Highway to Hell (And by that, I mean Melbourne)

As mentioned, thanks to our being implicated in the assassination of a high-ranking Renraku exec and three Red Sam Guards (Yes, I did kill one of them, but that was in self-defense) we had decided that it was probably for the best if we got out of Sydney for a while. The good news was that Orca's Kebab Vendor/Fixer had gotten us a job to escort a refrigerated truck down to Melbourne, which would both get us out of town and get us paid along the way. This is a plan.

After getting something that resembled a good night's sleep I prepped for the trip by doing a round of repairs on Flavio, Ollie and Dickhead after how badly they got banged in the Renraku raid, With the aid of Adam and Jamie, I was able to get them all back into shape in a couple of hours, leaving enough time for me to pack my travelling stuff and do some last minute lawn care (ha!) before heading down to the pub for some Pub Nachos.

Your basic mass hauler for moving huge things

The others had prepped for the trip as well, and so Orca and I met Road Rage and Bas at the warehouse at three on the dot. Our Johnson presented us with a large refrigerated hauler truck that we were to escort down to Melbourne. The truck didn't actually come with a crew as such, but rather its autopilot could in theory handle the trip. Instead, Orca chose to ride in the truck and actually drive it, since she's a hell of a lot more responsive then its autopilot.

We set out in what could only be described as a rather eccentric convoy. My Hotspur in the lead, followed by Orca in the hauler and Bas' clapped out Hobo Van behind that. Road Rage's V8 Interceptor was at the back of the convoy, deliberately masking itself behind the other vehicles so that it wouldn't be seen from head on. Very clever. Two routes presented themselves to us. We could either go inland via Golburn and then Yass, detour around the ACT and then continue south from there, or take the coastal route. While the latter was strictly shorter, it also was riskier, given that the roads were much less well maintained and portions of them could have fallen into the ocean. On the other hand, the inland route did have a greater risk of attack by bandits, mutant gerwalk bikers or whatever else.

In the end, we opted for the inland route. The potential hazard of attack was balanced by the fact that the roads would still be generally in better shape and that there would be less gap between islands of civilization, plus of course the fact that random attacks of sudden drops into the ocean weren't going to be a risk. Though Orca was a little disappointed that we wouldn't get to sip at any south coast surf beaches along the way.

Yes, Bas. We get it.

Day one was fortunately rather quiet. As soon as we were out of Sydney proper the road quality immediately went entirely to hell, making Road Rage glad that he'd switched to off-road tires ahead of time. I was also keeping the weather channel open to look for signs of Manastorms, because having one of those brew up on us could make things very difficult very fast. Aside from that, we settled into a pretty good pace, sharing our driving music as we went. Although Bas showed a rather odd fascination with the Yass McHughs for reasons that are best left to the imagination.

We pulled into Yass in the evening, deciding that this was a good place to stop for the night. Nocturnal driving was way too risky, given the increased odds of attacks by raiders or, even worse, wildlife. We found a motel in Yass and parked ourselves there (save for Bas who opted, of course, to sleep in his van) and then went to a local pub for dinner (Save for Bas who went to aforementioned McHughs). The Pub Nachos in Yass were very mediocre, with the faux Guacamole being especially bad, on the other hand, they were cheap and actually nicely warm. We settled in for the night, taking turns at one of us watching over the hauler, just in case.

Wombrick: Like if a Bulldozer had teeth

After an incident-free night we set out early in the morning for what would be the longest single haul of the trip. Things got off to a bad start when we got early warning of a Mana Storm ahead. I sent Louie on ahead to scout, and his first report only made things even worse; the presence of large, brown cinderblock-sized objects on the road. Recognizing Wombrick Scat for what it was, I managed to weave my way around them with everyone else following pattern. The last thing I want to do is hit that stuff because its solid, and hitting it might also piss off the Wombrick who's territory we were in. Not fun.

(For those that don't know, the Wombrick is an Australian Paracrtiter. Awakened from the common Wombat, it's the size of a Hippopotamus with the temperament and territoriality to match)

That wasn't the only problem. Louie reported that the Manastorm was fortunately dissipating as it moved south away from us, but he also reported something strange ahead. There was a hitchhiker by the side of the road, which is a pretty strange thing in and of itself (because being out here in the middle of nowhere without a ride is pretty much suicide) but what made it more interesting was that he was semi-transparent. While Ghost hitchhikers are a staple of urban myth, this one was very clearly real. And, despite the fact that these things usually lead to trouble, we stopped to talk to them.

Orca did a quick Astral assessment to verify that yes, he was a person and that he was awakened, but he also was fading as a result of being disconnected from his body. The man introduced himself as Daniel Walker, who had been traveling before being caught up in the Manastorm we'd just missed. He'd been forced off his bike and had and then had seen a pack of Artnwerrel (Awakened Dingoes, ands yes, because I know you're going to ask, they do take babies) coming. He'd hidden from them, but the Mana Storm had forced him in to Astral space. When he'd tried to return to his body, he found that it was missing, and needed help to get it back.

