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It was fun for a long time but towards the end it just started to drag

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Total Members Voted: 28

[wierd]

[ok, since the slashdiver.. imploded out of existence, leaving only bits of outer hull, (which shouldnt be TOO radioactive..) and the dwarves are now right as rain, I will have Wierd fix up Udib's internal damage he caused while arresting the metamorphosis, check his kiln, find Peepers, then find someplace kinda dry to crash. Will review the events that have transpired from his PoV.]

Wierd helped X get the doctor into the back of the tank. A loud crash like a sonic boom tore through the sky, and he groaned. What could be happening now?

He looked up, and saw a sleek black ship dart down. lovely. Why did these things always happen to them? Nanoplagues.. deitic posessions.. earthquakes.. bizzare portals to who knows where... All in ONE day. ONE!

X asked him if he had ever seen anything like the rapidly descending ship before, and if he thought he could handle it, and he said he hadn't, and probably could. It was hard to explain, but after being possessed by death like that, he felt.. different. Magic seemed almost natural now. He could probably blow it out of the sky if he wanted.

Around him, the corrupted dwarves staggered a second, started coughing and looking at each other.  They shouldnt be doing that at all...

He didnt panic. It was unexpected, but it didnt bother him. Its like almost nothing bothered him anymore, other than pointless suffering. He reached out and put his hand on the shoulder of the nearest one, and probed him with the healing magic..

The complex carbon scaffolding created by the nanobots was doing something it really shouldnt be able to chemically. It was self-deconstructing back into the host's original tissues. More orderly and healthy than before, but given the advanced state of compromise that the bodies had been in, where essentially all that was left untouched was bits of the nervous system, this was a very profound and confusing occurance. He stood there for several minutes just observing the phenomenon. Doctor Gizogin awoke from his faint, (regardless of what he would claim to the contrary), and began sobbing inside the tank behind him.

Then Udib wandered up, coughing.

"You alright, hot head?" he asked, before coughing again. He held a small cloth to his mouth, which was steeped in a pale pink fluid. Then he remembered; He had bent every inch of his will into destroying the nanobots that had been cloying at his insides, and Nir had interrupted his attempts at healing the aftermath. It was fortunate that he was even still alive.

Wierd released the confused dwarf he had been probing, who looked at him askance.

"Sorry..." wierd said with a nod, before addressing both, "How are you guys feeling?" then just to Udib, "I'm....OK."

Udib coughed again. "I've been better..."  The unnamed dwarf just looked around him in dazed confusion, before yelling somebody's name, running off and embracing another unnamed female dwarf in a hug, then wandering off.

Overhead, the descending vessel made a loud bang.

"I recognize that ship," hugo said to Wierd. "It's the one Zanz boarded to go fight the war that is evidently involving us now, despite promises. If he's returned, that could mean... wait, is that fire coming out of the panel there?"

So much for needing to blow it up... it was doing it on its own. Maybe it had battle damage?

An orange jet spewed from the port nacelle, and small hunks of metal fell off as it descended, and landed in a small clearing to the west of the outer wall.

He wasnt sure when Gizogin had gotten out of the tank; he hadnt been looking. The fire coming out the side as it landed couldn't have been a good thing.

"I'll fix you up in a minute Udib..." he breathed.  If the ship was damaged, there might be wounded.

He, Hugo, and the recently awakened doctor Gizogin ran to the site, only to watch in bewilderment as the downed vehicle flared a violent cascade of colored plasma emissions, groaned, and imploded out of existence.

[*ninja edits or more posts to follow. Gotta get ready for work now.]

 

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

Uh, wierd, if you remember the last section of post that I made at the end of the debacle, you would note that the Slashdiver had already landed.

Here, it is by the way.  Bolded for emphasis.

At the twelfth bay, the Slashdiver landed a short distance away, and a small delegation came out from it, intending to meet with the survivors, and bring whatever aid was needed.  Guards were placed at the entrance of the Slashdiver, and would only allow in whoever was allowed in by the delegation.

[wierd]

Good thing I'm ninja-editing then.

