Iron Stars - orvan

Orvan awakens in his small home to the sound of something being passed through the mail slot on the front of his door. In a digital age like this the only things usually coming in hard copy are official orders, sensitive personal documents, or the occasional neighborhood advisory that will be less likely to be ignored if the brightly colored flyer is right in front of your face. The courier outside hums some kind of happy, up beat tune as they jog away, heading to wherever their deliveries take them next. Outside, the neighborhood kids are playing some version of kickball- though their own rules have been placed onto the game and its almost impossible for them to tell who might be winning anymore with all the variations placed on it. Still , it keeps them outside and out of their parent's hair for most of the day. You hear the sound of the letter finally settling to the tiled floor near the doorway, and rolling over to look at your compad, it looks like your alarm was going to go off in three minutes anyway- not that you had much of anything to spend your time on- until now, it seems.

Orvan would get up and get dressed putting on his armored undersuit that he always does as you never know when something might happen and over that he gets dressed in a simple set of clothes a long sleeve shirt pants some combat boots ect he goes and starts making some coffee before going and picking up the newly arrived letter first reading who it is for and who from to make sure it isn’t the wrong letter and turns off his alarm on his compass so it doesn’t go off on him Orvan thinking well I wonder who this is from maybe I finally have some work

The letter is from the office of King Buchannon, and looks to be as official as it is possible to get. The envelope is yellowed, and the seal of the king is embossed in a deep crimson wax over the flap letting you know that since it was written and sealed your eyes are going to be the only ones to see what the paper contains. The paper within feels thick and official, and turning it onto its front you do see the letter has been made out to you, post marked this morning, which means it has been written and delivered all within the last few hours.

Orvan would look shocked going to his mono knife and getting a cup of coffee he goes to his bathroom to open this letter to be sure no one can see it and he will read it carefully

Attention and well met Mr. Bernadotte. It has come to our attention that you’re something of a fledgling businessman and you’ve previously requested greater duties as part of the emergent, reorganized cooperative. Under the Emergency Economic Development Act , I am authorized to transfer some limited authority to you in order to survey and assist the fledgling human communities on Groa. A free merchant will be waiting tonight to bring you to the planet where you’ll be tasked with working on the side of local leaders to try to revitalize the struggling communities there. The Cooperative has limited resources set aside to bootstrap efforts but all possible measures should be taken to solve problems indigenously before using them. This letter and my affixed seal below confer my authority if any on Groa question your ability to assist or the seriousness of the Cooperative in assisting it’s subjects

Orvan genuinely surprised at this turn of events finishes up the morning routine and starts to collect what little gear he has into his bag (would orvan have been planet side long enough for the connected foci to have activated?)

(I guess it depends what you’re planning on doing with it. This is a first mission so I’m going to give you what you need to be successful- aside from I guess what happens in Roleplay)

(Is it possible to use said contacts to possibly gleam more information about the planet before I leave to have a better understanding of it and what Orvan is getting into)

(WhAts on the world anvil for the planet is what your character would be able to look up. There’s nothing to offer that’s not already included on the article )

(Understood) so Orvan is going to head to the space port seeing he has nothing else to do and will be there to wait on the ship

The Indus Valley is waiting for you at the starport when you arrive. The ship is a venerable free merchant, a gift from the Void Wardens to the struggling Cooperative at a time where the Wardens were modernizing their own fleet; phasing out smaller free merchants in exchange for bulk freighters. None the less, the ship looks to be in good repair, sailing with a full crew aside from the spot saved for you. It's hold is empty at the moment, and you can see building supplies being loaded into its belly for use at the destination. The co-pilot and sensor officer look to be near the ramp, running down a check list of pre-flight inspection items to be completed before being able to leave.

Original message was deleted or could not be loaded.

Pinned a message.

Orvan would approach the co pilot and sensor officer at the ramp popping what ever the salute is for the cooperative “morning Orvan Bernadotte I’m told your my ride?”

