[IC] Earth's Dawn, [Closed Game] Oh... the HORROR! Options

[Lindt]

Tevos sits crosslegged aginst the cavern wall, seeking some peace before the work of summoning. Some of the things he had heard from the children concerned more then it flat out scared him. But not now, there was work for the chosen ones to do.

[ Spoiler ]

sumoning 7
cha 6

(5) force 3 watcher spirits (4 hours each)
drain (force + hours)L

If Im still feeling up to it (under mod stun)
Force 5 sky spirit to either assist a drone, or scout on its own.

Im planning on sending the watchers out in pairs (cause watchers are crunchy)

[Fortune]

Gypsy's head is a little worse for wear the following morning, and he finds himself wincing at each and every small noise that echoes through the caverns, and in need of his shades even in the dim light. It's only after managing to down a bowl of some bland, porridge-like substance, accompanied by a couple of pills from his medkit that he feels able to truly face another day.

Checking the progress of the other two team members that remain with him in the Cairn, he finds their mood somewhat mixed. Though almost half of the the tech talk goes over his head, he understands that Sleel is saddened by the fact that he has to sacrifice a number of his drones, being somewhat more attached to his mechanical toys than would appear normal, but can relate to that when he compares it to his own connection with Magic. The pair are also a little excited with the challenge of constructing some type of generator out of the cannibalized parts.

Quickly growing bored with the details of the project, Gypsy wanders off, deciding to further investigate the Cairn, paying attention to the little differences between the way the inhabitants go about their day-to-day tasks as compared to how things are customarily done in the Sixth World. Before leaving though, he informs the duo of his intentions, and also lets them know that he should be able to provide some magical assistance in the case of anything being broken beyond normal repair.

[Sphynx]

Night sets in on the surface with a bright full moon giving light. The team emerges a little before the sun fully sets, enjoying a rather nice sunset as they snack on the leaf wrapped bread and dried fruits provided for them. The watchers Tevos has sent out earlier return, and indicate that the land is barren for miles, it wasn't until they reached the next island that life was found. Whereas this island is a rocky crag, the next island flourishes with life, and even has a few town situated in the middle of it. It points in the direction of the northeast, where the island you know as Britain would stand. The night sky is refreshingly clear, and not a light to be seen for miles with the exception of the bright moon.

Meanwhile in the depths of the caverns, 3 people from a different time work on creating electricity in a world that knows no such thing. It's quick work to remove the sunpanels from the Arty without damaging it. Although it will now rely on manual recharging, which means a maximum of 2 hours at full speed, or 4 hours under normal conditions. Within a day's worth of work, the end result is a generator, breakable into 3 major parts, that can attach up to 3 things at a time to it. It has no battery to store the saved energy to, but can pump out a pleasant 60 pf per hour. Enough to recharge anything you have inside of an hour, as well as create other side effects from having electricity at your disposal. By the end of the day, Sleel, Slinky and Gypsy are ready to hit the sack, the team should be arriving soon, and a nice night of sleep sure help.

As the 3 settle in to rest, horrific screams can be heard coming from a distant part of the cave, screams so blood curdling that everyone's heart starts to go into overtime from an almost supernatural fear.

[HMHVV Hunter]

Rebo's consciousness keeps on scouting the area, zipping around and checking for anything of interest in the cave. Scouting really wasn't his thing, and he wasn't even sure what he was looking for, other than maybe another of those demonic looking things.

Zip around here, zip around there, zip around everywhere... Rebo thinks, his bored mind repeating the words on an endless loop.

[Backgammon]

[ Spoiler ]

Rebo not with us. No post from me.

[Fortune]

Startled into full wakefulness by the distant screaming, Gypsy throws off his blanket and leaps to his feet. All around him people are either doing the same, or else huddling under their covers.

As the awful wailing continues, the elven sorcerer silently hopes that the cause isn't what he thinks it is. Facing one of those Demon creatures without the full team was more than he wanted to contemplate. Staying put wasn't going to help the situation any though.

Quickly pulling on his coat and boots, he grabs his small satchel and links up with Slinky before heading swiftly in the direction of the disturbance. As they run, Gypsy roughly pulls his golden hair back in a loose ponytail, then covers his head with his bandanna.

[Lindt]

[ Spoiler ]

Nothing to see here, move along.

