Turn 10
Calla"Colonel, sorry this will be uncomfortable, but there is no time" SHow the superior officer what he is up against
[6-1+1=6] The Colonel frowns, starting to speak - but you make your move and sweep in. Drawing from the same 'package' you gave the lieutenant and his men, you smash through the man's mental defenses - his name comes to you as Colonel Britto - and
make him see. He staggers backwards as if he'd been struck. Worried aides approach, but he waves them away, focusing on you. A mad grin splits his face.
'I received training to defend against this sort of attack, y'know,' he says, like laughing at some private joke. You can see confusion on the soldiers' faces behind him. 'They - this your very own Fellowship, I'd assume - told me not to trust any one of you.'
[4] For the record, Lieutenant Ribeiro takes the surprise rather well and hurries to object. The Colonel continues over him. 'It's odd then, that I can't not trust you,' he says matter-of-factly. 'I'm guessing you did something to my brain. It's an odd feeling, not to be in control of ones own mind.'
Shaking his head, he steps back and laughs bitterly. 'Let them through!' he shouts. Without questioning, Ribeiro hits the gas and the jeep lurches on. The two of you leave the outpost behind in a few moments. You approach the artillery emplacement in the hillside. From the looks of it, Ribeiro wants to ask you something - undoubtedly about the Colonel's words. You feel unsettled, too. You weren't trying to do anything else than send a message, but maybe your control isn't as fine-tuned as you'd like. After all, a few months ago you could barely read surface thoughts. You wonder if your powers are only going to grow as the - if the - 'Return' advances and grows stronger. Somehow you get a feeling this wasn't all of it.
[1] Before you get any chance to discuss it, though, the Battle of Guadapari begins.
It starts with a simple flash of lightning, and then the black clouds seem to be upon you, covering the sky as far as the eye can see. Rain begins to fall, the first few droplets quickly turning into a hammering torrential downpour. Surprised shouting erupts from the artillery battery, men scurrying for cover where they can. The impenetrable ceiling above seems to press down upon the city.
You feel it before anything, a growing presence in the back of your mind. Again, you're drawn to look at the sea. Through the rain, your inhuman sight makes out a disturbance in the water surface at the harbor, spreading fast. A pair of military boats approaching down the coastline halt - you can see their searchlights turning on and cutting blindly through the air. The helicopters buzzing through the air begin turning.
[3] The Abyssal breaks water in near-silence - to you, so far away, black carapace seeming to grow out of the depths segment by segment, water cascading down in vast quantities. You try to gauge relative sizes, but the creature simply rises more and more, revealing a cragged back resembling a rocky island rising from the depths, spotted by dozens of pulsing orb-like growths glowing with an inner light. Their illumination reveals the harbor and the rest of the Ancient in all its glory.
Your mind working quickly, you mark it down as only - relief fills you as you realize this - only some three or four hundred meters long, two heavy claws pulling the rock-like main body, ending in a small crest, behind them. At the bottom of the main body you can make out dozens of slits and openings of various sizes. As you watch, two sinuous, thick tentacles appear from below the thing and begin slithering towards the city streets. Its armoured claws rise and slam down into the pavement, pulling it half-way onto the shore.
'Oh my God...' Ribeiro whispers, though he can't be seeing half you are, echoed louder by the artillery crews below. [6-1=5] Despite this, they move quickly to action, on auto-pilot as training kicks in and tells them to man their stations. You realize the jeep has ground to a halt with the lieutenant staring towards the sea.
[1] Guns are lowered, distance gauged, but the artillery doesn't yet fire. You can faintly hear requests for orders being shouted into silent radios. [1][6] On the other side of town far to your east, though, one of their sister batteries opens up.
[6] Three artillery pieces - old and obsolote, but packing more than quite a punch - fire, the booms echoing through the city. [Dodges:1/2/4][BPs:4/3] You follow the shells in the air, arcing neatly into the huge Abyssal. One of them disappears in a flash of water, but two hits and flashes follow the others. [Damages:4-2+1=3/1-2=1] The first, you're sure, scores a lucky hit and slips inside one of the openings, detonating inside - though for little obvious effect. The other slams directly into the creature's main body, but the monster barely notices this.
