GM: Here is a repeat of the discussion for healing the zombie men with the buggems eggs inside them
GM: Erict's healing ability is defined as a teleportational ability. Just as you phase out and appear somewhere else to teleport, those you heal briefly phase out and back in in their same location (it also means, of course, that anyone with a susceptibility to teleporation would take damage when you try to heal them). That being the case, I'm willing to say that Erict might be able to use his teleporational healing ability to "phase-heal" the men by phasing them out and back in with the eggs no longer in their bodies (the eggs would probably appear nearby). Base chance of success is 8 or less, but you could use your 2 levels of teleportation to improve this to 10 or less.
ERICT (GM): *nod* my power is all about body adjustment on the cellular level, and my intimate knowledge of anatomy allows me to do whole-person teleports, but I haven't really tried a 'partial teleport' yet. My thinking was to phase the man out and move him away from the eggs, leaving them where they were, and having the man reappear nearby without them. Either way. What are you considering base time for this treatment, and will taking extra time help? Not that we have that much time, yet :(
GM: Base time is 5 minutes. You can gain the usual +1 for each step up the time chart from this.
GM: Keith, go ahead and make your rolls and let me know how much time you are going to spend on each one. I will assume that, with the help of Marco and Peter, you can determine which ones are the most likely to mentally survive the experience. There is one that both Marco and Peter think is way too far gone, mentally, to be have a chance of saving, but all of the others might be able to mentally recover if they can be physically healed. There are a total of six infected men.
GM: You think you can safely go up one level on the time chart for each man, with no negative impact. If you fail a roll by 5 or less, then you can try again (after taking the 5+ minutes again). If you fail by more than 5, then the attempt failed catastrophically and the man died.
PETER (OOC): I'd say it might be worth taking extra time for a +1 to the roll. But given how quickly these eggs seem to have grown, an extra few hours might be the differnce between life and death.
PETER (GM): As noted before, Peter will create full sensory illusions for each of the six to insulate them from any additional horror. Once they are fully cured (I'm being optimistic), he can gradually remove the illusion to bring them back to reality.
PETER (OOC): I say that Erict try and heal any of them that are *physically* capable of being healed. I'm not willing to kill any of them just because they've gone insane. We try a healing on all of them. If it turns out that the sixth townsperson's mental facilities have reduced his will to live enough that he doesn't survive the healing process, well, so be it. He won't have died because we failed to try. Now proper triage will probably mean that he's the last to be healed. So he might not survive for that reason. But at this point we physically do all we can for all of them.
ERICT OOC: Agreed, on all counts. Erict will start with the one that is the farthest gone physically that isn't mentally gone, and work his way up to the less critical patients. He will take the extra time one step up, which will take 20 minutes per patient and give him slightly better than even odds. If he fails he will take a minute to study the patient again, checking his anatomy knowledge, etc. If he fails catastrophically and a patient dies, he will take the time to figure out what went wrong and hopefully get an insight in how to prevent it from happening again (assuming it won't take hours).
Patient 1: 11- chance with teleportation levels, [rolled 15]
Patient 2: 11- chance with teleportation levels, [rolled 10]
Patient 3: 11- chance with teleportation levels, [rolled 10]
Patient 4: 11- chance with teleportation levels, [rolled 9]
Patient 5: 11- chance with teleportation levels, [rolled 16]
Patient 6: 11- chance with teleportation levels, [rolled 3]
Patient 7: 11- chance with teleportation levels, [rolled 15]
(second attempts if needed and patient is still alive):
Retry 1: 11- chance with teleportation levels, [rolled 11]
Retry 2: 11- chance with teleportation levels, [rolled 13]
Retry 3: 11- chance with teleportation levels, [rolled 12]
ERICT: Given this represents 2+ hours of work, I will stop there and make sure nothing happens to change things.
GM: There are only 6 men, not seven so I will ignore the patient 7 roll entirely.
