Jingu transmits the message to the trees, asking them to let the big-rig free. He asks if they want help disabling the robots, or if they are planning on handling themselves.
The tree spirits respond in a manner that essentially tells you that they have been trying to slow down the machines, but they keep coming. They are worried that eventually they won’t have enough strength to slow them down. They agree to let you go, as you are no harm to them, but they hope that you can help them somehow. They wish only to live in harmony on this new world.
Assuming that Jingu passes this information on, Burgurk tells him "Let them know that at least one of us will be coming back as soon as we can to help them."
The trees let us go, so we can now continue heading towards the town, yes? Do we get there without further incidents?
Saturday, December 16th, 109 PA (2395CE). 1432 hours. 40 Degrees F, Partly Cloudy. Southern Missouri, approaching destination. (Falcon, MO)
After successfully negotiating with the tree spirits and convincing them that you will eventually help with the metal machines that are destroying them, you drive off towards your destination. The colors of the world return and you are back into the wilderness of the Rift-torn planet. If it wasn’t for the occasional flying beast or strange bubbles floating past on occasion, this might remind you of old Earth, at least, what rumors you heard about it. Rolling hills with large forests of green trees reaching high into the sky. Every so often you spot a ruin from days long past, but you keep your destination in mind, as you do have a mission to accomplish.
As you start to approach the town, you notice that it seems to be cobbled together with many prefabricated buildings, as if it was not meant to be a permanent settlement, though the buildings now have makeshift bridges and awnings decorating them, telling you that the residents would rather like to stay. Sure enough, there is a CS military presence here. You see two Spider-Skull Walkers patrolling, as well as at least a platoon of foot soldiers at various posts or drilling in the open field near the town. Occasionally you hear the unmistakeable sound of Sky Cycles and SAMAS suits flying nearby. Strangely, even though you spot a few D-Bees on the way toward the check point, the CS seems to pay no mind to them.
”Where are you coming from?”, the checkpoint guard asks Josie as you come to a stop at the gate. His helmet is removed and he has more than a few scars on his face.
"Afternoon, gov. You're a right pretty one, eh? Guess we can't all be blessed with my good looks, but still. One o' them flyers try usin' that pretty mug as a landing pad?"
He looks around and waves vaguely behind him, using a gesture that includes the rest of the folk in his transport.
"We's up from down south, and getting damn sick of vampires. Thought we'd try things up a bit away from bloodsucker territory and see if we couldn't find pay slaughtering a few honest abominations out of the rifts. Something that stays dead after ya kill it would be a nice change."
The soldier looks at Josiah, then back at Elsie, also peering into the cab. Looking back at Josiah, he says, ”Is that so? Vampire hunters, eh? Seems likely, considering the firepower on top of the cab there. You got any of them ‘daylight’ bombs? I was told your type use them a lot. Sure would like to see one.”
You’re not sure of he is telling the truth or if he is simply testing you. His even voice gives away little. You also notice that another soldier has taken up position on the other side of the cab.
"Daylight bombs? What, like the magic stuff? Never touch em. It'd be like cutting off your nose to spite your face. We're tryin' to get rid of super-naturals, not join 'em."
He points up to the guns on the cab, "Nothin' is as good, or as reliable, as man-made firepower. Blast 'em to bits, stake 'em out in the open, then cook breakfast over the fires that spring up when the sun rises."
He grins widely, thinking back on doing exactly that, years gone, showing the two or three remaining teeth he has up front.
You can tell that the soldier wants to grin at the thought of destroying something supernatural, but he maintains his military bearing. He simply nods in response. ”Mind opening up the trailer, so we can take a look inside? We have some local trouble with smuggling, but I’m sure true blood vampire hunters wouldn’t have anything illegal inside.” He motions to another pair of soldiers to go to the back of Elsie, where the trailer is attached.
At this point, Burgurk and Jingu sense the presence of another psychic. Looking up, they can see a CS Psi-Stalker making his way towards Elsie. He is alone, but will soon join the other soldiers.
Getting a nod from Josie, Jingu pushes his power out, disrupting any sense of the arcane in the area.
Jingu can sense the power of this Psi-Stalker as it forcefully scans the area. It stops for a moment, seeming to concentrate, then it waves a hand at the soldier speaking with Josie. With a nod in return, the Psi-Stalker moves off.
The soldiers in the back poke around the trailer a bit and then, seemingly satisfied, they signal the lead soldier.
”Keep yourselves safe in there. Wouldn’t want any of those Deebs to catch you unawares.” With a wave of his hand, the gate opens and you are free to pass through.
Once inside, you notice that the presence of CS troops is less inside than outside. While more than a few patrol the streets, they are mostly rear guard soldiers, probably here to keep the peace more than anything else. Now to find a place to park Elsie and hole up to plan for your next activity.
