Present:
- "Liz" Holmes. Sword-Worlder Soldier from Winston – Shane
- Emerse Gee. Daryen Scientist from Torment – Darryl
- "Riley" O'Reilly. Sword-Worlder Pilot from Winston - Richard
- Anton Tositova. Solomani Gunner from Entrope - Ian
- Itzy Ende. Sword-Worlder Soldier from Winston - Chris
- "Spanner" Hoang. Sword-Worlder Mechanic from Winston – Jeff
- MARMALADING: Hoff Ende. Sword-Worlder Scientist from Winston - Kevin
- Gnostic Hands. Solomani Scientist from Entrope – Jamie
- Belle Ende. Sword-Worlder Medic from Winston - Steven
- Split "Penny" Ende. Sword-Worlder Minstrel from Winston - Jason
- NPC: Scurry. Drone Gunner from Winston
by Jeff
"Coooo weeeee" called Spanner, peering down the tunnel, but definitely not passing the line defined by the circular smear of blood from the vaporised guard, Fritz.
There was no reply.
The slow plunks as blood dripped off the walls and roof of the tunnel echoed back quietly from ahead. Riley, Liz, Spanner, Anton, and Split were gathered just in front of the blood line, the other three Ende guards cowered behind them. Just beyond the blood line the tunnel transitioned from a rough natural cave to a perfectly circular smooth shaft. The shaft angled downward and curved slowly off to the left, heading in the direction of the water filled bowl-like crater we had found earlier.
"Go on then" encouraged Riley.
No one moved.
Spanner crouched down and studied the ground and the walls of the tunnel in front of the blood line. Nothing obvious that might cause a person to suddenly vaporise! No noises or odd feelings. Nothing.
Scratching a line in the dirt just in front of the blood line, Spanner turned towards the guards.
"So, he was running in front of you, and .... boom?"
"Yup" replied one of the guards, "Boom"
"Best head back then" suggested Split, "Get the others"
Meanwhile, back at the tunnel entrance, Emerse had been setting up the camp gear in the canyon in front of the cave. Gnostic and Belle were sleeping in the back of the pickup truck in the cave entrance, and Hoff and Itzy were standing around the tractor arguing about some minor point of 'Ancient' physics, about which neither knew anything.
Hoff decided to take a break and jumped up onto the back of the pickup. As he lay down to catch a few winks, Belle and Gnostic woke from their marmalade slumber and joined Emerse in the canyon.
"Do you hear that?" asked Emerse.
A faint buzzing was echoing down the canyon, slowly getting louder and louder.
"It's a plane" yelled Emerse, "Quick, help me throw this tarp over the tractor"
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| A light aircraft buzzed overhead |
Emerse and Gnostic grabbed the sandy coloured tarp from the trailer and tossed it loosely over the tractor and trailer unit, before retreating into the cave. Peering up from the cave mouth, they watched as a light aircraft passed down the length of the canyon, passed the cave, turned back, and circled overhead a couple of times, before disappearing back in the direction it had arrived from.
"Those damn Montrose bastards" exclaimed Belle.
"Did they see us?" wondered Emerse.
"They circled right here" noted Gnostic.
"If they came from town for reconnaissance, no one would come to follow-up till tomorrow at the earliest" figured Belle.
"What's up?" questioned Split, arriving back at the cave mouth with the others, three guards in tow.
"A plane" reported Bell, "Circling overhead"
"Those damn Montrose bastards" exclaimed Split.
"More immediate though" broke in Spanner, "An Ancient's tunnel down the back of the cave!"
Riley, Itzy, and the three guards stayed on watch at the cave mouth, with two of the guards sent up the cliff face opposite the cave to their observation post, while Emerse and the others headed back into the cave to investigate the tunnel, and any possible reason for the vaporised guard.
Emerse monitored his pile of electronic equipment as the crew travelled deeper into the cave, and at about halfway to the explosion zone all his electronics shut down. The batteries still held a charge, but the electronics just wouldn't respond. We were in a 'dead' zone! Just like around the main Ancient site, and this new one. Sparks could be generated, and we knew the engines of the vehicles worked, so it seemed that beyond a certain level of technology the zone around the Ancient's sites somehow blocked all equipment.
