The building of the probe takes a little longer than anticipated, but it's up and running on the second day. "'Bout time. I thought we were never going to get this thing done."
As one last step, Ram'Dain inscribes the name Herald into the solid steel outer shell with his Impulser, then adds his name in Sang'heili next to it.
When the probe is launched, he watches it fly off into the distance from the Bridge. "God speed..." he says to himself before heading back to the Engineering bay.
EDIT:
EDIT 2:
Mar spends some time on the third day looking out the window studying the plant. The coloration impresses him and he wants to learn more about the plant.
He sits down with his remote control joitstick, moniter combo and takes control of the probe as it is launched out of the hanger* Lets see what this thing can do....DO A BERREL ROLL! (jk)
for regular flying
for basic flight manuvers
"So that is Paradise, a beauty she is." Charlotte says softly watching it.
"Yep," Brian says, looking at the planet. "Nobody's checked it out yet. Far as I know, nobody's planned to do so for a while yet."
The machine is large and elegant, with a forerunner-esque disign. Your roll was good enough to get you all the way there(10 was needed) and your Fly was good enough to get you through the asteroid belts. The machine is significantly faster than the supply vessel, so it gets to Paradise in only 1 day instead of 3. You are, in fact, able to tell that the atmosphere is breathable. It is made of mostly the same material as Earth's atmosphere, but has more Oxygen than normal. You aren't able to collect a lot of information, though, since the machine suddenly gets destroyed. The camera, that I assume you put on, wasn't facing the appropriate direction for it. You could tell, though, that the machine did land in a lot of plant material.
" I would love to go there one day maybe. It would be amazing to explore uncharted land." Charlotte replies still looking out at it.
WHOW! He jumps back in his seat as the camera suddenly dies on his small screen. He tosses the device onto the counter seing it was now useless other then the data that was gathered and saved into the device. Not my fault....something hit the Probe... Something in the back of his mind said that he was going to get chewed out by the alian scientist that created said probe.
Mar watches the planet out the window wondering what might be down on the surface. It looks spectacular to him.
When Ram'Dain gets the video, give me a Knowledge: Nature check. Batista, you can see it yourself, but there is a small vine that goes infront of the camera before it suddenly stops.
Ram'Dain runs over to the video screen, seeing that the probe had crashed. He shouts "Четверг день!", which is "G%# d~!n it!" in Russian, throwing his hands in the air and walking a bit away in frustration.
He returns a moment later, rubbing his eyes. "Alright, so the probe crashed. Now we know what to look for. Thankfully we have the camera on there just as a last minute edition."
He gets on the computer, rewinding the video to just before the crash. "Hmm...looks like the sensors are showing that the atmosphere is breathable, but it has a higher concentration of the majority of gases. Oxygen, Nitrogen, and so on."
He continues to look through the video, pausing just before video is lost. A green line appears on the screen, blurred by the plant . "Videoshop don't fail me now." Using the editor, he sharpens the image till he recognizes the image: it's a vine.
The dark green vine is hardly visible on the machine's video log, but with a little bit of techno-savy, Ram'Dain is able to make it a little bit more clear. The vine appears to be thrown on there, you don't know how or why, but this was no accedent.
He felt bad for loosing the forerunner probe so he decided to take the rest of day 2 to find everything that he can to help the scientist rebuild his creation so he scowers the ship junk parts section looking for anything that he can find. AH HA! stuff... hmm... Hey Bill Nye the science guy can you use any of this crap to rebuild the probe?...I felt bad for losing your probe so I was wanting to help you build another to replace it... His voice was humble as he waits for the scientist to respond.
Ram'Dain was still looking over the footage from the crash and didn't notice Grave returning with a piece of a Forerunner Crawler's AI matrix, which would have been perfect for building a second probe.
"Hmm? What?" He looks over at Grave and the FT he had. "Oh, thanks, but we won't be sending another probe...however, I'd like to keep that. I might be able to do something with it."
He looks back at the screen, contemplating what happened to the probe.
"Amazingly dangerous, too," Brian replies to the other SPARTAN. "No idea what to expect, danger possible at every turn... Sounds like SpecOps during the Covvie war, huh?"
The Master Chief turns and leans on the wall, exhaling. "It'd be great."
No trap, and it wasn't artillery. Maybe some sort of life form? You don't quite know.
Listen everybody, the roll20 wasn't agreeing with me. What I wanted to do and what it gave me were totally different. Instead, I'll describe it in detail tomorrow and we'll begin combat. Ram'Dain and Batista, more rolls and role-plays would be nice, and would give you more experiance, but if you think you're good then that's fine.
I would like to know if you guys would like to have a Hero-Point system. Put it in the discussion board, though.
