You find yourself in E1M1

[Shadowswift]

((if you're not going to play, don't post in my thread. thanks))

[metchsteekle]

//i haven't been on a 'DM' server in months; and last time i was at one i watched the same 'rematch' happen at-least 3 times and realized would be wasting my time playing dmdm3


>get out strongest and brightest weapons, with X-treme caution

[Shadowswift]

> consider lighting
>get out strongest and brightest weapons, with X-treme caution

Right. This place is still very much a black hole. If it weren't for your Maglite and the now-expiring luminscent residue behind you, you probably wouldn't be able to see your hand in front of your face. You advice the DKC to switch to his Lightspark rifle.
"If that is your wish, my lord. If I may, however, perhaps Stockton would be a better candidate for this sort of precision strike. My aim with this device is...less than impressive."
You ponder this for a moment. The DKC does have better survivability than Phoenix and is better at close-up encounters...however, his Soul Armor is destroyed and at the moment, he is wounded to the point where his health is actually less than Phoenix's. That, and this will likely not be a close-up encounter. You have your Lightspark at the ready. It has proven to be a better weapon than the Plasma Rifle in low-light situations. Besides, your stock of Energy Cells won't last much longer. So...decision time. Surgical strike with Phoenix, which would require a brief retreat back to E1M1, or balls-out head-on rush with the DKC, which you are ready for right now? Of course, you could attack with neither of your companions...though you're not sure why you would attempt this. Up to you, bro.

>

[metchsteekle]

> fffff...... regroup and consider all your options

[Shadowswift]

> fffff...... regroup and consider all your options

Possible options:

So...decision time. Surgical strike with Phoenix, which would require a brief retreat back to E1M1, or balls-out head-on rush with the DKC, which you are ready for right now? Of course, you could attack with neither of your companions...though you're not sure why you would attempt this. Up to you, bro.

Another option would be to abandon your current quest, do something else (go to another map, maybe?) and pick it up later when you think you're ready for it.

>

[foq]

>get Phoenix, leave Death Knight Commander at E1M1, and proceed into eerie hallway.

also, consider building a large truck

[Shadowswift]

>get Phoenix, leave Death Knight Commander at E1M1, and proceed into eerie hallway.

You rip into the fabric of reality once more, creating a portal back to E1M1. You and your team step through to regroup and ready yourselves for the coming scuffle. You instruct the DKC to guard the base until you return.
"As you wish, my lord."

The Death Knight Commander has left your party.

You call Phoenix to your location. He arrives with all due haste.
"Yes, sir. Shall I join you?" You nod.

Phoenix has joined your party!

You reenter Termination Central back where you left. Phoenix switches on his Maglite and looks around. "Sure is dark in here." He whispers over MM2. You give him a sitrep. "So, there are a bunch of creepies up ahead, we don't know how many, or what variety?" You confirm. "Well, what say we go introduce ourselves?" Stupid as it sounds, it's really all you can do right about now. You follow the beam of your Maglites until you round the corner. The moment you do, you go Lightsparks a-blazing, blanketing each corner and wall in luminescence. Ahead of you stand a pair of the same robed Shadowcasters you saw on the surveilance tapes at E2M1. They're standing around a pedistal with a black crystal on it, channeling some spell on it. They don't even acknowledge your presence. You take this brief moment before the shitstorm hits the fan to check your surroundings as well as your senses.

Ahead of you, past the Shadowcasters, is a staircase on the left wall. It leads up about 8 feet to a loft with another staircase leading further up to another loft. At the very back is another dark hallway.
Right of you is a blood-spattered wall with some Encroaching Darkness on it.
Left of you is a wall blanketed in Encroaching Darkness.
Behind you is the hallways back to the entrance.

You see the Shadowcasters waving their arms around the black crystal. Encroaching Darkness seems to be oozing from it!
You smell fresh blood. Fresh...?
You hear murmerings coming from the Shadowcasters. You can't understand the language they're speaking in. You also hear the same faint shuffling you heard earlier. Sounds very close...
You feel even colder than you did before...you're actually shivering a little.
You taste...ew. Your mouth tastes terrible...you're not really surprised seeing as you haven't actually brushed your teeth in a VERY long time...
"Um...boss?" Phoenix nervously asks. "Do we um....shoot them or what?"
You eye the Shadowcasters, then the crystal they're focused on.

also, consider building a large truck

You contemplate how possible it would be to turn Flatbed into a functional vehicle...you quickly dismiss this notion and remind yourself where you are.

[foq]

>fire at crystal with lightspark rifles

[Shadowswift]

>fire at crystal with lightspark rifles

You and Phoenix both unload a few Lightspark bolts at the dead center of the crystal. The bolts vanish into the crystal's dark, void-like surface. The crystal itself appears unaffected by the shots. The Shadowcasters seem to be ignoring you for some reason. It's pretty obvious that you're not trying to stay hidden at the moment, but it's as if they don't have time to pay you any mind. Weird...

