1866/Down the Tubes

Down the Tubes
Date of Scene:	24 March 2015
Location:	Alfheim Online <ALO>
Synopsis:	Sinon and Asuna meet for the first time in the most obvious way- a rip-roaring, life-threatening adventure in the dungeon depths beneath SBC Glocken.
Cast of Characters:	9, 649

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Sinon (649) has posed:
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NGkAhymp0E
    James Horner - The Zeppelin from 'The Rocketeer'

    Sinon has been in this situation before.

    Not in this exact location before, mind you, but close- after all, as many players know, deep underneath SBC Glocken there are countless underground dungeons, both mysterious ruins and complicated starship machinery.

    (And sometimes even combinations of the two.)

    It was in one of these where she found the treasure that would give her her name, the Hecate II-- one of the rarest guns in the game. Obtaining this was an adventure, a crucible, and a thing that changed who she would be forever.

    Today may be no different.

    After all, today, she has found herself deep underground in the clanking, steaming, machinery-grinding underground of SBC Glocken, and no less intentionally. She's been trapped down here for a couple of hours now... and she's not alone.

    Her hand darts out to pull Asuna out from between the teeth of two enormous interlocking gears, as the two of them run for their lives. They're escaping from something, in the depths of one of the highest level instances in the game, way out of their league.

    They could just let themselves be fragged and respawn back in safety- after all, their lives aren't on the line here...

    But she didn't do that last time, did she?

Asuna (9) has posed:
     Gun Gale Online's avatar creation saw giving Asuna a bit of hilarity by blending in the blending of her undine costume, with the colors of her Knight of the BLood Uniform, and offering skin amounts akin to Titania. Her chestnut brown hair dangles to her rear,held back in a low ponytail, bangs hanging around her face. She wears a short khaki skirt, below which she wears a thigh holster, and a pair of white and red boots. Her white belt holds another holster as well as some pouches, in a half-skirt like design. Her top is a khaki sports bra, over which she wears a red and white bolero jacket.

     She is reloading her gun as Sinon snatches out a hand to her collar and pulls her into a safe area, giving the other girl a look. For the record:
     She has no idea who Sinon is.

     "Why are we running? Are we both inclined to not give up, or is it that we're both showing off?" She asks, as gracefully (and wryly), as possible. Asuna then throws herself around Sinon, sighting a shot down the left hand passage before bolting down the right hand way.

Sinon (649) has posed:
    The thing following them is probably exactly what you'd expect to find in a place like this- an alligator. Sewers always have alligators, it's a proven fact. Enormous post-apocalyptic sci-fi sewers, logically, have mutant alligators, as a continuation of this logic.

    This alligator, <<Kluzeinomorph>>, is the size of a semi truck, with six eyes and double-jointed, primate-esque limbs for improved climbing. Also, just to prove we had to go one better than HR Giger, it has a full-sized second head stretching out of its (clearly vestigal) mouth.

    Wait. It now has FIVE eyes. Nice shot! Nice guts!

    "Well, I don't know about you," Sinon replies, "But I was trying to get into a position where I could snipe at it. It's worked for me in the past. And I was saving you so it didn't trigger whatever flags it has when the raid party drops below half of its original size."

    The huge bulk of the giant lizard passes by them like a nonstop, scaled train. "Plus, it's probably the <<boss>> around here. Unless we want to run around here for another couple of hours, we need to figure out how to kill it so we can get a key item or fast travel that'll let us leave."

    The area they've ducked into has several potential tight airducts and pipe grates they could try crawling through to get up to a higher level than where they already are. What's the next course of action?

Asuna (9) has posed:
     "Well that's all fine for you." Asuna says, with a deadpan tone. "Okay, let's head up. YOu can snipe and... I'll figure something out. Hey, it's a MMO, let's say we lure it into the teeth of one of the many contraptions down here. Even an alligator can get crushed to death, can't it?" That's... that's actually an idea, Asuna, even if a very deadly one for any party involved (both you and the alligator, that is!)

     "You first. I'll cover the rear."

     "That and I get the feeling I'm going to be alligator bait no matter which way this goes... so let's see what going up will get us."

Sinon (649) has posed:
    Sinon raises an eyebrow. "I like the way you think."

    Truthfully, she's been kept guessing by Asuna for most of this dungeon crawl so far- whereas first, when she stuck by her just out of the feeling that she shouldn't let a new player's first experience being shredded to bits in a high-level dungeon they were both inadvertedly dropped into, she's been surprised by how well Asuna's been handling things.

    Not that this is making her like the girl, by any stretch of the imagination, no! She can just appreciate the approach she takes to things. Sinon's been letting herself get far too close to even thinking about the idea of making friends, and she's only insinuating herself into Kirito's group in case she needs to take advantage of them. If she started respecting some new girl she's only just met any more than as a temporary comrade, well!

