There's no apparent reaction, the water continues sloshing around.
Given it's lack of response to any of their attempts to interact with it sooner or later someone tries to open the device or interfere with it in some manner... the elemental moves to stop the group.
AXL23
Elthearon
Trosvod
Nosmo
Elemental
Trosvod, realising that his attempts to lure the elemental into the bucket aren't working, drops said bucket in favour of an Azlanti rifle and opens fire!
”Damnation! I hope our guns even work...”
Nosmo nearly drops to the ground in surprise as the liquid creature surges up from the collection tub like a geyser. As its amorphous body forms limbs to attack, the bioengineer scrambles for his hunting rifle.
He whips the long arm around and fires almost blindly, but the short distance and his near panic dooms his shot.
AXL steps away from the creature, and fires a shot from his rifle.
AXL steps away from the creature, and fires a shot from his rifle.
”Damnation! I hope our guns even work...”
Trosvod, realising that his attempts to lure the elemental into the bucket aren't working, drops said bucket in favour of an Azlanti rifle and opens fire!
Nosmo nearly drops to the ground in surprise as the liquid creature surges up from the collection tub like a geyser. As its amorphous body forms limbs to attack, the bioengineer scrambles for his hunting rifle.
He whips the long arm around and fires almost blindly, but the short distance and his near panic dooms his shot.
The water elemental surges forward, Elthaeron is hit by an appendage, slamming into him with the force of a wave.
AXL23
Elthearon
Trosvod
Nosmo
Elemental -15HP
Axl retreats again, and releases another shot - "Anyone has any knowledge of this creature? Are our weapons effective?"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The elemental hit Elthaeron in the face. It hit with such force that his mask cracked and broke, falling to the ground in two pieces. The elf lay there for half a second, staring at it. Then, his face, shown foe the first time, rose from the ground. It was bright red with embarrassment. Looking at the elemental with pure hatred he lifted the rifle and...
...his face, now exposed, showed an elf covered in traditional tattoos. To those who could read them, they showed who he was, his lineage and his accomplishments. All in words of subtle poetry, so that the full information could not be read in a glance, making an extended conversation necessary. That, and to not take up too much space. This was who he was, a face only to be shown to other elves. And now? Now he had to get his mask fixed. Until then, he was essentially naked.
Surprised at the sudden appearance of Elthareon's face, Trosvod guffaws, then rushes in to backhand the elemental.
"I don't know if it likes bullets, but it won't like this!"
Axl retreats again, and releases another shot - "Anyone has any knowledge of this creature? Are our weapons effective?"
The elemental hit Elthaeron in the face. It hit with such force that his mask cracked and broke, falling to the ground in two pieces. The elf lay there for half a second, staring at it. Then, his face, shown foe the first time, rose from the ground. It was bright red with embarrassment. Looking at the elemental with pure hatred he lifted the rifle and...
...his face, now exposed, showed an elf covered in traditional tattoos. To those who could read them, they showed who he was, his lineage and his accomplishments. All in words of subtle poetry, so that the full information could not be read in a glance, making an extended conversation necessary. That, and to not take up too much space. This was who he was, a face only to be shown to other elves. And now? Now he had to get his mask fixed. Until then, he was essentially naked.
Too close to land a blow with his rifle Elthaeron draws his knife and thrusts it into the core of the elemental.
The outsider loses cohesion and it's becomes seemingly normal water.
Doing his best to remain calm and dignified Elthaeron put his knife back. He bent down to pick up the pieces of his mask, and realizing that there was no way that he could fix it not, put it away.
”I...will trust the discretion of everyone here to not speak about this. Can I do so?”
Logically he knew that they wouldn’t understand. Non-elves essentially walked around naked all the time. It was like being nude in front of a blind person. The blind person couldn’t tell, but it still felt akward and wrong.
Trosvod ends up slamming a collapsing mass of water.
Looking the elf in the eye, he says:
"Sure! The mask is your thing. I've seen a *lot* weirder out there."
Nosmo struggles to cycle the next round in his rifle, distracted by both the collapse of the elemental and the bared, tattooed face of his elven ally. He awkwardly rises back to his feet, using the long arm to steady himself, and manages to get the next round chambered, although for nothing.
