Splicers - I Am Legion - IC Thread

[Purr]

Eonivar Psychie Sherwood
Chaska and Woodstock exchange a single look; for some conversations, no words are needed.

"Ah.... JinLi? JodiAxel?" Chaska asks over the Bio-comms; his last sentence of his statement is particularly enthusiastic.

"You want Woo'stock scout with you? Ehh, Woo'stock is good birb!"

As if to support Chaska's point, Woodstock hops over to the Wyldkat's food pouch where he knows his food is kept. The bird's little black face briefly disappears into the pouch then emerges with a little dried meat nugget in his beak. Woodstock carries the nugget over to Toni by way of a single flap of his wings.

Then he kind of pokes at Toni's Host Armor, offering his nugget to Toni. Chaska smiles and says, "He, ah, how you say... overhear... us on Bio-comm, Toni. He no want us hunt. No waste time. So Woo'stock offer us his food; the food he hunt and I cook for him." He admires his battle-birb. "We ration, and it last us all for one day. Enough to meet Kraken."

"What you think, Toni?"

 

[Psychie]

Toni lets out a chuckle. “Thank you, Woodstock. It shows me that everyone is willing to give for the team. Right now, I just want to make sure that the situation on the Kraken is taken care of before we lose lives. Then we have this cyborg-thing to deal with and warn the House about. I don’t even want to think about how screwed we are if this infiltration is widespread.”

She holds out a hand to offer up gentle birdie head rubs if he is willing. She then looks at Chaska and says, “Do you think that you might be able to crack the cipher in an hour? If you can give it a try, I would love to have some solid data to present to the Chief, and God help us if he’s the mole. That will not be a fun day. So! Get to work. We move at best speed we can and if we have to skip a few meals, it won’t be the first time and probably won’t be the last.”

“Any other questions before we spilt up? If anything does come up call out on the coms right away.”

 

[Sherwood]

Axel shakes his head, then says, “Corporal? I - I just wanted to say that there is no excuse for my behavior earlier, and my insubordination of you was not deserved. I will not be upset if you decide to report me I will take my lumps and not hold it against you. I’m sorry to everyone for my disrespect I showed.”

He stands there, waiting for what he expects to be a fierce ass-chewing.

 

[Psychie]

Toni is silent for a moment, doing her best to get a good read on the man. She then says, “Axel, it is well within your purview as a member of this squad to bring up questions and concerns that I might be overlooking. That goes for all of you. I don’t always know what’s best, and I depend on all of you to work with one another to make sure we get through this in one piece. You all get me?”

She the looks at Axel and says in a quiet voice, “I don’t plan on reporting any of this. However, with that being said, if that happens again, I will spend some time inventing new and ingenious ways to make you question your life choices. Am I clear?”

 

[Sherwood]

She the looks at Axel and says in a quiet voice, “I don’t plan on reporting any of this. However, with that being said, if that happens again, I will spend some time inventing new and ingenious ways to make you question your life choices. Am I clear?”

He nods, saying, “Crystal clear, ma’am! It won’t happen again.” He looks a bit relieved, then says to Jin and Woodstock, “I wouldn’t mind if our feathered friend comes along. More eyes to spot trouble, an I right? Ma’am, if it’s ok with you, that is.”

 

[Psychie]

“That’s fine. We so have work to get to, so let’s hustle. Everyone, keep in contact. Chaska, get me some answers about those papers. Everyone else, let’s go.”

 

[Eonivar]

Jin had stopped at the bottom of the stairs while waiting on Axel's 'talking to'.

"Yeah, definitely bring Woodstock, we can always use more pairs of eyes."

Once Axel comes Jin proceeds up the stairs carefully, checking to make sure there was nothing in the area, and making sure they are not seen coming out of the stairway. Once clear of the stairway they proceed in a careful patrol in the area.

