Brenon looked down the barrel of his Warteck, crosshairs
fixed on his prey; two sand sharks(he was still having trouble with that
concept). He took a deep breath and allowed his crosshairs to lead his
target(s). Immediately one of them fell, but not from his fire. Brenon
quickly changed targets and with the swift action of death, Brenon sent
two bolts screaming from his rifle. He looked through his scope for the
followup. The first bolt hit it's mark, searing into the creature's hide,
it was quickly
followed by it's brother that snuffed the life from the damnable beast.
A look of satisfaction crossed Brenon's face.
Brenon quickly scanned the surrounding area, looking for anything
remotely odd just in case a school of those puppies lurked about. Nothing.
Good.
Zhirrzh holsters his pistol and gives Brenon a slap on
the shoulder. "Damn good shooting."
Brenon could see Raliegh had been injured albeit
not so bad as to prevent fighting or travel. Nonetheless Brenon went to
him as other's were helping him up and Kay'liss attended his wounds. Brenon
conversed with Raliegh a tad bit, making sure he was ok and to get Kay'liss'
nod of approval. Good, he'd only need a little rest. Later Brenon approached
Kay'liss, "Make sure to record those sharks for Streel's report. I'm sure
they'll find it a most interesting life form. Also, those white crystalline
deposits over there <Brenon points to it's vecinity>, let's you and
I check those out and grab a sample before dusk sets in."
Brenon instructs the others to begin breaking camp
and prep for travel - they would leave in the morning, as he and Kay'liss
go to grab a sampling of those White Crystalline Deposits.
Zhirrzh begins packing up his equipment as ordered and
makes sure to pack up the snares he made as well. After the rest of the
team has packed, he clears the camp of all signs of the team having been
there, save for the fire pit that they roast some thick sand shark steaks
in..
Brenon and Kah'liss venture perhaps a half klick out,
where the Burning Lands
stare defiantly against the Oasis. Once they see some of the white
deposits,
Kah'liss grabs a scoopful and stores it in a Geoscanner he pulls from
the
Envirokit pack on his back. The two make the trip back to the relative
safety of
the Oasis and Kah'liss begins the investigation of the substance.
"It is not crystalline," he reports after the Geoscanner's
analysis, nodding
with satisfaction that the mystery of the eruptions is now solved,
"but more of
a chalky texture. The substance is phosphorous. Very volatile when
exposed to
the air, as you may know. The soil to the north is full of natural
occurring
phosphorous deposits...the only difference being that is is very close
to the
surface. I suppose winds, or fires themselves, serve to uncover the
thin topsoil
layer. With exposed phosphorous chemically activating with the air,
you will
have such explosions."
Kah'liss nods, impressed with the scenerio. "Streel may
find this
interesting, indeed. The grounds below are surely rich in phosphorous,
and they
may be interested in mining contracts. I don't believe I'd want to
work out
there, but I wouldn't think it would be any worse than the miners on
Asteroid
FH-34 have it out in the Prenglar system..."
Kah'liss then turns attention to Raleigh and begins
performing first aid on him <<< Die Roll from last turn applies
>>>
Raleigh, after allowing Kahliss to perform surgery
on his arm, leans back and gets some shut eye in the
explorer. Already his right arm was badly burned from the engagement
with the pirates and now this, a huge
chunk of flesh nearly torn off. Before turning in though for his nap,
he makes sure to enjoy a big,
thick slice of sand shark steak...anyone got any lemon sauce?
Day 6 on Volturnus.
The Evening passes uneventfully, and the next morning
Kah'liss attempts another Wounds III on Raleigh <<< Rolls from
last turn apply >>>. The surgery successful, Raleigh will be laid out most
of the day, and he is placed as comfortably as possible in the Explorer.
Evaluating the situation, Brenon decides it best
that we move on for an additional day. This will serve a twofold purpose;
it will allow all to heal a little more and provide for a little more exploring
time. We will continue our path along side the burning lands and keep a
sharp eye out for anything throughout the day. Provided nothing else happens
to alter our plans, i.e. Sand Sharks, Sand Worms, the infamous Sand Orca,
etc...; Raliegh and I will finalize plans for sending a subspace signal.
[OOC]
To speed things up a bit, I rolled another Random Encounter but narrated
completely through it. You would have all done the same thing anyway and
I didn't think it necessary to carry it on a couple weeks getting past
it.
[IC]
As the Explorer pulls away from the Oasis and heads to the SouthWest, you begin to wonder if you are stuck in a natural prison. As the Burning Lands continue to the North and West, the team continues Southwesterly. At one point, Kah'liss, who is keeping the party's map updated, notes that you are only 30km or so Northwest of the point where you landed on Volturnus.
{Roll for Random Encounters Today}
1d10 = 2
Random Encounter 1d10 = 4
After nearly two hours of this barren southwesterly travel,
the Burning lands stop their southern advance and the Explorer turns due
west. The view is still desert to your left, wasteland to your right. Not
far into the wastelands the team sees a very high elevation point, a steep
plateau of rock juts 200m or more into the air. Deciding a view from above
may yield a better look, the team stops and Zhirrzh volunteers to make
the climb to the top.
