2025-06-22 Defense Prep
Ryoko
The battle for Hungry mountain is but to begin in a few days, and the Trade center is buzzling with activity. The redhead guiding a few kin in using a welding table, grinders and setup is buzzing around between the stations, trying to make the best of resources that the trade center has at the moment. "Read the spec sheet Kyle, then cut the lengths and write them onto the bars, so Mitch can drill the holes. Then they go to Paula to weld them up as required." she instructs a muscled kin, probably about a foot taller than her. It's almost like they're mass producing frames and simple grate doors from barstock.
Archimedes
Though not typically in the Trade Center, the Rat is often found nearby in the science building or basement of the Juniper community school. When he hears noises, of course he comes to investigate. Archimedes pokes his nose around the corner and his head follows, which might look strange considering he is in the near-human form similar to Glabro for those Woofers. For a time he doesn't say anything, but observes Ryoko ordering the kin around for the construction of the frames. A hand comes up to scratch his chin briefly before stepping into the room and uttering, "Hey. Whatcha working on?"
<OOC> Archimedes peers, "Did you want to keep it just us or is it okay if I drag my pack along?"
Maarten
Standing nearby, Maarten is working with some other kin, showing them how to bend steel using a hydraulic bending brake. Together they're making mounting brackets for the barricades that Ryoko and the other kin are working on. As he works, he gives Archimedes a nod as he comes into the room. "Howdy. Ryoko and those folks are working on the meat of the barricades, and me and my friends here are making brackets and stuff to make sure they are easy to shut." As he's talking he's making some marks on small steel plates to show the kin where the bends need to start.
<OOC> Ryoko notes this happens like a few days before the departure to Hungry Mountain
Ryoko
"Just the one I was looking forward to see. We're making gates for the tunnels. Sould make your job of blocking them off as required easier, though at est the're a stopgap against a powerful foe." Ryoko explains, making a little gesture to the bar doors they are working on. "Just a stopgap, but if it buys you five minutes to react to a tunnel or switch to another, they served its job."
Archimedes
Stepping over to where Ryoko and company are working on the gates, he looks them over for a few seconds. "Great. Think we can make them a bit less friendly as well? Like barbed spikes? Silver barbed spikes? Poisoned, silver, barbed spikes?" Archimedes considers with a little smile. "None the less it will hopefully slow them down a little, but then between these I will be setting some nasty traps for them. Thin the herd enough IF they even bother to come through the tunnels." says the Rat staring at the structures. "Our actually job is to keep them busy elsewhere with chaos...so they don't even bother to come looking to see what is going on."
Todrick
Arriving with Ashton, Todd is holding the Corax's hand and just now being distracted by whatever they were talking about in favor of all the activity going on in the trade center. "Wow, lookit you guys go." he says with a grin for all the neatly ordered and flowing work that's happening in here. Well, it's neat and orderly to him, anyways.
Ashton
Ashton looks around. The upcoming operation has him feeling a little nervous and figetty, He nods to Archimedes. "I'm gonna be...throwing poisoned soup-scented glop into the caves. Your fault, I think. For the soup bit." He looks to Todd. "And, well. maybe they'll be dumb enough to eat it and die, I guess." He shrugs. "Kind of a weird plan."
Maarten
Chuckling at Archimedes' suggestion, Maarten says, "Well, we can definitely do spikes. Not sure where we could get enough silver on such short notice to silver them, though I'm sure we could find all manner of poisons to coat them in." He holds a piece of steel in place so Eddie, the Kin he's working with can run the bend on it to form another bracket.
Noelle
Noelle isn't a cat, but curiosity might kill her. She's been in the principal's office all day, sorting out the hundreds of boxes of triage supplies to make sure they're ready, stored and in order if, got forbid, anyone should be brought back injured. For now though, she is ready for a break. or at least a change of scenery. She follows the trail to where all the noise and commotion is happening and peeks inside the door. "You guys need any help?"
Todrick
"Soup is made for eating, who could possibly resist?" Todd says with a little shrug of his shoulders at Ashton, "It's a super weird plan. I think mostly I just wanted to know if soup elementals actually exist. Turns out they do and they're *adorable*. And now I have to eat five times more soup than the law allows this month, but... Small price to pay, probably." He opens his mouth to offer a word on the poisoned spiked additions, but he closes his mouth. He just cant do it, the very IDEA of making silver things makes him cringe with dread!
<OOC> Todrick says, "ffs I hit enter on accident I'm sorry!"
