Package Collection Part one - RPLOG

Participants

• Buzamu
• Edel
• Lilac
• Razz

Date

10/6/2016

Log

As you three arrive, the tent camp seems to be busy, people moving to and fro carrying notes and the like, in addition, there does appear to be, instead of just dutiful dilligence, a collective feeling of fear and worry throughout the camp. One of those in plan working clothes looks over as you arrive, and waves you over. You think there might be some nanite involvement in his size, because this guy is huge. Not buldging muscles huge, but tall and broad. He has a full blond mustache on his upper lip, and hte close cropped hair is shaded by the large 'outback' hat he was wearing.

Edel sets her hands on her hips as she arrives, tail flicking behind her as she looks the camp over. "Well, you guys act like a tank just rolled through and you're expecting it to come back any moment. You said you had a package for us to deliver, yes?"

Razz pads along, Adjusting his Outift and his Claymore. "Greaat.." he mumbles. "I hate going outta the bubble." the dog sakes his ehad and smiles and he Gets close. "Hey there!" he barks, tail wagging. "You needed help with things?"

Lilac walks up alongside the others. The rather tall and broad bovine stands out much like the fella they are approaching right now. This being her first time out of bubble she's packed and prepared, covered up in protective wear fit for her size. She nods after her companions speak, smiling politely. "We're here to help." She peers around cautiously again, as if expecting something to leap out of the shadow at her at any given moment.

"Oh good. Well, to be honest, it's not so much as needing you to pick up the package here..." The man says, sighing and looking around. "As it is collecting the system we had for getting the information back to Zephyr. Some band calling themselves the 'New California Repbulic Militia' raided us two, three days ago. They took a significant amount of our equipment for our work as well as that communication unit specifically." He then gives a pretty solid description of the system in particular they're wanting to recover. "They headed north, northwest from here. I'd have sent our guards to get it, but well, they were less than effective preventing the theft in the first place. Hence my putting out a call for Agents to help."

Edel clicks her tongue. "Of course. People out here simply must resort to lawlessness, huh. Very well! We will see what we can do, hm?" She glances at the other two that came along for the mission before brushing her hair back and winding it into a bun, pinned with a pair of sticks. "No need to waste time then!"

Razz nods "I... See now that call make more sense..." he frowns "This is gonna eb fun, we're out of bubble.. so.. that leaves alot of things outta the picture.." he nods again and looks at Edel. "Nice to see you here, I know that you can handel yourself." he looks at Lilac and raises a brow. "You.. havnt been outta the bubble before, have you?" he sighs "try.. not to rely to much on your nanite powers..."

Lilac nods slowly as she listens in. "Right.. recover the thingy, bring it back here. Sounds easy enough!" She looks over at Razz and nods quickly. "I know that much.. " She says with a light blush. "B-but yes, it's my first time out here. I'll do my best!" She scratches the back of her head. It would certainly be easier if she could fight the way she normally does, but she'll have to improvise. "Right. Ready to head out!"

"Thanks, all three of you. We're not sure how far out they are, just that was the direction they drove in from and out to." The man says, looking relived.

"Handle myself? I -live- for this kind of thing," Edel says with a grin. "I thrive out here. Outside of the bubble. Just keep your head level and you'll be fine. You have arms and legs. Use them," she says, giving a nod before she adjusts the hem of her coat and turns, setting off in the aforementioned direction. "With luck, we can get it back quietly or without violence."

Razz nods To lilac. "you'll feel.. weird first time leave, gut-wretching and everything, worse still if your feral.." he Pauses and sighs, clearly notlikling the idea of leaving himself. "still, hopefully we wont HAVE to fight.." he says, nodding to and following after Edel. "Boy this'll be fun.. hope i dont break anything..." he mumbles.

Lilac nods at Edel's words, smiling at her confidence. "Yes 'maam! No violence is probably a good idea.." Still, she did bring her medical supplies. Perhaps in excessive abundance. Nothing wrong with a little over-preparing, after all.. She turns to Razz and smiles. "I... think I will be able to manage." She looks around cautiously once more before starting to walk after the others.

