(Erika) A call to action was made, and that call was answered. Many showed up. Not all would remain, but those that did either look forward to a bright future, or are just in it for the money or adventure. Perhaps they're just bored, who's to say? Regardless, the fearless and intrepid Oregon adventurers have continued their journey. As per the plan, Moresson the power-armored husky remains behind to guard the way-too-many crates of food, while the rest delve into the wooded highways snaking through the Oregon hills, uncertain of what they'll find. At least, for the most part. As was previously mentioned, the team-leading husky known as Erika spotted a lake some ways down the highway, and desires to set up shop next to it on what's left of the marina. Carrying a backpack that's little more than duct tape and dreams, the husky leads the way along the blacktop. Obviously no cars are running at this point, so she fearlessly walks straight down the middle. A lot of the pavement is old, faded, and cracked. Much of the old world paint has chipped off by now, leaving each street mostly bare of directions. Roots, moss, and other foliage pierce through most of the cracks, slowly consuming what was once a frequently-used highway from civilization to Crater Lake, before the world changed. Now only those who take the RSX chopper tend to visit the natural wonder. "Remember, team. This is the most important directive. If we encounter people in the places we wish to inhabit, it's already theirs. We're asking to stay in their home. This is still the case, even if they're ferals. We can set up nearby and rehabilitate them. Only use force if there's no other alternative. We're not wrestling infrastructure or land away from anyone who already lives there. We're exploring and settling. Peace and coexistence is key." she tells the whole group, glancing back at them, adjusting the black cowgirl hat she wears. Beyond the edges of the road, dense forest stretches on as far as the eye can see, and the weather is fairly cold out here.

(Euoia) Euoia's senses were on high alert. Along with her special targeting tracker, she was keeping tabs on everything nearby. She had it ignore the group in favor of pointing out other things nearby. Rocks... stones... trees... these targets could be overlooked. She literally could not find any targets. Just minerals and flora. Keeping a small bubble of nanites to protect everyone from the lack there-of was taking most of her attention anyway. The anime babe was excited but on edge as her mind and gear were in a minor fervor.

Euoia nodded to Erika and said, "sure thing. Cohabitation is the goal. Got it." Still, this is unknown terratory for her. And she was not gonna lose an information war.

(Fenris) Fenris saunters along the road, humming and singing to himself. Some song about digging a hole, or building a wall or something.

Where earlier the tanuki wore a rather absurd looking mascot suit, today he is rather on the grungy side, wearing a rather lived-in looking tank top and jeans, with a hard hat and big, stompy boots. He is also wearing a dingy, canvas jacket with "Property of Tanuki" stamped on it as a concession to the weather, though it hangs open, so he probably isn't actually cold. He gives the impression of nothing so much as a scruffy blue collar worker.

"Sure thing, Boss!" he grins and gives a lazy salute, then scratches his chest idly as he looks around at the gathered group.

(Chessly) Chessly's kept himself in the center of the pack, the feline made sure he'd be safe and sound. Ears perk up at Erika's directive, and nods along. "Avoid disrupting the native ecosystem, got it!" The cat's brain tinkers up some ways on making a rehabilitation facility, with having some experience with the Prometheans he's got a few methods on handling ferals.

(Junes) seeing as euoia was on surveillance and chessly was planning something up junes glanced at the plants and wondering aloud "I wonder if we'll be able to see some rare bugs around" and marched in a lax manner wondering about the sights and progress they can make once at the location

(Anbessa) Anbessa rolls his shoulders lightly, having previously joined in on helping move boxes as he walks along to catch up to Erika now that the crates were all situated. With him padding along the road as well, though more along the sides nearer to whatever sidewalks or shoulders to the road there might be, the buck hums gently as the large lapine moves along with his ears perked high. He is currently holding his polearm in his grasp, though he is currently using it more like a walking stick, light clicks heard as it taps the ground now and again, periodically nudging a rock or pebble out of his way without slowing down as if to amuse himself.

