2025-06-22 - Back to the Lizard Ship
Estella, Cooper, Angel, and the medic, Luis, travel back to the world with the galleon and the big red lizards.
IC Date: 2025-06-22
OOC Date: 06/22/2025
Location: World 0002
Related Scenes:
The portal room thrums with energy, the large device in the ceiling adjusting as the runes for the world that they are about to explore are input into the control panel behind them. Estella Waverly, one of the members of the Magical Studies group stands at the console, putting in the information. One of the medics, a guy named Luis is ready on standby with his med kit to accompany them. Which leaves Angel as their security representative and Cooper to accompany the team.
"Remember, everyone stay together once we're inside," Estella says, the young woman not looking at them as she's busy inputting the information. "Don't wander away from the group, and if Angel thinks anything is too dangerous, we back out immediately."
"The world we're going to has some large predators in it, so we're going to want to move carefully and quietly. The goal will be to avoid them rather than confrontation if we can manage it," she says as she steps forward. "But, just in case.." She offers out a baton and a taser to each of them.
One of these things is not like the other. Cooper is not a medic, someone who can fight (except to hold his own in a bar brawl) or an academic. He's just a maintenance guy from a small town who lucked out on getting a job in the park.
And now someone is handing him a taser. He turns it over in his hand. "Uhh...how...big a predator are we talking here?"
His magic isn't even useful for an otherworldly trip, so it's kind of wild to him that he's been allowed to do this. But he's also extremely curious about this whole portal business. He's wearing his maintenance coveralls because well, if it's good enough to crawl under a ride, it'll do for a trip to another realm.
Angel will take the offered baton and a Taser, but she also has a pistol in a thigh holster and a few magazines just in case. People may have been there before and decided non-lethal weapons were appropriate, and she hopes they are, but there may be more out there that hasn't been met yet. And 'they' might not be so easy to deal with.
Angel is dressed in black from neck to toe; rugged boots, pants with plenty of filled pockets, tactical vest over a tough jacket, fingerless gloves, and plenty of tools and supplies that may or may not be needed. Be prepared! A nod at Estella's warnings and recommendations. Angel would have said much the same things. She would also have read up on the predators - do they hunt in packs, do they ambush, how well camouflaged are they, what is their primary sense. Be prepared!
"Well," Estella says, "The smaller lizards are about six feet in length from nose to tail tip, I think? The big one, the one we're going to try to avoid is probably closer to twenty or more feet in length. But hopefully we won't see that one at all." She pauses, "Hopefully it won't see us at all."
Very reassuring! The reason for the comprehensive waiver becomes very evident. "You are welcome to back out at any time," she adds to Cooper. "These excursions are completely voluntary."
She is dressed in black cargo pants and boots with a charcoal grey long-sleeved t-shirt on and a black jacket over that with a number of pockets that contain sample taking supplies. "It's cold in there, so if you'd like an extra jacket, there's a couple over there, too," she says gesturing to some winter-wear set over on a side table near the control panel.
It's then that the light focuses from the apparatus on the ceiling and the portal forms in one of the alcoves, swirling and opening up into an oval-shaped doorway. Smiling brightly, she begins to head toward the portal but pauses to let Angel go first.
Thus far all that is known about the lizards is that they are a bright red and thus stand out pretty well in the icy caves. Their primary sense seems to be smell and perhaps hearing? It's not sight. And their hunting habits are unknown.
Cooper darts over to grab one of the jackets considering he's dressed for the weather in the park and not another plane of existence. He shoves the taser in the pocket of the jacket and steps up beside Angel.
"Uh hey. I'm Cooper. Please shoot the lizards if they try to eat me? I'd really appreciate it." He smiles nervously. Then he falls back behind the person with the gun. He tries to position himself in the middle of the group as they enter the portal.
"Angel" the woman deadpan greets Cooper in return. "It's ironic" she adds with a slight smirk. "Don't worry, I'll shoot the lizards before they try to eat you. And if they're red, at least they won't be hard to spot. Not good marks for evolution on that world." Another nod for Estella. "I'm all for avoiding twenty feet long lizards."
A deep breath before she takes her first step into another world. "The Army did promise I'd see the world. Don't think they realised it would be more than one." Angel feels she is rugged up enough for any cold that hits but she does still shiver a little as she walks from heated room to chilled cavern.
