As things start flying around the cargo bay and escape out the airlock, Akh shields Del, Melissa and himself with his coils, his plated hide deflecting about half the potential blows .
Akh, now slightly even more elongated than usual, stares helplessly at the magically fluctuating equipment. He's not able to do anything useful about the open airlock doors either. So all he does is flies over to the airlock and stretches himself across the gap. At the very least, he might be able to catch a defrex if they start slipping his way.
Guess? looks at the robotic arms, then at the computer, then at the power source.
"Well Jaraduk and Strek, I think you're both better qualified than me at this."
Guess? will wait and see if either of them succeed first. If not, then Guess? will try to destroy the arms, no matter how unlikely he is to succeed.
Strek sighs, "I just gave those arms names, too! That one's Lefty, and that one's Righty. Righty is a lil' tighty. And Lefty's a lil... Nevermind. Cutting power!"
"Ow OW !"
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Jaraduk frowns as he looks at the scene in the room.
So, what we're seeing is, if any of our enemies are knowledgeable they can hit our ship with an EM pulse wave and wreck our business. And EJ knows... Possibly Sinjin. Maybe others.
He's about to sprint into the room and rip off the arms when Strek beats him to the punch and dives in.
Careful Strek!
It seems he's cut power to the laser-arms.
Seeing Strek succeed in powering down the arms but get lasered and seeing Melissa restore null-space but get warped and stretched via video feed , Guess? remarks with admiration, "Our engineers truly do suffer for their art!"
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Strek bravely runs between Righty and Lefty, their lasers catching his armor on fire. With a flourish, the brakim unplugs both robot arms and saves the crowd of defrexes.
In the cargo hold, Akh bends reality to protect the group from the worst of the tornado of objects being sucked out the airlock. Melissa and Del combine their engineering and mystical knowledge to patch up the broken part of the null-space cargo hold, ending the fluctuations that pulled on your body. With the immediate danger over, Melissa can turn to the broken airlock.
ROUND 5! 95 Defrexes Remaining.
Akh SP 11/27 HP 20/25 RP 1/3
Strek SP 0/20 HP 23/24 RP 2/3, Burning 1d4 (DC 11 Reflex)
Guess? SP 12/18 HP 17/17 | RP 4/5
Jaraduk SP 6/21, HP 25/27, RP 3/4, Latent Radiation Sickness
Del SP: 0/15, HP: 12/19, RP: 3/5
Melissa SP 0/19 HP 6/21 | RP 4/4
"Ya know, the fire retardants they put in these EJ suits might be cancerous, but at least they do their job."
Strek activates his environmental seals (and presumably his armor's boot clamps) and begins heading toward the outer hull.
Guess? heads out to help the other group, just in case.
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"Anyone for starting a Bullseye engineers union? Yes. thats 50% of the vote. We have a union. This doesn't work I'm going on coffee break I need to replenish fluids oxidating freely highway stalactite......"
The absolutely not thieves tools she picked up on Sinjins station are for once, actually being put to their billed use....
Melissa inserts the fire safety key into the door, does a chin up on it. The key drops with a satisfying THUNK in the door and the ysoki collapses onto the floor
"Don't want to go to school today have Justin take notes from the talking catipillar "
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"Union? How does that work when you're an equal owner of the company?" remarks Guess?.
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Akh can do little more than rattle pleasantly as the critically injured ysoki works on forcing the airlock closed. When the airlock suddenly whirs to life, he jumps forward to not get crushed.
The ysoki's rambling is quite alarming, so he scoops Melissa up in his jaws and flies back through and over the crowd of defrex to get to the ship's medical facilities - and hopefully someone on the crew who knows how to operate them!
Jaraduk looks Strek over, then nods. Yeah, those burns aren't so bad, right? You've got that Strek? He turns and starts jogging alongside Guess? to head to the other group.
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Jaraduk and Guess? make it into the airlock just as the alarm stops, as suddenly as it started. The trio head down the corridor to watch as the other half of the crew, bruised and bloodied, rush through the cargo hold doors. You head to the Tech Workshop, the closest thing the Last Chance has to a medical facility, and get to work on your wounded.
