Scene #5915: Deformed Insect Territory-1

Owner	Pose
Rurufon	To be called /back/ to the mysterious and obscenely hazardous 'Tower of Shadows', which might have kind of given people the impression they weren't welcome the first time, seems unusual, even discarding the roundabout word of mouth way it seems to find each Elite like a bad bit of gossip, without anyone quite knowing what they were talking about at the time. It seems to be the genuine deal however, since using a Warpgate doesn't drop them off near a town at the ass end of a massive, untouched rainforest through which people have to slog to ancient crumbled ruins again, but rather, right through the rune-engraved, petrified 'door' from the ferryman's dock (or one of many???) as if they'd only just physically walked through it. In fact, it even grinds closed a few feet behind them, like a badly absentminded walk had taken them here on feet guided by the devil. Metaphorically. Jury's still out on whether the mysteriously horned woman waiting is the devil, /a/ devil, some sort of something similar, or no relation. Suspended on the cracked and eerily glowing stone ring above the impenetrable abyss, and frequently having to shield eyes from the quietly thundering intermittent beam of energy that near-silently roars up the center of the chamber every so often, they are left to move past hunched, skeletal, vaguely amphibious cowled figures on their way between floating tablets, and to make their way to what had been called 'the Chasm Nexus' before; a certainly impressive name, though it seems only to lead to more irregular spiderweb of green-white rock spread over blackness like the roots of a fossilized tree, leading to three doors most are familiar with, the way back, and one with some sort of solid gemstone lock. Matters are made very plain and very simple in a chunk of exposition that brooks no pauses for questions and angle shooting. After thorough examination following the previous investigation as to how someone escaped before, Rurufon has determined that something is fundamentally broken, or as she calls it, 'miscalibrated', in regards to the unforeseen eventuality of people from worlds unified with the Multiverse, but not unified with the Tower's pre-existing 'Multiverse'. As her ? given duty, it's her unfortunate task to fix it. To that end, she is offering the following: Multiversal Elites are to show up only under her calling for and supervision. Each time, they will enter a Realm of the Nexus, and they will not come back through its entrance, only leave through its eventual exit. Leaving the Tower between each is not only allowed, but encouraged, as alterations must be done between each venture. The beacons within may be used as any challenger to the tower, but trips in and out to recover material, adjust loadouts, or seek medical attention, won't work. Likewise, nothing can be taken from the Tower unless something else is given up in exchange, however people are free to use what they find while inside. They are in fact free to pawn off their possessions, or more abstract things, preemptively to get what they want. Anything goes. The only cheats are actually accessing the Multiverse. The reward for actually doing this absurdly dangerous task? The hypothetical chance to lay claim to an artifact of godlike fiat, like this place seems to accumulate from the histories and mythologies of so many different planes of reality. That's how it works, after all. Of course, since people already went through the door upon which the engraven rune is covered in strands of petrified grey 'silk', they have to finish what they started. No choice about this one. Oh, and no doubling back to get ready now that they know what they're in for. That's the point. A real challenger wouldn't know until they got there, and Rurufon has zero pity for half a dozen heavily armed experts when the odd, exceptional individual survives this with a knife, a gun, and the clothes on their back.
Yuuki Kuran	Like floating upon a waking dream, it is not unusual for it to be Yuuki to drift from place to place, following her whims or her nose from room to room, from town to town, or from universe to universe. Sometimes, it's how you find a new favorite resturant or vista - allowing yourself to wander. And like becoming aware of where you are in a start after walking automatically with mind a-wander, Kuran Yuuki finds herself in a cool, dark place altogether unlike the twinkling nighttime springscape she had been meandering through. "Oh. It's you again. I had hoped to find a resturant, but I suppose a bit of adventure is fine too. So it's back to the bug realm? We did miss the disturbance in that area, didn't we? We found the curious 'way out', but not the twisted element at the top of that spire. Well, nothing to it but to go!" Animated for a moment, quite a bit more bright than a shuffling dreamer, Yuuki raises a finger. "To mysteries!"
Lemeza Kosugi	The last time he was here, Lemeza hadn't actually gone /in/ the Tower. He'd gotten sidetracked with taking architectural notes before leaving with the others he'd been with, and a curry nap maaaaaaaay have been involved. This time, though, he'd come prepared. That naturally meant his usual loadout, whip and revolver, but he also ate a copious amount of the delicious Thai dish before embarking. This has left him sated, but has introduced... another problem. One that is rather visible to the others when he arrives: watery eyes and panting mouth, indicating that the spiciness was finally too much for him. "So. The deal with this tower is..." Lemeza's recounting what he knows out loud. "It's supposed to be cleared in one attempt without leaving, but the Multiverse broke it. So we're doing it bit by bit. And once we reach the top, we get some historic artifact with a lot of power." He isn't directing this to anyone in particular, nor really expecting a response. "And we're doing this in sections now? Sounds a bit... easy. So much for a challenge, but whatever." Good luck scaring him off with threats of 'no exit'; it's kind of hard to top a creator god in terms of threats, and he's brought one of those down. So what's a few tower mooks?
Alexis Maaka	Pity can wait. Maaka isn't here for that. The cyborg's not exactly in a pity-mode either, with her skull-like helmet giving her an intimidating death mask quality. Toting her EM-GASH magrifle, she nods briefly to the guardian before she tops off on ammo and battery power. Don't wanna run out of either when in this dungeon. She makes sure to load the underslung launcher too, using micro-rockets in six-round moon clips revolver-style. "What kind of restaurant would set up shop -here-?" She asks quizzically, before shrugging off whatever answer Kuran has to offer. God only knows what goes on in that girl's head. What IS it with Yuukis anyway? "Basically." She answers Lemeza. "Kinda like your Mulana thing but with less horrifying fashion sense. She isn't letting that swimsuit deal go.
Yuuki Kuran	"No, I was wandering, Alexis. You know, just seeing where the streets took me. Then I started thinkin' about stuff and then I showed up here. Didn't you?" Yuuki laughs lightly, lowering her energetically jovial finger to slide it back into her coat's pocket. "If you don't ever spend times wandering, it's no wonder you're all wound up."
Alexis Maaka	"I'm not exactly dressed for a night out, unless I'm in Somalia I guess." Maaka replies dryly.
Nova Terra	Nova turns her head back to watch as the strange door closes behind her. She had been doubtful about the vague things she'd heard about this place. She might have to reconsider working with the individual that pointed her in this direction as a potential source of resources. He possibly misunderstood the definition of 'resources'. Still, it seems that there's no turning back now. And Nova isn't about to back down from the challenge that has been presented before them. Nova listens to their apparent host - nice horns by the way - as the explanation is given about the so-called 'Tower of Shadows'. A possibly ominous name... But then Nova is a Ghost. So it's relative. She doesn't seem all that concerned about the inability to leave in order to refit. She rarely goes anywhere without being fully equipped for a fight as she's used to living in a dangerous world. As the others clarify what they've essentially been told, Nova just listens along quietly, Canister Rifle resting back over her shoulder. From the feelings of her past, remnants of memories floating around in her head, she gets the general idea that she's no stranger to trials of a potentially dangerous nature. It's the promise of reward that causes Nova to finally break her silence, also to comment on Lemeza's words, "Sounds like an appropriately powerful, if vague, reward. I doubt it's going to be that easy to acquire."
