Iron Stars - cathal

Level 2 - HP: 6 -> 8 Focus: Henchman 2 Electrokinesis: 0 -> 1 Technique: Energy Sensitivity Notice: -1 -> 0

After leaving the meeting, Cathal ponders his options. He decides to first look for any sort of written records that might have any information on the Fraternity. (So any sort of library, museum, or town hall records place that might have some pre-scream information, if such a thing has survived.)

(admin/int, or connect/cha, your choice)

(connect/cha 10)

There's no written records of fraternity members in public service, because the term used to mean members of an informal scholarly circle getting together to discuss various topics related to their field. Their lists of membership were very secretive, but you're able to get ahold of a few people who were a bit loose lipped about their time in these informal circles Pre-Scream. There aren't enough mages or psychics left to revive the practice now.

17:19

(can answer a few basic questions)

Cathal notes down a short list of questions, and buys tea for himself and his contacts before inviting them to his apartment to talk. After introducing himself and explaining briefly what happened on the expedition, he begins the questions. "This group called themselves the Fraternity, and they seemed to be led by a man named Gamma. Does this name mean anything to any of you?"

"Probably not the original name. Nobody in any of the circles before all this was going by it. None of us have seen papers written by anyone using that pen name either"

"He spoke of decay, and his goal is to destroy the resonators. Was there fraternities dedicated to studying and discussing the null storms he may have been a part of?"

"Everyone has some knowledge of how they work since its so key to our safety, but only the government themselves were invested in studying much of what was going on behind the walls" there is a long sigh. "We were all comfortable here in our bubble, not really thinking about what we lost or the danger out there"

"Doesn't it bother you? The glory we once had, that's now just out of reach? It bothers me, and I won't sit around idle until we get back all we lost and more. This Fraternity, they prove that it's still possible to live with and control the storms. They were wearing belts that acted as personal resonators, have any of you heard of such devices?"

"Stability fields on that small a scale? and no mage needed to run it? " The group seems incredulous at the claims, but by now, a day or so after the incident, there are enough rumors and half confirmations on government reports for them to have some kind of acceptance. "THe stability field we made for the vehicle you used was the smallest one has ever been made within Dremlas, but the breaches aren't new. Tinkers and thinkers from all over would have been studying the issue before The Scream. Findings maybe never making it to wider publication circles.

Cathal writes as the people speak. When he finishes, he ponders for a second. "Could it be possible that the government may have some of this research? Or if you knew of anyone researching this before The Scream, could their place of research and their records have survived?"

“There was a place to the west looking over that all. On this continent actually. There’s an expedition being mounted by one of the guys who went out on the original travel with you trying to organize something now”

02:07

“Maybe you can tag along”

"There is? Great. I'll see if I can go with him. Thanks for all your help. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to get in touch with me. Maybe we can work together some day to bring back the Fraternies of old?" Cathal finishes his tea and hands out his contacts information to each of the people.

(3xp, 5000 credirs$

(Nice, that's a level up) Level 3 - HP: 8 -> 17 Free Nexus gift: Reflexive Action Electrokinesis: 1 -> 2 Technique: Defibrillator

18:48

(I'll do a bit of shopping too, I'll have the list in a sec)

CFU - 1000 Laser pistol - 200 Laser rifle - 300 5 type A cells - 50 Total - 1550 I'll give the Rifle and 3 of the cells to my Henchman, Cian

)all good and all available)

(Level 4 - HP: 17 -> 18 Know: 0 -> 1 1 sp banked)

The message of the repaired resonator is sent, and the soldiers and settlers are expected to be here in a couple of days assuming there are no difficulties on the road. in the meantime, the village is a warren of ruins that has been bathed in the raw stuff of the null breaches for years. There is a wealth of scientific observation that you are now uniquely qualified to make

Dawn comes as you manage to get some rest- and the troop reinforcements should be here by evening, or first tihng in the morning depending on difficulties on the road. You've got a day to scout and explore, anything found will make settlement easier here.

After eating breakfast, Cathal grabs some fruit and fills his flask with some of the drink from the flask. He makes his way to some of the most intact ruins, telling Cian he can come if he's feeling fit.

Cian is feeling a bit better, enough to watch your back, just in case. There is an intact home close to the square that looks almost pristine, amid a sea of ruins

Either because of the cold, or sheer excitement, Cathal's hands are almost shaking. He turns his head to Cian with a grin on his face. "Ready?" He pushes open the door.

