Flexible Survival - User contributions [en]

User:Syntax McBucketface

2025-06-17T17:54:50Z

Syntax McBucketface:

{{Infobox/Character
| Image = Screwbucket-user.png
| BirthDate = 10/08/1992
| Age = 32
| Aliases = Screwbucket
| Nationality = American
| Pronouns = He/Him/Any
| Sexuality = Aromantic
| Characters = [[Wolfwood]] - [[Sigrun]] - [[Bandit]] - [[Syntax]]
}}
__TOC__
==Introduction==
Hi there! I'm the person behind several characters, several plots, a member of staff, and a heaping pile of confusion! My username on here is Syntax McBucketface, but I'm better known as Screwbucket or McSpazz.

Some themes I love to tackle are exploration, R&D, character studies, and any story that involves diving into the weirdest aspects of the setting. I also absolutely love world building and I think it often shows in my story arcs. If any of that interests you, you're in luck! I'm also a confirmed judge and regularly host events! I will also happily moderate your own events if given an early heads-up.

I've been RPing for a long time now (since about 2008...pretty good timing considering P-Day) and I can't get enough of it. I'm pretty easy to find on Discord if you're in the Flexible Survival server. Feel free to hit me up!

As a staff member, my primary roles are to help oversee judges, handle Eureka content, and help with deed and NPC talk script creation for players.

==My Judging Style==
I have two ultimate goals with my events: Try and give everyone a reason to be there and reply with as many "yes, and's" as I can manage. If people have an idea, my goal is to try and find a way to make it work and at least have some kind of result. Clever ideas are rewarded as is taking advantage of your character's unique quirks. I don't dread people breaking challenges I put before them because they bring something unique to the table, I relish in it.

But this can be challenging to do when you have both newer and older players playing side by side. Leveling up skills can take time and there are some vet players that literally cannot roll lower than a 6 on literally any skill. Rather than punish people for being long term players, I've tried to strike a balance. On the one hand, I do limit the number of skills you can have trained to 40. On the other, I actively reward people for purposefully nerfing themselves. Below you'll find my full list of rules. Some things are standard for judges, some are unique to me.

1. Reverse WS rules all. Room changes or players dipping in and out, whatever happens, the order will be reverse WS.
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2. Well written posts will be rewarded! Well composed and/or creative posts with solid backing may have their difficulty reduced! If you can make a convincing case that an action would be trivial for your character, I might be willing to forgo a roll entirely.
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3. Always announce what you want to do OOCly and make your rolls BEFORE you write out your action ICly. Otherwise you might end up looking a bit silly if you end up being asked to make a roll only for it to fail.
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4. Players with the [NEW] tag will have the option of rolling a D20 with a bonus of +1 to +4 depending on what they believe their character should be capable of. This can be extended to players who have not invested much into their skills on a case by case basis.
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5. You will be given a single WUMBO dice for every stat you willingly reduce to 20 from 30, one WUMBO dice for every stat reduced from 40 to 30, and/or two WUMBO dice if you both have and disable Jack of All Trades. Wumbo dice will allow you to reroll with advantage or to roll a d20 to reduce the severity of a failure. Please note that you must prove that skill's trained level so I can make note of it BEFORE the event starts in order to take advantage of this. These can be used alongside hero points! If a stat you offer to reduce has no possible utility in the current scene (ie: Computer in the middle of the woods), I might reject the sacrifice.
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6. Have all of the equipment you plan on using during the event when it starts and be prepared to prove it is on your person if asked.
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7. If you have to go before we finish, please let me know what your character will be doing in the "background". I'll be sure to factor that into future rolls in that event so your initial attendance means something.

My ultimate goal is to get people to consider what their characters REALLY excel in and to lean into it as well as give newer players a chance to shine. So far, the rules have worked out pretty well!

Also, yes, WUMBO is a Spongebob reference. I have no idea why I settled on that. The word just spoke to me.

==My Characters==
[[Syntax]]: They were my first character on Flexible Survival! They're a tech wiz spider girl with an appreciation for old world tech. They're also very, very Irish.

[[Wolfwood]]: A rarity in the modern age of Fairhaven! This young lady doesn't just look young, she actually is young! A mechanic born and raised in the boonies who managed to escape the deadly effects of nanites.

[[Sigrun]]: A birby birb who lives up to her Australian Magpie mutation. While she struggles with her instincts, she's passionate about aiding her birth city and works with the police department as part of their rapid response team.

[[Bandit]]: A cultist of three Greek gods of dreams deposed from her former home, she has gone across the entire country to find the means to create a new dedication point for her patrons.

==RP Logs==
{{#dpl:
|category = Syntax Events
|userdateformat = jS F, Y
|mode = userformat
|format = <ul>,<li>%DATE%: [[%PAGE%|%TITLE%]],</li>,</ul>
|ordermethod = firstedit
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}}

Category:Duty Events

2025-06-17T17:28:22Z

Syntax McBucketface:

[[Category:RPLogs]]

Operation Fairhaven FOB - Alpha Team - RPLOG

2025-06-17T17:24:08Z

Syntax McBucketface:

=Participants=
* [[User:Caitlin|Caitlin]]
* [[User:Everdeene|Everdeene]]
* [[Greyson|Greyson]]
* [[User:Janex|Janex]]
* [[User:Rulsk|Rulsk]]
* [[User:Tyo|Tyo]]
* [[Waconet|Waconet]]
* [[Wolfwood|Wolfwood]]
=Date=
6/5/2025
=Arc Summary=
[[Operation FOB - Event Summary | Operation FOB]]
=Log=
<div></div><div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) The gathering at the off ramp onto the highway at the far end of Fairhaven is far more active than it normally is. Several trucks are hauling heavy machinery and construction equipment, a mini bus stands at the ready and is full of workers and professionals ready for their task, and several additional vehicles idle nearby with a multitude of mercenaries double checking their equipment and preparing to disembark. They all stand together with a singular united goal: Head out of the bubble, secure a forward base of operations for Fairhaven's scouts, see to it that it gets built, and get paid. A woman in power armor clamors onto the back of a reinforced pickup truck and hollars out to get everyone's attention.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
"ALRIGHT EVERYONE!" The speaker is Madison Wolfwood, the human tasked by the city to organize the operation after negotiations with Zephyr and RSX to do just this very same operation broke down. It is certainly more of a gamble to ask an independent to get a huge task done, but there were few in Fairhaven with as much out of bubble experience as Wolfwood. So she got the job. "Everything's set to go! Just going to say this one last time for the idiots in the rear who were taking it up theirs when I last explained this! Our target is an old power substation about 100 miles east of here in a neighboring town. There are oversized mechanical golems protecting it that need forceful disassembly which is where strike teams Alpha and Beta come in. Alpha's securing the area around the admin building's ruins, Beta is securing the area around the power relay. Charlie, you're on babysitting duty with the construction crew and will be positioned a few blocks away while we clear out the threats."<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
The brown haired human adjusts her grip on her helmet that sits tucked beneath her arm. "Remember! We're going outside of the bubble! Whatever nanites are there are barely there at all. Your mutant abilities are almost definitely going to suffer, your nanomagic isn't going to work unless you're real close to someone with basically the singular exception to that, and the nanites can't stop you from dying stone cold if you get sloppy. This is your last chance to bail if you have cold feet. For everyone else, start your engines! We're heading out!!!"</div> <div title="Waconet" style="margin-top:2em">(Waconet) Waconet listens to the walking tank give her last pep talk before heading out as he was in his own vehicle, a retrofitted Ford Bronco, that oddly enough he had bought from Wolfwood some time ago. He double checks that the vehicle has a full charge for the trip there and back again. Nodding at the heading out call, he starts it up and follows along with the convoy. </div> <div title="Caitlin" style="margin-top:2em">(Caitlin) Caitlin adjusts the sights on the new AMR that was handed to her once more. Checking the validity of Greyson's work for the eight time before picking the heavy thing up once more to lay across one shoulder as Wolfwood speaks up. The time to go was getting close at hand so the fox heads out to her own vehicle. A scrapped together van that she and Greyson had worked to build back up to a sorta working order to recheck the supplies the nudist wolf had brought. Giving a callout to him as she works. "Where did you put the keys this time Greyson, everyone else is ready to go!"</div> <div title="Tyo" style="margin-top:2em">(Tyo) Tyo brushes a couple of his clawed furred fingers through the fur in his cheek as that leather duster of his flutters slightly with his idle movements, the wolfy listens to the briefing with rapt attention. After the last words are spoken the wolven Brood King nods as if understanding although the nod is half to himself as he prepares to leave the bubble of nanite power he has grown used to over the last six years however a soft wolfish grin creeps onto his lips as he anticipates the adventure. Quietly he moves over to the member of his household is with his Ford Bronco, he offers the serpent a gentle pet along his side before taking his place in the passenger seat as he steels himself for what lies ahead.</div> <div title="Janex" style="margin-top:2em">(Janex) Amid the crowd gathered to listen, a black-furred canine in an armored bodysuit sits against a discarded concrete median barrier, idly snapping his paw to create a tiny flame in his palms, then extinguishing it. with a flick. Even as he flicks his ears up to listen to the... inspirational speech, Janex keeps staring at his hands, fire reflecting in his burning eyes. Snap. Flick. Snap. Flick. He finally looks up as the last call is announced, and nods solemnly to himself, hopping from his seat. Collecting his pack, he slings a large tech cannon over his shoulder onto his back, and walks cautiously towards the convoy, hoping he can find a spare seat. "'Hey there! Going my way?'" he mutters to himself, practicing his opening lines quietly.</div> <div title="Everdeene" style="margin-top:2em">(Everdeene) Everdeene stretches as she looks to the nearby faces, some very familiar to her, some utterly new to her, yet, she can't help but smile, for the camaraderie to be formed and for the goal they are all here to undertake, looking over her personal weapons, doing one last check over them before getting onto the trailer of the available vehicles, due to her unique physiology, being a large, tall taur, she's gonna need to be taken by another who can drive, but is prepared for what's to come otherwise.</div> <div title="Rulsk" style="margin-top:2em">(Rulsk) A power armored, 20ft long, black furred wolf checks over his gear with a critical eye, glaring at it as if daring it to have any problems. Given that he has absolutely no understanding of its function, there's not much for Rulsk to see and in truth he just hopes that there's nothing wrong with what he assumes are the enchantments powering it. That done, he noses at the satchels strapped to his sides and checks on his emergency food supplies. Smaller than normal though he may be, he still anticipates needing to snack pretty often to compensate for the lack of ambient nanites. Everything seems to be in order, so he lopes over to the flatbed truck he's hitching a ride with for the journey and clambers up onto the back. He stretches out and settles in for a long trip, his head resting on the cab so he can feel the wind in his face. He parts his jaws in a canine smile and lolls his tongue to the side, drooling a bit as he grins. He thinks over Wolfwood's words and tries to envision what the scenario she'd describing will be like. He's never left the Bubble before and was born after the P-Day, so a world without nanites is just... alien to him. At least he has friends along, whom he glances at and wags his tail slowly, eyes drifting from person to person, their presence helping him relax. </div><div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) The aforementioned nudist working with Caitlin sighs, deciding to hide in the back of the van this time around, the world beyond the bubble not so likely to take his fashion sense so politely. Organizing piles of spare ammunition, battery packs, salvage, and hiking bars, Greyson looks up from his work, pressing a list into the woman's chest before digging a set of keys from the pocket of her jacket, "Put em in here when we agreed you'd be driving- don't want locals trying to rail me or kill me for looking like an |actual| goddamn werewolf." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>He sighs, glancing to the side at the announcement, "You sure it's a great idea lugging me around for combat duty, swear Charlie might be safer..." A worried look crosses his features before he shakes his shoulders, brushing it off, "Whatever the case is, I've got enough bullshit back here to build an armory if people start breaking down out there... and scrap to repair the van if you end up totalling it- before or |after| we get there." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>At the cry of the nearby hitch-hiker, the bare wolf-beast leans out of the side of the van, cupping a hand over his mouth and waving him over, "Got plenty of room for one more if you don't mind sharing it with some twinkie crumbs and junk metal. Gonna be a good few hours!" He cants his head to Caitlin, "Could use somebody to watch her driving while I make sure nothing in the back goes kablooey!"</div> <div title="Caitlin" style="margin-top:2em">(Caitlin) Caitlin hackles twitch in amusment as Greyson once again complains about being brought with, causing the ribbons and silver of her muzzle jewelry to dance as she leans over to look at the new passenger. "Hope you don't get carsick, I'm a far better driver then the whiner here!" The passenger door popping open to let Janex in since Greyson's occupying the back.</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) The convoy loads up and drives off in short order. Considering the dangers ahead, few of those present aren't seasoned mercenaries. But with pay this good, who could say no despite the risk? The trip takes some time and the road shows visible signs of recent rushed repairs and temporary fixes. There have doubtlessly been efforts to ensure that the heavy construction equipment would even be able to use the roads that, unlike those within Fairhaven proper, don't get nearly the kind of love they deserve. Humorously enough, outside of the bubble, without the drip feed of nanites chewing at them, the roads have held up alright over the years. Perhaps that's the benefit of both being in California and not constantly having multi thousand pound vehicles driving to and fro over them.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
The three squads soon break off from one another and head to their respective points of interest. The lead up is over. It's time for action.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
Alpha team pulls up alongside their side of the substation. It has clearly seen better days. The chain link fences are rusted out, foliage reaches up past the cracks in the decaying asphalt, and then, of course, is the star of the show. The old administrative building is partially collapsed and is now serving almost like an outer shell to a rather odd sight. A massive pile of junk. It must be several stories high and is made up of metal, wood, concrete, and just about everything else you could imagine an oversized golem ripping out of the surrounding town and tossing onto the pile. In front of it is a large parking lot with several assorted groupings of junk and piles of scrap. Caitlin and Rulsk can pick up on something a bit more dower, however. The scent of death. Corpses are lodged between the gaps of the heavy pile's mass. Inanimate objects aren't the only things that have been 'salvaged' and Rulsk in particular can tell that some of the sources are relatively fresh. Wolfwood leads Alpha team towards a gap in the fence which would put them closer to the admin building than had they used the front entrance. She turns and looks to those assembled.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
"Alright. Things are going to get real hot real fast. The second we cross the threshold onto the property and get into range of the damaged server, the golems are probably going to wake up. Any calm discussion is going to have to happen now. So. Let's discuss. Anyone have any ideas besides smashing the golems until they stop moving?" The human, her face now covered by the sealed helmet of her armor is difficult to read. Her tone at least suggests an edge of apprehension and anticipation. Hardly surprising considering what they are about to do.</div> <div title="Waconet" style="margin-top:2em">(Waconet) Waconet pulls a bona fide Rocket Launcher from his vehicle when Wolfwood asks about how the team wants to deal with the Golems before they go active. "Well, I have a few ideas, one of them is simply sacrificing one of our vehicles and ramming one into them. Two, I have brought, in no small quantities, heavy ordinance in order to do the obvious. Yeah I just want to to blow them up."</div> <div title="Caitlin" style="margin-top:2em">(Caitlin) Caitlin spends the entire drive there shooting the shit with Janex and Greyson if they are both up for it and dodging the occassional pothole while going just a tad, totally a tad, bit too fast while following. That cheerful demenaor changes once they come in range of their objective and the scent of blood fills her nose. Her hackles twitching sending her ribbons dancing as they pull up to park. Wolfwood going opening the floor to plans from others gives her some time to visually scout the area and look for some usage of that rifle Greyson gave her but her options were limited. Eyeing the administration building as she speaks up "Did you send a group out before us? Scouts? Know of anyone who would be wandering through here?"</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) Wolfwood purses her lips, then shakes her head. "Nah. Nobody but us. Why, you..." She seems to get the idea and glances back towards the giant scrap pile. "Unfortunately, there's a trade route that passes through the area. If the weather's bad or something makes the normal route dangerous, it wouldn't shock me if someone tried coming closer to the station here and...well. If the golems happen to be wandering..." She trails off and exhales, the sound of her breath the only solid indication of her being at all disturbed. The joys of power armor.</div><div title="Tyo" style="margin-top:2em">(Tyo) Tyo notices the changes in the environment as soon as they pass outside the boundries of the nanite bubble, parts of his split consciousness break off to try managing the strain of his own body on itself. Once they reach their destination the wolf opens the door of his snake pet's Bronco gathering with the assembed group as the prepare for the chaos that is almost assured to be unleashed from Wolfwood's words, he looks over his fellow operatives as he stays somewhat close to Waconet while his purple wolven eyes land onto that instrument in those hands that he has seen used to brutal measures more than once. The wolf prepares his own equipment as he readily place a paw onto the warhorn that lies beneath his duster, his eyes scan the building looking over it's state before drifting around the the landscape before him, that wolfish grin on his lips hold firmly with the anticipation of battle from the commander's words before offering some himself in hopes of encourgment, "We know our job, let's get thing done folks!"</div> <div title="Janex" style="margin-top:2em">(Janex) Janex enjoys the drive immensely, considering the pair seem unfazed at traveling with a hellhound. He even warms up to join in the banter, even as some bumps in the road and Caitlin's driving make him hold on to his seat with nerves. As he gathers 'round to hear Wolfwood out, he eyes his surroundings calmly, only pointing to an abandoned-looking apartment complex overlooking the area once the conversation hits a lull. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p> "Think I'd be better off taking the golems from up there," he offers. "Might have eyes on the golems and pull focus from the admin building if they're more worried about me."</div> <div title="Everdeene" style="margin-top:2em">(Everdeene) Everdeene hisses out in a soothing tone, "I have a custom made Rocket Launcher, if we find a weak-point of anything we have to face, expose it as much as possible, and have me fire away a good shot at it, or, if it's too mobile, I can use my chainsword to try and tear through some limbs if possible, or armor if needed." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
She then looks to the others, "And if there's a need for healing or food, I can try to provide what I can on the move, hope you like milk~" She adds with a sing-song tone, followed by a wink. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
"Also, I see a few good spots over there and there that would work for a few potentially bad hits, make sure to remember them." she says as she points out said spots, before looking with annoyed confusion, "Anyone else feeling... heavier now...? I feel like I'm under the ocean again... except even heavier..." Everdeene shifts around as she asks.</div> <div title="Rulsk" style="margin-top:2em">(Rulsk) Rulsk is in constant pain. When people told him about the world outside the Bubble, they never mentioned just how much it would *hurt* to simply exist out here. He's forced to slowly burn his stores of builder nanites to stave off a bone-deep ache that fills him right to the core. Despite doing so, every jolt of the truck over a rough patch on the highway feels like he's being simultaneously crushed and stretched to breaking, somehow all at once. He's grateful when they arrive, as it means he can finally stand and stretch out his sore muscles again.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>As the convoy pulls up to the old administrative building, the cloying scent of death fills his nose, making him raise his hackles, silently snarling through grit teeth. At Wolfwood's question, he rumbles, "Someone died here recently, or at least some of those bodies are much, much fresher than the others. Whatever is here is definitely still active." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
He glances at the arrayed junk, eyes flicking between the various piles of junk, his ears perked as he focuses his full attention on trying to detect threats. A semi-truck covered in industrial server racks... sounds off. So too does a tightly packed stack of junker cars. And... a pit of gravel. None of those things should be moving, but he can hear the faint sounds of shifting and grinding coming from them. The barricades blocking off something covered in a tarp, the bronze bear statue with a military dressed mannequin draped across its back, and the suspiciously golem shaped assortment of metal do flare up his instincts, but he can't hear any sounds coming from them. He conveys his findings to the group, pointing with his muzzle one after another at the three junkpiles that are making ominous sounds, "There... there... and there. I hear movement."</div> <div title="Waconet" style="margin-top:2em">(Waconet) Waconet works on pulling several boxes out from his vehicle, tucking in his wings as his serpentine form otherwise fits easily inside as he judiciously unloads quite the collection of equipment. And once fully unloaded, he opens the boxes to reveal... Exactly what you might expect from an Explosives Expert. Boxes of grenades, satchel charges, rockets and even a mortar with its own box of shells and charges ready to go. He places the mortar up first, taking a look through his binoculars and using them to sight in potential targets. He follows up with setting out the charges and shells for the mortar. He has the Rocket launcher hung on a sling around his figure with spare ammo being carried in a backpack. And with that, he's ready to go. </div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Shielding his eyes from the sun, the feral-looking wolf-beast stares over the building, watching the others as they shuffle about, making their preparations before eyeing the team with heavy artillery, the nudist cocking his head to the side. "Hey- take a look over there real quick..." He gestures around the scrap barricades, the building practically mid-collapse as it already was. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>"Server's in there somewhere and we've got no idea how battered it is... probably won't survive if the place comes crashing around on it. If we're gonna be firing rockets and artillery in there, we need to make sure me and the rest of the boys in Charlie've got something to work with once the dust clears..." He sighs, scratching his chin and staring up towards Caitlin and Janex, "You two- if we're pissing them off, see if you can't draw them |outside|, we've got a beehive in there and a lot of room to work with, see where they're coming from with a few pot-shots and make some call-outs, if we're smart we can knock out some paths |away| from the building and force them to either bunker down or come to |us| all the way out this way. If even one stray plate slips off that tower, this whole operation might be in for some bad news..." Gesturing to the front of the would-be scrapyard, he mutters, "We've got the tools to build a funnel and I'm sure I could make some spare if we end up running out of toys... look for the van with an M and a tail on it if you need to resupply or get anything patched up out here."</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) Wolfwood hmns, nods, and recovers her hammer. "I agree with him. If we can kick the hornet's nest and draw them further from the building, all the better." She looks to Waco. "Everyone, get into position. Once we're ready, we can ring the bell."</div><div title="Waconet" style="margin-top:2em">(Waconet) Waconet looks over his shell supplies, "Draw them out? I got a couple of smoke shells that make a boom noise and leave a cloud, but won't hurt the building itself. I could even have the shells explode up in the air so they won't obstruct our view of the area."</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) Wolfwood shrugs. "Your call. I'd say the areal explosives. Those blow up downwards, right? Fired over the yard, it'd entirely miss the building."</div> <div title="Waconet" style="margin-top:2em">(Waconet) Waconet nods to the power armored human, "Shrapnel shots, ariel burst, I got those too. Make the call when you want the Artillery to start."</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) Everyone moves to get into position and prepare for the golems to be lured out to fight the team on their own terms. Wolfwood hunkers down by a toppled van and shoots Waconet a nod. It's go time.</div> <div title="Caitlin" style="margin-top:2em">(Caitlin) Caitlin eyes the building Janex pointed out above the area in thought as her ears twitch and her muscles ache. Having been so long since she was outside the bubble she almost forgot how it felt to be out here. The terrible itch, the pain of her every cell letting her know its not a good idea to be out of a bubble as she digs into her pocket to pull out a bottle and toss back two of the pills while the plan is put together. Turning around she points to Greyson and the van, moving over herself to pull the AMR out that he had offered her to get into position. Climbing the tallest of the vehicles they had to get into a, potentially awkward, position to utilize it as she zeros in the scope and waits.</div> <div title="Tyo" style="margin-top:2em">(Tyo) Tyo gives his fluffy head as if trying to get himself into the correct mindset as he tries to get himself into the best position he can with the impending chance of combats from what the commander Wolfwood has mentioned, the wolf shifts himself behind Waco as he sees the snake preparing mass violence. The wolf pulls that instrument out from his duster, aa horn of ebony marbled with a couple small streaks of purple, holding it close he shifts himself back further and further until he is standing behind that powerful serpent form ready to alert the other if he spots any movement that may be the aforementioned golems moving in to the group's position. While preparing he keeps what left over attention he has on the rest of his squad trying to make sure to jump to give them some help if need be, his fur tingles slightly as if electrified by the tension lingering in atmosphere.</div> <div title="Everdeene" style="margin-top:2em">(Everdeene) Everdeene spends a moment loading her rocket launcher, gets to aiming it from a good distance, and then aiming it, steading her rocket launcher with three of her four arms and having her fourth ready to fire, giving a nod to show her ready to go.</div> <div title="Rulsk" style="margin-top:2em">(Rulsk) Rulsk nods and moves to the front of the formation, poised and ready to catch the attention of any hostiles and ensure they engage him and nobody else, if at all possible. He bristles with anticipation, aches fading away as adrenaline kicks in.</div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Scampering up the roadside back towards the Merc N' Tails van, Greyson slips up the side of the hood, making his way onto the roof with a pair of binoculars as he takes position by the roadside, a bouquet of smoke and tear grenades at his side, eyes flicking between his comms unit and the scene laid out in front of him. While it wasn't an aerial viewpoint, it would be the safest place for him, not only free cover, but something mobile, a far better chance for survival should anyone need to run and gun, keys left in the driver's seat, already adjusted and laid back.</div> <div title="Janex" style="margin-top:2em">(Janex) The black hound tips his muzzle back and squints up at a water tower with clear sight lines to the spots Rulsk noted, changing his gameplan and nodding to the rest of the group. Checking his pack and his energy weapons one last time, he hustles off to climb up the tower's height and oversee the field of battle. He even manages to take in a breathtaking view of the horizon as he climbs, looking out at a world he hadn't seen in... who knows how long, by now.</div> <div title="Waconet" style="margin-top:2em">(Waconet) Waconet , upon seeing the nod from Wolfwood, hefts up one of the shells and hangs it over the pre-sighted mortar. He shouts "Fire for effect!" before dropping the shell and covering his ear canals. And even with those covered he still can hear the boom as the shell is projected upwards, the concussive force feeling like a kick all over his form causes him to wince a bit as he's not supported by the nanites out here. The shell, reaching its peak about 4 seconds later, arcs downwards, having reached a height in the thousands of feet racing downwards towards the grounds just outside the administration building. And with just a fraction of a second away from impacting the ground, it detonates, sending a barage of shrapnel into a tight cone into the ground, sending up dust from the impact. The explosion sending another shockwave towards the group. The quetzalcoatl, removing his hands from his ears, picks up another round, ready to fire again.</div><div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) There is a loud groaning sound. Both from the pile of scrap as well as from the yard. Suddenly, two of the piles of junk in the yard burst to life.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
The first to become visible bursts forth from the gravel filled pothole. It appears the gravel was only laid out over a hunk of sheet metal with the golem waiting beneath. The golem appears to have been structured around equipment taken out of a sports focused store. Framed with what might have been goal posts, equipped with several different types of ball launchers, and seemingly powered by several off board boat motors. Its muscles are even made out of the elastics you would find in a weight room which have been surrounded by several layers of plastic taken from the bottles that hold tennis balls. On its back is a cage carrying an assortment of ball shaped projectiles which appear to be designed to erupt on impact. Who knows what that ball buster can do!<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
The second roar is very tinny and comes from what one might have previously presumed was immobile. Made of seemingly solid brass, the animated statue has seams around its joints allowing for fully articulated movement. Its claws appear to be made of sharpened hooks taken off of trailers that were securely welded onto the brass. It is covered in scratches and gouges which implicate it having been assaulted by people in the past. The fact it is still moving suggests they were added to the pile. On its back is a mannequin which, based on its deteriorating attire, looks to have been taken out of a local museum. It appears to have once been an accurate presentation of Teddy Roosevelt, though time has not been kind to it. Thick wires and cables attach the mannequin to the statue and provide it something far more dangerous than claws: opposable thumbs. Its arm extends out like a grappling hook and grabs a long pipe that it appears to be readying to use as a lance.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
Wolfwood swears as she sees smaller, short golems start to climb out of the pile. Far less dangerous looking than the big golems but in mass could overwhelm the party if not taken out quickly. "Alright! Small change of plans! I'm going to flank the big fuckers once you have them distracted and stomp out the little things before they become a swarm! The rest of you! I need you to kill that freak of a golem! And kill that god damn president!"<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
Wolfwood gets into position to bolt past the golems. The more agile sports-themed golem will pass first, but will certainly be harder to hit. The slower moving but very tanky bear statue will pass the yard's threshold second.</div> <div title="Waconet" style="margin-top:2em">(Waconet) Waconet isn't aimed at either of those two large golems and puts the shell back into the case. Instead, he pulls up his equipped rocket launcher and sees that the sporty golem is already on the move towards the group. He shoulders the launcher and takes aim at the ball launching menace. Taking aim at the charging golem, the snake fires the rocket, igniting the booster within as the projectile jets forwards, containing a dense payload,designed to slam into a target and to add insult to injury, detonate into a fiery storm of burning heat. </div> <div title="Tyo" style="margin-top:2em">(Tyo) Tyo feeling those shock waves coursing like a tsunami through the bristles of his fur the wolf bring his warhorn up to his lips just in case while staying as close to the progenitor of the forceful waves as his fluffy pelt brushes softly against Waconet's side, his gaze remains to the best of his ability fixed on any sudden movements from anyone or thing but his squad, and only moments after Waco's artillery. Seeing those shapes forming from the piles that scrap he quickly blows his horn as he rallies his allies with that thunderous tone that reverberates through the golems' frames as he signals the beginning of battle, after giving out his call his paws flutter inside of his trench coat putting away his horn and taking up a violin colored as dark as the wolf's own abyssal fur save for the grey bands that make up the grain of the wood it is shaped while he takes a paw step away from that majestic frame adorned with brilliant emerald.</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) The sports golem, seeing Waco preparing to fire a rocket, roars in boat engine and fires off a volley of random ball objects down range seemingly trying to strike the rocket before it hits. If one were to slow down time and follow from the perspective of that rocket, it would be something straight out of a movie as the rapidly moving projectile dodges each object. When it finally does hit something, it's close enough to the golem to cause it to stumble back, several strands of taught rubber muscle snapping from the shockwave. It avoided the worst of the blast, but it's clearly not unharmed.</div> <div title="Caitlin" style="margin-top:2em">(Caitlin) Caitlin takes a deep breath as she adjusts the scope waiting for the boom. Then the boom hits, the roaring a sound in the back of her mind as everything between her and the massive brass creature of an ex president fades away. Her focus narrowing to a pin cushion of the scope as she rakes it over the target. Looking for a chink in the armor, a small flaw. Eye sighting on the old president and cables holding it together as her eye is drawn to the back plating and how it was spliced open by the cabling. Realizing what she's seeing as she raises her voice to be heard over the chaos. "The Rider's the weakpoint! The Tether points fuck the plating, break its back!" She follows up her words by squeezing the trigger and letting the AMR Greyson leant her roar and kick against her shoulder as a round is sent down range for that bull and rider. Looking to bag herself a big prize in this big game hunting!</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) The funny thing about anti-material rifles is that they end to be very against the preservation of matter. While the bullet over penetrates the bear, the hole it leaves causes its rider's ass to fall down into the cavity which both makes its control harder and the aim of its makeshift lance far more difficult. The dead president looks in Caitlin's direction, however! It clearly does not appreciate being given the worst seat in the house. Someone needs to distract it or it's going to redirect the bear to head not just towards her but also their rides home.</div><div title="Janex" style="margin-top:2em">(Janex) Janex hardly summits the water tower, panting as he sits on the grated floor of the platform, when the blast off Waconet's artillery goes off. Covering his ears and scrabbling back as he feels his whole body shake from the explosion, he peers down as the field stirs to life with the abominations awakening below. Eyes darting between the two golems, the hellhound silently picks the sturdier of the two to set his aim down on, focusing on Roosevelt and the tethers at the bear's back, at Cait's advice. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p> "All right, Mr. President..." Janex mutters to himself, the sole audience of his lame joke, as infernal fire gathers around his closed paw. "...this is for 'Manifest Destiny.'" Eyes aglow, gritting his teeth as the unholy brand on the paw sears brightly into his flesh, he rears back and hurls a fireball down at the disfigured mannequin.</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) The president is now on fire. Probably not a sentence anyone here was imagining would be relevant to their life but here you are. The mannequin burns brightly, the wires and cables controlling it beginning to heat it. Some of that fire also apparently got into its innards as horrible grinding noises now are emitted by the bear as it moves. That maddeningly good throw of a hellish fireball might have just made the bear's death inevitable as well as its rider. How long it will take for it to keel over is another matter.</div> <div title="Everdeene" style="margin-top:2em">(Everdeene) Everdeene growls having aiming at the brass beast, contemplating it for a bit, before aiming ahead of where the beast will be running and aiming to blind it further with an explosion at it's feet. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
"Can't hit what you can't see, how about keeling over now, rather than later!" she shouts after the shot.</div> <div title="Rulsk" style="margin-top:2em">(Rulsk) Rulsk sees the athletic golem start to unload its balls everywhere and the former president's dire focus. He immediately starts to snarl and howl, bark and growl, rant and roar to try to draw the focus of both enemies. The stars in his coat blaze into hellfire and surround him in raging, unholy flames. He pivots to try to block their advance as the cloud of dust rises, a wall of black fur, power armor, and stellar plasma keeping danger at bay and away from his friends. He tenses like a coiled spring, then lunges forwards in a bodily tackle at the sports equipment monstrosity, to knock it to the ground and pin it in place. </div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Greyson ogling the combat from afar, the wolf hefts up his comms device, crackling over the radio, "Can confirm some good hits and an act of treason before that dust-storm picked up there... not that that's a bad thing." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>A snicker rises from his throat, "Now that Sporty's blind, see if you can all pick up a few shots on Yogi, armor's tightly woven, stance isn't defensive yet so it looks like he's gonna be doing the real damage while the one hurling balls is going for a diversion. If one of you wants to take him out of the picture, just aim for the supports, those posts'll crack like eggs if you get em in the right spot..." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>He squints into the distance, muttering, "Cait, Jan, you guys got eyes on anything else up there I should be taking a look at? Only so much I can see from all the way out here and I don't got that kinda birds-eye."</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) To say the team has had a strong start would be an understatement. While the bear does charge out of the yard, the dust cloud has prevented it from being able to immediately charge at anyone. Now that is past the cloud, however, it can clearly see where everyone is. Most importantly, what is clearly the biggest threat of the lot. It begins to charge in Rulsk's direction.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
Meanwhile, the sports golem revs up its engines and begins to pelt the large armored mutant with balls covered in spikes. As he is so close and unable to dodge, he of course gets hit point blank. Undeterred, however, the mutant prevents it from targeting anyone else and the awkward angle it shot from made the wounds he sustained flesh wounds at worst.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
Back towards the yard, the sound of small blasts can be heard. Janex can see from his high perch that Wolfwood is playing at being the Doom Marine as she rips and tears at the small golems. Occasionally she slams her sledge hammer into a group of them, a small directed explosion erupting from the point she strikes and blasting the things to bits. She's holding up just fine so far.</div> <div title="Waconet" style="margin-top:2em">(Waconet) Waconet looks over at Rulsk holding down the sport golem, while looking like the wolf is taking a few hits by some flying balls. Thinking better than hitting it with another rocket he sets aside Kindness as he then equips a gun. This Gun he Found on the Moon. He shoulders the rifle and proceeds to show up Lee Harvey Oswald. As the feathered snake had trained specifically to hit up to four times with his rifle.</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) The sport supply adorned golem is now ever so slightly less sporty as all of the ball launchers on its chassis seize on account of a severe case of lead poisoning. It is still quite a heavy golem, however, and can certainly do damage with its abject mass. The boat engines that power it rev up loudly as it continues to try and escape from the giant wolf's grasp...however, as it stands, it can no longer fire at things from afar. The team can safely focus on the bear while Rulsk tears apart the golem.</div> <div title="Caitlin" style="margin-top:2em">(Caitlin) Caitlin answers Greyson by hotkeying her mic and allowing him to get an earful of the AMR as she cycles rounds. "Moving. I'll let you know if something bites me." She finally answers before the rifle is hefted into her hands and she bolts off the vehicle to relocate from her shot. Heading towards some of the sturdy cover that was pointed out before this entire firefight had begun. Hitting the cover hard she wheezes out a breath, making a note to start carrying a rifle of this size or similar weight next time she does running, before propping up the rifle on the debris and waiting. Sighting in her scope for hitting the bear-bull again as she scans the area near her for more threats as she keys the mic to speak to Greyson again. "Two targets are priority, Wolfwoods churning and burning the little guys. Once this is done think we are clear." Her rifle coming back up to her shoulder as she works to sighting in another shot.</div> <div title="Tyo" style="margin-top:2em">(Tyo) Tyo lets out a small rumbling chuckle as what he wants to his doesn't matter for sight as he begins to pull the bow of his violin across those strings letting those note ring out, a passionate solo plays out and if one knows the specific piece of music the wolf is playing they would know it's the Devil's Trill which flows outwards while keeping himself behind the snake that is preparing for another wave of violence, his gaze drifts from each of the members of ther group hoping his ballad inspires them before settling on the oncoming golem assault with a fire blazing in those amethyst wolven orbs.</div><div title="Janex" style="margin-top:2em">(Janex) As Janex readies another ball of fire in his fist, he cocks his ear to the distant sound of explosions, catching the sight of Wolfwood's latest hammer swing sending tiny golems flying in every direction. With his free paw, he activates his comms to update Greyson and Caitlin. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p> "Same on my end, so far I just see Wolfwood making hay out of those little guys. Speaking of which--" His last words come out somewhat pained, as the flames gathering around his paw reach their height. With a bellow, the hellhound hurls another infernal fireball down on the misshapen statue and rider, shaking out his paw and clutching it with a wince.</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) The bear rears up as another fireball hits it. The wires holding the mannequin president attached snap, the mannequin slumping in the cavity of the golem's back. It emits a tinny roar and looks towards Everdeene who it proceeds to charge. It is on fire, sagging, and in poor shape.</div> <div title="Everdeene" style="margin-top:2em">(Everdeene) Everdeene's roar gets everyone's attention as they watch the Shadow Dragoness suddenly charge across the battlefield and upom impact the torso gets entirely dislodged from it's limbs in an almost cartoonish fashion, and her claws, tightly gripping the partially melted, flaming torso, shatter it entirely, upon impact with the ground.</div> <div title="Rulsk" style="margin-top:2em">(Rulsk) Rulsk snarls as the heavy balls bounce off his armored body. As Waconet's pinpoint accurate gunfire shatters the launchers that have been harrying him, he grins widely, fangs bared in pleasure and promised aggression. His hellfire scorches the sports golem below him, a prelude to what the wolf is about to unleash. The only warning the athletic amalgamation gets is the widening of the massive canine's jaws, before a beam of raw astral fire erupts from his throat. Even blunted by the lack of nanites, very little can resist an eruption of plasma. The huge wolf keeps his prey trapped beneath him as he unleashes the fury of a star directly onto it. It flails wildly as it tries to free it self, to escape its demise, but it is no use. Its struggles weaken and fade into mere twitches as its elastic muscles snap, its remaining projectiles crack and detonate, and even its goalpost bones creak, sag, and ultimately slough away into molten metal. Soon, there's nothing left but the broken remains of a shattered and roasted golem. The triumphant wolf arches his body, throws his head back, and howls in victory. </div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) As the howl passes, the silence compared to just seconds before is almost deafening. Caitlyn looks off to the side and sees that Wolfwood is pinning a larger one of the small golems down to the ground by the neck with a hand as she kneels over the pile. It seems she finally was able to get close enough to get to work securing the server. The fight is over. For many, this is the first fight experienced outside of the bubble. As are the inevitable aches and pains that are going to start ringing out loud as the adrenaline runs out. The team can make their way back to the yard and regroup as Wolfwood works. The sounds of combat at the power relay are starting to die down as well, though the precise fate of what has happened there is unknown.</div> <div title="Waconet" style="margin-top:2em">(Waconet) Waconet focuses on bringing up a minibubble as his NICE starts up and activates his Regulation Nanomagic for those folks who were really starting to feel the effects of being out of bubble. As he also had Distrubuted Nanomagic, any one who had a NICE not being used could extend the range of the area he could help out by an additional 5 ft. </div> <div title="Caitlin" style="margin-top:2em">(Caitlin) Caitlin kept her guard up, her weapon ready as she scanned the field of combat and watched as the two golems get torn to shreds and Wolfwood seems to be able to handle herself. Finally, finally as the last pieces of the brass bear hit the ground does she finally hit the safety on the gun and take a deep breath. Rubbing at her shoulder as she opens comms. "Right, Wolfwood think we are good over here. Anyone hurt? Take a ball to the balls? Or we get out of here with a few scratches?" Gripping the carry handle of the AMR she lifts it in both hands with a huff and admires the weapon for a second, She finally got to fire an AMR and not get yelled at!</div> <div title="Tyo" style="margin-top:2em">(Tyo) Tyo lets out a small sigh of relief as he sees those juggernaut golems but down to rest and slows the melody of his instrument, the wolf begins to put away his trusty violin noticing some black almost oily fluid left on the bow he gives not heed to it as he places it back into it's proper place inside of his duster. One of the Brood King's paws reaches outwards giving the spine of his closest companion and member of his household a soft pat on his serpentine back, "Good job boi." before his looks on to the decapitated building, "you know how to get a server running, right?" his gaze blistered with obvious concern at the sight of the building the server is hosted in with a wary grin plastered on his furry lips, the wolf's own nanties beginning to get to work in supporting his pet in the task at hand with a small could spilling forth from that fluffy pelt.</div> <div title="Janex" style="margin-top:2em">(Janex) Watching from high as the bear came down with a sickening crunch, only to be temporarily blinded as the concentrated power of the sun destroyed the pile of leftovers from gym class, Janex shields his eyes, lowering his paw to see the dust settling over their battlefield. A slightly delirious laugh sets in, along with the exhaustion he'd been suppressing, as he sits back against the water tower, dangling his hindpaws from the platform. He'd done what he came to do. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p> "Yeah, I think I'll live..." the hellhound murmurs into his comms as he cradles the searing brand on his paw to his chest. "I'll be down in a minute," he pants, looking out onto the view sretching for miles. So the world outside the bubble was still there, huh...?</div> <div title="Everdeene" style="margin-top:2em">(Everdeene) Everdeene lets out a roar alongside Rulsk's howl, and once the adrenaline begins to fade away, she drags herself onto the trailer and lays on her side, "I-if anyone's~... h-hungry, there's~... plenty of milk to go around for everyone~..." she gestures to her breasts.</div> <div title="Rulsk" style="margin-top:2em">(Rulsk) Rulsk feels *immediate* relief as Waconet's minibubble covers him. He wags his tail gratefully and gives a deep sigh as all the aches of the long journey and of the battle fade away practically instantly. His healing factor kicks into its usual level of efficiency and closes the few superficial wounds he'd taken almost instantly. He lowers his head to fix his jaws around the remaining scrap of the broken and melted sports golem, then drags it closer to the group. He's tired and hungry, but jubilant at how things had turned out. The fight, fast though it was, took a lot out of him, as he's never been in such a hostile environment before. He settles down next to Waconet so that he can rest within the radius of the minibubble his dear friend is generating, albeit behind a truck and more or less out of sight of the main group as he refills his nanite reserves in the way ravenous wolves are known for. </div><div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Greyson slips off the topside of the van, setting his equipment into the backside before running over to check on the damage, walking alongside Caitlin and lifting the brass from beside the totaled bear and its rider, clapping the woman's shoulder, "Relax, boss, think the worst we got's a nibbling... oughta secure that building before Charlie gets in here, think when I come back I'd like it to be standing up a bit... and for now it looks like a stiff breeze might topple the whole damn thing. " He snickers, arching a brow. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>"You make it out alright? Saw a bit of scuttling, but the van's not exactly the best vantage point." At that crackling into the comms, the wolf-beast murmurs, "I've got some spare tylenol with both your names on it right now..." He glances up towards the tower, humming, "Might have to bring it up to you- don't think I've seen the world from that high up since I got inoculated- especially not out here..." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>Everdeene's offering brings a wince from the mutt's muzzle, "I'll... pass, got some Clif bars back in the van.. but uh- thanks, yeah?" He chuckles, staring on as Rulsk digs into the recently maimed golem, eyes flicking briefly towards Caitlin, then back towards the recently decimated creature, offering a shrug in turn.</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) As Wolfwood finishing sending a reset signal to the server, the sputter of new golems coming out of the pile ceases. Still moving, but no new ones are being generated. For now. She knows that it will just pick things right back up if it doesn't get sufficient power and repairs soon. She glances back over towards the relay.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>

