25/03/2020 - Exploring Other Destinations

Making Plans

The Travellers discuss what to do next and resolve their next move should be to get to the Teleportal and stop the inflow of Hunters into the Ilimdaki lands. Del suggests getting a few steam cars and mounting armour and Gatling guns on them, then using them to head out at speed to capture the Teleportal.

They set to work arranging the car mechanics and metal workers to do this. It will take a few days to convert 10 steam cars into armoured cars with machine guns fitted.

They also get the weapon smith to construct some basic stick hand grenades with some shrapnel.

Expedition for Food

The attacks from the Hunters have started to calm down and the Travellers begin to relax a little more, as well as assisting the mechanics to build the armoured cars. They learn from the Chancellor though that the food supplies in the City are beginning to run low.

The next day, when two armoured cars are ready, they decide to mount an expedition to the nearest farm to obtain food. Del and Drent take gunner positions, while Grant and Cyrus do the driving and four other Ilimdaki soldiers for support.

As they leave the City gates, a trap goes off, a spring loaded tree branch hits the front of the first armoured car. A Hunter jumps down on the rear of the first armoured car and kills one of the Ilimdaki soldiers, but Del stabs and injures it with his vibro blade. It jumps out squealing in pain onto the road. Grant, driving the second armoured car, tries to run it over, but he is too slow and it escapes.

Grain Silo Fight

They speed along the roads to a farm depo around a mile away from the City. It is a cylindrical storage silo filled with grain and there is a large steam powered truck parked there. The Travellers are disappointed that no Ilimdaki had mentioned there were bigger vehicles until now.

They disembark, with Del and Grant covering everyone else with their machine guns. The other two help load up the truck with grain while the Ilimdaki soldiers keep watch.

As they have finished loading and are moving into the vehicles to leave, just as their guard is at its lowest, they are suddenly attacked by three Hunters who have crept up under cover and waited for the right moment.

There is a short battle in which another Ilimdaki soldier is killed, but Grant is able to gun down one of the attackers and a second Ilimdaki soldier is able to hold off an attacking Hunter with repeated accurate rifle butt hits to the face.

Del and Cyrus are able to finish off the attackers with their energy weapons and they quickly return to the City, providing much-needed additional supplies.

Expedition to the Teleportal

The following day the Travellers arrange for the stream truck to be armoured up and fitted with two Gatling guns, pointing in both directions. When that and the third armoured car is ready, they mount an expedition to the Teleportal. The truck is loaded with a dozen soldiers and the Travellers spread themselves across the other three steam cars.

Cyrus has a plough fitted to the front of the lead armoured car and it is very useful in smashing through the various wooden traps that Hunters have laid along the road.

They easily get to the Teleportal and surround it, travelling too fast to be bothered by any Hunters. They have the Gatling guns cover all avenues of approach. The four Travellers leave the Ilimdaki soldiers on guard and head into the Teleportal room. It is identical to the one they entered in the meadow where the Cloning Facility was.

Exploring Other Destinations

They discuss what to do and where to go. Drent volunteers to go through and check each of the dial locations, as there are not that many of them.

000 – Error, location unavailable. Drent is able to work out from another location that this is code for the Ilimdaki lands.

001 – They know this is the Cloning Facility so Drent does not go through to that one.

010 – Drent finds two Hunters in the Teleportal area having a fight. The Hunters stop their fight and one of them tries to speak to Drent, but it is unintelligible. He steps back through and disconnects.

011 – Drent finds the Teleportal area empty and outside there is a large swamp, with mountains in the distance in all directions.

100 – Drent finds another empty Teleportal area, outside of which is a white sanded desert with things sticking up from the sand, surrounded by mountains.

101 – Another empty Teleportal area which is surrounded by an overgrown Jungle which mostly blocks distance vision, but Drent is just able to make out a very tall cliff in the distance.

110 – This location looks like it is locked out on privacy mode.

111 – Error, location unavailable.

Privacy Mode

They get one of the Ilimdaki to examine the Teleportal and he is able to work out how to turn privacy mode on and off. They set it so no more Hunters can come through to the Ilimdaki lands.

Then they consider what to do next. After some discussion they decide to head through to 010 where the Hunters were. They all step through and find a single Hunter there still.

Hunter Lands

Del and then the others show it that they are not holding their weapons and try to talk to it. It engages and attempts to understand their language, although it is paranoid and keeps looking around it and flinching every time one of the Travellers makes a sudden movement.

They appear to establish some basic communications but it then flees into cover when a small group of other Hunters approaches. The Travellers hold their ground and when the Hunters begin to close in to attack, they draw their energy pistols and shoot them, killing one and injuring the others, who immediately flee.

Their Hunter, who Drent names Skittles, seems impressed and gestures to be allowed to look at one of their weapons. Drent empties the Gauss Pistol he has and hands it over. “Skittles” then suddenly changes his friendly expression to hatred and tries to shoot Drent, but the gun is empty.

Thwarted, Skittles flees. Del shoots him and injures Skittle’s leg, but the Hunter continues to flee. Grant goes to chase after him, but Del warns him against it, pointing out how the Hunters like to lay traps and Skittles could easily lead them into a dangerous situation.

No Way Back

Del activates his grav belt and checks out a nearby tree house, but sees it is empty except for a trap. Grant says this area is dangerous and has nothing here, it is best they move on.

They return to the Teleportal and realise it has timed out and switched off. When they try to dial back to the Ilimdaki lands, they are blocked as privacy mode has been engaged. They can’t get back!

They instead dial up the Cloning Facility and head there. Once in the meadow, they discuss what to do. They can’t go back to the Ilimdaki City as the lands all around it are controlled by the Hunters. They have few food resources and decide to go to the Cloning Facility where they can get fresh water and supplies.

Clones

When they go down to the Cloning Facility they find a number of full adult Ilimdaki wandering around naked and some of the Cloning booth, that were empty before, are now activated and growing. It looks like the Ilimdaki are cloned when they die.

The newly cloned Ilimdaki are like children, not really knowing what is going on. They find the Priest has gathered a group of them and is trying to educate them as members of the Ilimdaki society.

They talk with the Priest and have him provide them with fresh supplies. Then they warn him that it is not safe to go to the Wall or the City as the Hunters have overran it. They will need to build a new City here and fortify it.

They return to the Teleportal and work out how to engage “Door Bell mode” where the Teleportal can be opened if the destination accepts an incoming connection.

Finally they decide that the desert is the next place they want to explore and prepare to head there.

End of Episode Three