Iron Stars - Greens and Fruits

This group has been given several large baskets for the collection of the items they will find in the woods. Unlike the hunting group, this group is going to need to rely on their skills to identify edible plants and separate out the dangerous ones. A can of one use fungicide has been given to the group if the need arises to escape an especially dangerous situation. Like the hunting group, everyone's equipment, including weapons and armor have come over with them when they were taken.

Fearghal kneels to the ground and runs his fingers through the turf. Mist leans over and licks his face. “Sounds like we got our work cut out for us, we so. Should nae be too difficult with all of us workin’ together!” He says to the group.

Jake steps into his storm armor and it morphs and blends into a set of grey fatigues. A mag pistol, and blade at his sides and a shear rifle on his back. He picks up his kit and sets out some of the things he's pretty sure he wont need in the woods, and wanders over to where Fearghal and Mist are sniffing the ground "Aye, I'm happy to help anyway I can..." He extends his hand "Jake."

Oron takes a quick sip from a flask in his pack. He meanders over the the others and picks up one of the baskets. He takes off his wide brimmed hat and runs his fingers through his shaggy hair. “Reckon we might need us a bigger basket if these things are able ta bite back like the note said….” Oron drawls to anyone listening. “Oron… Oron Lyons. Nice meeting ya.”

"Likewise Oron, Micaela Finnegan." And she reaches over to shake his hand. Having been in the middle of stocking up on gear and getting it settled away in the webbing of her combat field uniform, a suit of Storm Armor lies nearby; glossy dark metal plates and painted ceramic discs left behind as she makes the decision to leave it behind. "I recognized a decent number of the folks back there, but you three are new faces to me" she comments looking over towards Fearghal and Mist briefly.

“Captain Fearghal Mac Tír of Juroli!” the strange old man’s voice booms through his provincial accent. “I think some of ye have met Mist. She don’t bite, unless I tell ‘er to!” He says dead serious, then cracks up into laughter.

“I am a might new. This is my first time gettin’ caught up in somethin’ from this Urkey fella. Seems like this ain’t the first time it’s happened”

Jake pets Mist, ruffling her head between her ears “Nice to meet you Fearghal, Mist.” He turns to Oron “Well met. We’re in the same boat then my new friend.” “Micaela! Nice to see you in the flesh!” He beams a smile at his politymate.

"First time as well. First time for everyone here it seems." Micaela muses as joins in on the pampering that Mist has been receiving. "Suppose as long as we keep our wits about us we should be fine, I've spent a decent bit of time in the wilderness, though not in the land of T.Urkey."

(didn't see any green ,we good to move on? )

There is a map provided of the woods near you and you see one area somewhat close to the lodge at the top of a foothill called "the patch of plenty" where yo are not sure what exactly you might find, but it seems to be a lead on something you could potentially recover for the meal.

(Hey all! Doing some traveling this weekend. I’ll be checking in on the chats but don’t let my slow response hold anyone back)

1

Jake picks up the map and looks at it. Turns it over.... Looks up at the terrain, looks at it again... Turns it 90 degrees "Hmm. Well, it looks like it might be that way?"

Micaela raises an eyebrow "Well then, let's get a move on in that case. I'm curious to see what's out in these woods." She tries to take a peek at the map as she passes near Carson, not really minding if he sees her double checking his honed and expert map reading skills.

Mist is already set to work sniffing the ground for any interesting smells when a thhhht whistle from Fearghal calls her back to heel. "Those squiggles at the top there, that there must be where we can find the most veg, aye?" he says, motioning to the squiggles that others would recognize as letters.

“Aye, seems to be,” Jake nods decisively and catches up with the group as they start leaving him behind holding the map.

The patch of plenty is a kilometer or so distance from here, through the woods, away from where the other groups are currently going to be operating. There is a winding game trail through the woods that looks to be the home of small animals and creeping vines.

Oron checks his gear and wipes his hands on his duster. “Welp best we hit the trail then. What are the chances we run into something nasty on this job?”

“Well, Mr. Urkey did nae want to do this job ‘imself, which should tell us somethin’…”

“I’m sure it’s safe. What could go wrong? Pretty trees, birds chirping, breeze ruffling, squirrels scolding and …vines creeping…. All is right in the world.”

"I'm pretty sure we've all dealt with much worse than creeping vines, just keep a knife handy and good to go." Micaela says matter of factly.

Fearghal leads the way towards the trail with mist on his heels.

