Aberrant: Phoenix Rising - Chapter 2: Wish You Were Here

[jameson (ST)]

"The lavatories are outside, have of the men show you..." He turns to Courier, "The nearest big town before the burn ... Saint John I guess, perhaps not depending on your definition of big, it's big now anyways. Maybe Hallyfax though I'm not sure if that town is new or old. We're a small community and fairly self sustaining.

"Not to spurn your offer as you all seem like decent rationale folk but I would suspect that most of the town would be more comfortable without your prescenece, these people fear what they don't know and aberrants or ... umm novas? ... are likely to be more a burdan on the town than a blessing if you catch my meaning."

[Buzzkill]

Buzz's eyebrows raise in a bit of surprise, and then lower in some disappointment. But he was right, such a small village really couldn't handle the appetites of a bunch of Novas.

"Alright Bob, that's fine, we don't have no intention of bein' a burden to you nice folk. Maybe we could just accept your hospitality that you already offered and be on our way. And we thank ya for the help and the pleasant time."

[Gregory]

As Gregory is being shown the lavatory, he tries to listen for any suspicious sounds or signals in town. There is something not right in this place he wonders to himself. Once he gets inside the lavatory, he will try to sense others with a node again.

If Gregory senses them again, he will remove his clothing and blend in with his surroundings. An idea occurs to him as he readies to leave the lavatory. The others will want me to leave the batroom. He forms an image of himself within a field and makes a mindless duplicate of himself. He sends it back to the group to stand in the back where it will attract little attention. After a minute it will dissolve

Sending to Courier: *Tell the others I will be sneaking out to where I sensed the other like us. Tell the others that I felt something earlier and that I am going to look for it. I am sending a fake me to you. It will vanish in a minute. Don't let them see it dissapear.

Gregory sneaks out the door while those watching his construct are distracted. He will then, nude and camoflaged, sneak towards where he sensed the other one like him.

If he does not sense someone, he will return to the group.

[jameson (ST)]

In the lavatory Gregory once more pings out a wave of quantum energy. As expected he feels the nodes of the other 4 group members realatively close by. What he does not expect is the hard to describe feeling he gets at the outside edge of his senses. It's not a quatum signature, in fact it could be described best as a complete lack of quantum. In his mind he compares it to feeling along a wall for a bump and instead finding a hole. Feeling that this is at least as odd as anything else in recent memory Gregory decides to investigate.

Knowing that his chameleon ability is no substitute for true invisibility Gregory takes him time and keeps to dark areas and spots where he will be least likey to be seen. As he moves further and further from his freinds and deeper into the town he notices that the condition and construction of the buildings appears to be getting better. This is not unusual, there are many parts of Newborough which are little more than slums which have been included into the city by simple proximity.

After about 10 minutes Gregory is lying under a sagging porch and peering out at a building he thinks is the source of the "not-quantum" feeling.

*****

Bob rises, "Well if it must be so then it must be so, I am sorry that we were not able to help you locate your freind. Hopefully you can find her soon.

"If you would like you may talk to some of our hunters if you need assistance in getting your bearings toward wherever your next destination is." He offer his hand to each of you giving a solid handshake despite his age.

[Gregory]

Gregory stared at the building and wondered if he should go in himself, or to contact the others about his odd discovery. After several minutes he decides to contact Courier and tell him about his 'discovery'.

*I found something not normal. It feels strongly non-like us. Strong enough I could discover its location. If someone is able to get here and not be seen, I wait for them. They not come, I go in and look and tell you what I find.

After sending his message, Gregory waits for a reply.

[Courier]

Doug forwards that to everyone and comments,

*Sounds like a good way to block the link. So do they not know, or are they lying? Either way I don't think we have a choice, we have to look into it.*

(Doug makes sure Gregory forwards an image of the building)

(After a couple of rotations to give everyone a chance to talk, he will keep it mostly on Gregory)

[BlueNinja]

*Just give me the word when we're ready to surprise these people. Or if you can't reach Gregory for any reason. I'll try to keep the explosive mayhem to a minimum.*

[Mr Fox]

Raider will sink down into the ground and head to were Gregory is. He'll take Courier with him if he wants to go.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: BlueNinja

*Just give me the word when we're ready to surprise these people. Or if you can't reach Gregory for any reason. I'll try to keep the explosive mayhem to a minimum.*

Doug sends back,

*Let's ask Buzz if he thinks they know. They may weigh in on our side.*

Originally Posted By: Mr Fox

Raider will sink down into the ground and head to were Gregory is. He'll take Courier with him if he wants to go.

