Supercape

Slick did his best to control the oil that seeped out of his pores, not good in this heat. Can't stand around all day he thought, and doubling his resolve against the fire, he sped forward, turning his forward momentum into a powerful flying kick that was aimed squarely at the doctor's chest. It's gonna be him or me. And it damn well better be him.

Right then. Move Action: Move to Doctor (yes, lets face those flames) Standard Action: Flying Kick! (i.e melee attack) 1d20+7=8 Hey, our luck is back! So, HP to reroll 1d10+17=21 Another fantastic roll. If it hits (I'd guess it does), then DC 22 Toughness save

Quentin and Liebniz eyed each other up back at Freedom University. It was hard to say if Liebniz was going to warm or cool towards Quentin after the day's terrors. Quentin guessed that at the end of the day, Liebniz was a creature of habit, and would just fall back to his old ways. An hour later, in his home, the radio tuned to a classical music station and with an extremely stiff glass of port in his hand, he allowed himself a huge sigh and shudder as the fear rushed through him. Poor Stesha. He sincerely hoped he would still be on the invite list for dinner.

The burst of flames were literally smouldering the oil on Slick's body, and it was only his quick thinking that put the metal door up as a shield against the bursts of flame. Still enraged, Slick hefted the door and threw it with all his might like a frizbee at the burning figure. He never played much frizbee. The door went clean over the human candle and smashed into the opposing wall. "Ooops" he muttered.

Slick Reflex Roll 1d20+3=22 whaddyaknow? I'm making that a DC 20 Toughness save now?, DC 21 due to his vulnerability 1d20+7=26 Woohoo! So, its going to be a straightforward throw of the door into Mr. Hot. Unfortunately, his ranged attack not so good, only +4 1d20+4=6 And the luck runs out...

"I don't believe it!" exclaimed Liebniz "Your ridiculous idea actually worked!" The angle of ascent was slow, and the balloon made the sub tilt awfully. All four passengers ended up standing with one foot on the wall of the sub. But ascending it was. Despite the groans of the hull, every minute that passed was a minute nearer the surface. A minute nearer escape. A minute when their frazzled nerves would allow just a little more hope that the crazy idea would work. After countless minutes of waiting, they felt the sub right itself and bob violently. It could only mean one thing... surface! A spontaneous cheer went up. Even Liebniz managed to hug Green, with tears in his eyes.

Slick's blood was up. This was insane. Spinning on one foot, he put all her fury into a knockout blow on the thug that had tried to attack him. "Fire! that's going to burn me badly!" he yelled, and to prove his point, his oily skin started to smoulder with an unpleasant odour. Can't get to close to that flame she thought. But this can! she realised, as her hand closed around the heavy door she had kicked in and prepared to hurl it at the burning man.

Free Action: Scream "Fire!", Assume aggressive posture (+2 attack, -4 defence) from being so darn angry. Standard Action: Smash Thug in face 1d20+9=27 that should work! DC 22 Toughness Move Action: Grab a heavy object (to throw next round!) EDIT: Toughness save! 1d20+7=27 Even being vulnerable, the luck is rolling in now!

"Ok" said Quentin. "LIebniz, Green, get those compressed air cylinders." Liebniz grumbling, and Green groggy, the two men lifted up an access panel on the floor and started to crawl to the underbelly of the submarine. Quentin went to the airlock, and manually opened the inner door. Stepping in, he faced the outer door that stood between their oasis of oxygen and the uncompromising sea. Placing the elastic cape over the outer door, he carefully focussed his mind, increasing the tension and atomic bonds between the cape and the rim of the door. Resisting the urge to find out if it the cape would hold (if it did, it would still bulge inwards and crush him), he stepped back out of the airlock. Liebniz and Green appeared from the hatch, grubby and in Liebniz case, fed up. "If we ever get out of this, Quill..." he mumbled, throwing his nemesis an evil stare. It took several minutes to rig the compressed air canisters to the air lock. They were heavy and it took all four of them to pull them up from below deck. Quentin took in a deep breath. "Now the moment of truth. Releasing the outer airlock..."

