Shitbox Rally 2023 - Stage 14 (FINISHED!)

Team Shift Happens

Today was a comedy of errors for the Shift Happens crew. First, Malavera managed to get bad directions to the highway, courtesy of managing to lose the Stage 6 road map and Rukari having tossed the backup copy of all the stages back on Stage 4 to prevent Kasiya from finding an alternate route away from the twisty road of doom. Then Kasiya lost the air connection between the first and second trailer, slamming on the rear trailer’s brakes at 90 miles per hour. After reconnecting the hose and realizing they were going the wrong way, the two rigs made it onto the proper side of the highway and accelerated up to 90 miles per hour again… Only for Takaraya to request a pit-stop because he wasn’t sure whether the rattle was his engine or something else. After removing the rocks from inside the Home Unit’s maintenance bay, they tried again to get up to speed, only to end up pulled over by a curious Department of Transportation officer, who was surprised to learn that, yes, their trucks did have enough power to haul double trailers. Then, after being given multiple setbacks already, the crew had to wait for the road to be cleared leading into camp after a train broke down and blocked up the road crossing. The end result? They rolled into camp around 3 Sun the next day to a camp of people who weren’t sure whether to leave, or whether they’d stay an extra day.

VS Mobil Generator AB

With permission granted to give it everything, Val and his crew put the train on the tracks and sent it hard. After a bit under 6 hours, the quartet of cars rolls into the camp, having once again set a railroad speed record.

Team M.A.D.

The Walkenhorst is forced to stop after a bit of debris slashes the sidewall of one of the tires. A slow pit-stop on the side of the road gets it going again… A bit over an hour later. Meanwhile, the Sakura just buzzes along like an angry bee.

Team Sinesian Rejects

Despite the cops looking the other way today, Ianis doesn’t quite floor the Itan, though it is quite quick. Meanwhile, the trio in the Imbe are just hoping that no one hits them while speeding.

Team Not-So-Slow

It turns out that when you blow a tire, the right course of action is to pull over and change it. You guys, instead, drove on the flat tire until the rubber disintegrated and the rim was ruined. It took a wizard 20 hours to return your wheel and tire to usable condition again… And a surprisingly large amount of money as well.

The Ambassadors

Despite traveling separately, the Mayland just tucked in behind the IVERA and stayed in the draft provided by the Toppola on it.

The Knockouts

Camp Challenge Winner: 1325 Facelift - 171 MPH

(While other cars could physically go faster, they’re the only ones who blew through the speed-trap at the end actually actively sending it.)

Kate started up the 1325 Facelift with her usual plan in mind - floor it, don’t stop for cop cars, hope not to break down. This time, she was surprised to hear the absence of sirens behind her, and noticed the roads look quite different when not illuminated by red-and-blue flashing lights. Emboldened by the lack of response, she put the pedal into the firewall and shot past a pair of police officers who were timing cars with stop-watches, while a third did the math to find out the speed of each flying car.
Octavia, on the other hand, just did her usual Sunday cruise, enjoying the drive and watching as everyone blew past her.

Team Mravolinski-Chitco

The crew in the Kontir avoided the bit of road debris, but failed to warn the crew in the Saguaro of the unknown road object. This resulted in two flat tires on the passenger side of the car, and a long search for supplies to patch one and replace the other.

Team HETS

Some bad directions led to an 11 hour detour, but in the end, the crew got to camp safe and sound.

Team Flaming Gallahs

Slow is smooth and smooth is, well, still not fast. But at least the party bus looks damn good while cruising down the highway with their music playing.

Team Friendship!

Today, the cars avoided having any lengthy stops to talk in the gas station, instead cruising into the camp without any problems.

Team Hillbilly Rollers

Some people are bound to have problems. At some point, something or someone must have bent one of the rear fenders on the IP Rugger. With Eddie Meduza playing on the radio, the rubbing went unnoticed until the tire exploded. Said tire proceeded to take out the brake line to the rear axle, which is really where most of the time was spent during this repair.

Team Sane Insanity

“But the fastest car in the world is a rental!”
“NO! We can’t afford to break it!”
“Fine.”
It’s a steady (but slow) trip in a sportscar and a rented minivan, but no damage is done.

Faolan Industries

This is where the pair of Aethers shine. A long, comfortable highway cruise, no worries about the speed limit, just get comfortable and let the engines growl.

Team Taciturn

It’s a fairly normal highway stage for the two cloaked aliens. Nothing breaks, and the cops aren’t caring about the little bit of speeding going on.

Team ReUnity

Today, the “Just f-ing send it” strategy works in your favor, as the cops don’t care, at least for this stage. Second place isn’t so bad.

Team Spy Kids

Both cars send it, but only the Mocabey pulls off a podium finish. The Reekayns is just not fast enough.

Team J3

We’re not sure whether the driver of the Tiharris was trying to send it, or just driving normally when the engine seized up. Luckily, it was easily “fixed” with a bit of magic to just “loosen everything up until it runs again.” Granted, it may have been quicker to actually solve the problem.

Team Aeromad

The Torrento had a torrential downpour… Of transmission oil. Turns out, aviation V12s and factory automotive transmissions don’t mix too well. Luckily, there was another spare onboard the Juggernaut, and so the problem was fixed, even though it meant that their lack of top speed was more self-preservation than sanity.

@Tzuyu_main & @FallingComet

Team Black Rabbit Disavowed

Neither half of the team decided to truly send it on this stage, but perhaps given the size of the Seikatsu, that was a good thing. A trouble free stage for the two vehicles.

Sheriff Scott’s Posse

No breakdowns, but also a deliberate choice to not speed today, means that the time they pulled off is only “average” instead of “good.”

Team “486”

It’s no surprise that both cars were sent on this stage - they’ve been sent like this on every stage so far. A joint 4th place isn’t a bad finish as a result.

Team Magdelena

Another team who chose not to just floor it, whether from sanity, self preservation, or just general distrust that the cops really were turning a blind eye to speeders today.

Team Machinas Con Passione

While the Faenza disappeared into the distance, the Blue Wonder was left at the side of the road, trying to figure out why their engine wasn’t running right. After firing the parts cannon at the entire ignition system, the problem is solved. What was it? “I dunno, something in that pile is bad.”

Cunning Stunts

A slow and steady run held back by the Contra UTE blowing all four tires. After fighting with lug nuts that were corroded in place and last tightened down with a rattle-gun, it was an easy process. It helped that Team Till D End kept you company while dealing with the same problem.

Team Till D End

Turns out that the tires on the Linx were just a bit more bald than you expected. When all four tires exploded, you rolled to a stop behind the Contra UTE of Team Cunning Stunts. They helped keep you company while you chased all the angels away trying to remove rusty lug nuts that some 800-pound-gorilla had tightened down last time.

Basedworks

A trouble-free run for two of the most recognizable cars on the field.

Team Gunship

The “fun” thing about street-legal race cars that have been prepped for road rallies is that sometimes it’s a pain in the ass to access the engine when something goes wrong. That’s how a simple decision to cut open an oil filter and check for shinies after hearing a funny rattle turned into a 7 hour debacle. Turns out, the engine’s mostly fine. That rattle? There’s a bad belt tensioner. It’s fixed… Well, “fixed,” with three zip ties, some duct tape, a piece of chewed bubble gum, and a clicky-pen.

Driver’s Log 1
Driver’s Log 2
Driver’s Log 3

4 Dicks in a Truck

Hammer down and haul ass! While not quite sending it, it’s still respectably fast for a big truck.

Madrias · 19 June 2023 23:05

Team Shift Happens

Stage 6

After a rather late night, the crew got on board the HD-GV units, except for Kasiya and Takaraya, who were arguing about something by the trailers.

“If you’re worried about the engine, then why are you doing the top speed run today, instead of driving at normal speed?” Kasiya grumbled.

“Because going fast will put less strain on the engine than dragging that trailer,” Takaraya replied.

“So you’re making me drag doubles with my foot to the floor, trying to keep up. Because it makes sense to have two trucks potentially damaged, instead of just one.”

“Listen, it’s for one stage while I check and make sure that the engine is okay.”

Kasiya groaned, then got in his truck and coupled up to the trailer. After making sure the power and air were connected, he set out on the road, having to follow Takaraya courtesy of their missing stage maps. Rukari flinched as Kasiya threatened one more time to hit him for tossing the maps on the Serpent’s Spine, leaving Kasiya without any navigational information, and thereby following Takaraya.

Takaraya, on the other hand, was dealing with Kayden who had no idea where the stage 6 map was. “Seriously, I can’t find it. There’s five. There’s seven. Can’t find six.”

“Hold on, there’s someone up there, that gas station. I’ll get directions to Highway 7, toward Sundale,” Malavera said. The trucks stopped, Malavera got out and got some directions, then climbed back into the truck. “Right, we need to head south on Highway Route 7, that’ll get us heading the right way,” Malavera said.

The two trucks hit Highway Route 7 traveling at full speed. After a few long, long minutes, Kasiya was swearing again as the brakes in the rear trailer suddenly locked up and threatened to destabilize the whole convoy of crap that was the Carry All and two trailers. After quickly reconnecting the air hose and this time remembering to twist it until it locked in, the crew was back on the move at 90 miles per hour, the engines roaring at full power.

At least, they were at full speed until Valentin’s train rocketed past them heading the complete opposite direction. “Oh, what the fuck!?” Kasiya yelled. Jayde grabbed the handheld, then told Malavera, “Sundale, not Sundell, you fool!”

The two rigs were turned around at the next available opportunity, then hurtled back down the highway heading north. The engines roared again, heading at full tilt in the correct direction, right up until Takaraya said, “There’s something rattling in the engine bay. I want to stop and check it out.”

“Of course you do,” Kasiya grumbled. “If we’d been going in the right direction and not having delays, we’d be there by now.”

After stopping again, Takaraya was able to remove a handful of loose rocks from inside the engine compartment, confirming the engine wasn’t rattling, it was stuff in the engine bay that was rattling.

Once again, the two rigs returned to their top speed of 90 miles per hour, making great time for about two hours before a siren sounded from behind the two trailers of the Carry All. “What now?” Kasiya grumbled, pulling off to the side of the road. A Department of Transportation officer looked over at the now-idling truck in awe, surprised to see a vehicle powerful enough to drag not just one, but two trailers at highway speed. After getting a fair run-down on the performance statistics of the Carry All, they were allowed to go again.

Just after they left the highway and headed toward the Sundale camp, they were further delayed by a broken-down train, blocking the level crossing into the city. By the time a breakdown train arrived to remove the train and pull the freight cars away, it was nearly 3 Sun.

The two trucks rolled into camp at 3 Sun, where the exhausted crew of drivers swapped out with their reserve crew in the back, putting Malavera driving the Home Unit, and Jayde reluctantly behind the wheel of the Carry All.

Madrias · 24 June 2023 15:49

A Reminder that changes to aggression and driving mode are due in a bit more than 48 hours!

Madrias · 29 June 2023 23:17

Important Announcement:

Elizipeazie and I have been discussing the possibility of speeding up the stages. We’ve come to the conclusion that, with our new spreadsheet, doing all the stage-work takes less than 2 hours, compared to 5 to 7 hours from last year.

However:

To do this, we would have to eliminate the aggression and the driving mode changes. You would be asked one final time to set your aggression and mode, and that’s what you run to the end of the challenge.

Because this would be a huge change to how the challenge is run, we have to ask you as a group, would you rather keep the two-week schedule and aggression/mode changes, or speed up to a one-week schedule while locking in a final aggression/mode change?

Keep the Two-Weeks-Per-Stage schedule and keep Aggression and Driving Mode per stage.
Change to a One-Week-Per-Stage schedule and set Aggression and Driving Mode for the remainder of the event.

0 voters

Madrias · 3 July 2023 21:35

Stage 7:

Sundale to Moonshadow Village

Temperature at mid-day: 16°C
Night-time Low: 6°C
Weather Conditions: Just in time for sunrise, a mild drizzle covers camp, which lasts well into the afternoon, when it subsides. Winds are calm, with occasional gusts of unremarkable strength.