Staren	This is, truly, an unusual situation. On the face of it, the /original/ challenge of the tower -- high chance of death to get some artifact -- has no appeal for Staren. He already has plenty of power and capabilities, and need not risk his life for more unless they are exclusively required for some goal of his, such as saving a world. The meta-task, of fixing the tower so it can return to normal operation, is... also not really that important. The Tower mostly hurts people, even if they choose to risk that hurt. But, elites are going to fix it anyway, whether he's present or not. The offer given: That if they complete each dungeon fair and square, they'll get an artifact when they're all done -- is thus more like a game with a prize than a real mission. Sure, it's more hazardous than a game, but it's not hazards he doesn't regularly handle. If a dungeon really becomes too risky, he should be able to leave and fail the challenge with his life intact. So, in the spirit of it being a test of skill and a chance to learn about a new world, he can kind of accept it. So it is that Staren returns to the 'hub' area. Not in the huge bulky armor from last time, but still, how many armored figures with cat ears and tail are running around the Multiverse? He's decided that just being a robot for further dungeon runs will make things easier. No need to worry about food, or sleep, or finding somewhere to get out of your armor and use the bathroom. He chuckles as Maaka brings up 'fashion sense'. "I'm sure it'll be plenty challenging. Besides, if we were really trapped in the Tower with no way out, finding a way to escape would be the first thing we do! Think of it this way, Lemeza: we can face the actual challenges in their intended context, rather than focusing on how to cheat because surviving is more important than playing the game." Staren glances at Rurufon. "...Not that I think the dungeon can't possibly kill us, but again, if it gets too hot we can retreat and fail." Staren idly pulls a heavy pistol from his bag and examines it, double-checking that everything is working. "I wonder... are the bugs something made up by the Tower, generated from nothing somehow? Or are they something that evolved in some sort of dungeon ecosystem for however long this has been going on? Now there's something interesting to think about..."
Arthur Lowell	Arthur is heading back into bug hell. And good lord is he cheerful. He pops up somewhere near Yuuki, gesturing all around. "See, way this PLACE works, all kinda GEOMETRIES get WIRED UP to the TOWER. You ANGLE your way through a WEIRD SPOT, you wind up HERE. Lotta ways you can THEORIZE the way it works, but not a lotta ways you can ARGUE with those RESULTS, yo!" He's headed right for that door, intent on shoving his way right through and getting right back on the path they were on before he took a long jump on a short cliff straight into the abyss last time. He's got his broom over his shoulders, well ready for bugs even without optimizing his gear. He answers Staren as he does! "NAH, HOMIE." He assures him. "Shit's straight IMPORTED. I actually went 'round their SOURCE when I figured out the GLITCH you can use to ZIP OUTTA HERE. Takes you right to their HELLSCAPE HOMEWORLD, shit sucks. Don't try it if you can help it."
Lemeza Kosugi	"I'm never gonna live that one down, am I, Maaka?" Lemeza lets out a sigh as his decision to wear a slingshot bikini begins to haunt him. Though in his defense, it was a /REALLY/ nice swimsuit. "Anyway... La Mulana didn't demand that explorers finish everything without leaving. If you got trapped, you were probably dead, but literally the first field -- er, the first set of rooms -- had a teleportation grail to let you out. This is a bit different." Staren's suggestion of having to retreat visibly rankles the professor. "Why would we find a way to escape? The design of this challenge is absurdly simple: we go from point A to point B and defeat a few enemies along the way. So the easiest way out is through." He casts a sidelong, mildly annoyed glance at Staren. "You can flee if you want. I'm staying." Okay, is he here for the artifact or the trials?!
Note	"As long as there's a tough challenge involved, I'm all for it!" States a short girl who's tagging along with Lemeza, dressed in a bright red-and-yellow outfit, long and silky black hair done up in a ponytail secured by a cutesy red bow. Note's got both hands on her hips, and the tail iconic of her Saiyan heritage is twitching and curling behind her as she walks. She is neither armed or garbed in armor of any sort, quite an oddity considering where they're going! Nevertheless, curiosity drives her to scan this way and that with a wide-eyed gaze, taking in the architecture and the people and the-- And... and Arthur. Who's appeared out of nowhere rather suddenly, startling the girl into leaping a full five feet in the air (AND SHE DOES NOT FALL BACK TO EARTH) to peer down at him! And Staren, both of whom start talking about things way past her education level. She's trying to tink of something to say to this incredibly enthusiastic man, but because most of that dialogue is confusing, there's only one thin she can really home in on: he's trying to get a jump on the group! "H-hey, no fair cutting ahead!" So she rockets forward after Arthur to stick near him, hands balled into fists. He's not diving into that place without her! But she doesn't try to go -further- than him at least.
Rurufon	"You will not find much to eat here. Be glad you won't have to. There are those before, a few, who have simply starved, or else eaten something not of their world, and not meant for their frail bodies." Rurufon says quite deadpan to Yuuki, examining her bronze bangles as if they were a watch. She still has the small horn ornament from before, apparently amounting to radio communication now, and not at all helping place what era of history her outfit is supposed to be from, if indeed she is anywhere or anywhen from Earth. "This is the Chasm of Emerald. Of all the thousands of Realms, the Abyss has 'chosen' three. As the lowest floor inside the Tower proper, they may as well be random, with no unifying feature except being Realms of least threat. If you make it, each higher floor will be more difficult, and better refined to your type. Frankly though, very few humans make it past the Chasm of Emerald, fragile as they are. With their more recent weapons, more have made it to the next floor than they used to, but less than one in a thousand go any further. I certainly hope you can do better than them. For that, you'll need the Emerald Key." And then just as before, the wood/stone/bone/something door grinds shut behind them. This time, it doesn't open for them again when someone might go back to it. They are left in the dark, only very sparsely lit by patches of some faintly glowing mold, at the head of a winding, irregular tunnel, barely big enough to stand in, without a flat floor, and made of some organic material so utterly calcified that it looks as if someone had chiseled a paper wasp nest out of volcanic stone. Just as before, it is utterly, eerily silent, without so much as ominous buzzing or chittering as usually comes from hive-like places such as this. Wandering those tunnels, and their very alarming offshoots only large enough to stick a head through, people quickly find themselves on ground familiar to some; the skeleton of an almost century old military officer buried under rubble, and further beyond that, the words on the wall scribbled in red: "They don't speak. They don't breathe. Only their bodies betray their presence."
