Iron Stars - lance

Rey (Shriven) 12/31/2020 7:50 PM

Rey (Shriven) pinned a message to this channel. 12/31/2020 7:50 PM

(Love it)

Lance awakens in his hab, specially made to accommodate his extra size and width. Being able to cross door thresholds is nice, without needing to go sideways. Dozens of projects await his attention each of them at the main capital building here, and all of them are urgent

2

Lance walks over to the kitchen and cooks breakfast. "Ahhh I love a good Souffle in the morning it is vell vorth the vork when it is done right. Little bit of ham cheese ahhh perfection." Lance realizes the time just as the souffles come out of the oven. "SacreLumiere, I'm Late!" Lance grabs his souffle and rushes out the door tossing the souffle from one hand to the other as he rushes down the hallways trying to grab a bite as he rushes to the capital building. Forgoing any kind of transportation just running full out.

7:29 AM

(woops muted the IA in general so i didnt get this notification

)

1

The capital building is a large one, made of several stories and basements. It is as much a place of learning as a place of government administration, and hundreds of administrators, scientists, and soldiers are regular fixtures around the property. Most of them by now know to stay outof your way or risk being bowled over as you make your way to your office with a head full of steam

Lance runs up to the door stuffing the last of his breakfast in his mouth then calmly tries to open the door despite being slightly out of breath. I hope that the Director doesn’t drop in today that vould look very bad me showing up late... again... (edited)

You’re safe for now, and you make it into your office and ge the door closed before anyone really noticed. Your computer is on already sensing your weight against the pressure sensor worked into the floor.

7:50 PM

It’s happy face screen saver fades as it takes a quick scan of your face and finally unlocks

Lance goes over and sits down pulling up the menus seeing his messages and sighs. one of these days I’m going get to go out in the field again, though after I destroyed all those vigurines I think that they might be vise in vaiting.

Interesting information is coming back from the field, and more importantly, a pair of partially destroyed personal fielding belts are being returned from the city, after being claimed from Brother Gamma's deluded followers

Lance quickly signs up for the team seeing the team lead position open he applies but is not hopeful of getting the position due to his track record of mediocre results but there is always a chance that no one else applies for it or the admin misclicks again. Lance grins thinking about how he was assigned as a project lead as a 18 year old fresh out of the academy.

Its about a half day of busywork and water fountain conversations before you're given a reply message, announcing your acceptance, and advising you to report to the first sub level

Lance jumps up and feels tremors in the floor as he lands. "oops Vell maybe i shouldnt do that." Lance looks around and grins as he grabs his tools and head down to sub 1.

You pass several colleagues on the way before jumping into the elevator. The button that took you to the deep deep level is gone now , but you see the button for sub 1

Lance presses the button then waits for the elevator to arrive in sub 1. Looking over he sees an old lab buddy, Greg, “Hey Greg.” Knowing that Greg never did more then grunt even when they had the breakthrough in metaphysicalbioelectric manifestation in their lab.

Greg grunts again today, and the basement doors open into a large open chamber, where the layout can be configured for any experiments needing to be performed. One work table in the middle of the floor is activated now, with the two belts laid on top

Lance walks over and pulls out his scanner trying to be as noninvasive as possible while he waits for his team.

(know/int to start, and we'll fill in the gaps_

(7)

The device was a resonator once, though the stability field components are miniaturized and broken. You know that east of here there was once a facility that dealt with field theory, both for production of spike drives and for working on other forms of metaspace projection

Lance looks around realizing that there wasn’t a team assigned to this project and that he should have guessed it would be a dead end. Then he gets a crazy thought. “Vell I think I’m just going to go and find vhat I need to finish this project without a field agent. After all it vorked last time.” Lance says as he heads back to the elevator to pick up supplies before heading out.

The university has a 1000 credit stipend for field work, and since your;e not drawing from a poll of agents its enough for you to outfit yourself

Lance buys combat armor based on what he had to deal with last time. Then tapping into his own funds picks up a sword (large advanced weapon) low Light Goggles and a grav bike to get there faster. (1280 credits deducted from santa's deposit.) Lance also goes Real estate shopping for a new place to live. He looks for something outside the city limits but not to far out (same hex?) and in the mountains, Something that he can build into a proper sanctum. He is hoping for somewhere with living quarters, a garage and integrated power already but is willing to have it all built as well. (edited)

(planning on initally installing the attached)

(approved!)

2

Level up:2 Foci: Psychic Academy 2 HP:9 Skills: Meta-1 Stab-0 0 Unassigned Skill points Free 0 Psychic Skill points Free 2 Bio Training remaining

Level up: 3 HP:10 Skills: Bio-2 Teleport-0 Techniques: (cloak powers from lvl 2) Major organ restoration 1 Unassigned Skill points Free 0 Psychic Skill points Free 0 Bio Training remaining

1

Level up: 4 HP:11 Skills: Meta - 2 Know - 1 Techniques: Psychic Static 0 Unassigned Skill points Free 0 Psychic Skill points Free 1 Bio Training remaining (edited)

1

(Would lance be able to find a Tutor for the arcane in the city to do his mage training for the month? If so what level?) ((anything over 2 would be useful. but i can only gain 4 points this month due to a stupid low int....)

(mage training?)

(Pg 101 codex. For enlightenment points to make stuff later with know magic)

(there would be people here at 3's to train from)

During a free moment lance finds and studies with a master paying the 2,000 credits for such tutelage. So expensive... lance thinks to himself. (4/4 enlightenment points)

————————— Year 4 month 11 —————————

(Alright, so lance is going to space?)

Lance drops Orion off and heads to the shuttle nodding at Kror as he picks let’s him know that he is going to see what is left of the old infrastructure in space.

Setting out into space, Lance sees the spread of the Saliv system in all its glory. Nothing is in orbit over the inhabited planet, nor its moons- and the scanners are powering up to peer deeper into the system to see if anything has made its home here within the last few years

This ought to be interesting, probably should have brought along more experts but if I run into issues we will just have to see what the 3 of us can do. lance looks over at the pilot and navigator.

10:19 AM

“Vhat do you need me to do? Should I run a scan or should I just keep sitting on my hands and stop pestering you?”

"We should start scanning. We should run several to be sure nothing else has made a home out here, and that we aren't overlooking anytihng that might have been left behind"

Lance begins a scan. (4) pressing the buttons and focusing throughly.

Nothing returns on the space scans after several hours of waiting. You seem to be alone as far as sensors can tell

Lance getting bored after hours of nothing turns to the archives. I wonder how we used to build spike drives. Lance things to himself as he pulls up the archives and tries to track down the answer.

Still in space, and scanning, you come to realize aside from some local knowledge obtained after The Scream, anything that predates the disaster is gone. You do however have a working example within the shuttle, and a skilled group of engineers could likely figure out how to repeat the process

“So men, Vhat do you think about trying to build a nice shipyard up here in the void? I know it could take veeks but vould you two be up for it?” Lance looks and asks the men with him.

They're not sure what a small crew and a small shuttle could do, but getting back into space to get help for the planet, to get more resources for growth, and to explore once again is something no one with true Inheritor blood in their veins could refuse

Lance grins, "Vell i figure that ve would just bring up lots of items and start making a small station that would be able to be added over this month. Adding life support and then more space then life support and just let it build on itself." Lance sees them looking oddly at him. "Vhat? Vhat am i missing?"

(we can put together a bannerjee 12 or a peerless to get an idea of whats gonna happen here, and how long)

Lance heads down to the planet to find a set of boosters and a large amount of steel to begin to build the frame of the station.

The steel is easy enough to find, especially with the mine Derricks team secured. Boosters are a more difficult matter, though some no doubt exist in the various ruins scattered across the planet

Lance looks at the map and picks the ruins in the far east from Dremlas. (Or is that a city?)

(Which ruins do we mean?)

7:05 PM

(To the right of dremlas)

(It’s a settlement but to Dremlas we would just know it as a site one was at pre scream)

(Off to the ruin that might not be a ruin.)

The flight above the clouds is rapid and you pass by the settlement the locals are working hard on restoring after a disaster of a first mission. Beyond them, you can see another resonating field in the distance though it is far smaller and weaker than the one in Dremlas

Lance grins, “Civilization. Boys looks like ve are going to find some new friends. And maybe even a booster or two. Unless either of you know vhere some ruins are?”

8:18 PM

Lance clears his throat, “Hemmm Vell, no time like the present.”

8:18 PM

(Triple post because I can muwahahahaha.)

1

(i didnt even see this)

2:36 PM

Neither of them have more information than you do, and want to know how close to bring the craft down

(Figured but thats what i get for Triple Posting

) "Yes, ve mind as vell bring the shuttle down. Vorst that can happen is that i dont make it back right." Lance laughs ackwardly realizing that is actually what the worst is that could happen. "Vell, vith that in mind ve should probably have you two stay back here at the shuttle and if any trouble arises then get the shuttle home and bring some heavy support to get me out of here." Lance looks over and see them both nod in agreement and relief.

1

They agree and the shuttle comes down 500m from the edge of the settlement. It’s not walled but it is large and seems to be in a state of development similar to Dremlas, though not as big

Lance walks up calmly. Trying not to concern those in the village despite his sword strapped to his hip and pistol inside his lab coat.

A few trappers who would normally be working at the edge of the breach are the first on the scene, their traveling clothing rough and signifying a life spent mostly out doors- doing little to enjoy the comforts of the city they support. One of them makes a sign of the cross, unsure of what exactly they are seeing- or more like their eyes are refusing to believe it.

Lance calls out with his hands up away from his weapons. “Greeting, I come from Dremlas to check on you and possibly help or trade if you happen to have or know of some thrusters.”

they both begin to laugh, either from the direct presentaiton, or relief. "Just...how did you...where did you come from? You're from where?!" The shock of the situation seems to be overwhelming them

Lance grins when they laugh, “A few years ago there vas a city a few hundred miles that vay.” Lance points back towards dremlas. “Ve have a generator like you do but just larger, there are a lot of people there as Vell as the academy. I came here because vell, I’m trying to get us some parts for a shipyard to try to get back into the sector and see vhat has happened over the last couple years.”

"We...We have one too! There are so many people here who are going to want to meet you. We thought we might be the only people who survived"

Lance grins and begins to walk forward projecting innocence and joviality. “Vell then let’s get to shaking hands and slapping backs. No time like the present to make new friends and vork together.”

Led into the small town, a crowd is gathering. PRoceeding alone, your crew locks down the ship- just in case. Losing it would be a savage loss.

Lance nods at the crowd, “I greet you all. I hope my coming here vill not imposition you in the slightest. Vell maybe only a little as I hope to talk and I do know that taking can at times be an imposition.” Lance laughs at his own joke. Turning to the leader of the group that brought him in he asks, “How have the years treated you all here? Vell I hope?”

"We've got homes, and some stable countryside, more than most of the planet. We thought we were the only ones until now. Your ship coming down was almost not something we believed. You would have probably reacted the same, I'm sure"

Lance laughs, “I’m just glad that you didn’t start shooting. Or my men would have left me for dead. That shuttle is our chance at getting back into space. Ve can’t squander that.” Lance tries to drop the hint of them leaving him here then realizing it went past them continues. “No one life is worth risking that future.”

“It isn’t. To space? Is there anything even out there anymore. Do you know?

“It is, because vhat if the moon collective is moving in on us. That shuttle is our one chance to rebuild. To get a shipyard built to make safety for ourselves and our children. Yes ve shouldn’t make poor decisions vith our lives but right now that shuttle is vorth more than me. It is our one chance. Ve must seize our future and give the generations after us a chance.” Lance lowers his voice after becoming so impassioned back to a level tone. “That is vhy I am here, to try to secure booster for a shipyard. For our future.”

“A booster. There’s a boneyard not far outta town. Probably gonna have to fix it up. We take the metal sometimes. Easier to take it and melt it than risk a breach exposure by mining “

“That makes sense. Do you have a leader that I should talk with before I go try track that down?”

“You could try. The village council is a shell of its former self. All fighting and internal politics and no action. Seeing you is a breath of fresh air”

“Then let’s go and see these men who need a breath of fresh vind.” Lance grins an claps the man on the back.

The town is large and you’re brought into the settlement to the holdfast which is a large three floor building made of stone. Soldiers and merchants are fixtures of the courtyard outside it and the hustle of day to day life reminds you of Dremlas

Lance walks up the steps to go into the building trusting that his escort would see him through to the council.

He does so, and the council is hurriedly called into session as news of a traveler from outside, the first in almost five years, has made it to the town for talks.

“Hello, I am from dremlas. I come hoping to help and to make friendly relations possible. I am also looking for thrusters that I heard may be obtained nearby. I know you probably have another of questions so I have prepared a brief rundown of dremlas’s news for you to look at.” Lance sends the selected news articles from his compad to the others. (Wow no W words was wondering what occurred there.)

1

"Thrusters? Are you using them as scrap? or was there a wider use for them?" one asks, able to tear himself away from the news for just a moment

“Ve are trying to get a shipyard going again in the form of a station. Ve as a planet need to get back into the sector and to that end ve need to be able to build ships that can make the jump.”

“Dremlas? What if the city. What have you been doing for the last five years?

“Personally I have been researching and mourning the death of so many. However the city until recently has been struggling to survive just as yourself. The city is here now and that is the important thing. Not the past.”