Courier refuses,

*Some of us need to breath and you may have to take Gregory or even KB.*

[Mr Fox]

Raider thinks acknowledgement of Couriers comments, then sinks into the ground. He does respond to one thing though, "Actually, as long as I am making you incorporeal you wouldn't have an issue with breathing, but you are right, Gregory may need a quick exit and I can only take one. Let him know I'm coming."

Raider heads to where Gregory said he was going.

[Buzzkill]

Buzz nods politely as he and Bob continue in what some of the Newborough residents kindly call "Old fart speech". While listening he hears about the discovery of that weird building.

*Tell ya' what, I'll keep 'em busy a bit longer but won't say nothin'. Check it out real sneaky like, and if you find something maybe I'll ask Bob about it. I'll keep 'em busy.*

Buzz smiles broadly when he gets his chance to speak.

"That's great Bob, it does my heart proud to see another old timer like myself. It seems like you good people might be a bit cut off. Before I go, why don't I tell you good people a little bit about what's been happening since the Burn. I get asked it all the time, and it's the least I could do. The young ones love these stories, why don't you gather 'em up and I'll tell you the story of How Caestus Pax crossed the Delaware?" The genuine kindness in Buzz's creaky but warm voice is accentuated by the rare but welcoming smile he produces as he gets ready to do one of his favorite pastimes; talking.

[Courier]

Doug listens for a few moments to Buzz and then he excuses himself and walks outside. Once outside he simply looks around, on one level surveying the place for trade, and if possible he'll inquire as to the location of any shops. On another level he's looking over the place, and Gregory's building, tactically.

[jameson (ST)]

Courier excuses himself "to go get some fresh air" and goes outside. He walks around the building staying within view of the two men stationed at the door so as not to alarm them. He cannot be see the building Gregory described. He asks the two hunters where the town market is an one of them agrees to show him. He is lead through the streets back toward the part of town where they entered and soon finds himself in a small market square. Hunters and farmers are trading their wares and others are selling or tradeing blacksmithed goods or repaired and scavenged technology.

*****

Bob tells Buzz, "I could arrange something but you would need to come back I could not gather the town in the middle of the day on such sort notice unless it was a dire emergency.

"Please tell me more of your own town though, perhaps you have need for some of the resources that we have in abundance here, skins and hides, cured game. Could your people use any of this?"

*****

Gregory crawls out from under the porch and dashes across the alley into the building's shadow. He creep slowly around the building to the back and finds a low window. He peers inside the window and peers into the building. Inside the building looks like any other home one would expect in a poor community, a few shabby peices of furniture occupy a small room. Lying on a bed in the room is a young man, apparently sleeping. Gregory continues around the building and sees another 3 rooms simlar to the first.

Sitting on a chair in the middle of the final room is another young person, normal but for one difference, the left half of his body appears horribly deformed. His skin is blue and lumpy and his left arm ends in a lobster like claw.

Gregory tries to relay all of this to Courier but finds that he cannot make any sort of connection to the other man.

Why can't I send to Courier? Gregory wonders to himself. He moves around the building looking for any of the others.

Gregory peers inside the last room one final time, the mutated man appears to be reading an old leatherbound book, he is facing generally towards the window but he clearly has not noticed anything.

Gregory continues around the building, it appears that it is made up of about 6 rooms on one floor. The only door into the building is in the front on the main street and Gregory suspects he would not be able to try the door and remain hidden. Otherwise the building appears to be a simple rough wood frame building, likely made with hand hewn boards or with wood scavenged from older buildings. Only the center front room is inaccessable to you (as it opens out to the street).

[BlueNinja]

Adam also takes a short walk around the building, seeing the spot that Courier passed along as where Gregory had gone. He does his best to inspect that building and the ones around it, trying to figure out what it is, and how best to get in and out of it.

(Analyze Weakness type of roll here, I'm assuming it'd be Tactics or Engineering for the building?)

[Mr Fox]

Raider will flow underground to where he believes Gregory to be. He surfaces often and just far enough to see where he is. He thinks to Courier, "Can you get Gregory to give me some specifics on how to find him?"

[Buzzkill]

"Fair enough Bob. Why not have some of your boys bring some and I'll take a look. My arthitis in my hip is actin' up. We didn't bring much to trade unfortunately, but we can see your wares, find out ya'll need, and we can come back maybe. We can always use some decent skins and such."

*The story ain't workin, I'll see if I can haggle with 'em for awhile*

[Gregory]

Back under the porch, Gregory sends out to Courier: *I scouted the building and tried to send, but could not. It has a building with blue-clawed aberrant inside. It has more rooms, with another man sleeping in one of them, can't see all the rooms.

Gregory sends out additional information describing buildings nearby.

