>Voklit
Those are new. Species or nation?

Polo! Good to see you again. Missed ya.

>going silent without use of artificial jammers may raise questions to nearby neumono.
Doesn't it depend on if they're paying attention to you in particular? One person in a crowd dropping out is a lot less noticeable.

And a neumono going silent doesn't necessarily mean Polo's back from the dead! You had two peers, as I recall (although, I guess their existence isn't general knowledge either, and there would be advantages to letting the public believe your superpowers were unique to you. Makes it easier to keep the secret stealth units secret).

>questions
Who am I deploying with, when do we leave, and what are we getting in ways of gear (crossed fingers that those 7 or 8 Korli-hive people we liberated have reproduced some of the stuff you lost in the bridge fiasco).

>>475891
Sir, what should we do in the case that we meet a different, unrelated salikai? As unlikely as that may be, if they're not extinct as we thought, I hardly believe that the ones Rokoa killed are the last of a dying race. We can't deny the possibility.

>>475896
I suppose that's a reasonable concern- if we're looking in all the places a Salikai might hide, we might find more than the group we're looking for. (I don't see the point in namedropping Rokoa, though).

Any other news in the last few months? There been word on, from or about the warhive since they left? Rikek gone back home yet, or he still hanging with your hive?

1/2 Polo 2012/12/01(Sat)08:44 No. 475909 ID: c4e5c2
File 135438028204.png - (20.09KB , 700x700 , 2.png )

>Voklit?
It's one of our home planet's sapient species. That sentence exhausts my knowledge of them.

>Doesn't it depend on if they're paying attention to you in particular? One person in a crowd dropping out is a lot less noticeable.
Yes, but it is still not something to test. There is no reason to do so now, anyways.

>Crossed fingers that those 7 or 8 Korli-hive people we liberated have reproduced some of the stuff you lost in the bridge fiasco
With their assistance and other engineers, I have been able to get repaired and replaced parts to have a fully functional sniper rifle and armor set once again. In fact, a modification of the armor is now entering full production.

"I am unfamiliar with Voklits, Sir."
>"You won't need to worry about them too much, we have a translator and legal negotiator for that."
"Alright, but I do not know what Voklits are, beyond existing."
>"Oh, really? Here is a picture. Sort of like non-wimpy Pomi." He says, changing the window to a big screen display. "They used to more or less be our enemies. They are traditional to an extreme level, and shun technology, at least the old ones do. The new ones may have an unhealthy mixture of young ambitioun, yet generations of grudges. In any case, they have not shown themselves to be as unapproachable as the salikai, and have been given reservations so they may live in their backwater little worlds. To make sure that they are keeping to their ways and not trying to rise up or something silly like that, we inspect their reservations. Given the galactic grade red tape, we're not able to launch dozens of units down there to map the caves like we would normally do. Which is why, off the record, I'm hoping that they're breaking some rules down there so we got some excuse to throw on a full investigation."

2/2 Polo 2012/12/01(Sat)08:44 No. 475911 ID: c4e5c2
File 135438029892.png - (14.25KB , 700x700 , 3.png )

"Who am I deploying with, when do I leave, and what gear am I allowed?"
>"7 others are confirmed, one of which includes Korli as a technician, and Inspector Lucera, whom you will be reporting to. The crew is already on their way on land, and given the haste which we've decided to deploy you, you leave in... 24 minutes, by parachute. Hence why your gear was brought on board. You'll be given communication channels so that Lucera can pick you up where you land. The gear will be your standard survival and combat gear, but given the Voklit's disdain for tech, don't flaunt it."
"What if I see salikai that aren't one of the facility's family?"
>"Report what you know with just as much importance. The Voklit are not permitted to harbor salikai, so even if it is not the salikai we are after, we still want to know."

>Any other news in the last few months?
Rikek, though he did grow to like Rakae and myself, wanted to go back home quite intensely. He is back on whatever planet he came from once again. The warhive has been silent since exile, since so long as they do not come back, we are not keeping tabs on them.

of the others, any specialized skills that could be noteworthy?

Lizard-Horse people holy shit
Cool great, what do we do now? Ask more questions? Meet our coworkers? Casual chats with the Admiral? Do we have any tending business to deal with?
I suppose another question to ask is how communications will be done, specifically down in the caves. We'll be cut off from most signals then, unless we have advanced enough commtech to get through the dense rock. I suspect our coworkers have experience working in cave systems? I forget the word for it, I think think it's spelunking. Do we have any spelunkers on our team?

...if you're trying to keep a low profile, why are you in full dress uniform with more ribbons than most people accumulate in a lifetime? A uniformed soldier is invisible- a war hero isn't!

>Korli
...wait, what? How'd she get out? Last we saw, she was running comms for you from inside the Salikai base! Several people from her hive were captured by the war hive in their initial assault, and then later liberated when the ultrahive boarded, but she wasn't one of them! And the last time she showed up in ITQ, it sure sounded like she was still a Salikai slave. I guess she managed to duck out and make a run for it in the confusion of the evacuation?

>training, shortcomings
Mind filling us in on your new capabilities? What new skills have you picked up, what weaknesses are less significant?

>>475911
Just to make it clear, if we find a facility Salikai, we're not to engage in combat with them unless it is necessary in order to report back?

We should get going as not to miss the drop window.

1/2 Polo 2012/12/01(Sat)11:37 No. 475944 ID: c4e5c2
File 135439065184.png - (35.30KB , 700x700 , 4.png )

>Why are you dressed in full with more ribbons than most people accumulate in a lifetime?
From what I gather, it is standard for a meeting with, say, an admiral. I was not seen in public, so I figured it was acceptable. The amount of ribbons would raise questions of who I am, but they also give me the power to wave away those questions.

>Korli got out?
Yes, somewhere in the confusion of the salikai's final retreat, she saw an opening.

"Of the others, any notable skills?"
>"There's the cartographer, a translator for the Voklits, a couple of soldiers acting as bodyguards in case the voklit get uppity, and one survival specialist. It should not be a complex enough mission to merit anything more than that, but I do not have the details on many of them, since they are of another ultrahive."
"Do we have a way of communication inside the caves?"
>"Possibly for extremely short range, but your operations will take place above ground still.
"And my coworkers will have experience in cave systems?"
>"Most of them don't, you are the second most experienced while the survival specialist has extensive knowledge. This is part of why we're sending you here of all places, as we want to have more than one person with hands on experience with spelunking."
"And I am not to engage in combat with salikai unless required, correct?"
>"Correct, the first priority is simply to report to us, and await further instruction."
"Then that will be all. Where do I go?"
>"I'll get someone to show you the way. Good luck, but I doubt you'll need it."
"Thank you."

2/2 Polo 2012/12/01(Sat)11:37 No. 475945 ID: c4e5c2
File 135439067338.png - (18.88KB , 700x700 , 5.png )

>What new skills have you picked up, what weaknesses are less significant?
I have focused on close quarter combat and reaction time as the major concern. Otherwise, I have made sure that I am at least competent in a wide assortment of skills and knowledges.

Up at the deck, I'm greeted by someone who hands me a parachute after I suit up and get my gear in order. And while I'm at it, hoping that the plasma shields continue seperating our air supply from the vacuum of space.

>"Hey, you the single one getting dropped? Let me input the coordinates for your visor. We've calculated your expected drag and weight, and your visor will update you on if you need to pull yourself north or east or whatever while you fall. You've skydived before, right?"
"Yes, I have experience."
>"Good, because you're going in at an extremely high altitude. It's not like you've got to get within the meter, just try to land on the right continent. We'll double check to make sure that your armor is properly sealed and airtight for this."
"... how high is this drop?"
>"See this little room behind me? We depressurize it, then we drop you down the chute that pokes out of the plasma shields. This is the drop altitude."

>>475945
>Try Jumping

Hoo boy. We're going to have quite the view. Maybe we can pull off some stunts while we're falling, for funsies.

Also, with your luck, I half expect the parachute to partially fail. Not fully, of course. Just enough to make it difficult to stay on target. There's probably a backup parachute too anyway.

You got your bioarmor on under there? Unless acclimating yourself to putting it on and off easily was part of your training, I don't think less than 23 minutes was enough time.

>Orbital Airdrop
Oh goodie. Another suicidally stupid risk for my checklist. I was wondering if I'd missed any.

Even if this station is at Low Earth Orbit (well not Earth, but whatever) there's not going to be sufficient atmosphere for a parachute to function. If you're skydiving from the edge of space, the trick is to wait till there's enough atmosphere to deploy, but not wait too long. If you get going too fast, the parachute may provide insufficient breaking or rip/tear under the stress. And then you're burning up in reentry, or at least spattering yourself across the landscape.

>Korli got out
Well, smart of her, I suppose. She would have been in a lot of trouble if her comm trick had been discovered. You guys talked since the mission?

>>475953

So Polo has a chance to become obsessed with a vision of a burning world and become the Fury?

Neat.

how often are drops from this hight done?
also thats gonna be one heck of a view, obligatory "do a barrel roll" for your way down

>>475955
My first thought was Snake doing the HALO jump.

>>475957
Not of Baumgartner? I mean, c'mon, we just had a guy do this in the real world.

>>475953
The worry is less the vertical velocity, but the horizontal: falling from low orbit isn't going to get you going particularly fast and the progressively increasing density of the atmosphere slows you gently (see: Kittinger, Baumgartner), but you're already moving sideways at a good 6000-7800ms^-1 (13,500-17,500mph).

Hopefully the parachute includes something like the MOOSE or Paracone.

Screw the science of it. I'm sure the engineers have it down enough to justify just bolting you down to the planet from here. I mean hell, this lady wasn't even sure if you've had ANY skydiving experience before but they were going to throw you down to the planet anyway. Whatever problems we would have with inexperienced divers in this sort of thing, they've solved enough to send a casual experienced soldier with hardly much preparation. They don't even think of it so much of a big deal.

Just follow their directions Polo and you'll be fine.

>>475964
If we're in geocentric orbit, there won't be any horizontal velocity relative to the planet.

Say "Yeehaa" as flatly as you can.

>>475969
>geocentric
That's not the word you're looking for. But still, no. Even if the ship was in a geostationary orbit (which is very, VERY far from a planet compared to low orbit), you'd essentially be doing a Hohmann transfer down if you had any interest in minimising propellant use, and you'd gain a heck of an orbital velocity from that. And even if you didn't, (using earth's values here, calculate with Neumono Homeworld values when available), surface tangential sped is ~440ms^-1 ish. GEO is more like 3000ms^-1. That 2500ms^-1 delta is still Very Not Good.

>"I'm never going to use this, am I?"
See Polo? Math is important after all!

But yeah, best you can do is trust that more qualified people have done it, and pay attention to what your computer or mission control says to do.

I'm sure out all this scientific buisness people are going through, they probably have some sort of shielding & guidance headsets to set them through, sat like an ablative cone that can be ejected once atmo is hit & they slow to terminal velocity

"...There time to triple-check my gear?"

Seriously, was this the best way they had to get you down in secrecy? The one where if anything goes wrong, you get burnt to a crisp, crater, or at the very least end up massively off course? They couldn't take you down far enough in another craft so you could do a relatively safer HALO jump?

You're still going to do this, but you're going to voice your objections. Hope that parachute pack has some additional techno-wizardy in it, like a one-shot anti-G generator.

I wonder why they're sending you specifically to do this. Oh well, too late for that question now.

>>475970
I vote for this.

>>476009
What? No way is Polo voicing objections, this is super awesome. Also, it's pointless and unprofessional for a soldier to complain like that. Polo is stone cold.

Ask her is there some traditional thing soldiers yell when they perform an orbital parachute drop?

1/3 Polo 2012/12/02(Sun)08:57 No. 476072 ID: c4e5c2
File 135446747652.png - (14.60KB , 700x700 , 6.png )

>You got your bioarmor on under there?
No. I have it in my bag, and it does not take more than an hour for me to put it on. I will do so once I am picked up.

>You guys talked since the mission?
Some, but not much. She, along with the others, have mostly been under very close watch. Apparently that has been lifted if she is off on this mission.

"When do I deploy the parachute?"
>"Around 2,000 meters, your goggles will display your elevation, and it may change a bit depending on where you are at that point."
"And this sort of drop is made regularly?"
>"Don't worry, we're not using you as an experiment. People do this now and again, since it's a lot cheaper to do this than it is to get a ship to deploy everytime someone wants off. Your parachute is good and tough, and there's a backup in there."
"Let me triple check my gear."
>"Sure."

So with a few minutes of preparation, I stand in the room and wait. It's got a little monitor displaying the status and the countdown. It's nice that they don't just make you sit in a featureless room then drop you without warning.

>"Good luck out there." I hear her say through the room's intercom.

2/3 Polo 2012/12/02(Sun)08:58 No. 476073 ID: c4e5c2
File 135446749012.png - (41.78KB , 700x700 , 7.png )

"Yee haa."

3/3 Polo 2012/12/02(Sun)08:59 No. 476074 ID: c4e5c2
File 135446755326.png - (68.72KB , 700x700 , 8.png )

While my armor throws out numbers to me, I turn on my radio to the channel the admiral gave me.

"This is Polo reporting. Anyone there?"
>"This is Marra. You ready to be picked up?"
"Almost. I'm coming down. Let me double check the coordinates I've been given."
>"Yeah. Just a sec, let me get our location."

This iteration of the armor has some voice recognition to it, so I'm able to input commands during freefall. The wind conditions were ideal after all, and for over a full minute of freefalling I'm able to direct myself in favor of a surprisingly accurate landing.

After I double check the coordinates with Marra, I think I know exactly where they are via my visor. It's a mountainous terrain, in the thick of a forest, and they're likely on one of the snakey roads along a mountain pass.

I don't get many chances to make a dramatic entrance. I wonder how stupid it would be to try to land on their truck.

Depends on the type of truck.
It'd be stupid to land on a truck with a soft roof. It's be less stupid to land on one with a sturdy roof, but only if it's big enough, you're going to make a big impact where you land. You'll be running. It's better to run off the top of the truck than release your parachute and land on the ground into a roll.

Well, you need some open, level ground, and the truck needs open, level ground, so while you don't want to aim for the truck you might want to aim in the vicinity of the truck.

