Everyone sees the form of a man step through from the adjoining hall. His presence seems to bring with it an empathic wave of calm, it's almost tangible. His manner seems to fascinate Helen, "who are you?"

 She took a step towards him and looked back to Nic, "We need to get out of here. This thing is gonna crash!"

"Several of us can fly, I am sure we can handle getting the basket down. If you would please all climb into it." Davin turns to frown at the newcomer not having caught his thoughts until he spoke - most of his attention had been on crafting the basket. "We need an exit point. If someone would be so kind as to make us and exit that we can use?"

Well, there is that hole through which we entered, but, if you want to exit here, I'll make one, Phoenix says as he covers himself in flames.  He turns towards the Troubleseeker.  I don't know who you are, but you don't seem to be a part of this insanity.  You certainly aren't dressed like these agents of Hydra.  So, for now, welcome to the band.
He turns towards the nearest exterior wall and blasts intense fire at it in order to melt through it.
Get these people out.  I'm going to bring this false dirigible down.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:27, Fri 30 July 2021.

"I am Cornelius Christophers. 'Peace be unto you.'  I am here to help evacuate you."

The older man observed as one gentleman talked of flying and as another covered himself in flames.  It would seem that he was not the only one present with extraordinary gifts.  So much the better.

He gave a friendly nod at the flaming man's welcome.

"I cannot fly, but I can transport safely to the ground in the blink of an eye, and I can bring some others with me.  Shall I bring some of the more frail down to safety with me now?"

OOC: Am I correct in my impression that the four malnourished survivors together weigh less than 400 lbs?  :o

Too many new people, too many voices. Nic frowned as he was started to get a little worried that there might be too many cooks spoil the meal or whatever the saying was. He shook his head and waved one of his hands.

"Okay, okay. Talk later, get people safely to the ground for whoever can. Please!"

He looked at Helen. "Let one of them get you out of here safely, okay?"

He stayed behind to watch over the convulsing people helplessly for a moment. He tried to firmly tell himself that he couldn't save everyone, that they couldn't save everyone.

Davin frowned at the man and reached out to skim the man's mind and ascertain his intentions even as he finishes his basket. Should he like or at least have no objection to what he finds, "Grab one or two of them. Try to avoid the rather broken and gassed area below. It might.....alter you. Everyone else who can't fly into the basket." He turns to the two....the best word he could think of was maschal, "Also need a way out. Melt, break, whatever. Something large enough for us to push this out without having to fight our way through the guards in the back or the hungry thing in the front."

He turns to Davin Mandic.  We are already a few miles outside of Berlin.  And I burned off as much of the gas as I could.

UPDATE!

 Helen nods as she joins the other people to clamber into the basket and it ends up fitting about four safely. Outreach feels a tingle of his danger sense just before there is a mighty lurch, that sends everything into the air for a moment including everyone in the hold. The steeple of a large building suddenly tears through the flooring as the craft skids across the top of it in a glancing blow.

(OOC: Phoenix and Davin roll agility to dodge or your flight power in a surprise situation.)

 The basket and the people are ok for the moment but any further movements could tumble it out across some acreage as the ground it's on, indeed none of the deck flooring in this section was completely solid. It all seemed to be unraveling, and any sudden movements could send it all splintering. Below them, wilderness had begun to sprawl before the path of the craft, both pastureland, and forest with a few rare ruins. Only the occasional roadway and small cluster of buildings bore any sign of human habitation. (Any movement now requires an Agility feat roll of green or better.)

 Helen let a little yelp as she saw what flew by the gaping tear in the flooring from inside the basket. "Let's go!"

 Just as she cries out and from behind the recovering Cornelius, who manages a five-inch blink dodge but still takes a whack as the huge tentacle is projected into the cabin and knocking the basket into the skies below. The great appendage was easily three feet around and the end of it sprouts a batch of eyeballs as it scans the area and picks out Phoenix as its end splays wide with razor-sharp spines. Before each of you, a meaty mutation begins to advance on you threateningly. Before Nic one appears like a spider clambering to the walls of the corridor, but with only four legs that ended in human digits. Another creature appeared to Davin to be made of other frog-like creatures, like an ant colony. The side of the great tentacle sprouted another eye to glare menacingly at Cornelius.

