Lot curses as his line jerks and throws him into the jagged structure.  He cries out in pain as the sharp shards of metal dig into his flesh.  He closes his eyes against the pain and pulls away from the structure.  He sits down and braces against future tugs, then tries to remove his harness.  Jade is a welcome sight as she comes to his aid with the medical supplies.  After he is clear of the line he begins to remove his gear and shirt so they can see how bad his injuries are.

 Glaring down at the EM Rifle, Fault scoffs and slings the inaccurate blaster back over his shoulder. He looks up sadly the ship above and shakes his head, "Sorry I can't help, guys."
 He turns to the dangling ropes. "Zeus? Thor? Ra? One of you please help me on this." Steeling himself, the wounded man takes a running leap for the drop-lines.

Jade looks to see what medical supplies she was given.  She also turns on her flashlight to examine the area where the sound came from.

Fault runs to the edge of the dome and leaps...

Lot gets out of his harness and begins to remove his shirt.  Most of the damage is from bruises and impact.  There is a wide gash on his neck.

Jade pulls off the medvest and looks inside.  It has the basic first aid bandages and the like.  It also has four syringes.  Two are marked "Boost Rate" and two are marked "Inhibitors."  Unfortunately, she only has basic first aid knowledge.

Fault flies through the air, reaching out.  It is nearly miraculous, but he manages to catch hold of a rope.  After swinging back and forth a moment, he begins to lower himself down.

Snow scrambles into cover and tries to patch himself up a bit.

Query:  Laz took one walkie talkie.  My records don't show anyone taking the other.  I'm going to give it to Viper for the sake of getting it out there.

A voice breaks out over the walkie talkies.  It is X, his voice panicky.  "We have to pull out!  Get the <cut in transmission> there now!  No <cut> time.  The hull <cut> breached."

It sounds like a steel baseball bat slamming against the hull of the ship from where you are, amidst the hum of the engines and the zipping sound of the Sentinels.  The machines are banging into the hull to attach and get in.

Mitose watches the rappelling scene unfold, and witha growing sense of urgency, watches the sentinels rush in as he tries to free his caribiner to begin his descent.  At the sound of first strike however, he starts to climb down hand over hand, and if need be will swing to safety if the ship begins to falter.

Laz tries to respond to X but is unable to, concern spreads across his face as he hears about the hull breach.

OOC: Lot picked up the radio just before we departed.

Tenderly Lot touches his tender neck wound and hisses.  In a foul mood from the pain Lot yells at X over the radio, "Atta way to hold the ship steady X! get outta here before you get our escape craft cut to ribbons."

 Fault swallows hard, and tries desperately to climb faster as the sounds from the ship reach him. He glances down to the darkness below, then back up at the swarming Sentinels.
 He chuckles weakly, more fear showing through than humor, "Hey Mitose, they have any sayings about what to do if your death has you surrounded?"

Okay.  How did I miss that?  I note also that he took the remaining flare gun.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:27, Sat 28 Aug 2004.

Viper, still attached to his calipers, quickly descends once he gets himself going again.  He reaches the bottom in seconds while Jade is pulling out the first aid gear, and he begins unlatching himself.

Fault and Mitose are going hand over hand, a much slower process.  They make it safely to about sixty feet from the bottom.  That's when it happens.  The Hyperion jerks to the side as one of its propulsion pads is taken out by a sentinel.  The effect is to swing Fault and Mitose in a wide arc.  The rope hits the top of the dome above, propelling them even further as though from a plucked string.  Their grips do not hold and they find themselves falling through the air at an angle into a darkness far beyond the group.  A sixty foot drop is a long way, and they fly like loosed acrobats with no net.  All they can see below is darkness as they swing out a good hundred feet from the others, falling, falling...with no chance of survival.

Over the radio, you hear the crackling voice of Locke.  "All ropes slack.  Get us the hell out of here!"  Almost instantly, the Hyperion rises swiftly.  Viper had just gotten loose when the rope goes flying away out of his hands.  The Hyperion disappears from view, trailing a stream of sentinels that go charging after.

Something is falling.  Something large and metal.  You recognize it as a sentinel.  One of them has fallen and comes through the hole in the dome.  You jump aside...

Mitose and Fault feel themselves suddenly covered in cold liquid.  All air is gone.  All sound disappears and all vision vanishes.  They realize they are in a pool of water and begin swimming up, saved and unharmed, though their hearts still beat quickly.

