Jackbot: Partial Eclipse

THIS IS THE THIRD CHAPTER, where Gear Lance visits an abandoned, yet spookily clean, cabin in the woods.

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Chapter 3- Dead Man's Hoard

You have arrived at the cabin Cog described earlier in the day. It looks like an old log cabin, but Gear in particular doubts it; as it probably wouldn't be marked as a waypoint then.

Several plots indicate burials nearby, though the graves are already growing in disrepair.

As far as Cog knows or can tell, there's nobody here when hailed. It might be a good place to stop for the night.

Cog: Belatedly realize that you are traveling the countryside with two attractive women. WATCH OUT FOR HIJINKS!

Gear shakes her head. Been there, done that, worn his t-shirt the morning after. Really, it was all too awkward; it felt like, well, being with your brother. Uck. Of course, she can't speak for Dr. Mordoba, though Gear does wonder what she's like under all the clothing and power armor.

You park your mecha outside, taking the passkeys with you. Cog says there's supposed to be nobody here, but even he apparently doesn't trust that assessment. He has the drum-fed shotgun ready and waiting. Mordy has activated her shock fists.

Cog slowly pulls open the door. It's dark inside.

:> _:

turn on the lights then

Cog hunts for a light switch. Inside the cabin is...

Well, there doesn't seem to be anyone here. At all. A faint scent of old incense fills the air. Everything here is... almost too clean. The tables are upright, the entire place is waxed and polished, indeed, there's not even any dust. Someone- or something- cleaned this place up.

Gear enters the cabin, and the first thing she recognizes is the scent of juniper. Juniper incense. Juniper incense!? Oh, that brings memories back. Very fond ones, actually, of going to the town shrine with her father to meditate. That was a (well, back then) big old stone shrine where you stuck the Joss sticks in little holes and burned them off, usually with some form of offering- Daddy often used paper dollars of a kind you were unfamiliar with. But he always picked the best juniper incense to burn- he said it was important to the spirits of Aether.

Dr. Mordoba wonders what that odd smell is. It's nice. Ambient. Relaxing. A little spicy, too.

:> _:

Cog scoots a lot of chairs around but he doesn't appear to find any trap doors. There is an ordinary door, though, leading down to a basement. Just outside said stairwell door is a small stone shrine. Even the ash has been cleared out of it. Which is interesting enough, Cog supposes, because most shrines are open-air. Someone must have set this up in a hurry.

Still, everything seems to be in order. You sling up your shotgun. "I'm gonna take a look downstairs, see if there's any goodies."

"I'll come with you," Dr. Mordoba says.

Gear looks thoughtfully at the shrine. "Hm..."

Gear:
[ ] Light a juniper stick at the shrine and meditate.
[ ] Follow the others.
[ ] Look around for signs of your father having been here.

Mordoba decides to start using the miniscanner in her left poulder. There's something a little off about this place... Even though the basement seems normal, that only makes her more paranoid about it. The more normal it seems, the more sure she is that it's not.

Cog's just amazed the basement goes as deep as it does. That alone is pretty awesome...

Gear takes a look around. Other than that Dad was a complete neat freak, nothing seems to directly implicate his presence... Gear takes out a bunch of handy juniper sticks and flicks her lighter, blowing them out like she was taught before placing them in the shrine in one large sheaf. The scent fills the air...

Gear has entered a trance.
[Gear's mysticism skill ->3]

Bright as fire, swift as the wind, flowing like blood, shaking the earth's fury, aether''s chosen stands astride the land, the sun's very gold in one hand, a hat full of stars in the other, handing to his child a red moon that she takes for her own.

Another vision... Blood, blood and burning here. There is nothing left, as all descends into madness. Forget this place. There is nothing here for you. All will die. The full moon shines its blue-grey light, piercing those who do not escape its eye...

And the third... The sun rises over a diminished land. Its heart remains, exposed, but there are none who could stab it. Thousands stand as one, wandering the land, keeping it forever safe at the cost of their self. The knife is ready, for the one who is willing to take it, but no one dares, and no one can. The dagger's blade turns- it turns to the sun, it turns to the moon, it turns to the land, and all is at peace, if only the peace of the grave.

Gear awakens to realize two hours have passed.

Gear gets up and stretches her legs. She's always on pins and needles after meditating. After a moment, she realizes that Dr. Mordoba and Cog aren't back yet- which is peculiar to say the least. Well, the last place they were was in the basement... She stretches her neck and opens the door.

... Well, that's an awful lot messier than the cabin is... Bloodier too.

:> _:

You descend into the basement. Claw marks mar the walls, like nails had been worn bloody trying to get out of here. There is a corridor here, filled with several stout, metal cell doors. Was this some prison?

