Shitbox Rally 2023 - Stage 14 (FINISHED!)

TEAM HILLBILLY ROLLERS

PART 3.1 - No beer means no drama!

Earlier parts

Pre-prologue part 1
Pre-prologue part 2
Prologue part 0.1
Prologue part 0.15 - Interlude
Prologue part 0.2
Prologue part 0.3
Prologue part 0.4
Part 1.1 - What’s that smell?
Part 2.1 - Can I see your driver’s license, please?

PART 3.1 - No beer means no drama!

The morning started out with all the team members being rather grumpy after the chaos the previous day. Janne really searched through the Wolverine for all the hidden beer he could find, put it inside the Rugger, and locked the canopy.

“Hey, I have no keys to that canopy!”, Marie said.

“It seems like you have understood my idea behind this, then!”, Janne answered.

He put a can of fresh water inside the cab of the Wolverine and said to Marie that it was all that she would get in case she got thirsty.

“Water is gross! Fishes are fucking in it!”, Marie mumbled.

The drive in itself, though, was rather undramatic this time. Marie actually started to somehow get the grip of how to drive the Wolverine, even if she still stuttered, grinded the gears, stalled it and took the turns a bit wide, it went a lot calmer this time. At least Arne did not fear knocking his teeth out on the glovebox door anymore.

“Seems like you are learning”, Arne said.

Of course, mainly keeping the drive to highways, and better weather conditions might have contributed to the relaxed drive. They passed other teams that mainly seemed to have tyre troubles, but for some reason, the old and somewhat dry tyre setups on both the Rugger and even more the Wolverine seemed to hold up well.

Somewhere in between the slowest and the fastest teams, our friends rolled into camp without too much drama.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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STAGE ONE - SHIVERWIND TO SILVERCREEK


Camping in the Cold


In the fading light, the two luxury sedans sat in the clearing where the convoy had made camp. On board the Ambassador the space heater was running on full blast, the car’s electrical system having been connected to the power generator. The IVERA sat nearby, completely silent and dormant. Its occupants were asleep, one in the camper shell, and two in the cabin. In the Ambassador, the fox and the caracal were scrunched side by side, the back seats of their car having been folded down to create a makeshift bed for the two. Both were fully stretched out, their legs extending into the trunk, and all of the gear that was in it, was either shoved into the front seats or in the gap between the rear and front seats.

Neither Landon nor Karl could drift off. It was honestly quite incredible.

“Karl?” Landon whispered.

The caracal sighed. “Yeah?”

“Have you tried to fall asleep?”

An annoyed grunt. “Yes, and I can’t. I don’t understand how you thought there was enough room in here for the two of us. Especially you with your massive upper torso.”

“Hey now, don’t fault me for trying to be in shape.”

“Good god, Landon. You might be a general but I didn’t expect you to be this obtuse.”

“Obtuse? What does that have to do with not being able to sleep?”

From behind the general comes a groan. “Just forget about it, okay?”

“Alright.” Landon lets out a quiet breath. “So, uh… Are we gonna sleep like this? Back to back, squished together like sardines? Almost fully clothed?”

“You have a better idea?”

“No.”

“Then shut up!” Karl hissed, trying not to let out a snarl.

The two fell silent, and tried to drift off to sleep. Eventually, both were successful, at the behest of jabbing, kicking or poking each other while sleeping. Meanwhile, in the IVERA all was well. Aryton and Denali were huddled together for warmth, while Amell was in an extreme cold grade sleeping bag in the IVERA’s Toppola. As time went on, everyone reached morning, having managed to get a mostly reasonable amount of rest for the drive to Silvercreek City the next morning.

Again, General Sabourne could only hope that no serious problems would befall him and his team as they drove the first leg of the journey through Nehmenweld.


Smooth Cruise: The Stage One Drive


The next morning was cold, but thanks to the space heaters neither of the two crews encountered the frigid temperatures outside. Soon, everyone was getting packed up to leave and the two luxury yachts turned out onto the main road.

The mountains were snow capped, much like the Orvelis and Phecada mountain ranges of central Velkaristan, or the Rocky Mountains of North America. It was a spectacle to behold, at least until the blizzards started.

The Ambassador’s pitot tubes measured -20 celsius, and the airspeed was almost double as it led the two car convoy. Both the fox and caracal were wearing mostly effective winter clothing, some of which was shed because of Mayland Motors’ famously powerful heater.

Landon was glancing every so often into the rear view mirror on the passenger side. In it were the headlights and rough profile of an IVERA Executive with a toppola camper. “This is… real bad. I’d wager out right dangerous, especially with the winds.”

They approached another hairpin turn as they traversed the switchback roads. “We are driving through a blizzard, Landon. Visibility is not on our side. There’s– Oh shit!” The car’s tail swung wide as the rear tires lost traction, while Karl welded his foot to the floor by accident, only letting off and feathering it when he felt the car about to spin out, his counter steer keeping them straight. The massive car that was the Mayland then proceeded to pull off a drift around the corner somehow better Fujiwara from Initial D.

“That was fun! Scary as hell, but fun.”

“Dangerous too. Though, I don’t think it’s a good idea when we can’t see 30 feet ahead of us.”

Following this near miss, the two cars continued on. Eventually, they arrived at a gas station off the road at a small village. The attendant didn’t pay much attention to the two cars as his shift was almost over, and after the two cars resumed the journey, he got in his own car and drove himself home.

Eventually after more driving in the blizzard, they arrived in Silvercreek City, a large settlement with people living out their days in extreme cold. The Mountain View Cabins provided an excellent piece of shelter, and a nice change from sleeping in the back of a car, especially for Landon and Karl, the two, tall and muscular brutes of the team.

Inside their cabin, was a table in the center, a wood burning stove on one side and an empty bunk bed in the corner. It provided a perfect place to discuss the quest they had, to hunt down the mythical chalice. Karl had a map out on the table, and was studying it trying to match the picture in his journal and documents he’d brought along.

“Any luck?” Landon asked, somewhat interested.

Karl, looked up and shook his head. “No. Nehmenweld is as big, if not bigger than North America. And this jungle up here in the north? It’s thousands of miles of trees, judging from the scale.”

A piece of burning firewood in the stove popped, and the fire continued crackling.

“What about this stretch of highway?” Landon pointed out the road snaking through the jungle. I did a bit of studying on the chalice, and I remember it had worshipers that visited a temple back in the day. Maybe we’ll find the entrance along this road?”

“That’s the new highway, Landon. The old road was abandoned long ago and it’s not on this chart.”

A huff of breath came from the General, and he stepped over to the stove where tea was brewing in a kettle Karl had brought.

Karl changed the topic. “What do we tell the hosts?”

“What?” Landon’s eyes were full of incredulousness, and a bit of anger.

“The hosts.”

His emotions faded, and the general shook his head. “We can’t. This mission risks exposing a weapon of mass destruction. Or at least an equivalent, we’ll be in big trouble if we lose it to someone.”

A huff from the caracal. “Look Landon, the further we travel, the harder it will be to keep this a secret. We have to search for leads or clues, and it’ll be veeery suspicious if we don’t explain why we turn up in the camp at a ridiculous hour or leave long before anyone else. Then we’ll have to explain ourselves which will only make things worse, especially if we get caught lying to them.”

“So what’s the plan?” The general poured the boiling water into his thermos and placed a tea bag into it.

“We tell them. We tell the hosts what we are here to do, aside from participating in this rally.”

“When?”

“Tomorrow, before we leave for Hollenburg.” Karl pointed out the city on the map. I’ll fill them in once we arrive in the next campground. I’d suggest starting with Kasiya, he’s probably the most knowledgeable in this subject. If you can, I’d also suggest getting his father, the commander and Kivenaal, the gunslinger, maybe Jayde as well. Ramius tells me he and Kivenaal can be trusted.”

“Understood. Until then we can come up with a plan on how to find the first clue. Perhaps brainstorm a few ideas.”

Later in the night they finished up with their plotting and planning and packed up all their gear and neatly organized it so they can load it into the cars again tomorrow as efficiently as possible. Meanwhile, the cabin next door was deathly silent. Amell was reading a book, while his brother and future sister-in-law were asleep huddled together. Eventually the last three remaining members of the Ambassadors team, drifted off to sleep, to be well rested for tomorrow.


'Till next time!

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STAGE ONE - CAMP INTERLUDE

Sounds Like a Plan


The morning was finally upon the camp, and Team Ambassadors was getting packed up once again. Landon being a military officer was bright and early, and had already packed up most of the items he and Karl had taken out of the car, same with the sleeping bag he was given. Karl followed shortly after and also began packing up. Within minutes they had packed up the Ambassador, and were now helping out with loading the IVERA.

At some point during the loading sequence, Landon glanced towards the commander’s son who was near one of the HDGV trucks parked on the far side of the camp. Karl on the other hand, nodded in the direction as if to say “Go On”.

Landon sighed, his breath visible in the cold air. Well, it would sure be helpful to have more than just him and Karl hunting for the damn cup. Especially with a cybernetic wolf, a gun slinging 4 armed tiger, a massive skyscraper archeologist that was the commander’s son, and a lion who seemed to to know how all that magic malarkey works.

The general left his team and started in the direction of the Khalan trucks. Unlike Nevada he didn’t wear his dress uniform, which was safely packed away in his suitcase. This time he wore a pair of jeans, a dark indigo t-shirt under his leather jacket, and a thick winter parka to top it all off, and of course military grade winter boots. His sidearm was in the Mayland’s glovebox since they entered into Nehmenweld.

He slowly approached the two trucks thinking over what he should say and how he should say it.

Takaraya was the first to notice Landon, though before he could say something, Kasiya also turned to look at the general, still dressed in a full suit of powered armor.

“Do you need something?” Kasiya asked, the shining gray paint on his armor glinting in the sunlight, a sharp contrast to his jet black fur.

The general stopped short, addressing both of them. “There’s something I have to tell you. Something that should stay between us. You see, Karl and I are here because… Well while we are here for the rally and to have a bit of down time, him and I are hunting for something his grandfather had been looking for but never found.”

“You probably know what it is.” He turned to Kasiya.

Kasiya gave a light nod. “The Sacred Chalice of Aureia. One moment,” he said. “Layara, holo-projection on, the map of Nehmenweld. Overlay our route on it.”

From Kasiya’s left forearm, a map appeared in shimmering pale green, with a thick blue path carved from south to north.

“My sources say it was used in a temple for healing purposes, which makes sense as Aureia was considered the Goddess of Peace and Healing. Some time after the First War of Magic, the temple disappeared. Or, more specifically… A rainforest appeared around said temple. Either of you know a little bit of the old languages here?”

Jayde said something that even the rings couldn’t translate, then mentioned, “Jilbuur is an Ancient Aetheriian word. It means “Healing Water.” A lot of mystics use Ancient Aetheriian for spellcasting, but… they’re memorizing words, I learned the language.”

“I don’t but, Karl does.” Landon replied to the question of speaking the language. “I know the cup was used for healing. But I learned it can be used for something far sinister.”

He breathed. “It has potential that if it falls into the wrong hands, it can be used as a weapon of mass destruction.”

“Sounds to me,” Kivenaal said, leaning out of the rear door of the Home Unit, “that we should find it to destroy it.”

“My instructions are fairly simple,” Kasiya said. “I am to find the Chalice and 3D scan it, determine the material construction, and learn the history of it. Once my task is done, I have no further need of the Chalice. Upon my return to Earth, I’ll send in the required information and the Interplanetary Historical Preservation Society will create a replica of the Chalice for people to view.”

Jayde sighed. “Why is it that humans have the most irritating habit of taking things meant to heal and using them to harm?”

Kivenaal shrugged. “I mean, I’m strong enough with magic to perform, as they were called at the Fall of Aetherii, “Strategic Level Magicks.” All it would take to make it a weapon of mass destruction would be a way to give someone strong magic. Now, imagine your average cult of dark wizards, but instead of little rituals and blood sacrifices, you use the Chalice, spread your followers across a world, and have them, with enhanced magic, casting blood-fueled dark magicks to turn entire cities into glass. Not like nuclear weapons do, either. Literal streets, buildings, lights, plants, pets, people, transformed into perfect glass.” He paused for a moment, then said, “Which is why I believe it should be destroyed.”

Landon looked to Jayde. “Well, it’s not humans. It’s a whole variety of humanoid civilizations.”

“It’s why we have to find it first.” A voice said. Karl. “My grandfather was one of the first who took upon the quest to find it.” His tone be came solemn. “He never did.” Then it went back to normal. “But that doesn’t stop us from doing so and saving the lives of millions.”

“You said we risk exposing it if we go after it.” The general reminded. “Someone could be following us.”

“Yes, but they don’t know this posse is looking for it.”

“Many people chase after the Chalice, year after year,” Jayde said with a note of warning. “The biggest threat will be all the others who are looking for it.”

“As soon as we start searching, they’re going to know we’re looking, and we’re going to be considered a threat because we’re competition for them,” Kivenaal added.

Kasiya sighed. “I was given that warning as well,” he said, “and my grandfather advised me to bring my AI support with me. Of course, Layara is built into my powered armor, so… in a way, he told me to bring along some heavy duty protection.”

Takaraya added, “That’s a full suit of advanced environmental protection armor, minus the helmet. If he had the helmet on, you could hit him with a 30mm autocannon and it would do no harm to him. With the helmet off, .50 BMG is the most dangerous thing he can casually block, thanks to potential fragmentation.”

“I’ve got the helmet in the back of the truck. I just hate wearing it,” Kasiya grumbled.

Landon and Karl looked at each other. Karl was the one who spoke first. “Okay, we’re a team then.”

Takaraya slowly walked over to Karl, then said, “If we are a team, then that means we need to know all the specifics. Right now, none of us have a claim on the Chalice, beyond Kivenaal’s desire to destroy it. Kasiya needs to scan it, photograph it, mark down the materials it was constructed from, and document its history. What are your goals for it?”

“Mine is to preserve it and document it in my family history. Mark it as one of the great achievements of the Heislingberg family.” He elbows Landon, lightly.

“Oh uhm… Mine is purely for the security interests of Velkaristan and the strategic advantage of not leaving a superweapon lying around for anyone to take.” The general seemed to be genuine. “I guess they’d stuff it in a vault and forget about it.”

Kivenaal sighed. “I have one problem with the plan of throwing it in a vault. Eventually, whether it’s next year or 5 millennia from today, someone will find it, and they will use it.”

Kasiya then spoke up, “We have several different species here. Come up with some way to seal it that requires Karl, Landon, and Kivenaal to unlock it. That way, when someone inevitably finds it, they’ll have to try to convince the most dangerous person in the galaxy,” he paused long enough to motion to Kivenaal before continuing, “exactly why they want the Chalice so badly.”

Landon nodded. “Hence why I’m not to keen on trusting my own government. So we’ll need to but it in it’s own safe that can only be opened when a retinal scan, two DNA samples and a code are present.”

“I agree.” Karl replied. “But I think we should get going. I’ll fill you in on what Landon and I know so far when we arrive in Hollenburg.”

Kasiya nodded. “Very well. We’ll see you in Hollenburg,” he replied, before climbing up into the cab of his truck. Kivenaal, Jayde, and Takaraya did the same, joining the other half of the crew, with Kaylie, Jayde, Rukari, and Kasiya in the Carry All, and Kayden, Kivenaal, Malavera, and Takaraya in the Home Unit.

Shortly after, two massive V16 engines rumbled to life, with Kasiya leading and Takaraya following as they left camp.

The Ambassador and IVERA also soon left the camp, behind a few of the other cars. Landon spoke up as they turned out onto the road. “I guess I’ll hear the rest of your plan when we get to the next overnight stop.”

“Yeah, We’ll put our minds to it when we get there.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

And with that the next leg of the journey began.


Oh yes, another one in the span of two days. Enjoy it while it lasts!

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Team Sinesian Rejects


Plus Shift Happens

Team information
Previous part (Part 2 - Sour dreams)
Next part


Part 4-ish - A word with authority


Silvercreek Lodges, Nehmenweld

Dawn broke on the team, huddled up in the Ilaris Itan ute’s bed and the cramped interior of the Frankencar. Not wanting to pay the considerable sum for a night in the lodges, they decided to just keep it simple and keep it cheap. At least the cars came with okay leather seats, with the three in the Imbe enjoying the comfort of front reclining seats, a feature that the cab in the Itan did not allow.

“Agh… My back hurts.” Jas, who did not have the comfort of a proper 3-person bench, had to sleep kind-of curled up, to fit between the wheel arches of the subcompact.

Alauran wipes his eyes and yawns. “Well, you get what you paid for.” He says, shortly after.

Lastly, TJ is awakened by the sound of the Ute’s door slamming closed, with the screech of the swapped inline-4 greeting him after, closing with a symphony of tire squealing.

“God, does he have somewhere to be?” TJ asks.

“I Imagine. We have to head for Hollenburg ourselves, don’t you know?” Al responds, jokingly.

