Like a guttering candle, the flame of life could be quenched almost too easily to be believed. Thus it was with Korgan. And this was only the beginning. The true horror had yet to begin. And would, soon, no matter our preparations and precautions. About midday as we trekked through the jungle, we reached a strange set-up. Placed alongside the beaten path were two spears and a number of Spherusin skulls. We all paused, wondering what this display had been placed here for. Roccooo suggested that it was probably markings of native territories. Kino recounted the tale of him seeing the native campfire the night before. Roccooo said he had heard of the natives that inhabited these areas. Supposedly, although stupid, they were extremely strong. Cormac suggested attempting to bypass the native territory, but Murdoch wouldn't hear of it. He wanted to make sure we didn't lose the dinosaur trail. So, with nervous glances to and fro, we proceeded along the pathway. Our nervous pace continued as such for about 3 hours, when we all suddenly heard shrill, ulating cries. The natives had found us. We gathered together, even as more cries could be heard from all around us. We were surrounded. Roccooo came up with a solution. He would charge the natives and scare them off, giving us enough time to run out of the natives' territory. Without waiting for our responses, Roccooo pulled two guns out of a burlap sack and charged the trees, shouting and firing madly. We stood still for a moment, then ran like hell. (In some cases, flew, actually.)
After a burst of speed, wherein those capable carried those slower memebers such as Baigan, Jaynine and Jado, we were much farther along. Once we reached the edge of the natives' territory, Tram and Cormac wanted to wait for Dillon. But again, Murdoch would not hear of it. He wanted to press onwards, suggesting that Roccooo could catch up once night had fallen. So we walked on, until night began to fall. It was then that we came upon the abandoned bunker. It was mainly overgrown, and looked quite outdated, but it was better than nothing. So we decided to take up residence in there for the night, hopefully being more safe from the beast we felt had killed Korgan. Inside the bunker, we found a comfortable main room with a line of cupboards along one wall, and a counter along another. Sitting on the counter were several guns, empty of ammo. In the cupboards were some dried rashions. There was also a ladder leading down to the basement, as well as a heavy door to the backroom, which turned out to be locked. Cormac briskly told Baigan to open the door, by picking the lock, whilst he and Tram checked out the basement in the process of 'securing the bunker'. As Cormac climbed down the ladder, Tram right on his rear, he found it to be very dark down. He shouted up for a flashlight from Jado's suitcase. A light was passed down (naturally Jado had one...). Torius also climbed down into the basement, ignoring Tram's warnings.
As Cormac switched on the light, he swung it around and then stopped. For, the light had stopped on two corpses in Spheran military uniforms. Suddenly, dark knives flew from the darkness. Two struck Cormac in the back, knifing easily through his Zelzakian armour, and another took Judge Torius in the chest. Cormac spun the light around to reveal a True Death Grobus emerging from the shadows, swing his massive darksword in a VERY threatening manner. As mentioned on the main Super Adventures page, the Death Grobus are very powerful and strong, and True Death Grobus are even stronger. We had our hands full. Torius was badly injured, so we herded him up the ladder to be taken care of by Mystia. Cormac opened fire with his guns, and Tram did a Nirvana Strike. Meanwhile, Darius lept down to aid the heroes with his blade-hammer. The True Death Grobus was eventually subdued and killed, but not before wounding the heroes badly and scarring Cormac's chest with the sword. As the battle wound to a close, Cormac climbed the ladder back up. And it probably saved his life. For as he did, the knives in his back turned to acid, which ran down his back. Torius was not so lucky. He had been laid on his back, and when the knife turned to acid, it burned right through his chest. Torius was killed instantly. As we all recovered, Baigan finally opened the door to reveal the dead bodies within. Somberly, we had a funeral pyre for the judge, and burned his remains. It appeared that the beast that stalked us was not the only danger on this path. We slept the night in the bunker, recovering from the long day.
