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Post by Karcentric on Apr 5, 2010 5:01:01 GMT -5
Rurik thanked Khan and stood observing the area, "What the hell is going on in the city? It sounds like a war. Our chances of surviving in that city right now is very low, if I had to give you a percentage, less than 5%. What did you see?" Rurik asked Victor who was looking at a tunnel on the other side of the river. Checking his PDA's long range scanner it picked up at least 100 individuals within a range of 10km. Seth's beacon was on the other side of the city. This time he had to contact him properly, and make arrange a meeting somehow. We need to talk... Contact me. Sending it and sighing, Rurik knew it would almost be useless trying to follow Seth from this direction, but thought to himself, I'll find him even if I have to kill every last person between me and him. Looking over his group, he marveled at how quickly they had adapted to the zone's harsh conditions. "So, how do you all want to proceed? Think carefully before you answer."
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Post by Basil on Apr 5, 2010 12:48:53 GMT -5
"So, how do you all want to proceed? Think carefully before you answer."
Maginot thought about the path that lay ahead. Judging from the sounds emanating from Limansk, following the guide's advice seemed wiser than going straight through the city.
As he was about to voice his opinion, Adder spoke up:
"I say we go through Limansk."
The others turned and looked at her, and Adder suddenly felt very nervous.
There is a way under the city, the sewers..., said the whispering voice. It was giving her guidance...
"We...we can use the sewers to pass under the town without getting noticed by anyone. It'll be more direct than going around Limansk, and we won't be exposed to enemy fire."
How can she know that?
Maginot looked at Adder with vague, but growing suspicion. The guide had said something in her was wrong, and now she was suggesting a path she couldn't possibly have known existed...was she just making a theory about Limansk's sewers?
Or is something or someone telling her about these things?
Maginot shivered at the thought. Adder spoke again.
"There's a pipe on the other bank that must lead into the city's sewers, I saw it earlier."
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Post by Afterburner on Apr 6, 2010 16:31:24 GMT -5
As Khan watched the stalkers sneak into the city, he wondered whether leading them there was the right thing. Lutiy said nothing about them, and the fact that he might have just doomed the two stalkers really did not bother him.
As he flipped his long-range open, he remembered the exact emergency channel. Twenty three.
"Kirill, the Duty squad has just arrived, aided by a few rookie stalkers. Their leader is a real proud behemoth. Have you tracked Seth yet?"
As he spoke, he saw a RPG rocket buzzing towards a building, obliterating the rooftop
"The situation in there seems alarming. I am coming there. Meet you at the Cossack's route, below the schoolgrounds. If you run into any Monolith or Mercenary patrols, try to lose them in the sewers."
He took the last few 30.30s out of the box and stuffed them in the pockets of his suit. His old gas mask had been completely obliterated by a bloodsucker alpha, so he tossed it away. He had to make it through the gas-filled sewers without any reasonable protection.
He crossed the bridge and descended to the coast. He pushed through the shrubs which revealed an entrance to the sewers line through Limansk. The smell was obnoxious and felt like a thousand needles lodged themselves inside your lungs. He dampened a piece of cloth, putting it over his face and crawled inside.
As he reached an exit, he dropped down, nearly stepping into a puddle of obnoxiously smelly, bubbling, green liquid which was making loud, hissing sounds. As he crossed through the Fruit Punch filled room, something caught his eye. A small, thin layer of Pellicle was resting on a chest of a dead, SEVA-clad stalker. He carefully removed the artifact and wrapped it in his DIY face-mask, which he put over his mouth. The beneficent artifact's properties made it much easier to breathe in the sewers. The only thing that could not be abolished with the good artifact was the stench.
Artifacts acquired: Pellicle
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Post by Διμι on Apr 7, 2010 17:57:20 GMT -5
A sudden bolt of purplish lightning flashed across the sky as the ground gave a sudden rumble. Victor saw everyone in the group fall to their knees or to the ground, clutching their heads with groans of pain for several seconds before getting up. A sudden whine filled his ears as his vision suddenly yellowed before reverting back. As the group rose back to its feet, Victor consulted the detector built into his suit. A large cloud of psychic emissions seemed to have emerged directly behind the group, and was quickly growing in size. Victor was safely shielded behind the psy-protection system installed by the scientists at Yantar, but the rest of the group was far more susceptible. "Some kind of psy-cloud just spawned in right behind us." he told the group "There's no going back there, and if we stay here any longer, our brains will be fried to a crisp. It's Limansk or nothing, folks, so your sewers better not kill us dead." the loner nodded in Adder's direction. "Let's move, we've only got minutes before we turn into drooling, walking piles of meat." As the group slowly recovered from the psychic blast, Victor stepped forward, breaking into a swift walk towards the bridge in the distance.
