PrinceAlexus

Empire of the Clouds

Post Captain Le Marinier

Telagrams and Talks.
.455 Hot

Airship.

...

Stabd off.

“Embassy” He confirmed as someone was patched over the airships comms, the wireless code he hoped to not have to use. “Lions rise, dragons fall. Le Mariner. 16356HM” He gave the code and his service number as he waited for the call to connect with someone able to help.

“Yes.. il hold.”, He waited a minute to relay the message as someone ran into the office. “Copy. This is the Embassy.” The clipped reply came with the sound of a scratching pencil. “report. One James Carter, commercial Captain Carter, Commonwealth of Ardell. Assaulted a soldier on guard, Favis army. Tried to take gold aboard airship, that airship. Treasury gold. Wounded, believed shot. Need provost to attempt to render aid, capture. Armed, pistol known. Maybe others after him. Be discreet.” He said, Carter had assaulted the Favis medic to try and steal the gold, so they could acquire him first and he really would like a word with the man about why he would do such a desperate act. “Local Forces may be headed your way. Be careful Captain." The man replied before he killed the line.

The man on other end could read between the lines he gave, they would render aid..but…they also had reason to capture him first, and being first gave them a advantage of initiative in thr fucked up situation. They would have the facts first and be positioned to act, and not react to the news.

…

“Hold here. Something is up. I'll check it out, lad, I need you on duty.” He said to the young medic and moved to find a view outside near the access ramp way. He was calm and maybe a little presumptuous but he treated him like he was responsible but also trying to lessen the severity of the request.

…

Marines donned muted suits and over coats, badges with a clear P and Favis coat of arms where available and sworn in. This would be done quietly unlike the reports from passers by that other diplomatic missions were busy and soldiers headed in force to the port. That was loud. They were quieter and would move to try and catch the man who was rapidly becoming a prime target for everyone.

…

“I just wanted a good meal on someone else's dime.” He said the Post Captain walked through the corridor to the main access way, altered by the fact that some one was demanding a comander… and far as he knew, most where out and by sheer bad luck he could be deemed responsible for this whole mess.

Peaking round, a man could not be too careful when rifles were loaded and armed men were jumpy. He saw a group and a figure who must be in charge of this little group. A Junior officer

“Keep your guns down, I'm coming out.” The Favis Post Captain said, straightening his uniform as he grabbed a decent jacket from the uniform he had acquired at the embassy to at least look presentable. “Post Captain, Hamelin Le Mariner approaching, Favis Diplomatic military attache to Inbur and attached to local consulate in regards to cities fall.”

He said and walked out into the ramp, it took all his nerve to walk out into the open, no cover to a bunch of armed men who he did not know the intent of but he did. He walked down and looked across as far as his one eye would allow to scan the flanks and those who might be lurking. “I am not the official captain, but I can talk with you.” He said and placed his hand on the rail of the access bridge with a good hand looking at the now realised older army officer than some.

“What brings you armed and escorted to our door?” He asked politely but firmly, keen to get to business and to avoid postering or misunderstanding. He kept with the ship's tradition of remaining “aboard” and blocked access as he assumed, he was expected to be responsible to the whole damn air ship by fate's default? Why him? But duty was duty. He did not falter even as his leg hurt, ears rang a little from shots and he felt his old wounds flare up slightly.

My Hider

@Thayr

Paradise Lost

Reenneesuash (Ren to humans) daughter of veanamdarr

Having found a shower, a change of clothes and a meal the keiller woman was beginning to feel a little more human as she pushed long silver hair into a simple low pony tail and wore some clean clothes that not covered in oil, bug juice and smell of a old power lifter that had not been used in weeks before that probably. Clothes were pretty basic out of the bag she had taken from the doomed station, a plain colour T shirt, black leggings and a pair of boots that had a worn corporate logo on and several large scuffs from use and wear and tear. A closet had a bunch of clothes sealed up, most too big or unsuitable but did find a white sport style jacket, oversized on her but within reason, pockets and would keep the child off. Tearing it open she quickly donned it, holstered the pistol where it would not be too obvious and hid the knife at her back.

