After getting an notice we will be sent back to Earth, Matt starts to bring up the burning topic of “Why the fuck was Izzy driving drunk, and how did she get the beers!”. John then goes up to Matt and tells him “So it was her that had them?” Matt then replies “Alright, let’s start the story, So on the stage, she was driving, then during the drive she then pulled out a water bottle, i think she did. Yeah she did. and then she was driving drunk, all of this is from what i can recall.”
John then replies aggressively to Matt “She’s your fucking girlfriend, you were supposed to stop her. Yet you did fuck-all.” Matt then replies, “Neither did you, Just let her fucking speak up already will ya?” Izzy then replies, “For one, the drink driving incident, alright? Well, someone has tampered with my fucking water bottle! WHICH ONE OF YOU DID IT!” She then looks right into John’s eyes. “You?” John then tries very hard to not hide the fact he did it and stutters for a bit “N-no?” Izzy then takes it as bullshit and them goes up onto John and tries to attack him. She then tries to bring him to the floor. “So you fucking replaced what was in my water bottle with beer? ARE YOU THAT MUCH OF A FUCKING MORON, ARE YOU?” John then goes back at her with a “Yeah, yeah i fucking did. Whilst you do fuck-all French kissing matt.” Izzy then replies back with an snarky response. “Not my fault you cant fucking get b-” Matt then interrupts the argument, gets Izzy off John and then says. “I swear to god, if the neither of you stop arguing I will make this car un-drivable, do you understand? And John, No, i am not breaking up with her so you can keep dreamin’ about that. Matter of fact, We have to go to Earth now. Jesus christ i cannot do anything fun.” John then tries one-upping the two with another reply “Well it was the fuckin’ uh ginger fem-” Matt then cuts the main wire to the ECU. “I’ve fucking had it, Next time i may aswell be racing with just me and my girlfriend, John, why the fuck do you have to keep stirring shit up. And then you replaced whatever was in her bottle with beer! Then you made it flat on purpose. WHY.” Matt then gets the same hedge shears he used to cut the car’s ECU Wire, making it undrivable. He then breaks the windsheild, going through the plastic dashboard with them. Izzy then takes a breather knowing she can go back to earth with her boyfriend. And then John just storms off into the distance, although not too far to not be immune from being teleported.
The End. An really wild twist i guess.
i kinda realise how some of it doesnt line up but he manipulated the contents of the bottle.
“Erm… we’ll see what Val thinks once we get there…”, Constantin replies as the three are heading over to the Dione where Tim and Valentin were still stood.
It wasn’t hard for Valentin to miss three people approaching him, but we was a bit confused at first, as the visit regarding the inner workings of Robert was already dealt with.
“Still need anything?”, Valentin asked with a raised eyebrow, unsure about why Kayden was back and what he was carrying.
“Constantin mentioned you were in pain,” Kayden said, “so I’ve come back over with some of my supplies to see if there’s anything that can be done about that. I have a basic pain cream that should work to reduce your pain some, but I’m not quite sure how effective it will be.”
From by the Bricksley, Kaylie yelled out to her brother, “Kayden, can you also ask them if they know where I can refill some of these water jugs?”
Kayden rolled his eyes. “Probably don’t have to, Kaylie, you made it clear enough,” Kayden called back. He looked to Valentin and chuckled. “Well, it also seems like Kaylie’s given me a task as well, as you heard. Apparently she’s worried that more than half of our radiator water is gone. Considering Rukari tried to blow it up towing your car to the steamworks, I’m not surprised we’re low on water.”
“Hardly a surprise, but it isn’t that bad…”, Valentin groaned, trying to not be forced into taking any more favors from Shift Happens and their members. Though by his posture, some areas were visibly less than pleasant currently.
“Well if your knees go tits-up for whatever goddamn reason than we’re stuck here. We only have one driver… well, two, but nobody can work that array of levers you call the ‘fireman’s controls’.”, Constantin countered rather sternly, before being startled by Kaylie shouting into his back from afar.
“Robert has a water hose clamp between the rear seats and we’ve been using that to refill our tanks on the wayside water towers. They even have distilled water there, probably for ease of cleaning reasons.”, Valentin replied while swaying around a bit in an attempt to get reasonably comfortable standing on one foot and in crutches.
“Kaylie’s been irritated at the lack of suitable sources for radiator water around here, so distilled would be very helpful. Some of the towns we’ve been to, the well water isn’t fit for drinking, let alone pouring into a radiator,” Kayden said. “I mean, as long as we can fill up a few containers, we’ll be fine, even if we have to use a hand pump, but if you’re willing to help with this, we’d appreciate it.”
Kayden turned toward Kaylie, then said, “Valentin knows where we can get distilled water.”
“Great! While you help him out, I’ll get the Bricksley started,” Kaylie replied. “After all, there’s no point in making everyone carry jugs of water if the truck can still do it.”
“Don’t be in a rush, Kaylie, we’ll have to wait for them as well,” Kayden added, before looking to Valentin and opening up his medical kit, picking out one of the smaller tubes and double-checking the label. “Nova, remind me again, this is the one that was a 100% match for a common over-the-counter pain relief cream, right?”
“Yes. I have cross referenced the chemical structures, and while the names of the compounds are different between the over the counter cream and the one you have in your hand, the chemical structure itself is identical,” Nova confirmed.
“We’ve brought water filter straws along for that reason. And with the rails, water access isn’t even that much of an issue anymore for us.”, Tim remarked from the other end of the car, joining the others in the process.
“Good move on that one. Never know where one might end up.”, Constantin said afterwards.
Kaylie being Kaylie was eager to get going, but equally eagerly reigned back by Kayden as other things needed tending to first.
Valentin simply took the toothpaste-tube-sized cream container and gave it a quick glance, before ordering Connor to steam Robert in the meantime. After that, he returns to the tube Kayden handed to him, intensely staring at it for a loooong moment.
“The fuck?”, he mumbles quietly, thrown off by him understanding what obviously is not a language that he speaks or can read.
Another long moment passes with him sunk into the instructions and ingredient list in a state between confusion and caution.
Kayden gave a puzzled look as Valentin studied the instructions and ingredients list with a look of confusion and caution on his face. “Oh, if you’re having a hard time reading that, I can have Nova print out a label for you in a different language,” Kayden said, realizing the possible reason for the confusion.
Kaylie checked each container for how full or empty it was by tapping it with her left hand and listening to the differences in the sound from each can. Then, after a few minutes, she made sure everything in the bed was properly secured. However, when she went to start the truck, the engine cranked weakly, sputtered, coughed, then died. “Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me. Kivenaal! You left the lights on!”
“Nonono, i can read that. But it’s not Swedish or English… heck, it isn’t even German… but for some reason i can read that…”, Valentin explained, reading the labeling on there a third time. At that point, he remembered that the provided ring had some language functionality. He therefore takes the ring off for a moment, at which point the label on the tube turns into unintelligible gibberish until the ring goes back on.
After that, Valentin just sits there, dumbfounded by the apparent abilities of a simple ring until Kaylie once again gets his attention by shouting halfway across camp.
He looks at the Bricksley, mildly confused as to what happened while Connor went through the process of raising steam, which took longer than theoretically possible due to the alternator valve being left open on purpose.
Kayden nodded. “Ah, that’s something Rukari did so people wouldn’t be completely lost around here, and so he could make sure teams weren’t left behind,” Kayden said.
When Valentin looked over at the Bricksley in confusion, Kayden chuckled. “Kivenaal accidentally left our headlights on and drained the battery. Kaylie couldn’t get the engine to start. I know we have jumper cables, if you guys can still jump-start another car. I know you still have the battery and I think the alternator is in there somewhere, but, I don’t know how well that will work.”
Valentin did not question the ring, or Rukari, all that much and just tried to deal with it at face-value.
As if on cue, a relatively quiet turbo-like noise started coming from the car as the turbine spinning the alternator started to have enough steam pressure to get going. Not long after, that noise stabilizes as the alternator proceeds to keep tabs on the AGM battery that was in the car’s engine bay.
“Well we have power now and a mostly new battery in there. Plus raising steam doesn’t need hundreds of amps for a few seconds, but more like 15 amps for 10 minutes. Plus, we took the battery out of the old Dione on the off-chance that this one goes poof on us.” Valentin explained as he looked through the still-open hood onto the alternator spinning away beneath the feedwater tank.
“Yeah, downside of having a large V8, it needs a lot of power to start it. And while I’m sure we could adapt something to kick the engine over if we had enough time, it’s equally likely that we would damage the truck while trying,” Kayden replied.
Kaylie gave a frustrated groan as she shoved the hood open on the Bricksley. “This would be so much easier to deal with if we had a jump-starter. “Oh, we won’t need that. Let’s instead bring twelve bottles of moonshine.” Great idea now that we’ve got empty bottles in the back and a dead battery,” Kaylie grumbled.
“Kaylie, mind your hand around the terminals!” Kayden warned.
Sure enough, despite the battery being dead enough that it couldn’t start the engine, it still had more than enough power to create a great big flash of sparks as Kaylie accidentally shorted the battery to the truck’s frame. “Twin Suns, Kayden, help me out with this!” Kaylie said, her hand no worse for wear despite the impressive sparks.
Kayden wandered over to the Bricksley and grabbed the jumper cables out of the truck, connecting the cables to the truck’s battery, then to the battery in the Dione. “Kaylie, crank it, please,” Kayden said, hearing the change in the Dione’s alternator turbine whine as it started trying to charge the Bricksley’s drained battery.
The Bricksley’s engine rasped to life, and soon after it reached a steady idle, Kayden removed the jumper cables from both cars.
“I’ll give it a few minutes of high idle to put some charge in it,” Kaylie called out. “Otherwise, one stall and we’re back to the cables again.”
As Kayden went about jump-starting the Bricksley off of the Dione’s battery, Valentin took the spare time to make another attempt at entering the car. Though this time the same way he usually exits it as the fireman’s seat was occupied by Connor.
As he made his way into the rear seat, feet first, Constantin helped support him on the way in, preventing another fall from happening. Some shuffling, turning and adjusting later, he found himself on the driver’s seat, sliding it all the way back on the rails like he always does.
Constantin quickly got the tent off of the roof to have something to do in the meantime, similarly to Tim who got cooking supplies from the same place. Once that was unloaded, Constantin slapped the roof panel of the car, indicating readiness for departure, right as Robert was steamed enough to be mobile.
A careful toot of the whistle followed, which, given the digital nature of a starter solenoid, ended up being a full-blast-blip of it, resonating across most of the camp in the process.
After that, the driver window whirred downwards, with Valentin poking his head out of said window:
“Sorry… need to hook the whistle to an analogue signal…”, he excused himself, raising a hand in shame in doing so.
Kayden climbed up next to his sister in the Bricksley, then pulled the seatbelt on and clicked it before closing the door.
“No faith,” Kaylie quipped.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s that I don’t trust either of the horny maniacs not to take off the moment they hear the door slam,” Kayden quipped back.
“Fair enough,” Kaylie said.
As Valentin sounded the whistle, Kaylie honked the feeble horn in response, found first gear, and set off as gracefully as she could. “Damn. Should’ve gotten Jayde to do this,” Kaylie said to herself.
“Only way you can get better at driving stick is to do it. I mean, I suppose you could ask Valentin for lessons, but-” Kayden suddenly stopped and yowled as Kaylie playfully slugged him across the bench seat. “Ow! Really? It was a reasonable suggestion. If he can teach Jayde how to drive, surely he can teach anyone.”
“I’m sure, given his injuries, he has better things to do than teach me how to drive stick,” Kaylie replied, though the gearbox gave an angry crunch as Kaylie forced it into second gear.
“I don’t know who’s worse, you or Jayde,” Kayden said, trying not to laugh as they followed the Dione back through town and toward the station.
Once the arguably adorable horn (in comparison, at least) of the Bricksley was heard, Valentin moved his right foot over to the clutch to select reverse, ending in him rolling backwards a few yards to make room for getting past the Bricksley’s side.
They rolled past and onwards into town, making sure that the other car was close by at all times, eventually stopping a quarter mile away from Addavuul station at a small yard with a coal tower, some fuel oil storage in the off chance an oil-fired engine came along as well as loads of water, both distilled and mineralized.
Another toot announced both cars to the local “workforce”, consisting of all of two people stood there, in charge of helping the engine crew refuel. With little to do, the two people are on break as both cars roll up to the general area. They start quietly talking to each other as if gossiping or at the very least distantly aware of Robert and what Valentin did to it.
He parks up near them, rolls down the window and eyes them for a bit, before stating his intentions.
“Good afternoon. Would you mind if I, or… well… us take on a bit of distilled water here?”, Valentin politely asks, motioning to the Bricksley nearby in the process.
They look at each other, back at the Dione, at each other, repeating the process a few times while unsure on if what they are seeing fits the rumors that have been going among the railway staff regarding a blazing-fast orange inspection railcar.
“Sure thing” the older one replies, followed by the younger one heading off, apparently to get some supplies.
Valentin then turns to Kaylie to the best of his ability.
“Can you get those jugs to the right rear door? We’re gonna refill them through there.” Valentin says, while trying to reach over in an attempt to open said door, ending in him not getting quite far enough and aborting the attempt.
Kaylie stomped the parking brake pedal to make sure the Bricksley wouldn’t go anywhere, double-checked that it was in neutral just to be sure, and hopped out of the driver’s seat. “Yeah, not a problem,” Kaylie said, grabbing two cans off of the roof rack with her left hand and hauling them over to the Dione. She opened the door and set the cans down outside the car, before making her way back to the truck to grab more of the cans.
Kayden, likewise, got out of the Bricksley after quickly checking the gauges to make sure that the engine was, in fact, still charging the battery, and also to make sure the engine wasn’t getting hot after running for such a short time. When he saw the temperature was higher than he liked, he scowled, pulled the hood release, and looked under the hood. “Oh, come on,” Kayden grumbled. “When the hell did that come undone!?” He looked over at Kaylie, then said, “Might be a bit while I fight with this stupid fan connector. We have no radiator fan right now.”
“Not a problem, Kayden, just take your time and don’t break anything,” Kaylie said, heading over to the Dione with another pair of cans.
Valentin felt and heard the rear right door opening, followed soon after by the metal containers clanging onto the ground.
“Erm… somewhere on the roof. There’s a hose which looks like it belongs to a steam lorry, with a firefighting-hose fitting at one end and a crude filter at the other. Can you get that down here? That goes onto the copper fitting between the rear seats.” Valentin explained, aware of that hose existing, but not sure if his description was accurate enough, given the sheer amount of random stuff stored up there.
At this point, the younger person returned with a small tanker cart containing distilled water, which was wheeled vaguely near the Dione for the time being.
“There you go, lads. Take what you need and tell us when you’re done, okay?” he said, taking a seat in his break chair again and watchin intently at what was unfolding.
“Thank you” Valentin quickly answered out of politeness before returning to the happenings in the back.
Kaylie looked at the supplies on the roof rack, trying to find a hose that looked like it could belong to a steam-powered vehicle, but was seeing just about everything except the hose that Valentin had described. “I’m not seeing it. Hold on a moment, I’m going to see if Kayden can spot it,” Kaylie said, before looking to Kayden.
“Kayden, I’m looking for a hose, looks like it’s supposed to belong to a steam truck, with a firefighting-style fitting on one end and a filter at the other,” Kaylie said.
Kayden clicked the connector back together, scowling as the fan kicked on and whacked the back of his thumb fairly solidly in the process, then headed over to the Dione to help his sister look for the hose.
Kayden looked over the top of the roof rack, then reached over and grabbed the hose.
“I thought that was a fucking snake!” Kaylie said, staring at the hose.
“From your side, you probably didn’t see any of the connectors, only the hose,” Kayden replied, walking around the car and handing the hose over to Kaylie.
With the hose semi-successfully procured, Valentin went about folding his seat flat for some added maneuvering room, finishing the process in less than 20 seconds. With him lying nearly flat and propped up on his right elbow, he had enough room to prepare the pumping.
“Now, could you please hand me the firefighting end of that hose?”, Valentin asked, recieving the correct end shortly thereafter.
That fitting was connected to a small counterpart between the rear seats on the center tunnel. After that, the valve behind that fitting was turned shut with the free left arm that was remaining.
“Now the other end goes wherever you want that water… think garden hose with a sprinkler attachment.”, Valentin notes, pointing at the other end of the hose, which was a brass bit of thin-walled pipe with a few holes drilled into it.
Kaylie drops that end into the opening of the first Jerry can, after which Connor is directed to power the feedwater pump, sending a stream of water into the jerry can.
As Valentin and Connor operated the Dione’s feedwater pump to fill the first can, Kaylie held the hose so that the stream of warm water poured into the can, watching as it filled up quickly.
Of course, between each can, Kaylie was instructed to help them fill up the feedwater tank, using the same water hose to draw water from the tanker cart. With that method, she was able to fill up all of the empty radiator water cans, and then helped fill up the Dione’s feedwater tank.
One by one, four cans of 10 Litres each were filled, during which Robert had to take on water a few times by virtue of only having a 10 gallon feedwater tank. Once every can was filled, they took on water one last time for themselves to complete the process.
“Thank you.”, Valentin says to the workers there, upon which they politely nod back and one of them wheels away the cart of distilled water again.
After that, the valves were set for through-running again and the hose subsequently disconnected, dripping a bit of residual water into the rear footwell in the process.
“Could you please put that hose back up there?”, Valentin inquired, shoving the connecting end over to Kaylie as best he could while being stretched across most of the interior’s length, lying down.
Kaylie nodded, then carefully coiled up the hose and settled it into place on the roof rack, tucking it in behind one of the tie-down straps so it would stay there.