Lutiy's radio buzzed as he and Jurgen stepped out of the tunnel into the open. He heard Khan's voice crackling over the secure channel. "Kirill, the Duty squad has just arrived, aided by a few rookie stalkers. Their leader is a real proud behemoth. Have you tracked Seth yet?" Temporarily pocketing the radio, Lutiy turned to the mercenary beside him. "This is where we part, mercenary." he spoke to Jurgen "I've got my own business to take care of in Limansk. Good luck out there." With that, the bandit turned away, pulling his PDA back out. He quickly typed a message back to Khan and sent it. Khan, Kirill here. Leave the Duty squad be. They'll meet their end in Limansk without a proper guide anyway. According to my speculations, Seth must be holed up somewhere in the Dead City along with his mercenary aides as well as whatever remains of his group. I cannot lock on to his signal, as its apparently being blocked, so he must be in reach of their jammer or somewhere deep underground if he's not dead. The bandit walked over to a nearby sewer hatch, pulling it open and recoiling from the toxic fumes before putting on his gas mask. Drawing his hood over his head, Lutiy jumped down the ingress, landing lightly into a puddle of murky water below. The space was cramped, and small, rodent-like creatures could be seen scurrying about in the near-dark. Lutiy turned on his night vision and the torch on his mask, sending the rats scattering. The bandit checked his map before continuing in the direction Khan had indicated. Soon enough, the small pipe widened into larger septic chambers and connectors. Lutiy held his course, avoiding the bubbling, hissing ponds of acidic goo that blocked his way. Occasional explosions from above made the entire sewer rumble slightly, shaking dust and loose stone chips from the walls. Within fifteen minutes, he made it to the meeting place. Khan had yet to arrive, so Lutiy sat himself down on a crumbling chunk of gray stone dislodged from the wall, and began to wait.
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Post by Basil on Apr 7, 2010 20:07:28 GMT -5
Adder and Maginot quickly followed Victor across the bridge. Maginot touched his painfully throbbing skull, which felt like an immaterial dagger had been inserted into his frontal lobe before being violently withdrawn. He had no desire to linger above ground while the unexpected psy-emission was occurring, and he could swear the noises of battle coming from Limansk had died down in the past few minutes.
They got to the other side of the bridge, and Adder immediately headed down the bank on that side, half sliding half climbing down a collapsed part of it. She then hopped onto a small, muddy bank and called up to the others.
"The pipe is here!", she said. Maginot and the others followed, and as they got down Adder parted some reeds, showing an old conrete pipe still crusted with old mud and mould. It was high enough for an average-sized man and was only wide enough for one person at a time.
Maginot glanced into the pipe, and saw only darkness. He also thought he heard the distant gurgling and bubbling of Fruit Punch anomalies.
"-Nice path", he said. His detector's Geiger counter was crackling away happily from their proximity to the radioactive waters of the river, "did you find out about it on Club Med?"
Adder hissed quietly from within her helmet, unused to such sarcasm from her usually stoical companion. She turned to the rest of the group.
"-This should lead straight into the sewers, and get us to the man we seek."
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Post by Διμι on Apr 7, 2010 21:10:59 GMT -5
Lutiy sat deeply engrossed in thought, calmly waiting for the Forest guide to arrive. He was not at all sure how or whether he would be able to survive and navigate his way above ground with the army of Monolith fanatics raging and raiding their way through Limansk. The bandit knew that the mercenaries were generally amiable to those who provided assistance, but getting pitted in a firefight against over one hundred religious creeps did not quite suit his plans, even if it would grant him access to Seth, wherever the Freedomer had disappeared. For now, the underground sewers would provide a safe refuge and means of transportation. Or so he thought.Lutiy did not even see the snork as it quietly crawled out of a small pipe, climbing down the wall to the floor. The creature paced back and forth, sizing up its target. Then it leapt. The bandit was caught aback by the sudden attack, nevertheless, he managed to turn himself as the snork made contact, clipping Lutiy and sending both falling to the ground. The bandit drew his Beretta and unloaded several rounds into the beast, but the surprisingly agile mutant had already sprang again despite its wounds. The two rolled around on the floor. The snork's supernatural strength and sharp claws would have made short work of the stalker, had it been uninjured. Taking advantage of the momentary shock of his assailant, Lutiy gave the creature a terrific kick as they rolled by a Fruit Punch anomaly, dislodging the snork and sending it flying into the bubbling pit. The snork roared as it submerged in the corrosive chemical, instantly beginning to liquefy. A sickly, yet somewhat alluring, intoxicating smell filled the air as the churning liquid became discolored with the remains of the snork. All that remained in the space of a few seconds was the creature's gas mask, before it too, dissolved. Snorkshake, Lutiy chuckled. He didn't know how he had arrived at the particular word, other than the fact that it seemed oddly appropriate. The bandit gave little more thought to the matter, settling back down on his perch. Nevertheless, his senses became heightened as a result of the momentary adrenaline rush, and he became aware of a barely audible commotion echoing down the pipes from the direction of the river waste disposal ducts. Recognizing the sardonic tones of the French and female stalkers, Lutiy did not take long to realize that the Duty squad had caught up to him. He pulled out his PDA, sending another message to Khan. Khan, the rendezvous has been compromised. The Duty squad has made its way into the tunnels. Do not attempt to fight them, and be very careful down here, there are more mutants than the place leads to think as well. Relay me your land coordinates belowground, so I can find you in here. The bandit quickly packed the device and retreated into a shadowy pipe, shutting off his torch. Remaining here would mean being discovered, and that was the last thing he needed at the moment. AND THEN, LUTIY WAS A BEA--SNEAK.It isn't funny the second time around.
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Post by Zeno, Lord Camelith on Apr 7, 2010 22:52:46 GMT -5
Pushing himself back up, Harmund asked, "Was that from the Scorcher? Didn't it get shut down?"
