2. Dark Spaces

Scrounging for stuff is certainly doable.

Jaz watches his ... well his friends ..
He may not have known them all very long, but what they have been through they are now thinking as s team, a unit. It's kind of surprises him how easy it feels.
Hey. I think I can offer some help. Maybe not everything we need but....
Well I'll show you.
Anyone that wants to follow him will be led to the edge of town up to a patch of forest, one of the ones that shows up in a clump before the full forest. Then along what looks like a walking path that is larg enough for a cart or most similarly sized transport to pass along.
Then, just far enough in to br hidden completly from view is a small house. "So, this is where I keep. My family doesn't lile having me around, but also wanted me comfortable... comfortable and quiet...
So I got the guest house...."
The house itself is a very small manor.
It's not small for a manor, in fact it's probably only for rooms, it's literally if someone shrunk down someone's manor.


I don't know why they made it a copy of The House... but we can probably find some things to use here...

Turana entered as he heard Jax's invitation while paying atention to the details, it had been quite a while since the last time she had been in a house like this "This is very nice of you Jax, to allow us to use your stuff in the ship, which i guess it would allow us to take longer travels to explore the worlds that the Craadians mentioned.. i mean ..of course... after we go back to the portal and accomplish the mission of securing the "mine's" security, at least to a reasonable degree"

"This is a nice place you have here, my friend. Thank you for letting us shelter here and for the gift of your furniture. We owe you a debt of gratitude."

Emmett lets out a low whistle as the mini-manor appears through the trees. "I remember you sayin' they never treated you right, but I gotta admit, I've been treated bad by folks before, and it weren't like this. No offense meant, you understand." He glances over to Jaz to make sure he isn't overstepping.

It's true that they've grown to know each other a bit here and there, but Emmett still hadn't quite let them through his armor. He'd watched plenty of folk die in the past, and it had been a long time since he felt close to anyone. He'd had acquaintances, sure, close ones, but it had been a long time since he'd had friends. Or family, for that matter. Still, it felt like something close.

"What kept you busy back here anyhow, Jaz? It must get awful lonely, even if it is a big damn house."

Ok so if you dont need me to help moving stuff here i will head to the restroom to have a shower or something alike if ..if I may off course

Jaz gestures vaguely to the house. "Yeah, It's below. It..." he sighed, "It's the thing that looks like a waterfall. The red stone opens up and you'll find the levers there."

You slowly gather chairs and hammocks from Jaz's mini-manor and from the local town, hump them through the town and into the mine, then through the portal to your ship drifting somewhere alone in the long black. In payment for your deeds, the foreman gives you what else you need, including a prized possession, an iceless ice box for keeping food fresh.

The ship becomes a strange combination of numenera tech and homey country living.

Let's have each of you decide one piece of furniture that is 'your' thing, a favourite spot your PC has adopted.

Meanwhile, the towns folk slowly learn the news, that the mine is really very very far away, and adopt this new datum with all of the excitement and fear of people who live in a world where there is no such thing as impossible. The redoubt becomes a gathering place, and meetings are held on how best to fortify the mine against a possible invader. The most popular opinion seems to be to start erecting barriers on the surface, in the mine top, and then later prepare an advance defensive bulwark near the gate itself.

Before you know it, you're ready to leave one last time for the ship, off to explore the wonders the Craadians told you about, after you negotiate a diplomatic exchange with the Cooperstown elders and them.

---

As a reminder, the Craadians have three settlements that you have encountered:
1) The Gravitonius Complex, the repair base where they retrofitted your found ship
2) The second settlement, where you delivered supplies and helped them fight off the insectoid invaders
3) A third settlement, where there is a gateway connected to the network that includes: the mine below Coopers town, the mine in the asteroid belt, Cooper's spacestation, the back of your ship, and the #3 Craadian asteroid.

Emmett seems to have embraced his position as de facto pilot of the ship. After some work with an armful of blankets and some thick twine, the pilot's seat has become somewhat comfortable. He spends an hour or so figuring out what a few of the levers do and finds it can rotate in place and lean back. If he turns it a bit to the left and leans it back far enough, there's a place he can put his feet that doesn't hit anything important. Emmett has to admit, leaning back in the chair and staring through the stars through the front windows gives him a relaxing feeling he hadn't felt since before he was conscripted. It was like everything was new again...

Jaz shifted a hideaway double-bunk. It fit well enough in the space between a storage rack and what was probably the environmental engine... of some sort. Between that and his hideaway bed they could all sleep comfortably. Plus the way the folded up made it so effectivly no space was taken up on the ship.

You don't really know where the third settlement is, but you know that you can simply pass through your own ship-mounted portal.

Lyle will bring with him a large brown leather armchair with a matching ottoman. It is well worn and comfortable, good for sitting in or stretching out for a nap. If possible he will accompany that with a round side table made of polished wood. He is going to try and place his stuff where he can sit and get a good view of the cosmos (or a display of it if there is no 'windshield' to the vessel).

Installing metal doors on the ship would be simple enough, to block off the portal there. Installing them in the mine outside of the portal would also be doable.

As to breaking the portal, you could do that. They are very sturdy but not indestructible, so concerted effort would overcome that. You would never be able to repair it though.