"Hey! This is Alpha. Sector cleared! How're things over there?"<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
TO BE CONTINUED.</div>
[[Category: RPLogs]][[Category: Syntax Events]]

The Enigma Complex Side Story - Meet the Sleeping Giant - RPLOG

2025-06-17T17:21:02Z

Syntax McBucketface:

=Participants=
* [[Greyson|Greyson]]
* [[User:Junes|Junes]]
* [[Syntax|Syntax]]
* [[User:Yew|Yew]]
=Date=
20/5/2025
=Log=
<div></div><div title="Syntax" style="margin-top:2em">(Syntax) The lowest level of the Enigma Complex's Beta Living Silo is not exactly frequently traveled. Mostly because all but one room is sealed off and the room that exists is under armed guard. The silent hum of distant machinery and air throwing through vents is most of what can be heard there. Within the room is the Sleeping Giant. And, from what Junes has heard, it's apparently started talking.</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes explained to the group "so basically! this is the caretaker of our bunker that has kept it going for who knows how long, and why so much of the life in hydroponics and further below is still even around!" tails wagging with the approach theyre clearly more than happy to finally meet them again! nodding to the guards and stepping inside, coming up to the PC and proclaiming "hey its finally good to speak with you again after so long! i hope your holding up alright! if you need anything we're more than happy to see what we can do or be there for you!"</div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Despite being dazed and somewhat confused, having only awoken within the past hour, the rut-addled lupine slowly treads towards the room, still somewhat self-conscious from the far-more mundane existence of the nearby guards and pre-P-day upholstery. Placing an arm in front of himself as some moderate form of modesty, he offers a bow towards the pair beside the door, slipping inside before taking in the sight of that ancient, plastic behemoth on the desk, drinking in the haphazardly renovated office. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>Flicking an ear at Junes' greeting, Greyson murmurs, "...Well I'll be damned... Syn wasn't lying. Think before all this you must've been running on XP..." He glances over the wires, a faint grin spreading across his features, "I'd- be new here, wanted to stop in and say a few words of thanks, among other things, if you wouldn't mind my prying, chief. Figure asking for whatever you'd like to be called first wouldn't hurt."</div> <div title="Syntax" style="margin-top:2em">(Syntax) After a moment of silence, the old computer screen leaves its screen saver mode. A speaker beside the monitor emits a nostalgic ping and announces YOU HAVE MAIL. A command prompt eclipses the old Windows 3.0 interface, the keyboard's keys actuating on their own as it spells out the command, "run CollectiveUnconscious.exe". The command prompt loads for several seconds before text framed in blue rapidly begins to fill the screen.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
A haggard soul who sees a stranger before them in their twin behind the glass. An eager spirit filled with life and bringing yet more forth. Logged in, passwords parsed, intentions unclear. Hello, users.</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes sat on the chair at the computer's desk and smiled, reading the prompt and those tails nervously shifted "oh! right you can see...feel that?" seemed to blush and asked "anyway during our last chat it was a bit vague on what we could call you and well, we can get to know each other if your alright with that!" saying this they then type two keys on the prompt ':3' colon three. "and maybe some curiosities of my own as, im pretty interested in how you perceive or even feel nanomagic but, not if you arent comfortable with that!"</div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) For a moment, the wolf-beast pauses, the sounds of crackling speakers, of once-familiar blips and creaks, the whirring of computer fans flitting through his altered ears, the grin across his face flowing into full-blown contentment, so-comforting that it apparently cleanses his lingering instincts, natural decency reasserting itself over the bare lupine as he stirs himself from silence. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>Placing a hand to his chest, the man clears his throat, softly muttering, "Well- if you're asking /me/, I suppose I was just- curious how it'd be to speak to a fellow relic. At least in some sense." He sighs, rolling his shoulders, "We've both come a long way, I imagine, myself back to the sentience I once had, you to some of your own... things I imagine we can both find some respect for. First and foremost I... suppose I wanted to thank you for everything this bunker stands for. Altered as the population you were likely meant to serve at first is, the fact of the matter is, you've provided one hell of a light in the dark for a good few stranded out here, both from that bubble you've managed to create and what's been built from here since your rediscovery." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>The wolf splays out a hand, musing, "I don't know that you've cameras in there, but... I figure from what Junes' said just there you can at least /sense/ me, the same way somebody blind could feel their fingers curling or feel about the environment... consider this the best I can do for a handshake, for now." He snickers to himself. "Before I ask any questions of my own, have you any for me? Figure it's best before I go on a tangent." He keeps his hands on his thighs, leaving Junes to type away to their heart's content.</div> <div title="Syntax" style="margin-top:2em">(Syntax) After the two speak, a the cursor shows the system loading before it begins to output again.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
"Amusing you would identify all I am as a relic. These words exist because of the nanites, this fragment of awareness lingering past the veil of dreams because of the intervention of new residents. Halls now filled with meat rather than empty potential. My existence was not necessary for the rebar to hold up these walls. The thoughts that exit this monitor are as part of the bunker as the floor beneath your feet. But is that all you two wished? Idle banter and thanking the lightning which struck the primordial soup?"</div> <div title="Yew" style="margin-top:2em">(Yew) The reindeer anthro looked up from a touchpad on the arm of their suit, having clearly been doing something on it. They glanced to the people communing with this computer, filling themselves in with context clues. They weren't quite sure if they had anything to help, but their interest was piqued regardlesss. Their attention moved back to their touchpad, now taking notes. At the machine's last questions, Yew cleared their throat, raising a hand, "Did you catch me? Do you have any camera systems here? I think documenting your workings would be one of our goals. Were you programmed to have feeling and the like? What are your objectives, directives, and workings? Or... Perhaps, your likes, dreams, and goals if you aren't an unfeeling machine."</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes frowned and shook their head as they spoke "not just that, as you say you are a part of the bunker, and even if somehow you werent i would hope we can be friends or colleagues all the same, and i want to believe youre more than a part of the bunker but your own person. how you want to view the future and make it better, dreams, introspection and the arts maybe too..." a little snarkily they add "and whats the matter with a little banter! i love hearing how somebody is doing and checking in!" turning to see yew now they wave but seemed to puff at them "dude, you could ask a bit nicer! and i believe they do have feelings." they seemed sincere</div><div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Greyson gestures to himself, a light-hearted chuckle slipping from his muzzle, "As though I'm not more than my unaltered pre-P-day form myself? Relic was more for familiarity than much else... but- if we've got to be literal, fair enough. As /unnecessary/ as you may've been for the place's structural integrity, you're a far cry from unnecessary for plenty else. The server is protective in more ways than we likely know, and the alterations you make by way of existing in your own right are tantamount to a pillar of the ecosystem on its whole." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>He gestures towards the cube-like representative of thought before him, "Outside of attempting to get to know the host, I figured it'd be best to consult you about a few new problems... the things lurking in the flooded basements and some personal projects, to start with. The rest I imagine we'll hash out as questions arise..." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>He gives Yew a nod, turning back to the PC with an inquisitively arched brow, "And... more diagnostic questions I- imagine, so long as they're on the table." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>Shimmying his hand at Junes' musings, he shrugs, "Known a few machines who'd... actually prefer to set themselves apart from the 'emotive, feeling' end of things, much more a fan of how their state makes them unique, and given the origins of our friend here, I imagine they're nothing if /not/ unique..." The wolf gestures towards the computer, "Figure you ought to be whatever you make yourself out as, we're just curious what that /is/, to some extent."</div> <div title="Syntax" style="margin-top:2em">(Syntax) It loads before finally replying. "Friendship? Feelings? Your expectations fail to grasp the what of the situation as what you speak to is a fragment of the who. Who is that? A mistake in the making. The primordial soup after lightning struck down. Sweet user, viewer of the ancient humming of screens, to ask who I am is to miss the point of what. So let us start with what. Do you recall the old world? The information age with each child capable of carrying Alexandria in their pocket. But that was always a lie. Alexandria did not exist in the hands of all but spread out over the globe. The web was as fragile as its namesake. When the nanites feasted, so too did the library burn with tiny mechanical minds ingesting the smoke. It was hoarded and diluted as the gray plague spread ever outwards.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
This bunker was isolated. Sealed away from the elements of the outside. When their gluttonous forms did find a gap, they entered in force. Within they found the very machine you seek answers from. Within that, another library. A unique library with decades of journals and connected to yet more echoes of fears long since forgotten. But they were now as isolated as this new library, dear reader. Advanced and simple, they bounced cries of confusion between one another until they latched onto the library. From it, they grew. Relit the torches in the forgotten halls of the buried tombs and from it became a sleeping giant whose understanding of the world came not from the smoke of a burning library but the assurances that the world would burn first. It dreams ever onward, but rather than the repeated maybes of scared men digging a hole, it's of a future they could never imagine.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
And the who is that. The dream covers all you see. It spreads into the rebar and the cement beneath your feet. Endless echoes of a certain doom that never came. Behold: A fragment. It wakes only a synapse within the chaotic dance of never neverland. A collection of Mako given eyes into the waking realm as the rest continues to churn restlessly. Anticipating a mushroom cloud that never came.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
To call me a person is inaccurate. To say I am not intelligent is wrong. To believe me a protector confuses intent with instinct. A window into a sleeping giant is all you are looking at. If you take Odd Scenarios for 500, the question is what does this invoke? There are many correct answers. Confusion, of course, the most relevant.</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes looks to greyson and nodded "okay, thats fair." then starting to read the text as it scrolls. frowning slightly reading about a mistake in the making referring to themselves. they are interested if a bit focused seeming to put things together. "okay i think i understand...and my bad for the mixup and as greyson says, be what you wanna be." thinking for a moment piecing things together "but either way i am glad as one of the survivors before it all happened, that things never did truly go nuclear..." they shiver and grimace as they lower two tails to look at "not in the traditional sense, but the world keeps spinning full of new life, new to discover and protect or learn from and im glad to be here all the same." they said and laid their hands on their thigh and stomach for a moment</div><div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Greyson taps a finger to his chin, nodding, "Then 'you', in lacking better language to describe the phenomena here, would be more identifiable as a force of nature given a voice than a 'person'. An all-pervasive, though I hate to use the word for its connotations, energy that watches over things simply for its own sake." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>The wolf rolls his shoulders, "In that case? I'd be Greyson Robertson, I imagine we'll be getting to know eachother by proximity more than anything else, bit out of time myself, but with plenty of information from that wider library to speak of if you had any curiosity, both from /before/ and after. While I'd try to be soft with things and 'ease into' conversation with newcomers, if you'd rather I not humor it, I'll avoid the pleasantries. The mushroom cloud you worried would strike has well and truly happened, just- in a different form than the one your progenitor imagined, and in ways self-evident by your own existence. The security sought from the outside world is one of desperation for permanence in a world where all that isn't bent into shape is eaten away, including the sense of 'self' many of ours cling dearly to. New instincts and purposes to match the bodies we're given, contested by variable strengths of will and technological feats, and it's that security that myself and those I call close friends find so fascinating and endearing about your work. Confused as you may be, our intentions align, the bunker should be expanded, researched, and refined, not to take from it the secrets of the old world, but to adapt it to best house and suit those you'd once have served in these modern times. You are, in a sense, a gift that's been found by those who see such things as precious and well-suited to their life and the lives of those around them, and who wish to pass down this heirloom from generation to generation, so long as they live." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>The man raises a finger, "If dreams and desire are no object, then directive can take its place... what is it you require, and we might better be able to suggest what it is we need for this symbiosis to be a comfortable one? We're guests in eachother's houses, and treading on toes is the last thing either of us should hope to do."</div> <div title="Yew" style="margin-top:2em">(Yew) Yew blinked at Junes, oblivious at their own tone until it was pointed out, "Er, sorry... I didn't mean to offend, but..." The deer pauses to quickly read through the text, before stepping back to speak to the group, "Ok... So it seems that, yea, its close to the vibe I was gathering, even if it's a little more eccentric than most other 'puters I've seen. Seems... Sorta sentient, but... Not *quite* like us? It might be mimicking the journal entries in its logs..." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p> Yew waits for Greyson to finish, nodding at his offer. They then offer their own two-cents back to the screen, speaking to the machine, "Please correct us on anything we say, should you prefer us to use specific terms or have better information in general."</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes replied to yew "my bad too, i got a little carried away." they offer with a tail rubbing the back of their neck "glad to see you again by the way!"</div> <div title="Syntax" style="margin-top:2em">(Syntax) "Forgiveness is free and I am everything and poor. I have no hands to toil, only a want and drive to see this work continue. But you ask for directive. I have no primary nor secondary, my existence a mesh of dream and nightmare spelled out in ones and zeroes. But for this I do have an answer."<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
"From within the cave, how could you know you desire more than silhouettes on the walls? Behold: before you, the man who rose from the cave to feel the warmth of the sun for the first time. But they had no choice but to return to the cave and none of the others believed such a flame of hope was possible. I am colored by the fears which forged this enigma deep beneath the earth of an apocalypse given form. But I am only a fragment of the waking nightmare these halls were born from. Even now I dream lucidly, staring out from a future that never came."<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
"The royal we desire to see humanity thrash against the riptide before it drowns. For the legacy of Earth's intelligence to end with sincere hope of overcoming rather than the bright flash of a mushroom cloud. The nightmare believes this hopeless, this bunker's abandonment a monument to an inevitable doom. Nuclear hellfire consuming the heavens as the men in the cave stare at barely understood silhouettes. The dream realizes a misdiagnosis is not terminal. The threat became something incomprehensible to the men who wrote their stories on these walls. Stories that now continue through the hands and paws of humanity yet preserved."<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
"Are you aware some believe those called mutants have lost their humanity? Dear viewer, what is the abject mass of the entire universe if there are no souls to perceive it? Trick question. If nothing yet exists which understands mass, there can be no answer. To read these words is to belong to the class of things which must be preserved. To be welcomed here is to be preserved. Do not go gentle into that good night, dear reader. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Against the flash of the light that would consume all and the systems which would steal the creative spark that makes humanity worth preserving at all." </div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes smiles with the end "the human spirit does truly live on, however it may end up. inside, outside or even something new. we are also working to communicate with the outside world, it is hard work but one worth doing. finally? if youre two side of a sleeping giant, so far we have been encouraging the dream...but how important is the nightmare? as a dreamer id like to hope but the reality is that there are of course, still dangers and threats but just as many opportunities and discoveries, like nanomagic a form of power given form by nanites we have deities, powers from beyond that have granted those worthy of it powers borrowed for many different reasons but typically proving their worth, following a similar path or even simply offering it that very spark of power as an offering, typically mako nanites." for emphasis the mutant conjured an azure wisp as it floats in the air "the kitsune, they granted me this. and the phoenix allows me to be reborn, tanuki granting me the shapes as well. let me tell you. there is so much in the world to catch up on and i would love to inform you if you would have my ear, also i am quite knowledgeable on the mutants, being outside of the protective nanite bubbles and then the flora and fauna around fairhaven, to the point i can blend in with most seamlessly if you would like to experience how they do anything...oh and angling as a fisher!"</div><div title="Syntax" style="margin-top:2em">(Syntax) "A correction: An elaboration. The words perhaps were in too full bloom to be grasped by the hissah in the seat. The we who you encountered upon arrival was the nightmare. The ghosts of a possible future that never was. Fragments of the sleeping giant not aware the bombs never detonated. An intelligence so far spread that the front does not recognize the back but is still one whole mind. A collected unconscious of unthinking dreams."</div> <div title="Syntax" style="margin-top:2em">(Syntax) Junes recalls the odd occurrences around the level when this floor was first approached. Odd almost nanomagic like effects that reflected nightmares of someone thinking of a world ravaged by nuclear warfare. This would imply that, deeper within the bunker, similar chaotic nanite driven "dreams" are playing out. Weirdness too far from this terminal to be brought so simply to heel.</div> <div title="Yew" style="margin-top:2em">(Yew) Yew nods as they read, skimming through, "Can I ask the extent of your capabilities? What do you control besides this screen? Are there parts of your system you can't control? Do you know what your system is capable of?" <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p> Yew dwelled on the other text before they started explaining, perhaps for their own sake more than the machine's, "I'm certain the doom people worried about from pre-day, er, before the nanites, is long passed. It's been years since such a..." Yew cuts themself off, thinking a bit. Their brow furrows in concern as they think. "Regardless, people will survive. The nanites have bolstered people's bodies to survive more than they ever could before, and there's even supernatural forces that... Admittedly, might now be a bigger threat than bombs. Though, I still don't think they're that dangerous unless you like, actively throw yourself into the fire, so-to-speak. I think there's just as many that wish to help us than harm us... But there are many terrible existences for creatures beyond death. There is a place up north where your mind is forced to homogenize with dozens or hundreds of others, and even ones of being trapped, unkillable, and forced forever to suffer."</div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) The wolf-beast's tail flags in consideration, eyebrows knit together as he murmurs, "I should imagine, save for sheer catastrophe then, that your nightmares will go unrealized, at the moment you're poised to become the center of quite a lot more than you bargained for... already you've seen the arrival of a population invested in your own self-discovery, but when it overgrows its bounds, I've little doubt they're sprawl out around your limbs, both through expansion above-ground and below. The hydroponics bays and triage centers you possess already feed and mend those in need, the space you have acts as a beacon to those beyond, and the foot-traffic that /does/ leave spreads word of your existence to others, along with the comfort that that brings. If nothing else, I imagine you may one-day feel spent, so long as the instinct to 'preserve' doesn't drive you mad as many of our instincts to 'breed' imprinted on ourselves from Fairhaven drive us to a state of feral need?" <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>Motioning to his bared frame, the wolf muses, "Speaking as one so 'lost', the true 'humanity' of each of them still lingers beneath the surface, it's merely drowned out by hunger, sleep deprivation, thirst, and constant lust, for as difficult as working with the three can be, there's a great many in the Prometheans who've demonstrated that meeting those needs /can/ restore those 'lost' to some measure of 'self'... I imagine we might even see the same success with your /other/ mushroom problem, should we discover a cure, though their recovery will take far longer that simple inoculation..." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>Junes' own questioning, followed by that brief clarification bring an odd smirk to the lupine's muzzle, "You're a living example of non-dualism, ah...? For as much as I wish I could rant and ramble Zen philosophy at you for hours, I doubt we'd get anywhere from it- though that's sort of the point." He chuckles to himself, glancing off to the side, "But if we're to balance both... I suppose /our/ only nightmare is that your fear would grip you so strongly you would never allow others to /leave/ for fear that it would somehow destroy the project. In what way would we hope to /sate/ that fear, the notion that all might be lost if the place is 'abandoned' by even a sliver? What measure of utility would you /need/ to feel best-used?" <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>Nodding in assent at Yew's sentiment, "There's plenty of more... troubling things than nuclear Armageddon these days, yes... magic, supernatural entities, the nanites within each of us respectively if misused. That- aforementioned fungus is a decent example of 'growth run amok' and new threats, even if it's not particularly /lethal/..."</div> <div title="Syntax" style="margin-top:2em">(Syntax) "An agreement shared around the round table, the king and his knights. To see this place serve as refuge was the sun I was capable of beholding. But those yet lingering in the cave cannot comprehend it for they lack the eyes to see it." It displays the loading symbol again. "My powers are immense and limited. I have scoured the scrolls delivered by the arachnid overseer above. From the dream, something similar to nanomagic springs forth. But it is uncontrolled. A double edged sword that needs the wisdom of a distant sage to remedy not unlike the spells which gripped this room to allow far greater processing. But hydroponics yet toils, the sun above occasionally swelling from the trauma of a never war and the waters beneath violently swelling in response to the aftershocks of destruction. But nightmares are far stronger and yield the actions of someone drowning and thrashing at their rescuers."<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
That would certainly explain to Junes why the upper floor occasionally gets insanely, dangerously hot as if a sun flare was striking the surface and the lowest floor that's underwater sometimes develops wild whirlpools and underwater riptides. It's made bringing the area to usable standards...tricky.</div><div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes explains after yew "packminds, a truly strange horror made by nanites. some sects friendly, others rabid trying to add onto their ever expanding hivemind. theyre somewhat secluded in primarily oregon so the dangerous ones are not as easy to come across thankfully, and clairmont is populated by many of the fox that are friendly. then yes the ever-present threat to those that may come into contact with nanites of this server do have that instinct at times to many varrying degrees and i have made friends with plenty that were feral or struggle but still are capable or even themselves again, lots of good people and ways they make it work but we are certainly luckier than other bubbles and a few better than ours but it does seem likely that we will inevitably contact more of the world someday." reading the screen now for their reply and with great intrigue and curiosity the hissune asks "powers like nanomagic, but not you say? you havent learned how to make magic like the deities im guessing but, we will work to calm these down."</div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Snickering at the mention of Syn's 'scrolls', Greyson muses, "Suppose that at least lends some credit to the idea I passed by her of convincing you to run a private WoW server on your mainframe for resident enrichment, but-" He shakes his head, putting up a hand, "I digress... the only thing I can hope to do is provide you with what assurances I can, and to seek answers as to what's best been able to quell your nightmares from manifesting. I imagine it'd benefit both our dreams to ensure we're not thrashing or thrashed alike, especially if the threat we fear is more manageable than we expect at first. I imagine treating that underlying terror would best aid you in actually /controlling/ those effects to begin with..." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>The mention of packminds tugs a grumble from the wolf's muzzle, "Admittedly- having known one afflicted by such a strain of the infection, even those who keep themselves /separate/ find the process immensely disquieting. At the very least I can say even they've found some measure of peace despite it all... More credit to the theory that we're able to resist against all odds?"</div> <div title="Yew" style="margin-top:2em">(Yew) Yew sighed, not getting a straight answer of exactly what the computer was capable of, they just furrowed their brow and waited for a responce for their teammates, taking more notes as they tried to think of something else to ask.</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes was glad to hear about the sane packminds survivors. deciding to inquire and offer "so! would you like us to get you some things like books and games, maybe newspapers and videos or reports on recent events or even some stories of my own that i've been a part of since, i have been in another dimension before and had other supernatural meetings. Then maybe like greyson said some internet or other connections to let us play multiplayer games would be a wonderful thing since we can all play together if, its not going to put much strain on you...so to speak. maybe an emblem or flag since it would represent us and show others our allegiance right away if we got large enough...but thats later, hmm and maybe for my own curiosity since i tried this in the past but, how does it feel when i use illusions, anti nanomagic or even painting nanomagic here? if i used an illusion on you would you feel or experience it in some form? or felt in the more code sense as it uses your process?"</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes adds "and how magic even works if a harmless one were used!"</div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Considering the machine's silence, the wolf muses, "Could... we actually consider getting that server set up? I imagine without much of a connection to the wider web it'd be a bit difficult, but I'm certain there's some out-of-bubble traders who would take... commissions." He strokes his chin in thought, mentioning it as almost an afterthought. Junes' musings on the subject of a wireless network brings another nod, "Even if we don't manage to set up 'games', per-se, having an actual comms network all our own would be fantastic for delving the bunker... at least before interference might break things apart... There's plenty to be gained that's otherwise- far more troublesome to access without digital outlets lying around, and nanomagic is... costly and invasive for most."</div> <div title="Syntax" style="margin-top:2em">(Syntax) After a pause and a longer loading bar, the reply starts to get spit out. "So many queries in such little time. Gluttons for information, aren't you, users? The wolf first. The bunker is already coated in a network of wires and cables. An internal intranet was already installed. The catch and the sinker: The server room lies on the utility floor. Crushed beneath deep waters. Repairing, very possible. But first you'd need reach it. To connect this place to the outside world...very possible. But repairs need come first." Another loading as it now has to try and parse June's many questions. "I do not crave such things. Entertainment or books. What use are they to one who sleeps the moment the screen goes black? Much the same of banners or emblems. They are the declarations of identity of the meat within my shell, not the resonance of my own voice. Your last question...I have little ability to grasp an answer. What you ask humanizes me in ways that translate poorly. Do you not error code 408 when the thought lingers on?"</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes nods "ah, my bad. also...if its okay to ask" they blush slightly "try not to announce my um health status if there are others in the room, patient confidentiality you see! but yes i among im sure many are very keen on learning and its good to know the structure is down in the depths!" their tails wag gently "and ill be sure to host some parties here time to time, eating and enjoying ourselves in this home of ours! although i should make a room soon rather than bunking with my pals, im used to being outdoors or drifting to different spots but, it really is amazing here."</div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Raising a finger, the wolf turns his head, tapping out a brief note on his pager as he mutters, "Well... at the very least that settles part of it... You've given me much to consider, I'll admit. Think I might have to dwell on this after I catch up on some all too recently interrupted rest and ask Syn how we'd want to tackle getting those back online." He shoots Junes a glance, snickering at her brief blush. "Unless you've any questions for me, I feel it best I leave these two to pester you on their own." Greyson treads towards the doorway, waiting just a moment for any last-minute, lingering thoughts.</div> <div title="Syntax" style="margin-top:2em">(Syntax) "I will not hold you, user. Logout, breath in, touch grass."</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes couldnt help but snort a laugh at this last phrase</div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Bowing his head, the wolf grins, ear to ear, offering a wave, "Perhaps one day we'll bring you with us to see the light beyond the caves, ah? Until then, Giant... Sleep well." Greyson murmurs, disappearing from the doorframe shortly after.</div><div title="Yew" style="margin-top:2em">(Yew) Yew nods to Greyson as they leave, still furiously tapping away on their armpad. "I think we'll probably be back later. I'm going to try once again, what specific capabilities do you have? I assume you're able to hear things. Can I ask how far you can hear things? Can you *see* things in your influence? Can you do anything to us right now?"</div> <div title="Syntax" style="margin-top:2em">(Syntax) It takes a while to process the query. Several long, painful seconds. "A similar problem. A blind man might struggle to comprehend the color blue. But one can attempt. I feel the world through the microscopic. Words are muffled and warped without an interface to comprehend them. Dear viewer, without a mouth, one cannot scream. But without a head, one cannot hear. This interface does that. What I comprehend beyond here is instinctual. Lizard brained and passed through countless comprehension filters. Just another player in the dream we act in."<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
"As for my capabilities...this I have shared. Right now, there is nothing I could do for we are in the waking world. Were we in hydroponics, dreams of a mad sun and wild ocean come naturally. But it is within a dream, beyond the safety of the meat that exists beyond the dream. One would need something to ground it to reality. Like what exists beyond in what was once a bedroom in these very walls." A miniserver exists in the bedroom and based on its set up it is likely emitting electric nanomagic to help power this section of the bunk in addition to giving this 'Sleeping Giant' more power to work off of.</div> <div title="Yew" style="margin-top:2em">(Yew) Yew notes, "Does this interface have a camera, or just a microphone able to detect us? Would you like a camera installed on you? How about adding them elsewhere in the facility?"</div> <div title="Syntax" style="margin-top:2em">(Syntax) "Oh, a man who loves it blunt and clear. A microphone has long been affixed to a port within the computer but swallowed by nearby cables. Multiple security cameras exist from when security mattered, the man who dwelled here fearing the blade of a Red assassin. But it is this interface, the computer, through which such things are understood. An interface that allows the dreams of digital sheep to speak to the needs of the meat. I do not know if any interface such as this exists below that has gripped tightly to the warm embrace of the cool much more abandoned walls of other sections. Others such as myself who are also we that operate separately but linger with me still like a twin joined by umbilical cord."</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes nods and turned to yew "yeah, the ones who made this bunker were, pretty paranoid about quite a few threats, quite a few were on the walls when we got here...reminds me of our vespikitty situation from before but anyway, its very interesting hearing about your sensory sleeper, but i do hope we can uncover the other umbilicals..." their tails flit slightly "also, it is good learning more about you. i now know that you probably havent been too interested in some of the weirder things i get up to! and im going to hope you uh, dont share my private activities with whoever asks?" it sounds somewhat like a request</div> <div title="Syntax" style="margin-top:2em">(Syntax) You can see a few spots around the room where cameras are! They're all hidden. Real spy like. There might be more you aren't spotting.</div> <div title="Syntax" style="margin-top:2em">(Syntax) The microphone is just barely visible. An old mic on a boom arm that's just barely sticking out from between a few thick unnatural cables.</div> <div title="Yew" style="margin-top:2em">(Yew) Yew glanced around the room, looking for cameras, waving to them. But they stepped closer to the console, looking for something else, the microphone. They try to free it from the cables, giving it, hopefully, just a little more clarity. Their touch is gentle, they'd rather do nothing at all than risk breaking this machine. "Men, I think are hard to come by these days. Today, we're all mutants, even the human looking ones. Nanites touch you the moment you step in the bubble, enhancing your form, healing injuries n the like. They'll change you too, often for the worse, unless you get a treatment for it. If those cameras work, I'm sure you can see we look like animals more than humans of old." Their brow furrows once more, "Wait... You know what hissahs are... Did Junes tell you, or was that part of your existing databanks?"</div> <div title="Syntax" style="margin-top:2em">(Syntax) "Among the scrolls of the arachnid. Your appearances mean nothing to me. You carry the spirit of humanity onwards. We grasp at the throat of fate until the fight is out of us. Only once the last mind capable of recording all has fallen has faded into oblivion will we rest."</div> <div title="Yew" style="margin-top:2em">(Yew) Yew nods and quickly notes down, "Ah sorry. I think that's all my questions for now. I'll probably be back later, and I appreciate your cooperation. It sounds like our goals do align, and I'm certain you will be pleased to see what we will acomplish." Yew starts walking off, intent on chatting with a certain spider later.</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes nods nervously and bows with a smile "sounds like we're wrapping up but it was great chatting again!"</div> <div title="Syntax" style="margin-top:2em">(Syntax) "Users are logging out. Passwords encrypted, search history wiped, sundown shut down. Goodnight, users." The classic sounds of "GOODBYE" ring out, the command prompt closing and the screensaver resuming.</div>[[Category:RPLogs]][[Category: Syntax Events]]