>

[foq]

>attack everything with the force of a thousand trucks

[Shadowswift]

>attack everything with the force of a thousand trucks

You decide that the Grenade Rifle would probably be the best way to go if your aim is to blow everything the fuck up. So you do! You sling the beast around into your arms and thump a dozen rounds into the room, carpeting the area in fire and shrapnel. When the smoke and dust clears, you don't see the Shadowcasters. Clearly, they were either obliterated or they fled the scene by means of magic, who really knows. Further more, who cares. They ain't here. What catches your eye is the black crystal. The pedistal it stood on is destroyed, but the crystal itself seems unharmed...it just lies there on the floor, peaceful, yet omenous as hell. You cautiously approach the thing. Encroaching Darkness oozes out of it like blood from a headshot. The more you gaze at it, the more you feel yourself drawn to it. You reach a hand to it.
"Sir..." Phoenix whispers. You shoot him an almost evil glare. "...be careful, huh?" You turn back to the crystal. You remove your glove and place your bare hand upon its surface. It's freezing cold, but the pain of the cold on your flesh is only fleeting, as the crystal itself rapidly bonds itself to you. You try to pull away, but you can't seem to pull your hand from it. You feel an internal pain, hot and scalding, like acid pumping through your veins. You begin to scream. The crystal continues to absorb itself into your flesh, dimishing in size little by little. You grip your arm, almost as if you are actually trying to wrench it from your body. The pain is immense, like a Quad Thunderbolt ripping through you. Seconds later, the crystal is gone, but the pain remains.

You lose 100 health

Phoenix rushes to your aid. "Sir! Sir, are you well? What the hell happened?" You don't respond. You look at your hand. The flesh is still there, but cold and stiff like that of a dead man. You stumble to your feet, trying to recover from the pain. "Ray, what the hell was that? What did that thing do to you?" You tell him it's alright. You aren't entirely sure what just transpired, but you feel...different. You feel strangely invigorated by the pain...stronger, yet colder inside. "Sir! Your scythe!" You pull the scythe from your back. "Look at the blade!!" What once was a glistening silver now is a smokey grey. All of your weapons seem to have had this same transformation. You fire a blast from your shotgun. The muzzleflare and the blast left on the wall both seemed...darker, but stronger. "What the hell...?" Phoenix inspects the wound left on the wall. Rather than clean holes left by round buckshot, the wounds are jagged. "Look at this, sir. Turn your light off!" You click off your Maglite. The wound on the wall glows a very dim red. "Whatever effect that thing had on you, it seems to have had on your weapons and attacks as well." Is that a good thing? You'll have to wait and see what these new attacks do to your enemies. You'll worry about that later. You check your surroundings.

Ahead are the staircases and lofts leading to a hallway.
To the right is a blood-spattered wall with some Encroaching Darkness on it.
To the left is a wall with a dimmly-glowing red shotgun blast on it. The Encroaching Darkness has been burned off.
Behind are the hallways back to the entrance.

You still hear shuffling. It seems to be coming from overhead, but you see nothing but ceiling overhead...
You still feel cold, but it isn't getting to you as bad anymore. Maybe you're getting acclimated...
Your other senses still sense the same things as before.


>

[foq]

>look around, consider what's left to do

inspect self, heal if possible

[Shadowswift]

>look around, consider what's left to do

Well, the base is still offline...and from what you remember, there is still another slipgate to be dealt with. There's also that Thunderbolt prototype to find...if it even exists. The only way forward that you can plainly see is the way in front of you.

>inspect self, heal if possible

-Character-
You have 150 Health
You have 150 Soul Armor
You are equipped with your Lightspark Rifle
Your communicator is ON
Your Console is ON

You still have a goodly amount of health left, thanks to the Captain's Charge you let out a while back. The pain in your body is subsiding, giving way to an odd inner-cold feeling. Your skin looks a little darker and greyer, but it's probably just the lack of light in the room. You think about yourself and your mission, and find yourself in doubt about whether or not your doing the "right" thing at the moment...oh well. Considering there isn't much else to do in Quake and you aren't yet ready to return home, might as well finish what you started. Oh, the drudgery....

...huh. That's a new feeling. Aren't you here to save the Earth and humanity? You shake your head and remember who you are. Good guy, save the world, light shall prevail...and stuff...yeah, let's just get this over with. You pop a stimpak and contemplate your next move.