“No, you’re the guy with the entire map imprinted in your brain. Now show me the way from memory if you know so well.” TJ quips.

“Exit here, take a right. Keep straight for a few kilometers until we reach the highway entrance, though I suppose that’s a bit difficult for you.” TJ shoots him a disappointed look. Al continues. “Then we drive on the highway until we reach the exit which says Hollenburg, so we end up somewhere in Hollenburg. The campground should have some kind of marked route, though we might not have to navigate to it using the map, since we can follow the other teams in the traffic, or the hearses.”

“The WHAT now?” Jas gives a shocked look.

“Oh right, they put a cemetery next to the fun-group-activity-joy campground.” Al answers.

“Great, traffic. We’ll catch up to Ianis when he demonstrates the safety features of the ute on some poor family of four.” TJ says, sarcasm laced throughout the sentence.

“Alright, let’s go then. Can’t let him leave us in the dust.” Al suggests.

“After breakfast.” Jas says.

Al looks at Jas and relents. “…After breakfast.”


Having chowed down on the stuff they brought with them, they set off after the ute, albeit at a much more pedestrian pace, contrary to the lightning-fast driving that Ianis is so fond of.

Of course, like the last leg, it has consequences. Soon after flying past a speed limit sign at well over twice the posted speed limit, police were more than on his tail. At a hundred miles per hour, the tires fought for traction in the rapidly changing conditions. Salted, grippy roadway often gave way to smooth sections of ice, and corners often came unexpectedly. He had this in mind, and commanded the vehicle with ferocity as the engine screamed with each straight, brakes smoking once it was time for a corner.

This…couldn’t last. Not with the stock brakes at least. After many cycles of approaching 120 miles per hour, and slowing back down to 40, the brakes began to fade. Eventually, a particularly nasty corner caused the inevitable. With a thousand swear words, the brakes became gas-powered, and the Ute added a hundred Syrkals to the maintenance of the guardrail, as he punched a hole through it, eventually coming to a rest in a glob of moderately-thick snow. Ianis forced the door open through the layer of white-and-brown goodness, and began shoveling and packing the snow to make an attempt at an escape. The landscape was devoid of any hiding places, and the snow only got thicker the further away from the highway you got.

The ute stubbornly refused to get unstuck and back on to the highway, as this model was never intended for extreme off-roading, being delivered with only rear-wheel-drive options, unlike the ‘prestigious’ V8 trim, which had 4x4 generously included. Eventually, Ianis’s ears perked up and heard the police sirens in the distance.

He ducked in to the car, and reached for the rifle. As soon as he did though, he froze.

Looking in the partially-folded side mirror, he observed a monster out of a fantasy novel. Eleven feet tall, giant, and under control of the police. Seeing this, he quickly pulled the rifle apart, and stuffed it in to the glovebox.

“Police! Exit the vehicle now!” A police officer shouted, the monster standing beside, ready to shoot off towards the ute and bash Ianis’s legs in. Further compelled by staring down the barrel of a shotgun, he stepped out of the vehicle.

“On the ground! Hands where I can see them!” The officer demanded, Ianis deciding that the fastest way would be to just cooperate now.

The cuffs went on, and soon enough, he was stuffed in the back of a manky-looking 30’s police car.

As soon as the door closed, they started moving. The officer in the passenger seat looked over at Ianis, and having nothing else to do besides monitor the radio, he decided to start doing paperwork en-route.

“What compelled you to drive well over twice the speed limit?” The officer asked.

“I have a job to do.” Ianis replied, staring at the spot where the wooden guardrail was pierced.
The officer rolled his eyes, before continuing. “What job requires such idiotic driving?”

Ianis turned and stared at the officer for a couple of seconds, before answering. “An important job.”

The officer decides he’s not going to hear anything useful from him, and cuts it off, sighing. They head to the police office, where he is jailed, vehicle being towed to the impound, after recovery from the snowbank. Upon discovery of the weapon, they decide to start a ‘thorough inspection’.


“Ugh… can’t they make driving a bit more exciting than this?” Jas asked.

“You’ve never driven a meter in your life. But no. These roads and the speed limit don’t allow for any spirited driving.” TJ responds, frustrated.

“The less exciting, the more safe.” Al adds.

TJ snorts. “Of course you’re the one to say that.”

They drive on for a bit longer, TJ slowly becoming more inattentive as the road continues to be boring for miles and miles.

“I wonder if they have radio in Nehmenweld.” Jas says, and reaches for the head unit’s power button.

“Isn’t that in tape mo-” Al tries to say, before being cut off by Freddie Mercury blasting through the speakers in the car.

TJ is violently brought back to consciousness as he tugs the steering wheel to the right, careening them off the highway with great speed, striking the raised curb hard, the suspension vocating its disapproval through a loud clunk. The vehicle then stops as it dives in to the snow.

“Fuck.”

“Teej, how about I drive next time?” Alauran suggests.

“How about we stop Jas from ever touching that thing” - He points at the cassette player in the center console - “ever again? How about that, since that’s the only evil in this entire vehicle?”

“It wasn’t my fault that it-”

TJ cuts him off. “Yes it was, and since you can’t lift a feather, go sit here and give it a jab of the accelerator when we tell you to do so.”

No time is wasted as the two exit the car, and begin the push, with Jas remaining inside for…mental support. And indeed pushing the accelerator whenever they think they’ve got it out.
With hours upon hours of pushing, compacting snow and murdering the clutch, they eventually get it out of the snowbank, with great difficulty. They get back up to speed, with the throttle being feathered as it tries to knock with every request of power.

“This bitch’s pulling now. Can’t take my hands off the thing before it decides the right direction is a wall, curb or barrier.” TJ says, now very frustrated at the car’s inability to work correctly. The suspension, not having appreciated the sudden meet-up with a raised curb, started pulling to the right, only increasing the ‘fun’ that TJ was having, babying the damaged engine.


As they start entering the final stretch in to Hollenburg, disaster strikes. TJ’s inattentiveness eventually makes his hands leave the steering wheel, sending the car sideways, and sending another unfortunate car off the road as well, it hitting the barrier, cracking off a good part of the fiberglass fender. Both cars come to a stop as TJ is awakened by the claxon, and Alauran’s shouting of various swear words.

The driver of the other car walks up to the Frankencar, both intrigued at the alien design of the car and frustrated that they probably racked up a good sum’s worth of damage.

“Excuse me, but you have just caused great damage to my vehicle. I request for you to provide an appropriate sum for the damages.”

TJ starts to sweat. “I…we do not have any currency with us.”

The driver rolled his eyes. “Then how will I cover my expenses?”

Al snatched the cassette deck from the back seats. “May we interest you in advanced music-recording technology?” He took the tape out of the deck, shoved it in to the player in the car, and pressed play, to which loud music started blaring. The eyes of the driver lit up.

“What technology powers this? Impeccable quality! This will more than cover my expenses. I have no need for this when I have the power of perfect auditory stimulation!” The driver motioned for the cassette deck, to which Al quickly removed the head unit from the car, and shoved both the cassette deck, the tapes, and the head unit in to the hands of the driver, who, in return, threw a bag of golden coins in to the car, before stuffing it all in his car and driving off with some urgency.

“I…” TJ stuttered for a bit.

“You’re welcome.” Al responded. TJ then stomped back on the gas and they headed for Hollenburg campground.


By the time that they arrive, a good three-quarters of everyone has already arrived. Lighting is set up, generators running, people setting up their camping equipment for the night. What is absent is Ianis and the Ute, however.

“Don’t see the Ute anywhere…” TJ comments, looking around the campground, and glancing over at the graveyard.

“Didn’t someone get arrested last time? With his speeding, we might as well head up to the police station to check up.” Al responds.

“We should ask…who was it who paid the bail? Jayde? Ah, screw it, someone at Shift Happens has to know.”

The two leave Jas to connect the power and set up the heater, while they go and pad over to the sizable HD-GVs.

Kasiya and Jayde looked over to see Alauran and TJ approaching them. “Hello there!” Kasiya said. “We’re just getting prepared for a trip into town.”

Jayde pulled his enchanted bag’s strap over his shoulder, then grabbed his oak cane. “A bunch of people managed to get themselves locked up for running from the police earlier. I’ll pay their fines, get them free, but I’m going to want repayment at some point.”

TJ looked at the two of them and began speaking. “Hey. We noticed that Ianis with the Ute is…absent. Got any news on him? Like, did he get murdered by those Dyre things? Or something like that?”

“We’re willing to pay his fine and bail, we scored some of those syr-things from some local who experienced his driving first-hand.” Alauran interjected, simultaneously pulling out a sizable sum of golden coins, and presenting it to the two. “Turns out, a tape deck is valuable? At least, it’s worth more to them than a ginormous fender being split in half.”

“Yeah, we had a bit of an issue with the tape player in the car and decided we didn’t need it anymore. So we gave it away when I had a severe minor accident.” TJ’s face turned sour, but that soon gave way to an exhausted expression.

Jayde pulled a sheet of parchment out of his bag, then made a quick motion over it with his left hand. Instantly, words appeared on the page, and Jayde checked over it. “Ianis managed to get thrown in jail for running,” he said.

Kasiya gave a quiet, low growl before shaking his head. “I’m going to have a word with him about that speeding problem of his,” he said, deciding to go with Jayde on this trip.

Al wastes no time. “I figured. Well, besides him shortening someone’s car by a few feet, but we would have seen him on the road if that happened.”

TJ looks over at the freshly painted Frankencar, now wearing a three-tone livery of partially melted brown snow, red front-end and white everything else, but most importantly the right wheel’s addition of some camber and angle. “So, about that accident. I kind of broke the steering during that. So could we-”

Alauran looks at TJ, before continuing. “It is of no issue, I will be driving from now on, at least until he stops whining about the car. We’ll be heading over to the police station with you, if that is fine.”

“Kaylie! While we’re dealing with retrieving the speeders,” Jayde called out, “mind checking over their car? TJ says he broke the steering.”

“Yeah, get me get my tools out of the truck,” Kaylie replied.

Jayde then looked to Alauran and TJ. “Kaylie will try her best to fix the steering. Once we get back, I’ll help in my own way.”

Kasiya took a long drink from his “canteen”, which happened to be a 10 liter jerry can with a seatbelt tied to the handle, complete with the Bricksley winged lion on the buckle’s release button, before slinging the seatbelt strap over his shoulder and letting the heavy metal can hang at his hip, banging lightly against his powered armor.

TJ sighs. “Thanks!” He shouted in the general direction of Kaylie.

Al waits a second before asking, “So…do we just hop in the vehicle with you, or do we limp the frankencar over to the police station?” He looks over at where Kaylie is, before returning his gaze to Kasiya, who had finished the swing of the giant canteen by then.

Jayde looked over at the pair, then said, “It’s less than a mile between here and the police station. I was going to walk it.”

Kasiya then added, “No offense, but I’m probably damn close to the weight of the frankencar right now with this armor on. Plus, as Jayde mentioned, it’s a relatively short walk. It’s not like one of my father’s 15 mile morning runs.”

“Fair, I guess.” Al responded, slightly embarrassed by the statements. He then prodded at TJ. “Come on, you can handle a bit of a walk, was only a bit of a wrestle with the wheel.” TJ groans, but turns in the direction of the entrance of the campground.

Kasiya chuckled, following Jayde to the police station.

Jayde had a map of Hollenburg open, a dot showing his current position. The ink-spot casually moved across the map as the four of them walked, showing that, yet again, this was one of Jayde’s many magical items.


As the quartet closed in on the police station, Jayde gave a light grimace. “I know that smell. They have trained Dyre here,” he said.

“That would certainly be one way to stop people, as I’ve heard it said, “doing a runner” after their car is stopped,” Kasiya mentioned. “From what I’ve heard, I’m just a bit shorter than one, a bit heavier than one, but I know I’m stronger than one.”

“Smells like dried meat to me.” TJ commented.

“Wonder if we’ll find Ianis in a few casts.” Al joked.

“They need a lot of meat to keep them well fed,” Jayde said. “A hungry Dyre listens to his or her instincts, not their handler’s commands. Your nose might not be sensitive enough to pick up the scent of wolves, or you’re naturally tuning it out.”

When Al joked that Ianis might have a few casts, Jayde said, “That’s certainly possible. They’ll have been trained to not bite and to not kill, but when in doubt, a Dyre is going to try to stop you from running. They have a certain amount of intelligence behind them. As they would put it, “Two-legs not run with one leg broken.” I’ve trained a few in my time, and got the scars to prove it.”

“Yeah, and from my experiences with sparring with him,” Kasiya said, “I feel bad for the Dyre.”

“I told you I’d fight with you as if you were one because you’re big enough and tough enough to handle it,” Jayde quipped.

TJ shudders. “Even if I were the size of you two I wouldn’t want to fight either of you, let alone something that doesn’t exactly have the intelligence to judge whether the body part they’re disabling is important or not.”

Al looks ahead, and with some squinting, made out something along the lines of ‘POLICE’ on a building close by. “I figure that’s where we’re supposed to be?”

“Oh, they have the intelligence to know that,” Jayde said. “That is what makes them scary. An animal might grab at your legs because instinct says if you take out a leg or two, the animal you’re hunting becomes easy prey. A Dyre might decide to go for your legs with a branch used as a club in the wild. Trained Dyre might not use weapons, but you’re still dealing with 600 pounds of wolf.”

“A bit over 270 kilograms,” Kasiya added.

When Al spotted the police station, Jayde nodded. “Yeah, that’s where we’re going.”

After dealing with the stairs outside, with Kasiya providing a strong reminder of his current weight as some of the bricks cracked, the four walked inside the police station.

Jayde went up to the receptionist and mentioned he was here to collect the people on his list, then slid the parchment through the slot in the thick glass window.

“It’ll take about 15 minutes to round up everyone,” The receptionist warned.

“The rest can find a way into our camp. My partner here,” he said, motioning to Kasiya, “however, might have a thing or two to say to Ianis.”

Ianis eventually walked over, still slightly damp from being forced to plant his face and the rest of him in to the snow. He gazed at the four, shooting a sour look at TJ and Al, following with a blank expression at both Jayde and Kasiya. He had a notebook and pen in one of his pockets, which he grabbed and gave to Jayde. “Fines and bail paid. No need for those to be paid again” It read, on the marked page, with someone’s signature in the bottom right. He added:
“Waiting for them to release the Ute. The cops scoured the entire thing for explosives after they found my rifle. They will not listen to me.”

“You ran,” Jayde said. “They’re trying to figure out what you were up to, what you were carrying, that caused you to decide not to stop for the police.”

Kasiya crossed his arms and glared down at Ianis.

Jayde looked over the notebook and gave a light nod. “You might want to back off on the speeding. Or at least stop when they spot you.”

Kasiya, on the other hand, spoke quietly. “Next time, I’ll bring my scythe and wear my black cloak.”

“Kasiya has a point. Malavera mentioned that neither of your cars were exactly safe, merely safe enough. You were made aware of the risks if you had an accident out here. These heavy 30’s cars, they’ll tear through your aluminum cars like a knife through tissue paper,” Jayde added.

Staring at Jayde, and especially Kasiya, Ianis took a few steps back. “I will do as you say. The person who paid for my incident has drilled this in to my head already. This will not happen again.” He looked over to TJ and Al. “And I expect a sizable amount of mockery from them.” TJ snorts.

Ianis continued: “Besides, I am well aware of my safety, or lack thereof. As for the activities of the police, they have no reason to scour the inside of the timing cover.” He scoffed, before asking: “I would like the booklet back.”

Jayde nodded and handed the booklet back to Ianis. “Actually, I’m not surprised they’re checking around the inside of the engine,” he said. “When motor-cars first started showing up around here, a few enterprising smugglers found out that sticking their “product” up in the valve covers, or in the timing cover if there was room, was a good way to hide things from the police. So half the time, they’re going to take the car apart.”

Kasiya, on the other hand, looked to the receptionist. “Could you relay to the officers currently disassembling Ianis’ car that the only thing he was smuggling was pure stupidity?” he asked. When she smirked and grabbed the radio, Kasiya looked back toward Ianis.

“I-” Ianis tried to voice an objection, but elected to just shut up instead. TJ and Al let out a chuckle. Ianis sighed. “That helps. Thanks.”
He shot a look at Kasiya, before regretting it immediately and turning around to face a wall.

“So we’re done here? Is he free to go?” TJ asked, trying to get the attention of both the receptionist and Kasiya.

“He is,” the receptionist said.

Kasiya nodded. “You can retrieve the ute with the frankencar once we get back.”

Jayde paid the receptionist for the others on his list to be released, then said, “We can head back at any time now.”

“How’s the leg, Jayde?” Kasiya asked.

“It hurts, but it always hurts,” Jayde replied. “I wouldn’t have walked this trip unless I knew I could handle it.”

