Fully supplied, Roam, Tarla, Coralian, Ajax, Kerensa, and Foozle depart from Kelanio well in advance of the end of the Wild Walk.  With Coralian and Roam being more comfortable in the wilds, and Dr. Lewis being clearly exciting to go, none are disappointed to be leaving early.  Also, any ruffians, bandits, or thieves will likely be either looking for victims inside Kelanio, or timing their attacks for when the Wild Walk ends, which makes it safer to head north now, particularly as they won't be on the Chalk Road.

Their destination is just short of the exceptionally dangerous Redjaw Wilds, but the land is bursting with life and the brave can carve out a living, or find exceptional things to study here, from large dinosaurs that don't often stray south of the Chalk Road, to strong time anomalies, to abandoned SATI facilities or towns.

And, of course, a stretch of badlands abutting a small forest that seems to be the home of white and spotted dinosaurs.

The group sets out along what paths have been set to the north, checking their progress frequently to make sure they're not getting off-track.  The vegetation grows quickly, so any paths neglected for even as little as a fortnight can become nearly impassible if not kept in check.  But with so many people coming to Kelanio, the paths are much more clear.

The first day goes fairly smoothly, though Dr. Lewis is looking around with wide-eyed wonder and trying to keep Foozle from investigating every new noise or smell.  As it draws towards dusk, it's getting about time to make camp.  As you are seeking a source of water, you hear a pained dinosaur moan further up the path.

--

Hemon, Tap, Rebekah, and Blue were following a herd of hadrosaurs they were tending for a couple who went to the Wild Walk, herding them to their new feeding grounds where there were ward-offs installed to keep out predators.  Unfortunately a pack of velociraptors had tried to go after a mama hadro as she'd been trying to transport her babies during the herding, and she'd run off before the group could spook off the 'raptors.  Now they have a wounded mama and her babies she was carrying in her mouth to track!

Bek kneels down and gingerly traces her deft fingertips along the imprint of a hadrosaur track. She lifts her hand and rubs crumbling dirt between her fingers. Even an amateur tracker could see where this one has gone. That is without even considering the blood trails. Raptors are amazing creatures, certainly, with many gifts, but subtlety is not one of them.

You always recognized raptor work.

Blue sniffs the air, and Rebekah cranes her head up to look at the small (for her kind, anyway) tyrannosaur. "These ones aren't for eating, Blue." Bek says it half in jest, because she knows Blue will behave. She's more curious than anything, as befits an intelligent young tyrannosaur.

"The trail won't be terribly hard to find, I think, Hem." Rebekah stands up and dusts off her jeans. "I just worry that the raptors think the same thing."

Coralian had been riding on Ajax's back recently, occasionally standing to get a better view of the terrain.  When she heard the moaning, she jumped to the ground and stood beside his wide head.

"That sounded close enough to investigate.  Since we haven't found clean water yet, shall we head that direction a bit farther?  See what's going on?"
This message was last edited by the player at 12:31, Fri 17 Jan 2020.

Hemon simply nods at Rebekah. Tracking dinosaurs is like a second nature for him, even when he is on the ground. "Yes, we shouldn't be long until we find that mama. I still wonder how we missed that 'raptors pack however."
Grumbling to himself, the man is chewing over what he considers a failure and tries to understand which details he hasn't spotted. If the Hadrosaur is killed, he will not be able to pardon himself and it could mean an end to his work in this region which would not be great for him and Rebekah.

Shaking his head to get his mind focused on the actual problem, he looks up in the sky, noticing Tap flying in circles above their heads. Usually riding his Tapejara when he is herding, Hemon is on the ground rather than on the air when Rebekah accompanies him so they can talk together. And for a few days now, he has this untamed Nerezza that he keeps attached to him with a rope. With a subtle move, he notifies Tap to be on the lookout for the lost Hadrosaurs and he finally turns toward Rebekah again. "Let's follow this trail quickly. Last thing we want is to lost a dinosaurs I had to watch. I don't want to force you to move again."

"Don't you worry about me, Hemi," Rebekah says with a slight smirk. A little nickname for him.

Bek shades her eyes with one hand as she looks toward the dense line of trees. "Don't blame yourself." She has some idea how he's feeling, but it's not really fair. "Raptors hunt. No way to prevent this all the time. No herders could ever be free of risk completely."

She sets off on the trail with long, sure strides, gaze moving from one thicket to another. Any place that dromaeosaurids might be hiding in wait. A small pack wouldn't likely tangle with a group like theirs, but taking anything for granted in this place was a sure way to get yourself killed.

"I'll be fine. We'll be fine. This won't break us. But let's see if we can't save that hadro and her calves."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:50, Fri 17 Jan 2020.

Hemon smiles at Rebekah when she tries to cheer him up. He takes a deep breath and nods once. "You're right. As far as we know, these Hadrosaurs are still alive so it could be worse."

Pulling on the rope attached to his Nerezza to catch it, he starts to follow the young woman along the blood trail. Looking at her from behind (before catching up quickly with her), he starts thinking how lucky he was to met her in the first place and how his life would have been different if he had not met her. And he promises himself once again that he will do anything he can to help her and make her happy.

Roam walks solemnly along.  His eyes taken to scanning the distance and then the ground around them.  He is not unhappy in any way.  In fact it seems easier for him to breath out of the city.  He varies between walking point in front of the others or out on the wing.  Coralian and Ajax making a good strong center to the group.

He was happy to talk to the Doc when she asked a question, but he was distant from them enough that conversation was far between.  During one rest stop he placed himself on the other side of Ajax to make sure Kerensa couldn't overhear him talking to Coralian.

"Do you have any intention of making this difficult for her?  I know what the man said, but out here that is dangerous.  Everyone should be at their best and alert.  I will do what I can to help her."

with the moaning Roam became alert and motioned for Tarla hide herself.  "I'm okay with that, but lets be cautious.  Not sure who else would be out this far.  I can go ahead with Tarla and find out if you like, or we can stick together."

To Roam's earlier question, Coralian would have responded, "I have no intention of making this journey any harder than it needs to be for any of us.  She'll likely get us into more trouble than we've bargained for without any help."  Coralian seems neither eager nor anxious about this assessment.

To his offer to scout ahead, she merely nods and continues her way forward cautiously.  She nocks an arrow, but does not draw.

Roam nods and spins slipping in the scree and catching himself on his hands.  Embarrassed he brushes his hands and hides his red cheeks.  He looks to where Tarla disappeared and gives a low whistle before running ahead.  What an idiot he thought to himself.  No wonder he hated being around other people.  He always managed to seem clumsy and stupid.  He could keep Mira and Quill alive in Haven, but fall on his butt out here in the wilds.

Focus.

His attention returned to the path ahead.  He knew Tarla was close, but couldn't see her.  He slowed and started to stick to cover and not be easily spotted again.

As Roam, Kerensa, and Coralian draw closer, they can see that across their path ahead is a large hadrosaur with a nasty claw wound over her flank recently done.  In her mouth are four squirming hadro hatchlings, peeping piteously.  The mama hadro is breathing hard, but can't seem to get to her feet.

Kerensa gasps and dismounts from Foozle to run forward. "Oh, you poor thing!  And you have babies!  I need my bag, I think I have something for the bleeding in there."

--

Hemon and Rebekah were close on the heels of their missing hadro when they suddenly hear voices just up ahead through a screening of thick ferns, along with moans from a wounded dino...

Coralian, seeing the wounded state of the wild dino (and the cargo she was protecting) immediately jumps to the back of Ajax and starts scanning the surrounding area for whatever may have caused the visible damage.  As Dr. Lewis is still unpacking, she would whisper a quiet, urgent, "Wait!"

As they moves following bthe trail of blood, Hemon tries to calm the Nerezza that is not keen on staying attached to a man. He turns toward Rebekah and asks "What do you think could be a good name for this cutie?" All the while, he quickly removes his fingers from reach of the Pterosaur's beak who is trying to taste them.

When they suddenly hear voices, he becomes serious again and falls on his knees. "You hear them? Looks like some people found out Hadro before we could. What should we do?" While asking, he puts some kind of cloth bag on the Nerezza to make it quieter and more tranquil.

Roam moves quickly and grabs Kerensa's bag and drops it at her side.  Roam gives a cursory check of the wounds.

"Keep an eye on her."  Roam starts moving about looking at the ground.  There has to be some sign of what did this.  He had to make sure it was no longer a threat.  If it was for food, it was just waiting.  The Hadrosaur would be unable to fight back and fall victim to whatever did this in short order.

Roams hands tightened on his laser.  He looked at the tracks in the direction the Hadro had come from.

Bek frowns, dropping low into a crouch. "This is pretty far out for festival-goers, I think." What could it be? Poachers? Not likely this close to civilization, not unless the hadrosaur had some value in its augmentations or something.

"We don't know how many. Maybe we should keep low, see if we can suss out who it is." She looks back at her tyrannosaur, keeping her voice quiet. "Help me sniff them out, Blue." Opening her eyes and ears to potential trouble, Rebekah pushes ahead cautiously.

Hemon smiles at the mention of festival-goers but keeps his focus on the task at hand. He looks up in the sky to see Tap flying in round but renounce to contact him to get more information about what's happening as he would have to cry or gesture widely likely breaking their cover. Thus, he nods at Rebekah's comment and follows her silently.

Dr. Lewis slows down in her unpacking, taking out a small bottle of some kind of cleanser and looking at you quizzically.  "Wait for what?"

Coralian, the jungle seems to be holding its breath, and the smaller sounds of small creatures have started to fall off.



Roam concentrates hard, expanding his senses to find out what is out there.

Coralian merely continues to scan their surroundings in every direction, bow string taut.  She hopes Dr. Lewis will take the hint.

Rebekah, through the brush you can see a thin, pretty woman with dark hair bending over your fallen hadro, who has been slashed badly on the flank.  Standing over her is a tall, competent-lookin woman dressed in scuffed leathers, with an arrow on a string.  An ankylo with a saddle and saddlebags, and a large struthiomimus, also saddled, idle next to them.  Behind them is a tough-looking man, also in well-worth leathers, with a softly growling 'raptor at his side.

At that moment, rustling from ahead resolves into a large pack of raptors in diamond formation that come rushing down the path!

OOC: No one is surprised, you have one action before the raptors are upon you.

As the predatory pack emerges in formation, Coralian's hand instinctively leaves the bow string and begins a powerful throwing motion.  With concentration straining her features, a metallic object constructs itself in her hand as she moves.  She releases the cypher at just the right moment, hurling it forward and connecting with the lead raptor.  The unwitting carnivore stops moving instantly, held in stasis.

"Leave that one alone.  It won't bother us."

Rebekah studies the people curiously, her gaze lingering longest on the dark-haired woman, trying to ascertain their motives. Then she hears a familiar sound of mixed snarling, chirping hisses, and the rapid-fire beat of clawed feet on the jungle floor. She knows it all too well.

Dromaeosaurids. "Raptors," colloquially, to the masses. Perhaps the most dangerous predators of the age. They don't have much time. The hadrosaur might be doomed.

Not to mention those people.

Bek moves quick, darting into the clearing with her hands held high. She has to bank on them being decent folk, or at least waiting to be the indecent kind until after danger has passed.

"Blue, take up a guarding position! Hemon, let's make as much noise as we can. A hunting pack expects wounded prey; a variety of noisy and dangerous creatures should hopefully make them rethink."

Following Rebekah, Hemon jumps from his cover hands up. After a brief wave of the right hand and an awkward "Hi!", he nods the head and, more than happy to not rely on lethal force (that would be a waste of life), he starts to gesture like crazy and make as much noise as he can. In the middle of all his weird acting, he tries to contact Tap, ordering him to fly down to afraid the Raptors.

Roam whips around and snaps a shot from his laser.  The air sizzles as the beam passes over Coralian and Kerensa.
Unfortunately trying not to hit the two ladies and the new noises being made by the newest entries means his aim was higher than he liked.  The Raptors unfortunately are able to duck under the beam.

The small Rex and Pteradon entering the fray also catch his attention.  "Alright T, gotta protect the ladies".

Coralian's hit is square, and the lead raptor freezes in place, as if suddenly made into a lifelike statue.



From out of the brush come four newcomers, a young woman with her long dark hair caught back in a tail, wearing utilitarian clothes, accompanied by a small T-Rex with bright blue eyes that takes up a guard position.  However, despite Rebekah's command for Blue to guard, Blue instead goes to check out Foozle and injured hadro, snuffling them all over.




Also coming out of the brush is a slightly older man with a lithe build and bright orange hair, aviator's goggles upon his head.  He sends up a racket worthy of a three-man band, while calling out another command to a truly impressively large tapejara circling above the trail.  The tapejara, however, seems to be paying attention to a lovely set of billowing seed pods of some sort that are drifting above the trees, and is distracted from the chaos below.




Roam's hit does indeed go high, and in the confusion, Tarla doesn't hear his command.  She instead starts to snarl at the newly-arrived tyranosaur, hissing and posturing at this interloper.


Kerensa practically throws herself over the hadro to protect her charge from worse damage as Tarla snarls at Blue.  Her eyes are wide as saucers at the sudden influx of people and strange and possibly hostile dinosaurs.  She shouts, "Foozle, help me out!"

Foozle jumps forward to his friend's aid... and promptly trips over his own feet to land in an ungainly pile of legs.  Kerensa merely sighs a bit despite the stress.

The remaining raptors scream and run forwards towards the noisy group, and now everyone can see the glint of metallic cybernetics between the raptors's feathers, tiny diodes of light blinking.  Two each swipe at Blue, slicing her, while two more claw at the downed Foozle, who barely manages to writhe aside in time.


Another pack of four raptors runs in from the opposite direction of the Rebekah and Hemon, this time slicing at Ajax, as he is by far the biggest target.  The big ankylo takes a small slice across his flank, but his armor deflects most of the damage.

Coralian lashes back against the flanking attack. "AJAX!"

Another throwing motion follows.  This time, it almost looks like a net erupting from her hand.  It enlarges very quickly in the short distance it travels.  Soon there is a massive wall of electricity between the western raptors and the wounded ankylo, "erecting" itself right around the predators' noses.

"Get ready to defend again, buddy.  That won't hold them for long."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:14, Wed 05 Feb 2020.

As the raptors turns their attention toward Blue, Hemon's reaction is instantaneous. Letting Tap does whatever he wants to do - he takes a mental note that he needs to improve his companion's obedience, the man draws his bow from his back and with a swift move and a great cost to him, he fires an arrow at one of the attacker.

15:31, Today: Hemon Kah rolled 1 using 1d20.  Shot an arrow.

