Summary: The snake bursts from the water, its teeth slashing Sehkmet's shoulder but failing to latch on as the feline servant twists free.
Hyde moves to punch the snake in the nose, causing it to pull back.
Harker grabs the snake's gaze.
As Jonathan locks his predator's gaze on the Anaconda's forward facing eyes, he finds his mind engaged with a similarly predatory mind.
As Jonathan pushes his will against that of the Anaconda, he finds a similarly strong will pushing back, reaching into his mind and touching those ancient prey instincts.
Finding a reflection of his own predator soul within the serpent's eyes, Jonathan began to stare. For decades, his condition had robbed him of his physical reflection in mirrors. But, now he saw his soul reflected. What a monster.
Water splashes over Hathway but seems to hit some unseen force and falls away. This force seems to move, gripping the small boat to pull it back away from the massive snake so as not have have it crushed under it.
MOVIE OBJECT {24p} {TELEPATHIC}
MOVE 10 {Force}{10p}
You can move objects with your mind, As STR 10, 25 tones, RANGED 250' Attack +10 / Deflection Attack +10
EXTRA: RANGED 250' {1p}
EXTRA: EFFECTS Others+Self {1p}
ADVANTAGE: Throw Mastery 10 {10p}
ADVANTAGE: Improvised weapon {1p}
ADVANTAGE: Defecting {1p}
ALT POWER-MOVE OBJECT MANIPULATION {1p}
He is using move Object to move the boat to a safer distance so the others can fight it.
With a larch the boat moves across the water sideways from under the massive snake, so as not to be crushed by it falling back into the water.
I am assuming that the snake is no longer beside Sehkmet so she can't hit it.
If I am wrong and she CAN hit it then that is what she'd do
"Die foul spawn of Set. Die!!"
Woo hoo!!! DC 32 (including the crit)
If the Anaconda is not in reach, she will just use the heal power on herself
"You think that something like that will stop me? I am the goddess of Healing!"
vs DC 10
The boat jerks sideways in the water, bringing it close to the trees hanging over from the shore.
The anaconda and Jonathan remain locked in stare, one entranced, the other entrancing.
"Well don't say that you know things... actually tell me what they are, you daft woman!"
Helen grabs her book as the boat lurches unnaturally across the river. "Good lord, don't crash us on the shore!" She objects generally. It is probably past the time for rituals anyway. And Harker isn't being his usual smooth self as he normally is when entrancing an individual.
With so many impossible things happening, and with limited ability to do much else to help, Helen sighs and lurches forward, the golden mask appearing on her face as she assumes the bandaged form of the mummy. Through glowing eyes, she tries to break the gaze between Jonathan and the snake with her own fearsome gaze.
"Sorry about this, it's just a bit big dear lady, and I dont want to lose our transport"
He says so everyone can hear
Hyde grabs Jonathon and shakes him (not violently, but hard enough to rattle his brain). "Wake up!"
The massive anaconda, perhaps infused with the will of Apep, shrugs off Hyde's agressive shaking or it's prey and The Bride's mummified gaze.
Despite the shake, Jonathan remains entranced. But then the massive snake submerges, breaking eye contact and allowing him to shake it off.
The Captain cries out as the ship lurches toward the shore, gunning the engine and spinning the wheel to try to get past the snake and back into the safer central portion of the stream.
Fiery sparkles cross Helen's vision, showing her ancient hieroglyphs and inscriptions for warding off serpents.
Jonathan steadies himself on the tossing ship. "Hyde?! Sehkmet!? Can't you kill this thing?"
He looks for the monster and readies to attempt another gaze into its eyes.
Made it :-)
"If it is foolish enough to come back, I'll try and grab it"
She readies an action to strike if the Anaconda comes within reach
DC 27+5=32 Toughness Save
DC 22
"Kill it? I'd like to make a pet of it!" Hyde replies, only half-joking. If the snake resurfaces and approaches the boat, Hyde will try to grab it.
[dice=acrobatics]1d20+20 Made it :-)
"If it is foolish enough to come back, I'll try and grab it"
She readies an action to strike if the Anaconda comes within reach
[dice=To hit]1d20+8 DC 27+5=32 Toughness Save
[dice=free grab]1d20+9 DC 22
Cue a POV shot from the snake's perspective, moving through the water, the boat chugging vigorously overhead. The snake moves behind the boat before coming up on the side, and bursts out of the water, but before it can lock its jaws on the vampire, Johnathan captures its eyes in his gaze.
Dazed.
The snake hesitates before it can attack.
Sehkmet claws the creature as it hesitates.
Sehkmet and Hyde grab the massive snake, attempting to wrestle it onto the deck.
Made it :-)
I'd totally forgotten that I have water walking as a cat (Not in normal form). And while less effective in combat in cat form she is absolutely still not bad :-).
Oh well, it worked out ok :-)
While Jonathan holds the creature's gaze, he offers in an very gentlemenly British tone, "would you two please take care of the snake."
"It appears to be incapacitated, so they could just chuck it back in the river... if you ladies need assistance with that, do let me know." Helen surmises however that the two of them will just tear it apart for fun, and they don't really need her help with that.
