Peter easily opens the access panel in the floor. Cal goes through first, leading the way down the shaft. After 100 meters, the group's progress is blocked by what looks to be an airlock. Peter and Cal study the airlock and the shaft and determine that the airlock almost certainly opens automatically when the elevator descends. However, the aperture can be opened with an override control located on the side of the shaft. The override is locked and requires a Lockpicking roll at -3 to open.
Group estimates that they are about 100 meters below sea level at this point.
PETER: Not much to do except keep making lockpicking rolls until I eventually fail one (which is bound to happen) or we finally get through all the locks.
PETER TECH: Lockpicking (17-); [rolled 12]. Get complementary roll from Cal is that's possible.
CAL: Complementary rolls -- Security Systems (12-, +3 skill levels) [rolled 7], Lockpicking (13-) [rolled 10]
Peter easily opens the lock while Cal disarms the alarm attached to the lock. The vertical shaft ends just past the airlock but the shaft continues on a horizontal plane. If you had been riding the elevator to this point, it would have stopped going down, and started going sideways here. The shaft extends to the west for as far as you can see. Occasional lights provide dim illumination.
With Cal in the lead, the group begins moving down the horizontal shaft. After a hundred meters or so, a small porthole appears on the side of the shaft. As with the silver walls of the shaft, mutant senses are unable to penetrate the porthole, but you can easily see through it to the sea bottom beyond. The shaft seems to run along the bottom of the sea.
The group continues moving down the shaft. Suddenly, in the distance behind them, they hear a whirring sound. It soon becomes very apparent that the elevator is on its way. Either someone entered the elevator and is coming down, or someone at the other end of the shaft pressed a button to summon the elevator.
GM: From your previous examination of the elevator and the shaft, you know that there is not much clearance between the elevator and the walls of the shaft. Looking up, it doesn't look like there would be much clearance between the top of the elevator and the top of the shaft. Rock could obviously turn to mud and press against the side of the shaft to avoid being hit by the elevator but anyone else would be hit. Let me know that you want to do. I can think of several possible options so I don't want to make any assumptions.
ROSIN: Her Dimensional Shunt was already active and had been since they had left the boat. Upon realizing that the elevator was coming after them, Rosin moves to the wall and goes out of phase in the hope that would let the elevator pass her without harm. In addition she prepares to try to Dimensional Shift past the elevator as it comes close. While she doesn't think she can shift though the elevator itself, she can try to shift along the small gap between the wall and the elevator.
ROSIN: Rosin's first thought is for self preservation. But she would like to save everyone if she could. She can't think of any way to do so, but if someone else comes up with an idea she'll go along with it unless it seems suicidal to her. She's willing to risk her life for her new friends, perhaps the first group that she's willing to do this for, but she's not yet willing to sacrifice herself to save them.
GM: Rosin is fairly certain that by going Out of Phase, she will be able reduce her "tangible footprint" enough that the elevator will pass right by her as long as she presses against the wall. Although this particular situation is new, similar situations have come up before where this has worked.
ROSIN (OOC): I thought that might be the case, and if not that she'd be able to teleport though the slight gap by looking along the wall, but either way, that's why she moved to the wall and is pressed against it. The bad part is that doesn't help anyone else, but I (and therefore Rosin) are drawing a blank here. It's interesting playing a character that is primarily self interested, though keeping the group (and especially Marco) alive would be in her self interest :-)
ERICT: "While I can breathe underwater with no problems there might be an issue if one of the sections is flooded, and I can't provide air to others. Shooter, wasn't your force field able to do that to some extent? If it is, the prudent thing to do is have a few people hang back if they cannot handle it.
SHOOTER: {Yes, I can provide life bubbles to four other people and my force field will protect me so I think we are covered on that front. I think the greater issue is that we are about to be run over by an elevator.}
ERICT (OOC): I sent this turn well before the group proceeded through the airlock, I was expressing a concern before the airlock was opened.
