TUELLER: “Psychics.”
TUELLER: Tueller says that, and does not say anything else.
STORY: Tariq raises an eyebrow.
STORY: “What he said.”
MILLICENT: “Psychics!”
MILLICENT: Millie doesn’t catch the tone.
ALEJO: “Wait. Psychics?” Alejo is being a smart ass.
STORY: Jac says, “Psychics how?”
TUELLER: “Science psychics.”
MILLICENT: Millie nods, smiling
STORY: “Is that even a thing?” Jac wonders.
TUELLER: “Or Psychic Science.”
TUELLER: To this day Tueller doesn’t know if it was just because it was his first time off the cloistered life on Io, but he still remembers the joy of seeing cows for the first time on Enceladus. Seeing a low-G rodeo was, for a long time, his most treasured memory. His parents laughed at him when he told them that’s what he wanted to do with himself as an adult, and he learned to hide it, but the vestiges are there. His college thesis there at the University of Callisto was an in-depth analysis of the changing economies of vat-grown meat and how vat-grown burgers mean that even the hoi polloi on belt systems can enjoy meat. He doesn’t talk about the rodeo anymore, though; he restricts himself to his love of Enceladean kobe, and leaves it at that.
—
STORY: It’s been a few days since your meeting with Esinam. What has everyone been up to on the Ark?
TUELLER: Hey, a bit of clarification, since I don’t think it was entirely clear; did Ruma flee and go to ground, or was that just a test of us from CJH? Or is that unclear?
STORY: Tueller, do you follow up with Ruma?
TUELLER: Yeah, I do.
STORY: She’ll take a meeting with you a day or two later, and is shaken by the experience and a bit closed off. She has two new bodyguards who are markedly less friendly than the one who died protecting her.
STORY: Do you tell her where the attacks came from?
TUELLER: Yes.
STORY: She’s floored, and nods slowly, obviously needing to recalibrate her reality.
STORY: She thanks you for the information and clams up.
TUELLER: “Esi sends her congratulations.”
TUELLER: “She meant it.”
STORY: “Premature, but thank you.”
ALEJO: Alejo has mostly been recuperating. He has snuck off a couple of times, but in the main, he’s been in a bright and particularly flirtatious mood.
STORY: Alejo! Where do you go when you sneak off?
ALEJO: He sneaks off to check on Calixta. He reaches out to a few contacts he has with the RDG who he trusts.
STORY: Let’s have an Assessment + Influence please!
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: @ablair01 rolled 2 + 2 = 4
ALEJO: Ha!
STORY: The only contact who gets back to you tells you she hasn’t been heard from in a month – hasn’t checked in, no official mission from what he can find in the RDG database, nothing. She just vanished.
ALEJO: On hearing this news, Alejo will anxiously fiddle with the communications device around his neck.
STORY: Millie, what are you doing?
TUELLER: Millie was going to handle getting our ship repaired, correct?
MILLICENT: Yes
MILLICENT: Millie runs potential mechanics through a series of rigorous questions and scenarios
MILLICENT: Finally she finds someone she trusts with the Peregrine
STORY: What’s his name?
MILLICENT: So she’s been checking in on the work, but also trying to help Three-Sing-Flowers get settled
MILLICENT: Tigralt
STORY: Tigralt openly flirts with you while you show him the damaged areas.
STORY: Let’s have an Acquisition move please!
STORY: This repair is going to be Class 1.
STORY: I’d like to hear about how you receive Tigralt’s attentions before you roll please.
MILLICENT: I think she’s unresponsive to Tigralt’s charms until she decides he’s qualified and then she’s much more friendly.
MILLICENT: As a matter of respect.
STORY: Will you go to dinner with him?
MILLICENT: Yes, for sure!
MILLICENT: She’ll spend a lot of the dinner asking him questions about his perception of Earth’s place in the Ark hierarchy
STORY: The market is amiably disposed towards this deal! So it’s a -1, + whatever Cargo you want to offer.
MILLICENT: So, the only thing we have to offer is illegal class 2 weapon components?
TUELLER: From the Ark.
MILLICENT: Will the class 0 stuff get us anywhere?
STORY: The Class 0 stuff isn’t useful here, no
MILLICENT: The weapons I thought we pulled from the asteroid mushroom
STORY: Nope, they were payment for something or another.
STORY: Oh, I think you traded your Class 1 cargo for them
MILLICENT: So I’ve got nothing to trade
MILLICENT: Okay, I’ll do a straight roll
STORY: You’ve got the illegal weapon components!
STORY: Cargo is still worth what it’s worth, it just can’t be traded up in a Barter move if it isn’t foreign.
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6
STORY: @josh rolled 12
TUELLER: Well that’ll do.