Quentin scratched his head. Options. Options. The groaning of the Walrus' hull really didn't help his concentration at all. Liebniz was too busy fighting electricity and smoke under the main control panel of the power relay. The ballast tanks were either jammed shut, or the pumps weren't working. Or both. What they needed was to loose some mass, loose some weight. Hold on, he thought, it dosen't really matter about the ballast tanks, they are weight-neutral. Its the compressed air that we use to pump the water out. We could pump that air anywhere. "What we need is a balloon. I never thought I would say that at the bottom of the ocean, but there we are. " He fingered his tweed jacket and looked at Stesha. "And I know just the cape for the job." Removing his jacket, and making sure he was out of view, he concentrated briefly, and in its place was a giant spandex sheet of cloth. "If we can get this to the outer airlock door, then open the door, pump compressed air into the airlock. Hey presto, a giant balloon."

Quentin sat down by Green and decided that it was best to jolly the man. Who knew what concussion may have done to him? "Just keep still, Mr. Green. Everything's fine. Just a nasty bump to the head, you have concussion. Everything will probably be a bit fuzzy for you. " The Walrus Chimed in "Poweeeeerrr Sysssteemmmmmmms Sub-Optimaaaaal" in the slowed down, sing song speech it had developed. With a flash of inspiration, Quentin followed suit. "Ooiiiilll Jussssst Get the Firrrrrst Aid Kiiiiit. Everythiiiiiiing maaaay sounnnnnd weiiiiird to youuuu becauuuuuuse of youuur concusssssssion...." He stood up, in slow motion, and went over to Liebniz. The readings on the dials were not good. They had enough for an hour or so of life support and light, and maybe some powers to the rotors, but probably not enough to get moving. The impact of the ocean floor had damaged the exterior significantly, and the ballast was jammed. He walked over to Stesha, grabbing the first aid box en route. "Any suggestions? a little more boost perhaps?"

1d20+3=5 for Initiative... And true to form, the bad rolls are coming!

Quentin turned to Liebniz "Whats the situation with our power supply?" For all his snideness, the current situation had brought focus to his brilliant mind. "Fried!" he replied. "I can give a shot rebooting some of the systems. I have done a bit of hotwiring to the system, but I don't know how long it will last." "Do we have a better option?" asked Quentin. "Are you asking me for my opinion, Quill?" sneered Liebniz. "Cut it out Liebniz. Just play straight and narrow Cricket. Just this once. Or otherwise, you may not get a chance to play anything ever again." Liebniz whitened, but nodded. He disappeared under a control panel, and with a dramatic spark of electricity, the power came on, flickering at first, but then steady. It was not as bright as before but it was on. The mechanical female voice started droning, at one third speed and low pitch "Welcome to the Walrus. All systems onliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine."

"Light? I think you saw that little trick at your, umm, little getaway", he winked. He couldn't resist. "Let there be light! And lo, there was..." A brilliant flash of white light bathed the walrus and a few hundred feet around it for a fraction of a second. It would have been brighter still, was it not for the high level of sediment in the water. The ship gave another ominous creak.

"Spiffing!" smiled Quentin. "Jolly good show! Bravo!" Adjusting his bow tie for the umpteenth time, he pressed his face against the window. Yes, he could just make out the glistening algae. Now, plot a path to the Walrus, lets have a guess at the thermal currents - damn if only some of those instruments were still working. Anyway, to business. It wasn't perceptible to any but Quentin, but a stream of excited molecules, only a few particles wide, started to behave most peculiarly. Jumping around and reconfiguring themselves, they started to emit a low level microwave burst. The result, a line of heated up water from the Walrus to the vent. It wasn't easy, and it took concentration. "I think that's it, Stesha, hard to calibrate, and the heat disperses quickly. Too much, and its fried algae for supper..."

"A boost?" said Quentin, scratching his head. "What kind of boost... you mean getting closer to the vent?, or something else." He was quite lost as to exactly what Stesha meant, her ability to control plants was a mystery to him. Perhaps it was the stress of the situation, perhaps the pressure (both psychological and physical) was getting to him, but he leapt to the only conclusion that presented itself to his mind... "Young lady, I hope you are not referring to any illicit drugs!"

