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Post by Karcentric on Apr 16, 2010 12:25:39 GMT -5
Karc listened to what Sokol had to say about Lutiy, "I would say warn them, but I'm sure they'll be fine." he said with little regard what actually happened to the group. "More importantly, what are we gonna do now, do we help attack the retreating Monolith? Or do chaps have plans of your own?" Karc asked looking at each of the members of their group. While he was a merc he didn't really fit in with a main faction. Maybe I'll head down to Rostok and see if there's work down there. He thought. Behind him, Karc heard the door open, looking over his shoulder he saw, the black clad hunters leaving, shrugging and turning back to his drink, Karc tossed it back and poured another, offering the bottle to his companions. "I wonder what he did to have those guys chase him all over the zone?"
Rusty was right behind Leon, jogging quietly, thankful to be out of the Mercenary HQ, while it was safe, he felt as though there was target painted on his head, as they moved away he was half expecting to be shot. Once they were away and moving up the river however, he relaxed a bit. The mist was unnerving but it at least it hid them from their target, "Was that big guy still with him?" Rusty asked quietly, "I wouldn't want to be near him when he's angry." Shuddering at the thought.
Eventually they found Lutiy's tracks, creeping through the forest the tracks wee getting difficult to find, and occasional broken branch, or trampled shrub was all they needed and the promise of wealth. the light was fading fast as they searched, slowing them to a glacial pace, even with NV it was pitifully slow, after several hours of searching they came upon a small shake.
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Post by Zeno, Lord Camelith on Apr 17, 2010 1:02:17 GMT -5
Rodent followed close behind Leon, keeping low in the brush to avoid being spotted by any nearby mutants or Monolith patrols. Lutiy and his companion's trail went cold several times, resulting in a few minutes of blundering around until the trail was picked up again. The light began to fade as the sun sunk into the horizon. Flipping on his NV, he kept going, following close behind Leon the whole time. After several more minutes a square light from ahead caught Rodent's attention. The light was shining out through the window of a small house. Reaching the brush before the house, Rodent gestured for the group to be silent and drew his P99. Sneaking over to the window, Rodent pressed himself against the wall of the house and peeked inside. He was looking in on a hallway of a quaint little home, hardly what you would expect to find in the Zone, let alone this deep into it. In a room at the end of the hall, Rodent could see a bed with the silhouette of two figures sleeping in it. Crouching, and sliding back underneath the window, Rodent checked the other side of the hall. One of the rooms had a man sleeping in a bed. Straining his vision, Rodent saw that it was Lutiy's companion, but the other rooms were empty. Now where's the little bugger got to? Rodent thought. Looking back at the group, he saw the others still concealed in the brush. Rodent made a sign that he was going towards the small house's door. Stashing his TAR-21 and VSS behind a stack of firewood. Rodent crept over to the door of the little house and carefully tried the handle. Just as he expected, it was locked, and from what he could see through the gap between the door and the doorway, dead-bolted in several places. Sneaking back to the window, Rodent pulled out his crowbar and carefully slotted two of its prongs into the gap of the window. As slowly as he possibly could, Rodent pried the window open just enough for him to slip in. Rodent pulled off the Respiration system of his suit, as it would only get in the way, and reached inside the house to a small gas lamp hanging from a wall. Rodent cut off the gas flow and the house was instantly plunged into pitch darkness. Flicking his NV back on, Rodent pushed himself into the house. Rodent tread as carefully and as silently as he possible could. Pausing for a second after every creak of a floorboard and holding his breath to make sure nobody woke from the sound. After what seemed like hours, Rodent finally reached the empty room. Nothing inside struck him as important, until a PDA on the bedside table caught his attention. It's Lutiy's! thought Rodent, after flipping the display on. On the screen was a message. Khan,
This is where we part. I hate to interrupt our hosts' hospitality, but my time is growing preciously short. I will find my way to Pripyat from here, a compass and the local road will do. I bid you luck in your further ventures in the Yanov region. If anyone comes searching for me, don't hesitate to tell them where I went instead of putting yourself in danger. This is goodbye, God be with you.
Kirill Malygin. So he's off to Pripyat 'eh? He can't have left too long ago, if we hurry we can catch up to him. Rodent thought. Putting the PDA back on the table, he crept back out of the house. Squeezing back out through the window, Rodent grabbed his gear and hurried back to the group. "Lutiy is on his way to Pripyat, my guess is that he left within the hour. He's alone as well, he left his friend behind. If we hurry we might be able to catch him."
