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Post by AegisFate on Feb 25, 2014 6:03:01 GMT
(If you don't know much about this little universe, you can read up here.
You are a Hunter in a group that is searching through a city long dead known only as Stovetz in memory) Ash fell from the sky, massive structures of steel and concrete standing torn and empty, shards of glass dotting the cracked and scorched ground. A road stretched in between the juggernauts of a time long gone, burnt out cars turning to rust, skeletal figures in the positions they held when fire rained down from the sky. A pair of them held each other, slumped alongside a building, a man standing over them. He, along with those behind him came to find a cache of artifacts from the Times of Old, rumors, murmurs and legend the only thing to give hope. The most reliable, scattered records talked of something in the center of the city, beneath a fountain none sane have seen in centuries. There he stood forward of the small group, his name Seregoi, a rifle made of scavenged materials in hand, cloth wrapped around its barrel, a long heavy cloak covering his frame. He turned his head, a scarred face covered in messy hair, speaking up with a voice that sounded like it was used for harsher tones than what he spoke. “Stick to the east side of the road, weapons ready. Place is infested with crawlers.”
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Post by Darko on Feb 25, 2014 7:55:29 GMT
Crawlers. Small, four-legged beasts. Not to be underestimated. Blink and they'd be gone, their diminutive stature belying their frightening agility. Though even the largest were no bigger than your average child, they were as strong as a grown man and their claws could rend through a plate of metal. The fact that they could see in the dark and the hunters couldn't didn't help if they let themselves get cornered at night.
Out of the corner of his eye, Riley could see them moving in the dim light. He absent-mindedly adjusted his stetson with one hand before returning it to the secondary pistol-grip of his pump-action shotgun. For a scrap-smithy weapon, it was unusually reliable. The rugged weapon had been dropped or used to hammer in the heads of more creatures than he cared to count, yet still functioned as well as the day he bought it.
Seregoi lead the way and Riley followed a few steps behind the grizzled hunter. The falling ash greatly reduced visibility and he squinted to make out the swift shapes scuttling amongst the ruins. As they crept down the road, he glanced over his shoulder, seeing a few others following behind. He frowned, someone was missing.
"Where's Burns?" He whispered. If they were quiet enough not to disturb the bulk of the pack then the few crawlers probing them for weakness almost certainly wouldn't attack a group of this size.
The hunters exchanged glances, before someone gestured hurriedly to the other side of the road. Sure enough, Burns was there, the lumbering dullard crouched down, seemingly looking for something in the foot-deep layer of ash that covered everything like thick grey snow. He raised his hand and something shiny held between his fingers reflected what little light was making it through to this area.
Burns was no slouch in a fight, the big mean bastard had once almost single-handedly taken on a young Lurker once, blowing holes in it before going at it with a machete. Yet for the moment he was preoccupied with his minor find, never able to see beyond what was directly in front of him, he was blissfully unaware of the Crawlers closing in on his position from all angles. He'd got himself separated from the group and now he was going to pay the price. If they went back for him now they'd all be dragged down into a gruesome close-quarters fight.
Riley sighed. They all knew that Burns was already dead, long before he did. They solemnly watched as Burns glanced upwards, perturbed by something. The crawler above seized the moment and leapt down, its vice-like jaws clamping across his thick skull. The man fell back, letting off two shots with his rifle before a dozen more crawlers pounced on him. Seregoi waved them on and the group ran down the street, all stealth abandoned. By the time they turned the next corner, the screaming had stopped.
For the moment they were safe, having found refuge from the deluge of falling ash in a small ruin that still had a relatively intact structure. That was the second man they'd lost in the last hour, the first one simply being unlucky and stepping on a concealed loose footing. It was the screaming that always stuck in Riley's mind. He'd never learned the first man's name but he'd listened to him scream for a good ten, maybe twenty seconds before the inevitable sound of the body impacting below street level. Broken and battered, certainly unable to fight back against the encroaching creatures that lived down there in the pitch black of the under-city. It send a chill down his spine.
At least Burns' death had allowed them to pass a nesting zone without getting surrounded. That's how you lived with it out here in the wastes and the ruins. You rationalised each loss, justified not going back and doing something by saying there's nothing that could have been done. Sure, they could have saved Burns. But would any man here risk their own life for that of one another? No chance. The truth was that they were all out here to make their own fortune, they only grouped together for mutual protection. A man alone was a man already dead in a place like this, a place where nature had twisted and reclaimed what was once its own. No longer was man the master.
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Judge Death
Regular
Mandalorian warrior
I am your Death!
Posts: 224
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Post by Judge Death on Feb 27, 2014 12:04:18 GMT
'We should kill them and leave them as bait' 'No. They would kill us if we try.' 'We might get two of them.' 'No we wouldn't!'
