Third Platoon, the survivors of Sixth Platoon, and the three new recruits make their way back the way the came.

Soon they will all arrive at Hillcrest where they can can take advantage of some much needed repairs.

When they arrive, they are greeted by soldier-guards. Xion and Zephram are ordered to report to Maddox.

The rest of the platoon has no immediate orders.

There are a large number of wounded soldiers in Hillcrest now. The medical station is now over flowing with patients, and they seem to have a dozen or so medics.

The "Exchange" is open as always during the day. Loot from the war is sold at amazing discount prices to mercenaries. It will also buy weapons, and accept trade. Cyber Docs, Mechanics, and Squeezers (slang for guys who make juicers) are often among these exchanges.

There are several spells being taught. They are in a lesson form, where a small number of students can attend, and attempt to learn spells from Tolkeen's mages.

The Spells being taught today are:
Armour of Ithan
Magic Net
Carpet of Adhesion
Chameleon
Timeslip
Invisibility: Lesser
Globe of Daylight
Cleanse
Sustain
Deflect

(see house rules for rules on learning spells)

It all costs money (except for the Soldiers and militia), but everything is seriously discounted for the mercenaries of Tolkeen.
This message was last edited by the user at 15:58, Wed 17 Oct 2012.

 'Masque gives the young woman an oversized grin as she opens the door for him, then assists in the business of putting the various prisoners (woundered and otherwise in the APC) before cheerfully ducking down and climbing aboard (since most APC's can take a fair-sized PA suit, they should just about accept the large 'Borg) in response to the request for assistance watching them...

 No sense turning down a ride, even if you do have atomic legs.

 On the way the Russian chats happily - venturing so far as to deliver a couple of compliments regarding a couple of team-members for their performance (though not of course /to/ those folks). Typical post-battle winding down that no-one who has any particular shreds of their sanity left ever really loses.

 Once Hillcrest veers into view however, the 'Borg contacts Xion on the group Radio (since this is an open debate) with a query, and a suggestion. "Hey boss... is time I think to start to divvy up loot and things - rather than argue about who is killing what, maybe should make big heap of stuff, work out cash value and split equally after repairs and rearming, or maybe by standard mercenary cut? - does not seem fair you regular boys should not get something for trouble... and maybe you could get new hat, khorosho da?"

Arven reins in next to the A.T.V. He is slumped over slightly in the saddle and looks far more pale than is normal. He is in fact a "tough-guy" but his bravado has exceeded his physical capability this time. Apparently taking enough damage to destroy most suits of power armor is bad for you. The slick of blood that has run down his back and onto his ostrosaurus can attest to that. Sliding out of the saddle he hands his reins over to Mephisto. "I'd be much obliged if you could bed her down with dipshit there." Arven says indicating the shifters silonar. "Hey Masque if you could make sure I get whatever share I got coming that would be mighty right of ya. I think I need to mosey on over to the hack shop yonder." The 13ft, 600lb, four armed gunslinger has never looked more humble as he staggers over to the Medical station to recieve treatment. Just as some of the group might actually start to at least empathize with Arven somewhat he can be heard yelling among the injured. "Hey you cocksuckers I took down four SAMAS a Terror-Trooper and three grunts today! You might want to fastrack me to the front of the goddamn line!"

OOC: Silly me I thought he had bio-regeneration. Factoring in blood loss he is probably damn near dead.

   On the journey, Zephram made another attempt to summon an elemental with no success.  Although it was disheartening, such a gift from the elemental planes would be a bonus.  He knew that he could complete his duty and follow orders without such assistance.
   Arriving at Hillcrest was a pleasant moment for him as he enjoyed being on a military base.  After the battle of Izmit, he was looking forward to worrying about nothing more serious than who to salute.  When he received word that Maddox wanted to speak with him and Xion, he turned to the battle magus and said "I suppose we might as well get the debriefing out of the way."

As he walks with Zephram, Xion listens and continues the conversation.

Xion will respond to Masque, "I think that is best for now. I will leave you in charge of doling out the creds, and keep an eye on Fearless for me please."


After a moment, "What's wrong with my hat anyway?" he then chuckels

Van did not speak at all on the way home, and always kept at the back of the platoon. Upon arrival in Hillcrest he went off in the direction of the exchange.

   Once she arrives in town, Lotus heads straight for the exchange to sell off her sword.  She had spent the better part of her journey back to Hillcrest trying to clean the scorching from it after her introduction to Renaldo.  But it wasn't the same - the blade was dulled and the material weakened.  She could not rely upon it as a weapon any longer.  She knew that she was unlikely to find a suitable replacement and even if she could, it would be well out of her price range.  Nonetheless, she will still peruse the wares that are available...

After traveling back to base, Ajax gets bored. Their was no action for him to do...Once they get to Hillcrest, Ajax inform Zephram, "I will be going to the Exchange to be resupply, armor, learn new spells (If possible), get updates on current events, battle, CS actions, and enemies troop movements in the area, Sir."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:14, Fri 03 Mar 2006.

Fearless looks to Xion when he says "watch Fearless". The orc looks puzzled, but shrugs it off, and makes for the exchange area.

One of the areas in the exchange selling equipment is being run by a rather tall and built crazy augment, accompanied by a Mystic Knight and several other rougheons. They are all dealing with mercenaries and such like merchants. Oddly enough a Cyber Knight is among them as well. Perjaps 3rd platoon is not the only platoon with both a Mystic Knight AND a Cyber Knight.

PM
This message was last edited by the player at 05:43, Fri 03 Mar 2006.