...snakey mountain roads tend not to be very wide, and parachutes aren't know for precision targeting. If you're off by a few feet (or blown off course slightly by a gust of mountain wind), you'll end up on the trees by the side of the road, or smashing into a cliff face above the road, or down the incline on the other side. Also... parachutes take up a lot of space when they settle. It'll likely get tangled up with the truck, or will drag you off the roof as the truck keeps moving.

That said, you are a sharpshooter. How cool would to be to hit a target as small as a truck from orbit?

The trade off here is basically professionalism versus impressiveness. You pull this off? You look damn impressive. You screw it up? You look like an idiot, and someone without regard for proper protocol, and who takes stupid risks for no reason (and you might already have a reputation to overcome with some people after your last opp).

So yeah, if you're going to hit the truck? Don't fuck it up.

I'd suggest landing right in front of the truck. Much the same...impact...but no chance of damaging equipment.

if the parachute can be easily removed then the truck could be a viable option (tho you may have to go back to recover the parachute) otherwise yeah, see if you can get ahead of them, if possible if you have enough speed going, fly over them at low altitude

>>476085
Personnel is a kind of equipment, so... how about no?

>>476085
>landing in front of a truck
>lower chance of damaging equipment
I'm pretty sure Polo's bones count as rather important pieces of equipment.

>>476074
Depends on how fast you're gonna be falling even after the parachute slowed you down, how sturdy the truck is, and how much space you need to come to a complete stop.

I kinda want to do it, if it's feasible.

>I kinda want to do it, if it's feasible.
Pretty much this. Polo, if you think you've got decent odds of success and not making an idiot of yourself, go for it.

I don't suppose your standard survival and combat gear includes a new grappling hook? You could use that to salvage a messed up entry and still make a flashy entrance.

1/2 Polo 2012/12/02(Sun)11:47 No. 476110 ID: c4e5c2
File 135447765628.png - (23.97KB , 700x700 , 9.png )

The chance of it being incredibly stupid are directly inversely proportional to my chances of pulling it off. So, probably pretty stupid. I am not a professional skydiver, and although the conditions are favorable for stunts, I have also been making an attempt to not succumb to ridiculous temptations.

So I line myself up, deploy the parachute, and make a nice, uneventful, safe landing on the road just a bit in front of the truck.

>>476098
lol yeah. Do it.

2/2 Polo 2012/12/02(Sun)11:53 No. 476114 ID: c4e5c2
File 135447801170.png - (53.24KB , 700x700 , 10.png )

>Have a grappling hook?
Somewhere in my pack where it is was exceptionally difficult to get to.

Turns out there are two trucks, though, so load my stuff in one and get on. The driver of the other truck, perhaps the inspector, doesn't feel like stopping for proper introductions. He seems rather serious.

"Hey, you did show up!" Korli says.
"Hello. I would have thought you would be under more surveillance."
"Well, aren't I? After I shared everything I knew, they still let me at least wander, but I volunteered to help them search."
"Nice landing." the driver says. "Good to know we weren't gonna spend all day having to track you down. My name's Biler, of the Underbrush hive."
Never heard of them.
>"And I'm Rokann." says the girl in the passenger seat. "Yeah, good job. Know what woulda been great? If you tried landing right on us. So, is half of what they say about you the truth?"

I resisted the temptation only to find out at least one of them is into the theatrics. Figures. It's not even a full door truck, so I might've landed right in my seat. I'm going to spend the whole mission wishing I at least tried it now.

My wild daydreams are probably caused by these rather sudden events after being cooped up in my hive building for months.

Damn it, I wish we had done it. Every time life offers Polo a crazy risk, she should take it.

Oh hey, a multi-colored neumono. That's new. Does that sort of thing occur naturally, or is that dye or cammo? (Me asking Polo, not Polo asking him).

Don't worry, Polo. I'm sure you'll get a chance to show off sooner rather than later.

>is half of what they say about you the truth?
Well, not the part about my being dead, barely.

As for the rest... I'm sure your hivemates have been more than happy to fill you in on how tall your tale has gotten. Respond appropriately- either the rumors are mostly true, or they've gotten crazy.

If we're just going to be riding around and chatting, you could take the helmet off. Unless we're going to be paranoid about an ambush, which seems unlikely.

ask how Korli's been & what she thinks of the outside world

>>476114
You're not aware of much of what they say. You did the mission, did a few more missions. You've been blown up and beaten to a pulp, destroyed zombie neumono's controller bugs, turned a queen into mush, and prevented a nuclear conflict ushered by the salikai. You've also befriended a legendary predator.

That's pretty much it.

>>476114
Ask them what they've been saying about you. Verify the truths.

>is half of what they say about you the truth?

You likely have no idea what crazy things people are saying about you, so it's safe to say that your exploits have likely been exaggerated. Does she have any specific questions?

Polo 2012/12/02(Sun)15:44 No. 476147 ID: c4e5c2
File 135449185813.png - (23.22KB , 700x700 , 11.png )

>Are multicolored neumono natural?
It is possible, but rare. It could be camo here, but that one science hive neumono... I don't recall if I ever learned his name, but the one that blew himself up had multiple fur tones.

"Not the part about me being dead." I say, getting a chuckle from Rokann. "I don't know what else they say about me and how much is exaggerated."
>"That you can resist a predator's influence, you killed a salikai barehanded, and ran around an enemy warship while they chased you around, and then took out a vernaut, a grottle, and assassinate the warhive's queen."
"... I guess the answer is yes, if you remember the word 'half', and nothing more." Resisted a predator? I wonder if they even know about my empathy blocking, if they think I resisted it with brute force. "I didn't kill a salikai or vernaut, and the grottle and queen was done with assistance." Rokann seems almost partially disappointed, but at least considers me honest. "Korli, how have you been?"
>"Oh, you know, living. The salikai didn't have any surprise orbital beam satellites they took me out with."
"What do you think of the outside world?"
>"It's huge, and I don't think I'd ever see all of it. What's wrong? You feel like you missed out on something?"
"Don't worry about it."
>"Geez, though, they really brought some top notch people on this mission."
"How so?"
>"Well, there's you, first off. Then Rokann here was in the binding of her ultrahive, which took about 15 years of wars that she fought the entire time in, even though she was just a kid at the time. And Biles is a top rank survivalist in his ultrahive, which very few people are. What was that about again, Biles?"
"The final test took place over one and a half standard galactic years." Biles starts explaining. "Our hive takes nine of the harshest environments of our planet. I get dropped in one, naked and alone, and have to survive one month. Then get a three day rest, and then dropped in the next biome, each one worse than the last, till I survive in all 9. The only thing I or anyone gets is a single radio, so that we have an option to bail out at any time. Using it is automatically a failure, of course."

Get your bioarmor out and suitup. If anyone asks if you're expecting trouble you get the chance to be a mysterious badass and give em the cryptic treatment.

...well, hopefully we're overqualified, then.

>I wonder if they even know about my empathy blocking
Well, if they don't know, there's no reason to reveal it, yet. Might as well keep useful secrets secret until needed.

>>476147
Jeez, how'd he manage that? Did he have to eat one of his own limbs at some point, as a sort of nutritional loan? He should tell us a story about one of the interesting parts of his trials.

Also you forgot to mention that you killed more than one grottle with that assistance. Heck, you may as well recount that whole tale of the nanobot-zombie menace, it's the coolest part of that mission. We've got some time, right? And the details of that mission aren't classified? Let's swap stories with the others.

Well, it sounded like the top brass thought this was the mostly likely area for Salikai trouble out of all the areas that are currently known of. It's nice to know that they're taking it seriously, but you have to wonder if there's anything they didn't tell you.

See if you can get briefed on what they know of the mission, and what their current plans are. Oh, and any more on the current situation with the Voklit, since you have very little familiarity with them. Knowing how NOT to start a fight is probably a good idea.

>>476149
That would require stripping naked. I think we're supposed to do that when we get to the camp.

>>476151
I don't think Polo has anything to prove- there's no need to start recounting her exploits. Besides, if anything from that mission should be classified, it's the existence of evil mind control tech. We'll provide info on that if and when it becomes necessary.

>>476154
I think the bio-armor it in our pack, which we stored in the back. The logistics of getting to it, and taking off all our metal armor, would be kind of awkward in a moving car.

>>476147
Naked, huh?
How naked~?

Check with the others here what their orders are, and what they were told to expect going in, just to make sure everyone is on the same page here. It's looking like since the top brass couldn't send in the army they wanted, they're sending in a small group of the best people they have on hand.

Considering your short experiences with the arctic and volcanic biomes, Biles must be one tough son of a bitch to survive in either of those for a month, and they might not even be the worst ones. Ask him what was the last biome, and to what extremes he had to go to get through it.

Ask Korli what the name of the guy with the glasses was, and what made him go to the lengths he did. It's a shame you don't know his name since he made the ultimate sacrifice to stop the nuke launch. He should be recognized for that.

"That beats me, I had to wear someone else's skin to avoid freezing".

>>476165
Oh god, that's almost actually true.

>>476175
"almost"? I see no discrepancy.

1/2 Polo 2012/12/03(Mon)01:39 No. 476243 ID: c4e5c2
File 135452754775.png - (19.34KB , 700x700 , 12.png )

With no sign there is going to be any threat soon, I will continue waiting before putting on my bio armor.

"What was the name of the person who sacrificed himself, Korli, of the science hive?"
>"Oh... that was Likol, I think."
"Ah. And Biles, I may want to swap stories sometime. What was your last biome?"
"Northland Swamp. It was the easiest to find food in, but for bad reasons. Everything tastes nasty, except for me. Not just does every other creature also agree with that, but every creature can also smell a neumono from very far away. Food was easy, sleep wasn't. You ever live out in the wilds before?" Biles asks.
"Some. Once had to wear someone elses skin to not freeze, that's about it."
"Oh. I usually had to wear my own skin. Mostly from constantly cutting off my ears, making a little bit at a time."
"To make sure everyone is on the same page, could you all tell me what your orders are?"
"I'm to be available to help with tech in case our trucks break down or something." Korli answers.
"I'm going to be in the caves, mapping them out the most." Biles explains. "That, and finding and cooking our food. Airspace here is supposed to be unoccupied, so we're going to have to eat either what we find, or what the Voktils give us. They'll give us enough, sure, but they tend to just plop down a big, dead animal from hunting, and expect us to be able to work with that."
"Do they not cook their food?"
"Not for us."
>"I'm just a soldier. Probably more there for show, along with Marra. I may walk around the caves, too, once everyone at camp feels comfortable." Rokann says last.

2/2 Polo 2012/12/03(Mon)01:39 No. 476244 ID: c4e5c2
File 135452756153.png - (26.33KB , 700x700 , 13.png )

It's another couple hours before the road stops traversing the side of a mountain, leading us down a long slope. We eventually stop in what looks like absolutely no distinguishing landmark aside from a few large rocks.

"There's no border marking? I didn't see anything coming in."
"It was hard to see because of the height of the trees, but that long downward slope leaded us through a narrow passage. That little pass was the border, and it opens up into a large valley that is the reservation. Again, hard to see because of the trees, although there have been Voklits that noticed us from the trees."

We get out, as do two others from the other truck, while two remain and drive off.

>"Greetings. I'm Inspector Lucera." says the one at eye level.
"Hello. I'm Polo."
>".... yes, it is nice seeing someone at eye level, isn't it."
I can't imagine how it is, anymore, not being able to turn off my empathy. He has good sense, and called me out on it. It is a bit rude to analyze a stranger's empathy like this, but we're not here for pleasantries.
>"Anyways, Marra and Kort, bodyguard and translator respectively, are going to make introductions with the Voktil while we set up camp. And take off your armor. Voktils won't like seeing you in tech. Bioarmor is fine if you have it, that doesn't look like tech in their eyes."
>"Hi, Polo. I'm Katzati, the cartographer."

Help set up camp, then see if you have enough time to change into your bio armor.

See if you can get more intel while you set up camp. Try to learn as much about Voktil customs as you can; you want to avoid a diplomatic incident (unless it's intentional).

Hopefully you'll get some warning before having to use your real armor. If nothing else, trying to get the Voktil's permission before wearing it is probably a good idea.

Also, is Hugetits a snowhive member?

I can't think of anything but those giant soft pillows.

Polo you are on your own for this one.

>>476244
We've got bioarmor. If they're going to be doing the introducing we can go put it on now since we won't be needed. If we're going too, then ask when we should leave. If we have time we can put on the bio armor, otherwise plain clothes is fine.

...I thought Neumono metabolism prevented gaining much excess weight? Or is she just really wide? Well, whichever. Maybe she did it on purpose.

I presume Katzati and Biles will be working together to map the caverns? Or is she here to map the surface?

>>476245
>>476246
>HugeTits
>giant soft pillows
Oh dear. Being around the Inspector who can almost read our mind, we might want to go silent to avoid embarrassing ourselves.

Find a private spot and have someone watch your back while you change into your bio armor. Put some normal clothes on over them, mostly for the pockets. Then talk with the others and help set up camp as best you can while the armor's bonding with you.

Ask Inspector Lucera if there's anything you should know about the Voktils, other than the "low tech" thing, to avoid causing an incident. Also ask if they have any noteworthy physical abilities other than being huge.

Get the lay of the land from Katzati; The general terrain, where the camp is, where the known cave entrances are, where the Voktils are, and the exit routes in case things go bad.

Check with Biles what's the danger level of the flora or fauna around here; There anything in particular you should watch out for?

>>476247
Considering that Marra is here as a bodyguard, her stockiness is probably composed much more of muscle than fat. She might also come from a line of neumono that are naturally wide for their height as well.

>>476246
>>476248

Only the most legendary pillows will do for cushioning Polo's mythical head. Too bad the only appropriately legendary set are going to get stuck on a meteor.

Hm. Actually, Polo probably could use Rokoa as a pretty comfortable bed. Sit her up on her legs crossed and she could be a comfy throne, too. Polo, if you ever become a space pirate queen, you know what you must do.

In the meantime, check whether everyone in the team's on the same clearance level so we know if anything needs not talking about. Then ask someone or two to cover you while you put your bioarmour on.

