Feb 11 23:20:12 108 PA - Investigating a Possible Threat

From Chronicles

Contents 1 Description 2 Entire Team Together 3 Vixen and Gabriel 4 Sage and Leonard

Description

Please note that due to the nature of this scene, it is broken into three parts. Full team, Vixen and Gabriel, Sage and Leonard. The Vixen and Gabriel / Sage and Leonard actions take place concurrently.

Entire Team Together

LANDING STRIP

Not too far from Vixen's place sits a common Big Boss ATV, the vehicle loaded and ready for passengers. Beside it, a small woman in scarred Gladiator armor stands, leaning against the side of it. It is Vixen, but she's changed her hair. Simple, black shoulder length hair. A subtle, but obvious change. She's got her helmet settled on the ATV beside her and she's lightly drawing on a hand-rolled cig. She ignores the light fall of flakes, her mind lingering off to the side a bit on some quiet topic.

The older man named Gabriel comes walking in from the west, off of the main road leading out of Kingsdale. He's wearing his Crusader, but splotched up in yet another color scheme. Unlike normal, he's very poorly armed. Basically only an L-20 for any real protection. His own helmet is off, latched at his side, and he's wearing a backpack. Something has been done to his face. A well-applied mask of makeup and putty, and his graying hair dyed to a light green tinge, making him appear much younger, perhaps all the way back into his twenties. The normal identifying marks on his breastplate have been removed, and a small backpack rides across his shoulders. As he approaches Vixen and her battered ATV, a hand is raised. "Morning! Good that the snow's light today, isn't it? When're we hittin' the road?"

Given that's its winter, Sage hasn't gone all out on making herself look like a well-traveled wilderness purpose. The net effect is just to look a little less tidy than she would normally choose to look. It takes a short moment to recognize the ATV and make her way over towards it. Judging by her backpack, she carries traveler necessities. She doesn't carry any cumbersome rifle, though. It seems she's opted for her laser pistol instead which is securely holstered. "Hey..." She calls over as she approaches.

Leonard isn't quite as early this time as last, or was pulled away. He walks to the ATV and Vixen, unable to hide a smirk. "Did I mention that's a nice look for you?" It might be only the third or fourth time he's commented on her hair. She's not the only one who's done up for the party, and he has to glance over Gabriel twice. "I see you did your hair, too." Other than the clunkiness he gains from his own armor, he's not gone out of his way to look different. "Hey." Sage gets a wave after she calls out.

Vixen glances at Leo and smirks faintly at him. "Used to go down to my lower back," she notes. But any distraction that mention might cause for her is erased as others show. She eyes Gabriel for a moment before shaking her head slightly. "Too much effort, I think," she comments with a causal grin. She then nods to Sage and lifts a hand in casual wave. "We'll wait a bit longer. I have a map with the way. We're going to take the easy road as far as we can before we have to start looking out for patrols. I don't think we need to get into any trouble before we get to where we're trying to make trouble," she murmurs lightly to the three of them.

"Figured it couldn't hurt," Gabriel says, probably referring to his little bit of stage-makeup. "Not like it's going to fall off or un-dye itself." Then, "How're you doing, Leonard? Miss Sage," as the woman is politely recognized. The man seems to look over the Big Boss for a moment. "I just rode in one of those things. Not fun. You pay one of the 'Dregs gangs to go at it with sledgehammers or something, Ms. Vixen?" It's asked with a wry grin.

For the time being, Sage seems content to carry her helmet and her smile can be noticed when Leonard notices her as she turns the wave. She slows to a stop once she's closer and glances between the two. "Doing alright so far. You?" She asks, before looking back to Vixen. "Ah good, we will have a map... was having trouble finding a good one myself."

"We're trying to /not/ make trouble," Leonard corrects Vixen. "This time around, at least. We can save more excitement for later." He offers a half-smile to Gabriel before sharing it with the ladies. "I'm doing well, as we all are, and I expect we'll still be doing well when we arrive back here."

"It's not that bad," Vixen says to Gabriel. The armor she has on is what's damaged. The ATV is actually in good repair. "It'll get us where we're going and without much in the way of attention. Pretty common, nothing special." She pats the side of it before taking another toke of her smoke. She breathes it out casually, then glances at Leo. "We'll be fine. Deadboys shouldn't hassle two humans just walking around. They'll want to be on good behavior. Not make scenes and look like bullies. A bit like how they were working Laramy. As long as we don't get seen doing anything too wild, shouldn't be any trouble. I can get shots without anyone being the wiser." She lifts her hand to lightly tap the side of her head. "I'll have my cyber linked into my portable. Dump audio and video direct to it. Speaking of which.." She leans over to dig into her bag and pull out a hand camera, offering it to Gabriel. "I'll be getting this back once we return. Don't drop it. Its tough, but I don't like to test it, you know?"

Gabriel accepts the camera, holding it up like every stupid tourist does who's been asked to take a picture of another stupid tourist. Lens toward the sky, gripped one hand on either side. "Press this button?" After a while, he decides to just put it into his pack. Then, "Yeah, I keep hearing that the metal-in-your-head is a good idea. Erica's really pushing me to get a gyro-compass." It may be noted that he did not affix the honorific, 'Miss' to her name. To all, he says, "I looked at a map of the area at the Library. About eighty miles straight-line distance. Don't know how fast that thing goes -" points to the ATV "- don't know how good the road is. But maybe we should get going before any chance of getting caught in darkness?" The older man doesn't seem to be insisting at all, just suggesting a possible course.

Leonard nods to Vixen. "I know we will, but it seemed wise to remind everyone, just in case." He may be hanging back at the rear end of things for good reason, but that doesn't mean he has to be thrilled about it. "If you do decide to get something implanted into your skull, just be sure to pay in full. Repossession is a headache." After that little attempt at levity, Leonard looks to the ATV and how best to squeeze everyone in for the ride. "Are we ready to go?"

"No one's putting metal in my head..." Sage mutters to the topic, "Take a hand-held thing any day." She comments, but doesn't look at Vixen while saying this since she already has an idea of what the woman has stashed away inside. "But, I'm kind of hoping that we don't have to worry about trouble either... figure I could be wandering in the area looking for a friend's cottage. We medicine women need to stick together and all that business." She comments before shrugging faintly.

"It'll take us a few hours to get down there," Vixen notes. And she notes to Gabriel, adding, "I'll show you how to use it when we're walking. Pretty simple little video camera. Once it's set up, you can do it with just one button press. I've set it to automatic, so it should get decent picture under most conditions." She picks out her PDD recorder and offers it over to Sage. "Here's my recorder. And some cordless mics." She taps a little cloth bag set on top. "Wireless, if you want to get something clear. You can leave them places discreetly, to act like bugs."

Gabriel shakes his head at Vixen's last comment. "No, no. Don't drop anything. No mics, no bugs. Unless it's a quarter the size of the proverbial fly-on-the-wall, too large a chance of it being noticed, and those are not that small. Even if no one actually sees you drop it, they could notice it later, get suspicious, and shut the place down. I know, I'm sure it's a long shot, but in this case, I'd rather not bet on the hard seven. Get what you can with your eyes and ears, and anything that moves with you. Don't leave anything behind. In, out, you were never there." It's obvious that this miniaturized tech is new to the man, but the essence of infiltration still stands.

Sage nods to Vixen as she takes the PDD recorder from the other woman with a small smile and a murmured thanks. "How good are the mics? Guess they need to be pretty close if I use any of them?" She asks softly, "Might be a little hard to get them into a good spot, though." She comments, before looking over to Gabriel with a shrug. "Not sure there's doing to be much to eavesdrop on outskirts unless there really is something unexpected out there anyway."

"To get perfect sound, they'd have to be close. But beggars can't be choosers," Vixen replies to Sage. "That's just sort of a last ditch thing. Maybe if you have to nip out of a room and want to hear of someone is talking in there before you return. But in general, it'll make for good sound if you want to use them when you're talking to people." She then grins at Gabriel. "I'm not planning to drop any trackers. This isn't the sort of operation that would require them."

Nod nod. "Fine by me. With my still somewhat limited-knowledge of things, I admit that I'm probably along in more of an advisory role than anything else." Gabriel moves his eyes from Vixen to Sage. "So you'll be hopping out a distance. Five miles, ten miles? I just like to know where my people are going to be." Interesting perhaps that the man is apparently including everyone as "his people."

"Alright, I guess I'll just have to be selective with my placement if I'm going to use them." Sage comments before looking over the device to see if it seems relatively straight-forward. "Any special buttons that need to be hit or a certain sequence?" She asks, "Otherwise, the idea is pretty straight-forward."

Vixen steps towards Sage, her cig lifted to her lips as she points out some things with one hand. "You just hit this one to record. Eject. forward, back.. it'll show the time. The disc in there has about six hours. There's an extra in the bag. I don't suppose you'll need more than that. If you can get twelve hours of prime sounds, that should be plenty enough to convince anyone." She grins casually and steps back, looking to Gabriel. "I think where Sage will be is going to be something she'll have to decide." She takes one more hit and flicks down the remains into the snow. "I think we should get going." She looks to Leo. "You stick with Sage after Gabe and me get dropped off, ok?"

"We'll stop well short of the town," Leonard notes to Gabriel and Vixen, "so you two can hop out and walk in. Keep the ATV out of trouble, since no one wants to walk back home." He nods again with Vixen's order. "I will, and perhaps we can learn something of the outskirts. Assuming that there's anything of interest out there. If not, we'll be anxiously waiting for you both to finish." A glance and lifted brow to Sage. "Or anxiously bored?"

The older man finally puts on his helmet, offering a simple, "Good luck everyone. Believe in the mission, and it will believe in you," immediately before the helmet's seal hisses shut. Normally Garbiel would probably ride along top, but, perhaps considering that the little team isn't moving out as a combat squad, he hops and seats himself inside the cab. "Sage, Leo, let's get out of here before the weather decides to turn."

Sage considers the instructions with a faint nod as she gets associates the buttons with their functions with the aid of the little icons it has. "Okay, good to know." She replies softly before she begins to tuck the equipment away for the trip before looking up. "Probably see if I can find some paths outside the place... might have to see which direction looks more promising when we get there." She comments before shrugging faintly. Then she glances towards Leonard with a raised brow, "Bored? With you around to tease? Never." She comments with a little mischief.

Vixen lifts her helmet to slide it on. Faceless by it. She slips into the driver's side of the vehicle and settles herself in. Checking the machine over carefully for a few moments before she starts it up. The healthy rumble of a gas engine will come to life. Tank full and ready to go. "All in. Let's get this thing started. Radio frequency.. 123.76. I have a short range on me with my walkie. So we should be able to get into contact with you when we're done."

NORTH AMERICA - WHYKIN TRAIL NO MAN'S CROSS ROAD

The Big Boss rumbles out of town, first heading north along the Highway, then turning east onto the so-called "Whykin Trail." As the winter weather is cooperating this Saturday, it seems that the merchants have taken this opportunity to move their wares and goods. The first thirty miles or so are uneventful. The road is well kept closer to Kingsdale, the traffic is thicker. Smaller branching roads move off north and south, some of them heading completely north into northern Missouri, some of them diving south in to the zone controlled by the Federation of Magic. Many of the roads are simply detours around increasingly spotty patches of good and bad terrain, eventually looping back to re-join the Trail. The overall effect is that traffic becomes greatly thinned, and the Kingsdale Wilderness Security Patrols become completely absent, as neither Kingsdale nor Whykin want to get close enough to each other to start a fight. Yet. Essentially, it's a fantastic place for mischief. Vehicles and people on foot move poorly, the trees are thick, and no one is watching.

The Big Boss will rumble along steadily. Vixen is getting better at playing between speed and a ride that is comfortable rather than bone jarring when the roads get poor. For the initial part of the trip, she'll stick to the clear road, well used. Better yet if she can trail along with a caravan or near a patrol. Something more interesting for watchers than a single, dusty ATV rolling along. Though once things start to get a bit quiet and lonely, Vixen will turn off the road. With Sage's help, she'll break off from the main trail and start to move through rougher terrain at a slower speed to cut towards Whykin's west side.

Gabriel can't help but notice the obvious place for an ambush, if such people had ideas along those lines. "I've never been over this area. It as bad as it looks?" He tightens his grip on that trusty L-20 of his and peers closely out the window. "I don't know whether to tell you to floor it or take it slow. Road's gone to shit. But, none of the others looked any better." He turns to Leonard and Sage. "Don't suppose you two have some kind of super power to run out and check the road a head for a few hundred yards?"

With her role as navigator, Sage simply keeps an eye on the area as they move along and checks against the map that they have. She gives easy to follow instructions to make it easier on the driving. "Back seat driver." She comments to Gabriel with a teasing tone, before taking a moment to consider the question. "I may be sensitive to impressions, but I'm not omnipotent." She comments, "What may be true one moment could be changed the next."

"I could," Leonard offers as they slow to a more cautious pace, "or, rather, Edgar could." Now that they've slowed, black wings should be able to catch and keep up. Leonard wouldn't mind his fine, feathered associate accompanying Vixen and Gabriel, but that would be almost as counter-productive as he going, himself. "You'll have to give us a few minutes, but, yes, there's not much anything pleasant out here."

