Another vault lay open before hir, this time sparking along the door frame. The room was empty, thankfully, and shi could hear nothing. No one seemed to be reacting to hir presence so Basai vented steam that curled back down the stairs before rising into the air and moved forward to inspect the vault before hir. Shi paused by the vault's door to look in this one as well.
Deciding perhaps that Jay might have a better idea of what the vault contained, Basai wandered back to the stairs looking for hir companion. Shi hissed lowly, a jet of steam clouding the top of the stairs as shi tried to summon Jay without alerting any nearby others.
Basai shifted to give Jay an opportunity to see into the room, dust sifting from hir as shi turned to addressed him, "You okay?"
Jay gave a little start surprised that Basai would express interest in his well being. In a Hushed voice he replied. Yeah.... I'm fine just a bit of a bruised ego I think. It looks like who ever is sealed in the guard room won't be sealed I there for too much longer. The Cypher that was used to seal the door won't last forever.
As Basai headed up the door Jay watched the strange interaction between stairs and Diruk. He took a deep breath and followed the Diruk up the stairs and took a look around.
Jay looked in and saw the rebel laying on the ground... By all that is Mysterious and Unknown... I think that's Darius... Without even thinking Jay Zin ran into the room and flipped the guards body over trying to revive the rebel on the ground... The man was too covered in dirt and blood (both his own and the guards) for Jay to know Darius... is that you? Wake up... Basai I think he's too hurt to wake up... but... "I think" I can make out a weak pulse.
Jay Zin begins to admister excellent emergency medical care to the dead corpse.
Azzuretta watched as Jay ran into the room... She had no idea if that was Darius... but she reached out to see if the body that looked like a corpse were alive.
Basai was moving back out into the hallway to investigate elsewhere when Jay rushed forward and grabbed the corpse. The Diruk was very confused and followed after the human, crouching down beside Jay as he administered first aid. The corpse looked rather pale to hir so shi reached out and stuck a finger in the mouth of the body to feel for breathing or movement. Nothing registered and Basai rumbled hir confusion, "It's dead... no wind in the body."
And then Azzuretta arrived to also poke at the body, further confusing the Diruk. Did shi not understand what a dead human looked like? What were they seeing that shi didn't? Maybe there was something about the flesh was reacted to Jay and not hir? Shi waited a moment, hovering, before trying to see if pain stimulated a response.
Shi stuck hir finger against the chest of the human, trying to estimate how much pressure it would take to crack a bone or something equally painful to get the man to respond.
The flesh yielded beneath hir finger, and still there was no breath, and then one of the ribs audibly cracked. Basai rumbled at that point, as it drew no reaction, "It is dead. See? You see things." Basai really had no idea what to make of Jay's outburst and left him to look inside the vault - inspecting the electrified exterior with interest.
Shi was too big to get much of a look so shi tapped the knight on a shoulder, "You fit. Look at the sparks? Look at the inside?"
Daks took a deep breath and readied himself. He stood up, nodded to Breone and turned the corner. As he entered the room he quickly held up a hand as the rebels jumed to there feet, gtabbing weaponry. Woah there. We're with the rebellion. We're all on the same team here. With that he put out a hand to the nearest rebel. The name La'Furn.
Mechanus joined Daks, hoping he had the right approach. The nano wasn't so sure that these men were with the rebellion but what's done is done.
He stood next to Daks and waited to see how the men reacted, "Yeah, we were worried about you? What have you found out so far?"
I'll post this afternoon/evening.
Breona followed Daks into the room with the rebellious rebels. After having heard of their intents of possibly defecting from the rebellion she was warned. I wish I could have told the others, she thought to herself, and stood to Daks' side, ready to act if needed. Not that she was the fastest to react.
Basai had stepped back, waiting for Jay to inspect the door, as shi watched it curiously. It must have been highly resistant to whatever the rebels had used to contort the metal but there was storage inside the room and possibly useful things - there was no alarm yet, from the other room, so shi saw no harm in trying to get something useful from the already cracked vault.
@Basai You hear the whirring and it immediately makes you remember the drills that they used to mine the ore from your body. All the emotions that you keep locked away come pouring out when you hear that sound. You are enraged/panicked until you succeed a Difficulty lvl 4 Intellect Action to calm yourself.
You may RP the effects of this as you see fit. In general I will give you an asset to enraged/panicked actions (ex. Smash, Run, Jump) and will give you a penalty to reasoning/communicative/perception actions.
To calm yourself is a Difficulty 4 Intellect Action (roll 12) - Other group members can spend an Action to try to calm you, this would give you an asset. Azzuretta cannot do so this round as she is distracted with Jay Zin.
While Basai stood waiting for Jay, a buzzing sound began to grow in hir awareness. As it grew in strength and apparent proximity, hir crystals began to flicker nervously with fear and anger. When the low buzz, so familiar, clicked into understanding, Basai's demeanour shifted entirely. Phantom pains coursed along hir body in response to the whirring sounded so much like the drills hir captors had used to harvest hir time and again. Hir minds' eye became dominated by memories of the extraction room and the agony that took place there.