“Thank you as well. It’s been making me nervous, not having plenty of water on hand for the Bricksley. I know I wasn’t out of water, but, knowing these old 427’s like to overheat, I wanted to have a lot on hand.”
Kaylie and Kayden picked up the cans, closed the Dione’s rear door, and then headed over to the Bricksley, where they put the cans onto the roof rack where they belonged.
With Robert ready for the return run and the Bricksley nearing it’s readiness as well, both Valentin and Connor waited for Kaylie and Kayden to enter their vehicles, after which departure was announces acoustically, although this time using the ordinary electrical horn instead of the whistle.
The pair of vehicles headed back to camp, where Constantin had finished setting up both tents and Tim was nearing completion on the cooking department, too, made easier by the rain being a few individual drops, at most by now.
The Dione came to a stop where it took off from, although shifted a few feet to the side to make way for the Bricksley to pass into it’s respective spot.
Connor started with the process of de-steaming, forcing both Valentin within and the others around to wait before approaching the car.
Kaylie grinned as she told Kayden, “Guess what: You’re driving. Yeah, mock me for my shifting, now you get to do it.”
Kayden groaned. “Fine, but I hate doing this.”
“Valentin could teach you how to drive stick, too. Maybe we should both consider that in the future. Our team would do a lot better with less gearbox-grinders behind the wheel,” Kaylie replied.
As Valentin used the horn to signal he was setting off, Kayden responded with the Bricksley’s horn, then promptly stalled the truck. “Oh, come on!” Kayden yelled, before starting the engine again.
“Parking brake,” Kaylie said.
Kayden pulled the handle and scowled as muddy dirt was flung up onto his shirt. “I hate this truck,” he grumbled.
“Next time, put your foot in front of that pedal so it doesn’t throw dirt at you,” Kaylie said.
Kayden sighed, put the truck in first gear again, and slowly drove back through town and into the camp. After several attempts to get the truck lined up where it was, Kayden gave up, leaving the Bricksley sitting slightly crooked in the parking spot. He shut the engine off, climbing out of the truck along with Kaylie, who was just grinning from ear to ear.
“What’s so funny?” Kayden asked.
“You know, if you parked like that on Earth, someone would slap this truck with a “You parked like an asshole” sticker, at best,” Kaylie replied.
“We’re in an open gravel lot. Who cares if the truck is crooked? I didn’t hit the Dione and I didn’t hit the Magistrate,” Kayden grumbled.
Another mighty hiss came from below the Redneck Railcar, the vented steam covering most of the surrounding area before it vanishes into nothing.
With that, Connor almost immediately exited, followed by both Schrants working together in getting the taller one of the two out of the driver’s seat and onto his crutches once more.
The team congregated around Tim and his mini-gazebo’d gas cooker, waiting for the finishing touches to be made to the pasta contained within.
“Constantin, please get the cutlery and all that”, Tim requested, with Constantin heading back for the Dione to collect basic camping bowls and a slew of sporks.
Not long after, “dinner” was served, with Valentin taking the occasional look over to the Bricksley to see if they still needed anything and/ or had something to discuss.
Kaylie and Kayden wandered over to where Malavera and Rukari were sitting, watching as Kivenaal and Jayde wandered back from where they’d been resting to join in on the meal of the day, which happened to be another of Rukari’s camp stews.
“How the hell is it always this good?” Malavera asked after the first scoop out of his bowl.
“I get fresh ingredients from in the town,” Rukari replied, “and Jayde has a lot of interesting spices to work with.”
“Ah. That would do it,” Malavera said.
“I’ve been nice,” Jayde said with a smirk. “I’ve got some spices from Galren’s Height that would make for a very delicious stew, but it would be rather hot.”
“You know, think they’d mind if we brought some of this over to share with them?” Kayden asked, nodding toward the Dione.
“Rain’s stopped, so we can move the pot out from underneath the rain shelter,” Jayde mentioned.
Kivenaal rolled his eyes. “They’ve already made food. Offering to share ours only really works if we save someone from doing all the hard work to start with.”
“Maybe another time,” Rukari said.
“Shit, that reminds me,” Kaylie said, setting her bowl down on the Bricksley’s toolbox and grabbing a pen and notepad from the glovebox, “I’ve got to ask Tim about that sauce recipe.”
Kayden chuckled as his sister wandered over to where Tim was at, watching as she asked a couple of questions and wrote down the recipe for Tim’s tomato sauce before thanking them and returning to grab her bowl.
“Well, we might have to give this a try at some point in the future. However, for now,” Kaylie said, putting the notepad away and scooping up a spoonful of stew, “we have food to eat.”
As the three dug into their meals, they were pleasantly surprised at the taste of the prepared food, given it being 5 minute pasta with a little seasoning on top. Apart from that, not much of not happened, until Kaylie approached and peppered Tim with questions on his sauce recipe all the way back when the initial conversion was made.
As agreed, he happily shared the knowledge on it and went back to eating afterwards.
With how they progressively finished up their food, some ‘attempt’ at doing dishes had been made, with little success given the lack of basic supplies like dish soap or running water. The latter would be solvable, but nobody wanted to annoy everyone with the “almighty snake hiss” a third time.
After that, Valentin went about trying that pain relief cream Kayden gave to him earlier, immediately struggling to get both knees exposed as his pants took a while to dry out and their already slim-fitting didn’t help matters there. Eventually, a dab of cream found it’s way onto either knee, followed by the left ankle and also his lower back, which were substantially easier to access in comparison.
Immediately, the effects were felt as the pain, especially in his left ankle, transitioned into a substantial feeling of heat in the applied areas, which, while initially a bit unnerving, proved to be way easier to deal with than the pain itself.
The remaining afternoon was spent playing card games and other basic time-killing measures, among which was planning the implementation of the railhead brake as suggested by Kivenaal for Valentin and Connor, before they headed into bed for the night.
Machinas Con Passione’s Collaborative shitbox adventures - Episode 2 - Talent not required?
Co-written with Madrias
As you may be able to tell, Machinas con Passione have yet to do a little trolling as of late, here’s a brief visit on what they’ve been preparing this stage.
-Stage 6-
All was quiet on the MCP front, as the crew seemingly stepped out of camp, leaving their beloved Aerodynamic Wedge Shaped Beast unoccupied as they went into town to “fetch supplies”.
-Stage 7-
Upon settling into camp, Chad McChad, who had caught the mirror Giacomo tossed at him between his teeth, got to work on repairing the mirror even though they were obviously better off without any.
And alas, our story begins.
-Stage 8-
It’s here, then, that we find out what those “supplies” from earlier were, it seems that Machinas Con Passione have turned into a travelling karaoke band. Unlike supplies you would normally get for a trip like this, it seemed that each member had brought along instruments, including a guitar, a bass, some drums, and some vocal training lessons, because some of us definitely needed them more than others. To pay, Giacomo passed on this “rare and magical item”, in reality just a check, which promised 5,000 italian lira for the whole deal. The shopkeeper, though not very amused, accepted the check, likely intending to use it to start a fire for the family stew, or to keep as an “artifact from a great, morally questionable, hero.” Maria gave Giacomo a scornful look, but didn’t stop him, since she was being paid minimum wage herself, and was definitely not going to fit the bill should the buck get passed to her.
Back at the camp, Song choices were doled out, and thus, each member of Machinas con Passione exposed their music tastes.
Chad McChad picked “All Along the Watchtower” by the Hendrix Experience.
Maria picked “2,000 Light Years Away” by Green Day, confusing Giacomo most of all, who pointed out that despite being on a different planet, the day was, in fact, still blue.
Benjamin picked “Enjoy the Silence” by Depeche Mode.
Thibault couldn’t help himself, and picked “Pretty Fly for a White Guy” by The Offspring, the irony of being associated with someone straight out of the song itself was too good for him to resist. Maria politely informed him to eat shit and die if he thought she would help him sing the chorus.
Giacomo picked a solo rendition of “You’re the Best” by Joe Esposito.
The now band members spent a good deal of time teaching each other how to play their desired songs. Now that the song order was in place, and everyone knew how to play their songs, there was one thing left to do: GO INTO TOWN, and enjoy a nice meal. Which is what they would’ve done, had Giacomo not pointed out the bar, causing everyone to head in for an ill-advised good time.
Chad left after having a few sips of the bargain menu, realizing his friends would likely need a ride home. Minutes melded into hours, as the band seemingly He wound up being completely correct when Maria tumbled out of the bar and very nearly faceplanted the ground if it weren’t for Chad diving where Maria was going to land, and absorbing the impact for her. Thibault, and the others, soon followed.
After Chad carried everyone out of the bar, everyone, for the most part, spent the next hour or so mellowed out, and at least made an honest attempt to sober up. Everyone except Giacomo, who found this a great time to start his vocal warmup.
“tryghhbest… nobody’s… around… woo…”
It didn’t go very well.
Giacomo repeated the chorus of the song a good 15 times, before his teammates shrugged and joined him.
Giacomo’s attempts to get them to stop “interrupting” his performance was interrupted with Maria loudly bursting out into her own song, with Thibault and Chad on drums and guitars.
All of this would have been fine and dandy had it not been 3 moon, waking up a good half the camp in the process. I’m sure this will go over well with everyone else.
Rukari growled as he heard the poor attempt at “music” in the middle of the camp. Sure enough, as he got up and wandered outside, there was Kivenaal, Malavera, and Kaylie, all sitting there, awake and in various states of annoyed.
“Where are Jayde and Kayden?” Rukari asked.
“Fucking heavy sleepers,” Kaylie replied. “I swear, Kayden could sleep through a bomb going off, and, well, I wore Jayde out.”
Rukari sighed. “I will go and deal with this,” he said, before walking over toward Team MCP’s impromptu Karaoke and garage-band session.
“Hey! You are aware that it is 3 Moon, yes? And that people are trying to sleep?” Rukari asked, looking over the group.
This was news to most of the members, they, for the most part, were completely unaware that they had even been out that late, and, for the most part, returned to the van in peace. Bonus points for guessing who didn’t.
Giacomo, seeing that he had clearly picked the wrong kind of song, tried to compromise.
“no, wait… I know what, uhh… What to play… Hold on…”
Giacomo picked up a guitar, lurched over to the drum kit, and began, rather loudly, playing a drunken rendition of “Daisy Bell.”
“Look, see, is lullaby… Something about daisy and her answers or whatever, Alright, to the, uh, bridge… I guess…”
While Giacomo himself wasnt very loud, the drunken drum playing did him no favors, and may have very likely shortened his lifespan.
Rukari sighed. Of course there was always one who didn’t understand just how loud they were being. “The drums of war are hardly going to help anyone sleep,” Rukari said, grimacing as Giacomo drunkenly banged away on the drums.
When it was obvious that either Giacomo wasn’t listening, or flat out couldn’t hear him over bashing away on the drums, and clearly had no intent in stopping what he was doing, Rukari’s tail twitched ominously, swinging from left to right like a metronome as he fought the urge to use it as a weapon.
“Giacomo, you’ve woken half the camp. Unless you want to wake all of the camp, I would suggest picking this back up in the next camp. Earlier, not when the moons are shining,” Rukari warned.
Meanwhile, in the van, the combined half braincell of the team came together, and realized that Giacomo was about 20 seconds away from ruining his own night, along with potentially Rukari’s should he survive whatever happened to him.
Thinking quickly, Benjamin, who had since joined the land of the living thanks to Giacomo’s drum playing, came up from behind his boss, and gently (violently) grabbed his wrists, and put his hands to rest in his lap.
“What arrryouuu doing?”
“Stopping you from taking an extended nap.”
“I feelll just fineee, i just… want… everyone…” And with that, he yawned, drifting off to sleep mid-sentence.
Benjamin looked up at Rukari, offering him an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that, he’s, well, you know.”
Rukari sighed. “I seem to be finding out.”
Benjamin dragged Giacomo back to the van, where the team had been sleeping out of for the past 8 weeks. Afterwards, he returned to Rukari, making him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“By the way, want to join us next time? Obviously we won’t start at 3 moon, but still, drunk, singing, it beats running from the mob!.. Actually, I think that’s just a me thing. Whatever. Anyway. Drunk Karaoke.” Benjamin then began to reach into Giacomo’s pocket, pulling out a wad of cash and offering it to Rukari, who refused. Resigned, Ben simply pocketed the cash himself.
“Maybe,” Rukari replied. “I don’t know many of your songs, but, I do know a couple. Just as long as it’s done while the sun is still up, at least. Not while everyone is trying to get some much needed rest.”
As Rukari went to walk away, he stopped for a moment, then added, “Just don’t expect the rest of the team to join in. Convincing Kivenaal before the start of the rally to join me was… not easy.” With that, Rukari walked back toward the Bricksley, and Benjamin went to sleep a few dollars richer.
Part 7 - fin
alright who wants to do some karaoke ehhhhh?
MCP Side Stories - Episode 2: Oh God oh Fuck
“Dude… Who shit on the van?”
“WHO DID WHAT? SOMEONE SHIT ON THE VAN?”
“Holy fuck Giacomo it’s like 1 sun. Please. Inside voice.”
“I think it’s the mud, man. Mudman. Heh.”
“What’s even the joke in that?”
“I just think a man of mud is pretty funny. Not everything funny has to be a joke.”
“Wha- okay. Whatever.”
“Ok, but who is cleaning this shit off of my van?”
“Nobody, I elect to leave it on. Chad, don’t lick it, I see you going for it. Stop. Why are you still doing it, as i watch you. That’s nasty dude. Thanks. If you’re gonna clean it, a t least wipe it down or something.”
“I’ve been through worse while in the WRC, this is, eh, acceptable. Honestly, I expected to wipe out or something by now, but we’re having pretty good pace so far.”
“Chad, you clean the wheels, if anything. Make sure they’re at least clear of any mud.”
“To buy or to nap. That is the question.”
“If you’re gonna buy anything, Doctor, I’d ask you buy us FOOD. I’m kinda tired of stew and living off the land, honestly.”
“You read my mind. Maybe they have some kind of bakery. That’d be pretty neat.”
Machinas Con Passione Side Stories Episode 2 - Fin
Guy we would be observing in first part of story is not from our SR group.
This is Chicota Junior, younger namesake of Chicota we mentioned oh so many times as part of our group.
He is in many ways upgraded version of his father…maybe we could call him Chicota 2.0?
Maybe, but for now, there would be no confusion…well, atleast in which Chicota we are refering to.
Im aware of many questions you have
Most could get answered along the way in story, but subject of how he came here deserves to be explicitly explained.
We arent actually strangers to hopping in different universe or something, which in my opinion is required to enter Aetherii from Earth, but there is slight difference
Unlike Rukari, no character of mine is capable of making adequate portals on their own.
That extends to my characters not covered by our SR group
3D gates, which is our equivalent for portals mentioned in thread, are of similar working nature as portals
They tend to pop randomly on random places however, making our usage and final destination completely unpredictable: so far we were lucky to land in some universes that conveniently had same life conditions and used Earth languages.
Sometimes we would go to sleep on one place and end up waking up in another bcos in meantime 3D gate spawned right below us.
Can spawn up in air too
Story also mentions certain Smons (forum name is SmonsSmithy).
As i revealed some plan related to some of my characters in Discord of Automation Beam Championship, he contributed little bit.
I feel my writing prowess would allow me to integrate those explanations in adequate part of story, so will be left for that to see.
(Day before SR team gets in Addavuul camp; this part of post covers area in and tad bit around town of Addavuul
Other parts will be placed in town itself for most part)
Here we go again…if im not mistaken this is about 10th time im doing this.
We could have properly waited for them to return but SOMEONE had this bright idea that i must fking go and deliver them some news.
Not only that, im required to haul around this stupid box.
Am i even in correct place?
Definitely, he was on correct place…for nearby local to start complaining about him going over his crops.
This was just shouting in foreign language bcos wasnt understood, until local presented a small gun and fired it at him.
(Remember he has no translator to Aetherii languages like our Rukari-made rings
This also means that communication from now on is in what they do and not what they say)
Newcomer got on ground holding the leg; looks like local got him (…or did he…)
Shot was regretted and local helped out his target with this injury (hmmm…)
They somehow decided to go to local’s home in order to deal with this new situation, making sure big black box goes with them.
Wife had managed to fish out some crutches for guest to use and local had returned back to work.
As you can prob guess, this younger Chicota quickly took note of where (or more precisely, when) he ended up. Also he is bulletproof like his father, so he definitely faked this injury, but its not like that he is here to take names and kick ass.
Wife had found some issue with some tool she used. This can be solved on the other hand and he offered her to help.
Night came and he found himself in guest room on completely opposite side to entrance in the house with conveniently placed window.
Chicota Jr wasnt exactly sure he got in right place, but decided to wait bit more before jumping to conclusions.
Next day has come with same hopes, but atleast he has solid company.
Both adults he met earlier were gone prob forgetting they have guest and for first time, he met some child.
After few minutes of intense staring, he realized this might be their child so he decided to back off; scaring child of hosts is not smartest idea to do.
Some time later, there was a cry. Chicota jumped straight into action…only to realize breakfast got spilled and kid was still hungry.
With heavy sigh, he started to look through cupboards and found some food.
He presented that food to kid, who said something.
He shrugged and to drive point home, responded in English.
She realized they couldnt understand each other, so got around of eating food that was prepared now.
Its often said that art unites ppl around the world and that has proven to be correct here.
At first, parents were worried bcos they forgot about stranger but since those two found drawing to be…interesting medium for conversation and already seemed to enjoy this mutual activity, they let them be.
