(G211 29/08/2014 via Roll20 - JF(GM), AP, LD) 18

(G211 29/08/2014 via Roll20 - JF(GM), AP, LD) 18

DAY 75 (wed)

xxxxx

Action Report from Neelix to Captain Janeway: Planet Unnamed Class M.

Firstly I would like to ask permission to name the planet Kirk-Evoras. Due to their bravery in
saving my poor old Biaxial while we were on the planet.

Anyway, my dear Captain, we set off for Kirk-Evoras, leaving Voyager at 0700. It took 6 hours to
get there. Good old Biaxial is slow, but steady.

At 1300 we landed on a carefully selected verdant area of the planet, packed full of fruits, vegetation
and grains. We quickly loaded up many crates of food before the incident occurred.

I don't know if it was because Evoras was using some of the vines as target practice for her phaser, She
is certainly a good shot and seemed to have fun shooting the branches and catching the fruit as it fell,
but once the smaller wildlife fled from the noise, it maybe attracted the attention of larger animals.
Firstly we were attacked by large hairy jungle hounds. I would have helped fight them off, but a troop
of monkeys leapt onto the Biaxial then got into the cargo hold and I went in to chase them out.

I did notice though that while Kirk was shooting the hounds, Evoras was perhaps a tiny bit confused as
to which weapons to use and swapped from her dual wielded phasers to her swords and then back again.
Once she'd sorted that out though she joined in holding back the hounds.

A few were stunned but more came and then two gigantic hairy jungle bears! They made a terrifying noise
and their attack drove Kirk back to the ship. He threw an incendiary grenade in an attempt to hold them
back. Along with the bears I could see, flitting in and out of the undergrowth, tall blue skinned alien
hunters. The shot at us with arrows as long as spears, but not many hit anything vital.

Evoras was cut off and made a run for the doors and attempted to jump over a hound to get in, but ended
up prone on the gangway. She scrambled up and got in.

When a flaming angry bear got into the cargo bay things got a bit crazy. It lashed out at random, killing
monkeys and injuring Kirk and Evoras.

I got into the cockpit and called through to ask if I should take off. Ensign Kirk yelled back, 'Yes!'
so I closed the cargo bay door and lifted off. I heard a lot of commotion back there but in the end Kirk
and Evoras killed the hound and bear. That just left the frightened monkeys to deal with.
The whole place was full of smoke and smelled of burnt bear. I really should clean out my air filters.

I flew level at 200m for a bit, but then noticed one of the alien hunters was clinging onto the ship
and trying to break into the cockpit window with a rock!
'Raise your shields!' suggested Kirk, but sadly Biaxial has no shields so he opened the cargo bay door
and with Evoras holding onto his belt leaned out to shoot at the hunter.

I skimmed along at treetop level while Kirk shot at the alien and ducked back in as rocks were thrown
at him. When he was badly injured the alien howled and leapt off the ship and landed in a treetop.

After that I went straight up. Kirk stunned the monkeys with grenades then we tossed them out in a
clearing further away and went into orbit.

I put the dead hound and bear into cold storage. It would be a shame to waste good meat after all.

We got back to Voyager at 2000. All of us reported to med bay for a check up and to get our wounds
dressed.

End of Report.

xxxxx

DAY 76 (thu)

Today both Ensign Kirk and Ensign Evoras were both on duty.

Kirk got off at 1900 and went and spent two hours helping out in Engineering, trying to earn brownie points
with Torres.

Evoras has volunteered for extra duties so worked in the med bay between 1900 and 2100.

DAY 77 (fri)

xxxxx
Summary of Court Martial of Ensign Paul Kirk.
Presiding Officer : Captain Janeway.
Prosecutor : Lt Tuvok
Defence       : Cmdr Chakotay

Kirk prepared with Chakotay from 0600 to 0900. At 0900 the proceedings began.

The charge was:
'Behaviour unbefitting to a starfleet officer. During the investigation into Vidiian activity on
the planet of Treebad-3 Ensign Kirk used torture to procure information from a Vidiian prisoner
and then teleported the individual into the sea which most likely resulted in his death.'

Kirk's defence boiled down to,
'I was aware it wasn't starfleet, but I had to do it to protect Treebad. The ends justified
the means.'

Tuvok's argument boiled down to,
'There are two distinct charges here. One of torture, which while not palatable is logical. Millions
of lives were at stake. But once the information was gathered the prisoner was no longer required. Kirk
endangered the prisoners life purely out of mischief. I have calculated that given the distance the Vidiian
would have to swim he was 98% likely to have died as a result.'

Noxus was called for the defence and told of the events as he had witnessed them.

The judgement:

(extract)
Janeway : 'Do you have anything you have to say before I pass sentence?'
Kirk    : 'I needed information quickly. Their were bombs about to go off.'
Janeway : 'That was one thing. But why the transported misuse? You already had the information you needed.'
Kirk    : 'I felt it was the safest way of continuing with the mission.'
Janeway : 'I'll do you a favour and take you on the benefit of the doubt and choose to believe you didn't
just lie to me there Ensign. No. It was nothing more than a wanton act of cruelty. You could have a great
career in front of you Kirk if you temper your Behaviour. Reflect on your actions. I hope you make better
decisions next time.'

Sentence:

The Court Martial entered into Permanent Record. On Report for one month. Stopped Relicator Rations
for seven days.

xxxxx

Still, Kirk and Evoras were big hits in the messhall that evening. The bear meat was delicious!

