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Turn
Campaign:Black Moon
Adventure:Expedition to Zhodane
Send To:Jack, Kyle, Mek Meday, Midnight, Omen, Surge, Vamperina
Turn Start Date (ex. 12/31/6565)08/16/6569
Turn Number:12.7
Combat Turn:
Subject:The Rickets
On phase 12, Deth does a move through attack on the wall of the house, easily breaking through. Meanwhile, Jack, Omen and Midnight get to their feet after falling out of Omen's wormhole that appeared 12 meters above the ground (damage 10d6 [rolled 6 3 4 6 6 2 3 2 5 6 - Total: 43, Body: 14]). By the time any of them reach the house, Deth has already gone through it, quite literally tearing through walls searching for the Rickets. Not finding them, he exits the house through one of the walls, in a long leap to the south towards town, apparently assuming that they have fled in that direction. Jack, Omen and Midnight arrive at the house and ascertain that the Rickets are no longer there. Then they quickly make their way north back into the woods where Vamperina, Midnight and Mek are still waiting, keeping an eye out for Inchworm, who has not attacked since Surge's last flash attack. They have Focus with them and he is completely unconscious.

MEK: More, if you want. He can be at 0 SPD. Assuming any of Mek's Drain gets through.

At about this time, Kyle arrives and announces that the Rickets are safe with Dalag and Brendan at Dalag's Camp, and suggests that the group quickly get out of here. Kyle says that he can teleport everyone, one at a time, to the camp. Kyle notices some slightly negative reactions to this, but quickly assures everyone that his teleportation is completely safe.

During this time, Surge scans Focus for any EM emissions but finds none. Searching him also yields no useful information. Omen does a Telepathy on him - 15- Activation [rolled 11], 15d6 Effect [rolled 63] but is unable to penetrate his mind to learn anything.

JACK: Jack says ruefully, "Well that's that then, no need to stay much longer I guess."

GM: This is where I will leave off. The group is currently at the location of the original battle, about a kilometer north of the Ricket's house and about 9 km from Dalag's Camp. The Ricket's, Dalag and Brendan are at Dalag's Camp. Jack, Kyle, Omen, Surge, Midnight, Mek and Vamperina are here. You can roleplay out what you want to do with Focus and getting everyone back to Dalag's Camp, or wherever you decide to go from here.

VAMPERINA (in battle lingua): "I suggest we take Kyle up on his offer to get us all to Dalag's Camp asap. The tiny guy with the tiny missiles is probably still around and watching and this will be a way that we can leave with little chance of them being able to follow. I also suggest that we leave Big Eyes (Focus) here. I've made sure that he won't be coming around any time soon."

MIDNIGHT: (in battle language) "I agree on getting out of here asap, but we might need to be more worried about scanning/searching the Rickets. Deth and Co. were ultimately watching them, and they may have tagged their clothing or something. I'd hate to loose the Rickets now!.

JACK: Also an excellent point by Midnight, we need to check the Rickets as thoroughly as we can for tracers and such, ASAP. I suggest Kyle take us all to Dalag's camp immediately, so that we can't be tracked by Inchy, and we can re-
unite with them and check the Rickets over, and then move on carefully and quietly to the next step. Mek, I'm hopeful that Kyle's teleportation is much more friendly to your physiology than Omen's, but even if it's not, I'm afraid it's completely necessary at this point. I would not ask if I didn't think so.

MEK: Mek smiles, "Jack, Jack, Jack. What's the worse that could happen? I'm sure that hurtling through some kind of hole smaller than corporal's paycheck to parts unseen and unknown will have no effects at all. Say, it looks like Omen got into quite a fight with the big stupid guy. Good thing there was absolutely no way to get harmed by crossing the blood-brainless barrier. Just remember, if my head ends up on your left finger, I'll be talking to you all night. Hey! That would be cool. You could always have me at hand to tell you right, from wrong, from left. I say it's time to travel Air-less Kyle. Give me a call when the last group is ready to go. I still want to watch for dire-works in the sky." Mek reduces in size to his smallest and heads back up.

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OMEN: As mentioned before, after the fight is over and the adrenaline wears off Omen turns back into Vareq. He will lean up against something and look weary. He coughs and when the hankercheif comes away it is stained with blood. Nevertheless he will reload his rifle, check the perimeter, and follow orders as necessary.

