------ 110-04-15 - Market Square Midday ------
The town is bustling as the newest refugees are getting acquainted with the area. Some of the more commercially minded among the refugees have set up blankets or open-front tents in the market square to hawk their wares. Many of the outdoor vendors are selling minor magical trinkets, fetishes, and technowizard equipment, mostly small things that are easy to transport or which can be crafted without too much issue. Over at Mandy’s, Mandy and Thom are unloading a truck with some crates and kegs. Over at the general store, there is a group of people placing orders or picking up packages. Behind the store, a hover-truck can be seen, though it’s unclear whether it’s picking up or dropping off.
Heydrich picks his way through the throngs of people to wait in line at the General Store
Zlod makes his way into town after spending some time at the refugee camp. He’ll peruse some of the vendors with an inexpert eye, but mostly makes his way to the General Store to pick up his order for Xhaiden and to order some tents for the company. He makes small talk with the line waiting to get in trying to be friendly and getting to know people. Zlod looks over at the hover-truck trying to see what kind of model is out here. Once he has picked up his packages. He heads over to Mandy’s. Flashing his best winning smile he offers to help unload any remaining cargo. When he gets a chance he’ll ask Thom for the information he said he would give Zlod.
The hover-truck is an older model it seems, pretty beat up, with laser scores evident along the front quarter panel Zlod can clearly see. It’s difficult to tell what exactly it is due to the ad-hoc armor plating. Inside the General Store is somewhat crowded, but most of the folks are friendly. Some are there arranging pickup of fertilizer for their farm, the Anderson Agricultural Co-op and, upon further conversation, Zlod learns that the hovertruck is theirs. Others are refugees looking to pick up some essentials, and some few luxuries if they can afford them. Heydrich is at the counter, perusing the clothing catalog, a bundle of purchased equipment on the floor beside him. As he gets to the front of the queue, Trevor greets Zlod cheerily,
“Ah, good, you made it in today. I got the package for you, everything except the collapsible bow. But I will have that tomorrow. " The psi-hound places the bundle on the counter as he listens to Zlod’s additional requests. “Ah, you are in luck my boy, I have both tents in stock now. 1000 credits, be but a moment to fetch them.” He gestures behind him to one of the assistants working in the back. Though no words are spoken, and the gestures don’t follow any sign language Zlod knows, the stock hand soon brings up two large bundles. Through the back of the warehouse, Zlod can see pallets of stuff being loaded into the just-visible back of the hovertruck by another stock hand in a suit of power armor.
Over at Mandy’s they have about half the truck unloaded by the time Zlod wanders over. " Good afternoon, Zlod." Mandy greets him as she lugs a large crate over to the back door. “If you want to help, go ahead and grab something. Between you and Thom you could probably be able to wrestle some of the large kegs down without breaking anything.” As Zlod and Thom wrestle the half-ton kegs off the truck, Thom hands Zlod an envelope containing a map to the cave, the ranch area, a rough sketch of the creature, and 5000 credits.
" A show of good faith. I heard about the requested delay, so the rest of the modified award will come from Savage. I also heard from Doc, he is nearby for the next week. There’s a road following the river, follow that for about 15 miles, where the river turns to the north. There’s a steep draw with a feeder stream on the eastern bank."
Zlod thanks Trevor for the packages and the tents that are in stock. He pays the man the remaining balance plus the thousand for the tents. He takes note of the power armor loading the hovertruck. “Thank you. I’ll return tomorrow for that bow.” Zlod says before leaving.
At Mandy’s Zlod helps get the large kegs off the truck, unloading the truck. “Thank you again Thom. I really appreciate you helping me out like this with the work.” Zlod says as he takes the envelope from Thom. “I’ll go by and see Doc today. That isn’t too far off. Give me a chance to look over the materials while I head there. Or see if I can get a ride.” Zlod does some quick math and thinks he can get to Doc before too long, and he starts following Thom’s directions, moving at a pretty good clip.
------ 110-04-15 - Hinterlands near the lower Shawpatin Falls ------
Xhaiden flew high above the camp and town, circling as he gained altitude before leveling off to glide in ever-widening circles 500 feet below him he could see the dirt roads and trails branching out into the open terrain. Farms and ranches dotted the land, cattle and sheep grazing, and field hands here hard at work preparing fields for planting. A wide variety of techniques were being employed, some using draft animals and drawn tools, others with more advanced machinery including tractors and even a hover-tractor. Groups of refugees made their way out of the camp to see if there is a place to claim. Swinging around on a final pass, Xhaiden spots a disturbance below. A group of people was surrounding a pair of others, one of which was on the ground while the other stood over them, brandishing a stick and keeping the larger group at bay. Flying lower and nearer, Xhaiden could see that the two figures in the middle were adolescents, wulfen children. Those surrounding them were older, mid to late teens, and human for the most part. Taunts and jeers can be heard, and one of the larger teens holds a straight-razor, threatening to shave the wulfen.
