All new OOC comments from the arrival at Killian Station and beyond can go here. If you have a question/comment about what happened down on Kah'Luyn then you can put that in Chapter 9 OOC.

Ok, that was weird; when I created the new threads they defaulted to closed so you couldn't post. Thanks for pointing that out.

Ok, just need for you guys to decide who is going into town.

Also can everyone give me a CON check (D20 + con bonus) to see how you're handling orbital flight and re-entry?

13.
Also, i thought we are not allowed out of the shuttle? So how can we go into town?

13.

I can join the town crew, Zelpuz and Vanyra can start on perimeter check around fields surrounding the ship?

Ah, somehow I missed the update. Yes, anyone of us is fine to go along. Zelpuz has no preference, except for being curious what the town looks like.

Ok, both of you are feeling a bit woozy after the trip and you'll be considered Shaken for the next while (-2 to melee and ranged attack). You'll still be able to perform regular functions, but you're feeling a bit off.

Let me know if there's anything you guys want to do for the rest of the day/evening here. It's been quite a long day, especially with the travel, but there is time to do something if you want.

The next day will largely be spent unpacking the shipping containers, checking the equipment and preparing to head out.

Vanyra got an 18 on the CON check (she has the Feat providing a bonus).

Vanyra will walk around the ship to get a sense of the land, the people in the expedition, and the general surroundings.  Then she'll head into the vegetation a bit circling around to see and survey more.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:56, Sun 12 Apr 2020.

Sounds good. Just to check, what is the exact task we have? Basically make sure nothing happens to anyone here and on the way, right?

OK; Vanyra is fine. She doesn't have re-entry sickness. As for the terrain it reminds her quite a bit of her home; quite thick and lively sub-tropical jungle.

As a reminder you guys are hired security for the expedition; making sure people don't get hurt by external actors, equipment doesn't get stolen, etc.

Good, so definitely taking turns to watch the equipment and general area through the night. I assume Vanyra is going to sleep in a tree around there somewhere anyways. We'll find a good location to keep an eye on everything.

Just to clarify, the equipment and such is locked in a warehouse-type building at the edges of the town. The shuttle left once you guys got all your gear away, so there's no point in hanging around it now; I didn't put that explicitly in the IC.

So if you want to take turns guarding the warehouse that's fine; I'll just need an order of turns and how long each turn is going to be.

Secondly, you should come up with an idea of how you'll be travelling with the caravan towards the base camp area. Where each of you will be in the caravan as it travels, watch orders, etc.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:42, Tue 14 Apr 2020.

Ah, OK, I thought we'd be right next to the equipment in a hotel of sorts. Either works for me, we can also just get one more good night of sleep before going on the trip, rather than running around lost in the city at night.

For travel, I'd recommend Vanyra take point scout, Zelpuz on rear guard, and Yuu travels along centre point with caravan.

Vanyra can scout up to a km ahead, moving about as terrain and checks require. This provides a solid presence, with someone who can read the jungle and ground, spot ambushes or problems, and communicate back to group.

Zelpuz can cover rear guard and flanks, using his teleport to bounce around, and rifle to scope out areas of interest. This covers anyone following us, or moving in from sides. He can travel quickest of any of us, so can support Vanyra if she needs at front, or Yuu should something arise in the centre.

Yuu at the centre can provide immediate defences to the expedition, and summon a mini army that can slow down any aggressor while Zelpuz and Vanyra fall back to support.

We should attempt to deal with any threats away from the caravan, as to avoid anyone getting hurt or supplies getting damaged. If something totally overwhelming appears, we can pull an old western style wagon circle... supplies in the middle, personnel in a circle around the supplies, build up some defences, and engage when attacked. This would be pretty extreme, but good to have a plan.

We should also speak with the expedition staff, check who else may be carrying weapons, or have some skills using weapons, just so we know what we have in support. And go over our plans for keeping them all safe and secure. Routines each night, rules to follow, etc.

Sounds good. Let's assume we established that in the briefings, if not, we should bring this up now. In case of an attack, everyone has to follow our orders. Anyone with combat skills will be recruited if necessary.
And in general, I will not be phasing around, but rather walking normally, but happy to be in the back.

