This close to the equator, the night ran close to a full twelve hours - and Bichu was adament about not driving the boat until the sun came up.  With the gentle rocking of the boat and the slightly less intense temperatures of evening, everyone slept reasonably well.  A descent rest combined with Caduceus' magical aid had the whole team back in proper form by morning.  The mood on the boat wasn't exactly happy - there were still some obvious tensions, but at least the raging headaches weren't making everything worse.

The turns at watch had been stressful.  The darkness combined with the river mist made it difficult to see.  And the nearby and overhanging trees were alive with motion of various sorts.  Was that shadow a tree limb blown by the wind or a creature about to attack?  However, aside from one dead monkey who had aggravated White Duck one too many times, the night brought no casualties.

After a semi-palatable breakfast of beans, biscuits and coffee, Bichu unmoored the Golphino continued moving up-river, helpfully re-misted with the aid of a new spirit.  The primary topic of conversation among the runners was which animal Hairy most sounded like when he was sawing logs - which he spent most of the previous night doing, taking the longest to sleep off his injuries.

Speaking of longs, there seemed to be quite a few of them in the water around the boat.  Dr. Sanders was up front taking pictures of them.  White Duck glanced up at the wheelhouse to make sure Bicho saw the longs when suddenly there was a resounding crunch and Dr. Sanders reeled backward, away from the railing.  Kate raced to the side and looked over the side.  Whatever had hit the boat, it wasn't a log...unless logs in Amazonia have half-meter-long tusks, armored hides and a nasty disposition.  Whatever it was, it took another good-sized chunk out of the Golphino's side and the deck slowly started to list as the forward cabins began taking on water.

It took Hairy an additional 3.5 hours to heal his remaining box of physical.  There was enough downtime on the boat to do that in addition to him sleeping off his stun.  So everyone's condition monitors should be re-set.

Caduceus barely managed to stay upright as the boat jostled. "What. Are those?" he asked nobody in particular, referring to the tusked "logs" that were attacking. But even before he received an answer, Caduceus was busy conjuring a new river spirit to help them out. He figured he may need a tough one in order to help out with the whatever-they-were.

After taking a deep breath to calm his mind and connect to the proper domain, Caduceus reached out to the local spirits of the muddy riverbed below. "Come spirits. Heed my call. Make our aggressors fear the vessel they are attacking."

---

Caduceus is attempting to conjure a Force 5 River Spirit. (or higher)
13:20, Today: Caduceus rolled 1 success using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 5 with rolls of (6+3)9,3,3,1,2,4.  Conjure Force 5 River Spirit.
One service gained and used. Caduceus wants it to use its Fear power to make the creatures afraid of the boat and flee from it.

Drain test vs medium stun.
13:23, Today: Caduceus rolled 2 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 5 with rolls of 5,3,4,1,1,5.  Drain test.
Two successes means he takes one box of stun.

In reply to Caduceus (msg # 2):

"I like logs... logs burn. Even when they're half in water." 

Kate walked to the edge of the boat and looked over.  These are the first targets she's had that won't set a whole jungle on fire.  This could be the stress release she's been needing.

"Did you want help getting these things to move away?"

Duck, not exactly a firearms user, grabs a rail towards the middle of the boat, then a fistful of material on the back of Kate's shirt/top.

"Can't risk anyone falling off." he states simply, looking to any scientific personnel about, he barks out an order for them to stay in the middle of the boat and not lean off the sides.

Bichu charged out of the wheelhouse and ran onto the forward deck with a shotgun in one hand.  He paused momentarily to scream at the prone Sanders.  "You MORON!  You take pictures instead of telling me!?!"

He held up the weapon as if to swing it at the professor's head when the boat shuddered again.  He wheeled and raced to the guard-rail, leaned over and discharged a double shot-gun blast at the massive creature's back.  If one of you had taken that hit, you'd have been lucky not to be knocking on St. Peter's door.  However, the slugs barely seemed to penetrate the thing's heavily scaled back.  They did however attract its attention.  The creature bellowed and its head reared up, clearly exposing its mouth.

It had been a long time since grade 11 biology, but you were pretty sure you remembered something about flat teeth meaning plant-eaters and pointy teeth being carnivors.  This thing didn't look like it ate a lot of plants.

Dr. Fukuhara came charging up the stairs from below decks.  "We're SINKING!  My books - they're getting wet!"

