Rifts Adventure IC

[Psychie]

Terra slips to one side, both to open up some space between herself and her companions and also to try and triangulate the location of the spear piece that they are searching for. Is it on the critter, or behind it?

 

[Sherwood]

Purr

A couple of things immediately jump out to you as you look at this creature in front of you. First, while there are such things as yeti in the world, this is far from their normal habitat of the mountains that they normally call home. Also, there is little in the way of any kind of food supply for it to be able to eat here. It doesn't add up in your mind that this creature is native to this area.

Another thing comes to mind as you look at it. A typical yeti is not an MDC being, so if it were set here to guard the spear piece, it would make for a very easy challenge to deal with. Something just doesn't add up, considering how much effort and planning had to have gone into the whole plot to get rid of Athena.

Psychie

Sliding to the side, it gives you the information you need to be able to say that the spear appears to be in the immediate vicinity of the yeti, but you don't see any signs of where the spear fragment is. Its not like there is a pocket for it to have stuffed the piece into.

The creature continues to snarl and growl, shuffling about back and forth in an obvious threat display. It seems to be psyching itself up to attack you.

 

[Purr]

Snowfall studies the creature with a mixture of fear, wonder, and confusion. "Miss Terra? Guys? Perhaps we should back off a bit and study it? If he or she thinks we're in their territory, they're going to defend it. But a yeti? Alone? In the middle of a place like the South Pole? Something's fishy!"

There is a single other thing of interest in here: a large fuzzy creature sitting on a rock. It looks like what you might picture one of the abominable snowmen or yeti from ancient history and myth. If it were standing upright, it might be ten to twelve feet tall with large wicked claws and teeth. At the moment, it is chewing on a bone of some unfortunate creature that came across it. When the group descends into the chamber, it immediately throws the bone aside and rises to its feet with a loud growl.

Snowfall takes out his Magic Helmet. If anyone could get to the bottom of this, it was... Sir-Looks-A-Lot! And it was high time to be lookin' too! The Japanese Chi Master-become-Tattooed-Voyager steadies his breathing and calms his emotions becoming aware of all energy and magic around him. He calls upon the power of Dragon Chi as he cradles the incredible device with great respect. Then he attempts to use the Chi from the surrounding area to aid him in powering the Magic Helmet.

Spoiler: OOC for Sherwood

Snowfall is going to call upon his Dragon Chi to take Chi/I.S.P. from the natural realm around him and use it in part to fuel the Magic Helmet. In the spirit of trying to be helpful, here is a little bit from Dragon Chi from Ninjas & Superspies:

"The amount of Chi available depends on conditions. Just about everywhere above ground there are 3 points of Chi ready to be tapped each melee round. Places of nature, like thick forests, jungles, and healthy grasslands, provide as much as an additional 3 or 6 Chi points per melee round. Places with active natural phenomena, like waterfalls, volcanos (sic), and ocean front areas with active surf, can add up to 3 more points, providing 9 points per melee round."

So... how much Chi/I.S.P. can Snowfall put into the Magic Helmet before he draws on his own, please?

Magic Helmet description: This TW device looks like an ordinary helmet, except that it has a large binocular-like pair of protruding sockets in place of the eye slit. Magic Powers: The wearer can See the Invisible, See Aura, see infrared light, see strong heat radiation same as a thermo-imager, detect magic concealment, and recognize illusions!
Duration/Payload: 5 minutes/level.
P.P.E. Activation cost: 12 P.P.E. (or 24 I.S.P.) into the helm.
Cost: 250,000 credits. Rare even in England. Most common among Mrrlyn's minions and the Knights of Camelot.

Feeding the incredible helmet with the psychic energy it needs to function, Snowfall dons it. He stares at the yeti looking especially for illusions, sorcerous concealment, and the creature's own distinct aura!

He stares at the bone it tossed away too. Mammalian? Reptilian? What was this meat-eating predator munching on? What else could live here in the South Pole, the most desolate realm on the entire Earth?

Just what are Terra's Terminators up against?

 

[Sherwood]

So... how much Chi/I.S.P. can Snowfall put into the Magic Helmet before he draws on his own, please?

With very little here other than rock and ice, this place only provides 3 Chi per melee round.

Magic Helmet description: This TW device looks like an ordinary helmet, except that it has a large binocular-like pair of protruding sockets in place of the eye slit. Magic Powers: The wearer can See the Invisible, See Aura, see infrared light, see strong heat radiation same as a thermo-imager, detect magic concealment, and recognize illusions!

