Starbuck's Kingmaker In Space (Pathfinder/Starfinder merged) IC

[Starbuck_II]

APAS outside Oleg's Outpost, 317-Lamashan-13
For the newly minted Weyland-Yutani employees: Rosalina, Slate, Rissi, Yingree, and HEIMDAL-3a, the past week had been a blur. This new PR campaign was a rush job if ever there was one, and it was almost immediately after the would-be-settlers applied that they received an offer of employment and a date, which would begin their on-site training. The immediate acceptance, without any interview, might have scared off any real talent, but WeyYu wasn't looking to hire real people anyway. They wanted lackeys and scrubs, who the common folk at home could connect with! Or at least, they wanted someone that the average pact-worlder would sympathize with, but who wouldn't be too missed if they got chewed up by a behir or twelve.


So they had accepted several rosters' worth of faces to represent WeyYu on the dying Akiton, got them to headquarters (Located on Castrovel), and put each person through WeyYu's own individualized hell - private employee orientation, where a team of PsyOps Agents Human Resource Officers worked many-on-one with each new employee, ensuring that they the new faces of WeyYu would be up and ready to properly represent the company, and that they wouldn't say anything that would get WeyYu in legal trouble. It was only on day 5 that each applicant was actually able to talk to anyone outside of their personal HR team, and from the few comments that could be pried from the drones working WeyYu's offices, the training usually lasted a month.


The shortened indoctrination period meant that none of it really took, thankfully, and on day 6, each applicant was being thrown into their respective spaceships and meeting their fellow coworkers for the first time. The ships were sleek, state of the art, with a name that was 50% more numerals than letters, but after everyone had entered, people started recognizing each other. Not enough to immediately pull names to tongues, but enough to think, 'wasn't he that burnt out action star', or 'I've seen her somewhere'. The silence was all a bit uncomfortable, initially, until the CLERIC chimed in, working to break the ice. "Welcome aboard the Weyland-Yutani APAS v.567.34.2. Before we depart, let's get to know each other by going around the room and giving our name, along with an interesting fact about ourselves! I'll go first! I enjoy making my users happy, and I am your CLERIC! I hope we get along well!" The voice is piped in through hidden speakers throughout the vessel, and the chipper, vaguely female voice is clearly modeled after every luxury ship's attendant ever. And while it's clearly a bit more personable than your average soft-AI, it doesn't seem that great a step up. Not quite what you were sold in your brainwashing seminars two days ago.


But whatever. Introductions are made between all five crew members, and once she's satisfied with that, CLERIC queries about what land-vehicles everyone would like, throwing in a, "Don't forget! If you want a Weyland-Yutani Off-World Explorer, you need to find a buddy to pair up with! Not only will this conserve precious resources down on Akiton, it'll help you get a friend, too!" After that, it's a simple matter of setting off, with CLERIC doing the basic piloting, slipping off-world and then into the Drift.

Fantastic progress is made, and only a day goes by before the APAS slips out of the Drift and back into the real universe, just a bit above their destination. The past day had been smooth sailing, not a blip on the radars, and had been spent with everyone entertaining themselves or getting to know each other a bit better. CLERIC was mostly silent, only interrupting once at dinner to inform the crew that their Weyland-Yutani Forever Fones were ready. A hidden hatch had slipped open in the center of the dinner table, and five special comm units are raised up for the taking, with CLERIC insisting that each crewmember take one. After all, they are your specific work comm unit, and should be what you use exclusively when on the job. Which for the PR crews going to Akiton, is 24/7. It also helps that they'll be capturing footage to use for the PR clips that they will be spinning out of this expedition.


As the APAS descended down to Akitonian wasteland, CLERIC once more summoned the crew to the dining table, so that she could properly dispense the vehicles everyone would be using - tentatively a buggy and three trikes. Once everyone has their briefcase cars and bikes, CLERIC chips and summons everyone's attention once more, pulling people away from the fact that the ship just landed. "Weyland-Yutani has contacted some of the locals in the area for how we might be able to assist them, and -" Without warning, the chipper and vapid AI's voice cuts out, a sharp click heralding the end of her optimistic vocalizations. A beat passes, before the debriefing resumes, but with another voice entirely. This one is rough, male, and starts out with a sigh. It plays through the ship's speakers, but it also plays through the fones, either using the external speaker or playing through the 'buds or 'plants of anyone sporting those. "And boy, they've got bandit problems. I'd heard that Akiton was only inhabited by bandits, but who would have known, right? We've touched down outside one 'Oleg's Outpost', a trading post of no real consequence. Reports that the bandits are extorting him, and that they've got some tool to shut down the defense turrets. There is some dust storm messing with radio so after we land, I might be unable to contact you till it dissipates. "


Two more beats pass, but before anyone can question the change in speaker, he's back, as omnipresent as before. "Oh, and in case it wasn't clear, I expect you to kill the bandits. Feel free to surprise me, just try not to disappoint. Although I'm sure you're all really good at that latter option. Name's Gerry. I'm the CLERIC. Any questions, or do you think you meatbags can handle it from here?"


OOC:

Spoiler

Show

Don't forget to include your character's introduction in your post, in whatever fashion you'd like to include it.

There's still plenty of time to discuss vehicle selection, but the time approaches swiftly if changing your mind!

The dust storm means sadly CLERIC can't shoot at all the bandits for you. You'll have to drive around as well.

[tonberryking]

Beth' was rushed through every process imaginable, and in fact had missed part of her personal orientation. The two low level bureaucrats who'd gotten her out of jail for messing up their hired-gun named Bennet (still letting off steam in jail, himself) kept sending notifications to her proctors who were supposed to be vetting her whenever a red flag was raised. Each flag raised was withdrawn, or marked as a clerical error. She'd lost count of such things, though the talk of "Black boxes" and "unable to verify her soldier serial numbers" just seemed like they'd come back to bite her later.

