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

[Aaron Clausen]

> [Alex]
> The red headed scout asks Vesper, "Mind if we stay together.
> These magic storms scare me just a little bit"
>
> It can only be so intimate because she is wearing full armor
> and has her rifle but she is glad of any company he can give
> her. In addition, she will wrap her arm around him if he allows
> it.
> [/Alex]

> [Vesper]
> Vesper doesn't mind at all and stays with Alex. Easily allowing
> her to place an arm around him and he her.
>
> "Yes, it is wise to be wary of these storms. They are
> unpredictable." He held her close. Vesper was happy to have
>  Alex in his life it made all the hardships so much easier.
> [/Vesper]

>> [GM]
>> Jacek sets his men to manning the part of the perimeter closest
>> to the hills dividing the ruins from this suburb. He sets a dozen
>> men in squads of three to patrol the area, including one of the
>> ruined mansions. No one is permitted to be out of earshot, and
>> everyone has their radios set to the same encoded frequencies
>> as the soldiers and the crew of the ship.
>>
>> Louissa is assigned to the company that is closest to the mansion.
>> It is a magnificent building, and it is a credit to its builders that
>> centuries exposed to the elements; mystical and natural, have not
>> toppled it. Its columns stand fifty feet high, holding up a great roof
>> that at first appears to be stone, but is in fact some sort of
>> decorated and molded megadamage material. The windows,
>> though clear, cannot be made of any normal kind of glass,
>> because the remain intact. Still, the doors were long ago pushed
>> or blown down, and what can be seen on the inside is generations
>> of squatters; fire pits, piles of refuse, animal bones and the like.
>> Jacek does not permit anyone inside the building, fearing at the
>> very least it could be unstable, and at worst it could be home to
>> some menace.
>>
>> As the night wanes, there is no sign of any danger. The winds are
>> beginning to die down, the rain continues, but is now normal cold
>> February rain. Jacek is preparing to end his team's watch and
>> pass it on to the next group when someone observes "Where is
>> the Lady Louissa?"
>> [/GM]

>> OOC: Anybody left in the ship is woken up.

>> [GM]
>> Someone wakes the rest of the company up, indeed the whole
>> ship. "We have a man missing! It is the Lady Louissa! No one
>> knows where she is.
>> [/GM]

> [Alex]
> "I am a scout," Alex responds, "Everybody stay away from where
> she disappeared at. Let me see if can see any tracks."
> [/Alex]

> [Ted]
> "It seems odd that Louissa would leave on her own," the lizard man
> states aloud upon hearing the news.
>
> He then finds Alex and Vesper before they have a chance to go looking
> for her. "I know time is of the essence, but let me check something
> before you leave, and then I will go with you."
>
> Ted then went to find out what the girl/demon thing in the cold iron
> cage might know about this.
> [/Ted]

[GM]
As everyone gets ready to search for Louissa, Ted races down to the
hold. The demon, still in the form of a little girl, is sitting in one
corner of the cell humming a children's song. She turns towards Ted,
and he is almost overcome by horror at her inhuman yellow eyes glowing
brightly.

"So sorry," she says mockingly. "This storm is so very exhilarating."
She blinks a couple of times and her eyes return to what looks like
normal human eyes.

"It amuses me that you lock me in this cell, and then wish my
assistance," she says after Ted makes his request. "As I recall, our
agreement was that I help you. If I had my way, I would be feasting on
the marrow of your companions as we speak, although I'm not greedy,
and I'd happily share with you."

"This cage clouds my senses," she continues, "but in the interests of
goodwill, I will report to you that something, or possibly someone,
captured your friend and dragged her, oh, I'd say, north by northwest.
Pity, that. I would so have enjoyed doing to her what doubtless the
deviant maniacs are about to."

She's still giggling like a demented schoolgirl as Ted heads out of the hold.
[/GM]

> [Alex]
> The ranger will then look and see what she can find. It is frustrating
> but this is how things seem to work these days.
> [/Alex]

> [Vesper]
> When it becomes apparent Louissa has disappeared Vesper
>  agrees with Alex letting her look for tracks. He confesses to Oz
> and the others that his magic will be unreliable for a while after
> such a storm.
> [/Vesper]

> [Oz]
> Oz follows Alex and Vesper. "We've got scouts. I'll keep them away
> from her last known location, get them checking the perimeter for
> tracks." He gets on the radio and gives the order. He also details a
> pair of soldiers to get on 2 of the hoverbikes to sweep the
> surrounding area for heat signatures that would indicate a human-sized
> target. Given the possible danger of the situation, he orders them to
> stay in sight of each other and to keep in touch with the ship on the
> radio.
> [/Oz]

[GM]
The hover bikes are already in the air by the time Alex, Vesper, Ted
and Oz are out near the mansion. Jacek is still there, sweeping the
area with his keen cybernetic senses. The cyborg shakes his head. "I
sense no heat signature. The cold rain has washed it away."

Alex has better luck [Track Humanoids: 46%]. She is able to determine
that several individuals came from north northwest (much as the demon
child reported), grabbed someone, and dragged them back in that
direction. To Alex's trained eye, it's likely that Louissa was
incapacitated (unconscious, bound, or possibly dead), and was simply
dragged past the mansion and over the hills. Whatever these people or
creatures were, they moved very quickly, and very silently, and only a
trained scout could likely spot what had happened.

So it is clear that Louissa had wondered a couple of hundred yards
from the other guards, was taken by surprise by some group of five or
six individuals, swiftly incapacitated, and dragged back towards the
ruins of the Liverman supercity.

The hovercycle riders report that they think they saw half a dozen
heat signatures perhaps two miles north, and are requesting permission
to continue in that direction, though that will bring them within
direct sight of the ruins of the city.
[/GM]

-- 
Aaron Clausen
mightymartianca at gmail.com

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