Ch. 6 Dark Heart of the Swamp

[dakota]

The trip south was uneventful into the night. The squad saw many of Dinosaur Swamp's inhabitants, but nothing bothered to attack the noisy little boat. Finally, when they had to use their flashlights to guide the airboat, Shep came over the team comm," No good bosslady. Tori, better find us a place to beach this thing."

None of the three animals could sense anything out of place.

[Renekin Skywalker]

Socrates didn't even shrug at Shep's comments. "I detect nothing offensive." He answered. "Shep's socks notwithstanding."

The Dogboy also looked over at Jin. "Suggestions?"

[Tori]

"Y'all keep them lights low, and use the red filters. It'll fox up our nightvision..." Tori said it quietly, but flashlights didn't help cats much. Til it got darker and darker still. She looked up to see if it was overcast, or the vegetation was too dense to emit any moon or starlight.

"Aye aye Shep, looking for a beach..." She not only searched for a beach, but for a mangrove with a bank or any other place to safely shore the boat. While closer to the target, and making up for time lost in the battle with reptiles, with the Marlins and with the busted boat, she felt safer remaining overnight in the Marlin's camp. Then again, if she wanted safe, she would have gone into the Air Force.

She throttled down to idle speed and moved towards the bank, lowering the roar of the fan. With the motor muted, she listened for any signs of trouble, animals or other dangers along the channel and sniffed the air lightly.

"Looks like we're alone for the moment, Shep. Movin' in... Slow..." She listened to water displaced by the boat rush back underneath as the hull fell off plane and felt it rock gently. God she loved being on the water.

Skills:
Detect Ambush [dice=100]needs 55
Detect Concealment [dice=100]needs 45
Trap and mine detection [dice=100]needs 45

Sense psychic and magic energy [dice=100]needs 40
Sense supernatural beings [dice=100]needs 58
Locate sound [dice=100] needs 84
Recognize sound [dice=100] needs 76

[rand=394490655339997437958827706464193971566610054899211917786257881902]

[Tori]

Oh, and a perception:
[dice=20][rand=255558582517100840322328752632338254591635547973255836286660537863]

[Mierin]

Sam sighs and nods in agreement with finding a safe place to dock, keeping an eye out for signs of trouble. Just because there wasn't anything psychic or magic around that the animals could sense didn't mean there wasn't a non-magical or psychic threat around.

[dice=20] perception
[dice=100] detect ambush, pass /67%
[dice=100] detect concealment, pass /60%
[rand=42297828242273762371673413249168880002131699761406775702893341473]

[Janxi]

"I got no tallies, animal, veg-ta-belor min-ral..." Janxi's rounded lion ears swiveled like radar dishes in search of trouble.

As Tori slowed the boat, she scrambled to the front of the boat and took charge of the bowline. She would lash it to a treetrunk or tug the boat out of the water when Tori beached. In the mean time, she got low, like a stalking housecat, listening and looking out for trouble. Her tail gave a gracious swish back and forth showing trepidation, but a willingness to deal with the uncertainty. She scanned the bank for tracks.

"Six? I'mma cammo tha boat when Smurfette lands us..."

Sense psychic and magic energy [dice=100]/ 40
Sense supernatural beings [dice=100]/58
Locate sound [dice=100] / 84
Recognize sound [dice=100] / 76

Tracking [dice=100]/60
Perception [dice=20]
[rand=1410145761088542634396534422060143369449160382523735700652174381062]

[dakota]

"Very funny, Socrates." Shepherd replied flatly as they neared the shore, finding a decent place to beach

As Tori killed the engine, there was a slight burst of comm static, followed by a strange plop of water.

[Tori]

Tori's ears perked and swiveled toward the strange plop of water. She looked at and above the source and lowly reached down for her helmet, still listening. She put on the helmet and engaged the thermal, gesturing for Janxi to do the same.

"That static coulda been some alternator noise, maybe. The other? I ain't sure yet. Stand by to repel boarders and I suggest puttin' out them lights... Janx? Find somethin' to tie on to and git ready..." She said it just loud enough to be heard by everyone on the boat, then waited for trouble, that if not finding them now, would inevitably catch up with them.

