Star Wars:::: A Jedi's Tale. Chapter II: There is No Emotion...

He stood long in the cleaning facility, with his apartment around him in silence and darkness. He could barely see his silouhette in the mirror; all he could see were her eyes as she was dying, the red stains of blood rage dancing in front of his eyes, becoming larger, engulfing him until nothing around him existed. Pure blind rage. It had all been his fault, he had killed her. If only he had been better trained, or if the council had not sent him, he had told them! His fury was a fire within him, a fire he could tap on. He could get them, all of them, specially the assasin, the dark figure, he could wave one hand and the force would be there with him, ready to crush them all. He felt it more likely with each passing second. Her death was to become the fuel that would make him unstoppable. He had it in his hands. He hade never been so ready until now.
Why didn't his master taught him this power? Why were padawans being shun from this potential? They could master it, they would not succumb to the dark side if their intentions remained noble. What is the importance of tapping in to this source when done for the right of the republic, ot in the name of the people that they cared about... Why deny a base emotions that all sentient life forms share? Is it not denying strong emotions also denying the very essence of what make them being with soul and awareness?
No, he had to remain calm, but he was losing that battle. He had to focus, remember the way he started. Let out resentment of what was not taught to him aside. Remember what he did learn. Where he came from. He was never meant to be a Jedi anyway, he was part of the AgriCorps, not a padawan to be knighted. Still, if he had recieve better teachings... If only...
He breathed, trying to focus all of his being in to breathing, in and out. He walked out of the cleaning room and in to his couch by the window. He finished his drink, collecting his thoughts. There must be something he can do. He thought about going back to the spaceport hangar where the representative of the council would surely still be, he may not have taken off yet. He definitely would need to get out of his apartment, they would be coming here for him, in time, and in force. He sighed and looked around his place. He was growing fond of it. Life was so much simpler before; before his master found him and took him from the AgriCorps.
Dantooine had been peaceful, meaningful.
It is morning on another world, another time. A peaceful world. He is young, a young Nautolan out of his enviroment. He is standing outside the jedi enclave in a low hill overlooking the fields of crops on the northern agricultural sector of Dantooine. He has been there for over a year, working all over the planet in using his force sensitive talents. He had focused his better work inside the enclave, allowing beautiful plants to grow out of their normal sizes, bringing species from other worlds to enhance the beauty and peace of the Jedi's inner sanctum in Dantooine. The place was old, rebuilt, and the plants he was helping with made it even more beautiful.
He had not been chosen as an apprentice by the age of thirteen, so he had limited options. So, in spirit of his affinity for nature and things that grow, he volunteered for the Agricultural Corps assignement. He had been brought from Coruscant to Dantooine under the authoriy of the Council of Reassignment, working in conjunction with the Republic Agricultural Administration to provide healthy crops to those under-privileged star systems suffering from natural disasters or blight.
Dantooine had been in rebuilding ever since the days of the old sith wars. the Jedi enclave was now in full splendor, its inner courtyards, and hallways finished with wooden walls, made any holo recording of the ages past pale in comparison. In these days, the AgriCorps also attract ranking members of the Order who wish to take a more hands on approach to helping the common people of the galaxy.
A few days before, he had met Alema Mon-Rahs, a human; full Jedi knight on a volunteer tour of the AgriCorps. The encounter had caused a huge stir in the young Nautolan's emotions. He wanted to talk to her for as long as she had patience for him. It had been a great few days; doing tours of the farms and farmlands, settling new ones to provide work for unemployed populaton, and treating seeds and plants for a better growth, while at the same time just drilling the Jedi knight with questions. Alema had been happy to oblige him with all manner of anwers ranging from what sort of life a full knight leads, to the manners of training a new padawan learner goes through, and even to the current political tensions with the taxation of trade routes that, apparently, had caused some blockades in peaceful planets by the trade Federation. Every time you step on some one's purse, it is the peaceful planets with no armies that pay the price. Nevertheless he and Alema were confident that Jedi ambassadors would put an end to these blockades happening all over the Republic, acting under the orders of Chancellor Valorum.
He had learned a lot, and he only wanted to learn more.
As he stands in the outside of the enclave, the speeder that is to take him to the offices of The Council of AgriCorps Masters in Dantooine shows itself coming up the hill and stopping in front of him, he feels optimistic and light hearted. With the Force on his side, this meeting will change his life. He had been summoned for a reason, and he had strong feelings that he knew what that reason was.
The landspeeder stops in front of him. He quickly boards it and the driver pulls off, towards one of the largest enclaves of the northern sectors, which contains most of the civic and public offices of the Republic. As they speed through the olive, golden and tan fields, he remembers exploring this part of the planet for the first time, and being specially amazed by walking the corridors and admiring the ruins of an ancient Jedi Temple, its echoes and ripples through the force still palpable after the ages have passed.
Morning is not yet over when the vehicle speeds away after dropping him in the civic enclave. He directs his steps in to the offices of the Corps Masters. He is delighted to see the strong and elegant shape of Alema Mon-Rhas enveloped in her Jedi robes, standing just outside the Corps office. they greet each other with a peaceful sense of belongness, as if they both know where the events of the day are going. He steps in to the office with Alema on his side, and in doing so, his life changes.
Inside there are three more Jedi knights talking with the Agri Corps master on Dantooine. He can see a screen with his dossier displaying information on his life, they definitely had been discussing him. They reach a conclussion. They tell him he is to leave off back to Coruscant. Tehy tell him the council has granted special permission for him to be trained as a padawan.
They tell him he is to become a Jedi, knight of the Republic.
The galaxy has endless number of species, planets and sectors that had not been explored or brought in to the Republic. Destiny, fate or The Will of The Force is always in motion, however, and the energies that bind people together, that direct events seeminlgy in a random faashion; also tie the knots of pain, suffering, and the winds of the Force blow people's lives away to fulfill its will. The Will of the Force is unkown, even to the most learned Jedi Masters.
Such a wind was blowing in deep space; in the unknown regions. A smuggler ship had inadvertely encountered a species of sentient beings not seen in the Republic for countless years, and now thatpast encounter had made the wheels of the Will o The Force turn once again.
In his apartament at Ord Mantell, the Jedi sat gathering his thoughts, calming his emotions, recollecting better days under the sun of Dantooine, and his inner eye did not show him a red and purple nebula, beautiful to behold, and what that nebula frames in the deep regions of space. A massive star cruiser, gleaming under the light of the nearest sun, its white metal body of incredible power sits still, silent, menacing not only by the sheer bulk of its size, but also because of its numerous emplacements of turbo laser artillery.
There is no space station, satellite or trade route in the vicinity that could pick up its menacing readings. Its interior hallways are red carpeted with blueish walls. The life support systems working in perfect condition by maintaining low levels of oxygen and a cold temperature, comfortable for the specific needs of the race that inhabits whithin its walls.
In the captain's quarters, the decoration is stoic, and spartan, but not deprived of some small strategic luxuries, like the newly installed holographic display of every star system recorded in the Republic's databases. The room is darkened, only the glow of this beautiful technology lights the face of the man controlling it; A technology stolen for the captain of this ship from Coruscant by Viggo Alexi's operatives; The black Sun. The captain, a tall, blue skinned man surveys parts of the galactic map at will, changing star systems aftehr the other, zooming in to planetary, continental, and city views, then zooming out to galactic view again.
He is interrupted by the sound of his hatch opening, and the sudden flood of hallway blueish lights. He walks in to a thin center dais and removes a small glass marble from it; the image of the galaxy collapses and dissapears. "What is it", he says to the also blue skinned man coming in to the room. "It's Daneela, she is here" the man says and leaves the room.
A moment later, a girl of about 15 years comes in to the room. She surveys the place with familiarity and the captain catched a glimpse of contempt in her eyes; he clears his throat as he approaches her; "Daneela, your training is concluded" The captain says, then continues after a brief pause. "Are you ready to leave your life behind? Are you ready to go live in the Republic, and forgo our people? Are you ready to start your mission?"
After a brief silence, the girl stands tall, looking the captain in to his red glowing eyes.
She never falters, her deep violet eyes, a bit different from the normal reddish one of her race, never leave the captain's face. "I am", it is the only thing ahe says. The captain nods silently and opens a communication channel, "Is everything ready?" he asks through a commlink. The answer is swift, "Yes sir, they are... waiting for her in the hangar". The tall man turns to the girl and walks her out of his room. "You know what must be done. Though I will not be with you through your difficult task ahead, I will be with you now, as you begin." The captain tells her, as he steps out of his room and walks with her through hallways and repulsorlifts until they reach the main hangar.
Their way there is silent.
Upon exiting the last repulsorlift, they begin to walk thtough the hallway that will take them to the hangar.
As they enter it, in an unexpected movement, the Captain turns to her and hugs her closely, stroking her black hair, and kisses her forehead. "Good bye, daughter". He says, though no emotion can be blatantly detected, right before five or six blue skinned soldiers begin, surgically and clinically, to beat her to a pulp.
They strike hard and without mercy, though simpathy is in their hearts; blow after blow, she takes it. She never falls until the end, until the butt of a rifle strikes her between her beautiful violet eyes; she falls only until she is unconscious.
Then, her bleeding body is placed on an escape capsule and shot in to the black space. Nothing in that capsule can give away her origin, her starting point; No connection whatsoever to what and who she really is.
"I hope we are not sending her to die", one of the officials, aide to the captain, overseeing the beating of the girl says. The captain smiles with a melancholy that his aide has rarely seen in him. He remembers seeing that same smile on his wife's funeral. "Oh, but we are, old friend" answers the Captain, patting his aide on the shoulder, "We are."