Of course Erika speaking does make the bun perk up, nodding his head gently. "Lets hope they are amicable to new neighbors then." He says simply, glancing about as his ears stay lifted atop of his head as his tail lightly twitches periodically whenever he notices something unique like a plant or any other sorts of unique wildlife.

(Erika) Erika smiles at the affirmative replies she gets, her tail wagging a little behind her. "Good. Then hopefully this will go smooth. Just be ready for anything. I'm heading away from the directions where all the other failed missions encountered packminds, so hopefully we'll be safe. My previous directive does not apply to them." she says, glancing back to Junes and chuckling. "Probably. We're going to be learning everything we can. This includes flora and fauna." she says, keeping up a decent pace. The roads in this area are quite remote, and therefore don't have sidewalks. Not on the highway in the middle of the woods. The most you'd get is a length of guard rail. For a while the walk is fairly peaceful. Up in the wooded hills of Oregon, things are quiet. But every once in a while Euoia's target locator picks up a brief blip, but never anything more than a split second. First, a ways into the woods in the right, then the left. Some more ahead of them, some more behind. Never anything more than a very brief... Something.

(Euoia) Euoia looks around a few times to try and catch what blip keeps appearing on her device. "I'm getting a minor random blip of fauna out here. Either we are being followed or there is a curious george that is protecting something. Can't get a good enough read on it." She keeps looking out more intently, the mild glow from her gear giving a scant amount of light around her. "I think we are still good to go. One follower would just be a curiousity. If i get more blips, then we should proceed cautiously."

(Fenris) Fenris saunters along gamely, his long bladed, short spear jingling on his back. "I wouldn't mind seeing a Bear," he admits, "Never met one of Bear's fingers. Fox is pretty nice, long as you keep hands off, but wolf is a real piece of work." He says all of this as casually as if he were listing off guests at an office holiday party. The burly tanuki nods off in the direction of Crater Lake. "The Packminds generally stay away from the lake though. Coyote does not like them much."

Just normal conversation while walking in a very wild wilderness.

(Chessly) Chessly wasn't used to seeing this part of the world, and wanting to get a better look at it the cat's curiosity got the better of him, eventually he wonders out of the pack, off the blacktop and past the lapine. He takes a deep breath embracing the wild-life.

As the blip goes off the cat eyes go wide to scurry over to Erika, all of the feline's focus is honed in on the little doohickey she has. "Oohhhh! Once we have time can I mess around with that little thing? I'm assuming that's supposed to detect...ferals...like a haz?"

(Junes) hearing about the inconsistent radar the short chimera perked up a bit and decided to look further into the woods in case a deer is seen or potential dangers and jumped a bit not expecting the cat to dash around and sighed in relief. "hopefully just some animals around, but if you need i can try to sneak ahead or pretend to be feral if need be" junes eyes didn't leave the forest after the small scare before

(Anbessa) Anbessa lifts his ear higher as he hears Euoia, though given the bunny already has his weapon out as he walks, all the warning does is prompt the bunny to have a tighter grip on his polearm. Otherwise he still is just using it more like a walking stick at the moment... But the rabbit IS still visibly armed. "Well... Can only hope it is just someone curious. Gods know if we draw a Packmind's ire that it'd not go well for us." He notes with a shudder. "Gods, I know not all packminds are bad, but... I certainly can recall some aren't exactly friendly either." He says with noticable tension in his voice. He certainly is walking with a stern posture, but now he is just moreso alert.