DAY 78 (sat)

Ensign Kirk worked in Engineering and on his MATSE project.

Ensign Evoras worked in the Science Lab. There was an endless supply of data on the Data Quadrant
to categorize and analyse. While scanning through some of it Ensign Kim got lucky and found a wormhole.

Voyager scanned it further and found it to be very small, no more than 30cm wide. A probe was sent
in and got stuck, but Engineering reckoned it could be used as a message booster. It was thought it
would be crushed in 72 hours though.

Chief Torres and Ensign Kim worked together to figure this out and messages were sent out. A response
was received from the Alpha Quadrant.

After much 'science stuff' Kim and Torees managed to get some voice comms and talked to someone who
admitted to being a Romulan onboard a science vessel by the name of Talvath.

Talvath was initially rather reluctant to talk or even believe he was being hailed from a Federation
ship in the Delta Quadrant.

Luckily, thought Janeway, I have two Romulans on board who can back up our story. Videk and his wife
had left just yesterday on a run to a Norlot system. They had gone with some Starfleet officers in
a shuttle. It was meant to be a routine visit but they could not be currently reached by subspace
comms.

Captain Janeway decided to throw together an away team and sent out the Aeroshuttle to go fetch
them.

(G209 15/08/2014 via Roll20 - JF(GM), AP, LD) 17

(G209 15/08/2014 via Roll20 - JF(GM), AP, LD) 17

DAY 69 (thu)....cont....

At noon they were both discharged from med bay at full health. Noxus went to mooch around the cargo
bays with QM Conner and Kirk went to his quarters. Finding them empty though he then went and chatted
to Neelix who mentioned he was going to a trading post near Gorbatt-2 soon.

Kirk also talked to Lt Andrews about MATSE and his 'Kirk Alpha' programms. He got the message that
he needed to get more into Torres's good books if he wanted official help with his projects but Andrews
let him have a couple of free hours a day, skipping some training to do his research.

At dinner time Kirk talked to Kes in the messhall and Noxus continued his charm offensive and used some
of his precious rations to buy Crewman Del a chocolate sundae.

Next he replicated a book called 'History of Humans : A beginners guide for alien races' with some vague
notion of talking to Torres about it. She dismissed him though and said,
'I thought you were a hairdresser!'
She'd been awake for 48 hours working on the Dilithium Refinery and was in no mood for people presenting
her with their personal schemes.
When Kirk approahed her about MATSE she yawned in his face and said she hadn't read it yet.

DAY 70 (fri)

Kirk was on duty at the D6A while Noxus hung around and did a few haircuts at the hairdressers. In
some ways this scheme of his - of cutting peoples hair - was working, in that he seemed a lot less
threatening as a hairdresser than he did as a cardassian spy.

At lunch time Kirk was called to one side by Lt Andrews and informed that he was to be courtmartialed.
Kirk was surprised to hear it, but Andrews told him it was because of the torture and probably slaying
of a capture Vidiian (The one that Kirk crushed in a forcefield then teleported out to sea).
Andrews agreed that it seemed that while that was a court martialing offence it was not a problem all
the Vidiian's he had killed during firefights.
Andrews seemed to be on Kirks side anyway and relayed the trial would be in one week and the Captain
would be the prociding officer.

Kirk called up Tuvok to be his defence officer, but it turned out he would be the procecutor so he
asked Chakotay instead and he agreed.

While all that was going on, Noxus was badly beaten by Seska and a gang of ex-Makia starfleet personel
in a quiet corridor as he returned from the hairdressers. He woke up in med bay, it seemed not everyone
was prepared to let him be.

When the doctor asked him what happened he made up a story of falling down a ladder. He went on to
ask the doctor to revert him back to a Cardassian, but the doctor strongly advised against it, suggesting
that this would really stir up the Maquis on the ship at a time when the were still trying to integrate
with the rest of the crew.

That evening while he was preparing his case, Kirk was notified by Neelix that he would be going with
him to Gorbatt-2. Noxus would also join them as co-pilot.


DAY 71 (sat)

Neelix's ugly cargo ship was called the Baxail. They set off at 0600 hours, arriving at a trading moon
that orbitied Gorbatt-2 four hours later.

xxx
Gazeeter Entry:
Gorbatt-2 is a Class M planet only recently descovered warp. They allow trading with alien races on a moonbase.
The Gorbattians themselves run the moonbase. They are large and hairy but peaceful enough.
xxx

Neelix lead them to a trade bazaar close to the space port. They loitered around near Neelix for an
hour or so, but Noxus grew bored and wandered off. Five hours later Kirk was nearly asleep, nodding
off while sat on sacks of grain.

Noxus found himself near a slave market, slavery being legal around Gorbatt. He spend some time
looking around the stalls, but had forgotten to bring money and his attempts at barter ended in
failure.

Just then a green skinned female alien ran up to him, 'Help me! Help me!'.
She was a runaway slave and was being chased by a burly Gorbattian guard. Ever the gentleman Noxus
pulled her through the crowd away from the guard and pushed her down an alley.

He then stopped the guard who pulled out a baton and attacked. When the guard pulled his gun and
found that it had jammed Noxus took the opertunity to run down the alley as well. More guards
were coming though.