Kid was drawing various stuff, while Chicota was drawing his way around the situation: his drawing were useful way to indicate that he is in fact a messenger, delivering that big black box to other individuals
Individuals were described by simple drawings of them, which raised concerns about Dyre-looking ones (dogs, but they do be big).
He looked out of window few times, but to no avail most of time…until that faithful moment where he caught a glimpse of three familiar figures and informed hosts that recipients must be informed of package.
Host took liberty of doing so.
Mission accomplished
Chicota, Aydar and Klimentol from SR group decided to head to town to gather some supplies, about 15 Earth minutes after beer bottles were delivered (consult previous post for more info on that).
Going in couple of shops had ended well so far and they planned to kinda wrap this up, but suddenly were confronted by man.
-I have stranger in my house who seems to want to deliver some big black box.
You fit his drawings, so come with me.
They obliged.
-Hello there. My name is Chicota Junior and i have come to deliver this package.
-I dont believe you, my son was smaller.
-Well there is only one way to find out.
(Drops the crutches)
Reccomend going outside of house tho.
Upon exit of two namesakes, Aydar took leader position.
-They love to fight.
-But…i thought he was hurt. Yesterday he was approaching me on my crops and i shot him in leg.
-He prob thought faking an injury was way to go.
Dont know why, but eh.
-How come you can talk with me and he couldnt?
-We are part of big group not of this world travelling around in weird carriages for fun. Leader of group had gave us rings that allow us to talk to you locals.
Before you ask and i know you will ask…we arent Dyre. Im aware that we look like not-fully-grown ones, but we arent those.
-I heard of some group battling Dyres near Addagarda…impossible…were you, by any chance,…
-Yes, we fought them there. They arent easy to deal with, but we are capable.
This didnt apply to all of members so we kinda needed to protect them too but we suffered no losses there.
Klimentol joined in convo
-Remember that singular Dyre we saw tad bit later?
-Oh yea, he burned himself a bit on our exhaust, then stole tad bit of our food.
Seems they are generally curious creatures.
-Im honored to have you as guests.
-Appreciated, but we came here to pick up that box.
-Its in hall.
-How is it in your world, then?
-I would say its rather nice. You are definitely a normal human kid, would fit there no problem.
Two of us are animals that are called “dogs”. They dont usually talk and cant really walk on rear legs like we do, so we do be weird there.
We are using stuff thats really really difficult, if not straight out impossible, to explain to you.
-Whats in there?
-We dont know, noone warned us of this delivery beforehand.
Hey, whats in there? to pair of androids returning back to house
-I was tasked to deliver this. Decided to not ask too many questions.
-Just so you know, we dont have space in truck for another member.
-Thats fine, i never intended on continuing on with you; will see if i manage to find some 3D gate that would bring me back home.
(To hosts) Sorry for misleading you into thought i was hurt. I had great time here and hope i wasnt too much of issue.
Now that my mission here is accomplished, i will go.
(Followed by leaving)
-We could use some help on getting box and our groceries to our car
-Will do.
(And with that, they went to camp)
Box of mystery...and Hamsterguy of ABC
After baring farewell to host (and compensating for his troubles with some food) we turned away to see what we got here.
After some time of figuring it out, Chicota managed to open it.
Big box contained…a laptop. Just that.
"Hello there.
Im Smons and i…heard some rumours.
Afaik 4/6 members of your little team plan to move out into new and exciting world im very familiar with.
With that in mind, i had put some thought about it and found approximate location that can serve as your base there or mere beggining of your stay there.
Area is circled on map cut-out that will appear now.
Since im aware some of you might be interested in some other things, we got you covered.
I politely asked Kickrah to log into Mrdja’s Steam account on this laptop and download all games he has in his library.
There is also carefully chosen collection of movies you can watch to pass the time.
I hope you enjoy this little package
Best regards,
SmonsSmithy"
(Kickrah would be imaginary character based on me, therefore def should know my passwords.)
-Interesting, no doubt about that.
-Yes, we shall see. Thats tempty proposition.
-Its getting dark tho, we could consider hitting the bed.
-Yes.
-Yes.
.
.
.
(Some time later)
-WHAAAAT THEEE FUUUUCK
-MRDJAAAAAA
-NOOOOT MEEE
-WHO ELSE COULD IT BE?
-LOOOK
Yup, this was caused by MCP and their band session at 3 Moon.
Chicota planned to confront the artists, but we saw Rukari already dealing with that successfully
Quietness was reestablished and we went back to sleep.
If you are wondering, other Chicota had found some 3D gate, returning back.
After being away for a little walk around the campsite, Andreas arrived at the van again. At the same time, Janne came back from the look at the tangerine wonder. Andreas spotted something interesting at the drivers door.
"Holy crap", he said. "We have to hide those bottles before Marie comes back."
"Quick!", Janne said. "I will bring out the vegetable box!"
Meanwhile, Marie’s beautiful voice could be heard all over the camp.
"SONIC… SONIC… WHERE ARE YOU, SONIC?"
Even Janne and Andreas could hear it, but hoped that she never would find the spikey little pest. However, they were rather busy with hurrying to hide the bottles from Team Mravolinski-Chitco in the vegetable box. Meanwhile, Marie spotted something familiar running around…
"There you are, my little friend. Naw, you should not escape like this, it could be dangerous!", she said and lured the porcupine into an empty brake pad carton that she had found inside the van. “I bet you are hungry!”, she said, walking back towards the pink brick.
When she arrived, Janne and Andreas barely had managed to hide the beer bottles and duct taped the “Vegetable” box together.
"What is the two of you doing?", she asked.
"Ehhh…checking so we didn’t manage to put front air in the rear tyres by accident", Janne said.
"Ah, OK. Where is the vegetable box?", she asked.
"What are you going to do with that?, Andreas asked. "You believe that every vegetable except for french fries are toxic anyway!"
"I bet Sonic is hungry!", Marie said.
"Eh, there is nothing for Sonic in that box…", Janne said, stuttering.
"Who cares about some rotten old cabbage?", Marie asked, a bit upset. "Why have you duct taped this shit together like this? It will take ages to open!"
"Eh, don’t…touch the box…please.", Andreas said, while thinking some not too nice words in his head.
"Sonic needs to eat too", she said while ripping up lots of layers of tape.
(crap…this is not going to end well…), Janne and Andreas was thinking.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS? ARE YOU GUYS TOTALLY FUCKED UP IN YOUR GODDAMNED BRAINS! HOW THE HELL COULD YOU GET THIS IDEA AND WHY DID YOU EVEN DO IT? I HATE YOU!!!", Marie was yelling.
"I think she found them now…", Janne said to Andreas.
"AND THOSE BOTTLES? I HAVEN’T EVEN SEEN THEM! HAVE YOU BEEN HIDING THEM FROM ME ALL THE TIME?", she yelled.
"Eh…nah, they are actually a gift from Mravolinski-Chitco", Andreas excused himself. "Pretty new stuff…"
"YEAH, AND YOU WANTED TO HAVE THEM FOR YOURSELF, JUST LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE! FUCKING MORONS!", she screamed and threw away a beercan, hitting Andreas in the face.
"At least this one is mine! Everything that hits me is mine!", Andreas said with a bleeding nose, and picked up the beercan before Marie could get it again. He opened it and…
SCHPLORZZZZ!!!
"EUUUUHHHHH!", he said, now with a mix of beer and blood driping from his face. Since there probably was some beer left in the bottom of the can, Marie was close to grabbing it from him, when Janne quickly took it.
"None of you is having this!", he said and emptied the can. “If you are so stupid that you think that you can open a can someone just threw at you, you don’t even deserve the beer!”, he said.
How damaging is this to the team relations? Not much. Marie will probably drink some beer, fall asleep and tomorrow everything is as usual again.
I was thinking about stuff to do in the challenge as of recently post-DQ but I’m disqualified so I basically gotta wait till next year, I don’t want to bend disqualification by removing a character or something. it is one of the challenges that break the bounds of creativity in rp. I like that kind of stuff
Weather at Stage Start: Cool, breezy, and humid after yesterday’s rainstorm.
Weather at mid-stage: A little warmer, still breezy, and still humid. Occasional clouds block the sun.
Weather at Stage End (First Car): Warm, breezy, and a little less humid.
Weather at Stage End (Last Car): Still warm, breezy, and less humid than before.
Stage End (First Car): 3-and-52 Sun, 27/7/3251, Pritz Campsite
Stage End (Last Car): 7-and-43 Sun, 27/7/3251, Pritz Campsite
The campsite in Addavuul is much better when it’s not raining for most of the day. Likewise, the road leading out of Addavuul looks a lot nicer than the mud pit from the day before. Unfortunately, this whole stage is a literal uphill battle, because we are going up, and up, and up, toward the city of Pritz. The road starts out mostly as gravel, winding back and forth on dizzying switch-back trails before becoming dirt again. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like this area got hit anywhere as hard as Vallengarda and Addavuul did during yesterday’s rainstorm, as other than some small amounts of mud, it’s not too bad to drive on. On the other hand, the constant uphill grade puts some strain on the already half-worn-out cars here, threatening at every moment to make something catastrophically go wrong. Thankfully, the campsite outside Pritz is nice, returning to gravel once again with a beautiful view over the forest. The town of Pritz was named for a reason, and this view from the cliff is worth the climb. (Pritz = Cliff Watch)
Notes: Randomization is active. Breakdowns are active. Time is in Earth Time. Times included in finishing order. Stages releasing on a two week schedule.
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 07:49:28
Average MPH: 45.3
Randomizer: 11
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3019.2
It’s a long and very steady climb with Malavera behind the wheel. While there are a couple of spots where the Bricksley has some trouble, it’s relatively smooth sailing for the team, and they even got another good look at the Dione as it breezed along the rails and past the crossing they were waiting at.
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 07:24:53
Average MPH: 47.9
Randomizer: 11
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3019.2
It’s a long way up, but Jack and Jill do manage to go up this hill without falling back down again. Chernobog is still surprisingly muddy from yesterday, too. Maybe the mud is good luck?
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 08:39:40
Average MPH: 41.0
Randomizer: 9
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 2 (Chassis)
Total Distance Traveled: 3019.2
So, some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the setback, this time, wasn’t necessarily the car. The bad news is, you spent a good bit of time putting all of your stuff back in the car after the hatch popped open and ejected the contents. Worse, it looks like someone ran over one of your jack-stands.
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 11:06:07
Average MPH: 31.9
Randomizer: 8
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 2 (Chassis)
Total Distance Traveled: 3019.2
Things were going well until the six-legged cat sitting in the back seat decided to puke all over the contents of the trunk. Some time was spent cleaning up the mess so it wouldn’t stink.
Distance Traveled: 0
Time (HH:MM:SS): 00:00:00
Average MPH: 0
Randomizer: 0
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 6 (Sent Home)
Total Distance Traveled: 2,664 miles
Sadly, given certain events which transpired in camp, Team Slow will not be joining us at Pritz.
Just after dawn and after most of the teams had already left the camp, Team Slow was told to get into their Schnell XL53, at which point Kivenaal, Rukari, and Jayde assembled their emergency plastic mirror. The three of them opened it to the campsite in Nevada, the same path Jayde traveled to get there in the first place, and they were pushed through by Malavera and Kayden. Once the Schnell was safely through along with Matt, John, and Izzy, and once Malavera and Kayden were safely on the Crugandr side of the mirror, the spell holding the mirror open was dropped, and the plastic mirror was quickly disassembled back into a shiny silvery plastic sheet, a bunch of PVC pipes, and a few clamps which all went back into the bag they came from.
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 08:50:20
Average MPH: 40.1
Randomizer: 9
Refueling Stops: 2
Breakdown: 3 (Tires)
Total Distance Traveled: 3019.2
Things were going so well until the contents of the Hakaru Carica’s hatch ended up on the road in front of you. Aedan swerved hard, but still ended up driving over a jack stand in the process. A few miles later, that rear tire was flat and had to be changed. On the plus side, it seems the two Dyre pups were interested in the tools, and one of them even gave a valiant try at removing a lug nut with the tire iron.
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 05:24:26
Average MPH: 65.6
Randomizer: 13
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3019.2
On a winding, mixed surface road, the best thing you can have is a reliable engine, all-wheel-drive, and a nice automatic slushbox. Able to focus entirely on driving and not on engine problems, traction issues, or banging gears around, Andreas pushes the atomic-pink van hard.
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 11:10:10
Average MPH: 31.8
Randomizer: 9
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 1 (Powertrain)
Total Distance Traveled: 3019.2
“I think there’s a problem with the carb-a-later,” Finne says, staring at the completely clogged-up air filter. Lacking a proper spare air filter, it’s Ambay who comes up with a solution by cutting a section of trunk carpeting out, sticking the coiled fabric strip into the air-filter housing, and putting the lid back on. It seems to be working, so maybe it was a good fix.
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 06:48:08
Average MPH: 52.2
Randomizer: 13
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3019.2
The slightly underpowered engine doesn’t really like the climb, especially not with that camper on the back, but it fights valiantly to lug the Kontir Cunningham up the hill.
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 05:27:24
Average MPH: 65.0
Randomizer: 13
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3019.2
The Yamada ASR-4 scrambles up the winding road, engine singing a four-cylinder symphony for everyone to hear, a primal song of exploded fuel and raw heat turned into mechanical motion, fed into the gearbox to turn thousands of revs per minute into useful energy. Whoever is behind the wheel showed no fear as they slid the Yamada around corners on narrow switchback roads, trying to close in on a certain rather-battered pink van.
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 09:46:02
Average MPH: 36.3
Randomizer: 9
Refueling Stops: 4
Breakdown: 2 (Chassis)
Total Distance Traveled: 3019.2
It seems like yesterday’s off-road mud bog has created some annoying little problems today. First, it was dried mud caked in the rims. Then it was cat barf in the driver’s seat during a refueling stop. Thibault nearly drove off the cliff when someone blew a trumpet in his ear. Then, on the fourth refueling stop, they had to try every fuel can they had to find the one that had fuel still in it because someone put them all back in a random order.
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 07:04:37
Average MPH: 50.1
Randomizer: 9
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 3 (Tires)
Total Distance Traveled: 3019.2
Normally, the Mara would be fast in this scenario, being reliable, easy to drive, and a good off-road vehicle. Unfortunately, there was a bit of unseen road debris that punctured a tire. Changing that on the side of a cliff was, shall we say, quite the experience.
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 06:54:09
Average MPH: 51.4
Randomizer: 12
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3019.2
After MREs and energy drinks for breakfast, they go out to kill another stage. They might have been faster if someone hadn’t parked a Mara at the apex of one of the only fast turns on the whole road.
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 08:09:23
Average MPH: 43.5
Randomizer: 10
Refueling Stops: 2
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3019.2
After all the setbacks, it was decided to just take things easy today, drive the stage, don’t get stuck anywhere, and maybe get some extra sleep in the camp this time.
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 07:58:50
Average MPH: 44.5
Randomizer: 11
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3019.2
While for everyone else, it’s a long, winding road, for you, the rails make it even longer of a journey. On the plus side, when you only have to really watch out for the next signal at danger, it’s really quite a nice view. Getting to see the Bricksley waiting at the railroad crossing, with half the team visibly waving and cheering you on was a nice touch.
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 05:35:35
Average MPH: 63.5
Randomizer: 13
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3019.2
When in doubt, send it! A few times, they threw the AST Elbrus up a few animal trails for good measure, cutting valuable minutes out of their time.
Stage Finishing Order:
05:24:26 - Team Hillbilly Rollers
05:27:24 - Team Blazers
05:35:35 - Team Spy Kids
06:48:08 - Team Mravolinski-Chitco
06:54:09 - Team Mrezhari
07:04:37 - Team Quick Rally 47
07:20:42 - Team Black Rabbit Corporation
07:24:53 - Team Wayfarers
07:49:28 - Team Shift Happens
07:58:50 - Team RK Series Racing
08:09:23 - Team Jockey
08:39:40 - Team Gearknobs
08:50:20 - Team Oil Crisis
09:46:02 - Team Machinas Con Passiones
11:06:07 - Team Fallen Angels of the Past
11:10:10 - Team Witchlight
DNF - DSQ - Team Slow
Everyone else was racing up the cliff-side road to Pritz (or in one lucky team’s case, racing up the rails on the way to Pritz), but Shift Happens had some extra duties to handle. First, even if the Schnell hadn’t been rendered undrivable in the fight yesterday, Team Slow was already destined to be sent home. Second, someone had cut wires to the ECU during that fight, and while it could be repaired with supplies from the other teams, well… They were already scheduled to go home. And, everyone else had already taken off running for the challenge the instant the old steam whistle screamed at 1 Sun to let the miners know it was time to get to the station, catch a tram, and go to work.
Malavera was the one giving orders, mostly because he was the one in charge of vehicle and team inspections back on Earth, so it was only fitting that he’d be the one in charge of handling a team being sent back safely. “Okay, Matt, John, and Izzy, I need the three of you to get into the car. Matt, you take the wheel. All you have to do is keep the wheels straight. On the other end, call a tow truck.”
Kivenaal, Rukari, and Jayde helped to assemble a mirror out of PVC pipes and the same silvery plastic as the one back in Nevada, just without sandbags to weigh it down. Soon after, they opened the mirror, revealing the Mojave Desert in all of its glory, the hot and dry air probably feeling refreshing after nearly two Earth-weeks spent in Crugandr’s heat.
Kayden and Malavera pushed the crippled Schnell, broken windshield and all, into Nevada. Once they stepped back into Crugandr and everyone was safely away from the mirror, Jayde, Kivenaal, and Rukari dropped their spell and let the mirror fade away.