"Erm... well, there is one way to get to the algae. " Stesha followed his gaze to the airlock and the adjoining closet, marked in cold steel letters: "DEEP SEA DIVING COSTUME" "Caution: Qualified Persons Only" With a somewhat apologetic shrug, he looked at Stesha. "It may be our only way out of here. " Looking out of the window, he continued "Anything I can see, I can irradiate. A touch of microwave radiation should warm up the water, no problem. Its just so damn dark out there. "

Slick felt his blood boiling, and his skin turned a dark red. "What's this stuff. WHAT ARE THEY DOING?" She shouted. With a grunt of rage, he slammed his fist against the wall, leaving a small dent. "Godamn it! This is wrong!" He marched towards the other door, and this time subtle was clearly off the menu. "I'm going to find out exactly what's happening here, and they are going to pay. " And with those icy steel words, he flung the door nearly off its hinges.

Liebniz looked quite shocked, and stood dazed for a few seconds. Then, his academic instincts took over. "Well, yes, of course. I suppose I could take a look at what we have got. But to be honest, Quill knows more about botany than me. " Drawing himself to his full height and holding on to his lab coat lapels, whilst raising his chin, he pronounced "I confine myself to the higher intellectual sciences. " Quill snorted. "Well go and sort out the power supply then, Liebniz. I'll take a look at what we have got out there. " He peered out of the window. There wasn't a whole lot to see, but he could make out the flume and the glowing algae that circled it. A whole microcosm of strange flora and fauna had evolved here. He felt a small groan, and the ship tilted another few degrees. Turning to Stesha, he lowered his voice so Liebniz wouldn't hear. "Uh oh. I think we may have a small structural integrity problem..."

Quentin scratched his head. Then unloosened his tie. Then cracked his knuckles. "Well." "Um." "Err..." Liebniz exploded "Quill you idiot! You dragged me down here, and we are all going to die. DIE! DIEEEE!" The man was clearly hysterical, and had lost all sense of reason. "WELL I'M NOT GOING TO STAND FOR IT! ABANDON SHIP!!!" Liebniz roughly shoved Green away, who tumbled with the akward angle of the floor, banging his head on an instrument and promptly passing out. Right next to Fleur, he started struggling with the airlock, intent on opening it...

Even in the crisis, Green could not abide anything bad said about his pride and joy "It's not the ship, It's not the ship... it's... I don't know..." Liebniz was babbling a prayer in German. The Walrus keeled over and the whole crew felt a violent jar as they hit the ocean floor and rolled slightly, the floor now at a 20 degrees angle. "Its the Vent", replied Quentin, shaken but still calm. "It magnified the energy sensors and sent them back, overloading the systems. I bet half the circuits of the ship are fried, if not more!" The emergency lights were dim, and not all working, but after a bit, his eyes accomodated and they could make each other out. He went to the window, and looked out. They were right next to the vent, pouring out is rich hydrocarbon smoke, with the dim light of lava cooling as it hit the water of the ocean.

"Just a moment, I'm sick of this tarpaulin. " Without any shame, he took of his clothes, and changed into the collected garments of the two guards. The clothes didn't exactly fit at first, but with a little wiggle of her joints and musculature, they ended up fitting perfectly.

Quentin was looking out of the window ports with Stesha, marvelling at both the life and, to his uncanny senses, the energy flow pouring and dancing out of the vent. They were very close indeed now. What was that odious Liebniz on about now. Ozone? Reluctantly, he tore himself away from the window port, and started examining some of the sensors. Thats odd. Some very strange readings here. "Green, take a look at this... the tachyon emissions we are using as sensors. They seem to be rebounding of some kind of natural resonator down there. Well, it looks like they are being magnified, and... ummm... reflected..." Suddenly a red light bathed the Walrus, and a siren sounded. "WARNING: ENGINE FAILURE. WARNING POWER FAILURE" Liebniz stared in panic, Green was only slightly less frentic. And to be honest, Quentin felt a gut wrenching anxiety himself...

1d20+7=25 That, I presume, is a hit! DC 22 Toughness save...

"Some bum went and threw up on me outside. " Slick replied, walking up to them. "Needless to say, I gave him a good seeing to, the scum. I could sure use a new set of clothes, however. Like yours, for instance..." As Slick walked towards them, his muscles tensed, ready to unleash a KO blow...