4F for Freedom!

[Thanee]

Elisa Cameron, aka Ghost

Time passes, Elisa's knuckles still hurt.

She picks up the goblet again and moves it around, testing her newly discovered ability to touch something. But why can't she pass through that green stone? Elisa cannot find an answer to this question.

While experimenting more with the goblet, she waits for something else to happen...

 

[Karl Green]

Atlas

Atlas turns into his non-heroic, normal form...all 5ft tall and maybe 110lbs soaking wet. He turns a little red and says with a shaky voice "I…well am easier to carry in this form I would guess…" he looks at his feet and shuffles them back and forth a bit, but is ready to go…

 

[Velmont]

Lianne Jefferson

"Let's go! The sooner we are out of here, the better. Hmmm, how we fit in that?" she looks a bit confused.

 

[Mark Chance]

Port Cruden Research Station, Adak Island

Mustang Sally has her makeshift cargo harness in place and her engines at the ready. Bulwark, Eagle, and Atlas are strapped in, bundled in winter coats as needed.

"Mustang Sally," Gaines says. "You'll hit the air first once we're over the dee zee. You three will go one after the other right after her. You've got to move fast before the slack is gone. Otherwise, things could get bad real quick. Once you're out there, there's no virtually no visibility. Head down in a descending spiral, and keep your eyes out for lights. You don't want to hit the water in this weather. With luck, you land near the runways. The barracks and living quarters are east of the runways."

Gaines looks a bit pensive.

"Be careful," he says.

Then he opens the jump door. Icy wind blasts in. What seems like an eternity later, the green light pops.

"Go! Go! Go! Go!"

Mustang Sally roars through the night air, free and a little bit frightened. When she feels the sudden jerk from the weight of her teammates, she drops precariously for several yards before regaining control. The wind twists and tears at the heroes as Sally tries to keep a steady downward spiral. Four sets of eyes try to pierce the white out conditions around them, but to no avail.

Then, suddenly, there are a few lights, flickering in the flurries of snow, and Bulwark, Eagle, and Atlas hit the tarmac all about the same time. Sally drags them for a few feet before she realizes they've reached the ground, and then she too sets down.

The blizzard howls like a wild animal. The runway lights might as well not be on for all the good they're doing. The biting cold, cascades of driving snow and ice, and wind all conspire against the senses of sight and hearing.

OOC 1: The cold counts as intense cold, forcing a Fort save every 10 minutes for those not Immune to cold. Anything farther away than 5 feet has half concealment. Farther than 30 feet, concealment is total.

OOC 2: Sorry for the confusion, Thanee. There is indeed an open archway leading out of the room. If Elisa wants to go explore, that's fine.

 

[Synchronicity]

Bulwark, HP 4/4, Status: Cold, but uninjured.

Bulwark extricates himself from the jury-rigged contraption as quickly as he is able, squinting against the snow. He stands on the tarmac for a moment in concentration (Activate Density Control +8, half action) before trying...and failing...to make out anything of his surroundings. The big man fumbles his way over to the others and shouts at very close range: "Can any of you see a thing in this? I think the facility's supposed to be *that* way," Bulwark says, pointing in an easterly direction, "but I'm damned if I can see it. I think we should be prepared for anything, just in case; this storm could hide more than just the facility, if you take my meaning. And stay close together; we can't afford to get separated in this weather." Bulwark's coat whips about him, his masked face an incongruous image about the heavy material. He seems remarkably stolid in the face of the driving wind and snow.

Fortitude Save (DC 10): Automatic success.

 

[Karl Green]

Atlas

Altas grows to his full 12ft of height and tries to see into the bizzard (maybe with a bit of height as it were) but failing that he shakes his head and says "Your guess is good as mine, and that should be the way... lets go!"


[occ]Mark can you send me a copy of my character? I seem to have misplaced mine. My email again is greenkarl @ hotmail dot com [/occ]

 

[Kevin Perrine]

Mustang Sally

Sally wasn't ready for the cold... the wind - sure, she could handle that it actually made the updraft easier for her to take off vertically... But the cold...
"ja-ja-ja-geeze fellas... it sh-sh-sh-sure is cold...." Sally says as she steps behind the huge Atlas and Bulwark hoping to use their frames as some cover from the biting wind, while they get their barings...
first Fortitude Check for the cold for Sally: 8 (roll) + 1 (fort) = 9 Total.... CRAP! Failed for the DC10, unless my Armor+4 gives me any bonus to the cold - GMs call.

g-g-g-gotta keep my Angel-Wings from freezin up in the cold, g-g-g-get th-th-the ice offf-fffa-a-a dem.... Weakness: they malfunction on 1-5 on D20 roll... Roll: 9, thank god.

Straining to listen to the taller men talking.....

Bulwark
"Can any of you see a thing in this? I think the facility's supposed to be *that* way," Bulwark says, pointing in an easterly direction, "but I'm damned if I can see it. I think we should be prepared for anything, just in case; this storm could hide more than just the facility, if you take my meaning. And stay close together; we can't afford to get separated in this weather."