"Hello! Yes, we are indeed your ride to Groa. We're almost complete with the pre flight check, followed by the loading process. We'll be set to depart within the hour. You're permitted to go aboard and get comfortable. Once we're at the destination, you;ll be able to requisition a few things from the ship locker if you need them"

“Thank you, after I put my stuff down would you like an extra pair of hands for the loading?”

A cargo skid from a nearby hangar begins working its way toward the ship and they advise you the porters will handle it. A system report on Groa is already loaded within your cabin upon entry, and once you set things down and get your things organized, you realize more time has passed than you thought.

18:18

There is a bang as the door shuts and the ramp is retracted into the ship.

Orvan would sit down first thing and read the system report

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

Groa

18:31

https://www.worldanvil.com/w/iron-stars-nekosmash/a/the-sentience-of-the-zero-foundation--solved-myth?preview=true

The Sentience of the Zero Foundation- SOLVED

Orvan would run a hand through his hair and sigh saying out loud “oh I hope the problem isn’t another war” he would check his gear make sure it’s all and see the eta of when he is getting to Gora

(2 days of downtime as we travel. I’ll post the rule snippet for the time)

20:17

Orvan would spend his 2 days of travel doing workouts doing push ups and other upper strength workouts and writeing in a journal to keep a record of what is going on

(would that be training exert? )

(why not yeah)

(2/90 toward Exert 0) The ship enters Groa local space, and you're called to the bridge as the captain begins the six hour burn from system edge toward orbit with the planet. Maps are beginning to inload, and the crew is working on planning where to set down first.

Orvan would go to the bridge and salute the captain apon getting permission to enter "you requested me captain?"

"We're looking over a map of the planet now. We don't have a whole lot of information about what might be happening at the settlements down there, and we don;t have a way to get in touch with anyone since the comms infrastructure is a mess . We wanted to see where you think a wise place to set down first might be, before we just charge blindly into something"

“I think the maps I have are out of date, have you been here before captain?”

"No, not much traffic comes through Groa anymore, which I suspect is what we're here to fix. The places of the settlements should be the same , conditions on the ground might be different though "

"well lets try holdfast then seems the most likely place to go"

The vessel begins descending down to the Holdfast and as the clouds part you can see a fortified town doing its best to undergo the process of rebuilding. Slain zero foundation vehicles carpet the outside of the walls and the plains beyond. Breaches in the city wall have been filled with scrap but have not been repaired through a permanent solution and you can see ad hoc materials have been used in place of proper ones on most of the repair work. The ship sets down 200m from the southern gate , and it’s ramp lowers to let you out. No one from town has raced out to meet the ship just yet.

“Captain did you all notice anyone moving down there as we landed? As it seems too quiet”

"There are people here, they're probably just not impressed by starships coming down anymore. The people here have only just ended a planet wide war, and they're very tired. Lets see if we can brighten their moods a bit, shall we?"

Orvan would smile a bit “let’s” Orvan would get out of the ship and start walking too the city keeping his eyes on a swivel for danger and just to look around

(notice/wis)

(Got an 8)

You do notice the sounds of industry in the air here, but the locals are all quite busy and their industriousness seems to be keeping an official welcoming committee from coming out to see you. Freshly disturbed earth before the edge of the forest to the west of the settlement shows where graves have been recently dug, and you can see little organized effort at resource collection around the city has been engaged in. You see no evidence of logging, mining, improving paved surfaces, and so on. You also see no evidence of any kind of efforts to sustain the food supply aside from bare substance levels with a handful of rooftop farms.

as orvan walks he thinks to himself "what could they be working so hard on but not looking tward their food production mining or logging the stuff needed for survival there is something not right here"

The captain and the bridge crew have remained onboard the ship, but two of the security staff have been cleared to move into the city with you. Ships are still uncommon and expensive to produce, and most crews are under standing orders not to leave them entirely empty- and to keep them out of harms way wherever possible.