The meal was not fancy, just some coffee and a heated up ration type meal of what passed for mac and cheese with some steam cooked instant vegetables and a dessert that proclaimed to be “pie” but seemed more like some kind of strange cake more than anything recognizable. Still it was food and helped restore her mental and physical function that had been on point of collapse several times before she fell asleep.

“Taking a seat in the bridge as she waited for Ginny to catch-up, Vitiafa put on a headset, and dialed into the ship's intercom. "Could all available hands report to the bridge for an all-crew meeting? We shall decided our course here.”

“Bridge…” repeating the word and considering where it might be, up was always best. Bridges were often higher up above other areas of a ship.

Rising felt like an effort but far less than before and finished off the last of the strange cake product unwilling to waste the calories despite its tasting of genuinely nothing identifiable. “Navy ration 16, universal” it said on packaging that was dumped into a bin. The bridge should be off the main stairs.. that should be near the centre..

Logic from space stations and corporate labs should carry over so headed for the most central, grandest stairway and headed up where the things looked to be more high tech and brightly lit / noise.

Arriving at the deck she needed, it was marked clearly with signs that lead to the bridge and walked in, finding a few already present including the older priestess, another woman and pilot. Finding a seat and spinning it would form a console of unknown use, with various charts and wave functions on the display. “Hey? Course? We have a plan besides running from place to place, destroying our own space station and manually detaching an access tunnel with explosive bolts.” Ren grumbled at the end and waved her legs from the chair that was set too high even in sturdy boots.

The younger of the Keiler rested one leg over the other and waited for another to arrive wondering if they had snacks for this meeting. Snacks would be a nice way to make the apocalypse less shit. "Do we have coffee, this might be a long meeting." Ren said and looked about for a pot or a galley.

@Terrans@Bingelly@Flarbinia

How high can we count before a mod gets involved?

110

DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP)

Bellatrix Olympus. Nordic.

Race Day
21-10-2094

Australia

Daddys Girl.
21-10-2094

Bellatrix paced while she was meant to be donning her race gear and was half dressed, most of her suit was on but missing the various gauntlets and additional G force protections added to the suit. Hitting the call again she finally got an answer on the 3rd try. Her dad, he was a former fighter pilot and peony had a few tips about operating in a 360 degree environment.

“Dad…dad , I need help. This race is running in tubes, its 360 degree, AG, ive never really run on tubes like this, help me?” it came out in a burst of information as she paced on holo putting on the additional layer that protected her chest and back during impacts. “Anything can be useful right now. Team explained everything but… help.” She added mid locking straps into catches.

“Honey, slow down Trixie. Deep breath OK.” Her father said with a tone of pride he was being asked by his very successful daughter but also calm and used to pressure. “OK, its tubes, you're running in a 360 degree track. So. Break it down, you have 4 sections, you can cross between, and move to block the ones they need. It looks like you'll lose and gain a few places Trix, so wait for their mistakes if you have to. Just put me on camera and I'll draw this out on the holo.” He just said and started to give the fastest 5 minute version of how to sustain air speed in an aircraft with energy vs mass and exploit mass and momentum in history. A former fighter pilot though he had lived this stuff.

“i gotta be out in a minute… You sure im ready for this… im… im not sure im ready “ She said and looked over a lot more like the much younger self who wore a right pink helmet inna cart when she lost.

“Trixie. We love you, if not for this government contract bullshit id hug you, and then push you out that door and tell you to kick their ass, so go kick it. You earned it. Show them.” He said and made the gestures as he showed the holo channel was tuned into race live, premium package with several live feeds of the track and the talking heads etc.

