Chapter 1: Sortie, Runners!

God damn I'm stupid I tried to delete my first post but forgot that it deletes the entire thread...we'll have to redo it, although I remember the rolls everyone made. Dammit! Sorry everyone, this is what I mean when I say I'm new...I'll retype everything

Actually can anyone maybe copy and paste the old thread's info here? I apologize profusely for my stupidity, I feel awful. If you can repost the old info here, but I am retyping.

With a bang! you feel a powerful resonance under your feet. Monitors zigzag out of projectors and alight around the cortex, flashing unknown symbols, and levers and pedals extend out of the walls. You feel the tendril like synapses plug into the two holes in your neck. You're connected to the mind of the machine. [Spax listens for something, anything, but as usual only hears mental static that slowly fades away.]

The Type-12s stomp out of the hangar, and Commander Darani's red horned unit unbars a massive gate. As she steps aside and lets you pass through the gate, you hear her in your mind. ***"We've got three sluggies today. We all know they're damned slow, so this should be easy. Except if anyone is doing any out of cortex heroics today, please hit them in the red bulbs. Remember Zast, I had to pull you out of that thing's tentacles last time? It hurt the soul, buddy."*** Zast makes a rude gesture and punches Darani on the shoulder. Young, Darani is the commander because of her telepathy, she is foolhardy and talkative. The rest of you must communicate via hand signals and gestures. Darani 'talks' to fill the silence.

As you exit the city, the dead-skin like Amorphous Fields fills your monitors. Bubbling goop makes a misstep dangerous, and the ground has been known to crack. ***"Alright everyone, you know the drill. Be careful, and all that safety stuff."*** She lowers her arm to point at the slugs. The three yellow-brown gigantic slugs have multicolored mushrooms growing out of their shells, and glowing red bulbs cover their face, giving them a decorative air. Barbed tentacles grow out of their mouths and the backs of their shells.
***I yell, and we charge and decimate these things. Our usual plan."***
She 'yells' and raises a fist, and the Defensers pound across the fields to the slugs, making small, groundshaking leaps to avoid the goop. Did discipline die, or is it just Darani? The slugs grow larger in your monitors.

The slug on the left is the largest, it's tentacles almost whimsically floating behind it's shell, poised to shoot out. The slug in the middle is already distracted launching tentacles at Zast and Miu, but they seem to be doing a decent job of evading and parrying it's attacks so far. The right slug moves slower than the others, and seems slightly...sick. It is only moving forward.

What do you do? Roll initiative and state actions!

(I will now post what I remember of your posts so we can continue as normal. Copy and paste them into your posts and then edit them if you wish)

Spax listens and sighs as he only hears Darani in his mind. "Still not talking, buddy? Don't worry, I'll wait." He pats a pile of thick cables next to him.

Leaving the bunker, he spots Ara's distinctive pink defenser and playfully bows, and then gestures towards the slugs in a 'ladies first' motion.

He leans into his controls, and Gion sets off. "I can't believe I'm finally a runner, Gion! I'm the happiest I've been in my entire life."

Initiative: 5

(Spax, you should take an action like the others)

Ara says: "You ready to go, Soniku? This should be easy." She leaves the city with the others and runs along the other Defensers. When they reach the slugs, she spots Spax and his motions. She waves her hands in a 'no thanks' motion, and lifts up a painted bow and taps herself with it with a ping. I'll shoot from back here, you play here today. Soniku lowers to one knee with a thump, and Ara looses an arrow at the middle slug distracted with Zast and Miu.

Initiative: 6
Arrow attack: 11

Zofor sees the antics of the young'uns and thinks Those two are always so affectionate. The fingers of his Defenser Hei snap together to become a dagger, and he attacks. (sorry, anything I missed? What slug did you attack?

Initiative: 11 trained
Dagger: 19

Initiative order
Sofor
Runners
Osiris
Ara
Slugs
Spax

Despite it being twice it's size, Hei leaps and plunges his razor sharp dagger hand into the left slug's (S1)throat before it can react.

The Runners attack the slugs with gusto. Taking advantage of Soför's speed, Darani sticks a spear into the slugs throat moments after he does. Miu manages to slash the slug in the middle with a sword while Herdin and Zast duck and weave around it's flying tentacles.

Osiris (OOC: can you name your Zorahi?) walks towards the slugs, almost inviting a challenge. The slug on the right slowly gazes at him with bloodred eyes, but makes no moves to attack and continues it's slow trip to the city.

Osiris, give me a perception roll.

Soniku's arrow flies, and hits the middle slug S2) in a soft part of it's shell. The arrow penetrates, and the usual brownish goop spills out.

The Sluggies: The big left slug S1 tries to fire it's barbed tentacles out of it's mouth, but instead burps out foul brown fluid out of it's mouth onto Hei and Darani's unit as it's stabbed in the throat twice (OOC: Yuck.). The middle slug S2 is slashed with a sword and hit with one of Ara's arrows, but is still very much alive. S2 fires it's mouth tentacles at Miu, and manages to knock part of her shoulder armor off and push her back. It's tail tentacles weave and spin through the air as they fly towards Soniku.

Ara, give me a speed defense roll.

The slug on the right S3sways a bit, but pays no mind to the defensers or Osiris and continues to slime it's way toward the city.

Spax watches the battle, waiting for an opening.

Next round, actions?

I tense as the tentacles fly towards me. "Soniku, we've trained for this. I'm ready, I'm ready..." She pulls back on a lever while hitting a pedal and thinking "MOVE!" at the last moment, and hopes that she was fast enough.

