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Post by Karcentric on Mar 29, 2011 1:55:14 GMT -5
Karc had been sitting outside near the lab, fiddling with several explosive devices in preparation for dealing with Midas' operations, lining up the the six IEDs he carefully wrapped each one and placed it in a reinforced duffel bag, they weren't nearly as unstable as the devices he and Burner had carried from Rostok to Agroprom, but all the same they would certainly destroy anything that was in the vicinity of these devices. Turning off the PDA that would be used to trigger them he placed it in one of the little used utility pockets that littered his suit.
"Time to wake the children up." He said with a bitter laugh, despite the cold Karc knew he wouldn't be allowed to assemble the devices within the lab. The sounds of snorks feeding nearby wasn't uncommon in Yantar climbing onto the roof he vaguely made out the feeding frenzy in the swamps, looking through the rifles scope he lined up one of the snorks heads and fired, the round was slightly off, instead tearing through the creatures throat, "Fucking cold weather." He muttered with a shiver sliding down the side wall and landing deftly for someone of of his height and mass.
Once inside the lab he banged on the door of the room that the group was resting in. "Come on sleepy heads, get up. Dress for the weather it gonna be a hard hike and we're gonna need to cover a lot of ground today." He said.
Renegade quickly rose, pulling on an extra layer of clothing and shrugging his worn coat over the top, lastly he donned his gas mask and wrapped the scarf around his head and neck. Picking up the his gear he quickly passed out of the room and waited patently as the rest of the group got ready over various lengths of time. The last of the mercenaries was El, still tying his long hair up, and pulling his hood over it.
Karc watched as each person passed by, eying Peregrine's suit with some suspicion but not saying anything. He'd had a a lot of work done to it, and he was wondering where the young stalker had gotten the money. Shrugging to himself he figured the young stalker had chanced upon something of value and not told anyone.
Picking up the duffel bag he nodded to Schwarz, "Lead the way."
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Post by Basil on Mar 29, 2011 11:17:46 GMT -5
Now somewhat warmer after buying a grey padded jacket, some thick gloves and a fur hat from one of the stalkers guarding the scientists' bunker, Spinner went outside again. Yantar was a strange place, even shrouded with snow. He had heard of stories regarding the hordes of zombified stalkers that once roamed the area, but now that they were all mostly gone, Yantar was unnervingly quiet.
Spinner reached up and touched his new fur hat again. Being bald was tough in this weather, and his Sunrise suit's hood had not done a very good job in keeping his head warm. Every time a cold wind swept over the Zone it had felt like his brain was freezing solid. When Karc and his mercenary companions gave the order to move out, Spinner was ready. This however, did not mean that walking through the snow and cold was any more pleasant to him.
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Well damn, Skomorokh was gone again. Maybe the creatures they'd run into had killed him? Balalaika couldn't care less. She'd simply gone on into the factory without him, moving quickly and taking refuge atop and old metallic structure close to the entrance. It was cold up there, as the place was fully exposed to the wind, but it was safe from mutants. It also kept her out of sight.
Feeling hungry and thirsty, Balalaika opened her rucksack and extracted a tin of spam and some bottled water she'd taken off one of the stalkers she'd killed. Cracking the tin open with her knife, she began to eat the nasty food contained within, washing it down with gulps of purified water. As she ate, she paused to rummage in her bag again, wondering if she didn't have any bread. She didn't find bread, but she found a bottle containing an odd clear grey substance instead. She looked at it curiously.
"What the fuck is this shit?", she muttered. Cautiously she opened the bottle and sniffed its contents. The substance had an odd metallic smell, but according to her Geiger counter, emitted absolutely no radiation. Suddenly she remembered the water she'd taken from that strange place up in Jupiter. Had it turned into this viscous shite?
She removed her glove and stuck a finger into the bottle. The substance felt warm despite the cold, and was viscous. She fiddled with a blob of it for a moment before wiping it off on her trousers and pouring a bigger blob onto her other, scarred hand.
"Weird", she said. The stuff seemed useless and harmless, so she wiped it off her hands and resumed her meagre meal. As she ate, however, she noticed something that made her freeze. The burn scars on her hand were gone in the spot where her skin had been in contact with the mysterious substance. Tossing the now empty tin of spam aside, she grabbed the bottle and got more of the liquid out, this time smearing it all over her burned hand. To her amazement, the substance was absorbed by her skin, and the burn scars receded. She stared at her hand in disbelief: the skin was pristine and white, like it had been before she'd been burned.
