-2 int
Callidus says, "oh shi ..."
Boregal is busy flying from station to station supervising your work and making suggestions.
He uses the strength and power of Amadeus to pull apart several of the consoles and his flame abilities to melt the coating off of wires. Once the wires are cool enough he has Galahad carefully reroute the wires from one console to another. Good, good...now we can override their safety routines to have their engines blow. Well done you two, well done.
Nasir is assigned the delicate task of rerouting power from the growth decks to power the teleporter to extend its range beyond a normal half mile or so to 10 or 100 times further away. Surprisingly given his course manners, Nasir succeeds with his task in a spectacularly effective manner. Great job Nasir...great job...the range is now 50 miles instead of less than 1. If my calculations are correct we may need every bit of that distance to be safe.
The two Nano's are assigned probably the most delicate tasks. Callidus works to add a delay into the engine overload to give the party time to teleport off the ship before it blows. Balon has a more difficult and critical job to accomplish as he must use the Numenera to force the teleporter to activate itself when it's time to flee the ship. Boregal floats over to inspect their work...Oh my, oh my...oh no...we have a problem...this is not going to work as I had hoped. There doesn't seem to be a way to either delay the engine overload once the process is started and there is no way at all to activate the teleporter remotely. Someone is going to have to activate the device at the console and not be able to transport off of the ship.
Knowing that it was they that did not accomplish what they set out to do and with a feeling of guilt for letting everyone down, Callidus thinks to Balon ... Think we could wake the woman up ... she didn't hear what Boregal just said, telepathically Balon can feel Callidus smiling wryly
Balon glances at Callidus, thinking back at him, You're suggesting she stay behind? That's grim, friend...Blast it! Would that my efforts had succeeded! he frowns.
... well ... yeah ... but I was joking ... mostly ... whadduya say ... rock, paper, scissors for it?, Balon can still feel the mental grin.
Aloud, Balon asks, "Would there be any hope at all for survival for the person who stayed behind at the console?"
Nasir is silent for a moment... until he starts chuckling. Then laughing hysterically for a second, the sound echoing in the vast control room. Finally he collects himself and wipes a tear from his eye.
"Oh ho! Ha. Ahhh. This sounds like the conclusion to one of your plays, Galahad. Did you and Boregal conspire to give our adventure a fitting end? Ha!", he says, slapping his knee at his own joke.
"Well, we should keep with the script until this story is over. The story demands that it either be the wise mentor in a final lesson on the nobility of sacrifice for his ward... or the under-handed rogue seeking redemption. And since I don't see any wise old people here..."
He sighs.
"I'll do it. I'm not a perfect fit- I've nothing to be redeemed for, if you ask me. Besides being far too beautiful for this world."
Amadeus stands up walks over to the laughing Nasir, and places his hand on his former rival's chest.
You know, you have a point about narratives. he then gently pushes Nasir back into the rest of the group. However, from the get-go I've felt a weird sense of serendipity here. I killed the individual worms in fire it only seems fitting that I help put the mass of them down in an explosion. Get out of here, you guys.
With that he turns around and sits at the console.
"How difficult is it triggering this going to be? What skills will we need ... while I am more than happy to let other's die in my stead ...", Callidus grins. Then, more seriously, "... it is my fault we need to do this, and we need to ensure we successfully detonate this thing."
Balon stays quiet, happy that the others are willing to volunteer for certain death.
My friends, first of all my apologies. I obviously did not understand quite how difficult the task would be. Please don't blame Balon or Callidus as I doubt anyone else could have done better.
Secondly, I want to thank you all for freeing me from my living nightmare and letting me accompany you. I enjoyed the last couple of weeks more than the previous 1000's of years of my existence.
Thirdly, I swore when you freed me that I would not use my powers to compel anymore. I'm happy to say that because of your bravery and honor, yes all of you no matter what you may think of yourselves, you have put yourself in position to literally save the 9th World without any prodding for me.
Lastly, I cannot allow any of you to make this sacrifice. I've lived many lifetimes and I think it is time to see what is on the other side of the curtain that divides life and death. I will teleport you all out of here and then trigger the overload. I do ask that you take the women to a healer as soon as you can. I think that her life can be saved.
Amadeus I leave it up to your judgement if you will share this story with the Priests. You know better than I how they will react to what is about to happen.
Please remember this old disembodied brain fondly.
"Well, I was gonna do it myself, but to be honest, I don't want to die. Perhaps one day I can pen my own play of your sacrifice."
Balon nods, smiling at the prospect of his comrades surviving. As fondly as he felt toward Boregal, what he said about his long lifetime was true..."I'll make sure she's taken care of," he promises.
Are you sure you can interface with it directly?
Nasir sighs, a crooked smile on his face.
"Well, now that we know who among us are suicidal this will be awkward. My thanks, Boregal. You're the greatest brain I've ever met, including the ones with bodies."
Are you sure you can interface with it directly?
It really is not an issue to me to apply the force to trigger the two events.
"Well, I was gonna do it myself, but to be honest, I don't want to die. Perhaps one day I can pen my own play of your sacrifice."
Fare thee well my friend...there is a quote from the very first Age that has survived that seems appropriate, remember well Galahad that all the world is a stage and we are all merely players.
Balon nods, smiling at the prospect of his comrades surviving. As fondly as he felt toward Boregal, what he said about his long lifetime was true..."I'll make sure she's taken care of," he promises.
The body of the injure woman floats in to the control room and settles to the ground at Balon's feet. Good luck, friend Balon. Remember to watch out for the mutated flutter-byes with their poisoned stingers.
Nasir sighs, a crooked smile on his face.
"Well, now that we know who among us are suicidal this will be awkward. My thanks, Boregal. You're the greatest brain I've ever met, including the ones with bodies."
Remember to keep 'track' of your enemies. I have a feeling that there are more out there.
Balon smirks at Boregal as he hefts the injured woman onto his shoulder to help steady her.
Boregal has you all gather together in a clump around the injured women. This is very IMPORTANT. One you arrive at your new destination, get to the ground right away, cover your head with your arms and whatever you do don't open your eyes until after the flash of light if you want to keep your vision. Try to move away from the blast after that as fast as you can.
With his last words still lingering in your minds, you suddenly feel a nauseating sense of disorientation as you feel yourself disassembled and instantaneously reassembled in a new location. Even as you fall to the ground following Boregal's last words to you, a tremendous burst of light followed shortly thereafter by the deep growling roar of the explosion assaults your senses. Even as you struggle to your feet, you are knocked down again as hurricane force winds whip through the group. Again you struggle to your feet and looking at the horizon you see a gigantic cloud of dust and debris rising 1000's of feet into the air and taking on the look of a mushroom shaped cloud.
You realize that you've once again found yourself on the path to the town of Embered Peaks, the same town in which you found Boregal a few weeks before.
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I was dotting the thread to bump it to the top of the play-by-post campaign, so I could hide it. Keep my campaigns feed free of campaigns I'm no longer a part of. :)
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