by Kris Schnee
Captain Thorn was effectively in charge in Miles' absence. He was the one to accept the remaining blue apples for planting, and to hear Miles' status update. In the little command cabin, Thorn listened soberly to the report of another lost crewman, then answered. "Despite the hardship, this is progress of a sort. Here, we've mainly been twiddling our thumbs, making more tools and weapons while fending off yet another monster attack. Our captors imposed a limit on how many walls and traps and outposts we can have."
"What about the mercenaries?"
"They arrived just hours ago. Look in the courtyard; we've set up a barracks tent for them. I want you to carry a few knives and axe-heads in case the south group still hasn't found metal."
That sounded like an order. Miles let it pass. "Good idea."
"I also have a message for my counterpart in the south town. I do have one, you said?"
"You do."
"Considering that you couldn't tell that the other one was a mere copy of me, I may be deluding myself in thinking I'm the real one. We've been discussing the matter of our duplicates here, and it troubles us all. Eva's theory about mind uploading seems like a plausible explanation because if we've become software, it may have been copied. In that case we would both be equally real, or equally false, and you wouldn't know the difference."
Miles nodded. "Again, there's little we can do about the situation right now but to make sure we're all on the same team."
"And I want you to tell the other Thorn that. Say to him, Authorization Omega Thirteen."
"This is your secret password?"
Thorn scoffed. "No, it's a silly thing from an old space story, but it's one that I'll recognize." He looked over one shoulder. "Though I suppose our captors have probably extracted the ship's encrypted files already, with or without knowing the official passwords. Not that we have some sinister second mission beyond building the warp gate, but the files do contain classified information."
"Thank you," said Miles.
"Don't. There will be a full inquiry after this ends, if we ever see human space again. For now though, we need... my full support. Tell him also that 'this is like the Martian incident'."
Outside, Miles met with the kobold mercenaries. They didn't have much to say, but were pleased to be equipped with warm robes and metal weapons that gave them that Weapon 1 damage boost. (The base's smiths reported that the kobolds were considering running off with those, but were staying for more food and the promise of armor.) Miles tried to give the mercs a pep talk, using Fateweaver for a +2 to impress them about having a powerful ally, and gave them a [Pumped Up] advantage they could use later. That was a benefit of having the kobolds around; he could get specific game advantages out of them that the GMs weren't allowing for his actual human crewmates. Those at the fort who already had magic were using it to boost their weapons against the monsters' attacks and their picks and axes for resource gathering. Even their crude sewing equipment benefited.
He toured the fort again before bedding down for the night. Everyone was holding out decently, it seemed, with two crops now on the menu and a third growing in a day or two. There was shared purpose here. Whatever mechanical benefit the fort's wall had, simply having it was an emotional boost, proof of the people's competence and willingness to defend their territory. For Miles to be seen and heard in person, and for Thorn to be there running the place and keeping people busy, seemed to be enough to make Hart's crew hold together. Miles was proud to see them adapting to the bizarre situation they'd been pushed into.
* * *
He left early in the morning to rejoin the Wind Shrine explorers, and carried spare metal tools as requested. He fought off another of the bug-monsters along the way, and arrived by late afternoon at the shrine. "It's going well there," he said, bringing the latest news. In his absence the party had managed to grow some food and make some bows and arrows.
The next morning they headed south again, along the scouted route. Miles said, "A vote: down the canyon, or through the thorny grass? Or just detour around the whole area?"
The crew argued a bit until someone said, "Canyon, but have Miles do some kind of cover."
Miles nodded. The others looked warily into the little ravine, the obvious ambush point, and cast spells with their newfound powers to put useful aspects on their weapons and themselves. Most of the group ended up with a temporary [Sharp Blade] and [Boosted Strength] or similar, good for a few minutes. Miles created a big canvas sheet and floated it over them as they walked along the trail.