“And their ambitions for the rest of Dremlas?”

“From vhat I have understood, to bring stability and hope back to everyone as vell as a sense of security and safety. But I’m sure they would be open to talk to you directly. I am only a small part of the Congress.”

“If you get us in touch with them, we will allow you to access the booster”

7:49 AM

(They’d need a comm server )

“If that is vhat it takes, do I have your permission to leave? I vill go and retrieve something to talk to the full Congress.”

They agree to let you leave. They gain nothing by detaining you

Lance nods then turns and says “I’ll be back….” Pausing for a moment lost in thought “Vith it.”

2

They can say or do nothing as you leave, waiting to see how this plays out

Lance walks back to the shuttle checking to make sure they arent going to rush him when they open the door then gets in. “Got to go pick up a comm server for them then ve can come back and be vill have our thruster.”

"Right, no lockers on this thing, gotta go home home for one. Might be a good idea to let the council know too, so they're not flat footed by this"

Lance relaxes on the flight back lands rushes to the nearest communications store picks up a server puts it in his backpack and begins to run back. (Exert/STR 11) (beast mode engaged!)

1

By evening, you're back in the settlemnent you previously contacted, with communications gear in hand

Lance walks into the settlement after taking the same precautions. “I have the server for your leaders.” Lance thinks to himself. Darn it missed a good one there should have said take me to your leaders…. Oh vell maybe next time.

They’re eager to accept the shipment and will negotiate with Dremlas. You’re left to explore the ruin yard with the blessing of the local council

Lance makes short conversations and then excuses himself. Heading back out to the ruin yard solo. (Poor decision but that’s what I’m doing sooooo onward?)

(sure thing, ill get some art together)

11:43 AM

The scrap yard is overgrown, made of tall grass, loose trees, and the rusting wreckage of a bygone era of progress and space exploration. Everything here now is degraded, and sad. You can sense the loss of hope just by looking at what has been left over

Lance walks carefully in knowing that places like this often draw in scavengers. Looking around for any likely thrusters or a passable ship that he could salvage from.

2:14 PM

(Overall idea, find them, secure them, disconnect them and then bring in the shuttle to drag them out after that has occurred) (edited)

(Works for me, notice/wis)

(Perfect 6+6 for 12)

2

You can smell the smoke of a cookfire on the air, but do not see or hear anything

Lance walks towards the smell of the cookfire. Trying to walk carefully and not sound like the bull in a china shop he so often is.

Four scavengers are sitting around the fire. The meat of their stew is very clearly rat, skinny and mangy rat at that. THey do not seem to have noticed you, and are focused on their meal.

Lance seeing this takes the time to pull out 5 ration kits and then proceeds forward holding out the ration kits. “Greetings, I see you are having dinner. Mind if ve all share, you share some of that rat and I vill share these kits. Let’s call it a good vill trade.”

They are nervous about the very large man in their presence offering them foo,d but the thought of a complete meal they do not have to hunt for has their sense of hunger over-riding their sense. Quietly, they move aside, leaving a place for you to sit

Lance happily sits down after passing out the food and opening his own. After eating in silence for a few minutes lance says, “I’m glad you all are here. I’m hoping that you all can help me vith something. I need to find something. I’m vondering if you all could be interested in being hired for food to help me vith it?”

"Depends what it is, and if you have more of it" one of the scavvers says. THey're enjoying the meal, both the food and the flavors are things they have not had in a long time

"I have another round of meals for payment. But i'm looking for some undamaged thrusters. I know that is a large ask but if ve can find them i can even offer to get you all into a safe city as well."

"Saw some. Dirty, little rusty, but cleans. Far side of the yard. Got to go through Territa territory to get there, though"

“Vhat is Territa territory? A gang?”

“Other scavengers. Very territorial and cruel”

“Sounds ummm fun” Lance air quotes fun. “Are they a large group? Is it time to get the Calvary or think us 5 could deal vith them?”

"5 could, if we are quick, More help not be bad thing" one says, trying to sound out the words through a mouth of too few teeth

“Vhat kind of veapons do you have? I just have my pistol and blade but I can heal if needed.”

Two of them have handguns, with half a magazine each. The others have long spears, and everyone has a combination of survival knives or axes

Lance asks, “Vho’s the best shot? I vill hand over my laser pistol. I vill find a vay to get close though I have an idea of how ve May be able to get past…” Lance thinks out loud, while grabbing his Brother gamma out of his pack and grins.

One of the men with one eye and no teeth is nominated as the group deadeye

Lance hands over his laser pistol. Then looks around at the motley crew he has gathered and grins. “Let’s go see this Territa and see vhat ve can do about them one vay or another.”

They finish their meal and put out the fire, hefting packs and bedrolls. The territory in question is north, divided from the rest of the scrapyard by a drainage ditch, and a thicket of tall weeds on each side.

Lance leads the group and hops over the ditch trying to see if there is anyone around but only realizes that stealth should be a priority once coming in sight of the ditch.

No one is on the immediate other side, but you can see someone backlit against the night sky on a junk pile 50m from you. He does not seem like he has heard you, but there is a long creep through the weeds to get close enough to him to silence them

Lance begins to sneak up on him. Trying to find the path the man has taken to get up on the pile without making a racket.

(sneak/dex, if this passes we can do a takedown of the guard)

(Max roll wow roll 20 is setting me up hard… 12)

The guard is there, and a bear like form emerges from the grass to embrace him from behind. Like a shark coming to the surface to strike a seal, the man is pulled soundlessly down into the tall grass, where he is dispatched with a quick blow to the head.

Lance slinks away back from the body after rummaging through its jacket pockets looking for keys or intel.

There is a key to the "Dook Hut" on his belt. He doesn't have much else aside from a knife and a spare magazine for his simple pistol.

Lance hands the pistol and magazine out then continues towards the thrusters.

You can see another camp ahead. Six of them are present. Each is at mealtime and seem to be inattentive though the weapons they’re farting are undoubtedly army grade

Lance looks at the men with him. spends a minute trying to mime 'is that all?' realizes that it isnt working and pulls out his compad to type it out. Is this all of them?

They nod their head no. One of them tries to ape someone very big, or some kind of robot

Lance nods then mimes thrusters and points then shrugs. Hope they point a way around this group.

It seems like they're going to need to be dealt with in some way as to not threaten the salvage operation

Lance nods and resigns himself to killing these men. Then points to various places of cover for everyone with a ranged weapon. Then prepares to sneak up on the group.

You have managed to get a commanding position, and their sentry was not alerted. You'll have the drop on them, however you choose to proceed

Lance looks for the guy who is most likely the leader and decides to attack him.

(Alright. This would be an execution )

(6 sorry forgot to post it after I rolled it.)

The shot is clean from short range, passing through the leader's eye. He slumps over, top half of his body falling into the firepit to now serve as unwilling fuel

Lance looks to his compatriots. “Fire already” he says. (Initiative?)

10:13 AM

(Oh and it was a stab not a shot…)

(okay, there wasnt any context here, so i tried to make sense of it )

11:06 AM

(initiative)

(Hehe woops) Lance stands there shocked at the amount of blood gushing from the body despite the fire. (2 initiative)

(5 for them)

11:27 AM

(your scavvers will fire first though since they were in surprise, d20+3)

(21/3 20/8)

Another two of the scavengers are cut down here. A rumble from deeper in the yard has the rest of them refusing to rout

11:51 AM

(20/1) one of them slashes your leg with a rusted shank, while the others move into a confused melee with the scavs you brought with you as well

Lance grunts at the cut across his leg and is distracted as he swings his sword at the nearest scavenger missing but able to hit several with the flat of the blade (4/7 2 shock)

The flat is enough to put him down as the scrum continued. Another is dropped by laser fire before the survivors come to their senses and flee leaving their dead behind

( should I chase after one of them, attempting to tackle him to the ground to be able to ask him questions. Or can I stabilize one of the dead before they die?) (edited)

(You can stabilize the one you didn’t execute )

Lance walks over and heals one of the downed men, waving for his other scavengers to come over and watch his back. “Hey there, sorry about the misunderstanding but I understand that you are some of the meanest group in the junkyard, ve vant to find something and don’t vant any issue. To help that Vhat can you tell me about the rest of your group?”

"Mostly dead now" he coughs, trying to roll onto his side so it is easier to breathe. "Boss is still out there though,. not going to be happy"

“Vhat is your boss like? Big guy I’m guessing?”

“Big like you. Stompy metal “

“Fun vell men let’s go find mr stompy.” Lance looks back at the man he healed. “Do you vant to be left here tied up or buried with your head out. Ve vill come back for you once ve find Vhat ve need.”

"buried please, it will be warmer at least"

Lance looks at the guys and over at the pile of junk. “Boys let’s get him under that pile.”

They take great pleasure in burying him. There are a few unnecessary body blows you are forced to ignore as your sniffling pack of scavvers vents a bit of their frustration. After a few moments its clear your captive isn't going anywhere

Lance nods, “Ve vill return for you if ve can if not I hope your friends vill help.”

7:32 AM

(Wow useless enter…) Lance turns to the rest of his team, “Good job, Let’s go.” Lance leads his team onward aware that they are likely walking into some sort of ambush and then after a minute of travel asks, “Should ve set up an ambush hoping they come this vay or keep going? I’m not confident that ve can pull of the ambush but I also don’t vant to valk into one.”

"I think the only one we have left is leader man. The others got licked realllll gooden!" the others cheer

Lance nods then begins walking towards where the thrusters are suspected to be and begins the search as a group.

With the raiders removed, the thrusters are easy to locate near the back of their territory. You don't see their "stompy boss" out there anyway, nor do you hear him, but the scavengers seemed confident he would make an appearance

Lance starts to climb the junk piles This is probably a bad idea. When he reaches the top he yells out, “Hey stompy, Ve are over here! Come and get us.” Lance looks around hoping to see some kind of movement to prepare his team.

A torrent of flame shoots skyward from 50m away in the thicket of a scrapped atmoflyer. “LETS GO!!” He shouts, engaging both wrist flamethrowers again as he climbs the wreckage.

Lance steps back then says "Ummmm guys, Fire?" Lance hope for help as he enters combat. (initiative?)

(yess0r)

(8 sorry got distracted by maths) (edited)

(5)

~~Lance runs towards the mech. Notifies the fire and feels the heat as he swings getting distracted (2/4 if ac =<15 3 shock)~~ (Well… that’s a detail in your post I missed.) Lance begins to run towards the mech. (Double move.) (edited)

4:22 PM

The men on the ground fire seeing him. (Assuming they can. 16/7, 4/2, 9/7, 3/7 & 13/3)

(he's 40m away now if you're moving, so im not sure how we're in melee)

(

edited)

The heavy armored foe jogs through the shots to come to within 10m of you after his own boosted run. Gunfire sparks off his armored arms and legs and he grins. "I'm going to look forward to eating your bone marrow!" he shouts.

8:15 AM

He has a large sword that is serrated and the teeth look to be the best maintained thing on the entire raider

8:15 AM

(lance and friends up)

“Vell that’s rude. Can’t ve fight like civilized barbarians vith our swords and fists?” Lance says as he steps up to swing at the mech. (13/7) with bullets and lasers flying around him. (19/3,16/5,14/2,4/4)

One of the shots punches through the armor, staggering the enemy giant. He bellows with laughter and misses a punch back in your direction (your AC is too high for shock)

Lance laughs back and swings as gunfire flies all around him. “And then there vas a firefight!!!!” He screams. (4/12lance 14/5,15/3,6/2,4/6,15/6) as lasers and bullets fly around the pair.)

shots continue pounding into the armored warrior you're fighting but none of them seem to get through the power armor. (Evasion save, 3 damage or none depending on pass or not)

(Fail)

The gout of flame from his gauntlet pours over Lance's arm, causing burns, before the improperly mixed chemical fuel backs up and clogs the nozzle

1:14 PM

(lance up)

Lance pulls back his burnt arm and says, “I know you think I’m Hot but this is getting a little embarrassing.” Lance flicks his sword out again. (10/4 11/3,13/4,17/7,11/4) As lasers and bullets continue to fly. (3/10 ammo spent for my non-henchies .

)

He grunts as another shot takes him in the back. "You're hot but I'm HOTTER!" he yells, leveling a kick at Lance's chest. The brawny man is not moved even an inch, power assisted muscles or not trying to move him

1:19 PM

(missed, back to lance) (edited)

Lance laughs, “You look like a little runt of a man hiding in a can to me. Vhy don’t you come out here and ve can fight like 2 men rather than using support.” He says as he slashes out at the mech. (7/6 14/3, 18/5,7/3,19/4)

He doesn't get a chance to answer. A penetrating shot from one of the scavvers takes him in the eye-aimed through the grill of his helmet. The suit vents steam, and begins to fall apart as he tumbles onto his side.

Lance puts his sword on his backpack again and begins picking though the remains, “Vell done.” Lance Calls back, “vant to go and try to begin clearing out the thrusters? I vill call in support to help get it all moving along.” Lance pauses as he realizes he should cal in that support. He sends the message to the shuttle for evac. Then lance goes back to the bloody work.

(He's got the skeleton of an assault suit, and a large advanced melee weapon, if you want either of those)

Lance pulls the big man out of the suit, “Hmmm maybe I should have called him a green bean, Because I just popped him right out of this mech suit. “ (I’ll take the suit.) turning to the men, “Anyone vant his sword?”