(Erika) As if only to prove the anime babe wrong, the blips do present themselves for brief periods on both sides in too quick of succession to be just one follower. About every few minutes, there could be one blip at 2 o'clock, the another at 8 o'clock seconds later. Sometimes perhaps one at both 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock simultaneously. But just as quickly as the blips are seen, they go dark. However, as Chessly and Junes stray off the road, the blips disappear, and no more are seen after that. Erika glances about, holding one of her paws to a holster on one of her wide hips. "No, Junes. No splitting up, or bait tactics. We stay together. If they're not getting closer, then we keep going. We can secure this road later once we have an outpost." she says, keeping her eyes peeled. As the group continues down the road though, no more seem to appear. And after a few hours of travel they come upon a bridge over a creek. The bridge seems to be concrete like most others, but this one actually does seem to have somewhat of a sidewalk on both sides, built from wood. These wooden side paths have wooden rails, though one side is broken out, as if a car had gone off the road. Speaking of which, there is a large RV rusting away on the bridge, about the middle. It's positioned opposite the busted rail, and points towards Crater Lake, back where the group is coming from.*

(Euoia) Euoia sighs. "Multiple curious contacts. Some group is watching. Lets prove we're friendly then." She grabs the flask hanging on her left shoulder and takes a swig. She started to relax a little more. "I got some berries if anyone wants some." She opened her runed belt pouch and took one out for a snack.

(Fenris) Fenris picks his teeth with a stubby claw and raises an eyebrow at the rusting RV. "What do we have here?" he asks, sauntering toward the old vehicle on the bridge. He does not draw a weapon, but holds his hands where they are easily visible. "Hello?" he calls in a friendly tone, "Anybody home?" He does pause long enough to accept a berry or two from Euoia before resuming his advance onto the bridge.

(Chessly) Chessly's eyes go wide at the RV, it's rusty, huge, and conveniently in the middle of the road on a bridge, hungry to take a look at the vehicle to see what's salvageable the cat shuffles to the middle of the road so he can get a chance to see what he can pull. Maybe he'll find a car battery, hotwire the car and see how far he can go on the hunk of junk, or fix up the radio and see if there's anything playing all the way out here.

(Junes) responding to erika the nine-tailed hissah said "dont worry I wouldn't go before i knew everyone was ready, and of course if feral i would use good old fashioned diplomacy" but seeing the rv they quickly checked the back window to see if anything was in the backseat or trunk and under the vehicle itself, making sure its not some sort of trap

(Anbessa) Anbessa, like the others, curiously gazes at the rusty RV parked in the road, though the bun still seems to be moreso being cautious right now as he keeps his polearm in hand as he stands nearby Erika, glancing over to the husky for a moment before looking towards the RV. "Hope the nanites can keep Tetanus away too." He says with a small snicker. Though seeing Junes go to inspect around the RV, the buck perks his ears and starts to move moreso around the vehicle in more of a wider berth. Not getting close, but certainly looking it over to check for anything that might look recently fiddled with on the rustbucket.

(Luard) What's that in the sky? A terrifying dragon come to destroy everyone with fire? A sentient plane or some other horrifying machination of the nanites come to torture everyone's poor souls? Nope, it's a big... winged... dog? Wide white feathered wings beat in the sky as the large alpha husky comes into view, dressed in the same shirt and jeans as before, his wings slowly lowering him down towards the group as he lands nearby, his wings beating kicking up a small storm around him as he lands, letting out a long sigh and dusting his fur down as his wings fold up behind him. "Sorry Erika. Got turned around scouting out over the forest. Thought I heard you guys earlier, but it sure wasn't you. Glad I managed to get back in time though."

(Erika) The RV sits in silence despite any calls from the group, though Erika approaches it with Fenris and Chessly. With an RV like this, there isn't really a backseat, or a trunk for that matter. Most of the storage is along the sides of the exterior, or within the RV. Of course, as everyone is eager to rush ahead and inspect the RV, Erika growls softly. "Hey, this isn't a playground, or a museum exhibit. Don't be fucking stupid." she says, not angrily, just as a word of warning. Regardless, now that everyone has destroyed formation in favor of looking at the first interesting thing on the road, she watches over them just to make sure nothing jumps out of this ancient vehicle. Seeing Luard descending from the sky, she puts her paw back on her holster again, but quickly recognizes who it is, letting out a sigh of relief. "Oh, there you are. Just had to say goodbye to Moresson, didn't you? You sure have been getting attached... Wait... What did you hear?"

