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Post by Zeno, Lord Camelith on Mar 23, 2010 23:05:28 GMT -5
Rodent sat down on the cot across from Leon and pulled out the parts to his new rifle. Examining them carefully, he reassembled the sniper rifle and slung it over his back. Once Rodent was sure that Leon was asleep, he stood up and quietly left the room, nodding to the trader Skinflint and the armory guard as he walked out. Rodent turned left after leaving the Freedom HQ, and walked to an old warehouse building he had noticed earlier. The building had a ladder on one side that went up to the roof. Climbing up the ladder, he set his pack down and sat down next to it. The sky was clear, with a few clouds gathered in the south east. Above him the stars shone brightly. Lying down, Rodent stared up at the stars, they seemed to be the only thing in this cursed place that wasn't twisted or defiled by the reaches of the Zone.
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Rodent woke with a start as his PDA beeped loudly in his ear. Pushing himself up, he checked the message, it was from Leon. "Time to move out." He muttered. Walking across the roof of the old building, he climbed down the ladder and walked towards the entrance to the compound. Spotting Leon's massive exoskeleton, he walked towards him. Rusty, Duke and Dodge all had absurd hangovers, and were shuffling about going nowhere in particular. Walking up next to Leon, Rodent put on his most military-esque voice and said, "Bah! If those scalawags were in My regiment, I'd have them flogged and sent to the Gulags to learn their lesson!"
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Post by Karcentric on Mar 24, 2010 5:10:10 GMT -5
Rusty woke up still feeling the effects of the weed. Putting his PDA in his pocket he found he could stand now. That's a good start Rusty. He thought, Leon was standing nearby as was Dodge, Duke was in a similar state to himself. Opening a can of energy drink cleared his thoughts slightly, he made his way over in a zig-zag path towards Leon, "That's the last time I'll ever drink or smoke." He muttered, as he did almost every time he had a hangover. Swaying terribly while he stood still, Rusty decided to meander about to help him stay up.
Watching Rodent approach he waved at him, only to hear him say "Bah! If those scalawags were in My regiment, I'd have them flogged and sent to the Gulags to learn their lesson!", the three all reacted in a similar manner, Rusty waved his hand in a whatever manner, "We're bandits, not soldiers sunshine. Discipline isn't very high on the list of priorities. Are you going clip us on the ear?" Rusty retorted.Rodent looked as though he was going to say something but Leon raised his hand silencing them both.
Putting the visor back on his armor proved an even greater challenge than taking it off. "Why the fuck are these thing so complicated!" Rusty shouted while banging the visor into place, eventually it clicked into place and he settled down walking quietly beside the other bandits following Leon. "Which way sir?" He asked as they came to the entrance of the freedom base.
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Post by Basil on Mar 25, 2010 11:58:55 GMT -5
Duke woke with the "Dad's Army" theme song humming happily away in his mind. He shook his head like a stunned dog and stumbled over to where Dodge lay. His companion/attorney seemed to have been crapped on by a crow during the night.
"Oi, geddup you fugger", mumbled Duke as he kicked Dodge in the nads, "you've got radioactive bird shit down your shoulder."
"-Aw fuck man, do that one more time and I'll burn your house down", grumbled Dodge.
"-I don't have a house you dumb fuck", said Duke, getting his cigarette case out and almost crying out in pain and despair as he saw he only had one fag left. He took the cigarette with trembling hands and clamped it between his teeth as he lit it up with a scruffy match...he'd have to find more soon. To his consternation and mild chagrin he saw Dodge grab another bottle of vodka from his pack and take a swig. The dumb bastard couldn't get anything done unless he had booze churning around his insides.
"C'mon you damn Polynesian", said Duke, "or the boss'll have our heads for breakfast."
"-Fuck your boss, I ain't going nowhere without my booze."
"-Damn, you Polynesians are all the same: no faith in the inherent decency of the white man's culture", said Duke, shaking his head and walking off to where Rusty and Co were assembled. Dodge followed a few minutes later, tipsy and waving and empty bottle around.
"Bah! If those scalawags were in My regiment, I'd have them flogged and sent to the Gulags to learn their lesson!", said Rodent.
"-Fuck your Fascism!" retorted Duke with a rude flourish involving his right hand and middle finger, "I'm a Libertarian, and I believe in doing what I want when I want and how I want. Shove that in deeply guv'nor."