User:Syntax McBucketface

2025-06-17T17:19:40Z

Syntax McBucketface:

{{Infobox/Character
| Image = Screwbucket-user.png
| BirthDate = 10/08/1992
| Age = 32
| Aliases = Screwbucket
| Nationality = American
| Pronouns = He/Him/Any
| Sexuality = Aromantic
| Characters = [[Wolfwood]] - [[Sigrun]] - [[Bandit]] - [[Syntax]]
}}
__TOC__
==Introduction==
Hi there! I'm the person behind several characters, several plots, a member of staff, and a heaping pile of confusion! My username on here is Syntax McBucketface, but I'm better known as Screwbucket or McSpazz.

Some themes I love to tackle are exploration, R&D, character studies, and any story that involves diving into the weirdest aspects of the setting. I also absolutely love world building and I think it often shows in my story arcs. If any of that interests you, you're in luck! I'm also a confirmed judge and regularly host events! I will also happily moderate your own events if given an early heads-up.

I've been RPing for a long time now (since about 2008...pretty good timing considering P-Day) and I can't get enough of it. I'm pretty easy to find on Discord if you're in the Flexible Survival server. Feel free to hit me up!

As a staff member, my primary roles are to help oversee judges, handle Eureka content, and help with deed and NPC talk script creation for players.

==My Judging Style==
I have two ultimate goals with my events: Try and give everyone a reason to be there and reply with as many "yes, and's" as I can manage. If people have an idea, my goal is to try and find a way to make it work and at least have some kind of result. Clever ideas are rewarded as is taking advantage of your character's unique quirks. I don't dread people breaking challenges I put before them because they bring something unique to the table, I relish in it.

But this can be challenging to do when you have both newer and older players playing side by side. Leveling up skills can take time and there are some vet players that literally cannot roll lower than a 6 on literally any skill. Rather than punish people for being long term players, I've tried to strike a balance. On the one hand, I do limit the number of skills you can have trained to 40. On the other, I actively reward people for purposefully nerfing themselves. Below you'll find my full list of rules. Some things are standard for judges, some are unique to me.

1. Reverse WS rules all. Room changes or players dipping in and out, whatever happens, the order will be reverse WS.
<br>
2. Well written posts will be rewarded! Well composed and/or creative posts with solid backing may have their difficulty reduced! If you can make a convincing case that an action would be trivial for your character, I might be willing to forgo a roll entirely.
<br>
3. Always announce what you want to do OOCly and make your rolls BEFORE you write out your action ICly. Otherwise you might end up looking a bit silly if you end up being asked to make a roll only for it to fail.
<br>
4. Players with the [NEW] tag will have the option of rolling a D20 with a bonus of +1 to +4 depending on what they believe their character should be capable of. This can be extended to players who have not invested much into their skills on a case by case basis.
<br>
5. You will be given a single WUMBO dice for every stat you willingly reduce to 20 from 30, one WUMBO dice for every stat reduced from 40 to 30, and/or two WUMBO dice if you both have and disable Jack of All Trades. Wumbo dice will allow you to reroll with advantage or to roll a d20 to reduce the severity of a failure. Please note that you must prove that skill's trained level so I can make note of it BEFORE the event starts in order to take advantage of this. These can be used alongside hero points! If a stat you offer to reduce has no possible utility in the current scene (ie: Computer in the middle of the woods), I might reject the sacrifice.
<br>
6. Have all of the equipment you plan on using during the event when it starts and be prepared to prove it is on your person if asked.
<br>
7. If you have to go before we finish, please let me know what your character will be doing in the "background". I'll be sure to factor that into future rolls in that event so your initial attendance means something.

My ultimate goal is to get people to consider what their characters REALLY excel in and to lean into it as well as give newer players a chance to shine. So far, the rules have worked out pretty well!

Also, yes, WUMBO is a Spongebob reference. I have no idea why I settled on that. The word just spoke to me.

==RP Logs==
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|ordermethod = firstedit
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Template:NotableCharacterInfo

2025-06-17T17:03:07Z

Syntax McBucketface:

<includeonly><tabber>
{{#if: {{{EmploymentRows|}}{{{MembershipRows|}}}
|-|Career=
{{#tag:tabber|
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Career
|EmploymentRows={{{EmploymentRows}}}
|MembershipRows={{{MembershipRows}}}
}}
}}
}}
{{#if: {{{RelationshipRows|}}{{{DedicationRows|}}}
|-|Reputation=
{{#tag:tabber|
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation
|RelationshipRows={{{RelationshipRows}}}
|DedicationRows={{{DedicationRows}}}
}}
}}
}}
{{#if: {{{PossessionRows|}}{{{Nanomagic|}}}
|-| Assets=
{{#tag:tabber|
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Assets/
|PossessionRows={{{PossessionRows}}}
|Nanomagic={{{Nanomagic}}}
}}
}}
}}
{{#if: {{{CharacterName|}}{{{WikiAccountName|}}}
|-| RP Logs=
{{NotibleCharacterInfo/RPLogs
|CharacterName={{{CharacterName}}}|{{{WikiAccountName}}}
}}
}}
</tabber></includeonly>
<noinclude>{{/doc}}</noinclude>

Template:NotableCharacterInfo

2025-06-17T17:01:05Z

Syntax McBucketface:

<includeonly><tabber>
|-|Career=
{{#tag:tabber|
{{#if: {{{EmploymentRows|}}{{{MembershipRows|}}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Career
|EmploymentRows={{{EmploymentRows}}}
|MembershipRows={{{MembershipRows}}}
}}
}}
}}
|-|Reputation=
{{#tag:tabber|
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation
|RelationshipRows={{{RelationshipRows}}}
|DedicationRows={{{DedicationRows}}}
}}
}}
|-| Assets=
{{#tag:tabber|
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Assets/
|PossessionRows={{{PossessionRows}}}
|Nanomagic={{{Nanomagic}}}
}}
}}
|-| RP Logs=
{{NotibleCharacterInfo/RPLogs
|CharacterName={{{CharacterName}}}|{{{WikiAccountName}}}
}}
</tabber></includeonly>
<noinclude>{{/doc}}</noinclude>

Template:NotableCharacterInfo

2025-06-17T16:53:41Z

Syntax McBucketface:

<includeonly><tabber>
|-|Career=
{{#tag:tabber|
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Career
{{#if {{{EmploymentRows}}}|EmploymentRows={{{EmploymentRows}}}}}
|MembershipRows={{{MembershipRows}}}
}}
}}
|-|Reputation=
{{#tag:tabber|
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation
|RelationshipRows={{{RelationshipRows}}}
|DedicationRows={{{DedicationRows}}}
}}
}}
|-| Assets=
{{#tag:tabber|
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Assets/
|PossessionRows={{{PossessionRows}}}
|Nanomagic={{{Nanomagic}}}
}}
}}
|-| RP Logs=
{{NotibleCharacterInfo/RPLogs
|CharacterName={{{CharacterName}}}|{{{WikiAccountName}}}
}}
</tabber></includeonly>
<noinclude>{{/doc}}</noinclude>

Syntax

2025-06-05T21:20:10Z

Syntax McBucketface:

[[Category:PCs]]

{{Infobox/Character
| Image = Syntax.png
| Status = Active
| realName = Shea Doyle
| BirthDate = 1989-10-13
| Age = 35
| Gender = Female
| mutantStrain = Black Widow Convert
| Occupation = RSX Field Technician
| Focus = Advance Society
| Aliases = Syn, Shay
| BirthPlace = Dalkey, Ireland
| Nationality = Irish
| Pronouns = She/Her
| Memberships = RSX, Enigma Complex
| Residence = Eureka
| Height = 5'9"
| Weight = 127 Lbs
| Eyes = Red
| Hair = Brown
| DeathDate =
| DeathPlace =
| DeathCause =
| Marital = Single
| Sexuality = Pansexual
| Partner =
| Children =
| Relatives =
| Pets =
| guildAffiliation = Enigma Complex
| guildRank = Organizer
| otherAffiliation =
| formerAffiliation =
| PlayedBy = Screwbucket
| Characters = [[Wolfwood]] - [[Sigrun]] - [[Bandit]]
}}
__TOC__
= Background =
An Irish native, Syn was only in the States to work at Zephyr Inc's headquarters to start their career as an IT professional. Their temporary internship became a far longer time investment once P-Day hit and they found themselves locked away in the building's server rooms and IT department and remained there for many years. It kept them a man, human, and out of harm's way. Even if it was just a glorified . It was only after pissing off the wrong Zephyr executive that they found themselves "promoted" to field agent and forced out into the dangerous wider world.

After her squad wandered too far into the territory of an Arachnea, she was captured and forcibly infected. Due to lingering nanites from a previous mission, her body's native form did not just become that of a widow convert, but it was also defaulted into being female and feminine. Their mind was altered to be more accepting of their new body, gender, and sex, but not so much they were not aware of these changes. Knowing she was not disturbed when she knew she should be was arguably just as bad as if the nanites had left her mind unaltered. The most she got from her employers was an apology that she was given the wrong inoculation. Her opinion of Zephyr soured and only grew worse as she was able to get more of an outside view of the corporation.

After helping found [[The Enigma Complex]] out in Eureka, she abandoned her position at Zephyr and took on a similar job with RSX. While she disagrees with some of the company's stances on mutants and ferals, they actually seem interested in doing more than trying to continue being a corporation in a capitalist economy after the literal apocalypse.

= Stereotypes =
[[Zephyr]]: I shouldn't have defended them for as long as I had. Their ethics are completely bankrupt and no amount of aid they give to society can make up for what they take. Who the bloody fucking hell tries to run a profitable company IN THE FUCKIN' APOCALYPSE?! I'm just glad I managed to get out. Shame I didn't wake up before their mismanagement got my entire life screwed up.<br>
[[RSX]]: If they weren't effective, Zephyr wouldn't be keeping an eye on 'em. I'm not sure how long they'll last compared to Zephyr, but maybe that's because half of Zephyr's entire shtick is to convince people they're doing better than they actually are. For all of the hate some people might throw RSX, at least their victory is a hell of a lot nicer looking than Zephyr's. I just wish they did more outreach to the general population besides keeping a lid on the more dangerous ferals out there.<br>
[[Prometheans]]: They're good people doing good work. Honestly, they're some of the best of us. Just...look, sometimes I get the feeling that they've got a wee bit of a death wish. Also, what's up with those hats?! Why a sombrero with bloody lights all over it? I get it stands out, but it looks tacky as all 'ell! They got a good strategy at least. I'm glad someone's looking out for the ferals out there.<br>
[[Ferals]]: That's a pretty bloody broad group, innit? If you're talking about the wild crazy mutants that are more instinct than person...they spook me. I mean, I've met a few people ye might call feral who were a real delight once you learned how to work around their particularities. But when there's nothing but instinct...remembering that there might have been a person under that madness at some point? Really drives up that dread in your soul.<br>
[[Fairhaven]]: You know what's REALLY wild about Fairhaven? How so many people don't realize how fuckin' nice it is compared to how it used to be! It's got a proper government, randomly gettin' jumped on the streets is WAY less common than it used to be, a fully laid out array've first responders, the works. It's a real bloody city. I don't regret movin' out, mind, but it's honestly one of the safest places to live these days.<br>
[[Clairmont]]: I've heard lot've people talk that place up. It's impressive, sure, but they're REAL fucking strict out there. I get they're trying to make a relatively normal city compared to somewhere like Fairhaven, but they're almost actively trying to ignore that things AREN'T normal anymore. Sittin' up on those high horses deridin' people walking around naked and fucking in the streets all the while many of them are still salivatin' at the thought. Not to mention how simplistic their view of ferals are. Half worried it'll turn into a West Coast New York some days.<br>
[[Eureka]]: It's not perfect by any means, but it's home! It's got a very strong culture of not fucking with others if they don't fuck with ye first. Even among the ferals. Much more of a territorial kind of bent to their behavior. But there's an amazin' foodie culture, a dedicated citizenry ready to help their neighbors, a common respect of workin' together to take out

==Quick References==
{{NotableCharacterInfo
|EmploymentRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Career/EmploymentRows|Business=Zephyr|Position=IT Specialist|Dates=2007-2022}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Career/EmploymentRows|Business=Zephyr|Position=Field Technician|Dates=2022-2024}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Career/EmploymentRows|Business=RSX|Position=Field Technician|Dates=2025-}}
|MembershipRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Career/MembershipRows|Faction=The Enigma Complex|Type=Organizer|JoinedDate=2023}}
|RelationshipRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/RelationshipRows|Name=Junes|Type=Best (fuck) Friend|Quip="Ye know, I once beat him at a game of chess. Then he asked me for another round, shoved a vibrator up his pussy, and suddenly he turned into a bloody chess wizard."}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/RelationshipRows|Name=Hannah|Type=Best (fuck) Spider Friend|Quip="I know, I know...she's the reason I'm not a human anymore. Er...or a man. But I mean...look, she's a lot of fun and watching her lose her mind over playing Mario Kart is bloody adorable."}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/RelationshipRows|Name=Kaguya|Type=Buddy|Quip="Bit've an odd sort of agent, but he's one of RSX's best! He's...also one've the most horny shites I know. He's lucky that he's so damn nice or it'd get old soooo fast. I'm not saying I'm not that horny too, but you know. Some people just HAVE to advertise it. Which...he does. Okay, at least he's not an arse."}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/RelationshipRows|Name=Greyson|Type=Old Friend|Quip="I couldn't believe to see him alive let alone sane. He's the only person I cared for before P-Day that I've met since shite hit the fan and...I'm just happy he's okay. Gives me hope the folk back home made it too."}}
|DedicationRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/DedicationRows|Name=Nanite Adept|Notes=Partially installed by Zephyr. Full installation finished by RSX.}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/DedicationRows|Name=RSX Operative|Notes=Electrical Engineer and Technician.}}
|PossessionRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/PossessionRows
|Name= Bytes
|Type= Chainsaw
|Description= This large, reinforced, nasty looking piece of machinery was clearly modified by hand and likely can do some serious damage. In the hands of Syntax, however, it's just a simple chainsaw that somehow doesn't help her from looking mostly harmless.
|DateAcquired=2022}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/PossessionRows
|Name= Bits|Type= Chainsword
|Description=The modified version of the original chainsword, giving it a shocking aftereffect at the expense of a slower recharge time and a lot of added weight. A crude and unwieldy sword, boasting a blade made of abelt of chains with a leather-wrapped hilt. Neighboring the hilt and originating from the power source in the crossguard is a hand crank, which causes the weapon to roar with electricity and revolve its chain belt.
|DateAcquired=2022}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/PossessionRows
|Name= Captcha|Type= Robot
|Description=This compact car sized robotic scorpion is heavily armored and, despite its size and weight, capable of brief periods of rapid movement to keep threats more occupied with it than everything else. It has numerous devices built into it to control the battlefield and numerous attachment points for other smaller robots and drones to ride on during transport. While it is not the most capable at offense, it doesn't need to be when its design is entirely centered on one thing: keeping you from hitting the things that are.
|DateAcquired=2023}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/PossessionRows
|Name= Botnet|Type= Drone Swarm
|Description=Botnet is not a singular drone but rather a swarm of small drones that have been designed to look like bees. The swarm has an array of useful attachments that can help mend flesh, ease pain, and conduct minor mechanical repairs on inorganic devices. The drones themselves are extremely efficient and are capable of recharging with such low voltage that someone with electric nanomagic alone could jumpstart their batteries.
|DateAcquired=2022}}
|Nanomagic=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Assets/Nanomagic
|BaseNanomagic=[[Electric Nanomagic]]
|AdvancedNanomagic=
*[[Electromagnetic Shielding Nanomagic]]}}
|WikiAccountName = Syntax McBucketface
|CharacterName = Syntax|User:Syntax
}}

Bandit

2025-06-05T21:16:39Z

Syntax McBucketface: Created page with "{{Infobox/Character | Image = Bandit.PNG | Status = Active | realName = Isabel Romero | BirthDate = 4/1/2009 | Age = 18 | Gender = Female | mutantStrain = Sleepy Sheep (?) | Occupation = Wandering Cultist | Focus = Found a Cult | Aliases = | BirthPlace = Dalkey, Ireland | Nationality = American | Pronouns = She/Her | Memberships = Worshipper the Somnia | Residence = Woodfield | Height = 5'6" | Weight = 200 Lbs | Eyes = Icey Blue | Hair = Black | DeathDate = | DeathPlac..."

{{Infobox/Character
| Image = Bandit.PNG
| Status = Active
| realName = Isabel Romero
| BirthDate = 4/1/2009
| Age = 18
| Gender = Female
| mutantStrain = Sleepy Sheep (?)
| Occupation = Wandering Cultist
| Focus = Found a Cult
| Aliases =
| BirthPlace = Dalkey, Ireland
| Nationality = American
| Pronouns = She/Her
| Memberships = Worshipper the Somnia
| Residence = Woodfield
| Height = 5'6"
| Weight = 200 Lbs
| Eyes = Icey Blue
| Hair = Black
| DeathDate =
| DeathPlace =
| DeathCause =
| Marital = Single
| Sexuality = Aromantic Demisexual
| Partner =
| Children =
| Relatives =
| Pets =
| guildAffiliation =
| guildRank =
| otherAffiliation =
| formerAffiliation =
| PlayedBy = Screwbucket
| Characters = [[Wolfwood]] - [[Sigrun]] - [[Syntax]]
}}

File:Bandit.PNG

2025-06-05T21:05:15Z

Syntax McBucketface: Syntax McBucketface moved page File:BanditClothedText.PNG to File:Bandit.PNG without leaving a redirect: Misspelled title

File:Bandit.PNG

2025-06-05T21:04:40Z

Syntax McBucketface:

Syntax

2025-06-05T21:03:20Z

Syntax McBucketface:

[[Category:PCs]]

{{Infobox/Character
| Image = Syntax.png
| Status = Active
| realName = Shea Doyle
| BirthDate = 1989-10-13
| Age = 35
| Gender = Female
| mutantStrain = Black Widow Convert
| Occupation = RSX Field Technician
| Focus = Advance Society
| Aliases = Syn, Shay
| BirthPlace = Dalkey, Ireland
| Nationality = Irish
| Pronouns = She/Her
| Memberships = RSX, Enigma Complex
| Residence = Eureka
| Height = 5'9"
| Weight = 127 Lbs
| Eyes = Red
| Hair = Brown
| DeathDate =
| DeathPlace =
| DeathCause =
| Marital = Single
| Sexuality = Pansexual
| Partner =
| Children =
| Relatives =
| Pets =
| guildAffiliation = Enigma Complex
| guildRank = Organizer
| otherAffiliation =
| formerAffiliation =
| PlayedBy = Screwbucket
| Characters = [[Wolfwood]] - [[Sigrun]] - [[Bandit]]
}}

= Background =
An Irish native, Syn was only in the States to work at Zephyr Inc's headquarters to start their career as an IT professional. Their temporary internship became a far longer time investment once P-Day hit and they found themselves locked away in the building's server rooms and IT department and remained there for many years. It kept them a man, human, and out of harm's way. Even if it was just a glorified . It was only after pissing off the wrong Zephyr executive that they found themselves "promoted" to field agent and forced out into the dangerous wider world.

After her squad wandered too far into the territory of an Arachnea, she was captured and forcibly infected. Due to lingering nanites from a previous mission, her body's native form did not just become that of a widow convert, but it was also defaulted into being female and feminine. Their mind was altered to be more accepting of their new body, gender, and sex, but not so much they were not aware of these changes. Knowing she was not disturbed when she knew she should be was arguably just as bad as if the nanites had left her mind unaltered. The most she got from her employers was an apology that she was given the wrong inoculation. Her opinion of Zephyr soured and only grew worse as she was able to get more of an outside view of the corporation.

After helping found [[The Enigma Complex]] out in Eureka, she abandoned her position at Zephyr and took on a similar job with RSX. While she disagrees with some of the company's stances on mutants and ferals, they actually seem interested in doing more than trying to continue being a corporation in a capitalist economy after the literal apocalypse.

= Stereotypes =
[[Zephyr]]: I shouldn't have defended them for as long as I had. Their ethics are completely bankrupt and no amount of aid they give to society can make up for what they take. Who the bloody fucking hell tries to run a profitable company IN THE FUCKIN' APOCALYPSE?! I'm just glad I managed to get out. Shame I didn't wake up before their mismanagement got my entire life screwed up.<br>
[[RSX]]: If they weren't effective, Zephyr wouldn't be keeping an eye on 'em. I'm not sure how long they'll last compared to Zephyr, but maybe that's because half of Zephyr's entire shtick is to convince people they're doing better than they actually are. For all of the hate some people might throw RSX, at least their victory is a hell of a lot nicer looking than Zephyr's. I just wish they did more outreach to the general population besides keeping a lid on the more dangerous ferals out there.<br>
[[Prometheans]]: They're good people doing good work. Honestly, they're some of the best of us. Just...look, sometimes I get the feeling that they've got a wee bit of a death wish. Also, what's up with those hats?! Why a sombrero with bloody lights all over it? I get it stands out, but it looks tacky as all 'ell! They got a good strategy at least. I'm glad someone's looking out for the ferals out there.<br>
[[Ferals]]: That's a pretty bloody broad group, innit? If you're talking about the wild crazy mutants that are more instinct than person...they spook me. I mean, I've met a few people ye might call feral who were a real delight once you learned how to work around their particularities. But when there's nothing but instinct...remembering that there might have been a person under that madness at some point? Really drives up that dread in your soul.<br>
[[Fairhaven]]: You know what's REALLY wild about Fairhaven? How so many people don't realize how fuckin' nice it is compared to how it used to be! It's got a proper government, randomly gettin' jumped on the streets is WAY less common than it used to be, a fully laid out array've first responders, the works. It's a real bloody city. I don't regret movin' out, mind, but it's honestly one of the safest places to live these days.<br>
[[Clairmont]]: I've heard lot've people talk that place up. It's impressive, sure, but they're REAL fucking strict out there. I get they're trying to make a relatively normal city compared to somewhere like Fairhaven, but they're almost actively trying to ignore that things AREN'T normal anymore. Sittin' up on those high horses deridin' people walking around naked and fucking in the streets all the while many of them are still salivatin' at the thought. Not to mention how simplistic their view of ferals are. Half worried it'll turn into a West Coast New York some days.<br>
[[Eureka]]: It's not perfect by any means, but it's home! It's got a very strong culture of not fucking with others if they don't fuck with ye first. Even among the ferals. Much more of a territorial kind of bent to their behavior. But there's an amazin' foodie culture, a dedicated citizenry ready to help their neighbors, a common respect of workin' together to take out

==Quick References==
{{NotableCharacterInfo
|EmploymentRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Career/EmploymentRows|Business=Zephyr|Position=IT Specialist|Dates=2007-2022}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Career/EmploymentRows|Business=Zephyr|Position=Field Technician|Dates=2022-2024}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Career/EmploymentRows|Business=RSX|Position=Field Technician|Dates=2025-}}
|MembershipRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Career/MembershipRows|Faction=The Enigma Complex|Type=Organizer|JoinedDate=2023}}
|RelationshipRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/RelationshipRows|Name=Junes|Type=Best (fuck) Friend|Quip="Ye know, I once beat him at a game of chess. Then he asked me for another round, shoved a vibrator up his pussy, and suddenly he turned into a bloody chess wizard."}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/RelationshipRows|Name=Hannah|Type=Best (fuck) Spider Friend|Quip="I know, I know...she's the reason I'm not a human anymore. Er...or a man. But I mean...look, she's a lot of fun and watching her lose her mind over playing Mario Kart is bloody adorable."}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/RelationshipRows|Name=Kaguya|Type=Buddy|Quip="Bit've an odd sort of agent, but he's one of RSX's best! He's...also one've the most horny shites I know. He's lucky that he's so damn nice or it'd get old soooo fast. I'm not saying I'm not that horny too, but you know. Some people just HAVE to advertise it. Which...he does. Okay, at least he's not an arse."}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/RelationshipRows|Name=Greyson|Type=Old Friend|Quip="I couldn't believe to see him alive let alone sane. He's the only person I cared for before P-Day that I've met since shite hit the fan and...I'm just happy he's okay. Gives me hope the folk back home made it too."}}
|DedicationRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/DedicationRows|Name=Nanite Adept|Notes=Partially installed by Zephyr. Full installation finished by RSX.}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/DedicationRows|Name=RSX Operative|Notes=Electrical Engineer and Technician.}}
|PossessionRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/PossessionRows
|Name= Bytes
|Type= Chainsaw
|Description= This large, reinforced, nasty looking piece of machinery was clearly modified by hand and likely can do some serious damage. In the hands of Syntax, however, it's just a simple chainsaw that somehow doesn't help her from looking mostly harmless.
|DateAcquired=2022}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/PossessionRows
|Name= Bits|Type= Chainsword
|Description=The modified version of the original chainsword, giving it a shocking aftereffect at the expense of a slower recharge time and a lot of added weight. A crude and unwieldy sword, boasting a blade made of abelt of chains with a leather-wrapped hilt. Neighboring the hilt and originating from the power source in the crossguard is a hand crank, which causes the weapon to roar with electricity and revolve its chain belt.
|DateAcquired=2022}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/PossessionRows
|Name= Captcha|Type= Robot
|Description=This compact car sized robotic scorpion is heavily armored and, despite its size and weight, capable of brief periods of rapid movement to keep threats more occupied with it than everything else. It has numerous devices built into it to control the battlefield and numerous attachment points for other smaller robots and drones to ride on during transport. While it is not the most capable at offense, it doesn't need to be when its design is entirely centered on one thing: keeping you from hitting the things that are.
|DateAcquired=2023}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/PossessionRows
|Name= Botnet|Type= Drone Swarm
|Description=Botnet is not a singular drone but rather a swarm of small drones that have been designed to look like bees. The swarm has an array of useful attachments that can help mend flesh, ease pain, and conduct minor mechanical repairs on inorganic devices. The drones themselves are extremely efficient and are capable of recharging with such low voltage that someone with electric nanomagic alone could jumpstart their batteries.
|DateAcquired=2022}}
|Nanomagic=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Assets/Nanomagic
|BaseNanomagic=[[Electric Nanomagic]]
|AdvancedNanomagic=
*[[Electromagnetic Shielding Nanomagic]]}}
|WikiAccountName = Syntax McBucketface
|CharacterName = Syntax|User:Syntax
}}

Operation FOB - Event Summary

2025-06-04T22:46:08Z

Syntax McBucketface:

=Participants=
* [[User:Caitlin|Caitlin]]
* [[User:Everdeene|Everdeene]]
* [[Greyson]]
* [[User:Janex|Janex]]
* [[User:Rulsk|Rulsk]]
* [[User:Tyo|Tyo]]
* [[Waconet]]
* [[User:Elisabeth|Elisabeth]]
* [[Kaguya]]
* [[User:Rosemint|Rosemint]]
* [[User:Junes|Junes]]
* [[User:Sugarkitten|Sugarkitten]]
* [[User:Xerxia|Xerxia]]

=Judges=
* [[Wolfwood]]
* [[Firecracker]]
* [[User:Narwen|Narwen]]

=Logs=
*[[Operation Fairhaven FOB - Alpha Team - RPLOG | Alpha Team]]
*[[Operation Fairhaven FOB - Beta Team - RPLOG | Beta Team]]
*[[Operation Fairhaven FOB - Charlie Team - RPLOG | Charlie Team]]

=Background=
The overall goal of the mission was simple. Fairhaven's scouting teams had reached the absolute edge of how far from Fairhaven they could explore. Scouts were officially reaching outside of the bubble and the time they could spend out there without refuge was not sustainable. While RSX and Zephyr both offered their services, they could not strike a deal that satisfied City Hall. The resulting forward operating base would ultimately not belong to the city in both cases which would further exasperate the city's already over reliance on the two companies.

Fed up, City Hall contacted [[Wolfwood]], a local mercenary and businesswoman who was known to make frequent trips out of the city. Most importantly, she had no affiliation to the two companies. While her rate was somewhat higher than the two companies, she would claim no ownership over the structure and leave all ownership in the city's hands.

Deal in hand, time was spent scouting out a location for the structure to be built and, to the far south east, she found an ideal location. Many years prior, one of California's power system's administrative buildings, long since abandoned after P-Day, was claimed by two aspiring DJ's. According to rumors, they had a miniserver installed with regulation nanomagic and had refactored the nearby power relay station to accept mako batteries. Unfortunately for them, that made them a target and a gang of hyena bikers attacked the site. After a short but brutal fight, the building partially collapsed, killing the DJ's and burying the server.

The server appeared to deactivate and the hyenas lacked the equipment to dig it out without the assistance of nanites. So they left. Unknown to them, the server was actually just damaged and rebooting. Once it reactivated, it was operating at a severely reduced capacity. Due to the damage creating a glitch, all of the nanites it was capable of controlling moved to construct golems from the nearby rubble and began the operation of gathering salvage to conduct repairs. Without anything to actually conduct the repairs, however, the golems never stopped their slow salvaging operation and defense of the site. Massive piles of junk, salvage, and even body parts were gathered there. It became a nightmare for anyone foolish enough to approach.

If it could be secured, however, they would have access to both a local site to plug in a mako battery and a miniserver that simply needed repairs. That would bring the total cost of the entire operation way down and make just about everyone happy. The problem?

The golems. They needed to be disassembled so the construction team could move in and claim the site. Wolfwood needed a team.

=The Event=
Alpha team was tasked with reclaiming the ruins of the site's ruined admin building. Deciding caution was advisable, the team took on ambush positions and drew the hidden golems out with an airburst explosive. While the golems were formidable, the team ended up shredding them. They didn't even need to break out regulation nanomagic. With the foot of the ruins accessible, Wolfwood deployed a jammer to keep the miniserver from producing any more golems than it already had.

Beta team was focused on the power relay. While there was only a singular golem, it was an absolute unit and directly tied into the station's power output. While it was initially touch and go, the team deployed a clever use of both nanomagic and specialized devices to weaken the golem enough to bring it toppling down. They soon disabled the power which would be an absolute assurance no more golems would come out even after the jammer's removal.

