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+--- Thread: Out of Light, Into the Dark (/showthread.php?tid=744)
Out of Light, Into the Dark - Proto Man - 12-11-2014
“I think I’ll take the forest fire,” Mireya muttered as the group stepped out from the gate and surveyed the land in front of them.
Unlike the dense, tree-filled Tangled Green, the landscape in front of them stretched on to the horizon, with only a few distractions in the form of copses and Darkshire. The town itself, a few miles away from the triumvirate, looked as sad and downtrodden as the gloomy, haunted landscape. Despite the fact that it was still the early hours of the morning, there was very little light given off by the town. Only a handful of smoke pillars trailed up from the myriad chimneys that poked above the ‘skyline’ of Darkshire.
“Is that where we are headed?” Mireya inquired, turning her attention to the two preteen-sized androids.
“That’s a place called Darkshire,” Proto Man remarked as he pulled up a data readout on his internal display. “It used to be the heart of the Kingdom’s colonial holdings before Diablo’s army turned the Moors into what it is today. Nowadays it’s in a gradual decline and under continual harassment from all sorts of terrible things.”
“Sounds just wonderful,” the nomad retorted as she glanced back at the gate to the Nexus. Proto Man knew that Mireya had spent a great length of time in Camelot, but he doubted the half-night elf had traveled anywhere outside her sphere of familiarity. While the overall geography of the Pale Moors was similar to Camelot, the atmosphere was utterly different. Remarks from travelers spoke about a ‘heavy air of desolation and grief’ that hung on you like a blanket. Proto Man lacked the necessary parts to genuinely experience that, but he had seen some pretty dreary places. Parts of Monsteropolis, New York City, and Coruscant all came to mind.
“I’m sorry,” the red robot offered as he looked up at the moon. “Sometimes I am glad I’m not a true human, because it means I have at least a little more strength when dealing with emotions.”
“You said it.” Snake Man added as the serpent took a few steps in front of the trio. “Personally, I think I’d like this place. So many shadows… And how about all those clouds? Crime in that town must be terrible.”
“There’s a lot of segregation in the town,” Proto Man read from a screen he’d just pulled from the Dataverse. “Crime is nonexistent in what remains of the affluent part of the town, while it can become a veritable free-for-all in the poorest parts of town.”
“Good to know.”
“I vote we keep our time there short,” Mireya muttered as the group slowly started across the empty field that led toward the walled city.
While he agreed with the woman, the robot’s reasons were more for the sake of time than comfort. “We just need to see if there are any leads on this Blight. I highly doubt we’re the only travelers who have tried to investigate it.”
- Proto Man - 12-13-2014
“What business do ye have in Darkshire?” The young man who stood at the top of the gate house held a crossbow in one of his hands, but he had it pointed at the ground. He wore leather armor that had certainly seen better days, and while his features lacked scarring or bruises, it was clear from his eyes that he hadn’t lived an easy life thus far. To his left and right, two skeletons in chainmail were staring down at the trio.
“We’re trying to track down the source of the Blight,” Proto Man shouted up to the gate keeper. “We had hoped that we might stay in your town a few days while he try to find some leads in our investigation.”
Oddly enough, the young man let out a soft chuckle and shook his head in disbelief. “The Blight? As in Blight with a capital ‘B’?”
“Yes… Is that amusing?”
Another little laugh came from the formerly skittish guardsman. “It’s been over eighteen months since I last heard someone shout up something very similar to that. Were you friends of those two women? Do you know if they escaped or not?”
The man had gone from somewhat skittish to giddy in the matter of a few sentences, which had Proto Man furrowing his brow. At a loss for an appropriate response to the string of questions, the android just shook his head. Upon seeing the wordless response, the guardsman’s shoulders sagged. After a silent moment, he turned around and vanished from site. A beat later, the portcullis in front of the trio started to creak and groan as it was slowly winched up into the stone structure around it. As it continued to rise up off the pale ground, the man from up top appeared from behind a wooden door between the two portcullises, dipped under the gate, and extended his hand to Proto Man.
“I’m Dobson Skendor, Brevet Garrison Commander and Senior Gate Overseer. For what it’s worth, I want to welcome you to wholesome little Darkshire.” It was obvious from the man’s faint smile that the last part of his introduction had been intended as sarcasm (something Proto Man still struggled occasionally to understand). “I’ll relay a signal to the guard tower near the main square. If you don’t mind, I’d like to escort you there personally.”
“I don’t think we mind,” the preteen machine replied after glancing back at his comrades to see the clear lack of minding displayed on their features.
“Then, by all means, please follow me.”