ERICT (GM): I presume my senses are also blocked by the silvery material, and by the airlock iris?
GM: Yes, that is correct. You can sense down the tunnel but not through walls of the shaft or through the airlock.
ROCK (GM): Do we have any sense on how fast the elevator is moving?
GM: Assuming a fairly modern Zho elevator, and given the travel distance, it is probably moving at least 4 to 5 inches per second, or 48 to 60 inches per turn. That's a guess though and it might be moving slower, though probably not faster.
ROCK (OOC): A couple thoughts that are fairly last resortish. First the rest of the group would run the other direction. Meanwhile Rock would wait and then let the elevator hit him. The goal would be to stop the elevator. I would hope it wouldn't kill Rock but it might damage the tunnel since he'll use his clinging to stick to it.
GM: Rock recalls that his clinging ability did not work on the walls of the shaft. Rock is strong enough that he feels fairly confident that he could stop the elevator without taking damage.
ROCK: The other thought is to again have the group put as much distance as they can. Rock could then open the airlock and allow water to come into the tunnel. I'd hope that it could control the water to some degree but that may not be feasible. I'd also hope that the water would stop the elevator. The other large question is whether the group could outrun the flooding tunnel. Rock could assume mud form and not have to worry about breathing.
GM: You have not found an airlock between the shaft and the sea. The only airlock you found was between the veritical and the horizontal sections of the elevator shaft. That's not to say that Rock couldn't punch a hole in the side of the shaft and let the sea in.
ROCK (OOC): Do we have a sense of how the elevator is propelling itself? I'm guessing there's no cables along the shaft? Are there magnetic guides or tracks?
ROSIN (OOC): We might be able to attack the elelvator and damage it enough that it would stop, but that would be risky. We'd need to hurt the elevator but not hurt the tunnel. Maybe attacking it high could knock it over.
ROSIN (OOC2): If it's an air lock and not just a pressure door, maybe we could squeeze some people in there out of the path of the elevator, or leave the airlock door open so it blocks the tunnel.
MARCO (ooc): Having not seen a map of this area, and not sure that I understand the layout, can't we just make a run for it and hope we reach the next "room" or airlock before the elevator?
PETER (OOC): I'm also curious of the layout and timing. As I understand, it hasn't been *that* long since Shooter was teleported down to the entrance. So am I correct in saying that its logical to assume that either: (a) we got fantastically unlucky and the bad guys turned up at pretty much the exact moment we stopped looking for them; (b) they are either much faster or much harder to see than we expected; or (c) there's some other reason the elevator is being called - like people inside the complex calling it.
PETER (OOC): In any case, I'm still a little unclear about the situation. Are we meters and meters down a shaft with no clearance with an elevator barreling down at us? Is it moving up and down or sideways? Are there no areas for machinery that would give a place to hide, even if they're spaced along the shaft? Have we seen any evidence of other doors along the way? Other passages leading off? panels for machinery?
PETER (OOC): Without a bit more info, it's hard for us to figure out the options you've considered. Right now it seems to me that for those of us without relevant powers, we have only two options: (1) run and hope we get somewhere safe before the elevator hits us, and (2) try and jump onto the elevator as it nears us. (It's not moving *that* fast.) Hopefully a little more info about the setup will get us to the "several" options you mentioned.
ERICT (GM): Are the walls of the elevator (outer or inner) coated with the silvery material? If not I could use Move Group if timed properly to move everyone (yes, even Rock) past the elevator as it closes on us. It does not require line of sight, or that we move through the intervening space, or have a mass limit for living targets, only non-living ones (meaning the tunnel itself won't be damaged by the teleportation since it out-masses my limit), if the water or fish outside the tunnel are affected at all, which they shouldn't be, it would just move 7" to the east and remix with the rest of the water outside the tunnel. It also is a forced teleportation so as long as those who resist it choose to lower their resistance the timing is not an issue at all either, since it all happens all at once when I'm ready to trigger it. Here's the power definition if needed:
Move Group: Teleportation 7", Ranged (+1/2), Usable As Attack (+1), Area Of Effect (4" Radius; +1) (49 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2), Concentration (0 DCV; -1/2)
GM: Yes, that should work. You don't have an activation roll or increased time on it so it should work.