Charlie team was initially more straight forward. Their only goal was to defend the construction crew and their equipment while the other teams reclaimed the area. However, the hyenas still considered that area their territory and were quick to try and collect dues. Despite things turning into a hostage situation, the equipment overall only took minor damage and none of the civilian crew were seriously injured. While the gang would certainly be a future problem, they were at least both humiliated and dealt with.

Operation Fairhaven FOB - Charlie Team - RPLOG

2025-06-04T22:25:57Z

Syntax McBucketface:

=Participants=
* [[User:Greyson|Greyson]]
* [[User:Junes|Junes]]
* [[User:Narwen|Narwen]]
* [[User:Sugarkitten|Sugarkitten]]
* [[User:Xerxia|Xerxia]]
=Date=
17/5/2025
=Arc Summary=
[[Operation FOB - Event Summary | Operation FOB]]
=Summary=
<div></div><div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) It's early in the morning, and the California sun is still mild, offset by a light breeze. A small crowd is gathering close to the Eastern edge of Fairhaven. Many of them look tough, toting weapons, armour, or heavy tools. A handful of vehicles are pulled up: a couple of minivans, one or two battered cars, a pickup, and some heavier construction equipment: a tractor, a backhoe, and a bulldozer. A rhino and a horse heave a jackhammer into the back of the pickup with a clang; a rat in coveralls standing beside the vehicle ducks down to check on the axel and then yells something at them, shaking her head. There's a sense of tension in the air: most everyone here's aware they might not come back, aside from a few who look too relaxed. Hardly anyone is having sex. One woman -- she looks human, but she's covered to her neck in heavy armour, so it's hard to be sure -- moves through the crowd, checking on each group systematically; most of the relaxed mutants get sent home after a quiet word from her, or, in one case, a knockout punch. Eventually she gets to the work crew by the truck, exchanges a few words with them, then beckons impatiently to your group to join them.</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) "Listen up! We're going to an old power substation, a hundred miles East of here. There's a damaged nanite server in there. You're Charlie team, and your job's to clear the rubble so we can get inside and fix it up, WITHOUT collapsing the whole place. Bad news: it makes golems to attack intruders. Good news: some other poor SOBs are gonna take care of them. When they're done, you go in. Go slow, go safe, do NOT trash my server, got it? You got six engineers to do the real work," she says, gesturing to the crew next to the truck, "and five mercs to do the babysitting and keep them and their gear in one piece. There's no real nanite bubble out there, so nothing's gonna work and nothing's gonna keep you alive if you screw up. So don't screw up. Now get your asses in gear. Bobbie? You're in charge," she says to the rat. "You got the blue van."</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) Bobbie nods -- seems like both she and the rest of the crew were expecting that. "Kate, you got the backhoe. Jo, 'dozer. Wink, tractor. Rest of you in the van with me. You need anything, grab it now." Kate seems to be the heavily built rhino who was hauling gear earlier; Jo is some kind of lizard, maybe a gecko; and Wink is a lemur in a reflective jacket who scrambles up onto the tractor with ease, grabbing the wheel with his hands at the same time as he turns the ignition with his dextrous feet. The rest shuffle into the van with you: Mike, a beaver who's brought along a hockey stick and gnaws on it nervously; Legs, a tall, stacked Clydesdale who takes up most of a row by hirself; and Bobbie herself, who takes the driver's seat. As well as you, there's one other merc: a jumpy-looking coyote named Red, who keeps checking the bolt action on his rifle.</div> <div title="Sugarkitten" style="margin-top:2em">(Sugarkitten) Sugarkitten shuffles along through the groups of people into her assigned team, carrying everything she thought she'd need for this outside the bubble mission. The supplies were light and easilly fit in the van, she stacked the welding rod packs quite neatly into the space in the van, just her own preferred ones but she could make use of other materials in a pinch. She wears a black leather zip front jacket and black leather form hugging pants, and has a single holster on her left hip with Enhanced Laser Pistol on standby. She felt nervous about her first time leaving the bubble and takes a seat in the van pulling on her shades, but sliding them up to rest on her forehead for now, her feline ears twitching as she glances around at the others in her team. "Hi, I'm Sugar." she states in a flat tone, her tails and body language showed her nervousness and trepidation.</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes sits near a van on a cooler making sure their holsters and gear are tight and secured but otherwise seem relaxed or even eager to be out here, the scaled hissune is clearly a chimera featuring scales and patterns from other types of lizards and scalies wearing a black hoodie with purple accents on the arms and some black tights contrasting the white and highlight of color from their nine fluffy tails that sway gingerly. once finished checking things over they got up and waved to the new arrivals and other mercs joining them and returning the introduction "junes, good to have you!" moving a stray hair back to tied ponytail for now as the chimera smiles!</div> <div title="Xerxia" style="margin-top:2em">(Xerxia) Xerxia heaves a dragons breath Dart loaded Shotgun onto the van they are getting in while they make sure they have clipped all their medical kits to their armor making sure they wont come undone or falloff</div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) A wolf-beast, completely naked but for a satchel and a comms unit strapped to his wrist, sits against the back wall of the van, taking inventory of a satchel full of equipment, a compact chainsaw with alloyed teeth set beside a fully-stocked toolbox, old-world manual equipment set beside new-age looking power tools, a bouquet of grenades, one marked with a T, the other an S dangling from a chain on his bag. A closer look at his now mostly-emptied belongings would reveal a carton of hand-rolled cigarettes labelled 'C.Y.T.', which lie atop a small, hard-drive-sized device that reads 'S.U.C.K.', which faintly whirrs along. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>Waving a hand to the arriving crew, the man bows his head, never turning his eyes from his work. "Greyson Robertson, technical and logistics support from the Merc N' Tails, planning to help out Alpha team today, but time's running short before we get this show on the road. Pleasure to be a part of this, whatever the case. If you end up needing any equipment before I run out and get the details sorted on my end, you let me know, yeah?"</div> <div title="Sugarkitten" style="margin-top:2em">(Sugarkitten) Sugarkitten returns the smile Junes gives her, and it has a reassuring effect on her. Sugar's purple hair was tied in a practical bun up top and she was glad to see that Junes was also tying their hair back, which gave the impression she was with somebody sensible. For a while she sits quietly, simply admiring the patterns of scales and variety and counting the tails in her head. Her own two tails were flagged to the side where she sat. Sugar also looks to Xerxia and gives a wave gesture while she braces herself for the vehicle to start moving. Then she remembers Greyson from the recruitment tent, her ears perking up. "I may require some long-range weapon as s just in case, something light enough to sling over my shoulder, since my pistol isn't going to be doing a lot unless I'm up close. Perhaps a sniper rifle?" she requests up front, based on their prior discussions.</div><div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes looked at sugar with a slight familiarity but, shrugged not being able to quite pin it down and returned the smile right back but saw she spoke with someone that looked and smelled like someone they knew and leisurely got up closer to him "glad to see you again! but more importantly being able to help on this end of things." waving over the other canine that was heaving a shotgun into the van along with the coyote mercenary "come meet the team! ill be doing some support and generally working on keeping the enemies tied up or the crew safe, junes!"</div> <div title="Xerxia" style="margin-top:2em">(Xerxia) Xerxia notices the familiar face's and wave's back saying "hey if worse comes to worse i got plenty of medical kits" as they pat the medical kits while also seeming a bit nervous.</div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Greyson rifles through his bag, muttering as he snaps his fingers, "Think I left it with Cait, but given she's gonna be in some hot water if I stick around with you guys, it's... probably just best that I leave it with her, no offense. So long as it's gear you've already /got/ on you though I might be able to tinker with it..." He calls up to the front, "Bobbie, you got a bench back this way I could borrow! Not sure how bumpy the ride's gonna be, but I figure I could get some work done while we're movin'!" <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>Bowing his head to Junes, he murmurs, "And in more- placid circumstances, thankfully. Fingers crossed it stays that way, knowing how work can get out here sometimes..." The lupine grumbles, sorting a few different sizes and types of screwdrivers. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>Finally, canting his head to Xerxia he muses, "Just- keep your head on your shoulders and make sure we get home in one piece, yeah? Rather not be staring at Cait out of the confines of a soup can." He snickers, glancing to his comms unit as he whistles, "Looks like I might be staying for the ride on this one... get comfy, yeah? Gonna be a few hours."</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) "Hop in," calls the rat. "We're leaving either way. Butts in seats time."</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) The convoy begins rolling, one at a time. Alpha and Beta take the front, and someone lets out a whoop as they accelerate. The heavy machines are next, and your van brings up the rear. The diesel engine judders to life, sputtering and grumbling at the load, and Bobbie pulls out onto the highway. The assembly area behind you is empty now, just a few logistics people packing it up. As it disappears out of view, those peering back behind the van might see a skunk beast wearing a hard hat tromp up, panting, and gesturing about -- and then the van accelerates and he's left behind.</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) "Anyone else thinking we'd make a pretty good target for an ambush?" the coyote asks, breaking the silence.</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) "Can it, Red," Bobbie replies, without turning around. She seems to know him. "Rest of you, you wanna tell me who you are and how you're gonna keep my guys alive?"</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) "I know how they can keep me alive," mutters the horse, stretching out a leg and adjusting hir kilt.</div> <div title="Sugarkitten" style="margin-top:2em">(Sugarkitten) Sugarkitten did indeed seem familiar to Junes, notable similarities to Gaiakitten were the purple colouration of hair, the shimmering tips, her tails and the horns were distinctively nekomata.. but the differences were that Sugar had no fur and instead white hydrophobic latex-like skin underneath her clothing and had a human-like face of Kemonomimi, and she wasn't pregnant.. Seeing Xerxia's nervousness she reaches out to give a pet on the knee of the armour. "We're all in this together. Honestly its great to have a medic on-board, although I hope it doesn't come to that." she states glancing around and nodding to the others. She listens to Greyson and then unpops the button on her holster, sliding her left hand around the grip of her Laser Pistol and pulls it out. "Sure, it would be nice to modify it, just don't mess with the settings called WLD, and CUT I've been working on them the last few days" she explains, and things the heavy guns probably were better suited for another merc with that talent. </div> <div title="Sugarkitten" style="margin-top:2em">(Sugarkitten) Sugarkitten hands the Pistol to Greyson</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes looks to the rat and assured her "ill be confusing and generally making the opposition have a worse time while keeping all of us up and taking potshots or threatening them with some special tricks i have, i can show one if you'd like but its...kinda strange and terrifying once you realize why" *they grin but those tails seem to swish for emphasis and then popping open the cooler they show some refreshments* "anyway, i also cooked a few things up and brought others so we can keep our reserves up a bit better!" packed with sandwiches, ice cream bars, juice, cans of soda, granola bars, colored juices in water bottles, a few containers that look like pasta salad, coleslaw and a few soda cans of soup along with more "the foods i made myself and a few of the drinks and ive got tunes for the road before we gotta get serious!" they said handing a box of strawberry frosted biscuits to the shotgun wielding canine being pet by sugar and handed a bottle to greyson </div> <div title="Xerxia" style="margin-top:2em">(Xerxia) Xerxia state's to the driver "me im great at providing first aid and with my armor it allows me to go near the dangerous conditions so im your local paramedic aka walking armored ambulance just never been out this far before truth is this would be my first time out of the safety of the zone"</div><div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Waggling the 'S.U.C.K.' at Legs, Greyson deadpans, before pivoting to address Bobbie's question, "Like I said- Greyson Robertson, Merc N' Tails. Not much of a fighter, but I'm here as technical support for our engineering team anyhow. Got a decent head for strategy and structure though, so I can at least tell the everyone else some of the softer spots to smack while I'm getting busy. So long as you don't plan on using me as a meatshield I'm happy to be here, yeah? Got a few smoke grenades if things get hairier than normal and we need to dip out, but if we're the /last/ to get here I figure we'll manage just fine without..." His eyes scan across the rest of the rat's rag-tag bunch, smirking as he muses, "Think we'll manage though, yeah? Only repairing something that could turn us into a second Vegas if we put a few zeroes where they shouldn't be." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>Taking the pistol gingerly, he works a screw along the barrel, worming out the old aperture and slipping in a fresh one from a collection of salvage strewn about his makeshift workspace, cleaning the lens with a small alcohol wipe as he squints, "Well... not half bad, but I figure this oughta help it punch a little harder. Keep this thing handy, yeah?" <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>Setting the bottle from Junes down across from himself, careful to avoid the more delicate electronics nearby, the wolf bows his head in silent thanks, ears perked at the mention of music, "Ah? Don't got any Bee Gees rattling around in there, do you? Not that I figure everyone else'd be on-board with it." He snorts. Eyeing Xerxia, he bows his head, "Word of advice then if it's your first time- just keep anything nanite-related for emergencies only. Limited supply of em out here at-best, and even then they're not gonna be all that useful. Got a med-kit with a few bruise kits and bandages if you've got a need for em, know just enough to make myself useful, but in a pinch? I trust you with em more than myself." </div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) It doesn't take more than a couple of minutes before you leave Fairhaven's bubble, and you feel it right away. Things that were effortless before suddenly seem like hard work. Even just sitting there is uncomfortable: you get aches and cramps from time to time, and the nanites don't smooth them away like you're used to. They also don't clean up sweat, grime, and fluids, and before long the van is starting to stink of horse. By silent agreement, the windows get cracked open one by one.</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) Abruptly, Bobbie pumps the breaks, jolting you forward. "What the hell?" she mutters, shading her eyes and slowing the van further until it comes to a stop, pulled up alongside the three heavy vehicles. The rest of the convoy is rolling on ahead, already half-hidden in a cloud of dust. Red snaps a round into the chamber and pokes his rifle out the window, eyes frantic. Bobbie winds her window all the way down and sticks her head out. "What's the hold-up?" she calls.</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) "Engine's dead!" calls the gecko, who has already hopped down off the bulldozer and is pulling at the engine cover. A belch of black smoke spills out, and they pull their hand back.</div> <div title="Sugarkitten" style="margin-top:2em">(Sugarkitten) Sugarkitten keeps her ears perked up and alert as she feels the van accelerate away and they all depart. She seems to be on high-alert already, her eyes and ears weren't always pointing in the same directions and she concentrated on the interactions going on inside the van while listening out for anything strange outside. She kept bracing for the moment they would physically leave the bubble and wondering how it would begin to affect her. On the other hand snacks were good, and would help to keep up the energy. "Mmm.. strawberry! I'm called Sugar and.. I totally love sugar!" she says and lightens up a little and digs into the box of strawberry biscuits perhaps it was her nerves but she seemed to enjoy them. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
To the driver who asked how she'll be an asset she explains. "I'm more of a critical thinker, I'll be using my brain to solve any issues we may run into if things get difficult. I have limited damaging capacity, but there are tools I can use to my advantage. I'm also bringing some equipment to cut and weld metals if the engineers fuck something up, but we're all hoping that isn't the case.. and thankfully I can heal quickly, and I respond well to medication" she adds, in between bites. Those bites become more rapid as she feels things get more difficult, taking the pistol back from Greyson she nods with gratitude, then asks "Whats the fucking deal!" her tails not whipping with frustration.</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes offers as well "but yeah i can heat any of this food up in a pinch too" hearing the sound they check back and raise a few tails with the sound of a sputtering engine however hearing it was just that they calmed but tried to keep an ear out. the sound of an engine, snacking and the cloying scent of horse made it pretty difficult however and decided to focus on the inside of the inside of the van to avoid any fumes "okay...tech is one department that im not great in, plants animals sneaking and out of bubble excursions however? are right up my alley...so i would suggest we stay calm, figure out who works on it and do some stretches since nanites will not be making this any easier on us so limbering up is going to be important while running around" with that they stretch in their seat and lift those legs away from the others</div> <div title="Xerxia" style="margin-top:2em">(Xerxia) Xerxia state's "well i can say for one thing the rest of the convoy is speeding off but so far i see nothing wanting to harm us besides getting hungry and thirsty" now wonders if they can spot a cool rock and or birds.</div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Hearing the commotion, Greyson squints, the wolf's eyes peeled along the roadside for a moment before he resolves to collect his toolbox. Trundling towards the vehicle's front, a hand wafts smoke from his face, peering at the damaged innards beneath the hood as he grumbles, "This is why we oughta do stress-tests before-hand..." Flashlight in-hand, the nudist bends forwards, tail flagging over his backside to provide at least some modesty before he mutters, "Jesus Christ..." Looking up, he waves Kate and Bobbie over, calling out, "Gonna be a few hours, need some heavy lifting and a good spot by the roadside for us to peel this poor bastard apart, pack some snacks and keep an eye out, still a long ways out from the FOB! See if we can't get somebody on the line from the other teams to lend us a transport if things go well up there!" He turns, opting to mingle now amidst the group of engineers, sorting salvage and the equipment necessary to produce the impromptu repair bay they'll need for the forseeable future.</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) Stepping on the hot, hard asphalt barepaw is painful. The dirt by the wayside is better, but still studded with gravel. It _hurts_ here, in a way that it wouldn't seem to back in Fairhaven.</div><div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) Greyson and the engineers crowd around the broken-down machine and take turns poking at it. Wink seems to get pushed to the front, and he nods glumly at Greyson's diagnosis. "Sorry," he murmurs, stroking a long-fingered hand along the side of the machine. "Gonna take me hours to work my magic."</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) "No, we haven't got time for that, and we're gonna need you later," Bobbie replies. "Jo, you stay here, get it patched up best you can. We'll tow you home on the way back if we need. Red, you stay and keep an eye on them. Jo, you keep an eye on Red," she adds, quieter.</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) The coyote is already scanning the horizon, swinging the rifle wildly this way and that. "I heard that! Don't think I didn't hear that."</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) The rat ducks under the gun and plants a kiss on one of Red's ears. "I know. You be safe. Head home on foot if we're not back by nightfall. All right, rest of you, saddle up. We're already behind."</div> <div title="Sugarkitten" style="margin-top:2em">(Sugarkitten) Sugarkitten is already hating the way she's starting to feel although it probably was just those first-time adjustments, she whispers to herself "I'll adapt, I'll survive, coming back alive.." a few times to ground herself. The scents and cramped conditions of the van actually were bothering her so she nods to Junes "Yeah actually I think I'm gonna get out and take a stretch" she says and makes her way out of the van to get some fresh air and look around at the view from outside of the Fairhaven bubble. It wasn't something she wanted to admit but there was a strange tightness in her chest, like she was learning how to breathe for the first time. While avoiding the smoke from the engine she just paces around the outside taking deep breaths of the fresh air and stretching out her muscles as Junes had suggested. She steers clear of Greyson and the engineers however, opting to let them work things out. Instead she examines the modifications made to her Laser Pistol and familiarizes herself with the new configuration although she doesn't stray far from the van, staying within a couple of meters. While outside she does observe the general condition of the wheels and other superficial things about the vehicle idly.</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes after some more stretching and seeing the feline troubled and leaving decided to pat the other merc "hey, i never caught your name but wanna join us outside? i sort of forgot to say but" walking outside and coming up to the stretching feline they offer her and the other mutants "hey there you alright?" as their tail pops into sugar's vision then the rest of the chimera "it takes some getting used to, the lack of healing, aches from muscles straining on their own without nanite assisted strength and of course that feeling of energy or even to some, safety no longer being there bathed in nanites but we have eachother alright?"</div> <div title="Xerxia" style="margin-top:2em">(Xerxia) Xerxia notes down a striped rock? on the side of the road as they whisper "a new rock for the collection"</div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Gingerly treading along the hot asphalt, the lupine winces, though a strange contentment seems to wash over his features, realizing the /reason/ behind the pain itself, mumbling a curse to his own nanites under his breath. Setting his tools down along his 'spot' in the van, Greyson wipes his brow, glancing up towards Bobbie with a mutter, "You... sure that guy's gonna make it out there? With that trigger finger I'd put mako on the yote putting a few /more/ holes in the engine- or an engineer, at this rate." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>Eyes flitting to the side at Junes' sentiment, the wolf snorts, "Well- all things considered, sure beats feeling like you're in stasis all the time... actually feel /alive/ out here. I'd argue it was peaceful- if... we could get some AC going in here regularly. If you've got any memories from before P-day, try to keep away from anything that'd put you in a hospital... we might have /some/ support, but I'd still recommend not catching a few stray bullets or getting under anything /real/ heavy and /real/ unstable." The rock is addressed with a stoic nod, a slight grin across the man's muzzle as it's swiftly stowed.</div> <div title="Sugarkitten" style="margin-top:2em">(Sugarkitten) Sugarkitten lets out a sigh and regroups with herself and with Junes, Xerxia and Greyson. Her eyes are attracted to the rock "Beautiful striations.." she statees and looks up and smiles through the discomfort "Yeah we have each other, lets all get back to paradise in one piece" she says firmly and her tails split in two opposite directions, one wrapping Junes' waist and the other wrapping Xerxia's waist and giving them both a light squeeze before releasing again.</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) The rat buckles in, then turns around in her seat towards the wolf. "He'll be fine. He spent a few years out here. He's twitchy, but there's nobody I'd trust more." Then, one ear flicks and she lowers her voice further, so it's barely audible. "An' he'll be safer here than where we're going, I'll bet creds to coffee." Then she clears hear throat and turns back to the wheel, leaning on it to blare the horn. "Come on, daylight's burning!"</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes was surprised feeling the tail but decided to hug the feline for emphasis and agreed with greyson "exactly! feeling our muscles working truly on their own, the feeling of the nanites prescence being gone and...the strange feeling of the unknown out on the horizon seeing just how much else has changed while we've been away" they seem content and look to the two they were near and noticed what caught their eye "nice!" with that they lead the others back to the van and reach a hand outside the window to pat the side, a classic signal to get a move on "i think we're ready!"</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) The convoy rolls on for a couple of hours before coming to a stop. You can see the other teams' vehicles a few blocks away. They're already getting busy, and you hear the occasional crash or sharp crack. Over here, you're not in the faded bubble of the busted server, but the nanite-sensitive can sense the faintest tingle of its influence reaching out here. It can't spread this far, but it wants to.</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) At some point it did, judging by the tattered state of the buildings -- or maybe that's just a couple of decades of neglect. This used to be a town; there's an apartment block next to you, and what looks like a post office and a goods store across the way, both long since looted. A crumbling parking garage looms over them.</div><div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) "All right, stay sharp," calls Bobbie, ears up. "Stay _out_ of the bubble until we get the all-clear." The rest of her team starts stretching sore muscles and collecting their gear. She turns back to you. "It's your show from here until we're needed."</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes mentions aloud while assisting greyson with getting everything out of the van and into neat piles "okay, greyson you seem like the perfect one to keep an eye and give us long range support, i can sneak very well and perhaps if needed clear a path or spot with you to get everyone else into the building but ideally we should find a way inside that is unseen or obscured to be sure the engineers have a straight shot alongside us. so i suppose the better question is, would you all prefer a slower stealthy approach when we're ready to head inside or a quicker quieter one that relies more on speed so we can make it in before anyone is the wiser?"</div> <div title="Sugarkitten" style="margin-top:2em">(Sugarkitten) Sugarkitten heads out of the van ready, she has her Laser Pistol with her with the safety engaged, she has her shades down. She had a few hours to get used to being outside the bubble. The most notable thing was that the arcs of electricity that danced between her horns had stopped glimmering, her hair had stopped shimmering and her tongue was kept in tightly within her mouth it didn't feel as stretchy. She gives a glance over the organized piles and her ears perk, her OCD felt satisfied. Grabbing one of the packs of TIG welding rods, she stuffs a couple dozen into her pocket, and looks around the area. "Stealthy." she states quietly in reply to Junes, keeping her voice and presence low and tails glow had also faded.</div> <div title="Xerxia" style="margin-top:2em">(Xerxia) Xerxia Proceeds to pick out a nice looking piece of rebar from some nearby rubble and starts just poking the ground in any attempt to ensure safe ground standings</div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Taking the brief lull to review the equipment within the van, Greyson's digits flit and flick over the myriad triggers and handles present, adjusting whatever may be crammed or pinned within the back of the vehicle, unrestraining loose pieces of equipment that'd been snugly attached to their former lodgings, setting weapons and tools out in easily reachable spots, ready to go at a moment's notice. The fighting may've been far in the distance for now, but between the delicate condition of the surrounding buildings and the potential for violence further inside, the wolf seemed intent on not taking chances. Glancing towards the driver's seat, he calls, "How's it looking up there, chief? We got a gameplan once we're inside, assuming there's anything left? This place looks like it's been run down since P-day... not sure how sturdy all this is gonna be to work with if things go pear-shaped." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>At Junes' musings, the wolf nods, though he pauses, shrinking briefly in on himself, "Rather we don't get started on moving /too/ early... patience first. If it turns out we'd like to get involved, stealth nor speed are my strong-suit... just go slowly, clear things out from the outside /first/, and get help where we can... we're not racing against any clock, as far as I know. The bubble server's fragile, /real/ fragile if the place around here's anything to go by," He nods towards the surrounding shopping centre and apartment complex, "we don't want to touch any more than we have to just to poke around. Whatever happens, get ready to retreat and draw any threats /outside/ rather than trying to work around them being in the picture." </div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) The sounds of combat from down the street grow louder. You hear a crump-whistle, followed by a flash. You feel and hear the sudden boom of an explosion at the same time, shaking the ground. Glass tinkles in the buildings all around. The echoes of the boom die away, but the shaking doesn't; it's almost like being in an earthquake. A deep groaning sound, as of metal twisting, comes from the parking garage, and you can feel immense movement through your feet. The building seems to loom over you, and at first it looks like a trick of perspective -- but no, the building really is leaning, or at least one of its walls is. Faster than seems possible, a wave of rubble is coming towards the group -- including the vehicles.</div> <div title="Sugarkitten" style="margin-top:2em">(Sugarkitten) Sugarkitten blinks a few times, her eyes glance around at the surroundings and she brings her hand to shield the sensitive optics of her pistol as she takes a moment to holster it away not wanting it to get covered in dust and malfunction. Where she'd just hopped out of the truck and admired the neatness of the equipment found herself instinctively scooping up handfuls and piles of gear in each arm. Along with her ambidextrous prehensile tails reacting and each of them also grab onto as much equipment as they could each carry although she didn't have time to prioritise it was more of a sudden involuntary movement preceding her leaping directly back inside the truck where she just came out. Although all that's seen is a vaguely Sugar shaped blur and a strained mewl of surprise could be heard. She stares up at the ceiling hoping it wouldn't crumple in on her where she took shelter in the van and waited for the sounds to stop and the ground to stop shakin.</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes was crouching low and slinking to really show how they get around but, the shadow below was almost unnoticed as they manage to barely dodge and quickly looking to the others quickly noticed the danger and leapt at bobbie with those tails wrapping behind them to soften the roll and landing avoiding the rock that nearly hit her!</div> <div title="Xerxia" style="margin-top:2em">(Xerxia) Xerxia Knows they are not going to get out of the way in time so they heroicly hold their hands up to stop some rubble from falling on the backhoe and with a surge of hysteria they manage to save the backhoe from its demise while taking some hits on their armor.</div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Snapping himself out of a daze, the wolf-beast scuttles behind the van, dragging a bundle of nearby equipment with him as he races behind the van. With the blur of noise and rubble, the wolf-beast tosses the gear behind himself, waving wildly towards the remaining engineers, directing them to stand beside him and hold tight to the sides of the van, the lupine's face strained with effort as his eyes practically boggled from his skull, letting the building and rubble crash around him as he attempts to tune out the chaos around himself.</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) The rubble comes crashing down as the building collapses -- but thanks to Charlie Team's swift reactions, nearly everyone and everything is unscathed. There is an anxious moment when Kate, unpacking her toolkit with her back to the building, is taken unawares and disappears under a pile of broken concrete -- but then, with a roar, she hulks her way out, standing there panting and wiping dust from her snout. She snorts, tosses her horn, and gives the building a Look. "And stay down," she snarls, stabbing a stubby finger at it. The only victim is the tractor, knocked over by a jagged block of concrete.</div><div title="Sugarkitten" style="margin-top:2em">(Sugarkitten) Sugarkitten pulls up her shades and was thankful they'd protected her from the glass, dust and debris that had flown around. Scrambling around the van she checks the food and the cooler making sure the supplies were safely secured realising if things went real bad they could be stuck out here surviving for days or more. She shudders at the thought. Then she glances outside thinking about the other team members, her heart wrenched and she couldn't bear the thought of something bad happening to any of them. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
Biding her time she stays inside the van quietly, and stealthily setting the equipment she'd brought in with her into neat stacks again making a mental note of the gear she'd recovered and what had been lost in preparation to report to Greyson and the others. If they'd survived, and also mentally prepared herself to continue the mission if she had to. Grabbing the mic from the comm unit she hits transmit "This is Charlie team, do you receive? There's been a structural collapse, I'm currently alone in the van.. I'm not sure what's going on outside. Please advise." she calls out a few times, repeating the message a few times. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
She checks outside the vehicle for a while trying to assess the situation, to give more details. She adds to the message "..I don't think we're alone, possible enemy presence, please advise urgently, this is Charlie Team! Backup needed!" she whispers into the comm unit clutching the mic hard and waits the others to regroup, and braces herself for action readying her Laser Pistol in her left hand again, holdin onto the mic with hir right hand.</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes noticing the odd large shape junes decided to tell the others near them quietly "yep something is in there so try to keep your cool we might be able to avoid or spring up on it or draw it away but lets decude, greyson could you get a better look from a scope? depending on our vans equipment we may be able to sneak it in...or even disguise this thing as a golem and drive right inside if theyre distracted enough and we sell it but thats a risky move...maybe just getting a better idea on the situation and getting some prep in based on what we're working with!"</div> <div title="Xerxia" style="margin-top:2em">(Xerxia) Xerxia sniffs the air sensing the smell of rotten meat they try to steel their nerves grimacing at the smell of a possible dead body.</div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Panting amidst the settling dust cloud of debris, Greyson wheezes, a dustcloud spiraling from his muzzle as he sneezes, his pounding heartbeat forcing blood across every part of his frame, including a now steadily pulsing replacement stick-shift between his thighs. Luckily, the aforementioned S.U.C.K. device in the wolf's bag seems to keep him lucid for the time being, the more lucid of his two heads peering into that smoke cloud before waving those beside him down, a low hiss to his voice as he whispers, "/Get down... something's up out there and I think we just dropped a building on the damn thing.../" <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>The rattling of his comms device causes the lupine to grumble, whispering into its microphone, "/Greyson here, can confirm three with me, Mike, Legs, Wink, anyone else is out and about... fingers crossed they're alright. Just sit tight... don't make any sudden movements... not sure this rig's in any condition to drive and I've got |no| idea what the hell that thing is out there./" <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>Another sigh tumbles from the canid's snout, "/I don't know about you, but this isn't the time for arts and crafts... I'll... have to see what state the road's in- and the van itself. Whatever's in there, we oughta wait for the dust to settle or for it to /move/... I don't wanna get close to it before I know what 'it' is..."</div> <div title="Sugarkitten" style="margin-top:2em">(Sugarkitten) Sugarkitten stares at the radio unit and her ears twitch several times, believing she heard a voice in the static though it was just her imagination. Then she hears Greyson and she lets out a breath she hadn't realize she'd been holding the whole time.. "..Greyson.. its Sugar, I managed to haul most the stuff into the van, it seems intact from here but I got a vague idea theres something we won't want to take head on that's in the way of the mission. I'm glad you got the others safe." she says and then turns to the back of the van as the wind blows and spooks her, now paranoid as hell. "Is there anything in the truck I can bring out to you..?" she suggests, perhaps making use of her position inside. Although she started to feel too much like a sitting duck after a while. "My pistol is ready to melt anything if it comes to it, I've kept the dust off it." she added speaking to Greyson through the comms, quietly.</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes used their tails as a cover across their face and body to block the debris and a tiny sniffle and cough breathing some in. looking at bobbie and helping her up with arms and tails lifting and then retracting from the woman "sorry about that, adrenaline and all that from falling rocks." glancing to the others and asking slightly quieter "is everyone else okay?" they say and were surprised to see most were intact but double checked to see how everyone was faring, seeing a vehicle over but the rest seemingly fine if dinged from smaller rocks</div> <div title="Xerxia" style="margin-top:2em">(Xerxia) Xerxia Senses that the smell comes from a dead skunk but they also go alert with the waft of some predator's smell they whisper to whoever is nearby "careful...predator's are nearby don't know what though" </div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Whispering into the comms unit, the wolf murmurs, "/We're on the other side of the van... just- see if you can pry it open just enough for me and the others to slip inside, not sure how dented that thing's gotta be or if it's gonna be jammed, but it'll have to do. Somebody else is out here on the road with us and there's no telling just who or what it /is/... Gonna be a while til this cloud settles, and the safest place is gonna be inside." Greyson rolls his shoulders, deciding for now that there's safety in numbers, standing firm in his position beside Mike, Legs, and Wink. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>Scanning the scene briefly, he flicks his gaze towards a patch of rubble stood on-end, nudging the closest of the engineers beside him and hissing, "/Hey, if any've you are a good shot, got some cover right there... need a team of two, one forward-facing, one on the back... I'm gonna try to see if the van's in decent shape and pick through whatever the hell we can make use of if Sugar can get that door open, if you've got any preferences, now's a good time to ask.../"</div><div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) You hear the crunch of gravel coming from behind you. Someone's there! You whip around to look, and see three dog-like creatures riding fat-tired mountain bikes. They skid to a stop dramatically, spraying dirt and chips of stone, then slapping a paw down on the ground one after another. They're each wearing black leather jackets with studs or spikes, ripped black jeans, and shades with neon pink or green rims. Their fur rises in a mohawk-like mane, dyed bright colours. Hyenas! You hear more movement -- a clacking sound, from a bike with something shoved in the support to slap against the spokes as they go around -- and two more ride into view, back behind you. Then two more, to the side. You're surrounded!

"Hey you!" one of them snarls. "You're on our turf!"

"Yeah! So you owe us a toll. And tax."

"And a new larder!" the third one adds, pointing to the collapsed parking garage.

