All of the action with the Simvan riders attracted the attention of Florida man who was in the area anyway. He pounced on the APC from a tree the way you would ambush a large dinosaur only then realizing it was manned by the rest of the Dinotours Excursions employees.
After some quick introductions to the new tourists, and Florida man again trying to sell his 'action figures', they headed out to the SEEGA and Primal rage. When they arrived the children enjoyed playing int he berry and nut grove with the SEEGA children. After stopping to sell off the dinosaurs that Ray had captured from the Simvan riders they made their way to the arena to try and get good seats since it was first come first serve.
Butch was approached by Melechar, high priest of Sauron, again about becoming an initiate and Florida Man worked his contacts to try and get 'box seats'. As they were discussing the evenings ceremony, they worked their way over to the ice cream stand that Ray had invested in. The proprietor of the ice cream stand explained that business was not great since a number of people had gotten ill from eating the ice cream and Ray suggested that they mention to the patrons that it was nut based to avoid any more issues with people who may have allergies.
Alderic sought out Socket again to ask him if he would try the dinosaur control rig and socket politely declined to give it another go. However when Raban, Diablo's handler offered Ray the chance to try out the control rig, it was demonstrated that a dragon was inherently magical enough to use the rig with ease.
After being told that 'box seats' were reserved for the devote, the employees of Dinotours were told also that this evenings ceremony was going to be extra special because it involved showing the Gods strength by pitting puny Kopar humans with sharp sticks against them. This ruffled Butch's feathers quite a bit and everyone decided that it was probably best that the children not be exposed to a group of Dinosaurs being controlled by humans, eating other humans; for fun. So everyone turned to Florida Man for a tour of the other nightlife in SEEGA.
While they toured the local food Butch got some kabobs and then not at all ironically gave the 'sharp sticks' to the children to play fight with; which no one apparently cared to notice but gave him a chuckle. Likely no one noticed because the mother of the children had already started to heavily imbibe Ray's 'Swamp Tonic' as she affectionately named it provided to her most gleefully by Florida man who could actually enjoy the taste since it took way too much of it to actually get him drunk.
The children's father, like a couple other tourists, was enamored with Butch's war stories and failed to notice the degradation of his wife's inhibitions as they approached the SEEGA Primal Rage museum. Here there was a test rig for children to try and use to control a pair of scampers. This museum and this rig is how the SEEGA determine the small part of their population that have 'the gift' also known as the magical and psychic abilities to use one of their combination psychic and techno-wizard dinosaur control rigs.
Socket recognized immediately that allowing the CS children to try out these devices was a very very bad idea because of the implication if one of them could actually do it, but was not able to communicate this because of his existing issue with dealing with people compounded with the anxiety of demonstrating that a child of CS citizens was magically gifted caused him to go semi-catatonic. So with Florida Man and Ray were left to try and make the judgement on weather or not the children should try out the machines.
The children's mother was so far sloshed that she probably would have agreed to allow the children to have a flame thrower fight, so after Ray made sure that if by chance one of the children could use the device that they would not be detained and forced to become SEEGA 'players', gave the children a great big thumbs up. The two older kids got into the rigs and started to play around.
The oldest child had no luck and his scamper simply stood in the pen doing what it had done before, however the middle child instinctively and enhanced by the 'Easy Mode' suit, proceeded to make his scamper do jumps and kicks as well orchestrated as any 'player' could. This made the attending priest's eyes bulge as he excitedly started to exclaim that the child had 'the gift'. At this point the children's father took notice of what was going on and realized a little too late and with some not so gentle explanation that his child must be magically gifted.
This rocked Brian's world a little bit and he proceeded to order the children out of the suits immediately and then scooped up his wife to head back to the APC in a severely foul mood. As usual, Ray had trouble understanding why Brian was so agitated but offered some help to the wife after realizing that she obviously did not have the metabolize of a Dragon or a crazy and so must have consumed entirely too much of his brew.
The following morning everyone was trying their best to help Brian come to terms with his child's abilities and Ray said that once the kid was of age that they would have a job down here where they could live a mostly normal life. This seemed to ease some of his anxiety and they all agreed to let he issue settle itself.
The following evening they watched the primal rage ceremony and everyone had a great time. There was no more mention of the previous day's events and the following morning they headed back to Dinotours HQ.