Also:

>"You may have heard that I'm dead. They trained me to pretend I'm alive, though, so don't worry and please do not be afraid if I must use my spooky ghost powers."

You can use that perfect deadpan look you're so good at.

>It is a bit rude to analyze a stranger's empathy like this
...really? I seem to recall you doing that, a lot.

Agree to change out of your armor. Please tell me this tech ban doesn't include guns?

>>476248
Polo will be fine, so long as we aren't pushing anything inane on her.

>>476258
Not out loud, as I recall. I can only assume it's the difference between thinking someone has nice tits and yelling out that you'd like motorboat your host's wife.

1/3 Polo 2012/12/03(Mon)07:08 No. 476261 ID: c4e5c2
File 135454730492.png - (14.61KB , 700x700 , 14.png )

>Is Hugetits a snowhive member?
I think so. She is just all around overweight, I think, a rarity even for them. Normally, but obviously not always, our metabolism prevents this. I do not need to be too worried about paying much mind to it, though, as I am not the only one who seems to be aware of her weight. I think that she is used to it.

>"You may have heard that I'm dead. They trained me to pretend I'm alive, though, so don't worry and please do not be afraid if I must use my spooky ghost powers."
This is another thing that I wish I did during my window of opportunity. I will regret not saying this as well.

We set up camp while I put on my bio armor. I can function decently directly after putting it on. I ask about Voktil customs, and from what people are able to answer, they are heavily duty bound. Often proud, elitest and xenophobic. If there is anything I can take away from the discussions, it is not about doing things that please them, it is trying to avoid things that offend.

>Considering that Marra is here as a bodyguard
Marra is off with the translator, and I haven't seen her yet. It is Katzali that is the large one here.

"Biles, is there any danger level to the flora and fauna around here? Anything to watch for?"
>"Nah, this place is as docile as it gets. At least the forest, anyway, I don't know about the caves. The voktil, again, at least on the surface, have likely tamed this valley so that the only remaining wildlife is the skittish kind. We'll try to get an idea from the voktil about any dangers of the cave. Just keep your gun around, but I shouldn't have to tell you that."
"What about the voktils? Any noteworthy physical abilities other than being huge?"
>"Nope, just pretty damn strong is all."
"And I take it guns are not part of the tech ban, then?"
>"If that's a rule, we're gonna break it. There's limits, you know. Just don't go waving your gun around unnecessarily is all."

2/3 Polo 2012/12/03(Mon)07:10 No. 476262 ID: c4e5c2
File 135454740170.png - (16.32KB , 700x700 , 15.png )

>I seem to recall you doing analyzing a stranger's empathy, a lot.
Internally, yes, but it is dragging empathic thoughts outward into spoken conversations that is considered rude by some. I have not thought about the sociological aspects of this very much, nor am I thinking ill of the inspector, as I do not see it as a great affront as some. I was simply taken aback to have it addressed so directly.

I approach Katzati to ask her things. At a closer look, I still find the prospect of there being much muscle beneath there to be unlikely.

"Are you and Biler working together to create a map of the caves, or are you focusing on the surface?"
>"Oh, we've already got a map of the surface level. It's all the cave, and it really isn't too hard. We're just going to place a little tool along your head, and it'll make a pointcloud constantly. In other words, you just need to walk around the cave and look around constantly, and it'll make a pretty solid map. I'm just here to organize everyone's point clouds and put it all in one big piece."
"I would like to get a lay of the surface, then."
>"Sure, come with me."

3/3 Polo 2012/12/03(Mon)07:10 No. 476263 ID: c4e5c2
File 135454742031.png - (22.56KB , 900x600 , 16.png )

She covers the few key points we're interested in. It is about 30 kilometers from the western wall to the easternmost cliffs.

We're at E, after coming in from the north. D is the main settlement. Although it looks like a large chunk of the map, Katzati tells me they don't live in cramped quarters, and in fact are actually very spread out. Only a few locations in there even look like they're heavily inhabited.

A is the nearest tunnel entrance, and we're going to see if it connects with B. Lastly, C is far away, and the river moves into an underground passage. We're hoping that A or B connects to C somehow, since the waters get rough and there isn't any foothold in there at a glance.

>Voktil customs
>heavily duty bound, proud, elitist and xenophobic
Well, sounds like your warhive experience will be halfway useful, then. You've got some practice dealing with those kinds of mindsets.

>ghost powers
...I'm sure we'll run into someone who still thinks you're supposed to be dead, later. You can still use that line! (Bonus points if it's to one of the Salikai, or their CAI).

>I was simply taken aback to have it addressed so directly.
Meh, don't worry. I'm sure you'll get a chance to take some of them aback with your sense of humor eventually.

>>476262
Thought you took the green armor off.

So... what are we supposed to be doing? Preparing for our cave scout? We should probably take inventory- unpack our gear, see what we have, and arrange / equip things so they're accessible when you need them. All your weapons and tools at the bottom of a backpack isn't terribly useful.

with the "inspector" I suspect trouble later, maybe he might be the "cool" type who, tho he will have to report everything, won't stop you & maybe in a situation will help, otherwise from the fact he scanned you right away could be a cause of concern, ask about him discreetly if possible, also these new people, see if you can make at least 1 ally, a friend amongst them could make things easier for us, as long as they can understand us, even ig it is pidgen

>>476273
sorry I should of made this straight away, fact is new people, we're not 100% ground with korli, yes okay paranoid too soon, but considering what polo has gone through, even with rest she'll hafta be a little paranoid, scoping out who can be friend & restrictive now before we find outright possible enemies if we find them, could be a good bonus, a good tight knit team is one who knows who is an actual friend, hence how seperate battalions can become close friends, the guard, for her size could be a friend, by so far it seems more hired, ask about her hive? multi or new/seperate?

>>476263
Personally I think we should set up a boat or raft on a long rope to explore the start of the river to see if there are any tunnels connecting to it near the mouth. It may save time. Or heck, we could use a rope without a raft.

>>476273
Scanned us? Neumono empathy is passive. He's an Inspector so I suspect that commenting on other Neumono's inner thoughts is just a habit for him. We should've asked more about the person we're reporting to before we arrived, though. Dang. I guess it won't hurt to just ask what he's like, but I feel like if there was any real concern we would've been told during debriefing.

>>476318
If it's an underground water-flow, there may not be a surface for a boat to float on, initially (ie, water goes right to the rock). We might have to go in underwater, holding our breath and suited up, like we did with the tube system in the spire complex. Attached to a tether of course, so if we use up half our air and haven't found a place to surface, we can still pull ourself / be towed back.

>>476273
>>476277
Paranoia seems unfounded. This is Polo, not Itcher, and these are fellow neumono on a joint military task force, not sneaky thieves or mobsters. I think it's fairly safe to assume they're basically competent and trustworthy until proven otherwise.

As for building up friendship for easier or clearer empathic communication? I don't think that's something that's done consciously, or can be rushed. Being able to read more subtleties or complexities via empathy is just something that happens as neumono get to know each other better.

>This is another thing that I wish I did during my window of opportunity. I will regret not saying this as well.
If you're looking for things to not regret not doing, hold off on any empathy-suppression until your first night's sleep. Turn it off just before sleeping, and it's likely they won't even notice. Then you can wander around after waking with them being none the wiser.

>>476273
>>476277
Dude, let me introduce you to my friend the period. <- see that little guy? He makes sentences readable.

Massive soft fluffy giant dirty pillows.

Get your gear ready for heading underground. Pull out your rope, grappling hook, and climbing gear and tools and attach them to your belts. Check that your radio and lights are working right. Find out who's going to be in the cave exploration group, and when you're going to leave. Are we waiting for Marra and Kort to return?

Ask if the Voktil would get all bent out of shape if your group uses obviously high tech stuff while underground, or would even know of it. If not, then you might take your armor with you to suit up in the cave. Or at least the helmet so you'd have the visor's extra vision modes.

Check with Katzati what that round spot is on the map that the east path goes around. Is it a Voktil site, a geological thing like a rock spire or pit, or something else?

Polo 2012/12/03(Mon)18:56 No. 476390 ID: c4e5c2
File 135458977130.png - (50.04KB , 700x700 , 17.png )

>Thought you took the green armor off
Strangely, it helps with the bio armor binding. It is purely mental. Like a security blanket. Except armor.

Once we get the basic setup finished, I take inventory, including what's been given to me for this mission. One pistol, 48 shots. Explosive shotgun, 32, and sniper rifle, 20 shots each for normal, armor piercing and explosive. 30% bio armor, regular armor, 4 days of condensed rations.

A first aid and hygiene kit, a multipurpose knife with auxiliary tools such as can openers. A grappling hook, basic climbing and spelunking gear, along with a headband and handheld flashlight. A compact computer, and Biles is going to climb a tree to place a solar powered charger so that we can recharge our electronics. Our flashlights have embedded power, but also allow batteries for backups. That's just what is on me, there are other communal items such as rope, specialized tools and so forth.

"Hey." I approach Katzati again. "Unless there's a reason to wait, I'll go ahead and enter the caves to look around. They won't mind using tech inside, will they?
>"I hope not. They have their own entrance to the cave they use anyways in a pit they've got. We'll need to take a look at that one eventually, but we're putting that off till we think they're comfortable enough with us around. That's why I didn't bother mentioning it."
"What's that dark circle on the map, anyway?"
>"Oh, that's the pit. They use it as an arena for fighting each other. Either for non lethal entertainment, but also settling duels two people might have with each other. That's where their entrance to the cave is that we're not looking at yet."
"Ah. I'm also thinking about the water cave. My armor can be made air tight with a decent air supply plus holding my own breath, so with a tether, I can go far in to see if there is a place to surface."
>"Yeah, that'd be good! Rokann and Marra have armor like yours, too, but you may be the best fit, possibly literally if the passage gets tight. Want to do that tomorrow morning, then?"

Sure. Do we have time to make progress today? Maybe check out the nearest cave- A? Or should we just focus on helping set up camp?

>Like a security blanket. Except armor.
I find this to be both amusing and awesome.

Alright, suit up. The knife and pistol and probably the flashlight and a minimum of climbing gear should be easily accessible on by your waist / belt, rifle on your back. The shotgun, rations, specialized tools can be stored in your pack.

...you don't necessarily need everything on you, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared if you get cut off or trapped.

Make sure you have your helmet tuned to the radio frequency the group is using. When you go head out, wait till you're out of the empathic range of everyone else before going silent (just in case there are captive science hivers or tribal neumono somewhere in the caves- you don't want to be sensed). Turn yourself back on when you head back, or if you sense anyone else from the group approaching you (well, except Korli. She's already in on the secret).

>Water cave, tomorrow
Yeah, you're better off not attempting that sort of thing along. Too many things that can go wrong that can be easily averted in a group.

>duels
...hopefully that's something you're not going to have to worry about for a good while.

Sweater cows, mamaries, soft and cuddly, oh so fluffy.

>>476398
"sweater cows"? Never heard them referred to as that, and Google turns up nothing overtly sexual, alarmingly enough. You may have meant sweater puppies, it's spelled "mammaries" with 3 'm's, and quit spamming.



Anyways, I do agree that you should do the water-cave thing tomorrow. Perhaps ask more about these duels. They might be handy.

Starting off for the water passage tomorrow morning sounds alright. Depending on how much air you've got in your tank, you'll be able to go farther than the halfway mark of just holding your breath. Though, unless they've got an air compressor rated to refill breathable air tanks, that'll be it for yours.

For checking out Cave A, bring the pistol, explosive shotgun, ammo for both, the rations, climbing/spelunking gear, radio, and all the other basic small pack items (first-aid kit, knife, etc.) Leave the armor for now. Don't forget the point mapper unit as well. Oh, and don't go alone; That'd just be asking for trouble if you go alone. Preferably bring Biles or Rokaan, but anyone else who can handle themselves out there will do.

So now that you've been around this group for a bit, what's your initial impressions of them?

Heh. Looking at Katzati, gotta wonder what the neumono equivalent of a candy bar is. Or junk food in general.

>>476405
I don't see why we'd want to leave the armor. It provides obvious benefits (as armor), has built in comms gear, night vision, a hud, and is a safety blanket helping her function while acclimating to the bio-armor. And if we're being choosy with guns, the sniper rifle is a lot more versatile than the shotgun.

We could take someone with us if they're interested, but Polo's more than qualified to scout alone.

1/3 Polo 2012/12/03(Mon)22:11 No. 476418 ID: c4e5c2
File 135460151842.png - (12.99KB , 700x700 , 18.png )

"What are these duels about?"
>"Just when two voktil's can't settle a dispute with words, they'll fight, possibly to the death or till one relents whatever argument they were having. That second option is often pretty shameful though, so a lot of them choose death over agreeing over.. whatever. Often issue of property, sometimes romantic love triangles, that sorta stuff. It's not like they're try to duel us, though! It's voktil custom, and I don't think they'd ever try to bring in a neumono to what's supposed to be their idea of an honorable event."
"Alright. I'm going to scout cave A."
>"Yeesh, you guys sure are straight to business, but better than the other way around. I'll give you the headpiece then. Just make sure it's on, and it'll automatically record the cave layout. Oh, almost forgot, since you were told not to wear your armor, at least for now, I'll give you some goggles with infrared and night vision. Depending on how deep it goes, though, we'll probably have to rely on flashlights. Oh, and make sure you try and get every cranny, otherwise it'll be hard to tell if a gap is actually just a little spot you missed, or a sidebranch you didn't take. It won't be nice if we walk half a mile in a rough cave only to find out it was just a small spot we missed."

2/3 Polo 2012/12/03(Mon)22:12 No. 476419 ID: c4e5c2
File 135460152899.png - (5.44KB , 385x259 , 19.png )

So I head off with just about all my gear minus the armor, plus a mile of of small string for keeping track of my path. I will insist on wearing armor once we go deeper in, but everyone seems to think that at least the initial trek inside won't have danger. Rokann comes with me, since she doesn't laze about either. I'll have alone time tomorrow in the water. Biles is still doing the more involved methods of getting camp set up. My senses tell me I'm still being watched up in the trees, but it's no big deal. Simply uncomforting. And once I get deep into the caves, it isn't long before a couple turns make my communication go offline.