Re: Out of Light, Into the Dark - Proto Man - 12-18-2014
If you compared it to Tier Six, Darkshire looked like a beautiful little town. Unfortunately, even the most abysmal places looked like diamonds compared to the almost-basement of Coruscant, and the town of Darkshire was no exception to that rule. Dobson escorted the trio through the main thoroughfare, which bisected one of the worst parts of town as it wound its way toward the district that contained town hall and the other pillars of bureaucracy that supposedly kept the place afloat in the sea of despair that is the Pale Moors.
Along the way, Proto Man noticed a few things that he wouldn’t soon forget. Chief among those was the site of reanimated skeletons patrolling the town’s walls and leering soullessly from various sentry posts and turrets that helped to reinforce Darkshire. In the time he’d been in the Omniverse, Proto Man had seen his fair share of strange and uncomfortable things, so the fact that this failing town used necromancy to guard its walls didn’t seem too unbelievable. The preteen machine had read about Darkshire, and he knew its role as the bulwark against Diablo’s army, but he didn’t expect the place to be in such a miserable state.
“I don’t need to see your eyes to know that you’re not impressed, my little acquaintance.” Dobson, who didn’t seem any older than twenty, smiled himself as he pointed to a large building at the other side of the square. “That’s the City Hall, where the mayor holds office hours and runs the town.”
“Looks very… plain,” Mireya muttered, highlighting the fact that very little set aside the seat of power in Darkshire from the other buildings that lined the sparsely populated square. In fact, the structure looked as if it’d been repaired in about a half dozen locations.
Dobson chuckled. “It used to look nicer, but we had to tear out many of the materials used to construct the original building.”
“Why?” Proto Man asked.
“We melted down the metals to create weapons, and what wasn’t suitable for smithing we used to fuel magic spells that were integral in repulsing the frequent assaults during the war. Since then, the town just doesn’t have enough of an influx of goods to justify such frivolous expenditures.”
It was a depressing story, but once again, Proto Man had seen worse than Darkshire. The people who lived in extreme poverty in the underside of Coruscant often had to live under sheets or inside rusted requisition crates.
“Clear a path,” Dobson told the two guards that stood in front of City Hall’s unimposing doorway. “These primes are here to have an audience with Mayor Boone.” The trio exchanged quick glances before they decided it was better to just pass themselves all off as primes, rather than risk diminishing their status. In front of them, the guards likewise glanced at one another before nodding their heads and stepping off to the sides.
With a smile, Dobson opened the door and ushered the trio from the Tangled Green into Darkshire’s City Hall.
Re: Out of Light, Into the Dark - Proto Man - 01-02-2015
City Hall on the inside was only a slight improvement over the exterior. After a winding corridor, Dobson ushered them into what must have doubled as a meeting room for a town council or something similar to it. The walls were covered in giant, curtain-like clothes that weren’t that pretty but were probably much more attractive than the weathered, unpainted walls they concealed. Behind the bottom of the wall-length curtains, Proto Man spotted several stools and chairs, all meticulously stacked and stored. Near the far wall of the theatre-sized room, a solitary podium stood on an elevated platform. In front of the speaking stage, the robot spotted a collection of fancy yet clearly worn-out chairs.
“This is the Council Chambers, where the Town Council meets to discuss matters with the Mayor and the garrison leadership.” Dobson explained as he led the group passed the podium and through a door in the back. They were ushered up a flight of nondescript wooden stairs and down an equally unimpressive hallway. The last door on the right entered into what appeared to be a private apartment. To Proto Man’s left was a small library with a solitary desk illuminated by a low-burning oil lantern.
“Mayor Boone?” Dobson asked as he ushered the trio through a short hallway and into what appeared, for all intents and purposes, to be someone’s living room. Only a pair of wall scones offered any light in the room. “These three primes are here to have an audience with you.”
The mayor seemed a bit ill at first sight. His heavy clothes were tightly clenched around what appeared to be an otherwise gaunt figure. Even in what seemed to be his private living quarters, every part of the man’s body was covered in fabric, except for his face. It could have been the light, but Proto Man noted that the mayor’s skin seemed a little too pallid. “Why hello there and welcome to Darkshire,” the man’s voice was that of a patrician, but something about it seemed almost hollow. “It’s been a while since I’ve spoken with primes.”
“They’re here to investigate the Blight, Mayor Boone.”
Upon hearing that word, the Mayor’s yellowed eyes narrowed, and he shifted in his chair before turning his attention briefly to a map on the wall. “It’s been a while since I’ve heard that word. Are you also emissaries of the High Priestess?” That comment seemed to be directed at Mireya, who scoffed.
“No,” she barked before falling silent once again.
“I see,” the Mayor said with a smile that revealed teeth that seemed a little too white. “Then you do this of your own accord?”