If I manage to dodge, I'll try to whip out my dagger and slice slice those damn tentacles as they go by me.

(ooh: JUST WOW. It'd only have been better if the second roll was a one.)

Spax watches in awe as the event unfolds in front of him. The whine of the Defensers metallic and synth bodies plunging into the fray mixes with the wet, sloppy squishes coming from the slugs.

An arrow flies expertly from Ara's giant bow and pierces the monstrosity she was aiming at, he smiles proudly remembering how good Ara was at games of aiming and hitting targets that they played as kids. His warm memories swiftly change as he watches in horror as some of the slugs tentacles reach out toward her Defenser. Ara doesn't look like she's going to make it and Spax pushes Gion to intercept the enemies attacks.

OOC: Moving in front of Soniku with my blade gauntlet raised to block the slugs attack. Rolling Speed defense and adding one level of Effort.

(boom, pm incoming Osiris!)

While I wait for the others, I'll detail your anoetic Magnetic Drag 'whistler' cypher that is attached to your beautiful plug suits. You are all trained in their use. They can be used twice unlike most cyphers.

Magnetic Drag
Level: 6
Wearable: glove attached to hand of plugsuit.
Usable: Fires a magnetic cable
'Whistler' equipment is called so because of the 'whistling' sound that is heard when it pull runners along the cable. Their use is simple: Point at a metallic object, and you'll go flying to it, even if it's above you, like a Defenser. Runners use these to quickly mount other Defensers.

A note on Whistler use in conjunction with climbing Type-12 Zorahis:
Because of their unorthodox and uneven armor plating, Type-12s have good handholds and footholds and are easy to climb (or as easy as climbing a giant robot gets). So Type-12s are good runner platforms when runners aren't in their own.

OCC: Hey, since I had the crit, can I go with the minor effect of my illusion having a special quality? Namely, can the "cube" the illusion has to stay within move with me while the illusion lasts?

(OOC: Holy hell, a 1, a 2, and two 20s. Fate has a hand in this somewhere.)

Hei pulls back it's arm for a final strike, and cuts through the slug's neck and decapitates it. Hei is going to need a long wash when it returns.

The Runners are beginning to notice the slug on the right, although some still fight the slug in the middle. Zast chops off some of S2's tentacles, and Miu tries to get in another hit, but can't find an opening. Darani offers Soför a high five, then shies back. ***"I'm not touching you now.***

Both Aces stand in front of the slowly advancing slug S3. (yes, this once you can have the minor affect for your illusion, but usually it doesn't work like that as Identify is totally different from illusions)

Soniku's foot sinks into a pool of bubbling muck as she tries to duck. To Ara:

You feel Soniku's foot slip into something as you try to duck, and moments later, tremendous pounding wracks you and Soniku. Above you, below you, to your right...you feel impacts everywhere...the walls around you begin to dent...the monitors fizzle... You feel Soniku's leg squish out of the pool, and feel a [i]thump! as she falls on her back.[/i]

Soniku falls to the ground as tentacles pound away at her hull, although so far the armor is holding. (Soniku is taking damage, but like I said on the Mecha Rules thread you'll have to guess how much)

The Slugs: Slug S1's head falls off, and slowly but surely the slug falls on Darani. ***"I'm okay, I'm okay, shoulda been more careful, don't tell Zast..."*** Darani's Zorahi tries to push the giant slug off and is unharmed.
Slug S2 fights Miu, Zast, and Herdin with it's mouth tentacles, but also rains it's tentacles down on fallen Soniku. Suddenly, it looks dazed, as if it had been hit by something, although it continues attacking.
Slug S3 stops and stares at the two Aces. Only Osiris notices it burps out a red chunk of something, and out of that chunk a small polyp appears and shoots off like a dart into the middle slug S2's neck. Then it waits impassively for the Aces to act.

Gion rushes towards Soniku, and anxious to save his friend, Spax cuts the attacking tentacles away from the battered Soniku.
(Skydut, I didn't let you block the attack because you were after the slugs in initiative, however I did let you rescue Soniku from the battering thanks to your good roll. Also remember that if you are blocking, it's a Might defense check, as you aren't dodging the attack.)

To everyone: I'm going easy on everyone now with their rolls and what you use them for, but that won't last long. Now, time for actions again everyone.

My breathing gets faster and faster as Soniku takes more damage, then silence. The monitors regain clarity and I see Gion standing above me with an outstretched hand. I take it and pull myself up, and then nod in thanks to Spax. I'm still shaken.
I examine Soniku, (what do I see?) and as Sofor seems to be cleaning up the two slugs, I turn towards S3 and see the two Aces. It always creeps me out when Osiris does that, it's like there's two giant ghosts. With a deep breath, I pick up my bow and take aim at the demented slug.

Gion rushes forward, but a second too late, the tentacles reach out toward Soniku and Ara inside with alarming speed, especially from something so inherently slow. "No! Ara!" Spax yells inside his Defensers hull. Almost as if Gion understood the mechanic humanoid springs forward with an extra burst of speed. Each footfall churns up the ground beneath.

(OOC: Sorry, I thought it would be Speed Defense to get there in time. I was fully ready to take the punishment from the slug to protect Ara. But being lower on the Initiative track, it makes sense that I didn't get there before the tentacles. As for my major effect... How about this?)

The gigantic gauntlet on Gion's right forearm splits in two with a mechanical whoosh and from inside a three-meter long, two-meter wide blade of synth-steel stabs forward cutting the air with a hiss. The gauntlet closing on top again as the blade fully extends into the air makes hollow "SHUNP!"