Jake gets his blade ready and follows along

3

All of the rodents in the area seem to be watching you as you pass by, spending the next twenty minutes walking as a growing collection of the small creatures assembles , scurrying along the branches and in the undergrowth around you. The woods open ahead and you come to the first of the patches where it looks like pumpkins and many other gourds have been left to grow. Their colors are brilliant fall hues, with thick, leafy broad vines keeping them nourished and anchored to the ground.

"Well hiya there ye wee things!" Fearghal says, smiling at the creatures. "Mist, NO!" he orders as she sniffs one particularly fat and slow mouse. She looks at him guiltily, gives the mouse a lick, and then continues ahead.

“It’s just some pumpkins. No harm in em. how many we need? I can cut a few loose” Oron takes out his knife and starts making his way towards the pumpkins

"Well very likely some harm in them Oron, why don't we take a look at their vines and see if they're going to try to strangle us. And we can try and offer some of them to our new furry friends, see if they avoid the pulp and meat of any specific colorations." Micaela pipes up, a little quickly seeing Oron heading towards the pumpkins so gungho

Fearghal lays a hand on Oron's shoulder and gives Micaela a friendly wink. "The lady 'as the right o' it, I'm afraid. If 'twere as simple as cuttin' out the pumpkins themselves, Urkey would 'ave come out 'ere and do it 'imself. Gimme one moment." He kneels down and digs his hands deep, beyond the grass and into the soil of the patch. His eyes glaze over briefly and he breathes in deeply. He takes a pinch of the dirt and sniffs it. Hesitantly, he sticks his tongue out and places the pinch of soil onto the tip. He swishes it around thoughtfully, then spits. With a sniff, he nods, and shares the information he has gathered from using The Whispering Wind. (A single feeling, described by a few words or a short sentence, can be deciphered from the flow of nature's energies giving the psychic a clue as to dangers, rewards or other things that lay nearby. You also learn what plants are edible and which are not as well as their uses.)

These gourds could be made safe to eat, but the vines need to be cut in one swing with a very sharp weapon. They are filled with a corrosive sap.

“One fell swoop and be sure not to get any of the juices on ye, lad! ‘Twill eat right thru yer boots, it will!” He says to Oron.

"If one of you can grab the gourd's from their bottom end and pull them so the vine's more or less taut this thermal spear could do a halfway decent job at getting some fell swoops done, might be safer and more of a sure thing than going at it with knives."

“Good enough warning for me. I can be your Guinea Pig Micaela.” Jake rolls one of the gourds stretching the stem just tight and turns his head so he doesn’t flinch “Ready!”

(We can get a regular attack/damage to get through the vine)

Micaela Finnegan | Adrian |

used /roll

Micaela Finnegan | Adrian Request: [1d20+7] Roll: [16] Result: 23

Micaela Finnegan | Adrian |

used /roll

Micaela Finnegan | Adrian Request: [1d10+1] Roll: [5] Result: 6

(23/6 on ye old GOURD)

2

The blow is clean and struck with enough strength to neatly sever the vine. Instead of a spray of corrosive sap, there is just slight trickle, before it stops. The gourd looks to be freed up. The plant itself is safe to eat since the sap did not touch the rind.

“Nice shot! That’s one down.”

(Did anyone else wanna get on on this sweet almost smashing pumpkins action? Or leave it to Micaela?)

(Can I shoot it? Can Mist bite it?)

(Can shoot and bite, basically what I'm looking for is clearing the AC by a certain amount to not trigger acidic bad times)

Jake falls on his rear as Micaela releases the tension he'd put on the stem, the gourd rolls into his lap "There now, one down," Jake says like he meant to end up on his ass. Getting up and pointing his shear rifle, he shoots at a nearby stem (8 to hit!!!!!

)

There is a spray of the unpleasant sap, some of it gets on your arms, and reminds you of stinking pine pitch. Your armor bubbles and pops as the layer of outer paint is blemished in that area, but the storm armor keeps you from harm.

“Careful there, mate! Anyone remember ‘ow many o’ these we need for the feast?”

"I would imagine three or four of the larger ones would be a good idea. Enough for a couple pies, some mashed dishes. Then there's likely other things further in rather than it being a gourd based feast."

(Three of four is reasonable, especially given we're carrying it)

“How about we each take one. That should be enough”

"Sounds fair to me. Wanna help me with this next one Oron?"

“Love ta! Let’s get it!”

