Impact Ares: Winds of Pandora

[TamerBill]

Captured by the DR, you have been thrown in prison without a trial. This is not very unusual; indeed, it is virtually standard practice for the Divine Republic. What is unusual is that you have been contained in a tiny outpost in the middle of nowhere, rather than one of the big prison blocks in the domes.

You were thrown without ceremony into a communal cell, shared with three others like you. You are unshackled, but the faint hum of a disruption field tells you that the security is not as lax as it appears.

It has been only three hours since you were incarcerated, giving you plenty of time to consider your future, and what most likely won’t be in it.

Unless you’d rather do something else?

[LazyJoe]

Adam's slender form sat on the end of the bench in the far corner of the cell. He rubbed his stinging eyes and slumped that bit lower. His long, thin fingers flexed tirelessly in vain pursuit of something to do. They reached to his side again and again but found nothing; Adam's tools had long since been confiscated and any hope of escape had gone with them. Not that he would try, he hated the wasteland and was entirely ready to just give up to the system. The best he could hope for was a draughty cell in some huge prison complex and to not be bullied too much. What he wouldn't give for a drink right now...

[TheGreatJabu]

Darren Sirion

Even as he was being escorted to the cell, the young man continued pleading and attempting to bargain with the guards.

"Come on now, guys! Can you at least get me back my rabbit's foot? What? Am I going to dig my way out with it? What could it hurt? I'll be the best behaved crimin...unjustly accused citizen in the whole block! Come on now! Please?"

His answer came in the form of a none-too-gentle shove into the cell without the guards saying so much as a word.

Well, guess I should be fortunate that they didn't rob me of my lucky underwear. I'll have to hope that's enough to get me by for now. Uh oh - I have roomies. Better get my game face on: I'd rather not be at the bottom of the food chain in prison.

Knowing that he wasn't the toughest guy around, the tall blonde did his best to fake it at least. He leans up against the wall nonchalantly and folds his arms in front of him.

Come on, lucky boxers. Don't let me down!

[Yuki Akuma]

Lorren Masters, age seventeen, is introduced to the cell rather unceremoniously, by simply being thrown bodily into it! She falls onto her back, one hand coming down to slap the ground hard to take the brunt of the impact. She lands, and rolls, hitting the far wall. Seems the guards... didn't like her much.

She scrambles to her feet, glaring at the retreating guards. "You're just lucky they took my gun! Heretics! Face me when I'm talking to you!!"

[Twilight]

Sasha struggled and passed out before ever reaching the cell. She slowly comes back to consciousness only to realize that it hasn't all been a bad dream. She's far from home...well probably far from home...and she's been caught by the DR.

She mutters to herself. "So much for the freedom that comes with taking what we need."

The young girl, she has barely stepped into womanhood after all, uncurls from the foetal position into which her body had instinctively shaped her small frame and quietly sits up. She blinks in the unfamiliar light and takes in her surroundings. Where are the others?! Are they dead?

A low moan escapes from her throat before she can stop herself and the tears silently flow from her eyes, warranted but unbidden.

[TheGreatJabu]

Darren Sirion

The introduction of not one, but two women into the cell eases a bit of Darren's fears. Hell! They're not even scary prison-women! They're both young! Glancing over at the angry-sounding girl makes him reconsider. Still, raven-haired gun-lady threatenin' the guards is probably not anyone I'd like to cross. Well, could be a lot worse. With a grin he mentally adds, Thank you, lucky underwear. Lady Luck always did like this pair! Regardless, he attempts to maintain his tough-guy look until the brown-haired girl begins to sob a bit.

Darren removes himself from his not-quite-cozy spot on the wall and turns towards the girl, still keeping a good distance away. His voice sounds as though he's trying to be soothing, but his own nervousness still manages to shine through.

"Hey now, miss! You don't have to cry or anythin'. I mean sure, we're in prison; but hey! The company's a lot better than I had expected. That's...that's worth somethin', right?"