A frown forms upon Nuri’s features as he examines the scene below him. The crack of thunder announced his presence as he spiraled down to the ground extending his wings to their entire majestic presence, “Your actions have drawn the attention of the heavens.” While speaking a quick gesture of his hand would be made, resulting in the creation of a small blue light, “Let the light within you grow this day and cast aside your dark thoughts.”
At the thunderclap all eyes turn to Nuri and the teens all take an involuntary step back. They do, however, seem unimpressed by the parochial message, The ringleader, seeming to need to make up for his weakness in taking a step back, spits on the ground and takes two steps toward Nuri. “Oh, perfect. My pillow does need some more feathers for stuffing. These will do.” Full of malice and bravado, he brandishes the razor. His cohorts, regaining their own composure, chuckle nervously and each takes a step toward Nuri. The two wulfen children stare at Nuri, utterly amazed at his appearance.
“I have battled demons and devils with flaming swords, yet a razor blade is supposed to frighten me?” He shakes his head, “This is not happening.” He makes a gesture of his hand to lift the boy with the razor blade high into the air, “Now, how many of you wish to join your friend in a time out?”
Nuri’s display of power, seizing the boy so dramatically, is enough. The rest of the gaggle of teens bolts, abandoning their nominal leader completely. Despite his precarious situation, the boy keeps his nerve.
“Do it, freak! Kill me! Then everyone will have more reason to hunt all you monsters down!” the boy screams at Nuri, tears threatening.
“Do you think it is the will of those who walk in Light to see harm to a child?” Nuri asks before giving a slight shake of his head, “If I could take away your pain, I would. If I could remove your anger I would have done so already. I am your protector the same as I am theirs. May your life be long and good, and know should harm come towards you, I shall be there to avert it. You are just as precious to me as they are.” After turning invisible he would lower the boy to the ground.
As soon as he is released, the boy turns and runs, following the dirt trail back towards town. The Wulfen children wait for a little while, not wanting to move, before hustling back towards the Refugee camp.
Nuri follows the boy, who turns off the main trail and heads toward the river. At the rim of the canyon, where the distance across is the narrowest, is a wooden trestle bridge, 12 feet wide and almost a half-mile long, it spans the gorge and permits traffic across. By the time the boy has crossed the bridge, he’s stopped running and is walking, muttering darkly to himself and sniffling. He walks for another half hour before reaching a farmstead sitting amid some large fields. A hover-tractor can be seen in the large barn, and new farm implements are parked on the well-kept gravel pad beside it.
As Nuri followed the boy back to his home, he pondered what made the children on Rifts earth so nonchalant about creatures such as himself. He had heard of something called video games on handheld electronic devices. He made a mental note to ask Zlod about them so he could mentally prepare himself for the battles ahead. For now, he has a new ward to keep an eye out on. After scanning the area for signs of trouble or adults he would create a small rainbow above the boy’s house. Waiting to see the young to middling teen’s reaction before starting his search for his own adopted big brother.
At the sight of the rainbow the teen jerks as if slapped. He stares at it for a moment before dashing inside. Moments later he emerges with a plasma rifle shouldered and scanning the area for threats. Seeing nothing out there he backs into the house and closes the door. Nuri can see him inside at one of the windows, weapon pointing out.
A little more than an hour later a fairly new hover-truck loaded with supplies pulls into the yard. Four men climb out of the cab and three of them immediately begin to unload. The fourth one, who was riding in the front passenger seat, strolls up toward the house. The front door swings open abruptly and the teen comes rushing out, plasma rifle still in hand.
“Pa!” he calls out, relief evident in his voice.
“Sam? What are you doing with that gun, I told you not to touch it!” The boy’s father reprimands, his voice and countenance thunderous. The boy, Sam, pulls up short, the reaction almost identical to when he saw the rainbow.
“But Pa, one of those freaks from the camp attacked me and followed me home!”
At this bit of news, the father’s expression alters, his ire no longer directed at the boy. He calls back to the men at the truck, who have slowed in their work to listen. “Unload the truck and get the tractor hooked up. I will be out in a bit.” He turns his attention back to the boy, gesturing for him to precede him into the house. “Who was it, what did it look like? What happened?” he demands, sternly but without malice as they enter the house and close the door.