She took even more of the substance and began to rub it over her face, where the scarring was heaviest. She felt an odd tingle on her skin which promptly disappeared. Slowly she reached into her rucksack and pulled out a broken fragment of mirror glass she'd picked up in an abandoned house. The glass was old and stained, but still gave her a good reflection of herself. Her eyes became as wide as saucers when she saw her face: the scars were all gone, and she had regained the beauty she'd lost. She opened and closed her mouth, trying to say something, before shouting out in triumph and insane joy:
"HAHA! NO MORE FRY-FACE!!!", she yelled, dancing atop her perch.
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Post by blackpapermoon on Apr 3, 2011 23:48:46 GMT -5
Swift walked along the trail, the snow crunching under her feet. She was being cautious and alert, one should not get too comfortable with their surroundings in this place, a lesson that she had learned the hard way. The only reason that she was still alive was because Janne had crawled over to her unconscious body to try to take her slime Artifact but died just as he got the Artifact off her belt. The Slime's properties had stopped her bleeding, and then by a stroke of luck she was picked up by a small expedition of Ecologists. After she was healed up enough she returned to the site to give Janne or rather what was left of him a decent burial. She had been eager to leave the Red Forest when she received a message on her PDA from one of her higher ups; they wanted to know more about the rogue Mercenaries in Limansk.
She had been watching them for a while now, and had learned that they where led by a man named Midas. He was rich and powerful on top of being smart and cunning, all summed up the Greek was dangerous and was not someone to mess with. She also had a hunch that the armored bear that had been plaguing the south had something to do with Midas as she had seen it in and around the zone claimed city of Limansk.
It was very rare for the kingpin to leave his fortress; but today had been one of those rare occasions, and Anaba took full advantage of it. She had been following them from a safe distance for an hour or so when a loud roar was heard from deep in the forest, she noticed that the Greek released his prisoner and ordered his men to change their equipment. She soon realized that Midas no longer had control over the armored brut and decided that it was best that she make her way out of the Red Forest.
Vorona was happy to be leaving the bunker, despite the warm beds and food that the place offered it just reminded her too much of events that she wanted to forget. However before leaving the base she bought a heavy winter parka with a fur-lined hood, she hoped that it would help keep her warm for the rest of their mission. As they got under way she found that she was not the only one to equip themselves better for the winter track.
They had just entered the wooded area known as the Red Forest and Yeva was already not fond of the place. The place reeked of death, danger and sorrow, her brother had told her about the many people who went missing in this place and about the Brain Scorcher (that she later found out was destroyed permanently) and the mutants that lived here.
Just then the loner woman heard rustling; and she turned in it's direction with her weapon at the ready, but was much relieved to find that the rustling was caused only by another Mercenary stalker.
"You can all relax," said the Merc who turned out to be female, "I'm human. If your going out in the woods I would not recommend it, the leader of the rogue Mercenaries in Limansk just lost control of his 'pet'. If your not packing any big guns, your already goners."
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Post by Διμι on Apr 4, 2011 1:47:05 GMT -5
"Wouldn't say he had much in the way of controlling it as it was, if what I think you're referring to is correct." Peregrine grimaced, recalling the incident at the depot in the Garbage. He had little doubt that the monstrous bearlike entity they had encountered would be exactly the sort of pet a man like Midas would keep around. "Besides, we've been goners for a while anyway." he added.
The woman had appeared suddenly enough to make the loner's VSS shoot up. The two encounters he had earlier with both Skomorokh and the mysterious female stalker had put him on a keen edge, to mention nothing of the strange presence he was beginning to feel increasingly often. Surprisingly, the voice was silent this time around, and Peregrine lowered his gun, nonetheless cautious.
"I don't have much of a choice regarding going into the forest, unfortunately." he said. "If we're in luck, however, the beast might just just take care of its former owner for us, although I'm afraid that would be a little too convenient. In the meantime, why don't you introduce yourself, unless you're in too much of a rush to get away from this place to chat?"
"I don't like the looks of this, boss." muttered the team leader, walking next to Midas himself. The man was a fellow Greek, tall and wiry, clad in a heavy exoskeleton with a massive sniper rifle and machine gun to boot. Ordinarily, even the worst of horrors would have difficulty quaking a fellow of the caliber, but even Midas was feeling a slight shiver of apprehension at the moment. The bear was loose, but the atmosphere of the place they had entered was only all the more unnerving.