–

Camp Challenge: 0-62 MPH / 0-100 km/h time.

Today’s journey takes us out to Highway Route 4, traveling primarily west instead of north. Like yesterday, the road is mostly flat with a few minor hills in it, though the speed limit is at least a little better thanks to us not having to contend with National Park traffic. With permission to do 75 MPH / 120 km/h, only the occasional car in sight for traffic, and two slow-moving trucks hauling livestock, everyone’s able to make good time here.

After leaving the highway, we head onto a small forest road that takes us to Moonshadow Village. This quiet, sleepy little forest town barely makes it to 9,000 people, and it’s clear that living here means having little fear of heights, as while the town is small in footprint, there’s a lot of vertical space used, and a LOT of little “sky bridges” spanning between various buildings.

We’re told to park up in a little clearing next to the small railway station, and to leave space so the trucks can get to the station to retrieve the mail.

Next Stage Expected Conditions:

Road Speed: very low
Road Condition: very poor
Traffic: low
Police: moderate

Results Here: SR2023 Stage 7 - Google Drive

Team Shift Happens

With Jayde driving the Carry All, and Malavera taking the wheel for the Home Unit, things started off rather rough, with most of the crew barely rested from the previous stage. This was made even more clear when, about two hours into the drive, Malavera drifted off the side of the road, taking out two quarter-mile markers and tearing up a lot of dirt as the giant truck bounded off-road at 70 miles per hour. By the time the Home Unit came to a halt, and with it, the Carry All, a big decision had to be made: “Do we try finding another alert driver, or do we sleep first?”
The result? Once the truck had been dragged back up onto the road, the two halves of the team found places in the cab and in the Home Unit’s living area to get a few much-needed hours of sleep.
The cops knocking on the door of the Carry All didn’t help Kasiya’s mood as he had to explain that, yes, they were getting some sleep after one of their drivers had an off-road excursion.
When they finally arrived in camp, it was, perhaps, a bit more clear that something had gone wrong, as the front bumper of the Home Unit had some rock dents, the whole vehicle was covered in dirt, and Malavera was quite visibly upset as he’d never screwed up that badly before.

VS Mobil Generator AB

It’s a smooth rail cruise down the line, courtesy of being in the plains at this point. With no mishaps and no signals at danger, it’s a good run.

Team M.A.D.

The Citrine ends up stopped by cops. What was just going to be a warning turned into a speeding ticket after the officer decided he didn’t like the attitude coming from the driver.
Meanwhile, the Walkenhorst continues on just fine.

Team Sinesian Rejects

Ianis gets another speeding ticket for his collection, while the Trio of Trouble manage to keep their badly-pinging Imbe on the road and somehow up to highway speed.

Team Not-So-Slow

Today seems to be everyone’s bad day for getting tickets. Apparently, after the previous day’s speeding extravaganza, they’ve decided to put a stop to it today, as the Schnell pulls over a few miles ahead of the Citrine and the Imbe and the driver pays off a fine.

The Ambassadors

Other than the Mayland crew getting a warning for excessive speed, it’s a relatively normal cruise.

The Knockouts

Octavia finds herself going through a difficult challenge: Changing tires when her body isn’t really meant to do that. After accidentally popping a hole in her spare, she figured out how to put a patch on it, then fill it up with air.

Team Mravolinski-Chitco

The Saguaro ends up with two flat tires today, 20 miles apart from each other. While the tire changes are relatively easy, changing the driver’s side tires on the side of the highway is a little nerve-wracking.

Team HETS

How many old ladies does it take to change four flat tires? Two to stand aside and gossip while the young’uns do all the hard work.

Team Flaming Gallahs

A smooth cruise for the Party Bus today, as no issues happen. No flat tires, no broken equipment, no police stops.

Team Friendship!

Nothing goes wrong today for the two cars driving a bus.

Team Hillbilly Rollers

We’re not entirely sure what happened here to cause another burned out clutch in the IP Rugger. Andreas blames it on a sub-standard replacement part, something cheap instead of a proper IP service part. Janne swears it was in an IP OEM part box. Then the culprit is revealed: Marie knocked a bunch of boxes on the floor before the challenge started, and several of those boxes burst open, so she just put everything back. Apparently, a Chinese clutch made its way into an Official IP Replacement Parts box…

Team Sane Insanity

The KKR ends up on the side of the road with a serious rough-running issue. Turns out a coil pack died and left the engine trying to run on two cylinders. It took two hours to find the spare parts in the back of the minivan.

Faolan Industries

It turns out that blending in is sometimes a good thing. The higher speed is harder to notice when you look like normal traffic, and so the cops don’t pay you any attention.

Team Taciturn

The two aliens did take the time, after their last look through the owner’s manual, to perform basic maintenance. Granted, they’ve never done an oil change before, so it turned into a two-and-a-half hour ordeal, but better safe than sorry.

Team ReUnity

Nothing really interesting happens today on this trip, so it’s an opportunity for the team to chat and listen to music.

Team Spy Kids

The Reekayns had bad luck today with finding the few available potholes on this road. Each tire met a pothole and popped, resulting in four lengthy pit stops to change tires out.
Meanwhile, the Mocabey disappears into the distance.

Team J3

When the Rhien broke down again with a bad clutch, Jacia tried her luck at fixing it. Her first attempt swapped the “repaired” clutch for a used clutch. Her second attempt actually worked. Putting the car back together, however, still took a long time.

Team Aeromad

Well, it’s a good thing you had spares of just about everything. A road-side engine swap for the Torrento wasn’t exactly fun, although it was a good bonding moment for the team.

@Tzuyu_main & @FallingComet

Team Black Rabbit Disavowed

The driver of the Seikatsu got a mild warning that they needed to be more aware of how wide their vehicle was, but otherwise, it was a smooth run today.

Sheriff Scott’s Posse

The Bowie Bearcat gets a warning, the Warren Warlock gets a ticket. Apparently, honking at your teammates doesn’t go over well with the cops.

Team “486”

Camp Challenge Winner: Kaufmann Viera Custom - 3.5 seconds 0-60

No breakdowns, just screaming sirens behind you for several hours.

Team Magdelena

Between both halves of the team getting a warning for excessive speed, and then the Baumhauer developing a very serious misfire, it was a slow day for the team.

Team Machinas Con Passione

The driver of the Faenza didn’t see the spike strip while fleeing from the cops. After the car rolled to a stop, they became the first team to experience the full brutality of a pursuit, as the Faenza’s driver decided to run for it. Lessons learned? One, the Nehmenweld Highway Patrol aren’t messing around. Two, being pounced on and pinned to the ground by an 11-foot-tall werewolf in body armor fucking hurts. Three, it’s even worse being tossed into the back of the police wagon after you’ve been covered in bruises courtesy of the Dyre being trained as a “police dog” and then getting picked up by the officers.

Cunning Stunts

The driver of the Contra UTE gets a polite warning from the police to leave the “flamboyant driving” off of the highways. Apparently, they don’t appreciate drifting here in Nehmenweld.

Team Till D End

It’s a good clean run for Team Till D End today. No breakdowns, no police stops.

Basedworks

Both drivers get a warning. It would have been a ticket for the MCMOTD, had the cop involved in that particular traffic stop not gotten a call to aid in stopping a speeding shit-nugget that just so happened to belong to Team Machinas Con Passione.

Team Gunship

A curious police officer pulled you over to ask about your car. Most notably, the fact that you have no roof. It’s not illegal, but the officer was interested in the roll-cage with cargo on top.

Prologue part 0.15 - Interlude

4 Dicks in a Truck

Somehow, you’ve managed to slip under the radar in the giant rig with an even more giant trailer on the ass of it, escaping with no tickets and no breakdowns today.

As the poll is now closed and 80% voted for one-week-per-stage, please set your final aggression and driving mode as soon as possible. By next Monday, aggression will be locked in. This is the final stage on the two week schedule, Stage 8 will then start the one-week schedule.

TheYugo45GV · 7 July 2023 16:56

Video Logs SR2023

Days 1 and 2

[WARNING: Attempting to access secure file - Enter admin key to proceed:]

[Confirming…]

[ACCESS GRANTED]

[{Select File}]

[Opening - 2023_NMWLD_01_1_1]

[Playing Video]

[The video opens to reveal Karl sitting in the driver’s seat of the Mayland Ambassador. Landon is nowhere to be seen. It appears that this was recorded shortly before sunset]

Today’s date, I’m not sure and I am currently in a region called Nehmenweld and the local time is… Well, I don’t know. It’s cold as hell outside, some place called Shiverwind Point.

But anyway, I’m here following my grandfather’s footsteps looking for a cup that I know as the Sacred Chalice. It’s some cup made of solid gold that’s capable of being weaponized and I’m guessing that it has something to do with its supernatural properties. Of course, neither my friend, Landon, or I have been able to find any leads as of right now. I’m keeping my fingers crossed though.

Tomorrow we head for Silvercreek City, and we’ll probably see what we can find there. I checked the map, and it’s large enough that it might have a library, so we’ll look into that.

I don’t have much else to add apart from reporting that everyone arrived safely, and that we’re hoping this journey doesn’t take a turn for the worst.

Until then, Karl out.

[The screen goes black.]

[{Select File}]

[Opening - 2023_NMWLD_01_1_2]

[Playing Video]

[Karl leans back from activating the camera on his laptop, sitting on the Mayland’s dashboard.]

We’ve arrived in Silvercreek, and the local library doesn’t appear to have much on the cup. But, I did find a textbook on the history of religion and several maps that my grandfather found. It was a little awkward when the archives keeper or whatever asked me if I knew my own grandfather.

Anyway, that was most of the excitement to be had on this trip though we’ve had mishaps. But, still nothing interesting to report. I’ll let you all know next time.

Karl out.

A video log from Karl, and more interesting stuff will come soon, since I’ve missed quite a lot. Until then, stay tuned for more.

Knugcab · 8 July 2023 07:20

TEAM HILLBILLY ROLLERS

PART 5.1 - Knock, knock, who’s there?!

Earlier parts

Pre-prologue part 1

Pre-prologue part 2

Prologue part 0.1

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!

Part 4.2 - The party

PART 5.1 - Knock knock, who’s there?

“Urgh…did Marie run me over with the Wolverine yesterday?”, Janne asked when the team got up in the morning.

“Nah, you’re just resurrected after dying twice”, Andreas answered, laughing at Janne’s hangover.

“Nghrf…”, he grumbled, went out of the Wolverine and stepped into the passenger seat of the Rugger. The buzzy inline four started up in the chilly morning after some fiddling with the choke, soon to be silenced with the not-so-muffled sound of the V8 in the Wolverine. The somewhat clogged heater did its best to defog the Rugger’s windshield in the morning, and despite some tin can like sound from the worn out 80s speakers, you could identify the raspy voice of Eddie Meduza somewhere there in the background. The vehicles was all but suited for the roads between Coalscoop and Nehmenberg, which were as twisty as the christmas tree lights when you’re taking them out of the box in early december. Especially Marie had something of a workout, wrestling with the huge steering wheel of the Wolverine through those windy roads.

“My arms hurt!”, she told Arne.

“Bollocks!”, he answered. “What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger!”.

“And I am going to kill that bastard that killed Mr Spikey!”, she shouted.

“Just keep quiet”, Arne grumbled. “Everyone in the world except for you hated that cactus!”

Meanwhile in the IP Rugger, things took a turn for the worse.

“Damn, the oil pressure light is flashing”, Andreas said, “is it some ground issues with the sensor, or is it the worst sce…”

BANG BANG CLANK CLANK CLATTER CLATTER BANG!

“FUCK!”, he said. “It was the worst scenario!”. He turned the engine off immediately, flicked the switch for the hazard flashers and stopped at the side of the road.

BANG!, it said and the Rugger hurdled some metres forward after taking a Wolverine bumper to its rear end. Andreas stepped out and signed to Marie to roll down the window.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?”, he asked her.

