So I got myself a duped weapon? The problem being? It's no different to handing a high level mag to a lvl1 character and allowing them to stomp normal mode flat (if you don't do this, why not? It gets you to lvl 20 in like 3 hours) anyway I have no intention of taking anything duped online, when online I will play legit, I don't want to ruin anybody's fun, I just wanted a J-sword.
Psilo held up her hand indicating a stop, it seemed that after 20 solid minutes of investigating this dead end room she had finally found something.
"What is it?" Ryzada asked, looking over Psilo's shoulder
"I need a light, a bright one."
Ryzada thought about the flashlight that she had "borrowed" from Crimson, the one that he had installed a 240 watt bulb in, her Apsaras dutifully dropped it into her hand. Psilo grabbed the torch from Ryzada and flicked it on, even the light reflecting off of the metal wall was enough to dazzle her.
"Its maybe a little too bright, but thank you anyway." Psilo held the light almost parallel to the wall. As she expected tiny shadows appeared, there was now a message written across the wall in a flowing script
when twice 1 is 10 and half of 10 is 101 what is 7? At the same time that the message appeared a light sensitive cell activated and a small panel slid back to reveal a numeric keypad with the numbers 0-9 on it.
Ryzada looked at the writing puzzled "Where did this message come from?"
"It's an old trick that used to be used by smugglers, you make tiny scratches in a wall and if you do it right the shadows make letters." Psilo replied
"How do you know about it if it's a smugglers trick?"
"Never mind that, we have another bloody riddle to sort out."
By this time Kilili had wandered up to take a look.
"That's really stupid" She remarked after reading the question "Asrith is supposed to be a genius but he can't even count?"
"No you idiot" Psilo snapped "It's obvious that he isn't using a standard method of counting, it's a math problem."
"Whatever, we can just guess on the keypad can't we? Its not like we have a limited number of tries."
"Fine, be my guest" Psilo sat down with her legs crossed "I'm going to figure out the answer without taking all day
Kilili walked up to the keypad and punched in some random numbers, a voice issued from a small speaker.
"Incorrect, access denied." An electrical discharge threw Kilili across the room, she climbed uneasily to her feet.
"I don't think guessing is going to work" She muttered and then cast resta on herself, she sat down moodily and tried to comb down her now frizzy hair using her fingers.
"I think I have it" Psilo declared. "Logically if half ten equals one hundred and one, and twice one equals ten, the answer is one hundred and twenty one. It's so simple, you just add the two numbers together, Asrith must be a total moron."
Psilo got to her feet and tapped the number 121 into the keypad. "Incorrect, access denied."
She followed Kilili's path across the room slamming into her friend both of them landing in an ungainly pile on the floor. When she got back up there were still sparks arcing through her hair.
"I don't understand it, that has to be the right answer, it's the only number that logically fits." She muttered
"Who ever said Asrith was a logical person?" Ryzada said "I don't think he is counting the usual way." She remembered how the clock on Crimsons PC used the Greek alphabet instead of numbers. Wait a moment, computer? They didn't count the usual way either and there was a conspicuous lack of high digits in Asrith's little puzzle.
"Binary"
"What?" Psilo looked at Ryzada "What in the hell is binary?"
"Umm it's the language computers talk in."
"And it helps us right now because?"
"That's what Asrith used in the math, just ones and zeros."
"I still don't follow"
Ryzada gave an exasperated sigh, was this how Crimson felt when he tried to explain things? "It's not twice one equals ten, its twice one equals one, zero."
"Oh, now it all makes perfect sense to me" Psilo feigned a look of enlightenment then discarded it "No, wait, it doesn't."
"I think I get it" Kilili was still trying to get her hair flat "Does it mean that half of ten is one, zero, one not one hundred and one."
"Exactly" Ryzada nodded
"Well congratulations on your epic discovery, what's the damn code!" Psilo obviously didn't enjoy idle chatter when there was something to be done.
"One, one, one" Ryzada said confidently and punched the code into the keypad, there was a musical chime and the keypad panel slid upwards to reveal a large red button. Ryzada reached into press it and then stopped.
It was a little too obvious, she looked more closely, there was a small green button right in the bottom corner, she pressed that one.
Luckily Psilo and Kilili were in a position to catch her as she flew backwards. The computerized voice from before spoke in pleasant tones.
"Don't try to be so clever."
"I'm not a violent person, but when we find Asrith, I'm going do some very un-pacifistic things to him." Ryzada muttered
Psilo nodded her agreement.
After pressing the large red button half of the wall disappeared into the floor. There was now a clear corridor and a plain room could be seen at the end of it.