No spikeballs or ambushes come, not as though I'd expect one, but Rokann and I stay on edge nonetheless.

3/3 Polo 2012/12/03(Mon)22:12 No. 476420 ID: c4e5c2
File 135460153965.png - (74.31KB , 700x700 , 20.png )

We come back at late evening, some time after the sun fell. They've set up a campfire, which I sit at once handing off Katzati's surveying tool.

I am likely safe to assume the massive one is Marra, and the extra plain one to be Kort.

"Hello. I'm polo."
>"Marra." she says.
>"And Kort." says he.

They are not at all social. Kort has a wandering mind, and seems concerned about everything that isn't his immediate surroundings. Marra is not thinking about anything whatsoever instead is more like she's trying to kill the time with her glare.

>>476420
Everyone but Marra seems to be looking into the trees... Still feel like you're being watched? You could see if you can spot a Voklit in the trees.

Ask how the introductions with the Voklits went.

Hmm. Should we tell spooky stories around the campfire? What sort of traditional campfire activities do you have? Roasting marshmallows? Or wieners?

>Duel details
Yeah, that sounds uncomfortably familiar. Last thing you want is to be in any way involved with that. At all.

>No spikeballs or ambushes come
Actually, if the Salikai we're looking for are anywhere down in these caves, that's not the biggest threat. The biggest problem is their camera tech! You had little no success locating them before, let alone evading them. If you get near their new hiding place, they're likely going to know you're there before you discover them. That's going to make getting in and out to report their presence cleanly... difficult. Perhaps talk to Korli about this?

>They are not at all social.
Well, if they don't want to talk, whatever. Chill. Time for dinner, and to relax a little by the fire.

Figure out if there's a watch rotation to participate in, and head off to bed when you're ready.

>>476427
Yes, that's true, they had extremely cleverly hidden cameras before and a secret entrance that was difficult to see from the outside. Even if we get to where they're hiding, how do we know we can even see the thing?

...it might be worth asking the Voklits if there's any part of the cave which is dangerous. If the last salikai hideout is any indication, they would want to keep Voklits away in some manner. Before there were spikeballs keeping Predators away... It's hard to discount that as being on purpose.

As long as you have time to kill and everyone is here, work out the plan to get you to the point C water passage tomorrow. Figure who's going, what you're taking, how you're going to get it there, which route to take, and when y'all are leaving. Are we going to go past the Voklit pit or their homes on the way there?

>>476427
Yes, it is a concern that if the caves here contain the salikai's escape base any indication of it will be very well hidden. Possibly even more so than before, since the stakes are higher for them now. Better bring everyone here that'll be going underground up to speed on what you know of their hidden entrance, if they haven't already been fully briefed.

Ask if they have any other ideas on how to detect a really hidden underground base. Stuff like watching for piles of broken rock with signs that they've been worked by modern means. Or tunnels that oddly stop, which could indicate its been blocked off. Though it may just come down to mapping enough of the caves that the base shows up as a suspicious blank spot.

There's also the danger that if the salikai's base is here, that they'll arrange for "accidents" to happen to mapping parties, since they can't just come out and attack. Things like cave-ins, sudden tunnel floods, or hostile fauna showing up out of nowhere. They might even field one of their pet neumono-predators, though that might be too obvious. Just stay on watch for odd occurrences, that's all.

1/2 Polo 2012/12/04(Tue)01:47 No. 476444 ID: c4e5c2
File 135461445168.png - (16.67KB , 700x700 , 21.png )

We have a more or less silent dinner. Empathy is enough for tonight, but despite being uneventful, we did do a fair amount of work. I do direct a question to Kort, though.

"How did the negotiations go?"
>"Well as can be expected. They don't like parties of more than 5, despite there being hundreds and hundreds of voktil that live and hunt here." he says.

I move over to talk to Korli, as well.
"Your hive facility. It had cameras embedded in the walls. They were extremely difficult to find even when I was actively searching for them. I imagine it's possible that if they're here, they may know we're here before we find them."
"Well, that's true, but there isn't really much we can do about it, is there? Plus, is there even much they can do if they see us coming? I mean, they can't just kill us, everyone will know something's going on if we suddenly get wiped out while exploring the caves."
"That might be true. But, there is also the matter of their hidden entrance. They did a good job covering it with fake rock, and I don't think we are expected to test every square meter of rock to make sure it is not hiding anything. Hold on. I am going to talk this over with everyone if possible."

2/2 Polo 2012/12/04(Tue)01:47 No. 476445 ID: c4e5c2
File 135461445945.png - (14.93KB , 700x700 , 22.png )

"Lucera."
>"Inspector Lucera. Katzali told me about you going into the water cave. Since you're here, we may as well finalize discussion. You will go with Katzali, Marra, Korli and Biles. We want to make sure there is enough manpower if you get pulled into a particularly rough stretch or other such complication."
"Are we going past the voktil pit or homes?"
>"Yes, you'll be taking a car, and moving along the outer rims. You may not even see any homes, depending on the route Marra drives and how low their tree living is placed."
"Alright. I also want to talk to you all about the salikai's manner of hiding a cave entrance. It was done when I was in a needle spire."
>"Right now, we're concerned about more mundane needs, but within days, once we settle, we'll focus on the salikai search. Nonetheless, we have time tonight before we take shifts watching, so you may as well tell us everything you've been permitted to share. But before that, are those four enough to help you with the cave, and do you plan on just poking in to get a shallow view, or do you plan on spending all day mapping out as much as you can? If the latter, then we won't want to hang up four people waiting all day, and will need to discuss more."

>>476445
Honestly we might want to just do a shallow view for now, considering that is really the most likely place for the salikai to be at. We don't want to stir up the ants' nest before we have those mundane needs covered. However, it would be useful to at least see what directions the water tunnel branches in, and if there's any dry land connected to it, wouldn't it?

Also make a mental note to definitely address him as Inspector Lucera from now on, and well, treat him more like a superior officer. I mean, we take orders from him. Are you used to taking orders at all, Polo?

>>Inspector Lucera.
Might be an idea to take him aside and explain that your lofty rank is honorary.

I think a shallow poke seems reasonable for now. We're more trying to figure out if it's a viable entrance, and what conditions are like.

>Inspector
If Polo survived boot camp, I'm pretty sure she can cope with someone who pettily insists on being addressed by his rank or title. You're a soldier, it's no big deal.

>you may as well tell us everything you've been permitted to share
Also reasonable. You may not be the first one to stumble across the entrance, and it would be good for the others to know what they were looking for, and what to expect. Not knowing might mean we miss something, or that someone dies.

Has it been asked what everyone's rank is? If not, then what is everyone's rank. Also, let's not just spend all day mapping, and have a little time for other activities.

>>476481
We don't even know Polo's rank (except that it's presumably higher than private, and less than admiral. :V)

Really, rankwise, all that's important is that Luccera is in command. We can treat the others as peers- there's no real need to try and figure out who we might be able to boss around.

Do address Inspector Lucera by his full title from now on, whether or not he technically outranks you, since he is the one in command here.

As far as the water cave is concerned, you're only going to go in for long enough and far enough to determine if there are dry tunnels worth investigating connected to it. You don't want to go farther into the tunnels without an armed group watching your back anyway.

The group coming with you looks mostly okay. Marra and Biles are alright, and Korli should come in case there's a problem with the truck, and especially if there's a powered winch that could be used to pull you back up. Katzali you assume is coming 'cause the mapping device has to be calibrated before you dive in, but if it could be adjusted without leaving camp then she could stay behind.

1/3 Polo 2012/12/04(Tue)20:55 No. 476585 ID: c4e5c2
File 135468332831.png - (156.54KB , 700x700 , 23.png )

"A shallow poke is fine for now."

Calling him by his title is fine. It is unusual, as neumono ranks are usually a somewhat casual affair, something that I've been told has caused much dismay to the humans and belenos that made it to be taken far more seriously. Ranks for us are used more as titles rather than indicative of a chain of command anyways. At least that's the way it's been in my own hive.

I share the summation of my tale into the night, answering the questions as they come. I do ask what everyone's rank is out of more curiosity than anything. It won't help to see about bossing anyone around anyways, as their ranks are that of their own ultrahive, and have no comparison to my own.

Lucera's formal title and rank is High Chief of Upper Inspection. Both Rokann and Marra are Tarranko, a word that literally translates to 'strength of 10 soldiers', and the modern ranking just boils down to a generic "Soldier, Rank 10". Supposedly it's the highest possible rank to non officer soldiers, but it still surpasses many officers in that ultrahive in practice. Biles, unsurprisingly considering his test, is the highest rank of his survivalist branch. Katzali and Kork aren't in professions that have formal ranks, but they're said to be exceptionally accomplished at what they do.

And as for my rank, I do not have one yet. Rather, it is a rank that is waiting to be officiated, and so I simply have to tell them that I'm rankless. They sense that there is a reason for that, as dubious as it sounds.

In fact, that word is pending since it may be too descriptive of my abilities, and so may not be officiated until my silence is well known to be something that is possible. If it does, then my official title will be Ghost, which furthers why me not talking about my spooky ghost powers is even more regrettable.

2/3 Polo 2012/12/04(Tue)20:55 No. 476586 ID: c4e5c2
File 135468334548.png - (14.95KB , 700x700 , 24.png )

With all that out of the way, we start getting ready for bed. Curiosity gets the better of me, though, since I don't know if it is just paranoia now that makes me think I am still being watched. I get the goggles Katzali gave me.

3/3 Polo 2012/12/04(Tue)20:56 No. 476587 ID: c4e5c2
File 135468340732.png - (23.42KB , 700x700 , 25.png )

I flip the infrared vision on. I would not be surprised to see a couple, but I end up counting over 20 at a brief glance in the trees over us.

My thoughts get to Lucera, who wants me to put the goggles away. Biles, Kort and Rokann seemed to already figure, if I'm reading them right, that there would be a bunch in the trees.

>>476587
Yeah, better put the goggles away. Don't give any indication to them that you saw them, either.

Tomorrow I think it might be fun to try to spot one without any technological assistance.

>Kork
Kort, you mean. Kork's offworld.

>neumono perception of rank
Makes sense, given the ways hives function. Decision making is a lot more horizontal than it is in other species.

>which furthers why me not talking about my spooky ghost powers is even more regrettable.
Don't fret Polo. Save the line. You can still use it if and when you have to reveal your abilities to one or more of the disbelieving others. ("How did you-" "Spooky ghost powers. There are advantage to being dead.")

>They sense that there is a reason for that
Hey, you're legally dead. That's a good enough reason, if they need one. Better than the codename being currently classified for being too accurate. XD

>Biles, Kort and Rokann seemed to already figure, if I'm reading them right, that there would be a bunch in the trees.
Honestly, it's what I expected too. If you had an outside military team in your territory, you'd have someone watching them too. It's just common sense.

Don't (visibly) react, put away the goggle, and continue on with your business. Go to bed when it's time, and take your shift in the watch rotation when it's time for that.

Yeah, at first glance more than twenty Voklits does seem excessive, until you consider that by now they know you bunch have the technological edge, but that they don't know by how much. So they want strength in numbers to make your group think twice about pulling any funny business.

For now put the goggles away and trust in the fact that Lucera, Biles and the rest aren't agitated that you can go to bed with reasonable assurance that a huge lizard-gorilla won't drop on you in the middle of the night. ...Though, that doesn't mean you won't be sleeping with one hand on your pistol and the other on your knife.

Tomorrow you can ask Biles for tips on how to spot the Voktil without technological assistance.

And is Katzati's name "Katzati" or "Katzali?" Or is it a quirk of translation that her name is the same with either a "t" or "l?"

1/2 Polo 2012/12/04(Tue)23:04 No. 476614 ID: c4e5c2
File 135469104963.png - (9.91KB , 700x700 , 26.png )

>Kort, not Kork
... yes.

I put the goggles away, looking like I didn't find anything.

>Katzali or Katzati?
Katza.... hm.

"Katzati?"
>"Yes?"
"Nothing, thank you."

She answered. It's Katzati as far as I care.

2/2 Polo 2012/12/04(Tue)23:04 No. 476615 ID: c4e5c2
File 135469109236.png - (20.08KB , 700x700 , 27.png )

I take my shift, which comes first, head to bed, and get up the next morning. The sample image the admiral showed me was a tan colored voktil. It is possible that their colors change as well as ours, but even if not, it would not be inconvenient for them to simply roll around in the dirt and make artificial skin dyes for camoflauge.

Despite the ease of which we took things yesterday, everyone is up early and getting ready to head out. Since I have no qualms about Lucera's decision of who is coming with me, Katzati, Marri, Korli, Biles and myself head off in a truck. We do head on the outskirts of their town, keeping just within the treeline outside of clearings where it is not difficult to drive.

"Hey Biles. How do you see those guys while they're in trees?"
"They can stay perfectly still, at least their scouts. So the trick is to see the parts of trees that aren't fluidly in the wind. Otherwise, nothing fancy, just need to be able to tell if there's a lump in the tree that's voktil shaped. Nothing fancy, but nothing easy."
>"How long can you stay without air, Polo?" Katzati asks.
"Including with how long I can hold my breath, about 3 hours."
>"We don't have nearly that much cable, but we've got about a full mile of it. And after all, we don't know how hard it'll be to pull you back up, so it's not like we'd let you float down for an hour and a half even if there was that much. Rokann would've been a help, but Kort and Lucera should at least have some protection. Let's see... we'll say 3 tugs in rhythm on the rope to say come back, 5 tugs on rhythm to say you'd like to spend longer after all, and tug frantically and continuously if you're in an emergency and need to be brought back asap. Since you're just poking in, we'll be around. Any last minute questions or additions you've got?"

>>476615
Do we have some sort of underwater-capable weapon and light?

Also we gotta make sure none of our water-vulnerable stuff gets soaked.

Propose a signal for them to tell you if THEY are in trouble. Probably 2 signals - one for "get back here" and one for "find your own way out". It can just be a different series of tugs on their end.