“Yes,” Proto Man replied as he lifted his arm cannon, revealing the runic inscriptions around the barrel. “There is another prime in the wilds of the Pale Moors that serves as the source of the Blight. We’re here to locate and banish this prime and end the Blight.”
Mayor Boone lifted an eyebrow, revealing that this information was probably new to him. “Do you have any leads on what you’re seeking?”
The preteen android shook his head. “That’s why we’re here in Darkshire. We were hoping we might be able to find some leads as to where the Archdemon may be hiding itself.”
“We recently had some activity in the forest close to town. Necromancers trying to build an army of undead followers…does that sound like something your demon may do?” Before he got a response, the mayor stood up from his chair and walked over to the map tacked to his wall. He pointed with a gloved finger to a spot north of town. “They were destroyed in these woods. It’s probably the highest concentration of monsters within five miles of town in the last few weeks. You could investigate out there yourselves.”
“Sound like a plan?” Proto Man asked to his two companions, who offered nods and seemed more than ready to get out of the poorly illuminated apartment. “Then I suppose we’ll be off, Mayor Boone. Thank you for your time.”
“If you need anything else, young Dobson here will be more than willing to help,” the mayor added before the two could turn and leave. “I’d also recommend asking around town for anyone who may have heard about your Blight.”
“Thank you,” Proto Man said as the trio and Dobson departed the apartment.
Once they were in the hallway outside, the young military commander paused. “I must stick around for the mayor’s next audience, but if you need to get in touch with me, just go to garrison headquarters. Someone will be dispatched to find me.”
“That’s very nice of you,” Proto Man shot back as he led his two partners down the corridor. Halfway to the stairs, they had to pause to let three men squeeze around them. One of men wore the usual military garb of any Darkshire officer, but the other two seemed foreign despite their attempts to wear the town’s equipment. One of them had a bronze shield on his back and a fire in his eyes unlike any the preteen android had seen. The last, a tall man with a regal appearance and aquiline features, glanced down at Proto Man and flashed him a grin that made the machine more unsettled than anything he’d seen since leaving the Tangled Green.
Once the trio of men were gone, the two Robot Masters and their half-night elf compatriot made their way back out into the streets of Darkshire.
Re: Out of Light, Into the Dark - Proto Man - 01-10-2015
“You think we’re going to find anything out there in the woods?” Snake Man asked.
It’d be a few hours since the trio had met with the mayor, and since returning to where they had rented a room, they hadn’t decided to head out just yet. By the time they had left the town hall, the sun was beginning its descent toward the horizon, and while they were a capable group, none of them were ready for what went bump in the night out in the wilds of the Pale Moors.
“I think our problem is that we’ll find too much out there,” Mireya responded as Proto Man nodded his head in accordance. “We’ll probably face much worse than anything that the Tangled Green had to offer.”
Proto Man chuckled as his attention shifted to the room’s small window. Despite the height of the town walls, they’d found a room high enough to let him see out into the fields that surrounded Darkshire. “This is monster paradise once you leave these rickety walls.”
“I’m not afraid of monsters.” To prove her point, Mireya hurled one of her short spears into the nearby wall.
“I don’t plan on paying for that,” Snake Man muttered before grinning and relaxing down into his bed. Much like Proto Man, he didn’t need to sleep like a human would, but that didn’t mean he would turn down an opportunity to lie down and think a little.
“Let’s just all make sure we’re ready to roll out in the morning. We’ll want to have enough of a start to make some good ground before we have to camp,” Proto Man said as he likewise settled onto a bed.
“Sure you don’t want to just make this a day trip?” Mireya asked.
“Waste of time leaving and having to head back before dark.” The preteen machine shot back. “Like you said, I’m not afraid of monsters.”
Re: Out of Light, Into the Dark - Proto Man - 01-17-2015
For some reason, the Pale Moors didn’t feel too bad.
Maybe it had something to do with Proto Man’s inability to experience true human emotion or true human responses to outside stimuli. As the trio ventured further from Darkshire, the preteen machine would glimpse at his two allies. While Snake Man seemed a little more observant than normal, Mireya appeared more unnerved than he had ever seen her. The huntress, who had survived in the wilds of the Tangled Green for who knows how long, never once kept her gaze in one place. Even following their fight with the blighted Wood Man, Mireya looked unnerved, but something about the atmosphere of the Pale Moors was getting to the woman in a manner that Proto Man was unable to feel or experience.
“Are you okay?” He finally asked as the group came to within a quarter mile of the dense patch of trees where the town’s garrison had battled the necromancers.
