Noble
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Half-Halfling, Half-Goblin
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Post by Veliky on Sept 20, 2022 0:10:57 GMT -5
While they lack social etiquette, Blixtbots™ are programmed to be professionals. Their protocols dictate optimal search patterns for all possible situations, and this one is no exception. There is only one entrance to the bottom deck, and it is watched by an alert and ready Bishop while every other bot begins a methodical and thorough search of each room.
Hisss, clank. Hisss, clank. Hisss, clank.
Nearly 10 agonizing minutes pass before Rook enters the room that contains Blue Raspberry's hiding place. Listening to it closely, one can hear its every mechanism, even the grinding of its thoughts, as it searches every corner, every hidden nook... but not the crates themselves, not yet.
Through crimson eyes, it scans the room, but the sounds of struggle and cries catch its attention, drawing its gaze to the door. Lag Switch, the jackal-bot, drags a pleading Thomiel into the room by his ankle.
"What're you doing?! Let me go, I was just searching, just like you!"
Rook looks down at the gnome without even a comprehension of sympathy.
"Researcher Thomiel, negative: a harmful malfunction has been detected in your processor. In accordance with standard procedure, you have been pinged for immediate destruction. Command: remain still"
"What?! I'm not a bot! No, no, no-"
Slicing, choking, gurgling and rattling lasts for far too long. Whether by metal or slime, by mistake or by intent, the entire research team is gone.
Rook turns to scan the room again. There is nothing here that it can see. It knows that the boxes are filled with Blixt™, and that, in order to hide inside a crate, something would've needed to remove the Blixt™ and place it elsewhere. Evidence seems clear: the anomalous intruder is not here.
This complex train of thought is communicated within a few beeps and whirrs to the jackal. Their search is over.
Hisss, drag, clank. Hisss, drag, clank. Hisss, drag, clank.
Their search is not over; what will follow hereafter is a thorough, tactical search of the entire ship. But, of course, they will find nothing more, for the escaped mistake of Blixt™'s inventors is tucked safely in this room.
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Mage's Guild
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Post by Blue Raspberry on Sept 20, 2022 0:49:25 GMT -5
Blue Raspberry heard the sound of the robots leaving and waited for it to be silent, but it never did. They heard none of the mechanical sounds of the robots, but they continued to hear a soft gurgling sound coming from the room. They lifted the lid of the crate slightly to take a look and saw one of the two men that had been arguing when they first gained consciousness. Thomiel, they recalled hearing the Gnome's name. He was lying on the ground, a soft gurgling noise escaping his mouth every now and then. His hand or foot twitching. They were clearly still alive, but not for much longer.
Blue Raspberry slimed out of the crate and over to the dying Gnome. The man's eyes looked at Blue Raspberry. They tried to say something, but they couldn't get any words out. Blue Raspberry felt the instinctual urge they had felt before and began to engulf the scientist, adding them to their growing mass. Once they had finished, they made their way back to the crate. They would need to clear out some more bottles to make room for their added mass.
As they were about to climb back into their hiding place, they suddenly heard a voice in the back of their mind. Or was it two voices? "Nathaniel. Get Nathaniel, too. He deserves this." They heard. They felt an urge to reunite Nathaniel with the others. What did that mean? Who were the others? Well, it's fine. Nathaniel will provide more mass. They wanted to keep growing.
They made their way out of the room, checking either direction for any sign of the robots. Sensing none, they made their way down the hall to find Nathaniel. To sate this strange craving.
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Noble
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Half-Halfling, Half-Goblin
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Post by Veliky on Sept 20, 2022 11:44:14 GMT -5
The impulse leads upward; the pipes might be safer and quicker, but stray thoughts and remote trepidation advises against it. They don't know where they lead, but they know the location of stairs leading to the same destination. Stairs are a... strange concept to the Blixt™ slime, but not insurmountable.
The crew deck - however the slime knows its title - is far more dangerous, now with bots patrolling and searching. Fortunately, the destination is not far from the stairs.
Squeezing under the door, Blue Raspberry beholds an otherworldly sight. Strange strings of copper and rubber slither across the ground, between the walls, disorganized. Tanks of luminescent, grey liquid line the walls, illuminating the room. In front of each is a strange pedestal on which stands a Blixtbot™, eyes dark, inactive and unresponsive, pipes and tubes plugged into its body whilst some strange, automated mechanism pulls some apart and puts other back together. But upon one of the pedestals isn't a bot at all. It's Nathaniel and, indeed, he has been pulled apart and put back together. His eyes have been replaced with red lenses. His hands and feet are gone. Blood has become encrusted into the machine. Despite the bots' "repairs," Nathaniel is now broken and dead.
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Post by Blue Raspberry on Sept 20, 2022 12:17:28 GMT -5
Blue Raspberry slimed over to the broken remains of the man. They began to engulf what they could, adding the third and final member of the research team to their collection. They felt an odd sense of completion when they had finished absorbing them, a sense of welcoming someone's reunion.