The alley came to a dead end with only one door. Noxus barged through it and found himself
in a dark and smoke filled area. Small gorbadians were running around with laser rifles and
electronic style armour. He could hear a lot of gun fire in the place and the sounds of a lot
of running.

Not really realising where he was, he shot back at the small gorbadians and even went so far as
to throw an incendiary grenade. Sprinklers went on and the lights went up. A voice called
from a door, 'Over here! Fire! Exit this way!'

Noxus went through the door and entered a cafe area. It slowly dawned on him that he had been
in a childs laser-tag game area. When the police and fire crews came and questioned him he
was arrested.

Kirk and Neelix found out about this when the Gorbadians came and told them to come and get
him. Forms were filled in, the trade negotiations cut short and they left as swiftly as they
could.

Four hours later they arrived back at Voyager.


DAY 72 (sun)

The next day Kirk could not resist writing a scathing report about Noxus and his incederay grenade
being used in a child's play area.

He was on a half day. During his shift the Captain came in and discussed a few things with Lt Andrews.
When Kirk asked what it was about, he replied, 'Don't worry, it wasn't about you.'

Andrews went on to say he had read the MATSE Design Spec. He liked it on the whole he said, but
the problems will not come from the technology, which is all in existance in various forms, but
from the culture of Star Fleet. He explained,
'Star Fleet has gradually became less miliatry in out look. We could all go about in big mech suits
and carry massive cannons, but this is not the way Star Fleet wants to portay humanity to the rest
of the galaxy. Voyager is a science vessel, not a military one, so first you must break through
that barrier. I think you are right though, for what it is worth, we need a heavily armed force
to deal with all the dangers of the Delta Quardrant. One that doesn't care what we look like, but
just cares about saving us from destruction. You'll need to get this past Torres to get it in
production. She is incredibly busy at the moment so won't see it as a priority.'
Andrews gave him a smile, 'You'll need to bake her a cake to get on her good side, assuming she's
got one!'

Noxus, meanwhile, was cutting hair and planning plans. In the evening he started work on a Holo-program
for a dark and very hot room...

Both of them followed with interest what was going on currently on the ship's internal messaging
system.

Commander Chakotay had spotted a nebula on long range scans. Not finding Neelix's latest coffee
substitutes from Gorbatt very palatable and wanting to increase the ship's energy reserves she
declared, 'There is coffee in that nebula!'

At 64 million km Omicron particles were detected.

Closer to the nebula cosmic dust was attracted to the ship. They came to a dead stop at a distance
of 7000km, but it was discovered the transported could not penerate the nebula.

At max shields and full thrust, Voyager entered the nebula and the barrier closed behind them.

Noxus was in the messhall while all this was happening and noticed Neelix and Les kissing in the
kitchen.

Everyone on board felt thumping resonate around the ship as things started to hit the hull and
drawing energy away.

Voyager reversed coarse and hit the barrier. At this point the Captain raised the Red Alert and
Kirk reported to the D6A.

Phasers were used on the barrier but it was undamaged. A torpedo ruptured it though and Voyager
slipped back through into open space. 11% energy reserves were reported as lost.

Kirk went off shift at 2100 hours. He heard from one of the Delany sisters that Tom Paris had
a sort of party going on in the holodeck so he went along to take a look.

It was program Paris-3, an 'olde worlde' Franch tavern called Sandrine's. Kirk played some pool
and chatted to the Delanys.

Meanwhile Noxus took his monkey to the med bay and asked for medical data on it. The doctor
sighed and transfered all existing data on it to his datapad. Noxus then spent the rest of the
evening in the company of his monkey.

DAY 73 (mon)

Kirk reported to the D6A at 0700 hours. The Doctor and Torres had, apparently, worked out that this
'cloud' was a living entity. Kirk spent the rest of the day standing to, at Yellow Alert as the ship
returned to repair the damage it had done.

At 1300 the ship re-entered the nebula. Voyager was put on Red Alert and the shields went up. Kirk
felt a lot of rumbling at the D6A. Noxus remained in his quarters, confined there, as ever, when any
kind of alert was on.

Various things happened on the bridge and the ship was hit by beams from the entity. Engineering
vented fuel and the thrusters were put into Emergency Shutdown. Once things had settled down
the Captain ordered a damage report.

Kirk formed part of a damage repair crew that were sent to fix Electro-plasma leaks on Deck 14 and
the Optical Data Network.

Noxus was slightly injured during all the tossing about and reported to the med bay.

Already tired, but lots of work to do, back at the D6A, Kirk was happy to see Neelix and Kes come
around with trays of snacks and nibbles. Having missed lunch, he tucked in.

Once more Kirk found himself waiting on station while the bridge crew tried to figure out what to
do. In the end it was the Doctor who solved the problem by suggesting the hole in the 'cloud' was
'stitched' by phasers like sutures in a wound.

A Class 4 micro prope was launched as a diversioon and Voyager went in to repair the wound. There
was a lot of rumbling and tossing about on all decks. Once the wound was successfully healed though
they returned once more to open space.

Energy resevers were down 20%. It was 2200 hours.

Kirk was tired, but decided to go try Sandrine's again and was surprised to see Noxus also there.
Noxus was trying to make friends by the look of it, with mixed success.

Kirk tried to get in with Torres, but didn't come across well.

