Archeotech – Treasure Hunt (IC thread)

[Trokair]

The official hands over a data slate with a map of the road ahead, markers of where he thinks the flood is based on reports for civilians as well as a description of what sort of data he needs you to gather. The flood is about 112 miles / 180km eastwards, and is suspected to cover almost a mile of road centered around a stream that normally runs parallel to the road for a bit before joining up with a larger river.   

 

Orthal will stay in town and keep an eye on the Goliath, and try to further to finding of a boat to take you around the flooded road. As such between the space in the Achillies and the bike all of you can go if you want.

[Petragor]

“Guess I’ll be joining, don’t much fancy sittin’ around here waiting anyway.”

[Beren]

Kara nods.

 

"We'd better take the Achilles then."

[Trokair]

As you take the Achilles out of town you find the eastward roads clear and empty, unlike their western counterparts you passed through at a crawl earlier in the day. Once on the road you can really speed up, pushing the Achilles to its top speed and eat the distance at a rapid pace.

 

I don’t know how fast Achillies are supposed to be in lore, but I expect them to be pretty fast on flat open roads, so have fun describing that if you want. For the moment I assume Kara and Mila are in the Achillies, with 9825 on the backplate, securely strapped in.

[Steel Company]

++++start interal thought process++++

+Why do these squishy sacks of meat and blood want me for this?+

++Must serve humans to avoid suspission++

+++I need to find that missing part of my star drive+++

++++Half machine men lost it++++

+++++Now I need to find it, but meat sacks have to have a diversion+++++

++++end internal thought process++++

 

9825 sat, strapped in and watched as the mortals took it east, away from one of the possible locations for parts of their true self.

[Beren]

Kara drives at a steady pace, sweeping the road with her eyes as the Achilles rolls onwards.

 

"So, how long were you in the guard?"

[Petragor]

“Hmmm, about seven years maybe? I didn’t really keep track, especially while I was injured. I managed to hury my leg real bad during deployment you see, I had to help around Camp until I recovered. But aside from the pain in my leg, it wasn’t that bad. I learned how to cook in the mess tent, and avoided fighting until the rest of the regiment was nice and experienced enough to watch my back. Well, except for the Grot raid, but that’s another story.”

[Trokair]

As you reach the approximate distance for where the flooding is you slow down, over the last ten minutes or so the countryside had become hilly and the road curved a lot to accommodate the terrain.

 

As you come round another corner you see the devastation before you, the terrain flattens out across the valley. A vally that has become a raging river and you can only see the road go into water and in the distance on the other side where it reemerges.

 

From where you stand you can neither tell where the original river course was or the bridge. Due to high levels of derby and much in the water it is impossible to tell if the bridge and road has indeed been washed away, or just covered by water.

 

Of to one side, several hundred meters downstream your attention is drawn to the wreck of a vehicle washed against some trees whose crowns barley breach the surface. What drew your attention however is not the wreck, but the two figures in the trees, waving for your attention.

 

What do you want to do?

 

---

 

Meanwhile back in town as the afternoon sets in the harbor becomes busy was a number of ships return with the tide. At first anybody remaining in town would be helpful that one of these would be suitable, but as they dock and unload their cargo of freshly caught sea life it is clear that none of them would do, too small or just not enough space to carry a vehicle.

 

However from some civilians also waiting near the dock you hear that there is a transport barge expected from a group of island about two days south of here. It normally pedals between the mainland and several island groups so that these remoter locations can bring in supplies and export their goods.

Edited July 17, 2021 by Trokair

[Beren]

Kara glances at the stranded figures, and sighs.

 

"A chimera would be damn useful about now."

 

Carefully, she begins to ease the Achilles as close as is possible without putting it at risk.

[Trokair]

As you carefully edge the Achillies along the edge of the water the going is tough in the mud but you do make your way closer. However there is only so much progress you can make before the floodwater get into your way.

 

You can see that you can get much closer to the wreck from the next hill over, but to get ther you will have to ford through the floodwater, or maybe go back a bit inland and see if you can find another approach.

 

If you chose to ford please roll 2 successive strength tests and an imitative test to represent the difficulty in maneuvering across, wrestling with the controls and the quickness of body and mind to react to the situation. If you choose to seek another path please roll 2 d6 and let me know the results.   

[Beren]

Kara glares out across the water. 