ALEJO: –damn yeah.
MILLICENT: —to be clear I meant that as the -1 roll, so it’s an 11, not a 13
MILLICENT: —sorry, I should have made it with the -1 in the roll
STORY: Okay! Tigralt takes you to a fancy place for dinner, is as cleaned up as he possibly can be, but you still find some grease behind his ear.
STORY: He does the work in three days. It’s pretty good! Your room has some visible scars from the patches, but everything is airtight and back functioning as it previously did.
STORY: Three is busy getting settled, and securing an apartment and diplomatic status. They are happy to have a meal with any of you, but they don’t really have much time beyond that and there’s nothing new to report.
STORY: On the third day of your ship repairs, Millie, a visitor comes to your quarters.
STORY: It’s a thin young man with Erde-Maris University credentials.
MILLICENT: Millie invites him in.
STORY: He nods at you and hands you a small data drive, bowing as he departs.
MILLICENT: “This has been very formal, but edging on rude!” Millie calls after him.
STORY: When you load it up, the face of your university rival greets you in a recorded message. Tell us about this rival!
ALEJO: –Oh, university rivals. The tales I could tell.
MILLICENT: She was another TA for Dr Nikau Manaaki. Millie eventually became Dr. Manaaki’s primary assistant while the rival went on to back a competing scientific theory.
STORY: What’s her name?
MILLICENT: Ceinwen Gage
STORY: https://the-peregrine.obsidianportal.com/characters/ceinwen
STORY: She looks annoyed to be recording the message.
MILLICENT: She was tough, skeptical, and rigorous!
STORY: “Dr. Breedlove, I am reaching out for your assistance in a University matter,” she reads from notes through gritted teeth.
MILLICENT: Millie beams
STORY: “We have arranged to begin negotiations for a scientific treaty between Erde-Maris and the Nahar. The Nahar live on New Vesta, a small moon roughly six weeks’ travel from the Ark. Our delegate for these negotiations has been waylaid en route and,” she shakes her head, looking pleadingly at someone offscreen. “You are the only Erde-Maris associated party who will be able to reach the moon in time to negotiate this treaty.”
ALEJO: –She’s delightful. Alejo will fall head over heels.
TUELLER: —Rival!
STORY: “Please do so, on our behalf, and we will consider your debt to us paid. I have included data on the Nahar and our terms in your materials.”
STORY: She begins to roll her eyes as the video cuts out.
STORY: Noma’s voice comes from the viewscreen, brightly. “I have reviewed Dr. Gage’s materials, Millie, would you like me to summarize them?”
MILLICENT: Millie pauses the small and extremely dignified happy dance she’s been doing to smile broadly at the viewscreen, “Yes, please!”
STORY: “The Nahar have been thus far unable to negotiate any scientific treaties because a large part of their technology is built on their use of psychic and empathic technology, a practice still seen as unreliable hokum by most advanced worlds. Erde-Maris is a smaller player and has to be more willing to make deals with iffy partners. They have enclosed further details on their scientific and economic offerings in exchange for open collaboration between the University and the Nahar.”
MILLICENT: “Oh this IS excellent! How long will it take us to get there if we leave today?”
STORY: “Depending on our spot in the queue at the jump relay, between five and seven weeks.”
MILLICENT: “Thank you, dear. What is your impression of the Nahar?”
STORY: “New Vesta is not their homeworld. They appear to have departed some hundreds of years ago to settle there after their home planet fell to climate change, much like humanity. I have never met a psychic and would be eager to do so. I am curious whether they would be able to speak with me through such methods – my records of the Collective’s contact with psychic races shows that only some psychic peoples are able to communicate with artificial intelligence.”
STORY: “They are a stoic civilization, one that has not traveled far from their moon after their initial attempts to gain power on the Ark was rebuffed by races skeptical of psychic science.”
MILLICENT: “Oh, this IS fascinating! Well, then, I suppose there’s no time like the present!”
MILLICENT: Millie activates the crew-wide coms, “Ladies, gentlemen, and non-binary entities, I believe we have a job. Please report back to the Peregrine for. Noma, what was that military word? Very official. Means class or lecture?”
STORY: “Briefing.”
MILLICENT: “Yes! Briefing!”
MILLICENT: “Report back to the Peregrine for a briefing!”
TUELLER: “Now?” Tueller sounds very drunk.
MILLICENT: “Yes, please, Mr. Ya’Makasi. The sooner you are briefed, the sooner we can get in the Jump queue.”
TUELLER: “Exshellent.”
TUELLER: Distantly “Check, please.”
TUELLER: “Shee you soon.”
ALEJO: Alejo is playing counters in an Ark casino. He taps his com. “Sounds exciting. I’ll wrap up and get home.”