The See the Invisible shows nothing hidden here using that kind of power.

The See Aura function reveals something unusual. It seems to be a strange dichotomy of both low and high level, low and high power, almost as if it is two creatures in one or that something is granting it the high level powers you detect.

This is the See Aura description:
All things, organic and inorganic, have an aura. The aura has many features and distinctions, and can be used to see or sense things invisible to the eye. Seeing an aura will indicate the following:
• Estimate the general level of experience. Low (I -3), medium (4-7), high (8th and up). [Both Low and High]
• The presence of magic (no indication of what, or power level). [A mix of No Magical Power and Magic]
• The presence of psychic abilities. Low (Minor) or high (Major or Master). [No psychic powers]
• High or low base P.P.E. [Very Low is its normal level, but there is something about it giving it high levels of PPE]
• The presence of a possessing entity (does not indicate Psychic Possession or mind control). [No possessing entities]
• Health : Sick, injured or completely well. [It is sick, with something very wrong with it]
• The presence of an unusual human aberration which indicates a serious illness or that the character is not human and may be a mutant, D-Bee, or demon, but does not reveal which.

The infrared vision of the helmet reveals that this yeti appears to be burning up temperature-wise, like a bad fever but times 100. It is definitely not a natural condition to it.

Finally, the bone that was tossed aside appears to be a human thigh bone, probably from one of the many frozen bodies up in the research facility.

 

[Psychie]

Terra points with the hand not carrying the sword and says, "The spear fragment is either on or under the critter, but I don't see it." She continues to keep a close watch on the yeti, hoping that this is not about to get ugly.

 

[Purr]

Psychie

Snowfall becomes rigid and wide-eyed as he reaches up to tap Terra on her shoulder. "Uhhh, boss? Can we back outta here and take a time out?" All of the digits on his left hand close together to form the base of a capital "T" while his right hand forms the top of the "T" and taps atop the fingers of his left hand in the age-old silent way to communicate the words, "time out."

"'Ol Mister Snow-ape here isn't what he appears to be - at least not on the surface. Not only is he waaay far off from his home in the Himalayan mountain range in Asia, he's sick and possibly cursed by magic. Howsabout we back off and huddle for a minute and I'll let you in on all of the other juicy details? That is, before, y'know, he... gets angry and leaps at us?"

 

[Psychie]

Terra's eyes narrow as she takes a second look at the creature, taking in the words of her friend. "Considering what our foes are trying to do to our mutual friend, I wouldn't put it past them to waylay some poor creature and laying a nasty curse on it in order to stop some adventurers like ourselves to be able to recover the pieces we are after. If we can avoid a fight, I'm willing to entertain options."

As she talks, she slowly backs away from the creature, keeping her eyes on the yeti (assuming that is what it really is) so if it decides to attack, it won't catch them off guard.

Spoiler

Casting See Aura to get a look at it. Do I spot anything different than what Snowfall saw?

Lantern Light spell active.

Base MDC: 390 - +10 per level, +13 per tattoo
Invulnerability MDC: 675

PPE: 264 - +10 per level, +6 per tattoo / 172
Power Matrix: 90 PPE
PPE Battery: 50
PPE Battery: 50
PPE Battery: 100
Bonus Points: 10

Number of Attacks: 7 (8 Attacks vs Vampires/Undead or Demons/Supernatural Evil)
Strike: +13 (+19 with rune blade)
Parry: +11 (Only +9 vs ranged attacks with the rune shield)
Dodge: +10
Roll: +11
Save vs. Magic: +1
Initiative: +7
Perception: +6, +9 vs Vampires and the Undead
Horror Factor: +9 to Save, +11 vs dragons
Critical Strike on a natural 19-20
Critical Strike from behind
Damage: +3
Death Blow on a natural 19-20

 

[Sherwood]

As Terra looks at the yeti with the benefit of her See Aura spell, she can see the same duality of low and high level to the creature that Snowfall has spotted. Whatever it is that has affected this yeti, it is quite significant to the overall health of the creature.

When the group starts to ease back from the yeti, it also backs away some, keeping a wary eye on you as it does so. It is still very agitated, and is growling low in its throat on and off as it sits on a piece of rock.