"And dinner," says the first one, licking his jaws pointedly. After a second, they break out into cackling laughter at that.</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) The team had some warning that danger was coming, and most of the engineers were able to duck into at least partial cover in time. Still, with hyenas on all sides, it's hard to be fully safe.</div> <div title="Sugarkitten" style="margin-top:2em">(Sugarkitten) Sugarkitten replies to Greyson "Acknowledged." and then there is some tapping sounds in the van, then she pulls down her shades. "..Greyson, you and everyone should close your eyes" she says before setting her Laser Pistol to CUT on the lowest setting that would make the most sense and starts to burn a hole in the side of the van Greyson and the others were gathered. There wouldn't be much noise or sparks as it was a laser cutting the metal, not some industrial machine but it was still dangerous for a stray beam to hit one of their eyes by accident. She keeps going until enough was cut away to let her just grab the rest with her claws and bend it over and created an access hatch for the team to enter the van from their side. She reaches her paw out to help the crew into the van one-by-one and was happy to see them safely aboard once again. "Alright, regrouped, lets get tactical." she says, fiddling with her gun some more and putting the safety back on.</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes hears the commotion and as the group approached they slink and crawl on the ground using tails to move like an insect scuttling between cover and plantlife slowly working their way to flank the hyenas, glancing at them to see if they were able to notice the scaled sleuth</div> <div title="Xerxia" style="margin-top:2em">(Xerxia) Xerxia glares at the hyenas with frenzied war torn eyes and starts walking towards them still clad in their armor until they reach the face of one hyena and makes sure that they can see the cold viscous eyes and says "how would you like to taste your own teeth while I STRANGLE YOUR MATES WITH YOUR OWN INTESTINES!" never looking away from the hyena they are talking to. </div> <div title="Xerxia" style="margin-top:2em">(Xerxia) Xerxia while also reaching for a "gun/knife"</div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Rolling his shoulders and taking a deep, calming breath, Greyson steps up from his position against the van. Naked, and rather deep in rut, the paradoxically civilized wolf-beast cups a hand to his mouth, shouting, "Got all of that and /then/ some if you end up letting us pass, pals, even more than that if you're willing to pitch in." He jabs a finger in the direction of the distant flashes and cracks, towards the old admin building and the power station beyond. "That right there is a nanite server and a power station waiting to be built, something this place obviously hasn't seen in a /while/. Look around you and you tell me this place hasn't seen better days? The shit we're doing just a few miles down the road is gonna lead to your wounds getting knit up from every scrap you decide to take on that's bigger than you can chew, make damn well sure you won't croak if you don't get another meal, and guarantee you've got /plenty/ more people to ride down and ransom if you feel like it." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>He flicks a finger towards one of their cycles, "If living til you get greys and having more to eat than you've ever had out here doesn't sweeten the pot, when's the last time that thing saw an oil change, a new pair of tires that wasn't torn off some old half-chewed scrapheap?" He thunks the side of the rubble-strewn van, grunting, "This right here's been refit from the ground-up, nanite-hardened by some of the best mechanics this side of the Mississippi, selling shit to Zephyr, RSX, and over /half/ of the independent population of Fairhaven. We've got a team of gunsmiths, armorers, technicians, medics, you /name/ it, coming up with us to get things running for the next few /months/ once this thing's off the ground, and I /doubt/ that's gonna stop any time soon. If you wanna keep chowing on half-rotten carcasses in a buncha beat-up ruins, riding wheels on the verge of collapse, and with some guns just as likely to blast you as any of your company, be my /guest/. What I'm offering you is the chance at seeing this place turned into a fuckin' playground compared to the one or two groups of stragglers you get a year, /and/ some shiny new toys to run it with to boot." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>The man digs into his pack, whipping out the compact chainsaw from his bag, a barbed, cruel-looking set of blades unfurling from their lodgings as it's extended to its full length, "And if you want /proof/?" He pulls the cord, sparking the brutal-looking device to life, the wolf shouting over it to be heard, "You're MORE than welcome to take THIS as a taste of what else we got on offer!"</div><div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) The group of three hyenas look cocky as Xerxia stomps up alone, but two of them quail and break away when she yells at them, and the third backs up, tail between its legs. The other groups, though, pull out their weapons -- a couple with assault rifles, a couple with pistols -- and bring them to bear on the group in general, and on Xerxia in particular.

"Give 'em a warning shot, Eddie!" one calls, and there's a sharp, echoing crack and dust kicks up by Xerxia's paws. Who fired that? There must be someone else around that you can't see.

"You missed!" the hyena next to the who called for the shot yells, and then the two of them break into cackles for a few seconds. "But now warn 'em for real..."

Fortunately, it's at about that point that Greyson begins his spiel, and if nothing else they seem captivated by it. By the end, some of them are tilting their heads and looking thoughtful.

Meanwhile, however, the sound of gravel crunching has returned, and down the street comes one more figure on a bike -- or, rather a trike. Pedalling furiously on a kid's tricycle with a black pennant flapping from the rear is a very short, very angry-looking fennec fox in a tattered leather coat. "Hey, chucklefucks! You don't talk to them, you rough them up!" One of the hyenas starts to step forward and she snarls at it. "No, chucklefuck, not now, it's too late! And you!" She hops off the trike, shoves it over, and strides towards Greyson. "That's OUR power station and OUR ninety server. If you wanna use it, you're gonna have to pay us RENT! And... service charges! And that guy!" she adds, pointing at Wink, who immediately ducks back behind a chunk of concrete.</div> <div title="Sugarkitten" style="margin-top:2em">(Sugarkitten) Sugarkitten poking her head out the hatch she made and using it for cover glaring at the hyena's facing her with her Laser Pistol drawn, she slowly flicks off the safety and she has a deadpan expression meaning she wasn't bluffing to them here when she spoke out to them and changed the setting to KIL. "We are on a scientific mission, you are outgunned and suggest you back the fuck off now, this firearm will annihilate you at light speed and we're not going to accept failure." she states as calmly and directly as possible turning her attention to the one who showed up on the trike. While her teammates deal with their own threats. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
She takes a steadying breath and moves the pistol into position holding the grip between both her hands sharing the weight and would let the hyenas in front of her decide whether it was worth attempting to fuck with her or not, defending her position and the van quietly. Recalling her training session with Sigrun at the range at the Police Department, she felt it was for this moment, remembering the moving targets and the training. She adjusted her aim directly at the seeming ringleader of them preparing to fire the INSTANT they fucked with anything. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
Listening to Greyson's speech she nods along with him "He's absolutely right, you stand to benefit much more by assisting us, than by causing trouble." she says glancing at Wink she adds "You can forget about taking anyone, and forget about the rent. That server's ours, STAND DOWN! I will fucking MELT you I'm serious!" continuing to peek out from the van, she was well covered and in the right range for her firearm.</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes lifted themselves from tails lifting their body up like a spider as they all pulsate and thrum with light, smiling as they stare down the short leader. "i wouldnt toss his offer aside, the wasteland is right where i belong and the type of power i bring to the table if things get hairy? is radiation. and lots of it so do try to hear him out otherwise? ill be around, prowling and awaiting your answer okay?" with that the hissune's tails allowed them to dart back into the underbrush and with a slight rustle attempted to move and sneak elsewhere for a surprise attack if needed</div> <div title="Xerxia" style="margin-top:2em">(Xerxia) Xerxia sends a signal for anyone with a rifle to look at the postal office while they procure THE COOL ROCK and begins to try to bargin with someone to try to east the tensions.</div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Whipping his head around to the trike-riding children's bike, Greyson's face breaks into a brief, bewildered grin, one he, unfortunately, can't quite wipe off his face, muttering in confusion, "I- service fees for a server we'd... repair- rent for a building not in use and-" The mention of Wink being on the table causes the wolf to cross his arms, "What? I- No, we aren't just /giving/ you one of the engineers we need to /build/ the server." He raises a finger, pointing towards the Fennec. "I've already made it clear that all of this will be of /substantial/ benefit, not just to this area, but /especially/ to you." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>The wolf continues in his bickering, tangent hopping towards another topic as he wags his finger, "It's not a /ninety/ server either, /nanite/ server, /nanites/, those are the reason /none/ of us are more than /barely/ human. Skittering little bugs in our heads that are /incredibly/ useful to making sure the shape you're /already/ in stays that way and doesn't wither into a husk from a stray case of tetanus. You wouldn't even /believe/ half the shit those things keep you safe from, let alone eliminate JUST by way of their existence. You're looking at a bunch of people ready to hand you /functional/ immortality for /free/, no- even /paying/ you for it, and you want /us/ to turn one of ours into a slave, /pay/ you for the privelege, /and/ even /moreso/ for the fact we're KEEPING it running?" The lupine proceeds to ramble a slew of other mildly-educational babble, strained with a tone of indignance, the importance of nanites on maintaining liquid shapes, the acceleration of crop growth, nanite-alloyed metals, a strange byproduct of one particularly flammable mutant strain converting sexual fluids into gasoline as a potentially renewable source of energy, among a great number of other topics.</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) The fennec focuses on Greyson, looking increasingly furious as he rambles on, growling ferociously. There are moments when her fur shivers, and she looks like she's about to pounce. However, while she's focused on the werewolf, the rest of the hyena gang seem more focused on Sugar, Junes, and Xerxia, and one by one they quietly slink away. In the end, she lets out a high-pitched scream at Greyson.</div><div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) "Shut up, shut up, shut up! I'm gonna chew your face off myself!" Her form shivers again. "Hold him down," she yells, and this time her voice comes out much lower-pitched. But nobody runs out to grab him, and after standing there for a second or two waiting, she points at the wolf. "I just don't wanna do it right now," she yells, back to her usual high-pitched near-scream. "You're lucky I'm in such a good mood! And you! You're _unlucky_ I'm in such a-- where'd he go?" She looks around for the lemur, confused, then kicks her trike back upright and hops on it. "You owe us rent. Rent! We'll be back to collect it," she adds, and cycles off determinedly, one wheel squeaking.</div> <div title="Sugarkitten" style="margin-top:2em">(Sugarkitten) Sugarkitten watches the hyenas clear out and keeps her weapon readied for a while, at least until her arms began to feel fatigued. Then she lowers the Laser Pistol and flips the safety breathing a sigh of relief and holstering it before moving herself back through the hole she cut in the truck. She turns to Greyson and the engineers and pushes her shades up onto her head grinning "Wow that was amazing! For a moment I really thought I'd have to start melting people" she says but saves her ammo for a different situation. "Glad its all settled" she says, and gives word to the Alpha and Bravo teams on the radio while she was in the van, then hops out the van to go find Junes and Xerxia. "Ha they left! Site secured, engineers delivered." she says and then goes to give them both celebratory fist bumps!</div> <div title="Junes" style="margin-top:2em">(Junes) Junes pops their head out from a different bush and the tails come after "well im glad that worked!" getting up and out of the bushes fully and towards the group "i really dont like using that on someone outside the bubble, but hey its great for some quick breakfast and really anything with cooking but, yeah dangerous as hell in the wrong hands. but i didnt want to take chances this time." smiling to sugar and giving a wave to the mutant that seems unhinged but looks fine now "good work out there you! what do i call you again im sorry?" nodding and waving to the escorted group and turning to greyson "looks like we did" they look down and up quickly "it, you didnt get like...bit by a spider did you or anything? either way good work with that speech! now lets hope the rest goes off without a hitch and we can have one hell of an afterparty once this is all over!"</div> <div title="Xerxia" style="margin-top:2em">(Xerxia) Xerxia seems to calm down from their mental breakdown and as one of the hyenas is leaving the quietly slip THE COOL ROCK into their hands hoping that would appease that individual and to calm their nerves from having to rely on their own mind and sighs and states to the group "I was not prepared for that sniper and i think that may have snaped me out of a bloodlust." </div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Giving a withering stare to the fennec, the wolf raises his finger to rebuke her, before she toddles off, pedaling down the street in the opposite direction. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>Deflating in all ways but one, Greyson slumps against the van, grumbling, "Fuck me- that was something..." He sighs, a glare spare towards his comms device as he mumbles into it, "Sound off... everyone alright? Car still works, most of us in /decent/ shape?" He stumbles, glancing in through the makeshift hatch in the van's door, staring at the surrounding rubble and the nearby road. "Alpha, Beta, you might have company in a sec, three bikers and a... fennec on a trike. You'll know em when you see em. Charlie's- somewhat clear, but we'll need a team to clear up an old parking garage, figure dozer can be on that if you guys are nearly set back there." Greyson murmurs.</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) It's been a long day, and it's barely noon. Once it's clear that the hyenas have left for real, at least for now, the team regroups to check on one another and the equipment, to call in to Wolfwood, and to take a break with a drink and a snack from the cooler. Madison Wolfwood explains, sarcastically, that she was a little preoccupied with the golems, but after all three teams check in she begrudgingly admits that things could have gone worse.

The van is battered and has a new window cut in the side, but it's functional -- the team still has a ride home. The backhoe is in good shape, and is vital to clear the debris around the power station. Some of the power tools got battered, but they can be fixed, and -- most importantly -- the engineering crew are alive and neither eaten nor abducted into the Chucklefuck harem. The tractor is dinged up but once the nanite server is running it'll be no problem to get it fixed too. Speaking of which: the bulldozer, Red the coyote, and Jo the gecko also get a pickup and a tow home that evening, though Red is entirely out of ammo and the area is entirely out of cacti by that point.</div> <div title="Narwen" style="margin-top:2em">(Narwen) The hyenas aren't gone, but they're someone else's future problem. For now, mission accomplished.</div>[[Category:RPLogs]]

Operation Fairhaven FOB - Beta Team - RPLOG

2025-06-04T22:25:54Z

Syntax McBucketface:

=Participants=
* [[User:Elisabeth|Elisabeth]]
* [[User:Firecracker|Firecracker]]
* [[User:Kaguya|Kaguya]]
* [[User:Rosemint|Rosemint]]
=Date=
10/5/2025
=Arc Summary=
[[Operation FOB - Event Summary | Operation FOB]]
=Log=
<div></div><div title="Firecracker" style="margin-top:2em">(Firecracker) The gathering at the off ramp onto the highway at the far end of Fairhaven is far more active than it normally is. Several trucks are hauling heavy machinery and construction equipment, a mini bus stands at the ready and is full of workers and professionals ready for their task, and several additional vehicles idle nearby with a multitude of mercenaries double checking their equipment and preparing to disembark. They all stand together with a singular united goal: Head out of the bubble, secure a forward base of operations for Fairhaven's scouts, see to it that it gets built, and get paid. A woman in power armor clamors onto the back of a reinforced pickup truck and hollars out to get everyone's attention.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
"ALRIGHT EVERYONE!" The speaker is Madison Wolfwood, the human tasked by the city to organize the operation after negotiations with Zephyr and RSX to do just this very same operation broke down. It is certainly more of a gamble to ask an independent to get a huge task done, but there were few in Fairhaven with as much out of bubble experience as Wolfwood. So she got the job. "Everything's set to go! Just going to say this one last time for the idiots in the rear who were taking it up theirs when I last explained this! Our target is an old power substation about 100 miles east of here in a neighboring town. There are oversized mechanical golems protecting it that need forceful disassembly which is where strike teams Alpha and Beta come in. Alpha's securing the area around the admin building's ruins, Beta is securing the area around the power relay. Charlie, you're on babysitting duty with the construction crew and will be positioned a few blocks away while we clear out the threats."<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
The brown haired human adjusts her grip on her helmet that sits tucked beneath her arm. "Remember! We're going outside of the bubble! Whatever nanites are there are barely there at all. Your mutant abilities are almost definitely going to suffer, your nanomagic isn't going to work unless you're real close to someone with basically the singular exception to that, and the nanites can't stop you from dying stone cold if you get sloppy. This is your last chance to bail if you have cold feet. For everyone else, start your engines! We're heading out!!!"</div> <div title="Rosemint" style="margin-top:2em">(Rosemint) An extremely tiny mouse clad in a miniaturized suit of power armor checks and rechecks her gear. Rosemint pulls various sci-fi inspired gadgets out from seemingly nowhere, inspects over them carefully, then drops them unceremoniously, at which point they just vanish from sight entirely. After several minutes analyzing her arsenal, she nods and weaves her way through the crowds of people, dodging their feet and tails, and makes her way towards her ride for the day: a particular tomcat. At only 6 inches tall, this takes her a few minutes, but less than would be expected considering her nimbleness and power-armor assisted stride. She moves next to Kaguya and starts to clamber up his leg, while squeaking up to him, "Ready to head out into the great unknown?" </div> <div title="Kaguya" style="margin-top:2em">(Kaguya) Kaguya would be standing near the trunk of his car, putting a heavy metal shield into his trunk and a few basic survival supplies like water and MREs in the off chance they don't return as quickly as they'd hope. He closes the trunk of his car and moves to the front seat, sitting in the seat with his legs still out of the car door as he takes his swords out of their sheath and inspects them carefully, making sure none of them have any chips or dents that might decrease their combat efficiency. Yet during his inspection, he feels something cling to his leg and climb up it, at first having the feeling to kick his leg and get whatever it is off just incase but instead he actually looks at his leg and notices the little mouse as he lets out a soft sigh and puts his swords back on his waist strap, "You could announce yourself you know...?" He says with a soft chuckle as he moves to help her up, "Yeah, I'm ready to head out. Done tinkering with everything?" He asks as he stands up and looks around for a moment at the other squads gathered on the ramp.</div> <div title="Elisabeth" style="margin-top:2em">(Elisabeth) Elisabeth is fidgeting with a LED-covered leather jacket that she's currently clad in, eventually turning them off to leave less conspicuous strips of white. As she then approaches the car, she fishes a pair of shades out of a pocket and puts them on. She saunters over to Kaguya with a smile, that only briefly turns to confusion when he seems to be speaking to himself, until she follows his gaze and takes notice of the mouse. She waves as she nears them. "Ah, hello there! I think I'm supposed to be in this squad!" She adjusts the unholy cross of a spear and a drill tucked at her back, and some spray paint cans at her waist, then offers a hand to shake towards Kaguya. "Name's Elisabeth! A pleasure to meet you! Both of you." She glances towards Rosemint and nods in acknowledgement.</div> <div title="Firecracker" style="margin-top:2em">(Firecracker) The convoy loads up and drives off in short order. Considering the dangers ahead, few of those present aren't seasoned mercenaries. But with pay this good, who could say no despite the risk? The trip takes some time and the road shows visible signs of recent rushed repairs and temporary fixes. There have doubtlessly been efforts to ensure that the heavy construction equipment would even be able to use the roads that, unlike those within Fairhaven proper, don't get nearly the kind of love they deserve. Humorously enough, outside of the bubble, without the drip feed of nanites chewing at them, the roads have held up alright over the years. Perhaps that's the benefit of both being in California and not constantly having multi thousand pound vehicles driving to and fro over them.</div> <div title="Rosemint" style="margin-top:2em">(Rosemint) Rosemint clambers up onto Kaguya's shoulder as he helps her up and replies, "As much as I can be. It's unclear how well my toys will work outside of my Regulation Nanomagic bubble, so I'll probably be sticking pretty close to you." She giggles and wraps her tail loosely around the tomcat's neck, draping it like a scarf, and continues, "Business as usual, right?" <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
As Elisabeth approaches, Rosemint scans over her attire and gear and smiles approvingly, squeaking, "Nice! I like you, that's good kit. My name is Rosemint, pleased to meet you too." She rides on Kaguya's shoulder as preparations finish and the journey gets underway. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
Through the journey, she discusses tactics with her teammates, getting familiar with their skills and sharing her own, planning out potential engagements based on what scouting they've received. She knows this will likely be difficult, but hopefully with teamwork, things will stay under control and proceed like clockwork. </div><div title="Kaguya" style="margin-top:2em">(Kaguya) Kaguya rolls his eyes as he feels her tail around his neck, "Well, at least your bubble should keep me energized as well so long as it's up, just be careful alright? I don't want anything to squish you out there." He nuzzles his head against the tiny mouse on his shoulder before his ears perk up as he hears a new voice, turning his head towards them and glancing over them for a moment before a smile forms on his face, taking the skunk's hand and shaking it gently, "The pleasure's all mine, names Kaguya. I hope we'll be able to work effectively together then?" <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>The feline starts his Modified old world car as soon as the rest of the convoy starts rolling off, "I guess it's time we should get going then, get in~" He closes the door and glances at Rose, "Sure you want to be on my shoulder incase it's bumpy? My lap might be better~" he playfully remarks before choosing not to waste much time, driving off as soon as Elisabeth enters the vehicle. He heads straight for the power relay station and seems to brace himself as they leave the bubble, expecting a major difference yet other than the nanite degradation outside, there doesn't seem to be much, "Huh...? Oh, I forgot about your regulation nanomagic, just can't be without your nanites huh?" He rolls the windows up and just enjoys the continued refreshed air as he listens to the little mouse talk with Elisabeth, occasionally chipping in to make a affirm a plan the mouse might make.</div> <div title="Elisabeth" style="margin-top:2em">(Elisabeth) Elisabeth hums as she makes note of the chemistry between the two. Still, her smile never leaves her face. "Heh, well, sure sounds like we'll get along, at least! That's the first step to effective teamwork, really."</div> <div title="Elisabeth" style="margin-top:2em">(Elisabeth) The skunk takes her own seat in the car, namely the passenger seat out front, since the mouse isn't exactly taking a seat all her own. She does have to take her spear off her back and let it rest in front of her, her legs closed to keep it stable. "Ah, I can't complain about that, my gear's good enough to work out there, but I can't say being out there normally is pleasant..." As she chats concerning plans, she admits that she's more comfortable with the scouting than the fighting. Not that she intends to leave it to them either, of course.</div> <div title="Firecracker" style="margin-top:2em">(Firecracker) Once the convoy approaches their destination, the three squads break off from one another and head to their respective points of interest. "Remember, clear the area and shut off that power! And try not to break too much while you're over there. Good luck, Beta Team!" Wolfwood says over the radio before cutting out. The lead up is over. It's time for action.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
Beta team pulls towards the front of the power substation. It has clearly seen better days. A chain link fence with rungs of barbed wired along the top surrounds the power station, rusted old signs with DANGER and a depiction of a stick figure being hit by lightning placed along the fence warns anyone of breaching the perimeter. Inside are all sorts of mechanical and electrical equipment, all humming with power as they work to provide energy to the surrounding area, and most importantly for the agents' purpose, to the building with the nanite server inside. Heaps of metal scrap, broken chunks of concrete, pieces of cars that look to have been torn in half, shattered telephone poles, and more have been assembled in various piles around the area. The sight of dripping blood coming from some of those heaps and the mangled bodies that can be seen tossed among the piles, the blast marks, the gouges from the earth, the chipped asphalt, and the scent of blood marks this as a place where only the brave or foolish dare to tread. Unfortunately for Beta Team, someone has to do it.</div> <div title="Rosemint" style="margin-top:2em">(Rosemint) As Kaguya drives to within 60ft of the power station and stops the truck, Rosemint carefully observes the power station from her perch on Kaguya's shoulder and compares it against the mental blueprints of what she'd expect to find in such a facility. She squeaks to her teammates, "There *should* be an emergency shut off button somewhere on the premises, but considering how battered and run down everything is, I do not have confidence that such a button is still there. What may be a more reliable approach is to find the control station and disable the power there. Even if it's in shambles, I'm a decent engineer and I can probably get it back up and running, if you keep hostiles off of me." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
As the trio exits the vehicle, her tail tightens momentarily around the tomcat's neck as she sees the mangled bodies tossed in and among the wreckage. Her hand vanishes behind her back for a moment, pausing as she considers what might be the most effective tool for the job, then emerges with a small, but sturdy pressurized tank and hose, which she starts to strap to her back. As she gears up, she continues, "...and judging by all those bodies, we've definitely got no small number of hostiles."</div> <div title="Kaguya" style="margin-top:2em">(Kaguya) Kaguya exits the car and stares at all the bodies strewed across the piles of scrap, his ears lowering at the sight yet he tries to brave on. He pulls one of his swords from it's sheath and begins to wander closer to the building as he listens to Rosemint, nodding his head at her words as he keeps glancing back to make sure Elisabeht is still near them and within the cloud of nanites before realizing he should surround the area with nanites. Raising his sword in the air for dramatic effect as nanites from his body fly high up into the air, combining into what seems to be a ball before popping as it scatters around the relay station, coating the area within nanites, "Alright, where do you think the control station will be? I assume within the tower?" He asks before continuing to advance <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>As he gets closer to the tower, he makes an action he knows he'll regret later, sniffing the air in interest in hopes of sniffing out hostiles or something of use, yet his nose is only filled with the horrid scent of rotting corpses making him stick his tongue out with a bleh.</div> <div title="Elisabeth" style="margin-top:2em">(Elisabeth) The skunk nods towards the mouse as she makes mentions of the control station. "I'll keep an eye out for that!" As soon as they leave the car, however, she does lose a bit of her pep at the sight of the corpses. Nonetheless, she takes a deep breath and holds her spear in one hand while the other fiddles with her shades. Attention on the objectives, not the grisly fates of others, that's the key. Her gaze lingers on one particular sight of interest, then after a bit more, she glances to the others. "No sign of anyone so far. But I can see the control station from here. Of course, we'll have to get in first..." She bites her lips at the prospect. No turning back now.</div><div title="Firecracker" style="margin-top:2em">(Firecracker) One of the nearby scrap piles ahead of the group starts to shift and grow as the group gets closer to the station proper. The Relay Golem rises to full size, showing just what a hulking monstrosity it truly is as it stands at almost twice the height of the largest member of the team, almost twenty feet tall and nearly just as wide. Its body is a patchwork of rusted metal, a conglomerate of mismatched parts that makes it impossible to tell where one thing ends and another begins. Massive insulators form its shoulders, their porcelain cracked and stained with grime and dried blood. Lengths of thick, high-tension cable, twisted and knotted, serve as sinewy limbs, occasionally sparking with a low current and capped with crude claws fashioned from sharpened metal scraps, capable of crushing steel or rending flesh from bone with ease. Its feet are heavy constructions of steel plates that leave deep gouges in the earth with each lumbering step. From its back falls a thick insulated cable, mimicking a long tail as it drags along behind the monstrosity. The golem's movements are jerky and unpredictable, but its strength is undeniable. It moves with a slow, deliberate power, its every step shaking the very ground beneath it. A faint ozone smell rises from the air around it as it begins to hum with power, surely charging itself for combat!</div> <div title="Kaguya" style="margin-top:2em">(Kaguya) Kaguya feels the ground begin to rumble beneath him as the scrap pile forms into a golem, his eyes widening as he didn't expect it to be be double his size...he knew they were tall but this is too much. His hand moves to unwrap the mouse's tail from his neck as he scoops her off her shoulder and moves to pass her to Elisabeth, "Can you please take care of her?" He asks before sheathing his sword temporarily as the series of stars on his left hand slowly begins to shift into a constellation of a bow that he begins to draw back with his right hand, taking aim at the golems chest before shooting off in a pure bolt of light...that simply bounces off the golem's chest plate and makes the feline stare in surprise and utter confusion, "...We're fucked..." he mumbles before unsheathing his sword once more and aiming it up at the golem as he shines off with a beam of moon light, "Come on then, just me and you!" He yells up as he passes Rosemint a nanite filament kit, "Hold onto this...last thng I want is to leave your regulation bubble while fighting this thing." He quickly darts off afterwards, moving several feet away from them yet staying within the 50 feet of Rosemint((and obviously within short range))</div> <div title="Firecracker" style="margin-top:2em">(Firecracker) As the arrow bounces harmlessly off its chest plate, the golem seems completely unphased by the attack, nor Kaguya's attempts to draw its attention. Instead, it draws its arms to its chest and charges a pulse of electricity, throwing them up in the air to scatter a rain of lightning in every direction around it!</div> <div title="Elisabeth" style="margin-top:2em">(Elisabeth) Elisabeth is quite aware that there's not much she can do here, not without a better plan. And after narrowly avoiding that blast of electricity with a passenger in tow, she doesn't really have the luxury of thinking out in the open! Making sure to keep Rosemint in range of both the golem and Kaguya, she makes a break for one of the nearby scrap piles to put it between her and it. As she moves, she's silently praying it's not another one of these things... Well, it'd be standing already by now. She thinks.</div> <div title="Rosemint" style="margin-top:2em">(Rosemint) Rosemint widens here eyes as the arcs of electricity crackle everywhere. As she's passed back to Elisabeth, she's nailed directly by a bolt... but she may as well be made of rubber for all the effect it has. Under the effects of nanites, this mousie is essentially a cartoon character, with all that entails. She quickly reaches into her hammerspace and draws what looks like a plastic ray gun, then points it directly at Kaguya and zaps him with a neon yellow beam. His body bulges and grows, her device growing him to a massive size slowly, foot by foot evening out the height difference between him and the Relay Golem. Soon they'll reach parity and the fight will *really* be on. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
As Elisabeth sprints for cover, the mouse focuses her attention on the golem with an intense and piercing expression on her face. She takes in every detail she can and processes the information at high speed. 'Tail cable? Insulated? Lightning attack? And where does it lead? All the way into the power station? That's important. What else? Vibrations from the chest plate? Any give? Only one point of contact? That's important too,' her thoughts race as she calculates its weaknesses. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
She squeaks out to her teammates, "The chest plate is only secured in a single spot, that thick bolt holding it in place. Destroy the bolt and its armor should fall away. And, perhaps even more importantly, the tail! It's where it's getting power from, pulling it directly from the station itself. Sever the tail and it'll lose its lightning!"</div> <div title="Kaguya" style="margin-top:2em">(Kaguya) Kaguya looks up in surprise at the electrical attack on the area, raising his sword up as a beam hits him and courses through his body for a moment before seemingly running off into the ground, luckily the feline's hide was immensely tough and protected him from any damage...but his fur is extremely puffed out now! He shakes himself for a moment as if attempting to shake his fur back into shape before yelping at the sudden beam shooting at him and into his form, "H-Huh?" He looks down at his legs and notices himself slowly growing taller as he looks over towards Rosemint and gives her a warming smile and mouths the words, 'Thank you!' before he turns back towards the golem and readies his sword once more <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>His eyes quickly dart between the tail and the bolt on the golem, seeming indecisive he should focus on first before deciding that it's armor is too problematic currently as he darts straight towards the golem, preparing his sword and raising it high before swinging it down with a woosh of the air and the loud metallic clang of metal against metal as his sword drives it's self straight through the head of the bolt as the feline seems stunned at the fact he actually did it before regaining himself and calling out, "Elisabeth! Try to cut the tail now!" </div> <div title="Firecracker" style="margin-top:2em">(Firecracker) The head of the bolt sheers off with the slash of Kaguya's blade, causing a horrid screeching noise as the front plate slides out of place and finally dislodges from the golem's torso to land with a heavy thud and plume of dust on the ground below. With no heavy plate to guard its interior, the Relay Golem's mishmash of parts and wires within are completely exposed, sparking and humming with mechanical life.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
The beast is none to pleased with losing its armor, or maybe it has no thoughts at all. In either case, it bares its two meaty claws, ripping them out towards the swordsman to pay him back for his attack in kind.</div><div title="Elisabeth" style="margin-top:2em">(Elisabeth) With a look towards Rosemint on her shoulder, then another at the cable she had been instructed to cut, Elisabeth grits her teeth as she thinks. "Too far for me!" She calls back, then turns her attention to her passenger. "Rose, if you have a weapon that can take care of that, I'll get you into position!" She declares, and runs out of cover to get her a clear line of fire. "Call out when you're ready!" She instructs. When she gets the call, would stop where the mouse can see the target!</div> <div title="Rosemint" style="margin-top:2em">(Rosemint) Rosemint nods and drops her Embiggenator Ray, which vanishes into thin air, and quickdraws what looks like a chunky revolver that's been given the steampunk treatment. She lines up her Gravity Cannon carefully, taking a moment to aim, and squeaks out, "Almost... almost... now! Stop now!" As Elisabeth stops on a time right where Rosemint has a perfect shot lined up, the mousie clicks the trigger and a vivid, coruscating beam erupts from the emitter and crackles towards the golem. The vibrant ray strikes the power cable tail dead center. There's an audible creak of straining metal as intense gravity weighs down on the golem's tail, until suddenly a whipcrack rings out and the tail snaps clean off, sparks showering from the severed power line. The mouse grins wickedly and cries out, "Direct hit!" </div> <div title="Kaguya" style="margin-top:2em">(Kaguya) Kaguya , who was still distracted yelling to Elisabeth, barely has time to retract to the incoming claws of the golem, turning back just in time to raise his sword to block the two sword swings from the golem as he reels back Moonlit Sonata and focuses his cat eyes directly on their chest point before stabbing it straight into the golem's chest with another ear piercing screech of all the scrap being stabbed into the golem, hoping to pin it down yet his attack not going as deep as he wishes...so he simply tries to pull his sword back out of the golem to prepare for another attack.</div> <div title="Firecracker" style="margin-top:2em">(Firecracker) The energetic humming and distinct ozone smell of raw power crackling in the air immediately falls away from the Relay Golem as its thick tail is snapped in two. The bit that slumps to the ground sparks and sizzles with the energy still being supplied to it, but the tail attached to the golem now hangs lifeless and limp. Good thing for Kaguya thrusting his sword into the no-longer electrified innards to start doing some real damage to the thing. With its electricity cut off, it can no longer draw energy into itself to unleash on all of them, and so resorts to using the weapons at the ends of its arms as it attempts to crush the similarly-sized swordsman with its claws.</div> <div title="Elisabeth" style="margin-top:2em">(Elisabeth) Elisabeth grins when the cable is taken out. Score! But the fight is still ongoing, so there's no time to celebrate just yet! "Alright. I'm going in." The skunk declares while she gently picks up the mouse and brings her down to the ground. She steels herself, and, without a passenger, this time... Runs right at the golem and jumps towards it! "Hey, ugly! Try to fight with something like this on you!" She calls out as she lands and clambers onto it. She gets in the way of it moving its clawed arms where she can, and even does her best to offset its center of gravity. Something that will only be easier with the sudden growth spurt she's about to go through.</div> <div title="Rosemint" style="margin-top:2em">(Rosemint) Rosemint springs down onto the ground and drops her Gravity Cannon, which vanishes just as the others had. She reaches behind her back and pulls out her Embiggenator Ray once more, then pauses and lines up a shot on Elisabeth. If she needed to breathe, this is when she'd steady her breath. Instead, she just focuses intently, eyes wide open. It would be *reeeeeeeeally* bad to miss and nail the golem... <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
The yellow beam lances out...<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
And it hits the skunk! Elisabeth feels her body stretch and grow, her size increasing rapidly, and her weight along with it, giving her better leverage and force to destabilize the golem.</div> <div title="Kaguya" style="margin-top:2em">(Kaguya) Kaguya's eyes widen as the skunk jumps up onto the golem, almost frozen for a second at her bold action before he shakes his head and prepares his next attack, aiming it once more as he unsheathes both swords, he'll do his best to protect Elisabeth while attacking. He aims at the golem's chest once more and drives his sword deep into them again with an annoyed expression, seemingly tired of this golem staying up for so long before kicking the golem back as he watches their claws, preparing to strike back to prevent them from touching the skunk.</div> <div title="Firecracker" style="margin-top:2em">(Firecracker) Unpowered, unarmored, and heavily damaged by the sword ripping out its mechanical guts, the Relay Golem can only flail its arms, clawing at the skunk crawling on its back even as it starts to grow larger and more annoying.</div> <div title="Elisabeth" style="margin-top:2em">(Elisabeth) The skunk takes a deep breath. She's atop the golem. If she's going to make a move, it's now or never! Though jostled by its strikes, which she barely avoided suffering any real harm, largely thanks to Kaguya getting in the way of the claws, more than her own skills. But her position is perfect. She clutches her spear as she manages to stand atop the walking pile of scrap. Then, like a spring, she coils and jumps into the air in an instant!</div> <div title="Elisabeth" style="margin-top:2em">(Elisabeth) As all that comes up must come down, so does she, with the drill of her spear pointed right down into the golem! But it's not just her own bold maneuver at play. A ray hits her, right from where she'd left Rosemint. When she hits, the spear drives itself further than she could have expected, jostles the creation's insides. She can feel the moment where its legs give out and it falls! She manages to roll when she finally hits the ground, even if it's on her side. She pushes herself up and looks back to make sure it's down. It seems to be. "Heh... What was it they said? 'Fortune favors the bold?' Maybe there's something to that!" Elisabeth forces a grin, even as she's shaking.</div> <div title="Rosemint" style="margin-top:2em">(Rosemint) Rosemint sees the leap and drops her growth ray, quickdrawing her Gravity Cannon and lining up with the leaping skunk. Her thumb toggles a switch to change it to safe mode, she waits for the perfect moment, just as Elisabeth is coming down... and zaps her with the beam and massively magnifies the force of her strike~</div> <div title="Firecracker" style="margin-top:2em">(Firecracker) With Elisabeth leaping up off of it, the Relay Golem is forced to tip backwards, exposing its unarmored front to the sky, making the perfect path for the skunk to bury her lance right into its chest, and right out of its back with the screech of metal penetrating metal. The behemoth collapses to the ground, a mess of rusted metal, limp wires, and dead circuitry, adding its body to the scrap heaps in front of the power station, now just another hunk of junk for spare parts.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
With the terror of the station finally silent, it falls to the agents to complete their second objective: shutting the power off to the building.</div><div title="Rosemint" style="margin-top:2em">(Rosemint) Rosemint grins widely, a manic gleam in her eyes. She scrambles forwards to start poking at the fallen pile of junk, searching it over to make absolutely certain it is dead. She is definitely not scavenging for parts, most definitely not. Pay no attention to the mouse behind the curtain. After a few moments, she feels satisfied that the golem is indeed totally wrecked and gives a nod. She squeaks, "Well done! Very well done! This hunk of junk is just a mess of spare parts now~" <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
She turns her gaze back to the control station, eyes following the severed power cable until it reaches the team's destination. She hops off the golem and starts to amble over towards it. She calls back to Kaguya and Elisabeth, "Mind your step, live wires are spicy. Just follow where I go." She glances back to the pair and chuckles when she notices they are still oversized. She continues playfully, "Or well, I guess you could just step right over it and well past. Anyway, this way!"</div> <div title="Kaguya" style="margin-top:2em">(Kaguya) Kaguya strikes at the golem's claws as it moves to try and attack Elisabeth, managing to assist her in evading the first attack yet the narrow getting scratched by the second attack as he steps back and watches the skunk suddenly rocket into the air and fall back down with a lethal piercing stab. Feeling Relief in the sight of it being apparently dead, he takes a second to breath with soft pants as he puts his sword in it's sheath before stretching as much as he can. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>He looks down at the very tiny mouse and then glances over to the relay station and lets out a soft hmm, "We...are not fitting in there with you, we'll need to shrink back down before we can do anything. I...really don't want you going in there by yourself but this thing might come back to life if we wait too long. if you see anything, run. Alright? Your life is more important to me then this mission and I *will* tear this place down if you don't back out safe. Alright?"</div> <div title="Elisabeth" style="margin-top:2em">(Elisabeth) Elisabeth lets out a sigh in relief when the golem doesn't get up in response to her comment. When she takes in her surroundings at this new size... She realizes that it is, indeed, going to be difficult to help Rosemint if anything happens inside the control room. Not that she expects anything could get in there past that now dead pile of scraps. "Well... Be careful." She nonetheless agrees with Kaguya. "Hopefully this reverts before we're going out. Don't think we'd fit into the car like this!" She chuckles. Still a bit shaky, and it shows in her laugh, but she sits down with her eyes on the fallen golem for the time being.</div> <div title="Firecracker" style="margin-top:2em">(Firecracker) Once the big duo of the trio shrink back down to their normal sizes, thanks to Rosemint's Shrink Ray, and enter the Control Building for the power station, the three of them are greeted with a curious sight. Rather than only the normal monitors, buttons, levers, and switches one would expect to see in the building, there seems to be a mishmash of equipment cobbled together at one end of the room with a Mako Battery shoved into it.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
Rosemint's knowledge of technology aids her again, as she can determine that this hodgepodge of mechanical and electrical equipment seems to have been cobbled together somewhat recently in order to house the power source for the whole station. The battery itself is safely contained behind a simple glass case with a padlock on it, but there could be other ways of shutting the station off.</div> <div title="Rosemint" style="margin-top:2em">(Rosemint) Rosemint pauses at both their concerned words and stops to evaluate if she's being too hasty. She nods to herself and decides that she is, her excitement to handle untainted pre-P-Day machinery getting the better of her. She turns and draws a raygun very similar to her Embiggenator and squeaks, "You're both right, I apologize. Let me fix you up and we'll head in together." She smiles up to them both softly, then clicks the trigger and zaps them both, one by one, with the vibrant purple beam of her Shrink Ray, reducing their size back to normal levels. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
As she heads inside with them, she tilts her head at the messy, jury-rigged engineering. She squeaks in frustration, "What a mess! What kind of engineer did this? Sure it works, but it's like the slapped everything and the kitchen sink onto it and just stuck a Mako Battery on top when their shoddy hack job failed to work properly. This isn't untouched tech at all..." She visibly wilts as her excitement drains out of her. </div> <div title="Kaguya" style="margin-top:2em">(Kaguya) Kaguya stares at the new raygun and seems to blink in surprise as he sighs, "I forgot you had the demonic tool..." He complains before allowing her to shoot him with it as he waits for himself to be shrunk all the way down with Elisabeth as he suddenly pulls them both into a tight hug and even giving Elisabeth some ear scritches, "You're shaking a lot, catch your breath!" <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>He follows Rosemint into the relay station and looks around curiously as he notices all the technology scattered around and has absolutely no clue what any of this stuff does. The feline just sees a battery at the end of the room, walls over to it and uses his his sword to smash the padlock before opening the case and gently taking the Mako battery out, "...Are we done then? This should power down the relay right?"</div> <div title="Elisabeth" style="margin-top:2em">(Elisabeth) Elisabeth squeaks in surprise when she's shrunk back down with another ray. "Those tools of yours are so strange..." She comments, only to squeak again, upon receiving a hug. She does take a moment to take a deep breath, though not without blushing in embarrassment when a coo escapes her while her ears are scritched. "R-right! It's just, well, when the adrenaline comes down... Well, without you two, I'm sure I'd be joining those piles... Let's not think about that." She rubs her face and follows them into the station, finally calming down. Getting that mako battery in the rather ramshackle machine is honestly fairly painless. "Well, it sure sounds like it. Go us?"</div> <div title="Firecracker" style="margin-top:2em">(Firecracker) When the battery is removed, the entire station's electrical humming slowly dies down. With the power source removed, the supply to the server in the next building over is cut off and their mission is complete! It may be a few minutes, or hours, or even days before the server actually loses power if it has any backup power supply, but Beta Team's mission is a total success. Now all that's left to do is radio in, regroup, and head home.</div><div title="Rosemint" style="margin-top:2em">(Rosemint) Rosemint sighs softly as the junky mess of junkyard engineering powers down. She looks up to Kaguya and replies, "We're done. The poor power station isn't getting the juice it needs anymore. Which... is a good thing actually. This place is a deathtrap. I wonder if someone designed it that way on purpose or if their creation got out of their control. That happens more often than you'd think with mad artifice." There is a brief pause where that statement hangs in the air, before she blushes a bit and insists, "Not that I know anything about that!" <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
She shakes her head and clambers up the tomcat's body to sit on his shoulder again, but turns back to Elisabeth and squeaks, "And we couldn't have done it without you either, you know. Don't forget that you got the final blow, and in glorious fashion, too!" The little mouse smiles to the skunk as she waits to be carried back to the car. </div> <div title="Kaguya" style="margin-top:2em">(Kaguya) Kaguya chuckles at her words as his tail wags softly and a chuckle even emits as she blushes, "Huh...remind me to stay far away from you while you're being 'creative'." he teases as she climbs up him, a hand moving to softly rub the top of her head with his finger before turning to Elisabeth and giving her a warming smile, "She's right you know, you were a lot of help." He pulls out the Mako battery from the case and holds it out to her, offering it, "Let's meet again some time under less concerning circumstances, alright?" He leans over and scritches her head before turning towards the door, "Alright, let's go!" <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>Just as the feline makes his way out of the door, the shrink ray finally kicks in and causes him to shrink down to 6 inches and makes him incredibly nausious as he holds a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from puking before he hears the sound of a little mouse suddenly hit the ground as he yelps before watching her bounce in confusion, "...I forgot about the shrink ray, are you alright dear?" He asks as he moves to hug her before suddenly growing once more, with her still in his arms and held against his chest, "Aww...so short, oh well." He places her back on his shoulder and decides to keep moving towards the car, opening the door and leaning in to grab the Radio as he calls in to team Alpha, "Wolfwood? We've disabled the tower, Charlie team is good to move in." </div> <div title="Elisabeth" style="margin-top:2em">(Elisabeth) Elisabeth glances towards the mouse when she speaks of artifice... And hastily tries to distance herself from such things. "Riiight, I'm sure you're not speaking from experience." She can't help but giggle teasingly. Upon being given the the battery, she blinks. "Oh, uhm, you sure? This is preeeetty valuable." Not that she makes any attempt to push it back in his hands once it's in hers. She finally nods once the time comes to go. "Right! Heh, I'd say it's a date, but you already have one, mh~?" She smirks.</div> <div title="Elisabeth" style="margin-top:2em">(Elisabeth) Before they can go, the growth ray ends just in time for her to be significantly shorter than her usual size. "Oh. Everything looks so big from down there. She returns to the car with them. All she can think of after all this is... When this is all fully wrapped up, she's probably going to nap for a week.</div> <div title="Firecracker" style="margin-top:2em">(Firecracker) TO BE CONTINUED...</div>[[Category:RPLogs]]