STORY: Millie, are you on the Peregrine?
MILLICENT: Yes, she’s rearranging her room
STORY: Ok. When you head downstairs, Kahn is already in the galley, making coffee. Tariq emerges from the head in a towel and robe and pours himself a cup. “Any way we can turn this thing off while we’re, for instance, showering, Doc?”
MILLICENT: Millie shows him how to turn off the receiver.
STORY: Tariq is grateful.
STORY: Jac comes down from the bridge, looking sullen.
MILLICENT: “Ms. Jac, are you well?”
STORY: Jac looks up at you. “Yep.”
MILLICENT: “Splendid!”
STORY: Jenny comes in over the comm to you, Millie. “Roger that, Dr. Breedlove, T’chololl and I are on our way. Next ferry is in half an hour.”
STORY: Okay, over the next hour, everyone assembles. Kahn is ready with a triple strong coffee for Tueller.
TUELLER: Tueller has thus far struck out on hitting on Loll.
STORY: She hasn’t outright rejected him, she just doesn’t seem to realize she’s being flirted with.
TUELLER: Tueller is drinking the coffee, which of course doesn’t sober him up, but he’s doing that drunk thing where he’s trying really hard to be more sober than he actually is.
TUELLER: He has a decided tilt in his seat, though.
STORY: Jenny stands next to you, ready to catch.
TUELLER: Tueller thankfully does not notice, because he’d be likely to throw himself into her arms if he did.
STORY: She’s a good bodyguard. One of her skills is doing so unnoticed.
ALEJO: Alejo gets some coffee and tops up Tueller’s while he’s at it.
TUELLER: Mmmmmmm, civet-shit sobriety.
TUELLER: “What’s the craic, doc?”
MILLICENT: “We have the opportunity to negotiate a new deal with a new alien civilization. The Ark has dismissed The Nahar, but the Erde-Maris Alliance would like us to go negotiate a scientific treaty on their behalf. Not only will this clear our debt for the use of the Peregrine, but they use an unique brand of psychic technology that is virtually untouched by Ark scientists. The possibilities are endless!”
ALEJO: “Clear our debt, huh? Freedom is good. I’m in.”
TUELLER: “Psychics.”
TUELLER: Tueller says that, and does not say anything else.
STORY: Tariq raises an eyebrow.
STORY: “What he said.”
MILLICENT: “Psychics!”
MILLICENT: Millie doesn’t catch the tone.
ALEJO: “Wait. Psychics?” Alejo is being a smart ass.
STORY: Jac says, “Psychics how?”
TUELLER: “Science psychics.”
MILLICENT: Millie nods, smiling
STORY: “Is that even a thing?” Jac wonders.
TUELLER: “Or Psychic Science.”
MILLICENT: “No one on the Ark knows how it works yet, probably because the current scientific consensus is that it’s utter bunk. But that’s probably only because no one has done any serious inquiry! And we could open the door to that inquiry! We could be pioneers in this field!”
TUELLER: “S’cool. That’s new. Let’s go.”
TUELLER: Tueller starts to get up, and doesn’t quite make it, and sits down a little hard.
ALEJO: “And no more debt, right?”
STORY: T’chololl nods. “How does one defend against a psychic?”
ALEJO: “Tin foil.”
TUELLER: “Just cause they can see you coming doesn’t mean they can stop you.”
STORY: T’chololl smiles at that, Tueller.
MILLICENT: Millie leans forward, eyes gleaming. “The icing on the cake is that Erde-Maris had Professor Ceinwen Gage deliver the request!”
TUELLER: “Oh, Ceinwen Gage!”
MILLICENT: “Yes, exactly!”
MILLICENT: Millie smiles, the cat who caught the canary
TUELLER: Tueller smiles, and nods vacantly.
TUELLER: “Ceinwen Gage.”
TUELLER: He sounds less sure there.
STORY: Jenny raises her hand.
MILLICENT: Millie calls on Jenny.
STORY: “Who is, um. That?”
TUELLER: “Professor Gage.”
TUELLER: “Can I have some more coffee please?”
MILLICENT: “A second rate, failed astrophysicist who had to resort to xenobiology to finally get her doctorate.”
STORY: Tariq brings the pot and tops everyone off. “I interned under her one summer.”
MILLICENT: Millie voice gets serious and her eyes narrow “You what”
TUELLER: “Huh. Small universe.”
STORY: “Small university, if you’re a human xenobiologist.”
TUELLER: “Thanks, by the by.” Tips his cup, spills some of the coffee.
STORY: He shrugs. “We only slept together twice.”
MILLICENT: “You _what_”
STORY: He beams.
TUELLER: “Not good after that?”
STORY: “Nah, I’m just gay.”
ALEJO: “Well that’s an unexpected swerve.”
