The Rise of Magic - Team 42 [IC]

[Lexin]

After long months of rigorous training of both your minds and bodies, after several missions accomplished as a team, learning teamwork and simply to trust each other, it is finally it, a new Mission. Not a simple job, like catching some teleporting thieves or breaking fights between some drunk warlock Harley Riders and angry druids, camping in the park. No, this time it was something else.

Everything started like always, you woke up early and went to Protector's Enclave, the headquarters of your unit. Some of you stopped to eat a free (and mostly edible) breakfast, others went straight to the Coordinator (a small, old and kind lady who was also one of the strongest telepaths in UK) to find out what exciting missions await for them today. To your surprise there were no team missions, not even one-man jobs waiting for them, instead they were told that their schedule was ordered to stay clear from any jobs for at least a month... and that Captain Ferrus is waiting for all of you at his office, floor 3, room 316.

It was something big this time, Captain Ferrus is one of the Founders and it is extremely rare for him to be here at all, assigning missions by him was simply unheard of.

After you got to the 3rd floor you are told to wait by his assistant.

"Captain will see you after this meeting is over." - he says in a tired voice. He looks as if he didn't catch a moment of rest in last 2-3 days. "Please sit here and wait a moment."

You have a few minutes before you know what's going on.


Kate Sokol (The Coordinator)

Very kind old lady, who assigns tasks to Protectors. You know that she is at least 60 years old, speaks fluently in seven languages and was born in Poland. She has two cats, enjoys baking cookies (which she shares with others) ... and there is a rumor she killed a dragon with sheer force of her mind...
You meet her almost everyday at headquarters.


Captain Jake Ferrus

One of the Founders. Looks as if he was about 23-27 years old, but is at least twice that old. He is the best swordsman in UK and possibly of the best in the world. He is a tall, muscular man, who was called Dragon Slayer at some point... until he did so many things that calling him that felt... inadequate.
You met him only once so far, when you graduated from the Academy.

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

Desiree nods quietly at the assistant and takes a seat, glancing at the door to the Captain's office somewhat nervously. She hadn't seen the man since graduation. The man was practically a legend.

She focuses on her hands, attempting to calm down just a bit. The whole group had apparently been called here, so it was unlikely that anything was particularly wrong. Hopefully being called up here was a good thing?

History had taught her somewhat about old schools back before November 11th. Desiree had the feeling that this was what a student called the principal's office felt.

[dicewitch]

Niamh Ward
Niamh follows after Desiree and sits down next to her in the row of six waiting in the hallway. She wondered what could possibly make Captain Ferrus want to talk to them. She was hoping for some adventure, maybe even some danger.

She set her bag on her lap and pulled out her current book: The Loch Ness Monster: The Evidence, but found she was too nervous to read one sentence, feeling her breakfast churn in her stomach. She shut the cover again and looked at Desiree, seemingly just as caught up in the suspense.

"Do you think this is our big break? A real exploration opportunity?" There was a tone of childish excitement in her voice, like a kid on Christmas morning, waking up hours before their parents to anxiously wait to open presents.

[Business Scrub]

Erica Mironov

"I hope so, I wouldn't mind a change of pace. Hey guys."
Erica walks in just after Nimah, smiling and giving a small wave as she passes. She takes a seat across from her and nibbles a the last bit of her apple before tossing it in the bin. On the outside, Erica looks confidant, even relaxed, but tiny movements show her anxiousness. 'Kept cooped up for a month, and now we get to wait some more... I really hope this is worth it.'
After a minute Erica's foot starts tapping absentmindedly against the floor. Eventually she speculatively says to the others, "You think this has anything to do with that manticore rumor in the South?"

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

Desiree glances at Niamh, then at the Captain's door, then back. "Hopefully it's that and not some sort of punishment. Sometimes I can't tell when we overstep and do something we shouldn't have."

She looks over at Erica. "Manticore?"

[dicewitch]

Niamh Ward
Niamh turned to look at Erica, clutching her book to her chest.
"Oh man, I'd love to see a manticore! I've read a lot about them in books but seen one up close."
She nodded at Desiree. "I could tell you anything you want to know about magical creatures."

[Business Scrub]

Erica

Niamh's comment catches Erica's interest.
"Have you really? All I've heard of them is through rumor." 'I have to remember to borrow one of her bestiaries some time...'

[dicewitch]

Knowledge (Arcane)
[roll0]
"Yeah, I know they exist somewhere, but I didn't realize they could be that close to us. Even if this mission isn't about that, I'd be willing to seek one out, but probably not by myself." She paused for a second, processing the looks of wonder on the others' faces. "They're clever beasts, eat you alive if they catch you."

[Vedhin]

Fredric Vrent

Fredric walks in, just in time to hear the end of Niamh's explanation. He opts not to sit down, but leans against the wall and asks "So, what creature are we discussing today?"

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

"Something called a 'manticore', apparently," Desiree replies, still unsure what the thing really is. "Erica seems to hope we're going after one."

[Lexin]

Knowledge roll result:
You know a lot about manticores. At least in theory.
You could use any information which is given in MM or SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/manticore.htm) about this monster. But you don't know if there are any in UK right now. Although you may doubt it... it is a little too cold for them here...

The assistant suddenly straightens up, nods, seemingly to himself and walk down the corridor without a word, he seems to be in a hurry.
A minute or two later the office door opens and a group of four people walks out. One very pale woman in formal clothes, two men in military uniforms and a short woman with pink hair. You know only the last one, Sandra, team leader of Team 37. She usually works in the south and specializes in undead hunting and healing arts. They all walk away in a hurry, they don't talk about anything and don't seem to notice you at all, they are so focused on their current tasks.

"Team 42? Come in." you hear a calm voice coming from the office. Inside you find a huge desk, behind which sits the captain (wearing a rock band T-shirt and jeans), there is also a pale man in a little old fashioned suit standing behind him, waiting quietly and not moving at all. There are no seats prepared for you in this room, but there is enough space for all of you to line up in from of the desk. The captain waits until you all come in, he looks at you with his piercing eyes, spares a polite nod to Fredric and starts talking.

"As you probably heard, the government is looking for the cause of the Rise, 30 years ago... There are many theories on this topic. Most of these we cannot prove, many we can't do anything about... But there are these few, we can check. One of these is that the magic came to our world through the portals, not these Hell Gates which show up and vanish from time to time, but real, stable doors to... as we now know... another world, or maybe even words...
The Council made finding out why and how magic came back to life a priority... but I don't give a crap about it...
Exploring the portals is a priority, but not because of some knowledge about history, we cannot leave the unknown inside our borders. We don't know if there is another army of monsters on the other side or if we could find some allies there or maybe at least resources... we don't know that and we cannot afford not knowing.

After years of trying to learn more about portals we finally have some results. Three expeditions were made so far and only one man came back. We are not sure what happened to them, but we are sure that at least some of them are dead." He pauses for a moment and continues in a stronger voice. "But they weren't members of Protectors, like you, and I know you can do much better." he pauses again and continues in a calmer, more quiet voice. "So, are you up to it? Do you think you can risk your life to serve and protect this country?"

He looks at you expectantly.

[Business Scrub]

Erica

The excitement on Erica's face grows as the Captain explains their mission. Confident, she replies, "Sir, you wouldn't be asking us if you didn't think we can, and we haven't let you down yet."

[Vedhin]

"Yes sir!"

[dicewitch]

Niamh
Eyes wide, she nods eagerly at the captain. "Yes sir!"

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

Desiree nods. "Sir," she replies, simply, her agreement obvious. She clasps her arms behind her back in an acceptable military at-rest stance, but in an unconscious manner. "We swore that oath long ago."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

Aluora enters the room, looking around swiftly. She then smiles and starts explaining. "I am so sorry. There was this guy at the Hot-dog stand claiming he could arm-wrestle anyone, at the price of a sausage breakfast and..." She notices the serious conversation going on and then stammers: "Uh, well, my apologies, Captain." Having heard the last words, she just repeats "Yes, sir" after which she winks at her team mates. It looks like Aluora managed to get herself a free breakfast.

[Psymple]

Jessica had been stood at the back, she was the newest to the team and still felt she was on trial in their eyes.