"-Damn right!", hiccoughed Dodge as he threw his vodka bottle at Rodent, missing him by a good five meters. Duke clouted him on the head for his uncouth attitude.
The group then set off and stopped at the base's entrance. Duty turned to Leon for instructions while Duke turned to Dodge to berate him about his alcohol abuse and lack of ethics and everything else.
"-Dodge, you Polynesian bastard. You're my attorney, and attorneys aren't supposed to drink."
"-As your attorney I advise you to fuck the shut up", said Dodge happily.
"-Pah! Just you wait, you island-dwelling alcoholic! Next thing you'll be stepping right into a Whirligig anomaly."
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Post by Διμι on Mar 25, 2010 19:04:55 GMT -5
Grabbing the two bandits by their collars, Leon lifted the two easily off of the ground, and unceremoniously carried them out of the compound entrance. "That's the last time you two are getting drunk and high on this particular expedition, boys." he remarked, tossing them on the ground "any more of this libertarian ganja bullshit, and I'll leave you to the bloodsuckers. Not that you'll probably survive up to that point anyway, in that condition."
He walked to the crossroads by the entrance. The Freedomers had helpfully installed a sign with arrows in Russian that had been bent and twisted to no end. Leon quickly straightened out the pole, and aligning the arrow directing to the base with its proper direction. He could now see that the fork right led to the Barrier. "Well, folks it seems like that's where we're going." he said somberly, turning right.
The hills around them had gotten steeper. He could see several small tents on top of the ridge to the right, men in green keeping watch. Several campfires had been lit in the valley below, separated by concrete blocks, fences, destroyed vehicles, and the occasional watch tower. Freedom evidently kept the mainstay of their more experienced fighting force here, keeping the Red Forest mutants and Monolithians out of the South.
The mercenary and his team approached the line separating the Forest and Freedom's holds. A man in a green 'Guardian of Freedom' suit turned to address him. "We got a message from the base, so we've been expecting you. You're free to pass North." the guard said curtly "good luck out there, stalker. You'll need it." he added. Leon only nodded, stepping forward down the road. The trees ahead had twisted their branches over the winding path, looming over the shadowed road. The sight itself unnerved Leon, this place could not be home to anything good.
Nevertheless, he waved for his team to follow him, and began walking down the road into the forest depths.
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Post by Basil on Mar 27, 2010 16:56:24 GMT -5
Duke was not exactly oblivious to his surroundings, but his surroundings seldom scared him. Until now that is. The twisted trees above him seemed to be trying to claw at the small group of stalkers, and things seemed to flit furtively between the rocks up ahead.
Dodge on the other hand, was perfectly oblivious to the things around him, having drunk his share of mind obliterating vodka. Duke tutted as he tripped over what seemed to be a skeleton eaten away by time.
"-You're going to end up in an anomaly."
And, surprisingly enough, Duke's words turned out to be true. Nobody had noticed the Vortex up ahead, although nobody in the group was walking towards it, not even Dodge. In fact, Dodge might have survived had he not suddenly stumbled, changing his direction and walking right into the anomaly like a puppet smashed on acid and without strings to guide it. There was a wooshing sound, a startled yell, and a loud bang. All that remained of Dodge was a fine mist of pulverised flesh and bone, some of which sprayed Duke.
Duke blinked behind the visor of his helmet, and stared at where Dodge had been barely a few minutes ago. All that remained was a hand still clutching a broken bottle, some tattered fragments of his suit and of course the sticky red mess that had been splattered over the ground when Dodge met his demise.
"God damn it, Dodge, now I'll have to get another attorney", said Duke in an annoyed voice. He had never been good at sorrow.
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Post by Karcentric on Mar 29, 2010 9:10:11 GMT -5
Rusty was trudging after Leon looking around, the trees seemed to be drawing them in, like long crooked fingers. There was a sinister feel here, Rusty's brain told him to run, but somehow he continued despite that. I can't be any worse off than those two. He thought looking to Duke and his 'attorney' who were muttering, looking back ahead again, Rusty continued his worryings when he heard Duke say "You're going to end up in an anomaly." Rusty was going to say something when a sound of all the air being drawn into a vacuum looking around hurried Rusty saw Dodge explode, ducking as part of the stolen suit spun wildly towards him. Nobody had noticed the anomaly. Eventually Duke shouted at the splatter on the ground, "God damn it, Dodge, now I'll have to get another attorney!" Rusty looked at him, unable to speak, Dodge's hand was still clutching his last drink. Rusty was going to grab it when something hanging above him caught his eye, looking up he saw Dodge's RPG hanging from a branch. "Well I'll be, how did that get there?" he said looking for something to dislodge the RPG, finding nothing he threw branches up at it hitting it but not dislodging it. Drawing his HPSA, he shot at the branch, hitting it on the third shot the RPG fell into his waiting hand.
