Play date: June 8, 2014
Game date: November 5, EY218
Location: Orange Valley, Bashois, Nodapar system
Previous events: On Crapworld at last
As Ester and Volkova strike camp it's obvious that the water that rose during the night has filled the bottom of the valley they need to head down. Jillian tries to work out if they can skirt around the outside but needs Malcolm's eyes to work out the details. The slope is too steep to stay on but the ridge along the top is wide enough that it shouldn't be a problem if they can make it up there. Squinting just so, Jillian finds a very safe path up to the top.
While Jillian and Malcolm are working out the route Bishop is busy with his grubs, using their reactions to find out if any of the lichen is safe to eat. It isn't, or at least it isn't until he comes across a means to neutralize the worst of one of the types of lichen's effects, resulting in a tasteless but nominally edible food source. He and Samiksha find and convert enough lichen for two days' rubbery nourishment for everyone. He decides not to make more, not wanting to empty his first aid kit and not knowing how long the food will keep.
Water pouches refilled and safe thanks to the Drink-Able™ water purifier they head up the slope to the ridge. Knowing that they'll be silhouetted up there weapons are carried in hand so they'll look dangerous: if you can't walk softly you'd might as well let everyone see your big stick, says Malcolm.
It's not too long before Malcolm hears an artificial sound breaking the silence: a helicopter! Weapons are quickly hidden but it's hard to tell where the noise is coming from in the echoing valleys and by the time it's clear not everyone manages to drop over the edge of the ridge out of sight in time: Bishop is spotted out in the open and the helicopter hovers near him, machine guns pointed in his direction. He tries to shout to the crew but there's no way that they'll hear him, so he holds up his Survival Guide as a form of identification and waits. A voice booms over the PA system on the chopper, telling him to return to his settlement. Not having any idea where the nearest settlement is, Bishop keeps walking in the same direction he was and when the helicopter pulls away without additional comment he guesses that they're probably going in the right direction.
Everyone talks about the helicopter once it's out of sight. Bishop can't tell if it was military, but based on the crew's behaviour and helicopters' reputation as notorious hangar queens it's unlikely that random citizens of Crapworld were behind the controls. They decide it's best to get off the ridge and Malcolm identifies a decent path down into the next valley over. It also has some water in it but not as much as they one they abandoned and they can walk along the flat ground there. Judging by the look of the water's edge this looks like a permanent body of water.
Down on the valley floor Jillian heads over to the water to investigate its salinity to see if they're close to the ocean. Malcolm spots a ripple in the water as she's heading towards its edge and lunges forward to protect his hapless captain. He's just in time, too, grabbing her back as a fleshy pseudopod with a clubbed end festooned with spikes lunges out of the water at her! She's saved -- just -- and the pseudopod quickly withdraws back into the water. They keep clear of the water from that point on. If the water here is infested with these things they'll be in trouble tomorrow when they run out of water.
As the day winds down with a slight dimming of light they look for a place to sleep. Bishop is unable to find a flat place to set up camp that's not right by the water and so it's an uncomfortable night, especially for Volkova, but all of the watches are uneventful.
November 6, EY218
The morning brings a very sore back for Volkova after a night on the rocks but Samiksha's arm, injured in the trip through the slide point, is much improved. Everyone else is mostly ok if a little tired from a night of poor sleep.
Malcolm decides to get some water despite the creatures lurking there and heads to the water's edge with a small collapsable carboy in one hand and his sword in the other. Cautiously edging to the water he's not surprised when a pseudopod lashes out at him and fends off its initial onslaught before slashing it deeply with his blade. The pseudopod retreats back into the water but he doesn't trust it to stay away and walks down the edge a bit before filling up with water without further incident.
Once everyone's breakfasted and packed up it's another day in Orange Valley, this one under a looming gas giant. As they walk they start to pass pale green "plants" that rise up off the ground, with slender stalks and bulbous heads. Jillian's quick to order Volkova not to eat any and although the engineer pouts a bit she follows her captain's orders. When Malcolm comments that the flora smells a bit like mint Jillian perks up. This must be the way to Minty Alley! Not wanting to get off on the wrong foot with anyone that they might meet they hide their weapons once more.
