[Taocow PBEM] [Vesper] Book 3 - Chapter XVII

[Aaron Clausen]

>> [GM]
>> In a few moments Vesper is back outside the building. Here he can see
>> more clearly that the hillside is literally being turned to magma. And
>> then he's confronted with the panic from the compound. Bells are
>> ringing, Maligs are shouting, and several are running through the
>> gates. Apparently they have some more serious hardware, as he sees
>> several humans, obviously slaves, pulling out a mobile rocket
>> launcher, while they are being whipped by Maligs sitting on the back
>> of the machine. He sees one Malig trying to enter coordinates into
>> what is still obviously a functional targeting computer.
>>
>> For the moment, all the Maligs' attention is on the hill side, and
>> Vesper may have a chance to get through the gate and into the
>> compound. Or he can stay and try to knock down a building to add to
>> the chaos.
>> [/GM]

> [Vesper]
> Vesper uses shadow meld to stay hidden and uses the distraction to
> slip into the gate focused on rescuing Louissa.
>
> If he is close enough he has his familiar fiddle with the controls on
> the targeting or he himself releases an energy disruption spell to help
> keep his friends safe. He moved quickly keeping to  the shadows
> and trying to get the lay of the land.
> [/Vesper]

[GM]
Vesper's clever use of energy disruption seems to do the trick. The
Maligs manning the targeting system begin pounding it in fury as
sparks fly off the controls. For the moment, at least, the rocket
launcher won't be firing any rockets.

Vesper quickly slips into the compound. Inside he sees several
buildings, most ramshackle affairs built out of stacked chunks of
concrete with pieces of sheet metal serving as roofing. The smell of
an open latrine is almost overwhelming. Despite their apparent access
to advanced hardware, these Maligs live in horrible squalor, far worse
than how the people that Alex and Vesper rescued live.

But looming over all of that is the pyramid, which stands at least
eight or nine hundred feet high. While it looks more like a steppe
pyramid than an Egyptian one, it is still clearly a finely crafted
structure. Vesper can see clearly now that every block, each one a
cube twenty feet per side, are either made of our coated in gold, or
at least some sort of shiny gold substance. The blocks are perfectly
symmetrical and reflect back the light of the vast nexus point above.
It is all but impossible to square this marvelous structure with the
hovels that the Maligs live in.

At the very top, hundreds of feet above the plain, Vesper can see a
platform. It looks small from his vantage, but most be dozens of feet
wide. He can make out numerous figures; some clearly Maligs in some
sort of ceremonial garb, but also many humans, all bound or chained
together. He can just make out Louissa's armor.

Leading up to the top of the pyramid is a long stairway made of the
same golden substance. The Maligs are dragging more captives up the
stairway to the top. There appears to be no other way to the top other
than this single staircase, save perhaps for climbing the blocks
themselves, which would seem difficult as they each stand twenty feet
high.

Above the pyramid, the nexus seems to be gaining energy. The leylines
pulse with mystical powers, bolts of pure force dancing and crackling.
This is Vesper's area of expertise, and he can tell that this nexus
point is within minutes of forming a rift. He can also glean that the
pyramid seems built as a sort of dimensional focusing machine, a sort
of interdimensional teleporter whose purpose is likely to open up
portals to specific dimensions.

As Vesper observes this, about ten feet away from him he sees what
looks like an old sewer manhole cover pop open and a Malgic is
climbing out.
[/GM]

-- 
Aaron Clausen
mightymartianca at gmail.com

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