Now that Josie has made it that no one can see Elsie in the Astral plane ever, or at least for the next twelve hours, yo have plenty for time to get yourselves equated with the town. As soon as you are ready to move, you notice a small group of locals start to make a cordon around the truck.
”Oy there,”one of them says as you start to get organized. ”That’s a right fancy truck coming through here. Might say it has some right fancy gear stowed up inside too, right boys?” The rest of the people nod and voice agreement.
He continues walking towards you and you notice that none of them are anything other than human. The leader continues. ”So this here is a reserved parking area. Which means you gotta pay up or move along. Open up the trailer so we can assess the goods.” His hand strays to a pistol hanging at his side.
"Reserved, huh? Well, I guess rules is rules."
He taps his com-link to radio Jingu.
"Buzz, ol-friend? Looks like we might be parked in a restricted area. Some o' the local upstanding citizens wanna have a look at our cargo; you know, in case we have anything too valuable to look after ourselves. Pop the hatch, would you?"
Jingu creates a detailed illusion, crafting a careful image of what these folk get to see. He doesn't bother actually opening the trailer, as it would make a difference to what they see.
The back rolls up to show an interesting scene; a dozen or so very tough, very large, grizzled vampire hunters, all milling about the interior, doing ordinary merc stuff; raiding the mess, polishing Swords, cleaning blasters and rail guns, arm wrestling, etc. A large, heavy armoured full conversion combat borg near the door finishes snapping the last piece back onto a polished and cleaned railgun. He loads it, and then carries it casually down the ramp.
His metallic voice synth kicks in, saying, "Oh, hey boss. I got all the guys ready for action, just like you asked. I know you ain't expecting trouble, but I figure we'll get better jobs if I got 'em looking rough and ready. Oh, and we're down to the last few cases of that silver plated ammo, we're gunna need to source some 'A-G' if you want us to make up some more.
"Who these guys? They looking for directions or somethin?"
The leader and a few of his cronies join him as they head towards the back of Elsie. ”Right, let’s see…”, he stops mid-sentence as Jingu’s illusory borg steps out. You can see one of them wet his pants. ”Oh, you’re those people. Our bad. Consider your rent paid. Let’s go boys.” He turns and motions for the rest of them to scatter, which they do, like the roaches they are.
One of them drops a data pad on the ground as they run.
"That's perfect, Chops. Keep the hatch closed till I ask though, if your guys insist on blasting the AC, least they can do it keep the air inside."
He waits until Jingu finishes the illusion of closing the door, then nods and moves on back to the cab where he'll be watching over the truck.
Jingu concentrates for a moment before wandering away from Elsie, holding in his auras. While Psionics are not exactly illegal in CS lands, TW armour is, and he'd rather not pick up any interest from spike-heads.
Sending only to his teammates, he says, ●Alright, so we're supposed to get in with the locals, and try to see if there is a Faelerin population or connection here, and locate the CS RCSG team that has been tasked with rounding them up. Strategy? Spread out and look for rumours? I can try to locate the CS office and hack their database perhaps? Disappear a scout and grill him for info? How should we procede?●
"I don't want to draw any attention to ourselves. I say we frequent some bars for a couple of days, without asking any questions, but making some acquaintances. Then we start asking questions. If Jinju thinks he has a *really* good chance of making it in and out of the CS office and hack the computer without being caught, that's an option, but still it's pretty risky."
Jingu does not have much to offer in terms of social skills, or any good way to set people at ease. As a result, he stays mostly quiety, offerring to help out around town where he can. He uses Psionics to communicate, so he will not try to conceal he has those abilities, though he will try to avoid any conspicuous uses of power. He'll offer to help out with tasks where his ability to fly helps, such as patching roofs, running things up poles, or using some telekinesis (only regular, not mega) to lift heavy objects and shift loads.
Jingu manages to find a construction zone where the townspeople are working on building a new storage facility for the Coalition. No one seems to be sure what they intend on storing there, but for now, it seems they are letting anyone work on it. Jingu ingratiates himself with a few of the laborers.
= Raise, I can lift 2000 pounds!
Jingu and Burgurk work to help build the Coalition storage center. Even though there is a muddle of distrust among the crew, especially since half of them are D-Bees, they work together and you start to learn that part of the reason is that the CS commander here seems to have a soft-spot for some of the D-Bees, though the pay doesn't show it.
There are a couple of Psi-Stalkers among the crew and they have been starting rumors about running the new Simvan out of town.
Burgurk will seek out those Psi-Stalkers in a public place (like a bar), walks up to them and says "There's no reason we can't get along in a town like this, right? Live and let live, I always say."