Nuri is able to move in close enough to hear the conversation within.
“It was some kind of flying thing, young looking, like a kid. Human-like except for the big feathery wings. It glowed like there was a spotlight on it, and it talked weird, It grabbed me and held me up in the air, I couldn’t move. When it released me I ran.” The boy takes some deep breaths, “I think it was invisible, I didn’t see it until it was almost on top of me. And then, when I got home, I saw a rainbow. A rainbow but without rain, or mist. I think it followed me.”
There was a long pause before the father spoke. “You did good. Those freaks in that refugee camp those damned Juicers brought in are always stirring up trouble. They’re dangerous. I’ll talk to the Sheriff and the Mayor about this, maybe we can get a wall or something built around the camp, keep those freaks away from good folk. Here, you can’t carry that rifle around, so take this. If you are attacked, defend yourself. We need to let all those freaks know they can’t go around accosting good normal folk.”
Disappointment. The exchange left an altered sense of directives. Nuri considered removing the memory from the pair and discarding it as quickly as it arrived. He would need more time to learn more. It would require taking on a human guise in the future. For the moment, his reason for lingering had been fulfilled. The larger problem forming and further investigation would be too great of a risk. Moving his way from the farm, he would take flight once more, visiting the Wulfen children as Xhaiden before reuniting with Zlod.
Nuri flies north, backtracking to where the Wulfen children were. As he lands and spends the next hour searching the area he is unable to find either the Wulfen or their tracks, With the sun growing lower in the sky he makes his way back to Shawpatin Falls.
------ 110-04-15 - Hinterlands Box Canyon - Doc's ------
Zlod is able to move fairly quickly along the cliff-top trail, tapping into his extraordinary endurance to maintain a rapid pace. Slowing only to navigate a difficult trail down the cliff to the river below, Zlod rounds a corner to a small, steep-sided canyon and spots what can only be Doc’s van. Surprisingly it is not the only vehicle. Tucked a little further up the canyon and covered with camouflage netting sits a large twin-rotor helicopter. Some obvious damage to the cockpit and fuselage is visible, broken windscreen, rail strike and plasma burns. As Zlod approaches the vehicles he can hear some rather inventive cursing coming from the back of the van.
Zlod looks over the large helicopter with an appraising eye as he moves, slower now, towards the van. “Hello in there. Someone out here wanting to talk to Doc.”
“Come around back, a little busy right now.” a voice calls from the van.
“Dammit, pay attention you near-sighted gnome! That rod’s already been bent once today, I’m not paying for another!” the sharp female voice veritably drips acid.
“Well, maybe try not getting shot and you won’t need to come to see me. I’d think that would be the cheaper route, don’t you?”
Walking around to the back of the van, Zlod can see the rear doors are open. Inside a short, wizened man wearing magnifying spectacles is working on the leg of the woman seated beside him.
“Yes, I’m Doc, what can I do for you?” Doc says, focused on repairing the cybernetic leg
"Hi, Doc the name is Zlod.” Zlod says as he takes in the setup and the woman in the back of the van trying to appraise the quality of work done here and the woman’s capabilities as best he can. “Thom said you might know some mercs looking for work. I am starting up a merc company and looking to employ some people for decent pay. Know anyone like that?” Zlod’s tail rests on the ground and Zlod leans back letting his tail take some of his weight.
Doc starts chuckling. “Yeah, I might know one or two mercs like that, One of them is fresh on the market, so to speak.”
" Doc, if you short something in there because you are laughing, so help me I’ll solder that metal plate in your head to the fender and drive off!" the woman growls before looking over to Zlod. " Name’s Mason, lotsa folks call me Mace. Very original, I know, but most mercs ain’t well known for their vast intellects. As Doc here so eloquently put it, I’m ‘fresh on the market'. Last crew I was running with decided to go and get themselves killed because of stupid. Brodkil ambush on exfil. I made it here on fumes and with a shot-up bird, so I radioed Doc to see if he could meet me here."
“I’m a hunter, I know quite a bit about a lot of things, especially things I’m hunting. Operative training, and a decent pilot, too. I can operate many types of vehicles. Not much of a mechanic, unfortunately, so I’m going to need to find and pay someone to get Bodeca flying right again. And pay for fuel.”