TJ paused to look at Jayde’s leg, but quickly turned to the door. “I suppose we head back to camp then, if there is no business to handle from here?”

“If you’re ready to go, then let us get on the move,” Jayde said. When he saw TJ glance toward his leg, he smirked and moved his robe just enough to show a gleaming hint of black steel, brass, and wood. “Lost it in the beginning of the Four Corners War.”

Kasiya opened the door and carefully ducked through it, then motioned for the others to follow.

TJ recoiled slightly, but quickly returned to a normal pose, before giving an attempt at a smile and following the other two in walking back to the campground.

Jayde chuckled. “There’s four of us in our crew who are members of the missing-parts club. Myself, Kaylie, Takaraya, and Rukari. You get used to it after a while. My leg is heavily enchanted, so other than a slight limp, you’d never know I’m missing a limb from mid-thigh down,” Jayde admitted.


As the five made it to camp, it was clear that Kaylie was working quite quickly on mending the frankencar’s damaged steering and suspension. “Did Ilaris make the suspension on this car out of used shop towels or something!?” she grumbled. “It’s almost impossible to bend things back straight.”

TJ and Al walked over to the fragile origami of aluminum. “They kind of over- and under-engineered it.” TJ commented, with Al adding: “The focus of the chassis and thus the car was minimal weight. The intention was for the vehicle to be as easy to drive as possible in the conditions in the Alagnomar States, which is the country from where Ilaris operates, on our home planet of Lionyamar. The conditions are snow and mountains, if you are wondering. This results in poor serviceability and the gross lack of tolerances, as everything is optimized for weight savings.”

“Oh, and really bad safety ratings from the factory, barring even my…modifications.” TJ commented.

“Yes, I remember it making a headline for the worst performing car against an SUV, but that is no miracle for weighing some 2000 pounds, smashing against something weighing double that. The point is, it’s light, and every person who’s had to perform a bodywork repair hates it.”

“Wait, wait, wait one moment. 2000 pounds? That’s all? You do realize Kasiya in his armor is 1600 kilograms. That’s 3500 pounds. Out of his armor, Kasiya’s 500 kilograms, about 1100 pounds,” Kaylie said. “You’re saying if you crash into him, he stands a good chance of spending a few months healing up a broken leg, while you guys wear wooden suits after he crashes onto your roof,” she added, “and that’s out of his armor. In his armor, you don’t even leave a scratch as your car crunches into him.”

Al grinned. “When I said they were focusing on weight, I meant it. That’s kind of an Ilaris thing, sacrificing safety and some amount of reliability for weight savings. It results in an almost paradoxical deaths-per-vehicle-mile-traveled statistic while having stupidly low safety figures, as it is kind of hard to f-it-up to get yourself in a fatal crash.” He wiped the grin off his face afterward. “It does result in a very high rate of grave and debilitating injuries, as the people have the ability to mitigate the accident partially, but get their legs diced and slashed instead of meeting the gods that day.”

“Barring the tangent that Al went on-” TJ continued, “- We scored an Ilaris roadside assistance manual, and because of its light weight and easy but fun handling, it happens to include a section on how to straighten out bent steering and correct wheel misalignment, due to many inexperienced drivers finding out that you can’t change your direction of travel as easily as you can stop it from sliding about by stomping the throttle, with a meeting of a curb as a result.” He pops open the door and glovebox, grabbing the hefty manual and placing it on the hood, opened on the section containing the page.

“Of course, it’s only meant for emergency repair, but…what can you do out here. We don’t have access to OEM parts here.” He added.

Kaylie sighed. “Would have been nice to have that earlier. I ended up taking the lower control arm off and handing it over to Takaraya. If you haven’t met him, he’s Kasiya’s father, stands about shoulder-height to his son. Has metal limbs, all four of them, and they’re exceptionally powerful.”

Takaraya walked over, still carefully pinching the control arm back into shape a little at a time. “It’s as straight as I can get it. If we knew the materials, I’d give it a little structural improvement, but for now, this will have to do,” he said, handing the part to Kaylie, who very quickly installed it on the Ilaris Imbe. Shortly after, she performed a crude alignment, then got Takaraya to help with it.

Jayde explained, “He might not see any colors at all, but he has the best vision of all of us. This guy read the printers’ information off of the bottom of an eye exam chart. His son can read the bottom line.”

TJ glanced around in the interior of the Imbe. “Well, can’t blame you for not scavenging the car for hidden service manuals. Oh well, straight-enough is better than constant tire screech as the two tires on the front work against eachother. As for seeing, he-” He gives Al a slap on the shoulder - “Has a lot of experience with that.”

“Do not. Say it.” Al responds.

“He looks like a doofus with the reading glasses.”

“For god’s sake…”

“At least you can absorb the knowledge of an uncountable amount of books with those. That has to make up for it, right?”

Al briefly considers a mild amount of violence to solve the problem, but decides against it, at least in front of the hosts.

Jayde cleared his throat and crossed his arms. “As someone who wears glasses on a daily basis, there is nothing wrong with it. And I dare you to say that Malavera,” he said, pausing long enough to motion to the two-headed white wolf who was casually reading a romance novel, one pair of reading glasses on his left head, “looks like a “doofus” with reading glasses on to his face.”

Kivenaal, from on top of the Home Unit’s roof rack, then quipped, “Just think, TJ, age is the great equalizer. You’ll need glasses eventually.”

“Okay, that may be true, but y’know…” He lowers his voice to a mere whisper- “he really does.”

At this point Al just gives him a shove, sending him sideways in to the interior of the Imbe, and coming to rest with his head hovering over the gearstick as he grabbed on to the seatbelt to cancel his momentum.

“Uh…I will handle him from here. Thank you for your help.” Al said, before helping TJ back up from his precarious position.

Kaylie nodded. “This manual has a decent weight to it,” she said. “If you need a few pointers on how to bludgeon someone with a book, I am very skilled in that art,” she added, before handing Al the service manual. “We’ll let you guys figure out how to fix this and then you can go retrieve the ute.”

“Alright. We’ll do that soon enough.” He commented, then hopping in the car and moving it back to where the power box was.


Wooo, a part, after a month. Hoping to get more stuff out more frequently next time, but for now, I need sleep.

3 Likes

Team Mravolinski-Chitco
Part 2

Howls and sucking exhaust

In terms of your favourite chasers of Team Mravolinski-Chitco there was almost nothing of note during their Stage 1, unless you decide to count Leopolda`s inexperience with snow driving and summer rubber on her car as an event worth mentioning.

As such, Krta`s people were forced to pull her out every now and then, wondering why they had accepted her in the group and hoped that soon she will leave them or that they would part ways in some other manner.
To be honest, same could have been said for Krta himself and he noted her presence would kill potential element of surprize due to her insistence on heavy usage of her perfume.


At about 3 Moon, they had officially matched what SR folks would describe as Stage 1 of their journey.
Last of their vehicles had stopped for just a little bit on road near camp and one pair of eyes had searched for blue pickup truck.
Truck was found, and they continued onward to find some place of their own to stay in.
This was almost breaking point for Leopolda, as this group had decided to pass the town and settle in nearby piece of…forest.
Yup, these guys passed what seems like some kind of town to stay in forest.
First time it was understandable, as it seemed there are no inhabited places around but this was predictably different.
Followed some pretty harsh night, during which Leopolda had likely thought:
NEVER. FUCKING. AGAIN.


While few members of this team had decided to see if certain blue truck and…seems to be some kind of wagon…had passed, they had decided to prepare for new day ahead of them.
Morning promised peace and weather seemed nice but this all was broken by bellow of a wild animal
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!”
Guns, pistols, axes, hammers and bare hands were pointed in that direction and source of sound came closer and closer.

To their horror, Leopolda came out.
This ungainly sight was certainly not what they expected today, as they were met with how she looks downstairs, with clothing somehow clinging to her ankle.
As this is running on snow and she was never known to be particularly good runner, it was only matter of seconds before inevitable slip.

She survived this fall and only now realised her indignified state, which prompted her to seek cover in her car.
Something else followed and stepped forward, with its massive presence explaining fully what Leopolda had just done.

Shots had fired but this being had anticipated that, displaying agility that was unexpected.
One of elite members of group had squared up…and had soon met the tree in violent fashion, pained howls being only response to this takeout.
Visitor had took note of pain of this big dog and took a peek, enough for some hot fast stuff to find its shoulder.


Krta had just jumped into this whole charade and found it stupid.
He had now been observing beast surely getting serious in sense of “either you or i are dying today”.
Krta was having none of it, but also realised potential unraveled before him.

-TRANQUILISERS

Order was followed and ammunition was changed to other kind and fired at pissed off opponent
Some shots found wrong targets ofc, so some other guys would find themselves sleepy, but most of them had been fired at beast.
Eventually, beast got very sleepy and finally slumped on ground.

Thanks to vehicles being avaiable, this new member of group was turned around to treat its shoulder.

-Boss, why?
-Do you have eyes? How cant you see?
This…might be absolute blessing for us, such powerful individual could easily even out the odds against our enemies.
I even have very specific idea in mind, for which this guy would be perfect…
-What is it?
-Not yet willing to disclose, but when time is right, you all will know my magnificent plan


At this point, it was understood that this lovely group can continue its journey, but we are not done with this group just yet.

At about 3 Moon, they had officially matched what SR folks would describe as Stage 1 of their journey.
Last of their vehicles had stopped for just a little bit on road near camp and one pair of eyes had searched for blue pickup truck.
Truck was found, and they continued onward to find some place of their own to stay in.
This was almost breaking point for Leopolda, as this group had decided to pass the town and settle in nearby piece of…forest.
Yup, these guys passed what seems like some kind of town to stay in forest.
First time it was understandable, as it seemed there are no inhabited places around but this was predictably different.
Followed some pretty harsh night, during which Leopolda had likely thought:
NEVER. FUCKING. AGAIN.

One vehicle had quickly established itself from rest, not that it wasnt already distinguishable as it is.
Krta decided that his vehicle shall lead the way and it was first to enter Nehmenweld`s highway network, but he was soon overtaken by certain specific car.

-Again that bitch…
-Im no longer with you, suckers. Suck my exhaust and kneel before my magnificence.
-(Over their CB network) She is no longer with us.
-YEEESS
-HOOORAY
-FUCK HER, WE FREE NOW

Soon, she will come to regret that badly.
Her speed and power had eventually attracted attention of certain people.
They suggested for her to pull over, but she ignored signs
Before someone says she cant understand their language (and tbh, be right about it) fact they behave in “similar” manner to police should have hinted her on what these guys are.
So, she expected them to let it slide, bcos she is queen.
They didnt let that slide, but decided not to give much of chase

-Oh man, that seems delicious.
-MMMMMM…it very much is.
-Smells delightful too…Where you got it?
-This cant be bought, my friend.
-Everything can be bought
-Not this.
-What, you didnt bought it?
-No…
-Can you tell me how you got it?
-No
-Come on man, im interested
-No way
-Why are you so stiff on matter
-Bcos you called my mom fat
-So…what that has to do with it?

(silence in which there was ample time to figure this out)

-Ohhhh…
-Yea, she made me this to eat while on job
-Lucky you, then. Nobody in my house gives two shits about what i do to bring money to table.
-GRRRRRRR
-Easy there, bud. We will feed you too in few hours.
-Why do we have him in first place? Its not like we usually have much issue with people.
-I heard some bunch from other world decided to make journey through our country. There is possibility some olf them would not really understand us all that well…
-TF is that smell?
-HOOOOOWLLLL
-Stinks massively
-What is that?
-Dunno…but it heads towards us.

Car was turned on and reversed for some distance.
Object they noticed was car absolutely blasting on highway and meeting some snow patch
Driver lost control and vehicle was now heading towards their previous spot.
Car was low-slung and got stuck on snow…fact its RWD and sporting summer tires being no help.
Driver was weirdly-shaped female that was also source of smell they noticed

-Help me get car unstuck
-Tf is she talking about?
-NOOOOW
-She must be one of those tourists passing through country.
-IM QUEEN AND YOU MUST OBEY
-One would think they would atleast learn how to speak our language
-Truly a big oversight.
-HEEEY, I NEED TO BE UNSTUCK
-Manners arent her greatest strength, tho.
-NOOOOOW

Police driver exits the car and was dragged along to her car
Some others come around in another car

-As expected, she crashed.
-Gimme my money
-(Sigh) Here you go, shouldnt have bet on that
-I knew this would happen. Why is she pulling colleague along?
-PULL IT OUT OF SNOW
-Dont like her tone
-Same…
Leave our colleague alone, otherwise we will need to arrest you.

-She needs to pay anyway for speeding

Weapons are drawn and Leopolda realised this will not go in her favour
Suddenly, familiar group appears.

-HELP MEEEE
-HAHAHAHAHA
-SUCH STUPID
-WELL DESERVED, ASSHOLE

Leopolda was somehow tackled to ground and put into the cop car, which also meant her car was going to be towed.
And here is where her and Krta divide for good…but will not be last that we are going to hear from her

Familiar faces help with driving and food

To no surprize of any kind for whoever decides to read this, next station for group in which im also member would be Hollenburg.
Entertainment was slowly starting to fade out with fewer words coming out and ones that did came out came out harder
Driving also reflected this
At one point, local came to stop and went away.

-What do we do?
-Dunno, he seems tired and prob went for piss
-Ye…do we wait for him tho? Our Emperor is superior and should wait for noone.
-Sora, we certainly could steal the car, but thats quite stupid thing to do.
We dont know the language around here and he seems friendly
-He could have some nasty plans.
-Im pretty sure he wouldnt accept no less than 3 adult males in his car.
-He could drive us to his gang that can overpower them.
-I will drive now.
-Are you sure, Shaike?
-Guy gotta have some rest, i presume.

He genuinely got confused upon returning back from piss session and washing his hands in fresh snow, but he got the message and placed himself in passenger side, eventually dosing off.
Shaike decided to just follow the road on which we have been driving so far, which would turn out to be highway.
Speed limit was figured out by virtue of matching speed of other cars around us and so we continued onward
Needless to say, Local was very satisfied to see there are actually three people that know how to drive, as Pedro took hot seat to get hang of this new car.
Local also got hang of word “Local” and that was first word he may have learned from Serbian since he got the memo we refered to him as such.
Surely, he could piece together as to what this means, but no particular thought was given.


Some stuff certainly still needed refining in this little community of ours.
Local is now asleep and our group was wondering how to get food.

-Shaike, would you like to get some food with me?
-Ofc VerBanka…but we need to get some local money beforehand.
-There is this money on dashboard
-That belongs to Local.
-Who also needs to eat as much as we do.
-Im with VerBanka here
-Ofc you are, Sora. Listen, he seems to trust us and as such we would certainly need permission for that kinda thing.
Im starving, but we shouldnt stretch that trust too much…especially as we share no common language so we cant really explain.
-Ok then

Several hours later…

-Is he going to awake?
-(After checking) Based on my knowledge of humans, he is alive and breathing.
-I guess we are either going to awake him or indeed buy food ourselves.
-How we would explain what we intend to do?
-Prob something involving pointing at stomach or mouth.
-Just make sure that he doesnt get impression we eat money

All laughed at that wild note

-We really have no other proper choice here, as im not sure how he would react upon us awaking him to try to borrow money
So, we are going to take some money and try to get some food with it.
As i proposed earlier, me and Shaike are going to do the shopping
-Can i get some hamburger with whatever they consider equivalent to tomato, onions…
-No way, we are supposed to be near you for some time in this enclosed space
-VerBanka, relax
-No
-Give this man some onions
-Yes
-Yes
-Sora, arent you supposed to agree with me?
-Oh, sorry…absolutely no to Mrdja getting onion
But if we all decide to get something of that kind, we would not have issues with breath caused by it
-You arent helpful there
-I just want to eat soon, im old lady, ya know?
-When i think about it, i wanna join you two in shopping
-Just so you could eat immideately after we buy it?
-Nah, i like spending time with you…but thats possibility i really like

With that, we went on buying
Local was awakened tad bit later and was rather upset seeing there isnt as much money on dashboard as it used to be case
He was also hungry and as he turned to confront about missing money, he had seen us eating or finishing eating and connected two and two.
Sora had noticed his awakened state and offered some food that was bought.
Food was good and we somehow managed to find some juices of sorts
Last and also biggest member of group would also need its “food” soon, so we hit fuel station and gave it “food”.
Local had decided to look into financial situation and found it lacking so something needs to be done.
He had decided to exit the car and went in some direction…

Kontir becomes pole-jumper

Once again group has risen from beds and stuff and started preparing for yet another day on the road, which was made easier this time by virtue of certain members not being meat popsicles this time (Loojoe, Siviko-this is directed at you two)

Group had managed to pack up and once again they were on road.
Mostly flat, a winding, poorly-maintained road through a very sparse forest, in case you wish for more precise description.
Happily, neither car had too much of problem ending victorious in this patch of route partially helped by fact Kontir had lead the way.

