With a worried chirp, Sinathel gently placed the bomb close to the beacon before nuzzling Dambreth. She attempted to convince/maneuver him to get on her back, to leave with her too. She'd already lost him once, she didn't want to lose him again if she could help it. If he seemed determined to stay, no matter what she did, she would respect his wish that she flee. Though she wouldn't be happy about it.
Tears in his eyes, Dambreth hugs Sinathel and then closes his eyes tight and once more reaches out to Gaia for Guidance asking her to give him a sign if he must stay with the bomb for his plan to succeed or can fly off with Sinathel.
In the skipper, Olivius and the thing calling itself Temellen are locked in a death struggle. As the skipper begins to corkscrew through the air, gravity seems to rotate along with it. The only constant in the craft is right in the center of gravity, where the two of you slash and swing at each other, barely knocking away the twisted barrel of the mock elf's weapon as he tries to swing it to bear on you. You've seen first hand the damage that thing can do; you're pretty confident that if it can destroy a ship's wing in one shot, it won't care much about your medium armor. Wisely, you restrain yourself from over-extending as you try to bring the thing down at last, slashing across the elf's face and opening a long, red wound across his right cheek and nose. In the infrared vision of your hood, it's a hot white spot in the darkness of the elf-thing's face. He screams in pain, clutching his nose, and fights for mastery over the ship's controls with you. His wrist spasms and he throws his head back, slamming it against the bulkhead with a sickening thud.. "Ugh.." is all the mock elf can say as he collapses like a puppet with his strings cut. HP: -2/12...and across the field, a hobgoblin warlord smiles to himself in quiet satisfaction.
The impact of his head knocks another piece of loose bulkhead loose, and the rapidly descending craft's turbulence proves almost too much for you, Olivius. With a yanking sensation, you are pulled off your feet by the winds all around you and only manage to grab hold of the exterior of the craft with your fingertips!
You cling desperately to the dying skyskipper as its altitude continues to drop, and you see your bloody Spirit Knife glowing a dull red. There's light all around you, here outside the craft's hull, but your Spirit Knife seems to remain a spot of darkness.
That's the last thing you see before the spinning craft impacts on one of the stone spires nearest to you. Roll defy danger.
Viola, your 3-D Maneuvering Gear miraculously latches itself onto the spinning craft as it whirls off toward the valley's nadir. You're flying through the air, finally in your own element again. You see the human wearing the strange hood get thrown clear of the craft, even as the craft seems seconds from crashing. What do you do?
This was not what Viola meant by 'catch a plane'. As the aircraft spins, Viola's line steadily decreases as she's pulled towards it. She'd assumed the folks inside would level it off, not send it careening madly. Oh well.
Step one is to detach from the thing she's eventually going to get slammed into. She releases the cable and fires once more.
Ker-chunk.... zzzzzzzzz.
Viola swoops towards the battered Olivius, attaching to one of the tree-like spires high above the others, seeking to grab him. Heroines always save the people over killing the bad guy, yeah? Yeah. Go with that.
"Take my hand!" she calls out to Olivius, as she swoops in close!
At the downed skipper, Bolus, you follow Ocampo as she recklessly climbs inside the wreckage. The heat is oppressive; in your heavy armor, you break out in a full sweat all over from the fires raging all around you in the hot hull of the ship. You can still see the damage that Temellen inflicted on the wing with his strange weapon from inside. The third Guardian - Vallarco, the one you never really interacted with - is struggling to get the flight harness loose from Cortes' body, which is jammed at an awkward angle. Cortes is unconscious. You see his combat knife lying on the floor nearby. You're breathing in heavy black smoke with every breath and your eyes water with painful irritation. What do you do?
Meanwhile, Dambreth embraces his cousin for what may be the final time. Behind them, the inexorable ticking of the bomb's activation clock continues to count down the seconds.
As the cleric wraps both arms around the drake's neck for a hug, he sees over her shoulder that Hardworthy's craft is crashing! You see a small figure get thrown clear, and another figure whizzing through the air toward him on some kind of extendable/retractable wire!
You close your eyes tightly and pray for a sign from Gaia, knowing that your time is running out. When you open them again at the sound of the craft impacting on the stone spires, you're surprised to see an object flying through the air toward you!
Sinathel turns to look over her shoulder as well, and instantly recognizes the flying object! Using her drake reflexes, which are said to be even sharper than cats', Sinathel catches the flying object in one claw. Unfortunately, the drake has to move rather quickly to catch it in time, and you cut your hands on her scales. Take 1d6 damage, ignores armor, to the palms of your hands. (As penalty for the 9 roll).
