Only my shotgun and pistol here, but ill help the others get to the ship...

The party doesn't have time to talk further.  You make a break for it toward the ship.  Lot has the mutant strapped to his back, and he helps Elle and Sam, who are still wounded.

Jade leads the way through the rubble, with Snow, Fault and Mitose trailing behind.

The worm moves its head from side to side letting out the same squealing shriek that you heard in the tunnels.

You put some more distance between you and the worm.  It is about 100 meters behind you.  The tunnel is about 250 meters straight ahead.

The worm's shrieks appear to help it like sonar.  Its head drops and it begins winding like a snake toward you.  The rubble appears to do it no harm against its hard shell.  But then it appears to get caught.  Shrieking, it dives again.  The sound is like that of an earthquake.

You are about 150 meters from the Hyperion, climbing over rubble as fast as you can.

The Sentinels approach.  Ten of them, but then you see something in the distance you first take as smoke.  A second look shows you it is a swarm...of Sentinels.  All headed your direction.  They are coming down out of the sky a couple of miles away behind you.  There is no doubt that they will reach you before you can get to the Hyperion.  The other ten Sentinels will reach you far sooner.  You have about 20 seconds...

You feel something rumbling under the ground below you.

Jade has her EMP rifle ready to fire at the first Sentinel that approaches.  Meanwhile, she continues to run forward to outdistance the giant worm underneath.

"It's directly beneath us!" she yells.  "We need to get out of here before it surfaces!"

Snow keeps his head down and continues running. He'll be ready for the ground moving suddenly under him and will try to jump to safety if such a thing happens.

The ground beneath you stops rising.  You realize that the worm is getting ahead of you, tunneling in the area between you and the Hyperion.

The swarm of Sentinels advances, and you move quickly, but the hundreds of Sentinels there will doubtlessly reach you before you reach the ship.

The Hyperion is merely 100 meters away when the ten closest Sentinels reach you.  Looking around, you see that your EMP Rifles will be far from sufficient to take them all down.

And then a strange thing happens.  The Sentinels stop perhaps ten meters away.  They dart in a circle around you, wary of something.  Your eyes all turn to the mutant corpse.  Even in death, it repels the Sentinels.

You breathe a sigh of relief and feel a rush of hope...

...but you know the giant worm is somewhere underneath the ground.

And you advance.  50 meters to the Hyperion...and it is bare ground from here to the tunnel entrance, above which the Hyperion floats.  The rubble has ended, although the ground is still rough.  You can sprint across it in probably less than 10 seconds.

From the tunnel, you see many blinking eyes as the other mutants are crouched in darkness.

The radio is making strange sounds.  It might be working on a different channel.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:04, Fri 10 Dec 2004.

The whole situation seemed hopeless.  The sentinel swarm drew ever nearer. Before long it was obvious that they would never reach the Hyperion in time to escape.  Lot exchanges glances with his companions, they all knew it.  There was nothing they could do other than press on and die fighting.

Lot can hardly believe it when the near sentinels stop short and abort their  charge.  With confusion he watches as the machines hover around them, unable or unwilling to close the remaining gap between them.  He looks to Elle seeking confirmation of what he was witnessing, then to Sam and the others.  All eyes were on him, wait not on him, just above him on his back.  Understanding hits him and he realizes the mutants passive ability to repel the sentinels still worked after death.

All that remained between them and escape was the great worm that had set its trap in the bare ground ahead.  A tall obstacle indeed, one that Lot had little confidence they would all survive.  Preparing to make a last sprint and pray for the best he halts as the radio begins to make noises.  In a moment of inspiration he holds out his hand and asks, "Jade I need the radio, I have an idea!"

Jade quickly passes the radio to Lot, her eyes scanning the ground for signs of the worm rising.  Her EMP Rifle moves from one Sentinel to the next...just in case.

 Fault stutters, tries to say something, then just begins trembling, looking like a child who just woke up from a nightmare. He huddels closer to the rest of the group, his EMP rifle rattling as his hands shake.
 _{"The Great Wyrm of the deep stalks us in the valley of the dead gods... Red eyed squid that swim through the dark sky... The serpent of the underworld devours the lazarus,"} the blonde man rambles in a harsh whisper. He falls to his knees, not seeming to notice the pain in his torn leg - he's lost it.

Lot adjusts the burden on his back, freeing his arms enough to accept the  radio.  After adjusting dials for several seconds he achieves the effect he is looking for.  Lot winces as a high pitched feedback squeal pierces his ears.  Working against his instinct to cease the painful noise Lot turns the volume dial to maximum, then waits for a reaction from the worm.

As Lot is adjusting the dials, the voice of Locke breaks through.  "...are you there?  Come in."

 "We're all going to die!" Fault screams up at the sky. You're unsure if he was responding to Locke or not. The young man grabs his radio, turns it on, and holds it out in front of him. "Locke... Locke, mutants, we need... sentinels... help!" he stammers, his eyes twitching back and forth between the approaching swarm and the ground at his feet. He wipes his eyes the back of his hand and sniffs loudly. _{"Swi-ing low, sweet cha-rio-ot..."} he mumbles into the radio, rocking back and forth slightly.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:08, Sat 11 Dec 2004.

Snow will try to give Fault a rough shake,

Ummm, Sir Fault....keep it together...the ummm dragon will be defeated and we will escort these fair ladies to the Hyperion....
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:12, Sat 11 Dec 2004.

As you continue forward, you see several objects fall from the Hyperion.  They are sleighs attached to ropes, not too different from what you remember seeing the Coast Guard use.  Your rescue lines.

