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>>35643272

HOLLOW SUN: 3.4% (UPDATED)

http://pastebin.com/0TXNSJv5

RESEARCH:

[X] INDUCTION BLASTERS
[X] MACHINE CANNON
[X] MICRO-SCALE SUSPENSORS
[X] POSITRON LANCE
[X] DISTORTION CANNON
[X] REACTIVE PLATING
[X] RESEARCH: HELIOS MATRIX
[X] FIRMWARE UPGRADE
[X] RESEARCH: SUPERHEAVY CHASSIS
[X] ARC CHARGER

RESEARCH COMPLETE:

> [X] MASS DRIVERS
> [X] DISTORTION CANNON

VOID ANCHORS:

ORIGINAL HIVE
THE TRIBUNAL
NARAKA
THE VAULT
TUSITA

HOLDING: 1

RED COMET GUIDE:

http://pastebin.com/LJAfQmXy

UPDATES:

- DISTORTION CANNON unlocked. (Under LEUKOCYTE entry, on the character sheet.)
- PILE BUNKER and IMPALER unlocked in Hellion Weaponry.
- CARNIFEX damage annotated to entry. (Critical hits are no longer required to knock you out of the transformation, just damage of sufficient intensity.)

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>>35643282

INTERLUDE:

The Cradles are burning.

Row upon row of pods, reduced to torches of violet flame - beneath walls encrusted with melting frost, bristling with racks of containment jars, orphaned surgical arms reaching outwards as they cease function, sparks flickering from ruptured components.

There are things in those tanks. Fusions of biological matter, armor, things that rill in agonized silence as they boil. In the other Cradles - the ones reduced to flash-frozen columns of black ice - nothing stirs.

It is a filthy place: debris strewn underfoot, tarry black Lachryma spreading in oil-slick stains, amniotic fluid trickling from the life-support prisons. The destruction is complete, total - unnameable filth caked across every surface, charred husks sprawled across the inset rings of the floor; some continue to rill, to thrash, champing those hideous sledge teeth - Others lie silent, hammered into sludge, reduced to chips of black ice.

The air burns hot and cold at once. The violet flames shed no heat, leaving only a flickering, hellish illumination that lends a surreal aspect to the scene.

"What have you done?"

The voice is not your own. Perspective is a strange thing, here - The sound tinny, dense with echoes, crackling with hoarse surprise.

At the heart of it all, the White Joker stands.

The first thing that strikes you - distantly - is how *similar* he is to you. Not his armor, but the way he carries himself, as if thought and form have become one. In profile, his armor is pale luminous white, flawless, unmarred by the destruction all around-

But when he turns, you glimpse beginnings of the parallel path he has taken.

Still symmetrical, but only just: The white shot through with black veins, cracks sealed in with black Lachryma - It is unclear where Player armor ends and organic growth begins, tusks bristling from his shoulders and upper spine, irregular growths like warped protrusions of bone.

(Continued)

>>35643282
>CARNIFEX damage annotated to entry
Aww hell. Is this permanent?

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>>35643337

(Yes, unless you find someone who can repair it.)

>>35643317 (You)

And his helm - It is an echo of the inherent contradiction of his form, the silver death-mask of the Carnifex retracting.

IT IS FINISHED, IMAGO.

That voice - clear, achingly cold. It is the voice that other Players have heard before, and it strikes an uncomfortable chord within you - This is the sound they hear when you come to kill them.

YOUR DISGUSTING EXPERIMENTS ARE ENDED.

YOUR FALSE IDOLS HAVE BEEN CAST DOWN AND YOUR WORKS LAID WASTE.

ALL THAT REMAINS IS DUST.

Light pulses, a surge, a flurry of sparks. Power leaps and arcs across the distance, at your convulsive gesture - Gauntlets with warped, prenaturally graceful digits, jointed and segmented digits that split into individual mechandrites.

A surgeon's hands.

"Where - is - he?"

"Where is - Rust Kaiser? Where is my *son*?"

A silence lingers, Imago's voice rasping in dry hatred, in raw fury. But there is fear, too - Fear, and a peculiar helplessness - a fear that comes with facing your own end.

"My truest, only son - My precious *self*-"

The White Joker's mask inclines, fractionally.

ASK HIM YOURSELF.

The world lurches, and the view stops making sense. Furnace heat smolders - Cracks starring through your field of vision. Feedback crackles, sharp as a knife, raking through your sensors as pitiless fingers latch onto your arm-

Rust Kaiser looms - Black as night, made of rage, masked by shadow. The edges of his armor are pitted with rust, giving his darkness a regal outline and shape. He is a beast made flesh, and shod in iron.

He is looking down.

Raw antipathy blazes in his mismatched eyes. His baleful, glaring eyes.

YOU SICK

OLD

*FILTH*

"-It's not-" the words crackle in the space between moments, tiny against that hatred. "-you still-"

YOU

DISEASE-

There is a shriek. Straight out of hell, there is a shriek-

(Continued)

>>35643391

Rust Kaiser's other hand rises up before your face. It makes a trembling fist, that hangs there for an age - Opening, slowly, to make a stiff-fingered claw. You can already tell how he plans to strike - A finger through each eye, the thumb under the jaw to crush the throat, then the *clench*, to rip away the front of the skull, to wrench the head from the neck-

And everything tumbles down into red-threaded oblivion, as those fingers bite into the soft metal of Imago's helm-

****************************************

"And now...you see..."

The grey, joyless light has returned to the chamber. The papery, whispery voice comes from every direction at once, like an echo of the bare metal walls.

"Joker...do you begin...to understand?"

[ ] "-More than you think."
[ ] "...What did you do to him?"
[ ] "And? How did you survive?"
[ ] "What would you have me do?"
[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35643455
>"And? How did you survive?"
>"...What did you do to him?"

Evening OP. This week better for you?

>>35643455
"Why did White Joker come for you, Imago?"
>[X] "And? How did you survive?"
>[X] "...What did you do to him?"
"You made him what he is now. Did you bring him back when Bell Zephyr asked?"

"Won't Rust Kaiser refuse to die when killed?"

"Why Geist?"

> "And? How did you survive?"

A dry, rasping laugh.

"With...effort, Joker. Yet I am...not *wholly* alive. Not...whole-"

> "...What did you do to him?"

"I...*made*...him. I made him...*perfect*."

There is a bitter hiss to that dust-dry voice, now. The lights flicker.

"He was to...become me. To be...my host. My son, my perfect...son-"

You can hear the hunger in Imago's voice, now. The hunger and the bitter, bitter hatred; the grasping fury that comes with the most profound loss.

"Wasted...All wasted. So much...potential. So close...A body, a *strong* body-"

> "You made him what he is now. Did you bring him back when Bell Zephyr asked?"

"Bell *Zephyr*-"

The voice is sibilant, aching with hate.

"Kill her...first. Take all he is...away from him."

> "Won't Rust Kaiser refuse to die when killed?"

"You...must. You must - My...perfect son. His life...my life...the life I *should* have-"

The chamber's temperature is rising, now. There is a charged feel to the air.

> "Why Geist?"

"He means...nothing." You're aware that Geist can likely hear every word of this exchange. "-To draw you...here. Joker-" A rawness to that voice, now, a prayer and a threat - "...You must. Kill...Kaiser."

> "Why did White Joker come for you, Imago?"

That laugh again.

"He came...to *learn*. For the answer...to one question-"

"To put...a soul - In...another body. To give...new flesh...to the dead-"

There is a bitter note of victory to Imago's words. A malicious, carefully nurtured spite - One nursed for countless years, down, down in this cell. His last triumph.

"-But I *lied*. Only...the right body...only...the *living*-"

"Not even - A Joker...can *change* that."

(Continued)

>>35643698

In the pitiless grey light, in the illumination that eclipses all else, lies are impossible - Perhaps Imago has waited for this chance, for the longest time. For the chance to confess, or the gloat - Even now, it's unclear.

"Joker-" And that papery voice seethes with urgency, now.

"Show them...no mercy-"

[ ] "-I've tried. He's impossible to kill."
[ ] "And? What's in it for me?"
[ ] "...You were going to *infect* him. Like a parasite."
[ ] "There isn't much left of you, is there?"
[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35643767
>"And? What's in it for me?"
>"-I've tried. He's impossible to kill."
Though given his comment about Zephyr, maybe he's only still going thanks to pure willpower.

>>35643767

Wow. This is the vilest person we've met, so far.

>>35643767
>[X] "-I've tried. He's impossible to kill."
>[X] "And? What's in it for me?"
>[X] "There isn't much left of you, is there?"
"Does Mikogami wear the white?"

Random idea, what do you anons think about saying "I want a Corrector. Something that even Kraken wouldn't dare control."

>>35643862
Not sure Correctors are his thing, but it can't hurt to see what he has to say.

>>35643862
>Random idea, what do you anons think about saying "I want a Corrector. Something that even Kraken wouldn't dare control."