Spax maneuvers inside Gion's hull and brings his arm across in a wide arc, immediately the cogs, cables, and electronics transfer Spax's movements to Gion and the Defensers arm bearing the gigantic blade slices into the tentacles attacking Ara's Defenser Soniku. The blade easily slices the myriad of slimed tentacles with a single strike. The damaged tentacles retract almost as fast as they had attacked, each trailing a thin line of brown goop from the severed ends.

Spax maneuvers Gion to assist Soniku in getting up then gestures to gently take her bow. Gion kneels with the bow held over his head effectively becoming the base of a siege weapon. Giving Soniku the chance to pull back with both hands to fire. (OOC: I'm thinking +2 to attack and +2 damage!)

(OOC: Dang! Posted too slow. :-/ Sorry Senpaiki.)

No no I'll go with that, I'll say that happens! Maybe Kai can revise a bit?

(OOC: Um...I'm not sure if what Skydut just did is stupid... or utterly awesome. The mental image was simply too much...one giant robot kneeling holding a massive painted bow on it's back while behind it a pink one pulls back on the bowstring, it really is like a siege engine lol. Keep up the creativity!)

I'll let you do that Skydut, however, you must spend effort for intellect (remember you have edge in intellect so it only costs 2) to line up Gion perfectly and coordinate with Ara. She'll reroll and if she hits she'll do extra damage. You have to remember that there are no 'free' bonuses, there's always a risk or a cost or both.

Reroll bow attack:

(OOC: I guess I'm confused. Not trying to argue, I just though rolling a 20 and getting a Major Effect? The + to the rolls was the effect I was going for.)

(P.S.OOC: Nevermind, I saw that my Major Effect was to get to Soniku in time. I apologize.)

Hei stomps off towards S2. You'll get there next turn, I should have specified that the slugs are a short distance away from each other and take a turn to get to from the location of one of the slugs.

The Runners: Darani struggles to push the dead slug off of her, although she is slowly scooting out from under it. ***"Can someone help get this stupid thing off me?"*** Miu, Herdin, Rozlt, and Zast work together to cut off the middle slug S2's tentacles, and work their way closer to it as bits of tentacles fall to the ground, while the other runners head towards S3 or watch out for those attacking slug S2.

Slowly circling like a hunter stalks it's prey, Ace and it's illusion suddenly leap forward at exactly the same moment. While the illusion does no damage, it does serve to distract the slug, and Ace's verred firmly lodges itself in a soft part of the slug's shell. The other Defensers didn't get your message, as your hand signals weren't noticed, and Defensers have no communication systems.

Gion and Soniku: Spax, remember to pay your intellect effort. Gion and Soniku create a makeshift ballista with their defensers, and as they know each other well, it doesn't take long to set up. Soniku pulls back as far as the bow will go, and with an incredible metallic twang the arrow is off. It strikes the sluggie hard in the shell (OOC: Sempai, your effort helped.)

The battle seems to be going well. The slug on the left is dead, and the runners grow closer to landing a hit on the one in the middle. Elsewhere, runners handle-

Wait.

As Soför is running towards the slug in the middle, it's eyes turn to him amidst the chaos of it's lost battle. They turn from their usual orange to bloodred, and at the same moment the slug seems to explode, leaving behind a hazy cloud. Zast, Herdin, and Miu are blown backwards.
As Soniku's and Gion's attack hit their mark, Osiris wrenches his sword out of the beast. Red bubbling fluid sprays out in multiple directions, quite unlike brown sluggie blood, and a second later Ace is thrown through the air and onto the ground.

As the red cloud clears, the two slugs come back into view. Their yellow skins bleed and blister, and underneath pulsating red matter is revealed as the slug's skins melt away. The slug's shells appear to be being eaten from the inside, and soon hundreds of roughly human sized multi armed monstrosities seemingly sculpted only of flesh emerge from holes in the shells. They crawl down the "slug's" backs, and like spiders start clambering onto the Defensers that have fallen to the ground.


(something like this)

Soför, you were away from the slugs and are unharmed. Darani is still behind you under the dead slug.
Before you, you can see the multi armed flesh-creatures swarm up the hulls of the defensers, and all too quickly they reach the cortex. They start prying armor off and pounding the hatches inwards with the energy of hungry wolves.

Ara and Spax, you two are safe as you were not directly engaging the slugs. You can see Ace and it's clone fly backwards. The multi-armed beasts swarm off the "slug" towards the illusion, but once it disappears they start clambering onto the real Ace.

Osiris, you hear thuds starting at Ace's feet, and they seem to be moving up towards the waist at an ungodly speed. Your illusion bought you time, use it wisely.

Everyone, reroll initiative and then act. You're not fighting slugs anymore.

The metallic twang from Soniku's bow overhead still reverberates in the air as one of those... things explodes outward and red demons of some sort pour outward like a plague from its decomposing body.

But Spax hasn't the time to effectively try and understand what is happening before Ara pushes her Defenser past his. Gion rises to a crouched position and drops the bow to the ground, it clatters against the ground and like a gun at a race Gion is in a full sprint as well. Heading toward he hasn't any idea, just evil. Yes, that's it, the Maelstrom produced these evil abominations and its his job to stop them.

Spax maneuvers Gion toward Zast and tries to lift his Defenser free of danger. "If we can get those things away from his cockpit then Zast can use his cypher to attach to us and get away from danger!" Spax passes a glance to a monitor trained on Soniku, "Hang in there Ara." He whispers under his breath.