There is a small open area just before the tracks meet the cave.  It is directly below the Hyperion.  You see the ground there beginning to bulge.

Snow sighs as he sees the ropes,

It had to be more climbing.... he mutters and tries to connect himself to one, before helping anyone he can with theirs.

Jade says, "This is Blitzkrieg time!  Get to the ropes and let's get out of here!"  She runs as fast as she is able, even if she has to go over the rising mound of earth to jump onto the ropes.

 Fault stumbles to his feet as the rescue sleighs drop. His eyes still glazed over, he stumbles as quickly as he can toward the Hyperion.

Mitose sprints as fast as he can toward the rescue ropes.

Lot watches the bulging earth right below the rescue line and wonders if the others were just running right into the worms gigantic maw.  Still, they might make it with the proper distraction.

"Elle, Sam, run for it.  Ill catch up, someone has to bait this thing."

He gives them a starting nudge towards the awaiting gurneys then searches the rocks for a large suitable stone.  He finds one just a bit larger than his head since it was as heavy as he could repeatedly lift over his head. He finds a good patch of ground and slams the stone into the ground with an overhand smash.  He lifts and pounds again, and again, and again in a steady cadence.  Certainly one much larger food source was more attractive then quick little scamperers, as indicated by the worms choice in attacking the Hyperion before turning on them.

The ground is already breaking open when Mitose is the first to arrive.  The others jump for cover, but it is too late for Mitose.  The worm rises from the ground and slams down as it turns toward Lot.  Mitose is caught underneath...(-48HT)...and his mangled form is lost forever.

Jade, Fault, Snow, Elle, and Sam jump to the side out of the way.

Lot's ruse appears to have worked.  The five jump onto the waiting gurneys, which immediately begin to rise.

Lot is now facing the worm alone about 50 yards from the last waiting gurney.

Lot tosses the still squealing radio and the large rock to the side and bolts toward the Hyperion.  Fortunately for him, the emerging worm seems to have come upon the mother load.  It begins tossing and turning, sending out shockwave.

Lot is seconds away from the gurneys when he sees the Sentinels falling from the sky, twitching and buzzing as the worm's shockwaves take them down.  He launches himself onto a gurney and manages to dodge a falling Sentinel.

The others make it safely to the top, being pulled back into the safety of the ship by the crew.

The gurney begins to rise, and the Hyperion begins to ascend before it has pulled Lot up.  The mutant corpse on his back makes his balance awkward.  The worm turns when it notices the movement and engines of the Hyperion and sends a shockwave.  It hits, and the Hyperion lurches, sending Lot flying around like a ball on a tether.  His grip and balance begin to fail him from 100 feet in the air.  He is staring down at hundreds of fallen Sentinels piled like a junkyard below.

The worm is still turning, sending out waves.  The Sentinels are thrown into confusion.

...Lot regains his balance and grip and the gurney reaches the top.  As the hatch closes below you, you see the chaos the worm has created.  Even the mutants are rushing out to attack the Sentinels that are falling.  In the confusion, none of the Sentinels follows the Hyperion.

"Take us out of here!" Locke yells to Silicon over the intercom.  In a few minutes, the Hyperion finds its entrance and descends into the belly of the Underdark.

"Well, wasn't that fun," X comments sarcastically, pulling over the injured and asking for medical attention.

Locke looks over the ragged crew.  "The Counsel will give you a medal for today.  Not just for out there, but also for your accomplishments in the Matrix."

He eyes you all up and down.  "We're heading back to Zion now.  I imagine these computer researchers and the codes you brought back from the Matrix will be very helpful in our fight against Zero-One.  But for now," he says, "I think you deserve some much-deserved R and R."

He heads off toward the bridge to help Silicon navigate through the tunnels to Zion.

X sees your injuries and haggard looks.  "Sometimes I'm glad I'm just an operator," he says, and flashes a smile.

[END OF ADVENTURE 2]

Please find your experience points below.  These are NOT CBP, just regular CP (since you were not in the Matrix).  Please apply them to your character as any GURP CP would normally be applied, and they all help even outside the Matrix (although honestly I am not contemplating any outside-the-Matrix adventures in the near future, although perhaps a slight combo like the first adventure).

Lot lays upon the cold metal floor, his chest heaving as he gasps for breath.  The mutant, heavy to begin with, had quickly become a torturous burden that he could not afford to release.  His limbs had already turned to putty before he was forced to leap into the gurney. He had spent every last shred of strength left to him to maintain his balance upon it.

Shredded, battered and breathless he stares up at the ceiling and can think of nothing but of his fallen companions.  Viper, Grid, Roach, Lazarus, Mitose, Xan and Twitch. Only Jade remained out of the original Hyperion crew. How close he had come to becoming just another corpsicle under ice.  It was a shame that some of them would never return to Zion for a proper funeral.

Lot alows his head to fall to the side so he can look at Jade.  He grins oddly and jokes, "Jade, are you still alive?  Zero-One must have a sense of humor."

Jade throws her weapons to the floor and stretches.  "Honestly, I don't know if I'm alive or not these days.  Maybe this is all a dream and we're still in the Matrix.  I wonder myself.  Of course, maybe Zero-One is just being extra kind on me because I'm a lady."  Battle worn, she does a comical curtsy before collapsing into a chair in full combat uniform.

The exhausted burn in his muscles had turned numb and heavy.  The pain gone for the most part, Lot slowly pulls up into a seated position finally allows Locke's words to leak into his brain.  Medals  "You hear that everyone?  We are going to be heroes.  No more of this kiddie sh**, now we get the tough assignments."