the Ark::: A RPG Session continues::: The thing in the tunnel.

As Grexas examines the walls around him, he realizes his gaze cannot pierce the southernmost end of the room. But he thinks he can see a small, blinking red light in the ceiling, embedded right in the southwestern corner, about 50 ft away, and probably 30 ft high. A cold shivering sweat drop runs down his back.
Xephos, not noticing the fixed stare of his companion, looks around in the cages meant to hold the monsters that attacked them. In one of them, he finds the remains of a man dressed in what appears to be the uniform of the St. George’s Commune law enforcement, very familiar to Xephos. When he approaches to investigagte, he notices a small plastic ID card with strange bar codes in it. Nothing else seem to be of relevance.

CUTSCENE:
The corridors are dark and damp; its twists and turns and multiple dead ends are enough to kill the unwary. But that is not all there is below St. George to keep the unwanted visitors away from those that dwell beneath the Commune. Bertrand Orzimus walks down one of the passageways leading out of the underground community in to the chambers below, and in to his secret lab. “Something is not right”, he mutters to himself, “why did you stop your beeping?” He asks a small electronic device that he takes out of his pocket. “Should not stop unless…. Unless my babies are dead”. He looks around in the dark; suddenly, the familiar corridors become threatening. “I have to hurry, I must accelerate my plans” He says to himself before bolting in to the dark.

Grexas stares at the blinking light as he draws his pistol. He slowly moves toward the light, trying to keep quiet, in case it really is another creature. rolled 4+2=6 move silently check. He stops a good 20ft from the corner and takes another look at the ceiling gripping his pistol tightly. rolled 15+4=19 spot check.

Xephos starts to creep toward Grexas "Hold on mate, im coming" he murmurs ( 19 + 9 = 28 move silently roll), he grasps his pistol with his left hand and his katana with his right and checks the dark spots in the room ( 16 + 2 = 18 spot roll)

As Xephos and Grexas inch their way down the chamber towards the red blinking light on the southwestern corner, they both secretly desired to be yarding their way northwards instead.
Slowly, the darkness gave in and they both could spot a enormous bulbous body, abour three times bigger than those that now lay scattered and broken on the floor of the chamber.
The gargantuan centipede its not moving any one of its hundreds of legs. And they both start to realize that the whole body is also torn, chewed and broken; the red blinking collar is stuck to the ceiling by the viscous fluid of the thing's innards. Right in the corner made by the ceiling and the walls, Xephos and Grexas can see a huge tunnel, dug out, apparently, by huge rending claws. there is a pile of dirt and entrails just below the spot where the tunnel is. As they continue to approach, they can hear a low grunt and a rasp, strong breathing sound coming from that tunnel. they can almost feel the foul breath of the thing that pparently lies sleeping in it.
Grexas suddenly stumbles with a scrap of torn metal on the ground and makes a loud noise that reverberates through the room.

The heavy breathing from inside the tunnel suddenly stop.

they both stare intently, and now they can only hear sounds as if something was... sniffing.

Grexas stops and stands as still as he can, staring into the tunnel. Grexas raises his pistol aiming into the tunnel, before slowly backing away. "Move away as slowly as you can." He whispers to Xephos. He continues to watch the tunnel as he moves back toward the other side of the room.

Xephos follows suit, staying by Grexas' side as he creeps silently backwards ( move silently 18 + 9 = 27)

The Ark:: A RPG Session continues::: The monstruous centipedes under St George

Xephos hauls himself off the floor and grasps his katana in his right hand and his pistol in his left, and steps forward, next to grexas, he looks around and tries to see a way forward. (roll 20 + 5 spot = 25)

As Xephos enters the room with his weapons ready, he surveys the place with a penetrating gaze. His eyes pierce the darkness of the huge rectangular chamber only so far.
To the west, in front of him, he can see the other side of the room, about 35 ft away, and to the north at his right he can spot a big iron door similar to the one he just went through.
To the south on his left, in the middle of the room there are three big cages, about the size of a man. They are open and a little red light blinks constantly on a panel next to the door on both cages. The iron door on the northwest corner also has a panel that glows with a blinking red light.
Farther to the south, Xephos guesses that the room must be about 70 ft long, and his eye can barely pierce the darkness there, and he alone can see, about 50 ft away, two massive elongated and bulbous bodies twitching, and moving about, rising like worms standing up to the height of a tall human male, hundreds of little clawed feet sprout from the things’ misshapen blobs. Both are wearing what appears to be a metal collar around what might be the thing’s bulbous head. That head is also embedded with several green spherical eyes that seem to posses some sort of terrible and malign intelligence. Also they look pretty hungry.