-Anyone has any ideas on some small talk?
-I do…ok, admitedly im ripping off some individuals that had planted this idea tad bit earlier but im sure neither would mind
In case you need a refresher…

Now Chicota decided to behave like audio recorder, as he had recorded speech of individuals in question:

-“So, you’ve heard in the email that we’d be having challenges, yes?
First challenge is this: Service History. Who’s reliable, who isn’t? And, if anyone can come up with the most interesting tidbit of information about their car, that’s even better.”
-“We’ll both go first. We can’t win, but we can give some interesting information about these two trucks of ours. Like the fact that the Home Unit over there has had its windshield replaced twice.”
-Mine tracks in a straight line because the second-axle steering rack was replaced after, and I quote, “a direct hit by enemy action.” Takaraya there tells me that what that really means is someone drove over a land mine.
So…what crazy stories do all of you have to tell?

Some pause was given

-You can do THAT?!?
-Yes, i could even speak in same voice as someone else, but i hope its absolutely clear that im not going to exercise that quirk of mine.
-And yes, i did recorded their little speech, as it was interesting and could startup convo in here if needed
Or desired, as is case here.
-Why would they replace windshield twice? Or drive over landmine?
-I think those guys have rather dark history behind them. Before they had gotten in possesion of hosts, they were having their first part of life on warfront.
Wouldnt be surprized, based on stories they had, that Mat could decide to shoot at tire or windshield or something else on those and…not really do much of damage.
-I wouldnt want to get on their bad side
-I know you wouldnt but im sure that, as was case with steering rack damaged by landmine, windshield was in need of replacement over something more substantial than mere rock.

Pause happened

-Would we be able to say something interesting about our cars?
-Probably, which depends on how willing you and Andrea might be to talk on that matter regarding Saguaro and Kontir, respectively.
-I dont think describing how Saguaro sat a lot on parking lot of our dealership would be very interesting.
-I feel same about describing how Kontir sat in certain…room we needed to prepare for it.
-Im sure something can come out of it that would be interesting conversation
Lets say im informed Kontir was parked for VERY long time and Saguaro has interesting history in competing in some other shitbox race last year…not to mention Kontir has been present in original SR run
Im naming that as potential missed opportunity to talk with other teams
-I will remind you that Kasiya still rocked that armor of his while talking about stuff we are discussing now.
-Thats minor and non-important detail for our current conversation. I may soon be made to eat my own words but, as it is for now, there is no reason for such a big and strong guy to be afraid of anything on our route


At one point, event that is namesake of this part of post happened
Violent jerk forward and upwards, rear end going towards sky.
Truck then settled down

-BEEEP
-Tf just happened
-What did we hit
-Is everyone alright?
-No?
-What is that scraping sound?
-Lets pull over and check
-Pulling over bcos it seems we have problem
-Seems driveshaft broke
-DRIVESHAFT?!?

After taking peek under the vehicle, that was cleared and was said as true

-What do we do?
-Lets try to fix it.

One generous application of some wire later, journey was attempted to continue
Soon it was realised that best option is prob not trying to repair driveshaft on the road using whatever primitive methods there are, as wire thingy predictably failed to contain the driveshaft.

-What are we gonna do now?
-I recall someone repairing their car in town last time around
-Probably better cause of action compared to…whatever we are doing now
-It does mean that we would now prob need to both remove driveshaft and rely on delivery to front wheels to get us through this stage
-Correct
-Is it possible?
-Yes, before the driveshaft there is this part that also delivers power to front wheels besides sending it to rear via driveshaft
Most of crew is prob going to pile up in Saguaro.
-Ye, lets do it.

In meantime, Saguaro had shown its relative thirst for fuel, meaning group got a trip to local fuel station
Apart from Saguaro getting some more local fuel in system, no big changes happened there

Kontir was still leading the way when, after fair bit of time spent on road, vehicles had drove into camp.

-I suggest everyone to stay here in camp. I will go and get that driveshaft fixed.
-Ok.
-Ok.
-Ok.
-Ok.
-Ok.
-Ok.

And with that, Kontir left the camp in basically FWD “mode” towards actual town, with Chicota at wheel.
He attracted lot of attention, to no surprise to himself and soon enough found himself in front of what appeared to be workshop.

-I had arrived to try and repair a car
-We never saw such “car” ever. So we doubt we have adequate spare parts.
-I just need driveshaft.
-Well, we dont know how to help you
As we said, thats literally first time we ever saw that car
-You surely have something compatible? I mean, take a look underneath and get measurements.
-(after doing so and spending some time underneath) I dont think we have anything to match it
-Hmmm…can you fix original driveshaft?
-What are you thinking we are, magicians?
-Well, its certainly hard to do so
-Certainly impossible to do it safely
-Are you sure? Bcos i think this could be welded: its made out of steel, after all
-Havent thought about that possibility, but we have gas welding equipment this way.
-Good, if you arent confident enough to weld, i will do so myself.
-Feel free to do so

Chicota did so under watchful eyes of mechanics.
Besides mere welding of affected part, he found some steel strips and welded them lengthwise around driveshaft.
He also had bent some of that strip to serve as kinda safety hoop, placed near the front of driveshaft, so next time it will atleast not be resulting in polevault

-Ok this is now done, im thankful for providing space and materials…fuck, havent really brought much if any money
-Fucking hell, we do not like that
-I also dont like that this dick had blown his transmission…twice in two weeks.
-Dick must be terrible driver
-Well, he does bring money to pay for our services…where are those three of our group?
-Went towards Shiverwind, some asshole woman had stuck her car in snow bcos…i heard it was high speed and terrible driving.
Also were requested to repair some car or two there.
-Oh nice…seems i could technically pay for your services, just not with money.
-But how do you plan repaying us, then?
-He is offering to help us in shop.
-Correct. I must admit, since we are group travelling through your world, i must be at graveyard at 1 Sun, i think?
-Graveyard???
-Very big group meant we werent allowed luxury to be picky
And tbf we arent picky.
-Someone could have accompanied him to that camp so he could get more money
-Either way, im not really sure if that would be correct way to do it. Another teammate of mine could join us in this repair business
-We could quickly go there and fetch whoever IS avaiable.
-I can guarantee only for two of us being able to work all night and be useful

Still, full of hope, he and few others went into camp, finding Amanda as being only awake member.

-Amanda, we found something to pass the time
-Beating out some bad guys?
-Sadly, no…we are going to repair some cars.
We owe a favour to these guys
-Ah…not interested. Will leave that to you
-Another pair of hands would be very useful.

Loojoe and Pi had awoken

-Tf is happening?
-Few of us are joining some locals on fixing some cars. We owe them favour, as they helped me repair Kontir
-Seems fair. I would join, but i dont know how to repair…well…anything.
-And im hardly of any help there…will notify others when we need to get ready of your location
We are getting off at morning…with or without you three.
-Ok then, we are taking Kontir with us

Trio has loaded in Kontir and returned into workshop
Pi has indeed shown she lacks skill, but she had will to help and she was of help.
Maybe there was need to use something as stool or someone needed to fetch a tool needed for repair or…eh, there would be plenty of other options
This had lasted until almost morning, when indeed workshop was empty of broken cars.

Farewells were said and sore Pi along with two others had re-entered campsite in Kontir, with rest already awake and preparing for next stage
Hopefully this one will not have such significant setbacks…

3 Likes

Stage 3:

Hollenburg to Village of Coalscoop


Temperature at mid-day: -5°C

Night-time Low: -10°C

Weather Conditions: Today, winds are calm, but a thick cloud cover releases ample amounts of snow. The evening marks little in the way of change, but it clears up quickly around 5 moon.


Camp Challenge: “There’s No Replacement.” (Highest Displacement)


When we wake up, we discover that everything has vanished under a blanket of fresh fallen snow. After packing up the camp, instead of leaving on the same road we came in on and returning to the blissful, smooth, fast highway, we leave on a different road that more resembles the “good” roads from Crugandr. It’s paved with something vaguely similar to blacktop, but it’s marred with potholes and patched with tarred gravel, covered in cracks, and then coated in a slushy mix of snow, salt, and sand.

The speed limit signs claim 40 MPH / 65 km/h, but it’s immediately obvious that we’re not doing that easily. One, there’s traffic in the form of filthy coal-trucks coming up the road at us, and empty ones on the way back, trundling along under the speed limit. Occasionally, one does the speed limit, hangs the tail out on a curve, and then proceeds to trundle along a hell of a lot slower for a while. Two, the road conditions just won’t let us make that pace without taking risks.

As we get closer to our destination, the conga line of coal truck traffic has turned the snow-covered road into a mix of salt, sleet and sludge. This nasty, heavy sleet does nothing to speed our progress. Instead, we witness that more of the trucks are slowing down, some are stopping so the drivers can fit tire chains, and others are just idling along, looking for a spot to chain up in.

We soon find out why. As we start to see the village up ahead, the road suddenly turns icy. Our modern vehicles handle this far better than the old trucks did without the chains, but with the chains… We’re being passed by trucks that we passed a while ago.

The village of Coalscoop is quite clearly a mining “town” with less than 10,000 total people inside it, two active coal mines, and a third inactive mine that we’re allowed to set up camp in. Despite it being small, they have a railway stop nearby for loading steam trains with fresh coal, or carrying it away in great big wagons. What are all the trucks for, then? Bringing coal to Hollenburg for personal heating, at a higher price, of course.


Next Stage Expected Conditions:

Road Speed: low
Road Condition: good
Traffic: very low
Police: low


Results here:


@Madrias

Team Shift Happens

Unofficial highest displacement: 21,715 cc, both vehicles. (1,325 ci)

Other than a lot of blared horns in response to the local truck drivers being less-than-careful around the pair of HD-GV units, this was a relatively relaxed stage.


@Elizipeazie:

VS Mobil Generator AB

While setting off had a few squeaks and squeals from slipping wheels, once the train was up to speed, it was, as usual, a smooth trip, with Valentin following the advice from the station-master to take it a bit easy as some of the other trains might be a bit slower today.


@Fayeding_Spray

Team M.A.D.

Despite traveling separately, it seems there may have been a slight agreement to stick together today, as the two vehicles finish nose-to-tail.


@Shibusu

Team Sinesian Rejects

While Ianis hasn’t learned much from spending 12 hours in jail and proceeds to boot it hard in the Itan ute, though nowhere near as aggressively as before, leaving the Imbe behind, it’s with the Imbe and the Trio of Tragedy that the real interesting stuff happens. Something under the hood went bang, after all, and it took nearly 12 hours of tinkering around in there to get that engine going again.


@Interior

Team Not-So-Slow

Other than tailgating part of Team Sinesian Rejects in their ute, there’s nothing much to say about the journey that Team Not-So-Slow made today.


@TheYugo45GV

The Ambassadors

When the IVERA Executive blew two tires, it was the crew of the Mayland who went almost 20 minutes out of their way to attempt to find replacements. After almost 13 minutes of discussion, and another 20 minutes of driving, the Mayland returned to drop off the new tires. The IVERA crew, however, got to spend basically an hour waiting, and 7 hours playing round-robin with the tires to get the two good modern radial tires on the front axle, and the four inner-tubes and tires mounted on the IVERA’s rear axle. With significantly less grip out back, the crew limped the second vehicle into camp and sought out the Shift Happens crew for a “tire patch.”


@Doot

The Knockouts

Kate manages to learn nothing from the previous day’s experience facing down a Dyre and the whole police force, choosing to zoom ahead in her 1325 Facelift, while Octavia has a pleasant drive in the Papillona, enjoying the view as trucks occasionally drift around her.


@MrdjaNikolen

Team Mravolinski-Chitco

After yesterday’s drive-shaft pole-vault, it’s clear that the Kontir Cunningham is a little bit hurt. After smelling burning gear oil for several miles, they stop and find that the transmission has a small crack in it. They drive it closer to the camp and choose to fix it on the outskirts of camp in case attempting to weld on the oil-filled gearbox turns into a very bad idea, though after 4 hours and some really ugly booger-welds, the truck rolls into camp under its own power.


@Jaimz68

Team HETS

Another lazy “sunday drive” for the two elders and their crews. The only real excitement was watching a coal truck do a big drift and end up dumping half of their load on the side of the road.


@AMuteCrypt

Team Flaming Gallahs

Priscilla II and her crew have an easy time today, even if they’re passed by just about everything on the road.


@Edsel

Team Friendship! :smiley:

Other than another bus traveling not far behind, it’s a slow stage for the crew. They’re slowed up for a moment when a police officer notices a large vehicle with no driver inside, who spends 15 minutes trying to figure out how he’s going to write up this report without being accused of being drunk.


@Knugcab

Team Hillbilly Rollers

With the beer still safely locked away, Marie has no choice but to drive another clean stage. She makes up for this annoyance by tailgating the Rugger and blaring the horn at everything that moves. Meanwhile, the crew in the Rugger put on some good music and try to ignore the stupidity-in-motion behind them.


@Odyssey_Fan

Team Sane Insanity

A ticket for the sports car is the only real bit of excitement here. Otherwise, it’s a trouble free stage.


@PortalKat42

Faolan Industries

When the van’s engine just “up-and-quit,” the Aether 11/2 was used to get some spare parts from a local village to fix it. After the Aether 52 H was running again thanks to some “close enough” spare parts, the crew ran at a reduced speed as the road was full of hidden potholes, obscured by the snow and slush, and neither Ze’ev nor Storm wanted to risk damaging the vehicles more than necessary.


@AndiD

Team Taciturn

The cloaked aliens received another warning about speeding today. Thankfully, it was just a polite, “Hey, you two might want to slow it down before you end up meeting the front of a coal truck coming around the corner.”


@BannedByAndroid

Team ReUnity

A crossover, 4x4, and a lead foot make quick work of this stage.


@SheikhMansour

Team Spy Kids

The choice to split up left the lower-power Reekayns way out in front of the Mocabey today.

@IDK158

Team J3

A few too many hidden potholes dislodged one of the Tiharris’ front coil springs. Without proper tools, what should have taken a competent mechanic about an hour to fix took almost 14 hours, and several big scares. Getting into camp and learning that Rukari lost half a leg because of a spring like that was, shall we say, a bit of an eye-opening realization of how close to death or injury they all were.


@JCurtiss96 & @Leone

Team Aeromad

Camp Challenge Winner - 16,286 cc, both vehicles. (993 ci)

It’s all fun and games until the Torrento starts having engine trouble. Especially the fun kind where the throttle sticks wide open. While trying to fix it, a police officer asked what all the noise was for, and in trying to explain the Torrento had a stuck throttle, the officer instead asked, “No, I meant with the truck.” When trying to explain that they had an airplane engine in the truck, someone cranked over the Torrento and the officer had to resort to yelling that these two vehicles were just “too damn loud.”


@Tzuyu_main & @FallingComet

Team Black Rabbit Disavowed

Between threading-the-needle in the Seikatsu and getting a ticket for it as well as speeding, and the same cop, a mile later, busting the Dauer for speeding as well, it was certainly an eventful run on this stage.


@Texaslav

Sheriff Scott’s Posse

When the Warren Warlock got pulled over and warned about their speed, the goof-offs in the Bowie Bearcat decided to blare their horn and pass while covering the officer in road slush. They ended up getting a speeding ticket instead of a warning.


@Xepy

Team “486”

The two vehicles hurtled through the slushy roads at not-so-sensible speeds, luckily managing to avoid a breakdown with the sirens blaring behind them.


@S_U_C_C_U_L_E_N_T

Team Magdelena

The driver of the Baumhauer got a pleasant warning that they were speeding before the two vehicles were able to make it into camp.


@SurrealCereal

Team Machinas Con Passione

With the Blue Wonder being the blocker for the Faenza, they were able to pull enough attention off of the speeding cheese wedge to get themselves a nice warning about driving like a bunch of idiots. Then they managed to get the truck stuck on the road with the nose parked in a snow-drift so badly that the front tires were off the ground. A local, just wanting to deliver his truckload of coal, dragged them out after 46 minutes of watching the idiots fighting to get their weird truck out of the ditch.


@GetWrekt01 & @That-S-Cop

Cunning Stunts

After an early speeding ticket, the Contra UTE got stuck behind a timid truck driver for 5 hours, 24 minutes, and 10 seconds. Eventually, traffic cleared up enough to pass.


@EnCR

Team Till D End

No breakdowns, no tickets, just two very filthy vehicles covered in snow, road-grime, and coal dust.


@LS_Swapped_RX-7

Basedworks

After the disaster of facing down shotguns and giant werewolves in the previous stage, the driver of the Edgelord Special chose to back things off a little. As a result, they ended up with a speeding ticket today after choosing to stop. Not to be outdone, the American Reality RV driver gunned the engine and blared the horn because the ticket writing was taking too long, earning a verbal warning for interfering with police business.


@Mikonp7

Team Gunship

While nothing has appeared to go wrong, the inside of the Haapala Streetcruiser looks like a dirty chocolate-chip ice cream shake.


