The Fog of Tahoe, Part 1 - RPLOG
Participants
Date
28/5/2017
Log
Camped at the entrance to the highway is a human male dressed in overalls, and despite Zephyr giving the call for agents, the man is wearing a Promethian illuminated helmet. He leans against the cab of what looks like a salvaged blue pickup truck and trailer, quite a few panels of it looking like they were eaten through by nanites. As everyone gathers he speaks: "I'm Smithson and I'll be driving you out to Tahoe today, because Zephyr can't be bothered to send a chopper..." He sighs, rolling his eyes a bit. "The trip will take at least a day or two, so I hope you brought camping supplies or something. You can pack your things on the trailer with mine." He points to the trailer, where a few supplies are already wrapped up, including extra gas for the truck. "Any questions?"
Firecracker perches atop the truck as the group arrives and receives their briefing. "Oh! A camping trip, yay!" the pint-sized pink pegasus cheers as she claps her forehooves together happily, ringing out hollow little sounds as they connect. "Oh, and I'm Firecracker! What're all your names?" she asks the group and each person to arrive, making sure to get everyones name for the new adventure!
Ah, the thrills of a glorious expedition outside the bubble! Excitement! Treasure! Adventure! The downsides were clear-cut, ofcourse... and Otto did so hate that rotten feeling in his gut whenever he left the signal's reach, but he'd learned to cope with it during his previous expeditions. Garbed in his battlegear, with all his armaments present, polished and primed for use, the well prepared canine took long, wide strides alongside Cerl. With a smile on his face and a kick in his step, Otto lead the way to the rendezvous point, taking care to pace himself at least a little. His mate was carrying a bit more than usual as well, after all. She had most of their supplies, despite his offer to take some of the load.
"This is gonna be great, hon! About damn time we did something like this." the enthusiastic coyote exclaims as he turns and walks backwards for a few moments, his armored boots leaving large prints in their wake. "Sure hope nobody gets flattened." A sincere wish coming from a good place, if worded rather bluntly. Once they arrive at the vehicle, he greets Firecracker with a bright smile and a wave, "Heya Fire. I had a feeling I'd be seeing you here." the canine snerks, then turns to the human "Questions? Uhhh... no. I guess not." At least not for now. Otto crosses his arms and leans against the hood of the truck, then awaits the arrival of the others, greeting each with a nod, and a smile.
Draken is nervous. this will be her first expedition outside of the bubble in years. The last one did not go so well. She walks to the place with a decidedly uncertain look, making sure to stay close to Ebreus.
Ebreus walks down the highway toward the meeting place alongside Draken. As he walks he adjusts the straps of his varius packs and pieces of equipment and taking note of where each strap rests easiest so he will be able to put them there again after they camp and he packs up again. Seeing their contact and Firecracker he smiles and continues his aproach. "Hello Smithson." he says with a polite nod. Then agressing Firecracker he says, "Hi Fire. I'm Ebreus, we're friends, remember?" flashing his Firecracker plushie to help jog her memory.
Seeing Otto and Cerl walk up moments after he and Draken did he smiles wider and says, "Hi Otto, Cerl. I'm glad you two are coming. It's seeming less and less likely anybody gets flattened." With this talk of death around Draken he uses his telepathy to speak into her head, 'Don't worry, so long as we're together we might as well be in the bubble.' he reassures her. Then remembering their contact had asked him a question he looks back to him and says, "No questions, Smithson."
Cameron arrived shortly after most people, a bulging rucksack nearly as big as he was, the most noticable being a few blankets tied to the top. The cat boy decked out in his usual hoodie and cargo pants, though he had made sure to slipe his armour on underneath just in case. As well as coming armed with a portable cannon, a small sword and a hefty monkey wrench both strapped to his waist. The kitty prepared to go on quite an excersion. His head tilted lightly to one side as he made a quick pass over his check list. Food, clothes, ammo, weapons, blankets, a pillow, rope, and a few other things that might be need, like wiring, or a square of wax. With a small nod he figured he had everything he needed, not like he could go back and get if even if he did forget something. Seeing the inquisitive little horse he smiled as he gave her a small wave in greeting. "Hello Firecracker." His baby blues looking to the others present and giving them each a small wave. "I would ask what we might expect, but if it is out of the bubble, likely something we don't know. So none from me I guess."