Xephos immediately reacts and spreads his wings wide, flying toward the easternmost thing, (roll run 17 + 4 = 21 ) and lands on its head, next he swings his mighty katana (17 + 6 = 23) and it collides with the things "Skin" (Roll 2, 5 + 4 = 11) and cuts into it, causing a deep gash. thick yellow blood pours out, and xephos feels it somewhat comforting, it is similar to his own and he starts to feel a little guilt at cutting this thing.

Farther to the south, Xephos guesses that the room must be about 70 ft long, and his eye can barely pierce the darkness there, and he alone can see, about 50 ft away, two massive elongated and bulbous bodies twitching, and moving about, rising like worms standing up to the height of a tall human male, hundreds of little clawed feet sprout from the things’ misshapen blobs. Both are wearing what appears to be a metal collar around what might be the thing’s bulbous head. That head is also embedded with several green spherical eyes that seem to posses some sort of terrible and malign intelligence. Also they look pretty hungry.
The monstrous centipede squirms at Xephos’ attack and recoils, preparing to bite him. From the middle of the room, the second creature rises up in its multitude of legs on the back part of its body and launches itself in two slithering and lightning fast movements that end up behind Xephos. The thing opens up a jaw that displays several fangs about the size of a child’s arm and attempts to bite Xephos’ head off with two fast bite attacks (18, 13) The first bite allows the creature to sink its fangs in to Xephos’ skin, and the jaws of the thing close in on his throat. The pain is excruciating and Xephos can feel himself being sort of pulled in to the thing’s mouth, he can feel the muscles working on the worm’s jaw and throat, pulling him to a certain agonizing death. (9 damage) Xephos finds himself struggling to be free of the creature’s jaws.
The wounded worm seems to laugh an evil insect like laugh and coils its body, preparing a mortal finishing attack on the winged man that hurt it.

Grexas climbs down off Zaj's back and rushes into the room. Seeing the monsters closed in around Xephos, Grexas passes his gun back to his tail before dropping to all fours. He rushes over to Xephos stopping a few feet from him. Grexas retrieves his pistol from his tail. He takes aim at the beast trying to swallow Xephos and fires. rolled 19+3=22 rolled 9+3=12 damage, Grexas' shot hits its target, blowing a hole in the creatures armor, the creatures disgusting blood sprays everywhere, Grexas sidesteps the spray and takes aim again, rolled (18+3)-4=17, rolled 12+2=14 damage. The creature spits out xephos and falls to the ground twitching.

The monstrous centipede holding Xephos in its clicking jaws lets out an insect like cry of rage at the hot metal piercing its body. As Xephos falls to the ground again, he sees with unbelieving eyes that the creature in front of him, recoils and jumps off to the eastern all then moves with blinding speed towards the door from which the companions came in. When the worm is at the left side of Grexas, it jumps off the wall, opening its legs to embrace the man with the smoking gun that hurt its mate. (22) The thing latches on to Grexas and the agile cat-like man can feel the squeeze of a giant’s embrace taking the air out of his lungs. Grexas can then feel hundreds of filaments sprouting from the worm’s disgusting body and inserting in his flesh (19) Grexas is hurt by this sudden attack, and he feels poison starting to work on him. (7 damage)
Meanwhile, the centipede that was trying to eat Xephos twitches in rage in the ground, and Xephos can see a very nasty looking sting sprout out of the thing’s rear end. The worm stands on its hundreds of legs and rises the rear end of its body, ready to skewer the winged man that wields the cold iron.

Seeing his ally trapped, he starts to turn, but then stops himself. "Self preservation" he tells himself and then, almost instinctively, he swings his blade in a wide arc and it hits the lower end of the "Thing" ( 16 + 6 = 22) and the blade cuts deep, very deep ( 6 + 4 + 4). next he turns and squeezes off a shot towards his allies captor, it hits him (15) but bounces harmlessly off.

Xephos’ slash severs the rear portion of the centipede’s body off, the tail flies off, squirming, the sting no longer a threat. The wounded centipede hisses at Xephos and squirms all over its body. Then he protrudes a vein like tube from its wide open jaws and spits a squirt of acid at Xephos’ face. Xephos reacts in a blinding movement and twists his body. The acid shot flies little above his face and it lands harmlessly on the floor behind him, burning some of the stone and making a small cloud of smoke. Then, the monstruosity jumps at Xephos and bites with its powerful fangs (17) inflicting a nasty wound on Xephos chest (5 damage)

Grexas feels the poison from the creature flow into his body, but thanks to his work hunting mutants with L.O.B.O.S his body is able to fight off the poison. rolled 17+3=20 opposed grapple. Grexas manages to free himself from the creatures grasp, though he feels many small wounds bleeding along his back, he feels a bit light-headed, but quickly recovers. rolled 20+5=25 tumble. Grexas moves back 10ft with an effortless backhand spring. Once he is back on his feet he takes aim and fires. rolled 13+3=16, rolled 8+2+1=11 damage. The shot tears through the creatures body, spraying blood everywhere. The shot seems to have penetrated a vital organ as the creature dies, twitching on the ground. Grexas stares in disbelief "Well, that was easier than I was expecting."

"Too right mate" Xephos mutters, before swinging his epic katana of epicness in his widest arc yet, hitting its torso ( 20 + 8 = 28 ) with a very powerful hit, driving clean through and spraying blood across the room, ( 2 + 6 + 4 x 2 = 26) and then he swings again, and again, and again, until there is nothing but the skull on the floor, which he stomps with a satisfying crunch "I think i win!" he yells across the room.

As the two companions holster their weapons and look about them, they rejoice in having lived through this terrible ordeal with creatures far from what they thought existed under the sun, stars or underground. The world has become a threatening, strange place, and there is no telling what awaits them beyond the door of this huge rectangular underground chamber. The door still blinks its red lights, in synchrony with the three cages, and the metal collars of the monstrous things that lie dead on the floor at their feet. Little by little, Zajeyu enters the room behind his friends, not wanting to be left behind.
The door stands in the north eastern corner, it opens northwards, the cages are in the middle of the room, and the companions stand some 20 feet north of the southern wall. To the south only a huge concrete wall can be seen, apparently, the only exit is to the north.

Grexas holsters his pistol and brushes himself off a bit. He walks over to Xephos and gives him a quick examination before pulling out the medkit. rolled 11+12=23 treat injury. rolled 8+3=11 hp restore (+5 for Grexas +6 for Xephos) After patching himself and his buddy up Grexas looks around the room. He picks up the collar from the creature Xephos annihilated. "So what's with these collars? Did someone keep these as guard dogs?" Grexas says more to himself than to anyone else. Grexas examines the collar in his hand a little more closely. rolled 13 search. Noticing nothing but the obvious lights and electronics, Grexas decides to go search the cages.

