Brrrrrrt!
Down!
Only one hit this time, and in the thickest part of my cuirass. I guess that given how it's having to grip onto the roof it can't track as easily as it could if it was on level ground.
And even enemies have to deal with a slight scatter pattern deflection.
"Maz-?"
"Not hit."
I land and fiddle with-. Good, radio's still working-.
Good, since firefights in Doom can get
loud, especially when explosive weapons are involved.
"How tough is that magic shield?"
"Endymion, don't charge it."
"I'm moving to flank. I'm not a fool."
After all, he's not suicidal. One melee blow from that thing would hurt a lot. Though I don't remember if the game version was ever programmed to melee things, this one
definitely would.
Makizeen darts off and takes cover behind another pillar, while I dart closer to the central tower to get out of the New One's arc of fire.
"It's an environmental shield. The strength is dependent on how in touch the demon is with its desires."
And I get the feeling it's pretty much so. Or the anti-'magical' field is reducing the Ring's power contamination even as it limits it to minimum functions.
Pshumm! / Pshumm! / Pshumm!
"Fuck!" A near miss knocks Taggart off his feet, and he rolls back to his feet with visible shrapnel in the shredded armour on the left side of his body. "Short version!"
Because Rockets have splash damage... Which the big one is immune to, not that the rockets will do much anyway right now...
"It's constant damage reduction. You can hurt the demon through it, but we need to shut it down. Can you see a glowing orange ring anywhere on its body?"
"Not on his horns, nose, or hand."
So either in the cyberarm or inside his...
Someone's going to
have to go and rip and tear, aren't they?
Pshumm!
Mazikeen fires a rocket, which slams into the large demon's left side.
Good thing about the Doom rocket launcher: No backblast danger. Either because no backblast at all or it was too complex to code that.
"Hehahahaha!"
It doesn't even move-. These aren't anti-armour rockets, they're high explosive. They don't have what it takes to harm it through even a basic environmental shield! Not unless we trick it into swallowing the things!
Plasma might do better. It's generally recommended in most guides, in fact. At least when players don't have a BFG...
Brrrrrrt!
That wasn't aimed at me, but it's effectively pinning us down. The big things doesn't appear to be fast or agile-.
But they also have very low pain chance. So no flinching from hits even if they
could damage them.
"Okay, plan. Avoid the demon with the missile launcher-"
"No shit!"
"-and fire at the thing on the roof. I'll move around to the far side and fly up. I'll either finish it off or disrupt the ritual."
And then OL gets to play his favourite role: Heavy Air Support.
Endymion huffs. "I'm no use on the ground. Can you carry me up?"
Pshumm!
Pshumm! / Pshumm! / Pshumm!
At least Mazi is serving as a distraction?
"Ah!" I glance at Mazikeen-. She threw herself towards the central tower as the rockets flew past her.
"It prefers to shoot Taggart. That doesn't mean it only shoots Taggart. Can you do this?"
And sadly, he's
not the best tank in the team. Unless he can keep running fast enough to hold the big guy's attention without getting hit, this could get messy real fast.
WoomCRACK!
"RAAAAGH!"
"Yeah, I got this. No force field there."
It has about 3/4 the hit points of the big guy, but would normally be a tougher fight because of map layout and hitscan weapon. Here? No problem...
Brrrrrrt!
"I'm heading around now." I turn around and start running. "Fifteen seconds. Endymion?"
"I'll go around the opposite direction."
Just watch out for more boney pigeons...
Pshumm! / Pshumm! / Pshumm!
"Duh."
Oh, he better not get blown up
here. Sailor Moon is gonna be
pissed if you get her man killed...
"Endymion?"
"Shrapnel, my armour took it. Taggart, does this berserk pack heal?"
"Fuck no. You just don't notice."
Mostly Accurate. It heals you up to 100 if you're below that. The main benefit is multiplying your melee damage by 10 (mainly the Doomguy's
fists, not a Chainsaw.) Said enhancement lasts a
lot longer than the red haze, apparently.
"I've got a healing ray. It just doesn't work at the moment."
"Spider-boy's getting curious! Maz!"
WoomCRACK! / Pshumm!
The joy of playing distraction for both bosses: Having to keep them
interested.
Brrrrrrt! Brrrrrrt!
"Oh, he big mad!"
Seems like they're managing it, though.
Pshumm! / Pshumm! / Pshumm!
Brrrrrrt!
I stop. I'm in position, but Endymion-. There is he. Shotgun in right hand, actuators too busted to fire it one-handed without breaking or dropping it, pat my back with my left-.
I'm sure that won't be a problem in a few minutes...
He grabs on and up we go. More leering demon-faced blocks of stone and there's the-. The rim.
And there's Angelica Blaze, crucified against the rear wall.
Score! ...Kind of.
The demon faces on the stone are shimmering, so I assume that they're something to do with whatever spell they're using her to run. But that could be anything from homing in on our home parallel to countering our magic. Attachment-. There's a metal ring around her neck fused with the stone, and crude tent peg-like nails through her wrists and ankles. She doesn't appear to be conscious, though I don't know if that's merciful or just means that they're torturing her soul directly.
At least they got that right. See, most popular depictions put the nails in the hands, but that's no good - the weight of the human body just drags them through the meat between the phalange bones. Messy,
bloody but not great at holding a person's weight on a crux. Also applies to
stigmata, too...
I could take out the nails with shotgun rounds, but the neck ring is a problem. I don't have a good cutting tool. Endymion-.
"Endymion, can you-?"
Don't expect his sword to be able to magically slice that band. Especially with that normalising effect in place.
He slams the black plunger into his neck, then shudders.
And then his pupils dilate and his mouth turns into a rictus grin.
...And too late for that anyway. Oh boy, here we go...
"Ba-da-ba-da-ba-be bop bop bodda bope!"
"Ah."
"I'm the Stabman!"
Oh
god, he's a
comedian too...
He runs around the parapet, towards where the Krang-demon presumably is.
Alright. Ah. Can't get Angelica free. But given that we could see inside the skull-shape, that central part can't be solid. There must be a way to get inside. None of us would fit through the hole in the front, so maybe…
So best option is to find out if something else is involved in the ritual and undo that, or how Angelica is tied to it.
I start feeling along the brickwork, trying to-
"RAAAAGH!"
Brrt! Brrt! Brrt!
Well, sounds like Endymion is getting to it.
"I want to feel clever! Share your brains!"
-find the switch I can only hope is-.
The wall rotates, spinning Angelica and me inside.
Not a
standard wall movement, though some games built off the Doom engine introduce such things...
Okay, good. Now-.
The central plinth is enveloped in orange mist, pooling at the base and being drawn into a column heading upwards towards the ceiling.
Oh. Well, that's not good.
And on the plinth…
I'm staring at my own severed head, its eyes twitching as it stares back at me.
On the upside, he seems to be mostly alive? If you an get a ring to him and end that dampening field, he might be able to reassemble himself?
