On the Road

[Psychie]

O-Ren looks over at Liza, and slowly nods. "I don't want just arbitrarily kill the hydra, but we can't have it running amok around here. We have a few things going for us in dealing with it; we just showed it that we can kick its ass if it comes to it, and with what we've just uncovered here, that job is now even easier. Lets go down to talk to Alroc together, and let it know that we will be watching for it, and if he makes the mistake of coming back here again, we'll not be so forgiving. Gather up the treasure, and we can then make our way down the slope to talk peaceably with the hydra, and if we have to deal with it in a decisive manner, we can. Otherwise, we'll let it go and get to the Badger to drive back to Haven with the news of our victory."

For now, she puts the rune blade back in its case, despite her desire to claim the weapon for herself. All of this will be split up fairly soon enough. "Liza, I don't see any of us having a better claim on the staff than you do. I have no objection to you taking it for your own."

 

[Sherwood]

Grond moves over to grab one of the boxes under each arm and nods for someone to grab up the rest. "Take the rifles out of the case; that will make it easier to carry them all. Same with the sword. Looks like Liza has the staff well taken care of, so the only other box that we need to haul is the PPE Clips for the weapons recovered here."

As he moves down the hill to where the Badger is parked, Grond asks, "Are you guys sure that we should give this Alroc a chance? I'll go with whatever you decide, but this critter seemed to be a nasty fight for us as he is now. What will he be like in another hundred years of getting more powerful? Just a thought."

Atlanta grabs up the Disruptor and one of the Sonic Rifles and slings them over her shoulders. "If you were to deal with all potential threats the same way, I'd be dead now. Why not give this creature a chance to redeem itself?"

 

[Psychie]

O-Ren looks to the Borg and says in a no nonsense voice, "We are going to talk to the hydra, and hopefully get it to relocate. If not, then we can dispatch it if necessary. But until that time, we are doing this." She punctuates her statement by gathering up a rifle from the case and adding it to her burden of gear. "Lets move."

 

[Sherwood]

It is a testament to the rapid healing ability of dragons and their kin that the hydra is still alive and not bleeding out from its multiple wounds. It is conscious, but in a lot of pain and labored in its breathing. It spots you immediately, and it hunches down, probably expecting to be attacked at any moment. "What you want now? You come to kill Alroc? Get it over with, then."

Vaneheart Silanon Psychie Epiphany

 

[Sherwood]

(Forgot to tag Esbilon ! Sorry!)

 

[Esbilon]

(I forgive you, Sherwood !)

When the others exit the Hydra's lair, Nasoth is still lying on the ground close to where they left the foul beast, she is dozing, exhausted by the magically fueled state of fury she entered during the battle and is curled up amid the shattered remains of the clearing, her head mostly covered by one of her wings. She opens one eye to look at the others as they approach and glances at the boxes they are carrying with them. "Find anything neat?" She asks them, seemingly untroubled by the hydra's pleas for a swift death.

 

[Psychie]

O-Ren gives the hydra a long look, trying to decide for herself if they are truly preparing to make the right decision. "Alroc, we are not here to kill you, but we will if you leave us no other choice. We have you beaten; surely you can see that. You can either move on north or west to find other territories to hunt in, or, if you stay here, we will be forced to end your life. Do you understand? We are willing to let you go so long as you leave and never come back here. What say you? Are you going to force us to take the ultimate action against you today?"

 

[Sherwood]

The hydra shifts about, obviously startled by the offer from you. One head is focused on O-Ren while the others are all looking about, some taking in the others of your group and others are obviously expecting an ambush from the side or rear. "You not lie to me? You would let Alroc go if I find new hunting ground? Why would you do this?"

 

[Psychie]

"We value life above all else, and if it is possible to let you live and spare the surrounding towns the risk of being attacked by you, we will. This is a one time offer, take it and leave, or not, and we finish what we started." O-Ren keeps her gaze locked on the hydra, hoping that they aren't making a huge mistake here.

 

[Sherwood]

Not surprisingly, Alroc nods in agreement. "I will go. Alroc no want to die. What your name? I want to know who it is that I owe my life to."

 

[Psychie]

"I am O-Ren Ichi, a Cyber Knight. I am glad that you are willing to move somewhere else, and hat we are not being forced to kill you. Remember, if you come back and begin to do any hunting, we will find you and finish what we started. You may go, just remember your warning and do not cross us again."

