Zhouth pried himself away from the girder, a little bit unsteady but nevertheless holding against the wind and whatever internal injuries he'd taken; he then turned to face the sprawled group before him.

"Uhh, I don't think that this is a good time to lie around on the job." His voice had regained its more customary pitch and tone, though there was still a clear undercurrent of strain to it. "It's actually more likely than not to strike twice in the same place, you know?"

There was a half-second pause, then a tentative, "And, umm, if you're in that bad a shape, we can go back? I think that I can drag one or two of you at a time."

In reply to Zhouth (msg # 62):

     Having just been struck by lightning and actually survived the hit, Varca is understandably feeling a little frazzled around the edges.  Hearing Zhouth's comment, he begins to struggle to his feet, using his cousin's weapon to assist himself.

     Once on his feet, he slowly looks around...



     Varca begins moving vaguely in the direction indicated on everyone's faceplate HUDs.  His movements are a jerky, side-to-side shuffle--almost as if he were slow-motion dodging some unseen obstacles.

    ^COMM> "Ikut...buat seperti...saya buat..." ^<COMM Varca broadcasts in a gravelly, exhausted tone of voice.

When Teddy stopped twitching, he managed to get to his knees, stock down, he used his gauss rifle and the girder to rise to his feet, he stood there blowing in the wind for a moment.

He tried to understand what Varca said, but couldn't. "Let's get the prize before he has to save us. This isn't working out as planned. Anyone know where the Hawkmen are? Lead on toward the cave Varca."

Teddy shuffles forward slowly, praying they didn't get hit or attacked again.

"We're going to need a rescue of our own if that happens again," Zhouth muttered disconsolately as he started forward again, his steps a little less vigorous than usual but rather more steady than those of Varca or Theodore. "Also, maybe we should be clumped up quite as much?"

When the lightning bolt struck, Aaron was knocked off his feet but what little got through his Boarding Suit was diffused by his standard cloth armor.

A bit dazed and a little disoriented, Aaron picked himself up off the ground and looked around for his allies. He'd never been struck by lightning before, nor had he ever been near a lightning strike. It was definitely an experience he didn't want to repeat.

He quickly checked his gear to make sure it was all still functioning.

The comm chatter assured him that the others were mostly okay, but Teddy made a valid point about being rescued themselves.

"We found the King readily enough," Aaron responded over the comm, "but no one said it'd be easy getting to him."

"What the frag?!" Rejji nearly shouts over the comm after getting struck by a lightning bolt. "This is like a fraggin' war zone! With two many sides... and we're caught in the middle!"

The five points that got through the armor jangled his nerves, but with his END back up to 11, he easily took it. Not sure if it would do anything, he still triggered the suit's Medikit.

19:50, Today: Rejji Harrasyn rolled 12 using 2d6+3 ((4,5)).

A suitable amount of stimulants pretty much brought him back to normal.

Unfortunately, the battle with the storm isn't quite over yet. The storm's fury seems to double yet again as the clumps of protruding girders channel the wind through the ruins, contracting the forced air into powerful jets.

19:06, Today: StarMaster rolled 23,26,30,27,32 using 8d6,8d6,8d6,8d6,8d6.

Varca takes 23 points of 'damage'.
Teddy takes 26 points of 'damage'.
Aaron takes 30 points of 'damage'.
Zhouth takes 27 points of 'damage'.
Rejji takes 32 points of 'damage'.

In this case, the 'damage' is about the wind picking you up and how far away (in meters) it deposits you.

OPTION 1: Very Difficult TN 12 STR check to grab onto something to keep from getting blown away.

OPTION 2: Difficult TN 10 DEX or Survival check to dive behind some shelter and wedge yourself in.

OPTION 3: You can bleed off distance by taking actual damage as you are bounced off girders. This would bypass your armor.

Varca gets tossed 23 meters to the left at roughly the 7 o'clock position.
Teddy gets tossed 26 meters to the right at roughly the 4 o'clock position.
Aaron gets tossed 30 meters to the right at roughly the 1 o'clock position.
Zhouth gets tossed 27 meters to the right at roughly the 2 o'clock position.
Rejji gets tossed 32 meters to the right at roughly the 5 o'clock position.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:40, Mon 29 May 2023.

22:07, Today: Rejji Harrasyn rolled 7,8 using 2d6,2d6+1 ((3,4,4,3)).

STR check. DEX check. No chance in hell.

As the wind scoops him up, he'll desperately try to grab onto passing girders to limit how far away he goes. He'll bleed off 16 meters as he slams into one girder after another.

Finally after far too many seconds, he lies bruised and battered on the ground, desperately hoping the suit's Medikit still has another miracle in it.

22:24, Today: Rejji Harrasyn rolled 12 using 2d6+3 ((6,3)).

YES! One more. Only 4 points back, but hopefully that'll be enough to survive the next attack.

STR = [6] 3, DEX = [9] 2, END = [E] 4 + 4 = 8.

This message was deleted by the player at 18:42, Sat 27 May 2023.

