IC

    Looking at the printed Pirate map, Raleigh speaks up. "Well, my vote would be to break right along the border between the Bachanda trees and the burning land and thenn push north across the oasis. We can worry about the river when we get there."
    Payne is just along for the ride. What ever is decided, he will go along
with.
    Looking at the map and hearing Raliegh's idea. Brenon was in agreement. "I concur Raliegh, we'll head to the river and burn that bridge when we come to it......no pun intended. Well men, let's hop to it."
    Telgar jumps into the Explorer and gets it cranked up and ready to go.
    "Explorer 2 now boarding for Slave City One... all aboard!" he jests to the others. Checking his chronowatch he lifts it to his mouth, "Zhirrzh, chrono check, do you read? We're about ready to get going, over."
    "Chrono sync, we hear you, Telgar," Zhirrzh responds, and in moments both Explorers pull away and begin the long journey to Slave City One. The time is 8:10am.

    As you make your way East, following the same route taken earlier to the Outpost, you detour a good distance around the conquered facility. It had been a few days since the Outpost was destroyed, which meant the daily radio contact between it and Slave City One did not occur. While it was known the radio was damaged and in need of repair, the chances are good that warning bells went off at Slave City One  after 2 days of no communication. You will have to be on the lookout for a potential rescue mission, or at least a few scouts, heading to the Outpost. If your paths do cross, hopefully you will be able to take them by surprise.
    Staying on the border of the great Bachanda forest to your north, you make note of a new terrain yet encountered. A rocky barren spans as far as you can see southward. Payne describes the area well, having been used under for manual labor often in this hot, rocky world. Relating the stories of terrible stun attacks by the Pirates, it is little wonder Payne is prepared to meet the Pirates at Slave City One. He recalls several stories where stun guns were used, rendering the muscled man helpless as they took turns in their beatings. Payne relates angrily how things would be different if only he had a Gauss screen.
    80km into the Rocky Barrens, you detour slightly to avoid a burnt area (This designated as the old tree icon in the Rocky Barrens on the map). At one time this was probably an extension of the Bachanda Forest, but fire has since surrendered this area to the barrens. BudReeep urges the team to stop so he can gather environmental and geographic data. Since you have been almost 3 hours without break, it is decided to stop and have lunch. Being in new terrain, everyone exits the Explorers, weapons in hand and keenly observing the area around them. If it is one thing you have learned on Volturnus, it is to expect the unexpected. With worms and sharks living underground, Elephants with rollers,  and Octopii riding dinasours, there was no telling what else would show itself.
    Bud performs his studies and takes a few geological samples. After the misfortune of Lyrium's death, the party was lacking a truly skilled Environmentalist. Kah'liss was taking over as best he could, but the addition of BudReeep was a great boon in this regard. He gladly agreed to take on the task, as planet building was his own job. Although the rest of the team can't speak for Streel, you offer they may be willing to compensate both Bud and Payne for their services.  As any ecologist would want to stay and study further, Bud understands the primary mission is the recovery of the initial expedition, which by all accounts points to them being prisoners at Slave City One. He packs up the envirokit as everyone loads into the Explorers. He does have enough data to report that the burned area was a natural occurance, not something that may have been caused by the Pirates.

    Six hours later you arrive at an intersection of the Rocky Barrens, the Bachanda Forest, and a high cliff. This cliff rises as far as you can see to the south and east, a huge plateau similar to the White cliffs  of Roved on Outer Reach in the Dramune system. Some massive planetary movement no doubt caused this gigantic rising, which you estimate at being a few hundred meters tall.
    Continuing East 10 km, you encounter another large lake. Turning north, after a few kilometers you reach the river's edge. The great bachanda trees made travel this last 20km a slow one - at times the snarled roots extend to the waters edge, making travel rough. On several occasions an Explorer makes a particularly ugly grind over some roots, or is nearly tipped as it traverses over the wood. As you progress, you completely and totally realize the complete isolation between the bases with the loss of the jetcopter. You begin to feel confident that a rescue mission will not take place until another jetcopter is procured. You congratulate yourselves on the route chosen; going north straight through the forest may have been impossible.
    It nearing 6pm, the sun will soon drop, bringing evening with it. You can search for a passable ford now, or you can camp tonight. Already the insects begin singing their song as the darkness creeps in sooner, the Bachanda trees hogging the last rays of sun for themselves. At least you do not feel completely swallowed by the forest, as the great lake to the East extends to the horizon. Perhaps some Volturnian fish for dinner tonight? Occasional birds and salamander-like creatures scurry about. You are definately out of the desert - life has found its niche here in the forest, lake and river area.
 

REFEREE'S NOTES
You probably have an hour before total darkness. You can decide to just camp in and eat rations, explore in the forest or lake or whatever. You can follow the river a bit to look for a ford, either with Explorer or on foot. Raleigh will definately want to check the Explorer's for undercarrage damage, though, as some of those roots made a grinding sound that made his teeth grit. He can check either today while there is light or tomorrow morning, but if repairs need to be done, he can get working on them now. With flashlights he can work through the night if the problem is severe.

One final time, and this time I will put it on your character sheet, I would like to know what your preferred weapon is. Telgar, I have yours which you said before embarking on the trip. If you'd check your char sheets, I want to finally officially update it with your weapon of choice.

Give  a breakdown of watch shifts, and who is on when. Never know there may be a troll in the woods or something :) Or if you want to continue to press on through the night and try to ford now or whatever, let me know. If you go looking for a place to ford you may find it soon and continue. Lots of 'what ifs' here, so just let me know...

The map will be up soon - I am going to get that next....