It took her a moment to realize he was talking to her. “Y-yes, of course.” She shot back without looking back at the android. “There’s just this… heaviness to the air here that I’ve never felt before. It feels like the entire place is trying to smother me. “
“You’re having trouble breathing?”
“It’s not like that,” Mireya responded after recalling the synthetic nature of her two travel companions. “When you have hot or humid climates, the air feels heavy because of moisture. That’s what I felt when I went to the Vasty Deep for a few weeks, but this is something totally different. “
“Strange.” Snake Man muttered as they paused in front of the tree line.
“It’s just psychology…” the half-night elf added. “It’s no wonder most of the people in that town looked like they were about to kill themselves. The atmosphere of darkness and despair in this place is enough to do that to people, let alone the demons and monsters and all the other terrible things rumored to live out here.”
“Glad I don’t have to worry about that stuff,” the serpentine machine stated with a faint smile as he knelt down. Setting his buster on the ground, his companions watched as a series of mechanical snakes slithered out form the barrel. Without looking back, they vanished into the underbrush and into the woods. Their creator stood back up and glanced over to his companions. “They’ll scout ahead of us and relay any information or danger back to me.”
With that, the trio entered the woods in search of blighted beasts and undead creatures.
Re: Out of Light, Into the Dark - Proto Man - 01-24-2015
The woods of the Pale Moors were actually pretty similar to the dying forests of the Tangled Green.
The trio trudged across dried earth, eying desiccated and withered trees along the way. Every now and again, they’d hear something creak or rattle in the distance, but aside from a few jumps, they went uninterrupted as they traced the path taken by the Darkshire garrison soldiers.
It took them a few hours, but they eventually stumbled across what looked to be an unearthed graveyard. As far as the eye could see, the area was covered in shattered bones, broken weapons, and tattered rags. The only thing that would have told them this was a recent development was the fact that there were two somewhat fresh corpses within sight. One of them was twisted, grayed, and somewhat shrunken beneath what had once been fully-fitting chain mail. The other bore a few dozen stab and blunt trauma wounds.
“This is horrible,” Mireya muttered as she crouched down next to the partially shriveled corpse. “What terrible sort of creature do you think did this to him? It is as if the life had been drained right out of him.”
“Probably nothing quite as bad as whatever happened to his friend over here,” Snake Man shot back as he looked over the second victim. “This is definitely where those soldiers fought their necromancers, but there doesn’t seem to be any indication as to what direction the monsters came from.”
“The same place we’re going to send you,” a menacing voice whispered from the trees as the trio rose to attention and turned their eyes toward the surrounding woods. All around them, sneering, slobbering darkspawn stepped out from the trees. From where the voice had emanated, a taller creature emerged, holding a heavy staff in his left hand and a book in his right.
“What are you?” Proto Man shouted as the barrel of his Proto Buster started to shimmer.
“Your demise,” the creature replied as he threw forth his staff and released a bolt of lightning at the trio.
Re: Out of Light, Into the Dark - Proto Man - 01-31-2015
The preteen machine yelped and dove to the right as fast as he could. He hit the ground hard and had to roll hard to the left to avoid the oncoming hammer blow from a screeching monster. Planting his shoulders, he swung up the barrel of the Proto Buster and released the shotgun-like blast of energy at his attacker. The blighted humanoid let out a gurgling shriek before toppling backwards. With half of its torso blown away by the blast, it wouldn’t be standing back up anytime soon.
Venting the shotgun gases out the barrel of his arm cannon, Proto Man rolled over onto his stomach and hopped up onto his feet. His eyes immediately searched the clearing for his companions, but before he could spot either of them, he was beset by a pair of stout, armored darkspawn. One of them lashed forward with a mace, smashing Proto Man square in the chest with the weapon. The robotic youth let out a whimper and stumbled backward, nearly losing his momentum as he brought his weapon to bear on his attacker. Before he could fire a shot, the second creature dove at him, tackling Proto Man to the ground.
There was a silver flash that preceded the dagger punching down through the softer, unreinforced part of Proto Man’s shoulder. The red robot bit down on his lower lip to hold back a yelp as he smash the barrel of his weapon into the side of the creature’s head. As he tried to sit up, he had to use the Proto Buster to intercept an oncoming mace swing, but even with that small victory, his eyes caught the flash of light that came right before the lightning bolt connected with his chest and gut.
For a brief moment, everything was stars and white circles, and Proto Man even feared that the blast had knocked out a few of his motor systems until he was able to ‘feel’ his feet jiggle. When his visual display was back to normal, he found himself about fifteen yards back from his previous position. Judging by the small path of destroyed trees in front of him, his flight hadn’t been a pleasant one for anybody.
