Forester, Sentinel, Slingshot, Viper and Agent Grey.
Time: Unknown.
Atlantic Ocean. 18,300 feet below sea level.
Time until Tsunami Machine Activation: Unknown
In the shadow of the awesome Star Giant Sentinel tried to sense further, regarding the energy flow from the Star Giant. He found two distinct energy signatures! The majority was organic bio-energy of a nature completely alien to him! The other was clearly man-made electricity. The two were mostly segregated. The Star Giant was some kind of cyborg! Machine fused to a living organism!
Slingshot pointed to U-man. On his extended arm appeared the words: "Is anyone looking for sharks? He might be faking it."
Sentinel also looked to see if U-Man's condition remained unchanged in the presence of this power. Two hateful eyes glared back at them. U-Man was awake. Perhaps from re-immersion in his element. Perhaps from the Star Giant. Either way, his strength was returning, but the net and the arrows in his thigh and throat kept him in check. He smiled at the heroes’ proximity to the Giant. Then he laughed maliciously. No hammerheads were in sight. Yet.
Sentinel tried to feel if the energy flow has changed or exchanged between the tracker and the Giant. It had not.
Forester fired his long-awaited Corrosive Arrow at the base of the one the Star Giant’s titanic limbs! As ever, his aim was true. In short order, air bubbles released from the area of the impact. They grew. Then other things were released. They looked like people! In time, the air and people stopped.
The Star Giant continued its motions as if unaffected!
Slingshot’s extra long arm ran words like a ticker tape: “I think it's time to look at this a little closer. Sentinel? Can you go around this thing a little and see if there's a port or something? It hasn't been hostile yet, we might be able to simply board this and see… Does the signal point to this? Maybe we should simply move on to our target"
Sentinel also wanted to try to get closer to learn more before making their presence known, preferably entering the ship (if it is a ship) undetected, if that was possible. He waved the others toward the monstrous thing!
Viper stares out at the leviathan and shakes his head. He taps Grey on the shoulder. Holding his arms out and shrugging his shoulders, Viper gives Grey an underwater look of "NOW WHAT?"
In response, Grey followed Slingshot and Sentinel’s lead and waved Viper and Forester closer as well, toward a part of the thing that was away from the arrow impact. Perhaps Forester’s attack could serve as a distraction for them! He unsheathed his futuristic pistol.
They approached the awesome Star Giant. It undulated and quivered, mollusk-like, as it propelled itself forward through the water. As they drew nearer they saw technology layered upon the thing, as thick as the coral and barnacles that encrusted the giant’s skin. It was clearly some kind of hellish aquatic cyborg!
Some of the technology was recognizably human. Some was not! The latter employed some form of non-Euclidean geometry and physics that turned their stomachs, disturbing them all on a primordial level (Imagine the Death Star broken up, redesigned by M.C. Escher and then fused into a gigantic Lovecraftian, insane mollusk creature).
Its scale was hard to take in. Closer now, they saw windows, ports, and doors within the more normal constructions as they swam within the thing’s terrible shadow. They also felt a palpable sense of psychic dread! The hair on the nape of Forester’s neck stood up!
Swimming closer still toward a cluster of human-like architecture, they discovered what appeared to be an airlock! More amazing still, it began to open!!
Suspecting a trap, Grey cautiously entered pistol first. Then he gave the “all clear.”
The heroes entered the airlock and programmed it to cycle. (Another vote: Do you bring U-Man in tow, or leave him outside the Star Giant? Majority will rule again.)
Inside the airlock chamber, they discovered an empty pressurized suit identical to the ones they all wore (save Slingshot)!
Once the airlock cycled and filled with air, the heroes could communicate again. Grey pulled off his pressure helmet and held out the empty suit. “There’s electrical burn marks on this. Lightning Strike made it this far. It’s a safe bet he opened the airlock for us. With any luck he can hide our movements from the security inside this insane place!”
The technology was a futuristic wonder of engineering, reminiscent of the Doomsday Robot!
The airlock chamber had a window that looked out into a long, empty, grey steel corridor. There were alarm sounds barely audible in the distance.
