The Travellers Tales of Otto Von Weirdigan

[Otto]

<Step towarrdss the liiigghtt Ottoooo!> Sting mocks unhelpfully into Otto's psyché.

<Fackin shat ap.> He snaps, as he surveys his surroundings and calls the megahounds to heel.

Where am I?

You are standing in a bleak moorland clearing, surrounded by a thick forest, the area is saturated a sign of lengthy rain, with the surrounding atmosphere being very grey.

The trees are coniferous and are old, in the sky above is an enormous storm head, a huge circle of storm cloud churning around.
Does this seem to be the real world? Do I still seem to have contact etherly?
With a sigh Otto finds and sits on a damp tree stump that had been weathered by the passage of time and contemplates his situation on Gothica. Abscently he picks up a large stick and hurls it a great distance into the forest. A great scuffle, rustle and the rise of competitive barks signal Randle and Enailis's pursuit of the stick.

'You're starting to get restless again aren't ya?' Otto thinks to himself as he peers up into the eye of the storm. 'This world is about to be bathed in blood and theres no way you can escape it unless you find a way off this planet'.

Otto shook his head as if to almost banish the thoughts that nagged at him and stood up swiftly.

'ALRIGHT!! YOU GOT ME HERE, SHOW YERSELF!. I'VE GOT A BUSY DAY AHEAD WITHOUT YOU WASTING MY TIME!' he shouts into the still, dank and dull forest.

[Otto]

<Initating full Cranial expansion, Stage IV awareness, the Von Weirdigan sensorium is operational>
Otto's Headware expanded to one level below its full computational capability, he had always been weary of level 5 too much computer and not enough meat brain at that level.

His thought processes expanded immensely, the Xert began to take in his surroundings, whereabouts a meathead would take in the detail of a trees foliage their eyes would compensate to see a whole, losing detail. Not the Xerts, in fact the computational section of his brain began to field the vast amounts of sensory data, as he picked out the literally hundreds of dog size arachnids suspended within the branches.

Branches just above the two Megahounds pursuit of the wayward stick.
Otto draws his pistol and pulses the information straight to the dogs, he instructs them to get to him immediately, but not to acknowledge the spiders presence as this may antagonise them.
Digital Information floods into the Headware.
The arachnids begin to descend from their web lines rapidly, a burst of movement signifies one falling fast toward 'Enailis'.
At the last moment another shape explodes up into the air, bearing into the spider before it reaches haughty.

The shape lands and savagely shakes the spider before bounding back to join 'Enailis', as Randle appears, the pair finally responding to your summons.

The rain forms a grey sheet across the landscape, as the spiders land and begin to advance upon master and hounds.

[Otto]

Are the spiders still attached to their silk?

Yes, golden strands trail behind them.

Make a Spot Roll?

Spot of 24

Randle throws the body of his victim away and leaps to avoid the pounce of another. Enailis rages at the swarm, snarling as he retreats slowling backward.

Stage IV Headware/optics grant a chilling vision, that each of the spiders has an Oriental womans head extending from a stalk like neck, above its arachnid eye arrangement, a screwed up, twisted womans face.

[Otto]

Like his two fellow Sky ship captains Tharim Birarthorn, kept his frigate at a respectful distance from the enormous swirling thunderhead that circled over the Highlands.
Unlike his fellow two captains 'Tharim' had been seasoned in sky shipmanship in the merchant game, having only recently signed up due to the dawn of war. So unlike his college trained peers, he had flown the worst of storms, the roughest of mountain thermals and was beginning to think that the thunderhead was challenging him.

Something was wrong, as the First Lords escorts they had meant to keep in formation over the area of highland forest where he was convalescing, however almost as soon as the lords vessel had descending had the storm front pulled in and separated them.
Birarthorn ordered an about, his First Mate bellowing instructions, the crew suddenly and rudely aroused from lethargic waiting.
The helmsman turned the ship to stand bow forwards at the storm.

"VENT THE CHAMBERS, UPON MY MARK" shouted Birarthorn, the helmsman looked at him in astonishment, but nodded to the navigator.
The frigate soared forwards, the crew strapped and braced themselves as the storm winds began to throw the ship around.
Several hardened sky sailors threw up as the ship, pitched forwards and began to plummet into the thunderhead, thrown around by the insulted fury of the storm.

"NOW" roared Birarthorn impudently, but his chopping hand gesture seemed to convey the message, blue exhausts of elemental vapour poured from the stern ports.