The forest had gone completely dark, the little light that streamed through between the crooked canopy was now blocked by menacing and low hanging pitch-colored thunderclouds. The mercenary could hardly see several meters ahead of him.
"Night vision." he said quietly. Faint green glows went off with corresponding clicks as the mercenaries complied. The forest was thickening, Midas noted as the trees ahead grew more and more concentrated. Soon enough, the team in its entirety could no longer fit between the trunks as they passed. "Split," Midas muttered "three men to a group, don't stray more than ten meters apart from the others. Keep an eye out for anything unusual. There could be things lurking here that came straight out Satan's ass."
He heard the sudden, but almost silent cock of an SR-25 beside him. The group of mercenaries came to a grinding halt, weapons instantly at the ready. Midas whirled to see what the leader of the team beside him had been aiming for, but saw nothing even in the green glow of the night vision apparatus. "What the hell are you aiming at?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the forest ahead of him.
"Thought I saw something." the mercenary replied "a beam of light, almost like a searchlight."
"A searchlight?" Midas queried, still puzzled as the tall man lowered his gun.
"Yeah, a searchlight."
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Post by Karcentric on Apr 4, 2011 8:55:25 GMT -5
Karc eyed the newcomer with suspicion and confusion he was sure he'd meet her before but couldn't pick where. He hadn't been expecting to encounter any mercenaries this far south. Keeping his hand hovering near his side arm he listened to the exchange between Peregrine and the merc.
Following Peregrine's last statement he nodded, "Indeed merc, we weren't expecting anyone to show up. What's your mission?" Karc asked folding his arms and waiting for a reply, "Lost control of his beastie eh? This works in our advantage, reckless as it seems with that thing out of control they lose a certain advantage they had over us. You'd best relay anything you've seen to use."
Turning to El, Schwarz and Four. "Find out anything you can about this merc from the HQ, she may be a spy for Midas, did you get that list of defectors from the faction?" He asked quietly.
Schwarz nodded handing a scrap of paper with a list of names of mercs that were working for Midas. One name stuck out to Karc, remembering the tall merc Jurgen that had given him one of his first jobs. "Jurgen you sonovabitch." Karc muttered, glancing again at the list several other names stood out.
"I hate to break up this cheerful meeting but we need to walk and talk. Let's move."
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Post by Basil on Apr 6, 2011 14:20:15 GMT -5
Continued from Dreamcatcher because Dimitrov wills it and all that loogy.
"And you want to stay here and find out?", hissed Adder. With their encounter with Khan, followed by Ferret finding the tracks of an unknown beast, her paranoia and her survival instincts had gone rocketing up to new summits. "Get moving, all of you!"
She ran off down the road, heading for the end of the ravine they were in. At the end of the ravine, to the left, was a wooded slope leading up into the forest. Adder looked at her PDA; the area of strange activity that the patrol had marked out was a few miles beyond that slope, deep within the Red Forest. As Adder and the rest of the group reached the bottom of the slope, she turned to them and addressed them:
"All right, everyone stick together and watch each other's backs. These parts are still poorly explored, so who the fuck knows what kind of monstrosities and anomalies lurk in these woods. Let's go!"
Adder, followed by Wasp, headed up the hill and towards the edge of the forest. The long, winding road to the now destroyed Brain Scorcher, was surrounded on both sides by the forest, but the area on the slope had at one time been cleared of trees. As the group advanced through the now thinning snow, it got progressively darker. Soon it got so dark that Adder ordered the group to halt and put on their night-vision goggles.
The Red Forest was eerily quiet save for the odd rustling in the undergrowth, the crack of pine needles and the soft creaking of the trees as the wind ruffled their thick canopy. The group slowed and walked in single file, guns at the ready and eyes open. Adder's pupils were fully dilated to enable her to see in this obscure environment. Suddenly, a distant, rumbling ground disturbed the silence, and Adder froze.
"Think that's who the tracks belonged to?", whispered Wasp.
"-Dunno, could be", murmured the commandant. Suddenly, a lithe beast shot past them. It was obviously a deer of sorts, as the sound of hooves could be heard fading away. "All right, go."
And so the group continued. The target was still a long way away. Wasp swore quietly as she tripped over a branch, and Adder kept her eyes open.
But the question was, what were they? The hunters? Or the hunted?