Monday, April 24, 2017
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Simvan eat Things
Florida Man went walkabout again the following day and everyone worried he may not come back this time.
That day more Kopar showed up to work as sanitation and housekeeping in the encampment. Socket busied himself with stripping the weapons off the APC in anticipation for trading them for parts to get it up and running.
That afternoon, Kage asked everyone to go and investigate another plume of black smoke to the northwest. Socket, Ray and Butch geared up and headed that direction. They passed the entrance to the MARTA tunnels that they had previously explored and continued heading northwest. after a little while they encountered another MARTA entrance but this one had been barricaded with concrete barriers to give someone the ability to make a fighting retreat as they went down into it.
On the ground in front of the tunnel entrance there was the obvious signs of a fight. They saw a number of black armored corpses and the source of the smoke; various pieces of the forest surrounding the tunnel entrance smoldering. They cautiously approached the entrance and quickly encountered some men with guns holding their ground.
Ray approached with his normal level of "I don't know, or care that, you can hurt me" and was met with some hostility. After a few minutes of conversation a leader identified as Lysander appeared wearing red armor and a cape to match. The men were not really willing to answer any questions and acted a lot like scared rabbits about to go to ground.
Butch and Ray were happy enough to leave after they explained that they lived right over the way and were worried about anyone who was setting fire to the forest, to which Lysander said he would send an envoy to talk about a potential relationship.
Socket however was very curious thinking that these men might be Atlanteans and that they might have information for him and decided to follow them. He stayed hidden for the most part using a device that cloaked him until the power for it ran out just as he was entering a massive chamber full of 'space ships' like the one that they had raided for parts before. Here he accidentally attracted the attention of the men he pursued and they confronted him.
Socket explained he had business with Lysander and was granted an audience after he showed them his tattoos. After some time and conversation Socket left with new knowledge of his heritage.
Back at camp Ray and Socket were busying themselves getting ready for a trip to Primal Rage the following day. Shortly after socket arrived, the Black Market guys showed up looking to trade the weapons and then Socket got the APC working again.
The following day they set out for SEEGA territory with Kage and Lexington holding down the fort again. After the first days travel, Browww came to alert them that something was coming and was urging them to follow him running south. This is when half a dozen Simvan riders bore down on the APC and the group.
Ray had been up ahead and then fell back to try and confront them while Butch shot at them from the back of the APC. After a short fight Ray ended up going Dragon and combating 4 Simvan on foot. Since they did not appear to be at all interested in talking to Ray about a "business opportunity" he and Butch dispatched them quickly and they were on their way again.
That day more Kopar showed up to work as sanitation and housekeeping in the encampment. Socket busied himself with stripping the weapons off the APC in anticipation for trading them for parts to get it up and running.
That afternoon, Kage asked everyone to go and investigate another plume of black smoke to the northwest. Socket, Ray and Butch geared up and headed that direction. They passed the entrance to the MARTA tunnels that they had previously explored and continued heading northwest. after a little while they encountered another MARTA entrance but this one had been barricaded with concrete barriers to give someone the ability to make a fighting retreat as they went down into it.
On the ground in front of the tunnel entrance there was the obvious signs of a fight. They saw a number of black armored corpses and the source of the smoke; various pieces of the forest surrounding the tunnel entrance smoldering. They cautiously approached the entrance and quickly encountered some men with guns holding their ground.
Ray approached with his normal level of "I don't know, or care that, you can hurt me" and was met with some hostility. After a few minutes of conversation a leader identified as Lysander appeared wearing red armor and a cape to match. The men were not really willing to answer any questions and acted a lot like scared rabbits about to go to ground.
Butch and Ray were happy enough to leave after they explained that they lived right over the way and were worried about anyone who was setting fire to the forest, to which Lysander said he would send an envoy to talk about a potential relationship.
Socket however was very curious thinking that these men might be Atlanteans and that they might have information for him and decided to follow them. He stayed hidden for the most part using a device that cloaked him until the power for it ran out just as he was entering a massive chamber full of 'space ships' like the one that they had raided for parts before. Here he accidentally attracted the attention of the men he pursued and they confronted him.
Socket explained he had business with Lysander and was granted an audience after he showed them his tattoos. After some time and conversation Socket left with new knowledge of his heritage.
