2022 Shitbox Rally - Out of This World! (Results Out!)

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Team Shift Happens

Previous Chapters:

“Here Comes the Hound of Death” - Stage 2 Campsite Battle - Written by Elizipeazie, TheYugo45GV, and Madrias.
Fright Night Forest Stage - Stage 3 Run / Stage 3 Camp
The Free Day - Stage 3 Camp (written in collaboration with Elizipeazie) (Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3)
Safe Arrival - Stage 3 Camp (Written in collaboration with TheYugo45GV)
The Rescue - Stage 4 Drive and Stage 4 “Camp”
The Rebuild - Stage 4 “Camp” (Written in collab. with Elizipeazie ) (Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3), (Part 4)
“It’s 6-Fucking-Moon!” - Stage 4 Camp
Breakfast with RK Series Racing - Stage 4 Camp Final (Written in collaboration with Elizipeazie)
Cinnamon and Apologies - Stage 5 Drive and Stage 5 Camp
An Apology / Campsite Stories / I Have Gas! - Stage 5 Camp (Collab with Knugcab - Original Title: “Gimme Oxygen!”)
The Prank - Collab. with SurrealCereal (Team MCP)
A Tent-ative Meeting - Stage 5 Camp
Engine Troubles / Racing Stripes - Stage 6 Drive and Camp

Thank you to @Knugcab for collaborating on this with me. Enjoy the chaos.

Samiraie Campsite, 6 Sun

(In direct response to this…)

Malavera and Kayden were amused by the drunken shenanigans going on as Marie paddled unsteadily out into the lake. Her paddling sent her wildly from side to side, and her drunken singing was ear-splittingly terrible, but she was admittedly doing better than Kayden had on his first time in a boat.

Rukari watched with mild amusement as Marie paddled around with less grace than a four-year-old Valraadi in a fishing boat for their first time, loudly belting out what he could only assume was some type of war-song.

Then the inevitable happened as Marie, already unsteady as a quarter balanced on a misfiring V6, tipped the kayak over. The hubcap helmet bobbed up to the surface, bounced once, then twice on the light waves, then tipped over and sank just as fast.

Malavera and Kayden both realized what happened, and while Malavera set out as quickly as he could, he was quickly passed by Kayden. There was a heavy splash as Rukari, now stripped down to his loincloth, charged into the lake and dove under, swimming with almost supernatural grace toward the capsized kayak like a fuzzy, horned torpedo.

Andreas barely got out in the water and Janne had not even got his clothes off before Kayden got to the kayak. Soon after that Rukari arrived at the kayak followed by Malavera, before Andreas getting there. Janne was still a bit slow to arrive, not much of a swimmer and a bit drunk from the last of the kilju as he was.

Kayden ducked under, then popped back up a few seconds later. “We’re going to have to roll it back over. She’s stuck in there,” Kayden said to Malavera, Rukari, and Andreas, “and if I try to pull her out, my claws are going to tear her to ribbons.”

Rukari nodded, then said, “I will push Marie, use leverage to our advantage.”

“Might wreck the boat, but I think Kayden and I can get a grip on the bottom of this thing and pull,” Malavera added.

With a plan formed, the three put it into action, with Rukari diving under and pushing against Marie’s shoulder, his powerful legs kicking hard to push her up toward the surface sideways, while at the same time, Malavera and Kayden grabbed at the bottom of the kayak and tried to help roll it over. Kayden had a better grip thanks to his claws, while Malavera found an edge and grabbed on hard, hearing the wood creaking under his hands.

Janne arrived at the scene more or less when the kayak was flipped back again, being more in the way than he was to any help, actually. He just shook his head over this show. Andreas on the other hand was extremely close to lose his temper, but realized that now was not the right time so he held it back now.

"Marie, are you all right?", he tried to ask her. She was coughing water for a while but at least seemed to be conscious.

Rukari popped up next to Malavera and Kayden, taking a deep breath as Marie coughed up all the water. The three looked at one another, then back to Marie, and then studied the shoreline, trying to see where Jayde was in case his healing magic would be needed.

Not very far afterwards, Marie stopped her coughing and started breathing somewhat normally. She took some deep breaths and looked at Andreas and Janne.

"This was fun! Can I do it again?", she asked.

"NO!", Janne and Andreas answered firmly.

Janne saw where the paddle was floating around, so even if it was kind of a struggle, he swam out to get it back.

"I’m stuck in here", she said.

"Well, what a surprise!", Andreas said. "And the surprise for you is how i will solve that damn problem when we come back to shore!"

Kayden rolled his eyes as Marie mentioned she thought rolling the kayak over was fun and she wanted to do it again. At least it confirmed she was still Marie, still drunk, and no worse off than before.

Malavera just shook his heads while Rukari chuckled. As they helped guide the kayak back toward the shore along with Andreas and Janne, and Marie said she was stuck, however, Malavera laughed. “I think a lot of us would get stuck in that kayak,” Malavera said.

As the kayak was pushed to the edge of the lake, Kayden, Malavera, and Rukari climbed out of the water. Malavera, unable (or unwilling) to suppress the instinct, shook off a lot of the water from his fur, further drenching everyone else around him.

Andreas went to the van, got the axe and got back to the kayak. Now losing his temper completely, he was chopping it into small woodchips with Marie still sitting inside.

"Stop, you’re ruining my kayak", she complained.

"DO YOU WANT TO GET OUT OR NOT? SHUT YOUR BLABBERING MOUTH AND DO IT NOW!", he shouted to her and continued chopping up the kayak. When there was absolutely no proof left that the heap of scrapwood ever had been a kayak, he went back to the van, took a can with fuel with him, poured it over the pile of wood, and then threw a match on it.

"So, now we have a fire! Stand here and dry your damn clothes!"

Malavera, Rukari, and Kayden stood around the campfire, gladly letting the heat dry off their fur.

After a few minutes, Rukari inquired, “Why in the Name of the Rift did you go out on the lake in a goblin’s kayak?”

"Because I was going to invade Poland!", Marie answered.

Janne came closer to the fire after having been standing in the background for a while.
"Guess a fire could be needed, if the lake didn’t make me wet, someone’s attempt to do a tribal dance on the beach did", he said a bit salty, looking at Malavera.

Kayden chuckled. “He’s done that to a lot of us, Janne. Just be glad he doesn’t have his winter pelt, the last time he got that soaked, he drenched the entire warehouse when he shook it out,” Kayden mentioned. He then reached up and smacked the back of one of Malavera’s heads.

“Hey!” Malavera grumbled, trying to return the favor, though Kayden ducked under it.

“Least you could do is apologize for trying to drown Janne outside of the lake,” Kayden quipped.

Rukari just chuckled quietly. “At least we are all safe, yes?”