A lone Tushkano was creeping around the big-wood-and-rock-place when a human came climbing out of a hole. He grabbed up some of his things and then rushed away, leaving the window open behind him. The Tushkano scampered over to the ground beneath the window. The smell of food immediately caught his attention. Climbing up the wall and down through the window he snuck into the nearest room and clambered up onto the bed. To his immense displeasure, he found no food and only a stupid sleeping human. A lump in the covers caught his attention, and with all of his mutated fury he began gnawing on it. That lump was Khan's foot. Burnzz, please do NOT kill that Tushkano, I have plans for it later. Have it scurry away or something.
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Post by Afterburner on Apr 17, 2010 4:04:47 GMT -5
"AGH! You little!"
Khan grabbed the rodent by the neck and flung it through the window with all the strength he had. The little monster zapped out of the window, gibbering something.
"Paskal. Somebody has been here. The window was not open when I went to sleep. I had to sleep very heavily, since I have not slept for two days. What do you assume it was?"
Paskal got up from his bed, yawning and scratching himself
"Dunno. Maybe the wife opened it. Damn you and your conspiracy theories, calm down! In a few minutes, we'll be out of here. What' with your foot?"
Khan wrapped a bandage around his foot
"A species of local wildlife, climbing through the open window, decided that my foot is the best thing to sharpen teeth on. The species found itself flying through the window."
They got up and had breakfast, the best one Khan had in ages
"Compliments to your wife, this meal is marvelous!"
As they got out, Khan could sense that there was someone in the vicinity.
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Post by Διμι on Apr 17, 2010 16:09:55 GMT -5
"Pripyat?" Leon asked incredulously "What the hell does the bugger have over there? Borov better have more than 150K for us avenging a few bandits of his, because I have a feeling this goes a bit deeper than that..."
He looked back at the house, which sat still in the clearing. "We'll leave his companion be, unless he tries to pursue us. We already have all the information we need, and this man knows Lutiy about as well as we do, it seems." The mercenary gripped his shotgun and stepped forward down the road to the city. Small, scarcely visible tracks in the mud marked where the bandit had gone.
"Judging by those tracks, he's continuing along at a steady pace." the mercenary muttered. "We'll have to speed up in order to catch him." he mused for several seconds over the bandit's intentions "But there's no way out of Pripyat other than going back, unless he wants to make it to the NPP itself, in which case he's as good as dead anyway. If we follow his trail, we'll be bound to run into him at one point or another." Leon's ironclad boot left deep imprints in the road's surface as he walked, and his squad followed suit.
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Post by Basil on Apr 17, 2010 17:22:00 GMT -5
As the group moved forward, hot on Lutiy's trail, Dodge couldn't help but think about his current situation.
Borov had better fucking give us decent pay for this. We're going all the way to Pripyat to hunt a single goddamn person!
Bah, you'll always find ways to make money along the way! You're a doctor in journalism after all.
True, true, but still, Borov's reward is what interests me most...wait...did I say that out loud?
Duke stopped thinking as he realised his lips were moving in sync to his thoughts. He'd been talking to himself without realising again. The bandit briefly stopped and looked behind him, and saw a strange sight indeed: an old-looking stalker with a Fu Manchu moustache.
"Huh, I just saw Fu Manchu", he told the others jokingly.
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Post by Afterburner on Apr 17, 2010 17:57:35 GMT -5
Khan got out, wondering what happened to the window. He said his goodbyes and left Paskal and his wife to their idle , peaceful life. As he got out, he spotted a dull face looking at him through the treeline. The face turned and blurted out something.
"So there's more of them...How inconvenient."
As he sneaked towards them, he heard them mentioning Fu Manchu. He popped out
"Fu Manchu? My God, where?"
The stalkers jumped, readying their weapons. Khan continued
" I assume you're the ones who opened that window on my friend's house while we were trying to get some well-earned sleep?? You know, a man might catch a cold that way, and there was this rather ungrateful being that believed my foot was it's morning snack. Now, please, if you would kindly introduce yourselves? I'd rather know my stalkers' names. It was you at the mercenary base, was it not? You seemed hell bent on finding out what me and my friend wanted in there? It is an interesting story, might I add."