As Grexas nears the cages, he notices there are panels next to the open doors of the cages. The panels have a numeric keypad and red blinking lights that go on and off in sync with the lights at the doors and the collars. Going in to one of the cages, Grexas notices a steaming pile of organic remains, hman, by the look of some refused clothes and bodyparts.
Among the refuse he catches a metallic surface and grabs at it. It is a small box that has some symbols and letters written on its surface on a languaje Grexas cannot understand. He only catches one word in a yellow and black striped lettering: CAUTION.
Grexas decides to open the box and finds 6 fragmentation grenades in it, along with an electronic datapad. After looking closely at one of the grenades trying to assess its capabilities, he looks at the datapad.
The device has no functions available, and only one incoming message can be read: "The shipment will arrive at St eorge next Week. Meet at eastern gate. Bring it to those underground as part of our help. Signed, XXXXXX (Garbled). against the purists.

Grexas thinks to himself, o there's three cages, but there were only two creepy crawly things. He looks around the room. "Guys, keep an eye out for another one of those things. It looks like there may be one more." Grexas packs away the grenades and decides to examine the keypads on the cages. rolled 17 search check. He then looks over the walls of the room looking for another blinky collar. rolled 18+4=22 spot.

"Sure thing" Xephos mutters "Maybe next time we can kill it quicker!"

Xephos starts to walk towards Grexas, but his foot slips on a thick liquid on the floor, and he almost falls "This blood doesnt affect me..." he mutters to himself and out of his Antitox bag he pulls three empty syringes and fills them full of the creatures blood. He walks towards another cage and looks for anything useful ( rolled 17 + 2 = 19 spot).

Turan::: Chapter I: At The Temple of Vril-Ya

By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named Night,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly
From an ultimate dim Thule —
From a wild weird clime, that lieth, sublime,

Out of Space — out of Time

The chapter one

At the temple of Vril - Ya

Helmut peeked over the edge of the cliff on his left. He admired the enormous Amirtha Gangai river snake its way through the Yellow Plains. Few times during his journey he had the opportunity to admire something more than the monotone flat horizon of the extensive plain. Now he could not but look over the extensive silver band as it ran between the walls of the deep ravine to his left, always to his left, west. Helmut and his two companions rode following the river always on their left. They were riding south. Seen from afar, they were nothing but three hooded travelers galloping they way from the north, and in Helmut’s opinion, not fast enough. A keener observer might notice and be surprised by the state of the horses; they seem about to collapse; such observer might also wonder at the ragged and tattered state of the traveler’s cloaks and outfits; at the wobbly state of their posture on top of their steeds that contrasted with the stern effort that they seemed to imbue on their reins to extract even more speed out of the beasts. And an even more keen observer might frown upon the punishement the horses were under when no chase or persecution was to be found.

            Helmut felt the exhaustion on his horse and raised his head to look ahead. The other two horses were snorting and blowing through mouth and nostril. No danger was in sight, tiredness was getting them under their rider’s forced galloping on the yellow grass. In front of the riders, the trail they were following started to veer away from the cliffs to their left, and slowly began to rise, leading to a wide and tall hillock, situated within sight of the river through which the wide river ran. Some nights before, shortly before the horror on the woods, the three companions had argued about making the possible importance of that hill, and decided to make a first exploration spot of it. It was, according to a map they had stolen to the order of Ix, an important place of power, for some unknown reason.

So the riders leaned harder on their horses as they saw the elevation, puchin the animals beyond what they can give; from their mouths came foam and loud snorting noises, but the horses held, and did not waver, but increased speed instead. There was no need to review their maps again. The hill was the only elevated feature of the Yellow Plains.

They had rested the horses only a couple of times during their journey, Helmut remembered as they neared the hill, one of those times had been in the middle of the forest rith over the southern border of the empire, before the Yellow Plains stretched to welcome them. A chill ran through Helmut’s spine, and he tried his best not to reminisce the Woodland horrors; He had tried to reason with his companions against going in to Lavondiss, but to no avail. Those two girls even ignored his recollection of the whole pectrum of faiths and beliefs from different regions of Turania, all of which held the forest of Lavondiss as being strega lamia, or being cursed, damned. Later on, all three of them had joined the spectrum of faiths and beliefs that held Lavondiss as strega lamia.

Helmut felt the increasing pressure within him, the sense of urgency, as he began to ride up the hillock. The woods were behind, no use in thinking about them now; the inn where they made their first stop was also behind. That urgency within him demanded that he extracted the most speed out of his horse. Helmut spurred his mount while shaking the reins and yelling with impatience to his companions, bidding them to do the same. The summit of the hillock was rapidly approaching.

Star Wars: A Jedi's Tale::: Chapter I:::: Returning home.

He stepped in to his apartment. Door closed behind him in the dark. Silence inside. He sighed. The lights were programmed to his genetic trace. They turned a second later.

With the lights on, this dump only feels even more empty, he thought as he left his blaster pistol holstered over the small metal table next to the door. He surveyed the apartment with a quick but insigtful glance. all lookd in order; there was no reason to believe they had followed him here, or knew where he had been living for the past weeks, after he got this assignement.
 Lights dimmed a bit to adjust to his preferences. The pink - orange glow of the setting bright jewel sun bathed the small apartment in stripped shadows made by the window shutters. He took the first steps in to his place in to his living room consisting on two couches and a small table. He removed his cloacked brown robe and walked over to the kitchen,  he opened his ice box and took out a bottle filled with a crystal transparent liquor. His mind was racing, needed to calm down, breathe. Drink. The tall Nautolan poured the liquor in to a small glass and after finishing it up in one long gulp, he poured again and took the glass with him to a big old looking chair next to his window.

He still could not figure out what went wrong. He sipped from his drink and concentrated on his inner mind's eye in to recreating the events of the day.

He is standing on the platform indicated by the council. Ord Mantell; just another dusty landing platform in the midst of a spacer's city. He feels the Bright Jewel bathing his greenish skin. He misses the depths of the oceans of Glee Anselm, and the way his thick head tresses float about when swimming home. He is sensing some emotional disturbance from the woman standing beside him. He turns around and sees her there, with her long jet black flowing hair dancing in the first rays of the coming morning. A beautiful woman, though he can't name her race. He has always thought humans to be fascinating, weak, unimportant and yet vast and dominant as is their prescence in the Galaxy. But no, she is not human, her pale blue skin and violet-purple eyes mark her as near-human. He wonders what childhood must this woman have had to become so rugged and scarred at so young an age. She is not sensitive. If she were sensitive, the order might have spotted her early on her life to bring her in to training. Being non sensitive, she must be one hell of a fighter.

Now she is speaking. "Here they come" she says and points a slender finger upwards. He lifts his gaze to the clear blue sky following her hand. The landing platform is on the center of the city, air lanes are packed with speeders going back and forth on their own business. The dusty atmosphere creates strange and beautiful light effects with the coming rays of the Bright Jewel sun rising. The galaxy is an unfathomable large place, and putting one self in perspective might induce a certain amount of depression, for one can one being do in such a huge place?  Even being a jedi does not help to minimize the... smallness of it all, and that's just the galaxy. He had talked with his master about this sense of perspective. And after long hours of reflecting and meditating, even being part of the Will of the Force feels somewhat, useless... helpless.