He just awkwardly nods his head, wordlessly agreeing not to say anything of the new sight. He'd seen elves before, back on Absalom Station, but never without their mask. To distract himself from staring, Nosmo turns back to the moisture collector. He checks to make sure no stray rounds struck the machinery and that the elemental has left no lasting damage.
”I...will trust the discretion of everyone here to not speak about this. Can I do so?”
"Is the absence of the mask embarrassing for you?" - AXL asks flat out.
Elthaeron sighed at the blunt question. ”It is a breach of societal expectations, religious customs, and is, yes, quite embarrassing. I understand that it is a peculiarly of my culture, but nonetheless, I ask for discretion. There are those among my people who would not let me live this down.”
"I'd be happy to try and fix it," Nosmo offers. "I'm sure we've got some bonding polymer around. Of course...it would probably have to wait until the, erm, matters at hand are finished."
Nosmo offers a disarming, albeit goofy smile. He hopes that his new compatriot will not mind suffering the social faux pas a bit longer in deference to rescuing his fellow colonists.
”I would appreciate it, and the delay is understandable. I suppose I should consider myself fortunate that my mask broke and not my face. Onwards then, and thank you.”
"We could rip a helmet from one of the Azlanti, cover your mug that way.", Trosvod offers in Trosvod's helpful manner.
Elthaeron sighed at the blunt question. ”It is a breach of societal expectations, religious customs, and is, yes, quite embarrassing. I understand that it is a peculiarly of my culture, but nonetheless, I ask for discretion. There are those among my people who would not let me live this down.”
"Understood" - AXL nods - "I will offer no further comments on this matter. If my assistance is required, do let me know" - he adds, moving to check if the moisture collector now seems to now be working properly.
At this stage our group of troublemakers have caused enough trouble that the Azlanti forces should be distracted. Perhaps now their garrison will be vulnerable to an assault.
"It's surely time to start blowing up the garrison!"
The design of the fortification is vastly different from the familiar structures of the colony surrounding it. The garrison occupies the center of the settlement, and was built on the town commons both for the sake of convenience and to intimidate the colonists. Rising fifteen feet high, the building is sturdier than the steel buildings around it. Floodlights mounted on the garrison’s exterior keep the area brightly lit, although the omnipresent fog limits visibility to within forty to fifty feet at all times. The garrison also includes two roof-mounted heavy laser cannons that point upward.
The garrison has two exterior doors
It's very clear the irate hobgars have taken their toll on the exterior of the building, although unable to do significant damage the sensors around the doors have been a damaged.
Looking at the building, Trosvod is visibly pleased by the chaos.
"You all ready to roll in?"
”Ready as I’ll ever be. Luckily, this is so suicidal that we will certainly take them by surprise.”
Nosmo pops open the spare box of longarm rounds and feeds three into his hunting rifle.
He begins to load a fourth, but it will not fit, telling him the magazine is full.
"If it goes poorly, we can return to the garage, grab the hovertrike, and hide out in the mountains. Lick our wounds, bide our time, and try again. Assuming of course we make it out."
Once his rifle is reloaded, he surveys the garrison and thinks.
"So, um, as the experts in this sort of thing, do you guys suppose we should sneak in through the back or just burst in through the front? Take them by surprise?" Nosmo asks nervously.
"I suggest we approach through the back, but try to 'take them by surprise' nonetheless" - AXL pipes in.
Your group approaches the rear door but it remains closed.
AXL approaches the door stealthily, looking for alarms, then trying to pick it open if locked.
Trosvod looks about, trying to see anything of interest. Like explosives left idly about.
No traps are found though the computer still seems to be functioning well enough to reject AXL's attempt to bypass it.
Trosvod does not find any explosive items lying around.
Nosmo tries a very different approach and is able to bypass the door's defences.
This wide room features a single blank screen and a computer folded up on a tray beneath it. A stout metal door in the east wall has an unlit red light above it. Two other doors—one near the heavy door and other in the west wall— are smaller and labeled with vivid green letters.
"Anyone want to look over that computer? AXL?"
