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.