Local Conditions wrote:
Outside Garnet Town
- Location: Southern Missouri
- Population: a few hundred
- Date & Time:12:00p (Fortification done!) Date:??
- Ley Line Activity: Near ley line
- Weather: Sunny, 60 degrees F.
- Visibility: Good, light clouds, moderate windy gusts
Ilustrative Map
Map Key
Detailed Map
LOOK UPON ME I AM THE BEAST (everyone!)
Day One
Returning to town immediately after the fight isn't quite a hero's welcome. The Coalition are fairly well behaved, listening to Beehan and holding fire, even though there is a dragon in the area. Whisper vanishes at the sight of the skull heads. From her hiding spot in the shadows, she can listen to the conversation. Still fascist bastards with genocidal dreams, there is no immediate confrontation between the newcomers and the Coalition. That doesn't happen often.
When Zima addresses the Lieutenant, he doesn't take offense to her jibe, nor does he jest in return.
"Yes, ma'am, we indeed did show up later than we had hoped. I hope we were helpful though, the situation was dire according to the squad leader's report." The CS officer seems resigned to defeat actually, this was their last hope to score some points with these people. And they very well may have. Where Symon tried to dominate and ultimately destroy the small town, Beehan showed a surprisingly rational side of the Coalition. Except for those pesky things about driving out or killing non-humans and demonizing and expelling magic users, his deal wasn't that bad.
However, between Adam and Zima, Beehan never had a chance. Everyone idolizes a Glitter Boy pilot, and Zima is even more charismatic than most. Her cheerful demeanor contrasts sharply with the CS rep's continually stern expression. Adam and Zima both have a strong grasp on the historical parallels to this sort of "deal". Adam especially acts as the Tomorrow Legion's rep, and the deal he presents is much different from either the CS or Symon. Combined with their valiant actions, the town's vote is almost unanimously for the Tomorrow Legion. Beehan agrees to move his forces out in the morning.
Egil was correct in his guess that Von was not supposed to talk to the crazy vampire monster guy (his words, who knows what was actually said), but Von also wasn't supposed to go out chasing Brodkil. So when he sees Egil remove himself from the town square, Von hops off the roof and chases Egil. He shouts,
"Hey! Wait up!"
Palling around with his new minions, Awktek has a horrifying realization: these poor beings do not have wings!! As the first day with them draws on, he begins to notice disturbing tendencies too. The casually kill any plants or animals that are within reach, either hewing it down with a magic sword, or using their other special abilities. The are disciplined and at this point listen to Awktek, but their view of the world tends to be about domination or servitude, killing or being killed, death of one's self or death of the other. In other words, their view is black and white. Violence seems to be their basic instinct.
Most of the townsfolk are occupied out in the fields or building the defensive wall around the town. Adam enlists Zima's military knowledge to help ensure it's not just historically accurate, but functional for today's battlefield as well.
Day Two
Egil's creepy nightmare antics are noticed and there is a buzz around town of a baby stealing phantom. Von hassles Egil any chance he can. Egil learns that the boy will listen to anything the 'stalker has to say, until he gets restless after about five minutes, then he bounces away. After shaking the kid, Egil's scrounging takes him back to the brodkil camp. Digging through the remains of the lead brodkil's tent, and digging is almost literal, since the amount of filth and debris is disgusting, he finds a cred chip! It's a tidy sum too.
After his first full day of "training", Awktek finds this boys are getting a bit restless. Apparently he isn't abusing them enough to keep them docile, and they haven't been unleashed to slaughter anything. They are competent foot soldiers, with adequate skill in fighting and other physical activities, stealth among them. They are not dumb, but they value their strength above all else. And they are very very strong. Stronger than any human, and stronger than many borgs and other other supernatural creatures. He also discovers that they are never given technological weapons, they are very comfortable with them and will loot a battlefield to acquire higher tech.
Zima and Adam continue in their role as emissaries and hash out the details of the agreement. Trade deals, protection, education, and other topics are discussed. Lithari is a shrewd negotiator and, now that her townsfolk are safe, is able to have a conversation while not desperate and caught between two untenable options.
The wall continues to grow. Beehan and his troops leave as agreed.
Whisper finds herself in a bucolic farm town, a diversity of peoples and no one actively hunting her. At some point, she is able to get to the cabin and retrieve her stuff. There are reminders all over that small structure of Symon's cruelty and malevolence. It seems like she was not the first prisoner, and that the shifter had been using this as a staging ground for magic at the nexus for some time. She found scraps of notes for summoning or controlling such things like daemonix, deevils, demons and more she does not recognize.
Day Three
Egil bursts in on the miller, the tall man jumps from his seat and spills his coffee.
"What do YOU want!" he bellows, coffee streaming downs his bushy beard. He calms slightly when Egil claims he's there for business. Trent sits back down, and the conversation gets crazy, a little.
When Egil is looking over the limited wares in the storage room, not even barely concealed, just sitting out there, Trent says,
"Look, truth is, I did set Symon up with Strickland, but that's just what my job is you know? If some horn-headed creep comes up from the Feds and says 'I need a bot', I look in my book and say sure, I got one. Strickland, he ain't a bad dude, you know. If he'd known that dickhead he was working for wanted to summon a demon and kill everyone, he wouldn't taken the contract. Not for what Symon was paying anyway. I'm glad you guys showed up though. Really. I got a nice cozy gig here." But he takes on the real conspiratorial tone when he leans in closer and half whispers,
"I got nothing against white people like you, mind you, but that shadowy girl is something, get her to come round here okay?"
Something had to be done, the shock dragons were definitely getting restless. Awktek gets a small reprieve though, while out on one his training patrols away from the town, his group comes across a pack of ostrasaurus. Before Awktek can say yea or nay, the shock dragons are off. They attack with strategy, culling out weaker victims from the heard and others bringing them down. In a few minutes they have killed two of the dinosaurs and greedily eating them.
Zima spends a lot of time being a hero. Lots of people want to buy her a drink, have her over for dinner, talk her ear off or otherwise be her friend. She has some work on the wall to do, but mostly, she's on her own.
Whisper is in a similar situation, though she is definitely trying to keep a lower profile (that's just her nature, right?). Still she is way more of an exotic dbee than anyone in Garnet Town has seen. The miller seems particularly interested.
Day Four
The only person willing to buy Egil a drink is the miller.
The miller wants to buy Whisper a drink too, if he can find her.
Zima doesn't have to pay for a thing.
Chevy and Adam are no where to be seen.
Awktek has a problem, the shock dragons are restless and want to fight or hunt. They are barely listening to the young dragon. They have taken to ranging out in groups of two to look for prey or a fight.
Day Five
Word has come through, one way or another, that Adam will stay for a while and be the Legion's rep in Garnet Town. "His" wall gets completed as well. It's not Chi-town or Merctown, but it's Garnet Town and it now has a real defensive barrier around it.
So that means that Zima, Chevy, Egil and Awktek are the remaining legion members, will they invite Whisper along? Will she go?
Awktek also has a difficult decision: what does he do with his shock dragons?
What are you doing?