We should probably leave our pack and most the gear behind. Most of it won't be useful underwater, will only serve to get us stuck or slow us down as we're squeezing through an underwater tunnel, and this is supposed to be a quick jaunt. Although, we should have some supplies and tools on us, just in case.

The knife works as an underwater weapon. The pistol won't be effective underwater, but judging from our last experience, should be waterproof. Bring the flashlight (if waterproofed). Wear the mapper under your armor (if it fits). Emergency rations.

Judging from the map, this is the way the river leaves the valley, right? So we're starting out going downriver, and then returning upriver. Be careful Polo- that can be dangerous, since it's going to be a lot easier to move away than to come back.

Propose that you'll swim down the main channel as fast as you can while they let out the cable as fast as they can while keeping it taut for about a half mile, or thirty minutes, whichever comes first, then start reeling you in. Since the return trip will be slower, that'll let you examine the water tunnel better so the mapper can record everything, and possibly enter any small holes easier, than when you're being pulled by the current. It'll also give you a reasonable amount of time to be hauled back in.

>>476619
Yeah, this sounds good. Tie the flashlight to your belt so it won't get taken away by the current, and wear the headlamp as well if your helmet doesn't have a light of its own.

Actually, since your helmet visor has a light amplification mode, if you could get a low intensity light source that's more omni-directional than the flashlights, that would let you see clearer in depths than with the flashlights alone. Ask Korli if there's a waterproof electric lantern in the truck you could use instead of the flashlight.

>>476615
How tough is the cable, and how buoyant?

A pry-bar of some sort is vital. You're heading down a subterranean (subneuomonian? What is your homeworld's formal name?) river, and those can generate a lot of hydraulic pressure. Getting stuck is a very real concern.

1/2 Polo 2012/12/05(Wed)01:22 No. 476631 ID: c4e5c2
File 135469934922.png - (25.97KB , 700x700 , 28.png )

>What is your homeworld's formal name?
Astreneus V.

We get to the shore, where I take a look and find that the water is deeper than expected. It does appear that Korli brought a couple winches and other equipment to help out. They tell me the water is apparently very cold, but given my armor, I don't expect this to be a problem.

Although my backpack is waterproof, it is bulky, and so I will bring a smaller waterproof pouch with a day's rations if I get stuck somehow, my pistol and a knife. On asking, there is also something similar to a lantern that I will bring and let sit on my pouch, though I will also bring a backup regular flashlight. I will also bring a prybar, something that would have been nice the last time I went on an underwater expedition.

>You'll be coming back upriver
This is why I imagine they brought 4 other people, all to help with the pulling.

2/2 Polo 2012/12/05(Wed)01:23 No. 476632 ID: c4e5c2
File 135469938143.png - (25.56KB , 700x700 , 29.png )

Katzati comes to me to discuss the final details.

"Is the mapper and lantern waterproofed?"
>"Absolutely, we knew we would have to deal with water eventually."
"And if you guys are in trouble, perhaps you give me 3 tugs to you for get back to you, and 4 tugs for find my own way out?"
>"That's unlikely, but a good idea, sure."
"Also, I am thinking it may be better if I move down for half a mile quickly, or for half an hour, then pull me upstream. Since that will be slower, I can have an easier time inspecting everything and finding surfaces. How bouyant and tough is the rope?"
>"Ah, yeah, good idea! We were just looking at the water depth and all that. The rope is meant for heavy duty stuff, more than this, but we were planning on letting you in slow and steady. Looking over the equipment, it's actually a 2 kilometer cable, so we'll let you in at 4 kilometers per hour. Korli will keep an eye though on the tension level, and make sure that it doesn't spike up too much. If it starts to, then we'll pull you back before we get in over our heads. It's also bouyant, it floats, though not by much. It's just a bit less dense than water. If all that is fine, then we'll be ready shortly. Are you?"

Looks like we're good to go.

>>476631
Your culture named your planet somethingorother five? What kind of culture identifies their home planet as the fifth of some set?

Polo 2012/12/05(Wed)02:26 No. 476641 ID: c4e5c2
File 135470317693.png - (133.78KB , 700x700 , 30.png )

>What kind of culture identifies their home planet as the fifth of some set?
The culture that named foreign solar system planets the same thing in order from the sun, so we're the fifth planet from our sun.

Same with Belenosians. They are from Belenos IV, but being the only sapient creatures on their planet that I am aware of, got their namesake.

We had our own word, but that word is literally the equivelant to a human's earth, except appearing only in dead languages. I don't even remember it, as I was born after the new name took over.

I tell Katzati I'm ready, and so I put on a harness, attach the rope, and dive in after all the equipment is double and triple checked.

About 15 minutes pass, and I tug once every minute to let them know that I'm ready. It's a continual downward slope, and the tunnel gets smoothened out aside from some jags here and there. There were a couple branching paths, and I choose the larger of the two, but some time we may want to look into the others as well.

19 minutes and 24 seconds in, my rope goes slack. I think it may just be a loss of snag, but at 19 minutes and 40 seconds with no tension, I am beginning to be concerned. I am also trying very hard to be surprised, but am failing. My equivalent of a walking pace turns into, although it is very difficult to tell, perhaps around 20 kilometers per hour.

>>476641
>appearing only in dead languages
This raises some interesting questions, but now probably isn't the time.

See if you can direct yourself into the tunnel wall (letting your armor soak up the impact) and get your speed back down, hopefully to the point of bracing yourself somewhere stationary and waiting a few minutes for the rest of the cable to stop flying free past you. Either it'll stop shortly when they fix whatever issue they're having, or you'll see the broken end go past, or it'll stop at 4km.

Brace yourself up against a wall as best you can, either the broken end of the cord will show up pretty soon or they'll fix whatever snag it is.

If it's CUT cord, no one leaves the surface with their entire body unless they pass some pretty fucking hardcore interrogation.

But on the bright side, if there is a traitor, you have a chance to use that "There are some perks to being dead" line when you sneak up on them and reduce them into a drooling mess.

Right about now realize it would been a good idea to bring your grappling hook, tied to you by a short length of rope. That would have been useful in slowing yourself in just this situation. Ah, well.

Pull out your prybar, grab the slack rope, and tie the prybar on a couple meters away from you. Take the prybar in hand, pull out your flashlight, and shine it ahead on the tunnel wall. Use youre night vision if that'll help. Look for any upward facing cracks, holes, or crevices you could jam the prybar into. Once you see one, move over to its wall and swim against the current as hard as you can to slow down. Stick the prybar in, and keep swimming against the current to reduce the shock when the rope catches.

Once you're secure, wait a bit to see if the rope stops being slack. Gather the slack rope and loop it over the prybar so the drag force of the current on it doesn't risk pulling the prybar out or breaking it. This is also so that if the rope is broken, you'll be able to examine the end to see if it was cut or not.

>>476641
I bet the cable got cut. Check behind you. The prybar is probably a good thing to use if you want to slow down, but do we want to slow down? How fast is the water going?

>>476647
with our forwards being around 20K per hour, thats pritty damn good speed, we should probably slow or even halt our progress, maybe give a cursiory tug, could just be snagged on something, but better safe then sorry

Alright, best case, it's a simple mistake that they'll fix soonish. Worse case, something happened and you're cut off. Worst case? They're all dead and the Salikai are releasing extinct aquatic predators into the river behind you.

For now, see about stopping your forward progresses, and tying off the slack rope to secure yourself. Then we wait a bit. See if the line remains slack, or you see the severed end float by. Possibly things will improve- they'll reel in the slack, or lower a new rope down to you (if it was severed).

If things don't improve, we're going to have to make the decision to either fight our way back upstream (possibly into the waiting ambush that already took out our people), or to continue forward, into the unknown (and pray we find a place to surface before you run out of air).

Polo 2012/12/05(Wed)06:18 No. 476653 ID: c4e5c2
File 135471711187.png - (111.41KB , 700x700 , 31.png )

With some luck, and my able to see a whole lot of rocks going by so quick, I am able to use my pry bar to snag myself enough to direct me towards a rock with a nice, if subtle, hook to it. I wrap some of my now slacked rope around it and tie myself off, and let myself go. Thankfully the rock holds as I come to a grinding halt again as the rope snaps taut, and I wait. I do loop the rope around my now re-attached to harness prybar and myself to let it feed through, so that when the end comes, I am able to examine it.

Rakae did teach me a lot more about ropes, that being one of my weak points, and judging from what I think I see, the cable has been cut intentionally.

While I can get up to this rock upstream, there is no way that I will be able to swim up this current, at least not so painstakingly slow that I would run out of air beforehand.

Okay. Someone cut the rope.

Best case, whoever cut the rope isn't in control of the winch, and your friends are still conscious and independent (personally, my guess is a young Voklit decided to fuck with whatever those strange neumono were doing). In that case, they'll attempt to reestablish contact- and lower a new line down to you (well, the same line, now shorter). Worst case- you're not getting back out the way you came in.

Give them 5-10 minutes to try and lower you a line (they can let it descend a lot faster if they're not concerned with you descending at a steady rate). If that doesn't happen, you're going to have to loose yourself, continue on, and look for a place to surface.

Coil up what rope you have still connected to you so it doesn't get snagged on anything. Estimate the distance of rope to the cut point if you have even a remote way to do it. By my estimates you will not be able to make it out by climbing back upstream either.

Let go and drift and pray you come to a cave. If you don't make it, it's been fun. Turn off empathy and only turn it back on if you sense a neutral or friendly neumono.

>>476656
Very good point. Wait for a bit to see if another line comes. Climb upstream if you can to those branches in case it went down a different one. When you've got an hour and a half left of air, you can drift for 30km. Hopefully that will be enough to get to some kind of air pocket.

1/2 Polo 2012/12/05(Wed)09:01 No. 476666 ID: c4e5c2
File 135472688802.png - (107.99KB , 700x700 , 32.png )

>Give them 5-10 minutes to try and lower you a line
I sit for about 2 minutes before realizing that they may not have sufficient rope. Katzati said they were going to lower me in for the entire rope's length of 2 km over the course of 30 minutes, and the rope was cut at just short of the 20 minute mark. Plus, even what was perhaps only 30 to 45 seconds of freedrifting would translate to around 3 or 4 minutes, as a terribly rough estimate, of the pace they were using to drop me in.

Therefore, they lost approximately 60 to 70% of the rope if it was cut close to the winch, and need approximately 75% of it to reach where I am at now. It has already been a few minutes of sitting here waiting for the rope's cut in to reach me, so it likely is 60 to 70% that is attached to me now.

And given the amount of room the rope took up, I'm not too faithful that they've got a replacement on hand.

I give a few more minutes to make it closer to 10 in which they would have time to get a replacement if they had any, and drop it down to me. Nothing comes, so I let the rope drop. Using my end of the rope, I tie it off to more locations to minimize the chance of anything coming loose while I either move down, or attempt to come back up for whatever reason. After a few tieoffs are made from sturdy rocks, I start letting myself loose in a more controlled pace, and effecively rappel myself down the river.

>Climb upstream if you can to those branches in case it went down a different one.
While I did choose the largest paths, unfortunately a backup rope falling down the wrong path is still a distinct possibility. I would like to find a branching path to minimize it, but the current is far too strong to move back up. Again, I can move upstream, but it would be a painstakingly slow process and would not change any time sensitive matters.

2/2 Polo 2012/12/05(Wed)09:02 No. 476667 ID: c4e5c2
File 135472694430.png - (94.45KB , 700x700 , 33.png )

Things went wrong. Almost nostalgic.

It is difficult to tell how far I am by the time I do, thankfully, find an opening. The cave widens up and I find myself crawling in a small place. A bit over an hour has passed, and I had to hold my breath for several minutes.

A grappling hook sure would have been nice. Perhaps a makeshift one using the prybar and the rope could be made for a questionable grapple.

I have a pistol with 24 shots on me and a knife.

I thought you had your bioarmor on too. Well start mapping the cave.

Do a quick look around, make sure you're not in any immediate danger, and then take a few minutes to rest and recuperate before beginning to explore.

You should go silent now. Your companions aren't around to benefit from your empathy- and there might be predators, tribal neumono, the captive science hive, or mind controlling love-bugs down somewhere down here that could sense you. You can come back online when you sense an ally in range.

How long will the food you have on you last? Now that you have air, that's the biggest constraint on your survival.

Can you access the mapper data at all? Maybe it can plug into your helmet? Or does your new suit UI include an altimeter, or a compass? It would be useful to know where you, or what direction you should be heading in. And having access to the map as it's drawn will make finding your way around easier.

Basic plan of survival should be to start searching for a way to reach the surface (then you can radio in), and for some kind of food to sustain you until you get there (maybe look for signs of mushrooms or small animals you may remember from the spire).

You might want to have a good long drink before you leave this part of the cave, too- you don't know when you'll find another water source.

Remember that you have limited ammo. Use the gun only when necessary, and make every shot count. Putting down small food animals can be done with simple rope traps, or the knife, or the crowbar.

Man, we are going to absolutely RUIN whoever cut the rope.

>>476675
I think Polo's had enough of senseless rage and revenge. That's a dark place I don't think she wants to let herself slide into again.

Not that we're happy about it, of course.

>>476676

I was referring more towards the intense interrogation methods to find out their loyalties and initial incapacitation, rather than the boiling rage and taste of vengeance.

>>476667
Can we radio back, now? To report on what just happened?

Polo 2012/12/05(Wed)17:24 No. 476725 ID: c4e5c2
File 135475704383.png - (98.51KB , 700x700 , 34.png )

>I thought you had bio armor on
I do, but I needed to catch my breath. Even though it was relatively short, there is still minutes of air supply shortage.

For the time, I make sure my mapping unit is still on, and go silent.

I have one day of food. I do not know how to work the mapper into my goggle UI, but I may spend some time to see if it autoreads it conveniently before I go exploring far.

Unsurprisingly, I'm too deep in to make a connection to anyone.

>Or does your new suit UI include an altimeter, or a compass?
There is both, so I will have help with direction, and I am approximately 600 meters below our campsite. Using the compass, I can tell that I should be heading north as much as is possible, and upwards of course. If I can even just get to a surface, I will be able to radio as well as check my exact location.