"It's going to be slow going for a bit, so yeah. Have Edgar check ahead," Vixen agrees with Leo. "Last thing I want to do is run into an ambush. Better to blow through it and run down the fucks in the process. We'll take it slow for now. This ATV will make it through fine. I'd rather save on testing the shocks until necessary, though."

Gabriel has nothing to add save for, "Edward's the bird, right? Strange." Apparently he misspoke the avian's name.

"Oh, and Leo... when we get to the point where we have to pick a direction for our own trekking... can you have Edgar do a fly over. Might get us an idea of what's around so we don't end up on a nature tour instead of being able to find something." Sage comments.

Leonard chuckles and nods. "Between the map, and a bird's eye view, so to speak, we shouldn't get lost." He looks ahead, but his attention goes elsewhere as the raven overtakes the vehicle overhead. "There isn't anything of any note for at least a mile, if not more." It isn't high-altitude surveillance, and Leonard doesn't want Edgar out too far.

From the trees suddenly come three separate pulses of laser light. Two from the north side, one from the south. Whoever is firing is well concealed, but their shots have given away their positions well enough to charge or shoot blind. Still, the little group was caught with their pants down, unfortunately. All of the pulses pound what was otherwise a shiny Big Boss, leaving holes and scars that manage to not streak any of its occupants.

Whatever happened to not looking for trouble? Or, better yet, not finding any? "What the hells?!" Leonard hadn't even bothered with donning his helmet, yet. It is stifling, environmental systems or not. Now, that becomes a priority, and what occupies him. "Anyone see anyone out there to run over?" Vixen might get her wish, after all.

It's about the same time that they're being fired upon that Sage gives a call of warning. It's too late to save the vehicle from taking a battering. "They're dug in... there... there... and there..." She points out the positions, "Square-ish shapes on the road." Like Vixen, she's settled the helmet on, figuring they might need to spill out of the vehicle like a small group of angry ants should they run into trouble.

"Goddamn.." Vixen doesn't quite feel the pounding. Lasers don't have much force, but she can see it in her peripheral. "Hold on," she growls, leaning on the accelerator. If they're dug in, they'll have to eat dust. And whatever else the ATV's big tires kick up. She'll be keeping an eye out for some cover. A screen of trees won't stop lasers, but foiling line of sight might foul their aim. She's not stopping after that barrage. Otherwise, they'll be walking.

It's true, lasers don't make much noise, and they're barely visible, but Gabriel's seen enough combat to notice them, and the man's probably beating himself up for not noticing the obvious trap. For now, he just hangs on and ducks as the driver tries to go for a land-speed record.

Vixen's mass on the accelerator does exactly as it's supposed to. The Big Boss grinds forward slowly at first, its tires spinning in the muck, but when those knobby pieces of rubber finally find purchase, it lurches forward, putting distance between itself and the shooters, whoever, or whatever they were. Somehow, Vixen manages to maintain control in a situation where others would have been frightened and even if not, rolling all over the place due to the slick surface. However, there's also a loud explosion as the left-front tire passes over one of the squarish things that Sage had pointed out were in front of them. Going forward put more distance between herself and the shooters, but it was also a string of mines, apparently. The tire remains intact, but the axle is cracked, leading the Big Boss to have a severe pull to the left. Nevertheless, whoever the ambushers were, they were apparently only looking for easy prey. The little crew from Kingsdale is not followed.

"What the hell was that?" Gabriel exclaims as the Big Boss lurches over the mine. Of course, it's a rhetorical question. Obviously it was a mine, or at least some kind of similar explosive. "This fucking thing still running? GO!" Perhaps unnecessary advice, but it's still said.

Leonard got his helmet on /before/ the vehicle started jarring about, this time. That leaves him to fully concentrating on holding on for dear life. "Holy-" The explosion blots out his choice of explicative for the moment. "She's going, she's going!" Leonard may have to go light on Vixen and her reckless driving after this.

Vixen can feel the mine go off and the damage to the axle as she wrestles the wheel. "Shit.. this is going to be expensive," she grunts to herself. "Just hold on," she adds to those making noise. IT can't be seen with her helmet on, but she's focused on keeping control of the ATV. And she does well. Having the muscle to back up her skill doesn't hurt, the young woman keeping the vehicle on track. Slowing a bit after a good ten minutes without fire on them. If only to spare the busted axle any more stress than needed. She glances to Leo. "Get Edgar up.. a long sweep ahead. We're going to have to go a bit easy on this thing now. I can feel something got fucked up by that last hit. If it goes all the way, we're walking. Or abandoning this thing here, unless you can make a hole big enough for it to go through." And she will get back on track and hope that was the last complication.

By the time Sage manages to fumble around for a grenade, they hit something that's decidedly not a dug in position. She gives a surprised cry, "Sorry!" as she realizes she mistook the mines for dug in positions in the road itself. She forgets about the smoke grenade until its already too late and she simply tucks it away.

NEAR THE WHYKIN CITY GATES

Just outside Whykin is a broad area that could be called an entire gate complex guarding the entrance to the walled city.

The long, bumpy, almost non-existent road running east from Kingsdale finally evens out and becomes a true road, as does the one that has snaked its way south from Kingsdale and around to Whykin. Not quite paved, but well packed and leveled, debris removed, sloped so that water doesn't pool, and any ruts and holes that do happen are apparently quickly repaired. A light layer of gravel, just enough to supply traction, is embedded in the densely packed material.

Nevertheless, the forest remains thick on either side of the road. The classic hackberry tree, with its broad crown with arching branches. Healthy, old-growth trees, roughly sixty-feet tall. Holly, cedar, cherry, and a number of different species of dogwood. A patchwork of broad, hanging leaves and branches with a variety of greens, ranging form light yellow-green to a deep blue-green. Low shrubs and even flowering plants line the road. However, the skies above the road are kept clear and pruned, the brush to the sides equally taken care of. For roughly one-hundred yards from the gate, all brush has been completely razed. Not so much as a rock to hide behind or a shallow gully to shelter in.

Traffic is definitely picking up, as the three roads converge near the entrance. Some of it is purely civilian traffic, then more commercial, and finally merchants as both individuals and caravans. There are large vehicles moving into Whykin, large hover trucks laden down with something obviously heavy, but impossible to see unless you were to break into a steel cargo container.

As this is the gate complex for Whykin's western entrance, it should not be surprising that the Coalition has a significant presence. Keeping people out, and probably also keeping people in, whether they realize it or not. The gate is defended primarily by static defenses along the road and arrayed along Whykin's walls, but there are roving infantry and even the occasional SAMAS flyover. Dog Pack forces appear to be a popular choice as sentries.

Not every person or caravan is actually stopped, however. Just those that for some reason either hit a random investigation, or strike the soldiers at the entrance as strange.

Hours later, Vixen slows the ATV as she reaches a spot that's a good few miles from Whykin, situated to the side of the city opposite Kingsdale itself. A stop spot that's under cover with lots of trees to screen it from the air. There she stops the ATV and looks back to the others. "Alright, this is where Gabe and I walk. We'll head for the city and do some looking. You two are on your own. Do what you can, find out what you can about the area. We'll meet back here. We can cover the ATV up with some brush. It'll look like a wreck for real now." A sort of annoyed amusement in her voice. "Glad I didn't bring my truck. Poor baby should never get roughed up like that."

Gabriel is quickly out of the vehicle. Not because he's expecting danger, but because the damn thing was making horrible noises as it ground to a halt. Working order, sure, but not good sounds. "Nice driving, Miss Vixen. Now ladies, give me some privacy." He tosses his L-20 into one of the small cargo compartments and grabs his backpack. With a wink and a smile, he heads off into the treeline, peeling off layers of environmental body armor as he goes. He will eventually emerge, a few minutes later as an entirely different-looking man. Picture perfect common man. "I'm thinking that we walk a distance, then try to hitch with a caravan the rest of the way. Good cover, easier on the legs."

Now that no one is shooting at them, Leonard calms down and considers the interesting noises that the ATV makes for the remainder of the journey. "I suppose that now we don't need to create an excuse to be stopped out in the middle of nowhere..." Bandits attacked them, their vehicle is damaged, and some went to look for help. It's almost entirely true. "If they'd shot the truck, you would've turned around to run them over. More than once." He opens his door and climbs out, careful not to slam anything. It could fall off. "Have a good trip, and don't get shot."

Vixen doesn't change her garb. The battered gladiator armor is something she's never worn before, so it's new. And her new hair should soften any recollection, without her distinctive coloration from before. Though she plans to keep her helmet on. Once she's snagged her bag, she says, "I'm not planning to lead anyone back here, but if they get nosy, we can tell them something. Right now, the less said the better." She looks over to Gabriel as he emerges. "You ready, man?"

"Yes, ma'am," Gabriel says, hoisting and securing the little pack on his back and over his shoulders. "All ready for a good hike, and my thumb's ready to hitch." He demonstrates. Oh look, the man as a 'hitchiker's thumb.' Neat big of genetics there. He turns to the ones being dropped off. "Good luck, you guys. Don't let anything eat you. Shall we?" He makes an arm gesture down the road in the direction of Whykin. Then he gets instantly tired of waiting, and starts down the road. Slowly.

"Vix..." Leonard looks to her, firmly. "Like I said, don't get shot. Or caught." He could likely think of another dozen or two additions to that 'do not' list, but leaves it short. "Good luck, both of you."

Vixen and Gabriel

OUTSIDE OF WHYKIN

"You worry too much, Leo," Vixen notes before she turns to start off herself. Though a few steps on, she'll motion for Gabriel to start off to the side some. To adjust the angle of their approach to add a little more cover to where the ATV was left. And then they'll walk right out and head straight for the place. Mixing in with the foot traffic isn't too hard. And Vixen will move to fall in line with it without making too much a ripple. Back of the line and waiting. She'll spend the wait time looking around. Gauging the security. Maybe get a sense of the way the guards work. With her enhanced ear, she can hear a few spaces ahead, so she can listen to the interaction. All in preparation for her time, if they get the seemingly random call to stop.

It was nice that they were able to catch a caravan for the last few miles. Made things a lot easier. Now that they've departed with the good graces of the guy riding the giant green lizard that was towing the wagon, he is, in fact, waiting with Vixen in line. It's like waiting in line to see a movie, except that you already know that the food's going to taste like shit, and the movie's going to suck. Still, being crisply military, Gabriel's eyes are scanning, even as the line slowly moves forward. "Looks like some kind of low-level officer leading a couple of MPs, or whatever it is that you guys call 'em, up this way. Those dog things? Creepy. Never seen one before. Not in person, that is. I wonder if they still take a shit on other people's lawns." That final note sounds like a perfectly dead-pan joke.

"They're Dog Boys," Vixen murmurs to Gabriel as they wait. "They can smell the stuff Leo's got, which is why he's not with us. They'd find him fast and then there would be shooting. I think they can smell what Sage has too, but that's not as likely to cause shooting." She shrugs her shoulders slightly then and adds, "They're fine.. as much as any other Deadboys are fine." Of course, she keeps her voice low, for them only. Not too sure about the others around them in line.. how many are Whykin regulars and haters of all things not human and magical? Better to assume all.

Gabriel seems to be contemplating what to say, and decides to go with simply, "Well, as long as no one cares who we are, I really don't care who they are."

One of the guard troops eventually makes it to Vixen and Gabriel, through the guards moving back, and the infiltrators moving forward. The officer, a young lieutenant, lags behind and allows his NCOs and grunts to do the work. A staff sergeant is the one who speaks first. Business. No threat, no boredom, just business. A man next to him stands ready with various bits of equipment. "Name, point of origin, reason for coming. Both of you. Please put your hand on the scanner. Right hand."

Vixen nods to Gabriel before they get close to the front. And when prompted she lifts her armored hand and looks at it a moment. "Hold on." she says, starting to work at the gauntlet casually. "Name's Red. Don't tend to go by otherwise. Come from back west a ways. Been walking a while, we figure we'll see what you got here as far as food, beds and such. Spending time out there makes you appreciate that sorta thing." Vixen answers the man with a more casual tone of voice than her norm. She finally works the gauntlet off. Unpolished nails. She puts her hand on the scanner as long as need be, then will lift it and start putting the gauntlet back on.

"Conway Twitty. Coming up from Pecos because I got sick as shit of those fucking psychics and magic users and vampires and all the other crap that constantly goes on down there. Met Red, and well, hot damn, look at her. How could I not turn her direction? I was coming here anyway, though. Trying to avoid Kingsdale on my way up to Chi-Town. Oh, yeah, yeah, here." Gabriel slaps his hand onto the scanner, then blinks a little as both he and Vixen have bright lights shined on them as another man follows them with some kind of camera. "What's with the line?"

The staff sergeant grumbles deeply as a the two begin to process through security. Vixen's comments are basically ignored as conversation pieces. Gabriel's are not. "Yeah, I heard that's how it goes on down there. Can't blame you. The Emperor has a sweet place up there." As for the subject of the line? "We have a line. Please hold out your bags for inspection, declare any weapons. Which part of 'the west' are you coming from, Red?"

