Inside the Chuck Wagon
-----Hearing something below, Hienrich takes his IV bag with him and goes below to see what the commotion's all about. Cale curses as the realization that his ride is now the home of an inter-dimensional monster strikes home. He radios Baker to notify him of the new situation and as he's speaking he sees the ground start to burst upward in front of the APC. Cale floors it and the APC just clears the rising mound without snapping the rear axle. Unfortunately, the pressure sensor on the APC's instrument panel shows that the tow-bar pulling the ATV snapped. To add mayhem to misery, there's a thirty-odd foot tall, three-headed worm-beast of some sort that's caused these issues—and it's attacking the party as they drive past, likely looking for a snack. Caradoc internally gripes about the rest of the group always having the fun while he does math problems or tends to a wounded idiot when Cale and Baker exchange news of the intruder. Khan's sixth sense flares like a nova and he turns to see that Hienrich has left the upper deck during the tumult and confusion. Fearing the worst, he draws his sword as he turns. Hienrich's feet hit the cold deck and he looks to his right, the IV bag he's carrying over his head so that gravity will keep feeding him the wonderful drugs that Dr. Cai Caradoc has prescribed. He sees the ripple of something blue move through the translucent material of the bag and so is spared the sight of the giant blue maw and it's double row of teeth as they clamp down over his head and end his wretched existence.
Now this will just never do, here you've gotten your blood all over me yet again you filthy blue beast mutters Jazeraint to Hienrich's departing consciousness.
-----Caradoc turns and draws his sidearm as he climbs out of the co-pilot's station. Khan hears a depressing, sickening crunch and what sounds like a carton of milk being dropped on the deck below as he bolts down the short stairwell to the main deck. There he sees Hienrich's headless corpse pooling blood across the deck and a large monster hulking just beyond the foot of the stairs. A blood vessel bursts behind one of his eyes as he flings the beast (who must weigh at least 600 lbs.) down the length of the bay. The beast recovers quickly from the telekinetic throw and does its best to charge back its kill. Red-splotched tufts of blue for can be seen stuck to the corners of its gore streaked maw. Caradoc lands right behind Khan and is dismissed to see so much of his hard work gone to such a fruitless end.
-----The monster charges forward and Khan gashes its arm with his vibro-sword. Caradoc, finding no cover in the stairwell, backs up a few of the steps cautiously. The monster slams Khan bodily into a bulkhead, rattling him in his suit like a dry bean. Khans responds smartly by manifesting a protective psychic body field around his form which looks in the odd light of the APC interior like a form-fitting aura of party glitter. Caradoc does the heretofore unthinkable and blasts the monster at nearly point-blank range. The ion blast nearly drills a hole in the chest of the beast and it stumbles back a half-step, clearly confused by the situation.
(-16 M.D.C. to the Right Arm of Khan's armor; Hienrich is dead with no hope of recovery, resurrection, or revival; -1 shot Caradoc's gun.)
Inside the Hoversled
Sebastion eases off the thrusters a bit and when he notices the monstrous worm-beast rise from the ground (thirty feet high!) he swerves hard to the right to avoid crashing directly into it. The Roughnecks atop the APC look none the worse for wear and he lauds himself as one helluva driver as he skirts the hoversled around the beast and moves to pass.
Outside
-----Conner and Reaper can both still hear the sounds of the squishy things gouging and boring through their armor to get inside. Ramien blasts at the backside of the beast again but the erratic motions of the APC make it hard enough to just stay atop the vehicle and her shot goes wide by dozens of feet. Conner freaks out just a little bit but manages enough sensibility to know to let go of his railgun long enough to wipe the ichor from his helmet's visor with his hand. Shane pulls himself back up and radios the Roughnecks to keep them apprised as Baker does much the same. Reaper trigger's his suit's jet-assist thrusters and leap-kicks the beast sharing the top of the Hoversled with him. The foul creature's instincts were like that of a Zentraedi and instead of attempting to evade his blow, the beast gouges at his leg with a swipe of its clawed hands even as it's sent hurtling to its likely doom. For a brief moment all seems still and well save for the greasy things chewing on Reaper and Conner's respective armors. Then the ground swells and suddenly bursts from under the rear of the Chuck Wagon.
-----Ramien is jolted from her footing and falls, nearly bouncing off the roof and into the dark abyss but a timely grab by Shane yanks back from the edge and she rapidly regains her warrior's stance. As the Hoversled begins to pass the worm-beast its three heads lash out at Ramien, Conner, and Shane taking bites of composite and gouging their armored suits in an attempt to dislodge or snare one of them with a bite. Ramien, while able to parry the beast's lunges with her tremendous strength, instead goes on her warrior instinct and punishes the monster's elongated trunks with multiple blasts from her rifle. She takes care only to keep from being drug off the APC, enduring the physical blows in true warrior fashion. Conner manages to duck in time to avoid the snapping bite of one of the giant worm's gaping maws and lets loose with a wicked barrage of metallic slugs into the the same worm-head as Ramien, felling one of them like a tree with his last burst. It's at this time that he notices his ATV is teeter-tottering precariously on the side of the ridge, the busted tow-bar dangling over the abyss from the front of the vehicle. Shane manages to adroitly sidestep the blows from the same worm-head. While avoiding that one however, he is nearly torn to bits by the third and nearly knocked unconscious from the battering last blow to his suit's helmet. Baker and Reaper provide withering cover-fire as the two vehicles surge past the now two-headed worm-hydra. The orifice is opening ahead and the vehicles are still on time to make the opening and plow through to the lush green scene beyond.
(-16 MD Left Leg, -4 MD Right Secondary Vectored Thruster, -4 MD Main Body of Reaper's Cyclone; -7 MD helmet, -19 MD Left Leg, -17 MD Main Body to Conner's armor and -2 bursts from the railgun; -5 shots Ramien's gun -39 M.D.C. to Main Body of Ramien's armor; -37 MD Main Body, -24 MD Helmet to Shane's armor)
What do you do?