“Well nice to meet you Mason.” Zlod says as he takes out a cigar from his bandolier and puts it in his mouth, not lighting it yet. “We could use someone like you Mason, and I would be willing to help you get that bird of yours fixed and flying again in addition to your regular wages,” Zlod says as he continues to rest of his tail. “I promise I will do my best not to do anything stupid to get you or others under my command hurt. Now, which do you prefer Mason or Mace?”
" Mace, keeps things short and easy to remember. You say you’ll do your best to not do anything stupid, but the proof is in the bleeding. I want to know who I’d be working for and with, and I want to know the stupidest thing you’ve done."
Mace glances down at Doc, “Aren’t you done yet? You said it’d be a quick fix.”
Not looking up, Doc responds, “Lil, if you think you can do this faster, you are more than welcome. You really don’t want to be cruising along at 30 miles per hour and have your leg suddenly stop working now would you?”
“Alright, Mace it is.” Zlod takes a moment to think before answering the question. “I guess the stupidest thing I’ve done was try to make it through Xiticx territory as fast as I could trying to get ahead of a CS army to warn Tolkeen. Could have ended really badly. Didn’t make it time, but didn’t get swarmed by insects either. It didn’t end great, but it could have ended a lot worse if we had run into the CS or those insects.”
“Stupid and lucky, Great combination for a merc.” Mace quips. “What about you and your company, what should I know?”
“Well, I formally worked and was trained by Tolkeen,” Zlod says. “Now I am working to start my own company to help people out and to make some credits while doing it hopefully. We are a small group right now but growing. I have two other members at this time. We’ll generally follow a military structure. I pay weekly and pay fairly well. As we make more credits and become more stable I’ll likely increase pay. We are going to not take jobs that I think are shady, too dangerous, or might give us a bad reputation. Hmm… what else would you like to know?”
“That’ll do. My price is 1000 a week and the assistance in getting Bodeca flying again. What I know of her problems are primary weapons control system repair or replacement, windscreen replacement, and quite a bit of MDC plate replacement. Some of the guns are going to need replacement. She has two forward-facing turrets, two side-facing turrets, two mini-missile pods, and a rear-facing .50 cal. The front railguns were both pretty much destroyed. They might be able to be salvaged, but it’ll be work. The side turrets were originally particle-beams, but they haven’t been installed with guns for a while now. The mini-missile pods will launch up to 3 in a flight each and hold up to 18 missiles each pod. Her primary control system was shot to hell, only the second seat has any control right now, and there’s a hydraulic leak somewhere, probably from some stray rail shots. All this to say, it’s gonna be a lot to fix her up right. To man her in full combat load will require a crew of 5, too. Fuel… Well, let's just say she doesn’t sip the go juice.”
“Well happy to help you get Bodeca flying again although that will depend on the jobs we get, but I am afraid I can pay you 700 a week with a week’s pay as a signing bonus. Now there are likely to be pay bumps after we get ourselves established and whatnot. Sounds like she is going to need a significant amount of work, and a significant amount of credits. I can work on getting credits put away towards getting her up to snuff again. "
Mace sniffs, but there’s a quirk to her mouth that indicates her satisfaction. “Fair enough. We’ll renegotiate once she’s airworthy again.”
“Sounds like we have a deal then,” Zlod says as he peels off seven, hundred credit bills and hands them over to Mace. “Here is my communication info. We got a job already. A creature hiding out in a cave. Been harassing livestock, and we’ve been hired to take care of it. I would like to meet up with you and the rest of the crew tomorrow morning to head out to the cave, set up a camp, and try to get some more intelligence on the thing. Sound good?”
“Let's meet up at 0800, right outside of town, near the refugee camp. We’ll meet up there and head over to the cave area. We got one other person you should know about. Heydrich is a gargoyle infiltration cyborg. So don’t get surprised by a big gargoyle with us.” Zlod explains.
Mace stares at Zlod for a long moment. “Umm, okay. Of all the words and phrases I expected to hear today, ‘gargoyle infiltration cyborg’ was most definitely not among them. 0800, near the refugee camp. Copy that.”
“Seems Thom has been holding out on me,” Doc comments, “I am usually the first to know about new cyborg units in the area. Interesting. Triax model, unless I am woefully out of date. I would be interested in meeting this Heydrich sometime.”
Zlod chuckles as he stands up fully from where he is resting on his tail. “I’ll see you then. If you need me I always have my radio on me.” He turns to Doc. “Well if he needs any work on his systems I’ll keep you in mind. Alright, I will see you all later. I want to head back to town before Mandy’s gets too crowded.”