Hir calm was shattered in that moment as the suppressed fear and pain surged to the surface as Basai's crystals turned brilliant shades of red and orange, great gouts of steam let loose in the equivalent of a scream of fear. The grating sound of rock screeched in the air as shi turned turned suddenly, hunching as shi whipped an arm around as if trying to get something away from hir. They hadn't immobilized hir this time, the fools! Hir fist slammed into the wall near the vault door.
The wall shook with the impact, the surface cracking, but when the whirring didn't stop, Basai cried out in a rocky roar of sound that was hard to mistake for anything but terror, and ran forward away from the tormenting sound. Shi wouldn't let them take hir again! If hitting the source hadn't helped, the Diruk was going to high-tail it out of the room. In hir panick, shi laid a shoulder into the door frame as shi passed, bouncing off the wall, and stumbling into the area where the stairs opened up on.
The buzzing sounded faded somewhat and the Diruk vented again, crying out in fear and confusion as hir surroundings seemed at odds with what shi had expected. Shi shuffled about, trying to reconcile hir thoughts with hir reality.
The Diruk roared again, terrified, confused, and utterly at a loss.
Breona narrowed her gaze a bit at the somewhat threatening tone of the rebel and tried to study his behavior.
He seemed to mean serious business and so Breona offered a hasty "We're fighting on the same side. We helped clear the Mintz compound and are now supposed to provide backup here. Bryn sent more backup to the Kesinger's compound. You know Heemsoth? He's leading the other group."
She knitted her forehead deep in thought as she tried to remember more details of Bryn she might reveal.
Right now she couldn't even recall the color of his hair, or his eyes. She pointed at the stripe of paint across her face. "Why would we know to have this paint in our face if we were just plain mercs?" she instead asked.
As Jay looked at the body before him contemplating who this person could have been he heard a whirring sound that seemed familiar.... but before it could really register with him the Diruk seemed to go mad.
Jay walked up to the alien rock creature thinking how similar this was to Azzuretta's initial response to Mechanus... Stay with me rocky... I need you here we can face this together.
Azzuretta couldn't understand why Jay Zin was so concerned for te corpse then she realized that it was Darius. She knew that this was someone important to her human. He would be beside himself with pain ... she began to think back on best to console him... how to help him... as he began to move towards Basai she followed after him maintaining physical contact with him so as to soothe him and make him feel better.
Daks stepped forwards again, passing Breona. Daks could tell the man was uncomfortable with his new role as leader. He looked to the men then, reaching to scratch his neck, activated Mintz pin. You all are familiar with the Mintz compound? We helped over take it. We are aware of the Kesinger’s compound. We were sent to Zhongs tower to check on it's status by Fannar Bryn. Now, put your weapons away. And you. Daks said to the makeshift leader. I'll be takings control. Now. What is your progress. Dak's took a step forward, doing his best to look commanding.
Sorry for my delay this week, been out of the office for conference and training so have less time at the computer. I should be able to get the post up later today, my last day with irregular schedule for a while.
Glad that Daks had taken to the leadership role, Mechanus released the energy that had built up in his hand.
he did his best to remember something that could convince these men of the truth of their story.
, oh oh...
His brain started to whir but stopped. What the hell?
But too much thinking, too quickly just flustered the nano.
The nano became angry and suspicious at the same time. His artificial brain was his livelihood, the source of all his special abilities."Are you guys doing something here that interferes with my mind? What game are you playing at!? His hand raised and fully charged, pulsated with energy. "I'll lay this whole place to waste if you don't stop! Now!"
Disoriented, lost, and blinded by hir terror, Basai crashed against the wall again, clutching at hir head area, venting steam, crystals flickering colours rapidly and apparently randomly. The terror that fueled hir trapping hir mind in a cacophony of emotion and memory.
Drills, pain, bleeding wounds... cracked and leaking fissures in hir hide, the excrutiating pain of having the larger, richer crystals torn from hir torso. The swing of hir arms were ineffective against these phantom images borne on memory.
Shi howled again, at once an intimidating and a pathetic sight.
Mechanus' anger ended quickly at the sight of the soldier asking for mercy. What happened to me?
"Yes, there will be no fighting among us."
He looked to Daks for leadership and to figure out their next move.
But the decision seemed to be made as he heard the Diruk emerge to the hallway. Mechanus' face showed fear as the statue seemed to have gone wild.
Not having much contact with it, he tried to ask what was wrong. "Basai? What's going on? Calm down."
, pass
, fail
, pass
When the Diruk calmed down some, Mechanus bolted past him, "I think the boy is in trouble. Here in that door."
I'll allow the major effect of Mechanus' Calm action to be a +2 step asset to Basai. Hir next calm check will be a Difficulty 2 check.
To clarify time order thus far -
Mechanus finished speaking to the men in the "Action Round 1" time step.
In the "Reaction Round" time frame, Basai attempted and failed to Calm Hirself.
Mechanus attempted to calm the Diruk in the "Action Round 2" time step, giving Basai the +2 Step bonus in this round. Basai can still roll for hir calming action for this round.
