synopsychic | [Early week 4] Update on The Past

So I think I've got all the important shit back from the first time we did this Jaunt. You guys have already changed things a lot. This might be some kinda proof that who infiltrates as who really does make a difference, like we're influencing them just by bein' there, cuz Remy was in charge of the cattle stealin' last time and he made a huge fuckin' mess of it. This time it's goin' pretty well, from what I can see.

And last time nobody really knew about all the shady shit Erebus was doing, so that's a big change. Either we got better at this shit after a few more years of workin' on it, or all you new people since this Jaunt are more nosy than we were.

Okay, now I got a warnin' for you all. Worked out what happened after the storm, last time. When the thieves headed out of the caves and into Ridge Rock, there were Erebus assholes waiting for 'em. Bunch of people died, Erebus got their cows back. So keep an eye out if any of you are comin' this way. I'm here in Ridge Rock now, so I can be here if things go down like that.

If we manage to keep even some of those cows away from Erebus, I'm thinkin' that might change the win condition on this thing.

[Private addition to Yukki:]

You got anything to add to that? I know you were doin' different shit on the Jaunt than I was.

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Bet you a steak dinner Faith wouldn't have lived long enough to contact you all if those two fine gentlemen didn't give me a ride. There's how the word got out this time.

'Mess' might be a bit of an understatement - Erebus ended up taking back less than a dozen cows total. We're way ahead of that this time, and that can't all be down to us having a few more tricks at our disposal than last time - although that's certainly helping.

[Private]

I think I've mostly figured out who was who then. You see who got shot last time?

...That's one of the differences, yeah.

Edited 2018-08-02 18:21 (UTC)

Yeah, that's a big thing. We apparently didn't think to kidnap her last time, so I'm guessin' she got her ass killed for her trouble.

So not having Remy as the leader of the cattle thieves is making a big difference. Even though it's the same person, in the local world. Definitely suggests we have an influence on whoever we're riding along with, since staying ourselves while infiltrating wasn't a thing yet back then.

[Private, double-protected]

Yeah. I'm gonna be keeping an eye on him if and when he comes into town. You saw who did the shooting, yeah? His friend?

Can you pinpoint where the ambush was? Or perhaps "where it may be" is a more appropriate way to put it.

Yeah, it does.

Probably helps that whoever the company rep was this time skipped town before he could find out where the rustlers were; otherwise, Erebus's posse would have been in Ridge Rock a lot earlier. Last time, he stuck around - I'm almost certain he found out from a mole and passed that info on to the posse.

[Private; protected]

And yeah, I saw.

Outskirts of Ridge Rock. Last time it happened right after the storm wound down, so we're already a little past when it should've happened.

There's a bunch of Erebus thugs in Ridge Rock now, though, so they're waitin' for you guy to show your faces.

Apparently we just lucked out like hell in this time around.

[Gee, he wonders who that might be related to.]

[Private]

That's another bit of "bad luck". Part of me wants to let it happen and see if that keeps the tide from turning on Fortune. Really rather not have her back, gotta say, even if she is on the "Travelers are people" side of things. But I don't like the idea of lettin' that kid die like that, either.

[It reminds him of too many "accidental" deaths already on his head.]

I'm not with the cattle thieves.

Can you get close enough to see what preparations they've made? Or whether they've posted scouts?

Apparently.

[Private; protected]

That and I think there'd be pushback from the rest of the Travelers - they're not gonna want to sit back and let people suffer and die even if it would keep Fortune out of the game.

Yeah, probably. We got a bunch of soft-hearted idiots around here.

From what I can tell, it's mostly more drones. There's a couple guys around the barn that's going up, and a couple guys wandering around the cliffs mostly winding up drunk instead of focusing on the job. They've had some issues with their trucks and shit, though, so that's keepin' the ones in town stuck in town, pretty much.

Also a lot of people who are inherently anti-authority and/or not big on abuses of power. And then there's Erebus.

Edited 2018-08-08 21:29 (UTC)

The drones might be a problem, but the wandering drunks should be easy enough to subdue.

I'd say I don't even care about letting Erebus win, except I'm not exactly big on abuses of power, either. Somewhere along the way I might've turned into a soft-hearted idiot, too.

[The tone isn't there, but it's still easy to read into the text that he's sighing at himself.]

Yeah, I could probably handle them all on my own if I had to. I've dealt with tougher people who were actually hunting me in particular, not just wandering around bein' bored lookin' for outlaws.

I think the drone won't be too bad, either. We got a few guys from our timeline dealing with them on a pretty regular basis.

It happens.

[Though admittedly it hadn't been too far to go for her. There's a reason she'd ended up as a quasi-mom figure to so many of her St. Hermelin classmates despite the Yankī trappings.]

Co-opting them rather than destroying them, I hope. If the hunters are even halfway competent, they'd program them to send a signal in the latter case.

[Even without the network conveying anything at all of his tone, he manages to sound dubious on the topic of Erebus's competence. At this point, he's considering the risks out of habit, not respect.]

Oh, I'm pretty sure they're just smashing 'em all to hell. Hasn't gotten anyone in any trouble yet, so the hunters probably aren't all that competent.

[Early week 4] Update on The Past

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Private from here on out, probably

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