As Coralian's web of electricity flashes into place, the western raptor run into it, scorching their noses and making them hiss in pain.  Ajax lumbers over a few steps and takes a defensive stance, lowering himself slightly and waving his tail in warning.

Rebekah and Blue realize that the 'raptors are likely being commanded, and Blue jumps to action as Rebekah gives her firm commands, tearing into one of the 'raptors as it tries to get past.  Rebekah holds out her hands, a pair of small metallic nodules appearing in them as a cypher comes to physical form, but misses trying to hit a raptor with one.

Hemon unfortunately fumbles his arrow in his haste.  Tap, on the other hand, finally seems to notice that Hemon is in possible trouble.  With a cheerful screech, he dives, pecking one of the raptors on the top of the head!

Roam fires off another shot from his laser, just missing the raptors, while Tarla snarls at the newcomers, lashing her tail back and forth in her ire.

Kerensa grabs her bow and tries to fire from her kneeling position on the ground, but has no more luck than Hemon.  However, Foozle manages to get his legs coordinated and goes to peck at the one that Tap had just hit, dropping one of the raptors!

The northern raptors swipe at Ajax and cannot get through the now-wary ankylo's defenses, while another swipes at Foozle.  He eels out of the way with all the grace of a falling log, but still too fast for the raptors to hit.  The last swipes at Tap, missing him by a hair!

The western raptors dash around the wall, diodes on their implants flashing red-blue-red-blue in rapid succession as they screech at you.

Coralian fires an arrow at the now-scorched raptors.

As he was unable to get a good shot, Hemon changes his mind and strategy. He calls Tap down with a single, quick whistle and prepares to mount it when he is close enough.

Coralion's arrow flies wide, but Ajax continues his sturdy stance, tail waving ominously at the raptors.

Blue continues to worry the raptor she had caught, killing it and flinging its body into the others' with a shake of her head.  As the raptors flinch, Rebekah manages to slap a nodule onto one of their implants. 

Tap dives to the ground and Hemon mounts in a single swift motion, wary of the other raptors circling around.

Roam's next shot from his laser goes awry, burning into the undergrowth, while Tarla screams a challenge to the raptors who'd had their noses scorched by Coralion's electric wall.

The raptors circle, one half going after Tarla, who screams defiance as she is surrounded, one half of the pack striking at her mercilessly! 

The remainder of the pack try to go after Blue, slashing at her flanks! 

Kerensa fires off an arrow on her knees, wounding one going after Tarla, and Foozle leaps to her aid with enthusiasm, finishing off one of the raptors!

Coralian wasted no time and let fly another arrow, this time aiming at one of the scorched raptors that turned on Tarla.  The arrow flies true and a quirk of a smile just touches the Pteryx's lips as she surveys the battlefield.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:29, Fri 14 Feb 2020.

As soon as he is on Tap's back, Hemon gives him a small tap on the flank with one of his foot to tell him to fly away. "Fly close to the ground my friend. You need to look tasty to those Raptors. But not too close as I don't want you to be hurt."

While the Tapejara starts to fly, Hemon produces a guttural call that attracts the attention of a part of the attacking Raptors with the idea to lure them away from the group for some time. "I will send them away for a moment." he cries to the others. "Good luck in dealing with the remaining ones. I won't be long."

"TARLA GET THEM!" The roar of blood in his ears was overpowering at seeing her bleed.  Without thinking he raised his carbine and shot.  The beam hit instantly turning feathers and flesh into a scorched mess.
Tarla swung head low and snarled.  Red blood dripped off her black features.  Tarla saw the beam hit and tried to bring that beast down. Ripping at it with claws and talons, it seemed not much came loose but feathers.

Coralian takes out one of the westward raptors as Ajax grumbles and growls, keeping himself as a bulwark between his friend and harm.

Rebekah directs Blue at the raptor she hasn't tagged with her cypher, and Blue bites at it savagely, the raptor's body dropping into the dirt, dead.  The last northern raptor now has a small receiver module, the mate to the control interface in Rebekah's hand.  Suddenly that raptor becomes docile, crouching in front of the group as if awaiting something.



Hemon manages to get the attention of the three westward raptors easily, but while Tap does fly, it's a bit lower than Hemon might have wanted as Tap tries to get a better look at the running raptors below.



Roam's blast with his laser eliminates one raptor entirely.  Tarla snarled challenge at one of the remaining two, ripping out some of his crest feathers but not much else. The de-feathered one snaps at her, but misses her by a feather.  The other, taunted by Hemon and Tap's tantalizingly close presence, claws at Tap's dangling leg, making her bleed. 

Kerensa bends her bow to the one fighting Tap and gets off a solid shot, the arrow burying itself in the raptor's flank.  Foozle surges forward and pecks it hard, finishing it off!

OOC: One hostile westward raptor near Tarla.  One quiescent raptor now being controlled by Rebekah. All others dead.

Coralian fires another arrow at the remaining hostile raptor.

Tarla instantly pounces as the arrow sinks into her prey.  Her teeth snap shut on the flesh of the aggressor and rip.  Blood and viscera hanging from her razor sharp teeth as she pulls away.  Her eyes fixed on her opponent, Tarla is ready should the doomed beast continue its attack before falling dead.

Roams eye is fixed down the sight of his carbine.  As Tarla's teeth sink into her opponent, he swivels and shoots the motionless raptor.  The blast takes it full in the chest with the flash of light.

While Coralian's arrow goes wide, neither Tarla's teeth or Roam's laser blast do, and the last hostile raptor is finally killed.  One last raptor stands like a statue next to Rebekah, blinking occasionally and breathing, but otherwise just waiting.  Rebekah holds a small mechanical nodule in her hand and looks at the others triumphantly.

"I have control of its implant!  I have some basic commands I can give it, to go home, to flee, to attack another, and to track.  This should last a couple of hours before it shorts out," she says with amusement.

Kerensa Lewis looks up from her position on her knees next to the wounded hadro, and gives a shaky sigh of relief.  "That was... a lot more exciting than I thought it would be."  Foozle thrusts his nose under her hand for scratches, and she scritches the 'mimus before bending back down over the hadro to finish dressing its wounds.  "She'll be okay!  I just need to seal the wound against infection and tearing, and she should be feeling much better.  Why did those raptors attack her?  She seems like a normal healthy specimen, but nothing indicating designer genes."

Roam checked over the fallen raptors, ensuring none would get up again.  Afterwards he slung his carbine and nodded at the newcomers as he walked to Tarla and ran his fingers over her.  He found her tender spots and started rifling through his kit for antiseptic.
"Ms. Lewis, most predators are quite happy as scavengers.  If they smelled the blood of the Hadro in the air, well it would be like a giant neon sign saying 'Free Food'.  They don't have to risk injury for a few bites.  I am surprised they didn't run after we put up a fight, but they most likely thought the numbers advantage would win out."
Roam watched Coralian as she checked her anklo.
"How is he?  Is he hurt at all?  We shouldn't stick around long.  The smell of blood is going to bring more animals quickly."

Rebekah shakes her head.  "We were guiding a herd and one of our hadros was separated and attacked. And these raptors have implants! Someone is directing them. This was no scavenging; this was something more direct," she says, looking around warily.

All the Raptors being now down or under control, Hemon directs Tap to join the group and to rest on the ground for a while after his injury. He then quickly moves toware Rebekah and Blue to inquires about their state. "Are you okay Reb? I tried to make some of them ran away but they were too many of them. Did you get hurt?"

Then, remembering they weren't alone, he turned toward the others. "Thanks for your help. As my friend said, we are in charge of these two Hadro. They fled from the rest of the herd and we need to regroup them now." Figuring he had not introduced himself yet, he stretches his hand toward the closest of the strangers and starts speaking. "I'm Hemon, by the way. And this is Tap and this Nerezza doesn't have a name yet." he adds while pointing at his Tapejara

Coralian looks over Ajax first before dealing with the humans.  "He got slashed a bit.  Nothing major, but Doctor, if you could see to him when you're done with the hadro, I'd appreciate it."  She moves to Ajax's massive head.  "Good job, buddy.  Thanks for hanging in there."

Coralian turns her attention to the two humans who came from the east, open and smiling.  "I'm Coralian, and this is Ajax.  That's Dr. Lewis tending to the mother.  We and Roam," she nods toward the hunter tending the raptor, "were heading north to help Dr. Lewis do some research.  Pure chance we came across you, although the controllers might suggest otherwise.  Might be worth a second look, at that."

She goes about collecting her arrows, those that are salvageable, and cutting the cybernetics out of a few of the raptors.

"You two don't happen to know of a time anomaly nearby, do you?"

Roam nods to the others as Coralian introduces him.
With so many injured, maybe we should stick together for a day or two before continuing north Dr.  It would give the injured a chance to recuperate a bit and strength in numbers.  Tarla and I can always see if we can track where the raptors came from.  See if we can get an idea of who’s controlling them.

Roam looks from Coralian to the doc gauging their responses.

Coralian shrugs, indicating she has no objections to this plan.

Dr. Lewis gives a shaky smile as introductions are exchanged all around, and gives the hadro mamma one final pat.  Its leg slash has been given a tough bandage that will encourage healing in a short time before pealing off naturally and biodegrading.  "Right, of course, if anyone else's dino is hurt let me take a look at them!  Ajax, you big boy, let's get those plates back together.  Then I can look at Tarla and... Tap and Blue, right?" she says, taking a few steadying breaths before digging into her pack for salves and bio-bandages.

OOC: Reminder to anyone that if you yourself use a recovery action, your dino companion gains one health back.

In regards to a time anomaly nearby, Rebekah tilts her head, as if listening to something, and looks at Hemon.  "Didn't we see one off a bit more north?  We had to steer the hadros around that sandy slope, so we didn't get to check it out, but if we come at it from the south, we won't have to worry about the slope.  It wasn't more than half a mile away at best."

In talking about working together, Rebekah gives a nod.

"Fair enough.  We were headed off to grazing land west a bit, maybe a day to get there.  Once we get the hadros in their protected paddock, we're a bit more free to figure out what's going on here. I'm very curious as to who decided to ambush this trail," she says.  "Anyone better at machines than me?  I was considering seeing where this one goes if I tell it to 'go home'."

Kerensa's skill is quite apparent as she cleans wounds and applies bandages.  Within a half hour, all of the dinos are tended, and looking far better for the attention.

OOC: All wounded dinos regain 2 Health.

Coralian expresses her gratitude to Dr. Lewis for the work on Ajax.  She then turns to Rebekah and Hemon.  "If the time anomaly is only half a mile or so to the north, I'd like to visit that first, if it's still there.  After that, I'm fine with helping to escort your hadros to your paddock before continuing."

Turning to Dr. Lewis, she asks, "Might you be able to do any research at their paddock?"

When Kerensa attends to Tap, Hemon smiles gently to the woman. "Thanks for your help Doctor. Tap appreciates it as well." The man looks at his companion and pets it on the head. He also removes the clothing from his Nerezza and looks at the small creature. "You really need a name." he says mostly to himself before hearing Rebekah speaking about the anomaly.

"Yeah. I spotted an anomaly while flying on Tap. Pretty close from where we are now." Then turning to Coralian, he adds. "I'm not sure about the hadros. We have a bit more away from here that we left unattended while running after this mama. I don't feel like going to that anomaly without securing the hadrosaurs first after what happened." He stopped a moment to look at Rebekah to gauge her reaction. "But I won't force you to help us in this task if you wish to go and visit the anomaly. What do you think Rebekah?"

"Well, is it on the way or out of the way?"
Roam went over to the baby Hadrosaur and made sure it was acceptable to the others.  He reached out to hold it and pet it.  Activating the secrets stored in his DNA, his hands gathered a bit of a white light as he stroked the animal.  The light faded quickly but after a moment he moved away from it.
Before Roam was able to move back to his equipment and Tarla, the little Hadro had already gained an inch or two.  It will continue growing now, until it reaches full height.  It should take 24 hours or less."

"If the anomaly is close,  I'd like to do that first.  I can get there myself and come back, if you'll wait.  I'm hoping there aren't multiple packs of remote-directed raptors trying to hunt you.  Or us.  If you'll be patient, we can likely accomplish both, and I'd be happy to help you get the hadros to a safe space after I've fully recovered from that battle."

"I can certain look around the paddock and see what's there.  If there's nothing, well that just means we eliminated one area.  And if there's something, then I get to test some of my work early," Dr. Lewis says cheerfully.  "Ooo, and a time anomaly!  I've only had a chance to see a few!"

The jaunt up to the area where the time anomaly doesn't take very long, not much more than an hour, and that's only because of the limping hadro and somewhat overgrown nature of the trail.  The shimmering, bubble-like aspect of the time anomaly is visible against the lush foliage of the jungle, with a few specks of color on the forest floor within that likely mark the position of a remnant or three.

OOC: Who's diving into the anomaly?  Anyone time-tapping for information?  And how many cyphers are those entering in need of?

Studying the raptor and its augmentation long the way, the group can put their head together and learn the following:

The augmentation seems to be used for more direct control of the raptor, or for implementing a set of implanted commands ("attack all in this area" "threaten those on the trail" "guard this person") without the need for extended training.  SATI used controllers like these in the early Commuter days (Rebekah will recognize it as a variation on a design she had seen when she was younger) when it was more important to get the dinos to work with you right away than building a relationship with a companion animal.  The raptors have had slightly augmentation for increased claw length, eye improvements (for infravision and allowing for scan captures of its surroundings), and rapid chromatophore reflexes for camouflage.  These kinds of raptors would be used for remote guarding, likely by someone who was in a hurry to protect something and could not take the time to build physical deterrents like walls or coded doors.

"I think we can go to both place together. Indeed..." Hemon stops talking and looks around. He then gathers a wooden stick and starts drawing a map on the ground. "We are here. And there, it's the place of the anomaly." Saying that, he draws a point to the North of their current position. And a bit to the West, he draws a third mark. "And the paddocks are here. It's a bit out of the way but it wouldn't take long to go there first."

He looks at the others and give them time to consider the crude map. "Maybe we can split in two teams? A small group can go and scout the anomaly's surroundings while the rest of us take a detour to the paddocks before going to the anomaly. What do you think?"

To Hemon, Coralian says,"Perhaps we should all stick together.  If there are more guardian dinos around, we are safer as a single group.

"If the paddock isn't too far out of the way, and all of us are mobile, let's head to the anomaly first. The paddock will always be there, but the anomaly could vanish at any moment."

OOC: Coralian will just dive right into the anomaly, and needs 2 cyphers, please.

Roam agrees, being familiar with the temporary nature of the anomalies.  He will make sure that there is no interference when Coralian dives in.  After she is out and with Ajax, Roam will step in <redd>“Back in a sec.”</red>

OOC: Roam is down 1 cypher

Roam, Coralian, Kerensa (excitedly), and reluctantly, Rebekah (after seeing the others come out all right), step into the time anomaly to have cyphers coded into their DNA.



