The group decides not to leave anything as collateral for the radio and instead settles for Lt. Hite's offer to study it and duplicate the curent radio frequencies on the group's radio. Cal and Shooter examine the Zho radio and quickly determine which frequencies it was set to use. Shooter records this information and sets the group's radio to scan these frequencies.
PETER (OOC): Sorry, time got away from me last week and I never got to make the post I'd hoped to.
The following morning, the group departs Hawkshorn. They have a letter from the baron himself to the military commander in Mucktown. Additionally, a message was sent to Mucktown to expect the group and briefly outlined their mission.
The coastal city of Mucktown is walled and, like Hawkshorn, contains remnants of ancient buildings as well as many new buildings. The letter and the advance message to the military post here have already served to cut down the bureaucratic red tape and, the morning after arriving, the group is on a patrol boat heading north. The boat is a relic of ancient technology - or more appropriately, it is a collection of ancient relics together with some current technology. The engine runs smoothly thanks to the tender care of the engineers. On the bow of the vessel is a functioning machine gun as well as a large arbalest made of metal and wood, and a large collection of spears. The vessel, which is about 30 meters in length, has a crew of 10 sailors, and 20 marines. The marines are all armed with swords, axes and ancient tech rifles.
A couple of hours later, the vessel arrives at the location where they had first spotted the cyborg. An hour later, they pull in and drop off the group at the location where they had captured the cyborg.
GM: This is the same vessel and, for the most part, the same crew that captured the cyborg. Let me know if you have any questions for them. Otherwise is the group simply going to head north along the beach or do you have some other plan to try to figure out where the cyborg was going?
MARCO: Do we sense fear or uneasiness in the soldiers manning the boat? Are they nervous about the approach as if something "evil" or "forbidden" is located in this area? I'd like to check this mentally as well as listening to their conversations.
CAL: During the ride out, Cal will talk to the soldiers to get them to tell about their battle with the cyborg. A little flattery about how difficult it must have been will probably go a long way - it shouldn't be too hard to find at least one of the soldiers willing to brag a little.
CAL: Cal is trying to get a picture of the cyborg's abilities (offensive, defensive, etc.) from them. Always nice to know what we're going up against.
ROSIN: Rosin will listen attentively to this conversation. Translating as needed and helping to spot obvious exaggerations.
PETER: Along the way, Peter will try and make friends with the soldiers and ask them (soldier-to-soldier) what they found, what they thought of the cyborg, how hard he fought, anything odd he did, etc. If possible, get one of the soldiers to sketch out a rough map of the area so that we can have a clue of what to expect.
TECH: I'm not sure if any rolls are required, but Peter has Conversation and Seduction (no jokes, please - the skill description says its more about making friends with people that anything sexual).
PETER (GM): I've got a new version of my character almost done. I just need to send it off.
MARCO (ooc): {Hopes like heck that Rosin brought her bikini...wait, did I think that our loud.}
ROSIN: {You did. What's a bikini?}
ROCK: Rock will be listening to the soldiers talk about it but given his simple understanding of the language he most likely won't ask too many questions.
The marines attitude is typical of marines. They are very sure of themselves and seem to feel that they are up to any challenge. They have no problem talking to the team as the boat makes its way north along the coast. They recount their story of their encounter with the cyborg. The lieutenant in charge of the detachment suspected that there was more to the man on the beach than met the eye, so the marines proceeded cautiously. When the confronted the cyborg, they did it from a distance and with guns drawn. The cyborg reacted immediately, pulling its weapon and firing as it ran for cover. Before it could reach cover however, the marines had already brought it down.
GM: Further questions reveal that the cyborg was very fast and accurate with his weapon. He actually killed one of the marines before he was brought down, despite the fact that the marines had good cover. The cyborg's speed also made it difficult to hit him, but a couple of the marines are very good marksmen and they hit enough to drop the cyborg.
GM: The marines only did a cursory search of the area after killing the cyborg. They were not sure where the cyborg was headed but had no reason to believe it was the area where they met it. They think maybe he was headed for some location further up the coast. When Peter speaks to the lieutenant in charge of the marines, he gets much the same story.
GM: Let me know if there is anything else you want to try to learn from the crew of the patrol boat. Otherwise you are on the beach and can let me know how you want to proceed from there.
CAL: (all wide eyed and innocent admiration) "Wow - which ones of you actually hit the cyborg??"
CAL: What Cal is interested in, besides any slight tidbits like how many hits did it take to bring the cyborg down - is what weapons were used. Small caliber, high velocity "modern" rounds, or something equivalent to a .50 cal sniper rifle...
Cal learns that the cyborg was brought down primarily by two of the marines. The marine who died was one of them. The other is on the boat but is a somewhat quiet and reserved marine who says little except in response to direct questions. Cal can see that he is not as large as some of the other marines, but is armed with a single shot sniper rifle with a rather large bore - maybe not quite .50 cal, but not too far from it.
MARCO: {Given that these things don't give out any sort of mental signature that we've been able to detect, let's make sure that we keep extra alert and take extra precautions against getting spotted. I don't like the idea of getting in a pissing match with someone who can kill at range while running.}
PETER: "Did the cyborg seem to have any odd abilities beyond preternatural strength, speed, and endurance? For example, did it appear to have better vision than you'd expect? Anything you can remember would be helpful."
GM: None of the marines or the officer can give a good answer to Peter's question. It was daylight and the cyborg was a crack shot and very quick. They did not notice any other special abilities. |