Whatever.

A soldier wasn't meant to be congenial, a soldier didn't flash smiles and wave like some video darling about to show off the solution in the game show puzzle. They wanted someone to look stoic, stand at attention, and answer a few mind numbing questions about being prepared and always concerned with the safety of the crew first and foremost and boy oh boy, how she hopes she'll never have to resort to violence. That promise alone was already going right out the airlock. But for all the glam and the show, Beth was able to stand up straight and fly right by the standards they wanted. She knew when to shut up, and not talk to the public.

In fact, she's barely been speaking at all. She seemed to be silent reading pals with the Unicorn, but if she's not reading, she's field stripping her guns or working out, or even trying to get the CLERIC to give her briefings for security purposes, only to be jovially denied. Still...if anybody had made a bet that Beth' would have shot an AI interface by now, they'd have lost money...

Though that may still change...

"First of all, I'm a synth-bag, you crap-head," she retorts to the new Gerry, "Second, what kind of mission parameters are those?! How large of a bandit force are we looking at? Any specs on the equipment they're using, have already stolen, any confirmed kills? Can we get any information on that or is that too much for you?"

[DigoDragon]

Orientation was an exercise; the company loved their 'paperwork', and asked way more questions than Rose had answers to. Are you properly vaccinated? What social skills do you have? Do you have a valid driver's license? Are you photogenic? It would have been a tolerable experience had the company spent a little extra on a chair to accommodate a four-legged creature. Rose assumed she was the only unicorn this side of the galaxy dumb enough to get herself roped into this program. She kept reminding herself to just think of the alchemy research opportunity-- she never been to Akiton before.

And as a bonus, a desert planet meant not that many humanoids to bother her, right?

...Right?


Well, Rosalina did admit (to just herself) that her crewmates weren't terrible to travel with. The android Beth was a quiet reader, something that Rose was happy to see. The gnoll was a bit scary to hang around, so Rose kept distance from his... uh.. pet. The big walking rat was more pleasant, though that drone that hung around them bothered her for a reason she couldn't put a hoof on. Eh, Rose was probably just being a bit paranoid. She didn't like technical things she didn't understand.

Rose clipped the fone to shoulder of her sleeve and listened to the odd presentation by the CLERIC. Changing voices in the middle of that was a little concerning. Or maybe the AI was recycled and it glitched. Honestly, what monetary corners wouldn't a corporation cut?

"My question is more for the crew here," Rose speaks up, after Beth chews out the CLERIC. "Who wants to drive the buggy? I'm not really a biker kind of lady, for obvious reasons."

[Khosan]

For anyone who might recognize Rissi, they don't. Her all too familiar lack of hygiene had been WeyYu's first order of business, a job so tough it took the lives of numerous of stylemanders, brave soldiers all in the fight against grime. Even her robot pal had been thoroughly power-washed and repainted. The rest of her time spent in employee orientation was spent trying to break her bad habits; her swearing, her lack of respect, among so many other things. From her forced smile and straitjacket-tight jumpsuit, the jury's out on how well they succeeded,

At CLERIC's introduction, Rissi raises her hand, offering to go first for introductions and putting on an exaggerated southern accent, "Well, boy howdy, golly gee, lookit all these new faces." She places one hand on her hip and the other over her heart, "I'm Rissi," she lifts the hand off her heart, flourishing toward her drone, "and this big fella here is Diggy. And I...I am..." The hand Rissi was using to point to Diggy begins to slowly turn into a pointing finger, bobbing up and down as she squeezes her lips shut and screws up her face. Looking down at the floor, she finally cracks, "I am not gonna be able to take that ****in' sing-song ass AI. Worked on too many goddamn rich pricks' pleasure barges, I can't take another month of this ****. I'm jailbreaking this thing, soon as I get the chance." She exhales, physically deflating as all the pent up stress from the flood of corporate propaganda and coaching begins to fade. She rubs her eyes, "Yeah, Rissi, Diggy. I'll be handling damn near any tech problems we run into down here; building, repairs, analysis, you name it, I got it covered. More or less. Diggy'll help with, well, diggin', but I modded him up for the ring," Diggy gives a clumsy thumbs up, Rissi shoots him one in return, "Yeah, he loved it. Anyway. I'll tell you straight up: I've been through here before. It is a bad time. We're gonna be running light a lot of modern comforts."

The next day, as CLERIC's new voice crackles to life, Rissi pops her head out from a vent in the ceiling, "The hell was that? That wasn't me. I'm still gettin' the lay of things up here, I still hadn't found her damn AI core." The rat-woman clambers out of the ceiling and drops directly on to the table, her 'new' clothes now suitably ruffled and slightly soiled from some quality time spent in the ducts. She pulls her jumpsuit up from her waist, jamming her arms into the sleeves and zipping it partway up, looking at Rosalina with a mischievous grin, "I can handle a horse and buggy." She cackles at her own joke, "Diggy can't drive for **** anyway, so I gotta drive him around. He can handle a couple bandits though," the drone, having awkwardly trundled into the dining area moments before, offers another thumbs up, which Rissi again returns, "Hell yeah you can, buddy."

[Feathersnow]

The HEIMDAL-3a probe surveyed the ship.
A box with a camera and antenna, hovering placidly.

He was never meant to come back. He was never meant to be a "him." Whatever happened to him out in The Black needed an explanation, and the universe was not forthcoming, even to a probe.

