Outside 40: It's all downhill from here

[Morty]

[Darkwater Mine]

"Tell them the situation has been contained and they can arrive," Wenomir says. "Which is not untrue, it just omits a detail or two."

[Hyperbolic sine]

[Darkwater Mine]

"You heard him. Do as he says...and don't try to use some kind of code to warn them, else you'll regret it.". Wraal motions with the pistol to emphasize the concept.

[Rebonack]

[Way Up High]

Geneva is making some observations.

It might seem like a weird set of observations, but something she was told by a fellow at Skyside had gotten her thinking. She was pretty sure her interpretation of the Nexus' nature was correct. She had read up on the topic shortly after arriving, after all. But for a project of her scope there wasn't room for error. She needed to be certain.

And so that's why the dracohippodicegriff is at an altitude commonly considered low orbit, a tenuous bubble of compressed atmosphere shimmering around her to stave off the cruel asphyxiating embrace of the void.

What's Geneva doing up in low-flying satellite land, you ask? Quite simply, she's taking pictures. The pictures would be useful for a number of reasons. For one, Geneva is hoping the super-high resolution photos would help her identify other bridges into the Nexus, both diffuse and portal-like. The more she can find the better. That'll give her a wider set of data for the eventual construction of a Cosmic Bridge.

There's another reason, too. A fairly simple test for someone who can fly as fast and as high as she. Geneva intends to make several more viewings, though before each she'll fly back down to Inside and leave the City in a different direction. If what she's read holds true, each time she takes her high-altitude snapshot of the world below she should be looking at a different world.

Because the Nexus isn't a world. It's the nexus where all worlds meet.

[Shadowcaller]

[Peaceful Spring]

The trick about covert ogling is that it's rarely as covert as you'd like. So Kitty definitely notices. She shifts awkwardly, but there's not a lot she can do about it. What does Invidia have to stare at anyway? Her breasts are so mall that that Annie should cover everything. She pushes it to the back of her mind, instead replying to Obriane. "I'll be headed straight back to the inn after. I'm sure Annie will be tired." This baby is the great limiter of her free time.

Invidia turns back to Orbriane, shrugging.
Hmm... I dunno really.
Invidia replies.

[Darkwater Mine]

"Tell them the situation has been contained and they can arrive," Wenomir says. "Which is not untrue, it just omits a detail or two."

[Darkwater Mine]

"You heard him. Do as he says...and don't try to use some kind of code to warn them, else you'll regret it.". Wraal motions with the pistol to emphasize the concept.

[Peaceful Spring]

"Ah, alright. I guess I'll head back to the inn too then. But this has been pretty fun right?" She asks the two other women. "Maybe we should do it again sometimes."

[Darkwater Mine]

The driver swallows and then nods. "'kay..."

The gnoll then makes the call. "We done here, mine is clear." There is a reply. "Yeah, yeah, they... fought. Some got killed but we beat them." A reply. "Uh, yeah... we checked mine too. Nothing there. All clear." A reply. "Great... we'll met them up." She then hangs up. "They will be here in an hour."

[Morty]

[Darkwater Mine]

"Splendid," Wenomir says. "Let's prepare a proper welcome for them," he adds, turning to the other adventurers.

[Hyperbolic sine]

[Darkwater Mine]

"Let's see...first, if they see all those corpses and not ours they might get suspicious...I'll take care of that. In the meantime, someone finds something to restrain and gag the prisoners, then take them at the end of the tunnel. Midget, you will keep an eye on them...oh, you can search the trailer for food, if you want". That said, Wraal will move one destroyed droid near the entrance of the tunnel, leave the unburned gnoll corpse where it is and bring the other bodies (including the wreckage of the warframe, unless the signs of the explosion are too obvious - provided that something of the warframe remained, of course) deep inside it.

[Fenric]

Heavy Weapons Training

Freddie's voice sounds sheepish

Uh oh... How long have you all been able to hear me?

Caroline's is bemused

It does rather make sense if we're trying to coordinate.

Verise confirms

Yes, the channel is now open. And correct, we do not have general facilities for point to point communications: I can limit the scope by assigning your units to battle groups, but within your group, everyone can hear you.

Come to think of it... Where are Verise and Kira, now?

Regardless, she continues

We have two more things to cover. Katrina, drive your tank up the small hill there and get converted to siege mode - I want to demonstrate something.

The rest of you need to learn about the more significant addition to your machines: you have jump jets: maximum 90 second continuous burn, 5 minutes total fuel, with automatic retro fire.

[Recaiden]

[Lactase Quest]

Cleo wobbles a bit as the clouds move, and laugh.