“Kill the prime!” The magic-wielding darkspawn bellowed from the clearing as darkspawn began to pour into the path that the boy’s body had made. With a grunt, Proto Man wrenched himself free from what remained of a ruined pine tree and stumbled forward a few steps. Unlike the last few scuffles, he had some breathing space, and he planned to take advantage of that.
A flash of white light consumed Proto Man’s form, forcing the darkspawn to shield their eyes or be blinded momentarily. When they lowered their arms a few moments later, their intended prey was decked out in additional armor plates. In his formerly free hand, the preteen now held a large shield. With a grin, Proto Man leveled his glowing weapon with the approaching horde. “Finish Buster!” He shouted as the deluge of energy erupted from the barrel of the weapon, bathing the darkspawn in light, heat, and death.
Out in the clearing, the darkspawn emissary winced as the yellow beam tore out through the forest, scattering those underlings that it failed to obliterate outright. With a grimace, the magic-wielding creature looked down at his tome and beckoned it to the page he desired. A grin stretched across the monster’s gaunt features as he looked up to see an augmented Proto Man staring at him from across the opening in the otherwise dense forest.
“Where are my friends?” Proto Man demanded, glancing around for any sign of his traveling partners. In the distance, he heard the sounds of snapping branches and crushing leaves, but those noises were receding into the distance at a frantic pace.
“Scattered to the winds,” the tall darkspawn rasped as the gemstone atop of his staff began to glow. “Did you really think you stood a chance? That one prime would be able to stop him? You are a foolish little child.”
Proto Man frowned as he started to walk toward the mage.
“Come to your death then,” the emissary rasped as he slammed his tome shut and grabbed his staff with both hands. Swinging the old piece of wood forward, he aimed its glowing tip at Proto Man and snarled as a concentrated lance of energy erupted forth.
Without skipping a beat, Proto Man planted his shield into the ground and rolled to the left. The mighty attack blasted through his abandoned bulwark and slammed harmlessly into the forest as the red robot popped up to his knees and fired a charged burst of energy at his foe. The dense projectile connected with the gemstone that decorated the emissary’s staff and exploded—shattering the glowing jewel into a thousand sparkling shards.
The change was instant and almost thunderous.
The darkspawn dropped his ruined weapon and recoiled, almost as if he’d been shot square in the chest. With a dull thud, he fell back onto his haunches before his entire body seemed to break apart like dust. While the display was impressive, it nevertheless robbed Proto Man of his only means of extracting intelligence from the upper-level darkspawn.
A sigh slipped from the robot’s lips as the additional armor plates vanished from him in a flash of light. Reaching up to his shoulder, he grabbed the dagger and ripped it free, eliciting a small flurry of sparks in the process. As he was about to drop the weapon, Proto Man noticed some strange markings near the base of the blade. He took a snapshot and ran the results through a dataverse search engine. A few moments later, a new window told him that the markings were similar to the little letters placed onto coins that marked where they had been produced. The particular design was from an old forge used by the Kingdom during the war with Diablo. Where was said forge located?
Proto Man sighed as his overlay indicated that he had to travel deep, deep into the Pale Moors before he’d reach what had been a small village at the height of the Kingdom’s power.
Re: Out of Light, Into the Dark - Proto Man - 02-13-2015
The words of the paladin were true, and within an hour, Proto Man found himself reunited with his two companions. When they were initially attacked, they had both sprinted off and wound up lost in the forest. By the time they found one another, through a mixture of Search Snakes and Mireya’s natural ability to track, Proto Man had already stumbled upon the encamped group and left with them. The two trackers had trailed the group and were about to set out to find out the fate of their third member when Proto Man was made aware of their presence by the paladin’s scout.
“We’re fortunate to have found one another,” Mireya muttered as she wiped the still damp ichor from the point of her glaive. “This forest isn’t getting any nicer.”
“We’re close to the forests that surrounding Silent Hill,” Proto Man responded as the pair forged a path to the northeast, taking them on a path that would lead them away from what would eventually become Raccoon Forest proper. This was the route toward what had once been the village of Durnhill. From what he’d read, the village had the misfortune of being very close to the source of Diablo’s armies, and because of that, it became one of the first contested landmarks when the demonic forces poured forth from the Black Gate. While it thrived, the village never stopped smelting weapons, which was why the dagger held the villa’s insignia.
“So you believe that this old village will have some secret?” Snake Man asked as the group paused at a spot where the river forked apart in three directions.
“The Blighted mage we fought may have been a resident of the place.”
“You think it’s the source of the Blight?” After asking her question, Mireya stooped down on the river bank and ran her fingers through the dark water.
“Maybe not, but I think it’s our best lead so far.”
