05 A Night of Recovery and Getting to Know Each Other

Ndreare · Post by **Ndreare** » Sun Oct 01, 2017 10:00 am

Evening comes as the last of the bugs are cleared out of the area and the initial repairs needed to get the APC running are completed. Both the refugees and the Legionaries are are tired knowing it has been a long day and there will be more long days in the future. Amazingly none of the refugees were harmed in the exchange as the efforts of the team to stop the monsters from penetrating the defences combined with the training offered up by Hardin was successful.
The humidity and cold temperatures combined with the drizzling rain rolling in combine to make for a very uncomfortable chill that sets in the bones and the refugees are even more grateful to have a warm place to wait it out in the Mark V. As you listen to the patter of rain on the APC and the occasional roll of thunder the team has a chance to relax, visit some more with each other and the refugees, and plan of what the next priority will be for repairs. Luckily the air conditioner is able to keep the vehicle warm and draw out the humidity from all the bodies. But nothing can make the vehicle any more roomy.

Interludes and Watch Rotations

Erin Sol · Post by **Erin Sol** » Thu Oct 05, 2017 7:22 pm

In the APC Erin takes a seat next to the elven refugee. She pulls back the hood on her custom armor clearing the face shield and ending the environmental protection then removes her gauntlets and bracers. With the armor’s partial coverage, lightweight design and magical environmental sealing it was almost as physically comfortable on or off but de-armored is more mentally relaxing. Occasionally in the dim lighting of the APC the circuit like tattoos on her arms and exposed body illuminate those next to her in a soft blue glow. On her lap she places a heavily damaged C-18 laser pistol.

It’s an older weapon and only a sidearm but functional it could be useful.

As she loosens the pistol’s side plate, the work loosens her lips and she begins to speak. She turns to the Ignacio and looks up at him. At over 6 foot tall it is odd to look up to someone a half foot taller than her. “ You asked about what it was like to be a Techno-Wizard would you like to hear about the first and only time I attended a Techno-Wizard Grand Symposium?”

Ignacio- “Yeah of course.”

Erin stretches her neck the small bit the cramped surroundings allows and begins.

“Most people consider Techno-Wizards an eccentric group. I would counter that we are a group individuals with a rich shared culture. One of the traditions many Techno-Wizard guilds share is that once a year instead of their usual meeting they host a grand gathering to formally welcome new initiates as full fledged Techno-Wizards. Any normal TW guild meeting is already something to see with everyone building, sharing, brainstorming and talking at once...” Briefly her hands stop working and her face softens. “.but a Techno-Wizard Grand Symposium is truly a once in a lifetime moment, especially the one where you gain your scarf. One of the elder Techno-Wizards from out of town called it a cotillion with robot combat.. Whatever that means."

“Now I am sure that Kingsdale’s Grand Symposium doesn’t compare to Lazlo or Stormspire but I was awestruck and remember I lived on Atlantis. Everything is a event from the Techno-Can riddle you have to answer to get in the door to everyone wearing their finest formal TW attire. My mentor, Darius says he once saw a squad of TW Tactical Weapons Specialists unable to get in until another Techno-Wizard helped them with the door riddle.”

Sensing a change in Ignacio she adds barely concealing a chuckle. “Most people in Tolkeen probably called them TW Gun Bunnies.”

“The main event at most Grand Symposiums is a showcase of the new Techno-Wizards. At Kingsdale, like many others, it involves a quick building competition but the particular brand of construction at Kingsdale is miniature combat robots.” Erin pauses for a moment as she realizes that she is now telling a story to multiple refugees as others have tuned in to her story. “The competition was unlike anything I had ever seen. First, last year's winner passed out random lots to each of the Techno-Acolytes to determine our workbench, bracket position and starting parts.”

“Yeah they called us Tecno-Acolytes that night until we got our scarf. I’ve never heard it before or since. It could just be a Kingsdale tradition.”

“I wonder who did that next year since..”

“Sorry getting ahead of myself”

“Once you had a workbench and parts you had a limited time to make the best miniature combat robot possible. The contestants would battle each other in a series of one on one or three way combats until the winner was decided. Each time you won you claimed all the parts and robots of your opponents so as the night went on the bots actually got bigger and stranger. With a big enough starting pack the robots in the finals could have a first round winner for each fist.”

“There were twelve of us, so my first fight was a three person free for all. Honestly I don’t remember much of that battle it was so chaotic and the experience so novel that I lost myself in the moment. I do remember being surprised when people started congratulating me for winning.”

