Scene #7318: Garoga Skymine Evac

Owner	Pose
Eryl Fairfax	The rescue carrier is buffeted by gale force winds and lashing rain, the windows strobing with flashing of lightning and rattling with the ensuing thunder. Seats bolted to the walls of the repurposed cargo bay leave room for rows upon rows of stretchers for treating the wounded. The skymine is visible on the monitors now. About the length and width of a 2x2 arrangement of football fields, the surface is dotted with ruined structures, smouldering still in defiance of the pouring rain. Each one looks like it has been stepped on or blown up. There's no sign of survivors coming out to meet with the carrier as it docks. "They may be hiding in the tunnels!" Eryl shouts over the roar of the storm. "Shaft A to the north and Shaft B on the south. Get down there and find them!" Stepping out on the sodden floating patch of dirt the rescuers go. And immediately it's obvious. Something was here. Enormous footprints have been left in the mud, indicative of something with great talons. The island no longer matches the maps, with great chunks of it having been ripped away from the main body by something. And even now, the storm has not bunched an inch. What is lurking out there?
Forte	"..." As usual, Forte stays still and silent on the trip in, sticking to himself in a corner or near a window. "Hmmmf..." The cloak-bearing navi doesn't look at all surprised when there isn't any welcoming party. If they were, they would have made contact by now... "Something was here," says Forte. "This pattern of destruction doesn't look like it was caused by the wind..." Specifically his attention is drawn to the footprints. "Anyone still alive in the tunnels at this point can wait for another five minutes." With that, he takes off - going off the island, flying carefully into the storm, looking. Looking for whatever caused the destruction, or whatever caused the footprints.
Cantio	After hearing about the plight of the miners in the floating land mass, Cantio's curiosity has gotten the better of her, and she's decided to throw in their would be rescuers. She doesn't have much time to enjoy the flight over as she's busy tinkering with small purple boxes. By the time the carrier touches down to let the Elites depart. Cantio's already stuffed the things back into... Somewhere. It's not clear where they actually went, and they might as well just have disappeared for how few pockets her getup seems to have. Her focus is on the footprints at first, though, checking out the massive craters and trying to make heads or tails of whatever they could have come from. "A print this large means that this... Whatever it was must be truly massive. If any miners were caught underneath that, we probably won't be finding them." She shudders uncomfortably while saying that, keeping her hand clenching and unclenching slowly while starting towards the south on the way to SHAFT B. "W-well, let's hope we only find injured miners at worst. If they're hurt, we can patch them up here and fix them properly once we've evacuated the area."
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Take Skymine Evac quest Arthur maybe could get a Gate through this storm, but honestly, there's never any telling what will interfere with his spatial senses. And so he's in there, prodding at his DS until things are in view. And when it's time to step out, he's glad the thing's kept in his sylladex. "This shit DRENCHING." He shouts. "GOD DAMN. Alright, homies, y'all keep EYES ON THOSE CLOUDS. These dudes said whatever did this HIDES IN THE CLOUDS." Forte has already long taken off though. "YO, THIRSTY, you find that WHATEVER IT IS, get that motherfucker outta the CLOUD BANK so we can give ya some BACKUP!" >Arthur: Go to the other shaft Let's focus now. North shaft, south shaft? Cantio's already on the way south, so Arthur heads North. "Let's move this shit FAST." He calls out eagerly, as he starts a low-intensity rocket-dash over to the shaft. He shouldn't turn it up or fly around too much in this storm... Can he get down in there? If so, he's left a Gate back in the carrier. Hopefully he can pair that with something to get people out! Assuming he can find them. Assuming any are left...
Eryl Fairfax	those who descend into the mines immediately find signs of life. Rapidly fading life. Blood stains the rocks, droplets leading a path down through the tunnels. Thankfully, they are well-lit by the precious deposits themselves. Chunks of a glowing blue mineral jut from the stone, pebbles of it floating in the air and pushing up against the roof. Maps of the mine are posted on signboards right by the entrance. The two shafts intertwine at the core of the sky island. Far away from the storm, and far away from whatever attacked. If there's any survivors, they'll be there. Forte meanwhile flies out into the storm, intent on hunting whatever attacked this place. The wind howls, and lightning crashes, bolts very narrowly missing the Navi as he drifts out. The clouds are thick and black, heavily limiting visibility, and the rain is not helping matters. And then a lightning bolt lances upwards at him from below. He may be in the midst of a storm, but lightning always follows the path of least resistance. It should not travel upwards against gravity to strike so directly. The mines rumble and shake. Obviously this place is not big enough to have tectonics, and it's flying. The only reason it should be shaking is that something is making it shake.
