Roam eased away from the bar, still swirling his drink.  His patience was starting to wear thin.  He couldn't help it, his inclination was to just start smashing heads and force his way through the door the bambiraptor was clawing at.
"Who was it that went out this morning?  Maybe we can ask them what they found.  Cut out the middleman." Roam placed his drink back on the bar and paced.  His eyes not wandering far from the seated men.

"Some of the guys who just left, and Ballad over there.  Hey, Ballad!  Come tell the newcomers what you saw out on patrol this morning, would you?"

Ballad, a skinny fellow with a shaved and tattooed scalp in mandala patterns, shifts over from the bar to drop his thin frame over a chair.  "About the usual to tell.  Took the four-wheeler out to Eastern Ridge, checked two traps, one blind spot, got a couple of 'sthruths for dinner, found evidence of a good big storm, and got an anomaly a couple clicks west of there.  Not too strong, but I picked up what I could," he says, rubbing his fingers over his opposite thumb.

Mira can't seem to stand it anymore, and pops out of her seat.  "So sorry, been on the go all day, bathroom?" she asks.  Mega jerks her thumb towards the doors at the back, and Mira scampers off.

"Dent, my argo, he behaved good the whole trip out, so that was about the only unusual thing.  Usually he's a grump in the morning," Ballad concludes.  He cocks his head at Roam after Mira leaves.  "You kin to her?  You don't look it."

Roam's eyes tighten as Ballad spills his yarn, but he does catch his mention of an argoraptor companion that is lurking somewhere about.  He continued his pacing and listened to Mira, with relief.  He couldn't really trust her to keep her temper or not give anything away if he tried to get into the basement.
Roam pulled out a chair and sat at the table across from Ballad.  He still kept his attention going between Ballad, Mega and the other man still at the bar.

"No, not related.  Found her on the road and had a chance to talk to her.  She said her brother is missing and I'm a fair tracker, so I offered to help.  Seems everyone else that was with us went back to continue to cover the caravans."

He scratched his neck under his chin and looked around above him for a second.  Lingering just long enough to see if he could get the others to investigate what he saw there.

"We were helping along the Chalk Road for the Wild Walk.  Ever been to Kelanio for that?"

As Roam looks around, Ballad's eyes go up to see what Roam is finding so interesting.

"Oh, once, when I was younger.  Good times, good food, good market," he says distractedly.

Mega nods in agreement.  "I found myself a nice little bambiraptor when I was a kid, Lugo was his name, pink and blue.  He died when I was fifteen, but he was the sweetest, loyalest little thing you ever did see."

There's a bit of a commotion over by the restrooms.  The little blue-and-yellow bambiraptor has found Mira, and is jumping all over her in excitement.  Mira is trying to hush him, but then suddenly stops when she realizes everyone in the Downed Dragonfly is looking at her.  Jase runs to a part of the wall and scratches at it, looking expectantly back at Mira.

Mega sighs, looking regretful.  "Well, we tried," she says, and scoots back hard in her chair, hand coming up with a blowgun that she raises to her lips.  Ballad pulls a las-blast pistol, dull with age, from an inside holster.  The man at the bar, a skinny younger man, slaps the surface and dives behind it as the old barkeeper ducks.

Mira shouts loudly, "Gaytha, come!"

"Stupid tiptoeing around this" Roam finally got  chance to smash someone in the face.  His right food snapped out and kicked the chair out from under Ballad.  Roam continued his movement and twisted to get the tabletop between him and Mega's blowgun.

"The brother is downstairs, isn't he?" Roam shouted as he finally felt energized.

Ballad sprawls on the floor as his chair goes out from under him, and Mega's expression goes cold as she raises her blowgun.

"Not your problem!" she snarls as she takes a quick breath and fires a projectile out of the hollow tube.

The elderly barkeep has disappeared, and the thin fellow from the bar heads back towards Mira.  There's a roar outside, and part of the Downed Dragonfly shudders a little.  Gaytha has arrived.  Mira frantically pries at part of the wall as the bambiraptor Jase leaps at the man coming Mira's way.

OOC: Make a DT 3 Speed defense check to avoid getting hit by the blowgun dart.  If you fail, you take 3 Speed damage.

Roam lifted the table into the way of the blowdart.  It stuck into the planking just on the other side of his head.
With a cry of effort Roam heaved the table at Mega.






OOC:
Defense:  Success  Total roll = 12
11:56, Today: Roam Linden rolled 9 using 1d20.  Speed Defense Roll +1 Step.


Attack:  Success total roll = 17  (+1 damage)
12:05, Today: Roam Linden rolled 17 using 1d20.  attack with table.

The table clips Mega and she collapses underneath it, groaning.  Ballad rolls to his feet, raising his las-blast pistol, when there's a tremendous bang! against the side of the Downed Dragonfly.  Several tons of angry triceratops has crashed through one of the open walls at Mira's call.