“Most of us, sure,” Kayden said. “Though I know Janne and Andreas took out a Dyre, and Malavera’s not that big, so…”

Malavera tried again to smack Kayden over the head, again missing as Kayden ducked.

Janne was watching the fight, just shaking his head. Instead he got closer to Rukari.
"Goblin’s kayak, you say?"

“Yes, a goblin’s kayak,” Rukari replied. “About this high,” Rukari added, holding his right hand about 4-and-a-half feet off of the ground, “grayish green skin, pointed ears, long nose, green blood, quite flammable. Don’t see very many, though, they don’t usually like being out in sunlight.”

"I see", Janne said. "We found it dumped on the beach near the end of that slope we were driving down during today’s race. Not really in the best condition so I can understand why it was abandoned, but that SOMEONE should of course bring it with her."

"Yes, and it ended exactly like I predicted!", Andreas said.

"Shut up, it was a nice kayak until you trashed it!", Marie answered.

“I have seen better,” Rukari said in response to Marie. “I would not have trusted that one myself. Likely, had you not flipped it, it would have sank within the hour,” he added.

"At least it seems to be good for something", Andreas said, and pointed at the fire.

“Yeah, it is making a good bonfire,” Kayden said. “My fur’s almost dry, and most of my clothes are back at the van.”

“Still a bit damp,” Malavera admitted, though smirked at Janne. “I am sorry about drenching you. If I wasn’t, I’d try it again now, but I have towels in the truck.”

Rukari chuckled, watching Kayden and Malavera head over to the truck. “Those two aren’t done just yet,” he said quietly, still near the campfire with Marie, Andreas, and Janne.

Sure enough, no sooner had Malavera dried out his fur with the towel, Kayden made the mistake of turning his back on the two-headed wolf, and Malavera cracked the towel, catching Kayden on the ass and drawing a sharp pained yowl from the big Tigrilan Warrior.

“OW! What the fuck, Mal!?” Kayden yelled, hopping away from Malavera’s second attempt, which still snapped audibly in the air.

“That’s for ducking,” Malavera said with a smirk.

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(BTW, my team will probably be at that campfire for most of the evening so if anyone want to join in, feel free)

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Sure, i guess.

398

On the road to Samiraie, Crugandr

Local time: 2:00 Sun - 5:20 Sun

Weather: back to being hot as hell

Damn you, Polaris and your shitty head gaskets.

The Magistrate rumbled down the road, without much complaining and soon the sunny ocean came into view with an ocean liner steaming past next to a bay that was home to some sailboats. The overcast had broken open a bit over the bay, letting some beams of sunlight through, creating a peaceful, but menacing aura as the sunlight made the distant cloud cover and overcast seem darker like a storm.

Aedan was in marvel. “Wow, That’s some impressive scenery.”

His brother agreed. “Sure is, There’s even an old fashioned ocean liner down there.”

“There’s a town down there as well,” said Pavel from way in the back.

K’mino remained silent as the scenery rolled past.

Opening his journal, Malcolm did his usual informing of the route. “Samiraie is another few hundred miles or so, We should be there in the next hour or so.”

“I am worried though,”

“About what Ori?”

“The Narrowblock still has yet to blow a headgasket.”

The green eyes widened. “Oh no. I forgot if it doesn’t–.”

There was a huge bang from underneath the hood, followed by a sudden loss of power, something that sounded like an exhaust leak and the engine running rough like a tractor.

Everyone groaned.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me, as if on queue.” Aedan muttered, letting the car coast to a stop by the side of the road. He then grabbed a radio and spoke into it. “Magistrate down, looks to be a head gasket, keep an eye out.”

For the first time since yesterday evening K’mino finally said something. “I have a feeling only one of the gaskets is gone. Is it possible to continue?”

“Probably. But that’s only if we take out the ignition coils and injectors on the bank where the gasket is blown. Though, I don’t think we should, we could possibly damage the engine.”

“We’ll replace the broken one just to get us the rest of the way and and check if we have to replace the other one, once we get to the camp.” Orlan explained, already getting out of the car. “Plus, we’ve got plenty of parts⸺.” he was cut off as the giant Bricksley rocketed past at what could easily be atmospheric reentry speeds.

“Learn to drive, fuckwads!” He shouted after the rapidly disappearing Bricksley, upset that he’d nearly been killed.

After about an hour and a half of shouting expletives, throwing tools, arguing, and being passed by lizard drawn carriages and coaches, the Magistrate’s Narrowblock V8 was finally back together. The pushrods especially put up a fight when the head was to go back on, but eventually the rods obeyed without being bent.

The sun was getting lower in the sky by the time the walls and gate of the city came into view. On the right side of the road was a tall chain link fence separated from the road by a ditch. Beyond the fence was a railway yard full of various train carriages waiting to be hooked up to a locomotive and sent on their way.

However, a curve in the road put the rail yard behind the olive oil tanker and eventually they reached the open gates of the city and were waved through by the guards. The moment the Magistrate passed through the gates, they were greeted with a city that looked more Mediterranean than any city in Greece or Spain. All the buildings were painted white and had clay tile roofing.

Aedan looked around as they cruised down the main street. “Looks like we’ve arrived.”

Grabbing his messenger bag from the back seat, Orlan prepared to get out of the car. “We sure have. You remember where that gunsmith shop is?”

“Yup, Up here on the right, I think it was.” Aedan said, checking if his information was correct

“Yeah, You can drop me off right here.” His brother explained, pointing at the curb.

The Olive Oil Tanker rolled to a stop at the curb, much to the curiosity of many people. Orlan, with the help of the grab handle pulled himself up out of the car, and he shut the door but not before he turned back around. He motioned for his brother to put the window down.

“Where should we rendezvous? I remember that one of the guards by the gates told us to park our cars outside the city.”

Aedan nodded. “Just outside the far gate is where they told us. We’ll be going to the hotel for dinner, that’s where we can regroup.”

“Where is it again?”

“Just ask someone for directions if you get lost. It’s called the Queen’s Rest Inn and Tavern.”

A city guard walked up, smiling broadly and seemingly pleased to see them. “Hello there, Just a friendly reminder that you can’t park your vehicles here in the city.”

Aedan returned the guard’s smile. “We are already on our way, just dropping off our friend is all.”

“No problem, just letting you know.” the guard said before turning around and crossing the street in the opposite direction.

Wanting to confirm the meeting place again, Orlan repeated the building’s name. “Queen’s Rest Inn and Tavern?”

The answer was a nod. “Yeah,”

“I’ll see you there then.”

The gunsmith shop was located on the street level of a three story building, and had no name in the window, only an open sign in the door. How peculiar, perhaps this gunsmith was known well enough to not need to have his name in the window. As Orlan reached the door, a man who was possibly a shapeshifter exited carrying a rifle case. This surely meant he was in the right place, was he?