Rurufon	New arrivals have to get their heads on straight quickly. All signs of previous battles have been completely erased, from bullet holes to corpses, cleaned and papered over as if nothing had ever happened. One could even swear the architecture had changed. No detour is required, as the godawful organic door that bristles with cancerous growths of clicking mandibles lets them through when Arthur presents the FANG TOTEM he had stashed away in his sylladex from last time, but even from there, it's chambers upon tunnels upon winding things between without a right angle or a flat surface in sight, and its inhabitants. The dog-sized orange cleaners, the man-sized purple drones, and bloated red sacs of fluid wandering around on six legs frequently end up in their way, either avoided or having ambushed them through boring through the sides and ceilings of their tunnels in total silence, oddly adept at never coming in ones or twos, but tens and twenties. They look like entirely different species of insect, and all of them look mutated, in the sense of actual, realistic radioactivity or pollution. They're each uniquely deformed in some way that looks as if had stuck from birth, and indeed the pearly eggs carried to and from by the workers all look vaguely grotesque and sickly. They're persistent and sneaky, and have the strength one would expect of appropriately upscaled insects, capable of shredding a man like a shark, but they're oddly brittle and fragile, even if it takes more than removing their heads to kill them. It doesn't seem tremendously difficult. Then it keeps going. And then it keeps going. And then it keeps going. And then there comes the sneaking, creeping worry, whether it takes the form of "did I bring enough ammo for this?" "how long does my armour last anyways?" "are we going to have a chance to rest?" "should I have brought food?" or something similar. By the time they break out into the leave-off from before, it feels as if it has been somehow longer than the first time. They are presented with a dizzying sprawl of what could very generously be called 'catwalks' were many not at angles no human could walk or climb across, which suspend entire hives of their own, surrounded by blackness, as if a city-sized spiderweb had caught hundreds of gigantic wasp nests and then fossilized. A center is still easy to gauge, by the faintly sickening sensation that intensifies as one draws closer; a creeping, stomach disturbing nausea and the occasional, teasing crackle on the geiger counter. The buzzing only starts here, when flying insects are added to the mix, but the massive yellow-black freaks completely ignore the Elites by contrast, swooping through the darkness like squadrons of fighter jets, and about as heavily armed by the looks of their stings and claws. The monolithic hive directly ahead is blocked by another one of the creepy tumour doors, this time sprouting clusters of bristling antennae that twitch and feel at whoever comes close, and refuse to open. The way around is either a steep slide down a lot of one way drops into the dark, or a hole bored into some sort of preexisting stone formation that provides the first level footing so far, which seems to loop back around, but from which the buzzing sound is the strongest. The same message as before -the last thing they'd gotten to- awaits them: "The Queen's secret. I'm so close. But where are the others? I can't be the last one left. If they come here, they should meet me where Jacob told that joke. I dare not draw a map, or even describe it. I fear that they can read our language."
Staren	Bugs go down pretty quick to beam cannons. Staren's not worried, for now, because he once spent a week stalking the streets of a ruined city gunning down clones of the Slaughterhouse Nine, and this is... less bad than that. Although, back then he was quickly able to retreat and repair when needed... When they come to somewhere familiar, Staren does compare maps with the first time to see if it really was longer. "Well... I guess perhaps flyers should check out the low road and see if it goes somewhere we can open the door from the other side?"
Note	"More difficult, more suited to my fighting style?!" This would TERRIFY most people. But when Note hears it, it just sets off a song of violent THRILLS in her heart and soul. BRING ON THE CHALLENGE, her gut screams! And for that, she's willing to put up being locked in some nasty monsters. This is the path of a martial artist, after all! But boy is it ever dark. The only thing she's got going for her is that she's SHORTER than the others here, so the low ceiling generally doesn't bother her. As soon as she takes stock of the tunnels though, Note conjectures, "Enemies could come from ANYWHERE in a place like this! Don't get pounced!" Of course her response to this is to open her senses, focusing less on what she can see and more on what she can FEEL. Stepping lightly, and with her senses expanded so she can't be blindsided (hopefully), she actually MISSES what's right in front of her face and TRIPS OVER A FEMUR BONE sticking out of rubble. And on seeing a skull staring out of said rubble when she looks to see what 'grabbed' her-- "HYAAAAAAAK!" Just like the kid she appears to be, Note panics. UNLIKE most kids, this takes the form of BACKFLIPPING spectacularly through the low passage away from the bones and dropping into a combat stance... just long enough to realize, oh, hey! No threat at all. But things trudge on. The group's faced with bugs, bugs, and more bugs! Note handles those that are nearest her deftly with swift kicks that send the giant creatures crashing into each other and tightly controlled ki blasts that vaporize them! Not a lot to worry about. Not until the group finally reaches the chamber with flying insects and all kinds of strange criss-crossing bug-roadways! "You know. I used to think some bugs were cute! Up close like this, they're ANYTHING BUT! Yuck!" Considering the door and the inscription and the passages in kind... "I hear ants and bees have some kind of queen bug who runs the hive? That Queen, right? Sounds like we have to find her?" The uncertainty of this means she's gazing up at the flying insects that buzz overhead frequently with increasing frequency.
Alexis Maaka	Lemeza gets a smirk, even if nobody can see Maaka's face. "Nope." Maaka leaves it at that, as she jogs through the massive door, coilgun in hand. Taking a moment to eye Nova (not like that) before hanging close to the Ghost, Maaka raises her weapon downrange as she begins to cover corners and keep alert for tangos. She lets off fire at the bugs, nonchalant as she lets off single-shots, her gun kicking against her shoulder firmly like a mild slap on the arm. Of course, the bugs get a bit more aggressive. "Back off, firing rockets!" Technically they're micro-grenades, but they definitely fire like some kind of explosive flechettes. The bugs are hit with air-burst in a cloud of fuel-air incendiaries. There is a lot of fire. She cocks an eyebrow at Note's utter overreaction, as she catches a bug and -squeezes- hard enough for it to explode in a shower of gooey ichor. Ew. Shaking her hand clean, the cyborg shrugs at the half-saiyan. "I get the feeling that's meant to be the boss fight." She suggests, before taking a look at Nova. "Yo, Blondie. You're psychic right?" Someone read the file, looks like. "Think you could ward these things off? I'd hate to get splattered in gore any more than I need to be."
Yuuki Kuran	Yuuki smiles to the horned Rurufon and shrugs. "I probably don't look it, but I'm pretty tough!" She flexes a noodly arm and pats her bicep as she does. "But I meant I was wandering for a new place, and ended up here. That's all. Food has nothing to do with it! Well, a little, but not... Let's just go, okay?" And so they go. Going occurs. So much going, going out of every hole, going over fields strewn with bodies, going through claw and bite and sharp chitin plate. At the end of it, Yuuki seems to have """"miraculously escaped"""" any damage during the fight beyond clothing damage. Cut and ripped in multiple places, stained with insect ichors, even big slices through it have none of (her) blood stained on it, and her skin remains unblemished. But darn as if she's not panting like she just ran a marathon on top of all the combat. "I really don't like the smell of this place. Not appealing like a resturant at all." SO IT IS ABOUT RESTURANTS??? She stows her collapsable baton-scythe back into its travel form and clips it back at her waist to look up and down the tower. "Do we want to do two parties? With Arthur here, it'll be a snap to link back up later. I think I want to go up!" And with that, she does, trapising towards the ramp and ignoring most of the non-hostile buggies all around. They're just big chitinbois, they're harmless. Probably.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur pings the totem at the door with a snap and a synthetic beep from his deck of captchalogue cards, letting the little totem icon flicker away into the dark. He rushes through the ambushes, urgent and brutal, getting into this like an old veteran getting to relive the glory days. With crushing smashes with his broom, his Health Vial display goes down and then back up rapidly as he pushes head-on through the damage and suffers it with a sort of manic eagerness, screaming and laughing and crying out with intense pain on each encounter. It's a bit of a necessity for him; observing corpses always messes with him, badly. By the time he's at the spiraling, vertigo-inducing, nauseating central spine of the hive, he's scraped and bruised by the encounters visibly and roughly, but still going strong. It might make more sense to take Staren's route and advice, sure, but he didn't give Arthur any indication that the lower path might have /more challenge/. If he'd egged Arthur on to do a sick kickflip off the ramp or something, then he might have gone down. As it stands now, though, Arthur just drops a portal near the junction outside, and rushes through the level-floored hole bored in here, hollering and already blasting with heavy broom-bolts.
