Surprender! (Magicka reference)
I came home from school today feeling like writing. Somehow. I don't know. Perhaps finally having one less thing to do improved my mood or something. Let's get rollin'.
Roll 58
Zakroff removed his binoculars, and decided that it would be a good idea to enhance the zoom on them with his powers. [3] He held them to the sky, closed his eyes, and made the change, sending a visible white flow of energy through his arm. He opened his eyes and brought the binoculars--still glowing white from the transformation--to his eyes, and peered through.
He saw all sorts of vibrant colors and patterns. He then realized what he had just done.
"Blast."
Amatin noticed Zakroff exacerbating the situation, and was reminded that the heavy drone would easily be liable to terrain hazards. He told Varron to check the surrounding terrain for lava flows or anything that could result in thin ground.
"Yup, thin ground right ahead."
Amatin squinted into the distance, somewhat annoyed by Zakroff's mess-up. He realized that the surface of the planet was not as flat as it looked. The horizon itself was so heavily distorted by heat waves that any terrain features were hard to distinguish from noise. But on a closer look, he realized that they had landed on top of an area that was elevated from most of the planet's surface. The surface, he had learned, often consisted of multiple layers, each with varying densities. This is why excavation here was so difficult, because drill bits had to be swapped out. But since there was thin ground, he realized that perhaps magma flows had dug underneath the surface and weakened the layers beneath the surface. Thus, the entire area would consist of roughly-shaped, brittle sheets of rock layered upon each other.
"Varron," he began.
"Can you tell how tough this rock is? How much force it would withstand before fracturing?" he asked, a devious plan already brewing in his head. He experienced constant headaches here, far worse than those he had felt as he sat in his leather chair, spinning while staring at the low steel ceiling.
"I'm sorry sir, but my powers don't allow me to do that." replied Varron.
"At least, yet." he added on top of the previous statement.
Amatin's headaches were steadily increasing. His vision was now being affected. It wasn't blurred, but rather, he became more sensitive to certain colors... green and purple especially, he noticed. He gave no reply to Varron, and instead decided to enact his idea. He unholstered his rocket launcher and hastily pointed it at the ground a few meters in front of him.
"Over here?"
Varron looked shocked.
"... yes, sir. What are you--"
Amatin pulled the trigger, firing the last rocket in the chamber and causing the cylinder to flip out and eject a pile of ashes, some of it smoking. More importantly, however, the rocket flew out of the short barrel and exploded in--to Amatin--a green flash, which then turned white and filled his vision with a blinding haze. As his vision recovered, he watched as the hole he created sprouted fractures in the rock, which spread to the surrounding ground. Eventually, the ground began to collapse in front of him, pulling not only most of the upper layer with it but a number of the still-intact lower layers.
As the rockfall ended, a massive canyon had formed in front of the party, cutting off the direct route to the dig site. The canyon itself was sudden and perilous. The sides would drop suddenly, then come to a mostly level platform area where the rock was harder and stronger than the rest, before dropping again. The pattern of hard and soft layers created a jagged wall, which actually might make it easier to climb and descend.
At the bottom of the canyon was a lava river, once untouched by the warm, thin air, but now polluted with boulders and flat chunks of stone. The heat waves rose up into the black, moonless sky.
--------
As the herd of Klathidons grew larger in front of the convoy, which remained stationary, making no progress as the sun went down.
"These bloody animals won't move! I say we blow them all to hell!" exclaimed the Centauri Elite's Lieutenant.
"At ease, son," responded the Major, fully calm.
"Why? They're going to root, and then they'll be a nightmare to get around. Those roots go deep, you know!"
But it was too late to make a difference. One of the calves had been staring at the ground for quite some time--around ten minutes. It glanced at its mother, the side of which, with twelve other calves, it rested against. The mother made a subtle up-and-down motion with its head, and the calf squealed, before beginning to whack its head against the ground. Its tongue extended into the ground with every thrust, until finally, the calf strained to continue bashing its head, and began to close its eyes and rest, murmuring to itself as it fell asleep. Its tongue remained stuck into the ground, and the ground around it raised a minute amount with each minute as the blazing sun inched downward. The convoy had landed near the end of the day, thanks to an assumption that the convoy would be within the razed area of the planet-wide jungle in only an hour. The sky had turned a distinct pink from its original teal coloration, marking the beginning of the planet's seven-hour night.
Jaffar and Kayle had been watching the Klathidons from the start. They were intrigued by the patterns of each animal, by their unique iridescent skin, by the way they took root, thrusting their faces into the damp soil, their tongues driving further inward, supposedly releasing further fleshy roots that resembled the branching patterns of a plant's. Kayle, having been previously distracted by the conversation, had begun to [5] sharpen her skills on this life-infested world. She learned to distinguish between the meek plants and the strong animals.
Plants registered as a blood red version of their original green forms, the red highlights on the leaves becoming indistinguishable from the green when her powers were engaged. The Kalthidons, on the other hand, displayed a deep purple hue, indicating that these creatures were not only alive, but they were strong and capable of causing harm. This ability would be useful, since now she could navigate the jungle more effectively.
Most of the Klathidons were already rooted by the time Winfield, who had been drinking coffee and tea on one of the Marshcrawlers, opened up the comms and notified everyone about what was going to happen.
"Everyone, this is Winfield Scott. We've decided that the course of action will be to travel around the left of the herd. The four wizards, the Ross Admiral, and I, will make our way through the herd and travel to the Ross headquarters to alert the government about the delays. We will also scout ahead to make sure we are aware of the hazards surrounding the trail."
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Topic: Space Wizard RTD: Rolls. (Read 89710 times)