Clusterfrag

A voice rings out from behind the sub-station.

"About time ya'll showed up. Well, boy, seems your dinner's arrived. Get 'em, Rex!"

A gargantuan animal, seemingly composed of violet smoke, materializes in between the runners and the sub-station. It's roughly the size of a mini-bus and sporting a set of two meter tusks. The creature lowers its head and paws at the ground with a fire-hydrant sized hoof, clearly intending to charge.

Doc tenses up, and swings the rifle in the direction of the sound. He switches to low-light, hoping to get a clearer view through the scope than the jumble of themo signatures was providing.

He moves his finger inside the trigger guard when he spots the animal.

Doc's scope reveals nothing--as if the creature isn't there. Peering around the scope, he can clearly make out the form of the beast.

Max is relieved that this must-be-another-hallucination apparently isn't an hallucination, but upon further consideration he really wishes that it were. Steeling himself against his urge to run the frag away, Max swings his body back to the mouth of the tunnel out of the archives the led into this larger conduit, takes aim, and fires at the big scary thing.

A breaker from the sub-station explodes in a dazzling array of sparks as Max's slug passes right through the creature and slams into the sub-station.

Doc tries to spot the man who addressed them.

What is it? Magical? Holographic?

Max looks quizzically at the muzzle of his shotgun before returning his attention to the apparently ethereal beast menacing the team. Out of sheer confusion, he asks,

"What the frag is it? An illusion?"

The beast raises its snout and emits a howl that shakes the tunnel, before charging towards the team!

[ The Beast = 50 ]
[ Tyros = 45 ]
[ Doc = 44 ]
[ Max = 42 ]
[ Val = 29 ]
[ Sinjin = 22 ]


The beast bears down with uncanny speed and, at the last second, appears to become corporeal as it attempts to gore Doc.
Doc leaps out of the way just in the nick of time, the tusks rending the air where he had stood a moment before.

The creature rears, reverting once again to a wraith-like form.

Sinjin shoots a meaningful look in Val's direction. His normally composed features are betrayed by his anxiety; his eyes open just a bit too wide, a vein bulging on his temple.

"Ive never seen a hologram do that. Tyros you got any magical ants in your pants? Is this thing acting of its own accord, or is it being controlled?"

Tyros determines that the creature is a spirit of beasts. It was likely called forth by a shaman, who will remain nearby. This particular spirit has the ability to materialize into the physical plane and de-materialize to the astral plane at will. It can also conceal itself from the physical plane.

"It's a spirit! You weapons cannot hurt it! Find its master while I handle the beast!"

Tyros hefts his claymore which suddenly seems to hum with energy and crying havoc, charges the monstrosity swinging at it's ghostly form with all his might.

((Since my claymore is a weapon focus I use it's normal damage rating against the spirit, and I believe because it is manifested I use my physical attributes rather than my mental ones and astral combat if it were in the astral plane. My invis modifier doesn't work, I'm not sure if I get reach, but I should get my weapon focus dice as well as +2 dice for charging))

(( It's pretty much combat as normal, but your claymore can damage the creature. ))
(( 10P DAMAGE! ))

Tyros' claymore sinks deep into the beast's form, producing a cry of pain and rage.

The Beast momentarily distracted, Doc sprints along the wall toward the substation, looking for anyone who might be concentrating on The Beast.

Recognizing that there is nothing he can do to harm the beast at present, Max takes off down the tunnel toward where the heat signatures presented themselves to the team earlier in search of the caster.

(( You're up, Westermang! ))

Heart pounding a frantic rhythm in his chest, Val takes off at a sprint down the tunnel in Max's shadow, attempting to find any cover which he can place between himself and the unseen owner of the voice which resounded down the tunnel moments before.

With a torn conscience, Sinjin takes flight after the majority of his team, abandoning Tyros to fight the mystical monstrosity on his own. Not that he would be much help against such a creature of magic. Still, the thought of leaving the troll peerless in battle weighs heavily on his mind. The Mage will just have to take care of himself.

((Beast, IP 2))

[ Doc = 50 ]
[ Max = 44 ]
[ Tyros = 38 ]
[ Sinjin = 36 ]
[ The Beast = 35 ]
[ Val = 26 ]
[ Shaman = 23 ]

Doc is the first to arrive on scene, rounding the corner at the edge of the sub-station to encounter a man concealed in the darkness.

Doc trains his rifle on the figure, and directs a burst of fire at it.

(( 15P DAMAGE! ))

Doc's battle rifle makes a deafening sound as it saws the shaman in half.

(( The beast is still there, just no longer being controlled. It's a manifest spirit now. ))

Max rounds the corner just in time to see the shaman explode in plume of gore as the magic user's body is subjected to its lead bisection. The elf's head immediately snaps back around to where the astral beast stands embroiled in combat with Tyros, expecting and hoping to see its incorporeal form vanish into the space between spaces. The blood from the shaman pools and gathers around Max's boots as the remnants of his viscera drip down the wall in the darkness. Max doesn't notice either.

Doc sweeps the area. Aside from the grunting and clashing of Tyro's battle with The Beast, the place appears to be empty.

He turns on his heel, and starts moving back to aid the Troll.

(( You're up, Max ))

Max drops to a knee and sights the beast as it locks with Tyros in combat. The troll has clearly wounded the monstrosity with his massive sword, which Max begrudgingly gives its due credit in his own internal monologue. As the elf tracks the creature with the end of his weapon, he attempts to assess whether it is currently in astral or corporeal form. Coming to the conclusion that the beast is still in its non-physical state, Max holds his breath and waits for a shot.

(( Delay action. LET THE TROLL BRING THE PAIN! ))

To the casual observer, there is little easily discernible about the shadowy shape twisting and writhing around some invisible, yet physical presence. But the astral spectrum tells a different story, one of terrible monster doing battle with a shimmering knight wielding glowing sword.

Tyros slashes and parries as he engages the beast in the equally beautiful and brutal dance of melee combat. His sword leaves a trail of astral light as it spins in the Tyros' hands, a decade of constant practice providing a mastery of the blade that leaves only the impression it is simply an extension of his body and will.

Having wounded the beast in his initial onslaught, Tyros ducks under a offbalance thrust of he enraged spirit's savage tusks and draws his claymore in a smooth, powerful swing across the monster's exposed neck.

(( 8P DAMAGE! ))

An explosion of golden light knocks Tyros off his feet and temporarily blinds the rest of the team as the spirit--neck severed--explodes into astral energy and returns from whence it came.

Max puts up his forearm to block his eyes from the luminous explosion coming from down the tunnel. When the light subsides, Max drops his arms and brings himself to his feet as he surveys the scene.

Doc blinks away the sparks in his eyes, and glances around.

"Everyone still have all their parts?"

Tyros picks himself up slowly, breathing hard behind his helmet. His voiced tinged with exertion but also the excitement of victory, "I'm good. Let's move..."

Doc nods silently, and starts making his way down the tunnel. He passes by the mangled corpse of the shaman without looking at it.

"Here's to hoping the rest of these fraggers are a bit more mundane."

Sinjin shivers as the burned in image of the dying spirit-boar temporarily follows his vision, haunting him. He cant help but stick a little closer to the team as they make their way further into the darkness.

"Your not the only one, Doc."

Passing the slaughtered shaman, Tyros kneels briefly and switches to astral vision as he searches the corpse for anything interesting, particularly items resonating magic.

After sulking in a murky silence for a good ten minutes, the tunnel begins to widen. Light appears in the distance--natural light.