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| - Warning: This log contains a lot of travel spam, which has not been edited out, because exploration RP is all about the travel spam. ================================= Decepticon ================================= Message: 2/124 Posted Author Polyhex Chasm Expedition Sat Jul 26 Catechism ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Spinny Commander Catechism of the Cybertron Occupation Force appears, standing on a bridge in New Polyhex, one of the cities of the Empire. She looks a bit banged up from the earlier Argosy debacle, but there is a parachute-silk scarf tied rakishly around her neck, and her spirits seems to have recovered. She gestures, and the camera pans down to a molten river and then zooms into a dark chasm in the face of the canyon. Catechism narrates, "History tells us that the Autobots have often struck at us and sabotaged our plans via the tunnels that riddle our world. Even New Polyhex is diseased with this blight. It is better that we should know what is down there than cower in our aeries. The 30th of the pitiful month of July, as the humans reckon it, we will see just what is down there, and if we find it unsatisfactory, there will be... alterations made. Catechism, out." Spinny ============================================================================== Bridge over Molten River You are standing upon a broad expanse of gleaming metal which bridges an enormous, deep chasm that gouges the planet here at the fringes of Polyhex. Far below, you can glimpse the red glow of a river of molten slag. The radiating heat, even at this height, is nearly intolerable. On the north side lie the foreboding and deceptive ruins of Darkmount, while the dark city of Polyhex looms against the skyline to the south. Contents: Shockwave Motormaster Obvious exits: North leads to Darkmount. South leads to Forum. Fly Chasm Catechism stands on the bridge over a molten river, her coolant systems straining to compensate for the heat. Cybertron doesn't do wussy fluids like 'water', not often. Cybertron is hardcore! She stares down at it, staring at the chasm. Perhaps it looks back. Hopefully, some of her fellow Decepticons will join her, and she will not be stuck trying to map caves alone. The flying for of Shockwave can be seen above in the Polyhex sky. The tall purple cyclops approaches the preset rendezvous point and lands on the bridge over the molten river. Motormaster flies in, perhaps a bit slower than some others might, and lands on the bridge. He looks down into the molten slag below. "Yeah, I'm here," he states, rather woodenly. Catechism's optics brighten, and she salutes Shockwave, standing a little straighter. The heat was making her wilt, a bit. She greets, "Commnder Shockwave, sir! An unexpected pleasure to see you." She turns to Motormaster. A gestalt captain? "And the same to you, Motormaster." She smiles and gestures down at the chasm. You descend into the deep chasm towards the molten river far below. Banks of Molten River You stand at the base of a yawning canyon, on the banks of a molten river, heat washing over you from the sluggish flow near your feet. Seared out of Cybertron's crust by the blazing flow of the molten river, the chasm partly encircles the megalopolis of Polyhex. While the lower levels of the canyon are still smooth, higher on the wall you can see ragged openings and gaping ends of pipes, some of which drip unidentifiable liquids -- evidently pipes from the sewers of the city above. The surface of the flowing river is crusted over with a thin coating of dark grey steel, occasionally cracked by glowing red lines from the liquid metal below. It seems to be cooling, unsurprising given the draining of Cybertron's energy. Not too far from the ground level, a dark tunnel mouth can be seen partway up the canyon side. Obvious exits: Up leads to Bridge over Molten River. Tunnel Mouth Shockwave descends into the chasm from above. Shockwave has arrived. Motormaster descends into the chasm from above. Motormaster has arrived. Motormaster rumbles, "Hmph. Might be even hotter down here." He glances at Shockwave and mentions, "Not that I need to know by how many units or anything. Don't consider that a request." Catechism descends down to the river bank, her form bathed by yellow-red light, and her shadow is cast long. In the canyon wall, there is a tunnel mouth, which she heads for. She chuckles quietly at Motormaster's clarification. Shockwave lands and looks at the area then the tunnel entrance. The Decepticon commander readies his nuclear reactor in case they meet something nasty down there. "Let us proceed." You step into the dark mouth of the tunnel and almost immediately find yourself lost in a maze of dark passages. Ruby Tunnel This empty tunnel is marked with the imprint of millennia of molten steel flow. The floor is smooth and almost flat, the sides marked with strangely beautiful swirls, much like the sculpted rock in many of Earth's channel canyons. A soft golden glow emanates from the south, providing just enough light to see by, while in the opposite direction there is a dull red glow. Encrusted in the ceiling are rare trace elements forming a brilliant, glittering crimson canopy. The sculpted sides of the tunnel are studded with sparkling, vermillion crystals. Everything here seems tinted in some shade of red, like being in the heart of a priceless ruby. Obvious exits: Tunnel Mouth Tunnel Tunnel Up Tunnel Shockwave stumbles in from another tunnel. Shockwave has arrived. Motormaster stumbles in from another tunnel. Motormaster has arrived. Ramjet has arrived. Motormaster's optics glow in the soft light as he glances around the tunnel. He doesn't seem to be looking at anything long enough or hard enough to be truly examining it in detail. Shockwave looks around at the reddish walls. and makes note of the various exits and their locations for future reference. Who knows he might find something useful for his experiments. "No obvious signs of recent Autobot movement in this tunnel." He kneels down and examines the polished floor for any out of place mark, a deep scratch or something to that effect...Nothing. Catechism has her better sensors in alternate mode, and they're for long distance, anyway. She looks at the crystals curiously, wondering if they could be used in a super laser or something. Just two steps behind is Ramjet, whose wide-open optics are swept side to side. He is silent and grumpy looking, immensely displeased at being in some confined space. Not having enough clearance to transform into a jet is an awkward, lousy feeling for him. "Hnn..." he murmurs as he continues down the length of the tunnel, his fingers half-curled as if he were about to fire. Catechism continues down the tunnel a ways, finding nothing much interesting but an awful lot of sparkly crystals. Scavenger would have a field day. It seems she is heading more or less