Arris is with the rest of the group, sitting down on top of a large blue-and-cyan duffel bag, listening in on the mission debriefing. "A day or two, huh? That's, uh, that's quite the distance. No questi... actually, do you know what kind of opposition we might be up against? Well, ah, besides a long, boring, trailer drive to Tahoe." The gator snickers a little at hir own bad joke.
Having been hiding in the shadows for hours, Cerl watches as everyone arrives. Finally stepping forth, she glances over at Otto and Ebreus and snerks. "Don't know who you two are talking to, but I heard my name. I've been here all day waiting for everyone to show up." Padding over by the truck, she looks it over and says, "Guess I'm riding in the back." and starts checking her saddlebags to make sure she has all her gear. Rope, blankets, her cases of crossbow bolts, food, water, a case of grenades...various small sundries. Yup, all here and with some room left over for things that are found.
With no questions, Smithson waves everyone to climb aboard, telling them to strap their gear in too before he turns the truck on. Once veryone is aboard, he drives out onto the highway, aproaching the edge of the Fairhaven bubble.
As he drives, Smithson adds: "No one has any idea what is out there. Why do you think Zephyr needed agents to fetch something as simple as radio equipment?"
Firecracker perches atop Ebreus's head as people get into the truck for transport. "Hiya, Ebbie and Cerly and Toey and other peoples that didn't say your names! Ready for adventure?!" she cheers happily in her new seat as the truck starts driving. Once they cross over the edge of the bubble, hardly a moment passes before the pony throws up a rather large bubble of her own with Distributed Nanomagic, reaching out in a full 160 foot radius from her position! "So who wants to play a game? She asks happily before starting it without anyone's input. "I spy with my little eye something blue!"
"To myself ofcourse. I am a great conversationalist." Otto muses once he spots his mate. She was well prepared, ad he expected nothing less of her. "Always have to be a sneaky vixen, don't you?" he chuckles and nuzzles her softly. "Glad you packed so much, we might need it." Ah, Seeing so many familiar faces made everything oh-so better! The coyote greets Arris with a polite bow and a handshake, then turns to Ebreus and laughs for a moment, then pats him on the back and muses "Hey, look who decided to lose some weight." They were practically the same height now, which was admittedly a little strange. "And you're kinda cute, too. That sounds so weird coming from me, ANYWAY!" he shrugs AND, "I CALL SHOTGUN!" exclaimed Otto before sliding over the hood of the truck and taking the front passenger seat for himself.
The road to the edge of the bubble was anything but smoothe, but it was nice to take a ride in a working car for a change. Those chopper rides were... disorienting. The rumble of the engine was almost hypnotic as the group made their way towards the edge of the bubble. Once Smithson speaks up, Otto squints a little and shrugs, "Big Z's always looking to snag something outside the bubble. The fat cats pushing pens up in their cozy offices sure ain't gonna pick up a rifle and risk their lives doing this shit, so they pay us off to stick out necks out for them. Whatever pays the bills, am I right?" he shrugs and returns to gazing at the road ahead, one arm dangling out the car door where the window normally would have been. Hearing the little pony's words, Otto knows what she'd spotted, but decides to keep quiet about it. what a little goofball.
Ebreus snerks and says, "Yeah, just got under half a ton for today." He seats himself ndirectly behind Otto, and saves a seat next to himself for Draken. As he rides he double and tripple checks his portable flamethrower as he keeps his packs by his feet. In reply to Smithson he says, "Hopefully misplaced fear and laziness." He again smiles when Otto comments on Z, "So long as they pay be enough I can afford to work one day a week and they don't try something particularly fucked up let 'em stay safe in their tower." He continues to ride quietly until they exit the bubble. At wich point he grunts quetly and says, "Welp if anyone can it's about time to start a mini-bubble." He smiles when Fire quickly oblidges his request. When Fire begins to play her game he stays quiet for now but grins wide.