The bell on the door jingled pleasantly as it opened. Inside, there were all sorts of shelves and displays packed with different metals and types of wood. There were several samples of rifle stocks and pistol grips made from these different kinds of wood, different types of shoulder straps, and a table that displayed a vast variety of possible engravings for the metal and the wood. On one side of the shop floor was an area with rifle racks fully stocked with cap and ball revolvers, cartridge revolvers, primitive semi auto, bolt action and lever action rifles. Underneath the weapon racks were locked drawers where ammo was likely stored.

Orlan was in awe as he browsed, so many guns to choose from in one room. But there was one rifle that caught his eye, a dark satin gray steel frame with bright cherry wood foregrip and shoulder stock. It looked like a Henry 45-70 lever action rifle but somewhat bulkier with a slightly shorter barrel. This just so happened to be one of the most graceful rifles he had ever seen, and with the amount of gold bullion he brought, he might just be able to afford it. Perhaps–.

“Can I help you?” A voice asked, startling Orlan.

A man stood behind the counter.

“Oh, why you sure can. I’m interested in purchasing a rifle.”

The man smiled. “You’ve come to the right place, sir. I have a very big selection for you to choose from. Come with me.” he said, motioning for Orlan to follow him.

“What kind of rifle are you interested in? I’ve got everything from semi automatic to–.”

“Lever Action.” Orlan interrupted, finishing the sentence for the man.

Chuckling, the man walked him to the first row of display cases. “I might have guessed you’d be interested, since I saw you browsing the selection.”

Nodding, Orlan walked to the end of the display case closest to the end. “I am, there’s a very wide spectrum of choices you have here, but there’s one that I’m interested in.”

“Which one is that?”

“It’s this dark gray one with the cherry wood stock and furniture.”

“My, you really do have an eye for proper guns. One of the most expensive rifles I have for sale. And oddly the most popular out of all the high end inventory.”

“How much do you want for it?”

“About 90 coins.”

“You take bullion?”

Curiosity flashed across the man’s eyes. “Bullion? As in gold ingots?”

“Yeah, sort of.”

“Sure, the amount depends on how heavy these are. I’ve got a chart over here on the table.” The clerk said, pointing to the counter before taking a moment to fish out a sheet of paper from behind it.

“If it’s a 10 ounce bar, it’ll be 40 of them. But, if we are talking 1 kilogram bars then I’ll happily take 10.”

“Perfect, that means we can get to business right away.”Orlan said.

“Already? Well then, I guess we can get down to business.”

The man unlocked the rack and removed the rifle, taking it with him to the counter.

“What kind of ammo is it chambered for?”

“That would be .58 Standard and .58 pointed. .58 standard is just a regular slug while the .58 Pointed is… well the same thing, just pointed. 1 box is 15 coins, but you can get 15 for 1 gold bar.”

“Sounds good, here’s one, two, three.” The messenger bag got lighter and lighter as the stack of gold ingots on the counter grew bigger.

“And here’s one more for the ammo.”

“Do you want a shoulder strap? I can include it free of charge.”

“Yeah sure,”

“Any colour that you want?”

“Not really, whatever you’ve got is fine.”

“Alright. Oh, I forgot to ask how did you find out about me?”

“Excuse me?”

“You don’t look like any creature I’ve seen before. An odd combination of a cat and a fox. You don’t seem like you would be very familiar with Crugandr.”

“Eh, you are sort of right, I’m a lombax. There’s not much else I can say other than that. We aren’t really known here at all.”

“Huh, that’s why you seem so different.”

“I was recommended to you by some fruit merchant, his name was Patrick Roland.”

“Old Pat?! What’s he up to these days?” The shopkeeper exclaimed.

“Well, he was stranded when we found him, some bandits had stolen his lizard and we hooked his wagon up to our car. He’s alright, we got him to his destination, he also wanted me to tell you that he said hi.”

“I see, did he say anything else?”

“Uh… no, I don’t think so.”

“Hm. I guess I’ll see him in a couple of days.”

“I’ll take 9 boxes of the regular ammunition and 6 of the pointed stuff.”

The man went into the back room for a moment before returning with 15 boxes of ammunition.

“There’s your ammunition. Can you fit it in that bag?”

“Yeah, I think I can.”

“Well, that’s one lever action rifle and 15 boxes of .58 Pointed and Standard. A pleasure to meet you.”

Orlan grinned. “Likewise. Also where is the Queen’s Rest inn?”

“It’s on Clifftop Avenue, near the far gates. Just follow Main Street, and it’ll be on the left.”

“Thank you.”

Slinging the rifle over his shoulder, he began his journey across the city.

To Be Continued (Like always)

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RK Series Racing; Stage 6 “drive”

When the morning broke through, both Tim and Constantin got out of bed rather quickly, courtesy of not having slept all that much since Janne practically kicked them out of bed previously.
The remainder of the morning went about without a hitch, with the trunk-tent being packed up rather quickly. Breakfast for the two consisted of basic slices of canned bread with whatever they had available. Meanwhile, Connor went about raising steam and Tim took it upon himself to pull a funny one to get Valentin out of his tent.

HOOOOOT HOOOOT

Almost immediately, Valentin stumbled out of his tent, wide-awake to the amazement of Tim.
“Jesus Christ was that necessary!?”, Valentin screamed at Tim, scrambling about trying to balance on his way out of the tent.
“Nope, but it worked.”, Tim replied, smirking.

Valentin just grunted, not wanting to stretch this mess any further than necessary and then went about taking down the tent, this time properly, though some help was still needed.
Nevertheless, the car was ready and so were the team members, well… kind of.

“So who’s drivin’ if Connor does Fireman?”, Valentin asked, which was followed by either one of the others calling “shotgun” on not driving this stage.
“Well i can’t, really… if we want to switch to running on rails then i need time to work out the thing first. Otherwise this will turn into another night-shift.”, Valentin explained.

“I’m amazed as to how inconspicuous Captain Obvious is today… why not take the train?”, Constantin commented.
Tim and Valentin facepalmed in response, thereby agreeing to taking the train.
They back-track for a mile or so to the Raiegarda station, which was rather basic considering the fact that it was part of the Longitude Main Line and apparently also serves as a stop for the associated express train service. It was little more than bits of gravel one could loosely describe as a platform, a ramp at one end, presumably for rolling crates in and out of trains, and some railway-specific stuff a bit beyond that ramp such as service towers for refueling as well as a semaphore signal next to those towers.

With the station having no discernable main building other than a little hut for the station master, they had no issues driving right up to the platform, where they were promtly approached by said station master.