Lemeza Kosugi	Oooh, /ominous/. The atmosphere is actually an upgrade from the La-Mulana ruins, though the incredibly spooky odds remain. Actually, the odds are much more generous - there had to be easily tens of thousands of skeletons in those ruins, all of them formerly adventurers who thought they could unlock its ancient secrets. That, too, was a challenge intentionally set by another, and far more complex at that. Here? There's, what, one object to obtain? Lemeza's not oblivious to possible threats, but he's not exactly bracing for anything spectacular. In short, he's not impressed. Although, the pestilence and blight has Lemeza guarding his backpack very, VERY closely. He's got precious cargo - emergency curry in case his pregame feast didn't satisfy him - and like hell is he going to let this dungeon tower thing spoil his next meal. Fortunately, the skittering bugs stay away from the party, granting Lemeza's supplies a reprieve from the horrors that abound. ...and then the fighting starts. Predictably, his allies start opening fire on anything and everything that looks remotely hostile, so Lemeza simply readies his whip to dispatch anything that gets too close to himself. He looks out in the open area and considers having Note fly him around the cavern, but that big hive looks kind of important; apparently the Queen Bee lies behind there, likely possessing the singluar item that needs collecting in this stupid place. So, he keeps going on foot, not really expecting to suffer any damage besides to his stomach lining when he inevitably starts puking from the noxiousness of it all.
Nova Terra	Nova started the trek fairly aggressively. Any bugs that popper their heads out would quickly receive a well placed bullet thanks to a combination of Nova's skill with her weapon and the teeking of her bullets. The accurate shots weren't an attempt to conserve ammo - not initially - but rather just her usual method of operation. However the longer that they walked, the less that Nova relied on her rifle and more on her other abilities. By the time they are reaching the next stop on their journey, the tumour door, Nova has put away her rifle on her back and is fighting the bugs in close combat. She freezes one with her telekinetic grip, holding it in place while she brings her sword, brimming with blue psionic energy, around to slice off a few legs before driving the blade into its body. Entering the large web of hives, Nova returns her sword to her back for a moment as it seems they are briefly free of immediate enemies. The fliers do get Nova's brief attention, but they seem to be passive... For the moment. As they are coming upon the fleshy door, Nova raises her visor for a moment, rubbing the side of her head. The combination of the numerous bug minds in her head, along with her frequent use of telekinesis, is giving her a headache. She complains, "Damn noisy bugs..." As Alexis asks, Nova shakes her head, "Doesn't work like that unfortunately." She briefly explains, "Reading or projecting thoughts, destroying things and telekinetics are pretty much it." They've got a choice ahead of them and Nova's of the mind to charge head-first into the sound of buzzing. Better to face what you know than a questionable drop. So Nova lowers her visor down over her eyes again and charges in behind Arthur, a grenade joining the broom bolts.
Rurufon	Before insect hell begins, Rurufon does her best not to do some kind of snort-laugh at Yuuki's noodle bicep, but she had been pointedly not one of the people she had looked at when she said 'human' earlier, so there isn't much else to say. After insect hell, when Yuuki drops down the steep ramps (or perhaps fireman poles might be more accurate at some angles) of petrified webbing, she ends up with only really one way forward. That far down, she's reached the lowest end of the suspended hive network, and ahead of her lies a pod much more unlike the outer rings of egg-keeping areas (it's still weird the eggs are at the very outside of the hive rather than the deep insides). For one, the floors, walls, and ceilings, are all covered in layers of sticky strands that are so bright green they actually glow, oozing and hanging like droplets of spit just slightly too thick to detach and fall, and making each step heavy and difficult, even so much as to turn around. It may be somewhat 'under construction', as there isn't much in it, and the corpses there are of men in khakis and jungle jackets rather than World War II captains, and not sequestered in a side room for later consumption. Wobbling creatures not unlike bloated spiders crawl from various surfaces, vomiting up sprays of green liquid mist that adheres to the walls and builds up the webbing, initially oblivious to her presence. The pod being built here seems to have been to 'capture' an existing formation, or one that had recently appeared: two of the uncommonly seen 'beacons' on their marble poles, one red and one green. At the far end, the green webbing covers up another message in red, written by a dead man now nearly buried under the webbing, with the severed head of a much larger insect the group hasn't encountered so far at his feet, with its large and unusual antenna ripped off in one hand, a stained bowie knife in the other, and .45 casings all around his ankles. Charging the opposite direction, into the stone cavern from which the buzzing originates, Arthur winds up not starting a battle, but finding a battle already in progress. Here, the ceilings are impossible to see, as he appears to be partway down a massively steep limestone crevice, with further holes to fall down miles, riddled with stalactites and deep, linear channels in all the walls that give them a corrugated appearance. Here, he finds more of the deformed purple drones, but they aren't bothered with him. Instead, they focus on the bright yellow fliers. Taking a close look, this particular 'species' may actually be a Species, rather than a caste. The flying insects all look pretty much identical, rather than horribly twisted by birth defects, and they make a solid job of harpooning and ripping apart the darker hued workers. They swoop down to spear and carry away the ground-bound insects, succeeding the majority of the time, but being dragged down and ripped to pieces in others, where their body parts are swiftly carted back the way Arthur had come. It looks like a turf war between different ant colonies, bizarre as it is. Above it all, an utterly enormous winged insect -the size of an elephant at least- clings to a high wall and watches, ready to drop. Beyond that absolute frenzy, there is a room that looks to contain . . . chests? As well as . . . stairs??? There are no dead people here, except for the skull he almost kicks, with a primitive axe lodged firmly in its cranium. A blue beacon can be seen burning at the top of the steps.
Yuuki Kuran	Yuuki is very skilled in Poles of all sorts. Except that kind, she is a pure and innocent girl from a manga with lots of flower patterns! I KNOW WHERE YOUR MIND WENT!!! She slides down with an acrobatic twirl, landing lightly on her feet and apeing and dismount, y-ing her arms and bowing like a gymnast. But nobody cared... :c Entering the CONSTANTLY SLOWED FOREVER ZONE of icky ugh, Yuuki hops and stries from islands of least-ick, moving towards the things that are immediately obvious - the beacons, and the message in red. The spiders are ignored as they ignore the Kuran Princess, for she has met many a spider-bro in her time brooding in shuttered icy mansions, and their disgusting barf-building is also kinda off putting if we're all being honest. A fight would certainly invokve 'getting barfed on', and Yuuki is not about that life. Instead she just tries to suppress herself and continue merrily on, causing no trouble and avoiding troubles apparent to her. Undoing the Beacons could be useful, but she wants a moment to secure the remains of the jungle explorer-man (and his Key Item lookin' antennae) as well as the note in red. If she gets a chance to clear away the gook and webbing over it, she'll snap a picture with her camera-phone, before it gets INEVITABLY barfed on.
Alexis Maaka	Maaka slides down the pole like a fireman, leaping down the rest of the way with a three-point landing, grabbing her weapon once more. "Oh Jesus Christ." She grumbles, brushing aside webbing as she switches out her coilgun for a hatchet to cut through all this gunk. It would suck hard if she were to accidentally hit one of these spiders, given how this is A) their territory and B) there is a lot of them and they make a LOT OF WEBBING. Thus, she keeps careful to not hit anything. "Lotta casings here." She muses, just as her boot brushes by a fallen GI. "...yeah that'd explain it." She kneels down, trying to check dogtags on the jungle troopers' bodies.