“I’m sorry, it was just that I got a wasp in my shoe, and…”

“I don’t want to hear anymore”, he grumbled.

“What are we going to do now?”, Andreas said. “Look for some scrap metal dealer, leave this POS there and hope for the Wolverine to hold together for the rest of the race?”

“Nah, I think I saw something”, Janne said and opened the glovebox, taking out a small orange box with the IP shield on it. “Look, a bearing kit. Sure, the crank and rods are probably shot too, but it might hold together for the rest of the race.”

“Are you going to swap bearings at the side of the road?”, Andreas sighed loudly.

“If you have a better idea, tell it to me now”, Janne said. “We certainly don’t have time for arguing now”, he said.

Luckily, they found some rocks at the side of the road, pushed the Rugger over there with the Wolverine, with the front wheels standing on the rocks, and the Wolverine stopping it from rolling backwards. The empty moonshine jugs came in handy for draining the waste oil into, and then Janne started loosening the engine mounts.

“We can do it with the engine still in the truck”, he said. “The problem is just to get the engine high enough to be able to pull out the oil pan”.

After some looking, they found a log that wasn’t all that rotten at the side of the road. By placing it underneath the clutch housing and letting Marie jump on it, Janne finally managed to pull out the oil pan. Sure, time was ticking away, especially with the tempo Janne managed to keep. One by one, he loosened the caps, took out the old bearings, finished the surfaces with some fine grit paper he found, put in the new ones and retorqued the caps. Doing everything in reverse order, he reassembled it, put in some fresh oil and a new filter, and started it up. Everything went fine, there were oil pressure, the team could once again continue their journey, through what now was the night. Extremely tired they were among the last teams to arrive at camp, and immediately fell asleep.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Yes, I am lagging behind many stages, but I will try to sort that out now. Sorry.

Next part

MrdjaNikolen · 10 July 2023 15:59

Team Mravolinski-Chitco
Part 6

Familiar faces, we must cook

Prisoner bro seemed very intimidating, but rather satisfied to see noone can match his might.
He was advised not to intimidate other regulars, as that wouldnt be very nice of him.

-Indeed granma, young female, two young males and someone old enough to have some decently-aged children.
Im not looking forward to sharing space with that bitch that was also released from prison. She seems whiney and stupid and whiney.
-Do you have some money on hand? Bcos we all could benefit from it.
-Not much tbh. But could get some.
-Dont do anything stupid. Im supposed to keep an eye on you so you dont get behind bars again.

Silence

-Now you will have company of me, so i suggest ditching these weirdos…all of them.
-Thats not an option. I actually quite enjoy the fact they dont complain on my stories.
-Bcos they dont understand said stories. They are stale and stupid.
-Still, i kinda highly doubt it would be nice thing to do. Im only guy from around here they know.
They are helping best they can.
-I would prefer if help would be of financial kind.

Speaking of which…

-Sora, Pedro, what do you have in terms of money with you?
We only have Serbian dinars with us.
-What is what “dinar” thing?
-Money.

Pulls out banknotes and coins of said currency and Pedro inspects.

-We are using same way to express numbers, it seems.
-Thats not a coincidence

Sora spoke up

-Emperor, can you make us ton of money?
-Even if i could, it would be useless here.
-We arent in universe where she is Emperor. She admited that to me tad bit earlier.
I have no reason to argue that.
-I dont believe you and i have no reason to believe you.
-You actually do have reason. Emperor can confirm what i said.
-What if i dont?
I may enjoy watching your argument
On other hand, it would be nice to know how much money we have on hand.

Pedro and Sora checked the money

-Not much here. Its not like i prepared to go with you lot afterall.
-Im tad bit better off.
-Hrmph
Still hardly lot of money however you look at it.

At one of stops made, Local decided to investigate.
He understood this was money from where they came from and understood financial strength of coins and banknotes they had

Serbian dinar - Wikipedia covers most of stuff he may witness, with few exceptions

Noone had banknote of 5000 dinars with them. Said banknote is represented on English Wikipedia
For some reason, said English wiki doesnt really cover coins of smaller value in regards to how they look hence link to Serbian equivalent in Cyrillic letters
Српски динар — Википедија
English one does cover them data-wise, so dont worry about fact you dont understand Serbian.
Speaking of someone that doesnt understand Serbian…

-That is USELESS here.
-I know and they know too.
-USELESS
-Now we know that atleast we mark numbers the same.
-USELESS
-Dont mind him (to rest of group, then turns to brother)
Look, if you had checked it out, we would like it to be returned

Brute turned away and threw money over shoulder

-USELESS

Local gathered money and returned it to rest, without a word
Still, would this bunch prove to be, indeed, useful beyond their tolerance for his stories?
Fear not, as two members of this group have particularly valuable knowledge and/or skills.
.
.
.
.
.
Ok, maybe one actually, but other will be mentioned. Probably. That would be Pedro

As for Sora, she is totally going to be very useful and in way that is…easier to put into practice

And no, im totally not mentioning that as reference for me regarding next piece of post for next stage. Totally.

WARNING: Uhhhh, i dont suggest doing eat or drink while reading next part.
You will be warned through part as well. It could be too funny or you could decide this just isnt something you want to follow with that delicious sandwich and Cola for other reason.

Fantasstic highway drive

I know, i know, these bad guys simply cant be boring at all but so far they didnt do anything bad per se.
But during this day, that has been changed…and they have not so nice title of being only group on this stage properly pulled over and given a ticket.

Trouble began in city, as they had managed to get some solid amount of food and drinks.
Food was eaten and drinks were drank and this is as good of place as any to warn you, the reader, to proceed with caution if you are consuming as well while reading
Reasoning would be self-explanatory and i guess one member of this group would be to blame…

-Man, im full.
-These guys really know how to make good food
-I had eaten many
-Pfft, thats nothing, i had eaten more.
-How much?
-Many more
-Many?
-MANY.

This attracted attention of tad bit more members of group. Some placed bets, others accepted them and so money was rolling in background.

-That isnt smart idea.
-Oh why? You think i cant handle it?
-…Yes?
-I will be happy to prove you wrong
WRONG
-We aint stopping
-I could manage it, no problem.
This isnt my first time ya know

Tad bit later, in different vehicle

-Boss, are we going to stop any time soon?
-NO, i think we are ahead of Team Mravolinski-Chitco.
-Isnt that a bad idea?
-How so?
-Uhh, we kinda dont know if they might come in some other direction
-Nonsense, i found some maps. There is no way for us to be lost.
-Im not convinced

Negativka stepped into conversation
(Ye, name is literally “bad guy” but female; bad guy here meaning antagonist, one that hero must fight)

-I bought them off some old poor fella that found them while trash digging, or so i understood.
Places we have been in so far match some of map by virtue of being in exact foreign language. There are more marked places to go, and im confident that we will be on track.
-Either way, i dont want to stop. Maybe we will slow down if we estimate there is high chance of them entering some fight.
I feel that would be our best chance to attack them.
-I dont recall us ever having that kinda strategy.
-Bcos we are only ones that they usually need to fight off. Last year they needed to fend off some wildlife…oh the dissapointment for us not joining in back then.
But ye, hopefully im crystal clear…WE AINT STOPPING FOR ANYTHING

…and that covers bathroom breaks, as it became more and more obvious to certain already mentioned member
He sat uneasy, crossing legs, showing discomfort…it hopefully becomes clear why i gave warning regarding readers taking it easy with consumables while reading.
Sweat was showing along with strong desire to just let it go, opposed to his pride and dignity.

-Can we stop for second?
-NO
-WHY (whining)
-Orders from Krta himself. He wants to be ahead of our enemies.
-Arent we already ahead?
-We are, but you dare to dispute his orders? I reckon you could have used the head tad bit earlier.

Everyone laughed in his discomfort, pushing him quite close to insanity…
He had went over some others towards a door
.
.
.
.
One policemen, sent to watch over highway on this wonderful day, had exited his patrol car.
He had certain issue in area below his back and decided to solve it with his hand.
Upon opening internal valve, he realised there were actually two issues, but one was solving itself now

-It stinks.
-So?

He decided to continue what he exited car for. Two moves and it seemed to be over.

-Thats 69th time of you scratching your butt today.
-So? You have something against my butt?
-I have against you scratching it on job. We are supposed to be professional.
-You snored out half a shift, hardly professional thing either
-I was tired, ok?
-Excuses, excuses.

In distance they saw big group of vehicles that were themself big as well.
They would have counted them out, but something about one of them would attract their attention.

-That one has somewhat open door.
-Oh my, it really does.
-Why?
-Something seems to kinda fly out of it, not sure what.
-We might need to see what is that.

Offending vehicle is now passing in front of them.
They see someone’s backside (more precisely, ass) and are shocked.
Several seconds had passed and they now alarmed next patrol to give ticket for indecency and littering, shock turning into laughter.
Said next patrol did road block, which prompted Krta to stop against his very words and upon exiting the car to personally confront law with words, policeman literally dragged him to another vehicle, one with open door and quite the sight in opening.
Then said officer gave the ticket.

-I dont understand whats written here.

Policeman gestured for them to turn around and clean up “trash” left behind, as he understood Krta’s “Im not of this world and cant read this thing” by noticing language he doesnt understand.
Turning around happened quickly and soon spillage was sorted out.

This isnt last we are going to say about Krta’s group. Expect consequences.

You can pick sandwich and Cola safely again or whatever you decided to consume while reading

Clawing away some trash

After some time, person that actually knew the way was found.
Trio of two guys and pet had asked some directions.
They were on their way

-What are you doing?
-Im gonna dispose of this book. It ruined my life. LIFE!
-But…what would its destruction do that would help you two returning back? If its with us and whole, we can eventually find someone that could decipher it.
-I have nothing and noone in this situation. Take no offence, but you are still mostly stranger to us by any metric.
-Offence not taken.
I see your point, which still wouldnt benefit from destruction of book.
Besides, we dont know for sure if it will not release some curse on its terminators. Remember, its book of magic.

Some time passed in silence

-I guess you are right. Still, we are not sure what we can do in this situation.
-Its probably for best to not divide just yet. Im going to Sundale, which is a town. We can sort out accomodation and think what to do there. Besides, that would allow you to make some more friends.
-Sounds good

Blessed with sufficient space and lack of traffic, vehicles of Krta turned around in correct direction
Going with the (expected) flow, all vehicles stepped on gas and went as fast as they could.
As vehicles could be considered identical, their “as fast as they could” depended a lot on driver behind wheel.
One of them would happen to have nasty issue that presented itself at one point, namely when they went off highway

-Im so much faster than others. This is SO COOL.
YOU WILL NOT GIVE ME ORDERS OF CARRYING TRASH ANYMORE.
WATCH MEEEEE

Driver went very quickly and speedily, realized he might be going too fast and in panic slammed brakes.
ABS did the thing and stopped fronts from locking up but same couldnt be said for rear
Multiple spins happened, but car ended up being on all four wheels in correct direction and still on road.

-WHEW. Atleast i didnt crash

Next vehicle, also belonging to Krta our beloved, seemed to have driver with non-existant reflexes, plowing into now-stopped vehicle in front.
Lot of trash, glass, pieces of metal etc. found the place on road and people in both vehicles got shunted a lot.
Injuries differed ofc from not so serious to more serious ones, but its not like anyone actually cares that much.

What we do care about is fact that someone had a nasty idea to put into action, which was approved by Krta himself.
After almost all people had entered the vehicles, this group continued onward to next city

In Sundale, trio had managed to find place to stay for some time and now human part was busy trying to settle in and organize food.
Pet was hanging around, going outside and inside as she pleased
This however would attract some attention.

-Oh my, look at that lovely sight.
-I dreamed to have one of those for longest of time
-Damn, such rare opportunity
-Yes

Some rechecking of clothing and pockets followed

-I know what we are doing tonight boys.
-Yes, finally. I got sick running away from old ladies after we decorated their homes with personal touch.
-Plan?
-Throw rock through window, get in and try to bait the animal using copius amount of meat.
-Where we are gonna find that?
-I have my ways.
-How to defeat those two guys?
-Easy. We have hammers and they dont expect hammers.
-Nice. I will bring the leash.