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Post by blackpapermoon on Apr 7, 2011 23:18:24 GMT -5
“One more lamb joins the slaughter,” she said reluctantly as her orders stated clearly that she was to help aid any Mercenaries and any loners that where with them. She had long ago stopped asking herself why things happened the way they did, like the seconds difference between being or not being blown up by an explosive or why did the sniper not shoot when he had you square in his optical sights. She just accepted these things, and had force herself not to wonder about them. As much as humans wished to believe, they did not have as mush control over their lives as they would have hoped. The invisible hands of fate still where in control, and in the Zone fate had all the cards.
“My name is Swift,” she continued, “I was sent to keep an eye Midas and his marry bunch of traitors. The worm also never leaves his hole but today had been one of those rare times. Unfortunately as I had said before he lost what control he had over the monster and now its going berserk. I’m not exactly equipped to take out a mutant bear that has more armor than a Abrams tank.”
Yeva listen to what the Merc had to say, Karc and his fellows had been whispering to themselves. After the track trough the Wild Territory and the ill experience she had with the bandit Skomorokh, Vorona was very wary of any new person they came a crossed, it seemed like the Zone brought out the worst in human behavior.
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Ferret was right behind Wasp, this was one of the only few times he was happy to have brought along his Night vision goggles. He would normally let his eye adjust to the darkness naturally, but it had gotten so dark so fast it was rather strange and unnerving. The only rational he could come up with was it was the zone weird shit always happened here. As they continued onward, he noticed that more and more mutated animals where running from the direction of the new anomaly.
“Whatever is causing the shit our scouts reported must have a strong Psy field,” he said “it’s like they are all running from an emission.”
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Post by Karcentric on Apr 8, 2011 9:58:12 GMT -5
"Midas has left his compound? That means he's taken an elite guard with him or at least I suspect he would, he isn't the bravest explorer in our faction." Karc said, looking at the mercenary again he remembered he'd seen her before in the Garbage.
"Well Peregrine, it seems we can go at this in a number of different ways, we can hunt Midas down in the wilderness, but risk meeting that bear creature, and than destroy Midas' operation, attack his base arm ourselves to the teeth and give him a welcome home party he'll never forget before wrecking his base, or someone sneaks in, plants explosives gets out and we revel in the vast explosion knowing that Midas is toast." He said with a shrug.
"Of course ideas a welcome." He said walking, while checking the list of mercs that was on the list, almost all of them were experienced, looking back to the top of the list where Jurgen's name sat. "I'll crucify you, you muthafucka." He said, before laughing manically and patting the revolver on his leg. Thinking back, Jurgen had often told mercs that loyalty was everything. In Karc's mind he was committing treason, to which there was only one punishment.
Schwarz taped Karc's shoulder bringing him out of his thoughts, "HQ confirmed she was sent as a spy to gather info on Midas." He said quietly.
"Good, can't be too sure." Karc replied before falling silent mulling over any plans he could muster about attacking Midas.
Renegade was feeling more and more out of his comfort zone with every step he took, he imagined that the others he'd traveled with also felt the same. The idea of attacking someone with their own army seemed like insanity. But the mercs leading them didn't seem bothered by the prospect of being out numbered or out gunned. The fact that another merc had popped up, seemingly out of nowhere made Renegade feel more susceptible something horrible jumping out at him.
"What do we do if we come across that armoured bear?" Renegade asked nervously.
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Post by Basil on Apr 8, 2011 17:45:29 GMT -5
Well, well, well. Balalaika had quietly followed the group from the Wild territory as they went through the Yantar factory and through the tunnel to the Red Forest. As they moved away from the tunnel exit, Balalaika emerged soon afterwards. She actually paused as she left the dark and dank tunnel, and took a deep breath of the forest's strange scented air. The forest had been her refuge many times in the past few months, as it was the only place in the Zone where she was safe from reprisals for her bloody forays on loners, Duty and Freedom. In a way it was her home, and the strange place welcomed her like an old friend.
Her fear sense started tingling as soon as she started following the Wild Territory group again. The Red Forest was so heavily tinged with the fear of hundreds of dead men and women that it made her Fear Factor even more powerful. She could sense the uneasiness and fear of the group ahead, and she found it delightful.
"Welcome to my domain", she whispered, "the land of beasts and madmen."
