From the bridge, your pilot, Silicon, says over the intercom, "I've got a good lock on the position now."  The intercom cuts out, and then he cuts back in.  "But there's good news and bad news.  The good news is they appear to be located straight down a thirty foot diameter opening.  Should be easy enough to find them."

Locke punches the intercom button on the wall and says, "What's the bad news, Silly?"

You can almost hear Silicon's groan over the intercom.  He always hates being called that.  "The bad news is that the machines have detected us."

"Are you recommending we abort the mission and try again later?" Locke asks.

"Negative.  And let me tell you why.  It's because of the other bad news."

Locke sighs and frowns.  "What other bad news?"

"I think one of them scientists is hurt."

"So what do you suggest?"

Silicon pauses in reluctance.  "Uh, well, a quick drop, then a pass and return."

"Explain."

"We drop these guys off ASAFP and make a break for it back underground.  We hit the EMP when it's charged if we can't shake them and then come back for a pickup."

"What's our total roundtrip?"

"An hour, maybe two."

Locke takes his finger away from the intercom button and looks around at you.  "I'm going to let all of you make this decision, but I think these researchers are too valuable to Zion to risk losing even one of them.  What do you say?"

As though he could overhear, Silicon says, "ETA to the drop zone, one minute, five seconds.  We gotta do this now or never."

"We've come too far to turn back now," Jade says, looking for some sort of harness or belt to strap on.  She slings the two rifles over her back in a rather unlady-like fashion and says, "If we're in the Sentinel safe zone, we can hold until you come back for us, but we'll need medical supplies, won't we?"

Lot makes his decision.  He steps forward and begins to gear up at last.  He straps the sniper rifle over his shoulder and sheathes a knife into his belt.  Seeing that a walkie-talkie and the flare gun were still unclaimed he grabs those as well.  After preparing his gear he grabs an EM rifle and moves into position for the drop.

"I dont know about you guys, but this aint the one I die on.  Lets get our asses in and out in time for supper.  There are bowls of lukewarm snot curds waiting for us and intend to eat my share."

Snow finishes checking his equipment and says,

We need those scientists, whatever it takes to get them, lets do it.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:18, Mon 23 Aug 2004.

Fault slams his fist into the palm of his hand emphatically. "Gremlins!" he says triumphantly, a knowing grin spreading across his face. He looks to Locke and nods, "I wouldn't miss this for the world."

"Uh, fifty seconds or so to the drop," Silicon says over the intercom.  "And these squids are riding my tail like chihuahuas on a rampage."

Locke looks at Jade.  "She's right.  X, get the meds."

X slips out the door and down the hall.  Locke calls after him, "And bring some light sources too."

You begin tying on the harnesses and attaching the ropes for the descent.

The intercom clicks on and Silicon says, "Uh, we might have a problem.  I'm not real sure.  Our sensors can't penetrate beyond a certain point.  That's really weird.  It's just dark down there.  I got no schematics, nothing."  You hear in the background the sound of him banging his hand on the computer screen.  "Nope.  Still nothing."

The intercom clicks off.  It almost instantly clicks back on.  "Oh, and it looks like you've got just over thirty seconds to the drop.  Good luck."

X appears in the doorway and tosses you each a widelens flashlight.  He puts a heavy duty lantern in Snow's hands.  "Best I could do on short notice.  Jammer's on the way with the--"

"Uh, more bad news, I'm afraid," Silicon cuts in over the intercom.  "At least, it might be.  I'm not sure.  I'm just picking up three life signs down there.  One injured, two okay.  Don't know where you're fourth researcher got off to.  Or if he's alive.  Could be in the area my sensors can't pick up.  Don't know."

The intercom cuts out and then it clicks back on.  "Um, fifteen seconds.  I'm bringing us in."

Jammer appears in the doorway and shoves a vest into Jade's hands.  "Here are the meds you wanted.  There's a--"

"No time!" Locke interrupts, pushing him out the door.  He opens the hatch, and you help open the other three.

Below you, the ground rushes by.  The Hyperion is gliding over the surface.  You see dirt and rocks and twisted metal like spider corpses.  Collapsed buildings and metal structures.  Humanity's last defense against the machines had been machines.