@Ldub0775

4 Dicks in a Truck

Other than a warning because their trailer ended up in the oncoming lane a time or two around corners, it was a decently quick run for the four dicks and their (t)rusty truck.

4 Likes

Team Shift Happens

Pre-Race Camp (VSmgAB + Shift Happens)
Stage 0 Drive (VSmgAB)
Stage 0 Camp; Part 1 (VSmgAB)
Stage 0 Camp, Arrival. (Shift Happens)
Stage 0 Camp, The Range (VSmgAB + Shift Happens)
Stage 0 Camp, Night Time Breaker Trip (VSmgAB + Shift Happens)
Stage 1 Departure, Sounds Like A Plan (The Ambassadors & Shift Happens)
Stage 1 Drive (Shift Happens)
Stage 2 Camp, Arrival (Shift Happens)
Stage 2 Camp, Job Applications (VSmgAB & Shift Happens)
Stage 2 Camp, A Word With Authority (Sinesian Rejects & Shift Happens)


Driver’s Log 1
Driver’s Log 2

Driver’s Log 3

We’re four days into our trip through Nehmenweld.

In this time, we’ve had no major breakdowns of our own, but our fellow participants have had no shortage of chaos.

We had a huge delay in the Rift when the clutch let go in the Hillbilly Rollers’ Rugger. Team Aeromad used that time to tune up the airplane engine in their mental muscle car.

Tires seem to be the big one here. Doesn’t help that so many people drive with, as I’ve heard the term said, “Lead feet.” Nehmenweld’s police departments, while not willing to chase cars beyond their jurisdiction, are aggressive in persuing speeders. There’s a few teams who have had 12 earth hours in jail to think over what they did by trying to run. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of collateral damage in the form of innocent drivers hitting spike strips.

There’s also a lot more traffic than I was expecting. While it’s not a hard vehicle to drive, the Carry All is far from small, and I was more than a bit nervous when dealing with speeding coal trucks today. Thankfully, there’s no scratches on the paint yet - I’d hate to have to teach a lesson for that.


There’s at least confirmation that I’m not the only one looking for this Chalice of Aureia in Nehmenweld. General Landon Sabourne and Karl von Heislingberg are also searching for it, for different reasons.


Sleeping in camp has been an… experience.

Kaylie and Jayde spend most of their time using their enchanted tent. Rukari sleeps in the cab of the Carry All. Kayden in the cab of the Home Unit. Kivenaal and Malavera usually share a tent, but sometimes Malavera sleeps in the Home Unit, using a spare bunk. I sleep on one of the two lower bunks, as does my father, Takaraya.

We’ve learned that if we want to reheat food with the microwave, we have to shut off our climate control unit. This is, to say the least, mildly annoying and fairly inconvenient if forgotten. Likewise, I’m not looking forward to my turn to walk across camp and let everyone know I screwed up and tripped a circuit breaker.

Kivenaal is a bit irritable that he hasn’t had the chance for a good smoke in a few days. I get the feeling between him and Rukari, Kivenaal is the one who is going to break first and take a walk to the edge of camp.

2 Likes

Cunning Stunts

*Roleplay and status updates maintained by Yours Truly

Chapter 1

Stint 1

The Rift was about as eventful as Inskip point, a lot of vehicles powerless to the environment taking ages to traverse it.
Base Camp 1 was fun… at least for the Australians, Lots of foreign vehicles to look at.
Over the resting period the team drew twigs for who was going to be riding shotgun first in the truck and the ute; being that it was going to be agreed that Zach and Murray were primary drivers for the Contra and the VHT respectively.
Lana and Sophie argued over how to make tea while making the stint 1 meals, Which effectively were an awful lot of ANZAC Biscuits made in a Cast iron Pot over a campfire.
Murray and Zach spent time mulling over racing technique and how to explain it to the Girls while on the drive so 2 of them can handle Stint 2 as Liv is leaning on Zach the whole time.

Stint 1 started well as Zach and Murray were driving out as the most experienced drivers in these vehicles only briefly tested in Murray’s dad’s Truck yard, with time spent explaining the vehicle nuances to the passengers, seeing faster cars pass, seeing faster cars break down and passing them, Murray complaining about the Shock absorber Temps, counting how long it takes to pass the seldom occurring cars and Zach hyping the team up with the whole stint being… surprisingly uneventful and Rolling into Base Camp 2 with very little to do.

Chapter 2


Is this accurate to the described terrain, Likely not, but who's caring

Stint 2

Stint 2, lot more eventful, Liv managed to ‘Get caught up by cousin Jeffery’ according to Lana in the Contra. Which delayed the Convoy by 5 hours and 80 ANZAC Biscuits and required the crew to swap drivers in the vehicles due to keeping on time with Murray’s 13 Hours Driver hour rule, resulting in Sophie getting a chance to drive the VHT. ‘For a pig of a vehicle it sure hauls corners more sideways than Zach’s own car’

S-cop out, See you in 2 results.
PS: Team Sane Insanity, Might want to find us at camp to scream at Murray for driving like he’s Catching Cattle.

5 Likes

Team Slow
Part 3, Chapter 2


(Mainly because I wanted to get a break from doing write-ups to not demotivate myself, that’s why i havent posted in a while)


After various endeavours, we set off from Hollenburg. It was quite snowy there, As Matt got to the car, the doorhandle got frozen shut on the driver side. Nothing that maybe a little of heat can solve.

Following that, Matt gets into the car and gets it started, and then Izzy puts whatever sort of camping gear we have and the tent and it’s posts, crammed into the trunk like usual. She then gets into the car and the team start driving to the next area, until Sinesian Rejects’ car becomes closer on the pothole-filled road, Mixed with some other natural materials.

Matt starts tailgating behind their ute at some inappropriately close distances, and after Sinesian Rejects speeds up abit to get away. We give abit more distance to the vehicle, around a 1 second gap. It may not have given a another meaning to “Drive like you stole it”. Meanwhile Izzy is telling Matt to stop tailgating their car like a derelict.

(some mini-dialogue about this segment)
Izzy: You’ve been tailgating them for well over an hour, just leave a gap already!

Matt: If they don’t brake, then we’re a- he gets cut off mid-dialogue by Izzy

Izzy: Wrong? Do they not teach you about at least 2 second gaps during your driving tests? Embarassing

Matt: Well, i didn’t realise that?

Izzy: I’m just not gonna bother, i don’t know what you’re on about. Just keep moving and get along with driving, Normally that is.

Along with that, he slows down to keep a normal car-to-car distance rather than


After that… experience, we arrive at the village, setting up camp in the inactive mine. All goes well, we set up our gear, and then Izzy goes and finds the team to apologise for Matt’s god awful driving gap distance. Matt starts looking at her as she walks there, and then he goes and finishes setting up the tent. He decided not to go to save the humilliation. The inexistant indicator stalks are one thing.

Izzy finds the cars that Team Sinesian happens to have, alongside the crazy Frankencar, or the redhead as they call it.

She goes up to Al, one of the team members of Sinesian Rejects, as Izzy goes and says, whilst looking like she’s gonna likely be roasted/humilliated
“Hey, so uhh. I’m sorry for the fact that my team’s driver tailgated you for a very long time. If you’re wondering why i’m here instead of Matt, well that’s because he’s abit busy.” She is standing beside the back of the ute, to which Al shoots up, in the middle of attempting to wash ‘embedded’ dirt from the suspension components of the Ute.

(for this part, bold= Sinesian Rejects, non-bold= Team Slow/Not So Slow)

“It’s fine. Stage time is just as important as safety, I guess. That’s why I have a rear-view which is conveniently blocked by the camper shell.” Al replies to her, and then Izzy says

“Ah alright. I guess i’ll go back to my car, have a good day.” Izzy then goes back to her teammate, and then does her own thing. Al then goes back to the Ute, washing up embedded dirt from the car’s suspension pieces. All is good for both parties i guess.

OOC: @shibusu you might want to check your rear view mirror.

TO BE CONTINUED

3 Likes

Announcement:

48 hours remain before your Aggression and Top Gear / Support mode settings are locked in for Stage 4.

If you want to make changes, I’d suggest doing so quickly.

TEAM HILLBILLY ROLLERS

PART 4.1 - HOOOOOOONK!

Earlier parts

Pre-prologue part 1
Pre-prologue part 2
Prologue part 0.1
Prologue part 0.15 - Interlude
Prologue part 0.2
Prologue part 0.3
Prologue part 0.4
Part 1.1 - What’s that smell?
Part 2.1 - Can I see your driver’s license, please?
PART 3.1 - No beer means no drama!

PART 4.1 - HOOOOOOONK!

‘After a more calm day than the previous one, this day started out with Marie being outrageously grumpy for not being able to drink.

“Why are you keeping that goddamned beer in the Rugger?”, she asked the rest of the team.

“It’s not like you don’t know the answer, so don’t play stupid!”, Arne said, while doing his best to get up in the not very plastered-leg-friendly cab of the Wolverine. Marie grumbled a bit while cold starting the V8, releasing a cloud of smoke, now actually being somewhat able to get the thing moving without waking up the whole village of Hollenburg with her gear grinding.

Through the thick snow in the air, that the somewhat dry rotted wiper blades of the Wolverine barely managed to clear from the windows, they saw Team Cunning Stunts standing still, having a discussion with a cop. (@GetWrekt01 @That-S-cop )

“HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK!”, Marie blowed the horn of the Wolverine.

“Hey, stop playing with that!”, Arne said. “Do you want the cops to catch up on us again?”

“I am driving, I am using the horn as much as I want.”

“HOOOOOOOOOOOONK! HOOOOOOOONK! HONK HONK HONK!”

“Sometimes I wonder if you are older than 3 in your head”, Arne said, trying to have his thoughts somewhere else than on his miserable learner driver.

Everything was actually relatively calm until they heard a noise somewhere far away. When they came closer to it, they saw what it was. The Torrento seemed to have its throttle stuck wide open, and Team Aeromad did what they could to fix it, which at least this far didn’t seem to give any results.
( @Leone @JCurtiss96 )
“MANIACS! THEY WILL BLOW UP THEIR ENGINE”, Arne shouted, without Marie hearing it.

“HOOOOOOOOOOOOONK!”, Marie honked, probably with Team Aeromad having no chance to hear it either.

The next victim was Team Flamin’ Gallah’s bus. With absolutely no sight during the heavy snowfall at the exact point where the Hillbilly Rollers came up behind it, Marie started to wonder why Andreas just couldn’t pass it. Once again she honked the horn very loud. Arne was staring at her, being obviously upset.

( @AMuteCrypt )

“Hey! I just wanted to warn them so I can do a safe passing!”, Marie said.

“What do you me…”, Arne started to answer, when Marie floored it and passed both the Rugger and the bus at high speed, sending a cascade of snow over both of them.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?”, Andreas yelled at her in the CB.

“Stop chatting in the CB, it feels unsafe to do it in this weather!”, Marie answered.

A while later, the snow cleared up a little, and the Rugger managed to do a safe passing of both the bus and the Wolverine, once again being up first. It all went on pretty well, at least until they stopped to fill up the huge fuel tanks of the Wolverine. It took a while and wasn’t all that pleasant in the bad weather.

“Can I get some…stuff…from the Rugger?”, Marie asked

“What stuff?”, Janne asked. “Tell me what you want and I will get it for you."

“Just some…stuff…can I check it out myself?”.

“No, because you are only going to steal beer from it”, Janne said.

“Mumble mumble….how could he know…”, Marie grumbled for herself while stepping back into the cab of the Wolverine.

The team took away, for some reason they all saw a more modern car in traffic than you usually would see here. It turned out to be the Ambassador’s Mayland. ( @TheYugo45GV )

“Are they holding the map the wrong way?”, Janne said. Marie, on the other hand, just honked at the Mayland. Arne, on the other hand, was busy looking down at the floor, trying to tie his shoelace, when…

BANG!

Arne looked up with a nose bleeding after flying face forward into the dashboard.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?”

“Oh, nothing…”, Marie said, “…just hoping for the hatch on the canopy to fly open so I can get some…stuff…out from there.

Arne braced himself against the dashboard when he once again felt Marie flooring it.

BANG!

“Stop that!”, Arne said, “You’re scratching the paint on the bumper!”

“Oh, it’s nothing compared to their bumper”, she said, watching the rear bumper from the Rugger fly off.

Meanwhile in the Rugger, Andreas and Janne was starting to get a bit annoyed by having four tonnes of military truck constantly hitting their little minitruck.

“What the FUCK is that idiot doing?”, Andreas asked, more than just a bit annoyed.

“Oh, relax, what’s the worst thing that can happen? Just some minor whiplash, I guess”, Janne cynically answered. He raised the volume on the stereo to not have to hear the crashing as loud.

Börjes whaggar whock - YouTube

Arriving at camp, Arne, Andreas, Janne and absolutely not Marie saw the problem.

“It appears that we have to try to get rid of all the alcohol, there is someone that can not handle it”, Arne said.

“I know how to get rid of it”, Marie said.

“Yeah, and that is not the right way”, Janne answered in a sour tone.

Andreas emptied the Rugger from everything alcoholic, and carried it into the Wolverine, Janne tried to hold Marie back, and Arne taped a sign saying “FREE BOOZE INSIDE” on the window of the Wolverine.

TO BE CONTINUED…

4 Likes

Team Mravolinski-Chitco
Part 3

Taming the beast

Below picture fully explains that certain jail visitor will probably need to wait for a while:

Now thoughts of someone as he slowly awakens from artificially induced slumber:
-Argh, what happened…so sleepy…where am i…
Oh, i remember now…i came here…for revenge…to avenge my brother. Time has passed and yet i strongly miss him
I remember the details of how it came to be…lot of explosions and resulting fight…i can never forget and i doubt that i can forgive

Someone noticed
-Oh boi, oh boi, its happening. Call the boss NOW
NOW
NOOOOOW
-Ok bud, ya didnt needed to scream in my ear.

Moved towards boss

-Boss, beast has awoken
-Excelent, im coming right there

Our boi Krta had decided to get there and there was overall excitement

-Beautiful, our good boi has awoken
-GRRRRRRRRRRRR
-Ah i see that you are hungry (throws a chicken in cage) if you want more, ask.

That wasnt hunger, but anger directed at him. Growling had stopped primarily bcos this was kinda confusing move and newfound object smelt good and beast was hungry, making it smell even better.
Sniffing was followed by biting, which resulted in eating and that confusingly resulted in another such thing entering the cage and process was repeated.

-Eat as much as you want, we have no interest to keep you hungry…we will, however, ask of you just a tiny bit of favour or two tiny bits at worst
You seem very strong and capable and are coming with us as such opportunity to massively upgrade my ranks cant be missed and in return you will become one of my people, with no need to worry about food or drinks or place to sleep
If you want, you could procure such stuff yourself and you shall be equipped with even more than you already have…can you understand what “body armor” means?

Pause done in silence followed, as Krta decided to seek answer. His listener was no less angry now, but fact this fat bastard apparently spoke to him did awoke his natural curiosity, fact he didnt understood a word be damned

-I will take that as “no”, then. Well, to put it simply, if you were to wear such thing, that (pointing at shoulder of beast) would not cause that much damage: you may get bruised, but no blood would be spilled

Shoulder in area around the injury was shaved and injury itself now had something kinda white on it, with discoloration due to open injury.
Beast wanted to investigate, but was poked and turned back towards one who poked him

-NO, let it heal

Confusion settled in, but it seems investigating that wouldnt be desirable for one reason or the other
Ok then, fatty, have it your way, then

-You may ask: “What do we want from you at the moment?”
Simple: there is someone we want dead and this someone is deemed to potentially be very big threat to our operations hence we want her dead and as for what you may do with her after kill…we dont care and as far as we are concerned you could eat her, you are wild beast afterall and i think that may be natural reaction.
But we shall wait our time to shine and for you to recover from your injury


Journey for these guys would prove uneventful and they had continued further through the night, having enough people to easily swap places and continue the drive

Hail that sweet ride

I would like to thank Fayeding_Spray for inspiring me to experiment with bulletting options
With that in mind, for no other reason but for testing that shit:

  • You
    • Yo mama
      • Yooooooooooooooooooooo

As for me as character in story, we still waiting for Local to make a return, which eventually happened but with slight detail of him not returning alone
Lot of people had entered the vehicle, which now started moving forward towards some other place: ofc SR route dictates that place is called Coalscoop (very fitting name considering it has coal mines where coal is scooped from the ground) but nobody in our group is aware of that info except for maybe Local.
Local banknotes had started to leave the pockets of locals and would be transfered to our Local, some words would be said back and forth.
Despite not knowing the language, i was able to kinda figure out what is happening, which will be explained below

Inspiration

So, this group certainly needs money and only one with eligible money would be Local.
He didnt seemed to do any job until this point, so certainly he shall be able to do stuff with his car as a tool
Enter my experiences, which shaped this part of this post


As probably said little bit earlier, im studying in Novi Sad, but i wasnt exactly living in town itself but in nearby village, using the fact my uncle and his parents lived nearby (granma and granpa sadly passed away in meantime, but that isnt important for this story).
Anyway, this place is too far away from uni to just walk and im not having driver licence or driving bike to said uni (even tho last thing may be technically possible)
So im relying mostly on public transport (bus) or other thing, that IS theme of this.