Gear opens one of the doors.

Oh... Oh god. This isn't a prison, this is a butchery. human entrails blood... everywhere... Gear places one hand over her mouth to keep from puking.

There's still no sign of Dr. Mordoba. Or Cog.

:> _:

They look- and smell- like they've been dead a couple of days. Though, taking a closer look at the hands... The fingers look worn down to the bone.

Maybe they were trying to escape?

This is starting to make less sense...

She opens another door to a similar, yet more... ritualised scene. The person was laid on the table and everything. Gear slams the door on it.

Gear is starting to worry about where Cog and Mordy are.

:> _:

Are... Are those your mecha? They don't look it. They don't even look like mecha, more like... like... Some kind of biological monstrosity. The place outside is dark, lit by a red moon.

For some reason, Gear slowly turns her head inexorably towards the graves. They are open.

BLOOD

Gear shakes her head. She doesn't understand-

BLOOD OF BLOOD

It hurts, overwhelming-

YOUR VERY PRESENCE DEFILES THIS PLACE

She doesn't-

MONSTER

No-

CHILD OF MONSTERS

NO!

********

A sudden sharp pain jolts Gear awake. Cog and Dr. Mordoba are standing over her, looking very, very concerned. The incense is halfway burnt.

"Gear, what happened? We heard you screaming," Mordy says.

"Yes, that didn't sound good," Cog adds in, perhaps a little unhelpfully.

:> _:

>what, you mean you don't get horrible visions of death and blood every time you meditate?

No, this is pretty unusual. Especially the clarity of all four visions- oh, occasionally you think you can hear little whispers or something or think you catch a flicker at the edge of your vision but nothing on this scale oh void oh void oh void-

"Gear! You're hyperventilating!" Cog stands Gear up to steady her.

Gear calms down. "It's... It was horrible. Death machines... Empty graves, and blood everywhere and-"
[Gear's Morale 0 -> 5]

"Gear!" Mordy said. "Don't be-"

Cog holds one hand up. "Go get some tea, Doctor."

"Don't tell me you're humoring-"

"Go. Get. Some. Tea." Cog doesn't look like he's going to take no for an answer.

Mordy doesn't get why but she'll leave it alone for now. "Fine, I'll go get some from the stores..."

Cog sits Gear down at a booth and hands her some of the resultant tea. "So. What's going on?"

:> _:

"I... I think something terrible happened here," Gear said. "I mean, really terrible. I'm not sure what though..."

Cog nods. "How do you know?"

"This... No, it's crazy." Gear shakes her head and takes a sip of the tea. Mmm. Tea. It's good stuff, too. "Well. I suppose you know that already. It... It was this really creepy vision. I think it has something to do with the arena champ, and blood, or something like that, it was so confusing..."
[Gear's Morale ->10]

"You know the symbolism better than I do, Gear, do you have any idea what it means?"

:> _:

"I'm not sure, but I'd like to stay out of here until we figure what's going on out," Gear replies.

"You can't tell me you got nothing out of it..."

"The one that's the most clear called me a monster and I have no idea why so I'd prefer it if we didn't have to deal with it for now."

"Do either of you have any evidence for any of this? I'd really prefer not to have to sleep in the cold right now if it can be avoided..." Dr. Mordoba sighs, sipping at some of her own tea.
[Dr. Mordoba gains a personality trait: Pragmatic]

"Well. Um." Gear wonders how to put this.

[ ] "Let me check the basement, there may be evidence there."
[ ] "The shrine is really new; someone might have constructed it for a pragmatic reason."
[ ] "Just... Just... I don't know but I don't think we should stay here, that's all."
[ ] Get sullen, say nothing.
[ ] None of the above

"Did you find anything in the basement?"

"Hm? The basement?" Cog asks. "Well, we found an awful lot of restraint equipment. Handcuffs, riot gear, CS gas, that sort of thing. Why?"

"I think the basement has something to do with it. May I take a look?"

"Finish your tea first..." Cog starts, before watching her go down the stairs. Cog sighs, gets up, and goes after her.

In the basement, there is, indeed, a long corridor. The facade fades away here; instead, the corridors look like old plascrete. Several metal doors line the walls. Gear takes a look inside one.

It looks like someone collapsed a tent here, over a chair. It seems sort of silly, but that's the way it's set up.

:> _:

>Look under the tent! Surely the won't be--!

Cog and Gear pull aside the tent. It looks like a chair, set with handcuffs. The chair is empty, but the smell of offal fills the air. "Cog, do you have any idea why someone would do this?"

Cog shakes his head. "Can't say that I do, though it's definitely suspicious. Hm..." He looks at it. "Couldn't you use this to hold someone?"

Gear nods. "But why the tent?"