The ship lands a few meters from them, the sound of the ship`s landing cycle yanks him out of his reflections. Their clothes flap with the repulsorlift backwash. He raises his arm to cover some of it off his face. "I hope your efforts lead us in to a good outcome, master jedi, I did not requested your help, but I appreciate it", the girl says turining towards him. Her violet eyes on her blue skin are... pools to drown in, like a breath of too much surface air when sudenly being out of the water after days of being in the dark depths. He has been in the dark depths, and surface now seems farther than ever, looking at those eyes.

"Well, yes", he manages to answer, "I am not a jedi... yet, lady, the council assigned me as one of my trials and certainly to put a dent on a rising threat from the Black Sun with this endeavor, that is why we must succeed. The Black Sun are creating events that sends waves of dread and disturbance in the force to my masters. Ans I suspect they did not tell me everything." He shifts uncomfortably, he knows there is something more behind the order's assignement, he can feel something lurking in the shadows, small ripples of disturbance sent through the clear crisp water that is the Force. He can not help himself but to feel as a sacrificial lamb, on the altar of The Will of the Force. He gathers his thoughts and repeats, "We will succeed, I assure you". He feels inadequate, awkward, looking at her makes him so. As he was about to add another word, his words were drowned by the sound of the ship repulsorlifts finishing their cycles. The metal structure of the ship groans for a second or two before going silent. Hisses of white steam come out of the exhaust ports. The freighter, a YT-1150, finally settles down. A small platform descends from the bottom of the freighter; two of its occupants descend. They meet a few feet from the ship. His inner eye forces him to see more of that meeting, enhancing his field of vision. He is not aware at the moment, but through his recollection he realizes thet are being watched. Black, flowing robes disappear behind a window in a nearby tall building.

A black figure, disturbance in the force. His feelings of being sacrificed on the altar of The will of The Force. How could he not see? and yet, he still does not know what event might have happened differently to avoid ther pending doom, awaiting them that very same day.

Sitting by his window, he raised his glass to his lips; his mind's eye became overwhelmed with emotion. Darkness crept in through the shutters, the neons outside could not held the coming night at bay. He glanced at his hands while sipping the liquor. A dark stain covered part of his right hand. Panic strucked him. He stood up almost immediately. He rushed to the cleaning facility and started obsessively to wash his hands over and over again, to completely wash her blood off.

Her blood.

Looking in to the mirror, he remembered her broken body.
Her still face.
In the mirror, his large unblinking brown eyes teared up.

He had never cried before. Today, he had reason; he had been expelled from the jedi order.

He had run, and did not wait to be taken in to the prescence of the council's representative.

He had not given up his lightsaber, he would not. He needed it.

Now, looking in that mirror, he knew; There was no peace, there was only emotion. There was no knowledge, there was only vengeance...

But there is always, The Force.

Custom Artifacts for D&D Adventure Boardgames

Artifacts are more powerful than magic items, and i thought to include an artifacts deck besides the magic item deck for some harder scenarios, or a long campaign.

Rules:
Set up as per normal adventrure rules.
Separate the artifacts deck and place it next to the magic items deck
If this is the second adventure in a row, Each hero may randomly choose 1 artifact card. At the end of the adventure, or if the hero is defeated and spends a healing surge, return the artifact card to the bottom of the artifacts deck.

When you defeat a villain, you may draw 1 artifact card from the top of the artifact deck.

The artifact deck has a special back, and the cards so far are:

i finally got the cnahce to play these for a bit, i printed them in kind of very thick sheets of paper, and its a little shiny so it was cool, once i pasted the back to the fronts it felt very card like.
I dont know how to do the artscow thing, so i did it like that and it is cool looking. The size is the same as the original cards.

Some of these are waaay too powerful, so i dont use them with custom heroes, or against the demon monsters or other hard monsters ive used from the custom ones here.

Others are very fun to play, and what I like is that these are artifacts, not meant to be a gift to the hero, but kind of a loan. lol.

they are a bit powerful, lol, iive used them when using the stack of monsters i made also specifically on a campaign im working on, with some special rules in which the heroes will get 1 of these as a loan from the townsfolk, because the enemies are very powerful, and yes, as solo adventures.
The intention with the abilities is that the effects provide a help in a different way that the normal use of the item does, though a bit underpowered, thus making you choose if you want to stop the use of the item just to get that one abilite through,

Work in progress though, and i really appreciate the feedback.

The Ark:: an RPG session. Continued

Xephos slowly walks to the door and places his hands on the door and starts to turn it, then he collapses to the floor and grasps a pouch hanging by his side. He starts to cough up blood and pulls a syringe out of the pouch and shoves it into his arm, a misty purple liquid is forced into his arm. for a few seconds he lies very still, then gasps and starts to stand up "stay away from the blood!" he croaks, and the slumps down onto the floor.

In the musty innards of the building, Grexas and Zajeyu exchange worried looks as they realize that their companion`s blood might have something "wrong in it".
The three companions stare at the door in the blackness.

Silence around them, except for that of a liquid dripping somewhere in the dark.
Doubt and fear seem to creep in tho the three men, as they are not sure what to do next.

CUTSCENE:

The black jewel of this part of the world: Glasgow.
Huge towers of concrete and steel let out billowing clouds of thick black smoke. Chimneys of the multitude of production factories underway, vain attempts to recreate an old life style that brought man down to his knees.
Among the towering chimneys, iron and glass buildings are being rebuilt, reconstructed and people are returning, slowly, to live in them.
The streets of the city are filled with women, children and men in which not a trace of a mutation can be seen. It rains heavily and all of them carry transparent overcoats, umbrellas with built in neon lights and oxygen masks. The air quality of the city has never returned to normal, probably never will.
Atop one of the central buildings, from a terrace overlooking the main streets, an elderly man, probably in his fifties, overlooks the city. There is silence behind him, in his office, that is suddenly interrupted by the sound of his door opening and the hurried steps of his captain coming towards him.
The gray haired man turns from the balcony and enters his office, ready to receive whatever news his captain seems eager to deliver.
“It’s been found sir, in a dump of a place south of here, called St. George’s commune.” The captain lets out his breath in ragged outbursts. “Our spy with the low town community of St George reports a whole mess going on… apparently, one of the elder people has shown himself, delivered the…. Er, the thing, to some strange men and disappeared among a battle in the streets.”
The older man stares at his captain while he listens to him relate his story, sits down at his mahogany desk, looks around his red carpeted and highly decorated office and lights a cigar. When the captain is finished, he dumps dead ash on a tray and asks “How about these strange men, were they caught by some one? Last thing we want is the key to the ark falling in the hands of a retarded local authority. And how can this spy know that one of the fey has shown himself, did he describe the ears, the eyes, or… the… power?” The old man clears his throat while assessing his captain’s answer. “Described the power, yes. Some sort of time meddling”. The captain takes a seat in a chair in front of the old man with the cigar. “and there is something else sir… Elsa, of the Hounds is deploying forces there, some heavy vehicles, mercenaries and snipers, apparently there is another party involved in the looking for the sphere.”
“Elsa”, replies the old man, “she is of no consequence, and should not be touched. We must accelerate the search. Deploy the LOBOS. This should be their main and only target, Alpha priority. All resources available to them, spare no expense captain, you tell that to Manriquez, their commander in chief. And tell him to see to it personally, or face me”
The captain rises from his chair, bows to the old man and leaves the office.
Alone in his office, the old man returns to his balcony and flips his cigar over the railing. “Elves are back on the surface then, magic wielding ones. This should be interesting.” He says to himself, and with a smile he takes out an electronic device from his pocket and punches a few keys. A beep sound comes from the device and a low, grumbling and raspy voice comes on “At your command, exalted tlatoani …”. The old man stares at the screen on the device and answers, “St. George’s commune. South of Glasgow, a few days on wheels. Magic has shown itself. It’s time you come in, my friend.” The low voice responds after a second “At your eternal service, my lord, the old days shall not return.”