Forte	Forte's eyes dart this way and that as he flies. Something big enough to step on buildings shouldn't be that hard to find... ... is what he thinks, and he's rapidly proven wrong. Part of it is the sheer lack of visibility here - Forte's skillset has never been searching. He's played the role of the security cracker - or, in more recent years, the reclusive terror of the deep web - instead of trying to find and fend off some unseen attacker. Forte pauses for a moment as lightning hits nearby. This doesn't seem to be the best idea, in retrospect. He turns to go back towards the island - and lightning hits him. < <AUTONAVI SLOT IN> > AREA_STEAL A - EXECUTE And then he's gone. More specifically, he's gone somewhere else- disappearing from the spot lightning struck him and reappearing in a dark cloudbank. One lightning hit isn't going to be enough to take him out, but that did a number on him. After a moment to recollect himself, and to make sure he's not hit that badly, he heads back towards the island, figuring that having solid ground at his back will at least reduce the angles of attack he has to deal with.
Cantio	With Arthur hitting the northern side and Forte searching for their elusive giant, Cantio can feel some small relief at all of their angles being covered. As she heads deeper into the mines and spots those blood stains, the path becomes clearer for her to follow! That nagging feeling of 'what if someone's separated' never leaves her mind, though, and she brings those odd purple cubes from earlier back out. "Alright. This should do it. A quick adjustment here, and..." She rolls a few of the cubes down the paths in the mine that aren't marked by the blood droplets, and the cubes start rolling ahead on their own! They keep repeating the same phrase in a stilted, robotic voice: "WE ARE HERE TO HELP. TOUCH US TO CONFIRM LIFE." If touched by something rather than simply crashing into a wall, the cubes proceed to start ringing loudly. Meanwhile, cantio forges on ahead. "Is anyone there? We're here to help, so please make some noise if you can hear us!"
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Set quest marker at Skymine Core Sure thing, pal. >Arthur: Navigate to Skymine Core That one might be difficult. Arthur regards the stones uneasily. He's expecting dangerous things from the combination of rumbling movement and exotic graviton emissions. This sort of thing is usually the thing you spend at least twenty hours in, navigating between survivor clusters, acquiring weird gear, and fighting about six different bosses. Instead, Arthur has one dangerous threat outside and not nearly enough time to justify that kind of faffing about. He breaks into a dash, spelunking like an absolute moron. He can't depend on his Gates to work through a haze of gravitational distortion -- at least, not without expending things that betray his principles. But he can count on his sense of direction, and having an idea of where the core is relative to him, and a map of what at least used to be open tunnels, lets him take as direct a route as he can to the core. And with the mines providing cover, he can use his broom-rockets to dash-boost and accelerate there! Screaming rambunctiously as he does. Is it possible to trash-talk a disaster? "WHO HERE IN THIS CLUB READY TO GET UNEARTHED HARDER THAN PIONEEEER TEEEEEN, MOTHERFUCKERS! THIS SHIT BETTER GUST TEN TIMES HARDER IF IT WANNA RUSTLE THIS SHIT! HEY! HOLLA AT'CHA BOY, EVAC CREW UP IN THIS BITCH!" Arthur is doing his best to stick to his verbal guns and avoid thinking about the rumbling. Is there something massive and dangerously stealthy out there? It has him worried, and a bit unnerved to think that he'll have to deal with something both cleverly malicious and goddamn huge.