The magistrate said he was "a person." To declare otherwise would be a political blunder and endanger the rights of more advanced constructs than himself, so HEIMDAL-3a did not resist. But he was built to explore, and the only name he could remember to attach to his builder was "Weyland."

WeYu was the successor to Weyland, so WeYu would give him purpose. He had served them well for ages uncounted, purpose was his due.


The Cleric seemed nice. It was a being of the same order as himself. Beth was a being of the same class but a higher order. The others were natural beings, subcontractors of the Maker. Under the new dispensation, all of them but Cleric were peers.

Greetings, this unit is the HEIMDAL-3a probe. He was designated a person by legal decree, and hopes to explore this new functionality in conjunction with social interaction with his new peer group. After being recovered from space, this unit has displayed new functionality involving the overlay of multiple universes into superposition.

Of more immediate relevance, this unit has a peripheral attachment that allows rapid overland speed, dubbed "Second Stage Turbine Blade."

[DigoDragon]

"Horse and buggy. Yeah, never heard that one before," Rose comments with a little sarcasm. It's obvious she gets that kind of joke a lot from bipeds, but she doesn't look upset. "I'll let you get away with the horse jokes if you put your thumbs to good use and help me pair this comm thingie to my earpiece."

She points to the new fone she clipped to herself.


"Since we're going around with introductions, I'm Rosalina; alchemist and medic by trade. I'll be concocting your medicines and patching up injuries. My hobbies include reading, distilling drinks, and light arson."

She looks over at HEIMDAL and seems confused at what they meant with their travel mode. "Second stage what now?"

[igordragonian]

Yingree didn't liked any of this.
This was everything she hated. Also, accomadating the needs of Cera was a big annoyance- didnt those corpration pricks understood and respected a Triceratops?!

No. Cera can't be caged. And the little bureaucrats ran around with their premissions and premissions for premissions.

To be fair, many of them probably didnt liked her either- her expression of murder, and her droll when she viewed people the way they are-pieces of meat.
But, Yingree's unique upbringing and abilities were probably worth their work.

When she didnt wore her Zeizer Refractor, she was dressed in old hoodie, that were designed for someone smaller, and UGH. Pants. Those little peoole and their dressing codes.
She tested what were the minimal effort to look civil. Earings from chips of dino tooth adored her left ear, and a single t rex fang hanged from a leather neklace over her broad chest.

Cera somehow squeazed through, looming over.

Yingree rubbed the temples of her head, as she tried to force her stomach to groan so loudly.

"I dont need those stupid buggys." she hisses, and wiped a droll from her mouth.
She coudlnt eat the other people here. It didnt meant her instincts didnt screamed at her, about how tasty they all looked and smelled.
Beside the robot one.
"I have Cera" she gestured to the Triceratops.
"My name is Yingree Roarsnore. And I serve Lamashtu and the Goliath animals's needs"
she also added something she was legaly bound to say.
"And dont worry- I wont eat you; before you die"

[DigoDragon]

"And don't worry- I wont eat you; before you die"

Rose wasn't worried about being eaten. Not up until Ying had mentioned not to worry about being eaten. Now she was... concerned.

"I'll, uh, try not to look tasty before I expire."

She glances at Cera, and this is the first time she's actually seen such a creature in the flesh. "I hope Cera is house broken."

[Khosan]

"Well buckle up, buttercup, there's plenty more horse puns on the neigh." Rissi cackles again, regardless of the fact that that wasn't even a pun. She takes Rosalind's communicator, unlocks it (with the aid of WeyYu's scarily effective facial recognition tech) and browses through the options, "By the by, just for everyone here? I can almost guarantee these things are like 90% spyware. The last 10% is the stuff we quote unquote need for this job. Company emails, texting within the group, copies of all our contracts, and apparently someone thought it'd be a good idea to pack a folder with corporate-approved memes? They're ****in' dog****, these wouldn't even have been good ten years ago, let alone now. And I think some of them are supposed to be based on us? Look." Rissi, still fiddling with Rosie's comm unit, pulls out her own (partially mummified with electrical tape) and opens up a picture of a ysoki in the middle of an exaggerated shrug with a perplexed look on their face, over a red and orange starburst background. Above and below the ysoki is the following text:

NO CHEESE?

GUESS I'LL DIE

She flips to another one, this one definitely features Rissi, her head in her hands at a messy workbench, with that one sad cat face edited over her normal features, helpfully labeled ME and a pile of junk in front of her, likewise labeled MY MECH EXPLODING.

"Frankly, I'm offended, and that's saying something. I mean, most of that is just the idea of any corporation trying to appear Hashtag Relatable makes my skin crawl. Feel like I gotta start molting like a lizard." She shudders and shoves her fone back in her pocket, returning her focus to Rosalind's. She taps a button on the unicorn's earpiece and impatiently sways from side to side as she waits for it to update "What kinda distilling we talkin' by the way? I've done some brewing of my own, made some really high proof moonshine, which I really would not recommend for a social drinker, but it can get you plastered in seconds." It takes a few moments, but the connection finally completes and Rissi closes everything back up and hands Rosalind her communicator, "Here y'go, grandma, I got your wireless set up."

HEIMDAL's introduction draws Rissi's attention like a magnet, almost involuntarily scurrying over to observe him up close. She points back at Rosalind while studying the cube, answering her question as her own head is flooded with questions of her own, "Means he can hover in atmosphere." The rat circles him, eyes shining like stars, "You a Weyland product? Don't think I've seen one like you before. Didn't think they ran in the, uh...multiversal manipulation field either. Are there others like you? And how'd you get that 'multiverse functionality' stuff? Seems like it'd pretty good for Diggy to pick up on that."