Teddy was lifted by a vortex several meters and slammed into a girder, then the wind shifted, and it carried him off into another, almost impaling him on a  razor sharp protruding beam! Then he got carried into another, when it released him and dropped him in a heap! He was dazed and the air had been forced from his lungs temporarily. He was struggling to breath and slightly stunned, but managed to activate the medkit again! He knew he was close to death, the medical help revived him a bit. He sat up amd looked for the others, when he found them, he crawled to them, praying all were alive. He wouldn't survive the next one!
This message was last edited by the player at 16:06, Sat 27 May 2023.

Doesn't seem as if I was clear enough...

You only take damage if you try to fight the wind. Otherwise you just get blown some distance away.

 If you do fight the wind, your armor doesn't help.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 72):

OOC: Yup.  I misread that.  Got it all turned 'round in muh haid.  Sorry.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 72):

Huh? So we took no damage, just blown like a tumbleweed? Sweet! I'll fix that.

Zhouth made a dive for cover but - as he had so often protested - he was in no way an action hero, so his dive was too slow and too short. The result was a sort of flailing roll-tumble as he hit the ground that gained rather than lost speed under the wind's force until he eventually rolled right out of the area.

It had, of course, been accompanied by a rather terrified yell, then erratic gasps as he took in and then lost his breath; the finale was simple panting as he lay there, presumably trying to recover his wits and whatever was left of his nerves.



16:53, Today: Zhouth rolled 8 using 3d6, keeping the 2 highest rolls.

OOC: Take 2

     As the group once again makes for King Oleb's location, the winds suddenly increase to gale force--coming at the group from several directions simultaneously.

     Varca is swept off his feet by the winds--tumbling end-over-end for along the hard ground of a narrow chasm between massive piles of rubble.  Seeming to gain control over his tumble after a few meters, Varca mages to roll up onto his feet--only to stumble into a vortex in the middle of an intersection of three chasms.  Spinning like a top, Varca is momentarily lifted a meter off the ground, before falling out of the wind vortex and rolling off down a different rubble-chasm, eventually coming to a stop against a flat surface that might be the remnants of a masonry-like wall--twenty-three meters away from everybody.

     Amazingly, he is still clutching his cousin's hunting weapon in his left hand

      ^COMM> "Not...gonna...die...here..."   Varca broadcasts in a weak grumble, as he unsteadily regains his feet, "This frelling planet ain't gonna kill me today!"  <sup><COMM

      COMM></sup> "Anybody else still fracking breathing?" Varca asks, in a firmer voice, "Does anybody see a clear way through to the King?" ^COMM>

     It looks like Rejji might be the closest to him.  Varca starts slowly towards his fellow Vespexer...every muscle in his body in pain.

---

OOC -- Reviso:
Varca chooses to go for "Option 2: Difficult TN 10 DEX or Survival check to dive behind some shelter and wedge himself in"
DEX Check = 2d6 + (DEX DM+0) + (Athletics(Dex) DM+2) = 8, -2 Effect; Failure [see "Athletics", 2E CRB, page 63. Just having the skill mods a Characteristic Roll]
--------------------
Varca is tossed around by Wind, coming to a halt 23 meters away.

BASE			TEMP
STR	6		3	-1
DEX	8		6	+0
END	9		5	-1
---------------------
INT	7		6	+0
EDU	9		6	+0

comm "I'm still alive, coming your way. Not sure if I should stand up or not!" comm

He crawls/stumbles/walks to get back to the party.

He might have yelled out in surprise if he'd had the time, but the wind grabbed him with a swiftness and viciousness that sent him soaring through the air. He tried catching hold of a girder but quickly realized the futility of that.

On the other hand, the storm was carrying him in the direction of the King's cave!

When he was finally slammed to the ground some 30 meters away, the wind knocked out of him, he was able to make out the 'cave'. It was a couple of girders twisted and bent over at a sharp angle with more girders and debris dumped on top. Decades of weather like this had compacted and cemented the whole mess into a cave-like area in the ruins.

In a flash of lightning, he caught a glimpse of a suit of Hawk Warrior armor laying only 3 meters away at the back of the cave. He was amazed that Oleb had found this shelter, but then again, from the air, it might have been easy to spot... any desperate port in a storm.

"I found the King," Aaron comms the others as he starts to crawl forward to gain the shelter's protection.

"We're right there... just needed to go a little farther. Hopefully the rest of you are able to home in on my signal."

As soon as he reaches the King, he starts running his medical scans.

Zhouth stirred back into action a mere second or two after Aaron's announcement about the king. He was only a few meters from Aaron's position, so it wasn't hard for him to roll upright, grab his bag of supplies, and skitter forward to join the ship's doctor in the cave - such as it was - where he set to work as Aaron's assistant medic.

In reply to Zhouth (msg # 79):

     "Rejji--my suit says you're close." Varca says over the open suit channel, "Hold your position and I'll come to you."