It's the egg that Sinathel rescued! Somehow, against all the madness of Temellen murdering the Professor and commandeering his vessel, the innocent egg was left unharmed and flying right toward you! How the f~!# did that happen?
If such an impossible event wasn't a sign of obvious divine favor, you don't know what is. Your time is not yet ended, priest of Gaia. Escape while you can!
Olivius quickly sheathes the blade that was talking now, as if that would make it stop. He thanks his lucky stars for all those times he scaled castle walls and cliff faces for scores as his fingers grip like vices as he spins.
Suddenly, an elf (a real one!) comes swinging into jumping range! On... wires? Oh well. He braces his feet on the body of the plane, times her swing, and jumps with a blast from the boots with the intention of boosting them out of harms way and up toward a high point. He needed to get his bearings.
With the egg and her cousin secured, Sinathel takes flight with relief and determination in her eyes. 'Flee while you can! When it explodes, it will destroy what is near!' Letting out a vocal cry of warning as well as a message to any of The People that might be near by to flee, Sinathel aims for achieving as much distance from the impending explosion as fast as she can while keeping Dambreth and the egg safely secured.
Changing Quest to Destroy The Beacon. Asking for Boons
* Unwavering sense of direction to beacon
* Senses that pierce lies
* Invulnerability to fire
Ocampo! Get the knife and cut Cortez free. Vallarco pull him out. Bolus barks orders at the two active Guardians.
I only got one good hand. Which I'm gonna use for this
Taking the hypo spray that he'd just used on his wrist Bolus jams it against Cortez' neck and uses it all up on him. .
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Olivius is totally on a roll with the control of these rocket boots. If the original owner of the boots could see him use them now, he wouldn't even be that mad that the thief stole them.
The young human braces himself, his vision picking up Viola's incoming form quite easily, and timing the parabola of her approach. With a small flex of his foot, he launches himself at her, spinning end over end in the air to a somersaulting grab.
Like two acrobats who have been using the flying trapeze for years together, Viola and Olivius grasp each others' forearms. The momentum of Olivius' jump alters Viola's course, and causes her to swing low and begin to circle around the stone spire that the skipper is crashed in.
Following the path that Olivius planned out mentally beforehand almost precisely, the two of you come down to a perfect landing up on one of the spires. There's a small foot path leading down nearby; behind you is a cave. Inside the cave you can hear a creature awakening with a low, rumbling growl. You can also see Dambreth embracing the jungle drake down below, near what looks like the beacon...and the bomb.
What do you two do?
Bolus, right about the time you bark out the words "knife," you realize that it's not easy to talk through a lungful of black smoke. You cough heavily, but each time your lungs expel some black smoke through coughing, you breathe in some more. Your head spins; you're getting dizzy from the lack of oxygen. Vallarco is struggling on, a cloth torn from Cortes' uniform held against his face with one hand, as he nods in acknowledgement to you and scoops up the knife. Ocampo is nearby, but she can't grab it herself - she's coughing and trying to fight the growing fire in the back of the cabin with a small fire extinguisher. Working on your orders, Vallarco cuts the Captain's harness loose and struggles to get him over his shoulder, right after you shakily inject the medi-hypo.
"Get out of there! The fire's getting bigger!" you hear Yala shouting from outside the skipper, her voice tinged with real fear. Indeed, as you hear those words, the back end of the 'skipper - where the engine compartment is - grows hotter and hotter. You don't feel any ill effect from the flames themselves, but you can tell the temperature is rising, and you hear Ocampo crying out in pain herself as the flames lick her clothing. You feel the heat on your very eyeballs when you look back there; it's difficult to look without squinting almost closed.
Vallarco gets the Captain free and barely over his shoulder, but doesn't have a firm grip! Ocampo drops the empty extinguisher, cursing its uselessness. "We gotta ... *cough cough* ... get out of here, sir!" she yells, over the roaring of the nearby flames. Tell us what you do to escape and roll defy danger accordingly...and note that pausing to help your comrades, while noble, might impose penalties to your roll, at DM discretion.
G$$&$!n Smoke Bolus thinks as he realizes his mistake. He should have held his breath. Cursing himself internally Bolus digs deep and tries to power through the burning in his lungs.
Ignoring the increasingly urgent demands from his respiratory system. Bolus drops the spent hypo spray and wraps his right arm around Vallacro shoulder's and with a grunt of effort stabilises his hold on Cortez rushes them both towards the one exit from the burning little portion of hell hopefully encouraging Ocampo to head to the exit with them.
