[GRIM TALES] Wulf Ratbane's SLAVELORDS of CYDONIA

[ragboy]

T. Rawley's cigarette fell to the cavern floor, and he stood frozen for what seemed like an eternity, his hand clutching at the seemingly ineffectual pistol at his side. Bill's yell for cover and Brigitta's fevored scream of surrender flew through him, and images of the ambush at Vera Cruz flooded his mind. The burning pain of gunshots, the long delerious recovery in that hot, stinking country. He had to save his friends, but he could not take his eyes off of the unbelievable horrors that leaped from the arcane gate.

And then he was moving, a sick wailing word escaping from his mouth, neither prayer nor curse but of the black thing that spawns both. T. Rawley was getting out of here.

OOC: He running full out toward the exit.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Bill hadn't made it more than twenty paces through the large cavern before alien rifles sent him skidding across the floor.

Rawley was even less fortunate. As he turned to run, one of the nearby crocs whipped his rifle across the back of his skull. Bright lights exploded in Rawley's head, danced lazily, and went out.

The remaining crocs surrounded Haskins. He put his back to the archway structure, whipped his rifle into position, and made a few threatening jabs with his bayonet to keep the crocs at bay. To his surprise, though they vastly outnumbered him, he was treated with remarkable respect; they seemed surprised by his resistance and almost unsure what to do. As they closed ranks around him, Haskins was forced to swing his rifle over his head in wild, ever widening circles, holding onto the strap and using it like a club. He heard a gratifying crunch as he made contact with a croc who stepped too close. He waited for the press of bodies that would eventually overwhelm him.

But it did not come. A sharp grunt from one of the officers and the crocs ceased their approach. Still, they surrounded him, but now they stepped back and almost casually brought their rifles up.

"You... you bastards!" Haskins hollered. "Give me a fair fight, by God!"

Haskins made a last charge to break through the outer circle, and the rifles fired.

*****

Brigitta was the only one awake to see what happened. They were brought through the portal and stripped of their gear. The crocs sifted through their gear, inspecting each item carefully. Joshua's pistols were inspected first, and it was clear to Brigitta that the crocs recognized their purpose, if not necessarily how to use them. A couple of them made crude attempts to hold the pistols over their heads, as Joshua had done, but their thick fingers would not even fit inside the trigger guard. They repeated the "holding over the head" action several times, either surprised or disappointed that the pistols did not behave as they did in Joshua's hands. Brigitta stifled a weak smile.

The snake-headed creature sidled up to the throng of crocs and began issuing orders to the officers. There was a little fear, and immense respect, as one of the officers quickly formed up two squads and headed back through the portal.

The other officer got his men in order and continued going through their belongings, lifting each item and showing it to the snake-headed creature before setting it aside in categorized piles. Their machetes were inspected briefly: These, at least, it was clear they had some familiarity with, though they seemed amazed at the craftsmanship of the blades.

Their rope was of special interest to the snake-headed creature, who by his manner, if not his dress, Brigitta had surmised was some kind of high-ranking officer or even nobleman. He glided forward to take the rope from his officer as it was held up, uncoiling and recoiling it several times. He threw back his cape to reveal a coil of strong, fine chain on his own belt. Flinging this towards the crocs holding Brigitta, he replaced it with Joshua's rope.

Brigitta's hands were wrapped and bound with chain and she was dragged out of the portal room. She did her best to watch her surroundings as they were led through the hallways and down a set of spiral stairs. There was little doubt in Brigitta's mind where they were going.

Brigitta counted two sets of spiral stairs and one normal staircase before they arrived in the dungeon. They were briefly "checked in" in a central room adorned with torture implements, then thrown, one by one, into black stone cells with iron bars across the front. Each cell had a shaggy mat for sleeping, and two buckets (one for water and one for waste).

One by one her companions were thrown into cells. Haskins. Teddy. Joshua. Rawley. Bill.

Brigitta was the last one deposited. As she was led around the central "core" to the next empty cell, she heard the soft moan of other (human?) inmates near her.

The chains were removed, she was thrown forward on her face, and the gate was slammed shut behind her.

Brigitta's mind turned immediately to escape.

Escape and revenge.

Here begins Book Two....





Happy holidays, folks!

And fear not, heroes!

Everyone should level up their characters to 4th level. Don't forget to add 1 point to one of your ability scores. Post your updates in the character thread, and I will update the .pdf character sheets for you.

If I have an internet connection over the holidays (and I think I will...), we can continue. If you're around, feel free to post. I think the fact that you are all separated at the moment will allow me to update individually as folks have time to post, or not.

Otherwise, I will see you all on Jan. 2nd

 

[Fenris]

OOC: Happy first married Holidays Wulf!
Great First Book.

