Survey Mission 6B Location: Elkmont, TN (United States) Images:: x, x, x General debriefing: In the rural outskirts of Elkmont, among the Smoky Mountains, there is a swath of land occupied by abandoned frontier cabins as well as some more modern abandoned homes. Local lover's lane legend of "The Goat Man" has recently spiked and been accompanied by some isolated substantial reports of suspicious activity after nightfall. This would ordinarily be deprioritized, but the recent decision of the National Park Service to catalog the abandoned cabins and decide which will be destroyed and which preserved necessitates expedited investigations.
Due to the distance between cabins and the wooded terrain, two civilian ATVs will be supplied. Although the area is abandoned, the possibility of the ATVs drawing attention necessitates civilian clothing. Interference is unlikely, but if you are caught by local authorities, have a cover story of being tourists exploring out of bounds due to the local ghost stories. * C class difficulty level (must have a team of three, at least one of them must be an intermediate trainee)
MECHANICS
* MECHANICS: RP assembling a team, as necessary, before heading towards the Lighthouse portal to request a portal to Survey Mission 6B. Once there, roll a 100-sided dice and match the roleplay to the results below, as well as any reactions. Players can continue rolling until any of the players roll a BOSS ENCOUNTER, in which case the BATTLE PHASE begins. See below for battle phase mechanics. 1- 10: The dilapidated one-room cabin you investigate appears to be empty of anything of interest. You turn to go through the single door, and when you step back into the darkness outside--you find yourself in the room you just left, as though you'd just stepped through the door in the other direction. A second attempt to leave is uneventful, and puts you outside as expected. 11 - 20: A cabin is already occupied by a skinny stray dog. It is not vicious but it is cringing and terrified, and if you attempt to catch it it will run outside and disappear into the trees. The windows and doors of the cabin were all closed when you approached. 21 - 40: The cabin here is reduced to a chimney and some foundation stones, but a rickety barn still stands. Should you choose to investigate, see below.
The barn appears, despite the general disrepair, to have been used recently for something. You find the following things in a row: an empty plastic container of the kind used to transport small animals, a small plastic kennel, a large crate of the sort used to house a dog (there is a very worn leather collar hanging on the corner), a pen with a dirt floor covered in the hoofprints of a goat or sheep, a stall full of fresh hay and the droppings of either a cow or a horse, and finally, a stall with an old farmer's jacket hung from the corner and a coil of rope in the center, cut cleanly through. There is, in the back of the barn, an old, crumbling table tilted slightly upwards, scored with a deep groove that is stained a dark reddish-brown.
41 - 50: You pass through a clearing. The distant trees silhouetted against the sky toss gently back and forth. It's quite lovely, really, until you realize that there is no wind. 51 - 60: A cabin with broken-in windows yields a plethora of graffiti. Most of it is unremarkable, but you find a heart with an arrow through it carved onto a crumbling mantlepiece and realize that the names inside of it are yours and your mission partners'. 61 - 70: You see very distinctly, passing through a close cluster of trees, the white shape of what at first appears to be a dog. Drawing up closer, it appears to be a stray goat, walking in a purposeful straight line directly away from you. Should you attempt to follow it, you will find that it always somehow manages to remain approximately twenty feet ahead of you despite never changing its speed, before it enters a copse and disappears entirely. It leaves no footprints. 71 - 80: You find what appears to be the remains of some squatters' party: empty beer bottles, cigarette butts, a cluster of dusty blankets, and some blurry, badly-exposed polaroids of partying twenty-somethings in a loose stack. In the background of about a third of these is the face of a handsome, bearded, but inexplicably strange-looking man that is always perfectly in focus and always staring at the camera. The final photo at the bottom of the stack was taken from the front door of the cabin: it depicts you, examining the photos. 81- 100: BOSS ENCOUNTER: - You load up onto the ATV to set off to the next cabin, but its engine sputters and dies in classic horror movie fashion halfway to the next destination, near a small tree. The tree shifts in a wind that you do not feel, and you realize that it is no tree at all, but a writhing shape something like a tree and something like the thrashing legs of a dozen goats. It immediately attacks. Occasionally you see in your peripheral vision the stock-still shape of a handsome, bearded, but inexplicably odd-looking man dressed in jeans and flannel, his hands in his pockets. As soon as you attempt to focus on him you find that he is no longer there.
