On the Road

[Sherwood]

Dennis has a embarrassed look to his face as Liza offers her thanks to him. "No thanks needed, my dear. You have earned my eternal thanks earlier by safely bringing my daughter home to me, so I still feel that I owe you a debt for that." He listens to O-Ren's words as she makes the decision on what to do with the equipment. "I can make some calls about the armor later tonight. It will take some time for all the arrangements to be made, but it sounds like you are going to be here for the long haul, so I can get the best price for you. Its a shame that you want to dispose of these magic staves, but I can't say you are wrong in your decision." At this point, he gives you a satisfied nod and heads off to start gathering up the rifles he loaned out to everyone for the town defense.

As Liza settles down into her semi-trance state, she can see few spirits in the area. But, there is one that approaches her, a older man that seems somewhat familiar to you from your time here in Haven. He gives a smile to the mystic as he pulls off his hat. "I am Kevin Renner, and I thank you for your kind words, ma'am, and I look forward to moving on. But, there is one last thing I would ask of you, if I can impose. In my barn there is a hidden compartment in the wall that I've been using to hide some extra credits from my family, saving it for a rainy day. Could you go to my home and tell my wife about it, and let my family know my last thoughts were of them? I may have gone to the grave with a noble cause at my back, but it will be of little solace to my grieving widow and children. Perhaps this message will help ease their burden." He goes on to describe to you the location in the barn of his hidey hole, and the address of his home. "My wife's name is Vera, and she has been the one true love of my life for the past forty five years. I have lived a good life, and I move on knowing that my sacrifice was not in vain."

 

[Sherwood]

The town council of Haven holds a special meeting to officially thank you all for your hard work and sacrifice in saving the lives of so many people, and at the same time, to remember the lives of those that have fallen in defense of the town. Even the Coalition soldiers that died are being honored, and the surviving members of the team were invited to join in the meeting, but the offer was declined much to everyone's relief in Haven.

While the town celebrates, Dennis Stonewell begins to make contact with his old friends to offer up the captured suit of powered armor. He has more experience dealing with the people of Northern Gun, so he goes to them first. Dennis is confident from his past dealings with them that they will not try to double cross him, and he fully expects a good price for you once the back and forth offers are all done and agreed upon.

Now that a large part of the town has seen Dennis' daughter Rebecca using magic to join in with the defenders of Haven, Marcos has stepped up to help her continue her magical studies, and the precocious girl has plans to continue her work to help protect the town as Sir Talbert once more settles back and tries to enjoy some quiet retirement from the hectic life of an adventurer. How long he is actually able to do so remains to be seen.

When it comes time for O-Ren to leave with her prisoners, Sir Talbert offers up his own services to help keep the two traitorous Atlantians in line, even knowing that it might be several months before he can return to Haven. To make the trip, Grond loads up the Badger, giving everyone that plans on going along plenty of room without tripping over the two prisoners or each other.


Later on...
Time passes, and after six long months away, those still at Haven get a radio signal from Grond that they are on their way back to town and should be there in a few hours, and while everything has gone well with the journey, he is quite ready to be back home. From the way he's talking, it was a long time away from the party.

 

[Psychie]

O-Ren steps out of the passenger compartment of the Badger with a smile on her face and a lively bounce to her step. From the time you last saw her, the dark haired Atlantian has visibly grown a few inches, and is now sporting multiple ornate tattoos that cover her arms and visible torso. Instead of wearing her full body armor, she is now in a lightweight armored vest, exposing much of her bare skin.

"Hey guys! Long time, no see! It feels like its been years since I've seen you all, probably because that for me, it has been! From what I see, its only been a few months for you. So, whats new?"

 

[Silanon]

Liza Kreuzer

In some sense, the moment of their return could not be any better. Six months ago, the mystic decided to stay in Haven while standing on this very doorstep, right after doing her best to comfort the woman who'd lost the most mindful husband you could have asked for. Now, after checking in on Vera Renner just like she'd promised back then on the battlefield, her radio calls her over to rejoin the Misfits after what feels like an eternity. Of course, she has not been idle in the meantime; helping wherever her gifts made a difference, and travelling for days in all directions to search for the nature spirits of these lands, asking them to bless the town that, more than any other place, feels like home. Apart from the badger, of course - there is no better home than one that can get you wherever you need to be, in company of the best friends one could ask for.