The door rattles gently as you touch it and push inside. There aren’t bodies inside but a family dinner has been left to rot on the table. A fork is stuck deep i. The remains of that was once a roast

Cathal creeps towards the table to have a closer look, and see what else is around.

(notice/wis)

(9)

You hear a small creak upstairs, and a skitter that is either a small person, or large animal

21:05

it vanishes almost as quick as you hear it

"Hello? Is there someone there? I'm coming up!" Cathal shouts up the stairs and shrugs at Cian, not sure what else he should do. He starts up the stairs, gesturing for Cian to follow.

There is another bang upstairs, as a door is thrown shut

Cathal speeds up, looking for the door that was slammed when he reaches the top of the stairs.

You can see the frame at the end of the halwlay in the master bedroom quivering slightly from the force of the door being closed

Cathal approaches the door, ready to open it. He gestures for Cian to ready his gun. (Can I sense any active cyberware inside the room with my energy sensitivity?)

You do not sense any power sources within the building

Cathal takes a deep breath, steadying himself. "I'm coming in! We mean no harm, we're researchers!" He opens the door.

A termie with a machete drawn flies through the now opening door, swinging a blade at your head but missing , notching a heavy gouge in the door frame

"Hey! Woah! Stop or we'll shoot! We mean no harm! We bring civilisation!" Cathal jumps back, falling on his rear end with his arms up, almost cowering behind Cian.

The termie continues swinging and has committed to violence

(Will I roll initiative or can we just blast him down?)

(You can shoot, technically he's already gone and missed twice)

01:57

(so he's had his surprise round and then some)

“Meat!” The termie yells, eyeing you hungrily and licking the edge of their blade

(sorry for the really long wait, past few weeks been kicking my ass.) Cian fires a shot at the savage in a panic. (4/3 lmao)

( @Selnath we can continue the combat here, basically got both threads up to this point. You'd be stumbling in on this combat. So we can all do initiative here)

(6)

(3 for the termie)

(4)

(Selgar, Cathal, Termie)

Mac rushes to the figure and starts a swing, but due to unsteady footing fails to connect. (Miss)

(cathal)

Cathal scrambles back further, behind his new, hopefully, saviour-to-be. He reaches out with his mind to connect with Mac. Cian fires a burst round from his rifle. (17/9) (If Mac is willing to be my partner, going to use Distributive Action to give him another Main Action and sacrifice my own)

(My memory is trash, we were both at the original tower repair attempt right?)

(No, city to the west this time. We went east last time)

(No I mean has Mac met Cathal before? I can't remember who all was on that first mission.)

(You were on that mission together )

(Yeah then Mac will accept the mind noodling. Does my second action happen now or on my turn?)

(I think it's as a bonus action on your turn)

(Okay so would be at the top of the next round after he gets a go, assuming you didn't just obliterate him with your rifle.)

Prone, the shot is stable, and the termie's chest is blown out. He crumples to the ground not even realizing he is dead. A heart paired with another, smaller one, and something like a third one studded with teeth pounds away in his chest , before stopping their recklessly fast pumping

Cathal breathlessly climbs to his feet and peers into the termie's chest cavity. "That was some good shooting. We should study whatever the hell's going on in there." He turns back to face Mac. "The expedition arrived? Just in time by the looks of it."

"Pulled in not an hour ago, and ahead of the plan actually... We should get one of them medical types in here, I don't know whether to bring this monstrosity back to the city or just burn it."

"If we're burning him, we should give him a good poke about first. It's fascinating really. Any trouble getting here?"

"... Yeah, lost a few due to the storms and another damn bird, we killed it this time though. Could have been way worse, luckily we had some air support. I'll be honest I thought you'd be dead by now, don't suppose you managed to kill off that Greek asshole?"

"Gamma? No luck there. We did manage to take out two of his cultists. Hopefully our supposed 'men on the inside' still have Dremlas' interests in mind. We found a book from a scientist who studied null breaches before the Scream, could be useful. I'll study it when I get the chance. We found food and drink too, not effected by the storm. It's pretty strange but it'll be a good boost for the settlers here."

"Yeah the word was we recovered some of their shield tech, I was tasked with bringing whatever we got back so we can try to improve ours. We ain't gonna win many fights if we can barely walk around."