Sitting up El watched the group walk out towards the Barrier, putting down the book that he was reading and picking up his PDA he sent a short message over a secure link. Schwarz, a group just left AW heading for RF, they are the guys that broke in to the armory, 3 of em were pretty bent when they left. Gonna come and share what I've found...
El Putting the PDA back in his pocket, he walked over to where one of the stalkers had passed out the night before. He had left some the contents of his bag behind, several cans of food, one or two magazines, and an envelope. Opening the envelope, El found several documents containing patrol schedules and other lesser documents. Both faction would pay something for this info. Stuffing the documents into his bag, he jogged back to where he had been staying, taking a running leap he pulled himself up onto the roof of the main building grabbing his rifle and slinging it over his shoulder before jumping back down and setting off at a brisk pace he made his way towards Rostok, stopping only to pick up a discarded spray can, it was almost empty, but he kept it just in case.
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Post by Zeno, Lord Camelith on Mar 30, 2010 0:42:17 GMT -5
Wiping the splotches of blood off of his visor and the rest of his suit Rodent walked over to Duke, "Er war ein guter stalker...We can't stay here much longer, this will bring every mutant downwind from here onto us." The bandit wasn't showing his grief, but Rodent knew it was there. Walking back over to Leon, Rodent saw that Rusty was busy trying to dislodge the late attorney's RPG from a nearby tree. "Now there's only four of us." He muttered to the Merc, "Are you sure we can make it through the Red Forest with just four men? Even with all of this new gear, a simple accident could bring us down to three or even two people, then there's really no chance of getting through."
Walking away from Leon, a glint by a nearby tree trunk caught his eye. Walking over to the tree, he crouched down next to the source of the glint. It was a Soul artifact, but it seemed to have veins of metal running through it. The beauty of the small clump of what used to be Dodge and his equipment somehow unnerved Rodent. Picking up the soul artifact Rodent walked over to Duke, he handed the bandit the artifact and said, "Auch nach dem Tod können einige Menschen immer noch einen Weg finden, um die Lebenden zu helfen. Even after death, some people can still find ways to help the living."
[CHECK]
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Post by Basil on Mar 30, 2010 11:32:17 GMT -5
"Why, thank you good sir", said Duke, putting the Soul in his belt pouch. He wasn't particularly saddened by Dodge's death: Dodge had never been a real friend, just a foil for Duke's slightly insane behaviour, as well as a drain on his worldy possessions.
"Dodge", said Duke in a solemn voice, "I will always carry you in my heart, and will always remember you for what you truly were: a useless drunk, a miser and a man with bad breath."
Despite this, Duke did feel a bit sad about Dodge's untimely end. He was his attorney after all, and partner in crime, how would he ever replace him? Dodge had always been gullible enough to follow Duke's plans without complaining, was there anyone that patient and credulous in the Zone?
"Anyway, as Rodent said, we'd better get moving before becoming mutant chow."
Something on the ground caught Duke's eyes, and he bent over to see what it was. Apparently, one of Dodge's own cigarettes had been ejected from his suit when the poor bugger was julienned. Duke picked the cigarette up, wiping some of the blood away with his sleeve, and carefully stored it in his metal cigarette box.
"Bless you and your 'parting gifts', Dodge!", said Duke happily. [CHECK] Fixed a mixed up name.
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Post by Διμι on Mar 30, 2010 17:20:17 GMT -5
Nonchalantly brushing off gobs of red mincemeat from his suit's plated sleeve, Leon gave the late stalker a moment of silence before speaking out.
"I hope that sobered everyone up quite nicely." he said at last "I suppose that one drunkard more or less wouldn't make much of a difference in determining whether we all die in this place or not." he answered in response to Rodent's concern. "Now, if the Freedomers were telling the truth, we've got two roads ahead of us. We can either stick to the road and make battle with scores of Monolith troops, or we can take the woods and treat ourselves to some mutants. Personally, I know little of this place, and have little idea which of these routes is less dangerous in relation to the other." he looked around the group "Any particular opinions anyone would like to voice?" he asked.
