Dec 11 21:02:28 105 PA
From Chronicles
Rifts - Kingsdale - Thursday, September 18, 2008, 10:02 PM
The current game time is: Fri Dec 11 21:02:28 105 PA.
Valerie lowers the pistol to offer Desmond a hand. "Then I will see you. I will return the clips soon." She waits for a minute, considering Vargus' question. "Yes, I can use a blade, but in a large fight I would prefer a spear."
Desmond nods his head once, taking Valerie's hand briefly before he turns and heads out himself, striding from the range at a steady, unhurried pace.
Desmond has left.
"Hummm.. a spear, eh? Do you have one that can damage military-grade hardware?" Vargus asks. "Spear.. strange. I've seen a few big-ass halbard type things, that were vibro weapons. Although it had a big back-mounted power pack, didn't seem all that comfortable to use."
"No," Valerie admits. "I don't even have my bow anymore. A shame, as Desmond has told me of special arrows you can purchase in this city." She looks down at the pistol, then aims it dutily at the target again, and fires once more. "Vibrating polearms?"
Vargus's head tilts slightly to the side. "Yeah, vibroweapons. They have a small generator in the handle that makes the blade vibrate so fast it can cut through anything, well given enough time I suppose." He unfolds his arms and holds up his left. From the back of his wrist, through the squishy oddness of the arm come three hooked blades, which are vibrating at a very high frequency. He reaches down and picks up a rock, tosses it into the air and slashes it with the vibroclaws, then retracts them. "Make a good weapon."
Valerie puts down the pistol long enough to see what Vargus is up to. Claws! "They're very interesting. Desmond, too, has told me of their virtues," she admits. "I am planning to buy one after I earn enough to buy a laser pistol." Might be a while.
Vargus nods and goes back to leaning against the wall of the stall, "They're not too expensive. Can get a knife for a few grand. Of course, it goes up the more elaborate they get. I went for these since it leaves your hands free. I prefer to not carry around anything in my hands, s'why I have so many belt pouches and things."
Valerie looks Vargus up and down. Yes, pouches. "My credits number in the dozens," she admits, crinkling her nose in dismay. "It will be a long time before I can get such a weapon." She purses her lips. "Unless you know of any hidden treasure or somesuch." Vargus grins, "Well.. if I knew about them, they wouldn't be hidden, eh? That is kinda my thing, though. I was studying with my parents to become an archeologist when my magical talent started to develop. So, I trained then both.. then found an Artifact Hunter, and trained with him. Worked out well."
Valerie nods. "I see." She frowns again. "Do you know of any other way to earn money fast? My current work is relaxing, and pays for my living expenses, but little else." She finally looks away, and begins to gather the spent e-clips.
Vargus shakes his head. "Not really, no. I haven't made any significant money since I've been in town. Just what I had saved from a few jobs before I got here."
"Unfortunate." Valerie lets out a quiet sigh. "Where do I turn these in?" She sounds uncertain; she hadn't really considered that when Desmond told her to.
Vargus leans off of the stall, "There's a window back at the beginning of the fireing range that you can turn the hardware back in, and get your deposit back."
Valerie nods. "I see." And then she heads in that reaction, looking down at all the fun hardware she so longs for.
Vargus unslings his rifle and holds it by the top of the weapon. "I've got to check this thing back in at the gate, and have to track down a few people before too long. See you around, humm?"
"I'm sure you will. You have a knack for turning up," Valerie replies. "Next time I would like to see your new weapon."
Vargus pauses and his chitinous helmet turns toward Valerie, "My new weapon...? Not sure what you mean."
"You used a weapon here," Valerie explains. She stops at the window, where she reluctantly hands over the clips and pistol.
"Ahhh, yeah. The techno-wizard pistol." Vargus replies. "You can take a few shots now with it, if you'd like. I'm better with energy weapons, and this is based on a projectile gun.. so I'm not that good with it."
"Techno-wizard...?" Valerie asks, frowning at Vargus. Apparently she doesn't comprehend that.
Vargus watches Valerie for a moment. "Huhh, if you don't mind me asking... where exactly are you from? Techno-wizard is a combination of technology and magic. I'm not sure how they do it, but they make circuits that normally shouldn't work without magic involved. But, this pistol fires energy bolts.. normally, a pistol like this fires lead slugs that you load into the chamber. It won't damage military body armor, so it's a safer weapon to use in a populated city."