[4-1=3] Sporadic fire from the helicopters and barricades inside the city goes for the Abyssal, but it's obvious they're having no effect. It lurches forward ever-so-slowly, crushing the harbor street and buildings under it.
The church is still two levels up.
Battle of GuadapariAbyssal Lesser Vanguard
*Bombardment Slits: Slightly Wounded
*Unknown Offensive Capabilities
*Abomination of the Deep (-1 to all opposing Combat Rolls)
*Abyssal Aura of Terror (Unprotected minds crippled at close range, -3 to Combat Rolls and fear checks every turn at one hundred meters)
Eastern Artillery Battery
*Undamaged
*Fixed Howitzers [0/3 - 12] (Fires three shots per turn, -2 to Damage)
*Fortified Emplacement (+2 to all Damage)
Central Artillery Battery
*Undamaged
*Fixed Howitzers [3/3 - 10] (Fires three shots per turn, -2 to Damage)
*Fortified Emplacement (+2 to all Damage)
Lower Artillery Battery
*Undamaged
*Fixed Howitzers [3/3 - 12] (Fires three shots per turn, -2 to Damage)
*Fortified Emplacement (+2 to all Damage)
Ground Forces, Military Helicopters, Patrol Boats
*Nearest forces possibly under Terror Aura, majority unharmed
*Ineffective weaponry
Calla - Abyssal Hybrid
Health: Torso: Moderately Wounded!
Inventory: Empty
Traits and Powers:
*Beyond Human (As an Abyssal half-breed, you possess incredible physical and mental capability. You are capable of mental 'psychic' warfare and considerable thought suggestion, and of easy genetic manipulation by touch on-the-fly, even to fatal extremes. +1 to mental power, +2 to mutation and genetic alteration)
*Aura of Terror - INACTIVE (You share the Deep Ones' incapaciting presence, which causes deep fear and anxiety in the mortal psyche. You are currently suppressing your aura.)
Current Effects: None
Location: Upper Guadapari, Brazil
Alex sighs, "I dislike hrting innocent people but if we need to I'm game."
[6] 'I don't know,' Rodriguez says. 'I don't like it either. Theo?'
The older agent comes to a decision after a moment. 'The sooner we get moving, the better. Is the runway clear?'
Rodriguez nods, looking relieved. 'Pretty much. There's a few left-over airport vehicles we might need to move - I can do that - but we're good to go. Gil, get in the controls, bring her out on my signal.'
The last is aimed at the pilot, who grunts his assent and climbs aboard. Theo goes over some details with Rodriguez quickly and then follows with you others. Rodriguez heads out of the plane hall and up the runway. You can see the obstacles he mentioned up ahead, two small cars used to carry luggage abandoned over the asphalt, before you ascend the stairs and step into the luxurious interior. It's the plane you arrived in, more or less a standard model.
[1] The plane begins to make its way out of the hall slowly, inching after Rodriguez on the runway. You join the pilot and Theo in the cockpit. Over the clatter of the wheels and hum of the engines, your enchanced senses can't pick out outside noise - but they can pick out a radio transmission to Theo's commbead. You connect it to Rodriguez, the agent having stopped just before the cars on the runway. He points to the side.
'Trouble, Theo. Three choppers, coming in low.'Theo glances at you, hesitating, but replies quickly. 'They look like our friends?'
'I can't say. Might be. I'm moving.'
[6] Rodriguez runs to the first car, kicks the engine into gear and gets out, letting it drive itself out of their path. He then heads for the next and begins doing the same. The helicopters come into view of the cockpit, though the unclear glass and distance make it hard to identify if they're of the same make as the Sol Cult ones from before. It's obvious they're coming at you, though.
'Hurry up, Rodriguez,' Theo says, to no-one in particular. He turns to the pilot, who nods and begins accelerating.
Rodriguez turns to run for the aircraft, [4] and the first helicopter descends to his right, directly on the path of the plane. The side door slides open, [5] another gunman appearing ready to fire. He holds on to the helicopter with one hand and fires with the other, [Dodge:4+1=5] with predictable results.