The mercenary and the remaining stalkers began moving down the road "We still have some time for thought on the matter before we start running into Monolith patrols." Leon finalized. "For the time being, we've got to move. I don't want to be stranded in this place by nightfall."
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Post by Karcentric on Mar 31, 2010 11:22:34 GMT -5
Catching the RPG Rusty cried out in triumph, pumping his fists in the air and doing a little jig, after that he strapped the launcher to his pack. "I feel great now." He replied "Exploding attorneys, hidden anomalies." Rusty muttered to himself. Looking up as Leon asked them a question, "Which way do I want to go? The shortest way is better, as long as we don't end up dead." He replied, trying to imagine what horrors awaited them in the forest, he'd heard many stories while amongst the bandits of this place, none of them good. "Which way do you want to go? Your the leader, you lead and we'll follow."
"Have you fought any of those monolith guys before?" He asked Leon, hoping he knew something about them. Looking around him, Rusty looked at the pikes that littered the sides of the road. There was over 100 of them running down the road. "Were these all the people who tried to pass through here or something?" Rusty asked nervously, the last thing he wanted was to join these unfortunate heads. Holding the stolen assault rifle tightly he steeled his nerves. Up ahead he could hear voices, droning in a repeated sentence, creeping closer with the group Rusty poked his head out from behind on of the rusting vehicles. Three men were sitting swaying back and forth in a trance like state. Looking at Leon in confusion he asked, "What's wrong with them?" While checking the Steyr Aug over quickly waiting for the possible order to attack.
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Post by Basil on Apr 1, 2010 8:30:31 GMT -5
"What's wrong with them?", Duke heard Rusty ask.
The bandit looked at the swaying figures up ahead, vaguely remembering something a bandit back in the Dark Valley had told him about Monolith. The bandit in question was a veteran of the rush North after the Scorcher was de-activated...
"Mother of God", said Duke in a whisper, grabbing his FAL, "they're Monolith freaks!"
He looked warily at the swaying fanatics up ahead before adding:
"Look at 'em swaying away like drunken penguins, they must be praying or something, praying to their old magic rock", he whispered. His FAL was now in his hands and ready for action...from what he had heard, Monolithians would attack any 'non-believers' on site.
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Post by Zeno, Lord Camelith on Apr 2, 2010 15:14:41 GMT -5
"I've got an idea," Whispered Rodent, "Follow my lead and don't say anything unless necessary. Let me do the talking if they stop us." Standing up, Rodent walked boldly out into the middle of the road and started down it, beckoning the rest of the group to do the same. Just as they reached the group of Monolithians, one of the men opened his eyes. He shouted something, and reached for his rifle. "Peace, brethren!" Rodent said loudly, holding up his hand. "I answer to the will of the great Monolith, as do my companions. We have been called by him to drive the heathen mercenaries from the Dead City.". Gesturing back towards the group he said, "He has chosen us to be the tools of his righteous fury, we are to be his hammer, crushing the infidels and invaders against the anvil that is the Zone itself!"
The monolith soldiers in front of them stood aghast, all but one. This one Monolithian said, "Our most sincere apologies, chosen ones. If we had been told of your arrival, we would have greeted you properly." Something about how smoothly and nonchalantly the man said this sent shivers down Rodent's spine. He didn't seem too convinced with Rodent's tale, but he waved them through anyways and sent off a message to the further checkpoints to let them through.
Once they were out of sight of the first checkpoint Rodent turned around and said, "We should get off the road as soon as we can and make our way through the forest, that's probably the safest way now. I can't tell if that Monolith goon back there believed me or not."
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Post by Διμι on Apr 2, 2010 16:39:34 GMT -5
Leon stepped off the cement road, heading for the break in the fencing separating the road and forest depths. The mercenary put away his G11 and drew the M3 shotgun instead. As wonderfully accurate as the rifle was, it would be of little use in close range combat, and would do little in the way of a charging mutant closing in.
The sneaky loner had done an impressive job at convincing the Monolith fanatics to let them through. The Chosen Ones... Leon smirked behind his armored mask. He'd have to try that one himself in the future, purely for shits and giggles.
"Alright men," he spoke quietly as the group slowly made their way through the forest "everyone be on your watch. Duke and myself will face front, Rusty and Rodent, cover our asses and make sure nothing tries to sneak up for an easy meal."
The four stalkers slowly made their way into a valley-like stretch of land, steep stone formations rising from both sides of the expanse. The place unnerved Leon, even one or two snipers positioned on the high ground could easily take the entire squad out before the stalkers even realized they were under attack.