Orvan will make his way to what ever building is probably the biggest to try and find the person in charge

You can see the rebuilding former ruins of a town hall in the middle of town, surrounded by a thin and under-fed looking construction crew, and someone in a more traditional NMC set of finery surveying the work, though they too are looking a bit thin and their clothing is threadbare. You can see small piles of bricks and board here and there, along with some crude nails waiting to be put to use.

Orvan would approach the person in NMC clothes "greetings are you the one in charge here?"

"I am the overseer of this settlement, yes. You're not a local, I can tell that about you already. You from the ship that just came down?"

“Yes I am, names Bernadotte I’m representing the NMC and was sent to come and check on you all and provide aid”

"I see. Well, we;re having issues here as you can tell, but I'm sure you have questions so I'll try to answer you as best I can. You came down in a ship and there's very few outside polity service, that's proof enough for me"

“Well I noticed you all are focusing on other things then food production and other such items is there a reason for that?”

“Have you seen the state of our city? It is in ruins. Anything outside the walls is still dangerous too. We haven’t been able to keep the predators away”

“Well your in luck we brought more supplies and I think we should be able to get thoes walls fixed”

He shrugs, his concern more focused on his immediate project. Having told you a bit about local conditions he returns to his own tasks.

Orvan would leave a bit concerned and start waking back to the ship he looks to one of the ship crew that went with him “ what do you guys think? Maybe I’m paranoid but I feel there is more going on”

“You didn’t really give him much to work with but he told you why they can’t grow anything. Maybe we look into culling some of the local predators so it’s safe for people to leave the city to plant ?”

“Yeah, yeah that’s fair let’s see what we can do about that” as Orvan would head back to the ship to catch the captain up to speed

The captain is waiting when you return, and listens to what you have to say, but otherwise is leaving the ground operations here up to you, as his duty is mainly to protect the ship.

The armory does have weapons and armor you could use for such an excursion, within reason, and you're given over to the ship armsmaster to outfit you, should you decide to scout the nearby forest.

orvan would talk to the arms master to see if they knew anything about the local fauna but if not he would inform the captain of his leaveing to go scouting he would first start his scouting with the general area around the town

The armsmaster is also not from this world, he is just here to provide you with weapons and armor to borrow if you do not have any, as you're about to venture into the wilds.

(Otherwise if we're leaving as- is , just a notice/wis or survive/wis. Just let me know what you use)

(going to go notice/wis)

23:50

(flinches 5)

You're unable to make much sense of the criss-crossing animal tracks here , but finding the woodline near the village is easy enough. The two marines accompanying you from the ship rack their combat rifles as you approach the grave site, and you notice a basket of apples has been left on a small flat stone near the edge of the woods, with a red bow tied to the handle. An ox skull has been fitted to one of the low tree branches near it, forming something like a thane to some kind of local belief.

(Something like this )

(sorry for not doing stuff like we talked about) orvan would examine around the religious site not touching it to see if there are any tracks or evidence of things coming and going from the site that isnt tward the town

There are tracks coming from the town. Your own footprints are part of them now and you see two puddles of wax on the thane itself where it looks like candles were once lit here and have since burned down to nothing. Large prints, bigger than a human foot, with three splay claw type impressions in the dirt come from the north, and look to circle the altar, before becoming part of the giant confused mass of traffic in the area. This site is well traveled by man, and whatever else might be lurking out here.

It is unknown if there is a connection between man and beast, or if both are aware the other comes here. Watching and waiting may yield additional information, but only if you are not spotted.

(shit sorry forgot to look here) orvan would go get closer to the track of the big beast and would try and see how old they might be and if they are deep enough that its quite common

The tracks look to be less than a day old, and their width and depth give you the appearance of something the size of a human, but heavier and wider.