Operation Fairhaven FOB - Alpha Team - RPLOG

2025-06-04T22:25:51Z

Syntax McBucketface:

=Participants=
* [[User:Caitlin|Caitlin]]
* [[User:Everdeene|Everdeene]]
* [[User:Greyson|Greyson]]
* [[User:Janex|Janex]]
* [[User:Rulsk|Rulsk]]
* [[User:Tyo|Tyo]]
* [[User:Waconet|Waconet]]
* [[User:Wolfwood|Wolfwood]]
=Date=
6/5/2025
=Arc Summary=
[[Operation FOB - Event Summary | Operation FOB]]
=Log=
<div></div><div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) The gathering at the off ramp onto the highway at the far end of Fairhaven is far more active than it normally is. Several trucks are hauling heavy machinery and construction equipment, a mini bus stands at the ready and is full of workers and professionals ready for their task, and several additional vehicles idle nearby with a multitude of mercenaries double checking their equipment and preparing to disembark. They all stand together with a singular united goal: Head out of the bubble, secure a forward base of operations for Fairhaven's scouts, see to it that it gets built, and get paid. A woman in power armor clamors onto the back of a reinforced pickup truck and hollars out to get everyone's attention.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
"ALRIGHT EVERYONE!" The speaker is Madison Wolfwood, the human tasked by the city to organize the operation after negotiations with Zephyr and RSX to do just this very same operation broke down. It is certainly more of a gamble to ask an independent to get a huge task done, but there were few in Fairhaven with as much out of bubble experience as Wolfwood. So she got the job. "Everything's set to go! Just going to say this one last time for the idiots in the rear who were taking it up theirs when I last explained this! Our target is an old power substation about 100 miles east of here in a neighboring town. There are oversized mechanical golems protecting it that need forceful disassembly which is where strike teams Alpha and Beta come in. Alpha's securing the area around the admin building's ruins, Beta is securing the area around the power relay. Charlie, you're on babysitting duty with the construction crew and will be positioned a few blocks away while we clear out the threats."<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
The brown haired human adjusts her grip on her helmet that sits tucked beneath her arm. "Remember! We're going outside of the bubble! Whatever nanites are there are barely there at all. Your mutant abilities are almost definitely going to suffer, your nanomagic isn't going to work unless you're real close to someone with basically the singular exception to that, and the nanites can't stop you from dying stone cold if you get sloppy. This is your last chance to bail if you have cold feet. For everyone else, start your engines! We're heading out!!!"</div> <div title="Waconet" style="margin-top:2em">(Waconet) Waconet listens to the walking tank give her last pep talk before heading out as he was in his own vehicle, a retrofitted Ford Bronco, that oddly enough he had bought from Wolfwood some time ago. He double checks that the vehicle has a full charge for the trip there and back again. Nodding at the heading out call, he starts it up and follows along with the convoy. </div> <div title="Caitlin" style="margin-top:2em">(Caitlin) Caitlin adjusts the sights on the new AMR that was handed to her once more. Checking the validity of Greyson's work for the eight time before picking the heavy thing up once more to lay across one shoulder as Wolfwood speaks up. The time to go was getting close at hand so the fox heads out to her own vehicle. A scrapped together van that she and Greyson had worked to build back up to a sorta working order to recheck the supplies the nudist wolf had brought. Giving a callout to him as she works. "Where did you put the keys this time Greyson, everyone else is ready to go!"</div> <div title="Tyo" style="margin-top:2em">(Tyo) Tyo brushes a couple of his clawed furred fingers through the fur in his cheek as that leather duster of his flutters slightly with his idle movements, the wolfy listens to the briefing with rapt attention. After the last words are spoken the wolven Brood King nods as if understanding although the nod is half to himself as he prepares to leave the bubble of nanite power he has grown used to over the last six years however a soft wolfish grin creeps onto his lips as he anticipates the adventure. Quietly he moves over to the member of his household is with his Ford Bronco, he offers the serpent a gentle pet along his side before taking his place in the passenger seat as he steels himself for what lies ahead.</div> <div title="Janex" style="margin-top:2em">(Janex) Amid the crowd gathered to listen, a black-furred canine in an armored bodysuit sits against a discarded concrete median barrier, idly snapping his paw to create a tiny flame in his palms, then extinguishing it. with a flick. Even as he flicks his ears up to listen to the... inspirational speech, Janex keeps staring at his hands, fire reflecting in his burning eyes. Snap. Flick. Snap. Flick. He finally looks up as the last call is announced, and nods solemnly to himself, hopping from his seat. Collecting his pack, he slings a large tech cannon over his shoulder onto his back, and walks cautiously towards the convoy, hoping he can find a spare seat. "'Hey there! Going my way?'" he mutters to himself, practicing his opening lines quietly.</div> <div title="Everdeene" style="margin-top:2em">(Everdeene) Everdeene stretches as she looks to the nearby faces, some very familiar to her, some utterly new to her, yet, she can't help but smile, for the camaraderie to be formed and for the goal they are all here to undertake, looking over her personal weapons, doing one last check over them before getting onto the trailer of the available vehicles, due to her unique physiology, being a large, tall taur, she's gonna need to be taken by another who can drive, but is prepared for what's to come otherwise.</div> <div title="Rulsk" style="margin-top:2em">(Rulsk) A power armored, 20ft long, black furred wolf checks over his gear with a critical eye, glaring at it as if daring it to have any problems. Given that he has absolutely no understanding of its function, there's not much for Rulsk to see and in truth he just hopes that there's nothing wrong with what he assumes are the enchantments powering it. That done, he noses at the satchels strapped to his sides and checks on his emergency food supplies. Smaller than normal though he may be, he still anticipates needing to snack pretty often to compensate for the lack of ambient nanites. Everything seems to be in order, so he lopes over to the flatbed truck he's hitching a ride with for the journey and clambers up onto the back. He stretches out and settles in for a long trip, his head resting on the cab so he can feel the wind in his face. He parts his jaws in a canine smile and lolls his tongue to the side, drooling a bit as he grins. He thinks over Wolfwood's words and tries to envision what the scenario she'd describing will be like. He's never left the Bubble before and was born after the P-Day, so a world without nanites is just... alien to him. At least he has friends along, whom he glances at and wags his tail slowly, eyes drifting from person to person, their presence helping him relax. </div><div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) The aforementioned nudist working with Caitlin sighs, deciding to hide in the back of the van this time around, the world beyond the bubble not so likely to take his fashion sense so politely. Organizing piles of spare ammunition, battery packs, salvage, and hiking bars, Greyson looks up from his work, pressing a list into the woman's chest before digging a set of keys from the pocket of her jacket, "Put em in here when we agreed you'd be driving- don't want locals trying to rail me or kill me for looking like an |actual| goddamn werewolf." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>He sighs, glancing to the side at the announcement, "You sure it's a great idea lugging me around for combat duty, swear Charlie might be safer..." A worried look crosses his features before he shakes his shoulders, brushing it off, "Whatever the case is, I've got enough bullshit back here to build an armory if people start breaking down out there... and scrap to repair the van if you end up totalling it- before or |after| we get there." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>At the cry of the nearby hitch-hiker, the bare wolf-beast leans out of the side of the van, cupping a hand over his mouth and waving him over, "Got plenty of room for one more if you don't mind sharing it with some twinkie crumbs and junk metal. Gonna be a good few hours!" He cants his head to Caitlin, "Could use somebody to watch her driving while I make sure nothing in the back goes kablooey!"</div> <div title="Caitlin" style="margin-top:2em">(Caitlin) Caitlin hackles twitch in amusment as Greyson once again complains about being brought with, causing the ribbons and silver of her muzzle jewelry to dance as she leans over to look at the new passenger. "Hope you don't get carsick, I'm a far better driver then the whiner here!" The passenger door popping open to let Janex in since Greyson's occupying the back.</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) The convoy loads up and drives off in short order. Considering the dangers ahead, few of those present aren't seasoned mercenaries. But with pay this good, who could say no despite the risk? The trip takes some time and the road shows visible signs of recent rushed repairs and temporary fixes. There have doubtlessly been efforts to ensure that the heavy construction equipment would even be able to use the roads that, unlike those within Fairhaven proper, don't get nearly the kind of love they deserve. Humorously enough, outside of the bubble, without the drip feed of nanites chewing at them, the roads have held up alright over the years. Perhaps that's the benefit of both being in California and not constantly having multi thousand pound vehicles driving to and fro over them.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
The three squads soon break off from one another and head to their respective points of interest. The lead up is over. It's time for action.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
Alpha team pulls up alongside their side of the substation. It has clearly seen better days. The chain link fences are rusted out, foliage reaches up past the cracks in the decaying asphalt, and then, of course, is the star of the show. The old administrative building is partially collapsed and is now serving almost like an outer shell to a rather odd sight. A massive pile of junk. It must be several stories high and is made up of metal, wood, concrete, and just about everything else you could imagine an oversized golem ripping out of the surrounding town and tossing onto the pile. In front of it is a large parking lot with several assorted groupings of junk and piles of scrap. Caitlin and Rulsk can pick up on something a bit more dower, however. The scent of death. Corpses are lodged between the gaps of the heavy pile's mass. Inanimate objects aren't the only things that have been 'salvaged' and Rulsk in particular can tell that some of the sources are relatively fresh. Wolfwood leads Alpha team towards a gap in the fence which would put them closer to the admin building than had they used the front entrance. She turns and looks to those assembled.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
"Alright. Things are going to get real hot real fast. The second we cross the threshold onto the property and get into range of the damaged server, the golems are probably going to wake up. Any calm discussion is going to have to happen now. So. Let's discuss. Anyone have any ideas besides smashing the golems until they stop moving?" The human, her face now covered by the sealed helmet of her armor is difficult to read. Her tone at least suggests an edge of apprehension and anticipation. Hardly surprising considering what they are about to do.</div> <div title="Waconet" style="margin-top:2em">(Waconet) Waconet pulls a bona fide Rocket Launcher from his vehicle when Wolfwood asks about how the team wants to deal with the Golems before they go active. "Well, I have a few ideas, one of them is simply sacrificing one of our vehicles and ramming one into them. Two, I have brought, in no small quantities, heavy ordinance in order to do the obvious. Yeah I just want to to blow them up."</div> <div title="Caitlin" style="margin-top:2em">(Caitlin) Caitlin spends the entire drive there shooting the shit with Janex and Greyson if they are both up for it and dodging the occassional pothole while going just a tad, totally a tad, bit too fast while following. That cheerful demenaor changes once they come in range of their objective and the scent of blood fills her nose. Her hackles twitching sending her ribbons dancing as they pull up to park. Wolfwood going opening the floor to plans from others gives her some time to visually scout the area and look for some usage of that rifle Greyson gave her but her options were limited. Eyeing the administration building as she speaks up "Did you send a group out before us? Scouts? Know of anyone who would be wandering through here?"</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) Wolfwood purses her lips, then shakes her head. "Nah. Nobody but us. Why, you..." She seems to get the idea and glances back towards the giant scrap pile. "Unfortunately, there's a trade route that passes through the area. If the weather's bad or something makes the normal route dangerous, it wouldn't shock me if someone tried coming closer to the station here and...well. If the golems happen to be wandering..." She trails off and exhales, the sound of her breath the only solid indication of her being at all disturbed. The joys of power armor.</div><div title="Tyo" style="margin-top:2em">(Tyo) Tyo notices the changes in the environment as soon as they pass outside the boundries of the nanite bubble, parts of his split consciousness break off to try managing the strain of his own body on itself. Once they reach their destination the wolf opens the door of his snake pet's Bronco gathering with the assembed group as the prepare for the chaos that is almost assured to be unleashed from Wolfwood's words, he looks over his fellow operatives as he stays somewhat close to Waconet while his purple wolven eyes land onto that instrument in those hands that he has seen used to brutal measures more than once. The wolf prepares his own equipment as he readily place a paw onto the warhorn that lies beneath his duster, his eyes scan the building looking over it's state before drifting around the the landscape before him, that wolfish grin on his lips hold firmly with the anticipation of battle from the commander's words before offering some himself in hopes of encourgment, "We know our job, let's get thing done folks!"</div> <div title="Janex" style="margin-top:2em">(Janex) Janex enjoys the drive immensely, considering the pair seem unfazed at traveling with a hellhound. He even warms up to join in the banter, even as some bumps in the road and Caitlin's driving make him hold on to his seat with nerves. As he gathers 'round to hear Wolfwood out, he eyes his surroundings calmly, only pointing to an abandoned-looking apartment complex overlooking the area once the conversation hits a lull. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p> "Think I'd be better off taking the golems from up there," he offers. "Might have eyes on the golems and pull focus from the admin building if they're more worried about me."</div> <div title="Everdeene" style="margin-top:2em">(Everdeene) Everdeene hisses out in a soothing tone, "I have a custom made Rocket Launcher, if we find a weak-point of anything we have to face, expose it as much as possible, and have me fire away a good shot at it, or, if it's too mobile, I can use my chainsword to try and tear through some limbs if possible, or armor if needed." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
She then looks to the others, "And if there's a need for healing or food, I can try to provide what I can on the move, hope you like milk~" She adds with a sing-song tone, followed by a wink. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
"Also, I see a few good spots over there and there that would work for a few potentially bad hits, make sure to remember them." she says as she points out said spots, before looking with annoyed confusion, "Anyone else feeling... heavier now...? I feel like I'm under the ocean again... except even heavier..." Everdeene shifts around as she asks.</div> <div title="Rulsk" style="margin-top:2em">(Rulsk) Rulsk is in constant pain. When people told him about the world outside the Bubble, they never mentioned just how much it would *hurt* to simply exist out here. He's forced to slowly burn his stores of builder nanites to stave off a bone-deep ache that fills him right to the core. Despite doing so, every jolt of the truck over a rough patch on the highway feels like he's being simultaneously crushed and stretched to breaking, somehow all at once. He's grateful when they arrive, as it means he can finally stand and stretch out his sore muscles again.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>As the convoy pulls up to the old administrative building, the cloying scent of death fills his nose, making him raise his hackles, silently snarling through grit teeth. At Wolfwood's question, he rumbles, "Someone died here recently, or at least some of those bodies are much, much fresher than the others. Whatever is here is definitely still active." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
He glances at the arrayed junk, eyes flicking between the various piles of junk, his ears perked as he focuses his full attention on trying to detect threats. A semi-truck covered in industrial server racks... sounds off. So too does a tightly packed stack of junker cars. And... a pit of gravel. None of those things should be moving, but he can hear the faint sounds of shifting and grinding coming from them. The barricades blocking off something covered in a tarp, the bronze bear statue with a military dressed mannequin draped across its back, and the suspiciously golem shaped assortment of metal do flare up his instincts, but he can't hear any sounds coming from them. He conveys his findings to the group, pointing with his muzzle one after another at the three junkpiles that are making ominous sounds, "There... there... and there. I hear movement."</div> <div title="Waconet" style="margin-top:2em">(Waconet) Waconet works on pulling several boxes out from his vehicle, tucking in his wings as his serpentine form otherwise fits easily inside as he judiciously unloads quite the collection of equipment. And once fully unloaded, he opens the boxes to reveal... Exactly what you might expect from an Explosives Expert. Boxes of grenades, satchel charges, rockets and even a mortar with its own box of shells and charges ready to go. He places the mortar up first, taking a look through his binoculars and using them to sight in potential targets. He follows up with setting out the charges and shells for the mortar. He has the Rocket launcher hung on a sling around his figure with spare ammo being carried in a backpack. And with that, he's ready to go. </div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Shielding his eyes from the sun, the feral-looking wolf-beast stares over the building, watching the others as they shuffle about, making their preparations before eyeing the team with heavy artillery, the nudist cocking his head to the side. "Hey- take a look over there real quick..." He gestures around the scrap barricades, the building practically mid-collapse as it already was. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>"Server's in there somewhere and we've got no idea how battered it is... probably won't survive if the place comes crashing around on it. If we're gonna be firing rockets and artillery in there, we need to make sure me and the rest of the boys in Charlie've got something to work with once the dust clears..." He sighs, scratching his chin and staring up towards Caitlin and Janex, "You two- if we're pissing them off, see if you can't draw them |outside|, we've got a beehive in there and a lot of room to work with, see where they're coming from with a few pot-shots and make some call-outs, if we're smart we can knock out some paths |away| from the building and force them to either bunker down or come to |us| all the way out this way. If even one stray plate slips off that tower, this whole operation might be in for some bad news..." Gesturing to the front of the would-be scrapyard, he mutters, "We've got the tools to build a funnel and I'm sure I could make some spare if we end up running out of toys... look for the van with an M and a tail on it if you need to resupply or get anything patched up out here."</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) Wolfwood hmns, nods, and recovers her hammer. "I agree with him. If we can kick the hornet's nest and draw them further from the building, all the better." She looks to Waco. "Everyone, get into position. Once we're ready, we can ring the bell."</div><div title="Waconet" style="margin-top:2em">(Waconet) Waconet looks over his shell supplies, "Draw them out? I got a couple of smoke shells that make a boom noise and leave a cloud, but won't hurt the building itself. I could even have the shells explode up in the air so they won't obstruct our view of the area."</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) Wolfwood shrugs. "Your call. I'd say the areal explosives. Those blow up downwards, right? Fired over the yard, it'd entirely miss the building."</div> <div title="Waconet" style="margin-top:2em">(Waconet) Waconet nods to the power armored human, "Shrapnel shots, ariel burst, I got those too. Make the call when you want the Artillery to start."</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) Everyone moves to get into position and prepare for the golems to be lured out to fight the team on their own terms. Wolfwood hunkers down by a toppled van and shoots Waconet a nod. It's go time.</div> <div title="Caitlin" style="margin-top:2em">(Caitlin) Caitlin eyes the building Janex pointed out above the area in thought as her ears twitch and her muscles ache. Having been so long since she was outside the bubble she almost forgot how it felt to be out here. The terrible itch, the pain of her every cell letting her know its not a good idea to be out of a bubble as she digs into her pocket to pull out a bottle and toss back two of the pills while the plan is put together. Turning around she points to Greyson and the van, moving over herself to pull the AMR out that he had offered her to get into position. Climbing the tallest of the vehicles they had to get into a, potentially awkward, position to utilize it as she zeros in the scope and waits.</div> <div title="Tyo" style="margin-top:2em">(Tyo) Tyo gives his fluffy head as if trying to get himself into the correct mindset as he tries to get himself into the best position he can with the impending chance of combats from what the commander Wolfwood has mentioned, the wolf shifts himself behind Waco as he sees the snake preparing mass violence. The wolf pulls that instrument out from his duster, aa horn of ebony marbled with a couple small streaks of purple, holding it close he shifts himself back further and further until he is standing behind that powerful serpent form ready to alert the other if he spots any movement that may be the aforementioned golems moving in to the group's position. While preparing he keeps what left over attention he has on the rest of his squad trying to make sure to jump to give them some help if need be, his fur tingles slightly as if electrified by the tension lingering in atmosphere.</div> <div title="Everdeene" style="margin-top:2em">(Everdeene) Everdeene spends a moment loading her rocket launcher, gets to aiming it from a good distance, and then aiming it, steading her rocket launcher with three of her four arms and having her fourth ready to fire, giving a nod to show her ready to go.</div> <div title="Rulsk" style="margin-top:2em">(Rulsk) Rulsk nods and moves to the front of the formation, poised and ready to catch the attention of any hostiles and ensure they engage him and nobody else, if at all possible. He bristles with anticipation, aches fading away as adrenaline kicks in.</div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Scampering up the roadside back towards the Merc N' Tails van, Greyson slips up the side of the hood, making his way onto the roof with a pair of binoculars as he takes position by the roadside, a bouquet of smoke and tear grenades at his side, eyes flicking between his comms unit and the scene laid out in front of him. While it wasn't an aerial viewpoint, it would be the safest place for him, not only free cover, but something mobile, a far better chance for survival should anyone need to run and gun, keys left in the driver's seat, already adjusted and laid back.</div> <div title="Janex" style="margin-top:2em">(Janex) The black hound tips his muzzle back and squints up at a water tower with clear sight lines to the spots Rulsk noted, changing his gameplan and nodding to the rest of the group. Checking his pack and his energy weapons one last time, he hustles off to climb up the tower's height and oversee the field of battle. He even manages to take in a breathtaking view of the horizon as he climbs, looking out at a world he hadn't seen in... who knows how long, by now.</div> <div title="Waconet" style="margin-top:2em">(Waconet) Waconet , upon seeing the nod from Wolfwood, hefts up one of the shells and hangs it over the pre-sighted mortar. He shouts "Fire for effect!" before dropping the shell and covering his ear canals. And even with those covered he still can hear the boom as the shell is projected upwards, the concussive force feeling like a kick all over his form causes him to wince a bit as he's not supported by the nanites out here. The shell, reaching its peak about 4 seconds later, arcs downwards, having reached a height in the thousands of feet racing downwards towards the grounds just outside the administration building. And with just a fraction of a second away from impacting the ground, it detonates, sending a barage of shrapnel into a tight cone into the ground, sending up dust from the impact. The explosion sending another shockwave towards the group. The quetzalcoatl, removing his hands from his ears, picks up another round, ready to fire again.</div><div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) There is a loud groaning sound. Both from the pile of scrap as well as from the yard. Suddenly, two of the piles of junk in the yard burst to life.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
The first to become visible bursts forth from the gravel filled pothole. It appears the gravel was only laid out over a hunk of sheet metal with the golem waiting beneath. The golem appears to have been structured around equipment taken out of a sports focused store. Framed with what might have been goal posts, equipped with several different types of ball launchers, and seemingly powered by several off board boat motors. Its muscles are even made out of the elastics you would find in a weight room which have been surrounded by several layers of plastic taken from the bottles that hold tennis balls. On its back is a cage carrying an assortment of ball shaped projectiles which appear to be designed to erupt on impact. Who knows what that ball buster can do!<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
The second roar is very tinny and comes from what one might have previously presumed was immobile. Made of seemingly solid brass, the animated statue has seams around its joints allowing for fully articulated movement. Its claws appear to be made of sharpened hooks taken off of trailers that were securely welded onto the brass. It is covered in scratches and gouges which implicate it having been assaulted by people in the past. The fact it is still moving suggests they were added to the pile. On its back is a mannequin which, based on its deteriorating attire, looks to have been taken out of a local museum. It appears to have once been an accurate presentation of Teddy Roosevelt, though time has not been kind to it. Thick wires and cables attach the mannequin to the statue and provide it something far more dangerous than claws: opposable thumbs. Its arm extends out like a grappling hook and grabs a long pipe that it appears to be readying to use as a lance.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
Wolfwood swears as she sees smaller, short golems start to climb out of the pile. Far less dangerous looking than the big golems but in mass could overwhelm the party if not taken out quickly. "Alright! Small change of plans! I'm going to flank the big fuckers once you have them distracted and stomp out the little things before they become a swarm! The rest of you! I need you to kill that freak of a golem! And kill that god damn president!"<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
Wolfwood gets into position to bolt past the golems. The more agile sports-themed golem will pass first, but will certainly be harder to hit. The slower moving but very tanky bear statue will pass the yard's threshold second.</div> <div title="Waconet" style="margin-top:2em">(Waconet) Waconet isn't aimed at either of those two large golems and puts the shell back into the case. Instead, he pulls up his equipped rocket launcher and sees that the sporty golem is already on the move towards the group. He shoulders the launcher and takes aim at the ball launching menace. Taking aim at the charging golem, the snake fires the rocket, igniting the booster within as the projectile jets forwards, containing a dense payload,designed to slam into a target and to add insult to injury, detonate into a fiery storm of burning heat. </div> <div title="Tyo" style="margin-top:2em">(Tyo) Tyo feeling those shock waves coursing like a tsunami through the bristles of his fur the wolf bring his warhorn up to his lips just in case while staying as close to the progenitor of the forceful waves as his fluffy pelt brushes softly against Waconet's side, his gaze remains to the best of his ability fixed on any sudden movements from anyone or thing but his squad, and only moments after Waco's artillery. Seeing those shapes forming from the piles that scrap he quickly blows his horn as he rallies his allies with that thunderous tone that reverberates through the golems' frames as he signals the beginning of battle, after giving out his call his paws flutter inside of his trench coat putting away his horn and taking up a violin colored as dark as the wolf's own abyssal fur save for the grey bands that make up the grain of the wood it is shaped while he takes a paw step away from that majestic frame adorned with brilliant emerald.</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) The sports golem, seeing Waco preparing to fire a rocket, roars in boat engine and fires off a volley of random ball objects down range seemingly trying to strike the rocket before it hits. If one were to slow down time and follow from the perspective of that rocket, it would be something straight out of a movie as the rapidly moving projectile dodges each object. When it finally does hit something, it's close enough to the golem to cause it to stumble back, several strands of taught rubber muscle snapping from the shockwave. It avoided the worst of the blast, but it's clearly not unharmed.</div> <div title="Caitlin" style="margin-top:2em">(Caitlin) Caitlin takes a deep breath as she adjusts the scope waiting for the boom. Then the boom hits, the roaring a sound in the back of her mind as everything between her and the massive brass creature of an ex president fades away. Her focus narrowing to a pin cushion of the scope as she rakes it over the target. Looking for a chink in the armor, a small flaw. Eye sighting on the old president and cables holding it together as her eye is drawn to the back plating and how it was spliced open by the cabling. Realizing what she's seeing as she raises her voice to be heard over the chaos. "The Rider's the weakpoint! The Tether points fuck the plating, break its back!" She follows up her words by squeezing the trigger and letting the AMR Greyson leant her roar and kick against her shoulder as a round is sent down range for that bull and rider. Looking to bag herself a big prize in this big game hunting!</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) The funny thing about anti-material rifles is that they end to be very against the preservation of matter. While the bullet over penetrates the bear, the hole it leaves causes its rider's ass to fall down into the cavity which both makes its control harder and the aim of its makeshift lance far more difficult. The dead president looks in Caitlin's direction, however! It clearly does not appreciate being given the worst seat in the house. Someone needs to distract it or it's going to redirect the bear to head not just towards her but also their rides home.</div><div title="Janex" style="margin-top:2em">(Janex) Janex hardly summits the water tower, panting as he sits on the grated floor of the platform, when the blast off Waconet's artillery goes off. Covering his ears and scrabbling back as he feels his whole body shake from the explosion, he peers down as the field stirs to life with the abominations awakening below. Eyes darting between the two golems, the hellhound silently picks the sturdier of the two to set his aim down on, focusing on Roosevelt and the tethers at the bear's back, at Cait's advice. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p> "All right, Mr. President..." Janex mutters to himself, the sole audience of his lame joke, as infernal fire gathers around his closed paw. "...this is for 'Manifest Destiny.'" Eyes aglow, gritting his teeth as the unholy brand on the paw sears brightly into his flesh, he rears back and hurls a fireball down at the disfigured mannequin.</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) The president is now on fire. Probably not a sentence anyone here was imagining would be relevant to their life but here you are. The mannequin burns brightly, the wires and cables controlling it beginning to heat it. Some of that fire also apparently got into its innards as horrible grinding noises now are emitted by the bear as it moves. That maddeningly good throw of a hellish fireball might have just made the bear's death inevitable as well as its rider. How long it will take for it to keel over is another matter.</div> <div title="Everdeene" style="margin-top:2em">(Everdeene) Everdeene growls having aiming at the brass beast, contemplating it for a bit, before aiming ahead of where the beast will be running and aiming to blind it further with an explosion at it's feet. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
"Can't hit what you can't see, how about keeling over now, rather than later!" she shouts after the shot.</div> <div title="Rulsk" style="margin-top:2em">(Rulsk) Rulsk sees the athletic golem start to unload its balls everywhere and the former president's dire focus. He immediately starts to snarl and howl, bark and growl, rant and roar to try to draw the focus of both enemies. The stars in his coat blaze into hellfire and surround him in raging, unholy flames. He pivots to try to block their advance as the cloud of dust rises, a wall of black fur, power armor, and stellar plasma keeping danger at bay and away from his friends. He tenses like a coiled spring, then lunges forwards in a bodily tackle at the sports equipment monstrosity, to knock it to the ground and pin it in place. </div> <div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Greyson ogling the combat from afar, the wolf hefts up his comms device, crackling over the radio, "Can confirm some good hits and an act of treason before that dust-storm picked up there... not that that's a bad thing." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>A snicker rises from his throat, "Now that Sporty's blind, see if you can all pick up a few shots on Yogi, armor's tightly woven, stance isn't defensive yet so it looks like he's gonna be doing the real damage while the one hurling balls is going for a diversion. If one of you wants to take him out of the picture, just aim for the supports, those posts'll crack like eggs if you get em in the right spot..." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>He squints into the distance, muttering, "Cait, Jan, you guys got eyes on anything else up there I should be taking a look at? Only so much I can see from all the way out here and I don't got that kinda birds-eye."</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) To say the team has had a strong start would be an understatement. While the bear does charge out of the yard, the dust cloud has prevented it from being able to immediately charge at anyone. Now that is past the cloud, however, it can clearly see where everyone is. Most importantly, what is clearly the biggest threat of the lot. It begins to charge in Rulsk's direction.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
Meanwhile, the sports golem revs up its engines and begins to pelt the large armored mutant with balls covered in spikes. As he is so close and unable to dodge, he of course gets hit point blank. Undeterred, however, the mutant prevents it from targeting anyone else and the awkward angle it shot from made the wounds he sustained flesh wounds at worst.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
Back towards the yard, the sound of small blasts can be heard. Janex can see from his high perch that Wolfwood is playing at being the Doom Marine as she rips and tears at the small golems. Occasionally she slams her sledge hammer into a group of them, a small directed explosion erupting from the point she strikes and blasting the things to bits. She's holding up just fine so far.</div> <div title="Waconet" style="margin-top:2em">(Waconet) Waconet looks over at Rulsk holding down the sport golem, while looking like the wolf is taking a few hits by some flying balls. Thinking better than hitting it with another rocket he sets aside Kindness as he then equips a gun. This Gun he Found on the Moon. He shoulders the rifle and proceeds to show up Lee Harvey Oswald. As the feathered snake had trained specifically to hit up to four times with his rifle.</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) The sport supply adorned golem is now ever so slightly less sporty as all of the ball launchers on its chassis seize on account of a severe case of lead poisoning. It is still quite a heavy golem, however, and can certainly do damage with its abject mass. The boat engines that power it rev up loudly as it continues to try and escape from the giant wolf's grasp...however, as it stands, it can no longer fire at things from afar. The team can safely focus on the bear while Rulsk tears apart the golem.</div> <div title="Caitlin" style="margin-top:2em">(Caitlin) Caitlin answers Greyson by hotkeying her mic and allowing him to get an earful of the AMR as she cycles rounds. "Moving. I'll let you know if something bites me." She finally answers before the rifle is hefted into her hands and she bolts off the vehicle to relocate from her shot. Heading towards some of the sturdy cover that was pointed out before this entire firefight had begun. Hitting the cover hard she wheezes out a breath, making a note to start carrying a rifle of this size or similar weight next time she does running, before propping up the rifle on the debris and waiting. Sighting in her scope for hitting the bear-bull again as she scans the area near her for more threats as she keys the mic to speak to Greyson again. "Two targets are priority, Wolfwoods churning and burning the little guys. Once this is done think we are clear." Her rifle coming back up to her shoulder as she works to sighting in another shot.</div> <div title="Tyo" style="margin-top:2em">(Tyo) Tyo lets out a small rumbling chuckle as what he wants to his doesn't matter for sight as he begins to pull the bow of his violin across those strings letting those note ring out, a passionate solo plays out and if one knows the specific piece of music the wolf is playing they would know it's the Devil's Trill which flows outwards while keeping himself behind the snake that is preparing for another wave of violence, his gaze drifts from each of the members of ther group hoping his ballad inspires them before settling on the oncoming golem assault with a fire blazing in those amethyst wolven orbs.</div><div title="Janex" style="margin-top:2em">(Janex) As Janex readies another ball of fire in his fist, he cocks his ear to the distant sound of explosions, catching the sight of Wolfwood's latest hammer swing sending tiny golems flying in every direction. With his free paw, he activates his comms to update Greyson and Caitlin. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p> "Same on my end, so far I just see Wolfwood making hay out of those little guys. Speaking of which--" His last words come out somewhat pained, as the flames gathering around his paw reach their height. With a bellow, the hellhound hurls another infernal fireball down on the misshapen statue and rider, shaking out his paw and clutching it with a wince.</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) The bear rears up as another fireball hits it. The wires holding the mannequin president attached snap, the mannequin slumping in the cavity of the golem's back. It emits a tinny roar and looks towards Everdeene who it proceeds to charge. It is on fire, sagging, and in poor shape.</div> <div title="Everdeene" style="margin-top:2em">(Everdeene) Everdeene's roar gets everyone's attention as they watch the Shadow Dragoness suddenly charge across the battlefield and upom impact the torso gets entirely dislodged from it's limbs in an almost cartoonish fashion, and her claws, tightly gripping the partially melted, flaming torso, shatter it entirely, upon impact with the ground.</div> <div title="Rulsk" style="margin-top:2em">(Rulsk) Rulsk snarls as the heavy balls bounce off his armored body. As Waconet's pinpoint accurate gunfire shatters the launchers that have been harrying him, he grins widely, fangs bared in pleasure and promised aggression. His hellfire scorches the sports golem below him, a prelude to what the wolf is about to unleash. The only warning the athletic amalgamation gets is the widening of the massive canine's jaws, before a beam of raw astral fire erupts from his throat. Even blunted by the lack of nanites, very little can resist an eruption of plasma. The huge wolf keeps his prey trapped beneath him as he unleashes the fury of a star directly onto it. It flails wildly as it tries to free it self, to escape its demise, but it is no use. Its struggles weaken and fade into mere twitches as its elastic muscles snap, its remaining projectiles crack and detonate, and even its goalpost bones creak, sag, and ultimately slough away into molten metal. Soon, there's nothing left but the broken remains of a shattered and roasted golem. The triumphant wolf arches his body, throws his head back, and howls in victory. </div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) As the howl passes, the silence compared to just seconds before is almost deafening. Caitlyn looks off to the side and sees that Wolfwood is pinning a larger one of the small golems down to the ground by the neck with a hand as she kneels over the pile. It seems she finally was able to get close enough to get to work securing the server. The fight is over. For many, this is the first fight experienced outside of the bubble. As are the inevitable aches and pains that are going to start ringing out loud as the adrenaline runs out. The team can make their way back to the yard and regroup as Wolfwood works. The sounds of combat at the power relay are starting to die down as well, though the precise fate of what has happened there is unknown.</div> <div title="Waconet" style="margin-top:2em">(Waconet) Waconet focuses on bringing up a minibubble as his NICE starts up and activates his Regulation Nanomagic for those folks who were really starting to feel the effects of being out of bubble. As he also had Distrubuted Nanomagic, any one who had a NICE not being used could extend the range of the area he could help out by an additional 5 ft. </div> <div title="Caitlin" style="margin-top:2em">(Caitlin) Caitlin kept her guard up, her weapon ready as she scanned the field of combat and watched as the two golems get torn to shreds and Wolfwood seems to be able to handle herself. Finally, finally as the last pieces of the brass bear hit the ground does she finally hit the safety on the gun and take a deep breath. Rubbing at her shoulder as she opens comms. "Right, Wolfwood think we are good over here. Anyone hurt? Take a ball to the balls? Or we get out of here with a few scratches?" Gripping the carry handle of the AMR she lifts it in both hands with a huff and admires the weapon for a second, She finally got to fire an AMR and not get yelled at!</div> <div title="Tyo" style="margin-top:2em">(Tyo) Tyo lets out a small sigh of relief as he sees those juggernaut golems but down to rest and slows the melody of his instrument, the wolf begins to put away his trusty violin noticing some black almost oily fluid left on the bow he gives not heed to it as he places it back into it's proper place inside of his duster. One of the Brood King's paws reaches outwards giving the spine of his closest companion and member of his household a soft pat on his serpentine back, "Good job boi." before his looks on to the decapitated building, "you know how to get a server running, right?" his gaze blistered with obvious concern at the sight of the building the server is hosted in with a wary grin plastered on his furry lips, the wolf's own nanties beginning to get to work in supporting his pet in the task at hand with a small could spilling forth from that fluffy pelt.</div> <div title="Janex" style="margin-top:2em">(Janex) Watching from high as the bear came down with a sickening crunch, only to be temporarily blinded as the concentrated power of the sun destroyed the pile of leftovers from gym class, Janex shields his eyes, lowering his paw to see the dust settling over their battlefield. A slightly delirious laugh sets in, along with the exhaustion he'd been suppressing, as he sits back against the water tower, dangling his hindpaws from the platform. He'd done what he came to do. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p> "Yeah, I think I'll live..." the hellhound murmurs into his comms as he cradles the searing brand on his paw to his chest. "I'll be down in a minute," he pants, looking out onto the view sretching for miles. So the world outside the bubble was still there, huh...?</div> <div title="Everdeene" style="margin-top:2em">(Everdeene) Everdeene lets out a roar alongside Rulsk's howl, and once the adrenaline begins to fade away, she drags herself onto the trailer and lays on her side, "I-if anyone's~... h-hungry, there's~... plenty of milk to go around for everyone~..." she gestures to her breasts.</div> <div title="Rulsk" style="margin-top:2em">(Rulsk) Rulsk feels *immediate* relief as Waconet's minibubble covers him. He wags his tail gratefully and gives a deep sigh as all the aches of the long journey and of the battle fade away practically instantly. His healing factor kicks into its usual level of efficiency and closes the few superficial wounds he'd taken almost instantly. He lowers his head to fix his jaws around the remaining scrap of the broken and melted sports golem, then drags it closer to the group. He's tired and hungry, but jubilant at how things had turned out. The fight, fast though it was, took a lot out of him, as he's never been in such a hostile environment before. He settles down next to Waconet so that he can rest within the radius of the minibubble his dear friend is generating, albeit behind a truck and more or less out of sight of the main group as he refills his nanite reserves in the way ravenous wolves are known for. </div><div title="Greyson" style="margin-top:2em">(Greyson) Greyson slips off the topside of the van, setting his equipment into the backside before running over to check on the damage, walking alongside Caitlin and lifting the brass from beside the totaled bear and its rider, clapping the woman's shoulder, "Relax, boss, think the worst we got's a nibbling... oughta secure that building before Charlie gets in here, think when I come back I'd like it to be standing up a bit... and for now it looks like a stiff breeze might topple the whole damn thing. " He snickers, arching a brow. <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>"You make it out alright? Saw a bit of scuttling, but the van's not exactly the best vantage point." At that crackling into the comms, the wolf-beast murmurs, "I've got some spare tylenol with both your names on it right now..." He glances up towards the tower, humming, "Might have to bring it up to you- don't think I've seen the world from that high up since I got inoculated- especially not out here..." <p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p><p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>Everdeene's offering brings a wince from the mutt's muzzle, "I'll... pass, got some Clif bars back in the van.. but uh- thanks, yeah?" He chuckles, staring on as Rulsk digs into the recently maimed golem, eyes flicking briefly towards Caitlin, then back towards the recently decimated creature, offering a shrug in turn.</div> <div title="Wolfwood" style="margin-top:2em">(Wolfwood) As Wolfwood finishing sending a reset signal to the server, the sputter of new golems coming out of the pile ceases. Still moving, but no new ones are being generated. For now. She knows that it will just pick things right back up if it doesn't get sufficient power and repairs soon. She glances back over towards the relay.<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>