Ballad whips his pistol in the direction of Gaytha, seems to think about that for a split-second, and then dives behind the bar.

Mira is frantically examining the wall, and tugs at one section until it reveals a palm-pad access scanner.

"Roam, I found the door!" she calls.

Jase, the bambiraptor, is circling Mira and chirping rapidly.

Roam ducked away as debris flew at  Gaytha's entrance.  He ran for Mira at the door and started pulling his sword from his back.  He knew Ballad would have range,  but the sword serve nicely in the enclosed space.  He just had to watch out for Mega and her blowgun...

"TARLA, COME EAT SOMEONE!"

Roam ducks and dodges one way as Tarla comes rushing in from the other.  Ballad shouts as the velociraptor comes rushing in, claws extended as she jumps.  Ballad's coverall rips and gets stained red as she rips into the meat of his thigh, and he retaliates by firing his las-blast pistol at point-blank range.

Mega rolls and pries herself free of the table.  She twists upward and takes a breath, blowing out a dart at Roam as he crosses the floor.

Gaytha squeals loudly and shakes her head, ripping down some more of the ceiling.

Mira has pulled tools out of her beltpouch, including a thin glove, and is frantically touching some tiny probes to it, and then to the palm-scanner.  "I'm trying to get the door open!" she says breathlessly.  Jase, the bambiraptor, is pacing back and forth in front of her, mouth open in a hiss of defiance.

OOC: Speed Defense for you and Tarla, DT 3 for both.  3 damage to Tarla if she fails, 3 Speed damage to you if you fail.  Also, don't forget your cyphers, if you wish to use them.  :)

Dust and debris falls and ruins Ballad's shot at Tarla.  The smell of his blood has her incensed and she whips around to face him again.  With a scream she lowers her head and extends her claws and slashes him back as she passes, adding to the spreading blood.
Reaching to Mira and the door, Roam finds a dart sticking out of his shoulder.  Angrily he grabs a half filled mug of whatever is close and chucks it at Mega, hoping to smash it against her head.  Unfortunately it smashes against the wall behind her, but does manage to splash her with some of the spilled contents.  Small victories.

The dart catches in Roam's armor, which is quite lucky because he sees something viscous and green staining the tip.  Tarla slashes Ballad again, and he collapses to the floor, moaning and turning pale.  Mega thrashes as ale splashes on her from Roam's toss, but then squirms out from under the table and dives out a half-collapsed window.  Gaytha stops shaking her head as Mira says calming word loudly, ending with a little squeak of victory.

Roam can see Mira has her gloved hand pressed up against the touchpad.  It's turned a bright blue color, and chimes.  A door rolls open, heavy steel and ponderous, revealing a freight elevator large enough for Gaytha and a half.  Jase runs in and sniffs around, jumping up and down in seeming excitement.

"Let's go before she comes back!  Quill came this way!" Mira says, whistling for Gaytha.

Roam slipped into the elevator and whistled for Tarla.
He pushed Mira against the side of the elevator as the raptor raced in and twirled about.  Roam twirled his carbine off his back and prepared to repel anyone else trying to get in the elevator.

"Smack that button and lets get your brother!"

Mira slaps another button inside the cargo elevator as Tarla runs in.  The door slides shut, and the elevator begins to descend.  Outside the door, you faintly hear several people yelling.  Mira puts a hand on Gaytha and scratches her around her horns, whispering, "Good girl, good girl..." several times, possibly to calm herself more than the trike.  Jase the bambiraptor sniffs at Tarla's ankle, sneezes, and then goes to the back of the elevator and waits patiently.  The sides of the elevator seem to be caged, rather than open, and you see rock sliding by as you go deeper.  Abruptly the rock falls away, and the last sixty feet you descend in the open.

A large cavern has several square pre-fab modules, each the size of a large garage, arranged in a grid pattern on the cave floor.  Wires and power cables cris-cross the chamber, and many of the modules are brightly lit on the inside, providing illumination for most of the cavern.  While you see a few possible people working in one or two of the modules, you definitely see at least three argoraptor patrolling the "hallways".  In a few moments, your elevator will land, and the fun will begin...

Roam placed the rifle butt against his shoulder, pointed down to the ground.  He tried to mark where the agroraptors were as best he could and soothingly talked to Tarla.  "Ok sweetie, a couple other raptors out there acting like guard dogs.  we have to find the nice brother."

He took a deep breathe and listened to the elevator wind down to the bottom.  As the door opened he said "Lets go".  and stepped out and to the right, sweeping he carbine around to clear the area.

Mira stays still as Roam sweeps to the right, not immediately seeing any people or dinosaurs.  She tries to keep Gaytha calm, but Jase moves near Roam's ankle.  Then ahead of him, over by the far wall.  The chamber is quite large, with three rows of three pre-fab modules each.  Jase is heading towards the right wall, then around the corner.

A slight clicking heralds the arrival of an argoraptor to the left very soon...