TUELLER: “So not good, but not her fault not good. Sokay.”
STORY: “Yeah, I mean. It was college. I was curious.”
MILLICENT: “She missed three questions and flubbed the math on her written entrance exam to the astrophysics department, did she happen to mention that?”
ALEJO: “The sleeping with the second rate . . . whatever. Not the rest.”
MILLICENT: “Did that come up?”
STORY: Tariq smiles. “It didn’t.”
STORY: “Now that I think of it, though, she was kinda obsessed with you.”
MILLICENT: “Naturally.” Millie settles back a little, satisfied.
ALEJO: “People who are bad at math are the best in bed.” Alejo gives Tariq a knowing look.
STORY: Tariq gives you the subtlest high five.
TUELLER: Tueller gives a look he thinks is discreet to Alejo but looks like mugging to everyone else.
MILLICENT: —lol
TUELLER: “We’ve left for wherever already, right? I just missed where we left, right?”
STORY: Okay! Any further questions, or are we flying into SPAAAACE?
ALEJO: Space.
STORY: I think we should do a cramped quarters roll, eh? Six week journey to wait through?
STORY: Let’s give Alejo this one.
MILLICENT: SPACE
ALEJO: Right. Jenny.
STORY: All right! Roll them bones.
ALEJO: /roll 2d6
STORY: @ablair01 rolled 7
STORY: 7! Ok, so you’re going to reveal or discover the answer to her question about your past.
STORY: Got a setting for this conversation?
ALEJO: Alejo is working out with a punching bag when Jenny shows up in the Cargo bay for her regular workout.
STORY: She’s in her usual sweat pants and tank top. She takes good care of her kit, but it’s starting to look a little threadbare. She didn’t pack much for this journey, and it’s gone two months longer than she likely expected to stay when she boarded the Peregrine.
STORY: She holds the bag for you. “How’s the leg?”
ALEJO: He gives her a quick nod and then spin kicks the bag with the injured leg. Then, he sort of grimaces and sits. “Great.” He winces. “That was really dumb. Gods damn.” He sort of curls up the leg into his chest a bit.
STORY: She laughs. “Showoff.”
ALEJO: “Always. It’s a real character flaw.”
STORY: She nods. “So, like.”
STORY: “I don’t want to snoop, but T’chololl and I are SO curious about what happened with Ruma.”
STORY: “She thinks Ruma must have been in on it. I think you outsmarted everyone somehow.”
ALEJO: “I like where your head is at.”
ALEJO: He stretches out the leg.
ALEJO: “What do you mean what happened with Ruma?”
STORY: “Well, like. You guys went into that office, and when you came out it was over.”
STORY: “What -happened?-”
ALEJO: “Tueller’s sister was testing me. His eldest sister and the head of the Ya’Makasi. I didn’t do what they wanted, which was to put a bullet in Ruma. But I also didn’t completely let the Family down. So . . . ”
ALEJO: “I live to bust up my leg another day.”
STORY: “Huh.”
ALEJO: “Love to say I outsmarted them. That’s too generous to my cleverness.
STORY: “Huh. Hm.”
ALEJO: “But I appreciate the vote of confidence.” He smiles. “What’d Loll bet?”
STORY: “Oh, uh. She thought Ruma had planned the attack. Said it was too tidy.”
STORY: “I guess it was sort of an inside job.”
STORY: “Alejo, do you mind if I ask you something?”
ALEJO: “Well, you both were sort of right.” He gives her a friendly nod. “Sure. Ask away.”
STORY: “Are you, like, always afraid to commit, or is that only in your professional and personal lives?”
ALEJO: He takes a mock shot to the heart. “So incisive, Ms. Nilsson.” He shrugs. “I think that I just reserve commitment for the things that are really worth it.”
STORY: “Oh, so -that’s- why you’ve been halfway flirting with me for two months but never actually asked me out, and before you do,” she holds up a hand and smiles, “I don’t date my commanding officers, even if you’re not military.”
STORY: “I’m just not worth it!” She raises her eyebrows and steadies the punching bag.
ALEJO: “I’m not really an officer, you know.” He stands and takes a couple of punches.
ALEJO: He stops midway through a punch. “Wanna have a drink with me tonight?”
STORY: She tilts her head, looking at you like a lost dog. “Only if I never have to take an order from you again, so I think it’s going to have to be a rain check.”
STORY: “Also, I highly doubt you’re not an officer of -something.-”
ALEJO: “Now you’re definitely killin’ me.” He smiles broadly and takes another punch.
STORY: She shrugs and keeps an eye on your leg.
STORY: Scene?
ALEJO: Scene.
STORY: Okay! Does anyone else have any plans for the remainder of this journey? It’s pretty long!
