ROCK (OOC): So the queen is not in her chamber. Can we tell how big she might be based on the room?
ROCK: Sounds like we'll need to double back to the cave-in as that seems our only option left, beyond freeing the captives and returning to town.
MARCO (GM): When we used our Mental Powers on the MMBB did we get any sense of the Queen's mind anywhere?
GM: You did not sense the queen's mind anywhere,
ROSIN: {So we've chased the queen out of her hive and that big buggem was just to keep us from following. I guess the queen doesn't move very fast. Can any of you guys with special sight see her down the tunnel?}
ROCK: Rock doesn't really have any special senses for tracking her down the tunnel. I'm pretty sure Steve would have mentioned if I spotted anything. Now the question is whether did she really escape the hive or is simply in another part of it. At this point I'm incline to go back to the cave-in and explore that to its fullest.
PETER: {Just given what we know about terrestrial insects, queens are not typically fast - many aren't mobile at all. And they're also typically not very small. I have to wonder whether she would even fit through that tunnel.}
PETER: {I agree. It seems at least as likely that she's here and in hiding. Likely enough that it's worth spending some time looking. But we should be careful of the massive buggem. If the queen is here, she can give it orders to strike at us.}
GM: Judging from the size of the chamber, it seems likely that the queen is not much larger than the drones, if at all.
GM: Does Rock want to use his rock shaping powers to close off this tunnel (at the point where hive stuff ends and normal rock walls start)? I'll assume yes and, if you don't want to do so, let me know.
Rock uses his rock shaping powers to block this particular exit/entrance. The group has found a total of five entrances to the hive, four of which are underground (this assumes that there was an exit beyond the explosion area). Blocking them won't stop the buggems who have the ability to tunnel, but it will serve as an indication that someone has used the tunnel.
The group heads back through the hive. Rock stops to block the exit to the surface, and the northwest exit before heading back towards where the team entered the hive. Rock closes that entrance too, leaving only the caved in area. As the team came back through the hive, they searched it again and found no more buggems. They also counted dead buggems and the total coincides with the approximate hive population given to them by the MMBB (though his information is not necessarily trustworthy).
The caved in area is blocked by so much hive material that neither Rock, nor Erict are able to sense through it. Rock gets busy moving rocks. He uses a combination of his massive strength, his rock shaping and his tunneling. Nevertheless, an hour passes before he is able to make a safe path through the cave-in. Beyond the cave-in is a continuation of the hive tunnel, but it only goes a couple dozen meters before it becomes a regular stone tunnel.
GM: You have looked over the entire hive and found no sign of the queen and no more live buggems. Let me know what you want to do now.
ROSIN (OOC): Any eggs left behind?
GM: The eggs are still in the egg room.
ROCK: Okay, so it sounds like it's back to the humans in stasis. I'd suggest we free them and then return to the town through to exit that opens to the surface. Did we determine if the infested humans were worth saving or even are still alive?
MARCO: I think that Erict told us that they might be saved. The infestation was pretty thorough.
PETER: {Okay, let's all take up a defensive position while Erict examines the townspeople. Given the current situation I think it's safer if we do the examination here. And when we have a full diagnosis ... well, we'll do what we have to do. Until then, we stay alert and hope for the best.}
ROSIN: Rosin doesn't expect any trouble now that the queen has fled the nest. But the dark oppression of being deep underground made it easy to stay alert anyway. Rosin swung her flashlight back and forth looking for any trouble.
MARCO: While Erict is examining the infested townsfolk, and the others stand guard, Marco makes further attempts to mind scan in an attempt locate the Queen. He's also got a hunch that the MMBB might be in the area and scans for him also. (GM: do you need rolls from me? Or, can you make them off-line and just tell us the results.)
CAL: OOC -just had a "D'oh" kinda moment ....
CAL: Cal is going to use his nose to try to determine if any bugs left down the tunnel that was blocked by the Builder Buggem. If the scent is fresh, the there's a good probability that the queen fled; if not, then she's probably still around.
GM: I'm going to assume that Cal would also do this at the location of the cave-in. BTW, I should have probably mentioned that you found several dead buggems, including a drone, buried under the rocks and rubble of the cave-in. They look to have been killed (or at least badly wounded) by the explosion that caused the cave-in. Those that were not killed outright then died in the cave-in.
Cal sniffs the floor of the tunnel. After a short time, he determines that the MMBB arrived at the entrance to the hive but did not enter it. His nose tells him that the MMBB was met by another buggem. The other buggem's scent is both familiar and strange. It has a somewhat familiar scent of a drone, but there is another scent there as well that Cal can't place. The drone and the MMBB (and the strange scent) then head back down the tunnel away from the hive.