“Greetings again. I take it you are leaving for wherever you are headed again?”, Lochlan the stationmaster spoke, though very quickly, making it hard to understand.
Some confusion followed, broken up by Connor replying: “We planned to drive the next segment of our journey ourselves, but crew fatigue prevents us from doing so. As such, we would like to take the train instead.”
“Ah! Right. The next train is scheduled to arrive shortly. Though loading your carriage into it might be challenging…”, Lochlan answered, now actively making an effort to speak slowly enough for thee occupants of Robert to understand.

The group get out of the car, drawing substantial attention from bystanders at the platform as they layer up again. Constantin went the entire way and was back to wearing his full forest-camo military attire, complete with rank badging, name patch and all. Valentin took the simple approach and closed up two or three of his shirt buttons.

A while later, the train arrived, and while not as mighty as the Silver Line Special they saw while converting the Dione to steam, still was an impressive sight of a shiny Pacific-Style mainline locomotive. Lochlan sighed in relief as he discovered that this train was hauling a second express freight car in addition to the one usually used.
As the passengers were exchanged, a number of crates were unloaded from one of the freight cars via the ramp.

Once that was done, the Dione was rolled into the now vacant space, with Robert being shut down afterwards. Some workers then strapped the car down to prevent it rolling around, unaware of the parking brake being a thing. Regardless, Lochlan handed the crew a set of tickets, granting access to first class for the journey for whatever distance the train went over the course of the day.
Without much of a fuss, they wished each other a good day and boarded the train.

Upon boarding, they found themselves in a nicely upholstered compartment with comfortable armchair-like seating and a sturdy wooden table inbetween. They found themselves alone in that compartment, as one only seated four passengers. Not long after, the train finished the longest process, refueling coal and water and started rolling once the signal was set to “clear”.

A few minutes into the ride, an employee of the railway, apparently named Lucien by the name patch he was wearing. He went about checking the issued tickets for validity, noticing nothing wrong with them. Though he was curious about the group due to various factors, including the height of both Schrants and the clothing they wore. At some point, it dawned on him:

“Please excuse me asking, but aren’t you the lot who managed to scare off an entire den of Dyre and convert that self-propelling carriage thing to be steam-powered?”, Lucien asked as he handed back the tickets. A moment of silence followed, “broken” by Tim nodding in response to Lucien. He immediately got about as excited about meeting them as Janne was just before taking Robert for a “small” spin.

“Oh boy! If you need anything, i’m at the forward end of this carriage once i’m done checking the other tickets.”, Lucien said, cheerfully leaving the compartment to continue his job aboard the train.

Valentin then went about getting Robert onto rails, using existing documentation on the Dione and what they did while converting the thing to steam as a starting point. Meanwhile, Constantin and Tim just took the time to relax a bit, watching the landscape go by. A bit later, the train’s guard returns, carefully opening the compartment door and taking a peek inside. Naturally, this draws the attention of anyone within.

“Need anything?”, Lucien asked.
“Do you know where i could procure a set of whatever you use for documenting railroad procedures?”, Valentin countered, knowing the request was very specific.
“That i sadly cannot help you with. The only copies aboard any given train are up front with the footplate crew. Though a number of them are kept at any given steamworks in case the existing ones are damaged or lost.”, Lucien said.

“Beats nothing at all, i guess… Thank you.”, Valentin replied as he returns to his engineering work regarding Robert.

The remainder of the journey was very peaceful in comparison to the hectic driving usually done on the -by modern standards- atrocious roads. A little less than three hours later, the train gradually came to a stop, at which point the group got up and left the train to retrieve their vehicle up front. The unloading process was about as easy as the loading process was, though the need to raise steam before movement did not go well with the surrounding workers due to the train being delayed because of this.

Nevertheless, Robert was unloaded quickly and professionally and they made their way through town to swing by the camp, thus stopping their stage timer for today.
After that, they immediately headed for the Samiraie steamworks, being seen by a few workers as they roll up the access ramp towards the gate. One of those workers takes a moment to realize what he is seeing, as the steam-converted Dione was known, but largely dismissed as a legend due to the difficulty of working with steam, especially with them supposedly having done that in half a day.
As soon as he grasps what he is looking at, he sprints back inside, shouting:

GUYS! YOU NEED TO SEE THIS! THE CONVERTED STEAM CARRIAGE IS HERE!!!

, he shouts across the open space within the massive building before opening the gate used by lizard-drawn carriages to deliver tools and other supplies.
Immediately afterwards a mass of people are sprinting towards the car and it’s occupants.

“Holy shit!”, Valentin and Tim mutter in unison, as the mass of workers surround the car from all angles.
Most of the workers simply form a circle around the car, watching and pointing from a few yards away, but about a quarter of the people present seem more eager than that, going right up close and personal with distancing.

“Jesus is this what being on Hollywood feels like?”, Valentin asks, as he turns the ignition key to sound the whistle, scaring off the vast majority of the up-close people and entertaining the others.
This process repeats itself a few more times with fewer and fewer people up until the point where what looks like a supervisor of the place breaks up the group.

This, as of yet unknown, person approaches the car carefully and knocks on the closed-up window of the driver door, followed by the rear left window being opened to form a slit to talk through.
“Sorry… front one does not go down”, Valentin says in agitation at being swarmed by nearly 100 unknown people.
“I have to be sorry for the inappropriate behavior of my employees. We very recently got word from you being in this here town. Seems like nobody expected…”, he pauses to check the nameplate on the roof rack. “…Robert to pay a visit to our steamworks. How can i be of help?”

Valentin took a moment to collect himself. After that, he opened the driver door a bit to allow direct talking to each other.
“Yeah… erm i was thinking of modifying… Robert… a bit to go a bit further than just steam use on roads. I figured i could use that extensive rail network this place has built up instead.”, Valentin explained.
After that, the foreman heads back inside, returning shortly after with a crew very similar in size to what Valentin was already accustomed to from Itzgarde Steamworks.
“Here you go. If you need anything else, just ask.”, the foreman said, also handing another book of inventory to Valentin.

“Erm… okay. I need you to procure a list of componentry for me. If you fabricate them directly or modify them off of something else that is not needed here, i’ll leave that up to you. Connor will de-steam Robert and will head inside with you to scrutineer the parts you bring about. Meanwhile, i need to try and contact some friends about a specific component they have for this project.”, Valentin ordered with confidence, followed by agreement from the workforce. After that, Valentin goes on and specifies a loooong shopping list of sometimes very specific componentry, each item sending off one or two crewmen to procure said component as quickly as possible.

