Day 1 | Evening | Any Landing You Can Walk Away From...

[Hadrian Martikova]

Hadrian listened to the pattern curiously. "Ummmm... why does that sound familiar?

Education & Books: 3eA+2eD 2 successes

[Ambrose Pantazis]

That didn't sound right. Ambrose walked over to the comms and fiddled with it a bit trying to figure out what was going on.

"You're very right, it's not supposed to be like this..."

-----

D1, Evening, ALYCWAF, Comms check, Education: 1eP+2eA+2eD 2 successes

[Kannon]

The electromagnetic undulation was highly unusual but might have been natural as much as not. Hadrian's alleged familiarity with the pattern might be coming from imagining it as ebb and flow of the sea. They could assume, however, the thopter wasn't at fault - the place was. They were in the midst of some magnetic anomaly. What was causing it was anyone's guess, but they could assume that as long as they stayed there they couldn't count on anything depending on radio waves to actually work properly. Hopefully, the same didn't extend to the thopter's critical systems, once they would find a way to fix them... Fortunately, their construction could be assumed to follow the Butlerian precepts, so electronics were at the necessary minimum and there were some manual analogue workarounds, like with cranks for the wings. God bless the Imperium's foundational luddism, they owed their lives to it.

[Ambrose Pantazis]

"Equipment looks fine enough. There's probably some interference in the area, might be why we haven't heard back from the VIPs. Also makes it an ideal spot for a hidden grow operation."

Ambrose turned to Bernard, "I figure first priority is securing the gear we lost, second is reconnecting with the other team, third will be getting back on mission. Do you concur?"

[Hadrian Martikova]

Snip

"Hmmmm... well that's unfortunately natural given the consistent ebb and flow of it." He pondered the implications before sighing. "Radios aren't going to work right here, so my previous query has been rendered moot."

He turned to the pilot. "Back on mission? First we need to have a working way out of here don't you think?"

[Ambrose Pantazis]

"If you're talking about getting the thopters up and running, that would be included in getting back on mission.

That being said, it may take more time than we can afford. We have the long range comms to call in the cavalry if and when it's required. That's our way out.

We'd have been heading out on foot either way unless they were on the shoreline. This fauna is too dense for flyovers to show anything."

[Bernard Martikova]

"Yes." Bernard said, nodding his head. "Grab what we can from the ship and try to figure out how to reach out to the other team is priority. If the comms are gone, then we look for smoke. The parts won't be on our ship to fix it, so best to grab the gear and worry about the thopter repairs later. Who knows, it may not even be necessary if the others have a working one. Still, if someone can climb up and give us a bit of a vantage point, that would be great."

[Ambrose Pantazis]

"Hopefully there won't be smoke to lead us to the others. Although, with or without smoke, we might've drawn unwanted attention with our little skirmish out there. We should probably arrange a patrol to scout. We can look for the other team and keep an eye out for hostiles or locals."

[Kannon]

Just as they were chatting, the sound of something like a thunder reached their ears, or an explosion. They could tell from which direction, and it was roughly where they had flown from. Trees precluded visual.

[Ambrose Pantazis]

"Seems like our second priority just got a bump up to first." He went back into the thopter to retrieve his crash kit. As he slung it onto his shoulders, the bird who'd taken up residence there squawked and shifted first to the other shoulder then onto the top of the bag after that should also became occupied by a strap.

Ambrose stepped back out, running a quick equipment check. "Everyone coming?"

[Laila Bridger]

"Not even breathing hard. We still need someone to shimmy up a tree?"

She nodded to their surroundings.

"Most of this looks pretty easy, but that's not taking into account any of the local wildlife that might object."

[Hadrian Martikova]

Hearing the loud boom made Hadrian's blood run cold. He didn't know the other team well, but the sudden thought of their demise left him feeling hollow.

Ambrose stepped back out, running a quick equipment check. "Everyone coming?"

"I..." He paused, "Bern... those of us with medical training need to go towards the boom, but we should leave two hands to watch the wreck." He winced when he added. "It's your decision to make."

[Bernard Martikova]

He looked at his brother and glanced at the others and considered for a moment. "Would agree with you normally, brother, but the fauna here is way too hostile to let a just a few people go wandering in without proper firepower. Factor in the noise that we made coming here, and all we're doing is making it easier for us to get picked off by some unknowns. Not to mention they were even louder than we were, so chances are good they're about to have a lot of hostiles heading towards them too, so if there were only a few people heading there, chances are good for a run-in while heading there. Having all hands is going to be needed, and not just for medical needs; we could be entering into something hot. Our ship isn't a top priority right now; it's not going anywhere until we get what we need to repair it, which may be where that boom happened."

He looked to the others. "Let's mark a path we're walking to get back here easier when we're done, so on the way we mark on the trees with our swords. Make them distinct enough to stand out to someone looking for them. So let's have everyone grab what they can of what we managed to salvage from the wreck in case we're not able to make our way back here."

We still need someone to shimmy up a tree?"

"Think you can climb up there and back down before we're gathered and ready to move? Seeing what's ahead would be helpful, but time isn't on our side at the moment."

[Laila Bridger]

"Probably. And catching you guys up after I yell down shouldn't be too much of a strain."

She sized the trunks up, slung the borrowed carbine, drew her knife and clenched it in her teeth, and headed for a likely one.

[Kannon]

Those were tall, straight bastards with few side branches, draped in a lot of vines of untested sustainability. But from the canopies up there the tree probably offered quite a view, and from midway up there were many lianas dangling down.

[Athletics vs. Hard with 1 Challenge, and a Setback. Climbing is at least 10 minutes. If faster, the difficulty increases to Daunting. In case of failure there's liana catching for 2 Advantage. Some equipment may offer Boost.]

[Kannon]

While deliberating about the virtues and drawbacks of monkey work, another, strong explosive sound reached them from the same direction. Throngs of colourful parrot-like birds scrambled from the canopies, painting the evening skies and deafening with a cacophony of their pandemonium. So did Bravo, but he changed his mind after a moment and returned to roosting on Ambrose.

[Laila Bridger]

No way in hell was Laila gonna go into that blind. If the other thopter had exploded, there wasn't much point in checking on them.

So she started climbing.


Shimmy up a tree, Hard Athletics, "I do not mind dying but I refuse to be beaten" statement upgrade: 2eD+1eC+1eS+3eP+1eA+2eB 3 successes

[Kannon]

It would take time (also for the others to talk, watch or go on with their designs), but once there she'd emerge to a much calmer landscape, with the birds having found other refuges. The edge of the cliff was invisible from this angle. There was no smoke coming from where the tree line ended, neither were there any echelons of little rhombus shapes in sight. The sky was getting orange-purple, however, and the visibility was quickly diminishing.

If she wanted to observe something specific, now was the time to focus on it.

[Laila Bridger]

Laila, no great scout, just looked for the glint of the fading sunlight on metal from the direction the explosions had been heard from.

[Kannon]

No confirmation or denial that something bad might have happened to the other thopter was coming from that angle as the cliff's edge was out of direct line of sight. The lack of mantas in the sky also either meant they had left or they were feasting...

In other directions, the jungle was the same as far as her eyes her see, except directly to the east where the slopes of the first mountain range were painted crimson in an eerie portent. At the very least, there was no indication that their whole hullabaloo had alerted someone else with thopters.