One of the scavengers will take it. It is a fantastic survival tool. With support coming, and this village agreeing to join the alliance growing out of Dremlas, the booster rockets are quickly identified and recovered. One by one, they will be flown back to Dremlas for repair, and launch

5

4

Lance takes the men and the captive back to dremlas and gives them each 100 credits to get them all started. Then heads up to finish building the base of the station. (Not sure what’s next on putting the pieces together.) (edited)

(I think we can launch it and put it together)

Lance says to the pilot, “Let’s go to the fabrication center vhere the shell is being built to help vith the design of the thrusters attaching to keep the station ummmm stationary I guess gah I hate this language you vould think that ve vould have better vords than that.” The pilot grins and says back, “How bout you say to keep the station in orbit. Cause you would waste a lot of energy trying to keep it truly stationary.” Lance slaps his forehead, “By the light your right! Thank you. This should be so much easier. Once my brother lewis vould help me vith tricky things like that but….. vell let’s head to the factory.”

(3xp , 5000 credits )

5:14 PM

Moving home, the factory is swarming with eager workers ready to begin the process of fixing the components and packing what’s needed to begin orbital work again. The Bottas Shipyard will be the focal point from which the system is explored and beyond

6

5

(Bottas shipyard made me laugh out loud. Thanks neko.) Lance works for a few weeks with the crew working out the kinks in the design and fabrication. (So timelines align again.) during his down time he working on his experimental research (13v12 know magic costs20k +20 research points) (edited)

(i think securing the parts is probably enough of the adventure to get that going, so im good to move into whatever)\

10:04 AM

(We should probably fit the shuttle though)

(This work? Nice and basic spike 3 because that was as fancy as they could fit into a shuttle.)

(Yes that’s fine.)

Rey (Shriven) pinned a message to this channel. 6/19/2021 8:26 PM

(Im at a loss of which way to go next. I am leaning towards going and visiting another planet but the LGate is calling to me as well. Do you have a preference neko? If not im just going to flip a coin. I am going to be going out of town on friday so i will either have alot more time to post or a lot less. Not sure where that is going to land either.)

(I think either option is going to be a huge help. I know you and Orion had thoughts of exploring that ocean moon to see if it was worth setting up aquaculture and whatnot there)

7:27 AM

(Which is a third option)

Lance heads back to the academy to find out what his friend Kror is doing.

Kror is deployed north with a large exploration group. They have spotted a ruined gas collector crashed into the ground, and now have been attacked by termies

“Vhat! Do they need help?” Lance yells as he runs out the door not listening for the answer hoping that he can locate them.

(Good to drop in on them?)

(Yeah that’s fine. Good place to do it)

Lance heads back to His sanctum after seeing everyone off and begins to work on the formula for a Terminus Large blade. He walks into his archnotech lab and spends the next week developing the formula. (14v12 success 13 enlightenment points. Year 5 month 1 research complete.)

After spending a grueling week he realizes that he has complete abandon his work on Lazarus Parches and goes and checks his theory board. Hoping to have some kind of break through or at least some kind of possibly of where to move forwards.

(I gotta think this one out. I kinda stopped working on it since we were doing other things)

(Sounds good.)

Lance begins looking at his research into the Lazarus patches. The nano-fabricators are all lost and buried with the mandate and Tenebrian Empire's destruction after. They were critical pieces of machinery that would be needed to create the medical assistant robotics within a patch that know how to keep a person alive. The former Perimeter Agency was rumored to have some sort of more robust version of Nano-fab as their bases were often situated in hostile areas and would need on demand abilities for printing all manner of complex gear. Finding one of their sites may be the key to finding some of their discarded technology.

Lance puts another pin in the board with a circle around finding a perimeter agency base and sighs. (Taking with others to see if anyone want to go offworld otherwise May go check out the l-gate)

(L-gate it is.) Lance hops in the shuttle and looks at the pilot. “Lando, do you even sleep? Or is my compad sending you info when I’m out of my lab again?” Lance asks as he makes small talk with lando. As they head towards the L-gate.

(We can't get there with the current levels of breach exposure. Jasper is heading to a settlement a bit further north to try to leapfrog if you want to join)

Lance heads that way.

9:44 PM

(To jasper’s thread?)

On Lance Botta's compad, an alert for an incoming message appears. Whenever he opens it, he sees the following message: "Good evening sir. I have recently stepped outside of Dremlas to assist in the reclaimation of Saliv from the Breaches and the revitalization of our Resonators and arcanotech capabilities. As such, I have begun to research possible research laboratories that might be hiring on a semi-regular basis. I found reference to your laboratory on the net. I specialize a bit in a niche aspect of arcanotech, but I would like to learn more in an effort to one day pave the way for new arcanotech. I am interested in possibly working for you as a "research and acquisitions" contractor both on and off planet. I hope to hear from you in the future. -Sincerely Dalibor Uclaiv"

@Aiden Rhys Lance responds

So I’m not looking to start a company or anything but if your looking for a lab to work at I have one at my house. I can send you the address if you want to use it.

Initial upgrade

Rey (Shriven) pinned a message to this channel. 7/27/2021 12:50 PM

(692k-197k current+247.5k staff + 110k grav + 347k = 1,219,500 from funds. leaving 1,175,020 funds. Really want to hire lando full time if that’s okay.) (edited)

1:05 PM

Rey (Shriven) pinned a message to this channel. 7/27/2021 1:05 PM

(Final upgrade completed by EoM 5/2) (edited)

Rey (Shriven) pinned a message to this channel. 7/27/2021 3:19 PM

Y5M3 research month
Build Terminus Blade 12 (6 roll+3skill+1int +2 adv lab) 
Success
Heat roll 
16 (14+2 lab)
Cold

4

((HOT)

(So that brought me to level 7 via goal exp which got me level 2 of the foci. Giving me a second research in a month. Do I wait or use it this month? I’m thinking wait.)

)I’m thinking wait as well)

1

(When lance gets back can he get cyberware from the core book? Dermal Armor, pressure sheath, ghost talker, holoskin emitters and Panspectral Optics, 6 strain of 14 cost 80k)

(Yes those are all good)

1

Lance lands back at Saliv and goes to get the cyberware he had his eye on installed. (80k down and days out right?)

(yeah 1 per strain incurred)

(6days out) during which time he attempts to listen to reports from NFSS and Galatea. Once he can get back up out of bed Lance goes over to his Lazarus patch board trying to find any kind of lead he can start chasing down.

You receive a message on your compad from Jasper:

Hey, Lance. Hope your making a good recovery after your surgery.  I’m sure your taking it easy. 
Word from the Bottas shipyards says that the ships progress is going well and we will be able to fully reutilize it for the Alliance. 

When you are feeling ready to get back into the mess of things I am always willing to continue our work up north. Take your time though, there is always work on my end to be done. 

Until then,
Yours truly, Jasper.

The NFSS seems to still have these patches in use and has limited manufacture of them. The reports do not mention the process but it seems the Glenn and Irradiated Republic are the main medical suppliers due to their special planetary needs in one case, and large compliment of polity soliders for the other.

Lance gets inordinately excited, “They have it they have it those brilliant people have it! I must go and see vhat it takes. I have to see it.” Lance mentally connects with lando through his cyberware. “Lando prepare the ship. We are going to NFSS.”

Then pausing Lance messages @Dr. Jasper Artemis | Suko ,

To: Jasper
Hey Jasper I have a lead on my Lazarus research and am heading off planet. It may not be best for two of us to go on this as it may… We’ll let’s just say that it may not go as planned. I will see you when I get back.
Lance

That’s great! Good luck my friend. 
hopefully I will understand breaches better by the time you return. 

Safe travels,
Jasper.

(Do I know what planet to go to?)

(I think that would be part of the adventure. The capital worlds of each member Polity is listed. And you would know the reports from what kror and barny have seen)

(Off to the capital of Glenn. It isn’t on the map…)

(We can get to the edge of their space and get guided in)

(Perfect) “Lando let’s head to Ibrotera. We should be able to find out where we are going from there.”

(looks like 7 days of DT) (edited)

(15/90 Purify the Bonds)

(Seen, just getting a few things worked out)

1

https://www.worldanvil.com/w/iron-stars-nekosmash/a/ibrotera-location?preview=true

Ibrotera

As the ship comes into Ibrotera Lance is shocked to see two possibly habitable planets together in one system. “Lando, is this right? This is an amazing system. And a night vorld?!? I vonder if they have casinos. No don’t get distracted.” Lance not giving Lando time to respond sends out a call to the NFSS system.

Greetings, this is a Inheritor Alliance vessel requesting either an escort or permissions to proceed to The Glenn capital system.

Greetings Inheritor Alliance Vessel. We would be pleased to escort you to Theros, the heart of The Glenn. Ground control would like to inquire as to the nature of your visit to NFSS space

Research, I have heard that The Glenn can create Lazarus Patches. I am trying to restore that for the alliance as well and wanted to share notes and ask questions.

Your request will be forwarded for consideration. Escort will be arranged , please provide your flight path from here to Theros and we will ensure you are supported

(Diomokato, Nalarnides, Domia, Theros 8 days of travel)

(Planets not required unless you want to. Just theros sorry for all the work.) (edited)

(No you’re good. It’s uo to you , we woukd need reports for a couple so I can loop Eish in)

(I dont mind, only one planet doesnt have one as it is)

(which one?)

(diomokato)

(Diomokato, Nalarnides are not public on worldanvil) (edited)

(Sounds good. Eish gave me a few things to riff off of so I’ll put some things together )

1

https://www.worldanvil.com/w/iron-stars-nekosmash/a/diomokato-location-1

Diomokato

1

https://www.worldanvil.com/w/iron-stars-nekosmash/a/naleinides-location

Naleinides

1

Lance reads over the news and reports as he travels. “Lando, I think these places are vorth coming back to. But for today I think ve need to just make it so ve don’t miss out on this good vill from NFSS.” Lance says as they make the jump that will take them into the Theros system. (edited)

https://www.worldanvil.com/w/iron-stars-nekosmash/a/theros-location

Theros

Lance reviews the scan and then messages The Glenn. “This is Lance Bottas from IA, requesting permission to land to talk with your leaders.”

“Land at the Glenn and follow the route on your HUD. If you deviate your will be shot down”

Lance looks to Lando, “Take is down and please don’t get us shot.” Lance says with a grin. “Vould be terrible to come all this vay just to get shot by the people ve vant to talk to.”

“Paranoid bunch aren’t they?” Lando asks as he looks over the course with a frown

“Vell, maybe a bit but this is the heart of their polity so the fear makes sense. A bit…” Lance drifts off in thought. “Although it probably means they have some pretty awesome tech from before down there.”

"What do you want me to do once we make it to the ground. I can lock us down but if you need to get back in here quick, we might not get the hatch open in time"

“Just don’t move the ship and I can teleport back in. If the ship moves then vell… it might be troubling.”

“Alright. “ Lando says nothing else as the ship sets down at the edge of a large city. The typical NFSS diplomats seem to be elsewhere but a local functionary and a few guards have been sent to meet with you. It seems like a skeleton crew is on duty right now and you don’t even see much civilian traffic in the city as you approach. It strikes you as odd given the number of people who live here

Lance steps out of the shuttle and fumbles between bowing and reaching his hand out not sure of which to do. “Ummm Hello, I’m ummm Lance Bo-tas.” Lance drags out his last name because he is so nervous. “I vould like to talk to you or ummm I guess vho ever vorks on the Lazarus Patches and how you vorked out getting one back up and running. Or Vell vhere you found one if you don’t mind me sharing.”

“You have come on a holiday and those departments are not at work, but if you please you are welcome to join us for the Ceremony of the Moon and the Feast of the Spring Hunt” the Tre alien in attendance says

“A holiday! Excellent! A holiday on my holiday. Is there anything that I should know about this very velcome holiday?” Lance pauses to think, “Or perhaps I should ask, vill I be escorted or am I to vander vhere I vill?”

"Without an escort you'll miss the meaning and reverence of the day!" The Tre says, "Please, it would be our honor to assign an escort and cultural attache for you"

“Excellent instead of an escort I’m going to call it an obliged friend.” Lance laughs at his own joke, then continues “I look forward to learning all that is here.”

"Please, we will arrange a ride for you into the city, and I will accompany you" the human member of the group says. "This will be an excellent chance for you to experience one of the pinnacles of Glenn culture!"

Lance reaches out his hand to shake his escorts hand. “I’m glad to meet you, vhat can I call you? You look like a Max but I am often vrong about these names.”

"You can call me Arick. It is nice to meet a new friend from the west. The Inheritor Alliance has been sending many people here to see how we do things , and to follow up on us, it seems"

Lance shakes his hand, “I don’t think I’m here to check up on you.” Lance gives a goofy grin, “Unless you need checked up on for some reason.” Lance laughs, “I think ve vill get along very Vell. Let us get going!”

You are brought to a large public building in the middle of town where it seems like most of the settlement is either eating in, or near. Massive quantities of food are constantly being prepared and the entire community has come together for a large meal, more akin to a feast. There is more food and drink here than all of these people could go through even if they had two stomachs. "The pre-hunt victory feast. Don't be shy, anything that looks good, take a plate, and eat as much as you want. You are an honored guest"

Lance goes and grabs a dinner plate and loads it up filling it as high as his girth can justify. “This all looks great! I can’t vait to taste it. So vhat is this celebration all about. I know it is the spring hunt but vhat does that mean?”