After standing a few moments in silence, Grexas decides that it's really awkward just standing around in the dark staring at a door. He decides to try to open the door again. rolled 19+2=21 strength check. Grexas walks over to the door and grabs the wheel on one side, he jumps and puts all his weight into turning the wheel. It finally budges and slowly rotates. Grexas stands and turns it the rest of the way before pulling the door open. Once he has it all the way open, he peeks around the door looking for the two people who entered before them. rolled 13+4=17 spot check.

The door handle screams with forced metal. Then Grexas realizes something is making a sound like electric sparks going off. He looks down and notices a bit of smoke coming from a hidden mechanism he hadn't noticed before, a slot for inserting some sort of card it seemed. Now its gone. The handle continues its turn and the door makes a hiss like pressurized air gushing out of some vacuum space.
The odor is a bit pungent, and at a quick glance, Grexas can see a dimly lit huge rectangular chamber. This is a big chamber, rectangular, as far as Grexas can see, and about 100 ft north to south and 35 ft across. Numerous pillars line the walls. The north and west walls have been engraved with strange symbols.
Only Grexas can hear a faint sound of slithering and tapping, coming from the darkened south end of the room.

There are three huge cages about the size of a man, that have red blinking lights next to their doors. The doors are open and the cages empty.
Grexas can spot the exit to the chamber, about 40 ft away, in the north west end of the chamber. it looks like another similar door, and it has a panel of bright red blinking lights, matching the cages's

Grexas edges out from behind the door, taking his pistol from his tail on the way. He moves to stand behind the other men, he looks back and forth between them before finally speaking. "Well guys, we're going to have to go through here to get anywhere, might as well get it over with." He lets out a sigh, and looks into the room one more time before moving. Suddenly Grexas jumps up onto Zajeyu's back, he nudges him in the ribs. "CHARGE MAN, CHARRRGE!" He shouts waving his pistol in the air.

Cool chicks

Growing up, some one told me once they saw a playboy featuring Carrie Fisher in princess Leia outfit...

Yeah, so, Cheetahrah, won't find a cooler chick. Maybe Scarlett from GI Joe but i doubt it. The ghost in the shell girl might trump them.

Natalie, oh well, what's to say. Anyone know where this pic is from though? :)

The Ark::: an RPG session. continued.

After the display of skill in matters of medicine and patching up living things, Grexas, Zajeyu and Nosko look about them. They are in what seems to a sort of cellar or shaft of a very ancient building. In front o them there is a round opening in the floor that leads to an even darker place, from the opening, a smell of garbage comes out in force. As Grexas is putting away the remains of the used medkits, Zajeyu believes he can hear a noise, like a low and faint growling, as the one a stomach makes when it is very hungry. The companions are also aware of the noise of the air apparatus outside, and the power of the searchlights scanning windows in buildings. Voices can be heard saying: "There are two more bodies out here sir...… over….", "Yes, we have one of them in custody, we’ll find out what he knows… over...".
And, from the inside of the building, some more hushed voices can be heard, coming from the stink hole in front of the companions!: “Shh.. they’ll hear ya Seamus!”, then a male voice in hushed tones: "Nah, ya worry too much lass. I saw your muther go in thru the other entrance, in the building across the street, thought she was a goner when that devil device came running towards her… but she’s ok, and she learned something important: The silver coin store owner, Drashel, has a magnificent supply of old people’s weapons, the shiny ones that fire light, for a price; she says to me earlier. And now we now there is something important going up out there, c’mon let’s go down, careful now my lass, you dun't wanna end THAT way, is this way i think" Then the voices fade away, and the companions are sitting in the dark, wondering what to make of it.


Meanwhile, in front of Mc Gruffy's bar, a couple of guardsmen on foot are questioning the bar owner, who is spilling all that he saw that night. On the street, an eight ft tall mech patrol unit is pointing two very large looking gatling gun at three chained suspects: Two badly wounded men from the Hummer shoot out and one stunned looking man whose secret was completely out: he had long strong wings wrapped around him. The chains that hold him are connected to the other two men's chains, and foot guardsmeen walk here and there. Sudddenly, the airship of the guard makes its appearance and is circling around the next corner to the left, flooding the street with its searchlights.

Xephos looks around, seeing a man chained to either side of him, he looks for his weapon (19 + 2 = 21 spot roll) and sees a Foot Guardsman playing with it. He realises that Xephos - Chains + Katana = freedom. He tries to break free of the chains (19 + 4 = 23 strength roll) and the chains shudder for a second, but hold strong. in frustration he uses an old army trick to avoid torture or imprisonment in a labour camp.. he sings in a wild attempt at mock insanity (17 - 1 = 16 charisma roll), he starts singing...

The guards start giving him odd looks ( 19 - 1 = 18 Bluff roll).

Back in the underside of the building...

Curios to what else might be said Zajeyu begins to listen(16+1 listen).

Then Nosko states:

"Am I really going to have to be the one to say this?" Nosko asks his two companions. "I'm probably going to regret saying this, but we have to go help that winged man, he risked his life for us and now they are going to kill him." Nosko searches around for anything to keep him busy for the time being(8+0) "I know it sounds crazy but he saved our lives and I am not going to see him die, if you aren't going to help me then I am going to go alone."

Grexas pauses as he hears the Guard upstairs, and voices coming from below. He walks over to the gaping hole in the floor and lifts his goggles from his eyes. He looks down into the sewer, hoping to spot a way down, or at least get an idea what is down there. rolled 20+4 spot check. He then turns and looks to his companions. "Well guys, if we go back up we'll be arrested, or worse. So as much as I hate to say it we can't go back for him. I'm assuming he saved us so we could deliver this stupid sphere. So would it be a good idea to just give it to the Guard?." He looks to Nosko, not really expecting an answer. "Now I just saw a couple of people down if we hurry we can catch up to them and see if they'll help.

