In reply to Stanley (msg # 235):

After a moment, they established comms. "Roger. I'm reading you Five-by-Five." The Arrowdrac's comm set had full encryption and frequency-hopping making its signals hard to locate or intercept for less sophisticated geawr, but the ship's comms array was typical merchantman gear and did not have a corresponding capability.

"Ha! Arrowdrac, right! I like it. Did we name the Air/Raft yet? I'm not familiar with Empress Victoria, apparently she was a ruler of the Anglish Empire on pre-starflight Terra. We Imperials speak Anglic or Galanglic as it's called now, and this language is a distant descendant from that old Empire's tongue.

"Not that this matters a the moment. Remember, guys, the local law level prohibits anything other than shotguns and "primitive" weapons!"

GM Note: Is Stanley going to deploy the Arrowdrac's aeroshell to improve high-speed manoeuvre and avoid freezing?

Ken nodded to Mariel.  "We'll use the set on the Arrowdrac to keep in communications.  I'd rather not rely on land lines if we can."  He patted the hood of the air raft.  "How about 'Herbie'?  It's a clever, tough ground car from Terran legend."  He climbed into the front passenger's seat.  "Shotgun..."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 237):

Jaxxon pointed at his bag. "Shotgun? One in there."


GM Note: unless you specifically state you are carrying a firearm, I will assume you are not taking it.

Dressed in her new maintenance uniform, Neva reported to Ollie to see what he wanted done.  It didn't take him long to find something for her to do and she listened carefully to how he explained how to do it.  She knew that listening to him and hands on practice were the way to REALLY learn something knew and she appreciated him giving her a chance to learn the trade.  She even didn't mind, most of the time, his side comments about her abilities how scents.

Linus is not carrying a firearm, just a box of food, as he climbs in the back of the air/raft.

Blake will pick up some local cold weather clothing, first thing in the morning.  A brisk morning, nothing like a stiff breeze to get the blood going, especially a week's being cooped up in a metal air tank.  Yeah, love to fly 'em & then a bit of real air too.

Ken is bringing a blade and a pistol he'll keep concealed in the raft.  As well he'll wear cold weather clothing and his cloth armor.  A hand comm to keep in contact with the rest of the team will round out the equipment.  He'll ask the others to carry comms to talk to one another.

As the crew worked on the ship, the Air/Raft and Arrowdrac exited the locks and alit on the tarmac. The aeroshell on Arrowdrac and the cover on the Air/Raft kept out the worst of the cool weather, and the heaters helped.

Looking at his watch, Jaxxon asked, "are we there yet? Because I think we should start moving at some point. Remember the traffic regulations."

Ken looked down at the map.  "We should be within the city limits by now.  Let's switch to land mode and go find the bar."

OOC: I assumed we had taken off to head to the other city.

In reply to Mariel Migaraa (msg # 236):

He would go by the book.

Bound you describe the shell more? How long does it take to put on and take of? Does it door in the cargo space?

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 245):

The grav vehicles lifted up above the fog layer. The town was in the mountains to the north of the Starport, and they headed in their direction.

Up higher, the fog turned to snow clouds. The mining town of Urssolvograd was in a narrow valley between massive snow-covered peaks. There was a 2-3cm blanket of snow everywhere, and the road was recently plowed. They dropped down to the main highway on the outskirts of town. Large structures, likely mining-related, climbed partway up the flanks of the nearby mountains.

It was clear this community had had better days. Many businesses were empty with boarded up windows and locked doors, houses lay abandoned and falling apart. "The Traveller's Rest" was a small pub just below ground in a 4-story building, reached by going down a short flight of stairs. The surrounding buildings were brick or concrete.

Although the street had been plowed since it last snowed, there were few footprints and no vehicles parked alongside. The windows of the store fronts and businesses in the surrounding buildings were all boarded up or empty. There was a feeling of desolation. Once, this town had several thousand people; some had obviously not left but it seemed few remained.

As they flew at "car" height down the quiet snow-covered streets a light snow was falling.


GM: regarding player actions, I take nothing for granted!

As for the aeroshell, I talked this over with the artist who designed the Scout Bike for the Grand Census book. It would be clear and collapsible memory plastic to keep the correct aerodynamic shape. It probably wouldn't cover the rear cargo bin, so that would not be accessible while the shell is deployed. It would take 30 seconds to fully deploy or fold up, but only a few to pull back far enough to mount or dismount (carefully).
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:03, Wed 06 Nov 2013.

Something about this place gives me a right bad feeling ...  Leftovers & now left-outs.  The real life on the frontier.

Ken turned the heater in the raft up as the snow settled down around them.  "I don't like it either.  Let's get in and out of here fast.  Take us to the bar and we'll see if we can't get the artifact."
This message was last edited by the player at 08:20, Wed 06 Nov 2013.

It's pretty clear there's no one at the bar; there are no vehicles parked in front of the building except one that is covered in centimetres of snow, and no footprints do down the stairs. For another, it's maybe 1130, a little early for the bar to open.

Ken shrugged and walked down the stairs to check out the bar just in case it was open or there were workers there early.  "If it's closed let's go get lunch and come back in a bit."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 251):

Going down the stairs, Ken could see he was the first person to go down that day as the snow was unmarked. It had drifted to a depth of 20-25cm on the steps and more at the bottom. There were a couple of plastic crates filled with empty glass liquor bottles at the bottom landing, haphazardly left beside the door.

A sign on the door proclaimed "CLOSED". Another in the barred window beside the door said the premises were "PREMISES FOR LEASE" and included contact information for what was probably a real estate company.

Ken frowned but jotted down the information on the notice.  He returned to his companions.  "The place is closed and for lease.  I have a real estate company number we can call and maybe get a bit of information.  We need to find our man though and get the artifact.  We'll have to hunt him down to another bar or where he lives."

"Is the artifact there? Let us obtain it now and retrieve permission later." says a shivering Stanley, over the comm. "I can keep watch, or attempt the lock. But I would be poorly versed in any alarms not used on Mirayn...."

They were getting no reception bars in the mountains on their hand phones. The towering peaks around them also blocked radio signals to the ship.

GM Note: Can the Arrowdrac's radio reach orbit?

Blake has JoT & Mechanical, so he takes a look-see at the doorway, windows, etc.  Anyway to look inside ??  How about the ground level walls, doors, etc ??  If dark inside, he tries the tac lite.

Range of 5000 km -- certainly exceeds most atmospheres, but not geo-stationary orbit.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 256):

As the tavern was in the basement of what appeared to be an old crumbling brick 5-story hotel of dubious quality, it was 2m below street level. There was a single window beside the door. Iron bars covered the window, the door was solid wood reinforced with metal and a solid lock. There was a small window in the door, covered with a metal mesh. Both windows were papered over from the inside. Very much a (former) blue collar establishment.

Arrowdrac's radio set scanned the available frequencies. On the VHF bands they were able to pick up some commercial stations from some distance away, they could also reach the ship on VHF AM and Digital but reception was poor because of the surrounding mountains. The set was unable to pick up anything on the UHF bands except for some civilian traffic, likely private radios in vehicles (CB radio).

How about the ground & 2nd floors ??

To Linus's experienced eye (remember, he's been running a bar for a while) does it look like the place is in use just closed 'cos it's early, or has it been shut for a while?