From within the sub, Maxamas finds it easy to find a an unexpected angle from which to fire at the animal.
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However, even caught flat-footed its hide is unnaturally thick and the bullet only grazes it.
With a roar, the crocodilian creature surges through the water at the submarine. It rocks as the beast's elongated jaws clamp around the vehicle.
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The hull buckles slightly from the impact. Then your eyes widen as from within the creature's throat a second set of jaws shoot out at the sub for a second strike! Luckily these fail to pierce the ship's alloy.
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Initiative
Gunnz
Maxamas
Cavaler
Chikasa
Azara
Eselar
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Cavaler, recoils at the ferocity of the creatures assault on the sub. Knowing that it is a significant threat he takes a hand off his rocket rifle and removes a spell gem from a pouch on his utility belt. Draining the mystical energy from the gem, he unleashes a mental assault on the horrifying crocodile.
Realizing this isn't just some minor predator threat, Cavaler breaks out a big gem and Gunnz lines up a more serious shot. Luckily both seem to work fine: the croc lets out a roar of pain from the spell which lets Gunnz's shot land square in its mouth.
Initiative
Maxamas
Chikasa, +1 to hit
Azara, +1 to hit
Eselar (please confirm if you're still swimming adjacent to it)
As Eselar jets over the water, the predator snaps at the gnat moving towards it.
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The fangs barely pierce through the space-knight's armor, but once in they do a number on the kasatha's skin.
Seeing their companion bitten too, Azara and Maxamas fire in retaliation. The Lashunta's blast scorches the creature, but the human's bullet just grazes off of the flat-footed reptile.
Initiative
Chikasa, +1 to hit
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Chikasa reaches out and taps Maxamas's gun with a thin, wrinkled finger. A jolt of orange energy passes into the weapon from the ysoki's touch, and Maxamas can feel his gun pulsate with enhanced power. "Go on, now, son. Aim carefully and you'll put some real hurtin' on that critter!"
He then unslings the sniper rifle from his back and finds an open porthole to thread the muzzle through as he takes aim on the beast.
Inside the sub Chikasa charges up his rifle for a big shot while outside the crocodile-thing opens its maw for another bite. Ignoring the gnat , it snaps again at the PumpJet. The teeth start to pierce the hull as its interior jaws lash out to scrach and damage the viewport.
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While you're all currently unharmed the sub is starting to be at a real risk of taking on water.
Initiative
Gunnz
Maxamas
Cavaler
Chikasa, supercharged
Azara
Eselar 8/39 SP
PumpJet 48/90 hp
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"We've got no choice now Gunnz! Take control of the sub and ram the croc. I'll try to distract it."
Cavaler climbs out the top hatch of the sub. Now exposed on the conning tower, he momentarily hesitates as he sees the horrible, mutated croc up close without the benefit of the sub's sturdy walls in front of him. Fighting through his fear he removes a stickybomb grenade from his utility belt and flings it at the monster.
"Now Gunnz!"
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Gunnz, seeing the opportunity as the creatures bites into the sub, sends the engines into high power mode.
"Wheee" she calls out, her fingers itching to change to an appropriate SMC track.
Taking the steering column firmly in hand, she directs the side thrusters to bring the sub around and aims straight down the creatures throat@!
An unexpected current pushes at the sub, and Gunnz struggles with the controls for a moment.
The toughened sub goes right into the creatures jaws. Teeth smash to the left. Fangs break off to the right. And the whine of the overtaxed engine, sweet chorus to some of Gunnz most exciting memories, continues in the background.
Cavaler pops out of the top of the sub to chuck a grenade at the crocodile. It explodes, sending adhesive fibers all about the swampy waters, but the beast manages to avoid enough to them to not be affixed to any of the debris.
Gunnz then guns it. The sub lurches forwards with surprising speed directly at the attacking predator. It opens its jaws for a strike, but the blunt forth of the copaxi vehicle slams into it with a
The animal is badly damage by the impact as the sub pushes through and over it. The force of the blow also causes cracks to form in the sub itself however, as smoke begins pouring from some of the systems.
Initiative
Maxamas
Chikasa, supercharged
Azara
Eselar 8/39 SP
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"Ho-oh," Chikasa calls out as he feels the bump of the sub crashing over the croc, "Careful now! We gotta get home in this thing too, ya know!"
Despite his protests, Chikasa turns his attention back to the reptile. He infuses even more magical energy into his rifle, takes careful aim, and squeezes the trigger.
Chikasa loads a bunch of marbles into his rifle: it works better than expected as the shot wrecks the wonunded creature. As Eslear and Maxamas keep up the barrage the beast finally slumps limp into the swamp, dead.