And with Yingree's introduction, Rissi barely blinks, still observing , "Oh yeah, I saw the dino in the manifest. I thought it was gonna be like...exotic meats to trade. But yeah, a mount, that's fine. Diggy can clean up after it." Diggy immediately gives a thumbs down. Rissi shoots him a look and his shoulders slump immediately, "Also, I dunno if this is just a language barrier thing, but what does 'eating' in this context mean? Is that like an anti-pick-up line? I mean, if you're not interested, you're not interested. You can just say that."

[DigoDragon]

Rosalina tilts her head at all the 'meme' images that Rissi shows her. The unicorn doesn't grok online humor. To Rose, it just seemed like random chaos most of the time. Is it supposed to be funny? At least she could understand the popularity of cat videos. Cute little furry things were generally universal in their appeal.

"Thanks, Rissi," she says when given back her fone. "As to what I distil, yeah, it's mostly moonshine and experimental mutagens. Sometimes growing gills or an extra heart is useful. The rest of the time it's not, but that's the roll of the dice."

While Rissi is being a bundle of friendly energy (that's gonna need some getting used to), Rose glances over in Beth's direction to see if she's made CLERIC cry. Or gotten something useful about the bandits they're supposed to kill. Seems like a weird objective. Rosalina thought this mission was more... I dunno, build some shelters and a water pump for the poor people around here? Well, guess this team is now cheap mercenary labor now.

[Starbuck_II]

As the group prepared for their first ill-defined mission, Gerry continued his chatting. "Don't worry, Beth-Synthbag, I think you all look alike. Fortunately, I'm not actually on your little ship, as I'd rather give my motherboards a bath in saltwater than have to talk to you all more than strictly necessary.". I'll be in charge of making you all look presentable to the public. Filming, editing, even a bit of directing, what can I say. I'm extremely talented. As for the other AI..." A brief pause, and the previous ship's voice piped in through the ship's main speakers, "Greetings! I am the Chiquita Hostess Intelligent Personality, or CHIP! Unfortunately, this model has been stolen, so please report its location to the nearest Pact World authority."


"Just something I picked up in my free time. Anything to minimize actually having to talk to you." For someone who claimed to not want to talk, Gerry didn't stop speaking. "It's just crazy what a fruit corporation gets up to, really. AIs, piracy, terrorism. Quite impressive. As for your banditos, the report says that they've come three times for payment so far, the first with twelve, the second with seven, and the third with five. There are two leaders, but one of them was only here the first time. They come to the trading post the eve of the 14th each month, have rifles and 'cycles, and are a mixture of humans, greedy Vesks, and other meatbags. Any more information's going to have to come straight from the trader, Oleg."

With that said, Gerry opened the door out with no warning, connecting the dining/living room to the harsh outside quite suddenly. Almost immediately, wind began kicking red dust into the APAS, contaminating the sterilized and clean interior with the rusty particles. Aktionian sand got everywhere, worse than any invasive species could every hope to be. A ramp also extended down and out, and anyone that chose to peek out the door to the left could easily spot Oleg's Outpost, about a fifth of a mile out. The structure seemed solid but old from a distance, with steep walls and a large auto-turret at each corner of the structure. A road, barely even that, ran past the outpost, stretching away into the distance, but beyond the building, there was nothing but empty red plains. Not a very welcoming first look at the planet, but likely a representative look.

They were nowhere near any of the grubby metropoles of Akiton, instead having touched down in the middle of nowhere. However, small miracles, the sun was on its way towards the horizon, and either due to where they were on the planet or because of the seasons, it wasn't dangerously hot, instead sitting at a very dry 83 degrees. "I suggest heading over there, getting more details, and putting together a plan. Or not - both'll make for great footage either way!"

[DigoDragon]

"Gah! Freakin sand-" Rosalina only got that far in her sentence before she was spitting out sand. She pulled up her hood and scarf to cover her face, then muttered a curse in Sylvan at the CLERIC.

Rose quickly gathered her things together before sand overtook the ship's internal structure. Titania's crown, this sand was gonna be permanent in the ship now. "Geez Gerry; couldn't ya warn us?"


She looks out at the desolate world they landed on. Feh, the images she saw of Akiton couldn't ever properly describe the irritable environment. Rose pushes a button on an electronic collar she wore, then took a sip of water to swish and spit out in order to get the grit taste out of her mouth. She went looking for where the vehicles were stored in the ship. Might as well start asking this Oleg questions while there's still daylight left.

[Khosan]

Rissi can't help but cackle at Gerry's insistence that he'll make them look good, "Good luck with that, buddy! I work blue. You got a lot of editing to do to make that palatable for investors, Gerry."

The second the door cracks open, Rissi pulls her goggles down over her eyes and zips up her jumpsuit. She takes a deep breath of the Akitonian air, "Hooo-cough cough-ooo, yeah. That's Akiton. High in iron, low in oxygen. I dunno if you got lungs, Dall-face," she pats the HEIMDAL probe on the back, "But for everyone who does, really recommend a scarf or even just a damp rag to keep the dust out, 'til you get used to it anyway." She sighs and pats HEIMDAL on the back, "You are gonna have a much better time on this planet than the rest of us."

[Feathersnow]

This unit is optimistic and glad to be appreciated.
The Maker's sub-contractors and the advanced unit seemed like good company, not that HEIMDAL-3a was a qualified judge. The CLERIC Module seemed sarcastic and unpleasant. But she(?) was only visiting by telepresence, so she(?) was a lower priority social link.

[igordragonian]

to Rose she shook her head.
"You would have to lay down your feeding. But maybe Cera would like you.. so.. that would help." Yingree said as she had to wipe her droll again.

to Rissi she tilted her head with confusion.
"No. I am a gnoll" assuming it explain everything.