In addition, some remnants are found. Roam finds a small clear rubber ball with an odd, crude little yellow plastic mammal of some sort embedded into it, some vaguely rodent-like thing with red cheeks with a zig-zag tail. Coralian finds a string of metallic plastic green beads with a vaguely insect-like claws creature made of the same material as a pendent. And Kerensa finds a ceramic flower-like thing, with tightly-furled red petals, the whole thing limned in gold paint.

Coralian holds up her string of beads with a curious expression.  "If nothing else, I can trade it.  Maybe my sister will want it for a festival outfit."  She stuffs the trinket into her pack and turns to the others.  "To your paddock now for the hadros?"

Hemon waits while the others enter the anomaly. Then, when Coralian suggests they can go to the paddock now, he smiles. "Sure. If you are all good, then we can go. The faster we put the hadro in their paddock, the better."

After collecting remnants and cyphers, the newly-formed group can head back off to the paddock where the hadros are supposed to be.  Rebekah spends a little time working with the raptor under her control, but can't get much more out of its implant than she already had.  Kerensa's expertise lies along genetics and biology rather than robotics or mechanical implants, so she can't say much about the implant, but can say a thing or three about the raptor itself.

"She's healthy, less than two years old, and other than that gene splicing Rebekah saw earlier, I don't see anything odd.  Claws look reinforced, though," Dr. Lewis says.

The trek to the paddock is quiet for the few hours it takes to get there, but finally they find the boundary markers: ward-off generators powered with solar crystals, keyed to the hadros implants.  Chivied across the boundaries, the hadros give happy honks as they sink into the marshy land and begin to graze.  Hemon and Rebekah can make a circuit of the boundaries, just to be certain all is well.

Unfortunately, not everything is.  The northernmost boundary marker has been swapped out with a different model... one with similarities to the raptor implant!

"How would you like to proceed, Dr. Lewis?  My job is to guide you and try to keep you alive.  If you think we can spare the time here to investigate this or if your research might apply, I'm content to help these people."  She pats Ajax gently on the spot where the raptors wounded him earlier, a reminder that their group may not have survived that encounter without the hadro herders' help.

Kerensa had been absorbed in taking notes on the hadrosaur habitat, the raptor, the fencing, and a few other things besides (including copious notes on the time anomaly they had encountered), and jumps a little at Coralian's suggestion.  "Oh!  Um... we can spare a little bit of time to see what's going on, right?  If there are dinos attacking people on the roads, shouldn't we know who they are before we go more north?"

As they reach the paddock and leave the Hadrosaurs in safety, Hemon takes the time to thanks the new people. "Thanks a lot for your help. I will pay you all a drink or two if we meet in town."

Once he has done his patrol around the fences with Rebekah, he comes back and explains his finding. He is happy to see that the newcomers are offering their help once more. "Oh, thanks for helping us sort this problem. I wonder who could have an interest in doing such changes."

OOC: sorry for that really big delay in my answer. I had my head elsewhere. :(

Roam was happy to hear Hemon thanking them.
Really it was nothing.  The good doctor was the one that was helping.  Everything else was those damn raptors.  Speaking of, Coralian or anyone else interested in seeing if we can track those bastards and see who was controlling them?  I'm not particularly happy with the idea of someone sending their sharp clawed pets to scratch our eyes out.
Roam was toying with his transaluminal knife.  It was obviously a mindless habit and for comfort.  Tarla placed her chin on his shoulder and chirped at him.

Coralian nodded. "Sounds sensible to me.  We have to pass this way out and back.  I'd rather neutralize a threat like that before we go any further, if that's possible.  If not, then we know to alter our plans."

Decided to neutralize any immanent threat before proceeding, the group can cast around for any tracks.  Roam picks up a set of velociraptor tracks as well as those of at least two booted humans.  Taking point, he follows them carefully northward, with the wilderness-experienced Coralian and Hemon flanking, looking for danger.  Dr. Lewis and Rebekah take the middle and watch the rear for anything sneaking up behind them.  All seems well for a couple of hours, until the tracks take a turn to the west.  The path here gets into areas of thicker undergrowth, which makes tracking more difficult, but by late afternoon there is a sight of something odd ahead.

The trees clear slightly, and as Roam gestures for everyone to stop, through the foliage you can see a clearing, and within it a pre-fab metallic structure, the kind commonly used before the Last Commute, now grown over with thick vines and trees.  The structure looks to be some twenty feet high and forty across, in an oblong, dome-like shape. The door (large enough for a human or medium dinosaur), however, is free of debris and looks well-used.  The clearing is completely clear of any vegetation whatsoever for fifty feet all around, exposing bare earth that seems oddly clear of tracks.  There is a faint hum in the air reminiscent of some kind of generator or engine, though the exact source is difficult to pinpoint.

"Nice job getting us here, Roam.  Looks like we might benefit from checking out the entire perimeter, within the tree line, of course.  Sensors, traps, paths in or out ... those would be good to know about.  I'm ok to go clockwise, if that's ok?"

Coralian pats Ajax gently to keep him calm.  She doesn't want him getting anxious about some little bug when there are greater dangers about.  When he was younger, he got so fixated on a chirping frog that he didn't notice a young T. rex until Coralian started shouting.

Roam looked at Coralian and nodded.
He turned to Rebekah and Hemon,  "Who wants to go counter clockwise?  Meet Coralian on the other side.  If you want to go, I'll stay here with the Doc."
He looked at everyone, including Coralian.  He pointed at a point about 100ft behind.
"Any trouble then call out, and that is the fall-back point.  Questions?"

When they arrive in the clearing, Hemon pats Tap and tells him to fly. This place is not the best for him and he would be more of a hinder than an help. Then he nods to Roam. "Sure, I can go counter clockwise. Rebekah, do you want to go with me?"

Saying that, he takes his bow and prepares an arrow. When he gets the answer from his friend and the go from Coralian, he will start moving and look around.

Coralian nods at Hemon and starts off on her own half of the perimeter.  "Stay close, buddy," she says quietly to Ajax.  "I know I don't have to tell you to keep a sharp eye out."  She winks and smiles at the anklyo, never quite certain if he understands or appreciates her mannerisms.

Her route is as hidden as she can manage while still being able to spot anything of interest, and she favors reconnaissance over speed.

Roam just quietly stepped back and kept his laser against his middle.  His eyes scanned back and forth.  He stepped back toward the doctor and knelt down.  "Stay still please.  We need to pay attention for trouble."
Tarla took after Roam and crouched.  Her stillness demonstrating her deadly patience.  Roam let his eyes rest on a spot for a few seconds, then picked another spot.  He kept doing this to attract his attention to any movement.
After every couple of shifts, his eyes would move to check over the others before moving back into the clearing.

Rebekah heads off one direction with Hemon, and Coralian the other with Roam.  Dr. Lewis stays behind with her Foozle, keeping deep enough in the tree-line to be difficult to see.

The two scouting groups carefully circle the place.  Hemon and Rebekah see one larger door on their side, big enough for a large dinosaur (up to standard triceratops size) or a moderate-sized vehicle.  It looks clean and well-maintained, though this side of the dome is starting to become crawling with flesh-looking vines that sport large yellow flowers.  The vines extend from the ground to nearly the top of the dome.

Roam and Coralian, your side sports no doors, but you can see some small round windows about halfway up the dome, and the parabolic arc of what is likely some kind of transmitter or receiver.  As you watch, it turns slightly away from you, as if seeking a better field for whatever it is about to do. There is a hint of movement from the windows, but at this angle it is difficult to say what is going on.  You would need a higher vantage point or some other way of getting up there to get a clearer view.

As he does his patrol run with Reb', Hemon also looks at Tap from time to time. When they arrive at the other side and join Coralian, he crouch in the bushes. "There's a big door on this side. Big enough for a vehicle or a quite big dino to take it. What have you found on your side?"

"A window, too high to see through.  Sounds like we need to get close up to learn anything useful.  Shall we head back together?"

"Sure. I see no point staying separated now." Pausing a few moments to think, Hemon then continues. "That window. Do you think I could get a good view from the sky with Tap?"

"Maybe.  I suppose it depends on how transparent the glass is and how dark it is inside.  Why don't we head around that way and you can judge for yourself?"

Coralian turns around to head back the way she came.

"Sure thing. I will follow you." simply answers Hemon before going after Coralian.

OOC: what kind of roll, if any, do I need to do to check if I could get a good view from the sky?"

The window seems to be clear enough, and if Tap is going to be cooperative, then Hemon can get him to land in the tree and hopefully get a decent look, maybe even a flyby.

Luckily, Tap is behaving, and Hemon can not only get a flyby, but Tap can actually land on the dome for a short time, giving Hemon a good look inside.

Beyond the window looks to be a laboratory, with equipment for circuitry printouts (to judge from the flimsies in the output tray), egg incubation (by the eggs within the large, lit compartment), and DNA sequencers (by the classic double-helix shapes and ACGT sequences on screen.  There is also an array of medical tools next to what looks like a gurney, currently unoccupied.

Across the room is a man with his back to the window.  He wears the white lab coat classically indicating a scientist at work, and his black hair is long and unbarbered.  Tall and plump, he is hunched over a computer terminal and stabbing at the keys with an agitated vigor.

And blazoned across everything, every piece of equipment, every wall, and the lab coat itself, is the prominent SATI logo.

After his small flight, Hemon gives a scratch to Tap to thank him for his help. He then reports his finding to the rest of the group. "So it looks like there's only one guy inside. But there should be some backup in the wild. Should we try to get inside and ask him... questions?"

Rebekah considers.  "This 'raptor I captured might be his back-up, or part of it.  I have its camera and locator turned off for now, but I could turn them back on again, if we want to see what will happen.  The control I have over its implant won't last much through tomorrow."

Roam pondered Rebekah's statement.  "Do it.  Sounds like the best idea to figure out what's going on."

"We can take up a position eyeing the big door, from cover of course.  That could cut off an escape route or allow me to gain access."  Coralian patted Ajax as she tossed out ideas.

Hemon nods. "It sounds like a good plan. I can also take on the air to offer some better point of view of the surroundings if ever something unwanted joins us to the party but I doubt I would see much with all these trees." Saying that, he makes a wide moves of the arm to embrace the close forest.

With Hemon going up on Tap, Coralian and Ajax covering the big door, Dr. Lewis and Foozle watching the front with Roam, and Rebekah watching the window side, she activates the implant again and lets the 'raptor go.  It heads straight for the building, circling around it for a moment before its head comes up, the lights on it flashing.  Then it darts around to the smaller door and pressing its snout to a panel there.  After a few moments, the smaller door on Roam and Dr. Lewis' side opens and you can see the tall, plump man with the long, dark hair standing in the doorway.  He puts his hands on his hips, and then examines the raptor with frantic haste and seeming relief.  Heaving a sigh, he turns to wave the raptor inside...

Coralian, not in a position to charge the door that the raptor is approaching, merely waits and watches.

Unable to act swiftly from his position in the air, Hemon continues to watch the surrounding of the building and gets ready for a nosedive at the first sign of his new companions.

Roam tenses.  He watches as the man starts to turn and waves the raptor in.  "Wait here"
Roam gives a low whistle to Tarla and explodes running all out for the door and the man before he can disappear through it.





OOC:
20:50, Today: Roam Linden rolled 16 using 1d20.  Influence Tarla + 1 step.  total =19

20:51, Today: Roam Linden rolled 12 using 1d20.  Running (trained).  Total =15

Roam moves, suddenly him and Tarla both exploding into action. They race across the cleared land, going through the door and stopping in front of the man before he can so much utter a word.  The hacked raptor stands there, waiting for orders that are apparently not forthcoming, as the man seems too terrified to speak.

Hemon can see Roam and Tarla disappear inside, and hears no sounds of struggle.  Rebekah continues to wait, but Coralian sees the larger door open about a foot, and a drone perhaps a foot and a half around slide out and begin to take flight!
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:14, Mon 01 June 2020.

Coralian, not wanting to risk this man calling for reinforcements, fires an arrow at the drone.

Roam walks up to the man, slowing the last couple steps.  His translumina knife in his left hand and his laser in his right.  Standing in front of him Roam leans in just a hair.
"Hi, if you have a second I would like to talk about the errant behavior of your raptors.  Turns out they tracked us down and tried to kill us."

Roam leans in just a fraction more.

"I didn't appreciate that."

As he sees the drone take flight, Hemon releases some weird animal sound from his mouth to ask Tap to zoom by the new target and try to catch it in its claws.

19:57, Today: Hemon Kah rolled 3 using 1d20.  Speed check (DT 3).

Coralian's arrow finds the drone with no difficulty, piercing through a repellor and bringing it down before it can gain much height.  The abrupt drop means that Hemon and Tap miss their mark, but the thunder of Tap's wings certainly help push the drone into the dirt.  They can both see that attached to the drone is a small shield-bubble, inside of which is a miniature piski (a small pteradon, this one black and white and only a foot or so long) with small electrodes on its head.  It gives a shriek as the drone is downed and looks up at Tap with eyes that have gone very wide.

--



The man looks quite terrified, as would be expecting from anyone facing a man and his trained raptor.  He looks down at his own modified raptor, standing still and apparently waiting orders, looks back at Roam and Tarla, and quickly starts talking.

"It wasn't intentional!  They had general programming to seek out certain targets for sampling, and to remove potential threats from a specified area.  No people were supposed to be anywhere near here during the Wild Walk!" he says, his voice cracking and swear pouring down his face.  He seems to be scared enough to be telling the truth, but at this point he chokes up a little, seemingly certain that Roam's dagger is going to find a home in some portion of his anatomy.

Coralian knocks another arrow and scans the building,the area around it, and the jungle behind her.  No sense letting someone sneak up on her.  She was confident that the flying pair could handle the downed drone, if needed.

As soon as he notices the Piski, Hemon flies down to the ground to check if the creature is going well. He quickly orders Tap to go back to the sky and watch out for any other drone or flying threat. Looking quickly at Coralian he understands that she is on the watch as well for new surprise from the dome so he decides to try to help the small creature free from the shield and all the electrodes.

Coralian doesn't see any immediate threat of the living variety, but there is one thing that she does notice coming in on her side: the sky is starting to boil with clouds and lightning flickers amongst the black thunderheads.

Hemon, Tap takes the the sky with a will, soaring above the building with an eye out for trouble.  With a little effort, Hemon manages to get the shield bubble open, but he notices something curious as he does.  The piski struggles away from the strange hands, and as it does, the drone moves and flexes slightly.  As it moves its legs and wings, the rotors try to reposition, as it turns its head, the rudder flexes.  Upon closer examination, the electrodes are actually implants, like the raptor Rebekah had captured.