Erict gets off to a bad start with the first of the men. The healing goes poorly and the man ends up with the eggs still inside him. Erict takes a deep breath and, knowing that the man might be too far gone anyway, moves on to the next patient. Things go much better with him and the next two patients. Erict is able to teleport the eggs out of the men or, more accurately, teleport the men while leaving the eggs behind. Erict fails in his attempt against patient 5 but then does so well with patient 6 that the man actually wakes up with all of his senses intact immediately after the healing. Peter and Marco are able to drop all mental influences. The man looks surprised as he looks around but does not immediately say anything. Erict does a quick examination and asks the man how he feels and he says he never felt better. Erict's quick examination confirms that there is nothing physically wrong with him and Peter and Marco conclude that he seems fine mentally as well.
Erict moves back to the first patient whose condition has worsened (i.e., you now need a 7 or less base). He spends another 5 minutes working on him but again the healing attempt fails. Erict tries two more times, first on patient 5 and then again on patient 1 with no success.
GM: Erict can try again on both patients. Base chance is now 5 for patient 1 and 7 for patient 5.
PETER: {Do the best you can on these three, Erict. But be honest if they're too far gone. At least we can ask the survivor for his input on what to do next. If we have to take drastic measure I'd feel better if we had a townsperson contributing to the decision. Marco, you and I should brief him on the situation.}
PETER (GM): Peter (presumably with Marco's help) will bring the survor up to speed on what has happened and the situation with the remaining townsfolk - including the fact that the buggem growth may have progressed too far for them to be healed. We're the ones with good people skills, so we ought to be able to explain things as diplomatically as possible.
MARCO: (I agree Lt. We'll commence dialogue with the the townsperson when you are ready.)
ERICT: Erict struggles with the decision, then says, "Patient 1 was always the one I felt had the least chance of survival, as you did, his mental state was such that even though his physical body survives, his mind may not have. I am forced to choose between taking a slim chance of saving both patients, one of which may well live out his life as a vegetable, or taking the best chance of saving the one with the best chance. I am afraid I've run out of time, I've given patient 1 as many attempts as I could afford, and then some, but now it's time to concentrate on patient 5 and make sure he survives." Erict then settles down and spends a full hour on patient 5, to give him the best chance of survival.
TECH: +2 steps up the time chart, +2 levels, for an 11- chance again, [rolled 12]. If he feels he's losing ground he will redouble his efforts, taking even more time if needed, driving himself to exhaustion if necessary. Here are a couple more rolls if needed [rolled 11] and [rolled 11]. Hopefully gaining some familiarity with this process and the anatomy of the eggs and the men will help too...
Erict begins working on patient 5 again. This time he takes the time to map out the location of all of the eggs in the man's body before he begins the healing/teleportation process. Then he touches the man and attempts to teleport the man a short distance to the right, while leaving the eggs behind. As he does so, the man begins cardiac arrest.
An expletive escapes from Erict's lips as he realizes this new danger. Reacting quickly, Erict overexerts himself to maintain the teleportational healing while also addressing the man's runaway heart. Erict grimaces with excrutiating pain and feels that he is about to black out.
GM: Erict can stop now if he wishes. The man will probably die but Erict will be fine. Alternately, Erict can continue with the understanding that he may physically incapacitate himself in an effort to save the man. He feels that if he continues, he will probably be successful in saving the man but the cost to himself may be high. He is basically pushing his multipower well beyond what he is normally capable of doing.
ERICT: There is no thought of pain, Erict's lifelong training kicks in and he barely allows himself the worry about his own life. He has been trained to put his own life on the line time and again to heal the wounded, and this is no different. He buckles down, finishes the teleportation, and then starts treating the failing heart. In seconds, his face goes ashen, but he struggles on. When he finally releases the patient, it is with a sigh of obvious relief, and the stress to his body finally catches up with him and he passes out.
MARCO: Forsakes all other mental work to rush in and help prevent Erict from hurting himself when he passes out. Marco looks to the LT: "We can't ask this of him again. Let's get back to the town and recouperate. We can chase the Queen and the MMBB another time."
