well, what can we see?'
he muttered. Not much more than what was visible, the walls defied
his sensors. Wonderful, I'm Blind. The game radar was hash, completely
unusable for the moment.
A panel screeched open and a robotic arm shot out, clawing at
his armor trying to shred it. He reflexivly triggered his cannon,
blowing the arm into scrap..her panels started to open. Time to
move out, sliding the throttle forward, he zipped past the limbs
trying to embrace his tank.
'Great, now where do I go?' A panel beneath him opened, exposing
what looked like lava. 'Thank god I coded for Grav drives'. "Space/Time
Anamoly detected at 3 o'clock" the computer announced. 'Time to
take a look around', so thinking he fed more power into the gravs
and lifted his machine onto a third level balcony. The view still
sucked. He transformed into a humanoid shape and tried to climb
the wall. It refused to be climbed. He tried jumping. his machine
hit its head on Something.
"Warning: Anamoly collapsing, rate of collapse will seal the anamoly
in three hours" Warning: Anamoly unstable". 'Well, those being
the only Clues, my guess is that it is the only way out of here.'
Jaired went Hunting.
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