Team Mravolinski-Chitco
Towards Taruli…oh, why we decided on you to drive…
Monstruous truth
(@Madrias was consulted for this part bcos of inclusion of very special “local”)
At one point, our fighters did picked up what was happening: there wasnt much for them to do when they arrived on current battlefield, as battle was mostly over
Upon return, everyone gathered in bed of vehicle, feeling like they had no other choice. This seemed weird and was about to become even weirder…
-Now that everyone is present, would be nice to start our discussion here
-Who are you? Give us one good reason for not beating you up and throwing you out.
(In absence of dogs and Chicota, certain “local” had sneaked up in space above the cab, only now anouncing his presence)
-My identity is of no importance to any of you, but yes i could give good reasons for my presense here
Ok no…actually there is only one reason: that thing some of you may have seen.
We observed your group throughout entire journey as we feared something like this might happen.
We can change your memories, so you can choose to live without this coming up. Some other teams will choose to do so and rightfully so: truth is terrifying.
-You can manipulate minds?
-You are one that worded it that way, Klimentol. We are very responsible in that regard, not to mention…we dont need to do it for everyone: ones that actively fought and/or arent afraid of truth will remain unaltered.
Not to mention we do have cover story to explain absence of that team from now on.
-Cover story?
-Yes.
Team Blazers, according to said story, had car accident during the stage. Driver, named Romulo, died.
Cause was that he lost control over the vehicle and crashed as result.
Rest of that team decided to abandon the event, mourning the loss of their teammate.
Partially, this does relate to actual situation: Romulo is indeed dead and rest decided to abandon the event as result.
-We would like to know the actual situation as well.
If we indeed dont like it…do what you must.
-Very well.
Tbh i cant say for sure what went so horribly wrong, but it did.
Their vehicle had transformed into beast half of your team had witnessed. That change was irreversible; monster needed to be slain at all costs…Romulo was consumed by it.
They didnt understood what exactly they piloted…and, as is it otherworldly phenomena for us, we cant fully understand it either.
-I guess we can handle that.
-Make sure to first go with cover story if you arent sure. I doubt you would talk much about it anyway, but…to be sure.
-Fair enough, although i do have feeling our hosts could have handled it.
-Team Shift Happens? In terms of fighting the beast, maybe…if they happen to be present here at the moment, that is.
But…even if they were here on time, even if they fought it…
(Taking a short pause to recollect thoughts)
…there are still consequences where they would be helpless.
Locals would need just one look at such ungainly sight to close off to potential visitors.
They are used to dangers from this world, but beings from other worlds…are different story.
-Some of those locals were affected too?
-Yes. In their case, cover story is being told, no questions asked.
-About remains of monster…
-We are dealing with that as well.
Now that my presence is no longer needed here, i will exit your vehicle.
Hopefully gave enough reason for being there in first place.
Goodbye.
-Ok, goodbye.
Stranger exited the vehicle and went towards forest, soon entering it and losing visual with our team.
Conclusion from part above is that our team is informed about actual situation regarding Team Blazers.
As for careful drive, noone said its supposed to be smooth.
Drive to Taruli
Regarding this whole “preparation” thingy, you could have seen it coming: Pi is taking driver position.
Afterall, she shall be used to piloting fastest and most powerful road-going vehicle around in order to…you know…actually utilise it.
This wasnt made easier by fact her prior car driving knowledge is non-existant
Klimentol did provided solid teacher in this department tho and seeing that he was one in middle front seat, he could have operated gear stick if needed
Ok…when needed
There was one time when we were going towards a corner blessed with tree.
Prefectly naturally, there was some stomping on gas, clutch and brake pedal (in that exact order), on few other occasions two pedals would get pressed at once (if our car had sentience like few others, it would be confused in many, many examples of this happening)
Also parking job at the end was simply stopping in camp and then promptly not being reminded of parking brake, deciding to instead put someones backpack on brake pedal.
Genius backfired when car started moving regardless, making someone else applying parking brake instead.
Only consequence was that car was now one or two meters ahead of where Pi originally “parked” it, but that wasnt issue bcos Pi had stopped it fair bit away from other cars.
Good thing she may have plenty of time to learn proper parking as it is going to be sparsely used skill at first.
Few hours later, Aydar reparked the car. There was zero reason for it being in middle of camp
What is going to be needed tho is some more fastening of cargo, since some banging supplies could have been heard during the drive
This however is likely to wait until next town, since everyone skilled enough to:
- go in town
- buy needed supplies for that
and
- actually refasten everything up
Happened to be fairly tired
Understandably, both me and VerBanka are likely not that skillful - although we are well-rested unlike everyone else
Pi both lacks skill and was tired as consequence of being our driver for this stage