<FS3> Waverly rolls Power: Good Success (7 7 6 5 4 4 3)
"Perhaps they don't have any higher order predators to hide from," Estella comments as they begin to make their way through the portal. "It will be exciting to find out!" Yes, exciting.
The passage through the portal is a little strange. The feeling is of something very strong and magical thrumming within one's very bones for just a moment, and then they are on the other side with the shimmery oval opening behind them. Inside the cave it is frigid. Icicles hang from the ceiling amid the stalactites and stalagmites. The floor is a little wet and slippery as well, necessitating careful movement as they begin to follow the passage roughly upward.
The enormous cave that the tunnel opens up into has a rocky shoreline around the lake that extends along the outer wall in a crescent shape. It's to their right along the far curve of the crescent that a galleon seems to have run aground. The ship has burn marks on it and looks rough. It must have limped in from somewhere outside and grounded itself on the shore.
There are no immediate signs of any giant lizards, but there are silvery fish in the water, small ones that dart here and there, large sightless eyes completely useless in the dimness of the cave which Estella lights up with a few small globes of softly glowing light. One hovers around each individual so that their path is well lit.
Cooper wasn't sure what to expect with the traversal. He's heard a few accounts from others, but it all seems so unbelievable. So when they pass through the portal and the cold air hits him, he's momentarily taken aback. He exhales a cloud of cold breath and then he walks cautiously forward.
"Whoah. A pirate ship." An oversimplification, but it seems to have that vibe. "Wait...does that mean there are people in these other worlds? Or did this ship somehow get here from our world?"
He's so taken by the sight of the ship and the cave itself that he's momentarily forgotten about aggressive lizards.
"And maybe their prey is sightless?" Angel shrugs to Estella. "But, yes, let's hope there are no higher predators."
"Well, that felt...different" is Angel's comment on their travel through the portal. She will assume that any effects on the human body have been explored long before she stepped through. Better not be carcinogenic. Her heavy treaded boots help her on the slippery ground but she wasn't intending to run anywhere until necessary.
"Nope, there is a deadlier predator present" Angel muses before pointing. "Whoever built that ship." A little snort of amusement that causes a puff of foggy breath before she gestures at Cooper. "Like he said. Did it come here by accident from our world. Don't suppose that Bermuda Triangle thing is real and is actually a portal to various worlds. I mean, did a ship like that ever cruise the Great Lakes?"
A click of her gloved fingers in front of Cooper's eyes. "Hey, keep alert, or we'll never get to see it up close. Okay to go over there, Waverley?"
Estella looks absolutely thrilled. "It's great, isn't it? Look at it! It looks like a Spanish Galleon, sortof, but not quite." She begins to walk slowly in that direction as she says to Cooper, "It would seem so. One group actually did see people, well, a person, but we haven't made contact with any yet. We're still debating on what the proper protocol for that should be."
"The fish definitely are," Estella confirms for Angel. "But I don't know what else they might eat."
As for where the ship came from, she gestures toward where the cave continues on in the distance toward the light. "I would assume that it sailed in from the sea outside before it wrecked. I don't know how it would have gotten here from our world. It would make more sense for it to have come from somewhere else in this one," Estella opines. "Though I suppose anything is possible."
When Angel asks if it's okay to go over there, she nods and says, "We should just proceed with caution. Slow and quiet." Her voice is pitched low, though loud enough so that they can hear her.
"Gotta create our own first contact protocols," murmurs Cooper as he takes in the sight. His eyes are as big as saucers. The snap startles him and he grabs for his pocket where the taser is, then relaxes. "Right, sorry. Just sorta struck by the Treasure Island of it all."
He's immediately looking for movement when Estella mentions people. "This is so wild. Imagine if this ship fell through some kind of break in reality somewhere where these ships used to sail. And then it got wrecked here and maybe time is all screwy here. Or maybe yeah, it's actually from here. That's almost scarier."
He moves forward carefully. Fortunately, as a Canadian he is an expert ice walker and his heavy-soled steel toe workboots are pretty ideal for an expedition.
"Ooh, maybe all the people on Earth came from this world? That would upset a few people" Angel snorts. "But I'm no scientist. I leave all that stuff to others. I'm just here to protect them." And curious maintenance staff.
