[M&M 3e] Defying the Future IC

[Zelphas]

Historical Insignificance

August 12, 2018.

Things had been quiet in Forester's Bay for a few days. After the discovery of whatever happened to the Suneaters, there seems to have been something of an unofficial lull in the actions of the League; the Chain Gang has been seen around less often and don't seem to be actively stealing, mugging, or otherwise making a mess, the Suneaters are as unpredictable as always, and Doctor Proxy's robots haven't been seen for almost a week. Most surprising to the four of you perhaps is the complete lack of response from Manchineel. After losing one of her Menagerie, the one in charge of spreading the forest, the League member repeatedly described as a "force of nature" has responded with... nothing. Even the Saplings seem to be dormant, with only a few furtive glimpses of them here and there, though Gabriel still patrols the edge of the Dome and Abel still wanders the forests to the north and west, it seems.

Remy is at the Forester's Bay Museum of Natural History when this small lull ends. He is looking for his sister, beginning with where she told him to go in her last message. As he prepares to leave after another day of searching, he sees several very familiar forms moving with spiderlike speed across the street towards the museum, following after a figure in dark chrome with a long scarlet cape. The last time Remy saw this suit, he was on the inside.

By the time Nope finds the rest of the group and gets all of you to the museum, the Proxysuit and its company of robots are already inside, and the overwhelming majority of museum visitors and staff have already fled. The movement of the Proxysuit and company is easy to follow; broken glass and missing exhibits dot the rooms. No exhibit is broken, but several glass fronts have either been cut cleanly by a small laser or simply broken by metal arms. The metallic group has ignored the exhibits on prehistory, biomes, and flora and fauna, traveling up the stairs and into the wing focused on human civilization. You catch up to them in a room titled "Development of Tools: Pre-Bronze to Iron Age".

The relatively smaller, spiderlike "Helper" robots swarm over several sections of the exhibit, warming up their laser cutters to break through the protective shielding and get to the artifacts held within. Taking up much more of the large room are two enormous versions of their smaller cousins. Instead of several segmented metallic legs, these "Movers" have four triangular wings jutting out from their flattened square center, each wing holding a turbine that whirs with a surprising lack of sound, keeping the whole contraption aloft. At each corner of the flattened metal square sprout two long, thick arms of dark chrome metal and black cabling; these sixteen arms (eight for each machine) are currently testing either side of a squat exhibit that houses a bronze smelting furnace and an iron smeltign furnace side by side to show the differences in the technology, as though preparing to lift the entire exhibit up and carry it away. In contrast to the Helpers, each of which already have a few museum pieces placed upon their central square dock, the Movers are both empty; you can easily see the numbers "889" etched into the center of their platforms.

Past the Movers and seemingly unaware of anything else in the room is the Proxysuit, though it is currently hidden from view of Nope and Ariadne. Helios and Floral can see a humanoid figure made entirely of dark chrome, lacking any distinguishing human features aside from its shape. The entire "suit" is seamless, flowing like liquid with each movement of the body underneath; even the faceplate is just a blank, flat plane of chrome metal, without eyes, nose, mouth, chin, or ears. The only bit of extra embellishment to this frank humanoid form is a long, flowing cape of deep, dark scarlet, which seems to be embedded in the suit at the shoulders and drapes down to the figure's heels. The Proxysuit has its faceless form turned towards the far wall, where a floor-to-ceiling display holds shards of pottery from before the Bronze Age housed within.

Spoiler: OOC

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Map!

Initiative

Floral: (1d20+8)[16]
Ariadne: (1d20+4)[17]
Helios: (1d20)[1]
Nope: (1d20)[11]

When a Proxysuit is in the room and functional, the 'bots all follow its lead, so the suit will roll Initiative for everyone.

Proxysuit (and bots): (1d20)[3]

All Pcs except for Helios are up.