(OOC: Everyone roll for initiative. That's a percentile roll + Intuition.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:26, Mon 02 Aug 2021.

Though Phoenix tends to float up off the floor an inch or two when his "flames on", it is not enough to avoid him being struck by the floor when the airship bucks like an angry and throws him like an untrained newbie.
As he floats back to an upright position after being knocked around, he sees the strange tentacle thing come at him.  With no real time to react other than to attempt to make his flames flare even hotter, he can only hope that his fiery form will leave a bad taste in the fanged maw.

15:31, Today: Phoenix rolled 12 using 1d100.  Rm28 Fire Control-make it hotter.

15:11, Today: Phoenix rolled 82 using 1d100+26.  Initiative+Rm26 Intuition.

15:10, Today: Phoenix rolled 23 using 1d100.  In36 Flight to Dodge.

This message was last edited by the player at 19:32, Mon 02 Aug 2021.

Davin glances around at the unraveling craft with a grimace and then at the precarious basket.  His face drawing into a frown of concentration, he splays his hand out in an attempt to grasp the crystal, but it seems to slip away from his mental fingers as he is tumbled around the bucking deck.

OOC:

13 + 40 on Initiative for 53.
59 on Agility to move.
28 + 40 on Power stunt for 68 to move crystal. Only a high green stunt.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:34, Tue 03 Aug 2021.

Nic felt a wave of relief wash over him seeing Helen in the basket. It was a very small wave, however, as none of them were really out of the woods yet. Things were deteriorating quickly once again, which seemed to be more of the common occurrence for this group he'd been paired up with.

And his heart lurched in to his chest as the basket was smacked out of the ship and in to the air!! "NO!" He couldn't pop the wings of light out in there, as he wasn't sure he could make it out of the 'holes' currently, though he certainly wasn't keen to just let the basket of people fall to their deaths.

One of the former prisoners was making its way towards him, very spiderlike. Anger flooded him. His eyes narrowed and he let out a growl. An angry red beam of light blasted out from his eyes at the spiderlike prisoner. He took a few steps towards the hole the basket had fallen but hesitated. He wasn't sure he was the best person to save the basket of people. Which only made him more frustrated.

"We don't have time for this! Someone go save the basket! Please!"


21:47, Today: Luminary rolled 110 using 1d100+26.  Initiative.
21:48, Today: Luminary rolled 97 using 1d100.  Agility for movement.
22:20, Today: Luminary rolled 97 using 1d100.  Optic Blast on spiderprisoner.

The older man's eyes widened as the basket was ejected from the airship, a sight even more shocking to him than the arrival of the monstrous creatures.

His empathic senses resonated with the horror felt by those aboard the basket, as well as by those they left behind.

"Sovereign One, please help me now, I pray..."

Thankfully, the surge of sensory input from both empathic and danger senses did not overwhelm him, but rather drove him toward a reaction that was both extraordinarily rapid and precise.  A moment ago, he had shared his calm reassurance with others.  Now, he in turn received calm reassurance from his own Rescuer...

In the blink of an eye, he disappeared.

He reappeared right next to those within the basket as they fell through the sky.

He reached out to touch Helen, and his horror was replaced with hope as he saw all four frail folk within the basket in physical contact with one another.

And in the blink of an eye... all five of them disappeared.

In all of his wide wanderings through this troubled world, he doubted that any bit of pastureland or forest looked quite so lovely as the solid ground upon which they all safely reappeared.

He regarded the four with calm reassurance once again.

"Thanks be to God.  The others may have need of me.  May I leave you here for a few moments?"

RPoL Dice Roller:

09:36, Today: Outreach rolled 99 using 1d100+20.  Initiative.
22:21, Today: Outreach rolled 113 using 1d100+25.  Move Action Teleport +25 Karma.
22:22, Today: Outreach rolled 111 using 1d100+25.  Regular Action Teleport +25 Karma.

OOC: YES!!!  Regular Action Teleport RED Feat => all four frail folks are in physical contact for successful four-passenger-teleport !!!  :D

UPDATE!

