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 Kvardek The problem with a top-down organizational structure is, there was a hard limit on how far that support can trickle down. Aelis may have been a trading hub, but the Church of the Radiant Path had no presence of note on the planet. That would make things difficult; if he could just walk into a center and deliver the news . He would have to send the message through normal channels. He expected the communication to be intercepted, so he could not speak plainly. But heavy encryption would arouse suspicion, and could possibly alert the Vular where their prey had escaped to. No, that was no good at all. He decided to use a more low-tech solution. He drafted an ordinary telegraph, starting with the relevant points he wished to convey: quote:Managed to make it to Aelis. Morale is pretty low, the local sports team is on a losing streak, 69 lost. Had a good day at the market, picked up 40 items for shipment. Let you know where and when the next stop is.
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Jun 11, 2017 01:57
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| # ? May 7, 2024 16:42 |
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 Naivara Ulcahne Naivara crosses her arms and nods her head. "Plus...you seem to be a salesman with a particular...niche, shall I say? Having one of these scout ships for sale is pretty impressive, though I can't imagine what exactly you did to obtain it. Having us walk in and just...offer up a Vular ship must be like a birthday present for you, right? In return for cutting out a significant chunk of work for you, maybe you can knock the price down a bit" Bluff: 1d20+5 25
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Jun 11, 2017 02:34
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Bob looks at Meri, then at Naivara for a moment. He puts his hand back on his chin momentarily in thought before crossing his arms. "You've got a deal. 9000 credits it is," he says, leading you into the small office attached to the garage to complete the transaction. "I'll send my brother, Dean, to go get your ship from the dock." After he collects your credits, he shakes each of your hands. "Congratulations on your new ship, my friends!" he says. Follow me, I'll get it unlocked for you." He leads you back out and over to the ship, removing the launch inhibitors from it. "One thing I did want to show you..." says, leading you all inside, "...is the secret cargo compartment beneath the floor. He pulls on a lever hidden in the frame between the cockpit and the back of the ship and you hear a soft click. He lifts up the center of the floor to reveal a small, but somehow spacious area, perfect for hiding whatever you may need. The ship itself was designed to accommodate elite elven recon squads, and though it's relatively small, it's large enough for the standard squad size of 6 to comfortably live on potentially extended sorties. There's non-hidden storage for standard supplies and standard weapons as well as six bunks, stacked three high on either side of the inner hull. There's a small common area in the back between the bunks, large enough for the squad to meet to plan out ground operations. The weapons system is state of the art, and while it's not quite as agile as fighter class ships, it can still more than hold its own in combat. It has a low radar profile when out of stealth mode, and when stealth is activated, it is completely invisible until the field is either deactivated or power for the subsystem runs out. The cloaking subsystem contains enough charge for 8 hours of cloaking, and each hour of cloak used takes two hours to recharge. The FTL drive is a state of the art military quick-charge drive (one that is prohibitively expensive and is only used on select classes of light ships such as scouts), reducing the amount of time it takes to charge by half, allowing speedier recon and quicker getaways. Overall the ship is sleek and new, and in surprisingly good condition for where you got it from (lack of serial numbers aside).
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Jun 11, 2017 04:55
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Kacht-ka, Ka Remembrancer "Is a good ship. Vital though: Ship like this needs a good name," says Kacht-ka, nodding respectfully. "The Ka demands this respect, or we will all have our blood boil in the void. It is very clear."
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Jun 12, 2017 04:34
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 Meriele "Hmm...how about the Independence?" She was never the greatest at naming things, but it seemed to fit, given the nature of their current work. Meanwhile, Meriele was making sure all the supplies she had earlier were all accounted for and stowed away for easy access. Food - non-perishables, mostly, but a few bits of fresh fruit as well; it'd been ages since she had any. Some pocket-sized flashlights, for those on the team that didn't have night-vision in some capacity or another. Spare batteries, a few dozen. And a small music player, which she hooks up to the little data drive that has her friends music on it. A little something to give their new ship a bit of atmosphere.