 

[Sherwood]

With the order given, Cerberus Squad breaks off into three different groups. First off is Jin, Axel and Woodstock heading up to the surface. Second, we have Chaska sitting down in a quiet corner with paper and pencil as he makes his first go at decoding the cipher. Third, there is Toni writing a set of three letters to the Warlord of House Artemis asking for more help for the people of Haven, either in the form of evacuating the survivors or some other aid to keep them alive.

Eonivar
As you head up to the surface, both you and Axel have your stealth fields active. At the top of the stairs, Woodstock slips out into the open forest, trusting that the Machine won’t recognize him as a threat. After a minute of looking around, the birb sends a message through the bio-coms of “Clear!” After that message, Jin and Axel step out on the surface once more.

The once happy settlement is now a smoking ruin with every building smashed into rubble or burnt into cinders. The only living thing you see at the moment is a trio of horses that are idly nibbling on a small pile of hay.

Please give me a Perception roll.

Psychie
Toni manages to acquire three pieces of parchment and a pencil to write her messages to House Artemis before preparing to talk to the survivors of the attack to reassure them that help is coming.

This is going to be two Oratory rolls, one for the letters and one for the people. Given that you are taking time to marshal your thoughts, I’ll give you a +5% to your roll. You may also spend an Action Point on both if you want. If there is anything special you want to include, make sure you let me know.

Please give me two Oratory rolls. Please make sure you specify which roll is for your speech and which one is for the letters.

Purr
You also find a quiet place to begin your efforts to find and decipher the patterns into clear text. This is going to take you the full hour to make your roll, and you can use an Action Point. Is there anything special you are going to do before hand? And do you want to use the Action Point (I am guessing yes, but you know what they say about making assumptions.)?

 

[Psychie]

OOC My Oratory is a base of 42%, then there is the +5% bringing it up to a 47% before I add in my Action Points. Let’s see how well I can do.

A roll of a 12 out of a modified 63% for the letters.
And a 18 on the speech out of a modified 52%

I think I did pretty well!

 

[Eonivar]

Jin begins to make a slow search and reconnaissance of the area looking for signs of any enemy or friend.

Perception = 1D20+8 = 18+8 = 26!

 

[Purr]

“That’s fine. We so have work to get to, so let’s hustle. Everyone, keep in contact. Chaska, get me some answers about those papers. Everyone else, let’s go.”

"On it."

That's how the words read in Chaska's mind. But with his near-humanless upbringing, it sounds instead like, "Onn eet." He pronounces every word very clearly, as if just talking is practice for him. Practice. It's how you get good at anything! This Chaska knows. Even with new skills like cryptography. This will be his first real go at it. And so, he puts in his very best effort, not only because this is his way, but because he knows this is no ordinary case of code-cracking. It will require all of his mind for him to focus himself.

And to truly focus, you must first free your restless mind of all extraneous thoughts. Chaska decides to first call upon his training in the martial arts - the sacred system of Zanji Shinjinken Ryu! Long ago, when House Apollo was in its prime, these samurai-like Splicers gave their all to fight against the Machine. But they were simply too few. Too proud to be absorbed into another house as it would require them to share secrets some of them had bled or died for, House Apollo fell too. But not before passing on its legacy to the last of House Apollo - Kokoro Chaska.

Of course, none of this is known by anyone in his present company. It is a well-kept secret for very serious reasons that could bring even more danger to all involved. And so Chaska keeps it to himself and the scientist who brought him in to House Artemis. Only Chaska knows House Apollo's version of Zanji Shinjinken Ryu. And all this is what Chaska meditates upon as he sits outside WyldKat, on his knees on bare rock, eyes closed, swords by his sides.

His mind is at first a tumultuous river. Getting to that special Zen state of No-Mind takes effort, but as the ancient saying goes, "When you seek it, you cannot find it." So Chaska does not seek this state at all. Instead, as he practices his deep belly breaths, he does not try to block out the sounds of the remnants of House Deluvane's people of Haven. Instead, he accepts the distracting sounds. There is no mental dodging here, no attempt at defense - for when there is no threat, there is no need of defense. Chaska simply accepts all that is happening around him, on him, inside of him.