What about a trojan corrector? SOmething kraken CANT control?

So, wait, White Joker is lachryma-infused but also a kinda good guy, as he hunted down the dude who made Rust Kaiser?
Or am I misunderstanding?

>>35643993
Well, no. He hunted the guy down so he could have Kaiser work for the Smilers.

>>35643767
Why do I feel reminded of a certain walking rape worm?

Wait, crap, OP do we have any Cortex Spikes? I know we're not carrying one, but how are they manufactured and stored?

>>35643958
Mostly a semantic difference, but I think it's important. A Corrector he couldn't control would either be too undeveloped for him to connect to, or have immunity as a quirk or side effect of its physiology (so it could be weak or strong and still be uncontrollable). A Corrector he wouldn't care control would be something that could overwhelm him, I think.

>>35643993
Lachryma infused horrific nightmare inducer who happens to hate the guy for about the same reason we should.

>>35644009
We've been cracking jokes about the similarities for years. I'm hardly surprised a Zouken showed up.

>>35644032

(You actually have quite a number of them - They don't have a cost to manufacture. They occupy your Void Anchor slot - You're not carrying one at present, but you can teleport one in via your Arsenal Beacon.

You'll have to surrender your Void Anchor or your Heavy Weapon to carry one - Or you could just hold it in your hand.)

>>35643862

> [X] "-I've tried. He's impossible to kill."

"His *body*...but not...the mind."

"Joker - without will...A Player is only...a beast."

A rasp to that dry, dry voice - Given heat, given life, by the hate that smolders within.

"Disorder...that mind. Take away...the last things...he holds dear-"

Then: Clear, now. Painfully clear, each word forced out with immense effort-

"Joker. Kill. The. Girl."

> [X] "There isn't much left of you, is there?"

"Only...the very last echoes. Only...a shade."

> [X] "Does Mikogami wear the white?"

"Dead - Dead *forever* - fallen to...the armor...you now wear-"

> [X] "And? What's in it for me?"

A sound, behind you. You turn-

There are six of them - Burnt-black, bitumen-black. Silent, except for the *grind* of their grinning teeth; Standing, still and skeletal, in lockstep. Staring right ahead, at nothing. And amidst them, panting, with a moist chittering-

...The Hunger Dogs. A malformed pack, at bay - Claws that might have been fingers scratch-skritching against the plates underfoot. The sound it makes - The faint sound - is disquieting, for how controlled it is: An invisible energy binds them, holds them back, the pressure of so many eyeless gazes on your form deeply uncomfortable.

"The last of...my perfect, loyal...Children. My Children and...their hounds."

"Joker - If you...swear. If you...make this pact-"

"...They will - serve you. When you...call."

(Continued)

>>35644032
>>35643958
>>35643862

> "I want a Corrector. Something that even Kraken wouldn't dare control."

"There is...one."

An ugly chuckle. At his heart, Imago is an ugly soul.

"In the...caverns below. Maddened...Hateful-"

"-If it is...a *Corrector*...you want-"

"Yes - Caliban will...do nicely..."

"Joker...Go alone. I will not squander...My perfect Children...on your death."

[ ] "Maybe another time."
[ ] "-Show me where."
[ ] "Release Geist, first."
[ ] "...That's encouraging."
[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35644161
>"Release Geist, first."
>"-Show me where."

Aww, missed chance OP. I'd have gone with Cavall.

>>35644161
>[X] "Release Geist, first."
>[X] "...That's encouraging."
"I've been meaning to ask, what *are* the Correctors? Where'd they come from?"

"Geist, tell the others I'll be a bit longer. We'll return together."

"Hold on to this Void Anchor. I'd like it planted tonight, but if you're in a bad way we'll hand it off to Steppenwulf."

Replace the VA with a Cortex Spike. Let's say hello to a real monster. How damaged is Joker, by the by?

>>35644174
>>35644283

> "Release Geist, first."

"As you...wish."

A deep, grinding sound - Revebrations coursing through the superstructure of the chamber you find yourself in. It occurs to you that this is not a natural space, but part of a larger machine - A machine that can *move*, that can articulate like the modular fortress of the Holophusikon...

-You wonder how long it's been, since Imago made this place his haunt.

A column emerges. Steam roils from the gaps, as the dark metal ratchets apart, unfolding like the petals of a flower, retracting - With a brief glimpse of the silhouette within, as Vector Geist's chassis revolves into view...

-And then he falls forward, crashing to the cold deck.

"Oh *god*-" Geist has suffered no damage - No *real* damage, aside from claw-scourings on his armor, metal plating wrenched apart to reveal the cables beneath. But for a moment, he physically cannot move, his mono-eye ratcheting in an unconscious reflection of raw distress - "I'm out - I'm *out*-"

His gauntlets push against the ground, as he levers himself to his feet - His speakers hissing in antipathy, as he turns...And flinches back, fractionally, from the closing circle of the Children all around.

> "Geist, tell the others I'll be a bit longer. We'll return together."

"Joker-" he thinks you're insane. That much is clear, as he stares up at you - Never venturing too far, as if safety only exists in your immediate vicinity. "-Joker, you can't *stay here*-"

"Is our...hospitality...not to...your liking?"

Geist tenses. His armor, a dark, dull blue, responds - His hands curling loosely at his sides, craning his neck...But he doesn't dignify that with an answer, though a vox-distorted snarl crackles in the narrow space.

(Continued)

>>35644494

Geist tenses. His armor, a dark, dull blue, responds - His hands curling loosely at his sides, craning his neck...But he doesn't dignify that with an answer, though a vox-distorted snarl crackles in the narrow space.

"The Red Joker...is my guest. And so...are you."

"Like hell," Vector Geist mutters, just at the very edge of audibility. It's taken a lot to crack his self-control, and it shows: A tension draws every fibre of his form tight. "Joker, we need to *get out of here*-"

> "Hold on to this Void Anchor. I'd like it planted tonight, but if you're in a bad way we'll hand it off to Steppenwulf."

He takes it - The weight nearly staggers him, or maybe Geist is more rattled than he first appears. His ocular sensor flits between you and the exit, as the door grinds open enticingly - For a moment, you're sure that he's about to say something, as his jointed fingers cradle the Void Anchor against his chest...

-But then in a flare of thrusters, he's gone. He doesn't even look back, in his headlong flight, as the bulkhead slams shut behind him - You get the feeling he might just keep running.

Forever.

"Such...poor material." Imago muses. "A...lesser creature...at best."

> "I've been meaning to ask, what *are* the Correctors? Where'd they come from?"

"I have...long wondered...this. Perhaps they are...emanations...or...parasites...or false offshoots of...higher life. Perhaps humans are...not the only...species with...the capacity-"

The ground rumbles. Your viewpoint descends, in time with the hiss of discharging plasma, the grinding shriek of a cutting-screw cycling down the chamber's flanks like the active teeth of a gigantic saw. Thick clouds of vaporized rock and steam pulse from the vents, a by-product of the process...

-Not a fortress, then. Or at least not an immobile one.

(Continued)

>>35644638

> [X] "...That's encouraging."

"It is...poetic. A slave...gone mad - Trying to kill...his rightful master."

The compartment begins to rotate, around you: Recessed hardpoints aligning in new configurations, as the sound reaches a crescendo. Descending, faster and faster now - Enough for the deck to tremble beneath your feet.

"Joker...Do you not find this...terribly amusing?"

[ ] "How so?"
[ ] "-Not really."
[ ] "What does that have to do with anything?"
[ ] Free

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35644651
>"How so?"

>>35644651
>[X] "How so?"

>>35644651
>[X] "-Not really."
"I think you might have the wrong idea about which end of the 'biting the hand that feeds' equation I've usually found myself on."

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>>35644638
Good thing that Haze and Volt will be able to welcome him.

The Dirac Transmitter was quite useful.
I think level 2 would be lots of utility.

I hope that a level 2 Dirac Transmitter will add an IRC channel into our HUD - Voice/text wouldn't be much of a barrier, would it? Level 3 would make it an IRC server with multiple channels.
And then we abuse the backslash commands.

>>35644651
>[x ] "How so?

>>35644678
>>35644735

> "How so?"

"All this ruin...simply because..."

"-I made them...*too* well."

>>35644741

> [X] "-Not really."
> "I think you might have the wrong idea about which end of the 'biting the hand that feeds' equation I've usually found myself on."

The papery voice gives way to hacking laughter, brittle and without humor.

"Joker...You never cease...to amuse."

The sense of motion stops, as the vast machine grinds to a halt. Heavy shutters open, to reveal a small, poorly-lit airlock: It cycles around you, pungent sulphurous fog pooling around your feet as air processors chug, a flickering, lambent glow issuing from everywhere and nowhere at once.

Before you, the inner door lock begins to whirr outwards, parting with a grinding hiss; Your ocular sensor whirring to life once again, adjusting to the gloom. You're deep, deep underground - You can feel it, your systems registering the pressure differential as you step out into the open. This far down, no trace of human design - or even the alien architecture of the Red world - remains: There is just bare, basalt rock, a twisting series of cavernous passages expanding outwards from you.