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Jun 12, 2017 17:50
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After Stoaga makes her way back to the newly christened ship, you pile in and prepare for takeoff. After receiving special permission for departure from the the emporium from the spaceport, Naivara flicks on the ship's engines. You can barely hear the them turn on, and there's virtually no vibration. Naivara punches the accelerator to lift off and jolts the ship upwards, sending you all flying for a moment, clearly not used to how touchy the accelerator actually is. After a few janky movements, she gets a feel for the ship's controls and you leave orbit, headed to the Draven system. --- As you appoach Doren, you're amazed at the sheer emptiness of it. Almost the entire planet, which is slightly larger than Earth, is desert, save for a few small, primarily human cities built around rare oases. Moisture farming from underground is a huge sink of labor, as well as farming cacti and various desert animals for food. The resistance base is built into the side of a mesa roughly halfway between the cities Lunal and Ja'an. All that is visible from the outside is a small entrance and a larger hanger door painted brown to match the mesa. As you your ship approaches, you don't hear a hail, and the docking bay remains closed...
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Jun 29, 2017 22:31
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 Zivilyn Ziv lounges in a side seat, interest focused dead ahead on the highly suspicious base. "Now either this is an excitin' new definition of layin' low or we're enterin' a bad sitch." He looks over the group and considers the complete radio silence. "... Maybe even a trap. What say we get some scoutin' done?" He considers the new guy and the other best lady for the job. "I reckon me, Ghost-Face and Bugaboo" He nods to Kacht-ka "can get the job done. There a spot we can land? I think the dock union might be on strike, heh." He gestures towards the closed docking bay.
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Jul 1, 2017 14:13
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Meriele "Subtle isn't his strong suit." Meriele pipes up wryly, nodding her head at Kacht-Ka. "I mean, no offense. But you're better with the chopping than with the sneaking." She chews on her cheek a little in thought. "But yeah, let's do it. Naivara, can you keep the engine running? Just in case we need to get out in a hurry."
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Jul 3, 2017 22:42
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Naivara Ulcahne "Not a problem. gently caress knows I'm not the sneaky type either. Just give me a heads up if we need to bust out of here." Naivara props her feet up and reclines comfortably in the pilot's seat.
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Jul 4, 2017 04:28
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Kacht-ka, Ka Remembrancer "Subtlety is not Ka," burbles Kacht-ka, in agreement. "It is important, but it is not mine. The young ladies are more sure to succeed."
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Jul 4, 2017 05:54
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Stoaga of the White Legs "'Ghost-face' is still confused why she is called Ghost-face. But sneaking, that I can do."
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Jul 4, 2017 17:06
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Once Naivara sets the ship down, Ziv, Meriele and Stoaga pile out of the back. As you approach the front door to the base, you notice that the door seems to be stuck in a partially open state, just wide enough for one person to squeeze through at a time. The interior of the base is pitch black, save for spots lit up by emergency lighting. You can't see much from outside the door, save for what looks like a cactus growing next to the door on the wall inside of the base.
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Jul 4, 2017 18:23
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Meriele The cloth mask returns to cloak her elven features for their little stealthy expedition. The door being partially open makes Meri suspicious, so better to be safe than sorry. "What do you think?" she whispers to the others. "Take a light, or gamble on the emergency lighting being enough?" The dark interior gave her no comfort, but the question of visibility versus stealth was a bit of a dilemma here. She could see in the dark, a little bit, but not this dark. Still, she keeps her senses alert. "Looks clear so far.." Perception to watch/listen/smell for anything out of the ordinary at 1d20+7=25.
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Jul 6, 2017 21:34
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Zivilyn Ziv pats Stoaga on the head. Were it not for the hood he might have actually rustled her hair. "Because when they see your face, they'll shortly be a ghost. Let's hustle." Perception 26 with low-light vision. Stealth 15. "Just flip your flashlight on if anything looks suspicious, and be aware of yer surroundings, I reckon. If somebody did this they weren't too concerned with what happened next time somebody stopped by. Means they're sloppy... en progress... or even odds on waitin' fer us, good at hidin' or not." Sliding in through the opening, Ziv saunters on ahead, sticking to the dark spots. He probably should've told the others he didn't have any stealth training, but he had some anti-stealth training. Their team might as well have somebody who can draw fire and point out where it came from. Why, he was almost getting used to being shot!