His own silence is more quiet than an indoor temple. Soon, he is one with his own thoughts because he does attempt to stop them - but instead, he accepts them. He lets his thoughts move through his mind freely, without even the slightest impediment. His breathing takes over and he is one with the moment.

And when the last warrior of House Apollo opens his eyes, they are calm. No more rushing river here. No more thunder or rain in him anywhere. Just a peaceful lake, clear, undisturbed, beautiful, accepting all things in its reflection in its waters.

Now, Chaska comes to see. He is ready to take on this task. Ready to unravel the code. And should he fail? "Do not quit, but persevere," the dead masters of House Apollo seem to say to Kokoro Chaska. "Nothing is impossible to a willing mind."*

(*Books of Han Dynasty)

 

[Sherwood]

Eonivar

Up on the surface, Woodstock soars high into the air to give himself a better view of the land while Jin and Axel spread out quietly, using their stealth fields to keep hidden. Moving as silently as possible, the two human warriors begin to poke around the rubble to try and spot anything that might be a threat. Jin is the first to spot a trio of Steel Soldiers; humanoid robots armed with blasters and rail guns. By themselves, they are not much of a threat. But it is rare for them to travel in such small numbers.

It is not long after this that Woodstock spies twenty more of the humanoid bots walking at a patrol pace just to your north, breaking ground for a pair of Battle Tracks. If they stick to their current path, this bunch of robots will skirt the remnants of Haven and not enter the settlement unless something calls their attention. The smart birb sends a warning over the bio-coms of, “Machine! Many. Bad. Going away.”

As Jin watches the three robots that she spotted, they move out in the same direction as the group that Woodstock reported. They are not going towards the concealed entrance to the underground chambers with the remnants of Haven’s population.

Purr

With a clear mind and solid purpose, Chaska tears into the two letters that are in code. The first thing he is able to determine is that both seem to be written by the same hand and in the same code. Comparing and cross checking is slow and tedious work, and for a long time Chaska doesn’t feel like he’s making any progress at all. But then, something just clicks in his mind and the complex message starts to open up to him.

Sitting back in his seat as the first hour comes to a close, the young man is fairly certain that he has a chunk of the message unraveled successfully. What stands out to you the most is that there are references to your bird Woodstock, with warnings about it being more intelligent than a typical bird. It sounds like this person has some experience with dealing with the bird bio construct that is used by the Deliverymen. Comparing that information to the list of suspects, one name jumps out: Corporal Maria Paseo. Not only is she a fellow Deliveryman, she has the task of caring for the small flock of birds that are occasionally released to send messages inland.

This is not solid “smoking gun” proof, but it is certainly not looking good for Corporal Paseo.

Psychie

After a few different drafts of what you are trying to convert to the Warlord and his top people, Toni feels pretty good about how well she has summed up the situation here along with her request for aid in evacuating the remaining people out if here. Now it comes to the hard part: public speaking. For many, talking in front of a large crowd of people is a scarier thought than death, so that means at the funeral, they would rather be in the coffin instead of giving the eulogy. Toni has never been the focus of attention of so many people before, and the butterflies are fluttering in her gut. But showing her colors as a Dreadguard, she faces her fear and does not shirk away.

This is not a friendly crowd by any sense of the imagination. They have been through a hell of a lot and many are still shell shocked by the loss of over half the town’s population. But still they listen as Toni’s voice is carrying across the room to them all. By the end of her speech, the angry looks and blank stares have coalesced into a look of grim determination to survive despite the efforts of the Machine to the contrary. They are still scared, but at this point, they are willing to uproot their lives and try again somewhere else thanks to the aid of their allies of House Artemis.

 

[Psychie]

As Toni wraps up her speech in front of the survivors, she does her best to make sure she doesn’t show off how nervous she is, instead she focuses on the need of the people and how to best help them. She is sincere in her hope that House Artemis will help their friends of House Deluvane. Who knows when this bit of good karma will come back to help the rest of their House?

