Hammer says, "I am Mechanon. I do not believe they could put an implant in my head, as it is only mechanical--or crystalline technology, to be exact. But you can search it if you desire." He also closes the gap, lowering his weapon and showing his head.

he continues to try utilizing persuasion skill
This message was last edited by the player at 07:39, Mon 01 June 2020.

Hammer and Porter approach the man. (Hammer persuasion unsuccessful.)

The man says, "Everyone knows the Mechanon worked with the Sathar. How are you to be trusted?"

Then he sees Porter show him his head, and he seems to calm down. "I suppose all of you would have implants if you worked for him." He seems to accept you and says, "My name is Edmund Appleburg.  Eddie Appleburg. Or Dr. Appleburg, if you prefer. I could use some biocort and some water, and some food too, if you don't mind."  His gun is now at his side, and he sits--or perhaps collapses--onto a nearby boulder.

You also realize that time is ticking down, and sitting around will not help you reach the Moraes in time.

"I'm thinking he could do with some stimdose as well!"  Porter replies,  "That way we can walk and talk but first we need to decide quickly which way we are going.  My vote is we keep heading to the Eleanor Moraes, we can come back for the Sathar when we have secured our exfil."

Desiraye stands as the man approaches and begins to engage in conversation with the rest of the team.  She slings he rifle and moves forward with her and empty, palms facing towards him.  "Doctor Appleburg, my name is Desiraye Lipost.  I don't want to seem rude but, we're on an unusual time schedule here.  We're happy to give you some medical attention, food, water, & any assistance you may require.  We would also ask, for your continued safety, to come with us and we can exchange information while we continue movement to our target area.

We can discuss each others needs.  My Medic Orvo, will disperse what first aid you need."

Id she's able to get closer to the man, she will put a hand on his shoulder trying to calm him some.  "The Mechanon, Hammer, is part of my team.  He can be trusted!"
This message was last edited by the player at 11:09, Mon 01 June 2020.

S'Krllk still appears skeptical, "why would the Sathar have a compound here, and how many are still confined there?"

"Think about it S'Krllk, why wouldn't they?  It's out of the way to do whatever they want or to stage an operation from.  Hopefully, the Doc here can fill us in on what's going on here.  If we had a ship of our own that we didn't have to trek across this territory, we could look into it immediately rather as an after thought.

Or, we go to the Sathar and hope they have a ship we can steal.  I think it unrealistic since we don't have solid Intelligence on it."

You give him some biocort, water and food and then set about to get the rafts ready. Your plan was to raft down the river, but you get Appleburg to talk as you finish and as he rests.

6:00 p.m. (16 hours remaining) (9 hours with no rest)
Rations remaining: 59 (each survival ration is for one person for one day)
Bivouac Units: 1 (30/30 SP (structural points); 10 kg each); second one is kept as scrap (10 kg)

Appleburg tells you the following:

He was a doctor on Kraatar when he began helping LeGrange's KLC forces about a year ago. At some point, he felt LeGrange was going too far, and then he found out that the Sathar were in on the plan. As a doctor, he had been helping put in implants, which were supposed to help the KLC become better soldiers and workers, but they actually were a form of mind control. When Appleburg became suspicious, they put an implant in him and he was helpless to continue doing as told.

LeGrange then told them about the Sathar joining forces with an extradimensional race called the Qantariate. He seemed to be siding with the Sathar, which seemed odd until Appleburg discovered that LeGrange himself had an implant. He realized LeGrange was also the victim of mind control, most likely at the hands of the Sathar, but as he struggled against this and tried once to remove his own implant, he was discovered.

They sent him here to this unexplored planet. LeGrange surmised it would be a perfect staging ground for the Qantariate invasion. Several Sathar landing groups came here initially, and they brought the uncooperative implant victims like Appleburg here to work essentially as slaves to prepare for the invasion. They actually made physical alterations so that they could live comfortably without breathing masks. They (Sathar in conjunction with LeGrange's people) built a small complex to the northeast, where he escaped from about two days ago. There were one or two other attempts by the Sathar to come and start colonizing, but there was a crash and the loss of some sort of artifact somewhere in this vicinity.

