Doin' a chase to six Lead - and Zaef already has four. The other guy's good enough to where it at least IS a chase, but Zaef is easily faster.

I didn't roll until it was concluded because I didn't know of Angel also wanted to give chase, or if Zaef wanted to try a throwing knife or what have you. Doing anything other than running penalizes your Move roll as well as your additional action (with Athletics specialization, Zaef would still be rolling 1d10, just not his full 2d10).

Nah, no fancy stuff here- Zaef's just going to run him into the dirt.

FATALITY!

*crowd goes wild*

Sticking around in the rain to see if more Imperials show? Heading back and let the weather clear your trail? Try to fiddle with the vox now or in camp?

Zaef's thoughts:
If more Imperials do show, it'll be in force, since the scout probably just told the whole world where we are. Angel and Zaef probably won't be able to hold off that many. It's doubtful another solitary Imp will show up-there was only one scout, trailing us in particular, and he did his job damn well. Where ever he ends up, Zaef will tinker with the vox some more, but he'd prefer it be in a dry cave with a warm fire, not in another wet tree.

In short: head back, work vox at camp. Unless CrazyIvan disagrees.

Davis and I vote we unload the keg and lozenge and cover them up really good, put some time into it, and head towards the village with the other gear still on the ATV. Plus, we take our time to really cover our tracks well on the way there. The last thing we want is to have anyone find the keg and lozenge.

Yeah, I think that's a pretty solid idea. Now that the rain's passed, we can take our time with the rest, and there's no reason to not take our time covering up what are basically our two key assets.

Punkey wrote:

Davis and I vote we unload the keg and lozenge and cover them up really good, put some time into it, and head towards the village with the other gear still on the ATV. Plus, we take our time to really cover our tracks well on the way there. The last thing we want is to have anyone find the keg and lozenge.

Agreed.

And we never, ever go back to them until we're ready to get them. If we go back and look, either they're still there and we just left a path that they could follow at best and they followed us there at the worst, or they're already gone and there's nothing we could do. If we do our jobs right burying them in the cave, they won't find them.

I also agree with this.

Sounds like there's a consensus or at least the majority now in favor of hide the loot real, real good.

I'll update accordingly and we'll move out in next post.

Punkey wrote:

And we never, ever go back to them until we're ready to get them. If we go back and look, either they're still there and we just left a path that they could follow at best and they followed us there at the worst, or they're already gone and there's nothing we could do. If we do our jobs right burying them in the cave, they won't find them.

Do we have some sort infrared motion detector that could send a message should the cache be tampered with?

If it was something you'd rig a Claymore to or something like that, you might conceivably have one. Otherwise it doesn't really fit the mission.

Also, it would go off with wildlife. Not a good idea, too many false positives.

I was thinking of something that would go off only when they were uncovered, but it seems a bit moot now.

Punkey asked for a brief primer on Wherren culture before you all end up talking to the cook about religious ceremonies and accidentally trade Arketta for beef jerky.

Wherren are tribal. Some are enemies with each other, some trade with each other. Typical roles in a village are that of slave or overseer, hunter/gatherer, scout/runner, warrior, artisan, healer. There aren't terribly demarcated gender roles, but females do tend towards gathering and artisans.

More interesting roles are that of the initiates. These are Wherren that are taught Imperial, taught how to read the body language of humans, and who will eventually be taken as tribute by the Imperium.

Wherren elders and shamans typically teach the initiates. The elders are simply what they seem; venerable Wherren who are looked upon in most tribes as having influence or wisdom. Shamans are a little different. They typically understand more than the average Wherren about Imperial technology. It's all steeped in ritual and tradition and taboos, of course. A shaman can be identified easily because they typically will carry or wear some piece or multiple pieces of tech.

Finally, there is a chief or warboss. The chief busies him or herself with mundane matters of territory, hunting grounds, trade with other tribes, and so on. Typically an older, larger Wherren.

Wherren take slaves - after all, that's sanctioned by their gods. Typically prisoners of tribal wars are kept as slaves.

Something ADS and I were talking about a while back that I just recently remembered to mention here is the matter of titles. Not Earth ones, but Imperial propaganda titles, scary ones that they throw in when they're telling lies about how we single-handedly burned a dozen villages to the ground and broke the necks of every child, stuff like that. He came up with one for Arketta, and I've got one for Davis. Anyone got any ideas for theirs?

Arketta Quis, She That Lies With Demons, Tarnisher of the Scarlet Banner, and Concubine of Ashes

Garrett Davis, Smiling Beast With Gilded Tongue, Schemer of Glass and Ashes, and Bane of Emperors

Because I figure Zaef would have a few.
Bloodwraith, He That Eschews Redemption, The Phoenix That Would Hunt The Akwhela, and Captain of None.

And collectively you would be known as the Talons of the Tainted Mother. I'm back from vacation, but I landed in the middle of a product release week so my update is slow in coming.

Observing the goings-on in camp, Cowboy will take it upon himself to help out in some role than may befit his skill-set.