Due to the heavy cloud cover and the forest's thick canopy, very little light filtered through, and it was very dark. Balalaika however would probably have been able to walk through the woods with her eyes closed had there not been any bushes and holes and anomalies. She could sense the people in front of her, as well as some creatures around them, so long as uneasiness lurked in their hearts and minds. And so she followed the group for a short while, not even seeing them, but sensing them beyond the deformed trees and sombre bushes. Soon, another person arrived near the group, and they spoke. Balalaika could hear their voices drift through the undergrowth. What were they planning? And who was this Midas person?
It seemed like the merry little band of adventurers she was following was far more than a bunch of treasure hunters. They had a clear goal, and a big one at that. She pondered what options she had here: leaving the group alone, harassing them or somehow worming her way into their midst and reaping her share of whatever was to be had before promptly vanishing. Silently, Balalaika stayed out of sight and waited.
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Spinner was, to be honest, rather scared by the environment he was in now. The Red Forest was eerily dark due to the clouds overhead. The place seemed dead but alive at the same time, as the wind rustling through the branches seemed to make the forest breathe, like a gigantic, malevolent living entity.
And they were not welcome there.
He nervously gripped his AK-74, hoping its bullets would give good protection against whatever monsters lurked within the depths of the woods around him. His eyes darted around, looking for any sign of any kind of enemy nearby. He also had the strange impression they were being followed by something lurking behind the trees and bushes. Snow fell noisily from a branch, falling wetly onto the needle-covered ground, and Spinner started slightly.
"So long as we don't stay too long in this accursed place...", he muttered.
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If Ferret was able to feel something in the air, Adder wasn't feeling anything. After the expedition up North she seemed to have been "burned out". Where people experienced head-aches before an emission or could sometimes hear distant voices, Adder felt and heard nothing. The nightmares that sometimes came to her were gone, almost as if a connection had been broken forever. Not that she minded. She'd been feeling mentally relaxed as of late.
"Ferret's right", said Wasp, blinking. "My head's tingling. There must be a huge psy-field nearby."
"-So long as it isn't something that will melt our brains", said Adder.
"-No...it's...", said Wasp uncertainly, "...different. It's almost pleasant."
Adder shook her head slightly but did not stop. The Penumbrans were advancing through the forest so quietly that they could almost hear whatever insects were scuttling beneath the mouldy pine needles and leaves that littered the ground. The group went past an odd, luminous clump of fungi growing on a tree, and the bluish light the fungi gave off made Adder's eyes shine like those of a cat caught in the glare of an electric lamp. A few rodents scampered past, paying no heed to the humans.
"Oh man...", hissed Wasp. "I'm hearing voices now..."
"-What? Fuck", said Adder, concerned that the others might suddenly snap due to psychic pressure. "Try ignoring them."
"-They're like...soothing whispers", said Wasp before falling silent. Adder suddenly crouched down, raising one fist to tell everyone else to shut up and get down too. She had heard something. Footsteps? Or something lurking somewhere behind the trees? It had sounded like voices and footsteps, probably a group of people. What were they doing here?
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Post by Zeno, Lord Camelith on Apr 18, 2011 13:33:38 GMT -5
Skomorokh stumbled out of a dense patch of shrubs and brambles. "Fucking western guns..." he muttered to himself and swearing as a long thorn stabbed into his arm. After the strange mutants had attacked, his new rifle had jammed forcing him to run for his life. He had led the beasts on a mad dash across at least half of Yantar before successfully luring them into a whirligig anomaly. Then, with neither Balalaika or Peregrine's group in sight he decided his best bet would be to continue on into the Red Forest.
"I should have known this would have been a fucking awful idea." He said to himself, "I don't think I've ever been this lost in my life." As he continued through the dense, mutated vegetation he kept his eyes peeled for any sign of a path or other stalkers.
Several hours passed before Skomorokh finally caught sight of distinctly human movement ahead of him. Through the dense underbrush and from around trees, Skomorokh was able to pick out the green camouflage used by the Freedom faction. He had never met any Freedomers before, but if the stories he had heard at the Cordon were correct, they were generally friendly enough.
Skomorokh decided that for this encounter, it would be best to play the part of the ignorant and foolish adventurer, pulling down his hood. Skomorokh walked blindly across their path, stopped and noticed them with feigned shock and raised his hands saying "Don't shoot!"
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Post by Διμι on Apr 20, 2011 23:44:02 GMT -5
"What do we do if we come across that armoured bear?" Peregrine heard Renegade ask, a tinge of anxiety in his voice. The loner paused in uncertainty. If the encounter the group had at the Garbage was any indication, any attempt to fight the thing would more than likely be akin to suicide.