Standing just in front of the blood line, Emerse attempted to discern if there was any reason that Fritz had been vaporised. With most of his electronics defunct, he tested a number of different things, including poking in the canary, both inside and outside of its cage. They were fine.
 |
| Anton's grenade rolled down the tunnel |
"Maybe because Fritz was carrying a weapon?" Liz suggested.
"Nope" grunted Anton, rolling one of his grenades over the blood line.
"Let's come back tomorrow" suggested Gnostic, glancing nervously at the still dripping blood.
So, everyone returned to the cave entrance where watches for the night were planned. One person up on the observation ledge, one part way down the tunnel, and one at the cave mouth, at all times.
During the second watch while Split was keeping an eye on the tunnel depths, she detected a sudden puff of air, as if a distant door had opened quickly. Calling Riley and Belle who were out at the cave mouth with the night-vision goggles, they all ventured quietly part way down the tunnel back towards the blood line. But there was nothing, no sounds, no heat sources, no light, and no more puffs of air. After thirty minutes, Riley and Belle went back to the cave mouth to finish their watch.
After a quick breakfast in the morning, two of the guards were sent back up to the observation ledge, the third, along with Riley and Itzy, settled in at the cave mouth, and the rest of the crew headed back down the tunnel to resolve the blood line and discover whatever lay beyond.
"Well, I'm stumped" declared Emerse.
"Let's try this" stated Gnostic, extending his fingers to the blood line and pushing them forward.
Everyone else leapt back, in case of blood spray blowback, but Gnostic was unperturbed. He slowly pushed his hand, then his forearm, then his whole arm, past the blood line. Then he stepped forward and strolled onto the smooth shiny granite shaft.
"All good" Gnostic called.
Anton shrugged his shoulders and followed, Spanner close behind.
"Have you got any weapons?" asked Emerse.
"Not me" replied Gnostic.
"Nope" called Anton, "Unless you count these grenades"
Split unloaded her handgun and followed.
Muttering about intent and nervously brushing his hair, Emerse decided to guard the tunnel at the blood line. Liz and Belle kept him company. Gnostic, Anton, Spanner, and Split moved on down the shaft and were soon out of sight of the others.
The shaft was perfectly smooth, polished, totally dustless, and was descending and curving to the left.
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| An odd three fingered handprint |
Pretty soon they came to a cloudy demarcation in the shaft. The shaft ahead was full of a light grey cloudy substance, like mist, swirling violently like it was in a storm, but somehow prevented from moving towards us. A three fingered hand shape was etched into the left-hand wall of the shaft, about a metre in front of the cloudy barrier.
"Wow, that's a weird hand shape" exclaimed Gnostic.
"Do we know what the Ancient's hands were like?" wondered Split.
"OOOWWW" screamed Anton, jerking his finger back from the cloudy barrier.
Half of the tip of one finger had been burnt off. Red cauterized skin was stretched tightly across his finger bone, small flakes molting off as we watched in horror.
"I don't recommend that" Anton hissed.
Gnostic quickly applied his enhanced First Aid skills and smeared on a burn cream.
[The burn inflicted 4 points of damage; the First Aid recovered 3 points. Gnostic has the Healing Touch talent which gifts him a bonus die for First Aid, and cures D3 points, as opposed to the normal 1 point]
"You idiot" complained Gnostic, "Like this"
Gnostic placed his hand up against the palm plate, with his pinky finger stretched away from the three etched finger shapes. It wasn't a perfect fit, but the stone flashed white behind the hand shape for a second, and the cloudy barrier quickly dissipated to reveal a larger oval chamber centred on the circular shaft. The shaft continued onwards on the far side of the chamber, but angling down at a much steeper gradient, and the walls of the chamber had four alcoves at chest height, two on each side of the main shaft. The alcoves were lit by a soft white light and each contained an item.
There was a crown, a ring, a belt, and a staff.
"I'll just check for anything odd" stated Spanner, and she studied each of the alcoves in turn.
"Nothing" she reported, "All clear" [Failed her Electronics roll four times!]
After a short hesitation, Split strode forward and picked up the ornate and jewel encrusted golden crown. "Wow" she exclaimed, "Look at this baby. So cool"
Anton grabbed the staff and gave it an experimental swing. The shaft was wooden, some strange hard and dense wood, the foot was shod in a golden metal, and the head was a small golden metal lizard.