"Of course! So you see.." he says, grabbing a large plate himself , they begin to weave the tale. They tell you of the special holiday that is today and are glad that you were able to join them on such a special cultural holiday. This new moon marks the beginning of Spring within the Glen and the first hunt of the season comes directly after. The New Moon is a sacred time for The Hunter, as there is no light to give away their presence to the prey that they stalk. This hunt is marked as a portent for what is to come for the rest of the season. A Good Hunt means that the people will experience a great bounty this year and will be adequately prepared for the deadness of winter. Now that The Glen is experiencing a close to post-scarcity life-style, people will go out on ceremonial hunts instead. There is no need to hunt large beasts to ensure there is enough meat for the village, so instead small game is the prey in order to keep the tradition and their heritage alive. The feast you are experiencing is the last of the winter stores, in celebration of the food that The Hunters will return with on the morrow. You notice that the mythos of the holiday assumes a level of victory almost as if it is foretold. The Hunters of The Glen presume victory and work hard to ensure that future comes to pass. It is probably what has lead them to be fearsome and accomplished warriors on the battlefield.

"Vow, that is excellent. Ve are no vhere near post scarity, it must be an amazing place to live. How do you choose vhich varriors go on the hunt?"

"All Glen citizens may participate, but few do anymore. Mostly just our warriors and our cultural leaders. Hunting for survival, necessity it is not. You may join the hunting party on the morrow, if you wish"

Lance shrugs, "I'm a scientist first a healer second and a fighter only at great need. I thank you for the offer and honor but i vould rather eat and talk than fight. I hope that ve can pass the time in luxury." (unless he pushes the honor of it lance is gonna eat and kick back and wait.)

(The offer was made. You don’t get the sense turning it down is going to offend anyone since almost none of them do it anymore either )

(perfect.) Lance leans back and watches for any scientist type people.

You do see a few who look more academic in one of the corner tables at the edge of the square. They are passing around a datapad it seems like, each of them making minute adjustments to it

Lance nods in their direction. “Mind if I go greet and talk vith them?”

"Of course, feel free to wander. We will be here when you need us"

Lance nods and walks over to the scientist, “Hello, I am Lance Bottas. I am from the Inheritors Alliance. I vas vondering if you had time to talk. I vould love to vork vith you if you happen to be in anything resembling my speciality.”

"Please. we are always have to speak to another man of the sciences, have a seat, have you eaten yet?"

“I have only had one plate so far, should probably give it a minute to settle for another round. So vhat are you corking on?”

“Ah a new physical training program, backed by science , for the wonderful hunters of the Glen”

“Ahhh that is on the edge of vhat I know. Do you augment vith cyberware?”

"We replace missing limbs with their cybernetic equivalents, and our scouts are given polyspectral optics to assist with their missions, but we do not force widespread cybernetic enhancement programs on our soldiers. Advanced as things are here, a campaign like that would be far reaching and logistically difficult"

“That makes sense, ve had the same issues vith logistics. I vas hoping you have found the Mercurial bullet for the issue.” Lance shrugs and tries to laugh off his pie in the sky hopes. “Do you have biopsions for the missing limbs?”

"We do, but their efforts are limited and bioscopics cannot always be brought to bear right away in some cases. They are too valuable to risk on a battlefield"

“I understand, once bios on the battlefield vere not needed vith lift and Lazarus patches so plentiful. The alliance has begun running short on both. That’s actually vhy I came here.” Lance looks to see the men’s reactions

Their reactions are somewhat stone faced, but you sense a ripple of unease spread across the table. "We were unaware the Alliance was at war and needed things like that in such a supply. Is your psychic corps unable to complete the job? "

“No no, Not actively at var, but the termies continue to be an issue and unless a more peaceful solution is found then it may come to a violent confrontation.” Lance clears his throat, “Ever since the scream I have vanted to restore Lazarus patches production but have consistently fallen short in my efforts.” Lance looks around embarrassed. “I don’t know if ve vill ever truly be at var but I don’t know if I could live vith myself if I didn’t pursue life saving technology and var came and lives vere lost due to my inaction. I refuse to let my inaction be the cause of such suffering.” Lance begins to get passionate in his tone, “I vant peace but am aware that ve live in dangerous turbulent times that everything can change on in a moment. The Alliance unlike NFSS hasn’t had a strong resurgence since the scream. Ve are years behind other groups traversing the sector. I have no illusions that if Saliv didn’t have the agreement of both NFSS and Galatea then ve May very Vell be at a huge risk.” Lance looks at the scientists, “I am sorry, I am a terrible ambassador. I have no skill vith vords but I ask you to not look to unkindly of the alliance due to my ramblings.”

"Can you tell us what you've tried so far? We might be able to point you in the right direction. Our hands are tied, you understand. Officially giving you anything would violate the law, we're giving you state secrets and there's no formal exchange of tech between our two groups yet.

10:54 AM

Science is universal, and makes lives better and safer for everyone, we can at least off the record, give you a hint"

Lance launches into the years of research that he tried going from MES sympathetic materials to nanobots and their practical limitations due to production. Talking for a good 5 minutes finally looking to them all. “Honestly I have gotten to the point that I am out of ideas unless I can stumble on something that opens a new avenue of research or thought.”

"Medicine like a laz patch requires a lot of small things working quickly. Something nanoscale. Finding something that can fab those small intelligent pieces will finish what you started"

Lance sighs, “yeah, something that I have been searching for for years. I don’t even know where there were some before the scream let alone now.” (edited)

“The perimeter agency made great use of them pre scream. The only source of a lot of this stuff on the frontier came from them”

Lance laughs, “Mind telling me vhere the last place someone saw the perimeter counsel at? I don’t think I ever had an idea of vhere they vere.”

“On some worlds they were open about being there. As the empire began to collapse they scaled back operations on worlds where they hadn’t been so open. Too many reports of agency headquarters being over run by the desperate locals to try to get whatever was inside “

(Perimeter is different than LLF right? Just wanted to confirm) Lance is visibility disheartened, “So I just need to find one of these planets. North south east west? It feels like a near impossible task.”

(Correct Perimeter Agency was the anti-maltech/special forces arm of the Mandate. NebEnt was attempting to take up their work)

"Well, lets think. We know this is the frontier of what was once the Great Empire. One day it will be the core of something even better, but even here, closer to the center, things were not always the most established. We should look closer to where we came from"

(Just to be clear OOC that would be north west right?)

(yeah galactic northwest)

Lance nods the. Continues to make small talk. Waiting for the hunters to return.

The hunters return an hour later, just when the conversation becomes truly straining on what you would all consider polite. They have several deerling creatures between them, and the group applauds

Lance claps loudly with the crowd, then turning to the scientists, “Thank you for your time and advice. I vill look towards the origin when faced with difficulties. I truly hope that one day ve vill be able to more freely share our completed findings.” Then prepares to return to Arick.

(Anything else you wanted to do here ? 3xp, 5000 credits )

(Not really need to go northwest.)

The feast is completed and you are welcomed back any time. With some well wishes, Arick brings you back to your shuttle and you're cleared to leave the system by ground control.

(So due west from NSFF right? As there is no further north west from here on our map.)

(there are a bunch of planets west and northwest of Saliv)

(Ahhh misunderstood. Perfect. Off to Saliv area. Can’t get Wiki up right now so let’s go with Usrixeesma. Adventure time!)

(I’ll get a report up for you tomorrow but that sounds good )

(Super excited, just hoping I’m not gonna have to teleport down like with Rey…

)

(9 days)

Lance spends the 9 days working on understanding his technique. (Now up to 23/90)

https://www.worldanvil.com/w/iron-stars-nekosmash/a/usrixeesma-location

Usrixeesma

3

(Ohhhh spiffy.) Lance turns to lando, “Lando, can ve get a quick scan before ve head down to the ruins? Make sure ve aren’t missing anything ummmm important. Like pirates or something?”

“If there’s anything alive down there it’s not traveling in a group. The whole place is dead. Seems so at least”

Lance nods, “Probably good to land. Let’s put her down.”

2:19 PM

(I'll get this in the world anvil)

Lance begins to think out loud, “Do ve head straight to the site or do ve check out the power plant first and try to get it back running before going to the site.” Lance shrugs, “I’m thinking site first then if needed go turn on the power.”

(those other settlement type things are the dead cities but are not named)

(Sounds good, off to the former agency site, if needed we know we can go turn on the power plant.)

(D10)

( 6 )

You set down within 10km of the facility and the nesting animals here scatter. A flock of drones seems to be landing at the site coming from the opposite direction.

7:11 AM

The compound is walled and seems to be made of three big buildings , each of them resembling sideways triangles

Lance looks to Lando, “If I get in trouble I vill be teleporting back here so keep the door up and eyes out for trouble. Hopefully those drones are all friendly and not here to stop me from doing vhat ve came here for.”

"Might be automated too. What do you think, try to snag one maybe? Risky either way" he says, taking a deep breath out. You can tell he is nervous.

“My daa had a saying, vhen your going into the cave to steal honey don’t poke the bear on the vay in. Now on the vay out your already running….” Lance trails off and grins. “I think I vill try to sneak in a much as possible and go from there.”

"Alright. Be safe doc, I'll make sure everything is set to go at a moment"

Lance steps out of the shuttle and begins the hike to the facility. Not wanting to teleport into an unknown location he walks his way in trying to be sneaky without knowing how to do it to well. One of these days I’m going to read a book or something on how to do this seems like I keep needing it. (Sneak/dex?) (edited)

(yeah that's fine, lets do that)

( 4)

2

4

2

One of the recon drones takes you by surprise. A series of flares are dropped as it zooms overhead from the south, making its way past you back to the facility. You’re not sure what might be happening inside it’s walls

Lance continues to sneak assuming that the one drone got lucky.

Another pair of them launch from the facility as you get to within a kilometer , these ones are larger and you can see weapon hardpoints on them- two each.

Lance continues to move forward slowly trusting to his stealth and knowing that he can survive a single shot, Hopefully… these things don’t kick to hard. (Thinking stealth should work or teleport will push me next to the site.) (edited)

(We got a 4 and you know you're being observed, if that helps)

(PC me knows that. Lance is holding on to the slim hope that they are flying in his direction not for him.)

A pair of contrails on the horizon indicates some kind of missile launch in your direction.

“Nope nope nope” Lance teleports back to the shuttle “Nope nope nope.” Lance’s montra continues. “Nope that’s not gonna vork. Looks like I’m gonna have to teleport all the way in and figure something out along the vay.”

“Lando, good to see you I’m going to teleport into the base. Next time I show up kick us up off the ground and take us to atmo.”

Land o is ready and from the air you now have some oversight into the compound

9:43 AM

(I’ll get a map together )

1

(Want to just teleport to the theater of the mind? That I land on top of the walls and see a building inside it? Rather than clearing room by room?)

(You kind of have to go inside , it’s not just going to be handed over )

1

5:06 PM

(Close enough I guess )

Lance walks out of the shuttle and heads over to where he can see the structure. Noting that there is a tower he tries to teleport into the tower along the wall. (Failing that onto the roof of the tower.) Wanting to get a view into where all these drones are coming from. (2/6 effort for scene)

(well you could get inside if you have the technique to get into a place you haven't been before , otherwise we can settle on the tower top)

(Just hoping for a window so to the top of the tower it is.)

You can see an open complex below. Two guards smoke with their backs to you near the hood of the gun truck, facing away from you A healthy garden , a lab section to the right and a dorms section to the left occupy the interior of the base. A hard packed cement area outside the walls to the north show where the drones had lifted off from

Rey (Shriven) pinned a message to this channel. 11/3/2021 3:52 PM

Lance sees the guards and decides now is a good time to use his holoskin emitters. He goes through the uniforms and tries to find a matching one then prepares to talk to the guards. (Bad ideas 101 have fun while doing them

)

1

(No worries)

7:47 PM

You’re able to find a close match and if they don’t look too close you think you’ll be able to talk to them without them catching on. You’ll have to keep things short

Lance teleports behind the truck to be able to walk around to converse with the guards. Hoping that he isn’t just shot on sight.

No one sees you reappear, and the answers to being shot on sight you suspect will reveal themselves in a moment when you walk around

Lance takes a deep breath and then turns the corner of the truck

The two guards are mid conversation, and it pauses when they see you, unsure of why you're approaching.

“Drones see another tree in the distance moving to fast again? Couldn’t sleep. Blasted nightshift.” Lance says with a chuckle.

“Not this time. Looked like people. Maybe one of the locals getting a little too curious. They’re probably after the nano forge “

Lance shakes his head, “Some never learn.” (Do they have keys or a keycard Visible? Not to steal just trying to see if I noticed if the doors would be locked and I would need to navigate that.)

Each of them has a small clip on their right breast pocket with an ID card and there is a small copper disc set into it which might be a key or chip to get into doors.

Lance begins waking over to the door. Then begins patting his chest then pockets. Lance looks back to the two guards, “If I owe each of you a beer any chance you could buzz me in and not tell anyone that I forgot my card in my bunk?” Lance rubs the back of his head looking embarrassed.

(talk/cha)

(Can I use my doll? If so I would like to.)