As the three of you passed the line of survey markers, Edel and Razz, having done this a few times now, simply feel the usual discomfort of exiting the bubble. For Lilac however, as this was her first time, the discomfort was much more acute, much more sharp in her body, as though every fiber of her being was screaming in pain and demanding she step back into the bubble, back into notpain. It was sharp enough, and all encompassing that she literally felt her last meal coming up.

Edel barely even notices the discomfort, given how -often- she leaves the bubble, combined with giving no reliance to her mutant nature. She doesn't break stride or even flinch, carrying on. "You'll be fine, I'm sure. I leave the bubble every other week to go hunting. It's not that big of a deal being out here, really."

Razz Grumbles slightly as he leaves. "I.. always dislike that.." he Blinks at Edels Response. "that dose not suprise me..I'm.. sorta used to it.. but being feral...it's.... stil unerving, feels wrong.. almost.." he shudders. "i'm... mostly used to that, however."

Lilac feels the threshold between the bubble's interior and the outside very clearly, like stepping from a quiet building interior out into blistering wind. She pauses and clutches at her stomach, looking as if she might be about to retch, swaying in a nauseated way until she stops and doubles over, gasping for air. She grits her teeth and powers through it, trying not to show such weakness the very first time she was doing work outside the confines of the bubble.. but even as she paced after her friends trying to keep a straight face she was still limping, everything about her feeling -wrong- right now.

After a short time of walking, the pain has mostly faded Lilac, leaving you able to function again, though instinctively you know you have been diminished, but you can't quite put you hand on it right this moment. Still, it's not hard to follow the trail of tire tracks from the trucks and SUV's used by this bandit group, the ground a fair bit parched, which helped allow the tracks to remain visible even after a few days.

Edel turns a grin to Razz as she moves along after the tracks. "Well. The teahouse has to get food from somewhere. And the bubble is weird. There are still untainted animals beyond, though, and since I live so close to the edge of the bubble I just go out hunting for my meat and food!"

Razz nods at Edel. "Makes sense, and, I loooooove your Cafe by the way, nice secluded and hotsprings!" he chuckles. The dogs tail wags when he looks around at the area, frowning and Sniffing the air as he looks over the Tracks. "Hrm.. there were.. a few..and atleast.. four vehicles.... One was heaver leaving than the rest..." he kneels and looks around. "Definatly the things they stole..." he nods again, ears perked.

Lilac nods, listening to the other two as they talk. She keeps her eye on the tracks, but can do little but agree with Razz as he expertly reads the impressions with a story that seems perfectly accurate from what she can see. She looks at him with a smile. "Nice! That's.. that's really impressive, actually.." She mutters as she looks back at the tracks. She's still feeling a bit.. queasy, but the worst of it seems to be over. She tries to focus on the task at hand to get her mind off of the strange sensations this place brings.

With Razz's expert tracking sense, the trail the raiders left behind is easy to follow. That is, until they hit the interstate. Despite not being worked upon in years, the road was still whole enough to make the effort of following much more difficult.

Edel adjusts the strip of her bag as her ears perk, listening to Razz speak. "Hmm. Good catch," she murmurs, pausing as she reaches the interstate. "Tell me, mister direction," she says, gesturing over the highway. "And look real careful before you do. Try to find any kind of oil stain. No matter how old. No vehicles will have been on this since P-day most likely. And the bridge leading into the city is destroyed, so they can't have gone that way, most likely. Unless they set up camp further that way."

Razz Frowns and glances south. "See...My ..senses... wnat to say they went that way.." he points.." and then nods to Edel. "but.. the Tracks still Point north, the only way they could've gone,a dn we can assume they have enough fuel for it..." he sighs and crosses his arms "I.. dont like NOT doing what My instncts are telling me but... we should follow the road, and be careful.. they might've expected to be followed.." he smiles back at Lilac. "thanks, years surving on your own tends to....Teach you things."