 Nic watched helplessly as the basket tumbles into the opening as he manages to catch himself getting ping-ponged around the close quarter's corridor. While the spider thing advances from the forward hall where it appeared with the other creatures. He shrieks and turns on the creature, it hisses, "satisfy us..., " as Nic unleashes an optic blast on the monster and he sees a shred of a uniform on it. This was one of the soldiers most likely. It sizzles into the center mass of the still-changing man-thing. It grabs the girl who had fish scales Helen has cried over with one of its hind legs, dragging her after as it bounds towards Nic.

 The spidery thing retaliates despite the burning hole in it and rakes at Nic, managing to grab him as the thing attempts to pin him against the wall. A low guttural growl comes out of the thing. (Slap to Slap, take 30 heal 3 every other round per Regen)

 Cornelius watches in abject horror as the basket full of former prisoners falls through the opening on the floor even more than the creatures. He blinks away nearly instinctively as he selflessly attempts to rescue the falling passengers. Down to a roll of the dice proverbially and literally, the stars align and all four passengers happened to be touching one another and the moment Cornelius touched Helen's hand, they all disappeared. They alight in the pasture, a herd of cows some distance away. Everyone here breathes a sigh of relief, as they watch the pseudoblimp arc through the sky on a collision course with the ground.

 Phoenix smolders and begins to glow anew, attempting to create a hotter situation and leave a burnt taste in the thing's mouth. It slams into James sending him reeling back. The heat damage working quickly to burn through the creature's appendages, but it seemed to remain undaunted. The thing was ignoring its own self-preservation but at a great cost as it boils literally anywhere near or touching Phoenix. Its flesh seemed to scale and crack as it seemingly tries to adapt to the heat. The fangs tear into him though regardless,

 Just as Davin failed to retrieve the crystalline fire, however, the inner flame responded to his summons he could feel it, it wanted to obey. He did have the chance to notice the movement of the newly freed prisoners as they blinked from the tumbling basket to safety. His surprise at the blink was as interesting as his interest in the man who saved them. His thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of disgusting and tiny voices at his own feet, "satisfy...," as the hive of tiny crab men intoned it like a bird call. They moved as one, and it gave Davin the sudden impression of a single mind guiding them, and it was then that he understood the neural noise he had heard from the creatures earlier, it was a rudimentary hive-mind intelligence that began to leap onto Davin each little creature stabbing him and it hurts but it doesn't seem to do any harm. His lack of reaction doesn't deter them though...


OOC:
Init: Nic, Spidery, Outreach, Phoenix, Tentacle, Davin, Hive


This message was last edited by the GM at 09:05, Thu 05 Aug 2021.

Nic's face pulled up into a fierce frown, teeth bared. He let out a growl at the spider-thing as it grabbed and slammed him against the wall. He let out a pained noise at the hit, head whipped to the side.

The thing was strong. He thought about trying to escape but wasn't sure he could manage. He thought about trying to manifest a weapon made of light and stabbing it, but he wasn't sure he could hurt it enough to make it let go.

He let out a breath and then gave a gritting smile as he turned his head back to look a the creature. "You think you got me, huh? We don't see eye to eye." His eyes released another blast of light damage right in to the creature in front of him, point blank range. "Satisfied?"

OOC: Geez. After last round's rolls, I had a bad feeling...and I was RIGHT! 70 total to blast.

20:21, Today: Luminary rolled 30 using 1d100.  Point Blank Optic Blast Escape (+40 Karma).
This message was last edited by the player at 02:40, Fri 06 Aug 2021.

Davin stared down at the crab men as they began to crawl on him - both physically and mentally. With a grunt of disgust he flares his flickering red-black flame from his feet to strike at any of them clustering around him. "About time to leave gentlemen."

OOC: Rolled 30 + 40 from Karma to hit the little crab men. In Intensity. They/It need to roll Psyche or be feared for 1-10 rounds.

Phoenix attempts one more time to increase the heat of the fire he wears, only to have it all snuff out.  Shit!
However, his panic is only momentary.  He is able to summon flames to shoot forth and into the mouth of the fanged tentacle, hoping to hurt the thing enough that it retreats to lick its wounds.

04:48, Today: Phoenix rolled 94 using 1d100.  Rm Agility to shoot flames into tentacular mouth for In43 damage.

04:47, Today: Phoenix rolled 1 using 1d100.  Rm Control to increase heat/damage of flames.