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Post by Διμι on Apr 17, 2010 19:09:11 GMT -5
"Claudinsky, Leonid." Leon introduced himself, holding out his hand, but keeping the other wrapped tightly about the grip of his M3 in case things would go sour. "We're terribly sorry for ransacking your dwelling, but we figured having to forcefully investigate something a clear in-and-out would do for just wouldn't pay off." he looked about, checking for any more stalkers in the area. There were none.
"We touched nothing but the information concerning Lutiy." he continued "I'll be prompt and honest of this. We were sent out to kill him, and intend to do so in short order. You may ask why. It is simple. He betrayed his own more than once, and has to pay the price for doing so. You're somewhat lucky to be alive, knowing his reputation for cheating and backstabbing those he works with."
"We've followed him here all the way from the Dark Valley, and don't intend to stop at anything in our way. There's a large sum of cash, and possibly other lucrative rewards involved, and that works as a fine incentive." the mercenary said calmly. "Judging from his message, you know just as much about where he's headed and why as we do. So picking a fight is useless and out of the question. Have a good day, and good luck to you, stalker." Leon waved, turning about. The man would have to be crazy to try to protect his friend against four stalkers armed to the teeth by shooting one.
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Post by Afterburner on Apr 17, 2010 19:22:07 GMT -5
"Ah, another sneak."
He observed the stalkers. Their armor was painted black, and their leader had the cold, merciless look of a bounty hunter, despite the fact that his face was hidden behind an exoskeleton's bug-like mask. He checked his gun
"I do not know how well you would fare against me...The odds are...in my side here."
The stalkers turned
"Do you mind if I come along? This terrain is a bit unexplored, and I assume you have never traveled this far into unknown territory, not to mention I have a task up north to finish as well. We can mutually benefit from this journey, seeing how I know the way, and you know how to handle yourself in a situation where two arms and one head are not the best solution. What would happen next?"
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Post by Basil on Apr 17, 2010 19:36:13 GMT -5
"Wake up, sunshine."
Maginot woke up and saw Adder standing over him, fully awake and Vintorez at the ready. He yawned, stretched and got up from his uncomfortable resting place in the rubble near the spacial anomalies. He picked his rifle up and looked at the rifles they had collected during their trip...mobility and speed were crucial now, and all those guns did was weight them down.
"Put the loot in that old stove", said Maginot, "we can't carry it without suffering from reduced speed and mobility."
Adder nodded quietly and picked the AKs and other guns they weren't using before putting them in the stove and closing the small metal door on them. It was not likely they'd come back to get them, but there was still a tiny, faint chance they could do that some time in the future.
They left the anomaly clearing, Maginot marking the spot on his PDA's map as they went off into the forest. It was dawn, and still rather dark so Maginot followed Adder's guidance through the obscurity of the Red Forest.
After walking for some time through the dark undergrowth, Adder suddenly froze. There were people talking nearby. Adder scanned the area out front for a while, looking at several figures that were barely discernible through the trees. One of them seemed oddly familiar...
"The Guide", she hissed, "the bastard is in up to his neck in this entire business." "-Let's go pay them a little visit. No shooting, but be wary anyway", said Maginot as they moved quietly forward. Adder raised her Vintorez and pointed it at the Red Forest guide as she and Maginot emerged from the trees.
"-Well, if it ain't the guide...you have some explaining to do", she said. Maginot put his hand on the barrel of her Vintorez, forcing her to lower it. "-You do indeed have some explaining to do", said Maginot, looking suspiciously at the man, "and who are you people?", he added, looking at the other stalkers around them.
CHECK
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Post by Διμι on Apr 17, 2010 20:08:07 GMT -5
"Well well well..." Leon spoke as two more stalkers emerged from the undergrowth, one wearing a mercenary's vest, and the other an environment suit. "Seems our host has decided to bring a couple of friends with him." he instantly tightened his grip on his shotgun, although relaxed it a second later. The two loners evidently seemed to be as distrustful of the large Easterner as he was. He fliched at the sight of the eyes of the female that had appeared. Although the mercenary had grown accompanied to many quirks of the Zone, people with luminescent, reptilian eyes weren't one of them.
"You do indeed have some explaining to do", the taller man said to the guide with an unmistakably French accent, lowering the barrel of his female companion's gun. "and who are you people?", he added a second later, surveying the group. Leon did a quick analysis of the situation. Every second he spent with these people was a second lost. This was why, he thought, Lutiy preferred to travel alone.