Back at camp Ray and Socket were busying themselves getting ready for a trip to Primal Rage the following day. Shortly after socket arrived, the Black Market guys showed up looking to trade the weapons and then Socket got the APC working again.
The following day they set out for SEEGA territory with Kage and Lexington holding down the fort again. After the first days travel, Browww came to alert them that something was coming and was urging them to follow him running south. This is when half a dozen Simvan riders bore down on the APC and the group.
Ray had been up ahead and then fell back to try and confront them while Butch shot at them from the back of the APC. After a short fight Ray ended up going Dragon and combating 4 Simvan on foot. Since they did not appear to be at all interested in talking to Ray about a "business opportunity" he and Butch dispatched them quickly and they were on their way again.
Thursday, April 6, 2017
You are not paid to ask questions
As everyone continued to try and rationalize the death of Gi'Laduche, Florida man showed up and explained how he can now wrestle a dinosaur. Socket not wanting to deal with anyone mentioned something about having to work on the boats and scurried off while there was a warm welcoming for Florida man, which promptly ended as the guests woke up and started to look around.
Jenny woke and came out to ask everyone one at a time what happened to Gi'Ladouche ending with Butch gathering everyone up and explaining he saw Gi'Ladouche go off into the woods the night before with a rifle. This is when Riggis came out and was very perturbed to announce that his rifle had been stolen.
Lexington and Socket made a show of heading into the woods to look for Gi'Ladouche coming back to the compound right before the next batch of tourists would be arriving, obviously empty handed. Kage explained to Riggis that his lost property would be paid for out of insurance funds since it appears to have been stolen by another guest. Jenny appeared to be disappointed but not overly upset or concerned about her loss, which didn't stop Ray from being very kind and trying his best to offer condolences.
When the tourist buss arrived with its mercenary guards, Anton (Matthew) walked off with Kage again to discuss some business as the new tourists exited and the old tourists got ready to head home, with one less. Florida Man tried immediately to sell them small wicker representations of himself before wandering off to try and make hims self some " 'sploring clothes ".
The new group of tourists consisted of two middle aged women and another young couple. The middle aged women seemed a bit somber and unexcited during Ray's welcome speech, during which everyone was very careful to observe the dangerous plants. Right from the start, the young man Billy appeared to not have wanted to come on this trip, but instead was catering to his wife, Zoey's interests.
Kage and Anton had gone into the main office and once again as they came out, they were observed having a hushed conversation which included Anton again apparently pointing out someone but it was not clear who. This peaked Butch's interest in what might be going on, and he made a note to bring it up later.
With the formality out of the way, and with the danger from the last tour still fresh in everyone's head, everyone but Socket went with the new tourists to the north to show off the Stegosaurus pod that lived there. The trip was very uneventful other than Billy complaining a bit that he was not comfortable with all these 'DBs' around. On the way back, Butch overheard Angela and Mallory having a quite conversation in which Mallory appeared to be trying to calm Angela and explain that she was safe here.
That evening they had a nice dinner and Florida Man tried his hand at entertaining the guests. His story was a bit hard to follow and ended a little dramatically, leaving the guests a bit confused and frightened. Ray stepped in and relayed the story of a group of adventurers and a haunted hotel in the middle of the dinosaur swamp (see weeks 5 & 6) which they all very much enjoyed and everyone went to bed feeling good.
Butch, Florida Man and Ray approached Kage and Lexington to ask about what Butch observed with Anton and they were basically told, don't worry about it. It was explained that the CS had mental interrogators and they could not get in trouble for things they didn't know. The implication of course was that Kage and Lexington were trying to protect the employees by withholding some kind of information which seemed to sit just fine with everyone but Butch who just got more agitated and curious.
The following morning as the days preparations were being made, Kage announced they would be heading to the Kopar to do site seeing and shopping. Butch, Florida Man and Ray were approached by a man calling himself Henry and asking for Lexington. The man was obviously Kopar and this fact appeared to be either lost on Florida Man or he simply did not care that he may be inciting violence as he flashed some ritual hand signs taught to him byt he Kopar's sworn enemy, the SEEGA. Ray stepped in to calm the situation down and they pointed his toward the main office building. Everyone continued their preparations and after breakfast, Lexington and Henry emerged and Henry left. Lexington took Mallory and Angela aside to have a private discussion and then they got ready to go to the Kopar city.
