rogue_star (rogue_star) wrote in exiles,
@ 2009-06-18 21:10:00

Entry tags:

"acts of avenging", crusader, exiles, ghost rider, iron dragon, mystic, patriot

Onward to... something
The villains are all either unconscious, or they've surrendered. They initially weren't saying anything about the teleport pad, but Patriot is able to demonstrate that he's found it and proven he has some idea how it works. They'll let them know, at least, that its locked - it can only bring people here or return them to base, its not an all-purpose teleporter. Any scans or checks seem to confirm that information, at least. To the degree anyone here knows teleporter technology, at least. They'll also inform them they're currently in the 'Free State of Australia', whatever that is. Otherwise, they're not being very helpful.

"So, options?"

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	brit_sorcerer 2009-06-23 08:56 pm UTC (link)
	"Hold on, mate," Quinn said as he chased after Patriot. "Might be best if we don't split up." It was strange world where they didn't know the rules or the situation and one little thing could land them in a world of trouble. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	wwii_hero 2009-06-23 08:59 pm UTC (link)
	He nods. "Keep close, and stay quiet, okay?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	brit_sorcerer 2009-06-23 09:01 pm UTC (link)
	"Despite sounding like I could belong here?" Quinn asked with a smirk. "I'll follow your lead since you're a little more experienced with this." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	wwii_hero 2009-06-23 09:07 pm UTC (link)
	Patriot gives a beaming smile. "First rule of insertion is make it sound like you belong," he says, slipping into an Australian accent. "You sound British, not Australian." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	brit_sorcerer 2009-06-23 09:10 pm UTC (link)
	Quinn shrugged and then chuckled. "Close enough. Let's go." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

exiles_baddie
2009-06-23 09:15 pm UTC (link)

As it turns out, the accents don't end up being a big deal. Australia seems somewhat more multicultural than one would expect, with people from all over the world milling about among the crowds, though about one in three of the people with non-local accents seems to have a slightly different card than most - further observation indicates these are 'refugee cards', according to the security systems and once someone is able to get a close look at one of the cards.
Every card, citizen or refugee, has a photo ID, encoded information, and a lot of other details regarding the person printed on it.
Otherwise, there doesn't seem to be any 'special rights' or obvious problems with the classes of citizens - there's just a whole lot of foreign refugees here.

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wwii_hero
2009-06-23 09:46 pm UTC (link)

Patriot has been skilled at finding things since childhood. Before he can do anything, he needs money, but a quick game of poker somewhere can solve that. Quinn can't tell if Barnes plays crooked or if he's just that good, but Patriot wins just often enough to be considered lucky, but not crooked.

He begins running down leads, tracking down the black market, seeking out forged identity cards and decent clothes for the others. He also picks up a newspaper and hands it to Quinn to peruse for current events while Barnes focuses on acquiring other goods.

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exiles_baddie
2009-06-23 09:56 pm UTC (link)

There is a black market - mostly for foreign goods. There are also forged identity cards, but they're both incredibly expensive, and come with all sorts of warnings. The amount of work it takes to track down this level of goods reveals a few things -

The cards were created by the Wizard himself, and only a handful of people in the world can match his technical expertise. They aren't casual knock offs. The security in Australia is /really/ paranoid, and with good reason. Other than the Eastern American coastline, its the only remotely democratic institution left in the world. The rest of the world is divided into Empires with various degrees of freedom. The Eastern US is a meritocracy, where the rich and powerful run everything. The rest of it is a technocracy, with freedoms largely controlled by the computers, which put anything here to shame. Russia is a mutant haven, with ultra-paranoid internal security and spy networks due to the cold war with the rest of Europe, run by the Latverian Empire and the Nazis, respectively. There's next to no information about Africa, aside from nightmare stories told by the refugees he's able to talk to among the black marketeers.

Part of the reason for the difficulty, expense, and tight security is the black market itself - they, and everyone else fears desperately for their way of life here, and is on constant watch for invasion by outsiders. People will still trade for enough resources, but even then, no one seems to want to help potential spies any, in part because from the sound of it, most outsiders would round up and execute the criminals and security risks first. Most people here, while under tight watch and having to deal with the Wizard's people, still consider themselves to have it pretty good compared to everywhere else, and more refugees arive daily with new nightmare stories.

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	brit_sorcerer 2009-06-23 10:20 pm UTC (link)
	Quinn read the paper and really wished he had a pint to go with it. The information he learns isn't good. It was a hellish world and one he was so very glad he wasn't born in. "Hellish world," he commented in a low voice to Patriot. "No signs of any of the spandex type that would have kept this from happening." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

wwii_hero
2009-06-23 10:24 pm UTC (link)

Patriot sighs as he steps up to Quinn.

"These cost most of the money I earned in the poker game... I'll need to earn some more soon," he sighs in a return low voice. He hands the cards over to Quinn. "And I'll need to figure out how to get pictures of the others onto the cards. If the rest of the world is so bad, that might explain why even the underworld is paranoid and loyal to the government here."

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	brit_sorcerer 2009-06-23 10:27 pm UTC (link)
	Quinn was quiet for a moment. "Go buy a deck of cards," he said. "I can transmute it into money so we're not wasting any more time. I can take care of the pictures. Not a problem." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	wwii_hero 2009-06-23 10:42 pm UTC (link)
	"Alright," Patriot nods. "Let's get back to the others and report what we've figured out." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	brit_sorcerer 2009-06-23 10:53 pm UTC (link)
	"Sounds like a plan." Too bad there wasn't time to grab a pint. He started the incantation for the teleportation spell. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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