- BOSS MECHANICS: This boss has 100 HP. Every time you attack it (following the general battle rules), you TAKE 8 damage. It appears by turns to bite you with heavily-toothed mouths on the ends of branches and to assault you with thrashing hooves. If no team member is defending you, you may feel a blow to your FEAR shield from behind or off to the side--only to find nothing there. Make sure to tally the boss's total HP (the damage you did to it) at the bottom of your post as well as your total HP and the damage you did that round. If the boss's HP hits 0, you have defeated it, and your team can now take the portal back.
* 2 mission reward points for completing this successfully
Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 9:45 pm
The idea of downtime was repellent to Taym in general, and more so now that he had fallen back into the trap of pursuing distractions to the point of collapse, in a sustained effort to avoid thinking. He'd skipped breakfast, and only under Fiona's strenuous, distraught urging succumbed to the tiniest of lunches. It wasn't, he rationalized to himself, that he was backsliding: he dismissed the pang of pleasure that accompanied willful hunger and told himself he simply didn't have any appetite, worn out between drafting proposals and repairing damaged walls and moving and--and everything else.
Work was welcome, in short, and external missions even more so, and not least because they'd framed the assignment in such a way that he felt as though he was being given little wayward charges. This sufficiently stroked his ego to temporarily chase away the mopey rainclouds that had been gathered around his brow for days now, and the figure waiting at the lighthouse portal in understated civilian clothes ("no uniforms" said the brief) was more relaxed-seeming than he normally would have been under the circumstances, idly twirling two sets of keys around a finger.
The Asian girl was eating in the cafeteria when her phone beeped, with the bread holding between her lips, she fiddled it out to check and found she was assigned for another external mission and told her to collect the information sheet at HQ. Shu chewed the bread without hand touching it and thought about a while before she used her hand to grab the round bread and finished it. She didn't have much to do that day, so afterwards, she went to pick up the sheet with the mission details on it then headed back to her room to go through it.
It was somewhere in United States, the land that she never been to before. She was excited but worried at the same time, while reading out the writings on the sheet and swung her legs in a prone position. "Rural outskirts? Abandoned cabins? "The Goat Man"? Hmm...." The girl murmured as she pondered, some pictures of her imagination formed in her mind. "How long do you think we are staying this time, Z?" The Asian continued to lay on her bed even after she finished reading, there were too many questions to ask and be answered in her tiny brain, she spent a few hours just thinking of the mission with occasional meaningless musing sounds.
She had no idea what to bring, so she asked her weapon if she needed to bring this and that from time to time when she packed her bag. Z answered impatiently, annoyed by the girl that chirped like a little bird. After the mission in Sahara, she knew better what she would bring this time: cheap clothes that she won't mind throwing away, some protective garments and some easy-to-carry foods as well as skin care products (important for girls, okay).
At the day for the mission, her teammates, who she was excited to meet and hoped they were acquaintances, would find a petite Asian girl beaming like a little sun at the Lighthouse.
and be blue
Rejam
Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 11:04 pm
Shu showed up over prepared: in contrast, Ever was probably woefully under. She'd packed for several days and he showed up slowly, with just the slightest hint of butterflies in his stomach, expecting something...brief. Hours, maybe, it had sounded from the summary, and so he brought nothing with him but the clothes on his back and a pack of cigarettes. What he wore was battered, yes, and looked ready to be thrown out if necessary, but that was really just how all his clothes looked.
He didn't even have a spare pair of boxers. He didn't even have any bandages, since he hadn't taken a second attempt at the Jenga tower, not yet. At least, now, he looked less scruffy, hair cropped closer to his head, the messy tumble of his bangs chopped down by Stormy's careful hands to something manageable. By no means was Ever clean cut or fashionable, but all told...
