Game: Dark Ground

The planet Jotnar... a barren world, a carbon planet of graphite soil and hydrocarbon lakes. This bitter world seems to have nothing of value... so why are so many races fighting over it? What secrets lie beneath its dark ground?

Pinguinus, the critically acclaimed GM of See No Evil, serves again as the universe, in a rousing war game. Eotyrannus plays Xeth the Wirrn, Toothless plays Shadow the Selachian, and Holbenilord plays as E-Kaidar of the Kroton Absolute.

1
''A transmat beam touches down on the planet, and Shadow, E-Kaidar, and Xeth all appear on the surface of the planet. You have been sent here to retrieve a powerful weapon that currently sits underneath the planet. The Shadow Proclamation wishes to use it for law enforcement purposes... but a few races have other plans.''

''You are in a small gully, with jagged sides you could probably just barely climb. The air is bitter cold here--most carbon-based lifeforms would freeze in seconds exposed to this sort of temperature. Shadow's Plasmic Armor is the only thing keeping him alive in this climate. You have an android medic by your side. Suddenly, his eyes become red. "Warning--Cyberman teleportation technology detected nearby."''

2
I follow the signals to the Cyberman technology.

3
E-Kaidar rotates his mid-section as he follows. "Main-tain-alert-ness."

4
I stay at back and get my shields up.

5
''Shadow climbs out of the gully, exposing himself to the wind. With a shudder, he cranks up the heat of the Plasmic Armor to stay alive. Not too far off, you see four Cybermen performing scans on the area. Each of them is emblazoned with the "C" of Cybus Industries.''

6
I fire my Butcher Plasma Repeater. It does 54 damage per hit after armour, and I score six hits, enough to kill three Cybermen.

7
E-Kaidar fires and hits three times, causing 75 damage after armour to the last one.

8
I use my laser knife to short-circuit any remaining cybermen. (6v3)

9
''The last Cyberman drops to the ground, short-circuited. Rolling across the ground towards you is a remote scanner, with a set of coordinates written on them--three miles to the southwest, one and a half miles underground. You are not quite sure what the coordinates refer to.''

''Suddenly, the Cyberman's voice function activates. "Attention all Cyber-Units. Hostile elements have been detected. Cyber-Units 6681, 6682, and 6684 have been deleted. I have been disabled."''

10
I shoot the last Cyberman with my Particle Gun, killing it, and then I guess I head southwest.

11
E-Kaidar continues alongside.

12
I silently grumble about how it was supposed to communicate while short-circuited.

13
''Heading southwest, you soon come to a small rise of a few meters. Clambering over its top, you find yourselves standing at the base of a vast plain. The ground is made of black dust which rises in a small cloud when you walk over it. Yet despite the barrenness of the landscape, you can see an occasional worm-like creature poke its head out of the dirt and stare at you with a trio of crystalline eyes.''

''Further to the southwest you can just make out what seems to be a river of some sort, between you and the coordinates you saw on the scanner. Just as you begin to decide on a proper course of action, you spy a tremendously bright flash of light from the eastern sky, followed by random bursts of radio static on your communicators. The android twitches somewhat nonchalantly, and then begins to spout irrelevant data on the breeding cycle of the Pyrovillian Mantlecrab. The meaning of these events is, for now, unclear to you.''

14
It's probably not important :P, so I continue southwest.

15
E-Kaidar extends his sensory apparatus some more. What kind of explosion was it? Could he detect any X-rays?

16
I stay between the two others, and keep up my guard.

17
''Shadow comes to a clear river. An acrid stench hangs in the air, but your helmet shields you from it. As far as you can tell, the river is flowing with ethanol rather than water. ''

''E-Kaidar scans the sky. There are no x-rays, but there seems to be a high-frequency radio pulse being broadcast over the landscape. Intriguingly, you also detect temporal distortion energy.''

''Before you can process this new information, however, an Atraxi ship appears out of the sky and hovers above you. A scan beams from the eyeball, and a booming voice speaks.''

"Shadow Proclamation operatives must vacate the planet or be incinerated. This is an intervention-free planet under Code 16.99 Tau of the Gilgamesh Treaty."

18
"I'm not a Shadow Proclamation operative."

19
"I-rep-res-ent-the-Kro-ton-Ab-sol-ute-on-ly."

20
"Yeah, me and the Selachian are mercenaries. Our hire-ers didn't tell us about Code 16.99 Tau, or anything else resulting in incineration."

21
"Shadow Proclamation operative is defined as any individual in the service of the Shadow Proclamation, permanently or temporarily. Repeat. Vacate the planet or be incinerated."

22
"How exactly are we supposed to vacate the planet, anyway? I work for pay, and wasn't told at all about this Gilgamesh Treaty. Perhaps you could explain?"

23
"Your-state-ment-rem-ains-in-corr-ect. I-have-no-dir-ect-conn-ect-ion-to-the-Sha-dow-Proc-lam-a-tion."

24
(Xeth) "...Well, we prefer being alive to completing a mission. We'll ask our employers to pick us up as soon as possible, but that may take a while, so we would request that we are allowed to temporarily have... say.... a kilometre-radius zone of non-being-incinerated-ness. While we are here, though, may we have more information on the events that led to this? We would like to be informed about it."