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Jul 6, 2017 21:53
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Meriele Meri nods, and follows Ziv into the darkness. "Alright." Her voice is barely a breath, now. "You take the lead. Sto--Ghost Face, watch our six?" She'd rather have the two of them inbetween us, just in case anything snuck up on them from behind in there. Nothing personal...but she was used to running and hiding. It was instinct. She stays a little ways behind Ziv, giving her plenty of space to react should he find something. The darkness of her clothes and hair blends almost seamlessly with the pitch of the interior. Were it not for her pale forehead catching the occasional refraction, she'd be practically invisible. Stealth to follow in at 1d20+10=24
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Jul 6, 2017 22:02
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Stoaga of the White Legs Unused to this form of praise, or even much praise at all during, as opposed to after a mission, Stoaga's expression is a bit conflicted and embarrassed, thinking on this until Meri chimes in again. This snaps her back into scout mode as she nods and keeps her eyes open for anything she can find and maintaining a quiet pace. This darkness isn't too unusual for her, considering night-time hunts, but usually she isn't indoors in the dark. Still, it's nothing to get unnerved by. After Saurians, nothing should spook her. Stealth!: 1d20+13 20 Perception!: 1d20+15 23
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Jul 6, 2017 22:09
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The inside of the base is hot, more so than you would expect, as though the cooling system is down, though it still feels cool compared to the sweltering heat of the desert outside. Moving down the narrow entrance hallway, you can see more of the cactus-like overgrowth on the walls of the illuminated parts of the hallways. The air is heavy, and in the lights you can see a haze of thin dust floating around, seeming to coat you with a fine, light green powder that you can see when you are in the light. As you near the end of the hallway, you notice that it opens into a large room with a high ceiling, again only partially lit up by emergency lighting. (Perception) Scanning the room before you enter it, you notice someone moving slowly through one of the dim circles of light. Their gait is odd; it looks as though they are dragging their right leg behind them. You hear a soft clicking noise coming from the room, though you can't tell from where... Look Around You fucked around with this message at 01:09 on Jul 7, 2017 |
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Jul 7, 2017 01:02
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Meriele Meri holds her breath as she spots the other...person? Whatever or whoever they were, they didn't seem to be in great shape. She wasn't sure whether that was good for them or not. A survivor would be helpful, but if it was an enemy they'd be in trouble. But more pressing, perhaps, was the dust they were getting coated in. Some sort of spore? Good thing they all had some sort of mouth protection to prevent them from breathing it in, even if hers just was a bit of fabric. She taps Ziv on the shoulder and gestures at the powder. She doesn't dare speak, but her gestures convey the question in her mind- is this stuff dangerous?
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Jul 9, 2017 11:20
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quote:Doomykins - Zivilyn Ziv rubs the back of his helmet and sighs over the com. "Space is mighty big, Starlet." He realizes that their might be a kinda spooky vibe to this sort place, but then again he seems to be the only fella wearing a full body suit and a closed helmet. He takes to whispering. "I ain't never seen anything like it, and there ain't no immediate danger, but I wouldn't uh, engage in any temptin' fate, if'n I were you. Don't breath that stuff in. Heck, I'd prefer no exposed skin at all until we know more." He takes up his staff and rolls his shoulders. "If'n you two want to hide, maybe get a good eye on me, I should go confront that fella. Might be wounded. Might be ah, talkative. Informative, like." He figures it'd be polite to let them object before he gets to it.
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Jul 11, 2017 02:45
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Naivara Ulcahne Meanwhile, back at the ship... Naivara glances at Ka over her shoulder, her body long since having locked into a comfortable reclining position that she was hesitant to move from. "So...uh...you're a sword kinda guy, eh? Who made yours? Mine are some kind of scientific monomolecular bullshit, whatever that even means. All I know is it slices poo poo to ribbons  "
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Jul 11, 2017 05:03
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Meriele Meriele nods. She gestures for Stoaga to get to the other side of the doorway, just so they could have eyes on the entire room. When Ghost-Face is in position, she nods at Ziv then gives him a thumbs-up. "Good luck." She makes sure to keep a hand on her arm, ready to kickstart the quantum engine into life in case they need to get into action to save their hotshot.
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Jul 11, 2017 18:54
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Zivilyn With a single nod, Ziv turns back to his quarry. He strides out of any darkness and into the hallway, around any corners, and so on. He approaches the shuffler with a confident wave and a "Howdy!"
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Jul 11, 2017 19:03
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Kacht-ka, Ka Remembrancer Kacht-ka's voice is suddenly deadly quiet. There is no trace of the slight burble- an affectation which he uses to make himself less frightening to those who fail to understand the Ka. "I made them myself. Through hammering and fire." He raises his left arm. "This one was once a spring in the heart of an aircraft, under tension so the craft could leave the earth." He raises his right arm. "This one was once a blade that chopped the air, slicing nothing so the craft could leave the earth." "There is a third blade, twice as long and thick, made from the main shaft. I do not hold that blade, and cannot speak of it." "It was many years ago, many worlds ago. There, the last of my kin and I made pact. I made 3 blades. He made them holy, for he was not a killer but a priest. We parted ways. The blades mark our paths. I will not speak of this again." "So remember." There is a pregnant pause. Then, normal service resumes. "You should respect your own blade more, Mind-Killer. For blades like that, they gain life-meaning from being understood; being thought of. You must treat them with kindness, for that is the way of the Ka."