(Euoia) Euoia sighs and regroups with Erika after half the team rushed the RV. She stands with her back to the vehicle, keeping lookout for whomever was following them. She didn't notice Luard until they were identified by Erika anyway. Dismayed by missing a coontact, she focuses more on everyone's positions, turning off the restriction of not marking teammates. Until the group decides to move again, she was on overwatch duty and munching on a few berries. The RV proved that deep down, most of us are still kids.

(Fenris) "Well," Fenris saysas he circles once around the old RV, "You did say we were supposed to be scouting. No good leaving an unturned stone firmly wedged behind us, right?" The tanuki samples the berry provided to him by Euoia, then meanders over to the edge of the bridge, looking over the ruined rail while others examine the derilect vehicle.

(Chessly) Chessly wants to heed Erika's advice, but he needs to see what's inside, trap or not the cat's gotta tinker. Skittering to the front of the RV paws reach to the hood of the it, to pop the rust can open.

"Sorry! I've gotta check and see if it's working, maybe we can get something out of it!" Whispering under his breath the cat looks for the latch to see the insides of the vehicle, "I wonder what we'll name this guy if it works...rust can? Rust bucket? Rust Runner..."

(Junes) after seeing the vehicle is safe junes glanced back from their crouch and mentioned after chessly "sorry about that too was just making sure nothing is gonna pop out from underneath" getting up they waved to the new arrival and asked while heading to the back of the group "so what did that 'not us' noise sound like by the way?"

(Anbessa) Anbessa hums a bit as he looks over the RV, though soon shrugs a bit. "I mean... Seeing those panels broken n' all, makes me think this thing has already been looted." He notes, scratching behind his head for a second as one of his ears droop. "I'm moreso wondering if someone was using it as a hiding place or not, but either way I'd think it is probably better to keep moving. I heavily doubt there is anything of value, or in working order, 14 years after P-day." He says towards Chessly as he lightly leans on his polearm for a moment, still using it like a walking stick for the moment.

Either way, the bigbun is now just ready to get moving, since in his eyes this is something already looted as far as he can tell... Or just a risk of tetanus. Though, as Luard flies over, the buck raises a paw to give a quick wave to the winged one. "Heya. We were apparently getting stalked by somethings in the forest, but we can only hope they aren't Packmind or otherwise threats." He says, giving a small shrug as he continues to wait for the shenanigains to be done with.

(Luard) Luard adjusts his shirt, brushing himself clean and securing his own weapons as he nods back at Anbessa, and to the rest of the group. He chuckles as he walks up next to Erika, smiling down at the husky as he chuckles. "Hey, what can I say? It's a dangerous place we're going to, so I had to give her a fond farewell before we left. Plus someone had to remind her not to eat all the crate supplies." He chuckles again, before looking a little more serious. "Not packminds luckily, I'd have felt it more if they were I think. But there was definitely movement in the underbrush. Either something with lots of legs, or a group of mutants. Hopefully it won't come near this track or sense the group. But a word of advice to everyone. Keep noise to a minimum. Not saying not to talk, that should be fine. But we should only raise our voices so high if we really need to I think." He only now sees the RV, looking at it in confusion. "I haven't seen one of those for years..."

(Erika) Erika rolls her eyes from Fenris' comment, huffing. "That's true, yeah... It wasn't like I was going to leave it in the dust. I just don't want everyone rushing ahead the moment we see something, alright?" she replies, watching out for Fenris next to the collapsed rail. When Chessly tries to pop the hood, it does indeed pop, and the popper also pops off. Inside the RV, it looks like there are some old suitcases, empty and chewed up snack packs and food containers, old disposable plates and utensils, and even some makeshift bedding in the back. As if it was initially used by a family on vacation before P-Day, and a temporary hideout for someone after P-Day. But there are no other living things inside the RV. The husky cowgirl nods in agreement with Laurd. "Yeah, we were seemingly being checked out earlier by... Well, we didn't see anything. Not really." she says, keeping her voice down.