DAY 74 (tue)

Kirk reported to the D6A at 0700 hours. He and Crewman Anderson were sent right down to Engineering
though to help with repair work. Torress seemed to be quiet impressed by Kirk's work.

Noxus spent the day cutting hair and felt that he really was making headway (sorry!) into appearing
less threatening to the rest of the crew.

Still, after his last away mission disaster, Neelix didn't really trust him. He was planning another
supply run and while he was happy to have Ensign Kirk come along as an escort he prefered to try
out someone new. Since they would be landing on a jungle area of a planet to pick up fresh fruit
and veg, Ensign Evoras, an expert in zoology and biology was assigned.

(G208 08/08/2014 via Roll20 - JF(GM), Mira, Al)

(G208 08/08/2014 via Roll20 - JF(GM), Mira, Al)

DAY 219 (16th Marpenoth) continued...

Cale and Mathmoss ordered elaborate suppers and plenty of booze for their dinner. Cale danced to
the singing of the local 'bard' although perhaps he was a little tired and did not put on his best
performance.

Meanwhile Mathmoss had his eyes on the serving wenches and was heavily tipping the good looking one
in order to see where it might lead.

Cale drank until he was drunk and his youthful good looks attracted the attention of Margo the
Miller's daughter but by then he was too far gone.

Mathmoss had a dance with one of the local women until the singer was dragged home by his children.
Cale woke up and asked 'Where did the music go?' but then made every one happy by buying a round of
drinks for the whole room.

They finally got round to arranging rooms. The Miller's daughter wanted to meet Cale in the morning
but he just grunted and went to bed. Mathmoss had a much better time and took the wench, whose name
was Derndie, to his room for the night.


DAY 220 (17th Marpenoth)

Today was not going to be a good day for young Cale Cresthill but he wasn't to know that yet and
came down for his breakfast as normal. Mathmoss was there also, noticing that his new girlfriend
had risen early for work. Mathmoss thought she would make a good guide for the day though and gave
the innkeeper enough money to pay another village girl so Derndie could join them.

Once they left the inn to begin their investigations they noticed that they were being followed
by a boy and girl, the children of the singer in the inn. As strangers in the village, and such
odd looking ones, they were attracting attention.

They located the house that was the home of Freddorick. Cale knocked but there was no answer.
The door was found to be locked.

When asked who knew Fred the most, Derndie replied that he had been most friendly with Jaroo the
druid. So that was their next port of call. The little boy and girl still followed them. Their names
were Francie and Neely. When he saw them arrive, Jaroo gave them some money to get some food and they
scampered off.

Anyone appearing at the Grove was expected to donate something for the poor of the village. When
Cale checked his pockets for change he found that 50 gold coins had been stolen from him! He presumed
it had been while he was drunk.

Now, Cavu had told them to keep his name out of dealings with the people of Hommlet so when they
asked Jaroo is he had a spare key to Freddorick's house he was very mistrustful.

Mathmoss then went to the local temple priest to arrange a casting of the 'Zone of Truth' spell
for 120gp. Cale wasn't so keen though and voiced the opinion that 'It won't make any difference
to his attitude.'

Next they tried to enlist the help of Humperdink who was happy to lie on their behalf but was
told to tell the truth. Unfortunately though the truth was that he didn't really know Cavu and
Mathmoss and couldn't say for sure if they were trustworthy.

While Humperdink talked to Jaroo, Cale noticed a large black hairy ball snoring in the corner of
the grove. He went over to investigate but backed off when Mathmoss warned him, 'It's a bear!'.

They gave up on Jaroo and went to talk to Elem Oats the captain of the militia. They were faced
with the same problem though. They looked foreign. The villagers were mistrustful - and after all
who could blame them? There had been a lot of strange and dangerous characters through the village
just recently and the countryside was full of orcs, half orcs and northern barbarians.

Cale asked if there was a 'Criminal Underbelly' in  Hommlet. Oats slammed the door on him.

Another route of enquiry closed to them, guided by Derndie again they went and talked to Fred's
landlord. They had no luck here either, they were too foreign and dangerous looking.

They had a bite to eat at the inn for lunch and Mathmoss went to the local general store to buy
a sai (a type of dagger). Cale thought that breaking in to the house in the night was the only
way forward. While that would have been a good idea if they'd done it straight away, Mathmoss
pointed out the awkward fact that they had been round the whole village asking about the house
and would be prime suspects if the break in was noticed!

Cale suddenly announced 'I have an idea!'. It turned out to be a very bad idea. Four children
followed him as he left the inn but he gave each of them a silver and off the scampered.

Mathmoss shrugged and gave Derndie the nod. They then went upstairs to his room and had a much
better time than Cale was about to have.

Cale put another gold on the collection plate as he arrived in the grove but for reasons that may
have seemed sensible at the time he started threatening the druid.

This had the effect of turning the placid hairy lump in the corner of the grove into a huge clawed
killing machine which charged into Cale.

Three people who were in the grove fled as the fight began. Jaroo shouted at Cale to get out but
the dancer stood his ground, whacking the bear with the blunt end of his scythe.

Cale tried to talk to the druid to calm the situation down, but Jaroo continued to tell him to get
out of the grove. When Cale stunned the bear with one final blow, Jaroo mistook this for a fatal
injury. Crying 'No! Not Bear! Prepare to die!'