Scanning around to see if the fighting attracted notice from anything else, you see not far away a nest in the bog's shallows rising just above to water. Th nest itself is constructed of a combination of local branches and plants and various metal and plastic shards that appear to have been scavenged together. Woven into it, there's a 10-foot long length of adamantine alloy cable.
The nest also holds a clutch of eggs, whose shells seem especially soft.
One of these could make a useful sample for Zigvigix
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"You know, just for once, I'd like to return a vehicle without it missing pieces." sighs Gunnz. Although from the grin on her face, it doesn't look like she is too upset by the whole encounter.
She heads over to the nest, cautiously.
"I dated a guy called Byron a few years ago. He was a doctor, would totally have been into this, although to be honest, he spent more time with dead bodies than live ones. But he had a jar with a dead mutated spider in it, - twelve legs. Gross. Look at these eggs, you can see through them, and those baby crocks.. far too many legs. And that looks more like scales than fur. Something very odd is happening here. It is like evolution is being forced into fast-forward."
She pockets an egg. "Zig will like this almost as much as a new SMC release."
Cavaler, reloads his rifle before slinging it over his shoulder and begins inspecting the damage on the submarine.
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Azara is getting ready to fire again when he is jolted in the sub first one way then the other as it accelerates abruptly then decelerates just as quickly.
He climbs out in the silence that follows but does not approach the nest, instead watching out for trouble.
"Flesh and bone against machine"
"Winner seems assured"
[b]"But nature has surprises"
"You may have just picked yourself up a pet," he comments to Gunnz. "Just don't flush it down the toilet at Absalom station. We'd be sure to get sent out to deal with it."
Azara doesn't share Gunnz's enthusiasm for the nest's eggs. As he looks around, the lashunta keeping guard spies a shoreline suitable for landing the sub about a quarter-mile north. It would be a good spot to dock and moor the PumpJet while you head further inalnd towards the non-functioning beacon, as well as to better take a look at and maybe patch the croc-beast's damage to the ship.
A faint trail through the mangrove trees leads away from that resting point deeper into the island.
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Azara can't do much to help track down the trail.
But he's glad they managed to find a relatively safe place to keep the sub.
He heads along the trail, in the lead with shield and pistol out, trying to keep out of sight or other sensory method of any creatures that might be interested in eating or otherwise maiming them.
A blazed trail leads through wetlands into the interior of the island. The mangrove trees crowd together as you all walk past them. Their aerial roots leave little room to easily avoid. Chikasa dogs most of it but even for him with some difficulty; the rest of you feel the roots brush against your shoulders while you move through the forest. Loose clothing or bags snag constantly. The size of the trees makes visibility difficult and the shadows filtering past the bleached coral branches dance just out of clear visibility.
The deeper you move forwards, the more the tree roots form intricate patterns. Not only that, some of the roots have grown into small handlike structures, almost reaching out to grasp those walking past. While the relative quiet of the swamp is only softly broken up by the sound of your own movements and the distant chirps and resulting of wildlife, each of you get the unnerving sense that someone or something is watching you as you move.
After about twenty minutes of travel through the dense mangrove thickets the trees thin into a flat meadow. Gnats could around still puddles here and there and swarm any exposed flesh of yours as you near them. A bit in the distance you see a herd of foot-tall ungulates with coral horns and spotted markings grazing while swatting away the bugs hovering around them.
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Gunnz takes a lot of photos of the weird trees, cross referecing them on the mini-computer that is attached as an attractive bracelet on her wrist.
"Not seen anything like these since I attended the "Trees of the living Dread" holo-vid release. " she says, a shiver running down her back.
"Seriously creepy"
Spying the herd of animals ahead, Gunnz comes to a halt.
"Let's hope these just eat grass, and not moving things like us."
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Despite how glittery his armor is, Azara is fairly stealthy, the light slightly dimming and bending around him, more proof of the power of gravity.
He rejoins the group, quietly and reveals what he's seen.
"Those little herbivores are...strange," he comments.
"That's not patterns on fur. In fact, they don't have any fur at all. Those are eyes all over their bodies."
"I'm not one to assume that the evolutionary forces on my planet are the only ones or that the evolutionary responses to those forces are correct, but I can't shake the feeling that most creatures shouldn't be covered in eyes."
The grazing creatures do not look aggressive. In fact, they seem a bit skittish themselves: they'd likely bolt away from you if you approached them too overtly.
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"They look a bit like a mouse-deer." notes Gunnz.
"I still think we should try to avoid spooking them. Who knows what might happen. Suddenly they grow tentacles and tie us up, before slowly devouring us with acid pouring from those eyes..."
It would appear that someone stayed up late watching horror holo-shows.
Gunnz tries to sneak around the side of the herd.