“Thanks Daddy.” She said softly, closing the call and walking out into the busy crew bay fully fitted out and in full race kit complete with the mounted air system for her helmet and additional cold pack systems to keep her suit cooler if the ship's systems could not do it. “Ready, take me to my ship good sir and lady.” She said far more confidently approaching two crew who immediately did a quick pat down of her suit to ensure it was all good to go before they started to help her strap in.

Australia

Suit Up..
21-10-2094

“Hey Bellatrix, you need this one, we did our best with the tint, and the windows are tinted, but we are not sure how much lag there will be, especially on the fastest sections. Temp management is OK. Not iddeal, but ships are the best we can do right now.” Sif said, handing over a helmet in the current strong pink was decorated with dark blue and gold details in the team's new colours. The new visor plate was noticeably thicker than the original to compensate for the added extra tints and rapid change system.

“Thanks, looks better than one in practice.” She said and walked her way into the main garage where both ships were sitting in the centre of chaos around them, each team was readying and doing everything for their pilots and ships. “Come on, let's get you in.” Sif said and helped Bellatrix down into the seat, the small cock pit was cramped with all the control surfaces, the booster seat it was teased lifted on risers plus the additional pilot protection systems for Australia race. It all made it a small space.

“So, you know the controls. Relax as you sync up, the emergency systems are automatic, but if not pull the red cord hard. It will activate manually. The power will level out during the warm up lap, its fine if its jerky, it will be smooth to race.” Sif Finished as the chief engineer personality set the harness, locked the helmet into the neck and back bracing and tapped twice on the helmet a minute later. “Ready, I'll lock down the canopy and you're ready to switch to AG hover.”

The cockpit was quiet as Bellatrix waited for the team to clear and Radio to conform. The wait was only a few minutes at most but felt like forever. The gentle hum of the engine was ticking over and the HUD showed 39% of ideal running envelope. It would fully warm up and be ready for the real start. “Race control. Green to go. Nordic 2 go. Nordic 1. Hold 30 seconds.” The calm Australian who released the teams and the cars began to fill out the grid ready to begin.

Australia

Five greens on the board. Go. Go. Go.
21-10-2094

“Go. Go. Go.” Came over the radio and as instructed earlier Ren saw lights flash green on her main HUD, that second she hit the power and felt the kick as the ship jumped forward at speed and glanced to each side and ahead with small twitch, racers front, to each side and what she did not look behind. There was far too much going on ahead of Bellatrix to focus on anything behind her right now, the whole first few laps were always the most dangerous in her view, close-up, tight racing and so much to gain, lose or crash.

“Good start. P10 hold. P10 Hold. Remember 360, 360 racing.” Radio said with a calm tone. “Copy, kais is matching me tight, he is bold.” Bellatrix replied as she moved to defend as well as line up on 9th ahead of her. “He is known as Chaos, for good reason.” The voice said and gave her his track profile while she let loose the new speed upgrade on the straight.

…

“AG drive 3 looking a little hot, can you ease up on that?” Radio asked as she was running through the tunnels, the auto visor worked better than before but still blinded her for a fraction of a second as she exited and brought it high on banking to try and make a pass at the ship ahead but had to back off and defend from her tail again on the next bend. “Negetive, too much 360, we on the points, we cannot give up now, of i ease up il drop back. Tell Sif to find me more coolant, or a way to get air flow on 3.” She said and kept her steady grind to cut 10ths off the car ahead and narrow down the gap till she could pressure them or take it via sheer speed advantage. Every laptop Bellatrix got that little bit smoother and faster on the circuit. Even with the traffic and the challenges of mixed defense and offense her average lap times were improving bit by bit as she got more comfortable in the ship. “Copy, heat will be higher than planned.”

“Confirmed. I will be a back marker if I do not risk it. Going mute for a few laps.” Was her last message before she mentally muted them to concentrate on the coming tense battle for the next place up. She needed 100% on the race.