Making sure to stay a little behind the other Guardians to keep between them and the rapidly heating engine compartment. Suppressing a wince Bolus forces his left hand to activate the Emergency ForceField Generator on his armor
Dambreth scrambles onto Sinathel's Drake back, in his hurry carelessly slicing his hand open as Sinathel spins to catch an object thrown clear of the skyskipper. The deep gash in his hand is bleeding profusely and on top of the battering he already taken today he feels as if he has little left to give. He wraps his hand the best he can while trying to maintain his balance on his flying cousin.
"Sinathel, fly by the others...they must be warned!". Even as the speedy drake swoops over their friends, Dambreth is screaming at the top of his lungs "RUN! THE BOMB IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE AND IT'S JUST OVER THAT RISE...RUN! RUN!" His energy spent, he collapses against Sinathel's back as she flies them away from the bomb.
"Well, that was fun. A lot more fun than the wire thing normally is. What do you think's growling in there? I'd think a drake, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was something else. Is that ship a friendly ship or an enemy ship?" she didn't indicate which ship. "Is the guy dead, or should we go in there and kill him? And is there not a way to just turn the shiny thing off, rather than blowing it up?"
They land. Olivius feels awesome. Then she starts talking. Her questions are so persistent that he almost misses the warning.
Gods no, woman! He tears the goggles from his face and shoves them in a pocket. We are blowing it to kingdom come. Now come on! We need to be gone now or we'll die with it!
He spots Bolus's downed flier and runs straight off the side of the spire in that direction. It's quite the drop to the descending path below, but the boots were made for this kind of thing and he easily runs his way down the face of the rock.
Once on the ground he uses the boots to bound from high point to high point, crest to crest.
"He's not dead?" Viola frowns, picking a random question out. "I'm pretty sure he needs to be dead." But he disappears down the slope as she's trying to clarify. She shrugs. Rather than going after the other stuff, she simply zzzzziiiips up the line to the ship, un-kerchunks herself, and then climbs inside to see what sort of amazing treasures were left behind.
Through all this Eldar simply held on. It was not his area of expertise. And those in charge of handeling the craft wete doing a better job he could do himself. Best leave it to those who can
-Posted with Wayfinder
Flying over Olivius, she was relieved to see him relatively unharmed and heeding their warning to speedily vacate the current vacinity. Though that other elf did not apear to take their warning to heart. Oh well, that elf had made her choice. Sinathel continued her speedy retreat from the impending explosion.
Viola would take a quick look around before vacating, thank you. Couldn't -hurt- to try to find something, anything of value. Silly people always in a rush. She tosses things this way and that as she tries to find any valuables before skedaddling.
And then she promptly leaves, as suggested by... the ground elf.
http://imgur.com/KQfGVOO
Congrats! I have my second due in about a month. :)
Good luck! The last month for us was pretty uncomfortable!
Congrats to all of you. It's a life changing thing.
Back at Cortes' downed shuttle, Bolus coughs and hacks violently as he inhales more of the burning carbon. Bolus, take a -1 to your Con modifier until you've had some real rest, as well as 6 damage that ignores armor.
However, the pain of your burning lungs spurs you on to heroic efforts! Grunting and gasping, you shove Ocampo, Vallarco and Cortes out of the burning shuttle, just as the central engine core begins to become unstable from the encroaching flames!
Whatever Gods remain are smiling upon you this day, Guardian. You even manage to yank Yala off her feet, grimly setting your teeth against the incredibly painful burning sensation in your chest, your broken wrist - and on the backs of your legs. The skipper's core ruptures, and with a familiar bweeooooooooo the craft's computer initiates final shutdown.
"GET CLEAR!" you hear Ocampo desperately shouting to everyone as the skipper explodes with the force of a dozen grenades going off at once. All of you are lifted off your feet briefly by the sheer concussive force, and all that remains of the spot where you had just been is flaming wreckage and a crater.
Olivius, you manage to the base of the huge stone spire before the bomb detonates. Viola, you're inside the craft that formerly belonged to the Professor. Dambreth, you're facedown on Sinathel's back while she wings away in drake form, exhausted. Here's how the explosion affects all of you:
You can hear roaring like that of a huge flaming lion behind you as you all try to get away. The temporal energies, aggravated by the tremendous explosion of the bomb, create a swirling vortex that expands outward and collapses a second later. Olivius, you're sent tumbling end-over-end and impact the ground, hard. You're knocked out for about 60 seconds from the impact, and when you wake up, it hurts when you breathe in too deeply - feels like a rib's bruised or broken...take 1d6-1 damage.