Altas
"Your guess is good as mine, and that should be the way... lets go!"

"d-d-d-the platoon of-f Marines.....
the f-f-1st Division Stationed here.....
you guys think they might be held up in the b-b-barrackss?" as Sally points to the NorthEast.
"M-m-m-maybe w-we should go find'em... see what the compliment of...of...of weapon an' support we can muster on da-b-b-base..."
Sally looks to see what the team thinks of her idea, but the storm doesn't show emotions so well with everyone protecting their faces from the cold... So she goes to rambling the other things remembered from the black and white survielance photos given them.

"err..rrr.. th-the Mess'n Rec is dead east... that's pr-probably wh-where the radio room is housed... gettin' radio b-back online would k-keep our options open for b-b-backup..."
Looking about again she continues to ramble... obviously nervous about the situation, getting tired from the wear of the storm on her small frame...
The she exclaims...
"Nemo! N-n-nemo m-maybe we should git to there first?! It's..... " Turning in the direction she thinks is SouthEast (from Bulwark's original Eastern point)... to get her barings in the storm roll: Natural 20 +1(spot) or perhaps +11(using her piloting skill)
"... I...I th-think it's down that'a way..." As Sally picks up her right P-51 engine to point.

Sally stops for a second... then continues on...
"an' Sir... " looking to Paul.
"Sir... the lightning we saw from the plane and coming down... dya th-think it m-might be the Jap? - the w-one they called Aj-jjji-Suk-k-ki... S-suki... Aji-SUKI... Sorry S-s-sir the c-cold... it's c-c-cold..."
Looking down to her wings...
"I th-think the weather could be on our s-s-side... they, they don't know we're h-h-here... an' the wind an' white arrre, it's masking the sound of-of-of my Engines...."

finally shutting up for a second Sally thinks, takes some looks around for any lights or paint on the tarmak that would alert her to the knowledge of:
- where they are on the landing strip
- where the other planes might be
- and any other knowledge
that the familiarity of PLANES and airports could give her from their situation... another NATURAL 20!! for a +1(spot) or +11(planes) skill checks


wait... Sally thought to herself...
I wonder if the Japs came in by ship at Port Potemkin? m-m-maybe they've got support on the docks!!
Sally knew she was just too indecisive about all this... lucky for her Bulwark was in charge!

 

[Thanee]

Elissa Cameron, aka Ghost

Well, if I cannot pass through the stone, at least I can walk through this doorway...

As Elisa turns her concentration to the exit, the Goblet falls to the ground, unsupported by her will. She stands up and leaves the room, to see what else awaits her in the Jade Palace, in the Shadow Hell... her hell.

Jade... is that the green stone?

 

[Mark Chance]

Port Cruden, Adak Island, the Aleutians

Mustang Sally takes a look around, studying the markings on the runway and the light. She points into the storm, indicating the direction of the air traffic control tower and the Marine barracks. Hunkering against the icy wind and driving snow, the heroes head off, eyes and ears straining to remain alert against the cacophony of the blizzard. When Eagle nearly stumbles over the first body, they know there is trouble.

The dead Marine is nearly covered with snow and ice. Only a frozen hand protrudes from his white grave. Atlas and Bulwark dig the body free. The corpse is a mess. All of the times Atlas and Bulwark wondered about what effects their great strength fully unleashed would have on mere flesh and bone are answered. The Marine is frozen into a statue with broken limbs and a crushed jaw. Then the heroes notice the other bodies. All together, six Marines died in this area. They died of burns, gaping slashes, shattered bones, and ruptured organs.

Not too far away, the heroes can see the blinking lights of the air traffic control tower. According to their intel, the barracks aren't too much farther on.

 

[Mark Chance]

The Jade Palace, the Shadow Hell

Elisa exits her strange chamber. The green stone of that room comprises the walls, floors, and ceilings of the corridor beyond. Oriental paper lanterns suspended from the ceiling continue to provide dim illumination. There is no sign of life, except for a strange, small creature that resembles a pale, tailless, hairless mouse scurrying along the floor against the wall. It pauses to study Elisa with glittering yellow eyes, chitters rapidly, and then continues on unperturbed.

With two directions but no reason to favor one of the other, Elisa wanders down the corridor. Ahead, she sees the dull orange glow of twilight shining through an archway, turning the walls and floor muddy brown. At the archway, there is a balcony made of some dark wood with bannisters and columns ornately carved with a twisting dragon motif. The sun, huge and blood red, hangs low in the sky, almost vanished behind the undulating, black tops of thickly grown trees. It appears as if the Jade Palace is situated in the jungle somewhere. The scene briefly recalls to Elisa's mind a book about a jungle and a tiger and a lost boy, but when she tries to focus on the memory, it flees from her mental grasp.