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>>33473423
She shrugs, "Not really no. Just heard tales of 'armed evacuations' as a kid. Me and my folks were far too out in the ruins for the reclamation to get near us quickly."

"What exactly happened there?" You ask, curiosity piqued.

"From what I understand long time ago it used to be a utopian megacity, something for everyone, catch was it ate the souls of those who lived there. Then a snake blew it up. No offence." Marie says with a grimace.

"None taken."

"Anyway, now we've got a the ruins of the city, half of which is submerged underwater, and those that survived with noplacce to live. So what do they do? Build right on top of where they were. Using materials dredged from the water to make a larger harbor to ship goods in. Gone were the fancy architecture and grandiose buildings, simple, modular, bloody boring to look at if you ask me. Anyway, with that many people space was a problem, and while since then they've managed to figure out housing, building off the old easily, they still have tenements on the outskirts. Even 500 years hasn't been enough to completely clear the damage and have room for everyone."

"Sheesh, so a group of them moved into the ruins?"

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>>33473447
"Pretty much yeah, some of the original people who fought against the old soul eating city from within went into the far outskirts and formed their own little commune, other people followed suite. Soon you've got people basically squatting and squeezing a living any way they can. That said, with this sort of manpower and a vastly better protected harbor, it becomes a fairly big industrial powerhouse. Now you've got to make space for factories and such and you've got people living in prime developing land. Queue the local government flogging off property rights to these companies provided they build in the same modular design. Those displaced are moved to the tenements, which are arguably worse than where they were. Its a crap situation from what I heard, but like I said, I was too far out to have run into that. Took nearly a bloody week just got get into New Citadel."

"Did you run into those that you said formed their own commune?"

Marie is quiet for a while, "The shadows? Yeah something like that. Oh, look there's South Fork."

The rest of the ride is silent as you pass through the town in the dead of night, Marie focusing on navigating the road toward the ranch. You pull in just as the darkness is beginning to fade into the grey of dawn.

>Check in with with the hands and soldiers
>Head to bed, its nearly morning.

>>33473474
Are the hands and soldiers awake?
It's fucking late. If they're awake, say hi, and wish them well. Then get to bed.
If they're not awake, get to bed anyway.

>>33473667
Also, maybe set ourselves some kind of wake-up call, on account of not wanting to sleep the literal entire day.

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Rolled 3

>>33473699
>wake up call.
Mind giving me a d20 roll then?

Rolled 7

>>33473921
Sure why not. See if we wake up today or tomorrow.

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Rolled 3

>7

You see one of the guards standing guard near the porch who gives you a nod as you enter. "Captain Keel went back into town. Something about paperwork. Sergeant has turned in. Good to see you Miss Masterson."

You thank him for his service and head inside, before calling to Marie "Make sure I don't sleep the day away alright?"

"No promises." She says through a yawn.

Slithering upstairs you head straight toward your room. You don't even bother to undress and opt to fling yourself onto the bed, you are out before you even hit the pillow.

You don't recall any dreams when something twitching pulls you from your sleep. Through bleary, half lidded eyes you catch sight of movement off the side of the bed. Waking up you find yourself half on the ground, and Tai ineffectually trying to prise himself from your coils. He looks up at you, "A-afternoon Miss Sasha."

Right...

>?

>>33473423
Don't forget your bloody Quest tag in the title if this is going to be a quest. Everyone's going to jump on you. Sage for effect.

>>33475132
Oh damnit.
Apologize to Tai. We thought we were in our room.

Wait, are we in our room?
Tai, what were you doing in our room?

After pleasantries, we should get another party together to go out to the villages as discussed. Though, we had planned on bringing keel with us. Which leads to problems.

We either leave the ranch understaffed, or we go with a three person party instead of a four person one.

Ask the soldiers if keel's paperwork has anything to do with holding them on for a bit longer. If so, consider taking one. If not, we might just have to go with veles and mccain to the villages.

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>>33475167
Yeah, my bad. Been away a while and forgot the subject/name cleared up. Apologies.

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You hurriedly uncoil yourself from around the man, and straighten your clothes out. "Sorry, Tai. I thought I was in my room. Wait, this is my room, what were you doing in my room?"

He scratches the back of his neck. "Well, Miss Marie said you asked for a wakeup, it got delegated to me."

"Are you alright? You should have said something." You say, trying to hide your embarrassment.

"Was ok once I got you out from around my ribs, besides didn't want you tightening."