Initiative:
Sofor
Osiris
Spax
Runners and flesh creatures
Ara

Soför, speedy as ever, starts stomping on the creatures. However, they are more dexterous than you imagined, and soon your monitors show a red swarm ascending Hei's legs. If you attack these things physically in a defenser or do a speed check, and fail a difficulty 2 roll, the crawlers start swarming you. Give me an attack or speed defense against the crawlers.

Osiris: Ace rolls on the ground, and the crawlers fly off it's legs and burst upon hitting the ground. You're safe from the crawlers for now, however, the giant creature expelling the crawlers seems to notice you and launches fleshy tentacles at you. They seem to be trying to grab you. (speed defense)

Spax reaches Zast's defenser. (OOC: unless I say so, you don't need to roll to get somewhere. You may have to take a turn or too to get there, but unless it's treacherous or something no roll.) You pull his struggling unit off the ground, but the crawlers hold on viciously. One of them manages to rip off the hatch, and another two reach inside hungrily and pull out a struggling man. He slices off one of the crawler's arms, but the other squeezes, and you hear bones crack as he screams in pain.

The sick creatures: The crawlers continue to try to rip the runners out of their Defensers, and their metal screams and groans. You know it'll only be seconds until the armor cracks. The two giant creatures that used to be slugs continue to birth more crawlers out of their back, and the new births run/crawl to the standing Defensers. One flesh-slug attacks Osiris.

The Runners: ***"Dammit, what going on? I can feel your fear...I'm coming."*** Darani pounds off towards the downed Defensers. Herdin tries desperately to scrape the crawlers off his hull with his hands, but spider like, they just jump to his hands. Tipping, his Zorahi falls face forward into a mud like substance. Miu's Braze seems to be having trouble moving, although Soniku desperately cuts the crawlers off her hull. Zast screams as a crawler breaks his arm. Rozlt has managed to shake the crawlers off, and runs at the flesh beast S2 with two daggers.

Ara brings her sword to bear quickly and drags it across Braze's hull, slicing the crawlers in half. With no crawlers present, you see the hatch iris open, and Miu staggers out bleeding, hand on her head. She shakily points her palm at Soniku and you see a cable fly and attach to your left shoulder. Moments later, she flys, and you hear another thud on your shoulder as she lands.

(ooc editing: After reading Spax's action, I need to fix this...)

I open my hatch, and looking up to Soniku's roof shoulder see her swaying dangerously. "Miu, you can't stay up there, you look like you're going to fall. Come in here!" I offer her a hand and taking it Miu slides in, and awkwardly sits next to me. Closing the hatch, I look at the carnage, and then at Miu helplessly. "What do I do? I'm afraid, for once...Well... I can't sit here chatting, I guess." I run my fingers along the dents in Soniku's hull. "Just a little more, girl. We can do this!" Soniku crouches for a moment, and with a whining of hydraulics leaps up like a sprinter and niavely bounds as fast as she can go towards slug S2 to help out Rozlt. As Soniku runs, the sunlight runs along the length of her blade like running water.

(I'm going to say that my action for this turn was helping Miu in and starting to run towards the slug, I just described it more!)

In all his training Spax had never heard or seen anything like this. The red monstrosties looked as if they were a plague.

Seeing Zast attacked Spax opens his hull. He suddenly feels a wave of worry course through him and answers instinctively, "It's okay Gion, I know what I'm doing. Just get those blast pylons fired up and ready to go." Almost immediately the two tall backwards facing rocket boosters mounted on Gion's gigantic shoulders begin to hum to life, the small blast doors on the front of the pylons clicking open and a red glow forms from inside each of the rockets.

Kicking at a release toggle, the hatch in Spax's Defenser's chest slides open with a coarse chuff.

Once the hatch is open, the muffled sound from inside the defensers cabin fall away and the unobstructed environment bursts noisily into Spax's ears. The sounds of grating metal, unholy screams from the monsters, and the constant whine from the Maelstrom are almost enough to make Spax's head swim for a moment. However his Guardian training pushes him forward with dedicated resolve. Spax focus his attention to Zast below him, and points his palm at the spider demon holding Zast's broken arm and fires. "ZAST! HOLD ON!!!"

(OOC: My intention is to fire my cable into the red spider thing and while still being strapped in Gion recoil the whistler and pull the baddie and in turn Zast towards myself. Then fire off the blast pylons and get us the hell out of there. Then hopefully my actions will spur the others into a retreat while Spax drops Zast off to return to Gurrai while he returns to the battle to help whomever he can.)

This is getting seriously epic, and I want this to happen! I'm loving this description, I was planning to write like this but was worried I'd geek everyone out. No longer (loving the blast pylon activation!) However, there are some issues.
First, to fire the pylons you have to manually activate them, hitting the BIG RED BUTTON. Gion won't follow voice commands yet.
Second, the whistlers only attach and pull you too magnetic objects like the metal of Defensers, they can't pull flesh beings to you.
Third, unless it's simple like walking across a room, you must provide rolls for actions, and your action was pretty complex.
And last, consider how long a round is, about 6-10 seconds. For example, if you jump on Zast's defenser and then kill the crawler holding him that'd be one round, and then getting back to Gion with him another, as I can't imagine all that happening in 6-10 secs.

And just a warning: You don't want to hit that big red button, unless it's a horrible emergency. It's pretty vicious and has been known for concussions and occasional deaths. (like airbags).