As she carefully makes her way towards the ship, Angel will pause every now and then to make sure everyone is together and also to appraise the situation. "It looks like the ship has gun ports which means gunpowder is around on this world. Which means any person we meet will have guns. Might take them an hour to reload but they only need the first shot to make an impression." She debates swapping over to her pistol but, for now, baton and Taser. Since it is possible anyone here would know the general shape of a pistol, maybe having one in her hand would not be the best way to make first contact.
"But which would be the reality, Cooper? Our world, or theirs?" It's easy to make huge statements when you have no obligation to prove it.
<FS3> Lizards (a NPC) rolls 4 (7 5 4 3 3 2) vs No Lizards (a NPC)'s 4 (7 7 5 5 4 2)
<FS3> Marginal Victory for No Lizards.
Estella has her baton tucked into her belt and she has the taser tucked into a pouch on her opposite hip so that her hands are free. She walks closer to the water and reaches down to fill a couple of vials of water and stoppers them before tucking them away in one of her pockets. Thus far, there don't appear to be any lingering lizards. Perhaps they are off somewhere else. Perhaps they are sleeping. But thus far the coast is clear.
As they get closer to the Galleon it is possible to see that there is writing on the back of it, perhaps the name of the ship, obscured a bit by a hole blown in it by a large cannonball, most likely, and not in English.
As they make their way around behind it and can see the opposite side, it's clear why it limped here. There's a big gash in the side where it must have been taking on water. Tatters of wood hang here and there and it looks like a large section of the bow was systematically dismantled, the boards actually neatly pulled loose rather than being blown open or burned away. What they were taken away and used for remains as of yet, unclear.
"Reality is what you make of it," murmurs Cooper to Angel as he steps forward to examine the ship.
He glances back to Estella and pulls out his phone. "Am I allowed to take pictures?" Regardless of the answer, he uses his phone like binoculars to zoom in on the damage. "Looks like someone salvaged materials from the wreck, probably for a shelter?" Then he glances around. "How far have other people gotten outside the cave? I have to wonder why they didn't just hunker down in the ship. There's gotta be a reason they went elsewhere. I watched that show...The Terror, about the Franklin Expedition? The smart thing was to stay on the ship where the boilers could keep you warm."
"Or they made a raft out of the planking" Angel suggests. "If you don't think you can repair your ship, and you come from somewhere beyond this cave, you probably want to get back there." No red lizards is a good thing, but she has responsibility for this time and that means she can't go exploring. As much as she would love to. Not unless everyone goes inisde the ship.
"We've already explored the ship's contents?" Angel asks Estella. "Took anything of interest? Books? Maps? Charts? Clothing? Weapons?" She looks over the ship for a moment. "Don't think this has boilers, Cooper. To keep warm, you'd have to burn your way of escape. Vicious circle."
"Oh, yes," Estella says when Cooper asks if he can take pictures. "Please do, as many as you like. We're here to document everything that we find as we explore. So take samples, take pictures, take notes," she encourages. She seems a little distracted looking around the cave and hasn't really looked at the ship at all. "Oh, this is as far as anyone has gotten. Byron was able to look back in time and see what happened when the ship ran aground. But the lizards chased everyone out. They didn't even get as close to it as we have." Which means that no, no one has looked inside the ship.
She then pauses and says, "The giant lizard crawled out of it so... We could go look inside, but we should be prepared, just in case it's sleeping in there."
She glances at the other two, letting Angel make the call, as their security escort.
Cooper makes sure to take the best pictures he can of the ship's damage. He also pays particular attention to the script on the stern. "Weird. That uh...I don't...know a lot of languages and I know it's damaged, but it doesn't look like any language I've seen. Maybe someone back in the park is a language nut?" He snaps a few more pictures and moves closer to try and get a better angle on any intact letters.
He glances back at the others, then up at the ship. "Whaaaat if the lizards are nesting in the ship? That'd explain why the previous owners abandoned it."
"They would only have abandoned it if they couldn't fight the lizards off" Angel notes before gesturing at the hull. "And they had cannon. Sure, they could have been surprised. Still exhausted after whatever it was that brought them here - a battle probably - and been overwhelmed. In our world, these kinds of ships would have troops on board but, hey, don't think the battle was going well for them so who knows how many were alive. But we're only guessing."
Angel takes a deep breath. "Okay, I'll go in first. A twenty foot lizard is unlikely to be hiding in a cabin. Should be able to spot it pretty quick." Her baton and taser are placed on or in her belt as she switches over to pistol and flashlight. "You come after me, Cooper. Waverly and Luis, keep your eyes peeled on the cavern and let us know if something comes. If it's clear inside, you can come in and have a look around too."
