EVENTS

A spectacular display of Tryker inventiveness. Of course if Be'Arroy Arty hadn't taken several shortcuts in the testing process, we might still have a mechanical Gerder to defend the Lakes. He may claim that it was version 2.1, but it behaved more like a 1.0.

Now if he had taken advantage of the technical expertise represented by the researchers in the New Trykoth Council of Scientists that might not have happened. It is clear that FISHES represents a reckless un-scientific approach to problems.

Mac'Od Bittty
Associate Research Fellow, NTCS.

Got some screenshots from this event.

LOKI warming up:


[url]Loki 2.1 getting ready

LOKI pushing:

[url]Loki pushing

LOKI final push:

[url]Loki final push

Ahem

Now that nair-Jacp has published his excellent lumios, I will write a full and factual account of the event.

Of course, Be'Arroy Arty had made sure that there would be plenty of publicity for the unveiling of his mechanical Gerder, so it was easy for me to show up in Avendale just ahead of schedule, pay off the New Horizons attendant for her fine mektoub and join the assembled throng.

The unveiling of the mechanical Gerder, the Lakes Original Kincher Invention or LOKI, took place with the usual extravagant destruction of the enclosing superstructure. The nameplate attached to the carapace said LOKI v2.1 and I have to admit that if I had not know it was a construct, it would have convinced me. It was extraordinarily lifelike, although frozen in position.

Arty then pushed some buttons on a leg of the LOKI and it moved forwards in a clumsy, but generally convincing, fashion. The nearby bolobis at least were totally convinced -- they fled, as you can see in nair-Jacp's first lumios. Of course the bolobis in the center of the city did not notice, being drunk.

Concerns about the safety of moving the LOKI onto the boards of Avendale were brushed aside by Arty in the manner typical of FISHES engineers. As far as I could tell, no tests had been made to ensure that they were strong enough to bear the weight of the construct. The fact that the LOKI did not fall through must be seen only as fortuitous.

Be'Arroy Arty then pushed more buttons and the LOKI moved onto the planks and advanced towards the center of Avendale. When it got close, the bolobis fled, moving towards the northern exit of the city. When the LOKI approached the position shown in the second of the lumios, it stopped and Arty had to consult his manual to determine which buttons to push next.

What happened then was that there was a sudden explosion and venting of gasses. Arty claimed they were steam, but this scientist and others in the crowd noted a purple tint to them. Arty pushed another button, apparently at random, and the monster advanced again, continuing down the paths and back onto the beach, where Be'Arroy had laid in a large supply of casks of rum to help tempt the bolobis out of the city. These were ignored by the bolobis, who can be seen fleeing in panic in the last of the three lumios.

At this point Arty attempted to deactivate the LOKI and the failure of safety protocols became very evident. Instead of shutting down, the mechanical monstrosity took on the full aspect of its likeness and began attacking the homins present.

Luckily most of us had brought our amplifiers with us and there was soon a concerted effort underway to destroy the runaway mechanism. Repeated attacks drove it away from the volatile barrels of rum, and down to the shore. After a long time the LOKI ceased to operate and slumped to the Dust.

I will give this much to Be'Arroy Arty, he was moving forwards toward the LOKI as he cried out, "He will explode! Watch out!". I presume that he intended to try to deactivate the power source.

However, the LOKI did explode, with great violence, knocking at least half of those nearby into a coma. Thankfully it was far enough away from the stockpiled barrels that they did not explode as well (or at least not very many of them). I am equally thankful that healing spells were instantly employed by all those who survived, just as swiftly as the damaging spells that took the monster down.

Examination of the beach where the LOKI had been showed only a medium-sized crater and no sign of the construct other than a few small fragments of wood and carapace.

Despite the disastrous ending, Be'Arroy Arty declared the situation a complete success. He also refused to answer any questions about the source of motive power for his construct. Concerned homins and scientific investigators await the assembly upcoming to see if he will be more responsive to the Kard'ali and the Governor.

-- Mac'Od Bittty
Associate Research Fellow, NTCS

((OOC/HRP : Jacp and I have here presented an account of the event so that those who were not present can find out what happened. We encourage others who attend other events (such as the journey of Epus the Exile or the Harvest of the Rotoa seeds) to do the same. PLEASE?? ))

Thank you, Bitty for the factual and only slightly opinionated summary of the events. And thank you Jacp for the images.

Tryker ingenuity at it's best as it seems. However, more than the scientific prowess I admire the courage of homins such as Arty. The Fyros should be ashamed to be bested by these Tryker pioneers. Or maybe, just maybe, the Fyros are more intelligent than they appear to be and avoid the naivete of the inhabitants of the Lakeland. Hmmm. Something worth meditating about...