...And, you can't help but notice - Deep, scorched troughs in the ground, troughs where the earth has been fused to glass, as if by the furious alchemy of high-energy weapons.

"What you seek...Lies beyond," Imago's tinny voice rasps. "There are...miles of tunnels and...Caliban can dig...his own."

Then:

"-We will wait...if you survive-"

(Continued)

So we've got a steak cannon now.

OP, what kind of slot does the Pile Bunker use? The shield slot?
Does it even fit a light weapon slot?

>>35644909

(An arm. It precludes the use of other shields, but not the other systems on that arm. It's admittedly quite heavy and cumbersome.)

>>35644904

The heavy-duty bulkheads close, and cut off the last of his words, all communication. The adamant walls of the great digging machine loom behind you, like a fortress - Ahead lies the infinite depths of the cave, expanding outwards in every direction before you.

Green light filters around you - Then blue, as the lines of the Arsenal Beacon pulse with new light. Your Hyades mark glows, but faintly, with some delay: Maybe Cybele is watching you, even now. Slowly, your damaged limbs are overlaid with pristine replacements...The light filtering outwards, to be lost in the depths.

HP: 240.3%
COBALT BOOSTER: 117%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 21%
METER: 28%
LUCIFER BITS: 1/5

TIER TWO WEAPONRY UNLOCKED

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35644924
I wonder if it was the better decision to go solo, this is going to be very tough.

>>35644924
Now would have been a good opportunity for tunnel digger GARM.

Argus Scan and move forward?

Also, nice about the shield slot. This means an additional storage point.
Our right arm still has that slot free, doesn't it?

>>35644944

(The tunnels are actually very spacious. It's effectively a wide, open cave with multiple passages.)

>>35644909
>steak cannon
I wish. Imagine all that beef.

>>35644924
Use booster for an Argus scan. Pulse the Nihl Sphere once to see what it calls in the dark.

Let's see... if Caliban can tunnel, there's no point to sneaking along the walls. Stay near the center of the tunnel. Draw and emulate the Photon Beamer.

>>35644938
Yes absolutely. If Caliban is anything like his namesake he's completely out of Volt's, Geist's and Haze's league combined or squared individually.

>>35644944
It'll still disable the Crisis Arm and probably other weapons on that arm.

>>35644974
...Huh. Okay. If the contact is large enough, summon Red Comet.

>Use booster for an Argus scan.
We don't have the Signal Booster.

>>35644992
>It'll still disable the Crisis Arm and probably other weapons on that arm.

See >>35644924
> It precludes the use of other shields, but not the other systems on that arm.

Doesn't sound that way.

>>35645006
>We don't have the Signal Booster.
Oh, wait, you meant energy conversion.

>>35645006
Booster as in Cobalt Booster. I was suggesting saving meter.

Other systems I thought referred to stuff like the Exec_Consume and the Argus System. If it does only disable the shield on that arm I'll be thrilled, but you'd an expect a big blocky shield to make holding items in that hand a difficult proposition.

...Now I have the urge to rewatch Nanosuitninja's FEAR playthrough.
Because we gained the bacon cannon. And we already have bullet time.

I want to fight vampires with it.

>>35645059
NSN is a beautiful beast to watch in action.
Kind of like Red Joker would be, if he wasn't driven by a circus of clowns

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The only light in the cave is the faint illumination shed by Imago's digging machine - And the light that you bring with you. Beyond that, the darkness is utter and complete: There's something brooding, something ominous about it that strikes a primal cord - Even in your armor, even with your sensors feeding constant targeting information to your systems, the abyssal depths are awful ones.

-The dark. Down there, when absolute dark descended, Players went mad.

>>35644992
>>35644944

The Teleport Homer is in your hand, as you hold it out before you - The air shimmering, gaining a greasy, crackling feel as the Red Comet's chassis ghosts into existence: A flickering double-image, fuming with vapor...

-And then there's a *bang*, a loud double-thunderclap of overstressed air pressure. The sound echoes hollowly through the infinite caverns, overlapping the low *hum* of the GARM's systems coming to life...

The cockpit opens, with a pressurized hiss. You settle into place, as the HUD shimmers into existence, little monofilament slivers of metal puncturing your armor - Fingers and joints curling in reflex, as their connection to your systems are momentarily interrupted...

Then you *are* the machine. The optic cluster perched atop the Red Comet oscillates, flexes - Flicking through spectral filters is as simple as blinking, the cool glow of the GARM's lights casting a gallery of soft-edged shadows across the walls as the combat chassis articulates into motion.

(Continued)

>>35645072
>Kind of like Red Joker would be, if he wasn't driven by a circus of clowns
Just try to imagine Twitch Plays The Red Joker. And then try to imagine how hopelessly confused people would be when the Red Joker takes seven steps forward, shoots the air with his vulcans, then jerks around in a weird version of the macarena before slamming into the ground repeatedly.

OP, I have a question: Is it possible to fire Leukocyte from inside Red Comet? Or would that require the Cascade Resonator?

Also, I hate being right about needing Red Comet sooner rather than later. It's still down three major upgrades. Should have gone with my gut there as far as upgrades are concerned. Ah well.

>>35645100
Sounds like that fight against Aegis.

>>35645173
Aw. In the Red Comet we have more armor, but can't dodge it.

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>>35645116

(I'd say that it needs the Cascade Resonator to do that.)

The place is a labyrinth, with corkscrewing tunnels, jagged slopes, winding and bifurcated passages. Something in the rock defies anything more than the lowest level of penetration - Enough to get a vague echo of what's directly ahead, sensors whining fractiously as they fight to resolve the contradiction.

The darkness is almost palpable, its viscid obscurity devouring all light.

Ensconed in the Red Comet, your lamps lead the way - A halo of light feeling its way across the angularity and sharp stone. Using tracks are impossible, here; Your combat chassis prowls forward on all fours, lumbering, as the beams dance ahead, guiding you through the branching network of tunnels, exploring the holes and hollows with the illums.

Internal gyros whirr, audible despite the chassis' encapsulating presence - You can almost feel the cold, dead air, each step a careful one, to maintain the Red Comet's stability...

Forward. You stay close to the centre of the tunnel as possible, open space on either side. It is, however, less helpful than you think - The pall of darkness descends beyond your immediate vicinity, faint sounds issuing from the distance-

Like...A scraping, so brief you might have imagined it.

Ahead...A faint glow. An ethereal paleness issues from a passage that slopes upwards, the rough curvature of the walls revealing nothing except for that eerie glow. The tunnel continues to your right; Smoke, thick heatless smoke, oozing outwards and at your machine with a viscous, unwholesome quality, obscuring visual-only senses. There must be trace metals in it or something, because it functions like chaff to the Red Comet's internal systems, throwing back ghost echoes.

To your left, and down...The slow pulse of a heat signature, there then gone, ghosting.

SHIELDS: 100% (MODE - KINETIC/ENERGY)
HULL INTEGRITY: 100%
MUNITIONS: 125%
ENERGY: 100%

>>35645180
Red Comet can dodge, it just weighs a lot. Isn't it basically a supersized tachikoma?

>>35645184
Is the heat signature the target digging with lasers? Hm. Switch to energy shields and go left. The Comet's sensors can't handle environmental effects, and Caliban will know the tunnels.

Prep the chainguns and do everything possible to not get caught from behind. Keep a twitchy trigger finger on the galvanism button.

>>35645184
One thing is for sure:
If it comes closer, we activate our Galvanic Emitters.

>>35645116
What are the major three upgrades?

>>35645238
>Red Comet can dodge, it just weighs a lot. Isn't it basically a supersized tachikoma?
Well, with Myomer Hypertrophy, we can actually leap around.
Zero-Point drive would have been useful here, though, as well as the Panoptic Array and anything that aids in close combat.

>>35645252
Gravimetric Nexus, Nitro Booster and Nova Reactor. Shields and Argus bits right behind that.

>>35645271
I think the Nexus would have been most useful. It makes Red Comet functionally lighter without actually reducing its mass. It would help with the Hypertrophy's heat problem, improve dodge chance and will make the Zero-Point Drive, Lifter System, and Slash Harkens that much more efficient.

On the topic of vehicle upgrades, what would we add to the raptor?
I'd wager that we'd mostly need more speed stuff, like the ramjet engine and the zero-point drive.
It's unlikely for us to use it during combat.

>>35645336
>raptor
Meant Ophanim.

>>35645336
>raptor
Everything. All of it. It's the only way to have Stardust Memory.

>>35645345
Oh, that's less fun. One level of armor, one level of health, ramming shield, zero point drive, vectored retro-thrusters.

>>35645364
>Stardust Memory
What are you referencing this time?