Spanner picked up the ring, grinned, and slipped it onto her finger.
Gnostic lifted the belt and clipped it around his waist.
"Look" he said, "It's got an odd under-strap which clips down between the legs"
"And I feel lighter than normal" he reported.
"I reckon I could jump quite high" he continued.
Which he did. Gnostic launched himself off the ground and shot up like a rocket towards the roof of the chamber. Smooth polished rock. Solid hard rock. His head smashed into the rock, and he rebounded back to the ground. Landing lightly in a crouch, he staggered to his feet, blood running down his face in streaming rivulets from nasty wounds on his scalp.
"Ouch" he grunted, then slumped to the ground, dazed and concussed.
"Help him up" commanded Anton, "We had better report back to the others"
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| Split and Spanner emerged through the misty barrier |
Anton led us out of the oval chamber, past the hand plate, and back up the shaft.
Turning back to hurry the rest of the crew up, Anton noticed that the swirling mists were back across the shaft, blocking any view into the chamber.
"Hey" Anton yelled, "Are you all still there?"
Silence ...
Then Spanner and Split popped through the mist, Gnostic appearing a little behind behind them.
"... we are here" Split was saying, "Where else would we be?"
They all made their way back, collecting Emerse, Liz, and Belle who were waiting patiently at the blood line, and soon arrived back at the cave mouth, joining Riley and Itzy.
"Two hours" commented Riley, "And what's that stupid thing around your groin Gnostic?"
Taking the belt off, Gnostic excitedly described the four items found in the oval chamber. And then requested some medical attention from Belle. "For my head"
Belle wasn't able to help [Steven failed the Medicine roll] but did manage to amputate the end of Anton's finger and tidily seal up the wound with a nice bandage.
Emerse was very excited about the four items found in the oval chamber and immediately whipped out his electric tool kit and began a thorough investigation. Starting with the staff, he carefully tested each item for materiality, magnetism, electrical activity, and radioactivity. He even gave them a lick to test for taste!
About an hour later, after examining the crown and carefully placing it back on the bonnet of the truck with the staff and the belt, Split picked it up for a closer look and carefully placed it on her head.
"Hmmm" she thought, "That feels GOOD". But then she looked around.
The rest of the party had changed their appearance! Everyone was still there, still wearing the same clothes and doing the same things, but their heads had morphed into lizard heads! Their bodies, clothes and limbs were all normal. And they were all speaking in strange whistles and grunts; a different language! Very strange.
Lifting the crown off her head, Split watched as everyone morphed back to themselves.
"Phew" she though, "Only temporary thank heavens"
"Hey, Split" called Itzy, "Why are you putting that crown repeatedly on and off again like that?"
Well, it's the weirdest thing" replied Split, explaining the effects to everyone.
"Let me try" asked Emerse.
"NO" exclaimed Split loudly, "That wouldn't be a good idea. I'll just hang on to this myself" she explained, clutching the crown possessively to her chest.
Emerse moved on to study the ring; that Spanner was still wearing.
"Can you take that off please" requested Emerse.
"NO" exclaimed Spanner, "Can't you just do your tests while I have it on?"
"Sure" Emerse replied, peering at the ring.
"I'm sensing a bit of a theme here" he informed the crew.
"And there is an electromagnetic signal broadcasting from the ring" he declared.
"CAR" yelled the guard from up in the observation post, and everyone scrambled for weapons. Well, not everyone obviously. Spanner activated Scurry, Emerse went for his testing kit, and Anton, who doesn't use projectile weapons, fingered his grenade pouch.
Scurry reported a truck approaching slowly down the canyon, eight visible occupants, all carrying large weapons. Itzy ordered the three guards into positions behind large rocks near the cave entrance. He and Liz climbed up towards the observation post and set up under cover with good sight lines up the canyons. Well, for the closest forty odd meters till the canyon wound its way around a corner.
"Warning shots only" commanded Anton, "Until we find out who they are"
The old green truck rumbled around the corner of the canyon and the guard let off his warning shot.
Straight through the windscreen, and straight through the driver's cheek!
The truck swerved into the canyon wall; the driver slumped over the wheel.