She finally decided it was her time to speak.

Sir, do we have any reports on the gates?
Perhaps a debriefing of the survivor who made it back from the other-side?

She take a quick glance at the rest of the group, trying to reassure herself she has not just asked a ridiculous question then back to the Captain.

Best to be as prepared as we can be for this,
got a reputation to uphold Sir.

[Lexin]

The captain only rises an eyebrow and sighs as Aluora enters the room. After everyone answered he nodded slowly and started talking again.

"First I needed to know if you are up to this. You think you are, so I can share information we have with you.

As far as we know there is only a single Gate in UK. In the center of London, in the basement level of a place which was once British Museum. First part of your mission would be simply to get there... because, as you know, London is full of undead.

You will have a week from today to plan and prepare anything you need to reach the Gate and survive on the other side.
London is full of undead, going there in huge numbers is pointless, because the more noise you make the more undead come there and there is no going through the horde. Flight is out of the question as well, tech is too unstable to use machines and there are too many flying monsters to risk our mass fliers. What's left is going on foot, quietly, when our army and few other teams provide distraction for you.
You will be given maps of London, from before the Rise. You could choose any route you wish, but we know for sure that last expedition managed to get to Museum using subway tunnels. Your choice, though.

Next part depends on you. If you manage to clear the Museum and set up a portable portal and secure it's location long enough, we would be able to create a small safe zone surrounding the Museum only, you would be able to restock resources and rest before entering the Gate and when you get back it would be safe passage.
If you are not able to secure the portal... well you could only enter the Gate, or come back if the first choice would be too dangerous." He has a blank expression on his face when he tells you about the other option.

"Finally. The Gate itself. Even though there was a survivor, we still don't have much information about what's on the other side. His mind didn't handle whatever he encountered there... but he did bring back a journal, not an official one, but still, it is more than we got in years.

First, after passing through, the Gate stays open only for few minutes and then closes. We don't know for sure how long it takes till it opens again, but Coleman came back after a month and a half, so you need to be prepared to stay there at least that long.

On the other side they found something like a natural cavern leading to a place resembling a temple, Coleman writes about some inscriptions in unknown to him language, but didn't include a sample in the journal, so we can't even try to translate it here. Temple is in the middle of some kind of dungeon filled with secret passages, traps and monsters, so be prepared. Thanks to the use of divination magic they found out that the temple is somewhere underground and they confirmed that it is not Earth... maybe another planet, dimension, world... again, we don't know, but we do know that there is intelligent life there. One of the last notes describes a weird, small and scaly creature which somehow spoke English. Any questions?"

[Psymple]

Jessica listens calmly as they are briefed.
Its pretty much her speciality and she is almost excited to show off her skills.

I presume we are talking something a little more dangerous than just Zombies and Skellies ...
She tucks a piece of hair from over her face back behind her ear.

Would it be possible for me to borrow the journal prior to the op, to read for myself Sir?

[Vedhin]

Fredric thinks over what they've been told for a moment and asks "I'll second the request to examine the journal. I'm mainly interested in what the last notes in the journal say though." He pauses for a second then continues "The last entries will probably be the most helpful for figuring out what happened to the team. And any information on the actions of that reptilian creature might be critical if we encounter it or something of its species. For that matter, Niamh might remember something about some creature like it."

[Lexin]

"Mostly zombies and skeletons. Mostly mindless. Mostly they are dangerous only as a horde... But there are exceptions to all of these... Some undead are stronger than others, maybe based on the powers people held in life. Some are intelligent and not all are human, we know that there are at least few dozens zombie wyverns out there. They ate half of the first expedition, who thought flying is the best way to get to the Museum. We all learned something this day..." says captain in a tired voice, then stands up and hands you a thin file each, without a word.


...
1st day on the other side

We are finally here, Bobby and Jenny paid with their lives for our safe passage, but we made it in the end. I sure hope it is worth it, for now it seems that we are stuck in here whether we like it or not. The portal shut down just after Jenkins passed through, it almost cut in half his backpack... I guess he would need to live without his supply of sweets for a while.

This side is a little disappointing, I don't know what I expected but dusty cavern leading to a huge room with a staircase and closed door, not impressed. Still, I probably shouldn't complain too much, it is not hell and nothing wants to eat us, we can get some rest and look around tomorrow.

2nd day

Leader worked some information-voo-doo in the morning and told us we are deep underground... and possibly not on Earth ... what on Earth is he thinking?
We checked the temple, walls are covered in some strange writings, none of us knows the language, but Jenkins started walking around and rubbing them off with a pancil and some thin paper... he came prepared and maybe it is something useful...
It seems that we are trapped here. The huge door - closed - and won't budge no matter what we try, also it doesn't accept us as keys, maybe a specific person is needed... or some special spell... The staircase is a dead end as well, it leads to another huge room filled with writings on the walls, at least this time there are some pictures too.

3rd day

Oh jolly, more rubbing off. I had an honor to serve the UK by rubbing of a picture of dragon and literally several walls of text. Pencils are way more useful than weapons on this side. Not that the guns would be of any use anyway, there is so much magic here that there is no space left for the tech ... only leader's magic colt still works...

4th day

There is a way out! With the whole wall rubbing and crawling around, touching everything Jenkins found some kind of secret passage. I love this guy!

5th day

We are still licking wounds after our short trip down the dark corridors, I have no idea how possibly can all these blades and dart traps still work, it looks like if this place stayed empty for centuries. I feel like a frikking Indiana Jones!
At least the giant mushrooms we found in the rooms to the left are edible. They actually taste like cheese when fried...

6th day

More traps, more fried mushrooms, more walking and screaming mushrooms... is it weird that I am not surprised anymore?

We found a large room after we crossed past the mushroom lands, it looks different, as if someone was using it recently, but we can't find any exit, other than the one we came through... only these weird melted walls...
At least this place looks safe, we can get some rest.

8th day

There is NO safe place here. I could swear the hairy giant came out of the f***ing wall! Jenkins is dead and the rest of us separated. I am with Nancy and Johnny, we need to find others.

9th day

We still didn't find others, but they are still kicking, we found corpses of few giants. It serves as a good enough clue.

10th day

If we were all together I would probably jump around happy. We found a native... and what's more, one who doesn't try to kill us!
Small, scaly, dark blue, with wings and a tail, weird little fellow. When he met us he first started talking in some hissing language, but after a moment used some magic and actually spoke English... he even had a british accent. Command would kill to meet him.

Kir- Kip (his name should probably be written like that), he told us a lot about this place, according to him this certainly isn't Earth, he said that it is an entirely different world, but on the other hand he had problems with the concept of planets. Anyway, finally some good news, he will help us find others tomorrow.

11th day

...I could swear Kir-Kip's scales changed shade since yesterday, he also seems more quiet... maybe it is normal for his race... or maybe I am just that tired and paranoid at this point...

*next pages are blank*

[dicewitch]

Niamh reads through the file carefully noting all the descriptions of strange locale and creatures.

"I'm definitely interested in seeking out these strange scripts, they might give us a clue as to how we should proceed. But are we sure that the portal will even take us to the same place after closing and opening again?"

[Lexin]

"We are sure of nothing. But the portal opened in the same place at least twice. Once when last expedition passed there and second time when the survivor came back." says captain and turns around, handing the pale man standing behind him the last file. "This one is for you. Better to know what to expect." he says quietly and turns back to you. Some of you could notice a little disgust on his face as he turns away from the pale man, but in a moment his face shows nothing again.
The other man accepts the file and stats reading without a word.

[Business Scrub]

Erica stands to the side of the group, listening intently to the discussion. She appears uninterested in the journal. The look of disgust briefly catches her eye. "Is there anything in specific we're looking for across the Gate?"

Sense Motive on the look of disgust: [roll0]

... *Facepalm*

[dicewitch]

Looking up from the file, Niamh also notices the odd look on the captain's face. Something must be fishy about this pale man, he kind of gave her the creeps, but the context of the situation seemed to go over her head.
Also trying to sense motive. [roll0]
I guess we're feeling a bit oblivious today...

[Psymple]

[roll0] Sense Motive - The look of disgust
[roll1] Knowledge Local - If she knows who the pale guy is
[roll2] Preception - To see if she spots anything on Mr Pale guy that might explain who he is or why he is there.