South. You move south into the Lava Channel and jump down to one of the banks of the river. Lava Channel The molten steel flows endlessly onwards, or so it seems. As the ceiling is a bare two meters from the surface of the lava, there is no room to hover, and the current is too swift to resist. The heat is almost unbearable except for the thickest of armor, but there's no end in sight as the current sweeps onward. Or is there? What little vision is possible through the shimmering heatwaves might detect a sharp curve to the east. Obvious exits: Channel Shockwave moves into the Lava Channel from a tunnel to the north, jumping down to one of the banks of the river. Shockwave has arrived. Ramjet moves into the Lava Channel from a tunnel to the north, jumping down to one of the banks of the river. Ramjet has arrived. Motormaster moves into the Lava Channel from a tunnel to the north, jumping down to one of the banks of the river. Motormaster has arrived. Shockwave is pulled into another turn in the rapidly-flowing lava. Shockwave has left. You are pulled into another turn in the rapidly-flowing lava. Lava Channel Finally, the tube widens into a channel, and the current slows slightly. Banks of dully-glowing steel rise to either side of the white-hot river, offering barely enough room to crawl out of the liquid steel before it kills you. The ceiling is low with just enough room for an average-sized Transformer to stand. The banks are smooth, sculpted with swirls and encrusted with trace elements in odd shades of blue and green and red. Having a higher melting point than bare metal, they form strange, dark patterns against the glowing metal. Dark holes at various levels mark the entrances to several dormant tubes, fallen out of use as the level of the river dropped. Contents: Shockwave Obvious exits: Tunnel Ramjet pulls himself into the tunnel from the south. Ramjet has arrived. Motormaster pulls itself into the tunnel from the south. Motormaster has arrived. Catechism crawls out of steel river, her armour warping in the heat, and her coolant systems are absolutely furious with her. She raises a shaking finger in the air and comments aloud, a bit dazed, "Note to self. South is the Wrong Way." Motormaster hunches over slightly in this room, but is better off than standing chest-deep in molten steel. He tries to hide his gasps as he wipes off the excess, attempting to show no weakness. He is very much frowning. Thrust has arrived. Shockwave hurries out of the lava his armor twisted and warped from the extreme heat. Lucky for him the reactor armor is made to withstand harsher punishment than that from the inside so no radiation leak. "South equals suck." Was that an attempt at humor? Wake up Starscream someone. Yeah, not gonna happen again for a few million years. Catechism sprawls out on the shore, staring up at the ceiling vacantly. Shockwave's weird, weird attempt at humour snaps her out of it, and she stands up, her joints making ominous cracking noises. She twists her neck back into shape with her hands, and she looks around, finally declaring, "So, uh... how about north, then? It's the opposite of south. Gotta be an improvement." "....ngggh..." Ramjet grunts as he emerges from the steel river, much of his plating hot to the point of melting. "Remind me why I sent you on this mission again.." he mutters angrily, snapping out his arms to shake the droplets of molten steel from his limbs. ".. was like walking around Charr.. hnn." Motormaster mutters to itself, "... not..." Thrust yawns and wakes up from the small little pile of rubble he decided to take a small nap on. "Mew mew mew..." Ramjet kicks Thrust in the chest as he passes by for that. Ramjet strikes Thrust with Kick. Shockwave says, "North is a logical choice. Let's carry on." "Get standing before you embarrass us all," Ramjet mutters. Ramjet sent Catechism to Cybertron, because... well, Redshift was obviously going to take Space, so it was just a question of which FE-male Decepticon Shockwave got stuck with: Catechism or Fusillade. Instinctively, she kicks the cat... oh wait, that was Thrust. Whoops. And Ramjet already kicked him. Nevermind. She replies to Ramjet, "Because Autobots could use these tunnels against us, sir!" Thrust brushes the small dirt off of him. "Ramjet, what was that for? I swore fealty to you" You climb up to one of the higher-level tunnels and pull yourself inside. Ruby Tunnel This empty tunnel is marked with the imprint of millennia of molten steel flow. The floor is smooth and almost flat, the sides marked with strangely beautiful swirls, much like the sculpted rock in many of Earth's channel canyons. A soft golden glow emanates from the south, providing just enough light to see by, while in the opposite direction there is a dull red glow. Encrusted in the ceiling are rare trace elements forming a brilliant, glittering crimson canopy. The sculpted sides of the tunnel are studded with sparkling, vermillion crystals. Everything here seems tinted in some shade of red, like being in the heart of a priceless ruby. Obvious exits: Tunnel Mouth Tunnel Tunnel Up Tunnel Shockwave pulls himself into the tunnel from the south. Shockwave has arrived. Motormaster pulls itself into the tunnel from the south. Motormaster has arrived. Ramjet pulls himself into the tunnel from the south. Ramjet has arrived. Thrust pulls themself into the tunnel from the south. Thrust has arrived. Catechism considers their options again, squinting. Northeast is back the way they came, South is evil, so... maybe East? She's just winging it here. Ramjet has helped Thrust up to his feet and is following Catechism and Shockwave through the tunnels. "Oh. Right. Uh, of course!" he tells Catechism as she reminds him of why he sent her to do this. His cone shakes slightly. Thrust follows Ramjet around like a dog following master. "Ramjet, I am going to take over the world for you... And carve your face in the moon!" Ramjet looks pleased about this. Motormaster rumbles, "This place looks kind of familiar." He looks around, nods to himself, and continues, "Depressingly so." Shockwave listens to Thurst's adoration of Ramjet and ponders commenting on the absurdity of wasting resources in what would essentially be pissing off Galvatron by carving Ramjet's face in the moon rather than Galvatron's. "I trust your judgement Catechism, lead us on carefully." Catechism widens one optic. Just one. Shockwave trusts her judgement? When the slag did that happen? She also notices that she has both Ramjet and Shockwave in a room together! Unfortunately, she also has Motormaster and Thrust. She murmurs, "Thank you, sir." That said, she heads east. Thrust is a lost cause! He will follow his Seeker friends everywhere! Especially if they have Cones. It's lucky that Catechism has a cone, huh? Motormaster idly inspects the deep pits in his armor, waiting to see what fun adventure next awaits. When Catechism heads off to the East, he