Still, to see the surface is euphoric.  Even though it is blanketed by eternal darkness from the aftermath of humanity's last experiment and shows nothing but destruction and darkness from the long war.  Take away the machines' energy source--light--and the humans thought they could defeat the machines.  They thought wrong.  Humans became their energy source.  The Hyperion slows down.  The structures take on more shape.  They are not pretty, but at least they are the real world.

The Hyperion finally slows near a bulbous structure protruding from the ground.  It rises approximately ten feet off the ground and is about a hundred feet in diameter.  You cannot tell how much larger it is below the surface.  Its rounded sides simply disappear into the dirt and rocks around it.

But in its center is your drop point.  The hole Locke spoke of.  The Hyperion comes to a complete stop over the hole.  All you see looking straight down is darkness.  The ropes are dropped, unwinding down into darkness.

"Go!" Locke yells.  "No time!"  He waves you forward to the ropes.

Barely audible above the purr of the ship, you hear a buzzing sound.  You recognize the sound immediately.  The Sentinels are approaching.

Snow shouts,

Good luck Captain

Then starts to attach himself to the rope he'll be repelling down as he mutters a quick prayer to a God thats seemed to have gone away.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:15, Tue 24 Aug 2004.

Jade quickly straps the medvest to herself and drops down over the edge of the hatch, rappelling as quickly as her skill will let her.

"Good luck to us too," she mutters.  "We'll need it."

Mitose nods in agreement with Jade, and looks to Locke, "The Japanese had a saying; Always keep your death in front of you.  Cryptic I know, and almost stereotypical of me to say, but it has helped me in the past."

He steps to the edge, "I WILL see you later, Locke..."

With that, he rappels down with his team, readying the EM rifle as he hits the ground.

NOTE:

Rappelling:  Rappelling is not a separate skill; it falls under Climbing.

Normal rappelling down a vertical surface is done at Climbing +3 (Defaulting then to DX-2 or ST-2).

Rappelling from a free-hanging rope is made at only +1.

A failed roll indicates that the rope stuck, hanging you in the air.  A critical failure indicates a fall.

Rappelling is done by a stop and start motion.  In one second of free-fall, you can go up to 16 feet.  Thus it takes 1 second to rappel 1-15 feet, 2 seconds for 16-30 feet, etc.

Rappelling Harness:  2 seconds to fasten this to the rope and 2 seconds to release.  This adds a +1 to your check.

Note that I have decided not to use encumbrance as a modifier.  Typically, this is used for all climbing checks, but the rules are unclear with rappelling, so I have decided it shouldn't be used as a modifier since you are dropping straight down.

(Fast roping is often done from helicopters, but we are not using that here.)

This case:

The ropes are in a 120 foot coil.  The Hyperion is hovering about 35 feet above the top of the dome.  It is estimated that the point from the top of the dome to the ground is 80 feet.  However, it is uncertain because it is so dark down there.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:01, Tue 24 Aug 2004.

Snow spends a frantic few seconds attaching the harness then begins his descent.

Clarification:  Although you move only 15 feet per second, the rules say there is only one roll per rappel...

...but this will assume that nothing happens from top to bottom.  Any interference would require multiple rolls plus whatever modifiers apply.

Are you scared yet?   :)

Not until I realized I don't have a climbing skill...

Viper stares at the rope and harness for a moment before figuring out how to get down. After that, he quickly attaches the harness and steps out over open space. Just a second later, he realizes something is wrong.

Lot scratches his head as he tries to figure out how his climbing gear works.  He watches how the others prepare and does his best to mimic.  "How hard can this be?" he mumbles to himself.  He tries not to imagine a fall into the rusty metal debris below as he double checks his gear.

Fault snaps himself into a harness and steps toward the open hatch. He stops before he reaches it though, and turns around with a thoughtful look in his eyes. "Say, Locke..." he stares solemnly down at world below. "If I... If I find a Gremlin, can I keep him?"

Laz is the last one in line, he checks his line and equipment making sure everything is tight. He has never had a problem with heights but this is a different story. He takes a breath and prepares to rappel.

The party drops over the edge and begins to descend.  The movement behind the ship catches your attention.  It can only be described as a "swarm."  The Sentinels are approaching in fury.  Their buzz rises above even the ship's engines.  They will reach the Hyperion in a matter of seconds.