The group turns and begins heading back towards the chamber with the zombie men infested with buggem eggs. They stop at the egg chamber first, however, and begin destroying all of the eggs that are hanging there. As they are doing so, Cal picks up the same scent that he sensed with the MMBB and the drone. It is coming from an egg sac that is broken open. The egg sac was segragated from the rest of the eggs. In fact, the eggs were divided into four groups. One group had the most amount of eggs. The second group had only four eggs and they were bigger than the others. The third group had only one egg and it was very large. The final group was also only one egg and this is the one that was broken open.
The group destroys all of the eggs. In doing so, they find that the creatures inside were mostly mature buggems that probably could have been fulled sized buggems within a few days of being broken out of their sacs. However, when first broken out, they are weak and frail and thus, easily killed. The most difficult one to kill is the very large egg, which holds a fledgling MBB. Peter and Marco end up having to knock it unconscious with mental blasts before Rock, using Cal's monosword, is able to hack it to pieces.
The group returns to the queen's chamber and Cal again sniffs the floor of the tunnel. He picks up the scent of a single drone and another scent that is somewhat similar to the strange scent he sensed at the other exit to the hive. The scents go off down the tunnel.
ROSIN (OOC): Assuming Cal relayed what his nose was picking up...
ROSIN: Rosin thought for a moment before commenting, {So the old queen left and the big buggem with the big gun has a new queen. Do you think they'll leave people alone, or will we have to go after them too?}
CAL: I definitely agree that's what it smells like. If anything we now have the possibility of the worst outcome: Now there could be two hives instead of one. It really depends on how far the old queen would run and if the hive of MMBB would consider people as incubators/food?
CAL: It may seem a little naive, but how about asking him?
ROCK (OOC): Based on how tough the MBB was to kill in its 'infant' form I'd hate to attack the MMBB with that added weapon. We can try to hunt down the old queen and her prince or we can just rescue the humans and return to the village. I'm willing to try and chase down the queen for a couple hours. Otherwise, I'd say just rescue the humans and let's head back.
MARCO (OOC): How is Erict coming with the rescue operation?
GM: Let me know if the team wants to go after the queen or if they want to start rescuing the prisoners.
MARCO (OOC): I thought we were already working on rescuing the prisoners as per Peter's instructions above. We've mentioned going after the queen, but I think our priority should be the prisoners.
PETER (OOC): I think Marco has it right. First off, we have to rescue the prisoners (if that's possible), or at least make sure they're nol onger a danger. As for the rest, well, it certainly does look like the MMBB's plan all along was for us to attack so that it would have a diversion to steal a queen. I can only guess it was lonly and wanted a hive of its own. It much consider that its mental powers will be enough to control or at least keep the queen friendly or pliable. (Unless it has more nefarious plans for the baby queen ...)
PETER (OOC): In any case, the queen who has fled and the MMBB with the new queen are neither threats in the immediate future. My thoughts are that we do what we can for the prisoners. Then, if feasible, we follow the trail of the queen, though not to an insane degree. If we can finish her off, all the better. If not, we've at least destroyed her current operation and put her on the defensive. The locals will now know to start looking for her. My thoughts about the MMBB are that we'd be a fool to go after it now. It's totally uninjured and possible inviulnerable to what we can do to it. Plus, it is not *necessarily* unfriendly. If we come after it loaded for bear, we might *make* it unfriendly. Again, we ought to defer that one to the locals. After all, we were only hired to find the townsfolk.
PETER: {Okay everyone, let's give Erict the time he needs to examine the townsfolk. Once we've settled what he can do for them, we can proceed. If it's possible, I say we try and go after the queen. But if we can save some townspeople, that may not be possible.}
PETER (OOC): As always, though Peter is in command, if the group disagrees with what I say, let me know and we can adjust things accordingly.
PETER (GM): FWIW, Peter will see if he can help Erict by checking out the minds of the townsfolk. (Marco can help with this too.) We can find out who's a mental vegetable, who's insane, and who is merely afraid or catatonic. One thing Peter could do is impose full sensory mental illusions on any of the townsfolk who are in bad shape but can be saved. It may be that by "rescuing" them from the horror they've been experiencing these past few days, they can regain some mental balance. Then, through telepathic meetings, they could be gradually decompressed and brought back to reality. This would also help rid them of the horror of feeling bugs grow inside of them. If Erict can save them, they won't feel a thing because they'll be in their happy place (which Peter and Marco can find telepathically, BTW). And in the worst case, where Erict can't help them, but they are aware, Peter could give the some peace at the end.
ROCK (OOC): Okay, let's skip the pursuit and just rescue the humans and return to the village. They're going to have to develop their own way of protecting themselves from the buggems anyway. At least they have the ability to make insecticide that is very effective.
ROSIN: {Won't the queen be far away by then? And we'd have to leave someone behind to guard these people. Now that the queen knows that people around here have insecticide that can wipe out a hive, wouldn't she be getting as far away as she can and not coming back? We've found the people, and proven that the insecticide is an effective weapon, especially inside of tunnels. That should be good.} |