Several people had apparently arranged themselves into small group that will organize taxi-like service for ones that either want into Novi Sad or out of it and into their villages.
They are going around following same route buses would do and pick up potential customers on bus stations or, if said customers had contacted them beforehand via phone, wherever they agree to meet, which could be in front of house of said customer.

Customers enter the car and during route would pay for the service in cash to driver. Fee in question for long time being comparable to bus ticket, although recently that got tad bit more expensive than bus ticket.
Ofc driver also asks customer where is most convenient for him or her to leave the vehicle, keeping in mind we are still keeping close to where bus would go.
Thanks to hands-free technology, they can accept calls on fly and potentially note that down for later using old-fashioned pencil and paper notebook.

I had went through Wikipedia trying to get some kind of close equivalent but im not convinced i did it, hence explanation i gave above

Vehicles:

  • Opel Zafira A or B
  • Fiat Multipla
  • VW Touran first generation
  • VW Sharan first generation
    Platform-mates of this car may also be possible, but i never saw any Ford Galaxy used in this
    manner, not so sure on Seat Alhambra

Vehicles have absolutely no difference to results you are going to see when Google searching them.

With that sorted out, we will update you upon arriving in Coalscoop which, well…may take a while

Mud slushie with flavour of transmission oil

-Not confident in doing anything now as i feel my muscles, joints and bones didnt appreciate this little trip
-You will be fine…probably
-Probably?
-Couldnt be arsed to check you up and we do need to go about right now.

Chicota took control of Saguaro, while Amanda had continued being in Kontir and would be joined by Mat and Siviko.

-This is like being on Earth
-Ye, kids seem to be same everywhere when snow falls

It is good day for children, although rather cold as snow continues to pile up everywhere.
Going through town had revealed that children even in this foreign world arent that different from their Earth counterparts: some were making snowman, some were engaging in snowball fights, few did both and ended up being rolled in snow as “reward”…stuff like that.
Some unfortunate older kids or equally unfortunate unemployed adults could be seen pulling sleds behind them, sled load composed of smaller kids screaming with joy.
If there are some declines in your sight, expect to see children with sleds, pieces of wood, grain shovels or their own pants (just sit on snow and slide down like that) to slide down those declines.

I imagined that pieces of wood or grain shovels would be used in similar fashion as these things that we call “klisko”:
image
Sufficiently big piece of cardboard would be klisko on budget and used as such
(Klisko as word can be translated freely to roughly “something of male gender that slides”)

Exiting the town, we entered roads that werent really that great of place in Saguaro, but Kontir faced no issues with this terrain
Slush manages to quickly find itself on underside of both vehicles and situation would not improve further we go, so when we did needed to stop so Saguaro could be refueled, that was done out of fuel reserves Kontir had brought.

As that was dealt with, group noticed few vehicles going other way and decided to go that way.
They were met with much nicer road in terms of snow being relatively compacted and without too much of slush…little did they know, route will highlight certain issue that went amiss in workshop and also may prove to be interesting for other vehicle

For both things we may need to refer to what they were going to meet about 4 miles or 6.4 km away from intersection.
Small, almost insignificant stream otherwise had managed to gain on power due to some snow melting and joining said stream
Result is neither very deep or particularly long crossing, but would be guaranteed to wash the underside of truck…something that made cars stop and try to come up with strategy for this.

-Ok, thats interesting sight
-Will wash all of this slush and shit off the vehicles and it could also hydrolock car
-Inconvenient indeed
-We shall continue, then
-Yes

The group decided to try and tow Saguaro through stream with Kontir, likely inspired by how it was done for Top Gear Nepal special (part of interest starts at 27th minute if im not mistaken).
To avoid any doubt, Pi was first to check and despite fact it was very cold, she passed.
Amanda and Chicota had joined her on other side, just in case Kontir needs some help itself to get out.
Mat and Andrea were behind wheels of Kontir and Saguaro, respectively
Kontir was in 4L and ready to enter, which it did…slowly and thanks to him being very careful and Andrea not doing any abrupt steering movements, they pulled through.

-This was relatively easy
-Something is off, tho. VERY off. Some weird smell has appeared
-Prob just someone burning something…very likely around here
-Ye, but lets just check

Situation under hood semed fine and then Andrea slipped off some ice and landed beside the car

-Ouch
-Are you alright?
-No
-Do you want me to lift you up?
-NO

Some short pause

-I think i found the problem tho
-Where?
-Under car, there is something certainly not snow and seems like its dripping from our car
-Wonderful…we are fucked. Where tf are we supposed to find more transmission oil?
-You can try to make it somehow or we can use some other oil readily avaiable.
-You two are to blame, you had it the longest and should have kept it in good condition.
-Problem is that neither of us had any idea on how to do that, asshole
-Now IM ASSHOLE
-Ye
-Also need to weld that thing again. We are going into town again to fix this

Shop they found in town was however closed, featuring lot of junk around it
Mat had opportunity to trip himself as he thought this was mere snowbank, but was in fact some old ass welding thing

-Ouch
-We are on the run regarding briliant falls.
-What about asking me if im hurt?
-Honestly? I dont care about you.
-She doesnt either care about you, it seems
-As mere human, you are best shutting your mouth
-Wot?
-Exactly what i said.
-Hmmm, i understand now…thats interesting indeed
-Really…how interesting it is?
-Very
Just to be clear, im not going to be obstacle or something…this is interesting bcos robots dont necessarilly need human emotions
-And yet, my father could have been easily scared by certain girl
To his defense, she used to be stronger than him and also would get angry at him plenty of times
Seems we found some common language
-I will look around to see if i can fix this up temporarily in order to weld that shit
-Ok.

And so, welder was once again in action, trying to deal with the whole transmission issue
Good thing about this whole winter thing is ofc cold beer, which will be greatly utilised

-Just dont set the thing on fire
-Very wishful thinking
-Have you planned out what kinda oil you will use to top it out?
-If you decide to annoy me, i may decide to use you as source of such substance.
May even write WELCOME on you and decide to give back to these guys
-What the hell…ooooohhhhhh
That was clever pun
-I dont see how thats clever.
-Thats bcos you dont understand English. Im called Mat, which besides being name of person has another meaning
-Yes, English term for “otirač” is “welcome mat”. But no, i dont really mean to use force upon him
After all, i could drink whole day and he can drive instead.
-You are really fond of that drink…
-Its my favourite activity besides fighting. And your experience in tackling snow-laden roads is recognised and appreciated.
-I may decide to fetch beer every now and then.
Afterall, im no stranger to good drink either and we have plenty of drivers to rely on anyway
-Haha, i like your explanation

Welding was done and welding toos were left where found, being maybe tad bit better at their job, but still absolute shit that is not guaranteed to work properly…or at all
After all was set and done group rolled into camp, looking to socialize themselves with others

(There is more on that, but will be featured in Knug`s next post, covering Stage 3 party hosted by his characters and Mat, Andrea and Chicota will be there)

Amanda will be tasked with getting power to vehicles, old Loojoe and Siviko decided to get to sleep bcos they are old and Pi was sore enough to join them in dreamland
With that, Stage 3 is mostly done, stay tuned for more and be on lookout for that party post of Knug to complete the story

1 Like

:star2: TEAM FRIENDSHIP! :D :star2:

Catchup post! :D

Team Friendship! :D’s Introductory Post

Previously, on Team Friendship! :D

After having been suddenly denied power in camp, the team went to try and clear up the situation; but found matters out of their control for reasons far beyond them. The team was still too optimistic, however, at this early stage in the rally, to let a setback like this keep them down…

(Previous Post)

OOC note: this post is my attempt to cover the past 4 stages in one post; as a result, it’s pretty rushed, and not every stage got a full writeup. In the future, my goal is to do one writeup per stage, and with this post I should be caught up to do so.

The Mojave & Shiverwind (Medium-length summary)

Right after the conversation with Valentin, the team went straight to bed for the night, where the good weather set a good tone for the coming adventure; they didn’t actually need to run the bus during the night, since the temperature was just fine. And the drive through the rift the following morning was similarly uneventful, with the help of their very-reliable bus.

The 2 had wanted to help the other teams during the breakdowns, but with traffic so packed in the rift, they didn’t even have enough space to let down their exit ramp, let alone navigate between the parked cars. So the 2 just stat and waited, mostly pretty bored, but a bit anxious since their bus only barely had enough range to clear the rift (at one point, Riley siphoned some of her own gas into the bus’s just to be doubly sure).

But on arrival to Shiverwind, things suddenly looked a lot worse. With temperatures suddenly as low as -10C, the team realized they hadn’t quite thought of cold weather when preparing their bus’ electronics. and while the risk it posed to the team’s electronics was small, it wasn’t something they wanted to chance. Plus, Freddie was already known to have trouble starting in cold weather anyway. No, they figured the best course of action was to keep the bus idling through the night, to keep the cabin and batteries heated.

And then there posed another problem; their bus was very inefficient on its own, and after that long drive, its 30 gallon tank was nearly empty. Shiverwind point didn’t have any gas stations nearby, so the only place to get gas was from from Shift Happens’ very expensive reserve tanks (which were already partly empty from filling up other cars on the trip).

So after wondering around a short while without seeing anyone, Riley ran into Takaraya, a quiet-but-professional seeming wolf who made very-quick work of filling the bus (and Riley), taking the money, and leaving. With that done, she went back inside, and the 2 sat in the quiet bus for the night, too worried about conserving fuel to try anything more. Their plans of decorating their bus, and mingling with new people, would have to wait for tonight.


Silvercreek (Medium-full-length with dialogue)

Their worries remained the next morning, as they started driving, but after a hundred or so miles they did actually manage to find an actual gas station (which was a absurdly cheaper this time), easing their worries about fuel a bit. And upon arriving access to camp, with such proximity to the resources of the city, they were a bit more comfortable venturing out to look for their first decoration.


As the 2 microcars drove around town, they caught a few passing looks from civilians, since they were somewhat different (and a bit smaller) than anything else on the roads. But they were only a little bit different, and certainly not the flashiest cars in town today, so most of these were but passing glances. There was one group of 3 young boys though, hanging out downtown, who found themselves right near the 2 as they stopped at a stoplight.

“Ey, where’d you get the toy cars?” Shouted one lad at the cars, with an undertone of mockery in his voice.

Freddie, who was in the back of the group, turned to look at them. “:sparkles: Oh, we’re from out of town.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, we’re with that expedition :sunny: from :rainbow: another planet! :rainbow:” Said Riley

It took him a moment to process what he was seeing, but… yes. There was no driver inside. The car, itself, was talking to him. He looked at his friends, to see if they shared his surprise; their looks confirmed they did.

“I remember hearing something about a convoy running through,” one of them spoke up “from some other world or some sort”

“Who the hell comes all the way from another planet just to visit Silvercreek,” the 3rd cynically said.

“We’re actually doing a tour of the :confetti_ball: whole continent! :confetti_ball:” explained Freddie, who had hopped onto the sidewalk. “This is just one of our really cool stops! :rainbow:

Riley had also followed Freddie towards them, but didn’t go onto sidewalk. The friends, meanwhile, seemingly begun to accept the idea of 2 cars talking to them… “Oh, so like, the 2 of you are driving across country yourselves?” said the original speaker.

“Well not ourselves, of course, that’d be unfair for the competition.” Said Riley. “We’re driving our :blue_heart: Bus! :blue_heart:

And the friends were lost again.

“Wait so; you, cars, are driving another car, across the country?”

“Yup! :blossom:” cheered Riley, who seemed to notice nothing weird about this at all. “And actually, we were planning to decorate :gem: it as we went along, with something from each town we stopped at!”

“Yeah! :star2:” joined Freddie. “Actually, if I could ask, is there anything special art :art: or art traditions in Silvercreek, that we could use as a decoration?”

“This is the most dull, boring city you’ll ever find, partner.” the cynic remarked, his confusion momentarily overcome by his self-deprecating attitude. “Nothing but a bunch of cold and silver mines here.”

:bulb: Oooh, Silver!” perked Freddie. “I can work with that! :sparkles:

“Yeah, there were a lot of silver mines on the way in.” said Riley. “Great idea!”

“Alright, well thanks for the inspiration! :rainbow:” Freddie told the group, as the cars turned back to get on the road. “It was nice to meet you! :cherry_blossom:

“Yeah! See ya! :yellow_heart:

As the 2 drove off into the intersection (which was now green for them), the 3 kids were left thinking about what just happened.

“So… that was the ‘convoy from another world,’ then? …Not exactly what I was expecting.”

“Well, thinking about it, why were we expecting anything at all? It’s another planet, who knows what it’s like there?”

“I guess…”


After some shopping around town and some very basic metal-working, Freddie was able to fashion a hollow mock-coin out of aluminum, complete with a basic engraving of a tipple, and spray painted with silver-paint. The job was a bit rushed, as Freddie was still anxious about the cold and wanted to be outside as little as possible, but he was nonetheless quite proud of his work.


Hollenburg (Short-length summary)

The drive to Hollenburg was even less eventful, since fuel was now readily accessible along the highway and the weather getting a little better. As inefficient as it was, the bus excelled at cruising long distances in terms of power and stability. The drive was pretty long, though, and by the time they arrived in Hollenburg, it was already late in the day; it got even later as they drove around the large city, taking in all the sights.

Realizing they’d run out of time, they quickly tried to think of something they’d seen a lot of, and remembered there’d been a lot of freight rail around the town. So once the went inside, Freddie used their onboard printer to print out a vinyl sticker of a freight train, which they stuck on the left side of the bus before calling it a night.


Coalscoop (Medium-full-length with dialogue)

The drive to Coalscoop was a bit more challenging through the ice, but the bus’ immense weight generally kept traction surprisingly high as long as the driver stayed careful. And this was, once again, another day of uneventful travel; with one exception.


Watching all these strange, interplanetary vehicles drive past, Officer Norman didn’t really understand what the fuss was about. Sure, they all looked strange and unusual, but fundamentally they weren’t that different to anything else on the road; they all had wheels, headlights, and drivers like everybody else, and had to follow the same rules as everybody- Now wait a minute, Chief! Just wait a minute; see through the windshield of that one truck there? Is that what looks like a cyclecar, parked where the driver should be?!

In a haste, Norman fired up his siren and pulled his cruiser onto the road to catch this runaway truck, as all the cars nearby pulled over to let him past- …except, to his surprise, the driverless car also pulled over.

Well, okay. this made Norman’s job a lot easier, but also made him a bit confused. He wondered if maybe he’d seen wrong? The truck had been staying in its lane and following the limit like normal… But no, as he stopped in front of it again, he did see a parked car where a person should be. And it didn’t seem parked very stable either, it was shifting around a bit even with the truck stopped.

As Norman walked up to the truck, he gave a cautious “Hello?” to check if anyone was inside. And there was, as he immediately heard back, (in a high-pitched almost childlike voice), “Hi there :tulip:, officer! What’s wrong.”

“um, How many people are inside this vehicle” he asked, as he approached the opened right-side window.

:green_heart: Two :yellow_heart: of us, sir!” the voice cheered, as Norman realized the green cyclecar was now facing him through the window, instead of forward like before. This can’t be…

“Uhh, sir? Are you a car?”

“Yeah! :tada:” The car responded, complete with matching ‘body language.’

“And you are driving.”

“Yup! :ribbon:

“Okay… are there any people on board then?”

“Nope, just me and Riley :yellow_heart: on board!” the car gestured further along the bus, where there happened to be another window, with another car visible through it- this one a tad bigger, but still pretty small.

“Okay, I’m sorry but I’m not really used to a car, uh, driving a bigger car, so- 'could you show me how you manage to control the vehicle.”

“Oh, of course :star:, sir!” said the car. “You’re welcome to use the ramp on the other side.”

Cautious of anyone who’d so willingly let an officer into their space, Norman walked over to the other side to see an electric garage door peeling upwards to reveal the interior, in tandem with a ramp pulling out to. The yellow one drove out to allow him to step inside, and while he was a bit too nervous to go in very far, he did look in just enough to see another lift leading to the green car’s driver’s compartment.

On the floor of this compartment, there were what looked like 2 slits in the ground; the green car showed how it could stick in its wheels in them, and control the bus’ with them as though they were its own. It took a bit of explaining- most notably, Norman struggled to understand that the car like the green one could be fwd -but he got there eventually.

“We can show you the rest of the bus, if you like! :sunflower:” The yellow one offered.

“Oh no, that’s fine.” Said Norman, as he got out. “I just wanted to make sure there was someone on here that was safely controlling it. And you guys are, well maybe a bit wierd, but… looks like you’re up to the task.”