[Courier]

Courier forwards Gregory's messages to everyone with the following,

*Odd that the building effects quantum. Odder still that there would be aberrants there. I always thought they liked high taint areas. So are the normals here servants? Cult members? Ignorant?*

*Gregory, did your powers work in there? Is this surpressing all quantum or maybe there's just a wall? Did you try to do a ping in there?*

[Gregory]

To Courier:

*I don't know. I couldn't send to you when near building, but can when I am away from it. I pinged earlier, got a not quantum feeling.

[BlueNinja]

Since Adam knows that something is up, he'll move over to the hunters, and start talking with them about how they defend the town, offering advice on how to take down aberrants. If given the chance, he'll have them start walking around with him, so that he can try and observe this building from multiple angles.

[Mr Fox]

Raider will head to the building and see if there is anything preventing him from going underneath. If not he will carefully enter from below and surface just enough to look around, and relay what he sees to Courier.

[jameson (ST)]

Gregory waits under the porch across from the strange building, he wonders why it is that he can sense nothing from within especially given that he saw what appeared to be an aberrant within.

*****

Back in the meeting room Adam also excuses himself for some fresh air and heads outside. He quickly finds that much like Courier he is unable to get a direct view of the building in question. He ambles over to the other hunter who is standing by the door and they begin to chat about hunting, combat, and other such things. Adam tries to convince the other man to show him the town's defenses but he says he cannot, he needs to be there in case Bob needs anything, it would seem that much like Buzz, Bob has somebody to help him run errands within town...

****

Shortly after Adam leaves Raider begins to sink into the floor. Buzz covers by keeping the other man distracted and continuing to dicuss their potential for trade of goods and/or knowledge...

****

In the market Courier distractedly looks through the trader's goods and notes many pelts and furs which he is unfamiliar with. As he passed a booth selling smoked, salted, and cooked meats and fish his stomach gives a rumble saying I'm hungry feed me

****

A short time later Raider approaches Gregory and quickly gets filled in on the details of the house. He can see from his vanatge point that the house is built on a foundation of fieldstone and old blocks. Raider moves over to it leading with his hand just above ground level and out infront. As he approaches the building he finds, much to his amazement, that his hand is forced back into a solid state.

[Gregory]

"See what I mean" Gregory gives Raider a quizzical look. "I can still hide using my skin colors though. I wonder if my creations can exist near the house."

"So what do we do now?" he whispers to Raider.

[Mr Fox]

Raider will pass the info along to Courier and whisper back, "I think we should discuss this with the others. Going in there alone may cause alot of trouble."

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Dr. Raphael Bradford

In the market Courier distractedly looks through the trader's goods and notes many pelts and furs which he is unfamiliar with.

Courier observes with an experienced eye and thinks to himself,

*Furs, pelts... and local clothing and metal work seem pretty weak. Say, load up the truck with those then fly it here. It's what, a three hour or so flight here? Unpleasant but not unworkable. Actual trading would probably be more than a one person job...*

Doug asks the important questions of the pelts’, how old it is, how big is the supply, how much are there, and what kind of animal it is, how they’d hold up in the weather…

(To Buzz) *Hey Buzz. Seems to me they really do have pelts and furs to trade. Probably be worth a trading flight every now and then. Ideally they’d approach us with that idea and then we could let them persuade us it’s worth while.*

Originally Posted By: Dr. Raphael Bradford

As he passed a booth selling smoked, salted, and cooked meats and fish his stomach gives a rumble saying I'm hungry feed me

Doug thinks back to his stomach with familiar regret/amusement, ’Ah, the curse of being a nova. Well, good thing I’m rich.

Courier trades for food, not only for himself but the others as well. ’My girlfriend, my trip, last thing I need is for the crew to need to go back for food.’

Originally Posted By: Mr Fox

Raider will pass the info along to Courier and whisper back, "I think we should discuss this with the others. Going in there alone may cause alot of trouble."

Doug sends back (as well as forwarding everything to everyone)

*We’d lose our powers, I’m armed but then so was KB. Of course for a massive assault I’ll bet I could throw rocks or spears from out of range of that field. For that matter I could drop a big rock on the roof… but if KB is in there then that’s the last thing we need.*

*A meeting sounds good, and I’m getting food for us here.*

[BlueNinja]

Adam looks around for a corner or an alley or something, where he can be mostly unobserved, and since Courier passed along a mental picture of the building in question, he'll try opening a Warp to open about two meters above the roof. That way, he can easily swing down from the edge and attempt a stealthy approach.

[jameson (ST)]

Courier trades some of the smaller items he has on his person and gets enough food to provide everybody with a snack. He heads back to the meeting room where Buzz and Bob are still haggling over ... nothing apparently, it seems that Buzz found somebody who likes to rant as much as himself. Shortly thereafter Raider and Gregory return as well.