[Twilight]

Sasha looks up at Darren from behind a veil of dark brown hair. She pushes the mane away from her face revealing wet red-rimmed hazel eyes swimming above a light dusting of freckles. She remains seated but dries her cheeks with her sleeve before speaking up.

"It's just that...I don't know what happened to the rest of my unit. I've heard stories about Them...you know...The elders always said that They are unkind to the point of cruelty. That that is why we stay away from Them as much as possible. Then again..." She sighs and lets her tense shoulders drop. "I don't remember seeing anyone else carted off. I was struggling a lot." She shrugs. "I think I managed to land a few good kicks. I can hope that the others got away..."

She blinks a few times and stands. "What's your name?"

[TheGreatJabu]

Darren Sirion

Darren finds himself feeling a bit lost as the girl begins talking about "her unit" and these "Them" people she keeps referring to. Still, the girl's obviously upset so he can at least pretend to understand until a more convenient time.

When the girl asks him his name, Darren gets a bit nervous automatically. With the fringers and nomads he's accustomed to dealing with, he seems to have developed a reputation of untrustworthiness. Well, she doesn't LOOK like a ganger. Don't know about them, though. Maybe those other two won't recognize just my FIRST name. "Uh..the name's Darren. Technically of Prosperity Dome, but I was on the wrong side of the shield walls when they were put up, aye? I was doin' alright for myself out in the wastes for most of my life until the DR picked me up a few days ago durin' the middle of a little...'test drive'. How's about you?"

[Twilight]

A slender hand shoots up towards Sasha's mouth as she realizes that perhaps not all in here will be Gangers or outsiders. I should watch what I say...best thing to do is to avoid compromizing anyone else and to assume that I'm on my own now.

"Heh...sorry about that. I'm a little bit freaked out by this whole being tossed into containement thing. I don't know what I'm saying.

I'm Sasha. I was trying to acqui...ahem purchase supplies. Completely legitimate and justified, of course. No idea why I've been so unceremoniously arrested. I hadn't done anything wrong..." yet.

She glances at the other two cellmates, the older man and the girl trying to be authoritative, she looks like she might belong in the military-how odd. She wonders why the others are in here, what they might have done. I hope they aren't insane or violent.

[TamerBill]

As the prisoners converse amongst themselves two men enter the cell block and watch the ones behind bars. One is clearly a high-ranking military type, and the other a grunt or scribe.

"Well now, what do we have here...." he says as he leans forward to take in the sight of the prisoners.

"One witch, excommunicated for corruption, one worn-out mechanic, one petty thief and a rogue esper, Sir. Captured recently and awaiting judgement."

"Hmm. Send the thief and the mechanic to the mines, they are of no further use to anyone. Bring the other two down to the labs for dissection."

"At once, Sir."

[LazyJoe]

Whilst taking note of Darren and Sasha's conversation, Adam eyed Lorren suspiciously. Just his luck to be locked in a cell with a nutcase. Instead of following the first couple's lead and starting a conversation with Lorren, he merely seemed content to watch the officer and the scribe approach.

'Engineer,' he croaked in a broken RP English accent after the scribe had finished speaking. 'I'm an engineer.'

[TamerBill]

"No, you're a miner, and you'd better get used to it because there's not much in the way of upward mobility down there."

The man sneers, and turns to leave.

"I want these degenerates out within the hour, Johnson. See to it."

[Yuki Akuma]

Lorren smiles wanly, leaning against a wall and watching the obvious higher-ranked officer. "...I pity you, you know."

[TamerBill]

"Feel free to do so, it will not save you from the scalpels. I hear they have them extra-sharp this year." replies the officer, eliciting a polite laugh from his associate.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, some of us have lives to go back to."

He turns to leave once more, but a violent rumbling stops him in his tracks.

"Johnson, comm Main Office. I want to know what that disturbance was. Quickly, please, before I have to spend more time with these degenerates."