Morrolan raises an eyebrow as he casts his own See Aura spell and asks, "What are we going to do? There is clearly something wrong here, and the longer we delay, the worse things get for our mutual friend. Do you suppose that the fragment that we are searching for is actually inside it? Would that cause the effects that we are seeing?"

 

[Psychie]

Terra frowns, biting on her lower lip. "I don't know. If what we're looking for is inside the yeti, we'd have to do some cutting on it to get to it. I don't know how it would live through such an operation, unless we use some serious magic to keep it alive. I won't hesitate to kill if we have to in order to get our mission done, but if we can avoid unnecessary bloodshed, I'm willing to give a go of it. Shit. I'm going to do something that might be rather stupid. Keep your guard up, and wait."

She stands upright and makes certain that the monster is watching her and she sheathes her blade. Holding her hands out in front of her to show she's not as much of a threat as before, she carefully speaks out, first in English, then in Dragonese and after that, Greek. "Can you understand me? We don't wish to hurt you."

Terra watches the yeti, wondering if it is even intelligent enough to communicate with them at all or if she is wasting her time.

Spoiler

OOC I would like to try a Lore: Demons and Monsters roll at 95% to see if there is any chance to communicate with it or not.

Lantern Light spell active.

Base MDC: 390 - +10 per level, +13 per tattoo
Invulnerability MDC: 675
PPE: 264 - +10 per level, +6 per tattoo / 172
Power Matrix: 90 PPE
PPE Battery: 50
PPE Battery: 50
PPE Battery: 100
Bonus Points: 10

Number of Attacks: 7 (8 Attacks vs Vampires/Undead or Demons/Supernatural Evil)
Strike: +13 (+19 with rune blade)
Parry: +11 (Only +9 vs ranged attacks with the rune shield)
Dodge: +10
Roll: +11
Save vs. Magic: +1
Initiative: +7
Perception: +6, +9 vs Vampires and the Undead
Horror Factor: +9 to Save, +11 vs dragons
Critical Strike on a natural 19-20
Critical Strike from behind
Damage: +3
Death Blow on a natural 19-20

 

[Sherwood]

From what Terra knows of these creatures, they are not intelligent enough to respond to her attempts at communication, but her softer tone has at least the potential to get some positive results.

But even with the attempts to talk softly, the yeti is still acting agitated. When Terra steps forward, the yeti rises up from the rock it was sitting on and snarls, hunched over and smashing its fists against the icy ground in a threatening display of force. At least it doesn't attack you - yet.

What do you do now?

Silanon Purr Sherwood Rykon

 

[Psychie]

Terra holds her hands out in front of her as she slowly steps back, saying, "Ok, ok. I'm backing up now. No need to get your panties in a bunch."

Once she is back in line with the others, she quietly says, "I don't think that it is smart enough to respond to talking. If anyone has any better idea on how to get the fragment from it, I'm all ears."

 

[Sherwood]

Morrolan rubs his chin, thinking. "We can do this. I suggest a Carpet of Adhesion to stick it in place, then we can try to knock it out and see if it is possible to remove the spear piece without killing it. But how do we do so? Shrink down and fly into its mouth and pull the piece out?" He looks back and forth between Snowfall and Terra, seeing the wheels turning in your heads. "Wait. That was a joke. You aren't seriously considering doing that, are you?" He listens with wide eyes as you begin to hash out your plan to do just that.

Once everyone is ready to move, the elf says, "For the sake of Athena, I hope this works!" He then fires off his spell with the flick of a wrist, taking the yeti by surprise and sticking its feet to the ground.

This gives you all a bit of breathing room to be able to maneuver about and try different ways to render the yeti unconscious. It takes several tries, but finally it fails its saving throw and keels over backwards to be even more stuck to the ground, totally out of it.

Now comes the gross part: actually going into its body to locate the spear piece. Given the size of the yeti, being a mere six inches tall will give you plenty of room to be able to slide down its throat to the stomach where the spear piece is probably stuck at. It will be dark, smelly, and disgusting, but in order to save the Goddess and this yeti, it has to be done.

Rykon Purr Sherwood Silanon

 

[Purr]

Psychie Rykon Sherwood Silanon

"Ooooohoohoo!" murmurs Snowfall, rubbing his paws as he looks up to Terra's Terminators from his short kitsune-form. "In my time I've delivered messages all across the Megaverse, traveled all over to parts unknown, seen sights and sounds that have made me the envy of many a young kitsune! Me! The teller of tales most tragic and terrific with a list of locations that puts to shame those of average adventurers everywhere! This," he points at the unconscious yeti, "is just the latest!"