>Oh, that's less fun. One level of armor, one level of health, ramming shield, zero point drive, vectored retro-thrusters.
Wait, you don't want Ghost Rider mode?
We just need burning Joker + Inferno Module. Then we get Mentroso, turn ourselves invisible on our bike, and let the Thief ride on our back while somehow setting his skull mask aflame.

I hope it never really comes to it, but keeping either a Pile Bunker or Impaler on hand would be a decent idea. Especially if they really offer as much armor penetration as they say.

Especially against giant worm-things.

>>35645395
If the Pile Bunker doesn't disable our weapons, I'd love to equip it on the right hand.
It would also add a nice amount of armor.

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>>35645238

-Energy shields. The hum of your shielding changes, a subtle shift - A brief flicker lighting the gloom, as you turn the Red Comet to the left: Spurring it downwards, quadruped limbs pushing against the ground, manipulator talons digging deep for purchase.

There it is again - The ghost reading. There, then gone, in the distance: A sensor-flicker on your systems, the Red Comet's head turning in the signal's direction as you advance. Galvanic charge, on standby, plays across the Red Comet's carapace with a sizzling electric crackle...

Closer, now. As you negotiate the twisted darkness, you can almost feel the jagged passages closing in about you, acutely aware of the millions of tonnes of rock overhead. The labyrinthine tunnels themselves are acutely threatening, dead ends and cavities around every corner. By some miracle, there is always space for the Red Comet to navigate through the tight apertures and shadowy side tunnels.

-You're not sure how far you've gone. The Red Comet's limbs are tireless, driving you onwards. Step by slow step, manuvering.

And always that ghost reading, just ahead - In a different direction each time, effectively your only source of guidance...Until you stop, disorientated. You seem to have doubled back on yourself - The passage twisting and turning, rising and falling...

Then a ping, on your tracker. A heat source - Close by, ahead, around the next turn. The ghost-echo of the previous reading, then a third, flickers...Displaced, to your right, next to a smooth-walled knot of cavern, a ghostly echo of the steady warmth ahead.

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35645410

(The Pile Bunker is larger than the Crisis Arm, and makes fine manipulation very difficult - You're effectively already 'holding' a weapon in that hand, preventing you from wielding another. It can indeed be used as a shield, however.)

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>>35645391
>What are you referencing this time?
Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, aka HOLY FUCK THAT IS AN OVERDESIGNED GUNDAM.

But seriously, it's one of the really good Gundams. 13 episode OVA set between MSG and Zeta, great characters and great fights. It also has pic related, which is a Gundam built to plug into a weapon platform. A fully upgraded Raptor would function a lot like it.

>>35645427
So it LOOKS like it's to the left, with the right being vestigial warmth from laser boring.

Or I'm completely reading this wrong and am about to suggest exposing vulnerable components to supermonsters. This is why we need Argus Bits.

Do a turning lunge forward. Drop the shield just long enough for a blast of the Disintegrator. If it's actually there, fire the blast and serve up some stakes and 30mm rounds with it.

If not, don't fire and prepare to be countered.

>>35645427
Teleportation?
Can Fragmentation Launcher delay the explosion of its projectiles?
This would be a good opportunity for some mine-laying. And I'd expect us to be attacked if we open the cockpit to lay the mines with our mine launcher.

>>35645512

(It's a grenade-launcher, and lacks a dedicated mine-laying function.)

>>35645502

Forward, into the chamber beyond. It is a dome, more than a hundred feet across, almost ninety feet high: The very first thing you see - A fleeting glimpse, as you wheel to the side - is the massive, pitted bulk of a great emanciated serpent, head crested with horns and bone spurs like a great crown, coiled upon itself at the very heart of the cavern...

-It's been eviscerated, entrails and steaming vapor sliding from its ruptured guts like twisting snakes.

The Red Comet rotates: Disintegrator Cannon humming to life, blistering the air with the howling rush of input, sparks skidding from the talons as the chassis's internal gyroscopes whine in time with the sudden, lurching turn-

The first bolt of lightning flashes out from the darkness, and explosively annihilates against your shield. It is a thunderclap-blast of volcanic light, a crown-of-thorns flaring in the aftershock, your sensors blistered by the massive discharge: The Red Comet's shield is a palpable entity, hexagonal tiles glowing beneath the sizzling lash of the scorching light-

And then you see it.

The thing you're fighting.

Caliban.

It is - sickeningly - almost human. It drags itself along on distended arms, the flesh bulbous, the lungs within the torso so large, they break through the skin at some point. Each arm ends in a hand made of five thigh-bones, each with sharpened ends: It has a melted look, like something half-finished and discarded, vague features stretched, collapsed from the throat like a serpent, as it drags itself forward with dreadful, horrible strength...

It has no legs. Just a long, sluglike tail, the muscular foot of a giant mollusc, as if both legs have fused together into a single lump of flesh.

There is a madness in its design, as lightnings play around that misshapen skull - Limbs twisting and writhing around it, the eyeless mouth full of needle teeth that smack slackly and gurgle, vast horns sweeping outwards from the low crest.

(Continued)

>>35645919

The second bolt of jagged red fury - Bio-electric discharge - hits your shield so hard, it *cracks*. Energy splinters in all directions, blinding light flaring before you - The Red Comet's sensors cutting out to auto-black.

-Forget the Disintegrator Cannon-

The Red Comet's chassis judders, as you open up with the 30MM chainguns. Cones of muzzleflash flicker in the darkness, anti-personnel shells spitting across the distance: Tracers spit, your shots chewing into Caliban, smashing against meat and dense muscle...

It comes at you, moving with a speed and fluidity that seems impossible for something so vast. It is nearly as large as the Red Comet, howling at it comes on - All red ooze and blackened meat. That ghastly mouth gaps wide in its cresting head as you hit the Mass Drivers-

You hear the solid *CHOOOKKKK* of the kill weapons punching into flesh. The first impactors plough into Caliban's obscene form, punching through the curtain of raging lightnings: Your 30MM shots are deflecting into the walls and floor, stray rounds whipping past, puncturing flesh just above the bright line of ultradense stakes driven like pins into a swelling balloon...

-Except it is new flesh that oozes from the wounds, meat that folds over the damage that you've inflicted, boiling with a wretched black steam that oozes like vapor from the deep, rending gashes. You have all of a moment to register that, when-

It belches a vast ball of flaming gases at you. Shield or no shield, the raw pressure of the blast hurls the Red Comet back. Internal alarms flicker to life, as your machine lurches violently - Despite the internal gravity systems, despite the inertial dampers...

And it's right in front of you, as your HUD fights to cohere. One massive, veiny arm rears back to swipe-

SHIELDS: 68% (MODE - ENERGY)
HULL INTEGRITY: 88%
MUNITIONS: 112%
ENERGY: 94%

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35646022
Galvanized punch!


Let's try to cripple it. Might help against the regeneration.

>>35646022
If possible, change shield mode to absorb the punch. At the same time, evade, and get some room between it and us, or it will wreck the Red Comet.

>>35646022
Oh god.

Activate the Emitters and extend a claw to slash at the arm. Use the other arm to punch Caliban in the face. Fire ten gravimetric stakes into the center of mass.

>>35646108
I think it's inside the shield area.

>>35646144
Should we disable the shield and regenerate it if that's the case?

>>35646216
Absolutely not. The shield regenerates even while in use. The frame does not at all, and damage to the frame damages weapon systems and maneuverability.

>>35646216
Haha.
Goodness, no.

>>35646108

The Red Comet's shield emitter flickers - Changing phase, changing modes - as the GARM lurches back, back-

Caliban's bone claws rip into your field. Electric discharge still sheaths the lowing creature: You actually see the parallel lines of distortion, rending through the kinetic shimmer - Tearing it straight down the middle like a curtain, so sharp they make the air bleed-

Pseudopods flail at you, through the gap. They latch on, clutching, lamprey-mouths writhing at the end of sucker-laden tendrils, until the galvanic emitters crackle to full life, blue-white arcs of seething energy sizzling across the Red Comet's hull. The discharge flares into brilliant points of light: Stung, the fronds of flesh convulse, only for a moment...

The GARM's manipulator-arm erupts outwards, in an explosive punch. Sparks fly, as your lightning-sheathed talons connect with Caliban's seething field - Power flickering in the narrow distance, as the claws punch deep, gouging into the hideous Corrector's malformed, misshapen head-

...And *through* it. The analogue blades are stuck fast, as you wrench at them - The impact snapping Caliban's skull back, claws shearing through that sickening flesh, issuing spurts of stagnant pus. Locked at close range, you launch another volley of stakes-

The sound is awful, rupturing. Blubbery, wet punctures appear in the creature's torso, oozing filmy fluid, erupting with sprays of tissue and viscous black blood. The meat-beast's keening roar rises, oddly modulated by the claws punching through cheek and jowl alike...