Jessica tucks the Journal into her back, she will go over it later with a fine tooth comb, she has a week after all.
For now she is much more interested on getting a copy of the document the Captain was handing to this stranger.

She notices that the Captain clearly doesn't enjoy working with the strange pale man and decides she might just be able to use it to her advantage.

Captain, sir, may I ask if the information in...
She makes a gesture towards the pale man, attempting not to be rude.
That document concerns our mission, if so I would like to request a copy of it.

[Vedhin]

Mulling over the information in the journal Fredric has a flash of insight.'Hmm... That reptile creature might not have been the same crature each day, the journal noted multiple changes in its appearance and demeanor the day it was going to help Coleman find... the others!'"Wait a moment, the journal never said that Coleman's group met up with the rest of the people who went through the Portal! They might still be alive! We might even meet up with them! What can you tell us about the people who were in that group?"

[Lexin]

Captain raises an eyebrow again, at the request "This is more or less the same what you got. The only difference is the Kenny here get's information about you as well... and a binding contract, describing to the letter the rules of his cooperation with your team..."
"Kenny" flinches when he hears his name.

Captain turns to Fredric when he hears his question and answers after a short pause "What can you tell me SIR." he says with much more pressure on the last word. He waits a short moment again and continues in calm voice.

"To be precise we don't even know if the rest of the group which met this whole Kir-Kip is dead. Up to the point when the journal ends 5 members of previous expedition were still alive, other than Coleman who came back, that is.
Nancy Smith, John Vale, Jane Garland, Peter Lynn and the leader Adam Reed. From them only Adam had a real magic talent, the rest of the team were well trained, but had much less experience with magic than you.


Then he turns to Erica, "Back to your question. What are you looking for on the other side. ... there is a whole list of objectives to accomplish, but you are not expected to accomplish all of them... at least not in one go:
- finding out how and why the magic came to our world. Councils favorite.
- connected to the first, getting copies of texts in the temple, or translations if you are capable of providing them.
- securing the Gate on both sides. Protector's favorite, it makes the whole mission safer and more repeatable.
- a derivative of the previous, stabilizing the portal, so it can be used more often.
- my favorite, finding survivors, I think I don't have to explain this one.

and more general ones:
- learning as much as possible about the other world, we want to know what to expect.
- finding resources. We are new in magic items making business, but if magic there is so strong they are probably much more advanced in this field. Grimoires of magic, martial arts texts, everything we can use for training our people. Even raw resources which can be used in making magic items.

... and more abstract:
- forming an alliance or at least trade relations with natives. Just don't try so hard that it would get you killed.

And of course, your main objective... come back alive. he finishes in a little grim tone.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

Aluora reads the file and listens. She is not much of a planner and some might say she is rather disorganized. "Wow, this is eh..." She looks around the room. "Is there anything you'd like me to do in preparation?"

[Psymple]

Jessica smiles at Aluora, she seems a little flustered by the magnitude of their task, always better to try keep everyone reassured.

Captain, will Kenny be accompanying us on this mission then?
Her eyes fixed on "Kenny's" as she speaks attempting to gauge his responce.
[roll0]Sense Motive

If so he should probably accompany us on our mission preparations.

[dicewitch]

Niamh looks nervously at her teammates, feeling tension rise in the room.

"Sir, I'm sure we will be fine on getting there. The real worry is handling what is on the other side. I have some knowledge of the planes, but I've never actually had much experience with them beyond summoning. There is also a possibility that this is merely another planet. Either way, surviving should not be an issue. I have faith in my team members."

She paused, shooting a glare at Jessica, seemingly as if to say 'Don't push it.'

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

Desiree reads over the file slowly, letting others ask the questions that are on all of their minds. She makes mental notes of several things in the journal transcript, including the hidden door, edible "screaming?" mushrooms, and color-shifting reptilian creature.

Once there is a lull in the questions, she speaks up. "Would it be advisable, for such a long expedition, to bring some sort of pack animal? Two months of rations and supplies might be a bit more than we could carry on our own."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

Aluora nods and grins. "Though, we will have to feed it, so it might be packed with its own food... Anyway, if we do so, I suggest a pack ox or a pack pig. I don't really like horse meat." She winks.

[Lexin]

Jessica smiles at Aluora, she seems a little flustered by the magnitude of their task, always better to try keep everyone reassured.

Captain, will Kenny be accompanying us on this mission then?
*Sense motive roll*

'Kenny' flinches once again and gives you a look full of contempt... while captain smiles slightly. 'Kenny' doesn't speak a word though and goes back to reading.
He really doesn't like to be called that...

[COLOR="DimGray"]If so he should probably accompany us on our mission preparations.

The captain answers after a brief pause "Yes he will. But it is hard to call him a member of your team, I am afraid." *expression of slight disgust* "Kenny here *flinch and pure hatred on Kenny's part* is a vampire *more disgust from the captain* and will go with you trying to record all of your accomplishments. *back to neutral expressions* The last survivor came back as a vampire. Command though that working together with one of them would be helpful." *Sense motive DC 5 - Captain doesn't agree with Command on that*

"Other than that he probably would just walk behind you and won't be of much help... His Geas only forces him to take notes and not hinder you in any way..."


"D" Jones
Once there is a lull in the questions, she speaks up. "Would it be advisable, for such a long expedition, to bring some sort of pack animal? Two months of rations and supplies might be a bit more than we could carry on our own."

Short pause while captain is mulling over the question "If you secure the portal on this side, there wouldn't be any problem with that. If you don't... it isn't easy to lead an animal through a city full of undead and other monsters..."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

Aluora stares with big eyes: "A vampire...? I don't know I am comfortable with that." She eyes around the room to see what others think.

[Lexin]

"Nobody is. But you need to go with him. It's an order." he says in strict tone "On the other hand, nobody would cry if you come back without him..."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

"Okay, and he won't, ehh...bite?"

[Psymple]

Jessica shrugs nonchalantly.
[roll0] Bluff

Vampire huh, might need some silver bolts...
Or is that werewolves?

She smiles and nods her head in agreement as the Captain
sensibly disagrees with the group taking any livestock through
a city crawling with undead and zombie wyverns.

Just how strong is Kenny's contract sir?
She uses his hatred of the given name to test him, seeing if
she can push him far enough to show any sign of him being able
to act freely.

We already have a lot of undead to worry about without having to kill
Kenny should Kenny decide Kenny doesn't want to play nice.

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

Desiree looks over at Jessica and takes a step back from the woman. 'She's just asking for retribution,' she thinks to herself, eyes widening slightly.

She keeps quiet, herself, however. Never know when one's distaste for one magical being might extend to another. "D" felt a bit cold.

[Business Scrub]

Erica doesn't seem as concerned as the others at Kenny's secret, but more curious. She speaks to Kenny, but more like a subject than a person. "You're a vampire?? How long ago did you change? Was it another vampire or some kind of--"
She catches herself starting to ramble, and says to the captain, "My apologies, this isn't the place for those questions."

Sense Motive: [roll0]

[Lexin]

'Kenny' sighs and looks up on you from the papers.
"It's Kenneth, Robert Kenneth. We are no friends so don't push it girly." he says quietly in grave tone. "I am one of the first vampires from after the Awakening. Currently serving here as a penance. Unfortunately I can't bite you, unless you try really hard to destroy me, otherwise I would collapse feeling agonizing pain. And agonizing means a little more for us than you, mortals." he adds matter-of-factly, almost as if he was bored.
"Silver might help you a little, holy symbols work too for some unknown reason... Get these, I always favored fair play rules." He finishes with a wide smile (full of fangs).

[Know (Local or Religion or History) DC 10 or Spanish Language] Awakening - Rise of Magic in vamp dictionary

[Know (History or Religion or Nobility) DC 12] On a penance- he did something really bad, like trying to advance in hierarchy (by killing someone), but one of his superiors likes him enough to not kill him on the spot.

[Sense Motive DC 15 (some of you already passed)] Who changed him - he would never say.

