Argent circles the area, dust rising into the sky after the destruction of the pyramid. Dyna also paws at the rubble, looking for her rider.

The rift has closed and the nexus has been destroyed. All across the deserts of Mexico, vampires have been destroyed in droves, the loss even causing vampire intelligences pain.

The sun begins to rise. It is a new day in the vampire kingdoms.

Our heroes, though, find themselves buried in rubble, and some are very much close to death.

GM: Roll 1d00. 0-70: all armor is destroyed, SDC is depleted, and you have 1hp. 71-100 armor is destroyed but SDC is intact.

Cole and Symeril - If you please, feel free to RP your pets finding their people. :-)

John stirred, feebly, beneath the rubble. He had stayed at the base of the pyramid, and surrounded himself with adhesion areas to slow the advances of the demons. He couldn't see the globe of daylight he had set above his head to dissuade the vamps, but he was pretty sure he had been unconscious and completely unsure of how long. The crushing debris had shredded his light armor when his armor spell had collapsed. It appeared, however, that the two had been enough to give him a chance.

Before he even attempted to move, a quick spell allowed him to breath easier. A second spell and his magical armor was restored, just in case the rubble shifted. Digging his way out wasn't something he could accomplish with magic, and his Wilks was barely half-charged. Even the pistol, however, had fared better than he had. His immediate safety somewhat secured, John  faced the wall of debris and relaxed. He was prepared to rest till he had the energy to begin moving the debris in front of him.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:05, Wed 27 Jan 2021.

A single bionic hand pushed the rubble aside from within one of the smaller piles, and a laser blade did the rest. A tattered man followed the tunnel he had just made out, the hot rocks bouncing off his cybernetic armor, or at least whatever was left of it. "God... did not make... all men equal. Wilk's did."

Chaplain had just exhausted the frag grenades and was preparing to abandon the weapon, last he recalled before everything went up in a flash.

His mind returned to the present, still trying to mentally trace how he was still alive. The bulky tripod mounted weapon was pushed out before he followed, to much grunting. One massive ammo belt was thrown out, as was another and another.

He had just dragged the squad weapon out and looked around at the pawing horse. Looks like I outlived another unit. Damn.

Not much to do beyond check to see if the vehicles were far enough away to survive. They'd have food, water, storage, ammo, and most of all, mobility. He put the laser sword away, and pulled a pistol, dragging the currently empty autolauncher behind him.

His armor was destroyed - scrap that might be beyond even a template repair. His new lungs were all that was stopping him from choking on the dust, and his eye was making it easier to see through the haze. He needed immediate medical attention, but that also fell into "get to the vehicles" territory.

Argent witnessed, the surge of demons and vampire charge up the slopes of the Pyramid and was just about to override ordered directive to maintain the prime directive ~ Protect Symeril, when the Pyramid was engulfed in golden light and exploded sending a shockwave cascading for miles.  It blasted rubble high into the air and the golden light turned both Vampire and Demon to dust.

The smoke was still clearing minutes later but half the massive pyramid was scattered.. tons of rock displaced.  Symeril was not responding to radio signals nor were her comrades. So he kept broadcasting a constant hailing signals directed at the pyramid rubble... looking to receive some reply...

Argent swooped in to hover above the rubble... when the sun came out.  He spread his wing - their solar cells began absorbing solar power and he put his internal Nuclear power plant on standby power-saving trickle, it no longer needed.  Activating its Bio-Scan Medical Survey Unit... it detected the life-signs of the buried heroes.. marginal but still detectable.

The Draco-Mech then activated its Labor specialized Mining software... and began slowly excavating the weakest life signs first with claws, maw and tail... being especially careful not to shift the rubble to cause more collapse... which made the progress slow.. but certain.  He also gathered any weapons or gear left behind from the Vampires, Demons, or the party from the uncovered tons of rock.

08:01, Today: Symeril rolled 41 using 1d100.  Argent - Excavation [85%]. – 41
08:02, Today: Symeril rolled 10 using 1d100.  Argent - Mining [90%]. – 10
08:02, Today: Symeril rolled 52 using 1d100.  Argent  - Recycling [88%]. – 52
08:03, Today: Symeril rolled 43 using 1d100.  Argent - Salvage [80%]. – 43

----

Symeril slowly came to awareness... she hurt all over and was not entirely sure what had happened.  She stilled her mind to prepare for whatever horrors her eyes might reveal before she opened them... but then her internal radio told her a hailing signal from Argent was being directed at her!  Her eyes snapped open to confirm what her enhanced cyber hearing was telling her.. as she heard the shifting of rubble as the Draco-Mecha was excavating the tons of rubble pinning her.  She was getting only a red system damage shutdown flashing light from her Flying Titan Armor HUD... no telemetry.

Triggering her cybernetic radio, +"ARGENT! I'm alive.  Help the others first!"+

She immediately received a reply, +"Acknowledged, Battle Angel. Welcome back."+

12:56, Today: Symeril rolled 5 using 1d6.  Bio-Cyber Armor repair. – 5

At least she was not being menaced by demons having captured her!  She did a cyber-system check... her cyber armor had been depleted but she had been unconscious long enough that her Bio-cyber armor was already beginning to  repair itself. She was severely injured.. but alive.