“Oh, I do have some image files of my bots that Darius took so I could show Sasha. They’re all before images, my robots fought valiantly and should be remembered as warriors. ”

Erin sets her TW computer on Ignacio’s lap and displays an image of her first robot.

Rd 1 Bot

“The second round was one on one and we fought like dervishes. Parts flew everywhere but neither of us gave any quarter. In the end time ran out before either of us could finish the other off. What was left at the end barely resembled anything at all much less the robots they were just a few minutes before. Later whenever I spoke with the other Techno-Wizards quite a few thought that it was the best match of the night. It could have gone either way but the judges decided in my favor with a split decision."

Erin flips to an image of the second bot as she drifts into the story.

Rd 2 Bot

When they announced the decision my sensitive ears heard something most people wouldn't catch.” “Sploogie Slut.”

“That may have been my favorite moment of the evening because even whispering across a crowded room I recognized that voice, it was Evan. When I arrived in Kingsdale and was looking for a shop to apprentice at he made similar comments. New in town and looking to join the local community I had to restrain myself from beating him to a boneless pulp. But tonight Evan and I would meet in the finals.” The glow from her tattoos shifts to the dull red of metal fresh from the forge and her hands stop working again but the look on her face is anything but soft. “I didn’t just have to win I wanted to humiliate him. His mentor was a local rival of Darius and well...Evan was just insufferable.”

With a bit of work Ignacio fumbles through the Altaran interface enough to bring up an image of Erin’s third gladiator.

Rd 3 Bot

“I led off aggressively and let him inflict some damage. After his first hit I stopped using my largest weapon. Then I began pulling to the side while charging him feebly. Whenever he struck I set off small charges to appear more damaged and draw him further into my trap. He enjoyed playing with me picking my bot apart slowly. I let him have his illusion and steadily worked the fight to a point right in front of our mentors and the judges. As time was running out he moved in for the kill and I sprung into action. Right before he dealt a finishing blow that could have ended any competitor, I activated the hammer that had been building up pressure the entire match and stopped his unit cold. That may have been enough to win but the other effect of the hammer strike was ejecting the last of my armor exposing a dozen small hidden blades and spikes that ripped his toy apart. It was all over before he could recover from the first impact or the shock that he had been fooled. I simply turned my back to him and the battle to face the crowd’s cheers as my lightning fast strikes sprayed broken metal like a fountain.”

“I can still “see” the look on his face.”

Erin smiles like a shark, then comes back. Slapping an E-Clip into the pistol.

“It’s common for mentors to place bets on the matches and our mentors had a new wing board straight from the spire riding on the the finals. Darius gave it to me since he already had one. Maybe somtime I’ll tell you how I lost that wing board, it involves brodkil and a burster.”

She takes a look at the repaired pistol and hands it to a refugee with an empty holster. With the pistol complete Erin shuts down speaking almost immediately and relaxes.

Hardin · Post by **Hardin** » Fri Oct 06, 2017 8:38 pm

OOC Comments

“When I was a kid, my family had a ranch out in the Baronies. We wasn’t rich by no means, but we wasn’t poor, neither.”

“I never fit in so well growin’ up. When I was fifteen, maybe, I decided I was grown enough to make my own decisions, and I didn’t decide on no rancher’s life. So I went and saddled my horse,” he gestures at Jane, “Not ol’ Jane here, mind, but one o’ the mares from the ranch. I saddled her, threw some food in a bag, and figgered I would just ride until I found somethin’ better.”

“My ma saw me from the house and called me back b’fore I made the gate. She come runnin’ out to me, and she said, ‘Not yet, boy.’”

“That was it. Just, ‘not yet.’ She knew I was gonna go, but she also knew I wasn’t ready.”

Hardin shrugs. “She was right. I couldn’t ride out on my own mama, ‘specially not with her standin’ right there. So I stayed on another couple of years. Learned to ride a bit better. My powers come in, and started to learn those, too. When a gunslinger rode through town looking for hands to work security, I saw a chance to learn trigger work, and I signed on with him.”

“All o’ this,” he gestures at his surroundings, “woulda been different fer me, if my ma hadn’t stopped me from leavin’, and if I hadn’t had the good sense to listen.”

Apparently finished with his tale, he removes his helmet and has a look at the spikes protruding from the top. He has already stuffed his ripped hat into his saddlebag, and a spiffy, new-looking hat rests in his lap. He places the new hat on his head, and feels a jolt of energy pulse through his body. Some hat, he thinks.

Looking up at Erin, he asks, ”Do you happen to have a do-hicky that could smooth this helmet out for me? I don’t want to poke holes in my new hat.”