"No clue." Cog shrugs.

Gear stands up. "I think we should start checking the other rooms more carefully..."

Cog nods.

Two more of the rooms have the exact same setup. Whoever was here was running quite an operation... Worse, they both stink of offal as well. Whoever held people in these tents, they held them here for quite a while...

:> _:

And so, having found some evidence of malfesance, the three of them (one of whom, might I add, has not slept in two days) start to search for more signs of malfesance.

While they find nothing like files or where the money is stashed- I mean, really, who would use paper money now?- they do find several caches of illegal drugs, some of it very well used.

:> _:

Cog nods. "Well, at least we know something illegal was going on here... We could check the graves..."

Mordy blinks. "Ugh. No! I am not digging up graves in the middle of the night to satisfy someone's paranoia! I am sleeping. You are not disturbing me."

"But something terrible did happen here, we know that now," Cog ripostes. "You can't say your curiosity isn't piqued."

"You're right, I'm a little curious. HOWEVER! It can damn well wait until daylight. I don't have the sense or the time to deal with this." Mordy shakes her head. "I'm going upstairs to sleep in a booth. Wake me on pain of fisting."

Gear smirks. "I dunno, I don't think it would fit-"

"YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHAT I MEANT!" With that, Mordy stomps up the stairs, presumably to remove her armor and get some damn sleep.

Cog shrugs. "Well, let's get some shovels, we'll see if we can find out anything.

Gear seems a little leery about disturbing the dead.

:> _:

In the dim light of the full moon, which again, creeps Gear out immensely for some reason Cog can't fathom, you go out to the graves.

They're new, as far as you can tell, though one has a marshal's badge laid on top of it, with a large gash struck in it. They couldn't have been made more than two or three days ago. What's really strange is how they're marked. Gear touches each of the little plates in turn. "This is a Lunar burial marker, what's it doing way out here?"
[Gear's Mysticism skill -> 4]

This might be really bad news!

[ ] Resolve to take the badge personally to the nearest Guardian base.
[ ] Take it for yourself. Keep in mind impersonating a Guardian is a pretty unlawful act!
[ ] Exhume the good Marshal.
[ ] See if you can find more evidence.

Cog picks up the badge and pockets it. "So what's your best guess so far?"

"Hm. Well, my guess? All these fellows had it bad in a fight. Against who exactly I'm not sure; maybe a lance?" Gear sits down to ponder it. "If it was, I'm certain it contained both the Arena Champion and my father. Only the Champ could do so much damage, only my father would be so spiritually inclined as to build a shrine to try and calm their spirits with juniper."

"So who else was there?"

"Enough, apparently." Gear shrugs. "I suppose we can stay here a day or two and investigate it; it's not like we're hurting for time. Do you want to bother unearthing the truth...?" She spreads her arms. "Or shall we let these sleeping dogs lie...?"

And for a moment, Cog could swear that Gear's lips looked a little bloodier, though the moment passes when the moonlight hits her fully. "This can wait until morning at least. Mordy's right, we're all running on too little sleep to think straight right now."

:> _:

A little bloodier eh? SLOPPY MA

>Time to sleep togeth

Good thing that strike-through is there; Cog's fairly certain Dr. Mordoba's in no mood tonight, if she's not already out like a rock. Which she is.

Gear decides to sleep near the mechs. It's not as restful, but at least she's fairly certain she won't get crazy dreams or something like that.

She hopes.

****************************

"NO! NOT THE FISH!" Gear cries out, jolting awake as the sun starts to rise over the eastern horizon. Okay, so that was kind of a crazy dream, but you know. Dreams. You can't expect them to be exact symbolic representations that are precisely relevant to your particular situation, after all.

It is now sunrise.

Gear walks in and the smell of coffee assaults her nose. That and the vision of someone opening several unidentified tins of... Are those sardines? "Chocolate-covered sardines!?"

"What? They were there, nobody was eating them." Mordy hands over half a tin. "Want some?"

[ ] Yes.
[ ] Uh... No thanks. When was that made, anyway?
[ ] How does it taste?

"Uh... When was that made, anyway?" Gear asks.

Mordoba shrugs. "Dunno. Still salty though!"

"Ugh, no. I'll see if I can find something else."

Mordoba happily spears another and eats it right in front of Gear. Oh, yuck!

****************

Cog meanwhile has gone outside again to check on the graves in daylight. At least now he can read the names there, and he decides to see if he can get INFOLINK access to figure out the significance of some of them. So he writes them down.

The INFOLINK turns up that most of them were wanted by the Guardians for petty crime, you know, theft, assault, that sort of thing.

Oddly, it also reports Marshal Ciari as having been missing for several months with no ransom or responsibility posted.