 

[Silanon]

Liza Kreuzer

The mystic nods in appreciation of both O-Ren's words and the hydra's decision. Of course, there really is not much of a choice - but it's a good sign that the beast realizes that much. "Neither us, nor any other people, the wilderniss is big enough to avoid civilisation. For almost every being within this world, there is a place where it can live at peace - only few are incorrigible, and I certainly hope you're not one of them." Tthe pictures of the vampires are still present - it's just been a few days since the Misfits faced them. "Within your cave, we found a few weapons, a rather special sword and staff amongst them. Would you mind to tell us how they entered your possession, if only to know whom to hand them back?"

 

[Sherwood]

The hydra seems to shrug. "I took them a long time ago, and their owners won't be coming back for anything in there." With that, the injured beast seems to already be feeling a bit better, and it rises up on its feet and starts down the hill away from you.

Grond watches carefully as the hydra walks away. "I hope we didn't just make a big mistake by doing this. Well, lets get back to Haven and see what is going on there."

 

[Psychie]

O-Ren once more shoulders her rifles as the hydra walks off down the hill. Her eyes keep going to the case with the sword in it, but there is still much to be done in getting the gear loaded back on the Badger.

With everyone taking their usual places inside the large vehicle, O-Ren will go ahead and open up the case with the coins and gemstones in it to get an accurate count and some kind of an idea of how much there is in the cases. While on the drive back to Haven, she will also investigate the sword that has so much of her attention locked onto it. She'll go ahead and draw the blade, seeing if she can communicate with the spirit of the sword.

Hey Vaneheart and Epiphany haven't heard from either of you in a while... You guys still here?

 

[Esbilon]

Nasoth looks at the departing hydra with a frown on her scaly face. "You know that beast is going to kill again, right? There's no way someone like that is going to stay out of trouble for the centuries it's got left to live. And yet you're letting it go with barely even its word that it'll be good." She shakes her head and lumbers back to her seat on top of the Badger, "I really don't get you bipeds sometimes."

 

[Vaneheart]

Ozug

Ozug was surprised the battle was over so suddenly. That beast took a lot of punishment, including an explosive trap, yet we suffered no casualties. We live charmed lives indeed. This will be a great story for the bar. He watched the bleeding beast carefully, as he sheathed his vibroswords and readied his rifle again, keeping a wary eye as he followed the others up into the lair. The juicer chemicals were still flowing, although slower than before. He soon found that he was quite thankful that he was wearing an environmental mask. "The stench must be terrible, probably worse than what it looks like, which is also pretty bad. I've seen cleaner troll lairs, which means something coming from an ogre."

Upon inspection of the treasure, Ozug lets out a whistle. "That's some nice stuff." He eyed the runesword a little jealously, but made no claim to it. After a moment, he frowned, and said "Hey, aren't those magic swords sometimes cursed? How do we know it's safe? I heard this tale about a albino elf prince who was quite powerful, but also cursed by his sword to slay everyone he truly cared about. Could be bad. Be careful." He personally didn't know much about magic techno devices, but the large alien-looking cannon piqued his interest. I'll have to check that out later, once the situation is fully resolved. Maybe Alley or Liza would know more?

Later back at the hydra, Ozug was quite surprised at O-Ren and Liza's willingness to so easily let it go. In the end, he said nothing, but sympathized with Nasoth's viewpoint. I hope we aren't making a terrible mistake. We didn't even have Alroc swear an oath. If it's as animalistic as Nasoth suggests, it won't be able to stop itself from killing. And I won't be here to stop it in a hundred years if it changes its mind.

He looked at the other Misfits, and said "Are we finished up here? Should we check in with the local farmers and see how they are doing? Let them know how things turned out, or at least see how they are recovering, before we head back to Haven?"

 

[Sherwood]

With Grond once more at the wheel, everyone sets off to return to Haven. As you go, everyone gets a chance to nose about at the piles of gold and jewels, and, at a rough guess, you figure that depending on the market you go to and how well you negotiate, you could probably pull in over a million credits for it all. Quite a load of money.

Everyone is feeling pretty good about the outcome of the fight, and spirits are high as you crest the last hill between you and the town. Suddenly, Grond jerks the Badger to a stop and backs up as rapidly as he can. Atlanta pokes her head up to one of the observation windows and reports, "I see smoke coming up from the town! Something's going on down there!"

Grond calls out over the intercom, "I spotted a pair of Coalition APCs as I came over the ridge, and there are a half dozen SAMAS powered armor suits in the air above the town. There is no reason to think that they are looking for us, but why take chances? What do we do? Should we go ahead to the Stonewell Farm, or go somewhere else?"

Esbilon Epiphany Vaneheart Psychie Silanon

 

[Psychie]

O-Ren speaks up, "I say we move around to the far side of town and approach from that direction, trying to keep under the radar of the Coalition. Hmmm. I wonder if the Stonewells have a radio with someone listening to it? If so, we could call ahead and see what the black lobster people are looking for."

