for reasons I can hardly believe myself, Ko is now an ex-slave.
in the morning she and Ruka were attacked by a lone bonedog, and I once again wildly overestimated their combat abilities. after knocking them out, it just laid down to sleep right next to them. Adi couldn't get close without first luring the dog away to the guards. by the time he returned, they were both literally dying, but he managed to work fast enough to stop the bleeding and let them start recovering.
just when I thought we were in the clear, a couple slavemongers spawned, as they tend to do. Adi could only pick up one person at a time, running back and forth and I guess just fuckin launching them into the stratosphere defensively
but he was outnumbered and slavers do not give up easily. while running for Ruka I got this notification:
Ayaan was away in Squin, Ruka was comatose, and the Holy Nation Outlaws in the Hub have no quarrel with slave traders. even were those things not true, they couldn't possibly hope to win a fight with a squad of armed slavers. Adi could do nothing but watch helplessly as reinforcements arrived to carry her away. for lack of another option, I had him follow the group before they were out of sight.
it's kind of funny that they just let him travel with them as part of the squad. there was no plan whatsoever yet, but I was determined to spring her somehow, which would be difficult enough without having to figure out where the hell they took her to begin with...and how to get there alone.
the group continued past the Holy Nation town of Stack, past some farms, and further into the territory. (I also figured out how to hide the ui.)
I hoped Ko would come to on the way and be able to run as Adi caused a distraction. with the beating her head had taken, however, the chance of that happening before she was locked up in some kind of guarded outpost was getting slimmer by the minute. the group was in the middle of nowhere—there might never come a better opportunity to act.
running at the slavers weapon raised would alert them before Adi even got close, and they can fight while carrying a captive, but the one holding Ko was in the perfect position—all the way in the back—to set up a stealth knockout that I was almost certain would result in Adi being ripped to shreds. it obviously failed (0% chance of K.O.) but in a stroke of luck did exactly what I needed it to.
the element of surprise left them without time to retaliate (much) as Adi grabbed Ko and ran for the hills. this is possibly the funniest reaction they could have had here but I guess understandable when the guy who's been peacefully travelling with you for hours awkwardly hits you in the butt with a stick and then scampers away
Adi is fast, but carrying a whole person on his back turned out to limit his speed too much to escape, even after ditching his backpack and all of Ko's armour (except her pants). at least now that they were after him, he could bide his time running in circles until Ko regained consciousness. he ran for hours. the sun set. looney tunes shenanigans continued.
then, in the distance, I saw something fast approaching: bandits. they were starving and about to make it the slavers' problem. to my delight, they not only ignored Adi entirely but drew all attention away from him.
while everybody was kung fu fighting (even a random lost hiver drone that wandered in at some point?), Adi was able to run to the side and tend his wounds. that alone would've been a happy outcome. but then the most beautiful thing happened.
one of the slavers dropped...AND IT WAS THE ONE CARRYING KO. what's more, they were far too occupied with putting the unconscious bandits in chains to even take notice of Adi tossing her over his shoulder and getting as far away as possible.
what a menacing thing to say to an unconscious person as one of your slaves very conspicuously escapes
the slavers were out of sight, but Ko was now branded an escaped slave, and the sun would be rising soon. the best Adi could do for now to keep her from being recognized was get her chains off. despite having some previous lockpicking experience because of reasons, it took him an absurd amount of tries to get this not especially difficult lock open.
I saw some movement in the corner at one point while keeping watch and quickly paused to check on it, but it was just the bandit leader from earlier limping away to freedom (note the "retreating fast")
the two of them got to the Borderlands and relative safety as the sun rose; Ayaan greeted them carrying medkits, and Ruka, now rested, followed shortly after. Side note, I like the medic dialogue lines that fire occassionally while healing.
Ko was STILL OUT COLD and I was worried about carrying her into the Hub looking like a slave, so Adi set up a camp bed and left her with Ayaan and Ruka while he went to fetch food and supplies.
after a day or so of hiding her in the shack her "escaped slave" marker turned into "ex-slave." I'm actually not sure how long that status lasts, if it goes away at all. giving her shoes and armour did a lot to bring down her "looks like slave" value, but 10% is still dangerous with Holy Paladins and slave traders roaming around every other day.
the best part of all this to me is that she was unconscious LITERALLY THE ENTIRE TIME. girl slept through the whole thing. she never even saw a slavemonger. as far as she's concerned none of it happened. this is a real certified Ko moment