You now have 165 health

>

[foq]

>Well, go fuck up that slipgate then... perhaps dismantle it and use its parts to create some kind of demension-travelling truck? Look for that thunderbolt too... and perhaps consult DKC about this weird crystal thing... and your truck ideas

[Shadowswift]

>Well, go fuck up that slipgate then... perhaps dismantle it and use its parts to create some kind of demension-travelling truck? Look for that thunderbolt too... and perhaps consult DKC about this weird crystal thing... and your truck ideas

You're going to have to find the slipgate before you can scrap it. You would try to scythe your way there, but thanks to the Encroaching Darkness, there isn't much in Quake that is the same as you remember it. You can only go to places you can clearly visualize, as in places you have already been. Otherwise, you just end up at the entrance. You radio the DKC.
"Yes, my lord. Do you need my might once again?" You ask him what he knows about crystals. "Not much. I do know that they can be used as focals for ley energies, similar to runestone. Sentient beings can focus energies into them as well as draw energies out of them." What about Shadows? Are there 'Shadow Crystals'? "Theoratically, it is entirely possible. Did you find one?" So he doesn't know anything about them. You break contact and call Scribe Irish.
"Captain, I've been meaning to contact you. I think we've found a way to duplicate that Shadow Plasma Cell you sent us...well, mostly anyway. We can replicate the tech, but the energy just isn't something we can simulate." That's good news. You ask him what he has learned about the energy. "It's pretty potent stuff. We attempted to measure the cell's power output in watts and...well, the readings were astronomical. No less than thirty-three times the wattage of a regular Energy Cell." Damn... "Too bad they aren't compatable with our weapons or tech. We could do some pretty interesting things with that kind of power." Yeah yeah yeah, but what about the energy? What exactly IS it?? "We can't pinpoint a familier energy signature with in it! It's completely unique to any other known energy source, even the energies and magics you, yourself, discovered in Quake! It's not Earth, Hell, Nether, or Arcane. We don't know what this stuff is! All we know is that it's powerful...and plenty evil. I've tampered with all kinds of dark and twisted magics and powers, but when I measured the wattage of this stuff...ugh....the darkness it filled my head with...not even Hell magic could compete with it. It felt like my soul was being eaten away at..." Oh boy... "You would do well to avoid contact with it...though I'm sure I don't need to tell you that." Yeah...cause you're definitely not the kind of idiot that would, oh...say, place your bare hand of a conduit of pure shadow energy, hell no. "Anyway, I'll let you get back to your duty. I'm still trying to get an exact energy signature from this thing. Irish out."

...well then...great. You knew the Shadows' powers were strong, but not that strong. You wonder how exactly it will effect you. "Ray! Hostile contact twelve high!" You look up to the far hallway. Teams of Elite Shadow Soldiers begin to pour out of it. They line up on the lofts and begin assaulting your position. Phoenix breaks for cover behind the corner. You stand fast. Bolts of Shadow Plasma bounce off of your cloak like a nailgun against a steel wall. Ouch?

Your health begins to very....very slowly fall...

You pull out your Plasma Rifle and start spraying. As you fire, you notice that the Plasma bolts aren't the same color. They've lost their brilliance and luster. Their brilliant cerulean shine has been replaced with a dull blue glimmer. Never the less, they effortlessly rip through the enemy line with more ease than you've ever seen them do before. It's as if your Plasma Rifle evolved into a fully-automatic Lightspark Rifle...just without the radiant light. This is cool. You hose them down while advancing toward them. As their numbers diminish, you pull out your Lightspark Rifle and begin picking them off. You notice a change in the Lightspark bolts as well...still highly radiant, but not white. The shots you fire from your Lightspark now shine with a tint of red to them. Huh. As you finish off your opponents, you summarize the situation. The effects of the crystal have made your attacks unquestionably stronger...but you can only guess that it came at a price...your soul. No, you haven't lost it all together...not yet, anyway. But you definitely lost something. You feel a definative evil within you that wasn't there before you absorbed that thing. The question you must ask yourself is...was it worth it?

But anyway, the road is clear now. You call Phoenix and Darkscythe out of hiding and up to the lofts. You switch your maglites back on and proceed through them. You think you remember a big slime pit being at the end, but instead you find what looks to be a security depot. You search around for anything useful, but find nothing. There is a terminal here, but it's useless without the power. Wait....now you remember. Before the Encroaching Darkness, there was a cluster of computers over in the big room down the hall to the left. That must be the mainframe! You head that way, crossing your fingers that the Darkness hasn't changed the base too much. Before you enter the hallway, you check your senses.

You see a dark hallway. There's a bit of Encroaching Darkness on the walls, but not much.
You smell gunpowder...and electricity...and blood...bad combo.
You don't hear anything.
You don't feel or taste anything new.

You proceed down the hallway and find yourself in the presence of the mainframe. Yay! Too bad it's offline. Gotta find the circuit breakers first. You think about it, but you can't seem to remember where the circuit breakers are in this place. You must have overlooked them on your last tour. Oh well...

To your right is a closed door. It's an autodoor, but it doesn't appear to be locked. You could probably pry it open.
To your left is an inoperable lift to somewhere below. Beyond that is a short hallway to a dark room.

>