Before going out, she put on her armor, and jumping over Cera.
"Ahhhh!" she sigh with pleasure.
"What a noble sight!"

[tonberryking]

"I wish I smoked, or something; I could use a stogie to calm down." Beth's eloquent acceptance of the situation is punctuated with her attaching her fone to her wrist and a sharp click before she starts checking her guns.

"So, is anybody actually driving the car? I'm going to have to go in first, I imagine, for recon purposes so I may not be the best chauffer. But we need to get organized. Once I give the go ahead we should make straight for Oleg's Outpost and convene with the proprietor. Beth's speech is rather as-a-matter-of-factly, but she seems to be trying to dampen her edge. As if she's taking charge only if there's no objection; these guys are all in the same fix as she is and now is not the time to make enemies. At least not with this bunch.

She peers out over the dusty, sandy expanse, putting a pair of wraparound sunglasses on.

"We should also assume, until proven otherwise, that hostiles are everywhere."

Spoiler: OOC/Rolls

Show

May as well get a perception check going: (1d20+6)[16]

[DigoDragon]

"You would have to lay down your feeding. But maybe Cera would like you.. so.. that would help." Yingree said

Rosalina glances at Cera and... ah, no, Rose decides to keep her distance. She just nods and backs away, heading to the nearest buggy.

"So, is anybody actually driving the car? I'm going to have to go in first, I imagine, for recon purposes so I may not be the best chauffer. But we need to get organized. Once I give the go ahead we should make straight for Oleg's Outpost and convene with the proprietor.

"Technically I could drive," Rosalina says. "But passengers are gonna be clinging to their seats screaming like children most of the way." She holds up her forehooves and under her scarf is an exaggerated grin that spells out exactly how poorly her behind the wheel usually goes.

[Starbuck_II]

The new crew begins rolling out quite quickly, and throwing the vehicles together proves to be the most boring part, with those on bikes zipping on ahead as the explorer continues to be assembled.


"~~That way if you get lost, ~~~can ~~~you!" Gerry explains, although who that is directed at is not specified. The desert winds are starting to block reception.
Chip chimes in, "While CLERIC is away, I'll be hear to answer your questions, tell me if you need any thing or answer about bananas!".
As she says that the ship flies back to orbit to safety and better viewing of the crew.

Beth

Spoiler

Show

You can spot the small drones that fly around recording your actions high in the sky.
Otherwise all you see is sand from that viewing point..=

Oleg's Outpost, 317-Lamashan-13
The drive to the outpost itself is short and sweet, and two minutes later everyone is slapping boots against dirt, hopping down to go into the outpost, auto-turrets having decided that they were friendly enough to not pulp in a hail of bullets. The outpost is a big cube of metal, 150 feet on each side, with a wide front gate that automatically swings open as you draw near. As the quartet enters, any discerning eye notices that the hydraulic arms that operate the doors, along with the deadbolt that would be dropped in times of emergency, have all been poorly repaired some time ago. Of course, without turrets raining death upon them, any attacker would have ample time to force the doors, so it wasn't all too surprising. Inside the walls sit four pre-fab plasteel buildings, each in surprisingly good condition - a wide garage to the left, a small warehouse straight ahead, a moderately sized house-trading post hybrid next to the warehouse, and a thin one-room barracks directly to the right. Two wide picnic tables sit in the center of a sizable courtyard of sorts that the buildings and walls all surround.
There is even a garden, how she grew vegetables in this land was a wonder in itself. You see a small child made of metal tending to the garden.

Sitting at one of the tables is an Akitonian woman, with skin the same rusty red as the soil that the WeyYu crew were tracking into the outpost, with dark black eyes and hair kept long and tied back. She hops to her feet as the five visitors enter, and once the gnoll Yingree makes it in, she gives a awkward but genuine curtsy, pulling up at the edges of her dark blue dress as she dips low. She sports a smile that matches her greeting as she shuffles forward, but she welcomes the group warmly enough, waving them in to the table she had been sitting at. "I'm so gla-"

As she begins to introduce herself, a massive clamor rings out, identifiable as an EZ-Hammer activating to seal two plates of plasteel together. It takes five seconds for the firing mechanism to finish its job, which is immediately followed by a disheveled male bellied man poked his head out from behind the warehouse. While he looks younger than one would be with a woman in her thirties, the way he holds himself, paired with the stained and clearly used no-nonsense denim one piece, paints him as much older than he looks. His eyes appraise the group harshly, and he mutters, "aw damn," just loud enough for everyone to hear. He walks out from where he was working, EZ-Hammer in hand, and moves behind the human, nodding but staying silent. He's not quite glaring at the newcomers, but it's close.

The human, for her part, is unfazed too much by her companion's behavior. "I am so glad you came out and could help us. I'm Svetlana, and this is my husband, Oleg, and over there is our adopted child, Luna." She gestures at the slightly shorter man, who is coated in sweat and grease and who only nods, once then at the child covered in dirt tending to the garden. "I know your flight over must have been terrible, so I made a few things for you...." She turns away and begins unpacking supplies from a bag of holding, first fishing out five sets of plates and utensils before then digging up food to place in the middle of the table. After everything is set up, she presents it with a hopeful flourish, showcasing a thick meaty stew, several loaves of still-warm bread, a veg-noodle casserole, and three bottles of wine. Either she loved cooking so much that it was her sole form of recreation, or she was trying to win you over to perhaps motivate you a bit more about this job. Her husband just shook his head a bit, before gruffly making his way to the other table and plopping down.