[5] Your regeneration is working again, the wounds on your head just flowing away.
---
Alex Vondgas - Imprisoned TitanHealth: Head: Slightly Wounded!
Inventory: Empty
Traits and Powers: *
Immortal Prisoner (In the back of your mind, ever-raging, ever-moving, lays 'the Fae', a Titan from before the dawn of history. By tapping into its power, you can take on incredible physical and mental capability. The more of yourself you give in, the more powerful you become, but the higher the risk of losing control is. Your current control level is High. +1 to physical damage, -1 to all taken damage)
*
Slow Regeneration (Your control over the Titan grants you slow wound regeneration. Heal all wounds by 1 on a 3-6.)
Current Effects: None
Location: Foundation Private Jet, Airport in Thailand
Turiel smiled upon seeing his friends, and nodded at their statements, firstly turning towards Devdan, "A nightmare.
"I don't know actually, the best thing that could come to mind is what mythology could term a 'Titan'. I've seen more pictures of them while I was on my way back, comrade.
"They were in our possession all along. We knew of them long before all this happened, and kept it a secret from the world.
"On what that thing truly was, I can only fathom a guess. Myth or legend, things are about to get real. But let's leave that for later, how were you all and how was my flying?" he ended with a grin.
Chat while moving to the Control Center.
There's a thoughtful silence following your words, though you note the three agents don't seem very surprised. You catch Anatoli, the Army-recruit, nodding as if mentally confirming something.
'Not as good as mine when they bother to finish my plane,' Devdan says, grinning. 'Seriously though, you looked like a pro.'
'You were born to fly, my friend,' Anatoli says. The others back him up, mixed with some mock-insults and teasing.
As you get a move on and approach the command center, though, you fall silent one by one - you can practically hear their troubled thoughts. Other Projekt staff you pass in the hallways commend and cheer for you. Many seem confused and nervous. You're met at the command center doors by a Colonel Kubantsev, who lets you into the entrance corridor without a word.
The interior of the command center, stuck in the heart of the Ark Projekt complex surrounded by thick layers of concrete, is silent as the grave when you enter. Concentric rows of computer terminals, fulled manned by Projekt staff, fill the room, expanding from a large raised platform in the centre. Projekt head personnel and high-ranking military officer occupy the platform, giving them a clear view of everything going on.
And all of them are staring at the overhead monitors, filled with grainy images of
something moving in the ruins of a city, of an enormous - the scale, which takes you a moment to take in, dwarfs even the images you saw - black-shelled creature dug into the shore of another, the air around it thick with movement. An image comes in just as you enter that chills your blood - another Titan, sharing the same human-like body, looming unbelievably tall above the owner fo the camera - with city streets littering its back, sewer pipes criscrossing through its hide, collapsing skyscrapers raining debris down as it rises. Two pinprick eyes in a sculpted, immobile facial plateau look fixed on the viewer, seeming to flicker and pulse even in a still shot. The image is of poor quality, but to you the tiniest details seem to jump out - burning buildings, teetering dangerously on the back of the giant's hand, trains and undergrounds plummeting to their doom or hanging helplessly from blocked tunnels, the wreckage of a commercial aircraft, falling into heavy traffic below...
'Tokyo, sir,' one of the military personnel on the platform whisper, as the last image fills more and more screens.
You think you hear a reply, too. 'It's always Tokyo, isn't it?' a general sighs. 'Was that it? Tell me that was it.'
'It's... too early to say, sir. I... don't think so.'
[3] Hypnotized by the screens, nobody is paying attention to you - though none of you are doing not much better. You feel rather like in a dream, having trouble taking it all in despite what happened earlier.
Turiel - Star God HybridHealth: Unharmed
Inventory: Empty
Traits and Powers: *
Beyond Human (As a Star God half-breed, you carry within your veins incredible physical and mental capability, but more importantly, innate knowledge of Star God technology and powers, including rudimentary control of your Nexus Field.)