Now that their craving had been satisfied, they made their way back to their hiding place. As they peaked under a door into the hallway beyond, they spotted the spider robot on the wall. Thankfully, it was facing the other way at the moment, but it was clearly searching for them. Something in their mind knew that for certain.
They quietly slimed up behind the spider robot and stretched up before slamming their body into it, engulfing it in an instant. The spider struggled and began making mechanical noises that were muffled beneath the ooze. It was soon dissolved. Blue Raspberry felt oddly energized by the robot's digestion and quickly made their way back to their hiding spot inside the crate. They had to clear nearly the entire crate of the bottles to make room for themself, leaving only enough to keep above them and hide beneath.
They stayed there, hoping the robots wouldn't find them in here.
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Noble
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Post by Veliky on Sept 20, 2022 14:52:38 GMT -5
"So, I woke up this morning to a disturbing report. It said, and I quote, 'anomalous intruder; top-secret cargo stolen; three casualties.' Care to explain?"
The sound of waves and port bells fill the air, even audible in the lower command deck. Veliky's glaring face is illuminated by hanging lanterns as her pale eyes narrow at Rook and Bishop. It is Bishop that answers.
"Mistress Veliky, affirmative: T-plus 8 hours, in response to a report from Researcher Thomiel, Stalker-01 issues a Priority Copper search for an unknown intruder that stole all one existing units of Blixt™ Blue Raspberry. The intruder was located, but we were unable to apprehend it."
"Who was it?"
"Report: unknown. The intruder was initially, falsely identified as a unit of Blixt™ Blue Raspberry in a barrel in the kitchen. It was then reidentified as a currently unknown species of ooze. It was pursued through the crew deck before retreating to the Caller's Chamber via a communication pipe. A thorough search of the lowermost deck was performed, but the intruder was not located.
"And the rest of the ship? Was the product found?"
"Inpolar and negative: a thorough search was performed of the entire ship. The intruder and the units of Blixt™ Blue Raspberry could not be located. The current hypothesis is that the intruder hid itself in a crate of Blixt™ Avocado and was sent with that shipment."
Veliky rubs her eyes with a gloved hand. "So the bots at the cafe are going to open up a crate and find a living, highly dangerous sludge. Perfect. Just perfect." She looks up again. "And this thing was able to kill three of ours?"
"Negative: the intruder destroyed Stalker-01."
Veliky's face turns to concern. "What the hell happened to the other two?"
"Report: Researcher Nathaniel showed signs of a major malfunction. Attempts to repair him failed for unknown reasons. Researcher Thomiel showed signs of a harmful malfunction. He was destroyed by Rook-02. In addition, Researcher Brian vanished and is currently presumed dead."
"Wait, wait." She raises a hand. "The research team were gnomes. Living gnomes. Organic creatures do not malfunction." Her brow furrows to an almost-painful degree, her face twisting in anger. "Now - and I presume this goes without saying, but I feel that it's necessary to reiterate for you worthless scrapheaps - you do not repair living creatures."
"Negative: we detected malfunctions in their processing and acted in accordance with standard procedure."
"..."
"Repeat negative: we detected malfunctions-"
"Shut the hell up." She walks to one of the communication speakers and talks curtly into it. "All units, ping units Rook-02 and Bishop-01 for immediate destruction."
The order resounds throughout the ship. The Blixtbots™ are programmed to obey Veliky's every command, and this is no exception, not even for Rook and Bishop. They both beep in acknowledgment before turning their weapons toward one-another. Veliky watches through narrowed eyes as the bots rip one-another to pieces, staining the floor with their grey blood.
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Post by Blue Raspberry on Sept 20, 2022 19:32:10 GMT -5
Blue Raspberry slimed through the sewers under the city. They had felt the crate they hid in be lifted up and brought off the ship and placed down. They took the opportunity to leave and slither down through a sewer grate to hide.
In the back of their mind, they heard a distant noise, like an echo they couldn't quite understand.
"I said I was sorry!"
"Yeah, sorry doesn't bring the three of us back from the dead, does it?"
"I think he's had enough. We're all in the same boat now. Well, the same ooze."
"Oh, don't think I'm not mad at you too! You helped him make this mess we're in. I just wanted to try adding corn flavor to BlixtTM while you two wanted to make a damn BlixtTM ooze! And now look at us! What would ever make you think that was a good idea?"
"Like I said, the product was going to produce itself, all we would have to do was feed it garbage. It was genius."
"Yeah, well I agree it did eat some garbage when it ate you!"
"At least you didn't get dismembered in one of those robot repair stations."
"No, but I did get digested alive thanks to you! And you almost did get me repaired!"
The three Gnomish researchers bickered as the blue ooze continued to move through the sewers, inseparable in death as they had been in life. They observed the progress and growth of the ooze and occasionally tried to help it with a little information or nudging.
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