Sounds like a plan, and exactly along the same lines I was thinking. There will be a total of 7 wagons in the caravan, with 4 of those dedicated to cargo and having a single driver and passenger, and the remaining will be a mix of passengers and cargo. As a basic rule the guides will suggest packing the survival essential items in with the passenger wagons

With the remainder of the evening you guys will be able to ascertain that the 2 caravan guides have personal weapons (machete-like swords, a bow and a boltgun). As for the expedition you have mostly scholars and engineer-types so not a whole lot of combat experience, but a good half are at least familiar with some weapon. The expedition did bring 4 flechette rifles, and 2 energy rifles (from the Spacers). After some discussion of combat experience the group identifies the following people:
Vashilli - Atherian Guide
Fernelex - Midian Guide
Dr. Salis Vaanhak - Project Lead (familiar with boltgun)
Dr. Salla Rezam - Spacer (familiar with the energy rifles)
Dr. Carla Hyunzi - Spacer (familiar with the energy rifles)
Beral Hughn - Mechanical Tech (familiar with boltgun)
Grena Wills - Electrical Tech (familiar with boltgun)
Kar Saque - Admin (familiar with boltgun)
Mahs Xyun - Undergrad (familiar with boltgun)
Praxam Jyural - Grad Student (familiar with boltgun)
Krishni Olyeer - Grad Student (familiar with boltgun)

What are the routines you want to establish for nights and such?

What's the plan for the daily routine by the organizers? I assume there'll be mostly travel towards the destination (how long is estimated?), but some time for setting up and packing up camp etc. I would say we take turns between the three of us for night watch. During the day we follow Yuu's plan with Vanyra in front, Yuu on some cart in the middle and me at the back. When camping, we put essential/survival gear in the middle surrounded by other carts and maybe empty passenger carts outside, or make a circle of carts and camp in the middle.

Hey Mike, can you explain a little about the wagons themselves, how they move/powered, the terrain we're expected to take these things through, and the estimated speed they would travel at over the terrain?

Also, what kind of range/reliability/ammo capacities do the 4 flechette rifles and 2 energy rifles have?
And can you go over the current season's day time/night time cycle, please?
This message was last edited by the player at 13:46, Fri 17 Apr 2020.

Oddly enough I had totally thought about the wagons but then never bothered to describe them. Basically they are pulled by livestock, creatures similar to really sturdy work horses, but the harnesses the creatures where are empowered by Nether batteries that energize the animals, staving off fatigue and also providing some power to motor assists in the wheels. Loaded down you're looking at speeds of about 15~20kph. So in a day you can probably get 100~130km with rest breaks. At that pace it will take about 3 days (or about 5 EArth days) to get to the base camp area.

The wagons themselves look more like cargo trucks, but with larger wheels, so they're covered and provide some basic protection from the environment. You guys are well south of the equator and thus you'll be entering late winter/early spring conditions. Daylight hours will be just a bit less than night time, and with a fair amount of transition over Kahluyn's 45.5 hour days. The weather right now, since you're close to the coast, would be similar to Japan in early April or maybe Northern California; it's quite mild.

You guys will be following well established trade routes/roads for the most part. There is quite a bit of mining and logging that takes place up in the foothills area where you're headed so the roads are fairly well preserved/maintained. There may be some obstacles that need navigation but it shouldn't be too daunting. The base camp area is in a more accessible area, and then individual expeditions will be mounted from there to look for the actual ruins in less friendly terrain.

The flechette rifles have a base range of 15m (~50ft), and the energy rifles have a base range of 25m (~80ft). Those are the base ranges, so they shoot further but you have a penalty to strike dependent on how much further away. The flechette rifles are quite good a close range as they fire out a stream of tiny flechettes, so you get +2 to hit, but they aren't very effective against armored opponents. The energy rifles are quite powerful and long range, so they should be used only if/when you want to kill something.

The daily travel routine will involved two 6~7 hours travel periods broken up by a 3~4 hour long rest/meal period. During those 6~7 hour periods there will be occasional 15~30 minute breaks. So you'll be travelling about 18~20 hours in the day, with the remainder setting up and breaking camp and getting proper rest. During the traveling period most of the expedition personnel will be studying up on their respective mission notes and/or preparing any gear.

Luckily, Vanyra travels at the same pace as the caravan (16kph) just while walking casually.  Walking quickly or lightly jogging (not running, not all-out) she moves at 32kph.  She will be able to get around pretty well at that pace and isn't hindered by most undergrowth.

Vanyra is also probably a good choice for watch during the darkest/deepest time of night.

I assume our characters are used to the 45 hour days, right? How long do they need to sleep? If the night is some 15 hours long, and we need 10 hours to be well rested, that works relatively well.
I assume we all sleep in tents fo sort, so until we get to base camp, we'll have the members that can handle guns sleep in tents at the center so they can group quickly?