*
Nexus Field - OFFENSIVE MODE (You have the power to control a personal force field that can be used to redirect and turn away attacks, supercharge fired projectiles, energy weapons and physical attacks, or knit together wounds or mechanical damage. Only one mode can be active at once. Defensive: +1 to dodge. Offensive: +1 to damage. Regenerative: Heals all wounds/damage by 2 on a 3-6.)
Current Effects: None
Location: At the Ark Projekt Facility, Western Siberia
Alexei clicks his tongue and starts to quickly move towards the altar chamber, alternating his step and swerving like he was taught. This day had been a terrible day for him, as if the world itself conspired against his performance. One or two more missions showing the same level of incompetence and he would probably be dealt with by the Society.
Run to the altar chamber, keep an eye on the older soldier while moving there.
Glazunov follows on your heels as you make your way back towards the altar chamber, leaving Rotov lagging behind. The supersoldier seems anxious, his troubled state of mind bubbling through his blank mask. [5] Just before you reach the chamber, he calls for you to wait. You stop reluctantly, hearing him out.
'Look, I'm not handling this very well. I... I want to be honest with you,' he says. He takes a deep breath. 'I'm not here on... on behalf of the Society. To tell the truth, I haven't been working for them for a long while.'
In the moment following this bombshell, you hear raised voices from the altar chamber downstairs. The older supersoldier continues quickly. 'I'll speak quickly. I was created - we all I2's were created - by Doctor Ushakov, before the Society become a tool of the government. He made the entire project possible, but I doubt you've heard of him. The way they were treating us, and the way Moscow wanted the technology used - he wanted no part of it. For this, the grandmaster ordered him killed.'
'But Ushakov escaped, taking some of his loyal staff with him. Since then, he's worked on setting us free. I was approached after a mission in Chechnya - a mission where I in ignorance did things I must still atone for. But he set me free, made me understand.'
He pauses, looking both relieved and nervous, but hurries to continue before you can reply. 'I want to do the same for you, Alexei. You are only a tool to the Society. The world is changing, has already changed more than you know. These are not times where anyone should be a slave.'
'Join us, my brother - break free.'
[2] Rotov arrives in the room, confused. He probably heard some of it.
Combatants (Altar Chamber)Agent Zelenko
*Unharmed
*Heavy Pistol [2/5 - 1] (Fires one shot per turn, -3 to Damage)
*Trained Agent (+1 to Dodge, -1 to Enemy Dodge)
*Squishy Mortal (+3 to all taken Damage, -3 to physical Damage)
Agent Kaminski
*Unharmed
*Heavy Pistol [3/5 - 1] (Fires one shot per turn, -3 to Damage)
*Trained Agent (+1 to Dodge, -1 to Enemy Dodge)
*Squishy Mortal (+3 to all taken Damage, -3 to physical Damage)
Agent Darkin
*Unharmed
*Heavy Pistol [3/5 - 2] (Fires one shot per turn, -3 to Damage)
*Trained Agent (+1 to Dodge, -1 to Enemy Dodge)
*Squishy Mortal (+3 to all taken Damage, -3 to physical Damage)
Agent Mihailov
*Unharmed
*Heavy Pistol [3/5 - 1] (Fires one shot per turn, -3 to Damage)
*Trained Agent (+1 to Dodge, -1 to Enemy Dodge)
*Squishy Mortal (+3 to all taken Damage, -3 to physical Damage)
Agent Rotov
*Unharmed
*Heavy Pistol [5/5 - 2] (Fires one shot per turn, -3 to Damage)
*Trained Agent (+1 to Dodge, -1 to Enemy Dodge)
*Squishy Mortal (+3 to all taken Damage, -3 to physical Damage)
---
Alexei Zielkov - Experimental Superman
Health: Unharmed
Inventory: Compact SMG [18/18 - 2] (Fires six shots per turn, -3 to Damage), Heavy Pistol [5/5 - 0] (Fires one shot per turn, -3 to Damage), Flashbang [1]
Traits and Powers:
*Genesculpted Superhuman (Your extensive genetic modification and training have made you superior both physically and mentally to any other human being alive. The Shackled, on the other hand, are another matter entirely. +1 to all Damage taken, -2 to physical Damage, +1 to Dodge.)