(Euoia) Euoia sighed while looking over the roadway and forest behind them. "Looks like whatever was following us is a little more weary. No contacts." She keeps up her overwatch of the forest. "Wish i had something to go with these berries. Like pasteli or rootbeer barrels." she noms another two berries. At least calm is better than active hostiles.

(Fenris) Fenris looks over the edge, then steps back to look at the wider view. Then he turns, reaches into his tool belt and produces a corndog before wandering back to Erika. "What exactly are we looking for, Boss?"

(Chessly) "Sorry Erika, I'll ask permission next ti-." Chessly winces at hearing the popper come flying off, and then his face twists from noticing a few bare necessities missing, he motions over to the crew and points at all the missing parts.

"Rusty's battery, and his catalytic converter so unless someone is a walking auto repair shop I can't really patch this thing up." He then points a cat digit at the popper now rolling on the ground.

"Looks like mister rusty here isn't happy with us popping him open, so once this hood comes back down we won't be able to open it again." He taps the side of Mister Rusty as if trying to comfort the hunk of oxidized metal for being an absolute mess.

(Junes) waving over euoia junes mentioned "oh! ive got a whole camping kit and cookware and some fish plus other ingredients if you need a bite, although best to find somewhere safer to rest before any of that. Oh and of course a person or two for lookout while the others sleep" they occasionally glance at the catboy tinkering with the rv and looking more at the vehicle their face sours slightly but returns to being neutral shortly after

(Anbessa) Anbessa just shrugs and nods as he looks towards Erika. "It happens. As long as we don't run off the path for something glittering, I'd say it could be a lot worse than it currently is." Anbessa says with a moment to roll his shoulders, ears still sitting up high atop of his head. "So... Should we get moving? Given we are being stalked, probably not a good idea to stay in one place for too long when something, or somethings, could be converging."

(Luard) Luard continues to look over at the RV, and lifts a hand and sends a little electricity crackling through it, then calls over to Chessly. "I don't know about walking repair shop, Moresson's better equipped for that, but if anything need a charge or sudden jolt, I got you covered." He glances back the way the group came, staring out for a while as he speaks. "I didn't see anything stalking you guys when I flew over, but could be they're gone or in the underbrush. I flew in slightly from the side. Could be the same thing you guys noticed, or there's more than one problem out there. Either way, so long as they're staying out there, that's what matters. Anbessa is right though. If there's anything worth salvaging from that thing, do it quick, but do it quiet. We need to keep moving. The longer we wait around in one place, the more we invite trouble to find us." He says, taking his glaive off of his back to hold as he begins to walk to the front of the group.

(Erika) Erika steps closer to the hood once Chessly starts talking about it, glancing into the open engine. "Forget it, there's no way this could be repaired. Just leave it, it's useless." she says, glancing over to Fenris. "I guess nothing, really. If people wanted to stop and check out the RV, then fine. But I didn't come this way just for this." she replies, nodding to Anbessa and Luard. "We keep going." Almost as if Luard is able to tell the future, whil the group is examining the incomplete and very broken RV, the blips start to return. And not only just for a second this time. One, two, three, four... Eight total blips, approaching the group. 4 on each side of the bridge. And as they come into view, they do indeed look like mutants of varying sorts. They're dressed in patchwork clothing, and each is carrying some sort of makeshift weapon. A baseball bat, a golf club, a fire axe, a machete, a branch, you name it.

(Euoia) Euoia goes wide eyed for a little and then has a giant sweatdrop appear on her head. "We got... 4 no.. 8 contacts. Four on each side of the bridge." She opens her hip pack and pulls out some berries, moves forward slightly to put a pile of berries between the group and the contacts on her side of the bridge. After placing them, she moves back to her position. "We... we come in peace." she says, bowing to the people ahead of her.