The trip was again uneventful and everyone appeared to be having a good time. When they reached the Kopar city, Billy did not appear to be excited about the prospect of going in and wanted to wait in the car. Ray made an attempt to dissuade him from doing this, but at the last minute, Butch offered to stay behind with him.
In the market Jenny appeared to be having a good time shopping with Florida Man and Ray while Lexington, Mallory and Angela moved off to look at some other things. Ray bought some small toys for 'his kids' at the orphanage and Jenny bought a lot of nice ferro-glass crystal jewelry. As they entered a larger market situated in an old intersection, the two groups were separated by a group of half dozen men who appeared to be lead by Henry, who no one recognized or remembered having only briefly met him earlier in the day.
Just then, an altercation started off on the other corner of the market catching everyone's attention. There was some confusion and alarm causing Ray and Florida Man to head toward Lexington and the others. Ray spent a few minutes getting Zoey secure and so arrived near Lexington and the others just in time to see Angela duck under a table. Florida Man had arrived a moment earlier and actually thought he heard Angela and Mallory exchange good byes before he also saw her duck under a table. When Lexington realized everyone else had arrived, he started to frantically search for Angela and Mallory appeared to realize that she was gone as well causing her to begin to panic. Lexington was trying to get everyone to leave and then they would re-convene in a safe place and figure out how to find Angela, but Florida Man convinced of what he saw, attempted to briefly discover Angela's route of egress only to be called crazy and get harassed by the merchant who's stall she would have had to pass under and through.
When they got back to the 'boat' Butch demanded to know what was going on and it was explained that Angela had gone missing. Ray and Florida Man headed off into the Kopar city again to try and find Angela, while Bitch took Lexington off into the woods a ways to see if he could get some answers. Once out of earshot of the 'boat' Butch attempted to coerce answers about what he knew out of Lexington with the barrel of his formidable weapon, causing Lexington to become agitated and punch Bitch in the face while shoving the weapon rather forcefully away. Lexington rather violently declared that this was not the time or the place and that Butch was paid to do a job and not ask questions. For the time Butch let it go and then he went back to the Kopar city to help find Angela.
Florida Man and Ray scoured the town looking for 'Henry' who they had recognized in the crowd and got some information from a security guard who actually expressed interest in the man, calling him Harold. After more searching with a name and a description, they found that the town was reluctant to discuss the shady figure but eventually did so leading them to a strip club in the shadier parts of town.
When they arrived, they were challenged by the front guard but Ray managed to confuse him and they entered. Butch was hot on their heels and also managed to intimidate the front guard and gained entry. Together they found their guy in a back corner. Ray simply pushed through the security that was obstructing them and Henry/Harold seemed OK with this. A few minutes into the conversation Henry realized that Butch was someone he knew being one of the people who brokered the
deal to get his very heavy gun through the black market. They had a conversation which consisted of Henry dodging a lot of questions but generally reassuring the group that Angela was gone and she wanted it that way. He offered to sell them some weapons and Ray managed to arrange to exchange weapons from the CS APC they recently got a hold of for the parts they needed to fix it.
Other than Mallory being inconsolable on the ride home, it was an uneventful trip. When they arrived Butch was salty as ever and dinner prep was made. Ray and Florida Man tried unsuccessfully to comfort Mallory, with Ray offering kind words and hope and Florida Man offering to teach her the game of 'stream jump', which he then gleefully wandered off and did himself when she refused.
That night after dinner, Kage made sure everyone knew they were paid and then made sure that everyone knew he and Lexington were a couple. He then mentioned that Lexington had his blind trust and because of the danger that certain information, which could be read from their minds posed to the business and their own personal safety, he was happy to be ignorant of a lot of the details of the 'extra' business ventures that Lexington was orchestrating. This seemed to sit well with everyone but Butch who demanded full disclosure. After everyone left, Lexington gave it to him.
Apparently Dinotours excursions was not just in the tourist trade, but also in effect in the insurance fraud business. They would 'dispose' of specific tourists as is previously arranged and they would also aide others to gain freedom and safety, for a price of course. Angela had to escape because she was a mystic and would have been hunted and exterminated by the CS. Where as Gi'Ladouche was disposed of by contract because he had a sizable insurance policy that Jenny and others would collect on. Butch reiterated that he wanted to be in the know from now on and was curious how he knew when he was supposed to respond with full force to try and get someone back. Lexington simply told him he would know if it happened.