Baron McVey · Post by **Baron McVey** » Fri Oct 06, 2017 9:20 pm

OOC Comments

Baron sits calmly in the Mark Five. He keeps making faces at Amber to try and make her laugh, though he seems unsuccessful for the most part, due to her not feeling so well. Baron looks around the group and sighs as tales of daring do are told. It's during this time that Baron takes out the Gentleman's Gambler and his maintenance kit. As Baron slowly takes the unusual revolver apart, he notices the others watching him. "Oh this, this gun here is known as the Gentleman's Gambler. It was my patrons a few short months ago, and became mine on the event of his passing. I'll tell you what though, the first time I saw this beauty I wanted her. But then again I was a dirt covered street urchin no taller than a trash can from Lazlo. I'm not really sure why Lord Faris decided to take me under his wing, but that he did. I learned all manner of skills from him, like how to be a gentleman, how to gamble, how to defend myself and others. It was during the war in Tolkeen that I really got to shine..." Baron says while tacking a cleaning cloth to the shining silver barrel of the revolver. "Now my patron Lord Faris, used this gun to great effect during our many nighttime raids on Coalition positions. I've seen this gun do many amazing things, like fire bullets that burn like liquid fire, and slay deamons who thought themselves immortal. Now like all ancient magics it takes a toll on it's user when they get too greedy. I think it was such a moment that was the end of Lord Faris. I buried him in a small grove outside Tolkeen." Baron says as he loads fresh bullets into the gun, before spinning the cylinder and snapping it shut with a flick of his wrist. "Now I use it to protect the innocent and punish the wicked." Baron finishes before holstering the pistol in its ornate leather holster.

BILLY BORG · Post by **BILLY BORG** » Sat Oct 07, 2017 9:46 am

Billy Borg spends the evening outside. The 099s APC breathes in the humid miasma fro the outside and metabolizes it into a comfortable environment for those inside. Heavy plastic sheeting holds the environment in but allows warm familial light to spill out as far as Billys feet.

Billy absently watches as the staked out, pheromone tainted, gear of his companions is cleansed of bio contaminates by the constant radiation bleeding from the port side of the 099s reactor.

Inside the refugees are playing music, The band consists of a banjo, mouth harp and a 8 bit piano. "Rock Candy Mountain" is the name of the song.

"One evening as the sun went down
And the jungle fire was burning,
Down the track came a hobo hiking,
And he said, "Boys, I'm not turning
I'm headed for a land that's far away
Besides the crystal fountains
So come with me, we'll go and see
The Big Rock Candy Mountains"

" This is the family that I have waited for." he thinks, "This is the path of love"

Miles RAD Radoslav · Post by **Miles RAD Radoslav** » Sat Oct 07, 2017 2:06 pm

As the night falls, Sir William uses the light of his psi-sword to read a passage from a tattered book. The text, copied from an ancient, pre-Rift text, describes the path of the perfect warrior. He contemplates the cyber knights who have won lasting renown for their deeds and prowess - the legendary founder of the order, Lord Coake; Sir Winslow Thorpe, guardian and companion of the rogue scholar Erin Tarn; Sir Tristam Starbuck, staunch defender of Tolkeen and lost in the Xiticix Hivelands; The Shining One, thought to be the purest force for good among all the cyber knights; Lady Lorelei Winter, scourge of the Coalition. These warriors would live forever in the memories of the order and of the world. Someday, the name Sir William Mahan would be on that list as well.

Nomed Dercas · Post by **Nomed Dercas** » Sun Oct 08, 2017 5:51 am

Leaving the clearing before the smell of all the dead Xiticix could draw more was a unanimous decision. Everything and everyone actually fit into the APC. Crowded and cramped, but It was a miracle the broken and damaged Mark V APC was even up and running at all. Now it’s going to serve as a mobile base of sorts for the 99s.

Sitting near the back door that still won’t quite close completely, Nomed just finishes up his field report to Beacon back in Castle Refuge.

“Watchya doing?”

The female voice scared the crap out of Nomed, but he tried to play it off by standing up and stretching. “N-n-nothin’. You shouldn’t sneak up on people, it’s not nice.”

“I’m not sneaking, I just saw you over here talking into that black stick and was wondering who you were talking to?” she continued.

Still fighting his bio-comp adrenalin response Nomed takes a long slow breath and asks, “Your name’s Elizabeth, right?”

She replies, “Mm-hmm, you can call me Lizzy.”

“I’m Nomed,” he says shyly. “This is a vocoder,” Nomed says with more confidence, showing the black recording device to her. “It was given to me by my friend, Beacon.”