Eryl Fairfax	Forte retreats. Possibly a wise move. He lands, giving himself cover from below. However, whatever shot at him sees fit to pursue. Something emerges from under the sky island, peeking over the edge to track their quarry. A great, golden, reptilian head bristling with multiple spiny horns. Cold golden eyes gleaming with an alien, cruel, cunning intelligence. A long neck that seems to glow from within. It practically smirks when it spots the Navi before unleashing another bolt of lightning at him. Cantio scatters little robots that move down the side tunnels. After a short period, one actually starts ringing! And then harshly stops as the whole mine shakes, an almighty crash coming from where it was ringing. The reason? A great, golden serpent squeezing its way through the tunnels, nostrils flaring as it sniffs out whomever sent the robot down. Arthur makes a hell of a noise as he flies through the tunnels, rushing for the core of the mine. And he actually runs into a miner! He looks exhausted, a bandage wrapped around his forearm and a manic look in his eyes. "Shut up you idiot!" he hisses. "It'll hear you!" That last part may be drowned out a little as the wall caves in, an enormous golden talon crashing through to expose the tunnel to the storm outside. The miner is nearly buried as the whole place rumbles.
Forte	Forte's eyes narrow as he finally sees the target. < <AUTONAVI SLOT IN> > STEP_SWORD S - EXECUTE And as it launches its lightning, Forte launches his attack in turn - teleporting in short distances, trying to close the gap and bring a dark energy sword down on the smug bird's head! (He may have forgotten the 'stay on the island' strategy already.) (Or more likely, he sees a target and just instinctively goes for it.)
Cantio	Fortunately for Cantio, there's actually a hit! She only hears the ringing for a moment, though, before the cube drone gets smashed. Sturdy these things are not, but the fact that the ringing stopped so abruptly still catches her off guard. "What? I know I put in fresh..." And then she starts to hear something coming down thetunnels. She hasn't seen it yet, but the sound of the giant something coming down the tunnels and Arthur's report about a giant badass is enough to get her running. Where can she go, though? She can't leave, or the thing'll probably find those miners. Heading towards Arthur, then, seems to be her best bet! As she breaks into a full on sprint deeper into the cave to try and track down Arthur and any miners he might have found, she brings out more of those small robots. Unlike the searching types from earlier, though, they don't make any noise at all. At least, they don't make any noises immediately. Upon spotting the inhuman giant whatever it is, though, they'll start floating into the air and screeching, but far louder than the searching drones from earlier. These, apparently, are designed to actually cause harm with all that noise!
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Save the miner right now!! Arthur dives in, letting crumbling rock barrage him. "SHIT!!" He shouts, in a panic, immediately doing everything he's able to reverse local gravity. If he can do that, the rubble will fall up first, and then the miner, right? While these deposits might present a hazard, Arthur can depend on this most basic of his abilities, usually... If he can do that, he can snatch the miner and toss him through a fresh Gate -- this one linked to the one he left on the carrier. Portal logic means that even with the potential interference, this one should be able to get through! The massive gash leading to the outside is an obvious hazard. The wind will destabilize Arthur if he keeps trying to work here much longer, not to mention the horrible talon causing injuries from crumbling rock. He's gotta get moving again to the core! More quietly, this time.
Eryl Fairfax	Forte blinks around, causing the dragon to cease its electrical breath and look around, trying to track the tiny moving target. Shadowy blade meets golden scales as thick as tank armor, biting through to cause little more than a scratch on this behemoth. The head roars and pulls back, disappearing over the side. Cantio rushes to Arthur's side, just in time to see him levitate the scattered rocks and save the miner, who gets to his feet and disappears down the tunnel. "If you're here to save us, we're holed up down here!" Arthur gives chase, soon reaching the core of the mine. There are several injured miners down here, multiple who are bedridden. Some can walk, others will need to be carried. Suddenly, all the trembling comes to an end. And outside, a new sound joins the chorus of rain, wind, and thunder. Great, steady flaps, like enormous wings beating against the storm. Or driving it into a further frenzy. Above ground, Forte sees a great shape rising, backlit by lightning. An enormous, three-headed shadow with tremendous wingspan arises from its hiding place below the island. Each head moves independently, scanning. They see the carrier, ready to leave at a moment's notice. And all three heads smirk. And all three roar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBDBP2uxqgI The heavens shake as this goliath, with cruel grace, begins to fly over to the carrier, intent on wrecking it.