Haskins slowly awake to nausea and cold stone. He managed to crawl to the bucket before vomiting and spent some moments afterwards letting his head clear. As he looked around the cell and noted his missing equipment he thought 'Well, maybe they aren't going to eat us.' He slowly sat up only to feel his head spin again and crawled over to the shaggy pelt to lie still for a bit of a think. 'Well, this is a great bloody pickle now ain't it. Captured by brutish somethings taken god-knows-where and stuck in a cage'. Haskins shook his head 'No, he thought can't get like this, forge on, act like a soldier damn it man!' he chided himself ferociously and forced himself up on to his feet, staggering, but upright to explore his cell. At the iron bars he leans on them for support, his legs still rubbery from the croc's blasts. "They were at least kept in check by some display of courage, if we could get one on their fancy guns.......' he thought. But he was alone, and he had failed Ms. Neilson, of course had she ever actually followed his advice to leave the valley or not enter the portal, he would be here. Standing at the bars he listens for other prisoners and called out softly to them.

 

[BryonD]

Woo Hoo! Great job!

As Joshua slowly wakes from the nightmare he discovers it has just begun. He retches a few times, but finds he has nothing left to lose.

He painfully climbs up to one knee and surveys his surroundings.

"Unpleasant side effects my ass. Welcome to the world of snakes and pits."

 

[Old One]

Brigitta

[OOC - Brigitta updated here: Update. Finishing up Book 1 in fine fashion!]

Brigitta curses under her breath and paces around the cell like a caged lioness.

"Idiot! What have you done?"

Her hubris had led them here. Will I ever learn?

The promise of power...nay, the very hint of power...had set her on the unwavering course that landed all of them in dire straights. God knows what horrible fate awaited them now. God?

"Gods, more likely," she grumbles to herself. "I am fairly certain none of these crocodile men has ever seen the inside of Hambrick's bible."

She stops for a moment and almost bursts out laughing. At least she had some experience with other-worldly things...how was Joshua faring with their change of venue?

She focuses her anger a bit by thoroughly searching the perimeter of her prison, including floor, walls and ceiling (visually). She also inspects the openings carefully, running her skilled hands across the opening mechanism, looking for weaknesses.

[OOC: Search roll: 27 and Disable Device roll: 22. Note, she isn't trying to open the lock...just studying and looking for a potential escape route.]

After berating herself for nearly an hour, her minds slows and she stops pacing. Seating herself in the center of the cell, she clasps her knees to her chests and wills her breathing to slow. She allows her clinician's mind...honed by years of learning and research...to take over, cycling through information, thoughts and mental images.

She lets go of possible road-blocks to mental success, such as the sheer impossibility of crocodile and cobra-headed creatures. She knew enough to know all they were seeing was possible.

She focuses in on the script-festooned doorway. She hadn't gotten a great look at it...but had studied it for some time. Her breathing slows even further as all of her energy hammers against that mental image, seeking to unlock secrets and expand her mind. Unconsciously, her fingers lightly trace the alien glyphs and designs...seeking answers.

Something clicks in a remote region of her expanded consciousness. Knowledge. That is what she needed. Understanding her enemies was halfway towards defeating them.

A small smile spreads across her lips for the first time since her capture...

[OOC: She will try to make one of those "heroic leaps of knowledge" to understand the alien script, especially in light of what has transpired...and get nothing with an 11 ]

~ OO

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Teddy's first solid blow came crashing down on Joshua, and all hell broke loose.

The crystalline baton exploded into a million flying, tearing, shredding pieces, ripping through the crowd that had been pressing in ever closer on the fight.

Clearly, from the shrieks of shock and anger, this was not a function intrinsic to the design of the weapon.

Bru bodyguards from a dozen different nobles leapt into the center of the room to stand protectively over their charges, pushing and shoving to clear a space through all the confusion.

Most of the ra nobles were relatively unhurt, but as the bru managed to seperate the crowd, the heroes caught sight of Jula'saar lying mortally wounded, slumped over the dining table.

Sil'saar shouted to Gru'tur, who formed a protective circle of bru warriors and started trying to round up his gladiators. His hand fumbled for his collar control device.

-----

Joshua's eyes widened in shock as the implications crashed through his mind.

"Teddy!!!!! Drop!!! Now!!! Now!!! Down!!!"

Joshua reversed his grip on his own baton and held the handle as near the crystal as he dared, the base sticking out. As he dropped to his knees he shouted:

"NOT US!!! VERT'JAAL'S WEAPONS!!!! VERT'JAAL'S!!!!"

-----

"Ah hell, Brindle," Rawley said, looking around feverishly.

He spread his hands wide and dropped to his knees.

-----

Bill shouted, "The baton's were Ress'saar's idea! Look who benefits from Jula'saar's death -- He'll gonna kill us next to cover it up!"

-----

Haskins ducked instinctively at the explosion; still, shards punctured his sides. He stood still and took in the scene as his compatriots started shouting offers of help, accusations and pleas of innocence.

Haskins stood still and knew what what occurring. They were pawns. Still pawns. Not master of their own destiny. The Sli'ess were opportunistic. Obviously the time had come for a change. Someone took that opportunity. The key now for his group was to survive the ensuing chaos and upheaval of the house. With the matiarch dead, a power struggle would occur that would kill some nobles and ruin others. The trick here was to land on the winning side. To ensure our direct benefactor came out ahead in this deal.

