Lithic Walkthrough Part 10<------------> Lithic Walkthrough Part 12
19. Colorado Springs
The tram deposits you in a dour military station at the base of the mountains. You are immediately surrounded by a group of soldiers.
CAPTAIN
Hold your fire. It’s just a girl.
He pushes aside his men and approaches you.
CAPTAIN
Who are you? How’d you get into the tram?
IMI
I’m…
A lieutenant steps up behind him and hurriedly makes a motion for him to stop talking.
LIEUTENANT
Captain Katyusha, I think this girl might be a… one of the immortals we were briefed on.
CAPTAIN (pulling away from Imi)
Eee-gah! You can pass, miss. Sorry to bother you. Let her through!
The soldiers will disperse, and the Captain and Lieutenant will have a discussion off to the side. Pick up the single shard to the right of the tram car and go talk to the Lieutenant.
LIEUTENANT SWORNSON
Call me Swornson. You are one of the Emeric Immortals, aren’t you? There’s something almost too perfect about the way you look, it goes beyond poise. I hope we didn’t offend you. Is it true you can destroy cities by yourself?
(ask about the war)
It’s going badly. You probably could see it from up--
An artillery shell hits nearby.
(ask her about herself)
Lieutenant Kaitlin Swornson. “Lieutenant” Ha! It was a battlefield promotion.
(ask about zombies)
If we stop the Texans here, we might be able to force a truce. Then we can focus on cleaning up the zombies. If we can. That’s going to be a little harder now the laser seems to have stopped firing.
(ask about the Weapon in Colorado Springs)
Normally I wouldn’t tell you state secrets, but seeing as you are, you know, you, I’ll tell you about it. It’s a ruby about the size of your fist. It has… powers, but we are having trouble focusing it. The human mind can’t handle it, so they tried AIs. Their latest initiative is linking minds together, but… all the volunteers have gone crazy. We’re getting desperate, though and say… could an immortal control it?
IMI
I don’t know I’d be any better at it than anyone else.
LIEUTENANT SWORNSON
Please. If there is any chance you could help us… any chance, please help us.
(ask about immortals)
I don’t know much. They say you can’t die and have magic more powerful than anything humans have ever been able to create. They say you are shapeshifters from another dimension.
CAPTAIN KATYUSHA
Please be on your way. I don’t mean to rude, of course I don’t, but I have to figure out how to execute my orders.
(ask about the war)
It’s not a secret. We’re losing. We need to get… but I’m not going to bother you with that.
(ask him about himself)
Unimportant, and busy.
(ask about zombies)
They creep me out.
(ask about the Weapon in Colorado Springs)
I’m not at liberty to divulge that information.
(ask about immortals)
Just don’t immolate us or anything.
(ask about the Weapon in Colorado Springs after having talked to Swornson)
IMI
Swornson thinks an immortal might be able to focus your secret weapon.
CAPTAIN KATYUSHA
Does she? A little talkative, but maybe. Yeah, maybe. Yes, I think you, um, I mean, an immortal probably could focus the thing.
IMI
If you let me into the mountain, I’ll focus the weapon.
CAPTAIN KATYUSHA
And what do you get out of this deal?
IMI
If I can control it, I might be able to open a portal and get far away from here.
CAPTAIN KATYUSHA
You can do that?
IMI
I don’t know. I’ve seen the spell before, but I don’t have enough energy to make it work. I… escaped from a really bad place using a teleportation spell, but it didn’t work right and I landed here. If I had enough power, I could make the spell correctly. I think.
CAPTAIN KATYUSHA
I think we have a deal. I’ll radio HQ, and we’ll be on our way to Cheyenne Mountain.
While he is making the call, you can collect a few more shards from around the tram. There are twenty in total. Once you’ve collected them all return to the Captain.
CAPTAIN KATYUSHA
I have a jeep coming.
SOLDIER
Sir, we’ve just received word that radar has picked up a flight of F-35s out of Texas, ETA 4 minutes.
CAPTAIN KATYUSHA
Shit. Listen, I don’t know if your driver will survive when those planes arrive, but I bet you will. Get to Cheyenne Mountain and identify yourself. They’re expecting you. Here’s the jeep.
Get into the back of the jeep. The driver will take off down Lake Avenue. The state of the city is bad. It looks like it has been bombed multiple times and there are triage areas set up along the road. Groups of soldiers move equipment, and anti-aircraft robots position themselves in preparation.
DRIVER
Sorry about the mess, ha ha. You really an immortal?
IMI
Yeah, appears so.
DRIVER
Cool. Can you like even survive a bullet in your head?
IMI
I could. Listen, I just need to get to the mountain.
DRIVER
Yeah, yeah. Like, does it hurt to be shot?
