IC - 16 - Something in the Walls - Virgil

[Mephistophilis]

Stepping back and twisting his torso to avoid the jagged shard, Virgil jars his ankle and hesitates for a split second. Long enough for the fragment to slice through his clothes and impale just beneath his ribs. The pain is overwhelming, not just the sharp, tearing of rent flesh but an excruciating burning sensation that follows.

Fighting pain, and the black cloud that seems to fall across his vision, Virgil swings the pistol and fires two rounds into the shard connecting his chest to the inscrutable crystaline creature - the translucent rock shatters and he staggers backwards, finally noticing the river of blood running down the splinter left in his chest.

That's 11 damage minus 1 for weighted clothing = 10 damage. Which I think means a major wound, and a CON roll to stay conscious.

[aine]

70. Roll= 26

Virgil falls back against the wall, its solidness is an anchor to reality and he gulps great mouthfuls of air as he tries to focus on the creature in front of him. His vision is blurring in and out of focus but he draws on every ounce of inner strength to stay conscious, ignore the river of blood and hold the pistol steady until the bitter end.

[Mephistophilis]

The creature is in the doorway, it's middle right appendage shifts and twists to extrude another crystal spike from the end. In a split second it is no longer in the doorway but right in front of Virgil, jabbing the tip of the shard towards his chest.

Virgil isn't even thinking now as he shifts this way and that, relying entirely on instinct. The hard splinter of rock sparks as it smashes into the wall behind him and scrapes down the metallic surface.

Attack 1 60%: 1d100 95. Attack 2 60%: 1d100 72

Virgil's action

[aine]

The end is nigh, the creature fills the doorway and there is no escape from the inevitable grisly end.
Unless; Virgil looks up at the ceiling and the vent still hanging open.
If he could just launch himself with some vestiges of strength and dexterity, maybe with the low gravity he could make the distance, grab the vent and haul himself up for a few more moments of life.
Virgil pushes hard against the wall, onto his feet and springs...

Dodge35, roll: 42 Zero G 20. Roll: 16

[Mephistophilis]

Launching himself into the air, Virgil seizes the rough metal lip of the ventilation duct and flips himself over in the low gravity to slide his legs inside.

From behind he hears a familiar sound, click-click-click, and then a sharp pain in his arms, followed by something tugging him backwards, out of the vent.

Seize (mvr) 60%: 1d100 39.

Impale 60% + bonus from restraint: 1d100+1d10 17

Twisting as he slowly falls he catches sight of the tip of crystaline shard hurtling towards him.

Time for a last Dodge roll - make it a good one

[aine]

Virgil continues to twist but he is almost at the end of his strength and as he lands he sobs in despair,
“Take me over then. You’ll meet your match with the bureaucrats back at Richter Dynamics.”

35, roll=24 (cripes!)

[Mephistophilis]

Virgil twists his torso again, for a moment he watches the shard jabbing into empty space and allows the tiniest of smiles to flicker across his lips...before it changes direction back towards him. The tip plunges into Virgil's chest, stinging at first, then burning. He gasps a painful, ragged breath, as he feels his own blood trickling down his chest. It is agony and Virgil begins to feel himself slipping, vision fading around the edges, all he can see is the glassy blank surface where a face should be, no eyes, no mouth, just a viscous white liquid dripping...click-click-click...click-click-click...click-click-click.

Impale Damage: 3d6 7

Unfortunately the creature rolled a hard success so Virgil's dodge failed. And he took 6 damage which will knock him out and likely kill him But we're not finished with Virgil yet...

[aine]

It was inevitable. The corporate guy always gets his comeuppance. The rest of the team don’t know that Virgil’s been converted so that is going to be very interesting. They may not even notice as his personality was stiff and inhuman to start with!

[Mephistophilis]

Virgil starts to come round, blackness slowly giving way to an intense, bright light. His vision clears and he can see that he is in a room. It's round but seems oddly proportioned, the angles are all wrong, like he's viewing it through a prism. It is difficult for him to determine depth but it seems fairly small given how much electrical equipment is crammed in there.

His body feels simultaneously numb and aching all over. The pain in his chest is still there, still sharp and burning, but not quite as intense. The air feels strange, humid, wet even.

Despite straining, Virgil can't seem to turn his head, or move any of his body. Yet he can make out the contents of the room quite well. There are electrical cabinets, pumping equipment, computer terminals, dials and gauges everywhere.

In the centre of the room is a transparent glass cylinder. Two banks of what look like mechanical and electrical equipment flank it on each side. Within the cylinder is a viscous fluid with a slightly pink tint. It is difficult to see if there is anything within the liquid, although there are some shadowy shapes.

Roll Electrical or Mechanical Repair or Science (any really, Biology, Physics, etc.) to figure out what this equipment does

I've enjoyed Virgil but he has been trying really hard to get himself killed Let's see what the others think of the new Virgil

[aine]

Virgil tries to pinch his forefinger and thumb together whilst trying to gauge what is going on.

10 roll:2

[Mephistophilis]

With an exercise of extreme effort Virgil thinks he can feel his right thumb and forefinger moving. Looking at the scene before him he see a number of pumps and tubes, some of which seem to be full of a red liquid redolent of blood. While it is far from his area of specialism Virgil suspects this is some kind of life support system. Much of the other machinery seems like more traditional electronic equipment.

A figure enters his field of view, sandy haired and dressed in the short sleeved uniform of the colonial security service, it appears to be Officer Tyson. He is walking in a stiff, shambling manner, dragging something behind him. It seems to be a body, well, part of a body, the head and torso, it looks badly decomposed.



