You find yourself in E1M1

[Shadowswift]

>revive Phoenix (and get him to you safely)

You think for a good long moment about this. You've got firepower. You've got ammo. You've got armor. You've got all the skills of the finest grunt, marine, ranger, or recon in the entire US military. The one thing you don't have? Well, sanity for one. Companionship for the other. Two heads are better than one, and you could always benefit from someone watching your back. That poor lad Phoenix didn't have to die so young. This is your fight, after all. Better that your memories remain the only casualty in this war.

Alright then. You palm your quarter and mentally make your wish to the well. You get a prompt response. It is not unreasonable. Cast in your offering and pray to the Gods that your wish comes true. You do just this. You flick your quarter into the Well of Wishes and say a small prayer to the Gods. A small rumble is felt. A light shines from deep in the well. It forms into a beam before you. Inside the beam, you see it. The form of a man. When the beam fades, you grab him and swim to the surface. He is dazed and disoriented.
You shake him by the shoulders, trying to get him to come around. The confused man struggles to awaken.
"Who are you...what happened to the complex..............sarge?" He looks at you. "Sergeant Ray? Is that you?" Sergeant, hm? Yeah, you do remember being a Master Sergeant in the Marines. That's right.
You nod. The young man breaks away and starts treading water on his own.
"I'm PFC Phoenix Stockton. I've heard of your heroism in the slipgate wars. I've taken it upon myself to aid the science department in bringing you back to Earth, but my mission seems to have taken a....very weird turn. I...remember being at the Slipgate Complex, but over the weeks that I was there, the entire base began to change. Walls started appearing while others disapeared. The minions of Quake didn't like this one bit. They kept coming after me, no matter how many I managed to kill. Then these weird shadowy soldiers started appearing in the base. They seemed more interested in fighting Quake's soldiers than fighting me. Eventually, they found me...and that's the last thing I remember."
You try to calm him. You tell him you know the whole story. You tell him you revived him to help you defeat the Shadows. He gives you a short salute.
"Oorah, Sergeant. I am at your command."

You now have the companion, Phoenix, at your command (as if this game wasn't enough like Fallout 3 already...)


You're still floating in the pool. There is a small staircase lining the wall that leads back up to the portal on the bridge.

-Character-
You have 63 Health
You have 123 Yellow Soul Armor
You are equipped with your Super Shotgun
Your communicator is ON
Your Console is ON (and moderately damaged)

-Inventory-
Badly-Bloodied Hand Axe
20 Gauge Pump Shotgun
Super Shotgun
Enforcer's Blaster Rifle
Shadowpulse Rifle (damaged)
(51) shells (20ga)
(56) energy cells
(97) shadow plasma cells
(1) grenade
(1) map of E1M1's Security Grid
(1) ripped data cable
(2) stimpak
(1) wrench
(1) screwdriver


-Companion-
Phoenix has 100 Health
Phoenix has 0 armor
Phoenix has no weapon
Phoenix's Communicator is OFF
Phoenix's Console is ON

-Companion's Inventory
nothing


>

[foq]

>give Pheonix Super Shotgun and ammo, and get that communicator turned on... give him some armor too, he's probably not as tough as your war-hardened ass.

[metchsteekle]

>go up small staircase

[Shadowswift]

>give Pheonix Super Shotgun and ammo, and get that communicator turned on... give him some armor too, he's probably not as tough as your war-hardened ass.

You hand Phoenix your Double Barrel and 30 shells, which he eagerly takes. You equip yourself with your Blaster Rifle. You instruct him to switch his communicator to messagemode1 for now. Should you decide to split up, you'll switch it to mm2 so you can stay in constant contact. You also show him a hand-signal which means "switch to MM2" for stealthy situations. You consider giving him some of your armor, but armor isn't exactly easy to split apart. You could give him your Combat Armor and/or your Shadow Armor, but doing either of these leaves either you or him vulnerable. If you only give him the Combat Armor, he is still vulnerable to shadow attacks. If you give him your Shadow Armor, you will be vulnerable. If Phoenix dies, you still have a chance to save the world. If you die, then thats all she wrote. Phoenix would be lost in this dimension without you. You opt to keep your own armor. You'll give Phoenix some as soon as you find some. Instead, you hand him one of your stimpaks. If he gets hurt, he can heal himself with that. He can also heal you in a pinch, so that you can concentrate on fighting.

>go up small staircase

You find yourself back up infront of the portal. Same situation as before, except now you're not being attacked by pissed-off Shadows. You're free to proceed across the bridge, so you do just that. As you noticed earlier before you decided to go for a spontanious swim, the bridge splits off to the left and right at the end. You take a gander at both directions.

Off to the left, theres a pile of boxes and crates in a small room.
Off to the right, theres a very out-of-place Slipgate. It looks active.


>

[metchsteekle]

>go up to threshold of crate room and listen carefully

[Shadowswift]

>go up to threshold of crate room and listen carefully

You hear nothing. Phoenix hears nothing. Its just a bunch of boxes...


