Episode 14 – When Two Tribes go to War

It took some time to plan the initial assault and who would be carrying what weaponry into battle. The decision was taken to link each of the team with one of the ‘BASEmates’ in order to keep an eye on each other.

Adam would stay with the Raft to protect their exit but he had a surprise in that he’d rigged up five of the Challenger-Wildeman droids (the dwarves) as backup. He couldn’t co-ordinate them very well as separate entities so they (and his Tinks Drone) would be primarily supporting Akira. The dwarves electric welding arms had been ‘adapted’ to act as makeshift Tasers and each of them would carry two disorientation grenades just in case. Given their ability to scurry up walls and walk across ceilings they would be a useful support. Akira elected to just carry a crossbow (which to the team’s surprise he was quite skilful with) and insisted on a quiver of wooden only quarrels.

Young Sam would pair up with Mikey and Junkpile as the team’s heavy squad. Both of them would be armed with the portable freeze ray weapons and Junkpile would also carry a couple of the distraction grenades.

Mary armed only with her asbestos gloves (in case they meet up with Abyss) and harp would be supported by Jeeves acting as sniper. He was armed with a pulse rifle and a crossbow; a weapon he favoured for its silent but deadly effectiveness in the event things turned lethal.

The discussion about when to make the attack (UK or Carpathian time and 2am vs 6am – because Akira claimed he needed some more sleep) was decided in the end by the ghostly Doctor Arcane who elected to open the portal at midnight (which would be 2am Carpathian time).

They trooped into the reception room to be ignored by the ghostly presence of Doctor Arcane who continued to gesture at the wall behind him until a circular grey mist-like portal had fully manifested itself.

What wasn’t realised until afterwards was why not one of them remembered noticing Naomi Van Helsing’s presence; fully armed with crossbow and several grenades hanging amongst several other sinister-looking bags strung across her back was there with them and in fact was the first to plunge into Arcane’s portal.

They stepped in and found themselves falling onto their backs as the portal exit was on the ground at a 90 degree angle to the entrance. Momentary disorientation in the darkness was replaced by a sense of panic as the Raft emerged through the portal nose up, tilted and crashed to the floor in front of their retreat. They had emerged between the large glass tank and the fossilised skeleton of Tiamente! Inside the tank a storm raged, one that occasionally looked almost human… This was obviously Calypso’s cell!

Presumably the crash had been heard so Adam quickly opened the doors and primed the mounted armoury.  Why were no guards rushing them, though?

Sam looked at Tiamente’s remains and was glad to see that the body of the young female victim was no longer there, nor had anyone else replaced her. He also experienced a moment of guilt that he hadn’t managed to get the body out and given her a proper funeral; then forced himself to dismiss the thought as he tried to remember the layout from his previous visit.

Both Adam’s and Sam’s tablets vibrated to indicate that a message had come through. Sam ignored it but Adam pointed to his own and showed the others that ‘someone’ had sent them a floorplan to the Seminarium; there was no signature, just a smiling but sad emoji at the bottom of the screen. Unfortunately the map wasn’t marked up and showed a labyrinth of rooms located behind the main warehouse space they stood in.

Akira decided to cast the reveal spell Arcane had been teaching him; what he referred to as ‘Rowan’s Window’; However he had had some thoughts about how the spell was constructed and realised it could reveal more than just illusions and traps. He intended to use the spell to see where exactly Donna was being held and what condition she was in. Gesticulating with his fingers and mouthing the key phrases that put him in the correct mental state to activate the spell, he was suddenly overwhelmed by several conflicting emotions and thoughts at once, all fighting for prominence in his mind – It was not just Donna, there were others, at least seven in total, who were imprisoned here, even if at least some of them had been brainwashed to no longer realise it. A flood of thoughts and feelings; some reflecting a Stockholm syndrome caused by intensive brainwashing, delusions of godhood and loyalty mixed with outrage, hate at being helpless or captured as well as confusion and burning intense hatred for their captors.

If Akira ignored the thoughts that discharged from within the storm-filled tank, the other six emotions were emanating from a series of ‘rooms’ just off the main warehouse area they were in. A glance at the ‘map’ showed them to be self-contained; prison cells in other words.

As he emerged from his mental virtual reality tour of the captive’s mindscape, he saw Sam and Junkpile about to head off in the opposite direction towards the second warehouse space and the teleport glyphs carved into the platform they had arrived at in their previous visit. He heard Sam say in a very loud ‘stage whisper’ “Mikey, come with me you’ll be fine! I think that the guard room will be down here…”

At the same time, Mary in her younger glamour, turned insubstantial and entered what they believed would be the cells whilst Jeeves stood guard at the door. Inside Mary found a young woman, dark hair with tattoos on her hands, arms and face which flared with barely contained mystical energy. Something in this room however was interfering with that power.  Seeing Banshee she was clearly scared, even more so when Banshee tried to calm her down.