[Know(Local) DC 10] Vampires are not common in UK... at least not moving ones, because you might have seen some... samples... in Academy. If you are cooperating with one, he must be from Spain (ruled by vamps)


Captain : "Don't worry too much, the collapsing part is true, the most he can do beforehand is give you a scratch or two. Trying to harm you indirectly is prohibited as well, so he can't call on you monsters... or he would need to fight them himself. The only way he can harm you is if you attack him first and even then a single punch is not enough, you would really need to come close to killing him so he is freed." he says in neutral tone. (totally not suggesting you clobber him from time to time...)

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

Desiree listens to the being, somewhat surprised at the amount of information he seemed willing to impart.


[roll0]

[roll1]

[roll2]

In order of topics presented.

[Psymple]

[roll0] Knowledge Local

Lets hope they don't smell your rotten hide coming.
Otherwise you might fall over in pain...

[roll1] Sense Motive - Checking to see a change in his attitude to see if he is reading her thoughts. (he spoke about silver after she thought about it soo...)

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

Aluora listens to the vampire, amazed at his story. "Okay, Robert. My name is Aluora. What would your task be, ehm, role in the team?"

[Lexin]

Aluora

Aluora listens to the vampire, amazed at his story. "Okay, Robert. My name is Aluora. What would your task be, ehm, role in the team?"

He looks at Aluora with blank expression "I am to follow you and take notes of all your actions, I am to copy all the texts I find...unless it would take years, in which case I am supposed to prioritize... and takes notes about the ways you die there. Then I am bound to come back after a month on the other side, or, if impossible, try every two weeks later.
...I am also bound to reveal the terms of Geas, as you probably noticed." almost everything was said in completely neutral tone... there was only a little sarcasm towards the end.

[dicewitch]

Niamh raises an eyebrow at the vampire, a bit put off by his unwaveringly cold tone.

"Who says we're going to die?"

[Lexin]

Niamh raises an eyebrow at the vampire, a bit put off by his unwaveringly cold tone.

"Who says we're going to die?"

"Man can hope. If you all die I don't have to follow you around. That's like 90% of Geas less to worry about."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

Aluora looks at Robert for a moment. It looks like she actually feels a bit sorry for him, being forced to do all this. "Okay Robert. Well, please to meet. You've still got some muscle left under those clothes? That might solve the pack animal issue." She giggles: "Pack vampire, what about that, huh?" Then she starts rambling. "Instead of a beast of burden we can eat we have one that might eat us!" She laughs out loud and then starts sporting a nervous laugh... "Uhh....what do you eat? I mean..." She turns to the officer: "Is he gonna, you know...?

[Psymple]

Jessica sighs

Lets remember he is just a third party observer, one whom doesn't even seem to care if we are alive to observe.

This isn't "lets go to undead hell with our new friend mr vampy."

Jessica's eyes meet the Captain's she is seriously starting to come around to his way of thinking.

I wonder how many "accidental" crossbow bolts in the back it will take before it counts as "an attempt at destroying him".

[Lexin]

Kenny just gives Aluora a cold stare and says nothing. Captain on the other hand sighs and answers:
"I was told he has some sort of magic-vampire-trail rations... They will last for two months. If it takes longer he would probably help a little more with fighting off monsters...
Just cut off their heads if he does, or they may attack you again after few days."

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

Desiree facepalms as she glances at Aluora.

[Vedhin]

Embarrassed by his breaking of protocol, Fredric waits quietly, wondering to himself. 'It looks like this mission isn't even going to get past our briefing witout complications. Jessica sure seems to dislike Kenneth though. Is it specifc to Kenneth, or does she just really hate vampires? Of course, Kenneth isn't helping his case any. We'll probably need to keep the two of the away from each other, and definitely not leave the two of them alone. Jessica would probably hit him "by mistake" one time too many. Wonder who would come out on top in that fight... of course, we'd probably end up with a vampire-Jessica regardless... Hmm, I never finished thinking over that reptilian creature earlier. I wonder if the first and second creatures were even the same? Might the second be a shapeshifter of some sort? Yet another reason to not leave people alone. Of course, that still doesn't rule out the possibility of the orignal being hostile also. Or even a hostile original being replaced by a benevolent shapechanger, and then a third danger being the reason Coleman stopped taking notes. It's a tangled mess to be sure. We can't really trust anything after we go through. Anything we find may be a trick or a trap. Wait, it was implied Coleman was insane when came back, and he stopped taking notes with enough time left for something to have gotten ahold of the journal. The journal has the reptilian creature appearing to use a spell of some sort, so magic is known there, one way or another, meaning something could easily have altered the journal. Of course, I might also be overthinking the entire thing. I could ask whether they confirmed the journal's veracity, but it would be pretty demoralizing to plant that idea in everyone else's heads. So, do I ask, and get certainty, or at least certainty of doubt, or do I stay quiet and just plan for the worst myself?

[Psymple]

Jessica eyes the room,

Desiree's despair, Fredric lost in his thoughts, Erica and Aluora forming the protect the vampire association whilst herself and Niamh consider how much fire-power it would take to kill Kenny.

[roll0] Sense Motive on Fredric, because why not... :D

Her eyes settle back on the Captain;

Do you know our entry point sir?
If you could give us maps or coordinates we can get on with planning our route.

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

Desiree looks to Frederic. "Should we head elsewhere to discuss the details and begin prep?"

It seems apparent that she's looking to the team lead to diffuse the situation and move on, having little idea how to do that herself.

[Lexin]

Do you know our entry point sir?
If you could give us maps or coordinates we can get on with planning our route.

"You may enter from any direction you want. I would not suggest north, as it is easiest to provide distraction from this side. Other than that Cayton Green Park is the closest we can get you to the center."

[Vedhin]

Fredric, glaces briefly at Desiree, grateful for the opening "Yes, we should start planning as soon as possible" Fredric turns to Captain Ferrus "Sir, if we need more information while we're planning, who should we contact?"

[Business Scrub]

Erica is mostly quite during the discussion, actively listening to the group. As she takes in comments and prepares to leave, her eyes casually scan the captains office for any hints of his personal life.


Search [roll0] for any hints to additional information about the captain.

EDIT: yeah! Finally a nice roll. :smallsmile:

[Lexin]

Captains only nods, already focused on something else.

"Just ask Kate if you need anything."

[dicewitch]

"Well," Niamh trailed off, "I guess we should start planning immediately."
She fixed her eyes on the open window as the bright sun shone on Kenny's back. Something is not right about him. I guess we'll take all the help we can get.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

"Yeah, right" She looks a bit unsure what to do. "So, ehm, if there is anything I can do?" She shrugs: "I don't know much about undead and I have never been to London."

[Lexin]

After you leave the office, the captain's assistant leads you to a large meeting room and gives you the key.
"You can use this room to plan your mission. It is secured, so nobody would spy on you, it is advised you do make plans here. You can order any information you need from the Coordinator and it will be delivered here. Maps and the instructions how to use the devices you will be given are already here." he says in his tired voice and points a small pile of maps and instructions.

"If you need any more equipment, please contact Logistics officer on second floor, or give a list to the Coordinator.
If you want something more mundane, like food or drinks delivered here, ask Jane, next door.
Questions?"

[Psymple]

Jessica quickly establishes her area in the meeting room.
She takes the far corner: removing her backpack, armour and out-door clothing and placing them neatly on the floor.

No knowing how long we are gonna stay at this,
always make your bed up before you start a long night
otherwise you end up sleeping on the floor...

Opening her bag she takes out her bedroll and lays it on the floor, making it up and placing a blanket ontop of it.

Finally she takes a seat at the table: picks up a map, places it under a piece of acetate and begins annotating on it. She marks the Museum and Cayton Green Park then pushes it into the centre of the table placing the pen next to it.

So...

[dicewitch]

Niamh pulls up to the meeting table with her prayerbook and journal.
"So what's our first order of business?" she looked down at her cryptic notes. "I don't think we'll really have issues with the undead. We've dealt with them before. It's just in larger numbers this time..."

[Vedhin]

Fredric finds a seat at the table, and sits down "Well, we need to plan our route. Any suggestions?"

