IC: Where Do We Go from Here?, (closed game) Options

[Panzergeist]

With the line looped through his belt, Fade enters the pipe and crawls upward on his hands and knees. The gloves, kneepads, and slip-on shoe soles rely on the individual electromagnetic attraction of trillions of molecules to give them enough power to hold a troll upside down on a cieling. Fade climbs ever upward, nervously watching above him with his night vision contacts, hoping not to find a six-legged killer robot waiting for him at the top.

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[ Spoiler ]

Athletics: 2 4 5 11

[Chance359]

Greven slips on his gas mask and brings his Ingram to bear while pulling rear guard. Waiting for the signal to move, he takes a knee, watching the darkness of the tunnel alert from any sound of movement.

[ Spoiler ]

Complimentry skill Stealth(Awareness): 1,1,3,4,5,5,
Perception test: 1,2,3,4,5 (Yatzee)

[Whizbang]

Ace likewise waited on his turn to go. He wasn't looking forward to this...climbing wasn't one of his strenghts.

[ Spoiler ]

Yatzee? Lol...

My athletics for when my turn comes...defaulting to strength. (Knew there was something I was forgetting) 7, 5, 5, 3 *hopes she doesn't splat*

[Jrayjoker]

Gromitz acts as anchor and feeds the line as Fade climbs into the darkness. He switches on his eyelight system and scans the tube ahead and behind. The lack of information and resources is really beginning to grate on his nerves. He wants to act, but feels constrained by the situation and lack of a real goal. But moving is better than nothing.

[ Spoiler ]

Perception foreward (6):
You asked for 6 rolls and your target is unknown ... here are the results:

1: 5
2: 5
3: 3
4: 6 + 3 = 9.
5: 1
6: 3

Perception backward (6):
You asked for 6 rolls and your target is unknown ... here are the results:

1: 5
2: 6 + 4 = 10.
3: 3
4: 2
5: 5
6: 2


Lowlight vision + eyelights (-6 to TN with lowlight eyes)

[Sandoval Smith]

The consensus is that you should go up. Something in the back of your minds equate elevation with escape. There are no sounds in the tunnel except for those you make yourselves.

Fade takes the lead, his climbing gear letting him move easily up the steep incline. There is plenty of light at first, spilling out from tear in the pipe ceiling to the only place in this world you know of. After about thirty meters, the incline goes vertical for another ten, before making a 90 degree turn and going level again. This section of pipe stretches off in a straight line as far as you can see. You pull yourself up, and set the line so that the others can follow.

The exertion of climbing up the vertical segment makes the bruise across Ares' face twinge. He is unsure of whether or not he will bleed when cut, but it seems conclusively proven that he will ache after being whacked in the face.

Greven Nothing aside from your brothers disturb the stillness of the pipe, and finally, it's your turn to go up the rope. The vertical segment is a bit tougher than you expected, and more than once you accidently kick away from the wall and dangle briefly in the air, but finally you make it up. Watching the water trickle by, you realize that this pipe has a very mild incline to it.

Ace grunted, yanking himself up the rope hand over hand. This was harder than his brothers had made it look. If it hadn't been for the rope, he wasn't sure he would've made it.

Gromitz is the last one to go up the pipe, and as he pulls himself up, he notices that the thin rivulet of water is sunken a bit into into the floor of the pipe. It's actually eroded a shallow trench into the metal.

There's only one way to go from there, and that's straight ahead. It's a long, and boring walk. Smaller openings occasionally break up the monotony of the metal walls, thin trickles of water issuing from a few. Most of them aren't much bigger around than your arm. You do hear the distant echo of more of those pounding footsteps coming from one, but they quickly fade away to silence. There are more twists and turns, and a few more climbs, but mostly you walk down a pipe that doesn't seem to be getting any shorter.

You lose two days with amazing quickness. The monotony of your environs seems to make time just slip by. You all occasionally think about turning back, maybe trying the other way, but the thought of having to retrace all those steps without knowing whether or not it will yield any better results is too discouraging.

You've become so acclimated to the still air that you instantly notice the moment a breeze first stirs around you. Soon, you can hear the far off roar of water too. Although the urge is there to simply rush forward and see what is before you, caution is stronger. As you ease around one last turn in the pipe, you see a circle of dim light at the end of the pipe, and the sound of water fills your ears.