Once I am dry, I begin to get a move on in a northern direction with care to remember where I've gone, and it is less than 5 minutes before I hear chattering. Two Voktils. I don't believe they heard me.

They are staying very still, and the only sound I hear is their sniffing.

They may be able to smell you. Get some distance away, very quietly, and try to go around. I don't know why there are Voktils down here but to be honest it wouldn't surprise me if they're working with the Salikai. Wait, are these a different color from the ones on the surface? This could be a different tribe altogether.

What's that on the left one's back?

Can you speak their language? Say something anyway to let them know there is a sapient being nearby and take off helmet and bioarmor on your face so they can see that you are neumono. If they are peaceful point up and say you want to get to surface. They may or may not understand the words but it's obvious what you are asking. If they brandish weapons, take out your knife and gun. They will certainly recognize the knife and figure the other is a weapon even if they don't know what a gun does. If they don't make any move to attack still keep trying to communicate. If they do attack or make move to attack, back up and attempt to leave them alone and continue.

>>476727
Of course shoot or knife if they press any attacks. Preferable to cut them and keep backing away. Intent is to protect yourself, not hurt them. They should realize that and may break off an attack.

From what I can remember, Polo was told that a translator would be provided, and knew almost nothing about Voktils. I can only assume that she does not speak their language.

Draw your knife, but don't raise it. Just keep it by your side and see if they can speak your language. Failing that, observe.

>>476727

Enemy territory bro, never assume anything is friendly.

Plus we don't know what these caverns are, for all we know we could be trespassing on holy ground or something and get gutted for it.

Much easier to assume that they mean you harm and seek ways to avoid them.

>Sniffing
Dang it. You don't know how good their sense of smell is. Well, you should be alright, since the river washed all the smells off your armor, and any neumono smells are trapped in it. All they'll pick up is river water and cave, which is what they'd expect here.

Flip to infrared on your visor and quietly look around for any other Voktil on the ceiling or in the darkness. You did turn off all your lights when you got out of the river, right?

Do not engage. Stay out of sight and quiet. Don't draw any weapons, since that'll make noise. Keep listening for their movements. When they move, keep staying out of their sight. Trail them as silently as you can, since they know the caves, and will eventually go up to the surface, or at least to some place that might have food you could steal.

While you're tailing them, watch where they're looking, and check where they looked as you pass. The Voktil probably have marked the caves so they don't get lost down here. If you find their markings, then you can follow them as well.

Alright- good news. They got down here somehow. That means there's an exit to the surface somewhere.

Note these guys are painted to match the rocks down here- camouflage.

It's a real pity you didn't ask the translator more about these guys. You don't know their sensory capabilities, but it seems they might be able to smell you. You don't know any words in their language, and you don't know how to approach them without giving offense.

Now... your basic choices are to hide yourself from them, and follow them back to the surface, or approach them openly. The problem is, we don't know if these Voklit just happen to be down here, if they're looking for you (your friends put out word you'd been trapped underground) or if they're hunting for you (young, rebellious Voklit attacked your group and cut the rope, and now some are down here looking for you.)

...I think, on balance, the best option is to approach them. It'll be hard to follow them all the way back undected, especially if you come out in the pit in the middle of their settlement. Getting caught will just hurt your relations with them, and possibly get you attacked. These guys are tech-less, honor bound and stubborn, right? Think of them like Rokoa. Confidence, fearless, and strength will impress them.

Approach them openly, remove your helmet, and greet them. Stare them down if challenged, and try to convey that you want to return to the surface. If one of them want to fight you- try to make a point of honor of it. Hold up a hand, set aside your weapons, gesture for them to do the same, unstrap your armor, and challenge them 1 on 1 unarmed. You've been training for hand to hand against a bigger opponent, right? That will impress them.

I also suggest making yourself known to them, they probably know you're there anyway. Make it obvious that you don't want any trouble.
shit we might never find out why Katzati is so damn fat at this rate

>>476725
I have a theory that these people are looking for you and they cut the cord. They've been stalking you all night, probably all day, so they have the perfect opportunity, and them being here is too coincidental or convenient for you. They might have cut the cord for other reasons than working with the salikai though, maybe they just have their own secrets they don't want discovered here.

Something's here anyway. I'd hate to have your life endangered by other people cutting your cord for simple reasons such as mere territorial reasons or dumb, pointless backstabbing or prejudice on part of the Voktil. Which is a possibility, I wouldn't put it past anybody to do this stuff for a really dumb reason.

Polo 2012/12/05(Wed)18:53 No. 476751 ID: c4e5c2
File 135476238126.png - (109.75KB , 700x700 , 35.png )

>What's on the left one's back?
It appears to be a stone hammer.

>Can you speak their language?
Not at all. This is the first time I've heard it, and I wonder how the negotiator is able to speak with them. Their sounds are difficult to describe, but seem exceptionally difficult to mimic, let alone communicate with.

>You've been training for hand to hand against a bigger opponent, right?
Yes, but this does not mean I can confidently take down something at least 5 times my size unarmed.

>You did turn off all your lights when you got out of the river, right?
I dimmed them to a level in which I could only see with night vision.

>Turn on infrared
There are lights higher up. I do not know what the source is, but they are not voktil. I only see the 2 voktil for anything nearby.

After looking through the goggles, I take my helmet off and move out into the open. They notice me, and get angry, starting to shout things.

"Do you speak my language?" This is met by more foreign yells. One of them throws a rock in my direction. A big one, though something that size might not agree, and not thrown right at me, unless it has bad aim.

Yeah, I think you should get away. They're pissed off at you and want you gone, not dead. Don't aggravate them further.

Did we forget Polo was dressed in high tech armor or something? This might've gone better if she were just wearing bio armor.

Just stand there if it's not going to hit you. Maybe they'll think you're a badass and leave you alone.
Should get ready to flee if they start moving towards you though.

Alright. Let's assume the rock was a warning shot- they're driving you back, not trying to kill you (yet). Stand your ground if you can, or stake a few steps back if you have to. See if they pursue you, or how they react. Maintain eye contact- make it clear you aren't intimidated as you do so.

When you've reacted a distance they're happy with, or they've calm down. Try communicating again. Use gestures- try to get the point across that you're trying to get to the surface.

If this doesn't go over well, we back off further, out of sight. Then we can either try investigating the light (an exit) or trail them at a distance, hoping they lead you to an exit.

>>476752
We didn't forget, but we didn't exactly have time to strip, we don't have anything to carry the armor in, and abandoning the suit isn't worth a potential diplomatic bonus.

Put on your helmet and find some folks qualified to help you actually do diplomacy, you have no effective means to get through to them at this point. Evade and find an exit.

Forget trying to get any help from these two. You don't know their language, and they don't know yours. Gestures are out 'cause you're wearing that high-tech armor and that's enough to piss them off. Your mere presence here is enough to rile them up. Between all that the best course of action is to withdraw.

Keep your hands where they can clearly see them and calmly back away into the darkness. Watch them to make sure they aren't moving to attack you. If they do move to attack, evade and run.

Once you're far enough away they can't see you, slip behind cover, put your helmet on, switch to infrared, and watch what they do. You may still be able to trail them out of here; Possibly even more now, 'cause they might head up sooner to report that you're down here. Your helmet have a way to combine the night vision and infrared vision overlays? That'd be useful in following these Voktil.

Polo 2012/12/05(Wed)19:38 No. 476763 ID: c4e5c2
File 135476510705.png - (18.60KB , 700x700 , 36.png )

Although they don't outright attack me, they fling their hands at me as I move away, and briefly look like they're about to charge if I move too slow. So I pick up the pace, continuing eye contact, and they don't pursue me once I move fast and get out of sight.

Training or not, bio armor still stings pulling it up and down my head like this. In any case, I may be able to pursue them if I want.

There is also the matter of the lights on high rocks. I do not know what they are, but they do not look like sunlight. Or perhaps it is, the rocks here are oddly reflective, and it may be a trick of the light, but given how deep I am, I would be surprised if sunlight did reach here.

>Your helmet have a way to combine the night vision and infrared vision overlays?
Yes. It is also exceptionally easy to flip between the two options as well.

Follow them from as far away as is feasible.

Let's check out the light. Even if it's not an exit you can use, it might be a place you can get a radio signal out.

Make a note of which way the Voklit go, so hopefully you can pick them up and tail them out if you have too. Even if you lose them, you might be able to track them by footsteps, or smudged off bodypaint. There might be a well worn trail to follow, even.

Well, they just want to be left alone. That's nice. Continue on I guess. You will just have to explore and look for some way out.

Before going any farther, start marking where you've been, and where you came from. Either use your prybar to scrape arrows in the floor or walls pointing to where you came from or put small rocks in an arrow formation. If you have a marker or chalk, you can use that as well.

Investigate the odd lights up above. They may be strangely reflective rocks letting sunlight in, or natural glass lightpipes, or bio-luminescent flora, fauna, or fungi.

Start by flipping through infrared and ultraviolet vision and looking up to see if the light specks show up different. Also hold still and see if they move any. Then flip over to night vision, get out the flashlight, and look up while shining it upwards, but be ready to shut it off quickly in case it's something like hostile giant bio-luminescent bats or moths.

Once you've seen all you can from down here, continue on. Look for any tunnels up to where the lights are. Also be on the lookout for ledges you could grapple up to to get to the lights, and also for potential sleeping spots if you get stuck down here awhile.

When you got out of the river, did you think to pull the long length of rope out with you and cut a manageable length for yourself? 'Cause rope is always good to have on hand.

Try finding a way out, follow the Voktils as they know the way. Also, how are you able to breathe with bio armor on?

>>476770
We got by fine last time we explored a cave without marking where we've been. It might be wise to not leave traces of our presence...

We have mapping gear. We don't need to leave markings.

>Also, how are you able to breathe with bio armor on?
...gotta be some kind of porous membrane.

Polo 2012/12/05(Wed)20:53 No. 476776 ID: c4e5c2
File 135476963367.png - (70.69KB , 700x700 , 37.png )

>How are you able to breathe with bio armor on?
It's sophisticed enough to detect when I'm blowing out or breathing in, and there are many intentional, near microscopic holes in the mouth area that open up when I breathe in and out. They say there may soon be bio armor models out that can go one step further and be able to make a respirator out of a biosuit, but I have not seen any yet.

They move south, almost but not quite in the way that I came from. I let them go on their way. I am considering the pros and cons of making pry bar marks and leaving traces of my presence. It may be helpful to have markers in case my memory falters, and for all I know, my teammates will send someone to rescue me. Marks may be helpful if I leave them out in the open then. Unless one of those teammates of mine intentionally broke the cable, a small possibility I can't rule out, although I did not sense any blatant backstabbing intentions when I went in the water. But I am leaning on no, at least for the moment. There is no changing my mind once I do make a mark.

For now, I start climbing up rocks to get to the lowest light source I can manage. The lights only appear to be around the river flow.

I reach up to a light source. When I get closer, it starts moving away. Like a slug.

>>476776
It looks delicious and full of nutritious, nutritious phosphorous. Get yourself some o dat phosphorous.

Seriously, try to eat it. Or at least make a Voktil eat it.

let's try to track those guys back to where they came from, I'm going to guess it's most likely the village pit though, which wouldn't be where we want to go.

Wow, that's cool. Have you heard of bioluminescent slugs before? It's also possible that it's a lure for a predator of some sort... but surely you'd be able to see a tentacle attached to it on one of your visor's modes? Too bad we don't have a bag or something to capture it with, but we can at least poke it for the sake of science.

Then we can continue on.

Ah. Bioluminescence. Not particularly useful to you right now, and I don't think we're desperate enough to see if these things are edible.

If we had more gear on us, I might suggest taking one back to be scienced upon, but we don't have anything like specimen containers. ...and given how vicious wildlife on your planet is, the glowing chemical is probably both poisonous and acidic anyways.

We should continue searching for an exit, heading north and uphill. Pleasantly, this is the direction the Voklit came from, so presumably there's an exit somewhere that way. Hopefully it's not the main one in their village.

For the moment, I doubt you were betrayed by the other neumono, but I still don't want to leave marks.

Oh, it's just glowing slugs. They don't even look edible, even for a neumono. That's disappointing. Ah, well. As long as you're up here, try grabbing one to take a closer look, then drop it into the river to see if any fish pop up to eat it. You might be able to use one as bait for fishing if you run low on food.

Head back to where those two Voktil were and start heading north, taking any paths upward you find. Be on the lookout for any navigation marks made by the Voktil. While you don't want or need to make marks, they might have.

Even though your encounter with those Voktil went rather bad, it could be to your eventual benefit. When they get around to heading back to their home, they're going to recount that they encountered a tech suited up shorty neumono in the caves. Then the next time Kort talks to them, they're going to complain about you being down here. That'll let your group know you're still alive and relatively nearby. Now the question is how long they're going to be down here for.

Polo 2012/12/05(Wed)23:40 No. 476788 ID: c4e5c2
File 135477965325.png - (107.65KB , 700x700 , 38.png )

I imagine if Biles were here, he would know whether or not this slug was made of phosphorous and nutrition or phosphorous and poison. This planet has too much biology, and I have had too little time to become a walking encyclopedia of slugs.

>Poke it for the sake of science
It quickly excretes a purple slime that looks like a highly close match to the purple tone of what the voktils had for camoflauge.

I go back to seeking an exit. Hours pass without seeing anything, just a gradual trek up and north.

>Seeing a Voklit means there must be an exit to the surface
This also helps me choose my paths, as I can immediately discount small paths that, while comfortable for me, would not allow a Voktil to pass through. Nonetheless, the cave system appears far more massive than I originally was led to believe. I am not so confident, after awhile, that I would be able to find my way back. Nevertheless, my main concern is to go up and north as possible. I also can tell I am near a river or water source when I see a region with the slugs.

Come to somewhat behind me and to the left, I hear screeches and Voktil shouting. It is getting closer, and it is getting closer fast.

Find some cover, that would be hard for a Voktil to access or spot you in. Take out your pistol and be ready, but try to see if you can spot the incoming commotion from a distance.

>>476788
Also, what is that thing on your ear armor? It looks out of place; is that the cartography device?

Sounds like the Voktil found whatever they were hunting, and it sounds big and angry.