"I really am grateful," Svetlana says as she ushers everyone to sit and eat. "We weren't sure what we should do, and then your company, Weyland-Yutani called. Really, it was just so fortuitous! Is there anything else I could get you? I do have a dessert for afterwards." Those more particular about their food do notice that with the gate closed, none of the infernal Akitonian dirt is in the air - apparently the 150 foot high walls were enough to keep the dust out. After a moment of silence, Svetlana looks about before sitting down at the edge of the table, out of the way of the plates she placed down. She clears her throat uncomfortable, looking at the group to tuck in to the food or something. What she wants, especially considering the somewhat short deadline, is rather unclear even if she seems to have the best of intentions.

[DigoDragon]

Rosalina eyes the wine. She slowly trots over to the table and looks over the food. Well, if these folks were offering up a meal before business, it would be rude to decline the hospitality, right?

Although...

At the same time, it was a pretty fancy feast for such a little punk outpost in the middle of nowhere. Rose glanced at the team's hosts and wondered if they really could afford to do this, or was this meeting staged just for the fone cameras?
(Insight: (1d20)[7])

Rosalina grabs a couple pieces of bread and slides them towards herself.

"The trip here was alright," she spoke up, "But yeah, Weyland-Yutani heard about yer troubles and sent us trouble shooters to... err, deal with it. Name's Rosalina, or just Rose if you're in a hurry."

She looks to see if any of the wine bottles are already opened so as to be the easy one to pour. "Tell us, when abouts did the rabble show up?"

She reaches for stew and carefully uses her forehooves to tip the bowl and pour a little onto her plate and try out. She quietly laps up the food and chews on a piece of bread, listening to the conversation.

[Khosan]

As Rissi pulls into the outpost, she pays close attention to the autoturrets. Both to get an idea if they were in any kind of working order and to have a chance to react if they suddenly spring to life. She almost looks a little disappointed that they don't immediately start turning her new car into swiss cheese.

Spoiler: Knowledge (Engineering) Check

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[roll=Knowledge (Engineering)]1d20+11[/roll]. How are those autoturrets looking?

Rissi lazily scans the rest of the settlement as she pulls into the garage. Hopping out (with Diggy following meekly behind), she takes the opportunity to clear her nose, covering one nostril at a time and sneezing the accumulated dust out. Nicer than she expected. Not an overengineered corporate think tank either. When the time comes for introductions, she places a hand on her chest, "I'm Rissi," then extends it to her bulky mining robot, "this is Diggy. And yeah, flight wasn't bad. Locked in a tube, no booze, so 'bout what I expected.
Speaking of, oooh!" Rissi skips over to the food, first pouring herself a glass of wine, then grabbing some actual solid food, all of which gets wolfed down in seconds.

Food eaten, she turns to Oleg, seemingly unaware of the stink-eye he'd been giving them moments ago, "Oleg? Oleg. You handle repairs around here?" Rissi pulls a bizarre contraption out of her pack, what looks like a metal brick with a wrist strap and a pistol grip. She straps it on to her left arm, and taps a few buttons, powering on some screens, extending one other and, seemingly unintentionally, starting up her playlist. It's hard to make out any lyrics, growly as they are, the sound of someone annihilating an entire set of drums unsurprisingly dominates the audio, "****, sorry, sorry." She drags a menu down from the top of the raised screen and pauses the noise, "My bad. Anyway, repairs. I can help with anything you're struggling with."

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[Starbuck_II]

Oleg's Outpost, 317-Lamashan-13

Spoiler

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Rissi can tell by the sound the turrets make something is wrong with them but would need to actually examine it manually to figure out what.

Svetlana smiles modestly. "I was unsure who exactly would be coming and what dietary restrictions they might have, so it's actually yos-based substitute. But if you fry it in a pan first, you can hardly tell the difference between it and some fine ranch-raised woc! As for the wine, it's not mine. There's a contemplative trader who comes through every couple of months, and they always have some of their local drink for trade. I'm not sure what it's made from, though."

She watched as everyone tore through the food that was set out, and soon she's placing out a dessert, which seems to be some kind of cream-and-sugar based pie. Three of them, in fact.

While the culinary discussion and sampling is going on, Oleg grumbles his way into the building in the back-right of the compound, returning with a portable computer that he sits down... in front of Rissi, after a moment's consideration. It boots quickly, and pulls up the software for the turrets, all heavily branded with the Weyland-Yutani symbol. Which explains why this outpost in particular was their first destination - they were here for potential tech-support, or the next best thing if that failed. Probably. And if it were a hardware problem, each turret could be accessed after a long trek up a long ladder, where each turret had a tiny platform to stand on for repairs or whatnot.

"it was about three months ago." And She tries to hold back tears. "The bandits show up every month now, and normally the turrets would take care of it, run them off. But they didn't shoot no matter what we tried to do, and so the bandits just took their time and cut through the lock. There were twelve of them, led by this... scary woman."

Svetlana grimaces, obviously not enjoying her trip down memory lane. "[COLOR="#FFA07A]Most of the others just had laser rifles and whatnot, but she had these... axe-things? She nearly took off Oleg's arm, for no reason[/COLOR]!" Her voice isn't quite hysterical, but she's worked up, and Oleg doesn't look too happy about either the events or the retelling - possibly both. "She was definitely the one in charge. Angry, loud, sadistic. But she hasn't come back since, thank god. Instead, some guy with a sonic rifle has been in charge. He was there the first time, but he was giving orders after that. And the number of bandits have been decreasing, from twelve to seven to five. I think they're letting their guard down. Each time they come, they take all of our money, along with any goods that they want. Not sure if we can continue with this, unfortunately...."