By the time Malcolm sees some artificial structures in the distance they have a plan. Bishop will take the lead and pretend to be a xenotechnologist who has been unfairly sentenced to Crapworld. He knew of Choi and wants to find a fellow xenotechnologist in this hellhole, if it's possible. He'll claim not to know the party he's with; they met up as fellow prisoners and he's saved their lives a few times in the wilderness over the last few days.
When they get closer Minty Alley looks decidedly unimpressive, surrounded by corrugated metal walls that would only slow down a determined attack and with the flimsy-looking roofs of a few buildings visible. It's somewhat dark when they get there, with the light coming from behind Minty Alley. With sore feet from a full day of walking they decide to try and gain entry as soon as possible.
As they approach the walls a silhouetted guard calls out to them to stop. She's armed with a rifle and informs them in a strange accent that they've already paid this month, calling the group "Gandhi". There's some vague confusion before they can tell that she's talking to Volkova, followed by a more focused confusion as to why she's calling Volkova "Gandhi". Two more guards show up and although the group can make out that they're black, they don't speak or look like uBuntans.
The Minty Alley guards tell them to drop their packs and they do so, though Ester and Volkova stay with the gear just in case. Jillian manages to slip off her holster and pistol and stuff them unseen into her pack while Malcolm chooses to keep his Blingmaster close to hand, managing to hide its bulk under his clothes.
A boy who seems to be about fifteen years old appears from around the wall and the guard informs them that "Sonny" will be checking out their things. This is a condition for entering Minty Alley. There's a standoff at this point and everyone's fine with not going into the town for now. The party asks to come closer to the wall to talk and since they're not obviously armed they're allowed to do so.
Up close they're struck with just how attractive the first guard -- Ella -- is, Bishop in particular. Amazingly, she's actually better looking than Warden Whang! Bishop flirts pretty openly with her and tells her about how he saved the group in the wilderness, seeming to win her over.
It turns out that Minty Alley's inhabitants are descendants of the first settlers to Crapworld -- or, as they'd rather it were called, Bashois. When humanity lost control of the planet to the creatures who lived here and Aiscapo and the military decided that a scorched earth policy was fine and dandy almost all of the inhabitants decided to stay, as it was their home. They're rare enough elsewhere in the cluster that almost no one knows that they exist. It's not as if much news comes into or out of Crapworld, after all! Er, Bashois.
The "Gandhi" reference came out of Volkova's shaved head; Ella assumed that she was one of Snake Gandhi's people back for more tribute two weeks ahead of schedule. Who is Snake Gandhi? The leader of a gang of maniacs that effectively control this part of the planet. Malcolm thinks to himself that his crew has enough firepower with the Hummingbird's cannon to change this world for the better pretty easily if they choose to...
When Bishop brings up his "framed xenotechnologist" angle Malcolm starts to mock Bishop's presumption of innocence. Bishop ignores him and claims to have been imprisoned for a while before coming to Bashois and wonders if they might have heard of another xenotechnologist named Choi by any chance? It turns out that she was indeed here about a year and a half ago but was obviously a little crazy, going on about "bending the world to her will" and insisting that there was xenotech on the planet that would let her do just that. They eventually sent her on her way.
Everything seem to be going well with Ella, so Bishop decides to pursue things with her further. He declares that he'll let Sonny check his backpack and come in. The check seems to mostly be for weapons: the Grob "egg" either isn't found or isn't considered interesting and he passes off his wriggling uBuntan first aid kit as a minor form of xenotech. The rest of the party pretends to not care that he's leaving and set up camp away from Minty Alley, out of sight but still fairly close by.
As a measure of goodwill Bishop gives them his Green Thumb™ seed pack as a gift and also informs them that he knows how to make the lichen edible. This is of great interest to the Alleyans, but Bishop has been walking all day and decides to give them the full instructions only after he's had some sleep: he guesses it will take a couple of days to train them to grow his slugs and how to use them on the lichen.
When Ella asks about his "friends" he repeats that he doesn't know them very well but that they do indeed have weapons in their packs that they wouldn't want to give up. He makes up a story about how before meeting him the rest of the party was apparently attacked by some goons on the island and, after defeating them, took their weapons. Ella's concerned by armed people she doesn't trust camping nearby as well as the presence of gangs on the island: other than Minty Alley it's supposed to be uninhabited. Bishop tries to minimize her concern over the thugs and in turn has his concern about the helicopter mitigated. The military does sometimes fly helicopter patrols from their nearby base but it doesn't mean much.