Can you reword it a bit, and split it into two actions? (unless you can do it in one)

(I changed my action just fyi)

(OCC: I looked it up, minor illusion, which costs one intellect point, is free for Osiris with his intellect edge. Adjusting intellect pool accordingly)

You're right about the edge, but you can't attack and create an illusion in the same action. You can defend, and then do an action every turn. For the sake of moving the game along I'll say you attack, although you can change it if you wish. I let you create an illusion last time because all you did was create it and examine the slug. Also, remember your illusion Ace can't move very much, (about 100 feet, ten times the limit for PC sized illusions), although if you had conjured it before attacking it could have moved and distracted the slug a bit.

In all his training Spax had never heard or seen anything like this. The red monstrosties looked as if they were a plague.

Seeing Zast attacked, Spax begins to open his hull. He suddenly feels a wave of worry course through him and answers instinctively, "It's okay Gion, I know what I'm doing."

Kicking at a release toggle, the hatch in Spax's Defenser's chest slides open with a coarse chuff. Spax unbuckles the straps keeping him attached to The runners seat inside Gion's chest and leans forward.

Once the hatch is open, the muffled sound from inside the defensers cabin fall away and the unobstructed environment bursts noisily into Spax's ears. The sounds of grating metal, unholy screams from the monsters, and the constant whine from the Maelstrom are almost enough to make Spax's head swim for a moment. However his Guardian training pushes him forward with dedicated resolve. Spax focus his attention to Zast below him, and points his whistler at his squad mates Defenser below. "ZAST! HOLD ON!!!"

Some XPs:
2 XP for Osiris for accepting my GM intrusion when he was blown backwards by the slug, I should have said it was a GM intrusion so you could accept or refuse it. I made you accept, so take 2 XPs, but remember to give one XP to someone else.
1 XP to Spax for his ingenious siege engine and his vivid descriptions.

Hei flips forward and the crawlers fly off, splatting on the ground.

Osiris creates another Ace illusion in front of him as the tentacles shoot at him, and sidesteps out from behind illusion Ace at the last moment. The tentacles celestially fly shoot through illusion Ace as Osiris dodges. The flesh slug seems to realize that it hit an illusion, and retracts it's tentacles. (You can still use illusion Ace, but you'll have to figure out how to get the slug confused again.)

A cable flies through the air and attaches to the Zast's unit, and following it Spax flies out of Gion and lands with a thud on the Defenser. The two crawlers, distracted by your appearance, drop Zast onto the metal, and hungrily crawl towards you, muscular veiny arms outstretched. One pulls two arms back, and swings to fists towards you. Another dozen climb up the Defenser and will reach you and Zast in seconds.

Speed Defense roll to avoid punch

The Runners: The mud like pool that Herdin is submerging in suddenly bubbles uncontrollably, and with a burble Herdin is pulled under. Miu is safe with her sister in Soniku. Darani pounds towards Ace and slug S3, and as she runs she throws a dagger that bounces off what's left of it's shell. Rozlt drops and manages to duck a flight of tentacles, and then swings two daggers toward the flesh slug S2's head. It burps out a large chunk of fleshy matter which catches onto Rozlt's Defenser's head, blocking his monitors off inside the cortex, causing him to miss drastically and land in front of the slug.

The Flesh Beasts: S3, recoils it's tentacles and carefully tracks both Aces, for now knowing which one is real. Osiris, give me an intellect roll to trick the flesh slug again if you'd like, and describe what you do to confuse it. S2 spits out fleshy matter onto Rozlt's cameras, disabling his sight. The crawlers rip the hatch off of a Defenser belonging to a runner you did not know, and reaching inside, she is ripped out with a scream. With several cracks they quickly break her bones, and then one of them extends it's neck and chomps off her head.
The crawlers on Zast's defenser, distracted by Spax's arrival, drop Zast, and swarm towards the lone man.

Ara stomps toward flesh slug S2 with a gleaming sword , hoping to reach Rozlt in time. Miu says something, but her voice is lost within the squealing of the damaged Soniku as it runs at full speed. Seeing that Rozlt is not a threat, the slug launches tentacles at you, and burps out more fleshy matter onto Rozlt's defenser below it.

Speed defense for Ara.

Spax's feet hit Zast's defender with a jarring sensation that weakens his knees. He recovers as best he can and moves forward using his momentum to roll (hopefully) past the demons and next to Zast.

Along with defense, you can also attack.

Is that my Major Effect? I think I'd like to knock those two nasty red creatures in front of me off Zast's Defenser. Then grab Zast and whistle it back to Gion.

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Spax rolls expertly and carries forward past the flailing appendages of the red demons. Their attacks slam the defensers hull with frightening power and obvious intent.

Pulling up into a crouched position now behind the spider creatures, Spax flexes his arm and a foot-long, synth-steel blade jabs into the air from his gauntlet.

Spax punches hard at the first creatures exposed shoulder blades with his weapon, hopefully pushing the creature into its brethren and knocking them away from the runners. Anything to gain a few precious seconds to grab Zast and retreat to Gion.

"Get the hell away from us you bastards!"

No, I meant that in any turn you can attack and defend, not that its a major affect. I let you defend and then attack in a post just to keep things moving. Also, you have to roll to attack anything, unless somehow you reduce the difficulty to zero. However, for your major effect for your speed roll, this timeI let you dodge the crawlers and get past them without having to attack, as you dodged so well. Just remember that to attack anything you need to roll.

You duck the bulbous arms while running forward, and without thinking drop to the ground. Your momentum carries you under the beast's legs, and you reach Zast without having to attack the creatures. Wracked with pain, he tries to lift himself. As he is about to fall you catch him with an arm.