In unrelated news, it looks like somebody walked off with the removable front to my car stereo and my 1200 watt ac inverter. Amusingly they ignored the tomtom xl, and the ODBII vehicle troubleshooting gear.

I suspect children. Its a small town, I'll probably hear about it.



Ok. Ninja'd it to not be quite as crashy, and to actually land before doing the shrinky-self-destruct.

[WillowLuman]

The human should be in fairly good condition, due to him already having his armor on, instead of having to put it on in a hurry, and being near the exit to act as the guard, causing the outer-plating of the ship to shield him from the majority of the blast.  The general would be in a coma for about two weeks, due to being outside.  He wouldn't have been wearing his armor at the time, instead having opted for clothing due to this having meant to be diplomatic.  The clothing would've survived, and the armor would be somewhere nearby, nearly shattered.  All would have some radiation poisoning for the time being.

When they are released, I would like control the human and the dwarf.  You can keep control of the frost dragon general.  I'll get their descriptions via the RNG.

Alright. I'm just not in the mood to edit my long post, but consider this^ true.

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

Well, I cannot go on the computer tomorrow, and I will be gone for a week in 10 days.  Don't add too many pages during those times.

[Gizogin]

[Well, Gizogin's actions are pretty straightforward from here, and X is out of the picture.  I really need to stop writing myself into situations like this.  I have an idea for a fairly complicated sub-plot, but right now I'm trying to find a way to pull it off that isn't too cliched.  That, and it involves throwing around quite a bit more power (in-story and in terms of plot) than I'm used to.

I was ruminating on the apparent lack of scheming in this fortress.  I know political maneuvering isn't a big point in DF, but it stands to reason there'd be at least some power-play going on, what with all the ambitious forumites and whatnot.  Gizogin would, I imagine, stay out of the politics.  He's a doctor because he genuinely wants to help people (I will, at some point, go into his reasons for that; they're fairly deep), not because it puts him in a position of considerable power.  X may be a different story, but his motives for doing anything are known only to him and Gizogin.  If he decides to get political, it will be because he sees it as the most advantageous course of action he can take.]

[wierd]

Weird hates politics.

He prefers to stay out of it, and prefers for it to stay off of him.  He hates red tape, hates protectionist racketeering, hates officiousness, and hates it when people think they are untouchable.

Part of wierd's dislike for Eric, is eric's apparent political power as the construction manager.

Even in goodie-goodie form, he won't actively want to participate in politics, excepting to prevent officious bullshit.  He would willingly take part in fillibustering dumbshit, and circumventing power grabs.  Firmly believes that small communities (200 people is damn small by our standards) do not need such officious central power structures.

He's happy to just work in his lab, making medications, lotions, toothpaste, and bombs, and volunteering in the hospital for "extreme cases".

If he proposes a big construction project, its because he thinks it will make things better, not because he thinks it will give him fame or notoriety.

He's an example of impotent power.  Insane potential, but no will to employ it.

[WillowLuman]

This is the Bay12 forum crowd. Most of us hate nobles. I want to avoid having to worry about such things as money or bureaucracy, though some record keeping would be good.

In terms of schemes, well, we've been at this site for about 3 weeks when all is said and done. If you want plot, I don't know how long it would take before 3-5 of us could take off to go look at the ancient tower. What with being basically the leaders around here, many of us might be needed to get things back up and running. I'd estimate a week at most before enough digging is done to reclaim most of the compound.

[wierd]

[Ok, I am gonna try and shove the plot along, but damn do I hate dealing with politicos. Also, where is the RND sheet for these cats anyway?]

On the ground, knocked forward and onto their faces by the crash of the implosion were 3 people; a human, a dragon, and a dwarf. The dragon had on some silly purple and red vestments that were clearly intended for show considerably more than utility or casual wear; the fall to the muddy ground had completely soiled the frilly starched cuffs and collar of the rediculous ensamble. Weird found the whole affair distasteful. It was one thing to be suckered into a necessary clerical role to keep a government running, it was another entirely to resort to putting on airs to flatter and impress as a means of swaying opinion. Such flatteries were about as welcome to his sensibilites as rancid flatulence.