The following day, Ray again tried to console Mallory as she left but to no avail and Zoey and Billy left happy. The new batch of tourists was a group of Tween kids and their parents along with other people. This group was the first to be there for more than two nights and Everyone seemed excited about the prospect of going to visit the SEEGA. What could possibly go wrong.
Jenny woke and came out to ask everyone one at a time what happened to Gi'Ladouche ending with Butch gathering everyone up and explaining he saw Gi'Ladouche go off into the woods the night before with a rifle. This is when Riggis came out and was very perturbed to announce that his rifle had been stolen.
Lexington and Socket made a show of heading into the woods to look for Gi'Ladouche coming back to the compound right before the next batch of tourists would be arriving, obviously empty handed. Kage explained to Riggis that his lost property would be paid for out of insurance funds since it appears to have been stolen by another guest. Jenny appeared to be disappointed but not overly upset or concerned about her loss, which didn't stop Ray from being very kind and trying his best to offer condolences.
When the tourist buss arrived with its mercenary guards, Anton (Matthew) walked off with Kage again to discuss some business as the new tourists exited and the old tourists got ready to head home, with one less. Florida Man tried immediately to sell them small wicker representations of himself before wandering off to try and make hims self some " 'sploring clothes ".
The new group of tourists consisted of two middle aged women and another young couple. The middle aged women seemed a bit somber and unexcited during Ray's welcome speech, during which everyone was very careful to observe the dangerous plants. Right from the start, the young man Billy appeared to not have wanted to come on this trip, but instead was catering to his wife, Zoey's interests.
Kage and Anton had gone into the main office and once again as they came out, they were observed having a hushed conversation which included Anton again apparently pointing out someone but it was not clear who. This peaked Butch's interest in what might be going on, and he made a note to bring it up later.
With the formality out of the way, and with the danger from the last tour still fresh in everyone's head, everyone but Socket went with the new tourists to the north to show off the Stegosaurus pod that lived there. The trip was very uneventful other than Billy complaining a bit that he was not comfortable with all these 'DBs' around. On the way back, Butch overheard Angela and Mallory having a quite conversation in which Mallory appeared to be trying to calm Angela and explain that she was safe here.
That evening they had a nice dinner and Florida Man tried his hand at entertaining the guests. His story was a bit hard to follow and ended a little dramatically, leaving the guests a bit confused and frightened. Ray stepped in and relayed the story of a group of adventurers and a haunted hotel in the middle of the dinosaur swamp (see weeks 5 & 6) which they all very much enjoyed and everyone went to bed feeling good.
Butch, Florida Man and Ray approached Kage and Lexington to ask about what Butch observed with Anton and they were basically told, don't worry about it. It was explained that the CS had mental interrogators and they could not get in trouble for things they didn't know. The implication of course was that Kage and Lexington were trying to protect the employees by withholding some kind of information which seemed to sit just fine with everyone but Butch who just got more agitated and curious.
The following morning as the days preparations were being made, Kage announced they would be heading to the Kopar to do site seeing and shopping. Butch, Florida Man and Ray were approached by a man calling himself Henry and asking for Lexington. The man was obviously Kopar and this fact appeared to be either lost on Florida Man or he simply did not care that he may be inciting violence as he flashed some ritual hand signs taught to him byt he Kopar's sworn enemy, the SEEGA. Ray stepped in to calm the situation down and they pointed his toward the main office building. Everyone continued their preparations and after breakfast, Lexington and Henry emerged and Henry left. Lexington took Mallory and Angela aside to have a private discussion and then they got ready to go to the Kopar city.
The trip was again uneventful and everyone appeared to be having a good time. When they reached the Kopar city, Billy did not appear to be excited about the prospect of going in and wanted to wait in the car. Ray made an attempt to dissuade him from doing this, but at the last minute, Butch offered to stay behind with him.