Still Cale did not leave or make any attempt to flee. Jaroo summoned four crocodiles (one of my favourite
tricks!) and set them on the dancer. Cale managed to Dervish Dance around them all though and very nearly
killed the druid before he could take on the form of an eagle and flap into the sky.

Again, Cale did not flee, although badly injured he stood his ground bravely, but was quickly savaged
to death by the crocodiles.

**
Now. Just to add my own thoughts on this incident. Speaking as a druid I feel sorry for Cale. His heart
always seemed to be in the right place, but he had a habit of making bad decisions. Diplomacy not being
his strong point he had tried to intimidate the druid. Not a good idea to a senior druid with years of
experience and indeed, within his own grove.
One would not walk calmly into the Halls of Justice and start threatening Hammer Lord Hykros Allumen
for instance.
So, you may argue who was in the right at this stage, but a bear is a savage animal and seeing its master
threatened in his own home it attacked. Cale should really have left at this stage, but this time tried
diplomacy, something he was not well suited to.
When Jaroo attacked it was only going to go one way and Cale should have used his expert skills in ducking
and weaving to flee the scene. Perhaps a nice big donation to the grove would have smoothed things over
after that? But instead he stood his ground and died. It is very sad that a young man from the northern
deserts, perhaps unfamiliar in the ways of southern druids, should end this way, but ultimately it was
of his own doing. In any event, to continue...
**

Mathmoss was roused from his peaceful sleep in the inn by Jaroo and Captain Oats. They told him to leave
the village at once. When he asked why Jaroo told him of the attack.
'It sounds more like you murdered him!', decried the ninja.

The following witnesses were called:

Mrs Murfle, the leather workers wife
Mr Weaver, the weaver
Mrs Hopps, the brewers wife

Like all small villages though, everyone knew everyone else and Mathmoss was deluding himself if he thought
the witnesses would do anything other than back the druid that had lived in their midst for forty or more years.
In fact, I am lead to believe Mrs Murfle was Jaroo's sister-in-law and Mrs Hopps his second cousin.

So, the mission falling apart, Mathmoss left town. He tried to at least retain Cale's possessions, but
these were confiscated. He paid the priest to cast 'Gentle Repose' on what remained of Cale and placed
in a box (after being partially digested by four crocodiles there was no need of something so big as a
coffin) and he left the village by himself, Humperdink now wanting nothing to do with him apparently.

(G207 25/07/2014 via Roll20 - JF(GM), Mira)

(G207 25/07/2014 via Roll20 - JF(GM), Mira)


DAY 217    (14th Marpenoth) ....

Once they had settled 'Clompy' into the stables and set up a watch schedule they settled
in to sleep. The child snuggled into the magic bedroll with Pensato.

DAY 218 (15th Marpenoth)

If the temple bell had anyone to ring it in Toadstone, it would have not long chimed four
in the morning when the child awakened and told Pensato that she needed to pee-pee.

Humperdink was on watch and when they did not return for some time he woke up Cale who
then woke up Mathmoss. The ninja took the lantern and went into the night to look for
them.

He worked his way round to the villages only inn and heard voices from within.
Looking under the main door he saw feet so climbed up the outer wall and quietly entered
the building via a window. The upper floor of the inn was given over to guest rooms
and the area was in darkness but he could see light coming up from the stairwell.

Creeping down the stairs he could see a gathering of twenty or so orcs around a stove,
cooking up some orcish food. One of them sniffed the air, as if it could detect
Mathmoss's scent. The ninja beat a hasty retreat.

When asked about what he had seen he replied,
'A ton or orcs! Pensato may already be in their cooking pot!'

Mathmoss and Cale returned to the inn and while Mathmoss went up and returned to the
stairs, Cale banged on the door,
'Whoever is in there! Come out with your hands up and I will spare your life!'
He then heard some hushed voices within.
He repeated his demand in all the languages he knew, knocking on the door and shouting.

Eventually an orc opened the door and asked 'Who are you?'
Cale instantly slew the orc with his scythe. One supposes it had not satisfied Cale in the matter
of meeting him at the door with hands raised.

Cale waded into the room to attack the orcs, but found that they all fled as fast as they could
out of the back door. He grabbed one though, crying out,
'Mathmoss we need a prisoner!'

The orc he grabbed was a juvenile female and struggle as she might, Cale had a good hold of
her. The others having fled, but Mathmoss caught two more orish children upstairs.

When questioned though it boiled down to this;

These orcs were part of the 'baggage train', women and children of the horde and part of the
Many Arrows tribe. They had been traveling with some warriors but had been attacked by
Waterdavian forces and fled. They had arrived at this inn just a few hours ago and were catching
their breath and having something to eat. They knew nothing about Pensato or the child.
The girl explained that she was actually a half-orc called Edna. She did not seem dangerous
in any way.

Humperdink was summoned and asked of he could track Pensato. He followed a trail in the dark
to the edge of the village but from that point on it was impossible.

Mathmoss went to bed, washing his hands of the whole affair. Cale took their only remaining
prisoner (the two other children having escaped) and dumped the half-orc girl on Mathmoss.
'You decide what to do with her.'
Saying nothing, Mathmoss untied her and shooed her out the door.

In the morning Humperdink examined the tracks again but they seemed to end mysteriously.
'I wonder though', he said, 'I have heard tell of a necromancer that lives in these parts.
Perhaps he had something to do with it?'
It seemed a bit thin though and lacking a better plan they packed up camp and head on their
way once more.