The older man was not able to visually sense what had transpired on the airship after his departure, but his empathic senses detected the movement of his next rescue target, Helen's friend Milly, the one afflicted with fish scales.

When last seen, Milly did not look able to move on her own...?

"Sovereign One, please help us now again, I pray..."

The older man's view of Helen and her three current companions was suddenly replaced by Milly, Nic, and a monstrous creature holding both of them.

His eyes widened, but the flood of sensory input from both mundane and extraordinary senses again sharpened rather than disoriented him, and his mind was clear with calm reassurance.

Thankfully, his location was such that he could reach both Milly and Nic, and he did so immediately.

And, in the blink of an eye, the three of them disappeared, leaving the monstrous creature to grasp only the empty air left behind...

Arbiter:

So you could do it, although Nic is being pinned by the creature, so if either of them goes so does the creature.

Arbiter:

It's in contact, so maybe on another red teleport roll you could exclude the creature? Otherwise, it would definitely come with, it's not very heavy or large, but it packs a whollop.

Woo hoo!  The dice love me so far...  :D

RPoL Dice Roller:

22:18, Today: Outreach rolled 63 using 1d100.  Empathy: Fish-Scale Friend Teleport Targeting.
22:19, Today: Outreach rolled 69 using 1d100.  Move Action Teleport +25 Team Karma.
22:19, Today: Outreach rolled 94 using 1d100.  Regular Action Teleport +25 Team Karma.

I forgot to add the +25 to the dice roller, so my teleport rolls with team karma were actually 94 and 119 respectively!

Move Teleport Red Feat for optimal positioning to touch both Milly (Fish-Scale Friend) and Nic while avoiding the creature.

Regular Teleport Red Feat for excluding the creature.  :)

This message was last edited by the player at 05:49, Sun 08 Aug 2021.

UPDATE!

 Nic blasts into the creature staring it directly into the eyes as a sustained blast of both concussive force and white hot light that peels back burning layers of the creature's disgusting biology. He can see bone protruding from the area he smote and it seemed that the thing must not feel pain in the same way normal creatures did. The thing hisses in anger before digging it's clawed hooks in deeper. (OOC: It is apparently not satisfied, even if you can see it's facial bones. -20.)

 Outreach pops back into the airship to see Nic pinned against a wall and Milly being dragged by the creatures. He calmly reaches out and grabs hold quickly, before blinking back out leaving the creature to fall against the wall of the corridor jarringly, which pops open to reveal one of the people Helen warned Nic about. Nic, Milly and Outreach reappear in a field near Helen and the three others. A smoky trail leads through the air to the airship. She was appearing to come apart before their eyes.

 Phoenix manages to get his flames under control enough to give the creature another fireball into it's thick crusting hide. It yanks back with it's star-shaped maw still attached to Phoenix's chest. It lifts him off the ground as it writhes, the damage beginning to be too much for it, but it seemed determined not to let go.

 Davin casually fires off some small puffs of red and black darklight fire at the swarm of tiny crab creatures. They seem undeterred by his inflicting small amounts of damage against them. They continued to run back to him and continued their chant. Davin could feel the weight of this uni-mind now coming along shortly, the noise he could sense from these creatures was that of insanity; circular, disjointed, coordinated insanity and it messed with his head when he unconsciously tried to read it.

 As if all of this wasn't enough, the damaged cells become unhinged on the craft, designed to be ejected, they were now only hanging on by a few clasps as their secure mounting mechanisms begin to fail and swung out to reveal the passing winter night below them, before crashing back into the ruined deck of the section. Then one of them falls out completely, but opposite side as the spidery thing.

OOC:
Init: Nic, Spidery, Outreach, Phoenix, Test-Subject#6, Tentacle, Davin, Hive

This message was last edited by the GM at 11:13, Mon 09 Aug 2021.

The older man turns to Nic with a concerned glance at his wounds.

"Do you want to go back with me now or stay here?"

Feeling nauseous and Davin let himself......slip. He no longer fought against the sinking ship and it's slide to the ground and instead simply rode it out into the air letting the air rush through his hair as he fell to get him away from the craft before letting the change take hold and transforming into an Eagle-Owl that began to fly away from the wreckage.

