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CCC
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Post Posted: Tue May 16, 2017 4:46 am |
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Joined: Wed May 15, 2002 12:00 am Posts: 11381
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After some time, the field team are in their space suits. You all have your equipment, and the blood bee hives are a couple of dozen metres away. What next?
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Back at the ship, David nods at some people putting together some or other building and makes a note on his clipboard. "It's unlikely to get much quieter than right now," he says. "What is it?"
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Kajin
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Post Posted: Tue May 16, 2017 8:20 pm |
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Gatekeeper of Niftiness |
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Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 12:16 am Posts: 9081
Location: Praise be to the sticky elastic bands of the Healing Gauze
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Felix makes sure that several of the smoke grenades on his belt have wires tied to the pins. The wires lead to handles on his shoulders that are much easier to grab and pull under duress, just in case the bees can in fact chew through the suit.
Checking that his emergency smoke defense is secured in place, he makes sure the prepared flare poles and the capture box are both ready. Once everyone is good to go he'll set to work.
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Dodger77
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Post Posted: Wed May 17, 2017 12:56 am |
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Member of the Fraternal Order of the Emergency Pants |
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AOL: Dodger724
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"The Captain mentioned to me the fact that there has been unauthorized access of the computer terminals. He mentioned that you were attempting to track down the culprit and asked if I might be able to help. I found your camera script, obfuscated it then I modified it a little so that new accounts will also trigger it, and also renamed the file to something more innocuous. "
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CCC
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Post Posted: Wed May 17, 2017 3:12 am |
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Felix's smoke grenades have pre-prepared wire loops on them. He has flares tied to poles and a box with a lid. For ease of manipulation with thick gloves, the lid is a good deal larger than it needs to be - he'll want to put a large rock or something on top of it if he wants to hold the container shut. Or just hold it shut, of course.
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David gives Roger a Look. He snaps his pencil into the little holder on his clipboard.
"Show me exactly what you did."
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Dodger77
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Post Posted: Wed May 17, 2017 9:56 pm |
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Member of the Fraternal Order of the Emergency Pants |
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Roger nods. He asks David to take him to the nearest terminal (he's still getting his bearings). He points out the script because it has been renamed, and then opens it.
'It looks very different, but I assure you it does the exact same thing as before. The only difference is that it will now trigger if the culprit attempts to use a newly registered account."
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Kajin
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Post Posted: Thu May 18, 2017 10:42 pm |
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Gatekeeper of Niftiness |
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Once everyone is ready, Felix tentatively approaches the nearest hive and attempts to scoop it into the box. As he approaches he'll see how the bees react and what they're capable of doing to his suit, keeping as close an eye on himself as he goes. He makes sure his visor is recording video feed of this as well.
If nothing untoward happens, he'll finish scooping up the hive, put something heavy on top of the lid, and light up a flare to kill the rest.
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weremensh
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Post Posted: Thu May 18, 2017 11:00 pm |
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Moderator of DOOM! |
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As Felix starts out, Arkady hands him the beekeepers smoker (once lit). It should help. Then he'll set up the grill for the insecticide smoke.
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balthazar
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Post Posted: Fri May 19, 2017 12:34 am |
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Location: Currently on expedition.
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Nate has layed aside the flamethrower for the moment in favor of an odd looking shotgun that should function in spite of the bulky spacesuit gloves. He's mostly keeping an eye out for trouble that isn't bees.
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CCC
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Post Posted: Fri May 19, 2017 3:46 am |
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"What the -" David glances over Roger's code. "This is nothing like the script I had! This is some sort of quota checking - wait, is that - this is some sort of quota checking script that isn't even going to work right! What on earth are you -"
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Insert here a substantially more detailed explanation on Roger's part about exactly how his script works
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David stares at the script for a long minute. "...wow."
There's another long pause.
"...I would never have thought...wow. Just wow. I am... I am seriously impressed. That is - I mean - I've got to test this. ...I'm sorry for what I said earlier. This is seriously good work. I mean it."
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Meanwhile, Team Beekeeper approaches the Hives. They don't respond at first, but as Felix gets closer, their consistent buzzzzzzzzzzzzz changes pitch somewhat. Finally, as Felix crosses some invisible barrier, the nearest hive swarms out at him, rapidly followed by several others!
Blood bees: Swarm: +1 Roll: -1 Total: +0 Felix: Suit: Complete immunity
The bees swarm all over Felix' spacesuit, hunting for any tiny chink that they might be able to find. They find none, though they cover every inch of the Suit, leaving Felix looking oddly like a vaguely man-shaped, buzzing swarm. Every inch, unfortunately, includes his entire faceplate. He's safe... but he can see nothing but bees right now. (They're very slightly larger than earthly bees; as far as he can tell, though, Zalasbra's drawing of the original worker bee was exactly to the correct scale).
On the bright side, the insecticide smoke seems to be working - bees that fly through the smoke quickly fall to the ground and stop moving.
Nate keeps his shotgun at the ready, but sees no non-bee threats.
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Kajin
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Post Posted: Fri May 19, 2017 7:08 pm |
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Felix wades through the insecticide smoke for a bit until the swarm dies down to levels he can see through, then continues on as he did before. He captures an intact hive and moves to destroy the rest with his flares.
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weremensh
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Post Posted: Fri May 19, 2017 8:36 pm |
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Arkady uses the plain smoker to pacify a hive to be captured. Assuming it works.
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CCC
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Post Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 5:50 am |
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An ordinary smoker has little to no effect on the bees.
As soon as Felix steps far enough away from the hives, the bees flow off his spacesuit, leaving him once again able to see what's up. After a few experiments walking back and forth a simple strategy is devised - Felix holds a smoker prepared with the insecticide smoke in such a way that the smoke drifts past the front of his face plate. Once he's able to see in the vicinity of the hives, it's fairly straightforward to place to box under the hive. It takes a bit of work to chip the firmly-attached hive off the tree...
Felix: Survival: +1 Roll: -1 Spacesuit Gloves: -2 Total: -2
By the time the hive has been separated from the tree and dropped into the box, it is very badly damaged. It's... probably still viable, but it's managed to take a few bad cuts and may have been exposed to a brief dose of the insecticide smoke during the process.
On the other hand, there's nothing that says that he can't just dump out this hive and try again.
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balthazar
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Post Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 6:38 am |
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Nate shakes his head as he wanders over.
"You mind if I give that a try?"
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Kajin
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Post Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 8:38 am |
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"Go for it, man," Felix replies. "I don't think I'm making any progress here."
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CCC
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Post Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 9:45 am |
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After a bit of juggling around equipment, Nathan tries to collect a hive.
Nathan: Survival: +4 Roll: -3 Spacesuit gloves: -2 Total: -1
Well, the result is... better. Less damaged. Not by much, though. Nathan could easily blame the pebble that slipped out from under his boot at a critical moment.
The blood bees continue to be angry, but remain unable to break through the space suits. Sir Bevier has backed away a good deal further.
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