[Business Scrub]

Erica gives Jessica an amused look as she sets up her bedroll.
"I hope we're not going to be here that long."
She takes a seat at the table next to Fredric and says, "I've never been a huge fan of the undead, but you're right, they're never been too much of a problem if we stay quiet and careful."
She takes a look at the map. "Can we simply go straight to the museum? It's a large street, small chance of getting boxed in, and lots of alleys and buildings to dive into if need be."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

Aluora joins the sitting at the table and pointing at the map. At times, she feels like adding something, making a comment, but she typically decides against it. Most comments were about pubs, drinking and dancing anyway.

[Psymple]

Jessica returns a smile,
It is wise to make the most of such luxuries whilst they are available.

She turns to the map.
Which road might that be then Erica?

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

"I have little experience with routes in London. We have a map of some sorts, yes?" Desiree notes. Anyone familiar with the location?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

Aluora shrugs. "No...I have no clue." She then ponders a moment. "I'd prefer a short route, given the things we have heard so far."

[Business Scrub]

"Well if we start at Cayton, is it? We can take Western Ave, to Westway. It looks like the simplest route. There's probably lots of buildings on the sides we could jump into if need be, and if we get split up its large enough that we can plan to meet back." Erica takes a second to think. "Cars won't help, but can we get bikes?"

[dicewitch]

"I'm not sure about that. City buildings may be holding even more undead hiding within." She tapped at the map with her finger. "Just make sure we avoid any narrow alley-ways. We don't want to get swarmed."

[Psymple]

Jessica shrugs, she looks around at the group attempting to
gauge whether any of them have actually been to London before.

We could just take the underground Metro tunnels.

She runs her hand along a dark brown mark on the map.

The Central line runs from Cayton all the way to the Centre of London.
Would just be a matter of making our way to the underground tunnels and
should be plain sailing from there.

[Business Scrub]

"I suppose we'll avoid the wyvrens if we go underground, but then we run the risk of getting lost. And if there's just as many zombies underground as aboveground, we could find ourselves boxed in. "

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

"It is also dark down there. I don't know how well undead see, or whether they can sniff us out, but complete darkness is not necessarily an advantage."

[Psymple]

Way I see we avoid the Wyvrens and get a direct route to where we want to be.
The Central tunnel runs underneath Oxford street all the way to the Museum and due to it having stations periodically we will always be able to go back to the surface should things go wrong, potentially even doubling back a short distance to avoid problems.

She shrugs her shoulders and looks at the group,

In my opinion it is safer to be in a tunnel: having walked the way behind you so you know its safe, nothing can come at you from the sides and if anything comes from in-front there is always the option to double back and go to the surface.

In comparison Oxford road seems to be a wide thoroughfare and even has a park along it, which for all we know is now home of something evil.

[Vedhin]

"Well that is a good idea Jessica, you should remember that tunnels have their downsides too-- fewer routes to attack us by means fewer escape routes for us also."

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

"However, tunnels, especially sewer systems and Metro tunnels, have the advantage of being well-mapped and relatively easy to follow. Metro tunnels might even still have access to light," Desiree notes. "However, we won't know if a section has collapsed until we happen upon it..."

She frowns and looks at the map a moment. "To be honest, all of our options sound bad, really. I like the idea of bikes. Pretty quiet, fast... Might be our best option, in my opinion."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

"I am not one to decide, but I just don't like to be stuck in a dark underground tube cornered by undead."

[Psymple]

I doubt bikes would work, I don't remember any of us being that good at riding them and I cant imagine the streets are particularly "debree free".

She looks at the others.

Well I am voting that we follow the rail line to here.

She points at a mall on the map.

Then cut through here and back to where the rail line goes underground into the metro. From there it will be a straight route all the way to the Museum and if we run into any trouble we can take one of the station exits to the surface.

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

Desiree looks at Jessica, slightly perplexed. 'Who doesn't know how to ride a bike?'

Keep silent on that, she instead looks to Fredric and asks, "Your decision?"

[Vedhin]

"I'd advocate staying underground as much as possible, despite what I said earlier. For one thing, most undead will be mindless, so they won't think of using a pincer attcak while we're bottled up. For another, the bigger undead, like those zombie wyverns, should have a hard time getting down there; and if they do we'll have an advantage against them."

[Psymple]

Jessica smiled, attempting to keep it as small as possible but
on the inside she was beaming is smugness.


As the newest member of the team some of the others hadn't yet grown to trust her judgement and
in some situations tried to overrule her and shut her up by asking
Fredric to make the final decision.

We still need to work out the route to the Central Line metro tunnels though.
She points to the roundabout on the map where they start.
I advocated following the trainline because it would leave us no chance of getting lost and hoped it would be less in the open than walking through the streets.

Might not be the best idea though if there are any large flying things that come after us we will be stuck in a channel. Although that might be unlikely.

Also, crossing the Mall as a short cut might not be the best idea...

She shrugs attempting show she is working to come up with the best plan for the team, not just get her own way.

[dicewitch]

"I guess the subway would be the best, especially since we can go up to the surface at any point. As long as we avoid the wyverns, we should be fine with the undead. The lights may still be off down there, but if not we can bring lanterns down just in case. I'm more interested in what's at the finish line."

[Lexin]

You spent days planning the mission, not all the time was spent on simple discussions of course, there were breaks for new bags of ordered equipment, briefcases of documents and maps and even a member from another team which shared some information about the undead in the city. Not much is known about what to expect in the city center, but she had some practical knowledge about surviving there. Two days before the deadline you met the Captain. You were ready... or at least you thought you were. He listened to you quietly, nodding and asking essential questions from time to time. When you finish he says:
"Okay, prepare yourselves. You will be transported to the entry point in two days. Around 2 pm you will get your training how to set up magic barrier around the museum, after that you are free to do whatever you like. Dismissed."

The training started as scheduled and you were given a pack of thick metal rods and sturdy tripods, with written instruction how to place them and how to turn them on, in case you forget till then.
Kenny joined you several times during this week, but he didn't say a thing on his own, just standing quietly in the corner. He looked a little more unhappy when he heard that you chose to go underground but after a moment shrugged as if he should have expected that everything what can go wrong... probably will.

The day of departure.
You were ordered to gather in your meeting room an hour before the transport was ready, as you did, there were some boxes waiting for you.


The Magic Barrier Device (TM)
[Erica Mironov] Invisibility potion x 3 (cl 3) 10 doses of Drow Poison
[Desiree 'D' Jones] Infiltration Outfit (+5 stealth magic item)
[Aluora Gellantera] CMW potion x 3, CSW potion x 3 (note: this girl needs the extra care...)
[Fredric] Team Leader Ring (TM) (Status spell 1/day cl 5)
[Niamh Ward] Blessed Book (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#blessedBook) but only 100 pages, Headband of knowledge (+5 to any knowledge check 3/day)
[Jessica Roads] Eternal Wand (Magic Missile)


Not long after you unpacked your 'gifts' you were all led to an armored vehicle and began your travel to London. These of you who were awake and close to windows could see the short section of Magic Highway, which looked much more like a bright blue river, the current of each half of it went in different direction, dragging the vehicles with it. "Don't touch the water, it might tear off your hand, for some reason it doesn't tolerate living things..." says the driver before someone managed to do something stupid.

After some time which for some felt like eternity and was just a brief moment for others you got off the vehicle in the protected part of the park.
"From this point you are on your own, wait here for half and hour and you can start going, we will provide distraction by then." says the driver, walks closer to his vehicle, stops and adds without turning back "Good Luck.".

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

With great enthusiasm Aluora inspects her gift. "Potions, neat!"

After the long drive, she gets out of the car and thanks the driver: "Thanks! And have a good journey back!" She then sits next to the road, looking somewhat bored. "So, we wait now, huh?"

[Psymple]

Jessica had spend the entire time comfortably living in the meeting room:
she ordered the food she wanted and enjoyed the comforts of two showers
a day to its full potential.

They had finally decided to go with her plan, even if a little reluctantly, and now she just had to make sure it worked.

She picked up the wand from their gifts: it was one of the training wands from her UMD training apparent by the serial code and "Protectors Magic Missile Training Wand" written down its length. A smile crossed her face.

She had cleared out a large number of wands from their stock for her
personal inventory, but this was her first eternal wand.
She pushed it into her wand belt, picked up her gear and climbed onto the APC.