    In any case, they have a plan, just no way to implement it. It's time to climb some slimy ladder rungs and grip the inside of sheer pipes to get up to a higher level so they can start to think of how to implement it.

    Sinon does most of this in silence, content in the fact that even though she's taken point, she can't be shot in the back in such an enclosed space without the bullets ricocheting.

Asuna (9) has posed:
     "I'm used to thinking for other people."

     Ouch, Asuna. She climbs after Sinon, taking her time, however. She could go fast, but with the situation of slippery and slimy sheer pipes and ladder rungs, going fast is sure to knock them both allllll the way back down the pathway they're going and then they certainly will get eaten by a alligator.

     "Found a reasonable exit yet? Somewhere you can set up, preferably?"

Sinon (649) has posed:
    Making a lot of noise: probably a bad idea, even if we are in a pipe. For all we know, this thing has another tongue inside the OTHER head, which is probably super-long like an anteater's. I mean, all the effort was made to model this pipe nightmare maze, presumably by some sick person who wanted to bring their SCP Foundation Wiki entry to the next level, so you can't put it past the boss designer to come up with a monster that takes advantage of part.

    Sinon peeks her head out of a grate. She sees the huge Kluzeinomorph a few 'floors' down below, and although the space they're in is largely open- think a large, open-plan indoor shopping mall with large open spaces intercrossed and edged by solid structures- it's beginning to use those arms to climb up to the next floor.

    Inevitably, it'll chase its way up there.

    Sinon squints. "There's a platform on the end I can see that's sticking out. Looks like a jammed elevator. I can get to it if I keep climbing and maybe sweep out a few enemies, and if you get out here it'll be a good place to get the drop on it."

Asuna (9) has posed:
     "Got it. Let me know when you're in position."

     Asuna waits for Sinon to move, then she hauls herself out of the gate in a dextrous movement, crouching down on the floor as she briefly checks her gear while situated half-hidden in the pipe. Once she's cleared the check, she finally stands, ghosting her way across the open area to where she can get a good eye on the up and coming boss. Her gun is out, with the one on her hip prepped to go.

     "Take out the eyes, what do you think?"

Sinon (649) has posed:
    "Maybe the joints as well, if we can manage it," Sinon says thoughtfully. Chinrub. "Just to stop it from rampaging." This is kind of like some sort of monster blasting adventure, in a world where you are a monster killer, or perhaps some sort of monster poacher. Good thing this doesn't have the ability to fling poop though.

    She takes a moment, but rather than feel the cold, grim calm she expected to find before she starts the climb, there's something... different there. It's the same sort of environment as long ago, and she's in a cold, slimy pipe, but... there's someone else here this time, and she feels... excited?

    Yes, maybe a little bit.

    "...you know, don't take this the wrong way, but I never asked you your name up until now."

Asuna (9) has posed:
     "We're kind of running away from a giant alligator monster, I'm unsurprised that tactical decisions came up before names."

     Asuna, meanwhile, finds herself a good spot to kneel on where she can sight downwards towards the monster. She pulls out her secondary gun, which is a bit better in terms of hitting what she's aiming at. She sights down the barrel, then pulls the trigger twice, rapidly, aiming for eyes and joints as she goes. This done, she shifts her weight, sliding along the metal with the monster to follow its' path.

     "My name, for the record, is Asuna."

Sinon (649) has posed:
    "Sinon!" the namesake sniper calls back, then starts scrambling.
    Midway up, she wonders 'why didn't I say Hecate?'

    This is where it gets /interesting/. Now, granted, we haven't actually managed to find out how to actually get it into some death gears without luring it back the way the two of them came- but that's probably what they'll have to do for lack of anything else. Blind it, cripple it a bit, then get it into a position where it won't figure out it's going to tank some major environmental hazard. Works.

    The problem is the unspoken plan guarantee- When they come up with a plan to save the day, its chances of success are inversely proportional to how much they know about it beforehand. As Asuna goes for a slip-and-slide down one of the exposed pipes, trash spiders leap out on silk lines from either side to get in her way, or just get freshly-spun webbing in her eyes. It could cause her fluctuating targetting ring to mess up the shot.

    And after that, well... how good were you on the jungle gym and the monkey bars when you were younger? Because that's going to determine a lot of how things go when the Kluzeinomorph reacts poorly to being shot at and decides it's time to come after her!

    Sinon, meanwhile, is taking the high road, and is surprised by how strange it feels to be on her own for the first time since she dropped in here. Now /this/ reminds her of old times. She can't afford to look down at Asuna now, either- not just since she has to get into position, but because she's got her own trash mobs to deal with in the form of slug-like pipe-scrubber robots.

    Fortunately this isn't like /some/ less civilised MMOs where these things would have attacks that try to remove your clothes!