Packing it back up was done in a hurry, as time was quickly getting away from them. With all the pieces back in the bag, and the bag back in the toolbox where it came from, the crew quickly got into the Highwayman.
Malavera took the driver’s seat, forcing Kivenaal to claim shotgun again, this time with Rukari in the front mid-bench. The rear bench had Kayden in the Radio Operator’s seat, Kaylie stuck in the mid-bench for once, and Jayde over by the driver’s side rear window. Kayden keyed the radio, then playfully called out, “Ready or not, here we come!”
Malavera floored it in 2-High, the rear wheels spraying gravel as the Highwayman shot across the campsite like an arrow shot from a bow, engine bellowing the whole time as Malavera changed through the gears and charged toward the hill.
On the Road
The Bricksley snarled and rasped as Malavera put his foot down coming out of another hairpin bend, winding their way up a switch-back trail. He’d already passed Team Witchlight and Team Fallen Angels to get here, and was rapidly gaining on Team MCP, made easier when they pulled over to make their first fuel stop.
It was a little while later when they passed Team Gearknobs and Team Oil Crisis pretty much back to back, though Kayden did mention, “Did anyone else just see a Dyre pup trying to remove a lug nut?”
“Yeah, and looked like they were pretty close to being able to do it, too,” Kivenaal mentioned.
They swerved around the yellow lunchbox of Team Jockey, Malavera still just sending it hard up the hill, and as the road started to level out and turn toward Pritz, he spotted something in the distance. “Windows down, everyone,” Malavera said, seeing something fast, orange, and on rails heading their way.
Jayde, Kivenaal, and Malavera rolled their windows down. Kayden twisted the microphone control over to the PA system and chirped the microphone once to make sure it was working. The crossing gate swung down into position as Malavera urged the Bricksley to stop, though this time was able to roll up to the gate on his own terms.
There was the first toot of the whistle from the Dione, and soon, the waving started.
“Look! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s a speeding orange train! Go on, Valentin, you can do it!” Kayden said over the roof-mounted speakers, just before the second blare of the whistle cut through the air.
Once the crossing gate lifted, Malavera put his foot down and tried to play catch-up on the way to Pritz, as the road followed the tracks for a while. The Bricksley’s mighty 427ci V8 roared as Malavera hammered it in 2-High, throwing dirt-plumes skyward behind it as he chased down the Dione. On the flat ground, it seemed that the Dione was every bit the Bricksley’s match, as even at Malavera’s best, the closest he got was to pull up alongside it, the giant van-truck squeaking and rattling over every bump in the road, while the Dione merely glided along the rails at a terrifying pace.
As they turned toward the campsite, Malavera knew that if it wasn’t for the conversion back from rail to road and having to drive through Pritz, RK Series Racing would have placed ahead of the Bricksley.
Pritz Campsite, 5-and-22 Sun
The Bricksley rolled to a stop, where the crew bailed out of the truck after another successful stage.
“Damn, that rail-car is fast,” Malavera said. “I thought we might have had a chance there, but… No. I couldn’t get the power to the ground without using the 4x4 mode.”
“It’s a hell of a way to travel. Smooth and fast, not this dirt shit we keep running through,” Kayden added.
They looked around their campground and smiled. At least from up here, they had a good view out over the forest. With tents pitched in the large, open dirt and grass field, the members of Shift Happens tried to get a little relaxing done.
Well, most of them did, anyway. Kivenaal still had a project to do, and while he’d made several power sources and had an impressive array of prisms and crystals, he was still nowhere near done, or at least, he thought he was nowhere close to done. However, an idea was somewhat distracting him, and after several minutes of turning parts over in his hands, Kivenaal sighed, set everything back into his project bag, and plopped it into the back seat of the Bricksley. “I’ll be back in a moment. Kayden said something in the last camp, and now I have an idea stuck in my head. I’m going to go find Valentin and see if he’s up for something potentially exciting.”
The last night would have been refreshing, if not for an impromptu Karaoke run started at about 3 moon, where all members were asleep. Especially Valentin was hit hard by the noise made, as he had difficulties getting back into dreamland, leading to him having an equally hard time getting up in the morning. Regardless, progress had to be made and as such, the team got to work packing up and preparing Robert for the day. Well… anyone except Valentin, with how he still was bound to a pair of crutches, spending the better part of half an hour on just getting out of the tent and re-applying some of the pain-relief cream that Kayden kindly supplied to him.
Breakfast was had, the engine greased up again, the stickman that was Valentin hauled into the car and they headed off again for the rails.
At the station, Constantin went about cranking his arms tired, while Valentin looked out the driver’s window making sure that the alignment was correct.
In this process, a local carrying a small bag approached, initially curious, but soon had a moment of realization as he realized what he was seeing.
“Are you heading towards Pritz by any chance?”, he askes, trying to keep down the excitement of meeting the rumored Valentin Schrant and his self-engineered railcar. Both Schrants paused and looked at him, immediately taking notice to his obvious lack of height.
“Yes… need help?”, Constantin countered with a rather stoic voice, continuing the cranking process afterwards.
“Not really. I’d like to ask if you are okay with me joining you. Yes, i could take an ordinary train, but i’d be willing to pay a premium to get a chance to talk to a fellow tinkerer like you.”, the local answered, intently scanning Robert from every angle he can see from where he was stood.
“Ask the guy who actually made the thing, not me…”, Constantin mumbled.
The dark-skinned person walks around the car to have direct line-of sight to Valentin. Because of Valentin’s height, the sense of how big the car actually was got skewed substantially, appearing smaller than it actually was.
“Oi that looks like a tight fit…”, he mumbles, glancing at both of Valentin’s knees which were right up against the dashboard either side of the wheel.
“Erm… yeah. I’m Hamish. I would like to tag along with you for the day. With payment, of course.”, he said, admiring both Valentin and the (rail-)car he was sat in.
“I have no issue with that, if the others are fine with that as well.”, Valentin replies, taking a look at Tim eagerly nodding in the rear seat, knowing that Connor had very little reason to object. He then turns back around to face Hamish.
“Welcome aboard, then, i guess… Luggage goes to the roof where there’s space. Once we are railed, Constantin might be of help storing that.”, Valentin explained, as Hamish’s excitement was very obvious, though he managed to refrain from turning to a giggly child getting some ice cream.
Another 10 minutes pass before both ends are firmly on the railheads, followed by Constantin moving both his own bag and Hamish’s one up to the roof rack, where it was secured with a pair of leather straps they had left over from Itzgarde Steamworks.
Hamish then took a seat, being the unfortunate person in the center rear, forcing him to straddle the chassis tunnel and feedwater connector.
With the preparations done, they went to start their journey with a mighty blast of their whistle.
Most of the trip was pleasant, even though the route they took was a massive detour relative to anyone else’s path on road. At least the rails were once again smooth, mostly, and stunning views presented themselves as Robert gradually climbed the grade up and towards the town of Pritz.
Within, Hamish and the team got to know each other for a bit, though most of the talks were directly related to how Robert was constructed and how it works. Still, getting to know some of the local population on a more casual basis was a pleasant change of pace for everyone involved.
In the latter stages of today’s run, one of many level crossings was approached. As is procedure, the whistle was blown as they spotted the Bricksley on the side, behind a gate.
[quote Kayden via PA system]
With most of SH heavily rooting for Valentin and waving at him in the car, a sense of accomplishment filled him as Robert rolled past the crossing gate, blasting the whistle a second time. Sadly, the whistle was just an on-off switch, as he would’ve attempted some melodic operation of the whistle for added dramatic effect.
The V8 was sent roaring up the rev range as they tried to play catch-up with the Dione, eventually pulling about alongside, before they had to brake for a turn.
While the Bricksley was hard to miss due to the sheer noise it made, the front row was busy working the engine and looking out for wayside signs, of which there were many, given the proximity to the town of Pritz by that point.
“Do you know those people?”, Hamish wanted to know from the back seat, right as the Bricksley slid around the turn, splitting paths with Robert in the process.
“They are the organizers of an event here, in effect the reason of us being here in the first place.”, Tim remarked afterwards, immediately quenching the curiosity of the local.
Not long after, they rolled into the yard and discovered that the marked crossing where they planned to transition to road-use was little more than a set of planks laid inbetween the rails for workers to more easily cross the track.
The still stopped right on top of that crossing, allowing Hamish to leave the car in relative comfort, followed by bags being shuffled on and off the roof rack. Once that was done, he fumbled around in his pocket for a bit before pulling out some coins, which in turn were handed to Constantin.
“Here you go. I promised payment and i shall not break that promise. Has been very nice meeting you!”, he said, heading off and into town.
The payment ended up with Valentin in full, as the others denied their share for varying reasons. Tim conceded not having provided much for the trip, Connor had no right of ownership and Constantin already had leftover funds from when he purchased the pair of bows earlier.
In search for a spot to transition, they roll about back and forth across the yard, eventually ending up on a turntable in front of a roundhouse meant to store steam locomotives.
There, they were approached by a worker, questioning them for their intentions. It became apparent that they had no way of getting off the rails and as such, had to be parked up in one of the bays within the sheds, which proved useful immediately as they once again were swarmed by employees keenly aware of Robert and the previous achievements.
Neither party took their time waiting for anything to happen and once Valentin was “gracefully” extracted once more, they got to work modding Robert again, although with a smaller team of about six people this time.
Work was assigned to the available employees, while Connor copied Valentin’s engineering from his phone onto actual construction paper. Constantin took the time to study the map Rukari drew up at the start of the race, discovering that they are still a couple of miles away from the actual campsite.
With Valentin busy organizing the workforce and Connor being a human-looking photocopying machine, he took matters into his own hands. He took seat in the fireman’s seat, leant over to enable power to the radio and grabbed the handle.
“Romeo-Kilo Series Racing for Shift Happens. We are sitting in some locomotive sheds a few miles away from camp, unable to get off the rails. Mind getting your big-ass truck over?”, he spoke into the handle, awaiting a response from the other end.
Kivenaal had just mentioned to the others in camp that he was going to find Valentin when Constantin called out over the radio for Shift Happens to bring the “big-ass truck” over.
“Shift Happens to Romeo-Kilo Series Racing, Kivenaal here, I’ll be there when I can,” Kivenaal replied. He picked up his bag of project supplies, opened the toolbox, and put them in there instead, closed the rear door, wandered around to the other side of the truck and climbed up into the driver’s seat, then started the Bricksley up. After making sure he was in gear, Kivenaal took off, being careful not to shower the tents with dirt.
“There’s the station,” Kivenaal said, stopping while he checked the map again. “And there’s the road I need to take.” He turned onto the path, flicked on the headlights so he was quite visible, and then stopped again when the Yardmaster yelled out to him, “Hey! What do you think you’re doing!?”
Kivenaal wound the window down, tossed his hat in the passenger side of the bench, and with at least three of his four arms plainly visible, looked over to the man and replied, “I’ve been politely asked by the crew of Robert, the tangerine railcar, to pick them up.”
The man stared for several seconds before waving Kivenaal through and replying, “Forgive me, I didn’t know it was-”
“I’m not who you think I am,” Kivenaal said, rolling up the window and driving onward, over the small wooden crossings in the yard and over to the engine shed.
Kivenaal parked the Bricksley near one of the doors, pulled his hat off of the passenger seat and tossed it up onto the dashboard, then honked the feeble horn a couple of times.
“Copy that.”, Constantin quickly replied before tossing the handle onto the dash and turning the ignition back off.
Not much of note happened until a recognizable horn was heard through the sheds, catching the attention of practically everyone present.
“Is that the host team?”, Valentin inquired, as the door was answered by a local employee trying to investigate the unfamiliar sounding signal from outside.
“Yep… i’m not hauling our camping gear to camp manually if a 9000 pound truck is readily accessible.” Constantin replied, smirking and went over to the door himself. Valentin went back to engineering work with a mild annoyance, uncomfortably aware at how much he owed the other team as a whole.
“Thanks for coming over. We kind of need some logistics in getting camping gear to camp… obviously, our car… train… thing doesn’t fit through this here door.”, Constantin explained once he was near the driver window of the Bricksley, pointing at the door in question as he spoke.
Connor, meanwhile, made good progress on the copying, having finished some of the component drawings already, which were promptly handed off to the locals for fabrication.
Kivenaal nodded, rolling the window down as Constantin thanked him for bringing the truck over. “Not a problem. We’ve got our tents out of the bed, so there should be a decent bit of bed space there for your stuff. Or you can put it in the cab if you prefer,” Kivenaal replied. He left the engine quietly (or as quietly as seven-liters of V8 could manage) idling while waiting on the others to finish up what they had to and to gather up their supplies.
Constantin nodded and immediately headed back in to collect everything that was needed for the camp to be set up, aided by Tim soon after.
Multiple trips were made back and forth, as tents, cooking equipment, storage for food and water, sleeping bags as well as anything else they might need over there were stacked up in the Bricksleys bed.
By this time, the engine of engineering was up and running, allowing Val to tend to a personal problem that has been bothering him ever since he took the plunge.
“You have all the plans from Connor over here and know what you need to do. I need to head into town to get personal issues sorted.”, he openly announced into the open area that was the sheds.
The supervisor of the sheds was a step ahead, though, approaching Valentin and explaining that shower facilities were present on-site, but supplies other than water were to be privately procured.
This was a problem, as the minimal preparation did not account for two weeks of travel, thus ignoring the need for spare clothing, towels and the likes. Luckily, Constantin came more prepared, willing to switch into his dress uniform, allowing Valentin to temporarily use Constantin’s combat uniform until a replacement could be procured or the current set sufficiently restored.
With a borrowed set of clothes and an equally borrowed towel, Valentin headed into the far corner, followed by Constantin, disappearing into an adjacent hallway afterwards.
Constantin returned quickly in a wholly different outfit, now wearing a very fancy dress uniform with extensive decorative elements and other embroidery and insignia denoting his rank within the military.
He returned to the Bricksley, being joined by Tim afterwards.
“For what it’s worth, we are ready. Though Val said something about needing to head into town to get some replacement clothing. Understandable, given the state of it all…”, Constantin remarked, taking a look around the general area in hopes of not drawing too much attention with his fancy outfit.
Kivenaal noticed Constantin looking around, then said, “To be fair, if anyone’s going to attract attention out here, it’s likely to be me.” He waited until Valentin was done, watching as Valentin made his way out to the Bricksley on his crutches.
“Pick a seat and get comfortable,” Kivenaal said. “So, I need to know where you’re wanting to go, because Constantin’s mentioned you need to get some replacement clothes,” he added. “If the air conditioning isn’t doing enough for you, roll the windows down.”
Kivenaal turned the lights back on, backing up once everyone was in a seat and buckled up. “You know, I never realized how much I use this stupid mirror,” Kivenaal said in a lightly annoyed tone of voice, “until I have to back this hunk of junk up after Rukari shattered it.”
He got the truck turned around and pointed back toward the small path out of the yard, then said, “Let’s just hope I don’t meet the Yardmaster again.”
Valentin made his way over to the Bricksley, his hair, as expected, being soaking wet. Before he entered, he made an attempt at shaking off some of the moisture, similar to how a dog would do it. This proved surprisingly effective due to the length of hair that was being swung about, ending in his hairdo being very damp instead.
The crew piled into the Bricksley, until Tim decides that some degree of supervision over Connor might be a good idea, heading back to the sheds as a result.
“Well… we had some local along for the ride to day and he handed me some coins…”, Valentin explained, holding up the 11 silver syrkals that Hamish tipped him earlier. “I have absolutely no clue how much they are worth, but i am in need of clothing ever since what i had got busted by those geniouses who smeared oil onto the roof rack… I also need to arrange next day’s scheduling with the stationmaster.” he continued, firmly holding the coinage.
“We better sort out the scheduling. Saves me the walk to the signalbox at every single block…”, Constantin added jokingly.
“So, to the station, then?” Kivenaal asked. He put the truck in first gear and low range, got it rolling, and quickly popped the transfer case back into high range, driving through the yard while keeping a close look-out for trains moving around. Other than having to wait as a shunting engine trundled along the rails and came back with a couple of coaches, however, it was a relatively uneventful trip. As they passed the Yardmaster, Kivenaal just casually idled on by, trying to keep the truck as quiet as possible, quickly checking the map and making a turn toward the station.
Sure enough, within a couple of minutes, Kivenaal was parking the truck near the station, where he turned the ignition off and removed the keys from the ignition, clipping them instead to a belt loop as he grabbed his hat and got out of the truck, putting his hat back on as he looked over toward Constantin and Valentin.
Once at the station, Constantin quickly exited the vehicle in preparation of having to drag Valentin out again. However, Val has a remarkably easy time getting out by himself, as the seating position made for a much more level transition on top of not having to shuffle through the entire car diagonally.
They then headed into the station and towards the station masters office, the door of which was gently knocked upon by Constantin.
“Yup!” an unusually young voice sounded from within, after which Constantin opened the door, leading all three into the office.
“How can i help?”, the station master asked, looking at the group as he set some documents aside.
“Greetings. I’d like to arrange tomorrows leg of Robert.”, Valentin answered calmly, followed by the stationmaster fumbling around for some paperwork.
“Right. Robert… erm… i only have documentation on a retired 4-4-2 passenger engine… who exactly are you?”, he inquired, with valid reason as the nameplate was off of a previously retired engine.
“Valentin, Constantin and…” Valentin started, but he didn’t know Kivenaal’s name as they haven’t introduced each other yet.
“Kivenaal, i think…”, Constantin added, filling in the gap.
The station master took a look into recent train movements, eventually locating the new Robert as the experimental 0-4-0 railcar that he was.
