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Here is a demon. The demon is in his swimming pool.
He doesn't swim naked, so he takes the summon anyway.
demon cam vs the clam planet
from_scratch
from_scratch
Huh.
Cam takes to the air, takes pictures, disintegrates industrial complex bits, and looks for where the aliens may have scurried off to.
Cam takes to the air, takes pictures, disintegrates industrial complex bits, and looks for where the aliens may have scurried off to.
It's a good thing he took pictures, because as soon as he gets the wrong industrial-complex bit, it violently explodes, and this causes other parts of the complex to violently explode, and a few minutes later when everything is done violently exploding, the dust settles and the entire interior of this smallish Sphere has been almost completely scoured of objects. There's just a layer of bedrock left at the very bottom.
Luckily, Cam can fly, and the lack of anything else whatsoever makes it really easy to spot the two other portals available. Presumably the aliens went through one of those.
Luckily, Cam can fly, and the lack of anything else whatsoever makes it really easy to spot the two other portals available. Presumably the aliens went through one of those.
from_scratch
Of course someone does! That's promising. Cam hauls the rest of the way through, takes a few pictures, disintegrates weapons.
This Sphere is larger and differently decorated, full of weird stringy sculptures that hold up surprisingly well when things start violently exploding.
from_scratch
Cam wonders if they're made of Real Physics or Actual Substances, but doesn't let this wondering distract him too much from indirectly blowing shit up. These aliens are really fond of their self-destruct mechanisms.
Aren't they just.
Soon this Sphere is empty of everything but weird art and portals. There are five, this time, counting the one he came in through.
Soon this Sphere is empty of everything but weird art and portals. There are five, this time, counting the one he came in through.
from_scratch
Cam is going to need to make a map. He starts a map. He goes back and sticks his head through the other fork out of Ex-Industrial-Park.
from_scratch
Of course he does.
Do these aliens want to talk if he makes a speaker and yells at them?
Do these aliens want to talk if he makes a speaker and yells at them?
from_scratch
They're really not making this much of a fight. Seriously, guys.
How many portals out of here?
How many portals out of here?
Six!
It's going to be a bit of a maze. But not nearly as bad as it could be, if the aliens keep helpfully destroying all the obstacles every time he gets near them.
It's going to be a bit of a maze. But not nearly as bad as it could be, if the aliens keep helpfully destroying all the obstacles every time he gets near them.
from_scratch
It is very helpful of them!
He thinks he's cleared enough of a buffer zone to go back and notify the clam planet people though.
He makes a new comm. "Hey there!"
He thinks he's cleared enough of a buffer zone to go back and notify the clam planet people though.
He makes a new comm. "Hey there!"
from_scratch
"Hi! So the aliens really, really don't want to talk. They want to shoot ineffectually at me and then blow themselves up. A lot. There's a maze of spheres past the next one - it forks into two, and then one side's got five and one's got six, haven't gone farther than that yet. Do you have anything resembling a guess of how long it would take me to convince all these aliens to self-destruct?"
slash-of-gold
"That's likely to depend on how many there are, and we've never been able to determine that beyond 'always more'," says Azair.
from_scratch
"I mean more like how long would it take me to navigate the entire infested maze of Spheres. How many portals is it customary to have."
slash-of-gold
"Anywhere from a handful to hundreds. It's a very individual thing. And I have no idea what state these Spheres were in when the Enemy got to them - it's possible their owners tried to close as many portals as they could... it's also possible they didn't get the chance."
from_scratch
"Well, isn't that grand. I'm going to see if I can get a physical comm connection to hold across a portal, then we won't be cut off while I'm ferreting them out and you won't have to wonder how I'm doing. Stand by."
Cam makes a wired hookup between a thing and another thing on each side of this near portal and goes to the far side and says, "Testing."
Cam makes a wired hookup between a thing and another thing on each side of this near portal and goes to the far side and says, "Testing."
from_scratch
"Okay, I'll just leave a trail of these relays as I go. You will probably hear explosions. It turns out when their weapons and industrial parks disintegrate they often blow up. Deplorable workplace safety standards."
from_scratch
"It'll get really tedious eventually but I do like being helpful and these aliens are really emphatic about being unwilling to entertain the possibility of receiving help, so it's all you guys."