PETER (OOC): I like that idea. And even if the elevator is made of that anti-psi material, it shouldn't stop you. The elevator is close to the wall, but not flush. So there's no full barrier (i.e., your teleport should be able to 'leak' past the elevator via the small air barrier). At least that's what it would seem to me. As for timing, it's not really moving that fast, so you should be able to avoid getting us hit. It's like dodging out of the way of a car going 20 MPH - dangerous if you're not ready for it, but not bad if you're watching it approach.
ROCK (OOC): Erict's suggestion to move group just as the elevator passes seems good. Having it pass by our group without being the wiser is good. Looks like Rock could also stop the elevator potentially. I wonder if Rock could also wait for the elevator to pass then grab it and drag behind it attempting to slow it down.
GM: Sorry that my directions haven't been very clear. Basically you climbed 100 meters down a vertical elevator shaft using a metal ladder attached to the wall of the shaft. At the bottom was a aperture-like door that I have been calling an airlock. After Peter and Cal opened the door, the shaft dropped another few meters and then continued horizontally in the direction of the ocean. Thus, you went straight down about 100 meters, and have now moved laterally another 100 meters, at which point the shaft continues, but there is a porthole looking out into the ocean. The horizontal part of the shaft seems to run along the floor of the sea.
Rock and Rosin use their respective powers and press themselves against the side of the shaft. The rest of the group moves a dozen or so meters down the shaft and waits. About 30 seconds later, the elevator appears, moving laterally down the shaft towards the group. Erict times his teleportation perfectly and moves everyone just as the elevator reaches them. The group materializes and the elevator has gone by.
Moving quickly, the group reforms and follows in the same direction as the elevator, mindful of the fact that it might come back. After another hundred meters, they reach another aperture-like door. This one is not locked but has a manual override. Cal triggers the override and the group passes through. He did not detect any signs of an alarm attached to the door. It is almost certainly part of some sort of safety mechanism to keep the entire shaft from flooding in the event of a wall breach.
Several minutes later, the group again hears the sound of the elevator coming towards them. They use the same maneuvers as before to avoid it as it travels back towards the beach.
The groups wastes no time knowing that if someone was in the elevator and exits at the beach, they could easily discover that someone has been here.
PETER (OOC): That was not readily apparent based on previous descriptions. Not that it would be impossible. I'm sure we disturbed the ground somewhat. But I gathered that this is the entrance to their base, and not somewhere totally pristine and untouched. Don't people pass here regularly? I guess my point is that I didn't think it impossible that our passage would be noticed. But it troubles me that you refer to it as easily discoverable. Did we leave gum wrappers? ;-)
After traveling what the group believes is about a kilometer, they reach another door that looks different than the safety doors that they had been encountering every 200 meters or so. They suspect that this is the door that leads into what every installation is at the end of the shaft. The door is locked (-3 lock) and alarmed. The elevator has not come back.
GM: There are no cables or rails in the tunnel. The elevator seems to use some form of magnetism.
CAL: Here's a suggestion no-one has posted yet: Teleport *into* the elevator. As long as it's moving, let it carry us along. If we teleport behind it we'll either a) have to do this again when the elevator returns or b) be unable to get to the tunnel exit as it will be blocked by the elevator...
CAL: Cal will send his clairvoyant sense down the tunnel shaft and see if he can see what's inside the elevator. This should work as he was able to do this before. He will wait so that he's not crossing the airlock door and triggering that flash trap again, though.
ROSIN (OOC): I think he could do this before because the elevator door was open at the time, but that the elevator is coated with that silvery metal that blocks our powers.