:confetti_ball: Hooray! :confetti_ball:” Cheered the one in back.

“Nice to meet you then, officer! :+1:” The driving one concluded.

Norman was about to say goodbye himself, but then realized something. “Here, uh, wait a minute while I write up a report on it. I have to do this for every time I stop someone.”

“No problem! Take your time! :bouquet:

That he would, Norman thought to himself, as he realized how hard it’d be to get anyone at the station to believe him. Heck, he barely believed himself even with the bus still here…


Arriving at coalscoop, the weather regressed to about the same as it was the first day in Shiverwind, albeit without the wind, and with a gas station available in town. And this made them start to realize that, maybe they’d become a bit too afraid of the cold. Sure their first day worries were probably valid, with gas being so hard to access, but otherwise what’d they have to worry about? They’d seen -10° weather back home, and other than Freddie’s problems starting they could handle it just fine.

Besides, they were surrounded by fuel, civilization, and fellow camp members, what did they really have to worry about? And worst of all, as their encounter with Norman had reminded them, their fear of the cold had kept them from doing the one thing they came here for in the first place; meeting new people!

So as they were making today’s art, a minecart out of coal dust (the idea hadn’t taken very long to come up with, coalscoop was a pretty simple town), they got to make a promise; next stage, they were gonna make a point to meet someone. Regardless of the weather, whether in camp or in town, they would do what it takes to make a friend tomorrow. Because otherwise, what was the point of even being here at all?

4 Likes

Stage 4:

Coalscoop to Nehmenberg

Temperature at mid-day: 9°C

Night-time Low: 4°C

Weather Conditions: With few, scattered clouds, expect a lot of sunshine and minimal winds.


Camp Challenge: Fastest Time around the Evergreen Forest Circuit (Airfield)


Upon looking at the map in the morning, it’s obvious now as to why we detoured away from major cities to come to a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. Instead of a straight, fast run from Hollenburg to Nehmenberg on Highway Route 1, we diverted to Coalscoop… So that we could drive the 1337 curves of the Serpent’s Spine forest road, through the Evergreen Forest.

Traffic enforcement seemed to be light, and traffic was almost nonexistent, which meant those who had sporty cars had something to look forward to. Everyone else, however, looked on in dread at the amount of turns they’d have to navigate. Those who didn’t have power steering looked particularly concerned.

The speed signs said 30 MPH / 50 km/h, but just about every curve had “suggested speed” signs of about half of that.

A certain lack of guardrails, combined with plenty of trees to tear up cars, offered plenty of reasons to reduce one’s speed for self preservation.

This was, as a result, a particularly grueling drive for everyone, making it almost an endurance event to deal with 1337 curves in 306 miles of road.

At the end, when we rolled into Nehmenberg, it was a well-deserved respite from sawing at the wheel. The capital city, 1.3 million people strong, with a couple of early high-rise buildings immediately visible, welcomed us and our tired arms as we rolled in. We were given space to set up in their campground at the outskirts of the city.


Next Stage Expected Conditions:

Road Speed: moderate
Road Condition: good
Traffic: high
Police: high


Results Here: SR2023 Stage 4 - Google Drive


@Madrias

Team Shift Happens

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Home Unit: 2:24.27

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Carry All: 2:09.64

Kasiya spent most of the 11-and-a-half Earth hour journey swearing while Rukari hot-miked the radio, broadcasting the huge, heavily-armored werewolf’s thoughts about this particular road to everyone in range. Takaraya had no issues other than learning just how much foul language Kasiya had learned in such a short time. While both rigs had feather-light power steering, he knew that Kasiya’s complaints were more about how often he had to spin the wheel courtesy of the huge number of curves in this road.


@Elizipeazie:

VS Mobil Generator AB

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Robert: N/A

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Regina: 1:46.42

With everything going to plan, including a 4 hour scheduled stop for Val to get a few hours of rest and spend an hour figuring out some currency details, it was a smooth scenic voyage on some well-maintained mountain track.


@Fayeding_Spray

Team M.A.D.

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Walkenhorst: 1:53.39

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Sakura: 1:45.40

Despite traveling as two separate cars again, it seemed there was an unspoken agreement to stick together again. The only difficulty experienced on the trip was passing a couple slower-moving HD-GV units dragging huge trailers. Well, unless the radio was tuned to the same frequency as Shift Happens was using… Then the other difficulty would be listening to Kasiya’s cursing tirade and the complaints about “drivers not giving him any space” as well.


@Shibusu

Team Sinesian Rejects

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Imbe: 1:36.69

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Itan: 1:37.66

Ianis floors it to leave camp and travels at a great rate of speed, though nowhere near flat out. The other three take off in the Frankencar at a more normal pace. When the Itan inevitably ended up pulled over for a warning, TJ blared the horn as he passed by… Only to be pulled over three turns later by the same cop who had dealt with Ianis. Thankfully, only warnings today, no tickets, and no jail time.


@Interior

Team Not-So-Slow

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Schnell: 1:36.64

The winding, twisting Serpent’s Spine road called to you to push the car hard. Unfortunately, the siren’s call of a fast drive on a scenic winding drivers’ road ended up sounding a lot like police sirens. A ticket later (for crossing into the oncoming lane), the Schnell was back on the move.


@TheYugo45GV

The Ambassadors

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Ivera: 1:32.99

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Mayland: 1:40.57

The decision to split up here meant that the crew in the Ivera had no major issues beyond a speeding ticket, while the crew in the Mayland had a real bad time. There was, after all, a loud pop from under the hood, and an awful lot of steam. Then the engine got hot and had to be shut off. The lower radiator hose split, spilling coolant everywhere. With no water up here, a decision was made: Put the car in neutral and let it coast downhill, soapbox derby style. It was slow progress, but eventually, the car rolled most of the way down the twisting, winding Serpent’s Spine by the power of gravity alone. It was just a matter of pushing the heavy Ambassador into camp, replacing the hose, and then refilling the coolant before starting the engine and properly parking the car.


@Doot

The Knockouts

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, 1325 Facelift: 1:21.6

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Papillona: 1:46.66

You would think that Kate would learn to temper her speed. After running over a spike strip and destroying all four tires, she was caught by the police. This time, however, instead of looking around like she was going to run, she put her hands up on the window glass and went willingly. As a result, they didn’t bring out the big scary Dyre from the huge police wagon parked behind the car she ended up inside. Octavia, on the other hand, enjoyed a very scenic cruise on a road she found to be somewhat fun to drive, even if her pace was a little under the speed limit.


@MrdjaNikolen

Team Mravolinski-Chitco

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Saguaro: 1:49.03

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Kontir: 1:56.78

After the hell of the previous two stages, fate seems to have given the two vehicles here a small break. With the Kontir leaning wildly around every corner courtesy of the camper shell, it’s at least an exciting drive.


@Jaimz68

Team HETS

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Franklin: 1:25.70

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, FM VanGo: 1:48.64

Between a speeding ticket in the VanGo and two old ladies wanting to take all the pictures, this was a very slow stage.


@AMuteCrypt

Team Flaming Gallahs

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Priscilla II: 2:21.72

It’s slow yet steady progress in the party bus. No tickets, no tire troubles, engine running fine, everything is as it should be… Except for a slight chance of catching a load of cursing on the radio, and a lot of curves to take in a very-well-decorated bus.


@Edsel

Team Friendship! :smiley:

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Bazard: 2:00.31

It’s hard to say what the two cars think of the winding road. It’s clear that it’d be a great road to drive on in a sportier vehicle.


@Knugcab

Team Hillbilly Rollers

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, IP Rugger: 1:46.37

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Sanju: 2:04.40

Things didn’t go so well today. The Rugger’s engine started making an awful banging sound. Janne recognized it immediately - that was a rod knock. The decision was made to stop now, at the side of the road, and do a field-repair before the rod got tired of knocking and made a window in the block. After all, they had the spare parts. Unfortunately, Janne’s inability to consider the amount of time the repair would take meant that they spent nearly one full Earth day with the engine torn apart on the side of the road. Thankfully, a bit of that time was spent getting some sleep in to keep sharp, because once the engine rebuild was complete, they rolled into camp basically just in time to eat breakfast and start the next stage.


@Odyssey_Fan

Team Sane Insanity

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, KKR S2: 1:37.42

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Roadmaster: 2:03.75

It’s all fun and games until someone fries the tires while drifting and then has to reduce speed severely due to driving on completely bald tires. Meanwhile, the minivan ends up with a warning for driving into the oncoming lanes.


@PortalKat42

Faolan Industries

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Aether 52 H: 1:35.77

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Aether 11/2: 1:32.41

It seems that the bad luck continues for the Faolan Industries team. The speeding ticket was bad enough. A sharp rock causes mayhem for the 11/2 when it slashes one of the suspension lines, spraying fluid across both lanes and causing a noticeable drop in ride height. After a reasonably quick (for what they were dealing with) fix, however, a trip had to be made back up to Coalscoop to get enough mineral oil to refill and repressurize the system, then back to the stricken car to actually complete the repair. Thankfully, the repair held fluid, and once the car was back up to driving height, the dynamic duo continued on their way… But not before tossing some sand over their spill to keep other drivers safe.


@AndiD

Team Taciturn

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Mara: 1:53.93

After agreeing to drive more carefully and keep their car in their lane, the two aliens make another quick run.


@BannedByAndroid

Team ReUnity

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Ursula: 1:29.79

With the engine’s bellowed roar echoing off of the mountain and through the woods, and judicious use of shortcuts no one else would dare take, the little crossover escapes the cops once again.


@SheikhMansour

Team Spy Kids

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Reekayns: 2:06.68

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Mocabey: 1:35.21

“You don’t have to run faster than the Dyre, you just have to outrun your friend.” Such is the case for the Reekayns, which escaped and made it to the camp without any trouble. The Mocabey, on the other hand? Its crew was hauled out and handcuffed, an officer barely restraining a huge, 11-foot-tall werewolf who clearly looked excited about the chance to chase people through the forest. Guess it was a bad time for the engine to stall thanks to a bad fuel pump.


@IDK158

Team J3

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Tiharris: 1:21.06

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Rhien: 1:31.77

Both cars hit the same rock, both cars got the same nasty gash on their oil pan, and as a result, became two more soap-box derby racers to make it into camp. Thankfully, the team was able to sleep in camp with the clocks still technically running, until Jayde woke up, was able to repair their oil pans, and the cars were started in time to start Stage 5.


@JCurtiss96 & @Leone

Team Aeromad

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Juggernaut: 2:16.89

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Torrento: 1:28.88

Other than the driver of the Juggernaut getting a polite bit of advice to keep it in the lane, and three pit stops for the fuel thirsty Torrento, it was a mostly uneventful journey.


@Tzuyu_main & @FallingComet

Team Black Rabbit Disavowed

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Seikatsu: 1:50.21

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Dauer (Camp Challenge Winner) : 1:18.89

Fast, but under the radar, leads to a quick time if you’re lucky. Getting the fastest lap in the camp challenge also feels pretty good.


@Texaslav

Sheriff Scott’s Posse

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Warren: 1:26.03

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Bowie: 1:44.70

Both cars get a ticket, one for speeding, the other for driving in the oncoming lane around a corner, trying to pass the first car. Otherwise, it’s an uneventful scenic ride.


@Xepy

Team “486”

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Viera: 1:19.73

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Kleinbus: 1:24.89

No problems other than hearing sirens for the better part of 2 and a half hours before the police gave up on chasing you.


@S_U_C_C_U_L_E_N_T

Team Magdelena

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Baumhauer: 1:33.53

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Hinode: 1:42.50

While the Hinode got a quick warning for speeding, it was the slower-moving Baumhauer that got the ticket. Lesson learned - Don’t pass cars on the shoulder.


@SurrealCereal

Team Machinas Con Passione

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Blue Wonder: 1:37.79

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Faenza: 1:22.70

Both vehicles, despite traveling at different speeds, have relatively uneventful trips.


@GetWrekt01 & @That-S-Cop

Cunning Stunts

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, VHT: 1:42.66

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Contra: 1:30.78

Another team out for a pleasant drive - at least in the Contra UTE. The VHT “Sand Hopper” was not as fun to wrestle through 1337 curves.


@EnCR

Team Till D End

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, JMX Linx: 1:37.03

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Avantii: 1:47.37

The Linx was a bit of an anchor on this trip. Between the warning for crossing into the oncoming lane, followed by what could best be described as “an engine explosion,” it’s a slow overall time. The Avantii was used to tow the stricken car into camp, where Kivenaal helped repair it once the team had torn it completely down. Then it had to be put back together again, and before it went back in the car, the need for food and sleep took priority. Thankfully, getting the engine back in the car and started up meant that the timer stopped for Stage 4, with only a bit of time remaining before Stage 5 started.


@LS_Swapped_RX-7

Basedworks

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, RV: 1:44.86

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, MCMOTD: 1:25.33

Having slowed down previously to avoid as much aggressive attention from the police, the MCMOTD makes it into camp without any issues. The RV is only a couple hours behind.


@Mikonp7

Team Gunship

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Haapala: 1:32.45

Between getting a ticket for speeding, and spending an awful lot of time driving slow thanks to the ass-tastic road-holding capability of the chunky offroad tires you put on it, it’s a slow trip for the open-cockpit sporty car. It really didn’t help your speed much when you hit a patch of oil and spent several minutes spinning tires.


@Ldub0775

4 Dicks in a Truck

Evergreen Forest Circuit Time, Centurion: 1:52.30

Things were going well until the cops pulled you over and gave you a ticket for crossing into the oncoming lane. It would’ve been a warning, but someone just had to argue that they didn’t cross into the lane. The cop’s response? “You damn near ran that half of your truck over my hood.”

6 Likes

26 hours left to change aggression for Stage 5!


Cunning Stunts

*Roleplay and status updates maintained by Yours Truly

Chapter 3

Stint 3

A long Travel time and Convoy Logic did not do itself nicely when a truck slowed the Convoy down and it’s been determined that most fixes can be done with tools in the cars, Any major Repairs would be done at camp by Murray and Zach, So they change attack plan to split the cars up and repair major damage at camp and do a bastard fix for the Contra Ute if were to go down in the stage.

Stint 4

Basically just racing the 2, Nothing went wrong, which is a suprise.
So it just reads as Sophie Ragging on the Contra Ute and Lana making sure the VHT was going to be on 3 wheels more than it was on 4 wheels, We did grab a few dead tyres from the road though, those will be helpful for prolonging the active tyres on the trucks when they do go out.

S-cop out, See you in 2 results.


3 Likes

Team Mravolinski-Chitco
Part 4

Last part has brief mention of entities belonging to other teams (@Jaimz68 , @idk158 and @doot in exactly this order)

Does anyone want to go to Hollenburg?

Well…in case of certain individual, we already know the answer…

-GET ME OUT OF THIS SHITHOLE
YOU BASTARDS
FUCK YALLL
LET ME GOOOOOO

Two people responsible for looking on prisoners decided to discuss:

-What is she saying?
-Probably wants to go
-Rules say she shall stay three days here. That is yet to pass…
-Tough luck
-CAN SOMEONE PLEASE QUIET THAT BITCH DOWN!!???
-She will quiet down by herself
-SHE IS LITERALLY ANNOYING ME FOR TWO DAYS ALREADY…PLS LET ME IN HER CELL SO I COULD QUIET HER DOWN
-…aaaand thats why we are here. You are multiple-time criminal, besides some other stuff bcos…
-…i stole from and beaten up some other people, ye ye.
-We also think this is her first time being in a cell.
-I think she is just one entitled pain in the ass that needs some grounding
-Ofc

About 40 Aetherian minutes passed, but Leopolda was still requesting to let her go

-When are we going to get some lunch here?
-You know schedule very well by now and its not going to be delivered for few more hours…Besides, we never heard you requesting lunch earlier
-I just want her to finally quiet down on something
-She refused to eat last time we gave her food
-Just as i thought…entitled “im center of the world” type of people that goes to my nerves.
-She is going to stay just a little bit longer, ok? She is going tommorow.
-I would prefer if you let her go now
-We would too, but the rules
-Fuck the rules
-…aaaaaand thats why we are here
(both the other policeman and prisoner) -can you shut up, man


Local is now sitting in his seat, counting out money he gotten from the ride. Pedro was beside him, looking at foreign banknotes blankly.
He gestured he would like to drive by gently pushing Local and attempting to squezze to driver position.
Local understood, gathered money and exited the car, couple of seconds later entering from other side and continuing his financial revision.
They stopped near some bakery and Pedro had grabbed some loose change that was hanging around, which was noticed by Local and he decided to give him some money for food
Thats when vehicle finally stopped moving around and settled on one place

-What are we going to do now?
-I suggest sleep
-We already slept or, well, napped on road to here. Lets just go and find some toilet and return to car
-Yes, let the girls go first then we are next. Seems Local is also about to leave the car and we dont want to leave it unattended
-Ok

Local also left car, but seems he wasnt looking for toilets. Both Earth groups had did the things and were now waiting for Local.

