Turn 8: The Broodmother
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Player/world actions_____________________________________________________________________________
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World Actions_____________________________________________________________________________
The group hesitantly looks at each other, but the call of bounty trumps their doubts. The group descends into the masses in a tight group. Velaine takes points, the others cover the flanks, the drone is in the center. It would be bad if the drone would be damaged, because after all they still have a primary objective to complete.
As the group walks down the rocky slope, nothing happens. The stream of hoppers continue working and pay no mind to the nest intruders. This doesn't ease the tension in the group. It could be a trap, to lure the group deeper into the nest before killing or incapacitating them.
Nothing happens. The group enters the busy stream. Some of the larger hoppers look, or shift their body towards your direction but make otherwise no moves onto you.
“Don’t lose focus. One moment and we’re all gone.”The group follows the stream, looking for any indication of a queen. There are quite a few tunnels, but most are quite small and the hoppers carry rocks, food or white bulbs which you assume are eggs into them and not from them. Michelle narrowly dodges a falling corpse, which the hoppers quickly dismember as previously seen. Some of the smaller ones try to nip at some of the members of the group, but a harmless stomp scares them away.
“I think I see something”Velaine spots a tunnel, thrice as large as a regular one. A steady stream of hoppers carrying eggs is seen, coming from the tunnel. A couple of larger ones are standing around, but not actively digging. Maybe guarding.
“They haven’t done anything yet, so let’s check it out. We won’t be in any less danger than we are now.”The group heads towards the larger tunnel, meanwhile Reynard remarks that the 2 hoppers are still following. An omen of good luck, he laughs.
The group enters the tunnel, the large hoppers click at them but make otherwise no moves. It looks like this tunnel is naturally made and not dug out. The tunnel exits at a small cavern, it’s absolutely dark, so the group enables their flashlights again. The group looks around, flashing in several directions. Quickly everyone sees something.
“I found the egg pile”, Mari says as the eggs glisten from the flashlight. A huge white pile, from which hoppers take an egg and head for the exit.
“I found human bones”, Ahroni says as he spots a few skeletons lying around. Picked clean, but their equipment untouched.
The other 3 pointing their gun deeper into the cavern.
“We found the queen”A large silhouette, overshadowing the group, looks at you. It’s difficult to make out the entire shape, but the queen looks nothing like the hoppers. She has a large underbody, stretching a few meters, with 8 spiky legs, 4 on each side, protruding from it. A rather thin upper body, with 2 sets of arms, one set resemble very large spikes. She could easily pin down an elephant with these. The other has a more arm like shape, with a claw grip.
The head is large and and looks like a V shape, with 4 eyes, 2 on each side. She has no protruding fangs, or jaws, just a clean face with a slit through it.
(I will provide an artistic impression soon, don't expect great things though!)
Her movement shows that she can move slowly with the use of her legs, or faster if she uses her spikes to drag herself forward as well.
“Don’t make any sudden movements.”The queen drags herself forward, in a slow pace and stops a couple meters short of the group. She keenly observes the group but otherwise doesn’t do anything. Looks like she currently has no intention of killing.
Then with a broken voice, bad intonation and a pause after every word, she speaks.
“Who……. Are….. you.”The group is shaken with surprise. They didn’t know what to expect, but surely this isn’t what they had in mind.
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Player Actions_____________________________________________________________________________
Veliane "The Ebon Comet" Mirelante (Nakéen) "Good, I will go first then."
Veliane heads down deeper in the nest, walking at the front.
(-) See world action for yours.
Mari Bryan (Twinwolf) Follow the rest
(-) See world action for yours.
Michelle "Honesty" Silver (AbstractTraitorHero) "Well now this seems like we're just begging things to go wrong."
Stay at the relative center of the group but be prepared to fire upon hostiles.
(-) See world action for yours.
Ahroni Yahat (The Ensorceler) "Wow. This nest is a lot bigger that I though it was going to be." Ahroni looks arond nervously. "I really hope they can't get through our armor."
Again, stick near the center of the group, but if anyone wanders off, chase after and join them.
(-) See world action for yours.
Reynard "Crimson Lightning" Durant (Hawk132) "I'll take point. Just make sure that I don't end up being the first one on the planet to get killed by them."
Slowly approach the mass of hoppers. If me coming near seems to piss them off, back off slowly. If they seem to ignore me, approach one of the tunnels (one that looks like it might lead to the Queen chambers) and take another look at the hoppers.
(-) See world action for yours.
Author
Topic: Monster Hunter Evolved RTD: [Turn 10.1: Adverse Conditions Combat Phase] (Read 28609 times)