The cast:
- Manfred (Faceless): A massive man who wears a mask fashioned from a stop sign. He used be a cook on a cattle ship and now cooks for the Carnival. He has shown himself to be brutally deadly.
- Switchblade (Maestro D'): acrobatic woman in a fool's motley who lead a traveling show called the Carnival. She is handy with a knife. She is unnerved by her visions and the new passenger with a claim to her adoptive sister Hiccup: Max.
- Max (Gunlugger): a brutal woman who crash landed on the planet Everette. She is haunted by her past and thinks of herself as a Reaver. She has joined the Carnival to be close to her little sister Hiccup.
- Ekaterina "Katya" Mikhailova Petrova (Tribal): for generations Ekaterina's people have lived on Everette, adapting themselves to its strange psychic jungles. But the environment grew too hostile. Ekaterina led her people to a place of safety, following the visions her father sees in the maelstrom. That place is the Carnival.
The Fate of the Dent, Part 2
We pick up with Max navigating to the bridge of the derelict ship hoping to locate the missing Daff using the ship's systems.
The corridor ended at a pressure door. Max looked through the window into the twisted wreckage ahead. The gap consisted of thirty feet of corridor, without gravity and exposed to the vacuum of space.
Max got a soft hit on her roll to navigate the Dent so decides to deal with zero-g out of the available options.
The zero g rule provided was:
Zero gravity! Yay! When you try to get around in zero-g, you're acting under fire. If you've had experience in zero-g before (like, real experience, not an "it happened to me once" sort of thing), you get +1 to that roll.
Max does have experience and a space suit.
Max tightened the seals on her suit and prepped the door for a quick cycle between open and closed.
The door slid open. Behind her the next pressure door down automatically sealed shut. The gust as air vacated the ship propelled Max forward. She let it carry her along.
A spike of metal crossed the hall. Max tapped on a wall with her hand, rotating slowly out of its way. As she slid past she tapped on the opposite wall to stop her motion.
The other side closed ahead. Max reached out. As she bounced against the other pressure door her robotic hand gripped the handle tightly. She moved herself over the controls and cycled the door.
Acting under fire successful!
Manfred looked up from a blood caked tablet. "I'll power up the ship."
He handed the tablet to Katya and punched some buttons on the main console. Green letters scrolled over the main viewer describing the status of the ship's systems.
Katya slid her finger along the tablet. A video popped up on the black and rust colored surface.
A man shouted into the camera. "This the captain of the Dent! We are under attack! Reavers are boarding the ship!" Screams and rending metal drowned out the man's voice for a moment. He turned away as the main door buckled and then gave. "We need help! Anyone! Please."
The video cut out just as scarred figures scrambled through the gap.
On the main viewer, the computer announced that ship power was at 80% and rising. The intercom crackled to life.
"Anyone there?" Belter said over the communicator. "We've found the engine room. The doors are locked shut. Can anybody get down here to help us?"
Pipeline pressed the button on the communication terminal. "We are booting up the ship's systems now."
The lights suddenly turned on. The ventilation system whirred to life.
Over the comm, Belter said, "the doors opened. Thanks Pipeline."
Manfred pushed some more buttons on the main console. A schematic came up showing eight heat signatures. Two in the rear, one amid decks, four on the bridge and one just outside.
Max climbed up onto the bridge. "Daff's run off."
Manfred grunted.
Suddenly a stream of green code ran across the screen.
"What's that?" Max asked.
Pipeline looked closely. "Some sort of transmission. It's in code."
"Probably a call to any Reavers out there," Max said. "Let's get out of here."
Manfred calls the Carnival. "Switch, we need to leave. Reavers are coming. Get the ship ready."
As the others rush to the engine room, Max breaks off. "I'll get Daff."
Maybe that will get Switch off my case she thought.
Max reached the airlock connected to the Carnival. Frustrated and running out of time, she reached into herself, concentrating on Daff.
In other words she opens her brain. But fails.
Max's perception of the Dent shifted. Flames burned up the metal walls, leaving a layer of ash. The lights glowed hot and red. Brimstone and soot filled her nose.
But she sensed no clue to Daff's location. Instead she heard the screams of hungry things, mutilated hunks of flesh that were once people.
Max activates her suits communicator. "Switch, Reavers are coming. Tell Hiccup to lock herself in her room. We'll be back on board soon."
Pipeline pulled the focal crystal free of its housing. "There. Belter bring that bag over."
Belter held up a padded backpack. Pipeline placed the crystal carefully inside.