[Sandoval Smith]

The time that Jack spent in the Cairn was simultaneously enthralling and unsettling. If any of his hair had been longer than a centimeter it would've been standing straight up the entire time. If he hadn't already been halfway in shock, it probably would've turned white too. The info on the chip about the 4th World had been pretty bad, but that had been all shadowtalk, conspiracy spooks bull drekking about elves, Atlantis, and abominations. The inhabitants of the Cairn though, they, and their predecessors had lived through it all. He wished he was back in the sixth world, where the worst he had to worry about was being in the unwilling employ of a dragon, working as a counter-operative against the machinations of Central American blood sorcerers.

At least their were plenty of non-hair raising, bleaching things to keep himself occupied with. Since Dogma decided that they should sit tight for a couple of days, everyone made the best use of the time, trying to learn more about the Cairn, the people, and the world. Learning the language they spoke proved to be an excellent way to occupy his mind. He wondered if it was an ancestor tongue to gaelic, or possible relation to Welsh. It was too bad that all his language chips focused on what he expected to encounter in Denver. He didn't have anything to try and compare it too. The fact that most of what he heard from them were stories about the Horrors, and the terrors of their world were unsettling, but so long as he kept focus on the words themselves, and not on their meaning, it was all right. Getting the feel of the mannerisms and behaviors of the people also occupied his time. The unfamiliar races were also quite preoccupying. Tsknraan and Absidimen, as he heard them. Trying to imitate their voices and bodies gave his disguise skills quite a workout, and proved a great source of amusement to onlookers. Although being followed by curious onlookers made him feel slightly uneasy, it was hard not to be infected by their fascination and amusement with the 'many color man.'

It was unfortunate that his disguise kit was no longer quite as useful. All those memory plastic and metal pieces he had for simulating cyberware weren't very useful anymore, but the air bladders and padding would still be just fine. None of his old wardrobe changes would do him much good, but clothing was also the easiest thing to adapt.

Jack was more than ready to go when Dogma decided to send a recon team up to the surface. It was just to check out what the local situation was like. Rebo would 'going out of his head' and keeping an eye open on the astral plane. As little fondness as he had for magic, he was happy to have the overwatch. If there was anything living between them and the surface, he'd see them first, and unless it was a spirit or dual natured, it would never be the wiser that it'd been scoped.

He saluted Dunkelzahn as they headed out of the Cairn, and pitied all those poor chaps on the carrier about to be consumed. He only had to concentrate for a moment to remember the route down from the surface. Unfortunately, it did them no good for more than four hundred meters. There had been changes between how every many millennia later they'd come from, and now.

Rebo was a big help, able to spy out long sections of tunnels in a couple seconds, and tell them which ones were dead ends, and which looked promising. There was nothing alive in between them and the surface. From the astral plane, Rebo didn't even see anything as alive as lichen. It still took them a long time to get to the surface. Jack was the last one up, going over the map he'd been keeping in his head. When he made it to the cave entrance the compensators in his eyes kicked in to keep the glare down.

This was desolation. Rebo reported nothing living up there. _Absolutely_ nothing living. The place had been stripped down to stone, practically glowing in the glare of the sun, not even a wind stirring across the desolation. The decision was reached that they should wait for nightfall before moving out, and in the meanwhile, Tevos sent out some Watchers to see if there was _anything_ out there.

While everyone else rested inside the mouth of the cave, Jack sat down at on a boulder and stared off into the distance, his skin darkening significantly to absorb the sunlight pounding down on him. He was actually starting to feel kind of good. He found himself rather liking it up here. It was quiet, peaceful. He rather liked this quiet earth.

[Sphynx]

Gypsy is the first to react to the horrendous screams, after dressing he steps out of his little alcove and pauses long enough to hear the horrific words which indicate that their greatest protector is dead, the Rock Entity that protected the Caern. Waiting for Slinky and Sleel, Gypsy stands as people run past him, deeper into the caves. Some stop as they see Gypsy, realizing that a Chosen One is within their midst, and cower behind him, begging him to protect them from the vile creature which is now roaming their underground city. It takes a few moments of listening to catch on to an obscure fact... apparently they call the creature after a dark emotion, they call it the Hate.

On the surface of the world, things change drastically as the darkness covers the world. What begins as odd looking shadows seen moving on the horizon, begin to get closer, looking more ominous by the passing minute. Shadows seem to crawl along the ground, jumping from one part to the next as if climbing horizontally. Jack sits alone on a boulder some distance from the cave entrance where the others have emerged to watch the setting sun. Within seconds, the sky will be illuminated by nothing other than the stars, for there's not even moonlight available on this night.

