Adventure Log 002: Crash on Volturnus

[Rex]

Kallina

Doubting the usefulness of her stunner on the worm she focuses on helping the Ul-Mor out of the pit.

Help [_2d6]=(4+4)=8 A/D [1d6]=6

Has Athletics.

[cybersavant]

Skur Vonn was about to reholster his pistol, but with the extra exposure he decides t try one more shot.

combat proficiency ( laser pistol )

[Pulpatoon]

Bertie focuses her efforts on getting ropes back in the tentacles of the trapped Ul-Mor, and Kallina coordinates a team of riders and lopers in pulling the lines. With a great heave, another loper scrabbles out of the pit, carrying two Ul-Mor on its back! Only one Ul-Mor is left alive in the funnel!

The funnel worm re-establishes its grip on the loper in its jaws, the better to pull it under the sand. It is about to disappear from view again, but Skur Vonn gets another shot in before it does. The worm visibly convulses with pain.

Again, the sand roils and bulges with the movement of the worm. The Ul-Mor shout “Now! Before it surfaces again!” They redouble their efforts and haul up the last surviving Ul-Mor.

Athru Sea People’s Bane whistles to you, “Quickly! We must flee to solid rock before it creates another funnel!” Most of the Ul-Mor are already driving their lopers to a distant ridge. Athru offers a tentacle to Bertie. Three more pause to give Kallina, Skur Vonn, and Goran chances to mount their lopers behind them.

Jeeves is still struggling cross the terrain, and remains about fifty meters away from the party.

---

Short-term Tallies
Kill the funnel worm: XXXOOO
Rescue the Ul-Mor: XXX-

Ongoing Tallies
Offend the Ul-Mor: XOOOO
Succumb to the Desert: OOOO
Discovered by the Pirates: OOO

PCs
Kallina: (O)XOOO
Bertie: OOOO
Skur Vonn: OOOO

NPCs
Jeeves: OO
Goran: XOOO

What do you do?
Next Update: Wednesday. Have a very merry Christmas, everybody!

[shaidar]

Is there anything near Jeeves where they could rope themselves to so they wouldn't fall down a tunnel?

[Rex]

Kallina

"We can't leave Jeeves behind!"

[cybersavant]

Skur Vonn grabs the offered tentacle and mounts up behind the Ul-Mor. "Thank you." He looks to see where everyone else is and where they need to go.

[Pulpatoon]

Is there anything near Jeeves where they could rope themselves to so they wouldn't fall down a tunnel?

Jeeves is about 50 meters away from the existing funnel, in an area with enough rocks that he has to carefully pick his way through. A few of these rocks could serve as anchors.

Seeing you hesitate, he calls out, "Please do not trouble yourselves on my account! I can track you via the local linknet, and will catch up in the fullness of time."

[shaidar]

Bertie calls back

"Jeeves, I think the creature uses vibrations to find prey. Stand on the rocks and don't move and you should be OK for now. I hope so, anyway. "

She grabs the offered tentacle

"Athru, Jeeves is a dear friend. Once we have secured our safety I must a way to save him."

[Pulpatoon]

Leaving Jeeves to find a secure spot, Kallina, Skur Vonn, Goran, and Bertie are each hoisted up on the backs of lopers by Ul-Mor. The four lopers, directed by telepathic commands via the Ul-Mor’s communicating tentacle, sprint away from the funnel, towards the safety of the rocky ridge. The two baby lopers stay close to the heels of these mounts, kicking up streaks of sand as they keep pace with the bigger adults.

You are about halfway to the ridge, when the sand begins to shift beneath you. Ground that was previously flat begins to slope downwards. Athru Sea People’s Bane pipes, “New funnel! Don’t get caught in the funnel!”

The Ul-Mor are focused on driving their mounts forward. Perhaps they will be fast enough to escape the funnels radius before it is too late. Perhaps not! What can you do to ensure their (and your) survival?

---

Short-term Tallies
Kill the funnel worm: XXXOOO
Rescue the Ul-Mor: complete! (one Ul-Mor lost, 2 lopers lost)

Ongoing Tallies
Offend the Ul-Mor: XOOOO
Succumb to the Desert: OOOO
Discovered by the Pirates: OOO

PCs
Kallina: (O)XOOO
Bertie: OOOO
Skur Vonn: OOOO

NPCs
Jeeves: OO
Goran: XOOO

ACTIONS!
Next Update: Friday

[Rex]

Kallina

Kallina will give the loper she is riding a Stimdose. "Run like the wind!"

Roll [_2d6]=(5+6)=11 A/D [1d6]=2

Sheet updated, she is now at 3 Stimdoses left.

[cybersavant]

Skur Vonn also gives a stimdose to the mount he's on.

[Pulpatoon]

Drama Roll [1d6]=1
Bertie is right at the back, a couple tail-lengths behind the others! She can't identify the epicenter of the new funnel, just that she's in a tight spot.

Bertie thinks the stun grenade could be effective once the funnel is formed—it should roll right down to the funnel worm's maw. But it would be extremely risky to still be in the funnel area, at that point.