After a few more minutes, the ship comes back to life and things are restored to next-to-normal. On the bridge, you reinstate the auto-pilot and check in. It seems your ship descended a few dozen miles towards the planet during the electricity outage, but the critical systems are all working. The auto-pilot is able to get you back on course to Skitterhaven Ranch, reporting, Time to arrival, 1 hour. You use that time to get yourselves and your ship back in order. One must put on a brave face for the customer, after all! Looking around, you find Fleagreeb, Rattlesnarp, and Goog in the lavatory with a lone baby defrex. The trio seem to have befriended the creature, which is already larger than they are, and are using a roll of toilet paper to play fetch. As usual, the three siblings are good-naturedly arguing as they do so. "Goog, I told you! Puddles likes to catch it in the air best." ... "Not true! Look how his cute little butt wiggles when he crawls after it!" ... "And don't call her Puddles! She's obviously a Petunia!"
After you get yourselves back on your feet, you herd the defrexes back into the cargo hold with the help of Fleagreeb, Rattlesnarp, and Goog. As the defrexes move back into the cargo hold, several of them vomit clouds of gray nanites.
As you examine the nanites, you identify them as having explosive properties. These are definitely artificial Hybrid technologies.
Eventually, you arrive at Skitterhaven ranch, landing in an open field where the staff can herd the defrexes into a pasture adjoining a well-maintained barn. Though the sun has just passed below the horizon, the whole complement of employees are outside and ready for you. They have a few hours of hard and dangerous work ahead of them, according to Taming the Herd: The Secrets of Kamazren Ranch. Adani and Karm meet you at the ship, coming inside to check out the defrexes. They take inventory of the delivery, counting the defrexes you managed to bring. Baron Karmalar Gravender claps his hands in delight, bowing grandiosely with his cowboy hat on his chest. "95 defrexes! You really are the best! Very impressive, very impressive!" Neither Karm nor Adani seem bothered by the defrexes’ wounds, and they express delight that you succeeded despite so many challenges. As you walk back outside the ship, Adani looks back at the vessel with confusion on her face. "You said this is a Edge Sledgehammer model? Impressive, it almost seemed bigger on the inside. Never would have guessed a ship of that class could house nearly a hundred of the beasts." Karm waves to his staff, getting their attention. The small skittermander jumps up onto the lower rungs of the fence surrounding the paddock and addresses the crowd."Alright, ladies and gents! This is what you've been training for! You know the dangers, as do I. But we chose to be here, to take on this challenge. Remember the words of High Despot Cahan, keep them close to your heart. 'Only the strong shall survive, for they are the only ones deserving to do so!'" The crowd of ranch hands cheer at the words, then begin preparing to move the defrexes from the ship and into the ranch. Adani nods towards the barn. "Come on, let's head inside. Warmer in there, and less bloody."
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"With jaws that can and have crushed an annocite roomba of death, the mecha dragon gently carries their furry companion .....piceresque scenes of ..... karsk topography. "
Remembering that one of Grandmas lessons is "kick them when they're down" and that the universe is a master of this lesson, Melissa will fumble her tongue around in her cheekpouch. Drink something. "ptooh.. thats the horn polish..." but find what she was looking for on her second try
And once the room is only spinning in one direction
Puts a bandgae over a wound. It immediately turns red. Applies another bandage. It turns red. Puts another bandage on and pulls on a shirt without looking at it. Uses the med bay pillow for a mattress and passes out snoring like a buzzsaw
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Akh watches Melissa worriedly as the ysoki continues to ramble something about mecha dragons and karsk topography. It's only after the worst of her wounds heal up that he leaves to check on the defrexes. The weird belching of nanite clouds doesn't appear to be immediately harmful, so he leaves them alone and settles in to wait for the next deadly crisis that would certainly hit before the defrexes could be delivered.
He's pleasantly surprised when the next crisis doesn't hit and the group gets their cargo to the ranch. He waves to Adani and Karm. "Yes, there is nothing at all strange about our ship, no. You see, we just are very good at stacking. Defrexes are highly stackable, as I'm sure you would agree. You can fit twice as many defrexes if you put the smaller ones on top of the larger ones!"