Akira was clearly frustrated that everyone was just splitting up, apparently without a cohesive plan in play. He asked Adam to send Tinks and two of the dwarves in front of Sam to scout ahead, just in case. He then asked him to cover him with the Raft weaponry and the remaining three dwarves whilst he shielded up and teleported into the same cell as Mary.

His sudden presence scared the young woman even more and the cell became even more oppressive as the power dampeners struggled to hold her. “Don’t worry we’re here to help you but we’re looking for another prisoner, a girl called Donna?” Akira assumed that she wouldn’t understand but she replied in English that she didn’t know who the other prisoners were but yes, she wanted out of there…

AT the other side of the building and seeing Tink pass him, Young Sam and Junkpile slowed down slightly and saw a raggedly dressed presence appear from the doorway up ahead – whoever he was, his skin had a green tinge to it and his eyes, glowed an unhealthy purple as he gestured and a number of large mutant bats swarmed over Sam and Mikey’s transport, attempting to claw and bite them. Sam unleashed a fear roar at the creature and the mutant bats but to no affect. He then tried to interpose himself between them and Junkpile, only to find himself violently being pushed aside by Junkpile as it raised its freeze ray and unleashed a blast; but the unwieldy nature of the big gun meant the robot over compensated and missed them completely.

Back in the other warehouse area, Banshee ghosted through the cell bars into the next room leaving Akira and the woman behind. In this Cell a woman with orange skin struggled whilst held in mid-air by several force beams coming from various parts of the room. The more she struggled the more she was restrained by the beams. Seeing the ghostly presence she unleashed a torrent of swearing.

Outside and hearing the freeze beam firing, Jeeves started to run across the warehouse towards Sam and Mikey just as the entire building vibrated violently and sirens going off almost everywhere. He poked his head through the door that separated the two warehouse areas just in time to see the unhealthy looking guy start to climb up the wall extremely fast – too fast even if were they using holds which this thing wasn’t.

Young Sam seeing the large bat-like creatures hurling towards Junkpile and himself, unleashed a fiery blast — and fried four of the bats immediately.

Back in the first cell, hearing the sound of sirens and weapons firing, Akira grabbed the girl and teleported towards Sam and Junkpile, remembering the layout from his previous visit.

Out of sight of all but Adam in the Raft a woman, tall and willowy with long dark hair and dressed in a formal scarlet evening gown stepped out of one of the corridors near the cells and seeing the arrival walked back whilst gesturing with her hands.

An explosion rocked the whole structure from the front of the building. Had the Black Chapter started their attack and if so would it be successful in diverting the guards from them?

Mikey, seeing the last bat-like creature flying towards them, managed to catch the tip of its wing with the freeze beam causing it to crash into the ground before it took off again, bruised and battered but still flying free.

Back on the other side, out of the corridor appeared Dementia and an elderly sharply dressed man, looking sort of like a caricature of a professor.  Adam seeing his chance aimed the Raft’s pulse beam and fired it at Dementia catching her with a glancing blow that would leave a bruise afterwards. Damn he should have used the freeze ray!

As he tried to line up the other weapon, the old man with her gestured and suddenly his windscreen was assaulted by ethereal coils of serpents striking out at the glass with fearful abandon. Adam tried to shrink away from the semi-opaque creatures only to be overcome with utter mind-numbing despair as Dementia unleashed an icy blast the started to freeze up the Raft, sealing Adam inside.

Back in the cell, hearing the explosions and the ongoing fighting, Banshee unleashed a shattering shriek at the beam projectors shattering them and the cell lock at the same time. As the beams failed she expected the girl that had been trapped in the centre of the room to drop to the ground but she remained levitating under her own power. The girl glowered at Banshee as he asked ‘Who the fuck are you?” and floating over to the cell door tore it loose from the hinges and began to twist the solid steel door into a pretzel.  Banshee smiled “I’m the one getting you out of here now get outside and fight for your freedom!”

With the sound of the door being wrenched away, Jeeves had decided to turn and head back. Seeing Dementia, he fired off a glancing shot at her. He was ‘rewarded’ with the be-suited man motioning his hands as several beams of light from his fingers turned serpentine and appeared to bite at Jeeves causing him to suffer bruising as the ‘fangs’ bit down and leaving him feverish.

As he gestured the be-suited man’s face changed momentarily – into a serpent-like hooded figure!