"Ain't too good with maps," 'Red' answers. "Just tend to wander." She slips her bag off her shoulder. It'll have her radio inside, wire cutters, her walkie, pocket scrambler, gas mask and some other sundries in there. Food mostly. Ration bars and other cruddy, but quick trail food. She points in a random direction to the west. "Round about there, probably. Been turned 'round a few times, so you know. Ain't really easy to figure out just where I been. Running with caravans works good. Good money. Don't need to have no gear for sleeping. Usually how I go."

The older man, looking like a young man, pulls off his backpack and opens it for inspection. Essentially just camping gear, but also two Blinders, a mostly-charged standard eclip, and two oddly shaped eclips. Nothing to put them in, apparently. Only a vibro-sword for defense. Gabriel asks, "So, there's a problem or something? Or is it always like this to get in?"

One of the enlisted men steps forward and catalogs the two bags. The staff sergeant comments, "Fond of grenades, huh, Red? That pistol. We'll let you carry it around town, but it doesn't go anywhere indoors. Also, you need to snap one of these on it. You don't, we get to keep it if we catch you without it." What he holds up is basically a trigger-lock. Under normal circumstances, it would take a few seconds to remove it and make the handgun useful. There's also something that is probably a clamp that can be activated city-wide by remote if the government of Whykin decides that it's necessary. A broadband thing, not individual. Gabriel's eclips are examined, then tossed back into the bag with a, "Probably just trying to sell 'em." The two are almost through when the last inspecting soldier is done with his work and shows a read-out pad to the sergeant, who looks it over carefully and then steps up to Vixen. "Gotta lot of cyber hardware in there, Red. Good stuff. Rare stuff. Illegal stuff. Whaddya think we should do about it?"

"Flashers and smoke'll save ya more than them what explode," Red notes to the guy eyeing her load out. "Easier to make tracks than shoot through a bunch'a armor." The produced trigger lock is taken and put on her handgun without hesitation. Red seems a pretty straightforward someone and simply does, without complaining. When she's approached about her cyber she tilts her head slightly and says, "Laws are different all over. Weren't nothing where I got 'em. Something wrong with hearin' good? Good ears'll save ya out there. Hear trouble before it gets close enough an' all."

As he is passed over and possibly being made ready to pass through the gates, Gabriel has nothing to do but stand there and look like he really wants to get inside. However, as Gabriel, or Conway is still standing there next to the person he came with, he does manage a bored, "Yeah, I know, different rules all over. Gotta kinda roll with it, right?"

"No, we don't 'gotta kinda roll with it.' Shut up." The sergeant isn't angry, but neither is he in such a pleasant mood, either. He holds out what looks like a flat-head thumbtack. "You, Red. Stick that in somewhere. Corporal Hicks just encoded it to your DNA, and it has a lock on your cyber's electronic signature. You go somewhere, we know you're there. It gets separated from you, it knows, we know, we come after you, it is not pleasant for you. Also, we have that little holdout of yours on record, and you've been tagged as carrying a concealed weapon. And attempting to pass through without declaring a concealed weapon." He looks between both Vixen and Gabriel. "You be a perfect fucking citizen, Red. I'm being lenient. You -" he points to Gabriel "- she's bad news." With a final glare, he makes sure that Vixen receives the tracker, then his squad moves on. They are clear to enter the walled city.

Vixen takes the tracker and eyes it. But her bland expression doesn't change at the man's tone or being referred to as bad news. She sticks it into her headjack casually, then turns and heads into the city without a word. She'll remain largely silent for the time being, waiting until they have a measure of privacy before more is said. Which means moving off the main drag. Which is her first goal.

Gabriel, or Conway, follows Vixen into the city. More of a neck-and-neck, really, not a follow. He'll babble to himself quietly about how impressed he is with the city, and how happy he is to finally have reached genuine civilization. Actually, the interior of the city is quite impressive. For a Coalition-controlled city.

INSIDE WHYKIN PROPER

Inside the walls, the city of Whykin, capital of the Kingdom of Whykin (obviously an over-blown term), it's what you might call, not so bad. A run-down version of Kingsdale, basically, complete with its own park, commercial and industrial areas, recreation, and of course, a large military complex. It's far more crowded than Kingsdale, and its people are nearly entirely human. They aren't dressed well, but neither are they dressed poorly, and their outlook on life seems to be pleasant enough. The Coalition's presence is obviously welcomed and accepted.

There is a large green area where civilians seem to be meeting for the things that civilians meet to do. In Whykin, however, most people seem to be laborers of some type. The merchant class is thin, and the middle-class is mainly lower middle-class at best. The streets are kept up well enough, and there's a surprising lack of trash, even cleaner, refuse-wise, than many parts of Kingsdale. Probably military efficiency driven through civilian muscle. People move to and fro as shifts end and begin, the hours pass, and meetings of various types are made.

The military presence is enormous. The first and most obvious is a high wall, not meant as any aesthetics at all, and not even an attempt made to conceal the combination of static defenses and roving patrols that defend the city. Emplaced anti-personnel and anti-materiel rail guns, mortars and grenade launchers likely already dialed in to what are already likely minefields, just to make it even more difficult to assault the city. Anti-aircraft artillery and SAM sites at various places along the periphery. The people manning the walls look serious about their jobs. Not that you can see their faces, but through body language. There is also a mix of modern Coalition armor and older style Dead Boy. A city being built into a larger fortress. However, from this central position in the city, the materiel being brought in doesn't seem to be being directly applied. This could only be an illusion. There are three different barracks complexes, a large armory, maintenance depot, and a large building that obviously holds the more technical operations, and presumably the command and control as well.

Still, Whykin is a city, and has all of the things that every city needs. Places to eat, places to get drunk, places to catch venereal diseases, places to indulge in just about any sick pleasure that you're willing to pay for. If, of course, the Coalition States deems it acceptable. Plenty of bars with names like Mable Peabody's Beauty Parlor & Chainsaw Repair Night Club, and Going Commando. There are no bookstores. There are almost no signs in a written language at all. Just pictures, some more colorful than others to indicate what the establishment is. Almost everything is done by barter or extremely primitive numerical systems.

This is the majority of the city. There are obviously more commercial, more industrial and more military areas. But this is where everything seems to happen. Off to the northeast is what appears to be a semi-independent area of the city, cordoned off from the rest of the city, complete with its own guard houses.

Vixen observes the place carefully as she passes through, though she keeps the simple and focused expression she wore before. Letting the 'Red' persona linger on like a soft veil. But eventually she will spy a side street that looks less populous and she'll nudge Gabriel before heading that way. Once they're away from prying ears, she'll step in close and murmur lowly. "Looks like I'm made. Security is too tight and paranoid and they'll have their eyes on me. We might be able to take advantage of that." A pause, then she adds softly, "I don't think my gear is being monitored. I can still take shots of public places. But anything dicey is going to have to be you and my handheld."

The older man, looking like a younger man, shrugs. "I'm not an expert, obviously, but it seems to me like they've done nothing more interesting than Shore Patrol noting a guy with an anchor tattoo and watching him. Don't really care who he is, just generally lumped the guy into a class of people." He looks back out toward the center as something makes a clicking noise, but nothing comes of it, and he turns back to Vixen. "I wouldn't worry about it yet. If something is dicey? Believe it or not, I didn't actually walk in with a sword as my only protection." He winks conspiratorially, and asks, "Hey, Red, c'mon. I just made a thousand-mile trek to get here. Show a poor dumb pilgrim a good time." Ah, Gabriel in his finest.

"I mean I can't get near anything that might be secure, even discreetly," Vixen notes. "So my patterns have to be careful. Otherwise if anyone is monitoring, they might get suspicious." Though after that soft note, she smirks and steps back, slugging him in the shoulder. With an armored fist, but she doesn't put much power behind it. "C'mon. Saw a place over this way." She walks past to move back out into the flow. The nearest, busiest looking bar being the place to be. Logical in every sense of the word for her to head that way and in."

Gabriel takes the slug to the shoulder quite well, and does so with a smile. He walks alongside Vixen, two inerrant travelers who managed to hook up and perhaps the young guy is trying to score. "Look around, Red, you're not completely helping your case. Not many folk walkin' around in armor. At least, not ones that aren't military. Maybe you find a place to store that, we look more normal. I get that they can follow you near secure locations. Had to think about that for a minute. But we have ears, eyes and tongues, which is good enough for most intelligence gathering. Cameras are a bonus. Still?" Gabriel makes a questioning motion with his hand as a cloud briefly passes overhead, casting a shadow. "Maybe lose the armor."

"Better this way," Vixen replies lowly as they walk. "Everyone will be looking at me. Not looking at you. We can use that." Then she leads the way into the bar, nudging the door open firmly. And in keeping with being the center of attention, she tromps in steadily, heading right towards the bar, though in the process getting a look at the patronage, common and not. In fact, she'll be carefully taking stills and video of those things of interest that she sees. Guard posts, fortified positions. Anything that looks official and military. Armory? Ammo dump? She wants to find one of those if she can, but she'll do her best to be discreet about it.

INSIDE GOING COMMANDO

Going Commando is a large bar, quite obviously a place where soldiers hang out, based on the decorations of blasted pieces of armor, paintings of victorious battles, and perhaps very disturbingly, the heads of D-Bees that have visited a taxidermist’s shop. Some monstrous, some so close to human that they look human. Basically, a vicious version of the ancient TGI Friday's.

Interestingly, it seems to be divided into a few different zones. A loud, raucous zone primarily occupied by enlisted grunts, based on the insignia that many of them sport, even in casual clothing. Blaring music, flashing lights, and various versions of smoke hanging so thick that you can see layers. Possibly akin to the Nut n' Bolt back home. Another area is where officers are hanging out. Not the high-ranking, but lieutenants and captains of the infantry, usually dressed in fairly nice cloths, and provided with very attractive women, all. Apparently, at least in the almost-Coalition State of Whykin, open homosexuality is not tolerated. The NCOs, like most NCOs do, roam between the officers and the enlisted, though the officers are usually somewhat arrogant and push them back to the noisy area. Despite the fact that they appear to be separated by only a velvet rope, they are in fact cordoned off by a tenuous force field. Just enough to keep out the noise and smoke, but so low-powered that the occupants can simply walk back and forth through it.

There are tables of various types, proper to each section, and each section has its own bar, though drinks are obviously served to anyone who wants them. Video screens, darts, everything that a guy coming of the line could want for some rest and relaxation. Of course, everything is also Coalition-controlled media with a good dose of propaganda.

Some people like a beer, some people like to get loaded. Some people like arm-wrestling and games of skill. While it's mostly military, there are some civilians around. Mostly muscular types who look like they do heavy work. Possibly a few techs. But primarily military.

The interior of Vixen's chosen bar, humorously titled, "Going Commando," is a rush of activity, and Gabriel does his best to play it off as slightly intimidating. Just barely not a country-bumpkin trying to slug around with "real men" in the form of soldiers. Still, the soldiers seem to take it well, possibly used to that sort of thing, as he heads for the bar counter, leaving Vixen momentarily (but not distantly) alone. No soda this time. "Gimme that hardest, heaviest fucking thing you have on tap, man. I want it to have such a high proof that if I light a match, this place explodes."

Vixen was headed there as well, so she won't be lonely. She snorts at Gabriel's choice and slaps the bar. "Whiskey. Straight up and nothing but." She puts down some universal credits for the drink, then leans into Gabriel, the movement a casual thing, which doesn't match the serious tone of her low breathed words. "Plan. I'm going to go make some noise. You slip close to the officers over there. See 'em?" She tilts her head a bit towards the area in question. "Get close, camera has a good mic on it. See if you can't get some talk off 'em. Just wait for me to distract a bit, yeah?" She laughs then, and slaps Gabriel on the back. There was a pause for response that is brief, but she doesn't want to linger too long.

Gabriel responds equally quietly, and in similar talkatively casual mood. "I'm sure a woman will have no problem getting some attention in here. Place is a sausage-fest. Well, 'cept for the officers. They seem well off. I'll see what I can do...hAYAYAYY!!!" His conversation slides into some light banter of increasingly foul language, and a brief, three-dart game of darts. He nails the bull's eye on the first time, flinches at it, then probably deliberately completely misses the board with the second, chugging out credits at his loss. Vixen's eye will be caught and winked when he's near the area.

Vixen will take her time, knocking back one at the bar before she gets another and straightens. She glance towards Gabriel's wink, but won't react to it for a brief count before she eases back from the bar. She turns, puts a casually cocky expression on and strides right over and into the grunt area, her glass handled low and loose, with that careless air. "Hey boys. You all look a little lonely over here. Won't let you make nice with the girls?" Distraction engaged, the bold entry and casual, but not quiet words meant to draw officer attention as well.

And there it is, the sultry female agent. Natasha always played that part so well. Gabriel takes appropriate notice, then looks at the hurdle he's facing. Obviously officers are only allowed, and he isn't even in the military. Well, not the Coalition military. Thankfully, the bar must have been established for such a long time that there's no one actually standing by to work the velvet rope, so he is able to do it himself. It's a tough call. Try to play it off as plastered, no idea where he is, or a perfectly sane, lucid, semi-interested, semi-kiss-ass civilian? He goes for the latter. Walking up to the first man he spots - a colonel, ironically - and begins to shake his hand for all of the good things he's done. Just as the force field was designed to do, the sound is kept out, so whatever it is that he's saying, precisely, can't be known, unless someone can read lips. It looks like someone's starting to push him out, but possibly others waving that person down. Who knows, it's a little early in this tiny part of the operation.