He nods confidently then asks "So what happens to them now?"
Jaraduk arrives at the cargo bay, happy to see the situation stabilizing. He's looking a little bleary eyed by this time. He takes his cowboy hat off and holds it in front of his face. There are holes in it that he can see through.
No more...
He heads to the bunks and passes out until they arrive back at their customer's ranch.
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At the ranch...
Um... yeah she's not joking. Five exploded and I honestly can't tell you why more didn't start exploding. Maybe some of the rest have the affliction delayed? Maybe none of the rest have it. I'm no vet. I do respect vets. They can cure a defrex, a bog rat, and an acrochor all in the same day!
Guess?, knowing that it's time to remind the three goblins of Guess?'s authority, barges in on the goblin trio's argument and declares, "As the HOT , I name this defrex Whale! And that's that!"
Examining the flight path, Guess? tries to help co-pilot with Del to avoid EJ detection as she flies us back to the ranch.
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Guess? adds on to Ahk's statement, "And that's why we're the best in the business! Of course it's not bigger on the inside! That would be silly and impossible!! No no no! What you have witnessed is a demonstration of our company's skill, efficiency and dedication!! We know how to load 'em, stack e'm, 'n pack 'em!!
"Now! About our fee... I believe it was 5 vouchers for 60 heads. Hitting the 90 head count provides a bonus of 3 additional vouchers for a total of 8 vouchers. Now, we did even better than that with 95 heads. So it'd be fair to say those 5 additional heads deserve a tip on top, wouldn't ya say? Perhaps throw in another voucher there? After all, every single defrex counts and give you just THAT much better a chance to develop a productive herd, amirite?!?"
And if the ranchers don't agree to throwing in an extra voucher, Guess? will say the following:
"So instead of a voucher, how about reimbursing the expenses we incurred to gear up for this job? Mounts, licensing, blood lures, etc. The amount came out to about five thousand credits. All you'd really be doing is helping us offset our expenses for completing the job. Whaddaya say??"
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The three goblins nod fervently. "Sir, yes, sir!" As the door to the bathroom closes, you can hear the trio discussing which attributes of the defrex most closely resemble a whale.
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After Karm's speech, he addresses Akh's question. "Now comes the dangerous work of adopting defrexes. The pack isn't happy in a location until they've mated. Prior to that, they will attempt to escape and tear apart the ranch." He waves to the ranch hands setting up the pasture. "Once we get the herd off your ship safely, we'll release a pheromone to encourage the beasts. Problem is, it needs to be released close to the defrex's nose to catch. After they get a pheromone you've got somewhere between two and ten seconds to get far far away." He looks out at the horizon. "The unlucky and the slow won't last the night. This is the way." He nods firmly and begins walking towards the barn, changing intentionally topics. "Stackable, how novel! What a wonderful system, I would have guessed they would tear you apart if you tried that." The skittermander turns to his wife with a grin. "Perhaps we can save on barn space if they sleep on top of each other." She rolls her eyes and turns her attention to Guess?. "My dear captain, you are shortchanging yourself!" She begins to tick off numbers on her fingers as she speaks. "1 voucher for each set of ten defrexes, that's nine. A bonus for 60 head, our original goal, that makes fourteen vouchers. And the big stretch bonus for 90 head, that's 17 vouchers!" She claps her hands as you enter the barn, turning on a lone lamp hanging from the ceiling of the dark large building. "Looks like all of us will be feeling quite rich after today." Karm smiles. "Yes, you performed quite well. We are running a business here, can't give you a voucher for the extra five defrex you brought. But credits, those we can talk about. How does..." The skittermander cuts himself off, eyes going wide.
You follow the baron's gaze to a shadowy corner behind the door you just walked through. A slender feeding tendril with a toothy maw on the end is slowly creeping towards you!
The tendril lashes out at Jaraduk, bouncing off his armor with a fleshy bounce. Looking into the dark of the corner you see a pink four legged, four armed monstrous humanoid standing in the nearest barn stall. The tendril juts from it's abs, like a horrifying umbilical cord.
