//------------------------------// // The Sentinel: Thrall, Temples and Traps OH MY! // Story: Rogue Chaos // by FrostTheWolf //------------------------------// Rogue Chaos- The Sentinel: Thrall, Temples, and Traps OH MY!         “Every kid who grows up Eldrid hears the stories of the Old Sentinel. An artifact/doomsday weapon that’s been on Ekkunar for like… at least a thousand years. Maybe zillions, who knows?” Mellka said first, only getting some of the other battleborn in the room to wonder why she was saying this to them. “Anyways, Rendain’s found it and the observatory would rather want to see the Sentinel dead than in his hands… so, guess what hilarious bummer of a job we get to do today? If you guessed “kill my childhood hero”, then you sir are correct.”         “So let me get this straight… The High Observatory wants us to kill something that sounds like a complete and utter legend?” Kleese asked, looking back at Mellka as he questioned what she just told everyone else. “I think we would be having better luck trying to find a leprechaun and it’s pot of gold at the end of a rainbow rather than this.”         “There’s always a bit of truth when it comes to old legends, especially with the Eldrid,” Reyna reminded Kleese as she looked back at Mellka. “The story of the Sentinel itself is with the Codex we just got off world, right?”         “From what I remember, everything we have about the Eldrid in general over the last ten thousand years should be inside the Codex.” The Eldrid replied back. “May I ask why you mention that?”         “I just had an idea for if were gonna pull this off,” Reyna replied back before looking at the other Battleborn around her. “Since Mellka knows a lot about what we’re looking for, she should stick with Nova back on the ship so she could refer to the story and help the team on the ground. For added measure, Sweetie Bot can assist Nova with making data retrieval from the codex easier… Now the only thing we need to do is figure out who would be going on this mission.”         “I would like to go,” Phoebe spoke up, raising a hand. “I always wanted to explore an ancient eldrid temple. Not only that, but I can also acquire more data throughout the mission. Which could be beneficial-.”         However, her rambling was cut off by Discord as he looked back at her with an irritated face. “Shorten your explanations to twenty seconds or less!!” Phoebe was shocked originally, but soon sighed and complied with Discord’s request.         “The shortened answer will be that I can be of great use for this mission.”         “Alright, who else wants to join?” Mellka asked. “Any volunteers?”         “I’ll join you on this mission.” Caldarius spoke “You’re going to need a robot… and Sweetie Bot’s low on energy.”         “I’m not low on energy!” Sweetie Bot replied “I’m all-” She fell down, powering down.         “See?”         “I see…” Phoebe spoke, almost dream like… with some drooling. “My love.”         “What?”         “Nothing!” Phoebe snapped herself out of the trance, all while Kleese and Marquis both sighed simultaneously.         “My only thought on the matter is that we should at least have one Eldrid with the team since they might be familiar with the ruins and the surrounding area. And Mellka and Nova can only do as much as track you and your communication devices instead of seeing what exactly you’re up against,” Ghalt spoke up, looking to see Thorn, Miko, Kelvin, and Alani in the same room. “Other than that, I think Discord could go as well. I mean, despite having been on a bunch of missions already, he’s always helped the team whenever we’re in a tough situation. He’s a wildcard… and a very good one.” They turned to see Discord poking at Kelvin.         “Who’s this guy?” he asked “I want him to join!”         “I have a name. It’s Kelvin.” The ice figure told the Draconequus, only causing ISIC to say the first random pun that came to his head.         “Well Kelvin, it’s… ICE to meet you!… Get it!? Ice!” All that was heard after that was silence and a few crickets chirping. Only leading to ISIC groaning to himself. “No appreciation for good humor… And when did crickets get in here?”         “That’s what I was asking last time!!” Benedict spoke up, before almost slipping off of the crates that he was sitting on.         “Okay, so we have Discord, Kelvin, Phoebe, and Caldarius. One more and the whole team should be ready to go,” Nova said, before turning her digital head towards the bald genius. “Any suggestions, Kleese?”         “Again, how the hell should I know?” He asked, looking back at the ground. “Hmm… I would only think someone who could support the team honestly. Phoebe and Caldarius are offensive based, Kelvin is defense and Discord is a jack of all trades. If the last member of the team can keep all the other ones alive… then things may work out just fine.”         “I think I can provide that,” Alani then spoke up as the rest of the team turned towards her as she stood up from the relaxed meditation pose she was in only a few minutes ago. “Before I had to fight as a warrior against Rendain, my people trained me as a healer. I can help keep the group alive while also providing additional support.” Discord snapped his talons and Alani was in a nurse outfit. All of the men, with the exception of Ghalt, immediately had nose bleeds.         “HELLO, NURSE!!!” They all spoke in unison, with Discord adding to it all, now a wolf. Caldarius, the only one in the group who actually had some common sense, just facepalmed himself as he groaned.         “Somebody please tell me how long until we’re out in the field…”         “Given how important this is and how long the trip to Ekkunar will be, you got anywhere between thirty minutes to an hour to get ready,” Mellka advised them. “Use the time wisely… Because you will be surprised by what exactly we’re going to be dealing with once we arrive and get you guys on the ground.”         Once the team was assembled and back on Ekkunar, Mellka, Nova and Kleese prepared to instruct the group on what to do next. However, it was then that they noticed that their was a bit of traffic in the air as Mellka soon spoke up. “They’re airlifting units in?! Pfft hahaha!! The Sentinel’s going to be PISSED!!” Before anyone even got the chance to ask, a few massive lasers went off in the distance as they annihilated the Jennerit airships into pieces.         “... Is that good or bad?” Discord asked.         “I think we’re going to find out once we get closer-.” Phoebe said, until they heard one of the Jennerit Thrall that was occupying the facility shout through the comms that Kleese had conveniently hacked into.         “Hostiles at the excavation site, KILL THEM!!”         “Well, guess that’s our cue.” Kelvin said to himself as he turned into a frozen wisp and immediately pushed forward towards the thrall before attacking with his fists. Giving Phoebe and Caldarius the chance to come in from behind for support. Alani and Discord also joined in on the fight as the Water Monk knocked a Thrall Beastmaster up into the air before it could summon any of it’s friends. Suspending it in midair as Discord conjured Whiskey Foxtrot’s rifle and took it out without breaking a sweat. As they got to the edge overlooking the sight though, things didn't exactly look so nice from where they were standing… Especially with the barrier blocking the way to the temple.         “That shield’s gotta go before we can get you inside. Find the shards powering it and destroy them.” Mellka instructed them. “There should be six of them around the site, one in which is powering a forcefield to block off another one from being accessed. I suggest you go for that one first. It’s on your left.” Discord picked Kelvin up.         “Hey!” The Golem yelled “Put me down!” Rather than following, Discord pulled one of the shards from his back, but instead of ripping it out completely, it was connected to a string that made Kelvin’s teeth move rapidly. With three tugs, Kelvin became a living chainsaw, complete with whirring noise. With a snap, Discord put on a hockey mask… with him letting out creepy whispers. All of the Thrall who saw him running to them ran away in fear, shrieking like girls, some running out of the battlefield, though a couple of others his behind the various crates around, sucking on their own thumbs. Finding, destroying, and obtaining the shards was probably the easiest & fastest thing the team had done, since they all split up & looked for their own shards… though Discord held the horror movie look with Kelvin, and Phoebe followed Caldarius, using her swords to carry her in her dream-like stance.         “Alright. Now with the forcefield done, we can get you inside. However, just a word of warning, the Eldrid who built this place were… way different than the kind you’re familiar with…” Mellka warned them as the team soon got on the pads that activated the ancient elevator.         “How different?” Discord asked as he tossed the Hockey mask off of Kelvin and to the side.         “Well… They’re big fans of death traps apparently.” She said as the elevator began to slowly go farther in. “I mean, they always said this place was dangerous, but damn… even the imperium is having a tough time… I guess we can’t turn back now.” All the battleborn on the ground though heard something completely different when they heard Nova speak her two sense on the matter.         “We can and probably ought to turn back now.”         “Hah! She’s kidding, Nova’s a kidder…” Mellka happily denied the statement, whispering to her seconds afterwards “Shut up, Nova!” However, shortly afterwards though was when the elevator slowly came to an abrupt stop as the groups still looked around to figure out what was happening. “Huh… Stalled elevator. That’s probably not a good sign.”         “What was your first clue?” Nova asked sarcastically. Just as a group of thrall began to crash down on the platform. However, while the other Battleborn were fighting, Discord thought of a plan to make things a little bit faster for the group as he began tweaking with some of the mechanics of the platform. When he was done though, Phoebe was the only one to notice what he was doing and then posed a question.         “Discord, what are you doing?” All the draconequus did was change himself into a dark burgundy bellhop outfit and was holding what appeared to resemble an old elevator crank.         “Helping speed things up… Which by the way… You may want to hold onto something…”         “What exactly are you-?” Just as Phoebe was going to ask, the youngling pushed the crank forward, causing the whole elevator to violently plummet to the ground as Phoebe grabbed onto Caldarius for dear life. As the ride came to a stop, Discord ditched his costume and then asked a question.         “Can we do that ride again?”         “NOOO!!!” Everyone simultaneously responded, still a little shocked by the dramatic turn of events. Only to be interrupted by Mellka as she soon spoke up.         “Cool, we’re being hailed, but it doesn’t matched the billions of encryptions that we already know about. That’s creepy and weird!” She sarcastically mocked. “And it’s to add onto the list of things that are already creepy and weird about this g*d damn hell pit!” With a defeated sigh, she then spoke up and finished her statement. “Nova and I are looking into it. You just keep on with the not dying stuff.”         “What’s hailed?” Discord asked, tilting his head in curiosity.         “Well, right now,” Mellka first said, before thinking of something to mess with Discord’s head a little. “We’re receiving the digital equivalent of someone whispering in your ear while raiding a tomb! So expect skeletons to burst from the walls at any moment!!” That short bit caused a chill to run down Discord’s spine as he hid behind Kelvin and had Ghalt’s shotgun at the ready… until the Eldrid spoke up again. “Hah! Gotcha!! Man, that was priceless!”         “That wasn’t funny!!” Discord pouted.         “Oh cheer up, I was just joking around. I gotta have some fun here when I’m not on the ground fighting alongside you,” She informed him. “Plus, you got some more jerks to beat up just ahead.” Around then was when they saw the Jennerit Thrall and some golems that were a different variation of the ones back on Bliss heavily engaged in combat.         “Team six come in! Team-. Urgh, Dammit!!” One of the lieutenants swore while facing against the Eroded Guardians in his way. “F-fine… that’s fine. We’ll try again, that’s all. Seven times the charm, they say.”         “Let’s wait ‘til those guardians take out the Jennerit first,” Kelvin advised to the others. “That way it could be easier to defeat them.”         “Right… but how are we even suppose to destroy them?” Phoebe asked. “They do look a little… intimidating.”         “Around the chest level is where their core is,” Mellka spoke up on the comline. “If these things are like anything that Discord and the others encountered on Bliss, then their core is the weak spot. However, you need to destroy the armor protecting it first.” With that in mind, the team on the ground proceeded with taking out the golems after they were done with the Jennerit first. Once all of the monster were done for and out of the way, one of the force fields on the far left side of the next ravine soon opened up and allowed for them to pass.         As they entered the hallway though, the first of many death traps that they were going to be seeing today was seen by the group. Sets of spinning blades followed by a falling spike trap from the ceiling. As they were carefully traversing the halls and acquiring some bonus shards and goodies from the treasure stash at the end of the hallway, Mellka was informing them about something she remembered from the story on the sentinel. “Now, I remember something in the story about the sentinel having lieutenants like… if the sentinel was a boss, his lieutenants would be mini-bosses. That’s a weird metaphor but… you get the idea. I’m betting you have a fight ahead of you.”         “Then let’s go-!” Discord said, trying to lead the charge. Unfortunately though, the floor of the next hallway soon gave way underneath them and lead to the group falling straight into a Jennerit Ambush.         “Kleese, please stop being lazy and help us open this gate.”         “It’s always SOMETHING isn’t it?” He protested to no avail. “Stand by.” As this was going on, the group had to survive against an onslaught of Jennerit forces coming in from every possible entry point while Kleese was working on the door. It took a while in order to pull it off and Discord treated the whole thing like it was a game. Going as far as using one of Oscar Mikes guns like a baseball bat to hit the grenades that the Jennerit threw back at them before they detonated. Soon though, just as they survived the Ambush, Mellka was able to speak to them again, having them watch their backs as they moved forward. But before they even got to the jump pad, they heard her say something else.         “Well, five year old Mellka is losing her mind right now-!”         “Do you need a spare? I think Kleese can give you one.” Discord snickered, causing Mellka to chuckle a little before she spoke up again.         “Anyways… we figured out the deal with the mysterious signal earlier and… it’s the Old Sentinel! Holy crap you guys, it’s like talking to a superhero! Play it back Nova!” At the sound of the request, Nova began to translate the encrypted message that they were able to decode. However, her response was not quite what the others expected.         “What the hell is going on outside? It was quiet for… I don’t know, a hojillion years or something and now everyone is trying to cram themselves down my throat. This sucks! I’m really mad!! This sucks so much. I mean, nobody ever listens to me… Turn back I say! You will be crushed to death and that’s painful as hell!! Don’t these people have like… jobs or something? Oh great, they made it to the first keystone. Perfect, that’s just perfect.”         “Keystone?” Discord tilted his head and asked out of confusion.         “The story says that the Sentinel’s lieutenants have Keystones that will be able to allow whoever acquires them to reach the Sentinel’s main chambers… However, it is really unlikely that they are going to just give them to us willingly.” Mellka replied. “Get ready for having to prove yourselves to them after this next chamber.”         “I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that proving yourself means combat?” Phoebe asked.         “Probably… The ancient Eldrid never took kindly to any possibility of thieves stealing their well known secrets, so these guys are probably hard wired for defense.” Mellka informed them. “I’m looking at the Codex entry for it right now, so I’ll tell you any updates I can find. Just focus on moving forward for right now.” Discord, snapped his fingers and everyone wore mining helmets, though he himself looked like a certain archeologist with a horrible 4th film.         “It’s for protection.” He added.         “Seriously?” Phoebe asked, slowly walking forward past him. “What could we possibly need protecting from-.” That was when a panel from the wall shot out, pushing Phoebe off of the ledge and into the pit below, where there were a lot of Guardians and Thrall down there.         “Okay, who’s rescuing the damsel in distress?” Nova asked.         “I’m not a damsel-!” Phoebe shouted, until she had to run away from a few guardians. “But I think a knight in a special black and silver battle suit can be really helpful around now!!” Caldarius was ready to enter, but, Discord jumped down, wearing a famous bat-vigilante costume.         “I’m Bat-cord!” He announced, throwing modified versions of Miko’s throwing knives that looked like boomerangs. However, the sight of him accidently caused Phoebe to smack him and throw him into a wall. Mostly because she was terrified by the thought of bats when she was a little girl under Marquis’ care.         Phoebe only realized her mistake though when Discord’s costume disappeared. “Oh goodness, I’m sorry Discord… I didn’t know that was you.” With that though, she twirled in place for a moment before rushing over to the youngling as she let swords rain down on all the enemies in the pit. “Now, if only there was a way out-.”         “There’s a jump pad right there.” Caldarius informed her.         “Thank you… Handsome.”         “… Are you in love?” Discord asked, shaking off the impact, seemingly forgetting about the incident.         “I-i just rather find it better to compliment someone on their appearance.” She replied, which only led to Kleese laughing uncontrollably in his seat back on the ship. “And Kleese, for the love of, stop that right now or I will find a way to have ISIC kill you in your sleep!!” That immediately got the genius to shut up as Discord and Phoebe rejoined the others. “Well then, let’s carry on.”         “Yes, I agree with that.” Mellka replied on the side as the group soon made it out of the room and to the next corridor. It was quiet… for a few moments. Until a golem twice the size of the other ones and five times taller than the Battleborn dropped down and looked straight at the group. However the first thing that was said was from Discord… and didn’t quite have the result it intended.         “Uh… Hi?”         This only lead to the Guardian Vyn roaring out loud before picking up a massive boulder and throwing it at the group. Causing them to spread out.         “You want to play it like that?” Caldarius asked, reloading his pistol. “Fine… let’s play!” Discord had on a tan outfit with mechanica, and a certain Anime theme played. Causing Discord to try and zip around the area and strike the monster’s weak point for massive damage. Only problem though was the fact that the Guardian can conjure spears from the ground and doing so had broken the ziplines Discord was using. However, Discord pulled out twin swords.         “DIE, TITAN!!!” He yelled, slicing the back of its neck. Only for the blades to shatter.         “Discord! Stop goofing around!! The core is the weak point!!” Mellka reminded him, causing Discord to smack himself in the head as he refocused his attention and proceeded to fight like how everybody else was doing. Which happened to work out a LOT better in the long run than when Discord tried to take on the guardian himself. In a matter of minutes, the guardian was finished and the activation pad for the keystone was soon initialized. With a jump pad no less.         “Come on, Short Round!” Discord cheered, looking like the same archeologist again as Kelvin somehow had some old baseball cap on the tip of his icy spikes.         “Who-?” The golem asked, shortly before hearing a fellow Eldrid speak over his unanswered question.         “Hey, it worked!” Mellka replied. “Now head back to the main chamber. You got one more keystone to go before the door to the Sentinel will open. We gotta keep moving!”