"He didn't speak Truth when he arrived." Alberic adds, growing excited at the prospect of talking about the local mystery. "It's why we have a handy Translation pillar out front. You can talk to almost anyone with it. A remarkable piece of kit! And the phasing, well... probably a side effect of whatever brought him here. Now, there were those snake people who seemed pretty keen on getting hold of him, weren't there?" He goes on, oblivious to the fact that talk of snake people kidnappers is probably not the best topic of conversation for new arrivals. "Now, you took a trip with one of their cyphers? That rag thing? Very extra-dimensional..."

Buojrez wanders in the next morning, looking none the worse for wear. "Took the long way," she says with a shrug. "You can hear a lot by listening, and see a lot by looking."

The day of the shepherds' arrival ends quietly enough, and apart from some anxiety amidst the beasts as they accilimate to the new environs, there is little else of note during the night.

Daylight brings noise and meals and daily ablutions.  The days is sunny and cool.  The shepherds and their numerous spawn busy themselves with organizing the barn to their own specifications (which causes no small amount of stress for Nalla) and settling into their quarters.  They're already discussing additional building projects with Mustane, and the sawmill automaton continues its slow clearing of the forest.

What challenges will the leaders of the clave seek out this new day?

Zalbane catches the others when the arrive for breakfast, corralling them over a hot beverage and milk porridge.

"So, we've found a couple of places nearby that might be worth looking into, either for finding people or for finding resources.  Plus there's those tracks that criss-cross this area, the ones from some large thing like an automaton, that might be worth trying to track to where it has gone to see if that could be a threat or of some interest.  It'd be nice to know which one in case it decides to wander back this way.  So... checking out someplace close?  Or going on a more unknown adventure?  Anyone up for something like that for a few days?" she asks.

Mhari drinks his morning caff', sipping the hot dark drink in silence... until Zalbane mentions tracks criss-crossing the the area.

"I think those tracks bear investigating first.  If we are to have the freedom to fully investigate the ... oddities going on in this region we need first to make sure our community is safe from wandering threats while we are otherwise engaged in our investigations and research."

Buojrez taps her teeth with her spoon. "Resource seeking, I think. With more mouths to feed now would be good to make sure we can support them if weather turns bad or current supply is cut off."

"We never did get into the control room of that place where Dan arrived, and I would greatly like to take a proper look at it. It is probably at the heart of what we've veen sent to investigate." Alberic opines, blowing out a cloud of orange-scented smoke from his pipe. "But those tracks are a more immediate concern. If there are others in the area - of whatever form - it is better that we know of them..."

"The ruins I saw were about fifteen miles away, north-northeast, and I've found a route that'd take about half a day to get there.  There were some smaller tracks coming into and out of the place, but I wasn't sure exactly if it was scavenging animals, people, or something else.  Those big tracks are all over the place, some with taller plants growing, some with shorter, which makes me think we can figure out which tracks are most recent by which have the shortest plants.  While we're going to check the ruins, we can map the big tracks we see along the way and how 'old' they are compared to others we find.  How's that for a few days' outing?" Zalbane proposes.

Mhari nods, "That makes sense Zalbane.  Let's get going!"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:41, Tue 05 Jan 2021.

"Sounds good to me!" Alberic nods.

Mhari considers, "..do you Wrights happen to have the means to provide us all with some form or radio communication in the field?"

"No." Alberic shakes his head, sadly. I've heard of Telepathy implants, or Communication Disks that allow communication over remarkable distances - though I don't know how to make either. They would be very useful. Perhaps something to research in the future. But for myself, I think I am ready to go. A couple of days' rations should suffice, and I have the Eyebug we got from the Snake People. Should be handy for following tracks..."

"I will stay here so the clave is defended while you are out exploring," Buojrez says. She sets about readying herself and her weapons, as well as seeing to the state of the newcomers.

Mhari ponders, Alberic's answer... then asks, "Do you Wrights have a means of creating colored smoke then?  I'm only asking because a means if the Clave signaling us from long distance might be very useful to us to know if an emergency or and attack is made against it."

"And yes, it would be useful as at least two of us are never far from an instantaneous return to the Clave to help defend it or help deal with a crisis.  I'm uncertain the limits of how many I can transport while riding the lightning... but I know I could at least carry one other."

Zalbane thinks out loud, "I don't know about signaling during the day, but if we can get colored smoke, that is certainly an option.  For night, if we have a large, shiny surface they can get it up on the observation tower and then use one of the lights we have to signal us."

Mhari snaps his fingers, "That's it!  A reflective signal mirror will work just fine during the day as well! We could see that for miles! Great Idea!"

Alberic nods. "Excellent! A great thought, Zalbane! I guess we'll need to agree some sort of signals. Mhari, you obviously had some idea on what to communicate... just a distress signal? Or perhaps they should send an agreed all-clear signal at regular intervals. We might miss a lone distress signal. Do we need some means of answering? I'm afraid my pipe probably doesn't produce enough smoke for a signal. And the, er, colours are somewhat arbitrary." He gives rueful grin, as he taps his pipe, breathing out a cloud of purple, plum-scented smoke.

"One pattern for an 'all-is-well' done twice a day, and then one for 'trouble' should be enough.  And with a shiny shield or brestplate, we can signal back, assuming we can get high enough.  But I think between good climbing skills, rope, and perhaps a cypher or two, we should be able to get to a good vantage point!  We should do the signals at around the same time each day...  Hour after dawn, hour before sunset?  Unless someone has a pair of good timepieces, that should serve?" Zalbane says.

Mhari nods, "No need to worry over vantage points... with Z'Dakk I can fly to high enough altitudes to see any signal message at the appropriate times."

"Of course, perfect!  All right, let's get some camping gear and food for a week or so, just in case.  I doubt this will take much more than a few days, but why be overconfident?" Zalbane says.

As the trio of explorers is cinching up their packs and straps, the young girl comes jogging into the clave from the southern entrance.  She approaches Alberic and tugs on his long coat.  "You're going out in the forest, right?  Can you go that way, first?"  She points to the west.  "Magda said the seskiis are acting nervous from something over that way, that maybe they smelled something funny?  I thought I smelled smoke for a second."

"Of course!  We'll give it a sweep; hate for anything to happen to you or the beasts," Zalbane says.  "We'll give you a signal once we've checked it out, then head over to the ruins."

Buojrez will work with Nizq and Nalla to set up a schedule and to familiarize themselves with the turret.

"Sounds like a plan." Alberic declares, cheerfully, shouldering his pack and clamping his pipe between his teeth. He turns to Zalbane. "I guess we should go after Mhari, then, see what he's managed to scout out. Then on to the ruins!" He pats one of the pockets of his duster. "I'm keen to give that Eyebug we got from the Snakepeople a test out. A good opportunity to scout out the ruins from a distance."

And with that - assuming Zalbane is also ready to leave - he heads for the gates.

***After the foray party has left***

Nalla walks over to the new installation.  "They didn't return all of my tools.  And they probably didn't reassemble it correctly, either.  Sometimes these turrets can be finicky with their controls or targeting mechanisms."  She doesn't seem to be speaking to anyone in particular, but isn't being quiet about her anxiety, either.