[Fortune]

The flow of metahumanity rushing in the opposite direction severely impedes Gypsy's progress. Struggling to push his way through the crowd, he notes the small group forming behind him, causing even more of a traffic jam in the chamber.

Pausing, he tries to get the scared Cairn dwellers to move away from the disturbance in an orderly fashion. After several moments of strained and frantic yelling, combined with various hand signals, he finally gets the group moving, but their panic has removed any possibility of an ordered retreat.

Checking that his partner, Slinky is still with him, he turns and once again fights his way through the now-thinning crowd toward the part of the cavern complex containing the entrance and its dead guardian. With more than a little trepidation, the elf ponders what manner of creature it is that earns the name 'The Hate'. Indeed, in this magic-rich environment, what could cause this kind of wide spread panic among the local population.

[Sandoval Smith]

Jack continued to watch the stillness as day sped on into night. It was so serenely still. There wasn't even a wind strong enough to stir up the dust. The only movement at all were among the shadows, crawling out from beneath rocks and overhangs, stretching long as the sun met the horizon. Icy needles started to prickle along Jack's spine, a tingling running up the back of his scalp. Something was wrong out there. He leaned forward intently, servos spinning in his eyes as he brought the picture into sharper focus and resolution. What was it? There was nothing out there, nothing at all moving but-

-the shadows. He breathed shallowly as he tried to look even closer. All that barren, shapeless rock cast so many shadows. Were they growing to quickly, stretching farther than the sun should allow? Were they all growing in the same direction, or were some stretching, sliding sideways? Was that really a shadow stretching out from a hillock there, or was the hill just a figment of his mind to hide the fact that he was seeing a shadow attached to nothing? Tevos' words suddenly came crashing back to his ears, "the land is barren for miles, it wasn't until they reached the next island that life was found." Jack felt his body lock up in horror as realization finally caught up with him. Although there was nothing out there, they were not alone. And night was upon them. "Rebo, Tevos," Jack whispered, his throat almost too tight to speak. His hands were shaking so hard they rattled against the stone. He tried to stand but his legs wouldn't support him. He clawed against the stone, dragging himself back towards the rest. He didn't dare look behind him, because he knew the shadows were reaching out for him, sharpening into the claws of Horrors. His frenzied scrambling knocked his radio against a rock, turning it back on. His throat might have been clenched too tightly to speak, but his transducer suffered no such affliction. They're coming! They're comingthey'recomingthey'recomingthey'recomingTHEY'RECOMING!!!

[Sphynx]

Gypsy is the first to see it, as Slinky and Sleel prepare their gear to emerge. First it's just a more frantic screaming and fleeting around him, as those between him and it enter a fear frenzy. Then it comes around the corner and a lump is caught in Gypsy's throat. The creature stands a little more than 2 meters in height, with the shape of a man. However, instead of arms, coming out of his back, attached to its spines are 8 arms, 4 on each side. There are no hands only talon-shaped pincers which dual-hold 4 swords. The swords are sickening, the base of the blade is nearly a meter in width, and the length of each is longer than the creature holding it. He approaches those who have fallen in fear, picking them up with a hand and plunging at least 2 swords into them. In addition to the physical damage caused by 2 large objects penetrating the flesh, something supernatural also happens. The bodies wither into shriveled flesh, appearing as little more than flesh on bone. Gypsy can actually see the souls of the creatures sucked into the blades through his aura perception.

Meanwhile on the surface, the shadows spook Jack into rushing headlong towards the rest of the team who immediately begin taking up defensive positions in a circle. Weapons are pulled and minds are cleared for spells as the shadows drift lazily closer to the group of defenders. Swooshing sounds are heard as the shadows fly past in predatorial circles. Nothing physical is actually seen or felt, only the air of passage, and the dark shadows which now plague the team members who attempt to hold their ground.

[Backgammon]

Dogma sat around the cave, like the rest of his crew. With not much to do in the blazing heat, the team was basically relaxing, as best they could in this strange place, anyway. For his part, the elf was looking through the logs his crew had taken of the cavern. Images, samples, notes. Dogma consumed information like food. He always needed more. More to learn, more to trade.

His attention prediodically drifted away from the p-secs he read.