<OOC> Noelle says, "I KNEW there was a rational reason for you collecting all those coins, Ash!! lol"
Ashton
Ashton considers. "Uh. If you guys need silver...We found a lot of silver coins." He shrugs. "Like, we just shined all the coins we got from the lake, and we found a -lot- of silver coins. Mostly like...old 50 cent pieces?" He considers. "We'd probably be breaking the law by melting them down, but. They re silver, and we have a bunch. So. If you guys wanna use them, you can."
Ryoko
"Well, we *might* but you know we need to clean up afterwards, right? The doors are made so we can remove them afterwards somewhat easily, just removing the bolts to the walls or just keeping the gates open... adding poison spikes would keep them dangerous to us later too. Thought of that, Archimedes? Either way, you know the layout, you choose where they go." Ryoko explains as she lets the kin do their alotted tasks - mostly cutting, drilling, lining up the rods and then a few welds on the corners and where the bars end.
Jean
There is commotion, there is activity, and so there is a curious spider. Jean makes his way to the trade center, and then, well, there are quite anumber of people there and so he pauses a moment. "Good afternoon, everyone. I hope all are well. Is there anything I can assist with here?"
Archimedes
Turning his attention to Ashton at his comment, the Ratkin makes a dour expression. "Hope they eat soup? I mean, they would have to lick it off the ground and what if they are strictly carniverous?" Archimedes questions with a headshake. "Not sure that is the best idea. I would use a gas. Poison or highly corrosive gas like mustard or chlorine. Maybe Sarin if we can steal it in such short notice, but chlorine is just as easy to make and if they breath chances are it will kill them. Or if they are more like a Woofer, it'll knock them out until it dissipates."
"OKay maybe not silver then, but barbed spikes. Is that doable? If not, cool. Just suggestion." Archi responds to Maarten with a tip of his head. A pause before he glances at Ashton, "Actually I have an idea...we can melt them down and turn them into flechette to fire in traps!" the Rat smiles wickedly at that. "BOOM fwap fwap fwap!" he declares making several motions mimicing getting hit by sharp spikes of silver in the chest. He snorts at Ryoko, "I mean where they are going we can leave most of them. But wouldn't bother me any. We are immune to diseases and poisons."
Maarten
Splitting his attention between helping operate a hydraulic bending brake and talking to the others, he replies to the multiple offers to help with, "We definitely could use the help, just jump in where ever. Ryoko and company are making the door panels themselves, me and my cohort and making the mounting hardware out of this steel plate. I guess if someone wants to get started trying to make spikes, we could put them on the side facing the enemy, that way we aren't in danger when we take them back down."
Nearby the mid-restoration chassis of a 1951 Ford Country Squire asks in the tongue of the spirits, <Shields-The-Spirits, are these metal contraptions meant for me? This isn't what we agreed upon.> Realizing his Totem is talking to him, Maarten immediately replies, "No. Nope nope nope. None of this is for you, General. This is to help Archimedes here shut the tunnels down below these buildings in case the enemy tries to push through." The Country Squire chirps back, <Understood, good on you for helping out.>
Noelle
Noelle spots Jean and makes her way over directly to him. "How is it going Jean?" She wonders curiously before looking around to see if anyone is interested in hearing such.
Todrick
Todd gives a wave to Jean and hazards to Archie, "Well, in the realm of proof I guess, I'm strictly carnivorous and soup does often count. Broth and meaty bits yes, noodles and veg no. And I have eaten soup off the floor and it was delicious. But... I mean I'm a wolf, so the ancient law of 'if it falls on the floor, it's legally my property' applies to soup. I feel like there's more than one thing being talked about here, and now I'm confused."
Ashton
Ashton shrugs. "I'm not bothered by silver, either. Doesn't especially hurt me." He considers. "Traps sound good. I really don't have much to contribute, I can't like...make stuff like you can." He said that to Archimedes, but then turns to Todd. "Or you. You both are great at making stuff. I can't even make breakfast." He pauses. "Well. Not that I need to. Etienne and Samson make a lot of good food. ... I feel like I should do something to thank them but I dunno what." He zones out a little, thinking about what he could do for them. "Well, I can make them fetishes later. If they want."
Archimedes
There is a glance for Maarten when he speaks to the car spirit, if the car spirit is even visible to them right now; and even stranger if it is not. Archimedes stares a moment, but returns his attention to the others, "I really just want them to either decide going through the tunnels just isn't worth it, or die trying. So the more destruction we can visit upon them if they go that way, the better. Then whomever is guarding that way will have an easier time mopping up the remainders."
He peers at Ashton and a curious expression reaches his features. "Wait...so spiders eat by injecting their victimes with enzymes that liquify the flesh then they slurp it up. Right? Do you do that?" he asks of the Bird, tilting his head a bit. Apparently he had never thought about it until now. "Fetishes can always be helpful." Changing gears a little, Archi hmmms, "How much weight do you think theses will handle? Make sure the welds and everything is solid."