…

“How's Bellatrix doing?” Astrid asked as she was more to the rear, she had come in lower in quals and was stuck dealing with the back markers more than the mid pack. “9 to 12 is currently estimated. It's too mixed up to be sure. Current 11, moving up to 10.” Radio replied and confirmed the screens.

“Good.” Was all Astrid said famously a woman of few words as she bore down on the ship ahead and began to close to try and get a good angle in the next few turns.

…

The mix was brutal, one ship had bottled the pack up and now closed multiple ships in a sub 2 second window. The already intense competition in mid pack had found new heights. Places where now traded mid lap and regained, ships where running fractions of a second gaps and racing was now probably one of the highlights of the event.

Her family were probably watching from afar and glued to the TV screen if they were able to watch due to time differences and work. She was glued to her small window ahead, hud and the various info panels that were slowly displaying more warnings and alerts than before.

The final moment came when Belltrix saw an opening, it could lose her most of her places but at this point, she was committed. Following Harrison Bellatrix took the chance to make the jump on Kais and passed the more experienced driver with a clear and clean pass going in a burst of Aurora themed pink and pushing G forces until the hurt running high and fast into the bend over the recommended speed with multiple red icons about stability flashing in her eyes, over speed, over heat and AG 3 was a pulsing orange on the HUD ships overview in her minds eye. The ship was too hot, the coolant was used up , just a few laps left and dug deeper into her resolve.

“P9…P9! Confirmed. Amazing first race. Points.” The excited crew was cheering in the background as the Pink shape blurred down and slowed back for the final parade lap in, finally able to back off the speed letting the warning icons begin to glow less ominously and frequently on main Hud. “Bring it in, nice n easy, no need to crash on the way home.” They said cheerfully as beers were being cracked open in the pit garage.

Australia

Post Race.
21-10-2094

Bellatrix staggered when she got out the ship once it lifted into the docking cradle that held it once the engine and AG motors sound was just the tick of heat expansion and leaned against the column of the pit box, the Ship was terrifying but awesome and also utterly exhilarating at race speeds, even if it was not the best on the grid it could race and it could challenge for the mid pack. Compared to her old Blue Sheep team, it was not like she had the top 3 ships in the championship anymore but this was an opportunity she could never have declined. “Damn good, that was one of he'll of a race.” One of the crew called out as they headed to shut down the race craft and another started to put on protective gear to open panels that would be red hot inside. She already used two shots of coolant, the constant over takes and defense had pushed her and its to the limit several times. The fans probably loves watching it though, aggressive racing, all the way to the end, no forgone conclusions.

“Drink” and we get the suit off.” Sif said, walking over and her fully rebuilt lower body took the woman's increased mass without complaint, Bellatrix had some mods for a 5 foot nothing, it added mass. Not fat, sheer mass of metal.

“Da.”She just said and took the water as her face engineer unlocked the helmet and the neck collar to the side. “So hot, busy, that was a close race. Woah, feel a little shaken.” Bellatrix said between actions and help to be unarmoured like some kind of Knight.

“G forces, you will be fine in a few minutes, balance used to be heavy. Great result for team, Astrid came in near the rear pack but she kept out the bottom. We take that.” The woman said she helped her pilot. “Get me a cold pack here now, double time. That ship was in the red zone for the last 10 laps. I do not want to send her to the hospital after the first race.” Sif shouted to the crew to get some urgency for her Pilot who has been pushing the mid pack at best averages craft to its limit this race.

Australia

Delta Hyper Prep.
21-10-2094

Bellatrix was a little later than some to media call but she was not taking the heat as well some pilots especially as such an intense section of almost constant hull to hull racing, a rapid and variable defense and offensive changes to position even per large corners. This track was made for show, to make pilots work for every place and fight for every place the whole way. It to

Stripped of her suit she had close fit dark blue athletic shorts, a pink and gold team tank top with the required formula AG cap and her left shoulder to hand, left leg to her bright pink trainer clad foot was fully on show, the camouflage system took energy she felt she needed to save after that race. Pale, Wales will do that to you and her red hair tied back into a braid to keep out of the heat. It took a few minutes to get the outer layers off and all the additional g force panels as well as the air system for her helmet plus floatation gear Bellatrix had to have for this race.