"Okay, let's go."
As the crew of the Carnival hurried back to their ship, Katya struck off on her own drawn by a soft moan issuing from a side corridor.
Daff hung before her, caught in a web of thin razor-sharp wire. Blood soaked his shirt and one arm hung loose and pale. The hunter narrowed her eyes and pulled her machete. Carefully she cut the deadly bonds from Daff's arms and torso.
Daff collapsed into her. Laying him on the floor, she bound his wounds quickly. In several places the wires had sliced his right arm to the bone.
"Get up," she urged.
Daff stood weakly. "I can't feel my arm."
"Just lean on me."
The pair limped back to the ship.
Pipeline's radio crackled to life outside the airlock.
"How long will it take to replace the focal crystal?" Switch asked.
"Uh," Pipeline said. "That's going to be a bit. I need to power the engine down, open the housing, install the new crystal, test it, and close it up."
"How long?"
"An hour?"
A proximity alarm sounded as the crew gathered by the airlock.
"Fuck," Switch said. "Okay just get on board, we'll try to outrun them with the damaged crystal."
Manfred pulled the airlock door open. "Go on. I'll head to bridge and distract them."
"What?" Switch said over the radio. "No, Manfred get on the Carnival. Pipeline, tell him to get back here."
Pipeline watched as Manfred vanished down the corridor. Katya and Daff joined them by the airlock.
"He just left," Pipeline explained.
Max looked at Pipeline. "We need to go."
Manfred sprinted onto the bridge. Switch's voice blared on the comm, pleading with him to get back on board the ship.
"Get out of here!" he said, switching the viewer to focus on the incoming vessel.
The craft was a modified corvette. Green lettering in the upper right corner from the Dent's computer highlighted anomalous radiation leaks and battled damaged hull. Manfred typed into the main console and then squashed himself into the pilot's chair.
"Manfred! We can still get out together!" Switch said.
Belter hustled on board. "Nestor, Daily! Why haven't we left?"
Daily gave Switch a sorrowful look as Nester turned on the engines from the pilot's station. "Pulling us out of here right now."
The viewport continued to focus on the Dent, switching angles as the Carnival banked away from the craft.
The large cattle hauler began to accelerate away from them on sublight drive. A second screen popped up showing its target, a red and black stained combat craft. The two craft moved closer and closer together at increasing speed. Moments later they dissolved into a large debris field.
"We could go back," Switch said. "He might have escaped."
Daily looked at the monitors. "No life signs. Wait! There are two, no three more ships in bound."
"I'm punching it," Nestor said activating the Baelight reactor drive.
The Carnival fled into the void.
And we lose a second character (by the same player) to death. At least this time he died on his own terms.
The crew and passengers of the Carnival gathered in the hanger bay. Belter carefully emptied a final sack of items on the pile in the center ring.
"That's the last of his things," the former strongman sniffed.
Switch stepped forward. "Most of you know our tradition but for the newcomers: when a member of the Carnival passes we divide up their possessions to keep as remembrance of their time with us."
One by one the carnies and passengers walked up to the pile and chose an item. Then they boarded the Ferris wheel and slowly rode it around in silence.
Switch took a mask from the pile. She recalled carving the simple red mask on their flight from Megaton. She carried it to the Ferris wheel pressed against her chest.
Hiccup took a simple carving knife, one just like any other from the ship's kitchen. Max, behind her, considered taking another blade but instead grabbed a kikamora fang.
As the Ferris wheel turned, the Baikal Tribe began to sing a mournful dirge. inside their carriage Hiccup and Max bowed their heads said a prayer.
Reminding us that of the two sisters' religious upbringing.
The hangar bay remained empty most of the time in the days after the funeral. Max and Irina appeared to have the entire ground level to themselves.
"Here," Irina said to Max. She held out an ornately carved club. "You wanted this?"
Max reached for it as Narnia strolled out of her tent. Irina snatched the club back, knocking it against a post as she did. The club fell from her hands, clattering to the floor.
Narnia gazed at the two of them. Calmly she walked over and picked up the weapon.
"Max I'd like to talk to you," she said. "I'll be in my tent."
As she left, Max glanced at Irina. The hunter shrugged. Max walked over to the tent.
Narnia sat in one of the folding chairs in front of her stage. "Max, have a seat."
"No, thanks."
"Why do you need a weapon, Max?"
"Because I get the feeling people don't like me here. That always ends one way."
"Does it have to? We don't fight among ourselves here. We are a family."