OMEN: He has no problem letting someone else teleport him. He also has no problem with scanning Focus, but:

OMEN: "If we have time I'd like a few minutes to recover." He looks up with weary eyes and shrugs. "I can do it now, but it might get ugly. I do know the location of their hideout if you want to go there."

OMEN: have we found everyone we were looking for or are there others that still need rescuing?

JACK: Sir Jon gave us a list of names of low priority targets that he had no reason to believe were on Qantseqr, but if they were, and if we could find them, he'd give us a bonus for bringing them back. The Rickets were definitely top priority, and getting them off planet quickly and safely is much higher on the list than staying and schmoozing the people for six months hoping to run into one or two more people on the list. Remember, Jack has already spent a couple nights looking, and trying to meet people, and also talked with each of our new friends who have been here much longer to try to find them. We've done our 'good faith effort' to find them, and then some. It's time to leave, as soon as we can do so safely without being followed. It's possible that battle triggered some sensors on the satellite too, so we definitely aren't going to dawdle.

SURGE: In secret language Surge speaks, "While I'd like to know more from big eyes here, I think at least half of us should go immediately to Dalag's camp. I recommend that Midnight, Vamperina and myself go at the least. Vareq, Jack and Mek can stay if you want to rest briefly and attempt to get some information from Big Eyes."

SURGE: Assuming no one suggests that Surge stays he turns to Kyle, "I'm ready to return."

MEK: Mek is running CAP while Surge and Vamperina are on the ground, waiting for another visit from Deth or new vacationers in this most popular of summer resorts. After he sees a group forming below, he descends and comes to about 1/2 meter in size. He's still in uniform, goggles on, rifle slung across his back. After all the talk about bugging out Mek reminds the group, "Hey guys. Hate to mention this," he mentions in battle tongue, "but we left a supply depot of munitions a few klicks from here and if it's all the same, I'd rather not leave them for these bozos to find and use on the population at large. While you guys rest and refit, maybe I should head back to the hut and...." He stops and looks a little confused, "What do we want to do with all that equipment? Spike it? Blast it? Just leave it? I vote for spiking. Just think. They could start a museum. But whatever we do, I don't feel as secure staying down here and talking about it when attacks seems to come from up there," he points to the sky, "far too frequently for my liking."

MIDNIGHT: "I have some charges I could use to destroy the munitions if we need. I hadn't thought about retreaving or destroying our old base, though; getting off planet seems more important than what some people might do with the weapons we've left."

JACK: Good point Mek, we need to retrieve that stuff on our way out, or blow it. I don't think it will cost us that much time to retrieve it and bring it with us, and there's no real reason not to.

KYLE: "I'm not sure what kind of munitions you're talking about but you're right. While there are a few people and groups that I'd trust with high tech weapons on this planet, there are far more I wouldn't. If it weren't so risky, there are a few people I'd love to get them to. But it's nothing I'd risk my ride home for. Best bet is to retrieve them or destroy them, I say."

GM: I believe most of the conversation up to this point is in battle lingua which leaves Omen and Kyle out of the loop. That means that Kyle did not say the above.

SURGE: Surge would translate to Kyle and Omen. I believe Surge and Kyle can do morse code in real time (almost real time). Eric, I'd recommend that if Omen hasn't, he should have learned some of the language as we prefer to use it to obscure communications. Otherwise, Omen would have felt out of the loop in many situations, way before this one. But the point is that if Inchy or someone else is listening in it would be obvious all of what we're saying.

GM: If Surge is going to translate for Kyle and Omen, doesn't that defeat the purpose of using Battle Lingua? Or are you talking about later when you get away from the battle site? And, from someone who is intimately familiar with Morse code, 'real time' is relative. A good ham radio operator has to be able to send and receive 13 words per minute (wpm). A Coast Guard radio operator (back when the USCG was still using Morse Code) had to graduate at 18 WPM and many failed (Radioman school had a high failure rate). At my height, when I was doing it every day, I was probably around 30 WPM. So you can count the words in this paragraph and figure out how long it would take to translate with Morse Code. :)

JACK (OOC): It would definitely defeat the purpose if you translate, since we're concerned about being overheard at this point. Back at Dalag's camp, we will start using more imperial, with occasional Battle Lingua for sensitive planning in front of the Rickets and other refugees, still concerned about a mole or bug or tracer.

SURGE: Nodding to the others, "I'll do a full check of the Rickets when I arrive. Perhaps I should go next then. Kyle, you ready?"