Ryoko
With a sigh, the redhead relents to the rat. "Well, we might make something work, but that'll have to wait till we have enough doors."
She waves over a kin to hand him a few bills. "Mind making a quick trip to the surplus store? A few rolls of razor wire so our friend can make the doors extra prickly and spiky. If you get that stamped stuff... all the better, but normal cow style would suffice for the start."
"It's bars for a reason: keeps the airflow and allows our rat friends through, but if you want to weld spikes on one side, be my guest. Or however else you make em more inhospitable. Hooks for the razor wire to coil around."
<OOC> Maarten says, "The General is bonded with the car being restored on one of the auto lifts, so wherever the car is, the General is."
Jean
"Ah, spiked doors and barriers to seal things off and the like. Possible chemical toxins. Want them to be potent, but you do not want them to linger after. I neer took chemistry though, so I do not know hot to help there."
Todrick
Todd grabs a wobbly shop stool over to sit on by Ash, listening quietly to try and figure out some context and sort out the confusing parts.
Ashton
Ashton looks confued. "What? No. Why? Ravens scavenge for food and like. Actually, in the wild they mostly eat leftovers in Fox dens and Wolf dens. We have trouble tearing into flesh--eagles can do that but not ravens, wrong kinda beak for it. So we hang out with wolves and foxes, spot prey for them sometimes and flush them out, then eat with them." He pauses. "But mostly I eat cake and donuts and...Well, various things. Chili is good." He pauses. "Uh but I don't need to use digestive enyme stuff to eat it."
Maarten
Thinking about the tunnel trap situation as he continues to help bend brackets into shape, Maarten offers, "What if we put these door-gate-shutter things at two points in the tunnel, to trap the enemy between them, and then just fill that space with gas or something and burn them? Then they have a reason to panic and drive themselves into the spikes or razor wire or whatever. We could even do a soup trap thing there. Maybe the enemy likes soup too, and we can make them pay for that."
Archimedes
"Right. We could maybe knock out spikes in a night. Razor wire will help too." Archimedes responds to the Vixen. His attention sweeps to Jean. "It can linger. the longer the better if it's a caustic like chlorine. That means they can't just wait it out. They have to breath and when they do..." He makes the international sign for dying, laying his head to the side and sticking his tongue out. "Then we introduce the right acid to neutralize it into a salt. Blow it out or suck it up." Archi explains to Jean.
"I plan on putting traps between them, for sure. Lethal traps like flechette claymores using silver coins, fire traps and such, but the soup thing was for the critters in Hungry Mountain if I understand correctly." he notes, glancing to Ashton to make sure he is correct. He circles back to ask Noelle, "SO what did you learn down there? When you guys did the scouting?"
Todrick
Ah ha, okay so we're NOT in fact talking about the mountain, some of Todd's confusion is cleared up, but he still looks somewhat lost and continues to just listen for now. Although, when Archie asks Ashton if the raven eats like a spider, he just looks up at the bird with a silent, wide eyed 'for the love of Gaia say it ain't so' look on his face.
Ashton
Ashton rubs his face. These decisions are beyond him, and thinking about stuff like logistics and chemical warfare sorta makes his head spin. "Yeah..." He says to Archie. "I think so. I don't know. I'm really not one hundred percent clear on what I'm doing. But I'll...hear it again later. I'm not really a ... planner." He considers that. "I guess I'm too...spontaneous? And my attention is sorta..." He wobbles his hand. "Hit or miss. So I'm really terrible at...a lot, actually." He admits. "It's just how my brain works, though. I'm...sorta..." He trails off. "I don't know." He looks off into space, trying to put words to very vague concepts and feelings. "I guess I'm just weird." He finally decides, letting that train of thought crash and burn as it flies off the track.
Archimedes
"It's okay Ashton." he states with a small smile for the bird. "You do what you do." Archimedes tells him with a tip of his head. His gaze turns back to Ryoko. The Rat stares at her silently for a few seconds. It may seem like minutes. "Don't worry. I pretty much know what I'm doing. This isn't my first cow-riding thingie." he claims, surely calming the nerves of all gathered.
Jean
"I can...spin barriers of strong webbing. Strong as steel. It can be broken, but it would take time. Could mount more spikes in the web as well, or other things. I just will need to hunt after doing so," Jean says. "But if you can show me chokepoints, I can make sure they are blocked off."