Turns 1-3
Jade, Lot and Laz appear to be making a good solid descent.  They quickly disappear below into the opening of the dome.

Snow, Mitose, Viper, and Fault are having difficulties.  They struggle to descend.  Mitose's line is swinging back and forth, making it difficult for him to continue.  Fault's rope seems entangled in his carbiner.  Viper and Snow merely have a slight delay before descending some more.  But it is clear the Sentinels will reach the ship first.

Turns 4-6
Jade, Lot and Laz are doing so well that they pick up speed to 20 feet per second.  In the darkness, and because they are looking down at their drop site, they do not see the others having problems above.  They land on solid ground, but it is dark all around.  They begin to unfasten their harnesses when there is a sudden jerk on the ropes.

Jade and Laz hold their position and are just thrown to the side a bit.  Lot is thrown off balance and slammed against a metal structure.  It is sharp and jagged and painful.  (6 HT dmg)


The four above them have a more difficult problem.  As they try to readjust and gain balance, they see the Sentinels slam into the Hyperion.  The impact knocks the ship to its side.  This is what caused the ropes to swing.  This causes an even more serious problem for those still descending.

Fault is still above the dome untangling his rope and carbiner.  The jolt knocks his rope swinging sideways about 30 feet.  It is a violent jolt and because his ropes are entangled, he suddenly finds himself freefalling in an arc, no longer attached to the rope...

Viper is able to prepare for the impact and hold on.  His rope swings wide like a swing and begins to sway back and forth, but he maintains his hold and avoids impact. He is able to continue downward and has full control of his rappelling equipment without any problem.


Snow and Mitose manage to avoid injury or problem, but the jolt from the ship causes their lines to cross.  Snow is about 15 feet below Mitose.  They are entangled between each other.  They will have to either try to untangle themselves or disconnect their carbiners and go down hand over hand.

Fault can only open his mouth to scream before plummeting.  Lucky for him, the arc of his swing threw him out of range of the hole in the dome.  He lands on top of the dome with a thud and begins to roll. [6 HT dmg]  But he is on top of the dome and needs to get down.  The ropes from the ship dangle into the hole.  The dome itself seems to have no other openings from this vantage point.

The swarm of Sentinels begins to cover the Hyperion like ants attacking prey.  You know there is not much time before Silicon will have to flee

Player Note: The extent of problems encountered by each character are the result of how far the roll was off from the skill level.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:57, Thu 26 Aug 2004.

As Laz plummets to the ground, a smile plays across his lips as he lands, this had become a pure rush for him. He quickly undid himself from the lines and calls  out to his companions and waits for their replies as he looke up at the Hyperion.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:34, Thu 26 Aug 2004.

As quickly as possible, Jade unhooks herself from her harness and goes over to help Lot.  She glances up quickly to see if there is anything she can do to help her companions.

Wiping the blood from his lips, Fault staggers to his feet. He glances to the two men still dangling from the ship's drop-lines, then to the ship itself. Sighing, he un-slings his EM Rifle, levels it at the Sentinels swarming the ship, and pulls back on the trigger.

Snow doesn't want to wait around up here, literally blowing in the wind so he quickly unhooks himself from the cimbing aid and starts the descent again.

Fault fires, but there is too much movement with targets too far away for the inaccurate rifle.  His shots go wide, and some come dangerously close to hitting the ship.  (EM Rifles are not known for accuracy.)  Also, he realizes that if he hits the ship in just the right place, the results could be disastrous.

Snow begins descending, but he starts to lose his grip.  He slides, stops himself, but then plummets...

Laz calls up, but there is so much noise that nothing can be heard.

Jade looks up to help.  She sees Snow falling, but there is nothing she can do to help.

Luckily, Snow didn't completely fall from the rope until 23 feet from the ground.  Still, he lands hard with a crash.  (-14 HT).  He is still conscious, but very hurt.

As Jade prepares to attend to her two companions, she hears movement in the darkness, the crash of a large tin can falling to the ground.

Above, with Snow's fall, the line holding Mitose is no longer tangled, and he can try to rappel normally down if he wants.  After overcoming his caught carbiner, Viper is also free to go down.

Above you, the Sentinels are still ravaging the ship.  Metal scraping against metal makes your skin crawl.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:15, Thu 26 Aug 2004.

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.