"Why wouldn't they? It would be stranger if they just stayed in one place, you know?"

She flops over and lays down on the cloudbank. It is still taking them generally in the direction of the quest arrow.

"Once there's a force acting on the clouds, they should pick up and move."

[Heavy Weapons Training]

"Haha. A while now, Frederick. Best start watching your tongue."

Tavlii comes to a start and listens about the jets, scannnig the cockpit for instruments and controls related to them.

"How are they controlled, and, if we need to, can we override the retro sequence?"

[Rebonack]

[Lactase Quest!]

Geneva fluffs her feathers, obviously annoyed by these unruly clouds.

Stop violating the laws of nature, clouds!

You're not supposed to do that!

"Wild clouds, maybe, but a magical cloud is far too dense for anything aside from the most powerful of winds to blow it around. They stay in place until a pegasus or a griffin moves them."

She pokes at the cloud a few times with one of her talons.

"Plants growing on their own, animals caring for themselves, the weather making itself, clouds moving without help. Those are all signs of a world that has gone wild without anyone to watch over it. A world gone mad..." the hippogriff says before giving a little laugh. "That must sound insane to you, right? From what I've gathered, that's how most worlds work. Nature just does its own thing and people try to survive it."

[Shadowcaller]

[Darkwater Mine]

"Splendid," Wenomir says. "Let's prepare a proper welcome for them," he adds, turning to the other adventurers.

[Darkwater Mine]

"Let's see...first, if they see all those corpses and not ours they might get suspicious...I'll take care of that. In the meantime, someone finds something to restrain and gag the prisoners, then take them at the end of the tunnel. Midget, you will keep an eye on them...oh, you can search the trailer for food, if you want". That said, Wraal will move one destroyed droid near the entrance of the tunnel, leave the unburned gnoll corpse where it is and bring the other bodies (including the wreckage of the warframe, unless the signs of the explosion are too obvious - provided that something of the warframe remained, of course) deep inside it.

[Darkwater Mine]

There is a small hole and charred earth at the explosion site in addition to the remains of the warframe. It might be hard to cover up unless you put something on top of it. Otherwise Wraal won't have any difficulties removing the other bodies. What are the others doing?

[Ionbound]

[Heavy Weapons Training]

Helen laughs and says, "Don't worry, Tavlii...I'll keep an eye on him." She then tests out the Jump Jets, trying to leap just as high as she can without running into things.

[Fenric]

Heavy Weapons Training

Verise chuckles

Looks like Helen found it. To enable the system, push down with both feet for five seconds. The Remaining burn times will display on your HUD. To jump, just push down with both feet as if you were jumping. To disable the system, pull up with both feet for five seconds. To override the auto-retro die, pull up with both feet, but be careful: the chassis was not designed for jumping and the shock absorption capabilities are limited.

The tank has arrived at the hill and converted

Caroline, line up your targeting circle on the marker you see in your display and wait for my signal.

The tank's turret turns and adjusts.

[Recaiden]

[Heavy Weapons Training]

More instruction! Whee!
This is actually a pretty good interface, though the slow turn on time could be problematic.

Jets on. Jump a tiny ways, jets back off.

Tavlii's goliath settles in to watch whatever the tank is going to do.

[Lactase Quest]

"Pretty sure your world is the strange one, yes. This is how the world works. It just...goes."

"Doesn't need anybody to watch it or help it along."

Thunder sounds from further off in the clouds, quite distant.

[Rebonack]

[Lactase Quest!]

"But that's how things are supposed to work when you have magical cloud," Geneva pouts. "It's hardly my fault that everywhere else is filled with wild... everything."

Wild everything is the worst.

"So with no one to manage your weather I guess you just let huge, destructive storms happen and try your best to live through them and clean up afterwards?"

Geneva is certain that's how things would go down, but it still sounds pretty awful to her.

[Ionbound]

[Heavy Weapons Training]

Helen lands next to Tavlii and says, "Well, that was pretty cool. I wonder what the others are doing."

[Morty]

[Darkwater Mine]

Wenomir will once again try to find a spot to hide, so he can take the enemy by surprise once they arrive.

[Fenric]

[Heavy Weapons Training]

Verise approves of the group's progress so far.

You're all doing really well. I wanted to have a quick demonstration of what that little Arc-Lite gun of yours really does. You see, this isn't a game-balanced toy... Caroline: fire once, please.

There is a whine and a thud, followed by a bright streak blazing through the sky

There's a magnesium shell burning away right now to help track your aim - that's just for show. By default, when the projectile falls to within 15 feet of the ground...

A small star blazes into existence and a shockwave flattens the grass in a rapidly expanding circle. Even at the distance they are standing, the walkers' gyros have to compensate for the blast.