Lemeza Kosugi	Oh. Right. The boss door is currently sealed. And there's two paths. There's the buzzing up above, which might pose a challenge, but that combat is already claimed by a few other Elites. So. Best option, head down with Arthur. Best method, /airplane/. Bonus: there's treasure chests down there, and a beacon with some "SOUL BINDING" effect that is as yet unresearched. So, yeah, Lemeza's taking that path for sure. Unpacking his portable model airplane is a bit of a trick. It's sturdy rigid material, and it folds neatly enough, and this wouldn't be an issue if he could set the damn thing down without risking spoiling his precious curry. Ugh. A bit of hopping around, yanking this way and that, and finally he gets the stupid plane out and unfolded without dropping his pack. A bit more preparation is all he needs to get the plane ready for flight: he places it on the edge of a walkway, then LEAPS into it, knocking it off and sending it hurtling downward! This proves to be mere dramatic tension, however, as soon after, he starts the plane's propellers and pulls up, leveling it off and heading toward the tunnel that Arthur pursued. There's two duelling colonies of insects between Lemeza and the treasure chests and beacon of undiscovered properties. There is also, hopefully, enough space between the airborne colony for Lemeza to snake his plane through without incident. He is relying entirely on his whip for his defense plan; he needs to conserve ammo, and the only threats are going to be those bugs that get close. His plan, if all goes well, is to land on top of the stairs - circumventing them entirely, heeding Arthur's dubious advice - and crack open those sweet, sweet treasure chests. Followed by ascertaining just what a "SOUL BINDING" effect really is.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur skids to a stop, assesses the situation as best he can, and regards the swirling mass with awe and wide eyes. MAN, this would be a tough fight to hit through! He wants to fight /both/ of these awful insect races. Alas, there's only time and combat space for rushing through. Arthur locks on to the chests and the stairs -- in fact, a literal lock-on UI icon actually appears over them, with a soft beep -- and then he flicks his broom behind him in a broad, dramatic sweep. "ALLLLLRIGHT!" He shouts, doing the opposite of what Nova is doing and taking this very, very loudly.r "EVERYBODY OUT OF MY GODDAMN WAY!" He pulls a ripcord on his broom, and the bristles gush rocket exhaust. "I'VE GOT A FIST FULL OF BROOM, A HEAD FULL OF IMPATIENCE, AND A GLITCH-ASS TOWER IN A HELL OF A NEED OF /DEBUGGING/!" The rocket roars to life, and Arthur encases himself in a heavy gravity bubble, blasting forward as fast as he can and intending to sweep (heh) around those chests and yonk them into his Sylladex before blasting right up the stairs! "YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"
Note	Note figures that LOUD BUZZING = QUEEN and so, she decides to whip along with Arthur. Translucent whitish energy engulfs her body with a CRACK-KOOM and off she goes, rushing just over the ground as if carried by the wind right after him! And the aura dwindles down when she arrives in the big cavern, seeing a sight that's just PURE HORROR of nightmarish proportions. There's nothing fun about seeing flying insects spear and carry off struggling ground-bound ones... or others getting torn up and carried off presumably for food. After watching it for about fifteen seconds, Note looks about ready to BARF. Queasy, stepping lopsidedly, and her face quivering awkwardly. "Eeeeeuuuuuuugh...." of course, she's not getting mixed up in that. Unless the bugs COME AFTER HER, she leaves those alone and just... continues on in a hurry, trying to not watch too much of that. That's NIGHTMARE FUEL right there. This leaves her flying along with Arthur... "So, what's the problem with stairs?!"
Nova Terra	Nova already has a sense of what's happening up ahead before they even reach the carven. The pained endings of numerous minds, all of the same or similar types she has been feeling thus far, is a bit of a giveaway. However, sensing it and seeing it is two entirely different things. The first is almost sad. The second is quite frightening. It actually gives Nova pause, causing her to stop and stare a little wide-eyed at the sight. The battle is intense, and crazy. Crazy intense! It's clear that neither side considers the small group of Elites an immediate threat. All attention spent on fighting each other. Nova would prefer to keep it that way as she converses with her allies about how to approach this. They clearly need to get through this melee and reach the other side, the chests and stairs representing something unusual in this 'world' of bug nests and tunnels. Nova stretches for a moment before she nods to the others nearby, "Good luck." Blue light flows across her body as her cloaking field activates, quickly hiding her from view. Nova doesn't know how much these bugs rely on sight as a sense, but every little bit helps. Suddenly there's a blur as Nova is off and running, her cloak leaving a faint ripple as it fails to compensate entirely for her movement... She's moving fast, her hostile environment suit boosting her speed. As she reaches the clashing insects, she begins trying to weave through those on the ground. She slides under them (if they're big enough) or vaulting over them where she needs to. All the while ducking as the flying insects dive on their targets, trying to avoid becoming a secondary casualty. Her goal: The same thing the chicken tried to do by crossing the road.
Staren	Well, at least one person decided to try the lower route -- Yuuki, who can't fly. Staren follows nervously, in case he has to try to catch her when she gets knocked down a hole by a surprise bug or something. But that doesn't happen, instead they find... drones... building. "Huh." He approaches the message, trying to clear some of the webbing away so he can read it.
Rurufon	Thankfully, unlike actual spiderwebs, Yuuki squelching through the luminous, lime-green webbing finds that it doesn't send any kind of vibrations that tip the workers off (or else they just really really don't care), and gets to the opposite side safely. Staren finds that they leave very shallow gouges in his boots however, about as acidic to the advanced materials as realistic sulphuric acid is to normal soft metals. They have to really tug and pull on some of the webbing to read the wall though, and even being sneaky about tearing it starts to agitate the builders, twitching and hissing in their direction, possibly sizing them up to decide on whether the damage is intentional or just collateral, like they would from fellow insects. Pulling the huge, bristling, weirdly almost fractal antenna from the dead man's grip, Yuuki acquires the ANTENNA TOTEM for later, easily sensing its quasi-magical residue. The head it was pulled from is the size of the man's torso, making the feat rather impressive, seeing as he's barely armed and totally unarmoured. Other than that, there is only his BOWIE KNIFE, a completely empty COLT M1911, and a number of those oddly stamped metal bits of uncertain purpose x3. When Maaka goes rifling through the others, she finds no dog tags, nor other identification. The men here aren't military (at least currently), but rather very rugged and ambitious explorers, or perhaps mercenaries. "The bugs keep appearing here, there is no doubt about the Queen's secret. I am the last of those who stayed behind to secure this place. I still can't find the key? Where are they now?" is what the writing on the wall says. There is still a very good question regarding what it is actually written in. Even hough the bugs have no use for any invention of man however, they still have compound eyes fixed on the intruders, waiting for the slightest hint of ill intent to attack. Across the drop, the blitz through the furious turf war is much quicker, and exponentially more dangerous. Arthur rockets through ludicrously quickly, immediately disturbing a crowd of the flying 'wasps', and within instants, one, then two, then three of them managed to ram into him, snapping at him with massive mandibles and attempting to tackle him off his broom, each easily larger than he is. They don't succeed in pushing him off course, but where he lands, he is now preoccupied with a gang of giant insects attempting to rip the flesh from his bones, buzzing around him and carving away with double-clawed feet and huge cutting jaws.