The sentinel crashes near Jade, Laz, Lot and Viper.  It moves its legs as though trying to right itself like an upside-down bug frantically trying to get on its feet.  Then, suddenly, it begins to shake.  Its legs make a rattlesnake sound, and then it is still.  Its lights go off.

What is even more disconcerting is the sound behind the four companions.  It is a scurrying sound, a whispering sound.  Another aluminum can sound echoes around the chamber as something trips and runs away.  Quickly glancing back, the four companions see eyes.  Many eyes.  The eyes recede into the darkness quickly, scurrying away.

Mitose and Fault break the surface of the water, gasping for air.  A voice nearby in the darkness--an unfamiliar woman's voice--says in an urgent whisper, "Get out of there!  Quickly!  Over here!"  The voice comes from about twenty feet away, but it is completely dark and they cannot see a thing.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:40, Mon 30 Aug 2004.

Jade shines her light in the direction of the scurrying sounds while at the same time yelling, "Fault...Mitose...get over here!"

Laz is awestruck as he sees the twitching sentinel but is brought back to reality as he hears the female voice. He shines his flashlight in the direction it is coming from and heads there.

 Fault paddles through the dark water toward the sound of the unfamiliar woman's voice. "Be there in just a moment," he calls back to Jade. "I believe I may have found a Water Nymph. I must investigate."

As Mitose and Fault are getting their bearings, they hear a splash behind them as though a man-size object has jumped into the water.  Then they hear another...and another.  In all, they hear five splashes about fifteen feet behind them in the water.

Jade's light reveals the movement of something.  There are humanoid shapes shrinking into the shadows.  They disappear into the darkness and behind a large doorway.

Her light also reveals that the ground, made of cement, is covered with many open tin cans that once held food but are now all empty.  There is also a white line painted on the ground.  It seems to form a circle with about a 70 foot diameter that encircles the entire party.

Laz's light flashes in the direction of the woman.  He sees a figure there, perhaps a woman.  Her face is dark with dirt and grime.  Her clothes are torn, and you see nodes on her head where she was once jacked into the Matrix.  She is partially under cover of several crates.  It looks like there are two figures beside her.

She is leaning out in the opposite direction.  Laz's light picks up troubled water that comes to a straight line like the edge of a swimming pool.  Mitose and Fault are swimming toward the woman.  Behind them, several figures--dark figures, their features hard to see--are swimming toward Fault and Mitose.  Good swimmers.  They might catch up.

The woman is kneeling at the edge of the painted line reaching her hand out to help Fault and Mitose.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:27, Tue 31 Aug 2004.

Jade tries to ignore the images, and she turns her attention to Lot to bandage him up.

Laz passes his light  over the creatures behind Fault and Mitose. He yells as loud as possible, "Behind you, something is behind you two."

Snow looks around from cover then ries to join with the others

"Bishop-fish!" Fault screams as he paddles for shore. "I knew this day would come!"

PM

Mitose does not ask Fault what he means, nor does he make the mistake of stopping to look behind him.  Quickly, but as calmly and efficiently as possible, he makes an olympic swimming run for the woman offering the aid.

Lot places his weapon on the ground to give Jade a hand as she worked.  He pulls his knife, the least cumbersome of his weapons and scans the darkness with his flashlight looking for any motion.

Fault and Mitose are swimming like madmen toward the proffered hand.  Behind them, they hear splashing.  Jade's words to hurry echo in their minds.

Snow is bandaging his wounds applying first aid...[successful roll]...although the bandaging will take about 20 minutes, Snow is successfully completing it.

Jade and Lot are aiding Lot in first aid (reducing time to 10 minutes)...[successful roll]...and it looks like Lot will also be in better shape.

Laz is watching Fault and Mitose after he calls out to them.

Mitose reaches the edge, and the woman helps him up.

A man kneels next to the woman and holds out his hand for Fault.  With relief, Fault takes the hand...but then something clamps down on Fault's foot.  A slimy yet firm grip from below.

...[Rolling battle of skills...Fault loses]...

The grip is firm and Fault feels himself being pulled down under the water.  Luckily, the man's grip on his hand is firm.  Fault is in a tug-of-war.

Mitose climbs dripping onto the cement floor.

The woman also grabs Fault's arm and pulls...but claws dig into Fault's leg. [1 HT dmg].  Finally, Fault is catapulted up and out of the water as the grip on his foot slips, taking one of his shoes with it.

But the delay has allowed for the other creatures to converge.  Hands reach out as Fault is being pulled up.  Claws tear into the skin on his back.  [1 HT dmg].  Then the man and woman are pulling Fault and Mitose free and back behind the white line.