That is a high-yield plasma based explosive generating the equivalent of 5.5 tons of TNT as well as throwing off a significant amount of gamma radiation and a suitably unpleasant EM Pulse. You fire that in a city, and I guarantee somebody's going to take offense.

[Recaiden]

[Lactase Quest!]

"But that's how things are supposed to work when you have magical cloud," Geneva pouts. "It's hardly my fault that everywhere else is filled with wild... everything."

Wild everything is the worst.

"So with no one to manage your weather I guess you just let huge, destructive storms happen and try your best to live through them and clean up afterwards?"

Geneva is certain that's how things would go down, but it still sounds pretty awful to her.

"Nah, there have always been people to control the weather, save a few sad times. They just have to work within the system."

Cleo laughs.

"Most people aren't lucky enough to live in a world like yours."

[Heavy Weapons Training]

Helen lands next to Tavlii and says, "Well, that was pretty cool. I wonder what the others are doing."

Blowing things up, apparently.

"Wow."

Atorre is suddenly filled with a somewhat frivolous desire to have such a weapon.

"Yes, they certainly would."

[Ionbound]

[Heavy Weapons Training]

Helen whistles and says, "Wow...I think that might be slightly higher ordinance than what we need."

[Hyperbolic sine]

[Darkwater Mine]

Once Wraal finishes moving the corpses/wreckages and comes back from the tunnel, he will try to move a rock over the explosion hole: he is fairly strong, and if necessary he will use a mass effect field to temporarily lower its mass (and thus its weight), so with some effort he should manage to lift even a couple of tons. If the rock is large enough to also cover the charred earth, all the better, if not a bit of rummaging with the feet should do the work: it doesn't need to disappear completely, just to be less noticeable. Once done, Wraal looks around and yells "Why are the prisoners still there? Bah, nevermind." before approaching the trailer, searching something with which restrain and gag the prisoners, do so, then bring them and the goblin at the end of the tunnel and tasking the latter with keeping an eye on them. Only then the Krogan will finally search a place to hide.

[Arkhosia]

[Darkwater Mine]

Once Wraal finishes moving the corpses/wreckages and comes back from the tunnel, he will try to move a rock over the explosion hole: he is fairly strong, and if necessary he will use a mass effect field to temporarily lower its mass (and thus its weight), so with some effort he should manage to lift even a couple of tons. If the rock is large enough to also cover the charred earth, all the better, if not a bit of rummaging with the feet should do the work: it doesn't need to disappear completely, just to be less noticeable. Once done, Wraal looks around and yells "Why are the prisoners still there? Bah, nevermind." before approaching the trailer, searching something with which restrain and gag the prisoners, do so, then bring them and the goblin at the end of the tunnel and tasking the latter with keeping an eye on them. Only then the Krogan will finally search a place to hide.

Sophia takes cover, using the time waiting to her advantage by switching out her current blades just in case. Never know when one'll get dull and result in your death, after all.

[Rebonack]

[Lactase Quest!]

Oh.

Phew...

Folks from Cleo's world do control the weather.

That's far more sane than the places with wild weather. Geneva can scarcely imagine how anyone would be able to survive, let alone thrive, in such a place. Even with the weather of her home left more or less to its own devices, it's comparatively mild compared to the madness she had read about online. Huge storms without pegasi to tend to the skies. Massive earth quakes and devastating volcanic eruptions without earth ponies to tend to the ground. Catastrophic meteor impacts without any unicorns to tend to the heavens.

It was a wonder such a world could even support live.

"My home has been in pretty bad shape for a long time," Geneva admits. "The War devastated it. I'm hoping trade with the Nexus will be able to revitalize things. That's why I'm working so hard on the Cosmic Bridge project."

[Fenric]

[Heavy Weapons Training]

Caroline's voice quavers

Put us back in tank mode please, Katrina.

With much mechanical noise, the tank configures itself back to its standard form.

Verise chuckles

Your main cannons fire a much smaller version of the same ordinance, Caroline: just 250 pounds instead of 5.5 tons with negligible X-Ray radiation instead of a large burst of hard gamma, and a contact detonation instead of an air-burst. They are still significantly lethal.

From a spot in the air, a number of boxes suddenly appear and fall to the ground. After landing, then unfold into small mechanized drones. Everyone's HUD will suddenly light up with red dots, and a [WARNING] indicator tells everyone that they are the destination of targeting radar from multiple sources. A green dot shows up showing the location of the other friendly units, with an unaccounted-for green blip showing as being in the air.

Gloves are off, kids: fire control is enabled, and these drones are out to get you. They attack in five seconds, so better get busy!