follows, hoping to avoid further gouts of molten metal. Ramjet follows Catechism to the east! Suddenly, a feeling of dread begins to well beneath his cockpit... You move eastward into the tunnel. Tunnels The dark, cramped passage twists and turns, making it impossible to see what's up ahead. Even the ceiling is unpleasantly low, adding to the claustrophobic effect. The thick steel walls are battered, gashed, and dented, but still hold strong. Obvious exits: North South East West Shockwave arrives from the Ruby Tunnel to the west. Shockwave has arrived. Ramjet arrives from the Ruby Tunnel to the west. Ramjet has arrived. Thrust arrives from the Ruby Tunnel to the west. Thrust has arrived. Motormaster arrives from the Ruby Tunnel to the west. Motormaster has arrived. Ramjet glances around. He begins to stoop as the ceiling begins to drop, and that feeling of dread starts to become omnipresent. "Hnh.. many directions." Motormaster's head scrapes the ceiling as he plods along, then he, too, begins to stoop as he continues. Catechism is not a claustrophobe, oddly. Afraid of small children and organic birds? Yes. Enclosed spaces? No. This may make her odd among Seekers. She notes, "We just came from the East, which would be the West here, and Sourth is right out, so... North?" What a screwloose! Ramjet would think if he knew what Catechism was afraid of and what she wasn't. "North, then." He affirms as he begins walking in that direction. Motormaster tries to follow, he really does. 'East is West and South is Out?' he thinks. But mostly he just crouches. "North is fine," he says, "and I hope it doesn't get to be a tighter fit as we go along." Thrust looks to Ramjet, "We can build a pretty freaking nice casino down here!" Ramjet grunts. "You and that casino again." A small child tried to get in Catechism's cockpit once! And a bird-strike incident got her cornered by a freaky (Read: Dee-Kal) Junkion once. You wander north through the tunnels. Tunnels The dark, cramped passage twists and turns, making it impossible to see what's up ahead. Even the ceiling is unpleasantly low, adding to the claustrophobic effect. The thick steel walls are battered, gashed, and dented, but still hold strong. Obvious exits: North South East West Shockwave arrives from one of the tunnels. Shockwave has arrived. Ramjet arrives from one of the tunnels. Ramjet has arrived. Thrust arrives from one of the tunnels. Thrust has arrived. Motormaster arrives from one of the tunnels. Motormaster has arrived. Thrust succeeds in grasping Motormaster, throwing it off-balance. Catechism stares and comments, "This looks exactly like where we came from!" She facepalms. Motormaster looks about and shrugs, though it may be tough to see in the low light, commenting, "It probably looks like a lot of other places we've never been, too." He smiles at his own unhelpfulness. Catechism turns on her running lights, which are on her wings and red and green. One flickers a bit crazily, due to the heat damage from earlier. She finally inquires, "North again?" Ramjet is starting to look annoyed. This isn't going to bode well for anyone. "Come on." Ramjet forges ahead to the north. Ramjet wanders north through the tunnels. Ramjet arrives from one of the tunnels. Ramjet finds himself coming back the way he came. "..what!?" Catechism is just a bit slower than Ramjet in going North, and suddenly, she sees Ramjet coming back around from... what? She exclaims, "North is a... loop?! What in the name of Straxus's axe?" Motormaster narrows his optics, looking to the north exit, to Ramjet, and back again. Ramjet grumbles. "..we'd better not be lost!" Catechism assures, "I think you just break the laws of physics, Ramjet. I'm going East!" And she tries to do so. You wander east through the tunnels. Tunnels The dark, cramped passage twists and turns, making it impossible to see what's up ahead. Even the ceiling is unpleasantly low, adding to the claustrophobic effect. The thick steel walls are battered, gashed, and dented, but still hold strong. Contents: Ramjet Motormaster Thrust Shockwave Obvious exits: North South East West Ramjet wanders east through the tunnels. Ramjet arrives from one of the tunnels. Catechism finds herself right back where she started from. Uh oh. She facepalms again and groans, "I break the laws of physics, too. So... West?" She seems desperate to avoid South. You wander west through the tunnels. Tunnels The dark, cramped passage twists and turns, making it impossible to see what's up ahead. Even the ceiling is unpleasantly low, adding to the claustrophobic effect. The thick steel walls are battered, gashed, and dented, but still hold strong. Contents: Ramjet Motormaster Thrust Shockwave Obvious exits: North South East West Ramjet seethes, "This is a maze!!!!" Motormaster says, "North, East, and West are all loops. If South is, too, then that's not just a maze. It's a slaggin' trap." Catechism rubs her chin and mutters, "This is a very effective containment device." Slowly, slowly, she looks South, and she shudders. Ramjet hnhs, "If we can manage to get out.. we should find some way to trap Autobots down here and blow up the true exit!" Catechism throws her hands in the air and demands, "Why would we want Autobots in Polyhex? They'll muck the place up!" Thrust smirks at Ramjet. "We should carve shrines of you, Great Leader. Let your face be the last thing they see before they die!" Ramjet looks slightly less annoyed by this suggestion. Thrust snorts, "And perhaps we can have a statue of Dirge talk them to death as well!" Motormaster notes, "Well, South's the only exit we haven't tried lately. Go ahead, and radio if you don't get slagged." His helpfulness knows no bounds. Catechism wonders why it she is the one going South. Oh yes, because this is her stupid mission. Right. You wander south through the tunnels. Tunnels The dark, cramped passage twists and turns, making it impossible to see what's up ahead. Even the ceiling is unpleasantly low, adding to the claustrophobic effect. The thick steel walls are battered, gashed, and dented, but still hold strong. Contents: Ramjet Motormaster Thrust Shockwave Obvious exits: North South East West Ramjet wanders south through the tunnels. Ramjet has left. Thrust wanders south through the tunnels. Thrust arrives from one of the tunnels. Motormaster wanders south through the tunnels. Motormaster has left. You wander south through the tunnels. Tunnels The dark, cramped passage twists and turns, making it impossible to see what's up ahead. Even the ceiling is unpleasantly low, adding to the claustrophobic effect. The thick steel walls are battered, gashed, and dented, but still hold strong. Obvious exits: North South East West You wander south through the tunnels. Tunnels The dark, cramped passage twists and turns, making it impossible to see what's up ahead. Even the ceiling is unpleasantly low, adding to the claustrophobic effect. The thick steel