Vixen doesn't do anything too scandalous. That's not what she's here for. It's easy to assume she won't be ejected. At least, not immediately. But she will move up to one of the tables of grunts and be all smiles. She's not too worried about being touched. The scarred armor will obviously make that less appealing than it might otherwise be, but she will be a smiling, female face, responding with oblique non-offense to comments and catcalls and being casually inquisitive about mundane things. Discreetly, her camera eye takes stills of each man, reacting instantly to her will to do so through the interface hardwired into her brain. And when a guy might start talking about something potentially useful, she'll kick on video and sound, through eye and ear. Though she isn't expecting anything so great. She just wants to help make things a little easier for Gabriel to get near and perhaps overhear something interesting if there is anyone in the know.

No one can ever say that Gabriel doesn't have a certain amount of charm to him. Somehow, he's managed to seat himself with one of the officers and even has one of those pretty girls hanging over him. His twenty-year-old face certainly has the eye for the lady, but his ears for the men. There's still no sound, but quite a bit of talking and laughing - on the more respectable level of the officer's area, of course. That little camera is being waved randomly around, attached to the wrist-end of his leather vambrace by a length of Nylon. No doubt it will capture everything in the room, eventually - and very covertly - but it will take someone with Vixen's talents to actually take the time to work them out so that it doesn't give other people headaches to look at the images and video. Gabriel leans forward and smacks both hands on the table, as if saying, "NO! You're kidding!"

Vixen casually leans over a little, cozied in between two of the guys at the table she's picked out. Casual banter aside, she casually puts in a relaxed and mildly curious, "Seems like a lot going on 'round here. Been out west a lot. What all has you boys here and not with your girls? This ain't so bad a place, I guess, but still. Ain't really home for ya, is it?"

This is really fantastic. Somehow, short little Gabriel actually has other people lining up to take shots of him *with* an officer (and usually a girl or two). He's signing napkins and someone even found an indelible marker with which he used to scrawl - as requested - his name across one of the girls' breasts: "Conway Twitty, I'll Write a Song About You." Even an arm-wrestling contest that he lost, but not without a fight. Still, it looks like things may be beginning to wind down. Some of those back-and-forth NCO travelers pointing toward Gabriel and whispering politely in ears. This probably won't continue significantly longer. But it will continue for a while.

Well, the guys are all over Vixen, or Red. Very "handsy," though their NCOs are doing a decent job of keeping them in some sort of military discipline. She's very popular, and everyone wants to talk to her. Not that there's a problem with getting laid in this town. A few of them are very talkative though, likely attempting to impress the young woman. "Sergeant Denton, ma'am, Third Infantry Division. Took us right off the Tolkeen Front. Some people say it's because we're too beat up, but I think it's because they need our experience." Others are attempting to chime in, hearing things like, "Seventeenth Guards Division! Eighty-first ID (which comes out as 'eye-dee'). Twenty-forth Logistics! Ninety-first Engineering Battalion!" There are various stories flying as to where they're from, and why they think they're there, but without stopping and trying to slow things down, only the large unit names are actually able to be made out, and of course, Sergeant Denton's personal opinion. There are many soldiers there with opinions. There are also many invitations for Red to visit certain bunks tonight.

They can get as handy as they want, 'Red' won't feel it through the gladiator armor. If it makes them feel better and keeps them relaxed, she can weather it. She gives some general attention to the lot of them, but she zeros in on Denton a bit and amid other vapid responses, she wonders at him, "Tolkeen? Think I heard a'that. Some place up north with all the fightin'. If you boys is here and not there, guess maybe some fightin' might happen here." Though she affects a sort of bemused uncertainty at that. "What's your experience?" The prior topic left behind as she plays up expecting the answer to that to be very interesting.

Gabriel is pretty busy with the officers. Whatever's being done, it's still happening. Oh look, one of the pretty girls just kissed him, long and hard. Wonder what a married man thinks of that, even on a mission.

Sergeant Denton is more than ready to oblige Vixen's questions. "Fuck, girl, where've you been? Tolkeen's where it's all happening - or at least, it was happening. Got a whole damn war going on up there. How can you possibly not have heard of that? They brought us here with the General, after he got wounded by those magic fuckers." Denton does truly look a tad boggled that anyone in North America could not know about it, at least a little bit. A corporal slams into Vixen's left side, alcohol on his breath. "Seventeenth Guards, the Wall of Whykin! Or, that's what they're going to start calling us after the expansion. We're going to hold the line. I think." Another man slaps him. "Dumbass thinks that he's going to hold ground. If he does, it's only because the Eighty-first took it in the first place." Another soldier, probably just barely this side of "too fat" to be in the military, slams drunkenly onto Vixen's chest before being pulled off. "They're assshoolslels... he slurs. Can't take or hold without something to take it with, and something to hold. Engin.. engin... engineers. *HIC* Fucking civilian contractors." There's a murmurer about "the Major" that seems to make people happy.

Vixen won't play the flower. When ever she gets nudged against, she nudges back. Not too hard, but enough to show she's no stranger to roughhousing and is equipped enough to give back. Including big boy, who she'll shove right at the one who pulls him off. "Get outta here if you can't hold it, big boy," she belts out with a casual smirk. She then returns to leaning in and shrugs her shoulders at Denton. "I travel lots. All over, but not places where you hear lots. Go where others don't. S'where you find new stuff." And she doesn't have to play at looking curious about all the talk. "Holdin' at what? Don't see no war goin' here. Least, not when I was walking in. Kinda peaceful." A pause, then she wonders, "The Major?" Of course, she's recording every juicy word of this.

Over in the ostensibly quiet section, Gabriel seems to continue to chum it up, though he's shooting subtle glances in Vixen's direction.

Denton rolls his eyes. "Don't pay any attention to him. Only thing we're going to be holding is Kingsdale. Am I right?!" He hoists a beer into the skies and shouts, "Third Infantry!" There's a massive hurrah that goes up. Someone in the back yells out, "Don't forget about the engineering corps, someone brought us here for a reason!" He's quickly muffled by the more front-line types. Another man, a very good looking man who has to be Vixen's age give-or-take a day, manages to sidle up next to her and says - loud enough for all to enjoy - "The Major, he's the Man. Gets stuff done when the other officers are sitting around with their thumbs up their collective asses. Major Plotkin?" This new fellow drinks from his bottle. "He's cooking something up." He leans in toward 'Red' and whispers, "I'm not ever sure if the General knows about it." He winks suggestively, as Denton is fighting for control of the conversation, physically pushing. "You're so hot you would make the devil sweat. My place?" He slips a paper into her hand.

Vixen listens closely, the name marked. That will be useful. Though as the topic turns, it becomes clear that subtle interrogation won't be possible for much longer. "Mama told me to never get with no soldier boys," she says with a casual little grin. Though she takes the paper anyway. Mixed signals always work nicely. She straightens and says, "Got to move, boys. Gettin' dark. Need to find me a place. My place." The last tossed in toward off the inevitable offers. Though she won't run off too quickly. A few casual back pats, banter and moments will see her slowly working her way out without offending anyone too much. That certainly wouldn't do for appearances.

The older man has been increasingly uncomfortable for the last few minutes as he stalled for time to allow Vixen's intelligence gathering to continue. So it is that Gabriel's happy to see her get up and begin to leave. He starts making his own excuses, kissing girls on the cheeks, shaking hands with officers and backing out, waving and talking. Eventually, he'll snap through the little force field and into the enlisted section, doing his own best to wade through the men - most of whom are quite a bit taller than he is. Not that that's an uncommon event. He has that bottle of whatever the hell nasty liquor was given, still in his hand.

The men aren't happy to see her go, particularly Denton and the the more forward-yet-subtle man who'd slipped her the paper. They're still pestering her to hang around... or let them show her the town. And a good time.

They'll have to be unhappy, though she will give a little fingerwaggle towards the lot of them after she emerges from their area. Let them fight over just who she was waggling at as she turns away fully. She pauses to slam back the last little bit of her drink before she lays it aside on a random table and starts towards the door. After all, she was noting the need to find a place to settle. She steps out of the place and pauses, her mind rolling over what she's heard, masking it as a slow, thoughtful consideration of her next step.

Gabriel bumps his way through the infantry, possibly implying that it was him being waggeled at, and receiving a lot of laughs in response. As Vixen slows, he actually picks up his pace, knocking the bar's door open with a straight-arm. As he passes, "Wander over to the Gate, stroll, meet me in the park in fifteen." Then he's gone, angling eastward into the city.

Vixen barely glances at Gabriel as he speaks and brushes past. And when she does move, she actually goes in a direction other than towards the gate. She wanders by a street vendor and spends a little time eyeballing the local curios before she takes a roundabout path towards where Gabriel mentioned. In fact, she'll take about 20 minutes to get there and will end up walking into the park with one of her food bars in hand, casually gnawing on it as she moves through the park slow and steady on.

Night is rapidly falling, as is the temperature - Whykin is in winter, too. Thankfully, the weather itself never broke bad, only a minor snowflake here and there. Gabriel has found himself some kind of sandwich wrapped in paper and seated himself on a bench. It's not the Plaza Park, but it's still a nice little park. He's chomping away happily, a man who found civilization, albeit not in such great clothes for a cold climate. He glances at Vixen to let her know that Conway has noticed her and makes a subtle motion with his head: "Join me on the bench."

Vixen approaches. She didn't really need to have a hint. She settles in a flop and relaxes casually. Her voice soft and discreet as she murmurs, "They seem to think they're here for Kingsdale. Lots of different types of grunts. Some pulled from Tolkeen. That's bad. And I got a name for when we get home. Major Plotkin. What'd you get?" Some of this she disguises behind the food bar. But otherwise she relaxes herself, despite the mile a minute run of her mind.

Gabriel chews and swallows a big bit of sandwich. "This really isn't half bad, Red," he comments, poking at his meal. "We can talk here. I got that much." He swivels his head around to indicate the park. "They pulled a well-known general off the line - Tolkeen, like you said. Apparently he was wounded, real bad, had to replace a bunch of him with bionics. Time line isn't perfect, but apparently he was deciding whether to be re-deployed to the Front, or retire. Then someone even higher up tagged him to administrate the *entire* Whykin area." Chomp goes another bit of sandwich. "It gets better. Let me chew for a second. Anything more from you?"

"Something about an expansion." Vixen murmurs lowly. "Sounds bad. Could mean they are going to start pushing boundaries. Break out some skirmishes.. who the hell knows?" She shakes her head slightly and looks towards him. "I need to get back and try and pull some contacts, see if these names will take root. You got the name of the general?" She then looks outward again. Carefully watching for anyone that looks too interested.

"Yup. Rheevus. A two-star, and apparently very good at what he does. What does he do? Expand and hold. Apparently he grabbed a large part of Tolkeen's southern front after they loosed those demon things on 'em." Gabriel looks around, just a guy relaxing for a late meal. "They are expanding. In steps. Officers are very talkative when you know how to tickle them. By the way, the camera's going to be confusing. Anyway." He dips back a bottle of something. "They have a *lot* of matériel stockpiled back there -" he nods in the direction of the inner gate "- apparently everything from concrete and sand to weapons. Plus, soldiers to operate them. The really curious thing, though?" He turns to fully face Vixen. "None of the officers had any real idea when this thing's going to happen. Best I got is that right now, all of this is falling under a general Coalition order called 'Operation Tantrum.' Other than the images, and that the officers worship Rheevus like a massive military brain... that's it for me." He catches a snowflake on his tongue. "You staying out, or think we should find a hotel - with separate beds?" Wink.

Vixen just stares at him for a moment at the last, then stands up. "A room. I need to send to our buds. Let them know we'll hit them up in the morning. If nothing else, ATV will shelter them with enough room." If it can seat four, two should be comfortable enough. "We can linger a bit. See if we can get some more footage. I'll copy it to a pair of chips. One for me, one for you. We'll hold and hide those, wipe the camera and computer. Just in case they decide to check them. We'll leave in the morning, bright and early."

"Good idea. I've always been a fan of a camera emptied of microfilm." Gabriel finishes almost all of his sandwich, then politely holds the rest of it to Vixen. "Wanna finish the rest?" Of course, back in Kingsdale, he'd never behave this way. But in Whykin, Mr. Conway Twitty does behave this way. "Since they've tagged you, I'll wander over to that inner gate, see if I can get anything. Probably not, but you never know. "You grab a place. Check that place first." He points a subtle finger over toward 'The Mangy Moose Motel.' He shrugs and smiles. "Looks cheap. Yell if you need me." He winks as he begins to move off.

Cheap is good. She waves off the offer of sandwich. Normal food soon enough. She wraps up the food bar and lifts a hand in a casual wave towards Gabriel before she heads to the motel. She'll go in, pick out a decent room with two beds. Bath as well if possible. And once she has the place, she'll move in. Between her short range radio, portable scrambler and secure walkie, she'll cobble together a secure transmission that Leo can pick up on his own secure walkie. A basic status report that she'll make use of her voice modulator for. Garbling her voice. Something Leo would have heard her use before, so he should recognize it. The basic message being this: Arrived safe. Learned a bit. Staying the night. Meet at the Boss. And that's it.