GM: Cal does the best he can with his hindered power. He readies his Clairsentience for when the elevator passes the group the second time, headed back towards the beach. He is able to get his perception point into the car, and catches a very quick glimpse of a cyborg inside. Then the car is past and his perception point is too slow to keep up with the car. (OOC: Cal has gotten 3 points back, so his Clairsentience is still drained 25 points).
PETER: {Okay, let's be sharp here. There may be cyborgs on the other side of the door. We have no way of knowing. I'll try and open the door and walk in looking like a cyborg with the rest of you as much out of sight as you can manage. I'll create an illusion for you to hide behind if there's nothing else. Rock, you stay at my feet in mud form, ready to come in if there's trouble. Erict and Rosin, be ready to teleport to outflank anyone to prevent them warning others. Cal, you follow me invisibly and we'll just hope that they can't see you. Shooter, be ready to drop any hostiles we find. I'll claim that the elevator broke down as an excuse. It won't hold water for long, but might give us that moment of uncertainty we need to act.}
TECH: I'll hold off for any preps anyone else wants to make. But here's the Lockpicking roll, plus a complementary Security Systems roll for helping Cal. I'll take a complementary Lockpicking roll from Cal too, plus any bonus I can wheedle out of you from the fact that I've cracked a lot of these locks in the last hour or so.
Lockpicking (17-); [rolled 9]
Security Systems (13-); [rolled 13]
PETER: Shape Change to look like a cyborg. Make an Image to hide the others if necessary (a wall, a view of the passage, whatever seems best).
ROCK (OOC): Sounds like a good approach. Rock will be ready in mud form.
CAL: Cal nods in agreement and vanishes from sight.
Peter unlocks and opens the door. Wide steps lead down into a elegant reception area. The chamber is shaped like a half dome, with the transparent walls curving upwards and inwards. The floor and back wall are solid. Direction across from the entrance is an airtight, aperture-type door that is closed.
Looking through the transparent walls, the group can see that they are on the sea floor, some 100 meters beneath the surface. Through the dim waters, three other illuminated domes can be seen - a large one straight ahead, and two smaller ones on either side of it, connected by a 25 to 30 meter long tubular walkway. On the seafloor beyond the domes, growing in neat rows, are large fields of seaweed.
The room is elegantly furnished with chairs, couches, and tables. To the left of the airtight door on the opposite wall is a large wooden desk.
As the group is taking this all in, Peter notices two cyborgs walking down one of the tubular walkways from one of the smaller domes, towards the larger dome straight ahead. He makes sure his illusion is in place hiding him and the group in case they should happen to glance towards this dome. Presumably they can see into this dome as easily as Peter can see into the walkway.
GM: I'll try to have a map to everyone sometime this afternoon.
ROCK (GM): Is there some spot in the room where Rock can hide as a mud puddle without being obvious?
GM: No, a large spot of mud would be pretty obvious in this room. The best you could do is hide behind something where the mud wouldn't be noticed, though if you do that, you could just as easily hide in human form.
GM: Unless I hear otherwise, I will assume that the group is going to enter the room and search around - with Rock on guard near the door that leads deeper into the complex, and Shooter on guard at the top of the stairs by the elevator.
PETER: {Let's move in quickly and quietly. I'll keep an illusion up that we can hide behind until we can get a better means of concealment. Let's see if we can find a storage room or some other less-used room as a staging point. Here at the elevator we could get trapped between two groups.}
ROSIN: Rosin stays behind the concealing illusion. Expecting a good chance of immediate trouble, Rosin will activate her out of phase ability as the door is opened. After a few seconds of nothing happening, she'll drop it again since it's very tiring to maintain.
ERICT (GM): I will continue to use my senses carefully probing ahead, each time a door is opened or a new room is found, etc. If nothing else it should give us a huge chance to spot someone trying to hide in order to ambush us. Other than that, and relaying such intel gathered via the mind link, I will stay quiet and near the middle of the squad, prepared to defend it with my abilities. Speaking of mind link, that is still up, right? I had the nagging thought that it might not be, like I'm forgetting something.