"Hang on Zast, let me get you out of here." Spax slides under Zast's good arm and hefts the fellow runner to a standing position. "When we get outta here buddy, you can rest, but I need your help right now Zast. You have to hold on to me as tightly as you can until we reach my Defenser okay?"

Over the cacophonous sound of the battle around them, Spax isn't sure if the injured man replied, but he feels his good arm tighten aroubd his neck. "Alright. Good man. Now let's get going!"

Wrapping his arm around Zast's waist, Spax lifts his palm up and points toward Gion's enormous chest. "Here I come."

Seing the red flesh bits dropping on Rozlt, I grimace in disgust. "As if the sluggies weren't disgusting enough already." Seeing the tentacles flying towards me, I'll try to leap to the side, and if I dodge attack.

(Yes)

the whistler jars Spax's hand as it fires toward Gion. Behind and in front of him he can hear the skittering terrors barreling towards Zast's cockpit. "Hold on Zast, this is going to be rough."

Sofor observes the battle, waiting for an opening. (you should act)

Osiris and Ace start to glow as they meld with illusion Ace for a second. The bright light seems to confuse the slug momentarily as the two Aces meld and then become two again. You scan the thing for weaknesses. On the sluggies, the weak points were it's red bulb-like protrusions on it's head and the soft flesh on it's 'chest'. However, this isn't a sluggie anymore. You get the feeling that to learn more you need to play it's game.

Spax's whistler sticks onto Gion's surface. As you start to fly towards it you feel the circulation in your leg suddenly cut off. Looking down, you see the crawler you ducked seconds earlier maniacally grabbing onto your leg with immense force. You were too slow. You slam into one of Gion's legs and with a shrill of pain see Zast fall from your arm, landing precariously ten feet below you on a protruding bit of Gion's knee armor.
The crawler is still hanging to your leg. Your right arm is pulled above you, suspending you to Gion's cockpit higher above you.

Take 2 Might damage, Spax. You can try to dislodge the thing however you can think of. Also remember that your whistler has one more charge if you want to use it somehow. Oh, remember this. Although it's too late now, you can spend an XP (which you have) to reroll one roll.

The Runners: Seeing Osiris waving her off, Darani hesitates and then runs toward the others. ***"I'm trusting you, Osiris."*** Miu yells at Ara to stop, but Soniku pounds on to the slug. Rozlt claws at his 'face' on the ground in front of the slug, dragging his fingers like knives across his eyes desperately. Zast is unconscious, hanging halfway off of Gion's knee armor. The other runners are either dead, or still fight a desperate battle with the crawlers.

The Flesh Beasts: Former slug S3 'blinks' at the Aces' display, and one of it's eyes pops out, revealing more fleshy matter underneath. Guess it didn't need it. As Darani's dagger bounces off it's 'shell', the thing picks it up off the ground and examines it, and then tosses it away. It gazes at the two Aces calmly.
S2 fires tentacles at Soniku...

Ara:

You leap to the side, and you see the tentacles shoot past you on your right monitor. You begin a sigh of relief when suddenly multiple impacts from behind jar the defenser and throw you forward. You see Miu fall onto the ground by your feet nearly unconscious.

Head pounding...ow...on your monitors the ground seems to be moving farther away...Huh? You realize with horror that Soniku is being lifted up and pulled towards the giant slug via it's tentacles.

(Oh crap)

Compacting on itself, Soniku explodes outwards, writhing and twisting. Inside it, Ara desperately pulls levers and kicks pedals, screaming to Soniku in her mind.

Crap, crap, crap! Whats the deal with this creepy thing?

(I declare shenanigans)

Spax's face contorts into a grimace fueled by the pain in his leg. He attempts to twist while pulling away, "Get off of me you demon!"

Hei's hand pushes out from it's socket at a downward angle while the fingers snap together to form a blade. Advancing slowly, Hei raises it's arm and then sinks it into the thing's chest...

Ace and it's brother charge forward, and distracted by the illusion, the slug dodges the illusion only to have the real blade scissor across it's throat...

Spax kicks his leg viciously, dashing the crawler against Gion's hull. Out of the corner of your eye you see crawlers swarming up Gion's legs, trying to reach you and unconscious Zast.

The Runners: Darani runs at the slug with her spear, but trips over Rozlt as he kicks and claws frantically. Miu is unconscious in Soniku's cockpit. The other runners fight the crawlers with variable success, some are free of them and some are dead. Zast's leg slides off the armor and he starts to slip...

The Fleshies: The former slugs are both hit with attacks from Hei and Ace. S2 pulls Soniku to itself.

Ara:

The unseeing eyes of the slug come closer and closer, until they are level with your monitors, Soniku's eyes. Suddenly covered by red matter, they go black and then disappear entirely as above you you hear metal compacting and then a brutal crunch.

You can almost imagine Soniku screaming in your mind as her body is torn apart. You can almost feel the machine's pain...the armor rending...the joints cracking......
In front of you, holes start cracking open in the cockpit, and crusty liquid starts bubbling in until something slams directly into the nearly dissolved hatch. Through the holes in the hatch you see, that like lusty tongues, a mass of tentacles leading from down into the depths of the creature are licking and caressing the outside of the hatch, and then almost tenderly wriggle their way into the cockpit, reaching hungrily towards you and Miu to pull you down into the thing.

For Sofor:

As you drive your hand into the neck, blood spurts out like a geyser, coating Hei further in gore. However, the beast hardly seems to notice, continuing to pound at Soniku's hull, and then it lowers it's mouth to Soniku's cockpit. With a jerk, Hei's hand is pulled from it's socket and is absorbed into the beast, nearly pulling you in with it.