“Move… magic time ma Bell. Sit down. Stay still, head stright. You look like a dinsey peasant.” Ren said as she pushed through very French straightening her cap and pushing her down to sit legs swinging on a tool chest, the French woman did a sub 5 minute make up job for the cameras and then walked with her to the media area. “Polite as always ma Ren” Bellatrix joked talking lightly heading to the media event, she hooked an arm and pulled Ren to the media event.

Australia

Delta Hyper
21-10-2094

Image. Bellatrix.

Bellatrix approached the media area a little later as she had to get out her suit and cool off a little before she felt ready for the interview. Taking a second to breathe, smile and walk on with a small apology to the audience. “Applgies, my team insisted I cooled off first. I'm not best with heat.” She said smoothly with her upper class English accent and sat down resting her flesh and blood leg over the metallic one, a tap of her foot made the heel light up like a kids shoe, but with grown up design and comfort.

“It was frankly terrifying, exhilarating and more at the same time, but id not swap this for anything. This track is probably technically one of the most interesting of the year being its often in 360 with total freedom of movement. I'd have liked Silverstone, but this place is historic in its own way.” Bellatrix paused as she spoke and took a breath to also think how she wanted to word the next part. “We were running so close, im not sure what place I was at some points, I hope the fans enjoyed the excitement. We going to come back even better for the salt flats.” She said trying to be media and family friendly, Ren had been heavy on being personable and not just some famous person on the screen. The fact her augments were on show was more tiredness than anything, so a little extra personality to compensate for looking so… altered. "Also may i take a liberty, my Family is not able to be here for my first Senior AG race, but i did it! Love you guys."

The fact Astrid, as later seen on replay, said more than a few words about her success was… a huge thing and a major effort to build a bridge to her new team mate.

Australia

Beer! Post Race.
21-10-2094

The hotel bar was busy after the media phase as Bellatrix walked arm in arm with some of her former Junior AG team competitors, her first points on the first race meant beer and a loud cheer from the person she raced alongside and others who knew her. “Cheers, you gave me a chance at the Junior championship by getting promoted.” Was called out and even one beer in the English Pilot felt it but decided she could get drunk tonight and enjoy it. It was only once you scored your first points.

“Hey, beers on me, be nice” Bellatrix replied laughing as the gathering was a little loud, energetic but far from destructive and they quickly ordered food, drinks and someone found controls for the music playing some energetic Euro beat in the bar. "Yeah, you on the senior credits Trixie, us mere Juniors are not."

"I know you own a 2032 hyper car, 1 pf 1, poor yeah." She came back and the party was in full swing. The team would not be back in pit or fit state, probbly until Monday Lunch time.

Media

“AG racer's debut race scores points.”
In a stunning Debut Bellatrix Olympus newly signed by Nordic Call came in 9th, Veteran team mate Astrid came in 14th, a gain on her qualifying but not enough for the points this week in sunny Australia…

“Nordics new Pilot hits ground running”

“Bellatrix Olympus, Australia, P9. An analysis.”

“First points, can Nordic's new Pilot replicate that in America?”

“Bellatrix Olympus,New Pilot, secrets and rumours. Facts now available on Patreon"

“Nordic make steps in the right direction?. P9, P14 Australia. Can they capitalise?”

“Replaced. An exclusive interview with former Team Nordic pilot Bjorn Waldgard. No limits. No censorship.”

“Australia 360 racing. The results.”

“Pilots podcast. AG racing. Why should mid-season transfers be banned. Our take.”