Hefting his PKM, Harmund and Sigbrand followed the rest of the group down the bank and towards the old pipe. As they moved into the cramped tunnel, Harmund had to duck to avoid smashing his head into the top of the pipe. "Couldn't you find anything just a bit taller?" He asked. Following his brother in, Sigbrand pulled his gas-mask over his face and slung his rifle over his shoulder. His MP-5 would work better in these cramped conditions if they were attacked.
Harmund didn't like how their voices were amplified and bounced around by the walls of the Sewer, "If there's anyone or anything outside I'm sure they've heard us." He muttered. Harmund turned back to check on Sigbrand. His brother had his MP-5 up to his shoulder, and was checking each branch of the tunnel before moving on. "Standing there for a minute checking for anything makes you a sitting duck for anything behind you, you know." Harmund said, startling his brother. Turning back towards the group Harmund gave a slight jump. They were gone, unaware that he had stopped. He thought he could hear their voices coming from a tunnel to the left, so he followed it signaling for Sigbrand to follow him.
After a few minutes of wandering, the voices got fainter and fainter, eventually fading away. "It's these god damned tunnels!" Harmund shouted. Kicking furiously at a box in front of him, he looked up towards the pitch black tunnel ahead of them. A sea of glowing eyes met his gaze. Grabbing Sigbrand, he shoved his younger brother behind him. Reaching up slowly to his head lamp, Harmund flipped it on.
The eyes were still there, and the lead bloodsucker uncloaked. The beast gave a deafening roar, amplified by the tunnel and broke into a run towards the brothers the rest of them following close behind.
"Come on you bastards!" Roared Harmund, unleashing a hail of 7.62x54mm rounds at the hoard of bloodsuckers. Cutting down the first few. Harmund quickly ran out of ammo, swearing, he gripped the PKM by its barrel and swung it like a club at the nearest bloodsucker, smashing it's head to a pulp and breaking off the stock of the weapon. A red mist seemed to flow over Harmund's vision as he threw down the ruined machine gun. Drawing his pistol, he emptied it's magazine into the crowd, killing one of the monsters with a lucky shot to the heart. Throwing the empty sidearm to the ground, Harmund charged into the mass of mutants.
Harmund's beast like state, coupled with the augmented strength given to him by adrenaline and his Exoskeleton Harmund, smashed into the bloodsuckers like a tidal wave, trampling one and grabbing another by the throat crushing it's windpipe and leaving it on the ground slowly suffocating. Harmund was quickly engulfed in a mass of tentacles and clawed hands, tearing at his armor and attempting to get a hold around his neck. Before he could react, one of the monsters had grabbed hold of his face with it's tentacles. Dealing a devastating punch to the creature's chest, it flew backwards taking Harmund's gas mask and helmet with it. Suddenly, his left arm stopped working, a bloodsucker had snapped one of the hydraulic lines, leaving the arm useless.
Soon the creatures were clawing at his face, and one of the bloodsuckers got a hold on the left side of his head, leaving horrible burns from it's tentacles. The beats had already clawed through the chest plate, and he now had several deep gashes across his back and chest. A pool of his blood and the blood of disemboweled bloodsuckers covered the ground around him. For every bloodsucker he killed, there seemed to be another to take it's place. Harmund's suit was now almost completely destroyed, and he had no chance of running. Yanking a grenade from his belt, he looked over his shoulder, seeing the face of his horrified brother Harmund shouted, "Run!" then pulled the pin.
Sigbrand heard his brother shout, but he couldn't move, he was frozen in place. Hearing the pin pulled from the grenade, and the lever detaching. Sigbrand threw himself flat and covered his head. The explosion seemed to shake the earth beneath Sigbrand, and bits of shrapnel clicked off the walls of the tunnel on either side of him. Pushing himself up, Sigbrand fired wildly at the remaining few mutants, causing them to flee back down the tunnel.
Dropping to his knees next to his brother, Sigbrand pulled out a medkit and began a futile attempt to save Harmund.
"Don't bother with me.." Harmund ghasped, coughing up a gob of blood. "You'll need them, don't waste them on me." "No..No!" Sigbrand shouted, tears streaming down his cheeks, "I can still save you!" Giving a slight chuckle, Harmund said weakly, "It's too late for me. The All-Father calls brother, Valhalla awaits."
And with that, Harmund died. His brother slumped over him, and a mountain of dead bloodsuckers around him. He lived and died, a warrior.
Sigbrand sat there, he didn't know for how long. After what seemed like an age, he stood up and started dragging his brothers body. After several minutes of wandering, he came to an exit. It was facing south, towards a hill, and on that hill was what seemed to be a miracle of nature. A gigantic old pine stood atop the hill, untouched by radiation and clean of any mutations or abnormalities.
Dragging his brother under the tree, Sigbrand started digging a hole. Once it was deep enough, he placed Harmund inside and covered it over. Breaking two large branches from the tree, he made a crude cross and stuck it into the earth in front of the grave. Walking over to the tree he slumped against it.
Looking up, he could see the fires and rockets from the Dead City glowing in the dusk. Behind him stood the tree, facing northwards in opposition towards the horrors of the Zone. Staring to the north, Sigbrand swore over the grave of his brother that he would do everything in his power to destroy every last monstrosity created by the Zone. To seek out and kill every last thing defending it, human or mutant, living or man made. He would avenge his brother.