He smiles, showing all his sharp teeth, and growls just loud enough that only the Psi-Stalkers can hear. Then he activates his telekinesis and squeezes them gently around their throats.
Burgurk will seek out those Psi-Stalkers in a public place (like a bar), walks up to them and says "There's no reason we can't get along in a town like this, right? Live and let live, I always say."
He smiles, showing all his sharp teeth, and growls just loud enough that only the Psi-Stalkers can hear. Then he activates his telekinesis and squeezes them gently around their throats.
[dice=Psionics & Wild,-2 situational]d12-2; d6-2
Jingu sits quietly in the background, but might be raising an eyebrow, if he had eyebrows.
To Burgurk he sends, ●Are you trying to start a fight? I thought we were supposed to be making nice and keeping a low profile?●
The lead psi-stalker stands up and moves closer to Burgurk, close enough that he can smell the gallons of alcohol he has probably consumed in the last week. ”Except where your kind are concerned. Too many of you have killed my brothers in the last week alone with your raids and the lousy CS won’t do nothing about it. I say we make a statement right here and now, right boys?” His back up stands and you note they are armed with laser pistols and vibroblades.
Burgurk thinks at Jingu "I was hoping to intimidate them into leaving us alone. But my mojo must be off today. Will you help me fight them, or want to remain in the background, not associated with me?"
●We came here in the same car; little late to create distance... If we fight these guys, somebody is going to die, and then we'll have bodies to deal with, and angry deadheads commanders. If we want to stick with the mission, I think our best options might be to apologize, or bug out and hope it blows over.●
"If I apologize, I will lose face, and word will quickly get around town that I'm a coward, and every wannabe will try to take me on. What if you step in and try to calm them down? Do you have any psionic abilities that might help you do that?"
●I don't do mind-control, or even smooth emotions; best I can do is a distraction.●
Jingu activates the alarm, indicating an incoming threat, and presumably causing everyone to drop whatever they are doing and run to their posts.
When the alarm sounds, Jingu jumps up, grabs Burgurk's arm, and indicates we'd best get back to our truck.
As Burgurk release his mental grip on the lead Psi-Stalker, the other two start to charge towards him. Before they can get there, a loud blaring stops them in their tracks.
Soon, the whole bar is up and moving, pushing and shoving each other to get out of there.
You hear someone yell over the cacophony, ”Rift opening, grab your weapons!”
The town seems in disarray as several CS soldiers attempt to assign townspeople to stations while you are running back towards your truck. When the dust settles, there are several tense minutes that tick by as Coalition troops activate emplacements and aim them North.
It is over an hour before the soldiers dismiss everyone and return to their patrols. Rumors of the incident being an unscheduled drill are being passed along.
●So, what do we do next? We're not going to get anywhere with the 'Stalkers, and they're liable to give you at least a pretty hard time if they see you out and about. We seem to have done OK getting in with the populous, for whatever good it does. I'm not much at the whole 'Streetwise' connection stuff. My people are natural telepaths; secrets and rumours are handled very differently.●
●We could try approaching a few of the Deebees around; while its not a lot of them, there are some. There is always the idea of hacking the coalition mainframe here; I'm pretty sure I could pull that off. Other than that, I'm not sure what else to try. Buying lots of beers?●
= Success
You spend the next day working the people of this small town. Avoiding CS patrols, especially ones that include Psi-Stalkers and Psi-Hounds, and using the threat of being eaten alive to push through some of the more resistant keepers of information allows you to come up with some of the information your mission required.
The CS has certainly been using this place as a stopover point for transportation of goods and materials, mostly towards the frontiers of CS Arkansas. However, there have been sightings of them coming in at night and transporting ‘blue skinned folk’ along with a few of the other D-Bees from town. No one seems to know where they are going however. Any pushes from Jingu’s telepathy could warn the local Dog Boys, but there is one image that stands out. The local gang of Psi-Stalkers seems to have a deal going on with the CS Psi-Unit. Though the details are fuzzy, it is quite clear they are helping them in some fashion, since they have been seen when the transports come at night. Jingu also gets a general feel of the local populace and while they put on a good show, they are afraid, especially the D-Bees.
●Looks like a classic sentient-trafficking operation. The wild-Psi stalkers hunt the d-bees, drain them to make them easy to handle, and then hand them over to the dead-boys, probably for a finder's fee. Dinner and a paycheck. We could bug out with that info, but it might be nice to do a little more digging and get a sense of the scale of the operation. Maybe we should try to keep an eye out for one of these deliveries. After that, we can follow either the prisoners and find out where they are going, or follow the hunters back to their tribe. Then we could decide whether we have the means to cut that particular link in the chain, or we follow them on to wherever the d-bees are holding out against these raids.●