[M&M2e] Red Sands Chronicles

[Relique du Madde]

OOC:Just a pre update ooc post ..

OOC: Seif ready to go!

OOC: By the way,Relique, I'm assuming we skipped a day (hence thre "dawn" part), as otherwise it's getting to be a very long day indeed?

Easily done.

Without that mentioning of dawn, dusk would have fell during the first hour of your journey out of Tatanka Bluff (realistically even though the elder didn't mention the name, you would have discovered it by now).

Ironically, you just prevented one thing from happening in the near future. That being, the union members starting to gripe about the long hours.

Of course, since the raiders were expecting an attack last night that never came they may have just figured you were heading south passed the City of Death, and are now just doing whatever things raiders do after a raid.... like sleeping off a hangover.
lol

Anyways, I also added some chapter titles into this thread... Currently, we are on "chapter viii." The way I broke things up, the previous chapter was the longest and probably will end up being the longest in this thread. I'm thinking of adding a table of contents sblock to the first post.

 

[Relique du Madde]

CHAPTER IX: ...THE STORM​

After having spent a few moments, the caravan exited through the town's protective gate with the dirigible in tow, heading east into the Galaxias.

During the first hour of the caravan's eastward journey, through a series of valleys lined with buttes that remind you of miniature versions of the mesa that Tatanka Bluff was built onto. Scattered throughout these valleys you were able to see small groups of nomads and crab herders traveling west, no doubt heading toward village the caravan had previously vacated. Shortly before the end of the first hour of travel, the caravan entered onto the main trade route through the galaxias.

Once, on the trade route, the dune runners formed a diamond around the crawlers as they sped down south east on the highway in between the many buttes, rock outcropings, and hills that makes up the region known as Galaxias Colles.

Brian Notice: 1d20+10=24
Deezy Notice:1d20+10=16
Sahid Notice: 1d20+1=12
Sief Notice:1d20+10=12

[sblock=Deezy]
About an hour, fourty five minutes after leaving Tatanka Bluff, Deezy notices what appears to be an series of fresh tire tracks in the Martian sands heading south into what appears to be a gully...
[/sblock]


[sblock=Seif and Brian]
The region surrounding the road is pocked what appears to be numerous small seemingly abandoned settlements and metallic structures that glimmer in the distance. In the distance, there seems to be a small localized dust storm miles away from the caravan's location.

[sblock=Brian Only]
Brian can see movement throughout the badlands, that are no larger then the size of a man. However, more strikingly several of them appear to be moving quickly at the head of the dust storm.

The large concentration of head signatures appears to be located near the collection of metal structures a few miles to the south of the road.
[/sblock]
[/sblock]

 

[jkason]

Brian Shaughnessy

Brian frowns, then points.

"There's a big group giving off heat by the metal structures to the south of the road, but more importantly, looks like a lot of movement at the head of the dust storm. Could be they're just running for cover, but I'd assume they'd be scattering in that case, not running at its head like this."

 

[Binder Fred]

"Aww," complained Deezy inarticulately. Then, after a quick loll of her head, she snapped back to and asked brightly, "What's a 'sestrika?'"

"I thought you liked mysteries?" He was rather perversely pleased with himself, she thought.

A nod for Shaughnessy then, the unseen corners of his lips [etc]

Brian frowns, then points. "There's a big group giving off heat by the metal structures to the south of the road, but more importantly, looks like a lot of movement at the head of the dust storm. Could be they're just running for cover, but I'd assume they'd be scattering in that case, not running at its head like this."

"That is not a storm," simply said the desert man as he reached for the wire-line to the heavy crawler and clicked it open: "Possible hide-out spotted to the south, lord. I suggest a scouting mission while the caravan continues advancing."

<Response Burroughmeister?>

Already thinking ahead: that rocky dune there, some ways in front, would be ideal cover for the scouting mission to separate from the main caravan relatively unseen. He flicked his blue gaze to the "storm" itself and his eyes narrowed... "How many in that metallic structure, Shaughnessy? You see vehicules? Camp generators?"

[sblock=Questions]1) How far are we from the hide-out's supposed location, and in what direction would it be relative to us (the direction of the "storm"? The metallic building?)?

2) What direction is the "storm" heading for? Seif will spend a round observing it closely to gain further details on its nature if possible. Notice +10.[/sblock]

 

[Relique du Madde]

"Possible hide-out spotted to the south, lord. I suggest a scouting mission while the caravan continues advancing."

"Alright. Do you like the caravan to wait some distance away for your return?"