The ship slowing began to level, the storm seeming to have less effect, now having to fight the elemental power of air, enshrouding the sky ship.
Another chopping gesture shut the vents, the captain had now managed to hike his way to the helmsmans cradle, pointing to the appropriate control.

The second elemental engine fired, the power of a trapped fire spirit.
An afterburner of furious energy fired propelling the ship, its buoyancy now dangerously compromised.
Birarthorn's ship fought to remain steady, the thunderhead having its last grab at sending it back to the green, before the ship broke free at the base of the storm.

[Otto]

The Megahounds skid to a halt by their master and instinctively lay down flat on the grass facing the spiders as Otto's Votiac Coils glow menacingly from his gyphed gauntlets. He raises himself to full height standing on the tree stump.

'Have a taste of electric death you ugly bastards!' He shouts and two balls of electric power, with a constant stream of electricity still flowing from the Xerts hands bounce and deflect amongst the half humanoid spiders.

Creating two small Gravatonic spheres, Otto will combine this with his Voltaic Coil in which he will expend more power to create the electric beams that will continue a stream of crackling energy into the foes.

He will also us his Silent Strider ability to speed up the spheres movements of which he will guide them like kites to their intended targets

.

Arcance Science rolls: 22, 17, 14, 26 and 17.

His main targets will be the silken webs of the spidersluts as I am pretty sure they would act as effective conductors, but thats not to say that the spiders themselves will not be struck as well.

Ranged attack of 23

[Otto]

The two spheres race out voltaic power writhing between them, a net of destruction power explodes across the swarm.
Webs criss cross as the spider sluts expand with grotesque contortion and then tear apart, as the flare of bluish white light dies down leaving only the smell of ozone, Otto Von Weirdigan stares at the carnage he's unleashed.

The Megahounds bounds after you, as you move rapidly through the woods, Long Strider transfering to your legs, the three of you break the tree line to see another clearing, several bodies are strewn around.

Make a Initiative roll, ref save and Research roll.

Initiative of 12

Reflex of 17

Research of 26

You duck as a blade spins through the air, from the one figure standing amongst the dead, 'Enailis' bounds forwards.
Your headware locks and expands, through the mist and spray of the storm, you identify a thick set dwarf, the twisted look of anguish written across his face.

[Otto]

A mental warming halts 'Enailis', the always more prudent 'Randle' sits down beside, bursting from the huge storm head above, a Sky Ship wrestles its way from the thunderous grip.
The force of a strange powerful downdraft from the skyship above buffets the canines and humanoids alike. The trees sway with a frenzy that scatter the leaves off the trees as the Xert swiftly backs up, raises and cocks his revolver at the dwarf.

Suddenly, as if in conjunction with the skyships emergence from the storm, rain begins to spatter onto the canopy of the trees and then breaks into a torrential downpour soaking the dead and living alike.

Dead leaves are pushed from the gusts and almost seem to attempt to cover the carnage of the dead as they skitter and swirl between the two humanoids.

Otto gestures with his empty hand for the dwarf to drop his weapon, and at the same time pulses the dogs to an alert stance to underline this order.

'Friends of yours?' He bellows above the howling winds pointing to the skyship.

'Or maybe not?' as he points to the slain on the ground.

Can I identify where this skyship originates from?

Intelligence of 17

The Sky Ship has Mechanist Markings and Emblems

[Otto]

The dwarf slowly turned, aware of the two hounds moving to flanking positions.

A grim smile crossed his lips, upon looking at the trained pistol.

The scene made all the more gruesome by the sheets of grey rain sweeping across the clearing.

Alarms chimed in the Xerts head, as two steam launches began to descend from the ship
.

Make a Sense Motive roll.

Sense Motive of 15

The dwarves demeanor was clearly filled with distress, a palatable sorrow bled from a clearly hardened warrior, sorrow mixed with rage.
A rage that shimmered like the heat from a sun baked road.

The launches touched the ground, its occupants warily disembarking.
What race are the dead on the floor? Do they have uniforms on?
They are dressed in posh hunting atire, a mixture of humans and elven folk.

Are the people disembarking the launch armed?

Spot of 14

'Who are you?' He asks the stern dwarvern warrior.

They are armed with pistols, yes

The dwarf slowly turns and regards you, "Von Weirdigan" he breathes a sense of realisation seeming to settle on him.
He stumbles over to you, collapsing against you, and with great sadness struggles to find the words "I have failed, Lord Ivallian is dead!".