Outside 46

[bc56]

Road Pirate Pitstop

Erasmus allows Fayaad to work the panel, and keeps an eye out for trouble coming from behind.

[Morty]

[Road Pirate Pitstop]

Fayyaad tries to remember if they came across something that'd suggest this keypad's combination. He remembers Cassandra frying such a lock without the need for it, but he's hardly a sorcerer himself.

[Murkus]

[Tower of Batu]

"Well, maybe we could just... peek through the portal?" Div suggests. He does want to see what's above the clouds.

[Earl of Purple]

Road Pirate Pit Stop

Well, I don't think I've left any numbers around deliberately, but there's graffiti on the walls! Quite a lot of it, in fact. THE OUTSIDER WALKS AMONG US is scrawled upon the ceiling, next to a row of what look like bare footprints- the left foot has an extra toe. There's also THE BURNED MAN WALKS on the inside door of the toilet cubicle where the keypad is hidden above a crude depiction of a cat's skull.

Maybe there's some other graffiti with a clue in the male half of the shower block? It'd be a bad idea to keep the code too close to what it opens.

Near Chapel

"Dragon? He dragon?" The girl's face lights up in a smile as she takes another look at Haar. "Brave. Not fool. Need help. Chapel has sister, and friends, cousins and more. Tomorrow, sister go from Chapel, in noisy flying vehicle. You, please, follow. Find sister. Bring sister home. Others, maybe. Others go long time, not hope for them. But get sister, hope for sister. Will pay. Have food, water. Dragon want princess? We all princesses. Knight need squire? I squire? What squire?" She's hoping Faudre will be able to help, and more importantly, willing.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Ruined Village]

Steve says "We can give the illusion of numbers. Does anyone here possess any ability to create explosions? If we bombard the area with precision strikes, but at a rate and pattern that appears random, we can keep the bandits alive, but scare them into submission."

[Ruined Village]

"I have the power to spook the bandits, if that is how you wish to proceed." Says Kalya.

[Devixer]

Near Chapel

Faudre takes a moment to listen to the girl's plight. Her sister... that wasn't the same one from before, was it? She's about to agree to help when she starts talking about payment. Princesses? Why would Haar want... and what was a squire? "Hold your tongue. I do not need or want repayment to free others from bondage. To take your offer would shame my tribe. I will help you because it is what is right."

[Earl of Purple]

Near Chapel

"No. We pay. You refuse pay, we debted. Shame MY tribe. Maybe... Not pay. Reward? Like knight's kiss of princess in stories? That OK? You not shamed because not paid, we not shamed because no debt. Yes?" The girl is much happier she's heard the strange woman before her also has a tribe. The Tribeless are always upsetting- raiders, merchants, settlers or otherwise, their ways and views are strange and there's regularly misunderstandings. A thought appears to come to her. "Is princess kiss good reward for knight? Always thought sword or spear more better." Although the girl's people don't have any weaponry as good as Faudre's.

[Morty]

[Road Pirate Pit Stop]

"We're going to need a code," Fayyaad says. "But it could be just about anywhere, if it even is here."

[Tower of Batu]

"Well, we can..." Batu pauses. He's been curious himself, and if Div wants that too... "We can go and try. They wouldn't keep it here if it was dangerous to just peek through."

[Recaiden]

'They wouldn't keep it here if it was dangerous to just peek through.' He says, being completely wrong. Although most of the things that are dangerous to look at are covered up and behind locked doors.

But in this case, Batu happens to be right.
The portal to the sky is, as you would expect, downstairs, underneath the root cellar. Behind an aluminum-coated door one finds a space far too vast to fit under here. There's a small guard-rail in case the wind tries to sweep you away. On the other side of the door are hills of cloud-stuff - it looks solid enough, just take a step out there - the sun, distant mountains reaching up to the sky. Through the gaps one can see lower layers of cloud and the sort of things one finds there, if they lean over and look down they might see the meadow and the tiny bright spot of the tower, or the cities like scattered seashells. Bird's don't usually come this high, but perhaps they can catch a glimpse of something worse else, a sky whale or aeroplane.

The wind is quite strong. Be careful.

[bc56]

Road Pirate Pitstop

"Per'aps the code is in the other bathroom or the office? I don't remember seeing anything that looked like a code." Erasmus scratches his head and tries to remember.

[Morty]

[Road Pirate Pit Stop]

"Let's split up and look, then," Fayyaad says. I'll go through the office, you go through the other bathroom. Of the two, I'd expect the code to be in the office, but you never know."

[Earl of Purple]

Road Pirate Pit Stop

Back in the office (the shack in the cave) there's the audiograph player and records, which have no clues. The monowheel poster is advertising a 'Monowheel V6 Fly Demon XIV Model'. In one of the drawers of the rusty cabinet, there's a book on engineering; pages 16, 42 and 33 are marked as interesting.

The male half of the shower block is just as bad as the female half, if not worse. There's lots of graffiti, much of it rude or sexually explicit. THE BURNED MAN WALKS is scrawled over one wall, and opposite a large mirror over a floor urinal is painted 'CLASSES OF 1995, 96 AND 98'.

[bc56]

Road Pirate Pitstop

Unsure if it will work, Erasmus tries inputting 1995 into the panel. If that doesn't work, he'll try 1997 since it wasn't listed in the grafitti.

[Morty]

[Road Pirate Pit Stop]

Fayyaad will note down all the potentially helpful numbers and return to the keypad as well. He's ready to try if Erasmus' attempts don't pan out.