--

Dr. Lewis cautiously moves up behind Roam and Tarla, Foozle at her side, standing on her tiptoes to see behind him.  She looks somewhat excited by what she sees, but keeps her cool for the moment, and keeps her hands on her bow, arrow knocked, just in case.

Coralian, still wary, begins emerging from the jungle, toward Hemon and the building.

"Dark clouds on the way.  It may be safer to be indoors soon."

Still trying to get what's happening with the Piski and the drone, Hemon raises his head when he hears Coralian and nods the head. "Ok, thanks for the information. I will join you." He then quickly looks up in the sky to spot Tap and turns back to the Piski.

Without looking at her, he talks to Coralian again. "See this little dino. It looks like it is somehow connected to that drone and that it can control it with his moves. That's both astonishing and frightening." He pauses a few seconds, the time for him to gather all the pieces of the drone and the dinosaur and he stands up. His face has changed and his usual joyful face seems to have disappear. "I will have to talk with that scientist. I don't like what he did."

OOC: moving with Coralian toward the building. I will ask Tap to get back to the ground when we will enter the building (So he can follow by the big door) OR if the clouds get on us before that, whatever happens first).

"Dr. Lewis, I think it is safe to call the others in.  We are most likely safer in here than out, with whatever other creations are out and about.

Now my good friend, What is your name?"

Roam puts the laser away, but keeps his knife in hand.  He looks around the room, trying to decipher its function.

The bottom floor of the building seems to be a combination of dino stables and vehicle garage.  There are perhaps two dozen raptor stalls, a pen for juveniles, one land cart, two ATVs, and a variety of drones in sizes ranging from a few inches to nearly five feet across.  There is a large cargo elevator at the back of the room, one large door leading outside (matching the one the group saw in their exploration earlier) and a large ramp that leads upward.  There are two more raptors in their stalls, both with similar implants installed to the ones you had fought before, and a half-dozen juveniles running around in their pen (outwardly unmodified).  The SATI logo is prominent on the walls and equipment, and everything looks extremely clean and neat.

"I'm- I'm- I'm Dr. Janus Cole," the scientist manages at a squeak, his voice choking on the last sentence.

With a little coaxing, Tap gets back down on the ground just in time for Dr. Lewis to enter the building and get the large door open for Hemon, Coralian, and Ajax.  Another quick trip to get Rebekah and Blue, and the entire group can get inside with the doors shut before the storm slams into the building.  Hemon brings the piski, drone and all, inside with him so he can figure out about extracting it safely.

With the doors shut and the skin of the building vibrating slightly from the fury of rain, wind, and lightning, Dr. Cole swallows a few times and relaxes a fraction when no one makes a move to have him trampled or eaten.  Dr. Lewis drifts over to the juvenile raptors, examining them minutely without touching or getting within tooth range, while Rebekah and Blue help glare at Dr. Cole to prompt his memory.

"This- This is Wonderland," he says hesitantly.  He flicks his eyes over to Dr. Lewis, with her fresh, SATI-issued gear.  "SATI-W, we nicknamed it Wonderland.  Are... are you here to replace me?"

Coralian smiles politely, her bow shouldered and arrow returned to its quiver by now.  "We're here to assess the work you're doing, Dr. Cole.  We haven't made a decision about a replacement yet."  She tries to sound comforting and reassuring.  "Why don't you start with explaining about the contributions each member of your team has made, and then walk us through how those pieces fit into the whole."

Entering in the building with Tap and the others, Hemon barely listens to the exchange of words that he can hear. Instead, he rushes to the closest place with tools so he can work on studying the piski.

He also makes sure that his Nerezza is not to afraid by the storm as this is the first one that occurs since it hatched.

OOC: Trying to figure what's up with the piski. Does he need all of this to survive and move or is it only an mad experiment?
Not sure what to roll for that, if needed.

Dr. Cole looks at Dr. Lewis, over at Coralian, and then at the various large dinosaurs all around him, and starts to talk without additional prompting.

"Oh, yes, right.  Well, it's mostly just me, and I'm focused on cyber-neuro integration for security purposes.  I also take the embryos from storage and make certain they grow up healthy, though most of that is the job of the incubation chambers.  I get some remote assistance from the other stations when I run into maintenance problems or they have another assignment for me, but it's just me and the maintenance 'bots and the current projects.  I had a squad of eight R-85 raptors, but it seems that only one came back, so I'll have to check its image-capture to see what happened to the rest.  Those are ReconRaptors, naturally.  We're hoping to get some boosted long-distance signals eventually, but that'll require more infrastructure than we have now.  I only have a few temporary boosters planted fairly nearby.  And I have two APP-48s, AerialPatrolPiskis, active.  I was going to send one off to look for the rest of the raptors, but..."  Dr. Cole stares over at Hemon and shuffles his feet.  "Be careful, please!"

As Dr. Cole talks, Hemon gently lays the piski out on an empty bench and pauses to make certain Tap is calm and the Nerezza is doing well.  The close confines and unfamiliar sounds and scents are confusing for them, and he has to take a little time (and a treat or two) to settle them, but eventually they are content to wait as long as they can see him.

He turns his attention to the piski, and can see that the electrodes are similar to those of the raptor Rebekah had captured earlier.  Each of them are well-integrated into the skull, the tissue around it appears healthy, and the ports seem to have been there from about the time the piski attained full growth.  With some care, Hemon can see that the wires from the drone plug into the electrodes on the piski's body, and can be unplugged without too much difficulty.

"Dr. Cole, those ReconRaptors sound quite intriguing.  Raptors are capable of using camouflage well.  Can you tell me more about their base programming and how you were testing those capabilities?"  Coralian unbuttons her shirt a few buttons down, revealing what is clearly SATI armor beneath it.  Her comforting smile never wavers.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 11:54, Thu 25 June 2020.

Roam steps back next to Dr. Lewis.  He noticeably sheaths his knife and puts away his laser.
"Doctor, do you have any idea what this project is or what he is doing here?  Did Mr. Zashran say or indicate anything about this?  He did not mention anything to Coralian or myself when we proposed our intended direction and itinerary."

Roam keeps his eyes moving between Cole and the raptor.

Hemon raises the head when the doctor speaks to him but he quickly turns his focus back to the Piski. Willing to let the others handle the questioning (They look pretty good at it), he tries to detach the wires from the small dinosaur. "Easy boy. That won't hurt." he says to the piski to help him soothe a bit.

Bek can tell that the others have a plan going, and in particular doesn't want to mess up Coralian's bluff, but this entire thing has left her by turns uneasy and now angry. Seeing living creatures reduced to tools, to be modified, controlled, and discarded when not in use, boils her blood. The Beast within her stirs; it, too, chafes against the very idea of ordering Nature in all her primal glory. Rebekah has also seen the truest power that Mother Nature will unleash in response when the foolish go too far.

Those who are unafraid of such clearly have not spent a century running through a place where time has no meaning and only the will to escape being devoured keeps one's feet moving.

Rebekah wanders from Hemon's work with the Piski to Roam and Doctor Lewis, and around the facility, as though examining it (which is precisely what she's doing). Looking for reasons, something that might tell the more.

"Oh!  Um, yes, they have their natural stealth capabilities enhanced and some basic genetic combat modifications; claw density increased, improved cardio-respiratory function, improved muscle leverage, and so on.  And then they're fitted with the Recon module, that not only records what they see and hear, but lets a user take control of the raptor.  I don't have much distance yet, and I've only used it for local runs, but I send all the updates to headquarters so they can work on improvements.  Are you here to put in the new relays?" he says.



Dr. Lewis starts as she looks up from her examination of the raptor, and shakes her head.  "No, not at all!  Zashran didn't mention anyplace called Wonderland, or SATI-W.  I've never heard of this place from anyone.  I mean, I've heard of various recon projects before, but no one who's actually been assigned to them.  There's a lot more genetics projects than pure cybernetics," she says, furrowing her brow.



The connections, with a bit of teasing, come out without too much difficulty, leaving the drone behind and the piski free of wires.  It sits back, scratches its head, and then looks up at Hemon.  It hisses at him, just to let him know who's boss, and then opens its mouth in a demand for food.



The land cart and ATVs don't show much signs of recent use.  They are not new, but are well-maintained and in excellent condition.  The two raptors in the stalls snort at Rebekah and keep their distance, while the juveniles in the pen alternately sniff at her and flee.  The ramp upward has some faint claw marks on it, and is made from a non-skid material for easy use by dinosaurs.  She can hear some faint screeches from up above, like the occasional territorial calls of piskis.

"We weren't provided with the new relays, I'm afraid, doctor.  Perhaps they'll be with the next visit.  Hurry up and wait, again, sadly.  I am curious how well your recon raptors have performed in the field tests.  What targets have you observed them on?  Where have they fared well?  Where is there room for progress?"

She continues to keep Cole talking while the others perform their "inspections".  She tried to keep (a serrupticious) eye out for maps, especially annotated ones, and surveillance logs.

Hemon smiles at the Piski when he claims some food and authority. He opens one of his many pockets and grab something to eat for the small dinosaur.

When he sees Rebekah passing close to him, he looks at her and note that she's not at ease. He grabs the Piski and feed him with another bit of food and trot toward Rebekah. "Hey 'Bek. Everything's alright? It's Mrs. B, right?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:57, Tue 30 June 2020.

Bek shrugs. "No, Hemi, it's just...this place. What they're doing here." She keeps her voice low. "I can't stand it. SATI thinks they can order this world. Pacify it, control it, shape it with their technology, just like they all did in the future." Rebekah pauses. She was going to say, "Just like they all did back home," but she realized something.

"This is home, Hemi. I don't want them to destroy it, too. And this? What is this whole project for?" She makes a sweeping gesture over banks of computer monitors and other equipment. "If you want to learn about something, you need to feel it. Be a part of it. You can watch the river on a screen your whole life and it will never teach you about what it feels like to have the grass under your toes, the water on your skin, the morning air in your lungs."

"Oh!  Mostly I've observed them hunting, watching prey animals going to and from their ranges, occasionally spying on people from the Road, but that't really at the far limit and I don't run them over there that often.  Mostly the results have been good in terms of clarity of images and obedience of the subjects, though when they're hungry things do get harder.  I'm definitely ready for further distance trials and other remote operators.  Would... would you happen to be willing to put out further relays?  That could put us into Phase 4 straight away!" Dr. Cole says.

As Rebekah begins to express her displeasure, Dr. Cole cringes.  He nevertheless pipes up, "Oh, my apologies ma'am, but I wasn't allowed to go out!  It was important to concentrate on the work, you see, and I wasn't supposed to be out wandering around and accidentally braking a leg when I was out here without support.  Eventually I wanted to work up a direct control module for assistance for any user, so even someone who hasn't been a trainer could call a modded 'saur within range and get help from them from a pre-determined list of commands.  That was going to be a great endgame for this project, instant training!  I mean, obviously you've all worked hard to train your own 'saurs and care for them and that's wonderful, but if you were stuck out somewhere alone and needed to know the lay of the land or needed help from a bigger 'saur than you had?  If we had enough modded 'saurs and a big enough network, think how helpful that could be!  Just like the Interweb?  Internet?  I forget what my grandfather called it, you know, that interconnected computer thing that used to work back in the future."

"Can you show us a map of the area, please, Dr. Cole.  A closer view of your facility and transponders and perhaps something larger, with a bit of range to it.  Then we could, perhaps, discuss alterations to your testing area."

"Oh!  Of course, yes.  Right," he says.  He makes a few short taps on a small metallic device he pulls from his pocket, and the raptor in the stall comes out.  Dr. Cole takes a small wire, connects the metallic device to the implant, and taps the device again.  A small holographic map appears in the air, projected by the device.  It shows Wonderland, and as much land around to include the hadros swampy feeding grounds in its radius, as well as part of the game trail that Roam, Coralian, and Dr. Lewis had been using.  Small dots of light, including one near the hadro feeding grounds, can be seen distributed around the area in approximately a 20-30 mile zone.  They look somewhat haphazard, certainly not a fully even distribution.

Roam looks at the map Dr. Cole brings up.
"We ended up thinning your herd.  Do you have other creatures out there? Can you tell where they are when out there?"

Looking at the raptor again, then back to Dr. Cole. "I want a hardcopy of that map."

Hemon nods at Rebekah's words. In a low voice, he continues. "We won't let them destroy this world and his wonders like they did in the future." He looks at the small Piski at the same time. "SATI will have to pay for what they are doing. And we will make they pay a big price."

As the map is mentioned and then displayed, Hemon moves toward the others to take a look. He gives a dirty look to Dr. Cole and looks at the map, trying to memorize and still let the others handle the talking. He would be too much nasty if he had to talk now.

Coralian tries to gloss over Roam's words, hoping Cole didn't catch on to what he meant.  "I would strongly suggest confining your operations to this area, Dr. Cole.  There are too many non-SATI personnel regularly working here and along this road.  You're lucky you haven't been raided yet by the Butterflies, as exposed as you are."  Coralian points out and marks, if possible, boundaries well back from the occupied areas she is familiar with.

"With technology in this stage of development, mistakes can not only be costly, but possibly fatal.  Until it is far more perfected, especially with better control over the raptors' predatory instincts, you're better off keeping as low a profile as possible.  You never know who might show up.  And if those raptors run across the wrong people, someone is bound to be injured or worse.  If a SATI higher-up is bloodied, you might be the one dealing with fatal consequences."

"Thinning the..." Dr. Cole starts before Roam mentions wanting the map.  "Oh, I think I can get you something from upstairs.  Would you come up?"



"Really?" Dr. Cole looks confused.  "I was out here because there were no SATI personnel in the area.  The higher-ups wanted to keep this project isolated from the others due to security issues.  Like the Butterflies," he says, nodding to Coralian, "The building is meant to be difficult to breech.  What about the planned expansion?  I have the new extenders built upstairs, and I was going to task the herd with getting them in place along this route..."  Dr. Cole points out a route going north and west, away from known inhabited areas, deeper into the wilds.  "With support, of course.  I'm got Tammy to help them, Tammy's the lone steggo we have for heavy work, so we can get them out away from people and towards some of the outflung facilities.  It'll make it safer to have more consistent communication between the outposts."

"I would like to see the other animal storage facilities, please," Rebekah says at last. "In fact, I'm going to do a full perimeter inspection. My associated and I noticed some gaps in the security, as you can see, and I'd like to make sure the rest of the facility is going to pass inspection. Also, we have a lot of experience with the animals in the wild. I think we might have some suggestions."