And then, Sigbrand was a bear. F U
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Post by Διμι on Apr 7, 2010 23:50:51 GMT -5
The group followed on, tailing closely behind Adder and Maginot. They had walked on for roughly five or so minutes before Victor noticed that Harmund and Sigbrand were both gone.
He was about to voice the fact, but was interrupted by a series of roars, followed by the rapid chatter of Harmund's PKM, and, finally, a grenade blast. Several seconds later, only rough hisses and roars could be heard echoing through the tunnels, steadily getting closer to the squad's position.
"Shit, shit..." Victor muttered, backing into an intersection of several pipes as no less than six bloodsuckers erupted out of an adjoining tunnel. The beasts did not even pause to consider the stalker, knocking him out of the way with no effort, and sweeping through the rest of the group, splitting them apart. Victor felt himself being thrown bodily into a pipe, sliding several feet before emerging in another chamber. He could hear shots being fired by the rest of the stalkers as the mutants passed. Echoes rang off the tunnel walls, and footsteps could be heard seemingly everywhere.
Victor ran, he ran down the direction he thought he came from, but discovered no one. After calling his companions' names several times, he realized he was completely alone.
Slowly, he began walking, in the vague hope of coming upon someone in the labyrinthine maze comprising the Limansk underground. The first few turns were uneventful, however, something soon caught his eye. A wide trail of blood crossed his path, as if a body was dragged down the tunnel.
Please don't let this be one of ours... Victor begged as he followed the trail. Soon enough, it ended, leading up to a huge blast mark, encircled by over a dozen smashed, shot, blown apart, and eviscerated bloodsuckers. Harmund's PKM lay nearby, as did large pieces of his suit. Victor swore loudly, as the man was no doubt dead. No one could survive injuries like that, lose that much blood, and survive. He quickly turned and ran back, following the trail of blood in the other direction, drawing his HPSA.
After several minutes of following the blood trail, the thickness and length of which convinced him that the Dutier was almost certainly dead, he came upon a stairway, leading into the open. The loner holstered his HPSA, and gripped his hand on the railing, preparing to climb up to the surface.
Then, he felt the still-warm barrel of a gun, pressed square into his back.
"No sudden movements, my dear Victor, after all, we both want to get out of here alive, don't we?"
Lutiy stepped out of the shadowy recess, putting his gun to the medic's back. He regretted it, although it was most likely the only way he would get out of the sewers alive.
"Move!" he ordered, shoving the man up. The loner obliged, and began climbing the stairs. He could see the stalker glancing downward, gauging his chances of drawing his sidearm again without being shot.
"Don't even think about it. I don't want to have to shoot you early." the bandit warned, pressing down slightly on the gun, and tightening his grip on the trigger. He prodded Victor again to start moving, and at last, they emerged.
Then Lutiy noticed that someone was already there, almost as if waiting for them. One of the Dutier brothers, the marksman, had apparently dug a grave for his sibling. Lutiy's mind raced. If the boy propped against the tree managed to draw his gun, it would be over regardless, and killing both of them was certainly not the way to go.
"Sigbrand ru-" he heard the medic begin to yell. Decision time was over.
Lutiy leapt out of the exit after Victor, taking aim and blasting a single 9x19 mm round through and out of the loner's unarmored leg. The man went down, his sentence cut off as the fall knocked the wind out of him.
The Dutier by the tree scrambled to draw his gun, but Lutiy was far too quick. The bandit ripped the Flash artifact from his belt, averting his eyes as he threw it in the air and fired. The electro artifact exploded with a blinding flash, as it's name suggested, temporarily blinding the Myrvang brother before he could aim for the bandit and blow his brains out.
A split second later, Lutiy was gone. The rustling of leaves on the hill, stirred by his trenchcoat, was the only indication that he had ever stood there.
And then they too settled.
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Post by Afterburner on Apr 8, 2010 3:51:36 GMT -5
As Khan read Lutiy's message, he couldn't help but feel that he was being watched. He pocketed his PDA and continued through the tunnels which were echoing with different cries.
"The duty squad decided to run from the horrors outside...Lutiy is nowhere to be found."
He decided to sit down, as he hadn't eaten that morning. He grabbed a piece of dry-cured prosciutto out of his pocket and took a bite, watering it down with a flask. Who else but a master tracker would have found a clean stream in the forest?
The sounds of PKM fire echoed through the tunnels and a familiar bloodthirsty roar broke the PKM's rattling. He heard someone mumbling and, as the voices got louder, Khan decided to get out of sight. As he stopped near a doorway, he saw the Frenchman and the girl passing without noticing him. He crept out behind them, silently. Taking a turn to the place where he was supposed to meet Lutiy, he felt the familiar smell of dead, rotting flesh. A puddle of fruit punch had lost its green color and was slowly turning yellow, meaning that, as Khan often said, "it ate". Carefully tightening the grip of his improvised gas mask, he exited the room. A long corridor was in front of him, and, as Khan saw, without many anomalies. He carefully stepped down the corridor, only to turn at one point as he thought he heard someone crying.