This is a Stridermander! Stridermanders are an evolutionary cousin of the more numerous skittermanders. A planetwide disaster millions of years ago split the common ancestor of both species into two populations. One population remained on the planet’s devastated surface and evolved into the skittermanders. The other population retreated into the planet’s extensive cave system, becoming larger, faster, and increasingly vicious as they competed for dwindling food supplies. tridermanders are brawny and threatening. They have eight limbs, four of which are long and graceful, capable of running at high speeds and climbing through the rocky caverns where the creatures make their nests. The four shorter arms are more muscular and used for restraining prey, mating, and manipulating their environment. Their most identifiable feature is a feeding tendril that emerges from their abdomen— similar to that of a skittermander whelp—which is long enough and strong enough to drag a grown human through the darkness or lift a vesk soldier into the air.
Stridermanders feed by restraining their victims and puncturing their flesh, draining their fluids first so the rest of the body can be eaten more slowly over time. They prefer preying on skittermanders but will attack and devour anything their own size or smaller, as the vesk have discovered. While simpleminded and animalistic, stridermanders are clever predators and construct simple obsidian tools. They have no language but hunt using coordinated pack tactics. The creatures are not native to this world but Vesk see the species as dangerous predators worthy of hunting, and some have been exported off-world for use as guard beasts, and for a variety of dangerous sporting events.
Akh SP 11/27 HP 20/25 RP 1/3
Strek SP 0/20 HP 23/24 RP 2/3
Jaraduk SP 21/21, HP 25/27, RP 2/4, Latent Radiation Sickness
Del SP: 0/15, HP: 12/19, RP: 3/5
Melissa SP 19/19 HP 13/21 | RP 3/4
Guess? SP 12/18 HP 17/17 | RP 4/5
Red Mysterious Predator 0 Damage
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At the sight of the monster poised to attack, Del reaches out and seizes onto flames from another kitchen mishap, surrounding the monster in fire which quickly dissipates.
Then she pulls out a spell gem from her pocket.
Without moving from his spot, Akh draws his taclash with a sigh. "If this is a practical joke, it will stop being funny after we perforate them."
"Though I suppose you wouldn't have a stridermander stablehand. Probably. Right?" He lashes out with his humming taclash, aiming for the creature's legs.
Gah! What! Jaraduk jumps in fright when the tentacle bounces off of him.
He reflexively lobs a grenade to the back corner of the room with the creature.
Most barns have rats or something, and you've got... what is this?!
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Del successfully flies the craft under the radar, utilizing natural terrain to avoid detection from the EJ satellites.
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Melissa's sonic blast knocks the paint off the barn walls while the stridermander swiftly dodges Del's conjured bit of flames. While Akh's whip slashes at the thing's legs, it stands strong and hisses.
Jaraduk's grenade bounces around the stall, the explosion licking at the stridermander's back. Baron Karmelar throws his hands above his head and screams. "The Feeders in the Dark! They don't belong here! Not on Vesk-3!" He runs into a stall opposite the creature, head poking around the gateway to watch the encounter. This turned out to be a bad choice as a second of the ambushing creatures drops from the ceiling! It's tendril lashes out at the lightly armored skittermander, causing a gash in his neck.
Then, a third stridermander drops from its hiding place on the ceiling! As it does so you notice it's skin and fur changing from a deep dark purple to its normal pink. Natural camouflage gone, Akh is able to take advantage of the swift movement. But as Akh's whip travels through the air, the creature's tendril stabs out to wrap around the android's neck! Taken by surprise, he stumbles a few steps closer to his assailant.
Back in the stall, the stridermander's tongue slaps against Jaraduk's armor once again unable to find a weak spot. It steps closer, brandishing a rough hewn obsidian spear on two hands.