(Fenris) Fenris raises an eyebrow and shrugs before sauntering toward the opposite side of the bridge from Euoia. "Hello, friends," he says pleasantly, "We're just passing through. Hope we are not bothering anyone."

(Chessly)

Chessly's ears lower, sad he has to abandon the RV the cat hops off, but keeps the hood propped open with a wedge. As he turns away from his work eyes go wide at the crew of armed folks gathering around on either side of the bridge. Sticking to the RV he waves at the armed group, "H-hey! Ummm...if you need help fixing this rust can up I wouldn't mind trying!"

(Junes) hearing about and then seeing the unknown group they followed the path euoia made and from a cooler pulled out eight three eyed fish and with some paper laid down eight three-eyed fish for each of the mutants and said "free of charge, although mind the eyes its tasty but definitely an odd fish" as they went to the back once more

(Anbessa) Anbessa nods towards Erika with a small smile, though as the 8 figures enter into view of them all, the buck lifts his ears in surprise before he squints a bit. The bunny, though not entering a combat stance yet, still has his polearm in his arm, the buck lightly leaning on it still like as if it were a walking stick he found along the road as the lagomorph looks over the weapon wielding mutants. "I suppose this is just what to expect when we linger..." He mutters aloud, though as he glances about, he clicks his tongue. They are on a bridge, so... This is a bad position to be in... "Sorry if we are intruding in your territory. Just passing through." He says out loud, continuing to keep his grip on his polearm, the bun making it very apparent that he has it a he now and again moves the staff, the haft of the guisarme tapping the road.

(Luard) Luard takes a few steps forward, but stops as his nose smells company, and he faintly hears the sound of the blips. He sees the 8 mutants appear at the same time as Euoia calls them out to the group, and he takes a few steps back towards everyone else with weapon in hand, sighing. "Why do I always have to be right at the worst time?" He mutters, moving back next to Erika to discuss what the best course of action was, since he knew the cowgirl husky likely doesn't want to disturb or uproot the locals if possible. He watches as the others make offerings of peace, remaining silent next to Erika to hear her order, but ready to spring into action if necessary.

(Erika) Erika looks around when Euoia mentions the blips coming back, in time to see the mutants approaching, locking them on the bridge from both sides. "Fuck..." she grunts out, watching the others start to offer food. "Careful." she tells them, glancing back and forth between both sides of the bridge. Both groups stop about halfway to the adventurers, however on the side of the bridge that the party was going, one wolf steps forward, holding his baseball bat behind his neck, smirking. "Well, look at that everyone... They know the drill, and we haven't even met yet. Good start." he says, moving his grip to just one hand, swinging the bat down and pointing towards the food with his now free hand. He seems to be wearing a patchy leather jacket as well, with a faded and drayed red scarf. Most of them have scarves, actually. The cold warrants such dress. "Page, Wells. Collect." he says, and from his side a sheep girl approaches to collect the offerings. While from the other side, a ferret guy grabs the offerings. "I'm afraid it's not enough though." the wolf says to the party, raising the bat up to rest it on one shoulder. "See, we're just passing through too... But we're tired, hungry, low on supplies, and not necessarily in need of more friends, so here's how things are gonna go... We're gonna take all your shit. All of it. And we're gonna be on our way. Then we'll never see each other again." Erika steps up to the front of the party to confront the wolf, though she does take a quick glance at the others to see what they think.

(Euoia) Euoia starts to grin when the leader of the group said they were not locals. "Protocol was to be friendly with the locals. Since your lot are just passing through as well makes you not locals." She puts her staff on a holder on her medpack and pulls out her miniature Eight Trigrams Reactor and takes aim at the hostiles on her side of the party. "This isn't gonna look pretty then..." The anime babe doesn't fire a beam off yet. More waiting on seeing when they start anything.

(Fenris) Fenris continues to smile amiably, smoothly unstrapping his spear from its holster on his back. He spins the weapon deftly in one hand while continuing to eat his inexplicable corn dog. "The Crater Lake tourist center is about a half day's walk behind us," he says, "Plenty of help to be found there. Even a helpful army reserve that would be happy to get you somewhere safer than Oregon."

