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

[Aaron Clausen]

OOC: Going to forge ahead despite some missing players...

>> [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]

> [Ted]
> "I can cover two miles in about three minutes," Ted states. "I can catch up
> with the group and tail them until the rest of you catch up."
> [/Ted]

> [Alex]
> "If you cannot follow their trail, would not do much good," states the scout.
>
> Otherwise, Alex will simply continue to follow the trail she has
> [/Alex]

> [Ted]
> "I have done a fair bit of tracking. You just try keeping up."
> [/Ted]

[GM]
Neither Ted or Alex have any great difficulty following the trail.
Whoever or whatever has kidnapped Louissa doesn't seem to be too
concerned about being followed. The hovercycles still await permission
to travel past the hill and expose themselves to anyone who might be
dwelling in the ruined city itself.

In the meantime, Alex and Ted [OOC: and maybe Oz and Vesper???] reach
the top of the hill, and there before them is the immensity of haunted
Liverman in all its strange, ruined, horrifying glory. At least a
dozen ley lines, and four nexuses, can be seen. The very air shimmers
with mystical energy.

The trail of the kidnappers merges here with the ruins of an old road
that leads down about a mile to a bridge across the River Mersey. The
bridge itself is still standing, and despite the rust and other signs
of decay, actually looks as if someone is at least attempting to
maintain it. New supports have been welded, along with pilings to hold
up the sagging bridge near its center.

Beyond the bridge the buildings for several blocks have been knocked
down, and it looks like the rubble has been used to construct a
pyramid that sits below the nearest nexus, about a half a mile from
the bridge [OOC: a mile and a half from the company's current
position]. A wall of rubble and steel surrounds the pyramid, and
several fires can be seen blazing inside the wall. It looks like it
would be difficult to creep up to the wall from this direction, as it
is essentially an empty plain. There might be a way by going the long
way around, as there looks to be several still-standing buildings, but
it means going several miles out of their way through the ruins of the
city.

The light of the nexus is so strong that it casts shadows, and more
importantly reveals several individuals, probably humanoid, racing
towards the pyramid, carrying another figure.
[/GM]

-- 
Aaron Clausen
mightymartianca at gmail.com

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