 

[Silanon]

Liza Kreuzer

During the travel back to Haven, others might eye the collected jewelry. The mystic, however, shows no kind of interest, just as to be expected by now. From time to time, she musters the new staff, seemingly in thought about various things. Letting the hydra live was a risk - but many things in this world are. They had agreed to try and save the dragon - does anything of that justification change, just because it proved less bright than expected? Not really, at least in her opinion - though some of the other Misfits certainly seem less convinced.

The abrupt stop ends any thoughts, lets her startle up from her drowsy state. She waits a few moments, looks out of the window, as if the answer was written on the street ahead. "If they're not looking for us, something else caught their interest - maybe the Stonewells, maybe somthing else. In any case, this might be our chance to influence things for the better right now - some kind of agreement, before the 'occasional harassment' turns into more. And if the coalition is here for us - then Haven should not bear the costs for that. I'd say we approach the village, and see what they're up to - or at least a few of us."

She's seen coalition soldiers in her vision, looking at Rebeccas future - maybe those were the ones she's seen, and not those they avoided earlier? You never know for certain, that much is clear - better to try to keep them away from the farm, or her peaceful vision might never occur.

Just to be safe, Liza will concentrate, using her 'mask ppe' to hide her powers.

 

[Sherwood]

Grond takes the Badger around the outer edge of the town until the Stonewell farm is once more in sight. Dennis comes running out to you as you pull up, frantically waving his arms to get you to pull into the armored bunker/barn that had housed the vehicle before. As the rumble of the engine dies away and you climb out of the transport, the elder Stonewell is there. "I was worried that the Coalition had gotten ahold of you. There are troops all over, some of them looking for your friend and they are posting a reward for her capture, and anyone caught harboring her is as good as dead. Sir Talbert and Underdog are missing, and Marcos is in custody along with Tony and Tia. No one knows what is happening to them, but rumors are flying. If you want, I can hide you, but if you wish to leave, I understand." You can tell in his eyes that he desperately wants you to stay, but doesn't want to say so.

Epiphany Esbilon Silanon Vaneheart Psychie

 

[Vaneheart]

Ozug

The ogre spent the return trip lightly dozing. He still felt conflicted about letting Alroc go free, but felt there was nothing he could do about it now.

Those thoughts eventually left him as the situation changed when they arrived closer to Haven. Just great, the Coalition is here. Upon meeting up with Dennis, the Ogre readied his equipment for another fight.

He said "Our friend?" He looked around quickly, his eyes resting on Atlanta. "They're looking for her?" Ozug looked at the other Misfits. "If this is true, we should probably come up with a plan to stay. Try and rescue the others who were captured, since we brought this on them."

 

[Psychie]

O-Ren gets a stern look on her face. "I will do my best to rescue them, and I hope that the rest of you will help out in this endeavor. I don't know if we brought the Coalition here, or if it was merely a matter of time before wanted posters of our friend started showing up. Either way, we cannot just leave until Haven is safe."

 

[Silanon]

Liza Kreuzer

"Agreed - this place is called Haven with good reason, a retreat for those who have suffered too long. I won't idly watch how it's ruined by hatred and blindness. If anyone pays for our decisions - it should be us, not the entire town. Maybe there's someone reasonable enough to talk instead of spreading more and more hatred, we've got enough of that already. A cyber knight might make them listen, or at least open up other options. If not, I'll be right behind you, O-Ren - I came here to change things for the better, and those captured are part of this peaceful place's soul."

 

[Sherwood]

It doesn't take long for you to find out that there are many captives being held at the city hall/town jail, including Sir Talbert's three people. You have the option of going out of town to try and find Underdog and Sir Talbert to get their aid, or to try and get to the courthouse to free the prisoners. What is your plan?

Psychie Silanon Vaneheart Esbilon

 

[Silanon]

Liza Kreuzer

For a moment, the mystic considers the options, despite the apparent lack of alternatives. She then slowly raises her head, the finger of her left hand running restless through her hair - and nods to the one cyber knight aboard. "Whatever we do, we might need time - and O-Ren, in all likelihood, is the one amongst us who could potentially convince them. So I'd say it's best if she heads for the courthouse, backed up by one or two of us. I could join you, if you wish - hiding my magic should be no problem - or someone else who does not hinder our talking with his or her presence alone. In the meantime, the others could head out quickly, trying to find Sir Talbert out there. Perhaps, I can get a bit of an insight, or a decent tracker can find them in time." When speaking the last words, she turns towards Ozug, as the ogre might be the best choice for that.