Time travel.

He figured it was possible to go forward in time. If you removed yourself from time, like with deep cryostasis or maybe magic, you could awake and be in 'the future', without having noticed the passing time. So it would be time travel to you.

But going backwards, that screwed the pooch. Time was suddently not linear. That meant a whole lot. Then again, Dogma kept reflecting, maybe this was just a metaplane. There's no reason why a metaplne could not take on the aspect of a distant past, complete with obeying laws of physics.

But if this were true, maybe earth, that is to say, his earth, his time, was also a metaplane. His friend, hermetic Soror Mystika, would have said it didn't matter, as we merely perceive reality through our woefully innadequate senses of perception, all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration and life is but a dream. Hermetics had interesting ideas, sometimes.

Dogma wondered what Gypsy was up to right now.

The elf team leader went back to his slow lecture of the data retreived, going over the same file he'd been reading for the past hour. The sun was coming down, but the p-sec provided it's own illumination.

Dogma suddently felt a chilly sensation. Something wasn't quite right. He looked around. He felt like a child afraid of the dark, all of a sudden. It was irrationnal, there was no cause, but he felt totally uneasy.

Looking over his crew, he noticed he wasn't the only one. Eyes fixated to where the light was. No one wanted to look out into the dark.

Dogma looked out of the corner of his eye into the coming darkness, like he was afraid to make eye contact with... whatever. He was a child again, in his bed, with the cover over his head, hoping that if he didn't see them, the monsters wouldn't see him.

But the monsters did see him.

They're coming! They're comingthey'recomingthey'recomingthey'recomingTHEY'RECOMING!!!

Everyone was moving now, but no one knew what to do. Some looked overhead and saw flying shadows, fear incarnate.

Dogma had never been more scared in his life. Nothing could really phase him much, having lived in the shadowy underworld of Denver most of his life, he knew the monsters of life well. In fact, he traded with them. But this darkness had no reason. No goals. Just terror.

"Back in the cave, form a perimeter! Don't let them in!" Dogma didn't have to shout, the transducer comm would have been faster and more efficient. But he couldn't help himself.

[Lindt]

Tevos sat up against the cave wall, enjoying the warmth of the setting sun. While the vast desolation had its own disturbing qualities, it was soothing at the same time. Had its own meditative groove.

The news of settlements on what would eventually be mainland Great Britain was somewhat reassuring, at least there are other people around, and perhaps these horrors are still restricted to this island. Pity there aren’t any trees, or rope, or anything what so ever to make a raft out of.

The sky spirit returns with the same news, and Tev dismisses it shortly before the sun finishes setting. The massive burning ball of the sun casts long shadows, turning the partly cloudy sky brilliant shades of reds and pinks. It was calm enough to let him forget the horrors of the week before, just live in the here and now. So much so that Tev was starting to doze off in one of the last rays of sun when the ear piece on his shoulder screeched to life They're coming! They're comingthey'recomingthey'recomingthey'recomingTHEY'RECOMING!!!.

Tevs mind took off like a high-powered sports car on cheap tires. He just spun in place for a second, the descriptions and images of what these beasts of hell could do to someone poring into his mind.

Dogma yelling snapped him out of the momentary trance; raw terror took hold in a New York minute.

“Jesug fras on a strrick” so startled, confused and flat out terrified he couldn’t even curse correctly. He scrambled to his feet falling in next to Jack , half expecting the walls to start running blood.

Gotta think, gotta think, chill, FRAGGIN CHILL. Cave, rocks, mumum mountain domain. Gun, RUN, no no, not yet. Tevs mind was going faster then he could keep track of, all the while fighting the urge to, Run The Frag Away.

[ Spoiler ]

init 1d6+4

Summoning Great Form Mountain Spirit, Force 5

Summoning 7 (summoning)
Drain 6 (cha)

great form test (force x2) -1 (grade 1)
Summoning 7 (summoning)
Drain 6 (cha)

Tev is blindly summoning the biggest sprit he knows he can safely summon. Yeah, karma pool is getting used here most likely.

[HMHVV Hunter]

Rebo keeps scouting the rocks, screwing around and still finding nothing. Tired of the boring duty, he rejoins Jack and shifts his aural form so he's visible and audible.

"Hey, think we can get back now?" he asks.

No reply.

"Uh, hello? What are you staring at?"

Rebo turns...and see what's caught Jack's attention.

