The strange man at the far end of the town's main (and probably only?) street starts hurrying toward them as they leave, like he wants to talk to them, but Jack and Alec have had enough of strange men for the day-- they've got two in the truck already-- and they're ready to get home.

Soon, they pull up and park at Janessa's house again.

"Wow, this place'll be beautiful at night..." says Whitey, squinting...

"Yeah... But where are the manholes...? Are they under the dirt...?" wonders Petey, squinting...

"You boys will be on guard duty at night, otherwise you'll be free to lounge and occupy your time during your waking hours during the day. I'll be teaching you how to fight once we've collected some others, I'll also get some people to dig tunnels as part of the future base, so you can work a bit during the day as well," Jack mentions as he parks out in front of the ranch.

Sliding from the truck, he picks up his sword from the floorboard, and his submachine gun and looks around for Janessa or David.

They shouldn't have been gone more than a week or maybe a month, depending on time dilation. Though he doesn't see any sign of any advanced building so far, so maybe it hadn't even been that long.

"I might need to step in and get the fort built myself, if we're to have a defense against the assassins," he mentions with a shrug toward Alec.

The front door opens and a shotgun appears followed by Janessasa's redhead. "Jack? Alec? Is that you?" She says stepping further onto the wrap around porch, the shotgun not lowering. She doesn't look any different since they left, except for the shotgun, bedhead, and the PJs.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:41, Sun 05 Jan 2020.

"No, it's your other cousins with the big orange truck," Jack answers with a smile and gestures to the two in the backseat. "This is Whitey and Petey, they'll be night guards and scouts as our fort starts to come together, they're best suited to night work," he mentions.

GM, you might have Alec opt to stick around and build the fort and establish ties with the local government, start to build wealth, etc. It's not as entertaining, but for a group of super-human dimension hoppers, wealth and such should be easy to come by, if he and David are circumspect?

Janessa chuckles and lowers the shotgun. "Fair point smartypants.” She walks over to Jack. “Also, in case you were wondering, y'all have been gone about a day. If you're hungry, I've got food in the fridge. Good thing you didn't show up two hours from now, you would have missed me.” She looks at the two newcomers. "Friends, relatives, or employees?” Janessa asks Jack.

"They're to be employees, and potentially friends, as all good employees are, but that remains to be seen. For now, we've spared them from a rough life on their world," Jack explains calmly and quietly to Janessa. Looking around, he then looks at her shotgun, and then vaguely into the distance. "Where were you planning to go? I'm thinking I'll head back out, leave Alec to help get these guys trained and the fort established against the hook-assassin guys," he explains.

 Janessa shrugs. "I was to be heading to Frontier Days. I was going to show David and Ralph around the Air Force base since we didn't have time yesterday with me riding. I can probably get Mom to show them if necessary." She looks at the two very pale men. "Y'all can head to the barn loft. We got a makeshift living space started. It's just a couple of air beds to sleep on really." Janessa points to the barn before she turns back to Jack. "Hook-assassins?" She asks quietly with an arched eyebrow.

"It's what I've been calling the assassins that came after us. The ones with the extra digits on each hand and the bone spurs?" Jack answers as he looks towards the loft and the barn, and then towards his two new recruits and points it out to them. In case they hadn't ever seen a barn. "Well, if you want to skip out on whatever Frontier Days is.. I believe Alec intends to take up training and recruitment here, I could use someone else with me. Sticking in twos."

Heading back over to the truck, he stands by it, waiting to see if she intends to come with on the ongoing recruitment.

"We can also make sure to scavenge some," he pauses, "What is valuable here? Gems of some sort? Metals?" he asks. "In any case, we can fill the truck bed with whatever it is, and have enough to build whatever."

"Ah. I've just been callin 'em the men in grey." Janessa says with a shrug. She looks at Jack and then back to the house and then back to Jack. "Might as well come with you. Mom knows the base better and I didn't qualify to race today. Give me a few to get some proper clothin' on and I'll be right out." Janessa heads back towards the house and stops. "I've got more weapons inside if you want?" She says turning back to look at him.

"More weapons? Nah, all I really need is the sword, but I've got the gun for everything else, feel free to bring anything you might like to use to trade or defend yourself though. Weapons are pretty universally accepted for trade anywhere we'd go with warriors worthwhile," Jack answers and goes over to make sure that their new hires are finding a spot to get situated.

"Alec, we need housing and a barracks priority, I'll try to get you gold or whatever goes for money around here in surplus, but if I'm not back quick enough.. you guys should remember to travel in pairs," he suggests.

That done, he waits for Janessa to be ready to go.

Janessa nods and heads back inside. She sends a text to her mom, explaining the situation and who the three new men at the house were.


Janessa quickly dresses, repacks her backpack with the usual snacks. She grabs a second reusable water bottle and a couple of extra filters. While in the kitchen, Janessa writes a quick note to David and instructions on the various appliances and location of plates for the Alec and the two newcomers on the whiteboard on the fridge. She stops and looks at a painting of the Grand Tetons before pressing a concealed button on the frame. The painting frame swings away from the wall and revels her weapon safe. After inputting the passcode, she pulls out one of her 9MM GLOCKs, couple boxes of ammo, two Japanese steel boot knives, and their sheaths. Janessa packs the boxes of ammo into her backpack, slides the gun in its holster onto her belt, and one of the boot knives into her boot before stepping back outside. "Hey Jack, got something for you. Also, have a question before we head out." She says as she approaches, holding up the boot knife.