"What time is it anyway?"

"Well, I came up at around eleven, and it is..." He looks at the clock, "going on one."

"You were stuck for two hours and nobody came to look for you?"

"Oh no they did, but McCain started laughing."

You grumble at that, but excuse yourself to change, hurrying Tai downstairs. Even up in your room you can hear McCain's laughter as the hapless pheonix man makes his way toward the stable where the colt is. You spend some time making yourself presentable before heading outside where you see Captain Keel talking with some of his men.

Approaching him, he hands you a set of papers in a sealed folder. "Stuff for your friend Veles to sign, gives him rights to the land. Its a rush job, technically makes the mountain a sovereign microstate, but given the length of time he's been there and what's on the other side, last thing I need is a land rush sparking a war with those centaurs and us."

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>>33476084
You take the papers in hand and ask him, "Were you planning on going with us again?"

"If you want, not sure where you were planning on heading, just need to oversee my men heading back, despite being on furlough. Makes everything seem good, you know?"

"Right, well, we ought to get another party and head back across as soon as possible, I'm just worried about the ranch being understaffed, especially if another incident happens."

"I understand, I've 'advised' my Sergeant to step up patrols on the southern part of UFK lands here, should be sufficient. Besides, we still have the office in south fork."

"Thank you for that, and the rest of the supplies we had at the tunnel?"

"Had a couple go and get them last night, set them near that magic gateway device. Will take me a bit to get going wanted to keep your informed." He says, gesturing to the boxes stacked near the rear of the corral.

"Well thanks, I appreciate it." You say, in which he gives a salute and heads off toward the nitor soldiers.

It is early afternoon.
>Get these papers to Veles.
>Plan out where and who you are going with.
>Handle prospective buyers for the colt
>Check in with the hands.
>Other?

>>33476109
We'll deal with that colt after our visit to the villages and we get all this shit made public knowledge.

Let's check in with our ranch hands a bit first, to tell them they did a great job last time we left them in charge, and we plan on doing it again. Then get the papers to veles.

Our party will probably be the exact same one as last time. Unless McCain wants to stay behind this time, then we could bring marie. She wanted to go.

So I guess the gist of all that is
>Get these papers to Veles
with a bit of conversation on the way out.

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You watch the soldiers head out before heading to where you see McCain tending to the horses, including the few that you 'acquired' back when the rustlers were driven off. "You could have helped Tai."

"Not my place to stop you when you grab a man, Miss." He says, still focusing on his work.

"You know that's not what it was." You say defensively.

"Yeah but I needed the laugh. What's the plan?"

"Well I have to handle these papers and get them to Veles, will stop a land rush. Then we gotta figure out the team for heading over to meet the szlachta."

"Why, Keel not going with this time?"

"Well. Not exactly, Marie said she wanted to go over once before it went live. They handled everything well last time, but I'm just worried if something else comes up."

He frowns, "And you want me to stay behind?"

"Something like that, I'm not sure."

"How hard and fast is that rule of four anyway?"

"I'm... not sure about that either, besides, it'd be leaving the whole ranch to Tai, and I'd rather not make him suffer more so soon."

"Well, something to think about either way." He says, "You best be getting that stuff to the old snake."

You nod, heading toward the rune gate and activating it, slithering into the gateway room and through the rookery, picking up Daisy as you do so. Upon entering Veles' atrium, you see the bulk of his tail before you see him, leading toward one of the workbenches. He doesn't appear to have noticed you.

>Get his attention.
>Wait for him to finish.

>>33476912
He could be at that workbench all day.

Give him a bit to notice us, and if he doesn't, then
>Get his attention.

We've got good news and all.

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You opt to wait, watching him fiddle with whatever is on the bench and reaching for a series of delicate looking tools. For a while he does this, and you look over toward the books you remember Keel eyeing up, and see Dahz laying there, apparently long since accustomed to your presence. Turning back to Veles, you see him holding something small and incredibly glittery up into the light before setting it down. Before he can go back to the tools you cough, causing him to look up.

<Oh, Sasha, were you there a while? My apologies. What brings you here today?> He says, moving away from the table and slithering over himself toward you.

<Keel gave me paperwork for you.> You reply back in snake cant handing him the paperwork, <Not sure if you figured out our written language yet, so I figured I'd help.>

<Much appreciated, lets have a look then shall we?>

Looking over the files you are honestly surprised with how much control this piece of paper is granting Veles, marking the area as a sovereign city state under his dominion. To put it plainly, so long as he's not committing a series of actions best described as war crimes, he is free to do as he sees fit with the land. The land would be folded into what would be considered UFK territory, but otherwise control goes to Veles. You wager this is what Keel meant by rush, and you get the feeling that the captain is far more shrewd and calculating than he seems.