“Oh! The blazing-fast railcar that has been effortlessly out-pacing longitude trains for a few days now!”, he realized, moving over to what apparently was tomorrows schedule to see where there was some space.
“Okay… 10-70 moon and 1-30 sun is where you could go.” he explained, handing the schedule over to Valentin for him to see himself, thus sending him into a bit of a thought process.
—Kivenaal grimaced lightly, a little nervous being around so many people, before he finally said to Valentin, “Hey, Valentin, something you mentioned the other day, when we were looking over the Dione, has been stuck in my mind for the better part of the day. You mentioned that Connor says the Dione can theoretically do 215 kilometers per hour, if you had permission to do so. I know that things around here are different, but, in the United States, it was fairly well known that the Union Pacific 4000-class locomotives, the Big Boy, was built to be capable of 125 kilometers per hour. Sure, they spent their time doing around 95 kilometers per hour, but they were capable of going faster. Have you considered doing a proper shakedown run at some point, getting all the right permissions to just open the throttle on a straight bit of track, see how fast you can go, and bringing it right back down to normal line speed? If you add a new brake system to that machine, you should test it to make sure it’s enough to stop from a much higher speed than you intend to go. That way, you know it’s good enough to slow you down no matter how heavily loaded the car is with cargo, how steep the grade might be, or how fast you were going to start with.”
As Kivenaal started his endless rambling about the proper shakedown run, both the station master and Valentin were filled with confusion.
While Valentin didn’t really understand half of it, being interrupted halfway in his tangential thought process, the stationmaster had other concerns.
“215!?!? No engine has even cracked 200 to this very day!!”, he shouts at the top of his lungs, resulting in both Schrants reflexively covering their respective ears.
Once the initial excitement died down somewhat, Valentin tried to make sense of what he was being bombarded with.
“Wait… what exactly is happening now?” Valentin questioned, having absolutely no idea as to what was said previously.
Kivenaal tried to slow himself down a little this time as he explained, “When we were talking about the Dione’s modifications yesterday, you mentioned that Connor says it could theoretically do 215 kilometers per hour. I was wondering if you had ever considered getting permission to do a proper shakedown run, as fast as you dared go, in order to test it? If you’ve added a new braking system to it, it should also be tested above the rated speed to make sure it’s safe. That way, no matter how fast you’re going, no matter how steep the grade is, and no matter how much cargo you’re lugging around, you know your brakes are going to hold up.”
Valentin pondered a bit about how that shakedown run could prove the reliability of everything he did so far, including the in-progress brake systems. Eventually, Valentin came to a conclusion…
“A proper test from whatever Robert will do to zero seems reasonable, i think…”, Valentin said, followed by the staionmaster’s eyes lighting up in excitement as the standing rail speed record might be obliterated by a tiny railcar built in a little over three days.
“It will definitely be the ultimate proof of your engineering talents if it works…” Constantin added, while the stationmaster frantically sped from cabinet to cabinet trying to find how they organized the run that set the current record at 197kph.
Eventually, he plonks down a few sheets of paper onto his desk, waving Valentin closer to have a look as well.
“So. You would be leaving at 10-55 sun, just before the scheduled train at 1. That gives you about 100 kilometres of empty rail ahead of you for your contraption to stretch its legs. If you want or need to stop, just do so wherever, as the area behind is protected by common signalling procedures. Speed will be measured by timing the distance between starter signal of one signal box to the home signal of the next one.”, the station master eagerly explains.
“Erm… okay, i guess…”, Valentin mutters, as the only real change is permission to breach speed limits and knowledge about the next 20 block sections ahead being nearly guaranteed to be clear.
Kivenaal simply stood there, equally eager to see the results of this plan.
“So it’s just me and my colleagues going down that hill at whatever speed we end up doing?”, Valentin inquires.
“Well… you are in effect doing a test run that might cement itself in railroading history by being the first rail vehicle to breach 200kph. Some form of press will probably want to take a seat in there, if you have capacity…” the stationmaster replies, practically hovering over a stamp that would sign a letter to the local newspaper agency.
Valentin, once, again ponders for a while on if doing those speeds in a hastily built, steam converted 70s sedan was a good idea, but eventually relented into agreeing for the time being, as a proper test was still in order.
“I’ll communicate that with my colleagues to see if they are cool with that. If not, we are still there tomorrow morning, but won’t be breaking any speed limits and such on the way down.”, Valentin said, looking at Constantin, who was one of the people he needed permission from.
A bit of a pause follows as Constantin also thought it through, after which he confidently nods in agreement.
Kivenaal smiled as Valentin mentioned he’d talk with the rest of his team to get their agreement, especially as Constantin agreed right there.
“Any other places you two need me to bring you?” Kivenaal inquired. “I don’t mind. It’s better than sitting in camp all day,” he added.
Constantin did not really say anything, as the transit of materials to camp was already agreed upon.
“I’ll manage…”, Valentin said in minor annoyance, not wanting to take on any more favors than necessary.
“As if you’re going to hobble through town on those crutches…”, Constantin countered, crossing his arms in disbelief.
“Not the first time stuck in crutches. These ones actually fit decently for once, so i’ve had worse.” Valentin replied, still minimally annoyed.
“Goodbye, then.” he added, mostly directed at the station master and hobbled out of the station and heading directly into the town’s shopping area in search for clothes made for tall people.
Constantin then turned towards Kivenaal: “Stubborn at times, that guy… anyway, to camp?”
“Yeah, not a problem. And I don’t blame him. Some people don’t like owing other people favors. I know I sure don’t,” Kivenaal said.
He wandered out of the station and over to the Bricksley, stepping up into the truck, tossing his hat onto the dashboard again as he waited for Constantin to climb in. Once Constantin was onboard, Kivenaal simultaneously put the vehicle in first gear and low range, made sure they were clear and that he wasn’t going to run anyone over, then set off toward the camp.
As soon as he’d wound out first and low, he popped the transfer case into high-range, just driving casually back to camp.
As soon as Kivenaal returned to the camp with Constantin in the front passenger seat, Kayden called out, “Kivenaal, I thought you were going to go talk to Val.”
“I did!” Kivenaal replied, pulling up next to the tents and parking the truck. “And Constantin needed some help getting their camping stuff actually to the camp. We have a giant truck, so why not help out a little bit when we can?”
“Good point,” Kayden said.
“Thank you.” Constantin said as he climbed out of the Bricksley and got to work unloading what was packed into the Bricksley’s bed.
One by one, various containers, bags and other things were moved into a neat pile near the massive truck, after which he got to work setting up what needed construction.
“Yeah… our car is stuck a few miles away in some railway shed. Apparently getting off on some random crossing is a nope, as we’d be blocking following trains.” Constantin explained as he dumped the contents of Valentin’s tent bag into the grass.
After that, he began placing tent pegs, poles and pieces of rope as the camp area slowly grows into an actual accommodation for three.
Back in the center of Pritz, Valentin was semi-aimless trundling about the area, surrounded by numerious shopping areas and display areas for a multitude of goods and services. Eventually he stumbles into a shop selling contemporary (read: early 1930s era) suits.
Having absolutely no concept of how the currency worked in Crugandr wasn’t of any help either, as most of the products listed were close to what he had in funds as a whole.
Valentin was then approached by the owner of this small shop, asking if he needed any help. This questioning was met with confusion, as the need for new clothing should’ve been more than obvious by this point. Nevertheless, the usual clerk-to-customer talk followed, indicating that Valentin was in need of whatever was available, within budget and close enough in size for his unusual, even by Crugandr standards, physique.
However, Valentin’s apparent fame followed him into the conversation once again, which allowed him to stike a deal that, while draining his funds in full, allowed him a complete set of somewhat tailored clothing with a few sets of generic underwear on top.
After payment was sorted, he walked out wearing a light brown, almost beige two-piece suit made from very thin fabric to make the tropical climate more bearable. Coupled with an ordinary, white shirt and a cautious tie in a darker shade of brown, he headed back towards the engine sheds, with the old set of clothes draped and/ or wrapped around the crutches for lack of an alternative.
As Valentin arrived back at the sheds, they have been hard at work for the two hours that Valentin has been away for.
By that time, Connor was long done with copying and left the locals to work on fabricating and/ or procuring components, which generally were “close enough” to the specified components, given the quick-job nature of both the build and the engineering beforehand.
Valentin dropped his now derelict clothing into the area either side of the boiler where it wouldn’t disturb anyone working up front.
With that done, he checked up on Connor, from whom he also got his phone back, followed by a rundown of what has been done up until this point. The brake lever mechanism as well as the steam-powered master cylinder already found their way into the railcar, leaving just plumbing and controls.
Some of them marveled at the new look of Valentin while others knew that he would end up wearing something along those lines. Though Tim was rather surprised.
“Getting to a board meeting?”, Tim joked, haphazardly pointing at Valentin.
“Well suits apparently are the thing here if you aren’t in some profession that needs other clothing. I don’t mind that at all, honestly.” Valentin replied, patting the suit jacket down a bit.
“Whatever floats your boat, Mr. Businessman.” Tim countered once again, chuckled and went back to watching the assembly process unfold.
It took another hour or so before the modifications were declared finished, after which Connor was ordered to raise steam. With Constantin not present, Connor offered to eventually help him out of the car instead. With that sorted, pressure was built, followed by a few dry operations of the brake piston to eliminate any source of leaks. Not long after, some extensive slow-speed testing was conducted going back and forth on the yard, which was concluded in them being operational, but a bit finnicky to get used to, since it needed quite a bit of pressure to engage at all and then had a non-linear response curve to boot.
With Robert now back in the sheds, he was shut down as usual, inadvertently scaring a few of the workers present.
After that, both Valentin and Connor made their way out of the car, with Connor assisting Valentin in the last bit of exiting the rear-right door.
however, in doing so, a substantial amount of his hair got tugged upon as he was helped out, throwing Valentin way off.
“OOOWWW!”, Valentin yelled out in reaction, managing to semi-gracefully find his way onto the crutches Tim was holding in the meantime.
“I am sorry.” Connor just handed back, calmly as Valentin rubbed the affected area on his scalp intensely.
Some silence followed as either party collected some thoughts, the workers eagerly awaiting further instructions.
A bit later, Valentin announced that they are done with this stage of Robert’s project and that he was very grateful for the help provided, sending the group into a cheerful mood and applause at having done their part on the mythical tangerine railcar.
After that, Valentin, Tim and Connor left the station for camp, but at the station, they were intercepted by an eager stationmaster.
“Are you taking the speed trip now?”, he asked in excitement.
“What? A speed run?”, Tim asked, up until now completely oblivious to what happened at the station prior.
“Oh sorry… i forgot to ask. I plan on using the upcoming downhill segment to do a proper, full-speed shakedown run with Robert and all the things done to him. Apparently, the theoretical speed Connor calculated is deep into record-setting territory here, which is why shit’s hitting the fan, it seems…”, Valentin explained, wary of the possible added fame and attention he might get if he were to have built the fastest rail vehicle in Crugandr in a little more than two days.
“A top speed run?” Tim asked, pausing a bit but not expecting an answer. “Fucking hell, count me in!”, he exclaimed, eager to see what “his” plucky little family sedan could do on rails. Connor didn’t really do much to agree, but didn’t actively object either, thus de-facto overruling him by majority “vote”.
“There you have it…”, Valentin spoke toward the stationmaster, who was gone into the station about as quickly as he appeared.
They continued on hobbling into camp, soon spotting Constantin, who was already done setting up the tent to the best oh his ability. Due to the car not being available as a place to sleep in, Valentin and Tim were forced to share tents.
Still, the afternoon and evening was calm as they admired the stunning views from the clifftops. Some card games, dinner, more games and such followed before heading to bed rather early as they needed to be present at the station waay before the first train left.
So, we managed to wake up after very nice night of sleep despite 3am band activities by MCP.
Some breakfast was had and with that, it was decided to move.
While on move, Mrdja got hold of laptop and decided to give a go at making some car in Automation.
There had appeared some idea, but try as he might, having no internet proves to be rather troublesome in terms of getting relevant data for making appropriate car.
Considering that IRL Mrdja havent fired up Automation with intention of working on something for some time either, what was his general plan here shall be left to readers imagination.
As for progress made in car itself…well, engine was trundling along and it wasnt particularly happy with this constant uphill battle it waged.
Rest of team wasnt particularly pleased with sounds of hard-working engine, complaining there is tad bit too much of strained-4-pot sounds for their liking
Partially this was also due to fact that such scenario isnt necessarily going to result in good position on stage, which we do care about in normal quantities.
VerBanka also threw fair complaint about moving some of local land with us after spending some time sitting on solid layer of it randomly accumulated on seat.
That was neither very comfortable or particularly clean experience
-Hey Mrdja, is there any data on vehicles that may or may not be avaiable in order to move our stuff?
Dont forget, some devices are pretty big.
-“Devices” can almost be seen as discriminatory word for what some of those can do, Klimentol.
-You get my point tho.
-Yes.
Some of you might wonder what is exactly the issue, and thats going to be explained below
Stuff to move
Klimentol is genius powerhouse and, in one way or another, responsible for existence of many other imaginary characters from this imaginary world of mine.
Something that can be partially thanked for this is fact he made lot of stuff to help or assist him in whatever he is doing, which is equivalent to very versatile labs or workshops along with sometimes very specific equipment.
Feel free to ask about atleast estimate of sheer size of this task and im left almost bare-handed.
Since all of these are placed on piece of IRL land that can be seen from Google Maps, that can be introduced as some way of estimate
Cant guarantee that everything would in fact realistically fit there, but ignore my unrealistic view on matter back when plans were made on that subject
Blue part of land is one refered to here
Pic also has reference of how long are 10 meters
With that sorted out, we can mention likely biggest character in this imagination.
This character is not placed in blue area from pic above, but in place that belongs to different IRL country and is 700-800 km away from area depicted on pic.
Her name is A (pronounced “Ah”) and she can be best described as house entirely controlled by its internal supercomputer.
(Ok technically A IS supercomputer, but being embedded into very structure of that house mwans she cant be easily separated from it.)
A identifies as female and she does use feminine voice as result-irrelevant for this particular story, but might help explaining why this machine is refered to as would be case for person.
Actual dimensions of her were never precisely stated, but we know that half of this character easily allows for two people living in pretty much perfect environment (A is split in two living areas, them being perfectly identical between themselves. If one in which residents currently use is damaged or compromised in any other way, other one gets immidiately prepared to accept them)
Living area features:
small bedroom. Only notable feature is regular sized bed
small bathroom. Has bathtub, toilet bowl and sink as notable features
living room. Most of living area, carries the role of dining room as well.
Besides what is mentioned, there are other things about Pi that make her kinda sizeable:
Only way to enter A is through some water-filled pit thats integrated into her. Water pit mainly serves to desinfect objects or people entering.
Noone ever talked about how thick walls of this house must be.
Supercomputer part is partially placed in them, along with:
* air purifier (percentage of oxygen in air inside A is nearing 100%; only other matter consistently appearing being water vapor),
* heating/cooling system (computer part likely has optimal working temperature thats kept; temperature in living areas is kept constant)
* humidifier (humidity in living area is constant and kept in check by controlling amount of water vapor in air)
* cleaning squad (numerous group of ant-like robots; their task is to clean any spillage, repair stuff and make sure high hygiene standards are adhered by)
* “kitchen”, food storage and other similar facilities (yes, this house entirely independently prepares food-deal with it)
* power storage (partially making power on its own and partially being connected to power grid)
Logically, some of features we mentioned for walls might be implemented in ceiling or floor instead.
Unfortunately A is one of, if not only, character that cant physically move from place to place, which would make her difficult to move somewhere else.
She is movable, but we needed some plane back then to transport her. Again i feel i may misjudged and its possible she in fact cannot fit inside of cargo airplane.
We will come up for solution for that soon enough tho, no need to worry.
It came as very positive surprize that we finished 4th on this stage when we arrived. This time we took few minutes to remove bigger chunks of earth from our seats, but then decided to idle around for a fair bit, only to potentially hit bed kinda early.
"Hey, have you heard that team Slow is being teleported home again?", Janne said before the team left in the morning.
"Do you really think that I care about those yuppies?", Andreas answered.
"Why are they going home?", Marie asked.
"For the drunken driving, I guess", Janne said. "Seems like the hosts had enough, so…you better not chase dyre with the van again, right?"
"Well, in that case it was really an emergency!", Marie excused herself. "You know pretty well that not even I would be stupid enough to drive drunk on a road."
"Yeah…", Janne said. "And you might as well have saved someone in that case, but still. This is not some backyard in Armasjärvi. You know, there is people walking around here from other teams, and cars parked, and… I think the hosts wanted to set an example, so screw it up again and we might be the next team to be sent home."
"Well, you are right.", Marie said. "But I really hope that there won’t be any more emergencies, so…"
The team climbed into the van, was the first team to leave and Andreas was really flooring it.
"Damn, you’re driving this thing really hard!", Marie said.
"I know roads like this", Andreas said. "And the van can handle them too."
And of course he was right. As hard as this the van had hardly been pushed ever before.
"This is basically a group B car in disguise", Andreas said and laughed. “Well, maybe except for the aerodynamics, and engine, and slushbox, and… but at least it has AWD!”, he laughed.
Coming closer to camp, they spotted the Yamada ASR-4 in the mirror.
"Fuck this", Andreas said. “If we finally have a chance to finish first, we are going to finish first!”, he said and started pushing the pink brick harder than ever before. The Yamada shrunk to a little spot far away in the mirror, where it did stay for the rest of the time. The team was the first to arrive at camp, around 3 minutes before Team Blazer’s Yamada was rolling in.