"We do what worked last time, run for it while it's distracted with something else." he said finally "with so many of Midas' goons around, it shouldn't have a problem finding itself a snack or two." he stepped forward "I suppose we'll have better odds of tracking Midas down in this place while he's away from his fortress, as opposed to attacking a no doubt well-defended base by ourselves." he mulled over the prospect before continuing "No doubt he'll have a fully equipped team of your finest with him." he nodded to Karc "But I trust we can do some damage if we can pull a surprise attack."
He shouldered the Vintorez and stepped forward "In any case, we'll have to hurry. I wouldn't count on that merc staying out here in the forest for too long without returning to his little casa grande." he regarded the mercenary named Swift for a moment before adding "If Karc's telling the truth, and I trust him, you are welcome to come along if you want or have orders to do so."
Light flakes of strangely gray snow seeped down from the laden branches as the sky overhead became progressively darker with low-hanging, ominous clouds. Peregrine however, said nothing as the group progressed further.
It was completely dark now. If it weren't for the steady green glow of the night vision goggles, Midas thought, they would have surely lost their way by now. The forest kept getting thicker, leaving scant room for two people abreast to pass between the trees. The team, however, was still more or less together from what he could see. Even if Jurgen's men were scared, he felt that he could trust their professionalism even in the most dire of situations.
The mercenary's ruminations were interrupted by a startled yell from behind. Midas and the rest of the team whipped around to see a straggler standing in what looked like a shaft of light, emanating from the tree canopy overhead. Before any of the men could even blink, two shiny, clawed arms swung down, impaling the man through the chest and jerking him up into the canopy with a scream. The light disappeared.
A volley of gunfire split the silence, bullets audibly clinking off of something metal in the dark canopy. Midas heard a rustle pass overhead as the tree branches shook under the load. Something lithe shot over Midas as the mercenary's decapitated body dropped to the ground scarcely a few feet away. The creature swung down and dropped to the ground before the group.
It was roughly two meters long and lizardlike, with elongated appendages ending in terrible claws. The entire body seemed to be coated in plates that seemed to shine even in the near pitch-dark. Its head was oddly misshapen, one glowing red eye offset by a gigantic orb covered by an eyelid. The monster hissed, drawing a claw along the side of a tree next to it.
The mercenaries wasted no time, their aim still precise despite the nasty surprise. Bullets glanced almost harmlessly off the beast's chitinous armor, causing it only to recoil slightly. The beast opened it's gigantic second eye, and a beam of light flooded the area, focused directly on Midas, who in his horror realized exactly what Jurgen had seen earlier.
His hand jumped to the holster housing the Desert Eagle even as the monster sprung. The mercenary fired off a single blind shot before the creature came into contact, landing heavily on him, its claws dragging across the armored plates on his vest. Midas fell to the ground, pulled down by the weight of the beast. It was over, he thought, any second, the claws would pierce him straight through, or lop off his head in a deadly swipe.
Midas felt the monster being dragged off of him as another mercenary grabbed him, pulling the mercenary leader upright. The lizard creature was dead, an oddly glowing yellowish goo leaking from the hole in its massive, unprotected eye where Midas had shot it. He quietly stared for a moment before holstering the massive pistol. It had done its job well.
"Keep moving." he said finally "The less of these little encounters we have, the more of us there will be that get back. Although I don't suppose I'll ever be able to sleep at night after that thing."
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Post by Basil on Apr 23, 2011 16:24:18 GMT -5
When Skomorokh appeared in front of the Penumbra squad, Adder's paranoia, and the tension in the rest of the group, escalated tenfold. Immediately she raised her gun and pointed it at the stranger.
"Get out of here, stalker", she said, "this place is not for you."
Conversely, the rest of the group were not any more friendly than their leader. A lone stalker bursting out of the bush just did not sit right with them at this time, and neither of them had the patience to deal with a lost loner.
"-Clear out", said Wasp, aiming her Protecta at Skomorokh. "Or I'll shoot you so full of holes you'll be able to use yourself as a sieve."
The stalker did not seem to take their warnings and threats seriously, so Wasp, being the most impulsive one of the lot, fired a warning shot into the ground at the man's feet. Almost immediately, the rest of the group were shooting after the retreating figure, who promptly vanished into the woods. Adder waited and listened before giving the all clear.