He was late, apparently. Or, at least, later than the rest of them. And as he approached the figures at the lighthouse, his footsteps slowed, some of the excitement fading to a tight knot of worry. He recognized one of them, at least, and so he crept in, at last, cautious.
He'd met Shu with a wolfish, yellow grin, all teeth. "How's the tiny terror treat?" he asked, and he eyed her over-stuffed bag and opted not to further burden her with a flashlight until they got there. For himself he had the usual messenger bag, lightly packed: cigarettes, lighter, runics, the scantest emergency supplies. The usual, in short.
And then Ever arrived, and Taym tried not to deflate like a balloon, which he desperately wanted to do, conscious of the fact that with the new coat (to say nothing of the new division) came a certain expectation for decorum. Or, well, that actually wasn't true at all--if anything it was probably the opposite--but Taym was trying to develop a "lead by example" attitude, being the change he wanted to see in the world, those sorts of motivational poster cliches. Nonetheless, old habits die extraordinarily hard.
"Really," Taym deadpanned, reaching into the bag and handing over a Maglite. And then the keys, which he did not even bother offering Shu. "I don't know if you two've met: Shu, this is Ever. Ever, Shu. I hope you know how to drive an ATV," he said, with a kind of vicious cheerfulness that said loud and clear how likely to be fulfilled that hope was.
meegane
and be blue
Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 12:21 am
"Oh Mr. Thompson! You are my partner for the mission?" At least one familiar face. "Ah! He's good, just grumpy like always, but fine." She smiled when she though of the little treat that Mimsy gave her, she had been a bit busy with all the spars, missions and training courses that she feel a bit guilty. She was rushed to get stronger.
The petite trainee gave another hunter a smile and waved, "Nice to meet you face-to-face, Mr.-Ever." She saw him on twitter, but suddenly forgot his surname, hope he didn't mind at all. Taym probably made the wisest decision of not giving the girl the key. If she was asked, she will try her very best to control the vehicle but, alas, they probably would feel like playing Bumper cars in amusement park. That is, she either turn the car around or crash into stuff often with apologies.
Looking at the two back and forth, the girl gingerly asked with hope. "Is there still someone coming?" She didn't mind the two, just to say she didn't mind anyone, however, being the only girl made she felt awkward.
Ever was still blinking when Taym tossed him the keys -- which meant he fumbled them, juggling the flashlight and not quite dropping them. He looked to the ATV, and then to Shu instead, and she, at least, got a flash of a smile. Maybe he turned wary eyes on Taym, but other than that, he seemed friendly enough.
"I don't know. Do you, uh, drive?" He held up the keys in one hand as he asked it, skeptical, not quite offering them to her. There was no real hope in the question, either: he was already prepared for the potential no, since to him, the girl looked about thirteen...
rejam
meegane
Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 6:16 am
"It's a four wheeler," Taym said, faintly exasperated as they stepped through the portal into the faintly-humid, breeze-cooled night air that smelled of fir and leaf litter and honeysuckle and distant wood smoke. It smelled like home; the first lungful made him think, briefly, of an imagined future in which he'd tried to escape from the decisions he'd made, tried to outrun Deus. "It's like driving a ******** lawn mower with bicycle brakes. You can handle it." This to Ever, not to Shu. He was about thirty obvious milliseconds from telling Ever to be a man. "And if you flip it, you'll get a great lesson in what your FEAR shield can do for you in even mundane accidents. But if you need a rundown, we can probably spare ten minutes for the sake of you not reporting to the infirmary before we get anything useful accomplished, assuming," he added drily, "there's anything useful to accomplish."
He absently twirled the keys around his finger again before palming them neatly, with satisfaction, and reaching into the bag to hand another flashlight over to Shu.