“You mean the Voice of Hope? You’ve actually met him?”

Nomed says, “Met him? If it weren’t for Beacon I wouldn’t even be up here. He encouraged me to always help others and to do everythin’ we can for the refugees still fleein’ Tolkeen. I never really fit in at The Castle, every time I talked to Beacon about it he’d always say ‘My path lies here Nomed, you’re on another road.’ I guess that headin’ out here and findin’ you guys is my other road.”

“Well, I’m glad you came all the way out here and found us Nomed,” Elizabeth says. “Thank you.” Elizabeth kisses Nomed on the cheek and blushes before moving back to the other side of the APC, scooping up Amber in her arms, and sitting down to listen to Baron McVey tell the story of his golden revolver.

“You’re... welcome,” the stunned Nomed replies to her shadow as Elizabeth dodges her way back through the crowded APC.

Watching Elizabeth from across the APC the words “Dercas let's go, you and I are on watch,” snap him out of his reverie. Looking over to LC Nomed blinks, shakes his head, and replies, “Yes Sarge,” and takes his hoverbike out to keep pace with the APC and provide security.

Sephia · Post by **Sephia** » Sun Oct 08, 2017 12:12 pm

Notice

With the fighting done, and the APC on the move, Sephia moved among the refugees, checking on the injuries she’d healed earlier and generally trying to reassure people. She still felt guilty for having held herself back earlier, and felt like she had to make up for it somehow. Some did seem discomforted by her presence for whatever reason. Others were simply irritated by the situation and needed space. But, for the most part, they accepted her presence as much as they did for the rest of the team: somewhat wary, but still grateful. That would have to do for now.

It surprised Sephia to realise that she missed Castle Refuge. After spending her earlier life bound to Atlantis, only leaving briefly to go on raids with the slave barges, Sephia had come to prefer the relative freedom of travelling throughout North America with Elphyra, Daniel, and Rick.

After she had escorted the refugees from Tolkeen to Castle Refuge, she’d come to know many of them well, and vice versa. In the months which followed, while working city guard duty, she had developed a familiarity with the people at Refuge. She felt a sense of belonging she hadn't felt since her old adventuring crew broke up, only more so. There had been those who disliked her for her job, or for what she was, but for the most part she had been accepted by the community.

She wasn’t entirely sure what had driven her to take the assignment with The 99, to leave Castle Refuge. Maybe it was discomfort over staying in one place for too long. Maybe it was the memory Elphyra's final words: save as many as you can. Or maybe she just felt like she didn’t deserve to be there, that she had work yet to do. Whatever the case, she had left the place that had become home to her, and the people she had come to know. Now, she had to start over again.

It would be hard but maybe, given time, she would be able to build new connections with these people. If she and the rest of the team could keep them alive long enough, that is.

Ndreare · Post by **Ndreare** » Mon Oct 09, 2017 12:42 pm

Before I lock this I wanted to remind everyone who posted an interlude may chose one of the following two options:

Gain 1 Benny.
Gain the Adventure Card Relative to your Interlude roll.

Adventure Deck

Kaja Earthblooded · Post by **Kaja Earthblooded** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 6:54 am

Notice 4

Nomed Dercas wrote:The words “Dercas let's go, you and I are on watch,” snap him out of his reverie. Looking over to LC Nomed blinks, shakes his head, and replies, “Yes Sarge,” and takes his hoverbike out to keep pace with the APC and provide security.

"Make your report to Beacon?" At Nomed's curious glance, LC smiles as he steps into the power armor parked under a tarp with the rest of their vehicles. "He said he was going to give a few folks voice recorders. Known that guy a while now, and I'm still sometimes amazed at his ability to see people for what they can be." At the question about knowing him, L.C. nods. "Yeah, we worked together for a time after I left the Coalition. We'd met before, under different circumstances, but I didn't really get to know him until then. We were working security for a caravan. Nothing as noble as this, just a job to get paid. Had to fight off First Apocalypse half a dozen times on that trip. They had a serious want for our product. Given it was silver and TW gear from the Baronies, I get that. Had one particular mean SOB riding at their head. He went by Mad Dog Gretsky, wore a hockey mask, and used a hockey stick with a vibro-blade mounted on the blade. We kicked him clear back to whatever hole he crawled out of. We got two big wins that trip. That was the first time I came to Castle Refuge. I think Beacon stayed then and there. Me I had to wander a bit before I came back to see my old companion."

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05 A Night of Recovery and Getting to Know Each Other

05 A Night of Recovery and Getting to Know Each Other

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Re: 05 A Night of Recovery and Getting to Know Each Other