Strek swivels his head 360° and up/down, completely shocked that none of the beefy shobhads approached him in melee.
*beep beep beep beep*
"Yep, GUMBI, I was thinkin' the same thing," and Strek pulls back on his gun's pump-action to boost his next shot at the android.
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Melissa's eels prove to be super effective; her electric arcs knock the android leader unconscious. He floats in place, his armor keeping him from drowning.
Del and Jaraduk make a brutal duo, bringing their top-down convertible sub after the smaller WaveCutter. The pair dispatch one of the shobhads with the weight of their impacts, knocking his body off the sled and into the dark abyss. On the other side of the battle, Guess? charges the closest shobhad who drops to the side of his vehicle and barely avoids the collision!
Strek proves the shobhads wrong, hitting the nearest one in the neck with a blast of energy. He stays on his sled, but only barely. The remaining Shobhads begins to freak out over the comms. "Boss is down! Boss is down!" They turn in place, skimming away as their enclosures come down to hide them from view. "Nobody's getting paid, let's get out of here!"
Just as you think it's all over, the "dead" shobhad injured by Del and Jaraduk twists in place. He releases a ferocious roar and a blast of laser fire at Jaraduk. Thankfully the nuar's armor and the hull of the submarine deflect the impacts. Only then does the shobhad go limp, continuing to sink downwards.
Guess? SP 30/30, HP 27/27, RP 6/6
Blue Wavecutter, 40/40 HP
Akh x2 SP 38/50, HP 39/39, RP 4/4
Melissa SP 31/31, HP 33/33, RP 5/5
Del SP: 25/25, HP: 29/29, RP: 5/5
Strek SP 40/40, HP 36/36, RP 5/5
Jaraduk SP 40/40, HP 41/41, RP 5/5
Black Submersible Tour Boat, 24/24 HP
Red Submersible Tour Boat, 0/24 HP, WRECKED
Blue Android, 43 Damage, UNCONSCIOUS, STABLE
Teal Shobhad, 50 Damage, DEAD
Pink Shobhad, 37 Damage
Orange Shobhad, 0 Damage
Yellow Shobhad, 0 Damage
Green Shobhad, 38 Damage
Hmm, I wonder who we need to worry about them running back to talk to. Or maybe if we're lucky they'll just cut ties and choose new professions. OOOH. Jetski'ish thing...
He hops from the tour boat to the nearby wavecutter and does a couple of laps in-place, enhancing the sounds of the vehicle with his own nuar'ish "motorboat" noises.
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"aww chitter.. hey guys. We're happy to stop shooting if you want to call a time out and go get your guys... Guys? Hey, someone go get your shobad stat. "
Swipe the Jet ski and head on down to get blue.
"Why the hell didn't you guys make your armor density neutral or a LITTLE boyant? Someone go get the other one!!! " mental note to upgrade Akh to that even if she has to get the overpriced duckie swimmies from the gift shop.
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He hops from the tour boat to the nearby wavecutter and does a couple of laps in-place, enhancing the sounds of the vehicle with his own nuar'ish "motorboat" noises.
"Come oooon i need this for a rescue... " ...ponders literally taking the bull by the horns and using that to steer
edit. I swear that one wasn't intentional.
"Guess... they're both wearing valuable equipment!"
"Eh, I'm more annoyed that repairing this thing is gonna take hours."
He shoulders his microwave gun and swims over to retrieve the other Wavecutter.
Akh takes a swipe at green as the foe fires at him within reach of his lash.
Then, with wavecutters zooming all around, he swims at full speed toward the next nearest shobhad to deliver a slash with his claw.
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Akh groans over comms. "Too many survivors to chase. All they'd have to do is split up to make sure at least one gets away." He grabs a hold of green's wavecutter, assuming green is KO'd, and detaches the unconscious fellow from it. "We should check over these survivors for traceable credsticks that might tell us Jaraduk. Of course, with our luck, they'll have absolutely nothing on them worth keeping, no notes or hints as to who next wants us dead, and no loose change."
"I'm ready to ride if we want to try to get away from here. Maybe they'll come back with reinforcements."
"Guess... they're both wearing valuable equipment!"
"Mmmmm... gear!"
Persuaded by Melissa, Guess? will pilot his waverider as needed to help recover the enemy bodies for the purposes of stripping them of their gear.