Re: Out of Light, Into the Dark - Proto Man - 02-17-2015
The Village of Durnhill was a desolate and forgotten place.
It was clear that it had once been a pretty little village, as there were still the remnants of garden plots and formerly maintained walkways adorned with what may have once been lampposts. Most of the plain wooden houses and huts were decaying and collapsing in on themselves—a testament to a few years’ worth of rain damage and neglect. If the village had only been the old walkways and derelict houses, Proto Man and company may have had a somewhat pleasant yet morose meander through Durnhill.
Instead of that, they quickly noticed two things that were ‘off’ about the place as they approached it. From his research, Proto Man knew that the village had made a living off of blacksmithing due to its proximity to the more heavily contested regions during the war with Diablo. Amidst the collapsing homes, more than a dozen smokestacks of various sizes jutted up, but it wasn’t the smokestacks and little foundries that were unsettling to the trio.
What was unsettling was the fact that each and every stack was belching smoke into the sky. As they drew closer, they also saw the local graveyard had been unearthed. Each and every grave had been torn up and emptied, although none of it looked as if it had been done recently.
“This doesn’t look welcoming,” Snake Man muttered as they approached the edge of the village.
“Stay on your toes,” Mireya whispered as her eyes began to dart to her peripherals. “This is a prime spot for an am—”
Just like that, the two nearest huts exploded outward as a half dozen darkspawn fell upon the trio. Before they were diced apart, the triumvirate split apart, but unlike the last time, they’d practiced this protocol before and weren’t about to be completely separated by the enemy. As Proto Man fell back along the walkway, his color palate switched over to off-white and dark green. Over his right forearm, a Leaf Shield materialized as his left hand became a Proto Sword. When the first darkspawn came swinging at him, the youth parried away the oncoming weapon and plunged his energy sword into the creature’s gut, burning through armor, flesh, and bone.
Proto Man continued to fall back as three more fel monsters swarmed around him. He managed to repeat the same maneuver only one more time before a mace found the side of his head and knocked him off balance. As he stumbled, Proto instinctively kicked off the ground. The extra boost in his pneumatically-enhanced shins launched him away the weapons of his opponents tore into the earth beneath his former location.
Landing on his knees in a less than graceful fashion, Proto Man twisted his torso, deactivated his sword, and started to fire indiscriminately at the four darkspawn vying to overwhelm him. One of them took a pellet of plasma to the face and fell into a screaming heap, but most of the shots were either off mark or smashed against armor that refused to yield. As the darkspawn approached, Proto Man was able to take a moment to verify that they weren’t equipped like the others he’d fought. Their arms and armor were not only freshly made, but they were also augmented and seemed to glisten in the poor natural lighting of the Pale Moors.
Enchantments? Such magically-enhanced equipment had been common when the Kingdom was at war with Diablo, and it wouldn’t be a stretch of the imagination that such operations had been done at Durnhill during the Terror War. But the darkspawn were wearing new armor with fresh enchantments, which meant something in their ranks had access to the powerful magic needed to magically enhance equipment en masse. If he didn’t know better, it looked as if the darkspawn were trying to build an army much like the one that had once terrorized the Pale Moors.
With a grunt, Proto Man righted himself and popped up to a standing position just in time to fire a shotgun burst straight up into the chest and face of the nearest darkspawn. There was the first syllable of a guttural roar before the monster’s face was reduced to ash and cinders.
Twisting to avoid the now inertia-propelled corpse, Proto Man vented the Buster and was trying to bring it to bear on his next foe when a shadow fell over him. The next instant, he was face-first on the ground and someone was clawing at the back of his helmet. Offffffffff! Planting his palms into the dirt, the android shoved up with all his might and managed to dislodge his attacker. Pulling his legs out from under the darkspawn, Proto Man planted them in the ground and jumped, using his heightened leaps to give him a little breathing room.
He hit the ground a few yards away from Mireya, who was fighting with far more grace and poise than the red robot. Each of her movements with her bladed polearm was fluid and smooth, despite the speed and veracity with which she struck down her foes. A few yards away, Snake Man grinned from the roof of a hut as a few dozen robotic snakes swarmed a collection of about eight darkspawn. When one of the blighted warriors tried to get close to the reptilian Robot Master, he would just fire a blast of energy into its face, ending that threat there and then. From the pile of corpses, it seemed like Snake Man’s strategy worked rather well.
As he turned back to his own problems, Proto Man took another blow to the side of the skull. This time he absorbed the blow and used it as an opportunity to put a hole through the gut of his attacker. From point-blank range, the shotgun-like burst of energy ate through the darkspawn and erupted out the other end with enough remaining force to knock over the next creature in line. Proto Man rolled around the first darkspawn and felled the injured one with a sword jab through the forehead. He then pulled up both his arms in an X as an improvised way to avoid the oncoming sword. The weapon screamed as it screeched across the barrel of the Proto Buster, leaving a nasty scrape but failing to find purchase on the sheen metal surface.
