Play date: September 27, 2014
Game date: November 21, EY218
Location: Bashois, Nodapar system
Previous events: Finally make it to Mi Kyong Choi's delta
The attacking Anomalocaris vanquished, Volkova uses her "twig" to detect any more creatures in the water around them. Indeed, there is something but she can't tell what it -- or they -- might be. They continue on, unmolested, with Bishop's eyes and Jillian's navigating skill helping guide them to the delta in the dark. Shiv's on bow lookout, Ester is on the stern, and Volkova's on "twig" duty. Bishop checks out the boat for any damage but other than a few cosmetic dings and the missing table it's doing fine.
November 22, EY218
It's another six hours of chugging along before they reach the delta, the navigation being spot on. There's some more light and Malcolm brings the boat up what seems to be a promising channel; the boat has a very shallow draft but it's not a hovercraft or swamp boat. The plants here are denser than anywhere they've seen so far on this planet. Now that they're back inland it's probably for the best to cover up their baldness in case they meet anyone. They rip up Malcolm's spare shirt and make bandanas and hoods for themselves with the exception of Shiv, who still has all his hair.
It's been a long trip and everyone's tired. This is the safest they've been for a while, so Malcolm pulls the boat up onto a small beach so that everyone can sleep despite the reasonable amount of light; the light regime on the planet is random enough that it's best to just sleep when one is tired. Plant life here reaches up to about ten metres, making hiding the boat fairly simple. Watches are set, but it's an uneventful sleep. After breakfast they continue upriver. Malcolm's at the wheel and everyone but Jillian takes a direction and keeps their eyes peeled.
The humid air lulls everyone into a light daze that's suddenly broken by, of all things, arrows flying out of the jungle at them! Bishop takes an arrow to the knee and thinks that his adventuring days might be over, while Volkova shrugs off a graze from another. Malcolm guns the engine but inadvertently runs the boat up onto a sand bar! While he tries to get them moving Ester starts to unload long bursts from her assault rifle into the jungle from where the arrows are coming from and everyone who isn't armed ducks behind the gunwale, though arrows keep coming from various angles.
Volkova lends her last grenade to the effort to keep the archers distracted while Ester continues to lay down a stream of lead. Even Jillian gets into the action, stumbling to the edge of the boat and blazing away in what she's fairly certain is the right direction. Despite all this fire Volkova gets arrowed! again, though not badly, and then Malcolm manages to get the boat off of the sand bar and they're tearing down the river, the last of the arrows falling short.
Examining his knee, it doesn't seem as bad as Bishop first feared, and Volkova's in need of minor patching up. If anything, using her final grenade is her biggest loss. Jillian passes a magazine to Ester, who's starting to run low given her penchant for firing her rifle on full auto.
Continuing, Malcolm starts to smell something foul. A box in the water carries the label "medical waste" and is left where it floats. Not long after that they decide to sleep again; they've covered a lot of water but haven't a clue where Choi might be, and it's dark. With so much dense vegetation it's not hard to hide the boat well and watches are set up again. This time there is some excitement in the "night": a helicopter flies by slowly, apparently playing music of some sort, but they can barely make it out over the rotor noise. It seems to be looking for something, shining a searchlight down into the swamp and indeed right over the boat, but their cover holds up and the chopper continues on its way.
November 23, EY218
As they keep heading up the delta they come across more medical waste, in greater and greater amounts, the stuff starting to form reeking piles along the shores. There seems to be a regular dumping ground for such things upstream, which is typical for the way that Crapworld is treated. Deciding that there's no way that Choi would be in the middle of that, they find a path laterally across the delta until they're definitely away from the waste's path.
Continuing upstream, Malcolm's exceptionally sharp eyes notice something in the water up ahead. Slowing down and peering carefully, it looks like there are some good-sized beasties ahead. They're a couple of metres long in water that's about a metre deep. Volkova pulls out the xenotwig and tries to detect them, but there's some interference. There seems to be another xenotech device here! She makes an attempt to contact it but gets no response.
Mi Kyong Choi had a device to control the creatures, so if there's some sort of functional device here she must be nearby. After the experience with the Anomalocaris in the open ocean they decide to not risk boating right over the creatures and send Bishop and Volkova ahead on foot. Bishop because of his social skills, Volkova because she knows how to use the xenotech to some extent and Choi might like that. Malcolm gives Volkova his Blingmaster with a flare round in the chamber so they can signal for the rest to come later.
Bishop and Volkova trudge off through fairly dense plantlife along a ridge of land and are almost out of sight when Bishop cuts himself on the razor-sharp edge of a plant and cries out in surprise at the sudden pain. It's not certain if it's the noise, the blood, or just being close enough, but he's ambushed from something that looks like a clamp on the end of a long appendage that shoots up from the water on either side! The creatures that Malcolm saw are obviously stealthy ambush predators that both manage to grab him. The clamps aren't sharp enough to hurt him badly, but both try to pull him into the water. Luckily for him with one on either side they end up in a tug of war with each other, momentarily keeping him from being dragged off of land.
Volkova gets Khnuta out but before she can do much more one of the beast wins and Bishop splashes into the water. Volkova jumps in and starts smashing the beast with her pink wrench. It may be armoured, like most everything on this planet, but her might is not to be denied and it relinquishes its grasp. She throws Bishop over her shoulder before splashing back to land and running back in the direction of the boat, the predators lumbering out of the water after her. Disturbingly, she notices more motion in the water and picks up the pace.
All this doesn't happen far enough away that it's unseen by everyone on the boat -- with the exception of Jillian -- and Ester and Malcolm quickly jump out of the boat and run forwards, assault rifles in hand: it's too far to fire at a struggle through that plantlife without risking hitting their friends. Once they're close enough they pull up and put several bullets into the creature that's closest to Volkova and, badly wounded, it retreats into the water. Volkova's muscled thighs are more than a match for the other one and she gains distance on it. Classic ambush predators, they're not much good for an extended chase.
Everyone's quickly back on deck, Malcolm muttering "never get out of the boat" under his breath. As Bishop patches himself up -- most of the tug-of-war involved his clothing, so he's not badly injured -- Volkova catches her breath and recalls that the creatures had what seemed to be collars on them. The device that she detected must be controlling the creatures in the water, like guard dogs!
After a brief discussion they decide to take the boat instead of trying to be subtle. That ship has obviously sailed now that they're been firing heavy rifles here. It's gotten dark so Malcolm fires his flare into the air to draw attention and Volkova starts bellowing that they want to talk to Choi at the top of her lungs. There's no obvious response, so Malcolm fires up the boat's engine and they start up the delta some more.
When they pass the location where the predators were found everyone huddles in the cabin, weapons pointed outwards. There's a scraping noise at one point, as if something hard and immobile is running along the hull of the boat. Deciding to risk it, Malcolm stops the boat and leans over the edge to see what it is, Volkova holding onto his belt just in case. He gets his fingers around something in the water and Volkova hauls it and him into the boat. It's a large branchlike xenotech device, and Volkova uses it to keep any beasts at bay as they continue. Surely Choi must be close...
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Bishop's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 20)
Jillian's Bedpost Notch Count: 0
Malcolm's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 8)
Volkova's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 4)