After the anaconda is dealt with, she grabs a broken branch from a passing tree and uses some cloth she purchased at the market and a pocket knife to etch the sigils shown her into the wood. Chanting rituals as she completes the object, a rough amulet or totem for warding off snakes, and hangs it from the bow of the boat. It won't have helped in this fight but it may discourage the anaconda's brethren from making the same mistake it did.
”One does NOT let servants of Set live”
She then proceeds to tear it apart :-). Taking an unseemly amount of pleasure in doing so. And, of course, filling up on some snake tartare
Hyde seems a little saddened watching Sehkmet tear into the beast, but does not interfere and says nothing. "Could you have tamed it?" She asks Jonathon. "It might have been a useful ally."
Sehkmet tears the massive snake apart. There is plenty of skin here for a pair of boots or a designer purse or ten, but the threat has passed.
The captain moves the ship back into the center of the smaller stream, the diesel engines driving the vessel inexorably upstream.
What would be a terrifying and deadly encounter for a group of mortal documentarians is only a mildly troubling encounter for the likes of our team of monsters.
"It appears to be incapacitated, so they could just chuck it back in the river... if you ladies need assistance with that, do let me know." Helen surmises however that the two of them will just tear it apart for fun, and they don't really need her help with that.
After the anaconda is dealt with, she grabs a broken branch from a passing tree and uses some cloth she purchased at the market and a pocket knife to etch the sigils shown her into the wood. Chanting rituals as she completes the object, a rough amulet or totem for warding off snakes, and hangs it from the bow of the boat. It won't have helped in this fight but it may discourage the anaconda's brethren from making the same mistake it did.
[dice=Expertise Magic]1d20+15
Jonathan obviously avoids dirtying his clothes with the spray of serpent guts. He carefully steps or misty step to the bow of the ship to get upwind of the slaughter.
"It did not smell this bad on the outside," he remarks to no one in particular, as he continues to commit the sights of the Amazon jungle to memory.
Gore dripping from her lips, a blood soaked Sehkmet dives into the water to clean off before leaping back onto the boat, mostly clean.
"Ah, that was fun! I thought it smelled quite nice on the inside. Just a hint of oak"
Hathaway relaxes now the fight is over and he releases his control of the boat. His forcefield defects the gore, looking at the others he says.
"Note to self, bring snake repellent next time"
Traversing the narrow passage of black murky water takes the rest of the day. The captain insists on stopping at night, "The river is too tangled here to travel in the darkness."
He fires up the engines again in the pre-dawn, and by the time the sky brightens you break out of the narrows into a branch of the river as wide as some lakes. The water here is a strange collection of clear blue water in the center and various browns and red browns at the edges, as though multiple rivers are competing for dominance in what the character of the river will be.
The massive shaggy shape of your yacaruna companion shambles up from below decks, breathing deeply the air that hangs heavy with mist. As she walks to the bow, the long, almost dreadlock-like hair seems to shrink or draw back into the shaggy creature, and in fact, the massive muscular form melts away, leaving only a tiny (5 feet at most) Asian woman with a black pixie cut. She leans out over the water and begins to sing a wordless tune. Almost immediately a pod of pink domes appears in the river. Dolphins with slick grey and pink skin and long toothy noses arc through the water, singing back.
Henrietta awakens with the dawn and is on deck to watch the sun rise. She watches the dolphins with fascination, but takes care not to disturb the singer.
Jonathan rests in his blacked out cabin while his solar nemesis rules the sky. He alternates between napping to dream and rereading Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
Helen looks up from her journal with fascination, and immediately begins to jot down the rhythm and cadence of the song the woman sings.
Sehkmet hums softly to herself, trying to mimic the sounds of the dolphins as closely as she can
Any ear can hear the pain and longing in the song that Dr. Quan sings.
Dr. Quan brings the song to an end, then turns away from the water back to you, "“They called to me before I ever saw the river. In dreams. In bone-deep tides. I wanted to understand the emotion, analyze the feeling. Trap it in a cage, name it, map it. But the River is bigger than Science, I think. Bigger than maps and botanical surveys, satellite scans, frones.
“And now they ask me: ‘Will I return... or lead them forward?’ I don't know. I feel like I just woke up from a dream, or a nightmare.”
Helen approaches her slowly. Assuming the woman is wearing next to nothing given her previous form, she hold out her jacket for her to wear, though does not force her to take it. "It's good to... speak with you more easily, Dr. Quan. Would you have a seat? Why are they seeking leadership? What draws you here so strongly, do you think?"
Hathaway looks away at the almost naked woman,
as a good Gentleman should
Quan doesn't seem to notice her appearance. She seems very foggy and confused. Nevertheless, she reaches out to take Helen's jacket and wraps it around her shoulders.
She puts her small, delicate palm against her forehead. "Everything is so clouded. So hard to understand. The dolphins say that the river has changed. That something has invaded, like a new spring that they don't understand the smell/taste of. The river is out of balance. They want to me sing the song into balance. I don't know how to do that."
"Do you believe your colleagues are the invaders? Or did they awaken something else?"