With that done, Valentin headed in as well to talk to the foreman once again.
“You need anything?”, he asked as Valentin entered the office.
“Two things. Whatever you have regarding railroading procedures. If i’m gonna use your rails i’m gonna do it properly. Also… can i borrow a bicycle for a bit? I need to get to the far gate to collect some parts elsewhere.”, Valentin spoke timidly, not wanting to cause too much of a ruckus at the steamworks if possible. The foreman, named Jonathan, judging by the name sign on his desk opens a drawer and pulls out a book and a little additional leaflet.
“One is the general rules of railroading in Crugandr, the other is specific to the Longitude Mainline and it’s quirks and features. As per the bicycle… you can take mine if you want.”, Jonathan says, motioning towards his bike in the corner. Valentin takes the “operational procedures of railroading” as well as the “appendix: Longitude Main” and flicks through them a bit. Those books seems to contain everything about how railroading works in Crugandr, starting with basic stuff such as signal aspects as well a covering edge-cases such as locomotive failures and emergencies.

“Thank you. Though your bicycle sadly is not of much use for me. I simply won’t fit onto yours.”, Valentin commented as he inspected Jonathan’s bicycle. “I’ll need to see if suitable parts can be made from what is available locally, thank you.”

Valentin then heads out again and joins the remainder of his workforce, handing both books over for Connor to memorize (read: take mental screenshots of)
Work was going well and the first components, albeit minor ones, were ready for installation. Though getting what was already on the car prepared for the new systems and parts still was to take some time…

to be continued

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Team Slow
Chapter 2, Part 7.5

(A mini short)

After sorting out Izzy being so drunk she was acting crazy, we go over to the campfire and sit there. “Is that a surfboard?” John says as Izzy carried along a surfboard she brought. “Bet you cant rip a wave with this!” She says over to John and takes the board onto the lake, Surfing just nearly close to putting out the campfire, she then proceeds to continue trying to do a wave on the board. “Why the fuck is she surfing so close” John says. “She’s probably at it again, with that surfboard and probably gonna end up falling off it.” Matt says.

There may be an outcome to this. Whacked off the board? Who knows.

to be continued

(@Madrias or @Knugcab. Whoever made the campfire)

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No idea if surfboards were available during this era.

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Surfboards in general are an ancient thing, but the nodern surfboard as we know it is a product of the 1960’s. It’s possible they got a surfboard from a Valraadi (they have a huge sailing / water culture, so maybe they got a surfboard from one of them), but the stabilizing fin is a product of 1935 to 1960. Maybe someone put a small keel on a surfboard, but given it’s a known property that the Valraadii have a tail that is as long as their body is tall, it’s more likely that they use their tail for directional stability.

We’ll go with “They got a surfboard from a Valraadi who lost his or her tail in battle, so they put a rudimentary fin on it so they could still surf if they wanted to.”

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Sure. I will be ready for your RP response after nearly putting out the campfire doing a surf

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Also, I don’t want to rewrite Madrias lore, but in general, steampunk is much about having a rather “recent” world built with ancient technology, sort of a parallell universe where steam power evolved instead of being replaced. Having modern surfboards would not be impossible (but it is really up to the creator what exists and not)

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I was figuring they might have surfboards made from a lightweight wood (they don’t have foam, after all). And as you said, steampunk is a rather “recent” world with ancient tech. This world is somewhat Steampunk 1920’s or 1930’s, but their trains and steam ships are around the level of the 1960’s.

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Oh nice. Good to know that

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Team Mravolinski-Chitco

Team info: 2022 Shitbox Rally - Out of This World! (Stage 6) - #30 by MrdjaNikolen

This is reply to last two parts, which were happening in parralel to each other

We are first

Obviously, title says everything you need to know: we have finished first.
Everything went in our favour and could be said that we enjoyed weather this time around, hopes were still high that we would encounter yet another place for swimming around.

Drive was uneventful, save for rather high speeds and some change of scenery.
We failed to be excited when we saw the sea (in fact an ocean, but we arent aware of that little fact).

As always, we expected to be passing near city, but this time there was quite a bit of surprize - road led towards city gates!!!
We were soon going at appropriate speed tho.
Not long after entering, we split.

Chase

Pi also didnt dissapoint as she decided to jump from car for…some reason i guess.

GRAAAANNYYYYYYY BUUUUUUUAAAAAAHHHHAAAAA

Granny observed this ordeal, serving as shield to her grandchilds. All of her, including some walking stick, moved towards scary creature.
Pi experienced the stick

YEEEEEEEEEEEEE

and both started running

“That fking oldtimer. When i recall all the times i stood up so she could sit everytime we go to that field for work bcos she claimed the her legs are painy and weak…and comparing how she is perfectly capable and willing to chase down that four-legged creature, im sick of that weirdo” - one particular man in nearby group smirked at action happening.
“You probably drank too much man, that woman had gained lot of respect in town.
She helped many, including my wife” - commented his friend.
“Who cares, i see her as mere nuisance
After all, what some old woman can do to meeeeeeAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

(Sound of something hitting wall could be heard, besides one of broken window bcos hand of this particular protagonist had hit window at speed)

Pi took few turns and returned to this same place, with granma joined by some other housewifes as her chasers

Pi: Move you giant azzhole, you are in my way.
Kids: Daddy, thats scary creature!!! Beat her up!
Granma: Not before i take hold of it.

Maybe you arent so scary after all

Pi: Oh my…

Guy with hurt arm struggled to stand up after being yeeted into nearby wall, which contained a now broken window.
This was same one that badmouthed Pi’s granny-hunter and justifiably thrown by son of said granma.

“Kids, go to mother…NOW!!!”
They obliged and scaried went home

“Can i help in some way?”
“Seeing that you scared my beloved children, no.”
Since granma struggled to lift the man, Pi helped anyway.

Granma closed her eyes concentrated deeply and injuries got smaller and smaller.

One of children got curious
“How you are standing near scary creature, granma?”
“We are trying to help this man heal. Dont disrupt granma, she is trying to focus on this.
Besides, i think real scary creature is approaching anyway.”
“Thats my dad. He isnt scary.”
Dad: “Providing you dont call me asshole, im not scary…or insulting my mother.”

“Silence son. Im trying to fix this young fella up.”
“Considering i was running away from someone, asshole can be used for anything on way.
Especially if that anything is walking roadblock.
Oh btw (turns to child) thats not appropriate word for kids to use.”

Man was fixed up and scared seeing that scary guy again.
“Im hoping i did good job, dear. You are free to go.”
He went on his way.
“Why mother? He spoke many harsh words about you.”
“I heard every single one. But you must set priorities and be forgiving; i cant repair every single guy that looks at you wrongly.
I prefer protecting next generation from threats
Speaking of that, i have some unfinished business with you…(losing consciousness and plopping on ground)”
“Granny… :sob:”
Pi: “She is just very, very tired it seems.
Give her some time and she shall recover.”
“Daaaad…”
Dad: “I couldnt carry her to our house bcos i have some business to do, kid. Kinda stumped too.”