He was sure that whoever it was wearing that rediculous getup probably wasn't a full-time pompous ass, but the willingness to stoop to that level, even if only ceremonially, was disgusting to him. He tried to brush that afront aside. People should engage in diplomacy fair, honest and upfront, and shouldn't try to present themselves as things they cannot be, nor have any business pretending. Turn off the lights and take all the clothes off, and at the eend of it all, people are just people. Fancy clothes and offical titles are just hubris. Repugnant as the display was, they were people, and they were clearly hurt.

The human was wearing what looked like a flight jumpsuit, and the dwarf was in engineer's coveralls with a cleanly tied up beard and long braid. From appearances, the dragon was meant to be the stuffy diplomat, the human was the diplomatic attache who oversaw formal paperwork and made copies of documents, and the engineer was just the poor schlob who made sure things got done. Probably the only useful and practical one of the bunch.

He shook his head, and started with the engineer, even though he was the furthest away. He had also been the closest to the implosion, and therefor, likely the most affected if injured. He put his bared hand on the dwarf's exposed fore-arm, and let the magic flow into the patient.

High levels of adrenaline and cortisone suggested fear and shock at the time of unconciousness... not surprising since the ship had imploded right behind him. He'd have been scared too.  A broken nose from being thrown onto the ground... bruises.. green stick fracture of the right wrist...and..... ....

Weird let go and looked at the dwarf in confusion, then probed the human.... same thing...

Then with reservation, he probed the prostrated dragon in the silly purple frock. There was no question about it now.

"We need to quarantine this area." He said abruptly.

"What do you mean?" Asked Gizogin, straightening and attempting to splint the dwarf's wrist.

"They've all been exposed to ionizing radiation." He said looking plaintively at the doctor. "This area could be super hot."

"How can you tell that?" Gizogen asked bluntly. "You need a UA, a centrifuge, and a blot test to check for high levels of metabolates consistent with apoptsis, in addition to looking at a tissue sample under a microscope, and doing a full oncology and endochrine report to make a definitive assertion like that. Any one of the signs alone could be a sign of some other condition. You don't just.."

Weird cut him off, holding the glowing hand aloft.

"I can tell." He said flatly. "They have profuse, deep tissue damage. I didn't find any pathogens, or antibodies that would cause it. They are going to blister up and suffer multiple organ failure in just a few hours most likely. Edema is already setting in on the lungs of this one. Check yours and see yourself.  I'll see what I can do for them, but we have to get out of here, and we have to quarantine this site. We need to check ourselves when we get out too. We could have inwittingly irradiated ourselves."

Gizogin put his head to the unconcious dwarf's chest, and his eyes went wide.

"Oh site!" He rasped. "Somebody, get the G-bodies in here! They're immune to rad poisoning! Help me get the two smaller ones out! Go! Hurry!"

[WillowLuman]

[The human is no official, just some poor soldier who was guarding the entrance to the ship. That's why he was able to get out before it imploded. The dwarf must have been sent flying by one of the explosions along the hull, explaining his unconsciousness and severe head wound. Despite healing, he'll remain comatose. By Zanzetkuken's description, the human is wearing (now severely damaged) armor.]

HugoLuman recoiled. "Well, that would explain the ozone smell. Are we at a safe distance? Looks like about 100 meters, so are we getting our molecules eroded from here?"

[wierd]

"I'd need a geiger counter to tell you that. I don't even have a rad film badge! Just get the wounded out, and get those robots in here!" Weird shouted.

He might be a wizard, but he couldn't detect weakly interacting high energy particle emissions without the proper tools! The best he could do was spot the cellular decay that those particles caused!

Hugo trundled off into the night in search of the G-bodies.  The dragon diplomat was far too heavy to move by two exhausted dwarves, one unconcious just minutes before.  With effort, weird and Gizogin each took two trips, hauling one of the humanoids each time to the front gate of the complex, getting some stone walls between them and the crash site. Prostrate bodies are very hard to move. It took both of them working to move the patients to the triage pitch.