To Rebekah, Coralian says "Be careful with your inspections.  Right now, I'm thinking that reinforcing the signal away from the populated and occupied areas is the safest course of action for all involved.  We wouldn't want those relays hacked and non-SATI personnel to have access to all of that information, especially if they're tapped into more of the research stations and that comms traffic.  This would keep the experimental animals away from greater risks, too."

Coralian hopes that she's conveyed all the necessary messages to the members of her audience.  The speech was certainly loud enough for everyone to hear.

Bek nods. "Absolutely. I just want to make sure both animals and"—she glances at Dr. Cole—"any unintended targets are safe. That's my top concern right now." She's not lying; her main concern is seeing to the animals' conditions, and helping the others figure out how to prevent any unfortunate incidents again.

Dr. Cole looks back and forth between the two, looking mildly confused, but finally just points up the ramp.  "This way, please."

Upstairs is many different workstations set up for cybernetic implant integration, one for the drones, one for the raptor implants, one for implant creation, one for egg incubation, etc.  There is also a kind of flexible netting across the very high ceiling, creating an expansive aviary for piskis, and along one wall a large dino run for a stegosaurus.  Except this one had a triple row of back plates that shimmer with electricity!  Tammy is not just a stegosaurus, she is a Teslasaurus!

Roam followed up the ramp and looks around the workstation as Dr. Cole starts showing the group about.  Roam sees the stegosaurus and walks over.
Calmly he approaches with hands out and giving it a chance to accept him.  With a quick look toward its back half.
"Hey boy.  How are you today.  I'm Roam, nice to meet you.  What's your name, huh?"

Coralian follows as well, trying to take in as much of the layout, equipment, and work as she can.  While not the dimmest torch on the Wild Walk trail, much of the technical aspects of Dr. Cole's work were beyond her experience and understanding.  Regardless, she still felt it likely she could corral his riskier business far away from her travels, at least for the time being.

She smiles and nods appreciatively at all he has to show, paying close and respectful attention.

Hemon follows the others along the ramp. He takes a quick look at the equipments before turning his look at the piskis at first. Finally, his mind turns toward the Teslasaurus like anyone would do in the presence of such a beast. "It's... It's both magnificent and frightening at the same time." he says in awe.

The Teslasauri, products of SATI engineering from a few decades back, are not known for their warm-hearted and fun-loving natures.  But Tammy responds to Roam with only a certain amount of wariness, and does not try to shock him straight through the wall or bash him to paste with her spiked tail.  She snuffles at him for a long time, snorts a tingling snort that sets everyone's hair on end, and goes back to a pile of greenery to munch on.

"Tammy's one of the nice ones.  Hand-reared, and maybe gene-tweaked a bit.  My expertise isn't in that area, but I believe that's what her reports said...  Oh, sorry, so yes, there are the piskis.  Three of them are prepped for implants, and the rest will be mature enough in two weeks.  I've got the three raptors downstairs, plus the juveniles, and then the rest of the pack that I sent out...  I was trying for a recall and only Gamma-12 came back, so I'm worried that the pack ran into something lethal out there," Dr. Cole says.  He slides his eyes over to Roam, seeming to remember some things said downstairs in the midst of a confusing interrogation.

He goes over to a desk with a printer and begins bringing up a program to make a hard copy of the map.  He projects a picture of it onto the wall, making the piskis flutter and hiss at this new part of their landscape.  The map is occasionally decorated by a piski claw as the poke through the mesh every now and then to watch their shadows on the wall.

"So, you want to curve the current transponder array away to the west here, get it further away from the Chalk Road and the trails north?" he says, pointing a laser pointer to the map.

As he talk, a curious pair of piskis plaster themselves to the net above Hemon and squeak at him, pushing their claws through.  He sees that the net there is actually somewhat weaker... enough that the piskis are on the verge of breaking through.  One of the piskis, one with orange feathers and a cheeky air, begins to chitter at Blue in a taunting manner.

Aside from the computer with the map program, there seem to be others that Dr. Lewis definitely recognizes from the way her eyes light up.  She examines some set up near the incubation station, cycling through genetic codes and sequencing with happy abandon.  Then she pauses.  Goes pale.  And leans over to Coralian.

"Some of the eggs due to hatch here?  Are dakotaraptors," she says in an urgent whisper.  Dakotaraptors are the largest, fastest, and smartest version of raptors, an absolute nightmare to deal with in the wild, and not much better under lab conditions.  If a Dakotaraptor had gone after the hadrosaur at the first, it would have been lunch, not a walking wounded, and the two groups would never have met.  "SATI hasn't made any in the Kelanio labs in years because they're so mean."

Coralian nods to Dr. Lewis, but tries to keep her attention focused on Cole.

"Yes, Dr. Cole.  And if you can mark on the map the next remote research station you were planning to connect to, that would likely focus the efforts even further."  She conspicuously appraises the teslasaur before returning her attention to Cole.

"You have such a broad range of species here, and some quite dangerous.  They certainly have different nutritional needs and behavioral patterns.  Is it really just you at the outpost with the responsibility for caring for all of the experimental subjects on top of doing the implantation and research?  That strikes me as terribly unfair to you."

Half listening to what is said while he was looking at all the dinosaurs, Hemon's attention is however triggered by the two piskis. Turning toward Dr. Cole, he hails the man. "Hey Doc. You should take care of this net really soon or your piskis will break free."

The young man looks up again and, a bit concerned, he offers. "Do you have anything I could use to do some quick fix?"

Dr. Cole keeps shooting glances back at Roam, looking troubled, but then refocuses on Coralian.  "Oh.  Yes. Right. So over here, to the northwest, there's a station out that way, Xanadu. Er, SATI-X.  We call it Xanadu.  Anyways, it's here or thereabouts, but I don't go there.  Bit of a distance, and I'd have to take Tammy with me for protection, and the best way to be protected by a Teslasaurus is to be about fifty feet away from them in a Faraday cage when they get mad.  At least until I have the pack at full capacity..."  He shoots another glance at Roam and looks very glum.



Dr. Cole sighs and looks at the floor.  "Well... every couple of months I get new supply shipments, and Kane comes with some updated orders.  Dr. Yates.  He's a quad-doc, cybernetics, genetics, biology, and neurochemistry.  He wanted the implants tested on a wide range of sauri...  We got the argoraptors working, and the piskis, even Tammy!  So the dakos were next.  If we can get the system working on the dakos, it'll work on anything!"



"What?  Oh good grief, will you three give it a rest?" Dr. Cole says, shaking his finger at the mischievous piskis.  "Here, here, just let Bertha out and tap the control marked "repair" and she'll sort out the net fixing."  He hands Hemon a slitted box the size of a shoebox, along with a small remote.  The box... skitters.  Through the slits, Hemon spies a large orbweaver spider, one of the genetically modified large ones made by SATI to spin silk for clothing, rope, armor, environmental sheets, even shelters.  Normally they run nearly the size of an argoraptor, but this seems to be a juvenile or a smaller version of the orbweaver.

Alternately, Hemon can spy some lengths of netting and a heat-shaping tool amongst the items on a toolbench that would let him do the repairs himself if he stood on the table to get to the right level.

Hemon takes the box from Dr. Cole and nods at the instructions. However, he puts the box on a close table and aims for some tools he has spotted. He doesn't like this kind of completely engineered animals and prefers to rely on his own skill to fix the net.

"Xanadu.  What an unusual name.  Regardless, with your map, placing the transponders in a line directly to them (or close enough) would be a fairly direct task.  What do you know of the landscape between here and there?  I'm thinking specifically of swamps, rivers, and any territories of particularly nasty predators."

Later in the conversation, Coralian returns to her compliments of Cole's abilities.

"You must be a very skilled animal handler yourself, Dr. Cole, to manage such a menagerie, alone, between Dr. Yates's visits.  Piskis, argoraptors, and a Teslasaur, that's not a simple group to care for.  And you have dakos on the way?  I've heard they have a nasty reputation."

Roam listened to Coralian as she praised Dr. Cole.  He started to scowl, but found himself surprised.  This man had taken care of these animals by himself.  There was definite resentment at being the target of the creatures, but this man was similar.  He cared about the animals and lived with them in his own way.  He modified his animals, but cared for them.

“I must admit Dr. Cole, the creatures being unleashed upon us left me aggrieved.  I am a bit of a naturalist and would prefer these magnificent creatures remain as nature intended, but it has become apparent that you do treat your charges with the utmost care.  Maybe it would be possible to sit as friends and discuss your project, the dakos and Xanadu calmly.”

With a bit of cleverness (mostly in avoiding the avid interest of the piskis while working) Hemon can get the net fixed.  He notices, now that he's closer, that the piskis have oddly identical markings, specifically on their heads, marking a stylized "S" around each eye.



"Oh! Uh, they really didn't want a daisy-chain of tech leading people to Xanadu. Top secret things and all, special clearance. Besides, if we put the new receivers near the path over here, then we can actually test it better because it will be near a corridor of traffic, even if it's light traffic.  See, the terrain between here and Xanadu has one small river, one pretty decent-sized ravine, and one of the extra-sized T-Rexes.  She and her mate usually roam from about here to here along the river, about a thirty mile corridor, and the ravine is the only thing that stops her.  It's why I usually get resupply via pteradon.  Dr. Yates has a cargo-sized one," he says, flapping his arms wide to demonstrate.



He blushes a bit at the praise.  "I try.  I mean, that's what we're doing here, yes?  If one person with the right tech can handle the dinos, then we're well on our way to proof of concept, yes?  Dakos are one of the last tests, if we can handle them, we should be able to handle anything short of a super-sauri, right?"  He laughs a little nervously.



"I'm sorry about that too.  They were in default mode, because this area was supposed to be clear, and now we're down a whole squad...  We let them hunt and defend their territory as normal until they're needed, and I would have put limiters on them, but with the Wild Walk going on and all...  We miscalculated."  Dr. Cole looks miserable and sighs, shoulders sagging.  "It's why I want to see the project installed properly.  Then hopefully we can prevent these kinds of misunderstandings!  What do you think about putting the receivers along here, along this minor road northward?  If you're headed that way, we can make a test with the piskis and can test over a much greater range!  Or... um, something. What else were you thinking of?"

Roam listens and contemplates what the Dr. is saying.
"Well, I have no problem with testing the receivers along the road.  I am here to assist Dr. Lewis though.  I think our other friends might be worried about trying to keep your pets away from their Hadro's as well.  For the sake of preventing more misunderstandings."

Hemon tales a mental note about the marking on the Piskies so he can question Dr. Cole later. He puts the reparation material back on the desk and joins the others in their discussion with their host.

"My companion is right. Your raptors have attacked a group of Hadros that were fenced and that should not happen again. You would risk being discovered if the locals find that." He tries to sound like he didn't really care for the Hadrosaurs and rather more for the security bof De. Cole and his place.

"Dr. Cole, have you considered that perhaps it is a bit early in the process to be hatching the dakos?  I agree that they would be a very effective demonstration of control, but that appears to be control you have not yet achieved.

"What if it was our superiors who had come this way, instead of us, and it had been a pack of dakos prowling the area?  Quad docs taste just as good as farmers to a dako.

"Perhaps we can consider a compromise path forward, one that allows for a safer expansion of the project but still works within the parameters you need to maintain?  How would you feel about the transponders is this region and a delay of the dako hatching until the raptors have proven controllable?"  She indicates an area on the map toward the hadros and the road, but far enough back that the risks of encounters are greatly reduced.

"There is also one remaining raptor to return.  It's in a stasis field, and should be back in a couple days."

Dr. Cole nods very slowly, considering.  "Well, the hadros and you were an unfortunate occurrence.  There shouldn't have been anyone in that area, or otherwise I would have changed their program for this week.  The higher-ups have the access codes to the program, but like you said, it'd go badly for funding if they got attacked.  The dakos are still a ways away from hatching, and I can pause that process if necessary.  But yes... I can put the transponders a little away from the path for the time being.  And I'm glad I'll have at least two of the raptor squad back."  He makes notations on the map and taps it, making the piskis blink and follow his hand with interest.

"If I send you with the transponders and one of the piski drones, could you lay them out on this line if you're headed that way?  If you wouldn't mind, that is," he adds hastily. "Is there anything else you need to know?  I'll write down everything for my report, and you can print it, so Xanadu will know about the alterations."

"I would be amenable to that, Dr. Cole.  And I think delaying the dakos is likely the most prudent course of action.  This land is full of unexpected events.  It is wise to reduce the lethality of them, if we can."

Coralian turns to the rest of the group.  "Any additional thoughts on helping Dr. Cole to maintain a safer perimeter around his work?  We will have to relay the documentation of same, but ..." she shrugs, as if the duties of her position were never done.

Dr. Lewis gives a small shrug.  Nothing leapt to mind to add to the plan, and certainly by going off the path there was a much better chance of spying animals she needed for her research.

Dr. Cole tapped down several more things, and turned his datapad towards the little group.  "Just your imprints there, and I'll send the report off to Xanadu so they know the change of plan.  Then I'll start rounding up the transmitters!"

Coralian glances at Cole's device briefly.  "All of the alterations and layouts need to be in a single document, Doctor.  I'm not using my imprint on data that can be changed after the fact."  She smiles.  "That's a lesson I had to learn the hard way."

She walks over and begins studying the revised maps while she waits.

"Oh!  Right, yes, of course.  Just a minute, let me bring up the program..."  Dr. Cole fiddles for a while with the map program, converting files and putting them together, humming tunelessly from time to time as he does so.

Dr. Lewis sidles close to Coralian as he works.  "I don't think he's dangerous, but I haven't heard about Xanadu at all.  Not even in rumors.  I mean, I don't know everything, but it's strange nothing like this has ever come up before.  You hear rumors about facilities that were abandoned and whatnot, but at least you know the names.  Xanadu was never one of them, far as I know."

Coralian speaks quietly to Dr. Lewis, such that Cole can't hear.  "It might be a new nickname, based on a change in leadership or project.  Maybe a newly recovered outpost.  What I want to know is, do you have the credentials to provide imprints without bringing all of SATI down on our heads?"

"Ah... yes?  I mean, I have Delta-level clearance, which covers most of my lab work and some vault access, so it should scan.  And it'd take a while for them to find out I used it, because they'd have to come here to see who authorized it.  Station-to-station communication is always spotty.  Messengers are usually more reliable," Dr. Lewis says, looking a bit uncertain.  "It'd depend how quickly they check on him, particularly if we alter his plans..."

Still quietly, "Well, we're altering his plans to save his research, so that should count for something, right?  His next drop isn't for at least a few days, if I heard correctly. We just set up the transponders and head out to your research site.  I can't think of a better way to get out of here without him starting some kind of alarm and putting an instant target on each of us.  I'd prefer not to kill him, if we don't have to."