Pi: “Can you put her on my back and i could carry her to home? Considering im likely the reason why she is so tired, its least i can do.
Im kinda made for such job in first place.
Prob would need to bring kid along so i know where i should go: im not likely to really recall instructions, but can oblige when its needed to go left and right.”

Dad: “Why would i trust you with my mom and kid?”
Pi: “Fair point.
Nevermind, i shouldnt have got a plan in first place.
There is another way: i simply walk away and leave to you two to solve the problem.”

-HEY get back here bud. We need you for this.
-Not now, my mom got unconscious.
-We dont care, boss said…
-I know what boss said, he is free to suck a big one.
Pi: Uhhh kid is here. (Looking at kid) Im sorry you needed to hear that.
Kid: Heard worse.
Pi: Ofc you did.
(Some other kids went back)
Hello, nice to see you again. Now someone go back to home and inform granma is lying here on ground.
Got very tired.
-Daaaad
-You know what? Lets do it, but if you drop my mother, im gonna break you in two.
Understood?
Pi: Its not like that would be very hard to do. But ye, understood.

You get to ride and you get to ride and everyone gets to ride

(One granma being put on back later, kids and Pi had gone towards house)
Pi: Guys i need navigation here. Someone go ahead to show the way.

-Ok…
-She is weird…and scary.
-Why are we doing this in first place?
-Argh, i havent seen uglier creature in months.
-Why dad sent us with this freak?
-I have bad feeling about this.

Pi (thinking): These guys are cruel.

That one kid: There is some guy.
-Yes.
-Yes.
-He is really rocking backwards and forwards.

Pi: Aaand i think he is drunk.
-I think you are stupid.
Pi: I am, but its more concerning that he is drunk.

They passed drunk guy and continued forward to house.

-Mom, this stranger carried our granma to here.
-YOU BROUGHT A STRANGER TO OUR HOUSE!?!
-Granma is unconscious. She had a hard day.

That became untrue. She got walking stick and smacked Pi in head.
-Finally you will pay for scaring my children. Wait…how we are here?
Pi: You got unconscious after you healed that man and i brought you here with help of kids.
Seems chasing ppl isnt exactly appropriate in your age.
Also i might want to know where is exit of town or Queen’s something.

-Something?
-Yes, i heard we could sleep there. Im some traveller and accidentally jumped out of my carriage in town.
That scared kids and prompted granny to chase me in first place.

-Queen’s Rest Inn?
-Hmmmm…oh…oh, ye, that place. Where is it?
Actually someone should show me.

-Me
-Me
-Me
Granma: I might decide to go. Im sorry for being too protective towards my kids.
Pi: Appreciate the offer but you are last person who should go, bcos of being tired etc.
And…its fine, i heard someone saying you need to be forgiving anyway.
Granma smiled.

Few kids climbed on Pi’s back
-Ready to go.
-Ah…i could have imagined this as being a reason for so many volunteers…im not sure how to return all of you back tho…but could come up with plan.
Oh btw, im Pi, just so im not a stranger anymore.

Mom still wasnt convinced, but when Pi offered her to go along, she wasnt entirely happy with that proposition.

Pi: In that case i guess we will go. I dont really think kids will allow me to leave until they get to ride.
Riding something that speaks your language might prove to be rather interesting.
Will make sure to return them myself or via some teammate of mine.

Group had started towards Inn.

Conclusion

Rest of our team had actually got to other end of town.
We had carefully considered our options and noted that we would now have proper accomodations for first time on this journey.

Also, we were first there and waited for rest of teams to roll in, which they did after some time.
Waiting wasnt particularly remarkable in any way, aside from making sure VerBanka and me had filled up our phones.

Dinner was equally non-descriptive and four of us really dug in, Chicota exploring the beauty of alcoholic beverages around here.
That was until babysitter that also served as lizard/horse limped inside with some kids on her and few around her.

Pi: These are my friends with whom im travelling.
Few kids: Dyre?!?

Klimentol: We are big, but not as big as them…lets say we did encountered them few times.
-You can talk?
-Yes, both of us know how to talk. Now Pi owes me some explanation.

Kid that went through entire thing spoke instead

Pi: Smart kid
Aydar: Something we couldnt say about you.
Anyway…now that you brought quite a big worry upon us, what you have to say in your defense?
Pi: I will do it again
Aydar: Ofc. Kids, feel free to join us at the table. After dinner is over, i will bring our carriage around in order to transport you to home.

(Some time later)
BEEEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEP
Aydar: Ok thats enough, we dont want to wake up the neighborhood.
Mom exited the house and got confused
BEEEEEP
Aydar: Time has come, little ones. This was joyous time for you to meet some travellers and i really wish we made a good impression.
BEEEP

Horn, i really imagine thats extremely interesting equipment, but still gotta annoy everyone if its overused.
-Im not Horn.
-You are now, for me. That beeping is caused by something called horn that is installed somewhere here in carriage.

-Dyre inside of carriage?!? With my kids?!?!
-Im not a Dyre…
look, i really am not willing to explain it to you; kids had asked so many questions so many times.
Does it matter? No.

BEEEEEEP

HORN, i said stop beeping the horn.
You are home now, unfortunately your mom came up and im really not willing to explain stuff to her.

Eventually, kids left the car which returned to parking outside of camp.

Our whole team will spend the night in inn

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RK Series Racing; Stage 6 Camp

this stage has some paragraphs kindly supplies by @Madrias

Samiraie Campsite, 3-and-60 Sun

Kaylie sighed, looking back at the truck and getting up from where she’d sat down at. Jayde and Kivenaal had long since stopped their hunt for whatever scrap was in the truck bed that they needed, and she remembered that Team RK-Series Racing had some loose plan that had involved leaving the pre-planned route. She looked around for their car, and after failing to see it, she shook her head. “I bet I know exactly where to find them,” she said to herself.

She pulled the two boxes out of the toolbox, staring into it for a moment and shaking her head. Someone had indeed spelled the toolbox to be bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. She laid both spring boxes out on the back seat, called out to Kayden, “I’m going to check up on the guys with the steam car,” then climbed into the drivers’ seat. She cranked over the V8, carefully drove back into the city, taking her time to be extra careful around the people and with the narrow streets, taking full advantage of the low range in the transfer case to reduce her top speed significantly while also increasing the audible noise the blue truck/van hybrid produced. The V8 rumbled and snarled as she closed in on the steamworks, occasionally popping and backfiring thanks to the carburetors being not-quite-synchronized yet.

Sure enough, she arrived at the same sort of steam-wagon or steam-lorry entranceway as they’d seen in Itzgarde, except this time, it was closed. Kaylie figured that if the V8 hadn’t alerted Valentin and the others to her presence, the feeble horn just might. With a smirk, she honked the horn, then flashed the high-beams for good measure. A few seconds later, she honked the horn again, and this time the doors opened.