She steps down from the small box she was using to raise herself up to be seen by everyone, pausing to nod, smile and shake hands of those people that approach her. At one point, Toni kneels down to be eye to eye with a scared child and takes his small hands in her own. “It’s ok to be afraid. That is all a part of being human and only the Machine is without fear. But it is what we do when we’re scared is what’s important. Even I get scared. But I think of all the people that need me and believe in me, and suddenly I’m not so scared anymore. Remember, be human, but be brave. Especially for your family. They need you to be strong right now. Just like a Dreadguard. Can you do it? Good.” She holds up her fist and says with a grin, “Don’t leave me hanging. There you go! Alright. Let’s all get to work.”

She stands and looks at the resolute parents of the boy and feels a bit of the warmth of happiness at their whispered “Thank you!”

Toni then turns her bio com on and calls out, “Cerberus Squad, I need some good news. Report in as to your status.” Please God, help these people and don’t let them die.

 

[Eonivar]

Jin watched the three Steel Soldiers from her hidden perch in some rubble in the town.

"Cerebus, we have contacts! I have three Steel Soldiers making a patrol in the northern part of town. Woodstock is reporting a larger group in the same direction. These three are probably a perimeter patrol. It appears that they are on a course that will pass by or through the very northern part of town, but they are not heading here. They appear to be heading away west to east. I repeat, they are not aware of us, and are moving away. Orders?"

 

[Psychie]

Jin watched the three Steel Soldiers from her hidden perch in some rubble in the town.

"Cerebus, we have contacts! I have three Steel Soldiers making a patrol in the northern part of town. Woodstock is reporting a larger group in the same direction. These three are probably a perimeter patrol. It appears that they are on a course that will pass by or through the very northern part of town, but they are not heading here. They appear to be heading away west to east. I repeat, they are not aware of us, and are moving away. Orders?"

Toni replies, “Stand fast and do not engage. Observe and report any change of status from them. Axel, anything on your end?”

 

[Sherwood]

Axel gives off a snort, then says, “I don’t see anything new out here. Hell, I’d be clueless about the robots on the other side of the settlement if it weren’t for Jin and Woodstock. Thanks to both of you, by the way. How is everything inside? Everyone onboard with getting out of here? Did Chaska make any progress with the coded papers? And do you think that the warlord will help these people more than they already have?”

Across the ruined buildings Jin can see that the robot patrol is continuing on at the same slow pace that they were going when you spotted them. They do appear to be on alert and not just thinking that this land has been cleared of any other hostile forces. At the moment out doors not appear that they know of your presence.

Still inside the storeroom, Chaska has finished his first hour’s look at the papers. At this point, you have high confidence that your translation is solid, and you have most of the papers readable in clear text. You can take a bit to double check your reasoning, but you can almost see no real point to that. Unless there is about code hidden inside the letters, it is clear that House Shiva was informed that you were going to be escorting Saint Karen to Haven and the most likely route to ambush Cerberus Squad and kidnap the Saint for their own uses. The letters do mention that your team has the airborne scout of Woo’stock and warned the reader to try and get you underground so he can’t help detect the ambushers.

What do you do now?

Psychie Eonivar Purr

 

[Psychie]

Toni replies with, “Copy that. Hold your position. I’ll gather up Chaska and be up top soon. Then we’ll be on our way to the Kraken to deal with that problem.”

She heads out to find the last person of their team, remembering that he was looking for a place to work on deciding that cypher. When she gets to him, she asks, “Chaska, I don’t suppose you have some good news about that code? Find out anything? We do need to be on the move ASAP.”

Purr

 

[Purr]

"Gotcha!" Chaska grins with satisfaction. Staring at the code for the umpteenth time, he sees with new eyes what was a mystery before.

"Toni!" he immediately contacts her via Bio-comm. "Where you? You must see!" The savage-hearted Splicer then tries to rendezvous with her and show her, in great detail, everything he has been able to bring to light.

