Episode 2: Space Race from Space

Russian comments are in spoiler tags so only Amadea can understand.

The shopkeeper hesitated when Dane presented American dollars. He looked both ways to make sure no one else was watching, then pocketed the money, muttering:

Spoiler:

Wang quickly found a seedy but warm inn to sleep in.

--

Temperature outdoors in town is -2 F. Dane continues to resist the damaging effects of cold with another successful HT roll during the half-hour of roaming Norilsk.

Vodka is available for 450 rubles ($14.45) a bottle. Rooms at an inn are available for 650 rubles ($20.58) per night. Checkout is at 11 AM.

You recover FP at the rate of 1 FP per 10 minutes of rest, +1 for eating a decent meal. The room is warm enough (75 F) to recover from cold fatigue. You can all be back to full strength after 1 hour of rest, but if you skip your 8-hour sleep period you will begin to suffer from sleep deprivation (Basic Set 426). Wang's Sleepy disadvantage means that he needs 12 hours of sleep per day to stay functional.

Decide if you want separate rooms or to share a single king-sized bed. If you share, you split the cost of the room. If you get your own, you pay full cost for it. If all 3 of you share the bed (or sleep on the floor), your less-comfortable conditions mean you will need an additional hour of rest to gain the full benefits.

Wang's iPhone alarm will let you choose when you want to wake up. Decide that as well. It is 1 PM at the moment.

You now have 8 meals left.

Working his way through town and not particularly caring whether the HIDE was functioning or not, Dane made his way to the only shop the small town boasted.

"I seek the warmth potion your people possess!" he exclaimed as soon as he was inside. The shopkeeper gave a startled look. He did not speak English, but after a series of gestures from Dane, he produced a bottle of cheap vodka. Dane handed him $50 and walked out, not caring for change. He opened the bottle and took a hefty drink, grimacing as the alcohol burned his throat. It was even worse than his tribes signature brew, but he could tolerate it. The effect was immediate.

"Alcohol, I should have guessed," he mumbled before making his way to Wang's inn.

"How much was it?" Wang asked when he sees Dane carries a suspiciously shabby looking bottle. He doesn't really get along well with alcohol, but the chill makes him willing to take the risk. Depending on the answer from the dragonborn, he might get one himself.
"By the way guys, I don't know about you guys, I reeeaaaaally need a good rest. I'll set an alarm clock at around 1. Leave a note on which room you're staying, I'll come wake you up." Assuming they're having separate rooms, Xiaoming goes to check in.



FP:11
Related Ad - Deep Sleeper: Never suffer any ill effects due to the quality of sleep, get an IQ roll to notice disturbances and awaken.
Related DA - Alcohol Intolerance:-2 on any HT roll related to drinking
Slow Riser: -2 on all self-control rolls and -1 to IQ and IQ-based skills for one hour if asleep less than one hour.

A being who doesn't need sleep, Amadea decided to not get a room and to wait out the night while her teammates regained their strength. She had seen a fireplace in the pub, so she went there and used her understanding of the language to communicate to the bartender that she wanted one beer. She would drink it slowly and wait until morning.

The night passed slowly. Amadea nursed her beer by the fireplace and observed several policemen gathering in the pub or heading upstairs. She heard one of them mutter to the other:

Spoiler:

--

Amadea's beer cost 100 rubles ($3.20).

Each shot of vodka Dane drinks delays the effects of his cold-bloodedness for 15 minutes. It does not take that need away; Dane could theoretically get hammered out in the cold and drop dead the moment he sobered up. Drinking does not stack perfectly; it just refreshes the 15 minute timer. The most efficient way to handle this would be take a shot exactly once every 15 minutes.

Dane can drink up to ST/4 drinks per hour (3) without suffering from Intoxication effects (Basic Set 439). The bottle contains 27 shots. This means that maintaining a resistance to cold will eventually leave Dane wasted.

Dane and Wang wake up in the middle of the night rested and refreshed. The party has fully recovered from its hike.

Waking up energized, Xiaoming headed to Amadea's resting pub (OOC: assuming she left a note about her whereabouts to Xiaoming), “Found out anything? Or did I fail to catch your negative reply to my question of whether you speak Russian or not?” Being a shut-in nerd, Xiaoming assumes people go to pubs only to gather around waiting for adventures to happen.

Buried under approximately five different comforters, Dane passed the night in barely contained thermal equilibrium. He awoke feeling not quite refreshed, but at the very least with his supply of precious heat restocked for the day. He stashed his bottle of "warmth tonic" in his pack before heading down to the common room to meet his friends.

Something stopped him at the door though. Maybe it was the smell, but he knew something was wrong. He tensed his body in preparation, then opened the door into the hallway.

--

Note: this may technically be metagaming, but due to the nature of SPERTS I don't think anyone cares

Dane saw nothing but a man passed out against a nearby door, his head buried in his thick coat. Wang saw several policemen milling about down below with Amadea.

Relaxing a bit, Dane proceeded downstairs to join his companions.