     Varca starts walking, keeping close to what cover he can see, given these conditions.  After just a few steps, suit sensors say Rejji is just the other side of a pile of rubble.

     "I'm here." Varca broadcasts, coming around a wide column that looks like it might actually be a massive composite conduit, "No way this storm is gonna..."

     Varca comes to a sudden halt.  It takes all his willpower not to start cursing hot enough to melt his helmet....

     His suit sensors hadn't brought him to Rejji...they had brought him to where Rejji must have, at some point during all this chaos, dropped the medical stretcher--since the suit last registered Rejji as having the device, it had led Varca here, obviously concluding that Rejji was with it.  Varca found the device wedged into a crack in what looked like an old wall.  It looked like all the indicator lights were lit, and the device seemed no worse for wear.

     "Rejji, I am not approaching your position." Varca growled over comms, "Repeat, I am not approaching you!  My damn sensors locked onto the wrong signal.  On the positive side, I've located the damn medical stretcher."

     "Okay, everyone head towards Aaron and the cave.  Stay close to rubble piles--use them to shelter from the winds.  Stay low to avoid the lightning--and obviously, try not to go near any of these damn metal support structures, if you can.  Join up with anyone close to you, if possible."

     "With both Aaron and Zhouth now with the King, it should increase the signal strength to follow.  Everyone just head for The King."

     Yanking the stretcher from where the winds have jammed it, Varca starts for where he now sees the suit transponders of both Aaron and Zhouth are--just off to the side of the position his suit had been showing for Oleb.

     As he starts moving, Varca calls out on the ship channel,

     "Varca to Ingrid.  You got a position on those Hawkmen, Ingrid?  They close enough that we should start watching for them?"

In reply to Varca Lexand (msg # 80):

Teddy, eyes open for anything at all, followed his sensors to Varca. After a few minutes, he saw Varca, carrying the stretcher, heading for the cave. He wasn't sure where Reji was, he couldn't see him over the debris, according to his sensors, he was off to the left.

comm Right behind you Varca, I can see you through the storm about 10 to 15 meters in front of  me. I think Reji is to the left of us, though the sensor could be malfunctioning, the beating it has taken. I think I broke a rib or two."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:30, Tue 30 May 2023.

Somewhat oddly, only Varca got blown in the wrong direction, but he did find the stretcher than Rejji dropped somewhere in his airborne travel. Of course, everyone's flight path wasn't necessarily in a straight line anyway.

Upon reaching the King, Aaron and Zhouth can both see that there are several of the smaller super-dense girders protruding from Oleb's abdomen. This is an injury beyond Aaron's ability to treat here in the ruins, but he's pretty sure the Medical Facility on the Floating Palace can save him.

The best he can do now is keep Oleb from dying with a Difficult (10+) Medic (EDU) check.

The semi-good thing is that the King isn't wearing any armor that has to be removed or worked through. The Hawk Warrior 'armor' is more ceremonial than practical, though it's unclear if Oleb understood the difference.

As Aaron runs his scanner over the King, Oleb stirs, eyes fluttering open as he regains consciousness.

"Starcursed grav belt gave up on me," he mutters, "and I fell. I dropped my emergency medical supplies out there somewhere. Go fetch them, and I’ll make you a bloody Archduke of somewhere."

After a moment, he seems to notice Zhouth and the rest of you.

"Gah. I’m dying. That’s boring," mutters the King some more.

"Listen, don’t let those vampires from the Scholar’s Tower get their claws into my carcass. I saw what they did to my boy Harrick. I don’t want to end up like the Duke of Albe, pulled out of stasis once a century to sign a form and take a dump."

"No, let me die. You," he barely manages to point to Zhouth, "come up with some really good last words. I appoint thee Court Poet Extraordinary of Drinax, Bard of Sindal, and Grand High Tum-ti-tump of the Outrim Void."

Oleb coughs up blood and what appears to be most of a lung.

"Want to be Space Pope too, and absolve me of all my sins?"

In reply to Varca Lexand (msg # 80):

Ingrid checks the scanners for the hawkmen ad Varca requested.

When the storm wall hit the area, the winds scattered the Hawk Warriors far and wide. Ingrid can now detect that they are regrouping and starting to head in your direction again, no doubt homing in on the ship, though possibly the King's personal comm signal. The latter would make sense since they were out flying with him. The interference from the lightning and the storm's ionization may have been keeping them from getting a more accurate fix.

Keep in mind that they are using comms that don't have the capabilities that the Vultan does. They'll reach the site in about 2 minutes.

Ingrid is also able to detect another presence... the one that was previously I.D.ed as 'the assassin'. Presumably he'll be in range in about 3 minutes.

Via the sensors that Donio and Kira are manning, Ingrid also can see that the eye of the storm will pass over the site in about 2 minutes.

"Varca will be there soon Aaron, I'm right behind him. Can you stabilize and save the King?"

Teddy picked up speed to catch up with Varca. He wondered if they'd have to fight again before they got back to the Vultan. The storm was so bad! They would all need medical care it seemed.