Riding high upon his first success, Nosmo shuffles over to the folded up computer.
He does his best to prime the device and activate it without triggering any alarms.
"Let's see what we can see," Nosmo whispers before he begins to quietly hum an old tune he heard during his academy days back on Absalom Station.
Glad to see his companions being so proficient with computers, Elthaeron took a knee and watched the exits for trouble while they worked.
AXL moves in to the adjacent room, listening at the door for any sounds.
Nosmo finds that it's some kind of log and doesn't seem to be part of a larger system. Unfortunately though he can guess some of the features are likely timestamps and details the fact it's all written in Azlanti is making it a little difficult to get clarity on the matter.
AXL doesn't hear any noises from the adjacent room.
"Let's pick a door and get going!", urges Trosvod
"How about that one?", he asks, pointing a claw at the west door.
This long room is lined with bunks, each with a footlocker bearing two different insignia. All the beds are neatly made. The east end of the room contains two rounded protrusions with a narrow hall between them; the northern protrusion has a small door with bright green letters painted on it. Two doors lead out of this room to the south and one more leads east, all labeled with green letters.
This room contains thirteen bunk beds. The footlockers each have two hinged lids; one on each side. Each lid is emblazoned with a different symbol.
You believe that the symbol is personal heraldry including a family crest.
Trosvod grasps the lid of the nearest footlocker and tries to pull it open.
Nosmo grips his longarm tightly as Trosvod nearly rips open the door to the next room, stricken by a pang of fear that a whole squad of Azlanti awaited on the other side. He struggles to steady his heart and breathing when the long, oblong bunkroom proves to be empty.
He is not a man of culture, other than pop culture on holovids, but he turns a passing eye upon the symbols emblazoned on the footlockers.
"Huh," he says with a raised eyebrow. "I think those symbols are some kind of heraldry. You know, like family crests or something? Do you think that means these soldiers are important? Like royalty?"
”Doubt it. Probably means that they’re being paid by royalty. Take a picture.” Elthaeron rummaged around, looking for a helmet.
AXL listens/checks at the door from the northern protrusion.
Trosvod finds only a few odds and ends, boot polish, a few books written in Azlanti. Neither anything valuable nor overly interesting.
AXL hears no noises at the northern door. Investigating inside he finds a simple washroom is compact and functional, it is kept immaculately clean.
This spacious room has four stacked and folded metal tables positioned along the south wall. Several colourful, stylized posters adorn also the walls. Two doors lie to the west, both labeled with vivid green letters, and a two-foot-square serving window that looks into a kitchen to the west. A door in the north wall also bears green lettering, as does a door in a rounded section of the east wall. A small electronic panel next to the eastern door is equipped with a numbered keypad, a yellow light, and a camera lens.
Trosvod nods to Nosmo and AXL.
"Panel. I'll cover you."
AXL carefully moves over to the electronic panel, and takes a look over its functions.
"Looks like we found the mess hall," Nosmo whispers idly, examining the posters on the wall. He wondered whether they offered the Azlanti equivalents of "loose lips sink ships" and how to avoid STDs.
He turns his head to notice AXL already examining the next door panel.
With a start, Nosmo hustles over, suddenly remember that he's got a job to do.
Nosmo manages to get the door open.
This circular chamber is dim, with only a few spotlights illuminating the computer equipment that rings this room on wide, sweeping panels of metal and plastic. The illuminated screens of the computer systems include a station that is clearly designed for weapons control. Delicate racks hanging from the ceiling contain communications equipment. A projector in the center of the room, hanging from the ceiling, displays a holographic image of Nakondis. The door in the western wall is labeled with green letters, as is the door in the eastern wall.
Two azlanti cadets are posted here.
AXL23
Elthearon
Cadet
Nosmo
Trosvod
Nosmo's eyes widen as the door slides open to reveal the two enemies.
He offers a brief, muffled squeal of surprise before pushing his way beside the doorjamb, on the party's side, to take cover.
Trosvod's teeth show with his grin, as he is about to unleash the sonic weapon mounted on his shoulder at the pair of cadets.
Then he is irked, as he remembers that they are trying to be *quiet*.
Instead, he charges with his other shoulder first!