STORY: You have to jump three times, over a six week period.
MILLICENT: I think Millie is going to do as much research into psychic technology as possible.
MILLICENT: She’ll also request that Noma download language patches for the Nahar language and works to learn “Hello, how are you?” in Nahar.
STORY: Millie, let’s have an Assessment + Expertise for your research.
MILLICENT: She also bones up on negotiation techniques
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 2
STORY: @josh rolled 9 + 2 = 11
STORY: Millie, the records you’re able to access from the public Ark databases are somewhat sparse, indicating that the Nahar psychic tech is “limited” and “impractical”, and that while a small number of their race are natively empathic, they do not all possess innate psychic abilities. As a result, further research into their findings was not pursued.
STORY: You get a data point around Nahar psychic science!
MILLICENT: Hooray a data point
TUELLER: Tueller’s going to read if we have anything about the psychic race, because, well, that seems cool.
TUELLER: Tueller and Loll spar a bunch and try to work on fighting without thinking ahead of time.
STORY: Tueller, this is a long journey. Does Loll ever get the picture about your interest in her?
TUELLER: Tueller and Loll get drunk again and he asks her right out if her race has romance.
TUELLER: Just to be clear, Tueller isn’t sparring with her just to flirt; he’s serious about getting them combat ready. The flirting is just icing on that.
STORY: She rather abruptly takes this as him expressing interest and invites him to find out in his quarters.
STORY: Even in matters of the heart, this woman is zero nonsense.
TUELLER: Tueller goes with it without hesitation.
STORY: Well, Tueller has a new athletic and fun hobby.
TUELLER: Excellent.
STORY: She does not discuss feelings.
TUELLER: Neither does he.
STORY: It is unclear whether she has feelings.
ALEJO: –Love.
TUELLER: Any benefit to attempting to prepare to fight against possible psychics?
STORY: Let’s make that Assessment + Physique to find out!
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: @chris.stuart rolled 5 + 2 = 7
TUELLER: Guess Tueller’s spending too much time on the wrong type of mat.
STORY: You get some good practice, and you and Loll come up with a good strategy for keeping your mind as empty as possible while fighting. However, that strategy is to sing very loud.
STORY: So practical applications are limited.
TUELLER: Challenge accepted.
TUELLER: Though the rest of the crew is irritated as hell at us for singing while sparring in the hold.
MILLICENT: I mean, not the whole crew. Millie stills has a private room.
STORY: Yeah, Jac in particular gives you the stinkeye every time you come in there and finds somewhere else to be. Kahn is amused by it.
TUELLER: Tueller was really into Ioian gravitycore music in his youth. It’s terrible.
MILLICENT: On a different floor.
ALEJO: Alejo joins in the singing, from time to time. But he gets the hint when he realizes that Loll and Tueller are bumping junk.
STORY: All right! Six weeks passes, Alejo’s leg fully heals, at least half the crew notices that Tueller is spending a lot of time with his purple sidekick, and Millie practices her gloating speech to Dr. Gage roughly one thousand times.
STORY: You approach New Vesta. Tueller! What is the ecology of this moon like?
TUELLER: Hmmm.
TUELLER: The moon is large and verdant. It has been fully naharaformed, with a thriving atmosphere and functional balanced ecosystem. The moon is attached via a rarely working space elevator to the planet of their origin; the planet itself is wrapped in thick clouds that anyone who has seen Venus recognizes as out-of-control greenhouse effect. The planet is unliveable; only archeologists and industry go down to their former planet anymore; the rest of them live up on the moon they naharaformed as refuge.
TUELLER: Every building appears to be built out of or covered in plants, which makes the entire planet seems like it’s a park that happens to be very crowded with people.
TUELLER: —vestaformed?
STORY: Fabulous. You approach the capital city and land on the large and sprawling docks. It is nighttime when you arrive, the dim light from the nearby planet’s cloud cover reflecting down on the small moon.
STORY: Millie, in your materials you have been briefed that the moon is run by a governor named Parnia who will be your main point of contact.
STORY: Where to?
MILLICENT: First off we send a communication to whatever entity is monitoring planetary (lunitary?) arrivals announcing our arrival
STORY: Millie, there is no response!
MILLICENT: I mean, I guess we land
MILLICENT: And determine who’s in the landing party.
MILLICENT: Definitely Millie and Noma in her visor
STORY: The dock is dark, and the city is less lit than you’d expect from any metropolis, even one as small as this – in your materials they estimated the population of New Vesta at 50,000.
MILLICENT: Tariq should probably come along, our three captains and anyone else the other captains want along
STORY: Captains?
TUELLER: Loll’s coming with me, definitely. Tueller politely suggests that Jenny keep around to help Ejo from getting shot again.