Suddenly Virgil's vision is filled with images of space and of suns - of searing crimson light. Yet he can still see into the room, still see Tyson dragging his grim package.

Tyson mumbles something. Or, at least, someone mumbles something. More than one person. It's a cacophonous whispering that slowly coalesces into a single harsh, grating tone. 'Welcome Executive Officer Steinmann. Your eyes are open at last. You have become one with us, with me. I am Ëka-Galä, you are Ëka-Galä, you are H'rada-Theka Pannakar, the Swimmer in the Void. You are us and we are you.' Virgil finds something very compelling in what the voice is saying. It seems to make sense. Of course it makes sense. He is Ëka-Galä, we are Ëka-Galä. He looks down at the figure of Tyson, you are Ëka-Galä.

Roll against your Power, and if you fail roll Sanity

[aine]

“You must be that Japanese Corporation trying to take over Richter Dynamics.” Virgil says/thinks.
“Quite a cosy set up you have here. To be honest I don’t mind who I work for and ‘Dynamics were getting too bureaucratic. I’m always interested in seeing a different perspective.”

[Mephistophilis]

Virgil tries to speak but he's unable to move his mouth. He thinks instead, 'You must be that Japanese Corporation trying to take over Richter Dynamics. Quite a cosy set up you have here. To be honest I...' but he finds his thoughts changing, warping, until what comes out, inside his own head, as his own thoughts is '..There is no "I," there is only us, there is only me, there is only Ëka-Galä.'

He sees Tyson approach some kind of control panel, he begins inputting something into the interface. Pumps and other pieces of machinery at the sides of the vat begin to activate, levers and pistons and pumps slowly starting to move. The pink liquid in the vat become more turbulent, like there is something inside there moving, at the same time Virgil feels an intense burst of pain, in his skull especially.

Inside the vat there is something thrashing about. It's hard to make out. But Virgil thinks he sees a hand press up against the glass. Pieces of machinery seem to move around inside the cylinder as well, there are little eddies of darker red liquid, like splashes of blood.

Roll against your Power, and if you fail roll Sanity

[aine]

Is this the same as that tank, is that a human in there, is this the last thing I’ll ever see? No more Virgil Steinman...

Roll: 100 (sorry, what’s the San amount?

[Mephistophilis]

Whatever is in the tank presses against the glass. It has the silhouette of a figure, a human figure. Somehow, he's not even sure how, Virgil's vision zooms in closer and focuses on it. There's an upper torso but nothing beneath it, no abdomen, or legs. There is no left arm, the shoulder ending at a bloody stump where a rod of metal pinions it. The right arm still has a hand and it is that which is pressed up against the glass, thumb and forefinger spasming rhythmically as if trying to communicate.

And there's a face, a man's face, all that is left on the front of a skull where the top has been completely removed revealing the brain tissue underneath while the skin and muscle is stripped to the bone around the jaw. There are wires and tubes penetrating the brain and the skull. The torso seems to be held in place by some great mechanical arm. Other automated tools slice through the pink fluid and what appears to be a rotary saw cleanly slices off the left arm at the shoulder, little currents of dark red blood swirling about the spinning blade.

From a sort of box mounted on the front of the vat two thin articulated arms rise up until they are right in front of the face. Virgil finds his vision zooming in even further, the face begins to resolve and he can see it looks familiar. Too familiar.



Virgil focuses with all his willpower on his body, he can no longer even move his fingers, in fact he cannot really feel much at all through the constant, searing pain. Apart from his face he's not sure he can feel his body at all, certainly not his legs. For a second his vision distorts, but not the crimson light this time, no, he seems to be underwater, but it's not quite water, it's more opaque, tinged slightly red. And there's something sharp, and black, in fact two things, pointed right into each of his eyes. The ends start to spin, like little drills, and they move slowly but relentlessly towards him.

Impassively Virgil watches as the two thin articulated arms burrow into the face's eyes then little round flanges deploy and anchor the arms into the tissue surrounding the eye sockets as if they're going to stay there for the long haul.

He tries to think, tries to understand what is going on, 'I am Virgil Steinmann, I am...I am Ëka-Galä...I am...' and then he hears a voice, speaking out loud, female, low and smooth, but emotionless and electronically modulated. 'I am the Barnard's Rest CENTRAL intelligence. I am operating at one hundred percent efficiency.' And he is, he is operating a 100% efficiency. He can see everything in Barnard's Rest. He can see beyond it, out over the methane lake, down into the excavations at the place they call Waystation, through the black Gate of Tawil at’Umr...he can see Ëka-Galä, he can see H'rada-Theka Pannakar because he is H'rada-Theka Pannakar, he is the Swimmer in the Void.

No need for a SAN roll after fumbling that POW roll! I'm afraid it's goodbye to Virgil who has been a lot of fun. Do you want to pick up another character? We have Moses the Safety Officer, Li the Pilot, Isabella the Systems Engineer all going spare. I was keeping Nicole the Colonial Marshal for Raiko if he ever came back but I'd say she's available too realistically.

[aine]

Awesome! A worser fate than ever I could imagine. What an epic and grisly ending for Virgil. It just shows you; greed will get you nowhere!

I know Nicole Favre the best and she’s one of the key team members so She’d be my first choice. Second would be Li the pilot.

[Mephistophilis]

OOC:   Poor Virgil, I think he was my favourite, so obnoxious yet so single minded. I thought he was going to get killed so many times, I even had some dialogue written for when Kingsley was going to top him early on. But he kept pressing on! I'm sure Nicole will be fine, I'm just messaging Raiko to make sure he doesn't have any objections.