All he knows now is that there is a Sathar Mothership somewhere not too far away from this planet. Mahg Mar and the Mothership are ground zero for the Qantariate invasion into our dimension. LeGrange has knowledge that could help decipher and possibly prevent the invasion, but he would have to be captured alive and the implant removed from his head, something Appleburg can do if he has the tools and opportunity.

He tells you all this as you float down the river in the rafts, which are practically full of all your gear and supplies. Above you hovers the survey robot.

As he is telling you this, you hear a mysterious loud crashing sound to your left along the trees. You spin, expecting more carnosaurs, but nothing appears.

Your first hour on the rafts is otherwise uneventful

OOC: You may talk to him and ask questions until my next post, and that will all count as part of the first hour on the river.

You can also count any predeparture short activities, such as administering biocort, in the time before departure.

Remember also the fatigue rules, as you are approaching the limits.

7:00 p.m. (15 hours remaining) (10 hours with no rest)
Rations remaining: 59 (each survival ration is for one person for one day)
Bivouac Units: 1 (30/30 SP (structural points); 10 kg each); second one is kept as scrap (10 kg)

Updated map:

(OOC)
I count 33 hexes from where we are, to the top left corner of the box where the Eleanor Moraes is, if we follow the river.

How many hexes per turn are we traveling now?  And how many per turn when we get out of the rafts?  How much rest to we need to remove any fatigue effects?  Assuming we need 8 hours sleep, then we only have 7 more hours traveling time.  I get the impressions we are going to be fatigued when we get there and we may not even be able to get there in time anyway?  And that assumes we don't have any more encounters that slow us down along the way?

The small river is 5 hexes per hour. The large river is 6 hexes per hour.

Fatigue/exhaustion are in post #5 here: link to a message in this game

After 10 hours exertion without rest, 5-6 hours of sleep is needed to avoid exhaustion penalties. Sleeping on the rafts is a potential option, but also requires at least one per raft awake to steer and keep guard, and is subject to more potential waking situations.

To put up camp takes 30-60 minutes depending on rolls to find a spot and set up. Take down takes the same to take down and pack up securely.

After making some mental calculations and referring to the map, Porter radios Desi.

(OOC)
I am assuming we are using 2 inflatables to transport everyone with at least one soldier in each craft which likely means Port and Desi are in different rafts. 
(IC)

"Based on our current travel speed we are looking at 5-6 hours before we leave the river and search on foot, plus another 5-6 hours rest which will give us about 3 hours to search on land for the landing site and to capture the target. It's going to be real tight.  Based on those calculations, if we stop and rest now, we should still be in good shape when we arrive and if we manage to get uninterrupted rest we might pick up some extra time.  What do you think?"

(OOC)
On a side note, I am changing my preferred weapon to the machine gun and will have my rifle shouldered.  Anything we run up against between here and our objective I plan on mowing down as quickly as possible.  I am also seriously considering wrapping a piece of camouflage netting around my forehead in a deliberate imitation of a certain famous holovid action hero.

Hammer, as the resident environmentalist, listens to Porter's plan and also checks the map. "It appears we have plains to the south and if we travel about another hour, we should have plains on both sides of us for a bit. I suggest we camp when we reach the plains. Then we have good vision and nothing should be able to sneak up on us. I also want us traveling in the light, and if we sleep now, we will be waking up in the middle of the night and pitch dark to travel. Maybe we even go two more hours on the river, or even three, to get as far forward as possible. What do you think?"

Hammer will go with whatever everyone wants but sleeping in the dark seems better than in the light.

In reply to Hammer (msg # 111):

(OOC)
How much daylight do we have left?

You have 1 hour of daylight and then about 30 minutes of twilight. It will be dark by 9:00 p.m. there.

"Lets not set up camp in the dark.  1 more hour in the boats is low risk with exhaustion setting in, lets not push our luck, exhausted, in the dark and setting up camp in alien terrain."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:03, Tue 02 June 2020.

Listening to the discussion, S'Krllk interjects, "the search might be accomplished quickly if we use the robot, that IS it's design function."

Desiraye adjusts her seating and addresses Hammer's suggestion over the reams comm unit,  "You're the expert Hammer.  We continue to use the robots as early warning?  Everyone good with that?  We make a full push as far as we can go before being to strung out to do anything!