"And before we go: the usual ground rules. Stay in contact, stay close, and port out if things get hairy enough to break your shield. Be observant," he added, especially to Shu: that was her job, after all, in Death. "Notice as much as you can that might even remotely be important. Who you wanna ride with, sweetheart? I would advise the person who has actually driven one of these things before," he added, indicating himself and shooting Ever a dirty look, as if he personally blamed him for the fact that Taym was about to have to spend long periods of time in sustained human contact.
meegane
and be blue
If you wanna assume Taym spends ten minutes teaching him how to drive the ATV by the time it gets to you feel free to fill it in/time skip :O You can go ahead and roll then too or let Meegs go on her next turn biggrin
The place behind the portal was pleasant, the air she breathed in was fresh and with the scent of forest. It smelt like the country park that her family had BBQ before, but it was much richer. Shu greedily breathed in more than she needed just wanted to feel the tinges of forest more. It should be a good start, right? The petite girl walked between Taym and Ever, looking at here and there with excitement and curiosity. For Ever's question, the girl wanted to shake her head and said she would try, but then Taym started to encourage(?) Ever that made her opened mouth close.
When Taym talked, she raised her head to look at him and then Ever, and then Taym again when he continued to talk. She placed full attention to avoid missing any important information, but it was more like a kid listening to the mingling of two mothers fathers.
Ever didn't know if there was someone else, but they already stepped through the portal to the said location, so it was clear that this mission consisted only three people, she and other two men. The girl was a bit deflated by the cruel fact of no female companion, but she received the flashlight with a smile and thank you.
In the mind of the Asian, Mr. Thompson was the leading role of that mission so she made a sincere face when she listened his briefing. A nod to this point, another nod followed that nod and even a succession of nods for the last point. She was observant in nature, but she would try harder to be more observant as a Death hunter trainee. It was a motion of understanding as well as a promise.
As for the question, Shu gave Ever a look of sorry before turning to Taym. "C-Can I ride with you, Mr. Thompson?" Not only because the hunter had experience, but also she knew him better.
Rejam
She picked Taym
and be blue
but felt a bit sorry to Ever
Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 11:36 am
More study in contrasts: Shu's alert expression, the way she nodded and took in each fact, versus Ever, whose face seemed to glaze over after Taym's first sentence. Hopefully that didn't mean he wasn't paying attention, because a failure to listen could lead to trouble for all of them, right now.
He blinked down at the keys, and then the ATV, and slid over it to look the thing over. Never driven a car, but he'd mowed lawns in his day; it was just the right kind of analogy. And so he'd shake his head, looking across to the pair of them and gesturing for Shu to hop on with Taym.
"I don't know what the ******** I'm doing, but I can figure it out." He didn't need any kind of lessons, not from Taym, who'd make it into a study in condescension. "But...you ride with him. Just in case."
meegane
Maybe you should go before Rejam, hop on Taym's ride & also roll for us all? biggrin
1- 10: The dilapidated one-room cabin you investigate appears to be empty of anything of interest. You turn to go through the single door, and when you step back into the darkness outside--you find yourself in the room you just left, as though you'd just stepped through the door in the other direction. A second attempt to leave is uneventful, and puts you outside as expected.
With his reluctant approval (she didn't forget he rejects body contact), she got onto one of the ATVs, of course he legs have difficulties to reach the ground. Shu was thinking maybe a higher platform next time.
They arrived at a cabin, abandoned and creepy, the girl never see something like that in her homeland, but surely in horror or thriller type movies, like a merciless murderer carrying a big electric saw and usually his victims would run and hide in a small structure like that.
"Should we go in and check?" The inexperienced Asian asked.
Rejam
Not sure about how Taym and Shu positioned
and be blue
We roll individually or they move together?
Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 11:23 pm
Taym was taking advantage of the lack of supervision, and lighting a cigarette as they arrived at the door, giving Ever (whose somewhat unsteady acceleration and braking skills had gone unnoticed but mercifully uncommented-upon) a glance as he pulled up alongside.
"That's the plan, sweetheart," he said, hopping down and offering her a hand, thoughtlessly, to help her down as well (so short! SO SHORT). "I'll help you with this one."
"We'll go look around," he told Ever. "Don't stray out of radio range but if you wanna scout ahead and see if you can find anything for all of us to look at, feel free."
He led Shu into the cabin, not seeming afraid at all: smoking as casually as if they were taking a walk around a crowded city block, and helping her over a bit of fallen debris in the doorway. He idly aimed the flashlight beam into all four corners of the tiny cabin, and this yielded nothing more interesting than a june bug drawn through the open door to the light.