As he entered the room, the only thing he saw was a large crate buzzing towards him at an alarming speed. As the crate shattered against a wall, Khan got up, only to see a torn-up black drape disappearing behind a corner. He rushed towards it, nearly losing his head again as a heavy pipe flung itself at him from behind the corner. Only this time, the burer had nowhere to hide and just stood there, staring at Khan with its ugly features. The Marlin was fast, but the burer's shield was faster and the 30.30 stopped in mid-air, just a few centimeters away from the burer's mouth, which was slowly turning into a grin. The mutant, having run out of junk to throw, quickly "switched" to his telekinetic shock-wave, which nearly sent Khan off his feet. As the burer backed, Khan slowly walked towards it, gripping his tomahawk. As he raised it, the burer simultaneously raised his arms, expecting the man to throw his weapon. But, Khan flung himself at the dwarf who had lowered his arms and in a moment, slashed his head with the axe. Covering his deformed features with one hand, the mutant swiped Khan on the ground with its other arm, slowly backing away. Only this time, it wasn't going to get away. The tomahawk landed straight into its skull, and the monster dropped dead onto the ground. Khan stood over it and took out his tomahawk, attaching it back to his suit.
"A worthy opponent. I will remember your kin from now on, mutant."
He heard a loud, buzzing noise from outside. Climbing out of a vent, he ended up on the small foothill on the coast. As he removed his face mask, he breathed in deeply and dropped on the ground. He could barely remember his last time under ground, and this was not exactly like riding a bike. As he got up, he saw a man in a coat running towards him.
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Post by Karcentric on Apr 8, 2010 5:34:50 GMT -5
Rurik's head still throbbed as they marched through the tunnel, Why is the Scorcher back on? He thought, slowly his head stopped hurting, the paths all looked the same, despite having NV, Rurik was sure they were lost, "How do you know where your going," He eventually snapped, "and where has Sigbrand and Harmund gotten to?" Sighing Rurik continued walking, he stopped when he heard the sound from somewhere else in the maze of pipes the unmissable echo of a PKM, "That's Harmund."
Several bloodsuckers were roaring as well, followed by the thud and slight vibration in the ground. A minute later a pack of bloodsuckers charged through the group, but didn't attack, one bloodsucker bumped into Rurik, hissing angrily at him, Rurik punched the beast in the head sending it into the wall, where it cracked it's skull open. Wiping blood off his fist Rurik looked around only to find his group had been scattered. Why here, of all places? He thought, looking for an exit. "No point staying down here anymore." he muttered to himself.
After walking for 5 minutes Rurik found a ladder that was intact, climbing it gingerly he carefully poked his head out seeing if the Scorcher's emissions reached this far, after a few seconds Rurik decided they didn't, climbing out of the hole, he covered it over and began checking the area to try and work out where he was, his PDA's map was flickering giving no useful information. "Shit, I'll have to refer to the old map I brought along to figure this out."
At that moment several events happened. Somewhere behind and above Rurik he heard someone collapse. Keeping out of sight Rurik saw the man who had guided them through the forest laying on the ground gasping for air looking quite ill, Interesting, either this man was waiting for us to get picked off and then loot or corpses, or he is waiting for someone. Rurik summarized. A shot was fired somewhere below where he was made him check, looking he could see Victor and someone else slouched under a tree, it looked like Sigbrand, he could also see Lutiy. The bandit had shot Victor in the leg, then he shot an artifact which lite the area up, Lutiy was charging up the hill. Rurik smiled, Lutiy was going to run right past him and he didn't even know. Waiting for the perfect moment Rurik stepped out in front Lutiy, Even with his gas mask on Rurik saw the bandits eyes widen in surprise. He fired three shots all deflecting harmlessly off Rurik armor, lunging forward Rurik caught Lutiy by the throat lifting him effortlessly, and taking the gun from him, he turned and walked towards Khan pointing Lutiy's pistol at him calling up to him, "Don't move or the first shot goes in your knee, and the second in the head." he held Lutiy as a human shield. "I think you have some explaining to do, friend." Rurik muttered, as he approached Khan he squeezed Lutiy throat before chucking him onto the ground beside the large stalker, drawing his own pistol pointing it at Lutiy. "Now gentlemen, you may enlighten me."
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Post by Basil on Apr 8, 2010 10:04:00 GMT -5
"...hello?"
Her voice echoed emptily through the darkness. She swore she could hear the distant voices of other members of the group, but they were too distant and faint for her to locate them.
When the bloodsuckers had burst upon the group, she had been knocked in the face by someone else, not breaking her helmet's visor but banging her head against it and making her lose her bearings. When she had regained them, she was alone.
Not that the darkness scared her: she could see perfectly. Everything was grey and slightly colourless, but was clearly visible. She set off at a slow pace, hunting rifle at the ready should any mutants decide to show up. The floor of the tunnel was covered with a thick layer of old, broken concrete, plant debris and mud, brought in by two decades of rain, and her feet would splash noisily in a puddle every now and then.
After a while, she began to automatically avoid such puddles and muddy patches, using her inhumanly good nocturnal vision. Light streamed in weakly from manholes in the ceiling of the tunnel every now and then, but she avoided those...who knew what lay in wait in the streets above.
As she moved quietly through the tunnels, she heard the sound of fighting nearby, which quickly died away. Unsure where the fight had taken place, she simply went on into the unknown, hoping to find the others. After some more walking, she came upon the broken body of some unlucky stalker, who had seemingly been shot in the chest before falling backwards through a manhole and being finished off by gerbils. He still clutched a small sniper rifle in his hands, which Adder picked up and inspected. The gun was a Vintorez, and had not suffered from its brief sojourn in the damp, muddy sewers. She rummaged in the dead stalker's rucksack and found a couple of boxes of ammunition for the small rifle, which she took before heading off again.