Akh SP 3/27 HP 20/25 RP 1/3, GRAPPLED
Strek x2 SP 0/20 HP 23/24 RP 2/3
Jaraduk SP 21/21, HP 25/27, RP 2/4, Latent Radiation Sickness
Del SP: 15/15, HP: 12/19, RP: 2/5
Melissa SP 19/19 HP 13/21 | RP 3/4
Guess? SP 12/18 HP 17/17 | RP 4/5
Karm 14/23 HP
Red Stridermander 3 Damage
Pink Stridermander 0 Damage
Teal Stridermander 0 Damage
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"Hey, did any of YOUR defrexes get chest bursters? Uh wheres the farm...CHITer Get that one, its going to eat our nufriends! Jarduck can handle an overgrown intestine with teeth, can't you?" " Yes she definitely watched some All Six Squad cartoonvid on the way over.
She';s putting get em on purple, hoping to mow their way to the farmers. Skittermanders are almost as delicious as ysoki and that one didn't have a mechdragon to hide behind
Seeing Akh get grappled by the massive tendril, Guess? remarks, "Wow! I guess size DOES matter!"
Then to the rest of the crew, Guess? yells, "Try to save our piggy ba... uhhh... Try to save our nufriends!"
Guess? attempts to tumble away from red, then fires at the one Melissa highlighted!
or at least the math "error" would have been in his favor
"EJ Corp-branded explodin' stomach nanites. I shoulda known," Strek sighs.
"We're gonna hafta leave system and lay low for a while if we ever wanna get away from their attention."
"That, on the other hand, I don't think was sent by Edge!"
Strek retreats further into the barn, but to where he can still target the predator, and draws his heavy weapon as he does so.
Standing at a safer distance, he spins up GUMBI and initiates his Combat Tracking.
Having deflecting its attack, Jaraduk stares down the creature. Both of his hands reach around his back to retrieve two more of his grenades.
"Market share."
"EJ Corp-branded explodin' stomach nanites. I shoulda known," Strek sighs.
"We're gonna hafta leave system and lay low for a while if we ever wanna get away from their attention."
"Wait? Wut?!?" But how'd these things even get INTO the defrex? Did Kreech somehow inject some of the defrex we were herding? Let's collect a sample."[/b] If possible, Guess? will collect a sample or ask the engineers to do so.
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or at least the math "error" would have been in his favor
Akh swings in a huge arc as the pink stridermander approaches.
"Please, I am not a crustacean with an edible internal part inside a hard shell." Akh wriggles within the grip of the stridermander's tongue. "You'll find I'm quite hollow." He reaches over and claws at the creature's face rapidly in an attempt to dissolve it.
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wouldn't it be even easier to get these same nanites into us, a crew who follow a more predictable path?
"Nearly half our crew is goblins, we corralled defrex using burnt macaroni and lactose, and our online task calendar still says 'reminder to set up online task calendar'."
"Planting bombs inside random objects is probably their last best tactic."
"You'll find I'm quite hollow."
"Yah, especially up in the noggin'!"
....
"No wait, did I just say that out loud?"
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Strek steps past the stridermander, sending a fiery blast into the beast's chest. Melissa, however, paints the barn wall again. Guess? follows her example, also poking a hole in the wall. Karm yells out from his cornered position, "Hey guys, appreciate the effort, please stop shooting up our ranch!" As the skittermander yells, the stridermander beside him takes no pity. It's tendril slaps against his face, distracting the baron long enough for the thing to bite his neck! The skittermander collapses to the floor, limp and bleeding out onto the dirt floor.
Akh, the crustacean, claws at the beast to no avail. The stridermander continues to wrap its tendril around Akh's neck, choking the life out of the android. With a brutal bite, the creature rips out a crucial circuit and Akh goes limp.
Jaraduk enters a staring contest with the third stridermander, who has no time for conversation. It lashes out with it's umbilical cord, pulling the nuar in. The ancient danger stabs at Jaraduk with its spear, but sharp edge bounces off his armor.
Your team has had a long day. You pushed a large herd of dangerous predators through an unfamiliar preserve, survived a treacherous attack in the vacuum of space, and now are battling against ancient terrors in the dark. You look to the left. Your piggy bank sponsor is dying. You look in front of you. Your friend, and ally, is dying as he defends you. You look around, terrible horrors assailing you. You're no heroes, but you are merchants of the void.