"YOU STUPID ASS" yelled Anton, "WARNING SHOTS ONLY!!"
But it was too late, submachine gun wielding men boiled out of the truck like bees from a hive, leapt into cover and returned fire. The "rat-tat-tat-tat-tat" of multiple machine guns echoed down the canyon and chips of rock pinged up around us.
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| The truck slowly hit the canyon wall |
Liz's shot took one of the men through the shoulder and he dropped his gun and retreated behind the truck. Itzy dropped one with a shot through the eye, but no one else on our team was having any success. The return fire took out one of our guards, but it seemed that a standoff was developing.
"Surrender" called a female voice from behind the truck, "The Montrose claim this area"
"Those damn Montrose bastards" exclaimed Split.
"There are two of them sneaking up round the truck" called Itzy from above.
The truck slowly began to roll forward towards us as the men there began to push it from behind.
But two shots rang out from our remaining guards and the two front tyres burst.
"Not moving any more" grinned Riley.
Return submachine gun fire slammed into Itzy as he crouched near the observation post, spinning him around and he dropped flat as bullets ricocheted around him. [Chris spent 3 Luck points to roll a reduction in the damage. 4 on a D6 and Itzy was only damaged by 1 point. Otherwise, the 5 points of damage could have detrimentally changed the battle's outcome]
After unsuccessfully trying to "fire" the new staff by waving it and pointing in the direction of the attackers; and covered by a barrage of shots from our side while utilising his Stealth skill, Anton slipped across the canyon from the cave and scampered up to the top of the canyon wall. Moving up the canyon to a location directly above the truck, Anton spotted three groups of two attackers sheltering around the truck. The only female he could see was in the group at the back of the truck, so he pulled the pin from one of his grenades and attempted to lob it down on top of them.
"Flip" he grunted as he fumbled his throw, and the live grenade dropped from his fingers to the ground right in front of his feet. [A 20 was rolled on Ian's D20 roll against his Throw skill. Another roll is then taken, and if it indicates a miss, a Fumble has occurred. It missed, Fumble!] As the grenade bounced in front of his feet, Anton took a hasty swing with his foot, fortunately connecting, and the grenade sailed over the side of the canyon. "Phew" Anton sighed in relief.
[ DM mistake here: the grenade should have gone off, at Anton central. ]
"BOOM" echoed up from below. Anton peered over the side of the canyon edge to check the outcome. By a lucky break [Ian rolled a 1 on his Luck roll] the grenade had bounced down the side of the canyon and landed exactly where he had been aiming his original throw. The female and the other male at the rear of the truck had been blown apart. The male was obviously down, his machine gun gripped in his outflung hand, head lolling at an odd angle and blood pooling below him. The female was crawling back towards the back of the truck, trailing a line of blood across the canyon floor.
Moving towards the two men crouched at the front of the truck, Anton tossed another grenade which fell nicely between them.
The "BOOM" echoed around the canyon, with a simultaneous "CRACK" from Liz's rifle. One of those men went down, the other retreating towards the back of the truck, injured.
Silence.
"Scurry" instructed Spanner, "twenty metres up, scan the area around the truck and report back"
"Is that what you want?" hummed Scurry.
"Yes", and Scurry shot up into the air above the canyon floor, exactly twenty metres, and hovered briefly over the truck before flying back down the canyon a way. Shots rang out, but Scurry was quickly back. Spanner's monitor screen had shown no one left around the truck, apart from some scattered bodies, with the remaining attackers crouched behind some rocks about fifty metres past the truck, licking their wounds.
Anton sneaked along the top of the canyon wall till he could see the five remaining attackers below and carefully lobbed his third grenade over the side into their midst.
"BOOM"
Two of the figures, including the female, retreated further up the canyon, but three were left on the ground, in pieces! With the area clear, the crew moved up to search the truck and the bodies. Guns and ammo, food, water, and basic supplies. Nothing else of use. Each of the bodies had been wearing a stylish belt with a large M carved on the buckle. Proof of their origin.
Emerse sent his own drone to track the last two of the attackers, slowly moving away up the canyon, and Liz and Anton rushed off after them. Calling out when they got close enough, Liz suggested that they should surrender, before they were killed. [Shane was successful in his roll to Persuade them to surrender] As they stood to throw down their weapons, Anton tossed his final grenade.