He was so deeply concentrated in the possible means of attack an enemy could have, that he didn't even notice a dark shape detach itself from the cliffs, leaping at the leading mercenary. The quadrupedal humanoid, half of its destroyed face obscured by a gas mask, collided bodily with Leon, sending the two tumbling to the ground.
Leon wasted no time, flinging the beast away with a heave. The snork landed neatly on its feet and sprang again for its target, unfazed. But these two seconds were all it took for the mercenary to bring the M3 around, pulverizing the creature's head with a blast of buckshot at near point blank range.
He sprang to his feet, eying the cliffs around him. Dark shapes moved about, and quiet growls could be heard as more of the beasts paced to and fro above the group, insecure. There seemed to be at least three of them.
"Stand your ground and fire if you can get a clean shot in. Keep spare mags at hand and waste no time. These things will rip you apart in no time if you let them get close." Leon cautioned the three stalkers beside him, "let's see what they decide to do next."
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Post by Basil on Apr 2, 2010 18:37:37 GMT -5
"Stand your ground and fire if you can get a clean shot in. Keep spare mags at hand and waste no time. These things will rip you apart in no time if you let them get close", said Leon, "let's see what they decide to do next."
Duke looked warily up at the prowling snorks. They were growling and snarling audibly, and had obviously sensed the group's presence...and were thirsting for their blood.
"-Goddamn fuckers", growled Duke.
There was a loud roar, followed by three snorks leaping off the higher ground they were on and hurtling down towards the stalkers. Duke raised his FAL and fired, but he was not good at hitting a moving target, and an airborne one at that, so his shots missed. The snork landed right in front of him and leaped up, snarling and ready to bite into his neck. Duke dodged, swearing loudly and profusely.
"Arse hole! Bastard! Polynesian! You fucking smurf!"
He backed away as the snork chased after him in its strange loping gait. Duke fiddled with a spare mag, struggling to put it in place. As he jammed it into his gun, the snork leaped at him and knocked him over, making Duke drop his weapon.
The savage beast swiped at Duke's face, slashing at his cheek and making him cry out in fear and pain.
"You fucker! Your breath stinks like an open grave!", yelled Duke as he batted the fiend away. The snork stayed firmly on top of him, and bared its teeth, drool trickling down onto his face.
"YAAAAHHH!", yelled Duke as he grabbed hold of the beast's neck, throttling it. The snork snarled and struggled, escaping Duke grasp. Duke scrambled to his knees and looked around for his FAL as the snork prepared for another attack. As the snork charged him again, he grabbed his gun...and slammed the butt into the creature's face.
The blow was apparently violent enough to make to daze the snork. Duke attacked the mutant savagely, slamming the butt of his rifle into its head and smashing its skull in until the upper helf of its cranium was a bloody pulp.
Duke stood panting, holding his now rather bloody rifle and said:
"You bastard, you should have picked a radioactive rabbit to fuck with. I shall now take your gas mask as a prize."
Duke removed the creature's bloody and rather battered gas mask and held it up.
"Ugh", he said, tossing it aside, "it's filthy, I'm not taking this shit as a prize...you can fucking rot."
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Post by Karcentric on Apr 3, 2010 2:00:45 GMT -5
Rusty watched the snorks leap, firing here he thought the beast would land, only one of his shots hit, the others whistling past it, taken back by the shot that did hit it, the snork ran away behind a pile of rocks. Grabbing one of the grenades, from his belt, Rusty pulled the pin and chucked the grenade where he thought the snork might be and waited. 3 seconds later the grenade detonated, the remains of the snork and a great deal of loose soil and rock fragments were flung into the air landing near Rusty's feet the shredded carcass was still burning. Rusty gave it a kick.
Turning to look what the rest of the group were doing, he saw several snorks lay pulverized near Leon, there were 5 more circling about, waiting for an opportunity to attack, firing in burst at one snork, he scored two hits, both hitting the beast in the chest, it was slowed to a stagger, however Rusty needed to reload, Shit! Not now! He thought frantically, fumbling for his pistol, the beast was close enough to attack but instead took a sweeping kick at Rusty's feet putting him on his arse. The beast was growling in raspy manner, thinking quickly he fired 4 shots, hitting it in the head the beast collapsed, standing he quickly reloaded his stolen Steyr, looking around again.
He helped the other deal with the remaining snorks.
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