Sure enough, halfway through the ravine a rock slammed down on the canvas, then three more. Miles strained at his spell to keep the sheet from collapsing. The GMs said, [Magic roll: Skill 4, roll +1. Success, but more rocks will force a re-test.] The rocks made obvious indentations on the group's cover.
"I need to spill these," Miles said. "Get clear on the left and keep moving." He tilted his canvas in midair, causing a clatter of stone to rain off to one side.
There was a chirping war cry and three red kobolds leaped down from the canyon walls. They were unseen until they crashed down, caught by Miles' shield, and slid down along with the rocks. Zone boundaries painted themselves into existence: the ravine's west, east and center, with the additional lizards up above being in their own zone. Notes in midair added that this whole area featured [Narrow Defile] along with [Scouted Path*] with a free use on it. The battle timer began.
It only then occurred to Miles to ask, "How many fate points does the GM get per scene to use against our group?"
The timer paused long enough for him to see, [One per party member, as usual.]
Then they were each about to get hit with attacks with an extra +2 or similarly boosted defenses, making the fight tougher than their preparations would have suggested. Miles decided to go for a support role, propping his shield-canvas up to block more rocks.
The party attacked with zeal. Bursts of magic light went off as the weapons struck home, felling one of the kobolds and injuring another. The enemy knocked down two of the humans but only one took even a gashed leg. Miles couldn't follow the flurry of fate points and advantages getting spent in rapid succession; he was busy providing literal cover.
In the next round, the hidden wolves showed up. Three of them, coming around a bend from the west, all looking at Miles. He cursed. "More enemies!"
The GMs explained, [These are treated as a "mob" or single unit, for convenience.]
"That's so considerate of you."
[The mob has a base attack skill of 2, boosted by +1 per member beyond 1.]
The rain of rocks continued. This round was going to hurt. "Someone protect me!" he said, and kept the shield up.
Eva broke off from fighting the kobolds and threw herself in the way of the incoming wolves.
The GMs announced, [Because you're Engaged To Eva, shouldn't you drop your shield and protect her instead? Accept a fate point and do this, or sacrifice one.]
He grimaced. "Sacrifice a point." Dropping the shield meant everyone getting pummeled from above.
The round resolved. The crew overpowered the remaining kobolds but took a wound somewhere in there. He mainly noticed that the wolves ganged up on Eva, leaping at her while she held up her spear in full defense. They slammed her backward against him and made her yelp in pain. Miles gritted his teeth; he'd made the right tactical move. More rocks rained down and slid off of his magic roof.
In round three, the rest of the team jumped in to help. They overpowered the wolves easily with Eva, then made their way along the canyon's west exit while keeping under cover. Battle was still officially happening even though they couldn't see the enemies above. "Bows?" said Miles.
Eva said, "Get up the trail so we're not shooting upward."
They did, and Miles lifted the canopy enough to reveal their attackers, a squad of six more kobolds jeering them. "Now we can get them!" said one of the humans.
"Ranged attacks only," Miles said, "or we'll have to follow them into the spiky grass."
The six foes divided into two mobs of three, visibly splitting up, and made two attacks on random people. Their thrown rocks seemed to have no trouble crossing the distance, but one of the targets said, "Spending my daily fate point to reference that Narrow Defile; their position should give them a disadvantage." The argument seemed to help him, as rocks landed at his feet. The other man under fire staggered back, slightly hurt. But the arrows flew well and impaled two of the six enemies.
"Keep it up!" said Miles, failing at an attempt to hurl a big bolt of cloth in the kobolds' direction.
A notice popped up, and everyone seemed to see it. [Concession offer: The remaining enemies escape, gaining a spare fate point for their next attack. Your benefit: they leave and you loot the slain's equipment plus the wolves.]
Miles said, "I want a clue about the dragon. That or we reject the offer and kill your pawns."
[Accepted.] The lizardfolk suddenly turned tail and ran off to the north, into the hills.
"Well, we got something out of that," Miles told the others. "Everybody okay?"