Back and forth, his furry tails wag happily. "'Hey guys!' I'll tell 'em in Prince Inari's court. 'Sure, you've fought dragons and taken on mecha and all that jazz - but when was the last time you shrunk down to the size of a Transformers action figure and dived down into the gullet of a live, magically-enhanced, super-yeti to retrieve a god-saving artifact, huh?' I can't wait to see their faces when I share this one with 'em!"

Like the magic creature that he is, Snowfall pours forth the power of true sorcery as he casts Reduce Self. He becomes a glowing little anthropomorphic foxy guy surrounded by a blue forcefield from his Blazing Comet tattoo. With his new shield at his side and his Rod of Weather Control in paw, he zooms toward the yeti's maw and yells at Terra, "Last one in is a rotten egg!"

 

[Psychie]

Terra takes a deep breath as she looks down at the fallen yeti, saying, "I think that we will be smelling like rotten eggs here in just a moment. I don't think that I have ever done anything this screwed up in my life, but here we go!" With that, she casts her own Reduce Self spell and launches into the air, flying over to the now huge maw of the yeti. I must be crazy to do this! With a final gulp of air she forces her way down the throat of the monster, looking for any sign of the spear fragment.

Spoiler

Lantern Light spell active. Reduce Self active.

Base MDC: 390 - +10 per level, +13 per tattoo
Invulnerability MDC: 675
PPE: 264 - +10 per level, +6 per tattoo / 152
Power Matrix: 90 PPE
PPE Battery: 50
PPE Battery: 50
PPE Battery: 100
Bonus Points: 10

Number of Attacks: 7 (8 Attacks vs Vampires/Undead or Demons/Supernatural Evil)
Strike: +13 (+19 with rune blade)
Parry: +11 (Only +9 vs ranged attacks with the rune shield)
Dodge: +10
Roll: +11
Save vs. Magic: +1
Initiative: +7
Perception: +6, +9 vs Vampires and the Undead
Horror Factor: +9 to Save, +11 vs dragons
Critical Strike on a natural 19-20
Critical Strike from behind
Damage: +3
Death Blow on a natural 19-20

 

[Sherwood]

It is a gross, dark, wet, slimy, disgusting experience for the two of you, but thanks to your various powers and spells, you are able to slide your way through the esophagus of the yeti to reach its stomach where you find a wooden shaft that looks like it has been swallowed whole. It takes the two of you to be able to work the shaft up and out of the stomach, and as you finally slide out into the open air once more, you realize that Terra's fears turn out to be correct: You reek to high heaven.

Morrolan looks down at you two with an amused expression. "I have to hand it to you. I didn't think that this was going to end in having someone actually sliding into the stomach of a yeti to recover the spear piece, but you two didn't hesitate to go in after it. I'm impressed with your determination to get the job done."

 

[Psychie]

Terra returns to her normal size and looks down at herself, dripping gunk after the oh so wonderful dive into the mouth of the yeti. "That. Was. Horrible. Truly horrible." She holds her arms out from her sides, and adds, "It will take forever to get all of my gear cleaned up, not to mention my own self. Ugh! That is such a delightful smell we've discovered here."

She then takes the second spear piece and puts it with the first, then takes a moment to look down at the yeti with her See Aura spell to see if having the spear piece in its stomach was the source of its odd aura that they saw earlier.

 

[Purr]

Snowfall the Kitsune, having the benefit of being able to transform into an intangible, invisible cloud and then return back to his physical form, is instantly clean when he returns as the gunk and goo is not part of him or his gear.

The grin on his foxy face is a leyline wide as he exclaims, "That. Was. Awesome!! Boy, you can't pay for an amusement park ride like that! We've got to go do that again!" He turns about as if to do just that, pausing only to look at Terra and the others to see if there is any reason not to.

"Did we miss anything? We missed something valuable, right? Right?!"

 

[Sherwood]

Psychie

A quick glance at the yeti shows that the strange aura that it had is starting to return to normal, and when you have the piece of spear in your hand next to the first one, you can feel a definite connection to one another. You have the genuine article here. This does nothing for how gross you feel, but you are one step closer to total victory in restoring Athena to full health.