Wiping corrosive plant juice off himself he says “I suppose a shear rifle is not an appropriate harvesting tool… that one kinda blew up….maybe I’ll just help carry…”

Micaela will work with Oron to do the same deal as before with Jake. Pulling the gourd taut and then away from the vine once it's cut while Micaela handles the

Chopin

Micaela Finnegan | Adrian |

used /roll

Micaela Finnegan | Adrian Request: [1d20+7] Roll: [18] Result: 25

Micaela Finnegan | Adrian |

used /roll

Micaela Finnegan | Adrian Request: [1d10+1] Roll: [9] Result: 10

(25/10. They call her gourd-bane)

1

Jake finishes wiping off the remains of the juice from himself "Yes, I do believe that I'm more useful as labor here," he says as he picks up the gourd just separated from the vine and moves it over next to the first.

With three of them now stowed by the party, it looks like one or two more is all you'd need to gather before moving on to the next area.

Fearghal unsheathes his mag rifle, laughs at how much overkill the weapon is for harvesting vegetables, shrugs, and takes aim anyway.

iumi of Gudrun

used /roll

Iumi | Fearghal Mac Tír | Alva Request: [1d20+8] Roll: [6] Result: 14

iumi of Gudrun

used /roll

Iumi | Fearghal Mac Tír | Alva Request: [2d8+3] Roll: [2, 1] Result: 6

iumi of Gudrun

used /roll

Iumi | Fearghal Mac Tír | Alva Request: [1d4] Roll: [1] Result: 1

(14/6 and if 14 misses it still grazes for 1 dmg, Gunslinger L2) (edited)

(14 passes!)

2:17 PM

The shot is clean. The vine is thicker than you expected , and the mag rifle ends up not being the tremendous overkill you were expecting. Plant matter sizzles and cools, and the large gourd is free.

2

“Ok lads! - and lady- One more Mayhaps?”

“I’m down for one more! Let’s do this” Oron cheers excitedly. Ready to keep pushing on

Micaela cracks a smile at Oron'w excitement and lines up for another swing at the metaphorical and metadimensional chopping block. (Whenever dice maiden works for me.) (edited)

1

(looks like its functioning properly now)

Micaela Finnegan | Adrian |

used /roll

Micaela Finnegan | Adrian Request: [1d20+7] Roll: [16] Result: 23

2

Micaela Finnegan | Adrian |

used /roll

Micaela Finnegan | Adrian Request: [1d10+1] Roll: [4] Result: 5

(success!)

2

Micaela performs a small fist pump of victory and helps Oron settle away the gourd after securing her spear "That wasn't so bad, especially with Fearghal's forewarning."

The gourds are secured, and with this bounty, it looks like some kind of green, or fruit, will finish up what the enigmatic Urkey set out for you to do.

“Shall we continue onwards, lads? And lass?“

3

"Yeah, let's get a move on fellas. I'm sure the others are making good progress and we don't want to hold things up."

The next location looks to be something called the "stalks" where the map depicts a grassy plain made of what looks to be a child's rendering of the vegetable asparagus. It looks to be about a kilometer from here, in a sunny patch of the woods.

Mist leads the way towards the stalks area, nose to the ground sniffing for any danger.

Jake follows, not quite the woodsman that some of the group seem to be

Like Jake, Oron is a little out of his element. He keeps his weapon ready and takes in the sights around him allowing the others to lead the way

Jake walks next to Oron as Fearghal and Micaela lead “I like a good breath of unprocessed air just fine, I don’t spend a lot of time in atmosphere though other than having some conversations of one kind or another. Good thing there’s a map and folks who know the ground game better than I.”

Micaela will try to keep pace or trail a bit behind Mist's expert sniffing prowess. Seeming to enjoy the entire experience so far.

Oron nods in response to Jake. "Feel much the same friend. Although i get plenty of fresh air runnin' from the termies back on back on my world. It is nice ta slow down a bit here though. these giant vegetables ain't trying to tear out our insides. at least not yet anyway." Oron says this with a laugh and nudges Jake with his elbow

(lets get a survive/wis for Feargie)

1

iumi of Gudrun

used /roll

Iumi | Fearghal Mac Tír | Alva Request: [2d6-2] Roll: [6, 4] Result: 8

Mist is able to take the lead and guide the pack through the woods to the stalks. The forest here turns from tall trees to massivce stalks of asparagus that are going to need woodsmans tools to break down.

2:58 PM

Based on your instructions, one or two of these massive stalks should be enough to provide for many meals to come. The other groups look to be working on their own objectives based on a few communications going back and forth, and you suspect given the abundance you collected from the gourd patch already, this should be enough to fulfill your end of the bargain.