Concerns or comments people?  If not, we push another one & a half hours and then stop & try to time out our sleep schedule so that everyone's ready to go at first light and all day as hard as we can."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:05, Tue 02 June 2020.

FYI, I assume you have the rafts close together (10-15 feet apart), so you can talk normally without radios. That will change if you hit rapids.

You continue just a little further before a huge rustling to your left, from the trees, draws your attention. Then it breaks into sight. It is another one of the carnosaur creatures, this one a little bigger than both of the previous ones and covered with scars, clearly an older and more experienced hunter.

ROUND 1

The creature charges to the bank of the river, easily pacing you as you float lazily downstream.

ROUND 2
It roars at you, backs up, and charges to the river again. It cannot reach you while you are in the center of the river and it is on land, but it appears extremely angry.

ROUND 3
It roars again, backs up and charges once more. This time you think it might leap out into the river but it stops just short and roars in anger again.

It starts pacing you again as you float.

The river itself is about 50 to 100 feet across depending on the location. You are about 30 feet off the shore. If this carnosaur can swim and dares to jump, you may just have a problem on your hands.

The forest is to your left, and about 4 kilometers of plains stretch out to your right.

In reply to GM Heath (msg # 118):

(OOC)
Are we affected by fatigue now?

In reply to GM Heath (msg # 118):
"Oh my, that looks like it's going to be a problem guys!"

In reply to GM Heath (msg # 106):

OOC: Sorry if this is late...
BIC: ...Desiraye tries to relax a little and takes some water and splashes it on her face and tries to wash off her hands to 'freshen up' best she can for the time being.  "So Doc, are you saying the LeGrange and the KLC are not an active or willing plot to help the Sathar & the Qantariate?

You believe or you know that if we capture him alive, you can remove the mind control unit?

Do you mind if I inspect your pistol Doctor Appleburg?  Promise I won't take it from you."

Just before the encounter, Desi was talking to Appleburg.  He responds:

"I believe the KLC and LeGrange started out with intentions to run out the Vrusk and some sort of political movement because they believed the Vrusk were oppressing non-Vrusk races. But when it turned from politics to hate, by then the Sathar had their hands in it. And by the time the sanitarium and moon base were established, the Sathar's fingerprints were all over it. I can't really say how much of the prejudice is LeGrange and how much is Sathar influence. The KLC probably has a mix of characters, some with hate and some just with implants.

"I met LeGrange a few times before all...this. I was part of a research team, and he was a brilliant scientist. That's what drew me to Kraatar to help him. If I had only known..."

His voice trails off, but he gives you more information, which essentially reiterates what Tariel Nuna told you back on Kraatar: (see link to a message in this game , particularly at #18, #20.)

You describe the datasphere device to him, which unfortunately was left back on Kraatar with Tariel Nuna. He ponders that for a minute before saying, "Actually, there was something very much like that at the research lab-slash-prison where they kept me." He motions to the northeast.

To Desi's other questions, he says he absolutely can remove the implant. He removed his own, and working on other people's heads is much easier than working on one's own head. He tries a weak smile at that.

Desi inspects his pistol. It is a laser pistol of Sathar design. It has three clips, each with three shots. Each shot carries a 5 SEU punch and up to 3 shots can be fired in a round.



Appleburg also has a small waist pack around his back that he opens. He has some salt pills, a pair of manacles that he had worn himself, an underwater breathing kit (small facemask size), and another pistol. He obviously has no food or water.

"This one's a Sathar version of a sonic stunner," he explains before showing it to you.



This one has a solar recharger instead of SEU clip. It fires 10 shots per charge and recharges 1 shot per hour. It has a small charge time to build up power for each shot while the trigger is held, so it only fires once per round.


It is at about this point in the conversation when the carnosaurs show up. They need to be dealt with next.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:37, Wed 03 June 2020.

Tired, hungry and frustrated, Sergeant Porter swings his machine gun around to keep it trained on the carnosaur.  He won't open fire unless the creature looks like it might get close enough to actually inflict damage.  So long as the rafts remain midstream it looks safe enough.

Hammer makes an ecosystems check. He observes whether the carnosaur might be able to swim or reach them and what potential options might be available to minimize risk while not wasting time.
This message was last updated by the player at 07:05, Wed 03 June 2020.