Oh SHIT!

"Jack! Jack, I gotta get back to the Cairn; my psi power has nearly run dry. I can get back to the Cairn in no time; will you be ok on your own?"

[Tarantula]

Sleel leaps up when he hears the screaming. Taking time to plug into his remote, he has to run to the drones to physically turn them on before he can begin issueing them orders. Having turned on only the two gunthers, he begins running after Gypsy, having the drones fly over everyones head at a blur. Once he sees the thing on his sensors, he pulls the drones back, hovering near and above Gypsy, attempting to give him some backup against.... whatever the frag this thing is. Meanwhile, he checks his armament. Knowing that he can't risk hurting the cairn dwellers with the grenade launcher, he takes his splat gun with him as he sprints after his drones and Gypsy.

[Sphynx]

Pain rips through the Astral form of Rebo, as the first of the shadow creatures flies past him. Astral perception shows that a small funnel like shape formed between Rebo and the Shadow entity, sipping a bit of the astral energy from Rebo's form. Rebo tries to flee but finds that everytime his astral form moves, another shadow creature takes a sip of astral energy from his body creating another intense feeling of pain. Everyone can see the pain Rebo goes through as he becomes trapped by the shadow entities, even the mundanes can see the astral energy being siphoned out of Rebo due to his taking on the visible manifestation. Dogma takes a position with the others, feeling like a fish out of water, or perhaps rather like someone who finds the ground pulled out from under him in a pool of water.

Tevos quickly brings a Greater Mountain Spirit to bear, although he does look fatigued from the effort. Immediately the greater spirit roars as the shadow creatures begin attacking it as well, the energy being siphoned from it causes it to enter a berserk rage which causes the whole mountain to begin trembling as if there were an earthquake. Visciously it attacks the shadow things, slamming it's astral fists into the ground as it obliterates 1, then another of the Shadow creatures. Each slamming causes more of the earth to tremble and craters to form where the astral being slammed into the ground. Most of this goes unseen by the mundanes in the group though, causing the effect of huge craters suddenly forming on the trmebling earth to appear most mystical in nature.

In the caves below the 2 drones hover over the head of Gypsy, getting a lock on the 8 armed abomination that lunges in the team's direction. The swords never stop moving as it mows down more and more of the inhabitants of the cave, regardless of age or race. Before Gypsy's eyes, a young girl barely 8 years of age is sliced in half, her corpse withering immediately as the soul energy from her body is sucked into the blade that disemboweled her.

[ Spoiler ]

Lindt: 3 successes on initial Summoning, 3 successes on the drain, spent Karma point to gain a 4th success on drain for 0 drain. 1 successes on 2nd summoning roll (TN: 10), and 0 successes on 2nd Drain roll (TN: 10). Serious Stun.

Hunter: Lose 1 magic this turn (this is not cumulative with out-of-body magic loss, meaning you're literally at Magic 5 now).

[HMHVV Hunter]

Dammit! Can't run, and pyrokinesis doesn't work on the aural...

"Only one thing I can do..." Rebo says, charging at the nearest shadow being, his fists raised.

A loud war cry echoes from Rebo as he suicide-rushes the shade-being...

[ Spoiler ]

Astral Initiative: 5 + 20 + 1D6

Astral Combat Pool: 7

Making an unarmed attack against one of the shadow beings as my first action.

Damage: 3M

Sorcery Dice: 6
Astral Combat Pool Dice: 2

[HeySparky]

Slinky starts awake at the screams that bring back echoes of the Azzie ambush that took her arms. She rolls onto her feet, grabbing the blankets and ripping them aside. She catches Gypsy’s eyes and notes the surprise and fear on the elf’s face as he turns and sprints off toward the sounds, gearing up with his coat and do-rag. She tries to keep up with him and sees Sleel’s drones float up eerily over the rushing crowd that is pouring past Gypsy.

She tries to push her way through the crowd to her buddy and sees Sleel’s drones up above surge forward and then suddenly pull back, hovering over Gypsy. What? What is it? She jumps up, trying to see past the thick press of bodies, most of whom are significantly taller than she. Grunting in frustration, she scales a nearby column of knobby cavern rock and looks across the sea of moving panicked bodies, getting a feel for the movement of the crowd of Cairn Dwellers - that’s what Gypsy’d been calling them, a bunch cooler than 'Cave Dwellers' in Slinky’s opinion - as she plans to ‘walk’ their heads and shoulders to reach the pale-haired elf. Shifting her weight to make a move she takes a last glance up, brow furrowing… The rocky guys may be a – oh. Slinky’s eyes fall on the eight-armed monster. Images from mythology texts flicker unbidden into Slinky’s mind. Oh.