OOC:
GM gives heroes a look of "NOW WHAT?"
Actions, please!
-Ye Editor
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Forester:
Forester suggests that Grey stand guard over U-Man near the entry point, keeping the maritime menace at bay while freeing the three costumed crime-fighters to explore the electronically enhanced echinoderm while unencumbered. Whether U-Man comes along or not, the amiable archer clenches one fist andsays to Viper and Slingshot: "Either of you guys want to give U-Man another case of the Z's? He's a lot more charming when he's, well, unconscious." Though muscular and exceptionally athletic for a normal human, the 5-foot, 8-inch archer is the least likely hero on hand to take up professional arm-wrestling.
Eyeing Forester's uncluttered quiver, the bulkier brigadiers notice that he has already fired about half of his miscellaneous missiles.
Forester looks relieved when Grey points out the metaphorical bread crumbs that Lightning Strike left behind, yet he keeps his thoughts to himself.
ACTIONS: In order of preference:
1. If Forester can detect a discernible source of the sounding alarm, he'll use one of his remaining normal arrows to make a special attack against the device.
2. If none of his teammates can break through the window into the hallway, Forester will fire an Impact Arrow against the window. (Mental Note: Bring at least two Sonic Arrows on the next mission.)
3. Forester will evade.
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Sentinel:
‘Its scale was hard to take in. Closer now, they saw windows, ports, and doors within the more normal constructions as they swam within the thing’s terrible shadow. They also felt a palpable sense of psychic dread! The hair on the nape of Forester’s neck stood up!’
Sentinel winced a bit feeling the psychic dread and thought to himself he would do well to pay special attention to his thoughts and mental defenses; if this thing is emanating a psychic aura perhaps that's why we lost contact with Venus - we came into range of this creature's power and its inhibiting Venus from getting through perhaps knowingly, perhaps unknowingly... either way at least that gives another alternative to a coordinated attack against the others and their having been taken out of the equation since we've had no reestablished contact.
Quite a bit of difference from being prepped on these sort of things and actually experiencing it. Well, psychic energy is still an energy of sorts, maybe a different level than I'm used to dealing with, but nothing I can't handle, he reasoned to himself; just keep control of the will...
‘The heroes entered the airlock and programmed it to cycle. (Another vote: Do you bring U-Man in tow, or leave him outside the Star Giant? Majority will rule again.)’
Sentinel could see no good in leaving U-Man to his own measures, even injured, and signals that keeping U-Man in tow would be his choice; he agrees with Forrester about an unconscious U-Man being the course of wisdom at this time. In his mind he still reasons that perhaps something unique to U-Man might get them past some sensors or gain them entry somewhere (brainwaves, fingerprints, retina scans, etc)
‘Once the airlock cycled and filled with air, the heroes could communicate again. Grey pulled off his pressure helmet and held out the empty suit. “There’s electrical burn marks on this. Lightning Strike made it this far. It’s a safe bet he opened the airlock for us. With any luck he can hide our movements from the security inside this insane place!”’
"I hope your right, but (glancing towards his chest wound) nothing has gone that smoothly up to now. He could have made it in and been captured and they're baiting us at this point."
Sentinel takes a moment to try to sense if he can find Lightning Strike's unique energy signature knowing what he is looking for amidst all of the other readings. If he can, does he seem stationary or moving? Can Sentinel keep a "lock" on him to lead the others to him?
In addition, Sentinel makes a move towards any computer panels and controls. With his energy sense and knowledge of computers he would try to see if there is anything useful accessible to him. Since they have no idea of the setup of things it might be information as simple as a "you are here" sort of mapping on the system. If the system is accessible, could he pull up any sort of schematics on the layout of the place? If the system is not too difficult does he think he can just open the door when the others are prepared to move on?
