Pulse of the Imperium

They were in luck. It seemed like the only relative clearing in their reach. The jungle around them teemed with life, though their sudden intrusion muted it for just a brief moment. Very tall trees surrounded them, and thick foliage stretched all the way down from the treetops, with many plants apparently adjusted to thrive in shade.

They were also not so in luck because it would be dark soon. Ah, and the insects. All the bugs.

[Player Pool: 3 Advantage]

Sitting back into the pilot's seat, Ambrose instinctively reached into his vest for a flask that wasn't there. A sad smile came across his face before he stood up to check on the others.

"Sound off, any injuries?"

His compassionate words died in the squawk of Mr Bravo who had just emerged from the landing shock and remembered he was a loud bird that was still trapped.

"Not you, you bloody squawker."

Despite his words, Ambrose went over to check on the creature. He wasn't cruel enough to leave it in distress.

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D1, Evening, ALYCWAF, Bird identification, Ecology: 1eP+2eA+2eD 1 success, 1 threat, 1 Triumph

Triumph to gain a familiar.

The bird reacted with coming down almost immediately, finding a roost at Ambrose's shoulder and immediately checked if his ear was edible by nipping it. It wasn't to his taste though, so that was one-time, and then just started dancing on the man's shoulder. Despite the errant behaviour, the bird didn't seem to be aggressive or otherwise dangerous. And stopped squawking, instead showing off his yellow crest.

[Threat for bird-induced +1 Strain.]

Hadrian wasn't built for this kind of thing. Not by a long shot. His eyes closed as some point in the past and he lost a bit of time. Now they're as wide as saucers and the world around him was all but muted. He undid the buckles that he didn't know he'd fastened, and found his feet slowly. At least everyone seemed okay.

"I'm... gonna give the Thopter a once-over. Be right back."

Assessing Salvageability of Thopter | Mechanics Check: 1eP+2eA+2eD+1eS 3 successes, 1 advantage

Stepping out into the mushy undergrowth gave him an uneasy feeling, as if all kinds of millipedes would wrap around his ankles any time. The clearing had flowers and some berries though, and something had just fled from one of the berry bushes, and the place could even appraised positively if not for the fact that it was getting dusky.

From the outside, the thopter didn't seem to be seriously damaged. No leaks, no obviously torn cables. It would still require a solid defoliating and some body repair, but he could safely assess at this point that electric systems were the main problem. Finding spare parts or cannibalising or trimming backups, most importantly fuel cells, was probably top priority.

Ambrose Pantazis wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 25, 2024 5:59 pm

"Sound off, any injuries?"

"Nope! Great flying, I'll dance at your wedding..."

Laila stepped out of the thopter, took a deep breath, and grinned.

"Fuckin' air's made of bugs, the heat's making my sweat sweat, and we just pancaked after being attacked by the flying fish from hell. Hello, Caladan, nice to meet you!"

She started looking into unloading the gear aboard the thopter so they could actually get at it all in a useful fashion.

After his new bird friend settled into place, Ambrose followed the other two out. "Glad you enjoyed the flight. I'll be honest, I was a bit disappointed when no one clapped after we landed."

He scanned the skies and asked, "Any eyes on the other thopter?"

"I was kinda busy scrambling around and shooting at shit... any plumes of smoke or anything?"

[Since we don't actually know where they're gonna end up ]

"Just have to hope for the best with them." Bernard heads out of the Thopter, looking around at the damage before him. It could have been far worse. "Bridger is right; damn good flying you did there. Lucky to have had you on our team, Pantazis." He sighs deeply and pops his neck a little before helping unload the supplies and gear from the thopter. "Hopefully they make it here better than we did." He wasn't too sure about that, but at the very least, maybe they could pull parts from each of them to get one working Thopter together.

Assuming they hadn't crashed into the rocks and wound up dead. "Nice bird." He glanced at Ambrose with a smile before unloading the remaining gear.

It was definitely the jungle. But other than that the setting wasn't anything he hadn't experienced before. He swatted absently at a few insects while nimbly moving over the craft and inspecting it from top to bottom. He wasn't a pilot by any means but from a layman's perspective it looked flight worthy. And thankfully wasn't smoking or anything which meant they had time to unload.

"The-" he tripped over a vine but recovered, "-good news is that I... miiiight be able to salvage this thing. Assuming ours is in fact in the best shape."

He steps back inside the ship and grabs his backpack as well as other supplies and stuffs.

"Now that we're no longer moving I can probably have a much easier time fixing it. At least with enough time and possibly spare parts, I need to check more thoroughly first... is there a schematic of this thing somewhere?"

"How are we for coms?'

If she tried, comms were pure, uniform static.

"Well. If you're fucked, at least you got laid..."

She sighed.

"No joy on comms."

A quick inventory done during the unloading told them that during the foliage braking they'd lost the spare guns, some food and water supplies, and some camping stuff. Their path here was retraceable, however, with a bit of recollection and attention to where the canopies had got damaged, but it required getting into deep jungle... at least until they'd reach the shores again. Manta birds hadn't followed them inland, but they probably didn't disappear from the area either unless they were migratory and would find another hunting grounds soon, probably having consumed the corpses the expedition flew in here to investigate.

Laila Bridger wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 26, 2024 4:41 am

"Well. If you're fucked, at least you got laid..."

She sighed.

"No joy on comms."

Hadrian's face flushed slightly, "So... uhhh, should we set up the antenna? The other team might be sending out an SOS. And as far as places in the jungle to set up at go." He looks around. "There are worse."

[Average Perception or Education for anyone who's currently in sight of electric or magnetic instruments.]

Laila wasn't an expert in technology, but she had been in more than one nasty situation with thrashed gear, and had shed blood on three planets.

"Pretty sure it's not supposed to look like that."


Averge Perception to suss out gear.: 2eD+1eP+1eA 1 success

And she was damn right. The radio's static wasn't actually flat, it fluctuated according to some sinusoidal electronic music as if something was playing with the radio waves according to its own designs. Upon closer look, the gentle amplitude of dimming and flashing of the thopter's controls followed a similar pattern.