ALEJO: Alejo agrees heartily.
MILLICENT: That’s probably a big enough party, right?
ALEJO: Six.
TUELLER: Just to be clear, the planet currently looks empty so far?
ALEJO: I think that we leave Kahn and Jac to guard the ship.
STORY: Six is your number of battle armor sets, so yeah, that’s a full party.
TUELLER: Not a breathable atmosphere?
STORY: It is breathable, but also those spacesuits are armor.
TUELLER: Yeah, fair.
TUELLER: Just looking out there, how dangerous does it look?
STORY: Not necessarily dangerous, but weirdly empty.
STORY: Like, you’d expect someone to be working the docks, even in the middle of the night.
TUELLER: “This is looking…odd. Who wants to ride with me in the Gregor?”
ALEJO: –Gregor holds four?
TUELLER: Three
TUELLER: Probably two if one of those is Loll.
MILLICENT: “I’ll walk. The Gregor is. A bit imposing. I want to give our hosts a more welcoming first impression.”
TUELLER: “You want me to leave the tank behind?”
TUELLER: Tueller’s honestly asking.
TUELLER: “This is your op. Things feel off to me, though.”
ALEJO: Alejo nods. “I don’t mind a little imposing, at least in the background.”
MILLICENT: “Then let’s compromise. I’ll take half the team forward walking, with the Gregor following.”
ALEJO: “Loll and Tueller in the Gregor? Rest of us with the Doc?”
TUELLER: “Works for me. We’re the most imposing ones anyway. Might as well lump us all together.”
MILLICENT: “Do you think the space armor is a bit much? Or maybe all of us in uniform is the right look?”
MILLICENT: Millie half giggles. “I didn’t think I’d be nervous!”
TUELLER: “You’re wearing the armor.”
MILLICENT: “Armor it is!”
STORY: Kahn squeezes Jenny’s hand as he offers her a sidearm.
STORY: “Stay safe.”
TUELLER: “Armored, and armed, but not brandishing. I insist.”
STORY: She takes it and nods.
TUELLER: “And I’ll hang the Gregor back a short sprint away.”
MILLICENT: “Mr. Ya’Makasi, I’ll trust you to pick out a weapon for me that doesn’t seem too imposing, but can get the job done.”
ALEJO: Alejo checks his kit, including his assault pistol and stun baton. He’s methodical but efficient. After he finishes, he makes a quick check of everyone else.
TUELLER: “All I’ve got for you is a basic rifle. You don’t have a piece of your own?”
STORY: Tariq smiles. “It got spaced.”
ALEJO: Alejo shrugs, bashfully.
MILLICENT: Millie nods. “I have this stun baton!”
STORY: “Here, doc.” He hands you a pistol.
STORY: And shakes his head. “You really ought to join our training rota.”
MILLICENT: “Thank you, Mr. Guosin.”
TUELLER: “Lead on, Doc.”
STORY: “Dr. Guosin.”
STORY: He shakes his head. “Am I still in the penalty box? I said I was gay!”
STORY: The six of you depart.
STORY: Alejo, please give us an idea of the surroundings. How far are you from the governor’s mansion, and what is between you and it?
TUELLER: Tueller and Loll hang back in the Gregor. Tueller drives as unaggressively as he possibly can in an armored alien tank.
ALEJO: We’re about a kilometer and a half from the mansion. The Peregrine is on a landing pad that is elevated above the forest. We descend into the trees and the darkness is pretty overwhelming. I mean, we are used to space, but this darkness is thick, heavy. Trees everywhere. And sounds. There’s a lot of life around us, though we’ve not seen a single sentient, at least that we know of.
MILLICENT: Millie is thinking “hello” in as loud and friendly a mental voice possible
STORY: The Nahar have lived on this moon for a few hundred years, but their architectural style is as unobtrusive as possible, blending in to the trees, and they have spread out, with buildings often dozens of meters apart from each other for no discernible reason other than them wanting to leave space for the ivy.
TUELLER: Tueller is just thinking about keeping everyone safe.
TUELLER: And occasionally about Loll.
STORY: You take a few hesitant steps into the woods, and notice a wide path cutting from the docking bay to what looks like an unobtrusive main street a hundred meters away. Loll is not thinking about you, Tueller.
MILLICENT: Hey now it’s the other aliens that are psychic
STORY: Following it, you get about halfway down before Alejo, you hear a rustling in the woods near you.
STORY: Several somethings are moving through the trees to your left, maybe ten meters.
ALEJO: Alejo freezes, raises a fist, and turns in the direction of the sounds. He’s completely alert but does not take any aggressive action.
STORY: Your crew diligently complies.
MILLICENT: Millie attempts “hello, how are you” in Nahar.