[Recaiden]

[Lactase Quest!]

That's far more sane than the places with wild weather. Geneva can scarcely imagine how anyone would be able to survive, let alone thrive, in such a place. Even with the weather of her home left more or less to its own devices, it's comparatively mild compared to the madness she had read about online. Huge storms without pegasi to tend to the skies. Massive earth quakes and devastating volcanic eruptions without earth ponies to tend to the ground. Catastrophic meteor impacts without any unicorns to tend to the heavens.

It was a wonder such a world could even support live.

"My home has been in pretty bad shape for a long time," Geneva admits. "The War devastated it. I'm hoping trade with the Nexus will be able to revitalize things. That's why I'm working so hard on the Cosmic Bridge project."

"Of course, we didn't always. Before there were humans, almost nobody bothered, so I hear. I think it'd be fun to see a real storm. Exciting, you know?"

Then a sigh.

"I wouldn't count on it. What could your world provide that the Nexus doesn't already have? And if it can't make it on its own, well, should it?"


[Heavy Weapons Training]

Caroline's voice quavers

Put us back in tank mode please, Katrina.

With much mechanical noise, the tank configures itself back to its standard form.

Verise chuckles

Your main cannons fire a much smaller version of the same ordinance, Caroline: just 250 pounds instead of 5.5 tons with negligible X-Ray radiation instead of a large burst of hard gamma, and a contact detonation instead of an air-burst. They are still significantly lethal.

From a spot in the air, a number of boxes suddenly appear and fall to the ground. After landing, then unfold into small mechanized drones. Everyone's HUD will suddenly light up with red dots, and a [WARNING] indicator tells everyone that they are the destination of targeting radar from multiple sources. A green dot shows up showing the location of the other friendly units, with an unaccounted-for green blip showing as being in the air.

Gloves are off, kids: fire control is enabled, and these drones are out to get you. They attack in five seconds, so better get busy![/color]

See this is exactly the situation where those missiles would have been useful.

Tavlii puts attention back on the guns and aims at the two nearest drones, firing a brief burst at them before getting the goliath moving again.
What are they armed with? Who knows, so best to keep a bit of distance.
Should be able to hit a few at least in the five second grace period.

[Ionbound]

[Heavy Weapons Training]

Helen panics briefly, not expecting a combat situation so quickly, but quickly takes the guns, and spray-n-prays where she can see the highest concentration of the drones, trying to take out as many as possible before they can activate.

[Fenric]

[Heavy Weapons Training]

Caroline's fires as well, the power of the shots helping to make up for the 2-second delay between each. Katrina drives around aggressively trying to run the little drones over.

Freddie is... talkative

Ooh! And now over here... and over there. Jump up and... awww, missed

Tavlii dispatches several, and Helen gets a couple by accident. The five seconds elapse, and then everyone's HUD displays: Training Damage: 0.0%

The drones abruptly stop evading and begin firing small but high velocity ball bearings that make a very disturbing "ping" sound on the machines' armor. Freddie gasps as his damage meter jumps up to 15%

Oh, crap! They really shoot! I'm at 15% already

Verise chuckles

When you reach 100%, your main system will shut down.

[Gullara]

[Peaceful Spring]

"Ah, alright. I guess I'll head back to the inn too then. But this has been pretty fun right?" She asks the two other women. "Maybe we should do it again sometimes."

[Peaceful Spring]

"Yeah, definitely. This is fun." Now that Annie has quieted down at least. Maybe she should consider finding a babysitter next time... "Probably not swimming again, though. Not unless it's soon. The days are going to start getting colder in not too long."

[Arkhosia]

[Peaceful Spring]

"Yeah, definitely. This is fun." Now that Annie has quieted down at least. Maybe she should consider finding a babysitter next time... "Probably not swimming again, though. Not unless it's soon. The days are going to start getting colder in not too long."

Invidia nods in agreement, thinking.
Hmm... maybe a bit of harmless exploring would be fun? You know, just walking around through the forest or hiking up a mountain, seeing what we can discover and not get into too much danger in the process?
Invidia suggests.

[Recaiden]

[Heavy Weapons Training]

"Well done. Helen, aim for those on the left there."

Tavlii quickly engages the jump jets, drawing additional attention in order to keep aiming well, and fires down at the little drones. Takes a hit before getting into the air though.

"Here I was thinking they were actually armed."

[Ionbound]

[Heavy Weapons Training]

Helen takes a few hits, taking 40% damage before she starts trying to strafe in a circle around the drones, trying to handle the tricky task of aiming accurately, moving, and avoiding hits, and probably failing at all three.