Valerie stares at Vargus. Big, wide eyes. "You're mixing technology and magic?" she asks in an uncertain tone. She even lets the whole lead slugs thing pass. "Are you serious?"
Vargus nods his head, and removes the revolver from the chest holster, offering the weapon to Valerie. "Well, I didn't do it. I don't understand how the Techno-Wizards do it.. they take wires, and crystals and magic energy and somehow make devices that mimic how spells work." He motions back toward the range stalls and positions himself at the fireing line. "That pistol operates like the energy bolt spell." He intones a significant phrase, and points his right hand toward the target. A bolt of scintilating energy streaks out and slams into the target plate, but doesn't seem to hurt it at all. He moves out of the way and motions you to the firing line. "That was the spell, now fire that.. and you'll see it's the same."
Valerie accepts the pistol reluctantly, and she stares at the object as she turns it this way and that. "I see. That is... very clever." It's spoken in the same tone that one might use if someone told you his hobby is building nukes in his basement. Well, sort of. She's certainly really quite wary, but she doesn't sound outright afraid. "I'm not a wizard," she points out, offering the pistol to Vargus again.
Vargus shakes his head. "Don't have to be. You just point the gun and shoot. Eventually the magic charge in the crystals will have to be reenergized, but it doesn't take too much and it's easy to do with the ley lines that pass right through the town. The crystal matrix holds thirty-eight shots. I think it's been fired maybe ten or twelve times. Should still have plenty of power."
Valerie nods slowly. "So with this, anyone can use the magic?" Despite herself, she walks over to one of the stations, and fires a shot at the target. She's... well, certainly not any better than Vargus. She squeezes the trigger again, tensing as the energy comes out of it. It doesn't do much for her accuracy. "This is such a weird device."
Vargus grins inside of his helmet, "Yeah, it just doesn't work like you'd expect it to. Doesn't feel like a laser, doesn't fire a beam. Doesn't fire a bullet, or a rail blast. I've always thought they were odd. But, most of them can be used by anyone. So it's a pretty nice way to get a spell effect into the average trooper's hand. Problem is they can cost a lot. All made by hand, and the crystals and gems and things get expensive."
"They're even more expensive than technological weapons?" Valerie asks incredulously. Just wait until she finds out how much a PA costs. "I... guess I can see why." She doesn't sound entirely certain, however. She fires another two blasts, managing not to hit the target at all.
Vargus nods his head with a slight sigh. "Yeah. Tech weapons can be mass-produced on assembly lines. The TW stuff is all non-standard, and has to be made individually. Mm.. I heard of one gun, I think Stormspire makes it." he motions off somewhere to the east. "They're in the magic zone somewhere... anyway, this thing is some kinda pulse cannon, and it goes for two hundred and fourty grand... /and/ the energy cells for the gun are seperate, and cost about as much. I think you get like two shots per clip, and it holds a few. But still... it's freaking expensive. Although, it is pretty powerful. You mount it on a vehicle."
Valerie snaps off a few more blasts, but finally lowers the gun and offers it back. "So you would have to buy a vehicle too?" she asks unhappily. Always with the expenses! "Thanks for letting me try your weapon. It's interesting." She pauses for a minute, then adds grudgingly, "I may buy one... after the laser and the blade."
Eliza arrives from the Landing Strip. Eliza has arrived.
Vargus shakes his head. "Nah, wouldn't have to. It's just a pretty big gun, so most people stick it on a truck or something." He takes the pistol and slips it back into his chest holster. He and Valerie are hanging out near one stall of the shooting range. Vargus just received a pistol back from Valerie, and they're just hanging out talking now.
"I see," Valerie murmurs. "Maybe I'll look into it after I buy everything else," she adds whimsically. Not much chance of that occuring anytime soon. "I expect I will see you soon." Because Vargus is a sneaky, sneaky critter, no doubt.
Eliza materializes out of thin air. Bats swarm in circles around her and a tremendous 'hoo-hoo-ha-ha' goes rolling through the Firing Range. Everyone present stops what they are doing and engages in a complicated song and dance routine and vampires give up blood for orange juice. Okay, so that is NOT what happens at all. What really happens is that a young woman with obviously bionic arms pads up the road to the firing range. She has a something special! It's an archaic old slug-thrower. Really huge too. The unmistakable shape of an old-style Barrett .50 rifle, complete with scope. She even looks happy! By the time she gets to the lane right beside Valerie and Vargus the song she is humming happily to herself can be heard.