walls are battered, gashed, and dented, but still hold strong. Contents: Shockwave Thrust Obvious exits: North South East West You wander south through the tunnels. Ruby Tunnel This empty tunnel is marked with the imprint of millennia of molten steel flow. The floor is smooth and almost flat, the sides marked with strangely beautiful swirls, much like the sculpted rock in many of Earth's channel canyons. A soft golden glow emanates from the south, providing just enough light to see by, while in the opposite direction there is a dull red glow. Encrusted in the ceiling are rare trace elements forming a brilliant, glittering crimson canopy. The sculpted sides of the tunnel are studded with sparkling, vermillion crystals. Everything here seems tinted in some shade of red, like being in the heart of a priceless ruby. Contents: Motormaster Ramjet Obvious exits: Tunnel Mouth Tunnel Tunnel Up Tunnel Thrust arrives from one of the tunnels. Thrust has arrived. Motormaster stumbles out of the tunnels, barely even believing as he does so that he's actually out. Ramjet is standing in the tunnel, arms folded over his chest. He looks massively displeased. Thrust shrugs, "Ramjet, did we map this out? Or are we going to do this again? If so, can't we use Soundwave to make some kind of sonar feed?" Catechism holds up a datapad and quickly adds in all of there they've gone before her memory cache clear it out. When she's done, she looks up and notes cheerily, "Only Southwest left to go!" You climb upwards through the dark, steep tunnel. Smaller Tube The tunnel here is so dark that unless you have special ways of seeing in the dark, you continuously bump into the zigzagging metal tube. Unpleasantly humid air fills the dirty passage, and you quickly end up covered in condensation and the rust flakes that line the bottom of the tunnel. Not giving up, you continue to crawl on.... Obvious exits: Small Passage Motormaster emerges from a downward-leading tunnel. Motormaster has arrived. Ramjet emerges from a downward-leading tunnel. Ramjet has arrived. Thrust emerges from a downward-leading tunnel. Thrust has arrived. Motormaster mutters, "Almost hope... Autobots... really... slag something." Catechism is getting covered in condensation and rust flakes. And that's terrible. So she trudges on, commenting, "We could just blow all of this up. Who would miss it? Scavenger? Pshaw!" Ramjet grunts as he bumps around in the darkness. Then comes the strange, crunchy feeling against his feet and hands. He raises his hand up to his optics.. and grunts at the rust color staining them. "Nnnh.." Motormaster stores his dignity in sub-space as he crawls around through the rust. He hopes he can retrieve it later on. You crawl into the dark passage Riverbed The underground channel here goes along an east-west axis, and is filled with a mixture of heavy oils, lubricant, waste fluids, and even some rare H2O. The liquid isn't exactly what you would call sparkling clean from what you can make of it... rust spots can be seen all along the riverbed. The current isn't really strong, just rapid as it heads somewhere eastwards. There is no lighting whatsoever on either side, making the progression difficult. Obvious exits: Underground River Small Passage Underground River Blitzwing has arrived. Motormaster crawls out filthy dirty from the passageway. Motormaster has arrived. Ramjet crawls out filthy dirty from the passageway. Ramjet has arrived. Thrust crawls out filthy dirty from the passageway. Thrust has arrived. Motormaster says, "At least this river isn't made of MOLTEN METAL." He glares at no one in particular. Pointedly. Ramjet glares back at Motormaster. "Don't look at me with that face!" Catechism shines her running lights around the area, lighting it up with red and green. She declares, "Shockwave trusts my judgement! He even said so. So uh... we have a choice of river, river, and a tiny passage. Motormaster, I don't suppose you have the Despoiler in your back pocket?" She looks at Motormaster expectantly. Motormaster snorts, "I can't see my hand in front of my own optics. Let's just agree that I probably wasn't looking at you anyway." He pauses, listening to Catechism, then mentions, "Despoiler's gone, far as I can tell. Not a clue where to." Blitzwing is here. What's he doing here? He's fishing for Sharkticons, using what looks like a recolored dead Pipes as bait. "Hey, what're you guys doing here? This is my fishin' hole." "Wasn't it /your/ flagship?" Ramjet mutters to Motormaster as he continues to look around. "Liquid. Or more liquid. Nnnh. Why can't there be enormous caverns that I can just fly around in?" He then spots Blitzwing who is holding.. a FISHING ROD. "AGGGH!" Ramjet snarls angrily. Fishing rods make him angry! "Use your words," says Blitzwing. His voice is a little muffled because he's holding a stalk of hay in his teeth and chewing on it. Turbohay. Catechism bemoans, "If only we could fly underwater, like... flying fish!" She comments to Motormaster, "Quite tragic, that. You ought to look into getting a new Despoiler. A Defresher, if you will." She explains to Blitzwing, "We are exploring! Perhaps you could be our native guide? And, uh, Ramjet... tried fishing once. Didn't go so well." Ramjet glares. "I said.. AGGGGH!" He feels this is a perfectly acceptable word. Thrust yawns and looks at Ramjet, "Ramjet, can we go fishing?" He smiles and thinks, "I'd like to go fishing!" Ramjet scowls at Thrust. He then scowls at Blitzwing! Scowly, scowly, scowl-scowl! There once was a Monster Pretender named Skowl! "Do you see what you've done!? What you've put into his cone!? Nnnaggh!" ================================================================================ Grue has sent an offer to meet you! ================================================================================ Do you want to... Join them? Then type: +mjoin Grue Bring them here? Then type: +msummon Grue Decline the offer? Then type: +mdecline Grue ================================================================================ Catechism decides to trudge unward to the East, because rivers are better than small spaces when there are jets around. Sound logic! You move east in the underground river. Vortex Area The moment you enter the area, you get caught into a strong vortex pulling you downwards towards the bottom. You barely manage to take a hold on the wall to end up in a fairly safe spot to actually look around. It would seem it's a dead end as no visible exits are visible save the one you came in from. Stalactites of tar drip down from the ceiling as the river keeps swirling down the vortex downwards. It has to lead somewhere...but are you going to risk getting stuck wherever it leads? Obvious exits: Vortex Underground River Motormaster arrives in the underground river from the west. Motormaster has arrived. Blitzwing arrives in the underground river from the west. Blitzwing has arrived. "Well," admits