As a loud explosion shook the ground above her, causing some dust to fall down from the ceiling, she saw a pair of glowing eyes nearby and froze, hunting rifle half raised. She could hear the harsh, ugly, hissing breathing of the bloodsucker as the eyes came slowly closer, and she could distinguish the vague outline of the creature's camouflaged body as it moved. It stopped right in front of her, its eyes fixing her with deadly coldness, a stare that Adder returned. The loner and the bloodsucker stared at each other for a while before the creature snorted and left, its camouflage disappearing as it walked away, revealing a large, bipedal and black creature in the prime of its life. A fearsome predator.
And it had spared her.
Mystified by the strange encounter, Adder continued her journey through the sewers. The guiding voice of the Monolith did not return to help her, and she felt betrayed and relieved by its absence. As she rounded a bend, she heard a loud, very threatening hiss from somewhere to her right. Before she could react, she saw a black flash as something long and scaly struck at her from a rusty old metal pipe protruding from the sewer tunnel's wall. The loathesome creature, which she saw was a long, large black snake with a pointed head, bit down into her shoulder, its fangs tearing through her suit and sinking into her flesh.
She screamed in pain before grabbing the creature by the neck and pulling it out of its hiding place, reaveling a long, nightmarish scaley body that writhed aggressively in her hand. She threw the thing aside as it tried to bite her hand, making it crash against the sewer's wall. It fell to the ground with a wet thud before writhing to life again and rearing up like a cobra ready to strike. The creature struck just as Adder raised her shotgun and blasted its head off.
As the mutated serpent fell dead to the floor, she gasped and shook violently. The snake was obviously a venomous one, and its vile poison was taking effect. She drew in a long, hissing breath as her vision blurred. Her legs became so weak she fell to the floor like a sack of rocks, splashing into the matted layer of rotten plants, mud and dirty water and lying there, shaking violently and drawing laboured, hissing breaths. Her body spasmed a few times, and she vaguely remembered banging her visor against a piece of concrete. After what seemed like an eternity, she got back up, feeling weak and dizzy and very sick. She hastily took her helmet off as she felt the contents of her stomach churn and rise up threateningly, and she vomited noisily.
"Ugh...why am I not dead?", she mumbled groggily, stumbling away down the tunnel, where she could see the light of day, "this thing's venom seemed potent enough to kill me in a few seconds..."
She stumbled down the tunnel, looking at the two neat holes in her suit where the snake had bitten her. They were not bleeding any more, but she decided to be cautious and spray them with some disinfectant from a medikit and bandage them. Once that was done, she went over to the source of light, which turned out to be a large hole in the sewers leading outside.
"Ooohhh...out at last", she said in a thick, pasty voice as she emerged onto a hill. She had taken her helmet off previously, and she looked at it to see if it had taken any damage. Two large cracks had been made in the visor, and the top of the helmet had been ripped, making a fair sized hole in the fabric. She sighed heavily...it was probably useless now.
She saw a few people nearby who she recognised as Rurik, the Red Forest guide and...Lutiy. Her blood boiled as she saw the bandit, who was obviously being held in check by Rurik. Ignoring the fact she wasn't wearing her helmet, she went over to them and said in a contemptuous but slightly hoarse voice:
"Well if it ain't Lutiy the master thief..."
She stared murderously at him, her cold reptilian eyes boring into him before she switched her attention to the guide.
"And what are you doing here...you're not in league with this scum, right?", she hissed, her paranoia mounting and putting things together in a seemingly insane, but logical way.
Meanwhile...
Maginot gasped for air, his muffled breathing raucous and harsh as he ran and stumbled through the sewers. He had no idea where he was going, and the darkness was beginning to unnerve him. He avoided the glowing green pools of corrosive liquid that were Fruit Punch anomalies, and once had to avoid a gravitational anomaly that had ripped up part of the sewer pipe. The further he went, the less hope he had of finding the rest of the group and a way out. The sewers just went on and on and on.
After some more panicked searching and running, he realised he would never be able to find the exit by panicking and quickly tried to regain his calm. After some thought, he went down a tunnel that went Westwards, and, after some more walking through dark galleries filled with filthy, muddy water coming up to his ankles, he began to think he was going round in circles, after all, that chunk of old concrete seemed oddly familiar...
As he walked through the tunnels, he heard an ugly throaty snarl and turned round to face his new foe. He saw several scrawny, hellishly ugly rodent like creatures that he recognised as "hamsters" or "gerbils", two innapropriate and obviously ironic nicknames for the loathesome little critters.
"Allez vous faire foutre!", he yelled before firing at them with his AK. Three of the buggers died, but the others came on undeterred. He was in their domain, and it made them fearless. Even with his assault rifle, he realised there were too many to dispatch, and he quickly opted for the time old human solution to danger: running away.
He dashed away from the snarling beasts, kicking a couple away with his booted foot. After a long and arduous chase through the muddy tunnels, the gerbils finally gave up and vanished, leaving Maginot alone once more.
The French stalker, muttering to himself, made his way down even more tunnels, feeling tempted to go up through one of the manholes he saw just to see the light of day again. But the possible presence of Monolithians at the surface kept him from doing so. Suddenly he saw a bright light at the end of the tunnel, and he briefly wondered if he was dead.