[Yuki Akuma]

Lorren just smiles to herself, lowering her voice, jsut loud enough so he can still hear. "...You're not going to survive the day..."

She isn't surprised by the rumbling in the least. It's almost as if she was expecting it to happen... Oddly, she seems to be edging very slowly to the right of the cell, glancing at the others and gesturing to the right wall.

[LazyJoe]

Adam was not a stupid man by any means and he could easily put two and two together. From the descriptions the officer gave, he deduced at least two of his cellmates were espers, and from what he knew, some espers could see into the future, although he'd never seen one do it. Despite the girl's psychopathic ravings, Adam found himself edging towards the right of the cell.

[TheGreatJabu]

Darren Sirion

Darren was half a heartbeat away from protesting the label of "thief", but he had the sneaky feeling his word didn't count for much. Besides, they found my backside square in the seat in the cockpit of a STOLEN PT. With a rueful grin, Darren has to roll his eyes at himself. Thanks a lot for that 'free' trainin', you old codger.

The labels that the jailor slapped on his fellow inmates did catch his attention, though. Casually eyeing the others, he passes on the effort to try and decide who is who. That is, until the more fiery of the two young women begins subtly hinting that the right wall is the place to be.

Uh oh. If there's a chance she's one of those psychics, I'd best pass off the dice to her. He mutters quietly to Sasha. "I think we need to 'acquire' a seat near that wall, Sasha..."

[Twilight]

Sasha doesn't wait to be told twice, she quickly steps towards the seemingly safer side of the cell.

She remains quiet.

[TamerBill]

Thirty seconds later, a giant metal fist bursts through the left wall of the cell, narrowly missing everyone huddled against the right wall. After a few seconds the hand retracts back out, leaving a gaping hole twice as high as a man in your humble abode. The sounds of battle reach your ears, and through the hole you can see some sort of skirmish playing out between the silver machines of the DR and some unknown enemy. The officer and his lackey flee the scene as three more resounding rumbles shake the building.

[LazyJoe]

Quite unused to all this noise and action, Adam jumped visibly in his seat when the giant hand disintegrated the gaol wall. Shielding his eyes from the flying dust, he peered round to the side of the breach and surveyed the scene outside. This looked like his only chance to escape but he hesitated, unsure of whether or not to brave the heat of battle. However, the three additional rumbles that made the officer and the grunt scatter made up his mind for him, and the engineer surmised that open gound would be safer than a tumbling building. Taking a cursory glance at his cellmates, Adam crept over to the side of the gash in the wall and scanned the compound as best he could for a means of exit.

[TamerBill]

Outside, three PTs of obvious DR design appear to be struggling to hold the fort against a unit of four invaders. Suddenly a giant metal face appears at the hole, blocking the view from outside. It pauses for several seconds, scanning the inside of the room. Clearly not finding what it was looking for, the machine moves on, and the view is once again replaced by scenes of battle.

The fighting is taking place in a large open-air courtyard, with DR buildings on all four sides. A quick look down confirms that you are on the second floor, with no obvious way of getting down.

[Twilight]

Sasha thinks about jumping despite the dangerous fall...she thinks better of it and instead examines the ground for a place that might serve as cushion or any holes in the wall that might serve as handholds.

She glances at her three companions. A witch, a mechanic and a thief...we have to have some way of getting down between the lot of us.
"If anyone has a cleverly hidden rope, now is the time to mention it...otherwise we might have to take our chances with broken limbs."

[TheGreatJabu]

Darren Sirion

The huge metallic fist unexpectedly crashing through the wall of their cell elicits one quick response from Darren.

"JESUS CHRIST!"

Cringing up against the wall as the PT apparantly scopes the room out, Darren begins panting and glancing over at the door to see what the jailors were doing. Watching them bolt gives Darren a small portion of courage back. In an obviously shaky voice, Darren speaks to the others.