As you stand at the mouth of the pipe, you realize that it ends in teeth of ragged metal. You look down into a chasm. You're still in some sort of structure, because every surface around you is worked metal, but looking down, you can't see the bottom, nor does looking up reveal the top. Just at the edge of your vision, you can see the far wall of the chasm, and the twisted metal where the pipe should've connected. Waterfalls issue from elsewhere on the chasm wall around you, spewing forth into the darkness.

[Jrayjoker]

"Well guys, we made it. Where it is I have no idea. I still vote for up."

The days of waking in a confined space have taken their toll on Gromitz. You've all notice that he has become more withdrawn and less talkative as the hours passed in the tube. He seems close to tears now that he sees the magnitude of the structure you are all in.

While he seems relieved that the tunnels have opened and there are more options now than you've had since you woke up, he still seems to be struggling to maintain composure and looks like he is itching to move toward some purpose. He just doesn't know what it is....

-----------------------------

[ Spoiler ]

Perception to see if anthing else is moving, alive. etc. (6):

You asked for 6 rolls and your target is unknown ... here are the results:

1: 6 + 6 + 1 = 13.
2: 6 + 4 = 10.
3: 1
4: 6 + 2 = 8.
5: 5
6: 3


Scrounging because you never know (6):

You asked for 6 rolls and your target is unknown ... here are the results:

1: 1
2: 6 + 3 = 9.
3: 6 + 3 = 9.
4: 4
5: 1
6: 5


Structural Engineering for type of damage, type of structure, etc.(6):

You asked for 6 rolls and your target is unknown ... here are the results:

1: 1
2: 5
3: 1
4: 4
5: 3
6: 1

[Sphynx]

Ares pulls up directly behind Fade as they reach the opening. He sticks his head into the opening to look upwards. "My friends, this is naught but a wasteland. 2 days we have travelled without food and with little sleep, and I for one am exhausted and famished. If we do not find a source of food soon, I fear we'll never make it. Such a climb is ahead of us that with 2 days of no nutrition, we shall never make it. I had not expected to wait so long to suggest this, but perhaps we should first go hunting. I've heard the scamping feet of things in the darkness, perhaps they would make food, not necessarily the most delectable, but something to give us energy nonetheless."

[Panzergeist]

"Assuming that those are animals and not killer robots we heard," Fade says, "we would still have to get into another pipe to do that. Now, we have two options here that I can think of. I could try to climb around to another pipe and set the rope there, or I could try to blow a hole in the top of this pipe with Big Brother's gun so we can climb out of it and see what is there. Now, personally, I am more concerned about water than food. We still have a few ration bars left, and we can go a hell of a lot longer without food than without water. Also, if my sticky glove set gets wet, it is useless until it dries out, which in this situation might mean we would be stuck."

[Whizbang]

"Great...not more climbing..." Ace groaned as he finally saw what the holdup was. Aside from the climbing spurts, he had managed to keep a cheerful flow of banter going on as they had progressed on, attempting to keep spirits up, but likely annoying some of his quieter brothers.

[Chance359]

After the first climb Greven has been fairly quiet, occassionally humming a bar or two before remembering the need for silence. Looking over the edge at the surronding pipes. "Looks like we keep climbing, but after we get out of here, I'm never using a rope again."

[Panzergeist]

Putting his climbing gear back on, Fade anchors one end of the rope in a small side pipe and ties the other end securely through his belt. "Okay, so we are agreed that we want to go upward. Sounds good to me." He removes his low-light contact lenses before proceeding. Cautiously grabbing on to the wall next to the mouth of the pipe the team is in, he begins climbing up the wall, looking for another large pipe while carefully avoiding falling water and slick surfaces, watching with a combination of normal vision and his magical thermographic vision.

[ Spoiler ]

Athletics: 2 2 3 4
Perception: 1 1 2 3 5
[\spoiler]

[Chance359]

Greven climbs out of the pipe, the takes up overwatch on Fade.

[Jrayjoker]

Gromitz, grateful to be out of the large pipe for now, keeps an eye or two back the way they came, just in case.

[ Spoiler ]

Perception (6):
You asked for 6 rolls and your target is unknown ... here are the results:

1: 6 + 2 = 8.
2: 3
3: 6 + 5 = 11.
4: 1
5: 3
6: 2

[Jrayjoker]

OOC: Bump

[Sandoval Smith]

No one is all that happy at the thought of more climbing, but when Fade and Gromitz notice what looks like some sort of maintenance hatch a short distance above you, it rekindles a few feelings of hope that you'll actually be able to get somewhere people can be expected to be.