Vargus's head tilts off to the side as Eliza walks up. "...now that's a big gun." He nods toward Eliza to urge Valerie to have a look. He unclasps his hands and gives Valerie a wave after a moment. "Mmm, yeah, we'll probbaly run into each other again, huh? Seems to be the case of late."
Valerie looks in the indicated direction, and sees Eliza as she walks by with the huge rifle. The rifle itself holds her interest for several seconds before she shakes her head. "Probably costs a fortune," she mutters, but then adds in a normal tone, "Yes, so it would seem." And then. Then! THEN! she walks out of there, just like that.
Eliza is holding the archaic old thing like a little lost puppy too. Like something really valuable and special to her. "Buh?" Her voice is a little on the harsh side, but isn't really unplesant at all. "It's not so expensive. Bye!" Friendly sort. Dropping to the ground and unfolding the bipod she begins to set the old rifle up. "It's not as special as it looks. Doesn't do much to modern armor. I keep this 'ol warhorse going for noise therapy. With silver though, just wonderful for the soups. Nothing quite else like it!" A smile and a sage nod. The wind changes and sweet scents of chemicals drift up from her body. Not like soaps. Like intoxicants.
The current game time is: Fri Dec 11 21:19:32 105 PA.
Vargus chuckles a little, the sound muffled slightly from the chitin armor covering his head. "I have no idea where she's from, but, tech weapons and techno-wizardry seems new to her. She's getting a shopping list from some others around, and she's seeing that most of the decent hardware is expensive. So, probably just assumed that anything that large was going to be a lot."
Eliza wiggles her fingers when techno-wizardy is mentioned. Just a natural reaction of sorts. This interferes momentarialy in her rifle-assemblage but she gets the bolt drawn back and ammunition loaded. "The best thing about this, though. Is that silver rounds will pop the heads off the bonies that are runnin' around here at night." Bonies! What a word to use. Ever cheerful, Eliza racks the catch back and begins to aim with an eye through the scope. "She's cute too, isn't she? In, like a cutey sort of way." Whatever that means. "Have I met you before?"
Vargus eyes the weapon at the mention of 'cute'. "Hummm... I'm not sure I would say cute, really. But.. it is an impressive-looking weapon. Fires physical rounds, you say? I don't think I've seen a gun like that before, but it doesn't look too new." He looks from the weapon to Eliza. "Hummmm, I think we might have met once before." He pauses a little, "Oh, hang on." His right arm slips behind him, under his cloak and after a moment the chitin armor covering him ripples and liquifies, running up his down and down his arm to disappear behind him. "Might recognise me without the armor."
Eliza is pretty out of it, but something makes her giggle. And she can't stop right away either and sort of ends up with her arms clasped at her belly going 'he-hee-hee'. "I... hee-hee-hee...didn't mean the gun, I meant the girl! The gun's a boy anyway." Mastering herself with quite a lot of effort, she rolls back on her belly and ahs. "Right. You're the one with the death wish. I didn't get your name the last time?" She's aiming now. See? Watch her. "And this is pretty old, yeah. Two hundred years or so as far as I can figure. Still servicible though. It's been a great friend."
"Two hundred?" Vargus nods his head a little in appreciation. "Wow... they really knew how to make stuff back then, huh? People are still finding stuff of theirs all over the place." He pauses and tilts his head to the side at Eliza, and an eyebrow quirks up. "I have a deathwish?" The metalic eagle, normally perched on his shoulder, has been hanging out sitting on the counter railing of the nearby stall. At the question, it chirps and chitters a little. Perhaps avian laughter.
Eliza beams a little. She likes her rifle and she likes talking about it. Little does Vargus know how much it means to her, or why. Though he might find out! "My daddy gave me this, when I was seventeen. Gave it to me to prove or disprove being able to hang with the men." She is talking rather than aiming though. Bad Eliza! Her daddy would be not-proud of her. "Politely, yeah. The last time I saw you.....you wern't all there. For whatever reason. Not to worry, I don't hold it against you. I'm never here anyway!" She finishes her words with a cheerful and lopsided smile, and she looks up at the metal bird. At first she doesn't know how to react, but she makes kissy faces at him once she figures it out. "Hey, Gorgeous." Tags: desmond, eliza, valerie, vargus