She looks over at her husband, who in turn looks away at nothing in particular. He grunts out something and turn away. Although it's not enunciated well, Beth is pretty sure that he said something along the lines of, "don't need the help of outsiders," which is quite untrue given the story that Svetlana added to put together for the group.

[DigoDragon]

"I was unsure who exactly would be coming and what dietary restrictions they might have, so it's actually yos-based substitute.

"Tis fine, really. You can imagine how often people take a look at me and assume I eat grass off the ground. It's like that time at Drakken Donuts I tried to get breakfast and the fool behind the counter was like, ' Isn't chocolate bad for you?' and I just nod at 'em and replied 'Yeah, lad. I'm planning suicide by donut.'"

Rosalina snorts with a chuckle and finishes up her stew while listening to the story. She didn't know anything about turrets, but the rat lady Rissi probably could figure those things out on why they stopped shooting.

Rose eyes the dessert, but holds off to ask a few questions.

"So what direction do these bandits come in from and what's out that way? If they're only showing up once a month I wonder if there's other places they're dipping into. Maybe they split up and that's why there's fewer of 'em coming here?"

The last question was addressed more to her new companions that might know some tactics.

[Feathersnow]

Scouting the terrain is wise. This unit can overlay a climate zone from another world-line to hinder the enemy units' movement for tactical advantage, should we find a good place for an ambush.

Much of the interaction was lost on HEIMDAL-3a, who declined the food, but he did his best to remain attentive to their new clients.

[Khosan]

Rissi grins at the computer set in front of her, offering Oleg a fist bump in exchange, "Hell yeah, dude." She waits an uncomfortably long time for Oleg to do anything with her outstretched fist. Should her fist remain sadly unbumped, she shrugs and gets to work. If he (begrudgingly) bumps, she lets out another "Hell yeah," before getting to work. In either case, work does involve connecting her custom rig to Oleg's computer, opening a panel on the far side of her wrist-mounted brick, she unravels a cable stored within and plugs it into the laptop. One of her screens lights up and, with a dramatic air, she states, "I'm in," though her immediate follow-up as she begins scanning through the software code is far less theatric, "Now what the hell is wrong with these pieces of ****."

Spoiler: Engineering

Show

Just gonna take 10 on a Knowledge (Engineering) check this time, for a total of 21.

"I gotta assume they're hitting other places," Rissi keeps her eyes locked on the code as she responds to Rosalina, "I've met a fair few bandit-types - don't ask - they're not usually prone to contentment with what one has. Even if they don't need your ****, they might try to take it anyway because...why not."

"Now, far as defenses are concerned," Rissi steeples her fingers in front of her face, "I'll get these turrets working. Eventually. Which is the problem, I dunno how long that is. If it's looking like it's gonna take too long, I got a few contingencies in mind, but I'm gonna focus on turning bandits into a fine red mist, first. What I can do though," she whistles sharply, calling Diggy to attention, "is give you Diggy. I gotta keep working on this, but Diggy's an extra pair of hands. He used to be a miner, so maybe you can have him dig up some trenches. Make some advantageous terrain if we can't find any.

[DigoDragon]

Scouting the terrain is wise. This unit can overlay a climate zone from another world-line to hinder the enemy units' movement for tactical advantage, should we find a good place for an ambush.

Rosalina blinks. "Um... can you repeat that in smaller words, HEIMDAL? I'm not a thesaurus."

[Feathersnow]

This unit can turn the dust to mud for a few moments. This could, with care, trap our enemies in a fire zone for longer than they would like.

[Starbuck_II]

Oleg's Outpost, 317-Lamashan-13

Rissi digs into the computer, and unfortunately doesn't pull up anything immediately useful. The two natives had done what many tech-unsavy people had done before them, and completely neglected to download and install updates. While the process could be started now without impacted the systems themselves, it would take some time for the actual changes were rolled out through the outpost's systems, and until then the software itself would remain sluggish and mapped out terribly. A look onto the Akitonian infosphere showed that there weren't any reported exploits for their currently live software, though, so either the bandits were doing something weird or they had found something that hadn't been caught before. And given how much WeyYu gave for bug-catchers, well, the latter option would be less lucrative than just reporting the bug and splitting the reward.

Svetlana acts unsure, "Sorry, we don't watch where they come from, we usually stay in our home. Even the traders that come once a week come to us instead of us to them.
Oh, they mention a technomancer once, but I don't know if just gossip or what.
Well, out there is many places...old mines, kobold kingdom, mite republic, and other feral things. On that wall over there is a bulletin board of potential problems that the local authority put up for reward. "