Viola, you only have time to grab one object from the central console of the craft before the bomb goes off. Whether you try to escape the craft or ride out the explosion within the wreckage, explain how you do it and roll defy danger...
Sinathel and Dambreth are airborne when the bomb explodes, and are able to weather the worst of the blast. You were also the closest to the bomb before it blew, however - take 1d6 damage each.
The explosion creates a cloud that rises nearly 500 feet into the air over the blast site. The explosion cloud is lined with purple lightning as the temporal energies of the beacon are ripped apart and disperse into the air. There's a constant crackling hum in the air that gets louder the closer you get to the blast site.
Olivius rolls over and winces. That's gonna bruise. He told to his feet and makes his way toward the pillar of smoke that marks where Bolus should be. Thankfully, the boots make the rugged terrain manageable, though he can't use them too much at the risk of sharp pains.
Dambreth grunts in pain as he's hit from behind by the blast of the bomb. If he had been riding any drake except for Sinathel he would have likely lost his grip and fallen but his bond with his cousin is strong and he's able to subconsciously match his balance to Sinathel's movements. Even so, Dambreth feels his life force ebbing from him as he takes yet more damage. Even though he normally would not call upon Gaia to heal himself, he decides the seriousness of the situation warrants bending his attitude.
Goddess, please lend me a bit of your strength so that I may heal myself, he implores Gaia.
Sinathel did her best to shield Dambreth from the worst of the explosion. She felt the heat and shards of stone and debris against the scales of her belly. The Shockwave that followed jarred her bones but she kept aloft and the damage seemed minor to herself. She let out a concerned and questioning tone towards Dambreth checking on him. As she begins to search for Olivius and Bolus, concerned for them as well.
Well. There was totally the option of trying to flee. But that'd just expose her to the incoming blast. And leave her wondering where the valuables had gone. No... keeping the ship between her and the boom. That was the right answer here. She was pretty sure of it. It was made to tank this stuff, right?
Wait, are those holes in the side of the ship? Oh, Frell...
She moved away from the giant gaping holes in the side. Hm. What would be sturdy? That was the ticket. Something sturdy and towards the middle. Cargo hold for the bomb should be set up to keep things from hitting the bomb and making it boom, yeah? Yeah. Let's go with that.
Clever girl...
Bolus rolls over and coughs, his lungs trying desperately to rid themselves of the toxic burning particles that had been sucked into them. This sends shooting pains throughtout Bolus' battered body and he groans before forcing himself into a sitting position.
Everyone, ok?
The explosion can be seen, heard, and even felt by everyone in the valley's radius. The beacon's hard outer shell, incinerated by dragonflame and exposed to one of the strongest bombs ever built, collapses in on itself. The beacon's light is snuffed out, the purple lightning ceasing. Dambreth, your body still bears the scars of your close contact with the beacon; your body is aged and weakened. Take a permanent -2 to your Constitution score. However, Gaia's grace is with you; roll 3d6 and take the best result whenever you call upon Her favor for healing.
Viola, you managed to duck behind a sturdy substructure of the hull and bunker down there to endure the explosion. It works, but the pressure nearly collapses the bulkhead around you. You get pinched painfully by the metal around you being warped by the explosion's energies - take 4 damage, no armor. The communication device, the only object you had time to grab from the ship before the bomb blew, is in your inventory.
Nonetheless, you manage to get out of there with your prize from the ship intact.
Viola is the last to arrive as all of you gather near where Bolus has pulled the other Guardians clear. For a moment, after all the chaos and death you just endured, peace reigns on the battlefield.
Tolus trots yo to the group with a grin on his face in spite of the pain. I have fulfilled my oath. Temellen is dead, but he wasn't an elf. I don't know what he was, but it was a monster, no doubt.
Viola was taking the scenic route across the valley (read: walking), as she turned the communication device over and over in her hand. She took her time returning to the others (I'll give everyone else a chance to interact before I have her show up! :))
Dambreth's compatriots may be stunned by his appearance as he hobbles up to the group leaning on his metal staff. He once thick brown hair has turned a brittle-looking white and his once youthful face is lined with aged. Still he smiles and hugs Olivius upon hearing his words, "Thank you friend Olivius, Scram is avenged. I am in your debt. Now what is this about the Betrayer not being an elf. Let's take a look at what's left of the body and see if we can figure out what he was."
That being said, Dambreth slowly makes his way to the wreckage of the skyskipper and clambers inside to get at the body of the thing they knew as Temellen the Elf.