Cog enters the old cabin, to find Mordy eating.... Chocolate-covered sardines which she doesn't know the date of. "I see you enjoy living dangerously."

"Why else am I here? So what did you two come up with?"

Cog laid down some of his evidence. "Well, Gear says the graves haven't been disturbed. We also know that a marshal was here and that he is, in all probability, dead. We know there was a rich trade in illicit drugs here. Personally, I'd like to investigate further today, but I don't know what you or Gear are thinking about this..."

Gear comes up with a few bars of chocolate, a few frozen lobsters and a crab she apparently had to battle, as well as a pot for boiling and a lot of spices. "Lobster for breakfast! I haven't had it since the last time Dad and I- Went... To... Greenhill." Gear blinks, looking at Cog. "Hey, do you think that Dad is-"

"Don't get too hopeful, Gear."

Gear nods, a little sad.

"Well, everyone's gotten some sleep," Mordy says. "Do we want to move on, or stay here?"

:> _:

>Actually Dad would be in the first town you reach in the Giant's World.

No, Gear's pretty certain her father isn't dead; the Giant's World is one of many things posited beyond that veil. Of course, no one's ever come back so it's not like it matters, really.

In any case, the crab is divested of its iron shell and its precious precious crabmeats consigned to boiling. The resultant crab and lobster... spicy... Soup... Thing is quite delicious. Of all the things she remembers about Dad, Gear remembers the lobster the most. He loved the stuff. A lot. I mean, ridiculoously so, to the point he'd take a trip once a year at least to go to this one place that did good lobster.

... Come to think, that was probably pretty expensive. Just how rich was your old man?

"So what's the consensus?" Gear asks.

"I guess this can wait," Cog says. "It's not like they're getting any deader, and they seem to have had a proper burial. I just want to know where the money is kept."

"I think we should come back later too," Mordy says. "It's interesting, but I don't think we have time."

Gear nods, sombrely. "All right, if you guys are sure..."

:> _:

"All right, Greenhill it is then." Gear sighs. "I can't help but think there's something we're missing though..."

"We'll come back later," Cog replies.

"Okay, but let me check my email..." Gear pulls it up.

To:JTex@silverhame.gov
From: <!-- e --><a href="mailto:spacely@rmail.com">spacely@rmail.com</a><!-- e -->
subj: Of knowledge
Gear.
Your father never told you who and what you are.
I know. And if you want to know about your father- about your heritage- and about what happened in that cabin, come to San Peligro.
Bring your friends if you like, but I can't guarantee that they'll be your friends after.

-- The Sprocket

Gear blinks. "You ever heard of the Sprocket?"

Cog blinks. "Who?"

"Take a look at this."

:> _:

"OK, so now we havea stalker somehow?" Cog says. "We haven't even really done anything yet to really deserve this level of attention..."

"Or a skilled hacker," Gear agrees. "But then why email me in particular? And why say anything my father?"

"What part of 'creepy stalker' didn't you get?" Cog replies. "I wonder what his deal is, though. Maybe we should se them. San Peligro isn'tthat far out of our way, maybe six hours."

"Why are you arguing to go there?" Gear says, confused. "I thought you were hot to get to Greenhill."

Cog mutters.

"What was that?" Mordy asks.

"They have a hot spring spa there."

:> _:

cog is the one who wants to go to the hot springs,
Gear> agree to go, because spa trip! you have gone a while without bathing
Mordy> be skeptical about all of this.

"I don't know, do we have enough money for that?" Mordy asks, dubiously.

"Well, considering the ten thousand you gave us care of Ephraim City, we have around, what, 40 k?" Gear smiled.

"F... Forty thousand."

"Yeah."

"On a ten day trip." Mordy blinked. "Okay. So maybe- and I'm not saying definitely, but maybe we have enough. But don't we need that money to get where we''re going?" Mordy starts attaching her armor to her underweb.

"How much do you think we need?"

"Oh, not much, just for us," Mordy replies. "But keep in mind mecha repairs may not be cheap. And patch jobs can only get us so far."

"You think we should skip it."

"On the contrary, I think we should go. Otherwise you're both going to be distracted. But I hold the purse-strings here. And that means no resort for you two." Mordy looks a little disappointed, but she's crossed her arms.

"Hold on, it's our money!"

"Money you need!" Mordy says. "We're all cavaliers now, that means we can't go running off and feasting all the time." A pause. "Okay, well, maybe, it does but we can't do it yet, we'll need that for upkeep!"

"Okay, okay, you've made your point, Mordy, we won't get taken in by the foul temptations of the resort town," Cog says.

"All I needed to hear."

Gear nods. "Well, that's sorted. Mount up."

End, Chapter 3- Dead Man's Hoard