"-Fucking hell", she said. "This really wasn't the time to play charity with some stupid bastard. He can go die in an anomaly for all I care. Let's move."
As the group started off again, the silence was suddenly broken by the grunts and squeals of Fleshes. Wasp swore colourfully as she heard the pounding of many hooves nearby, followed by the appearance of several Fleshes running past them.
"-For fuck's sake", said Wasp, "they have it in for us."
"-It's a fucking stampede, get the fuck out of their way everyone", said Adder before dashing off. There were also wild boars amongst the fleshes, some so big they could have rammed a Zap out of the way. Wasp dived forward and hit the ground to avoid getting gored by a stampeding boar with tusks as long and as vicious as kitchen knives. As Adder ran she was rammed into by a flesh, who bowled her over its back before continuing on its run through the undergrowth. Another flesh trampled Adder, one of its sharp hooves stabbing her in the shoulder.
The snake-eyed woman slashed at the next flesh before scrambling to her feet. Wasp went back for her and pulled her away from the charging porcine menace, and the group ended up gathered a few metres beyond the stampede, in a small hollow next to a small congregation of Whirligig anomalies.
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Balalaika kept on watching the small group ahead of her. Strange business was going down it seemed, with talk of armoured bearsn, unknown anomalies and much danger. As the group continued on its lonely route through the eerie trees, Balalaika followed quietly in their wake, keeping an eye and an ear out to snatch any more of their interesting conversations.
As she followed them, however, she heard a familiar, throaty growl nearby. She turned around and saw about eight or nine of the same kind of rat-like creature that had attacked her and Skomorokh back in Yantar. She smiled at them as she got her Fear Factor working.
"Lovely to see you again", she said. "Care for a scare?"
However, despite the Factor being in full swing, the damn beasts didn't seem impressed. Balalaika swore before grabbing her Stechkin and spraying the monsters before breaking into a run. She crashed through the undergrowth, breaking out into full view of those she'd been following, and dashed right past them. The Fear Factor would give them a quick terror as she ran past, but she cared little about that. She needed to find refuge from the mutants, and a hiding place from the stalkers in case they'd recognised her.
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Post by Karcentric on Apr 24, 2011 14:52:17 GMT -5
Karc spun around and dropped slightly at the sound of shots from behind. He could hear the sounds of someone running through the forest nearby. Oddly the rest of the group seemed to be effected by something a slight buzz was all Karc felt when it occurred that it was the person running by that was causing the psi field. He remembered what Peregrine had said as well as what he'd over heard numerous times.
“Balalaika.” He muttered raising his gun, just as he was about to fire at the small woman when a growl from a creature he'd never heard made him turn, making the shots skew slightly wide of his target, but would certainly of been unnerving for her none the less.
Looking back he saw something that may have been a rodent at some stage in it's lifetime, but was far too tall standing nearly 5 foot, firing off a burst of 5.56mm ammunition the closest one dropped squealing in pain from the holes that were punched through it's chest. The others regarded their fallen only momentarily before charging. The rest of the group seemed to be regaining their composure after the Fear Factors effects, fumbling for their weapons
Continuing to fire at the beasts while walking towards them, Karc kicked at one as it swiped at him with claws that were almost human looking. His kick caught the beast in the ribs knocking side ways into a tree before shaking it's head and snarling at him and swiping another blow at him, scratching his armour along the chest, jumping out of the way as it snapped it's jaws at him, stumbling on a smallish stump he'd failed to notice the creature snapped again, locking it's jaws onto his left arm, gnawing at the armoured pieces of his suit. Karc hefted the falchion out and swung the short weapon loping off the beasties top half of it's head. The body dropped like a lead balloon, wedging the blade in the now dead mouth which was still locked on his arm he forced the mouth open, wincing slightly, while there was no serious injury, his forearm would certainly be sporting some fine new bruises. The rest of the group was now engaged with fighting off the wave of strange creatures successfully.
With the mutants dealt with Karc turned looking to where Balalaika had been running towards, spinning the falchion several times. He scanned the area hoping to catch a glance of the small stalker, but knew she was already gone.
Turning his attention back to the now dead mutants Karc bent down picking up the hand and removed it with the blade before wiping it clean and seething it, he wrapped it up and stuffed the hand into his pack.
