Having fought off an attack of strange and bizarrely mutated humanoids, the PCs returned to making their way up the spiral stairs. Along the wy, the passed the corpses of Gator Troopers, including one slowly dissolving in a puddle of hissing (and faintly glowing) green fluid. Nearing the top of the stairs, the sound of someone crying was heard. Calvin recognized the noise and recommended that no one go down the hall way from which it emanated. He went for a look him self (using his power to alter time) and returned shaking his head.
Gaining the top of the stairs, the PCs passed into a large circular chamber, crammed with advanced technology. Some of it seemed to be control surfaces, much akin to ones seen before in the Pylon Plazas. Marcus started to look these over, while the rest of the PCs spread out to examine the rest of the room. Objets that could be advanced storage decides were found, as well as terminals, power systems, and the like. All of it seemed to feed into a square column that went from the floor into the ceiling.
Calvin made his way up the stairs to the second level and found the column connected to a large tuning fork-looking structure. As he watched (and Marcus manipulated controls) the air between the fork ‘opened up’ to reveal... somewhere else. Continued manipulation caused other places to appear and it rapidly became apparent the ‘turning fork’ was some sort of gate to other worlds.
Coming up stairs, the PCs started to investigate the upper floor, while Captain Jiranee and Edward’s squires agreed to watch the doorway to the lower levels. While the PCs looked at another world, Marcus went poking around the room, checking out the equipment.
Things went south rather quickly when a huge (30’ long or so) Snake Man appeared. He seemed to be the same individual the PCs had seen via view screens before, except he was dressed in full armor. Donovan wasted no time in attacking, only to fly though the holographic image and slam into a wall. Meanwhile, the real Snake Man Commander appeared behind Marcus and snatched him up. Coming out from behind a partition, he told the PCs to surrender, else he would kill Marcus. Naturally, this went over as well as expected and the PCs instantly moved to rescue Marcus.
Edward launched into a flying kick, Billy Jo attacked with his axe, and Marcus even managed to cut the Snake Man’s air hoses. Then Edward put a flare gun round onto the rent in the Snake Man’s armor, the Snake Man blasted Billy Jo across the room, Cyan fired an arrow into the same rent, and Calvin shoved his sword into the gap in the armor as well. The Snake Man ended up tumbling into the gate, trying to pull Marcus after him, but Cyan pulled him free of the Snake Man’s grasp.
Once everyone had recovered, Marcus continued to fiddle with the controls, eventually bringing up what could be the PC’s Earth. Now it was up to the PCs as what would happen next. Would they stay in the Well or would they go home?
Notes
1) The locations Marcus opened a gate to were as follows (in order):
a) A large tree, perhaps an oak? big enough to contain what looks like a building inside it. There is a door and windows in the trunk, and balconies amid the branches. A sign next to the door reads “Library” in standard English.
b) An aerial view of a vast city, apparently built over and/or floating on the ocean’s surface. The city is notable for the forests of immense skyscrapers, the vehicles flying around them, and the tall tower-like structure extending far into the sky. Marcus identifies this as a ‘beanstalk’ or orbital elevator.
c) A modern, albeit run-down looking, city. Visible signs are in a mix of English and some foreign language (Marcus says it’s Cyrillic.) Dominating the skyline is an immense tower, silvery-blue, connected to the city by long cables. Donovan spots a vast walking biomechanical ‘thing’ striding down a street. It look disturbingly familiar to the dead biomachines the PCs had found in the jungle after leaving Virava.
d) A broad, flat, grassy plain. The horizon reaches far into the distance, meeting a thin arch that extends up into the sky, eventually vanishing behind the sun. Edward says it looks like something from the game Halo. This leads to speculation that the PCs are looking at a genuine ringworld.
e) A dimly-lit cavern of unguessable size. Suspended within are numerous geodesic spheres connected by walkways and narrow towers. legible letters and numbers can be seen on some structures (things like 1A, 1970, EXIT, and so on.) A voice can be heard echoing over a PA System, but the words are indistinct.
f) A reddish, dusty, and windy desert. A lone monorail runs through it, surrounded by rusty industrial-looking structures. The terrain looks something akin to photos of the surface of Mars. This is the world the Snake Man Commander fell into.
g) A bright yellow sun hanging over a fairly calm blue ocean. Nothing else can be seen.
You’ve met the following people:
Leader of the Snakemen
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