Rurufon	Lemeza, taking up the back, is even less lucky. The giant -probably a soldier caste of this other, unafflicted hive- is stirred up by the commotion, and his plane is halfway across the chasm before it drops off its perch and dive bombs him with the weight of a heavy truck, steering his plane to crash land in a rocky corner, and in fact, attempt to skewer Lemeza on a stalactite. He's effectively trapped halfway across now, with the monstrous bug bearing down on him. Nova is the most successful by virtue of simply not being noticed. The insects no doubt use other senses than their eyes, but in the middle of this battle, pheromone signals and fine vibrations are going to be completely drowned out, and her cloaking field and quick feet are more than sufficient. She gets to the opposite end, as does Arthur, but completely unmolested. She finds that the 'chests' could at least be qualified as them; they are roughly square shaped, have a lid, and they open. They are however, made of some sculpted piece of shell, and clearly made via primitive tools rather than spit or spun into place. Most of them have been raided already, possibly by the owner of the ancient skull (or whoever put an axe in it, if she wants to place smart money). Inside of it, she finds a pair of 'gourds' that look like fused bug shells, filled with some murky blue fluid, out of several racks that have been depleted, apparently valuable in some way. The stairs are even more confusing, because bugs don't use stairs, and the dominant hive here doesn't use them. In fact, it's questionable why there is another colony here at all, never mind one that inhabits some underground ruin of a race that used stairs. Regardless, the strangely sculpted marble totem sits at the top, blazing with its tiny blue sun, but wherever they eventually lead, the wall has been torn through, and that dark brown 'webbing' now extends into the room, as if the deformed enemy hive had broken in to gain access to said beacon, and now a bridge extends far across into the remains of a shattered and caved in hive, likely due retribution for their aggression. There appear to be insect husks in the rubble, but also one last member of the jungle crew, collapsed atop it with something in his hands.
Staren	"Tch!" Staren is rather annoyed and a bit alarmed at the acid webbing eating his armor -- He puts up with it long enough to get eyes on the message and then hurries to get clear. If needed, he'll try using some bottled water to wash the acid off. Then it's back up to the other route. After a moment to take in the situation with the hivewar, he tries to time and position his flight so as not to be closer to the wasplike insects than the locals, and to get over to where Lemeza is so he can help out. Hopefully healthy insects aren't much more resistant to beam cannons!
Nova Terra	Once she's free and clear, Nova comes to a stop on the other side of the frenzy. Her cloaking field fades away to reveal her once more as she turns back to look at the continuing clash of hives. She idly regrets not having access to a nuke. This might have been an appropriate moment for it. Oh well. Nova turns her head, visor zooming in first on Lemeza's crash site in the middle of the chaos, and the looming giantbug. Then Nova sights in on Arthur's finished crossing and the company brought with him... Those two probably have things covered. Nova turns back and approaches the chests and stairs. The former get a quick glance for anything of interest. Unfortunately she doesn't have any clue what that blue liquid is and, being cut off from her ship, she doesn't have a way to find out. So she leaves the gourds, not aware of any reason to take them with her. Besides, where is she going to carry them? It's not like her suit comes with large pockets. Nova gives the beacon a quick glance, before moving on to the bridge. Beginning to cross, she reaches back to retrieve her rifle, deeming this situation an appropriate use of its large bullets. The husks are briefly looked at, Nova probing with her mind to confirm that these insects are indeed dead. She's familiar with some lifeforms ability to lay traps, whether it's by burrowing underground or in this case, potentially playing dead. Her primary interest though is the remains of the collapsed individual. He appears to be holding something, which could be of use. So with rifle readied, Nova stalks carefully towards him, to get a better look and retrieve the object if possible.
Lemeza Kosugi	In his attempt to avoid attracting notice of the little guys, Lemeza completely forgets about the GIANT ENEMY BUG that was sitting up in the air. WHAM. The blow sends Lemeza and his plane careening toward a highly dangerous collection of rocks, and it's a small wonder he's able to bail out in time -- the plane ends up wedging itself neatly between s few stalactites and stalagmites. One of those stalactites ends up impaling the spot where Lemeza was sitting just moments earlier. At least it's not /lost/, Arthur can retrieve it, but there's no way it's gonna be any use in the current fracas. That doesn't mean he's in the clear. Lemeza bailed out in midair, and there's still that giant enemy bug hurtling toward... him... actually, that could be useful! Leaping as hard as he can out of his plane and toward the bug, Lemeza attempts to throw himself onto the bug, Grapple Claw at the ready, intending to effectively /cling/ to the bug and work his way up on top of it. It's right about now that he really wished he had that set of Venka Claws that Kushiko had promised him, so he could do meaningful damage from here while clinging, but survival will have to do for now.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur holds course, slamming into the ground awith all of his bugs in tow. "YEAH! YOU WANT SOME YOU ARTHROPOD MOTHERFUCKER? YOU WANT A TASTE? COME GET SOME /INSECTICIDE/, MOTHERFUCKER! LET'S GO! I'LL FUCKIN' STRANGLE YOU WITH THE /REAL-ASS FOOD CHAIN/!" He screams, smashing brutally into the ground and suffering cuts, but /not turning off his rocket broom/. "FUCK YOU! AND FUCK YOU! AND FUCK /YOU/!" He crashes hard against the stairs, sort of rocketing against them to pin the bugs against the rush of stone and blast the flesh from their bodies. "I TOLD YOU, YOU MOTHERFUCKER, I TOLD YOU ABOUT STAAAAIIIIIRS!" He crashes his way up them, and hopefully lands somewhere near Nova, where she's doing all the real stuff. "Hey, just a hot second." He grunts in pain, and then drops a Gate near her. "That's a TOTEM!" He calls out, potentially while trying to pin and murder a bug. "That's probably what we need to get the DOOR open!" He almost glances at the corpse, and then realizes what's near it, wincing away. Oh, wait, shit, Lemeza needs help, doesn't he! Arthur revs up his broom's bristles. "YO, 'MEZA!" He calls out, urgently, running back and intending to blast off towards the bug that has his fellow adventurer in dire peril. One hopes the rest of those bugs assaulting him are dealt with, otherwise he's about to stack two encounters onto one, right while he's unfocused from setting a Gate!
Note	Note can FEEL it happening nearby before she hears it. A fairly sizable life force closing in on Lemeza... and it's not one she recognizes! Though 'closing in' is all she can discern... it obviously means something's trying to pounce him. And she went and left him, because the bugs didn't seem too aggressive to her zipping around. "--Oh no... Lemeza!" Unsure how well he can ACTUALLY take care of himself against these things on his own, she decides to bail on ARTHUR instead. The Saiyan-blooded youth spins around in the air and summons her energy out again in a wild blaze of Ki, rocketing back the way she came and out into the big chambers! Of course... she wasn't expecting at all to see him RIDING the thing. That gets her putting on the brakes in a flash! And smiling approvingly! "Hey, tricky move! You need help there though?! I can handle this thing!" And, in fact, she's ITCHING to do something to SOMETHING. Just hovering there in the air, the youth inhales deeply... "HoooooooooooooooIIIIIIIIIYAAAAAAH!!!" And begins to power up, fists clenched at her side. Ki builds and circulates with ever growing intensities as whatever kind of focus she's building opens the floodgates! Then, with a VERY noisy KRA-KOOM golden energy surges up from Note's feet and upwards, engulfing her in a wavering and sizzling aura that shines like the sun. Her eyes color-shift to a greenish shade, while her hair's gone absolutely, wildly spiky, rising up on some unseen wind and turning bright gold. This of course, means her swishy ponytail now more resembles a spiked club, curling upwards. The aura's bright enough to illuminate the chamber quite nicely, though it pulses and sizzles with enough raw energy to be accompanied by a weird whooshing noise. The next moment BZEEEEOP! She's gone. And what looks like TWENTY different Super Saiyan Notes are all over the Big Darned Bug, beating on it at hyper speed with chops and kicks and elbow slams from every angle except where Lemeza's hanging on!