He ignored the question of the stalker in the mercenary suit, instead turning to the apparent Guide to answer the latter's. "Your notoriety seems to precede you just as the bandit's does. So I'd say we're better off traveling as we were, and without you. You never know in this place who could spontaneously decide to lead someone into a trap... Besides" he nodded to the tracks running alongside the road "we can find our way just fine."
The mercenary turned now to the two loners that had interrupted their conversation. "We are a squad of hired guns, so to speak, sent out to take care of a particular bandit of widespread reputation. This particular man" he pointed to the Guide "has been accompanying him for quite some time now, it seems. Now, may I ask who you two are, and what brings you into this particular neck of the woods?" he inquired. "A condensed version, if you will. Our time is indeed running short."
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Post by Basil on Apr 17, 2010 20:34:58 GMT -5
"I'm Maginot and this is Adder", said Maginot to the mercenary, "we joined a group of Dutiers who were looking for Freedom's leader. We recently left them behind to go looking for him ourselves...he's heading North. And the bandit you're looking for is obviously Lutiy."
Maginot paused before adding:
"We're in a hurry too, so let's get going."
Maginot quickly set off in the direction Lutiy had apparently gone. He had a feeling that wherever Lutiy was going, Seth would be there too. The hired guns followed, and a bald man who was obviously part of said group accosted Adder.
"-G'day, miss, it's not often you get to see women in the Zone...UHG!"
Adder silenced the foolish stalker by bashing him in the face with the butt of her rifle. The stalker, who was none other than Duke, scrambled back to his feet as the other slaughed at him.
"Dang, you've got guts, lady, bashing a doctor of journalism like this", he said as he wiped blood away from his nose and retrieved his cigarette, "this is going to be one rock n' roll trip."
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Post by Διμι on Apr 17, 2010 23:15:23 GMT -5
"Enough fooling around!" Leon growled, grabbing Duke by his lapels and transferring him to his other side, away from the snake-eyed female. Through the apertures in his mask, he gave the bandit a thoughtful look that conveyed none other than: be careful around her, you idiot, there's something dangerous about her. The group walked on in silence. The Forest was in its unnatural morning calm. The footprints in the mud were getting progressively fainter and fainter, and at last disappeared completely as the road turned to asphalt. Leon almost frowned in disappointment. The bandit could have stepped off anywhere around here, and they would never know. Then he lifted his eyes. The city of Pripyat spread out before them, approximately half a mile down the road. Tall, ruined structures reached towards the sky, and ruined vehicles dotted the cracked asphalt roads here and there. Not a soul was in sight, no stalkers, or even Monolithians rose from the ruins to greet them. It was an abandoned city in every sense of the word. The sight unnerved Leon more than the prospect of being shot at with various weaponry from every possible angle. He took out his G11. The rifle, he felt, would be more apt for urban conditions, especially if it meant taking potshots at lurking snipers. He checked his PDA. The group was entering the city from the West, which explained the relative lack of resistance they were encountering. The majority of the Monolith force, he thought, was still struggling to throw off its mercenary pursuers, and had probably only managed to make it to the southern boundaries of the city. This would make dealing with Lutiy an easier task, but would make getting out of the city a hell of a trial. "If any of you see Lutiy, or anyone in a trench coat, don't waste time identifying or asking questions, just fire. The faster we take him out, the less we'll have to stay in here, and the less will be the chance those Monolith goons will have to pin us inside their territory." He checked the ammo in his rifle. All forty five caseless rounds were securely inserted into the lateral magazine. He flicked off the safety catch, scanning the area for any movement. "All clear!" he hissed "Let's move." the group stealthily advanced up the street, spreading out and taking cover behind various pieces of rubble. Roughly eight hundred meters ahead, they could see a large stadium rising over the smaller structures, guarding the passage to the north. Checking his PDA again, he could see seven signals in the area, none of which, he knew, would be Lutiy, as the bandit had abandoned his own locator a while ago. Then he heard a series of shots from the direction of the Stadium, powerful reports of an SVU. He waited for the shooting to subside. He held up a sign for his squadmates to be quiet, and motioned for them to begin moving towards the large structure in the distance. [Everyone in Leon's group - make a final post in here if you wish for your character to do anything before reaching the Stadium, and then continue to Cursum Perficio]
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