Not sure how to react, Hemon simple stays there silently and looks around him in search of every opportunities for a distraction in case it was needed.

Roam stays quiet and pays careful attention to the maps.  Learning where the escape routes were if anything should threaten the good Dr.  He had no problem harming Dr. Cole.  He had no problem leaving him here.  He did have a problem with anything becoming a danger to his charge.  Maybe I should just let Tarla eat him........
This message was last edited by the player at 03:57, Thu 24 Sept 2020.

Dr. Cole turns back with the maps in place and presents the tablet to the group with a little more confidence. "There!  Everything should be all together now!  Just give me your DNA impression, and I'll submit these soon as I can.  Then I can start getting together the transmitters."  He hands the tablet to Coralian for the moment, and then picks up a smaller device, tapping on it, then expanding a holographic screen.  The piskis suddenly come to attention, and Dr. Cole untabs part of the containment net that parts with the touch of his thumb.  "Go.  Gather.  Assemble spike sticks in Launch Bay," he says into the device.  The piskis, each with the tiny diodes on their heads, all fly out in formation, heading to a table in the corner.  Two each land on more of the tranmitter rods, carrying them in pairs downstairs.

Coralian smiles as she receives the tablet and begins reviewing the information in it.  Assuming everything is correct and the reasons for the redeployment are listed, she'll hand the device toward "Dr. Lewis?"

Dr. Lewis seems to have taken a moment to calm herself and imprints the tablet with a confident-seeming smile.  It gives a little musical chime, and Dr. Cole nods.

"All right!  The piskis will have everything assembled in about twenty minutes, so all you have to do is follow the maps.  When do you think you'll have them placed?  I'll sent out the PAS-squad about when you say you'll be done, and you can run a field test... Try to keep them intact, please?  I have more embryos, but I don't want them to die if they don't have to."  He hands over a smaller tablet with the maps on it, and points to a small file in the corner.  "Once all the transmitters are in place, the commands will become available for use.  If the PAS-squad is in auditory range, there's a list of commands they can follow.  If it works at that distance, give one of them the 'home' command and tie a note to them so I can report on their progress."

Coralian smiles as she eyes the verification table.  The fingers of her left hand wiggle almost imperceptibly.  Handing the map device to Roam, she says "Dr. Cole, would you be so kind as to demonstrate the deployment procedure for the transponders, please?  No sense in courting a mistake from lack of preparation, and that will give us a better sense of how long it will take to deploy them."

Dr. Cole goes into a careful explanation, going on about the spacing and a need to put them close enough to vegetation to provide a certain level of protection.  "It pulls in solar power, but the cells can pick up a good amount of energy without direct exposure.  Between the weather and the dinosaurs, it's more important to have the transponders near some kind of protection so that they're less likely to be dislodged.  If you can find stone outcroppings or boulders, those would be ideal.  Once they're well-spaced, you just hit the activation on the remote program I showed you and-"

The long-winded explanation is suddenly interrupted by a loud fizzing sound as something near the bench where Dr. Cole had left the authorization tablet has erupted into bubbling green froth that has enveloped the tablet and most of the table!  Dr. Cole yelps with dismay and starts running around looking for something, anything, to stop what's going on!

Coralian will look surprised and try to find a fire extinguisher, as it's the only thing she can think of to spray to deal with this sort of emergency.  "What's going on?!"

“Acid?  Um need a base liquid to neutralise, right?”
Roam looked but made no move to help in the strange lab.

Seeing the green thing covering the tablet, Hemon doesn't act. He knows technology to well to be sure that it can't be a simple accident and takes a mental note that he will have to ask his new companion what they did. Nonetheless, he tries to look a bit afraid by what's happening so he doesn't triggers an alarm in Dr Cole's mind.

"We'll let you handle that, Dr. Cole.  We're going to get going with the transponders."  Coralian motions for the others to follow and begins using whatever cart Cole has the transponders stacked on to carry them into the wilds to be set up.

Roam pushes off the wall he was leaning against.  Standing straight he motions for Dr. Lewis to follow Coralian.  Deep down Roam wants to smash this mans face into the floor repeatedly, but that may just be leftover aggression toward those in Haven that tried to kill him.  Stupid scientists.
With a deep breath he lets his memory of Mira, Geytha, Jase and Quill release some of the anger.  After a moment he starts walking away ready to focus on new things.

Dr. Cole yelps and runs around the lap, finding one beaker, then another, before finding a third that seems to hold what he wants and casting it upon the bubbling mess.  As Coralian takes advantage of the hoopla to make an exit, Dr. Cole barely notices, fluttering around the fizzy mess while the piskis shriek in excitement and the Teslasaurus snorts in annoyance.

Gathering up the transmitters and making a quick escape before Dr. Cole can get himself together, the group leaves the lab behind.  It's midafternoon, and stormclouds are slowly starting to gather, but the wind hasn't picked up yet.  Likely you still have an hour or two before the storm breaks.

Dr. Lewis looks back at the lab with astonishment as you emerge back into the jungle.  "What in the world happened back there?  Did something just break?  I mean, I didn't particularly want to clean it up, but..."

Coralian smiles briefly as she walks with purpose.  "I made sure, as much as I'm able, that the records of our visit were irretrievable.  Now, let's get these set up, run his little test, and get going where we're supposed to be."

The taller woman sighs and trudges onward.  "I don't particularly care for his research, but I don't really have the power to find a peaceful end to it right now.  Setting up the transponders will be harm reduction, if nothing else."

Dr. Lewis looks a little confused, but then nods.  "I guess it wouldn't do us a lot of good if SATI found out we were pretending to be Dr. Cole's superiors.  I... wouldn't really know what to say if they asked us why we did it!"

She pats Foozle's flank, and her 'mimus nuzzles her, clearly relieved to be back out on the road.

"So... we head north, plant the transponders, and then move somewhere else?"

The group heads north, going along the path for now, knowing it will take until dark until they are able to get where they want to start planting the transponders.  They are vigilant about encountering anything else (as the wilds are nothing to joke about), and in enough time before dark you're able to rig a camp in a protected area of fallen trees buttressed by a few boulders. Taking watches, you don't see much more at night than a few dinos at a distance, though from some distant howling and crashing in the underbrush, there are definitely a goodly number of them out there.

By morning you're on the path again, and deviate to place the transponders.  As each one is secured, it powers up, and by mid-afternoon you have them placed and can get back to the game trail you were using.  By close to sundown you are drawing near the Sea of Tranquility, a rocky, barren zone that should take you another couple of days to cross, and after that should be the zone of dinos Dr. Lewis needs for her research.  Making camp this night is more involved, as a storm is definitely brewing above and beyond the usual powerful rainstorms of this area.

It takes all of you to rig a decent roof and sides to shed the rain and any falling smaller branches, giving you a small protected space from the water and wind.  It makes watches more difficult, but at least the weather will likely keep the number of predators down.

But it's not the sound of predators that Coralian hears during her midnight watch.  In the slackening rain, she hears a buzzing drone, not a dino, not an insect, but a regular metallic buzz that sounds... mechanical.

Coralian will begin to try to spot the source of the buzzing sound, moving slowly to as not to draw attention.  Hopefully, Ajax can help her to locate the offending machine.


She taps her human companions gently to wake them, although her gaze continues out into the storm.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:47, Thu 29 Oct 2020.

Roam feels the shake and his eyes flash open.  He tenses, but doesn't move.  Listening and looking toward she-who-shakes, his hand slowly slides toward his weapons.

Half-sleeping because of the storm, Hemon is quickly woken up by Coralian. After a quick moment, he starts to hear the buzzing sound so he starts looking around him and take his bow, ready to use it if needed.

The group had finished their researched for Dr. Cole, finding that the implanted animal scouts he had sent with them responded to the listed commands promptly and at even a little farther distance than initially projected.

Whatever else Dr. Cole might be a part of, his application of technologies was sound.

But now, at night during the storm, Coralian wakes the others, Hemon and Roam quietly awakening, Dr. Lewis starting up out of a deep sleep with a surprised snort, looking around in confusion.  But upon seeing Hemon with his bow, she sits up and grabs her own, staring out into the darkness that is occasionally thrown back by lightning strikes.

During one of those strikes, you all see something burrowing its way out of the ground, something large and blunt, shining in the lightning, with tiny lights embedded all around it.  The buzzing comes again, and it rises further out of the ground, insectile appendages unfolding from it and settling against the ground, pushing it higher...

"WOW! WOW! WOW!" shouts Hemon at the sight of the creature. "Is that what I think it is? Some kind of giant worm or I don't know what? I'm sure it has too many legs anyway." he says, clearly uncomfortable with the sight he just had. "If it get any closer to me, I will fire an arrow!"

Roam looked where instructed and spotted something pushing through the ground.  With a grunt he pushed to his feet and looked quickly.
"Dr. Lewis, Please get up and stay behind me."  Roam pulled his sword in one hand and his laser in the other.
Roam looked at the limbs and the pushed dirt as it tracked through the dirt.  His lips pursed as he wracked his brain...

Coralian nocked an arrow and scanned around them, in case there were signs more of the ... machines (?) were in the area.  At this point, she was praying for a lightning strike that might do their work for them.

Lightning does begin to flicker, illuminating the area in brief, stark flashes.  The "worm" looks metallic, articulated scales of metal overlapping where small points of light don't otherwise emerge.  The legs that are pushing it from the ground, however, look disturbingly organically insectile in the uncertain light.


It pauses briefly in its emergence, making a series of rapid clicking sounds that echo across the expanse.  Dr. Lewis has her bow out, hands steady though her expression is taut with fear.

Then the creature begins to push up again, exposing more of its lengthy body, now beginning to taper into a drill-like end.

From the distance, more the clicking echoes back.  Or is that not an echo?

Earlier....

Rebekah watches the datapad exchange hands, narrowing her eyes. She could certainly have imprinted her data, but she wonders whether the imprint would show the woman or the wild beast? Thankfully, Coralian's quick thinking had spared them the inquisition sure to follow. She leaves, hiding her distaste at Dr. Cole's work—although at least he seemed to care more for the animals than most researchers she'd met.

Easy to look at them like objects until you are one.

Now
Bekah sits uncomfortable in a corner of the makeshift shelter. Blue is hunched over her, largely blocking the rain—the tyrannosaur occasionally shakes herself, sprinkling her human and dinosaur companions. Fortunately, Blue loves the rain. For Rebekah, it's just another way to mask the approach of danger. She spent a long time in a place where rain fell constantly, and then not at all, and sideways, and backwards, and....

She closes her eyes and tries to catch some rest. Unfortunately, the sound that permeates her dreams soon disturbs her slumber, and she joins the others in looking for trouble. Rebekah gets to her feet, placing a hand on Blue's snout as a low growl rumbles out of the young tyrannosaur's throat.

Whatever this new creature is, it's unnatural, but is it controlled by someone? Perhaps someone whose work they had disrupted? Bek tenses, prepared to face whatever threat the machine-thing may pose.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:28, Fri 20 Nov 2020.

"More?" as loudly as she dares, hoping the sound reaches the ears of her companions and is swallowed by the rain beyond them.

"I hope it's just some echo." answers Hemon to himself without real convictions. Still, he checks that Tap is far from the source of the noise. There's no question for him to fly away under this weather and on the ground, he is an easy prey.

Instinctively, the young man moves closer to his dino to be able to protect him more efficiently if needed and he makes sure his small Nerezza is safe as well.

Watching the cyborg creature he calls out, "Another lab grown monstrosity."

Roam stands between the thing and Dr. Lewis, raising his laser and aiming at its face.  Any threatening move in their direction and it gets a blast of charged protons.

The creature makes a peculiar hiss, sounding nothing so much as a release of steam, and abruptly scuttles away at incredible speed, leaving behind a hole in the ground.  It circles to the east and away, and for long moments, nothing else is heard.  Then two more clicks echo, followed by the rapid return of the same creature, plus its twin.  The two come even with the hole, then turn to face the shelter.  The pointed tips of their bodies begin to glow a dull red, and you can see steam and hear a sizzle as the raindrops hit them...

Coralian darts off to the left, away from the rest of the group, circling around so she's at an oblique angle to the creatures.  She whistles to summon Ajax, all the while keeping her taut bow trained on the nearest monstrosity.  She'd maintain a distance of at least 15 feet from the intruders.

Ajax, however, seems to think his place is right where he is, staring down the machines and snorting a challenge.


OOC: so if the party is at 9 o'clock and the centibots are in the center, Coralian is now at about 1 o'clock.

Ajax stands his ground as the creatures glow more brightly, steam coming thickly from them.  Roam, never one to let an enemy get the first blow, fires off his laser, hitting one squarely and making it shriek, discharging a blast of heat into the air instead of at the campsite.  The other wastes no time, discharging its own searing, super-heated air.  Ajax's armor protects him from the worst of it , and Hemon's protective pose over his dinos keeps them from harm, as does Rebekah's own wariness.  Roam, however, left himself open and feels the heat blast him hard!

The wounded one scuttles a little to the side, shaking its forward segment, while the attacking one makes a series of sharp grunts, swaying from side to side as if trying to determine which foe to attack first...

Coralian, perhaps thrown off by the thrashing and steam (or just concern for Ajax) looses an arrow that flies wide as she screams in frustration.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:38, Tue 08 Dec 2020.

Of all times to wish I could change!

She also is lacking in the way of guns, preferring more primitive weaponry instead. However, Rebekah recalls the perfect cypher for this situation! First, she will study the threat, analyzing its movements, potential weak points, and behaviors.

"Blue! Protect the doctor." The tyrannosaur snuffles as she moves swings her body to protect their guest.

OOC
• Understanding: Will use Understanding on the creature. Observe or study it as an action, gain an asset on the next interaction.
• Blue: I rolled a 9, so I think I can command Blue properly this turn?
This message was last edited by the player at 23:47, Tue 08 Dec 2020.

Not happy with the attack against his companions, Hemon fires an arrow at the closest creature. But too concerned by his dino friends, the arrow flies lose.

Coralian and Hemon's arrows go wide, while Ajax stands his ground.  Tap shrieks and keeps trying to look around Hemon, while Rebekah takes her time to study the armored insect-like creatures.  Blue stands in front of Dr. Lewis, snarling at the things, while the doctor leans just enough around Blue to fire off an arrow at the one who had blasted Roam with heat.  It hits squarely, making it shake itself from side to side to try to shake it off.  The arrow begins to smolder from the heat of the creature's skin!

Dr. Lewis whistles to Foozle, but the over-eager struthiomimus trips over his own feet and goes into a muddy somersault, ending up sitting on his tail and clearly wondering what just happened.