STORY: Out loud?
MILLICENT: Yeah, Millie never learned military hand speak
MILLICENT: —“Cool fist, bro, HELLO ALIENS”
STORY: Okay. Your crew diligently complies, except for Millie, who should really join in on the crew training.
STORY: A small group of aliens, all about four or five feet tall, with shining blue-green skin and hair, emerges from the trees and looks hungrily at you. The leader tilts their head, smiling wildly, and they lurch toward your group.
STORY: What do you do?
TUELLER: —We probably should have researched what the aliens we’re looking for look like.
ALEJO: Alejo steps forward and draws his stun baton, ready to fight if he needs to do so.
STORY: They attack! Alejo, let’s have a Launch Assault move, please
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: @ablair01 rolled 5 + 1 = 6
ALEJO: –Gods damned, this bot hates me.
ALEJO: –Seriously.
MILLICENT: “Yigrllak buukta’ar!” Millie says brightly.
TUELLER: Tueller’s going to charge the Samsa forward when he can.
STORY: Alejo, you attempt to crack the leader across the arms as he lurches towards you, teeth bared, biting at you, but you get caught in a tangle of limbs and your baton falls to the ground as the Nahar falls on top of you, biting down on your forearm.
STORY: Let’s have a Brace for Impact! This is a minor injury.
TUELLER: 2d6 plus 2 for the armor.
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: @ablair01 rolled 10 + 2 = 12
STORY: Good enough to mitigate the damage! His teeth get caught on the zipper of your sleeve and don’t make it through.
STORY: Tueller, it’s time for me to learn about vehicle combat!
STORY: It’s a Launch Assault + Physique!
TUELLER: It works like normal combat! Runs off of Physique.
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: @chris.stuart rolled 9 + 2 = 11
STORY: Well, damn! What happens to this group of frenzied Nahar?
TUELLER: Tueller runs in with the Samsa and smashes two of them on the hood of the Samsa in one blow. He takes his hand off the throttle to swing the impact tool in sweeping gesture catching two others with a baseball bat type blow across their chests, sending them flying. He leaves the last one standing, but puts the Samsa between his team and it.
MILLICENT: I’d like to Deduce the cause of the alien madness, please. What caused this situation?
STORY: Millie, you watch carefully as Tueller attacks, the faces of the Nahar unchanging as their lives are threatened. They must be mind controlled somehow.
TUELLER: Tueller keeps the Samsa scuttling to keep the alien from attacking, keeping an eye on the sensors to make sure he doesn’t step on his team.
MILLICENT: Are they wearing anything that might be a receiver? Or can I pick up on a signal through my Visor?
STORY: Let’s have a Face Adversity + Interface, Millie
MILLICENT: I’d like to spend my data point
STORY: Great!
TUELLER: —I do kind of enjoy Tueller being a blunt instrument.
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 2
STORY: @josh rolled 2 + 2 = 4
STORY: Wow!
MILLICENT: —speaking of downs
ALEJO: –Sorry, friend. My fortunes are contagious.
STORY: You open your visor’s receiver frequency to try to catch the source of the signal and manage to invite it into your own interface.
TUELLER: —oh noes
STORY: Millie, you’re overcome with a need to cause suffering and pain, and you delight in the opportunity to do so to whoever happens to be nearby.
STORY: What do you do?
MILLICENT: Oh cool!
TUELLER: Good thing we gave her a weapon!
MILLICENT: I’m going to start by stun batoning whoever is closest
STORY: Oh god, Tariq.
MILLICENT: Wait, I have a pistol
ALEJO: –Poor Tariq.
MILLICENT: I shoot whoever is the least covered target
STORY: That’s Alejo, Jenny, or Tariq. Alejo, high or low?
ALEJO: High.
STORY: Jenny will take the middle
STORY: /roll 1d6
STORY: @jess rolled 6
STORY: Okay! Millie, let’s have an Open Fire please to see how you do at -shooting your co-captain.-
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: @josh rolled 9 + 1 = 10
MILLICENT: —whoopsie
ALEJO: –Oh noes
STORY: Alejo can’t help but get shot every mission. Alejo, this is a Severe injury, let’s have a Brace for Impact, and good luck
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: @ablair01 rolled 9 + 2 = 11
MILLICENT: —hooray!
MILLICENT: —good roll
STORY: Millie goes slack in the face, smiles wickedly at the general area, and unholsters her pistol, pointing it at Alejo and firing a round. He catches her movement out of the corner of his eye and reacts impossibly quickly, pushing the gun from being aimed at his face to his shoulder, which catches the bullet. It passes straight through – a major injury.
STORY: What do you do?
ALEJO: Alejo disarms Millie and subdues her. Or tries, fighting through the pain of yet another gunshot.