Lost amid hir nightmare of memory, a single voice cut through, jerking hir memories forward to the moment of hir release from slavery. Basai shook as hir panic fading, leaving hir sagged in hir crouch, disoriented for a moment while the world coalesced into proper reality. The voice... the voice was neither a captor or a tormentor... it was... who?
Venting again as the pressure within began to subside, the Diruk slowly rose, one hand on the wall as shi looked in Mechanus' direction. Mechnus shi remembered, shoulders sagging from the intensity of the panic attack. "Mechanus."
The explanation was cut off, however, as the sound of combat finally reached hir ears and shi remembered exploring with Jay. A shudder of guilt shifted through hir - what had happened? Did shi hurt him? - and shi turned suddenly aid Jay, gravelly voice wavering slightly as shi called out, "Jay!"
No problem. I'll wait. Weekends are harder for us all and stuff happens during the summer.
Action 1:
Keenly listening to the rebels' words, Breona stated "We have no intention of hurting you. We're here to help and to make things happen." She stood more relaxed, to prove that she was no danger. "What mutant though?", she wondered, looking questioningly to Mechanus and Daks.
However, a distant banging kept distracting her, and she looked out to the hallway, to see a clearly distraught Basai emerge there.
Breona spoke up with authority to the confused-looking rebels. "This is our ally Basai. We've got to assist hir. Quick!" She put all her conviction into her voice, continuing to be amazed at herself. She usually stuck to the shadows with everything.
She strained to listen over the sounds of the rebels and the underlying chaos, to hear a strange sort of clicking coming faintly from the vault off the hall. Didn't she...She quickly grabbed her pack and grabbed one of her books, flying through the pages with wet fingertips. There, there it was. Control through sound. "We've got to get in there, some numenera must be trying to control Basai through sound! We've got to turn it off!" She stuffed the book back into her pack and dashed off towards the vault.
<Action 1> Daks turned to Mechanus, confused and angry with his sudden outburst. Mechanus? He said, his tone conveying worry and frustration. The man quickly calmed down. What had happened he didn't understand but he made a mental note to watch him. Another outburst like that and they could have a whole team of men on them. Daks turned back to the rebels. As they began answering Breonas line of questioning Basai came bellowing into the hall. Basai! What is it? Basai?... Daks words fell on deaf ears however as Basai kept smashing angrily. He turned to Breona and the rebels as she continued raging. Go on. I got this. As the group ran past Breona called out.
"We've got to get in there, some numenera must be trying to control Basai through sound! We've got to turn it off!"
Daks looked at Basai, his hand held out as if calming a horse, but his shield in his other at the ready. Wow, wow, wow, Basai. Look at me. Come on. You can do this. Look at me. Finally The Durik began to breath normally. Daks lowered his shield/ Come on. We have work to do. He said. He patted her on the back as he ran past.
<Action 2> Daks did his best to listen for the device that Breona spoke of, but it was so loud already. He tried to recall of any mind controlling numenera that used sound but he couldn't think of anything. Hearing nothing he ran up next to Breona as she put her book away. Come on! He said to Breona. Lets show them how it's done. Daks ran head first, side by side with Breona into the room.
Sorry everyone, someone on my team at work was let go so its been all hands on deck. I think I will be able to find time this afternoon to post. I apologize for not posting sooner.
Sorry everyone, someone on my team at work was let go so its been all hands on deck. I think I will be able to find time this afternoon to post. I apologize for not posting sooner.
Good to know you're OK. Life happens so don't worry too much.
Game on!
Uh, oh. The sight of the two robots gave pause to Mechanus. He tried to stay away and felt very comfortable using those better suited for close up combat to shield him.
He raised his hand and willed energy to shoot forth towards the warder closest to Daks.
"Let's get concentrate on one until disabled. Quickly."
______________
Basai was still coming down off the adrenaline rush that was hir panic attack and, approaching to stand beside Daks, the Diruk shifted hir posture as something bonked against hir. Two metallic creatures were trying to take a piece out of hir friend... shi was not impressed. This blasted room had been nothing but trouble. Angrily, Basai stepped forward to meet one of the creatures, venting as hir crystals shifted through crimson shades.
Shi roared as shi stepped forward between the two creatures and in front of Daks to try to shield hir companion. There was a streak of light as Mechanus attacked one of the canids, the laser seemingly doing no damage but Basai took the opportunity to strike at the creature with a hammer fist.
The sound of metal against rock screeched in the air as Basai connected, denting the creature's carapace.
Breona nodded assent to Mechanus and reached for her crossbow, aiming at the warder Mechanus had directed his attack at. She tried to focus on keeping her hand steady, so they would eliminate the automatons as quickly as possible. What could go wrong with Daks and Basai as their shields?
Daks turned towords the warder who struck him and, furious, raised his verred in response. As he did the verred lit up with sparks. With a heavy blow he hit the warder, cutting deep into its shoulder. An inch to the left however and he may have missed.
OOC: My computer died today, and I am off work for a week which means I am posting from my phone right now. I hope to get my computer fixed ASAP but it might be a couple of days. I tried to install an SSD and now it won't turn on anymore, gah. Sorry. :(