Max looked over at the stage. "What about that kid with the sling? I heard his sister did it to him. Seems that's not all the conflict here either."
"You see a quite a bit. Well then I have a question for you. What will you do once you reconcile with Hiccup? How will you keep her safe?"
Max choked a moment. "I don't know."
"Will you think about it?"
Max nodded. "I will."
"Then here, have this." She held out the club. Max quickly took it.
Katya visited her father in the space they built for him.
"Greetings first hunter," he said as she entered the low darkened chamber.
"Greetings father." Katya knelt in front of him. "How is the tribe? Are we clear of all danger?"
"There is always danger, my daughter. The hungry ones are distant for now. The tribe is safe from material threats."
"Then what danger is there?"
"These people we travel with, they have their own beliefs. Some of our tribe may be drawn into them. Grigori and his friends will be attending a gathering tonight in the place where they keep the animals. There is a creature there that the people of the Carnival worship."
"Is it dangerous?"
"I am not sure. If Grigori is only satisfying his curiosity, perhaps."
"I'll talk to him."
Switch absently rubbed the mask in her hands as she sat on her bed.
"I know what with the Reavers you didn't make it to the gathering," Chainsaw growled from the door, "but we are having another soon if you want to come."
Switch looked up at Chainsaw. "What? Oh right. I'll be there."
As the towering circus performer left, Switch closed her eyes and reached for guidance. Mother what should I do?
She gets a soft hit on her open her brain roll.
Switch opened her eyes with a sense that she should go.
She looked down at the mask. "Manfred should I really go?"
The mask whispered back with Manfred's voice. "Yes, go. Find out what they do there. Protect your family."
Switch picked up the Norman move.
Switchblade put the mask on the wall and headed to the Den.
The Den stank of animals, feed and waste. Pulsating fluorescent lights illuminated the cramped space. The central space, barely larger than Switch's bedroom, had been cleared and filled with chairs. The freaks filled most of the seats but Switch spotted three of Katya's people toward the back.
"Over here, Switch," Chainsaw said, gesturing to a chair near the front.
Switch took a deep breath and sat down. She was seated in front of one of the stalls. A large leather curtain obscured its contents. Something moved behind it, bleating softly.
Switch heard Katya's voice from the back. "I need to talk to him."
Chainsaw barred the hunter's way. "We are about to begin. If you need to talk to Grigori, do it outside."
"Come on Grigori, I want to talk."
Grigori kept his attention on the stall. "No I want to see this thing."
"Just discuss it with me first."
"Fine."
The two natives of Everette left the chamber. Switch could still hear their muffled voices.
"Come with me. These are not our ways."
"There is a power here,' he said. "You must feel it."
"Stick to the old ways, Grigori."
Algor emerged from behind the curtain. "Behold the Beast with Two Heads!"
As Algor peeled the curtain back, Switch gaped at the deformed hairless thing in front of her. The young goat struggled to lift its two heads. She stared into its four blue eyes, drawn in by some strange power.
Drowning into their pure blue, a vision bombarded her. She saw Max standing in the burning rubble of Shepherd.
"Tell me where Hiccup is," Max threatened a blood caked man with broken legs. "Or it will be your arms next."
The real world intruded on her consciousness.
"No! You come back to the tribe!" Katya shouted.
"I am staying here!" Grigori replied.
"Then I'm taking the others back!"
Katya stormed into the Den. "Kirill! Toma! Come with me or you will be punished."
The two hunters nervously hurried out of the room. Katya glanced at the beast as it mewled in its pen. Unlike the others she felt only the painful emptiness of the void. She left the room behind Toma and Kirill.
Katya opens her brain successfully.
As people settled back into their seats, Switch turned to Algor. "This is amazing. We should show this to other people! It could be a new act."
Algor nodded, "Others should hear the wisdom of the Beast with Two Heads."
"I'll get working on a sign," Shatterglass said.
"So are you up for it?" Switch asked Wayward.
The dwarf shuffled his feet on the deserted bridge. "Sounds dangerous. I don't like her anymore than you do but I don't want to get hurt."
"You know she's dangerous and I know it but until Hiccup sees that I can't kick Max off the Carnival. So what is it going to take for you to help me expose her?"
Reading a person obviously.
Wayward rubbed his chin. "A date with Chic."
"Chic? She's with Nestor."
"They are not married even if they do have kids. And you asked what I wanted."
"Fine, fine. I'll set it up. You set Max up."
"Okay."
Followed by manipulate a person. Poor Max. Then again perhaps poor Wayward.
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