"You're right. The belts should be in the truck. They self destructed when the wearers died, but I'm sure we'll get something out of them." Cathal looks at the termie on the ground and back at Mac. "Help me haul this guy down and get him somewhere we can have a closer look at him?"

"Yeah sure, let's wrap him a bit... Really don't want to touch him any more than we need to." (Mac pulls out the tarp from his survival kit to use like a sort of hammock to carry the body.)

"Good idea. I didn't take you for the type to not want to get your hands dirty." Cathal smirks as he rolls up his sleeves and helps wrap the body.

(yeah the both of you could carry it without any trouble really, dont need a fix check or anything here) The body is dragged outside, and placed near the vehicle. Quiet words are exchanged with a few of the medical staff to take it from you, so as to study it without creating a stampede of panicked onlookers. Some analysis will be done back in Dremlas, likely, or their notes will make it there eventually. The shield tech belts are both remnants of burned machinery and leather, with half melted brass buckles. Hopefully someone at home can figure out a bit about them.

"Sure I'll get my hands dirty..." Mac nods, but then points at the bizarre organ setup in the gory hole. "But that ain't dirt." After handing off the body Mac would rest for the night before heading back the next day (along with anyone else who might be going back for whatever reason I suppose).

Cathal opts for less sleep, instead deciding to pore over Dr. Winterlights book.

(i know a lot of what we recently did with Cathal was waiting for the expedition to get here. Now that it is, did you want to return to Dremlas, or did you want to stay and explore?)

(I'll definitely stay and explore the new town for a while, and if there's mention of any sort of point of interest or anything like that in the book, then that's the next destination.)

It is rumored in the first chapter, which depicts some of the beginning places where this professor studied, of a mineworks below the town that had been sealed up due to unnatural phenomena in the depths. It was thought to be a bit north of town, in the woods

After taking notes on the book and catching a quick power nap, Cathal looks for Mac to find out his plans going forward. "You hanging around or heading back to Dremlas? There's mention of old mines below here that were sealed up, unnatural phenomena or something. Might be worth looking into."

"Oh I'm headin' back so them boys can take a look at these things, but I don't doubt I'll be back out here sooner or later. You find something closed up just make sure you let the local soldiers know, last thing we need is surprise violence right under the new settlement."

Cathal laughs, "Don't worry, the last thing I want is any kind of violence anywhere. I've no doubt we'll meet again, I'll update you if I find anything, and you do the same for me, alright?"

(All caught up here)

After Mac departs, Cathal decides to go straight to the mines, as it seems more pertinent than looking about the town.

)survive/wis)

(4)

You become lost, as evening begins to fall, a set of landmark stones you were supposed to find never crosses your path

23:06

and you hear the distant calls of whatpasses for a wolf on this world

Cathal sighs as night falls and far off howling fills the air. He begins to unpack his survival kit, and he and Cian set up the tarp as a tent. "Alright, this is a bit of a disaster. I suppose we should've known not to go traipsing into the wilderness without more of an entourage... Not to say you're not enough Cian but eh..." Cathal laughs, "I think it's fair to say we're both lost, aren't we? Anyway, we better find ourselves quick. I don't think I could bare the shame of having to set off this distress beacon. I mean, a town full of people on an expedition, and we wander off..."

"I think wandering about after dark like this is going to make things worse. No landmarks, too deep in the woods to see much of the sky...we could wander for kilometres, or worse, out of the stability zone and right into a wild MES field."

Cathal nods. "We'll camp out the night and find our bearings in the morning. We can't have gone too far astray. You take first watch? I stayed up half of last night reading that book."

“No problem. Get some rest, I’ll kick you awake after four hours”

Cathal eventually drifts off into the most uncomfortable sleep he's ever had, dreaming of birds, cultists, and savages with machetes.

You're kicked awake gently by Cian, who true to promise uses the side of his foot rather than his boot toes.

20:42

"Nothing so far, probably nothing for you either. More than quiet out there"

"Glad to hear it." Cathal mumbles, though he yawns halfway through, making what he said almost un-understanable. "I'll wake you at daylight and we'll get moving."