CUTSCENE:
The world changed. Continents sank and new arose from the depths. Climate changes destroy the natural balance, creating wastelands on thousands of miles in between the few scattered living being settlements. Near the St. George Commune, there used to be a seawater Channel connecting the mainland with an empire on an island. Now it is only a festering marshland called “the Drawers”.
Nothing lives on the Drawers, but slimy sentient organisms filled with darkness and hunger squirm beneath its surface. And those brave enough to dare the Drawers must be forewarned to the possibility of a gruesome death.
One such brave one is Captain Mc Millan, of the Hound Privateers, and aboard her mire-treader, the PSS WORMFANG, she commands her corps of privateers, making a living out of anyone who will pay the coin. Usually these days that means either the seven pure, that order of crazy monks up in the golden city or the LOBOS army. Captain Mc Millan is musing on the delayed report from the privateers sent to St. George, a slum way down, south of The Drawers. Apparently there was something of interest to be collected and wanted by several parties. She just had to make sure to get it first and give it to the party that pays the best. Suddenly, a light flashes on her dashboard display in her private cabin. A report coming in, apparently all of her privateers are now in custody at the hands of the St George commune law enforcement, and the wanted object had vanished in the middle of the ruined buildings of the commune, in the hands of four muties.
She will have to see to it personally. Raising her navigators, she instructs them to head south.


Meanwhile, under the streets of St George commune, Grexas, Nosko and Zajeyu stand in darkness under the collapsed building. Listening intently, Zajeyu tries to hear more of the conversation had by two people down in the round entrance to a lower level. The voices are faint, and all he can hear is a man’s voice saying "Let's go home, after tonight’s events, those who dwell underground would like to hear some news, and Armande Cote d' Bois is missing". Then the steps shuffle of in to the darkness.
Grexas leans in to the round hole and tries to discern something in the dark, he can see that the entrance opens up to a long dark hallway, littered with garbage that ends in a T section opening branches of the tunnel both left and right. He just catches a glimpse of a tall man and a girl making a right hand turn. After he tells his companions about this, Zajeyu again hears a low grumbling, getting louder, as if a big stomach was moving and growling with hunger.
Outside, the searchlights of the air vehicle scour the streets, and sounds of guardsmen can be heard moving through the rubble. The guards are coming in to the same building they are in!
At the same time, on the street outside Mc Gruffy’s bar, law enforcement guardsmen watch with amusement at the winged mutant who apparently lost his mind after the hits he received. After bandaging his shoulder wound (recover 4 HP) the guardsmen start walking the prisoners in to a landing aircraft shaped like a huge metallic insect. The guards appear to have relaxed their watch on the winged man, but keep a close scrutiny on the privateers. Xephos notices that the guardsman that has his katana is curiously staring at the landing craft, waiting to board it, apparently. An official from the law enforcement comes up to the trio of chained men and says "You'll be doing quite a bit of singing in the palace my boy, don’t waste your breath, you'll tell us all we want to know about what happened here, and your part in it. And you two, don't think we don’t know you are one of them Hounds of the Drawers, we've heard of you lot, and will not put up to it here in St. George."
The privateers smile, as if sharing a private joke.

Zajeyu begins to talk with a sound of sorrow and guilt. "As much as I hate to say it, I agree with we Grexas. We are currently being hunted by 2 different groups the last thing I think we should is expose ourselves, we should just stay hidden and try to rescue him later." Zajeyu then begins to look for some objects which he can make a fire to see with. (Search roll 2-1... )

Grexas looks around the room once more before speaking again. "It's pretty dark down there so we should stay close together, and be ready for anything. We should hurry up and get going, incase the guard decides to search this dump." Grexas looks back down into the hole in the floor before climbing down. rolled 10 + 6 = 16 climb (not sure i needed it, but just incase) Once in the sewer, he takes a look around, in hopes of finding something useful. 15+4=19 spot check

As Zajeyu and Nosko watch Grexas climb in to the hole, they search for something to light a fire with, and they only find garbage in the dark… organic stuff.
Grexas lands without a problem in to a narrow passageway that moves north. The passage is 10 ft wide, enough for two people side by side, and he can see the other end, due to some fluorescent lightning source on the walls. The passage seems around 70ft long. Low ceilings from which small insects and other multi legged creatures scurry away, he also notices a thin coat of some sort of slime creating a path through the hallway almost to a door 70ft away, located on the left wall. His companions descend after him once he lets them know all is clear.
Above them, the sounds of voices of St. George guardsmen can be heard.
On the Streets of St George, Xephos begins to plot how he will get out of the justice’s hands.

Surrounded by around 8 guards, and chained to 2 men, Xephos starts to plots to escape, his first objective is to obtain a weapon, the next is to escape, the third is to fly away, preferably killing as many of the enemies as he can. Xephos looks around (roll spot 16 + 2 = 18) and sees that each of the guards carries an electrified baton, a revolver and a sporting rifle. the next part of his plan involves killing a man, he stealthily grasps the man on his right by the neck (roll hide 15 + 2 = 17), the man offers some resistance but nothing that can dislodge his iron grip, he then sharply twists the neck utilising his unarmed combat skills (roll grapple 13 + 5 = 18) and hears a very satisfying crunch. the four guards to Xephos's left call for a medic, who hurries over. Xephos now tries to grab the medic and the pistol on his waist (roll grapple 14 + 2 = 16), he fails to grab the medic but slides the pistol into his own hands, steps back, points the small pistol directly at the now unarmed medics head and yells " Release me or the medic gets it in the head!"

The medic is frozen in panic. “Please, wait, wait..." he manages to say. The four guardsmen on Xepho’s left, when seeing this, quickly get up from the dead man on the floor and lift their rifles, they all start to scream “Put the gun down you freak or we will rid you with bullets!”, the shouts also come from Xepho’s right, where the rest of the eight guardsmen start lifting their guns. The whole area bursts with shouts of men yelling to put guns down.
In front of Xephos, about 20 ft away, an officer who was watching the aircraft’s landing, turns and slowly starts walking towards Xephos and the threatened medic. Calmly, he raises a very large .45 caliber silver gun, points at the medic and pulls the trigger. The blast’s sound is powerful, and it silences all of the guardsmen’s shouts. The medic collapses to the floor, his head gone. Xephos’s face and chest are drenched in his blood. “We do not accept failure in St. George’s finest. We need this one to lead us in to the Hound’s activities in our area. So, Don’t kill him, maim him badly, but don’t kill him, or I’ll shoot you myself like I did this worm”.
The guardsmen interchange worried looks, then All four guards on Xephos left step closer and begin swinging their rifles like clubs aiming at Xephos head. Three of the swings miss, Xephos reflexes and ability to roll with the punches proves too much for them, but one connects to the left shoulder plate, inflicting 2 points of damage. The three guards on Xephos right run to the action, they get closer to Xephos and prepare to knock him down with their electrified batons, they turn them on and prepare to swing. One of them on the right, does not run however, he kneels down and aims a rifle shot at Xepho’s leg. The shot goes amiss and impacts a guard on Xepho`s left, killing him instantly. The man goes down holding his bleeding stomach.
The snow covered pavement drenches red with blood.
The wind picks up as the aircraft finishes its landing. Its floodlights shine very bright on Xephos.
The officer with the silver gun holsters his pistol and crosses its arms, waiting for his men to bring him his prize.