For Osiris:

The verred makes a clean sweep of the thing, nearly decapitating it. However, it hardly seems to notice, and with an almost malicious look ejects the weapon viciously from it's neck. The verred flies from Ace's hands and lands in a puddle.

For Everyone

As Osiris and Sofor land hits on the beasts, almost as if it was some sort of response to their attacks you feel Darani slip into your minds, you can taste her confusion.

***Dammit, no, no, what's happening...who are you-"*** Her mind seems to morph into another's.
-No, listen to me now. It's all that's important. I don't have much time.

Images flash through your consciousness almost too fast to be comprehended.

Blobs of shape and color, confused and pained...
Old men in glowing white robes...
A hand growing to twice it's proportions and then bursting to become a starfish...
A white citadel, wrested from the ancients...
A humanoid machine, writhing and pulsating on a metal floor...
A flight of spinning tentacles...
A being of pure energy, sitting alone against a glowing panel...

With particular clarity an image separates itself from the rest.

Weapons of darkness and light, miles below the amber pavilion-

***"You're all weak now, you must return here before-I'm found-"***
A sharp mental spike severs the connection, although you realize that it was merely an echo of the immense suffering of the other.

Your move.

The spider-demon dismissed, Spax looks around wearily for his comrade. He spies Zast below on Gion's knee and thank the sky above for little miracles... Or was it more than that? Did you move to catch him Gion? He tries to recall how he'd left the Defenser when he exited to retrieve Zast. But too much had occurred in such a short time for him to remember. The unholy screams below snap him back to reality as Spax spots more red, multi-legged, things heading up Gion's armor from the Amorphous Fields below.

"This isn't good." Spax says aloud to Gion. Quickly calculating the distance between himself and the injured Zast, Spax breathes a sigh to calm his nerves, "It can't be that hard right? Just let gravity do its thing." Spax smiles warily then releases the whistlers cable allowing himself to fall to Zast.

Spax hits Gion's armor hard and instantly grabs onto Zast's... (Alive! Dead? No. Unconscious!) body, quickly trying to wrap the man into a firm embrace. All the while Zast moans in pain as his accumulated wounds beg to be handled with care. Spax ignores as best he can and lifts with all his might, looking longingly back toward Gion's chest above. "Here we go!"

Edit: Nope. Nope. No. I'm spending an xp dammit! I'm making it to Gion's cockpit. >:-(

Seeing what Soniku is about to do, Sofor leaps backwards as Hei's left hand morphs into a blade, ready to strike. A bright flash of light fills your monitors...

(That's awesome, I'm checking your boot if we meet) Osiris leaps forward, not missing a beat, and Ace slices it's hidden dagger across the last of the thing's neck, letting it's head plop off to the side, leaving a bloody red stalk of flesh. However, little tentacles pop out and are already at work repairing the tendons.

Zast slips off Gion's knee, falling into the hungry arms of the crawlers below.
Suddenly a hand grabs him by the scruff of his plugsuit, and with all his might Spax hauls Zast back up and over his shoulder. Pointing his palm upwards to Gion's chest, the cable fires and the two men whistle upwards and land in a jumble in the cockpit.

The Runners: Darani tries to drag Rozlt away from the slug and Soniku. ***Why-are-you-so-heavy, Rozlt? Help me out, and did everyone hear that? We need to get the hell out of here just by the way, I can believe we're damn weak.*** You can feel her frustration. One of the defensers crawls away from Soniku frantically, but the other two nod and together grab Rozlt's unit under the armpits and help Darani haul him away from the doomed slug.

The Explosion/Blast Pylon Firing

Above you, Soniku sinks her talons into the beast, and with a rising crescendo the pylons fire straight into the fleshy matter of the slug. Gut-wrenchingly the Defenser bucks backwards but manages to stay stuck into the thing as a pillar of flame lances into the slug's core. It's almost beautiful.
The slug melts from the inside out, boiling and bursting, the crawlers exploding in spurts of red matter as they try to crawl back into the shell. Clamped onto it tightly, Soniku's armor melts, falls off, bursts, and grafts itself to the red hot frame underneath. Still, Soniku stays stuck as both machine and monster are engulfed in fire.

Ara: A spike of sound as the pylons fire in a crescendo changes into a deafening roar, and one moment you were braced, and now as if magic are suddenly slammed against the bulkhead (4 Might damage), Your vision goes blurry, and you slide to, the, floor? Through it, you feel it. The massive stress on Soniku as she slowly disintegrates through your fingers, the smell of melting flesh and metal, the high pitched roar and the angry red walls, the unbearable heat of the cockpit.
God, it burns. What a miserable way to go, I-

Spax: as you and Zast tumble in a jumble into the cockpit, something bright flares outside the open hatch door, and you feel a rush of heat coming from the outside. Fire shoots into the cockpit when suddenly something outside slams the hatch shut just in time to avoid the flames. Gion is pushed backward, and you feel the crawlers fly off his legs.

Sofor: Pulling a lever purely on instinct, Hei dives to the ground and you feel wall of heat passes over you. Your monitors fizz and pop, but you know you're unharmed.

Osiris: As the thing's head plops off, you see a bright flash of light to your left. Trusting your feelings, Ace ducks behind the gigantic decapitated slug. A wall of flame passes overhead, and you smell roasted slug meat cooking.