"W...well, those...those guys weren't lookin' for us, but Lady Luck may as well have sent them herself! Let's, uh...let's see how the climb down looks."

Darren creeps over to the gaping hole and scans the wall outside to see if scaling down it is a feasible idea.

[TamerBill]

The perfect construction of the Divine Republic buildings was apparently no match for the power of a Personal Trooper; several bricks have fallen off or been destroyed, leaving the wall beneath the hole pocked with indents. There're enough handholds to make a climb down feasible, if a little dangerous.

[TheGreatJabu]

Darren Sirion

After looking out over the edge a bit, Darren turns back around to face the others. "It looks a little tricky, but the climb is do-able. Sure beats the hell out of jumpin', aye? Well, when the chips are down you can either fold, or go for it."

Unless there are any bedsheets to try to use as rope, Darren lays down at the gap, belly-down and hanging his legs down over the sides. He then begins easing himself slowly backwards, looking for a foothold.

This is an awful lot of luck to ask for from my boxers - sure am glad they didn't find my lucky four-leaf clover sewed into the waistband of this shirt!

Spoiler

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Climb check!
3d6 + Str Mod (-1) + Climb mod (-2) = (3d6-3)[2]

If I could get any sort of crazy-synergy bonus type-thing from Balance or Acrobatics, feel free to let me know.

[TamerBill]

Darren misses his foothold entirely, and with a short cry and little ceremony he falls backwards from the room to the hard floor below. His impact is inaudible over the sounds of fighting, but he certainly felt it; his right leg takes the brunt of the damage, bending in an entirely unnatural way. It won't be taking any orders from its owner for a while.

[TheGreatJabu]

Darren Sirion

Darren only managed to have one coherent thought pierce through the surge of adrenaline as he was falling to the ground. Well, at least I'm not in prison anymore. I broke even, aye?

With a blinding surge of pain, his leg realized just how evenly he had broken. The desire to say something clever like "watch the first step" was somewhat overridden by his pressing need to cry out in pain.

[LazyJoe]

Adam grimaced as Darren hit the floor, taking special note of the way his leg tended to bend around. He'd had enough First Aid training to know how to put it into a splint, but that would have to wait for a more convenient time. In the meanwhile, getting down was the order of the day. Adam turned to his two unbroken cellmates and had an urge to say 'ladies first', but instead could only manage an 'erm, does anybody mind if I go last?'

[Twilight]

Sasha cringes when Darren drops out of sight a little too quickly. She looks down again and hopes to survive the drop before she lowers herself she thinks back to some of her training and wonders whether she could lift her body with her mind. She steps back from the gaping wall and crouches into a more compact form so as to distribute her weight evenly. She then attempts to exert some sort of force upon her body. Her eyes are closed and her pulse races through her veins. Come on...This has to work...

Spoiler

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The desired effect is a gentle lift off of the floor...if it works she will move forward and slowly down to the ground below. If not...back to the drawing board and to risking limbs!
Telekinesis check: [roll]3d6+3+1[/roll] +3 is skill bonus and +1 is int bonus. Does that make sense?

Edit: Erm...the roll code didn't work. Here is my Invisible Castle roll
http://invisiblecastle.com/rolldice....=Roll+the+dice
3+6+2+(3+1)=15 Yes?

[TamerBill]

((OOC: I think something's wrong with your rolling code, it displays no result. Unless you want me to roll the dice for you?))

Very slowly, and with great effort, Sasha's body slowly rises off the ground. She moves forwards slowly, edging off the floor, until she's completely suspended in the air, with the harsh drop directly below her.

And then she begins to fall.

With her power still buffeting her up from below, Sasha's fall is not as fast or as clumsy as Darren's, and is more akin to dropping through several stacked awnings. She hits the floor in a jumbled heap, but without enough force to do any real damage. She is able to get up with little more than a few bruises to remind her of the incident.