OOC: Today: Davin Mandic rolled 68 using 1d100 ((68))

Finding it difficult to concentrate on increasing the heat of his flames, Phoenix turns to the others as Outreach asks Nick his question.  GO!  GET OUT OF HERE!  I'M GOING TO TRY TO BLOW THIS THING UP!
He decides it may be time to move back to the engine room.  Let the damnable thing follow him.
21:51, Today: Phoenix rolled 18 using 1d100.  Rm Fire Control-Increase heat output of all generated fire. 

Nic let out another cry of pain as the spider creature dug its claws even deeper in to him. He wasn't sure if he could escape those claws. But then something unexpected happened. One moment he was painfully grappled, the next he was down on the ground in a field.

He blinked and shook his head, a little disoriented from the sudden shift. He looked at the old man that he didn't really know but was...apparently popping in and out of nowhere. He hesitated but then sighed and shook his head. "As much as I want to help, I'm not in great shape." It pained him to admit that.

"Go on. I'll watch over these people."

"I'll be back to help heal folks as soon as I can..."

The older man nods, and... disappears.

The repeated, rapid-fire hops, blinking from place to place...  The repeated, rapid-fire shift of intense ambient emotions...  It makes it difficult for the older man to locate the other bluish-green-skinned victim he had seen aboard the airship via empathic senses, so he has little choice but to appear next to where he had last been seen.

Thankfully, unlike Milly, the bluish-green-skinned man had not been moved.

He calmly reaches to touch the victim, and glances at Phoenix as he grapples with the writhing creature.

"DO YOU NEED ME TO COME BACK AND HELP?"

And, after either hearing a reply or seeing any other threats approach... he and the bluish-green-skinned man disappear.

RPoL Dice Roller:

21:03, Today: Outreach rolled 17 using 1d100.  Empathy: Bluish-Green Skinned Friend Teleport Targeting.
21:04, Today: Outreach rolled 75 using 1d100+25.  Move Action Teleport +25 Team Karma.
21:04, Today: Outreach rolled 46 using 1d100+25.  Regular Action Teleport +25 Team Karma.

No Empathy success or Red Teleport feats, but thankfully they weren't needed this time around.  However, the karma did prevent disorientation after the last blink, in case Phoenix needs my immediate return... :)

UPDATE!

 Both Outreach and Davin hear Phoenix's plea before they depart, Outreach taking another of the fallen victims with him. Leaving Phoenix with more than a handful. He concentrates and feels the heat of the forward compartments and pulls it towards him. The creatures had been fleeing the flames, now they were trapped between an inferno and a furnace. The creature batters Phoenix into the walls while the crab-spiders begin to climb onto the tentacle and towards James. The larger spidery creature screeches in anger as warm bodies seem to be disappearing all around it. Finally, it turns its attention on Phoenix and prepares to join in the fiery melee.
(Phoenix take -60)

 Outside, Davin feels the rush of transformation as he falls and soon he catches the wind as his feathers appear. Davin-as-a-large-eyed raptor watches as flames begin to engulf the front of the craft. The thick smoke drives him away however for it reeks of chemicals and propellant. Davin sees the last trooper jump off of the back of the craft and activates his chute immediately. The noise of the mutated creation's thoughts begins to drift away as his distance increases. He can feel Phoenix's plight, however, for each pained shocking breath after being slammed into the wall repeatedly shrieks out a painful echo with the force.

  On the ground things were growing quiet as the growing crowd watched the arc of the flight, the trail of smoke heading towards a rough landing in only about fifteen more seconds. It looked like forested foothills in the area it was heading.

OOC:

Init: Nic, Spidery, Outreach, Phoenix, Test-Subject#6, Tentacle, Davin, Hive

This message was last edited by the GM at 18:58, Wed 11 Aug 2021.

As he watches the others escape, Phoenix can feel the heat inside of himself begin to build.  He can feel the blood boiling within his veins, his skin begin to char and crisp.  He begins to laugh.
WELCOME TO HELL, he snarls as he pushes that heat outwards in all directions.  BURN, BASTARDS, BURN!
11:59, Today: Phoenix rolled 92 using 1d100.  RmFire Control-Increase the heat of all generated fire.