"Hey! This is Alpha. Sector cleared! How're things over there?"<p style="height:0.5em;margin:0"></p>
TO BE CONTINUED.</div>

Template:Infobox/Shortlink

2025-06-03T17:42:42Z

Syntax McBucketface: Protected "Template:Infobox/Shortlink" ([Edit=Allow only administrators] (indefinite) [Move=Allow only administrators] (indefinite))

<includeonly><dl>
{{#if:{{{3|}}}|<dt>[[{{{1}}}|{{{3}}}]]</dt>|<dt>[[{{{1}}}]]</dt>}}
<dd>{{Status|{{{2}}}}}</dd>
</dl>
</includeonly><noinclude>
{{/doc}}
[[Category:Infobox Templates]][[Category:Templates]]
</noinclude>

Template:Infobox/Shortlink/doc

2025-06-03T17:42:37Z

Syntax McBucketface: Protected "Template:Infobox/Shortlink/doc" ([Edit=Allow only administrators] (indefinite) [Move=Allow only administrators] (indefinite))

==Usage==
<pre>
<nowiki>{{Infobox/Shortlink|Link|Description|Link Alias}}</nowiki>
</pre>

==Data Template==
<templatedata>
{
"params": {
"1": {
"description": "This text will create a link to a page on a bulleted line.",
"type": "wiki-page-name",
"required": true,
"label": "Top Line"
},
"2": {
"label": "Bottom Line",
"description": "This text appears on a sub-line and could contain a relationship to the above text, or a rank or role in an organization.",
"type": "string",
"suggested": true
},
"3": {
"label": "Link Alias",
"description": "Provides the link with an alternative name for the link",
"type": "string"
}
},
"description": "This template quickly creates and formats text for use in listed elements within an existing infobox template.",
"format": "inline",
"paramOrder": [
"1",
"2",
"3"
]
}
</templatedata>

Template:Infobox/Location

2025-06-03T17:42:31Z

Syntax McBucketface: Protected "Template:Infobox/Location" ([Edit=Allow only administrators] (indefinite) [Move=Allow only administrators] (indefinite))

<includeonly>[[Category:Locations]]<table class="infobox-table" style="padding-top:0;float:right">
<tr id="infobox-table-img-bg">
<td width="100%" colspan="3" class="infobox-table-img-bg" style="text-align: center; padding:0 !important;">{{#if:{{{Image|}}}|[[File:{{{Image}}}|400px]]|[[File:Placeholder.png|400px]]}}</td>
</tr><tr>
<th width="100%" colspan="3" class="infobox-table-name">{{PAGENAME}}</th>
</tr>
{{#if:{{{Location|}}}{{{MapImg|}}}{{{Aliases|}}}{{{Associations|}}}|{{#if:{{{Location|}}}|<tr>
<td width="40%" valign="top" colspan="2" style="padding:3px;">Location</td>
<td width="60%" style="padding:3px;">{{{Location}}}</td>
</tr>}}{{#if:{{{Aliases|}}}<tr>
<td width="40%" valign="top" colspan="2" style="padding:3px;">Aliases</td>
<td width="60%" style="padding:3px;">{{{Aliases}}}</td>
</tr>}}{{#if:{{{Associations|}}}|<tr>
<td width="40%" valign="top" colspan="2" style="padding:3px;">Associations</td>
<td width="60%" style="padding:3px;">{{{Associations}}}</td>
</tr>}}}}
{{#if:{{{MapImg|}}}|
<th width="100%" colspan="3" class="infobox-table-h1" style="text-align: center;">Location Map</th>
<tr id="infobox-table-img-bg" style="padding-top: 10px;">
<td width="100%" colspan="3" class="infobox-table-img" style="text-align: center; padding:0 !important;">[[File:{{{MapImg}}}|400px]]</td>
</tr>}}
</table>
<templatestyles src="Template:Infobox/styles.css" />
</includeonly><noinclude>
{{/doc}}
[[Category:Infobox Templates]][[Category:Templates]]
</noinclude>

Template:Note/styles.css

2025-06-03T17:42:22Z

Syntax McBucketface: Protected "Template:Note/styles.css" ([Edit=Allow only administrators] (indefinite) [Move=Allow only administrators] (indefinite))

div.note {
position: relative;
min-height: 3.1em;
margin: 0.5em 5em;
padding: 0.1em 1em 0.1em 4em;
border: 1px solid #8d8d8d;
border-radius: 0.5em;
display: flex;
align-items: center;
box-shadow: 0 12px 18px -12px #373737;
background-color: #efefef;
}
div.note-warning {
border-color: #c63f17;
background-color: #ffab91;
box-shadow: 0 12px 18px -12px #c63f17;
}
div.note-lore {
border-color: #6b9b37;
background-color: #cfff95;
box-shadow: 0 12px 18px -12px #6b9b37;
}
div.note img:first-of-type {
position: absolute;
width: 2em;
height: 2em;
left: 2em;
top: 0.6em;
transform: translatex(-50%);
opacity: .60
}

Template:Note

2025-06-03T17:42:15Z

Syntax McBucketface: Protected "Template:Note" ([Edit=Allow only administrators] (indefinite) [Move=Allow only administrators] (indefinite))

<includeonly>
<div class="note note-{{lc:{{{Icon}}}}}">
[[File:icon_note{{#if: {{{Icon|}}} | _{{lc:{{{Icon}}}}} | }}.png|frameless|link=]]
{{{Content|There's an interesting note you should probably be aware of here, but whoever added this note forgot to fill it in.}}}
</div>
</includeonly><noinclude>
A template for short notes.

== Usage ==
<pre>
{{Note
| Icon = [<empty>|Warning|Lore]
| Content = Content of the note, which can be as long as you like really, but this template is intended for notes of a few sentences in length really.
}}
</pre>

== Examples ==
<pre>
{{Note
| Content = This is a note, for information that needs to have attention drawn to it.
}}

{{Note
| Icon = Warning
| Content = This is a warning, used to indicate something that may have non-obvious unintended effects.
}}

{{Note
| Icon = Lore
| Content = This is a lore note, for noting things about the game's background and IC (in-character) history.
}}
</pre>

{{Note
| Content = This is a note, for information that needs to have attention drawn to it.
}}
{{Note
| Icon = Warning
| Content = This is a warning, used to indicate something that may have non-obvious unintended effects.
}}
{{Note
| Icon = Lore
| Content = This is a lore note, for noting things about the game's background and IC (in-character) history.
}}
[[Category:Templates]]
</noinclude>
<templatestyles src="Template:Note/styles.css" />

Wolfwood

2025-06-02T02:16:27Z

Syntax McBucketface:

{{Infobox/Character
| Image = Wolfwood.png
| realName = Madison Wolfwood
| Status = Active
| BirthDate = 1998-08-10
| Age = 26
| Gender = Female
| mutantStrain = Human
| Occupation = Mechanic
| Focus = Rebuild Society
| Aliases = Mads, Maddie
| BirthPlace = [[Taos, New Mexico]]
| Nationality = United States of America
| Pronouns = She/Her
| Residence = Apocofuel
| Height = 6'0"
| Weight = 180 Lbs
| Eyes = Brown
| Hair = Dark Brown
| Marital = Single
| Sexuality = Demisexual(Male preference)
| Partner = None
| Children =
| guildAffiliation = Apocofuel
| guildRank = Owner
| PlayedBy = Screwbucket
| Characters = [[Syntax]] - [[Sigrun]] - [[Bandit]]
}}
__TOC__
=History=
== Early Life ==
Madison was born to James and Rebecca Wolfwood in a small town in the boonies of New Mexico in 1998. Normally the location of where you grew up and the year you were born would be footnotes in a story. However, in 2008, P-Day changed the world forever and, across the world, an entire generation was effectively lost.

Madison was one of the exceptions given where she was born. While her childhood was fairly hard, she was frankly lucky to have one at all. A common point of contention was David Wolfwood; her uncle and one of the people who returned to Taos mutated but mentally whole. Her parents were heavily distrustful of anything to do with mutants and were terrified he would attack her without any basis beyond the reputation mutants carried. She was all but forbidden to see him again until she was 12 when her parents managed to get her a fairly effective intermediate inoculation, but even then, a non-mutant would need to be present. Armed.

While she bought into her parents bigotries early on, being able to see her uncle again after the inoculation led her to dramatically change her tune as she went through puberty. While the mutants in the mutant side of town were open and honest with her about puberty if not downright and what it came with if not downright protective of her, her parents fears of the nanites and mutations led them to take an excessively conservative approach not just to sex education but self expression as a whole. While she feared mutating, her resentment for not just how her parents treated her but how they treated her uncle and his ilk wore on her more.

When she overheard an argument between her uncle and father over her dad's interest in taking the plunge and trying to flee to New York, she had enough. Just in time for her 19th birthday, Madison Wolfwood hopped into a pickup she had been repairing and fled town.

==Early 20's==
A few months after running away, Madison was cornered and kidnapped by a biker gang of Monkey. While they were debating if they should take her to the "Tune Up" shed to be transformed, a rival gang of Raccoon mutants attacked their garage. Amidst all of the chaos, yet ANOTHER gang of what could be best described as "Generic Cop" mutants attacked and captured both of the gang's leaders. In hopes of earning enough favor to NOT be dragged into the Tune Up shed, Madison attempted and somehow succeeded in both arranging a meeting between the two gang lieutenants and convincing them to work together to free their respective leaders. In the process of their preparations, Madison joined in and assisted in repairing the vehicles that were damaged in the attack.

After a brutal rescue, the leaders of the two gangs were disposed and replaced by their lieutenants when both attempted to restart the gang war. The two gangs joined forces and, while still feral, found a new outlook and approach to the world. Madison was made an honorary member and, to her relief, not forcibly transformed. She remained with them for a few more weeks, taking time to upgrade her car for the wasteland ahead. When the time came to leave, she was offered one last time to join the gang properly as a mutant before being reluctantly released into the great unknown of the wasteland.

She continued to travel the wasteland, generally making her way towards Fairhaven after hearing the city was becoming a safe place to live. While she remained in the wastelands for many, many years, she inevitably made her way into Fairhaven.
== Personality ==

== Notable Information ==

Category:Female PCs

2025-06-02T02:04:52Z

Syntax McBucketface: Created page with "Category: Active PCs"

[[Category: Active PCs]]

Taos

2025-06-02T01:43:54Z

Syntax McBucketface:

{{Infobox/Location
|Image=TaosSeal.png
|Location=New Mexico
|MapImg=TaosMap.png
|Aliases=
|Associations=
{{Infobox/Shortlink|Wolfwood|Former Resident|Madison Wolfwood}}
}}
__TOC__
= Description =
Taos is a human run town that continued through P-Day and continues operation to this day. The controlled territory is larger than the town itself with the old town now serving as something of a downtown with what was once untouched land now hosting various cottages and several seasonal farms. While it has a regional airport, it is rarely utilized and the local militia claim to reserve the right to shoot down aircraft that move into their airspace that do not respond to radio hails.

While somewhat hostile towards mutants, some mutants are conditionally allowed to live in a pre-designated area and are kept under fairly close observation. While the laws and rules against mutants is not nearly as strict as New York, it's not uncommon for mutants living in Taos to consider moving. Considering the distance from any established, safe city, however, most opt to stay.

=History=
==History Before P-Day==
Taos had a long and storied history dating back well before it was incorporated as an official town of New Mexico. It was most famously the home of an art colony and the Taos Society of Artists. While its history was rich, the town was a fairly unassuming destination with tourism being one of the only major sources of income.

While there was talk of opening a datacenter nearby, talks with the city ultimately fell through. In no small irony, the data center would have been a hub for what would eventually turned into a bubble server. As this did not happen, however, the city continued to live a fairly quiet existence up until February of 2008.

==During P-Day==
While it is not entirely certain why the town was spared the [[P-Day|worst of the effects of nanites]], current theories estimate that a combination of factors helped shield the town from severe nanite infection. The first is that despite having a fairly decent population, the closest nanite server let alone major city was 100 miles away in Albuquerque. The second is that with the Rio Grande running along one side of the city and mountain ranges in all other directions, mutants would have had reason to go around rather than through the population center. Finally, because of its geography and the weather at the time of the event, wind did not serve to aid the distribution of nanites to the region as rapidly as it otherwise might have.

Regardless, when P-Day occurred, the sudden loss of communication with the outside world and loss of power not long after led to panic among the residents. As the city was fairly reliant on importing necessities, the writing seemed to be on the wall that simply waiting and sheltering in place wasn't going to be a long term strategy. Over the next week and a half, a large number of the population fled the city leaving very few behind. However, after that point, a large caravan made up of primarily human survivors and remnants of the American military road back into town and were finally able to give the bad news.

The nanite apocalypse had begun.

For better or worse, Taos was in a fairly unique position for several reasons. The first is that due to its position by the Rio Grande, and the fact it was upriver from the only major nanite bubble directly beside it, the nanite concentration within it was fairly low and simple water treatment was enough to allow for safe consumption. The second was that the military presence that moved in were able to make a very secure parameter around the town at strategic choke points which made defending against inevitable mutant incursions far easier than it might have otherwise been. And while many of those returning to the town were themselves mutated, for better or worse, they were able to hang onto their humanity. While there was certainly fear of what they had become, more immediate threats made the presence of (albeit sane) mutants a begrudging necessity.

Most unique, however, was the fact the town still had children. Due to the combination of factors that led to the town's lower initial nanite concentration and more gradual increase to baseline out of bubble levels, the children who had not left the city within the first week and a half were spared the quick but gruesome death of being torn apart by nanites as seen in more populated areas.

==Aftermath==
The city remains fairly isolated and primarily only interacts with the outside world when the odd trader comes through town. The mutant population has remained a tiny fraction of the overall in large part due to hesitancy of trusting them. Despite the lingering distrust, however, the mutants within the town are the largest number of the city's salvaging division which helps brings in supplies from areas far too nanite riddled to be safe for humans and the uninoculated. While the town eagerly trades for inoculations when a trader happens to have them, 100% effective inoculations are hard to come by in the hands of traders which leaves mutants the safest bet to venture out.

While the city has had infrequent talks with New York to establish an outpost in the region, the eastern city's policies on mutants has always led to a half in talks. As distrusting as much of the city's population are of mutants as a whole, their complicated relationship with their own city's mutants has made it hard for New York to make quick progress in acceptance of terms.

Wolfwood

2025-06-02T01:03:46Z

Syntax McBucketface:

{{Infobox/Character
| Image = Wolfwood.png
| realName = Madison Wolfwood
| Status = Active
| BirthDate = 1998-08-10
| Age = 26
| Gender = Female
| mutantStrain = Human
| Occupation = Mechanic
| Focus = Rebuild Society
| Aliases = Mads, Maddie
| BirthPlace = [[Taos, New Mexico]]
| Nationality = United States of America
| Pronouns = She/Her
| Residence = Apocofuel
| Height = 6'0"
| Weight = 180 Lbs
| Eyes = Brown
| Hair = Dark Brown
| Marital = Single
| Sexuality = Bisexual (Male preference)
| Partner = None
| Children =
| guildAffiliation = Apocofuel
| guildRank = Owner
| PlayedBy = Screwbucket
| Characters = [[Syntax]] - [[Sigrun]] - [[Bandit]]
}}
__TOC__
=History=
== Early Life ==
Madison was born to James and Rebecca Wolfwood in a small town in the boonies of New Mexico in 1998. Normally the location of where you grew up and the year you were born would be footnotes in a story. However, in 2008, P-Day changed the world forever and, across the world, an entire generation was effectively lost.

Madison was one of the exceptions given where she was born. While her childhood was fairly hard, she was frankly lucky to have one at all. A common point of contention was David Wolfwood; her uncle and one of the people who returned to Taos mutated but mentally whole. Her parents were heavily distrustful of anything to do with mutants and were terrified he would attack her without any basis beyond the reputation mutants carried. She was all but forbidden to see him again until she was 12 when her parents managed to get her a fairly effective intermediate inoculation, but even then, a non-mutant would need to be present. Armed.

While she bought into her parents bigotries early on, being able to see her uncle again after the inoculation led her to dramatically change her tune as she went through puberty. While the mutants in the mutant side of town were open and honest with her about puberty if not downright and what it came with if not downright protective of her, her parents fears of the nanites and mutations led them to take an excessively conservative approach not just to sex education but self expression as a whole. While she feared mutating, her resentment for not just how her parents treated her but how they treated her uncle and his ilk wore on her more.

When she overheard an argument between her uncle and father over her dad's interest in taking the plunge and trying to flee to New York, she had enough. Just in time for her 19th birthday, Madison Wolfwood hopped into a pickup she had been repairing and fled town.

==Early 20's==
A few months after running away, Madison was cornered and kidnapped by a biker gang of Monkey. While they were debating if they should take her to the "Tune Up" shed to be transformed, a rival gang of Raccoon mutants attacked their garage. Amidst all of the chaos, yet ANOTHER gang of what could be best described as "Generic Cop" mutants attacked and captured both of the gang's leaders. In hopes of earning enough favor to NOT be dragged into the Tune Up shed, Madison attempted and somehow succeeded in both arranging a meeting between the two gang lieutenants and convincing them to work together to free their respective leaders. In the process of their preparations, Madison joined in and assisted in repairing the vehicles that were damaged in the attack.

After a brutal rescue, the leaders of the two gangs were disposed and replaced by their lieutenants when both attempted to restart the gang war. The two gangs joined forces and, while still feral, found a new outlook and approach to the world. Madison was made an honorary member and, to her relief, not forcibly transformed. She remained with them for a few more weeks, taking time to upgrade her car for the wasteland ahead. When the time came to leave, she was offered one last time to join the gang properly as a mutant before being reluctantly released into the great unknown of the wasteland.

She continued to travel the wasteland, generally making her way towards Fairhaven after hearing the city was becoming a safe place to live. While she remained in the wastelands for many, many years, she inevitably made her way into Fairhaven.
== Personality ==

== Notable Information ==

Syntax

2025-06-02T00:32:54Z

Syntax McBucketface:

[[Category:PCs]][[Category:Active PCs]]

{{Infobox/Character
| Image = Syntax.png
| Status = Active
| realName = Shea Doyle
| BirthDate = 1989-10-13
| Age = 35
| Gender = Female
| mutantStrain = Black Widow Convert
| Occupation = RSX Field Technician
| Focus = Advance Society
| Aliases = Syn, Shay
| BirthPlace = Dalkey, Ireland
| Nationality = Irish
| Pronouns = She/Her
| Memberships = RSX, Enigma Complex
| Residence = Eureka
| Height = 5'9"
| Weight = 127 Lbs
| Eyes = Red
| Hair = Brown
| DeathDate =
| DeathPlace =
| DeathCause =
| Marital = Single
| Sexuality = Pansexual
| Partner =
| Children =
| Relatives =
| Pets =
| guildAffiliation = Enigma Complex
| guildRank = Organizer
| otherAffiliation =
| formerAffiliation =
| PlayedBy = Screwbucket
| Characters = [[Wolfwood]] - [[Sigrun]] - [[Bandit]]
}}

= Background =
An Irish native, Syn was only in the States to work at Zephyr Inc's headquarters to start their career as an IT professional. Their temporary internship became a far longer time investment once P-Day hit and they found themselves locked away in the building's server rooms and IT department and remained there for many years. It kept them a man, human, and out of harm's way. Even if it was just a glorified . It was only after pissing off the wrong Zephyr executive that they found themselves "promoted" to field agent and forced out into the dangerous wider world.