"I'm guessing from what I heard tonight that these folks are aware of the crash," Amadea chose her words carefully to avoid suspicion from anyone in the pub who might speak English. "Someone said he should stand back and 'let omega handle it,' but I don't know what that means. If you think it's wise, I could make someone in here start thinking aloud, and that could give us more intel."

This post has been significantly edited as of 11 PM Pacific 10/9/12.

--

Telesending would prove a challenge because:

1) You don't speak Russian, only hear it. The target would receive your thoughts in English.
2) All but very low-IQ or confused targets can sense that they are being spoken to (rather than the thought just popping into their minds). The target might even realize he was under attack from a psion - if he's aware of the existence of psions.

Side note: all of the limitations you're experiencing (and plenty of others) can be bought off by enhancing your Telesend advantage - but that costs more character points. For instance, Universal lets you Telesend in the recipient's native language, whatever it is. It costs 15 points.

--

There are an unusual number of policemen in the building, but they are not interfering with you and do not appear to be interested in you. You are of course free to investigate this further.

Remember, your primary objective is to prevent the Russians from gaining access to the crash site. Every second counts! When in doubt, move toward the crash as quickly as possible. If you don't want to investigate the police or shop, you should probably be figuring a way to cover the last 7 miles to the crash site.

OOC: Yay, I'm back! Pro tip: Florida doesn't deserve to be a state.

"We should get moving," Dane whispered softly. He was not pleased with the large number of authority figures in the lobby. Most likely, someone had tipped the Russians off of their presence, and this could devolve into a firefight very quickly. That was something to avoid, especially in this climate.

Dane eyed the room quickly, searching for cover as he moved for the door. Trying to remain inconspicuous, he accidentally bumped a table before slipping through the exit. Once outside, he took in his surroundings while making sure he knew where the advantageous ground was.

With a glance at Xiaoming, Amadea shrugged and braced herself against the cold as she followed Dane outside.

"Well, time to follow the big guy" Making sure that he's properly dressed for the occasion (as in, 7 mile walk in Siberian wind), Xiaoming follows his coworkers after a quick sweep at the faces of the visitors in the bar, just in case.

The team moved through the streets of Norilsk without incident. The police presence was surprisingly high; there were squad cars everywhere, and cops with dogs on the streets. But the police did not interfere with the team.

The hike to the crash site had barely begun with the wind began to pick up, lifting the powdery snow into the air and obscuring visibility. Through the whirling flakes, the party saw something coming toward them: a creature, scrambling through the snow. It stood on its hind legs but it was clearly not human. It was still about 100 yards away.

Dane whipped out his rifle, preparing for anything. Tensely he waited for his companions to react. This was not a time to endanger their lives, but at the same time he knew his superiors wanted contact with this thing if at all possible.

Such a strange team for Earth's first contact with a new race. The thought was amusing, but he barely registered it through the combat reflexes beginning to take control of his stiffening body.

Note to all players: please email/link me an image of your character to use on a hex grid battle map (if and when we need one).

Seeing Dane tense up, Wang gets ready for trouble. "What's wrong, Dane?"

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Wang draws Yang with his right hand.

Amadea spotted the figure and said loudly enough for Wang to hear, "It doesn't look human. Do you see it?"

She readied herself for whatever combat was necessary.

"No, I don't. Thanks for noticing my nearsightedness. By the way, we might still want to move as fast as possible, no telling if it's Russian opposing force releasing their own kraken to slow us down." Wang sticks his left hand out, palm down, as if giving an order

"So much white! And cold!" thought Kespa. "Not that this is the strangest sight I've seen, though. I think I like Earth..."

She ground through the snow and her heavy, 7' frame slowed her progress. A small amount of steam fizzled off her dark, green-tinted skin and the snow that landed on her shoulders melted almost instantly. She took great care in maintaining her shotgun, which was holstered in between two of the large spines on her back, by occasionally brushing off the snow with her talons.

Kespa sensed other warm bodies approaching and looked up suddenly.

"I need to get help, I'll just have to risk it and hope that they're friendly."

She took a moment to recall human greetings, then waved.

Perplexed, take took a cautious look at the newcomer. Her weaponry was clearly otherworldly, something that did not fill the young dragonborn with confidence. He waited a brief moment, and was about to say something to his friends, when the creature waved.

Sniffing the air for any sign of danger, Dane slowly raised his arm and waved back.

Knowing Dane has an exceptionally good sense of smell, Xiaoming inquired: "Smell anything there, big man?" while at the same time trying to keep an eye on other angles, anticipating ambushes while the group has a focus, not that he can see far anyway.

From behind, the team could hear the distant drone of engines - too light and too loud to be from cars. Dane could smell diesel in the air, though it was nearly masked by the powerful odor of the newcomer. The engines were still about a quarter-mile away.

"It's waving," Amadea said, and realized she was being too quiet to be heard over the wind and protective clothing her companions wore. "IT'S WAVING!" she yelled.

Perhaps she could try to talk with it. She sent the words: "peace, do you come in peace?" But she felt fairly sure it wouldn't work.

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Concentrate to telecommunicate.