Current Effects: None
Location: Warehouse 59, Vladivostok
Erik Tourigny - Abyssal Hybrid
Health: Unharmed
Inventory: Empty
Traits and Powers:
* Beyond Human (As an Abyssal half-breed, you possess incredible physical and mental capability. You are capable of mental 'psychic' warfare and considerable thought suggestion, and of easy genetic manipulation by touch on-the-fly, even to fatal extremes. +2 to mental power, +1 to mutation and genetic alteration)
*Aura of Terror - INACTIVE (You share the Deep Ones' incapaciting presence, which causes deep fear and anxiety in the mortal psyche. You are currently suppressing your aura. -3 to Combat Rolls around you, fear checks every turn)
Current Effects: None
Location: Warehouse 59, Vladivostok
Slam my spear into its chest, or similar organic structure and absorb its life force through the spear.
[4-1=3] You don't waste any time - this thing needs to go. The water makes you slow, but you leap to cross the distance and follow up with another aimed at the mutation form's chest. [Dodge:4-1=3] Sensing the danger, it pulls back, but not quite in time. You feel the impact of the imbued spear on the flyer's hide all the way up your arm, [Damage:5+1=6] and push and push, your superhuman strenght allowing you to penetrate the thing's thick flesh. Any normal weapon would shatter from the huge forces at play, but the life force imbued in the spear keep it intact. The flyer twists and tries to get loose, black blood gushing out over you, but only makes its wounds worse. When you finally pull the spear out, its vast bulk collapses onto the floor, in its last throes. [1] When you reach in to harvest its life energy, however, you find it slipping away all too fast. Before you can snatch anything, the Hunter is dead, the energy within lost forever.
You step back, trying to get the black blood covering your clothes and hand off and cursing at your bad luck.
'How did you do that?' the unharmed security guard asks wide-eyed, but shakes his head, 'Or well, nevermind. What's your name? We need to get Seth to a hospital, he doesn't look too good.'
He pauses, looking at the wreckage around you and the dead mutation form. 'Uhh... or someone who could treat that, anyhow. You wouldn't happen to know what's going on, would you?'
[4] The third guard hefts 'Seth' over his shoulder, the latter unconscious. The old man behind them is on one knee, his entire frame shaking.
[6] Gunshots sound from the streets outside, accompanied by the usual - screaming, distant explosions, alarms, the sounds of these creatures. You think you can hear jet engines and missiles being fired, probably meaning not all the fighters have been downed by the flyers or the vast creature's powers yet. The streets outside are everything but safe, but atleast the guards have pistols. There might still be some sane survivors in the terminals, though.
CombatantsWounded Security Guard
*Left Leg: Heavily Wounded!
*Heavy Pistol [5/5 - 0] (Fires one shot per turn, -3 to Damage)
*Inexperienced (-1 to Combat Rolls)
*Squishy Mortal (+3 to all taken Damage, -3 to physical Damage)
Second Security Guard
*Unharmed
*Heavy Pistol [4/5 - 0] (Fires one shot per turn, -3 to Damage)
*Inexperienced (-1 to Combat Rolls)
*Squishy Mortal (+3 to all taken Damage, -3 to physical Damage)
Third Security Guard
*Unharmed
*Heavy Pistol [5/5 - 1] (Fires one shot per turn, -3 to Damage)
*Inexperienced (-1 to Combat Rolls)
*Squishy Mortal (+3 to all taken Damage, -3 to physical Damage)
---
Alfonz Wulfric - Imprisoned ReaperHealth: Torso: Slightly Wounded! Left Arm: Minor Cut!
Inventory: Imbued Junk Spear (+1 to Damage)
Traits and Powers: *
Immortal Prisoner (Drawing from the Reaper in your head, you are physically and mentally superior to any normal human on the planet. You have innate power over the life forces of living beings, and can draw, give and imbue it at will. Your current level of control is high.)