Roam turns to Mira and Tarla, "Lets GO!"  He rushes after Jase.  At the corner he made sure he could see where the little bambiraptor was going and then turned and waved everyone along.  He really hated the idea of those Argoraptors catching them.

He raised his laser rifle to aim down the aisle the way the Argoraptors were coming from and waited for the others to scoot past him.  Roam quickly noticed how high the structures here were and if he could get on top of them.

Roam thinks that jumping onto the structures from the ground would take a cypher... or some jet boots.  But jumping up there from Gaytha's back, no problem!  Tarla would be able to take the same route just as easily, if not more so.  While Roam and Tarla (and Jase) would probably be able to keep hidden, there's going to be no hiding Gaytha; she's simply too large.

"I'll distract them!  If an argo wants to toy with a trike, their loss!  Go get Quill!" Mira says, and presses herself into a niche in the wall and flips down a small lens over one eye.  And answering glow shines on Gaytha's eye, and the trike's head comes up as she snorts.

The patter of argo claws comes clear as an argo pokes it snout around the corner. It snorts in complete surprise at the appearance of an enormous trike.  Its feathers come up and they rattle vigorously as its sways from side-to-side in confusion.

Roam nods in acknowledgement at Mira and turns to race after Jase.  "This little Bambiraptor is better than any bloodhound" Roam says to Tarla as they race after.
Holding his rifle with both arms he swung it back and forth as he ran.  He fought to keep his breathing steady and watched for any signs of trouble.

Jase takes one look at the argoraptor, then Gaytha, then Roam and Tarla, and doubles back, going over one aisle to leave Gaytha and the argoraptor to it.  Bambiraptors are fierce for their size (knee-high to a knee), but getting in between a trike and a argo would be rather foolish, even for them.

Bellows from Gaytha and shrieks from the argo erupt behind you as you follow Jase to the next aisle.  In a few moments, more argo shrieks sound, which means the other argoraptors have come to join the fray.  Roam, Jase, and Tarla can duck down the middle aisle.  The modules here have several different purposes.  From here, you can see one each marked Cryo 1, Cryo 2, Incubation, Mechanical, Surgery, and Lab 2.  Jase swings his nose from side-to-side, spinning in a circle as he squeaks in distress, trying to find Quill.

Roam chases Jase and starts investigating the canisters and searching for someone he doesn't know.
Why were they all here anyway?  What kind of experiments were they doing here?

If someone was with him who had any bit of technical knowledge, they could crack them all open or find out.  Roam looked to see if there were any tags or obvious markings on the modules.

Roam can quickly and stealthily pad the length of the "hallway", aware that the ruckus of Gaytha and the argos is going to attract attention from anyone working in here before long.  In Cryo 1, he sees small steel cylinders, frosted, with different dinosaur names on them.  Cryo 2 had larger one, big enough to hold small dinos or dino-pups, also labeled with different dinosaur names.  Incubation has several curved trays of dino eggs, warming lamps, and robotic arms that turn and tend the eggs.  Mechanical has a heavier door and no windows, and there's a heavy, repetitive thumping inside.  Surgery has one empty surgical bed with the curtain pulled back, and another with the curtain drawn and a figure moving behind it.  Lab 2 had two techs in white lab clean clothes and masks examining items through a microscope or fiddling with the settings on a large piece of equipment.

Roam peaked through windows as he moved down the hall.  He paused at Surgery 2 with the curtain drawn.  He knew someone was moving around, but He looked at the lock to try and get in.  He slowly tried to open the door.  Rifle at the ready.
Roams heart was beating faster as he tried to sneak in.  Would this person know where Mira's brother was?  Was he in there being operated on?

Roam sneaks in as well as he can, Tarla sneaking in after him.  Jase zips in as well, circling around Roam's feet without getting in the way.  He shuts the door gently behind him, not wanting the sounds of angry argos and a likely even angrier trike alarming whoever was on the other side of the curtain.

There is a pause, and Roam hears an older woman's voice speaking, the tone of one speaking to a recording device.  "Nothing further on scans with surgical assist, no indication of gross alterations to organs, brain structure, bone structure, or base body chemistry.  Will proceed with spinal tap and DNA analysis to determine if traceable changes can be found."

There's a few clicking sound as if someone picking up metal and plastic items off a tray, and the figure behind the curtain moves slightly.  Jase is practically bouncing in place, one hand over his mouth to keep from making noise.  The gesture is very human.

Roam doesn't want to wait and see.  He raises his rifle stock to his shoulder and steps up to the curtain.  His left hand snakes out and pulls the curtain back.
"DON'T MOVE" He says authoritatively.  His primary concern is making sure that whatever was picked up off the tray is not swung at him or Mira's brother.

He waves Jase and Tarla further into the room and places his second hand back to the rifle.  Roam turns so his back is not to the door as well.  Last thing he wants is to have someone come in behind him as well.