(Continued)

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>>35646262

And then it hits back. The blow is titanic, a straight-ahead drive. It crashes into the GARM full-on, and actually lifts it back onto its hind-legs: In the cockpit, you're rattled like a die in a cup, your left-screen display blanking out as the Red Comet's sensor-cluster head is jarred to the side - So hard it slams into the cavern wall. The impact wrenches your claws free: You have a moment to register the five superdense stakes threading into the Corrector's mass, before-

This time, it vomits fire onto you. A constant stream of dirty, smoky flame - It boils over the Red Comet's ruptured barrier, engulfing the sensor-cluster head, your primary camera filled with riling flame. *More* quill-tipped tentacles are coiling out to ensnare you, heedless of the electricity that crackles over the combat chassis, crowned with flapping beaks of cartilage.

SHIELDS: 27% (MODE - KINETIC)
HULL INTEGRITY: 82%
MUNITIONS: 88%
ENERGY: 85%

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35646286
All right, NOW the Disintegrator. Grab Caliban's wrists and haul him up, then slam his skull against the kinetic barrier. Take the shot while he's stunned. Use the Cobalt lasers to shred the suckers.

Keep the electricity going too.

Oh, is there any way to use the mimetic alloys to cut down the fire damage?

>>35646286
Fire the Disintergrator Cannon at the head so it stop vomiting fire, and use the Cobalt Lasers to get rid of the tentacles.

>>35646286
It might be time to either attempt to use the Disintegrater Cannon or a very large burst from the Mass Driver. +5 shots at the minimum.

>>35646316
>>35646332
>>35646336

(The fire damage is actually quite minimal, but it's seriously messing with your targeting.)

The Disintegrator Cannon churns to furious, growling life - A splayed column of superheated air roaring forth from the rounded muzzle, a devastating horizontal fountain that blasts flesh and bone apart like ash in a gale. Caliban's keening roar pulses in the air as its flesh peels off; The fusion stream is like a blowtorch, charred meat melting away, disintegrating beneath the blast-

The howling cone of fire stops. Caliban's talons crack into the Red Comet's *head*, this time - The disintegrator stream going wild, blowtorching against the rock - Liquid stone slewing away in a waxlike sheen, oozing to the ground, glowing with the furious shades of cooking stone.

You're too *close* for your kinetic shield to recohere, but there's no dodging something like *that*; Talon of sharpened bone drive into the Red Comet's neck, the myomer muscles and spinal system registering stress, then loss of function as your combat chassis's head sprawls limply to one side, lolling like a dead thing as Disintegrator blasts continue to pulse forth at a fierce angle.

At this range, the volley is misaimed, or the launcher tubes are misaligned - The Red Comet's main sensors teeter crazily on one side, cables fizzing, and it's a wonder you can see (Or target) anything. Three shots out of six stab deep into Caliban - One punches a fist-sized chunk of flesh from the Corrector's arm before it fills out, the grievous wound clotting itself as meat oozes to fill it.

(Continued)

>>35646476
>>35646332

...And as tentacles lash out to engulf you, the searing lines of your Cobalt Lasers shear into them. Tarry black ichor gushes forth, as beaks and suckers drop to the ground...But there's more of them, as fast as you can cut - Buying the Red Comet a bare moment to drop back, lasers slicing into everything as your kinetic shield flickers back to life.

A space clears - Your shield fighting to reform, the Red Comet's motions lent a surreal cast by the angle of your main camera; Ribbons of superheated air oozing forth, no longer aligned with the target.

SHIELDS: 34% (MODE - KINETIC)
HULL INTEGRITY: 74%
MUNITIONS: 88%
ENERGY: 77%

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35646491

(My apologies, the munition listing is wrong. It should be:

MUNITIONS: 58%

>>35646491
Before I go any further, can we arc fragmentation launcher shots over the shield? I'd like to see what the induction blasters do now that we have some range, but I also like the idea of dropping smart cannisters on Caliban.

After one round of that, put the energy shield up. Can we use the chaingun to compensate for the cameras going wonky? Once the guns start gouging out pieces, launch more stakes, that sort of thing.

>>35646557
>Once the guns start gouging out pieces, launch more stakes, that sort of thing.
You mean gauging the enemy's position via feedback of our attacks?

>>35646652
Yeah. We can't aim for shit, but we can shoot a big thing where the small things are hitting.

Or we could aim for eyeballs. We've got four machine guns after all.

>>35646652
Shall we try the chain mines once we have enough range ? Seemed to work well enough on the last Corrector like-entity. And maybe we have yet to find it's weak point-so far, it has been regenerating as fast as we shoot it- and that is not going to win us the battle.

>>35646688
Red Comet doesn't have chain mines, that's Joker's gear.

>>35646688
It depends on if its regeneration is limited.
If it isn't, we are currently being idiots.
If it is, we just have to hit hard enough.

Cauterization doesn't seem to help.

>>35646557
>>35646652
>>35646688

The hollow *plunk* of the Fragmentation Launcher's charges echoes in the confined space - One smart-fused shell, then the next, lofting up and over, coming down in a fireballs; Flechettes spiralling out from the blast, hooking into Caliban like a lethal rain-

The beast yowls, in fury or in pain. Claws span, lashing out in both directions, like a man tormented by wasps-

Even you level the Red Comet's manipulator-arms, fists spreading to reveal the twin barrels of the Induction Blasters. Fizzing spheres of cohered, white-cored lightning crackle in the brief instance between charge and release-

The double-blast is a thunderclap, rising in a electronic shriek. Caliban judders, spontaneous flames erupting across the Corrector's form as it reels back - Discharging flickering across it's form, dragging the collapsing halo of bioelectricity around it. Wild lightnings lash out - Scouring deep into the ground, slashing against the GARM's chassis, leaving a deep, smoking scar...Until the exhausted shields cycle, deflecting a crackling chain of lightning as the huge, suppurating creature crashes down, the impact making the ground judder.

You let loose with everything you have. The damage to your sensors is seriously messing with your targeting - Your chainguns spitting lines of tracers that track wide, shearing to the left as you try to walk the gunfire into Caliban; Your Mass Drivers are better aimed. Two stakes, a heartbeat apart, punch into one tumorous arm - And into the stone below, pinning the limb in place as surely as hammered nails. Muscles fibres coil, bridling against the impaling lengths - And Caliban screeches, still scrambled by the induction blasts, psuedopods lashing out with unmatched fury-

-It knows. It knows it's trapped, and it's doing anything it can to stop you from *closing*-

SHIELDS: 15% (MODE - ENERGY)
HULL INTEGRITY: 68%
MUNITIONS: 66%
ENERGY: 51%

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35646890
Should we get out of the GARM, shoot our personal lightning bolt and then drive the Cortex Spike into it?
Or do we fire some more Induction Fire first?

>>35646890
Is that the first time we've used the Induction Blasters? Because I like the results.

So, to sum up, it's trapped, dazed, and desperate? Hit it with the Cobalt Smasher. That should clear the pseudopods and leave it regenerating. While it does that, pop the cockpit and spike Caliban's brainstem.

>>35646931
Dude, this thing's giant and spits lightning itself, will it even feel the lightning bolt?

>>35646970

No Cobalt Smasher, that might kill it. Dismount and stab it while it's distracted.

>>35646970
Forgot to add, we're probably going to need to fly to Caliban, so there is another reason not to lightning bolt it.

OP, I keep forgetting to ask, but the Cherub's descriptions says that its weapons can be adapted for general purpose Hellion use. Since so much of the weapon research comes from scaled down Red Comet tech, would it be possible to scale up Cherub weapons for the Comet?

>>35647028
Not with those tentacles in the way we don't. I was betting that the low VSG charge (and our current aiming problem) would lessen the blow enough to leave it barely alive while clearing the path.

>>35647060
>Joker kills the thing
>"Sorry, do you have another one? I accidentally melted it."

>>35647122
Haha oh god, I can only imagine.
>Joker comes out of the tunnel
>armor is fully repaired
>"I'd like to cancel my preorder, the one you demoed fell apart during stress testing. Next!"

>>35646890
OP, what can we actually do once we catch Caliban? I mean, can we use it for research options? Upgrade it? Make more or derivative types?

>>35647213
Have you somehow missed the big fat "ASSIMILATION FACILITY" option in the Hollow Sun guide?

(Gentlemen, any consensus on a course of action?)

>>35647213

(There are three options in the Assimilation Facility, which result in escalating levels of physiology and mental enhancement. Generally, higher levels of enhancement mean that the Corrector loses some of it's unique abilities, but conversely becomes easier to control.)

>>35647181
Not killing it is as difficult as killing it. EXEC_Dictum: Surrender (or Submit) might probably not work. Do we pin it down somehow, and hope it's intelligent enough to know that it has been beaten ?

>>35647235
>>35647226
But that doesn't answer what increasing control means and also, if we fully process a corrector, can we make more?

>>35647271
... would Correctors even understand we're using verbal commands at them? Or is this some sort of "mental rewiring/Geass-levels of control"?