In the market Jenny appeared to be having a good time shopping with Florida Man and Ray while Lexington, Mallory and Angela moved off to look at some other things. Ray bought some small toys for 'his kids' at the orphanage and Jenny bought a lot of nice ferro-glass crystal jewelry. As they entered a larger market situated in an old intersection, the two groups were separated by a group of half dozen men who appeared to be lead by Henry, who no one recognized or remembered having only briefly met him earlier in the day.
Just then, an altercation started off on the other corner of the market catching everyone's attention. There was some confusion and alarm causing Ray and Florida Man to head toward Lexington and the others. Ray spent a few minutes getting Zoey secure and so arrived near Lexington and the others just in time to see Angela duck under a table. Florida Man had arrived a moment earlier and actually thought he heard Angela and Mallory exchange good byes before he also saw her duck under a table. When Lexington realized everyone else had arrived, he started to frantically search for Angela and Mallory appeared to realize that she was gone as well causing her to begin to panic. Lexington was trying to get everyone to leave and then they would re-convene in a safe place and figure out how to find Angela, but Florida Man convinced of what he saw, attempted to briefly discover Angela's route of egress only to be called crazy and get harassed by the merchant who's stall she would have had to pass under and through.
When they got back to the 'boat' Butch demanded to know what was going on and it was explained that Angela had gone missing. Ray and Florida Man headed off into the Kopar city again to try and find Angela, while Bitch took Lexington off into the woods a ways to see if he could get some answers. Once out of earshot of the 'boat' Butch attempted to coerce answers about what he knew out of Lexington with the barrel of his formidable weapon, causing Lexington to become agitated and punch Bitch in the face while shoving the weapon rather forcefully away. Lexington rather violently declared that this was not the time or the place and that Butch was paid to do a job and not ask questions. For the time Butch let it go and then he went back to the Kopar city to help find Angela.
Florida Man and Ray scoured the town looking for 'Henry' who they had recognized in the crowd and got some information from a security guard who actually expressed interest in the man, calling him Harold. After more searching with a name and a description, they found that the town was reluctant to discuss the shady figure but eventually did so leading them to a strip club in the shadier parts of town.
When they arrived, they were challenged by the front guard but Ray managed to confuse him and they entered. Butch was hot on their heels and also managed to intimidate the front guard and gained entry. Together they found their guy in a back corner. Ray simply pushed through the security that was obstructing them and Henry/Harold seemed OK with this. A few minutes into the conversation Henry realized that Butch was someone he knew being one of the people who brokered the
deal to get his very heavy gun through the black market. They had a conversation which consisted of Henry dodging a lot of questions but generally reassuring the group that Angela was gone and she wanted it that way. He offered to sell them some weapons and Ray managed to arrange to exchange weapons from the CS APC they recently got a hold of for the parts they needed to fix it.
Other than Mallory being inconsolable on the ride home, it was an uneventful trip. When they arrived Butch was salty as ever and dinner prep was made. Ray and Florida Man tried unsuccessfully to comfort Mallory, with Ray offering kind words and hope and Florida Man offering to teach her the game of 'stream jump', which he then gleefully wandered off and did himself when she refused.
That night after dinner, Kage made sure everyone knew they were paid and then made sure that everyone knew he and Lexington were a couple. He then mentioned that Lexington had his blind trust and because of the danger that certain information, which could be read from their minds posed to the business and their own personal safety, he was happy to be ignorant of a lot of the details of the 'extra' business ventures that Lexington was orchestrating. This seemed to sit well with everyone but Butch who demanded full disclosure. After everyone left, Lexington gave it to him.
Apparently Dinotours excursions was not just in the tourist trade, but also in effect in the insurance fraud business. They would 'dispose' of specific tourists as is previously arranged and they would also aide others to gain freedom and safety, for a price of course. Angela had to escape because she was a mystic and would have been hunted and exterminated by the CS. Where as Gi'Ladouche was disposed of by contract because he had a sizable insurance policy that Jenny and others would collect on. Butch reiterated that he wanted to be in the know from now on and was curious how he knew when he was supposed to respond with full force to try and get someone back. Lexington simply told him he would know if it happened.
The following day, Ray again tried to console Mallory as she left but to no avail and Zoey and Billy left happy. The new batch of tourists was a group of Tween kids and their parents along with other people. This group was the first to be there for more than two nights and Everyone seemed excited about the prospect of going to visit the SEEGA. What could possibly go wrong.
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