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ximilialog2022-11-23 12:50 pm
CONCLUSION: the darkest wild
It starts with an idea.
“I can get up there!”
Daisy’s shout gets swallowed up by the chaos happening around the base of the volcano, but the earpieces pick it up loud and clear, blasting her rallying cry throughout the network. It draws the focus of the other orbers scattered about, and gradually they begin to chime in with offers of support. Somehow, in between avoiding burning lava and giant, hungry crabs, a plan begins to form.
It’s risky. It’s foolish. There are about a dozen different ways it can go wrong, maybe even twice that if anyone so much as sneezes in the middle of it. Someone’s almost certainly going to get hurt — but as it turns out, there are a good portion of the crew who are used to getting back up from that.
Not that any of it really matters. No one else has a better idea, and waiting it out for the very high possibility of their circumstances getting worse is not on anyone’s radar.
With a plan precariously held together by guts, luck and a prayer, the team assemble to do what they do best: finish their mission and get the hell out of dodge.
As it turns out, the magma crabs have some impressive set of vocal chords on them. While the sounds they make don’t sound anything like a discernible form of speech, every attack of theirs is prefaced with a shrieking battle cry… that only gets louder and more keening when attacked in turn. Joric, the Winter Soldier, and Dante make use of their strength and durability to take down two of the larger crabs, somehow managing to make it look almost easy. The crabs go down with a startling screech that echoes over the unsettling rumble of the volcano. But neither sound deters the men who, together with Rosinante and Minimus, don’t hesitate to descend upon the fallen crabs and begin tearing off shells where they can, as Clayton tends to any wounds that might have been obtained in the process.
After all, durability doesn’t always equal invulnerability.
Without time on their side, the armour fashioned from the crab shells are shoddy at best. The crew make use of what they’ve got — rope, vines, sap-glue — to cover what they can of those intending to make the ascent, but it’s clear from the grim looks shared among the team that the true protection will have to come from the promised immortalities of the oldest in their group.
No words of encouragement are shared. There isn’t time.
With the power of the orb bearing down on them at the volcano’s base, making each step heavier than the last, the team gets ready. No one counts down, but Dante crows out a chipper, “Let’s rock, baby!” before red-hot fire sears along his body. Within seconds a demon now stands where man had once been, and before anyone can pause to take in the new sight (or groan in response to that terrible pun) the newly-transformed Dante scoops Daisy into his arms and propels himself into the air.
For a few seconds, all goes well. The Devil Trigger manages to start off with enough momentum to combat the force of gravity trying to weigh them all down. But before long, as if cluing into their attempt, the airborne orbers will feel a pulse of energy emanate from the top of the volcano. Lightning-like energy crackles at Dante’s feet, clawing at his power. In the half-second before the orb rips away Dante’s Devil Trigger form, he manages to give Daisy one final boost — literally hurtling her high into the air.
Careening through thinning air and toxic fumes isn’t exactly the best of conditions to try and carry an extra passenger with one’s powers for the first time, but some could say there’s no better teacher than adrenaline and the crippling knowledge that failure is simply not an option. Thanks to Dante’s boost, Daisy is able to focus her powers on vaulting Gwen up the rest of the way — which is fortunate, because another energy surge from the orb blasts Daisy right out of the air and off her trajectory.
Without Daisy’s powers to safely guide Gwen up to the top, the only option left is their Hail Mary pass—
“Just try to stay cool down there!”
Using all the strength her spider powers and Venom can afford her, Gwen pulls on her webbing and flings the final two members of their aerial party towards the mouth of the volcano.
Now it’s up to Andy and Joe.
The webbing survives the trip to the caldera, keeping snug and sturdy around the immortals’ waists as their feet (miraculously) find solid ground to land on. The caldera itself isn’t terribly large — roughly the size of two football fields — and the lava from its previous eruption has slowed in its flow. Still, the heat emanating from the rivers of lava is nothing to scoff at, and the longer they take the more likely they’ll have to spend the next few days on the station regrowing their burnt-off skin.
Fortunately, the armor fashioned from the magma crabs provide a decent shield against the heat.
Unfortunately, they seem to have found the crabs’ nest.
It isn’t long before the crabs notice their new guests. Once they do, a piercing shriek signals their charge, but Andy and Joe can’t let a little stampede stop them now. There, nestled into a crater in the center of the caldera lies the orb, glowing a toxic neon green. All it takes is a brief look shared between them — centuries of understanding and partnership culminating in a split-second decision that lands them both on the same page.
With perhaps more enthusiasm than is probably warranted, the pair cast off the grappling hooks Natasha and Yelena had given them. As soon as the hooks take purchase between the crabs’ shell platings, the immortals vault themselves towards the approaching creatures to commandeer them with a move more suited to a rodeo show than an alien jungle planet.
Somehow, someway, it works, and while the beasts do not seem particularly pleased about their newly acquired hitchhikers, their wildly swinging claws do more damage against their own shells than the two little humans they keep narrowly missing. Using the hooks to rein and steer the creatures allows the pair to cross the distance to the orb, who isn’t any more of a fan of the recent developments than the crabs are.
Closer now, the pair will feel the full force of the orb’s interfering power — a bone-deep reverberation that ripples out in an attempt to throw them all back… But the magma crabs, longtime neighbours of the orb, have since evolved to withstand such pulses of energy, and power through unimpeded.
By now, the heat from the lava has begun to take its toll on Andy and Joe. Areas where their shell armor couldn’t cover are burning off in layers by the second, and the latest magical pulse of energy from the orb lingers in a rattling echo down to their bones. Their hands bleed from the heat and the effort of holding onto their ropes, skin melting off faster than it can repair itself.
But they are getting closer and closer to the orb still, and unbearable pain has never stopped either of them before. It doesn’t matter how close to death they might be — this is their only chance, all they need to do is touch the damned thing and they’ll all be sent back. Everything else can be sorted out after.
The crabs shudder and buck in their final act of protest. With an echoing cry and a mighty leap, Andy and Joe launch themselves towards the nestled orb, bloody hands outstretched—
Their bodies don’t even have the chance to hit the ground.
Seconds before the returning team open their eyes to a familiar platform, they’ll hear a soft, feminine voice speak up within their earpieces:
Is it just your imagination, or does the voice sound disappointed?
As the cool white of the station once more surrounds the team, Viveca’s voice sounds in their ears, both from in front of them and in the earpieces:
There’s palpable relief in her voice as she turns to look at the newly-arrived orbers, seeming to make sure all of them are truly present, and hopefully also without worse injuries.
When she’s convinced no one is going to immediately fall over dead, she sighs and looks at each in turn, expression serious.
She pauses, seems to want to say something more, but then shakes her head.
With this, she gives the team a smile as the orb, its strangely toxic glow, floats from Andy to her outstretched palm. The door to the north wing opens behind her and she leaves, the orbers left to their own devices… but not for long, as the team left on the station has heard her message, and are eager to be reunited.
N O T E S
This is the end of the tenth mission! If your character goes back to review the mission file, they will notice that next to its name, a little check-mark in green has appeared.
This is not an official log — however, for the next month, your characters have downtime on the station and all its locations (aside from the north wing) are available.
Players are encouraged to make their own logs for what they do during the downtime.
Should characters want to talk to Viveca or Degar, they can do so here.
Finally, your soundtrack for this conclusion: ♪