(Yes)

(Crap missed this. Typing.) Lance feeling awkward about it pulls out his Brother Gamma doll and presses the button at the back and grins, The storm is all embrace the storm embrace change. as it begins to March around and preach quietly before hoping back up onto lances hand. “Sorry he calms me down.”

3

“Sure I’ll buzz you in. Find that card though. Quick. If security catches you without it you’re going to have a bad time “

Lance rubs the back of his head, “Thanks, I’ll get right on that.” He says as he steps to the side for them to buzz him in.

THe door buzzes and you're passed through a scrub field so you do not track the outside in with you. The inner airlock opens to a module tunnel, leading to the various rooms of this small base.

Rey (Shriven) pinned a message to this channel. 12/13/2021 8:16 AM

Lance steps through the door and turns back, “Thanks.” Lance then walks trying to find a restroom for a safe room to teleport back into if he has to teleport out.

(entered at 5, out into the hallway, it looks like the bathrooms are at the end , near the stairs)

Lance heads down the hall ignoring all other doors other than looking for a rest room. Hopefully they aren’t locked. Lance thinks to himself

The room is not locked and even better it seems no one else is inside. A few stalls , a few sinks and an air dryer, with two shower stalls round out the room

Lance walks into each one of the stalls so he has a place to jump safely. Then proceeds to head to the stairs. (Are their both upstairs and down stairs?)

(Yeah up and down)

Lance looks around and shrugs If I vere to hide a super awesome prescream tech I would hide it in the basement. he thinks to himself then heads down stairs.

(know/int) (edited)

(~~4 reroll~~ 8)

You can tell by the wiring here there might be an intense power supply here on the bottom level, and possibly something directly connected to it, but security is light and you have not even seen anyone else yet .

Lance looks at the wiring and nods. Looks like I’m on the right track. Lance then proceeds downward to see what these are powering.

There is a large vault door at the bottom of the staircase. The bulkhead looks to be taken from a starship and secured in place with a heavy duty keypad and a reinforced casement around it. A card reader, biometric scanner, and keypad are all components of the security system here.

(Is the biometric scanner fingeror hand or eye scanner?)

(Finger )

Lance looks at the keypad hoping that there is some kind of wear on some numbers and not others.

There is a thin sheet of finger grease on the 7, 1, 6 and 8 keys

11:00 AM

More so than any of the others

Lance notes those in his compad and then heads back upstairs to go to the second floor. Hoping to find a rough guess of how many men are in the outpost.

Entering the second floor has you passing through an Iris door, and you arrive on the work level of the facility. You can see the armory, and a lab space on this level.

Lance looks around for any other doors that may be living spaces.

(We had those on the floor below this, the ground floor, if we want to circle back)

(Just making sure that there weren’t any more beds around here.) Lance seeing no additional bedrooms prepares to try to take one of the men captive. (Heading back downstairs to catch one sleeping.) (edited)

Heading back downstairs you notice the first room on the right (closest to stairs) has the sounds of two people snoring within.

Lance moves on to the next room hoping to find a single person in a room.

Everyone else here seems to be on duty or otherwise deployed or off base. The two sleepers seem to be the best you can do after a cursory sweep of the passing rooms

Lance heads back up to the armory to see if he can find a weapon that will subdue one of the men without killing him.

(Fists can do it too. They’re prone so you won’t miss)

Lance shakes his head and realizes that he doesn’t need anything other than his fists. Then heads back to the room hoping to sneak in and knock one out and bring the other down to the locked door.

3

1

The heavy blows fall upon each of them. One is taking a much longer nap than anticipated. The other is carted along by you now

Lance drags the second one down to the door. “Ve can do this the easy vay or the hard vay. If ve do it the easy vay I vill even make sure you make it out of here and get you set up with some credits. Vhat do you say?” Lance looks at the man hoping this doesn’t get ugly.

You've got him dead to rights. He nods that he will comply with your demands. You can see as you've got him bent over that there is a large knife concealed at the small of his back.

Lance attempts to remove the knife. “Let’s not get any funny ideas. Just need you to open a door for me. Maybe answer a few questions.”

"Okay, okay. What do you want to know? "

“First, how many men are in this compound? Second, vho do you vork for?” (More questions after response.)

There are 50 men working here, some are researchers, some are security. They still have Tenebrian Empire security badges on them, stamped with the Pre-Scream seal of the Perimeter Agency.

“Vho is your commander and vhat is he like?” (Looking to see if I can convince him to turn to our side.)

Their commander is a brutish man named Fisk, but most of the men can't really complain about him. After the events of The Scream, the locals came out in droves to try to storm the base for any kind of food, supplies, fuel, and other general things they hoped would see them through the crisis. A violent display was handed out in turn and the locals learned not to push the limits of the facility again. Since then, Fisk has done all he can do to keep the place self sustaining with no outside support, and no instructions from an empire he believes is still out there.

1:08 PM

He has made some hard choices in the name of collective survival, and a few men among the garrison here have been killed over infractions. There is some grumbling, but most seem to respect what he is doing. (edited)

After talking with him for a while to get all that information Lance asks, “Do you think he could be interested in talking about gaining some support from an inter-planetary polity?”

"The Empire is the only thing he loves. It is the only thing keeping him going. Learning its gone might break him"

(Time to roll the dice.). “Take me to your leader.”

(talk./cha, literally)

1

( 7 )

"He'll shoot me for being taken prisoner. You're going to kill two men today with the news you're bringing"

Lance rolls his eyes, “Fine, can you tell me where his office is and I can just knock you out? I’ll be either dead or gone by the time you wake up.”

He nods, and gives you the location. Second floor, end of the hallway. You don't need anything special to get in.

(Do I need to roll to knock the informant out or can we just assume he complies so he doesn’t get killed later?) (edited)

(He's got no reason to resist)

Lance knocks out the informant then heads to the leaders door. Knocking on it waiting for a response.

'Enter!" a gruff voice from within calls out. You can hear the scratch of a pen or some other writing tablet on a hard surface

Lance enters the room holding his hands up after opening the door trying to not look menacing. “Hello commander, I am Lance I know you have questions but may I speak my piece first?”

He nods, slowly drawing a double barreled mag pistol from the drawer.

Lance takes a deep breath, “I come vith an offer of aid. The scream changed everything and broke the galaxy. Ve have not heard from the empire or any governing force. So I come with an offer of support you vill remain in command but I ask to bring in aid, food, reinforcements and materials. You are currently isolated and venerable until you receive backing from someone off planet. I am offering that support until you can contact the empire for instructions. Vhat do you say?”

"This isn't an act of altruism. You're not going to tie up one of your spike boats to feed us if there wasn't some other reason for it. Why are you really here, and how did you find us?"

1:27 PM

Wheels are no doubt turning in his head, and he is doing an admirable job repressing how he feels about the news of all this, for now, his demeanor is businesslike.

“No it isn’t. I understand that you have a nanofabricator ve vant to use it to be able to start rebuilding Lazarus patches. To save lives, I know that it is a lot right now. I also know that to keep your men loyal to you, you must be a man I can vork vith. I vas in a position to either steal the fabricator or talk to you. I figured that talking to you and giving good men a chance to be good men vould be the better option for all involved.”

"That's half my question, the other half is what really matters. Who are you? And how did you find us?"

Lance blushes, “Ahhh yes that is an important piece, I am a representative of the Inheritor Alliance. Once we controlled only Saliv as a psi and magic powerhouse. Ve are returning the planet and those planets surrounding to that state. I was able to locate you due to a tip from another group nearby. The Alliance does not claim nor want to be the empire, only to bring stability and prosperity to the region.”

"Another group? well these are two strangers who know about us. Can you tell me anything about them? "

Lance nods at the pistol, “Mind pointing that in another direction? I vould be happy to tell you all I know but not as a prisoner but as at least an acquaintance if not a friend.”

He nods, ejecting the magazine and clearing the chamber. "You do the same? And we'll call this a nice quid pro quo

1

1

Lance nods and puts his hands down and sits down. "The group that told me to look at this planet is a small group of polities that have bound together to fight the shapers and then has spent the last year trying to economically recover. I know little of them personally however they have been talking with my planet for possible allinace and inclusion in their mutual defense. Does that help?"

"No, why can;t you give me their name? Groups within groups, all this smoke and mirrors has me trusting you less by the minute"

"NFSS is their name i dont recall what it stand for Northern free something something or other. I can pull it up on a pad if you vould like. Sorry this is my first negotiation that isnt in a lab so pardon me if im a bit haphazard with my information." Lance says as his body language shows being uncomfortable.

(Talk/cha)

(Massive roll 6 )

4

2

"That's not enough to convince me. Too many people who don't know us, know about us, and you're here trying to lift our nanofabs from us. You seem capable, and you're probably a credit to wherever you come from, but you snuck onto my base, and the things you're telling me are a threat to everyone working here"

“Is there something I could do to convince you? I’m not asking for blind faith. Just a hand extended.” (edited)

say we do give you what you're asking for, what happens to my men? what happens to the nano fabbers? Do you even have airlift for them?"

“Honestly I see two options. First option ve bring in reinforcements and help run this facility here with you in control of it. Ve vould vork to ease tensions vith the tribes and try to help bring peace to the region. If that isn’t a strong option for you then ve could set up a staggered evacuation, pulling some of the men out each time with additional staff so your men aren’t left behind alone and venerable. I can also take one of you men to see vhere I come from and bring him back if you feel comfortable vith that. The cards are in your hands.”

3

He seems to be interested in the evacuation route. "If we were to go with you, what kinds of conditions would we expect on landing, or where we are going"

“Vell there is relative peace on the planet cept for up north vhere there are some mutated creatures that are being beat back from the from the frontiers. Supplies are easily found and there are plenty of opportunities from there. Does that help?”

"These mutations, what did they arise from?" he asks, making some notes as you talk.

“There is a local meta space disturbance that vhen not prepared against, vhich a large portion of the planet again is, mutates living beings. Ve currently have several failsafes defending them all.”

“That’s all I wanted to know. That sounds like not much of a better deal than this one but maybe we can help each other. My nanofabbers might be able to help bulk those failsafes for you “

Lance nods, “So do you want me to bring in my ship to load up some of the staff or do you want me to bring some men here to hold down the fort while we cycle the men down?”

"We need to maintain some kind of consistent troop and operations level until we're all pulled out. I'd feel a lot safer with some of your men here helping us"

"Very vell, can I get autorization codes to bring in my shuttle? I vill bring it in and then load up and bring in the troops for the transfer. Vill that work?"

He hands you the access codes for the facility, and offers a hand to shake.

2

Lance stands and shakes his hand. "I vill return vith some men. Ve can only move 9 men at a time right now and each round trip vill take several days so this vill probably be an extended vithdraw."

7:55 AM

(Can i spend the cash to make this a second scantum? It has defenses already and that way i can hire men to stay here and it can be a base for IA?)

(I'd rather not drop them everywhere if we can avoid it, we already have a ton that have been made and abandoned across the game , but if we decide to place a holding or eventual base of influence around here we can figure something out then) (edited)

(There is OOC talk about it becoming a Base of influence for IA next month. If that works.)

(if the faction turn reflects the OOC chat then we can do that when the time comes)

(anything else lance needs to do other than have Lando ferry them back and forth for the forseeable future?)

(Nope! I'm going to circulate a writeup for this in mod chat so we can debate some mechanics)

11:37 AM

(but othewise, we're good to go!)

11:37 AM

(i think you also get like 50xp for this)

9

Lance heads home and works to set up the nanofab. (Will need to level but just haven’t yet. I have it mapped but just isn’t done. Catching up on other threads then probably going to talk to Jasper once he is free. Till then going to pause.)

Lance heads to the city to talk to an administrator. (Looking to pawn off the LANCE to the polity level.)

(Sure thing! Did we want to talk to the gang or just some npc? I know we talked options too for how to sell it)

(Thinking just NPCs and do some favor to be named later thing.)

Heading to the Academy where the alliance makes most of its dealings you head to appear before a council where your discovery will be presented and discussed .

8:54 PM

The board is five members of Alliance Command , and they’re eager to hear what you think and what you’ve done. (edited)

Lance takes a deep breath and steps forward, "Ladies and gentlemen, I am coming before you now to offer my research find to IA. I have been able to create a near replica of Lazarus patches. My team has called it Limited Application Nano-Chemical Epoxy also known as LANCE. I vant to offer this to the alliance as a bargaining chip in our ongoing negotiations with foreign powers. I could attempt to use it for the collective good however i doubt that i vould be able to control it vell. So i offer it to this body for a future consideration at this time there is nothing that I need nor do i vant to unduly burden our polity. I of course still vish to hold the actual production of the product but the proceeds and product itself will only be sold on planet or through this body." Lance looks at the council, "Are these terms acceptable?"

1

"The work you have done on this needs to be rewarded. The selflessness you are using to give it back to us is the same, and we must reward you again. Dr. Bottas, if up to you, how would you like to be compensated for this, and how would you like distribution to work? "

“Eventually I vould like to have a ship large enough to go exploring I know that it isn’t something that ve can do now but the goal is to have a logistic ship. I value the Alliance over any short term gains. I am planning on spending time studying and vorking on the nanofab. This has been a goal of mine for years. I vant to see it succeed.”