Fade securely anchors one end of the rope, looping the other through his belt. The pipe extends far enough from the chasm wall that he has to climb along the outside for a meter or so before he can reach the wall and start the climb up, being careful not to catch the rope on any sharp pieces of metal. There is a constant mist in the air from water pouring down from even higher up above, but it wasn't thick enough to give his climbing gear too much trouble. It subtly mutes vision, so you can't see as far as you think you can.

Greven carefully swings around the mouth of the pipe, lifting himself up onto the top. It protruded enough that he had room to stand on, and could brace himself pretty decently against the wall. He followed Fade's progress up the wall, but kept his eyes moving. There were a lot of gaping holes on both sides of the chasm, and who knew what might be lurking, watching? The fact that aside from a few noises, they hadn't seen a single sign of any other living thing just made it seem all the more likely that something dangerous and stealthy was hiding out there.

Gromitz hangs back from the mouth of the pipe, behind Ares and Acekeeping an eye back down the pipe. They hadn't seen or heard anything except themselves for the past couple of days, but something just had him feeling a bit on edge. If any trouble came from that direction now, they would have nowhere to go but down. Despite the amount of liquid spilling from various pipes on both sides of the chasm, he realized that the water really wasn't that loud. Wherever the bottom was, the metal walls should carry the sound of all that crashing water a very long way, but even when he concentrated, he couldn't hear it. Then he heard something else, a thrumming drone, soft at first, but growing louder, coming from somewhere below them in the chasm. Greven heard it next, and after a couple seconds so could Fade, the noise becoming clear above the sound of falling water. It was the noise of many buzzing wings.

[ Spoiler ]

Chance, I assumed since you were keeping your eyes peeled you'd want a perception check, so I rolled it for you. 5,4,4,2,1

Something is coming up from below you, and it sounds like you've got about six seconds or so until it's in sight (the chasm, just like the pipe you've been traveling through is completely dark, except for whatever light you make yourselves. However, since everyone has some means of thermographic vision, except Gromitz, who has eyelights, I've been assuming that you've been keeping the lights off). Below is a vertical 'map' of your current positions. Fade is at the hatch. Ace and Ares are by the mouth of the pipe, Gromitz about three meters back.

-----|
----H
-----|F
-----|
-----|
-----|
-----|Gre
--------------
Gro Ace/Ar
--------------
-----|
-----|
-----|
-----|

[Panzergeist]

Coming to a hatch in the wall about 15 meters above the pipe, Fade pauses and considers his options. Carefully peeling one of his gloved hands off the wall, he removes the glove with his teeth and attempts to open the hatch with his now un-gloved hand.

[Jrayjoker]

"Finally, some action!" Gromitz whispers in his relief to finally have something to do other than climb. A calm seems to have settled over him when he pulled the blued, steel pistol from its holster. His eyes have a gleam that had been fading since the climb began, and his posture is now one of forceful determination, not exhaustion and boredom.

"Lets get under as much cover as we can and cover Fade and Greven."

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OOC: Gromitz pulls his predator and lies prone at the edge of the pipe (hopefully getting the benefit of a little cover due to the ragged edges). He scans below them into the mist, trying to find the source of the noises he has heard.

[ Spoiler ]

Pistol is loaded with Ex explosive ammo. 15©

perception (6):

1: 4
2: 4
3: 4
4: 2
5: 2
6: 4

[Sphynx]

Ares stands in the tunnel of a pipe, his back to the opening as he subconsciously keeps the back covered form ambush. Although such a thing is impossible in the stillness of the single long tunnel, he finds it impossible to not be cautious. As the last of the team start to climb up on the outside of the pipe, Ares finally looks down into the deep cavern, feeling a sense of vertigo as he realizes just how precariously his life stands in this world. Gazing up doesn't help either. He waits for the last of the team to climb up before taking up the rear.

[Chance359]

Greven backs up and braces himself against the wall, then drops to a knee to reduce his profile. Silently he brings his Ingram to bear of the on the space infront of the tunnel, the smartlink feeling cozzier than ever.

[ Spoiler ]

Complimentry skill Stealth (awareness): 2,3,4,4,4,5
Perception test: 4,4,5,5,5

[Panzergeist]

With his right glove carfully held in his teeth, Fade begins turning the crank to open the hatch.

