Team Blue((Don't feel like PMing, but would still like to point out - Anton has robohands, not roboarms. And I should likewise post an action or something.))
((Done.))
"Just a bit tired, that's all. I'm not used to walking around all day."
Requesting an update on what anomalous motion zones are around us: I know one of them is the erratic movement zone (things move around on their own) and one of them is the no gravity zone.
What are the other ones? Do objects in the erratic movement zone move on all directions? Could a drone handle flying inside the no gravity zone (does it have down thrusters) or the erratic movement zone (can its thrusters respond fast enough to the changes in speed and direction)? Could I send a drone in one of those two zones and start throwing rocks while viewing their movement from the drone's camera, in order to determine where the border of the next anomalous motion zone is and what kind of effect that zone has?
Send a rock through the no gravity zone towards the sky and see if I can see its ceiling (not the sky's, the zone's). Go back to base and eat, sleep and resupply. If the team doesn't let me go back to base, just keep following them, staying a few paces back.
They're all Chaotic movement zones. Thought I updated that on the map, but must have forgotten. Updated now.
As per what I can tell you about the erratic zone, it just looks like everything inside of it is being shaken around; like if you put stones into a shoebox and shook the box. They seem to go in all directions but the thing is that they all stop and change directions at the same time. You could try to send a drone in where ever you want, but I can't tell you one way or another if it will survive.
You throw a rock into the "zero-g" zone, trying to arc it up. It doesn't fly up, instead it immediately halts it's ascent and just slides off away from you as though it's slipping between sheets of glass or ice. Further experimentation shows similar effects at other heights. The stone doesn't fall or ascend; it just slides of across an invisible horizontal plane.
You finish up your tests, flip Vich off, and then walk straight back to base, leaving the rest of the team to prevent their own progress.
((Alpha Protocol? Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FckrbHXNtoI (3:30 - 4:15) ))
"Speaking of going back, we basically have a choice right now. We can either go back through the tunnel. We're still less than half the way through it, and after we get through it, we will stumble all the way to base, and fall asleep as soon as we get inside, extremely tired. I'm not exactly exited for this choice, because it will mean that when we continue exploring, we will have to stumble all the way back, and it will also mean that we will have to go through the entire of the anomaly.
The other choice is to go back to the other side. Assuming only me and Flint actually went it and the rest of you stayed outside, it would also be the simpler choice. We have supplies for three days, we will travel a bit from the anomaly and make camp there. In the morning, we will explore the rest of the other side of the anomaly, and then figure out a way back. Or the base could send a shuttle for it if it feels paranoid. "
Something was weird about the way Flint behaved. If he was feeling weird, why did he go into the corridor? If it was that bad, why was he continuing it. And why was he so eager to abandom them and go with Zephyris all of the sudden. Damn it, in the olden days it would have taken Vich seconds to make sense of this. Today, after years of solitude, it was that much harder.
Intuit why the Flint is behaving the way he is. Shut the fuck up about what I figure out. And stop trying to argue with Flint, it is obviously getting nowhere.
If Bishop doesn't make a decision, Vich goes back to the Bishop and Zephyria who are totally waiting at the start of the tunnel, because only Vich and Flint said they were going in. He doesn't try to overly persuade Flint to not wander off by himself, because fuck Flint. If he wants to collapse ten miles from the base, he can do it. It's been confirmed that it's not that dangerous on the way. Then everybody goes a square or two into sector 9, and unless they meet an anomaly, they make camp.
If Bishop does make a decision, he follows his decision without question. (Am I seriously the only one of my team who posted an action this turn?)
((In case someone hasn't noticed, I have another telling of my backstory in a spoiler in my previous post. Also, Bishop, you might want to accept help with the unmapped sector, because we're not going to be mapping it anytime soon.
Also, where do you live right now?)
Flint appears to have wandered off. As to what his problem is, it seems to come down to the fact that you prevented him from performing an action that he wanted to do. And now he is angry with you.
"Humans sure are complex. Glad I'm not one of them. I mean...um...Things humans say..."
Team GreenKeep on trucking mapping.
Help lars.
"What's with this place?"
map the volcanic fun zone
Mapping continues unabated! The team makes it all the way back out to the other shore of the Iron sea. Neato. In other news, it's hot as hell, no one has water or food and this place is as close to a literal hell as possible. Not even an interesting one out here on the edges; there's none of that neat, weird life shit out here to poke with non-existent sticks.
When I wake up, find some material for an eyepatch, so I don't have to keep my eye closed all the time. Then grab additional supplies, especially water, and head back out and look for the team.
Remember that Pirate vision only engages when you keep your eye
closed, not when it's open. Plus you'd look straight through the eyepatch if it was active when your eye was open.
Team RedOnce the rest of the team is reasonably well rested, go to sector 4 and start mapping. Fly up and try to get an idea of the area once we reach the edge of the known area, while cycling through vision modes.
"We should start chucking rocks again once we get near the unexplored area. Lucas, if you'd be so kind?"
Head on back to base and spread the word about what I saw.
((Yes, speech roll if needed.))
Follow the leader shoot things that try to murder us
"Sure thing, boss"
Start throwing rocks around in sensible directions once we arrive at sector 4.
"By the way, you seem to pronounce my name with a 'c,' whereas it is actually pronounced with a 'k.' It's no biggie. The 'c' just makes my name sound all weird." (( ))
Denzel returns with tales of strange lands beyond the edge of the explored world and regales the team with descriptions of them as it moves out toward the fourth zone. They have to skirt the gravity seep to get there and even from the edge of the zone, it's clear that bad things await them. The land beyond is potmarked with craters, not unlike the one that sits outside the base, and the light is strange here; near the craters it's so distorted as to produce as rainbow effect, where gravity teases the spectrum apart.
Team Base((I was planning to do some experiments in the time/vector warp zone, as well as a very scientific experiment a-la "toss a bluerad shard into the energy-absorbent zone and see what happens". But making a trailer (and advanced control system) for the MPV would be a passable pastime, as soon as Anton becomes aware of its necessity.))
"Well, that at least makes sense. Everything here must be controlled by ALVIN. The base was in shutdown before their team got here, and went back into shutdown once they... er, left. Hm. Unusual perhaps, but not quite strange... hm."
Look through footage of the fixed cameras from between the previous team's arrival and their... departure. Look for three things specifically - the first zone storm, the events leading up to the team's boarding the shuttle, and, if existant, the footage of the planning room the last time the previous team's leader is seen in it. See if he was planning any route away from the base, or anything of the kind.
((edit: also, just noticed. "Misson"?))
It doesn't appear as though the base has internal cameras, or at least there's no footage from them if there is. The outdoor cameras show a hard blue light surrounded by a halo of black specks moving out of the radiation zone and toward the gravity seep, much like what happened recently. The footage cuts off as it gets close. Nothing seems terribly interesting besides that in the footage from between arrival and departure. A few people wander out along the edge of the base, look around a bit, but no one ever seems to go too far.
map
http://i.imgur.com/0NUabax.png