1

"The alliance will of course give whatever resources we can to continue working on that. You work already proves we are on the cusp of something great, something that can truly set us apart from the rest of the pack"

“Ve really are. But for now if ve are agreed I vill go back and try to find a vay to spin up production for the alliance. It should take a few months at least, but I’m always here if something come up. Let me know if you need me otherwise I vill be at my compound.”

(I think they're solid here. OOC I am i guess wiating to hear from you guys about how you wanna do this, be it a bargaining chip to other polities or what. I just dont want to be sitting on it if I'm supposed to be doing something)

(Jasper and the council OOC know they have it as a lever in negotiations. I’m in the OOC server and will remind them we are good here.) Lance proceeds to head back to his compound working with the commander and crew to work on the nanoFab. His days are full of trying to figure out what makes the nanofab work without taking it apart.

10:02 AM

(Retired for now at level 10 but haven’t leveled from 7-10 because I’m being lazy.)

2

@Dr. Jasper Artemis | Suko

To:Jasper
Subject: Back in town
Hey just wanted to let you know I’m back on planet. I’m going to be working on a new toy but I also wanted to let you know I was available to help if needed.

To: Lance
From: Jasper 
Subject: Welcome home!

Hey, Lance! Welcome home.

You always know how to intrigue a man of science, I am interested to hear about this new toy.
I am currently dealing with the unfortunate death of general Mhays, and the appointment of her son Manuel to general and mayor of hilltop. 
If all goes well I should be heading to Northfields tomorrow to work on restoring the resonator. I would love for you to join me, and tell me of your travels. 

However, I must warn you. I exposed myself to the Raw breach energy and have sustained some minor mutations. Like your own, they are stable, so please do not worry. 

If all goes well, I would love to meet you in Northfields at your soonest convenience. Till then!

Gone, not forgotten,
Dr. Jasper Artemis, Headmaster of Artemis Institute of Metaspace Science’s.

1

Lance getting the message from Jasper heads towards north fields. Man I can’t vait to see Jasper again, I vonder vhat he means by exposed himself. I hope he was at least dressed when he did it.

(did you want to assist with repairing the resonator in northfields? )

(Yeah that’s the plan. Once people get there.)

(Level ups so far)

2

“Vait turn around! I forgot to make my slipsheath vhen I made it home.” Lance quickly throws together the slipsheath then heads out the door. Dropping all his extra rations in the bag when it’s finished.

Y5M4 research month
Research Slipsheath 19 (11 roll+3skill+1int +2 adv lab+ 2 forge of fate) 
Success +15 enlightenment points
Build slipsheath 15 (7 roll+3skill+1int +2 adv lab +2 forge of fate) 
Success  -30 enlightenment points
Heat roll 
13 (9+2 lab+2 forge of fate)
Cold

3

2

1

(awesome! well done!)

(off to Jasper for posterity: https://discord.com/channels/345912178072879106/833682194752471040/938265457360789576)

Discord - A New Way to Chat with Friends & Communities

Discord is the easiest way to communicate over voice, video, and text. Chat, hang out, and stay close with your friends and communities.

(Okay, we're heading back to that U planet with the perim agency remnants, anything we want to buy before we go? )

(Need to do my research rolls.)

(okie doke, wanna resolve that first ? )

!roll 2d6+3+1+4 !Research

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [4, 3] Result: 15 Reason: Research

!roll 2d6+3+1+4 !build

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [3, 3] Result: 14 Reason: build

!roll 2d6+4 !Heat

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [2, 1] Result: 7 Reason: Heat

Y5M5 research month
Research with gate major 15 (7 roll+3skill+1int +2 adv lab+ 2 forge of fate) 
Success +25 enlightenment points
Build with gate 14 (6 roll+3skill+1int +2 adv lab +2 forge of fate) 
Success  -50 enlightenment points
Heat roll 
7 (3+2 lab+2 forge of fate)
Cold

Lance finishes his work on the witchgate and goes to see Lando.

Lando has remained close to the academy since your studies have begun, and he's eager to get back to the adventurous lifestyle to which he has grown accustomed

Lance grins, “Lando, how have you been? Ve ready to go? I think those tribes should be approached to make sure they von’t attack us vhen ve land in the future.”

"How do you want to do this? Do we drop in at our old friends place first? OR do we want to try to find somewhere else to land? "

“Let’s scan and find a group from above and then I will valk in from not the scary death base of doom.” Lance tries to grin but fails thinking about the high tech defenses verses the locals.

(oh we gotta do downtime them, I thought we were still on Dremlas and just planning)

10:37 AM

(It was 8 days I believe)

(31/90 purify the Bonds)

(landing at the base first? or for a local comminity)

(Local community so I don’t come from the base and have in theory a bad reception.)

(I will get to work on a map)

Nekosmash

Click to see attachment 🖼️

(Like this one or a different one?)

(I was going to get you a regional one

1

7:12 AM

(I didnt make this, but I found it and iit works)

Nekosmash pinned a message to this channel. 5/2/2022 9:38 AM

(So which was the base? The keep in the middle?)

(Yes, keep in the middle, so as you can see they've been effectively surrounded by other communities)

“Lando, let’s land south in those hills vest of that city to the south. You should be able to have a little cover over there.”

(how close did we want to get? )

(3-5k away so Lance could run back it needed but not close enough to be a threat.)

5k away the ship comes to land at the foot of some mountains, hidden within a deep forest made of dark trees. Gray rocks covered in moss, and the sounds of birds and rodents running through the trees are all that greets your senses.

Lance steps out of the shuttle, “Lock up, I’ll be back.” Then Lance turns and begins to jog towards the village.

(notice/wis)

!roll 2d6 (Int +1 notice -1) (edited)

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [5, 2] Result: 7

Moving into the woods you can hear you're not alone here. There is evidence there are others who frequent the woods commonly and you see evidence of traps and snares left out here to catch small game. Berry clusters and nuts from the forest floor have also been stripped almost entirely clean- far more than what animals would be doing if left here to simply graze.

Lance continues to run. Not paying attention to the lack and just focusing on the traps and avoiding them. Vonder vhat they vill be like.

You come to something that reminds you of an abandoned tree stand after another few minutes of walking. You can see it has a clear line of sight above the treetops, and there is a iron ladder hammered into the trunk of the tree allowing access to it. You look up, and do not see anyone inside though a compound bow and a brace of 20 arrows looks to have been left behind.

Lance looks up to the stand. Then begins to climb it to recover the bow and arrows. (Hitting send is useful…)

The arrows are neon shafted to make them easy to recover once striking their targets and you can see wickedly barbed heads that have been recently sharped make the other side of the arrow very deadly

Lance places the bow and arrow in his pack to give back to the villagers when he finds them

You hear the first of the gunshots when you get to within 100m of the village, approaching from a dense thicket of woods. The shots are going in the opposite direction, and seem to be coming only from a single gun. You estimate about 200 people are living here, trying to eke what living they can out of the forest.

Lance begins to run towards the gunfire to heal those wounded. Making sure his blade is sheathed at his side and not in his hands.

Entering the city it looks as though someone is hit, and two others are about to me based on how they've vanished from windows and don't reappear. To the trained eye it looks like there is some kind of raid occurring, or some scouting element has run across the village and initiated a skirmish. The locals likewise recognize you are an outsider and as you run down th emain drag of town toward the sounds of fighting, you can see other locals have emerged from buildings to close the way off behind you. Some are armed with farming tools ,most are not.

Lance points to the wounded man, “Let me heal him. I mean you no harm. Let me do vhat I can.” Lance says hoping against hope that he can do some good here.

(talk/cha)

!roll 2d6-1

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [4, 1] Result: 4

"How do we know you're not one of them!" one shouts, leveling a pitchfork in your direction.

“Listen i have a take bow and arrows in my pack can I take them out and hand them to you. I vill throw the bow first so you don’t have to vorry I’m going to use it. Vould that help your fears?”

This seems to be something they're interested in letting play out, and they agree to let you do this before making any further attempt at you.

Lance slowly pulls out the bow keeping his other hand fat away from he bow and tosses it towards the one with the pitch fork and then grabs the arrows and quiver and places it down on the ground and takes a few steps back. “Didn’t vant to make a mess. Can I help that man now?”

Weapon secured, they allow you into the village to do exactly that. The skirmish on te other side of the village near the woodline looks to be growing in intensity.

Lance heals the man and asks. “Vho is attacking the village? Are there more injured?”

Tucked inside the half wall of a destroyed storage shed, a round blows wood splinters from the other side of it and both of you put your heads down a bit more. The village has dealt with forest bandits, especially lately, and with the meager harvest being collected now, the attacks have intensified as the bandits look to be trying to carry off what they can before the cold season appears.

Lance nods after hearing this story and healing the wounded. (Is the fight still going on?)

(Yeah, bandit scouting element in the woods is taking almost blind potshots out toward the town , and is keeping everyone's heads down. We don't know if there is more going on than this for the moment)

Lance turns to those around him. “If there aren’t any other wounded needing healed I vill go and try to stop this raid.” Then mutters under his breath, “One vay or another.”

It seems for the moment no one else has been hit or hurt beyond superficial wounds you'll be able to tend to later. The cough of a fat bellied mortar deep in the woods is the next thing you hear, as the poorly aimed ranging shot lands hundreds of meters off target, well outside the far end of town.

Lance quickly asks the villagers, “Are they using artillery to get you to surrender?”

It seems that way, though tihs is the first time something this heavy has been used in a raid.

Lance looks out to the woods, “Vish me luck.” Lance says as he rushes across the gap hoping not to get shot.

(exert/con)

!roll 2d6-1

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [2, 1] Result: 2

(Yay!)

1

You’re unable to make it into the woods without being spotted. The mortar begins to dial in on your position with a first of the ranging shots it needs

Lance hearing the first ranging shot teleports to change his direction

The shot lands, sending smoke and dust high into the sky, but thankfully your bodyparts are not among them. You think you've narrowed down their firing location to a grove of trees 300m ahead or so, where the overhead cover is thin enough that a shell could get through, while still providing concealment from anyone sneaking by on the ground.

Lance continues to run towards them hoping that he can stop the bombardment before it gets messy.

7:54 AM

(really wishing he had more teleport range...)

(what is your current range? )

(100 m)

(I think you;'d be able to get that close before they zero on you)

Lance keeps running prepared to teleport if he gets hit.

(okay, closing to 100m you would ont be hit, if we're running still within 100m and not teleporting, I will need a luck savE)

(luck is d20 v my luck right?)

(yeah, usually that remains 15 or 14)

!roll 1d20

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [7] Result: 7

(7v6 so success?)

(Yes. )

3:28 PM

The mortar impacts closing in on you send dust and dirt skyward and you narrowly avoided a spinning piece of shrapnel meant to take your life. You appear close to the team, three men loading the rusted looking tube with fat bellied shells.

Lance begins to run towards them. "STOP I don't Vant to have to make you stop." Lance screams as he draws his sword.

It looks as though you're going to have to make them stop. One of them rises as he draws a blade to challenge you, standing in defense of the other two, who continue loading and firing the mortar.

Lance shakes his head and steps up to fight with him.

(initiative)

!roll 1d8+1

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [8] Result: 9

!roll d8

Nekosmash Roll: [6] Result: 6

(You are first lancerino)

(Is he within 10ft or more?)

(Yes )

Lance runs up to the man and reaches out and uses Teratic Overload. (Physical save or damage x3)

8:35 AM

!roll 4d6 !Teratic Overload damage

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [4, 3, 2, 1] Result: 10 Reason: Teratic Overload damage

!roll d20

Nekosmash Roll: [12] Result: 12

(!2 v 15, fails)

1:28 PM

The man falls to his knees as disease and cancers surge through his body. He curls up into a ball, blood, pus, and other fluids leaking from many different places on his body.

1

Lance points at the one that looks most like the leader. "Stop this now or i vill have to continue this."

Seeing one of their friends die without even a move from you, they begin to stand, backing away from the tube.

Lance points at the leader. “Vho are you and vhy are you doing this? Is it just for food and supplies?” He says as he walks towards the launcher.

"They have things we need, and we want to take them. We do not have anything where we live"

"If i can help fix that vill that end this senseless vholesale slaughter?"

"We'd have no reason to come bother these people, at least"

Lance sheathes his sword. “Vell, get this attack stopped and I vill see about bringing in a few tons of food for your village IF you can take me to your leader and I can confirm vith him that ve can find a more peaceful path forward.” Lance looks back at the dead body. “Though I can just find peace another vay.”

"How do we know you're not just going to do the same thing to him the minute you see him"

9:26 AM

They likewise, are firmly looking at the corpse of their friend.

“Vell, that’s a good point.” Lance looks embarrassed. “Does this leader have a compad?”

"If we had high tech toys we wouldn't be doing this. I don't think there's a way other than coming with us"

“Assuming the attack is paused vhile ve are away lead on.”

(We could do a talk if you want to check the veracity of his promise, otherwise we can roll on)

(Lance is pretty trusting if he nods or anything we can move on.)

The team begins packing up their tube, taking it with them to a nearby truck where it looks like they have come alone for their part of the attack. You're invited to ride in back with the equipment, the men looking at you nervously.

Lance hops in and try’s to make small talk about the weather and the season. Trying to make them more comfortable but naturally failing at it

The weather is unremarkable and the truck begins moving through the woods to some kind of encampment made from the gutted remains of an old comms station. The satellite dishes are sagged and overgrown now

Lance points to the satellite dishes. “They been out of commission for a vhile?” Lance tries to remember if he saw on the sensors a satellite network in orbit.