It is only a very short time before Gabriel arrives at the Mangy Moose. How to find which room he's in? Random room? No. "Hey," he says as he slides some credits across the counter. "I saw a cute girl come in her a few minutes go. Hair about here -" he holds his hand shoulder length "- battered armor that did hide a hot body? You maybe gimme the room across from hers?" More credits are exchanged, as is a wry smile and a keycard. It's not long before he's in his own private room, right across from Vixen. With his own radio, he isn't garbled, and so doesn't transmit, allowing Vixen to disseminate. But he manages to listen in. At some time, he will take a moment to knock on her door, try to score with Red, and let her know where he is, and if she's doing anything else, or if they're sleeping.

Vixen will come to the door in some light utility clothes, though it doesn't quite hide the stalker suit she has on underneath. She will play along with the fiction of trying to score, but only to relate a few bits. That she's staying in for the evening, until they leave. That the chick downstairs a a mole. If Gabe wants to do more, he can. But she's going to be still as is expected, due to perhaps being watched. The chips will be ready by the morning. She lets him respond, of course. But once their talk is over she snorts, slaps him just hard enough for it to look real and slams her door in his face.

Gabriel is sufficiently slapped, offended, embarrassed, and slinks back to his own room to do what he's supposed to do. Sleep. A good soldier knows to sleep at any reasonable opportunity. His own natural internal alarm - a natural, genetic, biologic one, not cyber - will wake him around five in the morning, just like it does every day. Even does his morning calisthenics, save for the running - and of course, a plumbed shower instead of washing in a creek. He'll knock on Vixen's door as he leaves, then returns to wait outdoors, wandering around waiting for her to exit.

Vixen will sleep lightly. Keeping her stalker suit on and piling a few of her items against the door and on the window frames. Budget security and a little peace of mind. She'll have her clock/calender set to wake her early. A little inaudible buzz in her head gets her up. Once she's tended to herself, well after Gabe's knock, she comes out of the motel, her gear settled on once more. As she meets Gabe, she'll casually palm to him a small data chip. Trusting him to know where to hide it. Her camera in her possession again, along with the small computer. Both wiped of any info from this place. The same with her own internal camera. "Let's get to walkin'" she says, getting her helmet on this time. "Gotta lotta miles an' such."

Gabriel falls into line, side-by-side. "Incidentally, I didn't get anything at the inner-gate last night. Place is locked up tighter than a nun's asshole. Guy over there in the Denim jacket, he's gotta be Coalition. Hanging around that woman with a clipboard." The man in questions is noted with a short nod in his direction. Then, totally out of place, "You get our friends last night?"

"Friends are ok," 'Red' replies, not looking towards the potential agent. She pretty much ignores everyone and everything but Gabriel and even he only gets a casual attention as they head for the gate. She's left all those little things on that the gate people put on her. So it will be there to be removed once they get to the outflow portion of the gate. But she will take it slow and easy. Not in a rush.

The agent apparently has better things to do, watching the two for a moment, then moving off to spy on other people in Whykin.

Conway Twitty tags along properly, though at the mildly accelerated pace. "You think it's going to be as fun to get out as it is to get in? Place is like a prison in a way. Easy to get in... might be tough to get out." His eyes scan the scenery of Whykin, the camera also rotating around, taking its random pattern of video, audio, and still photographs.

The two will be stopped at the gates. Indeed, it is harder to get out than it is to get in. The two will both be instructed to place their hands on the scanner, and have their image compared against the photos that were taken. They will collect the trigger-lock and cyber-tracer, but also ask an important question or two. "Reason for leaving? Your entry logs indicate that you were planning on staying for a while. What changed your mind?" Two armed sentries stand off to the side, quite read, and looking like they're just dying for an excuse to kill someone.

Vixen does those things and when she's asked about the whole leaving thing, she shrugs her shoulders. "Don't like it here. Feels too closed up. Gunna walk 'round s'more, maybe a place with less guns. Too many guns 'round here." Her eyes move towards the guys with the guns as if they prove the point, pretty much.

Conway chuckles. "Hey man, check your papers again. All I needed was a place to get out of the cold on my way to Chi-Town. Not that this isn't a great place, y'know. But when you've been spending weeks sleeping in the snow, covering with leaves and ratty blankets? Well -" Gabriel grabs his genitals and lifts "- this is my third set of balls. The first two sets froze off and I had to leave them behind 'cause I couldn't find them!"

The men at the Gate laugh and seem to definitely approve of Gabriel's excuse. They're not so fond of Red's reason for leaving, but after a couple of grunts, they process both Vixen and Gabriel out of Whykin. The two are free and clear, unless they do something stupid.

Red might seem a bit slow on the uptake most times, but she goes on her way quietly. The armored woman starting off with Gabriel. They'll take the expected route on the way out. Even spend some time heading that way until they reach suitable cover and can double back and swing back towards the ATV.

Conway takes his own time to head north, split west, then dive south, crossing two of the large trails that lead into Whykin. He will eventually arrive back at the ATV, thankfully, but it will be hours after Vixen's arrival. The two then have a lot to talk about, a lot that can be left for Kingsdale, and probably just waiting for their companions to return.

Sage and Leonard

OFF THE WHYKIN TRAIL

This part of what used to be Missouri is known for its dense forests, and at this location, Mother Nature is living up to her word. Much of the tree growth is made up of what used to be the official State Tree, the flowering dogwood. The smallest ones are already thirty-feet tall, the oldest soaring up to eighty feet. The actual flowers of the flowering dogwood are four large, white petals encircling a cluster of tiny yellow flowers, which are the actual, true flowers. The leaves are large and ovoid, and the branches tend to sag under their own weight. Other trees clustered among the dogwood are beech, hickory, maple, and very impressive specimens of oak. In the fall, there would be bright red berries, but it this point in the year, they've long been frozen and fallen from their places.

There's ample low shrubbery. Ferns and bushes of all types, covered in a dusting of snow. The ground itself is snowy, but thanks to the thick upper layer, not nearly as bad as the open areas of the road, or areas of Kignsdale proper.

There are numerous game trails to be seen, even in the snow. In fact, possibly even easier to spot in the snow. Those in the know would recognize all forms of deer, badger, rabbit, and so on. About two miles in, a genuine trail picks up. A trail for humans, but in very poor condition and wide enough only for foot traffic, riding animals, and small vehicles such as wagons or hovercycles. It leads northeast, closing distance with Whykin, but still remaining, at least apparently, incognito. Because of its various turns, it cannot be seen where it leads.

Since they are going to be trekking through the forest, Sage doesn't seem a reason to change out of her armor. She simply seems to make it less noticeable with the cloak she wears. Overall, she just tries to look like a wilderness traveler that is more prepared to wander off the beaten path. She looks over to Leonard, "Let me know if Edgar finds anything and we can plan which side to take."

With Vixen and Gabriel heading out, that leaves Leonard, Sage, Edgar (in a neighboring tree), and one very worse-for-wear vehicle. "Hopefully, the highwaymen we sped through will be the only unexpected company that anyone finds today. Let's see what we can see. Without going too far, of course." Only slightly less terrible than having the ATV destroyed or stolen would be walking miles through the snow. A moment of inaudible conversation with his fine, feathered friend and the raven takes flight to determine if anything interesting is in sight.

Thankfully, the winter weather continues to be pleasant enough. For those with sharp eyes, a high-altitude SAMAS flight can be seen. Three units is all, though most people wouldn't want to tangle with them. Probably just some kind of CS recon patrol of their own, slowly carrying themselves over the forested area to the south of the walled city. Of course, not much can be seen of them beyond that, as they're so high, and the canopy so thick.

Nodding faintly to Leo's suggestion, Sage takes a moment to glance around. "I think we can assume they have eyes in the sky." Even Sage has heard of SAMAS and it seems doubtful that they wouldn't use them here. "Guess we'll find an animal path or something to follow while we wait..." She comments, before she begins to consider the lay the land and where a good place might be to start. Leonard tips his head skyward, even if he can't see what little Edgar does. "Well, there is a great deal of sky and many trees. Aside from a high-altitude Coalition patrol, there's not much else to speak of that's visible above the treeline. One path is as good as any other, so far as I'm aware." He makes a broad waves of his hand, leaving Sage the choice of where. "After you, though there's nothing terribly wrong with staying close to the ATV, either." Less distance to walk that way.

It's quite true that many paths are as just as good as the others, and as the ATV had clunked to a halt about fifteen miles from the city, there are certainly many paths to be found. Game trails, mostly. The winds are whipping up a bit more, though the trees themselves are preventing anything from becoming a whistling force force of nature. A deer wanders out of the scrub brush, spots Sage and Leonard, and manages to spook itself, hurrying back the way it had come.

Sage takes a moment to consider the situation. "According to the maps, the Federation of Magic is to the south of here..." She says thoughtfully, before she begins to gather up gear in case they need to spend the night out in the wilderness. Good thing she's brought some portable shelter... assuming she can find a good spot to set it up. "So, I imagine if they had anything, it might favour the north side of the city..." She reasons, "Means we'll probably have to head north some before circling..." She glances to Leonard, "Unless we leave it all up to Edgar, of course."

Leonard smirks and shakes his head. "I'm not about to ask Edgar to circumnavigate Whykin on his own. That would take quite awhile, and might attract attention we don't want." With a chuckle, he adds, "Not to mention that he could tell me to walk it myself, and that's a long walk." He glances in the general direction of the town, or, rather, the direction the other pair headed. Leonard then looks back and gestures north. "There is a trail to the north that gets larger a mile or two ahead, if that helps."

The winter forest is cooperating with the two unique reconnaissance members. Soft, quiet, not too much rustling of the leaves. Otherwise, it is currently just an empty track of thick forest with apparently a larger trail in the distance.

Sage nods faintly to the man, "Alright." She replies, "Fair enough." She supposes a bird acting abnormally could be suspicious by itself. "Seems like we might just be out for some exercise if nothing else." She nods faintly to the comment about the larger path. "Let me lead and give me a little head start... if we run into any sensitives, hopefully some space will give you some time to do something." She comments before she begins to head towards the empty track.

"It's that he's not a bird that worries me around Whykin," Leonard notes, "and a little exercise isn't so bad." They probably have different definitions of 'little,' though. He allows her a head start before following, but tries to keep her in sight. Edgar keeps pace via a leapfrog of brief flight and perching, maintaining what overwatch he can through the foliage.

The leaves of the thick canopy of flowering dogwoods begin to rustle more as Mother Nature blows across what used to be southeastern Missouri. There are various small critters coming out of the scrub here and there as Sage passes. Rabbits, raccoons, that kind of thing. Indeed, the forest might be considered unusually quiet and bereft of large animals. The trail now lies only a short distance ahead.

No sooner have they begun, it seems their group may already be running into difficulty. Sage comes to a stop. One of her hand already slipping into her cloak to grab the silver-coated vibro-blade she'd brought with her. She begins to back away from the area and holds a hand behind her that's a clear stop message that she hopes Leonard will pick up on without much trouble.

Leonard isn't militaristic, but can notice a sudden stop as a problem. Sage backing away is another good sign that something's wrong. "What is it?" he asks over the radio rather than yelling out. Whatever the cause, he has yet to spot it, and Edgar wasn't helpful in that regard, either.

The wind is beginning to pick up, some clouds rolling in, the occasional stray leaf - the remaining ones - blowing past. Snow is still relatively clear due to the protection of the trunks and canopy. Some of the little critters are hopping and wandering away from Sage. Otherwise, the Missouri forest maintains its stature.

"Trouble..." Sage says softly through the radio, before gesturing towards the opposite side of the path to where the creatures are pointing, "Move off the path... and get down." She isn't sure whether Leonard is the source, "We may be about to fight in bad weather." She adds, as she gets off the path and tries to find a place to settle to see what the creatures will do.

Leonard would feel much better if he could see the aforementioned trouble, but moves off the path all the same. As much as the trees limit his visibility, they should for anyone else too... or so the theory goes. With nothing more to go one than Sage's warning, he crouches in what he believes is a relatively inconspicuous position behind a tree.

Maybe it's the increasingly poor weather, or more likely whatever it is the the creatures think they are thinking, but they collect their various bits of weapons and equipment, and then, bouncing around somewhat like angry chimpanzees - but much larger and looking physically completely different - they move completely off the path, breaking through the scrub line, definitely in Leonard's direction, pointing and hooting, speaking between themselves in some unrecognizable language. The closer they get, they more excited they get, which probably means unpredictable. Leonard should be able to make them out now, though not in great detail. As per Sage, she has apparently not been noticed, or dismissed as unimportant. Right on cue, the first drops of sleet begin to fall.

Sage curses softly to herself, "Don't look at them... or you'll go blind." she instructs simply as switches her knife to her other hand and reaches into the cloak to pull out a blinder grenade. "3... 2... 1..." She gives the countdown before she pitches the grenade and takes precautions against herself getting blinded.

