Big Runs Log

Melbourne Central Spire
As the Hurricane recalls it:

The Hurricane was given time to prepare for this mission. It was to be a long haul and ammunition would likely come in short supply. 88 floors of walking into the unknown.

In preparation for this, a shiny new medium ammo drone was bought. Being able to carry as much ammo as The Hurricane it was quite the asset to have for this mission. Locked an loaded with extra clips for the machine pistol, heavy pistol and of course his beloved Rhumetal, TEMPEST.

The team was lead underground to a basement entrance to the tower. Mr Johnson’s people hacked and opened the electric blast doors, only long enough to let the team pass through. They were wished good luck, and the heavy blast door was closed behind them. No backing out.

They began climbing the tower, trying to reach the top where important research was located, and was to be rescued. Traveling through the food court level they saw only remnants of battles and ransacking, Stores looted, tables turned, cover built and destroyed. Scratches and bullet marks common place. But, no bodies found, and no blood anywhere.

The team was greeted by a face in a door panel. A man who called himself Yuri. He said he was a researcher and asked if the team was there to rescue him. Naturally the Hurricane said yes, because, there was extra new yen for getting the head researcher out. He said he was based on floor 88 (the top floor).

Moving up the tower the team discovered bodies. Lot of dead bodies. Some with claw marks in them, others who had starved. And one man, hiding in a cupboard, on the brink of death. He was treated by Hippie, and then brought along with the team. Yuri called them again soon and told them there was a safe place on floor 19 which they could rest in and also to be careful of the… the feed cut out just before he could warn them of the dangers ahead.

On they went. In the early teens the party encountered rooms which had been completely sealed off. Metal sheets covered all entrances, even the elevator shafts. When Hippie inspected them on the astral plane, all he felt was an overwhelming sense of dread. Although the metal could be torn down with ease, the party elected that there was no need to and so they moved on.

They climbed to floor 19 and stayed in the Kathmandu which was the safe place. Pulling down thick metal covers over the entrance. Overnight there were scratching sounds coming from everywhere outside. Orion yelled “hello?” at them and attracted more scratching sounds and shadows under the door. In the morning, there were inch deep claw marks gouged out of the door.

The party pressed on. They continued to climb the stairs until they heard the sound of heavy gunfire and animal screams coming from one of the rooms. They opened up the door to reveal a large warehouse type area. Within were large, either heavily armed and armoured people or potentially robots. There was about 30 of them. Moving together, there were frequently attacked, something unseen jumped at them, was shot and shrieked in pain. Only for another to jump at them. The party had all found a safe place from which to watch without getting seen, except for Starbreak who had gotten caught in some scaffolding. She was immediately seen and shot at, risking not much, because he is essentially immune to bullets, The Hurricane heroically moved out into view, freed her arm and dragged her to safety, out of the room. The rest of the party identified the potential hazard of staying and also left.

Continuing to climb the party bypassed many floors. However, as they climbed, they began to feel more and more tired, more and more encumbered. And a ringing in their ears just wouldn’t stop, even when The Hurricanes ears were turned off. Slowing, but pressing on the party began to hallucinate, blood flowed thickly down the stairs, making climbing them slippery and hard. The Hurricane tried to open one of the doors so that the party might find the cause, or rest a while. However his hand was scorched, and hot searing pain coursed his body.

Bishop tried something similar, only to disappear upon touching the door handle. The stars began to melt and fall behind the party pressing them on more. After a few levels, Bishop reappeared out of a door, and was adamant that he had been with them the entire time. With no further time to question him the party moved up, away from the melting stairs.

The party moved on. They found themselves in a magical research facility. Occasionally as they passed through this floor, some sort of pathetic rat creature would jump at the glass it was behind, spit a corrosive venom at them and move on. The only injury came when there was a rattling sound coming from one of the vents. Bishop opened the vent and was, to his surprise, attacked by a rat like creature. It jumped him, bit his face, and scattered back off down the vent. The wound on Bishops face began to burn and smoke, Bishop fell the floor, nauseated. Basically incapacitated The Hurricane, being the strongest member, opted to carry Bishop.

Once again, they climbed the tower. The party came to the residential part. The doors were either heavy locked up, or wide open and ransacked. The lights were out and The Hurricane moved using thermographic vision. He was sure that he could hear footsteps behind him, moving when he moved and stopping when he stopped. Suddenly a door burst open flooding the area with white light and a man yelled, JESUS CHRIST GET IN HERE. The thing behind the party moved at them, the party moved into the light. The lights went out and they were attacked from every direction. Being the fastest to react The Hurricane shot with expert precision, even in the dark. Found his mark and killed one of the advancing creatures. The creatures were generally fought off. At one stage, three of them honed in on the biggest threat, The Hurricane. Once they were fought off, The Hurricane noticed a small cut on the base of his neck from the attack. He covered it up, it didn’t happen, no one would see. The Hurricane wasn’t hurt from so small a creature as those.

On the party went. Up the party climbed. Now in the early fifties, the party received a call on one of the door panels. It was a man asking for help. He showed the party a feed of drones bashing down a door and asked for help. The party ran to his aid. Throwing a grenade The Hurricane destroyed one of the drones, but most of the blast was blocked by a shield drone. The drones turned, at that moment another Starbreak ran past the drones, leading them down the hall and away from the door. The shield drone was disabled by Vectors quick hacking. The party entered the room and were greeted by some low grade guards. McHughes security guards, mall cops, no one of any particular skill. They stayed for a moment as Starbreak inspected the bodies of a few dead in the room. Then, the mall cops move on, saying they were going down, and the party moved up.

They arrived at more residential floors. They were lead to one room where Starbreak said a man once lived, before he was killed. The party received a call from the Ai saying that their conversation was illegal and to await security. The party Orced the Ai good, like trolling, but more orcy. Vector called it back several times to its frustration.

Then, the party received an urgent call for help from Yuri. He said he was trapped on floor 19 and in need of immediate help. Vector decided it was too late for him, and was going to let him die. Rhino decided it was time to cook a soy burger and Starbreak, despite the urgency of the situation, decided to reminisce about how the man who lived here had died. The Hurricane on the other hand, would not sit back and do nothing. He opted to head down again and save Yuri, even if the others wouldn’t help. Bishop steeled his nerves and came too. The pair of them headed down, relatively undisturbed. Except for finding one brief case of ammunition with a note D.U.R. which Bishop noted must stand for Depleted Uranium Rounds, very rare, very deadly. The Hurricane took said briefcase. Upon arriving at floor 19, the lights went out. The Hurricane and Bishop set up defences in Kathmandu, using the light of a flash light.

Just as they were about to locate and save Yuri, terror happened. An overwhelming fear like nothing ever felt before. He couldn’t sit a wait, The Hurricane ran. He ran down. Away from Yuri, away from Bishop, away. He sprinted faster than he ever knew he could. He saw nothing but the blur of the darkness as he ran, heard nothing but the thundering of his own footsteps. Down he ran until he came to a stop on floor <19.

THIS IS WHERE WE ARE