The tanuki looks over the ragged group surrounding the bridge. "And no offense," he says apologetically around a mouthful of food, "But you folks look worse for wear. If you're just hungry, I am sure we can work something out."

(Chessly) The cat-boy can't help but feel some pity for the rag-tag team of bandits, robbing folks off the road can't be sustainable for them, he knows he isn't the best at negotiating, but keeps the conversation going so things don't break out into violence. "A-ah! Yeah, he's right, we can negotiate for a healthier deal for the both of us, you all seem to be in need of some stability." The cat puts on a bright smile, and looks towards the ferret and sheep. "Aint that right Page and Wells? Wouldn't it be great to have a nice warm place to stay that's safe?"

(Junes) hearing the threat junes mentioned after "exactly, plenty of fish out there, i dont mind sharing more and would rather avoid wasting both of our resources and avoiding a senseless fight. We just go our separate ways, or potentially help us on the journey and we can work something out."

(Anbessa) Anbessa glances towards Euoia and Fenris for a moment, the bun giving a small smile as well at their confidence, though as Fenris speaks up about the tourist center, the bun cannot help but feel a bit... Conflicted, about sharing that information. Though the bun just clicks his tongue before he more firmly clacks his polearm's haft against the bridge. "I'd say it is not wise to fight out here either. I believe you and yours would agree that doing something that may draw the eyes of the Packmind would not be wise." He nudges his head towards Euoia's direction for a moment. "Gun reports DO travel for quite a while, after all."

Anbessa certainly seems not interested in surrendering his things to this band of bandits, as now he is no longer leaning on his polearm, letting it lean on his shoulder in return as the buck lets his ears droop back behind him as the riot armor wearing rabbit stands with a more stern posture now. All he can do is plead to reason in this moment. "Best to keep our blood in our bodies, our strengths, and our souls from being subsumed by a wandering packmind, wouldn't you all agree?"

(Luard) Luard sighs heavily. "Wonderful. More bandits. What're they even doing out here?" He mutters to Erika, but hears the wolf speak and eyes him as the leader, glancing to either side at the mutants that took the offerings the other's made. He takes a few steps forward back to the front of the group with Erika, eyes firmly on the wolf. "I'd heed their words if I were you. Fighting out here might not end well for us, sure, but I know it ends way worse for you." He rests his polearm against his shoulder, as long as pretty much everyone else here is tall. "Those peace offerings weren't just a gift and sign of peace. They're a sign of cooperation. We can have this pointless fight, risk the packminds overhearing us, you lose either way from the looks of you. Or we can offer you something better. Your groups in shambles, stealing, looks like you're barely making it. Put your weapons away, and we can get you safe passage to somewhere where you'll likely never go hungry again. Choice is yours. All of you, that is, not just your leader." He considered making an offer to try bringing the other group with them, but wasn't sure Erika would approve of giving away their intentions or where they were going just yet.

(Erika) As things start to get more tense, one more wolf on each side approach a bit, both larger than the main wolf. However, seeing the gun pointed their way, and hearing the threats of a fight, the main wolf holds a hand out to stop them from getting too close. He simply laughs at the party, shaking his head. "While the visitor center kind of sounds like a sweet deal, I'm gonna have to burst your bubble... You see, we're passing through, alright. But we have been here a little while. That's how we knew where best to corner you. All that to say... We know there aren't any packminds around here. We've lost a few people to them in other areas, but not in this stretch of forest yet. So we're not afraid of a little packmind threat." he explains, though with tensions riding so high, some of the other bandits seem uneasy. A gecko behind the party even speaks up. "Bert, come on... These guys are well armed... We can't rob every poor passerby we see, alright? These guys are gonna fight back, and Page could get hurt." he says to the wolf past the party, and this 'Bert' wolf pauses, glancing to the gecko and then back at the party. He growls a little, giving everyone a nasty look. "Fine... Not worth it. We'll accept the offerings, you can cross the bridge." he says, pointing to the side near where the broken rail is, the four in front of the party moving off to the side.