Asuna (9) has posed:
     Spiders... why did it have to be bloody spiders.

     At least it isn't ghosts.

     However, Asuna deals with them how she does with insects in general - she swats them out of the air, then uses her boots to stomp then, even using a gunshot here and there to rip through dozens of silk lines at once to get them out of the ground. When that's done, she sets off a flare, of all things, cutting it off after a few seconds as the smoke rises. That'll help with the spiders swinging out of things, and she stands on the edge of the smoke cloud, letting off a shot here and there at the alligator.

     "Come on..." She whispers to herself, mostly. It needs to get closer - it has to get closer - before she can do the next part.

Sinon (649) has posed:
The only ghosts we have here are, perhaps, zombie mobs named after a pop culture reference.
Crazy american MMOs and their crazy pop culture references Japan doesn't understand.

    As Asuna engages in a little aversion therapy of her own, Sinon platform games it up, blowing away rogue cleanadroids in her approach to the lift platform. She uses her <<MP7>> pistol to blast their undersides or shoot off their eyes (getting in a little practice, perhaps) and leaping up ledges.

    The Kluz- I'm tired of typing this so /crocboss/, meanwhile, is attracted to the smoke and being-shot-at, so once Asuna clears out her arachnaphobia issues she's going to find it climbing upwards and forwards towards her. Its eyes blink in odd, staggered order as it approaches, and it tries to spread its limbs out as wide as possible as it grips the walls!
    And Sinon...

        *clank* 'What the-'

    Sinon is now finding out her elevator is in fact a HOVER elevator, which is now moving HORIZONTALLY instead of vertically as she boards it!

Asuna (9) has posed:
     Cause this is Thriller...

     Asuna hears a clank and her gaze automatically moves upwards as she recognizes Sinon on the elevator. How about that. She then sighs deeply. Of course it's one thing after another, but they don't have time to think of anything else, they only have time to go. Asuna therefore leaves Sinon to her own devices as she crouches in a ready position, swapping out her guns.

     "Come on..." She mutters to herself.

     The instant it gets close enough, Asuna is shooting and moving, or rather, strafing, the girl diving for the pipe to lead it back to its' doom.

Sinon (649) has posed:
Sniping a moving target is hard, but sniping a moving target when you yourself are moving is kinda next level.
    But Sinon didn't get to be where she is today by being surprised by sudden changes, and there's a crack and- more unpleasantly- a pop as one of Crocboss' eyes takes a critical hit from up above.

    It recoils from the fairly horrendous hit, which gives Asuna the opening she needs to strafe past it and begin the plan. The more she can distract it, the better- and as Crocboss turns around and sets its attention on Asuna Sinon manages to take out /another/ eye.

    But this is where things get difficult.

    As if sensing that some sort of theshold of success has been hit, the environment itself begins to get more dangerous- grates flood open and begin raising the water level from below, sharp-bladed fans on the walls begin creating currents to suck Asuna in /or/ blow her away, and electricity sparks from one ledge to another!

    And Sinon faces similar problems, as an arc of electricity destabilizes her elevator, sending it on an uncontrollable dithering course! It's all she can do to keep going in the same direction as Asuna!

Asuna (9) has posed:
     That's one heck of a crack shot, Sinon.

     Asuna flashes the other girl a thumbs up as she moves to distract the crocboss in the best and worst way possible - by being a tasty little bit for him to eat. As around them, grates flood, fans start currenting, and there's electricity! It may be easier to bait him than she thought, especially-- "If I can get him in the water!" Asuna says, swearing a little inwardly at the fact she doesn't have wings.

     "Okay, come on, crocky!" She takes a side shot at him as she dives for the pipe. She's going for the water, potentially getting herself killed. He has the advantage in the water - but she has a plan.

Sinon (649) has posed:
    This is where things get /interesting/.

    With lightning bolts practically nipping at her heels, and wind funnels doing naught but provide some really dramatic air currents to whoosh her hair about in, Asuna continues to do what many MMO players have done to set off some other incredibly spectacular events- kite the boss long distances. Aggro is immediately obtained, Crocboss switching from grabbing various pipes with its elongated limbs to rapidly dropping into the rising water. In any normal boss encounter with this thing- and you have to wonder what the devs had in mind with this insanity- anyone who fell into the water was going to serve as nothing more than a distraction for other people, as it would rapidly go after anyone and shred them. In fact there's a known exploit which involves bringing several low-level characters into the dungeon and purposefully throwing them to their doom so you can take advantage of the oppurtunity to reload.

    Sinon is not reloading, because six bullets for six eyes, but she wonders if Asuna knows this strategy too and is trying it out.

Asuna (9) has posed:
     Asuna knows that tactic. Considering Aincrad and that one thing with the village and the near fight she got into with Kirito over using the NPCs, well, she knows the tactic /well/, even, but it is not what she is going for this time. That would mean sacrificing herself, and that just... isn't happening. At all. She's getting out of this /alive/.

