Oddly enough, people don't need tools to mine or chop down wood so there's no pickaxe weapons. But we have a machining table so I can construct any kind of gun right now if you want one :p

Also pictured here: STRIKING EVEN MORE METAL



This is good because we researched geothermal power and it takes a lottt of steel to make one of those.

Get me a knife. This says the token.

Knives soon. I can't make them so it'll have to be bought.
For now... POWERPLANTS



We had to remove a bunch of graves to fit this thing. All the zombies are skeletons now, but Max is not happy having to dig them back up :(

The power is so important though because winter is coming soon. Heating the base will take a lot of energy.

"Well... guys?" Dakota wiped the sweat from his brow, breathing hard from the good, honest labor that he had started to miss. "We've really come a long way from starting with nothing."

"We could almost live here indefinitely." Error said with satisfaction.

"How long until we start looking like one of those sci-fi places? The Glitterworlds?"

"Heh." Error grinned. "At this rate, maybe in a year or two. But, you know." Two two of them stopped smiling. "Sooner or later, a zombie horde will hit us directly. We really shouldn't plan on staying that long."

"Yeah." Dakota said. "Speaking of that, we're gonna need to defend this thing well. How about this?"



Looking at the blueprints, Error laughed again. "There's no such thing as being too careful."

Heatstroke then freezing. The elements are not on our side.

But I have better melee, but my shooting ain't too bad either, alright get me an assault rifle. I want something with accuracy this time so that Savannah doesn't die the same way Aquila did, by missing.

Don't be gay, Savannah, Aquila was awesome. His sacrifice will not be forgotten. My first piece of art while I'm feeling artistic should honor him.

"We're under attack. Seven zombies." Ghombeat said tersely. "Everyone, get to your positions."

"Do you have an assault rifle for me?" Savannah asked. "I want to fight."

"No, not yet. Sorry. But we need someone to man the mortar." He grinned. "You up for that?"

The girl grinned viciously in reply.



Assembled into their positions, the squad waits while Azure watches from inside, too valuable to risk.

KRAKABOOM!

The mortar fires, leaving the air dense with a pregnant silence until the earth itself shook with an explosion that rocked the walls of the encampment. Two zombies were immediately blasted so hard that their bones cracked and their heads snapped at the neck, bringing them down as well as eviscerating their bodies.



KRAKABOOM!

The second shot rocks the earth once again, but misses. Cursing, Savannah runs back to load another artillary shell.

"They're approaching so slowly. Savannah's gonna get all the kills. Come on, I want to shoot them!" Zero cried. "I'm going outside. Are you two coming or not?"



"This... is working pretty well, actually." Error remarked over the barrel of his weapon. Two zombies were brought down from a long ways away, before they could even reach their outer walls. "Why don't we do this more often?"

When the zombies became too close for comfort, the squad fell back slightly and kept on shooting. Nearly all of them fell before they even became a threat.



"Geeze, that was almost... too easy." Ghombeat breathed when the last of them fell.

"I'm glad for that. Better an easy battle than one where one of us takes even a scratch." Error said, grim. "A single scratch can kill the strongest warrior when you're dealing with zombies. Let's wrap this one u--"

"They're not all dead! Take this, asshole!"

KA-CHUK!

She fired.





And missed completely. She then realized that they were all out of shells.

"Lucky bastard." She grumbled. "Go on, then. You guys kill it."

She turned and went back inside.

Elsewhere, two boomrats exploded for seemingly no reason.



Wonderful.

No wonder we weren't getting calls from space traders. We didn't have a comms console!



Max, the appointed diplomat, is about to call out for passing traders and maybe acquire some goods in return.

Also, Azure has started working on a sculpture :)

Update: They didn't seem to want any of our food. We were able to sell a lot of the worn-out clothes we stripped from previous raiders, and in return we got some gold and some (not enough) plasteel to make another advance in our tech level...



Looking over Error's shoulder, Dakota grinned, patting his back.
"My man..." He said. "Someone get this guy a beer."



"Well..." Savannah said.
"Yup. We are fucking idiots." Dakota agreed. They sighed and began digging themselves back out.



Nice! Once everyone's awake I'll see what these guys have.



They have some really cool stuff, but we can't really afford most of it since they don't want anything like statues and etc.

But Azure was able to get himself a large steel knife :o



We're in luck! I managed to get some more Plasteel, and this got us a multi-analyzer for the research lab.

We've started learning how to build a ship.

Also, Azure finished his sculpture :) Let's see what he made.