Erict is unresponsive though a ragged pulse can be detected. The same is true for the man that Erict was trying to save. From the looks of things, it appears that Erict was successful in getting the eggs out of the man.
After making sure that Erict is resting comfortably, Marco and Peter make sure the patients are mentally stable. Only one appears to be in a real mess and may or may not fully recover his senses.
Meanwhile, the man who came conscious after Erict's healing is talking to Rosin and Shooter. More accurately, he is talking to Rosin, who translates to Shooter through the mind link. When Shooter wants to reply, he talls Rosin what he wants to say through the mind link, Rosin tells him how to say it, and he does his best.
Rosin and Shooter learn that the man worked at the Genser Goose Ranch. The ranch was attacked by a bunch of buggems and he was taken prisoner. He went unconscious as he was being dragged down into a tunnel and was mostly unconscious during his captivity. He vaguely recalls waking up at one point completely encased in a sticky substance but admits that it might have been a bad dream. He also recalls a sequence where he felt immense pain like thousands of little bugs had been injected into his body and were running amok.
He introduces himself as Luriken Pallack. He is able to identify all of the other men that Erict attempted to heal. Some are from the ranch while others are townspeople.
Meanwhile, Erict has not yet come around and his pulse is still ragged and weak.
ROCK: Rock will volunteer to carry Erict if we need to get moving. It seems prudent that we move on as quickly as we can.
ROSIN (OOC): Have we freed the people stuck in amber yet?
GM: Just to be clear ... you have not yet rescued the people that were trapped in the amber.
ROSIN: {Looks like we're going to be here a while. We need Erict to rescue the others that are suspended in amber. Hmm, I wonder if buggem eggs are good to eat?}
ROCK: {Let's head over there. Who knows I may be able to help free them with my strength. Also, Erict may wake-up by the time we investigate it a bit.}
ROSIN: {Works for me,} sent Rosin agreeably. Anything that got her out of these tunnels faster was good with her.
PETER: {Okay, everyone. Things just got a bit more difficult. We've got to get those people out of the amber, and we've got to do it without Erict's teleportation, his special senses, or his healing. Let's carry our wounded over there and see what we can do. Rosin, I want to know if you can teleport people out. If not, I guess we'll have to get Rock to try the brute force approach. Marco, you and I will have to do what we can to monitor the people trapped in the amber. If we can't get them out without risking their lives, well, then we'll have to consider our options.}
The groups moves over to the chamber holding the humans that are encased in some sort of amber acrylic material. Rock is carrying Erict who is still unconscious. Those humans that Erict rescued, who are conscious, are carrying those who are still unconscious.
SHOOTER: "Not sure how ethical this is, sir, "Shooter says to the lieutenant, "but could you or Marco go into Erict's mind and find out what we need to do to safely remove these guys from this stuff?"
PETER: {Are any of the rest of us capable even if we knew what to do?} He ponders for a moment. {Maybe Rosin. If so, I don't think Erict would complain. I don't think he'd want to risk the lives of those in amber unnecessarily. Marco, if Rosin thinks she might be capable of doing what needs to be done, I want you to go into Erict's mind to find out the details. I stand ready to assist in any way I can.}
PETER (OOC): I can at least use my telepathy in a complementary fashion. Or help pipe the info right into Rosin's brain.
ROSIN: {I can teleport, but I can't teleport others. I can give it a try if you can find out how Erict does it.}
ROSIN (OOC): Rosin doesn't have teleport other, but she has enough XP to buy increased mass and this seems like a good justification to do so. Up to the GM if it works, but Rosin will try.
Peter uses his telepaty to search Erict's mind for more information about the solidified amber stuff holding the rest of the humans. From this, he learns that Erict believes the amber stuff to contain a strong numbing agent that penetrates the bodies of those in prolonged contact with it. There is obviously more to it than this - as it puts those encased inside in a state of suspended animation but the bottom line is that if the encasement is broken, and the humans pulled free, they should begin to recover naturally on their own.