We're a bit far from Kraken's levels of Eldritch Charisma.

>>35647271
Come to think of it, might this one understand speech, or at least the tone of it, as it is supposedly a more advanced Corrector ?
We can't simply headbutt it, like we did with Ogre.

>>35647284

(To be specific: You're fitting a Corrector with Hellion parts, in order to control it. The most basic level of enhancement are a series of implants, that inflict pain until it obeys your instructions.

The second is a physical rebuild, replacing a portion of the creature's form with a Hellion-derived frame so that it can be physically compelled to follow your orders.

The third effectively rebuilds the Corrector from the outside-in.)

>>35647235
Cobalt Smasher or Induction Blasts until high speed regeneration slows down.

>>35647271
>>35647305
Dictum doesn't work on Correctors. It's in the description. And as a horrible hellbeast, it has two settings labeled FIGHT and RUN and it can't do the second.

>>35647284
We turn it into a cyborg under our control. The more energy we put into the process, the more control we get, but the more likely it is to lose some special abilities.

Oh, on that note, OP, what does that Augmentation Engram do anyway?

>>35647339
Stage 1: Shock Collars
Stage 2: Invasive surgery to the brain
Stage 3: Full Terminator

>>35647305

(Or you could simply use the Cortex Spike on it.)

>>35647284

(No. You're rebuilding a unique creature, and the creature's abilities are tied up in its physical existence.)

>>35647357

(It increases the success rates of the surgery, and allows for more extensive options.)

>>35647339
So I'm assuming that option 1 means that it will occasionally disobey, there will be a delay in our commands and it can try to kill us.

>>35647379
Can you clarify what you mean by extensive options?

>>35647370
Interesting to note that Argent's been doing something very much like 2 or 3 with his Pretas.

>>35647401
Option 1 means when it disobeys it gets a shock, and it'll disobey frequently because horrible-monster-made-for-killing.

>>35647422
Given the abilities it has thus far displayed, I consider option 1 the best so far.

Maybe see if we can upgrade the Hunger Dogs or use them similarly...

Oh, if only we could use Imago long-term.

>>35647444
Hell nah. This thing's strong enough that anything less than 100 would be crazy. We can keep it in stasis indefinitely, so let's buy an Engram down the road and put this guy to the big knife. Pity that high-speed regeneration is almost certainly off the books.

>>35647379
Cortex Spike does seem like the best option, (hopefully that will almost finish it off)

>>35647484
Wait, remind me again of what we'll do with this thing if we ever manage to not mangle it and drag its body back to the Hollow Sun?

A gruesome pet of sorts? A personal attack dog?
Or something similar to Kraken's own Corrector horse?

>>35647484
Gotta disagree. This isn't a guy who will be using willy-nilly; he's a killing machine. A super weapon. When we throw him onto the battle-field, we don't need total control, we just need to guide him.

We should definitely Engram him but getting rid of all or most of his abilities for more control? That's pointless.

The furtherest we should go with him is 2. Going past that removes all point of capturing a Corrector as its their abilites which make them dangerous, not their stats. If we wanted strong but dumb automatons, we could stick with Hellions.

>>35647529
I think that comes down to what Engram will give us and how much we break in this thing.

>>35644161
>Caliban

This is all I want right now.

Though...if there's a Caliban...

Will we become Setebos, or will we kill him? And if we become Setebos, will Mio become Sycorax?

>>35647505
Near, please read the Hollow Sun pastebin. The Cortex Spike isn't a weapon, it's a Corrector Pokeball.

>CORTEX SPIKE: A cohered spike with deep-embedded silver filaments, the CORTEX SPIKE is a device used for the efficient capture of Correctors. Upon incapacitating a likely subject, the SPIKE has to be driven into the subject - Usually the cortex or the brain-analogue - whereupon it infiltrates into the Corrector's nervous system, broadcasting a signal to allow for a teleport lock. This process takes several minutes: When it concludes, the Corrector is transported to a prepared Stasis Chamber in the Hollow Sun for observation and conversion.

>>35647529
Another trump card. Semi-disposable, fire and forget, don't have to feel bad when it's gone. Potential to be a superweapon.

Also great at parties.

>>35647401

(It varies. I'll most likely make them unique to the specific Corrector.)

Caliban is pinned, down. The ground cracks, as it strains against the impaling stakes - That bulbous, tumorous form writhing, fighting to build charge - the talons of its remaining hand clawing against the ground, deep, keening shrieks of fury boiling from those half-melted features-

It *hates*. Tendrils lash out, in every direction at one - flailing, thrashing, cracking the air like whips. A threat-display, to keep another predator at bay: Claws slicing the air bright and lethal, flesh bulging and crackling in genuinely disconcerting ways. This is the fury of a hunted animal that chews off its own leg to escape from a trap - The boar that runs right up the spear to get at the hunter, a frenzy both elemental and utterly without pause...

You have a perfect shot. Power ambles, as the shimmering field of the Red Comet's shield collapses, even as it recharges: A new note in the serene hum of the emitter, building to a ominous, cycling shriek. The Red Comet's reactor throbs with death-heat, rectifiers pulsing with new charge-

A flash. A blinding discharge, motes flickering in the air as the light gathers-

And a beam of white searing light spits forth, with a noise like the amplified shrieks of eagles. The streaming ray blasts into Caliban - A thick, clotted fog of atomised tissue boiling forth, black Lachryma vapor bleeding from hideous gaping rents in the pustulant flesh; It thrashes, howls, in a shriek of incandescent fury - But that's agony in that shriek, now, a burbling wail that slices the air like a knife.

(Continued)

>>35647662
>>35647571

Vile organic matter puffs into the air, as the Red Comet's cockpit slides open: Filament lines retract, disengaging from your armor, the GARM sinking to its knees as you leap out - Abruption Jets flaring to carry you across the narrow distance, Tempest Scrander igniting with furious blue life-

On foot, the scale of things is completely different. The pinned Corrector is like a furious mountain of flesh, that biting maw gnashing, drooling spittle - The meat-beast bleeding vile blood and viler ichor, blubbery, went punctures in the thing's flanks-

Lightning slashes at you. You have the Sinistral up, and the ghost-steel splinters beneath the denuded bolt: Wild, unfocused, but still enough to check you a step, your sensors clicking, whirring, resolving a target through the churning fog-

Bone-claws slice the air, a wild swing. Tendons snap, in the Corrector's arm - Both only for a moment, as they begin to knit back together, squirming like worms. This close, Caliban is something out of a nightmare - Blood weeps from the open orifice on it's gut, a deep, rending split in the stale white hide...

But *still alive.*

Still alive, and recovering faster than you could have imagined.

HP: 257.5%
COBALT BOOSTER: 117%
ASSAULT SHROUD: 21%
METER: 28%
LUCIFER BITS: 1/5

YOU HAVE CONTROL

>>35647564
Who knows. Imago is a Prospero, though.

>>35647555
No, we definitely want him under control. The description of the level 1 control system says that it's less and more effective on certain Correctors. This guy has lungs so big they break out of its chest cavity. To motivate it with pain you'll need it to be excruciating, which is as likely to berserk it as get it moving in the right direction. And since pain is a debuffing status effect, it won't be as effective as it should be.

Besides, there are abilities that are more and less likely to carry over. Regeneration is not, but breath weapons and electricity generation are entirely within the ability of the Hollow Sun to replicate.

Last but not least, the entire game is about establishing control. If we don't do that to the best of our ability we're bound to pay for it.

>>35647678
Oh god. Activate the Carnifex now, go into a boosted flying lunge. Do NOT use C2, it's attacking wildly and desperate animals know that fire means people. Go for the back of the neck and plant the spike.

Emulate the Sinistral. Did we absorb the lightning tic? That carries over when Emulated, right?

>>35647739
No, what's the point of making yet another mindless automaton? We already have those. We need this thing intact; you don't take a unique creature and cripple it and you're making it sound like we'll be using Caliban a lot.

Plus, we don't know if this thing will recover damage between sessions. if we follow your idea, Caliban could simply build up injuries until its absolutely useless.

The Hollow Sun is not so ineffective a machine that the wiring it puts into Caliban will prove useless. We'll be able to direct it and control it. So what if he isn't a scalpel? Something this size isn't meant for subtlety anyway.

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>>35647564
I still want my Corrector Dragon that shoots lasers

>>35647739
>If we don't do that to the best of our ability we're bound to pay for it.

So we're getting the rest of the Augmentation Engram upgrades before putting it the knife right?

>>35647904
We know it'll regen when not in use. The Hollow Sun fixes stuff that gets put into it.

We probably won't use Caliban very often. Teleportation costs are a function of mass, size and invested Essence, and this sucker's on the same tier as the Red Comet. 100-120 Cobalt, easy.

There are way more advantages to a full conversion. With just the level 1 we're severely limited in how we can direct it and what we can do with it tactically. We don't dare risk using it in close quarters with our other assets, which means we can drop it behind enemy lines and run away ourselves and that's about it. Which isn't bad, but there's so much more we can do with it. And I do trust the Hollow Sun, I just don't trust Correctors. More is more, here.