There'd been only a few minor injuries; the GMs would have to try harder to score more kills. So the humans stripped the wolf-things for teeth and hides, and got the puny spears and knives that the dead critters carried.
"This one's got something," a searcher said, tossing a leather bag to Miles.
Miles opened it and pulled out a single gleaming gold coin, crudely stamped with the image of a dragon's head. "What good is a single coin, when we've never seen anything like a shop?"
"Maybe within the dragon's lair there's a town?" said the scavenger.
Eva said, "Maybe, but what we saw of the place didn't look prosperous enough to use gold. Bit of the dragon's hoard, I guess."
Miles thought. "I asked for a clue, and 'dragons collect gold' isn't much of one. I'm guessing this item works as a key, or something."
Eva studied the coin and muttered about her Notice skill. "All I'm getting is that it's got a moon on the reverse side. Unless that's just a dent. Maybe the dragon is nocturnal?"
"We're just guessing at this point. Time to move on."
While they were preparing to move out, he told Eva, "I'm sorry not to have protected you."
"Don't be. It's just the GMs jerking us around again, and I got an extra point for playing along. I didn't take more than stress damage." Her smile wavered. "You can still change that trouble aspect about you and me. Might even be a good idea."
He just hugged her in reply.
* * *
The southern settlement, Hartstown, appeared to the southwest. Miles reminded the group, "You should expect to see copies here. We don't know the reason for this, but unless we get evidence to the contrary we should shrug and recruit them as allies." He had discouraged one skittish woman from coming along for fear that the sight would unnerve her too badly.
They advanced, and Miles flew in front to hail the fort. The reaction from the distant guards was a commotion he couldn't hear... and then the start of the battle system. "Whoa, hold on!" he said. "We're here to talk." Quietly he told the game, "Full defense."
Nothing happened when the round timer reset. He saw bows in the guards' hands. Maybe they were considering who'd made the strings. There was more loud but muffled argument from that direction, and then someone called out, "Advance slowly, Hochen!"
He was three zones from the fort when he clearly saw Thorn standing on the walkway behind the stockade. Much of the fort's interior still had a canopy over it as he'd planned, with no sign of the Star that had defended the place.
The captain said, "You have a lot of nerve coming back after robbing us."
Rather than argue, Miles called out, "Authorization Omega Thirteen."
"What? How do you know that nonsense?"
"I heard it from you, sir. Maybe you should put the weapons down and let us explain."
"Us? Who are these others?" Thorn strained to recognize the group that was clustered well behind Miles.
"That's part of what I need to tell you. These are the crew... Another crew."
Thorn hesitated, then walked down out of sight. Miles looked back at his party and shrugged. The fort's gate squeaked open. Thorn and two men with spears and shields rode out on the backs of dinosaurs. Small ones, anyway, with mottled brown scales and crude wood-and-cloth harnesses. The closest species comparison he could think of was the triceratops with its bony head-crest and heavy legs.
The trio approached Miles, who lowered his carpet nearly to the ground. Archers continued to watch him from the walls. Miles called back to his own group to advance.
Thorn said, "Jenkins? Marid? What are you doing out here?"
Now that Miles could talk without shouting, he tried to explain. "There's another copy of the crew, most of it, in the north. We have some theories about how this can be, but the short of it is that we need all the help we can get. We've enlisted one of the local tribes as an ally, but there's a major threat too."
"A dragon," said Eva.
Miles silently thanked her for making him sound that much crazier. "At the very least, we want to trade crops and items. We have access to metal tools and can give you some."
Thorn said, "And you assert that there's another copy of me, who was willing to tell you that ridiculous code?"
"There is." For the moment, Miles didn't mention the "mutiny" he'd launched against the northern Thorn.
"And clearly you've been gallivanting around at the aliens' whim, to get more special powers like that rug."
"I have, and now we have something resembling a promise of honest answers ahead. It's the closest the aliens are willing to come to direct contact."