Night came and window got broken via rock.

-Im in.
Damn, everyone is asleep.
-Oh thats awesome. Unlock the door and let us in
-On it.

Extraction of pet went without too much of problem.

-Where is the car?
-Here
-Damn this is heavy
-About as much as your mom
-Shut up

Someone decided to ask

-Hey, how are we going to explain this much hair in here?
-My parents dont care about that
-This is your car?
-Nah, its of my dad.
-Good. We are going on a highway
-WHAT
-Yes, we are. Bcos freedom and shit.
-Cool
-Isnt this the wrong way?
-ZARUKI (Glaring at driver)
-I have no idea what you said
-Oh i know, i know.
-Really?
-Idiot
-No you are idiot
-Bro, i meant…
-DOESNT MATTER WHAT YOU MEANT
-CAN I JUST FUCKING DRIVE

Horns blaring, showing displeasure on them going opposite direction.
As for “Zaruki” that means “Idiot” in Valraadii, so i guess one of these guys have some knowledge in it

-SHIT
Im going to get in that proper direction.
Doesnt matter in which direction we are going, freedom in both directions.
-Ok

Bunch had entered highway and stepped on it, towards new adventures
We are going to just stand on side of highway and watch their taillights getting smaller and smaller in distance…for now.

Atleast you can rest etirenally

Morning was indeed very great and it seemed that there is possibility for refueling Saguaro and nothing else.
This time around, it was decided to refill BOTH vehicles at same time Saguaro required its refill.
Real interesting thing had started when Saguaro required refill AGAIN.
This time, there would be required detour since apparently highway was blocked by some banners with what seemed like gibberish written on them.
As such, both cars tried their luck on exiting the highway as fast as possible at next exit, which had some debris splaterred on it
Due to differing track widths, Kontir had cleared the debris easily, but same couldnt be said for much narrower Saguaro, resulting in, well…

-Seems that both tires are goner on passenger side
-We will stop when there is space to access the damage, but note we didnt really packed much in terms of spare tires for it
-Eh, could be worse

-Rear isnt in such bad shape, but we really need to figure out what to do with other one.
-Thats bcos i swerved to avoid more damage to it
-Wonderful. It still needs to be fixed tho
As such, we shall find tire shop here
First we will cleanup this, no need fo fellow competitor to suffer same fate needlessly

There was approach to what seemed to be tire shop, which is now also blessed with lot of cars parked in close proximity. Clanking could be heard relatively clearly

-This is nothing but shame, ya know? I had worked for him for many years…no, few decades and…it wasnt always easy, but we pulled through all and any obstacle…but it wasnt meant to be this time.
-Yea, agreed

-Weird clanking could be heard/
-Weird?
-Not what i would expect from workshop, anyway.
-Atleast means there will be people there
-True

However, there was some inconvenient obstacle on way to getting into shop

-BEEEEP
-WE DONT SERVE ANYONE TODAY
-WHO PARKED LIKE ASSHOLE ON ENTRANCE
-I SAID…WE SERVE NOONE TODAY!!!
-Nonsense

Chicota had exited the vehicle he piloted and went around obstacle. He took notice of what he could gather from parts of it that he passed: long black vehicle, with only notable feature being blacked-out windows. Clanking was very clear now and so was the reason

-Not only someone`s parking skill could use refinement, but also all of you lot are eating.
-We are closed for today, fuck off
-So you can eat in peace?
-EXACTLY
-What are we supposed to do, then?
-Feel free to fuck off. We are changing no tire today.
-Not even to this thing someone so carelessly parked here?
-That needs no tire change
-It does, rear left is deflated
-What…go and check

One of people at table reluctantly left table and decided to inspect the tire
He burst into laughter

-WHAT THE FUCK IS SO FUNNY
-Tire…its flat…
-This is no occassion to laugh
-Its ironic that his last ride has gotten flat tire. That irony had made me laugh.

Chicota only now grasped conclusion some reader may have gotten already

-Last ride? Wait…you are telling me this thing is a hearse?
-Yes?
-But it has no markings on it
-Ye, but this is such a small place that we need no markings.
Besides, its fully black and big vehicle, which should leave no doubt on its purpose
You arent from here or?
(Looks at vehicles blocking the street)
You arent from here

-I cant believe on flat tire. Free beer for everyone if its true
-Bet

Shouty guy became very quiet
This continued for few minutes

-You lost the bet?
-I did.

Defeated, he returned to table. Chicota spoke

-Can we atleast get some basic resources in order to fix our tires?
-No. (guy that lost the bet)
-Can you inflate tire on this hearse? (younger guy still at hearse asking Chicota)
-You sure you only need to reinflate it?
-Uh…yeah. Its not like we are going very fast…or far.
-If its something more serious, that might not help.
Also, we could hodge-podge our tires if we are given some basic resources. We are willing to pay for said resources and usage of tools
-Hmm, could do.

Resources are given and repairs were done in middle of street.
Ofc, it should be noted this isnt all…

-Cant believe our plan worked.
-That was genious plan to divert them in way to pop some tires
-Lets just move these out of way.
-Yes, lets. Krta will be happy to hear about it.

They watched teams slower than Mravolinski-Chitco pass by, under their metal plates used to divert mentioned team
These were spooked in night when certain band of misfits had booked it through very same highway exit going in direction that wasnt intended.
Eventually, they were found and police brought them into their station, thinking they are homeless people.
One of them had scribbled Полиција нас је одвела у њихову станицу, мисле да смо бескућници
(Replace them and they with us and we, respectivelly in bold part of previous sentence and you get translation of what they wrote)
Rest of their group had picked up the panels and picked them up at said station.

Elizipeazie · 14 July 2023 11:30

Team VSmgAB & Team Shift Happens

Stage 1 Drive (VSmgAB)
Stage 1 Drive (Shift Happens)
Stage 2 Drive/Camp (Shift Happens)
Stage 2 Camp (VSmgAB + Shift Happens)
Stage 3 Camp (VSmgAB + Hillbilly Rollers + Aeromad + Ambassadors) Part 1, Part 2
Stage 4 and 5; “send it!”

OOC:
behind schedule, no drive to type in full, yada yada yada. Abridged bullshit, GO!
Also, this was typed inbetween trips at work, so excuse any shitty formatting, typos or less-than-perfectly consistent plot.

Stage 6 Drive

uneventful morning, barring latent worries about speeds for today
equally uneventful process of getting onto the rails
about 30 minutes poodling around slower sections of rail
sign_100mph_limit.jpeg
right foot suddenly become unusually heavy
“we are definitely doing the speed limit”
110mph…
120mph…
130mph…
140mph…
149mph…
spot two very familiar 10-wheel trucks going the other way
confusion about directions ensues
solves itself in about 15 seconds, as the next mile-post reads as expected
more proof 3 miles (about another minute) down the line
remainder of trip unremarkable in comparison

Stage 6 Camp

skip

Stage 7 Drive

pretty much a full skip
only important note is that the train is left on rails due to proximity to camp to the railway station.

Stage 7 camp

be greeted by railroading officials from earlier
very pushy about who gets to hire Val for their respective railway
made worse by him holding P1 and P2 in rail speed records
it becomes known to them that the Holsian State Railways have “won” the bidding war over Val
the other two “politely” (read: fuming in anger) leave the place
Future plans include, but are not limited to:
– the aquisition of blueprints for locomotives already running on Holsian rails
– same applies for performance reports of said locomotives
– re-printing the contract with the corrected salary structure
– locating an office for Val to work in without an immediate ability to travel there in the immediate future
– get the first order going
most of this is for the local official to solve, as Val’s employment starts once both parties have signed the employment contract.
remaining evening unremarkable in comparison, though a few rail-enthusiast locals are VERY interesred in the contraption Val has brought.

interior · 15 July 2023 02:07

i’ve been really lagging on

Team Slow
Chapter 3, Part 1- I have to catch up.

Well, that adventure of speed wasn’t quite fun with a speeding ticket. It seemed a bit hefty. Not much do document about, Izzy does her (yet-legal) shenanigans with the car, as Matt sat and looked at her getting a ticket in his own car. I guess there’s not much speeding after that.

She’s probably ticked off by now. But by now the police had gone, and we continue driving to the next stage area.

Car’s fully operational and the build quality seems to be going in our favour.

(this is inappropriately short and might have a lack of info but im really lagging behind by a month)

MrdjaNikolen · 17 July 2023 14:32

Team Mravolinski-Chitco
Part 7

Alone again

Morning brought some drizzle and light winds. It was relatively cold, but that didnt stop VerBanka from investigating around.
Ok, sole reason for investigation was so she could pee, but it would be investigation nonetheless.

-Oh what do i see? Lemme inform others…

Few minutes later

-Where were you?
-I gotta show you this
-Ok? I dont get your enthusiasm
-You will see

Everyone followed her to place

-Ah we see.
-The chance
-We must, however, look at where it leads.
-How? Step into it and we are…wherever that leads.
-Will find a way

Rock was thrown and that didnt lead to some meaningful conclusion

-We could lower VerBanka into it, but going to hold her legs.
-Plan with no faults whatsoever.
-I doubt you will need to do anything that may make us lose grip
-Still
-That is best plan tho: We guys are bigger and heavier and Sora…well she is just old
-WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT ME?!?
-Truth

After plan was forged, it was time to be put into action.
All three guys were holding VerBanka’s legs while she was closing on entrance.
She was now (mostly) in

-Now hold me so i dont fall.

Wheat field was rather welcome sight, as it was presence of some relatively big white-with-black-spots creature.

-Krava! Ovo mora da je Zemlja ili nešto slično.
(Cow! This must be Earth or something similar.)
-MUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
(MOOOOOOOOOOOOO)
-Neki se glasovi čuju sa neba
(Some voices are heard from the sky)

Looks at nearby bottle

-Dosta sam ja pio za danas.
(I drank enough for today)

Lies again and doses off into sleep.
Decision was made after VerBanka is extracted: group is going there.
All stuff is gathered and everyone lined up to jump into it
Mrdja was not informed that this is indeed going to be an actual jump and matter wasnt much improved as he was pushed into it.
Assume conversations are in Serb

-HELLO UNCLE
-BBAAAHHHAAA GO TOOO HEELL…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
-Washing away eyes with rakija, i see?
Not one of your brightest moments…
-Go into mother’s pussy…can’t see nothing.
Who are you anyway?
-Your nephew Pedro
You cant see nothing? Seeing that you just washed your eyes with something thats 70ish % alcohol, im not surprized.
-Gimme something else to wash away my poor face.

Few moments later, guy was blessed with sight again

-Im glad to see you, Pedro.
-Same. We would prob want to spend the night then try to go our way
-Not a chance. We havent seen you in such a long time.
-Uhhh…remember that wedding last year? One on which you got promptly drunk and attempted to piss on bride?
I was there with my family.
-I make quite potent stuff, what can i say? Do you want some?
-No, thanks, we appreciatte not meeting local ditches
-Fair enough

And yes, likes of Rukari exist in regard of making high-amount-of-alcohol drinks that are also drank by not only family and friends, but also maker of stuff.
One of my uncles used to make rakija and there are several of his friends that make it.
Not to mention brother-in-law of said uncle and my dad (uncle in question is brother of my dad).

This group is now in kinda parallel world where Pedro and Sora typically reside.
Well, with one notable exception…

-You! Drive me to nearest restaurant, so i can demand everything on their menu! Im hungry and angry.

Its clear that neither of them really understood her and what Leopolda demanded of them will stay mystery.