A group of four make their way to the main focus of Third Platoon at the exchange.

One is a young girl, another is an older man, the one in the lead is a simvan, and in the rear is a massive Golem of some sort.

"Are you third platoon? My name is Braga - we are whats' left of Second Platoon. We are supposed to join you. Where is the Lieutenant?"

The man, standing behind next to the girl and behind the Simvan, throws in sarcastically, Yeah, we're cream of the 2nd Platoon crop - and the only one's still breathing. he looks over his shoulder and jabs a thumb towards the massive golem, Not that 'Big O' here actually draws breath, but you get the idea.... Don't we just inspire tremendous confidence?

His tone is mockingly pleasant, and a smile is in plain view, but what can be seen of his face beneath his bushy beard appears more than a little grim.

He is dressed in the traditional garb of a Ley Line Walker, but he somehow makes his grubby robes seem less than mystical. An old-style Wilks-Remi is slung on his back with what appear to be shotguns at each hip.

 And, once Xion gives the order, 'Masque gets busy... though being 'in charge' of resupply wasn't quite what he had in mind - in any event, the first ten to fifteen minutes of hitting town is filled with his being a busybody as he moves from person to person, getting a rough idea of the return on the teams little investment, then picking some market representative to do some quick assessing...

[ Allllrighty-then - 'Masque is a tough but fair sort, so I guess he'd do the following:

 Now, I could RP this out person by person, but it would take /forever/ to finish. Basically 'Masque is going to get people to put alllll the Coalition salvage in a big pile. I mean a /big/ pile - this includes stuff people want to keep as well as stuff people want to sell on. We work out the cash value, then folks get to have their share of that value in stuff or creds, not adjusted by their minimal worth as a Merc (if you have a claim to being 'special' well whoopy-do, by my reckoning the entire party is on about 120-140% share and I can't be arsed to do the math. ^_^ ). If you're regular army, rather than a Mercenary well hey, think of it as a bonus. If two people want the same item they can either 'bid' for it or toss a coin or something.
 If anyone is going to ICly object to the process, then please post doing so... in the meanwhilst, I seem to recall that we have:

 Some stuff from the inbound scuffles:
 Ammo, medical supplies, railgun rifles 'Masque looted.

 The Big Fight:
 PA weapons, a 'borg (slightly crunched), /bits/ of armour, lots of weapons, PA parts, demolitions gear.

 So if we have a rough total value for the pile of 'misc' stuff, folks can more or less look after themselves (with the possible exception of Ajax, who is going to be pissed at having to share his gun caddy. ^_^ ). Protests in an IC post please to 'This is going to be done quick and fair', care of : Big Russian Borg.com  ]

At the exchange; the young and visibly distraught techno-wizard nods and feigns politeness, grining vaguely at the large man. He continues his perusal while simply stating "Our CO's are being debriefed. They'll be back..."

He is fairly matter of fact and seems to have his thoughts focussed elsewhere as he quietly plots his revenge, browsing the lost wares available to him. As he picks up a TW flamethrower from one of the booths you can almost see his mind at work, imagining the weapon's use. There is fire in his eyes...
This message was last edited by the player at 07:40, Fri 03 Mar 2006.

Walking up behind the large man, the redheaded girl hits him lightly on the back of his head "Jeez, you think you could inspire any more confidence, Harmon?"  The harshness of the comment is toned down by the friendly tone in her voice.  This, Harmon's unerring ability to make a first impression (we'll forego saying what kind of first impression), is something the two have talked about before.

"He's right, though," the girl looks away to hide the pain in her eyes and blows out a breath, "We didn't do so well out there.  I hope you guys had better luck."

PM

The massive 9ft golem raises a clawed hand in greeting. His entire bulk is composed of a silvery white metal that changes hues slightly depending on which way light strikes it. The masculine humanoid figure looks like it was sculpted from one large piece of metal, so much so that he could easily be mistaken for a statue were he standing still. Provided no one has a mind block up everyone in the general area hears a pleasant telepathic voice that does not match the rough exterior of the golem at all. In fact it has a grandfatherly quality to it.

"Greetings fellow freedom fighters I am Obidiah. I wish we could have all met under better circumstances. Nevertheless here we are so it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance. Might I inquire as to all of your names?"

As far as the loot concern, Ajax will keep the CTT-P40 and any E-clip for it (if there is any)! But, Ajax would like to give the Missile Rifle to Silvermasque. Because, that the only weapon systems Silvermasque does not have and he does not think anyone else can use the weapon properly. The other weapons and gears, he does not really care about or need...

 "Hey, metalhead..." (and that's rich coming from a jumped-up brain in a jar...) calls out 'Masque as things are starting to pile up - he's just finished stacking the Skelebot railguns he had his heart set on earlier and adding them to the pile, before noticing Ajax's attempt to hold back loot.

 "I will explain again - all the toys go on the pile... then we work out what toys are worth... everyone gets equal share - in credit or equipment. Now I have guns, and only RPA-boy or Arven could use cannon, so is unlikely anyone else would want it, but it is part of loot... If we have enough money for one share to be... actually, I am not sure what big gun is worth, is too new... but someone here will know, then you get to keep it."

 And of course this is also a good time for someone from the stalls to amble on over, give a ballpark figure for the value of alllllll the loot (note the lack of specifics here, allowing the GM to sprinkle handwavium on the total ^_^ ) so we can work out shares.


 [ And as a side-note, the CTT-P40 doesn't have an E-clip, or rather has only one built-in one, providing forty shots - it takes up the entire rear portion of the gun. ]