Michelle's cell phone dings as she wanders around the kitchen, drinking a glass of water. After reading the text from Janessa, she replies.
Michelle sighs as she hits send. She finishes her cup of water and goes back to her book.

Looking down at his sword and machine gun, Jack then looks at the boot knife and with a smirk asks, "Do I look underequipped?" but for some reason he takes the boot knife anyway and puts it into his boot. More weapons are always useful.

Looking her gear over for a moment, he nods his head and indicates for her to get into the truck.

"So, I'm thinking we'll go for some genetically engineered super soldiers. They seem to fit with the level of technology here, just advanced a few thousand years. I'm torn on whether to try to hire mercs or find a religion that we could slip in to," he proposes in thought.

Janessa chuckles. "Of course not. Just figured you'd like an extra." She comes around the truck and opens the door. "Not sure. Mercs need money, so we'd have to stop somewhere to get some." Janessa shakes her head as she climbs into the truck. "That still sounds weird that there are places where I could be a deity out there." After a moment, she responds with a question of her own. "Why not both? Start with one and then get the other."

"Sure," Jack agrees and gestures towards the orange truck with its weird composites and design. "I'll drive, you shift us where we need to go," he proposes and getting into the car's driver's side, he waits for her to get in. Once Janessa joins him, he throws the gear into reverse and uses the mirrors to back himself into the grass beside the driveway and then swings the truck around and starts back down the road.

Janessa suddenly has a thought. "How about a place where we're deities and have them sacrifice or donate money or gold? We can get some religious zealots and money in one stop." She then focuses on finding a shadow where they are deities and can get gold.

18:45, Today: Janessa McCoy rolled 6 using 2d6+3 ((1,2)) +1 perception modifier, +1 for the vehicle, and +1 for not being in a hurry . Well dang... I guess the dice roller still doesn't like me.

(Janessa gets 1 new xp.)

The vehicle travels down dirt paths, then gravel paths... the moon comes out, the sun sets... then there are two moons, then none, then the sun rises again... Antlered jackrabbits run out of the road to escape the truck's tires... then the road is paved again, though the daytime sky is purple... A strong wind comes up, as if trying to push the truck off the road to the right... then it's gone, and they're headed downhill, into a wide sort of chaparral valley... then back to a paved road, running through a swamp, the road weaving between mangroves...

Then there are signs of civilization... a city street, like a small American town in the late 1950s... A billboard flashes past-- it looked like Janessa's face! There was writing on it, but it was gone too fast to read...

The citizens on the sidewalks don't look like standard humans, though... their skin colors range from light green to pale blue...

And then, in the middle of a block, there's a red light up ahead, and the truck has to stop. More cars come in behind the truck, while everyone is waiting for the light to change...

There's a noise to the right. Janessa looks-- a woman is pointing at her. The woman looks shocked.

Everyone's looking at Jack and Janessa now, pointing... the driver of the car in front of the truck has gotten out of his car, and is looking at Jack and Janessa, and shouting...

Deleted, given new info.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:43, Fri 13 Mar 2020.

This message was deleted by the player at 02:59, Fri 21 Feb 2020.

(This was meant to signify that there's not gonna be a gap in traffic. The truck is trapped. Its inhabitants, not necessarily, but they'll have to leave the truck.)

Janessa looks at Jack. "Make a run for it?" she asks before trying to understand what is being shouted at them.

Sorry about that guys! My computer died, and I've had a hard time keeping up with posts- and in the process, forgot that I'd needed to edit things.


Jack stares out the windows, and waits. Part of him is inclined to start smashing, shooting, and making a tactical retreat. But until he feels truly threatened, he waits to see what is going to come out of this. He also takes a moment to make sure he really listens to their language so that the Amberite in him can decipher their words.

"Just wait a second, you might have managed part of it, the fame we need," he mentions.

Having said that, he makes a visual show of locking the doors on the hardened dense alloyed doors, hitting the automatic door lock on his chair-arm.

"That said, gun at the ready, if I say run, we head for that alley there, I'll cover us while you shift. Just subtract the traffic and people from around the car, nothing else, we'll double back to it once they're gone," he advises. As always, Jack is as cool as a cucumber.

People increasingly gather around-- and for just a second it looks like one or two of them are thinking about trying to smash the windows of the truck-- then someone shouts something, and everyone draws back, in fear...

It might be a good time to make a run for it, before even more people gather...

The gathered people are comparatively thinner on the driver's side of the truck. One would only have to bust through a line of people one person thick to get past them, like a mad game of "Red Rover."

"You got it, Jack. Not exactly great for my second outing huh?" Janessa says, not expecting an actual answer. She notices the thinner group on his side. "Your side looks easier to escape from than mine." Janessa whispers, trying to not draw attention to the discovery. She scans the area for any clues as to why the crowd is reacting the way they are.

Jack hops out of the car and draws his sword while brandishing his gun, and starts toward the line of people. Moving swiftly. "Janessa, stay tight with me, as soon as we get a little separation, start to subtract people," he suggests and hopes that these people's willingness to stay alive is enough to get them to move. If not, he'll use that superb Amberite strength and muscle past them in a burst of speed.

Janessa follows Jack out his side, sticking close but not close enough to hinder him or herself. "No problem!"