 

"I'm not risking the vehicle in that, not if there's a chance of there being another way through."

 

1d6-1

1d6-2

[Trokair]

You consult the maps you have and what you can see from the Achilles. There are no roads or paths, but form reading the latitude lines both the hill you are one and the on nearest the wreck should meet up further inland as they merge into a larger hill. You can just abut see the crest of where it would be, but between the relative angle of your current location and the vegetation you cannot actually see the potential way ahead.

 

While you are too far to communicate clearly with the stranded civilians you are close enough to gesture and indicate your plan. They are not thrilled as far as you can make out, but resigned to their position.

 

As you edge the vehicle up slope and clear the summit you can see that while on paper there may have been a way in practice there wasn’t without some serious equipment. However all was not lost, as from up here you can see that a bunch of young trees had been uprooted by the flood and washed into the side area between this hill and the next.

 

With the ropes and chains you have in the Achilles might be able to tie enough together to form a chain/raft with which to reach the wreck, and then once the civilians have transferred use the Achilles pull it back.

 

Please roll 2 further d6, one to determine if you have enough rope/chain for this plan, and the second whether you can construct the raft/chain of trees.

[Beren]

"Alright then."

 

Kara turns to Mila.

 

"We might have to improvise this."

 

+"9825, we're going to need you here"+

 

Rope/chain quantity-6

Raft/chain building-4

[Steel Company]

+Afirmitive.+

+Instructions required.+

 

9825 starts to move towards the directed spot.

[Trokair]

All passed, feel free to narratively describe the moving of the logs/building of the raft and so on. I’ll do an update late tomorrow/early Thursday  Saturday with the result of the rescue and the next bit thereafter.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Trokair

[Petragor]

“Improvisation is my specialty Ma’am.”

 

Mila immediately gets to work with moving trees into position, using her ice pick to cut off branches before getting the ropes tied around.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Petragor

[Trokair]

The work is hard going, 9825’ strength proved a real asset in maneuvering the logs onto shore so that you all can work on delimbing them. Once they are all ready you use Achillies to drag the logs along the water’s edge back towards the wreck.

 

Lashing a raft bridge together was simple at first, three or four logs at a time, however as it grew the parts further from shore started to be pulled by the current. A portion of the raft threatened to pull off by the current, but a risky climb along the length of the raft by Mila and Kara to lash additional rope between segments saved it.

 

This did result in your next problem, 9825, who had been standing torso deep in the water and via a chain acted as a anchor point for the raft, so that it could not drift sideways, found that it was slowly sinking into the soggy ground.

 

The eventual solution was to use some grenades from the Achilles stores to blow up some nearby boulders and use the resulting stone to shore up the ground where 9825 had to stand while controlling the raft, the stones might sink into the sodden ground, but it bought you time to lash the final two segments to the raft and extend it far enough to the wreck for the survivors to grab it and tie it to the wreck.

 

As you watch from the shore first one then the other civilian clambered onto the raft and slowly made their way towards you. As they get closer you can see that the man is avoiding his left arm, while the second figure is limping. Once on safe ground the injuries are obvious, swelling and blood seepage shows that the man’s arm is at minimum severely cut, and possibly broken. The second figure, a woman, is sitting awkwardly on the last log, her leg clear injured as well. You also discover a third survivor, a infant is asleep in a carrying harness on her back.

 

They give their thanks and the man explains that when the initial surge of flooding had blocked the bridge and most had turned back, they and several others had remained, parked on the road some distance from the bridge, hoping that the water would recede soon. Instead a second surge of flood water made its way down the valley in the night, and caught them all by surprise. They did not know where the others had been swept two as it was several hours before it was light enough to see their predicament.

 

You radio the situation back to the rest of the team, and Orthal goes and passages the message on to the local authorities. A doctor in another fast transport is said to be on its way. While you wait you do some of the surveying of the area as original requested, taking pictures of the flooding extend.

 

About an hour and a half after you had radioed in you hear the noise of engines, but as it gets closer it becomes clear that it is more than one vehicle approaching. Through the binoculars you scan the road and see a group of bikes and a civilian transport; weapons are visible on a few of the riders.

 

 

What do you do?

You can stay by the Achilles, which is still parked near the raft bridge and out of line of sight from the road, or you can wait by the roadside, or any other action you can think of (discuss in OCC if you want).

Edited July 31, 2021 by Trokair