"Remember, Androids are a bit different than your average biologic. Equal parts saline to hydrocarbons."
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"Which one of those is slurm?"
"I know a lot of people have been trying to kill us lately but we need to have a team meeting about paying that forward to the next guy. Its not like we haven't legitimately done some things where... Oh hey. You're awake. So, Hi. I'm Melissa. Your a friend of Del's big sis apparently? " The drowned rat is standing on his chest with a large wrench, readying her golf swing in case he has a restraining bolt. But he probably doesn't know that... "Sooo.. small universe. What brings you here trying to kill us?"
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Brrrrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbr #motorboatNoises
"Which one of those is slurm?"
"Yes."
"Strek, I think you mean silicon, not saline. Saline is what you dip hotdogs into." He rides his new wavecutter over to regroup with the rest of the party. By sheer coincidence he ends up right next to the android with the green shobhad in tow, and with his taclash out. "Counting all our boats and things, I think we still came out on the good side of things here! Guess? is going to have to work out a good story for why we're coming back with just one tour boat though. Maybe we can say a sea monster ate it, but we swam back." He waves at the android assailant "Hello!"
"To be honest, Akh, I don't think we'll be returning these subs to where we acquired them..."
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Guess? turns to the android assailant-turned-captive, lights up his inferno knife for effect and threatens, "Whether you continue to live or die a slow, painful death depends on how thoroughly and honestly you answer our questions:
Guess? will also be sure to collect all of the android's biometric data.
"Cap'n can sell snow to a Ryphorian. All we need to do is convince that Shirren that personal, underwater jetskis are more trendy and profit driving. We could even sell 'em an ad with Jaraduk doin' flips. Really, they owe us for leaving the tour boat on the ocean floor."
"You really think that'll work? I'm sure that shirren would get fired even if we brought back a hundred wavecutters." Akh shakes his head. "EJ is EJ."
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Akh returns to the group with his shiny new WaveCutter, dragging an unconscious shobhad by the ankle behind him. It seems the android was smart enough to have his armor calibrated to be weight-neutral while the shobhads were less careful.
Guess?’s appraising eyes notice that each of those three EJ WaveCutters, Ride it to the EDGE!, are worth a pretty penny on the open market. Even if they are lightly bloodied used; perhaps there is a deal to be made with the poor shirren employee. Just one of these high tech vehicles would pay for a pair of those dinky tour submarines. As Melissa resuscitates the android, the other party members ease him of his graphite carbon skin, Underwater vapor cavitation pistol – with two batteries (20 charges each) and a Underwater survival knife. You also find a datapad with a surprisingly tough encryption.
MOST RECENT SENT MESSAGE
”My dearest Eline. How I long after your heart. It grieves my heart to think upon the betrayal dealt to you by your flesh and blood. Well, your adopted flesh and blood at any rate. Your sister, taking your confidence and using it to steal your pride and joy. Your child. If you had not confided in me upon the site of our indiscretion, I would have never known the grief you are feeling. Felt your pain. Why, I thank the riches above for the wine which enabled this rare encounter. I will bring to you what you seek. I will earn your love. Obsessively yours, Sigma Seven.”
CONVERSATION CONTINUED – MOST RECENT RECEIVED MESSAGE
”Sig… That night was a mistake. If you cannot separate our personal activities from our professional ones, then please stop contacting me at my EJ address. Surely you’re aware the corporate censors read these messages. … I have my own plans to return The Oliphaunt to The Corporation’s control and my own career to it’s proper holy path. I do not need your aid. The fact that you would suggest it is heresy, if not insulting. We are not dating. We are not married. You owe me nothing, and I will accept no aid from you. We had fun, nothing more. ”
RESPOND?
The pair of Shobhads have identical gear, each emblazoned with a proud EJ symbol. Their squad defiance series armor has the typical additions of a person who works for a living, their Underwater red star plasma arrays with two batteries (20 charges each) have tags which imply their proper ownership is with the corporate welding tool crib, and Underwater thunderstrike pulse gauntlet with one battery (20 charges) seem originally intended to restart broken circuits. You pause before removing the shobhad's armor, realizing it is all that is keeping the pair alive at the moment.