Kaylie watched as Kivenaal retrieved his bag of project supplies from the toolbox and wandered off to a quieter area of the campground to continue working on it. In a way, she understood his need to be busy, to keep his mind occupied in the here-and-now and not focused on the past or the future, and she understood that he was one of those people who always had to have a project. She knew that one herself. Sadly, there wasn’t much that she could do, until she remembered the broken mirror on the driver’s side of the truck.
“Now where the hell am I going to find one of those all the way out here?” Kaylie muttered to herself, wandering around to the side of the truck and studying the still-intact metal frame with the broken mirror glass in it. She checked the toolbox and sighed. “Nope, no spare mirrors. Of course there’s no spare mirrors, why would we have packed those?” she grumbled. She closed the toolbox and wandered to the back of the truck, kicking the rear bumper in frustration as she did.
Something fell to the ground with a metallic clink.
Kaylie looked back at the truck, seeing the chrome plated cover for the tow hitch had fallen off when she kicked the bumper. How the hell it stayed on through everything it went through, but twice now had come loose from a well-placed kick, she’d never understand. Between bumper-tag in the Rift with the Magistrate, nine very rough stages, countless tailgate slams, and Kivenaal jumping the truck over a railroad crossing, it stayed in place, but kicking the bumper was enough to dislodge the shiny chrome cover.
Kaylie picked the cover up and went to put it back on, though stopped as she noticed her reflection in the dirty and dusty chrome. “Kayden, where’s our duct tape!?” Kaylie called out.
“In the toolbox!” Kayden responded, sitting near the campfire Rukari had started. Rukari was stirring a great big pot full of stew, occasionally watching the others in camp as they did their own things.
Kaylie grinned, then opened up the toolbox, found one of their rolls of tape, and pulled off a strip. She placed the oversized chunk of metal that was the bumper cover up against the old mirror housing, then started securing it in place with tape.
Kivenaal sighed as he stared at the pieces of his lightsaber project. He had power sources, crystals, prisms, a ton of metal to work with, even a vague idea of what he had to do, but had no clue how best to do it. “Pick something simple, I guess,” he said to himself, carefully assembling the focusing array for the blade. He wasn’t quite sure why his was different to what he’d expected it would be, why his was way bulkier than Jayde’s saber or K’mino’s saber, but he figured it might just be due to the quality of the materials he was working with.
Once he relaxed and started working on it, things became easier, clearer to understand. He wasn’t quite sure how well his homemade components would hold up, or even if they’d hold up, but he was sure that he’d find out soon. Eventually, it started to take shape, vaguely resembling a fantasy sword hilt, complete with a thick metal crossguard that contained two of his three homemade power sources. Feeling inspired by the old-school design, Kivenaal rummaged through his messenger bag and found a strip of leather, wrapping the handle with it and securing it in place at the top and bottom with a little bit of brass.
Kivenaal looked over at the Bricksley and smiled. He was not only far enough away that seeing him was potentially difficult, but he couldn’t hear the card game in progress, so he knew as long as the ignition of his saber wasn’t too loud, it might go unnoticed. He slid the power switch into the on position and was rewarded with a high-pitched hum, though no blade. Then he clicked the switch a little further up and the high pitched hum deepened into a low rasping buzz as the blade ignited.
“So that’s why my focusing chamber was so weird,” Kivenaal said to himself, looking at the intensely purple, sword-shaped blade of plasma. “It looks like an actual sword.” After studying it for a moment longer, Kivenaal slid the switch back into the off position and the blade vanished with a crackling hiss.
Jayde, Rukari, Kayden, and Malavera all sat around the stew pot as Rukari dished up the first servings. Kaylie joined them soon after, holding the steaming hot bowl in her left hand as she ate. “Anyone going to invite Kivenaal over here?” Kaylie asked.
“He’ll come over once he gets hungry enough,” Jayde said, before having another spoonful of stew. “Besides, he’s meditating over there, so chances are, he’s either done with his project, or he’s still working on it.”
Written alongside @Knugcab on a very tight schedule.
A single phrase continued to resonate within the blonde detective’s head, a series of words not even muttered or communicated verbally, but through sheer mechanical spiritual will.
Heed my call.
Yet the detective knew that the message was not for him, as he anxiously gripped the circumference of the wheel before him, staring at his own reflection in the polished silver “Y” badge that sat atop a plastic casing. His eyes peered into the rear view mirror, where he met another man’s dark brown orbs with an invisible anxiety only felt by him as the vibrations of the red crossover’s cast engine shook right into his palms.
Watson reminisced about a tale he had heard a long time ago on one of his travels to Asia, the tale of a sword not meeting its best potential when wielded by none other than its destined wielder. With all seemingly equivalent users having reached a point where they had suffered greater than possibly imaginable, all for the utilization of a tool they had no business in meddling with destiny. Only in the end did the true potential of the killing machine have found solace.
Of course, this was only a story, one among many that he came across in his time spent travelling the world and the course of its timeline. What more could it be and why would such an anecdote send the shivers that now ran down his usually calm spine?
Yet at the last minute, his mind raced to make a decision, as he unbuckled the seatbelt that would have kept him in firm command of the vehicle through the rough course, his hands leaving the dreaded wheel as he turned around towards the back towards Romulo, visibly startled by his sudden gestures.
“Is there something wrong, Watson?” The dark-skinned man asked calmly, but the detective wasted no time with his words.
“Let us switch. I am in no position to be driving right now, not safely. We have no time.”
In a quick move, the blonde man swapped places and sat in the back, with a confused Romulo now buckling himself into position as Emily anxiously looked at the both of them back and forth, and simultaneously glancing down on her wrist where a watch provided by Charlotte now wrapped around her light-coated skin.
Just like so, the next stage began with the opera of machines running towards the singular destination. Different shades of metallic, flat, faded, or even rusted colour flashed by in a flurry of a coloured flag of automobile as they danced through the loose gravel on the forest floor. Once more, a certain crossover’s dreaded screams would stand out as its round steel-and-rubber legs scrambled their way through the unsteady ground for any remnant of grip that it could acquire. The car now cleaned, the red paint dazzled through whatever sun could land upon the layers of urethane and clearcoat that sat atop the steel walls that sheltered its insides.
A flash of deep red would haul its way past the other vehicles on the road, leaving only a trail of crimson that flashed into the eyes of the other vehicle’s drivers as it left them in the wake of its prancing howls. While the other contestants could feel this ghastly presence, the man who sat in the driver’s seat of the Yamada was largely oblivious of it. To him, the vehicle felt like it always had, as it responded with eagerness to his every command as he listened to the dictation of the pacenotes by the blonde girl next to him. Yet, he felt as though he wouldn’t even need to listen to her words at this point, for it felt as though the road was his, and Emily was now having trouble with keeping up with the pace.
This driving in fact, did not just feel great, but it felt simply subliminal, or perhaps arcane, even.
Romulo’s movements were beginning to feel light, unusually light, and his face glowed differently as Emily looked up. To her horror, visions flashed upon him, it didn’t seem like the awkward, blonde-loving Austronesian man she had known for the past week, and instead was shifting towards this youthful but scarily determined gaze that almost looked inhuman. The other blonde and Watson were noticing this too, especially as the road began to seemingly narrow down from the gravel towards the loose and wet dirt.
In accordance with the changes of the driver, the vehicle too began to jolt in peculiar ways, as even on the smoothest parts, it felt more like legs that pushed the vehicle through the trail than a round object on an axle. No longer did it feel as though they were in a propelled carriage, but almost as though a mammal that carried the weight of an unspeakable burden that lay upon its tired back on every centimetre of movement.
Every fine throttle adjustment, every yank of the steering wheel, provided an unprecedented amount of feedback to Romulo as he skimmed through the track at near inhumanly pace. The vehicle moved as though an extension of his own arms, or legs. His vision looked clear of any obstruction but the road ahead, and he began to feel the sensations of the mechanical beast that had just had been unleashed from within the reach of his palms.
While to everyone, the four-cylinder engine sounded like an angry can of resonating bees, a howl of a tormented demon attempting to break free from the shackles of the god that imprisoned its hollow soul, or even the yowling of an innocent being as it yearned for its one desire to achieve its purpose in a make-believe world, there was only one thing that reached the driver’s ears, and it was none other than a pure symphony of desire and submission as he heeded the call of the rage of a machine before him.
A pink dot began to appear ahead of them in the windshield, yet the Yamada did not slow down to match them. Instead, the vehicle only inched closer and closer until the van was right there ahead of them. Even without the headlamps on, bright eyes stared right into the visibility of the drivers of the pink van, in an almost blinding horror that unsettled the machine ahead of them, mechanical shivers being sent down its spine as the splatter of crimson approached without hesitation.
“All-wheel-drive now… is it…?” Romulo spoke in an unsettling fashion unlike him, as the engine roared following his statement. But as the vehicle reached a certain distance, his hand loosened and so did the vehicle as it jolted itself about the track. Romulo now looked dazed, and confused as he wrestled the vehicle back into control and the pink van had begun to fade away from the windshield.
“Stay focused, Ray! Don’t let her voice get to you!” A voice called out from behind as a pair of hands shook Romulo’s shoulders. With a swift yank of the steering wheel, Romulo re-centered the vehicle and got them straight back onto the course. But still, what he had just experienced earlier shook his very core, and he seemed hesitant to continue on with the pace he was just on. “Jesus Christ… Watson, is this why you wanted me to drive?” He questioned as he looked in the rear view mirror, right towards the blonde, short-haired man whose face was just as petrified as he was. He was speechless as he turned his head away from the driver’s, peering over towards the window and onto the side view mirror, which had a small dot begin to grow in size as he observed another team’s car approach.
“We shall be talking more about this later, what matters now is to keep moving, but still be aware of what the machine might do to you.” Watson spoke his final words for the stage. Emily nodded towards Romulo, and began to dictate the pacenotes once more, and the red crossover lunged forward, with more control from the driver than ever.
“Whatever you try to do, I’ll make sure you’re mine…” Romulo silently said as he pushed down onto the accelerator pedal, before slamming the clutch and moving into another gear as the wheels began to feel like wheels once more. To the car behind them, another harrowing holler from the vehicle ahead as the gravel flew from beneath its wheels and into the air as it sped past the corner.
From here, the driver began to feel the resistance, but he combatted it nonetheless. Wherever the vehicle felt as though it wanted to go, he reacted quickly to correct it, fighting an unknown internal pang in his insides as he constantly worked to make the car move to his will. In this battle of wits, Romulo struggled to stay conscious in manuevering the car, and it continued to pick up more and more speed as it continued to fight for its singular purpose.
Charlotte could only look with extreme anxiety as she observed the man in the driver’s seat, she could hear internal screams from the vehicle’s heart as it tugged on every rod within the cylinder, the respiration of the engine piercing her ears in a disturbed bawl as the exhaust continued to pump out gas.
From between the hood’s panel lines and whatever holes lined the vehicle’s front, a small mist began to seep through, which gave rise to shallow steam-like pallid clouds that slowly rose around the vehicle and coated it in a disturbingly spectral aura. Charlotte looked in the windows, the smoke rose upwards towards the sky in a manner that reminded her of a tale she had heard from Earth. She felt the urge to say something, but ultimately remained pensive and silent.
The entrance to the camp was finally made visible to the team, and as they pulled into the clearing, the vehicle was beginning to calm down. Puffs of white smoke seemed to emerge from beneath the bumper, which quickly faded away as it merged with the ambient air around. The only vehicle in the gravel-filled hollow was none other than the pink van that they had met earlier. Romulo drove the vehicle towards the end opposite of them, not wanting to take any risks involving them and the monster they were now dealing with.
Yet even then, once he had shut the engine off and gotten out of the car with everyone else, a pair with a couple of suspicions on the back of their minds were already beginning to approach them with a distinct caution, while a third one stood still at the van, watching everything from a distance.
On the other end of the camp, it was none other than the very vocal Hillbilly Rollers team, where Marie had been a little bit curious about why Andreas was speeding so much when the Yamada had been approaching them in the mirror. Sure, he wanted to win when he had the chance, but she had a feeling that it wasn’t everything. And like the two teams were kind of staring at each other, the same could be said about the cars. They stood there, at a distance, front to front. An IP Freeway Star and a Yamada ASR-4. Probably a common sight, at least in many Asian countries. Less so in Crugandr. And there was something else that was rather uncomfortable about the cars parked head to head. Like the squinty rectangular headlamps and the for IP so typical tombstone grille was staring aggressively at the playful looking ASR-4 with its chubby face and round headlamp reflectors. It was almost as though the flat nosed van was an angry Serbian rottweiler looking at a chihuahua puppy, firmly telling it to get out of its territory.
Though this chihuahua was hiding something sinister as its round headlight filaments glared back into the van’s headlights, vaguely flanked with the wisps of steam that emerged from the vehicle’s vents. The emotionless steel of the van contrasted with the mysterious frown of the crimson crossover, whose sinister fascia continued its faceless ambiguity as it sat upon the loose gravel of the campsite.
“Why were you so hesitant to let them pass?” Marie asked Andreas. When she asked him, his face turned slightly pale, and he took a gulp before he began to say anything.
“Second place is the first loser”, Andreas said, his lips slightly quivering as he took occasional glimpses at the ominous vehicle sitting across their own. This ominous suspicion would be answered by none other than Janne, who began to speak his mind about how he felt with the other team’s vehicle.
“I got a feeling that something is wrong with the Yamada”, Janne said. “And I am not talking about mechanical troubles then.” His look was of sheer skepticism as he glanced over towards the red crossover.
“Oh, stop that goddamned Demons and dragons bullshit now”, Andreas told Janne.
“So, let’s have a talk with the team then”, Janne told Andreas.
“No fucking way”, Andreas answered, almost recoiling back. It was clear that there was a certain anxiety in his eyes, even though his words contradicted what exactly he was feeling.
“Oh, so maybe you believe in Demons and dragons bullshit anyway?”, Janne laughed and took Andreas with him. “Why do you shiver?”, he asked.
“I DON’T”, Andreas answered angrily.
Carefully approaching team Blazers and the Yamada, Janne chose to walk towards Romulo to ask him some questions. Andreas had no choice but to come with him, while Marie was left at the van, probably feeding Sonic or something.
“Hey there, you’re Romulo, aren’t you? Nice Yamada!”, Janne said. “Is everything working like it should?”
“Well… yes. I…guess? You must be…?”, Romulo answered, a bit surprised.
“I’m Janne, nice meeting you! Is the Yamada as good as when it left the factory? Like…everything intact and so?”
“Of course not”, Romulo said, a bit annoyed. “It’s over 20 years old, what do you think? Of course it has some wear showing through, but generally the condition is good.” He looked back towards his car, the blood red paint squirming for sunlight as the clouds continued rolling in.
“So… nothing has been added either afterwards that have altered the function. I have really seen when creativity have more or less wrecked older vehicles”, Janne asked curiously.
“You mean like when you paint them pink?”, Romulo said. “At least this still has the factory paint intact. And other than that I don’t know why you are asking. I have done some small modifications to make it survive through this rally, and that is everything. It’s not like if I remade it into a steam locomotive, like the team with the Anhultz did”. You could hear a kind of uneasy tone showing through in his voice.
From behind Romulo, a heavy hand landed upon his shoulder, and as the tall dark-skinned man turned around, he locked gazes with Watson. There was this unsure look on the blonde’s face, as though he was trying to warn him about something. Romulo seemed to switch partially, but still was largely unstable as he shook his head.
Watson turned over towards Janne, and began walking over. “So you have sensed something too, have you not? Something with this vehicle.”
“I have. Let me get this straight. That car’s alive, isn’t it?” Janne said sternly. There was no change in the emotion on Watson’s face, it remained the cold deathly stare it always was. On the other hand however, Romulo looked unsteady as he leaned over on the crimson vehicle’s fender.
“That, we’re still unsure of. With how things are going, I’m not exactly sure if this rally can be completed.”
“Have you thought of asking the organizers for advice on moving forward?” Janne began walking over towards the Yamada, Andreas behind him looking anxiously at the vehicle as they approached. Moving closer they could feel something with the car, even as they took a closer look at it. The flaky, deep red paint seemed to glimmer in an unusual way, and the rim around the headlights looked wrinkled, almost fleshy. Mist which slowly flowed out of the grille was warm, but not engine warm, and even with the engine off the vehicle looked as though it was heaving in an unusual way. As they moved across the bumper, they felt an unusual presence watching, almost as though the headlights followed their every move. Even then, the car stood perfectly still where it was.
“Hey! Janne, something’s fucking wrong with this!” Andreas began getting alarmed as he tugged on Janne’s arm, before leaning over and whispering, “I don’t believe in none of that fantasy bullshit of yours, but we should go, don’t you think?”
“Calm down, Andreas.” He shook him off, before looking towards the rest of Team Blazers, who was watching as the commotion went on. “I hope you lot stay safe out here.”
With that, Janne and Andreas walked back over towards their own vehicle, with occasional glances from Andreas, leaving the team with the Yamada off on their own.
Emily walked over towards the hood of the vehicle where Watson and Romulo were. She could see the anxious look right through the tall blonde man, yet this time, Romulo was unreadable. His mind was clouded with multiple classes of indescribable dread, indecisive as he attempted to free himself from whatever might be grappling the back of his head.
The short girl moved in front of the crossover, like the other two men had experienced earlier, there was this distinct eeriness to it as she stared at the crossover nearly eye-level with its round halogen headlights. She stood back, and peered right into it, she could feel it almost trying to say something, but she was unsure.
“Ray…” Emily spoke out towards Romulo. She first looked at Watson, before finally turning her head over towards the taller man, and in her blue eyes lied a desperate look.