In the afternoon they arrived at the swampside cave of Glevenax, the old trollish sear that had
once told Oz and Alduin their fortunes.

It was still a large and reasonably well furnished cave and did not smell too bad considering that
a troll lived in it. Humperdink expressed no interest in getting his future foretold but Mathmoss
did and was instructed to bring a fish from the pond nearby.

First he stood for ten minutes, shivering wasted deep in the water, but found that his nunchucks were
poor implements for catching fish. When he returned to shore and started to make a trap Humperdink
approached him and said,
'What are you doing there, chief?'
'Fish trap.'
'Want to borrow my hook and line?'
Mathmoss left out a deep sigh.

Equipped with a fish he presented it to Glevenax. She spilled its guts out into a wide bronze bowl and
read the future there in. It wasn't all good.

'You will find a lot of treasure in the near future. But best make plans for a way to deal
with your impending death. A man of evil disposition will kill you. He is a tall, thin man, with
sharp features and protruding eyes.'

Mathmoss shuddered, then dried himself out by the fire.

DAY 219 (16th Marpenoth)

They set off in the morning and arrived at the village of Hommlet at eight o'clock in the evening.
Humperdink lead them to the Inn of the Welcoming Wench where Ostier Gundigoot was still the inn
keeper.

(G206 18/07/2014 via Roll20 - JF(GM), AP, LD) 16

(G206 18/07/2014 via Roll20 - JF(GM), AP, LD) 16

DAY 68 (fri) cont...

Kirk replicated three more drones bringing his total up to five. He also looked through the
shuttles records to see how easy it would be to weaponise them. It was possible but would take
too long. Instead he taped an industrial laser onto each drone alongside the camera. It would
cause a distraction at least and maybe dazzle an enemy if aimed right at his eyes.

He teleported out these Mark IIs out to join their kin over the skies of Schtackburg.

It was about 0400 hours when the drones converged on the street of Obser Varo. They managed
to narrow the Vidiian presence down to one building. No forcefield was detected.

They brought down the drones to a lower altitude and narrowed it down to the middle
three floors of the five floor building. Noxus teleported onto the roof and set up a
transporter enhancer, then scanned for the bomb. He was distracted by sirens below
him though. On hearing this, Kirk landed all the drones on the roof to keep them
safe.

Straining his ears Noxus could hear the sound of voices as people entered the building
from the street below. He scanned them, but they were locals, not Vidiians.

As he continued to scan he heard shouting, then a single gunshot from below. Kirk
teleported a Treebadian disguise kit and then teleported him to the forth floor.

On the landing he met a Treebadian female coming up the stairs. She was stern looking
and wearing a patterned wool jumper. Noxus, his mind racing to come up with ideas, bluffed
that he really needed the toilet.
'I need the toilet!'
'Do you live here?, replied the woman.
'Of course!'
'On this floor?'
'Not on this floor...'
'I'm Detective Stiva. You can't go downstairs just yet, see if one of your neighbours will help.'
Noxus knocked on the nearest door and a little old man let him in. Noxus pretended to go to the
bathroom.

The detective was still there when he returned though. She talked on her radio and Kirk was listening in.
'Suspect won't come out... Says he knows nothing about the drones..'
Kirk decided to break in to their radio and sternly intoned,
'Attention police. This building has a bomb at this level. I have detected it by the use of my drones. There is
another in Vanadis park. The drones are here to aid you in this crisis.'
The detective said,
'Unknown caller, identify yourself!'
'I regret to inform you I cannot. We removed the threat from Hummelgarden and disabled the bomb. I'm only trying
to assist the city and remove the imminent threat.'
'Please leave this frequency!'
'Please accept my help!'
'What help exactly? Please leave this frequency,'

While she was talking to Kirk, Noxus observed her use another electronic device, as if the were sending messages
or looking something up. Next he noticed a look of surprise on her face as she read from the device.
Kirk continued to reveal more of the Vidiian's plot and told her of the nuclear bombs that had been placed
around the city as part of their terror attack.
As she talked she walked down the stairs and she was replaced by another policeman called Heinrich.

More police arrived and went to the door of the Vidiians flat. Noxus and Kirk waited to see what
was going to happen. As people began to look out their doors to see what all the commotion was about
the police kicked their way in.

Kirk moved the drones from the roof and transported Noxus back to the shuttle.
Meanwhile the radio conversation continued,
'Mysterious person. Are you still there?'
Kirk could hear the click of a car door opening and closing.
'Yes'. Kirk went on to tell her about the Vidiians, the Phage and their organ harvesting ways.
'Who are these people? What country are they from?'
'That's not important.'

Noxus checked his gear and Kirk flew the drones to the park. Police helicopters followed them for
a while, but then held back. Scanning the park Noxus detected the residual effects of a forcefield
in the area. The Vidiians had been there recently.

On the radio they heard;
'In position now sir!'
'Stay off this channel!'

Ensign Kirk teleported to the southern most point of the park and approached the area the Vidiians
were in. He threw a dazzle grenade toward the bandstand.
Noxus approached from the west and threw incendiary grenades towards the Vidiian strong point.

Kirk sent in drones and one was shot down. It was hard to see the shadowy figures in the darkness
of the park but the Vidiians were definitely there and returning fire.

Using the cameras of the drones routed through his tricorder Kirk could make out that this area
was a pond with a path that went either side of it to a bandstand around which where placed dozens
of chairs.