-Im done, brother. She was annoying in jail and decided to be annoying here. We will continue without her.
-But…that means leaving her alone…
-Seeing that our friends of sort had went without her, she likely isnt very nice even if you speak her language…it isnt worth it being thrown in jail again for her

And indeed she isnt. She was absolutely confused upon realising that he aint going to play to her tune.
Tried being more agressive, but was swatted mightily.
She may had went tad bit unconscious as result of that, but was fine upon returning back to senses

-Im alone
Which dick
Im fucking your mother’s pussy to all of you

Some young policewoman was passing by, deciding to act upon this.
Leopolda decided she doesnt like idea of young females around, despite fact her husband couldnt possibly see this lovely fella.
Last thing we may be interested in? Policewoman won the fight, decided to bring Leopolda to local station in nearest avaiable car and put her behind bars.
And yes, said nearest car was Leopolda’s own.

Purrfect joyride

You can probably imagine the mess that these teenagers had inflicted in car, courtesy of some spills and different snacks.

Our main interest and only female in the vehicle woke up and announced being awoken.

-Its awake
-Oh boi, oh boi.
-Lemme touch her

Pet refused to be touched and retreated to tailgate, showing dissaproval and still hoping that her original companion would save her.

-OUCH! NOW YOU GONNA SEE YOUR GOD
-Hey, dont slap me
-YOU slapped ME, so i gotta give it back
-Help me, he wants to (slap) OUCH that hurt
NOW ITS ON

-CAN YOU…FUCKING…STOP WRESTLING…OUT THERE
IM TRYING TO DRIVE YOU IDIOTS
-…said by idiot
-Fucking ouch

Slam on brakes later

-Why are we stopped?
-Bcos you dont allow me to drive properly
-No less was expected of chicken
-I will give you “chicken”

Eventually heat wore off and they continued journey. Almost everyone out of car, they had tried to befriend new addition to no avail.

-Maybe we shall give some meat to her
-Too late
-Oh…i see she found our dried meat
-Ye…we should probably rest
-Yes
-We should leave open window so our new pet can breathe.

And so it was, few of them sleeping in car, including one fella that sprawled over entire rear bench.
Juicy saviour arrived

FRAAAP
-Who tf was that
-Ayo, open the window
-Open already
-Wider bro, wider
-You sleep outside from now on
-Ok

Window rolled down more and air started clearing out.
Our main character wasnt fond of fart either, but saw opportunity upon seeing rolled window.
This was game of patience and oh boy, could she wait. Waiting game had brought many smaller snacks in her life so far and now it buys freedom.

Breathing. Some more breathing. Occasional snore. Some wiggles to hunt better position
This was reality for half an hour. Hour. Two.
Window was still wide open.

Initial jump was strong enough to clear seatback, but would still land in car. Exactly that seatback was taken advantage of, as our escapee had propelled by pushing legs into seatback or atleast very top of it.
Place for window was briefly filled with her, then continued to invite lot of fresh cold air
Running was oh-so-easy. Soon her prison of sorts became just a distant memory, speck in her rear-view direction.

Some nearby piece of meat was snagged away and carried on: is it even a crime if noone saw you do it?
On other hand she was criminally hungry so it evens out.
Some other meat-loving stray took the blame upon snatching some other piece of meat and was chased as result.
This was observed by our protagonist, that enjoyed the show besides the meal from high-up position.

It seemed that success is deserving of a nap, which is where we are leaving this for now.

Tired away

Its rather high mood when everyone woke up, hoping this time neither shitbox will cause much trouble but knowing that they can realistically break down and will do so if given the chance.
Mat and Amanda took the wheels and drive could start.

-Can we talk in unison and stuff and setup CB so we can hold continuous conversation?
-I think there are few frequencies where we arent disturbing anyone else
-Ok, set it up

Only one thing remained

-How to fill up all of this time
-By talking about getting some more cars. We are rather low in that regard, compared to how many drivers there are in group.
-Remind me, how many cars do we have avaiable right now?
-These two. Probably its not brightest idea to bring what would, at same time, also pass as your only car on this kind of event. However potential damage, wear and tear are something to think about later and i feel this journey was something we just cant miss.
-For a robot, you happen to be rather irrational.
-True, but then again, all of you have such moments too.
I ofc could have tried, and likely succeded, in modifying cars so they dont breakdown quite so often. But i enjoy this challenge as-is and point of this is…not exactly in having most reliable car ever. We prob should have tried to reach to other teams, but sadly i…dont think that would work as well as it sounds.
-I guess original run was tad bit more lively. Dont quote me on that, but…i was there.
-True. Cars were our subject tho, so lets get back to that.
-We cant really say or do much about it, especially in this moment. Searching used car sites shall wait until our return
-Another issue is that we plan on big move, which…well…certainly is ambitious. Also is something we would need to do upon our return
-Arguably even more important than getting more cars bcos we can hardly live out of cars, without some patch of land and building or two that we can call home.
-True
-True

Some pause followed

-Mrdja and his family used to be considered instrumental for our accomodation but, realistically, its miracle it worked as long and as well as it did.
Most of us had took first steps in his backyard, which is of solid size, but…ye im kinda lost for words.
-His house also provides solid amount of space, but even tho its prob fine for their family, it quickly proves to be quite a challenge.

And indeed, when thinking about just how many imaginary charactees i have and recalling how much sleeping space exists in houses that belong to my family, i find space lacking…even if we ignore fact that space would be realistically occupied by inhabitants of house.

-Again, something to think about when it is time to do so.
-But now, Saguaro needs refueling
-Wonderful.
-My estimates are that it will need refueling again during the stage

Not cool

Refuel happened, but 16 km or 10 miles later…

-What was that?
-Oh my, its now tougher to control
-WE NEED TO STOP
-Ye, something is fishy
.
.
-Tire looks deflated
-Bcos it is.
-Sure it was on right pressure?
-Yes?
-Probably punctured…ye, it is, found sone nail in it.
-Atleast that will not repeat again

It definitely repeated again after about 20 miles

-Oh come on
-That happens if you are on old tires…probably
-Not funny
-Eh, that isnt funny but you being angry…that is kinda funny
-No it isnt
-Yes it is…you are kinda cute when you are angry.
-Hrmph

-Seems we are getting low on fuel regarding Kontir as well.
-We will refuel Saguaro just in case
-Good call

Checks fuel gauge in Saguaro

-VERY good call, it would have needed refueling sooner rather than later.
-Ok, lets do it then.

There was some talking with fuel station worker that was tasked with filling their cars.
Upon that being done, they got promptly on highway and stepped on it…and then promptly slowing down due to two trucks attempting to overtake each other
Either way, rest of journey was uneventful, as was coming into camp
With that, they had prepared for another night…and as such, next day

Madrias · 17 July 2023 21:00

Stage 8:

Moonshadow Village to Kingsburg

Temperature at mid-day: 20°C
Night-time Low: 12°C
Expected Weather: A thick cloud cover looms overhead, but retains the rain within, leaving the roads and people dry. Humidity is fairly high and winds are noticeable, although not exceptionally strong.

Camp Challenge: Kingsburg Quarter-mile (402 meters).

Ah, here it is, the infamous off-road stage.

Today, we’re following an old logging trail from Moonshadow Village out to Kingsburg. While the “road” is wide enough to reliably pass one another on the way, and the curves are gentle enough for even the biggest vehicles in the group to handle without trouble, well… We’re driving on hard-packed dirt with bark chips added for traction material.

While there’s no real posted speed limits, the “acceptable average” speed is about 25 MPH. This is reinforced when we leave the trail and end up on a main road heading into Kingsburg… With a posted speed limit of 25 MPH / 40km/h and police cars everywhere.

If Moonshadow Village was small but tall, Kingsburg is just about the opposite. With 800,000 people in this city, and the beginnings of almost-suburban-sprawl starting to creep in, thanks to an irrational fear from the city planners about building upward instead of outward, it takes us a long while to trundle into the center of town. It takes just as long to meander our way out toward the outskirts on the far side, where our campground is.

Unlike the last few times, however, our campground is shared with some curious locals who created a little community across the road in some abandoned train cars. With two sleeper coaches, a caboose, and a box-car kitchen, they’ve set out to prove that it COULD be possible to live in mobile houses.

Next Stage Expected Conditions:

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

Results Here: SR23 Stage 8 - Google Drive

Team Shift Happens

Everyone was glad to see that the off-road prowess of the HD-GV units was able to make the off-road stage look easy. Other than Takaraya earning himself a warning for speeding, there’s not much that went wrong.

VS Mobil Generator AB

Of course, the real off-road experts spent their time away from the dirt, and instead, they rocketed away on shining steel rails. When it came time to park for the night, they ended up close to the locals, who were pleasantly surprised to see their plans for a mobile house were actually reasonable.

Team M.A.D.

The crew in the Walkenhorst weren’t surprised when the Citrine left them in the dust courtesy of an unexpected and very irritating squealing noise from the front of the car. It’s a good thing they stopped, though, as that water pump really did need to be replaced with one of their spares.

Team Sinesian Rejects

With Ianis taking the Itan and leaving for Earth, it’s just the Trio of Tragedy taking the Imbe off-road today. The constant use of lower gears and higher RPM means that the ping-o-matic engine under the hood is making more noise than usual. It’s no surprise when the head gasket lets go, though it is surprising that TJ chose to drive on and fix it in camp while the Imbe blows white smoke everywhere.

Team Not-So-Slow

It turns out that navigating is hard. After driving out onto the road after several hours of dirt with wood chips for traction, the navigator sent you on an almost 3-and-a-half hour detour. A warning was issued for speeding when trying to make up time after the mistake was discovered.

The Ambassadors

Normally, a popped tire on the Mayland Ambassador wouldn’t be a huge deal. However, when it happens in the dirt with no good place to put a jack, jack-stands, or even wheel chocks to keep the car still, it turns a simple tire change into a nearly 8 hour ordeal, especially when someone swears they saw a leopard-sized cougar watching them.

The Knockouts

Another one who got bitten by bad navigation, leading Kate to head way off course with screaming sirens behind her. She turned around and tried to weave through the police cars, only to get fenced in and stopped by the Kingsberg Police Unit. They were a little more… Eager to unleash the Dyre when Kate weighed the choice to run, and she found herself caught after two steps in the wrong direction. Octavia, on the other hand, has no issues other than driving around a badly parked patrol car.

Team Mravolinski-Chitco

Both vehicles spend a surprising amount of time getting stuck, and then helping un-stick the other vehicle. Unsurprisingly, the Kontir Cunningham has less issues with road-bound hazards, though the massive camper unit collects every tree branch it can find, forcing the team to clear branches ahead or risk a repeat of SR 2022’s camper destruction.

Team HETS

It was going so well until a tire burst and caused the VanGo to hit a tree. Thankfully, all of the damage was easily fixable, just very time consuming.

Team Flaming Gallahs

Sure, the bus isn’t really the most off-road-oriented vehicle in the world, but if she can be Queen of the Desert, then she can also be Queen of the Dirt.

Team Friendship!

Not much to say here, it’s just a slow-going off-road stage for two cars driving a bus.

Team Hillbilly Rollers

Other than Andreas getting a warning for excessive speed driving from the dirt road onto the actual paved road, it’s a good simple stage. Marie, however, spends an unusual amount of time mentioning how much she dislikes cats after seeing a cougar cross the road.

Team Sane Insanity

What’s harder than a tire change in the woods? A tire change in the woods, on a rental you can’t afford to scratch, with only the tools provided in the back of the rental minivan… And one leopard-sized cougar that decided the roof of the van was a good place to rest for a while. The hardest part of the whole ordeal was chasing the cat away without getting the van scratched up in the process.

Faolan Industries

Both Aethers show their 30’s era roots by having no issues with a bit of dirt today.

Team Taciturn

What’s another warning for speeding among friends? Apparently the Mara is a bit popular with the police here, as they like the idea of a semi-rugged off-road capable car for dealing with moonshine smugglers using the dirt road to escape justice.

Team ReUnity

No problems in the fast crossover, even when outrunning the cops. They’re definitely looking for better cars to bust ‘shine runners, and SUVs might just be the kind of thing they’re looking into.

Team Spy Kids

When both of these cars shot out of the woods like bats from hell, the Kingsberg Police had no clue how to deal with them. It’s another clean getaway.