The light seemed real enough, and he finally decided to go over to it. He saw the source of the light was an exit leading onto a hillside. As he emerged from the darkness with a relieved sigh, he saw a familiar person lying on the ground nearby and clutching his injured leg.
"Victor!", said Maginot, hurrying over to him and grabbing a medikit, "we can't have our medic die...what happened to you?"
Items found: VSS Vintorez (Adder)
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Post by Afterburner on Apr 8, 2010 12:32:38 GMT -5
Khan couldn't count how many times he had been in a situation like this.
" Hello lieutenant. Beautiful day, isn't it? And yet, we are holed in this filthy sewer, searching for answers to unanswerable questions. Sit down, lieutenant, enjoy the breeze. There is no harm around here. I trust the remaining members of your squad are fine and healthy? Ah, lieutenant, you have yet to understand the laws of nature."
The lieutenant still made no move, waving Lutiy's pistol at him. He continued
"Yet, lieutenant, your membership in the Duty faction is akin to none. You are definitely wondering why am I here, or what was I going to do with this man. You see, you stalkers are invading this place. I have never had a quarrel with you, nor have I ever planned on doing such a thing."
The impatient Duty lieutenant kept waving his gun, ordering him to drop his weapon. As he took the Marlin off his back, the wind started blowing a bit harder, and the trees started waving, clear signs of a storm.
"Lieutenant, do you see it? The nature here...has changed. No longer what it used to be. And yet, there are a few things that are alike both here and outside. You see..."
The clouds were becoming menacingly dark
"...After a shock-wave..."
A bolt of lightning struck somewhere in the forest. Khan raised his hands slowly over his head
"There is always..."
The wind was getting harder. Khan got on his knees
"...an aftershock"
As he spoke, the wind started blowing so strong that he could barely stand still. With incredibly quick reflexes, he grabbed his marlin and threw it in the small manhole, before jumping in it himself. The Dutier collapsed under the effect of the psychic aftershock, roaring in pain as the incredible psychic surge rampaged through his head. Lutiy, seemingly unharmed by the blast, sprang up and dropped back into the hole after Khan, disappearing in the maze of the tunnels.
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Post by Διμι on Apr 8, 2010 20:02:00 GMT -5
Victor felt his head ring again, as another wave of psy emissions emanated from the Red Forest. The radiation level in the area instantly rose a notch as the sky darkened slightly, and then dropped back as the tremor subsided. The loner's psy-protection device had yet again saved him.
He attempted to stand to help the rest of the stalkers back to their feet, but his leg instantly gave out under him. His groan mingled with the rasps of the rest of the group as they attempted to recover.
More surprisingly, the bandit, Lutiy, seemed to have been absolutely unaffected by the aftershock. The man had sprung into the hole as if he hadn't even felt the psychic blast, yet Victor hadn't seen any advanced protective equipment. In fact, the man hadn't even been wearing a mask.
Turning his attention back to his injury, he reached over for the kit Maginot had dropped. After sanitizing his wound, he reached into his pack for the Meat Chunk, carefully carving out a small piece to regenerate the lost and damaged tissue. The artifact melded neatly into place, leaving a slightly rough, lumpy scar due to its inconsistent shape. Within minutes, the wound had been patched.
Victor rose to his feet, wincing from the residual pain. As he helped Sigbrand and Adder back to their feet, he noticed the woman's eyes, no longer masked by the SSP-99's visor.
The pupils had stretched into slits, and now sat in vividly green, split irises, absolutely reptilian in nature. The medic recoiled slightly from the shock before regaining some self-control. Doubtlessly, he hadn't dealt with Adder's irradiation timely enough, despite his use of the thorns. The grim prospect dawned on the loner as a personal failure. Victor hung his head for several seconds, sliding his own visor down and burying his face in his hands before speaking up.
"Out with it, all of it." he said "How long have you had these symptoms? And what of the effects of the psy-radiation? No doubt those have affected you as well, or at least weakened your own conscious mind. How did you know to know Lutiy was going to be in the sewer when he entered the city by the main road? Have you been hearing voices of any sort." The loner's fixed black eyes met the slits of Adder's pupils once more, but could not penetrate to whatever lay underneath their alien gaze.
Lutiy sprinted through the sewers after Khan, keeping up behind the stout, but surprisingly fast guide as they sped through several turns before stopping.
Despite his agility, he had managed to get himself cornered, and what's more, outside. He cursed silently. Only the lucky occurrence of the emission had saved him from his captors. Somehow, he had managed to emerged completely unscathed from the psy-storm, just as he had from his encounter with the psychic controller mutant in the Yantar factory.
He returned his mind to the task ahead of him. He had to get himself to the Dead City, where he reckoned Seth was still trapped by the advancing waves of the Monolith. Evidently, the item was still in the base somewhere, awaiting his arrival. His sidearm was gone, and he would need another to compensate. Although he was quick and accurate with his heavily modified Kalashnikov rifle, he wasn't nearly as quick on the draw as with a handgun.
He paused as they passed by a section of the tunnel nearly blown to pieces by a grenade. It was here that the older Duty brother made his last stand. The bandit looked about. Lying on the ground was a broken PKM, its stock completely smashed, as well as an unloaded Desert Eagle. Lutiy picked up the handgun, and after several seconds of searching, found its magazine in a puddle nearby, thrown there by the blast. He noted that the gun was modified to fire heavy, armor-piercing 9x39mm ammunition. It was certainly a rare exemplar of the Zone's gunsmith prodigies' creations. The weapon was heavier than Lutiy was used to it being, but it would do. All he had to do was obtain some ammunition.