A bullet is loaded into the chamber of the pistol and then it is time to clamber through the huge hole, big enough for a giant lizard, and enter the Ship of Doom.
Estella looks in the direction that Cooper is pointing out, at the back of the ship and she says, "It says, .. something.. Endeavor." Then she pauses. "I can read that! Well, not the part that's missing, but I can read the letters. It definitely says, ... Endeavor." She points out the second word that is clearly visible, though is unable to make out the first. Too much of it is missing.
Luis shakes his head and says, "I can't read it." But then he is falling in behind Angel, hanging back a little to let her go first but keeping her company just in case.
"We can let Angel take a look and hang back a little. If anything moves, we can head back to the tunnel?" She checks in with Angel to see if that's a good plan and then lets the security escort go first.
When Angel gets close enough to climb inside, it's not too difficult to get up and into the hole. It's a big hole. As she does so, she can note the large claw marks on either side of it, fresh ones and old ones, where the big lizard has definitely climbed in and out before. But there's no sign of it inside at the moment. This ship has been here for a long, long time. Whether the lizards were here when it arrived or not is unclear. But it's definitely deteriorated, slowly, because of the cold.
"Yeah um, I'm...happy to hang back a little," says Cooper. He swallows and then pulls out his emotional support taser. He watches the whole area for signs of movement. Caution and a hint of fear has started to override the initial wonder.
"We should also you know...keep in mind that there might be something bigger that eats the lizards for lunch." He glances over at Estella, then up at the ship. "Do we have any idea why the portals open where they do? Just seems a coincidence we'd get spat out right next to a mystery."
"Next time we bring comms" Angel notes as she disappears into the ship, happy with Estella's plan. Shame they can't generate a portal wherever they may be.
"Keep close and keep quiet" she whispers to Luis, flashlight above the barrel of her pistol as both objects sweep ahead. What little Angel knows of ships, she would assume they were in the lower deck or the bilge. "We head towards the back of the ship...stern?" she tells Luis. "That's where the Captain's cabin will be." A beat. "Might be. Shouldn't assume all ships are designed the same across the universe. Also keep an eye out for giant lizard droppings or meals. If you see anything in them that looks like a human..."
<FS3> Coast Is Clear (a NPC) rolls 4 (4 3 3 3 2 1) vs Uh Oh (a NPC)'s 4 (8 8 8 5 4 2)
<FS3> Crushing Victory for Uh Oh.
Estella hangs back outside the ship with Cooper, looking up at it thoughtfully while Angel and Luis head inside. She shakes her head when he asks if they know why the portals open up where they do. "We're just drunk dialing our way across the multiverse right now. We're not even sure what exactly we're dialing. Though there are those in the department trying to decipher the runes and figure that out."
Inside the ship, Angel's flashlight illuminates more claw and scratch marks all over the inside where the creatures, both the very large one (evidenced by the very large claw marks) and the smaller ones have climbed in and out and through. There doesn't seem to be much salvage-worthy inside. What furniture there was is rotted and smashed from being climbed over. There are some casks that might have something in them that haven't been destroyed, but who knows how long they might have been there.
As they begin to move back toward the more intact rear of the ship is when they hear a rasping sound, the slow slither of scales against scales. There's definitely something further in there. The movement occurs again and then stops.
Cooper hums the Stargate SG:1 theme when Estella mentions drunk dialling. He really has very odd pop culture references given his age. But when you've got a dad who compulsively collected VHS and DVDs and refused to pay for streaming, you get a thorough education in pre-2010s media.
"How's it going in there? Any chests full of Spanish gold?" Cooper yells to the people inside. All the while, he keeps an eye on the shadows and ice for signs of movement.
Angel crouches and holds up a fist for Luis to stop before gesturing towards where the sound came from. Scales? Lizard time. Which means it is time to stay quiet and sneak forward a bit further. Just Angel, another gesture for Luis to stay where he is and keep alert. Her flashlight now only sweeping ahead in brief flashes. The lizards may rely on smell but it doesn't mean they are blind. Unfortunately, humans are more reliant on sight and that means light.