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>>33478008
Veles is happy to sign, producing a hawk feather quill and engaging in some of the more complicated writing you've seen, creating what looks to be a seal of some sort over the signature lines.

<By the way Veles, McCain wished to ask how hard do we have to adhere to the rule of four. We have another who would like to see the other side of the mountain before the rest of the world knows.>

He inhales through his teeth, <Well, it would work. Although not being in a group of four is generally in indication that something is awry. I would imagine that the Casimiran would be more wary.>

You finish up going through the papers, Veles reproducing the complicated seal several more times as you point out where signatures are needed.

<There, done, anything else?> He asks.

<Not that I know of, what were you working on, by the way?>

<Just tinkering with supercooled axial locking and how to apply it to other magnets.>

>Stay and listen
>Excuse yourself and head back
>Other questions?

>>33478034
Listen long enough to get bored, then change the topic to how you'll be headed out to the towns soon, and
>Excuse yourself and head back

Anyway, this paper is a thing we've been waiting on. We're free to tell serrak about this at our convenience next time we see him. The town trip is now mostly to explore a bit at this point.

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You hide your grimace, and allow yourself to be ushered over to where he shows you a tiny crystal. Looking at it, you see inside it appears to be a tiny metal bar, and no matter how the crystal is turned, the bar remains oriented in the same way.

<Oh, like a compass?> You ask, a little unsettled by the absence of movement in the bar itself.

<Something like that, but moreso. By isolating it and runic magic inscribed inside, I can suspend the bar in an outright vacuum, preventing any internal resistance from a liquid or other medium.>

<How exactly?>

He proceeds to grab a large metal hoop, hammered flat and about a hands with wide. You then stand back as you see him begin to channel magic into it, frost forming then solidifying around the ring. While he continues to channel, you see him grab another piece of metal in his other hand, placing it above the hoop aligned with the flat portion. You then watch as he taps it, and stare as the metal begins to follow the track, keeping itself level the same distance above it. You watch him flip the hoop over and do it again this time the same. The oiliness to the metal's motion unsettling you.

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>>33478724
He releases the hoop and the frost begins to melt as the bar falls away from it. He then explains that he can lock something magnetic in a field with that, but it consumed a good deal of energy. He figured that by miniaturizing it, and creating minuscule versions of it oriented in such a way as to have the very center of a seal-able medium, he could have a dynamic compass without any need to wait for it to settle. He then goes into a discussion on spin up and spin down of things and a very complicated sounding methodology of how he created a vacuum in the crystal. All in all, despite your interest, it is far over your head, and you excuse yourself saying that you need to prepare for the trip to the szlachta lands soon. He bids you farewell as you leave daisy back in the rookery, and head through the gateway.

You exit to the sight of the late afternoon sun hanging above the ranch, Marie still orbiting the cattle as per usual. Tai tending to his garden, and McCain at the pump, getting some water.

>Action?

>>33478753
Welp, There's some science we won't actually follow very well. Glad he's doing it though.

Anyways, let's give our ranch hands a hand, as it were, for the rest of the day. We've got an expedition to go on again in the morning, but for now we can help out. Maybe check on the horses or something.

And then collapse into our bed again because we're still pretty tired.

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You head toward the barnyard and make it a point to take up some of the feeding duties off your help. Getting that squared away, slither inside to find Tai using up some of the remaining casualties of the cougar. You join your compatriots at the table and break down the situation. Nobody seems particularly thrilled with the 5 man plan, Tai's face adopting a look of panic as you bring it up. Marie mentions that it just makes her feel guilty, and says she doesn't have to go. McCain seems unwilling to budge on staying out citing the danger, especially of the trolls. Reminded of that, you plan on bringing heavier ammunition loads, just in case. You figure that the best place to start is the town you were originally headed to before you ran into that patrol. Either way, you figure its best to get an early start of it, and call it a night as dusk settles around the ranch.

Slithering up the stairs, you prepare for bed, and tell off McCain who asks if you want Tai for another wakeup call through the door. You hear Tai arguing with a laughing Marie and McCain before you finally drift off to sleep.