While Jaraduk gives an excellent impression of Thomas the underwater Tank Engine, and Strek is re-presenting his thesis on the many medical benefits of Slurm (another proud EJ brand!), Melissa and Guess? begin a good-cop bad-cop routine with the android. ”Uh… what’s going on?” he passes over the public comms. It’s a little odd doing this forced interview over a radio while floating, but you pretend you’re floating in space rather than a hundred feet underwater and it feels a little more normal. ”I’m Sigma Seven, thief! I’ve been tracking you since my GIRLFRIEND let slip that her PI had word you’d been in a tussle with some gang members aboard the Station. A little hack, some blackmail, illicit warrants, and a short jaunt through the Drift and here we are!” The android’s voice has a forced chipperness, as if he doesn’t understand the gravity of the situation. Or, perhaps, he just doesn’t care. ”When I kill you, and return my Lover’s property to her, it will be the perfect engagement gift. She’ll be free to love me, rise the golden ladder, and we will live immemorial.” Sigma’s eyes light up at the idea, the light passing down his blue circuit veins to power his body. ”Work for EJ? As if! I’m a freelancer. My day job involves the passing of life into darkness, and valuables into more valuable hands. Who needs insurance when you have the breeze of the open engine compartment!” Mr. Seven takes a deep breath of recycled oxygen in, continuing in his obviously deluded state. ”I mean… if you would allow me to return to the love-of-my-existence, Ms. Reece’s Pieces, that would be worth at least one credit more than I was going to pay those numbskull welders. Who, by the way, are certainly not going to mention this little side job. So, in return for my life, I can transfer you the entirety of my life’s savings: 1001 credits apiece.” Though Guess?’s words, combined with the Shobhad blood floating through the underwater current, is convincing, you feel like the android’s own will to live is enough.
Being relatively far from Elysia, leaving someone without a vehicle is a death sentence. It certainly seems like the other shobhads are not returning for their injured/dead comrades.
The most direct route to Terra 5 will take another two hours by WaveCutter, but you need to go much slower to allow the tour boat to keep up. After about six hours of travel, you are quite tired, but continuing in your journey. Just then, you start to hear a deep, booming, and intermittent percussive noise that gradually grows in frequency.
You can deduce that this noise originates from a large creature of some kind, possibly as a warning or threat display.
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Melissa does need to practice. It's not like she went to school for this
One the assumption strek still knows where the any key is...
Melissa's ears give a little flutter "Awwwww.. that's so sweet. Come on Guess? He's practically family. " she tap tap taps her foot in a dripping puddle at the android "Ok, I'm arguing for your life here. Stop threatening to kill us!.. Not dissing the blue collar workers, one of which you got killed wouldn't hurt either. Or I could wake this guy up and you discuss it with him? "
"We could probably get you a ride off planet and back to.. she does a good job of not laughing and less of one hiding her smile " "Reeses pieces " In return I'd be very interested in the specifics on how you hacked and tracked. "
(large creatures out of the sub, melee characters in the fast moving thing?)
Wave rider 1 del
Wave rider 2 Akh
Wave rider 3 jardkuk + Ion taped shobad ?
Tourboat
Melissa
Guess
Akh
Sigma seven (Guess can strip him naked and copy his biosigns then)
Unconscious shobad on the floor? Or ion taped to the front of the car like a deer in hunting season. Melissa has scurry so she can fit on someone (NOt guesses) lap or in the glove.overhead compartment.)
"Anyone else hear that?"
Strek wirelessly assists Melissa while he floats in the water column analyzing the sounds..
"Hey, uhh, guys? I think we're gonna experience one of those fish stories a bit sooner than expected. We gotta get out of here."
When Melissa proposes the new passenger layout, Strek furrows his brow. "I only got four limbs I can feed that thing. I choose leaving Mr. Lovebug behind and taking the grunt."
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Melissa pops her head out of the sub
"HelloOOOOoo... We are no threat. And we taste terrible. We will happily avoid you your fishiness... "
When Melissa proposes the new passenger layout, Strek furrows his brow. "I only got four limbs I can feed that thing. I choose leaving Mr. Lovebug behind and taking the grunt."
"My first time driving the loader was back from a dwarven party where I hadn't been drinking because I was six. We had more uncnious meat on the hopper than that... this will work fiiiine... "
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Akh revs the wavecutter, trying for some short, exploratory bursts of movement while the android captive offers his story. The tale is delivered in such an off-kilter way that even Akh finds it odd "I think I've heard of this before. I think it's called dogfishing. Where someone pretends to be someone you'd be romantically interested in, but actually they're just an Eoxian Necrovite named Steve with a very high-powered Infosphere connection and a great deal of creativity."
