It is a couple weeks later. The badgers now have their own home north of Channelwood, equidistant from both Channelwood and Aquarius so that both villages can provide the badgers with necessities until they are fully established.

Katy is holding a meeting at the mess hall. "Thank you all for coming. According to some intel, Robotnik has produced a new piece of technology called "The Wheel" that he plans to install in every Robotnik-owned settlements. I don't know what it does yet, but I do know where it will be received when it arrives. We need to go to Middeltown and stop it from being installed. Volunteers to go on this mission with me?"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:48, Sat 16 July 2016.

  "I am going to be very surprised if it's something as simple as a giant treadwheel for robotizized people to walk on.  Also yes."

Lucky's been taking a daily walk to Badger Town to help them out as best he can and to get to know the people better.

For the meeting, he passes out cookies in hopes of lightening the mood.  But he's unable to keep his smile when Katy gives her short speech.  Whatever "The Wheel" is, it can't be good.  "I wouldn't put it past that crazy to make a high tech hampster wheel.  I'll bet half the reason for the name is just so he can brag that he reinvented the wheel."

As usual he's torn about volunteering for a dangerous mission.  Not very brave, but will worry himself ragged for his friends if he's not there to insist upon the most cautious way to do things.

"We know where...  But do we know when?"

There are a few chuckles around the room from Joe's comment, but most in the room are too nervous and upset about Robotnik's antics to find anything about him to be funny at the moment.

Katy head-shakes at Lucky. "What we know is that it is on its way and should be here by tomorrow night. We have today and most of tomorrow to prepare."

  "I suppose even if we were in a situation where shooting it down was a convenient option, we'd probably have to figure out how to deal with it properly sooner or later."

Lucky looks a little relieved. "Well that's something, at least.  We can plan several contingencies and escapes in that time.  and we don't have to hold our breath for an unknown length of time.  Any idea how big it is?  If we're lucky, the techie types can figure it out if we recover enough of the parts."

Katy headshakes. "No idea about anything other than its name and that it should arrive sometime late tomorrow."

  "And as always, the hope it explodes good enough to break, but not good enough to take us with it."

Times like these Lucky is glad his thing is hitting targets accurately from extreme distances.

"Guess that means I should come, then.  So who else is coming?"

Benji says, "I haven't had the chance to go to Middletown in a while. I'll go."

Thomas shrugs. "I'll do double-duty today if I have to in order to join you tomorrow."

Katy headshakes. "Remember: Anyone taking a mission is automatically exempt from chores that day. But I won't stop you from contributing more than your share."

Autumn squirms. "I wanna help... but I honestly don't see how much help I'd be on a mission."

Katy says, "Don't sell yourself short, Autumn. You are a freedom fighter. Like the rest of us, for one reason or other, if you have the heart to go on a mission, you already have most of what you need covered."

Even Thomas can't argue with that.

  "Place is still lame like you left it, Benji.  But the trip will be to keep ot from getting any worse, at least."

  Don't worry Autumn, you've got actual character art!  Unlike Benji (probably).

"Thanks, everyone!" Lucky says with a bright smile.

It's a big relief to know there'll be backup if needed.

"There's a lot that can be done by anyone.  Especially safety precautions.  We'll need several escape routs mapped out and booby traps set up to cover our getaway.  It's pretty guaranteed that there'll be SWATs chasing us after we disable The Wheel, so a prepared escape will be crucial.  There's also making sure that all the gear we take is in top condition.

"So yeah.  There'll be lots of other stuff we'll need help with.  So thanks again for joining."

Lucky's a firm believer in the saying, "There's no such thing as being over-prepared."  Especially when it comes to dangerous activities.

Katy nods. "Lucky's right: We will need better escape prep than normal if this Wheel turns out to be a particularly important Robotnik invention. Autumn, you are on finding us the easiest paths to and from Middletown. Emerald, you've proven useful for predicting weather before, so you can help Autumn with that, in case of rain turning dirt to mud or the like. Joe, you're on trap design. Take whoever you think you need to help you get that done and done quickly. Lucky, you're on safety management. But remember, we have today to get our escape route secured. I'll be working on the plan for once we're in Middletown. Any and all arguments will go through Emerald. Any last questions before we get this started?"

  "Well, that and us not all heading in at once in case this is just attention getting bait."

  Hmm, traps... Well, an amount of explosives satisfactory to him is likely out.  If nobody particularly tall was going on the mission there was always swat neck height options.

Lucky smiles and nods to Katy, proud of her for taking charge.  He's proud of himself for having and official position and everything.  One he even feels qualified for.  But mostly he appreciates Joe's paranoia.

"Wow.  Good point.  Hadn't occurred to me."

Part of him hopes it's just a trap, and not really a doomsday device.  He gets to work making checklists.  Which include making sure Aquarius and Badgerville are aware of what's going on.

Joe's thought is a good one because, in fact, nobody particularly tall is going on the mission. Valin is happy to help Joe with putting the traps together, though.

Badgerville is quick to help with surrounding their homes with traps and slow to volunteer for creepy mission.

Aquarius offers to send a few people if such people are desired.