At that moment, the waters roiled and a gigantic serpent - formed of the river itself - reared up.  Its massive fanged mouth opened and loomed over the scaly beast that had been attacking the boat.  The armored creature's bellow of anger changed to a cry of alarm.  Its head retreated down into the water and it began to charge out of the river - as did several more of the 'logs'.  Unfortunately the front of the Golfinhao was squarely between the now terrified beasts and the shore...

The boat tilted violently as the beasts shouldered it aside and made their way up the riverbank, toppling trees like they were toothpicks.

At this point, it was obvious how massive the creatures were.  At least 2 meters tall, with legs the size of an elephant's.  From toe to tail, the largest was almost 3.5 meters long.  The mouth was crocodile like, except for the massive tusks.  One of them alone would have been terrifying - but there were 8 - 3 still in the water and 5 bulldozing through the jungle.  On the plus side, the ones still in the water were moving away from the boat.  On the minus side, the boat was sinking fast and the place the team need to go was the shoreline where the remainder had just charged.

Bichu's head swiveled from side to side as he started spouting off a range of Portugese, Spanish and a few other languages no one recognized.  However, all of you were VERY sure your mother wouldn't have approved of the translations.  "Grab what you can and get to the shore!  We don't want to be in is drecking the water when she goes down!"

He didn't wait around to see how the runners or scientists responded.  He dashed down the stairs for his cabin, stepping over Fukuhara who'd been thrown to the bottom when the boat had been shoved out of the way seconds earlier.

Everyone roll Quickness TN 5.  No successes - you're in the water.  1 success and you're knocked prone and you need to resist 5L stun.  2 successes and you're fine.  You can spend extra successes to try to grab onto someone else.  Hairy, you can decide if you're above or below decks.  If below decks, you're resisting 6L stun because there's more stuff to drop on you, but you don't have to worry about falling overboard.

At the rate the boat is currently sinking, you've probably got about 30 seconds before it goes under (10 combat turns).

Dr. Sanders was already prone and managed to hang on.  Dr. Al-mansour is, to the best of your knowledge, still in his cabin.

What do you do?

Kate reels back from the side of the boat and falls on her back, completely stunned.

----
21:57, Today: Kate rolled 1 success using 3d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 2,(6+2)8,1.  Quickness to stay on her feet (with help).

21:54, Today: Kate failed (no successes) using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 5 with rolls of 2,4,2,4,2,1.  Resist Stun.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:57, Sat 11 Jan 2020.

Hairy doesn't even spill the beans stacked on his toast.

"Y'all don't have like a traffic sensor for these things? Sheesh."

He puts down his breakfast and lumbers on down below to start grabbing scientists, under his arms if he has to, and whatever looks like the most expensive hardware if he has the space for it. It'd be better if the scientists can carry their own gear, but from the previous experience, they seem to have trouble just standing upright.

Quickness Test.
14:05, Today: Caduceus rolled 1 success using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 6 with rolls of 5,3,4,(6+2)8,1,1.  Quickness Test (TN 5+1).

---

Caduceus hit the railing hard as the boat jostled and had to strain his muscles pretty hard to keep from flipping over the edge. He fell back onto the deck exhausted from his sudden exertion, but at least the creatures were leaving. "What were those?" he asked Bichu as he worked to regain his footing.

Then Caduceus took note of just how fast they were sinking. "Are we going to make it to shore? Can you beach us?" he asked Bichu frantically. Caduceus did not like the idea of their only mode of transportation sinking under the river, but a part of his brain was already deciding witch possessions he should run for first.

---

Stun resistance roll coming soon:
17:22, Today: Caduceus rolled 1 success using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 6 with rolls of 3,2,4,(6+2)8,5,4.  Resist Stun with willpower

This message was last edited by the player at 23:23, Mon 13 Jan 2020.

The tossing of the boat tumbled runners, gear and scientists alike, dealing out more than a few bruises and strained limbs and leaving many of them stunned.  However, everyone managed to stay on board - which was a good thing, at least for now.

As Hairy got to the bottom of the stairs, he could see that Dr. Fukuhara had a nasty gash on his head but was pulling himself to his feet.  The expedition's lead made his way to his cabin where, miracle of miracles, he was actually grabbing rations and survival gear before rescuing any of his precious books.  Perhaps the man was capable of learning after all.