[bc56]

Ruined Village

"That sounds good. Do it." Steve runs after Arden. He doesn't want the healer to get himself killed. While he dashes to catch up, a single gunshot rings out from the village. Arden may see the muzzle flash, if he's looking in the right direction. Regardless, the bullet sails through the air behind Arden's head. If he hadn't been moving, the sniper would've probably hit him.

[Devixer]

Near Chapel

This whole "princess kiss" business reminds Faudre of some stories she'd heard from the Storyteller of her tribe. Weren't those about a prince and his failed attempts to kiss a dragon knight? She hadn't paid enough attention.

"If your tribe insists for a reward, then I shall accept spare furs, and meat for my companion." Faudre snorts just a little - she almost sounds like Haar when he snorts, except not a wyvern. "If you still insist on a kiss, then let it wait for after."

[Murkus]

[Road Pirate Pit Stop]

"We're going to need a code," Fayyaad says. "But it could be just about anywhere, if it even is here."

[Tower of Batu]

"Well, we can..." Batu pauses. He's been curious himself, and if Div wants that too... "We can go and try. They wouldn't keep it here if it was dangerous to just peek through."

[Tower of Batu]

"Uh, yes! That makes sense!" Div also decides, voice spritely and sure. He will innocently follow Batu to their undoubted aerial doom.

[bc56]

Horizon Colony

The robot Ezra flies his shuttle back to the colony. Construction is well underway now, and tetrahedral buildings have sprung up across the landscape. Dozens of trees have been felled to make space for the new town. The massive colony ship Horizon stands resolute in the center of the new structures.

[Morty]

[Tower of Batu]

"...wow," Batu simply says, as he and Div peer through the portal. "It almost looks like you could walk on them."

[Devixer]

Horizon Colony

As the shuttle opens, the android Onora steps out into the new colony, hands firmly in her pocket. "Wait, we weren't gone that long. Pod, give me an analysis on those pyramids."
"Confirmed." The little robot hovers off towards one of the buildings, to get data on its structural integrity.

[bc56]

Horizon Colony

"Titanium-steel buildings, in tetrahedral shape for easy assembly and increased resilience. The construction drones work quickly" The pod's scans will confirm Ezra's statement. In the meantime, a number of large quadcopters can be seen lowering a triangular building section onto a newly laid foundation. "They're probably working on the hydroponics labs right now."

[Devixer]

Horizon Colony

"Confirmed: Construction is comprised of a titanium alloy, likely constructed through autimated means." Pod 132 has already returned from its scans.

"Sounds like a machine job. Nothing the humans were capable of back when there were this many of them."

[bc56]

Horizon Colony

"The descriptions you give for your world are intriguing. What is it like?" Ezra is confused, really. Onora is a machine, but talks about them like they're something separate from her.

[Devixer]

Horizon Colony

"Earth? Unless you're an animal or a machine, Earth's a graveyard. Humans haven't been there for..." Onora tilts her head, trying to remember.
"Seven thousand, seven hundred and fifteen years."
"That."

[bc56]

Horizon Colony

"Interesting. What are the machines like? What is their culture?" Ezra slowly probes for more information.

[Devixer]

Horizon Colony

Onora snorts and crosses her arms. "Some of them clump together, form their own little societies. Most of them just keep on preparing for war, making weapons, looking for androids to kill. There isn't much else to them. Programmed by the aliens that invaded Earth a long damned time ago."

[Murkus]

[Tower of Batu]

"...wow," Batu simply says, as he and Div peer through the portal. "It almost looks like you could walk on them."

"Oh. You can't?" Div says, looking back at Batu. They sure looked like it. Why wouldn't you be able to?

[bc56]

Horizon Colony

"Aliens? What sort of aliens?" Although it's never said openly, one of the reasons Ezra's order was founded was to defend against hypothetical alien invasion.

[Devixer]

Horizon Colony

"Big... slug things?" Onora shrugs. "I've only seen them in pictures. They let the machines do their fighting for them."

[Recaiden]

[Tower of Batu]

The portal to the sky is, as you would expect, downstairs, underneath the root cellar. Behind an aluminum-coated door one finds a space far too vast to fit under here. There's a small guard-rail in case the wind tries to sweep you away. On the other side of the door are hills of cloud-stuff - it looks solid enough, just take a step out there - the sun, distant mountains reaching up to the sky. Through the gaps one can see lower layers of cloud and the sort of things one finds there, if they lean over and look down they might see the meadow and the tiny bright spot of the tower, or the cities like scattered seashells. Bird's don't usually come this high, but perhaps they can catch a glimpse of something worse else, a sky whale or aeroplane.

The wind is quite strong. Be careful.

"...wow," Batu simply says, as he and Div peer through the portal. "It almost looks like you could walk on them."

"Oh. You can't?" Div says, looking back at Batu. They sure looked like it. Why wouldn't you be able to?

Some people can walk on any clouds. Some clouds can be walked on by anyone. But it would be very brave to step on a cloud without knowing which sort it was.
Still, it's tempting. The wind is practically calling their names, asking them to step out into the sky.

Ruined Village

"That sounds good. Do it." Steve runs after Arden. He doesn't want the healer to get himself killed. While he dashes to catch up, a single gunshot rings out from the village. Arden may see the muzzle flash, if he's looking in the right direction. Regardless, the bullet sails through the air behind Arden's head. If he hadn't been moving, the sniper would've probably hit him.

Snipers firing on a peaceful healer as he walks up to negotiate? No, this isn't going to end by talking it out.

Sophia and her hounds split off and sprint towards the source of the gunshot, unworried. Probably, she thinks, none of the bandits can see through her invisibility. And if they can, it's just bullets.