Without Bishop to choose a good spot to set up camp everyone outside of Minty Alley has a poor night of sleep on the rocks while Bishop sleeps quite well in a bed with Ella. When thoughts of Warden Whang come to mind he simply repeats "what happens on Crapworld stays on Crapworld" to himself.
November 7, EY218
Samiksha wakes up with a back so sore from the evening's lack of sleep that she's largely immobile. Everyone spends the day doing not much with the exception of Malcolm, who gets some water from the ocean without being attacked and Jillian, who starts to pile up the rocks in the area in shapes of what she thinks are squids, supernovae, unicorns, and kittens. Everyone else thinks they're tumourous versions of the same. Partway through the "creative" process she suddenly realizes that when she and Xao were talking in Dabangg dance club in Bhopuhr back in April and she was sure that he was hitting on her he was actually just drunk and horny and not sure himself about how he felt about her. Not surprisingly, this insight makes her depressed and she gives up on the plan to make a full-scale rock pile in the shape of the Hummingbird. What's the use in doing anything? Everything they do just falls apart and they destroy everything they touch. They'll never find love, nor happiness, and leave only ashes behind them.
When Bishop comes out with some food -- he's convinced the citizens of Minty Alley that this would be a good humanitarian gesture and he'll be showing them how to make more food soon -- everyone grumbles about the news that he'll need another couple of days to show the village how to render the lichen palatable but agree that it will be worth it if he can find out more about Choi's whereabouts. They complain about the poor location for sleeping and he points out that as ugly as Jillian's art is the rocks have been piled up into shapes that should be comfortable to sleep on. He's right!
Bishop's workshop on how to raise his slugs and use them on the lichen goes well. He brings up Choi again and gets some more information about her. She came from Carrera, an old prison on the mainland, and came to Minty Alley mostly to find xenotech in the area. She made several forays along the shore to the north and after one two-day trip in particular she came back with what looked like bizarre silvery trees that she seemed pretty happy about. After she was told to leave she may have gone back to Carrera; Bishop gets directions to the place. He also learns more about the moon in general.
When Bishop drops off more food that day he passes on the new information about Choi. Everyone camping outside has a better night sleeping on Jillian's sculptures with the exception of Jillian, who passes the night sobbing. By now everyone knows her well enough that the Hummingbird's crew always carries earplugs. Bishop passes another night quite comfortably in Ella's arms inside Minty Alley's walls. Does he actually need two days to teach them or is he just taking the time to enjoy himself? Only Bishop knows.
November 8, EY218
With Bishop still showing the Alleyans how to use his slugs and Jillian having taken to her bed in despair, Ester, Malcolm, Samiksha (whose back is much improved), and Volkova decide to pack up and head out to try to find what Choi discovered. If Bishop's going to be running workshops they can at least do something useful. Jillian's currently useless and so they leave her behind at her insistence and to their relief.
Bishop shows up again and is surprised to find the camp mostly gone; Jillian's in her lone tent. She tells him about the rest of the group's futile search and sends him back to Minty Alley to keep teaching them about how to make the lichen edible. It's the only good that any of the Hummingbird's crew will ever do, she insists, and starts to list their failures and shortcomings. Bishop just rolls his eyes and leaves his despondent captain.
It's a long day of walking up the mostly barren coast without knowing what they're looking for but at least the rest of the group is doing something and not just sitting around. They come up empty by the time they run out of energy and camp for the night. With Jillian taking up one (1) four-(4) person two-(2) door three-(3) season survival tent all by herself that's normally for four (4) people it's not the most comfortable night.
November 9, EY218
It's been a day of walking and they haven't found anything. At the least they should meet up with Bishop and Jillian and decide what to do next. Heading back to Minty Alley, Volkova notices something strange at the base of one of the rocky slopes...
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Bishop's Bedpost Notch Count: 1, shockingly cheating on Warden Whang (running total: 18)
Jillian's Bedpost Notch Count: 0
Malcolm's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 7, rounding up)
Volkova's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 4)