"That said, maybe we can take those credits and put them to better use than long-distance asynchronous vidcalls with Steve." He turns his wavecutter in the direction of Terra 5. "Lets go before someone else who's interested gets here."
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Del looks devastated at the messages, but then cocks her head at the android. "Wow, you're.... really deluded. Like... can't take no for an answer. Stalker-ish." She takes the comm unit and sends a quick message to her sister.
"Hey, Reisora, it's Del. So, this android who claims he's your boyfriend just tried to murder me (and failed, obviously, thank goodness) and judging by this he's not. So... thought you should know! He's giving off stalker vibes and you should probably get a restraining order. Be safe! And watch your wine a little closer next time, yeah? Much love, Del. P.S. Don't worry, Oliphaunt is doing great. Will send you test specs again soon."
Message sent, Del tries her best to erase her sister's contact information from the comm—who remembered people's comm-signal-numbers, anyway, right? She sure didn't...
At Melissa's suggestion, Del crosses her arms. "My advice is that he stays away from my sister if he values his appendages."
With the conversation over, Del climbs aboard her speedy little wave cutter, absolutely thrilled to be driving it.
"Wait, what was that sound...?" She looks at Strek. "Fish stories? What kind of fish stories? The 'eat-people' kind?" Del revs the wavecutter's engine, suddenly worried that the submarine is moving so slow.
"Yuuuuup, we should go."
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As the shobhad snores quietly in the corner of the sub, you continue your interrogation with the android. "Sure, I'll show you how, in exchange for a trip back to the main facility. I've got a way off planet pre-booked. You could say I was a little overconfident. Might not be the first time that's happened."
You pull the armor off both the shobhad and android, seeing how they're in the safety of the submarine. Guess? appreciates this doubly, taking both the loot and genetic signatures. As Del goes to send the message, she gets a mildly worrying error message. NO INFOSPHERE DETECTED. It seems your baseline datapads don't have the cross-planetary capability needed to connect this far away from civilization. No worries, you can just send it when you get back to Elysia.
As Strek calls out the warning, you have just enough time to frantically swivel your head until you see it... Two HUGE shadows in the dark water, moving closer and FAST. THWOMMMMMMM.... THWOMMMMMMMM...." Melissa's fungal infection translates for her. "MINE... KILL... MINE... Moving fast, the shadows resolve into a pair of massive, amorphous creatures composed of a thin fleshy material stretched across a hexagonal lattice. These strange beasts undulate through the waves in a constantly changing pattern, like a loose sail carried by the wind, making their movement and intention hard to predict. In addition to this constant undulation, the giant jellies twist and flex their framework to produce confusing but beautiful visual effects across their main body. The creatures are moving far faster than the poor tour sub can manage, and catch up to you quickly.
Thanks to Strek's warning - Akh, Melissa, and Guess? manage to act before the jellies close in with your ships!
These are a local variation of a Giant Jelly! They live in the deep seas of oceans, especially found on water planets. When not drifting silently while on the hunt for food, giant jellies sometimes tense and flex their entire form to emit intermittent percussive pulses, creating deep, arrhythmic bass thumps. The purpose of these noises is unknown, though xenobiologists hypothesize the jellies might use these sounds to establish territory or scare off competitors. While much of a giant jelly’s diet consists of microscopic organisms, the creature evolved long ago to also prey on—and defend itself against—much larger creatures. It can move with astonishing speed, slamming into creatures to stun them, but can also focus its sonic waves into a damaging blast of sound that is especially devastating underwater. Once it has incapacitated its prey, a giant jelly slowly wraps itself around its victim, twisting into a tight spiral and digesting its meal over the course of days or even weeks.
You get four options to choose from: Special Defenses, Defenses, Vulnerabilities, or Morale.
Akh wheels the wavecutter around to get next to the sub. He gets off, trying to brace himself for trouble. "These seem nice and big. Anyone know how they taste? I've had jelly once ever and it was very sweet. Something I think these aren't going to be the same."
You know... I kind of do want to see how grenades work underwater. Try to keep them at a distance!