There were no satellites in orbit anymore, but there might have been once given other examples of technological regression you've seen on the world.

9:48 AM

"Never worked, not since we started living here at least" one of them says, pulling into a covered lot with a leaking canopy over the top. Rain collection barrels have been set up around a crude gutter system to collect some of the extra of what falls.

Lance looks over at the leaky canopy. "Mind if i take care of that for you real fast? I can stop the leaking if you pour some water on it to show where the leaks are coming through."

One of them shrugs, seeming to allow it, as with its current state you do not think you're going to make it worse. (edited)

When they pour water onto the roof Lance turns the canopy, support structure and the water into a solid building material with his Transmute ability. Seeing that there are no more leaks he turns and grins "Lets call this a gesture of good vill before I meet your boss."

There is a heavy sound nearby as the reinforced doors are opened, and you see what looks to be a man with an air of authority of him walking out from the inside of the facility. He is flanked by two guards, shotguns held loose and comfortably on shoulders. It looks like a few other raiding trucks are starting to return from different regions. One is empty, the other two seem to have a moderate amount of goods on board.

Lance waits for him to approach to be less threatening. “Hello, hope you don’t mind I fixed your leak up there.”

"I see that. I've been told quite a story over the radio, and now you are here. I'd like to hear it from you, what you want, who you are"

Lance nods, "I vanted to see vhat it vould take to be fufil your needs to stop you from raiding the nearby villages. I see that you run a good operation here so being able to shift you from raiding to overseeing the area vould be something that i vould like to see. Possibly bringing stability to the area. Vhat do you think?"

"We're doing this because peopel have things that we don't. I don't think you're going to find that stuff any easier right now than we are"

“Vell on that I disagree. I have a spaceship and come from a stable planet. Ve can bring in those things that you don’t have. Of course you could have to vork vith us…”. Lance says leadingly.

"Work with you? Work with you how?" You sense that you've got their attention, but they'd need to hear more.

"Our goal is to bring stability to the region and eventually the planet. Ve vould need leadership to handle that as currently ve are vorking on many fronts at once. I vould also be able to bring industry to the region and possibly even greenhouses if there is sufficent stability to varrent such. I vas looking for someone vho has taken command of part of the area to partner vith. Vould you possibly be that person?"

(talk/cha)

!roll 2d6

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [4, 2] Result: 6

(eventually lance should get better at that...)

"I might be the guy, but you might not be the way we get there. I don't know. You said you have a ship? Can we see it,?"

"I came in a shuttle and i can have it fly over but actually going in it honestly is a bit more trust than handing you supplies."

“You said work. What did you have I. Mind? Let’s start there” the bandit leader says. The tension is largely leaving the scene , his curiosity getting the better of his caution

Lance grins, "Vell I need someone to deal vith the bandit issue in the area. I think you can handle that. Then to help distribute food and oversee rebuilding of the roads and infastructure. Granted how those funds are targeted arent my largest concern as long as the majority of the population is taken care of. If some profit more than others it is only natural as they are doing more vork." Lance says knowingly.

"We are the bandit area in the neighborhood, " he laughs. "but it doesn't need to stay that way if our community gets better"

“So vhat do you think it could take to get you started? A fly over to prove I can supply vhat I say I can, a few hundred tons of food and supplies and a few tons of building supplies? Anything else that is pressing? Oh and I vill heal your vounded.” (edited)

"A fly over, and some building supplies, we can improve this place and you can stay with us and put us to work until you feel safe leaving"

“Sounds like a plan. Let me have the ship fly over.” Lance uses his ghost talker cyberware to send a message to Lando and have him fly over the village and go pick up some colonial supplies and then return. (1 ton at a time…)

(So the general plan is for me to run the group and run the stabilization right? Find villages and figure out how to fix issues.)

(That is what I was tracking based on how you were putting it together)

"So how many villages are around here and how many men do we have to work with?" (edited)

The raiding group has about 50 able bodies, with 10 more recovering from either sickness or injuries of varying severity. There are 100 other non-combatants in the camp between camp followers and families. In the region, there are six settlements of various size they typically 'interact' with.

"Vell lets go fix those 10 and then set up a plan for getting the camp situated and then ve vill go visit some of the settlements."

(if healing doesn't cost you anything and if disease curing doesn't anymore, we can speed through that)

(Limbs cost effort but thats it.) Lance looks around to see if there are walls surrounding the compound at all. (planning on turning water into walls through transmutation to give some additional safety.)

(nobody quite that bad off)

3:18 PM

There are not walls surrounding this large compound. The woods are patrolled, and there are some jury rigged sensor technologies scattered out there, but there is nothing close to the lived in buildings here that represents a physical obstacle to anyone wishing to enter the grounds.

Lance gets a group of men together to form a bucket line to dump water forming it into a short 1m wall around the compound. (Each effort can do 18meters at 6 inch thick. It will likely take most of a day.)

(One meter tall? So it’s like a half wall for now then is what I’m picturing )

(Something like this just enough that there is a wall but not enough to be more than a place to duck for cover. More of a demarcation than a defense structure. Will that work?) (edited)

(that is what I had in mind too, okay we are on the same page_

Lance works with the bucket line throughout the day trying to see who takes command and who shirks duty. Trying to build a mental list of names and who might work well together in the future. (Lead/wis?)

(probably admin more than lead, since we're not really giving them orders so much as getting things organized)

!roll 2d6

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [6, 1] Result: 7

(last thing, how many patrols/ how many work parties do we want)

(8 groups of 6 with 2 admin at home. They will rotate 2 of the groups off for rest.)

It takes about a day to get things organized into groups of people that work well together and know their trade. For the most part everyone is satisfied with their selected assignments and crew.

Lance seeing the groups work well together begins to look at the map and picks 3 of the teams to go with him to the nearest village tomorrow to do minor repairs and win some hearts and minds.

(Anything you wanted to do overnight> )

(just one team watching and patrolling.)

Overnight one team is brought back with a lope that they captured during the night. The Meal will keep the group going for the day but it’s a temporary benefit to dwindling food stores.

(Lando should be back with a ton of supplies in 12 days… wow this is far away. Looks like we are going hunting first.)

3:56 PM

Lance hearing the grumblings of lack of food goes to the bandit Leader, “Do you know of any beasts to dangerous to hunt right now? Ve von’t have food back here for a few days and I want to make sure ve are well fed until then.”

The animals that are anything but the most clever or dangerous have been hunted already by this community. The lack of food is one of the reason they’ve turned to raising and their kill earlier this morning was a fluke

(So I kind of hate my lack of foresight. The shuttle has food for 10 for a month I should have grabbed it off as it would be an issue I know we are a day past but can I roll a wisdom check to see if Lance wouldn’t be as silly as the PC?)

(Sure. I think that is a fair way to adjudicate)

!roll 2d6+1

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [4, 2] Result: 7

(I'd say Lance would remember)

(So Lance has 300meals to give out which should hold them over till the shuttle gets back.)

Nekosmash

Click to see attachment 🖼️

(Which location am I at now?)

(We were exploring down toward the southeast from what I remember, and found that large settlement under attack. You were then brought to Alycewells with the raiders where they've made their encampment)

(would there be enough space to move them from here to the Keep? Get a core group based out of there then work on building infrastructure for fields and such while we wait for the food to arrive?)

(We don't know if anyone's in the keep) (edited)

12:53 PM

(So we could, but we might be leading them to an even bigger danger)

(Is the keep the base that i found the nano thing at?)

(that was Daerwyn)

1:04 PM

(well, right outside it since the folks attacking it for stuff were from there)

(So could i move them to Daerwyn where there is a bit more support and defense?)

(If you can get the base staff to be ok with it)

(Let’s just focus on getting this group to a good place for the next 2 weeks. Rebuilding their base and setting up fields and such with my Alchemy skill)

(Alright, so we're staying here then is what you're saying?)

(Yeah staying here working on rebuilding their base trying to prepare a way for them to stay safe and make food.)

(sounds good, what kind of changes would we make over the two weeks before Lando gets back?)

(Building a well, solidifying the property into a building with actual stable walls and roof. Building the beginnings of fields and irrigation ditches.)

Lando returns after two weeks with a hold full of supplies, finding the compound to be looking much more secure, but with hungry people inhabiting it.

Lance rejoices with the return of the supplies. Lance looks around seeing the beginning of a thriving town. He distributes the 1 ton of supplies and again gutting the hydroponic garden for a total of 2 tons of supplies enough to see the town through this month and next without rationing. Lance then turns to the former bandit leader, “Vell you now have a stable base. Let’s go talk to that group that I first met your raiders and get them to join as Vell.”

they predict this will be a hard sell, given their last interactions was one group dropping mortar shells into the town of the other.

Lance nods, “I think so as Vell but hopefully me healing them then getting the attack to be pulled away should buy me a chance to discuss the possibility.”

(I just didn’t have anything else to add here I guess. Not sure how to proceed )

(Ahhh) Lance walks alone towards the village. Eyes open for any angry villagers

(Taking the road or the woods?)

(Taking the road)

(notice.wis)

!roll 2d6-1+1

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [5, 1] Result: 6

You notice fresh tire tracks on the road, from a vehicle that looks to be medium weight

Lance continues down the road. Prepared to teleport backwards down the road.

(im honestly kind of lost on how to proceed. I was thinking of trying to convince the village to allow patrols from the former bandits on the roads and i would send more food once i can get it from Saliv.) (EDIT: Though i guess i will need a FM for that so i should get that built....) (edited)

(We can do that, I just am catching up on threads, and was letting you know that someone somewhere has a military vehicle close by)

1

(Which way was it driving or can I tell?)

(Towards the encampment you're walking to)

Lance picks up his pace concerned for the encampment.

There is smoke on the horizon and the sounds of a heavy caliber gun being fired, and as you get to within 400m of the settlement you see refugees coming from the woods, streaming towards you.

Lance begins running towards the refugees. 'Vhy do i feel like either the angel of death or the harbinger of doom for this village?' lance thinks to himself as he approaches the bedraggled refugees for a second time. (edited)

They are running, and automatic weapons fire seems to be focused mainly in the village. They're confused and scattered, some of them shouting warnings about aliens.

Hearing their warnings Lance turns and goes towards the village. ’Healing is secondary right now. Need to focus on stopping more people from needing it.’

(LAnce was around when IA fought the Rachk I think, right?)

2:18 PM

(or when NFSS gifted you guys the ships? )

(Yes he was around.)

You recognize the guttural bark of the Rachk as you come to the edge of the woods seeing one of their outlandish tracked vehicles laying waste to the settlement.

Lance instantly knows there’s only one way forward. Completely removing the threat. Lance runs into the battle hoping to pick some of the Rachk off before they realize the threat. (Lance running into the village sword out in his lab coat. Gives me a good chuckle.)

(initiative?)

(sure)

!roll 1d8+1

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [3] Result: 4

!roll d8

Nekosmash Roll: [5] Result: 5

There are many Rachk here, but the vehicle is 20m from you and close enough to be your first target. They don't seem to spot you right away, or if they do, choose to fire a burst from their heavy gun into refugees running away nearby rather than target you.

(Is the vehicle unoccupied and/or door opened?)

(The vehicle is occupied, there are Ratchk shooting civilians out of it, but the top hatch is open since someone is on the machine gun)

!roll 1d20+10

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [19] Result: 29

!roll 1d10+3

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [9] Result: 12

Lance teleports to the top of the vehicle (1/9 effort) and swings at the neck of the Ratchk manning the machine gun. (29/12)

The heavy rachk is wounded, and turns to try to face you, only able to use its large fist as a weapon

9:26 AM

!roll d20+6

Nekosmash Roll: [9] Result: 15

(i think you have like AC20 so that would miss)

(17 ac but yes miss)

9:29 AM

(Is it back to me?)

(Yep)

!roll d20+10

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [1] Result: 11

Lance getting caught off guard by not quickly killing the Ratchk swings off balance at the enemy. (11…)

10:21 AM

(Shocker when I roll a 1 it doesn’t hit…)

!roll d20+6

Nekosmash Roll: [7] Result: 13

A heavy fist strikes the turret lid, annoying the Rachk but not injurying it.

!roll d20+10, d10+3

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [13] Result: 26

(Gah…. Thought there was a way to split them out… missed it.) (edited)

10:58 AM

!roll d20+10

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [18] Result: 28

!roll d10+3

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [1] Result: 4

Lance swings at the Ratchk trying to step around the lid to make sure the ratck can just drop down and close the door to end the fight. (18/4)

It is wounded, and he does so, sealing the hatch and abandoning the gun

(The gun is attached right? Does it seem to still be useable?)

(gun is on the outside, yeah but you wouldnt be able to depress it far enough to shoot the tank itself, you could rip it off its mount though maybe)

(Could I use it to shoot the other Ratchk?)

(Yes)

Lance then reaches down and uses the tanks' top gun to fire at the Ratchk in the village. (Heavy machine gun im guessing?)