Blitzwing as he puts Pipes (or Pipes' brother) back into a tackle box and slings it over his shoulder, "to tell the truth I don't actually use a map or anything when I come down here, I just follow the river until I get to an outcropping like this." Ramjet arrives in the underground river from the west. Ramjet has arrived. Thrust arrives in the underground river from the west. Thrust has arrived. Shockwave has arrived. Grue eats Thrust. Motormaster notes, "Vortex." He doesn't have much to add and folds his arms over his chest to signify that fact. Catechism clings to the wall like a limpet mine... or a space barnacle. However, her wrists are weak from the fight with Sheng, and she loses her grip, falling toward... the Vortex! And not the Combaticon, either. Also, like a good Decepticon, she totally forgets about her anti-gravs. Thrust got devoured by a Grue?! Coming out of the West is Ramjet, who swings his hand for Catechism's wrist! You evade Ramjet's grasp attack. Ramjet fails to grab Catechism's wrist. Love will elude him for the rest of eternity, now. He digs his fingers into a wall and begins to wonder if Songbird is available... You (crazily?) boldly let go of the wall as you are sucked into the vortex and find yourself shaken in the dark passageway it leads to...whipped and twirling around due to the water pressure, you start wondering if it was a good idea and if this hell ride will ever end... ...finally you erupt into an open space only to fall oh...about 100 meters high into an underground lake. *SPLASH* Underground Lake Flying won't do you any good as the ceiling here is so irregular and low that you keep hitting into the tar stalactites every two seconds or so. If you manage to stay afloat, you notice that the waterfall you came in through is in fact a tight shaft into which the underground river pours into. The size of the shaft itself is so small compared to the river above, you understand now why there was so much turbulence. The walls here are bare, dull steel, and the only place you can go besides the bottom of the lake is a dry spot just east, something like a platform. Obvious exits: Platform Bottom Blitzwing falls in from the hole in the ceiling, down the waterfall and *SPLASHES* next to you. Blitzwing has arrived. Thrust falls in from the hole in the ceiling, down the waterfall and *SPLASHES* next to you. Thrust has arrived. Blitzwing bobs around because tanks float somehow or something. Shockwave falls in from the hole in the ceiling, down the waterfall and *SPLASHES* next to you. Shockwave has arrived. Motormaster falls in from the hole in the ceiling, down the waterfall and *SPLASHES* next to you. Motormaster has arrived. Ramjet falls in from the hole in the ceiling, down the waterfall and *SPLASHES* next to you. Ramjet has arrived. With the traditional sound, Shockwave transforms into a giant space-gun. Shockwave sweeps the area. "WhuaaaaAAAAH!" Ramjet shouts as he comes falling from the vortex. He tries to land on the big Space Gun to break his fall.. Ramjet misses Space-Gun with his grasp attack. Thrust is freefalling and drinking his Vanilla Coke-like beverage. "Catechism! I must save you!" Ramjet misses Shockwave entirely and splashes into the lake, cone-first. Upon landing in the water, Shockwave transforms into his giant space-gun mode in order to face whatever is down here. A quick scan here and there reveals the crew is seemingly alone or at the very least not in immediate mortal danger. Shockwave sweeps the area. Catechism hits the water hard, but hey, at least it isn't molten metal. Totally touched by Thrust's sentiment, she manages to get out of the water, and she hovers over the lake, surveying the area. She calls out, "Looks like a platform over there. Shall we?" Ramjet groans. He wiggles his feet over him and promptly flips over. There'll be no Decepticon centerfold-esque poses from the Air Commander tonight, for sure! "Nng, let's go." "Upsy-daisy," says Blitzwing, climbing up with a splash and a hop. A smaller, more sinister shape splashes down with the Decepticons... but doesn't emerge from the surface of the water. Dun dun dun! Blitzwing adds, "Mind the Sharkticons." Blitzwing moves east to the Platform. Blitzwing has left. You move east to the Platform. Platform The platform you stand on isn't very sturdy so you take extra precautions not to agitate it too much. As you take a detailed look around, you can make out an old turbine, just next to the waterfall, which seemed to give the energy it needed to run the factory or whatever is built to the east. A used trail leads there...though you can make out a few recent footsteps... Contents: Blitzwing Obvious exits: Plant Lake Slope Motormaster arrives from the Underground Lake to the west. Motormaster has arrived. Ramjet arrives from the Underground Lake to the west. Ramjet has arrived. Thrust arrives from the Underground Lake to the west. Thrust has arrived. Shockwave arrives from the Underground Lake to the west. Shockwave has arrived. Shockwave begins following you. Motormaster doesn't feel real secure on this platform, and calls out, "Hey, this thing is kind of wobbly. Let's not all..." More and more Decepticons arrive and land. "What the heck. Let's all pile on." A tiny little head pokes out of the water, then ducks back down under the platform. Catechism hovers about a foot off the platform and grins. Okay, so she remembers her anti-gravs *now*. She looks down and frowns, commenting, "There are recent footsteps here." Shockwave floats out of the water after re-transforming into his robot mode. Upon hearing Motormaster's comment, the cyclops activates his anti-gravs and remains a few inches above ground. "Interesting...turbine...waterfall...The coolant for the...giant engine...Which in turn powers..." He turns around and looks at the ceiling and walls looking for something, a transmission or anything linked to the turbine which could indicate what it is for. "Finally.." Ramjet mutters as Catechism calls attention to the recent footsteps. Recent life here may mean things to blast. Hoisting an arm over his cone, he gives it a good shake to shake out the liquid that might've gotten into it. Fingers curl together once more, in a fire-ready pose. C'moooooooon otherworldly horror.. "Hope it's not Shub-Niggurath again," remarks Blitzwing from behind Ramjet. "A what!?" Ramjet shouts behind his intake-shoulder to Blitzwing. "You'd better not be making up words again! Next thing you'll start gibbering on about 'smilodons,' and 'wooly mammoths' or some ridiculous wordplay!" Catechism heads toward the plant, which make explain this whole strange area. You take the trail leading eastwards to the plant. Chemical Plant According to the nature and size of the buildings, you can make out that they formed part of a chemical plant. Most of them are battered down now, and little are fit for even sheltering someone, yet again chemicals. You notice a lot of bins stacked