---

Arriving at the site she takes a look around, her eyes and ears alert for danger whilst her brain attempts to localize herself with the geography.

[roll0] Perception for danger/stuff.
[roll1] K Local to see if she recognizes where they are.

I suppose we prepare ourselves for the journey ahead.

[Lexin]

You are all in the west part of Cayton Green Park, you can see some military outpost spread around a wide stripe of land which let's out a barely visible green glow. You see few undead on the other side, but they cannot pass through the barrier and after a while of standing and looking at you, bumping into each other they turn around and walk away. You are safe for now.
The barrier spreads underground and in past few years the tunnels between Greenford station and Perivale were cleared of debris and (at least partially) of undead, you cannot be sure about anything further than that.

Barrier (Spellcraft DC 26):

Repulsion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/repulsion.htm)

Kenny stays near the group, his magic vows already in effect, he doesn't look too happy (even less than usually) whenever someone mentions the barrier or the underground passage.

[Vedhin]

Fredric, after examing the ring, slips it on his finger.
When they arrive, he leans against a tree, thinking about the mission ahead.
"Yes, we wait, and get ready to move when the time comes."
'Kenny seems to dislike the underground and the barrier. The barrier is obvious, but why the undergroung? Does it have something to do with his ability to tolerate sunlight?'

[Business Scrub]

Erica inspects the bottles before putting them into her pack, taking extra time to look the Drow Poison. "I don't know where they got all these, but damn..."
She stands close to the barrier, curious about the spell while waiting for the signal.

[roll0] spellcraft

[dicewitch]

Niamh picks up the gifts gingerly, her eyes wide in excitement. She slips the intricately detailed headband over her forehead, feeling more confident with its aid. She clutched the book to her chest, running her fingers over the cool iron binding. Immediately she sat cross-legged on the ground with the new Blessed Book and her scroll case. She turned the key in the lock and flipped to the first page and started to copy spells from her scrolls while the team waited for the time to take off.

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

Before their trip out, Desiree receives her gift of a extremely useful set of clothing. Built for stealth operations, she quickly replaced her standard explorer's outfit, but opted to keep some of the other concealing aspects of her outfit, if only for comfort.

On the ride over, she watches the terrain pass by, fiddling with her new clothing and tweaking the settings on her antique pistols.

Upon arrival, "D" scans the barrier, taking note of the undead on the other side. "So, dumb question. How do we get past the barrier, again?"

[Business Scrub]

Erica moves behind Niamh, curiously trying to read the writing. "Whatchya doing?"

[dicewitch]

Niamh unrolled a scroll as Erica appeared behind her.
"OH, hi!" She seemed a bit startled as Erica pulled her out of total absorption. "I'm copying scrolls into my new prayerbook that I hope will prove useful on this mission."

[Psymple]

Jessica checks her watch, its screen is a occasionally turning on and off due to
the interference with magic and technology.

Looks like its time to go guys, don't wanna waste that distraction we
have been promised.
Pulling up the hood of her stealth cloak round her head she stands and waits for the others to sort their gear and get ready to go.

[Vedhin]

Fredric walks over towards the group. "Alright. Let's head for the underground."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

Aluora grabs her stuff and follows, wondering what is about to happen when they cross that wall.

[dicewitch]

Niamh claps the book shut and locks it, packing it into her backpack as she tagged along at the back of the group.

[Business Scrub]

Erica follows the others, towards the front of the group, eager to see what is beyond.

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

Desiree follows along with the group, glancing once more around the surface before heading underground with the others.

[Psymple]

Jessica moves to the front of the group,
map reading and directions are not particularly
her speciality but no one else had seemed too
bothered leading the group on their voted route.

If we head north a few hundred
meters there should be a rail line that leads towards
the centre and thus the underground. We just need to
follow that till we hit the Mall, then it gets a little confusing
but its not far to the underground from there.

[Vedhin]

Fredric moves to a position in the middle of the group, ready to respond to anything that may happen. "Okay. Everyone, be watching for anything that might come after us-- there are bound to be undead that ignored or were unaware of the distraction. Jessica, we'll follow your lead for now."

[Psymple]

Aye sir.

She inclines her head in a small bow.

Alright everyone, cling to the shadows.
Keep pace but try keep as quiet as you can.
Eyes peeled.

[roll0] Knowledge Local, to aid her finding the correct route.
[roll1] Survival, to find the correct route.
[roll2] Stealth, Not going really slowly just trying to be as quiet as possible whilst keeping a brisk pace.
[roll3] Percetion, Keeping her eyes out for any sign of trouble at which she will: slow down, hide and have a good look at what it is.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

Aluora nods. "Quiet, right." She moves with the group and tries to be silent and vigilant.

I guess it would make sense to just take 10 on stealth and perception, in general, as we move about? That'd be 15 on both for Aluora.

[Lexin]

As the group walks north from the park, only after few hundred meters (...and about three times as many feets...) you notice the rails of the Central line of London Underground... it is not working (obviously). But somehow, even though you see many destroyed buildings around, the overground tracks are still there, as far as you can tell.

As you get closer, you see some ladders you can climb to get there... some of you also notice some soldiers, in one of the many watch posts around the city.

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

"Shall we check with the watch post, find out if there's been any activity in our path of late?" Desiree asks the group in general.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

The half-elf nods. "Sure, good plan." She turns towards the tower. "What a job, uh? Can you imagine sitting there every day?"

[Business Scrub]

"Sounds smart," Erica says, following quietly. "I imagine it's the sort of thing you never get used too..."

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

"I could see it being more preferable than acting on the front lines, like we are," Desiree comments, walking over towards the soldiers. "Not that I find it so, but I could understand it."

When she reaches the soldiers, she greets them normally, inquiring as to how the area has been of late.

[Lexin]

I would prefer you actually posting what your character is saying, unless you expect me to write:
"When she reaches the soldiers, they greet her back and answer the question."

Anyway...

After climbing the ladder you see a small outpost, with only 3 soldiers inside. One of them is looking at you approaching the place... others are playing cards, the outpost duty was mostly dull, unless they were required to go to the other side of the barrier.

When you greet them, the card-playing soldiers say a short "Hi" and "Hello" and go back to the game. The female soldier which is actually doing her job at the moment only nods politely.

*after the question*
"A little dry, somewhat hot... at least as hot as it gets in London. No more dead guys than usual, they avoid high places... with their balance they fall a lot.
We were ordered to kill some of the closest ones a week ago and other teams baited them north and south, so if you want to enter... now is a good time." she says matter-of-factly.

[Psymple]

She can rollo Diplomacy if need be, but I imagine they are atleast cooperative.

Jessica smiles at the female soldier kind enough to answer their questions.

Hello, my name is Jessica Roads, could I perhaps ask your opinion and advice
on our route.

She pulls out their map and gestures to the women in a motion as though to
ask, would you mind taking a look at this.

She then indicates their projected route to her and any of the other soldiers who might be interested enough to also have come to look.

As you can see we are aiming to follow the rail line most of the way attempting
to get inside the underground. Have you any knowledge of this route or what we might expect to find? Perhaps rumours or reports of other soldier that have been in the area?

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

Aluora does not climb the tower. There's only so much people that can fit in there while still comfortable. Instead, she stays down and keeps watch.

[Lexin]

The small outpost/ observation post:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Observation_post,_Um_Qasr,_Iraq.jpg

Psymple
Not your friend, but cooperative- yes.

She spits to the side, looks a little hesitant but in the end looks at the map "Never been that far inside. Though I might give you a few hints if you like. Underground is a good idea, the larger undead won't go there... bu there might be other monsters there... just rumors though...

Going with the rails is a good idea... as long as you walk while crouching, they might see you otherwise, and from far away. If they do catch your scent, kill them quickly if it's a small group or you are underground... if not go high, corpses don't work well with stairs, even worse with ladders... Skellies are a different thing, but they are a minority here.
Also look out for the dry ones... not strong, but sometimes hard to notice..." she gets a little distant look on her face with the last mention, but then shakes it off and goes back to blank face.

[Psymple]

Jessica smiles,

Rumours?

She will push for the women to expand on the rumours.
After she has she will then ask.