>

[metchsteekle]

>enter room and open presents

[Shadowswift]

>enter room and open presents

You step forward into the room and inspect the crates. Most of them are empty. One of them however...

Ray receives:
A pair of USB prongs
A Soldering Iron and Solder kit
A Pair of Wirecutters
An Empty Metal Lockbox
(1) Do-It-Yourself 10 gauge modification upgrade kit (single barrel pump-action)
(60) Shells(10ga)
(10) Grenades
(35) Cells
Pristine Yellow Combat Armor

You know just what to do with this stuff. With a big ol' smile on your face, you lay out your inventory before you and set to work. You connect the USB prongs to the Ripped Data Cable.

Ray creates a USB Cable

You put your screwdriver, wrench, wirecutters and soldering kit in the empty lockbox.

Ray creates a Fully-Stocked Toolbox

You take off your Moderately-Damaged Combat Armor and give it to Phoenix. You then put the Pristine Combat Armor on yourself and slip your Shadow Armor over it.

Ray now has 173 Yellow Soul Armor
Phoenix now has 100 Yellow Armor

You take out your shottie and toolbox and set to work with the 10 gauge kit. After only about 35 minutes, you reforge your 20 gauge pump shotgun into a 10 gauge pump shotgun and pump it full of 10 gauge shells. You hand all of your 20 gauge shells to Phoenix. Your Shotgun now deals 4 times as much damage with only a slight penalty to its firing rate.

You attempt to fix your Shadowpulse Rifle with your tools, but it seems theres a part that you need to replace...oh well. With all the Shadow Soldiers crawling around here, that part shouldn't be hard to find...not that this weapon will do you much good at this part of the game.


-Character-
You have 63 Health
You have 173 Yellow Soul Armor
You are equipped with your Shotgun
Your communicator is ON
Your Console is ON (and moderately damaged)

-Inventory-
Badly-Bloodied Hand Axe
10 Gauge Pump Shotgun
Enforcer's Blaster Rifle
Shadowpulse Rifle (damaged)
(60) Shells (10ga)
(91) Energy Cells
(97) Shadow Plasma Cells
(11) Grenade
(1) map of E1M1's Security Grid
(1) USB cable
(2) stimpak
(1) Fully-Stocked Toolbox

-Companion-
Phoenix has 100 Health
Phoenix has 123 Yellow armor
Phoenix is equipped with the Super Shotgun
Phoenix's Communicator is ON
Phoenix's Console is ON

-Companion's Inventory-
Super Shotgun
(51) Shells (20ga)

Merry Christmas!

[metchsteekle]

>inspect slipgate

[Shadowswift]

>inspect slipgate

Its like most slipgates, except it looks like it just does not belong here. Usually in a map like this one, theres portals and giant doors that you go through to get to a different place or a different map. Whats a slipgate doing here? You inspect the all the technology and sciency things on the side of the machine. Theres a USB port here. You plug in. You ask Console where the Slipgate goes. It beeps...
"Insufficient memory."
Hm. Seems the damage your Console suffered from you trying to cheat with it has fried most of its memory. It doesn't seem to have the power to talk to other computers...

...but Phoenix's should! You order Phoenix to give you his arm for a moment. You plug his Console into the Slipgate and run an inquiry. Console says it is linked to the entrance slipgate in The Installation. Hm...

"SHIT!!!" Phoenix cries out. You shoot him a confused look. "Sir, The Installation is our military's most important base in this dimension! It's practically HQ for us here!" This sounds like bad news...if theres a slipgate here, then The Installation is most likely crawling with Shadows. Welp...guess you'll have to go save the day. You grab Phoenix's arm, take a breath, and dive into the slipgate. Several seconds of discomfort later, you emerge on the other side. It's worse than you thought. The entire place is dark. You can't see more than a few feet infront of you. The only light you see are a few LEDs from the slipgate. This place is truely horrifying. If there is a Hell, you wish you were there right now. You see nothing. You smell rot. You hear growling. You feel cold. You whisper to Phoenix to switch on messagemode2 and brace for something horrible.
"Sir, I can't see anything. We can't possibly fight here! Perhaps...we should retreat?" You shudder a little. Only thing worse that the situation you're facing right now is the thought of necessary retreat...but hes right. You probably won't be able to take 3 steps without getting eaten by something. You clutch Phoenix's arm and step back through the slipgate. You find yourself in the much-less terrifying Crypt of Decay a few seconds later. After careful consideration, you opt NOT to go back there. More than likely, thats where you'll find some answers about these goddamn Shadows. First, you need more firepower. Perhaps you'll find something useful by backtracking?