in random places, most of them bearing the danger symbol. Looking around, you see that that the plant occupies practically all the free dry land, as the outer limits are in fact the natural walls of this gigantic chamber, whose metal walls are apparently unbroken. Obvious exits: Platform Motormaster arrives from the platform. Motormaster has arrived. Shockwave arrives from the platform. Shockwave has arrived. Blitzwing arrives from the platform. Blitzwing has arrived. "I'm totally serious, remember that thing with all the hoofed legs and hair and tentacles on that one mission in Massachusetts?" replies Blitzwing as he gets away from the water. "Or maybe you didn't go on that one." Ramjet arrives from the platform. Ramjet has arrived. Thrust arrives from the platform. Thrust has arrived. Americon arrives from the platform. Americon has arrived. Thrust smirks, "Lord of the Rings, Ramjet. That's what old Blitzwing is mumbling about. Soon he'll tell us a Balrog ate his baby." Motormaster looks around for another exit. "Wait," he rumbles, "were those footprints leading in or out of here? Both, maybe? 'Cause I can't see where anything might have gone other than back that same way." Of course, Motormaster is no tracker. Ramjet glares. "You two sound like you're coming down with a case of space madness." Do you know what they do to Decepticons with space madness? Ask /Goldpaver/. Catechism replies, apropos of nothing, "And here I thought that Krieg died while fighting off Sweepcubs. Huh, learn something every day!" She sidles over to a certain bin of chemicals. Ah, yes, these are... explosive, heh heh heh. Thrust shivers, "I have three Sweepcubs that I hid in storage. I hope they died by now so I can but their bodies in Sunder's quarters as a sign that he is next!" There's some jostling around in the bins for a few moments. A pair of EYES peeks out from the darkness at Catechism, then scurries off. Catechism takes a step back, as she was about to help herself to some nitro, and she whirls around and insists to the group, "I just saw a red pair of eyes!" Thrust watches the little eyes, "Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepcubs!" Thrust succeeds in grasping Ramjet, throwing him off-balance. Shockwave examines the contents of the bin and makes some note for his pet project. Blitzwing reflexively shoots in the direction of the movement when Thrust shouts about Sweepcubs. He hates those things! Catechism wrings her hands, and she murmurs lowly, "I've heard... stories. That the Terrorcons and Technobots came out of these caves. What if... what if... there are NERDS lurking down here?" Thrust leaps into the air and tries to land in Ramjet's arms. "Save me, Commander!" Thrust gasps, "NERDS? They might utilize us for parts and build computers out of us. They might... might use my laser core as a server for some online gaming thing! I saw it on youtube! They will turn us into mush!" Ramjet returns. Ramjet misses Thrust with his grasp attack. Skitter skitter skitter. Tic tic tic. In America. Ramjet fails to grab hold of Thrust. Instead, the mor-- er, maroon, jet overpowers Ramjet's center of gravity. "Aaaagh!!" He goes tumbling back and clattering the ground. "ThrUUUUUUUUUUUUUST!" The Air Commander clamors, squirming beneath Thrust. Now we discover another true revelation in Aerospace: Thrust is the top, Ramjet is the bottom. Motormaster shrugs, saying, "It's also possible that they would die a sudden and painful death." He pulls his energy sword out of sub-space, hefting it easily in one hand. Catechism declares, "We're going to need explosives." She helps herself to the nitro with that fantastic justification, storing it away, and she muses, "We really should have just asked Divebomb for a map. Oh well! There can't be any truth to the stories, can there? Or the story that a carbot drowned in the lake, and anyone dunked in the water will turn into a carbot by the light of the full moon?" "Oooooof!" says Thrust as he lands on top of Ramjet. "I shall save you since you can't save me!" "Get off me, you idiot!" Ramjet shouts at Thrust. He tries to push Thrust off. Ramjet misses Thrust with his grasp attack. "You hear that?" says Blitzwing warily, listening to the 'tick tick tick... tock tock tick... tick tick... tick tick. "Sounds like Bauhaus is in here." Ramjet fails. Thrust is as slippery as a greased Ultra Magnus! Thrust succeeds in grasping Ramjet, throwing him off-balance. In the year 2007, when both participants were desperate, Ultra Magnus and Thrust greased wrestled each other. Thrust won by missiling Magnus in the face. Thrust hops off of Ramjet and tries to help him up. "There, I got off. Are you happy?" "Not in the LEAST," rumbles Ramjet. Shockwave turns around trying to focus on the noise Blitzwing mentionned. "Quiet you two...We might not be alone..." Shockwave moves forward slowly gun-hand extended and scanning his surroundings for any sign of movement or something unusual. Catechism thinks about the bombs she could make with the nitro. Wonderful, ticking bombs. Ticking... "...is that ticking? Uh. Not good." Thrust would probably lose his jazz hands again. Blitzwing pokes a chemical drum with the barrel of his gyro carbine. "Wonder what this stuff is." Someone knocks some crates over, and says, "Ow! My knee, in America!" before scurrying away. Having gotten to his feet and not being in a compromising position with Thrust, Ramjet can hear what has alarmed the others. He gives glances to every Decepticon assembled, who favor the wait-and-see approach to handling this threat. Then, the voice comes. Ramjet acts by thrusting his rifle-cannon in the air.. at no direction in particular. "This is AIR COMMANDER RAMJET of the DECEPTICON EMPIRE. SHOW YOURSELF or BE SLAGGED!" Ramjet shouts. He will never, ever, tire of reciting his title. Thrust locks a missile for use, "Wait, I think we found the caverns where the Americons came from. Get the Britcons ready." Shockwave relaxes his stance upon hearing the dead give-away from Americon. Americon holds up his hands as he walks out into the open, grinning sheepishly. "Uh, heheh, I was, uh, practicing my sneaking, because I am told I am not very subtle and I need to be more subtle!" he yells. Catechism looks boggled and asks, "We have Britcons? Next, you'll tell me that there are Australibots... oh. Durango." "Outback too," adds Blitzwing. Ramjet aims his laser-cannon square at Americon. ".. wait. You showed yourself. Nnngh.." He lowers the weapon and returns to looking annoyed. Motormaster says, "Right. So that's where those footprints came from. Nothing else to be seen here at all. Surely." He waits for a moment to be proven wrong before relaxing his sword-arm. Thrust pulls out a little glass vial. "A little glass vial?" Ramjet grunts, "A little glass vial." Catechism looks over at Americon and asks, "Say, can you sabotage sensors and get them so that they just play a day-cycle loop, rather