"Not another damned puzzle." Psilo growled
"Sorry" Ryzada apologized "but I think there will be many more puzzles and probably a few traps along the way."
"Oh well" Kilili said brightly "We'll solve them as we get to them."
"Provided none of them kill us." Psilo added pessimistically
"There shouldn't be too many lethal traps" Ryzada was confident "Asrith won't really try to kill us until the end."
"Oh, Yay"
"Was that sarcasm Psilo?" Kilili asked
"No, I'm genuinely happy that a madman wants us dead, but plans on toying with us first."
"Okay okay, I get it, give it a rest please."
"Fine, we need to get moving anyway."
They walked on to the next room, what annoying and pointless puzzle would they encounter this time? Kilili fervently hoped it was something a little more hair friendly than the last one.
Over at the coliseum Crimson and company were busy readying themselves for combat. Crimson was checking his sniper obsessively, Alice was mentally reviewing the tips that Tatsu and Chimpus had given her, Magus was sat cross-legged and apparently in some sort of trance and Mei was checking her hair in a mirror. Tyra and the as of yet unnamed android were making no such preparations, they had entered the room ready for combat.
As Crimson finished some minor tweaking with his sniper and Mei was finally happy with her fringe a tournament official opened the door and informed them in a rather rude and abrupt manner that they were to make their way to the combat area.
They walked out in pairs, Alice sticking close to Crimson, Mei firmly attached to Magus and Tyra and the android walking determinedly ten paces ahead of them. When the group reached the arena they were slightly stunned from the cheering of the crowd and the brightness of the spotlights. This match apparently warranted a full commentary.
"Well Bobba, this is it, the first pit fight in pioneer history, how will this group stand up to the creation of doctor Robinson?"
"I have heavy bets on the hunters winning this one Jim, it looks to be a well balanced team tonight, though if I were leading this group I'd switch one of those forces for a ranger"
"Don't make such rash decisions Bobba, Alice Arke has proved herself to be a talented force at both range and melee and we are yet to see how Mei Lung performs, but as she is the ally of choice for the mysterious Mr Black, I think we can safely bet that she has a lot of power packed into that little body."
"I don't know about you Jim, but that Mr Black gives me the creeps."
"You said it Bobba, I wouldn't like to meet him on a dark night. But anyway back to the match, any second now the steel doors will open and Grishdal will make its appearance.
There was a dull boom at the other end of the arena and the sound of operating gears. The steel door sank slowly into the floor to reveal darkness, and out of that darkness shambled a creature of nightmare. Eighteen foot tall with legs like tree trunks the thing moved with an ape like gait swinging forwards on arms that had no hands but simply tapered off into a blunt cone. The beasts face was unreadable as it blinked in the bright light of the arena. It had no mouth and three vertical slits seemed to serve for its nose. Its eyes were large and bloodshot, darting this way and that and from the back of its head protruded multiple tentacles, much like those that acted as its arms except smaller. The whole thing was covered in reptilian scales that formed natural armour for the thing.
"Wow that's a really big monster" Mei pointed out unnecessarily.
"Thank you for pointing that out to everyone who failed to notice." Magus' sarcasm was lost on Mei
"You're welcome Ma- I mean Mr Black" she called back cheerfully.
Magus sighed, upon reflection maybe Mery would have been a better choice of ally? There was no time to think more deeply on the subject as Grishdal leaped across almost one hundred and fifty meters of sand, landing before the party with a phenomenal thud. It drew an arm back and aimed a punch at Tyra who rolled to one side and avoided it. The creature's arm seemed to change mid-punch. It somehow elongated giving it what should have been impossible reach and the smooth rounded end changed to a narrow and solid point, which crashed into the stone side of the arena. When Grishdal returned its arm to its side it left a large hole in the wall.
This was going to get interesting, thought Magus as he reached inside his cloth shirt and withdrew a pair of well balanced daggers. Very interesting indeed.
High above the arena, standing perfectly still atop the lights a shrouded figure watched the progress of the fighters far below. There was definitely something about this "Mr Black" the figure mused to herself. Obviously it was Magus, the hunter she had met in the caves, but there was something more to that, something even more familiar about him. It was getting difficult to remember things from the past, but they were still there, and when she remembered why she knew Magus then it was time to have some fun.
Yeah okay, a long time writing for a short chapter, so sue me. Its been hard finding time to write, don't want to do it when my family is about, they would want to read it. And recently I've been sleeping at more sensible hours so I've been gaming more and writing less (found an excellent ROM for dragon warrior monsters) but worry not! I'm back to staying awake at night and sleeping at day and so at 3am I'll be writing more chapters, spare a thought for me as you rest in your comfortable beds.