Another shotgun blast flashed in the dead village, and just as before, the sound was followed seconds later by the loud crash of a heavily armored body hitting the unyielding earth.
Re: Out of Light, Into the Dark - Proto Man - 02-17-2015
The skirmish dragged on for another ten minutes before the village of Durnhill fell silent once more.
After the fighting, there wasn’t much left standing except for a handful of huts and the various forges. Everything else had been blasted, smashed, or knocked over during the chaotic scuffle. The three members of the group had survived, but they were all wearing nasty bruises and cuts. Only Snake Man walked without a slight limp as they made their way toward the village’s central forge. Of all the large buildings, it was the only one that was still belching smoke—the rest had ceased to do so after their attendants ran off to confront the invaders.
As they passed the smaller blacksmithing areas, Proto Man was able to easily confirm his idea that the darkspawn were outfitting an army. Each little forge had a small cache of weapons and armor, all freshly smelted and forged. At a few, it was clear that the smith had rushed to outfit himself and knocked over the perfectly stacked piles in the process.
“They’re using this place to outfit an army,” Mireya muttered, leaning on her weapon as they made their way toward the main forge. Neither of the machines did more than grunt, because both had come to the same realization earlier. “We need to make sure we destroy all of these on our way out.”
“We need to deal with that first,” Proto Man replied as he pointed to the structure built around the main forge. While the rest of the village had been wooden huts and small homes, the main forge building was made from brick and larger than all abodes in Durnhill combined. Unlike the rotting and aged wood that marked its smaller neighbors, the forge seemed pristine, almost as if someone had gone through the effort of scrubbing and washing it. As they drew closer, they noticed that the doors were wide open.
“This feels stupid…” Snake Man whispered. “We’re going to go in there and get mauled, aren’t we?”
“Of course we are,” Mireya replied as Proto Man readied his weapon. If they were going to be attacked, he was going to make sure he fired the first—and biggest—shot.
With grim thoughts in their head, the battle-weathered trio crossed the threshold and entered Durnhill’s central forge. Almost immediately, their eyes were drawn to the giant furnace that dominated the far wall. The grated hatch was flung open and the fires inside raged brighter and hotter than anything the three had experienced. To the left of the furnace, an eight-foot tall humanoid stood and watched them with a scowl on his face. Although vaguely human, the blacksmith’s flesh was a dull shade of crimson, and parts of his exposed skin were hardened and had the appearance of scales. In his right hand, he held a large hammer, and in his right, he gripped an equally oversized pair of tongs used for handling raw materials in the forge.
“I take it you’re the blacksmith?” Proto Man replied as he glanced around to see that the rest of the forge was empty of living organisms. The android turned his gaze back to the smith as his scanners worked over the creature. “You don’t appear to be a darkspawn.”
“A darkspawn?” The demon boomed, his voice filling the forge. “Do not belittle me by associating me with that filth.”
“Then identify yourself,” Mireya rasped as she stepped forward, the tip of her weapon swinging down so it was in line with the creature’s chest.
“I am Azreal, one of the many demons who forged the weapons of Diablo’s armies. When the Black Gate was sundered, I found myself stranded on this side and cut off from my master. I languished for years before some lowly prime sought me out for my services.”
“The Archdemon?”
“That’s what they call her?” Azreal laughed. “Just because you’re a prime doesn’t make you an ‘arch’ anything. She can create all the little blight monsters she wants and spread her little disease to the far reaches of the Omniverse, but Scylla will be nothing more than a lowly plague vector cowering in the shadows of the Black Gate.”
The archdemon is at the Black Gate… Proto Man glanced down at the banishment runes still engraved around the barrel of the Proto Buster. He held back a smile but couldn’t help feel a little better knowing that they were one step closer to ending all of this.
“We’ll send her your condolences,” the red robot replied, prompting a grin to spread across the demon’s visage.
“You’ll be sending nothing. I’m not going to overlook the fact that you cost me a few dozen good slaves.” Azreal took a sudden step forward and threw his tongs straight at the preteen machine. Rather than try and dodge, Proto Man simply swung up his gun and fired the blast he had been gradually charged since before they entered the building. There was a brilliant flash of blue as the beam screamed out of the barrel, consuming the impromptu projectile and carrying on across the forge, ripping up the stone floor in the process.