-Does anyone want to go to Hollenburg?
-No, fuck off, i wait for the…fuck off, ya peasant, stop smelling my air
-Is he drunk?
-Yes.
-Im not drunk, fuck off
-Swaying like that says otherwise
-So, i guess you are all waiting for bus?
-Yes, your services arent needed.
-Hmm, ok…would like to have some more money.
-I want some hot girls to make me company in bed.
-I want a cake
-I want my granpa to be happy and healthy

Drunk (and obviously willing for horizontal action) guy had looked at cake enjoyer

-Really? Couldnt you have specified piece of cake?
-No. I want whole cake
-Damn

Some other guy arrived on station, settling as well…that was until he saw our beloved Local nearby

-Are you driving to Hollenburg?
-Yes, would prob want to go to Nehmenberg as well afterwards…kinda strapped for cash right now.
-Not really what im used of hearing from you, but will join…and i suggest everyone else to do so as well

Drunk guy had chosen two words to respond

-Why would we follow your example? We are all waiting for the bus…like actual officially mandated bus
-Bcos that bus had broke down
-How would you happen to know that?
-Im bus driver, one that was supposed to drive you all and…had feeling this guy (aiming in direction of Local) may be nearby
-You saw me at bakery
-Ofc i saw you at bakery…now lead

Local had appeared with bunch of other people.

-Here we go again…let us rearrange ourself.
-Im staying here, bcos i reckon Local may need some rest from driving.
-Ok, i will take the wheel when you get tired
-Ofc Shaike, you will be informed.

-Who are these people?
-Hmm, just some friends i picked up couple of days ago.
-They are talking strange language
-Yes, i think they arent from around here…although that means they are never tired from my stories
-Oh my…also, why is one of them at driver seat?
-I guess he wants to drive now: dont worry, i will show him where to go.
-How?
-One does not need to speak same language to be able to communicate
-Also…why?
-Admitedly? I wanted some company and saw we can all benefit from teaming up: they did seemed properly lost ngl.
They also call me “Local”. I have no idea what that means, but i guess we may find out.

As was already said, Pedro was driving this time around and other members tried to help in other ways: Shaike and Mrdja tried to help with luggage and loading up some and females were gathering money and delivering it to Local
Local was giving directions via hands and soon enough Pedro realised they are going back.
Drive was uneventful and they will once again spend the night in Hollenburg.

Beginnings of purrrfect story

Ok, then, i guess we shall start the story…from its beginning

This story starts with our protagonist, obviously. There isnt much known about her, except for fact that she had appeared before
Interaction with people she just had, first in what is presumably relatively long time, left her wanting to be alone and alone she was for some time
Day was needed for her to come and encourage herself to get back to those people, potentially giving another chance but as you, reader, may happen to conclude: it was very much too late for that.

Grief for waiting would happen to be of short duration, as hunger took over and protagonist of this part of post had helped herself with nearby birds.
Guard of nearby town would happen to take notice of this and few pieces of meat along with showing of positive attention made our protagonist very interested in this guard

When it came time for his shift to end he brought her with him home, too, where she stayed for unknown amount of time that is likely measured in months as his family pet.
Her next piece of adventure that leads her to some emmigration was when son of guard wanted to continue his education elsewhere and she would join him so he isnt fully alone in that cruel, unknown world
But that piece of story can wait for next post

Serpent`s Spine

After managing to wake up and embrace new day, team had disconnected power and started preparations for next leg of journey.
Loodjoe and Siviko very reluctantly took wheels and drove off.

After the hell of the previous two stages, fate seems to have given the two vehicles here a small break. With the Kontir leaning wildly around every corner courtesy of the camper shell, it’s at least an exciting drive.

This excitement proved to be fair bit too much for Loodjoe and he already requested someone else to take the seat, few minutes later Siviko did the same
Amanda took place in Saguaro and now all eyes were directed at who will drive Kontir
As Mat and Andrea werent keen on traversing so many turns and twists and Pi still felt consequences of some earlier exercise, Chicota was put in hot seat.
Some more fuel also found way to Saguaro`s fuel tank, which was actually main reason for this stop

Driving had continued at bit brisker pace and without wild leaning moments, reflecting that these two are most skilled drivers of team

There were ofc some minor setbacks, like:

  • two older ladies that just wanted to take the best possible picture
  • oil streaks on road, later revealed to be originating from two cars found further down the road
    It just so happens that they hit some big rock, thankfully avoided by our team
  • oh, also team saw police from here arresting someone for first time
    this was short sight, about as short as person being arrested

And this just revealed how many teams in this journey this team is yet to meet

-We should try to make new friends in camp
-Hmmm, not a bad idea indeed: all of those seemed like they are in this journey as well
-They were: those old ladies seemed to use devices from Earth and both arrested shortie we saw and those two cars with turned off engines used very modern cars
-Two cars used very modern cars
-I think i had tad bit too much booze and im kinda tired and this isnt my first language
-Ok Mat…
-Why those two had turned off engines?
-Do you recall some big rock we found on road? And then seeing some oil on the road?
Ye, i would hazard a guess and say that rock caused them quite some grief
-This run is going rather well, actually, nice change from previous two stages
-Ye, but who is to tell what next stage may bring…


image
Nehmenberg would prove to be competitive in size to Belgrade (whose size is noted in picture above), which meant the possibility of traffic jams…something that seemed to be very well fulfilled indeed.
On the road to camp, they had also gathered some supplies if shops were indeed along the way and with that in mind, they went into camp and would prepare for sleep and rest

2 Likes

Stage 5:

Nehmenberg to Nehmenweld National Park


Temperature at mid-day: 15°C
Night-time Low: 7°C
Weather Conditions: Cloud cover increases a bit, breaking the direct sunlight on rare occasions. Winds also are marginally increased, but are of no concern other than the reduction in perceived temperature.


Camp Challenge: “At a Snail’s Pace” (Turbocharged Cars get a point.)


Today’s planned stage had some people (notably, within Shift Happens) curious as to “why, exactly, are we leaving a perfectly good city to go camp in some park?” The answer is actually simple: Camping was always the goal here. That there’s been the possibility to ignore the campground with provided electrical power all this time has been a luxury, not a given situation.

As we all made our way out onto the roads and found ourselves on Highway Route 7, several things became immediately apparent.

One, the speed limit on this road was set at 55 MPH / 90 km/h, which given the somewhat winding nature of the highway wasn’t too surprising, even if it was annoying for some people.

Two, there was a hell of a lot of traffic cruising along at or around the speed limit, plus or minus about 15 MPH (24 km/h), though with most trending toward UNDER the limit.

And, three, there were a ton of black-and-white police cars, and they weren’t hesitating to light up the handful of local speeders… If they saw them.

If there was one thing going for Nehmenweld’s highway system at this point, however, it would be the fact that it’s scenic. Unlike the American Interstate system, where it’s four lanes or more of blacktop across great, empty expanses of land with nothing to see, Nehmenweld’s highway system was four lanes of primitive blacktop weaving its way through the countryside, dipping in and out of small local forests, carving a path around a great big lake, even taking a trip through a quick tunnel to avoid a longer loop around a small mountain.

As we left the highway to head for the national park, it was another mildly serpentine road, dodging massive redwood trees as we closed in on the park.

Just outside the park grounds, we crossed the train tracks at a wide level crossing, then made our way into the campground.

While there were a few log cabins to shelter in, the main area was meant for tents. Or, in our case, to turn it into a giant parking lot.

At least while we’re here, however, those looking for something to do could hike the trails. Or, if you’ve brought bicycles, you could ride the trails instead. In fact, the locals seem to have designed the trails for exactly that purpose, as the occasional cyclist can be seen weaving their way up one of the paths, or disappearing down another.


Next Stage Expected Conditions:

Road Speed: very high
Road Condition: good
Traffic: low
Police: none


Results Here: Untitled spreadsheet - Google Drive


@Madrias

Team Shift Happens

It was nearly an hour into the trip when Kasiya heard Takaraya cursing over the radio, followed by a request to stop as he’d had a breakdown. Upon assessing the situation, Takaraya slid out from under the truck covered in a blackish-brown mess from a blown oil line. After creating a new line and running it to the oil cooler, then to the engine, the engine was filled back up with oil, and Takaraya took a few extra minutes to rinse as much oil out of his fur as he could before getting into clean clothes and back behind the wheel.


@Elizipeazie:

VS Mobil Generator AB

What was a decent start to the trip turned into a bundle of confusion and delay when Robert had his first derailment. While traveling at the legally required speed of 10 miles per hour through the switch, a combination of small events collided to create a problem. First, the signalling equipment was saying that the track ahead was safe, while the switch wasn’t set correctly. Second, the signalman hadn’t set the switch for a smooth transition. Third, Robert, at 2.5 metric tons, wasn’t heavy enough to just force the switch to the proper position. And finally, there was just enough momentum behind the train for Robert to mount the steel rail like it was a curb, then come crashing down into the ballast. With a squeal of steel against steel, the skidplate slid over the rail, followed by Robert’s rear axle, and almost immediately after, the trailer’s leading axle. Luckily, this incident was noticed immediately by a signalman who quickly radioed it in to get a breakdown crane out here to help re-rail the train.


@Fayeding_Spray

Team M.A.D.

Sakura Citrine - 1 Turbo

A relatively clean stage for the documentary team, other than a stop for the crew in the Citrine to explain to an officer that, yes, their car did “sneeze” at him. After a quick warning about not speeding, they were back on their way.


@Shibusu

Team Sinesian Rejects

Other than Ianis getting another warning for speeding, there’s not much to say about this stage. Things are going “well” in the Frankencar, other than the already-defined-as-normal pinging.


@Interior

Team Not-So-Slow

Another easy stage for the beaten-up old luxury car.


@TheYugo45GV

The Ambassadors

Today, it was the Ivera’s turn to pop a bunch of tires. With the Mayland long gone by that point, it was a “short” 3.5 hour hike to a small village to find out, no, they don’t have car tires, followed by a 3.5 hour hike back, and then half an hour of tearing the interior apart to realize, “Oh, the fix-a-flat kit was under the driver’s seat all along.”


@Doot

The Knockouts

One car races to the finish in a hurry, the other takes a scenic Sunday drive. No problems arrive today, even if the screaming sirens have left Kate a little deaf in one ear.


@MrdjaNikolen

Team Mravolinski-Chitco

A smooth drive down a fast, though scenic, highway leaves the crew in good spirits.


@Jaimz68

Team HETS

It’s all fun and games until the VanGo, tailgating the HiWay, overheats and splits a lower radiator hose. Fixing that on the side of the road was the opposite of fun.


@AMuteCrypt

Team Flaming Gallahs

Things were going perfectly fine, and even though a lot of time was lost trying to help Team Sheriff Scott’s Posse diagnose their engine troubles, it left the team in high spirits.


@Edsel

Team Friendship! :smiley:

With all the memorabilia hanging around the bus, the two sentient cars quickly found out the locals like to talk. A lot. After a 17 hour “fuel stop” which included more talking than expected, the bus finally was fueled up and back on the move.


@Knugcab

Team Hillbilly Rollers

More of the usual in the old military truck and the (t)rusty Rugger. Marie honking the horn and tailgating, only to end up surprised herself when Andreas brake-checked her. A few crunchy gear changes later, and Marie passed the Rugger to return the favor… which Andreas had no issue avoiding in the lighter vehicle.


@Odyssey_Fan

Team Sane Insanity

Other than some concerns about whether that actually was a scratch on the minivan, or just dirt on the fender, it’s a trouble-free trip for the maniacs in the built-from-scrap sportscar and the rental minivan.


@PortalKat42

Faolan Industries

It was almost a trouble-free run today. The driver of the Aether 11/2 quickly learned that passing on the right is a ticketable offense in Nehmenweld. On the other hand, spending 30 minutes dealing with a police officer was far more pleasant than dealing with a breakdown.


@AndiD

Team Taciturn

Curse these unreliable Earth transports! After thoroughly reading the owner’s manual, then checking the gauges, they were able to figure out that the ignition coil had come unplugged…


@BannedByAndroid

Team ReUnity

Other than realizing that those Highway Patrol cars are a bit faster than the local ones were, there’s nothing really new to report here. Another clean getaway for Team ReUnity.


@SheikhMansour

Team Spy Kids

Mocabey Pioneer - 1 Turbo

The driver of the Reekayns had noticed the car was behaving oddly leading up to the police stop. After shutting the engine off and receiving their speeding ticket, they couldn’t get the car to start. Upon opening the hood, the problem was spotted immediately: Someone had stolen their battery with magic. An angry march to the nearest village turned up a pair of 6 volt batteries, which worked decently enough after clamping a wrench between two of the terminals.


@IDK158

Team J3

Rhien Willow - 1 Turbo

When the battery conked out on the Tiharris and the Rhien screamed to a stop with a fried clutch, Jacia used her powers to find parts to fix those two cars. She’s not sure where the battery came from, but it got one car going, but the clutch she got on the first try was absolutely destroyed. Instead of trying to “borrow” more stuff, she used magic to fix that clutch to get the cars back on the road.


@JCurtiss96 & @Leone

Team Aeromad

The deafening roar of the Torrento and the somewhat more muted growl of the Juggernaut announce the presence of the airplane-engine-powered duo into every gas station along the route.


@Tzuyu_main & @FallingComet

Team Black Rabbit Disavowed

Seikatsu Diesel Galactic - 2 Turbos

Both vehicles’ operators got a ticket today. Nehmenweld’s police aren’t as fond of drivers weaving through traffic.


@Texaslav

Sheriff Scott’s Posse

Warren Warlock - 1 Turbo

When the Warlock’s temperature shot through the roof, the crew pulled over to let the car cool off and try fixing the problem. A couple hours into waiting, a flamboyantly-decorated bus turned up, with the people inside offering assistance. One bad thermostat and a full radiator of water later, the Warlock was as good as… Well, at least as good as the day it arrived in Nehmenweld.


@Xepy

Team “486”

Kaufmann Viera - 1 Turbo
Kaufmann Kleinbus - 1 Turbo

I’d say that sirens and flashing lights in the rear view mirror are exciting, but for Team “486,” it’s just routine at this point.


@S_U_C_C_U_L_E_N_T

Team Magdelena

When the Hinode Ambulance ended up a bit down on power, they weren’t really expecting any help, especially as their “teammate” drove off and left them behind. As a result, the Blue Wonder of Team Machinas Con Passione stopping just behind them was a surprise, and when tools were brought over to help out, it was even better. Unfortunately, the bumbling buffoons probably made the repair - two bad spark plug wires - take even longer.


@SurrealCereal

Team Machinas Con Passione

Faenza Spirito - 1 Turbo

When Team Magdelena had a problem, Alessio had to help. After all, there’s no better ally than someone who owes you a debt. After replacing their air filter, swapping around the plug wires, replacing the serpentine belt, attempting to clean their throttle body with an empty can of WD-40, and finally deciding to just replace the plug wires after being told for the 15th time that the wire was exposed, the car was fixed.


@GetWrekt01 & @That-S-Cop

Cunning Stunts

Other than both drivers getting a warning for speeding, things were good for this crew today.


@EnCR

Team Till D End

Like many other drivers, a warning for speeding put a sour note on an otherwise great run.


@LS_Swapped_RX-7

Basedworks

Surprisingly, it was the RV that got all the attention today. The lesson learned? Nehmenweld has some humor when it comes to unmarked police cars. That one was colored up like a taxi when it lit you up and gave you a warning for speeding.


@Mikonp7

Team Gunship

The advantage of having no roof or doors is that when you get a warning for speeding, you don’t even have to roll down your non-existent windows to talk to the cop.


@Ldub0775

4 Dicks in a Truck

Centurion 9000 - 2 Turbos

After making great time for such a big, heavy rig, a police car pulled you over to offer you a present. Surprise! It’s a speeding ticket.

4 Likes

Team Slow
Part 4, Chapter 2.


(this is mainly to compensate for my lack of recent activity)

The police sirens weren’t so fun on the last stage. Justified for crossing into the oncoming lane though. Not much to talk about at stage 4.

We get from Nehmenberg’s campsite, Izzy gets behind the wheel and the two get going to the next stage, which happens to be at similarly-named Nehmenweld. The little hatch that could went well with the roads and bumps. The 1.9 litre engine didn’t struggle through. After what seemed to be like an eternity, we arrive at a log cabin and stay there. Matt gets out the car and the two astounded that the cabin’s interior is quite 1930s. Izzy gets some of the supplies into the cabin. Matt goes and parks the car into the makeshift parking lot. The car was reliable so far, and not much more to document about.

(sorry this one’s actually really short i didn’t feel like doing a long one)

3 Likes

A reminder, aggression and mode changes are due in roughly 20 hours!