Inheritor Of Magic: The Magi King

With a few final tweaks, the buggy was ready to be loaded into the boat for its first round of trials. That meant that it was time for the first test drive, to verify that they had actually correctly checked everything before they called it complete. It was new construction, not a repaired military vehicle that they had converted, so they were pretty confident that they had gotten everything correct, but there was always a bit of tension every time you actually tested your work.

Janet took the driver's seat while one of the other researchers, a short and stout witch that Wolfe would have assumed was at least half troll if he hadn't seen her arrive with the Myrrh Coven forces, took the gunner's position.

Her legs dangled beneath her, and she happily swung them back and forth until she nearly hit Janet, who adjusted her foot rest up to stop the assault on her head.

The motor gave a gentle whir as the buggy began to roll up the ramp and toward the door of the parking garage.

The knobby tires were louder than the motor and drivetrain, so Wolfe was pretty sure that the vehicle would be quiet enough for scout duty. The electric motorcycles that the mundane army had brought were about the same volume, and the buggy wasn't exactly small enough to be hiding behind long grass and bushes, so the lack of noise only mattered until the target was in sight.

The boat's pilot gave them a nervous look as they approached the flat-bottomed riverboat with the buggy, but the prow of the boat was flat for this reason, and the boat was wider than the buggy, so it should be able to load safely.

The other option was to take it through the underground roads and exit at one of the villages outside the forest, but if they could go down the river it would be much quicker for their purpose today.

There were a lot of scouts expected at the edge of the forest first thing in the morning, and they could ask them what they thought of the buggy before picking someone to test it out.

The boat was noticeably slower than usual as it made its way to the southeastern border, afraid of creating a rocking motion that would cause the buggy to sway and rock the whole assembly over. It might have been a valid concern, but fortunately, they didn't have to find out before they made it back to shore, and the buggy was gently unloaded.

"There you go. I will be back in the morning to pick you all up." The boat driver informed them.

"Alright. We will let you know how the tests go if we've gotten them done before you come back. I know that whoever saw us leave will be curious." Wolfe replied with a smile.

"Thanks, the questions would drive me crazy if I had no answers," she replied with a sigh of relief.

Once the boat was headed back to the city, the engineers got to work on the first tests to make sure that they weren't going to embarrass themselves when the scouts showed up in the morning and wanted to test drive the new buggies. 

There were a lot of complex moving parts in this machine, especially as they had wanted to make it four-wheel drive, so any of a number of miscalculations could have caused gears to bind, clearances to overlap, or other unforeseen issues.

It had made it as far as the boat while being driven gently, but that wasn't much of a test.

"There is some time before dark, should we take it out for a run?" Janet suggested, while adjusting the straps on her harness in the driver's seat.

The stout gunner hopped back up with a burst of Air Magic, and thumped on the roof of the vehicle.

"Let's do this. Just try not to roll it over, I don't want to test it that thoroughly yet."

And then they were off, racing through the grasslands and around the smaller stands of trees to the east of the river.

If they were lucky, they might find a monster or two to target, but Wolfe wasn't sure how stable that platform was going to be. Trying to hit anything while bouncing along on the buggy would be more of a 'spray and pray' targeting method than a precision attack.

[All-wheel-drive is working flawlessly. But the Gunner suggests the addition of fender guards to reduce the amount of mud that is thrown upward to their position.] Janet reported.

With the tires exposed and outside the body lines of the buggy, it would be difficult to make fenders that wouldn't be a nuisance, but Wolfe could see how the design would lead to the gunner being covered in mud.

"Perhaps we could add a body panel around them? It would likely be appreciated in the winter as well, to keep the temperature up in the buggy and some of the wind off the gunner." Wolfe suggested to the witches, who were looking down at their drawings.

"Oh, that could work. Not a full enclosure, since the gunner needs to move around, but some panels on the main chassis, and around the turret."

The gun was already on a rotating ring so that it could be spun in any direction, but a few light panels to enclose the body of the buggy, and a low ring around the gunner's position would be enough to keep them mostly safe from wheel spray.

"Alright, we will get right on that. It's only a few panels to add, since we've got a windshield and side windows already. Just here and here, and then make sure that this one swings open to get in from the side. 

Oh, since it's all enclosed like this, we can extend the storage up. That's enough for a second shipment crate. That's superb, and it will let them go further if we have to use the buggies in combat."

The way she said the word superb, with a grand hand gesture, made the others laugh, while Wolfe and the border guards watched for the return of the buggy.