Is there anyone on this post whom has been into the city?
Or perhaps further into the city than yourself?
I might...

She pauses for emphasis and pulls a small cheeky grin.

Just have a fancy smancy bottle of wine on offer if anyone has any helpful tid bits of info we could use.

Rolls used:
Diplomacy [roll0]
Sense Motive [roll1]

[Lexin]

She shrugs "Yes rumors. Some scavengers sometimes go into the city. Few of them mentioned the remains, something killed the undead... is 'killed' even a correct word? she pauses for a moment ...you know what I mean, anyway the corpses were in really bad condition. I heard stories about one treated with huge claws and another one which looked like after an acid bath...
Still these are rumors, they might as well have been killed by other scavengers in a messy way." she shrugs again.

"We are not allowed to go further into the city... and why would we do that? It's suicide. Scavengers might tell you something, but they are kind of avoiding government... so I haven't seen any since the whole commotion started week ago." she doesn't seem too interested in the bottle... but one of the gamblers smiled at the sight.

[Psymple]

Jessica smiles back at the gambler,

Anything to add?
She unclips her satchel pulling out the bottle and putting it down
on the table.

These scavengers, they gonna cause us any problems?

[Lexin]

The gambler looks real happy for a moment, he smiles wide, whispers a "thank you" (as if hiding from his superior... who just sighs) and walks away to look for a bottle opener.

"Not really, most of the time we just stay here and check if the barrier isn't in danger..."
*pause to wait for the next question*
"Scavengers? No. she thinks for a moment No more troubles than any other group of people... at least some of them are crazy... Most of the alive ones are powerful... this means at least some are both..." she shrugs again. (maybe it is some kind of shoulder exercise?)

[Psymple]

Jessica looks a little confused,
a little disappointed even that she gave the
man a good bottle of wine only for him to ignore
her question.

Very well,

She bows her head to the women.

Thank you for your time Ms.

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

"Do you have any information about the tunnels under the city, leading in?" Desiree asks, thinking it best to find specifics about their route, if possible.

[dicewitch]

Niamh stays down on the ground as well and sidles up to Aluora.
"Are you as excited as I am about exploring the portal finally?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

Aluora shakes her head. "Excited is not the word. Worried, I'd say, and curious. At this point getting to the portal is all the excitement I can stand." She winks at Niamh. "What do you expect to find?"

[Vedhin]

Fredric, who had remained on the ground also, listens quietly to Niamh and Aluora's conversation. "Ah yes, the portal. I'm still worried about what's on the other side, but I guess we'll burn that bridge when we get there."

[Lexin]

"D" Jones

"Do you have any information about the tunnels under the city, leading in?" Desiree asks, thinking it best to find specifics about their route, if possible.

Assuming that was said to the soldiers, not to Jessica (Psymple's character)

The female soldier's eyes widen a little (surprise) "Nothing more, than what I shared with your leader."

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones


Yup.


Desiree frowns in thought and nods in thanks before climbing back down to those assembled at the base. She relays the information to the rest of the group, ending with, "So, sounds like there might be some... giant, clawed, acidic beastie running around the city. Or, yanno, one of each variety."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

Aluora whistles as if impressed upon hearing about this monstrous monster, and then grins: "Ah, well, but we have Fred!" She follows up with a wink and a look upstairs, to the tower. "I guess we should be going, then. Can't wait to meet this thing."

[dicewitch]

"Burn the bridge?" She gives Fredric a strange look. "Isn't it usually cross the bridge?"

To Aluora she said Well, it's basically my job to find obscure divine magic, so I'm hoping there's a lot to explore on the other side, maybe even new spells."

"Desiree, did you say something about a ferocious beast?"
Rolling knowledge (arcane) on the giant acidic beastie [roll0]

[Psymple]

Jessica volts down the ladder, the trick she
learnt off some old action film to slide down
ladders still as addictive now as in her childhood.

Could have sworn that wasn't here when we arrived.
Perhaps its some sort of hydraulic system...

She looks down into the trench in which the rail line runs.
Shall we?

[Vedhin]

Fredric looks at Niamh and replies "Usually. But we won't be able to get back easily, so we'll be burning our bridge after we cross it, metaphorically speaking."
He then turns to Jessica "No sense in staying here; the undead won't stay distracted forever.

[Lexin]

As the team follows the tracks into the city, they finally pass through the barrier. A shudder passes through their bodies as feel something like a mix of cold touch and a spark of electricity... they can also hear Kenny swearing silently as he himself crosses to the other side. While there is no visible damage on his body he breathes heavily and he looks as if he feels an excruciating pain.

It is still far from the city center and there are no enemies on your path...yet. As the team walks many more explosions can be heard from afar. After few minutes the ones paying attention start to notice undead in the distance, not a danger for them, but an evidence that they are indeed here, and that not all went north.

After some time (about 25 min walk after the barier) the party notices a single zombie standing in the middle of the tracks and munching on something, his back turned to you, there are at least 4 bodies around him, old and in various state of decay.

[Psymple]

Allow me

Jessica lowers herself into a crouch,
slats a bolt into her hand crossbow and
makes her way slowly and quietly within
sixty feet of the zombie.

[roll0] Stealth
[roll1] Perception


She levels her crossbow,
a single shot aimed at the back of the
zombies head.

To hit: (-1 for range increment)
[roll2]
Dmg:
[roll3]
Sneak Attack: (Half dice for undead)
[roll4]

[Lexin]

The bolt lands in the zombie's left shoulder, throwing it a little off balance, but not for long. It turns to you and prepares to attack.


Initiative will be posted OOC in a moment.

[Psymple]

Dratz, tough buggers...

She quickly replaces the bolt and fires again whilst
the zombie is still flatfooted.

To hit: (-1 for range increment)
[roll0]
Dmg:
[roll1]
Sneak Attack: (Half dice for undead)
[roll2]

[roll3] Perception as requested.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Can we get a map and/or details on distances, etc?

Aluora

Aluora moves to Jessica's position while drawing her greatsword. Once she is there she focuses and calls on her inner mental strength. A faint hum is audible as she bolsters herself with psychic energy.


Manifesting a wild-surge +2 Offensive precognition (1pp) linked to Vigor (2pp). 10 temp hp now, and +1 insight to attack starting next round, focus expended.

Psychic enervation (enervated on a 1): [roll0]

[Lexin]

Map:
Google spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvmIXHSWFgWNdHpsLWZ3R3gwOVdsQ0tjOEh1X0Roe lE&usp=sharing)

Please place your characters in the field "The team" (the yellowish one to the left)

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

Seeing that Jessica failed to take out the zombie with her first shot, "D" steps forward and jogs to position next to Jessica, readying her pistols.


Looks like if I take a run action, I can get to U22 easily enough (less than 4x move speed). But won't be able to fire until next round.

[Lexin]

The second shot hits the zombie as well, although it seems unfazed and get's closer to Jessica with something which passes for run among zombies.

Now the whole team can see that other bodies are rising to attack them... on of them is already on it's feet and it turns to Jessica, preparing to 'run'.

Group 3 (Erica, Fredric, Niamh)

[Business Scrub]

Erica was taken a bit by surprise by the zombies, but was quick to act when she saw the others doing so. Quick to act, she sprints up to the nearest zombie in front of her, and in a flash procures two wickedly sharp blades, and readies them against the monster.


Run action to AB20, draw weapons thanks to Quick Draw.

[Vedhin]

Fredric, realizing that he doesn't have time to draw his weapons, sprints up to the nearest zombie.

Run action to AB 21, moving through Jessica's square.

[dicewitch]

Not wanting to be left behind, Niamh runs as fast as she can up to the rest of the team.
Run action to S21

[Lexin]

Two more bodies rise to their feet. Now as you are closer you can see that most of them look like some sort of construction crew, yellow helmets on their heads and wearing extremely dirty, (not anymore) reflective red jackets. One of them still holds a sledgehammer, while others are unarmed.


All zombies are standing, all turned to you.

Group's 1 turn. (Desiree, Jessica, Aluora)

[Psymple]

Jessica takes a step forward drawing a wand from her belt, conviction in her eyes and determination to destroy the creature she had so far failed to down.

Freeze, bitch!