It’s eating souls.

Of course.

She swallows, clinging desperately to her perch, trying to focus on getting to Gypsy. She pushes the maddening images of the beast away. She wished with all her might that Jack’s crack that they’d stumbled onto the set of “Karl Kombat Mage” was true. She swallowed again and stepped out onto the flowing mass of panic.

[ Spoiler ]

Initiative: 1d6+5
Athletics: 5 (+1 EA)

[Fortune]

"Fraggin' hell!"

Gypsy stops dead in his tracks as he first catches sight of the intruder. The hideous vision freezes him in place, waves of panic threatening to incapacitate the sorcerer. The instinct to turn around and follow the recklessly fleeing Cairn dwellers is very nearly overwhelming. Nothing in all the data he had read, the stories he had been told, or even in the wildest reaches of his imagination could have prepared him for such an abhorrent monstrosity.

Frantically fighting the nausea invoked by the horrific scene, Gypsy vainly attempts to collect his thoughts into some semblance of logical order. Strangely, uppermost in his mind is the fact that he no longer needs to wonder about the origin of the beast's unusual name.

Acting purely on instinct alone, the slender elf takes a halting step backward as his fingers go through a series of complex motions, culminating in the forward thrust of his right hand. Holding nothing back, Gypsy gathers every last bit of mana available to him as he releases his most powerful offensive spell.

[ Spoiler ]

Initiative: 7 + 4d6 (Improved Reflexes 3 still in Sustaining Focus)

Defence: 11 (Combat Pool)

Casting Dice: 14 (7 from Spellcasting, 7 from Spell Pool)
Drain Dice: 7 (Willpower) + Trauma Damper

Complex Action: Casting Stun Bolt 6 [D] (Target: Hate Horror Demon Thing) [Drain 2D]

[Backgammon]

Dogma catches the twisted expression of pain on Rebo's astral face. Perhaps because Astral entities are not limited by muscles when they manifest, perhaps it's just the terror of the whole situation, but the expression that Rebo makes will remain engraved in Dogma's enhanced memory for the rest of his life. More so even than any other horror he has seen here. They say memory does strange things during combat situations. In any case, Rebo's open jaw and wide eyes, his deformed half-visible cry of pain, engraves itself in the elf's memory.

Then the elf loses control. Stepping up over a large rock, he stands out as dark shadows hurl themselves like rockets in the darkened sky and shards of stone go flying at the enraged Mountain Spirit cause artillery-like effects around the cavern mouth.

"AAAARRR!!! APO PANTHOS KAKODEIMONOS!!" screams Dogma at one of the dark spirits spiraling overhead, reciting a basic hermetic banishing mantra, fuelled by raw anger coming from dealing with combat stress.

[ Spoiler ]

Engaging spirits in contest of will (p.188 SR3)
Init: 5+1D6
Defense: Body 4 + 8 CP
Offense: 5 from willpower
Damage Code: 7M stun

[Sphynx]

Rebo, in a fit of panic first tries to flee the horrible scene, his soul begging for a return to its body where it could recuperate from the damage done, but the spirits hold him off, preventing the exodus. Suddenly, amidst the panic the words "Apo Panthos Kakodeimonos" is heard over the fear, clarity is achieved at the sight of a giant of a spirit battling the shades, and Dogma himself, a mundane, attempting to battle the shades with his bare hands. They would go down fighting, of that there was no doubt at all, there was no way Rebo would go down trying to flee. With a nanosecond of hesitation, Rebo turns and frenzies on the shades around him, causing them to pull back. The majority of the shades had already maneuvered to handle the real threat, the giant spirit of the mountain, but pulled off to consider where the real threat lie, giving reprise for a few seconds. Back to back the Earth Spirit stood with Rebo, preparing for a 2nd assault as Dogma continued to bat at the air with his fists. It's at this precise moment that Lindt realizes something wierd happening to his Mountain Spirit, the spirit is beginning to turn into a shade, the edges of its aura is already turning black as it battles the spirits.