Psilo held up her hand indicating a stop, it seemed that after 20 solid minutes of investigating this dead end room she had finally found something.
"What is it?" Ryzada asked, looking over Psilo's shoulder
"I need a light, a bright one."
Ryzada thought about the flashlight that she had "borrowed" from Crimson, the one that he had installed a 240 watt bulb in, her Apsaras dutifully dropped it into her hand. Psilo grabbed the torch from Ryzada and flicked it on, even the light reflecting off of the metal wall was enough to dazzle her.
"Its maybe a little too bright, but thank you anyway." Psilo held the light almost parallel to the wall. As she expected tiny shadows appeared, there was now a message written across the wall in a flowing script
when twice 1 is 10 and half of 10 is 101 what is 7? At the same time that the message appeared a light sensitive cell activated and a small panel slid back to reveal a numeric keypad with the numbers 0-9 on it.
Ryzada looked at the writing puzzled "Where did this message come from?"
"It's an old trick that used to be used by smugglers, you make tiny scratches in a wall and if you do it right the shadows make letters." Psilo replied
"How do you know about it if it's a smugglers trick?"
"Never mind that, we have another bloody riddle to sort out."
By this time Kilili had wandered up to take a look.
"That's really stupid" She remarked after reading the question "Asrith is supposed to be a genius but he can't even count?"
"No you idiot" Psilo snapped "It's obvious that he isn't using a standard method of counting, it's a math problem."
"Whatever, we can just guess on the keypad can't we? Its not like we have a limited number of tries."
"Fine, be my guest" Psilo sat down with her legs crossed "I'm going to figure out the answer without taking all day
Kilili walked up to the keypad and punched in some random numbers, a voice issued from a small speaker.
"Incorrect, access denied." An electrical discharge threw Kilili across the room, she climbed uneasily to her feet.
"I don't think guessing is going to work" She muttered and then cast resta on herself, she sat down moodily and tried to comb down her now frizzy hair using her fingers.
"I think I have it" Psilo declared. "Logically if half ten equals one hundred and one, and twice one equals ten, the answer is one hundred and twenty one. It's so simple, you just add the two numbers together, Asrith must be a total moron."
Psilo got to her feet and tapped the number 121 into the keypad. "Incorrect, access denied."
She followed Kilili's path across the room slamming into her friend both of them landing in an ungainly pile on the floor. When she got back up there were still sparks arcing through her hair.
"I don't understand it, that has to be the right answer, it's the only number that logically fits." She muttered
"Who ever said Asrith was a logical person?" Ryzada said "I don't think he is counting the usual way." She remembered how the clock on Crimsons PC used the Greek alphabet instead of numbers. Wait a moment, computer? They didn't count the usual way either and there was a conspicuous lack of high digits in Asrith's little puzzle.
"Binary"
"What?" Psilo looked at Ryzada "What in the hell is binary?"
"Umm it's the language computers talk in."
"And it helps us right now because?"
"That's what Asrith used in the math, just ones and zeros."
"I still don't follow"
Ryzada gave an exasperated sigh, was this how Crimson felt when he tried to explain things? "It's not twice one equals ten, its twice one equals one, zero."
"Oh, now it all makes perfect sense to me" Psilo feigned a look of enlightenment then discarded it "No, wait, it doesn't."
"I think I get it" Kilili was still trying to get her hair flat "Does it mean that half of ten is one, zero, one not one hundred and one."
"Exactly" Ryzada nodded
"Well congratulations on your epic discovery, what's the damn code!" Psilo obviously didn't enjoy idle chatter when there was something to be done.
"One, one, one" Ryzada said confidently and punched the code into the keypad, there was a musical chime and the keypad panel slid upwards to reveal a large red button. Ryzada reached into press it and then stopped.
It was a little too obvious, she looked more closely, there was a small green button right in the bottom corner, she pressed that one.
Luckily Psilo and Kilili were in a position to catch her as she flew backwards. The computerized voice from before spoke in pleasant tones.
"Don't try to be so clever."
"I'm not a violent person, but when we find Asrith, I'm going do some very un-pacifistic things to him." Ryzada muttered
Psilo nodded her agreement.
After pressing the large red button half of the wall disappeared into the floor. There was now a clear corridor and a plain room could be seen at the end of it.
"Not another damned puzzle." Psilo growled
"Sorry" Ryzada apologized "but I think there will be many more puzzles and probably a few traps along the way."