Team J3

It’s a good bit of trouble for Team J3 today. Between nearly 4 hours of fixing the Willow’s gearbox, and then an unplanned detour adding up to almost 7 hours of total breakdown time, plus a warning and a speeding ticket, it’s not a good day.

Team Aeromad

Other than the driver of the Torrento getting a warning for excessive speed, it’s a clean run today. The deafening roar of airplane engines through the forest won’t soon be forgotten… If only because two of the police officers have to shout to hear each other for several hours after the traffic stop.

@Tzuyu_main & @FallingComet

Team Black Rabbit Disavowed

Other than the Seikatsu being ticketed for speeding, it’s a clean run. How that was managed with a giant military truck is beyond anyone’s belief.

Sheriff Scott’s Posse

It is possible to teach old dogs new tricks: This time it was just speed warnings, instead of the other car getting a ticket for honking at the unlucky one to get caught first.

Team “486”

Camp Challenge Winner - Kaufmann Viera Custom: 11.82 seconds
Being fast in a quarter mile seems to be what saved this team from getting caught by the cops. Or maybe they just live a quarter mile at a time? Either way, they escaped into the campground and waited, perhaps impatiently, for the rest of the crews to turn up.

Team Magdelena

Turns out that, yes, even an ambulance has to obey speed limits when it’s not actively in an emergency. Thankfully, it’s just a warning this time.

Team Machinas Con Passione

With the Blue Wonder making a wrong turn and driving 2 hours and 16 minutes off-course before turning around and adding another 2:16 to the time, for a total of 4 hours and 32 minutes of added stage time, and the Faenza throwing a serpentine belt in the woods, it’s not a great stage for anyone on this team.

Cunning Stunts

It’s just a casual speeding ticket for the driver of the VHT Supermobile. Oops.

Team Till D End

A clean stage for the team, no cop-stops, no breakdowns.

Basedworks

Other than the driver of the MCMOTD being stopped and given a warning that “drifting” is not acceptable on these roads, it’s a clean enough stage.

Team Gunship

What’s more fun than blasting through the woods in an open-cockpit road racer? Probably not much. Shoveling all of that dirt out of the car will suck, though.

4 Dicks in a Truck

We’re not sure how this rig and trailer were weaved through here, but we’re fairly sure the trailer will be less than pretty after Mother Nature redecorated the paint with tree branches. It’s a clean run, minus the scuff marks.

Madrias · 19 July 2023 23:09

Team VSmgAB & Team Shift Happens

Stage 1 Drive (VSmgAB)
Stage 1 Drive (Shift Happens)
Stage 2 Drive/Camp (Shift Happens)
Stage 2 Camp (VSmgAB + Shift Happens)
Stage 3 Camp (VSmgAB + Hillbilly Rollers + Aeromad + Ambassadors) Part 1, Part 2
Stage 4 and 5; “send it!”
Stage 6 and 7 “Catching Up” (VSmgAB)

Stage 8 Camp

As the HD-GVs were parked in camp, Kivenaal got on the radio and mentioned, “Give me a few minutes and I’ll set up some targets.”

While Kasiya hooked up their end of the cables and got them over to Valentin, and Rukari set up the grill they had to cook with while Kayden prepared burgers, Takaraya and Kivenaal prepared a shooting range with targets that had sandbags over the back to stop bullets from flying straight through.

It didn’t take long for there to be targets set out at 25, 50, 75, and 100 meters, and a few tables for setting weapons, magazines, and ammunition down on as needed.

Takaraya and Kivenaal returned to the truck to grab their rifles, returning to the range and setting their weapons down on the table.

Initially, not a lot happened for Valentin and Norse which quickly devolved into boredom, though our ‘Speshul Forces’ were once again sent over for target practice.

“Hello there. I hope you don’t mind us doing another round of aim-training, do you?” Constantin calmly inquired as the recruits were already underway readying their respective weapons for the task.

“Time to watch Jacques smoke us again…” William commented, prompting a grin from Jacques.
“Well if you lot actually had more than about four braincells, you’d be able to hit things.” he countered.
“He already hits everything, BUT the target.” Rohan chuckled, after which the group, barring Mary, continued throwing semi-serious insults against each other.

Not long after, Valentin also joined the lot:
“What are you doing here?” Mary inquired towards Valentin
“Am contemplating getting a hunter’s license given the farce that was last year’s run… might as well try, given the chance,” he said as Constantin flinched juuust a little, remembering the strong break-of-trust that year.

“Go right ahead,” Kivenaal said to Constantin. “It’s why the range was set up in the first place.” He looked over as Takaraya, dressed in a medium-green t-shirt with his mechanical arms showing, loaded a 20 round magazine into his rifle and racked the charging handle, before setting the weapon on safe. “Oh, good, we’re going to have Takaraya’s shoulder-fired artillery at the range,” Kivenaal quipped.

Takaraya glanced over at Kivenaal, watching as he loaded a handful of cartridges into his rifle, then shook his head. “And he says my rifle is shoulder-fired artillery. Sure, .45-70 isn’t as powerful as .50 BMG, but considering what your brother uses, my rifle is far, far from artillery.”

When Valentin joined the group at the range, however, Kivenaal and Takaraya were both a little surprised. “i’ll let Malavera know he may need to bring his rifle or pistol to the table,” Kivenaal said.

“No need, I have both here already,” Malavera said, walking over to the table with his rifle in his hands, and a rather large pistol in a hip holster.

“Hope i am not disturbing anyone with my glaring presence now…” Valentin said in reference to his almost snowman-like pale skin, “I have been thinking about getting into shooting for sport. Aaaand… it just so happens that there is a somewhat public shooting range here…”

Valentin did not dare to directly ask for a gun, given that he had fired a gun exactly ONCE, which ruined both wrists.

Mary solved that hesitation for him, though:
“So you wanna shoot guns? Truth be told, i did not expect you to be that kind of man,” Mary remarked.
“If i stick to doing the same thing, i am leaving potential ways of fulfillment on the table. And there is no harm in trying new things,” Valentin countered with great confidence.
“THAT is true… maybe i should try new things as well at some time…”

“No disturbances on our end. Between Malavera’s white fur and Takaraya’s shiny metal arms, we’ve got more reasons to apologize than you do, Val,” Kivenaal said.

When Mary asked if Val wanted to shoot, and Val confirmed it, Kivenaal looked up to Takaraya, then over to Malavera, and back to the table. The three of them, at Kivenaal’s unspoken command, set their rifles down on the table. “We’re not sure if any of them will work for you, Val, and they’re all a bit more powerful than would be ideal,” Takaraya said, “but they’re options.”

Confusion was written in bold across Valentin’s face once he saw three substantially sized rifles on the table.

“Umm… are we not jumping the guns a little? I have shot exactly once. That was yeears ago with a very undersized handgun. Undersized for my massive human paws, that is…” Valentin stumbled as he held out both hands, facing down, to exemplify the absolute size of these units.

In the meantime, the ‘Speshul Forces’ got to work, with expected results. While Jacques had a nearly impeccable spray pattern, most of the others barely managed to keep the shots on target at all.

“Well… The recoil on any one of these really isn’t that bad. Mine’s probably the worst, with the solid walnut stock,” Kivenaal said. “Weight’s your friend here.”

Malavera then added in, “Takaraya’s rifle’s the heaviest, though mine’s only a bit lighter than his. Kiva’s is the lightest, and knowing the twin-tailed devil himself, I know he’s loaded his ammunition a bit stronger than average.”

Takaraya sighed, then said, “Fairly simple controls on this. All the way up on the fire-selector is safe, all the way down is semi-automatic. You don’t want to be in the middle notch, that’s full-auto and could be dangerous. If you shoot all 20 rounds, magazine release is the lever under the trigger guard. I’ve got a spare magazine in my hip pouch.”

“Uhhh… right.” Valentin mumbled as he inspected Takaraya’s rifle, now that it was at least somewhat explained and thus the most familiar of the unfamiliar weapons.
“So. Gun is always loaded, regardless of what happens to it. Never point it at things you do not not want to hit. Finger only to trigger if i want to shoot… here goes…” Valentin spoke as a reminder to himself about gun safety and also as proof to the others that he knew it.

He then carefully shoved the other two rifles aside and inspected the remaining one. Eventually, he is in position in front of the table, kneeling on one heel with the respective other knee, the bipod of the rifle resting on the table.

Deliberate aim is taken before… nothing happens.
“Still on safe, Val!”, Mary shouts from three lanes over, before Valentin realizes himself and flicks the switch to semi-automatic.

Another moment of aim and a round goes down range. Much to his (and the recruits) surprise, the very visible impact site was not too far away from the center and certainly closer than most of what the recruits have managed to accomplish.

Immediately afterwards, Val got back up, as his left hand went to rub the pain out of his right shoulder.
“You lot are severely underselling the recoil of those things…” Valentin complained, eventually gathering his bearings and securing the weapon for the time being.

Malavera chuckled. “I guess it’s relative. Sorry, Val.”

Takaraya admitted, “To be fair, I did mention they were more powerful than would be ideal. And, well, I can’t honestly tell you how bad the recoil is.”

Kivenaal shrugged. “My sense of how bad recoil can be is skewed a bit. You want a shoulder workout, Rukari’s stupid little shoulder-fired cannon kicks like hell.”

Takaraya carefully picked up his rifle and put the ejected round back in the magazine, setting both neatly back down on the table afterward. “If you’re going to ask for a pistol, I will have to respectfully decline using mine. It might fit your hands, but… The recoil on it is going to be a fair bit more severe than most pistols.”

“Fucking thing shoots .458 SOCOM. For those who don’t know much about guns… That’s a rifle round meant to go in modified AR-15 and M-16 platform rifles,” Kivenaal grumbled. “Really good for making sore wrists later.”

“Coming from him, that’s serious, considering his usual choice of revolvers,” Malavera said. He pulled the Desert Eagle out of the holster on his hip and placed it on the table, then said, “Desert Eagle, chambered in .44 Magnum. Rukari has two in the more vicious .50 Action Express, but… I doubt you want to fire those.”

“You failed to mention by how much,” Valentin protested, tugging the collar of his shirt aside to check if the rifle left an imprint.
To his surprise, there, at least for the time being, was none, though the process of readjusting the shirt to not be all lopsided did peak someone’s interest:

“Uhm… if i am allowed to ask… what’s that for a tattoo on your chest?” Mary inquired, full of curiosity and with a remarkable lack of decency regarding private things.
Surprised, Valentin turned to face her: “For the sake of some people here, i shall stay cryptic. All i am going to say now is that it is a literal link to a somewhat recent, possibly life-changing event for me.”

Malavera glanced over and saw the QR code, though, knowing how much he disliked when people brought up the branded mark on his own left shoulder, he kept quiet about knowing what it meant.

Kivenaal, on the other hand, glanced over and said, “Oh, that’s a QR code. Val had that done after, well… Someone in a military van had an accident and ended up taking out a bunch of cyclists. No one died, as far as I know, but a lot of people got banged up rather badly. Val here has… I’d joke and say “as much titanium as Takaraya,” but… That’s not quite true.”

Takaraya looked over at Kivenaal, Valentin, Malavera, and Mary, then sighed. “Kiva, really? Val was trying to be diplomatic.”

Mary simply stood there, trying to piece things together for a while.
Norse, having heard this, got up from his spot near the generator car and power-walked over to the opposing side of camp, far out of earshot in case this conversation would go more detailed.

“Wait… a military van?” Mary eventually asked, trying to gather more information while not being seen as intrusive.

“From what i remember, it had military plates, but was otherwise a generic 9 seat van…” Valentin recalled, but was interrupted in trying to vaguely outline the nature of it.

“JACKNABBIT!!! GET OVER HERE!!! YOUR TURN!!!”, Constantin blared for basically half of camp to hear, after which Mary ‘promptly’ went over to do her round, resulting in the worst target pattern in recent history.

“Not your day ain’t it, Jacknabbit?”, he asked afterwards, crossing his arms in disappointment.
“Not anymore. Now… do you know about some soldier that apparently played bowling with some cyclists some time ago?”, Mary countered, which sent Constantin into an awkward silence for a moment.