Quickly look around for any place you could climb up and hide. If there isn't one, start running away from the commotion and keep an eye out for one. You'll want to get in a dark spot above Voktil eye level where you can see what's going on.

Next time you get near those glowing slugs, grab a few and rub them all over your armor to camouflage yourself.

>>476792
This. And you might as well pull out your pistol, too, just in case.

Hide and pistol. Try to figure out what it is.

Getting out of the way and out of sight seems prudent.

I don't think we should take a shot if we can help it- I kind of doubt the Voklit will appreciate the help (they'll probably see it as kill or glory stealing, and/or sullying their hunt with tech).

Do pay attention though. If there's anything big and dangerous enough down here for them to hunt, knowing how it dies could be useful in the future.

A successful hunt is a good thing, though. If they're not down here for themselves, that means they'll probably be taking their kill back to the settlement- so you can follow them outside. And it's pretty easy to follow people lugging a bloody copse.

Polo 2012/12/06(Thu)11:09 No. 476824 ID: c4e5c2
File 135482094955.png - (150.68KB , 700x700 , 39.png )

>Also, what is that thing on your ear armor? It looks out of place; is that the cartography device?
Yes.

I get on some high ground, without much time to spare before the source reaches my path. Two voklits, wounded, are chasing down a bug that has no business being that size. It is screeching angrily at the voklits.

Hmm. The Voklits look worse off than the bug-monster.

Alright. Stay out of sight and observe for the moment- pistol at the ready. Let's assume the hunters know what they're doing- don't interfere unless the it appears the Voklit are at risk of serious injury or death. That's the point where you should step in and shoot the thing.

I don't know if they'd welcome your interference, but it beats letting them die.

We really need to ask Kort for a cultural primer, later. It would be nice to know things like if they would welcome assistance in a battle, or if they'd see it as an insult. Or how you're supposed to approach them, or what offends them besides tech. Maybe a few basic words. I mean, odds are you're going to run into some again in your mapping.

Just observe.
As cool as a dramatic entry with the knife would be, trying to interfere is probably a bad idea unless the voktil look like they're in serious danger.

Also now that I think about it we may want to think about smearing some of that slug jelly on our armor as camouflage. We kinda stick out among all this purple.

1/2 Polo 2012/12/06(Thu)12:03 No. 476828 ID: c4e5c2
File 135482422755.png - (88.71KB , 700x700 , 40.png )

I wait. The sounds continue, until I hear some decisive sounding blows being dealt. Between voktil roars and insect screeches, I still can't tell who's winning. Short of making a dramatic entry, it only lasts a couple seconds at its height before it dies down.

2/2 Polo 2012/12/06(Thu)12:03 No. 476829 ID: c4e5c2
File 135482423837.png - (88.98KB , 700x700 , 41.png )

In the next moment, the two voktil's look like they killed it, and are dragging it alone the ground back in my direction. The voktil in back is limping. I would think that would make it easier to tail them back to their settlement, but the one in front is continually looking back to check on the more wounded one. That, and going back to get slug camoflauge would be a good idea.

Well grab some slugs and rub them all over yourself.
Even if we lose sight of the voktils we can probably follow the trail they leave dragging that huge bleeding bug.

If there's a batch of slugs that aren't miles back, it wouldn't hurt to double back and get some camo.

Just remember to wipe it off before you exit to the surface- green works a lot better in a forest than purple!

They're dragging a bloody corpse, and one of them is limping. They aren't exact going to be hard to track, even if you let them get far enough ahead that you can't see them. They aren't going to be able to cover up all the scuff marks and drippings. It shouldn't be hard to tail them to the exit.

If they lead you to the exit in the pit, it might be a good idea to wait for dark before heading out. These guys use lights to see- so you'll have an advantage evading any scouts or guards in the dark with your IR and/or night vision.

1/2 Polo 2012/12/06(Thu)12:44 No. 476834 ID: c4e5c2
File 135482668397.png - (99.24KB , 700x700 , 42.png )

>They're going to leave a bloody trail
Point. I'll pick up their trail again later.

I head off to get some slugs. I saw some not far away from here, although I did not find the water source.

After some work, I climb up once again to reach out to grab a slug and start wiping my armor with it. I can almost feel the disgust through the armor. Nonetheless, I may be able to get enough out of a single slug to coat myself decently. Its secretions must be thin to be able to secrete this amount.

2/2 Polo 2012/12/06(Thu)12:44 No. 476835 ID: c4e5c2
File 135482669664.png - (178.57KB , 700x700 , 43.png )

The slug starts vibrating, and wiggling more.

...well, that's the opposite of helpful.

Put the slug aside, and see if you stop glowing once it's not in contact with the chemicals anymore. If you don't, gather up a handful of sand and grit and start rubbing the stuff off.

Then go pick up the trail, follow at a distance.

Might be a good idea to put the slug down since every other slug in the cave seemed to light up as the mucus on you armor started glowing.

>>476838
Oh shit, he's right. They're also on the move! You've been marked as a threat!

Put the slug down, get the hell out of there, and scrape that stuff off, ASAP.

>>476835
Aw hell. Scrap the plan and get away from the slugs to take that glowy stuff off.

>>476835
>vibrating and wiggling
Resist curious urge to put it down your pants
Plus, you know, they might be a threat. But even if they're friendly don't put 'em down your pants.

You should cover yourself in glowing runes, that would be awesome, and a bit menacing. That might not be good though so just scrape it off, you don't want to be noticed.

>>476850
That gives me an idea. Smear a pair of eye marks just above your visor. If the slime reliably glows whenever the lightslug's shared threat response triggers, to any Voktil who come across you, you'd be a small armoured creature with glowing eyes that terrifies the local wildlife.

Remember to come back here and retrieve a few slugs as "personal massagers" after this mission is done.

Also GTFO and rub some dirt over that stuff.

Don't just put the slug back down, pull your knife and kill it. Maybe whatever it's doing to light up the slime will stop once it's dead. Then get down from there and once the rest of the slugs aren't following you either rub the slime off with sand and grit from the cave floor, or pat dirt and mud on over it to cover it up. As you're traveling keep on the lookout for a water source to wash your armor off.

Camouflage probably wouldn't work as well against the Voktils anyway, since they might use their sense of smell more down here than sight. In fact, the smell of slug slime might actually give you away to them, and possibly other nasty critters down here.

Well, that's definitely not natural. It's biotech, and it's perfectly acceptable to use (bio)technology for sexual pleasure. Put it down your pants. Or even better, save a few to mess with the others when you rejoin your party.

Seriously though, put it down and wait a bit. If it doesn't stop, kill it and bugger off smartish.

Horrible, horrible thought. What if it's not cammo after all? What if the glowslugs are the larval form of the thing we saw the Voklits hunting? What if they covered themselves to piss it off and draw one out to kill?

>>476869
I'd like to try seeing if letting it go gets them to calm down before we try something like killing it. We can't take that back. (Besides, what kind of swarm calls off the attack when you kill one?)

>>476873
Alright, that's a valid point. Put it down first, but if it doesn't stop, try dropping it off the edge instead. If that doesn't kill it, then its call for help will be away from you.

Don't kill the thing. Drop it and rub off the light stuff. We don't care if the slugs are lit up. We care that we are lit up.

Stop molesting the slug, Polo.

It seems the slugs can conduct a electroluminescent charge through the mucus and that signals all the other slugs.

If what everyone else is assuming is true, these are indeed the larval forms of those giant bugs and they glow to signal the parents...

Aw jeeze.

>>476891
Which means drop the slug right away, pull your pistol, switch your visor to all overlays, and quickly check above, below, and all around you for a big, mean mama bug comin' to try and bite your head off. If there isn't one, then you can do whatever else and climb down.

Well, the part about the slugs and bugs being connected is just wild conjecture. What we know now is that the slugs are riled up, and moving towards you. That's a danger in an of itself.

And if there is a guardian, it's possible the voklits killed the one on duty?

1/2 Polo 2012/12/06(Thu)22:22 No. 476898 ID: c4e5c2
File 135486133325.png - (51.38KB , 700x700 , 44.png )

I will consider drawing runes on myself when I am in a better position to be silly, drawing eyes on my visor when I lose the need for sight, and shoving a slime secreting slug down my pants never.

I let the slug go go.

The result is not immediate, but the slugs do dim, and the slime on myself dims slowly as well. After a moment it may be proper camoflauge, although it is only over my arms.

2/2 Polo 2012/12/06(Thu)22:22 No. 476899 ID: c4e5c2
File 135486134146.png - (34.70KB , 700x700 , 45.png )

>Switch your visor to all overlays
It does not show up on night vision, but on thermal view, I look up to find a couple things above me that look like they were coming my way. They do not look like bugs, and they're also not moving any closer.

Voklit version of predators?

Alright, we were right! Mostly. When the slugs feel threatened, they make their attackers glow and those sneaky things come in and attack. They don't look necessarily related, but it could be just some kind of symbiosis or codependence.

Keep a close eye on them, and be ready to defend yourself if they move closer, but I don't think they care now that you stopped glowing. Back off, slowly and carefully.

Then, enough mucking around. We'll follow the voklit at sufficient distance that camo doesn't matter. Like we said before, they should leave an obvious trail.

Be sure to warn the others about the glowslugs and their nearly invisible guardians, later. Maybe Biles will know something? Add that to your list of possible discussion topics, along with what went wrong at the river, and getting a basic voklit primer from Kort (odds are this won't be the last time you encounter some underground).

perhaps they can tell you are looking at them? they want a sneak attack.

Back down, keeping your eyes on them, ready to go for your pistol.

Slowly follow the voklits, watching out for these predator things.

Walk away from them. Keep an eye on them. Be prepared to fight. Really we should get a fucking moveon.

>>476901
Or maybe they come down to prey on whatever preys on the slugs. Well, that's not Polo's job to find out, it's for whatever science expedition eventually comes down to catalog these caves.

>>476902
Perhaps. Just to be safe, keep looking at them as you pull your pistol and knife, then back away slowly and see how they react. If they attack, run if you can, fight if you must.

Once you're safely away, pick up the trail of the Voklits and follow them. Though if you spot any more of those glowing slugs along the way, go grab a couple. Then find a nook away from the mass of slugs that'll block the slime's glow, and apply it to all of your armor. Even take the time to take parts off to fully cover them.

>Though if you spot any more of those glowing slugs along the way, go grab a couple. Then find a nook away from the mass of slugs that'll block the slime's glow, and apply it to all of your armor.
I don't think it's worth the time or trouble right now. We're close to finding a way out now- the voklit will lead us strait to the exit, most avoiding other dangerous things that might try to gank their kill. We don't need camo to get out, and once on the surface, green is a better sneaking color than purple.

And we may need to sneak. First to get past any volkit that may be guarding or patrolling their exit. And then to sneak up on our camp, close enough to get an empathy reading- make sure everything's all right- that there's been no traitor, hostile takeover, whatever. Then if everything is clear, we back off, turn off the silence, and approach normally.

Polo 2012/12/06(Thu)23:46 No. 476924 ID: c4e5c2
File 135486637222.png - (65.29KB , 700x700 , 46.png )

>Voklit version of predators?
Although voklits do not have an empathy to be taken over, I do not know anything more about that.

I try to prevent aggravating them. They eventually move away when I back far enough, and I never hear them make a sound.

I'm able to pick up the trail again easily enough, staying well out of sight. It is not a short walk, though that is mostly because of their slow pace between wounds and heavy loads.

While I am not concerned about time, I am concerned about is that I am being led downwards, and in an eastern direction at that.

This might be an underground encampment. We should at least get a visual on it to confirm that, and we can easily retrace our steps to where we veered off our northward route by following the blood trail backwards. Also, don't forget that it is quite possible that you actually need to go down and east in order to go up. These are 3d tunnels!

>>476925
This guy has it pretty much right.

How long have you been down here, though? We had 24hrs worth of rations, what are you down to now?

Follow and hide till you can figure out where they went. I'm curious what is down there. If it is some camp then the way out is likely connected to it.

Keep following their trail. The route out is very likely not directly north and up. And even if they aren't heading out, whatever camp they're going to might be a staging area for hunters in the caves, and that will have a route to the surface you can follow.

Do be on the lookout for a water source you can wash your armor off in. That'll remove any smell from you that the Voklits or other critters down here might catch on to, and losing that bit of camo on your arms won't matter much.

>>476933
Indeed; it's unlikely that these guys are isolated from the surface group, and wherever they're going must be some kind of camp from which you can search for other trails.

Just be prepared to come up in the middle of that arena thing. Knowing your luck, it'll be mid-honour-fight, too.

Can you hear anything? Also just out of curiosity does your armor have a loudspeaker built in it?

Polo 2012/12/07(Fri)07:46 No. 476952 ID: c4e5c2
File 135489518606.png - (65.49KB , 700x700 , 47.png )

>How long as it been since the cord snapped?
2 hours, 45 minutes. Not that long overall, but I will soon be biting into my day long rations.

>Also just out of curiosity does your armor have a loudspeaker built in it?
Actually, it does have a loudspeaker. I do not know how loud it can go, but it does have a small external volume unit so that I can speak while in airtight mode.

>You may need to go down/not north initially to get to the path
This is true, so I am not too concerned, although I did not see much blocking my way north and up.

>Can you hear anything?
Eventually I hear water. The voktils clean their wounds, and once they are done and move on, I clean my armor of smells as much as I can. Quickly, as their blood trail becomes less obvious, and I keep within earshot, which isn't hard considering their grunts and drags. And after 30 minutes of walking, I hear something behind me. It is faint, but I frequently watch my back until the source is in sight. 4 other things in a pack, that look as though they are sniffing out the trail. I am not in a hallway, and getting off of the voktil trail is a valid option. I also do have my light completely off. The miniscule amount of light left over from the voktil's own light source is enough for my night vision.

Do your best not to lose the two voklit you are following. If you had to get spotted by one party I'd rather the voklit sense you than whatever those things are.

If you are positive you won't lose the trail of the voktil, duck off to the side and wait for those things to pass.

Some kind of scavenger, I suppose. I'd assume they're after the kill- they smell a dead or injured animal and they're following the trail.