Silence is important right now which is why Angel rolls her eyes in frustration when Cooper yells into the echoey hull. She stays stock still, waiting for the reaction from any scaly beast ahead of them. Any surprise has been lost now, so she will have to do her duty rather than keep exploring. Time to retreat. Slowly. Quietly. Eyes forward as she Luis back away from the noises.
<FS3> Luis (Clockwork) rolls 3: Good Success (8 6 6 3 3)
<FS3> Angel rolls Stealth: Success (7 6 4 3 3 2 2 2)
There is definitely another stirring noise in the darkness at the sound of Cooper's shouting from outside, a slow, prolonged slithering sound and from the shadows Angel can see a very large snake-like tongue flicker out. It's about as long as her forearm. Tasting the air.
Luis begins a very, very slow retreat, backing up toward the opening. He looks ten shades of pale, his eyes wide, as he tries to divide his attention from looking behind him where he's going and not losing sight of whatever is in the shadows.
Outside, Estella winces when Cooper shouts into the darkness and grabs his arm, hissing "Cooper," under her breath and lifting her finger in front of her lips in a shhhhhing gesture. She has no idea what's going on inside, but Luis suddenly appearing back-tracking outside of the hole is making her nervous.
If this all ends in disaster, it wouldn't be the first time his mouth got Cooper in trouble. Collateral damage doesn't usually happen, though.
"What?" whispers Cooper to Estella. "I mean...if there are lizards in there better they know before they get too far in and get cornered or something?" That's his logic. Or logic after the fact as he realizes maybe yelling wasn't such a good idea.
Angel is not as graceful as Luis as they exit. Maybe the medic also had another life as a sniper? But he's made it to the 'exit' as she covers them both with inquisitive, and apprehensive, sweeps of her light and pistol while backing away. Though she wants to unleashe her 'Death Stare' at Cooper when she sees him, Angel manages to restrain herself and instead signals...SIGNALS...the others to start heading back to the exit. Other gestures pointing out that there is something inside that is now awake.
Angel may trust herself to still reach those cabins and search them but not when she is looking after others...who may suddenly yell at any moment.
<FS3> I'm Up! (a NPC) rolls 4 (8 8 8 5 4 2) vs Back To Sleep (a NPC)'s 4 (7 6 6 5 4 3)
<FS3> DRAW!
<FS3> I'm Up! (a NPC) rolls 4 (8 7 6 4 1 1) vs Back To Sleep (a NPC)'s 4 (6 5 4 4 4 1)
<FS3> Victory for I'm Up!.
<FS3> Luis (Clockwork) rolls 3: Good Success (8 7 7 6 5)
<FS3> Angel rolls Stealth: Failure (4 4 4 3 3 1 1 1)
<FS3> Luis (Clockwork) rolls 4: Good Success (8 8 8 6 5 2)
<FS3> Angel rolls Athletics: Great Success (8 8 7 6 6 3 1)
<FS3> Waverly rolls Athletics: Good Success (7 6 6 3)
<FS3> Cooper rolls Athletics: Failure (5 4 4 3 1 1 1)
Cooper spends a luck point on Lizard escape.
<FS3> Cooper rolls Athletics: Success (8 5 4 4 4 2 1)
Luis manages to make it back out onto solid ground and rejoin the others, holding his hands apart to indicate something BIG is in there. He then nods toward the tunnel. As Angel is making her way out, though, something slips, creaks, makes some noise, and falls. And then there is the sound of whatever is awake in there moving, the sound of claws on creaking boards, the sound of the ship itself shifting with the weight of the thing.
And then an enormous red lizard head filled with very sharp teeth appears in the opening to the ship.
And everyone takes off toward the tunnel as expediently as possible. This thing can smell them and hear them, even if its sight is not the best and that large head turns in that direction as it begins to slowly slither free of the ship. It's body is some ten feet in length, its tail another twelve, and its head is large. And it begins to slowly make its way after them.
Fortunately, all four are able to make it back to the tunnel and the portal waiting for them!
"Ohhh shit. Oh shit shit shit." Cooper, having learned his lesson, says the line of expletives rather quietly before he turns to bolt back towards the portal with the others. He's still clutching his emotional support taser even though it isn't going to do much against those teeth if the creature catches up to him.
As he bolts away, he holds up his phone behind him and sort wildly hammers the shutter to try and capture at least one usable image of Big Red. At one point, he nearly drops his Otterbox-protected phone, but manages to stuff it back into his pocket just as they reach the portal.
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