Ah, and the secret advantage: This thing is ugly and evil looking. The more roboticized it is the less of a reputation hit deploying it is.

>>35648024
At least one, maybe two. There's some stuff we absolutely need for tomorrow, and I'd like to get the Neutronium mine going. Industrial quantities, kek.

>>35648105
Well it's a giant Malformed Slug man thing not much you can do to make it look less spooky or disgusting

>>35648105
Your bad habit is acting up. If you have a plan, share it.

>>35648105
We don't know that at all. Correctors are different and if it can't make more of Caliban, it might not be able to fix him.

Plus, Caliban without his regeneration is just a weaker Red Comet. Who cares if it can shoot lightning or vomit fire? The Red Comet can use way more and, if we give it a simple AI, will be just as independent as a lobotomised Caliban will be. There's no point.

If we drop it behind enemy lines, we'll waste it and this who task was pointless. We also have no idea how little or how much control level 1 gives us; it could be mild control, it could be just jabbing it with a sharp stick.

Also, a Corrector is a Corrector. We knew the Petra were Correctors straight away, people will know Caliban is a Corrector. Plus, all sides are using them now. Why not us?

>>35648163 also, pretty much what this anon said. A Caliban who can heal AND do stuff besides that AND fight on its own is more useful then just a down-graded Red Comet.

>>35648163
Well, we can turn it into a giant robot slug thing. That usually goes over better than rotting flesh monsters.

>>35648192
It's not much of a plan. Needs Condemner and Mentiroso. Bait Kouichi into a samurai style duel via dramatic sword standing. Charge. Blind him with as powerful a Tyrant flash as possible and go invisible. Send a shroud double in to get ganked, use Exec_Dictum to freeze him. Plant Athame in arm.

>>35648200
What will reception be towards seeing a half-mad dying-and-regenerating giant monster we control by "inflicting pain until it obeys" vs. a controlled alien robot? And yes, it is jabbing it with a sharp stick.

I think the tradeoff here is armor and no internal organs vs. high speed regeneration. Caliban didn't have much energy resistance, as we saw once we started properly roasting him. And we desperately don't want Caliban fighting on its own, because it'll fight everything instead of what we want it to find.

File: jokermaximum.jpg (40 KB, 640x358)

40 KB JPG

>>35647739

The Carnifex snaps into place. The new scar in the metal - A jagged, angry line - stands out starkly against the silver crusher, filaments dispersing, linking with your internal systems-

...As your armor vents, explosively. Ablative spalling fills the air, as you hurl yourself forward - Mono-optic sensor giving way to the thin line of your visor, a jet of thrust flinging you up, up and out of reach as you clear those lethal claws by the span of a meter. Witchfire discharge flickers across your accelerating form - A half-cohered bioelectric blast, enough to blur your sensors to momentary static, to send spontaneous jags of misfiring signals through your frame.

-But then your Abruption Jets kick in, wrenching you away with abrupt suddenness, as Caliban's head twists to follow you...

Fire boils forth. Sour-hot, smoky, boiling across you, scouring the paint from your armor - You wrench the Sinistral up against it, as the Emulator Module throbs with answering power: A *second* fiercely fizzing ghost-steel shield materializing. A phantom image, a quantum duplicate - None of that matters, the shields' edges meeting as fire licks at your heels, slowing your final descent.

It never stops. You are engulfed in flame, bathing in it - If you had flesh, you'd feel it begin to char, roasting slowly in your own armor. The Assault Shroud catches fire: Being this close, Inertia Field on not, simply slows the rushing flames - just long enough - for you to see it coming.

And your right hand punches forward, with all the force you can summon. Plunging through the boiling air and the flames, aiming for the sole point of weakness-

(Continued)

>>35648200
Woah there I wouldn't go as far to call it a downgraded Red-Comet especially because of the
>AUGMENTATION ENGRAM I (Allows for more effective augmentations in the Assimilation Facility.)

That's only level one who knows how many levels there are? Like all things it'll need some testing before a definitive conclusion arrives.

Honestly I wouldn't mind getting a second chamber and using a different corrector as a prototype before we do Caliban also remember his biggest advantage even over the Regen is the fact that Kracken ain't got shit on Cali. So we should definitely try with another less valuable specimen

>>35648365
That's.... a good point. Wata did ask for a Corrector even Kraken wouldn't dare control. Kinda makes me a bit nervous about going as low as 100 there.

>>35648351
But Caliban can't be somewhere without us being present so I have no idea why you're talking about "fighting on its own". Plus, we're using a mech. No way most Players have the firepower to dent it like we do.

Reception matters fuck all now that its end days. All the factions hate each other anyway and we're the only people not using Correctors so nobody can say anything. And you're just assuming with the stick. We may be able to plant ideas in its head and THEN force it to move. Also, his regen is his best quality.

>>35648365
I think this is the most prudent idea we've had so far.

>>35648429
Hollow Sun works differently to Kraken's control. He can't brute force it like we can. Its more like he lulls them into servitude.

With Caliban, I imagine it will be a servant that hates us no matter what. But there's no such thing as a tame Corrector.

>>35648434
Actually, I think most 100 meter weapons are perfectly capable of denting Red Comet, and some could probably destroy it outright. Plus Kraken has his sacrifice cannon.

And what I mean is pretty simple: We summon Caliban and tell it to guard a building while we go in. Option 1 Caliban makes that risky, he'll want to do his own thing. Option 3 Caliban poses no problem to that, and moreover we can tell him to let certain people through instead of killing them horribly.

Then there's basic ambush tactics. Option 1 Caliban isn't likely to stay in the part of the Hive we want unless we're standing over him. Option 3 Caliban will, meaning we can attack from one side in Red Comet and he can pincer.

And why in god's name would pain goads let us plant images in his brain?

Hm, this argument isn't likely to move us forward. OP, could you explain the Corrector assimilation system in more detail at a later date?

>>35648467
Helions don't hate they just are. I assume due to the fact were converting it into a faux hellion of sorts we can override aspects of its base nature. Like its entirely irrational hatred of us I mean we're such a lovable guy. Look we're jamming our love into its spine.

Anyways more testing is required

Plus I wouldn't mind having a giant flying teleporting silver and gold laser beam shooting cyber man slug thing it's not a dragon or wolf but it'll do

>>35648362

The dense point of the Cortex Spike punches into Caliban's upper maw - Distended jaw yawning impossibly wide, as the sickening flames roil across your form - gouging through the flesh of the soft palate...

-And into the Corrector's brain.

The fire cuts out. Within the Spike, tiny, tiny filaments are already expanding, sinking deep as Caliban judders like a fish on the rook-

Then comes the flash. A low, brilliant glow, a supernova you've already glimpsed three times today - The *bang* of molecular displacement, when weapons are requisitioned from the Hollow Sun.

And Caliban vanishes, in a swirling haze of blue light. The Corrector's howls continue to echo, sickly flames licking at your heels; Gone, but not forgotten - A stasis chamber, impossibly distant yet impossibly close, walling up to receive the new prisoner.

> CORRECTOR CAPTURED:
> CALIBAN (CLASS: A)

The explosive thunderclap echoes in the tunnels. On your armor, fires continue to smolder, your helmet charred so black the color has dulled to nothing...

But then you rise.

The Carnifex's crusher snaps open, the rush of your accelerated senses diminishing - Half burned-black, half-red, the sand fused to glass undefoot.

And you think:

It's a start.

JOKER QUEST

EPISODE 110

TO BE CONTINUED

>>35648623

(Gentlemen: My sincerest apologies, but I'm utterly, utterly exhausted. I'd love to continue, but I fear that the quality of writing would diminish; I'll be happy to discuss the Assimilation Facility's systems next time, or provide a write-up.

Good night, and God bless: You've been a wonderful audience, and I hope to see you again soon.)

>>35648645
Thanks for that OP, have to love any chance to do Super Robot Punchout. Have any idea when you'll be able to run again?

>>35648656

(Good question. It's close to exams on my part, and my schedule is likely to be busy. At the same time, however, I'd love to conclude this mini-arc.

Most likely the weekend, then.)

>>35648546
>>35648529
Yes, but you're heavily castrating Caliban's abilities to do this.

I mean, if you want a massive titan to guard things for you, lets just give the Red Comet an AI and have it perform these tasks. There's no point in wasting Caliban to do so when we can just make the Red Comet do the same thing. Correctors shouldn't be mindless automatons, but directed destructive forces. Plus, how the fuck are we going to ambush someone with something that's possibly bigger than the Comet?

Well Wata, how else can we communicate with the Corrector? There has to be some method for us to instruct it, otherwise its just getting hurt for no reason.

>>35648623
>Class A

Jesus fucking Christ, there's stronger Correctors than him. Much stronger. Makes me curious as to what rank the Sisters of Fate were.