GM: The Mind Link is still up.
GM: Just to be sure that I understand correctly, is the group going to search this room at all (which has only the one other exit), or immediately move to the other exit and try to penetrate deeper into the complex, looking for a storage closet or someplace to hide? In either case, is the entire group hiding behind Peter's illusion or is Peter visible, shape-changed as a cyborg, while the rest of the group is hidden by the illusion?
ERICT (GM): This reminds me, did we see/sense any cameras or other security systems in this room? It seems a very likely place for them to be. Knowing where the camera is will give Peter a much better chance of fooling it with his illusion for much longer, I would think.
GM: There were no other cameras in this room.
ROCK: Rock will be in front but will stay within Peter's illusion as he sees fit. He won't want to reveal our presence but the moment that we do he'll want to be up front to deal with any melee threats.
PETER (OOC): Our most important goal at this point is not to be seen. Now that I've taken a closer look at the map and the post, I see that my original plan had a major flaw in it. As I understand things, right now there's a bunch of cyborgs heading to the middle bubble too. If we head straight to the middle bubble, it seems that there's a good chance we'll bump right into them before we can ever find a place to hide. (Is that right based on the speed they're walking, the distances involved, etc.?) Also, it seems that we'd be walking through the clear tunnel at the same time they're walking through the clear tunnel, maximizing the chance that we'd be seen (even with the illusion).
PETER (OOC): If we stay put for a moment, then hiding ought to be easier. Yes, it's possible that they're coming to the elevator. But if so, then we could probably get a surprise attack. And if they're *not* heading to the elevator, then we can let them get to wherever they are going, and then have an opportunity to pass through the bubble complex with at least a chance to miss them. We could even send Cal ahead to check things out invisibly. (Though even then, I'd wait until the cyborgs passed, since I'm still not convinced that our invisibility will work on them.
PETER (OOC): As for where Peter is, if he can hide, he will. If that's not possible, he'll stay looking like a cyborg and try and act like he belongs there. If there are enough places for people to hide in this room without Peter's illusions (behind desks, chairs, couches, etc.), then he'll go invisible instead. (Though he'll still maintain the cyborg illusion under that - shapechange is outside of the multipower, so can stay on throughout.)
PETER (OOC): Sorry if I'm being overly complex with my planning. But I don't want to assume that we know how things are and then find out that we're actually walking into a more dangerous (or just plain different) situation than we understood. It's one of the problems with any RPG, but worse with a PBEM game - things that your character would see and understand in a second can take an hour to describe, and even then you might miss an important clue. We've gotten into trouble before assuming that things were safer than they really are. I don't want to get us in trouble again because I made some assumptions that turned out to be true.
PETER (OOC): Of course, if the confrontation with the cyborgs is a set piece that we can't avoid no matter what we do, please let me know and I won't subject everyone to dreary amounts of planning. ;-)
ROCK: It sounds fine to Rock. While he certainly won't shy away from the conflict he's all for being stealthy and maybe even going the talking route initially. Might be interesting to attempt but pure stealth seems good for now.
MARCO (ic): {Agree with staying invisible for now. Time for talk will come soon.}
MARCO (ooc): I'll maintain search for minds (specifically the source of the earlier attacks), thoughts, emotions - even though we know the cyborgs don't evince much in these domains.
MARCO (ooc/gm): Also, I want to maintain a Mental Shield/Mind Wall for the group to prevent against the attack that hit us at the entrance (I forget which is the appropriate defense). Would it be possible to create an "illusion of another mind" in order to spoof the attack into happening again, so that we can identify the source?
GM: Mental Shield provides mental protection while Mind Walls makes the group invisible to the mental sense group. Mental Shield is a mental force wall and would require that everyone be in a bit of a huddle. I will assume that you are maintaining Mind Walls unless you say otherwise. |