"All clear," he observed, and he turned to herd her back outside. They stepped over the threshold--
--and found themselves coming through the door once more, in the same room they'd just left, the june bug stirred back up from where it had lighted on the floor. Taym, who hated to be touched and who hated touching people, grabbed Shu's arm, suddenly protective. Stubbornly, he stepped through the door again--
--and they found themselves outside, next to the still-running ATV.
"That," he told her, more calmly than he felt, "is exactly the sort of thing we're supposed to be looking for. You OK?" This last was partly to Shu, and partly over the headset to Ever, who, Taym felt, could probably do with being checked in on right about now--only partly to make sure that they were both currently inhabiting the same reality.
Meegane
We can either all reply if you want more RP, or if you want the thread to move faster you can go ahead and say that she went in and looked and the prompt is what happened to her, while Ever and Taym did other stuff outside! :O UP TO YOU. For now I'll just reply normally biggrin
I ALSO FORGOT THEY NORMALLY HAVE HEADSETS/WALKIE TALKIES FOR THIS so let's just assume they do >_> my bad lol
Also if you wanna reply out of order since I messed this up feel free to shove another one in there wherever you like.
41 - 50: You pass through a clearing. The distant trees silhouetted against the sky toss gently back and forth. It's quite lovely, really, until you realize that there is no wind.
Driving the vehicle took some getting used to, that was for sure, and something about it set Ever's teeth on edge: the nervous fumbling and breathlessness of someone who felt that he was going entirely too fast all things considered. Maybe this was part of why he didn't drive. This combined with his lack of license, with the comparative ease of public transit --
When Taym and Shu pulled up to the cabin, he nodded slightly and puttered on ahead, just a bit pale. In part, he just wanted to avoid stopping and starting again, to amble along slowly at his own pace without feeling like he had to keep up.
He was starting to relax, and that was partly due to the quiet of a long clearing. In the distance, he could see the trees moving, and he halfway closed his eyes, slowing further to enjoy the wind.
...there was no wind.
"...this place is creepy," he offered into the walkie talky, but on the other end they'd probably just get static. He hadn't pushed the button to talk.
11 - 20: A cabin is already occupied by a skinny stray dog. It is not vicious but it is cringing and terrified, and if you attempt to catch it it will run outside and disappear into the trees. The windows and doors of the cabin were all closed when you approached.
Ever waited outside as Taym and she got into the dark cabin, it was the night time and the cabin provided an exciting element. As Taym lit the small area, she seriously scanned through it for any suspicious things. Shu nodded with hum at the hunter's "all clear" opinion as a consent, when the two stepped out the door, with the petite girl at the front, they fond themselves in the room again. Hmmmmm? Something not right and before she inquired the hunter, her arm was grabbed and it tensed her up that she clung on his sleeve almost immediately. She just waited until he did something, because she trusted his instinct as a full hunter.
As they stepped through the door, she breathed out in relief because they saw the ATVs waiting for them. Shu nodded absent-minded, thinking of what just happened. Was that an illusion? Did they step into another dimension? Or - it was just a distortion that - The girl pondered, putting one hand on her chin, touching in an inattentive way. The multi-dimension knowledge she acquired from anime was strengthened through her experience as a hunter, she was a bit worried about the reality - How could she know she was still in the same reality from several minutes ago? Shu looked at Taym and then Ever - were them the people she had the mission with? A voice in her mind told her to observe.
They didn't hear what Ever said to them, but when she came out, she told him what they just experienced and told him to be careful with a little worried tone. They got into the vehicle for the next cabin. The torch lit the area and there was only a poor shivering dog which seemed to be starved for a long time. "Easy, easy, we won't harm you." She wanted to tell it to calm down but the gesture scared the poor thing, it dashed through the door and disappeared when she followed its back.
"Do I look that scary?" The girl a little deflated asked, putting the torch under her chin for an upcast lighting to imitate what the dog may see in the cabin. "I think nothing's suspicious, agree?"
Survey Mission 6B