 

[Psychie]

Toni finally finds Chaska and is silent as he goes over what he’s discovered in the coded messages. She finally says, “Solid work, Chaska. This is not iron clad proof, but Corporal Paseo has some serious explaining to do. Good job.”

She then switches to the group channel and says, “Cerberus, our mission is done here. Chaska and I are heading up top to meet you guys there. We will then make for the Kraken at our best speed to get this info into the hands of Chief Rybeck, along with the severed head with the metallic hardware in it. Axel? Jin? Any last minute details you need to take care of? If not, I want to be on the move in the next fifteen minutes.”

 

[Purr]

Chaska gives a quiet and rare smile from Toni's praise - he feels appreciated. A moment later, a thought strikes him. He mulls over it briefly and shares it over the Bio-comms. "Ahhh.... maybe not take metal-head into Kraken, but tell Kraken first? Do not want find out that Machine can find metal-head. If in Kraken, Machine find Kraken too." He shakes his head and knows he states the obvious but he states it anyway. "Is very bad if happen."

 

[Psychie]

Toni thinks for a moment, weighing the consequences of that decision if Chaska is right. “Good point. We’ll stash the head on the surface and let the scientists go to it to try and figure this out. But we still need to get our intel to the Chief and see what comes next for Corporal Paseo.”

She motions for the Deliveryman to walk with her as she keep’s talking to Jin and Axel. “I don’t know Maria well, but we’ve met. I am wondering what could make her betray us like this. What happened? Was it money? Ego? Did someone do something to turn her away from us like this?” She shakes her head. “Not that it matters that much to us; we’ll be able to complete or work soon enough.”

 

[Psychie]

As Toni and Chaska are heading to rendezvous with Axel and Jin, she shares what she has been told about Corporal Paseo. This way everyone has the info just in case.

 

[Psychie]

Making sure that her stealth field is engaged before climbing out to the top of the stairwell. Looking around carefully, she searches for any signs that the Machine is active around her. “Cerberus Squad, rendezvous at the center of the town so we can set out together. I don’t want is split up out here when we’re on the move.”

As she waits, Toni idly muses mostly to herself but if someone is going to respond, that’s fine. “This Maria woman is either being set up my a master manipulator or she’s our guilty party. Either way, we have to get this info back to the Kraken at our best possible speed. Hmm. Chaska, once we get closer to the coast, we may need Woodstock to fly out and try to get in bio com contact with the Kraken to get them in position for us to meet the ship. If we ask him, do you think he’d have any issues doing this? He may be a bird, but he’s a part of our team and I don’t want to force him to do that.”

 

[Eonivar]

Jin checked around her before carefully moving to the designated rendezvous point.

"So this person with machine wiring in her head had intelligence documentation...paper?...from a spy within the Kraken, this Maria, telling them of our route and movement with Saint Karen. My questions are..in no particular order, is it intelligence from House Shiva or the Machine? Does this Maria have wiring in her head or is she a plant for House Shiva. Is House Shiva under control of the machine? The machine would not communicate with paper, would they? Also do we know anyone on the Kraken with antenna on their host armor?"

 

[Sherwood]

As Axel comes walking up, he says, “House Shiva, House Janus. Both are hostile and would kill to get their hands on another Saint that is ready to transform into a gene pool. From what I’ve heard, House Shiva is quick to hit the Machine anytime that they can. But they are also known to stab anyone in the back that they come across if they think that they can get away with it. Same for House Janus. Both groups are slimy as hell and we would do well to be rid of them for good. But working with the Machine is not something I can imagine either bunch doing willingly. So, let’s get back to the Kraken and give the Chief our news before it’s too late.”

How do you set out on your way back to the Kraken? Flying is faster, but even with your stealth fields active you are out in the open and exposed. Ground travel on the surface has its own set of dangers, and going along underground is the slowest but has the least chance of being spotted.