Alexis Maaka	Maaka watches as Nova decloaks. "Shit, that's nicer than mine." She comments, before she catches up with the Ghost. She retrieves her own rifle, before looking toward where Nova is looking as she scans for hostiles. "How many you see?" She whispers on comms. Arthur, Lemeza, and Note have that whole mess covered fine. She notices that Nova's attention is focused on a corpse, specifically what the corpse is holding, and so she follows the Ghost, covering her with a nod and a clap on the shoulder to signal she's got the Ghost's back.
Yuuki Kuran	Yuuki holds up her get - the key item - and scoops up the used pistol and the knife too, because they are useful items in their own right. Now, with a pocket pistol and a useful BOWIE KNIFE, Yuuki doubles back. "Doesn't seem like there's anything to investigate back there... Maybe later. That buzzing sound sure was stronger up above..." Staren starts shooting bugs. Well, that's fine! To do something useful, Yuuki moves over to the covered-up beacons to learn what Red and Green does? Is it start Christmas? In June? It could be!
Rurufon	Scooting out of the warzone and taking the bridge, Nova ends up in the shattered remnants of an old hive, abandoned by the dominant hive so long ago that the bug corpses beneath the rubble are effectively ancient grey husks that crumble under the slightest pressure. They appear to all be the flightless kind. The final dead man appears to be of the same expedition all the most recent corpses are, and clutched in his hand is what at first appears to be a polished blue stone, but upon closer examination, thousands of tiny hexagons under its surface give it away as an insect's eye, of some even more massive size than the fang and the antenna, most certainly from an area much deeper in and much deadlier than this one. It looks as if he'd been on his way back from deeper into the hive when the unstable room further collapsed on him, pinning him under a chunk of ceiling. Written on the wall next to him, well outside of arms reach, is again a message in red: "I've finally found the key. Someone . . ." The fact that there is no way he could have physically written it, and the fact it is really unlikely he'd have bothered will ellipses while laying dying, makes the strange messages only stranger. Nova acquires one EYE TOTEM. Rummaging through his stuff, Maaka finds another one of those odd 'chess pieces' of uncertain function from before. The thing Rurufon had called a SOUL POT. It wasn't useful back then, and it's doubtful it'll be useful to her now. Yuuki is the first to begin poking at beacons. As she arrives at the red one, there doesn't seem to be anything to interact with, just a basketball-sized red sun blazing atop a marble pillar, but within arm's reach, the exterior of it suddenly flashes to life with hundreds, then thousands, of random symbols and glyphs, rapidly cycling through a mosaic of absolute nonsense, which then quickly trims itself down to what are recognizable as random letters from Earth languages, then random Japanese characters, then finally, the phrase "Steel for Blood." formed in a hand-sized ring aimed at the tiny star, rather of orbiting around it. She can feel intense heat coming directly from that aperture. The green one reacts in much the same way, but instead it says "Wealth Ephemeral.", and several floating icons appear around it that seem to indicate sorted categories. If she fiddles with it, she will in fact find out that it pretty much appears to be a 'shop terminal' for lack of any other phrase, with a limited variety of goods along the lines of weapons, ammunition, apparel, basic supplies, and a handful of magical trinkets, sold away by desperate or enterprising challengers in past, ready to be bought and used again by resourceful fresh blood. The prices however are total nonsense symbols she won't recognize, rather than translated to yen or something. Nothing overtly terrible happens.
Rurufon	That cannot be said for what's going on across the gap. Lemeza is successful in his last ditch effort to bail on his plane and save his skin, managing to grapple onto a convenient hold in the giant insect's thickly armoured carapace, extremely dense despite its flying nature. Out of harm's way, he has only to contend with its thrashing when Staren, Arthur, and Note swoop in, blasting away with beams, bolts, broom and body blows. The remainder of the swarm converges on them early, leaving the purple survivors to carry away rival insect meat and stagger back to their hive. The flying ones are significantly tougher than their deformed cousins, and put up more of a fight with their agility and harder shells. Lemeza ends up miraculously unscathed for his clever position, but just as Arthur lands a crushing blow on the giant, he ends up skewered from behind by one of the swarm's massive stingers. Note is forced to swat away the fliers the entire time she attacks, assaulted on every side, but escapes serious injury for the time being, as does Staren, receiving only shallow cuts and bruises/gouges and dents respectively, mostly from the giant's wild slashing and violent body tackles. Collectively, they succeed in blowing it to pieces. Arthur manages to kill enough of the swarm that they flee from him, and Lemeza is basically dumped straight onto the floor and out of harm's way, free to scoot away unnoticed. Staren and Note are then stuck holding off the remainder of the insects however, still menaced within their Threatened Squares, hassled and harried from all around until they either kill the rest or double back.
Staren	Well, at least Lemeza got away. Now Staren is surrounded by bugs. He's able to turn on his forcefield, but it will not hold up against this kind of assault for long. He may have to resort to a desperation tactic earlier than he would have liked. "Stay away from me!" Staren warns his allies as the missile launchers on his shoulders rotate into position. What happens next is very precisely timed -- Staren's had to do this before, and so there's effectively a software macro for it in his weapons. The missile launcher starts to fire, the forcefield goes down in time for the missile not to crash into it and then comes right back up as soon as it's clear, and then the missile detonates, all in a fraction of a second. The warhead releases enough energy to turn the area around him into a plasmaball. Once it fades, one of the discs on Staren's chest armor is smoking, and the forcefield looks slightly smaller. Staren is frowning, even if that did hurt them more than it did him. He doesn't like doing that, but he'll repeat it if needed to get rid of the bugs.
Lemeza Kosugi	See, everything worked out. Lemeza can definitely handle this. He is perfectly fine and there is nothing to worry about, as he successfully clings to his opponent -- only to be tossed unceremoniously to the ground from all the thrashing that insect was doing. Why was it thrashing? Others had come back around to help bail him out, and ended up paying for it. Arthur's situation involves injuries. Not much to be done there. So instead, after Lemeza gets his bearings and gets back on his feet, he focuses on drawing his revolver and taking straight aim at each individual bug in the residual swarm that's attacking Staren and Note, eschewing fancy gunplay in favor of significantly better aim. With the scene as chaotic as it is, there's no point in making things even more so.
Nova Terra	Silence for a few moments, before Nova responds to Alexis, "None." Yup. They're all dead. Makes things nice and easy. Nova relaxes a little, lowering her rifle and giving Alexis a quiet nod to say it's clear. Nova then proceeds towards the dead man. She looks at the eye, then the man, then the message scrawled nearby. Eye. Man. Message. "Okay, that's a bit macabre." She's assuming someone's been going around writing these messages after the fact. Like some kind of joke. Still, it makes a good point. The insect eye could very well be the key, unless Alexis finds anything else on the man's corpse. So Nova proceeds to take the eye. Since the others are still finishing up with their crossing... Which Nova realises they'll probably have to do again... But for now, to kill some time she returns across the bridge and back to the stairs. She decides to take a look at that blue beacon, going for a closer look to see if she can figure out what it is. She's not really the analysis type, but maybe she can piece a thing or two together.