We agreed to help him and immediately set out searching the area. I stayed in my truck guarding the convoy while using Louie and the Rotordrones to scout the area, while Orca, Road Rage and Bas set out on foot. They found where Walker left his body rather quickly, but this presented a new set of problems. There were multiple motorcycle tread prints around where it had been, which told us that he'd been taken and gave us a trail to follow. Orca and Road Rage followed the tracks on foot, and found where the body was, but also found a whole host of new problems along the way.

It had been dragged to a campsite where a half-dozen or so Bikers were hanging around a pair of old caravans and a campfire. Two of them were obviously cybered, and there was a dog with them as well, plus another member of their group that was hiding in some sort of shelter. Plus, of course, lots of bikes. Bas had an idea to distract them, which would give us an opening. He did his Technomancer thing, getting into one of the bikes and taking control of it, then starting it up. Next thing they knew, the Bike had set of, run over their campfire (and sausages), scared off their dog and rammed into a pile of their supplies.

The distraction worked, with Orca and Road Rage getting the drop on them. Road stat, opening up with his Warhawk on the nearest biker and blasting his head off before he knew what was happening. Another one was winged by him, which gave Orca the opening she needed to approach Walker’s unconscious body. My Rotordrones opening up and taking out one of the obviously cybered guys didn't hurt either.

And then things went bad. The figure huddling in the shelter emerged, and he was rather immediately striking,. His face was green and looked, well slimy, for want of a better description. He immediately lashed out at Orca with some sort of sickly green energy coming from his hand, which while it didn't hit her was still way too close for any sort of comfort. She quickly assessed that he was some sort of Toxic mage, a fact made more apparent when he summoned some sort of sludgy, amorphous spirit from out of the ground, Yeah, that's bad.

Orca kind of fixed the situation by punching his head off.

The toxic spirit then went mad and promptly devoured one of the heavily cybered bikers and his bike. Orca used the opportunity to grab Walker's body and run as we all figured that the best place to be with regards to a toxic spirit was 'away'. Luckily for us it seemed to be sated and disappeared after eating that one guy (and bike). Walker was reunited with his body and was very grateful to us for what we did, with the added bonus that we had, in essence, wiped out a local biker gang. Although just to be sure, we went back to the campsite and stole three of their bikes and their dog.

Apparently I'm not the only person driving around with
an armed racing truck

Getting back on the road after that distraction, we managed to make a few more good hours of progress. This was interrupted by the presence of another vehicle on the road, travelling towards us at moderate speed. I sent Louie to check it out, and he confirmed that it was a Land Rover Impulse fitted with several armoured plates and a Medium Machine Gun on the roof. None of this meant that they were hostile, mind you. This could all be seen as perfectly acceptable options for someone driving in rural NSW.

None the less, we got ready. I activated Flavio and had him on standby to act as a turret, and had the Rotordrones ready to pop. Their response was to speed up and close with us, and then open fire with their gun. I weaved between shots, and replied with Flavio, but the extra armour on their truck was able to soak most of it. Road Rage pulled out and accelerated towards them, opening fire with his Warhawk, but that had little effect.

A second burst of fire from them was cut short when their machine gun apparently jammed. Taking advantage of the opening, I unleashed a grenade storm from the Rotordrones that beat the ever living crap out of the truck, but it kept going. And then.... well, I'm not entirely sure what happened next. Road Rage fired another shot from his Warhawk which should have been futile (range, armour and so on). Instead, the Impulse flipped and rolled, losing a wheel as it crashed to the ground and scattered its payload across the road.

We checked the wreckage and while both the driver and gunner dead in the crash, we did find something interesting. One of the surviving pieces of debris was a heavily padded and sealed case that was covered in numerous warnings and other markings that we didn't recognise. Curious as to what it was, we took it for further investigation (Though I had Adam pick it up for good measure). We stored it and resumed our way.

Bas' ride/home

Eventually we arrived in Melbourne without any further incident. We dropped the truck off at the intended destination, which was a Tanamyre warehouse (no real surprise) and set about trying to find a place to put up feet and sort ourselves out. Fortunately, Errol, my Drone Dealer in Sydney came through for us and put us into contact with a local colourful criminal figure who might be able to solve our problems.

We met Nick Zamkredies (Alias 'Big Zam') at a local restaurant. He cut an intimidating figure, both because he was a Cyclops and because he had a pair of Minotaurs behind him. He was willing to provide us with a place to stay if we did some work for him, which is your standard Johnson arrangement. We agreed, and soon Orca, Road Rage and I were set up in a local garage that had both living space and a lawn attached to it. That seems like a good deal, but of course, I have no doubt that when we get to the actual work, the other shoe will drop.