Noxus threw another grenade, making a Vidiian run back to a darker location. For some reason known only
to himself Noxus then took off at the spring northwards, perhaps thinking to flank them, but in the
dark he ran headlong into a bush. He then changed his mind and joined the shooting.

Kirk continued to shoot at the Vidiians. It was a tense firefight as each shot gave away his location,
but each time he was shot at he then knew where one of the enemy was. In the end though, he was not enough
to take them all one and when they were both stunned by the Vidiian weapons they transported
back to the shuttle by the automatic return protocol Kirk had programmed previously.

Noxus was the first to regain consciousness. He could hear drilling coming from the side of the shuttle.
Looking out a window he could see that somehow they had come to be on the dockside.

He activated the shields and the people around the craft were pushed away from it. The cardassian then
had a bite to eat and a nice cup of tea.
He opened a channel to outside and talked,
'How may i help you?'
'The bomb goes off in minutes!', yelled back Detective Stiva, 'We killed the Vidiians , but we don't
know what to do with the bomb!'

Grasping the situation Noxus flew the shuttle up over the part and transported the bomb out into
space.

As they left the star system the Vidiian Warship poked its head out from behind a moon and approached
them.
'Stop where you are!', its captain demanded.
'We are the U.S.S Bikini. 0-6-0-6.' replied Kirk and other nonsense.
'Surrender!'

The warship was stronger and better armed than the shuttle, but slower, so they had not much trouble
avoiding it and heading back to Voyager.

DAY 69 (thu)

Ensign Kirk spent most of the return flight, while not asleep, writing his report and working on
his M.A.T.S.E project (the new name for T.I.T.S).

At 0600 hours they arrived at Voyager.

They reported to the med bay for a routine check up. Kirk submitted his Design documents to Torres.

(G205 04/07/2014 via Roll20 - JF(GM), LD) 15

(G205 04/07/2014 via Roll20 - JF(GM), LD) 15

Personnel File : Evoras
Race           : Vulcan
Dept           : Science Division
Rank           : Ensign (Specialist 3)

Evoras worked as a freelance deep space science researcher before joining Starfleet.
Her experience includes field operations, biology, zoology and anthropology.
After the Academy she worked on smaller vessels before joining the crew of Voyager.

(G204 27/06/2014 via Roll20 - JF(GM), Mira, Alex)

(G204 27/06/2014 via Roll20 - JF(GM), Mira, Alex)

DAY 216    (13th Marpenoth) cont ...

They talked to the orc lad a little more and he said:

'I was at the battle, but I don't understand it. Ask the old one over there if you want to know. I didn't fight,
I'm too small, just carried messages. My father is .. was .. a swordsman of The Hard Skull Tribe. My father says
that we are vassals of the Many Arrows tribe and that when King Obould said march then we were honour bound to
march. Honour brought my father to his grave... *sigh* .. well it was the death he would have wanted. Dying in
battle is better than starving to death in a frost covered cave in the mountains.'

Cale was adamant that they leave him there and that orcs could not be trusted although he did leave some food
and water. The lad asked if he could share his food with the old orc in the next cage but this request was
refused.

After this they traveled for two more hours. Their path passed close to a village, a few hundred yards away
through the trees. As they passed they heard a scream of pain.

Cale instantly starting running towards it, but once onto the main road a young man with a spear saw them and
yelled, 'Halt!'
They stopped and then he said, 'Now bugger off!', just as another scream was heard.
'We can hear people in trouble!, stated Cale.
The young man eyed the three adventurers. He saw a bard, an acrobatic type and a dancer.
'What are you? The fucking circus?', he asked.

They turned and conferred with Humperdink who told them,
'The village is called Govallen. It has strong walls. That lad over there is not local, he has a northern
accent. Most likely a hiresword or mercenary.'

Cale advanced on the man, who then took to his heels and ran for the village gate. As they got closer they
heard a woman scream.

Cale demanded that the gate was opened and a large armoured man with a bristly black beard and missing
teeth opened it.
'Well?'
'What's going on in there?'
'Go away.'
Cale stood his ground, 'I want to see in here.'
The mercenary leader gave a hideous smile and said, 'Well now. In you come.'
Pensato whispered a warning, but Cale resolutely advanced.

Before them was a dreadful sight. In the centre of the village the mercenaries were torturing the
villagers then slaying them one by one. The leader went over to a woman that looked like a tavern wench.
He picked her up by the neck and threatened her with a dagger,
'Where is the treasure!' he bellowed in her face.
She struggled and choked out a negative answer. The mercenary then stabbed her in the heart.

Horrified, Cale and Pensato had advanced into the village square. They didn't notice that they were
surrounded by about a dozen heavily armed mercenaries and that Mathmoss had vanished.

The chief, a human called Rankar, told them to surrender. They refused though and a fight began. Cale did
the best he could, dancing and whirling around the battle, striking with his scythe, and Pensato did his best
to help with his bardic magic, but surrounded and outnumbered the battle was not long in being lost.
(They did glance Mathmoss fighting elsewhere in an alley during it.)

Cale and Pensato were disarmed and pushed to the ground while Rankar tortured and killed two more locals.