"Oh well" Kilili said brightly "We'll solve them as we get to them."
"Provided none of them kill us." Psilo added pessimistically
"There shouldn't be too many lethal traps" Ryzada was confident "Asrith won't really try to kill us until the end."
"Oh, Yay"
"Was that sarcasm Psilo?" Kilili asked
"No, I'm genuinely happy that a madman wants us dead, but plans on toying with us first."
"Okay okay, I get it, give it a rest please."
"Fine, we need to get moving anyway."
They walked on to the next room, what annoying and pointless puzzle would they encounter this time? Kilili fervently hoped it was something a little more hair friendly than the last one.
Over at the coliseum Crimson and company were busy readying themselves for combat. Crimson was checking his sniper obsessively, Alice was mentally reviewing the tips that Tatsu and Chimpus had given her, Magus was sat cross-legged and apparently in some sort of trance and Mei was checking her hair in a mirror. Tyra and the as of yet unnamed android were making no such preparations, they had entered the room ready for combat.
As Crimson finished some minor tweaking with his sniper and Mei was finally happy with her fringe a tournament official opened the door and informed them in a rather rude and abrupt manner that they were to make their way to the combat area.
They walked out in pairs, Alice sticking close to Crimson, Mei firmly attached to Magus and Tyra and the android walking determinedly ten paces ahead of them. When the group reached the arena they were slightly stunned from the cheering of the crowd and the brightness of the spotlights. This match apparently warranted a full commentary.
"Well Bobba, this is it, the first pit fight in pioneer history, how will this group stand up to the creation of doctor Robinson?"
"I have heavy bets on the hunters winning this one Jim, it looks to be a well balanced team tonight, though if I were leading this group I'd switch one of those forces for a ranger"
"Don't make such rash decisions Bobba, Alice Arke has proved herself to be a talented force at both range and melee and we are yet to see how Mei Lung performs, but as she is the ally of choice for the mysterious Mr Black, I think we can safely bet that she has a lot of power packed into that little body."
"I don't know about you Jim, but that Mr Black gives me the creeps."
"You said it Bobba, I wouldn't like to meet him on a dark night. But anyway back to the match, any second now the steel doors will open and Grishdal will make its appearance.
There was a dull boom at the other end of the arena and the sound of operating gears. The steel door sank slowly into the floor to reveal darkness, and out of that darkness shambled a creature of nightmare. Eighteen foot tall with legs like tree trunks the thing moved with an ape like gait swinging forwards on arms that had no hands but simply tapered off into a blunt cone. The beasts face was unreadable as it blinked in the bright light of the arena. It had no mouth and three vertical slits seemed to serve for its nose. Its eyes were large and bloodshot, darting this way and that and from the back of its head protruded multiple tentacles, much like those that acted as its arms except smaller. The whole thing was covered in reptilian scales that formed natural armour for the thing.
"Wow that's a really big monster" Mei pointed out unnecessarily.
"Thank you for pointing that out to everyone who failed to notice." Magus' sarcasm was lost on Mei
"You're welcome Ma- I mean Mr Black" she called back cheerfully.
Magus sighed, upon reflection maybe Mery would have been a better choice of ally? There was no time to think more deeply on the subject as Grishdal leaped across almost one hundred and fifty meters of sand, landing before the party with a phenomenal thud. It drew an arm back and aimed a punch at Tyra who rolled to one side and avoided it. The creature's arm seemed to change mid-punch. It somehow elongated giving it what should have been impossible reach and the smooth rounded end changed to a narrow and solid point, which crashed into the stone side of the arena. When Grishdal returned its arm to its side it left a large hole in the wall.
This was going to get interesting, thought Magus as he reached inside his cloth shirt and withdrew a pair of well balanced daggers. Very interesting indeed.
High above the arena, standing perfectly still atop the lights a shrouded figure watched the progress of the fighters far below. There was definitely something about this "Mr Black" the figure mused to herself. Obviously it was Magus, the hunter she had met in the caves, but there was something more to that, something even more familiar about him. It was getting difficult to remember things from the past, but they were still there, and when she remembered why she knew Magus then it was time to have some fun.
Yeah okay, a long time writing for a short chapter, so sue me. Its been hard finding time to write, don't want to do it when my family is about, they would want to read it. And recently I've been sleeping at more sensible hours so I've been gaming more and writing less (found an excellent ROM for dragon warrior monsters) but worry not! I'm back to staying awake at night and sleeping at day and so at 3am I'll be writing more chapters, spare a thought for me as you rest in your comfortable beds.