than anything useful?" "Yeah, so?" asks Blitzwing, although he feels a strange urge to intone 'a little glass vial' for some reason. Blitzwing whispers to himself, "A little glass vial," in case it's important. FORESHADOWING. Americon frowns, rubbing his chin as he thinks carefully. "Sort of! I can record video of nothing, and put the other camera in front of the other camera, and put it on infinite loop, so like, the security camera will only see a looping image of nothing from my camera!" Catechism grimaces and sighs, "That's... not quite what I'm looking for, but thank you, Americon." Ramjet folds his arms over his chest again. "Let's get this underway. The longer I stay here, the more I find myself unable to deal with you all." You walk back west to the platform. Platform The platform you stand on isn't very sturdy so you take extra precautions not to agitate it too much. As you take a detailed look around, you can make out an old turbine, just next to the waterfall, which seemed to give the energy it needed to run the factory or whatever is built to the east. A used trail leads there...though you can make out a few recent footsteps... Obvious exits: Plant Lake Slope Motormaster arrives from the plant. Motormaster has arrived. Shockwave arrives from the plant. Shockwave has arrived. Ramjet arrives from the plant. Ramjet has arrived. Thrust arrives from the plant. Thrust has arrived. Blitzwing arrives from the plant. Blitzwing has arrived. "No better way than down," remarks Blitzwing. Wheeee! Blitzwing walks down the slope into the water. Blitzwing has left. You walk down the slope into the water. Lake Bottom As your optics adapt to the aquatic elements, you can barely make out the elements. A quantity of rusted material spreads throughout the bottom of the lake, some of which is very corroded if you take the time to inspect it. The bottom itself is quite irregular, and many hiding places can be foreseen. The only way out would be the steep slope leading upwards to the east. Some supports are situated there...maybe a platform of sorts? Also...you can see an opening about a third of the way up...and something moving inside.... A slow current moves through the lake at the bottom, leading downwards, but you can't tell what drives it. Contents: Blitzwing Obvious exits: Surface Slope Motormaster comes in walking down the slope from the surface. Motormaster has arrived. Shockwave comes in walking down the slope from the surface. Shockwave has arrived. Ramjet comes in walking down the slope from the surface. Ramjet has arrived. Thrust comes in walking down the slope from the surface. Thrust has arrived. Motormaster reluctantly places his sword back in sub-space, somewhat convinced that he will slice nothing in two with it today. The very perceptive might notice him sighing slightly. Americon drops down from the surface. Americon has arrived. Thrust remains silent and looks around for something. He pulls out a missile and starts to tinker with it. He strips out a wire from it and starts twisting some metal from the inside to make a hook. "Hmm!" Blitzwing looks around underwater. "Maybe this wasn't the best way after all, this stuff is pretty bad." Catechism comments, via cartoon magic which allows her to speak underwater, "Uh... we're at the bottom of a lake. This is... helpful?" She decides to jump up to the surface. Ramjet starts making a paddling motion for the surface. Blitzwing swims back up to the surface. Blitzwing has left. Ramjet swims back up to the surface. Ramjet has left. Thrust swims back up to the surface. Thrust has left. Shockwave swims back up to the surface. Shockwave has left. You swim back up to the surface. Underground Lake Flying won't do you any good as the ceiling here is so irregular and low that you keep hitting into the tar stalactites every two seconds or so. If you manage to stay afloat, you notice that the waterfall you came in through is in fact a tight shaft into which the underground river pours into. The size of the shaft itself is so small compared to the river above, you understand now why there was so much turbulence. The walls here are bare, dull steel, and the only place you can go besides the bottom of the lake is a dry spot just east, something like a platform. Contents: Shockwave Thrust Ramjet Blitzwing Obvious exits: Platform Bottom Motormaster surfaces from the bottom of the lake. Motormaster has arrived. Ramjet moves to the Vortex Area. Ramjet has left. Thrust moves to the Vortex Area. Thrust has left. Shockwave moves to the Vortex Area. Shockwave has left. Blitzwing moves to the Vortex Area. Blitzwing has left. You move to the Vortex Area. Vortex Area The moment you enter the area, you get caught into a strong vortex pulling you downwards towards the bottom. You barely manage to take a hold on the wall to end up in a fairly safe spot to actually look around. It would seem it's a dead end as no visible exits are visible save the one you came in from. Stalactites of tar drip down from the ceiling as the river keeps swirling down the vortex downwards. It has to lead somewhere...but are you going to risk getting stuck wherever it leads? Contents: Blitzwing Shockwave Thrust Ramjet Obvious exits: Vortex Underground River Motormaster arrives from the Underground Lake. Motormaster has arrived. Ramjet smashes through the tar ceiling with his cone! Shockwave disappears into the vortex after letting go of the wall. Shockwave has left. Ramjet moves west in the underground river. Ramjet has left. Thrust moves west in the underground river. Thrust has left. You move west in the underground river. Riverbed The underground channel here goes along an east-west axis, and is filled with a mixture of heavy oils, lubricant, waste fluids, and even some rare H2O. The liquid isn't exactly what you would call sparkling clean from what you can make of it... rust spots can be seen all along the riverbed. The current isn't really strong, just rapid as it heads somewhere eastwards. There is no lighting whatsoever on either side, making the progression difficult. Contents: Thrust Ramjet Obvious exits: Underground River Small Passage Underground River Motormaster arrives in the underground river from the east. Motormaster has arrived. Blitzwing arrives in the underground river from the east. Blitzwing has arrived. You move north into the underground river. Cavernous Chamber Tar and oil have collected over long eons and hang down in snaking columns from the metal walls of this cavernous room. The walls seem to be of different texture from the ones in the tunnels, the metal less refined and duller. The dimensions are quite respectable as its biggest dimension wanders around 100 yards and the smallest 60. To the south end of the cave, you make out some movement at about ground level, but hearing the strange rushing noise, your sensors determine that it's probably an underground channel of liquid of sorts. The only other opening besides