>The Tree in the Ruins.
>The Drifting Ship.
>The Burned Village (McCain's Story): COMPLETED

>>33479859
Awww... it caught a mouse..

>>33479859
well, marie'll hang back once again.

For now, at complete random, let's go to the ship.
Because why not.

>>33479859
>>The Drifting Ship.

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You see the broken wreckage of the ship beneath the waves, before you are drawn away and toward the coast, you see the boy on the ship from before, this time working a field, tending to plants. You see his caretakers, and they are not unkind, but they seem to hold him at arms length, almost distancing themselves from him. You watch as their farm grows, the fields growing larger, as well as their pastures, the boy almost exclusively in the gardens tending to a small exotic selection. You see the garden growing smaller as the fields overtake it, before there is barely any garden at all.

You wake to the faintest glimmer of sunrise cresting the horizon. Thankful to be up at an early hour again at least, you drag yourself downstairs downstairs to find Tai making coffee, giving wordless thanks you take one and cradle it like the elixir of life. Downing that and some of last nights dinner, reheated, you set about preparing to head into the centaur lands. McCain helps you prepare, the two of you rigging up food and other supplies such that you have more of a window for travel. You debate leaving supplies on the other side of the mountain, but given the thefts, you decide against it. Loading up with more trinkets, you remind yourself to keep a better eye on your possessions this time.

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>>33481379
Captain Keel arrives just as the sun finishes cresting the ridge. Muted pleasantries are exchanged, and you head through the portal to get veles, not wanting to risk a sustained one. You find him sleeping, and if his position is any indication, he dragged himself to that pile of furs from the workbench. Not wanting a repeat of what you did to Tai, you opt to stand well away from that 42 feet length of muscle and sinew before trying to wake him. You are almost disappointed when he gently stirs and greets you. Having him sustain the gateway, you filed down the vaguely spiral tunnel into the access point. Before long, you find yourself on the other side of the mountain once again.

>Plan?
>1d20 travel roll.

Rolled 15

>>33481411
Okay, so, the plan is to bring our party out to one of the landed non-nomadic centaur villages and introduce ourselves.
See how friendly they are.

As for a travel plan, well, keep your eyes out and your guns a-ready. This is troll country.

Rolled 17

>>33481411

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>15
You follow Veles' lead, heading back towards the hold known as Bralin. Veles figures that it is closer to you than Ursus was anyway so you make good time. Its held up a little by McCain and Keel being on foot this time, but given the distance you wager it is better. You and Veles have grabbing the lions share of the supplies thing time, but the weight means little to you. There is little to do for a while but walk, the two bipedal party members handling the terrain better. You make a mental note to look into building a proper road through your lands in the future.

By Midday the dullness of the badlands is getting to you, but you see Veles go low ahead and you do as well, unslinging your rifle. You move up to where he is as McCain and Keel do the same.

He points over one of the hillocks. <Three trolls. Looks to have made a kill. Likely deer. Have not noticed us.

>Action?

>>33482108
Are they the type to give a crap about others while enjoying a meal?

I say we just take our whole group and sneak on around. No need to go starting trouble when we can just be on our way.

Rolled 14

>>33482108
>>Action?
Try to stealth away, keep weapons ready, if they notice us, shoot.

>>33482326
Sorry, forgot to remove the dice.

>>33482383
eh, probably not a biggie. And we'll probably be using them again soon.

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"No sense stirring up trouble, there are more of them about." You whisper, "We'll just head around."

There are nods of agreement all around as Veles takes you around and downwind of the tearing and eating noises emanating from the hill. You are really thankful you didn't bring horses as you have no doubt that their large profile would result in them being seen, but after nearly a half hour of tense shifting, moving inch by agonizing inch, you make it around the feeding frenzy, and not a moment too soon, because if the increase in volume is any indication, some friends showed up.

You are well away over the badlands before you even think of giving a sigh of relief, it may have cost you some time, but you're not short on ammo, and everyone is fine. You put a few hours between yourself and the trolls before stopping. You settle down for camp that night with a staggered double watch. No chances if those things are about.


>Calling it here for tonight. Will try and get something going tomorrow, but with the speed /tg/ is moving I suspect we'll fall off the board. No worries if it does, we should be back to weekly quests as per usual. Apologies on the delay as well, a power outage on my end has kind of prompted my decision to call it.

>>33483072
Thanks for running once again. Have a good rest/power outage time!

>>33483072
See you later, hope the outage dose not last long.

>>33483072
Thanks for the run