(Yes it’s an hmg )

!roll 1d20+5

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [7] Result: 12

!roll 3d6

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [3, 3, 2] Result: 8

Lance pulls the trigger on one of the nearest targets. “For the Vellfare of the village.” (12/8)

The shot goes wide, and there is confusion both inside and outside the tank as the vehicle is now supposedly firing on friendlies. Most of the Rachk are too busy slaughtering and looting, but you feel a heavy fist on the turret cover as they try to open it again from inside the tank. (exert/str)

!roll 2d6+1

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [5, 1] Result: 7

!roll 2d6+3

Nekosmash Roll: [4, 4] Result: 11

There is a mighty thump and you're knocked off the turret onto the ground, still clutching the dismounted heavy machine gun. The rachk has appeared in the hatch again with an energy pistol.

11:29 AM

(its turn was a skill check so that's their main action, so back to you) (edited)

Lance teleports back up to the turret and swings at the tank Ratchk.

1

11:31 AM

!roll d20+10

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [15] Result: 25

!roll d10+3

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [8] Result: 11

The brute falls back into the tank, head caved in and brains leaking from ears.

12:25 PM

(no current combatant for the moment)

Lance jumps into the armored car to see if he can find the power cell to pull out to disable it from being used while he is helping the village.

8:12 AM

(I’m a terrible pilot and have -1 in shoot so this is my best thought.)

Inside you find yourself dropping in amid the driver, assistant driver , and gunner, and the three Rachk turn to face you.

8:16 AM

!roll 3 d20+6

Nekosmash Rolls: [14] Result: 20 [8] Result: 14 [2] Result: 8

!roll d8

Nekosmash Roll: [3] Result: 3

(20/3)

8:17 AM

Heavy fists begin raining down on you, with bony clawed hands and powerful muscles the vehicle has largely come to a halt, but you find yourself dangerously outnumbered.

Lance seeing no better option begins to go full lethal. He reaches out and uses Tetratic Overload on the one that hit him. (Physical save for straight not triple damage) (edited)

9:03 AM

!roll 4d6

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [4, 4, 2, 2] Result: 12

(Also want to say this was a stupid idea….

3/8 effort used)

2

!roll d20

Nekosmash Roll: [17] Result: 17

(passes, so he just takes normal damage, or none?)

(Normal)

the beast looks to be suffering quite badly, but is not out of the fight yet.

10:39 AM

!roll 3 d20+6

Nekosmash Rolls: [20] Result: 26 [12] Result: 18 [3] Result: 9

!roll d8

Nekosmash Roll: [6] Result: 6

Another fist from the driver hammers into your gut, driving you back a step.

!roll d20+10

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [7] Result: 17

!roll d10+3

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [8] Result: 11

Lance takes the punch to the chest and looks irritated (24/33hp) he then swings at the nearly dead Ratchk (17/11)

This time you're able to do it, leaving just the assistant driver and gunner left (edited)

3:25 PM

!roll 2 d20+6

Nekosmash Rolls: [15] Result: 21 [20] Result: 26

!roll d8

Nekosmash Roll: [3] Result: 3

!roll 2d8

Nekosmash Roll: [4, 2] Result: 6

(21/3 and crit/6)

3:26 PM

Their fists find purchase, your body worn down by shrugging off excessively hard blows.

Lance takes the first shot to the gut letting his guard down taking a fist to the face. “Vell that’s enough of that.” Lance uses Tetratic Overload on the gunner.

3:37 PM

!roll 4d6

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [3, 2, 1, 1] Result: 7

(Physical save for normal damage if failed 3x damage)

!roll d20

Nekosmash Roll: [10] Result: 10

(failed)

7:18 PM

The gunner falls, aspirating and panting as their organs shut down. Needing to go past you, all the assistant driver can do is keep punching.

7:18 PM

!roll d20+6

Nekosmash Roll: [17] Result: 23

!roll d8

Nekosmash Roll: [2] Result: 2

(23/2)

Lance turns to the last Rachkt and says, “I doubt you can understand me but if you can surrender. There is no hope of you winning this.” As Lance heals himself (5/9 effort used. Healing is free of effort)

6:10 AM

!roll 4d6+4

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [5, 4, 2, 2] Result: 17

(Health now at 25/33)

(5 of 9 strain or effort? )

(Effort. Strain is 7/10 6 permanent) (edited)

!roll d20+6

Nekosmash Roll: [8] Result: 14

Another fist rockets back at you but this time they missed.

Lance shakes his head and begins the process of slashing the Rackht to death.

8:36 AM

!roll d20+10

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [1] Result: 11

(Well… that’s a miss)

Slashing about inside the cabin your sword catches on many different instruments and the blow is fouled.

9:30 AM

!roll d20+6

Nekosmash Roll: [11] Result: 17

The Racjk punches back, trying to drive you out of the tank with its powerful fists.

9:30 AM

(I think I've missed as well)

(tie)

(Hits then)

9:31 AM

!roll d8

Nekosmash Roll: [2] Result: 2

(2 damage)

(HP:23) Lance swing back. 'Vishing that i had some kind of mental connection to talk to this guy. oh vell time to remove the threat.'

9:32 AM

!roll d20+10

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [17] Result: 27

!roll d10+3

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Roll: [5] Result: 8

The final Rachk crewmember falls to sit slack in their crew mount. There is nothing left alive inside the vehicle.

Lance looks around the vehicle. (How many rachk could be transferred in here?)

(What do you mean by that? )

(Trying to see if they transported a squad or something in here. Trying to get an estimate of how many more are here.)

(Its just a battle tank, not a transport, the others must have been brought here by something else)

(is there any gunfire or a radio going on outside to give me a general idea?)

There is still gunfire on the western side of town, but for the moment things seem to be largely calming down as most of the people who can run ,have.

Lance confirms that there arent any other doors in other than the top hatch. Hops out of the top hatch and closes it. Then seals it to itself via Transmutuing the metal into a solid piece. (6/9 Effort for Scene) (wanting to secure this for future use without having to stay here. Wis check if that would work or am i over thinking it?)

There is an escape hatch in the floor where the crew could get out if the vehicle is hit or if the turret blows, but it is not a normal way to get in. (like a trap door that drops you between the treads and you'd have to army crawl out)

1:51 PM

(we can say you plug up both holes with the effort since the areas are small)

1

Lance seals the doors and then heads off toward the gunfire hoping to find get some kind of general count of the size of the force to know how big of a threat it is to the other settlements.

It seems only another squad of six or seven is left, this being just a raiding party and not an invasion force.

Lance waits once he find this out trying to move back towards the sealed tank to make sure they don’t try to recover the tank.

You move back to the tank and things here look quiet.

Lance waits for a bit longer listening for more gunfire or for the sounds of survivors returning before moving from his hiding place.

It sounds like the fight has ended one way or another , the locals have all fled or been killed, and the Rachk hunting party looks to have been overall successful even without the use of their heavy support.

Lance waits another 5 minutes and then goes in search of survivors.

(notice/wis)

!roll 2d6

Lance | Ling (Shriven) Roll: [5, 4] Result: 9

This looks to be a ghost town now, and no one seems to want to approach the tank even though you have it switched off and quiet.

Lance heads into the woods looking for survivors.

You do not find anyone aside from a scattered few crying over their dead. Most have fled in disorganized bands. Individual groups would be easy to track down, but there does not seem to be any solid concentration of movement.

Lance begins trying to track down the largest of the groups. (survival/wis?)

(they're not being sneaky, so I don't think we need one)

9:28 AM

You find 20 of them, huddled and quiet amid the trunk of a large fallen tree.

Lance begins to go and heal them and tell to return to the town where there is a tank to help with their defense.

They refuse to return to town. There might be a tank there, but there are no longer homes, businesses, or the loved ones they were sharing life with just hours ago. The Rachk may be gone, but scavengers will be drawn to the battle site, and none of the locals plan to compound their misery by still being there when disaster decides to strike again.

Lance asks the impromptu leader, “Would you be interested in a location that has been lightly defended and has a wall around it?”

"Where? We have nothing left!" he says, his voice about to become a wail.

Lance pulls up his compad and pulls up a map of the location of the settlement Lance had been working on setting up for the last weeks.

(are you just sending them there, or going with?)

(Was going to send them and try to gather 1-2 more groups and go with the whole group. Figure about 30-50 is the max that we can take in right now responsibly) (edited)

(I agree with that estimate)

(can i convince them to go back to the tank and then we will take the tank to the new site im showing them after i gather another group or two?)

(I think they just want to be gone, they weren't impressed a minute ago)

Lance points them in the direction and gives them his compad to be able to locate them later. (Lance has ghost talker so can communicate within 100km.) He then heads out in search of another group. (edited)

(we'd have to retrace our steps back to town probably to try to find another one, since the initial tracks only led to these guys)

(Yeah let’s go ahead and head back to town. Then find a second group)

(Survive/wis)

Rey (Shriven)

used /roll

Lance | Ling (Shriven) Roll: [4, 3] Result: 7 Request: [2d6]

More tracks run west at a rapid pace away from the settlement. You can see the drag marks where it looks like someone tried taking a makeshift cargo sled with them, but find it abandoned and turned over on the path ahead

Lance continues to follow the tracks hoping that he wont be to late.

Soemone emerges from behind the vehicle, battered shotgun racked and pointed at you in shaking hands .

Lance puts his hands up and says, “I am trying to gather survivors and bring them somewhere safe we have prepared. Mind pointing that veapon some vhere else?”

“Who are you? And why do you have one of their vehicles?”

Lance tries to project a calm voice. “I’m Lance, I did something stupid and attacked the tank, thought it vas empty so I jumped in. It vasn’t… so I kind of made a mess of bodies in there and crawled out and sealed it. Im still here to gather survivors to get them to safety.”

"Where are you taking them?" he calls out, weapon growing slack in his grip.

"I can show you better than tell you, can i pull out a map for you?"

He nods, the weapons finally beginning to go slack in their grips as it looks as though you're not going to massacre them with heavy weapons.

Lance grins then pulls out a map of the area, showing where he is planning on taking everyone to the former bandit camp. “So vill you come back and help me drive the tank to the village?”

They don’t want to be near the tank. The Alien technology scares them and it was firing at them just hours ago. They will however head to the settlement.

Lance nods and reopens the tank to try to take it back towards the settlement. (Stopping about 10 KM out so that i dont get attacked)

(and just walking back from there? )

(Yes waking back to the tank then driving the tank back towards the base.)

(right but the 10km from tank to base is on foot, or are you driving up with it)

(Walking)

Your return is noticed by the sentries and they relax after a moment. Raids across the countryside seem to be increasing as the Rachk learn this planet is weakly defended and full of strong slave material they can drag back into the stars to serve as unwilling crew on their thousands of warships.

(boop)

1

Lance grabs one of the guards and the one of the guards to help guide the tank back in and the other to let everyone know that a tank is coming in. Lance then is going to approach the former pirate leader. "Hey, one of those villages that you were raiding was being raided by some aliens. They are on their way here to help boost the village here. Hopefully they vill be varm bodies to help with the buildings."

The threat of invasion, the lack of food problems and the fact that the base is improving has him giving up his former criminal ways. This has become a problem for all people, and his community is just one of many across the planet that may be overwhelmed if not strengthened. More warm bodies coming in means mroe people to help grow food, and of course is grateful for your efforts

11:34 AM

(3xp, 5000 credits)

2

(Next steps are to get the old base to buy in on getting coverage extended? or go to the large city right?)

(We can make this an outpost if you wanted to try out the mechanics )

(sounds good. How many people are we up to right now 300ish right?)

(300 on the nose is what I'm figuring)

Lance looks up. After months of work and building he looks around at all that he has helped build. From restoring the Comm Tower to the armored patrol going out in the tank that he commandeered. Lance sighs with contentment. “This is a job Vell done. Ve need to find out vhat is going on out there now. Ve have been hiding to long.”

(Outpost typo in name reposting.)

Rey (Shriven) pinned a message to this channel. 1/17/2023 1:51 PM

(Drang is on the planet right now as well, did we want to meet? )

(Yeah let’s)

(okay, mission is over for that, and Lance of rnow is in his colony , how did we wanna push forward? )

(Does Lance have any intel on where the Rackht are based out of? if not thats probably the next place to start) (edited)

(not at the moment. With how things have gone currently they've been operating in various scattered raiding parties. We don't know if they have an actual hub, or mini hubs out there anywhere)

Lance turns to Mayor, “I think it is time for me to do some recon and follow some of the Rackh back to their base. Do ve know of any vhere that hasn’t been hit recently?”

The Mayor knows an attack recently hit Aels Aud (northwest of your settlement, hard to see the names on that map but its by the mountains)

Lance thanks the mayor and heads out to Aels Aud. "Let's see vhat ve can find. One vay or another i vant to hit something in reprisal for vhat they keep doing to this planet."

(There are a couple vehicles here we can do if you would like to take them)

2:14 PM

(otherwise we're on foot and should look at supplies more closely)

(Good point. A good bike would be helpful.)

(sounds good. I think battery reserve and ghost driver are probably all we really need to worry about)

9:43 AM

(so with that being in place, lets get a D10 and set off! )

Rey (Shriven)

used /roll

Lance | Rey (Shriven) Request: [1d10] Roll: [3] Result: 3

There is a forest as you exit the settlement that is free of Rachk. You drive for half an hour before finding where several Rachk have been killed and their skeletons have been left on the ground to rot. One of their heads is impaled on a signpost and it says that this is the work of a free militia, that must also be active in these woods.

(Lets Shutter this for now.)

2

(roger dodger)