Also, whenever arguments happen, they take it to Emerald. It never gets farther than that and arguments are quickly resolved. There is one case where it looked like someone had made up their mind to remain upset, but when Emerald offered they talk with Katy, the person straightened real fast.

  Honestly, having only just gotten here from their own depopulation disaster, Joe can't blame Badgerville for wanting to stay out of this still.  Hopefully that attitude isn't permanent for all of them, though.

  "So do we consider this mission light makeshift trap status just for breathing room running, effort filled 'let's rig up old car batteries to wire darts' light carnage, or wholesale property damage?"

Lucky's of the same mindset as Joe regarding Badgerville.  His thoughts go to someday setting up a meet and greet between them and Aquarius.  And of course, he complements Emmy on her skillful conflict resolution.

"'Do the best you can do with the time we've got,' would be my best guess on the level of destruction to build into our escape routs.  That said, fewer, stronger ones would be better than a lot of weaker ones.  Less chance of someone forgetting where one is that way."

Not sure if that happened in the Predator movie, but I know there was an episode of 1,000 Ways to Die where it happened.

Emerald thanks Lucky for his compliments. She then looks at Joe upon his question and then Lucky to his answer. "Remember, SWATbots don't take abuse too well. A simple spring-loaded shovel to the face would probably do in any SWATbot. The important thing is to make sure those who come back from the mission can escape pursuers without leading them back to Channelwood."

Thomas may not be the cheeriest freedom fighter, but he apparently does perfectly fine following instructions.

  Which is why, fellow selectively cynical that Joe is, he likes Thomas.

  "Works for me.  If anyone has preferences of possible escape routes, I will focus on those."

Lucky smiles and nod-nods to Emmy.  "So glad SWATs are fragile.  Otherwise my archery wouldn't be very helpful on the mission."

To Joe he shrugs.  "My answer would be, 'The safest one,' but I'm not sure which one counts as the safest.  Maybe Autumn would know."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:15, Sun 11 Sept 2016.

Autumn says, "I'll double-check the paths, but I'm pretty sure we will have three good paths, depending on weather. No one path will always be the safest route. Rain will make one path dangerous while dark conditions will make that same path a good choice and make a different path a bad choice." She goes to scout out and gives Joe some suggestions on best locations for traps while also mapping out best paths for getaway.

Emerald, meanwhile, seems deep in thought and is staring at a vial of clear liquid.

  Joe really hopes Emerald didn't keep a sample of crystal doom water as a souvenir.  Channelwood probably isn't up for crossover issues, they have enough to deal with singular.

  "Thanks Autumn.  The hard part will me making effective traps that are also safe for us if anyone suddenly trips for no apparent reason."

"Thanks for handling that, Autumn, it's a huge help," Lucky says with an encouraging smile, "And thanks for handling those traps, Joe.  Good to hear you'll be designing them with maximum safety in mind.  You mentioned batteries at one point.  Well...  none of us have metal feet.  So maybe triggers that go off when touched by the metal feet of the SWATS would be better than pressure sensitive ones."

When he sees Emmy looking at what might be a magic potion his paranoia kicks into overdrive.  He approaches and whispers, "What is that?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:49, Tue 20 Sept 2016.

"It's...." Emerald stops herself, looks over at Lucky and then smiles. "It's something I want to test out against the enemy during the mission."

Autumn replies to Joe, "That's... your department. I don't know the first thing about traps."

  "That's actually a really good idea Lucky, main reason it's probably not brought up as often is how that takes more effort to set up.  But I can manage." Not to mention isn't cave man tier, which throws some GMs into a real tizzy.  Though doubtful to be an issue here.

Happiness for good idea compliment!  Yay for affirmation!  Yay for being helpful!  ...

Overwhelming paranoia for Emerald toying around with unknown forces again!  Probably magic.  And extremely dangerous.  Lucky is having a hard time holding back the tears as images of Emerald's lifeless body slumped over in a lonely cave rush back to mind.

He gulps and asks, "T-test?  What...  What do you expect to happen when it doesn't work?"

Oops!  Miscalculated the safe distance.  Misplaced decimal point.  There goes half the planet.

Emerald hmms? "If it doesn't work, nothing will happen. Why?"

  "Well, hopefully the anti-climax is convenient to work in along the way."

To Lucky's paranoid mind, "nothing will happen" means time will stop and the universe will be frozen in a perpetual state of nothing ever happening again.  "Anticlimax" is too good to hope for.

"Why?" Luchy echoes, getting choked up.  He reaches a trembling hand to pet Emmy's shoulder.  "Because Joe nearly drown in a recent weapons test.  Because several people died of touching a mysterious nightmare liquid.  I'm worried for your safety Emerald.  Mystery liquid tests make me nervous."

Emerald says, "I wish all I would have to do is tell you not to worry about it, but feelings don't just go away. Is there anything I could say that would settle your fears?"

  You could tell him you have access to the Script-wait, no, that would make things worse.

  "I both appreciate your concern for my well being, and wish you'd get over me almost dying for the zillionth time before you have a breakdown-that was so worse than my usual questionable wording.  That said, you do have a strong point about things being especially bull **** of late.  But we're at least talking controlled conditions here, rather than spur of the moment."