--------

[ Spoiler ]

Quickness 1 2 2 5 7
Strength 3 5 5 5 5

[Jrayjoker]

OOC:Bump

[Chance359]

Greven's nerves begin to wear thin, as the seconds pass into hours. Finally no longer able to take the suspence, he walks to the edge ready to fire.

[Sandoval Smith]

The buzzing noise levels off somewhere below your level. Those that peer over the edge can barely make out the outlines of the form below. At first it seems like a huge, droning, shifting mass, until you realize that what you are seeing is the result of a great number of lesser forms moving in a swarm. Vision magnification allows you to focus in on it even closer, and the sight is repulsive. Most of the swarm is composed of hideous crosses between metahumans and bugs, insects with the occasional very human arm, leg, or head. Sprinkled among them are a few perfect wasps that move around the edges, seemingly on guard for something.

It almost feels like something clicks in your heads as you recognize the wasps spirits. You know they can be dangerous, but somehow, the sight of them is almost comforting. For a reason that you can't quite place, the fact that they are around suggests that things are not as bad as they could be. The swarm is moving slowly among the arcs of water coming from various pipes along the walls. It looks like they are carefully trying to avoid touching the water spilling from most of them.

They approach one arcing stream after a while, two of the hybrid bugs flying forward, apparently spending a few minutes testing it. It seems to meet their criteria, because the rest of the swarm starts to gather around it, and you realize that almost all of them are carrying a various assortment of containers, which they fill from the spray.

Fade isn't privy of this, his attention occupied with getting the maintenance hatch open. It's difficult. The manual mechanism is stubborn, and hanging off of the wall gave him precious little leverage to attempt to work it. He gets it open a third of the way when the mechanism jamed, and as he struggled, he got a whiff of what's on the other side. Rotting meat, like an entire slaughterhouse compressed down to fit into the smaller space, and a sudden sound of scrabbling movement. At that moment, the mechanism came unstuck, and the sudden shift of weight almost pulled Fade from the wall. He hung by one hand for a moment, facing out into the chasm as he scrabbled to try and get his gecko gear to grip the wall again.

Because he was facing away from the wall, he saw the silently falling white things first. There were dozens of them, man sized, but moving too fast to see in detail. Those looking down at the swarm become aware of them when the first one comes close enough for you to feel the wind of it's passage. As it continues to fall, its head whips out on a long, flexible neck, arching back over it's shoulder to stare up at you with a blank, expressionless face. It's the same face that belonged to the head that Ace found when you all awoke. There is a burning, acid feeling of hate in your minds as you recognize your enemy.

The shapes fall admidst the swarm, some fastening onto the starteled hybrid wasps, falling out of sight in a flailing mass, others leaping from hovering bug to bug, ripping and clawing, the last few somehow attaching themselves to the metal walls, slicing into everything they can reach with limbs that seem to telescope out as the swarm explodes into furious response.
-----------------------------------------------

[ Spoiler ]

The situation is:

Fade is holding onto the wall again, no worries about falling. The hatch is about 1/3 open.

Greven has his back to the wall and is on top of the pipe.

Gromitz is lying prone at the mouth of the pipe.

Ares is covering back the way they came, standing beside Gromitz.

Ace is also at the mouth of the pipe (it's a little crowded with the three of you there, but not dangerously so).

-----|
----H
-----|F
-----|
-----|
-----|
-----|Gre
--------------
Ace/Ar/Gro
--------------
-----|
-----| ||
-----| \/ Bugs about sixty meters down.
-----|

[Sphynx]

Ares spends around as he hears a disturbance, just in time to see one of the pale creatures, and then a swarm of them falling. Almost as if by isntinct itself, the blades are in his hands and he seems prepared to leap out the pipe at the masses. He even seems to take into consideration that the fall would be to his definitive peril, but that seems to only create a moment's hesitation. "I say we jump down and kill all those bastards.", Ares says with an unhealthy level of vile in his voice.

[Whizbang]

His attention drawn to the wasp spirits, Ace wondered what else was out there. He didn't have long to wonder, as some the creatures who matched the head he found attacked the wasps. Ares seemed ready to jump down there, and wasn't quiet about it. Not fancying the jump, let alone the climb back up providing he survived the fall, he counciled "I don't care for those things either, but I'd rather not give up any ground to go get them."