>>35648704

(To be fair: Class A is a standard that applies to Correctors of a certain level of power and beyond, with no upper limit.)

>>35648726
I thought there was an S rank?

>>35648669
Cool. Best of luck on those tests. Or study. Up to you.

>>35648704
Uh, Corrector ranks go from E to A. This is as strong as a Corrector gets, theoretically. And it turns out the Moriae were "Cryptids" which seems like a fancy word for Correctors.

And we'd zap Caliban the same way people use cattle prods in real life. Shock it on the opposite side of the direction you want it to go. That's what the line about natural ferocity is about: they're completely uncontrolled outside of the directions we push them in, so they take out their frustration on everything around them.

>>35648754

(I might revise the categories later, to account for ranks about A.)

>>35648704
Let's look at Cali's advantages
>Only Corrector that Spits on Krackens words and ideas
>"There is...one."
>Fucking Huge
>Strong as fuck
>Electric death storms
>Holy fucking shit that's hot fire breath
>Shitload of tentacles and mouths
>Regeneration
>Angry and fucking hates everything
Where's the advantage in leaving its super fucking angry and hating everything over POTENTIALLY adding things like more guns and armor?
>i) At 50% charge, focused Excruciator Implants and pain-goads are implanted into the Corrector, allowing the user to assert a crude form of control by remotely inflicting pain until the Corrector obeys. While the fastest and most efficient way of conversion, not all Correctors respond well to this form of 'treatment' - However, the process allows the Corrector's form to remain intact, and puts the creature's natural savagery to use.
I don't think Cali would like that especially

>ii) At 100% charge, the Corrector's frame is augmented with neural overrides and limiters derived from Hellion armor, effectively enclosing it in a 'shell'. While the Corrector's form remains mostly intact, the Corrector's motor control is overridden, allowing the user to control it directly - Similar to directing Hellions in combat.

If anything we should get all Engram upgrades and just go for level 2 unless at level 3 we get to the real good stuff

Really think we should find either another A class or one lower and do some testing

>>35648917
We don't add guns or armour.

What happens is, its physical stats are boosted but it loses abilities. Like the tentacles, the fire, the regeneration and the lightning.

Again, I did say 2 would be a good choice too. As would testing.

>>35648778
How could we communicate ideas to it then? Or commands? It uses shocks to force it to do things but we have to be able to command it.

>>35649153
>We don't add guns or armour.

>{Citation Needed}

>What happens is, its physical stats are boosted but it loses abilities. Like the tentacles, the fire, the regeneration and the lightning.

Wait wut? Why would it lose the fire and lightning? How could that not be replicated? The Regen understandably Tentacles could probably be replaced with some form of whips or something

>>35649329
It loses abilities. JQ never said what it keeps and what it loses or how much it will lose. Also, JQ never mentioned anything about adding guns.

>>35648917
The question is if the Engram applies before or after transformation.
If it's after, I'd expect additional research options, like for the GARM.
This means that we might be able to add functionality.

I wonder if we can start at the 50% option and later upgrade to 100%.

Also, I'm for 100%. We don't need a nightmare monster with exposed lungs. We need a nightmare monster that looks awesome and has a red paintjob.
Can't have a Joker unit without a red paintjob.

>>35649499
Look, lets just capture a less important Corrector, go Mengle on that and decide what to do with Caliban? Wasting the best seems stupid.

>>35649622
Good idea.
The issue is, that this will require a huge amount of charge.

...In the meantime, our Corrector will basically be a nuke.
We can teleport it into the field even without augmentations, right?
It would make sense. Weakening it enough to recall it would be problematic, though.

>>35649660
NO. No we can't. We need to be able to control it. Otherwise, he'll ruin everything. Imagine trying to fight this fucking thing without the Comet.

>>35649799
>Imagine trying to fight this fucking thing without the Comet.
That's the point.
A very angry area denial weapon.

>>35650096
But we won't be bale to control it, so there's no point in unleashing it.

>>35648623
You know, I sometimes wish we'd gone down the Corrector route. They're like my favourite part of the setting and always have such cool powers and designs.

>>35650235
The natural state of a Corrector is to fuck shit up.

>>35650337
It's a terrible idea.

>>35650251
There's still time

Maybe we can unlock further functions of the assimilation facility. Integrate Caliban. Become Red Joker/Kraken 2.0.

>>35650710
>Become Red Joker/Kraken 2.0.
Nonononono
NO
We are the last dude to NOT go fullretard Lachryma/Corrector corruption.
We need to be pure. Even White Joker is now less pure than us.

>>35650710
I'd love that.

>>35650725
White Joker was never pure I think.

What's interesting is that, while parallels are drawn between us and WJ, Black Joker is always ALWAYS extremely different and other.

>>35650725
When we saw Baby Kraken doing his first graft, he didn't use Lachryma at all, IIRC

Also, we are already dicking with correctors in our GIANT RESEARCH BASE. We're planning to create a corrector/machine hybrid for use as a weapon. If you wanted to stay pure, you have failed.

>>35650750
>White Joker was never pure I think.
Look at the descriptions. They focus on his lost purity.

>>35650990
There is a difference between a very nasty attack dog and grafting that dog's lungs into your chest.

>>35651085
Anything to give us an edge.

>>35651101
Yeah, let's go off the deep end.
Do you also want to kill Natsumi for essence?

Also, grafting Correctors would have a major impact on our relationship with our allies.

>>35651101
Corrector material is a net downgrade for Joker.

http://youtu.be/ODWCuFTO-yQ

Git hype?

>>35651101
Joker's edgy as fuck already with his fish-hook attacks and the horrible shit he does to people already..

>>35651250
You're just being retarded and shitposting, stop it. Your second point is quite valid.

>>35651258
We don't know that and I find it doubtful considering that's what Rust Kaiser, Black Joker and Kraken use. Canker Eater destroyed us yesterday.

>>35651085
Using Correctors at this point is impossible because it would totally go against character development, I agree with you.

I am just personally annoyed because, as said above, I find Correctors to be one of my favourite parts of this quest, due to their creative design and powers and how horrible and disgusting they sound.

I'd have loved if we'd used them more or perhaps gone down that route earlier on.

Makes you wonder how the rest of the players will react when RJ deploys the Hollow Sun army and his own brand of Correctors when shit hits the fan.

>>35650990
Of course he did, he hemorrhaged it.

>>35652644
Corrector material isn't compatible with Joker at all. It's never been an option.

>>35654195
Mass panic, confusion, and terror for people on the receiving end. Same as him just showing up, really.

>>35654620

Joker seems to be outright immune to corruption, while the White Joker is not. It seems like his armor is subtly messed-up in some way.

Imago is also kind of an old, evil fucker, too.

>>35655586
You know the two cases when you're immune to an infection? When you're actually immune, and when you're a carrier. I wonder if Joker really is immune, or if he's already infected and just doesn't notice.

>>35655586
>>35654620
I find that extremely doubtful, given how similar we are to the white joker and the fact its been hinted the Black can taint us.

>>35658012
Considering we were in a Corrector-based augmentation facility and it said Red Joker had no affinity for it? And that the Lachryma slides right off RJ?

>>35643317
>>35643391
>>35643455

So the White Joker isn't completely evil, after all. Either that or he finds a certain kind of evil repulsive. Also, is that our Carnifex he's wearing?

>>35661103
No, there's only one Carnifex.

>>35661862

Yeah, but this happened a long time ago. So I was wondering whether we each have a Carnifex, or we have the one he was using back then.

>>35661905
So far as we know this one belonged to old Joker. Since all Relics are unique, it means White Joker had it before Akira took it.

>>35643272

I've compiled a list of motivations, when trying to follow the Quest. Correct me if I'm wrong, but these should be accurate.

- Smilers: Find a way into Paradise, as per the Black Cardinal's teachings.
- White Joker: Resurrect Kotone.
- Argent: Preserve the status quo at all costs.
- Rust Kaiser: Protect Megumi. Destroy everything else.
- Bell Zephyr: Protect Rust Kaiser.
- Hyades: Become Chalice Queen.
- Hellebore: Make her daughter Chalice Queen.
- Black Joker: ???

>>35663892
Argent wants to transform+gentrify the city using the Red World. He's in a holding pattern right now because he's realized something's wrong but hasn't seen the threat.

Otherwise that looks about right. Black Joker may or may not want to let the continent Corrector into the real world. Hard to say, it's so alien.

>>35663949
>Otherwise that looks about right. Black Joker may or may not want to let the continent Corrector into the real world. Hard to say, it's so alien.
Wait, I thought the huge-ass thing in the memory *was* the Black Joker.
Also, is the memory really a memory?
If it is, we should be able to walk in, despite having no armor.

>>35662193
I wonder if we could do some kind of relic exchange with our allies.
Everyone lists their relics and their capabilities and then we barter.
(Obviously we wouldn't list the Shroud or the Scrander or the Carnifex)