The Giant Dinosaur
The next morning, Murdoch roused us bright and early, and we continued our walking. People were far more on their guard now, with both Korgan and Torius dead. Not to mention the absence of Roccooo Dillon. In most opinions, the sooner we caught the big Dinosaur, the better. Most people were worried. Kyla in particular seemed frustrated by the death of Torius. Contrary to this, others didn't seem to care. Exar looked on impassively, as if nothing unordinary was happening. Murdoch, meanwhile, was so obsessed with his own goal that he didn't seem to care about what else was happening. He led the way relentlessly, at a pace that was quickly exhausting a few members of our group. By that night, we were getting to some more recent tracks. Murdoch estimated that the dinosaur couldn't be much farther ahead of us. Pyross recalled Roccooo mentioning something about a river, and we all concluded that the dinosaur was probably going for a drink. (a rather large one). That night, we were all pretty tense. But the aura was relieved when Tram, Cormac and Kino started a friendly sing-a-song around the fire, whilst freely distributing Mountain Dew. Jaynine started singing entusiastically, and forced Darius to as well. Darius didn't want to, but Jaynine rather easily convinced him. At this point, Tram remarked to Darius, "You're really whipped, man." That's probably one of the most memorable quotes of the adventure..hehe. Anyways, Jado started singing good-naturedly, as did Mystia. After a moment of reluctance, even the gruff Murdoch did so. With a small grin, Baigan joined the crowd, along with Kyla. Pyross didn't sing; he merely seemed to fade back into the shadows, his one blue eye gleaming. No one even bothered to ask Exar. We knew what his answer would be. And let me not forget! Leading the singing was the soprano voice of Selmini, which easily reached the higher octaves of "Row Your Boat".
The next morning came, too early for most. Murdoch was eager, and wouldn't be delayed. There was an unmistakable hunger in his eyes. He felt we would catch the dinosaur this very day. We started walking shortly after, and finally came upon a clearing near the river. And there, at last, was the giant Dinosaur we had been seeking for so long. The massive beast was huge, bigger than a normal T-Rex. And in the center of its forehead stood a gruesome third eye. The monstrous beast stood by the river taking long drinks. Now was our chance. The warriors gathered, those who would assault the monster. Mystia, Kyla, Jaynine and Jado volunteered to stay behind. Not surprisingly, Murdoch was going to fight. Also of little surprise were Exar, Pyross, Cormac, Darius, Kino and Tram. Selmini was something of an astonishment, joining the assault team. But even more amazing was the fact that Baigan, the 'bumbling' scientist was coming along. He opened his suitcase to reveal a trident, and suggested that we might need his help. And so, thus readied, our group leaped from the bushes and attacked, each member using their best techniques on the beast. The dinosaur fought fiercely, but was greatly outnumbered. As blood fell from another of Exar's incredibly powerful strokes, the dinosaur roared and brought its head down. The razor sharp jaws closed -- on Murdoch. The hunter took the pain in a scream, one of the teeth piercing his entire body. With tremendous effort, Murdoch raised his ax and brought it down on the beast's head. Hard. The monster tumbled forward, dead. Before the beast fell to the ground, Murdoch shouted something to the effect of: "I did it!" Then the carcass hit the ground. Murdoch was crushed inside the jaws of the mighty beast. I'm sure you can recognise the irony of the dinosaur hunter dying, even as he killed his prey. It's been done before, and since it's cool, it will be done again. Exit Murdoch.
The Tale Of Gyron
Murdoch was gone. The dinosaur was gone. And with them went our sense of purpose. Murdoch had always been our leader, and whether we had liked him or not, he had filled that role decisively. Our entire purpose had been to kill the dinosaur, and now that both it and our leader had been felled in a single swoop, we didn't quite know what to do. But a river sat right by, and most of the warriors were covered in blood. Tram, being sponsored by Speedo after all, suggested a swim to wipe away the grime of the fight. Cormac, being a natural Tortalian, quickly agreed. Kino didn't really want to swim, but he did want to see Jaynine in her bathing suit, so he too agreed. Quite a few of the companions swam out into the river, including Selmini who started to drown as soon as his foot touched water. Jaynine again convinced Darius to swim, and Jado came in with a bathing suit from his bottomless suitcase. No one really expected Pyross or Kyla to join us, and Mystia didn't either. Exar went even further. He went near the water only with an almost holy reluctance. Once that done, we wondered what we should do. Natuurally, Cormac and Tram became the leaders, being able to relate with all the other characters. But Selmini came forward to whisper something to them. Leaning forward intently, he said: "You know, I've got a hunch...that the Dinosaur isn't what destroyed Sparda." After a pause for us to gasp at his brillance (which we didn't, of course, since it wasn't brillance) he continued. "Don't ask me how I know..." Cormac replied: "Is it because lazers were used to destroy the town?" To which Selmini quickly again uttered: "Aa-a-a! Don't ask me how I know!" Then he went back to stand with the others.