Ahead in one of the forward cabins, Hairy could hear Dr. Al-mansour pounding on the inside of his cabin door, hollering and alternating between asking (in most un-academic language) what the frag had just happened and demanding to be let out.  Apparently something was obstructing his door.

The samurai briefly considered whether the remainder of the trip might be more pleasant if he left the door closed.  On balance, he concluded the answer was a definite "yes".  He paused and listened a bit longer before deciding that the diminished paycheck probably wasn't worth it.  He wrenched the door open and watched with slight satisfaction as the stream of water pouring through the opening knocked the scientist squarely on his hoop.

It wasn't hard to decide that the most expensive and most useful piece of equipment down below was his LMG.  His cabin was aft, which at the moment meant 'not yet wet', so he headed there to grab that, his ammunition and a few 'medicinal' supplies.

9 CTs left before the boat goes down.  (And fewer before grabbing anything from below decks won't involve seeing how good you are at swimming and holding your breath...)  Tell me what you're doing.  Feel free to cover a few CTs worth of activity.

Not wanting to dwaddle, Caduceus hurried to where he had stowed his gear the evening prior. He then grabbed his precious feathers he had gathered when they were stopped near the boarder and added them to his supplies. Finally, he collected any convenient scientific gear that would not overburden his next spell, and strapped it to everything else.

Lastly, Caduceus added himself to the pile and clutched the Sustaining Spell Focus around his neck. "Come on Snake. Let's skedaddle," he muttered as he willed himself and supplies up off the deck of the boat. He had no urge to swim with the river spirits, helpful as they may have been.

---

Caduceus's goals:
1. Collect his own gear.
2. Collect his feathers from their hiding spot.
3. If he has time, collect some of the scientific equipment if it won't weigh down his Levitation.
4. Put on his pack with all the attached gear and cast Levitate on himself.
5. Up, up, and away! (and see if anyone else might still need help.)

Casting Force 2 Levitate with Sustaining Focus (TN 4+1 = 5)
Using 2 Spell pool Dice to cast, 4 for Drain. I am assuming this doesn't count as combat even though we are using combat turns. If it does, remove his last dice.
13:41, Today: Caduceus rolled 1 success using 8d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 5 with rolls of 4,1,4,3,5,2,2,1.  Cast Force 2 Levitate on self.
That should be enough to lift 100kg/220 lbs and move at a speed of 7 meters per turn. Might not be able to grab much extra gear, if any.

Medium Drain vs TN 1+2+1 = 4
13:46, Today: Caduceus rolled 7 successes using 10d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of (6+2)8,3,4,2,1,5,(6+6+6+1)19,4,4,4.  Drain test.
I believe that should avoid causing Drain.

Kate shakes her head to clear some of the fog and runs downstairs to grab as much of her stuff and some of the equipment as possible.  It would be nice to vent at the things taking the ship down but not with her head in this condition.

Once she's on shore, she yells to Hairy to start chucking boxes at her to get as much stuff on dry land as fast as possible.

Hairy doesn't have his LMG; it's back on the airplane. "En Route" msg 149: Not seeing a lot of stuffer shacks around, Hairy relents, and stows the big gun with the airplane.

Hairy does grab his gun. He's not going to be too much use without that, and his 'medicinals', which are light and delicious. After that, he'll start with the most valuable stuff he can throw at Kate, and just get to hoisting. Once he feels like he got the really critical hardware (guessing at it based on what's fancy-looking), he'll move on to water.

Duck moves over to help Fukuhara up to prevent him from being trampled, having managed to keep his footing. He rushes downstairs to grab his pack of supplies and shouts out a warning for those belowdecks to move to the deck of the ship in the process.

The four runners scrambled to grab their weapons, gear and other supplies.  The professors tried to pile on what scientific equipment they could, but were quickly overruled by Bichu.  He swore, as he ripped a partially waterlogged piece of equipment from the hands of Dr. Saunders "You trogs might like eatin glass and metal, but there's no fraggin way I am.  Your expedition don't mean dreck if we don't survive long enough to get to a village."  He gestured to crates lashed to the deck.  "Grab whatever food and water you can carry."

As Dr. Fukuhara moved to follow the guide's instructions, Bichu waved his machete at the professor, unsettlingly close to the man's neck.  "And you! You tell your boss he owes me a new boat or ain't none of you leaving this jungle.  Understand?"