Todrick
Todd puts an arm around Ashton, and still looks a confused. He glances towards the door and quietly judges his chances of escaping unnoticed, but he cant abandon bird boy, so he just asks out loud, "So, just out of curiosity, what the actual fuck are *any* of you talking about?"
Maarten
Scratching his chin while he helps line up the next bracket for bending, Maarten then leaves the bending to the kin for a moment and walks over to a workbench where a bottle of orange juice awaits him. He takes a swig of the juice and says, "Jean, could you use your webs to reinforce the gates we're building? That might be an easy way to ensure our people have plenty of time to get into a defensive position before the enemy arrives. And we can mount the spikes to the web or both the web and the gate."
Ashton
Ashton laughs when Todd asks his question, then immediately tries to turn it into a cough, and raises a hand in a sort of apology gesture, then turns to Todd and just kinda nuzzles his arm for a second, rubbing his face on Todd's shirt. "Sorry, yeah I think...I'm not fully understanding either."
Archimedes
Nodding briefly to Jean, "That could surely help." He glances between Jean and Maarten. Archimedes moves his attention to Todrick and Ashton to explain, "So we are talking about two disperate and yet related things." He takes a breath to continue, "First Houngry Mountain. There are hundreds of nasty critters, mutated over years, living down there and they are insane frenzied cannibals from what has been said. One of our conversations is about neutralizing them so we can go down there to reach the gate." He pauses and holds up a hand. "THEN we are also talking about another part that must be in place before we can neutralize Hungry Mountain. We need to secure the tunnels under Juniper Crossing. There is one tunnel that leads right to the Hive and if they wanted to come here when we try to access the Stargate, they could blow right through the cement barring the path." Archi tells them. "So we are setting up a series of barricades and traps to slow them down, deter them, or weed them out before they reach defenders who can mop up the rest. That is what THIS is." He motions to the work being done.
Jean
"I definitely can do that, Maarten. I did that to reinforce a bulkhead on the ship to keep the Radioheads out while my pack assaulted the bridge," Jean replies. "And it can also work as steel cable for hanging, triggering spring traps and the like, Archimedes. Let me know, and I can easily get places blocked, gates reinforced, and the like. ---Etienne---------- Etienne steps inside, staying quiet when he realizes others are here. He nods a silent greeting to the others while he sets down his guitar case and leans up against a wall to listen. ---Todrick----------
Todd doesn't say anything but his expression is pretty readable. Nodding a 'yes, familiar territory' nod about the first part, totally on the same page, followed by a 'what the fuck!' eye widening at the latter half that he's just hearing for the first time. "Cooooool. Seems like you guys have it pretty well covered." ---Ashton---------- Ashton waves at Etienne. And sort of just zones out, to be honest. His eyes are glazing over a bit. ---Maarten---------- Returning to help the kin bend brackets with the hydraulic bending machine, Maarten looks down at the pile of completed brackets he and the Kin have created and says, "I think we have enough brackets for ten of those doors. Is ten going to be able to cover enough of the tunnels to make a difference or should we keep going?" He reaches into his coat and pulls out a small bag of roasted almonds and begins snacking on them as he waits for a reply. ---Archimedes---------- "Nice job on that." he says to Jean before the Rat turns back to Todrick and Ashton. "There is always things you can do to help if you were so inclined." Archimedes tells them with a half smile. "You are handy with gadgets, right, Todd?" he asks rhetorically. "Think you can start putting together some claymore mines or makeshift flame throwers? Or weld some barbed spikes on these bad boys?" he asks, patting one of the barriers.
Attention shifts to Maarten, "Ten? Hmmm, well there are a lot of tunnels down there and we don't want them going through any of them. Think we can get twenty? The more the better..." Noticing Etienne, the Rat gives a small wave in return. ---Jean---------- "I can reinforce ten," Jean says. "After that, I need to find...prey to drain the blood from. A lot. Then I can do ten more. And then I will need to feed again. But it can be done." ---Etienne---------- "Dunno what I missed earlier." Etienne's voice drifts from the back. "Not sure what ya'll need in the help department, but I can weld. Haul anything that needs haulin', set beams, mix concrete, anything with heavy labor. Tunnels don't bother me none. I was crawlin' into snapping turtle dens before I was nine." ---Todrick---------- "Yeah, sure," Todd replies to Archie, rubbing his forehead with his palm and nodding, doing a little mental to-do list reorganizing, "Sounds good, I'll go search the shed for stuff amd see what I can put together." He stands from his stool and decides to highjack Ashton as well, since the bird's ADHD is melting his brain. He does this by picking Ash up while standing, and just drapes the guy over his shoulder while going. Caveman style!
[Category:Logs]