[Taocow PBEM] [Alex, Vesper, Veronique and Ted] Book 3 - Chapter XVIII

[Aaron Clausen]

>> [GM]
>> Lady Veronique and Ted make their way down to the hold, following
>> largely the same route Vesper and Alex did a few moments before.
>> They too briefly smell the pungent odor of sulfur, but then it
>> disappears again.
>>
>> Down in the hold they can hear Alex and Vesper ahead, though they
>> have to make their way over the contents of broken crates. After a
>> bit of climbing, they make their way to their two companions. Alex
>> seems to be concentrating.
>>
>> The ship begins to groan and shift again. Everyone is nearly
>> thrown off their feet as the ship moves a good couple of feet. The
>> breach in the hall widens and what is a bubbling little fountain
>> becomes decidedly more active, more like a geyser, letting in at
>> least three times as much water.
>>
>> That's when the smell of sulfur reappears, and then a glowing red
>> light, the color of glowing coals appears right next to Ted. It's
>> like a glowing red ball, but there's movement within, indistinct,
>> but like a vortex. The ball itself isn't much larger than a
>> basketball, but Ted suddenly finds himself being pulled towards
>> it. The others see him being pulled, and it almost seems like his
>> body is being slightly distorted, stretched out as if the orb is
>> altering matter around it.
>>
>> And the water still bubbles in...
>> [/GM]

>> OOC: Though the volume of water getting into the ship is larger,
>> it would still take a few hours before it becomes critical.

> [Ted]
> Ted's eyes go wide. He glanced around, looking for something he can
> grab onto before being sucked into the glowing ball.
> [/Ted]

[GM]
There's a shipping container not more than a couple of feet from Ted, 
and he's able to grab on to one of the rungs on a metal ladder. But the 
strength of this gravitational effect, or whatever it is, is huge, and 
he can tell his strength won't be enough for long.
[/GM]

> [Vesper]
> "Ah hell."
>
> Vesper tries to figure out what the heck the thing is that is
> attacking Ted.
> [/Vesper]

[GM]
This is right up Vesper's ally, and he immediately recognizes it as a 
dimensional anomaly, a gateway of some kind. The really unusual aspect 
of this one is how it seems to keep to a very controlled and regular 
size. There's no chaotic blurred edge, and there's something almost 
purposeful about its movement. In fact, that it is so mobile makes it a 
pretty unique gateway.

Vesper can also sense something about the other dimension; a heat, a 
stifling, raw, dry heat, and red. That color is somehow bleeding through.
[/GM]

> [Vesper]
> Knowing Alex might need to fight Vesper looks around for anything
> that he might be able to interpose with the leak to slow it down.
>
> "Go ahead Alex, I will try and hold the water out." *Casts energy
> field to at least temporarily stop the water flow*
> [/Vesper]

[GM]
There are all manner of goods; boxes full of blankets, insulation, 
packing materials like bubble rap and padding.

The energy field temporarily staunches the flow, creating a rather 
amazing effect of bubbling water hitting the nearly invisible energy 
barrier.
[/GM]

> [Alex]
> "I think I can deal with this thing better than most," Alex state,
> having trouble believing it herself. Draw her flaming sword in her
> right and her rune dagger. She will begin approaching the energy
> ball. Trying to distract it with the flaming sword, she will tray to
> make a surprise strike with her dagger [Strike: 27, Damage: 24MD].
> [/Alex]

[GM]
Surprisingly, the orb is not distracted by the flaming sword, and 
instead attempts to evade the dagger [Dodge: 22]. Alex is still able to 
get a blow in, and the dagger seems to cut a swathe through the orb, 
leaving behind a trail of bleeding white light. Alex feels the 
gravitational attraction of the orb, and only the momentum of her attack 
prevents her from being trapped in its tractor field. For a moment, it 
looks to Alex like her arm is suddenly twice as long, and thinned out 
like a piece of thick spaghetti noodle.
[/GM]

> [Lady Veronique]
> Given that it's pulling Ted towards it, Veronique thinks twice about
> stabbing it with her sword. She instead takes her weapon and chops
> the air between the glowing orb and Ted seeing if she can perhaps
> sever some kind of tether. If that fails she switches to her gun and
> opens fire on the orb.
> [/Lady Veronique]

[GM]
When Lady Veronique chops between Ted and the orb, she feels the pull of 
the orb, as it nearly grabs the weapon right out of her hand. It doesn't 
do anything to release the grip on Ted.

Veronique's shot goes complete awry [Strike: Natural 1], blasting a hole 
in the shipping container that the orb had apparently escaped from 
[Damage: 13MD]. Inside the shipping container is a large silver ball, 
big enough for an adult to stand inside. It is featureless, except for 
an oval door, open, which reveals the internal structure, which looks 
like an inverted pineapple; silver metal with lines of gold intersecting 
at multiple points, with what looks like a gem at each intersection.

There is also what appears to be remnants of blood and flesh just 
outside the door, as if whoever was standing at that door when it opened 
was literally blown apart.
[/GM]

> [Ted]
> Ted will keep hanging on until told otherwise.
> [/Ted]

[GM]
The pull is getting to be too much for Ted. He's literally bending the 
metal rung he's clinging too.

And then it simply snaps, and Ted seems to stretch out like a long thin 
line before disappearing into the orb.

Once Ted has been sucked in, the orb retreats, heading deeper into the 
cargo hold and out of sight. The smell of sulfur fades away, and the 
only sound is the bubbling of water under Vesper's energy field.
[/GM]

-- 
Aaron Clausen
mightymartianca at gmail.com

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