"Liza here - glad to hear your voice, Grond. It has been too long, if you ask me - give me just a moment, I will be there in a second." In fact, she already awaits the badger as it finally arrives, mustering the mechanical monstrosity and those who climb out of it. "Some wounds have healed up, others will remain forever. A few venerable souls left us for good, children were born to fill these streets with laughter. Good to see you, friend - it has been a while. You certainly have changed; for the better, I think." The mystic herself has not changed too much - a new, dark grey hoodie that already looks worn down as if she had bought it in a second-hand shop, other than that the same equipment. The wild hair, the very same, slightly absent look - tiredness in her eyes, perhaps even more than usual. "Things have been rather peaceful, lately - ever since you left, in fact. Too peaceful - I can almost feel that somewhere else, things have gone downhill. I am glad that you are back; I did not mean to leave without you, but I did leave a life in peace behind for a very good reason."

 

[Gregam]

After helping out with the town and being apart of the Misfits, Dimitri left town once everything was settled. His heart was calling to the wild, and to the next town that needed a gunhand.

For those six months he had more than a fair share of encounters with banditry, run in with another gunslinger, and a fight to the death with a fearsome devil duck. He rides into town at the end of the six months, the same as he did the first day however. Heading straight for the local restaurant for a quick bite to eat and a drink.

He catches up with everyone, listening intently. He has another scar on his face from the encounter with the gunslinger. He also has a few more lines around his eyes. He appears satisfied to return to a town that he helped out in and finding it still at peace months later.

When the Badger comes back with Grond & Co., he is there to meet them with Liza. He nods to O-Ren. "Years ya say? If'n ya don't mind me askin', where would ya have to go where time is slower than here?"

 

[Sherwood]

Grond points a big finger at O-Ren. "Not us, just her. After we arrived at her clan's freehold and told them our story, they whisked her away to do some magic-ing of her as a reward for brining in the two prisoners. Apparently, those tattoos are more than a fashion statement; they are symbols of power that she can activate with just a touch. It seems to have taken some time for her to be able to acclimate them to her, and the Atlantian elders did it in some kind of temporal whirl that let time pass more quickly inside than outside, or else she would still be there recovering from her first bout of inking."

 

[Psychie]

O-Ren nods in agreement to what Grond is saying. "These are some good magic tattoos, giving me some very powerful tools to use against those that would try to hurt this town. In normal circumstances, the body can only accept new tattoos very slowly, taking time to acclimate itself to the power of the magic contained within. If it weren't for the time shift, I'd still be healing up from the first round of artwork." She looks down at her exposed arms and upper chest. "They are wonders of magic, making me as tough as Grond even before I use any additional defenses. I look forward to trying them out in actual combat against some nasties out there."

 

[Epiphany]

Alley Orzech

Liza wasn't the only one who opted to stay in Haven. While a trip to mystical Atlantis sounded promising, Alley had a unique opportunity here. She promised anyone aware of her 'Wanted' poster to stay low, especially given the Coalition believing the group had moved on given the Badger had driven out of town. Instead, she spent several weeks rebuilding and repairing the town's infrastructure with a speed that couldn't be believed even when witnessed.

Then, with Dennis' permission, she either took over his concealed shop or built her own in one of the likely-now-abandoned residences belonging to someone who'd died in the attack. In a matter of a month or so, the temporally accelerated scientist rebuilt her lab equipment from the ground up. In many cases by building a tool to help her build a tool that would help her build a key system. All of this required a tremendous amount of metal and synthetic components, thankfully abundant from salvage given the various mecha, armor and blown up technology from the Splurgoth attack.

And then she spent the last four months holed up, experimenting. She came up for air only when Dennis or Liza stopped by and, assuming the Mystic was amiable, Alley finally found a way to relax around the Mystic. The rest of the time was spent building out experimental equipment, diagnostic sensors and test chambers. Using her extensive knowledge of power systems coupled with her recent experiments in ley line disruption, the ex-Coalition scientist went through 157 separate tests to refine the method to smaller-scale application.

Specifically, she tried to find a cure for herself.

157 tests later, she had a number of dead ends identified with several workable theories still to pursue. But with the return of the Badger and the rest of the Misfits, Alley set her rebuilt lab aside and came out with Liza to meet the others.

O-Ren's tattoos got raised eyebrows from the scientist but she still smiled and gave hugs, smiles and handshakes all around. The Atlantean's account of temporal manipulation drew her interest though.

"Kinda wish I'd gone with now," Alley remarked. "If your clan elders can manipulate time...well, I would have loved to study how they did it." She shrugged, snapped her fingers at the missed opportunity and said "It's nice to see you all again. We're putting the band back together, right? Don't get me wrong, it's been a kick doing real research for the last half year but I'm pretty tired of hitting dead ends and could use a break and some fresh perspective. Let's go shoot some vampires or something."

 

[Psychie]

O-Ren gives Alley a happy grin. "I would love to try out my new powers against a nest of vamps. Have there been any trouble with them since we left? Those fiends are like a bad cancer; you cut out a bunch and somewhere else another bunch pops up."