Xephos mutters to the surviving mercenary "if we keep this up we're both going to die, i know where this 'Goldensphere' is, i can take you to it if you can help me escape" (bluff roll 15 - 1 = 14), the mercenary looks at Xephos and replies in a surprisingly shaky voice "Ok freak, but if this is a trick, the hounds will bring all their might aginst you, and you die BY INCHES", he then asks "whats the plan?" and positions himself as if to fight the guards on the right, before he can do this, Xephos raises the 9mm pistol from the medic in his right hand and fires almost aimlessly at te guard with the rifle (missile attack 17 + 3 - 4 = 16) and it carves through his chest (2, 3 + 2 damage roll = 7), killing him instantly and showering the floor with his blood. Xephos rasps quietly under his breath "ok man, get ready to run" and flexed his wings, pushing them outwards to their full span, and uses them to give him a massive boost as his new ally runs behind him, barely keeping up and the limp corpse is in the air, kept up by the speed and force on the chain (roll run 17 + 4 run + 2 extreme effort = 23) and runs forward, avoiding the shots and with the mercenary still alive, he gets close to the captains aid who is holding Xephos' katana.

The St. George guardsmen officer stares with disbelieving eyes as the winged freak lets out a cry and extends IT’s wings and charges against him and his aide at his side.
The guards on Xephos left are baffled and distracted by the sudden hit of the leathery wings and only one of them manages to wildly swing his rifle at Xephos, but misses by a long shot. On the right side of the winged man, the mercenary that agreed to help him dodges some of the baton swings made at him, but one manages to hit him in the back, stunning him for a bit.
Xephos gathers his strength and with an extreme effort he manages to start a powerful charge, running towards the aide that holds the keys to the chains and his katana.
The aide cowers and manages to take a step back, fumbling for his holstered gun, he drops the katana.
The officer screams at the airship “Shoot the net, shoot the net, you incompetent whelp!” then draws his massive 1911 .45 caliber silver gun and aims a shot at the men running at him. He pulls the trigger and blows a hole in the mercenary’s chest next to Xephos.
Behind the winged man and the two chained corpses he drags, the 6 guardsmen, all wielding their electrified batons now, run after Xephos, but are a bit slow down to get next to him, giving Xephos the opening he was praying for to escape.

Xephos lunges toward the aide, grasping the katana on the floor and snatches the key from the aides neck (grapple roll 12 + 5 = 17) and proceeds to do what he does best, he swings his katana in a wide arc (melee roll 15 + 7 = 22) and it sinks into the captain just above the hip, (roll 4 , 6, + 4 = 14) slicing him in half, Xephos then grabs the very very shiny pistol, frees himself with the key and lifts off into the sky (16 + 4 = 20) and can vaguely make out the shapes of Grexas, Zaj and Nosko entering the building

The airship pilot watches as the winged creature takes flight. The six guardsmen running behind him veer off and run to board the ship. One of the guards screams to the pilot “After him!, they must not escape the law!” the pilot prepares the lift off sequence and the propellers start whirling to lift the device off the ground just as the winged creature flies off, its silhouette framed by the moonlight, and turns right in to the first corner, some distance away.
Xephos notices the figures of the other fleeing men going in to a building to his left. The street he is on now is blocked by a collapsed building. The buggy that they took to escape sits there, its engine smoking. Xephos skillfully maneuvers down and goes in behind them.
Inside the building, Grexas and Zajeyu prepare to go in to the opening as Nosko says “This is madness, im not going in there!”, then bolts off to the upper parts of the building. In the dark, Zajeyu and Grexas listen as some sounds of struggle is heard from above. A shot rings out in the darkness, and from the rubble, they can make out a shadow coming down towards them. They brace themselves and prepare.
They are surprised to see the winged man from the bar, a bit battered and hurt, but otherwise menacing, holding a katana in one hand and a very large .45 caliber silver gun on the other. The only thing that the winged man says is "i took down some guards coming after you. But the other guy that was with you, he…. Was not so lucky, I think that airship got him, shot something at him, didn’t stick around to find out"
They stare at each other, then Grexas prepares to make a move.

Grexas looks over Xephos before speaking. "Well it's good to see you made it, we have to hurry before they catch up." Grexas unholsters his pistol and heads down the corridor. He pulls his tail out from under his hoodie, he slowly walks down the hallway. He comes to the corner and peeks around, he looks for any sign of the two people he saw earlier rolled 12+4=16 spot check .Grexas peers in to the darkness, he notices the stench of decay, recent decay that does not correspond with the age of the ruins. There is most definitely something alive, or recently dead down here.
He stares at the darkness, he sees a hallway that is 10 feet wide, just enough for them to two men next to each other. The hallway is about 70” long. And it ends in a small bend to the left, where he can barely make out an iron door. Grexas turns to the other men. "Well, here goes nothing..." Grexas runs down the hall and plants himself next to the door. He reaches for the handle and slowly opens the door. 20+2=22 run check. Grexas arrives at the door not feeling slightly tired, when he tries to open it it doesn't budge at all.

Zajeyu runs to the door (12+4 str roll), he then begins to inspect the door to see ifts locked or jammed(12+4), but nothing could be seen through the darkness.
Zajeyu then begins to search for but finds nothing.(8-1)

Xephos decides that instead of cutting down the two men, he will follow them. rolled 10+4=14 run. He stops halfway through the hallway to catch his breath, he looks around rolled 17 search. He notices a trail of slime leading down the hall.He then shouts at the other two. "What do you guys see?" Grexas shouts back. "A really big door."
Xephos runs to the end of the hallway and stops next to the others, panting. I really need to stop flying everywhere, he thinks to himself. He pulls out the 1911 he stole from the officer, and says to the others. "I'm ready when you two are."

As the three men peer in to the darkness, they notice the stench of decay, recent decay that does not correspond with the age of the ruins. There is most definitely something alive, or recently dead down here.
They stare at the darkness, they see a hallway that is 10 feet wide, just enough for them to two men next to each other. The hallway is about 70” long. And it ends in a small bend to the left, where they can barely make out an iron door.
After the three companions run to the door. They stand there, looking at it, figuring out if they want to open it or not. And if they are going to be able to open it, giving the looks of the thing, it seems quite hard to open.
Zajeyu notices that the rust on the door is not as bad as it should be, giving the conditions the place is in, and it almost looks like its been in constant use.
The darkness and the silence presses against them like the menace of certain death.

Grexas hands his gun off to his tail and moves in front of the door. He grabs the circular handle and turns with all his might. It doesn't budge at all. Defeated he turns to the other two. "Either of you wanna give it a go?" He moves to the side and waits for one of the others to open the door.