“Truth be told, it created a massive Tsunami of controversy in the upper ranks because that soldier was not perceived to be the kind of guy to do that. Needless to say, he is presumably employed elsewhere, if at all and also doesn’t drive anymore,” Constantin explained.

“Can confirm the not driving part. Guy had his license revoked for that move. Rightfully so if you ask me…” Valentin added.

Kivenaal grabbed his rifle and settled in at the 75 meter target, lightly shaking his head as he saw the shotgun-like spread of Mary’s most recent attempt at shooting. He put 5 rounds downrange, making a fairly sensible spread on the target. “I’ve done better, and I’ve done worse. I’ll take it,” Kivenaal said.

Malavera then stepped up and casually put five holes almost-dead-center of the bullseye. “Target’s too close to be much of a challenge,” he admitted. “Granted, there’s not enough distance here to really get a good challenge in.”

Takaraya took his turn, seeming somewhat annoyed by a grouping that looked very much like Kivenaal’s. “Remind me next time to extend the stock. Apparently, it does help even if I don’t feel the recoil anymore,” Takaraya said, before removing the magazine, clearing the chamber, and setting the rifle on the table with the safety on.

“Holy mother of… would like to know what exactly happened, but at this point i am too afraid to ask…” Mary said in shock, at which point William could not stop himself:
“You really had to bring the memes into this?” He said, trying to hold back the amusement gained from shitty puns.

“Long story short, guy with the van tried to overtake our group of 40-odd people in a place where there was not enough space to pull that off, let alone pull that off safely. Ran head-first into some farm tractor poking out of a driveway. Got sent back across the road, taking half of us with it. If you want the long story, i can get the accident report to you. As per the tattoo, it literally is a link to an unlisted YouTube video that some first-time rider at GSCC made of the immediate aftermath. The direct link has just a black screen for visuals, to protect identities of the affected,” Valentin explained almost nonchalantly, which added more fuel to the fire for Mary, who thought that this must have been a semi-frequent occurence for Valentin and his friends.

As such, she just stood there, absolutely dumbfounded and trying to comprehend it all.

“Geeezzzzz… Hope you are okay,” Mary eventually stammers, the target practice for the others already being done with as they all listened in on the unfolding conversation.

“Other than a good two kilos in titanium holding a few bones and joints together, lots of scar tissue and a couple months in hospital, i am about as good as can be…” Valentin responded.

“And like… mentally?”

“Norse took the worst of it on that one, honestly…” Valentin said as he vaguely looked over to Norse, who currently was currently carving something out of a piece of wood with a vegetable knife, “…most of the info i have on how it unfolded came from third-party accounts. My own memory stops at the Van being next to me… and restarts in hospital.”

Malavera spoke up with, “I was the one who found out about it for the rest of the crew. I’d noticed that, well, he hadn’t been online for several days, and… I was worried.” He made his rifle safe, set it on the table, then grabbed his phone and opened up the file browser. “I… Saved an offline copy of the video, but, well, I’ll leave it up to Val whether to play it.” He looked over with his other head to see Norse, then added, “It… Might be a bit much for Norse to hear this. I don’t know, but I also know I’m going to feel awful if I ruin Norse’s day again.”

“I personally take no issue with it. Otherwise i would not have permanently linked it onto my clavicle. I created a local copy myself in case it comes up. Though i am warning you about listener discretion. The audio is entirely unfiltered,” Valentin said, once again glancing over at Norse, then pulling out his phone and doing the same as Malavera, “if he hears this over Robert the second, then he is deliberately eavesdropping.”

A moment of contemplation followed before Mary faintly nodded at both Malavera and Valentin.
Malavera then pocketed his phone for Valentin to do the playback of the file at a volume just loud enough for the immediate surroundings to hear.

Description of the Audio file; read at own discretion

The file itself initially is a mass of white noise, rattling and other random sounds before it somewhat stabilizes into a very disjointed choir of screaming and moaning overshadowing a few snippets of phrases muttered in shock by those physically uninjured.
A very distinct voice [Norse] can be heard shouting his lungs out in desperation, directed at someone that cannot be identified by voice alone. Another voice is heard in the process of hastily contacting emergency services, though the critical details are missing or unintelligible.

The mixture of above continues for another minute or so before a helicopter approaching can be heard. Eventually, all the moaning, screaming and talking is drowned out by wind noise, at which point the clip ends.

The immediate aftermath is pure and utter silence, only disturbed by Valentin returning his phone to the pocket it came out of.

When the file played, Takaraya gave a startled flinch, not liking how similar it was to the flight-recording data from his failed mission. The screams, the noise, the chaos, it was alarmingly similar. He took in a shivered breath, despite the warmth outside, closing his metal hands into fists in the moment. Thankfully, the file ran for only a minute, but it was clear to those who knew him that Takaraya had been a bit rattled.

Kivenaal looked over to Takaraya and cautiously put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay. It’s okay,” he said, just trying to help a friend.

Malavera glanced at Takaraya and then mentioned, “I’m sorry. If I had known you’d have a reaction like this… I’d have warned you in advance.”

None of the humans present managed to pick up on Takaraya’s flinch.

Though Mary eventually turns around to face Constantin and, almost ceremonially, hands him both the rifle and the sidearm.
Confused, Constantin takes both: “Umm… what is this about?”
“I’m no longer taking part in this bullshit! I’m done with this,” Mary shouts, also handing over minor items in the process.
“Can’t say that was unexpected…” Hans mumbled, the others agreeing more or less obviously.

It took a moment for Constantin to finish computing the request:
“Alright… this is a less than ideal moment, but in basic, you are entitled to leave at any time. If you have brought Civilian clothing, get changed and return anything that belongs to the Navy. If not, go procure some.”

Jayde startled as he heard Mary’s outburst, taking a staggered half-step on his way to the range for some pistol practice. “Okay, that was certainly unexpected,” Jayde said to himself.

“If you’d been here three minutes ago, it wouldn’t be,” Malavera replied.

“Right. She’s leaving the military because…” Jayde looked around at everyone there to gather all the information he could, then finished with, “I’d guess Val played the file behind that QR code.”

“You know, it’s fucking scary when you do that, Jayde,” Malavera said. “That perception of yours, combined with your intuition, how are you that accurate?”

“I was trained to do this, Mal,” Jayde said. He looked to Mary, his jade-green eyes glancing over her uniform for a moment before he then said, “I can loan you some money to get civilian clothes.”

“Should have gone into detective work with that kind of deduction…” Valentin comments, hiding the tattoo again.

“Do you have PayPal or something so that i can pay you back once we are done with this? Also, i don’t know for how much a set of clothes goes around here, so there’s that as well…” Mary asks, quickly being confirmed by Jayde regarding PayPal. Not long after, she finds herself with an assortment of coins, with which she heads off into town.

“She surely seems serious about this…” Valentin mentioned while watching Mary disappear behind some street corner.

Malavera looked to Valentin, then said, “I’ve suggested the same thing to him a time or two. Between his deductive skills and his other… talents, he could solve a lot of crimes… If it wasn’t for the fact that he wouldn’t fit in the uniform. Yes, that’s the reason he gave for not trying.”

When Valentin mentioned Mary seemed serious about leaving the military, Takaraya nodded and said, “We all have a breaking point.”

“Well that calls it for target shooting for now. Patel and I swap spots for the watch, so you’re with Dupont now. Apart from that, back to base.” Constantin ordered, at which point the range was vacated, leaving only Shift Happens and Valentin.

“I think i am going to try your handguns some other time…” Valentin noted “the rifles… at least yours, are too much for my shoulder to take.”

He then turned around and also headed back to his compartment, soon after joined by Norse, who seemed mentally stable, even if it was fairly obvious to him that the topic came up again.

“Not a problem,” Malavera said. “You ever want to do some pistol practice, just find me, I’ll gladly go to the range with you and we can take turns hitting targets.”

Takaraya left without a word, seeming somewhat lost in his own thoughts as he unloaded his weapons and put them back in the truck. Kivenaal and Malavera left a few moments later, and with the recruits gone as well as everyone else, Jayde sighed and holstered his revolver, returning to the trucks.

A few hours later, Mary returned with some new clothes and handed Jayde what was left of the money he’d loaned her after she’d bought what she needed, then returned to the compartment train to sort out her sleeping arrangements.

MrdjaNikolen · 24 July 2023 19:22

Team Mravolinski-Chitco
Part 8

S T A N D - O F F _A N D _T A K E D O W N

(Besides all characters belonging by our team, we might mention Kate (character of @doot)
Text is pre-approved by him)

Only so much could be extracted from successful hunt few days ago.
As such, our protagonist had decided to fetch some more and encountered open door to rear end of vehicle, which prompted hopping in.
She helped herself a little until she heard deep growl sourcing from this same space.
This made her stressed out as growl was aproximately 10 feet (304.8cm) off the ground

-Whats the commotion ,bud?
Lemme check on ya…

Man had now occupied space in door. Protagonist got stressed and now exit is blocked in

-Ah i see you got yourself little bit of company…no big deal, gonna whip out spare water bowl and some reserves.
Quite the exquisite sight you are and please, dont hurt the thing…must be hungry if it decides to join us here…to Kingsburg we go

Door soon came closed and locked and situation was tense. But, both parties loosened up and tension and growling both ceased about halfway through the trip as intruder dutifully isnt eating into K9`s food and became clear K9 wasnt interested in prematurely ending life for no reason

Suddenly, both animals were taken aback by fact vehicle was now accelerating…fast.
Dyre knew what was now going to happen and was eager to tackle whoever was unfortunate enough to play on wrong side of law

-IN THE NAME OF LAW, STOP THE VEHICLE!!!

Answer prob could only be understood as even more dirt flying from wheels, picking up speed

-WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING HAVING UNDER THE HOOD…I CANT KEEP UP

Luckily for police, Kate was going in wrong direction…which, well…she kinda realised herself
Trying to go back required some handbrake turn and lot of astonishment of pursuers.
First few cars were easily weaved around, but roadblock meant car chase was over.

-WE GOT YOU SURROUNDED! SURRENDER PEACEFULLY OR WE ARE GONNA UTILISE FORCE!!

As it shall be known by this point, Kate is of small stature so believing she can easily hide in surrounding environment she made run for it

-Wait…is that…a child?
-Uhhh…not sure…

Particular K9 unit deployed also found out about this…very specific feature of his target and proceeded with caution, resulting in relatively gentle takedown

-Good job, you are going to get extra supply of meat for this
-Im intrigued as to how is this so fast
-We are going to tow it into station parking lot so this lady (directed in general direction of Kate) can serve her sentence in peace

And with that, convoy proceeded to station

Door had once again opened and K9 left again, leaving our protagonist to grasp the situation.
She was now in very big and scary town it seems, but she was sure that she will find a way.
Once again, this mighty creature had went exploring to try to find some more food that can be eaten and enjoyed later. Afterall, this is wild animal and one of most basic rules of them is survival, which includes having full belly at all times.
Easy target in sight, atleast seems so, so moving began swiftly. Not much fight is expected, as this target looks like it might not enjoy living priviledges much longer, so why bother with food?
.
.
.
And at this point, im gonna be a TV ad and deprive you of action for a little bit
Such evil of me, i know

K I N G S B U R G _C A T _F I G H T

-So, this is map?
-Yes.
-Where we now need to go?
-Kingsburg.
-Is this some kind of monarchy? Remind me.
-Dont know, dont care: it could be that it was monarchy at some point of time and name stuck bcos…reasons we cant grasp as we arent educated on its history.

Granted, we Serbs…oh, i just now recall “Kraljevo”. I was just about to say that even tho we were kingdom several times through history (and hell, we were empire at one point during middle ages thanks to particularly competent leader) we might not keep kingdom-related names for entire towns.
Our word for leader of kingdom is KRALJ and place i mentioned above “belongs to a king”, if only by literal translation of its name into few words of English.