(Euoia) Euoia keeps her magicannon aimed at the bandits but relaxes her stance. Waiting for everyone to move on, she takes up a position as rear guard. She keeps a careful look on the wannabe bandits and keeps them as red blips on her holo-tracker.

(Fenris) Fenris nods at the gecko, then at Bert, the wolf. "Thank you," he says, watching and waiting as the others move forward.

The burly tanuki opens a flap on his hefty tool belt and starts to pull out what seems to be about a dozen granola bars and a surprisingly sizeable package of some kind of jerky. Then he opens up another pouch to produce two entire sleeves of some kind of knockoff oreo sandwich cookies. What kind of walking convenience store is this?

"You folks take care now," he says, carefully setting the packaged food down on the bridge before sauntering forward, weapon still held easily in his paw.

Fenris spends 20 common edible salvage to: Bridge Bandits

(Chessly) Chessly sighs in relief at peace being brokered between the two, "So Bert you wouldn't happen to have a catalytic converter, and a battery on you? If you do find one you can fix that rust bucket right up." The cat-boy respects the brokered deal heads on over to the broken rail side of the bridge. Then shouts from there at the Bridge Bandits. "Pleasure meeting yall! I hope to see you again in one piece!"

(Junes) walking along with the group junes adds "seriously though try to fish for some meals." as they look past the bandits scanning the treeline and looking to see if anything else caught the attention from all the commotion but otherwise followed the back of the team and looked out for any interesting plants and creatures

(Anbessa) Anbessa continues to keep his grip on his polearm, though as the gecko pleads their case and it seems to help with the big wolf as well... The bun can only frown a bit. Certainly does seem like they are on hard times, given what the wolf was saying. "Well... We can only wish you luck, but there are options for places to live that are opening up. 14 years after the end n' all, so there is some places rebuilding." The rabbit man says, though the bun does pause to glance over to Chessly for a moment. They really liked that RV, huh? Either way, the bun keeps along with the group, intent on taking the offered way out, though he does of course stay cautious. He is not a fan of the lack of railing anyway, but either way he waits for Erika as the bun keeps his ears drooped back.

(Luard) Luard does much the same as the buck, polearm over his shoulder and wings folded but ready, his piercing gaze locked on the wolf, bert, ready for any sudden movement or betrayal even as he catches sight of the larger lupines appearing. He makes sure to note what he hears in his head. No packmind locally they knew of. That was good for all of them, and for the project at large, to have that confirmed. And he gives a stiff nod as he keeps his weapon held when the bandits decide to leave. "Just because you've been out here so long, doesn't mean you have to stay as you are. I'm sure you're all hungry. Some of y'all probably have family. Time's have changed. There are better ways of living now, not just surviving, and there's going to be more. Take what we've given, and we wish you well. If we ever cross paths again, I'll hope it's because you've considered our offer."

(Erika) The bandits stare and blink at Fenris as he seems to produce a large number of snacks, quite impressed by his haul. They're quite speechless, though the wolf called Bert does take the food. "Oh, uhh... Yeah, thanks." he says, handing the food off to the sheep girl next to him. Afterwards, the wolf stares blankly at Chessly, all that seeming to go right over his head. However, a goat in the gang just shakes his head. "No, nothing like that. I wouldn't even try fixing that thing. You DO know that gas can only last about... 3 years, tops... right? There is no gas left. None. That RV, and every other car from before, is set up entirely to run off gas." the goat tells the feline, crossing his arms. Regardless, when the path is offered, Erika does begin to walk across, after letting her group say their peace. "Don't fall." she says to the wolf, smirking a bit and swaying her hips as she crosses the bridge past them. Bert stares at Luard, the large husky speaking of other alternatives. He doesn't seem convinced, but he lets the group pass all the same.