Akh SP 0/27 HP 0/25 RP 1/3, GRAPPLED, DYING
Strek SP 20/20 HP 23/24 RP 1/3
Jaraduk SP 3/21, HP 25/27, RP 2/4, Latent Radiation Sickness
Del x2 SP: 15/15, HP: 12/19, RP: 2/5
Melissa SP 19/19 HP 13/21 | RP 3/4
Guess? SP 12/18 HP 17/17 | RP 4/5
Karm 0/23 HP, DYING 1
Red Stridermander 19 Damage
Pink Stridermander 15 Damage
Teal Stridermander 0 Damage
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-4 is the cover bonus from large cow rear end on shot one and larger dragon tail on shot two... which the skittermonster just took care of.
"He got AKH!!!. GET HIM!!!! "
sonic damage
Normally she'd move up under her meat shield to negate it but those things have reach and I like my liver.
"Grandma was right......"
Spits out a healing potion into her paw
I think all my luck and then some went to the skill challenges.
Karm yells out from his cornered position, "Hey guys, appreciate the effort, please stop shooting up our ranch!"
"When your ranch stops trying to eat us I will! until then... " her shot blows a section of wall to splinters and chalk
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Akh slowly stabilizes, reflecting idly on dangerous substances still not fully taste-tested.
Seeing Akh go down, Guess? remarks in despair, "I'm a lover, not a fighter!!"
Guess? again fires at the target Melissa points at!
or below is flat-footed
flat-footed to all and -2 to saves if Stunt and Strike succeeded
"What the void are these things anyways?"
Strek unloads another burst of radiation at the one nearest Jaraduk.
Whoa! We can't let our employer die before we get paid!
Jaraduk fiddles with the settings on one of the grenades he holds to get it to "warm" up for several seconds. It seems to everybody like it might just blow up in his hand. While it beeps repetitively, he looks back at the others and smiles several times. The beeping gets progressively faster...
Finally he lobs it over the nearby stridermander to frag it from behind again.
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-4 is the cover bonus from large cow rear end on shot one and larger dragon tail on shot two... which the skittermonster just took care of.
Del uses her spell gem, recalling a time she dropped a whole box of pointy toothpicks in the kitchen. Those wooden needles materialize, stabbing at the monster grabbing Akh's body. It howls in pain, blood leaking from the wounds, but holds onto the android.
Melissa continues to decorate the roof of the barn with new skylights, this one just a hair over the creature's head. Strek follows her lead, sending his shot between the stridermander's quickly swinging arms. Jaraduk's grenade explodes in the stall, burning the back of the menace he is dueling with.
A scream echoes through the barn as Adani sees her husband's body fall limp. The stridermander's head spins around and it lets the skittermander's body go. It dashes out of sight of most of you, it's tendril taking a bite out of the pahtra.
The monster in the hallway releases Akh's body, searching for tastier meat. It settles on Strek, it's tendril snapping out and circling around the brakim's body. Unable to resist, Strek is pulled closer to the beast and is held in place there!
In the back of the group, the third thing's attacks are only able to scratch Jaraduk's thick armor!
Looking across the fight, you can tell that Karm is near death, his breath slowing. Akh appears to be more stable... for now. The creature accosting Strek is seriously wounded, but is still steady on its feet.
Akh SP 0/27 HP 0/25 RP 0/3, STABLE
Strek SP 10/20 HP 23/24 RP 1/3, GRAPPLED
Jaraduk SP 3/21, HP 25/27, RP 2/4, Latent Radiation Sickness
Del x2 SP: 15/15, HP: 12/19, RP: 2/5
Melissa SP 19/19 HP 13/21 | RP 3/4
Guess? SP 12/18 HP 17/17 | RP 4/5
Adani 13/23
Karm 0/23 HP, DYING 1 (permadeath at DYING 3 at top of Round 6)
Red Stridermander 22 Damage
Pink Stridermander 29 Damage, BLEED 2 (1 round remaining)
Teal Stridermander 0 Damage
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It settles on Strek, it's tendril snapping out and circling around the brakim's body.
As a move action, or a reaction when grabbed or otherwise held by a limb, a brakim can detach her limbs. She takes 1 damage directly to her Hit Points for each limb she sheds.