Securing him with rope and taking any other precautions
for his safety, he makes the climb uneventfully.
Zhirrzh scans the terrain around him with his magnigoggles.
He can see much further at this elevation point, but his discovery is even
more disheartening. Everything south is desert. Judging his view is spanning
about 30km, nothing but wasteland to the north and desert to the south
can be seen. He lowers the goggles and grunts a Yazirian curse.
[DieRoll Zhirrzh]
Intuition Check
Survival Skill Bonus +10 to Int (70)
d100 = 76
Zhirrzh notices something strange about the area around him. Perhaps it was the wind, which was a bit stronger at this higher elevation. He takes a few minutes longer to look around, and reports his findings to the team on the chrono. Something still didn't feel quite right with him, but he couldn't place his finger on it.
[DieRoll Kah'liss]
Intuition Check
Botony/Zoology Bonus +10 to INT (85)
d100 = 32
Kah'liss listens to Zhirrzh's report and shares the disappointment
with the rest of the team. Zhirrzh's comments about something feeling abnormal
lit the Vrusk's realization that he too felt something. He looks around
uneasily, sniffing at the air, which he felt was noticably different, but
somehow familiar.
Then it hit him. "There is a storm coming", he announces,
and Zhirrzh immediately acknowledges the feeling. He quickly puts away
his magnigoggles and begins scrambling down the plateau, barking orders
all the while to secure the Explorer and begin digging in at the base of
the cliff. Kah'liss immediately scrambles as well, knowing what is coming,
probably too soon to prepare. The rest of the team is a bit taken back,
not understanding fully the situation, but nonetheless jump into action
promptly.
In only a few minutes, everyone notices the change
in atmospheric pressure, which pushes the team to work faster.
The wind picks up tremendously. Within 3 minutes,
gales of wind begin plummeting the team, reducing visibility to 20 meters.
Barely able to hear the still descending Zhirrzh through the chrono, the
team still manages to tie the Explorer down as instructed. Blinded by the
piercing barrage of sand, everyone takes cover behind the rocks where their
impromptu shelters were built. Zhirrzh reaches the shelter moments later,
blinded and choked by sand, but okay. Everyone hunkers down while the wind
howls ferociously and the sand storm kicks in with all its fury.
Wiping sand from your eyes and mouth, awed at the
speed of the storm and how fast it erupted, there is nothing to do but
wait it out. The shelter flaps painfully and several times the team has
to resecure it to keep them from being exposed, which would surely mean
death. How could anyone survive out there? Would the Explorer be okay?
The rock walls serve as wonderful protection, and you wonder how you would
have managed if you were still in the middle of the desert.
{Roll for length of Storm}
d10 = 3 (12 hours)
After 12 exhausting hours, with winds up to 120km slamming into the shelter, the storm finally ends. Dizzily, you slowly emerge from the sand encased shelter, brushing the layer of sand off yourselves as best you can. A bath at the Oasis sure would hit the spot right now.
[OOC]
Raleigh is no longer laid up due to the surgery. The 12
hours of storm and 2 hours of travel have cancelled all penalties.
[IC]
The Explorer is half buried against the wall of the
plateau. After digging it out, Raleigh checks the systems for damage. It
takes him another hour to clean some of the acceleration systems of sand.
As the sun begins to set and the 2nd moon of Volturnus
rises, the team once again heads off, looking for an exit out of this Volturnian
terrain.
Another hour and a half passes uneventfully. The
Explorer is now heading North again, as the southernmost tip of the wasteland
lasted only 30km westward. The first evening stars begin to awake, and
the horizon to the west changes to a soft, orange and purple hue. Welcoming
the dropping temperaturs of the evening, Telgar (it was his turn to drive)
muses how different and unmenacing the terrain looks when not under the
blazing attack of the sun. Suddenly, he brings the Explorer to a quick
halt.
"Well, look what we have here, gents."
You see a number of individuals riding toward you over
a distant ridge. At first, an attack of anxiety gripped Telgar as he thought
he stumbled into a large group of marauding Pirates. But a second glance
told him he was looking at another group of Volturnian natives...
A scan with magnigoggles reveals that the riders vaguely
resemble octopi, except their bodies are plum-purple and highly decorated
with feathers, primitive jewelry, tattoos, and bright paint. They carry
spears and war clubs in four of their tentacles, and keep their other four
tentacles wrapped around their mounts, which resemble two- legged dinosaurs
standing 4 meters tall.
The tallest rider shouts a high pitched command and the
riders spread out along the ridge to await further orders. The riders are
about 500 meters away and look to be about 20 or 30 in number. They face
the Explorer curiously, weapons handy, but not raised in a threatening
manner. Five of the creatures are gathered in the middle of the group and
seem to discuss among themselves for a few moments. After a few additional
shrieks, the five advance slowly from the group, directly towards the Explorer.
When the five are perhaps 50 meters ahead of the other riders, the rest
of the group begins their slow advance, keeping their 50 meter interval....
[OOC]
Finally, something that doesn't live UNDER the sand! :-P
- Jeff