Using this information, Rock and Rosin begin breaking the tough acrylic-like material - Rock with brute strength and Rosin with well placed strikes. As they are doing this, they find that Erict was correct concerning the numbing effect of the material. Even short contact produces a numbness that takes a short time to wear off.
One by one, the humans are broken out of the amber. As this process is going on, Erict comes to. He is very weak and expects that it might be a couple of days before he is fully recovered.
Thirty minutes later, all of the humans have been freed. Some have already started coming around, including the two children who were the original captives. Additionally, two of the men who had been impregnated with buggem eggs have also come around. One of them seems to have recovered fine but the other still has memories of the ordeal that are all too clear and fresh in his mind. Nevertheless, he is able to understand and follow directions.
With all of the captives freed, the group moves out. Those still unconscious are carried by Rock and some of the rescued humans who are conscious and capable.
The team climbs out of the buggem hive through the surface exit and starts heading back towards the town of Jeffton.
GM: Let me know if there is anything else you want to do or if I made any incorrect assumptions with this turn. Erict is down 2 BODY and only has 5 STUN. He is getting back 1 point of STUN per hour.
PETER (GM): Peter will offer to the man who still has memories of the ordeal to do what he can (with Telepathy and Mental Illusions) to give him some temporary relief, at least until we get back to town. In might be nothing, but it might make life a bit easier for him for a time. He will only do this if the man wants it. If he'd rather tough it out, Peter will respect that.
GM: Peter keeps an eye on them but judges that, at this time, it is better for them to get over it on their own.
PETER (GM): Also, what did the villagers want us to do with the few people whose infestations were too great? We should keep them out of sight of the children (maybe in a side corridor) until we know how to proceed. If they want us to bring them back to the village, we'll take whatever precautions we can. If they want a mercy killing, we'll comply with that request. If one of them wants to do it, we'll, of course respect their wishes. If they can't do it, we will. Peter will pull the trigger if it comes to that. He won't ask anyone else to do it. Rank may have its privileges, but it also has its responsibilities.
ROSIN (OOC): I think there was only one person Erict couldn't heal. He might be dead by now, he was in bad shape.
GM: Sorry, I should have been more clear on this. The man that was not de-infested, did not survive long after the attempted healing process. He is now dead.
PETER: Peter does what he can to calm the villagers and get them organized and moving. Any of the men who have revcovered sufficiently will be armed with whatever weapons or makeshift weapons we have available. I'm not expecting trouble on the way home, but it pays to be careful. He'll also ask Rosin and any other villagers who migth know whether there's anything of particular value from the buggem hive that might be worth taking. (There may be nothing. But it might be that buggem amber is a rare material, or buggem poison sacs are used in some medicine, or whatever. If we're supposed to be a mercenary group, let's give some evidence of that. :-) It also might be useful to get some kind of a return from this mess if the villagers need to buy equipment to help defend from any returning buggems.
ROSIN: Rosin is collecting pieces of the buggem amber. She doesn't know how long it's numbing properties last, but it could be very handy as a way to numb wounds (local anesthesia). After all, she is a mercenary, not just a solder pretending to be one.
GM: You found a few minor items in the one chamber that I described earlier but nothing else of any value.
PETER: {Okay, let's try and keep a lookout for buggems or any other dangers on the way back. I don't want us to get complacent just because the hive is cleared out. There may be more buggems out here, or other dangers. The mission isn't over until we get these people safely back to the village.}
ROSIN: {You don't need to tell me twice.} Actually, you didn't need to tell me at all though Rosin, but she kept that off the Mind Link. These buggems bothered her.
PETER (OOC): FWIW, Peter will also gather some amber and other samples. I'm not sure what they have in the way of scientists. But whoever they have ought to appreciate it.
ROCK: Rock has nothing else he wants to do. Safely getting back to the village sounds like the best plan.
ROSIN: That sounds good to Rosin. |