The remaining G-bodies and the service drones labored behind, dragging the 3/4 ton dragon over the wet ground and further ruining the fancy clothes.

Weird didn't take any more time. With effort, he concentrated on the vital internal organs most susceptible to radiation related diseases: bone marrow, liver, lungs, kidneys... anyplace with a high cell turnover was suspect.  He was exhausted. The short respite that being shoved into the background by Nir's posession had quickly ended, and he was running on fumes. Gizogin didn't look much better. The best he could do was to stabilize the patients so that the looming mass-cell-death didn't cause systemic collapses. Heavily damaged cells were culled and still healthy tissues were promoted to grow to replace them. The patients were in for a rough ride.

It seemed like hours. He felt sick to his stomach and the fish he had eaten earlier wasn't sitting well. He hoped it wasn't from being irradiated himself. He'd find out in a few hours to a few days if it was.... but finally, the edema in the patient's lungs was under control, and the obviously precancerous and severely dammaged tissues had been safely repaired.

The air was cold.... but he couldn't move anymore. The dragon had been his last patient, due to the immense size, and difficulty to treat. (Triage rules are to treat the most treatable first, to maximize survival rate of the group. It meant hard decisions that stuck with you, but it really was pure and cold logic.) The sound of the frogs and grasshoppers in the night rang in his ears, and before he knew it, he had collapsed on top of his patient, face down in exhaustion.

[WillowLuman]

The great, pale dragon seemed to make the air around it colder. HugoLuman hauled the sleeping Wierd off the side of it to avoid him getting a chill, and looked at the survivors of the crash. Sure enough, this was that general Zanzetkuken had been speaking to. No armor, though. Some fairly expensive clothing, and this made him wonder how he put it on, given his own earlier failures and that this one was at least 2 and a half times his size. No armor, just fancy clothes, and very expensive ones for being made for a quadruped (and a dragon nonetheless.) Obviously not expecting battle, so why the damage? The general stirred then, and seeing only one conscious person nearby, addressed HugoLuman. "Second pocket, left side, under collar," he stammered before passing out once more.

Not seeing any reason to disobey, HugoLuman nudged up the huge frilly collar on the strange quadrupedal outfit. Sure enough, there was a line of canvas pockets beneath it, though he put aside thoughts about why a diplomat would have such concealed pockets. He tore open the second one with his teeth. 2 small glossy objects slipped out and fell to the ground. It took a few moments to recall where he'd seen such objects, but then he remembered; info crystals.

[wierd]

[Recap!]

[Eric: Unconscious]
[Wierd: Unconscious, Nauseous]
[X: Offline]
[Zanzetkuken: KIA]
[Mr Happyface: MIA/AWOL]
[Surinae(sp?): AWOL]
[Gizogin: Exhausted]
[G-Bodies: Low Power; G-7: Deactivated]
[Atak: Unknown status]
[Hugo: Exhausted, pain]
[Udib: Wound, Difficulty breathing, Faint]
[Dwarves: Confusion, Cold, Thirsty, Miserable]
[Corai: "Eeeek! Help me!", Hidden]
[Nir: Attend Meeting]


[Anything I missed?]

[Gizogin]

[Seems about right to me.  Well, except for OREOSOME's characters; I don't know what the official stance on that is.]

Gizogin directed the G-bodies to check over the unconscious people.  Wierd had apparently treated the worst of their radiation poisoning, but they still had other injuries to be dealt with.  They were all severely bruised and battered, and the dwarf had a few cracked ribs.  Silently, he got right to work.

[WillowLuman]

Secondary characters:

[Roead:Unhappy, as usual]
[Vemini:Patrol]
[SPHM: MIA]
[Ironblood: Feed wounded]
[Jerry: Wound, drowsy. Chop wood.]
[Askak: Return home]

Never mind cracked limbs, that dwarf has suffered fairly serious cranial trauma. Wierd may have fixed any life-threatening damage, though.