"Khan," he said, walking up to the guide "I need to get to Pripyat, but I need to drop by the Dead City first. There is something of great importance in the mercenary HQ that I need to receive. It's of vital importance to the Zone itself, to the land that was once twisted by mankind's abhorrent will. I guarantee that the cause will be worth your involvement, even if there is only so far you can come before having to turn back."
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Post by Afterburner on Apr 9, 2010 2:32:16 GMT -5
"I can see, Kiril. That's why we're in the lower levels of the sewers. Now, if I remember correctly, the passage should be...here!"
They stopped in front of a large, heavy door
"Now, if you could kindly turn that wheel over there, my task would be made much easier."
The bandit nodded and started turning a rusted old wheel. The door started clanking, but there was something wrong.
"You can let go of the wheel, now. It is just as I thought...This door has not been used in ages, and, if we want to get to the Dead City, we should try and fix it. As I believe, there should have been another wheel on this...However, there is no such wheel here. That means..."
He stopped for a moment, as he thought he heard footsteps echoing through the corridors
"...That means we will have to go even further down through these cursed tunnels. I do not like the idea...Not even these scum dare go down there"
He kicked a rodent's body into the anomaly, which made a characteristic hissing sound before dissolving the mutant's body completely
"Follow me. There is a way under the east wing of Limansk sewers which should lead us to the underground, and, hopefully to the Dead City itself."
Khan zig-zagged through the maze of corridors, occasionally stopping his companion.
"The staircase is...here. Hmm...It is a wise thing to cover up this entrance with a block this large, but it is not really helping our situation."
Khan stood up and closed his eyes. It looked like he was praying. Finally, he stepped out of his trance-like behavior. He began to push the large block off the entrance. It looked like he was given a new lease of life, as the block started moving. Finally, as he managed to push it out of the way, he nearly tore out the cover which hid a ladder leading to the so-called catacombs.
"The so-called catacombs...A dark, menacing place. I have been here only once, and despite the fact that I was with the Zone's finest, we barely managed to exit this place sane. There is something simply disturbing down here. Something which chills you to the bone. I have seen the others trembling with horrified spirits in their eyes. I, myself heard wails and voices. This is not a place to be standing around, Kiril. The walls are painted with blood of the dead, the corridors paved with their bodies...The air...polluted with their spirits. Nobody knows how, or why they died. I advise that you keep close, and ignore all calls. If you see me exhibiting any strange behavior, here."
The stalker took a few small capsules out of his pocket
"Breathe in deeply and break one open. Throw the contains at my face. It contains an extremely strong, psychoactive smelling salt, which should be able to bring back the dead...Not that I like using such a phrase in a place like this. Let us proceed."
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Post by Basil on Apr 9, 2010 7:13:07 GMT -5
"Out with it, all of it." he said "How long have you had these symptoms? And what of the effects of the psy-radiation? No doubt those have affected you as well, or at least weakened your own conscious mind. How did you know to know Lutiy was going to be in the sewer when he entered the city by the main road? Have you been hearing voices of any sort."
Kill him and get out of here, my child...
Adder's brain was throbbing from the effects of the psy-emission, and everything was horribly blurred...and now the Voice.
Kill him and escape, they will only try to destroy you...
She shook her head, trying to make the voice go away, before turning her attention to Victor. The bite wound on her shoulder still hurt slightly.
"-I've had them since Yantar. My eyes were still too sensitive to light back then, so we asked Sakharov to see if anything was wrong. He did some basic light reaction tests and asked me if I wanted to stay for a little longer. I accepted. While Maginot was out, he did more light reaction tests and saw my pupils...change."
The pain was receding, and she could now think and see more clearly, but the after-effects of the mutant snake's venom made her feel groggy. She continued in a slightly hoarse voice.
"He theorised the emission had somehow altered my DNA, and he asked for a blood sample. So far, the physical effects have been pretty useful, as I can see in the dark...as to the voices and Lutiy, I don't know. I haven't heard any voices and I had no idea Lutiy would be in the sewers, I just saw a sewer pipe and thought it would be a safe way through Limansk for us all."
The last part was a lie. She didn't trust them enough to tell them the Monolith or something had been edging her onwards, telling her about the sewers and advising her to kill Maginot and Victor. How they would react to that? Probably kill her.
At that moment, her PDA beeped and the message icon flashed on its screen. She was amazed at the small device's resistance, as it had probably undergone a fair deal of punishment since Yantar. She took her PDA and read the message, which was a vocal message from Professor Sakharov.
"-Adder, this is Sakharov. We have analysed the blood sample you so kindly gave us, and we found some very interesting things. For one, your DNA has definitely been modified in a permanent manner, but your blood also seems to contain some unknown natural chemical. We studied it and discovered that it is a powerful and unknown anti-venom. We would be very grateful if you could drop by some time in the future so we could continue our studies."
As the message ended, Adder understood why she hadn't died back in the sewers from that mutant snake's bite: her body had rejected the venom.
Maginot, on the other hand, was feeling very nervous about the others finding out about Adder's mutation? Would they kill her? Or banish her from the group? He stepped into the conversation.
"-I've known about this ever since it began, and I can assure you that there have been no negative or dangerous effects so far."
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