“What the fuck are they?” Karc asked absently, walking to one which was still trying to crawl away. Crouching to observe the beast for a few seconds he aimed the silenced pistol at it's head and fired, spraying it's brain matter across the cold ground.
Renegade suddenly felt a strange feeling as though it were hot, very hot. Looking up from his mindless march he noted that several trees appeared to be on fire, but the others didn't seem to notice, slowing his pace to an almost stop resulted in El bumping in to him, the flames flickered as if somehow they were an illusion. Despite that, he still felt that the temperature was rising, memories he'd been trying to suppress came rushing back in a painful bout, making him gasp.
The sound of Karc's assault rifle was loud enough to bring him back to reality, spinning around he saw the strange mutants, scrambling for his assault rifle he managed to fire a burst at one of the beasts before it managed to scratch him along his left forearm and grasp his arm, blood was dripping from the wound but he struggled and managed free his arm and clubbed the mutant in the face as it snapped at him, making it stumble back and trip. Pressing his weight on to the beasts chest he fired into it's face pulverising the snapping mew.
Looking around the rest had been dealt with, but an adrenaline rush was surging through him now. Carefully he wiped his arm before wrapping it as tightly as he felt comfortable with and pinning it.
He looked around at the group a couple of minor scratches here and there amongst the group, his thoughts went back to the images and the sensations he'd felt just moments before the critters had attacked. But seemed unable to describe it to the rest of the group. Only Karc seemed to of been unaffected by whatever it was and maybe that was lucky for the group else they'd of been oblivious to the mutants attack.
"Are psi fields common in Red Forest?" He asked still unsure how to explain properly.
Schwarz shook his head, "Not that I know of, unless it's directed by a controller or a burer. But that was different."
Renegade perked up slightly, "So you saw the fire throughout the forest engulfing us?" He asked.
"No, that wasn't what I saw at all." Schwarz replied but didn't seem keen to share what he'd seen. "We should keep our wits about us."
"It was Balalaika." Karc said curtly, turning to join the conversation, "Another second and it would of been dealt with permanently." He took his helmet off for a moment to scratch at the now healed scar on his check, looking to Spinner he said with a feral smile, "You nearly got to meet the Queen of Fear, exciting huh? You okay?"
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Post by blackpapermoon on Apr 25, 2011 10:48:00 GMT -5
At this point Ferret cared little about stray loners lost in the woods, the affects of the psy-field where grater on him. At first the experience was very pleasant and almost smoothing. However as more time he spent in the field, he began to develop a headache that kept getting worse.
The sudden appearance of the stray loner and the gunfire that followed did little to help his condition. Nor did the stampede of mutated swine. He barely avoided being gorged to death by the tusk of a bore as it ran passed him, yet some how he managed to pull himself into the small hollow where the others where. During his escape from the stampede he had lost his night vision goggles, but had not suffered any major injures save for a bruise or two.
“Everyone alive?” he asked after the pigs had all passed as he rubbed his temples, the pain in his head had gotten worst. ______________________________________
Vorona turned just in time to see the small person run pass, then her world descend into darkness and fear. For a moment the forest had become the Bridge of her father’s ship, there where people with hateful, angry faces trying to brake into the small compartment, but then the moment passed. And she has faced with a new horror. One of the strange best jumped at her with a snapping maw, but before it could get a taste of her flesh Yeva brought her weapon to bear and fired. The slug made short work of the monsters skull and it was now nothing more than a bloody mess on the ground.
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Post by Zeno, Lord Camelith on May 30, 2011 3:27:07 GMT -5
"Just another one of those days." Skomorokh muttered to himself. He was perched about twelve feet off the ground in the branches of a tree while chaos broke out below. The dissonant reverberations of gunshots, shouting and the screams of injured mutants filled the air. On top of all of that, it was beginning to snow again, dense, gray flaks falling from massive black thunderheads.
Checking his rifle for any stray dust particles near the bolt, Skomorokh slid down from his hiding spot, only to find himself in the open about three yards away from one of the naked rat beasts. "Fucking rodents!" Skomorkh shouted and fired a burst into the creature, which fell limp. Pausing for a moment, he looked around the clearing. He could hear and slightly see movement in three different locations, two of which human voices could be heard from as well.
Choosing one of the directions at random, Skomorokh moved toward it silently. Peeking through some bushes, he could see Peregrines unique suit and the distinctive camouflage of the Mercenary faction. What luck! he thought and followed a ways behind the group, keeping to the shadows and underbrush.
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