The Olive Drab Oil Tanker sailed down the gravel sea, its engine roaring and gravel flying from the tires. Same with how they first arrived, the tan furred brothers took the front, the orange furred Jedi and Keeper shared the middle row, the silver giant, a rottweiler, two Dyre pups and a six legged cat sat in the cargo area. The sun continued rising in the sky, and all was well in the Magistrate.
Grinning, Aedan watched the conifers roll past as the Magistrate barreled down the road. “Finally we get a break from that heat. I never thought I’d see the day.”
A chuckle came from the rear bench. “You really get crabby when you overheat, you know that?”
The grin quickly vanished. “We aren’t made for rain forest climates, Malcolm. You should know this, being the assistant Keeper and all.”
“Whatever. Just remember I was the one who stopped you from tossing that grenade through Team Slow’s portal, so consider yourself lucky that we aren’t the ones going home.”
More hours rolled past until eventually the little Hakaru hatchback, ahead of the Magistrate, came into view.
“There’s that white hatchback again.” K’mino pointed out, leaning over and glancing through the windshield…
The Magistrate responded as the V8’s burble became a roar once more as the gearbox dropped into second.
The gap between the Hakaru and the Magistrate got smaller as the big wagon reeled the small hatchback in, everyone on board the station wagon brimming with excitement, unaware that the Hakaru had a completely unintentional trick up its sleeve.
“Yes. Yes! We are catching them. Orlan enunciated, struggling to keep his voice from rising with the excitement. “Go on, Give it some more power!”
His brother chuckled, “Pedal’s all the way to the floor, man. But we are catching them!”
Everyone was in good spirits until the Hakaru hit a bump and its rear hatch popped open followed Team Gearknobs’ gear avalanching out of the now open hatch.
The entire team ceased their celebrations and Aedan violently yanked the wheel, the Magistrate swerving to the left as a sleeping bag bounced past, then to the right, almost spinning out as a tool box tumbled out and then back again to the left until a huge jack stand fell out which prompted Aedan to swing the wheel back to the right but to no avail as the stand disappeared under the car followed by simultaneous jolt and pop.
“Shit! There goes that tire.”
“You really have to practice your evasive driving maneuvers.”
“You really have to shut your mouth,” Aedan barked, “Why don’t you take the wheel next time and see how difficult it is to swerve 'round random shit that falls out of people’s cars.”
Sighing amusedly, K’mino made a move to get out of his side of the car. “I have to help you, right?”
“Yes, of course, Kameron.”
“Wait, why are we on a first name basis now?”
“Because none of us can bring ourselves to call you by that ridiculous alias of yours.”
“It isn’t–.”
“It is, there’s no other way around it. It’s stupid, unnecessary and has no purpose but to annoy everyone you are with.”
“But–.”
“You heard me.”
K’mino, who had finally been called by his real name and defeated, removed his smile. “Alright then. I didn’t know the rest of you hated it. You could have told me earlier.”
Upon having rolled the window down and adding more gasoline to the fire, Orlan chimed in. “Yeah, no one in their right mind would call themselves ‘Kamino’ of all things.”
“Says you, who writes a name that’s pronounced with an E sound with an A.”
“Not all of us have normal parents, Kam.” Malcolm jeered.
“That’s enough you three," A stern voice ordered, that was revealed to be Pavel.
"How about instead of bickering, we fix the tire and get back on the road. We can’t let ourselves be overtaken now, can we?”
Within minutes, the Magistrate was on a tire jack, and the tire was being replaced. Everyone was helping out, even the two Dyre pups, who were at least attempting to. Pavel, however, had elected to help out Team Gearknobs with picking up the gear that they had lost. As the team fixed up their car, the mood began to calm down as a breeze blew through the air soothing the irritation.
Soon, the flat tire took the place of the spare on the tailgate mounted holder, and the team was getting ready to set off once more.
Right then, A distant train whistle sounded through the forest, prompting looks from everyone.
“How far ahead is RK’s Dione?” Aedan queried.
“They have that high-railer mechanism and I saw them get on the tracks back in the previous camp. So, they should be pretty far ahead.”
At that moment, returning from helping Gearknobs was Pavel, “Then they should be ahead of that train, yes?”
Malcolm shrugged. “I overheard one of them saying something about going in between scheduled trains. But, I don’t know about–.”
Several gunshots rang out in the distance, from roughly the same direction the train whistle came from.The five lombaxes, the dog, the cat, and the two Dyre pups tensed. Every one of them knew what those meant.
Without a second thought, everyone piled into the car, the V8 roared into life, the four stroke, suck squeeze bang blow cycle, firing thousands of times a minute, moving pistons up and down, turning the crank, sending the power into the flywheel, through the transmission, past the transfer case, and out to the driveshafts, differentials and half-shafts.
The rear right wheel spun furiously, tossing gravel and dust high into the air, as it pushed the big olive drab barge from its resting place then the rear diff was locked and the left wheel joined in on the spinning,
The olive drab wagon roared past the Hakaru and disappeared down a narrower gravel road that headed away from the main one towards the railway tracks. Everyone readed their weapons, Pavel grabbed his royal guard Omni Wrench and set it into rifle mode, the weapon humming ominously as it powered up. Kameron readied his lightsaber and Orlan loaded up 6 rounds of the armor piercing .58 Pointed into his rifle before racking the lever.
Slowly but surely, the forest started to thin out as the gunshots became more and more prominent.
Unsurprisingly, the armored carriages shrugged off all the bullets. But once the two men ahead were aboard, they’d get the dynamite in place and all that would be left to do would be to enjoy the fireworks. Mitzal smiled to himself, his planning had paid off perfectly, meticulously calculated to not go wrong anywhere. For instance, He’d brought less men with him, 5 instead of the usual 10, better weapons, more explosives unlike last time, and the fastest lizards. Well, just one of the fastest. Those… murderous scoundrels in the magic self pulling carriage had taken Artemis from him, and they would pay with their blood. But, they would wait, as now 1000 bars and countless syrkals waited for him on that train.
Immense wealth waited for them and–.
The green self pulling wagon burst through the bushes, nearly causing Devastator to fall from his iguana.
The train tracks became visible and so did the train that chugged along them, a streamlined 4-6-2 locomotive pulling behind its tender, four armored train cars. It did not look to be going much faster than 30 miles an hour but what did rouse everyone was the four lizards that were chasing it, and shooting at it. One lizard of particular interest was the one with two people saddled in tandem on the top carrying what looked to be dynamite.
“Brace yourselves!” Aedan shouted right as they hit a bump and got massive air time.
These Barbarians had come back, even better, they would join the train crew. Shot in the head and left to rot, a fate they so very much deserved.
“Hey! Make sure you don’t put those dimwits out of commission, I want them alive!” Mitzal called, kicking his lizard to pick up its speed.
“Yes Sir!” the man replied. “Light ‘em up!”
The rest of the men drew their revolvers and began shooting at the wagon.
Just before anyone could do anything, several bullets struck various areas on the bodywork, perforating the metal, but miraculously missing everyone.
“Ori, Pavel, return fire! We’ll be turned to swiss cheese if you don’t fend them off.
The two did not say anything, and simply got into their fighting positions.
The .58 Standard rifle let out a huge muzzle flash and something more akin to an explosion than a gunshot as it sent a round out, the crack of the round ringing out through the forest.
A less loud bang came from the Wrench-Rifle, as it too sent a round down range.
The carriage began to return fire, and some bullets came very close to hitting their targets, and some of them were glowing blue. These men truly were some kinds of wizards. A carriage that could outrun a train and a weapon that can shoot energy. Could it be? No. They haven’t been here for long, there’s no way they could have encountered Malradi and been trained by him. Another more imperative question was why did they come here to defend a train, surely they knew better than to mess with John Mitzal, especially now.
Whatever their plan was, it wouldn’t work. Mr. Strong and Bridgeway were in position to board the train and soon the charges would be in place. More gunshots came from up ahead as Bow and Arrow fired at the green carriage, making sure to stay far enough away to avoid being hit.
A shout came from the direction of the train. “Sir! Charges are in place!”
“Good! Light them up!”
A large explosion came from the rear-most train carriage, and once the smoke settled, the whole back wall was gone and pieces of it were strewn all over the train tracks behind it. But there was no time to dwell on it.
“Pavel, Kameron, Get on the train, let’s throw a wrench into his plans.”
“We are stopping a robbery?” The latter asked.
“Of course, don’t you remember the thief that we hit who was running with those gems? People see us and the other 16 cars as heroes, let’s not give them false hope.”
“Alright, Keep the car steady.”
The passenger side rear window was then rolled down, the larger lombax of the two pulled himself up out of the window and grabbed the ladder on the back of the train car. The second then followed, jumping from the car to the train and ascending the ladder.
“Pavel!” Kameron shouted.
“What?”
“Duck!”
It was almost too late when the realization hit, with a bullet ricocheting off the metal on the rail car behind them.
“Fuck! That almost took my head off!”
“I don’t think it was one of the bandits, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“One of the guards came up through the hatch and shot at you, Keep your weapons holstered and I think they might realize we are on their side.”
As if on queue, the guard, who appeared to be a supposedly trained Dyre popped up again and took aim with his weapon, before Pavel wrapped his hands around the ladder’s connectors to the car’s roof.
“Wait! We aren’t the bad guys, We are trying to help you.”
“Why should I trust you?” The guard shouted.
“Do we look like we are from here?”
The guard took notice of the green vehicle matching the speed of the train. That was no lizard, and the person he aimed at looked nothing like a Leoni or a Valraadi. Large prominent ears and face that looked like something between a fox and a cat.
“How many of you are there?”
Pavel flatly told the guard; “Five. The other three are in the car.”
“That thing?" The guard asked, using his rifle to indicate.
“Yes, and–”
A bullet struck the armored hatch.
“Just help us to stop that miscreant, before he kills us all!” He shouted before he disappeared down into the carriage with the hatch slamming shut behind him. Less than a minute later the carriage door opened and the guard beckoned them to follow him. He was a Dyre, but he was fluent in speech and appeared to be 8 and a half feet tall.
“Quickly now, get inside.”
The heavy steel door slammed closed and sealed shut Inside were several wooden crates stamped with some kind of coat of arms, and were marked with the crescent moon shape of the alchemy symbol for silver. So it was true, a money transport that was the target of robbery. It looked like that “prophet” from a few days ago wasn’t lying when he warned about theft of fortune.
“Let’s get through that door then!” Pavel boomed, picking up his pace and putting on the gate crasher setting for the wrench.
“Wait, Wait! The door’s been blocked!”
“Not after this!”
A whine came from Pavel’s omniwrench as it charged to full power. The green lights on the prong glowed green once it reached 100% power. The powerful magnets fixed themselves to the steel door, and… nothing? Surely the door breach system would have fired by now, otherwise there would be no way to get through–. A bright flash came from the space between the prongs and there was a bang. When the smoke settled, there was no longer a solid steel wall where the door stood, instead replaced by a giant gaping hole, its edges glowing orange rapidly fading as the metal cooled down.
Kameron turned to the guard. “Go to the forward car and get the engineers to pick up the speed, then radio ahead to the next station of your situation. Go!”
Mr. Strong had made sure that the door was impossible to open, he’d even used that fire magic to melt the bolts into their attaching points and yet, there now was a massive gaping hole in the spot where the door was, the edges glowing orange but cooling rapidly. It was impossible, there was no technology that could punch through that much armor let alone send the section of the steel door and the locking bolts with the damned things still in the door flying over their heads at high speed.
Just as Bridgeway made the first move to grab the first bag, he heard a crash. A gigantic silver furred creature that looked like a cat and a fox with ears bigger than its head threw itself at Mr. Strong. He anticipated its attack and curled his elbow around its neck, but what Mr. Strong didn’t expect it to do was elbow him in the ribs as hard as it could. It doubled him over, but he wasn’t going to give up that easily.
As he was thrown against a crate on the far wall, Strong landed a punch in the beast’s nose, but it didn’t flinch, instead planting a fist into the side of his head which sent him stumbling across the carriage floor.
As if he was going to let some beast defeat him! A snarl escaped the man but just as he threw himself at the silver beast it lunged at him.
Meanwhile, Bridgeway watched in subdued terror as the strongest man of their group was being thrown about like a wood plank in a windstorm. Thinking quickly, the revolver in his holster found itself in his hand and he took aim, but there was no gunshot as a powerful authoritative hissing whoosh came from behind him and an ominous humming blue glow swept through the darkened part of the cabin.
The dodge came quickly, a swift change in stance that left one knee on the ground and aim trained on the new enemy, which did not go very far as the blue glowing beam swung down ward, slashing the revolver in two, the half of the gun still in hand steaming, and the half with the barrel clattered to the ground. Instinctively, Bridgeway reached for his enchanted blade and produced it with a majestic metallic shink sound followed by some kind of magic warbling.
The four people in the cabin continued with their brawl for several minutes, until Pavel finally overpowered the bigger man and shoved him off the back of the train carriage, tumbling down the train tracks.
The power struggle between Kameron and the swordsman lasted only 10 seconds longer before his blade overpowered the enchanted metal one and cut it in half before a powerful kick then sent the man flying off the back of the carriage, but not before the slashed edge of the blade caught a bag of coins which spewed out 10 coins at most, before he stumbled off the back of the train.
Watching as the men disappeared into the distance behind the train, Kameron heard a shout.
“There’s a bridge coming up and a river!”
A glance down the side of the carriage revealed it to be true, and they were approaching fast.
It took 5 precious minutes to get through the debris, through the second carriage, and out the door from where they came in. Just as they reached the ladder Kameron slipped, and almost fell under the train but Pavel grabbed him and pulled him up.
“Just Jump!” Malcolm shouted, as Pavel was stuffing himself through the still open passenger window.
Mere seconds before the bridge structure separated the car from the railroad track, Kameron leapt from the ladder and the ground beneath the Magistrate disappeared. The other guards that leaned out from the windows were cheering the team on as they sailed through the air. The car hung in the air for what seemed like 5 minutes before the ground on the other side of the ravine caught the wheels. The sudden traction gain made the car unstable, and it spun around coming to a stop just before the road, flinging Kameron from his grasp on the roof rack, sending him rolling across the forest clearing.
“K, get your fatass up and get in the car, those highwaymen are coming for us and they are pissed!”
Without much more prompting, Kameron sprinted back to the car, swung the door open and didn’t bother to close it.
The green self-puller carriage took off, throwing up soil and dust , before it disappeared into the forest, seemingly forever. Mitzal pulled his revolver and fired off all six rounds into the forest, hitting pretty much nothing
He’d been outsmarted once again, and the people who did so got away, Again! Surrounded by nothing but idiots. Months of planning lost, and practically nothing to show for it. Someone would get an earful or be shot.
Preposterous!
The drive back to the camp was done at high speed, the Narrowblock V8 howling and roaring as the Olive Drab Oil Tanker sailed across the gravel sea, with the throttles set to full ahead, until the narrow switchback roads going up the mountain prevented that. Within minutes the camp was in sight, and parked there already were Bricksley, the ASR-4, the Freewaystar, Elbrus, and the other teams.
Without warning the Magistrate belted into the camp, narrowly missing Jill from Team Wayfarers who had to jump out of the way. After passing the Chernobog, Aedan yanked the wheel hard to the hard to the left. The V8’s 4 stroke cycle jumped in RPM holding at around 5000 and the rear wheels spinning with more fury a fire breathing dragon, throwing up a huge plume of dust and soil mostly showering, the Yamada, the Dauer Hakaru with dirt, also catching a bit of the Bricksley and Freewaystar, alerting most of the camp with dust cloud hovering over it.
“Is everyone alright?”
A pained groan came from the back. “Yeah… Malcolm, could you please get off me?”
“Give me a moment.”
“That’s all the solace I need.”
The Magistrate finally lived up to its name, upholding justice and thwarting a train robbery and as a reward got a well deserved rest, although being damaged and riddled with bullets in battle.
Kaylie watched as the Union Magistrate barreled into camp at an incredible rate of speed, narrowly missing Jill from Team Wayfarers, kicking dirt up all over Chernobog, then slinging dust and soil over the Yamada, the Dauer, and the Hakaru, and catching the atomic pink van and their Bricksley with some of the aftermath. “Really?” she grumbled, getting up to confront the bad drivers. “It’s bad enough when Kivenaal drives like he’s got a death wish,” Kaylie said, approaching the driver’s door of the Magistrate, “but at least he reserves that for the… Are those bullet holes!? What the fuck did you do, piss off Crugandr’s military?”
Jayde shook his head, joining Kaylie at the door of the Magistrate. “No. I’d place my money on them having foiled John Mitzal again. I’d wager,” Jayde said, holding up one gleaming Syrkal between his claws, “that they foiled a train robbery. He’s famous for trying to do it. Usually I’d turn up and ruin his day. Trained a couple Dyre for the company to help protect their silver and gold shipments from getting attacked. No one wants to face an angry Dyre, it’s usually a good way to get ripped in half.”
When none of them countered what Jayde had said, Jayde flipped the coin and put it back away. “One of these days, we’ll get Mitzal and he’ll pay for his crimes,” Jayde said.
Weather at Stage Start: Hot (35C), moderately humid, and breezy
Weather at mid-stage: Still hot (37C), humid, and slightly windier
Weather at Stage End (First Car): Hot (39C), less humid, lower wind speeds
Weather at Stage End (Last Car): Hot (40C), mild humidity, a gentle breeze
Stage End (First Car): 2 and 19 Sun, 28/7/3251, Garda Winn Campsite
Stage End (Last Car): 3 and 75 Sun, 28/7/3251, Garda Winn Campsite
Weather at mid-day (5 Sun): Hot (42C), slightly humid, a gentle breeze.