The Bricksley rumbled into the steamworks, the 427-cubic-inch engine’s note reverberating off of the walls with the occasional pop and clap as Kaylie parked the truck. She shut the engine down, opened the hood and the driver’s door, dropping down out of the truck with barely a sound. She closed the driver’s door, opened the rear door, pulled both boxes of springs out of the rear seat and leaned them up against the side of the truck, then grabbed her wrench kit to go fix those carburetors while she was here. “If you guys need some leaf springs,” Kaylie called out to Valentin and his crew," I’ve got two boxes of them over here. I’ve got to fix the carburetors on this engine or the backfiring is going to drive me straight up the wall."

Within the steamworks, most of the components had been collected. A set of wheels was taken off of some experimental cart thing that the locals used to research how well small-diameter wheels would handle high speed running. Other parts were sourced from a multitude of derelict vehicles and other various bits of metal. With those laid out around the car, resembling what they will be like once on there, only the leaf springs were missing. As if on cue, the steamworks road access door opened up again and a very known, though sputtering V8 “truck” rolled into the massive building.

“Oh look! The springs are here!”, Valentin said and went over to investigate, passively dragging about six workers along with him. Those workers immediately went to town unloading the two boxes and hauling them over to the Dione, where they were unboxed and aligned with the remaining host of parts.

Then, the crew he was given was split up into dedicated groups. 5 people each went and took care of assembling either suspension system that would hold the rail wheels in place and allow their up-and-down motion for transitioning to and from rail use. A team of ten was tasked with preparing the existing car for the new systems, which extended past the railway wheels and it’s transmission to a once again revamped system of driving the engine’s ancillaries. The remaining 10 people would prepare said steam-driven system for installation, including any piping that did not prevent the installation of the turbine array that was planned.

With the plan set, execution of it commenced, with the assigned employees hauling their share of parts off into various corners of the building.

Some time later, at about 5 sun, Kaylie finishes re-synchronizing the Bricksleys carbs and heads back to the campsite. By that time, the sub-assemblies were nearing completion, with the rear suspension arms already being wheeled over to the Dione for installation.

Soon after, the front suspension joins the process, with the engine modifications finishing up the trinity of this project.

It took another hour for all of the assemblies to find their way into and onto Robert, finishing the projects build-phase and allowing early testing to be conducted.

Robert once again was steamed and moved into position in which the rail wheels could be lowered onto the rails. Constantin was tasked with operating the crank-mechanism that lowers the rails, starting at the rear. Meanwhile, Valentin got to work up front and moved the drive belt over to the position which would drive the wheels. After that, Constantin would down the other pair of wheels as well, with care being taken to align them properly. As the preparations went on, various people came to witness what would be the ultimate moment in Crugandr rail history, with a fully fledged railcar being born from a self-propelled carriage in less than two days of work while retaining the roadgoing functionality.

With two blips of the whistle and the road gearbox in neutral, power was applied, sending Robert into a slow roll out of the maintenance bay and onto the massive shunting yard in front of it. They come back to a stop at a disc shunting signal, where Valentin dismounts the train again. He walks back in and approaches the foreman once again.

“Everything going well?”, Jonathan asks, curiously.
“Mechanically, yes, but we’ll need maps of this place and the mainline. Otherwise we might overshoot important bits.”, Valentin answers, followed by Jonathan practically sprinting away to get what was requested. After all, he, like almost every other worker present, wants to see Robert move. A few minute later, he returns, handing Valentin a third book of an unusually tall, narrow format containing track information for the mainline. Win, a little traditional map had the layout of the Samiraie Steamworks shunting yard.
“Thank you.”, Valentin said and returned to the car for a bit, followed immediately after by a trip to the local signalbox. He politely knocks on the door and enters soon after, finding two people in there, looking at him.

“Erm… yeah hello. We’re sitting at… erm…”, Valentin checks the yard map for a bit. “…ShB12. Out… ‘train’ is that little orange railcar thing over there. We’d like to go back and forth across the yard to see if everything works alright.”, Valentin explained while pointing at Robert, stood just outside the open doors of the maintenance bays of the steamworks.

“Oh boy! Sure thing. We’ll set you dead-straight up until the last shunt signal that is in this yard. That would be ShMA4 on your map.”, One of them explained, already looking at already existing trains milling about the yard, moving engines and coached around.
“Mind sending us into that turntable? I expect poor reverse speeds, so turning the thing seems better.”, Valentin inquired.
“ShTT2 it is, then.”, the other one corrected as he moved one of the switch levers into the other position.

After that, Valentin headed back to the Dione, entering it’s engineer’s seat.
Soon, the signal indicated “clear” and they once again rolled into motion.
The first trip to the turntable was less than a mile long, but went about without a hitch, reaching the yard speed limit of 20MPH easily. There, Robert was turned around, where the return trip involved a pair of ‘brake’ test runs to see how well it would stop without any actual brake other than counter-throttling the engine. It turns out, slowing less than three metric tons on rails via purely engine braking was perfectly possible.
Reversing was also tried as the second run to the turntable. While it by no means was optimal, it worked well enough in a pinch.
At last, the testing could be considered complete, and with a last blip of the whistle, Robert rolled back into the bay, the curious onlookers clearing the rails up until the buffers and Robert came to a stop.

The team disembarked once more and went about switching to road use again, which was met with cheers and applause by whoever was present.
As Valentin was moving the belt back over to the idle pulley, he thanked everyone for their help and effort in making this possible. About ten minutes later, Robert was back on the wheels and made his way out of the building.

The next destination would be the central station of Samiraie, where plans would be made for the next stage.

to be continued

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A small gallery of Road-Rail Robert

Pics in here

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notes:
shown are the two states the car can now assume
the more lifted one has the road wheels airborne, with only the rail ones being in contact with… well… the rails
the road mode has the rail wheels in the air, obviously

the interior is unchanged from the last iteration
any further pictures will show Robert in road configuration

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I believe road rail vehicles are called high railers. Another interesting thing about the rail industry.

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I have to ask, did it look like this?
Board

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Well, not all Valraadii have stripes, but it’s very possible. Younger Valraadii have been known to paint “Go Faster” tiger stripes on things like sailing boats, so striping a surfboard wouldn’t be out of character for some of them.