"BOOM"
"What?" asked Anton as Liz stared daggers, "Those damned Montrose bastards"
They were still alive though, and Anton and Liz dragged them back to the others at the truck. Six dead Montrose bodies, and two unconscious. One dead Ende guard.
"The battle to us" cheered Riley.
"OK Gnostic" said Belle, "Let's try that head wound again"
Belle, successful this time, cured 6 points of Gnostic's head wound damage using the Medicine skill.
"Something else approaching" called Emerse, his drone still monitoring up the canyon.
A jeep, sporting a white flag, and occupied by four tall women, was approaching our location.
"Not more Montrose bastards?" wondered Split.
But no, as the jeep rounded the corner into sight and stopped, one of the female occupants stepped out and slowly approached, hands raised. They were Zhodani women, the "Pale Vampires"
"Are you OK?" she called, "We have been sent to rescue you"
"We are OK" called back Liz, "No need for rescue, as you can clearly see"
"Why did you think we needed rescuing?" asked Riley.
"We saw these Montrose operatives heading this way" the Zhodani replied, "Knowing you were somewhere in the area, we figured you might need some help and followed"
"How did you know we were in the area" asked Riley.
"We just know these things" the Zhodani responded mysteriously.
"So, do you have any Montrose ... bodies to dispose ... to take care of?" the Zhodani asked.
"Sure, would you like those" suggested Liz, pointing at the stack of dead.
"Can't help with those" she replied, "How about those two?" pointing at the unconscious pair.
"Well" suggested Liz, "We might want to question the woman, but take the man"
"Thank you" the Zhodani replied, scooping the body off the ground and throwing it over her shoulder.
"So, is that helpful to you" asked Liz as she began to walk back towards her jeep.
"Oh yes" she called back, "We owe you one. Take my card"
Flicking a business card through the air at Liz, she walked quickly back to the jeep and threw the unconscious man in the back. The jeep backed up, turned around, and headed back up the canyon.
Emerse watched through his drone's monitor as the jeep moved away up the canyon. After only fifty metres, a body was tossed off the jeep.
Subsequent checking revealed that the male Montrose was now fully dead, drained of blood and his skin stretched tight against his bones.
"It's true then" confirmed Liz with a shudder, "They do suck the blood of the living"
"But they don't have Lizard heads" commented Split, who had been using the new crown.
"But the dead bodies can't even be seen at all. They just disappear when I have the crown on!"
One we had confirmed that the Zhodani jeep had left the canyon, heading back towards Bitter End, we threw all the bodies in the back of the Montrose truck, covered them with tarpaulins, towed the truck forward past the cave mouth, and abandoned it some distance down towards the Ancient's bowl-like, water-filled, ground depression. Then we headed back into the cave to explore deeper down the Ancient's shaft.
"You" shouted Anton at the guard who had shot the driver of the Montrose truck, "Come with us"
Hoping that the armed guard might explode in a misty cloud of blood, Anton commanded him to pass the blood line and lead us onward.
"Um" the guard hesitated, "That's not safe though is it"
"Sure it is" Anton instructed, "These guys were all down there earlier"
"But they weren't armed" noted Emerse.
The guard carefully placed his rifle on the ground and walked forward.
"A smart one" noted Belle quietly.
Anton kicked the rifle along the ground, across the blood line. Belle just wandered through, carrying her weapon, and everyone followed.
"Hmm" concluded Emerse, "Not weapons then"
Once everyone was back at the misty barrier, Gnostic placed his hand on the palm plate to open it up.
But nothing happened. Trying unsuccessfully a few times more, Gnostic stepped back with a curse.
"I feel good" volunteered Split and placed her hand on the palm plate.
The misty barrier dissipated, and we entered the oval room.
"Cool, let me try that crown" suggested Anton.
"No way" responded Split, back up, "How about I try the staff?"
"Sure" said Anton, shrugging his shoulders and handing it over.
Taking the staff firmly in her right hand, crown on her head, Split freezes for a moment.
"So cool" she stated, "The staff is humming like an amplifier"
"And you can't have it back" Split told Anton.
We turned towards the shaft and prepared to move on into its unknown depths.
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| The tunnel descended in front of us |