Yes, everyone from this planet is accustomed to the very long days and have similarly evolved their circadian rhythm accordingly. Depending on the place and the person they will typically have one long sleep (10+ hrs) during the night (15hrs) and then a short nap of an hour or two or so during morning (15hrs) and aftereve (15hrs). Typically you could stay up for a whole 45 hour day without making a check, but after that you'll be in the fatigue range.

The caravan will have lean-to tents setup off the wagons for shelter during camp times during the travels.

For clarification Vanyra does not "walk" at 16kph, but she can maintain that pace without effort for a really long time. She can also move up to 4 times that fast if she needs to. For example at that speed if she did 70 steps a minute (pretty normal walking pace) each step would have to cover 3.8m, or if she took 1m strides (pretty normal) she'd be taking 267 strides a minute! So when she's moving at her base speed it's like she's sprinting relative to everyone else, no one would describe her as walking. Just like Quicksilver can casually walk beside someone or he can kick in his power and move stupid fast, Vanyra is kinda like that.

For combat move speed we'll just consider it a baseline movement speed as it isn't really walking, and that goes for everyone. So when it says you move about 10m in a round that isn't a general walking pace, it's more of a job. Accelerated movement would be a run and All-out is a full sprint.

Some additional information you would have received from the guides is attacks and troubles on the main road are quite rate due to the amount of traffic and response it typically receives from the town. Once you get off the beaten trail things change though, so that may alter your plans.

If you're planning on having a watch during the evening you will need to plan that sleep schedule accordingly between yourselves; i.e. you can't be up all night on watch and then spend the day running around on guard duty. If you want to have the evening watchman it would probably be best if that person sleeps during the day in the middle of the wagon train.

The typical expedition member is not willing to pull guard duty either; that's why they have you guys. That probably also why you brought all that fancy gear to make perimeter alarms and such I'm thinking.

Yes, and the motion sensor self-shooting systems.

It's a strange world, I keep imagining mostly a fantasy world, but it's not, so often there are things available that I didn't expect. So yes, when we went equipment hunting, we definitely got some sort of alarms, possibly motion sensing, with bluetooth link to our alarm tablet to show us where the motion was, with instant video replay. Or similar, depending on what was available.

And if possible, we'll find a place to sleep that's a bit elevated, e.g. on top of a cart or so.

And we have extra (lower grade) walkie talkies to talk to the guys that can actually handle guns.

And maybe a lion that we keep in the truck with the important stuff in case someone opens that door.

My thoughts:

Order of march:
1. Passenger Wagon - Guide 1, Guide 2, Dr Salis Vanhaak
1 x rifle, 1 x energy rifle

2. Passenger Wagon

3. Cargo Wagon
1 x rifle

4. Cargo Wagon - Yuu will probably ride this one to remain central

5. Cargo Wagon
1 x rifle

6. Cargo Wagon

7. Passenger Wagon
1 x rifle, 1 x energy rifle

This order spreads out the weapons and watch, and keeps cargo safely in middle.

When camping for night, Wagons should be closed up in two rows, side to side, and bumper to bumper. Animals tethered to one side, and all tents camped beside them. Kept in line, and set to order.

Watch: I'd suggest 3 shifts through the night. 3 people on each shift.
Shift rotation: Yuu +2 volunteers, Zelpuz +2 volunteers, Vanyra +2 volunteers.

Volunteers can be rotated through for each night.

Yuu is the least capable for for night watch, and the first shift is probably the least chance of something happening. People will still be somewhat up. Zelpuz and Vanyra covering the deep night, when greater chance of something happening, is better.

The 2 volunteers for each shift can be positioned on top of the central wagon, and can overwatch the camp as it's all set up on one side. Yuu, Zelpuz and Vanyra can act as roamer guards, moving about as needed, keeping watch and contact with 2 sentries on wagon top.

This plan can work for both on and off main road.

Would this make sense? Any added suggestions?

It's reasonable to assume the expedition has a number of radio communicators, both personal unit and then a powerful base-camp system.

Wagon train order and camp ideas seem fine, though the exact layout will be more dictated by the terrain you find yourselves camping in.

So for the first day of travel can you guys give me the following:

Everyone - Notice checks
Vanyra - Stealth and Survival checks for scouting
Yuu & Zelpuz - Craft: Electronics for the sensor setup; you guys can work in concert on this

All decent rolls, nothing spectacular. I also added a Craft Mechanics roll, just in case we have to finagle something for the perimeter warning system.

18 using 1d20+5.  Craft (mechanics).
15 using 1d20+4.  Craft (electronics).
24 using 1d20+10.  Notice.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:39, Tue 28 Apr 2020.