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Jul 11, 2017 19:22
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Naivara Ulcahne Naivara pauses for a beat and decides to un-recline herself in order to turn her seat to face Ka "Hold on a second - just because I didn't personally hand-forge my weapons doesn't mean that there isn't a story. My story just isn't contained within my sword. It's all up here." She gingerly knocks on her skull for effect, stars knew what had been knocked loose in the last few days. "My sword is just...my way of telling it, I guess?" Naivara furrows her brow in concentration, attempting to factor in that not every being in the galaxy was familiar with her particular niche. "Every warrior I know does it differently. I prefer swords. Some prefer rifles. Some I know prefer...well, to be more hands-on I guess you could say. The point being our tools of the trade themselves aren't all that special. They get handed to us by requisition officers, or we take them from armories and give them back. We can't get attached to our weapons, or personalize them. Our stories just live in our minds and our actions." Naivara shrugs and chooses to stop herself there, sensing there was no good way to end this discussion. Hopefully she didn't piss him off further.
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Jul 12, 2017 07:11
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Upon hearing Ziv's greeting, the person whips around to face him, staring for a brief second... before it suddenly charges at him, the clicking noise growing even more rapid, and high pitched, almost shrill. As it passes through the emergency lighting, you get a glimpse at it's figure and notice a green, needly, bulbous growth coming out of its arms and head, and what looks like a pink flower cresting its head. It's charging too fast to get a closer look though, and soon it's back in the pitch dark... ...before suddenly reappearing mere feet away from Ziv! It's moving at full speed, which is slightly slower than normal due to the limp, and it has it's arms raised aggressively. You think you hear further clicking noises from inside the room as well...
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Jul 12, 2017 07:33
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Zivilyn With a flash of his suit's little trick of the light features, Ziv backs away from the attacker in a swift moonwalking motion and 180s, bolting back out the way they came in a full military sprint. Legs lifted high, knees to the waist, arms pumping. He's rather certain that the other two would appreciate his subtle signal to get back to the ship. Minor: Beast Mode for Shift away. Move x2: Run 9 x 2 for 18 Squares that-a-way
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Jul 12, 2017 15:58
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Meriele "Oh poo poo!" It's all she can exclaim before scrambling back from the doorway and running towards the exit, no longer concerned with stealth. She touches a hand to her comm device, hoping to establish a connection with the ship. "Heads up, guys! We're coming out hot!" Move; Run away! Standard; Run away!
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Jul 14, 2017 19:01
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Stoaga of the White Legs Stoaga, rather unsurprised by this turn of events, follows her allies and similarly shuffles along as quickly as possible. Noting that she and Ziv are both a bit faster than Meriele, however, she opts to take the latter's hand to ensure they don't fall behind. Run away!
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Jul 15, 2017 14:01
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The grotesque, mutated person follows you at full speed out into the sunlight, chasing you towards the ship. They seem crazed, untiring and unwilling to stop, emitting feral clicks as it chases you. You reach the ship, which is not far from the entrance with the... thing... mere feet behind Meriele. The airlock is open and ready to board, though you sense that in isolation, this monster would be trivial to take down. You guys can narratively take this guy down!
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Jul 16, 2017 19:07
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Meriele Meriele runs as quickly as her feet has ever carried her. Her heart is pounding in her throat, the clicks of the creature ring in her ears. "Stoaga! Load!" It's all the warning Ghost-Face gets before the quantum engine whines with power, and the two ladies disappear, leaving Zivilyn as the bait for the monstrous creature. A small distance to the right, a purple light blossoms into shape of the two warriors, and Meriele skids them to a halt to allow the sniper to take her shot. "Go! Take it out!"