It figures that timing is not kind to Leonard. First is the sleet that starts to fall. The other is that just when he glimpses the creatures... he's warned to look away. Angry, hooting monkey men is what he gets before he turns his head away. "Did we upset the locals?" Leonard will guess they're not from Whykin, no matter how dim his view of the CS and their place on the evolutionary scale.

When Sage's Blinder goes off, the goblinesque creature nearer to her is obviously blinded, as promised by the good people at Wilk's Industries. It grabs at its eyes - clearly a him, as its loincloth leaves nothing to the imagination - and falls to the ground, thrashing in what looks and sounds like incredible ferocity, incredible anger, plus disorientation and fear. Its friend, though, is not amused. Taking its two large swords in hand, it glances between Leonard and Sage - looks like he wants to eat Leonard, but wants to kill Sage on a more immediate note, and charges her, slashing with both blades. Damn, the thing's fast.

Leonard hopes it's safe to look after the flash, because he does so. He doesn't want a lengthy fight, as that's just liable to draw even more attention. Therefore, he tries to end it before it gets any deeper. A gesture and quick word of Dragonese, and he'll see if he can't reverse the fight or flight response of the creatures. In case he cannot, a secondary conjuration invokes protection over his armor.

The first creature's swords bite into Sage's psychic defenses, but do not penetrate. Its blinded comrade simply continues to writhe no the ground. Yet even as the upright creature once more looks to choose its target, it howls with fear, dropping its weapons, and running back to cower with its comrade, holding hands up in defense. But it's not going to hold him forever. Shock is one thing. Terror and running away is entirely different.

The creature may have surprised her with its speed, but it gave her enough time to create the body field around herself to keep the damage from reaching her. She reaches for her second blinder grenade. "I say we try to blind this other one... take their weapons... and figure out how to keep them from chasing us somehow." She comments, "Any ideas there? And let me know when you aren't looking." She decides to try to influence the creatures mind with a little sorrow to see if she can make it give up.

"I could bind them here for several minutes..." Leonard begins, "though it looks like we've taken most of the fight out of them. Maybe we can just leave?" He has no qualms defending himself, but doesn't see any reason to do anything too drastic considering the situation.

The goblinesque creature that was initially blinded is now basically just hunkering down, as if trying to make itself appear as small as possible, and he's probably going to be that way for a while. The other one? Not so much. The angry look is beginning to return to his eyes, and he's even coherent enough to be lifting the swords that his comrade had dropped, as he had left his own near Sage's feet. If one were to give it a name, perhaps "Bob," it could easily be said that Bob was either going to go down fighting, or Bob was going to need a really good pair of handcuffs and good rope knots. He's beginning to rise, beginning to choose his target.

"Turn your head away, Leonard." Sage decides when she sees the creature begin to look like he's ready for a round two. "3...2...1..." She comments before tossing the grenade in front of the goblin fixing for a fight once more. She takes her own precautions to avoid being flashed.

The second Blinder goes off, and once more, the good people at Wilk's Industries pull through. Both goblinesque-creatures are now blinded. One cowering, one very pissed-off, but blinded and flailing about randomly. Easy pickings for someone with a hand cannon.

Leonard doesn't have handcuffs or strong knot skills. He does, however, have some valid substitutes. When the cowering creature stops cowering and becomes an aggressor again, he is quick to act... After stopping in mid-preparation to hurriedly turn away from it and the impending flash, that is. Immediately afterward, he completes his original intent by conjuring a net of sticky filaments over the two creatures that stretches back from them, away from Sage and himself. "Ok, now we don't need to worry so much at being followed."

The two creature are now, in fact, totally immobilized. The first creature's swords remain at Sage's feet, the others basically on the pile of creatures. One of them is grounded, but still flailing. Might not be the best idea for someone to get too close. But people don't always run with the best ideas. Whatever happens, any lucky adventurers nearby would be free to leave now and if they got far enough away from however the things detected them - they'd be gone. But dammit, the sleet is really coming down now. A bad time to be out in the open.

"They can sense you, Leonard." Sage reminds, as she moves to collect up her spent grenades hoping she didn't waste one for no reason. She tucks the grenades away for later recharge. Then, she takes the time to collect the bladed weapons of the creatures. "Lets see if we can get out of their range." She comments, glad that the weapon can't effect her too much. "Follow me..." She comments, planning to take a zig-zagging trail to throw off the creatures.

"Lovely. I really should learn the means to be less popular among the sensitive..." Leonard steps around the creatures, giving them a wide berth. He is more concerned of flailing limbs than any trophies, and continues after Sage in her nonlinear path. "Hopefully there isn't an entire community of those out here."

The sleet is coming down like mad at this point, but if one could get beyond that, the road or better said, the trail, is quite open, clear a long distance to the east, though it takes a northward bend to the west. Judging by the footprints and wagon trails, it looks like most of the traffic goes east, deeper into the forest.

Once her winding path takes them to road, Sage takes a moment to consider the blades she got from the creatures. She tucks away one or two if she can manage to slip them through straps on her armor before offering any others to Leonard. Then turning her attention to the road itself. "Well, these tracks look less than what I'd expect the Coalition to use... shall we?" She asks, as she begins to turn towards heading East down the road.

Leonard includes himself in the 'we' and makes it a statement rather than an interrogative as he follows. "So long as we don't head right up to the town gates... This doesn't look to be a major thoroughfare for, well, much of anything. A path for local farmers to market, maybe?"

The trek eastward goes for a good five miles or so, perhaps longer, but at least it's easy to follow the trial. The sleet doesn't make it fun, however. However, the weather gods apparently smile on the reconnoitering duo as the path begins to open up, as the skies turn from sleet to simple rain, then from rain into mild drizzle.

THE VILLAGE OF DERWENTWATER

The small trail through the forest opens out into a meadow-like area. There are roughly a dozen small wooden buildings scattered about. Closer inspection reveals homes, a small barn and chicken coop, a building that seems like some kind of communal general store, and even an old-fashioned blacksmith right out in the open. Modern technology appears, at least from this vantage point, to be sparse.

There are people bustling about, tending to the things that a village needs to have done in the winter. Women on porches making butter in manually-activated churns, two oxen spinning a grinding wheel turning wheat into flour, cows being milked, eggs plucked, clothing and fabric sewn, men coming back with small game in snares. It's as if someone has stepped back a millenia or two, found a village and sprinkled it with small bits of technology.

Even near Whykin, it is a reasonable mix of true humans and D-Bees. The weapons carried are primarily standard hunting weapons. Only one or two energy weapons and a few vibro-type blades to make things a little easier, whatever they're using them for. The citizens will not look up and take any important notice unless anyone looks intimidating or threatening.

There is one building that stands out above the others. A large house, perhaps originally only a large warehouse, with a sign hanging over its porch: Arsenic and Old Lace Bed and Breakfast.

With the more open spaces, it's easier for Sage to deal with than on a small path where it can limit the sight significantly. She takes point once more in case there should be more trouble, but this time it seems to have let them pass without trouble. She takes a moment to pause at the edge of the village. "Looks sufficiently normal to me." She comments before she begins to head in. If she sees anyone outside in this weather, she'll offer them a wave but she seems to pick out the large building as a likely gathering point. "Let's go say hi."

"I hope these locals will be more friendly than all the others we've met so far." Leonard is optimistic and chuckles. Other than the body armor, they shouldn't be terribly intimidating, and he likewise offers a friendly wave to those that look their way. Sage is still in the lead, but he closes that to just a few steps.

As the two from Kingsdale break gently into the meadow containing the quaint little village, there is no huge startling or rustling of fright, but people do take notice. The menfolk ease over to weapons - sometimes rifles, sometimes shovels - and the womenfolk do their best to corral the children. Obviously not hiding nor taking great care to be avoided, but careful, as any intelligent small village may be. Clad in leather rain gear which does a good job of keeping the drizzle off the them, a very large man of cliché blacksmith build approaches. Yes, he's carrying a hunting rifle and has a heavy hammer on his belt, but there seems to be no ill will. The woman beside him, attractive, probably late twenties, is wrapped around his left arm. They will try speaking to Sage and Leonard in what is called Dragonese, in greeting.

With the weather the way it is, Sage had left her helmet on for the time being. As people begin to notice them, she begins to reach up for her helmet to take it off but the brandishing of weapons does seem to bring a pause to that. She pauses to glance over towards Leonard. "Did you catch any of that?" Leonard did catch it, and is surprised by the form of the greeting. He lifts a hand, as much to show it's empty as to wave. "Hello," he returns in the same tongue, "How are you? Other than the lovely weather, that is." It's not the greatest humor, but it's genuine Leonard humor. Sage gets a light nod and explains, in American, "He beat you to your own idea, and said 'Hello' first."

The large man speaks first, and when he does, it continues to be in Dragonese. "You are travelers? Special travelers of the mind, we think? We bear you no ill will, if you bear us none. I am Gregory, this is my wife, Thea the Gentle." The woman executes a perfect curtsey, or at least as perfect as one could do in leather rain gear. She too speaks in Dragonese. "We welcome you to Derwentwater." For the time, apparently they are being politely non-invasive as to the travelers' identities. There continues to be little mind probes from all over, nothing huge, in fact it would probably "feel" like dozens of little tickles of the mind.

Sage nods to Leonard before looking back to the villagers. Definitely not a Coalition village, that's for sure. She represses a sigh when they seem to continue to speak in an unfamiliar tongue. "I'm guessing since one of them is curtseying, they'll be friendly enough. Don't see too much tech around... maybe they'll take one or two of the swords for a night out of the weather and perhaps a warm meal or two?" She comments, "And, if they happen to know anything about what's going on that'd be nice." She keeps her language American as she isn't sure if Leonard would know Spanish or not.

"They seem to be friendly, and courteous," Leonard notes to Sage. "If you can't understand them, I can help, with your permission." After that offer, he turns his focus back to the polite couple and Dragonese. "Yes, we're travelers, and thank you for your politeness. We bear you no ill will. Have you suffered many coming here that did?" It seems a simple enough beginning to learning more of the area.

Thea looks up to Gregory, who nods. She says, continuing in the language, "Yes, there are those who come through. Animals and creatures, some, but they are everywhere. There are thieves sometimes, but we are so alone out here, that not many even know to bother us." Gregory chuckles at that. "Even if they did, look around, we have nothing to offer." There is a smaller voice that suddenly comes from behind the two, surprising even the two villagers themselves. It is a young voice, a teenage girl's voice, and there is a note of fear behind it when she speaks in a soft alto. "More people have been coming. People with skulls. People who look like dogs. Bald people. People with guns and suits of black armor. Lots of times they come for us, but they don't know we're here. It's still scary." This is all blurted somewhat quickly, as if she wants to get it out before being shooshed. Which she is, by Thea. "I'm sorry, this is Maiden Mary. She has yet to understand her place in our society."

The young one blurting something out draws Sage's attention, but the teenage girl could have been telling them just about anything. She gives a faint sigh, "It would be helpful, yes. As long as it doesn't do anything weird, you can go ahead." She comments.

Leonard chuckles when the girl speaks up, making his smile audible. "You don't have to apologize." After that, the mirth leaves with a sigh. "There are many people that don't understand many things, and aren't polite, either. I hope those sorts never find you." He lifts a hand to indicate Sage and explains, still in Dragonese, "So my friend can understand what we're saying..." Another phrase of the same follows, referencing knowledge, before he touches Sage's shoulder.

Gregory nods, and he and Thea say in near-unison, "Most do not speak as we do." They both get a little chuckle out of that, and then Gregory speaks alone. "I'm glad that we can communicate. You ask about people coming through. Are you looking for them? Someone special? Someone lost?" Maiden Mary, a tiny girl with long hair, tucks herself beneath Thea's raincoat, hiding the way that bashful children do. "More people coming through now. Skull people, bald people, people who look like dogs, people we hide from. More of those people." Thea the Gentle pats Maiden Mary on the back, smiling when she speaks, a maternal, 'sorry about this.' "There have been more, yes. The Coalition. But we hide from them. It is easy, but it frightens the children. We just try to live our lives. Thorodan and Sedna know more than we, I think. More peaceful travelers. We are happy to be left alone. Should you need a place to stay, our barn is open, though the cattle are indoors this time of year."

Sage takes a breath and lets it out as she finally can make sense of the words being spoken. It turns out that it isn't complete gibberish after all. "It is nice to be able to understand now." She comments simply without her earlier irritation colouring her voice. "If we may be honest, we are curious as to what the skull people are bringing here." She comments, as she goes to pull out the recorder that she was given. "This is just a recorder." She adds as she steps closer. "We only wish to be able to share with our friends what you have noticed, but I will not ask any of you to risk yourselves to find out anything more." She comments, "And, I would be willing to trade for a place to stay and a warm meal if possible."

"Not everyone can hide from the Coalition so easily," Leonard nods to the family, "and it worries us. I'm glad that you don't need to be so afraid." He looks down to Mary with that last, adding some reassurance in his tone for the girl. "If Thorodan and Sedna might know more," he returns his speech to the elder two, "and would be willing, we'd like to speak with them. Whatever the Coalition is doing, it won't be good for anyone but themselves."

