[Taocow PBEM] Book 3 - Chapter XVII - Return to Hoburn Hill

[Aaron Clausen]

>> [GM]
>> Ted is about three hundred feet from Louissa, and she is lying about
>> two hundred feet from the main gate.
>>
>> As Ted does his best to find cover, he's barely stepped off the bridge
>> when he feels something wrap around his feet and yank him back. He
>> looks back to see a tentacle about six inches in diameter wrapped
>> around his leg with several more tentacles, some as much as two feet
>> in diameter racing towards him. They come from over the bridge,
>> somewhere down in the river.
>>
>> Everyone else can see this to, bioluminscent tentacles racing towards
>> Ted, and something very large and glowing underneath the bridge in the
>> river. Ted is being pulled back over the edge of the bridge quite
>> rapidly.
>> [/GM]

> [Ted]
> "Oh, come on!" Ted growls, gritting his teeth as he scrambles to grab a
> hold of anything that will keep him from going with the tentacle back to
> its owner. He kicks at it the best he can, hoping to inflict enough pain to
> change this thing's mind about eating him.
[/Ted]

[GM]
Ted's strength is enough to force the tentacle to quiver in pain, but
not enough to force it to weaken its grip. It's at that moment that he
sees the flash of energy weapon fire somewhere under the bridge. The
tentacle seems to tense up almost to the point that it feels like it's
going to break his leg, and then the tentacle goes limp, and falls
back into the water with a splash.

Someone under the bridge just saved Ted's life.
[/GM]

[...]

>> [GM]
>> With Oz, Jacek and Jacek's men laying covering fire, Vesper casts
>> teleport with an eye on the ruined skyscrapers. Just as he and Alex
>> are teleporting, the nexus rumbles and a surge of leyline energy
>> pulses through the entire area. Vesper can feel his spell going awry,
>> like intense nausea in the pit of his stomach.
>>
>> It becomes very clear that they are not quite where Vesper had
>> intended, as they fall about ten feet before striking a hard surface.
>> When they regain their wits, they see the pyramid complex *below*
>> them. The surface they landed on is heavily cracked and weathered
>> concrete, with gaping holes that lead into the darkness. There is an
>> edge about one hundred feet away, and the ground below must be a
>> thousand feet. They have teleported about a thousand feet up from
>> where Vesper intended, on the roof of a skyscraper.
>>
>> There is a rooftop access about seventy feet away that should lead to
>> stairs, but the roof of this skyscraper looks very treacherous.
>>
>> Meanwhile, Oz and his company share bombardments with the creatures in
>> the compound. While this is keeping any of the humanoid creatures from
>> getting Louissa, with Ted being dragged towards the river, saving her
>> may be difficult now. Worst of all, they see no sign of where Alex or
>> Vesper went after the teleport spell.
>> [/GM]

> [Vesper]
> Vesper lays on the ground for a few moments.
>
> "The Nexus is still unstable, very unstable." He looks over, "Alex, my apologies."
> Sitting up he looks around it taking a few moments for him to realize where they are.
> "Don't shoot." He says to her, "We don't know if this building can take any return fire."
> "If you have a vibro blade or one of your magic daggers we could test and see."
> [/Vesper]

> [Vesper]
> "I think we are going to have to make it down the normal way. I don't trust trying
> any dimensional magic after this one brought us here. I think your skills as a scout
> are going to come in handy. Do you know how to climb ?"
> [/Vesper]

> [Alex]
> "Yes, part of ranger training is climbing and repelling." Alex responds. "I only have
> a hundred feet on line. Repelling down that far will take a while however especially
> if you are untrained."
>
> "As far as testing the structure, what you you suggest?"
> [/Alex]

> [Vesper]
> "Try one of your magic blades on it see if it is somewhat resistant or if you can cut
> right through it. That should tell us right away."
> [/Vesper]

> [Alex]
> "Probably be best to use my dagger," the red headed scout answers.
>
> Using her rune dagger, she will check and see if the building is made from mega
> damage materials
> [/Alex]

[GM]
The blade easily passes through the material. It appears to be
concrete. It crumbles a
bit. The concrete is centuries old.
[/GM]

> [Vesper]
> "Good thing we tested that, we can't afford to fire, because return fire may level this
> building. We have to proceed slow and hope there is some path to the bottom of this
> thing we can find." Vesper starts looking for a way down.
> [/Vesper]

[GM]
There are two ways down (other than the thousand foot drop); the
stairwell access a few hundred feet away, or off to the left a rusty
ladder that hangs over the side. Vesper can see the remnants of three
other ladders on opposing sides of the roof; though the other three
are little more than rusty-colored bolts that once held the ladders.
[/GM]

> [Oz]
> Oz gives Alex and Vesper a few seconds to appear at the far side of the battlefield,
> then a few more when they don't. He continues his rain of grenades [Strike: 8, 19, 18]
> and gets on the radio. "Alex, Vesper, where are you? I don't see you down there. A
> giant tentacle monster just showed up; we could use your help."
> [/Oz]

[GM]
Oz's grenades prove a reasonably good response to the bombing they are
receiving. The grenades strike a couple of the attackers, and while
probably not killing them, seem to do enough damage to keep them down.
Jacek and his own men offer their aid, and actually seem to be
offering a goodly amount of suppressing fire. If someone can get to
Louissa, they might be able to bug out with mission completed.
[/GM]

> [Alex]
> On the standard radio push using the standard scramble that they already set up,
> "Scout Hawk to main team, something went wrong with our teleport, we are on top
> of one of these skyscrapers. Trying to find a solution to getting down."
> [/Alex]

> [Oz]
> He switches to the encrypted guard channel he uses with his troops. "Prepare to fall
> back to the ship. Be ready to go on my mark."
> [/Oz]

[Jacek]
Jacek replies in Euro on the encrypted channel, "Just give us the
word. This is getting very hot, and who knows what kinds of
reinforcements these attackers may have."
[/Jacek]

[GM]
As Jacek is replying, Oz notices the energy weapons fire under the
bridge as well, seeing it strike and then sever the tentacle. The
stump, bleeding a yellow ooze, disappears under the water. There's
someone underneath that bridge.
[/GM]

-- 
Aaron Clausen
mightymartianca at gmail.com

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