Clearly, Selmini had a point. Although we had all already thought of that. There must be something else that had destroyed Sparda. It wasn't long before we found out what. But to continue, as Tram and Cormac discussed, Kino came forward. And Kino looked angry and worried. I omitted to mention this before, but during the battle with the dinosaur, we discovered why Pyross carried three swords. He had drawn the one on his back during the battle, and it seemed to glow with fire. Kino had recognised that sword. It was called Flammadir, and it had once belonged to Kino's old master, a Fenixan named Gyron. Gyron had pretty much raised Kino from birth and taught him how to fight. Flammadir had been Gyron's special sword, and he never parted with it. One day, Gyron simply disappeared. Kino never saw him again. And now, Pyross had Flammadir. It looked like he had some answering to do. When questioned about Gyron, Pyross replied that he had found the sword on Fenixa in the remains of a battle. He had seen the corpses of a lone warrior and many bikers. It was from the body of this lone man that he had taken Flammadir. As he related this story, Kyla watched him in a peculiar fashion..very curiously, might I add. Kino was angry that Gyron was dead, but it had nothing to do with what should be our current course of action. Finally, we decided to walk along the river. We all knew that something else aside from the dinosaur must have destroyed the town, so we still had to find what exactly. We walked along the edge of the river for the rest of the day, no longer following tracks, no longer led by Murdoch. As night fell, we still hadn't seen any sign to indicate the true destroyers of Sparda, and so we decided to stop early for the night.
The Mighty Exar
Our encampment was quickly put in place, and we all settled in for the night. For dinner, Cormac had to hunt along with Pyross, and neither were nearly as proficient as Murdoch had been. But at least we still had Mountain Dew, though Tram's supply was running dangerously low. As we all prepared to drift off into oblivious sleep, Cormac noted that Exar sat down at a tree stump, and his eyes closed. After missing many nights of sleep, it had evidently caught up to him. So now we knew that Exar did need sleep, if only occaisonally. The night began to pass, but around midnight, Cormac was awakened by an odd noise. He had clearly heard a splash. Rising quickly, Cormac looked over to the river. Its waters were calm and placid..but further on, the speed and depth of the current greatly increased. Cormac raced along the bank until he reached the afore mentioned fast-flowing water. No sign of anything living. Turning around, Cormac raced back to camp. By this point, the commotion had woken everybody up. Except for one person, who was mysteriously absent. Baigan. His suitcase sat beside his makeshift bed, but there was no sign of him. It was pretty clear that he must be dead, and pushed into the river. Cormac was about to ask Exar if he had seen Baigan leave the camp, when he suddenly remembered that Exar had been asleep. The one time it was important, and Exar was asleep. Or perhaps that's what the beast had been waiting for. But suddenly, we all knew that a beast COULD NOT be responsible for this death. A beast would have no way of knowing which night Exar was asleep, and besides, Baigan was on his guard. He wouldn't have left the camp alone. That meant that one of our party must have killed first Korgan, and then Baigan. Cormac was disgruntled with Exar, when suddenly, he recalled all the strange events which occured around Exar. And he suddenly knew why.
I'm not sure if I was the only one to think of this, or even the first, but still. It just all snapped together for us players. All the signs. Glowing red eyes at night. Heavy footprints. Incredible strength. Not sweating at all in the sweltering jungle heat. Needing no sleep. Except for tonight, when Exar had to shut down. For not even he could go forever without refreshment. Clearly, Exar was a Cyborg. You know what that is, eh? Half Spherusin, half robot. Cormac hadn't heard of any cyborgs before, but evidently we had now met one. Clearly, Exar had been created, and that explained all the above. But who would make such a thing? We all took the next step. Only the Tortalians. And what would Exar be doing here? Not attending the Olympiad, that was for sure. And again, it all clicked together. Baigan! He was a Tortalian, and quite obviously more than he had seemed, considering he could fight. Perhaps, HE had created Exar. That would explain why they were here. Baigan was watching Exar, testing him. Cormac recalled suddenly Baigan muttering something about "Better than expected!" when he had seen Exar fight the giant dinosaur. That unveiled much. But not one thing..who had done away with Baigan? And as I went to get more drinks for everyone (as a player), my companions suddenly thought of a theory. The mad Cyborg Exar theory. So Exar's clearly very powerful. Suppose he didn't want to work for the Tortalians, and had run away. Baigan could have been chasing him, and when Exar found out who the scientist really was, he killed him. Very oppertune that Exar should 'shut down' the one night when the murder took place. And finally, more was unveilled about Exar. Was he the murderer? It seemed possible. Very possible. But what do you think? Time to find out if you're right...Nyahah!