Roam misses another shot with his laser, but with a click to Tarla, his raptor dashes and slashes her claws at their attacker, adding to the damage from Dr. Lewis' arrow.

The wounded one swings around to Tarla, but misses her cleanly, while the other one charges at Blue.  But with the rain, even all of its feet can't keep it from slipping, and its pointed head blunts against Blue's hide without doing any harm, though its pointed end continues to grow redder and glow brighter and brighter...

Coralian, incensed at the attack on Ajax and frustrated by her wide shot, drops her bow, hefts her axe, and launches herself at the offending machine-thing.

As the creatures step closer, Hemin fires another arrow at the most threatening one. This time, he assures himself a steadier aim.

Coralian's cypher and her anger combine into a devastating blow that nearly carves the wounded creature in twain, dropping it to the muddy ground.  Its pointed end sizzles where the rain hits it, sending up small bursts of steam.

Hemon focuses his attack on the remaining foe, his arrow striking true.  Dr. Lewis' arrow flies just over the creature's head.  However, Roam refocuses his aim with his rifle and rips off a shot that strikes it dead center on its sizzlingly bright end.  It stops in its tracks as Rebekah and Blue swoop in, Rebekah's strike a minor blow for Blue's finishing blow of a hard crunch to the midsection.

The creature drops, but the bright, hot end of it doesn't start to die down.  In fact, it erupts into a blinding burst of heat and light!

OOC: Everyone take 2 damage from the explosion, and also gains 1XP for the mass GM intrusion.

Rebekah collapses back into the mud, away from the explosion, but it's too late to avoid some searing and blisters. Growling, she clambers up out of the mud to check on Blue. "You okay, girl?" She pats the young tyrannosaur's flanks, still steaming from the explosion. "Yeah, I know you're tougher than that." Bekah looks at the still-sizzling remains of the creature. So am I.

"But where did you come from?" Rebekah begins looking around for clues as to the creatures' origins.

Roam picks himself up off the ground.  He quickly scans around making sure there is no other impending threats.
"That is likely to draw unwanted attention.  Is everyone ok?"

He looks directly at Dr. Lewis when he asks.
His hands quickly check his laser to make sure nothing is broken and wipe mud from the emitter lense.  It quickly finds its way back to his carrying case and Roam whistles Tarla over to check her.  Minor injuries he rests his forehead against her eye ridge and pats her neck.

"We can either head back to the SATI facility and hold up, or I can follow this things tracks to see where it came from."

Heaving a few last breaths of rage out, Coralian is able to calm herself and turn her attention to Ajax.  "Are you ok, buddy?"  She scours him for injuries that may need tending, versus just time to heal.

"Anyone ever see anything like those before?"

As the thing explodes, Hemon instinctively turns his back toward the explosion to protect his Nerezza with his body. When he feels that everything's over, he quickly reachs Tap to check if the Tapejara is going well. Once he is sure everything is fine, he moves toward Rebekah. "You good, Bek?"

He then looks at Coralian. "Nope. Never seen something like that before." And, looking at Roam, he adds: "If the weather calms down, I could help you from the sky."

Rebekah begins to look around for any hints at to where these creatures may have come from.  While they didn't leave much in the way of tracks on the surface, and their seeming underground mode of travel having precluded most tracks that way anyway, with an assistance from a light she can see that the tunnels curve off to the northwest before ascending to their ambush point here.

Also, the creatures look like their flesh is well-knitted to the cybernetic parts that form their nosecones, but underneath the cones you can see living eyes through glass-covered apertures, and the metal, insectile legs are attaching at points were more saurian legs would have emerged.  If you had to take a guess, if they had grown up "normally" (and creatures this fully integrated must have been modified since birth or even before) they would resemble the large crocodilian creatures that haunt the banks of the Totorix Run and sometimes snatch people from boats.



"A bit.  A sort.  Kind of.  Mostly," Dr. Lewis says, bow still in her hand as she looks Foozle over for any injury.  "But we're a few hours away from Dr. Cole's facility, and I don't think I want to travel that far in the dark, do you?"

She seems shaken, but clearly is willing to follow Roam's lead when it comes to moving about the wilds.



"Nothing in particular, though the hide looks more saurian aside from the cybernetics and grafts.  I can look closer... if I can get more light?" Dr. Lewis says, looking rather pale.

OOC: Ajax is down 3 Health, Roam is down a total of 2 (I didn't take his Armor into consideration with the attacks on him before).  Everyone else is also down 2, dinos included, but please remember to take damage off for any Armor you or your dinosaurs have.
 Hemon, if you wanted to protect your Nerezza you can take 2 (instead of 1 because of your Armor) to shield them.

"Especially given the weather, I'd prefer to rest until daylight.  That'll give us a chance to examine those things in the light, too."

Coralian continues to tend to Ajax's wounds, muttering to him sweetly as she does so.  She is surprisingly gentle, given the display of utter brutality she displayed barely a few minutes ago.

"I agree with Coral," Rebekah says, nodding absently. She pats Blue's snout as the tyrannosaur snuffles her; Blue's hide is still smoking a bit, but the tyrannosaur is only singed and scratched a little, and bears her (minor) wound with pride. Bek smiles. "The great predator of the savannah, you are. Queen of the jungle!"

Blue lifts her nose a little as a regal gesture.

"Many theropods are nocturnally active," Rebekah says, turning to her comrades. "At night, our danger grows. We might wander into an ambush, into nesting territory, and we risk losing precious signs of these trails. Hemon, Coral, are you able to help us follow these tracks by daylight?"

Asking the question, Rebekah checks the chronometer on the thick band on her wrist.

Looking at Tap to be sure he could fly without problems, Hemon then turn toward Rebekah. "Yeah, I could help better at day from the sky. Not to brag but I'm quite good at noticing small details." he says with a smile. "So following tracks should be easy."

He then takes a few seconds and looks at the others. "I agree with Coralian and Rebekah. We will have a better time keeping this position for the night, and staying aware or studying the creature bodies. Then benefit from the day light to search where this creature came from."

"Trying to find tracks at night in the rain is far more effort than the likely gains.  And if they tunneled the whole way, it won't matter when we look for tracks.  Did you see the way they came up out of the ground?"

Coralian is still doing her best to tend to Ajax as she talks.

But they would have disturbed the ground as they past through. That would leave its own version of a track that I should be able to follow. That’s what I do. Any type of rain will clear it out very fast though.

It’s a shame that we have to mess up these regal creatures with all this nasty cyberware and ruin nature’s creations.

Roam looked at the dinos scattered about the clearing.

Dr. Lewis seems relieved that they aren't going anywhere else tonight, and considers the dinosaurs for a moment.  She closes her eyes, and then after a moment her skin begins to glow with its own bioluminescence. Clearly she's just activated a cypher of her own.  She begins to examine the fallen creatures as well as she can with the rainfall.  "I think these creatures must have been modified very early.  Shortly after hatching, possibly with some tinkering beforehand.  The integration is fairly clean, and I don't see a lot of repeated scar tissue from new or badly-applied implants, so either they were cared for or are just very robust.  Probably cared for, as these kinds of mods are... expensive..." she says, trailing off at the end.  She shakes herself and then goes to help reinforce their shelter for the night, refill water containers, and help anyone else with their dinos.

Between Roam and Hemon, they can see the direction the tunnels go without much difficulty.  The creatures were large enough that the two trackers could choose to use the tunnels themselves (albeit by crawling or at least crouching) or they could take the surface road to get a better fix on their direction.  But in the dark, and the rain, even following a fairly obvious track will have some challenges.

OOC: You can use the Heal skill to heal both yourselves and your dinos if you have it.  The DT would be the amount you want to heal, so if you want to heal 3 health/hit points, you need to hit a DT of 3 (9 on a d20).  I believe you only get one chance a day for that kind of heal check.

Roam and Hemon, if you are going to track, I will need a DT 5 tracking roll if on the surface, DT 3 if you choose to crawl in the tunnels.

Rebekah goes to Blue's side and fishes a medkit out of the dino bag. From it she withdraws some bandages and ointments to treat their minor wounds. Fortunately, Blue's nearly as stubborn as Bekah herself, so neither took serious harm. Afterward, she goes to check on Hemon, and once she's sure he's okay, sets about setting up camp. Rebekah goes to the edge of the clearing and looks for a sturdy tree, or better yet a cluster of trees, where she can build a lean-to and cover it with fronds. It won't do much for the dinos, but they can take shelter under the foliage. It will help the humans.

Then she also sets to finding small stones, sticks, anything dry that she can make a fire with.

Coralian takes a moment to recover and does her best to tend to Ajax's condition.

OOC: I rolled a natural 1, so this could get messy, folks.

There's not a lot to make a fire with that isn't already quite wet, but Rebekah manages to find a few things that were under enough leaf-litter to at least give a little light and let people dry out a bit.

Coralian's attempt at fixing up Ajax's burns don't go quite so well; when she tries to apply the right mash of leaves to make a poultice, she grabs the wrong ones in her haste.  Ajax bellows loudly as the leaves sting his wounds and leave a bright orange luminescent streak that could be easily seen in the dim, rainy night.  After a little gentling and some treats Ajax eventually forgives Coralian, but it seems the strange streak is definitely going to stick around for a while...

--

The group can eat and get what rest they can, watching carefully for any more trouble.  The rain breaks shortly before dawn without anything else trying to attack them, at least.  Dr. Lewis gets her gear ready as Hemon and Roam try to figure out where the tracks came from...

OOC: Follow the tracks?  Forget them and go on your original plan?  Something else?

Roam lays against a tree and gets Tarla to settle beside him.  The Raptor gives a small call to him before laying down.  Eyes close but it is easy to tell neither is oblivious to what is happening around them.

“We can follow those tracks later, if the rain doesn’t wash them away.  Might be interesting to find out who modified these creatures.

Rebekah leans up against the base of a tree with her arms crossed and one boot over the other. She catches as much rest as she can while Blue sleeps crouched nearby, like a giant blue-pebbled wall. As usual, Rebekah's sleep is fitful, torn by dreams of a Beast that will not stop hunting her, pursuing her until her heart is the very pulse of the wild Cretaceous....

In the morning, she yawns and stretches, her back arching, stiff limbs popping. After checking to make sure everyone is okay, she goes about the slow process of waking Blue up.

Too bad they don't make dino coffee.

"Maybe we should follow the tracks," she suggests, though it seems most everyone had that on their mind already.

"I'm willing to follow, at least for a while.  If the path diverts too far from our necessary heading, we'll need to assess priorities and safety.  Of course, that may depend on what we encounter along the way."

Coralian packs up her gear with practiced efficiency, moving more gently around Ajax than usual as she ties up various items to dry on his shell.  His wounds seem much improved, but the odd day-glow mark is persisting despite the rain and he's favoring that leg a bit.  Her soft murmurs of encouragement are having (maybe?) some effect, but not as much as she'd like.

Hemon joins the others in the task of improving the camp for the rest of the night. When everything is done, he moves close to Rebekah and Blue (It has become an habit for him to not move to far away from them) and before going to sleep, he tries to heal Tap who was hit when one of the creature died.

By the moan that Tap is making, Hemon understand that he is doing more harm than good and stops, hoping it has not make things worse.

___________________________________________

With the Sun rising, Hemon wakes up. First thing first, he ensures the Nerezza is doing fine after the last night event and he checks Tap as well. When everyone is awake and they start shaping plan for the day, Hemon offers to help follow the tracks from the sky.

"Finding or following something from up there is a bit like second nature for me. As the weather looks better, I could fly and cover a greater area from the sky trying to follow these tracks. What do you think?"

Roam awoke early and got ready for the day.  He waited for the others quietly and did a little kicking around the tunnel entrance. He followed the direction a few hundred paces above ground, but circled back and waited.
Tarla disappeared into the brush to find a meal and eventually returned.

"I followed the tracks a little before you woke.  I didn't get too far, but definitely started in the right direction."

Roam is able to point out the way the ground is pushed up from the burrowing monsters for some distance.



OOC:  Difficulty 5 -2 for skill and effort.
12:07, Today: Roam Linden rolled 18 using 1d20.  tracking DT5 -2 for trained and effort.

The rain had done a number on the tracks, but while everyone else is sorting out healing themselves and their dinosaurs, Roam's skill and Hemon's aerial perspective let them find a place where disturbed or wilted vegetation shows the path of the diggers' passage.  They travel nearly an hour before finding waterlogged pits where the diggers must have started their travels underground. Beyond that, trailing west and north, are faint places where the creatures must have walked, plus boot prints from no less than four people.  Checking about the area, there is a place of flattened vegetation where something flat and heavy had rested (perhaps a shelter or large container), evidence of camping (treated latrine trench, area for a warmer or fire), and the broken-off tip of a lightning arrestor (for not getting struck by lightning when out in the open).

"I suggest we head north.  It's at least closer to the direction we need to head, right?  And we either find the people who did this or we get farther away from their reach."

She continues to assess the tracks.  "Still, it worries me that they were able to send those abominations after us from so far away in the middle of a storm."

Once he goes back on the ground, Hemon joins the others at the likely camp site. "I'm fine with this idea. If we don't find them, we might still come back later to check the other way."

He then stops a moment, listening to what Coralian has to add. "But yeah. Something tells me that if we don't find them, they will find us anyway. We should be careful."

The group carefully tracks away to the north, finding larger tracks from a large sauropod.  For a while you weren't certain if you were just following a dino on a grazing route, but along the way you spy a carved bone button, a tent stake, and a ripped piece of spidersilk, as if torn from a garment hem.  All signs of humans, which makes it likely either their footprints were washed away in the storm, or they were all riding the sauropod.

It takes another couple of hours, but eventually they carefully track the sauropod prints to a place where the height of the trees becomes truly enormous.  Hearing the heavy thuds and vibration of enormous footsteps, the group can hide themselves behind some of the soaringly high trees and peek out at a distance.  They can see a herd of perhaps six sauropods, brachiosauruses specifically, all with what looks like metal and leather harnesses around their necks and riding platforms on their backs.  The six bear the riding tack without seeming to notice them, more interested in feeding on the lush vegetation than anything else.  A couple of the sauropods have patches of white skin, instead of the ruddy brown with its attendant fluffy coat.

Beyond the sauropod herd, there are a couple of the large trees with gaps in their lower trunks easily large enough to admit a human.  There are also mounds of loosened earth near those gaps.

Coralian points out the trees and piles.  "Maybe shafts leading to a construction under ground?  Could be fake trees, or tunnels fitted into existing vegetation.  Might be worth investigating those more closely if we can approach unnoticed."

Coralian also does some mental navigation, trying to figure out if this location might be anything they saw on the maps back at the lab.

Hemon looks at the point designated by Coralian and try to focus on this zone. "Hmmm... I guess we could get closer if we keep our larger dinos at good distance. What do you think?"