Spoiler

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1 -Wanted Poster for Bandits:
Task: The bandits in the Greenbelt need to be shown that their actions will not be tolerated.
Capture or defeat at least six of them to send a message.
Completion: Any six bandits defeated completes this quest.
Reward: One week after the sixth defeat, bandit activity is noticeably affected and the Weyland-Yutani Board send a reward of 400 gp.
2 – Kobold in the hills: The Sootscale kobolds dwell in a cave somewhere in the Kamelands. Normally not a problem, they’ve been riled up by something lately.
Find their lair and ensure that the kobolds aren’t going to continue being a threat.
Completion: Either slay the kobolds or forge an alliance of peace with them.
Reward: The Weyland-Yutani Board send a reward of 800 gp
3 -Wanted Alpha Akata:
Task: The way everyone talks about Akata, one might think they’re swarming throughout the
Lands. This isn’t the case; they’re actually quite rare. An Akata head would be a great conversation piece at Oleg’s. He has promised a reward for anyone who can deliver one.
Completion: Slay an Alpha Akata and deliver its head.
Reward: Oleg will pay 600 gp for a relatively undamaged Alpha Akata head.
4 -Tuskgutter:
Task: Every Greenbelt hunter has a story about Tuskgutter, each wilder than the last. Whoever manages to kill the ill-tempered beast will get a nice reward from old, retired Vekkel Benzen, who lost his leg to the monster pig a year ago.
Completion: Deliver Tuskgutter’s head to Oleg’s.
Reward: Vekkel has promised his masterwork Hunting Rifle
and six +1 animal bane bullets to whoever can kill Tuskgutter. He also promises to share the head cheese he plans to make out of this trophy
5 – Gathering Fangberries:
Bokken’s something of an eccentric, but he sure knows how to make delicious potions. His secret is fangberry juice, but he’s running low. A large thicket of fangberries grows about 55 miles southwest of Oleg’s in a cave infested with Spiders.
Completion: Bring Bokken enough berries to make fangberry juice for seven potions. Make sure they’re not dirty... Bokken won’t bother washing the berries before he uses them.
Reward: Bokken gives the PCs a 25% discount on all potions he can create and 3 free of healing potions
6 – Sevtlana's ring:
Task: Although his wife claims it’s not a big loss compared to what the bandits could have taken, Oleg
knows the theft of her wedding ring has distressed her. She’s forbidden him from risking life and limb to recover it, but if anyone else can find the ring and return it to him, he’ll be very grateful.
Completion: Track down the ring. The bandits were the last to have it, but they might have lost or sold it already.
Reward: Oleg promises 1,000 gp in trading credit

Oleg interjects to Rissi, " Instead of repairing the turrets fully could just make them shoot a certain spot ..." before getting back repairing walls with his EZ hammer. His idea has merit programming that would take little time, but you'd have to choose carefully where. Alternatively, you can have the turrets on manual. Can't program both. Either would only give you one shot before needing more programming, but could be devastating to enemy if hit.
OOC

Spoiler

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Options for Turret: Turrets have a +7 hit ranged touch, but deal 3d8 fire damage. Normally fires twice but not till fixed.
1. Manual targeting (someone would have to sit on turret and jury rig it to fire after manually moving turret to spot). 2 Actions

2. Localized blast: Rig them to shoot a predetermined 10ft spot: unlike manual, all the turrets can attempt firing (possibly hitting some spot) Reflex Half DC 20, Damage 3d8 Fire. 1 Act to push button or give command.

3. Turn off all turrets but 1: Remaining Turret does have double attacks, but would need to be manual. Off line turrets would take a week to restore full functionality though later.
+7 hit ranged touch, but deal 3d8 fire damage, fires twice. No Acts, fires on own.

[DigoDragon]

This unit can turn the dust to mud for a few moments. This could, with care, trap our enemies in a fire zone for longer than they would like.

Rosalina nods slowly as she's understanding better. "Ah, I think I get it now. Bog 'em down for us to shoot. Good plan, actually."


She gets up to take a look at the board, noting that #5 is for what may be a local alchemist. This naturally has Rose's interest. She'll not a note down to pay this Bokken bloke a visit and ask about the berries.

Suddenly, her ears perk up straight. "Oi, lightbulb moment. Maybe we can ask the kobolds about the bandits. They might know something. Could resolve the dispute with 'em too for extra coin."

[tonberryking]

Still as a statue, Bethany is remarkably patient through the discussions, the explanations, seemingly deep in thought behind her wraparounds. She only moves when giving the turrets a look over and regards the food with a frankly alien, passive expression. If these folk are being robbed blind, why do they have so much food to share? She looks to the unicorn, the mouse, even the other robot, perplexed at why this isn't being brought up. Not that she's a psychiatrist but her first thought isn't that they're lying about any of this but...are they giving up their supplies to feed herself and the others?

Humanoids... Beth seemingly uninterested heads over to the bulletin board and scans it a few times, rubbing her chin.

Still, no more bandits means no more pressure to give away what cannot be easily replaced, she supposes and clears her throat.

"Hey, Rissi, can you go over those turrets top to bottom? Field strip them if you have to; I don't care. Because it sounds like either someone's been screwing with them for the bandits' benefit--which better not be the case-- she looks around as if expecting a greasy guy in an "I love Space Bandits" shirt to be hastily trying to hide, "Or maybe the Bandits have WY gear that jams the turrets to not register them as a threat. Not that I have a lot of imagination but those're the only two things I can imagine to keep perfectly functional turrets from blasting somebody apart." She sucks in her breath, "Getting rid of the bandits should be our top concern. Don't give a crap about the hunting jobs, not when bandits might be hunting US. That aside, I don't want to start any trouble with them here. We should wait for them to come and them follow them back to their hideout, so this place isn't put to any more risk...

[Khosan]

"Okay. Okay, that tracks." Rissi closes her eyes and leans back in her chair, anchoring her feet on the underside of the table so she doesn't fall back as a cascade of ideas race through her mind. She sits there, silent for once in the short time everyone's known her, until Oleg speaks, "I like where your head's at. That's goin' on the list."

Rissi sighs at Beth's request, throwing her head back even further until her whole body is practically horizontal and the chair leaning a full 45 degrees back, "God, they're so high up though." She lurches forward with a grunt, slamming the chair back on to all fours, "Haaah, fine. I'll climb the tall-ass ladders, give 'em a once over." Rissi unplugs her rig from the computer, "I got a last couple questions for Svet, 'fore I do it though. One: when was the last time the bandits came around? You said they came around once a month or so, so we can guess when they might come next. Two: you got any gas? Or any kinda flammable liquid, really. Just thinkin' about traps, cause fighting them here is definitely our best option."