In the other warehouse area, the girl with Akira motioned at the wall-crawling individual and as her tattoos flared into life a web of light spun out from her fingers and began to cocoon it is a web of light.

Akira looked at the flailing creature on the wall, ripping at the cocoon of light and recognised it for what it really was. This was why he carried the crossbow and wooden quarrels, having recognised Farraday’s weaponry obsession for what it really was; an awareness of the existence of vampires.

Taking careful aim he fired and pierced the creature in the heart. Had it hit the breastbone it would likely have either shattered or bounced off. It was a perfect shot, just not with enough power to complete the task however it trapped the creature where it was.

Another explosion rippled through the structure, again from the front of the building. That was what was obviously keeping the guard detail occupied.

Back in the other warehouse area, Adam decided it was time for some dwarf on bad guy interaction and ordered the three dwarves that were nearby to climb across the ceiling until they were above Dementia, the man and the woman in scarlet and each to drop one of their disorientation grenades on their unappreciative audience below. There was a loud boom, bright, intense light and a mist that attacked the lungs as all three grenades exploded. The Woman in scarlet seemed unaffected but Dementia was temporarily out of it and the older man seemed disorientated and stunned.

Shaking off the icy cold and the last effects of despair attack by Dementia, Adam started to prepare for an exodus as he witnessed one of the prisoners tear the next door off its hinges and release a petite, alien looking female from the next cell. Unlike the other two this one definitely didn’t speak or understand English as the air around her started to solidify into a very alien looking suit of armour.

Banshee covered her from the doorway by unleashing a wail that staggered the gesturing old man and prevented him from doing any more harm to his intended target, the shaking, feverish Jeeves staggering back towards the Raft whilst still trying to cover the team.

More explosions rang out as through the crowded corridor and shoving the woman in scarlet aside and leaping over Dementia’s downed body ran Naomi holding a brass-bound heavy leather tome.

She was heading towards the portal.

Next door, seeing the creature staked, Sam flied up and pulled out the quarrel slightly and proceeded to ram it home deep into the vampire’s heart. The body went immobile and stopped struggling. He suddenly felt ‘something’ trying to bite the back of his neck followed by a sudden intense blast of cold as Junkpile unleashed her freeze ray on the bat attempting to nibble him. The creature fell away, frozen to death leaving Sam to shudder at the effects of the blast on himself.  He shivered as he began to slowly re-heat up.

The flying woman remained intent on freeing the other prisoners and pulled another door away to reveal a battered and bruised Donna.  She smiled at the angry liberator she’d never met before and calmly spoke “Well done Outrage, now get the other Amazons out of here…”

Naomi had to get passed the summoned beasts if she was to get to the portal; jumping up , she fired off a crossbow bolt which hit the tentacled creature and caused it to twist enough for her to hurdle passed it and get closer to the Raft.

The flying woman, Outrage shook her head and went and tore the last but one door free, revealing a young girl presumably South American based on her native looking clothing. She had a white skull painted on her face and was holding a rag doll. The girl stood up and smiled saying only one word “Ash”. The flying woman scowled and muttered “Whatever”. Outside the small girl smiled and suddenly mystical crimson pins appeared and stabbed into her rag doll as she muttered “Ash, ash” under her breath. A scream of pain echoed across from the woman in scarlet. The screams continued for several seconds until the woman gestured and some form of transparent shield appeared around her. She stood up and motioned again in the air and out of the air formed an impossible creature, large and white like a stingray with multiple hand-like tentacles that seemed to absorb anything and everything coming their way.

Whilst this was going on Banshee’s shattering shriek took out the final lock and a tall woman with long white hair stepped out.  By the woman in Scarlet a second massive creature was summoned out of the air, this one crimson red and like a cross between a spider and a scorpion began to advance on the gathering girls and Banshee. With their attention on the creature the white haired girl smiled and unleashed a wave of entropy on the Ash creature from behind knocking her to her feet in agony as a smile flowed across her attackers pale white features.

Obviously some of them had been successfully brainwashed and didn’t want to be rescued.

Akira levitated to get a better view and threw a force cage around the woman in scarlet just as the tank shattered and from the stormy interior flowed Calypso gathering all the water out of the air and pipes obviously intending to flood the warehouse and by default the BASEment if the water got through the portal. Adam aimed the Raft’s freeze ray and unleashed a continuous burst of energy that froze her and stopped the storm in its tracks, freezing her fast and stunning her in the process.

She crashed like a giant hailstone to the ground.