Lilac nods at Razz, then looks down the two possible paths - back to the Fairhaven bubble, or off north. "I think you're right. I don't see any reason why they'd turn back that way." Even if it would be really nice to go back... She shakes her head and focuses. "Mm... especially if the bridge is destroyed too, good point." She nods at Edel, then smiles. "Alright, off north we go. I wonder how far behind them we are, given that they are on vehicles.."

As the three of you follow the interstate, the condition of it is made apparent, but after an hour's walking (which has now put you about 3 hours into this task), you see tracks break off the interstate and head for a nearby forest. It looks like you would expect of a forest in the middle of a Northern California summer, sans being on fire.

Edel rubs her chin, looking over at the forest as she nods. "Yeah. That looks like the place. Well then. Any opinions on how we approach? I figured I'd try to talk them into giving it up, or giving us a good reason why they shouldn't. And if that fails... Maybe try to steal it under cover of night."

Razz pants slightly, It was nice to Actually be without nanites again.. to need to.. worry again. The dog nods then frowns "They.. are in that forest, no doubt..." he frowns "In.. large amounts.. I dont want to make Any assumptions but.. more than.. fifty atleast.." he sighs. "stealing?.. Eh...if we mus-" he Blinks. "Fresher tracks.. two vehciles...I think?.. Not many in them.. Left.. Recently.. maybe.. within the hour?..I'm not too certain.." he frowns and then looks about. "Hrrnn.."

Lilac blinks, trying to keep track of Razz's segmented speech. "I guess we should be careful then." She looks over at the camp, mulling it over. She's one big bovine, it's going to be hard to stay stealthy. "Huh. Night time makes sense, but then again who knows if more groups will arrive or leave in the near future." She looks over at Edel. "We could try talking, but I'm not sure what kind of leverage we have over them. Especially if there's more than fifty of them." She pauses, undecided.

Well, standing around in the middle of the interstate won't help you three figure it out any better, and if they do have a radio antenna set up, they could very well have radios functioning to alert any outriders they have currently. Simply put, it seems you'll need to get closer to get a better clue.

"They are both better options than trying to confront them head on," Edel says with a nod. "And do not worry. If it comes to stealing, I'm stealthy enough that I could probably do it. Let's go in though. If they DID send someone out recently, I want more intel instead of just standing here waiting to get caught," she says, moving towards the forest.

Razz nods to both. "Yeah.. that's best.." he sighs "sorry..I'm.. distracted, thinking.." he looks around, tail flicking. "I'll follow your lead, Edel." he says after, not reaaly sure what to do himself.

Lilac nods quickly at Edel's words. "That sounds perfect. We might even be able to find a place that lets us get real close without being seen. Or be able to catch a couple of them off guard and isolated. Mmm.." She follows along, her bovine tail flicking playfully as she ponders the possibilities.

As you approach, it's obvious the this 'militia' had done some homework, as you can start to tell there is a proper palisade established around the camp, and there is several structures built, including one connected to what is indeed a radio antenna. Of course, the forest is still thick enough for you to slip into the forest without being spotted. You hope. As you walk around the camp, you find the wall is fully around it, though there are a couple of hills that let you look in. With what Razz worked out, and what you see, there's about 6 vehicles total, and more of 30 people in this militia, if both vehicles had left with 2 people each, since you see only 4 here in a small motor pool, while nearby a gasoline tanker rests, looking to have been turned into an adhoc gas station. Most of those present are wearing either surplus military wear or hunting outfits, and all are carrying rifles and pistols in hip holsters. This looks more like a 'screw the government' militia than a actual organized group.

Edel nods at the other two as she slips into the forest, raising a finger to her lips. "Stay quiet, keep low. Eyes open." And then she's gone, like a ghost into the trees. This was clearly not her first time doing such things. She slips away from the other two, not wanting to be caught up with them, but never letting them get entirely out of -her- sight. In case they ended up in trouble. Which may work to their advantage anyway.