'Split' stud there try to get his breath as Pys and Chin fought in his mind and 'Split' knew not to get involved when they were fighting, things would get nasty if Psy got angry that was the main reason that they would just travel as the three of them instead of a group of 'Normal' people but this job was going to need more people.
The hooded jacket 'Split' found helped keep the ash off his head and the cloth wrapped around his mouth and nose kept the ash out of his throat. The threat of Crawlers still loomed so he kept his Scrap sword and chain in hand waiting for something to move in the ash.
"I think we need bait.....any volunteers?" 'Split' grinned with his cruel humor.
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Post by Darko on Feb 27, 2014 18:10:37 GMT
Riley Jensen glanced at the man who called himself Split, who had spoken up from across the room. Use someone as bait? He had no idea why they'd possibly want to draw any attention to their location, the Crawler pack back there had already gotten a taste for blood tonight and would be compelled to hunt more now. Not to mention that there were things far, far worse than Crawlers out there, lurking in the shadows.
He didn't trust anyone on this little escapade anyway and not without good reason. There had been the stupid, like Burns. Then there were the unhinged. It was just the way that 'Split' looked at things, like he was elsewhere, almost in a dream-like state half of the time.
"Bait, huh? Why don't you lead the way then, seeing as it's your plan," Riley rebuked, not willing to get himself killed for the sake of that possibly not-quite-sane hunter. He shook his head, looking at Seregoi. The somewhat-mysterious leader of this expedition was a difficult one to figure out, yet he seemed sound enough. Still, whether he was one of the ruthless types who used other hunters to get to loot and then stabbed them in the back to keep it to themselves remained to be seen. Few hunters got as grizzled and experienced as Seregoi without taking advantage of others.
It wasn't Riley's style - without anyone watching your back you'd be as good as dead. He'd certainly had a few close calls in the past. He was still a bit unnerved after his last hunt. Three other hunters had turned on the rest of the group and got away with the entire haul after opening fire on the rest. Riley had only escaped by luck, or bad luck (but luck nonetheless) when he'd slipped down an old maintenance shaft in the chaos. It'd taken him two weeks to escape the dark, winding tunnels and the things that had lived down there had very nearly finished him off. Remembering the whole ordeal sent a shiver down his spine. He hadn't seen sunlight for two weeks in those tunnels.
He'd crawled his way out of the death-trap with no shells left for his shotgun and making it back to the nearest settlement without ammunition or supplies had been the most difficult test of his career. Truth be told he'd considered retiring then and there, figuring it was a miracle he'd survived at all. Yet, without any profit from the entire misadventure and few skills besides a good aim and sheer survival instinct, there'd been little choice but to sign up on the next hunt he could find.
That's how he'd ended up here. This man, Seregoi, had been the only hunter in the settlement willing to make a trip to Stovetz - the nearest place likely to contain anything worth finding - as Riley knew that there was nothing to be found within fifty miles of that blasted settlement other than here. While he admired Seregoi's ambition, this entire trip was absolutely insane, even by his own standards. Still, it couldn't get any worse than his last hunt, he thought, idly adjusting his stetson ever so slightly.
If he survived this and managed to earn his fair share of profits, he'd buy himself some new gear and hunt down those double-crossing sons of bitches that screwed him over last time.
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Post by AegisFate on Feb 27, 2014 19:14:57 GMT
Seregoi raised his hand and halted, crouching low. With one hand, he pulled out a map held in a plastic sleeve from a pouch at his side, his eyes looking for landmarks, a bent street sign with faded letters providing the necessary information, his eyes darting back to the group for a moment before returning to the map. His voice spoke out in but a whisper, loud enough to be heard by the group and hopefully quiet enough to not draw something else. "We're three blocks from the park." He pulled out a canteen for a brief second, taking a brief swig after the statement, looking towards the goal, a tall spindly shape jutting from the earth barely visible in the falling ash.
A howl in the same direction turned Seregoi from calm to dangerously alert, his rifle snapping up and his eyes scanning the area. With a word, he chilled those around him. "Banshees. Move up, stay low, rifles out and ready. Sounds like a mating call, but I'd rather not get by one of them trying to do the naughty."
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Judge Death
Regular
Mandalorian warrior
I am your Death!
Posts: 224
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Post by Judge Death on Feb 27, 2014 21:43:50 GMT
'Heh heh Dirty thought' 'Be serious' 'Me? Serious?'
'Split' hated when the 'others' were like this but he had the same thought as Psy and that forced a smurk across his face but now he had to focus and help this group watch out for Banshees since they could be trouble if disturbed while doing the jiggy and nothing is more pissed off then a Male Banshee getting disturbed......like any other guy.
"Crawlers below us and Banshees above us can this get any better?" 'Split' groaned to himself as he climbed up the rubble of a half destroyed wall that could barely hold his weight.
'Shouldn't have had that grilled Crawler before you left should you?'
"Shut up, Psy!" 'Split' Groaned as he forced himself onto the second floor of the ruin.
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