 

[Psychie]

Terra shoots the Kitsune a poisonous glare. "You can be replaced, you know. I'm sure that there are scads of Atlantean-adopted tattooed voyager fox-spirits that are just waiting in the wings to come and volunteer for this." She glances down at the spear pieces and says, "This is the real deal. I can feel the connection between the two. One step closer to getting the Goddess restored."

 

[Purr]

Terra shoots the Kitsune a poisonous glare. "You can be replaced, you know. I'm sure that there are scads of Atlantean-adopted tattooed voyager fox-spirits that are just waiting in the wings to come and volunteer for this."

Psychie

"Ah," says Snowfall with a confident smile as he stylishly whips out his Rod of Weather Control, "but how would you explain to your parents why their favorite Kitsune showed up at their door looking dejected and forlorn? Or maybe a better question is, how many of these would-be volunteers could do this?"

"Yip!!"

Snowfall reaches out and using his supernatural strength he grabs Terra's wrist and holds it and her securely. With his other paw, he makes a huge display of twirling his enchanted rod and commands it to cast Wind Rush upon Terra, blowing every bit of ick and goo off of her and onto the wall behind her.

If successful, this leaves her windblown and perhaps in need of hairbrush, but otherwise clean and completely goo-less! Still grinning, Snowfall releases her, brushes the head of the rod upon his shoulder, gives it a little hug, and looks up to his wonderful and restored Atlantean leader for her reaction.

 

[Psychie]

The Wind Rush-ed Terra stands there for a moment, still glaring at Snowfall. But with his earnest expression, she finally shakes her head and starts to laugh. "How can I stay mad at you in the face of such a terrible fate of you being sad and forlorn, going to cry with my parents? C'mere, you, and give me a hug." The Atlantean pulls the smaller fuzzy guy into her arms and gives a squeeze with her own substantial muscles before rubbing her knuckles on the top of his head in a classic noogie.

"Ok, guys. One down, three to go. What is our next target? Germany? Or maybe China?"

 

[Rykon]

Zephiron steps toward the subdued Yeti, shifting to his true form for a moment and lays a single claw upon it's forehead. Projecting a message through to it's foreign conscious, the princeling impresses, "This should ease your pain somewhat." Magic surges from his core and envelops their captive target, healing from whatever injuries were caused by ingesting that spear shard would begin to accelerate, even for a massive creature like this. [Casting Greater Healing on the Yeti]

The royal dragon turns to his companions and dons his humanoid shape with a contented smile. "So this leg of the journey's done. We can go back the way we came and check in first, yes?"

 

[Psychie]

Terra tries to manage her wind blown hair as she considers their options. "We can go drop off this piece in Olympus where we know it will be safe, then make our move to the next fragment. Where should we hit next? China? Germany? England? What do you guys think?"

 

[Purr]

The Wind Rush-ed Terra stands there for a moment, still glaring at Snowfall. But with his earnest expression, she finally shakes her head and starts to laugh. "How can I stay mad at you in the face of such a terrible fate of you being sad and forlorn, going to cry with my parents? C'mere, you, and give me a hug." The Atlantean pulls the smaller fuzzy guy into her arms and gives a squeeze with her own substantial muscles before rubbing her knuckles on the top of his head in a classic noogie.

Silanon As he is noogied (is that a word?!), Snowfall wriggles and gawks looking as surprised and as helpless as a fox can! The highly-animated little Kitsune appears like something straight out of a Calvin and Hobbes comic as he frantically tries to scramble out of Terra's grasp (O.K., he is not really trying that hard) while making faces at Seph and Morrolan.

"AAAH! SHE treats me like this and YOU GUYS just STAND THERE and do NOTHING about this embarrassing predicament! By Inari, if my guy, Eron, were here, HE'D help me get out of this! But you guys? NoooOOOooo!"

Spoiler: Calvin

Terra tries to manage her wind blown hair as she considers their options. "We can go drop off this piece in Olympus where we know it will be safe, then make our move to the next fragment. Where should we hit next? China? Germany? England? What do you guys think?"

"Um, China would be nice!" says the released Snowfall. Then he turns once again to Zeph and Morrolan. "Quick! Put a vote in before she puts me into another noogie already!!"

Psychie Rykon Sherwood

 

[Sherwood]

Morrolan lets out a chuckle at Snowfall's griping at Terra's treatment of his fuzzy head and says, "I have never been to China before, so I will have to rely upon the guidance of our expert in all things dealing with that part of the world. I hope it will go as easy as this last leg of our adventure did."