Thea looks at Sage and asks, "The Coalition? They don't bring anything here. I think that they're just looking for people. Not just our kind of people, either. Every kind of people, at least for know. I don't know why." Gregory had looked on the recorder with a smile - likely that it's one of the few technological items in their little village. "They only come looking. I don't know what they do when they're here, because we are not here, when they are here. We leave when they come, we return when they've gone. We just know that they do come, and they have been coming through more and more often. That's why I suggested that you talk to Thorodan and Sedna. They don't leave, though I think they should." There's a silence, then Maiden Mary peeks her eyes out from around Thea's raincoat. "Are you going to help? To make the bad people go away? The skull people? The dog people?" Her eyes droops to the side and down. "They scare me. I think they will hurt me someday. I don't want to hurt." Gregory takes Maiden Mary's pause to point down the road toward the inn. "Thorodan and Sedna, they keep the place. They're very personable. If we can't help you any further, I'm sure that they can at least try. Just don't get too close to Wiggi. He's a nice boy, but he's kind of... special."

Once it seems that they've gotten all the useful information that they're going to get from this conversation, Sage shuts the recorder back off to avoid recording too much. She nods faintly to the comments, but her expression seems to hidden by the helmet that she ended up never taking off. "Alright, thank you for sharing what you have with us." She comments before looking to Mary. "Well, we're trying to help with that." She comments simply before deciding that she probably shouldn't say too much. "But, I wish you all the best and hope you stay safe." She comments before nodding to the man. "Thank you again, I think we should pay them a visit and perhaps we can repay your kindness before we leave."

Leonard nods to the family to keep his reiterating of Sage to a minimum while still expressing his agreement. "It also sounds the perfect, dry place to look for that hot food..." He turns to chuckle towards Sage. It was her idea, and it's still a good one. Shall we?" Leonard adds his own gesture down the road, awaiting Sage.

Thea the Gentle says, "Peace on your way, it is not far. They are good people, and yes, have hot meals. Perhaps more comfortable beds than we could offer you than our barn." She gives Maiden Mary a little nudge, and the girl curtsies, murmuring a shy, quiet goodbye. Thea follows her with the same action - but done well, and thoroughly. Finally, Gregory, before taking Thea and beginning to guide them back to the village, says, "If you are here to help us, and those like us, you need to see a larger area. I fear that what is happening is a larger thing, more than simply sending a patrol through an area. Whykin, the city, it is very large, and would seem to follow that whatever happening is very large. Peace on your way." He nods, and then departs, perhaps showing that he is just slightly more worldly than he may wish that he were. The road to the inn is clear.

"One step at a time." Sage replies, "If it is very large, we all must be careful. Take care." She offers before looking over to Leonard with a nod before she begins to wander towards the Inn. "Let's." She replies, waiting until they get closer to the Inn before she'll take off her helmet at long last. If only to be polite.

"I never realized this village was here," Leonard admits quietly as he, too, removes his helmet. "With any luck, the Coalition will never pay it any mind." Now that the probability of being stabbed, shot, detonated, or eaten seems quite low, fresh air, overhead cover, and warm food are nearly as high on his list as information.

ARSENIC AND OLD LACE BED AND BREAKFAST

The Arsenic and Old Lace Bed and Breakfast is quaint. It's little more than a larger-than-average house build in a rustic, log cabin style. However, it smells wonderful. Very homey, a combination of both fresh, healthy wood, and some good cooking and baking. The bottom floor consists of a small reception area, kitchen and dining area, but mostly a large living area.

The living area is full of couches and chairs, all in good condition, though not the finest of high-quality to begin with. Decorations are equally rustic, but pleasant, with things like flowers, carefully tended plants, and various pieces of sculpture, scrimshaw, embossed wood, and a few photographs, neatly framed. There is no television. The only nod to modern technology is a single computer terminal and communication set. Even heating and lighting are taken care of naturally. Or at least, not technologically. There are a few people scattered around. Couples, mostly, but a few individuals, all of whom seem happily content to be there, resting and relaxing, with some pleasant conversation between them. One couple is really going at it, as if they're perhaps newlyweds. They really should get a room.

Speaking of rooms, the upper floor is divided into six rooms, each with a theme. The Waterfall Room, the Lullaby Room, the Daisy Room, the Magic Room, the Plush Fold Room, and the Mirrored Room. Each is decorated accordingly, but otherwise has no special significance. The Daisy Room is currently unoccupied.

No one is currently operating the reception area, but there is a tiny bell that one needs to lift and jingle to get someone's attention.

It's only a short walk over to the inn. The outside has all sorts of quaint decorations, an enclosed patio, rustic feeling to the windows, and somehow - genuine blossoming flowers and hanging green plants. It's still drizzling, but now the two are out of the elements, and enjoying the smells of some good cooking.

Well, considering the villagers say they disappear when the Coalition comes around, Sage isn't expecting to find any currently in residence. She'll open the door once they are there and move in, holding it open a little so that Leonard can follow. She takes a moment to breath in the smells of cooking and the floral aromas from the plants. Seems like a nice enough place. "Nice place." She murmurs before she makes her way over to the counter to ring the bell.

Leonard takes a deep breath of unprocessed air and sighs pleasantly. "Very nice. It smells wonderful." His smile is now visible as he glances around the room while Sage rings the bell. The quaint scene is comforting and cozy; nearly enough to make him think less of the nearby worries and worry less of those who went nearby. The amorous couple cause him to grin a little more, then blush slightly, and he turns his gaze to the jingling bell.

At the *DING* of the surprisingly loud bell, a woman near-instantaneously pops up from behind the wooden counter. The kind of older woman who could be anyone's grandmother, as long as that person was Irish, with a short and very rotund grandmother. She even speaks with an Irish accent. "HELLO!" she calls out, perhaps a little too enthusiastically. "I'm Sedna, welcome to our place. I'm afraid that I only have the Daisy Room available, but it should be just fine for a lovely young couple like you." She winks at Sage and mouths, "Good for you, dear."

In contrast, Sage doesn't seem to pay too much mind to the couple enjoying each other. Although she does seem to note the couples theme when she takes a moment to let her attention drift. The amount of noise the bell makes draws a curious look, and the quick arrival of the woman draws her attention. Yet, it's nothing that seems overly troubling by itself. "Hello." She says with a small smile, finding the woman's enthusiasm to be a mild mood lifter. She raises a brow at the assumption before giving Leonard an amused look. "Yes, I'm sure it'll do." She comments, before looking back to the other woman, before chuckling softly. "We were thinking it might be nice to have something warm to eat... and to have a little conversation with you and your... husband?" She ventures.

All in all, Leonard can't blame Sedna for the assumption. There was even a compliment to him in there, somewhere... he thinks? Initially, he just nods, and it takes a moment for him to follow up Sage with, "Yes, food and maybe some conversation?" Leonard keeps it simple, since the ladies are already working on a rapport.

"Of course, of course. Not so often that we get two newlywed couples out here at the same time," Sedna says a she begins to shuffle off. She points to a pad of common paper and a pen. "Just fill that out, and I'll get you two set up. Thorodan already has some stew brewing, so we can get you some. Bowls?" There's a bit of a Doppler effect as she continues down into the nearby kitchen, muffling her voice slightly. "We don't have much in the way of beverage selection, I'm afraid. Tea, coffee, some wine, water of course, and the folks at Derwentwater bring in fresh milk every morning, so there's that." She's apparently making food, and possibly waiting for Thorodan to do something, and probably hoping that the check-in pad will be filled out. "What brings you two out here?"

A man's deep voice comes out of the kitchen. Thorodan? "The Coalition should always be worried about. I don't know if they're bringing things in, but they're doing something a few miles up. Maybe... five miles closer to the city? Maybe a little less." Sedna pokes her head out and says, "Well talk more when we get you settled. Don't forget to put down your names, please." She's then back into the kitchen. The couples in the large living are have looked up at this point, but everyone has basically gone back to what they were doing - including the newlywed couple. Still, from around the corner of that room comes a boy, just about bouncing up and down as he closes in with Sage, who is closer at this point than Leonard. His head is somewhat bulbous and bald, and he has a silly pot-belly, but otherwise looks like an amusing little boy, perhaps four or five. "HIIII!!! Come plaaaaay!!!"

Sage's wisdom now truly shows through. With Leonard's penmanship, he could sign in John and Jane Doe and it might require cryptologists with magic a month to decipher half of it. As it is, 'Tolkeen' makes a much more amusing surname after Mr. and Mrs. The trailing letters are more scribbled than the norm as he looks to the kitchen when Thorodan speaks. "Outside the city? I hope that hasn't caused you any trouble, being so close."

"No, they haven't troubled us. Tried to get us to move a few times, but I guess we're okay. Don't like the people down at Derwentwater, though. But we're okay. Still, things change, and I guess we might have to relocate," Thorodan says.

Sage seems content to let Sedna treat them as a couple if it helps me figure out what's going on around these parts. "Okay." She replies to the man's voice about talking later, before taking a mental note about where the activity seems to be. Although, the earlier comment about dog people do draw some note as well. She glances over to Leonard's signing, before raising a brow faintly and giving him a mildly amused look. Then she turns his attention to the boy. "Hi!" She replies with a smile, before chuckling softly. "Aren't you cute..." She replies.

Leonard smiles down a "Hello" to the exuberant boy; some mild mirth before concern surfaces. "I hope you don't need to. This place looks very inviting as and where it is. Why Derwentwater?" Sedna did mention waiting, but he tries to make up for that by stepping closer to the kitchen and the presumed Thorodan, so they don't need to speak so loudly. "Something personal, or too close to whatever's going on?"

Two things happen at once, or at least, two conversations. First is the male voice, probably Thorodan, from the kitchen, just barely out of visual range due to the way that the hallway turns. "What do you mean Derwentwater? It's obvious. Coalition folk don't like psychics and mages. Common knowledge everywhere, isn't it?" His voice is truly questioning, as if asking, "You're kidding, right?" Sedna says, "They're good folk, though. Shame, really." Then the other thing - the boy jumping up and down, now very close to both Sage and Leonard. His bouncing stops, his eyes go *really* wide, and he points a very informed finger at Leonard. "You! You do magic." Sounds like a statement of fact. "You do magic!" This time, a really strong request. The bald, bulbous-headed boy starts clapping his hands and bouncing up and down again. He looks to Sage and announces, "He do magic!" The innkeepers are now bringing out the promised meal.

"Mages probably more so." Sage agrees with the man, before pausing to consider the name. "Der Went Water." She says the name as separate words, before shaking off the thought. She seems content to wait for the time being to see what the proprietors have in mind for the way the evening will go. The perception of the boy draws her attention and she smiles softly to the boy's enthusiasm. "So it seems." She replies with a mildly humour tone.

"I'm sorry. I've not been there or met the nice folk there, yet," Leonard explains apologetically, "but I'm very aware of whom the Coalition does and doesn't like." The last half isn't so apologetic, though he remains polite. When the food emerges, he backs up to not crowd and realizes that they should probably find a place to sit. As for the boy's revelation and contagious enthusiasm, Leonard turns to give him a sly smile and conspiratorial wink. Both are exaggerated for the youth's benefit.

Now that the hosts are in view, it's easily seen that the rotund Sedna inclines her head oddly at Sage's smile. "Why are you saying it that way? Derwentwater. One word. References hope and harmony, something like that. You just came from there, didn't you? You saw the place, it's very nice. So don't go making fun of other people's names. Particularly, young lady, when you haven't even given us yours yet. Not that it's required. You want your anonymity as newlyweds, that's fine." She motions the two of them over to a table near a window, with a big steel shield with a rampant lion emblazoned on it. "Here you go." Indeed, two bowls of stew, and beverages to go along with them. Thorodan is finally seen, and he is just a man. Reddish hair and also on the ample side, but just a man. He says, "Like I said, I haven't seen anything other than increased patrols, but I would assume that the folks up at Whykin are doing something different." The boy continues to hang close to the 'couple' bouncing and doing two things; demanding magic from Leonard, and reaching excitedly toward Sage with his other hand, clapping his arms in between.

"It seemed like for a moment it might be a phrase inside of a name is all." Sage replies, offering a small apologetic smile. "And signing like that was his idea." She adds, trying to infuse a little humour and possibly defuse some of the mood. Although she pauses with a slight frown as she glances towards the radio in the corner. She moves towards the radio and away from the boy. "Why is that radio on?" She asks simply, before looking to the others.

Leonard moves to the table and takes a seat, thanking both host and hostess for the meal. While Sage addresses Sedna, he resumes his conversation with Thorodan, adding a nod. "Something different, certainly. I'm curious... though not enough to wander too close. Whatever they're doing, I doubt they're doing it without security." With the mystery site being outside the city, just happening to wander there isn't so easy to justify, and Leonard is allergic to getting shot on sight.