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TEAM HILLBILLY ROLLERS

Earlier parts

PART 0.1 - A prologue to the prologue
PART 0.2 - Another piece of the prologue puzzle
PART 0.3 - Viva la IP 4Z!
PART 0.4 - Robotman
PART 0.5 - Interference problems
PART 0.6 - Can I play Tetris?
PART 0.7 - Tangerine and familiar
PART 1.0 - Now things got serious!
PART 1.1 - Hello, Thibault and friends!
PART 1.2 - Poor kitty
PART 1.3 - Curse you, Team Oil Crisis!
PART 1.4 - Interlude
PART 2.0 - Bird bird bird, bird is the word!
PART 2.1 - D. Head
PART 2.2 - Good night!
PART 3.0 - Freeway Rockstar
PART 3.1 - DISCO TJO DISCO HEJ
PART 3.2 - Van-Werewolf 1-0
PART 4.0 - Calm after the storm
PART 5.0 - Mirror mirror on the…oh, crap!
PART 5.1 - Hello, little puppies!
PART 6.0 - Speed
PART 6.1 - GIMME OXYGEN! (feat. Madrias)
PART 6.2 - Steamin’ hot! (feat. Elizipeazie)
PART 7.0 - The Kayak
PART 7.1 - Marie the valkyrie?

PART 7.2 - Vegetables

When the Hillbilly Rollers and part of Team Shift Happens had started to dry up, Team Slow arrived at the campfire, and not only that, Izzy had brought a surf board with her. Unfortunately, in some attempt to rival Marie when it came to drinking, her surfing was less than stellar, resulting in water being splashed all over, almost putting out the campfire. One could see that Rukari was NOT satisfied with getting wet once again, to say the least. Another one that was less than satisfied was Marie.

"WHY CAN SHE HAVE A SURFBOARD WHEN I CAN’T HAVE A KAYAK?", Marie asked angrily.

"Because you are drunk as fuck and should not be in a kayak", Andreas answered.

"Honestly speaking, there is not much of a difference, Janne said.

When Marie grabbed the paddle and was probably planning to start a fight by knocking down Izzy from the surfboard, Janne and Andreas stopped her, and threw the paddle on the campfire too which did not make her any more willing to cope. At the same moment Malavera and Kayden was coming back to the campfire.

"Stay here with the others now!", Janne said to Marie. "I am just going back to the van to fix some little stuff and I need help from Andreas, we will be back soon, he continued. “Watch her for a while now, it should not take too long”, he said to Malavera, Kayden and Rukari, knowing that they would maybe not be very keen about it. He and Andreas was walking back towards the van.

"I just can’t stand this! I am going nuts because of all the chaos she is creating all the time! She has been drunk as fuck for a week and she is even worse than she ever has been!", Andreas said and you could hear how he was losing all the hope.

"There is a solution", Janne said. He took a cardboard box that he had filled with some tools and spares, put them on the floor in the van while he put the beer cans in the cardboard box and duct taped it together.

"Seriously? A cardboard box? You think that it is enough to hide beer from her? Are you stupid for real?". Andreas asked.

"Relax, I am not done yet", Janne said. He took a marker and started to write on the box. "V-E-G-E-T-A-B-L-E-S! What do you think?"

"Perfect!", Andreas said and laughed a little. "Now she won’t even look there! What a genius you are!"

Looking more innocent than ever, Janne and Andreas was walking back to the campfire…

TO BE CONTINUED…

@interior @Madrias

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Team Shift Happens

Previous Chapters:

“Here Comes the Hound of Death” - Stage 2 Campsite Battle - Written by Elizipeazie, TheYugo45GV, and Madrias.
Fright Night Forest Stage - Stage 3 Run / Stage 3 Camp
The Free Day - Stage 3 Camp (written in collaboration with Elizipeazie) (Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3)
Safe Arrival - Stage 3 Camp (Written in collaboration with TheYugo45GV)
The Rescue - Stage 4 Drive and Stage 4 “Camp”
The Rebuild - Stage 4 “Camp” (Written in collab. with Elizipeazie ) (Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3), (Part 4)
“It’s 6-Fucking-Moon!” - Stage 4 Camp
Breakfast with RK Series Racing - Stage 4 Camp Final (Written in collaboration with Elizipeazie)
Cinnamon and Apologies - Stage 5 Drive and Stage 5 Camp
An Apology / Campsite Stories / I Have Gas! - Stage 5 Camp (Collab with Knugcab - Original Title: “Gimme Oxygen!”)
The Prank - Collab. with SurrealCereal (Team MCP)
A Tent-ative Meeting - Stage 5 Camp
Engine Troubles / Racing Stripes - Stage 6 Drive and Camp
Capt’n Crazy Capsizes - Stage 6 Camp Collab with Knugcab

(@Knugcab Even though I’m only handling Marie for a little while, I’m hoping I played her well enough.)

Malavera and Kayden had both gotten dried off and returned to the campfire just after they’d seen Izzy drench Marie and Rukari quite heavily. Malavera had one of the purple glass bottles in one of his huge hands, and Kayden had a few shot glasses so they could each have measured amounts of the potent moonshine.

Rukari bared his fangs as water dripped through his mane. “That zaruki best hope she doesn’t try that again, or I will personally knock her off of that board,” Rukari said in a menacing voice, his tail twitching slightly and ominously.

Kayden grimaced. “Twin Suns, Rukari, you hit her with that while she’s in the water, she’s likely to drown.”

“I want that surfboard,” Marie demanded, getting ready to get up, but being unsteady enough that she couldn’t quite make it to her feet before she fell back onto her ass with a grunt. However, as soon as the cork left the purple bottle, she recognized the smell of strong alcohol, her mind getting tangled up in two equally strong desires: Either to start a fight with Izzy and claim the surfboard as a prize, or to get her hands on that bottle by any means necessary.

Malavera sat next to Marie and handed her a shot glass of the potent moonshine, which she immediately knocked back, belched, and handed back to him. While Malavera was busy struggling with the small glass and the bottle, and trying not to spill anything, however, Marie put a plan into action and suddenly head-butted Malavera’s right head.

“Fuck!” Malavera yelled, spilling moonshine on his pants just before Marie grabbed the bottle and started gulping from it.

“Well, I’m surprised she didn’t knock herself out doing that,” Kayden said. “You do have a hard couple of heads.”

Not long after Marie had chugged the bottle, she violently head-butted Rukari as well, though this time, it didn’t go in her favor as, it turns out, the Valraadi not only was half expecting this and had lowered his forehead in response, but that the Valraadii in general had a hardened forehead and those horns for a reason.

After that moment, Janne and Andreas started making their way back to the campfire in time to hear Marie’s drunken yell of, “I think my fucking face is broken!”

(@Knugcab, back to you if you need to. I figured it made sense that she got that bottle not by asking, but by being drunk enough to think picking on an 8-foot-tall two-headed werewolf and a horned beast who has seen a lot of combat in his time was a really good idea. Of course, there’s every chance I didn’t get things quite right. If so, just let me know what she might have done differently and I’ll make a change.)

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