JACK: Jack shakes his head in a bit of confusion, "Kyle, didn't you just say you can take ALL of us at once, but it would drain you a bit more? If you can do that, just do it, then we don't have to worry about splitting the group and leaving someone behind to be attacked by Inchy and friends. You'll have plenty of time to rest up at Dalag's camp before we need to move on.

SURGE (OOC): Surge will do an em scan of the rickets once he arrives. He'll also maintain radar and HRRH while there.

VAMPERINA: "I suggest that Surge and I be the last to go. Surge has been the most effective in dealing with Inchworm and, if he is still around, he might decide to take some pot shots as we are leaving."

JACK: Jack seems about to object, but then lets it pass. As always, he'd rather be the one taking the big risk being the last one to wait alone.

With everyone ready to go, Kyle begins teleporting each person, one by one, to Dalag's camp. Surge is the second to last to go, with no sign that Inchworm is going to try any thing. Kyle comes back for Vamperina as quickly as he can but his haste is not needed. Inchworm did not try anything when Vamperina was by herself. Kyle transports himself and Vamperina to the camp, leaving only Focus behind.

Meanwhile, once Surge arrived at the camp, he immediately activated his radio senses and scanned for any EM emissions from the Rickets. He did not find any. Nor does Omen see any sign of mental emissions that might indicate that the zho are tracking.

From Dalag's Camp to Base Camp, which Dalag, Brendan and Kyle have never seen, is about 8 km. To make the journey easier, Kyle and Jack teleport there in short leaps of about a kilometer each which are completely blind. However, Kyle assures Jack that his blind teleports are completely safe (TECH: Safe Blind Teleport advantage) and sure enough, after about 8 hops, the two arrive at Base Camp. Kyle memorizes a location here (TECH: His two floating locations are now Dalag's Camp and Base Camp) and then teleports to Dalag's camp and proceeds to bring everyone to Base Camp.

GM: Let me know what you want to do from here. You are still pretty close to the city and still about a thousand kilometers from your ship. How do you plan to cover the distance? Jack can obviously get their fairly quickly but risks being spotted. Do you want to travel by small boat, the same way you came down? Obviously that will be much slower. It took you a total of 10 days to get here from PEBBLE.

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VAREQ: Vareq, still looking pale and unwell, speaks up.

KYLE: We should have some time while striking camp for Kyle to take a look at Vareq. Can I make a diagnosis? PS: Doctor (15-), roll is [rolled 6].

OMEN: Vareq looks exhausted, like he's just run several miles. On top of that, he's diaphoretic (sweating), tachypnic (breathing fast), and his pulse is fast and thready. When he coughs he sounds like a fifty-pack-year smoker and he's bringing up blood.

OMEN: He denies being in any pain. He doesn't seem to want to be examined but doesn't really have the strength to fight you off.

OMEN: Making your doctor roll by 9 you conclude he has hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), dehydration, coagulopathy (inability of the blood to clot) and electrolyte imbalances.

OMEN: If you have a medikit you would give him intravenous fluids, dextrose, and fresh frozen plasma.

KYLE: Alas, medkits are contraband on this planet, so Kyle hasn't seen one for years. Though I'll bet that the group has one. At the very least Kyle will insist that you eat and drink something. (In fact, he'll get some things for you to eat and hover over you until you at least start them.) He's dealt with difficult patients before and he'll be kind, but forceful. That and sitting down should hold you until we can get you to proper medical facilities.

OMEN: Vareq accepts water and drinks a few sips, trying not to cough it up. He tries to keep his hands from shaking. He'll lean up against a tree but won't sit down. He eyes are alert and he keeps his gun hand on the butt of his laser pistol.

OMEN: "Thanks, Kyle, but I'll be fine." he says in a completely unconvincing lie.

KYLE: "You won't be fine. If you're not very lucky you'll be in a coma or dead. Your blood pressure is dangerously low, your pulse is thready, eyes dialated, and you can barely stand. You need fluids - intravenous would be best, but we won't have that option for a while yet. And you need to lie down - or at least sit down - before you faint. The last thing you need is a concussion on top of everything else." There is genuine concern in his voice, framed by a stern medical tone. "I'm not sure you could raise that pistol, much less aim or fire it. At least sit down until Jack and Vampirina are ready to leave. If you're going to have to stand guard while they're gone, you need to build up some reserves now."

OMEN: Vareq nods and slides down the tree until he's sitting. "Didn't realize the ground was quite so close..." he says. He'll stay in this position for awhile recovering his strength.
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