Skills:
Detect Ambush [dice=100]needs 55
Detect Concealment [dice=100]needs 45
Trap and mine detection [dice=100]needs 45
Radio basic to identify static burst [dice=100] needs 70

Sense psychic and magic energy [dice=100]needs 40
Sense supernatural beings [dice=100]needs 58
Locate sound [dice=100] needs 84
Recognize sound [dice=100] needs 76
Perception: [dice=20]

Others: don helmet and engage thermal imagery.[rand=956891859860992703447814943515925574784917669966918901344782948113]

[Renekin Skywalker]

Socrates was off the boat, next to Janxi, befor the big cat knew it. "comm static can be many things. Like a signal of action."

He crouched a few feet away and aimed for the forest. "let met know if we're leaving."

Perception: [dice=20]
psychic puppy sense are open, even for humans.[rand=1014458313584327749901256128214393124346924014395472774691879749]

[Janxi]

Janxi thought back to Tori's one second keying of the mic to acknowledge Shep's order while executing the Seven Neko move. "Figure that all bah yerself, didja Soc?" she asked in a mumble.

The massive cat nodded to her little partner, and went for her helmet to cover her head. As she made the reach to her belt, her ears swiveled looking for more unexplained plops, drops, splishes and splashes. Helmet on, she engaged its thermals as well, scanning the swamp for dangers in the trees, on the water, or beneath the muck. She took the bowline and tied it to a tree with little slack, so the team could come and go onto the boat and land, as needed.

"Hold fast Soc . Let's not go tearin' off inta tha dark... Lessie what we can see, and hear what we kin hear 'fore we go lightin' up some cubs and chasin' at are own shadders... But, at tha same time, stay frosty. This seems like it might be a seddup..."

She peered through her rifle scope, scanning the area of the plop for signs of trouble and tracks along the shore.

Sense psychic and magic energy [dice=100]/ 40
Sense supernatural beings [dice=100]/58
Locate sound [dice=100] / 84
Recognize sound [dice=100] / 76

Tracking [dice=100]/60
Perception [dice=20]
[rand=31603764429318366493483090256507796560549135672240423751646191874]

[Renekin Skywalker]

"shhh" Socrates breathed. He was already listening and didn't see a need to move.

[Janxi]

Janxi gave one nod and crouched low at the boat's prow, giving a look at Soc to discover something with his nose, a look at Sam to discover something with sixth sense (pun intended) a look to Shep for ranger skill, then at Jin for home-field advantage... Her last look was at Tori, because Tori was her ace over aces.

But she got low once more, clicking her rifle off safe. "I got no tally now..." She said in an absolute whisper. "Keeping eyes open."

[dakota]

As they looked around, the squad got a sense something wasn't right.

[based off perc rolls]

Socrates noticed Jin was edgy too, his bow drawn as he looked around in the darkness

Janxi also noticed as she did her head count that there was one missing. Shep was no wheres to be seen.

Tori saw Shep was gone too, and as she reached for her helmet, Shep's was next to hers and the two of them were wet.

With the boat shut off, the swamp was incredibly quiet.

[Tori]

"Where's Shep? Socrates, do ya smell fades or nothing? Can you do a presence sense?

"Six? You got orders? Stay on the boat or disembark? We got some flares, too..." She said quietly, with a calm tone.

She changed a clip in her shotgun, selecting her silver rounds. If magic was afoot, she might appreciate the silver. If not, a laser was as good as anything else. Even if she sounded calm, the hair on her back stood up to make her look bristly under her armor. This was a scary situation.

"Water on the deck, Six. somethin' coulda grabbed him, but we shoulda heard him go in and he'd call out if there was trouble."

So why didn't he call out? He was a good enough warrior to not sound some sort of alarm when he was grabbed. Even sleeping, getting grabbed and dragged into the water was enough to wake the dead. She looked in the water using the thermal and up in the trees overhead. "Stand by, Jan... We may be goin' in after him. This is creepy, y'all, really creepin' me the fox out..."

Detect Ambush [dice=100]needs 55
Detect Concealment [dice=100]needs 45
Trap and mine detection [dice=100]needs 45

Sense psychic and magic energy [dice=100]needs 40
Sense supernatural beings [dice=100]needs 58
Locate sound [dice=100] needs 84
Recognize sound [dice=100] needs 76[rand=4185735358541733471338896650575487293131695006189077652895366234]

[Tori]

And another perception, if needed:

[dice=20][rand=61655774056438834588243114557097716553636841317335298659617852945]