>

[foq]

>backtrace

[Shadowswift]

>backtrace

so you're backin up, backin up, backin up backin up...cause your daddy taught you good. The way the shadows have altered The Crypt of Decay, theres not really anywhere else here that you can explore, so you head back toward Yogg-Shargoth's Pit in The Heart of the Dimension. The creeping shadow has begun to invade this area, too. You notice them already clinging along the walls here and there. Nothing has changed yet, though. You climb the broken path back up to the top and take the shift portal back to the entrance. You remember that you took the pathway to your left to get here, so you opt to take the path to the right to get back. Theres another wall with glowing runes on it. After your mind plays some tricks on you about the runes, you take out your axe and order Phoenix to be ready to kill whatever is behind the door. You whack the door and it springs to life. Theres a dead Fiend back here with black residue all over its face. Theres a small cell box and a Nailgun here.

Ray got the Nailgun!
Ray finds 6 cells

You stuff the gun into your inventory, doubting you'll ever actually use it (especially since you haven't even seen any nails in your travels yet) and continue back toward the slipgate. You order Phoenix to prepair himself, as that Shadow Shambler you left at the Complex is likely lurking around looking for you by now. You grip your enormous Shotgun and dive into the slipgate. Discomfort surges through you. You arrive a few seconds later at the Slipgate Complex. It looks relatively the same as it did when you left not long ago. You hear laser fire. You rush toward the sound, all the way out to the courtyard to see the Shadow Shambler engaged in combat with the base's security turrets. Eight or so turrets are firing at the beast, and its not happy about that one bit. It throws its Shadow Plasma at them, obliterating them with one shot. You notice that the lasers aren't having the same effect as they do on Shadow Soldiers. Sure, they seem to damage the monster, but they don't burn right through it. Perhaps this thing is made of tougher stuff. You charge in and open fire on the thing. The sheer kick of your new shotgun pulls you back a bit. The force of the blast takes the monster off its feet. It staggers a bit, but continues its assault. It has now turned its attention away from the turrets and toward you. You continue firing, doing your best to keep the recoil from staggering you. Each shot kicks the shambler back a little. Phoenix opens up with his Super Shotgun. The combined might of your buckshot is enough to keep the beast from charging you with its claws. It quckly realizes this and opts to destroy you from a distance instead. Shit...theres no avoiding Shambler plasma, not at this distance. You prepair for some agony as shadow plasma rips right through your very soul. Ouch!

Ray now has 45 health and 127 armor
Ray is now Partially Crippled

You continue your assault as you notice the Shambler prepair for another attack. You yell to Phoenix to heal you. He injects his Stimpak into your shoulder.

Ray now has 60 health and is no longer crippled

You can't keep this up for long. Between your two shotguns and the turrets, it doesn't look like this monster is even winded, and worse, you only have one stimpak left. Fuck it. You start lobbing grenades at the thing's feet. You throw 5 then fire at one of them just as the Shambler charges his plasma. A conflagration ensues around the monster, ignited by the detonation of the grenades and its own Shadow Plasma. The thing is blown clean off its feet. It stays down for a good couple of seconds, but you don't let up. You throw 5 more grenades at it and shoot them. The Shadow Shambler explodes into raw Shadow energy, the same way normal monsters gib when damaged too much.

[[Continued]]

[Shadowswift]

[[Continued]]
The turrets ceace fire. You survey the damage. Many of your turrets have been destroyed. The lift button to the entrance seems to have been damaged by the blast also. The whole encounter costed you 12 shells and 10 grenades as well as a chunk of your armor. Phoenix is down 22 shells and a stimpak. That was a very sloppy job, but at least it's dead. This means that the Slipgate Complex is now clear of enemies. Congrats! You now have a base to call your very own! So lets get to work, shall we? You order Phoenix to get back to work on the Mainframe while you use your toolbox the repair the damage done around the base. Repairing the turrets is a simple task. The lift button now requires you to shoot in with an energy weapon, but at least it works. Flatbed still needs replacement parts to be repaired properly, but other than that, the Complex is looking to be in pretty good shape. You ask Phoenix his opinion about the current situation.
"Well, it's only a matter of time before the Shadows use our Slipgate to come after us and fuck up everything we've fixed here. Even if we close it, they can use the ley-energies in the dimension of Quake to rip open a new rift to anywhere they want. We need to contact HQ and see about getting some help, maybe even some reinforcements." You suddenly remember why you'd rather work alone. Reinforcements? Blech. But he's right. Theres no way in hell you're going to be able to do this with what you currently have. If taking down just one of those Shamblers took as much out of you as it did, taking down an army of them and God only knows what else would take a friggin miracle. Pondering the situation, you decide that now is the time to fix the External Network Connection and get yourself a lifeline from HQ. You've got the tools. Phoenix probably has the know-how. You just wish you knew exactly where the flaw in the pathway was...



>

[foq]

>well then, now we have time to trace those cables...

[Shadowswift]

>well then, now we have time to trace those cables...

Right then. Phoenix, go do that. It may take him a while...
In the meantime, you could check out the mainframe or investigate the base...or maybe you could play Doom II to pass the time. Oh wait, NO YOU CAN'T Phoenix is not gonna be happy to hear that news, by the way. I wouldn't be surprised if he went AWOL on your ass.


>