Hagalton, 321D/81 (Morning)
At dawn, you begin the journey back to the marker dolmen and down the tunnel into the Crack in the Earth. Once at the cliff dock, Yar assembles a rack of ballast on the edge of the rock outcropping. He secures a cable, connected to this rack, to a mount on the trawler. The mechanic grabs a covered bucket out of a storage chest and smears its contents onto the side of the vessel. “Prey scent,” he says.
“We’ll dive into the depths of the ‘Crack,” Yar explains. “When the beast takes the bait, I’ll release the ballast and we’ll surface into the zone of stability. Then we will try to kill it before it withdraws.”
You board the trawler and Yar supervises your methods of lashing to the vessel. He checks the strength of each connection, nods his approval, and indicates it’s time for departure. The eccentric kneels next to the cable crank and slowly withdraws the vessel into the ‘sky’ of the chasm. The trawler drops at a steep angle through the zone of stability and into the lower maelstrom. The contraption bucks slightly as swirling clouds of mist and smoke whip around the vessel. An eerie silence engulfs you and indiscernible odors invade your olfactory receptors. Yar locks the crank, takes his position on the rear deck, lashes one leg to the harpoon gun and waits.
Gaps in the multicolored vapor allows visibility up to 200 yards away. The sheer faces of the chasm are exposed now and then, with some of you spotting dried blood splats on the wall. Everyone scans their field of vision for signs of movement inside the kaleidoscope of colors. At first, you see various clumps of solid matter crash into each other that coalesce or shatter. An occasional flicker of light illuminates the cloud strata, rippling like a wave. Then, the trawler lurches up followed by a loud ’THUMP’. A dark brown mass of “sludge” rolls up the left side of the vessel and disappears into the maelstrom above. Yar signals to ignore the object and you continue your watch. After 15-20 minutes of waiting, Kurot cuts the release cord so the front white signal flag springs erect. An insectillian approaches!
Yar sees the signal and pulls the lanyard to release the ballast rack. The trawler jolts and rushes back up into the zone of stability. The envelope of silence is gone, and you hear the ’SCREECH!’ of the mutant monstrosity as it joins you in calm. The creature flies past and disappears into the upper maelstrom before swooping out and taking an attack vector against your floating contraption!
Action Details:
Initiative and Actions?
OOC: If you choose a melee attack, it will take place as the beast buzzes the trawler.
Hit Points [Luck Points-320D]:
Denslow – 42/42 [16/16]
Silvestri – 60/60 [8/14]
MacMak – 68/68 [8/17]
Bruce – 50/50 [4/12]
Kurot – 50/50 [6/15]
Farmanus – 87/87 [13/13]
...