Cameron gives a small nod as he removes his rucksack from his back. Strapping his cannon to the side and the heftying it over to a nice cozy spot where he could stow it away. He made damn sure it was good and strapped in. He was making sure it wasn't going anywhere. Once that was done he hopped on into to find himself a seat, which he promtly plopped down into. "I think what we will find is trouble." His gaze shifting to the others present once more, seeing who came and wondering just how many he was likely to patch up whehn everything hit the fan and knocked it right off the table. "I amCameron, it is good to meet everyone." Giving them all a smile before looking out the window. As they passed through the edge of the bubble he couldn't help but give a little shudder. He could almost feel all of his nanite's going mostly dormant, almost. He was never quite a fan of going out of bubble, but like the shotgunner had said, bills needed to be paid. He gave a small thankful look the pony's way as he felt the mini bubble spring up. Hopefully it wouldn't get to chaotic for her to keep that up.
Arris throws hir duffel bag into the trailer and climbs into the back seat of truck, sitting behind Smithson. "Oh, I thought that, y'know, a Zephyr agent set it up there awhile back then left it there. Well, if someone else set it up..." Arris attempts to stretch hir arms and legs out in the truck. "Gah, it's too cramped in here. Should've went into the trailer behind..."
Cerl springs aboard the bed of the truck, and settles her tauric body down near the cab. Ensuring that her saddlebags are securely strapped down on her back, she settles in for the long ride. Reaching into one of her saddlebags, she pulls out a small piece of jerky and starts chewing on it as she watches the countryside roll past.
Draken follows Ebreus, staying generlly quiet for now. she smiles at Firecracker, and looks back at Cameron. "I'm Draken." She says, giving him a small smile.
After running along for some hours, the sun hanging low in the sky behind you as everyone starts to enter the Rocky mountians, Smithson stops as it looks like someone set up a roadblock on the highway using an upturned semi trailer. Given how narrow the road is with a moutain on one side and a valley on the other, it blocks all the lanes, with maybe enough space for someone human sized to walk around on the moutain side. It is still maybe another 50 miles outside of Tahoe.
"I spy with my little eye something blocking the road!" Firecracker says after several rounds of the game. "Oh wait... something's blocking the road!" she says as she hops off Ebreus's head in order to fly up into the air and check on the thing from above as well as whatever may be on the other side and around it.
Seeing a thing on the other side of the container, Firecracker shouts down to everyone below while pointing a foreleg towards the semitruck opposite the trailer, "Hey, anybody know how to drive onea these big truck thingies?"
Otto leans out the window to have a good look at the roadblock. "Pfsh..." he shakes his head and hops out. Placing his paws on his waist, the coyote looks over the wreckage and whistles sharply. "No way I can move that by myself. Oi Eb. Get out here!" he waves the fox over, crosses his arms and looks thoughtful for a moment. Once the fox approaches, the coyote rolls up his sleeves, at least as far as his armor would permit, then gives his friend a nudge and cracks one of his knuckles against the other. "Come on, I can't move all that by myself Grit your teeth and let's shove that trash heap out of the way." That said, he moves over to the wreckage and finds the optimal spot to exert force upon it. His hands grip a comfortable spot and he awaits for Ebreus to come and assist with removing the blockage. Once he hears Firecracker speak up, he raises his arm and says "I can drive, but... why?"
Ebreus shakes his head after nobody guesses in Firecracker's game and says, "Is it the sky, Firecracker?" and continues to guess anything obvious after two minutes of no answers while double-checking his non-flamethrower gear now. Once Firecracker spies something blocking the road he looks up and says, "Hmm a Semi-truck's trailer. That will be difficult to move." When the truck comes to a complete stop he steps out of the truck and slowly aproaches the trailer, examining it and the ground around it. He glently puts a hand on it and the other and then exerts some pressure on the trailer. He humms a thoughtful tune as he considers their options. Upon hearing Firecracker he peeks around the side and says, "Huh, the truck's attatched. Let's right the trailer then you can drive it out of the way." He the walks back to the other side of the trailer and prepares to try moving it, once Otto is there.