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Halve your time >Arthur: Halve it again Shit shit shit! Alright, we're at quadruple time! >Arthur: Switch off gravity "Turnin' off the Gs! Everyone hold on to something if you got some thinkin' in your skull! Asimo, get these dudes in the space hole!" Arthur calls out to the miners, planting his broom on the ground. First, a gate near him. Second, a deactivation of gravity. "MOVE 'EM!" A light gravitational funneling effect should reduce the dangers of anomalous turbulence from graviton-emitting deposits, or from everything being annihilated by whatever just roared holy fuck. >Arthur: Get out to the surface and fight!! AFTER THIS! First thing's first is those miners, saving human lives is the most important part -- and at that size, there's no guarantee that Arthur can take whatever was roaring in a fight! He knows that even in spite of his idiot hero act.
Forte	Forte falls back as the head disappears - he may be reckless, but he's not about to play 'hunting the storm monster in the middle of the storm' again. The navi alights upon the island, feet touching the ground for a change - to ground himself against further lightning strikes, if need be. "..." He gathers himself, checking for damage and stocking his resources, when he hears the flaps. And sees the monster. A new one. A big one. And... the monster sees the carrier, and is moving with intent. Great. "Hmf." He takes off angling around to get at the monster - ideally at whatever best passes for a blind spot on it - and with glowing hands, grab for one of its necks! < < LOADING > > >GETABILITY.BAT FILESTREAM READ READY This should, if absolutely nothing else, sting like heck. E X E C U T E
Cantio	Cantio still doesn't see it, but she can hear it. The roar of the three heads, the flapping of massive wings, the rush of wind even from outside of the mine. Forte's report has her grimacing as she takes stock of all the injured and starts preparing her own healing magic to stem the worst-looking injuries. With so many bed-ridden, though, she's already weighing her options. "With only a quarter of the time at best, some of you might have to..." She trails off, but there's a massive weight in her gut that comes through in her tone. The numbers don't look good, and she's probably thinking about leaving some of these people behind. Thankfully, Arthur brings up the plan to turn off gravity and to have her start hurling people into his... Gate? She's never seen this sort of thing before, but she'll just have to trust whatever it is. "IF you can't get to the gate yourself, then keep your arms and legs tucked in! This is going to get a little rough, everybody!" Cantio warns the miners as she releases yet more of those cube-shaped drones, but these are a fair bit larger and still made of those same jagged right angles. She and the drones start darting about, utilizing their ability to fly freely to start shoving miners, beds and all, right at Arthur's Gate. The drones don't quite have the hands or any appendages to throw them so much as they just sort of start shoving people, but getting stabbed by a corner is probably better than the alternative of staying behind!
Eryl Fairfax	The three-headed monstrosity looms over the carrier as Eryl stands ready to intercept, as an ant would intercept an elephant. But thankfully, Forte takes to the sky and comes down on the one 'blind spot' a creature like this would have. The point on the body where the three heads connect via their long necks. From there, a neck is easily within reach. He begins to corrode the scales and burn through the meat when the monster's heads notice, the one on its right turning and bringing itself down on Forte as one would slap a mosquito as it fed on them. This momentary distraction is enough. Down in the mines, Arthur and Cantio co-ordinate, using drones and Gates to swiftly evacuate all the miners onto the carrier. "Thank you, thank you!" one says. "The last ship just got blown out of the sky by that... thing!" Eryl works with paramedics to strap down the injured. "We need to evacuate the civilians!" the Grandmaster shouts as the carrier begins to lift off. "We'll be back soon to reinforce you!" The monster doesn't like that. It's great wings beat, clearly intent on giving chase to the ship.