*
Life Force [0/6] (You can imbue objects and living beings with life force to create more potent weapons and combat constructs. You will regain spent life force automatically over time, and by devouring others - though this bears the risk of harmful energy damaging you. You can also draw the life force of others and imbue it as long as you also include some of your own.)
Current Effects: None
Location: Lakefront Airport, New Orleans
Blinking once, Aaron shakes his head, slowly. "What was I thinking... I don't know. I'm sorry." Holding his own head in his hands, he began to breathe slowly, calming himself down. "If you don't think that's real... then is this real?" He gestured around himself. "We're all special, all different... and we should be helping, if what's happening out there is real." He glanced around. "There's no one official here... at all, is there now? They left. Cowards." Gray started to pace. "We all need... to calm down. Alex, Thomas, can you help me? I might need it if I get set off again..." He glanced at both of them, before moving back to where Fisher was standing before all hell broke loose. "HEY! EVERYBODY! LET'S GET SOME CALM IN HERE!" He shouted, attempting to push his voice over the crowd and the noise. He waited for everyone to quiet down, whether Alex and Thomas help or not. "Now, what we were shown... I've heard an opinion that it may not be real... but if you think about it, if we all here are real, with some of the things we can do... then what reason is there for those things to be surreal also? We don't have any staff, or anyone official here anymore. Which means no answers. But I know for sure, that if this is happening... in all of those places, then we need to help. I'm sure there are some of you here who are like me, and can... inspire fear in people merely by being near them? If we can do something like that, what can those things do? They sure as hell seemed related to what we can do, as I doubt that real... abilities like these coincide with others. This isn't a comic book, or a novel, this is reality. The general populace will be scared, possibly insane, there will be panic everywhere those things attack. But we might be able to do something. We're human, yet oh-so much more. We can do things no normal person could even dream of, so we have to stand up and fight, to defend the people who can't do what we can!" He tried to sound inspiring, or atleast like a leader, but the doubts were already gnawing at the back of his mind, shoved there in attempt to ignore them.
Attempt to get the crowd's attention, calm them down, then execute (hopefully) inspiring speech. Try to get Alex and Thomas to help me out.
Despite Thomas' attempts to stop you, you launch into another tirade, striding over to the front of the room. Raising your voice over the crowd, you attempt to get everyone's attention. [4] After a few moments, heads begin to turn and a silence, more-or-less, falls again. That's when you begin your speech, the words just flowing to you, a white-hot
purpose, a mission that you know you must do, burning inside you. The world needs you.
[4-1=3] The others didn't forget your earlier outburst. Nobody interrupts you and the panic slowly dissipates, but you can see it in their eyes they don't
believe, they don't understand. Thomas walks up to you and says, quietly; 'You're not making any sense, man. What do you want us to do? We need to find actual staff, people who know what they're doing.'
'Just calm the fuck down,' Alex adds helpfully.
[3] A few seconds later, the lights come back on, slowly and with effort. They keep flickering, the backup generators being what they are. But a few seconds after that, there's a distant boom, like thunder, coming from the upper levels - this combination sets the students into nervous confusion.
[3] You hear footsteps race past outside, but there's no sign of additional personnel. Looks like they thought Fisher could handle all of you.
Aaron Gray - Abyssal Hybrid
Health: Unharmed
Inventory: Empty
Traits and Powers:
* Beyond Human (As an Abyssal half-breed, you possess incredible physical and mental capacity. You are capable of mental 'psychic' warfare and thought suggestion, as well as easy genetic manipulation, especially for war. You have also been blessed with extraordinary toughness and mental fortitude. +1 to physical Damage, -1 to taken Damage, +1 to mental defense.)
* Aura of Terror - INACTIVE (You share the Deep Ones' incapaciting presence, which causes deep fear and anxiety in the mortal psyche. You are currently suppressing your aura. -3 to Combat Rolls around you, fear checks every turn.)
Current Effects: None
Location: SD Project Main Facility, Western Australia
---
One-hit kill, adwarf. That's pretty impressive.
Author
Topic: Their Coming Is At Hand - an Eldritch Horror RTD (Turn 10! Spots open!) (Read 33580 times)