Finally, Sentinel reasons that the device that is being used to cause all of these problems should be emanating huge sources of energy. Can he lock in on this? If he can and if he locked in on Lightning Strike were they in the same proximity? Finally, if he feels a huge source of energy, is it the alien organic type energy that he feel's from the creature or is it manmade type energy? If Sentinel's guesses are correct, he thinks he should feel both strong sources in the same general area because his guess would be that SKULL is harnessing this creatures power to fuel their device to cause the Tsunami.
OOC: Lots of minor actions for Sentinel here - I don't know if he can do all this "sensing" while trying to get an understanding of their computer systems. He would definitely look over their surroundings and then move towards the computers to examine them; if its a choice of working the computers versus trying to "map" the energy flows he is reading, the energy flows would come first. And, of course, no real computer systems may even be accessible from this room or apparent; he would then try to examine the control panel for the door unless someone else moved to it first and seemed more adept at this sort of thing (at that point he would observe the workings of the panel trying to get a bead on them himself and offer assistance if he thought he could help; from their current group he would be surprised if anyone other than Grey made this attempt and would definitely want to try to finesse the system before using brute force against it or the door).
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Slingshot:
Slingshot's input:
13 (Grey): Slingshot is content with that information for now. As Grey put it, we can pursue this if we survive this one.
14: Slingshot was still awed at the sight of this.. thing. The preternatural feeling of dread only added to his feelings. To get a hold of the blue prints of this thing? To understand the engineering behind such a construction?! As he swam on, he kept absorbing the sights and marveling at it.
(Snip)
[ooc: this assumes a successful hit, with an attack centered on the head for maximum KO%]Slingshot summarily hit U-Man square on the head. Once their captive was unconscious again, the malleable man spoke almost softly despite his normally booming voice: "Leaving him outside will only cause us trouble. His pet sharks won't be able to help him inside, and I'm willing to bet that he recuperates better when in water. Besides I had no intention on hearing him give us another rant about how elitist he is."
Slingshot's Actions:
1-Knock U-Man unconscious again.
If we are allowed more than one action: I'll do a search of the perimeter.
Assuming that we have open corridors: I'll extend my head/neck to the maximum (along the ceiling, assuming that any camera system would be pointed at ground level people), and look/search silently the immediate corridors and peeking at rooms where possible. I'll report anything back to the gang.
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Viper:
"You need to know?!" snarled Grey. "WE'RE the blasted good guys!!"
Viper scratches his head and looks at everyone. Well then let's get that Twister Machine back, drop our tents and move onto the next town!"
‘U-Man smiled at the heroes' proximity to the Giant. Then he laughed maliciously. No hammerheads were in sight. Yet.’
Viper seems to snap at U-man's laughter. He takes a swing at U-Man, a gut punch, and motions in front of him... Viper holds his hands to his stomach in a mocking underwater belly laugh. Viper taps Sentinel on the shoulder and points to his own eyes and then at U-Man, as to say he'll watch him. He ends his mime with a wink.
Once inside the airlock, Viper makes haste taking off his suit. "Finally! On dry ground again!" Grey pulled off his pressure helmet and held out the empty suit. "There's electrical burn marks on this. Lightning Strike made it this far. It's a safe bet he opened the airlock for us. With any luck he can hide our movements from the security inside this insane place!"
Viper says, "A safe bet!? How do we know he wasn't captured and they left his suit here to lure us in? I don't like this. If that air lock is locked, then we're at a dead end. Not that I wanna go out there again with U-man's pet fishys. And I definitely don't like leaving fish boy here alone. Let's drag him along with us. At best we can kill him if we don't need him. Worse case scenario, we use him as bait. "To U-man and smiling. "You'd like to be bait, huh?"
Viper looks down the corridor, through the window. "It's all too neat. If Lightning is here and helping us, we NEED to get in contact with him." Viper points at the controls on the door. "Can't one of you make this thing work?"
OOC: Typically I try not to read other posts until I've decided what Viper is going to do. Since I was busy this week, I didn't get to read them until today, so.. It seems U-man is really taking a beating! So I deleted Viper's Knockout blow in the airlock and bow to Slingshot's action. *grins* I'm not sure Viper would actually Kill a helpless U-man, but he will act it out to the end.
Vanguard Roll Call!