the one out is located at the southwest end of the chamber. It's nothing more than an opening, and if you have any olfactive means you can make out something: IT STINKS! Obvious exits: Upwards Underground River Small Opening Motormaster arrives from the Underground River to the south. Motormaster has arrived. Blitzwing arrives from the Underground River to the south. Blitzwing has arrived. Ramjet arrives from the Underground River to the south. Ramjet has arrived. Thrust arrives from the Underground River to the south. Thrust has arrived. Ramjet climbs upwards from the Cavern. Ramjet has left. Thrust climbs upwards from the Cavern. Thrust has left. You climb upwards from the Cavern. Underworld(#3661RntJN) Despite the faint light coming in from the dark shaft above, the illumination here is quite poor, and you can't make out much of it unless you have extra visual senses or move closer to examine the details. In effect, the walls here are quite rough, seemingly bolted together with very little care and left unpolished. What worries you more is that it seems the tunnel entrance itself was widened by bare claws, which makes you shudder at the image of its designer. The ground itself is poorly leveled, so you have to pay extra attention so as not to trip on a hidden irregularity. The passageway leads further downwards, into the darkness. Contents: Thrust Ramjet Obvious exits: Dark Shaft Dark Passage Motormaster emerges from the Cavern. Motormaster has arrived. Blitzwing emerges from the Cavern. Blitzwing has arrived. "Oh right," remarks Blitzwing. "This is where I came in." Ramjet grunts. Americon has arrived. Shockwave emerges from the Cavern. Shockwave has arrived. You move upward to the Glass Tube... Glass Tube A thin shaft of light streams in from a small opening to the west, the contrast making it almost impossible to see within this otherwise unilluminated tube. The long shaft, evidently constructed of reinforced plate glass, runs along north and south, perpendicular shafts branching off at regular intervals. Narrow bands of steel circle the tube every 60 meters. Looking through the transparent material, you cannot help but marvel at the awe-inspiring view of this interstice between Cybertron's surface and the first layer below. Thick cables the size of a large Transformer's legs rope down in heavy loops between the two levels, some twining around the ponderous metallic shafts that spike downwards through all the layers towards the core. One such dark shaft intersects the tube some 400 meters away from the opening. Contents: Thrust Ramjet Obvious exits: Small Opening Glass Tube Dark Shaft Motormaster enters from the Underworld below. Motormaster has arrived. Blitzwing enters from the Underworld below. Blitzwing has arrived. Americon enters from the Underworld below. Americon has arrived. Shockwave enters from the Underworld below. Shockwave has arrived. Ramjet moves southeast to the Glass Tube. Ramjet has left. Thrust moves southeast to the Glass Tube. Thrust has left. You move through a narrow tunnel towards a dim light to the west. Istoral Trench On entering the huge chasm known as the Istoral Trench, fiercely cold winds buffet your chassis. Several landslides have occured here, dumping tons of twisted metal on the floor of the trench, forcing a slower pace to maneuver through the scrap fields. On the canyon walls are multiple caverns and sharp-edged metal outcroppings enveloped in shadow. A flicker of movement up above indicates that you may not be alone. Could that be a pack of Turbo-Wolves looking for a meal? The trench continues indefinitely to the North and South. Obvious exits: Up leads to Istoral Chasm. North leads to Istoral Trench North. South leads to Istoral Trench South. Motormaster emerges from a small opening in the trench to the east. Motormaster has arrived. Blitzwing emerges from a small opening in the trench to the east. Blitzwing has arrived. "There we go, there's my stuff," says Blitzwing as he finds where he left his lamp when he came down into the underground. ================================= Decepticon ================================= Message: 2/138 Posted Author New Polyhex Expedition Thu Jul 31 Catechism ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The spinny flashes over to a Seeker standing on a rather hellish-looking bridge, and to make the picture even worse, she holds up some charts. Charts! How diabolical. Catechism reports, "Many thanks to Americon, Blitzwing, Ramjet, Shockwave, and Thrust for assisting in the mapping of the New Polyhex tunnels, mappings which are... still unfinished, actually." She points to her charts, which show a rough map of the caves with big question marks in certain areas. "However, I can definitely say that the South tunnel in the Ruby Tunnel is just a molten river that will seriously mess up your armour, and the East tunnel is a devious trap of some sort that just keeps looping back to the same place. I would suggest avoiding both the South and East exits out of the Ruby Tunnel." She gets out a Turbo-Sharpie and writes, "BAD!" over the South and East exits. "The Southwest exit is a bit more interesting, as it leads to an underground river, which is apparently," she somehow maintains a straight face, "a decent fishing spot. Taking the river to the East leads to a vortex. No, not the Combaticon. A whirlpool! Beneath the whirlpool is a vast cavern that contains an ancient power plant and a bunch of dangerous chemicals. There were some footprints there, and while Americon might have caused the footprints, no one is really sure." Spooky. "To get out of there, you have to fly up, through the whirlpool." "We then took the river to the North, ignoring the small opening," she omits how some of the Decepticons were getting a bit claustrophobic and just points to a question mark on her chart. "There was a cavernous chamber, and it stunk. I mean, it really stunk. Turn off your olfactory sensors in there, I tell you. Ignoring the small opening, we moved upwards." "Then it was just really dark. Moved up again, and we found a glass tube. Nice view, there. Some of us went Southeast from there and ended up in the Warrens. A few others and I went through a small opening, and we ended up in the Istoral Trench instead, which is a pretty drastic difference in geographical location. Now, the Warrens and the Istoral Trench are both in Decepticon territory, but we could possibly use these tunnels to hide troops and supply movements. Also, there were parts of these tunnels that we never got a chance at mapping, so the tunnels still need to be considered a security risk. If anyone else wants to take a look around in there, please let me know how it goes, and good luck. Catechism, out." The spinny returns, banishing Catechism, the red-lit bridge, and her charts ==============================================================================
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