STORY: Let’s have a Launch Assault to see how well you manage!
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: @ablair01 rolled 4 + 1 = 5
ALEJO: –Mother!@@#@
TUELLER: “Loll, get out and crowd control.” Tueller doesn’t know what else is going on, but pops the hatch for Loll to get out.
STORY: You scramble for the gun, but you do so with your injured arm, so you end up batting feebly at Millie, who hangs on to her weapon.
TUELLER: Tueller’s still keeping his eye on the one guy he left standing.
STORY: T’chololl disembarks quickly. Tueller, let’s have a Command roll please to see how she does.
TUELLER: Command is influence, right?
STORY: Yep!
TUELLER: /roll 2d6
STORY: @chris.stuart rolled 7
TUELLER: “You getting anything useful out of the guy I left standing Doc?”
ALEJO: “She shot me!” Alejo has stumbled to the ground. He shouts to Tueller or anyone else listening. “Get her gun!”
STORY: Okay! T’chololl moves over to Millie, wrapping two arms around the doctor to pin down her arms, and using the other two to disarm Millie. Before she can pull the gun from her captain’s hands, Millie squeezes off a round straight down, into T’chololl’s kneecap. Both women scream and hit the ground, but Millie is pinned underneath Loll.
STORY: The guy who is left standing tries to climb the Samsa to attack you, Tueller.
STORY: What do you do?
TUELLER: “What?!?!” Tueller flinches, letting the guy on the Samsa, but floors it for about twenty feet and slams to a halt to shake the guy off.
TUELLER: Tueller’s shaking the guy off and then hitting him with the impact tool.
STORY: He flies off into the woods.
TUELLER: Flies off hard enough to put him down?
STORY: Oh yeah, he’s definitely dead somewhere out there in the darkness.
STORY: A beam from a flashlight hits the six of you.
STORY: It is too bright to see who is on the other end. “Who’s there?”
TUELLER: “Earthlings! Here for some fucking diplomacy!”
STORY: https://the-peregrine.obsidianportal.com/characters/rax
TUELLER: Good empath choice.
STORY: The light splashes down to the path. “Quickly! Get out of the woods! And for god’s sake, help us!”
ALEJO: Alejo flails a bit, but pulls his pistol free and levels it in the direction of the light.
TUELLER: “What the fuck is going on out here?”
TUELLER: Tueller maneuvers the Samsa back to support his team.
TUELLER: The Samsa scuttles back.
ALEJO: Alejo stands and goes to help Loll. “You okay? You got Millie?” He stays as alert as possible.
TUELLER: Softer, “What’s with the doc?”
TUELLER: “She hurt?”
ALEJO: “She’s not physically hurt.” Blood is streaming down Alejo’s suit.
STORY: Jenny moves in and grabs a zip tie from her pack, tying Millie’s arms behind her back.
STORY: “You okay, Loll?”
STORY: T’chololl nods. “I will survive. But I cannot walk.”
MILLICENT: Millie tries to bite the whole time, huge Joker-gas grin on her face
TUELLER: “Can you drive, Loll?”
TUELLER: Tueller gets off the controls and goes to see what’s happening himself.
STORY: T’chololl shakes her head from her position on the ground. She does her best to keep pressure on her knee.
TUELLER: “Shit.”
STORY: Tariq looks back towards the ship. “I can take her back, patch her up.”
STORY: “Cap, you ought to come too.”
TUELLER: “Doc’s gone crazy, Loll can’t walk, Ejo, you got shot too?”
ALEJO: He nods.
ALEJO: –How bad is the injury?
TUELLER: —Major is bad, but you should be able to use it, right?
STORY: major. You can function, but you ought to take it easy.
TUELLER: “The woods are apparently bad for our health.”
ALEJO: “We need Millie for this op.”
ALEJO: “No sense in half of us staying out in this death trap until we sort her out.”
TUELLER: “No, we gotta know what’s going on. I say we go further, talk to the sane people out there.”
STORY: The owner of the flashlight moves closer. “Are you hurt?”
TUELLER: “Yes, we’ve got a couple injuries, and one psycho.”
ALEJO: Alejo spins towards the flashlight, bringing the pistol up but not fully pointing it.
TUELLER: “What the fuck is going on?” Not angrily…at least not at the flashlight.
TUELLER: “Tariq, you want to get Loll back to the ship? You think you can do that on your own?”
STORY: Tariq does his best to get T’chololl to standing. There is some groaning on both sides.
STORY: The owner of the flashlight approaches you. “I’m Lt. Rax. Please – let me get your people back to your ship and I’ll explain.”
TUELLER: “Yes, let’s. This has not been the state dinner I was expecting.”
MILLICENT: Millie bites Tueller.