Symeril focused her will... and a psi-claymore manifested... somewhat sporadically at first then focusing in strength as she shifted her her shoulder and powered slowly through the rubble pinning her. when her shoulder was free she felt the rubble shift and heard a laser blast followed by another then a series of blasts and her torso and chest were free! She pushed her torso up to come face to Barrel with "Stella".

"I'm gonna have to install an internal radio in you girl! Thx!"

Turning her gaze over her mostly depleted power armor she turned her psi-sword on the rest of the rubble pinning her legs freeing them.  It looked like she had fallen into some rubble-filled hallway in the interior of the pyramid. With her power armor not functional... Symeril could barely move with all the weapons and gear she carried strapped to the outside of her armor.  She knew it was a total of 444lbs... armor weapons gear.  But she had prepared for that..she could indeed lift it all ~ unpowered... but injured as she was ... IT HURT!

But lift it she did and she used her psi-sword to cleave rubble away to crouch. She gestured for "Stella" to refrain from perching on her shoulder.  Then drew her still holstered TX-26 Particle Beam Pistol... and began blasting her way out of the her tomb!

Then a stone was pulled away by a giant metal clawed hand... And she stumbled forth into the sunlight.  Argent moved back from the depression she was in.

Symeril stumbled into the daylight her psi-sword manifested in hand and "Stella" close on her heels.  Her Flying Titan armor was smashed but clung to her she moved a little unsteady on her feet... the fact she was moving bearing all that weight was in itself impressive the natural might of the Cyber-Knight/Palladin...

She shuffled to the edge of the rubble-pit atop what was left of the pyramid and surveyed the devastation...

"I guess we won?"

A song she'd heard long ago in some forgotten tavern in Arzno came to mind... and she laughed!

And she sang...

'You see me now a veteran
Of a thousand psychic wars
My energy's spent at last
And my armor is destroyed
I have used up all my weapons
And I'm helpless and bereaved
Wounds are all I'm made of

Did I hear you say that this is victory?'


09:00, Today: Symeril rolled 66 using 1d100.  Symeril - Sing [45%]. – 66

But her injuries made her voice ragged and unsteady.

Argent landed next to her, "Battle Angel? Are you unwell?"

Lifting her visor she looked at the Draco-Mech and smiled wearily, "No. I'm not unwell... I'm very tired and VERY injured.. continue excavating my comrades and get them to the WR-5050 Transport, 500 yards north, north east of here..."

"Acknowledged, Battle Angel.", and Argent went back to excavating the rest of the team...

Symeril then spotted Chaplin had managed to free himself and was standing blow on what was left of the pyramid slope... she stumbled over to him.  "Stella" scrambled after Symeril...

She stood there beside him in silence for a few moments... walking with him toward the transport...

"Got any booze...? I seriously need a drink!"


Symeril -
Hp 83 / 1, SDC 79 / 0
Bio-Cyber Armor MDC 5

Argent -
MDC 620 / 374
This message was last edited by the player at 17:58, Wed 27 Jan 2021.

He came to consciousness slowly, like molasses in winter. His first thought, when he could actually form a coherent one, was, “Must not have been out for long, it’s still dark outside.” He tried to move and that was when the pain finally broke through his mental fog and announced its presence, like a whole herd of stampeding rhino-buffalos. He gasped in surprise, which was a mistake since that caused his lungs to fill up with sooty, dusty air. That in turn caused him to start choking, coughing and sputtering, which made his chest and ribs move, which caused still more pain.

“Guess my helmet done broke,” he thought once the coughing fit had passed. He didn’t take another deep breath again, limiting himself to shallow breaths only. Sounds returned to the world then, specifically the sound of bricks scraping against brick. The sound got closer and closer until finally the pieces of broken pyramid that had been heaped on his busted body during the explosion, were moved aside by the hooves of Dyna. Morning sunlight, which if he hadn’t been trapped for so long in the dark, would have seemed gentle to eyes, instead felt like noontime glare. He squinted up at her and managed a weak smile. She lowered her head and took hold of what was left of his chest plate between her teeth and pulled. The rubbles resisted her efforts but gave him up after a tug or two.

Dyna sensed that her soulmate was too weak to stand on his own so after freeing him from the rubble, she lowered him back down on top of it. She stood by and looked at him with anxious eyes. He muttered weakly, “I ain’t dead yet, Lady. Ain’t planning on being dead today neither.” She nodded her head and snorted but he passed out again. She felt he was right; he wasn’t about to die just yet but he was grievously wounded with multiple broken bones and several lacerations, some of them deep and still bleeding. She knew he needed immediate medical attention but he was in no shape to ride her, assuming she could even get him in the saddle in the first place. She made a decision she was loathe to do; she left his side and went in search of his companions for help. It wasn’t too difficult to spot two of them as they walked towards their massive vehicle. She trotted up to them and whinnied at them. Her tail was lashing and she turned to face the way she had come, pawing at the ground and trotting in that direction a few paces before stopping to look back at the pair to see if they were following.

OOC
1HP left so Cole is FRACKED UP. Seriously, if he doesn’t get some pretty impressive medical attention in a hurry, it’ll be time to roll up a new character.