[roll0] DC 20 UMD check to cast Ray of Frost

To Hit:
[roll1] Touch Attack
Dmg:
[roll2] Cold
[roll3] Sneak Attack (Half for undead) (Cold)

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

Aluora moves up to the closest zombie. Determined and empowerd by psychic power, the Half-elf swings her sword at it.

Move action: move to AB22
Greatsword: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

Critconfirm, if needed:
Greatsword: [roll2]

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

D strides forward, levelling one of her guns at the approaching zombies and fires.


Move Action - Move to AA23
Standard Action - Fire at Z5 (range increment 2)
[roll0]
[roll1]

[Lexin]

The closest zombie falls after getting cut with a vertical slash with a greatsword... and it doesn't look like it would rise again.
Another zombie (Z5), still turning to face the group receives a bullet to it's shoulder.

In the same time another undead member of construction crew (Z2) charges at the closest living person, Erica, ending the run with a mighty, full body slam.

Attack [roll0]
Damage [roll1]


Another zombie, the one which holds the sledgehammer (Z3) follows shortly after.

[Business Scrub]

Erica takes a step back from the brutal strike, but quickly retaliates.
Still in pain from the zombie's attack, however, she is totally off balance, and her swings go wide.
Regaining her composure, Erica takes a step to the side of the zombie.


[roll0]
[roll1]

[roll2]
[roll3]

Edit: are you serious..?

[Vedhin]

Fredric steps forward around the downed zombie, and in one fluid motion draws his kusari-gama and swings fiercely at the zombie with the sledgehammer.

Move action, drawing kusari-gama while moving, swift action to switch to Punishing Stance, then standard action to use Wolf Fang Strike.
To-hit 1: [roll0]
Damage 1:1d6+3+1d6
To-hit 2: [roll1]
Damage 2: 1d6+1+1d6

[Vedhin]

Apparently the roller dislikes my OCD desire to list all dice separately. It also dislkes me hitting, but I'll retry damage anyway.
[roll0]
[roll1]

[Lexin]

As the team moves acts after the zombie's heavy charge, several things happen at once.

Fredrick leaves an opening in his defenses, as he, too focused on the task, moves to attack a potentially more dangerous enemy.

AoO
Attack [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

... but the zombie misses, distracted by Erica's attack.

At the same time, from the opposite side, Erica tries to take this opportunity to strike back the monster who injured her, her right hand still hurts after the attack and she doesn't have enough strength left in it to deal any damage, but she somehow managed to hit with her left hand and cut into the flesh of zombie's right arm and leave a long, thin cut.


Frederick moves forward to attack the sledge hammer armed zombie, takes a wide swing and throws the exotic weapon holding tightly connected to it chain. The second strike connects and leaves a deep wound.

[Lexin]

Two zombies, one quite fat, the other very, very thin, happily charge at Fredric who walked just in their range.


Z4
Attack [roll0]
Damage [roll1]
Z5
Attack [roll2]
Damage [roll3]


And they both fail miserably at their desperate try to get a bite of fresh food. Fredric, on his end, delivers two extremely fast blows.

After a second the heads of both zombies fall back, their throats slashed, but they are still standing and attacking, preparing to attack once again.

Group 1: Go!

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

Aluora moves up next to Fred and starts hacking away at the zombie now right in front of her (Z4). The first zombie went down easily and they look more ugly than dangerous, so for now she has a smile on her face, enjoying the physical challenge of this combat.

Rolls:

Greatsword: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Critconfirm (if needed): [roll2]

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

Seeing Frederic about to be flanked, D opens fire on the zombie closest to her.


Full attack - 2 shots at Z2. If the zombie somehow drops for the first shot, direct the second shot at Z5.

Using Focused Aim for +Cha on all damage for round.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[roll2]
[roll3]

[Lexin]

Desiree's bullets aren't as effective against zombies as Aluora's mighty slash... but they both manage to destroy one enemy each.
The fat zombie falls after a diagonal slash, and stops moving, lying on the ground.
At the same time two simultaneous shots can be heard, and another zombie falls, smoke rising from it's chest.

Jessica

Jessica can see some zombies around the nearby buildings getting wary at the sound.

Just as the other zombies fall, the one with sledgehammer finally reaches the group, and tries to attack Fredrick.
Attack [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

But the mighty swing goes wide.

Group 2: Go!

[Vedhin]

Fredric, seeing the Zombies going down, steps to the side and slashes at those that remain.

Taking a 5ft step, then attacking Z3. If it goes down, the second attack is targeted at Z5.
Attack 1:[roll0]
Damage 1:[roll1]
Attack 2:[roll2]
Damage 2:[roll3]

[Lexin]

Fredric somehow manages to cut the zombies to many more pieces than it should have been possible with only two slashes.
The zombies fall and Team 42 is victorious.

Amazing 150 xp points for everyone.

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

Desiree quickly does a visual sweep of the nearby area, looking for any more threats. Seeing none, she takes a look at the bodies, checking for anything of use or value.


[roll0] to spot threats.
[roll1] to search bodies.

[Psymple]

Jessica noticing some of them were some form of construction worker will search them for anything that might aid their travels.
She will check their wallets for driving licenses and thus their address, just encase they need a safe place to crash and they happen to live along their route as well as keys to houses or perhaps work keys allowing them to get inside construction sites.

She smiles to any inquisitive eyes as she rummages through their things:
Every little helps.

[roll0] Perception, to spot threats.
[roll1] Perception, to search.

[Lexin]

There are a lot of undead around you, but none are interested in you. Yet.

You find a ...sledgehammer.
Broken cell phone.
4 wallets, with IDs inside. (they mostly commuted to work, 2 had foreign IDs)
Some before the Rise money, which might be welcomed in some museums.
There is also a single gold-looking ring, silver cross amulet.

The fat zombie, which, now cut to ribbons, started to stink didn't have a wallet, but instead has a key on a wire, strapped to his belt. Possibly to his office.

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

Desiree takes the key and holds it up towards the group. "Might be useful if we run across whatever this man was in charge of before."

She shows the ring and amulet to the rest of the group as well. "And think these are of any interest? What with the magic around here and all..."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

Aluora shrugs: "I suppose...we can hang on to it." She looks around uncomfortably. "I prefer to get moving as soon as we can. Don't like to be in this place for longer than we have to."

[Vedhin]

"Yeah, the distraction won't keep the undead away forever." Fredric states, looking warily to the sides.

[Psymple]

So, onwards?

Jessica replaces her wand and re-arms her crossbow,
then heads off further down the tracks.

[Lexin]

The group proceeds without trouble. There are several corpses on the way, but they do not move and all their belongings are either stolen or in a terribly bad condition.
Everything goes smoothly until the group reaches the place where the tracks should have gone above the Alpertone Lane... Either deliberately or not the overpass was destroyed in this place which means that if the group wants to follow the tracks, they would need to walk down through the rubble and back up on the other side.
Another slight problem is connected to the natives of the city (zombies) who seem to like this passage. There are at least few of them walking around this place that could be seen in the distance.

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

Desiree surveys the landscape and quietly asks the rest of the team, "So, take them out with ranged and hope nothing else hears us, or sneak across and hope nothing else hears us?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

Aluora grins: "Well, I for one can't fly. I am no good with a bow, though. So, I say we get down there and hack our way through."

[Vedhin]

"I'm a poor shot myself, and not very stealthy either. So I won't be much help unless we just attack them straight up." Fredric says resignedly.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

Aluora nods at Fred. "Yeah...let's move so we don't get surrounded and let our blades do the work. They weren't so tough?"

[Psymple]

Jessica remains silent,
her stealthy ranged attack having not panned out so well previously.
She fiddles with a wand and then looks to the two swords people.

Either of you care to go Super-Sayan?

[Holocron Coder]

"D" Jones

"How about we attempt the stealth thing, defensively, and resort to a fight if we fail?" she suggests, running hands over her guns absently as she surveys the ground below.


[roll0]
EDIT: Apparently blind :smallannoyed:

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aluora

"Sure, we can give it a go." She already starts moving and waits to see if the others follow. "Anything beats standing around here, no?"

[Vedhin]

Fredric replies, "Well, I guess it can't hurt to try."