Ban the User Above You

Banned. With chunty and smoked salmon

Empire of the Clouds

Post Captain Le Marinier

Telagrams and Talks.
.455 Hot

Airship.

...

The younger soldier made Captain Le Mariner feel old, old but responsible as he finally got the man to lower his rifle that came clattering to the deck plates. That could wait. The weapon was now safe and could not fire from a drop.

“Good, we can talk safely now.” He said not ideal dropping it but the rifle was no longer pointed at them and no longer had a jumpy finger on the trigger.

He kept his voice calm and his actions slow, just because he disarmed the man did not mean he was not super jumpy, stressed and maybe still had a pistol or a blade. That could do serious harm without needing a rifle. “Yes, but we can work this out now Urses, you're a private soldier, who followed orders of others yo guard the cargo, you're not only one responsible for this Airship or incident.” He remained calm, despite the deep vein of fear appraching the armed man, he remained calm.

“Miss Giorgios, I'll help take guard with the Private, given the day's events. Are you hurt, and is their anything i can do to help? This gold… is not even gold you can sell… Treasury bars… coins yes. Not these. Damn carter.” Maybe she could see the fear and stress he had from doing what he did, but he did best to keep that under wraps but he could not hide his frustration at how stupid the crime seems to be.

"Mr Aiden, anything we missed off needing to do? somthing important we need to know?" He asked the foreign soldier. Trying to get in his head exactly what happened here and what they could even do next.

“I'll support you. I'll find a way to represent you, be it as a Clerk, or I'll find a way to do that in the book, somehow.” He tried to reassure the soldier, he was not going to throw him under the airship or off the plank. They had bigger issues than punishing a private for making a mistake when the treasury was still aboard and no one had taken it into a vault, fort or at least a bank vault.

He could rest easier when someone took the tons of yellow ish metal of trouble off their back. He bent down and somewhat awkwardly lent the rifle against the wall of crates after checking the action that it was on safe, a lot harder when the last time you used one was basic training but he managed it.

He went over to the inter.com in cargo bay and dialed the bridge hoping someone would be available. "Bridge, can anyone link me to the Favis Embassy from the ship? Do we have external phones?" He asked, maybe he could try and make some action.

@InfamousGuy101@Terrans@Badarby

What are some of the most confusing/cringiest OC's you have ever encountered?

Now y'all done reminded me of Boner Wolf.

This was way back on the Spacebattles forum. Space opera/mecha game, political machinations, large-scale starship/mecha battles, psychics and transhumanism, the kitchen sink was just the beginning bro. All that good stuff. So the PCs are the créme de la créme, social and battlefield elites, yadda yadda. They're attending an important state funeral where a dozen plots are afoot and we're all going around hitting up contacts and doing all kinds of secret squirrel stuff.

In comes Boner Wolf. Not his real name, but you can guess. He's an eight foot tall lupine. Okay cool, this is a transhuman setting, we have all sorts and nobody bats an eye. Some are sculpts and some are uplifts and some are outright other species. All good.

But hey, in a setting like this everyone is hot, right? So he immediately pops a massive, visible boner (yes, the player explicitly described the bulge) and starts trying to mack on - just everyone. Including the grieving widow and her daughter.

The big thing is that this is cringe not just OOC but also IC. I mean, you're at a high society soirée. Doesn't mean you can't be on the lookout for a liaison dangereuse but hey, the currency of the land is discretion and subtlety. Keep it classy, y'know? But nope, BW just waltzes up to the laydees expecting his bulge to do the talking.

The GM had to talk several players out of having their characters drag him out the back and shoot him.

@Kensai

Makes zap braningan look subtle.

Ban the User Above You

Banned. You melted on my necro seal carpet.

Empire of the Clouds

Post Captain Le Marinier

Telagrams and Talks.
.455 Hot

Airship.

...

Stabd off.