-If they used to be monarchy, is royal family still around?
-Probably

Once again, i may need to mention Serbia as example. Yes, it USED to be kingdom, and nowadays is pretty much not kingdom but you expect “but, …” and im not gonna leave you dissapointed.
There are still members of our royal family around, which are recognised as such. Their titles have no functional power in country of their ancestors, even less in country or countries where they actually live (which to my knowledge isnt/arent Serbia itself).
And if my off-top-of-my-head memory on subject serves me (that memory used for everything i said so far), their dynasty was in power when certain failed painter from Austria decided to try to return Germanic-speaking countries to former glory, starting a bit of a war in process.

-Lets concentrate on our journey here
-Ok.
-This is the road thats listed as direct journey to there. Its some kind of logging trail
However, i think we might have better option avaiable
-Really?
-Yes, instead of following that logging trail, we are following this other logging trail
-What benefits would that give us?
-Less crowded and faster. Granted, its the same or similar distance, but it should be faster.
-That seems like rather secondary road compared to this route
-Well, it is. But it surely isnt going to be that bad.
We do have 4X4 vehicle with low-range, so it should be alright

You are free to reread what Madrias himself said on road that most, if not all other teams, tackled.
Road this team took would have some differences:

There is stream of water going along the route (or i guess route was made to follow said stream) so route is blessed with having fresh water
Another advantage of route is having very fresh mud (prob caused by said nearby stream) and not so fresh branches (unlikely to be caused by stream)
Road is sufficiently wide for cars to travel in two lanes…if cars in question are named Freddie
Its also sufficiently tall to be tunnel and equally sufficiently limited in appropriate direction by branches to count as such.
Noone knows if this technically counts as road. Locals that team attempted to interview do not know such pedantery, their minds being oriented to being born, sleeping, eating, drinking, pooping, peeing, farting, having kids, doing kid-making activities and dying
Lane or lanes (if you are Freddie) are suggestion, speed limits are myth, only police you may find up here may happen to indulge in hunting or hiking or both and same goes for civilians
Toilet is wherever you decide to drop the load

-This might have been a mistake
-Might? We cut, twisted and pushed most of branches to fit camper under them, not to mention fair bit of said branches was used to give some semblance of traction to Saguaro to make up this route.
-Sometimes were needed for Kontir, too
Ye, seems this was indeed mistake.
But now we have this nice smooth road of hard-packed dirt.
-I wonder what could have been if we went on same road as others.

Siviko was tasked with getting some food from local market. He reluctantly agreed, as he felt that this might be bad idea, or actually a good idea? There was feeling that something is going to happen, but beyond feeling, nothing else remains.
So he went and got fair bit of food via totally and absolutely legal means, but seems not everyone has such idea…

-Huh?

Something looking like cat, apart from additional pair of legs, had approached fast
Intentions were clear to former stray cat and fight was in order
Attacker was missed, but fight was on and all claws are out. Its clear that attacker has superior strength, speed, stamina and reflexes but its not well-versed in tactics or experience
Few human-like moves threw her off, as she didnt expect that kinda thing

-Damn, impressive physical prowess not to mention additional pair of legs.
But…i think i have a plan…

Little by little, battleground was moving towards some stands and one of them had quite robust wooden box.
Siviko saw that as opportunity, as he grew tired of this farce
Is he going to last?

-If only i can get to box…these attacks are certainly going to be powerful, but would plan work?

It seemed that there is no way out. It depended lot on luck as much as strategy, but it needed to be tried out.
Siviko got to box and was now between box and opponent, who took a swing at him.
Swing connected to the box making deep clawmarks on it and likely in it.
Protagonist from some parts of earlier posts misjudged distance and wedged her claws into the wood, making Siviko kinda victor.
He quickly exited the tricky area leaving her to try to wedge herself out.

-Hrmph, that was close and kinda stupid of her

He decided to leave with food, leaving the animal trying to unsuccessfully free herself
But…something felt not quite right, it felt that wasnt nice thing to do (well it wasnt, but was he obliged to free this thing after it attacked him for food? No? Certainly the beginning of some short debate)

-Either way, i guess we werent that different: many snacks were obtained in fights during my life on streets
But someone else can free her
On other hand, this thing is so weird yet so familiar. Smells nice too

Some kinda merciful decision was made

-Give me some knife of sorts and some kind of hammer. Chisel would be ideal, but can work with knife.
-NO, you arent going to kill Jagriska
-Wtf is that?
-Your opponent stuck with that box
-Ah. Those are rare around here?
-Understatement.
-Belongs to someone?
-No. Wild animal
-Jagriska is, therefore, not a first name of that?
-Indeed, there are many like it elsewhere. They appear in Rift and sometimes join the travelers that go through said Rift. Jagriska is name of their entire kind
They can be great pets for people that arent into magic or useful familiars for ones that are.
-Hmm, that sounds very interesting…either way, i dont want to repeat the fight again…but on other hand, i do have mercy myself.
Was stray cat myself, roaming many streets in my younger age
-Very well

Armed with chisel and hammer, he attempted to free this “Jagriska” thing. She was still very moody upon defeat, but Siviko was now usefully armed and able to deflect attack with tools

-I suggest you admiting defeat. Otherwise i might just break bone or two with hammer and you arent going to hunt as easily for quite a while.

Point wasnt coming to her head until Siviko found opening and directed hammer at her head. Hammer stopped before making contact, but was close enough for Jagriska to connect the dots and realise this was wrong target.
Result was indeed Siviko’s win via her retreat and he hauled the food back to the camp

-Nice, so much food
-Yes, i had put some effort to get it
I was attacked by some six-legged cat-thing named Jagriska
-I recall some teams getting them when going through Rift previous year
They would just jump on roof or in car.
-They werent hostile?
-They hurt noone, so…i guess so?
Why were you attacked?
-Probably a stray that thought this is easy food

Pause

-You didnt gave it any?
-No. It shall be thankful i didnt left it stuck to some box or hit it with very hammer i used to free it from box in question.
-That wasnt very nice of you
-Neither was attack nice, but…i dont doubt it will manage. Its in very good physical shape and young.
-If you say so

Preparations for the night went rather routinely, fetching power from Robert, settling in and so on and so forth.
But judging by pair of eyes that occassionaly glowed about 304.8 meters from camp (conveniently is 1000 feet: i had just recalled that three feet are one yard, but i think i like the number as-is and it would be less nice in yards) its not over in any way, shape or capacity for prob most-mentioned female in these posts.

Madrias · 24 July 2023 21:07

Stage 9:

Kingsburg to Queensdale

Temperature at mid-day: 22°C

Night-time Low: 14°C

Weather: Humidity remains high, but the thick cloud cover is gradually gone by about 3 sun. Winds have not changed much from yesterday as well.

Camp Challenge: “On a Hope and a Prayer” (No Support Vehicle.)

Today, we spend most of our time on Highway Route 11, driving on a road with 75 MPH / 120km/h posted signs all while feeling like a roller coaster. We’d be going that speed limit if it wasn’t for the huge amount of traffic clogging up the road, doing 55 MPH in all three lanes. This is, of course, made worse by the number of cops pulling over cars for doing illegal passes. Apparently, passing cars on their right-hand side is very much a no-no around here.

Eventually, though, we see the huge city of Queensdale. Here, it’s clear that THIS was probably the capital city at one point in time, with the huge surrounding wall. The city is loosely styled after a crown, and as we arrive through the main gates, it’s actually proven that it was the capital… When Nehmenweld was a Crugandrian colony.

We’re eventually able to make it to the far side of the city, where we end up in a fairly large camping space about 3 miles from the last train station. An interesting feature of Queensdale’s train station is that the pair of stations were built into the great outer wall deliberately, making it one of the first cities in Nehmenweld completely designed around having rail access. A tram connects both stations together, ferrying people from one half of the city to the other.

As for our campground… It’s a nice grassy place with a lot of space for us to get settled in.

Next Stage Expected Conditions:

Road Speed: high
Road Condition: moderate
Traffic: very low
Police: low

Results Here: SR23 Stage 9 - Google Drive

Camp Challenge Winners:

Interior (Team Not-so slow)
AMuteCrypt (Team Flaming Gallahs)
Edsel (Team Friendship! :D)
AndiD (Team Taciturn)
BannedByAndroid (Team ReUnity)
Mikonp7 (Team GUNSHIP)
LDub (4 Dicks in a Truck)

Team Shift Happens

Other than a brief stop for Takaraya to talk himself out of a speeding ticket, it was a relatively smooth trip.

VS Mobil Generator AB

It was going well in the train, right up until something caused the wireless communication between the four units to shut down. With three units stuck at idle, Robert II was forced to slow down, then wait in a siding while Valentin solved the problem.

Team M.A.D.

No breakdowns, no traffic stops, just a slow and dirty drive today.

Team Sinesian Rejects

There’s not much to say after the head-gasket repair yesterday. The Imbe runs a “perfect” stage, with the engine pinging away like crazy thanks to the heat.

Team Not-So-Slow

Between a cop stop and 4 shredded tires, it’s a long day for this team.

The Ambassadors

It’s a clean run for both cars today. The only delays are the gas stops.

The Knockouts

After getting a face full of dirt in the last stage courtesy of a Dyre, Kate is much more cautious today to avoid wrong turns. She makes it to the end without a problem. Octavia, however, has a fair bit of fun changing a serpentine belt.

Team Mravolinski-Chitco

Four flats on the Kontir Cunningham result in a fair bit of lost time.

Team HETS

We’re not sure what turned both old ladies into shutter-bugs here, but a bit over 3 hours were lost to photography.

Team Flaming Gallahs

It’s a party when the party bus gets stuck at the side of the road with a steering problem. It takes a bit of fixing, but the bus returns to the road a few hours later.

Team Friendship!

Nothing much to see here for the bus full of cars. It’s just an ordinary day in traffic.

Team Hillbilly Rollers

The only breakdown experienced today is the mental one from Marie as she starts screaming about how she really, really wants a beer.

Team Sane Insanity

Most of the stage was spent arguing about who put the scratch on the door of the minivan, which was a relaxing change of pace from maintenance and repairs.

Faolan Industries

Unfortunately, there’s a bit of bad news with the Aether 11/2. This bad news leads to a full engine swap.

Team Taciturn

Forward progress continues! No police stops, no breakdowns, just one very reliable Mara.

Team ReUnity

Floor it and hang on tight! One fast crossover makes it to the finish without getting busted.

Team Spy Kids

No trouble for either half of the team today.

Team J3

Between a speeding ticket, the Tiharris not starting up after the traffic stop, and then a windowed engine block in the Rhien, it was a long, long day of fixing cars. The Tiharris was used to tow the Rhien back to camp where the trio worked extra hard trying to fix it.

Team Aeromad

Other than being unable to pass up a gas station, it’s a smooth journey here today.

@Tzuyu_main & @FallingComet

Team Black Rabbit Disavowed

The Seikatsu’s driver gets a ticket after their wide truck bed breaks the aerial off the back of one of the patrol cars.

Sheriff Scott’s Posse

After getting off at the wrong exit, it’s a 4 hour journey trying to get back on the route. Luckily, the only setback is a minor traffic stop for the Bowie Bearcat’s driver being a bit of a leadfoot… And the officer gave some directions that got the crew back on track.

Team “486”

Two vehicles speed into camp without a problem.

Team Magdelena

Other than the Baumhauer getting a minor traffic stop for speeding, it’s not so bad today.

Team Machinas Con Passione

Passing on the right is a no-no. The driver of the Blue Wonder learned that with a nice expensive traffic ticket today.

Cunning Stunts

No stops, no problems, no worries.

Team Till D End

The Trailduster’s engine conked out, which was bad enough. Then the Linx rear-ended it and damaged the radiator. Ten hours of repairs later, however, and both vehicles were back on the road, even if it did look like a giant had played soccer with the Linx’s front end.

Basedworks

Another team with no breakdowns, no stops, and no problems.

Team Gunship

Another team who fell prey to the wrong exit problem. Unfortunately, it took a hell of a lot longer for the leadfoot behind the wheel to get a warning for speeding, and a chance to ask for directions.