That's not enough help us in guessing their behavior or threat level towards you, though. Scavengers come in everything from harmlessly skittish to downright viscous and.

How quickly are they moving? If they're moving slowly enough to not be gaining, continue forward. If they're going to catch up, find a place where you can get up and/or to the side out of the way and let them pass.

Defend yourself if attacked (although shots will give you away to the voklit). If they go past you, and attack the voklit, same protocol as before. Get close enough to watch, and only interfere if it appears necessary.

well, we could let those things pass and they would theoretically keep following the voktils, because they seem to be interested in the thing they're dragging. On the other hand they might get distracted by something and wander off leading you on a random wandering though the cave. If you can easily stay between them like you are now, let's keep on doing that.

Polo 2012/12/07(Fri)09:13 No. 476969 ID: c4e5c2
File 135490042958.png - (33.40KB , 700x700 , 48.png )

>How quick are they moving
Quickly. As they catch up, they appear to be getting more excited and are at a quick trot by the time they would get to me.

Although the trail is less obvious, I doubt I will lose the voktil, so I move off the path. The scavengers run on by, and if they notice me, they don't even give a glance in care.

I move quick to follow them. I expect that they are on their final lunge to attack the voktil, as they start making shrill yappy noises that would certainly alert the voktil. They are large, and given the wounds on one voktil and how outnumbered they are, I will most likely have to interject if I want to save them. I can wait to be sure, but if I do hesitate to make certain the voktil are losing, it may already be too late given how fast a mortal wound can be inflicted on them.

Oh, yikes. I thought those things were like dog sized before. Bad judge of perspective, I guess.

I think it's time for crack-shot Polo to make an appearance, here. You have to intervene. The voklit aren't help to your escape if they're killed, or significantly wounded. And besides that, it's not really right to stand by and watch people get killed for no reason. Even grumpy lizard people.

Pull your pistol, step out and take aim, but glance to make sure that the voktil are moving to fight these scavengers before firing. For all you know they could be their pets.

Take down two for sure, and at least injure the rest if the voktil look like they can't handle them. Once the shots are made, don't stick around. Fade away and watch the voktil from a distance.

Welp, let's look at the facts: Voklits are honorable and they hate tech. If this is some kind of male coming-of-age thing or honor-hunt thing, interfering would probably make them morally confused.

That said... letting them die is not a good idea.

Give the voklits a chance to scare these things off before you do anything. Be prepared to shoot these them as soon as they attack the voklits.

>For all you know they could be their pets.
>shrill yappy noises
Ooh, good catch. Yeah, you either need a visual of the volkit assuming defensive or battle postures, or the animals attacking, before you can open fire.

That means we'll have to come out of cover, but luckily the voklits and animals should be focused on each other. And your cover would be blown when you fire, anyways.

1/2 Polo 2012/12/07(Fri)11:00 No. 476989 ID: c4e5c2
File 135490680026.png - (95.46KB , 700x700 , 49.png )

I get ready to fire my pistol. The stopping power of a small pistol is not ideal to things this size, but one round of firing 8 shots will still make some fall.

I recognize the chance that these scavengers are pets of the voktil, but that does not turn out to be the case. 3 leap onto the wounded Voktil, while one daring scavenger busies the other. I start shooting as clean shots present themselves, and immediately begin reloading. The ones I shoot are clearly hurt, most likely fatally, but keep on attacking.

2/2 Polo 2012/12/07(Fri)11:01 No. 476990 ID: c4e5c2
File 135490688506.png - (51.20KB , 700x700 , 50.png )

I unload another 4 shots before they begin dropping. The wounded voktil that was ganged up on is not moving and bleeding out, and his condition does not bring a smile to the other voktil's face he checks on the wounds.

The conscious voktil shouts out to the darkness where I slinked back into. I do not know what he says, of course, but it does sound unsurprisingly angry. And unsurprisingly upset, at that.

I don't suppose you have a medkit available to you? You could kick it towards them?
Or maybe that would just deepen the anger because by helping them out you dishonored them or some shit.

Help stabilize the downed one if they let you.

...did you bring any medical supplies with you? Or anything we could use to stop the bleeding? Last resort, I suppose we have a knife and some animal corpses to work with...

If he'll accept your help with his injured companion, you should. Try slinking back, making the offer, and seeing if he'll let you approach. If he's too incensed at your intrusion, or using dishonorable tech to help them to let you approach, there's not a lot you can do though.

Polo 2012/12/07(Fri)13:29 No. 477029 ID: c4e5c2
File 135491574552.png - (75.33KB , 700x700 , 51.png )

>Did you bring any medical supplies with you?
I did not bring a whole medkit, but I did bring the most basic supplies of bandages, disinfectants and so on.

While I think of kicking out my medical supplies to the fine Voklit, I have no idea if he has any clue how to use even basic medical tools. I move out in the open, and while the he is not pleased to see me, he does not shoo me off or appear hostile. I get to work on the wounds. The neck is torn badly, and it is hard to tell if I merely need to stop blood flow or if his throat has been torn out entirely. I do what I can anyways, in case he is lucky.

The other one bows down in front of me, but he does not appear to be thankful. It is uncomfortable, and he looks away from me. He then makes a noise, and it is a moment before I realize it almost sounded like a word. "Shame." I've never seen anything so big look so pitiful that wasn't Three Stripes.

just do what you can.

>"Shame."
Alright, he does know a few words in your language. Maybe we can respond, if we're clear, and careful with word choice.

You're alive. Alive you can earn your honor. Dead you cannot.

Seems we were mostly right in our guess as to how they'd react.

Patch up the conscious guy if you have materials left after tending to the unconscious guy

You did well. See what he wants to do with the wounded guy and help out any way you can.

>"Shame"
I guess you assisted him without request, and helped his friend in a way he could not. Best thing I can think of is to give him a way to settle the implied debt. With his likely limited vocabulary, we need to keep to simple concepts.

"Home".

Hopefully, he'll figure you mean your home, with other Neumono, at the camp. If not, at least he'll lead you to the Voktil city at the surface.

>>477073
"Home" could work actually- convey the message that there's something more important than shame/honor. Getting back, and getting his wounded friend back.

Look up at him and say "help now. Shame later." Try and convey that he can wallow in shame and self-pity later, after we save his friend. Then treat his injuries as best you can; You two are going to have to work together on this.

The one with the neck wound isn't going anywhere without a stretcher of some sort; Preferably with head immobilization. But between the carapace of that big bug, the hide and bones of those scavengers, that big stone hammer, and whatever else you two are carrying, there should be enough supplies to build a makeshift one that the voktil can drag behind him.

"You no shame. You fight well. My shame if I not fight." etc.

Polo 2012/12/08(Sat)00:05 No. 477166 ID: c4e5c2
File 135495392354.png - (26.58KB , 700x700 , 52.png )

I patch up the conscious guy.

"Help now, shame later."
>"...bad understand."
"Help. No shame. Find home."

While I patch him up, he just flips the large bug around and places his wounded friend on top of it. It is bent decently such that the voktil won't fall off, even though his stretcher is made of heebee jeebies.

>"... no home."
"What?"
"You. Own me. Neumono, no welcome home. I, no longer, welcome home."

It's one of those societies in which saving someone's life means you own them, I guess. How awkward, especially considering that apparently my unwelcome status carries over to him now or something.

"My home. Above ground."
>"Abv?"
"Above..." I point straight upwards. "Sun."
>"V. Will lead sun. May.... vv... chew?" he says, pointing to the scavengers.
"You may eat."

So we take a food break, in which I do not eat raw meat of unidentified creatures, since I am not in dire straights. He starts gorging himself since everything we cannot bring will likely be wasted. While he does this, I can't help but wonder what to do with him, if he is apparently unable to apparently go back home because I apparently own him.

Hand him off to the diplomatic corps. He can teach more neumono their language and explain their culture to reduce possible issues in the future. Alternatively, there must be some university anthropology department that would love to have him. Either way, short term, bring him back to camp and do what you can to keep him comfortable/happy.

Err I hate to point this out but you don't own just him now. Its both of them.

>>477166
You have no choice but to bring him with you back to camp. He can be your bodyguard. You can call him Al. I imagine if he saves your life he'll have repaid his debt and can return home.

Ask if the near-dead one is owned by you as well.

Oh geeze. I expected our saving him to mean we'd be bringing him home disgraced and dishonored. Not that we'd earn Polo a Friday.

We're going to need Kort's help, I think. We can't keep him, long term. There has to be a way they can earn their freedom or stature back.

Short term though, this could be useful. He may know a lot about these tunnels and the things in them we'd otherwise have to find out the hard way. At least our mission might be one his honor system might tolerate- we're here hunting an enemy after they fled in cowardice.

After you're done eating, and before we head out, we need to figure out what we're doing with the injured one. Is he still alive? Can we move him? Are we bringing him to the other voklit, or do you own him too?

You should probably introduce yourself, and get their names while you're at it. Don't let them call you master.

Actually, couldn't the both of them could go back to their people if they just keep what happened here secret? After all, only they and you know what happened here, and you aren't going to blab it to the other voklits. All you want is to get up to the surface, and then you could release them from your ownership.

So they head to an out of the way cave entrance, and you follow at a distance so other voklits don't think you're with them. The only other issue would be redressing their wounds in something other than your bandages, or covering the bandages up.

When you get a moment, ask him where he learned to speak in your language.

>Couldn't they return home if we just keep what happened here secret?
Sure. Except for the little fact their honor won't allow them to keep it a secret.

And, naturally, we can't just abuse our ownership to order them to do the dishonorable thing. That never works.

>>477175
Yeah, guess that wouldn't work since they're so honorable and all that. The one with the neck wound would probably not survive without the modern medical aid available back at camp as well, so that's another reason to bring them with.

Once you've asked for their names, or given them names if their names are unpronounceable by you, ask if he could lead you to the cave entrance nearest to the neumono camp, or the Voktil valley's entrance if he doesn't know where the neumono camp is.

Let's get out then worry about what to do with him. Best hope is to get him to understand the concept of "it never happened". Second best is have him be volkit-neumono diplomat or gobetween.

>>477195
If we go that route we'll have to keep both of them out of sight of the other voklits. That means they can't go anywhere near the camp, since there are so many watching it. They'll have to stay hidden in the caves near Point A.

As for a go-between, as far as I can tell it ain't happening. The one who is saved takes on the same status as the one who saved them. Since Polo saved them, that makes them as unwelcome in voklit society as the neumono.

I wonder if they know the word 'Ghost'?

1/2 Polo 2012/12/08(Sat)14:29 No. 477293 ID: c4e5c2
File 135500574249.png - (66.27KB , 700x700 , 53.png )

>You own both
.. even worse.

"What is your name?"
>"VVln."
"Viln?"
>".... yes." It was not even close to how he pronounced it.
"I am Polo."
>"Pll."
"........ yes. Where did you learn to speak your language?"
>"Other neumono... come. Hear words."

>what we're doing with the injured one. Is he still alive? Can we move him?
"What about him?" I gesture to the wounded one on the bug stretcher. He is still breathing, although his survival is still a maybe.
>"You own. I bring to sun."
"What if we forget this happened?"
>"Can never forget. Shame." Figures.

2/2 Polo 2012/12/08(Sat)14:29 No. 477294 ID: c4e5c2
File 135500575426.png - (59.55KB , 700x700 , 54.png )

It's a slow trip up, since I can barely do anything to help lighten the load. Viln wants to keep his trophy bug, and he sounds pitifully depressed as is, so I don't tell him to drop it.

It looks like early evening by the time we reach outdoors. I do not recognize the cave exit, but it is obviously not the river exit and it is not in the center of a gladiatorial fight, so I imagine it is the northwestern cave opening.

I still do not believe that I was backstabbed, but walking in with a voktil will almost certainly prevent me from getting a feel for them in secret if I wish to make certain of that.

>>477294
Tell him to wait here. Stay silent, then sneak over to camp to get an empathic feel for the situation there, and also a headcount. Will anyone be missing, I wonder?

>>477297
Wait, don't forget to take off your tech armor before you go into the forest.

Call the crew on the radio. Ask what your location is and where to meet up. You need critical medical attention for the volkit.

Yeah... I don't think sneaking is worth it. Might as well radio in, so they know to call off the search.

Let them know about the Voklit (You own them? How...? - I made the mistake of saving their life), find out what happened by the river. Remember to turn off your silence before you get back in range.

>Remove armor so as not to give offense.
What's the point? We're already taken slaves here. No voklit that sees us will be happy anyways. Besides, the best way to carry it is wearing it.

There are going to be other ways to determine the intent of your team without ignoring time-critical life threatening injuries, and there is also always the possibility that they were attacked and need help themselves. Get in contact as fast as possible.

You said you could figure out your position once you were above ground, right? Figure it out, and head back to camp.

Ask Viln how the other voktil will react to him and the other one if they see them with you. Then ask how they'd react if they saw them alone, both with and without knowing about you owning them. You're going to want to know how much hassle the other voktil are going to give both you and them in this circumstance.

Switch to infrared and scan the trees for voktil, so you'll know if there's going to be trouble from them right away.

Strip your armor off before setting foot in the forest; No point in aggravating the voktil more. While you're at it, check that you didn't lose anything on the way up.

Tell Viln to drag his comrade directly to the neumono camp, unless doing so would get them attacked by the other voktil. In that case they should go through the caves to Point A and wait there for you to come.

Switch your empathic broadcast off, and run to the camp. Keep listening in on the radio for anything while on the way. Once you're within empathic range, hide and sense for a bit, then raise them on the radio. Say that you came out of the Point B cave, and tell them about the voklits, and that you need a pickup. That'll give you a read on how they react to that news. Then retreat out of empathic range, drop your block, and run back to meet up with Viln.

>>477294
Ask him if there's a way to remove his shame. This is going to be a burden eventually and you may dishonor him to the point of him trying to kill you.

>Ask Viln how the other voktil will react to him
>Ask him if there's a way to remove his shame.
How about we hold the complicated honor code explanations until we've gotten to our translator, who presumably understands voklit customs somewhat better than we do. Attempting to communicate all the intricacies of this stuff in pidgin English is a fool's errand coffee cake run.