Damn it. The Post Captain cursed mentally at everything going on, everything had gone to shit from greed for the gold that they had in the hold. The sooner someone could take all this heavy yellow temptation away would be a relief. “I doubt he is in a fit state to climb but better to be sure. Would you find the Captain Miss Giorgios and help secure the hold, He is liable to head to the mainer Embessy, but he also needs to attend to his wounds forst.” He agreed with the armed woman and former police officer. However, also thinking he was not stupid and did not try to ingress via his exit route and had several other cables and potential access routes depending how desperate you were.

“He might find other ways, He was a captain of one of these balloons. Even if we guard the ramp." He said with a thought trying to calm his annoyed mind, the betrayal of the man, to attack them, had he asked the man he would have suggested he take some of non-treasury gold states were not interested in, coins he could spend and if he wants to run, take something you can spend. The treasury gold had to be handed over, the misc coinage was fractions of fractions of value compared to the main haul. Coinage could easily be lost, it would meet his ends and also the ends of the state, while theft technically it did not cross the lines of being theft of a defined resource of national importance.

“Private, Mr Urses. Permission to approach the guard.” He said much more calmly and returned his gun to his side but he had a round in the chamber. Ready but also not actively a threat. “Put your rifle on safe, the horse has bolted the stable. Condition 1 or 3, dealer's choice. Zero, this is a thin hull, and thats a powerful round.”

It took a great force of will to place a hand on the man's rifle and gently press the barrel to face the deck. Away from the others in case he got jumpy. He with his other hand returned his revolver to its holster as a show he did the same. “A drink? Medicinal.” He gestured to where he took a drink from a hip flask engraved with the Favis national crest on one side and a Navy cypher on the other. His sister least knew about alcoholic gifts.

Hopefully someone came for the captain, he could ask for permission to secure the Ramp with Favis Marines until someone came up with a better idea. Risky but someone had to secure the gold…until it could be taken to the vaults of which the treasury was chosen.

Chronicles of Minadra

vashthishtra silent sands. “Vashra”

Speed was not the greatest strength of the scale folk but their ability to keep a consistent pace without pause was. Mile after mile, hills, up and down, the beast man did not feel fatigued. Compared to parts of the Morgador he called home this was plain easy going, regular inns, hot meals, solid shelter and such. The hard part was the suspicious looks he drew as he entered with them, the fact they had gold and willing to spend helped with the mixed parties acceptance as coin tended to grease the wheels of relations rather well.

The mixed group seemed to work despite being relatively strangers, some took flying ahead, or to the sides of main body, he chose to take a more rearward position with the slightly slower pace running as the rear guard.

When they entered a more wild country it felt more like home and drifted to the sides returning with a few wild rabbits and smaller game to supplement their diets. He ignored larger game as they did not have the time or steady camp to process it all and wasting game was an act against nature. Hunters had to respect their animals or they would rapidly starve.

It was 15 days before they reached the site the expedition had chosen to venture to, a large dark hole in the side of a mountain. The path was worn and ill used but not abandoned and the sight of the mountain open gave more cause to scan his surroundings even more carefully.

The site was wide open, the weather was turning towards the worse and out here shelter was few and far between. The great gates were broken open, gone or just opened. The yawning gap was far larger than any natural cave the Scale folk had seen on hisbtravels but that could just be a cave in these mountains., different. Something else. “Thisss. Place. They go deeper, scape the storm's wrath perhaps. They are alive for reason. It be more stable deeper in cave, safer winters bite. I do not underestimate things even trog dites nature mind.” The Scale folks said thinking as he watched with a spear in hand.

Looking around the terrain, the cave and the skies looking like wrath would be falling upon them if the storm broke and let loose upon the mountains from afar. He did not want to weather that outside. “I agree. We need shelter from Ssstorm, can use noise cords, alarm line. Hide tents, use terrain, make seem like small camp, ambush trog…dites.” If he had to fight, if the group had to fight. They might as well try to turn the odds.

Cutting logs, setting camp. That was something at least practical to do..