"Hmmm, maybe some sort of mutant sea bass?"
Olivius shrugs. All I know is I'm glad he didn't bite me. Look at those teeth! Looks like a thing from one of my Uncle Barnum's "Sea Monster" stories. He always made so much money with those.
Secretly, Olivius was worried for the newly aged Dambreth. He couldn't imagine what would have happened to him in the same circumstance.
Upon spotting Bolus, Sinathel landed near them. She looked each of them over from her landing space before aiding Dambreth in his dismounting. She huddled protectively over him as she checked his status. When the hobgoblin aproached she watched carefully till she was sure of his motives to help Dambreth. Seeing her cousin in much better health and learning of Temellen's demise at Olivius's hand, she released her hold on her drake form. Her form began to shrink and turn more humanoid in form. The verdant scales changed colors and began to mold together forming hides of various patterns and prints along with skin and hair. Soon Sinathel was back in her true form, covered in dirt, debris and small scratches. Smiling at Olivius, "You have become quite the hunter."
Safely stowing her egg, Sinathel paused as the others headed towards the downed ship to look towards Bolus. "Do you need me to stay to help?" She kept glancing after Dambreth, her concern ovious.
Olivius bows before Sinathel with an easy grace gained from the custom of his time. A student owes all he is to his matter, my dear. I could never hold a candle to your prowess.
Dambreth moves to intercept Viola as she strolls towards the group as he has something to say to her in private. In courtly Elvish, which may seem very archaic to Viola, Dambreth says, "Well met Lady Elf. We had no chance to be introduced before we joined battle against the Betrayer. My name is Dambreth, formerly a ranger of the Elven Court in a time long gone, and now a simple priest of the Goddess of Earth, Gaia. I offer you my formal gratitude for your role in stopping the Betrayer from summoning the Devourer of Worlds. I realize that these are but words to you, but I invite you to travel with us and learn the truth of what doom we all face. Even if you take a different path, know that I owe you a debt not easily repaid and stand ready to aid you if you call."
Bolus feels lighter like he always does after he's managed to fulfill a task he's set for himself. The Beacon is destroyed? And we all survived? he asks though he knows in his heart it's true but...
Where is Temellen! Bolus growls ignoring his injuries.
Dead by my hand. Dambreth and I are going to inspect the body if you wish to come along.
As Viola caught up to them and continued investigating the communication device (read: tossing it in the air and catching it), she fell into rhythm with the other's steps for a time, turning the walk into a rhythm of its own.
As Dambreth spoke, Viola began to grin. Slowly at first then it grew wider. After he finished, she responded in common, "Don't really like speaking in languages other folks don't understand unless I hafta. It makes it seem like there are secrets. I'm Viola... and you are very obviously from another time. I mean... where's your rebreather? No one comes out here without..." she looked to each person in turn. "If you start growing tentacle things, I'm out."
She held up the communicator thing, which meant she was no longer tossing it up and catching it, holding it out so that someone could snatch it if they wanted it. "Still trying to determine if I should press the button or let someone who knows what's going on press the button. But... it's a button so it's meant to be pressed, yeah?" she shrugs.
"Also... I did not know that Drakes could turn into elves. That's pretty cool. Don't suppose you'd mind giving me a ride later?" she said, looking over to Sinathel with a wink.
Then she returned her attention back to Dambreth, "That was pretty fun, so I may stick around. Depends on what's next, really. Plus there's that whole treasure thing. I'm really -really- hoping to get a shiny that doesn't need blowing up. Speaking of which... if you spot any drake eggs, I'm supposed to get one of those for a client."
As she walked she started playing out another beat, this time for Dambreth. Let's see if she could heal him up!
Dambreth attempts to think on what Temellen could actually be, but Viola's incessant drumming causes him a headache, and his glare at her throws off her rhythm a little. Both of you take -1 forward to spellcasting of all kinds.
As you all gather together to compare notes, you begin to hear a sound. Slowly at first, the sound grows steadily louder and louder.
About 20 feet away from where you're all standing, this materializes out of thin air. The low vrumming of the engines slowly whirrs to a halt.
The door in the side of the strange blue box abruptly opens. A strange man pokes his head out of the door, narrows his eyes, and coughs. He peers from one face to another, each of you in turn, then steps out of the box fully. He is smartly dressed, wearing a long thin coat that comes down to his knees and buttoned at the waist. He raises a hand to you all in greeting, and says, "Excuse me, but I need to know if I'm in the right place. Are you the Hand of Gaia?"
What do you do?