Oh...
It's worth a lot though nonetheless. We'll keep it and I'll let Azure keep on making these. We need valuables to trade with, and if he makes something about aquila we'll keep it.

LOL



"Wait... what?!" Error demanded, glaring daggers at Zero. "We've been researching things together for months. I was starting to think that maybe we could get back together, and... you still have a lover?"

Zero nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me this?!"

"I thought he was dead!" She shot back, finding her tongue. "God, I thought he was dead. He sacrificed himself to save me when I was fleeing my home." Turning to Ghombeat and Dakota, she pleaded desperately. "We can't let Corey die. Not again. Please, we have to save him!"

Dakota turned to the officer, and then to Max. "Yeah, I guess we should--"

"I'll man the mortar!" Savannah shouted. She was already leaving the building.



Attacking us are four well-armed pirates. Honestly, we've been doing so well that I'm not too worried. But if they can get close then things could get hairy.

Savannah misses her first shot, and in that span of time the pirates are able to close the distance to the base's outer walls.

Error, Ghombeat and Zero engage the hostiles in a midrange firefight, when a sudden explosion blows apart their cover and misses them by mere inches.



"Jesus CHRIST!" Ghombeat cried. "Fire from the embrasures! Don't get grenaded!"

The officer provided cover fire for them as they retreated, unleashing a hailstorm of bullets through Aquila's old minigun. One pirate is downed, alive, but completely riddled with bullets.



As Error is closing the door behind him, an expertly-aimed shot beams through the crack in the door and nails Error in the torso. He cries out in pain, but doesn't fall, stumbling to safety.



"Oh, shit." Error gasped. "But I'm the doctor."

"Hold on!" Zero pulled her ex-husband away from the hanging barrel of Ghombeat's weapon and popped off another volley of shots, bringing down another pirate. The one with grenades was downed, but the sniper with the charge rifle was good, and high-velocity plasma bolts blasted chunks of the embrasure apart every time they stuck out their noses.

"You need to draw him close." Error wheezed. "Don't shoot him. Pretend the we fell back."

Too close now for Savannah to fire the mortar, they waited. Nearly fifteen minutes passed before the sniper left cover, and he began approaching the entrance to the base with a welder in hand to bust through the front doors.

And then Ghombeat leveled his minigun through the opening in the wall. "Surprise, motherfucker!"

BRRRRRRRRT!



Now that's a bunch of dead pirates. Some are still alive, but we sure as hell aren't taking any more people for a while.

They are executed without remorse.



Error is carefully laid to his bed, and Max remembered enough of her medical training in the army to sloppily bandage his wounds. He seemed to be alright, and the bleeding had stopped at least. Time would tell how his kidney would recover though.

Update: Error is fine :)



Azure made another sculpture :o

It's about Error again...

I guess we fighting. Also can Max dual wield swords? Im guessing not...

So much for no one fucks with the white mage... but usually the white mage doesn't go on the front line like that. Can we properly and safely breed boomrats? Or no?

Quote from DelorMaximus

I guess we fighting. Also can Max dual wield swords? Im guessing not...

Nah. Either way, swords are pretty damn heavy irl and its better to have one so you can swing and block well. Thats why its sais and daggers that get dual weilded :o

Quote from Aquila

So much for no one fucks with the white mage... but usually the white mage doesn't go on the front line like that. Can we properly and safely breed boomrats? Or no?

We can actually, though I never really thought of that. If you fail at taming an animal it might attack you and I dont want an angry boomrat :p
But if I could get Max (11 taming skill) to tame a male+female boomrat then maybe we could get a small army of those fuckers.

Also,



Building ship parts is going to take a lot of plasteel. Plasteel is expensive as all heck.
I really should have started with an amazing arts person. We really need a method of making money. Too bad no one's willing to buy food so far.



How adorable.



Oh



"You know..." Error murmured to himself one day, visiting once again the grave of Aquila. "There's only one grave that belongs to one of us. The rest of these... they're all people who were trying to kill us. Now they're dead instead."

"We reached this point all thanks to you, big guy."

I...uhh.. Thanks for the sculptures, Azure. They're getting better too!

Your sacrifice has lead us to a lot of achievements, big guy.

Anyway, drama unfolds. I suppose I could ignore all the ex-wife thing with her lover by focusing hard on healing myself up and then keep reaching higher in the tech tree. It's bad enough to think there was a chance and then shot down, only to realize the thing that shot you down will have to live with you. Hah.

Zero checking in.

Why Corgar?