On shore, about 200 yards uphill through demolished brush, the creatures, whatever they were seemed to have overcome their panic.  Several of them turned to face the water.  They still seemed uncertain about moving back toward the river, but you weren't super-certain about how long that would last - or whether having a number of runner and professor-sized morsels standing on the shoreline would help in overcoming their fear.

Caducius floated easily over the deck.  Bichu moved forward to where the water was already starting to lap over the deck and straddled the railing.  I hope you lot can swim, because I'm not drecking carrying you..."  There was about a 5 meters of water between the boat and the shore.

"Why not just run her aground if she's lost anyway?" he asks Bichu, genuinely curious as to why the guide would rather let the boat sink with everyone's supplies on it over driving it up onto the shore.

"Maybe we're fucked either way but we may as well eat well."

Bichu eyed the distant creatures suspiciously for a second, then shrugged.  "Fine"

He moved off the railing toward the wheelhouse, only to stop as there was a sudden shudder through the ship and a grinding noise as the bow settled onto the river floor.

"And...done.  Now get off!"

The bow is the part that got torn open and got turned toward shore.  It's hit first.  By the time the whole boat settles, part of the wheelhouse will remain above the waterline, but probably not much else.  It's about 5 meters from shore.  Based on the shape of the shoreline, you figure you could probably touch the bottom after crossing about half that distance.  The creatures who stampeded onto shore are about 100 meters or so inland.  Those who moved off in the water are hard to see due to the mists and the fact that not much of them tends to extend above the water when they're swimming.

Hairy does a running jump to the shore and swims the rest of the way. Once he's on land, he dumps the stuff in his arms and will talk to the professor, "ya know, if he's threatening you, I can put 'im down for ya."

Caduceus searched for a rope he could use to tie the boat to a tree before it went completely under. Or at least an anchor he could lower. He didn't want the boat to go drifting downstream after it sunk. It was currently the focal point of their River Spirit friend's Fear effect. Their only real defense against the creatures that had attacked. Not to mention a rope could help the others traverse the water to shore.

"I would suggest climbing up a tree or something a soon as possible," Caduceus suggested to those wading through the water. "So long as those crocto-hippo-critters can't climb them. It could give us a bit of time to regain our wits and plan our next move."

Duck grabs his pack, hops off the boat, and wades to shore with a sad sigh.

"Damnit, my smokes got ruined." he says, almost too himself, after he takes out a wet pack of smokes from his vest pocket and tosses it atop the wheelhouse.

Finding a rope wasn't an issue.  There were several neatly coiled hanging on the gunnels.  One even had a floating ring attached.  White Duck tied one off to a railing and then floated to one of the still standing trees and tied the other end off there.

Hairy had no issue swimming to shore, though the splash from his canon-ball left Dr. Saunders spluttering and looking rather disheveled.  Bichu's dive was considerably more elegant.

White duck wasn't able to wade, but had no issue swimming.  The scientists managed just fine with the rope to hold onto and Kate brought up the rear.  As the group reached shore, the creature who had led the charge onto shore lifted its head and bellowed a challenge.

The guide looked up at Caduceus.  "If you've got more of that scary magic, this'd be a really good time..."

Duck confidently smirked, cracking his knuckles and positioning himself in an interceding position between the creature and the rest of the group. Truth was, he saw this in a comic book somewhere. Truth is, he wanted to try it out for himself. Truth was, this thing just cost him two cartons of real smokes, and few things truly dared to deprive Duck of his precious cigarettes.

He puffed out his chest, cracked his knuckles, widened his posture, and roared back a challenge to the leader of the pack, fully prepared to do battle, but hoping his probably unexpected retort was startling enough for the creature to back off.

10:31, Today: White Duck rolled 1 success using 4d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 3,3,(6+2)8,2.  Intimidation/Verbal.

He keeps his eye on the creature, not backing down quite yet, calling over his shoulder to the rest of those gathered.
“Alright, I want you all to move as a group into the jungle. Stick together. I’m going to try and lead this thing away from y’all. Any chance you can make me fly Snakes? Might be a good idea just in case it can outrun me.”
This message was last edited by the player at 14:12, Tue 04 Feb 2020.

Kate watches as Duck exercises his macho, and thinks about letting a hippo eat him. She decides that losing her first chance to be useful would leave her far in everyone's debt.

"Hey, before you wade in there and get yourself turned into a snack for these things, should I soften then up for you? You know, give them a slight sunburn to make them easier to bruise?"

This message was deleted by the player at 14:10, Tue 04 Feb 2020.