Lindt:

[ Spoiler ]

If you had to guess, you'd say the shades are dead nature spirits, destroyed of their nature by the horrors and left to the lands that no longer bear their way. If they're successful with converting the Mountain Spirit, there's a good chance that the mountain itself will cease to exist, falling into the ocean along with everyone within.

Others on the surface:

[ Spoiler ]

No real damage done, but the ferocity has held the shades at bay. Now if only you could quick-summon a ward to keep them at bay. ;)

Meanwhile in the Caern below, the abomination slices through the last of the people fleeing or cowering between it and the team joined together. No longer are there throngs of people between you and the creature. It's time to either flee like the rest or make a last stand and die like heroes. The creature raises its 8 arms, and lets out a roar which causes the bottom part of its jaw to drop forward like the mandibles of a spider. It prepares to strip each of your souls from your corpses. As it lunges forward, a force of astral energy slams into it, causing it to pause for a moment. It seems almost confused, standing there, arms wide open as the astral residue slips past its body.
Fortune:

[ Spoiler ]

You know that the energy from your StunBolt had 0 effect on the creature. You got 2 successes on the casting, and it got 3 on resistance.

[Tarantula]

Able to look at the Hate more in depth with his drones, Sleel slows to a stop a few feet behind Gypsy. He looks down at the splat gun in his hand, before sliding it back in his backpack... Right, I'll just glue it down to the floor and then it'll leave us alone... When he sees it pause, he realizes that Gypsy must be trying something, and could probably use some time. Sleel gives the order to let the lead fly.

[ Spoiler ]

Rigged Init: 12+4d6

Complex action: Same command to multiple drones, shoot the Hate.

Gunthers: 4 dice each(3 pilot + 1sensor), full auto, w/4 pts RC.
7S base dmg, 17D with FA. TN(Sig of Hate +6recoil, -3 line of sight)
Defense: 4 vehicle armor, 1 body.

[HeySparky]

Slinky looks at the withered husks and dust of the bodies in Hate’s wake. Her gorge rises and she swallows bile. Gypsy slings a spell, and though she knows there aren’t any scorchers in the caster’s repertoire she takes advantage of the split second that the monster falters. She gauges the distance she can close and the angle of the Gunther’s fire and moves into range grapple range of the blade-swinging behemoth. She is surprised to feel something more than bitter digestive enzymes burning in her chest. Something much more. Fury – righteous burning fury at the pure wrong of the thing rampaging without care through the caves. She bares her teeth and with a nod to Gypsy circles around the far side of the creature. Energy crackles over her knuckles as she strips off her gloves and throws them aside. No pithy monologue springs to her mind. No catchy phrases to rattle off like Sleel’s automated gunfire. She takes a turn around a column of rock and, from cover, fires her right hand at the monster.

[ Spoiler ]

Offense: 6 dice (4 from unarmed, 2 from Combat pool)
Defense: 6 dice (6 from Combat Pool)

Weapon Damage: 8S Stun
Ballistic/Impact: 4/1

Slinky's going to maneuver around a column and fire her hand at the creature, hopefully from somewhere beyond the creatures LOS (the 180d behind it). If she makes impact she’ll shock, grab and back around the column to use it as a pully to aid her in restraining the thing/ not get dragged off her feet. Next round she’ll inject. Since I didn’t specify the load – let’s say that narcoject (6D Stun) is her standard load from now on – rather than any of the poisons.

[Fortune]

Eyes widening momentarily in surprise, Gypsy unconsciously takes another step backwards as he watches the many-armed nightmare creature shrug off his spell. His meagre hold on the panic rising in side of him slips slightly as he wracks his brain for a course of action that might be effective.

At that moment, his two companions join the fight. Sleel's drones cut loose with a hail of lead, while the rigger's sister, Slinky attacks from the flank with one of her strange, limb-based weapons.

Taking the opportunity that this double distraction gives him, the elven sorcerer interlinks his fingers and holds his hands up in a warding gesture as he quickly casts a glowing spell of protection around his body.

[ Spoiler ]

Initiative: 7 + 4d6 (Improved Reflexes 3 still in Sustaining Focus)

Defence: 11 (Combat Pool)

Casting Dice: 7 (7 from Spellcasting) - (I assume that I have no Pool Dice remaining at the moment)
Drain Dice: 7 (Willpower) + Trauma Damper

Complex Action: Casting Armor 6 (Target: Self) [Drain +2M]