Weather at end of day (9 to 10 Sun): Cooling down (30C), cloudy, rising humidity, a comfortable breeze.
Leaving Pritz, everyone is glad to see the gravel and dirt left behind them as the downhill road turns to cobblestone. Being a fairly steep downhill road, everyone is able to go faster than they normally would, though some small sharp rocks are sure to cause problems. At the bottom of the hill, it’s an all-out drag race into the campsite at Garda Winn. There, our camp is on the outskirts of the city, and our various vehicles keep attracting the attention of the locals. Some of the more mechanically-inclined local tinkers even drive their motor-vehicles into our camp to get better looks at our incredibly unusual, all-metal self-propelled carriages. Theirs generally resemble the average carriage, but with a single-cylinder combustion engine mounted near the rear axle.
Notes: Randomization is active. Breakdowns are active. Time is in Earth Time. Times included in Finishing Order. New: Aetheriian elapsed time and Aetheriian Arrival Time also included in finishing order. New: Temperatures (in degrees Celsius) return to the weather. New: Weather updates for mid-day and End of Day.
Distance Traveled: 177.6
Time (HH:MM:SS): 02:21:55
Average MPH: 75.0
Randomizer: 12
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3196.8
Kivenaal takes the wheel and decides to put his foot down hard. The Bricksley, despite being beaten up from previous stages, responds eagerly on the downhill grade, engine roaring as more than 9,000 pounds of truck, cargo, and crew go flying down the road.
Distance Traveled: 177.6
Time (HH:MM:SS): 04:21:24
Average MPH: 40.7
Randomizer: 7
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 3 (Tires)
Total Distance Traveled: 3196.8
The only thing scarier than a flat tire when you’re doing 80 downhill is two flat tires. Chernobog grinds to a halt, and it’s up to Jack and Jill to change a pair of tires out.
Distance Traveled: 177.6
Time (HH:MM:SS): 02:29:32
Average MPH: 71.2
Randomizer: 9
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 2 (Chassis)
Total Distance Traveled: 3196.8
Like a few others, the Hakaru Carica has to make a stop to deal with a problem. Luckily for you, it was the plastic covering for the skidplate coming loose and making that awful scraping noise. After peeling it off the rest of the way and tossing it in the back, the pedal returns to being welded to the floor.
Distance Traveled: 177.6
Time (HH:MM:SS): 02:30:33
Average MPH: 70.7
Randomizer: 10
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3196.8
It’s good to be out of the mud! With a smooth road and not too many curves, the Claussient rockets down the hill, making up some time for all the times it got mired in the mud and dumped in the dirt.
Distance Traveled: 177.6
Time (HH:MM:SS): 02:30:35
Average MPH: 70.7
Randomizer: 10
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3196.8
You do know that tailgating isn’t very nice, right? Riding the bumper of the little Claussient wagon, the great green land-ship that is the Magistrate roars down the hill. It seems that all the abuse the wagon has taken, including the barrel roll into one of the campsites and the handful of bullet holes, hasn’t caused enough damage to slow them down, and the two Dyre pups are excited about their experience going fast again.
Distance Traveled: 177.6
Time (HH:MM:SS): 01:50:11
Average MPH: 96.7
Randomizer: 12
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3196.8
The engine screamed the whole way down, nearly on the rev-limiter the whole time. The brakes, likewise, squealed for mercy as the van hurtled into camp. On the plus side, being first into the camp means you get to pick where you want to park.
Distance Traveled: 177.6
Time (HH:MM:SS): 03:32:37
Average MPH: 50.1
Randomizer: 7
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 1 (Powertrain)
Total Distance Traveled: 3196.8
Great time was being made until the V8 overheated and barfed coolant everywhere. Sitting around waiting for a hot engine to cool down isn’t fun. However, it seems that some luck is on your side, as eventually, the engine cooled down enough to make it into the camp, and there, you were able to refill the radiator.
Distance Traveled: 177.6
Time (HH:MM:SS): 03:28:00
Average MPH: 51.2
Randomizer: 8
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 2 (Chassis)
Total Distance Traveled: 3196.8
It was all going so well until a familiar sound reappeared, one that hasn’t been heard in a while. Sure enough, some of the cargo came loose again and was clattering around. Worse still, however, was having to catch a fast-moving roll of nearly-empty duct tape as it tried to escape down the hill at a great rate of speed.
Distance Traveled: 177.6
Time (HH:MM:SS): 03:13:51
Average MPH: 54.9
Randomizer: 7
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 4 (Team Caused)
Total Distance Traveled: 3196.8
With it being a concern that the Yamada might be sentient, great care was taken to not push it hard down the hill. On the plus side, the air conditioning seemed to work a little better as a result, as if the car was rewarding you for taking it easy on this stage.
Distance Traveled: 177.6
Time (HH:MM:SS): 03:29:37
Average MPH: 50.8
Randomizer: 8
Refueling Stops: 2
Breakdown: 3 (Tires)
Total Distance Traveled: 3196.8
The good news: the only time you popped tires was while refueling the van. The bad news: You had to refuel the van twice and both times, you popped the tires.
Distance Traveled: 177.6
Time (HH:MM:SS): 03:00:58
Average MPH: 58.8
Randomizer: 7
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 4 (Team Caused)
Total Distance Traveled: 3196.8
Not trusting in Rukari’s magic, or the strength of his mystical runes drawn with a mix of engine oil and Bricksley Stormy Sky Blue paint, or trusting Rukari enough to even let him paint on the engine block with that mess, the decision was made to go down the hill at a risk-free pace.
Distance Traveled: 177.6
Time (HH:MM:SS): 03:27:30
Average MPH: 51.3
Randomizer: 7
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 2 (Chassis)
Total Distance Traveled: 3196.8
Four words: Lower Control Arm Bushings. They’re completely shot on the passenger side, causing the car to wander all over the road. Luckily, you had some, and were able to put them in on the side of the road.
Distance Traveled: 177.6
Time (HH:MM:SS): 02:42:38
Average MPH: 65.5
Randomizer: 9
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 4 (Team Caused)
Total Distance Traveled: 3196.8
It was all fun and games until someone juggled the fuel cans, spilled one of them all over the place, and left everyone hoping that one can would be just enough to make it into camp.
Distance Traveled: 177.6
Time (HH:MM:SS): 02:13:15
Average MPH: 79.9
Randomizer: 11
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3196.8
Full Steam Ahead! The Dione blasts out of the station on an early start (with permission) and hurtles on down the hill, gaining speed the whole time. With green signals most of the way, the Tangerine Tank Engine rockets past signal boxes at a frightening pace. In their boxes, the signalmen responsible for passing information onward are writing down times and forwarding information as fast as they can, because Robert the Redneck Railcar is setting a speed record! Sadly, a signal at danger brings the fun to an end, though the new brakes hold up well. It turns out, you were closing in on the train that went before you, and so the rest of the trip is spent at line speed, occasionally having to wait for the track ahead to clear.
Distance Traveled: 177.6
Time (HH:MM:SS): 02:15:48
Average MPH: 78.4
Randomizer: 13
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3196.8
When in doubt, send it! The Dauer scoots along at a surprising pace, again making up for lost time for once thanks to it not being another mud-bog requiring a 4x4, and by being downright fast on the road.
Distance Traveled: 177.6
Time (HH:MM:SS): 02:41:35
Average MPH: 65.9
Randomizer: 9
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 3 (Tires)
Total Distance Traveled: 3196.8
“Well, how was I to know those rocks were sharp!?” Turns out, running a little wide and playing in the dirt was a bad idea, because some of those rocks were just jagged enough to slash a tire.
Stage Finishing Order:
ET Earth - ET Aetheriian - Arrival Time - Team
01:50:11 – 1 h and 19 m – 2 and 19 Sun – Team Hillbilly Rollers
02:13:15 – 1 h and 40 m – 2 and 40 Sun – Team RK Series Racing
02:15:48 – 1 h and 41 m – 2 and 41 Sun – Team Black Rabbit Corporation
02:21:55 – 1 h and 47 m – 2 and 47 Sun – Team Shift Happens
02:29:32 – 1 h and 54 m – 2 and 54 Sun – Team Gearknobs
02:30:33 – 1 h and 55 m – 2 and 55 Sun – Team Fallen Angels of the Past
02:30:35 – 1 h and 55 m – 2 and 55 Sun – Team Oil Crisis
02:41:35 – 1 h and 64 m – 2 and 64 Sun – Team Spy Kids
02:42:38 – 1 h and 66 m – 2 and 66 Sun – Team Jockey
03:00:58 – 2 h and 02 m – 3 and 02 Sun – Team Quick Rally 47
03:13:51 – 2 h and 14 m – 3 and 14 Sun – Team Blazers
03:27:30 – 2 h and 26 m – 3 and 26 Sun – Team Mrezhari
03:28:00 – 2 h and 27 m – 3 and 27 Sun – Team Mravolinski-Chitco
03:29:37 – 2 h and 28 m – 3 and 28 Sun – Team Machinas Con Passiones
03:32:27 – 2 h and 31 m – 3 and 31 Sun – Team Witchlight
04:21:24 – 2 h and 75 m – 3 and 75 Sun – Team Wayfarers
The Bricksley stormed back into camp after performing a vital mission for Team RK Series Racing, and Kivenaal, in his excitement, gunned the engine and did several donuts in the camp, the engine roaring and bellowing like some angry beast as gravel and dirt were kicked up all over the campsite.
Thankfully, Kivenaal was calmed down, and the remaining 20 minutes passed in a hurry. The team stayed in the Bricksley, ready to roll the instant the clock chimed for 1 Sun, with the only exception being Rukari, who hopped out, grabbed a spare bottle of touch-up paint and a little engine oil, created a mixture of oil and paint, then crawled under the car and applied several hand-drawn runes to the engine to protect it from damage.
“Does anyone else want me to put runes on their engine so it stays together going downhill?” Rukari asked.
(Note: If you want runes on the engine to explain why your car was fast, feel free to borrow Rukari for that.)
After all the people who wanted his help had their engines marked, Rukari cleaned off his fingers and returned to the truck.
1 Sun
The bell rang out loud just before the ear-shattering roar of the Bricksley did, as Kivenaal put his foot down hard and ripped through the gears like a maniac. Dirt flew up behind the truck as it left the camp, threatening to dirty the windshields of any teams foolish enough to follow too closely.
On the Road
Luckily, the dirt and gravel gave way to cobblestone shortly after leaving the camp. Kivenaal had the throttle welded to the floor, the engine outright screaming in fifth gear, 8 cylinders pounding hard as seven liters of fury charged down the hill with 9,500 pounds of weight aiding it.
“There’s 50. 55. 60!” Kivenaal called out, watching the speedometer as the Bricksley charged down the hill. “65!”
“Keep your eyes on the damn road!” Malavera yelled.
“There’s 70!” Kivenaal yelled back. The 427ci V8 was snarling like an angry Dyre as the Highwayman charged down the hill, still slowly gathering speed.
“Come on, you can do it,” Kivenaal said as the truck closed in on 75 miles per hour. “Yes! 75 miles per hour! Can we do 80?” He looked over at the replacement for their driver’s side mirror, the tow-hook cover from the rear bumper duct-taped to the mirror frame, and saw in the shining chrome a pink blob approaching rapidly.
Kayden shook his head as the atomic-pink van blew past the Bricksley. “I can’t believe we just got our doors blown off by that!” Kayden said, shouting over the ear-shatteringly loud V8.
“With all of us and all of our shit in it,” Kaylie shouted back, “we’re over 9500 pounds including the truck. And we have the aerodynamics of a brick!”
“I’ve seen bricks with more rounded corners than this truck!” Jayde yelled in response.
Rukari, like Kivenaal, was staring at the speedometer as it wavered between 73 and 77 MPH depending on whether they were going more downhill or more flat at that point in time.
Then, the Dauer breezed on by, a six-cylinder symphony ringing out over the Bricksley’s bold roar.
“YES!” Kivenaal yelled, “We passed 80 miles per hour!”
“Keep your fucking hands on the steering wheel!” Malavera yelled back as Kivenaal cheered.
“I had one hand on the wheel! Keep your shorts on and don’t get your tail in a twist!”
Soon, the road leveled out, and as a result, the Bricksley slowed down to 75 miles per hour, engine still roaring.
“How’s the coolant!?” Kaylie asked.
“We are at 240 degrees!” Kivenaal replied.
“Back off before you blow the engine up!”
“Engine will be fine,” Rukari replied.
“Yeah, and the radiator might not be! Back off!”
With a mile left to the camp, Kivenaal lifted a little and let the truck slow down, not wanting to face Kaylie’s wrath. “What, you don’t feel like converting the Bricksley into a steam engine?” Kivenaal quipped.
“No! We don’t have enough space for a boiler, let alone one big enough to run this great big lump of American scrap iron!” Kaylie shot back.
Soon, they rolled into the camp, though the radiator was, indeed, venting some steam and spitting screaming-hot water out of the radiator cap.
Garda Winn Campsite, 2-and-47 Sun
With the Bricksley overheating, and beaten soundly by Hillbilly Rollers, RK Series Racing, and Black Rabbit Corporation to the campsite, Kivenaal rolled into the campground and parked the truck. The radiator continued to hiss and spit like an angry cobra for several minutes after the engine was shut down while the team set up their tents and tried to find places to rest.
Jayde wandered over to Team Hillbilly Rollers and offered to repair their windshield, now seeing it was held together by duct tape and good luck.
Kivenaal looked around the campsite, closed his eyes for a moment, then after opening them again, sat down on a tree stump near where he believed Team Oil Crisis would park. Thankfully, the wind was blowing in his favor, so for the first time in many long days, he was able to unwrap one of the cigars he’d stored in his duster, held a flame along the edge of his claw, and lit the cigar. He took a long draw and exhaled slowly, just relaxing as he watched over the campsite, not quite meditating, but at inner peace with himself for the first time in a long while.
Malavera sat inside the truck with the windows rolled down and the key turned to the accessory position, placing a 45 RPM record on the turntable in the dash and switching it on. While the Bricksley’s speakers weren’t great, they were good enough for him in the moment, just letting the music play.
Kayden and Kaylie worked on checking over the Bricksley while they waited for the radiator to cool down. Other than being dusty, dirty, and having a windshield caked in dead bugs, the truck seemed visually fine, and mechanically it was okay, other than the growing puddle of water forming under the front of the truck. Eventually, the radiator stopped hissing and spitting, and after letting it sit for a while more, Kaylie was able to remove the radiator cap to see what was left of their water.
“Twin Suns, you could boil a lobster in there right now!” Kaylie grumbled. “It’s still boiling. How the fuck can it get this hot!?”
“Kivenaal drove it like a maniac, that’s how it got so hot,” Kayden remarked. “Though, to be fair, this heat doesn’t help either.”
“No, but the radiator is still stupid hot,” Kaylie said. “But if you want to head into town and get some supplies for lunch and for dinner, we’d all be happy.”
Unlike Janne and Marie, Andreas had hardly been able to sleep, and woke the team up early in the morning.
“Fuck…go to sleep again you moron…”, Marie said in an annoyed tone. “No.”, Andreas said. “We got no time to spare. The tangerine tank engine is already leaving.” "Don’t you think they have a good reason?, Janne asked. “I mean, they are on rails after all, it might be to not be stuck behind some slow moving train or so…” “Get up!”, Andreas said. “We’re getting away before the other teams, I refuse to start second to anyone else than Team RK series racing now!”
Before leaving, they heard Rukari asking something about runes.
“Hey Andreas, should we get some runes on the motor block…”, Janne asked while slapping Andreas on the shoulder. “NO RUNES AND NO OTHER DEMONS AND DRAGONS BULLSHIT!”, he answered angrily. “Hey, why so angry?”, Janne laughed. “Stop blabbering!”, Andreas said. “We are leaving, and we are leaving now!”
The team was speeding away before everyone else, and with that said, “speeding” was really the correct term. The IP van was blazing away like a pink thunderbolt down the road.
“Andreas, you are driving like a maniac”, Marie said. “Trust me, I know how to drive”, Andreas said, with the needle of the rev counter pinned just above red. “But it’s just a short stage today.”, Marie said. “Why so hurried?” “There is no way I am going to let that freaking Yamada pass us!”, he answered. “Why so scared of the Yamada?”, Janne laughed. “I AM NOT SCARED!”, Andreas shouted.
Andreas cranked up the volume so high that the worthless stock speakers was more or less begging to die so he should not hear their blabbering, and almost pushed the accelerator through the floor.
“Andreas…”, Janne said. “I DON’T WANT TO HEAR!” “Something must have happened to the van during the night…”, he said. “No fucking way!”, Andreas said. “Stop that!”, Janne answered. “I have been driving this van since it was brand new, and you know what? It runs better than ever. An IP van is not supposed to be this fast!”
And Janne really had a point. The pink brick WAS speeding down the road at a truely unrealistic speed at this moment.
“Like what? Someone would have slapped a GMC 3/71 supercharger on the old 4Z during the night? If that was the case, Marie would have it shoved up far into her ass by now.”, Andreas answered with more than just a grain of salt. “I don’t know but it is running too well…” was Janne’s conclusion.
The pink van indeed crossed the finish line first. “I will park FAR away. So far away that Team Blazers won’t find us!”, Andreas said. “Why so scared of Team Blazers?”, Janne asked. “I AM NOT AFRAID!”, Andreas said.
Things were relatively calm, though, and a while later Jayde was asking the team if they wanted the windshield repaired. “Yes”, Janne said. "HEY, ANDREAS! COME HERE AND WATCH SOMETHING!
