· What has recently happened here?

With more illumination, it's clear that there've been a lot of people wearing boots (of slightly different sizes, so not the same guy every time) in and out of here lately, although in some directions more than others.

All the most recent prints, however, seem to head off to the right, where the recent noises came from...

I think the person we need has gone off in this direction.

Elern says pointing right.

"Hmmmmmm yesss..." Smith spoke slowly and thoughtfully, giving ample time for either companion to take the lead in the search for an unknown deranged madman in a dimly lit, un-mapped, dangerous cavern far below the planet's surface.

"Ooookay then."

Smith clicks his flashlight on then off to make certain it works, his light equipped hard-hat will suffice for now, then he follows the bulk of the footprints away to the right. His idea for now is to walk slow and steady until he encounters a tunnel, a doorway, an intersection or hears more interesting noise.

He motions for Elern and Chukk to follow.

This message was deleted by the player at 22:55, Sun 07 Nov 2021.

Elern simply follows the other two making mental notes as he goes.

The trio follow the noise down an incline to a fork. The left path goes down slightly more steeply. The right path levels out and stops going downward.

The noise, however, is getting louder to the left. It's also noticeably brighter that way.

"I'm thinking: left," Chukk suggested.

I agree.  Elern said from the back.

The left tunnel, heading down and curving to the left, only does so for about 75 feet.

Then it opens out onto a large natural chamber, about 15 feet high but a good 40 feet wide, with two exit tunnels on the far side.

Three mine workers are there, chipping away at the walls with high-tech tools.

One by one, they stop when they see the trio. "...Hey... what's a scav doing down here?"

"I work here, idiots," Chukk grumbled. He pointed to the various corporate equipment he was wearing and carrying. "Why else would I have this stuff, right?"

This sort of Cunning Ploy always seemed to work for Smith. Chukk really needed to learn how he did that.

Chukk'Chee rolled 6,1 using d6,d6 ((6,1)).

The men shrug. "Uh, okay. Uh... d'you... guys... need anything...?"


(You create a new Scene Trait: Sure, Why Not Let A Scav Down Here?

I'll tell you when you can't use it anymore. (Probably as soon as you leave this immediate area, but you never know that it might be sooner, just depends on how things go...))
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 20:47, Wed 10 Nov 2021.

(...was hoping someone else would step up and say something, but sure, let the Scav carry on the conversation...)

"Yeah, we were looking for the boss," Chukk said. "You seen 'im?"

With Chukk doing the talking Smith decided to take in all the cavern had to offer. Taking a stroll, examining their work, thoughtfully tapping various things with his flashlight, discerning what some of the more interesting equipment does, Smith conducts a brief but informative self-guided tour.

11:28, Today: Smith rolled  3d6 (6,6,6) to Look Around
This message was last edited by the player at 18:33, Tue 16 Nov 2021.

Elern is happy to let the two other do the main work.  His role as ever is step in if needed.
For once it seems he is not needed.

"Th' head supervisor passed through here a little while ago, if that's who you mean," says one miner. "Headed that way." He points to a particular tunnel on the far side of the chamber. "Headed deeper. Seemed a little squirrely-- didn't say much-- but that's just his way."

"These days," says another miner.

"Yeah. He's gotten more like that lately. We're used to it."

Smith finds nothing of interest.

...Except...

...Except that...

...Except that... he feels like he's being watched...?

Smith looks around. No one's looking at him.

But he feels like he's being watched.

Then, almost as soon as he became aware of it, the feeling goes away.

Huh. Weird.

A cold shiver makes its way over Smith from head to toes. He immediately sets down the expensive MegaCorp compact dog-leg protractor he had been ogling and hot-foots it back to the conversation between his friends and the mine workers.

So as not to disturb Chukk's newfound diplomacy he talks low, mostly to Elern;

"Something isn't right down here. My engineer senses are twingling, and not in the good way. I just got the ol' "hairy eye-ball" look over from... something, and all I can say is that it ain't conventional security implements." Smith looks a little pale, and sounds sincerely concerned and put-off by the disturbance.

"Hey, some of my best friends are squirrels," Chukk says, making a joke to keep the miners happy, on his side, and talking freely. "But I guess you're right. They're mostly nuts."

He didn't know if he could get any more information out of them. He didn't know if they had any more information to get. But he needed to keep them talking until Smith and Elern were ready to move on.

Cringing at the the squirrel joke snapped Smith out of his unease over whatever he experienced and he put a hand to a shoulder of both Elern and Chukk signaling it was time to move on.

Bidding farewell to the miners, Smith talked as they walked and related his concerning experience from the concern.

"... so, neither of you felt it?"

He hoped the feeling wouldn't return, whether it was him being paranoid or actually something sinister at work. He pressed on in the big Boss's direction.

"Felt what?" Chukk asked.

"That super creepy omnipotent eye tracking us all the... you know, nevermind."

Smith sighs and continues walking.

Down, down, forward and down...

The lights become more and more spaced-out and more infrequent...

And then they stop, though the tunnel goes on forward.

No one has lit the tunnel ahead after this point.

The trio has miner's lights... Light 'em and go on forward...?

Smith looks at Elern, then at Chukk. Then he looks at Elern again, and once again back to Chukk.

"Well we can let Chukk go first since this is kind of his territory, or one of us could go first. Either way, there's an old engineers' trick we used to employ when we had to work in vent shafts and maintenance alleys, we'd only use one light so any managers we encountered couldn't easily tell how many engineers were getting paid overtime to fix the emergency. If this guy is getting more and more loopy it might be good to have a little element of surprise on our side."

He absentmindedly kicks at the dirt under his feet as he tries to gauge the other's reactions to the idea in what little light was left.

Elern is quit for while.
He then finally says to Smith deciding he can say what he about to say.
There are other intelligent native species on this plant.  Not just the scav's.  Also human and the corp are not only intelligent species that come to visit and live.  So I am not surprised.
It seems he not going to let Smith know if he felt the same thing as him or not.

When things get dark Elern stop checks his watch, the area the group and them makes a light appear on the face of his watch so it is easier for them to see.  However it also easy for him to cover with his hand if need be.

O0C:
19:40, Today: Elern rolled 13 using 3d6 with rolls of 5,6,2.  Illusiong light to see the way.  Look around roll.
With a 6 I am hoping Elern can keep light going until he has use his illusion for something else.

This message was last edited by the player at 18:44, Tue 23 Nov 2021.

The way forward is not really lit any better than before, but Smith and Chukk'Chee think that it is... although they wonder how long the charge or battery on Elern's watch will last, emitting such a bright light...

Smith and Chukk'Chee feel better about things, though... Maybe 1 miner's light at a time will indeed be enough...?