In the other warehouse, Junkpile kicked down the separating wall to make it easier to escape on foot and as agreed with Sam that she’d blow up the platform and the mystical circle and glyphs that the Seminarium populous apparently used to teleport, headed towards the platform.  Junkpile walked over and stood in the centre of the circle. Inside Mikey set the self-destruct timer for three minutes and climbed out before making a run for the gap in the wall.

Sam flew up at speed, grabbed Jeeves, protecting him against any further strikes with his own body and dropped him through the portal before flying back to Mikey.

Behind her a young woman ran out obviously in shock. Lillian, Sam saw and he felt a void in her as did Akira who although not present could feel the confusion and distress emanating from her. Something or someone had torn the dragon from her leaving her powerless and amnesiac, remembering nothing since she was possessed. She wandered towards the team asking who they were and did she know them? What had happened to her had somehow stripped the dragon essence from her.

Sam however was focused on a quiet voice in his head; Tiamente whispering in his mind <<Destroy my bones, little one let me rest finally>> despite the tone, it was a command rather than a request.

Banshee had her own problems, she reached out and grabbed the white haired girl turning both her and the girl insubstantial and liberating her victim from the entropic attack.

The timer was counting down, they had less than two minutes to evacuate everyone AND destroy the bones, but how? Especially as the woman is scarlet gestured once more and screamed “Zoth Ommog” several times and another, larger creature appeared. A massive creature with a beak filled with sharp teeth, four wings, a mane of tendrils and a body that filled most of the warehouse. Sam could hear Tiamente’s ‘voice’ <<She summons a gryphon to protect her. End it now>>

Akira was already in action; he used his TK to grab the massive creature and rammed it into the other two crushing them into a sea of ectoplasm as they hit each other.

The effort shattered the force cage around the woman in scarlet who scuttled away down the corridor. Knowing the timer was ticking down, Mikey persuaded Adam to take the Raft through the Rift in an attempt to get medical help for Jeeves who was already on the other side.

Donna, gathered her remaining ‘Amazons’ together and running towards Lillian she dragged her back towards her tells them all to “Follow me girls” and headed for the portal despite the ectoplasmic mess and gryphon above them. Akira tried to use his blast to ensure an escape route for the girls.

Meantime Sam had decided that the best way to ensure the total destruction of what Akira sarcastically called the “dinosaur bones” was to drag Junkpile through and plant it by the bones before it exploded. He grabbed it and started to drag it through into the other warehouse.

The gryphon attacked and he used his fiery breath on it only for to burst into flames as though composed at least partly of hydrogen. Its initial blast caused an explosion that knocked everyone to the ground.

The blast caused the white haired girl to break free from Banshee’s grip and drop to the ground. Banshee tried to re-grab her but missed. It was time to go with or without those who didn’t want to go.

Akira sent out a TK wave to gather all the dwarves together and throw them through the portal. He didn’t want to have to find out how expensive they were with a replacement bill from the Challenger-Wildeman’s…

Banshee tried to rescue Calypso but she turned to water and flowed away. Damn nothing for it but to escape through the portal herself.

Akira used his TK to drag Junkpile onto the platform and moved towards the portal. Thankfully the white hair girl was no longer around.

Sam took the last few seconds to grab the flaming corpse of the gryphon and used his strength to toss it towards the mystical circle. Hopefully that would be enou… He was blown back towards the portal as the creature exploded for the second and final time.

Back at the bones, the timer had ran out as Junkpile  suddenly displayed a flashing red light on its head, Mikey’s taped laughter played over its speakers and a confetti cannon fired… followed a second later by a massive explosion. Sam was the last through, flying at speed he caught the edge of the explosion and was forced through the portal which closed as he passed through only to crash into the walls of the reception room.

They had survived, just! Unfortunately they had had to leave several people behind.

In the room the girl with the glowing tattoos was hunched over Jeeves. Aura, Donna called her and she looked as though she was fishing inside him with a line of light. Suddenly several demonic snake like creatures were pulled free from the body. Donna gestured and they exploded into dust. Aura smiled and pulled out a dark glowing red glyph… “Is there a reason this man is possessed or can I dispose of this psychic lure as well?”

Mary, unable to speak merely nodded as Donna disposed of Jeeves’ curse as well.

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The news next day reported that Carpathia had suffered a terrorist attack on an orphanage the night before and showed a visit to a small burnt down orphanage by the hereditary ruler of Carpathia, Baroness Natasha Sylvestri von Rutheria and the school headmaster Professor Dragomir Vasilescu who noted the terrorists spoke English and appeared to be meta-humans.

The Baroness was their woman in scarlet and the Professor, the serpent man!  Powerful enemies indeed!