Adam ducks around into an ally for a moment when the others come back. He finds a ledge which would allow him to lower himself through his warp slowly and attempts to open a gate above the building. With greater than normal effort the warp warbles into existance showing the roof of the house. The gate appears to have appeared about 4 meters above the roof and is straining to close far more than normal. Adam peers through it and is unable to gather any more information than what Gregory and Raider had already passed on.

[Mr Fox]

Raider will become tangible after he enters the room although he does it out of Bob's line of site and he does it slowly too just incase. He doesn't wanna give the geezer a heart attack after all.

[Buzzkill]

"Well Bob I don't doubt the effort your boys went through to get these hides..." continues Buzz as they go over the minutiae of some prices on the hides. "But the quality doesn't account for the amount of metal you're askin' for! Now my first offer was more than reasonable, we're talkin' fleece! 3 bolts of it, it's pre-Burn, but that just means that it don't rot, or fray, you can wash it a bunch, and it's warm as toast! Now if you want to talk metal though, we can give at best a billet of steel for these hides, and I'm bein' generous here. If you want a bit more metal, we can throw in scrap rather than the processed stuff, but it's miserable work I can tell you." Buzz gives Raider the 'eye' to be careful, but also wants to know how things are going. Buzz seems to be in his element and enjoying himself.

[Gregory]

What is that? Gregory wonders, looking at the strange opening above the building. That 'thing' is going to scare the turds out of these villagers

Gregory looks around for Raider, but sees that he has gone. I thinks I will stay here until Raid gets back. If he doesn't come back, they's dead or been captured. Gregory continued to watch the warp over the building and how it unfolds.

[Courier]

Carrying the food, Doug heads back to meet with the others and listens to Buzz go for a while...

[BlueNinja]

Adam mutters darkly to himself for a minute, then shrugs and continues his slow walk around the neighborhood, making sure to try and talk peacefully with those who show evidence of martial skill, probably passing out more tips than he's receiving, and trying to get a good look at this mysterious building.

If Courier contacts him again before Adam returns to he hall where Bob is arguing with Buzz, then Adam will pass along the results of his failed attempt to sneak in/onto the building.

[jameson (ST)]

Everybody (but Gregory) returns to the meeting room where Bob and Buzz are droning on in the ancient language of old people consisting largely of Back in my day..., Kids have it so easy now because ... and similar.

Courier hands out mounds of food that he traded for his pair of binoculars (the only thing he had handy) and the group eats the amazingly tastey smoked and dried meats and fresh breads. Courier reserves some for Gregory knowing that the kid will be hungry when he returns.

Bob apparently does not notice or cannot tell the difference between Gregory and Raider and so notices no change in the group. After a short while Bob excuses himself to the bathroom complaining about somethign called a prostrate ...

You are now alone and free to talk ... what is your next move?

[BlueNinja]

While eating, Adam makes sure to catch Courier's eye and taps his temple. Once the link is rotated to him, *I'm of the opinion that we should confront Bob about this anti-quantum building. I'd say it's a damn good possibility that your friend is inside, and that's why you can't reach her. I'm a decent hand to hand fighter, if it comes to that, though we might be better off threatening to level the whole town. I'd bet you and I could do that easily.*

[Gregory]

He watched the building while he waited for the others to return. Gregory had a feeling that the others were meeting. That was fine with him, they used big words and he generally had little to add in that department.

He began humming a tune he had heard as a little child. It was one of the last things he remembered of his parents.

[Mr Fox]

Raider nods at what Blue says. "I think Bob would have to know something, and I think frontal assault is better than sneaking in this case, even though I don't have any offensive capabilities. Given that quantum doens't seem to work in there we can't do this the easy way.

[Courier]

Courier forwards Adam's message to everyone with the following...

*I tend to agree. I'm sure Bob has a better idea of what is going on that we do, let's ask him. Probably we should soft sell any threats for right now and just ask him about the quantum dead zone in that building.*

[Buzzkill]

Buzz placidly munches on the food, he always said the single greatest thing about becoming a Nova was that all his teeth grew back, white as pearls and straight as if a mason laid them in. While calmly munching he pipes in his thoughts:

"I'll be honest, I don't like it, not one bit. For all we know, they're planning an attack on us right now. We're all alone, Bob just left us, for all we know he went outside to get clear and give the signal. If that shoe don't drop though, I'll ask him straight out, what's going on in that building."

[jameson (ST)]

The group is largely finished with their food when Bob finally returns, muttering under his breath about old age. He sits down before speaking, "I've talked to some of the traders and they are willing to provide some samples of their furs and other products for you, in good faith, to try and start trading between our two communities. This is assuming that you still agree to provide a billet of processed building materials for us, likewise on good faith."

[Mr Fox]

Raider waits warily, ready to phase out and dive through a wall if necessary.