Everyone outside Soniku

The slug and Soniku melt together until the pylons cut off. The slug is charred and hollowed out in the middle, a fixture upon itself. However, at the bottom some of the tiny crawlers are alive, and have started crawling over the hills and valleys of the gigantic carcass to reach a pristine yellow orb that rests on the ground in the very center of the thing's carcass.

Ara's defenser slumps to the ground in pieces, nearly collapsing like bits of coal as it lies upon the amorphous fields. It isn't recognizable as Soniku anymore, as all that remains is a slim, seared black construct that must have been the Defenser's frame.
***Alright-quite the day today.*** Darani says shakily. ***I say we p-pack up and go while there's still light, d-don't want to be s-s-stuck out here at night.*** You can feel her trying to collect herself and push her feelings aside. ***Let's haul Rozlt back and get Ara out of that metal coffin. If she's still even alive, that is.***

A red defenser crosses to the seared black frame, and tries unsuccessfully to open the cockpit with it's hands. It waves Darani over.
***Damn, that's hot, I can feel the heat from inside here. She can't be alive anymore. Let's head back.*** Darani rises sadly, but the red defenser pulls her back down by the wrist, and taps on the frame's chest.
***Damn, damn, It's hand is stuck to it. Melted on.*** Darani grabs a knife from a striped defenser and pries the hand and it's arm off little by little, until the chest is bare.

Inside the cockpit, Ara is bleeding but definitely alive as she rises shakily to check on her sister. Miu, still strapped into the chair, breathes softly, sleeping like a baby.

---

Alright folks, that's curtains for this encounter, unless anyone has something they want to add. The remainder of the defenser corp returned to Gurrai with Rozlt, and Soniku's scorched frame in tow, relieved that the sisters are miraculously alive and the demon slugs taken care of.
Two days from now, however, scouts will report that both of them seem to be slowly rebuilding themselves around the pristine yellow orbs.

I'd like to apologize for the slightly confusing setup I've got above. I'm just trying to describe dramatically what you do before and after the pylons fire, and also for putting so much attention here on Ara and Soniku, I promise everyone will get their moment.
Just describe stuff vicariously, do hero types of things, and be awesome forever, guys. I'm sleepy now so I'll hand out XPs tomorrow, hope you're happy with the game so far.

Nothing but fluff right now, but as soon as they are back in town Spax will rush to Ara and stick by her if she's unconcious.

The flame explodes around Gion pulsing and moving the Defenser with amazing power. But all Spax can do is stand in awestruck fear... "Ara?"

That was so awesome! Nothing really important here as well.

Looking at Miu looking so serene, I start laughing uncontrollably. "You, you, I'm dying here and you're napping!" I give her a hug and then step out of the cockpit to look at Soniku.
"Oh no, crap. Soniku...no." Soniku is utterly wrecked, burnt up to the core.
I step back into the cockpit, but something puzzles me. If Soniku got so hot, how are we alive? Seeing her cut off melted hand near me, it hits me.
They had to cut something off of the hatch to get to me. It was totally open before with those thingies crawling in, we would've been crisped. Something-no, you Soniku, protected us, didn't you? I never moved the controls after I activated the pylons.
I rest a hand on a part of Soniku that isn't burning hot. "Thank you, Soniku." It's all I can say.

That was pretty fun, I love how Soniku protected us in the cockpit. Spax, these things are more than their pilots! Looking forward to the RP scene in the hangar.

I'm going to say what happens, but if you want to add something Sofor please feel free.

Examining the yellow orb, Osiris can see murky things swimming underneath it's surface, pulsating in tandem like a heart. Zooming carefully, it seems that they seem to be blobbing together, building something. You are able to carry it in your hand.
Seeing Soniku, you kneel and help the girls into the hatch. Ara giggles uncontrollably, probably in shock, and then slumps onto your shoulder, unconscious. Miu's face, highlighted by her long purple hair (or whatever you want it to be Sempai), is still asleep peacefully.

With Zast in his cockpit, Spax sighs in relief. They're okay. Looking at Zast sprawled on the floor, you see his arm twisted unnaturally but he's still very much alive. You wipe your brow and then pick up the burnt remains of Soniku with Sofor. Looking at the slim blackened frame, you wish it was examinable. However, the mystery of what lies underneath a Defenser's bulky armor will have to wait for another time.

Ara: Osiris helps you into Ace's cockpit, where you soon blackout.

To those who are conscious

Dragging Rozlt's defenser and the remains of Soniku, you all return to Gurrai as night falls over the fields. Other than Rozlt slipping into a puddle and being hastily pulled out by Darani, the walk back is almost surreal in it's calmness. Who knew the fields could be so peaceful?
You all almost fall through the main gate when you arrive at Gurrai, and amble back to the hangar exhaustedly. Unlike the usual hero's welcome, you notice that the people merely watch you saunter back to the hangar this time, noting the lack of defensers returning.

As you step into the hangar, the black cloth covers your monitors again, and you step out of the cockpit with a collective sigh of relief.

Great first encounter everyone, I'll start up the hangar scene sometime today! Here's some XPs:

*2 XP to everyone for surviving the first encounter with the flesh things.
*1 XP to Spax for his heroic rescue of Zast and keeping a cool head.
*1 XP to Osiris for thinking to grab the orb and helping the cute girls into his robot.
*1 XP to Ara for hitting the big red button and risking herself to save Miu (giving her your seat saved her).
*and 1 XP to Sofor and szemely for killing the first slug with style, and also for admitting they were having trouble keeping up, it helped me out and we all know it's tough to admit when you're not getting something, which takes a sort of bravery of it's own.