Pensato managed to use his magical powers to 'Suggest' to Rankar that he should stop killing the villagers.
Rankar said, 'You know what. I'm going to leave the villagers alone now!'
One of the mercenaries was the designated healer, his name was Stef. He said,
'Boss! Boss! It's a bardic trick!' and knocked Pensato over the head with a club sending the poor fellow
senseless down into the road.
'A trick eh?', said Rankar, 'Well, I'll ask you circus folk then. Where. Is. The. Treasure?!'

Cale, serene and calm, answered that he did not know of any treasure.
'The orcish treasure!', demanded Rankar, 'What do you know of it? The orcs buried their loot somewhere in
this village before the army came.'
Cale ran this through his head but decided to give only the exact truth.
'I know nothing of the treasure.'
'OK, well, lets see if this makes you remember.'

As two men held his arm out, Rankar cut off the pinky finger of Cale's right hand.
'Where is the treasure?'
'I don't know where it is.' said Cale with exactness.

As Rankar's dagger pressed into his heart though, Cale decided that only answering questions with only the exact
answers was perhaps not working out that well for him,
'Uh! Um! But I do know where there is a orc that might know the location of the treasure.'

Once they had the directions Rankar sent some of his men back to the crossroads and after a few hours the
orc lad arrived at the village. It was getting dark when they returned and the first man back said,
'We killed the other orcs, but this kid was where the dancing fella said he would be...'

Rankar threatened the orc lad,
'Where is the treasure?'
'Don't tell him! He'll kill you anyway!', stated Cale.
'Shut up you!', growled Rankar.
The orc lad pleaded for his life,
'I only know it was under a tree in the orchard. I can't count, but the chief made me memorise this riddle!'
He then recited:

''
'Count from East and Count from North,
If you would dig up a bounty's worth,

Take first the number of legs on a donkey,
Then add the number of ears on a monkey,
Add again the number of eyes in my head,
And takeaway the number of wives I have wed.

Now I have counted the first number, lets go,
And counting from here the next number I'll know,

Begin with a dozen baker's rolls, tasty and hot,
Of prongs on a trident, subtract the lot,
Take off now the number when counting of basilisks legs,
And finally add the number when counting of chimera heads'
''

Rankar scratched his head. Cale didn't even try to work it out.
'A bit of a poet then, your chief.', said Rankar.
'He was a bard.' replied the boy.
'Huh, Stef, wake up that sack of dung.' said Rankar kicking poor Pensato.

Once awake though, Pensato solved the riddle with ease (or so he though initially).
'The answer is: 4+2+1-4 = 3 and 12-3-8+3 = 4'

'Right', said Rankar and lead them all out into the orchard. They then counted along three trees and up four.
His men began to dig by torchlight, but after they'd gone down six feet they gave up.
Rankar went over and grabbed Pensato,
'Guess again, bard...'
'Um!', gulped Pensato, 'Well perhaps it would be a baker's dozen, as in thirteen? That would mean the next tree
up!'
The men began to dig again and after a few feet they hit the top of a chest,
'We've got something boss!'
Rankar jumped down into the hole and opened the lid. The chest was full of coins! As he groped to get at them
though, his second in command, a man called Weynard, decided that a change of management was in order and since
Rankar was still somewhat injured from his fighting with Cale he chose this time to stab his master in the back
with his sword.
Ranker bellowed and leapt out the hole. Now it was mercenary versus mercenary as each decided who they preferred
as their master.

The orc boy fled for the village gate, Cale and Pensato not long behind him. Cale decided to get his manacles out
and at the gate grabbed the boy to handcuff him. But he only got one on before Stef and some of the other mercenaries
arrived, either chasing the prisoners or fleeing the battle. The orc lad fled into the village and was not found
again.

In a fine display of agility Cale snatched the sword right out of Stef's hand and then slew him with it.
He then injured another mercenary who then tried to ask for mercy, but Cale finished him off. All the while,
Pensato acted as an invisible helper, using his magic to be totally unseen by their enemies.

Pensato used up some of the last reserves of his magic to heal himself and Cale and they entered the village.
There were three mercenaries still in the centre though but Pensato snuck around them and finding their
weapons in a pile, took his rapier and threw Cale's scythe over to the dancer. It would have been impressive
if he had caught it, but he did not. The mercenaries, none the less, were easily defeated and they ran
for the eastern gate as the bulk of the mercenary force entered through the west, their management issues
seemingly resolved.

They caught up with Humperdink and the others and fled. After a little while Mathmoss joined them.
'Where the hell have you been?' they asked.
'Playing murder in the dark.' came the quiet reply.

DAY 217    (14th Marpenoth)

After putting some distance between themselves and Govallen they spend the night camped out in the wild.

In the morning they moved on, using the small trails between the river and the main road.

Around noon they arrived at the village of Trout Bridge.

A local warned them,
'Gah! The whole army is chasing the horde up north. After loot and glory!
But what about the stragglers left behind? There are desperate bands of orcs
scattered all the way up to Longsaddle. There are hundreds around Goldenfields.
Stick to the roads! Travel only during the day! You are as good as dead otherwise.'

'Pishposh!' Humperdink replied, 'I know better roads, the old smuggler ways. Much safer!'

That night in the village tavern Pensato told stories to entertain the locals. He also told a tale of unicorns
at the request of the little girl.

They set off again and late at night arrived at the abandoned village of Toadstone. They selected
a small hut by the river to set up camp, thinking that the tavern might be too dangerous a target for orcs
and bandits.