Note	Thanks to her Ki sense, Note really does have eyes in the back of her head! So when she drives an elbow into the Big Darned Bug, she just opens that arm's respective hand and BLASTA BACKWARDS, vaporizing bugs as they get near! Or she spins around and KICKS them so hard they slam into the walls of the chamber. Or grabs them and spins them into allies! It does take a LOT of her efforts away from helping out Lemeza though, and that is making her furious! "Stop pestering me you buzzing jerks!" Now ANGRY, she goes on the OFFENSIVE against them! Which means taking a position in the air, spreading both arms out and... "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa--" Gathering sizzling storms of Ki into her hands, compressing it into twin orbs... slamming those together in front of her, palms outwards and-- PZOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Out flies dozens and dozens of bulbous beams, arcing and swerving towards different bugs as they're flying in. It's an assault not dissimilar to Staren's strategy, but with less things exploding in her face!
Arthur Lowell	"YEAH! YEAH! You go ahead and you FUCK RIGHT OFF! Go get your FRIENDS! Go tell your QUEEN! I'm bringing the PAIN up in this bitch!" Arthur shouts, waving his broomstick at the retreating swarm. That's about when his adrenaline starts to simmer down enough to realize his own issue, which is that the layers of combat he dove into have left him with a rather substantial stab wound in the side of his back, and the pain from it is starting to creep into his body in shocking bursts. Putting pressure on it as best as he awkwardly can. It's time to get out of here. Arthur's going to double back to where he left his fast-travel point, hoping Note and Staren can handle the rest here. Hopefully that means he can head to where Yuuki is, and link up with her! He really needs this wound dealt with, and fast -- his Health Vial container is flickering red every so often, and looking a little tense.
Yuuki Kuran	Yuuki has a FEELY FEELER and a few NEW BEACONS. But, down here, there doesn't seem to be any way to progress! That sucks! And there's explosions! But, today, there has to be SOME progress, and her mission to find a deeper way into the TOWER of THRUMMING VIBRATIONS (and also probably a mutagenic amount of cancer-rays). Progress, as ever, is one that is best experienced at a brisk walking clip in these situations. And, since the messages are written in not-blood, Yuuki has no mysterious intuition about their locations. But first, Arthur! He arrives post-haste for HEALTH RESTORATION, and she guides him to the RED BEACON. "Oh, hey, I remember we can't just spend our heinous amounts of extra stuff maybe, so..." Yuuki looks between her EMPTY PISTOL and her BOWIE KNIFE, and hands Arthur the KNIFE. "Try feeding this to the machine. I'm sure I can find another knife, even a good one. If I can't I always have Artemis. Maybe this will pay for your healing!" Beyond that, she points out the GREEN SHOP BEACON and jogs back to the way up and - with nobody looking - just sort of ninja-zips back up to the ANTENNA DOOR. Presenting the lock with the key, a way inside may open!
Rurufon	With one side gone from the turf war, and the soldier insect watching it blown to so many chitinous, green-blooded pieces lying around the rocks, the chaos of battle slowly dwindles in intensity. Lemeza's shots from outside the furball quickly pluck several more fliers out of the air, Note's barrage throws back a dozen more, and Staren's well-timed macro explosion wipes out pretty much the remainder of the swarm all at once, leaving the few survivors to retreat, and Staren sans a forcefield. Nova plies her own beacon. This one responds with the same wall of alphabetic gibberish as the others do, but settles on her Terran language instead of Japanese. It prompts her with "Life Eternal". There is no port to put anything in, nor any menus to select from. There is only a big confirmation button, or the choice to walk away. Given that the confirm takes the form of the words "Embrace the Abyss", it would be hard for it to scream 'bad idea' any more vehemently, short of the devil standing next to it with a fountain pen and a line to sign on. Yuuki eventually goes back to the head of the fork, where it seems the group before them had been stopped, and the group before that had gone beyond, but died on the way back from, to the other half of the expedition earlier on, in a clear home and away team setup. Just as before, the grotesque field of antennae sprouting from the organic barricade twitch and 'sniff' at the severed feeler she brings along, recognizing some pheromone or perhaps magical signature to it, belonging to the dead caste it was taken from, and allowing Yuuki 'totally a bug' Kuran through, and staying open long enough for others to follow. If the eye is for one of these doors as well, it must be from some exceptionally elite caste, at the innermost depths. The way forward begets another traipse through hive hell, but this time with more complications. The halls are much larger, and frequently covered in that acidic, sticky green webbing that makes manoeuvring highly difficult. Not only the drones and cleaners from before assault them, but acid-spitting builders, and not only one, but two rumbles with the huge, white-armoured soldiers, covered in horns and fangs and wielding massive pincers. There are no eggs to be found anymore, but instead stockpiles of materials and some kind of cultivated fungus, as well as various cocoons either in use or having previously been used for metamorphosis. The going is notably tougher, escalating from 'inconvenient slog' to 'actually dangerous'. They find no more dead bodies, but some more of those red markings, however in this case they are merely arrows and symbols for navigating the maze, left behind to trace routes and prevent going in circles. The revolting atmosphere intensifies as they head in deeper, becoming exponentially more nauseating, and buzzing at magical senses and radiation counters alike.
Rurufon	What they eventually stumble into is a much, much bigger set of doors, this time actually like human doors in the sense that they part down the middle, infused with swirls of bronze and nacre rather than simply being hardened insect fibre. Covered in antennae, it seems only a certain social caste of the insects are allowed inside, and judging by the additional fangs, only with a soldier escort, and so it requires two of the TOTEMS to open. Beyond it lies a gymnasium-sized chamber bathed in a sickly green glow shone down from above like a spotlight. Whatever passes for a ceiling is invisible behind the glaring emerald light which stings the eyes to look directly at, far, far above. The feeling of profound unwellness is incredibly strong here, and gets worse the one strays towards the center of the light shining down on the ancient floor, to the point it becomes utterly crippling. One wouldn't want to go that far though. Parked right in the center of the sickening spotlight, soaking up the rays, is undoubtedly what must be the queen. The size of a semi truck at minimum, its bloated abdomen takes up what appears to be an entire passage behind it, blocking the route entirely, but its front is covered in heavy, bright crimson armour, and wields a strange and complex set of mandibles that suggest mouths within mouths, as well as horrible mangling death for anything caught in them. As eusocial insect queens are, it appears to be completely sessile, as its legs can in no way move it from the spot, instead tended to by slave workers who carry around the bodies of the 'enemy tribe', whereupon the Queen gorily devours the casualties for sustenance. The room is covered in the discarded husks and wings owed to her insatiable hunger, likely necessary to fuel the constant egg laying under this hideous, withering light. When the first Elites enter, the Queen visibly looks to them, twitching her feelers, and then violently spitting out a dismembered carcass in a spray of blue blood. She, unlike all her brood, does not appear to be mutated. In fact, when the behemoth insect lets loose a screeching hiss, dribbling blood and ichor from her mandibles, it /translates/. "SOFT CREATURES. THERE IS NO PLACE FOR YOU HERE. LEAVE OR SUBMIT. ANYTHING ELSE IS USELESS. YOU HAVE ALREADY LOST." "I AM IMMORTAL."