Thorn sighed. "You and your party had better come in and explain what you've been doing in detail. Truce."
* * *
Inside the fort, Miles' group was astonished to see their duplicates. The doubled people stared at each other, argued, quizzed each other about various secrets, and in one case got into a fistfight the others had to break up. Eva told Miles quietly, "I'd say I'm amused, but I'd find this disturbing if I were one of the copied ones."
"For all we know, we are, and the GMs are planning to spring that on us later. We don't know where the mind-games stop."
The fort held a confused, uneasy dinner meeting, not quite a party. One self-absorbed duplicate pair had wandered off together for some reason, and another of Miles' party had found that his duplicate here was dead, but the rest compared notes and verified that Miles was telling the truth about the northern settlement.
Thorn looked over the offered metal tools and seeds, handed them off to others, and sat there deep in thought. When he spoke, everyone listened. "The situation is more... alien than anything I'd anticipated. It seems our captors are willing to negotiate only on their own ludicrous terms, but that you've made actual progress with that while we have not."
Miles reluctantly said, "What happened with the Star?" He hadn't seen it on the way in.
"We left it, rather than provoke a tribal war. You endangered us all, but the damage is done. Now, what's this about a dragon?"
One explanation later, Thorn looked grim. "This will make quite an after-action report. All hands, now: will you continue to serve willingly if ordered to participate in this, this dragon mission?"
"Actually," said one of Miles' group, "we're currently serving under Miles."
Captain Thorn said, "I see. And how did this happen?"
Miles got ahead of his talkative crewmate. "Like you, the other Thorn wasn't willing to play along with the GMs. I called for election of a colonial governor, and the matter came to blows. Your counterpart accepted in the end that the aliens' favoritism toward me makes me the best suited to run this expedition." He added north-Thorn's comment about "the Martian incident" too.
Thorn sighed. "Very well. I will defer to you, but --"
"An investigation, I know."
10. Dragon Hunting
Miles got a "significant milestone". H
e decided to keep "Engaged to Eva" as his official problem aspect, since he was inclined to protect her in a fight anyway. He was due another skill point, but couldn't have more skills at any level than at the level below, so his options were limited. He ended up taking a level of Charm. That pick left him with a pyramid such that he could use his next two upgrades to boost something from 1 to 2, then from 2 to 3. He hoped, though, that he wouldn't be trapped in this world long enough for that to matter. His character sheet now read:
Miles
Fate Points: 3 (Refresh 3)
Ambassador To the Hexapods
Engaged To Eva
Hunting the Dragon Iskandar
Fateweaver
Skills:
4: Magic
3: Mind
2: Craft, Survival
1: Melee, Athletics, Toughness, Charm
Stunts: Magic Bolt, Workshop Tent, Got You Covered, Stately Pleasure Dome, Magic Carpet
Stress: Body [][][], Mind [][][][]
Consequences:
2:
4:
6:
"Eva, what did you upgrade? I assume you got the milestone too."
"I did. Still behind you in stunts, but now I have..."
Melee 4, Athletics 3, Healing/Notice 2, Magic/Mind/Survival/Toughness 1
Stunts: Battlefield Scout, Perfect Balance
Since he was now back in the southern town on better terms, he took a day to regroup with everyone and crank out whatever cloth they needed. Sporadic air attacks continued, but with a roof over much of the fort it was possible to retreat and use the cover to limit the bugs' movement. Miles completed the roof so that only the farm area was uncovered. He asked Thorn, "What's your opinion on moving the entire camp to the north? There's also the matter of taking a group from here to the Wind Shrine."
They were in what was still Thorn's command cabin. "The north group has already risked their lives jumping through the enemy's hoops. I won't have you do it again, not when there are other options. You say that there's little to no danger in the nearby canyon?"
"The one that grants tool-boosting magic? Yes, if it's comparable to the hill on the north side. I can protect a group going there."