[sblock=Brian]
There seems to be 10 - 15 people scattered around at the metalic structures.
You are unable to tell if there are any vehicles (engines off?) since they blend in with the structure.
There are several generators running.
[/sblock]

1) How far are we from the hide-out's supposed location, and in what direction would it be relative to us (the direction of the "storm"? The metallic building?)?

OOC: The metalic structure is South east. About 5 miles. The "storm" is about 1 mile west of it.

Also "building" is not an proper description. It's more of a jumbled mass of metal that appears to be one or more crashed or derelict airships.

2) What direction is the "storm" heading for? Seif will spend a round observing it closely to gain further details on its nature if possible. Notice +10.[/sblock]

West. "The dust storm" is acting like is was caused my multiple vehicles racing in the wasteland.

 

[Shayuri]

"Mysteries? But that's not a mystery, it's just a word you made up," Deezy points out. "And besides I like..." her eyes widen, and she suddenly interrupts herself with, "...tire tracks!" In the moment of befuddled silence that follows she points urgently. "Look! tire tracks in the sand!"

 

[jkason]

Brian Shaughnessy

Brian concentrates a moment, trying to sort out the heat signatures, then says, "Hard to get an exact count from this distance, since folks in front of one another are going to look like a single heat source, but my best guess is 10 to 15 scattered around the metal.

"If there are functional vehicles in there, they've been shut off for a while now, so they read just as cold as the other junk. But there are several generators pumping out heat."

 

[Binder Fred]

"Alright. Do you like the caravan to wait some distance away for your return?"

"With our best men on look-out," agreed Seif.

"If there are functional vehicles in there, they've been shut off for a while now, so they read just as cold as the other junk. But there are several generators pumping out heat."

"Camp. Vehicles speeding away from it. Away from us and the road..." He clicked on the com again: "My guess is that the camp will be an easy capture, maintenance and guards. The warriors are striking west-"

"...tire tracks!" In the moment of befuddled silence that follows she points urgently. "Look! tire tracks in the sand!"

Seif quickly jostled past Brian, making the little dirigible dance until he could look down fully on Deezy's crawler position: people do not usually get that excited about tire tracks, not unless there's a good reason.

Then again, this was Deezy they were talking about...

[sblock=Actions/questions]1. Can Seif see the tracks from up here? If so, where are they headed , how many and what kind of vehicles? Track +11. Taking 10 thanks to Skill Mastery for a 21.

2. Re the "storm", does Seif know of any likely destination that way (west)? The warlord's center of power maybe? Know Desert +11.[/sblock][sblock=Made up worlds]

"Mysteries? But that's not a mystery, it's just a word you made up," Deezy points out.

Oh, it's a real word for Seif all right. For a hint, I refer you here and here.[/sblock]

 

[Relique du Madde]

The caravan slows to a stop so that the group could disembark.

The Trail (anyone who can look at the tracks can discern this).
It's hard to tell how many vehicles created the tracks since except for what appears to be 4 ATVs and possibly 6 motor-bikes, they appeared to have traveled towards the gulch in a column. However one thing is for sure, no crawlers went down the trail..

[sblock=Knowledge: Desert]
To the west is Tatanka Bluff (of course) and several small villages which were the source of the caravans of Galaxia tribesmen who are heading towards Tatanka Bluff.

At their current speed it will take the raiders about 10-15 minutes to reach the nearest village, about 30 minutes for them to reach the closest tribal caravan you spotted from the air.
[/sblock]

 

[Binder Fred]

That captured 531 crawler went elsewhere after the sack of Tatanka then.

"Good catch, sestrika." He slowly raised his head, following the sand tracks south-east, towards the raider camp <I'm assuming?>. "Bring us in. Scouting mission will head out as soon as we're ready." He did not care overly about the fate of any Galaxian settlements out west: their mission was elsewhere, and they desperately needed to know where that was. Preferably yesterday.

"I will get things prepared. Keep watch, warn if anything changes," he advised Shaughnessy before jumping the thin railing and starting a quick slide down the dirigible's long, long cable.

[sblock=Actions and Planning]Seif will:
- Survive, through a combinaision of Skill-Mastered Acrobatics and a slightly tweaked SFX on his Jumping power (i.e. 'slide down long metal cable' ).
- Fill in lord Burroughmeister
- Commandeer an ATV Runner and a driver for the Ottoman (and Brian if he doesn't want to ride on/in the Beast?).
- Head out with the rest on his cyborg camel.

Mission as I see it is 1. Survey the camp secretely and either 2a. Blow it up and questions the survivors (Seif's favoured option ) or 2b. isolate and capture a target for a quiet, back-of-the-dunes interrogation.

Speak up now or forever hold your peace, folks! [/sblock]