With a scowl, Azreal dove to the wayside as the beam slammed into the wall next to the forge and easily cleaved through the masonry. As the lights faded away, the demon blacksmith rushed forward and swung his hammer, catching Proto Man square in the right shoulder. Before he was thrown off his feet and through the far wall, the machine felt his shoulder joint crumple like an aluminum soda can. A groan escaped the machine’s now bruised lips as he struggled to right himself from underneath a pile of freshly deconstructed bricks.
Seeing Proto Man battered aside, Mireya dashed forward. The half-night elf spun on the balls of her feet and drove the blade at the end of her polearm up into the demon’s left armpit. Azreal clenched his teeth and swung his hammer, missing the nimble woman but obliterating her weapon.
The opening was all that Snake Man needed to pounce. Dashing forward, the serpentine machine lunged and landed on the demon’s chest. One clawed hand found the creature’s huge neck as the other started to release a continuous burst of energy into Azreal’s face. The demon wavered before falling backwards, but Snake Man didn’t relent until his foe lie still underneath him.
“We’re getting good at this,” Snake Man said to Mireya as he glanced over his shoulder at the night elf.
Unfortunately for Snake Man, he didn’t glance through the slowly clearing fog at the blackened visage of the demon—the blackened, smiling visage. “Not good enough, serpent.” Before the reptilian Robot Master could react, one of Azreal’s massive hands shot up and closed around the back of his neck. The thick fingers crushed down around Snake Man’s neck, and although the material resisted for all it was worth, the raw strength of the blacksmith was more than enough to do the trick. With a snicker, Azreal yanked his hand up, tearing much of the robot’s spine from his body.
Re: Out of Light, Into the Dark - Proto Man - 02-17-2015
The prototype Robot Master managed to free himself just in time to watch Snake Man crumple into a mutilated heap next to Azreal, who proceeded to stand up and brush off his soot-stained armor. “Snakes are a nuisance no matter where you go, it seems.”
Mireya drew a curved sword and moved in to attack, but the demon simply stepped forward and closed his own hand around hers. A beat later, the blacksmith squeezed, smashing the night elf’s fingers against the grip of her own weapon. “Elves are so frail.” Azreal snickered as he lifted his prey up off the ground by her hand.
“Curse you,” Mireya rasped between clenched teeth as she fumbled for another weapon. As she did, Azreal tilted and picked up his hammer.
“Any last words, Elf?”
“I have two for you!” Proto Man muttered from behind the demon. “Finish Buster!”
Azreal’s eyes widened as the blast of energy slammed into the small of his back, consuming his armor and boring its way through his flesh. The moment his grip relented just a little bit, Mireya swung her legs up and used the demon’s massive chest to kick off and away from him before the wave erupted through his gut. A beat later, the giant mass of charred clothes and red flesh slammed against the stone floor of the foundry. Proto Man, whose right arm still hung limply at his side, clenched his teeth and dropped to his knees. He didn’t experience pain in the human sense, but the damage to his external and internal structures was wreaking havoc with everything else.
Rerouting his power from his ancillary systems, Proto Man half-walked, half-dragged himself over to Snake Man, whose eyes still had a fleeting amount of fire behind them. “I can’t feel my limbs, Prodigal,” the reptile whispered, his voice like that of a ghost.
“I’m sorry I dragged you into this,” Proto Man said as he pulled the failing machine up into his lap.
“Oh don’t give me that,” Snake Man replied, trying to force a smile onto his face but lacking the power to do little more than make the corners of his mouth twitch. “It was my decision to go beyond the parameters of my original mission. I’m a grown machine… I can make my own choices.”
“You still deserved better than this.”
“We all do, Proto Man,” Snake Man muttered, his words become slightly garbled. “Just do me a f-f-favor and ban… banish that archdemon. She’s got too much of our family’s blood on her hands now…” With a final, wheezing rasp, Snake Man’s eyes rolled back into his skull, leaving Proto Man cradling the dead corpse of yet another of his half-brothers. Knowing this wasn’t her place, Mireya silently walked outside to make sure they wouldn’t be ambushed by more monsters.
With a frown, Proto Man reached up and shut the other Robot Master’s eyelids. He then sat there and rocked the broken body in his hands for a minute or two before it started to glow. As sad as it was, he knew what happened next, and thus, he said a final goodbye to the snake and set the body down onto the stone floor. The corpse sparkled white, and just before it exploded into swirling globes of light, Proto Man saw the colors of the rainbow flash across the still form of Snake Man.
Lifting up his head, Proto Man clenched his jaw as the orbs swirled around him and then vanished into his systems. His color palate shifted to white and dark green. As the prototype Robot Master wobbled his way up to a standing position, a pop up on the corner of screen flashed every few seconds.
‘-SN- Get Equipped with Search Snake!’