Kirumi Tojo's Palace | The Ultimate Maid's Failures

[kandata]

By now everyone may be used to find themselves in bizarre locations, between going into palaces and visiting Nekyia. It might not come as a surprise that it has happened again.

What might come as a surprise, though...is how empty this place is.

All around you there's nothing more than a large, gray, featureless expanse. In the distance there seem to be bars, curving upwards to gather so, so high above you, possibly hundreds of miles above, so high it’s hard to distinguish.

It’s a cage. So unfathomably large. You could escape, were you to get to the edges of the cage, but...it would take forever. No matter how you look at it, you're trapped. The atmosphere is so...hopeless. Devoid of anything even remotely positive.

Not that you want to hang around for long, do you? After all, this is someone's palace. Not a place to stick around at. What to do, though?

It’s all so...empty. Silent. Featureless. A flat expanse of hard gray tiles.

Gather together, everyone. Gather and choose a direction. North, East, West, South. All directions look completely identical, but could it affect your time in this place, somehow? Probably not. But all treks start with the first step. Perhaps, if you get moving, you'll progress?

Comments

[kandata]

[You can! Look at that, Soujuurou, this is...

It's one of these big boys!

And honestly, he getting a good rolls means I can't spook him with it, alas. In addition to that, he'll see the cockpit area is unlocked, and it sure is big enough for a human to enter.

Soujuurou has found a tiny mecha, in other words. It may be bigger than a human being, but also it probably is insignificant compared to the mechas McGillis over there pilots

I edit to wonder why that image is for ants. I can't fix that, but yeah]

[emptyself]

What is that?

[ see, soujuurou would have called it a fridge, but he rolled a 19 so he can recognize that he has no idea what the fuck this is. ]

McGillis, do you know what this is?

[vogelfrei]

[ Well, McGillis is over in a flash and... ]

That's a mobile suit. I didn't think her world had these...

[ Could he get into the cockpit? Or is it tall-man-phobic?? ]

[emptyself]

A suit? It doesn’t look like the one I wear to school though.

[ he tilts his head, observing it like if it were an object from outer space. ]

It looks more like a fridge.

[vogelfrei]

It's a 'suit' only in so far as that you can get in it and make it move. It's a robot that you pilot.

[ ........... don't call it a fridge ever again. What kind of fridge do you have. ]

[emptyself]

I see.

[ and i’m genuinely surprised that mcgillis didn’t foresee the following question— ]

What’s a robot?

[vogelfrei]

A robot is...

[ WHY DOES HE ALWAYS NEED TO START FROM THE BASICS WITH THIS GUY... ]

It's a mechanical body. Some of them move autonomously with a computer program controlling them, others are controlled by people. Let me see if I can show you...

[ And he's going to start cramming himself into the worst cockpit ever in the other subthread. ]

[kandata]

[It totally is tall-man-phobic. The general user tends to be a bear that's, like, thigh-tall for a teenager. McGillis sure isn't thigh-tall for Soujuurou.

But he can get in, if he really crams himself in there. I'm all for him getting to be in there, but also I can't not go for the funny factor of him having to pack himself like a sardine in this.

Still, it'll be functional! And intuitive to use, too, he'd have no problem in the slightest. A teenager with no experience at all can use those, so of course, a man who has experience with mechas will find it a walk in the park]

[vogelfrei]

[ Okay. He's gonna do it. He's gonna do it even if that means his back will hurt for the rest of the palace. Let's curl up in the near-fetal-position to try and hop in here. It's fine. He can probably not even close the hatch right, with his size but...

Hey, this is easy to boot up and make move. Can he make it walk and use its arms etc properly? Or will there be problems during testing? ]

[emptyself]

[ holy shit. ]

[kandata]

[Your poor old man back, McGillis...

No problems during testing! It's pretty clunky when moving, though -- this thing is so heavy the mechanisms need to move slowly. McGillis can move and use the arms properly.

Congrats, McGillis. You are now enabled to use excessive strength if you ever need it]

[vogelfrei]

[ Neat!!

Despite the shrimp position kind of killing his back, he's honestly enjoying playing around with this thing and comparing the controls to what he knows...

... so yeah, he's just doing finesse tests on the arms here. Even though there is absolutely a trap-door here he could open with this mecha. Soujuurou... does this come to mind for you.. ]

[emptyself]

[ soujuurou watches this display, baffled by how something so heavy can be moved by a human. technology sure is terrifying!

wait.

heavy?

oh! ]

McGillis! McGillis! [ can the man even hear him? he doesn’t know. ] Can you use that robot thing to open this door!?

[ he’ll point at the area! ]

[vogelfrei]

[ McGillis takes one (1) second to register Soujuurou is talking to him because he's absorbed in studying the OS, but then he does let the mech stomp over.

The reaction times on this thing are honestly abysmal?? Definitely more of a Mobile Worker than a Mobile Suit, now that he's operating it.

Anyway, calling to Soujuurou: ] Step aside, I'll try!

[ So... can we open the trapdoor with robot power? ]

[emptyself]

[ he’s scattering away! to stand a bit behind the mecha just in case something pops out of that door. the robot is made of metal, right? then mcgillis can protect him. ]

[kandata]

[You did more than opening it, you obliterated a piece of stage opening that trapdoor. Excessive strength indeed!

It's a hole big enough for Soujuurou to jump down, and also McGillis-in-Exisal to jump down as well. Underneath you can see...a copy of the gym? What little can be seen through the hole is the same wood of the stage, but there are a few elements there that aren't currently on the gym you're in right now.

It's not too big of a drop. Jumping down safely is possible]

[vogelfrei]

[ H-huh?? Okay. This is weird. The place is a dreamscape so it's expected for it to be weird, but... Still.

Let's hop down and.... fail at perceiving much (7). ]

[kandata]

[Let's blame it on the Exisal blocking his view.

McGillis has jumped down! Will Soujuurou jump down as well?]

[emptyself]

[ well. he’s going to follow along and not see much either because he ALSO rolled a 7. save him mecha man.]

[kandata]

[McGillis is in that mecha, what's your excuse for failing the roll, Soujuurou.

Well, fortunately, you don't need a perception check to notice the most obvious change in the gym.



Sure is different now! However, due to them missing the perception rolls...they won't be able to see anything odd or worth noting, even if they check around.

Looks like, in that case, you're both done with the gym!

Sidenote, the gym doors are big enough for the Exisal McGillis is piloting to exit, if you want to leave with it. If you want to leave it here, that's fine too!

But yeah, even though they dropped down one floor, when they exit they find nothing unusual. It's as if, once they step outside the gym, they never dropped down from anywhere, although if they enter the gym again they sure will be able to see the hole from where they dropped from. Palace logic, what can you do about it]

[emptyself]

[ cut him some slack, he just got impaled by argenti!

that said, soujuurou looks around and… wow, nothing’s different. soujuurou sneezes. ]

Well, at least we learned a little bit more about Tojo.

[ yippee! ]

[vogelfrei]

[ Well. This is... weird, but not that weird for a palace. McGillis is going to unshrimp himself from the cockpit. The Exisal has not proven itself to be up to his standards - if it was a proper mobile suit, he could fight in it and might take it along, but this thing is simply too slow. ]

We should continue looking for the others then.

[ Said while stretching because ow, his bones. ]

[emptyself]

Let's go. The faster we get to them, the faster we can help them fight the shadows.

[ soujuurou says, sneezing again, unaware that argenti just impaled his imitation shadow. ]