     Screw everything else.

     The /instant/ she hears the croc hit the water, Asuna has her hands on a outcropping on the pipe, agilely flipping herself out of the water, aiming to get a spot where she stands just out of the reach of the crocodile, grabbing a nearby spare piece of machinery in one hand --

     She hurls it at the nearest electricial cord dangling, aiming to drop the cord straight into the water.

Sinon (649) has posed:
('But then you have to babysit them until you get to the boss, and it's ultimately not really worth it', some players argue.)

"And people call sniping boring!" Sinon shouts over the sound of roaring fans, muffler almost being clipped short by one of them, to no one in particular. The platform she's on lurches forward- almost TOO far. The next shot is going to be fourty percent luck-

    And as Asuna, like a dolphin, leaves the water as quickly as she entered it things reach the point in which the girls are practically predicting one anothers' actions by the second.

    Sinon plugs a third eye. In the moments this gives her, Asuna wrenches something free- a valve of some sort- smashing the electrical cord and redirecting electricity into the water.

    The entire body of water practically glows yellow (because yellow means electricity) as Crocboss is stunned pretty spectacularly. Sinon can't afford to look away from the lightshow, and slams on her <<Hawk Eye>> skill, eyes glowing green as she fires-- fires-- fires--!

    "ASUNA!" she shouts from above, trying to be heard over the sound. "IT'S BLINDED! I'M OUT OF AMMO! REST IS UP TO YOU!"

    Crocboss is blind, its limbs flailing. Those multi-level intergrinding giant gears are right ahead. It'll be up to Asuna to make one last risk-

Asuna (9) has posed:
     "It can be pretty boring not being in the middle of the action, you know!" Asuna shouts back at Sinon. She hears the cracks, counts them as the lightshow goes. She doesn't have << Hawk Eye>> yet, so she's got ot wait for the show to go down a bit before she enact the last plan.

     "Here, crocky crocky...!" She wheedles, audibly making herself a big annoyance towards the creature. She gets herself as close to the gears as she can, and the instant it's a choice between them or the crocodile, Asuna just throws herself to her stomach and the side, expecting the crocodile to go over her head.

     Please let this work.

Sinon (649) has posed:
    For most players, unless you give yourself a special 'HP build' to artificially inflate it, most players have less than five thousand health. This is not usually something that many people bother with because, much like in real life, being shot in the right area such as the head or neck is usually an <<OHKO>>, as is being torn apart physically by something like sustained fire from a minigun. Many significant traps in the dungeons, however, deal increments of damage in the thousands. Bosses often have several hundred thousand hit points.

    What all of this means is that when Crocboss goes sailing over the orange-haired lady in a massive, bleeding freight train of scales and limbs, and when it jams directly into the interlock of two enormous, Metropolis-Zone-style cogs...

    Well, it's probably a good thing that Asuna's seen worse things, let's put it that way.

    Twenty seconds later and the thing is going up in that billowing cloud of triangular polygons that many a dead thing in fulldive MMOs has gone up in, and nobody gets a last attack bonus.

        Which is a shame, because it would have probably been some pretty good gear.

    Sinon slowly, carefully guides the rogue platform down to the same level as Asuna and hops off of it, Hecate II hanging off of her shoulder by its strap. She takes the second <<Fast Transport Return Key>> the boss dropped, then glances at Asuna.

A white neon line in the floor begins to stretch off into the distance and around a corner, showing what is presumably a path to follow towards some sort of exit.

Asuna (9) has posed:
     "... hnn." Asuna mutters softly as she watches Crocboss implode into polygons, she gives a somewhat happy sigh. "Ah well, no last attack bonus. I count killing him as a bonus enough, though." She takes the other <<Fast Transport Return Key>>, giving Sinon a smile, leading the way.

     "That was fun! Thank you."

Sinon (649) has posed:
    "It was... interesting," Sinon replies, rubbing her thumb over the edges of the key's strange, prism-like shape, "Wasn't it? Hopefully the rest of your experience at the early levels won't be this chaotic. Unless you plan on entering the BoB, which I don't recommend..." Gonna nip that particular idea in the bud right away.

    The line takes them to... oh, boy. An elevator shaft. And you can just bet that even though there is absolutely no reason for it to do so, the thing's going to move up to the surface in real time, as well. She really hopes Asuna isn't gonna want to make small talk the whole way up...

    But perhaps this thrilling tale is a story for another time.

Asuna (9) has posed:
"The BoB... Bullet of Bullets... hmm." Asuna drawls. She just leaves the thought of her joining it in the air as she glances at the elevator, before the slim woman shrugs. "I'm out." SHe steps in the elevator, thoughtfully eyeing Sinon but not saying a word.