[shaidar]

Bertie makes sure that a stun grenade is within easy reach before trying to project fear to their loper in order to spur it on to clear the forming funnel:

Roll: [_2d6]=(2+3)=5, dis/advantage[1d6]=5



I'm not sure if it worked, but if they did clear the funnel she would try to throw a grenade down it behind them:
Roll: [_2d6]=(2+1)=3, dis/advantage[1d6]=5

[Pulpatoon]

Kallina reaches into her carryall and retrieves an osmotic hypo and applies stimdose to the loper she is riding. “Run like the wind!” she cries. The loper’s beady eyes bug out and it bellows “BREE-YAAAAAAARK!” as it suddenly surges ahead, great strides eating up the distance as it suddenly feels light, energized, and ready to run forever! The Ul-Mor rider catches a contact rush from its telepathic link, pulling itself upright in the saddle and trilling at the top of its lungs, “We are the wind! We outpace the very jaws of death! Nothing will ever stop us!”

Skur Vonn recognizes a good strategy when he sees it, and pulls out a stimdose of his own for the loper he is own. Soon, the two lopers are streaking through the sand, their riders screaming heroic declarations as they go.

Bertie, bereft of chemical enhancements for Athru’s mount, focuses on the funnel worm. She has never been good at projecting her thoughts to targets that she didn’t have in line of sight, but she tries to reach out to the funnel worm anyway, while simultaneously priming a stun grenade. She is met with an inchoate tumult of psychic impressions that nearly overwhelms her. She is so focused on collecting herself that she is not braced when the loper makes a sudden lateral leap. If Athru had not whipped a pair of tentacles around her, she would have been flung off the loper and into the newly-forming funnel! Instead she merely loses her grip on the stun grenade, which falls, primed and ready to detonate among the lopers beating feet!

Bertie has a fraction of a second to act before the stun grenade goes off, catching herself, Athru, and the loper in its blast!

Kallina and Skur Vonn are clear of the funnel area, but their overstimulated riders and mounts race right past the rest of the tribe on the rocky ridge that was their destination, whooping and whistling, heedless.

---

Short-term Tallies
Kill the funnel worm: XXXOOO

Ongoing Tallies
Offend the Ul-Mor: XOOOO
Succumb to the Desert: OOOO
Discovered by the Pirates: OOO

PCs
Kallina: (O)XOOO
Bertie: OOOO
Skur Vonn: OOOO

NPCs
Jeeves: OO
Goran: XOOO

What do you do?
Next Update: Monday!

[Rex]

Kallina

"We can slow down now, we don't want to get to far from the others."

She tries to get the Ul-Mor to slow or stop the loper.

[cybersavant]

Skur Vonn holds onto the energized loper.

[shaidar]

Bertie

"The grenade!"

She desperately tries to project to the loper the idea/image of it kicking the grenade away.

Roll: [_2d6]=(4+2)=6, dis/advantage[1d6]=5

[Pulpatoon]

Kallina and Skur Vonn hold on tightly as stimdosed Ul-Mor and loper continue to run headlong across the landscape. Kallina tries to find a way to get the loper she is on to slow down or stop, but she doesn’t see anything in the way of reins—only the Ul-Mor’s telepathic tentacle at the base of the loper’s skull. The Ul-Mor shrieks in exhilaration, and calls to its equally hyped up tribesmate, “Our hearts are pure and nothing can stop us! Let us slay the funnel worm, and earn the name of heroes!” This sounds completely sensible to the drug-addled Ul-Mor carrying Skur Vonn, and the two lopers begin an arcing path, turning 180°, back towards the funnel.

Bertie, meanwhile, reaches out to the mind of the loper she is on, hoping to get it to kick the stun grenade away. She ends up in a tangle of primitive animal emotions, and the alien mind of Athru, who is connected to the loper. All three beings become distracted and confused by this unexpected melding, and they lose precious seconds trying to remember which ones have legs, and how many, and in which direction they bend.

The confusion is broken by the detonation of the stun grenade!

Please give me a disadvantaged roll to see if Bertie can resist the stun effect.

How’s Goran doing?
Drama Roll [1d6]=3

Goran’s Ul-Mor and loper have pulled just out of the range of the funnel, and turn around to see what is holding Athru up.

---

Short-term Tallies
Kill the funnel worm: XXXOOO

Ongoing Tallies
Offend the Ul-Mor: XOOOO
Succumb to the Desert: OOOO
Discovered by the Pirates: OOO

PCs
Kallina: (O)XOOO
Bertie: OOOO
Skur Vonn: OOOO

NPCs
Jeeves: OO
Goran: XOOO

What do you do?
Next Update: Wednesday!

[cybersavant]

Skur Vonn releases his grasp to roll off the loper, using the motion to cushion his fall to the sand. He stands and draws his laser.

"Come back! Stay away from the funnel."

[Rex]

Kallina

To herself, "This is not good!"

She grabs the Ul-Mor by a belt or something she can hold onto and rolls off the loper, trying to pull the Ul-Mor with her to stop them before they get back near the funnel.

Roll [_2d6]=(5+3)=8 A/D [1d6]=6

She has Athletics.