"Careful Akh! Based on what Melissa is saying, it sounds like these things can charge right into you then grapple you into a bear hug!"
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"Bear hug? They're clearly jellies, not bears." Akh cocks his head to the side as he speaks.
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Melissa knows that these are a local variation of a Giant Jelly! They live in the deep seas of oceans, especially found on water planets. When not drifting silently while on the hunt for food, giant jellies sometimes tense and flex their entire form to emit intermittent percussive pulses, creating deep, arrhythmic bass thumps. The purpose of these noises is unknown, though xenobiologists hypothesize the jellies might use these sounds to establish territory or scare off competitors. While much of a giant jelly’s diet consists of microscopic organisms, the creature evolved long ago to also prey on—and defend itself against—much larger creatures. It can move with astonishing speed, slamming into creatures to stun them, but can also focus its sonic waves into a damaging blast of sound that is especially devastating underwater. Once it has incapacitated its prey, a giant jelly slowly wraps itself around its victim, twisting into a tight spiral and digesting its meal over the course of days or even weeks.
Additionally... At the end of a giant jelly’s life cycle, it stops consuming organic material and focuses instead on absorbing magic infused
minerals from the seabed. Gradually, the hexagonal lattice holding the jelly together begins to break down, and each of its thousands of component hexagons becomes a new, tiny protojelly. Typically, other deep-sea creatures quickly consume this mass of protojellies, but any that escape predation will grow to full size over the course of a few months. Melissa recognizes that both of the jellies are beginning to break down, explaining why these typically solitary creatures are travelling in a pair; the first to die, and thus give birth, will have their young consumed by the second. A dangerous waiting game, it will guarantee an easy food source for one of the two creatures. Giant jellies are fiercely defensive and territorial. If you attempt to run now, they will pursue you. However, if you kill one of the creatures then the second will likely choose to feed on the easy meal rather than chase you if you flee.
The nuar thumbs the trigger-guard on his grenade launcher as he watches the jellies pass over (or approach)...
"Wonder how much the little ones might fetch on the exotic pet trade?"
Guess? moves towards Akh's wavecutter and heeding Melissa's words Guess? fires at the teal jelly!
"Jello there!!!"
or below is flat-footed
(Manual sight reduces range and AC cover bonuses by 2)
flat-footed to all and -2 to saves if Stunt and Strike succeed
Disappointed at how much damage his rifle inflicted, Guess? states, "Might be time to ram this wavecutter into the jelly!"
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Akh swims towards the giant jellies, tongue and whip waving in the currents. Melissa, pops the hood of the submarine to let the group have free access to the delicious jellyfish. Guess? also recognizes the Giant Jellies, recalling that their bulbous forms are vulnerable to slashing melee weapons! His rifle, thanks to Strek's tinkering, fires underwater just fine. It makes a small hole in the jelly's nerves, slowing down it's reactions.
The pair of creatures release a THWOMMMMB accompanies by a series of sonic pulses that visibly pass through the water towards you! Melissa's mold interprets the sounds, "BIG! DIE! BIG! DIE!" The jellies follow their attacks in, charging at Akh and Del!
Guess? SP 30/30, HP 27/27, RP 6/6
Akh SP 38/50, HP 39/39, RP 4/4
Melissa SP 31/31, HP 33/33, RP 5/5
Del SP: 25/25, HP: 29/29, RP: 5/5
Strek SP 40/40, HP 36/36, RP 5/5
Jaraduk SP 40/40, HP 41/41, RP 5/5
Red Wavecutter, 40/40 HP
Teal Wavecutter, 40/40 HP
Black Submersible Tour Boat, 24/24 HP
Red Giant Jelly, 0 Damage
Teal Giant Jelly, 7 Damage, FLATFOOTED, -2 SAVES
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The shobad is PROBABLY safe from nudity until we near a pawn shop.
"Get hi..her..them. only they know the difference!"
bzzzzt
MIGHT hit with the flat footed....
"Akh, Jaraduk, if you get up close, try to slash at these things. It'll hurt them a bit extra!"
"Hey Akh, once we take these jellys down, I bet they'll taste great with some peanut butter!"
Guess? again fires at the jelly marked by Melissa!
or below is flat-footed
(Manual sight reduces range and AC cover bonuses by 2)
flat-footed to all and -2 to saves if Stunt and Strike succeed