Mica eyes the nearest asparagus stalk and looks up towards it's slightly swaying tip, "might sound weird but asparagus was always one of my favorite holiday sides, grandmother would always end up slightly burning the tips. But I thought that was just the best thing ever with the spices she used, added some crunch to the limp little things..." Micaela goes quiet deep in thought leaving the others to decide the next steps.

Jake looks up at the gigantic asparagus “Those were little stalks…. These things are trees… I wonder how tough they are.” He pulls out a medium blade and takes a practice chop to see how hard they will be to take down

These stalks look to be about as tough and thick as an ordinary tree of this size and thickness on most temperate worlds you have been to before. The fibrous insides will require something serrated to truly get through.

Seeing Jake chop at the nearby sturdy asparagus stalk Micaela will snap back to reality (

) and look around "I doubt Urkle would send us out here to do something that we wouldn't be able to do, there's got to be a woodman's shack or tool shed around here somewhere either centrally located or near the edge of this area. Let's pair up and start searching, meet back here in half an hour to an hour if we don't uncover anything?" Micaela looks towards the others to gauge their response to the plan.

“Let’s stay together lass, we don’t know what be out ‘ere in these woods! But searching for a shed be good thinking.”

“I’m good sticking together and looking around a bit. If there’s a shed, there might be a path leading to it. That might be easier to find than a shed if it’s a ways away. If we don’t find one, he gestures at Fearghal’s mag rifle and hefts his shear rifle, we could try shooting it until it falls down. Those giant gourds kinda turned to sludge on me, but this looks a lot sturdier.”

Some of the stalks have things taken out of them, wedges or strands of the fibrous material the 'trunks' are made from. It looks like tools were used to do this, and after exploring for a few moments each group finds a combination of saws , axes, and sleds to move the fallen trunks

1

2

"Alright! I reckon we take out one or two of the larger ones, take our time with it and chop through the exterior with the axes, saw through the interior fibres. And stay on our toes so we don't get crushed, unless we want to go for some of the fresher smaller ones?"

“Tender and…. Juicy! Maybe the smaller giant stems would be tastier. I’m with ya on that.” Jake grabs an axe and starts in on one of the stalks

(exert/str )

Jake takes up an axe and swings away (3)

1

The axe does not look to be the best tool for this in Jake's hands.

Seeing where Jake fails, Fearghal picks up the most serrated looking saw there is and begins to hack away.

The serrated teeth bite into ever more of the stalk. Fibers are snapped away and the stalk begins to wobble and more and more of the trunk is carved through.

Seeing the wobble, Mist decides to help her best friend and bullrushes into the stalk, head butting it down.

The large stalk begins to fall away from the party, and snares in the small satellite stalks of a large trunk in front. Cutting that second one down should fell both, and you will have something to return to the feast with.

Seeing things take on a semblance of progress and momentum Micaela will take up one of the axes and attempt to crunch through the harder exterior of the other stalk, not to chop it down completely but to expose more tender fibres for Fearghal's saw when he's ready to take it down. (edited)

(I think with how you described it, this'll work without a check)

“Good thinking lass! I’ll be right over and Mist girl can head butt our way to delicious food!”

Jake looks at the ax in his hand, shakes his head laying the thing down carefull so he doesn’t cut himself and starts moving the sleds into place to load the stalks

1

The stalks are felled, and they fit in the sleds perfectly, as though by design. Despite being very large the sled and its pull rope feel very light.

Micaela will clap Jake on the back ecouragingly as she takes a position near him to help him wrangles the stalks onto the sleds

The sleds begin moving easily as you exit the forest with your two offerings for the feast. As the lodge doors open you can see into the lobby where the doors have become portals back to your freaking forms, safe and asleep in your beds. There are two gifts for you upon leaving The first is the T.Urkey eat your greens vegetable mix. A single use of the product will entirely consume it, but will provide two weeks of vitamins and nutrition for the person eating it. The second item is the customary Turkey leg

7:17 AM

There is also one of T.Urkey's famous Thanksgiving Turkey legs. Devouring this delicious treat down to the bone will entirely use it , but it will do one of the following Heal you to perfect health Remove the fragile condition after being recently downed Remove all instances of system strain, except for permanent system strain caused by cyberware, species traits, or other non-removable instances.

3

2

3

Micaela will look around at the folks gathered here "This was a lot of fun honestly, if any of you ever need hand with something send a message over to Jahnavi or Acastus for Micaela Finnegan and I'll see what I can do." And she'll start to give her goodbyes to each person, and Mist.