"We definitely need to help restore Ma'at to the river"
Quan turns again to the river and sings. The dolphins seem to reply. Quan turns, "Dr. Wells was trying to use the retrovirus from the plants to cure disease, increase longevity. But I think what they found here was more than science. The boto, the dolphins, say that something has awakened. They call it the Mother...the Mother of Monsters."
"Well, that's vague. We are a boat full of monsters, and yet I doubt whatever this is sees itself as our mother. I don't supposed the dolphins can detail what it is. Physical? A spirit?"
Helen shakes her head. "I am getting ahead of myself. Are you hungry, Dr. Quan? Perhaps we should get you a meal. And then go belowdecks and see if we can wake Harker, so he can join this conversation. He might have questions and should be here to hear the rest of what everyone else has to say. Henrietta can ask the science questions." She pauses. "And Lord Hathaway... you've been doing this I think longer than I have. Any insights on 'Mother of Monsters'?"
Dr. Quan winces at the mention of food. "Eating sounds strange. I can absorb nutrients with the root hairs of the vinelike growths. But in this form...perhaps I should eat. Eating might help me remember who I am.
She lets herself be guided back belowdecks, her fingers trailing along the walls as if the boat were an unfamiliar skin.
She pauses to look back at the river. [b]"They say the Mother lives deep in the Lagoon, where the river stores its memories. They fear her."
Then she disappears below. In the silence that follows, a warm gust of air rises from the forest, carrying a faint smell of lilies and rot.
Below deck, Jonathan hears the approach of Dr. Quan. He puts down his book and exits his cabin to join her in the galley.
"Dr. Quan, so good to see your form at birth. I'm sure we can find some clothes which fit better."
"I missed your transformation. How are you? Now that you can speak clearer, what can you tell us about your transformation?"
"You look hungry. It's been decades since I prepared a proper meal. But I've seen people eat these bicuits." He retrieves some cookies from a cabinet and hands them to her.
She reaches out tentatively and takes the package of cookies, absently stuffing them into her mouth. At first, she seems to forget to chew. Her mouth becomes overstuffed, and as she chews, bits of cookie fall out.
"The plants. The key is the plants. They grow in the lagoon. They used them as packing material, just to get the samples back to Boston. Didn't realize that they were the key. They are host to a virus, a retro virus. It reprograms the host animal's cells, turning it into something else. But you saw that. It has different expressions in different genders. In humans, it turns females into what you saw with me. Large, heavily muscles, bigfoot like creatures. But the hair isn't hair. It's a sort of mega-villi that allow the changed organism to feed on air, water. The virus escaped containment. I was infected. Cassandra was infected. Did you know retroviruses are thought to be as much as 500 million years old?"
Henrietta raises an eyebrow, listening with rapt attention. "Do you know how the virus escaped containment?"
"Cassandra was working in the lab. I wasn't there, but I saw the footage from the cameras. She seemed to be hearing something that the cameras didn't pick up. She detached her respirator hose and took off her mask. Once she cleared containment it was out in the open."
During Dr. Quan's reply, Jonathan puts a kettle on the burner to prepare tea, which she obviously needs.
The vampire has never been a scientist, but he has faced bio threats before. So, he asks, "how long does the virus live on dead plants? We found some in a box in Boston. How long would it be a threat?"
Plants as packing material? Eco-friendly, but surely a biologist working in foreign parts would know better. Weren't emerald ash borers and lanternflies mundane enough examples of that kind of foolishness? How'd they get that through customs? I couldn't even bring a potted plant I'd bought in Egypt back to England. Oh, never mind, it's not important. Incompetent customs staff no doubt... Helen keeps her thoughts to herself, as the spoken questions and answers hinge upon the problem, and the how we got to the problem is less important.
"What are the chances we're not just dealing with this mother of monsters, but an epidemic?"
She pauses. "I'm so sorry. We're barraging you with questions, Dr. Quan, but given your condition... do you even know who we are?" If not, Helen calls for a round of introductions.
"The virus isn't alive, not technically. It is just a string of proteins that can insert itself into a host's RNA. Inside the sturdy cell walls of the plant, the virus could lie dormant for years in the dead plants. But someone would have to come into contact with it to be infected."
Replying to Helen, "I have vague memories of you. We fought in the lab. Then Mr. Harker. I know something of him. He is in my mind. His presence dims the call of the River."
Jonathan nods to Dr. Quan to acknowledge the benefits of his control. "If the virus remains forever dormant, then we need cleaners in the lab, the apartments, and potentially wherever that packing material could lay dormant. Hathaway, can you make that happen?"
The kettle sings with boiling water to shadow the tension. The vampire removes the kettle and pours a tea for Dr. Quan. Setting the kettle down, he serves her the mug, which is the nicest cup on the boat. "So to summarize, we have a self described mother of all monsters in a lagoon which hosts underwater plants which can transform humans into monstrous minions. What did I miss which changed the recent dynamics? Presumably, she could have extended her reach centuries ago, right?"
"So, we've got to motivate this mother to return to her position as a large fish in a small pond? Dr. Quan, would you have any suggestions?"