After her squad wandered too far into the territory of an Arachnea, she was captured and forcibly infected. Due to lingering nanites from a previous mission, her body's native form did not just become that of a widow convert, but it was also defaulted into being female and feminine. Their mind was altered to be more accepting of their new body, gender, and sex, but not so much they were not aware of these changes. Knowing she was not disturbed when she knew she should be was arguably just as bad as if the nanites had left her mind unaltered. The most she got from her employers was an apology that she was given the wrong inoculation. Her opinion of Zephyr soured and only grew worse as she was able to get more of an outside view of the corporation.

After helping found [[The Enigma Complex]] out in Eureka, she abandoned her position at Zephyr and took on a similar job with RSX. While she disagrees with some of the company's stances on mutants and ferals, they actually seem interested in doing more than trying to continue being a corporation in a capitalist economy after the literal apocalypse.

= Stereotypes =
[[Zephyr]]: I shouldn't have defended them for as long as I had. Their ethics are completely bankrupt and no amount of aid they give to society can make up for what they take. Who the bloody fucking hell tries to run a profitable company IN THE FUCKIN' APOCALYPSE?! I'm just glad I managed to get out. Shame I didn't wake up before their mismanagement got my entire life screwed up.<br>
[[RSX]]: If they weren't effective, Zephyr wouldn't be keeping an eye on 'em. I'm not sure how long they'll last compared to Zephyr, but maybe that's because half of Zephyr's entire shtick is to convince people they're doing better than they actually are. For all of the hate some people might throw RSX, at least their victory is a hell of a lot nicer looking than Zephyr's. I just wish they did more outreach to the general population besides keeping a lid on the more dangerous ferals out there.<br>
[[Prometheans]]: They're good people doing good work. Honestly, they're some of the best of us. Just...look, sometimes I get the feeling that they've got a wee bit of a death wish. Also, what's up with those hats?! Why a sombrero with bloody lights all over it? I get it stands out, but it looks tacky as all 'ell! They got a good strategy at least. I'm glad someone's looking out for the ferals out there.<br>
[[Ferals]]: That's a pretty bloody broad group, innit? If you're talking about the wild crazy mutants that are more instinct than person...they spook me. I mean, I've met a few people ye might call feral who were a real delight once you learned how to work around their particularities. But when there's nothing but instinct...remembering that there might have been a person under that madness at some point? Really drives up that dread in your soul.<br>
[[Fairhaven]]: You know what's REALLY wild about Fairhaven? How so many people don't realize how fuckin' nice it is compared to how it used to be! It's got a proper government, randomly gettin' jumped on the streets is WAY less common than it used to be, a fully laid out array've first responders, the works. It's a real bloody city. I don't regret movin' out, mind, but it's honestly one of the safest places to live these days.<br>
[[Clairmont]]: I've heard lot've people talk that place up. It's impressive, sure, but they're REAL fucking strict out there. I get they're trying to make a relatively normal city compared to somewhere like Fairhaven, but they're almost actively trying to ignore that things AREN'T normal anymore. Sittin' up on those high horses deridin' people walking around naked and fucking in the streets all the while many of them are still salivatin' at the thought. Not to mention how simplistic their view of ferals are. Half worried it'll turn into a West Coast New York some days.<br>
[[Eureka]]: It's not perfect by any means, but it's home! It's got a very strong culture of not fucking with others if they don't fuck with ye first. Even among the ferals. Much more of a territorial kind of bent to their behavior. But there's an amazin' foodie culture, a dedicated citizenry ready to help their neighbors, a common respect of workin' together to take out

==Quick References==
{{NotableCharacterInfo
|EmploymentRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Career/EmploymentRows|Business=Zephyr|Position=IT Specialist|Dates=2007-2022}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Career/EmploymentRows|Business=Zephyr|Position=Field Technician|Dates=2022-2024}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Career/EmploymentRows|Business=RSX|Position=Field Technician|Dates=2025-}}
|MembershipRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Career/MembershipRows|Faction=The Enigma Complex|Type=Organizer|JoinedDate=2023}}
|RelationshipRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/RelationshipRows|Name=Junes|Type=Best (fuck) Friend|Quip="Ye know, I once beat him at a game of chess. Then he asked me for another round, shoved a vibrator up his pussy, and suddenly he turned into a bloody chess wizard."}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/RelationshipRows|Name=Hannah|Type=Best (fuck) Spider Friend|Quip="I know, I know...she's the reason I'm not a human anymore. Er...or a man. But I mean...look, she's a lot of fun and watching her lose her mind over playing Mario Kart is bloody adorable."}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/RelationshipRows|Name=Kaguya|Type=Buddy|Quip="Bit've an odd sort of agent, but he's one of RSX's best! He's...also one've the most horny shites I know. He's lucky that he's so damn nice or it'd get old soooo fast. I'm not saying I'm not that horny too, but you know. Some people just HAVE to advertise it. Which...he does. Okay, at least he's not an arse."}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/RelationshipRows|Name=Greyson|Type=Old Friend|Quip="I couldn't believe to see him alive let alone sane. He's the only person I cared for before P-Day that I've met since shite hit the fan and...I'm just happy he's okay. Gives me hope the folk back home made it too."}}
|DedicationRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/DedicationRows|Name=Nanite Adept|Notes=Partially installed by Zephyr. Full installation finished by RSX.}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/DedicationRows|Name=RSX Operative|Notes=Electrical Engineer and Technician.}}
|PossessionRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/PossessionRows
|Name= Bytes
|Type= Chainsaw
|Description= This large, reinforced, nasty looking piece of machinery was clearly modified by hand and likely can do some serious damage. In the hands of Syntax, however, it's just a simple chainsaw that somehow doesn't help her from looking mostly harmless.
|DateAcquired=2022}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/PossessionRows
|Name= Bits|Type= Chainsword
|Description=The modified version of the original chainsword, giving it a shocking aftereffect at the expense of a slower recharge time and a lot of added weight. A crude and unwieldy sword, boasting a blade made of abelt of chains with a leather-wrapped hilt. Neighboring the hilt and originating from the power source in the crossguard is a hand crank, which causes the weapon to roar with electricity and revolve its chain belt.
|DateAcquired=2022}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/PossessionRows
|Name= Captcha|Type= Robot
|Description=This compact car sized robotic scorpion is heavily armored and, despite its size and weight, capable of brief periods of rapid movement to keep threats more occupied with it than everything else. It has numerous devices built into it to control the battlefield and numerous attachment points for other smaller robots and drones to ride on during transport. While it is not the most capable at offense, it doesn't need to be when its design is entirely centered on one thing: keeping you from hitting the things that are.
|DateAcquired=2023}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/PossessionRows
|Name= Botnet|Type= Drone Swarm
|Description=Botnet is not a singular drone but rather a swarm of small drones that have been designed to look like bees. The swarm has an array of useful attachments that can help mend flesh, ease pain, and conduct minor mechanical repairs on inorganic devices. The drones themselves are extremely efficient and are capable of recharging with such low voltage that someone with electric nanomagic alone could jumpstart their batteries.
|DateAcquired=2022}}
|Nanomagic=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Assets/Nanomagic
|BaseNanomagic=[[Electric Nanomagic]]
|AdvancedNanomagic=
*[[Electromagnetic Shielding Nanomagic]]}}
|WikiAccountName = Syntax McBucketface
|CharacterName = Syntax|User:Syntax
}}

Syntax

2025-06-02T00:32:37Z

Syntax McBucketface:

[[Category:PCs]][[Category:Active PCs]]

{{Infobox/Character
| Image = Syntax.png
| Status = Active
| realName = Shea Doyle
| BirthDate = 1989-10-13
| Age = 35
| Gender = Female
| mutantStrain = Black Widow Convert
| Occupation = RSX Field Technician
| Focus = Advance Society
| Aliases = Syn, Shay
| BirthPlace = Dalkey, Ireland
| Nationality = Irish
| Pronouns = She/Her
| Memberships = RSX, Enigma Complex
| Residence = Eureka
| Height = 5'9"
| Weight = 127 Lbs
| Eyes = Red
| Hair = Brown
| DeathDate =
| DeathPlace =
| DeathCause =
| Marital = Single
| Sexuality = Pansexual
| Partner =
| Children =
| Relatives =
| Pets =
| guildAffiliation = Enigma Complex
| guildRank = Organizer
| otherAffiliation =
| formerAffiliation =
| PlayedBy = Screwbucket
| Characters = [[Syntax]] - [[Wolfwood]] - [[Sigrun]] - [[Bandit]]
}}

= Background =
An Irish native, Syn was only in the States to work at Zephyr Inc's headquarters to start their career as an IT professional. Their temporary internship became a far longer time investment once P-Day hit and they found themselves locked away in the building's server rooms and IT department and remained there for many years. It kept them a man, human, and out of harm's way. Even if it was just a glorified . It was only after pissing off the wrong Zephyr executive that they found themselves "promoted" to field agent and forced out into the dangerous wider world.

After her squad wandered too far into the territory of an Arachnea, she was captured and forcibly infected. Due to lingering nanites from a previous mission, her body's native form did not just become that of a widow convert, but it was also defaulted into being female and feminine. Their mind was altered to be more accepting of their new body, gender, and sex, but not so much they were not aware of these changes. Knowing she was not disturbed when she knew she should be was arguably just as bad as if the nanites had left her mind unaltered. The most she got from her employers was an apology that she was given the wrong inoculation. Her opinion of Zephyr soured and only grew worse as she was able to get more of an outside view of the corporation.

After helping found [[The Enigma Complex]] out in Eureka, she abandoned her position at Zephyr and took on a similar job with RSX. While she disagrees with some of the company's stances on mutants and ferals, they actually seem interested in doing more than trying to continue being a corporation in a capitalist economy after the literal apocalypse.

= Stereotypes =
[[Zephyr]]: I shouldn't have defended them for as long as I had. Their ethics are completely bankrupt and no amount of aid they give to society can make up for what they take. Who the bloody fucking hell tries to run a profitable company IN THE FUCKIN' APOCALYPSE?! I'm just glad I managed to get out. Shame I didn't wake up before their mismanagement got my entire life screwed up.<br>
[[RSX]]: If they weren't effective, Zephyr wouldn't be keeping an eye on 'em. I'm not sure how long they'll last compared to Zephyr, but maybe that's because half of Zephyr's entire shtick is to convince people they're doing better than they actually are. For all of the hate some people might throw RSX, at least their victory is a hell of a lot nicer looking than Zephyr's. I just wish they did more outreach to the general population besides keeping a lid on the more dangerous ferals out there.<br>
[[Prometheans]]: They're good people doing good work. Honestly, they're some of the best of us. Just...look, sometimes I get the feeling that they've got a wee bit of a death wish. Also, what's up with those hats?! Why a sombrero with bloody lights all over it? I get it stands out, but it looks tacky as all 'ell! They got a good strategy at least. I'm glad someone's looking out for the ferals out there.<br>
[[Ferals]]: That's a pretty bloody broad group, innit? If you're talking about the wild crazy mutants that are more instinct than person...they spook me. I mean, I've met a few people ye might call feral who were a real delight once you learned how to work around their particularities. But when there's nothing but instinct...remembering that there might have been a person under that madness at some point? Really drives up that dread in your soul.<br>
[[Fairhaven]]: You know what's REALLY wild about Fairhaven? How so many people don't realize how fuckin' nice it is compared to how it used to be! It's got a proper government, randomly gettin' jumped on the streets is WAY less common than it used to be, a fully laid out array've first responders, the works. It's a real bloody city. I don't regret movin' out, mind, but it's honestly one of the safest places to live these days.<br>
[[Clairmont]]: I've heard lot've people talk that place up. It's impressive, sure, but they're REAL fucking strict out there. I get they're trying to make a relatively normal city compared to somewhere like Fairhaven, but they're almost actively trying to ignore that things AREN'T normal anymore. Sittin' up on those high horses deridin' people walking around naked and fucking in the streets all the while many of them are still salivatin' at the thought. Not to mention how simplistic their view of ferals are. Half worried it'll turn into a West Coast New York some days.<br>
[[Eureka]]: It's not perfect by any means, but it's home! It's got a very strong culture of not fucking with others if they don't fuck with ye first. Even among the ferals. Much more of a territorial kind of bent to their behavior. But there's an amazin' foodie culture, a dedicated citizenry ready to help their neighbors, a common respect of workin' together to take out

==Quick References==
{{NotableCharacterInfo
|EmploymentRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Career/EmploymentRows|Business=Zephyr|Position=IT Specialist|Dates=2007-2022}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Career/EmploymentRows|Business=Zephyr|Position=Field Technician|Dates=2022-2024}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Career/EmploymentRows|Business=RSX|Position=Field Technician|Dates=2025-}}
|MembershipRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Career/MembershipRows|Faction=The Enigma Complex|Type=Organizer|JoinedDate=2023}}
|RelationshipRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/RelationshipRows|Name=Junes|Type=Best (fuck) Friend|Quip="Ye know, I once beat him at a game of chess. Then he asked me for another round, shoved a vibrator up his pussy, and suddenly he turned into a bloody chess wizard."}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/RelationshipRows|Name=Hannah|Type=Best (fuck) Spider Friend|Quip="I know, I know...she's the reason I'm not a human anymore. Er...or a man. But I mean...look, she's a lot of fun and watching her lose her mind over playing Mario Kart is bloody adorable."}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/RelationshipRows|Name=Kaguya|Type=Buddy|Quip="Bit've an odd sort of agent, but he's one of RSX's best! He's...also one've the most horny shites I know. He's lucky that he's so damn nice or it'd get old soooo fast. I'm not saying I'm not that horny too, but you know. Some people just HAVE to advertise it. Which...he does. Okay, at least he's not an arse."}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/RelationshipRows|Name=Greyson|Type=Old Friend|Quip="I couldn't believe to see him alive let alone sane. He's the only person I cared for before P-Day that I've met since shite hit the fan and...I'm just happy he's okay. Gives me hope the folk back home made it too."}}
|DedicationRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/DedicationRows|Name=Nanite Adept|Notes=Partially installed by Zephyr. Full installation finished by RSX.}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/DedicationRows|Name=RSX Operative|Notes=Electrical Engineer and Technician.}}
|PossessionRows=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/PossessionRows
|Name= Bytes
|Type= Chainsaw
|Description= This large, reinforced, nasty looking piece of machinery was clearly modified by hand and likely can do some serious damage. In the hands of Syntax, however, it's just a simple chainsaw that somehow doesn't help her from looking mostly harmless.
|DateAcquired=2022}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/PossessionRows
|Name= Bits|Type= Chainsword
|Description=The modified version of the original chainsword, giving it a shocking aftereffect at the expense of a slower recharge time and a lot of added weight. A crude and unwieldy sword, boasting a blade made of abelt of chains with a leather-wrapped hilt. Neighboring the hilt and originating from the power source in the crossguard is a hand crank, which causes the weapon to roar with electricity and revolve its chain belt.
|DateAcquired=2022}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/PossessionRows
|Name= Captcha|Type= Robot
|Description=This compact car sized robotic scorpion is heavily armored and, despite its size and weight, capable of brief periods of rapid movement to keep threats more occupied with it than everything else. It has numerous devices built into it to control the battlefield and numerous attachment points for other smaller robots and drones to ride on during transport. While it is not the most capable at offense, it doesn't need to be when its design is entirely centered on one thing: keeping you from hitting the things that are.
|DateAcquired=2023}}
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Reputation/PossessionRows
|Name= Botnet|Type= Drone Swarm
|Description=Botnet is not a singular drone but rather a swarm of small drones that have been designed to look like bees. The swarm has an array of useful attachments that can help mend flesh, ease pain, and conduct minor mechanical repairs on inorganic devices. The drones themselves are extremely efficient and are capable of recharging with such low voltage that someone with electric nanomagic alone could jumpstart their batteries.
|DateAcquired=2022}}
|Nanomagic=
{{NotableCharacterInfo/Assets/Nanomagic
|BaseNanomagic=[[Electric Nanomagic]]
|AdvancedNanomagic=
*[[Electromagnetic Shielding Nanomagic]]}}
|WikiAccountName = Syntax McBucketface
|CharacterName = Syntax|User:Syntax
}}

Wolfwood

2025-06-02T00:09:09Z

Syntax McBucketface:

Wolfwood

2025-06-02T00:08:36Z

Syntax McBucketface:

Wolfwood

2025-06-02T00:08:13Z

Syntax McBucketface: /* Background */

Template:Note

2025-06-01T22:09:45Z

Syntax McBucketface:

Template:Note/styles.css

2025-06-01T22:09:20Z

Syntax McBucketface: Created page with "div.note { position: relative; min-height: 3.1em; margin: 0.5em 5em; padding: 0.1em 1em 0.1em 4em; border: 1px solid #8d8d8d; border-radius: 0.5em; display: flex; align-items: center; box-shadow: 0 12px 18px -12px #373737; background-color: #efefef; } div.note-warning { border-color: #c63f17; background-color: #ffab91; box-shadow: 0 12px 18px -12px #c63f17; } div.note-lore { border-color: #6b9b37; background-col..."

Taos, New Mexico

2025-06-01T22:04:25Z

Syntax McBucketface: Redirected page to Taos

#REDIRECT [[Taos]]

Taos

2025-06-01T22:04:11Z

Syntax McBucketface: Removed redirect to Taos, New Mexico

{{Infobox/Location
|Image=TaosSeal.png
|Location=New Mexico
|MapImg=TaosMap.png
|Aliases=
|Associations=
{{Infobox/Shortlink|Wolfwood|Former Resident|Madison Wolfwood}}
}}
__TOC__
=History=
==History Before P-Day==
Taos had a long and storied history dating back well before it was incorporated as an official town of New Mexico. It was most famously the home of an art colony and the Taos Society of Artists. While its history was rich, the town was a fairly unassuming destination with tourism being one of the only major sources of income.

While there was talk of opening a datacenter nearby, talks with the city ultimately fell through. In no small irony, the data center would have been a hub for what would eventually turned into a bubble server. As this did not happen, however, the city continued to live a fairly quiet existence up until February of 2008.

==During P-Day==
While it is not entirely certain why the town was spared the [[P-Day|worst of the effects of nanites]], current theories estimate that a combination of factors helped shield the town from severe nanite infection. The first is that despite having a fairly decent population, the closest nanite server let alone major city was 100 miles away in Albuquerque. The second is that with the Rio Grande running along one side of the city and mountain ranges in all other directions, mutants would have had reason to go around rather than through the population center. Finally, because of its geography and the weather at the time of the event, wind did not serve to aid the distribution of nanites to the region as rapidly as it otherwise might have.

Regardless, when P-Day occurred, the sudden loss of communication with the outside world and loss of power not long after led to panic among the residents. As the city was fairly reliant on importing necessities, the writing seemed to be on the wall that simply waiting and sheltering in place wasn't going to be a long term strategy. Over the next week and a half, a large number of the population fled the city leaving very few behind. However, after that point, a large caravan made up of primarily human survivors and remnants of the American military road back into town and were finally able to give the bad news.

The nanite apocalypse had begun.

For better or worse, Taos was in a fairly unique position for several reasons. The first is that due to its position by the Rio Grande, and the fact it was upriver from the only major nanite bubble directly beside it, the nanite concentration within it was fairly low and simple water treatment was enough to allow for safe consumption. The second was that the military presence that moved in were able to make a very secure parameter around the town at strategic choke points which made defending against inevitable mutant incursions far easier than it might have otherwise been. And while many of those returning to the town were themselves mutated, for better or worse, they were able to hang onto their humanity. While there was certainly fear of what they had become, more immediate threats made the presence of (albeit sane) mutants a begrudging necessity.

Most unique, however, was the fact the town still had children. Due to the combination of factors that led to the town's lower initial nanite concentration and more gradual increase to baseline out of bubble levels, the children who had not left the city within the first week and a half were spared the quick but gruesome death of being torn apart by nanites as seen in more populated areas.

==Aftermath==
The city remains fairly isolated and primarily only interacts with the outside world when the odd trader comes through town. The mutant population has remained a tiny fraction of the overall in large part due to hesitancy of trusting them. Despite the lingering distrust, however, the mutants within the town are the largest number of the city's salvaging division which helps brings in supplies from areas far too nanite riddled to be safe for humans and the uninoculated. While the town eagerly trades for inoculations when a trader happens to have them, 100% effective inoculations are hard to come by in the hands of traders which leaves mutants the safest bet to venture out.

While the city has had infrequent talks with New York to establish an outpost in the region, the eastern city's policies on mutants has always led to a half in talks. As distrusting as much of the city's population are of mutants as a whole, their complicated relationship with their own city's mutants has made it hard for New York to make quick progress in acceptance of terms.

Taos

2025-06-01T22:03:21Z

Syntax McBucketface: Syntax McBucketface moved page Taos to Taos, New Mexico: Misspelled title

#REDIRECT [[Taos, New Mexico]]

Taos, New Mexico

2025-06-01T22:03:21Z

Syntax McBucketface: Syntax McBucketface moved page Taos to Taos, New Mexico: Misspelled title

{{Infobox/Location
|Image=TaosSeal.png
|Location=New Mexico
|MapImg=TaosMap.png
|Aliases=
|Associations=
{{Infobox/Shortlink|Wolfwood|Former Resident|Madison Wolfwood}}
}}
__TOC__
=History=
==History Before P-Day==
Taos had a long and storied history dating back well before it was incorporated as an official town of New Mexico. It was most famously the home of an art colony and the Taos Society of Artists. While its history was rich, the town was a fairly unassuming destination with tourism being one of the only major sources of income.

While there was talk of opening a datacenter nearby, talks with the city ultimately fell through. In no small irony, the data center would have been a hub for what would eventually turned into a bubble server. As this did not happen, however, the city continued to live a fairly quiet existence up until February of 2008.

==During P-Day==
While it is not entirely certain why the town was spared the [[P-Day|worst of the effects of nanites]], current theories estimate that a combination of factors helped shield the town from severe nanite infection. The first is that despite having a fairly decent population, the closest nanite server let alone major city was 100 miles away in Albuquerque. The second is that with the Rio Grande running along one side of the city and mountain ranges in all other directions, mutants would have had reason to go around rather than through the population center. Finally, because of its geography and the weather at the time of the event, wind did not serve to aid the distribution of nanites to the region as rapidly as it otherwise might have.

Regardless, when P-Day occurred, the sudden loss of communication with the outside world and loss of power not long after led to panic among the residents. As the city was fairly reliant on importing necessities, the writing seemed to be on the wall that simply waiting and sheltering in place wasn't going to be a long term strategy. Over the next week and a half, a large number of the population fled the city leaving very few behind. However, after that point, a large caravan made up of primarily human survivors and remnants of the American military road back into town and were finally able to give the bad news.

The nanite apocalypse had begun.

For better or worse, Taos was in a fairly unique position for several reasons. The first is that due to its position by the Rio Grande, and the fact it was upriver from the only major nanite bubble directly beside it, the nanite concentration within it was fairly low and simple water treatment was enough to allow for safe consumption. The second was that the military presence that moved in were able to make a very secure parameter around the town at strategic choke points which made defending against inevitable mutant incursions far easier than it might have otherwise been. And while many of those returning to the town were themselves mutated, for better or worse, they were able to hang onto their humanity. While there was certainly fear of what they had become, more immediate threats made the presence of (albeit sane) mutants a begrudging necessity.

Most unique, however, was the fact the town still had children. Due to the combination of factors that led to the town's lower initial nanite concentration and more gradual increase to baseline out of bubble levels, the children who had not left the city within the first week and a half were spared the quick but gruesome death of being torn apart by nanites as seen in more populated areas.

==Aftermath==
The city remains fairly isolated and primarily only interacts with the outside world when the odd trader comes through town. The mutant population has remained a tiny fraction of the overall in large part due to hesitancy of trusting them. Despite the lingering distrust, however, the mutants within the town are the largest number of the city's salvaging division which helps brings in supplies from areas far too nanite riddled to be safe for humans and the uninoculated. While the town eagerly trades for inoculations when a trader happens to have them, 100% effective inoculations are hard to come by in the hands of traders which leaves mutants the safest bet to venture out.

While the city has had infrequent talks with New York to establish an outpost in the region, the eastern city's policies on mutants has always led to a half in talks. As distrusting as much of the city's population are of mutants as a whole, their complicated relationship with their own city's mutants has made it hard for New York to make quick progress in acceptance of terms.

Taos, New Mexico

2025-06-01T22:01:58Z

Syntax McBucketface:

{{Infobox/Location
|Image=TaosSeal.png
|Location=New Mexico
|MapImg=TaosMap.png
|Aliases=
|Associations=
{{Infobox/Shortlink|Wolfwood|Former Resident|Madison Wolfwood}}
}}
__TOC__
=History=
==History Before P-Day==
Taos had a long and storied history dating back well before it was incorporated as an official town of New Mexico. It was most famously the home of an art colony and the Taos Society of Artists. While its history was rich, the town was a fairly unassuming destination with tourism being one of the only major sources of income.

While there was talk of opening a datacenter nearby, talks with the city ultimately fell through. In no small irony, the data center would have been a hub for what would eventually turned into a bubble server. As this did not happen, however, the city continued to live a fairly quiet existence up until February of 2008.

==During P-Day==
While it is not entirely certain why the town was spared the [[P-Day|worst of the effects of nanites]], current theories estimate that a combination of factors helped shield the town from severe nanite infection. The first is that despite having a fairly decent population, the closest nanite server let alone major city was 100 miles away in Albuquerque. The second is that with the Rio Grande running along one side of the city and mountain ranges in all other directions, mutants would have had reason to go around rather than through the population center. Finally, because of its geography and the weather at the time of the event, wind did not serve to aid the distribution of nanites to the region as rapidly as it otherwise might have.

Regardless, when P-Day occurred, the sudden loss of communication with the outside world and loss of power not long after led to panic among the residents. As the city was fairly reliant on importing necessities, the writing seemed to be on the wall that simply waiting and sheltering in place wasn't going to be a long term strategy. Over the next week and a half, a large number of the population fled the city leaving very few behind. However, after that point, a large caravan made up of primarily human survivors and remnants of the American military road back into town and were finally able to give the bad news.

The nanite apocalypse had begun.

For better or worse, Taos was in a fairly unique position for several reasons. The first is that due to its position by the Rio Grande, and the fact it was upriver from the only major nanite bubble directly beside it, the nanite concentration within it was fairly low and simple water treatment was enough to allow for safe consumption. The second was that the military presence that moved in were able to make a very secure parameter around the town at strategic choke points which made defending against inevitable mutant incursions far easier than it might have otherwise been. And while many of those returning to the town were themselves mutated, for better or worse, they were able to hang onto their humanity. While there was certainly fear of what they had become, more immediate threats made the presence of (albeit sane) mutants a begrudging necessity.

Most unique, however, was the fact the town still had children. Due to the combination of factors that led to the town's lower initial nanite concentration and more gradual increase to baseline out of bubble levels, the children who had not left the city within the first week and a half were spared the quick but gruesome death of being torn apart by nanites as seen in more populated areas.

==Aftermath==
The city remains fairly isolated and primarily only interacts with the outside world when the odd trader comes through town. The mutant population has remained a tiny fraction of the overall in large part due to hesitancy of trusting them. Despite the lingering distrust, however, the mutants within the town are the largest number of the city's salvaging division which helps brings in supplies from areas far too nanite riddled to be safe for humans and the uninoculated. While the town eagerly trades for inoculations when a trader happens to have them, 100% effective inoculations are hard to come by in the hands of traders which leaves mutants the safest bet to venture out.

While the city has had infrequent talks with New York to establish an outpost in the region, the eastern city's policies on mutants has always led to a half in talks. As distrusting as much of the city's population are of mutants as a whole, their complicated relationship with their own city's mutants has made it hard for New York to make quick progress in acceptance of terms.

P-Day

2025-06-01T21:34:51Z

Syntax McBucketface: Redirected page to Promethean Nanites

#REDIRECT [[Promethean Nanites]]

Template:Infobox/Location

2025-06-01T21:21:00Z

Syntax McBucketface:

Template:Infobox/Location

2025-06-01T21:02:40Z

Syntax McBucketface:

<includeonly>[[Category:Locations]]<table class="infobox-table" style="padding-top:0;float:right">
<tr id="infobox-table-img-bg">
<td width="100%" colspan="3" class="infobox-table-img" style="text-align: center; padding:0 !important;">{{#if:{{{Image|}}}|[[File:{{{Image}}}|400px]]|[[File:Placeholder.png|400px]]}}</td>
</tr><tr>
<th width="100%" colspan="3" class="infobox-table-name">{{PAGENAME}}</th>
</tr>
{{#if:{{{Location|}}}{{{MapImg|}}}{{{Aliases|}}}{{{Associations|}}}|{{#if:{{{Location|}}}|<tr>
<td width="40%" valign="top" colspan="2" style="padding:3px;">Location</td>
<td width="60%" style="padding:3px;">{{{Location}}}</td>
</tr>}}{{#if:{{{Aliases|}}}<tr>
<td width="40%" valign="top" colspan="2" style="padding:3px;">Aliases</td>
<td width="60%" style="padding:3px;">{{{Aliases}}}</td>
</tr>}}{{#if:{{{Associations|}}}|<tr>
<td width="40%" valign="top" colspan="2" style="padding:3px;">Associations</td>
<td width="60%" style="padding:3px;">{{{Associations}}}</td>
</tr>}}}}
{{#if:{{{MapImg|}}}|
<th width="100%" colspan="3" class="infobox-table-h1" style="text-align: center;">Location Map</th>
<tr id="infobox-table-img-bg" style="padding-top: 10px;">
<td width="100%" colspan="3" class="infobox-table-img" style="text-align: center; padding:0 !important;">[[File:{{{MapImg}}}|400px]]</td>
</tr>}}
</table>
<templatestyles src="Template:Infobox/styles.css" />
</includeonly><noinclude>
{{/doc}}
[[Category:Infobox Templates]][[Category:Templates]]
</noinclude>

Taos, New Mexico

2025-06-01T21:01:53Z

Syntax McBucketface: Created page with "{{Infobox/Location |Image=TaosSeal.png |Location=New Mexico |MapImg=TaosMap.png |Aliases= |Associations= {{Infobox/Shortlink|Wolfwood|Former Resident|Madison Wolfwood}} }}"

{{Infobox/Location
|Image=TaosSeal.png
|Location=New Mexico
|MapImg=TaosMap.png
|Aliases=
|Associations=
{{Infobox/Shortlink|Wolfwood|Former Resident|Madison Wolfwood}}
}}

Template:Infobox/Shortlink/doc

2025-06-01T21:01:43Z

Syntax McBucketface: /* Usage */

Template:Infobox/Shortlink

2025-06-01T21:01:12Z

Syntax McBucketface:

Template:Infobox/Shortlink/doc

2025-06-01T21:00:42Z

Syntax McBucketface:

==Usage==
<pre>
<nowiki>{{Infobox/Shortlink|Link|Alias||Description}}</nowiki>
</pre>

==Data Template==
<templatedata>
{
"params": {
"1": {
"description": "This text will create a link to a page on a bulleted line.",
"type": "wiki-page-name",
"required": true,
"label": "Top Line"
},
"2": {
"label": "Bottom Line",
"description": "This text appears on a sub-line and could contain a relationship to the above text, or a rank or role in an organization.",
"type": "string",
"suggested": true
},
"3": {
"label": "Link Alias",
"description": "Provides the link with an alternative name for the link",
"type": "string"
}
},
"description": "This template quickly creates and formats text for use in listed elements within an existing infobox template.",
"format": "inline",
"paramOrder": [
"1",
"2",
"3"
]
}
</templatedata>

Template:Infobox/Shortlink

2025-06-01T20:59:02Z

Syntax McBucketface:

<includeonly><dl>
{{#if:{{{2|}}}|<dt>[[{{{1}}}|{{{2}}}]]</dt>|<dt>[[{{{1}}}|{{{2}}}]]</dt>}}
<dd>{{Status|{{{3}}}}}</dd>
</dl>
</includeonly><noinclude>
{{/doc}}
[[Category:Infobox Templates]][[Category:Templates]]
</noinclude>

Template:Infobox/Shortlink/doc

2025-06-01T20:57:31Z

Syntax McBucketface: /* Usage */

==Usage==
<pre>
<nowiki>{{Infobox/Shortlink|Link|Alias||Description}}</nowiki>
</pre>

==Data Template==
<templatedata>
{
"params": {
"1": {
"description": "This text will create a link to a page on a bulleted line.",
"type": "wiki-page-name",
"required": true,
"label": "Top Line"
},
"2": {
"label": "Link Alias",
"description": "Provides the link with an alternative name for the link"
},
"3": {
"label": "Bottom Line",
"description": "This text appears on a sub-line and could contain a relationship to the above text, or a rank or role in an organization.",
"type": "string",
"suggested": true
}
},
"description": "This template quickly creates and formats text for use in listed elements within an existing infobox template.",
"format": "inline",
"paramOrder": [
"1",
"2",
"3"
]
}
</templatedata>

Template:Infobox/Shortlink

2025-06-01T20:57:21Z

Syntax McBucketface:

<includeonly><dl>
<dt>[[{{{1}}}|{{{2}}}]]</dt>
<dd>{{Status|{{{3}}}}}</dd>
</dl>
</includeonly><noinclude>
{{/doc}}
[[Category:Infobox Templates]][[Category:Templates]]
</noinclude>

Template:Infobox/Shortlink/doc

2025-06-01T20:57:04Z

Syntax McBucketface:

==Usage==
<pre>
<nowiki>{{Infobox/Shortlink|Link|Description}}</nowiki>
</pre>

==Data Template==
<templatedata>
{
"params": {
"1": {
"description": "This text will create a link to a page on a bulleted line.",
"type": "wiki-page-name",
"required": true,
"label": "Top Line"
},
"2": {
"label": "Link Alias",
"description": "Provides the link with an alternative name for the link"
},
"3": {
"label": "Bottom Line",
"description": "This text appears on a sub-line and could contain a relationship to the above text, or a rank or role in an organization.",
"type": "string",
"suggested": true
}
},
"description": "This template quickly creates and formats text for use in listed elements within an existing infobox template.",
"format": "inline",
"paramOrder": [
"1",
"2",
"3"
]
}
</templatedata>

Template:Status

2025-06-01T20:49:49Z

Syntax McBucketface: Protected "Template:Status" ([Edit=Allow only administrators] (indefinite) [Move=Allow only administrators] (indefinite))