As you wake and sit, beginning your watch, you begin looking out into the dark woods. You're within the stability field, so you don't need to fear some kind of getting turned inside and out- but you do see will-o-wisps deep in the trees. They flash steadily, every 3-5 seconds, on and off, blinking. They're what passes for fireflies here, and are larger and more pleasing to look at

22:42

Something howls, deep in the wood, about 250m from your campsite. It is lupine, and loud (edited)

Cathal snaps out of admiring the will-o-wisps, and kicks Cian awake, perhaps a bit harder than he meant to. "Wake up!" He whispers in a panic. "Wolves, I think. Wouldn't want you to be eaten in your sleep."

"Eh, maybe just a nibble" he says, stretching out, and grabbing his weapon. "got a flare on you? or a glowbug?"

Cathal pulls out 2 flares, and lights one up. He holds it out in the direction of the howls. He simultaneously connects his mind with Cian. "You see anything? I can throw a few of these into the bush if needed."

"Do it, ill throw one opposite you:

He hands Cian a flare and throws his lit one out further to light up the area, keeping his eyes peeled and listening out for more howls.

The flares when thrown set into the brush and the cold flames Light the area without causing a fire. You see a pair of eyes reflected back at you 40m away before they close and retreat back into the dark

Cathal finds himself unconsciously holding his breath when the flares go out, finally letting out a sigh of relief as the creature retreats. "I can't imagine that's the last we'll see of that. It shouldn't be too long until sunrise, we should keep the place lit and both stay up until then."

The beast does not reappear though you're out of flares, glowbugs, and the tent has been burned as a lst ditch light source by time morning comes. The pack keeps away,unwilling to get closer to you

19:58

(3xp, 5000 credits, that was harrowing enough with the gear loss)

(Man that's a hit, at least we live to be lost another day!) Cathal tries to stay optimistic as he uses up his supplies through the night. "Alright, let's get moving. Staying out here another night isn't an option. Let's try and track back the way we came."

morning comes amd with the coming of the light you're able to find your way to the general area of the mines. You can see a cart has been tipped onto its side- starting to rot and shoots of green have grown around the ore chunks fallen by the wayside. The mine itself is out of sight

"Well, we're getting warmer." Cathal inspects the cart, and looks for any remains of tracks that might lead to the mine.

They are there hidden among thick growth, some of the rails are missing but you can see the grade , stones and spikes

23:21

Leading through the woods

Cathal follows the trail into the woods.

20:45

The mine ahead of you is haunting the gloom, ending in a dark tunnel with another ore cart right at the entry way. A pump house built at the summit of the hill would normally be keeping water out of the mines lower reaches- though it is silent for right now.

Despite everything, Cathal beams when the mine comes into view. "I knew we'd get there! Now, some issues before we go spelunking. First of all, we used all our light sources, let's hope there's some in that pump house. Second thing, I hope the mines aren't flooded since the pumps sound to be out of action." With that being said, he trudges his way up to the pump house.

The pump house has a wooden door locked by a rusting chain and padlock. It sags, but keeps the door frame together.

Cathal glances at Cian and smiles. "Watch this!" He attempts to kick in the door.

The rotted wood leaves just a pair of handles behind as it falls apart around you. A blast of cool air comes from inside the pump room and you can see the machinery has stopped working. Rust on the gears and axles show it hasn’t been operating for some time

Cathal's grin widens, "That was impressive, admit it. There's a lot of rust gathered on those machines, and I'm no mechanic..." While thinking about what to do about the machinery, Cathal searches for flares, glowbugs, or any other source of light he could take into the mines.

There is an emergency cache on the wall has three glowbugs in it, along with a traditional tar and rag torch

Cathal pockets the glowbugs and waves the torch in the air. "Now we're real explorers! Alright, I could power the machinery with my powers, but it would shut down when I go about 10 metres away. So I reckon we head down as far as we can anyway, it's hardly that flooded."

Looking around the machinery there is a place where power cells could be spliced in. They’ll spend their charge quick but it should allow you some movement down below

( @Svenka [Tig/M’Ranni] ) Another clang from outside announces the arrival of someone new. "Boss!" Cian shouts. "rescue party..of one..from the village!"

“Hi. Kiaw. Scout. Un-inside-out maker.” Kiaw, masked, her mono visor glowing a faint blue, waves awkwardly as she enters. “Here to help.”

“Glad you are “ Cain says. “The boss here is trying to get the pumps working again so the mine drains and we can explore it properly. Those idiots tunneled right into the water table”

“Ah. I am not good at fixing. Can help with looking. Can give you more arms? Or a tail. Or.... tentacles!” She giggles, the sound more menacing than she intended through her mask.