"Hmm?" Sedna perks up and turns her head with a shrug. "It's always on. A decorative piece wouldn't be very amusing it if were just sitting there. Thorodan bought the old thing from a traveling merchant a few years ago. Cleaned it up, plugged it in. Lights went on, but nothing else. But the lights made it interesting, so there it sits." The rotund woman waves a dismissive hand. "It's been making those noises recently. Picked up like that a few months ago. It's fun!" Fun? Well, apparently if you own a bed and breakfast. Thorodan shrugs his shoulders at Leonard's comment. "I'm not a soldier, but it makes sense. Maybe why we've seen the increased patrols. They keep sending people through here. Regular soldiers, things up in the sky, those things that hunt out the poor people at the village down here." He nods his chin west. "Y'know, we do get people through here, and one couple - newlyweds, like you two - said that there were, um.. damn, what was it?" He scratches his head, apparently an aging memory. "Building things outside the walls. Distant from the walls. Maybe not building them yet. I dunno, I don't remember exactly. But a bunch of places." He eyes Leonard. "You two going to look for 'em?" Meanwhile, the boy continues to leap and clap and point, and the very, very astute might notice that it looks as if he's sort of... inflating. In all directions. "DO MAGIC!" His eyes also roam to Sage, and her conversation.

Sage considers the comments offered to her by the woman, before looking back to the radio itself. "Interesting..." She comments, "Leonard... how good are you with a radio?" She asks simply, "It making noise around the time that things started to get more interesting around here can't be a coincidence."

"Alright, alright... but you need to calm down." Leonard tries to placate the boy. He'd idly considered some minor bit of prestidigitation to entertain the boy, before, but put it off. Now it seems to be a bit more of a priority. He pats down a pouch and pulls out a few credit chits. The tab and some entertainment, all in one... once the hand holding the pieces is waved about and the bits begin to ...do nothing. "Well..." Now the possible significance of the radio becomes a good excuse. "It could be receiving something related? I can try to touch it and not break it?" His answer probably isn't very reassuring.

Thorodan looks between the two newlyweds - as far as he knows - and asks, "So you're really going after the Coalition folks? You want to get your eyes on whatever it is that's happening?" He looks to Sedna and she nods to whatever it was between that went unspoken. "You'll need to cover a lot of ground. The forest is a big place, and I think that they're trying to do something big. Expansive. Can either of you ride a horse?" Then a gaze a Leonard that says, "Wow, you suck at magic tricks." The boy with the bulbous and bald head continues to inflate, and his playful demands seem less and less playful, and more and more demanding. He's quite obviously a number of inches larger than he was when Sage and Leo arrived, growing exponentially and then with a sudden leap. As he continues to make demands, Sedna whaps him on the shoulder. "Wiggi! Leave the nice people alone. You calm down, now, mister or I'll send you right up to your room." Wiggi seems less than impressed by the threat of disciplinary action. Thorodan waves, "Maybe you should meet me out back."

"Taking a look see is about right." Sage replies before nodding as she turns away from the radio, "As for the horse, I have a way with them." She comments, glancing briefly to the kid that seems to have grown more agitated among other things. She lets out a sigh, "Well, so much for a hot meal..." She comments before nodding to the man, "Alright, out back it is."

Leonard might've bothered to steal a bite or two in the conversation, somewhere, but that's about it. He also forgets about his earlier skittishness now that there is a better idea of location and an easier way to get there. "Yes, we'd like to see what we can." Leonard avoids the question of horsemanship since he's limited to the 'hanging on for dear life' method.

Wiggi is getting huge. Growing by feet now, and his attitude is increasingly negative and confrontational. Thorodan looks pissed. "You two were feeding Wiggi, weren't you? Now my poor wife has to try to calm him down. He's going to put his fist through a wall, break some furniture. If it weren't for the fact that you two are apparently trying to help all of us out, I'd kick you out on your behinds! Follow me, NOW!" He'll escort Sage and Leonard around to the back, where an absolutely massive black horse with a white spot on its side is standing beneath a sheltering roof, tethered to a pole. An absolutely massive horse, around twenty-hands high, for people familiar with that measuring unit. For those not, about seven feet tall at the shoulder, and close to ten to the top of its head when standing erect. The host is in more of a hurry as clunking noises begin from within the inn. "Here. This is Winddodger, he's a good horse, a shire horse. He'll listen to you. Get out of here before Wiggi tries to chase you down. Go north, that's where that other couple said things were happening. Good luck, and check anything that you have that uses energy before you try to use it." That said, he hurries around into the inn, apparently just leaving the two to their fate to figure things out on their own.

While Sage will follow the man, she can't help but frown faintly. "I don't even know what he eats." She mutters, finding these people to be a little judgmental about things. Yet, she hasn't been living so close to the Coalition with the threat that it entails. She nods faintly to the man, "Alright, no one told us to leave our equipment outside, though. But, thank you for your help and I wish you all the best." She comments before climbing onto the horse in a smooth manner before lowering her hand to help Leonard onto the horse.

"He could've been some sort of energy vampire," Leonard makes a passing observation after the man has left. "It would explain why my spell didn't work..." With a grunt, a touch of flailing, and no small help from Sage, he'll get himself on board the animal. It isn't elegant or smooth, but it works. "Are we ready to try and get a closer look?"

The weather remains a drizzle, and it's still afternoon, so the light is quite bright enough to move around. After all, it's still daytime. Winddodger seems quite ready to go, very happy to answer any and all of Sage's commands.

Once settled on the horse, Sage makes sure her helmet is secure. The relationship with the horse built easily with the connection she has to nature. She takes a moment to consider the charge on her laser pistol just in case then putting it away. "Then you shouldn't have tried." She comments simply, "Now, make sure you hold on or you'll end up on your ass." She comments, waiting briefly before nudging the horse into action. "Ha!" She calls out to begin their trip to go scout on the Coalition position.

Leonard grabs hold of Sage around her armored midsection. He doesn't want to fall on his ass, and the plating does get rid of any possible awkwardness of the embrace... even if they are newlyweds. "I'll remember that for next ti-ime." The bouncing will take some getting used to, regardless of his familiarity with Vixen's driving.

Winddodger lives up to his name, bolting off through the forest at a very rapid clip, though a sharp-eyed observer may feel more power behind it than speed. It takes only a few minutes to cover what would otherwise have taken perhaps hours on foot. The horse seems to be an intelligent animal, because it slows by itself. The drizzle has finally stopped, and in this particular area, the forest canopy is practically nonexistent. look adad

SMALL CLEARING

Sage pats the horse, "Its okay, you've done well." She assures the horse, then she takes a moment to change the e-clip on her pistol once she finds one that reports being charged. A quiet mutter about an expanding kid. "Alright, something has the horse nervous." She comments, before taking a moment to take out her binoculars to see if she can see anything ahead at all. "Might have to walk a little."

"I've no objections to that. We should move more cautiously, now, anyhow." Leonard is thankful for the armor, or he might have trouble walking after that gallop. He waits for Sage to decide that it's time to dismount before choosing to fall off Winddodger, though.

This is one of many identical small clearings dotting the area around Whykin, roughly fifteen miles out from the heavily-defended city walls. It's mostly deserted, ground down to bedrock, and cleared of vegetation for a good one-hundred yards. There area few pieces of heavy machinery which were obviously used to bring the area up to what it is at the moment. Various sundry construction items, such as gas canisters and replacement parts are seated around. There's one of these areas, each of similar type and dimension, very precisely every two-and-a-half miles on this southwestern side of the city. One might well be cautious as to anyone doing counter-snooping in the area, as it should be obvious that something is, indeed, happening.

There are a few men and women, mostly just laborers and folks driving heavy equipment. Here and there are lightly-armed sentries. At one area you happen to reach, two of them are a little more talkative than at others, though you're too far to hear them at the moment.

"Well, no sense in going in for a closer look." Sage comments as she considers the situation before digging out a microphone that Vixen left. "Here goes nothing..." She comments as she uses a small amount of her power to grasp the microphone and send it out towards the conversing guards. Might as well see what they're saying... Sage will naturally get the recorder part ready for when the microphone gets closer to actually be able to capture voice.

Leonard is more than content to watch, and from a moderate distance. Between what they passed and Edgar's aerial view, it's become apparent that this isn't a single, localized project. An array of guard posts or towers? The foundation for some sort of massive wall? He has no idea, but it's much larger an effort than they initially suspected. Disabling or delaying a few pieces of equipment isn't going to have much effect.

... grunting as the microphone gets closer, then words become clear. "Yeah, this a shit job. I mean, it's great because I don't have to do anything, but still, just fuck-all going on around here, Johnny." Another voice. "Oh? Whadda want, Zat? You got caught with your dick in the Captain's daughter. Lucky you're alive. Lucky you're alive and have a dick." Return to Zat, apparently. "Oh, fuck you. You wouldn't know a vagina if you saw one." Scuffling noises. "Okay, okay... hold hold. Fine. You know what I want? I wish I'd been assigned to Plotkin's unit. He's not trippin' around with this chicken-shit stuff. God, I could take a piss and hit Whykin. What's the point of expanding your borders if you aren't actually expanding your borders? They say that Plotkin's got something goin' on deep. Like, twenty-five miles closer to those fucks in Kingsdale. *He* knows how to get things done." The other voice. "Yeah, but that's a secret, asshole. He's siphoning men and materiel, even Rheevus doesn't know about it. I dunno, man, I don't think I wanna get into it. Twenty-five miles south, you say? " Other voice. "Yeah. Kingsdale way. Huge spot. Can't miss it. Don't know how Rheevus hasn't seen it. Plotkin must be plugged into the aerial patrols." There is more, if anyone wants to continue to listen. Minor words about this sequence of clearings being referred to as the "Mongrel Line."

"I... think that'll do it." Sage comments as she recalls the microphone and tucks it away. She'll head back for the horse. "So, Leonard... you want to sleep in a tent, the barn or take our chances with bumping into the wonder boy in the Inn?" She asks on their way back.

"That is not pleasant news..." Leonard nods and turns to withdraw with her. "The barn might be nearly as comfortable as the inn," at least for the animal-inclined, "but I'll leave it up to you. If you want to stay outdoors, I can conjure shelter. No need to set up a tent, though it would be more conspicuous." After checking the time, he hmms. "I hope the others are alright, and having success. Maybe we should return to the ATV, just in case they're already there, waiting."

While Zat and Johnny continue to argue amongst themselves, and the heavy equipment goes about their jobs - slowly - the horse whinnies and bucks a little bit. Nothing apparent has changed, and fortunately no one hears the animal. Whatever is going on here nearer the walls is something that's happening relatively slowly. Making an estimate? Probably months to finish - of course, that entirely depends on what it actually is. Perhaps Vixen and Gabriel will be able to provide more insight.

As they get back to the horse, Sage is pleased to see that it remained waiting for them. "No, not pleasant news at all... but it does sound like we might have something to get attention and a closer look." She agrees before hm'ing softly as they approach the horse. "Well, we might not have to decide right away... come on..." She comments as she goes to climb back onto the horse. She makes sure the horse understands not to gallop off without her companion as she holds down her hand for Leonard once more.

Leonard repeats the grab-pull-struggle-flail-flop boarding process. Horses should be shorter, or learn to kneel to make that process easier. After getting a firm grip on Sage, he notes, "Ok, I'm ready." As much as he can be.

LARGE CLEARING

Winddodger snorts, bucks his head, then turns swiftly, riding south at high speed. Normally such a massive horse wouldn't move so quickly, but obviously, he is a special horse. He eats up twenty-five miles in one hour, even with the trees and snow in the way. Again, he slows, then eventually pauses, this time close enough to something that noises of construction can be heard. He bobs his head at Sage, then will wait patiently, ready to answer her commands.

The fleetness of the horse is certainly surprising, but Sage delights in horse's ability. Whether she'll be a little sore in the morning is anyone's guess. Once horse pauses, she takes out her binoculars to consider this new site. She whistles quietly, "Guess we know where the real action is taken place." She comments, before glancing back to Leonard to offer over the binoculars in case the man wants to take a look. Otherwise, she'll tuck the binoculars. In the end, her command to the horse is simple... warm, safe, place to sleep.

Leonard will take a look, but he doesn't plan to loiter. More activity and more security means a higher chance of getting noticed. He'll likewise have Edgar keep a respectable distance. There isn't much to see beyond the locations of the sites, so far, anyhow. "It's the farthest out, the closest to Kingsdale, so I suppose that makes sense. On the bright side, I don't think proof that the CS is up to something big could be any more obvious."

This clearing is far larger than any of the others, and a good twenty-five miles beyond the city borders. Vegetation has been cleared for a good thousand yards, and the flat area is adequate to hold a small base. There are large pieces of equipment moving equally large crates around. This area is unique in that it is situated on the southwestern side of a rise, part of it being cut into the cliff face. Both in steps and possibly into the small mountain itself. Though definitely not populated, it's far busier than any other site, and there are a few military grunts and laborers about. It's large, it's ambitious, it's far from the city, and despite its size, it's probably going to be completed before the others. Of course, whatever complete actually means is unknown.

Winddodger is quite ready to bolt. Being a wise animal, he has no desire to keep himself in danger any longer than any others would. Riders would feel the power building in his haunches, and right before the incredible beast launches itself northwest toward its home, can be heard over loudspeakers, "Testing, Camp Condor. Test." Then it's silent, and Winddodger is gone. It takes only another hour or so to get back to Derwentwater and its offered barn. Gregory and Thea would once more be happy to offer it as refuge, while Maiden Mary would escort the horse back to the in. Night will pass, a brief radio call will be received by those in the city, and the next morning, all four will meet at the ATV and return to Kingsdale.