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Jul 16, 2017 19:13
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Naivara Ulcahne A commotion outside disrupts Naivara's attempt at a deep conversation regarding some philosophy text she'd been assigned to read during training. She opens a comm channel and barks "who the gently caress did you piss off?!" as she engages the controls for a quick departure
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Jul 16, 2017 20:56
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Stoaga of the White Legs Stoaga, as the teleporting begins, rotates the barrel of her rifle to allow the bayonet to spring forth. As she finds herself within point blank range, she lunges forth and stabs the creature with the bayonet, forcibly rotates the barrel again after hitting a release to push the blade back in, and fires into the hole her previous stab wound created. A FWIP erupts from her barrel as it delivers a high-caliber round into a soft, pre-opened target, tearing it open. She proceeds to, perhaps out of instinct, take a smaller knife from her pack and carve into it afterwards to retrieve a sample of the creature before moving onwards.
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Jul 16, 2017 21:06
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Kacht-ka, Ka Remembrancer "Mind-killer, do not take off! We must lay these poor creatures to rest!" says Kacht-ka. "Also, we need those supplies if we don't want to die. I am going outside." Securing his helmet to his head, Kacht-ka heads for the loading ramp.
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Jul 17, 2017 01:40
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The creature's body explodes from the impact of the shot, sending a mix of blood and green tissue flying across the desert sand. It lays twitching for a moment before finally dying. It appears none of the other monsters that you heard in the room followed you out, so you have time to plan before you go in if you choose. Gonna wait on a couple more OK posts, or for about a day or so. If anyone wants to roll stealth, be sure to do so!
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Jul 17, 2017 02:18
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Meriele The young elf leans on her knees, trying to catch her breath. The dead sprint out of the facility had left her lungs burning; she was in good shape, but not extremely so. "Alright...this is bad," she states - making sure her comm is on, so her shipbound companions can hear her too. "This is our only known point of contact for the resistance. If nothing else, we need to go back in there to find some sort of information if we're to find the rest of them and join up." She sighs. "But we need to be smart about this. Naivara, Kacht-Ka, you take the lead? We clear the facility room by room, put down anything green. Scour for info or supplies - or stars know, survivors - afterwards. Agreed?" Stealth at 1d20+11=21. Just in case.
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Jul 17, 2017 12:25
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Stoaga of the White Legs After having a quizzical look at Meriele for her statement about 'anything green' considering her choice of outfit, Stoaga practically disappears into the back of the pack. Stealth!: 1d20+13 29
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Jul 18, 2017 03:14
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Zivilyn Stealth 21
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Jul 18, 2017 04:21
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Naivara Ulcahne "So let me get this straight," Naivara grumbles as she kills the engine, "you pissed off mysterious green things that may or may not occupy an entire loving facility? And now we have to kill them all?" She sees Ka has already essentially departed and sighs heavily, realizing her hand is somewhat forced. She exits the ship behind Ka, blade drawn and ready. "Stars help you all if I get some hosed up incurable alien disease from these..." Stealth: 1d20+0 14 Naivara attempts to exit the ship quietly, although it's difficult to do so in military-grade equipment that was not meant for stealth. Her boot soles are heavy, her armor plating makes subtle rustling noises, and the engineered material of her sword blade emits a hum that is imperceptible to most sentient beings in the galaxy. Hopefully, these...beings (?) didn't have heightened senses.
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Jul 18, 2017 07:13
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As you return through the narrow corridor, pitch black save for a few emergency lights along the way, you hear multiple sources of soft clicks coming from the central room of the base up ahead. As you arrive at the end of the hallway, you are struck by how dark the area is; you can’t see anything outside of the dim glow of the emergency lights bathing small parts of the room, the beams of light slightly visible from the thin haze of green dust in the air. You see two people shambling around in the light as you approach, small growths seemingly randomly splotched on their bodies. They are unable to see you, and you're able to easily dispatch them. As you get your bearings in the base, you notice three paths; one straight ahead, one to the left and one to the right. Colored lines on the floor and matching signs point that the armory is in the left corridor, the hanger to the right, and the command center located in the center corridor.
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Jul 19, 2017 05:55
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| # ? May 7, 2024 16:42 |
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Kvardek Kvardek was in the rear, where his lack of sneaking abilities would hopefully not cause too much trouble. He opted not to shoot either of the two shambling hostiles, reasoning it would make too much noise and attract others to their location. Once they were dealt with he communicated via his new silent communications array, "If there are any records regarding what happened here and where any survivors may have relocated to, they would most likely be in the command center. That being said it may be worth a detour into the armory and hangar if reasonably practical; valuable equipment, weapons, or supplies may have been left behind that we could use." Stealth: 1d20+3 18
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Jul 19, 2017 13:43
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