IMI
Of course it does. Look, I’m very tired and--
DRIVER
Like, what about an explosion? Like, how do you survive if you’re like in seventeen hundred pieces?
IMI
I just come back. I’m not some science experiment. I’m a person just like you.
DRIVER
Not just like me. Like, you’re an invincible person.
When he gets to I-25, distant, but rapidly approaching, explosions can be heard. All around the city, anti-aircraft rockets start to rise. The jets sweep over and things start exploding.
DRIVER
Oh God, oh God, oh God. Shit shit shit!
A bomb explodes in front of the vehicle, and the driver overcorrects. The jeep slams into a nearby tank.
Extract yourself from the burning vehicle and reset your shield. The driver is dead. You can take his pistol if you want. Head down I-24.
You’ll start to encounter Texas Soldiers. Sneek or blast your way through them. There will be a lot of them between you and your destination. Take a right down NORAD Road.
The area is crawling with Texas Soldiers, Texas ENFORCER robots, and Abrams Tanks. While you can fight them all, a better strategy is to use Dim and sneak along the road.
Just follow the road all the way to your destination. Once clear of the city, you’ll find the Texans engaged in battle against a huge hoard of zombies. The free-for-all will let you get past all the soldiers. Eventually you will reach the Cheyenne Mountain Complex and a large contingent of Colorado soldiers and tanks.
Talk to any of the soldiers and identify yourself. They will inform you that you’re expected in the mountain.
20. NORAD
Follow the soldier into the base. You’ll be greeted by a stern woman in a general’s uniform. She’ll dismiss the soldier and gesture her staff to stand a good distance away. She waits impatiently as the enormous metal doors to the base slowly shut.
GEN. PANOZ
General Panoz, Colorado Central Command. You are the immortal I was informed of?
IMI
Yes.
PANOZ
To be clear, you’re willing to help us activate our weapon if we allow you to use it to open a portal… to where exactly?
IMI
I don’t care, as long as it isn’t here.
PANOZ
I’m taking a horrible risk here. You could easily kill us all and take the rock for yourself.
IMI
I’m not like that.
PANOZ
Yet, you’re willing to kill about ten thousand Texans. Once we have the artifact integrated into our systems, it will come to that.
IMI
I’m just tired of running. I just need to jump as far away as I can.
PANOZ
What stops you from creating the portal and leaving without helping us?
IMI
My word. It’s all I have.
PANOZ
I don’t have a choice. We’re running out of time. The Texans will be at our door in a few minutes. It’s a 25 ton reinforced blast door, but they’ll get through it eventually. Follow me.
Follow her down the first hall. Her aides will follow a distance behind. She’ll talk as she walks. There’s a fair amount of security to go through and guards every inch of the way.
PANOZ
Do you have a name?
IMI
Imi.
PANOZ
Short for Emily?
IMI
Short for “the Imitator.”
PANOZ
That’s a weird name. Why are you called that?
IMI
I don’t know. I suppose it is because I can copy spells.
PANOZ
Any spells?
IMI
Any I see.
PANOZ
I’ve only read briefings on immortals. There was one who attacked and massacred an entire town in Alaska a few years ago. That immortal was called Aulee, if I recall. Do you know it?
IMI
No.
As you head deeper into the base, the security tightens and there are laser fields, blast doors, and robots. You’ll head into an industrial looking section.
PANOZ
The artifact was found a few years ago, before the war, incidentally. We’re not sure what it is exactly, but it looks a bit like a large version of those so-called Aspects of Fire. Not that we know what the Aspects are either. We do know that this thing is enormously powerful. It gives you superpowers, for lack of a better word, you can destroy things from a distance, and all your latent abilities are increased. For the magically enabled this increases their power two hundred fold. Unfortunately, anybody who has tried to use it goes crazy after a few days. We first tried to replace our volunteers with AIs, but the AIs were burned out in a matter of minutes. We next tried to hook up a bunch of volunteers. They last a bit better, but we can only keep them alive long enough to launch one attack a day. We were just about to start before you arrived.
Follow her into the final room. This is an observation room that looks into what appears to be a converted nuclear silo. There is an incredibly bright red light floating in the center.
The observation room itself has several people strapped into chairs with electrodes attached to their heads. They appear to be sleeping. A few technicians are monitoring both them and the glowing light.
ADJUNCT
Warning. Dangerous trans-claudication geas detected. Aberrant magical, temporal/spatial field detected. Magic influx may cause unknown effects.
IMI
Hush, you.
PANOZ
What?
IMI
Nothing.
PANOZ
We’ll remove one of our volunteers and connect you to the…
IMI
No, I’ll just grab it.
PANOZ
In your bare hands?!
IMI
Don’t worry about me.
Lithic Walkthrough Part 10<------------> Lithic Walkthrough Part 12