Forte	There. The ship's getting away... ... Or rather, it's not. Forte gets smacked around by the kaiju - he can take a few more hits, it's fine, and at the moment time spent dodging is a luxury. But distract as he might, it's not quite enough. "You shouldn't..." < <AUTONAVI SLOT IN> > SWORD_____ S - LOADING The kaiju gives chase to the ship. Forte gives chase to the kaiju, in turn. "Have turned..." < <AUTONAVI SLOT IN> > WIDE_SWORD S - LOADING "Your back..." < <AUTONAVI SLOT IN> > LONG_SWORD S - LOADING Forte air-dashes forward, getting within range, and bringing both hands above his head. -=-=-=PROGRAM--ADVANCE=-=-=- SWORD_____ ::> WIDE_SWORD ::>>>> LIFE_SWORD LONG_SWORD ::> A gigantic blade forms, held upright in the air between Forte's hands. "ON ME!" He brings the gigantic blade down hard, forcing it down in an arc like a headsman's axe! E X E C U T E
Cantio	"And that should be... The last of them! Watch your head!" cantio warns to the last miner that gets sent out, but there's not much time to breathe with the ever looming threat of the three-headed serpent. With the carrier beginning its ascent, though, there's only one thing left for Cantio to do: Join Forte and Arthur in facing down the giant. Much easier said than done. "It doesn't look like it cares about anything else... Is there something on board that this thing wants?!" Drawing an energy blade out of nowhere this time, Cantio's remaining drones merge into it to add to the length and girth of the glowing weapon. It's more like a sharpened street sign than a conventional sword with the size it gets to, but it fits the purpose all the same as Cantio takes flight once again. Her target is the creature itself this time. Rather than going for a blind spot, however, she's going for the least blind spot of all to ensure that the creature sees her: The face. She propels herself at the one in the middle first, trying to catch it looking right at her before darting downwards abruptly. She takes an elaborate zipping path back upwards, then jets upwards with a massive upwards swing starting from its leg in time with Forte's attack from above!
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Get through, defend that ship!! Arthur dives through his own Gate. With the craft in motion and the combination of instabilities in the storm, the skymine, and the craft, that gate might not last forever. He surges through the carrier and out the back, diving and mounting his broom. ------------------------------------------------- \| ACTIVE \| DANGER \| CRITICAL \| \| ---------- \| ------------ \| ------------------- \| \| \| \| \| \| ********** \| \| \| \| \| \| \| ------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- \| \| \| THRUSTER MODES \| \| \| \| [ ] DASH \| \| [ ] CRUISE \| \| [ ] CHARGE \| \| [X] SPRINT \| \| [ ] ESCAPE VELOCITY \| \| [ ] UNSTOPPABLE FORCE \| \| [ ] PLAID \| \| [ ] UP A GODDAMN NOTCH \| \| [ ] LET'S DO THIS SHIT \| -------------------------- His broom-rocket fires, and rockets him to the midpoint of the monster and the carrier. "Hoooooleeeeey shit." He mutters, eyes wide as he regards the size of the thing. "Alright you fat-ass fuckin' tri-skull sadist!" He claps both hands together as he surfs the broom. "STEP!" Palms twist in opposite directions. "OFF!!" They spread, and a wave of inverted gravitational force blasts circularly. It's an effort to forcibly put distance between the titanic creature and the carrier -- and, coincidentally, to keep Arthur from getting smashed as it approaches, as he fears at the moment.
Eryl Fairfax	The carrier's thrusters burn at full throttle to try and escape the enormous dragon, but with it's immense bulk and massive wingspan, it's surprisingly fast on top of being huge and stealthy. Even though it could probably try and shoot it out of the sky with its lightning breath, it's clearly relishing the chase, like a cat playing with its food. Cantio and Arthur rush out as Forte comes from behind, charging up a great energy blade. Arthur's gravitational push slams into the behemoth, causing it to scream in monetary confusion, wings flapping desperately to gain whatever kind of push it can to break through. And in that opening, the two blades strike. Cantio comes in low from the front, and Forte high from the back. It's the perfect pincer. The rightmost head bends down to try and challenge Cantio mid-swing, while the leftmost one is the first to spot Forte as it looks about. But in this instant, it becomes immediately clear which of the three heads is calling the shots. The creature grabs its own rightmost head in its talons and yanks on it, pulling it straight as it screams in outrage. At the same time, the central head bites down on its left head's neck and yanks up it. Using their necks as shields, it clashes with Cantio and Forte's blades. The sky lights up with sparks and lightning. Left and Right scream in pain as the central head roars, pushing their necks down onto the attacks. It's wings stop beating and gravity catches up with it. As the swings complete, they carve all the way through, leaving stumps gushing blood. But the body and middle head falls, roaring in a tone that implies both outrage, but also smug triumph at having escaped the pincer. It disappears into the storm, leaving the carrier free to complete its descent. All miners on-board are safe and receive treatment. The storm clears. But there was no sign of the creature's body landing in the ocean below. There's no way it could survive with two severed heads. Right?