Orvan would look at the two men with him “what do you two think? Should we wait here and see what we are dealing with or shall we track it to its home? I don’t want to take action without your input”

They seem confident in either, but seeing the creature first might give you some idea of what it is, and what it can do, and might make tracking it to its lair safer.

"I thik we should put up a blind somewhere and keep an eye on who comes and goes, maybe try to get a look at the creature so we can judge its strengths"

The marine begins looking around, trying to figure out a good place to hide , and you suspect your assistance might speed up the process

(sorry stuff been going on, family and such plus work been difficult)

(Alrighty. No problem. Just was trying to help zero you in)

(Alright let’s finally update this today has been calm) Orvan would suggest that each marine take a position where they can see each other, and seeing if they can find places in shadows as they have the tech for radios they don’t have to be right next to each other, looking for the shadows of decent sized bushes or possibily even getting into a tree to watch Orvan himself will attempt to get into a tree if he can manage it (I havnt looked at my stats for things like that in a bit so that’s a maybe)

(you have the time to get up there and there's nothing that would complicate climbing, you can just get up there)

Getting into the trees and spread out among the bushes your team settles in to wait. The thane is in sight of all of them, and other than some vermin and birds nothing appears within the first hour. At the top of the second, there is something like a low wail coming through the woods as four cloaked possible worshippers begin approaching. Although it is mid day, one carries a torch. The others have baskets of flowers, apples, and what looks to be a fresh cut of lamb. Each of them looks to have a long ritual knife tied onto their belts, though they're all scabbarded for the moment.

orvan would mouth to himself "what the hell" as he pulls out his laser pistol and keeps it trained on the people incase he needs it

Upon reaching the altar, the baskets are placed on the altar, and each of them cuts their palm with the previously kept knives, allowing some of their blood to trickle over the apples, flowers and meat. The torch is used to light a small flame in the center of the thane, where some natural gas pocket must have a way to reach the surface from below ground. They wait for several minutes, chanting quietly to themselves, before leaving the offerings behind and going the way they came. Once they are out of sight, something begins stomping through the woods. A large creature, something like a bear, though walking on hind legs and cloaked in red begins coming to the altar to investigate

14:30

“You both seeing this?” Orvans voice a little shakey

They confirm they're both seeing it, and look down their scopes at the oncoming beast. It doesn't seem to notice you being there and instead goes to the altar, rustling through the offerings, especially the meat. It begins feasting, grunting to itself while making a mess with its meal.

“Just hold steady men let’s try and follow it home and see how many we are dealing with before we take action” Orvan would whisper genuinely concerned as this thing isn’t what he was expecting

It seems to be alone here, and after feasting for about ten minutes, begins to plod off north at a slow pace, heading away from the altar site and deeper into the woods.

Orvan would wait a moment before getting down the tree and attempting to follow the beast a few minitues behind it so it won’t be spooked or know he is there

(sneak/dex)

(oof got a 4)

There is 100m of careful following , keeping your distance of about 20 or so meters from the beast when one of the marines with you trips over a root. There is no mistaking the sounds of hard shell combat armor hitting the ground and the creature turns, growling as it spots intruders in the wood.

14:13

(Initiative )

(Got a 6 on initiative) Orvan would swallow down his fear as this thing genuinely scares him and say “let’s boogie marines”

!roll d8

Nekosmash Roll: [1] Result: 1

(You and the marines are up first)

Well the only thing I can think to do right now is back up and shoot trying to keep distance with the beast and order the marines to do the same going in different directions to maximize space

(is this in character or out? If it is out please format it like so, in order to help me understand what I should be reacting to in scene. If there is an attack roll or some kind of mechanical thing being done here, please also say so, because I am unsure how to resolve what has been said)

(It’s all an action, don’t really know how else to format a thing between move and shoot)

(Okay. Let me know how many meters of your move you’re using and I need the hit/damage for your attack roll so we can see what happens )

(bump)

(archiving for inactivity)