Arken lay prone on a rock formation overlooking the bridge. With his rifle scope, he spies four heavily armed mercenaries guarding the gated entrance to the bridge. He slowly creeps back behind the rock.
“There’s four of them. Plasma blasters, body armor, mono-swords. They look pretty tough.”
Ellie spoke up. “I’ve checked the orbital scans. There’s no other bridges for at least 25 clicks in either direction.”
“Even if we could make it that far, there’s nothing to say that those aren’t guarded, too.” Felix cracked his knuckles, as he did whenever he started stressing.
Arken adjusts his hat. “Well, what’s the plan?”
There’s a brief pause while everyone gathers their thoughts.
Felix rests his hand on the handle of his magnum. “Looks like we gotta take these guys down.”
“Wait,” Ellie interrupts “According to these schematics, the bridge should have a walkway on the underside of the structure. Like some kind of engineering platform. If we can sneak past the side of the gate, there should be an access panel somewhere.”
Felix shrugs. “I don’t know. Seems risker than just ambushing them. Maybe if we could distract them or....I don’t know.”
Arken leans forward. “These mercenaries...they’re experienced, but I know that they just shipped in last month. I bet they have no idea who they’re really supposed to report to.”
“I think I may be able to convince them that I’m escorting you...researchers...” He smiles. “...to the other end of the valley.”
There’s a short pause while all of this settles in.
“Guys, I’ve got it all figured out.” Flavius stands up. Everyone turns their attention to him.
“All we need to do is exploit the fundamental weaknesses in the universe and alter reality to get us across.”
Ellie’s glasses slip to the end of her nose. “Huh?”
“If you take a running jump, you just roll Acrobatics to see how far you go. But, the rules read that maneuver skills like Acrobatics can be retried if you fail.”
Felix squints. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Seriously, it says it right there on page 32. So, all we have to do is take a running leap, roll the attempt, then keep rolling until we make it across. It’s in the rules.”
Arken looks concerned. “Page 32? Of what? You should really get out of the sun. You’re not making any sense.”
“Oh come on...Do really think the GM’s gonna let you walk away from this fight? Obviously, we wants us to get caught up in some fight so we can get captured. Like we did last week.”
“Last week? When you got caught by the security guard and blew our cover?”
“Hey! I should have outrun him. I was almost a block away and just had to get a back to the car. But somehow he catches up to me just because I rolled bad. Like...was he magical or something? ”
“You rolled what bad?”
“He's wearing full body armor, but manages to run faster than me. That's totally unrealistic. Completely unreal. And I should have been able to pick the lock of our cell. But...” Flavius took on a snarky tone. “I guess we just don’t follow the rules if it’s inconvenient for the adventure.”
“Our cell,...” Ellie thinks aloud. “Oh yes, you tried to pick the lock with a strand of uncooked spaghetti.”
“And that should have worked. ‘Cause I had my lock picks in my kit.”
“Your kit? The one that the guards took from you when they captured us?”
“NO, they did not. Remember, the GM said ‘Ok, they take away your weapons.’ He DID NOT say that they took away our backpacks.” Flavius mumbles to himself. “Not until I reminded him of it.”
“Who….who is the ‘gee-em’?”
“The...it doesn’t matter now....Here, watch this....”
Flavius walked around to the other side of the rock and started running. First into a jog, then into a full sprint, right at the chasm. He ran right to the edge and leapt forward.
His scream could be heard echoing between the walls of the chasm, as he fell to his death. This attracted the attention of the guards, who started to rush down the cliffside path towards the point where Flavius fell.
"Well, I'll be damned...The bridge is clear. Let's go before they get back."