Some of the items are perfect, almost exactly what you need. Others you aren't quite sure, but they sure do look useful. That Spellcraft will let you build something with 5 0-Level spells attached. Although, you probably won't have time today. Maybe tomorrow when you get back or while you are retrieving you may launch the second probe.
After gathering some other resources, Ram'Dain looks over the FT that Grave brought to him. "Hmm....this looks like it could..." He begins to design and build another probe, larger and more advanced than the last one.
"I shall have to learn from my previous mistakes. Thankfully we got some information from the last one, so I can make the necessary changes."
He prepares the probe to be first a orbital craft, scanning the planet from a distance, then falling into the atmosphere to continue scanning, but last time it had landed. This time it will stay in the air, scanning from the skies before returning to the Justice. But before that, he needs to get some sleep. "-sigh- I've been at this too long...time for some well deserved rest."
[Day 3]
He continues to work on the second probe, deciding it would be better if it was launched during the retrieval of the fireteam. Before its compleation, he puts Herald II onto it. He just hopes he doesn't have to pull a "third time's the charm."
He spends most of the rest of the day delving into the video and tries to cross reference nythign he might see or know with everything he possibly could recognize off of it.
Your knowledges don't yield anything informative. The Forerunners didn't have a whole lot to do with this plant, there doesn't seem to be anything that would fling a vine across the screen like that, and most druidic circles that you could think of wouldn't help you in such a situation. This is officially the strangest thing you have ever seen, and no evidence suggest that a person could do such a thing.
I'll begin the combat on the Gorgon now, The beacon has been sounding for about an hour now, and there has been no sign of life outside the ship. In your next post, I want you to tell me where you are waiting for the pirates. Hiding is suggested, but is most likely not required since the Gorgon wasn't supposed to have any life aboard it.
Charlotte is hiding behind one of the crates near the back of the main area.
Elwood will hide somewhere within sixty feet of where the pirates are going to come in. Preferably somewhere with a clean line for a charge.
Brendan will hide behind a crate that's 30 feet away from the expected entry point.
Mar takes up a spot with line of site to the door so he is able to snipe.
Guess Im not very stealthy
Being that he's not particularly stealthy, despite his quickness and the lightweight alloy of his armor, Brian decides his best bet is to hide somewhere that won't be immediately visible to the pirates, or at least somewhere they probably wouldn't be looking. If there's an alcove by the door, or something of that sort, that's where he'll go; otherwise, he sticks with at least one other member of the team, probably Cudley or Charlotte. He's got his pistols out in his hands, loaded and armed.
As if on cue, there is a large rumbling on the ship, and a loud hissing sound. Suddenly the hatch doors open and two Jakals enter the ship. Both are not armed. During your turn, I want a Perception check and whatever you are going to do during the surprise round. Initiative would be nice, but isn't necessary. Whoever doesn't roll for Initiative I will roll for them. The main hall is 10' by 30', with two rooms connecting them. Most of you are in the back of the ship, which is a 20' by 40' room, but 30' are covered with supply crates.
Charlotte is going to arm her gun and wait for the signal.
Hearing the sound of Jackals, Brendan stealthily peeked over the side, then readied his shotgun for a firefight.
Elwood flips on his energy swords and prepares to attack.
Brian waits until the Jackals have moved further into the ship, glancing at the fellow members of the team, before stepping out into the open, preferably behind the pirates. He keeps one gun trained expertly on each Jackal, and calls out, "Stop right there! UNSC!"
If either Jackal moves to attack or otherwise react hostilely, Brian doesn't hesitate to open fire.
Jackal Squad - 22
Charlotte - 21
Traynor - 17
Elwood - +9
Mar'Gonee - -9
Brian - 3
The Jackals start yapping in their own language, pointing out various parts of the ship. They soon start heading to the back of the ship, not even thinking that the place will be inhabited. Suddenly, Brian jumps from behind cover and shouts "Stop right there! UNSC!" The Jackals almost jump out of their skins, clunkily turn on their plasma shields, and pull out their Plasma Pistols. At this point, Brian takes both shots on one Jackal, both missing.
And thus starts Round 1 of Combat.
The Jackals Both Fire at the Human they both see: Brian.
Damage to your shields.
Sorry, missed that. This happens inbetween their shooting and Brian's shooting.
Elwood charges in, striking one of them. Its shield is completely gone.
Elwood roars insanely at the Jackals.
Chralotte fires off a shot at the Jackal that Elwood did not charge at.
Charlotte's shot also takes away the Jackal's shields.
Coming out of cover, Brendan fired his shotgun at Charlotte's target
<--- Sniper Rifle
<--- Damage