Bomilcar had insisted on a seat near the window, so that he could guide the direction to follow the path of the bats. He had his paracompass out to help guide.

He was characteristically silent, but seems to have an edge to him. A sense of anticipation.

Although they had only spent a few days together, Dorian could sense a change in Bomilcar. What had happened in the cave to bring about this change? The storm was a intimidating enough experience from inside the Frigate, much less what it must have been like in a cave, but he didn't take Bomilcar to be the type of man to become rattled. This seemed like something else.

Not wanting to disturb his concentration, Dorian turned to Ahmina, "What exactly are we looking for out here?"

The migratory path of the bats seemed so straight in this land without directions that they must have been following some magnetic anomaly, or a wind current. Why were they migrating in the first place, over desert so open it felt it had no beginning or end? Just an endless sea of dunes, shining silver in moonlight of both moons, conjuring the most fantastic patterns. If not for those bats, they could well be the loneliest creatures in the universe, amid the unknown, a world at its creation.

Their pilot confirmed the anomaly, and Bomilcar saw it too on the paracompass. Even the simplest technology of navigation was useless. They didn't know the stars, so all that they had were bats, those small creatures of the desert.

"Prepare for the heat in the cabin. I am cutting the conditioning off. The temperature outside is too high; too much drain on the cells." And it was night! What primordial furnace were they flying into?

Bom nodded to the news. He knew the heat was about to suck the energy out of them, but if he was worried over that it didn't show. His expression remains focused.

Cuyler had still been watching the desert, lost in her thoughts. She did occasionally glance at Dorian and Bomilcar, to assure them that she wasn't ignoring them, but she hadn't spoken until now.

"What happened?" she asked. "With the bats."

"I..." he wasn't certain how to explain. "...I have faith. They're going somewhere."

The temperature scaled up rapidly, and they suddenly felt themselves in the oven. The material of their seats started softening. Stillsuits were providing some reprieve.

[Extreme Heat]

The seamlessness of dunes was finally broken with more sparkling hues, perhaps of a finer sand or of another substance. The terrain began slightly reclining into a pan of some sort. The bats spread out a bit, but were still flying onward.

[Understand 2 to identify gypsum and salt.]

"What is that?"


- - -
[D6 SMR] Anxiety over Depression, Understand (6), Truth (8), Deductive Reasoning?: 2#1d20 5 12

The heat was a distraction, not that he was well versed on rock formations and minerals.

D6 SMR, Understand + Truth, TN 10, Difficulty 2: 2#1d20 10 19

''Something we should avoid'' said the until then silent fremen girl

Cuyler Gray wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 15, 2021 3:42 pm

"What is that?"


- - -
[D6 SMR] Anxiety over Depression, Understand (6), Truth (8), Deductive Reasoning?: 2#1d20 5 12

[+1 Momentum; wanna get more info for it?]

Being the closest to a chemist in the group, Cuyler quickly realised: this had once been the bed of an ancient sea. It looked like there was once open water on this planet! But why wasn't there any more? Where had it all gone?

"An ocean? There was that much water here? What happened?" she wondered aloud.

- - -
More info would be nice.

Dorian saw the oddity in the sand and hearing Cuyler's words, recognized the sight from other worlds. The remains of a dried seabed, as unbelievable as it was to see on Arrakis.
-----
SMR6, Oooo Shiny, Understand 4 + Truth 5, TN9: 2#1d20 3 6
Passed 2 success vs 2 difficulty

Ahmina was watchful, her hands moved beneath her cloak. She spoke her warning again

''These grounds are dangerous. The heat can damage the thopter...and you do not want that to happen here''

Bomilcar kept his eyes on the bats and watched for any patterns he might find in their movements. If this place used to have water and they were coming here, perhaps there was something underground. He looked to see if they moved towards the mineral formation.

Across the sparkling deathly whiteness a darker patch of sand was all the more visible to Cuyler. Much darker, actually. It looked like a blister... and the bats were giving it a wide berth, parting to the sides, while the thopter was heading that direction!

It looked like there was more than a bit to Ahmina's warning!

"Go around!" She suddenly spoke loudly. "The bats are avoiding whatever that is ahead of us! Follow them! Go around!"

The Sardaukar veered sharply to the left, just as the mound kept growing into a bubble, and the bubble kept inflating until... a powerful blast sent the thopter spinning, rolling in the air, just as something sticky and viscous plastered the side of it, killing vision! They all had a deja vu, except this time the odour of spice was nothing like they had experienced before, putrid, sharp, so raw it made nostrils curl!

The pilot wasn't exactly ready for that much spin!

SMR6. Regain control! Move. 7/7, Focus.: 2#1d20 19 7

[2 Successes, out of 5 needed to regain command of the thopter, others can assist. Cuyler can only do so if she passes a Discipline 3 check of not getting insta-high.]

Dorian was pushed against his seat when the thopter began to spin, overwhelmed by the scent of Spice that had enveloped them. Rather than rushing the controls as he had done when his groundcar had begun spinning on their first day on Arrakis, Dorian put his trust in the Sardaukar pilot, bracing the man so he could better handle the controls.
-----
SMR6, Not Shiny, Move 6 + Power 7, Focus escaping?, TN 13: 1d20 11
1 success

Bomilcar, similarly did not grab the controls directly. Instead, he moved his weight around to try and provide a bit of stability to the thopter while staying out of the pilot's way, trusting him to do his job well

D6 SMR, Move + Faith, TN 12, Assistance: 1d20 7
1 success, 4 total so far

OOC: If Cuyler does not earn a 5th success, Bomilcar will bolster the pilot for a reroll at the cost of 2 threat

Ahmina was not used to travel in these flying machines and failed to see how she could help except have faith that this was the will of god

hope we don't crash! Move (7)+ Faith (8) tn 15: 1d20 16

The spice was strange and it hit her like a hammer. Somehow, she managed to shrug it aside enough to help the pilot regain control and find the right course.



- - -
[D6 SMR] Anxiety over Depression, Discipline (8), Duty (7), Difficulty 3, -1 Game Momentum: 3#1d20 13 3 6

[D6 SMR] Anxiety over Depression, Move (5) / Understand (6), Attention to Detail/Deductive Reasoning?: 1d20 5

Thanks to the counter-balancing and attention to the controls, the pilot was able to get them out of spiralling barrel roll before the thopter would hit the desert. The altitude was regained. Much of their windshield was still covered in this... mass? Damp spice? Very odd!

Their visibility limited, they still saw the dust after the explosion settling down, spreading whatever it ejected over a large area. It was hard to dismiss the feeling that they had just witnessed something profound, not only because seconds separated them from death just a moment before.

Cuyler sat back in her seat, closing her eyes and taking slow, controlled breaths.

"So much spice..."

While a regular in church, as was expected of any good retainer of House Mutelli, Dorian wasn't what most would consider devout. However, after that little experience, Dorian was compelled to say a little prayer.

"What was that?" was all he could get out.