So time to put on the show for Sil'saar's benefit

Haskins calmly walked up before the prostrate body of Jula'saar and bowed as he has been taught. Showing respect to the house and the dead.

-----

Teddy's hands gripped his collar tightly, but his rage subsided and he saw that his companions weren't making any attempts to escape. As he calmed down, he released the collar and dropped his hands to his sides. He surveyed the room. He did not really understand what was happening, but he wasn't going to be anyone's patsy. He'd rather die fighting.

-----

Brigitta extended her hands towards the mortally wounded noble and screams at the top of her voice (in sli'ess).

"Do not leave us yet, great Jula'saar."

To herself, 'By the Gods of this forsaken place, let this work.'

She then headed towards the head table, hands out, palms up.

"Let me through, I may be able to save her...!"

The bru guards crossed their pikes in front of Brigitta, denying her access to the dying matriarch.

Brigitta stood as high as her 5' 1" frame would allow her to stand and stared down the bru.

"Imbiciles...have you not witnessed my healing powers in the arena? Let me pass, before it is too late and Jula'saar is gone for good!"

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

“Assassins!” someone screamed. “Seize them!”

A red blaze like heat lightning flashed across Brigitta’s face with a barely audible hiss. Ress’saar’s blade whipped back inches from her throat, but Sil’saar’s own razor-thin selk was out, and he easily deflected the killing backstroke. His own riposte pierced the heart of Ress’saar’s bru captain, who grunted once before his body withered into a pile of glowing ash.

“Get them out of here!” Sil’saar ordered.

Rough hands effortlessly jerked Brigitta off her feet and she was hauled out of the growing melee. Ress’saar and Sil’saar had drawn apart, and their bodyguards leapt between them in a snarl of blades and teeth. Blood splattered to the floor—followed by limbs. Brigitta winced and turned away, but she was already being hustled towards the door. Joshua, Rawley, and Haskins were shoved, pushed, kicked, half-rolled and half-hustled along as Gru’tur tried to protect them and break them free of the scrum. He grabbed Teddy by the collar and hoisted him to his feet, shoving his own gurak into Teddy’s fumbling hands.

“Fight for your life,” said Gru’tur.

Teddy looked down at the weapon in his hands and his confusion melted away. All of the various political implications of their predicament—from the moment they arrived on this accursed world, to their capture, their torture, their time as gladiators—it was all irrelevant. He girded his mind in the clarity of combat.

Gru’tur’s squad formed a wedge, fortifying their flanks as the warriors at the tip gave way to Gru’tur and Teddy, who together carved a path through the hall to a side exit. If Gru’tur was any more circumspect than Teddy, with regard to friend or foe, it was not evident to the others. Bru, human, skreet, and perhaps a ra or two; all who stood in their way fell dead or reeled away, screaming.

Haskins turned to look behind them as they passed into an archway out of the grand hall. The entire hall was filled with battling reptiles. Red-armored bru warriors—the Hematite Authority?—were filing in to restore order, firing indiscriminately into the crowd with their suppression rifles. None dared to fire back.

--

“Where are we going?” asked Brigitta. They were fleeing rapidly down the dark stone corridors that ran beneath the Saar Palace.

“Back to the Muk’taraat,” said Gru’tur. “Sil’saar will rejoin us there.”

“How do you know he won’t be killed up there?” asked Rawley.

“None would dare,” said Gru’tur, as if he were explaining something obvious to a child. “It does not work like that.”

“Not here in House Saar,” said Haskins. He thought he understood.

“Not anywhere,” corrected Gru’tur. “The ra cannot simply kill one another when the whim strikes. We are a society of laws… and tradition,” he admitted.

True, thought Haskins. Somebody went through an awful lot of trouble to assassinate Jala'saar, and keep their hands clean.

They had been moving down a long tunnel, certainly longer than the one they had entered by, but they suddenly burst into the light, into an alleyway outside the Saar Palace. Gru’tur moved down the alley to the busy street and stopped a skreet-borne palanquin. Holding aside the curtain, he urged them to enter. “Inside, and quickly.”

They hestitated a moment but Gru’tur’s squad soon got them moving. Gru’tur pulled the curtains closed, though they could still see the feet of his soldiers as they slunk furtively out of the alley to encircle the palanquin. With a sharp word from Gru’tur, the palanquin moved off, borne on the quick, quiet, padded feet of a dozen ratmen.

Inside, Brigitta turned her wide eyes on Haskins and incredulously mouthed the thing that was on all their minds:

“Where’s… Bill?”







In celebration of our collective return, how's about we level everybody up to 6th?

 

[Fenris]

Inside, Brigitta turned her wide eyes on Haskins and incredulously mouthed the thing that was on all their minds:

“Where’s… Bill?”

Haskins reaches over and pats Brigetta's hands, he mouths back "Mansarat", and gives a shrug as if to say we can at least hope.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Ruh-roh.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Ruh-roh.

What's that mean, bud? You still in? Take it to the org thread and let me know what's up.