"We should have them fairly close at a fall-back position, though.  If we need to fight, I want Ajax where he can pummel things."

Coralian, this seems to be in the general direction of Xanadu, from what you recall, though if this is the place it's well-hidden.  With both you and Hemon casting around for a place to hide, there are some of the forest giants that look like they've been grazed about recently, meaning that the braciosaurs won't be coming around looking for something to eat.  Checking carefully, it offers some concealment from the suspected entrance, and neither of you notice any tech around the area.  Or if there is any, it's extraordinarily well-concealed.  There are a few piskis about, however, flitting about in the treetops.

Dr. Lewis is staying put, but she's watching the brachiosaurs with avid interest, muttering quietly to herself as she consults some notes from her pack and writes some observations down.  "Fascinating!  There's almost a pattern here...  I wonder if it's just following certain dermotomes or if someone has actually tried to activate the lack of chromatophores deliberately..."

Bek kneels down next to Dr. Lewis, also avidly watching the brachiosaurs, equal parts fascination and admiration shining in her brown eyes. "Beautiful, aren't they? Even without us here to alter them. There's something...pure about them." Rebekah smiles. Her gaze looks up to the piskis. "Those are the same creatures they were using in the drones. I don't know if that's a coincidence, but I would not bet any coin on it."

Looking at her solar chronometer, Rebekah stands up and goes to Blue's side. "You may have to stay here for a minute, girl. Protect Dr. Lewis. Us smaller types might have to go in."

As Coralian picks a cautious, twisting path around the clearing to get a better angle of approach, she urges Ajax to follow her.  To Hemon, she says, "This area may correspond with what was labeled 'Xanadu' on the maps in the lab.  What do you recall of that site, from your learning in the lab or elsewhere?"  Coralian searches her own memory, as well, for anything that might be of use.

Hemon gestures at Tap to ask him to stay put while he joins Coralian closer to the scene. When she asks him a question, he takes a few moment to scan his memory. "Let me try to remember what we saw back there."

The young man looks all around the brachiosaurs and tries to identify anything that could remind him what they saw in the lab. At last resort, he could send Tap in the sky for a better global view if nothing reminds him of Xanadu here.

Unfortunately, other than the area where SATI-X (Xanadu) was supposed to be, Dr. Cole hadn't explained much more about its purpose, though you do know that one Dr. Kane Yates is supposed to be in residence, and seems to be the one in charge of the implant project and is the one who brings supplies and gets updates from Dr. Cole, taking back any results of his research.  The next project Dr. Cole had been going to work on was dakotaraptors, at Dr. Kane's behest, which is certainly an... exciting prospect, if true.

As the group hides and watches, Roam spies something going on in the trees, and can quickly call people's attention to what he has spied.  There are some people up in the huge trees, using grappling lines, soar suits, and other climbing gear to move between the forest giants while staying above the brachiosaurs' eating range.  One of the figures has a set of tinted goggles on over their eyes, likely some enhanced visual gear, and is looking down at the ground.

Coralian will take close heed of Roam's alert and try to notice more of the activity of the tree people, especially the one with the enhanced visual device. Do they seem to be searching for something in particular that they think is already there, or are they are lookouts wary of intruders like herself?  She nocks an arrow, just in case.

At Roams' alert, Hemon retreats with Coralian to join the rest of the group and starts looking up in the trees. Just like Coralian, he also have his bow at the ready and an arrow ready to fly if needed.

The tree-folk pause in their descent as the one with the goggles scans the ground, then points near the churned-up earth.  Carefully the climbers and the ones in the soar suits begin a spiraling descent away from the sauropods, opposite you, landing or stopping a good ten feet off the ground, clinging to the trunks of the huge trees like lizards.  One of them reaches into a pouch on their belt and removes something round and about the size of a fist.  They fling it at the ground with no small force, and suddenly one of the mechanical insect creatures erupts from the coil to snap at it before returning underground!  The sauropods snort in alarm and begin to move away from the area, grunting and huffing in consternation...

"Seems we aren't the only ones who have trouble with those nasty burrowers."

Hemon watches the scene unfolding in front of them and, still focus on what's happening answers to Coralian.

"What if this is the other way around and they used this device to lure the creature instead? That could be a way for them to attract these monstrosities where they want."

Thinking about this possibility a shiver goes down his spine.

"Maybe the creatures collect things for them and they need to recover that?"

"Yeah. That's both exciting and frightening to think that they could somehow interact with these creatures." answers Hemon, still looking at the men.

In the large tree where the group had spied the glint of metal, there is some slight movement.  A figure in a jumpsuit, with dark brown skin and long dark hair tied back tightly, emerges moving very slowly.  In her hands is some kind of metal rectangle that she taps at with her fingers - likely some sort of tech.  Her gestures are short and jerky, her lips pressed together, her brows furrowed over her darkened goggles.  Her boots are oddly large at the bottom, the soles widely expanded to over three times a normal one.  She takes a few slow steps outward, tapping at the rectangle in her hand.

One of the tree-folk above tosses another round object behind the woman's back, and the metallic creature surfaces again to snap at it, making the newcomer jump and muffle a shriek.  She turns and taps frantically at the rectangle as the metallic creature pauses, its pointed end facing her unwaveringly.

The tree-folk begin to swarm down from above, climbing into the tree the woman had emerged from, disappearing one after the other but leaving no sign of their presence within the tree.  It's as if the tree has swallowed them up!

Hemon looks at the scene in awe before turning toward Coralian. "I guess this gives us the answer we were looking for. It looks like the Sylvanian Family has found a way to control the creatures to some extent. That is disturbing."

"They seem to be using it to keep her at bay while they invade ... wherever the tunnels in the trees lead to.  Likely an underground base, but that doesn't tell much besides the fact that they want it well-hidden and have taken great pains to accomplish that.  Think of the structural integrity necessary to keep those brachs from crashing through the ceiling.  Think of the botanical engineering necessary to have trees that large grow right over top of it. Not all of that vegetation is synthetic."  Coralian pauses a moment.  "We have found a very expensive place we were never meant to find."

Hemon nods at Coralian. "You are probably right. They are trying hard to hide this place so it must be really important. Now, there are still these worm like creatures to deal with if we want to get a closer look."

"Um... what about the worm-thing?  Won't it hurt the woman with the tablet?" Dr. Lewis says, bringing her bow around nervously, knocking an arrow in anticipation.  "Those creatures didn't seem like the sort to back down last night!"

"I think it's being used to keep her occupied right now.  If it was meant to attack, it would have done so already.  But we should certainly be ready to intercede if that happens.  Should we move closer to the fake trees, then, just in case?"

The woman taps at the tech with swift motions, her breath starting to come more raggedly.  The pointed end of the creature is starting to glow with heat, and she looks up at the brachiosaurs, as if trying to assess if she can get to their dangling harness before the insectoid creature attacks.  She curls her hand around the tech, crouches, and suddenly springs up with inhuman swiftness, launching herself nearly twenty feet in the air.  Her shoes splay and reform during her leap, and she manages to land on the back of one of the brachiosaurs, her boots softening her landing.

The insectoid fires off a bolt of burning light out of its pointed end as she jumps, and while it misses the woman, it wings the brachiosaur's side, making it bellow in pain, and then starting an earth-shaking stampeded right towards your hiding place!

OOC: 1 XP for a group intrusion to you all, and everyone please make a Speed defense of DT 4 (12 on a d20) to leap behind a tree/out of the way.  Roll for your companions as well, please.

Coralian, perhaps taking a cue from Ajax's watchful eye, is ready to duck out of the way and does so.  She finds Ajax ... already taking cover behind an even larger tree?!  "How do you move so fast in that shell, buddy?" she says aloud, not expecting to be heard over the cacophony of the stampede.

Swift on his legs, Hemon is able to take cover behind a tree with his small Nerezza. However, Tap is not as successful, his body not fit for this kind of environment.

20:39, Today: Hemon Kah rolled 14,6 using 1d20,1d20.  Speed for Hemon, Speed for Tap.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:46, Thu 08 July 2021.

Coralian and Hemon and even the large and heavily-armored Ajax dodge behind trees with a little room to spare.  Foozle trips herself behind a tree with amazing grace, while Dr. Lewis, Rebekah, and Roam lunge for their trees at the last second.  Tarla snarls at the oncoming stampede for a breath too long, and Blue was gazing at the oncoming brachiosaurs with a kind of wonder.  Tap screeches and claws for height, and is knocked sideways by one of the huge necks, just managing to cling to a tree instead of falling.  Tarla is brushed aside by an enormous foot with bruising force.  But Blue's curiosity gets the better of her.  One of the sweeping tails knocks Blue top-over-tail right through the air, and Blue ends up clinging to the back of another hustling brachiosaur as it hurtles by, one very confused small t-rex clinging to it!

OOC: Tap and Tarla each take 3 damage from the stampede. Blue takes 3 damage and a GM intrusion.  :D

Coralian's eyes grow wide, having never seen a tyrannosaur ride any creature before.  She leaps onto Ajax and urges him to follow the herd so she can convince it to slow down enough to safely dislodge the predator, who is likely as stunned as she is.

Roam quickly recovers his feet and brushes some of the dirt off one handed. He sees Tarla and rushes to her, helping her get steady.

"You are usually so much faster than that.  I didn't expect to be faster getting out of the way than you."

He quickly assess her gashes and makes sure she isn't limping or hiding deeper pains.

Roam looks back at Dr. Lewis and Rebekah. "Rebekah, watch the Doc.  Move up behind us.  We are going to try and help corral the stampede."

With a gentle hand on Tarla's neck before they both take off running after the Ankylosaur.

Immediately after escaping, Hemon stands on his feet and scans his surrounding to find all their dinos companions. Relieved to find Tap in a safe position, he is quite astonished to find Blue on top of a brachiosaurus. "Tap, fly here buddy. Quick!" he says to his Tapejara. He then turns toward Rebekah. "Jump on Tap if you want Reb. He will fly you close to Blue if that helps."

"Blue!"

Rebekah's normally calm and perceptive demeanor quickly vanishes when she sees her friend in trouble. She quickly turns and sprints after her dinosaur friend, giving a whistle. She turns to Hemon and Tap as she runs and shouts her assent. "Okay! Let's go! I need to get to her, she's probably so scared!"

Somewhere within her, or within the spacetime she occupies, the Beast stirs. It wants to give chase, to catch the prey which has endangered its kin—the thrill of hunting the greatest prizes in the Cretaceous.

OOC
I am trained in tasks requiring balance, careful movement, etc., if it helps!

Ajax does indeed follow the herd, but at a respectful distance, so he can clearly keep an eye on all of these exceptionally-large foes!  But he keeps up the pace so as not to lose them, as clearly these need careful watching.

Roam, Tarla seems a little bruised, but still is clearly game for a fight (as always).  Dr. Lewis mounts Foozle, her 'mimus one of the faster dinos in the group, and has her bow out, just in case.  But she listens to Roam, not wanting to get in the way of her own protectors, and stays behind Roam.

Hemon's directive gives Rebekah a faster way of getting to Blue, and Tap, bruised or not, barely notices Rebekah's weight as he soars high and then gets close to the brachiosaurs for a much closer look.  Soaring so close, in fact, that Rebekah could, and can, leap from Tap's back to the brachiosaur, hopefully landing next to Blue!


The other four keep pace with the back of the herd, and Dr. Lewis comes up next to Roam and leans down from her perch on Foozle's back.  "Want a ride?" she asks, looking excited and slightly terrified at the same time.

Hemon is not as fast, lingering back more towards Ajax's more ponderous gate as Tap soars ahead.  But he can see the brachiosaurs are thundering towards a shimmer in the air... it's a time anomaly!

Roam climbs onto Foozle and starts directing her.  Roam calls out to Tarla and Coralian, directing the dinosaurs until their momentum dies down.

Roam taps on Dr. Lewis's shoulder and has her drop him along at an elevated spot he can watch.


OOC:  Success.  spent a level of effort and the two assets from skill and Coralian.
20:22, Today: Roam Linden rolled 13 using 1d20.  difficulty 5 -3 steps (6).

With Dr. Lewis urging Foozle onward, Coralian moving Ajax over, and Roam directing both of them and Hemon where to go to get the most advantage, the brachiosaurs begin to turn.  Blue grips onto the large tail with very wide eyes, not quite certain what to do, watching Rebekah.  The herd is slowing, but not stopped yet, and trounces right through the time anomaly without a pause, curving through the distortion and making them bellow in annoyance.

OOC: I need a second successful check, same DT of 5, to get the herd stopped.
If anyone would like to top up on cyphers from the time anomaly, they may do so.

Coralian gently guides Ajax through the time anomaly as they trail the herd of brachs.  Little chance of remaining unseen, now, she thought, wryly, as she allowed the flux of eons to course through her body and into her DNA.

Rebekah rarely gets too flustered, even in a world of the most powerful predators in history. Seeing Blue in danger, however, is enough to have the girl's brown eyes wide and full of fear—not for herself, but for her friend. Her dear friend, whom she has raised from a hatchling, and would give her life to protect, just as Blue would give hers for Bek in turn.

Using all her training, Bek leaps for the frightened tyrannosaur, gracefully arcing through the air and landing lightly on her target!

OOC
Going to spend a level of Effort, too. 3 Speed points!

• Speed check 11 vs DT 2

Going to land on Blue if I can, try to calm her down.

Roam keeps shouting out to the others where to move and help, but the erratic behavior of the frightened dinos keep moving in unexpected ways.  His frustration mounts as the creatures keep their excited state.
Roam looks apologetically at the others, focusing on keeping them from getting hurt at least.

Rebekah's graceful landing on Blue's back brightens her friend immediately.  While she doesn't stop clutching at the brachiosaur's tail, she certainly isn't so desperate anymore, and waits to see what Rebekah wants her to do.

It Roam takes another few minutes, using Foozle and Ajax together to help herd the braciosaurs, with Tap and Hemon pointing out the limits of the time anomaly and any relevant obstacles (with Tarla helping... or "helping"), but he can finally get the brachiosaurs tired out enough to stop running and slow to a sedate walk.  Between you all, they've run in a large circle, so you are no more than a mile or so away from where they had been spooked.

There is some noise in the tree canopy of insects and other high-dwelling creatures who are scolding everyone below for their excessive noise.  And at about a mile distant, an electronic whine...

"Everyone get to cover, now!" says Coralian, as loud as she dares.  She urges Ajax to follow her to some denser foliage outside of the brachiosaurs path of destruction.

Roam runs toward some trees with low branches calling for Dr. Lewis:  "MOVE! Come on!"

Ducking down he waits for her and her dino, making sure he is not in its direct path.